I’m so glad you asked me this bc I’ve been tryin’ to figure out a way to word a post for this all day
It’s kinda hard to put together the pieces bc the only insight we have into Hanzo after meeting Genji is his One (1) panel from Reflections. However, that panel is Very Important.
and we’ll get there, but let’s talk about pre casual pre Genji at Hanamura Hanzo first.
Hanzo’s character arc – at its core – is about self worth and redemption.
Right off the bat he’s born into strict expectations and at the mercy of the Shimada elders who would shape and groom him into having his ideals reflect nothing but their own. He would live to be the powerful and proud Kumichō of the Shimada-gumi in his father’s image and those before him and that would be it. Until it isn’t.
Hanzo has to kill Genji and his world falls apart because for the first time in probably a long time his ideas don’t coincide with the elders’. I say that because like any normal kid growing up, kids have Wants whether it’s something like a toy, a pet, a piercing, the list could go on and on. The point I’m getting at here is that Hanzo has most likely been repressed to hell as a kid because the heir of THEE Shimada-gumi cannot waste time on such “frivolous pursuits” as Hanzo puts it. This plays into Casual Hanzo later when he goes all out and gets his piercings and does the very symbolic cutting of his hair, but we’ll get there. I swear on this long ass ride of an essay we’ll get there.
His leaving after killing Genji is a really important denouncement. It’s the first time he’s really gone against everything he’s known. Granted, he’s still rooted in some traditions he can’t let go, mainly like wearing his kyudo-gi and some beliefs, but it’s his First Step. For the next ten years he avoids the assassins sent after him, but his actions are not driven by them. What Hanzo does is of his own will and yet, he’s not really Living per se; he’s just Existing.
He roams the Earth and does only what I can assume is bounty hunting or maybe even picking off members of the Shimada-gumi from what we can get from, “With every death comes honor. With honor, redemption.” He WANTS to redeem himself for his actions. He knows that what he’s done is fucked up. But for a man like Hanzo (at this time) I don’t think he’d ever deem himself worthy of deserving what he wants.
So Hanzo must live with the burden of his actions and be perpetually haunted by them until the day he dies, because I think
Hanzo thought living was the greatest punishment he could give himself.
Offing himself? Too cowardly, too easy, no pride in it, no honor.
Like, to put it bluntly: Hanzo is a big ol’ Mess. He’s got 28 years of brainwashing and grooming under his belt, PTSD extreme enough that he can’t even wield a blade anymore, and he was more than likely raised to be exceptionally well spoken (probably in multiple languages), but man, alone for ten years on the run being a recluse, that’s gotta do some shit to your social skills. With the Shimada-gumi assassins coming after him? Doubt is his closest friend and he has to distrust everyone down to a single, wrong sideways glance. I also absolutely cannot go without talking about his depression, and that he probably drinks to cope. I don’t think he drinks habitually, but more when The Mood™ is right during a night and he drinks to Forget.
Despite everything, Hanzo is a stubborn bastard who would be the last person to forgo his pride to reach out for any kind of Help. The better question would be: Who would Hanzo go to for help?
SO FINALLY- Enter Genji. Hanzo has the biggest fuck up in his life right before him and Genji forgives him?? That he should forgive himself?? That he has hope in him that he’s gonna do the Right things???
So now Hanzo is Stuck. But also this is AKA the thing I’m dying to see come from Blizzard one day. I feel it’s so important to see the transition between this Hanzo who’s probably in the midst of an existential crisis of having his world take ANOTHER 180 with a very not dead brother and Casual Hanzo. For Hanzo it begs the question: Does he feel like he deserves forgiveness? Does he feel like he deserves to have a second chance? Is he worthy of it? Everything he’s been doing for the past ten years has lead up to these questions that he thought he’d leave forever unanswered and yet, here he is.
So back to the original question at hand: What exactly does Hanzo have to live for now?
and the answer is-
Himself
Casual Hanzo is completely unhinged, aligned to no organizations, and feels free enough to do what he wants because for once in his life he feels like he’s deserving of them. I have no doubts that it was a slow progress either. He probably took baby steps. A piercing here, a small purchase of jacket and pants – probably separately – there, and then the haircut. It was the slow and final departure from the roots he had remaining in Shimada traditions, but also! Not to mention the whole damn cake he was gonna buy in Reflections. That is a man who is finally treating himself and he’s damn happy about it!
I want to say a lot of things about it, but I can’t even express it.
