¡QUÉ PAVOR (ESE MUÑECO DEL ARMARIO)!

Nunca he hecho un filk de Vampire Miyu antes - así que para todo hay una primera vez, ¿no?
O sea, este es el episodio 19, "Por el amor de un muñeco" (人形師の恋), desde el PdV de Yuki, la joven sirvienta. Sur l'air de Raffaella Carrà Una mujer en el armario, canción que seguro que has cantado bajo la influencia etílica

A ver si hago más filks desde el PdV de otras víctimas de shinma (el chico de la sirena, el chico de la gatita Ring, los dueños del gato negro Boy, la niña de las zapatillas rojas, Lily Sone y su padre, el escultor casado con la dama araña, el pensionista cinéfilo...). Hay varios casos que me inspiran para cantarlos...

Hay una artista,
hay una artista,
a la que admiro por sus obras tan realistas...
A su servicio,
con sacrificio,
me han reclutado, y por eso me desvivo...
Y lo hago todo,
y saco polvo
a sus muñecos, no entro en su cuarto prohibido...

Pero una tarde que se fue a duchar,
me encontré pronto franqueando ese umbral...

Y me encuentro un muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
dentro de ese armario
Y me encuentro un muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
de un dulce muchacho...
Y la señora me dice que no hay nada que explique,
no le ponga un meñique ni le abroche un botón...
Y va y después de atizarme, repitió esa advertencia,
aunque tengo la sospecha... ¡de que le doy calor!

Y así la artista 
está que trina;
desde ese día, se ha encerrado en su cuarto...
Lavo la ropa, 
me voy de compras,
y, a mediodía, le preparo un té o un caldo...
Entro en el cuarto,
pero la artista
regresa, en mano su cuchillo de tallado...

Desde esa tarde, no se pudo calmar,
y a su muñeco se ha puesto a atacar...

Porque era bien chungo el muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
dentro de ese armario
Porque siniestro era el muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
más feo que un batracio
Caras así nunca he visto, está todo hecho un Cristo,
parece un cascanueces que es de lord Voldemort...
Y ella no le corresponde, ya sé porqué le esconde,
aunque es su único hombre - ¡que no da calor!

Porque era bien chungo el muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
dentro de ese armario
Porque siniestro era el muñeco --¡qué pavor, qué pavor!
más feo que un batracio
Y plantamos una falla, presentamos batalla,
aunque él da vida a los otros que hay en esta mansión...
y ella me ha dicho, sincera, que quiere a quien le quiera:
ahora hacemos muñecas - ¡y ni un varón!

Ay ay ay ay 
¡Qué pavor, qué pavor!
Ay ay ay ay 
Ese muñeco del armario
Ay ay ay ay 

¡Qué pavor, qué pavor!
Ay ay ay ay 
Era más feo que un batracio
Ay ay ay ay 

¡Qué pavor, qué pavor!
Ay ay ay ay 
Al fin salimos del armario
Ay ay ay ay 

Y plantamos una falla, presentamos batalla,
aunque él da vida a los otros que hay en esta mansión...
y ella me ha dicho, sincera, que quiere a quien le quiera:
ahora hacemos muñecas - ¡y ni un varón!

PARANOIA AGENT: OTHELLO HEADCANON

#OthElokuu

Elsewhere on this blog, I have been remarking left and right on how Iago may represent a dark force within us...
I happen to have noticed something the motif has with the downfall of the characters deceived by Iago in Othello: it's all about lowering one's guard. And about entitlement, the feeling that one deserves something, that what one wishes for is one's by right. These conditions are oh, so human. The archetypal pattern of descent. To fall asleep to one’s actual life. To lower one's guard; to think that what one desires is one's by right, that it is not only desired but also deserved.

You may never understand

how the stranger is inspired,

but he isn't always evil

and he isn't always wrong...

Though you drown in good intentions,

you will never quench the fire:

You'll give in to your desire

when the stranger comes along.

Iago is the Stranger. The catalyst, the disruptor. Satan, Loki, Eris, the Lord of Misrule. Every paradise has at least one discontented enfant terrible within. Not evil, but unable to care for what is right or wrong, knowing the distinction between left and right yet not paying heed to it.
The Stranger also lives within us. It's the little voice that whispers into our left ear or throbs within our hearts whenever we are inclined to lower our guard.

Arrigo Boito sums up the many faces of Iago in his characterisation notes for the Verdian opera:

He must be handsome and appear genial and open and falsely bonhomous; everyone believes him to be honest except his wife who knows him well. If he did not possess great charm and an appearance of honesty he could not be the consummate deceiver that he is.

One of his talents is the faculty he possessses of changing his personality according to the person to whom he happens to be speaking, so as to deceive them or to bend them to his will.

