Gucci

Khanivore: Cutest beastie in the pit.

After she’s been taken by surprise by someone she thought she could trust, she reveals she’s been allowing everyone around her to create a mask for her, a simple deception that protects her much better than someone else could have created. Rather than the pilot controlling the beast, Sonnie is the beast. She’s fully become Carnivore, the unbeatable monster in the ring. While other pilots are trash-talking and cocky, drunk on the illusion of immortality, that they cannot lose because they have nothing to lose, Sonnie is there, she IS Carnivore, she’s in the ring and if she dares lose, she dies. Game over. And that’s what gives her her edge. Fear is primal. Fear is always there. One misstep and she dies, again.

It’s not just the story that’s incredible here. The animation and design is beautiful. Carnivore’s design is unlike what’s “expected” from the beast-fighting rings; we can infer from the way characters talk, a “feminine” beast is unusual to say the least. Most are big, bulky, powerhouse type beasts that beat each other to death through brute force. But Sonnie explicitly makes sure to let people know, Carnivore is female. Carnivore is lithe, she’s agile, she’s slim and fast, and has the skill to backup anything that her opponent throws at her, even if it’s her own self they’re throwing across the ring. The way she flows around and uses her enemy’s weight against them is beautifully artistic; she flows over the battlefield, because she’s truly the only one in the ring at this point. It’s not a PvP battle, two controlled fighters in an arena, it’s Sonnie, pure and simple and visceral vs some hulking mass of artificial flesh controlled by a guy who’s just projecting into it. And the animation shows just that. She’s not going through the motions, she’s not controlling Carnivore, she IS CARNIVORE. She’s THERE in the arena. And the way she acts in the ring, you can tell, she IS fighting for her life. And the best part? 

She know’s she’ll win.