This is my sideblog for TADC character analysis and general metaposting. I don't want to invite potential discourse or clog up my main blog, but the pressure of keeping all my opinions internal is gonna kill me.
So, welcome! Essays will drop when I'm done writing them :] To see just my serious longposts, search #actual writing. To see my insane ramblings, search #screaming into the void
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
āhjsakldfhlā is an episode that makes use of a lot of meaningful smash cuts, where the camera will jump from one frame to a very similar one, demonstrating some progression or drawing a parallel between whatās going on in one scene vs. the next. The fanbase has discussed a few meaningful cuts, such as this one of Kingerā
āusing contrast to show the depth of his grief, and the fact that after Queenie abstracted, Kinger came to see his promises and reassuring words to her as meaningless. Then thereās this one of Ragatha leading out of the same flashback sequenceā
āwhich draws attention to the fact that Ragatha is undergoing a similar upheaval in identity and stability as she did upon her arrival to the Circus. Iāve also seen discussion of this cutā
āsuggesting a parallel between Zoobleās dysphoria/trans identity, and the unmasked identity that Jax is so terrified of people finding just beneath his (āāāāhisāāāā) skin.
All great, and all talked about, but I want to submit one more meaningful cut to the discussion here. This one:
(~600 words more under the cut)
I think this cut, from the players gathered on the couches to Caine sitting in his office chair, is one of the most important ones of the episode, for what it has to say about the playersā solidarity vs. Caineās solitude.
Starting with those couches: throughout the series, this lounge area is where the players come together. Whenever we see them all together outside of the context of an adventure, itās here.
And in āhjsakldfhl,ā itās where they go to reflect on the cruel plot twist they just got served in the previous episode. Here, the players have whatās basically a strategy meeting: āThat was a tough loss⦠what do we do now?ā
They convene, they check in with each other, they argue and debate⦠and eventually they come to two solid conclusions:
We are not going to focus on trying to leave any more.
We are going to stick together and make this hell into a home.
As a group, they come to the conclusion that solidarity is the best strategy available to them.
Then, the episode cuts directly from the playerās circle of couches to Caineās desk chair. The couches are reminiscent of a down-to-earth, community area, like a familyās living room or a lounge in a coffee shop.
The couches face each other, facilitating roundtable-style discussion, and they also allow people to sit directly side-by-side.
This creates a feeling of intimacy and connection that wouldnāt be there if the players were all in separate seats.
However, an upholstered leather desk chair is a very different symbol. It hints at something a bit more illustrious than a couch: something with power, but also something that stands alone.
The chair also dwarfs Caine, much larger than someone his size would actually need. His legs donāt even reach off the edge of the seat, much less all the way to the floor. This further emphasizes that he is, figuratively and literally, unequipped to fill the space heās trying to fill.
When the episode cuts to Caine on his chair, it shows that heās going through a personal crisis parallel to the one that the players are. Heās experiencing his own upheaval, trying to come to terms with what just happened. But unlike the players, he is making his decisions alone.
I mean, okay, he has Bubble. But itās debatable whether Bubble even is a separate person or just. More of Caine. A fragment of his mind reflecting his own unruly thoughts back at him. And even if Bubble is a separate consciousness, Bubbleās⦠āadvising,ā of Caine is clearly not the same as the playersā unity with each other.
Where the players are, metaphorically, all in the shit together and trying to find a way to higher ground, thereās no sense that Bubble has any personal stakes in what Caine decides, or any desire to take on some of the burden. Bubble acts less as a peer and more an advisor or consultantā and a bad one, consideringā¦
Yāknow.
So, the couch-chair cut mirrors the main conflict of the episode. We have two birdās-eye shots of the characters: one of the players on the couches, a source of community and solidarity, and a second of Caine in his chair, physically and emotionally isolated.
The rest of the episode plays out the way it does as a result of these exact conditions: the playersā decision to stick together gives them the staying power to keep going even as Caine falls down the slippery slope, and lets them work as one to oppose him. Meanwhile, Caine, who is alone except for his own personal demon-advisor, spirals himself straight into a mental breakdown that leads to his deletion.
sometimes i see an opinion i disagree with, and from a combination of wanting to keep up appearances, avoid flak, and cut to the heart of the issue, i draft a series of increasingly abstract responses, eventually culminating in typing out "falsehoods aren't true", which, in a perfect act of autofellatio, deletes itself
I want to thank everyone for the responses to my latest essay. It's one I was pretty scared to post, in all honesty, because I know Gangle and Jax's dynamic is one that people have a lot of really polarized opinions on. Gangle's character means a lot to me, not because she's a "perfect" victim of mental illness or interpersonal harm, but because she's a real one. And seeing all the responses from people that Get It has been really, really reassuring.
