HanaKimi talk. Again. Also, FF7 silliness.
I've been feeling a little cranky about the HanaKimi fandom in the last couple of weeks, which is never any good, so I'm going to channel that energy into yet another post. Because I don't think I ever really detailed a) AkihaxUmeda vs KijimaxUmeda or b) why Umeda genuinely cares about Akiha, Aside From the Whole Kitten Thing and why Reading All The Way Through The Manga Is So Important, IE, Potential Spoilers.
I will attempt to be as objective as possible. HEY. STOP LAUGHING.
*edit* [Note: Look. It's either I do this long-winded nattering about Why My OTP Is Canon Shut Up With Your Shipping Of Other Things No Seriously Cut That Shit Out Right Now Or I'll Cut You here in my journal or I start taking it out on the rest of you. This is probably the wiser choice.] */edit*
Pros for KijimaxUmeda relationship:
* - Canon mentions of Umeda's feelings for Kijima, he mentions early on that he's in love with his best friend. (I will make a little note in the margins here that after Akiha shows up--and I am not making a case for instantaneous change of feelings here, btw!--he never really mentions it again. He certainly does not tell Akiha, "Hey, I've got someone else I like, so you and I aren't going to happen.")
* - Color art for the pairing
* - Volume 14 is one looong flashback for them that wasn't really even necessary to the story. So, obviously Nakajo-sensei wanted it in there for a reason.
Cons for KijimaxUmeda relationship:
* - You can count on one hand the number of times Umeda has mentioned Kijima in the storyling. There are a few mentions at the beginning, there's volume fourteen, there's one mention after that in volume 18 and then not even a whiff of Umeda's feelings for Kijima. Nothing. He's never mentioned, Umeda is never really seen to be thinking about him, etc. (This is signifigant, because if this were supposed to be a triangle... couldn't Kijima be, you know, at least mentioned more than once?)
* - Ten years and nothing has happened, they never even talked about that day in the rain. Kijima shows no indications of having gotten past his obsession with Masato and Umeda doesn't press.
* - Goes against the overall theme of the manga of moving past the first person you love.
Pros for AkihaxUmeda relationship:
* - Canon feelings on Akiha's part. He's quite serious about Umeda, this isn't just a flakey interest on his part. (The interview with him certainly backs that up as well.)
* - Frequent interaction in the series. Aside from Akiha's main two storylines with Mizuki, he actually pops up as an element in many of Umeda's scenes, all the way up through the end of the manga. If nothing was going to happen, why keep him around and give them serious moments together?
* - The progression of the relationship over the course of the manga is consistent with a developing relationship. I'm not saying they've moved in together by the end of the series or even that they're officially dating (though, I do suspect they are unofficially mutually exclusive), but that Umeda's reactions to Akiha aren't all over the map, they're heading towards acceptance and genuine feelings. (This is a long one, which I will delve into later in the post, why Umeda's furthered reactions to Akiha are consistent with how he reacts to someone he cares about. Also? Umeda did go on dates with him--no matter what he calls them, there are at least three examples of dates and one example of snoggage and a good hint at actual sex.)
* - They fit with the theme of couples in the manga.
* - Akiha gets a cover.
* - There is Akiha/Umeda b&w insert art.
* - Akiha is consitent with the type of guy Umeda is attracted to.
* - Akiha gave Umeda a kitten, that he kept and listed as what he does in his spare time--goes home to spend time with it, that is.
Cons for AkihaxUmeda relationship:
* - Lack of irrefutable confirmation of canon feelings on Umeda's part.
* - No color art.
The overall point of this? Yes, I know, KijimaxUmeda gets a lot of screen time in their flashback, but I'm not just blowing hot air when I say Akiha/Umeda is the direction the manga is headed in, that outside of that, there is very little mention in a signifigantly long series (Devoted to relationships, no less! It's not like this is shounen where that gunky emotional stuff shouldn't be talked about, this is shoujo, where that's the point.) of that relationship and, yet, Akiha/Umeda runs through the background. That the v14 flashback is really sort of misleading in the overall tone of the series.