Easy and genial with Cassio; ironic with Roderigo; apparently good-humoured, respectful and humbly devoted towards Othello; brutal and threatening with Emilia; obsequious to Desdemona. Such are the basic qualities, the appearance and the various facets of this man.

Just stop and consider how everyone's Sein comes to light, their masks shatter, and their hearts are displayed in the light of day, throbbing, bloody, when their respective ribcages are metaphorically torn up!

Well, we all fall in love,
but we disregard the danger:
Though we share so many secrets,
there are some we never tell...
Why were you so surprised
that you never saw the stranger?
Did you ever let your lover see
the stranger in yourself?

The friendzoned and brokenhearted suitor who just won't give up is lured to pay his fortune, in so-called uragane or Judas money, in exchange for what he believes is self-confidence, staying equally awkward and equally desperate at heart, which makes him doubt the schemer at the end of the day.
The dashing, charming lieutenant gets persuaded to drink on duty and starts a brawl under the influence, which causes his fall from grace. He therefore doubts he can be reinstated if he tries on his own at the startover of his career. And, in involving his lady friend, it all snowballs into the end of his career and those he loves... said friend and his commanding officer role model, in spite of the fact that said CO has finally forgiven his initial offense. All of this for a drink more before the changing of the guard!
The happily married kind-hearted young lady tries to bridge the gap between her husband and her friend, only to realise that she is accused by the former of having an affair with the latter, suffering marital abuse and ultimately dying young and violently at the hands of her own spouse, while honestly defending the truth and her own purity and sincerity.
The lieutenant's fiancée, whom he basically friendzones out of fear of commitment, snaps out of the suspicion that he's found his equal in a girl of his own standing. Fortunately, she doesn't take it as far as the general does, being used to his ways and her heart staying intact.
The young lady's husband, a confident general of fortune madly in love with her and with another raison d'être than warfare since he met her, snaps even more dreadfully out of the suspicion that she's found her equal in a man of her own standing. It leads his wartime trauma to resurface when his heart breaks, turning him into an insane Untermensch or beast that relishes abuse and even kills his former beloved "for love" and for her to break no more hearts... and who subsequently commits ritual suicide upon realising the truth and coming to grips with the shock of reality.
The schemer's own wife is used to putting up a brave face, to dissociate her own omote and ura, due to her spouse's mistreatment... but her lady's suffering, mirroring her own in a younger and more innocent victim that is far more fragile, makes her convictions waver. It takes losing Desdemona for good to make her turn the corner, that "kaku" mentioned above, on the schemer by tearing out a few squares of Iago's Cube, as I once did as a preteen kid to my own Rubik just because I was curious and in the dissecting phase of my life: whether live large bugs and frogs, and lizards... speaking dolls, stuffed animals, or simple devices like a Rubik's Cube, I was always curious to see what it was like inside. And, to be earnest, the core of the Cube looked and still looks pretty anti-aesthetic to me.

But what if... Iago was never a flesh-and-blood person?
Isn't his motto "I am not what I am?"

You may never understand

how the stranger is inspired,

but he isn't always evil

and he isn't always wrong...

Though you drown in good intentions,

you will never quench the fire:

You'll give in to your desire 
when the stranger comes along.

"... but is this actually for no reason, Iago's character being unreason (the unreason of wish-making, of intoxication, of insecurity, of paranoia, of passion...) incarnate itself?"

There is an anime called Paranoia Agent, in which the leitmotif is the character of a tween boy armed with a baseball bat. The Batboy (Shounen Bat) is a serial assailant whose victims are all suffering from identity crises. A tabloid newshound hell-bent on getting the most sensational scoop; a popular teen prodigy who has lost his popularity in high school; a female university lecturer by daylight, moonlighting as a prostitute, whose two starkly different personalities clash for control of her; a LARPer with delusions that he is the righteous hero he plays... in real life, making him a po-mo Don Quixote; a young girl on the run from home after discovering harsh truths about her corrupt incestuous father; a weak-willed and inept assistant producer who always claims that his performance is impeccable and the others are the ones screwing things up... either seek the Batboy or he crosses their paths by chance. In this ensemble piece, which employs various POV of the victims, the line between reverie and reality is blurred to the point that some people think the Batboy is not real, but "a supernatural force driven to rescue the desperate from their tragedies through violence." In the end (spoiler alert!), the Batboy turns out to be an incarnate figment of the insecurities of a character designer, her imaginary friend brought to life when Tsukiko desperately needed to escape her responsibilities. He is later shown not to be human, but is instead a mysterious entity who grows stronger with the power of rumour and speculation. It is revealed at the end to be the creation of Tsukiko, who imagined him to avoid blame. The boy with the bat does not disappear until his maker confesses the truth about her anxieties, her pessimism, and the pressure she faces... Like Emilia in Othello, Tsukiko finally finds the nerve to confront and vanquish the inner demon that had weakened everyone vulnerable.
Maybe Iago, another Paranoia Agent, isn't real flesh-and-blood either, but an incarnation of the various characters' impulses, frustrations, angst... driving them over the edge, just like Shounen Bat. Right?

