Forget Characters Who Would Die For Their Loves Ones, I Need Characters Who Would Live For Their Loves

i hate when ppl act like the only reason to not like a "sad" ending is because you can't take it or whatever. personally as a tragedy enjoyer, i hate a poorly written ending. i hate an ending that is just kind of a bummer. i hate an ending that feels mean-spirited to the audience. i hate an ending that's redundant. i love a sad ending that is thematically consistent, poignant, and bespoke to the rest of its narrative.

Y’ever read something and have understanding that has eluded you interminably suddenly stop, curl up, and snuggle neatly into a fold in your brain because a new way way opened to it?

So I recently got fully caught up with the JJK anime and am now on chapter 176 of the manga because I was bored. I basically went through a “wow I get it” moment when it comes to why people like this series so much.

While reading though, one thing I found interesting is that Gege-san seems to really like Nietschze. Nihilistic philosophy, especially passive vs active nihilism, comes up a lot in this series. You mainly see it in characters like Geto, Gojo, and very much with Mahito. The meaning of life or “the meaning of the soul” is a common question that comes up, with each character having their own views on the meaning of themselves and their place in life.

I’ve been liveblogging my experiences in a discord server and me and another person have real interesting conversations about how Geto seems to symbolize the passive nihilist, while Gojo is the active nihilist or the absurdist. Mahito is basically a twisted form of active nihilism.

The passive nihilist is a person of resignation, it is described as a person of weak will that views nihilism as the end to life and nothing beyond that. They often fall into violence or herd mentality in a scramble to give themselves some meaning or accept destruction. Nietzsche described it as “pessimistic Buddhism”.

The active nihilist is basically the exact opposite. Through the destruction of the meaning of life, they go in to construct new ones by their own will and ideal. They are free and of strong will and are often opposed to authority figures and find rebellion in their creative meanings of life.

I think this is a pretty good reflection of Geto, Gojo, and Mahito. Geto, who spiraled due to the shattering of his ideals and resorted to despair and destruction to find a new one. He became resigned from world, resigned from others. Gojo’s past ideals were also shattered, but through that he built a new one. He is completely absurd and humorous even in serious times, but he ultimately cares a lot about aiding the future generation and does so by rebelling against the higher ups of Jujutsu Society.

Mahito is an interesting case. His whole character is basically just a philosophical analysis of nihilism and the meaning of life and the soul. He is creature of free will to the most dangerous degree. That, since there is no meaning to life that means one has the free will to control other’s lives, or even take them away. He revels in the despair that he spreads, he fully believes that he has the free will to do so.

Now, the reason why there is probably so much “meaning of life” talk in this manga is because it has a lot of Buddhist imagery, so it’s possibly an analysis in Buddhist philosophy- but I still think that this manga can be viewed through the lens of nihilistic analysis!

I find manga that get philosophical like this so intriguing! I’m excited to continue reading.

“I believe everyone has the ability to love another, but how well we love depends upon our ability to love ourselves.”

— Emina Gaspar-Vrana

i hope you write (i hope we both write)

anyone else a little peeved that toasters rely so much on jumpscares but are otherwise not very scary

DESCRIBING THE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF CHARACTERS:

Body

descriptors; ample, athletic, barrel-chested, beefy, blocky, bony, brawny, buff, burly, chubby, chiseled, coltish, curvy, fat, fit, herculean, hulking, lanky, lean, long, long-legged, lush, medium build, muscular, narrow, overweight, plump, pot-bellied, pudgy, round, skeletal, skinny, slender, slim, stocky, strong, stout, strong, taut, toned, wide.

Eyebrows

descriptors; bushy, dark, faint, furry, long, plucked, raised, seductive, shaved, short, sleek, sparse, thin, unruly.

shape; arched, diagonal, peaked, round, s-shaped, straight.

Ears

shape; attached lobe, broad lobe, narrow, pointed, round, square, sticking-out.

Eyes

colour; albino, blue (azure, baby blue, caribbean blue, cobalt, ice blue, light blue, midnight, ocean blue, sky blue, steel blue, storm blue,) brown (amber, dark brown, chestnut, chocolate, ebony, gold, hazel, honey, light brown, mocha, pale gold, sable, sepia, teakwood, topaz, whiskey,) gray (concrete gray, marble, misty gray, raincloud, satin gray, smoky, sterling, sugar gray), green (aquamarine, emerald, evergreen, forest green, jade green, leaf green, olive, moss green, sea green, teal, vale).

descriptors; bedroom, bright, cat-like, dull, glittering, red-rimmed, sharp, small, squinty, sunken, sparkling, teary.

positioning/shape; almond, close-set, cross, deep-set, downturned, heavy-lidded, hooded, monolid, round, slanted, upturned, wide-set.

