#(POINTS AT IORI'S ARC)

[ohlolme]

oohhhkeyyy so the way I interpreted is that teen Utahime and Gojo were on good terms back then and then something happened along the way (we’re talking abt over ten years here) that made Utahime hate him which I actually find interesting bc I’ve always wondered why she actually hates him. Is it only because he annoys her?? I mean he annoys EVERYONE, but gg specifically stated “she truly hates him” (check this) so I always felt like something DID happen between them that made utahime really dislike him. maybe he crossed the line at some point and said something that deeply hurt her, which is quite possible I mean cmon we’re talking about Gojo here, this guy can be mean af.

and btw I actually do ship gjhm but I’m just huge sucker for nuance like yes two things can coexist at the same time, emotions are layered and ppl are FULL of contradictions so like let fictional characters have a bit of that nuance too, let them be complex, not everything is as black and white as it seems.

[digitalgate02]

How to corrupt Daisuke and give him a dark evolution (and why ep 22 did not need one at all)

Ni has just watched Kamen Rider Geats, and this subject just came into my mind because my favorite character in this series so far has all the traits Daisuke has, and he's even a walking-mess unlucky kid who gets dragged into a whole chaotic series of events which ends up changing his character DRASTICALLY after a point of the series.

No Geats spoilers mentioned here. Don't worry. We're going to pick our favorite specimen Motomiya Daisuke and study how to apply a corruption arc on his portrayal.

This is a spiritual sequel of this post, which explores Daisuke's weaknesses and how you can exploit them to break and beat him. This is an important step, because if you want to turn a character who canonically lacks malice, you need to understand his weaknesses and then go from there.

First thing to know is about Daisuke's pragmatism. One of the episodes which this gets very clear, about how Daisuke being pragmatic is dangerously SCARY, is ep 25:

This whole discussion between the 02 kids (mostly Daisuke, Miyako and Iori) revolves around the fact Golemon is deadly serious about destroying the dam and having more victims and and that they all should just consider the idea of taking that digimon down and avoid the worst scenario happening. I think Shiha explained this part better than me in this specific subject, so check it out.

But knowing this, let's get to the fun(?) part -- Knowing that Daisuke's weaknesses and his pragmatism you can connect them and realize that breaking him is the only way to drive him into frustration and despair. Daisuke, as I said in the spiritual prequel to this post, cannot work well under pressure, so torturing him psychologically like what happens in episodes 8, 10 and 11 is where you weaken his strength and resistances.

In order words: you have to smash every spark of hope inside him, enough to make him lose his way and then start taking questionable choices in order to solve the problem.

Remember: Daisuke has no malice, therefore he wouldn't turn into a sadistic villain who enjoys hurting others for pleasure and wanting others to just suffer. Daisuke's actions would've still been the same as ever, but corrupt.

He would still want to help others, but instead of finding ways the sane Daisuke would've done, he could've been trying to track down whoever ruined everyone's lives --his included -- and take them all down. Because it aligns with his pragmatic approaches, it matches with the concept of "killing the enemy to prevent more causalities" except it gets driven by the seek of revenge and not the pure intent of saving everyone.

Hurting his friends and family -- or even killing them, if you're THAT CRUEL -- is the key. Because the only way to break someone who is not malicious and yes pure-hearted, is attacking all the things he cares deeply about.

As for 02 ep 22, which kept being unfairly criticized for ages because of the misconception about Dark Evolution...

Daisuke has been running in circles and fooling around only.

He had no negative emotions -- something that it is ESSENTIAL to dark evolution

Daisuke and V-mon had been on good terms in this episode, unlike Taichi and Agumon in Adv'99 in which helped to make things worse because Taichi kept pushing a torn of pressure on Agumon thanks to the Crest. The novel has another approach pointing out that Taichi wanted all the glory of being the first to Evolve Greymon further, which tracks with the idea of having corrupted intents (negative emotions)

Daisuke and V-mon ended up in REAL DANGER later, which means sooner V-mon would evolve normally because digimon evolution is also a sync between human-digimon in order to protect something or someone for noble reasons (at least it's what I think it is about)

Therefore I don't agree with the slander Daisuke and this episode suffer from time-to-time.

But there's more: on a very crack-ish drama CD you have this comical corruption arc for Daisuke...

Narrator: And so, Daisuke and V-mon went into the lumbering fog. Soon, it became apparent that the fog had the same abilities as those of the Digital World to change what someone was wearing, like how Miyako had ended up in her battle suit. And during that moment, a certain kind of thought was swirling in Daisuke’s head… Daisuke: I want to be popular…I want to be popular…I want to be popular… Narrator: And, in order to do that… Daisuke: A dark hero…a dark hero…a dark hero… Narrator: …for example? Daisuke: The Digimon Kaiser…The Digimon Kaiser…The Digimon Kaiser… Narrator: And thus, Daisuke underwent a dark evolution. (evolution noise) Daisuke: Daisuke, evolve…!…Digimon Kaiser.

Daisuke: (evil laughter) Miyako: Who’s that?!…Aaaaaaagh! It’s the Digimon Kaiser! Boltmon: What?! Are you the Digimon Kaiser? The one from all of the rumors? Daisuke: Now, everyone. Bow down before me. I am the one who can control even the power of darkness…the Daisuke Kaiser. Hikari: D-Daisuke-kun? Daisuke: I have been reborn. I shall live on as a hero of evil. Understand, you insects? Tailmon: Hmm…it’s lacking in a bit of punch. Daisuke: W-What. Palmon: He’s saying the right words, but that’s not gonna work by itself… Daisuke: Gh — ah — grrk — Mimi: Yeah, I think we all agree. Crowd of girls: Yeah, Ken-chan is cooler. Daisuke: D-Dammit…Why… V-mon: Daisuke! Try kicking me! Like how the Kaiser was always kicking Wormmon around! Daisuke: A-Are you sure?! Okay…

(kick) V-mon: Ow! Daisuke: Aaaaaaaaah! V-mon, are you okay? I was trying to hold back, too, I was hoping it wouldn’t actually hurt… Crowd of girls: Boo! Boo! Boltmon: Boo. Boo. V-mon: No, that’s not gonna work, Daisuke! Even Boltmon’s booing us! You gotta get into the whole “evil” thing! Daisuke: But…I…can’t do that to you… Ken: Motomiya-kun! Daisuke: (attempting Kaiser persona again) Ah. Ichijouji. Ken: I saw you turning into the Kaiser and came running!…(Kaiser voice) Motomiya-kun. You don’t have what it takes to channel the powers of evil. Daisuke: Hey, you don’t know that for sure! I…have decided to live in the grasp of evil! How dare you imply I don’t have enough willpower. Ken: (evil Kaiser laugh) “Not enough willpower,” you say? Hah. Motomiya-kun. You know nothing of the words you speak. It would be more accurate to say…you don’t have enough power to begin with. [...] Daisuke: Nggghghhhgnnnn…V-mon, is it okay if I go all out…? V-mon: (vaguely Wormmon-ish voice): Dai-chan! It’s okay! I don’t care what happens to me…!

... you realize that Daisuke really has no evil in his heart, therefore he's unable to do sadistic things Ken (as the Digimon Kaiser) has done, and then he fails at being a villain.

When Daisuke is trying too hard to be something he isn't, he completely fails at it. He only succeeds at being a cooler or terrifying person if he's not trying to pose as one. Which makes it 10x scary imo...

So i hope you enjoyed how i perceive the concept of corrupting Daisuke in a very effective way... at least for myself 😅

[hiyukikagari]

once again hokazono has done it to us.

TOTO!! HER NAME IS TOTO!!! 

not a whole lot to say about her and kuguri except that i like that kuguri almost seems compelled to teach chihiro how to wield a sword properly. i’m a big fan of the fairly niche trope of villains acting as quasi-mentor figures to the protagonist, who want to see them grow for a better fight. good stuff. 

we got a reference to the enchanted blade's truerealm again! when was the last time that came up, the cloud gouger arc? 

i'm fascinated by what the "true realm" really entails for the growth of the blade and the wielder. the way it's spoken about makes it feel analogous to the apex of the wielders competence with the blade, but i think it’s moreso a metaphysical state of being, like attaining nirvana. the will and desires of the sword and the wielders sync up, so my thinking is that the “true realm” is when both wielder and blade operate in perfect harmony. i think samura or the swordmaster may be an example of that. 

we have had iori for only five chapters now and hokazono is somehow breaking my heart like she’s been here forever. we don’t know a whole lot about her still, but she’s so compelling and i think that’s owed to how expressive she is, and her innocence in all of this. the emotional beats this arc are really good, and the juxtaposition against chihiro and kunishige is such a layup writing choice to really make you feel the weight of what she lost. 

