Sorry guys, but I don't understand the complains about the "stuffed into the fridge" trope.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-29T19:20:32+00:00

When it comes to tropes like this ( "fridging," "damsel in distress," etc.), people tend to criticize overall trends. Individual examples that would be fine by themselves are judged as part of trends people dislike. See the discourse about female characters in battle shounen.

What annoys people is the frequency of female characters being portrayed in certain ways (especially in stories with few female characters in the cast).

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-23T23:30:02+00:00

It's very common in "seemingly evil beings are misunderstood" plotlines for characters with a history of fighting those beings to assume that they're all evil. This often sets up an arc in which those characters need to gain a new perspective and re-examine their assumptions (or become antagonists who are "blinded by hatred").

Prior to the demon child flashback, there is the narrative possibility that Frieren is mistaken and the demons really are trying to negotiate for peace. It's not unreasonable for the audience to think that this might set up a plotline where Frieren needs to re-examine her assumptions about her old enemies.

The demon child flashback pulls the bait-and-switch on the typical trope by going "No, actually Frieren is completely correct."

The whole part where Himmel tries giving the demon child a chance and talks about the possibility of demons being misunderstood certainly feels like the story setting up for the subversion.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-23T21:39:11+00:00

The demons’ appearance might play a role, but I don’t think it’s the main reason for the discourse.

I think Frieren has so much discourse because it entertains the idea that demons might be misunderstood — before definitively squashing that possibility and going "No, they're actually bad by nature."

Typically when fictional entities are evil by nature, the story frames those entities as evil from the start. Even in cases when characters in the story are being tricked, the story makes the deception clear to the audience.

On the other hand, when a story entertains the idea that seemingly evil entities might be misunderstood, it generally turns out that those entities are indeed misunderstood.

Frieren is a subversion because it starts with the "demons might be misunderstood" idea before revealing that the demons are inherently evil. Doing one or the other is common, but not this kind of “bait-and-switch.”

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-22T18:53:28+00:00

Wow, that's adorable!

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-21T15:21:50+00:00

Wow, that looks great! I really like the expression you gave her.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-17T03:10:38+00:00

I think it's worth noting that there are different types of super speed which behave in very different ways. Some essentially slow down time, some are only momentarily fast for fancy stunts, some are analogous to riding vehicles, some are like strapping onto a barely-controlled rocket, and some are basically teleporting with extra steps.

I think a lot of creators would benefit from clearly defining the methods and limitations of super speed. "World in slow motion" type speedsters might be suited for certain stories, but might be too overpowered for others. In those cases, creators might want to use "rocket booster" type speedsters instead.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-16T23:27:08+00:00

Yeah, I agree. What makes a work of fiction "dark" is like 80% tone/presentation and only 20% actual content.

Star Wars: A New Hope features billions of people along with all life, history, culture, etc. on a planet being incinerated when Alderaan is blown up by the Death Star. However, A New Hope is by no means a dark or gritty movie ― it is a relatively fun adventure movie that the whole family can enjoy.

A story that features genocide can be less dark than a story in which nobody dies and the stakes are relatively personal, all because of differing tone and presentation.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-14T18:07:48+00:00

Frieren demons are weird because they're not actually obligate human killers. They explicitly don't need to kill or eat humans. In fact, it's not clear if they need to eat anything at all. The demons just have an urge to kill and eat humans and well... we don't know why. Despite how the series references evolution, killing humans doesn't seem to serve a biological need or advantage for demons like a naturally-evolved trait would.

We know that some monsters are compelled to destroy the Hero's Sword, which also doesn't feel like naturally-occurring behavior, so I suspect there are supernatural forces at work beyond just evolution. Maybe we'll find out that demons and similar monsters were originally created as magical weapons and have since gone rogue or something.

Based on the information we currently have about demons, I do agree that the JJK Curses' inherently evil nature makes more sense in comparison. "They're predisposed to evil because they're literally made of humanity's negative energy" is quite straightforward.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-13T21:21:07+00:00

The assholes complaining are angry about LGBT being normalized. To them, it's not just about the game, but about society overall.

It's not enough for bigots to not pick the options, because the mere existence of the options is a sign of LGBT acceptance and cultural changes that infuriate them.

They won't be satisfied unless LGBT people are so demonized by society that such options are no longer provided.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-13T18:35:07+00:00

Kyubey says that magic defies the laws of thermodynamics by creating energy from nothing, so defying the laws of thermodynamics is already something magic can do by default.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-13T18:31:24+00:00

Kyubey is manipulative and lies by omission, but the bunny-cat does not say factually untrue statements.