Since I've covered the overall tone of the couples in the manga before and I've touched on the whole going on dates thing before (In the cafe with Shin, then when Akiha mentions that a smoking woman reminds him of his mother, and then at the end when Umeda suggests getting drinks. For snoggage, you have the time up in the mountains where Mizuki notices the hickey on his neck and has sharp intuition when it comes to others and the verrrrry interesting "Little children don't need to know what that was about." later.), but I'm not sure I've put together a coherent write-up of why, yes, Umeda does care for Akiha and, yes, there is something real there. (Or touched on why I think he reacts to both of them the way he does.)
It's pretty simple, when you get right down to it. It's two things:
1. Umeda does not resist like he could, his resistance wanes over the course of the manga.
2. The people Umeda cares about are the ones that he's a little weak to, that he'll bitch and moan about it, but he'll do what makes them happy.
Now. Number one. Umeda is not shy about shutting people down if there is no chance for anything to happen--you see this when he shoots the kid with a crush on him down, discourages him and sends him off. It's interesting to note that Mizuki thinks he's faking it, the whole kind Sensei thing, but he's really not. He knows the kid isn't serious, that these are the sort of feelings that some kids get on an attractive male teacher and that they should be put back on the correct path (for them) before it gets out of control. He also says, well, the kid couldn't have been too serious if he was chased off by just that, which I found interesting, it sort of read like Umeda appreciated persistence.
Which can be taken two ways, I suppose. There's Umeda's own persistence with Kijima, but that sort of falls apart because Umeda never does anything, knows damn well nothing is ever going to happen, isn't really persistent with him at all. Then there's Akiha's persistence with Umeda, who actually does get active about pursuing the one he wants. It fits with how Umeda never really shuts Akiha down, that he appreciates the persistence the other shows, it fits with the overall progression towards something more meaningful with them. If Akiha weren't serious, if Umeda didn't want it on some level... he could have said, "Look, I understand your feelings, but there's someone else for me, so this is not going to happen." Yet, he doesn't.
Hell, all he ever says is, "Get off me, idiot!" or screams "NO!" when Akiha asks for stuff, but then usually lets himself be dragged off anyway. In volume 9, he just grumps and tells Akiha to leave, but by volume 20 or 21, he's going with Akiha, despite his protests. Also, Akiha? Smart enough to know if this was a lost cause.
Two. This one is actually fairly simple and straightforward, but a little more nebulous, because we have to pick up the clues from his interaction with Mizuki and what little Kijima is in the manga. But you can tell that Umeda is grumpy even with the people he likes, the only people he's nice to are the random people that he doesn't give a damn about or the ones he wants to date/have a fling with. He's frequently grumpy with Mizuki, he snarls at the phone when Kijima rearranges their meeting, but he still does the things that make them happy. (....happy might not be the word I'm looking for there. You know what I mean.)
The same is true with Akiha. He bitches and snarls... and then goes on the date anyway. (Reading the interviews, it's not just a couple of times, either, they regularily go to Umeda's place to watch movies or Akiha frequently takes him out to dinner. Umeda bitches and complains a lot, but he doesn't really resist when Akiha tries to take him out on dates. Hell, after awhile, he's not even really trying to duck out on the idiot anymore. Umeda's got the spidey-sense when it comes to people he doesn't want to deal with, like Io... and, yet, Akiha doesn't seem to register on that radar.) He crabs at the idiot, but then looks at him with a serious expression when Akiha talks about his mother, before Akiha diverts the topic away.
Branch off. So why does Umeda react to Akiha the way he does and why does he still hold onto the feelings for Kijima. Which I suppose I should get back to, since that was the original point and all. Umeda has held onto feelings for someone who doesn't return them for over ten years. This is despite knowing that Kijima is never going to return them, not pushing his feelings, not even talking to Kijima about it (though Kijima is quite aware, yet he does nothing, either, which says to me that Kijima is still obsessed with Masato or just not interested), he knows that it's not going to happen. So why hold onto the feelings?