At length, Paranoia Agent is a social critique ensemble piece, each and every character being approached by their inner "Batboy," who functions as a nexus tying up the stories of all the victims, just like Iago himself.
Consider how, like the mirror in The Snow Queen, he displays a different face to cajole and tempt each and every other character. Consider how, like Mr. Gaunt in Needful Things (another paranoia agent unreal in the flesh and blood?) he brings out the worst in practically everyone.
Maybe Shakespeare already anticipated the premise of Paranoia Agent back in 1604.
The victims are themselves worthy of an early modern retelling of Paranoia Agent: the insecure, brokenhearted lordling who has not yet given up on getting the girl, even if it means that he should sacrifice far more relevant things; the dashing young lieutenant putting on a brave face against pressure, desperate to prove his worth yet feeling that he's under pressure; the foreign general, renowned throughout the realm as a war hero, but still bleeding within and thus a tad too possessive of his lady wife; said lady wife, a young debutante who ran away from home into the dead of night to marry for love and escape from her reality; the wench in a relationship with the lieutenant, also reaching (like the lordling) for someone who eludes her reach come hell or highwater; and of course the realistic, jaded older maidservant who is at first the one suffering the most, and the one closest to, the paranoia agent himself... and Iago, the paranoia agent, being more than a figment or a metaphor: in fact, unreason, insecurity, and entitlement incarnate. Thus why he has a different face and a different scheme for each and every person.

Long story short: Iago, just like Azathoth, may be entropy incarnate. The whole universe tends towards entropy, as life, being rather complex chemistry at the end of the day, has always struggled against entropy. From protozoa to people via plesiosaurs, we all tend towards decay and death and disorder, every day we breathe a victory in this conflict as old as day. Though we win each and every battle against entropy, we all (from protozoa to people via plesiosaurs) are doomed to lose the overarching war at the end of the day. The ending of Othello, with mostly everyone dead, the two survivors (Cassio and Bianca, analogous to the Livtrase/Livslust and Liv, respectively, at the end of Ragnarök) alive yet disabled and traumatised, and Iago vanishing like the Cheshire Cat... exemplifies the core of the story's themes: this Shakespearean tragedy, just like Les Misérables (in which the Thénardiers survive, but also Marius and Cosette) is, at the core, the story of the everlasting, futile yet always elusively hopeful, struggle between Life and Entropy.

ARCS, COURS, AND MGW SERIES

To begin with, MGW is a three-letter acronym that here stands for Magical Girl Warrior; series (most often anime, though there are also Western/animesque versions) starring a diverse ensemble cast of girls -from kid childhood to young adulthood- battling sinister forces that threaten the peace of the multiverse.
Naoko Takeuchi codified the genre and defined its defining characteristics in her Sailorverse (Sailor V, Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon Crystal), which blended the classical magical girl tropes with some Super Sentai characteristics like a team of different heroines with balanced abilities and personalities. The result was a series simultaneously aimed toward and empowering to girls with large amounts of character building and storyline that still gave focus to the battles and allowed for fanservice. A virtually-unheard-of combination at that time, the series quickly attracted a rabid fanbase with a ridiculously-wide demographic. While many early anime of the genre which followed were accused of being (and often were, at the start) rip-offs of Sailor Moon trying to repeat its success by copying the formula, eventually they evolved into unique works and a novel hybrid genre, going From Clones to Genre.
Now this article is about anime in general, the term "arc" as used in this blog, and the equivalent Japanese term "cour" ("kuuru" in katakana).
Since Kirakira Precure à la Mode has reached its arc finale and segued into a new arc this week, I thought that the opportunity to talk about anime cours could not be missed. For each and every story arc of a Pretty Cure series fits exactly into a cour of the same series: now, to put KKPCàlM as an example, as the Winter Cour ends and the Springtime Cour begins, it has brought us the wrap-up of the Debut Queue arc and the first episode of the Giulio arc. The Debut Queue arc lasted all Winter Cour long, while the Giulio arc will encompass the whole Springtime Cour.

Noun
Cour ‎(plural cours) | IPA: /kuʁ/
a three-month unit of television broadcasting
a portion of a television program aired over the course of one such period

Etymology: From Japanese クール (kuuru), from French cours. Attested in English among the anime community from at least 2007.

The word cour is used to measure the length of an anime series. In general, a single cour has 10 to 14 episodes that run during a three-month period that coincides with the seasons. That’s why one cour belongs to either the Winter, Spring, Summer, or Autumn season.

