#And that I should learn 'my history'

[retro-memo]

When your family wants you to start reading the bible but when you do, you do it in the most blasphemous way possible to spite them

Ie, making a point about how God lied to Adam and Eve about eating the apple, saying it would kill them and that the snake actually told the truth from the beginning.

Making it also technically true, God was the one to do the first sin. Not humans.

[uncanny-tranny]

I recently had to do a project in one of my psych classes, and man, I knew that CBT was used for every little thing, but seeing over and over, "do CBT! CBT is the best for every mental illness!" was so jarring. I'm absolutely biased because of my own experiences, but I just don't think it's as universal a treatment model as it's touted.

If you didn't benefit from CBT, it's not because you're lazy or didn't try hard enough or lacked intelligence or foresight into your own needs. Frankly, it's a therapy model that (I think) shouldn't be the only readily-accessible model and among the only therapy models covered by insurance. Some of us should not be treated in a CBT model and that's okay. It's not a sign of poor character or unreasonable demands, and if you don't think it's a model that works for you, then it's your right to express that!

[lesbianfanfictionenthusiast]

i have a tremendously long to do list you know what that means

[kacievvbbbb]

Honestly with the workload these kids be getting, what they are studying in school and just generally how they are treated. You really forget these kids are like 6 years old.

Anya is the only one that consistently acts her age and so she sometimes comes off as immature which is insane when you think about it they are all literally 6. This also works cause we can assume she is a year or 2 younger than the rest of her grade, still, even then it’s insane.

Which is why when the other kids actually start to show their age usually in situations of great emotion, the bus hijacking for one. Or even when the kids think one of them is going to have to leave because his family is now poor and they all rally around this kid they never even really spoke to, or when they literally think that some macaroons will make them smarter and help them pass the test. Or when they simply want to play outside.

it’s so jarring and you’re left being like oh right they're six, this isn’t normal. Six-year-olds shouldn't be put under this kind of pressure.

It's another neat little insight into just what kind of society these kids are living in. And a little bit of irony that Loid who wants to create a society where little kids don't have to cry anymore is on a mission that requires the infiltration of a school where little kids can't even be ones.

[somewhereincairparavel]

I'm so immersed in my jason grace new rome uni fic that I'm studying ancient roman law terms using this as an excuse. help.

[siryyeet]

Oh you have complicated feelings towards Germany? Let me make 91836373 assumptions about it with my piss poor understanding of history, not listen to germans at all and then come to a horrendously bad and false conclusion on why that is! Also I think you germans should stop feeling guilty and be proud of your country again!

[mishy-mashy]

Shinomori is actually the weird one

Horikoshi said he had detailed backstories for all the OFA users. He just wanted to hint and imply at what he already had, in a way you could breeze over it, and draw the connections yourself.

Examples include little hints like how Bruce mentions being with Kudo from the very start of their opposition. Or how Kudo hints at heartless decisions they made, or how many lives they took in a straight goal, where survival became victory. (Another parallel with Bakugo, where Bakugo wanted to be someone who always wins—and on Kudo's side, that means survival, but THIS ISN'T ABOUT KUDO)

Or the small corner of a panel where Banjo's arm breaking like Midoriya's, showing that Shinomori made OFA too strong. Or how Garaki saved AFO from never being able to find Yoichi again, on Shinomori's turn. Shinomori's turn should've been the end of AFO's chase, if not near it, since AFO was starting to grow old until Garaki appeared.

Little hints to whole backstories.

Shinomori only has one scene in the whole animal where we actually see him talk more than a line or a glance. And that's his self-introduction.

I want to talk about his line, [Mine was a terrible era. Everyone was a weirdo, except me.]

During his introduction, Shinomori says that One For All can't be passed on to a normal person anymore.

Since we, as the viewer, are watching from a time where Quirks are the norm, what Shinomori said doesn't stand out at all. Even Midoriya doesn't get confused.

The normal person to Midoriya is a Quirked person. That's what the viewer thinks too; Quirks are normal.

But consider that Shinomori is talking about - and from - the past as he explains who he is and what he did. Put your perspective in that time period.

Quirks were not normal. Metas were not normal. The norm was to have no Meta, even if more and more Meta Humans are popping up.

Shinomori actually thinks that Meta Humans were normal, and that non-Meta Humans were weirdos. This was during a time where everyone thought the opposite, and that Meta Humans were monsters.