(also, i’m VERY glad she’s being given some agency here. a lot of other authors wouldn’t afford her that much, and it’s frankly a breath of fresh air). 

chihiro’s goal of mastering iai in 24 hours is kinda nuts, and my opinion on it as a plot point largely hinges on how it’s executed. proficiency is one thing, but mastery is VERY ambitious from a narrative standpoint. there is obviously narrative precedent for this however (besides what we learned this chapter), so i’m very optimistic about how that’s all folded into his 24 hour training. 

no hiyuki :( 

[rorja]

Hiiiii! We've been absent for a while (rja the only one keeping this blog alive) because we are working on a very long fanfic.  It's a rewritten jjk plot to fill all the plot holes (but also adding new stories..) from Gojo and Geto's high school to their adult days.  There will be two readers, and ofc to avoid confusion they will have names so.. yeah. They're the so hated ocs that we fanfic writers are afraid to put out.  This story has been in our drafts since november of the last year and after so many "let's keep going", "let's rewrite everything" and "okay enough I need a break" we thought it's been time that we need to be brave.  So we wanted to share with you the two ocs and a teaser of the first chapter will come out in a few days.  ⸻YURIKO IORI

First year along with Nanami, Haibara and Marja. She's from the Iori clan and is Utahime's cousin. Her mother had been involved in a scandal about binding vows with curses that brought the elders to condamn her to the death penalty. Yaga, and old friend, pleaded them to spare her daughter and to give her custody to him, promising to take care of her and assuring she would not take the same path as her mother. Yaga took care of her, to the point he sees her as his own daughter. 

Personality: 

After so many years of being criticized because of her mother, she's a natural introvert that hides a lot her feelings. She's an open book only to Yaga and her friend Marja… and later also Gojo: her aloof attitude firstly irritated him, then appealed him and then it will be the fake walls he knew so well she liked to put up to avoid confrontation and dealing with her problems by herself.  When teased, she has the ability to think of very mean clapbacks in few seconds and that is the main object of Geto and Gojo's fun towards her. But in reality, she is very kind and loving to her friends, often taking the role of the one taking care of others however only Shoko sees her as a little cat that hisses but instead wants cuddles (and wants to be spoiled).  She's very smart, being one of the best first year student along with Nanami, her only weakness being math. Like Utahime, she loves music and plays the guitar alone in her dorm room and can be always heard humming songs. 

Relationships:

Marja's best friend. Her friendship with Nanami was born thanks to their time spent studying together. Haibara admires her ability to be so organized and smart, often preaching she's born a natural leader which frustrates her because she never received compliments like that. (He's find her also scary when she's angry). 

Her relationship with Gojo at first is only based on bickering, due to his arrogant personality that teases her to get a reaction and attention that he wants so badly but doesn't understand why. After the star plasma vessel arc, they get even more awkward. Even if both of them focus more on mission to avoid the school ground and process what they had been through, Gojo will manifest his dislike and worry of her career by calling her weak or diminishing her achievements causing many fights and long period of silence between the two. Everything will change after Geto's betrayal, Gojo's pain will finally show his true colors that will make friends that spend the nights together talking and reflecting about everything to the point of finally admitting their feelings for each other. 

Fun facts: 

She's an october libra as she was born October 16th. Though she's not fond of astronomy, she likes to indulge Marja. 

Yuriko would often be caught by Yaga trying to help both Marja and Haibara cheating midst their exams, throwing at them paper balls with the correct answers (which are useless because she has a terrible chicken writing)

Marja is responsible for her most used nickname: Riko-chan. Then later used by the whole group as an inside joke to make fun of her.

She is the only one that knows how to manipulate (fully on the term!) Marja. 

Yuriko is a bit of a perfectionist; something that is very well-known among the group, making her get along well Nanami. Indeed, he was the first one she befriended at school and the two of them would be often spotted on campus studying together. ⸻MARJA SATOU

First year along with Haibara, Nanami and Yuriko. She comes from the Satou clan and is the only heir, though she's not that well accepted in the family because her father is a foreigner, making her only half japanese. Regardless, she does not get along with her father, often scared of him to a fault because of the insane pressure due to her unusual cused tcursed technique and his tight connection with an italian cult. Her past is the reason behind the binding vow limiting her own technique.

Personality:

Marja is a very energetic girl, but her energy is mainly focused on having fun with her friends or pulling Yaga's last strings of patience. The group first hang together because of her: indeed, it all started when Marja and Shoko got paired up in the morgue and they started to work together. On her part, Marja is an ambivert girl that at first glance could pass up for an introvert, but it's when she gains confidence that her real personality takes an unexpected turn and it gets revealed her playful, laid-back and lazy true persona. Naturally this side comes out mostly with Yuriko. She shares some personality traits with Haibara, which is the main reason they get along so well to be called by the others 'twins'. Marja is quick to adapt to every situation she's in, without as much as to blink. It comes natural to her. But underneath her carefree personality, she hides a more mature side which is not often on display, not even with her best friend Yuriko and that is something that finds its root in her troubling past. Marja doesn't seem to take her job as jujutsu sorcerer seriously, but her words often tend to contradicts what she really feels or thinks. Her complexity lies in the fact that her morals are not defined nor she has firm beliefs, which is something that she carries from her childhood and could end up clouding her judgment.

Relationships:

Yuriko's best friend. She loves hanging out with Haibara, often preaching they are platonic soulmates or twin siblings in another life. Marja also gets really along with Shoko, as the two of them would spend most of their time closed inside the morgue either to tend to their researches or learning bits of medicine with the same professor. The only person Marja doesn't get along with is Gojo Satoru, for their personalities would often clash and crash. Nonetheless, their bickering could be considered as that of a siblings relationship, as none of the two gets taken seriously by the group.

Her relationship with Geto begins one-sided, for Marja develops a crush on the boy the months that followed the school's start. Their relationship begin very subtly but steadily, and somewhere along the road Suguru starts to feel the same way about the girl. Back in high school, Geto is seen to care for and spoil the girl a lot, even in something small as sharing their meal. Even so, Marja tends to be a bit clueless to Suguru's own way of showing his affection, believing that the boy treats her the same way as the other members of the group. After the blood vessel incident, both of them start to drift apart but after Geto's defection things only seem to worsen: on the very night Suguru massacred a whole village, he ended up hurting Marja as well which is something he would feel guilty about his whole life. On the days that followed his betrayl, it becomes painfully aware to everyone how much Suguru loved Marja, as he kept some polaroids of her between his poetry books. They of course don't see each other for a long time, and even though they share the same feelings, they will never have the chance to confess to each other. 

Fun facts: 

she absolutely despises Gojo Satoru and when she noticed that Yuriko had crush for the very same guy, she almost killed herself. For this very reason Marja is responsible for most of Satoru's nicknames: from snowflake to mess of limbs. She gets very creative when it comes to badmouth the guy.

She was born on June 27th, making of her a cancer. She likes to indulge in western astronomy and likes to make it everyone's problem (mostly Yuriko, who is always the victim no.1 of Marja's interests!)

She uses a family's heirloom that controls the wind to fight, for her cursed technique is quite useless in combat.

Marja is known to have a weird interest for the human's brain, whether it is in dissecting bodies together with Shoko in the lab or having a small figure of a brain on her desk.

Yuriko is responsible for her most used nickname: Ricchan. Then later used by the whole group as an inside joke to make fun of her.

If you have any kind of questions, please ask us because we want to talk (yap!!) about this project so badly and a post isn't enough!

[citruscitrushope]

Why Ken Shiraishi is Still Written OK (aka why Vivid BAD SQUAD will never surpass RAD WEEKEND, and why that's a good thing)

An essay I wrote in someone's Twitter DMs as we discussed their belief that Ken's writing has been becoming out of character ever since On Your Feet, and my attempt to present a counter-argument that turned into an analysis of VBS stories up to this point.

1,089 words, warnings for swearing, spoilers, and the fact that this is barely formatted like an essay at all but was just a ramble I thought I gave some good points in and wanted to share.

So bro is openly going against the things that made rw what it was ("ok Toya make all the songs" <- that is not what happened with radder)" and I doubt bro would be full on ignoring it (nor clpl full on ignoring it seeing as they have all of the group's full stories planned from the beginning) and I personally theorize that it's to emphasize the four's strengths as well as to make them come face to face with their weaknesses to grow stronger (I think concerto is the most obvious case of this). Nagi's goal with rw wasn't to make something to be surpassed, it was to pass radder's dream to the next generation to reach the heights they couldn't (i.e. worldwide popularity) and I very much feel like the vbs story has enough backing them going in that direction (Toya's wl chapter, what I've seen of radder flashbacks, even Ken's whole reason for opening weekend garage).

For context, the preceding conversation was about how Ken has been going against a lot of his initial things (Running weekend garage to help the next generation, helping them not work as hard, etc), how he knew Taiga was gonna tell vbs the truth of RAD WEEKEND and that he should first but he didn't, and then how he's been overworking the kids and going against the team effort rw was by radder

Again, clpl kinda suck at writing vbs sometimes but dammit they ain't bad at foreshadowing, they teased Nagi stuff for a year or two before lutf and stuff after all. Plus they've never had a sudden decline with a character, it took two years for Mafuyu's mom to fully be revealed as bad, and even with Taiga that was a solid year. (Now what they do do a lot of are sudden "redemption arcs", sure the Otori brothers' was decent but all the times they've tired to have Shinodad or Toya's dad grow as people has been so bad like bro some people are just shit).