There's no real concrete answer. It could be as simple as, "Nakajo-sensei wanted to tell that kind of story." or it could be as complicated as Umeda constantly pushing Akiha away to see if he'll stay, wanting persistence so that he knows they will actually be there in the relationship. And, if nothing else, sticking with feelings for ten years with someone you know isn't going to return them? There comes a point when it's not about the other person so much as it's about you, that you hold onto those feelings as a shield against something more real with someone else. Perhaps, it's a product of being raised the way he was (with both his parents and Io being contributions there, I'm sure) or maybe it's some other factor, but Umeda stays in those feelings because he knows exactly where he stands, exactly what is and isn't going to happen, and for a lot of years, no one came along that could push him out of that rut.
Umeda's interesting. For all that he's very accepting of himself and his own feelings, for all that he seems very mature about them at times, there are other times when I swear he's practically the biggest dingbat on the planet. Maybe it's part of never really having normal, serious relationships with people, so his social growth is a little different from other peoples'. (Because flings and even short-term relationships do not make a serious relationship. And we're given the implication that Umeda's been around a few times, he likes the men he's dated, but you never get anything serious off those impressions.)
Y'know. This was three pages and I still feel like I'm not quite covering something. Ah, well, leaves more room for me to ramble about something else later.
Also, I wish to talk about the gay thing, since the whole above thing is reminding me of that, y'know, Umeda likes guys and his relationships are treated as seriously as anything else in the manga. Because, goddamn, do I love the way Nakajo-sensei handled this. Aside from a couple of mentions early on in the series to establish the character for the readers, Umeda rarely ever mentions his sexual preferences. It is not a big deal. It's like mentioning that Sano is straight or that Akiha is bisexual--outside of the initial establishing of the character, it's just there. The straight and gay relationships are treated pretty much exactly the same. ♥
This continues on in how Umeda doesn't shout from the rooftops his preference, he's rather laid-back about it and you can tell that's reflected in the students' attitudes towards him. The students don't fear him because he's gay or think that he's going to molest them, it doesn't matter to most of them that he's gay, it matters that he's SCARY and MEAN. (The one time, right before the Hokkaido trip, there were two students who worried that they were going to get molested and Umeda was insulted, threw the books at their heads, and then dropped it. From then on? Those kids are going to fear him because he's MEAN, not because he's gay. Eeeee. XD)
*sigh* At some point I'm just going to have to cave and do the ship_manifesto for them, aren't I? Also, still not sure what to do for a celebration for all the fic written. D:
And, finally, more FF7 geekery as I play the actual game--as AVALANCHE is jumping off the train in Midgar:
Cloud: You don't care if I go first?
Barret: A leader stays until the end!
Cloud: *gets ready to jump*
Barret: Now don't go getting your spikey ass hurt, it's only the beginning of the mission!
Me: Yeah! Sephiroth's gonna need that later! :D
Also, Aerith in the church? I swear, I was going to have Cloud say something nice to her, because I like Aerith (even though Cloud is so going to end up dating Tifa by the end of the game), but then: "Yeah, I remember you. You're the slum drunk." *cracks up* I had to choose that option.
Reno: Oh, and don't step on the flowers.
Guards: YOU JUST STEPPED ON THEM YOURSELF!
Guards: YOU RUINED THEM!
Guards: WE'RE GONNA CATCH HELL FOR THIS!
Becky: <3333333333
And I've been discussing FFVII:AC again, because I keep poking at Sephiroth's character. It's been a geeky couple of days.
Becky: http://www.livejournal.com/community/myprettypuppet/37300.html?style=mine <--interesting discussion
Dian: Intersting screencaps, hard to see the details when they're zipping by so fast on screen
Becky: Some people think it's just his mako eyes and it might have been, but it was an interesting expression on his face and jived with what I sort of thought after the movie. Which was basically, "Oh, Sephiroth, you are full of CRAP with that whole space pirate thing, aren't you? Bullllllllllll shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."
Dian: .....hahaha (*coughButtcough*) Space Pirate Sephiroth! That is a new level of Win.
Becky: That would be the most awesome AU ever. Space pirate Sephiroth and Cabin Boy First Mate Cloud Strife. Because Cloud would have gone with him, of course.
