#analysis essay

I don’t know how much Be-Papas researched into Hindu mythos, so this might not have any credence at all. HOWEVER, I’ve been having this thought for a while and was wondering what Utena Tumblr would think?

So, episode 3 and its connection to Draupadi’s humiliation in the Mahabharata. For context, Draupadi is the wife of all five of the Pandava brothers (long story) and she, in very Rose Bride fashion, is treated like an object and is lost in a bet to the king Duryodhana. In the text, she is deemed a “whore” for having five husbands (first of all, not even her fault, second of all, sound familiar? She’s little more than a status symbol to all of them as well..) and the king orders her to be humiliated by stripping her. She prays to the lord Krishna to save her, and he makes her dupatta (the scarf/shawl in some Indian clothing) endless to the point it makes it impossible to disrobe her of it.

Anthy also gets humiliated out of animosity by a figure jealous of her romantic interest (Nanami to Utena —> king to husbands? Kind of.. Nanami also exerts a lot of power and has a lot of followers in this situation), also by stripping, as apparently the worst thing that could happen to a woman is having her purity stripped away. And Utena saves her by creating a dress out a tablecloth, which oddly resembles a shawl/dupatta? Maybe I’m making connections out of nothing.

Interesting that Utena is being portrayed as a godlike figure in that case. Not to mention that Krishna is an AVATAR of an actual god, similar to how Utena is like a second coming of Dios in a way? Perpetuating the ideals of a god? And DIOS IN SPANISH MEANS GOD? Am I making sense? Or am I word vomiting?

The five husbands are relevant in a way that… remember how the student council has five duelists (interchanging both Utena and Nanami.. maybe Utena can be paralleled to Arjuna) who all use Anthy for their own desires, even non romantic or sexual in nature? And how she’s basically in a blunt rotation with all of them? Draupadi is basically in a blunt rotation with all of her husbands since she’s stuck being married to all of them. Waiting for a god (A PRINCELY IDEAL!! AN IDEALISTIC VERSION OF A GOOD MAN!!) who may or may not come and save them? AHHH

I hope this made sense.. my bindi post had me brainrotted about Anthy’s parallels to Indian and Hindu culture.. if you have any questions feel free to ask away! And PLEASEE add your thoughts if you have any <3

First and foremost, though, I must provide some context. The AU revolves around all of the Smiling Critters' — Dogday and Catnap's specifically — lives in the afterlife following the events of Poppy Playtime: Chapter Three. Catnap desires to make amends with all of them and repent for his previous sins, voluntarily starting his own redemption arc of sorts. One by one, he slowly gains the trust and forgiveness of all of the SC members — Dogday being the last and hardest one to convince into giving him another chance (for undeniably understandable reasons). As they all move on, their pendants begin to heal and fix themselves up. In this AU, the state of the medallions reflects the mental state of the wearers. The worse the mental health of a character is, the more cracked and broken the accessory will be.

Now, the reason behind why I have fallen in love with this AU is due to just how nuanced the writing is for the characters and how it does villain-redemption-afterlife AU right. Since the goal for these types of AUs is to have the villain become viewed better in the eyes of those they wronged, people will typically twist the story to make it so the villain was actually innocent all along and simply controlled controlled against their will. This way, any resentment the victims were harboring becomes invalid, making the 'redemption' clean and easy to accomplish, since it's made to appear like one was never needed in the first place. This can be seen in several fandoms (particularly the Gacha versions of them) like Undertale, FNaF, and Little Nightmares. You see, Frisk/William/Six never harmed anyone — they/he/she were/was possessed and manipulated by Chara/Glitchtrap/Shadow Six. Excuses like these are created solely for the purpose of justifying them. It would've been so easy for the creator, Not Glue, to take the same path with Catnap, yet they didn't. While "Mourning and Mending" does indeed utilize creativity liberty and the fact that it's an AU to its advantage in painting Catnap in a more sympathetic light, it never dismisses the trauma he caused the other Critters and instead forces him to be held accountable for it. I personally find that honorable and it leads to a much more interesting story.

Anyway, that was my short ramble and/or analysis on my most recent AU hyperfixation. I'll most likely copy and paste the two body paragraphs for my full analysis essay when I end up writing it. I just wanted to gush about it right now.

If anyone's curious or intrigued in the AU, here's a playlist I created of all of the animatics, animations, and comic dubs I found on YouTube for it. I would highly reccomend checking it out, even if you're not invested in the lore of Poppy Playtime. I mean, I'm not, yet I have become obsessed about it.

