#fanalysis

A maid shows up claiming to be the girl emperor spoke to the previous night. She provides some evidence, and he believes her.

17th Prince, however, is immediately suspicious. Despite some pretty convincing evidence (emperor is many things, but he's not particularly stupid), 17 Prince realizes this maid doesn't understand poetry and thus can't have been the girl from the previous night. But instead of exposing her, he sets her up to expose herself by giving her misinformation about the poem.

(Now, I'm still getting to know, and feeling my way around, his character, and this is mostly silly opinion-making, so take this with a grain of salt):

McCoy is sort of a misanthrope, sort of a pessimist, almost fed up with a lot of the universe to the point of occasional bitterness, BUT at the same time he joined Starfleet and practices medicine and is a romantic and finds joy in exploring even when he's cursing the consequences of it at the same time. He works so hard to help and heal and teach and act with optimism, even when his opinions and beliefs sometimes suggest he'd rather throw his hands up and be done with the lot of it.

Yes!  You are absolutely right.  (I've written about this in SEVERAL of my fanfics, so clearly I agree... Haha!) And as the flip side of what I wrote about last time, I wonder what would have happened if Jess had waited for Rory (again with the caveat that I can't blame him for making the choice he made).  Because if he had, I think she might have actually chosen him.  She clearly had spent the entire summer thinking about him, and her conversation with Paris about "finding someone who complements you" was obviously a reference to Jess.  She was looking for him at the festival, but then... He was with another girl.  I think she felt that the choice had been taken out of her hands at that point, and she had no other option than to try to make things work with Dean.  (The mature choice would be: "break up with Dean anyway, because it's better to be single than to drag out a dead-end relationship," but we've established that Rory was Not Mature, so...)

Taking into account that they've known eachother since highschool and that they're close, it's easy to assume they know a lot about eachother.

That being said:

During the final exams it was Aizawa that planned out the teacher/ student pair matchup. All the teachers agreed that they wanted to make them face whoever would be the most challenging, yet still provide an opportunity for success.

Handicaps Included: Weights around teachers wrists and ankles and some sliver of a chance to gain the upperhand over the teacher. (i.e: Principal left paths open for Kaminari/Ashido, Tsu was there for Tokoyami's support, etc)

It was pretty obvious why Mic was chosen to face Jirou and Kouda. (Even Tsu/ Midoriya pointed this out) Mic would absolutely dominate them in a battle versus quirks.

Why would he pair Jirou and Kouda up with Mic if it was going to be so one sided? Aizawa knows his class and (seemingly) Mic better than anyone else. With Jirou's quirk being a less nurtured form of Mic's and Kouda's animals fleeing from the painful sound, they could have easily failed.

If not for one key detail of the matchup:

Aizawa knew of Mic's fear.

Why else would the forest be chosen for their matchup out of ALL the different training terrain? Such a crippling fear couldn't be unknown by someone you've known for over a decade. Aizawa absolutely knew and used it as the student's condition to pass if they were able to overcome their weaknesses and exploit his foible.

Thats just plain cruel Aizawa.

It seems his students aren't the only victims to his tough love philosophy.

R.I.P Mic

In the novel, we see Holden start to believe he really is special, pushed to that conclusion by the (ultimately erroneous) belief that the woman who did the things Clarissa actually did was Julie Mao - that Proto-Julie set off a cascade of events designed to get Holden specifically through the Ring, just like Proto-Miller seemed to he aiming for. He sees that Ring Station, and he head for it without prompting to look for answers, because he believes the protomolecule wanted him here for a reason, and going there would mean both fulfilling his purpose and finding out what that purpose is.

Then Miller reveals he was 'chosen' simply because the real Miller felt a certain way about him - trusted him, it seems to boil down to - and the protomolecule then reached out to Holden bc it absorbed Miller's consciousness, and Miller saw Holden as the guy to get things done, and...that's it. But Holden continues to think more must he at play because why then did Proto-Julie go to such great lengths as part of this conspiracy to bring Holden here? She didn't know him after all.

