➤ [ Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun:  Chapter 6.5 ]

sorry i havent posted, but heres a scene/color practice for waiting ❄️

okayyyy ive been meaning to talk about this moment forever because i think the way i see it differs from a lot of general fandom opinion.

for context, this is from the dhc section of the dead apple manga. skk are talking about an executive who just died and dazai makes a joke about it, prompting chuuya to deck him in the face and say nobody could believe dazais human. (believe, very importantly. not that he Isnt, just that its unbelievable).

humanity is a key theme to all of bsd, but its Very explicitly central to the skk dynamic. chuuya is an intensely human character in the way that he acts and thinks, and yet! between his ability and ofc the history in the lab, it still gets called into question.

(its pretty solid that our chuuyas the real one, but thats not the point here. sb being an exploration of what it means to be human and whether Actually Being One is all that important to what you are and do, through a Distinctly human character- Thats the point. How you are being more important than what you are.)

then we have dazai on the other hand, where what he is doesnt come into question at all. Even his ability, despite its name, isnt dehumanising to an outside eye, compared to chuuyas corruption or atsushis tiger for example that can take away from their control of themselves. its the how he is, in contrast to chuuya, that comes into question with dazai. he very consistently holds himself outside of humanity both implicitly (through self isolation - shipping container being an extreme example) and explicitly (dead apple dazai talking about humanity as an Outside Observer. he is Not including himself as one of them).

When we are encouraged to doubt his humanity, its dazai Telling us to. he deliberately poses himself as inhuman because he FEELS it. and the dhc moment to me has always felt like chuuya seeing through it and calling his bullshit. Dazais making light of a death to be a dick, to push chuuyas buttons, but also because hes got this constant need to present the worst possible version of himself.

actually if you look at the panels of him when hes talking about the guy being dead, just before he gets dramatic ridiculous exaggerated dazai about it, he doesnt seem to think of it so lightly

(smthn smthn dazai imposter syndrome. the need to deny any of his more human qualities because he feels they dont Fit him. and the links w his questions to atsushi at the beginning and end, his bs 'do i really seem like the type of guy to do x thing'.)

chuuya says hes acting inhuman, that his humanity isnt something people will believe because of the way he ACTS. and then chuuya does an example of his own Chuuya Humanity Act, an act of service for the people he cares about in the form of going to solve the situation himself. AND. ultimately, dazai ends up planning around this later to lead chuuya straight to him so the two of them can deal with it together.

skk pretty consistently ground eo to humanity. dazai through nullification/corruption, but outside of their abilities too (its the thought of dazai - more specifically, not thinking like him - that stops chuuya from killing N in stormbringer and denying verlaines assertion that he shouldnt have been born). and on the flipside, chuuya is part of the reason dazai doesnt khs during or after fifteen. dazais protecting people thing really starts out with chuuya. and again, chuuya makes it his business to call dazai on his shit. (even right the way back in chapter 31 of the main manga, we have that interaction over Q, with dazai saying he spared them only for self serving logical reasons, and chuuya saying he doesnt buy it).

this to me has always felt like part of that. its not 'youre not human', its 'the way you act makes it unbelievable that you are'. its an invitation to prove he is by doing something Real, something worth more than sleeping there til he dies.

and dazai does.

luffy now using 'dawn' in his gear 5 attack names gives me the opportunity to point out something i don't know if i've mentioned before on this blog but that's been on my mind for actual years.

so, the english word 'dawn' is written in japanese as ドーン/dōn; for example, that's also how it's written in these attack names, and also in the name of dawn island (ドーン島/dōn-tou). and don/dōn is the same sound effect one piece uses ubiquitously to emphasize impactful or important panels or beats. (i think the official english translation usually renders it DOOM?) it also shows up in tom the fishman's speech pattern and the lyrics of binks no sake- i associate it very heavily with the comic as a whole.

and in thinking about gear 5, it's also occurred to me that the constant use of don for emphasis is potentially reminiscent of the sound of a drumbeat- especially since in wano, it's partially supplanted as the default 'emphasis' sound effect by the べん/ben or べべん/beben of hiyori's shamisen, another instrument.

Twin Power

In Chapter 108, when Tsukasa tells Nene that Amane won't be able to answer her calls for help right now, Nene tells him to try by harnessing his "twin power."

Now this is silly!! Nene, don't you know twins don't actually have powers in real life? Tsukasa also not knowing what she's talking about is so precious, omg.

Buuut... what if he does have some kind of communication power linked to Hanako?

Despite Nene calling out to Hanako several times...

...he only comes when Tsukasa whispers something, presumably Amane's name! (For more on this, see this post.)

Now, this is really interesting, because Tsukasa is positive that Amane wouldn't answer his calls. And I think that is true--normally, Amane wouldn't.

Except, who was the person that stole his assistant away again...?

And this isn't me trying to disparage Amane, of course! It's obvious he cares about Tsukasa a lot (must we forget what being a yorishiro means?) but he would never just ignore Nene's calls while answering Tsukasa's.

Especially when Tsukasa indicates he's been ignoring his calls for a while now.