You know, for some reason, D.Va is always portrayed as a brat who doesn’t take things seriously and thinks of life as a game.
The fandom always portrays her as a kid because she’s 19, like really?
And this is something that has always bothered me, but I’m not in position to complain as we didn’t (and still don’t) know a lot about her.
I’ve seen people express their admiration towards D.Va for being a hero at a young age. For that, I’m grateful, but still it always felt like everyone thought she is just a kid playing a game and not being aware of the reality.
But let me tell you all, this short brought me to tears.
For real.
I was just fine until she got serious. Until she let us know that even though she’s got a carefree personality she’s always thinking seriously.
i’ve only seen twitch chat debating this, and i know that twitch chat is barely anything to go by, but i’m imagining the fandom isn’t too happy about the short as well because:
“ how does this move the lore forward? ”
maybe – it’s not meant to. to me, shooting star was a look and exploration into d.va’s personality and character, as well as the circumstances she lives in. it delves deep into the themes of stardom/reality + duality of character, as well as guilt and isolation.
PART ONE – DUALITY
i’d like to first emphasise that there are two sides to her. we have “hana”, the girl whom we see repairing her mech, and struggling with the weight of the world. we also have “d.va”, the perfect ideal of a celebrity who’s so fawned over by the media. she juggles these two sides a fair bit in the short. with that outta the way, let’s go.
in the holovid d.va’s meka squadmate is watching (is his name tae-hyun? i’m going with tae-hyun), we can see her advertisements and her face used as publicity material. it’s all over busan, all over buildings. her brand name is plastered all over products, like the instant noodles and energy drink they’re consuming. goes to show the level of d.va’s popularity.
the team working on this short were incredibly clever when working on the start of it. we see many frames that directly contrast with what the host is saying:
“ she and the meka squad took a few hits, but they pulled off another victory. ”
said squad is shown severely in need of maintenance and repair – that’s not “a few hits”. they were beaten up harshly by the omnics.
“ now, d.va is celebrating with some hard-earned glitz and glamour. ”
she isn’t. she’s repairing her mech after the aforementioned battle. very much not-classy, don’t you think? (strange why people would assume that she’s out partying.)
“ she’s out spending the night at the hottest spots in the city – eating the finest food, and hanging out with other superstars. ”
she’s in meka hq (i’m assuming? maybe it’s a hangar for the mechs, strange for it to be located over the sea), tending to her mech, eating doritos, and chilling with her dudebro tae-hyun. hardly glitzy.
“ and authorities confirm, she emerged without a scratch. she’s currently enjoying some time off to enjoy her victory. ”
at the end of the short, hana is shown pretty beat-up – there’s a cut on her face and her leg’s in a cast. she’s not taking a break, either – she’s still working on repairing her mech. lies. in the words of Best Boi tae-hyun: “oh, man. this time off is greaaat, isn’t it?”
why do all these contrasts matter?
they show how removed hana is from the life of “glitz and glamour”, and closer to the side of her that’s more personal and real – the person she is with tae-hyun. i guess this is how it’s like for most superstars too – they have a life outside of the stardom they’re thrust into and that side people are familiar about them having. this short shows d.va at her most raw, stripped of the arrogance that she gives people on the battlefield, that superior façade. it’s even shown by her lines in-game:
“is this easy mode?” “are you even trying?” “hehe, gg!”
she doesn’t say any of those in this short.
there is a clear separation between her two personas, “hana” and “d.va”. notice how only tae-hyun addresses her by “hana” – he represents the real, non-idealised side of her – and how the media calls her “d.va” – representing the façade she puts on for her fandom and the media.
i’m sorry if you forgot you were reading a defense of the animated short.
PART TWO – GUILT AND ISOLATION
“ you beat [the omnics]. they won’t be back for months. you need a break! ”
this line from tae-hyun is immediately followed by a flashback. hana recalls her squadmates struggling to fight off the omnics (i’m gonna assume and say it was the mentioned battle in the holovid), and how one of her squadmates shouted out “i’m hit!” in the recollection, d.va reacts immediately, horrified and shocked. she snaps back to reality, and says that she can’t take a break.