The TADC fandom has been a pretty... chaotic space ever since I joined it, with some corners that are deeply annoying and some that are actively horrible. It can be a little daunting to interact with sometimes. But this little space I've managed to carve here since making this account has been wonderful. You all are what's given me the motivation to stay active in sharing my opinions, and I hope everyone in this fanbase can find a space that feels as safe as this (and in light of recent events: especially Black fans. We all need to be a lot more aware when it comes to making fan spaces safe for Black fans).
So, to everyone following this account, or who's left a lovely message passing by: thank you.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Probably not going to write any more longposts until after episode 9 drops. I have a handful of ideas, but they're on topics that I expect to get paid off in a big way in the finale (as... narratives tend to go lmao), and so writing + posting them now would just feel incomplete. You'll still hear from me between then and now, don't worry-- I'm just gonna hold fire on anything super serious until we have the full picture of the series >:]
Greetings, Skyen! I'm a big fan of your video analyses, so I couldn't resist asking you a question. With the end of TADC approaching, I wonder what you think about the possibility of Jax starting his path towards redemption? That Jax is mentally ill and has unresolved issues with himself is obvious. But I want to hear what you think will happen to his character by the final episode. Will he take the first step towards redemption? Will he manage to heal all the way through until the episode ends? Will his change be subtle and shown through a timelapse of the circus after a long time...? I want to hear your opinion on the matter.
I mean, I don't know that "redemption" is the most satisfying or interesting place for Jax's story to go, necessarily. If TADC is operating on a kind of inversion of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, well, in IHNMIMS the Jax analogue, Ted, is the only human who survives, so in TADC, perhaps he is the only human who doesn't?
Jax is someone who has repeatedly had the opportunity to reach out, to open up, to let himself be vulnerable, to trust. The other characters in the Circus, over and over and over again, have extended him far more grace than he has earned, and every single time he has rejected them and responded with hostility, or even with outright betrayal.
He is, as the Scottish play goes, "in blood Stepp'd so far that, should I wade no more; Returning were as tedious as go o'er."
Jax certainly seems to believe this. He seems to bitterly hate himself, and be deeply mired in survivor's guilt and identity crisis. I don't think he believes there is any redemption for him. I think he believes that for him, he can either be his archetype (his mask, his rabbit skin suit), or else he can be nothing and die/abstract.
That fragile, toxic identity is all he has, and the more the other members of the Circus try to reach out and help him, the more he panics and lashes out and spirals deeper into his neurosis, because every offer of help is a threat to that identity. For Jax, being vulnerable and open and honest is not uncomfortable, it is dangerous. He responds to Pomni's empathy and care with anger and threats, because in his hurting psyche, he is defending the only self he has available to cling to.
In an optimistic narrativeācertainly in a children's cartoonāthe resolution to that kind of character arc is catharsis and healing. Our tragic hero hits rock bottom, from which the empathy and care of his friends finally can lift him up, and, wounded but beginning to heal, he can step into a new day with the promise of a brighter future ahead.
But in a tragic narrative (and, sometimes, in life), the end point of a self-destructive character arc is... well, self-destruction. Sometimes, a person who is violently opposed to receiving the help they need, will be destroyed by that opposition. And there is value to telling those stories, too. There is emotional truth there.
I am personally 50/50 on what I think should happen to Jax. I very much want him to get better, to be pulled off the very brink at the last minute, in part because I have at certain times and in certain ways been self-destructive in exactly the same ways he is. If he is saved before the end (and perhaps if he finally tries the estrogen), I will not be mad or unsatisfied.
On the other hand, if the theme the show is building towards is that in an absurd and stagnant world, the only things we can truly hold on to is each other, and that only care and community can save us, and that we must find the strength to be vulnerable with one another, and the strength to accept the hand that is offered us...
Well, that theme hits a lot harder if the story is willing to show why the thing it is arguing is important. "You must find it in yourself to reach out, in spite of everything to be vulnerable, in spite of everything to be brave... or else this will be your fate."