Winter Season: January, February, March
Spring Season: April, May, June
Summer Season: July, August, September
Autumn Season: October, November, December

Episodic anime are usually broadcast as either a single cour (most common) double cour, or split cour:

Single Cour: 10 – 14 Episodes
Double Cour: 24 – 26 Episodes on two contiguous seasons (e.g. Spring – Summer)

Split Cour: 24 -26 Episodes. The second cour is broadcast after a season off (springtime-autumn or summer-winter).

Why are anime broadcast in cours?

In just one word: Convenience. Creating an anime in single cours instead of full-blown 24-episode runs (or more) leaves the production company with more options. If the first cour is popular and the ratings are good, then they can follow up with a second cour back-to-back. If the fans like the show but there are certain complaints that need to be addressed, the series can go to the split-cour format and skip a season between the first and second cour (see how convenient is the use of cour and season here?) If the show is a total flop, or if the ratings are not promising, the company can conclude the show and start working on something new.

Definition¹

cour [koor]
noun

1. One of the four conventional three-month periods of television broadcasting in Japan (January to March; April to June; July to September; October to December): "Noragami" aired during the first cour of 2014.
2. A portion of a television program aired over the course of one cour₁: The big reveal at the end of the first cour of "Valvrave" had me on the edge of my seat!

Usage

I'm really not sure how long "cour" has had currency in English. There are attestations from at least as early as 2007.² I think that's not too long after the term began to see usage in English-speaking anime communities, but I could very well be mistaken.

This term was probably quickly adopted because it provides an unambiguous way to refer to a roughly 13-episode block of episodes, by contrast with "season", which (as seen here) can mean many different things in different contexts.

A cour is not of precisely-defined duration, and can, in practice, last anywhere from 11 to 14 weeks (and hence, the same number of episodes), though 12-13 weeks is most common, since a 52-week year cleanly divides into four 13-week subunits (or perhaps 12-week subunits with a week off in between).

Etymology

This usage of the word "cour" in English is (perhaps surprisingly) a borrowing of the Japanese word クール (kuuru), which means essentially the same thing as the English "cour".

Japanese kuuru is itself a borrowing, though the language of origin is not known with certainty. The most popular hypothesis is that it derives from French cours, cognate to "course" as in "lecture".Note that the English "cour" is effectively a back-formation from cours (which is singular in French), and the singular/plural distinction between "cour" and "cours" is an English innovation.

In any case, the path "cour" took on its way to English is decidedly opaque, and so it is no surprise that it doesn't show up in English dictionaries.

WHAT DOES COUR MEAN?

Cour is a word used to describe a span of anime episodes during their initial Japanese TV broadcast. One cour runs for three months and typically consists of anywhere between 10 to 14 episodes and sometimes will contain a full season if the season is short enough.

HOW IS A COUR DIFFERENT FROM A SEASON?

A cour is essentially one production block of episodes that may or may not have a break in between it and the next block.

An anime cour really isn’t any different than saying, “A batch of anime episodes” or “The first/second half of an anime season.” Each three-month cour block in Japanese broadcasting is fairly defined however with each one starting in the months of January, April, July, and October and often named after their starting month or correlating season.

Example: The first cour of the year can be referred to either as 1月クール(Ichigatsu Kuru / January Cour) or 冬クールFuyu Kuru (Winter Cour) or even 第1クール (Daiichi Kuru / Cour 1).

WHY ARE ANIME SERIES PRODUCED IN COURS?

Planning an anime series in a cour rather than a full-blown season provides the production team and the broadcasters with a more flexibility. For instance, if a show airs one twelve-episode cour and has good ratings, the show runners may elect to produce another cour as a follow-up.

On the other hand, if the first cour airs and it doesn't perform well, then the show can be considered concluded (i.e. not renewed), and the production team loses less money by continuing to work on a less-profitable show.

WHERE DOES THE WORD COUR COME FROM?

The original Japanese word is クール, which is pronounced kuuru (funnily enough, the same spelling and reading as cool when using the English word in Japanese). It is thought to come from the French word cours which means lecture or course and it can be easy to see how the word could have been reinterpreted in much the same way we have in English when discussing meals. We two-course meal, ​meanwhile in Japan they can enjoy a two course anime series. Sometimes if it’s extra popular, the cooks may even make an extra course!

It’s a bit of a mystery as to why some of the English language anime fandom is using the word cour over kuru. It’s possible they’re referencing the original French origins of the word.

4 COUR (50-54 EPISODES, CONTINUOUS, OR YEAR-LONG SERIES) EXAMPLES

The Pretty Cure franchise; each and every continuity is a 4-cour or year-long series, always beginning in midwinter and wrapping up around Christmas.

AND NOW FOR THE ISSUE TO WHICH ALL THIS EXPLANATION BOILS DOWN:

COUR

vs.