Dian: Pirate Sephiroth: I will take my great big Planet and fill space with my conquring! Fill it good! And conqur other delicate, unsuspecting planets - planets that are round! Aka a big metaphor for homogay.
Becky: Sephiroth with a pirate hat and maybe a parrot on his shoulder. Which he'll probably stab within the first twenty minutes, it was being so obnoxious. Or Cloud will strangle the life out of it because it keeps repeating the embarassing things he says in the cabin when he and Sephiroth are Ahem.
Dian: Hee~ First Mate Cloud Chocobo on his shoulder >|O
Becky: Zack can be revived from the Lifestream and come along, too. But, sadly, the first time he makes a 'butt pirate' joke, Sephiroth is going to stab him with his sword. And then throw him overboard. While wrapped up with the chain of the anchor. To make sure he DIES PAINFULLY.
--
Anyway. It might just be his mako eyes, but... I kind of like the idea that he might be crying. Because the whole space pirate thing (which I picked up from thorne_scratch's review of the movie and I cannot think of anything else during that scene) was just a load of crap, it never really made sense. Travel through space? Find a new planet? Not, y'know, destroying this one? It was the not caring what happened to this Planet, that it would depend on the people living on it that really got me to raise an eyebrow.
I mean, setting aside that it would probably be bad for the Planet to go spinning off into space... what was Sephiroth really threatening to do? Take them all on a road trip? Wow, evil.
The whole thing with taunting Cloud really seemed to be Sephiroth's way of distracting him and working him up to get him to fight, to be angry enough to just kill Sephiroth all over again. But, then, that sort of clashes with the sense that Sephiroth pretty much said that he'll be coming back any time he damn well pleases, thanks. I mean, he came back because his consciousness was floating around and materialized into the triplets. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS. Hanging around the Planet. Forming into silver-haired triplets. Who take a JENOVA shower (and, really, there's got to be more of JENOVA lingering around, I'm sure ShinRa's got more pieces of her stashed away) and become Sephiroth. Yeah. That could never happen again.
Anyway. My head hurts, that's a lot of postiness.
Oh, yeah, and when I'm more familiar with the game and stuff, I'm totally going to be wondering how much of the Cloud/Aerith was because of Zack's personality. But I don't know nearly enough about them yet to speculate.
I will attempt to be as objective as possible. HEY. STOP LAUGHING.
*edit* [Note: Look. It's either I do this long-winded nattering about Why My OTP Is Canon Shut Up With Your Shipping Of Other Things No Seriously Cut That Shit Out Right Now Or I'll Cut You here in my journal or I start taking it out on the rest of you. This is probably the wiser choice.] */edit*
Pros for KijimaxUmeda relationship:
* - Canon mentions of Umeda's feelings for Kijima, he mentions early on that he's in love with his best friend. (I will make a little note in the margins here that after Akiha shows up--and I am not making a case for instantaneous change of feelings here, btw!--he never really mentions it again. He certainly does not tell Akiha, "Hey, I've got someone else I like, so you and I aren't going to happen.")
* - Color art for the pairing
* - Volume 14 is one looong flashback for them that wasn't really even necessary to the story. So, obviously Nakajo-sensei wanted it in there for a reason.
Cons for KijimaxUmeda relationship:
* - You can count on one hand the number of times Umeda has mentioned Kijima in the storyling. There are a few mentions at the beginning, there's volume fourteen, there's one mention after that in volume 18 and then not even a whiff of Umeda's feelings for Kijima. Nothing. He's never mentioned, Umeda is never really seen to be thinking about him, etc. (This is signifigant, because if this were supposed to be a triangle... couldn't Kijima be, you know, at least mentioned more than once?)
* - Ten years and nothing has happened, they never even talked about that day in the rain. Kijima shows no indications of having gotten past his obsession with Masato and Umeda doesn't press.
* - Goes against the overall theme of the manga of moving past the first person you love.
Pros for AkihaxUmeda relationship:
* - Canon feelings on Akiha's part. He's quite serious about Umeda, this isn't just a flakey interest on his part. (The interview with him certainly backs that up as well.)