As I've talked about before, I think the shape of a great tragedy is a knife's edge. I think a tragedy becomes compelling when you know, every step of the way, how it could have been averted; if you can see crystal clear in your mind the world where it never needed to happen.
I can see that knife's edge for Jax. I can see all the moments where his spiral could have been ended, where he could have caught himself before the fall. If his story ends in tragedy, I think it will be a good tragedy. I think it will be a satisfying tragedy. I think it will make a good story.
If Jax was a real person, he would deserve all the help and healing he could possibly need, same as anyone who is hurting. He would deserve every chance at forgiveness and redemption, he would deserve to be caught before he goes over the edge, he would deserve catharsis and the opportunity of a better future.
But fictional characters deserve nothing, except perhaps an ending. I want Jax to have an ending that is interesting, that is meaningful, that communicates something. A tragic ending would be that, I think.
I've seen a decent amount of discussion on the scene in Beach Episode where Zooble and Gangle have a conversation in Caine's office, especially on Jax's reaction to said conversation. The most common reading among the TADC subreddits that I saw was that Jax, triggered by Zooble and Gangle reaffirming how much they mean to each other, started remembering something about his relationship with Ribbit and began to hyperventilate.
I have a bit of a different theory on Jaxās reaction, however. Here's the transcript of the conversation for reference:
Gangle: A-Are... Are we still gonna be friends when we're... out there?
Zooble: Why wouldn't we be?
Gangle: It's just... gonna be strange. I've only known you like this. Will it be the same when it's... real?
Zooble: It always was real. Everything we felt. Everything we've done. Everything we are. It'll never leave us. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Gangle: (laughs and sniffles) Thank you... for always being there when I needed. (laughs tearfully as Jax pants softly.)
I personally don't believe Jax's reaction is mainly because their conversation is bringing up thoughts of Ribbit, I think he's actually reacting to what Zooble is saying: the possibility that everything they felt, done, and are was real.
Jaxās coping mechanism depends on three assumptions: that the Circus isnāt real, that the others arenāt fully people, and that his actions therefore have no lasting moral weight. Zooble's words directly challenge all three at once. This is why I think he responded so viscerally to this conversation. Their conversation threatens the one belief that allows him to function in the Circus: that nothing here truly matters. If Jax actually considers this possibility, that everything they experienced was real, then so was the harm he caused. He has been mistreating real people that were trapped in this situation with him for years. All of the cruelty and abuse that he inflicted on others as a ājokeā would be recontextualized in his mind.
Accepting Zoobleās perspective would mean accepting that the people heās treated as playthings were real people all along, and thatās something Jax just isnāt prepared to face yet.
I'm not going to deny that Pomni has flaws or anything but it is insane to me that people will claim that she was selfish and self-centered or acted like she was the only one who was suffering in the pilot episode/first few episodes like...you do realize this poor woman has just been thrust into a completely absurd situation and needs a few minutes to come to grips with it, that she was struggling to adjust to and understand this new world she is expected to now call home and that, yeah, that involves a certain amount of "self-centered" mourning and self-pity. Don't even bring up the "abandoning Ragatha for an exit door" debate when she was clearly not in her right mind when being chased by a literal monster and grappling with the fact that that could very well be her one day if she lets her sanity slip away, I am certain any one of the other circus members would have tried the same had an exit door appeared before them in the same situation.
You hold Pomni specifically to very high standards about what you think she should and should have done on her very first day in the circus but hell how do you think you would react in her shoes because I am certain no one else would have fared much better.
Yep yep yep. People in general hold Pomni to insane standards compared to the rest of the cast.
Can't have extremely lowkey and normal conflict with Ragatha without her being a terrible friend who doesn't deserve her. Can't dare to be nice to Jax without fans taking it to mean she condones everything he's ever done (including shit she wasn't even there for). Can't get in a fight with Jax without a different segment of fans saying she's the aggressor for 'pushing his boundaries.' Can't want to stop Caine from torturing her and her friends or else she's a two-faced hypocrite (because one time she was nice to a different AI that wasn't torturing her).
