The Three Laws of Humanity in Virtue’s Last Reward

[Spoilers ahead for Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.] Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are one of the most recognizable staples in all of science fiction, and one of the most tiresome. In stories that utilize the Three Laws, I almost always see the same handful of ideas interrogated, mostly centered around the idea that …

I am a Person, I Deserve A Number

[Spoilers ahead for Infinity Train, particularly Book 2. Also, I refer to a certain character using they/them pronouns because that's how I interpret their coding.] Getting your foot in the door to start a new career can be a long, difficult, and horrifically demoralizing process. Gaps in your employment history need to be justified, lack …

Columbo’s Guide to Police and Prison Abolition

Police abolition is absolutely essential to building a fair, just and compassionate society and quite possibly even to keeping the planet remotely livable. And while I'd like to believe an increasing number of people are coming around to the idea that policing is a bad faith, fundamentally broken institution that needs to be scrapped and …

Oppression Fetishism, Inspirational Biopics, and Killing Harmony

[Spoilers ahead for the Danganronpa franchise, particularly Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.] When I came out to my mother as nonbinary, she was, to put it lightly, rather shitty about it, claiming she "wasn't convinced" and "never saw any signs" and so on. Some very harsh words were exchanged as I tried in vain to clear …

Wandering Thoughts on Wandering Son

Watching Wandering Son for the first time in 2021 is weird and frustrating. The manga has been over for eight years, the anime adaptation is ten years old now, and on the whole it's still pretty much the gold standard for trans representation in anime (though less so in manga). And that's extremely depressing; a …