Plus vbs' story has been slower than most of the other units until this current arc (hell they took the longest to end their first arc), slow building blocks to surpassing RAD WEEKEND. So for this current arc to have them saying "our next event will surpass them" so suddenly just doesn't add up. It has to be a red herring. And again, Taiga's been this game's only true betrayal arc, others have been characters going from neutral to bad (Mafumom, one-off characters) or ones meant to be bad that eventually become allies to their respective groups (Arata, Iori, Otori brothers). Taiga going from an explicit ally to an enemy is an outlier, and I've noticed that they usually won't repeat plots and stuff in this game (well outside of Smile of a Dreamer and Our Happy Ending but I think that was on purpose).

I highly doubt that vbs' ending will involve them surpassing RAD WEEKEND, they're probably the only group who's initial goal hadn't changed over time (L/n "I wanna be with my friends again" -> "We wanna be pros that touch others with music". WxS "Let's save this stage" -> "let's travel the world to make our dreams come true" n25 "i need to save mafuyu" -> "she's seemingly saved but shits still tucked"). Even MMJ's which has seemed to always be "Let's be idols and give hope to others" has had steps to go through, it wasn't instantly "Let's perform in the dome" it was "Let's be idols" -> "let's do a live show" -> "let's do a solo show" -> "let's perform in the dome". VBS hasn't been like that, it's always been "let's surpass RAD WEEKEND" and never been anything but that, so their progression has just been them saying "this'll get us closer to surpassing RAD WEEKEND" with little to actually show for it.

It's a lofty, impossible task, and I think Ken and Taiga know that, but they view it in different ways. Taiga sees it as "you'll never live up to it give up stop trying" while Ken's is "you'll never live up to it but that doesn't change that you're still talented performers". Even though how characters always compare each other to radder (An and Taiga seeing Nagi in Kohane, Taiga seeing Ken in Akito) , they're not radder, they'll never be them, and I feel like that's what the story wants to have them and the audience eventually realize. That's what Nagi wanted, right? To have the next generation do what she and the rest of radder couldn't, to keep singing and to be known around the world. They've already contrasted how both Taiga and Ken have attempted to keep Nagi's wishes alive before (i.e. the whole "Don't tell An until she's ready" thing), and Ken handled this better than Taiga but both weren't the best at it, and vbs had to find the strength themselves to keep going. Taiga did it in a brutal and dream-crushing way, while Ken's was gentler and more honest but came too late, and I feel that they wouldn't get rid of that contrast with Nagi's other dream. Taiga ran off and became famous overseas, but never fully processed his grief. Ken is encouraging the next generation, but still isn't doing it perfectly.

So I feel that Ken's plan is to show vbs *their* strengths. The ones only they have. Not in the context of reaching radder's level, but in reaching their own, and truly fulfilling Nagi's wish. He's not doing it perfectly, he's overworking them severely, but I highly doubt that this is purposeful. Again, I just don't think they'd make the dilf have a villain arc.

But nothing anyone has done in response to vbs's dream has been perfect. Even from the main story with akitoya and Kotarou sabotaging Kohane, to Arata in sbd, to Taiga to Arata in bfby, and then lutf is obvious. It's a messy tale of unprocessed grief and unfiltered dreams, things that can lead to both triumph and tragedy. But I truly can't see any malice in Ken's actions, or even Taiga's to an extent. While there obviously was some there, to him I assume it was to protect the legacy of his sister and to not tarnish her swansong.

I don't fully know where I was going with this but all in all I think Ken has good intentions albeit with unintentional extreme expectations, VBS was never meant to surpass RAD WEEKEND, and the vbs story's messy pacing lately is purposeful

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digi Dynamic Shipping Game

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji

Whether canon provides input on them or not.

With SoMi having taken over my mind recently after the release of Adventure Beyond, I am genuinely thrilled to get to write about them again! Sora and Mimi are the main female characters for the majority of the first season of Adventure (before Hikari joins the group) - so you can bet that there is a lot of input on them! As I've already written a general analysis post about them, I may quote myself for the first section, because I don't think I could summarize it any better again:

Looking at Digimon Adventure’s main girls at surface level, it’s easy to assign them certain characteristics, simply because the series itself often hits you on the head with how Sora “is the adventurous yet caring big sister type tomboy”, whereas Mimi fulfills the role of the “easily overwhelmed, opinionated but good-hearted princess that needs protecting”. At first glance, that is exactly what they seem to be, since throughout the first few episodes/arcs, Sora protects and cares for Mimi, includes her in conversations, etc. They may not interact all the time, but whenever they do, they genuinely display concern about each other, despite their obvious differences that probably should make them clash here and there. This is not the case, however; Mimi, being the younger one, confirms that she considers Sora “a close friend” when the whole gang comes together to save her from Datamon. And eventually, once Mimi’s heart gets corrupted, it’s Sora who guides her back towards the right path of sincerity with genuine love, thus being the reason her crest glows for the very first time. So far so lovely and simple, right? 

It’s not until the viewer learns about Sora’s inner struggles - considering herself unable to actually love and thinking that she’s just acting out of obligation -, that one might notice a slight shift in their roles already. It doesn’t happen right away - and Sora being Sora still has a hard time NOT being the caring big sister/mom for everyone, including Mimi. But the more Mimi gets in touch with her own values, the more they get opportunities to spend time together, the more her sense of sincerity grows and her own caring nature blooms - the more the viewer can tell that she’s also (becoming) a person Sora herself needs. Because Sora is a character that needs to let go, to let others care for her as much as she (genuinely) cares for them. 

While the series does point out their differences, it usually doesn’t paint them in a light that makes one of them better than the other (unless it’s there for comic relief). Mimi obviously has her own mind - and cannot help but to speak it loudly, whereas Sora might try to rather keep things to and handle them by herself. For example, thanks to Mimi, they do come up with the idea to walk up Tokyo tower to look for the 8th child “from above” instead of wandering around somewhat structured - thanks to Sora planning ahead -, but still rather cluelessly. They complement each other - and the more confident and comfortable Mimi becomes, the more she is able to comfort Sora in return as well. And the more the series goes on, the more it becomes obvious that it has never been about choosing one side or the other, to fight or not to fight - it’s all been about finding a balance.

By 02 - and especially Tri - Mimi grows significantly more confident, whereas Sora’s own insecurities - about her choices and her future - kept growing through the years. Not only does Mimi love to tease Sora about her love life (and literally claims she'd envy whoever may end up marrying Sora for her cooking skills), but also mirrors Sora in the way she gives her both physical and emotional support whenever it's needed. Especially in the stageplay, they actually manage to talk about their worries a bit more openly - even if Mimi is the one who goes into detail a bit more thoroughly (as she always did), whereas Sora kept things a lot more vague (as she also always did). This is meant to show that Mimi is already ahead of Sora in terms of figuring herself out a little better - by allowing herself to try out different things instead of picking only one path. A theme Sora will continuously struggle with for at least a few more years. Deciding on whether she wants to stay a Chosen Child, whether flower arrangement is actually what she wants to settle down with, what it means to be Sora Takenouchi…

And since Mimi is in a more comfortable state with herself at the age of 21, after Sora had been protecting, encouraging and caring for her so many times throughout all these years - now she’s in the position to be the shoulder for Sora to lean on. Even if Sora may not (yet) be able to accept this kind of help and may continue to keep people at a distance for a while - Mimi will “always have her back”. And that’s what these two provide for each other - one way or another.

Whether I think why and how they’d work.

In case you haven't noticed, I am completely and utterly obsessed with how wonderfully Sora and Mimi complement each other and I'm not even sure if I could do all of these wonderful aspects justice. First of all, there is the whole flower analogy going on - with Sora assumably having quite an ambivalent relationship with flowers, due to her mother wanting for her to get more into flower arrangement (and "be more feminine") herself. Then there's Mimi, whose partner is a literal flower, who basically represents the flower who - as mentioned above - bloomed into a confident woman thanks to Sora caring for her and enabling her growth! There is such a bittersweet irony in this, because, even if Sora doesn't let Mimi in most of the time, Mimi is - in my opinion - the one person absolutely capable of plucking the thorns in Sora's heart simply by being her own self. Without belittling, without changing her - just by asking her to "spread her wings freely".

Which brings me back to the question of whether and why I think they'd work - because among all the shipping wars that have been going on for decades now, I truly and genuinely believe that these two girls are the BEST (healthiest, most plausible) choices for one another.