Is this because she's been generally characterized as kind and compassionate, so people expect her to be a flawless, needless therapy machine? Is it just because she's a woman? Is it because she's specifically a gnc woman that defies y/n-ification no matter how hard people try to scoop out all her personality and replace it with tropes? Idk, probably all three and then some, but it pisses me off.
in episode 7, there's a lot of emphasis placed on zooble's hand, specifically the one that looks like jax's, whilst they're talking about coming to terms with their dysphoria and body, showing their similarities and the fact that zooble's learned something that jax still needs to. i suppose it could be an acceptance of change in general, since the archetypes jax has sorted them into are unchanging, but...
in the next episode, their hands are linked again by this specifically being the transition between the scenes. zooble's arm is different this time, but their hand is still purple, and a pretty similar shade to jax's. i think this detail makes jax's torture scene read even more explicitly as being about gender dysphoria to me; zooble's clearly is, and their tortures are deliberately linked together. it's the setup and payoff of zooble and jax both struggling with their bodies and their genders
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
Before I Say One Word, Because You People Kinda Scare Me: This is an essay that explores Jax and Gangleās relationship. As such it will contain significant discussion of Jax as a character and the things that make him tick. My attempts to examine him as a three-dimensional person are NOT me trying to make excuses for or wave away his actions. I shouldnāt need to say this, but I do. Please be normal.
---
So, full transparencyā this is an essay I started more so with questions than a definitive answer in mind. Mainly, Jax and Gangleās dynamic is one that has always scratched at my brain, though I had trouble putting the Why of that into words. While their relationship is⦠not one I would define as good or healthy, to say the very least, these two do have an add sort of bond that runs under all of their interactions. This is my attempt to unravel whatās going on with these two, what it does for The Amazing Digital Circus, and why I in particular find it so compelling.
(~2.9k words under the cut)
āWeāve Been Together for Every Team Adventure in the Pastā
For starters, Gangle and Jax seem to have been⦠something of a package deal, in the pre-canon Circus? I say this mainly because Gangleās friendship with Zooble, and her corresponding attempts to distance herself from Jax, are treated like a shift in the group dynamic. In āUntitled,ā Jax directly comments on this friendship like itās something new:
Her comedy mask still breaks every say. Does she think hanging out with Zooble is gonna magically fix that? (8:01)
The implication here is that, by spending time with Zooble, Gangle is breaking some status quo; in Jaxās eyes specifically, sheās going outside of her role (the Sad One) and trying to have something (happiness) not meant for her. In the following episode, Jax not only tries to team up with Gangle as if itās habitā which it apparently is, if āweāve been together on every team adventureā is anything to go byā but tries to outright force her back onto his team when she elects to go with Zooble.
This leads me to believe that Gangle and Jax were closer at some point. This isnāt to say that whatever connection they had before was good, or that they were best friends or anything (notably she isnāt among the silhoutted attackers in his torture scene in āhjsakldfhlā), just that there was a time when Gangle and Jax being side-by-side was taken for granted.
Iām also very interested by the line āShe likes when Iām mean to her, though!ā (āUntitled,ā 8:13). This is certainly not the case in any interaction we ever see; thereās no sense of playfulness or familiarity in the way Jax teases Gangle, and it becomes explicitly clear in āThey All Get Gunsā that Jaxās treatment of her makes her feel scared and dehumanizedā
Zooble: āYouāre a human. youāre not his toy.ā
Gangle: āIt sometimes doesnāt feel that way.ā (14:48)
But I do get the sense, from how the former line is delivered, that Jax believes what heās sayingā or at least really wants to. So, why? Why does he say this, how can he believe it, why have him say this line in the first place?
One way to take this is that, while it isnāt true now, āshe likes when Iām mean to herā was true in the past. I find this⦠not impossible? Itās not outside the realm of believability that Jax and Gangle used to have a more lighthearted, bantery relationship, where Jax would tease Gangle with far less bite, in a way that didnāt make Gangle feel less than human. Maybe their relationship degraded from that into⦠this, as Jax spiraled into the worst version of his coping mechanisms.
But I tend to think that this line has more to do with Jaxās understanding of his fellow performers as living out archetypes: they all have a role, and staying in it is the only good that anyone can accomplish in the Circus. And since heās the funny Bugs Bunny type and sheās the perpetually depressed Eeyore, then his constant picking on her is only natural, right? She must secretly like it, right?
This is all, obviously, Intense Cope on Jaxās part. I donāt think that Jax is someone who, with his mind in normal working order, would have any issues with his sense of right and wrong. I believe a massive part of why he cannot, ever, divorce himself from his archetype-based worldview, is that if he ever let himself make the connection between āthese are real people with real emotionsā ā āI have hurt these real people and their real emotions very badly,ā the guilt would crush him. He canāt handle the thought of dealing that guilt, especially not alone. And he has made himself so very alone. So, she likes when heās mean to her. She has to.
