#ywtext

@magnoliawaltz | @criaturamonocromatica -> @malesper0

I've created a new blog, a more personal one, where I intend to post sketches and *gulps* o-opinions... I'll keep this one as an archive, as I've been using it since 2010 or so. It would be a shame to simply delete it.

At first this was that kind of blog, but I grew ashamed of my own writings and drawings and it ended up turning into an inspiration hub instead. No guarantee that it won't happen again there.

I'm on Bluesky as criaturamonocro.bsky.social

I've finally watched BTL this week, so I can answer this now!

It was a cute way of softening his showa era boss shtick. Honestly, the whole biorhythm thing also seemed like a backhanded way of connecting him to KoSoushi. No, seriously.

Can you see how the roles begin to reverse here, audience? Can you see how truly similar they can be when Soushi doesn't suppress his emotions?

( 💢◠‿◠ ) these demons....

He even sleeps while Kazuki is telling him about his life expectancy, a very serious topic. I wonder if he just ended up staying over at his place like that (give me 11 doujins of that please).

Apparently something chief director Noto Takashi said at Anime Japan 2023 caused some commotion among fans. I found a tweet where someone transcribed what he said:

「脚本に眠くなる総士を入れてくれとはいった。隙がある総士が欲しかった。 一騎の前では隙だらけの総士。 あそこは友達というか細胞レベルで繋がってる友情。 自分の一部みたいな感じなので隙だらけです」 “I asked to include a sleepy Soushi in the script. Soushi lets his guard down in front of Kazuki. Better than saying they're friends, what they have is a friendship that's connected at cellular level. He feels like he's a part of him, so his guard is down."

.....Right.

Director Noto Takashi said the following in an interview:

能戸: 二代目操に関してですが、彼はアルタイルを与えられてレガートのように復活することもできたと思いますが、「竜宮島で生まれて羽佐間容子の子供――翔子のように育ちたかった」という願いを受けた形として、12話であのように島に根づいた彼を見せました。チビ操はとびっきりかわいいと思うし、それを見に帰ってくる甲洋おじさんの手には世界中のお土産がたくさん――そんな未来が見えませんか？ Noto: As for Misao 2nd, I think he could have been given Altair and revived like Legato, but his wish was "I wanted to be born on Tatsumiya Island and grow up like Shouko, the child of Youko Hazama". So in episode 12, we showed him rooted in the island like that. I think that a Chibi Misao would be extremely cute, and when Uncle Kouyou comes home to visit, he brings a lot of souvenirs from all over the world in his hands: can't you see such a future? (Source: Animage Plus, 2021.12.22)

......I agree that kid Misao would be extremely cute, however after the "KoSoushi Chronicles" he tweeted years before TBY was announced, and which ended up being a total misdirection...... I can't say I believe him! 💢💢

Spoilers for both Exodus and The Beyond ahead.

(I had some details wrong the first time I wrote this, I'm reposting with those details corrected. As this drama cd hasn’t been translated I didn’t want to spread wrong info with my half-assed report)

But did you also know that when you mix 皆城総士 (Minashiro Soushi) and 真壁一騎 (Makabe Kazuki)

you get 城壁騎士 (Jouheki Kishi), a knight in the castle walls?

Dare I say, a Fafner in the Azure?

( ◠‿◠ )

This song came up in a 2000's jpop playlist I was listening to and I thought "wow this has impeccable Soushi and Kazuki vibes..." It's about a sequence of meetings and farewells, eternal love and allegiance.

I went to search to see if anyone had said something about it on Twitter and turns out Noto Takashi said this in a suggestive tweet:

It was not a good idea to listen to Kiseki no Hana and Sora while working (ノ_＜) My hands have stopped and I'm looking at the ceiling

Oh.... I see

Sora is probably referring to this song by the same singer, which is even sadder the previous one as it's about reminiscing on a childhood love who passed away.

Honestly? I don't know. I'm not good at imagining a future for that world or even at headcanons in general. I thought I knew these characters but TBY and BTL slapped me in the face and said I knew nothing actually.

How to save the one who brings salvation? I think tby was trying to answer that through Miwa's storyline. To Kazuki maybe that answer came too late. Really, to someone aimless, who wanted to sacrifice himself to some greater cause, living as an (presumably) eternal soldier during peacetime is just punishment. Maya was smarter because she went ahead and became military personnel.

If it was not for Miwa and Altair's blessing I would promptly answer "by stop having to pretend he's still human". That is, if he had completely lost his human heart by the end and left like that, as he has been detached from the human world for some time, even before receiving the mir's blessing. "Change is a blessing in itself" is Fafner's message in a way and I think having the elements clumsily cling to their past selves goes against that. Being someone who cooks for others but not for himself was an extension of that consciousness, that need to be a support for other people, as expressed in daily life. Food as a symbol of peace and humanity was for the others but not for himself. That's why I can't see him going back to the island and simply working at Rakuen with Kouyou like usual after that ending.

Flying the fafner, in turn, has become his life, so for a while that alone should be enough. Expand his horizons and remember he chose to live because he desired first and to devote himself to realize Soushi's wishes/protect the island second. He has not blessed the world yet, has he? From a practical standpoint, there are probably many places in need of humanitarian aid there. Since he always had a philanthropic inclination, maybe he and Kouyou will travel around the world helping places that have been destroyed by festum/Benon. Although, as I said, I don't want him to live just to devote himself for others again....

However, everything I said presupposes "change" in the character. Since Altair's blessing seems to just have reverted his heart back to a previous state and by the last episode he is back to spewing the same lines as before, talking about finding another way to "use his life".... I'm not sure if we're supposed to infer that his way of thinking has stagnated after all that. Seems very likely given how other adults are portrayed.