Woah a Danganronpa rant in 2026? Crazy work. I don't know how I skipped this phase when I was younger, but that goddamn Kyoko meme peer pressured me and now its my new favorite thing. I've only been into Danganronpa for a month, and I've only played Trigger Happy Havoc, but I wanna rant about something. Leon & Sayaka are so fucking interesting to me as far as characters go. Everyone knows about the first trial, Sayaka tried to murder Leon and Leon retaliated by killing her in self defense (Albeit taken too far, hence Celeste's comment she made; "You had plenty of time to think about what you were doing, yet you still decided to kill her.") But I mean, even down to their character design its clear they're made to contrast & compliment each other.

Those who are deeper in knowledge know that Sayaka & Leon were the first characters created for the game, originally called Distrust. Their original designs were obviously different, blonde Leon lives in my nightmares….

But their final designs tell a story in my eyes.

So, my dad and I had a very serious discussion about ACOSF, you know, the important things in life. And we got stuck on Cassian because, honestly, that guy is just…weird. You can’t just throw around terms like “weapons master” and “commander” and then act like a brooding teenager who's constantly seeking approval. And then I wondered—what did make Cassian turn out like this? Is there a support group somewhere for fae males who struggle with validation issues? I’m starting to think there should be.

Don’t get me wrong, I love sarcastically hating on Cassian—especially when I joke about hoping Elain’s prophecy comes true and makes things a little more interesting. But when I pause the snark for a second, I can’t help but think it’s kind of sad, really. Cassian’s situation is actually tragic if you break it down.

I wrote this because I saw a Captain America edit with this song and thought “wow. This kinda gay”

This is me basically analyzing every lyric of the song and relating them to Stucky. Lol

DNR if you can't handle spoilers.

CA- Captain America

First movie- CA: The First Avenger

Second movie- CA: The Winter Soldier

Third movie- CA:Civil War

TFATWS- The Falcon And The Winter Soldier

Steve- Steve Rogers, Captain America

Bucky- James Barnes, The Winter Soldier

The Captain America Edit

A playlist I made for them cuz I’m extra

(I wrote this in under two hours; Apologies in advance if you think it’s messy.)

I got boulders on my shoulders 

Collar bones begin to crack

—Boulders on my shoulders symbolize pressure. This applies to both Steve, who feels the weight of being Captain America, and Bucky, who feels the pressure of being Russia's lethal weapon. Steve was pressured into choosing between saving his best friend or playing by the rules as Captain America. Or in other words, he must choose between his duties as a hero, or his personal loyalties. Meanwhile, Bucky carries the burden of the actions he was forced to do as The Winter Soldier. The relentless torment and psychological effects from his past pressure him further. This pressure impacts his identity and his efforts to forget who he was and what he did.

(TLDR; Steve and Bucky face lots of pressure from their personas as Captain America and The Winter Soldier, while also dealing with personal pressures they have as normal human beings.)

There is very little left of me and it's never coming back 

There are certain things you ask of me

There are certain things I lack 

—The line "very little left of me", relates to Bucky's struggle with his fragmented identity. His memories are wiped and he is still, having trouble remembering all of them. "There are certain things you ask of me" refers to Steve begging Bucky to remember him even though he can't. The line can also be related to Steve's question in the first CA movie, which is "Are you ready to follow Captain America into the jaws of death?”.

The beginning, we were winning

Now we're just making a fact

—"We were winning" relates to Steve and Bucky's adventure in the first CA movie where they were still winning against their opponents and had each other.

What's it matter anymore?

You believe the lies I tell

There's no meaning to words

But we still sing these songs well

—Despite the betrayals, missteps, and moments of deception, they manage to forgive one another. Steve and Bucky’s whole relationship is built on trust and loyalty that they forged with their bittersweet experiences together. From having each other’s backs in the battlefield, to defending the other from their own teammates (AKA my fave CA movie, CA: Civil War :]).

And we all left it alone

I'm sure it will work itself out fine

They are playing with your numbers

And we are running out of time

—If they didn't meddle in the war, they wouldn't be in the mess they're in. "We are running out of time" can mean two things. One: when they were on the run from the government AND the Avengers (context: Steve became a fugitive in order to protect Bucky. [this fr the same man who left him for a girl...]),they didn't have time to reconnect or reminisce with each other. Their lives were consumed by the necessity of survival. Two: When Bucky blipped right after Steve had just gotten him back, and then when Bucky returned, Steve left again (voluntarily!) for a life that wasn't his, with another version of a woman he used to love (note: version, as in he went to another universe/timeline). After everything they've been through, they never really had the chance to be alone. Their lives were focused on war after war, fight after fight, but no matter what, they never left each other's side.