"One For All cannot be wielded by a normal person." meaning normal, Quirked people. He thought Quirked people were normal from the start

"I was the only normal one. Everyone else were weirdos." and it's because everyone else was weird, and in a terrible time, that Shinomori went into hiding

Shinomori is actually self-centered in a way; he views himself as normal, and can't understand the perspective of other weirdos (non-Metas)

By self-centered, I mean like kids do developmentally-wise.

Kids first learn about the world only from their own perspective. They don't comprehend that others can have their own feelings, opinions, or feel pain.

Kids are self-centered because they only know their own perspective, and can't understand anyone else's. It doesn't occur to them to view the world any other way.

Shinomori is like that. Metapowers are normal to him. To him, the others who view Meta Humans as wrong, and the people who aren't Meta, they're the weirdos.

He can't understand them.

Shinomori blatantly referring to Quirked people as "normal" even catches Midoriya off-guard. Because for a minute, Midoriya doesn't know what concept of "normal" that Shinomori is using.

Japan was imploding on itself and in a Depression, and Shinomori's only takeaway during his era is who's weird and who's not.

"Mine was a terrible era. Everyone was a weirdo except me."

This is his only takeaway. Or, the only thing he focused on during this time.

And at first glance, that's shallow. Until you realize that Shinomori's main takeaway was that he couldn't conform.

But to him, it's that the others couldn't conform to Metapowers. He couldn't understand the people around him, and saw them as strange for that.

Since he's his own idea of the norm, he doesn't view himself - an Ability wielder - as an outlier.

His only solution to the society that was at ends, even with AFO's presence reigning, was to seclude himself.

That way, he'd be the only person in his own world—a world of only Meta Humans.

Shinomori was a hermit, not because of AFO, but because he didn't like society

To bring back this panel,

And bring up this, too,

Shinomori doesn't say he went into hiding for OFA. He agrees with Banjo's statement that he just didn't like society, and went to live off-radar. He cites the reason he did that: people were strange to him.

A time where people protested Meta Humans, at that. Non-Metas were scared of Metas, and those Metas didn't even want to be Metas. Those were the people back then.

He only says he evaded AFO, which would be easier to do with Danger Sense. And AFO didn't need many sensory Abilities back then, because he wasn't blind

So Shinomori didn't like society, and left it. Then he had OFA, and while still a hermit, starts building up that power while avoiding people even more.

Since Banjo managed to find Shinomori when these were the conditions, that means Banjo had no ill intent, and posed no danger or threat. That allowed Banjo to find Shinomori, without either intending to meet.

Must've been a jumpscare, actually. I like thinking Banjo's face just erupted from foliage, and Shinomori let out a bitch-on-falsetto shriek.

The fact Shinomori was already a hermit before OFA, also confirms that Bruce found him in the forest.

My theory is that Bruce and Shinomori knew each other beforehand. That's why Bruce could find him. Bruce, who spent time in cities, managed to find a single man who hides in forests.

(These posts (1) (2) speculate about Bruce and Shinomori's relationship, and Bruce choosing his successor)

Shinomori thought the world couldn't keep up with Metahumans (his normal), and still thinks that way in death. When he explains OFA, he refers to "normal people", that Midoriya has to piece together he means Quirked people.

Midoriya, who grew up where Quirks are normal, easily adopts the way Shinomori thinks of it, but on the surface level of only knowing what Shinomori was saying about the now.

Summary: Shinomori is the weird one, for viewing Metas as normal when everyone else believed differently. His belief of Abilities being normal endures from the Advent of the Paranormal, up to his afterlife as a vestige.

When Metas were abnormal, he saw it differently: Metas are normal, and those who can't accept Metas, or aren't Metas themselves, are outliers.

"They were the weirdos. Not me."

-

Side note, about the above panel

Notably, when talking about what a "normal person" is, we're looking at Nana, Yoichi, and All Might.

Nana, who looked at the strange, funny teenager Toshinori, and decided to give the Quirkless boy a Quirk; "normal", as a Quirked person in her time. She made All Might "normal" (though fitting in wasn't her intent, because they both knew All Might always intended to stand at the top), because he was a strange boy, and she liked that.

Yoichi, who grew up believing he was Meta-less, and had stockpiling forced by AFO to conform to his beliefs. An original Meta-less person, who was "normal" in his time.

And All Might, who was Quirkless, but with OFA, became "normal".

[donewiththisshitplsstop]

When I was talking about how f1 and the fia and fans are racist and a lot of you were like naur but now they've literally admitted they police Lewis different but instead of calling it racism/discrimination they call it him being a role model 💀. Yall do know this is the insidious way racists have operated since like forever like do you guys get it now orrr do I need to pull out more facts/recipes bcs I've got a lot yk.