“ the enemy is adapting, and growing stronger. the rest of the squad, the country … they’re all counting on me. if i make a mistake and the [omnics] get through us … we lose. everything. ”
hana has taken this responsibility to protect whatever she can, her squad and her country. we also can infer that she’s voluntarily taken the weight of the world on her shoulders – tae-hyun insists as she climbs into the mech, “stop putting it all on yourself! it’s okay to ask for help.”
i’m gonna assume that she’s doing this out of guilt. she separates herself from her squadmates because she is guilty, and works in isolation to fight. she doesn’t want anyone else to be hurt, especially because of her/her negligence, so she takes it upon herself to singlehandedly defend her country. maybe there’s a reason behind this guilt, maybe an older squadmate got injured/killed by her own actions. we’ll need more lore, but i’m putting up the possibility.
“ get to cover, and wait for reinforcements! ”
“ they won’t get here in time! ”
again, this goes to show how far hana will take on the fight herself. she doesn’t want to involve any more people than she should – she’ll shoulder it all herself if she can keep the rest safe. but —
“ … tae-hyun. i … i need your help. ”
the framing of the shot before she says this line is great. we see the city in the background and the omnic in the foreground. the framing illustrates her current circumstance and the impending doom if she doesn’t kill the omnic, which she can’t in her mech’s condition. hana is reminded of what she fights for, and that with her mech breaking down, she needs help. she needs someone to rely on. enter tae-hyun, aka BEST BOI, HELL YEAH.
(extra!) PART THREE – THE OVERUSE OF THE RACING METAPHOR
“ it’s like how we used to stay up late and work on your hoverbike. “
“ heh – you mean the one you wrecked? “
“ really – you’re still mad about that? we won the race! “
“ yeah! and you almost killed yourself! “
“ yeah! the reactor! we can overload it! just like the hoverbike! “
“ trust me, tae-hyun … i’ll see you at the finish line. “
their continuous reference to their hoverbike and hana’s repeated use of the metaphor of life as a race really shows (a) their history and friendship together and (b) hana’s insistence on winning as well as her view on life – that it’s really just a race. a game, if you will. these lines show personality, and it’s pretty nice that the team stuck them in.
SUMMARY AND OVERALL THOUGHTS
in short (heh.), shooting star isn’t necessarily an addition onto lore. to me, it was an exploration of her history, her motivations, and her character. you shouldn’t judge it too harshly because all other shorts were lore additions – shooting star is a newer take on adding onto the fabric that is the overwatch universe, and i find it lovely.
in addition, in the korean fan festival livestream on twitch, a representative explained that they wanted to show hana/d.va in a different light – they wanted to show the girl “with the weight of the world on her shoulders”. their intention truly came through.
they really outdid themselves with this short, both the themes and the aesthetic quality. i mean, would you look at the animations and the graphics????? beautiful.
im going to bed but one thing i really liked about the d.va short was how it showed how fake a lot of D.VA’s image is, how its used as propaganda by the state to make the citizens feel safer.
In the beginning you have the news saying that in the aftermath of the latest battle all of D.VA’s teammates were trashed but she came out almost completely unharmed. And maybe you almost believe it, because you see that she IS doing fine. But then why is she fixing her mech? Why is she so concerned with their recent close call? Then at the end you see D.VA almost die to stop the omnic attack, having to be rushed to the hospital, and yet the news reports that she “won without a scratch.” Its a simple but effective way of showing how much of D.VA’s image as the flawless super star is manufactured.
The fact that Hana is clearly aware of this and rolls with it shows she understands her role as a propaganda icon too. It’s interesting. Really, getting a glimpse behind the mask at the real Hana, the loner who has trouble reaching out to others and tries to carry the whole world on her shoulders, was the best part of this one. As usual with these shorts it leaves me really interested to see how she’d go from this to (presumably) being a member of Winston’s new Overwatch team.
I would argue that, currently, we have more actual canon characterization for Jack Morrison than for any other character in Overwatch.
He has a short to himself, one of very few characters that don’t share the spotlight in it in fact. He is also a main or major character in multiple comics. So there is a lot to unpack here.
The short came out first, but I feel like it makes more sense to start with the comics, because there we can talk about strike commander Jack Morrison and then Soldier 76 comes in later.
Oddly enough we can start with the retribution comic. This was primarily about Gabriel Reyes, but Jack has an important part right near the end. The last few pages involve them essentially burying the victims of a Talon attack, many members of Overwatch died in it.
Gabriel wants to react, to take revenge and ensure that something like this never happens again. Jack is skeptical and worried that things might get worse if they misstep. In the end, however, when asked for his permission, he tacitly endorses Gabriel’s plan, trusting in him. He is willing to bend because he believes in Gabriel.