When Holden explains everything, starting from first seeing Miller a year before, it all hits him - he isn't special at all. He doesn't actually care about that; what he cares about is the fact he bought into it at all. He feels incredibly foolish. Humiliated by his own hubris. I imagine that will get even stronger when he realizes the actual woman behind it all was Julies very much alive and protomolecule-free sister. Holden doesn't necessarily desire being special, but that he jumped to that conclusion at all is humiliating to him.

Then we have Show-Holden. We see Show-Monica suggesting more than once that he's special, but Holden continues to refute it. Even when she says 'I think you are, I think you know you are, I think you like it' he calls her out - says he thinks she's just trying to get a rise out of him. This Holden, much like the written one, would feel foolish if he believed he was special and wasn't. It's possible that part of why he insists he isn't is the belief it would be foolish to think it regardless of evidence presented: the hubris he doesn't want to fall prey to, and which Novel-Holden does.

He also never has the factor of a belief that Proto-Julie is involved. How would that affect Show-Holden though if he did? Would he ask again what makes him special in the way he once asks Proto-Miller the same?

A part of me thinks he wouldn't, because of where the urge to even ask that seems to come from. Show-Holden has had been made very aware of the potentially far reaching consequences of his actions. His sense of responsibility prevents him from doing otherwise, even when he disagrees about the specifics of what he is or isn't at fault for (e.g. he sees his role in the earth-mars conflict earlier in the show as different than other accuse him of, because he sees something that the viewers, on the outside looking in, do: that this was a conflict that had been building over decades, maybe centuries, to the point that what would set it off would be less an instigating element and more an excuse. We see how the political machinations of those like Avasarala reveal this: she's aware that it's an excuse those two militaries and governments are looking for, and her efforts to prevent war are all focused on removing any potential excuses, which she recognizes as a stop-gap solution more than anything else).

Holden's awareness of that is made explicit in the scene on the Station. He refuses to complete that circuit until Proto-Miller tells him what the consequences will be: specifically, what harm it could or will do to others. Seeing a more 'human' Miller who talks about Julie and how it was to die is what enables him to go forward with it: he's shown a version of a man he trusts to *care* about those consequences. He's been reassured that this isn't a malevolent entity; perhaps even one of compassion, even if that compassion originates from the memory of Miller's mind rather than the protomolecule itself. A sense of urgeny does the rest.

So what about that urge to ask? I think it comes less from a place of wanting to know for its own sake, and for his concept of himself, and more from wanting to know so far as what that could mean for humanity in general. He asks 'why me' because if he knows why, he can use that information when he weighs his choices; a calculation. It's not about him - it's about the protomolecule's motivations, by whatever definition of 'motivation' might apply. The content of those motivations then in turn inform him of whether doing what it says will have dire consequences or if those dire consequences are what will come to pass if he refuses. And, 'knowingly' or not, it becomes a matter not so much of the real Miller's trust in Holden, but about Holden's trust in Miller.

That trust comes into play in Season 4, when he helps Proto-Miller out by fixing the planet's machinery, to put it one way. Proto-Miller already told him how to stop the Ring Station from destroying all those inside, and the rest of humanity along with it. It's not like when he trusted the info that got them in the Ring safely - that was about hinging their lives on Proto-Miller's need for a 'ride'. Negotiates for their safety with it. But how to save humanity from destruction? The protomolecule would have no interest in that: as he says, it's like paving over an anthill. Humans mean nothing to that force. Malevolence or benevolence are a non-factor. But Proto-Miller acted with benevolence by giving him the information he needed to understand how they could all survive, how to show they weren't a threat. Holden doesn't have to trust the protomolecule's non-motivations...he only has to trust the rememnants of Miller he came to see while inside the station as the apparition spoke about his moments with Proto-Julie on Eros; his feelings about death, which meant he *had* feelings. Compassion, fear, regret.

It puts the question of 'why me' in the backseat. Holden doesn't need to know anymore. He had the real question behind 'why me' answered: got the information he was really concerned with (or at least he believed he did). This is demonstrated when the question expands from 'why me' to 'why us': Holden wonders and asks multiple times if humanity as a whole has been chosen for some unknown purpose, if there's something about them that made the protomolecule open up the universe to them or if their humanity is simply incidental, along with their existence. If they're just tools, then what kind of tool? Does the protomolecule, and possibly the builders who made it, need something from them, and if so, what is it?