ARC: 

Since each cour of a Precure season contains one story arc within its 12-13 episodes, each narrative arc overlapping with a different cour (for instance, the Twilight arc of Go!Princess Pretty Cure overlaps exactly with the Springtime Cour of said series), the terms "cour" and "arc" can be used interchangeably, even though "cour" refers to the production and "arc" refers to the narrative of a batch of episodes.

SHIKIBU MURASAKI: WORLD'S FIRST NOVELIST

Yes, the first novel in the world, the Genji Monogatari, was written by an Asian woman. Centuries before Cervantes came up with his Ingenious Hidalgo.
For more info, the Genji Monogatari is as complex as ASoIaF, the Potterverse, Shakespeare, and/or the works of the One-Handed of Lepanto. This world's first novel has been adapted into anime left and right, mostly into shójo anime...

REVIEW: ATTACK ON TITANS/SNK

Attack on Titans or Shingeki no Kyójin (which can mean either "Advancing Titans" or "[Others] Advancing on the Titans") is the most recent anime series I follow, my own Netflix guilty pleasure, and that for a number of reasons. For those who don't know what it's all about, here are the basics about the premise and the characters:

Premise:
Centuries ago, the human species was decimated by gigantic, brutish humanoids known as titans.
The last outpost of humankind is a fortified kingdom guarded by three concentric fortification walls (the capital and the royal palace at the heart of the structure, the provincial towns and countryside within the walls around). Beyond the uttermost Wall Maria there is wilderness, unexplored wild nature populated by the hostile titans, that seem to appear out of the blue. The concentric structure of the kingdom can be explained like this:

STOHESS DISTRICT (the capital, heart of the realm)
WALL SINA (innermost wall)
PROVINCIAL TOWNS, MILITARY COMPLEXES
WALL ROSE (middle wall)
PROVINCIAL TOWNS, VILLAGES, RURAL AREAS (including Trost, the main setting, and Shiganshina, the leading trio's birthplace).
WALL MARIA (uttermost wall)
WILDERNESS (dangerous)

It is a country-esque land with a feudal society and quaint townscapes (half-timbered houses with eaves, cobbled streets, no motor vehicles at all), where nearly all the people are European-looking and have got Germanic names (though a few have got Hebrew or Japanese names). A precious setting. And the story takes, in general, place within the military; the uniforms are not as conspicuous and brightly-coloured as in other Ruritanias, --the ones in AoT/SnK look like 30YW-era attire mashed up with secret agent gear--, yet charming in their own way.

At first, we are introduced to Eren Jaeger, the doctor's son in the village of Shiganshina, an irascible and righteous boy with a never-give-up attitude; Mikasa Ackerman, Eren's adopted sister, a plucky and extremely strong and self-reliant girl; and Armin Arlert, an intelligent but physically frail blond orphan constantly picked on by the local bullies. The lives of all three take a turn for the worse when some titans breach through Wall Maria and march on Shiganshina, forcing the three young refugees to relocate to the town of Trost, within Wall Rose. Like most other people in the land, they idealize the military that defends the walls from the titans and decide to enlist. And the story deals with these three and their friends in the ranks, first as cadets and then as officers, as a sinister truth unfolds: there is a fifth column of titans within the military itself, some of those who fight titans are becoming titans themselves, and the nobility and royalty of the realm may not be looking for the most noble interest of humankind...
The other characters in the regiment are:

• Jean Kirschstein, a carefree and slightly perverted auburn young man, sensuous yet realistic, prudent in the fight and thus seen as a coward, who wants to be a royal guard and lead a comfortable life in Stohess. In love with Mikasa and maybe with Marco, until the loss of the latter, like that of Renly to Loras Tyrell, makes his personality take a Copernican turn.
• Marco Bott, Jean's bromantic partner, a sensitive and heartful young man (the idealist to Jean's realist) who also wants to be a royal guard, but for the more noble aim of protecting royalty. The heart of the regiment. Devoured by titans half-way across the series.
• Conny Springer, the show's resident shavehead (there's one in every anime) as well as the regiment clown and the one who keeps everyone else's mood up. Sunny and outgoing, though always leaps before he looks.
• Sasha Braus, an eccentric sunburned country girl and somewhat of a foodie. Looks like Katniss Everdeen (a tomboyish young woodswoman with a dark ponytail) and has the same backstory as Katniss, but with the personality of Luna Lovegood, and the same issues with structure. 
• Christa Lenz, a sweet and innocent, friendly and warm blonde girl who can be best described as Desdemona with the serial numbers filed off. There is more to her than meets the eyes. The heart of the group after Marco's disappearance. (Is actually Historia Reiss, the crown princess of the kingdom, and becomes its queen in the end)
• Ymir, a reserved and mannish tall and dark young woman, with an aloof and sinister air, nicknamed Freckles, and more than friends or sister figures with Ymir (the pairing, Yumikuri, is my AoT OTP). Is, IMOHO, the show's resident badass. (Is actually a titan)
• Rainer Braun, the blond thug and more than best friends with Bertholdt. A popular and rugged brawny jock à la Gaston, considered the oniisama (big brother figure) to his siblings in arms. The big man on camp, described as being strong as a bull and thickheaded as one, as well as speaking in a manly baritone. (Is actually a titan)
• Bertholdt Huwer (or Fubar), the raven-haired, sensitive, feminine other half of Rainer. Nicknamed Bert or Bertel. Shy and wavering, meek and lacking self-esteem (very like the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz), even something of a doormat, he looks up to his blond and hefty significant other. (Is actually a titan)
• Annie Leonhardt, the blonde ice queen and the third leg of a trio with Rainer and Bert, as well as the trio leader. Even more of a realist than Jean, and a reserved loner even more aloof than Ymir. Has a sinister contralto voice and is an extremely skilful hand-to-hand fighter. Like Ymir, however, she is not as emotionless as it seems. (Is actually a titan)
• Levi Ackerman; the commanding officer, a cool-as-ice young army captain who is blood related to Mikasa; a sharply-dressed perfectionist with a Napoleon complex and a violent hatred of germs. Experienced, capable, and older than he looks, as well as a night owl and compulsive tea drinker. Has a type for people taller than him (basically, the rest of the cast). Known as Humanity's Strongest. For such a size, he lives up to his reputation, as well as speaking in baritone and having a sinister air when he tranquilly gets irate (Levi is phlegmatic, tranquil, and never snaps).
• Hange (pronounced "Hanji") Zoe: Levi's right-hand woman and the show's resident mad scientist: auburn and bespectacled, with a contralto voice and the personality of Professor Trelawney mashed up with Bellatrix Lestrange (indeed, she can be rather sadistic). Regarded as an eccentric, and a passionate researcher obsessed with titans. Just like Qyburn, she will do anything in the name of science.
• Erwin Smith: the badass colonel and the only sane member of the regiment, a good-looking tall blond whose baritone voice and the look in whose blue eyes betray his earnestness and nerves of steel. An excellent strategist, he can be brutally honest and forced to make tough decisions due to the weight of his high rank. (Gets the same disability as Horatio Nelson, Mucius Scaevola, and Jaime Lannister)

From left to right: Christa, Ymir, Sasha, Annie, Mikasa, Conny, Eren, Armin, Marco, Jean, Rainer, and Bertholdt.

The two openings, "Feuerrotes Pfeil und Bogen" and "Flügel der Freiheit," contain (fittingly) German verses set to heavy symphonic music. Needless to say these songs are performed by Linked Horizon, the band formerly known as Sound Horizon, whose concept albums create an EPIC shared universe of historical/fairytale/flintlock/gaslamp fantasy.

The show combines military fiction with what I love the most about the Potterverse, ASoIaF, Othello, the Waterfire Saga, Monstrous Regiment, flintlock and/or gaslamp fantasy... i.e.: quaint, country-esque Ruritanian settings; a diverse ensemble cast of young people with different physiques, personalities, genders, and sexual orientatons; a sinister intrigue that gradually unfolds and unfurls, shocking revelations; the deaths of a few characters that you become attached to... Recommended if you like any of the stories above.

I've made a few projects based upon the series:
Attack on Enchantment - YumiKuri fairytale AUs: Savitri (Ymir as Savitri, Christa as Satyavan, and Annie as a Hela-inspired death goddess); The Snow Queen (Christa as Gerda, Ymir as Kai, featuring Rod Reiss as the Snow King, and a few other characters in supporting roles [Erwin as the headmaster of Trost Orphanage; Herr Arlert as the local sage / old witch character, Armin as himself/Herr Arlert's grandson; Jean and Marco as two royal guard lovers / crow characters, Rainer and Bertholdt as half-brother princes and Annie as their princess; Sasha as a kitchen maid/former friend of Christa's at the orphanage; Levi as a royal guard officer; Eren, Mikasa, Conny, and some others as outlaws; Hange as the Finmark woman character, and Fritz as the usurper of the northern ice kingdom]); Rapunzel (Christa in the title role, Ymir as Eugene, Annie as Gothel; Rainer and Bertholdt as the Stabbingtons); Beauty and the Beast (Christa as Belle, Ymir as the Beast, Annie as a dark take on the fairy, Rainer and Bertholdt as Gaston and Lefou, other members of the regiment as object-servants). Plus one that is not YumiKuri: The Pardoner's Tale/O Tesouro starring Rainer, Bertholdt and Annie, ft. Hange as a pharmacist eager to make a quick gain on strychnine ("for the rats," Annie says).
Attack on Shakespeare - YumiKuri doing the Bard: The Tempest (Eren as Caliban, Rainer and Bert as the jesters) and Othello, so far (Annie as Iago, and Rainer as Cassio, feat. Bert as an Emilia/Bianca composite character; a bit of a Wicked feel in using the traditional villain's POV in some scenes...).

