#ALL THESE PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT QUIRKS BUT THERE ARE LIMITS ON HOW THEY CAN USE THEM IN THE KITCHEN

[saekkas]

𝐉𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐎𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔

summary: michael kaiser is a coward who needs a little incentive to finally confess his feelings towards you.

tags: f!reader, roommates to lovers, fluff, falling in love, kissing (more like, making out), jealousy, mutual pinning, possessive kaiser.

wc: 1.7k

notes: i do not know what possessed me into writing this, but man, it needs to do it again.

something you've realized early on in your friendship with kaiser is that he's a coward.

he hates spiders, makes you throw the trash out at night, and screams whenever something falls out of its place because he thinks the apartment is haunted.

in the year that you've spent as his roommate, you've come to terms with it. he's nice, cleans his dishes, and helps with the laundry. he keeps the noise down to a minimum and cooks you breakfast when he isn't preoccupied with practice.

another perk of living with him is the fact that he buys you things, expensive things. perfume. flowers. the dress you were eyeing online. your favorite snacks. a limited edition plushy you've been wanting since forever.

anything.

you realized early on that michael kaiser is rude to other people, scoffing and smirking as if he's above everyone else. he mutters comments about them under his breath, thinking you can't hear. he bosses people around, looking at them like they're ants. a waste of his time.

he isn't like that with you.

for one, he's sweet. if the gift giving isn't enough, he goes out of his way to seek you out after his matches. he asks for massages, for small pecks and fleeting touches. he video calls you when he's away, never forgetting to wish you a good morning and sweet dreams through voice notes. all with a grin on his lips.

you aren't blind. you know those are his ways of expressing affection. you just wish he'd finally man up and admit his feelings.

"so, how was the date?"

kaiser's sitting on the couch of your living room, remote control in hand as he stares at the tv, some random soccer match showing across the screen. his hair is wet, and he's got his glasses on. his posture is relaxed, seemingly nonchalant as he asks the question.

you know him enough to see him gritting his teeth even through his bored expression.

"good evening to you too," you laugh, airy as you take off your heels. putting them next to the door, you drop your keys in the sage bowl, letting them clink against his. "have dinner yet?"

leaning against the door, you can see the fine lines of his shoulder tense. the kaiser you're used to is a show pony, the person sitting on your couch isn't. he almost looks like a stranger with his neutral expression and bored eyes. such a difference to the guy who usually comes running whenever you walk through the entrance.

"i ordered takeout." he motions to the plates littered around him, pointing at the fridge. "i saved you some of your favorites."

internally, you flutter. happy to know that the kaiser you know, and love, isn't completely gone.

"thank you, that's very sweet of you."

he's adamant on keeping his eyes off you and on the screen, his shoulders becoming even more tense as you open your arms wide.

"no hug for today?" there's a hopeful smile on your lips as you say the words. happy to finally have everything the way they should be.

only to be shut down with a single side eye from him.

"what?" he asks lowly, almost conceding in his words. almost like your presence bothers him, like all those other people do. like you aren't special to him anymore. "did your date dump you? and now you're looking to me for comfort?"

the words are icy, and he gives no room for rebuttals. not when he looks at you with a quirked eyebrow and a cocky smirk.

it's the first time he's used his persona on you. one he uses to hide away from the world. you decide that you hate it.

"no. actually, he was sweet," you bite back, glaring when you decide that enough is enough. "asked to hold my hand and carry me on his back."

you watch as his face darkens, his eyes clouding over until you can't recognize the pretty blue color they usually spark in. you're riling him up, making him angry. and it's working.

"why? jealous?"

it's the question you've been dying to ask for months now. he flirts like you're more than friends, buys you gifts like you're something special to him, shuts down every time you go on a date with someone that isn't him.

but when it comes down to it, you not his to have. not when he's too much of a coward to do anything about it.

"and if i am?" his words surprise you. it's the first time he's come close to revealing his true feelings in months. they're said with an underlying tone of anger, jealousy, and possessiveness. like you're already his and no one else's. "what's it to you?"

"oh, you know, just happy you're finally being a man and talking about your feelings."

you shouldn't have said that. with the way his eyes are practically glaring, you don't know what else to say. you look up when he stands, practically looming as he stalks to you.

"you're so-"

his words are interrupted by his cursing. he glares down at you, pushing his hand next to your head, pining you against the door. you gulp, watching as he practically shakes in anger.

"du machst mich wahnsinnig, liebling. ich glaube nicht, dass ich mich zurückhalten kann, wenn du weiterhin so eine göre bist."

translation: you're driving me mad, darling. i don't think i can hold back if you continue to be such a brat.

"he even asked to kiss me too," you say, your voice trembling under his dark gaze. your sweet and funny roommate is gone, replaced by the man you see in front of you. your heart is pounding against your chest, in both fear and excitement for what he'll do when you finally push him off the edge. "he-"

kaiser surges down, cutting your sentence off with a kiss.

your eyes widen when your head hits the door from his force. a shiver running down your spine when he lifts a hand, placing it on the back of your head, gently caressing the area. closing your eyes, you wrap your arms around his shoulder, kissing him back with just as much fervor.

he relaxes at that, pulling back slightly only to swoop back in, keeping you in his arms for as long as he wants. by the time he finally breaks the kiss, you're both leaning against each other.

you've never seen his eyes as happy as they are now.

"ich bin mir sicher, dass ich besser küsse als er," he says, smug as he takes in the way you're panting. he chuckles, placing his hands on the side of your neck to pull you into another kiss. "richtig, liebling?"

translation: i'm sure i kiss better than he does. right, darling?

"i don't know what you're saying but yes. okay. sure." you nod, head still hazy as his hands start to stroke your cheek. "if it's something bad, then no."

he chuckles, placing a kiss on the corner of your lips. he keeps you rooted in your spot, his eyes darting back between your eyes and your lips. "you're mine now, yeah? no one else gets to kiss you the way i did."

"about time," you say with a roll of your eyes when your breathing finally settles. you play with the hair around his shoulder, slightly tugging at the strands. "it went awful, by the way. he made me walk 3 kilometers because his car broke down."

his hands stop, freezing as he looks at you incredulously. "but you said-"

"i lied," you say with a cheeky grin. you lift yourself onto your tiptoes, placing a kiss on his cheek as an apology. "just wanted to see how you'd react."

you giggle when he groans, letting him settle in the crook of your neck. "you little minx. next time, call me. i'll pick you up and drop you off."

there's the kaiser you know and love.

"mihya." the nickname is odd on your lips, new and completely unrefined. you watch as he perks up, his eyes practically shining as he looks down at you. guess you'll just have to use the nickname on him more often from now on. "you're a terrible driver. you'd be picking me up at the mall and dropping us off at the gates of heaven."

"well, at least that means an angel will finally return home."

you smack his shoulder for that.

bonus:

you're walking down the stairs of your university a few weeks later, laughing at something your friend said when the sound of squealing fills your ears.

a sleek black lamborghini sits right in front of you.

you blink, taking in the over-the-top showcase before your eyes land on the figure right beside it. you snort as kaiser winks at you from his spot, still taking his time to soak up the limelight.

"did you have to come all the way here to be a showoff?" you greet him with a kiss to his cheek that kaiser visibly grins at.

ever since getting together, he's been hogging you all to himself. he insists on driving you to and from wherever you need because your time together is worth everything to him. "you are so petty. making sure no one even thinks of asking me out on another date?"

"you like it." the way he says it is breathless, like it's a secret he's been keeping to himself for a long time. "you like me."

who knew michael kaiser turned out to be such a corny romantic?

you snort, tugging him into the car before he makes any more of a scene. "i do."

he grins at that, revving the engine as loud as he can, smirking when a group of freshmen cheer and wave to him from behind the car.

"good." he takes your hand, placing a kiss on the knuckles. he holds it as he backs out of the university and into the open street. "be prepared because i'm about to spoil you even more."

[bakvrue]

a man's strength

izuku x reader

provocative imagery, strength kink, izuku and reader are married and in love (feverishly so), mostly fluff with horny sprinkles, for my lovely mimi, ~1.3k wc

The cheers from the audience echo through the back halls of the late night studio and you make yourself comfortable in the green room.

This isn't the first time you've sat backstage while your husband smiles and waves at the large crowd. The host, a newcomer who has just recently snagged the prime slot, ushers Izuku over to his seat but when he goes to sit the applause continues.

Who wouldn't want to keep cheering for the number one hero? But your husband plays it down, laughing it off coolly and thanking them before sitting down.

Izuku could barely talk on stage in your first year of high school, turning into a defective robot, but years of experience really does make all the difference.

The host, Lux Larson, plays off of the audience spectacularly. The topics they discussed before the show are a hit with the audience, and the banter they have with Izuku and their band leader is actually funny. It's refreshing.

They laugh like old friends and Izuku tells harrowing stories of recent rescues, he talks about being a husband and you. Pink dusts his ears when you're brought up but the conversation naturally moves on to talk about the new hero initiatives Izuku is promoting. And before long the interview is over.

“Mr. Deku, thank you so much for being here tonight.” Lux sticks their hand out and Izuku happily accepts, shaking it with a smile. “The grip strength on this guy. Wow. More with Deku right after this!”

You hear a buzzer and people on set start moving all at once and you're confused when your husband is led from his seat to the large open area. He still seems relaxed, he must know what's going on, but you don't.

Your eyebrows furrow, the smile on your husband's face is enough to make you suspicious.

A knock pulls you from your mind before you can start to theorize.

“Mrs. Midoriya, your presence is requested at the center stage.”

You follow the assistant through the maze of hallways until you're standing behind the cameras.

The large open stage now has a large sturdy stand holding a glass window. More are off to the side with a variety of thicknesses, and a dawning washes over you.

Izuku jogs over to you the moment he spots you, his smile is so big, he's so excited.

“Izuku, is this why you were practicing your punches in the mirror this morning?”

You cock an eyebrow at him and as much as he would love to bask in the playfulness of your voice right now, he's on a time limit.

“We'll be starting soon, I want you to be front and center to enjoy the view.”

“What do you mean enjoy the—”

A buzzer goes off and he kisses your forehead.

“Watch me,” he whispers softly into your hairline before he walks back to Lux.

The lights dim and a producer counts down until Lux takes over.

“Hello and welcome back! We're still here with Deku and we're about to see the Pro's strength in action. What we have in front of us is a single pane of bulletproof glass. Have you ever punched through glass like this?”

Izuku's hands are in his pockets as he leans down to talk into the microphone Lux is holding, “I've punched through many things but I can't say that I’ve ever punched through bullet proof glass on purpose.”

“I can't imagine any of us have either,” Lux laughs. “Normally punching through glass is very dangerous, and we do have medical staff on standby, but how are you protecting yourself?”

Izuku takes off his suit jacket and begins rolling up his sleeves as he says, “I'll be wrapping my arm with one of my quirks, it should shield my skin from loose glass and prevent me from breaking anything.”