* - Frequent interaction in the series. Aside from Akiha's main two storylines with Mizuki, he actually pops up as an element in many of Umeda's scenes, all the way up through the end of the manga. If nothing was going to happen, why keep him around and give them serious moments together?
* - The progression of the relationship over the course of the manga is consistent with a developing relationship. I'm not saying they've moved in together by the end of the series or even that they're officially dating (though, I do suspect they are unofficially mutually exclusive), but that Umeda's reactions to Akiha aren't all over the map, they're heading towards acceptance and genuine feelings. (This is a long one, which I will delve into later in the post, why Umeda's furthered reactions to Akiha are consistent with how he reacts to someone he cares about. Also? Umeda did go on dates with him--no matter what he calls them, there are at least three examples of dates and one example of snoggage and a good hint at actual sex.)
* - They fit with the theme of couples in the manga.
* - Akiha gets a cover.
* - There is Akiha/Umeda b&w insert art.
* - Akiha is consitent with the type of guy Umeda is attracted to.
* - Akiha gave Umeda a kitten, that he kept and listed as what he does in his spare time--goes home to spend time with it, that is.
Cons for AkihaxUmeda relationship:
* - Lack of irrefutable confirmation of canon feelings on Umeda's part.
* - No color art.
The overall point of this? Yes, I know, KijimaxUmeda gets a lot of screen time in their flashback, but I'm not just blowing hot air when I say Akiha/Umeda is the direction the manga is headed in, that outside of that, there is very little mention in a signifigantly long series (Devoted to relationships, no less! It's not like this is shounen where that gunky emotional stuff shouldn't be talked about, this is shoujo, where that's the point.) of that relationship and, yet, Akiha/Umeda runs through the background. That the v14 flashback is really sort of misleading in the overall tone of the series.
Since I've covered the overall tone of the couples in the manga before and I've touched on the whole going on dates thing before (In the cafe with Shin, then when Akiha mentions that a smoking woman reminds him of his mother, and then at the end when Umeda suggests getting drinks. For snoggage, you have the time up in the mountains where Mizuki notices the hickey on his neck and has sharp intuition when it comes to others and the verrrrry interesting "Little children don't need to know what that was about." later.), but I'm not sure I've put together a coherent write-up of why, yes, Umeda does care for Akiha and, yes, there is something real there. (Or touched on why I think he reacts to both of them the way he does.)
It's pretty simple, when you get right down to it. It's two things:
1. Umeda does not resist like he could, his resistance wanes over the course of the manga.
2. The people Umeda cares about are the ones that he's a little weak to, that he'll bitch and moan about it, but he'll do what makes them happy.
Now. Number one. Umeda is not shy about shutting people down if there is no chance for anything to happen--you see this when he shoots the kid with a crush on him down, discourages him and sends him off. It's interesting to note that Mizuki thinks he's faking it, the whole kind Sensei thing, but he's really not. He knows the kid isn't serious, that these are the sort of feelings that some kids get on an attractive male teacher and that they should be put back on the correct path (for them) before it gets out of control. He also says, well, the kid couldn't have been too serious if he was chased off by just that, which I found interesting, it sort of read like Umeda appreciated persistence.
Which can be taken two ways, I suppose. There's Umeda's own persistence with Kijima, but that sort of falls apart because Umeda never does anything, knows damn well nothing is ever going to happen, isn't really persistent with him at all. Then there's Akiha's persistence with Umeda, who actually does get active about pursuing the one he wants. It fits with how Umeda never really shuts Akiha down, that he appreciates the persistence the other shows, it fits with the overall progression towards something more meaningful with them. If Akiha weren't serious, if Umeda didn't want it on some level... he could have said, "Look, I understand your feelings, but there's someone else for me, so this is not going to happen." Yet, he doesn't.
Hell, all he ever says is, "Get off me, idiot!" or screams "NO!" when Akiha asks for stuff, but then usually lets himself be dragged off anyway. In volume 9, he just grumps and tells Akiha to leave, but by volume 20 or 21, he's going with Akiha, despite his protests. Also, Akiha? Smart enough to know if this was a lost cause.
