In His Natural Habitat

Sparring Partner

It's Knuckles (and Amy) appreciation week now.

Don’t mind me going insane over the oh hellos again…

Happy Trans Day of Visibility 2023! I love being trans – the part that makes it difficult is the transphobes.

Tell me in the replies/tags/reblogs what trans joy looks like for you. :D

Transphobes do not touch this post.

Image ID: 10-image cartoon comic featuring Joey, a boy with short hair. Image 1: Joey smiles and gesticulates to the title of the comic which reads: “Accessing gender-affirming care as a minor has allowed me to experience trans joy as a transgender adult!”. The words “trans joy” are in large block letters the color of the trans flag. Image 2: A younger Joey wearing a sweater and boxers receives his first T shot from a nurse. The text reads: “I started testosterone 5 days before my 17th birthday after spending the year jumping through a bajillion hurdles. Today, my home state is trying to criminalize my care and specifically shut down the trans specialty clinic that cared for me. Throughout all of this false ‘debate’ about best-practice medicine, I have seen no politicians, reporters, or cis allies talk about trans joy.” Image 3: A younger Joey in a hoodie stands at the stove cooking. He is happy, and there are music notes around his head. The text reads: “When I realized that I was trans years earlier, the world became lighter. I suddenly had answers for why I felt the way I did, and I knew that I wasn’t alone. I found myself humming and singing again”. Image 4: Joey is posed stretched across the frame. He’s wearing suspenders and plaid pants and throwing up a peace sign. The text reads: “I discovered my fashion sense for the first time. I had never been happy in any clothing, but realizing that I was a boy let me explore and find the clothes that made me feel great”. Image 5: Joey’s hand holds up a phone, and on the screen are thumbnails of videos of his face. The text reads: “Most trans people can tell you the day they started hormones (or another transition milestone). It’s like having a second birthday! I’ve got a digital diary recording my monthly changes from the first 2 years.” Image 6: Joey sits on the ground next to a friend, and they are both drawing in notebooks and smiling. Joey’s friend has glasses, an undercut, earrings, and facial hair. The text reads: “I have the most wonderful trans friends who enrich my life every day. I am so lucky to be part of such a loving community”. Image 7: Joey holds hands with his boyfriend, who is a taller boy with long hair in a ponytail and facial hair. The text reads: “Realizing that I was a boy made me realize that I was gay. Up until then, I just thought that I couldn’t experience attraction at all (which is also perfectly normal, by the way!). A wonderful boy and I fell in love 5 years ago, and we get to watch each other grow. Image 8: Joey is shirtless and holding a toothbrush while his boyfriend hugs him from behind. They are both smiling. The text reads: “He often reminds me of how good I look, and boy do I know it! I love my trans body. It’s perfectly me!” Image 9: Joey is shirtless and showing his chest and top surgery scars. The text reads: “Like most places, my clinic does not refer minors for surgery. But when I turned 18, I got top surgery to remove my (bountiful) breast tissue. It’s one of the best things to ever happen to me. I adore my chest. I’ve been freed.” Beside a small doodle of a cat, the text reads: “My cat sleeps on my flat chest every night”. Image 10: Joey has his arms behind his back and is addressing the reader. The text reads: “In the midst of purposeful misinformation and frankly genocidal language and laws, I’d like us to remember the joy of getting to be ourselves. Gender-affirming care not only saves but enriches lives for people of all ages. The joy of being oneself is what the Right wants to eliminate. It is imperative that we preserve and encourage the continuation of trans joy by allowing all trans people to safely thrive.” The comic is dated March 31, 2023. End ID.

Been a minute since I did a painting study, so have some mouse-covered pastries.

Soak 1,2 and 3 💦 I made the last year on watercolor shikishi boards with colored inks💕

I genuinely feel bad for people who say a qpp is just like a friendship. like you've never felt overwhelmingly deep singular platonic love for someone? you've never felt like somebody is cut from the same material as you in the most metaphorical way? you've never shared a match of minds? never felt as if you were complimentary colors with souls attached to the same star? never existed in that third space between friendship and romance that they said humans couldn't reach? gee man that sucks get well soon.

Character Analysis: Shouya from A Silent Voice

(Spoilers for A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi)

Shouya Ishida is one of my favorite anime/manga characters ever, and I’ve been meaning to make a post about him. In my opinion, he is the poster child for the perfect redemption arc. I want to talk about some of the reasons why his change of heart was foreshadowed/under the surface right at the beginning, and why we as an audience are rooting for him, despite the horrible things he did to Shouko.