Lux laughs, “Break anything? I don't think the studio can cover breaking you. Are we sure about this? Audience, what do we think?”

The audience cheers and your husband has the audacity to turn and wink at you.

Lux points their finger at the audience, “If he breaks it's you guys that are footing the bill!” The producer hands safety glasses to the two on stage and Lux pats Izuku on the back before backing up. “Whenever you're ready!”

The band gives him a drum roll, “Now kids, don't try this at home.”

He gives you a half smile as he turns to face glass in front of him. The drumroll gets faster and so does your heart, pounding in your chest as wisps of black whip curls around his hand and wrist.

He pulls backwards, the muscles in his back causing his shirt to strain as he pushes them to their max. Electricity crackles in the studio as he punches. His fist collides with the glass, and you watch almost in slow motion as the glass cracks and gives way. His punch goes clean through, an almost perfect circle missing from the center of the shattered glass.

You gulp, realizing just why your menace of a husband wanted you up here. You shift your weight hoping the spark inside you doesn't turn into a raging fire.

Izuku is talking to Lux, probably talking about the breaking points of bullet proof glass and replaying the slow mo footage of the break.

You can see it playing on screen, and while the two of them are interested in the way the cracks in the glass all converged to a single point, you're too busy staring at the bit of forearm not concealed my black whip. Thick, powerful ropes of muscle…

You refocus on the two talking, Lux is pointing out a rip in the seam of Izuku's shirt, to which your husband decides to rip the shirt even further, pulling at the threads until they break.

Now shirtless, he lines up to punch a new piece of bullet proof glass. This one is three times thicker than the last.

His body braces again, but this time you can see every muscle tense in his back. His shoulder pulls back, and he thrusts his fist forward. The glass cracks under the force as his tricep bulges. He plunges his fist harder and deeper, feeling the glass resist him before it breaks to his whim.

The crowd claps at his strength as you struggle to stand. Your cheeks are heating as you watch the replay. The slow motion video shows just how easy it was for him. Like a knife slicing through butter.

You step back farther into the shadows behind you, covering your face. And Izuku knows. He smiles at you and you hope and pray to god that he does not come over here, that the cameras don't record the absolute hunger that must be sitting behind your eyes.

The third and final pane of glass is moved into position. A level eight. It's eight times thicker than the first and made to withstand 5 shots of an ak47.

Izuku once again braces himself for the punch, his bare back glistening under the hot studio lights.

His fist closes, and he presses it against the glass focusing on his breathing.

A drop of sweat trails down his back and he pulls his arm back. He breathes deeply before unleashing his power on the glass.

His fist collides with the glass. The force pushing and bending the thick glass around his arm, until it snaps and shatters.

The leftover shape reminds you of what a drawing of wormholes look like, except this one is broken to pieces in the deepest part of the pit.

The pure raw strength of your husband is enough to break through the strongest of security measures. You feel dizzy.

You reach your hand out towards the wall behind you and look at your monster of a husband. He's laughing with Lux before they send the program off to commercial break.

Thank god the dressing room has a lock, if you'll even make it that far...

[nightlilly0110]

I have not paid attention to My Hero Academia in ages. It got boring for me, I especially didn’t really like the “yes and” sort of fights they were doing where it was like “oh no he’s dead, oh wait no he’s not, and he also has gotten stronger and has somehow developed more powers” (I’m staring so hard at Dabi vs Shouto and Dabi spontaneously developing an ice quirk after having his ass beat multiple times already).

Anyway. Regardless on me having issues with that, because I know that when your main villain’s power is All Of Them, you gotta shove a whole lot of shit into your grand act, your finale.

The story of My Hero Academia did a really good job at pointing out all the flaws in hero society. Everyone wants the prestige with becoming a hero so they gotta limit it to people who have a strong enough power to get into hero schools, specifically the hero track. Not all heroes are good people and it’s dangerous to blindly give out this status as a top member of society. Not all villains are inherently evil - as the manga states, all it takes is one bad day. Racism, abuse, and mental health issues are overlooked because it happens to the people on the bottom rung. It’s realistic. It’s great. It gets the point across that this world isn’t as fantastic as it first seemed.

And then all of that immediately gets undercut by the reveal that Everything in the manga is AFO’s fault. He gave Shigaraki Decay and groomed him, he’s the one who caused the surge in crime and the anti-mutant rhetoric. They establish him as born evil, as the devil incarnate, that he has always been this way and will never change. I expected that he would never have redemption and is beyond saving, but to say he was Born Evil contradicts the “one bad day” narrative that is literally on the first page of Volume 24.

Gonna Devil’s Advocate myself for a second. I think the idea that AFO being irredeemable and going against the “one bad day” narrative would have been a great contrast to Shigaraki and the rest of the LOV.

Here’s the but.

They also go on to imply that Everything Will Be Okay As Long As We Kill AFO. Since he’s the Root Of All Evil, if they kill him, everything will be 100% perfect and nothing will be Evil or Wrong or Bad ever again.

Please hear my sarcasm. That’s unfortunately not how systemic racism, classism, abuse, or any other social issues work. They unfortunately do not vanish because you get rid of one guy. It’ll definitely help consider AFO won’t be around to fuck shit up, but it’s not a be all end all situation.

Additionally, having all of this realistic worldbuilding and establishing all the problems in this hero society, having testimonies from the villains and from Deku himself that if you are different you will suffer, and then turning it around and going “actually it wasn’t the system, the system it’s fine, it’s just this one dickhead lol” fucking sucks. Okay yeah, it’s cool to see all the ways AFO was pulling the strings behind everything and manipulating society how he wanted it, but it seemed very shoehorned in???? We see some glimpses of his control of resources with the Nomu labs and the implications of using doctors to scope out good quirks to use, but we spent too little time on that other than focusing on Kurogiri.

Moving on to the spoilers I saw today for the most recent chapter. Deku’s motivations have always been “I want to be able to save as many people as I can, just like All Might.” He’s stated many times throughout the last few fights that he wants to be able to reach Tenko - not Tomura, but Tenko - and this is the end he gets?????

Liberties with the translations as it’s not official but like. Come on.

“I’m a crying brat just like you said.” We established a long time ago that Shigaraki fights because he wants to build a better world for him and his friends. While he might have been a “crying brat” in his first few appearances, he hasn’t been that way in literal years. Deku calling him this (which I can’t find a good image of, sorry) goes against his entire character. He’s not a brat. He has reasons to do what he does.

“I wanted to stop you because you wanted to be stopped.” Stopped, not saved.

“So your sadness wouldn’t be passed on.” What Deku is saying here is that he is acknowledging that Shigaraki was wronged, but he isn’t going to do anything for him other than stop him (kill him) because he was hurting other people. Again, reminder, this was the kid that wanted to save as many people as he can, and Shigaraki wasn’t past saving. What was the point of emphasizing that Tenko was still a part of him that existed if you were going to kill them both?

We also don’t know what happened to the other villains as of right now. None of their statuses have been confirmed, but they’re presumed to be dead. None of them got their happy ending. None of them even got a good ending. None of them have the closure that their injustices were wronged. None of them have the closure that they left this world in good hands for other people like them. They just died.

So who exactly are we saving? What’s the point?

[mageknight14]

I loved how NEO pulled the rug out with Rindo’s character. At first, he generally seems much more sociable and outwardly friendly compared to Neku and then the game quickly goes "yeah, nah, he’s a huge fucking mess too." He’s a good kid fundamentally at his core but he can also be whiny, hypocritical, passive-aggressive, and kind of insensitive at times. He has a tendency to be judgemental and harsh to the people around him while not acknowledging his own faults, like when he complains about Beat joining the team even though he saved their lives beforehand because he’s not Neku or when he gives Fret shit for fawning over Eiji Oji and Kanon while falling for Motoi’s BS. He’s so pessimistic about himself and others that not even a death game that heavily emphasizes the value of teamwork can get him to fully come out of his shell, which is where his time-travel powers come in AND EVEN THEN it’s a double-edged sword since on one hand, it forces him to actively step up to the plate and survey the situation to find the best possible solution, which leads to him slowly growing out of his shell, but on the other, it also leads to him becoming overly reliant on his time travel so that he can walk back from potentially life-changing decisions without having to worry about it since he has a magic reset button. Which ends up biting him in the ass. Hard.

He’s one of those types of people who is ultimately a thinker and planner instead of a do-er, but his being young and overly impressionable takes this personality quirk to such an extreme that he's foundationally useless to most groups. He’s the type of person who you have in a group project who sits around and does nothing, but then complains with the project does poorly because he couldn't be bothered to speak.

He's so unconfident and directionless that he uses effectively Instagram as a means to listen to someone who sounds like some 2deep4u philosopher post dumb flowery bullshit that effectively has all the meaning of "Drink water when you're thirsty." and he admits to finding such "deep" meaning in these posts that it supposedly helped him through life. Because he's 15 and doesn't know anything.

However, all of this makes him interesting as a character because he’s, again, still a fundamentally good kid at his core. While he’s shown to have a fuse, he is also the kind of person who has the ability to think his emotions through. That's what we ultimately see when he and Fret finally talk and drop their beef. The game depicting Rindo's capacity for self-awareness and emotional reflection is a positive revelation of his character strengths. He proves that he's capable of recognizing when he's in the wrong and knows how to apologize, a trait he shows quite a few times throughout the story, while also doing everything he can to set things right as well as be more understanding toward how his friends feels.

He’s kind of the guy who will drop everything to help a little kid out, even when there’s no tangible benefit to doing so and he and the others are shown to be on limited time, shows empathy to his friends/fallen enemies, and feels massive amounts of guilt for his actions, even if he didn’t know better at the time.

Hell, the entire endgame is fueled by his selfish yet understandable desire to save the people he cares about most from total erasure, to the point that he’s willing to risk thousands of lives to do so. But not only is he shown to be internally grappling with himself regarding his decision but he’s also willing to take responsibility and ensure that EVERYTHING goes right not just for himself and his friends but the people of Shibuya in general, in a parallel to Neku’s own selfish if understandable decision to put the bonds he formed in the original game (particularly with Joshua) over the actual city.

Characters aren't interesting simply by switching between 2 different character traits. They're interesting when all those traits are being expressed at the same time for reasons that are consistent within their internal logic. You gotta be a good writer to pull that off and you gotta know when to show off these dimensions during your story to achieve proper dramatic effect when the time calls for it and NEO I feel does this pretty damn well.