Two. This one is actually fairly simple and straightforward, but a little more nebulous, because we have to pick up the clues from his interaction with Mizuki and what little Kijima is in the manga. But you can tell that Umeda is grumpy even with the people he likes, the only people he's nice to are the random people that he doesn't give a damn about or the ones he wants to date/have a fling with. He's frequently grumpy with Mizuki, he snarls at the phone when Kijima rearranges their meeting, but he still does the things that make them happy. (....happy might not be the word I'm looking for there. You know what I mean.)
The same is true with Akiha. He bitches and snarls... and then goes on the date anyway. (Reading the interviews, it's not just a couple of times, either, they regularily go to Umeda's place to watch movies or Akiha frequently takes him out to dinner. Umeda bitches and complains a lot, but he doesn't really resist when Akiha tries to take him out on dates. Hell, after awhile, he's not even really trying to duck out on the idiot anymore. Umeda's got the spidey-sense when it comes to people he doesn't want to deal with, like Io... and, yet, Akiha doesn't seem to register on that radar.) He crabs at the idiot, but then looks at him with a serious expression when Akiha talks about his mother, before Akiha diverts the topic away.
Branch off. So why does Umeda react to Akiha the way he does and why does he still hold onto the feelings for Kijima. Which I suppose I should get back to, since that was the original point and all. Umeda has held onto feelings for someone who doesn't return them for over ten years. This is despite knowing that Kijima is never going to return them, not pushing his feelings, not even talking to Kijima about it (though Kijima is quite aware, yet he does nothing, either, which says to me that Kijima is still obsessed with Masato or just not interested), he knows that it's not going to happen. So why hold onto the feelings?
There's no real concrete answer. It could be as simple as, "Nakajo-sensei wanted to tell that kind of story." or it could be as complicated as Umeda constantly pushing Akiha away to see if he'll stay, wanting persistence so that he knows they will actually be there in the relationship. And, if nothing else, sticking with feelings for ten years with someone you know isn't going to return them? There comes a point when it's not about the other person so much as it's about you, that you hold onto those feelings as a shield against something more real with someone else. Perhaps, it's a product of being raised the way he was (with both his parents and Io being contributions there, I'm sure) or maybe it's some other factor, but Umeda stays in those feelings because he knows exactly where he stands, exactly what is and isn't going to happen, and for a lot of years, no one came along that could push him out of that rut.
Umeda's interesting. For all that he's very accepting of himself and his own feelings, for all that he seems very mature about them at times, there are other times when I swear he's practically the biggest dingbat on the planet. Maybe it's part of never really having normal, serious relationships with people, so his social growth is a little different from other peoples'. (Because flings and even short-term relationships do not make a serious relationship. And we're given the implication that Umeda's been around a few times, he likes the men he's dated, but you never get anything serious off those impressions.)
Y'know. This was three pages and I still feel like I'm not quite covering something. Ah, well, leaves more room for me to ramble about something else later.
Also, I wish to talk about the gay thing, since the whole above thing is reminding me of that, y'know, Umeda likes guys and his relationships are treated as seriously as anything else in the manga. Because, goddamn, do I love the way Nakajo-sensei handled this. Aside from a couple of mentions early on in the series to establish the character for the readers, Umeda rarely ever mentions his sexual preferences. It is not a big deal. It's like mentioning that Sano is straight or that Akiha is bisexual--outside of the initial establishing of the character, it's just there. The straight and gay relationships are treated pretty much exactly the same. ♥
This continues on in how Umeda doesn't shout from the rooftops his preference, he's rather laid-back about it and you can tell that's reflected in the students' attitudes towards him. The students don't fear him because he's gay or think that he's going to molest them, it doesn't matter to most of them that he's gay, it matters that he's SCARY and MEAN. (The one time, right before the Hokkaido trip, there were two students who worried that they were going to get molested and Umeda was insulted, threw the books at their heads, and then dropped it. From then on? Those kids are going to fear him because he's MEAN, not because he's gay. Eeeee. XD)
*sigh* At some point I'm just going to have to cave and do the ship_manifesto for them, aren't I? Also, still not sure what to do for a celebration for all the fic written. D:
And, finally, more FF7 geekery as I play the actual game--as AVALANCHE is jumping off the train in Midgar:
Cloud: You don't care if I go first?
