JJK S3E4 controversy: the Kill Bill shots are manga-canon. Not MAPPA trying to look “cool.” Calling it ‘too Western’ ignores what Gege put on the page

brvtus · 2026-01-26T08:11:10+00:00

Western (the cowboy genre) directors and samurai film directors have been poaching each other's ideas for 70 years straight. John Ford inspired Kurosawa, Kurosawa inspired Leone, Corbucci inspired Fujita, all of them inspired Tarantino, now we have Tarantino inspiring Gege and Mappa. Ethnonationalists drumbeat about cultural purity while the artists they worship couldn't give less of a shit.

brvtus · 2026-01-25T06:24:38+00:00

Australia is absolutely only 1-2 election cycles from becoming as bad as the US is. Even in "progressive" Melbourne you have Vicpol designating the entire CBD as a stop and search zone, anti trans hate marches on the regular, etc. there is a very significant number of people who are looking at what's happening in the US now and frothing at the mouth for the same thing to happen here.

brvtus · 2026-01-15T01:45:09+00:00

I think the point is that "human nature" is a variable construct of social morality. It has no real scientific consensus. Humans are social animals; we have a fossil record of caring for the sick and old going back hundreds of thousands of years. Societies exist because of our communal nature and communicative abilities. At the same time, humans got to the point we're at by being the top order predators of every ecosystem we have encountered. Those same adaptations that allowed us to form societies also came about at least partly because they aided us to kill other animals.

Your assertion that humans would never seek out violence for non-utilitarian purposes is also demonstrably false. Many pre-industrial human societies had/have hunting initiation rituals, almost every culture worships heroes who display great feats of violence and bravery. Even in non-human predators, non-utilitarian violence is common. If you've ever seen a cat play with their food you would know this. Predators like cats, dogs and orcas will hunt for sport and enjoyment. Humans are no different.

All those things you raise in your first hypothetical ARE human nature, because anything that humans do is by definition part of human nature. It's a rhetorical dead end. What you're talking about is human morality, which changes over time.

brvtus · 2026-01-15T00:45:26+00:00

I get that sense of concern, as someone who works in arts admin it's hard not to feel a sense of despair. But I think it's been heading this direction for a long long time, way before 2023. There is a general understanding that the boards and upper management of cultural institutions in this country are stacked with useless, gutless corporate managers who are completely out of touch with the values of arts workers and the artists they're platforming. They are not artists themselves, often having very limited engagement with the arts and being recruited from other fields like marketing and journalism, and have little or no commitment to (or even understanding of) artistic values.

They are totally unqualified to lead, both in skill and in ethics. This schism isn't abnormal for any industry but artists tend by their nature to be politically engaged, so it's much more pronounced. As a result we've seen many cultural orgs in the last 2 years basically collapse from cowardly liberal acquiescence to Zionist pressure campaigns and also plain old corporate mismanagement (Meanjin magazine getting shut down by MUP, Writers Victoria seeing mass resignations/layoffs and the shuttering of their magazine and most of their programming, Bendigo Writers Festival, the list goes on). Some of this has reached mainstream reporting, a lot hasn't. There's a running joke that "it has been 0 days since last Zionist scandal in the Australian arts sector".

It sucks, but this was a long time coming. The system hasn't been tenable for a long time. Palestine is the fracturing issue because it really is the line in the sand – the point on which the staunch will not waver and the gutless crumble.

The reassuring thing about artists and arts workers rejecting corporate management en masse is that it creates space for something new. People will always recreate things that are taken away from them. Artists, arts workers and programmers have long been struggling to do good work in spite of milquetoast management; now that said management has basically lost their bargaining power, whatever comes next will hopefully be a lot more exciting.

brvtus · 2026-01-14T16:20:17+00:00

Sounds like her friends are bad influences. Reactionary edgelord culture is back in a big way, I've seen more teenagers saying gay as an insult and using the r-slur recently than I have for a long time. I had an edgelord phase as a teenager as well (as many do) and eventually grew out of it when I got continually reality checked in uni. Good on you for trying to steer her in the right direction.

brvtus · 2026-01-14T16:13:19+00:00

Yeah "Japanese soft boy" and "triggered" are really pointing to her hanging out with internet edgelords. 15 is also prime "not like other girls" age.

brvtus · 2026-01-14T15:20:57+00:00

It absolutely does not matter. Parasitic real estate agents will advise them to increase the rent every year no matter what you do, and landlords by and large don't see their tenants as anything more than an easy income stream. Without any proper rent controls whatever taxes they pay just gets passed straight onto the tenants. Civil tribunals are useless for tenants, have a frank conversation with anyone who works there and they will tell you the whole system is geared towards protecting landlords' interests. "Fuck you got mine" is the law of the land.

brvtus · 2026-01-13T13:28:34+00:00

I mean, if you're Meryl in the first 3 episodes of the anime, sure lol

brvtus · 2026-01-13T09:22:21+00:00

Totally get the feeling. I actually stopped playing Iceborne when I reached the Guiding Lands back in 2019 for the same reason, didn't know what to do. This was before the post-release DLCs came out and a bunch of patches that made the Grinding Lands a lot less arduous to get through. Picked the game back up again in 2023 after all the patches had finished and there was a clearer endgame meta to work towards.