INTO THE WOODS AMV

MADOKA MAGICA: ON THE LABYRINTHS

The labyrinths in Madoka Magica are sheer colour/chaos display. Not eye candy, but eye drugs...

  

 

 

 

A

snapshot of the otherness of the world within which

the girls are fighting their opponents. Here, the mise en scene

is composed of a stylised collage of food and cutlery, layered and presented in a way that 

runs completely contrary to the sterile reality of the real world. 

A still layer of what appears to be melted white frosting slowly lowering

 from the top of the frame while a table in the background sparkles. This then cuts to what seems to be a

box of sweets, featuring the same alien script that has been present in the witches'

worlds throughout the series so far.
After writhing and contorting for a brief moment, the box bursts, and then the frame splits like an eye opening.

This is reinforced by the background showing a spoon and

fork that bookend Charlotte, whose head is shaped like a bonbon in a wrapper. The

alien script at the bottom of the frame is reminiscent of icing and sprinkles on biscuits.

The worlds the witches inhabit are colourful and full of life, while simultaneously alienating the girls from them.

SNOW BOUND LAND - IV STORY

There is a visual novel version of The Snow Queen! It's called... SNOW BOUND LAND!
So I have to post the Clever Princess du jour and her consort!!

Here are Alfred and Natalia (those are their names, he is 19 and she is the same age) in their splendid eighteenth-century clothes. There's even a bookcase behind her to hint at her cultural level! Good looking and learned, and their clothes fit them... they look like characters in The Ringstetten Saga (GOOD R'HLLOR, THAT FAIR PONYTAIL, THOSE EPAULETS, THAT RUFFLED SHIRT, THAT COPPER POMPADOUR WITH RINGLETS, AND THOSE SATIN ROSES...)!!

Alfred is a free person who's narcissistic and doesn't listen to anyone, but somehow he's also endearing. He loves women and dislikes men, but more than anything else, he hates people who stand out more than he does.

She's very strict about time and would get angry whenever things don't go according to her schedule. Once she opens her heart to someone, she will tell them anything. She might appear strong-willed, but is surprisingly romantic at heart.

WHEN SHALL WE MEET AGAIN?

The three Weird Sisters in Shakespeare's Macbeth are, as a matter of fact, based upon the Three Fates: the Moirae of classical myth... and their Norse counterparts, the Norns.

I had never seen an anime version of the Norns until this day...

     Verdandi                                        Urd                             Skuld

All three posing together... how should I caption this picture?
"Fair is foul and foul is fair..."

Dee, Deandra and Deanne: the Destinies.
More Norn/Weird Sister expies.

My Shakespeare mashup fic Perchance to Dream puts actually the Norns in the role of the Weird Sisters, making them catalysts for both the deeds of Thengil (the Lord Macbeth/Claudius character) and Jean-Jacques Scheele (the Iago character), as well as supplying heroes like Isabella/Isa (Marina/Perdita/Imogen) and Hans/Erik (Malcolm/Hamlet) with useful facts and prophecies... rendering them neutral yet interactive spectators of the great show of human life.

CLEVER PRINCESS IN ANIME!

The Fourth Story of The Snow Queen as shojo anime!

This is episode 28 of an epic series, that aired in 2005 for the Andersen bicentennial:



Meet the princess of Always Sunny Spring Paradise (a magical kingdom, secluded from the outside world) and her consort! 

GAME OF THRONES FICTIONAL CRESTS

Here are some of the Game of Thrones fictional crest mottoes that I have come up with. I will draw the crests with Paint as soon as I have time:

Shakespeare

• House Montague - DEATH TO THE CAPULETS (gold and scarlet red)
• House Capulet - DEATH TO THE MONTAGUES (silver and Prussian blue)
• House Iago - NOT WHAT I AM (green and mauve)
• House Hotspur - INTO THE FRAY (gold and orange)
• House Cassio - INNOCENCE, DUTY, LOYALTY (sky blue and platinum)
• House Lawrence - PEACE OUT OF LOVE (café au lait and white)

Pretty Cure

• House Aida: KINDNESS AND VALOUR (pink and platinum)
  
• House Hishikawa: CLEAR AS ICE (sky blue and silver)
  
• House Yotsuba: FIRMLY ROOTED (yellow and gold)
  
• House Kenzaki: DREAD MY BLADES (lilac and steel)
  
• House Madoka: STRONG THROUGH TRIALS (scarlet red and platinum)
  
• House Hanasaki: I BLOSSOM OPEN (pink and white)
  
• House Kurumi (Erika and Momoka): VAST AS THE OCEAN (sky blue and white)
  
• House Myodoin: SHINING BRIGHTLY (yellow and orange)
  
• House Tsukikage: MIDNIGHT IS OURS (lavender and black)
  
