Going To Miss This

"homosexuality is unnatural! there's only two genders! it's a sin-"

I'm sorry, have you seen NATURE???

and there's so many more species than this that exhibit homosexuality, varying genders, etc. SO! MANY!

it's very much a natural thing. it always has been. unfortunately, while homosexuality is found in many species, homophobia is only found in one

ALSO THE ARTIST IS HUMON, FIND THEM AT HUMONCOMICS.COM!! was so sure I had included that but apparently I forgot, so sorry!

WHY IS THIS ME

Please explain warrior nun to me. I wasn’t interested at first but you make it seem so cool I want to learn :)

I WILL explain it to you. Saddle up because I'm prepared to ramble. There will be spoilers. If you'd like another summary w/o spoilers, let me know!

First: our main character, Ava Silva. At the start of the show, she's a paraplegic and orphaned 19 year-old girl who is, quite literally, dead in the first scene. She is snarky, a little clueless but not innocent, and most importantly, she wants more than anything to live.

This is Sister Beatrice!!! She's the love interest, technically, but she's not the only one (just more of an important character than the other), and she's also so much more than that. She is a prodigious warrior who fights for the OCS; The Order of the Cruciform Sword, which is a sect of Catholic nuns that fight demons for the good of the people. She is good at everything with the exception of Not Being Gay, which is, incidentally, the reason she was sent to a Catholic boarding school in the first place. Suffice to say, her parents suck.

There's also a wide cast of incredible characters; we have (from right to left) Mary, who is The Coolest and also, somehow, more of an older sister figure than the actual sisters; Lilith, who's a bit of a bitch but we still love her, Father Vincent, who's also a bit of a bitch but we tolerate him, and then on the far left, there's Camila, who is simultaneously the Cutest and also the Smartest. (also not pictured here is Mother Superion, whom we also love.)

This show has so many good women characters. You will become obsessed with at least one of them. At least.

Essentially, Warrior Nun's plot depends on the use of the Halo, which is a literal Angel's Halo (or is it?) that fuses itself to the spine of one special nun, the Warrior Nun, who is then given the ability to see demons and also other various superpowers. However, because of its immense power, demons and other forces are constantly trying to seize the Halo for themselves, and due to a tragic series of events, a panicked nun has to give Ava the Halo.

Ava, who is dead at the time.

And it brings her back to life. Not only that, but it gives her the ability to walk for the first time since she was, like, four years old. Also, it gives her superpowers, too, but whatever.

So basically, Warrior Nun is about Ava trying to balance her will to live her life now alongside with the new duties that the OCS are trying to put on her. They can't take the Halo out, because it may kill her. Something something jesus parallels, something something taking the time to have the characters work things out for themselves, and you get this show. I cannot emphasize enough the character writing.

(Also it has one of the best sapphic slowburns I've seen in a show ever. They hit so many good tropes in such a well-paced manner. I can't even describe how well they're written. What the fuck.)

So. Watch Warrior Nun. We need a season 3!!

Hang this in the Louvre

All of the artwork I’ve illustrated inspired by The Last of Us. I’m not ready for the finale.

babe wake up warrior nun is back

there are just so many clever little details that alice wu puts in this movie and it's all just made so much stronger by the filming of every. single. frame.

the little detail with the train lights and how ellie's dad didn't trust the train light to work— but because he loves his daughter so much, he realizes that he needs to let her go and so the camera briefly pans to the lights working again

paul continuing to listen and feeling sad for ellie's dad despite not understanding mandarin because he recognizes that sometimes we just want someone to listen to us

aster saying "deep down, i probably knew the truth... it's not like it's never crossed my mind" just brings so much more IMPACT to the hot springs scene. was it intentional? did aster bring ellie there to keep her all to herself, even if it was just for a few moments?

the way aster sinks into ellie as they kiss, and how her hand moves down to hold her arm like she's not ready to let go yet, but ellie cuts it off because well, she's a nervous disaster gay. the way aster smiles right afterwards and laughs. she hadn't felt that way after kissing ANYONE (at least in the movie) — we can presume that she's never really been interested in trip, and that her being with him was her trying to conform within the norms of the society she's been placed in; she'd never felt that ecstatic or excited. she had no reason to.

and then there was ellie. the girl that challenges her intellectually. and in that moment, despite feeling dazed and confused over these new feelings, aster was SURE of one thing: she FELT something in that kiss. unlike any other kisses shown in the movie, she FELT something.

and when paul was googling "how to know if you are gay"— a lot was left out in that scene. the viewer fills in the blanks after he says "there are SO many ways to love someone" which leaves us to imply he probably went on a deep dive and tried to educate himself on other types of sexualities because he truly cares about ellie. his friend.

"you could never be different," she says, mockingly. "what would God say?" oh the ISOLATION ellie feels in this small, predominantly white, conservative town where literally the only people of colour we see in the movie are her, her father, aster, and her family. aster and ellie's layers slowly being peeled off as the movie progresses and they bond through their shared differences.

this movie isn't a love story, as prefaced in the beginning. it's a coming of age movie that features young people slowly becoming more self-aware; it just happens to feature a lesbian protagonist. we need more stories like this, where being gay isn't the sole focal point of a plot.

god, i love this movie and all its nuances.

and i know alice wu wants the audience to fill-in-the-blanks, but i'd give ANYTHING to have a fun, stupid rom-com with these characters. a sequel set in the future where ellie and aster are confident in their identities.

if the straights can have their fun, stupid, mediocre rom-coms, the gays should too!!! i want fun, stupid, mediocre disaster gay rom-coms!!!

Y'all reblogging it with #LENA in tags and I don't remember on whose blog I saw it first so no sponsorship of today's edit 😉