Mimi, in my opinion, is one of the most queer-coded characters in all of Digimon Adventure as a whole (and basically, as far as my interpretation of their behaviour is concerned, she managed to make both Miyako and Meiko fall for her). So if there's one thing I am thankful for in regards to Tri (onwards), it's how consistently Mimi is pining for Sora. All the hand-holding, the hugs and general physical closeness and mutual reassurance, the comments about "envying Sora's future husband"... Sora usually disregards comments like that and tries to deflect from every kind of relationship teasing - and has done so ever since one of the 02 dramas -, which... Once again leads me to the "gender (and sexuality) dysphoria" headcanon I conducted a while ago. Without going too much into detail again, to sum it up shortly, her attempt to rekindle with her mother and her complicated relationship with Taichi and Yamato may have resulted in both: her experimental fashion phase and her comp-het phase. (Meanwhile, you have Mimi, who never showed interest in pursuing a romantic relationship, who may or may not have assumed that Sora had a crush on Taichi and started wearing the star motive at age 13 to get Sora's attention - and she always loved getting attention from redheads after all, but hey, that's just a theory...) In the end, it gets all too much for Sora, making her feel caged and she ends up self-distancing from everything to "figure herself out".

In my an ideal world, the aftermath of Kizuna may lead to Sora finally confide in Mimi - and thus, Mimi's long-term patience may eventually result in them talking things out, being honest, open, vulnerable, spending more time together... Making Sora FINALLY realize that she can choose her clothes and style for herself freely - and that the same also applies to the person she wanted to be and felt most comfortable with. Without having to conform, without having to strictly follow rules and expectations... (I mean, they also wore matching colours in Beyond, so somebody HAD to initiate the partnerlook colour scheme at some point, especially if you take into consideration how different their clothing styles generally are!)

Long story short - I want them to be embarrassingly sappy yet badass girlfriends who follow their dreams, traveling the world and through digital gates together alongside their partners and friends, cooking, designing, selling, going on takoyaki dates, whatever their hearts desire - while supporting each other unconditionally. Mimi had always been her most selfless, open and patient self when it came to Sora, she's being grounded and stabilized by her - and as outlined above, I believe that the same goes the other way round. Because after all, Sora's own flower cannot properly bloom by herself (or rather: her inner bird that yearns to be free cannot fly properly). She may have needed the time on her own, but she also needs and deserves love, care and affection to discover that her true self, her own middle ground, had been buried inside her all along. And that another flower may have been needed to share her light, water and other nutrients with her to realize it...

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship.

I really don't think I could have made it any more obvious that I adore them as a romantic ship. They're one of the Digimon Adventure relationships that leave a warm and fuzzy feeling in my chest - and I feel like the series forced them to stay in the closet for long enough already with all the ship teasing, so Beyond felt like a very refreshing take). Of course I could also live with the idea of them just being close (long-distance) friends, especially since I also ship both of them with other characters (with Mimi usually being the "aro lesbian with bisexual tendencies (tm) experience" and Sora being happily bi-/pansexual). But I still believe that they could make each other exceptionally happy.

[kattitude130]

the hakuchiori essay

Notes: i don't really subscribe to dynamic ordering of ship names, this is just the name i'm using. suggestions welcome for fun names like paperfish or [term]shipping. obviously i ship them romantically, but i am also heavily invested in the platonic and friendship aspect of their potential (queerplatonic OT3 perhaps? helllllll yes.)

let us begin

Intro: i didn't mean to get so invested in this OT3, in fact i deliberately tried not to until more of this arc was done, but i failed. miserably. it's taking over. i can't stop thinking about it. so now i'm taking all of you down with me (if you feel like it). hakuhiro is already so popular and rightly so, and i believe the addition of iori would multiply the cuteness and pulls at my heartstrings in a way an OT3 ship hasn't before. this is truly my One True 3airing (yeah? yeah)

The Parallels: this part of the post kinda doubles as normal character analysis and comparison-contrast, but i think it's important. any level of reading comprehension would hopefully reveal the narrative parallels between these characters, which always adds points to a ship for me. the most obvious are their relationships to their respective fathers and the importance of these relationships to their character development throughout the story. where they contrast is their level of closeness and the ways these relationships have (fatally) concluded, especially with iori's currently being up in the air. chihiro had a great relationship with his father and a pretty stable (if nontraditional) upbringing, until he was violently ripped away, now following a path of vengeance into hell which may only reveal his beloved father's hidden flaws. hakuri was once "loved" by his father, until he couldn't meet his expectations, leading to years of rejection and abuse, and a fatal confrontation. iori seemed to love her father, who loved her in return, but traumatic experiences and guilt have lead them to be separated; will she learn of her father's sins as chihiro has? will her father need to be stopped as hakuri's was? it's easy to see how her circumstances, while still new and interesting, can be related back to the other two; she may even exist in the middle of their venn diagram: her father as an antagonist who must be stopped, but genuinely tried to give her the best life he could. the emotional turmoil this causes in her is heartbreaking yet compelling to watch unfold, and having relationships (platonic or otherwise) with chihiro and hakuri who have had similar experiences could help her (and us, the audience) make sense of it all.

Chihiro x Hakuri Angle: knowing how popular they already are in these spaces, do i even need to explain? i'll talk more about the dynamics between the three of them as a trio and how it may affect the hakuhiro angle in a later section.

Chihiro x Iori Angle: on the surface, it may get dismissed as typical "ohh he's the male protagonist, she's the damsel, how basic" but let me try to explain it further. iori has so much going on besides just being a "damsel"; sure, she can't fight (yet?) and needs protecting right now (remind you of anyone?), but everything going on with her memories of samura and whatever the hell is going to happen between them is keeping me on the edge of my seat. there is incredible potential here as chihiro vows to keep her safe, but may have to take down her beloved father. it's tense! we've seen a few conversations between them now which acknowledges their similarities (and differences) and how chihiro feels on the matter. he cares about her and her agency in this situation, which i believe she appreciates. he also believes they are too different, restating his self-damnation; iori may even feel the same, as she is obviously not used to the violence chihiro engages with so easily (at least, in her amnesiac state), and does not want to be a part of it for any longer than she has to ("i want to go back to school"). however, i get the feeling she also cares for him. her asking "are you scared?" still gets to me. if she only saw him as a completely unrelatable killing machine, i don't think she would be interested in how he feels about all of this. she still sees the humanity in him despite everything he tries to say to deny it. she feels scared and helpless, but has complete trust in him. i think she feels sorry for him as well. chihiro wants what's best for her and can theoretically make that happen, but what can iori do for him? right now, she's a reminder of everything chihiro is not. i admit it's not a very happy situation right now, but who knows about the future… a shipper can dream, can't i?

there's a sort of "in another life…" and "the damned x the innocent" dynamic they could have going on as a ship that i think many would find compelling, and although as previously stated may be dismissed as "basic", yes, the "guardian/hero x damsel" as well; vowing to protect someone at all costs does add something to a ship, i must admit. but i am more partial to the other interpretations in which they help each other, not just one-way. and if you caught on, i do believe there are chihiro x hakuri parallels here. she's not immediately head-over-heels like hakuri was, but still! chihiro wants to be strong for her, too. i wonder if chihiro will again seek iori's opinions when it comes to what should be done with her father in a similar way he hesitated killing hakuri's family members until they fought kyora together. will he once again be subject to that hesitation, which he called weakness, now that he has gotten to know her? maybe iori will overcome her fears and find motivation and strength in chihiro's example the way hakuri did?

Hakuri x Iori Angle: HURRAY SPECULATION! a lot of this hinges on iori keeping her memories, whatever happens to hakuri next, and if they'll even meet… but others have shipped over less.

with the various parallels previously discussed, there's a lot here too! their respective dads left them for very different reasons, but they're both sad about it, and i think they could understand each other. hakuri's willingness to turn against his family for the greater good (and his own greater good as an abuse survivor) sort of mirrors iori's willingness to abandon her father's memory (good times mixed with trauma) or possible turning against him if she can't accept the man he has become.

i'm desperate to know how hakuri would react to iori in general. there could be some tension if hakuri comes to hate or be strongly against iori's father; he would never take it out on iori, but iori might be uncomfortable by it since she still loves her dad-- which hakuri would understand! despite all the harm, he wished desperately for his father to just acknowledge him. despite everything samura has done and that iori may learn about, she might still wish to be his daughter again. having familial attachment mixed with traumatic memories towards someone is a really hard thing to go through. hakuri may be able to help her through these feelings, especially if the decision to stop samura by killing him arises.

their traumatic pasts are another point of comparison. hakuri went through a lot, directly because of his family and the evil auction they were running. we don't know how much iori has been through yet, but it was definitely something scary, and at a very young age as well. her father may not be entirely at fault the way hakuri's family was, but he seems to feel pretty guilty about whatever she went through. i believe something very traumatic is being hidden in her memories that may be revealed soon. it's hard to imagine what could "top" or match hakuri's trauma, but it's not really about that. it's about being able to further understand each other, and maybe even comfort each other through recalling similar experiences.

iori's ability to still see chihiro's humanity despite his path to hell may apply, too. despite me laying out their similarities, hakuri might agree with chihiro that they are just too different from the innocent normal people, like (amnesiac) iori and her peers. hakuri may not have killed as much as chihiro, but his upbringing was far from peaceful, and he seems dedicated to following him in damnation. additionally, if chihiro vows to protect iori, he would too. iori and her guard dog boyfriends is something i'd kinda want to see, i must admit to you.

a lot of this has been the sadder/hurt-comfort part of their possible dynamic, but there's definitely room for fluff and sweetness. they're good kids! the way they would hypothetically behave while harboring a crush or developing feelings for each other is too much for my heart to bear!! please help!!!