āHow Are You Supposed to Like the Part of Yourself That Just⦠Makes You Worse Than Everyone Else?ā
Adding onto the weird almost-bond these two seem to have shared, Gangle and Jax also have a lot in common. Mainly, theyāre the two characters in the show most associated with the idea of masks and masking.
Gangle, obviously, has her mask avatar gimmick: a default tragedy mask face that she tries in vain to cover up with a happier comedy mask persona. The gimmick also continues with the manic mask in āFast Food Masquerade,ā where it becomes a stand-in for the concept of her masking her emotions in a situation (i.e. work) where she canāt take it off.
Itās less immediately explicit with Jax, but as the show goes on it becomes clear that Jaxās default smiley jerkass expression is itself a mask, not just in the sense that itās often a cover for what heās really feeling, but in the sense that he can essentially āturn offā any other expression and slip into this persona at any time.
[VD: a close-up shot of Jax's face from "They All Get Guns." He starts with an angry, disturbed expression, then suddenly pauses as his face shifts unnaturally to an eerie smile. End VD.]
Symbolically, a mask is insincerity, covering up your true personality with a lie for the sake of safety from (real or perceived) threat. In the language of this show, a mask is a pretty universal negative: despite the security a mask offers, hiding under a persona like this actually keeps the mask-wearer from achieving the humanity, connection, and internal purpose that allows for long-term survival in the Circus.
For Gangle, Iāve already spoken at length about how the mask gimmick her avatar came with dehumanizes her to herself and those around her. And Jaxās insistence on wearing his mask keeps him locked in a self-destructive spiral that also pushes away anyone that could see him as human.
Itās telling that in Gangle and Jaxās respective Danganronpa executions, both of them revolve around their masks:
Gangle is surrounded on all sides by easles painted with her comedy and tragedy masks. The easles, symbolic of Gangleās art and authenticity, get covered up and taken over by what the masks represent for her: on top of literally being a dehumanizing cartoon gag, theyāre heavily tied to her memories of her unfulfilling past life and the emotions she constantly had to mask to perform her job. These symbols are painted on top of the easels, literally filling up all the space sheād normally use to express her true self.
Jax gets the outer later of his skin torn off by a cackling crowd, with special emphasis given by the camera to his face as it slowly peels off. With this outer layer gone, Jax loses the ability to put on his default Jackass Face with its signature wide, blank grin. For Jax, the idea of going maskless makes him feel stripped down; there are clear parallels here to his crippling fear of vulnerability. Thereās also something to be said about his ears and tailā ākind of the pinnacle of masculinityāā getting ripped off with this mask, showing that what heās so scared of revealing is that his true self lacks these things BUT THATāS NOT THE POINT OF THIS ESSAY AND OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ALREADY SAID THIS BETTER THAN I CAN but anyway transfem Jax is canon in my heart.
Of course, Jax and Gangleās shared mask metaphor is experienced differently between them. Gangleās disguise is a glass theatre mask: brittle, obvious, and constantly on the brink of shattering. Meanwhile, Jaxās disguise is a rubbery second face: much more hidden, durable, and comprehensive in what it covers.
Thus, Gangle doesnāt actually succeed at hiding much of herself. She spends the earliest episodes of the show defined by her efforts to mask, and yet sheās still better known for her tragedy face than her comedy persona. Pomni is well-aware that Gangle has āissuesā sheās dealing with as early as their first genuine interaction in āFast Food Masqueradeā (16:23), and the archetype Jax assigns her is The Sad One. Her mask started cracking down the middle long ago, to the point everyone can tell itās there, but she still clings to it because without a support system, thereās nothing else she can cling to. But itās a double-edged sword, because clinging to it prevents her from actually seeking the support she deserves, or from feeling as fully human as everyone else.
Meanwhile, Jax puts on a much more persuasive performance; he has Pomni convinced thereās nothing more to him until āFast Food Masquerade,ā and he has Ragtha convinced that heās a genuine monster who hates her and will corrupt Pomni to spite her up until āThey All Get Guns.ā Note that while Iām saying these conclusions are factually incorrect, and the audience should know that, thatās not me saying that these were unreasonable conclusions for these characters to come to given the information they had. Jax plays a skin-deep jackass very convincingly, and this also keeps him from having any kind of support system, because understandably, no one wants to be around him long enough to try.