The thrust of the question hasn't changed. Holden wants to know if humanity's actions - their choices, their behavior, even their mere presence - will have dire consequences, or if *not* continuing to use the Rings will. This is a Holden who will ask 'why me' only up until the time to act comes: why or how he ended up in the position to do something stops mattering - all that matters is the fact of him being in that position and then actually doing it. The reasons aren't important unless they affect the outcome.

I'm not trying to suggest that Show-Holden is some perfectly altuistic person, selfless to the point caring nothing for what happens to him and only what happenes to others, but he does prioritize it. He alters his behavior not only to prevent death and institutionalized harm but to be kinder to people he loves. When he's made to realize in Season 6 that his apparent disregard for his own safety hurts the people who love him, he promises to do better, then does. He priotizes the people he loves not because they have some greater purpose but because they're important to *him*. He cares about his home and his family and sees preserving those things as important for their own sake, and for himself. His needs, including emotional, do come into play. As they should.

He still fucks up, still gets things wrong, still has all the flaws he has, but that's good, because it makes his character feel like a real person and not just a symbol - some idealized version of a hero that either turns the character two dimensional or elevates them beyond realistic expectations. The show and novels both examine what it means to be human; the things we value, the ways we behave, how our emotions manifest in actions - our flaws, our limits, our strengths, our potential. Having your main hero escape all that somehow would run counter to the story's messaging, whatever its format or version.

Sakura never does anything with genjutsu

Hinata is a prop to get hurt and make Naruto rage

Ino’s a love rival to Sakura and nothing else

Tenten is….nonexistent.

Even the female kages get tossed around like garbage on the regular. Tsunade’s most impressive feat in the whole series was using all her chakra to keep people alive. Which is really really cool. But it’s something that is accomplished off screen.

The only female character that has any kind of profound impact on the narrative and doesn’t come across as a prop was Chiyo when she uses Sakura as a literal prop and then dies so Naruto can have Garaa back

Aaah, the ask came back!

To clarify, I still see where you're coming from, but don't agree with this entirely, anon. If this were true, I don't think fandom would be able to engage with kunoichi the way it does--it would be like trying to get excited about furniture. Naruto, for all its faults, does pass the sexy lamp test. If we could truly replace all the female characters with sexy lamps without affecting the story, I don't think even the most imaginative fans would want to draw/write/discuss them. I don't think this ask would exist, because we both would've dropped the story from the beginning and not given it a further thought.

For me, the majority of the frustration with Kishi's depictions of women is around aborted potential--how sometimes the characterization of various kunoichi is *promised* and seems to actually be going somewhere positive, but then ends up disappointing at best.

Sakura is canonically gifted at genjutsu...but then it's never mentioned again. Her relationship with Ino could have grown into a great friendship...but it stays largely centered around the rivalry over Sasuke before kind of petering out. Tenten does exist...until she basically vanishes from the narrative.

Lots of broken narrative promises, yes, but those promises were real and implied. If you're familiar with the writing proverb about Chekov's gun, the idea is that a writer should never introduce a gun (or any other narrative element) without also planning for it to go off. For something, anything to happen with it. But that's what Kishimoto does over and over again throughout the series: introduces the seedling of a good idea, then proceeds to completely ignore it in favor of whatever his flavor of the moment is. And it's almost always a development that favors a male character, especially his favs *coughUchihaclancough*

To be fair, he smashes that abort button a whole lot, not just with respect to female characters. That whole thing about how the ninja system Might Be Unethical After All? It was introduced as far back as the Zabuza/Haku arc, then actually developed as an idea all the way through the various sad backgrounds of Akatsuki, the reveal about Itachi, the many attempted destructions of Konoha...as an idea, it got plenty of narrative development over a long period of time, and even that was eventually just handwaved and shrugged off as eh, ninja system is fine after all, nbd.

If Kishi could do that to something that was becoming the main fucking theme of the series??? I mean. At least he's consistently disappointing, lol.

If you want to dive more into exactly how/why depictions of gender in Naruto are disappointing--because they are uniquely so regardless of Kishi's other narrative failures--I recommend this post by sub-textual: https://sub-textual.livejournal.com/29019.html