Having You by My Side Makes Today Perfect: The Pearlina Manifesto

Oct. 4th, 2024 11:42 pm
bedes: An icon of Marina from the official Hana vs Dango Splatfest art (marina)
A gif of Marina glomping Pearl, with text that says, "Having You By My Side Makes Today Perfect: The Pearlina Manifesto"

“A ship manifesto is a meta essay meant to introduce fans to a ship and promote it by explaining its appeal.”
- Fanlore


Welcome to my Pearlina manifesto! In this essay, I will be introducing you to Splatoon, as well as the characters, Pearl and Marina. I will be going over their lore, their coding, and I hope that I will be able to make you understand their appeal as a romantic pairing.

First, though, I must get you caught up on the not-inherently gay lore of Splatoon. What you need to know is that, around 100 years ago, Octarians and Inklings coexisted in harmony. However, rising sea levels made it so the two had to battle over remaining territory. The Inklings came out victorious, and forced the Octarians to live underground and in much worse conditions. Nowadays, most Octarians are a part of the Octarian army, trying to regain control of the surface.

Also, for clarification: an Octarian is any octopus-like creature, but an Octoling is specifically the intelligent humanoid creature. All Octolings are Octarians, but not all Octarians are Octolings.


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Haruka Isn't Autistic-Coded – He Has an Intellectual Disability (And Why That Matters)

Feb. 27th, 2024 07:55 pm
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (Default)
A lot of people in the MILGRAM fandom (especially English-speaking MILGRAM fandom) state that Haruka is autistic-coded, as if it's fact. Most recognize that Haruka is coded as disabled. (If you didn't recognize that, I hope this essay will help to explain why.) However, to state that he is coded as autistic specifically is incorrect. Haruka is coded as intellectually disabled.


Now, there are likely two things that contribute to this issue. One is the invisibility of intellectual disability as a whole, and another is the fact that a lot of this has to do with things that only someone who speaks Japanese would understand (such as complex vs non-complex words in Japanese).


In this essay, I plan to lay out what an intellectual disability is and how it differs from neurodivergencies such as autism or ADHD. After that, I want to discuss the way Haruka speaks and uses words, the symbolism in his MVs, and how this lends to him being coded as intellectually disabled. Finally, I want to discuss why this even matters at all. Because, in truth, viewing Haruka as autistic instead of intellectually disabled leaves the viewer misunderstanding his story in a huge way that seems far too common in English-speaking MILGRAM fandom. So, I hope you listen to what I have to say.


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