The Drifting (17th Mar 2019)

It has been a black week so far. John is not going to elaborate for obvious reasons. One thing John realises about death is this: You're entitled to make fun of the day you'll die, but that doesn't mean another person's death is worth less than a single cent.

Given the kind of otter he has always been, John L'Otter is pretty sure he's well-equipped in dealing with cynicism and everything wrong with and in this world. However, straitjacketing his fellow otters with his cynicism, be they from the sea or river, has to be the worst thing anyone could do.

Greatest sex scandal since Mr Bill?

No offence to the likes of Bill Gates and Bill Haslam. One is a genius entrepreneur while the other is Tennessee's Guan Zhong and every moderate Republican's dream VP. (mostly because Mr Bill of Tennessee decided to ownself fire ownself like Bob and Trey).

The Mr Bill John is talking about here is none other than this Bill below.

If you're to ask John, this IS really the greatest sex scandal since Mr Bill. Let's not kid ourselves, guys. We all have our moments where gawking at sexy images of K-pop girls is concerned. It's only a matter of how long it'd take for us to grow out of it. Or in another scenario, whether we can do it. Sex tapes are not okay, but seeing a sexily dressed Taeser in any 소녀시대 MV is.

A brief look through the Korean Arya's list throws us a... disturbing (for the lack of a better word) coincidence. Out of the those currently busted by Arya's list, one guy was from CNBLUE and another guy from F.T. Island. Why John calls this coincidence disturbing was due to these two idol boybands having a part in Park Shin-hye's You're Beautiful. Jung Yong-hwa is part of CNBLUE while Lee Hong-gi is part of F.T. Island. But still, we all know this is a coincidence.

Please be responsible whenever you're on the internet and social media. After all, you'll never know whether or when you will go to Changi, degree or no degree.

Right now, the question lies in how many more names are going to be outed from the KakaoTalk. It's an irony to know that in a culture where the anonymous psychology is the BFF of a highly sexualised culture in Seoul and beyond, said BFF actually became the Korean Brutus to the equally Korean Julius Caesar. If William Shakespeare is still alive like an English Highlander, what would he write? The Taming Of The Shrew has been regularly savaged by feminists for being misogynistic. However, one must remember that in The Merchant Of Venice, women were the reason why the titular protagonist was saved from a horrible fate.

And speaking fate and women...

Two sinners against each other,
One a body made of swords,
The other a man of faith.
Many are the wishers,
Only one thing can grant them all.
In the name of destruction and ire,
From a god created by us.

So will we see another Mr Bill in Japan?

Allow John L'Otter to be cynical here: John doubts this day will arrive. Japan, in general, is more resistant to foreign influences compared to its equally democratic neighbour called South Korea. If the Korean pride is all about proving itself in the face of Western cultural colonisation, the Japanese pride is nothing less than a two-finger salute in the name of racial excellence and ethnic accomplishments. In fact, the #MeToo movement in South Korea could be seen as the greatest national miracle since the economy started accelerating at a break-neck pace. If there's any greater miracle to hope for, it'd be denuking and peace in the Korean Peninsula. Just don't ask John whether that will happen. It's obvious Kim Jong-un is out to keep his nukes and ICBMs as political chips in order to facilitate a daring diplomatic strategy. The moment Pyongyang denukes itself, it means North Korea would be confident enough to move between China, U.S, and Russia. If it sounds like the nation of Silla N years ago, that's because diplomatic mobility is most likely Kim Jong-un's ultimate aim.

Recently, Captain Marvel said hi. Together with Black Widow (apparently, she survived the gauntlet and ditto for her ex) and a Wonder Woman gone Jewish, people are celebrating a new era of heroism where the only thing left would be a gender bender rated G. Surprisingly, 7 remains the sacred male number.

Now it's quite obvious that if you want to create a great heroine, the best way is to create an original one. No one is telling you to be the female version of Neil Gaiman, please don't give yourself unwanted pressure. Which now comes to an interesting question: Are there things waiting to be improved in the Japanese creative industry since it's nice to see none of the Great American Bashing: Red Versus Blue in a nation more concerned about the Okinawans' safety, Gaki Yui or no Gaki Yui?

Miyazaki Hayao has to be lauded for being a genius. Take for example Howl's Moving Castle. The heroine's name was Sophie, but she's no Sophie Turner. Her mundane bravery proved that girls don't need to be Sansa Stark or Jean Grey to be great. At the same time, he's anti-war ever since America dropped two A-bombs to break Hirohito's resolve. As for his negative sentiments towards the unrealistic 2D aesthetics, they're justified.

But if you desire a more powerful heroine, someone like Captain Marvel... you may want to watch Kara no Kyoukai. John watched all seven movies N years ago. And John has to say... yeah, plenty of visceral stuff. You have a vengeful rape victim called Asagami Fujino out to kill all her rapists in an insane show of axe-crazy telekinesis until Ryougi Shiki decided to stop her.

Spoiler: Ryougi Shiki was never a Republican.

Then you have a suicidal Fujou Kirie committing suicide. But not before Ryougi Shiki decided to... well, stop her.

Spoiler: Ryougi Shiki was never a heroine like Captain Marvel.

The beautiful thing about Magic Kinoko's heroines is never about the 2D aesthetics (again, refer back to the meme). Their beauty lies in the fact that they're 100% humane in a way few could imagine. They're never the kind of Marvel-DC fare the global majority is used to seeing and appreciating.