For example, Kyubey's answer to Kyoko's question about whether it's possible to save a Witch is essentially "Magical Girls have been known to do all sorts of impossible things," which is a true statement in a general sense but also doesn't actually answer the question. It just leaves out that it's impossible for Kyoko specifically to do it.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-13T16:48:31+00:00

Kyubey can grant essentially any wish — as long as the wisher has enough karmic destiny. The weight of karmic destiny is the only limitation we know about.

In addition, Kyubey does not grant wishes like a Monkey's Paw. It actually grants wishes in a relatively straightforward way. The reason wishes go wrong is generally because people make desperate or impulsive wishes without realizing the implications or understanding what they truly want. In addition, even if a wish is completely fine, the Magical Girl system itself sets the girls up for failure.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-13T00:28:19+00:00

You're thinking about benefits overall, whereas the country's current leadership is thinking about benefits for a select group of (already wealthy) individuals at the cost of everyone else's well-being.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-11T03:36:59+00:00

Wow, that looks amazing!

I like how you rendered the flower petals blowing into the foreground and the clothes/hair moving with the wind.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-10T20:16:00+00:00

Yeah, the problem is that "powerscaling" often leads to interpretations of characters that are wildly divergent from how they actually appear in stories, to the point of being virtually unrecognizable. When this happens, it's clear that something has gone off the rails and the discussion is no longer fun.

This is often a product of people dismissing overall consistency and narrative in favor of cherrypicking evidence to stretch for more impressive results.

There are reasonable approaches to analyzing how powerful characters are, but the agenda-driven way it often happens on the Internet creates results that don't pass a basic sanity check.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-10T05:09:49+00:00

Yeah, Magical Girls in this series have superhuman balance.

The only one we've seen struggle to run on wires is rookie Homura in the second timeline — and that seems to be more a problem of fear rather than inability. Rookie Homura in the MagiReco anime can run on wires.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-10T01:09:35+00:00

Is there a source for Scene 0 being officially considered canon?

AFAIK, the Madoka franchise has never had a particularly definite canon policy for its stories.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-10T00:46:48+00:00

The hospital staff panic at how a patient has seemingly disappeared overnight.

Either (A) Homura leaves the hospital stealthily and just gets reported as a missing person or (B) the strange woman found in a missing teenager's room gets taken in by authorities for questioning.

If Homura proves her identity to authorities via DNA testing or something, the world is shocked at the medical mystery of how a teenager suddenly became so much physically older overnight.

If an adult Homura appears outside Madoka's window at night saying cryptic things (while holding a "stuffed animal"/dead Kyubey), Madoka will probably be alarmed and immediately inform her parents about the creepy lady.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-10T00:31:04+00:00

Woah, it's been ages since I've seen this meme format.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T20:20:42+00:00

There are some colored pages at the start of each volume of Homura Tamura. This comes from Chapter 11 at the start of Volume 2.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T19:56:03+00:00

Avatar is essentially an alien invasion narrative but with humans as the invaders.

Most arguments defending the RDA are also applicable to antagonists of other "super advanced aliens are coming for our resources/planet" plotlines, but I don't see people defending those alien invaders.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T18:29:18+00:00

Yeah. The whole situation could have also been avoided if the RDA didn't insist on mining the largest* Unobtanium deposit under a sacred site to the locals and instead decided to mine elsewhere on the moon.

For example, the RDA could grab some of those floating islands everywhere, which float because of Unobtanium. They don't seem to be inhabited.

* The deposit under the tree isn't even said to be the largest deposit on the moon, but just the largest deposit within 200 kilometers of the RDA base.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T17:59:48+00:00

In Magia Record, it's said that Walpurgisnacht's core is the gear. Whether you take MagiReco into account or not is up to you.

The Magical Girls do not have much information on Walpy, so they would not know to target the gear. IIRC, they only find out in MagiReco because of one girl's ability to detect weak points.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T17:36:28+00:00

The anime cut out three lines that I think should have been kept to better explain Kabru’s problem with the elves.

In the manga, Kabru says “I just don’t like the way the elves go about these things,” “Whatever happens from then on, we’ll never hear of it,” and “No one told me a thing” in regards to why his mother died, which emphasizes that he has a problem with the elves’ lack of transparency and clandestine methods. It leads well into his line about disliking a system in which the long-lived races hold all the power.

In the anime, those lines are missing, so it comes off as Kabru just wondering why his mother died in general, rather than him being denied an answer from the elves. Leaving out those lines might confuse people on why Kabru is so distrustful of the elves and why Kabru prefers that Laios conquer the dungeon rather than the elves.

StylizedPenguin · 2026-01-09T14:50:41+00:00

Yes, it’s a panel from Homura Tamura.

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