The uprising comic actually features a similar dilemma. Violent Omnic terrorists have taken over Kings Row and have hurt/killed hundreds or thousands of people and could easily kill many more. The prime minister of England has refused to allow Overwatch to interfere, which is framed as arrogant and childish political posturing.
When Gabriel gives an update in the situation, he makes it clear that he thinks they should interfere. Jack is hesitant, torn between saving people’s lives and the duties placed upon him by the international community. At first, he clearly intends to accede to the prime minister’s demands, but he speaks with different people about the issue and ultimately is convinced to protect the innocent lives, despite the political cost he would suffer.
How are these two events similar exactly? Simple, in both of them he faces a difficult decision, one where differing priorities are in conflict and ultimately, he is willing to bend when other people offer him advice. He is willing to listen to other’s and reevaluate decisions based on new information.
The Hero short gives us our biggest bit of characterization for 76 as opposed to Jack. In it we see the new identity he has adopted. The fight against the gang members is actually quite brutal at points, especially for the rating. He basically beats a gang member to death with a piñata. He is tough, no nonsense, does what is necessary etc.
We also, however, see the truth of the matter. When faced with the choice of completing his mission or saving a little girls life, he hesitates, but ultimately makes the heroic decision. The hesitation is important because it underscores the difference between Jack and 76, while the ultimate choice informs us that this persona is, at least in part, an act. He may want to be this remorseless killing machine, but he can’t simply let go of who he was.
This is ultimately confirmed in the old soldiers comic, the entire point of which is that none of the big 3 have ever truly moved on from war or their pasts. They all still fight, because it’s all they know. And Jack at least to some degree, longs for the past while seeing no real future for himself.
So why am I talking about all of this? Because, despite us having a decent amount of concrete character points for him, I consistently see people really negatively portraying/talking about him with things that are explicitly not true.
He is not a narcissistic self righteous prick. That is incredibly out of character for him. He frequently worries about others, sympathizes with them and listens to them. When they disagree, he considers their viewpoints and sometimes changes his opinions/decisions when they bring up good points and never dismisses them out of hand. None of these are things that a delusional self important jackass does. They are, in fact, incompatible with such a personality.
If anything the comics make him out to be a bit meek, too easily swayed by other people’s feelings and desires. I don’t think that was their intention, but it is a far more believable interpretation of his character.
Hell if anyone is self-righteous and high on themselves it’s frickin Gabriel. When told not to apologize for doing what he had to, his response is, “I never have and don’t intend to start now.”
That just screams too assured of the righteousness of one’s cause, unlike anything that Jack has ever been portrayed doing or saying. In fact, as a character flaw, it makes sense towards leading Gabriel down a bad road. With that attitude it is easy to keep justifying more and more things in the pursuit of your noble goals. If nothing you do can be wrong, what won’t you do?
It even fits the idea that Jeff Kaplan talked about with Jack always excusing Gabriel’s actions and how that enabling helped lead Gabriel down the road to villainy.
Now I want to write some meek Jack blinded by his love, unable to see that Gabriel needs his help because he puts the man on an impossible pedestal. It doesn’t help that the man himself won’t admit that he needs help and Jack tends to believe the things he says.
This turned into partially a rant, but sometimes I just need to vent and this seemed a harmless enough way to deal with a bad day.
Fish seems to be a pretty popular dish in Junkertown, you can see it being prepared in a couple of places on the map, as well as on the takeaway menu.
If you look outside the city the two main food sources would be the forested area and the river, there don’t seem to be any agricultural efforts at all.
So if all the fish in Junkertown are coming from that river…
Junkertown dumps waste right into its main food source.
Eating polluted fish won’t kill you right away, but chemicals absorbed by fish can be absorbed by the humans that eat them, possibly causing cancer, liver disease, nervous system damage, impaired mental development, and if eaten by anyone pregnant can cause fetal damage.
Blizzard probably didn’t think too much about the food supply in Junkertown, as it’s inspired by the nonsensical world of Mad Max, but…
Impaired mental development, nervous system damage causing tics, and possibly a missing limb due to poor fetal development?
An important detail often overlooked in discussions on Retribution:
Retribution occurs before Uprising. Blackwatch is suspended after the team’s different debriefings.
However, a year later, not only are Gabriel Reyes, Jesse McCree, and Genji Shimada still present in Overwatch, they continue to actively work as Blackwatch agents despite the suspension. Jack Morrison, the Strike-Commander, and Ana Amari, the Strike Captain, effectively do nothing to stop them (and appear to even semi-encourage them or rile them up).
