Casual indulgence

Overall I think the ending was well executed. The decision to leave an ambiguous “canon” ending while showing equally likely futures depending on Hinase’s choice in the additional volumes served the series well. In addition to the heavy question of their desired gender, their ability and resolve to move forward in spite of their fear. I also appreciated that the same-sex pairings got more visibility in both of the epilogue volumes.

I do think it fell short in more fully addressing the massive weight gendered expectations in society, and sometimes seemed to avoid the idea of gender nonconformity and trans and non-binary identities. Lisa’s story certainly touched on these, and I would be very interested to see more of their story. The short scene in the F epilogue with Hinase as a school nurse helping a kid with “boy” interests tell their mother that they want to be a girl was a very nice touch.

hi sorry uh. incredible miscommunication on my part lmfao.

People killed: around three quarters of a million.

funny enough this topic came up in my discord server this morning frye has 2 kinds of eels: real ones, that can use ink but aren't ink-based (like master mega, the salmonids, and big man), and 'fake' eels that are purely ink-based. The real eels have black eye masks and are the ones seen swimming in the water.

The 'fake' ink-based eels have no eye mask. in the cutscene at the end of ROTM, it's a horde of only these fake eels that morph into a tornado of ink.

in frye's boss fight, the 'fake' eels poof into nothing when shot, while the real ones don't disappear like that and get flung back at her.

pondering