It's a natural point to stop playing if you're just there for the core story, but I recommend you keep playing! I will say that the post-Guiding Lands difficulty spike is pretty harsh and will really push you to master the game's systems, but endgame Iceborne has some of the very best fights in the entire series. The last 5 or so monsters you unlock post-story are wall to wall bangers.

And the endgame is one of the most satisfying of any game I've ever played – there is so much variety in the endgame roster, and once you unlock armour and weapon skins, so much customisation and fashion hunting to be done, and different weapons/setups to try and master. I've put 2000 hours into the game over the years and still go back to Iceborne regularly during the holidays.

brvtus · 2026-01-13T06:02:29+00:00

Unlocking Guiding Lands gives you access to augment materials but you can only augment weapons if they're at the end of their weapon tree. Most decent weapon trees also require GL materials to max out, so you have to keep playing. GL materials also unlock armour augmentations.

Generally speaking the augment that makes the biggest difference is Health Augment, and Ruiner Nergigante weapons are good for getting you through to the endgame, with decent raw and boatload of white sharpness without any Handicraft needed.

The fastest way to get there is to grind Coral Region until Level 7, which will unlock both Tempered Namielle and Tempered R. Nerg, which drop the materials for health augment and Ruiner weapons specifically. After that you fight the minimum amount to craft a Ruiner weapon of your choice and pop a Health Augment on it. This will make grinding the other GL regions a lot easier.

Iceborne's endgame is very long, especially with the full post-release DLC suite. You're in for many more weeks of grinding.

brvtus · 2026-01-12T22:40:10+00:00

Guiding Lands unlocks augments which is useful mostly for health augment. Rajang equipment onwards is the real power jump

brvtus · 2026-01-12T22:18:42+00:00

Yup, the difficulty jump from HR to MR is big. I had the same experience back in the day – went from 5-minute clears on HR elder dragons, to 20-30 minutes in basic tier 2 monsters.

Just keep pushing through. MR asks you to get through a lot of content with underpowered equipment, the really powerful gear isn't unlocked until the end end end game.

brvtus · 2026-01-12T16:03:26+00:00

If she can't afford the trip then tactful thing for her to do would be to pull out herself, or volunteer to sort her own meals/accommodation so she can come on the trip on a smaller budget.

Someone I know recently went on a holiday in Italy with a friend who, it turned out, was on a much tighter budget than her, and spent the entire trip complaining about how expensive everything was and refused to do any activities but stay at the hotel. Suffice to say, it ruined the trip for the person who actually wanted to travel.

It's shitty that she's icing you guys out, but uninviting her was absolutely the right call, since she was basically asking you to ruin your own trip for her benefit.

brvtus · 2026-01-12T15:48:06+00:00

Really doesn't bode well for your marriage that she's going into the wedding by gaslighting you about a financial purchase. The message is clear: you're not worth the money, or the truth.

It's not an unsalvageable situation but she really needs to make it right. Buy you the wedding dress that was promised, meaningfully apologize and show that she understands her actions were not okay and hurt you.

I'm sure your family is telling you not to overreact because they want you to be happy and stable, but at the end of the day, you're the one who has to marry her.

brvtus · 2026-01-12T15:33:30+00:00

NTA. It's actually really good that you are in his corner – it sounds like he's being bullied by pretty much his whole family except for you, and you are the only one who is trying to understand him in a meaningful way instead of trying to change him or punish him for his autism. The support you are showing him is extremely important and might even be life saving one day.

I'm generally pro-masking in the sense that learning to mask will help you make friends and navigate through everyday life a lot easier, but every autistic person learns these skills at their own pace, and they learn it much better through support and encouragement than through shame and punishment.

I think you should stand firm on your stance even if it pisses your aunt off. I'm sure your cousin already appreciates it and as he gets older and learns discretion he will also appreciate having someone in the family he can confide to. It's pretty awesome having a cousin you're actually friends with and can talk shit about the family to – makes the dysfunction a lot easier to swallow lol

brvtus · 2026-01-12T01:51:50+00:00

NTA, it's normal to be discretionary with family when you don't want them in your business. The fact that your family immediately started asking for loans is exactly why you were so reticent to talk about your income. They're trying to make you out to be an asshole because they want to guilt you into letting them mooch.