Now, while I'm sure that Hanako showing up to save Tsukasa right when he calls could just be for dramatic effect... what if Nene was actually onto something?

What if Tsukasa has some sort of psychic connection to Hanako, perhaps related to him being his yorishiro?

And what if Hanako has been ignoring him the whole time?

WOULD THAT BE FUCKED UP OR WHAT?!

The indication Tsukasa makes that he was stuck somewhere (maybe Hanako's boundary?) and had to free himself without Amane's help makes this all the more upsetting.

I just think that, on top of the very real fact that Hanako has been ignoring Tsukasa's cries for help, the idea that Hanako can't even tune them out is... pretty awful, don't you think?! It almost makes me hope that's not the case, for both their sakes.

...The fact that Tsukasa can stay so upbeat in spite of this makes it easier to stomach, though! What a guy. ♡

Anyway, I could just be reading too deep into things, but I personally believe AidaIro has a wicked sense of humor and that little "jokes" like this often have more meaning than we give them credit for. But let me know what you think!

SEASON 2 AND NEW ASHK TRAILER HERE!!! AAAAAAA CLOCK KEEPER ARC INCOMING AND THE GENDERBENT ASHK CHAPTERS RAHHH

Welcome to the final installation of "overanalyzing the Warners," at least for now. I present my ultimate Animaniacs fan theory: the Warners could have been dezanitized. In fact, they almost were.

This is going to be a very long post.

First, I want to talk about the fundamental nature of the Warner siblings as I see it. They are chaotic, they abide by only their own rules, they act as a painful check on society's uppity adults. Generally, the show presents it as if they are this way by default; that's just their character, and there's no changing it.

I have a different viewpoint. The Warners clearly have free will. Yes, they were created with certain fundamental character traits. That doesn't prevent them from changing, though. We all have fundamental personality traits we acquired at a very young age. Does that prevent us from changing our nature, or acting against it at times? Not at all. The Warners act the way they do because they choose to, not because they were pre-programmed to always be that way. Look at their origin: created to be zany cartoon stars, by an insane artist, which explains some of their more outlandish traits. However, they didn't rebel right away. For the first few years of their existence, they were mostly compliant, acting in company shorts and doing their best to play along. It was only five years later, after the company had enough of playing nice with them, that they began to run around acting crazy. This is all covered in the Warners' 65th Anniversary Special Episode, which I covered in my last big post. In that one, I talk about the events that led up to their contract's cancellation and their eventual capture in the tower. Is it possible that the cancellation, even after all of Wakko's hard work directing his own cartoon short, is what drove them to be so antagonistic to the studio? In any case, it's clear in my mind that this was a conscious choice on their part.

"We're the Warner Brothers!"

"Like the studio?"

"Not very much, but we don't have a choice." -Yakko

(Also, look at how offended Wakko is at the mere mention of the studio. If you watch the clip, his expression changes from happy to this at the very instant Pfeiffer mentions the studio.)

That leads me to the episode I'll be focusing on today, "Taming of the Screwy," Episode 5 of the original series. It's appropriate, and perhaps not a coincidence, that this episode takes place so early on in the series. I believe it sets the foundation for everything that comes after.

At the beginning of the episode, we see Dr. Scratchansniff in Mr. Plotz's office. Plotz tells Scratchansniff about an important party they'll be having in honor of some rich foreign investors, who want to meet every employee of the studio- including the Warners. Plotz orders the doctor to teach the Warners good manners and appropriate behavior for the party, which is in 24 hours. Scratchansniff doesn't seem confident in his ability to do this.

In the next scene, the Warners are delivered to his office.

I mostly posted this screenshot so I could point out the portrait of young Scratchansniff in the background there. Never noticed that before today.

The Warners start out with a nice little ditty about Scratchansniff, before he explains to them why they were brought in. They get very excited upon learning they've actually been invited to this big party with all the huge stars. Yakko wants to see Michelle Pfeiffer, Dot wants to see Mel Gibson (heh), and Wakko wants to see Don Knotz, of course. Scratchansniff then tells them that they have to be behaved, clean, and nice children if they want to go. He asks them if they're willing to abide by these terms, and, after discussion, they agree.

This is pretty interesting to me. The Warners can go anywhere they want. There's no doubt they could get into the party whether they were invited or not, and that does in fact happen in the last act of the episode. So, why agree to these terms that they're less than enthused about? It must be because they want to be included officially. They're willing to follow the normal rules and procedure, if they're given the opportunity to do so. The problem is, they're almost never given that opportunity by the studio, so they're forced to do it the chaotic and zany way instead. Their whole lives, the studio has deliberately barred them from feeling any sense of inclusion, making them feel like outsiders, and then gets upset when they act outside of the rules.