(TLDR; They never had the time to talk and be with each other because they are always too busy running for their lives and saving one another.)

You're a killer and I'm your best friend

I think it's unfair, your situation

—"killer"= Bucky, best friend= Steve. It was no secret to anyone who's watching that Steve felt guilty and blamed himself for what happened to Bucky.  Despite Bucky's actions being beyond his control, Steve struggles with the weight of Bucky’s suffering and the role he believes he played in it. He views Bucky not as the killer he was forced to become but as the friend he grew up with. Steve’s biased belief in Bucky is that he is and will always be innocent, no matter what. This is why he would protect Bucky until the end, even if it means being considered a war criminal.

You say I'm changing,

Sorry I didn't know I had to stay the same

Can we talk about this later?

Your voice is driving me insane

—the first two lines refer to the second CA movie, where Steve saw Bucky for the first time again after his apparent death. At that time, Bucky was still The Winter Soldier and didn't recognize Steve, which is why he had "changed" and "didn't stay the same." The last two lines refer to the third CA movie when Steve finally captures Bucky, hoping to get answers and help prove his innocence. However, Bucky was still on the run, and the Winter Soldier programming was still affecting him. He was dealing with trauma as well, making it hard for him to talk.

(TLDR; Bucky is going insane cuz of stress and Steve's pleas are just making things worse.)

I try to write you poems, but the words they don't make sense

The hand tries to grip the pencil, but the fingers are too tense

—This line is Steve talking, if you replace "poems" with drawings. There's a specific scene from the second CA movie where Steve is trying to sketch a building but he can't focus because he keeps thinking of Bucky. There's even a zoom-in on his hand where you can see him gripping his pencil too hard.

I try to show emotion, but my eyes won't seem to wet

I'd love to tell you stories, but I can't remember how they went

—This line is Bucky talking. After being a killing machine for more than a decade, his memories are still fragmented and his emotions are suppressed. In their fight scene in the second CA movie, Steve keeps asking Bucky to remember him. Steve even says their famous line, "I'm with you, till the end of the line." while Bucky is actively trying to kill him. This manages to unlock a memory for Bucky. In the third CA movie, when Steve begs Bucky to remember what happened while he was The Winter Soldier, Bucky still cannot remember. No matter how much Bucky tries and wants to help, he simply cannot with his memories missing.

(TLDR; first line is Bucky in the second CA movie. The second line is Bucky in the third CA movie.)

You're a flashlight in a dark room or the loneliest black out

You were all we had left after it all was filtered out

—The first line is Bucky talking about Steve. Bucky has always felt that Steve was the guiding light in his life, pulling him out of the darkest moments. In the series TFATWS, Bucky says "And if he was wrong about you, then he was wrong about me." Here, "he" refers to Steve. Bucky thinks he doesn't deserve forgiveness, yet Steve tirelessly tries to prove to him that he does, again and again.The second line is Steve talking about Bucky. Steve feels that he owes his life to Bucky after the countless times Bucky took care of him. In the second CA movie, Steve said, "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Before Steve became Captain America, when he was just a scrawny guy, Bucky worked countless jobs to make ends meet. When Steve was always sick, Bucky would nurse him. Even while they were fighting in the second CA movie, Bucky dragged Steve out of the water to prevent him from dying. Bucky was still being controlled by Hydra at this time, yet he managed to snap out of it for a moment and recognized Steve (this was right after Steve said IWYTTEOTL). Steve and Bucky are two sides of the same coin. They balance each other out. Without the other, they wouldn't be where they are. Without their dynamic, the CA movies wouldn't be half as good as they are. 

(TLDR; Bucky sees Steve as hislight, someone who believes in his redemption despite Bucky's doubts, while Steve feels indebted to Bucky for always being there, even before he became Captain America. They balance each other.)

I'm turning you on in a dark room right before we both pass out

I'll turn you on when I need you, but the batteries ran out

—For the first line, as I said above, they relied on one another even in their darkest times. The second line on the other hand, is Bucky after the blip. He needed Steve to help and guide him in adjusting to this new world he was thrown into. Sadly, "the batteries ran out" means Steve is gone. Despite everything they went through together, Steve left Bucky to face things alone. (F.U STEVE ROGERS)

You're a werewolf and I'm a full moon

And all your very worst enemies will be gone soon

I think you're changing

Don't worry, you don't have to stay the same

Can we talk about this later?

Your voice is driving me insane

For context, I just watched Beauty and the Beast (very good movie btw, nice 8/10 romance film), but I had some issues with it. These issues are mostly pretty nitpicky, but one of the big ones is how unnecessary the rose is.