Say for example, Arcueid Brunestud. She could never understand humans. Then again, every vampire, True Ancestors or Dead Apostles, could never do so. Not because they're unable to, but rather because they never made an effort to. That's until Tohno Shiki rang the doorbell and... well, said hi.

Then you have Irisviel von Einzbern. Otherwise known as the greatest (?) anti-Hollywood heroine ever, Iri doesn't have the ability to fight like Diana Prince or lead like Katniss Everdeen. In a world where might is right and not the other way around, Iri was the only person capable of humanising an anti-heroic Kiritsugu. You try asking the typical might and right heroine to do that. In fact, there are only two characters in Fate/Zero which are considered... well, sane.

Erm, no. Definitely not Aoi and Kariya. Aoi is a victim in every sense of the word. That includes becoming a monster in a monstrous world. Actually, the same goes for Kariya as well.

Spoiler: The Holy Grail wasn't God. Therefore, it damned Emiya Kiritsugu.

Spoiler: The Holy Grail wasn't God. Therefore, it couldn't save Artoria Pendragon.

Ryougi Shiki has to be one of, if not the most in-depth heroine John has ever seen in a long while. And by that, he means more than 20 years coming into contact with random movies, anime, TV shows, and series wiki sites. She's powerful, yes. Much more powerful than Tohno Shiki even though both are able to see death instead of just dead people. Apparently, God doesn't exist in the Nasuverse (a useful tip for aspiring fantasy writers by the way). Which makes Ryougi Shiki's boast that she can even kill God as a hypothetical statement of arrogance. Yet, she's a protagonist full of... well, nothing. She's an empty vessel. Yet, that very emptiness was one full of holes. But how can emptiness have holes? This is not just a statement of irony. It's a contradiction reflecting the real nature of humanity. This was also why the title of the fifth episode had to be the most Kara'esque ever. The original text read 矛盾螺旋 while the English text read Paradox Spiral. Throughout the plot, the characters have to make sense out of the senseless. Sometimes, we get a tragedy. Sometimes, we get a happy ending. Example of the former would be Fujou Kirie committing suicide by throwing herself off the building because to understand life is to die and vice versa. As for the latter, Shiki and Mikiya ended up happily ever after. But not before this happened...

The reason why Shiki is humane was never due to whether she needs a man. It's never down to her tears. Rather, it's down to the brutally honest manner which she developed and exposed her fragility. At first, she represented might is right. Afterwards, she didn't change to right is might. Rather, she exposed the fact that might can easily be the strongest fighter's facade to hide his/her own weakness. In this sense, it's very likely this was where the Notorious UBG (i.e. Uro Butch Gen) got his idea from when it came to the relationship between Kiritsugu and Iri. This effectively made her grandfather into the smartest guy in the plot. He's effectively the Godo of the series.

No, not Michelangelo's ゴドー. John refers to the actual one done by Miura Doragonkoroshitaro below.

The Japanese do have the tendency to be more horribly twisted than H.P. Lovecraft most of the time. If not all the time. Tamer examples would include Goblin Slayer. Which is already bad enough. Moderate ones include Berserk. Extreme examples? Saya no Uta. Done by none other than the Notorious UBG himself. Hellsing should be somewhere between Tier 1 and 2 due to that necrophilic rape scene. John isn't joking here. You only need the series wiki info to know that, so please DO NOT view the unviewable if you're below 21.

But when they start creating humane characters, boy that's where the quality starts to shine. Guts is not morally good, but he's humane. Alucard was called an irredeemable monster, but Integra's dad turned out to be way smarter than everyone else. Characters which would have been reviled in Hollywood became human beings at the hands of a people who don't give a damn to gaijin politics. That's the best part of appreciating Japanese secular creativity. Yes, you all read it right. NOT Kasumi, Kazama Asuka, or Seong Mi-na

Back to Shiki's granddad. He famously said you can only kill one person in your life. Any more than one and that makes you a murderer. This was his final advice to his granddaughter before he died. Famous last words. Which now comes to the interesting question: What was his definition of murder? 

Murder in Kara no Kyoukai refers to the death of one's true self rather than physical death. Effectively, one could say Shiki was once dead but brought back to life. Power cannot grant life. Power can only commit murder if we're going by Ryougi Sr's famous last words. One could see that throughout the series. From Kirie to Fujino and from Araya Souren to Shirazumi Lio, the question is this: Was Shiki far more alive as a human being despite her sense of emptiness more profound than any other character? If you're alive, you're not a murderer. But if you're one, then to quote the original Shang-Chi: 

And this explains the paradox behind the existence of Ryougi Shiki. Empty, but full of holes. Inhumane, but still humane. Murderer, but not yet one. Certified dead, but nevertheless alive.

Gotta end it here

It's absurd. To think John L'Otter spent more than 1/2 or 1/3 of the post talking crap on Magic Kinoko's magic. So allow John to end this day's The Drifting with the final part. Namely, a big thank to those fellows in Cryptic. It doesn't matter whether you guys are liberals or conservatives. Thanks for rolling the D20 and give John the best score.

There will be no future posts for Neverwinter's upcoming mod until the thing gets released. The reason why was that John got an email invitation N days ago for the live preview testing. In other words, personal principles demand John to shut his muzzle up.

Again, thanks to Cryptic for rolling a 20 for this typing otter.

P.S: John searched for a certain BGM. He found it easily thanks to YouTube and the lack of copyright claim threat being generated so far.

Title of the song? Ever Cry, Never Life
Composer? Kajiura Yuki in case you fail to recognise her signature style.