Moving on, Scratchansniff begins to teach the kids proper manners. I don't want to highlight every gag in this segment (I greatly recommend watching it for yourself- I think it's one of the funniest episodes), so I'll just summarize. In separate lessons, he tries to teach the Warners how to do a proper greeting, how to enunciate correctly, and how to eat politely. They fail at all of these tasks, but it's very clearly deliberate. They're actually listening to everything Scratchansniff says- they just wanted to have some fun in the process. At the end, when it seems like they're a lost cause, Scratchansniff disinvites them from the party, at which point they show him that they really have learned and perfected everything he's taught them. He asks them why they gave him such a hard time-

"'Cause we love ya!"

And he actually hugs them back!

Now understanding how they operate, Scratchansniff seems to be on their side. He proudly introduces them at the party, and the Warners perfectly follow the proper protocol.

Yakko even cracks a joke in Japanese to the Japanese investors, getting them to laugh. So, not only are they acting politely, but they immediately prove that they can be a great asset to the company if the studio would just let them be on its side.

Of course, the company immediately does the opposite. Just as the Warners get into the party and are about to join the festivities, Plotz orders Scratchansniff to kick the Warners out, because he believes they'll ruin the party (even after having just witnessed Yakko having great chemistry with the investors). Scratchansniff tries to argue against it, but there's not much he can do to stand up to the CEO, so he has to walk over and break the news. The Warners' reaction is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen, period.

"Huh?"

To his credit, Scratchansniff does actually explain why he had to kick them out.

"But we behaved!"

Yakko never seems more like an actual child than right here. Scratchansniff apologizes and walks away.

This is the pivotal moment, not just in this episode, but the entire series. The Warners played along, did everything asked of them, only to be immediately betrayed, a promise broken. This is the moment any possibility of the Warners ever being dezanitized was shattered. They learned that if they try to play along with society's rules, that if they make an effort to be accepted, all they're gonna get is heartbreak. From this point on, they never genuinely try to be polite or "normal" ever again. To them, it's pointless. And it's hard to argue with them.

From the studio's perspective, Plotz dug his own grave, without ever realizing it. He had the Warners exactly where he wanted them. If he just let them stay at the party, prove that their efforts would be rewarded, it could have been the start of a new era. Maybe it wouldn't happen right away, but Scratchansniff would have had the ammunition he needed to work with them more, make real progress, and eventually teach them to control their zaniness. Plotz threw that all away, while continuing to solely blame the Warners for the way they act. These characters aren't even real, and it infuriates me.

The Warners predictably respond in the only way they know how, when they've been spurned by the studio once again. They go back to the party and cause chaos. They do whatever they want. Plotz tries to capture them, making things much worse. In the end, the investors are entertained by the Warners' antics and hand over the billion dollar check to them. Plotz then chases them in pursuit of the check, while Scratchansniff signals that the CEO has gone crazy himself. This ends the episode.

So, I don't think I have to summarize much. The point was made pretty clearly already. I do want to look at this from the writers' perspective. Do I think they intended to put all this deep layered character building in this episode? No, not really, but there are a few subtle hints here and there that seem to work a little too well with my theory. I think it's a possibility that they deliberately structured the plot this way, though it's still unlikely.

I think what this episode is truly meant to be is an important lesson for adults. Most of us probably remember a childhood experience where an adult told us to do something in the promise of a reward, only for that promise to be broken once you go through with their demands. It's a very powerless feeling, because adults always tell children not to lie and make false promises, when many of them don't seem to have an issue doing those things to children. Animaniacs is a very child-oriented show. By that I don't mean that it's childish, but that it shows the world through a child's perspective. According to the show bible, the Warners are meant to do the things children wish they could do to mean and arrogant adults. This episode attempts to teach the lesson that breaking promises to children will only result in mistrust and heartbreak- that children recognize hypocrisy just as well as the rest of us. The Warners do what we wished we could do as children by going back to the adults and basically sticking their tongues out in their faces.

Focusing back on the plot of the show, if anyone ever feels like the Warners are in the wrong for how they act, just watch this episode and you'll understand their perspective a lot better. The studio deserves every torment the Warners can give, because the studio is the one that created not just the Warners, but the conditions that make them do what they do. The studio then hypocritically tries to blame it entirely on the children they've deliberately mistreated since birth. Animaniacs is quite unique in that regard, because the main antagonist of the whole series is actually the very studio that produced the show in real life. I wonder if they ever realized it.

That about wraps it up. This is the last deep analysis I'll do for a long time, since I'm sure almost all Animaniacs discussion for the next few months will be centered around season 2 of the reboot.

(I also don't have any more ideas.)

An idea with Snufkin

Next -> this ones illustrated better plz check it out I worked hard on it

drew a bunch of different snufkins. idk much about a few of these so if i got anything wrong, dont bother telling me just think really hard about it and maybe i’ll receive your feedback telepathically in a week or so

OKAY EDIT because multiple people have mentioned it: IM SORRY book snufkin was only depicted with a harmonica. he has an accordion in some of tove’s standalone illustrations and i chose to draw like a very specific snufkin ive seen in a few drawings from her. the accordion was only for a fun comparison and also because accordions are awesome buut that wasnt a very good representation of general book snufkin my apologies

snufkin: melody of moominvalley moments that have made me bark out an ugly laugh (so far)

meanwhile