#author analysis

Yeah lol tbh I think he took advantage of two things with both OchaHimi + IZKT

1. He knew enough to know people didn’t (and wouldn’t) take WLW seriously - so he was able to up the queer factor on Himiko because people were already writing her and her interactions with Ochako off as unserious. Just kept playing that card under everyone’s nose knowing no one was giving it any mind.

2. Fujobait is a common marketing strategy, so he’d be able to get away with using it for multiple characters of he wanted to - but he didn’t and instead isolated Izuku and Katsuki’s “big” emotional scenes to unavoidable plot relevant movements.

I genuinely don’t think Ochako was a distraction though, I think she was “supposed” to fulfill the role she was placed into as the heroine but in his olders works Hori seemed to want to knock against those notions, and give her some individuality.

… so its not a coincidence to me Himiko “was created for Ochako”.

Even early on the writing was on the wall he wasn’t committed to making Ochako just Izuku’s love interest…unfortunately she ended up that way to the readers because he started treating her like a side character.

Also just an addendum - I do notice the strategy of most writers who are toying with queer elements is to basically make hide it from the executives/publishers and make it interwoven in the fabric of the plot to the point it cannot be removed from the foundation of the story. Not saying it’s 100% the case, just that its not unheard of.

Rebecca Sugar talks candidly about their strategy with that here:

As someone who lives out in the mountains, the lilacs are only just now beginning to fade away, and it has set me to thinking.

This site has WRECKED me, and I can only think of lilacs in terms of Sir Terry Pratchett and “The Glorious 25th of May,” even though the lilac generally blooms a week after that around here.

But, as in most things, Sir Pratchett remains a literary genius, and the lilacs aren’t really about the specific date. It’s about the seasons changing and what that brings.

Spring is when the sleeper wakes up. When humans shake off old thoughts of winter and have the energy to make changes, to be incensed, if need be, about things that have been going on for generations. When do protests happen? May into June.

Does weather play a part? Absolutely. It is easiest in Spring and Fall for outside activity and travel. But it is also about what is happening inside your mind and heart with a shifting of the seasons. Connection to the earth and the rest of humanity plays such a big part in making things RIGHT, whether we recognize it or not.

Pratchett recognized the pattern. I don’t know if he recognized it consciously, but the importance he put on those flowers makes me think he did.

I would credit that pattern recognition to his love of old things. History, folklore. Other people I also see as showing wisdom in their work- Neil Gaiman, the Green Brothers, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Douglas Addams, various writers of fantasy and science fiction- they enjoy history. They read folklore and mythology and other ancient tales. They delve into old things that connect humanity.

I guess what I am saying is really obvious, but…

If you enjoy storytellers who suddenly hit you with something that feels like TRUTH, some of that is an intentional care in thier stories, but some of that is thier brain chemistry being changed, as we put it, by some really ancient humanity.

I would suggest if you love Pratchett, love Gaiman, love some of the impactful storytellers, you should consider what made them so good. Consider not just thier works, not just newer wisdom, but ancient wisdom. Connect back to some of the roots of humanity.

Its so frustrating and I really wish people wouldn’t compare narusasu and bkdk so much outside of acknowledging its influence from Hori being a Naruto reader and him being a referential guy. MHA being stuck as Naruto’s successor and taking the blowback of people’s reader trauma from Kishimoto has been really frustrating from the perspective of someone who has no particular emotional attachments to Naruto. Like you said Kishi made comments referring to Naru//Sasu as brothers and threw in fujoshi/gay gags in the story, thats enough for me.

I fundamentally believe Kishimoto wrote NaruSasu queer (and also not on accident, because I feel like that’s patronizing to his intentionality as a writer) but I also think based on how he treated and talked about InoSaku and the concept of queerness as a feasible end goal in life - he was generally apathetic about it.

This is not the case with Horikoshi who tends to not label bkdk outside of osananajimi and with ochahimi being explicitly romantic love in nature. He basically dodges or avoids familial definitions to label the two most prominent queer relationships in the story

The attack on Minas Tirith hits different now.

You may let out an involuntary sob as a chunk of mortar smashes into a building with women and children inside.

There are images from our world that will flash momentarily before your eyes.

If you are worried at all about PTSD, maybe avoid this and other war films for while. 🫤

On the flip side of that same coin:

As I think about how Tolkien’s experiences in WWI must have informed his stories I find myself wondering-

Does anyone else want a Tolkien biography that is just his experiences as a soldier? Like, someone just collects letters and official mission reports and puts in chronological order. I don’t need anyone to draw the connections to the books, I will do that my own dang self. I just want to know things like- who were this man’s commanders that he could write Thorin and Aragorn? Did he write LOTR Smeagle off of a local guide who back-stabbed them? The poisonous air of Mordor obviously refers to the chemical weapons just hovering over the trenches. What else ended up in these tales either subconsciously or purposefully? What DIDN’T? What was so hard to think about that he couldn’t even write about it as fiction?

Still Busy: Have An Old Paper

I don’t know if you want to read about how Lloyd Alexander constructed emotional transformation for his characters, but I wrote a paper fanboying about it last fall. I don’t want to fall out of the habit of posting something, even if I’m too busy to write a new post, so I’ll share that paper with you instead. I’m not sure how well the formatting has survived the transition, but it looks legible…