[thirty-five-owls]

It's been 17 years since I last consumed any Hazbin Hotel content but we're back in business baby!

thoughts on radioapple (love the name):

lucifer and alastor engage in a purely physical bdsm relationship, where alastor's secret (and only) agenda is to test lucifer's powers and collect data on how to beat him through tactics in battle, since strength-wise there's no way he can win. and lucifer is honestly just there to have a good time and beat up the guy who's trying to steal his daughter.

alastor seems like the type to do pain experiments on both himself and other people and enjoy the feeling of exerting control over pain, plus it's a safe space to run some hypotheticals, juuuuuust in case. like how many hits can he take from the king of hell before he's at his limit, lucifer's speed, stamina, quirks when he's doing the hurting, triggers when he's receiving it. ya know, might come in handy one day when he inevitably betrays the whole crew.

how did it get started? by lucifer making his usual round of threats at alastor during one of his hotel visits and alastor's aroace brain took one particular threat in a whole different direction, a dare from alastor is what started it all.

lucifer feels pure joy just using alastor's body as a punching bag, the deer demon has incredible self control and always needs to have the last word, even when he's lying face down in the ground, bleeding and beaten to a pulp, unholy darkness and eldritch murmurs emerging from his being in an uncontrollable rage, which is just oh so satisfying to watch. plus, when lucifer's the sub he gets to ask for more favors in the sexual nature and watch alastor's blank expression process and inquire for more information. it's been a great coping strategy against his depression, tbh.

[novlr]

I have so many story ideas but I can't just write them. Moreover, coming up with tye plot is what I struggle with. I know my idea, but where do I start it, or when do I end it. My ideas are mostly YA romance but I don't know how to make the story more interesting then a simple Fall in love story.

You have a notebook full of amazing YA romance story ideas, but when you sit down to write, you struggle to turn those concepts into well-structured plots. You want to write stories that are deeper than just “boy meets girl, they fall in love.” But how do you take your ideas and flesh them out into interesting, multi-dimensional narratives? Many aspiring writers get stuck at the plotting stage. The good news is there are some key strategies you can use to build your ideas into rich, engaging plots that will keep your readers turning pages!

Start with a central conflict

Every good story needs a central conflict that drives the plot forward. In a YA romance, this is usually more than just “will they or won’t they get together.” Think about what is keeping your characters apart. Some ideas:

They’re from different social circles or cliques at school

Their families disapprove of the relationship for some reason

One of them is already in a relationship

There’s an imbalance of power or popularity between them

They have opposing life goals or plans for the future

They have clashing beliefs, values, or cultural backgrounds

Develop your main characters

Compelling characters are the heart of any good story. In a YA romance, you need at least two well-developed main characters that readers will root for. Here are some ideas:

Give them unique personalities, quirks, talents, flaws, and backstories

Develop their individual goals, motivations, and fears – what do they want and why

Highlight the ways they are similar and different from each other – what attracts them, and what causes friction?

Have them make difficult choices throughout the story that reveal their true character

Give them opportunities to be brave, vulnerable, kind, and selfish – let readers see all their sides

Avoid clichés unless they serve the characters or the story

Use the supporting cast

Don’t just focus on the two main characters. Develop an interesting supporting cast of friends, enemies, family members, teachers, etc. Here are some ideas on how to utilise supporting characters:

Have them provide advice, support, or a listening ear for your main characters, helping them navigate their feelings and conflicts

Use them to introduce new complications or obstacles in the main relationship, like disapproval, jealousy, or misunderstandings

Let them be comic relief or a source of levity to balance out the heavier emotional moments in the story

Have them act as foils to your main characters, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses through contrast or comparison

Give them their own subplots and character arcs that intersect with and impact the main storyline

Use them to raise the stakes by putting them in danger or jeopardy as a result of the main characters’ actions or choices

Raise the stakes

Think about how you can raise the stakes throughout the story to keep readers engaged. What’s at risk if the characters don’t get together?

Put the relationship at risk — make them choose between love and something else important to them (family, friends, dreams, etc.)

Introduce a ticking clock element — give the characters a limited time to overcome the obstacles or make a crucial decision

Have actions or choices unintentionally hurt each other or the people they care about

Raise the external conflicts to be life-or-death, not just inconveniences – put characters in physical danger as a result of the romance

Reveal new information that changes everything the characters thought they knew, forcing them to question the relationship

Make the characters sacrifice or lose something important to be together, and make them grapple with whether it’s worth the cost

Add twists and turns

Don’t let your plot be too predictable. Throw in some unexpected twists and turns in the relatinoship to keep readers on their toes. Some examples could be:

Reveal that one someone has been keeping a major secret that changes the relationship when revealed

Have a supporting character turn out to be working against the central relationship for their own reasons

Introduce a love triangle, forcing the main characters to question their feelings

Reveal a shared history or connection they didn’t know about, casting the relationship in a new light

Have the characters break up or be separated due to a misunderstanding or outside force

Include a major plot twist that isn’t directly related to the romance, but that impacts the characters and their relationship in a significant way

Create a satisfying resolution

Ultimately, readers want to see the characters end up together (it is a romance, after all). But that doesn’t mean the ending has to be all sunshine and rainbows. Here are some ideas for a satisfying resolution:

Have the characters end up together, but make them earn their happy ending by overcoming the conflicts and growing as individuals

Show how the relationship has transformed the characters for the better, and how they’re now stronger together than apart

Resolve the external plot conflicts in a way that feels authentic and earned, not just convenient or contrived

Give the characters a moment of romantic triumph where they declare or demonstrate their love in a meaningful way

Hint at the future and the challenges they may still face, but make it clear they’ll face them together

Leave the reader feeling like the characters are going to be okay, and that their love story will continue beyond the final page

[t3ag3rs]

g e n s o - 0 7.

gahdayum its mi papi down there ↓

"hello everyone, ive been waiting for you!"

you let out a gasp as you see the space hero, thirteen. "thirteens one of my favorite heroes!" squeals uraraka, "i cant wait to show you whats inside! follow me!" she leads the class into the dome-like building. you stare in awe at the inside of the building, holy shit... theres basically every environment in here..! 

"i created this training facility for you to deal with different types of disasters." she pauses, "i call it the 'unforeseen simulation joint' but you can call it USJ!" she exclaims proudly. you stare at her quietly, huh thats just like 'universal studios japan'... you smile inwardly.

"excuse me, but shouldnt all might be here..?" asks aizawa, "apparently he did too much hero work on the way to school this morning and used up all his power... hes resting in the teachers lounge." she explains quietly to aizawa, but your overhear it. 

"that man is the definition of irresponsibility..." sighs out aizawa. he turns to face the class, "clocks ticking, we should get started.." thirteen steps up and begins to talk again.

"listen up... before we get started im sure your all aware that i have a powerful quirk, its called 'black hole.' i can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust. my quirk could also very easily be used to kill- like some of you all. in our superhuman society all quirks are certified and strictly regulated so we all often overlook how unsafe they can actually be. please dont forget that if you loose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly."

"thanks to the fitness tests and the combat training you all did, you should know your limits and potential. carry what you learn and use them now, today youll be learning how to use your quirks to save peoples lives- after all... that is the main purpose of heroes. thats all i have to say, thank you for listening." she bows her head silently.

the class erupts in cheers, and you smile proudly, tightening your fists, man she really knows how to fire us up..! 

"alright now that thats over.. lets get started." starts aizawa before the lights cut out.

you look up and narrow your eyes, suddenly a portal forms near the fountain. "stay together, thirteen protect the students!" yells aizawa. you widen your eyes when you realize that an actual villain attack was happening.

"whats happening?!" exclaims kirishima, "its a villian attack...!" you reply loudly as villains walk out and you ready yourself.

"if they got in without alarming the systems they must be jamming communications, kaminari use your quirk and try to contact the school" instructs aizawa.

he jumps down and thirteen starts moving you all away, you run to the exit but the same purple portal covers the exit. "its a pleasure to meet you all, we are the league of villains." the voice pauses, "now where is all might..? i believe he was supposed to be here to take his last breath."

you gasp, "theres no way theyre planning on killing him..." u whisper quietly. you analyze his quirk as he talks, his quirk was what teleported the villains here... and he can move around quickly, but i dont see a physical body that belongs to him.. he must have some sort of mutation or transformation type of quirk.. warping maybe?

suddenly bakugou and kirishima jump at the villain to attack, "wait, stop...!" you yell trying to hold them back. bakugou sends an explosion at the villain, "did you think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?" kirishima grins as he stands in a defensive position.

you quickly run up behind them "move outta the way!" you try to pull them to aside, but the purple portal circles the entire group. 

"you students should be more careful, ill scatter you all across the facility and let you face my colleagues and your deaths!" you feel someone pull you closer to them as you cover your face protectively. 

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

you put your hands out to stop your fall as your drop down into the 'collapse zone' followed by kirishima and bakugou. standing up you dust yourself off and get into a fighting position, "we got company you two.." you inform staring at the villains crowding you three.

"looks like we hit the jackpot..! get rid of the two boys first... the girl should be easy to get rid of!" chuckles a villain. 

you narrow your eyes, and stomp your foot down creating a boulder around the villain holding him in place. Then you hit him with a right hook to the head leaving him unconscious. "i wouldnt be so sure of that..." you smirk. "now whose next?" you ask opening your water pouch. 

the villains start to run at you three and you all fight them off. Suddenly, bakugou sends an explosion and the whole building shakes. you yell over the noise, "bakugou we're in the collapse zone, so be mindful of the explosions..!" you propell yourself forward and freeze your water around another villain.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

you stand up exhaustedly, body aching slightly "everyone alright...?" you turn to look at kirishima and bakugou. 

"we should go find the rest of the class, if we arent out yet then the others probably arent either. we caused this mess so we need to make it up..!" exclaims kirishima looking at bakugou.

"if you wanna go track the rest of them idiots you can, but im going for that warping bastard." grits bakugou as you sigh rolling your eyes.

"bakugou you do realize that he doesnt have a physical body right..? even after the explosion you threw at him, he was still fine. if your gonna go throw more of them you can practically guarantee it wont do shit." you state as you stare at him. 

"shut up! as if you know what to d-" you shove him away and throw a flame of fire at the invisible villain beside him letting it fall. 

you turn and face bakugou smirking, "yeah what was that about me not knowing what to do..?" he scoffs rolling his eyes, and you turn back to the villain, "i almost feel bad for them, their so bad they got beat by a bunch of high schoolers.." 

"man y/n your so badass..!" praises kirishima, you chuckle blushing slighly and rub your neck. "thanks man..." 

"bakugou since when have you been so calm and rational, usually your always like 'die! die! die!'" questions kirishima. 

you let out a chuckle, "im always calm and rational!" screams bakugou. you slap his head, "geez shut up..! youre just proving his point!" he glares at you with his palms smoking.

"calm down you two..!" exclaims kirishima getting in between you two. "find the rest of the idiots if you want, but im going to the warping bastard." states bakugou as he walks away.