Effect of Adding Iori to Chihiro x Hakuri (The Anti-Suicide Glue) this section is thanks in part to @trans-hakuri (aka blinkeasy). to quote: "I'm curious to see how much she matches their freak re: putting yourself on the line for others. She's done it once already when she was fairly certain the Hishaku wouldn't kill her, but she doesn't seem to carry the same self-worth issues that Chihiro and Hakuri do (as far as we know) and it would be nice to see her as a voice of reason for them sometimes. She should participate in the mission just as much as they do, while modeling how to be less suicidal about it." iori being the glue that keeps them from killing themselves for the sake of others is admittedly a bit darkly funny to me. chihiro x hakuri is great partly because of how messed up they both are, and throwing in a (to be fair, also somewhat emotionally messed up right now) civilian girl who at least sort of knows what "true" normalcy feels like into the mix might just be the missing ingredient they need. although iori may not come out of this completely "normal" anymore, she would still have that perspective to offer. (and while chihiro had a relatively peaceful childhood, he believes he must abandon that life forever, and iori may be able to bring him back to reality somewhat.) it's true that i enjoy thinking about all the ways chihiro and hakuri support each other through the madness, but an extra (un-bloodied) hand can't hurt, and i do think there is some significance to gaining a friend their age. (for the AU lovers, i can also vividly imagine the close friendships they could develop in a more peaceful world (like high school AU) if canon is not meant to be.)

lastly, i want to highlight trans-hakuri's quote "She's done it once already when she was fairly certain the Hishaku wouldn't kill her" to state once again that iori is not just a damsel. she's scared and feels out of her depth, but she can be strong and brave too. that being said, i believe she also symbolizes normalcy and innocence/ignorance, which she may soon lose; if so, i do hope chihiro and hakuri are there to catch her.

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, Issue #4/5

One Piece: On the tour of Elbaf, the Straw Hats learn that the Giant youths aren't being raised to be warriors anymore; an anonymous friend of Loki's suggests that he's secretly kind, to Loki's chagrin; Shanks or a lookalike appears with a mysterious partner, summoned by the same demonic sigil as the Elders. "Shanks' " partner has pretty familiar eyelashes...dare I to dream...?

Yozakura: On the day he plans to renew his vows with Mutsumi, Taiyo loses his wedding ring; when he discovers that Kyoichiro took it to polish it, the two have a heartfelt conversation. This was such a good bookend for the series and Taiyo's relationship with Kyoichiro, at least to me since I'm not super invested

Undead Unluck: Andy and Fuuko finish charging up The Heart with their memories, allowing them to take down a fusion of Sun and every remaining UMA. Please, please, please...let the anime get to the end, I need to see this fight animated...

Roboco: It's Wedding Week apparently, with Gaku getting hitched to a girl he saved in the wilderness; Second Year gets jealous and seems to share a story meant to humiliate Gaku, but it turns out to be completely serious and heartfelt despite the subject matter. A weirdly sweet chapter by the end, and certainly always strange seeing Roboco play the straightman

Sakamoto: Sakamoto delivers Heisuke his gun and Piisuke to protect Atari from Torres before rushing to Shin to save him from himself; the flashback to Sakamoto and Shin's meeting begins. I'm suddenly so invested in their friendship, this might motivate me to reread

EluSam: Tokiyuki's drum performance goes terribly, but turns out to be a long con to lure Toki into the perfect position to assassinate him. Seems like an odd gambit, and I highly doubt it's what really happened, but wild if true

Witch Watch: Taiga sacrifices himself in order to allow Kuon to seal Jeanne d'Arc, realizing Ibuki's prophecy. A forgone conclusion, but a well enough written one that I'm not totally unaffected by it

Blue Box: Chinatsu's father regrets prioritizing work over his daughter for his entire life, so he takes a page out of Taiki's playbook and makes a run for it to reach her game in time when his taxi gets stuck in traffic. This might be the most emotionally resonant moment in the series for me specifically

Akane: With a baseline understanding of Issho and Shiguma's history, Akane resolves to figure out the rest of their rivalry through Shiguma's Art; the rest of the Shiguma School resolve to all become Shin'uchi so that they'll be able to reopen their school one day. I saw one comment refer to this as the Sabaody Arc Incident of the series, and I really have no better analysis than that

Kill Blue: Inukai turns out to be Juzo's former child apprentice, who becomes frustrated and disillusioned by Juzo's current behavior; he sets out to eliminate the Jardin members staffed at the school, but is saved by Juzo, proving that he's still the same man, just adapting to the needs and opportunities of his situation. I think Inukai offers an interesting opportunity to the series by giving us a way to see more of the adult Juzo, though it remains to be seen how far Fujimaki will take this concept

Nue: Tsujita pleads with Gakuro not to go after Shiroha because the Fujino Family will certainly kill him and she likes him; Gakuro tells her that he'll give proper thought to her confession; immediately upon infiltrating the Fujino Estate, Gakuro learns that they're one step ahead and expecting a sneak attack. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse at this point, so no comment on this moment until I know the payoff

Kagurabachi: As Iori's memories of Samura try to resurface, the Hishaku arrive at her school to capture her, but Chihiro and the Masumi come to save her. For everything that happened in this chapter, the thing I'm most compelled by is the revelation that Chihiro has earned a reputation in society for being a mass murderer, which will certainly play into the themes of Heroism vs. Sin being levied against the Swordbearers

Chojo: Chojo's old friend Dan, a Yugioh protagonist pastiche, comes to visit, though he is pursued by Rare Hunters; Chojo fends them off with Dan's signature card, a classic YGO trope. I'm with @wickedsick on this one, card game protagonists should be side characters more often, it's such a good bit to see a grown man living like that

Astro Royale: Shikaba turns out to be the organizer of the upcoming event, the Astro Battle Royale tournament, with the Daybreak Ore on the line. We (almost) Have a Title; this kind of gives the impression that the remainder of the series is going to be the tournament, but that doesn't feel right

Kiyoshi: Kiyoshi finishes his basic training with Akari, then begins applied training with Sakaki. ...Is Akari the love interest? Also, I forgot she's supposed to be his partner, she's really not very present...I hope Usui has bigger plans for her, I'd hate for her to just be "The Girl"

Hima-Ten: Suddenly back home, Himari and Tenichi discuss the parameters of Tenichi's employment, expanding his duties and empowering Himari to be more honest with her thoughts and wants. This certainly won't pose any ethical issues when she accepts that she is in fact in love with her housekeeper, who she pays

Ichi: World Hater begins The (legally distinct) Rumbling, but Ichi only gets more excited by the prospect of the hunt and activates an Uroro-Amplified Uruwashi, Hisame's spell. I'm so excited to see Nishi delve into whether or not Ichi's sparkly-eyed obsession with hunting the Magiks is his best quality or simply dangerous naivete, if not both

Shinobi: Tobi blatantly admits to being a ninja, but Mukai thinks it's all part of the Haunted Walk; Yodaka has trouble fighting him in the dark until Hibari and Umineko arrive, allowing him to go all out. I can see other folks disliking it for how dry it is, but I'm still a big fan of Mitarashi's sense of humor; even the dramatic dialogue is pretty clever - "you poor thing, you won't even get to see the moon during your last moments" -> "isn't this great? You'll get to see the moon in your last moments"

Hakutaku: Akamine figures out how Hideout Plan works just from the context of meeting Hikuma, then is suddenly swarmed by friendly wild animals because he's a manic pixie dream man or something; Noto is nearly rejected by the rest of the Tidio team because her actions suggest an incomplete prototype, but she convinces them to give her a chance. I can't help but feel this series is giving a skewed impression of the game dev industry and process; also Akamine's line that there's an annual day of unusual circumstances suggests that there's a supernatural element to this series, which I...don't think I want, but I also feel like that'd be a good twist to make this actually engaging

Syd Craft: Lulu goes to Syd's office to try to get some dirt on him, and instead meets Elio, who she immediately clocks as a crossdresser; through a misunderstanding of a letter delivered by Souffle, the three end up exercising in the middle of the office as a way to...become more romantically charming...I guess? The letter turns out to be a bomb threat. Lulu being introduced to Elio and Souffle and becoming fast friends with both of them is a fun little twist, but until Tsutsui gives me poly or yuri, I won't rescind my earlier assertions that he's a coward

Top three of the week:

Undead Unluck, obviously

Sakamoto Days for continuing to get me so invested after years of mild engagement

Shinobi Undercover for solid dialogue and reminding me why I was so excited to see the Candy Flurry duo coming back

Ichi just barely missed the top 3 this week, I suspect the actual battle next week will push it up a bit, but honestly this whole week was pretty strong for me, so if the next issue brings it just as hard, it could really go any which way...