A Silent Voice is currently one of the top anime movies of all time, and while I do really love the movie (KyoAni is amazing) I am a much bigger fan of the manga; it has more time to expand on the characters and introduces some smaller important plot lines. In this post I will be quoting some moments that were in the manga and not the anime, aka, Shouya’s internal monologue. Anyway, let’s get into it. I want to start with why I think Shouya went down the bullying path in the first place.

Environment and Role Models

One of the biggest factors that influenced Shouya’s class’s toxic environment and led him to be a bully was having an uncaring ableist teacher. In the manga, the phrases “something we just have to deal with” and “this is your responsibility”, things that the teacher said to him regarding Shouko, repeatedly echo in Shouya’s mind whenever he interacts with her. At some points, the teacher actually laughs when the other students make fun of Shouko, letting Shouya (as well as the others) believe that it’s an ok thing to do. If Shouya had an adult figure in the classroom with a stronger sense of morality, he might have changed his tune earlier.

Shouya was also highly influenced by his peers (which makes sense because he was literally 11 years old). When another teacher comes into the classroom to explain what sign language is, there’s a very small panel before anyone else says anything, where Shouya thinks “that sounds fun”. At first, he’s interested in sign language and may have been willing to give it a shot. But then, Ueno suddenly starts complaining about how it’s much easier for them to use the notebook than sign language, and Shouya absorbs this and immediately goes back to thinking about how much of an inconvenience Shouko is to him.

Another influence on Shouya’s behavior is his home environment. I do not want to shade Shouya’s mom completely because overall I think she is a loving parent, but unfortunately she was not able to fully be there for her son because she is a single mom with a full time job. Even though he was in a caring home, he was not necessarily in one that gave him enough attention, and by the time Miyako realized what her son was up to it was too late. If she had given him more guidance earlier on in his involvement with Shouko, they may have been able to avoid disaster.

But all of these reasons aren’t excuses, they’re explanations. Regardless of why, Shouya contributed to Shouko’s severe trauma and did unforgivable things. So why do I think he’s the best case for redemption in anime?

Recognition/Guilt

Shouya is repeatedly shown as having actual remorse for his past actions. This is why other bully characters like Ueno and Kawai are seen as far less likable than Shouya. Other people on here might have actual analyses about those two characters, but as for this post all I’m going to say is that I believe they are much more widely hated than Shouya because of their initial denial of having done anything wrong.

It’s also important to remember that Shouya changed his tune as soon as Shouko left. It wasn’t years after she left his school that he realized he was wrong, it was days. He as an 11 year old realized he was wrong for hurting her; he figured it out as soon as he noticed how she was protecting him from being bullied. And once he himself started to be harassed by his peers, he finally recognized the full weight of what he had done to her.

Some might criticize this moment, saying “Shouya only realized bullying was bad because he got bullied himself”, but frankly, what’s so wrong about that? Many kids who bully don’t realize the full extent of the emotional damage they’re doing until it happens to them. Through this experience Shouya was able to realize, “this is how much pain she felt from the things I did to her”. And that unfortunate shared experience is what drives him to have so much guilt and a desire to change.

Change of Behavior

After his realization of the severe damage he had done to Shouko, Shouya started actively being more kind and thoughtful to others. He learned sign language in order to properly apologize to Shouko. He started helping out strangers and not judging people who are different (Tomohiro, Yuzuru). He acknowledged the severe financial strain he put on his mother and worked hard to pay her back.

And the whole point of the ending of the story is that him feeling sorry for himself and hating himself for the rest of his life isn’t going to undo his past behavior. All he can do now is operate with a better mindset going forward and make a positive difference instead.

Obviously, no one should be forced to or feel obligated to forgive their bully/abuser. But the story isn’t about whether Shouko should forgive Shouya, it’s about whether Shouya can change into a better person. I think it’s a very harmful ideology to believe that people who were bullies as children will be the same person forever. The world isn’t divided into ‘good people’ and ‘bad people’, it’s made up entirely of people who are capable of doing both good and bad things. And I really like how the protagonist of A Silent Voice is someone who had done bad things but is now choosing to be different.

Anyway, this was super long so thank you if you read all of it. Please let me know your thoughts on Shouya or any other characters from this movie/manga.

Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking

guys I got my favorite sippy

happy halloween!! 🎃🎉 just wanted to do something silly and play around with retro effects (thats why basil is holding a camcorder) anyways i hope u like it :]