"then we're coming with you!" cheers kirishima running up to bakugou, dragging you with him.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

you three run quickly to go help all might. theres no way he'll last long..! hes already at his limit... if we dont do something now, he may actually be defeated..!

you see deku running to help all might, but the warping villian appears in front of him. "izuku..!" you yell. 

suddenly bakugou goes in front and send an explosion to the back of the villain, you propell yourself up to reach him quickly. he slams the villain down by the metal part near his neck to the ground, "guess i found your body this time you smokey bastard!" he yells.

you and kirishima rush towards the other villain with the hands surrounding his face. you throw a gush of frozen water at him, but he moves away before both of you could land an attack at him. you pull your water back to yourself and glare at the villain infront as you stand by the other students.

all might may die one day.... but today wont be that day...!

previous parts: pt. 0 0 / pt. 0 1 / pt. 02 / pt. 03 / pt. 04 / pt. 05 / pt. 06 next parts: pt. 08 / pt. 09 / pt. 10 / pt. 11 / pt. 12 / pt. 13

[bibibbon]

Inko midoriya is a bad mum

Yeah you heard it right inko is a bad mother. Look Iam not saying that inko is abusive but Iam saying that she isn't a good mother. YOU CAN CARE FOR YOUR CHILD AND LOVE THEM BUT STILL BE A BAD PARENT.

Somehow doesn't realise the severe bullying izuku went through and him being beat up since the age of 4. Iam so very concerned and confused on how inko never noticed that izuku was getting beat up when coming back home from the park or school it literally makes no sense to me like?!?! It's not like she even works she is a literal stay at home mum so how did she not notice for a good 10+years of izukus life?

Didn't really do anything about protecting her son until he got a quirk. The only time we actually see inko advocating for her son is AFTER He got his quirk. Look I think quirkless discrimination could of been a thing but seriously this series doesn't treat it like it is like this stuff only happened to izuku and I don't get why she never went to aldera and complained or why she didn't re-enroll her son into another school. How am I supposed to believe that she is somehow a helicopter parent when stuff like this happens and the fact that the plot doesn't allow her to take izuku out of ua and instead somewhat demonised her for that is sad.

She is very emotionally dependent on izuku. No offence but this is the truth. Every single time we see them together there will be a panel or a whole page even dedicated to inko crying to izuku and him having to comfort and honestly as a parent YOU SHOULD BE COMFORTING YOUR CHILD NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND. This also reflects a lot on Izuku's behaviour, throughout the series izuku is actually very emotionally intelligent when it comes to people take the whole Katsuki Vs izuku 2 or take the sports festival and todoroki this could all be a result for him having to take care of his mother emotionally and having to grow up quickly when it comes to emotions. stuff like this explains why he is so emotionally mature and also emotionally intelligent.

Her reaction to him being quirkless and completely breaking down on him. Izuku's is 4 he has very limited knowledge of the world and the stuff around him. Izuku being diagnosed quirkless isn't necessarily something he can fully understand so the only thing he understands is that 1) this diagnosis makes his mother sad and 2) he can't be a hero and do what other kids/the majority of the population can do. Her reaction doesn't help Izuku at all and izuku even goes on to acknowledge such a thing and talk about how he wanted his mother to comfort him instead of cry and profusely apologise. @delawaredetroit talked about the meaning of this panel and how the chair acts as a barrier between the two which I really like and think explains their relationship perfectly

Her "concern" on the quirk Izuku got. Look your child that has been quirkless for 10 years of his life magically gets a quirk and explains it to you in some gibberish about modern science but then you find out that the quirk is completely different from yours and your husband's genetics and it physically hurts your child to use it. (He hurt himself to the point he had to get surgery?!?!) Instead of questioning the origins of this quirk and asking your son to explain himself or worry about your son hurting himself you JUST COMPLAIN?!?! Complain to the universe about why he got such a dangerous quirk out of nowhere like?!?! Also is it just me BUT THE WHOLE SEVEN TIMES FAINTING IS GETTING TO ME LIKE?!?! Iam confused aren't you supposed to be there for your child why is he supporting you emotionally and mentally on stuff he shouldn't have to worry about

Izuku's reaction and mentality whenever his mum is brought up. From the few times izuku has thought of his mum in the series you can clearly tell how their relationship really is. Their relationship is literally I can't make my mum sad and I have to be there for her instead of it being the other way round. Like seriously why is izuku waking up from a two day coma and the FIRST THING HE THINKS OF WHEN HE SEES his mother's handwriting is her crying for him to wake up and not to hurt his mum by him getting hurt. This is very concerning?!?! It doesn't help that the two times he actually wakes up from the coma he is the one that has to be there for him mum like he had to comfort her when she found out that villains were after him (understandable) but she should of been there for her child she should of advocated for him or tried to comfort or even reassure him in anyway like seriously?!?!

The lack of communication between the two. In my opinion these two truly lack communication because why is she bringing the fact that she is going to take him out of UA at that point Infront of all might when she could of had a proper discussion with her son at any point before all might came?!?! It seriously makes no sense and don't get me started on the way she was talking about it like I know she had a point and she was right but the way she brought it up and the way she talked about it were horrible. These two don't necessarily communicate about anything that is solely about izuku himself. Majority of their conversations are about things like heros, inko and her health and some other stuff but none are about the child and solely the child which I find very worrying to be honest. also don't get me started on how izuku never felt responsible or felt like he could trust his OWN MOTHER ENOUGH TO TELL HER About thr bullying or OFA ( still mad that bakugo found out before inko)

Her allowing her child to go vigilante and not actually sticking up for him during the whole don't let him into UA thing. Idk about you but I genuinely don't understand why a parent who claims to be very overprotrctive of their child allows them to go and become a vigilante and run around while they haven't even fully healed. Also this went on for a month?!?!!! Like we she seriously never went to UA and was like?!?! What about my son is it safe for him or she never set her foot down and was like no izuku you're a child you don't need to fight you shouldn't fight the adults should keep you safe or something along the lines. No we got nothing of the sort all we got was her crying and agreeing to it which is honestly frustrating. Also HOW AND WHY THE HELL WAS SHE NOT ANGRY?!?? LIKE WHY WAS SHE NOT ANGRY AT YAGI?! WHY WAS SHE NOT ANGRY WITH UA ?!? OR AT ANYONE INVOLVED. Are we also forgetting that izuku was also used as a child soldier in the first war without his consent and idk if the parents knew but why was inko not rightfully angry about what happend it makes no sense to me. Oh and don't get me started on the chapter when all the people were like get this kid out like was inko not standing up for her son why didn't she comfort him with Kota when he broke down sobbing like why?!?! How am I supposed to believe that she is a good mother and not neglectful at all when I get THIS

Her lack of reaction when izuku is on the news for the sludge villain. So almost everyone knows about the sludge villain incident it was literally boardcasted on the news and you're telling me we never got a scene of izuku and inko talking about it, of inko comforting izuku or just inko knowing in general. Like your son was on the news and decided to run into a villain fight and you don't reprimand him or demand to find out why he did it. Like why is it that kirishima and other strangers have more of reaction to the sludge villain incident instead of the main characters mother and I bet izuku didn't even tell his mum that he met all might or that he was attacked by the sludge villain before Katsuki so yeah

Simply allowing her child to do whatever after waking up from a coma (THIS LEGIT HAPPENS TWICE?!?!) Are you telling me that inko really let her child who woke up from a coma not even long ago just go out because UA required him to or something like she just let izuku do whatever he wants and didn't even come and seem him after he woke up or didn't even come and collect him after he was literally discharged from the hospital!?!? Also I have touched on the 2nd coma thing but the training camp parc inko kinda drives me insane because how do you simply allow this to happen?

PS this is just stuff from the manga because if you want me to go on about how inko was absent WHEN IZUKU LEGIT GOT ACCUSED OF BEING A MASS MURDER AND DID NOTHING ???! that's not really something imma go into deep depth but wanted to mention (THERE ARE A LOT MORE INSTANCES I DIDNT MENTION)

Look I get it inko is a flawed parent but the narrative doesn't acknowledge that and no one else does. Like I said if horikoshi actually wanted to redeem an abusive parent then he had inko and kotaro idk why the hell he chose someone like enji to fulfill that role because let's be honest enji sucks and so does his redemption. (Neglect is a form of abuse!!!)

Also it's sad inko never gets to be more than the overly emotionally dependent parent to the MC and that's it. Like she has no friends no job no family except of izuku no nothing she is all alone and usually forgotten about in the narrative sometimes I think that a dead parent could of been more useful than her which is sad.

Iam all for inko actually being somewhat of a bad mother who works a lot but loves her child and is now trying to improve and be there but that never happens and izuku deserves so much better cos how come the villain Tenko has a better family and mother than the hero

[greenhappyseed]

MHA 409 Review — The Extra and the Pebble

Ch 409 is a really interesting continuation of the action in 405-406, prior to the AFO backstory in 407-408. These few panels of Yoichi and AFO in the OFA-AFO mind palace (406 on the right; 409 on the left) tell us a LOT about AFO and how he’s been affected by Katsuki.

I’m not even sure what’s left of AFO. Is he fully baby-fied now? Is he down on the ground like Toya and Himiko? Throughout the chapter, it looked like AFO was gaining a pupil in his right eye, which is the one Katsuki doesn’t have at the moment. Is this just clever art mirroring or hinting at AFO’s next move????

Unlike 407-408, this chapter focuses on Katsuki. I don’t think it tells us something we didn’t already know — Katsuki was born to a couple with a happy, functional marriage who loved and wanted him. He has a strong and versatile quirk. He’s powerful, smart, and strategic. And yet, at the start of the story all those advantages combined made him more of a brat than a hero. But it’s different now. The final page really shows how Katsuki has connected it all. See how the lines of his explosion frame the rest of the page? How the left line points directly to his dialogue about not being alone? And below Katsuki are all the influences that have supported him — All Might, his parents, and Yoichi/OFA (via Izuku).

Katsuki is going all out at the end, breaking his right arm (again) but able to pull off one last huge blast due to the brace All Might gave him (like Izuku using Melissa’s gauntlets in Two Heroes). If his gambit of dropping sweat beads in AFO’s mouth didn’t pay off, he would have delivered the blast sooner, but luckily his ploy worked.

FWIW, Katsuki dropped the beads in AFO’s mouth right when AFO was shouting about Kudou and Katsuki said his name was Kacchan, because Kacchan is a clever kid.

Katsuki is also acknowledging directly that he could not have soloed AFO. Even though he’s awesome, there’s a limit to what he (or ANY one person, including All Might) could do alone. Seeing as Yoichi’s message to Izuku has always been, “You are not alone,” it further emphasizes how Katsuki has grown to adopt the spirit of OFA. The kid who thought needing help was a sign of weakness, and who thought Izuku holding out a hand was mocking him, now understands the importance of accepting that hand. Standing on the shoulders of giants helps one see further. :)

Moreover, Katsuki is now motivated by helping Izuku and getting out of Izuku’s way. Izuku isnt the pebble in Katsuki’s path — Katsuki is the one in the way of Izuku. Back when 362 dropped, I wrote about how Katsuki’s death was very Buddhist in that he had to lose all his physical attachments (including his body and quirk) to achieve a spiritual awakening. It seems like that worked, and now Katsuki is genuinely, truly appreciating all the gifts he has, as well as his role as a piece of something bigger. He’s no longer demanding that others get out of his way, but rather thinking about when HE has to move for someone else. The kid who pathologically couldn’t walk behind someone else is now able to get out of his own way AND clear the path for others.