Face

descriptors; angular, cat-like, hallow, sculpted, sharp, wolfish.

shape; chubby, diamond, heart-shaped, long, narrow, oblong, oval, rectangle, round, square, thin, triangle.

Facial Hair

beard; chin curtain, classic, circle, ducktail, dutch, french fork, garibaldi, goatee, hipster, neckbeard, old dutch, spade, stubble, verdi, winter.

clean-shaven

moustache; anchor, brush, english, fu manchu, handlebar, hooked, horseshoe, imperial, lampshade, mistletoe, pencil, toothbrush, walrus.

sideburns; chin strap, mutton chops.

Hair

colour; blonde (ash blonde, golden blonde, beige, honey, platinum blonde, reddish blonde, strawberry-blonde, sunflower blonde,) brown (amber, butterscotch, caramel, champagne, cool brown, golden brown, chocolate, cinnamon, mahogany,) red (apricot, auburn, copper, ginger, titain-haired,), black (expresso, inky-black, jet black, raven, soft black) grey (charcoal gray, salt-and-pepper, silver, steel gray,), white (bleached, snow-white).

descriptors; bedhead, dull, dry, fine, full, layered, limp, messy, neat, oily, shaggy, shinny, slick, smooth, spiky, tangled, thick, thin, thinning, tousled, wispy, wild, windblown.

length; ankle length, bald, buzzed, collar length, ear length, floor length, hip length, mid-back length, neck length, shaved, shoulder length, waist length.

type; beach waves, bushy, curly, frizzy, natural, permed, puffy, ringlets, spiral, straight, thick, thin, wavy.

Hands; calloused, clammy, delicate, elegant, large, plump, rough, small, smooth, square, sturdy, strong.

Fingernails; acrylic, bitten, chipped, curved, claw-like, dirty, fake, grimy, long, manicured, painted, peeling, pointed, ragged, short, uneven.

Fingers; arthritic, cold, elegant, fat, greasy, knobby, slender, stubby.

Lips/Mouth

colour (lipstick); brown (caramel, coffee, nude, nutmeg,) pink (deep rose, fuchsia, magenta, pale peach, raspberry, rose, ) purple (black cherry, plum, violet, wine,) red (deep red, ruby.)

descriptors; chapped, cracked, dry, full, glossy, lush, narrow, pierced, scabby, small, soft, split, swollen, thin, uneven, wide, wrinkled.

shape; bottom-heavy, bow-turned, cupid’s bow, downturned, oval, pouty, rosebud, sharp, top-heavy.

Nose

descriptors; broad, broken, crooked, dainty, droopy, hooked, long, narrow, pointed, raised, round, short, strong, stubby, thin, turned-up, wide.

shape; button, flared, grecian, hawk, roman.

Skin

descriptors; blemished, bruised, chalky, clear, dewy, dimpled, dirty, dry, flaky, flawless, freckled, glowing, hairy, itchy, lined, oily, pimply, rashy, rough, sagging, satiny, scarred, scratched, smooth, splotchy, spotted, tattooed, uneven, wrinkly.

complexion; black, bronzed, brown, dark, fair, ivory, light, medium, olive, pale, peach, porcelain, rosy, tan, white.

I really think everyone needs to truly internalize this:

Fictional characters are objects.

They are not people. You cannot "objectify" them, because they have no personhood to be deprived of. They have no humanity to be erased. You cannot "disrespect" them, because they are not real.

Yeah having infinite alternative universes where the same two people love each other no matter the world no matter the time is nice but have you considered dedicating your entire existence to find the only universe where your loved one is happy, even if they're going to hate you in that universe, even if you yourself have to die in that universe, because their happiness always came before everything else? Because you never mattered as long as they were happy? Have you considered it??????

I have to give props to Chuuya. The fact that this man has canonically lost three whole friend groups (The Sheep through betrayal, the Flags to Verlaine, and those killed by Shibusawa during the Dragon Head Conflict) throughout a 3-year period, then loses his partner (Dazai) and has no idea where he is or if he's alive for 3-4 years...

You have to admire his mental fortitude, because he's relatively well adjusted for how much shit he's been through. (Not even counting his status as a government experiment and his existential crisis on whether he's human or not.)