[eartheats]

//ooc post but god. for my own sake, i'm organizing and trying to set some hard dates for some events. i'm also looking for some volunteers, specifically BBA adjacent for one of them and just in general for the second! i need to stop keeping plots in my head.

no cws up until the third bullet point, where there is talk of kidnapping (successful attempts on adults, failed attempt on a teen), violence (to adults and to a teen), murder (of an adult and only an adult), mind control, and other evil team shit on the horizon. be forewarned! the final bullet point will be in very high stakes territory, given that noriko fully intends to try and end the world, but feel free to ignore if that isn't your jam. live your lives besties <3

(mid-may ETA): Bouton evolution arc. I need to find someone or multiple someones to bother with a very nosy Roselia who is trying to find a shiny stone, and may potentially steal something sparkly thinking that it's what it needs. If anyone wants to volunteer for this lmk, but I can just as easily borrow Carmine for this if nothing else! (CLAIMED)

(may!): Ren goes back to Zapapico! Temporarily. Jacques is going to get his grand festival trophy from Sinnoh and quietly retire. Ren's going to be in Zapapico and getting used to life back home for a lil while.

(early june through august): I wanna work in the Iron Crown sighting/healing arc I have in the works, because while Ren's not going to CATCH the paradox, it's going to be something that works alongside any volunteers for taking care of Noriko's evil team resurgence. Mostly as extra assurance for them to lose! Tatiana reconciliation Arc will probably take place around here too. basically, if anyone wants involvement with zapapico/ren just in a general context, feel free!

(start of september) Ren goes back to Blueberry! Madison and Jacques will be posting some of notes they find from Noriko, which will have some involvement IC if desired since I'll be using Caesar Ciphers to scramble shit up if anyone wants to play detective. :3c They'll also briefly be around to post on Ren's blog/answer questions!

(mid september) The final batch of notes is found and translated, and the opening to Noriko's secret base of operations is opened! But Madison/Jacques are going to end up kidnapped here by Iori, an admin in Noriko's Neo Flare stuff and actually a faller from Hisui! She'll be available to interact with for at least a day. <3 Design coming soon, I need to figure out her nonsense.

(also mid september) yeah so ren is. escaping the academy, even if it tries to keep them constrained. they are going to be meeting their mom on the remains of cinnabar island, where one confrontation may take place. please keep in mind if you try to do a ren rescue party, it is going to fail. (very specifically for ren) it has to fail for the next leg of the plot, but i AM potentially considering getting carmine in on this mess and getting her injured in the process, and while there, noriko is definitely going to think about taking her too so that her kid has a friend. which. yeahno. this one is influenceable, but is MUCH more likely to fail, so if anyone wants to big damn heroes carmine you have my full permission 👍👍👍 save that girl! (CARMINE SAVING IS HANDLED BY THE GIRLFRIEND BLESS)

as a small aside: would anyone like to get ren's very stressed out team to take care of for a bit? noriko's a lot of things but she's not a monster, if anyone wants to take care of the team for a bit/potentially use them against lotus :3c it may be. interesting! (CLAIMED for now)

(october-november? maybe) noriko's neo team flare shit (name pending) will emerge proper and try to be as evil teammy as possible! ren is going to be a mind controlled admin named lotus and have none of their actual pokemon! shit's going to be bad, but! while it might take a bit to organize some losses for them and i may mostly leave that to anyone who wants to fix this mess (we can either handwave or actually play them out, preference to whoever volunteers), but there's gonna be one event specific for camille, one for iori, one for lotus (which can influence how the big admin battle goes), and then what i'm hoping to be a siege on the base. this one i have ways to bullshit a win (for the good guys!!) for, but i wanna see what people come up with, too!

and by the new year, everyone should be recovering, and that'll be the end of team neo flare at least! the rest of the event will decide everyone else but ren's fate. they will end up coming back fine from this, but it's gonna be rough :')

so yeah. basic rubric and very changeable (i gotta ask some players some stuff and things), my only real rule is no instant wins/legendary spam/godmodding really? i want this to be fun but i want it to feel like an actual uphill battle a bit, and i'm still trying to build toward that. this could even be pushed out into 2025, depending, but! yeah!!!

idk if anyone has questions feel free to leave 'em on this post and i will try to get to them when my brain isn't a mess because of retail or other stuff 👍

volunteers (for my ref)

@/suddenlyauntiemaya (bouton evolution arc!!! pushing this one back for this :3b)

@/little-guys-pokemon-central

@/elite-amarys (CARMINE'S SAVIOR!!!)

@/goindownswingin

@/professor-amaryllis (ren rescue party!)

@/electricalflre

@/bee-bee-kyuu (ren rescue party!)

temporary team-ups/team holding:

lulu the orthworm: going to @/professor-amaryllis!

bouton the roserade: @/professor-amaryllis! teaming up to bring lotus back to their senses/back to being ren :3c

coriander the ferrothorn: available! she is not a battling pokemon and is. going to be about as stressed and anxious as lulu, as a warning.

soba the furret: @/bee-bee-kyuu! will be very determined and ready for a fight.

harusame the huntail: available! will also be very determined though a lot more emotional.

any pokemon who is not taken will likely be taken in by amy, and lulu is going to be going to amy instead by default for planning purposes~

[itsmelilyv]

yuri recommendations for yuri day

Hello!! It is yuri day. Here is a short list of yuri I really love, if you're looking for something good to eat ~

Even Though We're Adults by Takako Shimura A bartender sleeps with a teacher, only to discover she's married. An exploration of the difficulties adults can have discovering and managing relationships.

How Do We Relationship? by Tamifull Two college lesbians start dating on a whim, but run into problems when they try to express their needs. A genuine, heartfelt look at the difficulties of communication.

Young Ladies Don't Play Fighting Games by Eri Ejima Girls at an uptight high school embrace their love of fighting games. Full of gorgeous renders of girls crying and screaming at games. There's a tournament arc. If you like competitive video games at all, please read this.

The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn't A Guy At All by Arai Sumiko An introvert with a love of hard rock makes a new friend. Incredibly stylish, and written clearly by someone with a love of music.

Liar Satsuki Can See Death by Ryouko Yuri-light. A high school girl, cursed to see death before it happens, tries to prevent it. A mix of detective mystery and slice of life, and very dark at times.

Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa Yuri-light. Two college women explore a horrifying alternate universe, full of unknowable monsters, to make money while searching for a lost friend. If you like creepypasta, this might be for you.

---

Bonus Round, for absolute freaks like me who constantly need more to read:

Futari Escape: Two young women do anything they can to avoid work.

A Monster Wants to Eat Me: A high school girl who wants to die meets a mermaid who might grant her wish.

I Don't Know Which One Is Love: A college woman falls ass-backwards into five relationships at once.

She Loves to Cook, She Loves to Eat: Two lonely women befriend each other over their love of food.

Lily (by Yy): A high school love story grows into a college love story. Slowly, deeply explores the growth of a relationship.

Moonlight Garden: A secluded, otherworldly brothel hides the lives of it's mysterious inhabitants. One wants to escape.

And as for yuri games, I really love Ladykiller in a Bind (a bratty woman explores dom/sub relationships) and Heaven Will Be Mine (several women use mech fights as an excuse to make out)

---

I have read so so much yuri in the past couple of years and it's only getting better and better... we really are living in a golden age of yuri. I have at least twice as many I could recommend.

At some point I'll make this into a full, thorough post, like I did with Lily Explores Ten Transgender Manga (which I would super recommend if you want some good trans stuff~)

happy yuri day <3

[hestzhyen]

Thank you thank you for your thoughts on Hiruhiko. I feel like I’m going insane with everyone loving him and being satisfied with the conclusion of the fight with the hotel manager. It’s straight up plot armor because Hokazono doesn’t want to kill him. He barely made him struggle in the fight and somehow was able to develop his own fighting style. I get he’s a genius I just wished there was a bit more struggle from him in developing his unique fighting style.

It seriously seems like everyone is overly praising the manga and when ppl come out to criticize the pushback is insane. I don’t feel comfortable sharing my thoughts on twitter anymore. I want to point out I love the manga but it definitely has some flaws. Hiruhiko is a flaw and like you said he needs to go.

Regarding of Iori I’m interested in her decision because I agree with you in that she’s wavering. This chapter brought up a point that I didn’t think about before. Iori is 18/17 because we learned in the previous chapter her and Chihiro are about the same age and her seal was put three ago. At least that’s according to what Ro said in this chapter. That makes me wonder if there’s any affects to her personality that we haven’t seen. I don’t fully believe she has personally processed/remdmbered all the information the she lost, do you?

Lastly thanks for your weekly thoughts on the manga. I look forward to reading them.