This fits the pattern we’ve seen numerous times in the final arc with a hero accepting a villain’s taunt in order to defeat them. Of course Katsuki takes a different tactic than, say, Shoto (“A half-baked dummy, that’s me”). Katsuki yells he’s the final boss, he’s not a filler character, etc. But the point is the same. Katsuki is accepting he has one quirk; he’s NOT physically bound to the OFA-AFO quirk; he IS a pebble compared to AFO. His role IS to support Izuku….and it takes absolutely nothing away from him whatsoever. Katsuki has his stupid awesome quirk, his intelligence, his strength, his commitment, and people who care about him. He can play his part to the best of his ability and deliver a big win for the heroes.

[cripplecharacters]

that has a supporting character with dwarfism, and he's really close with his older brother, who is pretty tall. would it be weird if i sometimes had the younger ask his older brother pick him up so he can reach things? its supposed to be a cute little quirk of theirs that shows their bond, but i'm worried it might come off as weird for some reason. also, do you guys could give me a couple more tips on writing a character with dwarfism, if you have any? thanks in advance! (2/2)

Hi! the guy who asked about less talkative autistic characters here. sorry about that! i was going for more of like... don't talk to a point where it wouldn't be considered "socially acceptable?" but i had a character limit so i couldn't really get my point across that well. now that i think about it, that would probably also be lumped into just, yknow, not being talkative too. anyways, i have another unrelated question! probably equally silly but w/e. i'm writing a slice-of-life story (1/2)

Hello lovely asker!

I just wanna say that because of the ask backlog and the rotation of mods I'm afraid I don't know what ask your talking about, but I'm sure it was simply just a question that was in good faith of curiosity which is what this blog is for 😊

And to answer your question, I'm curious with how old the younger brother is. I haven't been picked up since I was probably about five to help me reach something and even then I was getting yelled at for climbing counters and such. If the younger brother isn't a very young child I would avoid this.

Being picked up is a general no. if you wouldn't do it to anyone else don't do it to someone with dwarfism or any person with a disability. Unless it's under their explicit permission, or help with transferring (from say a mobility aid to a bed or another place etc) or life or death situation, it's almost always a no.

Instead using things like the broom handle to hit tall switches or they even have these things called a "Reacher Grabber" that makes grabbing high up things super easy. Stool also are a big help, the small collapsible ones are easy to carry and move, and certain placed handles help too. Tall people are an advantage I will say though. Having the older brother bring something down to the younger brother is fine. Also have the younger brother climb things and stack objects and use the environment around him so he can get what he wants. I assure you this is what most of us do a lot.

A few more writing tips I have would be:

Research different types of dwarfism and find out which one you want your character to have and how this will affect him. It doesn't have to be mentioned at all but you knowing what type will give you much more insight into building this character.

Don't be afraid to give them mobility aids. A lot of people with Dwarfism have them and use them because they help us and they're pretty common in the community. (Do plenty of research there too if they do have one!)

A joke once or twice, especially if the two characters are very very close, about his dwarfism is okay! Me and my friends joke about mine all the time but quantity control along with a joke in good taste and timing is very important.

The character getting frustrated with his disability is okay too! It happens to me a lot but usually I'll find a solution right after to the thing that frustrated me and that frustration is gone as quick as it came.

If he's having a long conversation or an eye-to-eye conversation with someone that's tall, have them sit down somewhere, get to eye-level (I wouldn't have them lean over to his height though). It really does start to hurt your neck and head after looking up at everyone for so long.

And lastly, I certainly use my height to my advantage in multiple different scenarios. Small hands and small containers or spaces are very compatible with one another. And even though I have to shop in the small teens or kids section for clothes or shoes, I will say certain things are made better for kids (for some reason). But I also know how to hem my own clothes and how to fix them! A lot of people with dwarfism make or modify their own clothes. I can't tell you the amount of times I've gotten discounts at buffets and restaurants because people just assume I'm a child and I'm not gonna protest the discount either so. There are many fun aspects to having dwarfism, I have more fun with it and get more laughs and community out of it than frustration or anything else.

I know there's many more little things that I'm forgetting right now but the dwarfism community could probably add a few things too. Good luck writing!

~ Mod Virus 🌸

[quirkwizard]

Dr. Kuse Files: Toya Todoroki

Patient: Todoroki, Toya

Parent Quirks: Father: Emitter that produces large quantities of fire. Mother: Emitter that produces large quantities of ice.

Potential Names: Burnout, Great Fire, Flame On

Awakening Incident: The patient ignited in a moment of excited, seeing his father be awarded a medal on TV.

Observations: Subject can produce flames from any point on his body. What I was going to write off as a direct inheritance of his father, see the Todoroki, Enji file for details, there are some differences. The flames are a far more condensed and brighter version of his father's. Subject lacks much control over the flames, being far more wild when using his power in the Heat Testing Room, though this may be due to his age. I can say, however, that he put quite a strain on the room with his fire. I could still feel the heat through the layers of protection. 

What is most disturbing are the burns produced while the Quirk is being used. The extreme effect on the body implies a deviation, but similarities to the father's Quirk routes out any chance of that. What seems to be the case is that a trait of that mother's Quirk was implemented, hybridizing into what they are now. I have heard a few examples of this in my studies, but they were before my time. Back in the earlier days of Quirks when people would try to pair up in the pursuit of having stronger powers, but they had disastrous results.

This is what is likely to cause the fire to be so strong. With that resistance to heat came a kind of filter with the fire's power. For all their power, Quirks need those built-in protections and precautions to keep the body safe, similar to the limits put on our own muscles. Without them, the user's body runs rampant and exerts itself. It is like the subject's body doesn't know how to hold itself back, going at full force with even minor uses. This, in tandem with the lack of protection and control, makes it far too dangerous to use.

Recommendations: -Cease any and all Quirk usage. Until a method to replace or support his lack of proper is discovered, it will only be a threat to himself or others. -Fire suppressants and medical supplies should be in the house hold to help treat any burns in case of flare ups. I'll give you the number of a burn specialist. -Child counseling is advised. Subject seems highly distraught at the idea of his Quirk being unusable. I'll add the damages from that flare up to the bill. -Send me the medical history and of the Todoroki and Himura family. Perhaps there is some genetic flaw in either family's side that can give use a better understanding.

[eternalera]

gonna be honest... this one has been spinning in my head for a while! so imma do an analysis of touya/dabi (I might switch between the two but its whatever) and just how much his arc makes sense for him and plays into his character. also his trauma and how it affected him. SO! with that being said this will kinda be ramblely and not very coherent but fuck it we ball.

also i have NOT read the manga so uh.... yeah-

(p.s this is REALLY LONG-)

so basically I'm gonna be going over about why it makes sense that touya is a villain and why he chose this path specifically over the one that most people would do, especially after his incident which would be go back to your family and talk it out or whatever. (which he didnt do because hes a totally EDGELORD- excuse me-).

One thing that's been essential about touya's character, from the very beginning (talking childhood) is that he always wanted his father's attention. From a young age touya was raised as practically an only child because lets be honest with him inheriting fire and with endeavors whole 'i want an ice quirk so i dont overheat stuff' he likely payed a lot more attention to touya rather than fuyumi.

touya took in this affection from a young age and seeing how apparently endeavor only got worse as the years went by the view that touya had of his father was likely in somewhat of a good light, glad to be receiving attention from someone in his life that he clearly looked up to at the time. although this did have side effects like his disrespect for his mother (which he also probably gained from being around his father so often).

remember that touya most likely gained a lot of attention from his father, that and his standards from a young age with no one to tell him 'hey this is wrong that hes doing this' as he didn't really care for his mother and her opinion because of guess who? his father. (this is where shoto and him differ as shoto clearly looked up to his mother, who was probably a lot more in his life than she was in touya's).

so the moment when its revealed that 'hey your quirk hurts you, dont use it' is the moment where everything shatters, not just for endeavor but for touya. imagine being told your whole life that you were gonna do something to make someone you looked up to so proud only to find out that you couldn't because of your bodies limits, something thats out of your control.

not only this, but touya likely would've been fine if endeavor had still shown some interest in him. but that wasn't the case. he moved on. touya already had these expectations built in his head that he's going to surpass All Might like his father wanted, so why isn't his father paying attention to him anymore? he probably figured out 'its because my quirk hurts me' so his response was 'its fine i'll push through the hurt and make him proud and show him that i can still do what he wants. so he'll have to pay attention to me again'

touya was so obviously raised on endeavors attention so when its ripped away all that remains in his is 'oh ive done something wrong, how can i fix it?' so once again he keeps training his quirk and hurting himself. not to mention that once again its clear how he looked up to his father

not to mention that he knew what endeavor wanted. he wanted an ice and fire quirk, so when endeavor kept having more and more children it was probably only worsening his dread and anxiety. 'what if this one had the quirk?' 'would dad still love me?' 'would he still look at me?'

he sees this as his father trying to get rid of him, as his father not having enough time for him in a way, which given how much attention he was raised on by his father, is absolutely devastating. SO- lets get to the main course shall we?

TOUYA'S BREAK DOWN!! PART ONE-

at this moment i cant remember the exactly what happened but its where basically endeavors like 'STOP WITH YOUR QUIRK DAMMIT' and touya cant understand that. because if he stops then endeavor will stop looking at him. to touya he has to disobey endeavor, thats the only way all of his attention doesnt go to shoto who clearly has the right quirk his father wants with his split hair because quirks or whatever-

(also fuyumi's face is hilarious in the second picture but moving on-)

in this scene he out right says 'look at me endeavor'. the kid who has been so basically pumped full of attention and praise has had enough of his father trying to constantly trying to seemingly get rid of him and throw him to the side. he wants his father's attention more than anything now, whether its endeavor yelling at him or praising him he just wants to be noticed by someone he's looked up to all of his life.

so he attacks shoto, no quite honestly i don't think that he was trying to kill shoto in this scene, as much as he was trying to scare endeavor/harm him. but thats just a personal opinion. so back to everything else i guess-

NOW- BREAK DOWN PART TWO!!!

in this he very excitedly tells endeavor to come to sekoto peak. endeavor wonders why and checks under the boys shirt only to find burns. and tried to tell him off but touya doesn't listen. he instead says that its really cool and that he might be able to get to shoto's level not only that but its also evident that what his father told him from a young age is still present in his mind as below he claims that he doesn't think that he'd lose to All Might, meaning even after when Endeavor's long thrown touya's training away forgetting about the boy ever being able to surpass All Might touya did not. most likely thinking about how this is his chance to impress his father.

now with these next few lines it reveals a few things, touya doesnt think that endeavors happy with him. he thinks that hes not glad that his own son exists and reasonable it makes him sad as he starts tearing up. but keep in mind, he looks up to endeavor at this point and if the person he looks up to isn't happy with his existence at this point than what the hell is he doing. now this is totally different from before as he just wanted attention, good or bad as he yknow... tried to hurt/kill his younger brother- this is him actively wanting attention. and likely... this is the most healthy he's been mentally for a while.