That being said, while the themes and details differ, the ultimate pattern remains the same for both of them. The masks leave them distant, dehumanized, and unable to seek support from others.
On top of this, itās possible that Gangle might relate more to Jaxās less-than-healthy coping mechanisms than it would seem on the face of things. After all, the Gangle we know is pretty sweet and gentle. However, from what we see of Gangle in āmanager modeā in āFast Food Masquerade,ā sheās also⦠not the boss most of us would want to have in a food service job. Of course, thereās the arguable influence of her Manic Mask and the general cartoonish nature of the Circus escalating everythingā this is not me saying that real-life Gangle was as unpleasant to her employees as how she acts in the fast food adventure, much less that she was ever Jax-level mean.
That being said, there are definite parallels to be drawn between the way Gangle acts when she does successfully mask in manager mode, and how Jax treats people, well, all the time (and, giving credit where itās due, this point was heavily inspired by @j-shrineās comment on this post. Thanks btw, your comment really helped jog my thinking!). The intensity changes for sure, but thereās the same forced smile, the same denial of anyoneās emotional depth in favor of the roles theyāre all playing:
Gangle: We canāt spend all night out here talking about our feelings, weāve got work to do! (āFast Food Masquerade,ā 16:44)
Jax: All we are now is a bunch of cartoon characters⦠so whatās the point of pretending weāre not? (āThey All Get Guns,ā 10:04)
To be clear, this isnāt equating Gangle and Jaxās actions, or their impact on othersā this is more to point out a similarity in their psychology. They have this shared tendency to fall back on plastering a smile, even when itās to the detriment of themselves and the people around them.
āIt Wasnāt Real⦠So It Doesnāt Matter(ā¦?)ā
Thereās one scene in this show that makes more sense when you take into account the parallels between Gangle and Jax, a scene that I think is commonly misunderstood: the couch scene in āhjsakldfhl.ā
Iāve seen people characterizing this as 1) Gangle forgiving Jax, or 2) fawning to appease him, and to be honest I donāt see either of these ideas.
First off, saying that someone is right, in a factual sense, is not forgiveness. Not wanting to see the only people she has left tear each other apart over a trick Caine played on them, because of a situation that wouldnāt have ever ended well? Also not forgiveness.
And the tone she uses in this scene just doesnāt convey fear or empty fawning to me. As previously established, Gangle is a character who wears her heart on her sleeve more than she wants to. If her words were supposed to be insincere, please-donāt-hurt-me appeasing, weād hear that. And we donāt.
So I take Gangleās words in the couch scene to be a genuine attempt at conflict resolution and empathy. We could, of course, argue until the sun explodes over whether Jax deserves anyoneās empathy, or whether he deserves to be mired in conflict with the others until everyone abstractsā ultimately, I think ādeservingā is kinda fake (especially since we are talking about characters and not people) and the more productive question is this: What is Gangle actually trying to accomplish by speaking up in this scene? More than that, what is the show trying to accomplish by having the scene go this direction?
For example, in this scene, Gangle getting Zooble to back off isnāt even really about Jax, not specifically. After the first lineā āheās right, thoughāā she conspicuously shifts her language to be more group-oriented, taking the conversation away from being just about Jaxā āwe could argue about it and hurt each other all day long, but thatās not gonna help anybody.ā She lands not on the conclusion that āwhat he did is fine, actually,ā but on āwe need to take care of each other,ā a statement directly in line with the showās thematic core.
Not only that, but what is Gangle actually doing in this scene? Not plainly agreeing with Jaxā itād be impossible to get from Jaxās assertion to Gangleās conclusion. Jax sure doesnāt think they all need to be there for each other; the idea probably makes him nauseous. Gangle takes what Jax says and redirects it, going in a completely different direction than where Jax was trying to lead the group.
It feels poetic to me that Gangle, so similar to Jax and yet so different, would be the one to snap off the first half of what Jax said and attach her own ending to it:
Jax: āThe adventure didnāt matterā ā SO ā āLeave me be, donāt you dare have any feelings about it or accuse me of having my own.ā
Gangle: āThe adventure didnāt matterā ā SO ā āHow we treat each other is the only thing left that does. Letās not lose sight of that.ā
āIām Actually Gonna be on A Team with Zooble!ā
Thereās something really compelling to me about the fact that this show has drawn parallels between Gangle and Jax time and time again, and yet very deliberately hasnāt taken this avenue to forge any lasting connection between the two.