Barret: A leader stays until the end!
Cloud: *gets ready to jump*
Barret: Now don't go getting your spikey ass hurt, it's only the beginning of the mission!
Me: Yeah! Sephiroth's gonna need that later! :D
Also, Aerith in the church? I swear, I was going to have Cloud say something nice to her, because I like Aerith (even though Cloud is so going to end up dating Tifa by the end of the game), but then: "Yeah, I remember you. You're the slum drunk." *cracks up* I had to choose that option.
Reno: Oh, and don't step on the flowers.
Guards: YOU JUST STEPPED ON THEM YOURSELF!
Guards: YOU RUINED THEM!
Guards: WE'RE GONNA CATCH HELL FOR THIS!
Becky: <3333333333
And I've been discussing FFVII:AC again, because I keep poking at Sephiroth's character. It's been a geeky couple of days.
Becky: http://www.livejournal.com/community/myprettypuppet/37300.html?style=mine <--interesting discussion
Dian: Intersting screencaps, hard to see the details when they're zipping by so fast on screen
Becky: Some people think it's just his mako eyes and it might have been, but it was an interesting expression on his face and jived with what I sort of thought after the movie. Which was basically, "Oh, Sephiroth, you are full of CRAP with that whole space pirate thing, aren't you? Bullllllllllll shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit."
Dian: .....hahaha (*coughButtcough*) Space Pirate Sephiroth! That is a new level of Win.
Becky: That would be the most awesome AU ever. Space pirate Sephiroth and Cabin Boy First Mate Cloud Strife. Because Cloud would have gone with him, of course.
Dian: Pirate Sephiroth: I will take my great big Planet and fill space with my conquring! Fill it good! And conqur other delicate, unsuspecting planets - planets that are round! Aka a big metaphor for homogay.
Becky: Sephiroth with a pirate hat and maybe a parrot on his shoulder. Which he'll probably stab within the first twenty minutes, it was being so obnoxious. Or Cloud will strangle the life out of it because it keeps repeating the embarassing things he says in the cabin when he and Sephiroth are Ahem.
Dian: Hee~ First Mate Cloud Chocobo on his shoulder >|O
Becky: Zack can be revived from the Lifestream and come along, too. But, sadly, the first time he makes a 'butt pirate' joke, Sephiroth is going to stab him with his sword. And then throw him overboard. While wrapped up with the chain of the anchor. To make sure he DIES PAINFULLY.
--
Anyway. It might just be his mako eyes, but... I kind of like the idea that he might be crying. Because the whole space pirate thing (which I picked up from thorne_scratch's review of the movie and I cannot think of anything else during that scene) was just a load of crap, it never really made sense. Travel through space? Find a new planet? Not, y'know, destroying this one? It was the not caring what happened to this Planet, that it would depend on the people living on it that really got me to raise an eyebrow.
I mean, setting aside that it would probably be bad for the Planet to go spinning off into space... what was Sephiroth really threatening to do? Take them all on a road trip? Wow, evil.
The whole thing with taunting Cloud really seemed to be Sephiroth's way of distracting him and working him up to get him to fight, to be angry enough to just kill Sephiroth all over again. But, then, that sort of clashes with the sense that Sephiroth pretty much said that he'll be coming back any time he damn well pleases, thanks. I mean, he came back because his consciousness was floating around and materialized into the triplets. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS. Hanging around the Planet. Forming into silver-haired triplets. Who take a JENOVA shower (and, really, there's got to be more of JENOVA lingering around, I'm sure ShinRa's got more pieces of her stashed away) and become Sephiroth. Yeah. That could never happen again.
Anyway. My head hurts, that's a lot of postiness.
Oh, yeah, and when I'm more familiar with the game and stuff, I'm totally going to be wondering how much of the Cloud/Aerith was because of Zack's personality. But I don't know nearly enough about them yet to speculate.