he went from. this person who i look up to expects something from me, to uh oh i upset them what am i doing wrong? to why arent they paying attention anymore? if theyre not then im gonna harm someone to make them look at me for once. But now his mindset is more 'okay well maybe im not trying hard enough, if i try harder than he'll like me more'

once again... probably his healthiest mindset, that and we see the excitement on his face about this new move or power or whatever. he's genuinely excited over this and the fact that his father just blows it off is gonna take a toll on him. as what did he do wrong again? well we know he did nothing but he doesn't know that. after all the person he looked up to must have a reason right?

he starts crying and with that everything burns. he can't control it and he ends up hurting himself in the process. covering his body in burns as he turns into basically what we see today.

but why didn't he go back? it would make sense right? well probably because of a few reasons.

how could he go back? what would they say? endeavor would be mad at him and plus he wanted to prove himself to his father on that peak. yet it seemed he only did the opposite

why didn't endeavor come? thats all he wanted, all he ever wanted so why didnt he? he no longer holds endeavor up to his high standard anymore, he's angry at him. and rightfully so

would they want him back? maybe natsuo would be there for him but what about the others? would they care for him?

of course the last one might be pushing it but you get the point. the second one probably affected him the most though and is why he became dabi, training his quirk so that he may surpass his father as a petty victory, trying to say 'i was right all along i can surpass you and all might and shoto'. its his last attempt at making his father look his way and he wants to do it right.

he wanted it to be something that his father couldnt just shove off hence the video and him taping it. one last time he wanted his father to look at him and be reminded of everything that had happened with him. and it worked, the todoroki's do go over what happened with touya and saw went went wrong, that being that they neglected him after building him up so high only to say that he was useless after all (its all endeavors doing but... whatever-).

so yeah those are basically my thoughts on it- might be slightly inaccurate but yknow what... this is getting long and i dont wanna type anymore :D

[pocketramblr]

5 headcanons for an AU where:

All for One realizes the sheer amount of quirks he has actually makes him dumber

1- so, while AfO-The-Quirk does grant the user the ability to safely hold more quirks than other people can without straining the body and mind, it's far from capable of allowing the user to have an infinite number of quirks with no strain at all. You could probably stretch the initial limit of about twenty or so quirks, if you did it slowly over time to let the quirk get stronger... But AfO the Guy does not do slow and steady.

2- he steals more and more quirks, and his brain is so busy running all of those, it really makes it harder to think rationally or long term, especially in the aftermath of adjusting to a new glut of quirks. He stole a lot of the rebellion's quirks before killing Yoichi. But the pattern of his thoughts and behavior changing with more quirks stolen, and the lack of that when he's giving out or exchanging them, is noticed by both AfO and the Doctor, though it takes them nearly until the end of Shinomori's life to do so.

3- AfO is actually the one to accept that the more quirks makes him less smart, because then he can blame actions like Yoichi's death on the treacherous quirk ghosts in his head slowing down his brilliance and killing his brother. Still, it takes a while for the Doctor to convince him that giving up quirks would help him think clearly- and it doesn't need to be permanent, he can just store his quirks outside of his body and take the ones he needs when he needs them- at this point, with so much strain and overuse, he can only hold about ten quirks without it affecting his mind, and since he's got to keep the longevity, that means he only has nine slots. Huh wonder if nine is going to turn out to be an important number.

4- the Doctor still has to work to make nomu as functional quirk storage units, and AfO has to train to rely on a small number of different quirks. This becomes difficult as AfO wants very specific quirks then, so the doctor has to figure out how to edit them in such a way. And of course, this whole time they're trying to capture OfA users- to limited effect. AfO did manage a plan to take En alive in their third encounter, but he'd already passed on the quirk at that time, so OfA still isn't his. But this means Nana was killed far less spectacularly than getting nuked, since that would have taken a lot of quirks. Toshinori is trained for many, many contingencies.

5- AfO is distracted working to edit nine specific quirks to what he wants them to be, and on testing to see if he could edit OfA in a user, to change it genetically so it can be stolen, and using the kidnapped Shimura relatives as lab rats to do so, when All Might finds him and breaks his face. Only the doctor and All Might make it out of that one alive, barely. AfO's body is unrecoverable like many others, but Ujiko hopes that with his gene and quirk editing technology, he can make a clone.

[typellblog]

Kizumonogatari - An Analysis

You could consider Bakemonogatari as a template of sorts for what a Monogatari arc ‘should’ look like. 

There’s Koyomi, our protagonist, and then there’s a girl, and the problem faced by her in the form of an oddity. There’s Koyomi’s fumbling attempts to help her, contrasted by Oshino Meme’s actually useful advice. Oddities appear for a reason. She’s not a victim, not exactly. Koyomi always figures it out a little too late, and in the end all he can do is watch as she just goes ahead and saves herself. 

Nonetheless, his presence is key. He’s the one who reaches out, who actually makes the attempt to help. Oshino would never solve such problems of his own volition, not when the situation is so neatly balanced with oddities that act according to their functions and people who conjured them out of their own wishes. Koyomi is the one that recognises people’s desire to be saved, even if they try to push him away at first. 

There are some quirks to this within the Bake arcs themselves, but when you line up Kizu next to them, the way it transforms this fundamental formula is like night and day.

Koyomi Vamp

For one thing, this time the one that encounters an oddity is Koyomi himself.

The encounter itself was random, but as Koyomi puts it, the following events were only made possible because it was him. There aren’t many humans that would give up their lives for a dying vampire.

He’s motivated, in part, by a sense of worthlessness. His own life is that little of a thing. He thinks he’s ruined it already, and hopes to do better in his next reincarnation. But the way he puts it is interesting. He’ll be someone glib, who dances around relationships, who doesn’t feel guilt, who doesn’t worry about things, who insists on getting his way and blames his problems on other people.

We see a contrast being developed between being a ‘good’ person and a happy one. To Koyomi his conscience, his attentiveness to others, his overthinking are all burdens. They’re the reason why he can’t easily form relationships.

Making friends would ‘lower his intensity as a human’. If having friends allows one to share in their happiness, he points out that we must also share in their unhappiness, take their suffering upon oneself in some way or another. Anything less would be shallow – at least to Koyomi, whose loner attitude conceals a shocking ability to dedicate himself to others.

This contradiction drives him to suicide.

It is, functionally speaking, suicide. He doesn’t express any suicidal ideation before meeting Kiss-Shot, things aren’t so bad for him that he’s actively considering ending it, but nonetheless when put in a situation that allows him to give up his life, he does so.

This is really what is being referred to when he calls it a ‘hellish’ summer break. Just purely looking at the events that took place, one might question whether it really deserves that title, especially compared to some of the experiences we see him go through in Bake. After all, he’s not in much real danger for most of it. The vampire hunters are scary, but not the most difficult opponents.

No, where the summer break of Kizumonogatari really earns the moniker of a ‘hell’ is in how Koyomi is so thoroughly isolated from humanity. Vampires walk at night, they exist within a different world, they aren’t treated as human, their very presence is a danger to humans, and into that situation is thrust Koyomi Araragi, who is already so hopeless about his ability to interact with others that he freely offered up all the blood in his body.Traditionally, though,  the question that vampirism asks about this situation is how do you feel about it? Isn’t it great not having to worry about stuff like that anymore? Being isolated from humanity is also a freedom from responsibility, restriction, limitation – as represented by the vampire’s supernatural abilities. But from beginning to end, Koyomi desires none of this. His goal of returning to being human doesn’t change.

Iron-blooded, hot-blooded, yet cold-blooded

This is where the three vampire hunters are interesting.

A sentence I never expected to type going into this, honestly.

Why, though? In theory they’re important antagonists to this arc. But as characters within the overall Monogatari series, they languish at the bottom of the faves tierlists.

No doubt being men doesn’t help. They’re not ‘arc characters’, their relationships with Koyomi never get developed in the same way those of female characters do. Men are reserved for antagonists almost entirely in this series, and if you’ll permit me to be a bit speculative I would argue that it’s because women represent an ‘other’ that he’s trying to connect to, while the men are alternative versions of himself.

Take Episode, for example. Like Koyomi, he’s trapped between two different worlds. He resents both humans and vampires, and that emotion is what motivates him to hunt. He’s hot-blooded, if you will. Hanekawa is hurt during their battle, and Koyomi’s emotional response almost brings him to the point of killing Episode.

On the other hand, we have Guillotine Cutter. Unlike the other two, he’s fully human. He’s also far more vicious and underhanded. Cold-blooded, if you will. To defeat him, Koyomi must become literally inhuman. Becoming a plant is something that he’s been thinking about for a while, long before he became a vampire. Koyomi wanted to become something inhuman, to be free from his social responsibilities, for a long time. But now that he’s a vampire it’s precisely his connections with people like Hanekawa that make him want to turn back. 

The progression where Koyomi becomes more vampire-like to defeat increasingly human opponents feels like it’s commenting on how the more vampiric he gets the more callous he becomes until you realise the exact opposite holds for the hunters.

Dramaturgy, the full-blooded vampire, is the most reasonable of the bunch. He offers a path forward for Koyomi, the opportunity to become like him. The fact that Koyomi turns him down regardless shows that this was never about how humane the opponent, nor how many parts vampire they were. ‘If you want to stay human, then you’re human,” Oshino says.  Iron blood flows in them all, and from the beginning to the end this was about nothing more than protecting Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade.

Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade

Koyomi says that Kiss-Shot is someone whose meaning changes based on the observer. To the vampire hunters, she is a monster that ought to be killed. To Koyomi, she is a victim that ought to be protected. To Oshino, she represents a disruption to the balance between humans and oddities. 

Probably the most important way in which Kiss-Shot's mercurial nature is demonstrated in Kizumonogatari is through the various physical forms she adopts, growing in apparent age as she regains her lost limbs.

It's easy to see her as a child, perhaps even in her adult form. She's whimsical, prone to sudden bursts of emotion. There's a lot of things she lacks experience in. Koyomi meeting her bleeding out on the street might have been the first time she ever feared for her life. It's explicitly stated that Koyomi giving up his life for her is the first time another person did something for her sake. And as a result her decision to spare his life and make him a thrall seems to be one of the few times she's ever cared for the life of another person. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why Koyomi seeks to protect her. 

On the other hand, her disregard towards human life is not feigned. She asks Koyomi to come and give her his blood without really considering what his motivations might be for following such an order. Humans are essentially bugs to her - Meme's stealing of her heart is forgiven instantly. She doesn't hold a grudge, the only thing that matters is whether she has it back or not. Eating Guillotine Cutter was not a deliberate strategy to make Koyomi want to kill her, she simply did so as if it was the most natural thing in the world. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why the vampire hunters seek to slay her. 