• House Shirabe: LISTEN TO MY TUNE (gold and platinum)
  
• House Kurokawa: TWISTED HEARTSTRINGS (sky blue and Prussian blue)
  
• House Higashi: RIPENED PASSION (scarlet and black)
• House Kiryuu: WE COME THROUGH FOG (crimson and Prussian blue)
• House Misumi: NEVER TO YIELD (black and crimson)
• House Yukishiro: PURITY OF MIND (white and sky blue)

Harry Potter

• House Lovegood: REASON IS NOT ALL (Prussian blue and copper, the Ravenclaw colours)
  
• House Black (+ Black-Lestrange): TOUJOURS PUR / FOREVER PURE (black and steel)
• House Malfoy: PURE IS OUR BLOOD (silver and dark green, the Slytherin colours)

Erstwhile

• House Valdis: MY WISH IS YOUR SCOURGE (sky blue and gold)

Cardcaptor Sakura

• House Kinomoto: HARVESTING KINDNESS (pink and green)
• House Daidoji: WITH COURTESY AND FLAIR (purple and gold)

Sailor Moon

• House Mizuno: COOL STAY OUR MINDS (Prussian blue and steel)
• House Tomoe: THE NIGHT WILL SOON COME (black and purple)
• House Tenoh-Kaioh-Meioh-Tomoe: STRENGTH, GRACE, DUTY, SORROW (quartered shield: Prussian blue and gold/light green and sky blue/crimson and dark green, black and purple)

Pandora Hearts

• House Nightray: WE STRIKE AT MIDNIGHT (gold and black)
• House Rainsworth: ELEGANCE, KINDNESS, LOYALTY (purple and scarlet)
• House Barma: ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE (crimson and gold)
• House Vessalius: LIGHT ARE OUR HEARTS (green and steel)
• House Baskerville: WRITTEN IN BLOOD (red and black)

Shugo Chara

• House Tsukiyomi: CONSTANT DESPITE CHANGE (steel and black)

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

• House Belle (Rarity and Sweetie): SHINING WITH ELEGANCE (purple and sky blue)
• House Dash: LIGHTNING WILL STRIKE (sky blue/warm colours)
• House Pie: ALWAYS IN THE MOOD (pink and sky blue)

Ever After High fandom

• House Lilienstiel: POUR NOUS, LES LUMIÈRES / UNTO US, THE LIGHT OF MIND (white and lilac)
• House Liddell: WITHOUT STEPPING BACK (sky blue and white)
• House Leutnant: DEFIANT TILL THE END (Prussian blue and white)
• House Hatter: GOOD IN EVERYTHING (mauve and sky blue)
• House de Myrthe: BEAUTÉ, AMOUR, PLAISIR / BEAUTY, LOVE, PLEASURE (pink and lilac)
• House des Lauriers: FIERTÉ, COURAGE, GLOIRE / PRIDE, COURAGE, GLORY (white and gold)
• House Feuersbrunst: MY WISH IS YOUR SCOURGE (sky blue and gold)
• House Drosselmeier: SHARP IS MY SIGHT (green and black)
• House Poppins: SOARING FREE (mauve and white)

W.I.T.C.H.

• House Hale: WE STAND STRONG (light green and dark green)
• House Lyndon: KNOWLEDGE, DARING, ELEGANCE (Prussian blue and steel)
• House Escanor: IRRADIATING LIFE (sky blue and mauve)
• House Peynton (Kader and Erin): WE REFLECT ON THE DARK (black and orange)

Les Misérables

• House Thénardier: TOUT POUR RÉUSSIR / ANYTHING TO SUCCEED (green and steel)
• House Valjean: LA BONTÉ, MA RÉCOMPENSE / KINDNESS IS MY REWARD (white and platinum)
• House Javert: PAS DE QUARTIER / NOT ANY MERCY (black and white)
• House Enjolras: LA LIBERTÉ OU RIEN / FREEDOM OR NOTHING (red and black)

Master and Commander

• House Aubrey: TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (Prussian blue and copper)
• House Maturin: FOR EVERY LIVING THING (green and café au lait)

Thirty Years' War

• House Vasa: GOTT MIT UNS / GOD WITH US (yellow/gold and Prussian blue)
• House Tilly: JESUS, MARIA (dark green and sky blue)
• House Wallenstein: GUIDED BY THE STARS (scarlet and steel)
• House Pappenheim: FAITH, LOYALTY, HONOR (scarlet and crimson)

Ringstetten Saga

• House Ringstetten: NO CHALLENGE TOO HARD (Prussian blue and purple)
• House Lanskoi: WE BEND TO NO ONE'S WILL (crimson and green)
• House Lindelius: WE THINK FREE (dark green and yellow)

Lastly, my own:

• House Dermark: PASSION, REASON, CONFIDENCE (Prussian blue and orange)