Magical Girl Hell

She is introduced as this unassailably perfect, pure-hearted, powerful priestess. (Who Kagome is an inferior copy of, who Kagome can’t live up to.) There are so many of these women in fiction — dead and perfect.

And then she’s brought back to life and she’s mad as hell. The myth of Kikyo gets deconstructed. Suddenly she’s not a perfect idol for Kagome to aspire to be. She’s petty and manipulative and selfish and prideful and angry angry angry.

And Kagome thinks “this is your perfect Kikyo? what did you ever see in her?” except everyone still loves her. why does everyone still love her?

And then, finally, the real Kikyo is reconstructed, and it turns out that yeah, she actually is all that they remembered about her — strong, and kind-hearted, and gentle, and self-sacrificing.

And once again Kagome doesn’t measure up. She’s not that strong, she’s not that kind-hearted, she’s petty and selfish and angry and— oh.

This is the thing that Kagome learns from Kikyo (that some of the fans clearly don’t): these traits don’t cancel each other out. People are complex. She can be all of these things, Kikyo is all of these things.

The completed hug collection.

@ruby-white-rabbit — genuine question: if the showrunners have complete control of the story and they have a character (in this case, while narrating a flashback to the audience) state another character’s age (he says “it started when Rin was about eighteen” or something similar iirc) why do you think it’s more likely that the intent is to lie about her age rather than to express that enough time had passed that she was now that age?

this isn’t meant to be a “gotcha” — I’m honestly interested in this interpretation of narrative intent by the writers.

Like I was gonna laugh this off — babygirl you just said “kill them” so what is “dispose of them” supposed to be a euphemism for — but then I thought, jokingly, “haha, Albel thinks if they’re not worth fighting, Airyglyph should just let them go! haha what an idiohhhhh my god.”

That’s exactly what he thinks. That’s exactly what he does the moment he actually meets them.

Are. are you offering to kill them or question them.

#yue kinda is a magical girl but she needs a transformation

You know

I think

canonically

if there’s anything I love more than a blorbo it’s a whole group of blorbos so OP I apologize for going on a whole ramble on your post but you activated my Writing Appreciation Trap Card so I gotta ramble.

the thing about writing a cast of characters — in a comedy, yes, but even more especially in a drama — is that they all need to be a little dumb sometimes. the thing that makes a cast of characters really great is when the ways that they’re a little dumb are varied and reflective of the character’s personality traits.

Inuyasha is excellent in this respect! every character is a little dumb:

Rin is kind-hearted, young, and full of whimsy. these are the traits we love about her! these characteristics mean that she idealizes others and reaches out to people that a more savvy character would distrust. it also means that she is prone to occasionally walking headfirst into danger, with full confidence that whoever she’s currently focusing her Absolute Faith Beam on will step up… despite any and all evidence to the contrary.

Sango, meanwhile, is focused, selfless, and romantic. these are, again, the traits that we love about her. they mean that she keeps calm in the midst of chaos, that she’s intuitive and observant toward her loved ones, and that she prioritizes their wellbeing over her own. those same characteristics mean that she can tunnel-vision herself straight into whatever solution seems immediately best for her loved ones, no matter how much it costs her — she’ll die for them, she’ll die with them, she’ll kill for them, she’ll even end their suffering with her own hands.

good character writing means every trait is a delicious double-edged sword:

youthful whimsy is also youthful foolishness

always seeing the best in others also means being blind to their flaws

a romantic heart is also prone to melodrama

profound selflessness is also a tendency to self-sacrifice (and self-flagelate)

a relentless pursuit of joy in dismal times is also a lack of self-control in that pursuit

the strength of will necessary to change the world is also the stubborn unwillingness to change oneself

a willingness to punch above one’s weight class is also a tendency to bite off more than one can chew

inclined to shoulder responsibility is also disinclined to relinquish control

etc etc etc.

if a writer won’t let a character be a little dumb, they aren’t committed to fully exploring that character.

to be honest, Rin a little dumb.

Fun fact: In Japan, a cultivar of yellow orchid was created in the 90s and was named "Happy Valley Sailor Moon."