For how much I see that rose in all the promotional material, how it's synonymous with Beauty and The Beast as a film, that rose, as well as most of the intro backstory, are completely irrelevant to the plot of Beauty and the Beast. The time limit, for example, doesn't give any actual urgency to Belle and the Beast's love. There are slight mentions of the rose starting to wilt, but the rose is nowhere near prominent enough to convince the audience Belle needs to immediately fall in love with the Beast.

As for the intro, my main issue is that NO ONE EVER TELLS BELLE ABOUT THE CURSE. Sure she figures out the castle's enchanted, but she never actually tells Belle about what happened! I thought that Chip would tell her something near the climax, but nope. Nothing. It's never mentioned in the slightest, and while that is good for most of the story, makes sure there isn't any pressure on Belle to fall in love with the Beast, I think she should have been told SOMETHING at least.

Most importantly though, it doesn't matter if Belle found out about the curse at the climax, because it wouldn't change anything about what she does! Which then begs the question, why the hell do we even need the intro! The Rose!

We don't, and I'll show how nothing is lost by cutting out the intro backstory and the rose. We start the movie at Belle going to the village, movie goes the same up until Belle sneaking to the West Wing. Here, Belle is caught messing with the Beast's human portrait, the Beast gets mad like he did at the rose, Belle runs away, movie continues as normal only without a rose, add in some more direct dialogue when Belle goes to save her dad about why Belle and the Beast needed to fall in love, notably , have the Beast say something like "I was cursed to be a beast, but your love saved me" after the big kiss, happy ending for all.

Some disclaimers: I am a fanfic author and I do personally ship the two yet I will try to keep my thoughts as objective as possible for the sake of this post. I will include my perosnal points of view as well but 'll keep them separated from the "canon facts." Contains manga spoilers.

Are they gay?

This is a funny question yet it's the best way to start in my opinion. Short answer: they don't fit inside a label. I think the best word to describe their bond is intimate. Emotionally, it's at a place in the middle of love and appreciation and I don't think this balance is constant, sometimes it might have leaned more to one side, sometimes more to another. From an emotional point of view, they could very well be in a platonic situation.

The physical aspect is not a detrimental side for either of them in regards to one another. What makes their connection so special is the fact that it happened before Gojo Satoru became officially the strongest, before he was burdened with so many things. However, he was never free. The beginning of his very existence caused a deep disturbance within the Jujutsu world. For Satoru there was never a childhood, there was never a normal life, only a path of emptiness.

Gege is good at making his characters. Especially the villains/ good guys parallels. Just how Yuji came to the realization that he is Mahito and Mahito is him, the same parallel is drawn between Gojo and Sukuna, only Sukuna is what Gojo would've been without Geto. Both the strongest sorcerers, the difference is that Satoru got surrounded by love and his mentality evolved from "the weak ones are pathetic, I don't want to look after them" to "I will push everybody up along with me through teaching and have pupils even stronger than me, allies."

Back in highschool, Gojo was young and somewhat arrogant. His power was like a blanket for him; despite not understanding Geto's philosophical things and not agreeing with them, Gojo also, unintentionally, gave a meaning to the things happening to him "I am the strongest."

Even in the current ongoing fight (Sukuna vs Goatjo), the panels sometimes speak about love, but not in the way we would normally think; it's about the feelings of the strongest, different from the perception of average folks like us. Nurture vs Destruction.

Gojo had the power of being evil without any repercussions. Being the strongest, nothing could hurt him. He always showed his compassion towards Riko through small gestures, such as staying more at the beach, teasing her etc. Him wanting to go on a killing rampage under the pretext of 'not feeling anything' was Gojo's way of showing his disgust at the fact that hundreds of people were celebrating the death of an innocent girl. Being the strongest didn't matter. She was dead.His conviction shattered. However, he had so much trust in Geto's morality and mentality that he followed his advice. That is the kind of person he was for him. Even in Jjk 0, Suguru said that he didn't think Satoru would have any trust left for him— he did.

The only one who could understand him, speak with him, treat him like a human. His one and only. Gojo liked the fact that they were the strongest together because he also had someone to lean on.

In the manga, Naoya, the head of a powerful branch of the Zen'in clan talks about Toji. He said that as a child, he expected him to be a miserable man since he had 0 cursed energy yet when he saw how powerful and proud he was he got scared of him. He mentions that the only one being able to understand Toji was Gojo.

Only... Gojo is stronger. Toji couldn't understand him, he called him a monster. He got drowned in petty feelings characteristic to what Sukuna would call weakness and got himself killed.