I don't share my thoughts on Twitter that much for the same reasons. I'd encourage you to share here or on a chill platform like Blue Sky though! I'm interested in hearing from folks who take a critical look at the manga.

I have a lot of reasons why I dislike Hiruhiko; I try to keep the complaints about him to a minimum but chapters like this make me want to toss the author's carefully crafted storytelling out the window and just get rid of him. Rule of Cool can't be used to explain everything! Especially when it comes to why a character is a legitimate threat. He should have gotten a few scratches and scuff marks at a minimum while fighting Sengoku in my opinion. But what's done is done and all I can hope for is that he exits stage right soon for my own sanity.

Hiruhiko is set up to be Chihiro's primary antagonist on a personal level while he deals with the arc bosses. He'll probably keep popping up to pose a threat beyond this arc, sadly, so it's best to settle in for the long haul of putting up with him and maybe get pleasantly surprised.

In regards to Iori: there's something else to note about her.

チヒロさんは慣れっこなんですか? 私と歳変わらないですよね? "Are you used to this, Chihiro-san? We're around the same age, right?"

This combined with her being a second year in high school (ch. 63) means she's most likely a year or two younger than Chihiro at 16/17 years old. Hence why she plays it safe and polite by addressing him as Chihiro-san.

As to her memories, I think she has all or nearly all of them back. She at least knows that her life was difficult with Samura, and that's enough to make her waver.

I think we've seen the core of her character by now- she's brave and a little rash, compassionate, and very much an ordinary girl thrust into a situation that's far beyond her. She's actually quite like how I imagine Chihiro would be if he hadn't gotten heavily traumatized. Which makes her choice so poignant. She can go back, but does she really want to? The excuses she's telling herself as of chapter 68 make me think that she's going to show strong resilience and need to do the "right thing" just like our protagonist does on the regular.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading my rambles! My inbox is always a safe place for Hiruhiko hatred, so let's be haters together.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Ok after finishing all of the main story content in Samurai Remnant, I'd really like to know your thoughts on not just Saber, but the other new servants as well. (I know you did Rider already so maybe you could talk about her Avenger form added recently to FGO)

Saving the Iori and Saber posts for after I play Entreat the Darkness but I suppose I can do this one now.

FSR's cast is built like Fate/EXTRA's. You have big arcs for the protagonist and the main Servant. And then every other Master is a supporting character for the protagonist's arc and their Servant are supporting characters to those supporting characters.

Zhou Yu is the golden example of that. He is the guy who understands Zheng's position, relates to his experiences, and serves as the model for Zheng to follow after every ending. He's not very explored in the parts of his character that aren't relevant to that, in the same way Zheng isn't very explored in the parts that aren't meant to show the ways he's similar to Iori. Although this is probably guaranteed to change when he goes to FGO because Zhuge Liang is right there hiding inside his Waver Velver skin.

Jeanne is the same Jeanne we know since Apocrypha, except in serious mode 100% and in a Master-Servant pair where both sides have firm opinions about the other side's life choices and refuse to back down there despite their fundamental disagreements. FSR and its collab event were the only two times I came out of a Jeanne story having zero problems with Jeanne's characterization, which is a major testament to how good Chiemon is and how Jeanne plays an essential part in making Chiemon the best.

Ushi Gozen is already covered here and here.

Are is different in that he exists as a personal antagonist to Saber rather than as a supporting character to either of his Masters. Saber's arc is about becoming more than Yamato Takeru, so they fight a boss who has the literal constraints of Yamato Takeru's story as his Noble Phantasm. He has his own personal goal in evidencing his own existence, but that's a really frustrating concept as it is because it doesn't give Type-Moon's reasons why Are's existence is doubted. He's a character I have ideas for how I'd have done him differently, but that's a topic for its own post.

Saburou is an accessory to Dorothea's character but he's the most poorly communicated character in the game, so he muddles the point of Dorothea along with him. His motive for wanting to test Doro is not stated but it's implied to be simply disagreeing with her decision to retreat instead of storming Yasuhiro's fortress in their last Digression, which really makes him come off as just an asshole. And I feel like more could be done with the arrangement of him and Saber being mutually weak to each other.

Musashi is the one Servant who serves as a supporting character to Iori rather than her own Master and she feels a lot more right in this role than she ever did as a main player. She's the one character who understands Iori's arc through personal experience and ultimately tries and cathartically fails to be a source of closure to Iori, the other Musashi, and to a lesser extent herself, all in a single duel. It's a satisfying loss for everyone involved.

Yoshinaka is an odd Rogue who is stripped of anything and everything that defined Yoshinaka's source character. Making Yoshinaka a good guy because they didn't want Tomoe to be heads over heels for the worst man of his time is understandable, but the narrative that Yoshinaka was unfairly hated comes with reasons why he was hated despite being innocent, and the game doesn't bother to work with that either. Their Yoshinaka is just a nobody who exists only to be Tomoe's man.

Samson is the Rogue who exists to be Takao's supporting character since Musashi is busy being another one of Iori's. He's a screamy Berserker, but for the first time, this archetype worked because the 3D models allowed for new levels of expressiveness, such as the thumbs up and him sitting next to Iori's house pouting. He's as much of a simp as any version of Samson should be and the way Takao treats that giant hulk like a baby is pretty cute. He's just nice to have around, especially when he is playable.

[hiyukikagari]

well this chapter was pretty straight forward so i don’t have as much to say this week as i did last week!

iori continues to make a home for herself in my heart, which i know is going to be thoroughly used against us once we hit the third act of this arc. at this point, i’m truly not confident enough to say exactly what i think will happen, except that she and samura will likely meet and that will impact her final decision in some way.

i really really am enjoying hokazono using every parallel he’s created between chihiro and iori in their conversations. not only is it engendering a potential friendship between them, but shows the two of them what they never had, and can’t ever have. they’re two children whose lives were upended by their fathers’ legacy, each a window into the other’s life and what they lost. i haven’t stopped thinking about chihiro’s placid, wistful face when he said her life sounded peaceful. it’s just… man. it can be easy to take chihiro as being one-note because he is pretty dry in his expressions, but his heart is not as calloused as he thinks it is. he’s so young, man…….

RIP tojiro, we hardly knew ya. i wish we got to know him a tiny bit more, but i also don’t mind characters that pad out the world a bit to make it feel as vast as it is. i just hope the hotel is insured.

i’m a big fan of hiruhiko/hirohiko’s (still don’t know what his name is officially bc it keeps changing) current arc paralleling chihiro’s. like we’ve seen with iori, hokazono has a real talent for narrative foils. both boys want to improve as swordsmen to better wield their enchanted blades, but naturally have arrived at very different conclusions to do so. chihiro, despite being a killer, does not regard it as a simple fact of himself the way hirohiko does.

i’m a big fan of hiruhiko/hirohiko’s (still don’t know what his name is officially bc it keeps changing) current arc paralleling chihiro’s. like we’ve seen with iori, hokazono has a real talent for narrative foils. both boys want to improve as swordsmen to better wield their enchanted blades, but naturally have arrived at very different conclusions to do so. chihiro, despite being a killer, does not regard it as a simple fact of himself the way hirohiko does. i have more to say on that matter for another time, but their conflict really resembles yuji x mahito (and that’s saying nothing about the visual resemblance hirohiko has to mahito). i say this as a compliment because i think mahito was gege akutami’s best villain in that entire series, so i really look forward to watching chihiro and hirohiko’s relationship as adversaries mature. 

and toto was there <3 

[beginningobserver]

You might know that i tend to complete the evolution lines for my favorite characters (and i'm still struggling with Iori's Armadimon) and this means i should do the same with Rui's Ukkomon, right?

Especially when i made posts asking about "which Digimental would suit Rui and Ukkomon" before...

But, honestly?

I don't think Rui would want to get involved in the digimon battles and such. Especially when the main reason he snapped at Ukkomon at age 11 (in March 2003) is because of the digimon fighting and dying for their human partners.

Even if Daisuke and co explain that there's bad digimon so the fights are needed in order to protect more lives... I feel he wouldn't be comfortable with that kind of thing.

He's non-confrontational. This might be one of his biggest flaws at some point, but i think this also means he’s cool-headed and able to find different approaches to solve conflict without fighting. And this means he’s not the kind to be in the front lines like the rest of the 02 kids, or Taichi & Yamato. Rui suits more the type of support unit character, a role more like Koushiro’s, Jou’s, Mimi’s and Sora’s (yes, all of those had proven that you can take part of digimon business/battles without fighting directly with enemies: Koushiro helps supervisioning the battles and investigating stuff – especially in 02 & Kizuna; Sora and Mimi are more likely to be the emotional support. Mimi even recruited digimon to help them in the final arc from Adv’99, and Jou is like our medical/healer unit.)

Even if Ukkomon evolves someday in any extra material… I don’t expect it to be an offensive-type digimon, because of those same reasons above. Maybe he could turn into a support-type critter, one with abilities that could assist the 02 kids in a case.

tldr; Rui is not the type to be involved directly in digimon fights. The canon also showed that you can still be part of them WITHOUT having to directly go and attack the bad guys, you can be helping the crew emotionally, or gathering information/investigating stuff, or helping them to keep in a good shape and heal their wounds.