Whatever dynamic Gangle and Jax may have had in the past, and whatever it had become by the start of canon, their relationship is almost nonexistent now. For Gangle, one of the most important parts of her character growth has been the personal distance sheās created between herself and Jax. Gangleās arc of learning to see herself as human again despite the Circusā⦠well, everything, has coincided with her simply no longer giving Jax the time of day.
What this also means is that, as Jax goes through his arc of spiraling further and further down, Gangle is not the one leading the charge on trying to save his life. Sheās too busy making out with making art with Zooble to be point blank on his mental breakdown, and good for her. None of this means that she wants Jax to abstract or doesnāt careā she also looks concerned in āhjsakldfhlā when Zooble brings up the topic of him abstractingā but she has decidedly not made helping him her responsibility.
But even if these parallels arenāt going to lead to anything resembling connection or reconciliation for Gangle and Jax, their dynamic is richer because of them. For instance, the shared mask metaphor puts Jaxās anger at Gangleās newfound happiness and confidence in a new light: heās not just mad that sheās a less suitable target for his mockery, heās seethingly jealous that she took off her mask while he still canāt let himself. Thereās also more irony to be found in his downward spiral, because Gangle is right there giving him a fucking blueprint for how to unmask, but in fear, he chooses to double down instead.
Looking at their dynamic this way also adds another layer of tragedy. Gangle and Jaxās relationship was something terrible, but it didnāt have to be. I can see a world where Jax is even, say, 15% less awful, and these two are good for each other. The groundwork is all there for them to understand each other so easily, to just get the otherās pain without needing to explain it.
Plus, with their shared interests (I know Jax likes anime. Even aside from the specific knowledge of anime genres I just feel this one in my bones Iām afraid), I can see Gangleās relative unabashedness in what she likes helping Jax tone down his insecurity. In turn, I think a kinder version of Jax couldāve actually teased some confidence out of Gangle, with more lighthearted, playful ribbing that encourages her to (metaphorically) hit back.
Even assuming the happiest ending possible from episode 9, Iām not sure that this version of their relationship is within the realm of possibility anymore. The fact that it couldāve existed and doesnāt is another casualty of Jaxās archetypal worldview, and (to zoom out) what the Circus does to the people who live there.
oh, you "read" the "book" and want to "discuss" your "interpretation" of its "themes"? How watsonian of you. i applied doylist analysis by looking into the author's brain and intuiting all their intentions directly.
Okay Iāve said Iād stay away from in-depth Caine analysis until we learn more about his fate in episode 9 and I! mostly meant that!
But I did have one little brain worm I wanted to get out. Iāve seen a lot of interesting speculation on Bubbleās ātrueā nature lately, and mainly Iāve seen a lot of disagreement between these two stances:
Bubble is a manifestation of some part of Caineās psychology (i.e. his intrusive thoughts, his repressed shame, etc.)
Bubble is whatās left of the blue dot we see in the prologue of āhjsakldfhl.ā Heās the AI Caine ate sticking around to haunt him.
I think both of these stances bring a lot of fascinating implications, and importantly: I donāt think they contradict each other.
Crucially, Caine didnāt just destroy the AI that was supposed to replace him. Technically, he didnāt destroy them at all. He ate them. Consumed them and made them a part of himself. There are even hints that the AI we know today as āCaineā is less straightforwardly just the red dot, and more a product of the merging of the blue and the red.
So, if you ask me, itās more than possible that Bubble could be whatās left of that blue dot, while also being part of Caineās mind. Because that other AI wasnāt just killed, but absorbed by Caine. Everything that made up themā the code, the programming, the personality if you willā still exists in him.
This would also explain how Bubble seems simultaneously in and out of Caineās control; if he were part of Caine, but also something else. The part of him that remembers being the attacked instead of the attacker.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
I think the best way I could describe Ragatha as a character is how sheās āa kind person with a lot of love in her heart but doesnāt know how to express her love due to her never receiving an ounce of genuine kindness in her lifeā. Which is probably why she often comes off as patronising even when she doesnāt mean it that way. Poor girl doesnāt know how to talk to people normally because sheās only learned how to fawn all her life
anything u think about YOUR life after 10pm is bs to be ignored. anything u think about a characterās life after 10pm should be posted about online and expanded on for paragraphs. :)
Chronic Character Understander @tadc-analysis - Tumblr Blog | Tumlook