Kiss-Shot is in many ways set apart from the oddities of Bakemonogatari. They derive their existence from humans, appear when they’re called on. They exist for a reason, and in doing so form their own kind of uneasy balance with the afflicted person.  In comparison Kiss-Shot feels more real, affixed more firmly to the world, a character in her own right. With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why Oshino wants to balance her. 

In doing so, he forces her to latch on to Koyomi Araragi, to offer him a ‘solution’ for his problems in the same way as any other oddity, and to become dependent on him to achieve her goals.

Oshino successfully mediates between Koyomi, who wants to save her, and the vampire hunters, who want to kill her, through the simple fact that she herself has reached a perfect balancing point between these two goals. She wants Koyomi to rescue her from the vampire hunters so she can die on her own terms. 

I mentioned Koyomi's suicidality earlier, but this story is also driven by how it manifests for Kiss-Shot. She became bored. It's the most common killer of vampires. When she talks with Koyomi on the roof, she says she has nothing interesting to talk about. Her long life has simply consisted of running around and fighting vampire hunters. The fact she wants to talk to Koyomi at all is significant, here. Not about anything in particular. She just wants to chat to someone. 

For all the differences between them, Kiss-Shot, too, is driven to suicide by an inability to connect to those around her, even if she doesn't consciously recognise it as such.

With that in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why Koyomi forces her to live, at the very end.

Hanekawa Tsubasa

Last time, with Tsubasa Cat, one element of the openings that I didn't touch on was how they show Hanekawa in positions that seemed like she might be about to take her own life. High places, train tracks. I didn't bother bringing it up, because it was getting late and also it didn't really seem to feature outside the openings, but here in Kizu it becomes more apparent.

She says, directly, that she wouldn’t call someone a friend if she wasn’t ready to die for them. This is a lie, she's talking about Koyomi specifically, but at least in his case she does die for him, intervening in his fight with Episode and having her torso blown apart by his giant cross. She offers to let Koyomi drink her blood. She intervenes again when he's fighting Kiss-Shot, with seemingly little regard for her own life. Both Oshino and Koyomi can agree that it's honestly kinda creepy.

The motivations behind her behaviour can be distinguished from Koyomi and Kiss-Shot, but there is another similarity: lack of friends.

It's somewhat inconceivable, after spending so much time in Koyomi's perspective, given such an idealised picture of her, but it seems apparent that she struggles with a similar problem to his own. She might be on good terms with a lot of people, she certainly knows a lot of people, but how many of them really know her? There's a reason why she's always alone on her night-time walks. 

She says she wanted to meet a vampire. The idea of something beyond human, something that isn't limited in the same ways she is, is an exciting idea to her. According to Kuro, at least, it's a way of breaking her out of her ordinary everyday life.

The thing about Hanekawa, I am slowly beginning to grasp, is that just because she tries to act normal, that doesn’t mean she has normal reactions to things. Rather, she treats the situation she finds herself in as if its normal and acts accordingly, leading to lines such as ‘he only hit me once, it’s perfectly understandable’, or acceding to requests to see her panties with almost zero hesitation, or treating someone sucking your blood and killing you as a totally normal thing to let your friend do, even when she’s clearly motivated by some special consideration towards Koyomi.

It’s a facade that doesn’t just mask her true feelings, but twists them into something else. She says that she never lies, something which is obviously untrue, but in a sense she’s always convincing herself, on one level or another, that she genuinely believes the things she’s saying.

This interacts interestingly with the series’ approach to fanservice. So far it’s mostly been played straight - with Hachikuji it’s a gag, with Nadeko it feels gratuitous, and stuff like Hitagi undressing in front of Koyomi is just that - here’s her naked body, look at it if you want. There’s a reason why she does that, but it doesn’t really connect to any deeper themes, it’s just there.

With Hanekawa in Kizu it is again gratuitous, it is again used for comedy, it is again just there because Nisio just wanted to do it, but the way Hanekawa’s brain works adds an interesting level to it. She’s surprisingly unbothered by the first instance where the wind flips her skirt, going so far as to deliberately engage Koyomi in conversation afterwards.

By the time of the second main incident, we’ve developed the idea that Koyomi is ashamed by his lust for her. He tries to push her away on the grounds that he’s too dangerous to be friends with, and the bluffed request for her to show her panties again feels in line with this, somehow. He’s trying to prove to her that he isn’t really the sort of guy she should bother herself with. 

She nonetheless takes the request completely seriously. It’s not that she’s just that literal-minded, she clearly knows what’s going on in Koyomi’s head (better than he does, sometimes), this is just her general pattern of behaviour when responding to him. Rather than setting boundaries, she indicates that she doesn’t really have any. This successfully shocks him out of the idea that he actually presents a danger to her. When it comes down to it he’s not actually going to look at a girl’s panties after being so brazenly presented with them. He’s kind of a coward. 

Hanekawa, on the other hand, Koyomi considers cool, someone who can decide on a course of action and stick with it. She isn’t swayed by silly whims like he is. In one sense, it’s true, but it’s also a reflection of the way he idolizes her. Hanekawa herself states that it’s not self-sacrifice, but self-satisfaction. Her actions, in this novel, aren’t directed towards any particular sort of justice, a particular perspective on Kiss-Shot, like Koyomi, Oshino, and the vampire hunters are motivated by. She is more or less just trying to help Koyomi, to be liked by him, even if it requires her to do absolutely ridiculous things like let him grope her boobs. 

One line I want to emphasize from that scene is Hanekawa’s offhand remark that she was prepared to lose her virginity. It’s presented as a joke but I’m fairly sure she’s not lying! It doesn’t present a particular desire to have sex with Koyomi, just a sort of resignation to the fact that this is the inevitable consequence of letting him do whatever he wants with her. I’m not saying she’s not attracted to him at all - I mean, she does feel up his muscles a bit earlier - but her vision of how this relationship will progress seems to be entirely on Koyomi’s terms. Which proves to be a bit awkward for her when Hitagi enters the picture later, but I digress. 

Her reaction to Koyomi’s hilariously stupid reasoning for why he needs to cop a feel (so that he doesn’t get distracted by Kiss-Shot’s enormous breasts when fighting her) is that it was even stupider than she was expecting. Because she was expecting a stupid justification, and is preparing herself to accept it regardless!

He doesn’t end up going through with it, which is probably better for the both of them all things considered, but does once again establish Koyomi as a massive coward. 

In any case, I really think these fanservice scenes help establish Hanekawa as a character who is willing to objectify herself for the sake of approval from others. That’s not to say she’s easily influenced, but rather that the self-satisfaction that she’s chasing, the life she’s chosen, is one where she’s constantly required to sacrifice her self.

Self-sacrifice and self-satisfaction

Again, this contrast between being a good person and a ‘happy’ one. The hypothetical ‘truly’ self-sacrificing person would do so to satisfy the desires of others, not just their own.

What Koyomi did for Kiss-Shot may have been beautiful, he says, but it wasn’t right. He saw the situation in the way that was most convenient for him, only chose to help the person that looked like she needed saving and ignored the consequences to anyone else. 

As long as I was weak, Kiss-Shot says. As long as they’re weak, as long as they look like they’re suffering, Koyomi would save anyone. 

Like Hanekawa puts it, he just doesn’t like it when people die. Even though he wouldn’t mind that much if he did. 

Previously I've discussed how Hitagi's oddity led to, and in doing so came to represent, her isolation and inability to connect with others. Koyomi's vampirism does something similar. He talks a big game about how having friends might increase the burden on him, but isn't the thing he's most worried about here that he might become a burden on his friends, that they would give up too much for him, that his selfish, vampiric nature would influence him into draining them dry? 

Vampirism doesn’t represent a freedom from social connections, it makes you far more reliant on humans than you were already. Not in the sense of having a mutual relationship with them, but a one-way predator-prey dynamic. 

This is why Koyomi barely even considers Kiss-Shot responsible for her actions. It's only natural that she, as a vampire, would eat humans. It's necessary for her survival. She herself doesn't understand it to be evil, so the only one he can blame is himself for enabling her to do so. 

It's a dysfunctional relationship. He takes Kiss-Shot's burdens upon himself precisely because of his intensity as a human. She herself doesn't feel burdened by the deaths she causes at all. Because she's a vampire.

It's Hanekawa that saves him by saying that it would be running away from his responsibilities and that the only solution is for him to be the one to defeat Kiss-Shot. For him to die here would just be self-satisfaction, the sacrifice wouldn’t achieve anything. 

But look at how she approaches this.

She sees Koyomi's fear of becoming a danger to people around him and accepts it instantly. He can eat her, if he wants. It’s a similar thing to the fanservice scenes. Setting no boundaries, reminding Koyomi that he, in fact, isn’t that willing to hurt other people. 

Koyomi isn't put in the position of needing to understand Hanekawa, of desperately trying to connect with her. She's the one that insists on helping him. He's the one that tries to throw her off, act as though her kindness isn't needed.

To Koyomi, Hanekawa is the one doing an unwanted favour, one that he eventually realises is what saved his life. 

Because Koyomi, unlike the previous arcs, isn’t the one that has to help a person dealing with the oddity. The one dealing with the oddity is him. Hanekawa is the one who supports and reaches out to him. But she can’t solve the problem for him. She can’t make the decision.

In the end, all he can do is go ahead and save himself.

Kizumonogatari

Why do vampires even work like that, anyway? 

That thralls are made by default when sucking blood, and to avoid turning someone, the vampire can consume them entirely, makes sense. It allows for the drama of realising that Kiss-Shot deliberately kept Koyomi as a thrall. It also ensures that Kiss-Shot’s existence is, no way how you go about it, a crime. To feed she must kill, or else turn more people into vampires.

But the only way of turning back to a human - the way that Hanekawa could apparently find by looking it up in the library - is to feed from the one who turned you, and kill them. A symbolic act of defying their control. (In the same way that patting Kiss-Shot’s head is an important proof of subjugation?) 

Here, though, it’s presented as something that Kiss-Shot was planning to do to Koyomi, a technique of freeing one’s thrall that she gained the ability to use since her first died.

It all goes full circle. Being a vampire is about dying. For Koyomi, who was killed by Kiss-Shot to become one. For Kiss-Shot, who seeks to die in order to change him back. 

There’s a sense of balance to it. No doubt Oshino was pleased. Vampires are the Kings of Oddities, beings powerful enough that they don’t really have to follow the rules, but at the same time, they’re self-balancing. 90% of vampire deaths are by suicide. 

Oddities are, by nature, self-balancing. It’s why Oshino doesn’t go seeking them out of his own accord. Perhaps he can’t. He’s just an intermediary between here and there, after all. He has to be contacted by one side to start the process. There has to be some evidence of unhappiness, of a desire to change the situation. 

Koyomi is put in this position time and time again in Bakemonogatari, asking Oshino to intervene on the behalf of the people he encounters. 

Yet in Kizumonogatari, he is, from start to end, not on the side of any person. He’s on the side of the monsters. It’s on Kiss-Shot’s behalf that he begs Oshino to intervene, because a balance that forces one party to suffer alone is not a balance he can abide.

