Demon Slayer Characters As Textposts

When Mizu said “I have no interest in being happy, only satisfied.”

And then you think but bitch i love you i want you to be happy. Can you drop the revenge quest and just please try to be happy??

But then they hit you with Ep 5 and you see. Mizu did drop the revenge quest. Mizu lived in a beautiful countryside, got her Mama back, had a hallmark romance, and did drop the revenge quest. Mizu was happy. And what did Happy bring her? Only pain.

And then you understand. Mizu has no interest in being happy, only satisfied.

Upper/lower moon and pillar switcheroo V2 🔄, based on this old sketch X

I've always wanted to render this concept digitally, and I finally did!! 💞 My wrist can chill for a whileee lel. On a side note, thinking about their swapped backstories and character parallels is hella fun 🤭

the full article by Arwa Mahdawi

so when i was making that last gifset i lost my mind (again) about this:

because... WHAT

but then i remembered this

and this

so yeah, catch chrisjen avasarala never passing up a chance to make eyes at a younger woman who kind of hates her guts.

So I found Aaron Bushnell's reddit and went through his comments/posts. That young man was well read and stable as they can be. Nothing in his writings pointed to someone who was "unstable" or "brainwashed".

He held leftist and anarchist ideals. He belong to the ACAB subreddit. He recognized the evil of the US Military even though he himself was a part of it. He hated TERFS and called out fatphobia. He understood the dangers of white supremecy and the evils of capitalism.

He had a cat. He liked the show fleabag and played elden ring.

Apparently in his will he wants to leave any money in his name to palestinian relief funds. He was trying to find a new owner for his cat.

Rest in peace Aaron Bushnell. The world won't forget & we sure as fuck won't let the media paint you out to be some crazy conspiracy theorist who had no idea what he was doing.

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

so bad bad :D hahahahahahhahahahahah :D

It wasn't the fact that everyone else's parents were proud of them, except for mine

It wasn't the fact that my parents never seemed to have time for me, so I settle for watching other kids with theirs

It wasn't the fact that I thought that a loving family was just a tv trope until I was invited over to other people's houses

It wasn't the fact that while other people's parents praised them, mine belittled me

It wasn't the fact that I had to rely on teachers and other parents' praise just to feel like I had someone in my life who liked me

It wasn't the fact that everyone else had goals for the future but I didn't see myself living to adulthood

No

It was the fact that my eyes were slits and my skin was jaundice compared to everyone else

It was the fact that people treated me like a zoo animal for their entertainment

It was the fact that everything I ate was poison compared to theirs

It was the fact that I had nobody else to relate to

It was the fact that I was the only one who didn't experience it

It was the fact that I was the only one who did experience it

It was the fact that my identity was nothing more than a punchline to them, just a joke

It was the fact that I had to pretend everything was fine and laugh

The only thing I can do is laugh, otherwise I'll just cry

That's what broke me

That's why I'm broken

Kimetsu No Yaiba Out of Context

I made one for Vanitas no Carte and ppl got interested so let’s do this for my depression. 

This is super long you’re welcome (added a keep reading thank me later <3) OUT OF CONTEXT SPOILERS WARNING 

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