So, even though McCree is angry and furious throughout the Venice mission, whatever he learns during Reyes’ debriefing is enough to convince him to stay in Overwatch for another 1-2 years.
More importantly, whatever Reyes tells Morrison, Amari, and Lacroix is not enough to convince anyone to kick him out of Overwatch.
It is notReyes’ integrity nor his “trustworthiness” that’s on the line during his debriefing.
It is something else.
An “ongoing investigation” begins at the end of Reyes’ debriefing.
It is almost certainly Overwatch/Blackwatch investigating itself.
This is the Overwatch “mission map” that is present in the background of the Uprising comic. These are “ongoing missions”. They include:
A mission in Tokyo, Japan: likely the investigation of the Shimada clan
A mission in Nigeria: likely the investigation into Doomfist (Akande)
A mission in Cairo or Giza, Egypt: this mission is unknown but may be related to the Anubis AI confinement, or the “Overwatch official murdered” in a “Cairo incident.”
A mission in Rio de Janeiro: an unknown mission but could be related to activities that facilitate Vishkar’s work there in the future.
A mission in Dorado, Mexico: may be related to Los Muertos or the beginning foundation of LumériCo, which Jack Morrison is actively investigating in the present-day (as Soldier: 76).
A close up of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa region.
A mission in London, UK: this is Null Sector’s hostile takeover of London
And lastly
A mission in Switzerland.
Overwatch’s main headquarters were located in its “Swiss Base”. The exact location of this base is unknown. However, if you have followed me for awhile, you know I believe it is in Geneva, which is roughly where that dot is located.
Now, there are at least two major possibilities here:
Overwatch is investigating itself
Overwatch is investigating the United Nations, which has a major office in Geneva
Both of these are very interesting, as the first option tells us that Overwatch has caught wind of Talon agents infiltrating it. The second option would be that Overwatch believes the UN (or members in it) have become compromised.
In my opinion, the first option is more likely, given that it seems like Blackwatch and Overwatch have figured out what Moira is up to. However, I’m not ruling out the possibility of the second option either. The two possibilities do not actually contradict each other, and it’s entirely plausible that both are occurring as Uprising is on-going.
So, Overwatch’s Retribution event has come out and I’m thriving from all this data and sweet lore (despite the more questions this is giving us then answers)
There are thousands of new lines (including all of Reaper’s re-done, the poor man’s voice is probably dead)
Including this line between Moira and Reyes;
Moira: “How are you feeling, Commander?”
Reyes: “Fine, no ill effects so far.”
Moira: “Let me know if that changes.”
This isn’t the only strange interaction between them both, implying the Reaper state in Reyes.
But this line stands out, as Moira is questioning how her “test subject” is handling.
To me, I think this is because this might be Gabriel Reyes’ first mission since Moira genetically altered him, or at least since he’s stabilized.
Further, Moira is unknown to have be with Blackwatch until after this mission, originally haven thought to have been cast from Overwatch’s team and banned from their resources, no one seemed to know she’d then taken into Blackwatch.
Where, such, she’d have perfect invisibility to work on her research, where Reyes came into play.
In this event, Mccree also plays a huge part, as this is where he himself starts to realize this and things starting to go wrong. Whether or not he knows why, I don’t know.
But he does give a big fuss when Reyes makes a sudden decision to shoot Antonio, and gets angrier when he realizes Gabriel doesn’t regret it.
Because, to him, this doesn’t seem like something he would have thought Gabriel to do. (Because Mccree’s anger can’t possibly be him being pissed about this because of morality stuff despite being part of a blackops team.)
Notice how out of it Gabriel seems;
Right after Antonio is killed, Mccree becomes furious and begins to practically scold his commanding officer, who has been shown to be lenient with Mccree, but not to a point where Mccree could talk back to him in such a way.
Mccree pulls Gabriel around by the shoulder to yell at his face, but Gabriel does not get aggressive, tense, or defensive.
He lets Mccree shove him back while his eyes blankly stare at the floor.
It’s the smallest attention to detail, and you can easily miss it, but right before hand as well, as Mccree runs out of frame to yell at Reyes, Moira is seen in clear shot to the right.
At the last few seconds where Mccree is now off screen, Moira’s expression changes from what seems like boredom;
To a smile.
At first, I thought this was her amused by Gabriel’s change in “ideology”, but thinking on it, and putting together her interactions with Reyes in the picture.
This is pride.
She’s proud of her experiment, amused even. But not by Gabriel’s own actions.
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 