He can’t save Kiss-Shot. He can’t end her suffering. If anything, you can argue he made it worse. 

What he can do is take a portion of her burden on himself, literally lower his ‘intensity as a human’ by retaining some of his vampire traits, and keep her alive. He keeps traces of the wound she inflicted on him, in exchange for the wounds he inflicts on her lasting forever as well. “Damaged goods both, we sought out each other.” They each have a bit of themselves missing now, something they can only find in each other. 

It’s selfishness, unquestionably. He’s fine with that. He knows he’s doing something that will hurt her. He’s fine with that. 

That’s the difference. The fear of his own vampiric selfishness is gone now. For better or worse, from this point he’s okay with being a bit insistent in getting to know people, not afraid of possibly hurting them in an attempt to help. 

He’s persistent in pursuing Hitagi, not just because his vampire abilities allow him to recover from the wounds she inflicts, but because his experience as a vampire reminds him how low someone can be dragged by isolation, and how much someone stretching out a hand can help. 

Coming into Kizumonogatari it feels like Bakemonogatari’s vampiric inversion, but by the end it’s clearly more like a prototype, at least when it comes to Koyomi’s attitude. His first stumbling attempts at helping.

And that’s all for now. No funny anime pictures this time! It was a deliberate choice, I promise, not because I just forgot to take screenshots while rewatching the movies (oops . . . ). But, I mean, I barely touched on the adaptation in this essay anyway, preferring to work off the text of the novel where possible. Considering the level of artistry on display in the movies, they probably deserve their own post. Which I will not be making any time soon, because oh my god I want to get to Nise already. 

[justatalkingface]

WTF happened?!?

Alright, so for context? I took a break at... *checks bookmark* 395. And looking at that chapter really quick, I'm reminded why I stopped reading for all this time!.That's ten chapters behind, for the record, and from what I can tell from my occasional glances at the critical tag? Those ten chapters were... something.

Welp. I read them. And then experienced instant regret.

Let's start with the first big thing: Armor Might. Somehow, looking at Armored Might, my first thought isn't WTF, because I've seen the spoilers, but the way that mask frames his smile reminds me of Redestro? Like, what the hell, he actually looks villainous like this. Still, though, the way powers are supposed to be the students isn't just cringe beyond belief it's... actually really dumb?

Like, step back from the ham handed metaphor for a minute, and look at this as a set of powers that someone decided to put in one suit. Ignoring how they stuffed so much shit into a suit, which even for MHA tech breaks my SOD, much less how this is surviving hits that causally blast through buildings, but it's just... inefficient? Let's ignore such choices as 'talking to animals' and 'powered by sugar', which are clearly relics of a different manga and don't make sense to use at all, but just these powers as a package. Does it make sense to put something like, 'make acid' with super strength'? Or 'sound waves'? Etc, etc? Wouldn't you want things that synergize together, so the suit is... I don't know, sturdier, or more effective, rather than having to build in a bunch of random devices just to do a reference? That explains why half of them aren't even same powers, it's just pointlessly pasting the names on things built to counter literally this situation, a reverting AFO, even though they had no possible way to know it would happen. Like a Uravity 'thruster'. Which has fuck all to do with canceling gravity.

Seriously. Cellophane and Blackwhip are literally the same damn thing, as in, literally they're the same tentacles. He's 'using' 'different powers' to retract them. And the sugar power is a... rocket kick? I. Can we just admit this doesn't actually have the entire class in it and move on?

Also, the fact that AFO is apparently super predictable and apparently has never adjusted his tactics once since beating Nana? Bitch please. He's been leading you by the nose since day one, and the only reason you ever beat him is because you out-powered him because you're bullshit and he's nerfed.

As a side note, AFO isn't controlling his reversion. He's not 'choosing' to rewind faster to heal himself, it's just happening, and Eri's Quirk just doesn't give a shit about anything, the acid would just be gone. Eri's Quirk has literally never given a shit about anything, ever, including but not limited to it's target, the person using, or the laws of nature because it's not a healing Quirk, its reversing fucking time.

Honestly, reading this, I'm not even angry about how bad the writing is anymore, I'm just cringing. Both All Might and All For One sound like complete morons, the fight is stupid, it's just.... this is just pathetic and it hurts to read.

I. Is AFO the shining baby. I pretty sure a bunch of people made jokes about the baby coming up but. Is AFO the shining baby?

Why is Stain even here? Why is the suit talking?! Like, they didn't even do anything, it didn't even buy any time, it just dragged out the chapter so we could another cliffhanger!

...Finally. Finally, Momo gets a fucking gun. I guess at this point Hori thought it couldn't harm anything to let her actually be competent, and it looks like a copy of Bakugou's new gear because of course it is, but I don't care just let me have this.

What the fuck is even the point of AFO's mouth ripping open? Like, what is the in-setting reason his cheeks tore apart?

Bakugou: fucking dies.

Bakugou: gets his heart patched together with jeans and a prayer soap bubble.

Bakugou: is instantly jumping into high intensity combat.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Are we really bring back the 'wishing energy' bullshit? Are we bringing back wishing energy and Bakugou is using it?

And now we have Nighteye. Nighteye.

...

You know what? I'm angry again.

Holy fuck. I read the posts, but I didn't believe they were real. Bakugou restarted his own heart. Like. What even is his Quirk, at this point. Like, what is it actually supposed to be, Favoritism Sweat?

All Might, solemnly: Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.

Me, vomiting:

God, I pity whoever eventually has to voice act that and say that line at all seriously.

And, to the surprise of absolutely no one except the people who actually thought Bakugou died and were angry about it, Bakugou gets his heart impaled and came out the other end with a power up.

Let me sum up my thoughts on that with one simple sentence: The Lion, The Witch, and The Plot Armor of This Bitch.

Here's my impression ten chapters later, after a month or two without reading: I... I did not miss this story.

[mrchaosman]

Ohh Boy, this one is (probably) will be higt level crack.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Let me introduce you to:

THE DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE THEORY.

Or just Jekyll and Hyde theory, idk.

In this today's subject, I'll explain that (not really) ch 3 secret boss is gonna have a split personality theme or "Jekyll and Hyde" syndrome.

Well anyway, let's dive in:

1: A temporarily allay.

The Secret boss is might gonna be a temporarily allay throughout the gameplay, where they have their own battle icon and such.

2: The light world item:

For this Theory, I will either go with the Book of Hymns or the butterscotch pie, my idea is the secret boss is "almost" forgotten item, plus I think that Toriel didn't read the book of Hymns for like long time, I don't know.

3: Freedom:

Since Jevil seeing himself as the "truly free one" and Spamton want to reach the heaven to be free, the ch3 secret might want to free themselves from their "Evil side", in the og jekyll and hyde novel, Jekyll created the potion to "free" himself from the Victorian society (by becoming Hyde and do all the vile things he could think of).

4: battle arena:

The battle arena is gonna might be something like similar to 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde movie transformation scenes, which is Make-up was applied in contrasting colors. A series of colored filters that matched the make-up was then used which enabled the make-up to be exposed gradually or made invisible. The change in color was not visible on the black-and-white film, showing a photos of either the secret boss or Kris, who knows.

5: Speech Quirk:

They might speak in an old Victorian accent.

6: other things: the idea that seam has said to us that our next enemy (secret boss) is gonna be much powerful and stronger, sounds like something like Mr. Hyde, Hyde is said to be much stronger than Jekyll, as the formula used to induce him was originally supposed to be a vitamin tonic. The limits of his strength are ambiguous but he can very easily throw other people of the same height and weight aside without slowing down and in a fit of rage he can casually break furniture.

7: Soul Mode: I'm gonna go with the switch soul because it "splits" just like how Jekyll splits himself into two people.

Lore:

Well, the secret was used to be an actor to a movie or something by playing the "doctor" in it, however, the movie didn't make it big at all and that made Tenna kicked them out,

While they in their house, they find someone in the room.

They explained themselves to the stranger.

However, the stranger replied that the movie has failed due to "Evil Inside" them, and said that they have to remove it from them totally.

The failed actor, blindly accepts the offer, and the stranger left a note and a strange crystal, the note is a manual for making a "potion", and the crystal is one of the ingredients to make the potion.

They created it and after drinks it, they felt a bit different but other than that, they felt good.

They have returned to the studio to convert Tenna to hire them again, after a little agreement, something happened.......

The Actor's body start changing and their physical appearance, they become from a good old fella to a monstrous animalistic demon, after that transformation, they attacked tenna, and almost destroyed the studio, but after a long battle, tenna and the crew manged to get rid of them and throw them out of the studio.

They have returned to their original self and after long time, they realised that they have been fired and totally been thrown out.

So yeah, that's best I can do for the lore, anyway, some extras for that thing.

Video game:

If you think a bit, what is one of the most forgotten game ever.

Well....

Yup, this one is basically one of the worst pieces of entertainment media ever made, thanks to AVGN for covering it because no one with half a Brain will do that, so, in the case of video game, they might be an mascot for a failed video game and wanted to be known with the "duality" as a trait of their own and stuff.

Friend inside me.

My idea is that the "Evil side" is gonna be something like FRIEND or something like it.

For example, both of Hyde and FRIEND (probably) manipulative and parasitic creatures with no sign of guilt for regret to anything they do or anyone they hurt and damage.

An example for this is with the chair from Spamton Sweepstakes website.

We see two things, the first chair nice, clean chair, while in the other hand, we see a dark, distorted mess of glitch which what used to be a chair.

And here these come to play out.

Let's all say that the yellow eye is the secret boss' original self and the pink eye is the alter-ego (Hyde/FRIEND), just like some covers of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has a line In the middle to separate the two personalities.

And just thinking about it a bit, it might be true say that FRIEND being an anomaly or a parasite is not really a thing to me, because I remembered a sentience that says: You are your own FRIEND.

Well, I don't know about you guys gonna think but yeah.

The fact that ch3 dark world is a tv-themed world, it can to assume that in TV there's many failed tv movies and TV shows, like the jekyll and hyde mini series from 2015.

So yeah.

The Gaster valentine's card:

The qoute: Now Put on your coat and wash your face or Put on your face and was your coat, is something alot of you have noticed and alot has pointed out that the one who wrote the message isn't actually Gaster but someone else, they seem as if they two or more separate people talking in the same time.

I'm not really sure about this one but I'd like to point it out.

The Flower thing:

If it was right, then the secret boss might be an asriel/Flowey knockoff, having an nice and evil personalities.

Also, in Undertale, Asriel referred to Flowey as a separate person, so it might be true to say that ch3 secret boss is might gonna be a hybrid between asriel and Flowey.

And finally: Gaster motif.

Jevil the Gaster eye thing that it is black and then the pupils appears, Spamton's suit has resembles with Gaster's clothes, so I assume that the secret boss for chapter 3 will a physical resembles to Gaster because you know, the science thing.

And here, I made it, My first theory ever, I hope you like it and now, I'm gonna have some rest