Gege also mentioned in an interview that he wanted to give his characters abilities similar to Bankai (Gege legit started making manga because of Bleach, what a God) Bankai is a reflection of the soul in Bleach projected onto the swords of the Shinigami. Same with Domain Expansions in JJK. Gojo's literally repels everybody around him, it's called Infinite Void and it shows the way in which he looks at the world and views himself. Untouchable. Out of reach. An overflow of information.

Even if Bleach is a pretty stereotypical Shonen creation (don't get me wrong, I love it but the plot is pretty basic) when the protag. Ichigo was fighting against the main big powerful villain, Aizen, he said that he could feel Aizen's sword wavering with loneliness. This very concept applies to the powerful peaks of Jujutsu Kaisen. The path of power is lonely. Kenjaku himself said that Gojo is truly in his element when he is fighting on his own, the ones around him can become a liability really quickly. This of course, when it's about fights where he has to put in some efforts. That's why nobody is interfering with his Sukuna duel.

Satoru started being truly alone after Suguru left.

Another waver of his conviction. But this time, not only about not being strong enough. He didn't do enough. Ever since Gojo unlocked his techniques and became powerful, he wasn't allowed to be human anymore. He had to do mission after mission, take over the missions unfinished by others, he was expected to do everything and be the saviour of the Jujutsu World. With Suguru, he was human. Yet, just as Suguru said 'it was a busy summer'. No more space for one another.

Geto was also strong. A special grade. He too became lonely.

For Sugru, having a meaning was fundamental. His cursed technique was a constant reminder of how awful non-sorceres are. He would eat their malice, who tasted like a cloth wiped in puke and shit and whereas he understood Satoru, nobody understood him. He himself said that nobody has any idea just how bad curses taste.

When Itadori was eating Sukuna's fingers in the beginning, he would choke, cough complain a lot. Geto had over 2000 curses. He had exorcised and ingested again and again and again. The only humanity around him was Satoru, his best friend. And that got taken away by the Jujutsu world and he remained alone with his own despair. He went on his own path, feeling useless and misunderstood, still viewing Satoru as a friend but also as a term of comparison. He got left without meaning and so he forged himself a new one. He became really similar to Sukuna, with no regard for the ones beneath him, the monkeys. But also, ironically enough, Suguru stopped being the strongest. He viewed himself as weak. He doomed himself. He wanted to feel necessary— he was desperate. He thought he was saving the Jujutsu world.

They were probably meant for tragedy. And that's the sad part. Satoru would've outgrown him regardless but maybe Suguru wouldn't have chosen such a radical path. Toji's existence, an anomaly, broke the flow of their fate. (approx quote from manga) That's why he is more relevant to the story than people believe. Sure, he is sexy as fuck but Toji is literally the beginning and the end of an era, he is everything.

Gojo's second waver pushed him to become a teacher. He had grown and chose a smart path, preserving the youths, the future; no more mass murder. Suguru remained stagnant with his hatred and eventually died. For him, I'd say his life stoped the moment Riko died. His potential as a sorcerer came to a plateau. Everything came to an end so it was only a matter of time before his body died as well.

Back on Gojo's humanity. The funny thing is that this point was proven by the readers of the manga themselves, lol. When Satoru got sealed, he got shat on hardcore. Like, you can't imagine. Reddit and Discord servers were eating his ass up worse than they do now with Sukuna for using Mahoraga. Gojo got blamed for Nanami and Kugisaki (rip my angels, still praying for Nobara), he got blamed for Sukuna taking over Megumi and probably he blames himself too— what "mistake" did he make? Showing humanity when being met with the corpse of his best friend, his only catalyst, his only balance, the only one to ever make him feel normal and give him his Blue Spring, the most beautiful moments of his life. And Kenjaku knew that Suguru's corpse was the only thing to make Satoru waver. In the manga it's clearly stated that despite more than one minute having passed in his mind, physically he stood still for 6 seconds. Even his most regretfull, sorrowful crisis lasted him an inhumane amount of time.

And Gojo too, was the only thing that caused the remaints of Suguru's soul to attempt strangling Kenjaku. (which he admits has never happened before. and suguru is dead— gojo literally triggered the residues of his soul). That's what I mean by intimate.

Even if the concept of soul is often spoken about, their souls are connected. That's how much they mean for eachother.

Perosnally I find this relationship to be perfectly beautiful as it is, without any flaunt of erotica needed, kudos to Gege. I still enjoy writing angst and smut based on their dynamic tho XD. And I don't agree with the ones calling them straight and being so eager to deny them or resume this deep connection to just friends. Like sure, they are not gay-gay but they are... linked. More than friends, more than family. Gege themself said so when speaking about them. I think it's a very clear statement.