[somena-libra-dawn]

Now that I have read up to volume 103... I had to reveal my old weird misconception (yeah, called it 'misconceptions' right off the bat because it obviously is when having the thought^TM) before the revelation of Rum’s identity is that I suspected Muga Iori more than the Rum suspect trio.

Yeah, he lacks Rum’s descriptions but still being perceptive enough that I’d believe he is in the Black Org. Like, why does Momiji ask Conan that he figures out the case because her butler says so? At the end of the said case, he also mentions the Haneda (through Heiji) who is the key person of Rum arc. How does he know about that? Why did he tell such info? More importantly, why does such important thing happen right now!? (Ik it is meant to connect the following chapter but what was I thinking back then?)

Weirdly, he disguises himself at his first appearance. During the Kyoto arc, he strangely doesn’t show up till his lady is endangered. Not to mention, he is incredibly strong and smart.

‘Could it be… he goes along with Momiji’s love tics to get closer to Heiji and gain info of Shinichi since the two are besties?’ was in my thoughts at some point, and I believed he worked for the rich Ooka to gain profit for BO’s finance (like Vermouth being a big star thing I guess)… 

At least till he was revealed to be a former PSB member.

[seventeenlovesthree]

Digi Dynamic Shipping Game

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Taichi Yagami | Yamato Ishida | Sora Takenouchi | Koushirou Izumi | Mimi Tachikawa | Jyou Kidou | Takeru Takaishi | Hikari Yagami | Daisuke Motomiya | Miyako Inoue | Iori Hida | Ken Ichijouji

It's been a while, but with the reveal of Yamato's new design in the upcoming PV for March 2025, I thought it was finally time to dive into my favourite Yamato ship out there - let's do this:

Whether canon provides input on them or not.

The portrayal of their relationship is very fascinating to me, because it absolutely is not at the forefront of the story for the most part and, unfortunately, becomes more scarce the more the series progresses (in any type of media form, that is). However, despite that, these two are - especially in Adventure - downright pivotal to each other's development regarding several aspects (in a similar way Taichi and Sora are portrayed through the course of the first few arcs of Adventure). Let's break this down:

At first, they don't seem to have too many interaction points. In fact, similar to how Jyou and Taichi start off not really trusting in the other's abilities, their initial relationship is rather rocky. This becomes apparent when Jyou is the one who tries to mediate between Taichi and Yamato and fails due to being unable to make a choice - causing Yamato to also be wary of Jyou's "reliability", so he doesn't think very highly of him at first. As they may be (presumably in Yamato's case) the oldest male characters in the group, if you squint, you may still see them sharing very minor background interactions, mainly talking about seeking shelter for the group (or, mainly in the English dub, shake their heads over Taichi). They're not particularly close and there is nothing much to it at first...

... Until we reach the restaurant episode, which is a turning point for both of them - not only regarding their personal development, but also their entire relationship. I highly recommend reading the novel version of this episode, because it reveals so much about how these two think and feel about the other - and it boils down to one simple, but wonderfully executed concept: As Jyou is forced to work in Digitamamon's restaurant to pay off his debt, Yamato promises to help him to return to Takeru and look for the others faster. On one hand, as it is always the case at this point in the story, Yamato's primary objective is Takeru - but on the other, it's clear that, despite how much he struggles with interacting with others, he still prioritizes helping Jyou out. And Jyou does not take this for granted - the novel, while underlying his self-esteem issues, puts emphasis on how he thought Yamato would scream and shout at and just leave him behind. Jyou wouldn't even have blamed him for it in the slightest. And yet, he is thoroughly thankful for his help - and confesses through his inner monologue that he considers Yamato his very first real friend, feeling equal to him, even if he's aware that Yamato may not feel the same.

And there we have it - the theme of "friendship" that ties these two together indefinitely. Because yes: Yamato, who had been fed PicoDevimon's lies about Jyou intentionally acting clumsily to keep him at the restaurant, was more than ready to confirm Jyou's doubts at first. He wanted to abandon him and Jyou would have accepted his fate with a smile - and yet, he was absolutely ready to sacrifice his life to protect Takeru for Yamato's sake. It's that willingness, that selflessness that acts as a wake-up call to Yamato, making him realize how great of a friend Jyou really is, how foolish he was to have doubted him - and that's when his Crest of Friendship glows for the first time, thanks to Jyou's display of courage and his sense of Reliability.

It's one of their greatest moments, it softens and humbles them and causes each of them to think more highly of the other - especially Jyou is repeatedly displayed to take note of Yamato's behaviour and ends up continuously rescuing Takeru as a promise to Yamato (as well as to their mother). In general, it's a shame that there isn't more of a focus on them both being brothers who struggle with their roles in their respective families - but that doesn't mean that they don't keep inspiring each other:

In the Dark Masters Arc, Yamato leaves the group to figure himself, his path and the meaning of friendship out - whereas Jyou decides to stay behind with Mimi, continuously contemplating what his own path is after all. While they do not get to talk about it to each other, trying to resonate with Yamato helps Jyou to come to terms with making his own choices - and once he meets Yamato again, who freshly escaped from his Dark Cave, they share an encouraging smile and team up to pull Sora out of her spiraling sense of duty as well.

Duty, purpose and choices are continuous themes between them that come full circle once we reach the stageplay - which is why I chose the screenshot above as a header for this post. Because here, six years after their Digital World adventures, it's Jyou who came to terms with what he wants to do for himself, despite all the hardships, family obligations and other stress factors. Yamato on the other hand is seen struggling with the idea of growing up, making choices for himself and losing everyone in the process... Similar to how Koushirou asks Taichi to confide in him, Jyou is the one asking Yamato to do the same, encouraging him to choose for himself instead of "being chosen" - just like watching Yamato back then had inspired him to do the same.

As mentioned, it's a shame that canon hasn't provided more interactions between these two. They do feel linked together, since they're so vital for each other's emotional development - but neither 02 nor Tri nor Kizuna showed them having significant moments with each other. (Minus the fact that 02 basically gave them a similar hair length and seeing how Jyou always seems to adore and be inspired by Yamato, this may lead to a very interesting headcanon at least, but I digress.) There are little nods in the PSP game and while Jyou's adoration for Yamato shines through in the reboot as well, these instances of Adventure, the novel and the stageplay will at least forever live rent-free in my head.

Whether I think why and how they’d work.

I have once written an analysis post on who I think are the characters that bring out the best in each Chosen Child respectively - and while Yamato seems to be particularly hyperfocused on Taichi in all the more recent portrayals of Digimon, I still feel like Jyou is the one person that knows how to handle and reach him best. In more than one way. There is just a sense of fondness and patience I can sense between them, one that has been growing between them ever since they overcame their shortcomings (Jyou's timidness and Yamato's brashness) as children. Basically, you could say that they had to become the people they are as adults to be compatible with each other; Yamato is still a very emotional person who doesn't always know how to express these emotions properly - which is where I think Jyou would function as the reliable, calming rock he has eventually grown into, as depicted in the Kizuna shorts. I simply feel like he is capable of relaxing Yamato with absolute ease, encouraging him to open up or letting him have a ramble... And that may sound funny in return, but I also feel like Yamato has an equally calming effect on Jyou in general as well. Yamato used to be his anchor in Adventure, giving him direction and security and through his stressful doctor life, I think Yamato's presence could be a grounding factor as well.

In my Jyoumi analysis, I pointed out how Jyou may need someone with more outgoing energy levels to pull him out of his own head - but with Yamato, I feel like that isn't necessary, because they already contrast yet complement each other despite being more introverted. A lot of (more recent) fandom portrayals like to depict Yamato maintaining his rockstar aesthetic - and Kakudou's current vision of Yamato seems to go in a similar direction, so that may actually contribute to more adventurous aspects of their relationship (and really, if you aren't swayed by the idea of Jyou being Yamato's number 1 fan in the crowd, I cannot help you, it's one of most adorable things I can think of, even if it was just a one-sided crush).

Personally, I just see them as this absolutely chill couple as adults that would settle down doing sophisticated stuff like wine tastings, going to museums with Sora and Takeru (who would be absolutely delighted by them being together), having late-night dinners with Taichi and Koushirou, still shaking their heads over their friends (Taichi and Mimi in particular)... I just get warm, floofy butterflies in my stomach when I think of them.

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship.

As you may have been able to tell, I absolutely adore them as a romantic ship - mainly because I feel like Jyou is the most romantically compatible character to Yamato in the entire series due to the mutually calming vibe they give me. I'm still sad canon doesn't even give us much when it comes to them, so the sea-themed official art that dropped this year displaying them as captains of the ship felt like the most nurturing breadcrumb ever. I would love to see more of their platonic bond, but if I had anything to say, I would adore seeing these two end up with each other.