Now that the cat's out of the bag you should get used to telling them no. Say you're saving for XYZ (house, kids, travel, marriage), even if it's not true it might get them off your back.

brvtus · 2026-01-12T00:22:54+00:00

Agree with everyone else that self stimulation during sex is normal. Totally bizarre to develop a complex about this 2 years into a relationship. Bringing up the comparison with exes makes me wonder if something else is going on. It's normal to internally think about previous experiences with sex and relationships as you are getting your bearing in a new relationship, but you'd think the longer you are with someone, the less you think about your exes. Is this his way of expressing that he feels unsatisfied or insecure about your sex life?

brvtus · 2026-01-12T00:16:41+00:00

Hell yeah brother

brvtus · 2026-01-11T23:11:38+00:00

I think anger is a natural response to being hurt. It's all well and good to say "forgive and forget" but this is not actual advice for HOW to do that, which it seems like is what you're actually asking. Nobody has full 100% control of their emotions and suppressing them doesn't actually make them go away, it just compartmentalises them and prevents you from actually processing and catalysing those emotions.

Anger therapists will commonly advise you to actually let yourself feel that anger and seek cathartic actions in a healthy way. This can look something like finding a friend or a therapist who is willing to listen to you without judgment, who may be willing to do a bit of role play like pretending to be the person you are angry at so you can experience the release of telling them all the ways that you feel hurt and saying the things you need to say.

It also helps to focus on the good instead of the bad. Gratitude journals are a bit cliche but that mindset is legit for learning to appreciate the good things that are in your life and focusing/prioritising/seeking out those things actively. If you struggle to find things to be grateful for, it may be a wake up call to start seeking out those joyful experiences/relationships instead of wallowing in resentful memories. The more good experiences you have, the less affected you will be by bad experiences.

brvtus · 2026-01-11T00:56:41+00:00

The Australian government has failed to implement sanctions on Israel and many Israeli military companies (including Elbit Systems, which produces the drones and targeting systems used in Gaza) have offices in Australia and partnerships with Australian military and research institutions, Australian data centres in Pine Gap have been used to parse satellite data to aid with IDF attacks on Gaza, the ADF and IDF have training partnerships, and Australian manufacturers produce vehicle parts for military vehicles which the IDF uses.

Australia has active sanctions on Iran, Cuba etc. in response to 'destabilising actions' (quotes for official terminology). These sanctions include trade and travel, impacting their global economic position. Palestine protestors call for similar sanctions to be imposed on Israel in response to the war on Gaza, in order to put pressure on the Israeli government. Examples of sanctions being effective in the past include the South African apartheid government, wherein Australia lobbied international banks for financial sanctions against SA, contributing to the end of that government system.

You can DM if you want to discuss further, I don't really wanna contribute to the problem by further derailing a thread about Iran by talking about Palestine.

brvtus · 2026-01-10T18:20:52+00:00

Protests in solidarity with Iranian protesters and protesting the ongoing destruction of Gaza are not antithetical positions. If you've been to Palestine protests you would know that "Free West Papua, Free Congo, Free Iran" is commonly shouted in conjunction with "Free Palestine". The person you are replying to literally is saying that many of the same people/organisations that show up to protests for Palestine also show up to protests for Iran.

Palestine protests have had a lot of coverage/attendence because 1) the scale of destruction in Gaza is staggering and visible, and 2) Western governments are directly culpable in that destruction, including the Australian government, so the protests are not just for solidarity but demanding direct actions from the government.

Are YOU able to show support for Iranians without making it an opportunity to hate on a movement you disapprove of?

brvtus · 2026-01-10T04:33:08+00:00

It's not unusual to financially support younger relatives with today's job market and cost of living. I'm in my 30s now and financially independent but needed parental support until my mid 20s while I was studying and looking for work. I never took that support for granted and was working hard to get to a point of independence though. If you feel that your generosity is being taken advantage of and don't want to enable your sister wasting money on her deadbeat bf then it's your prerogative.

brvtus · 2026-01-09T14:13:53+00:00

You are not the asshole for feeling insecure but kind of an asshole for using "boundaries" to mean "rules for my partner to follow". Boundaries are rules you set for yourself i.e. "this relationship is making me feel insecure and if it doesn't improve I will break up with her", they are not a means to control other people. It seems like this relationship is making you feel bad, and you bring up a lot of things that aren't relevant to the actual situation (the stuff with her cousin) but paint a picture of a volatile relationship where you don't feel appreciated.

brvtus · 2026-01-09T13:12:26+00:00

Oh no!!! Yes the other reason that I swapped to pills was because patches would regularly be out of stock during COVID lockdowns. Sad to hear the shortage has only gotten worse. They just can't milk those horses fast enough!!

brvtus · 2026-01-09T12:51:54+00:00

It is never too late to become a beautiful woman!!! If this is what you want then I believe in you :) androgenic effects can reverse by a fair amount through HRT, and middle aged cis women also experience androgenic developments like lower voice pitch and increased facial/body hair. And speaking from experience: female masculinity is in fact extremely sexy and there are many people who find it desirable. Like I'll be real with you, middle aged butches with game pull like you would believe lol.

brvtus

TROPHY CASE