[pjharvey-moved]

lowkey. u should be able to abandon ur physical needs in pursuit of creative and intellectual endeavors when such inspirations arise

[grassbreads]

I’d love to know about Yulma and how important it is to representation in shounen manga

This has been sitting in my askbox for a couple months (because I am incapable of punctuality), but anon sent this to me back when I was talking about Yulma over on my vnc blog. For those unaware, Yulma refers to Yu Kanda and Alma Karma from the manga D.Gray-man.

So the thing is, to be honest, I don't know if you can say Yulma is/was important for representation. They don't tend to get brought up as an example of representation (except by diehard d.gray-man fans like me, lol) in shonen, and their whole thing is complicated enough that I feel like the queerness of it all flies over a lot of people's heads.

However! They're very important to me personally, and I do think it's kind of remarkable their story came out in like 2010. Because even though their queerness gets overlooked a lot, it's like. really there no matter how you interpret it.

The short version of their very complicated story is that Kanda and Alma are a couple who were resurrected into new bodies. Alma was a woman when they were originally together in their past lives, but is physically male in the present. Kanda is still very much in love with them by the end of their story, which, depending on the reading, makes Kanda very bi and/or Alma very trans.

This sound like something you want details on? If so, let's talk about how D.Gray-man's fan favorite edgy badass toughguy character briefly became the star of his very own heart-wrenching tragic queer romance.

Here's a brief crash course in Yu Kanda and Dgm for the uninitiated:

D.Gray-man is a manga about a group of exorcists (in the loosest and most anime sense of the term) in the 1890s fighting a holy war against mechanical demons powered by the souls of the dead. There are two things you need to understand about this plot for me to explain Yulma:

The Black Order, the secret branch of the church that exorcists work for, has a long history of committing horrific human experiments to further the war effort.

Due to complications of world building, only a tiny number of people can become exorcists, and tracking down new ones is extremely difficult.

Yu Kanda is one of the exorcists, and though not the actual main character (that's the lad in my icon), he's a very important secondary character. Arguably he's the most important secobdary character, since he's the main guy's biggest foil and the first character to play deuteragonist in a major story arc. He's also a huge fan favorite. The character popularity polls that Jump used to do always had him and the mc going back and forth over who won #1 most popular.

Kanda was also a classic edgy toughguy character. His first two scenes are him almost murdering the main guy because he thinks he's an intruder, then complaining about people grieving for their friend too loudly. He never smiles. He argues with the righteous mc about wasting time/energy protecting civilians. He threatens (and delivers) violence on anyone that annoys him. He looks like this:

TLDR; Kanda was an adored-by-fans mean badass archetype in a 2000s shonen manga. Not generally the guy you peg for starring in a piece of queer romantic storytelling.

And for the entirety of the original anime adaptation's 103 episode run, for the first 188ish chapters of the manga, you do not learn a single thing about his early life. You learn he joined the Black Order very young, and you meet the mentor that took him in at that point, but although there are little hints, a couple cryptic mentions of him searching for a certain person, his early origins remain a complete black box.

Then came the Alma Karma arc.

This is the point where I start getting into spoilers.

To make a very long story short, the Alma Karma arc reveals that Kanda is one of the Black Order's human experiments. The Order ran a secret project 9ish years before the start of the series in which they essentially tried to re-use dying exorcists (since finding new ones is so hard). They took the bodies of dying or recently deceased exorcists and harvested their brains, implanting those brains into new magically grown child bodies.

Key to this project—the second exorcist project—is that these newly grown second exorcists were not supposed to remember anything from their previous lives. Kanda, however, recovered a few hazy memories from his past self. Most importantly, he can recall an unclear image of the woman that his past self was in love with. This memory gradually becomes Kanda's reason to live. He wants desperately to find and meet that person.

Now, aside from Kanda, there was one other successfully revived second exorcist. This was a boy named Alma Karma.

Over the course of their brief shared childhood, Kanda and Alma become extremely close. However, due to a series of horrible events that I'll spare you the details of, Alma is eventually driven to murder-suicide. He wants himself and Kanda to die together to spite the Order, and Kanda almost lets him do it.

The one thing that keeps Kanda from letting Alma kill him, the thing that drives him instead to kill Alma, his most beloved and only friend, is that he can't bear to die without finding that woman again.

Have you figured out the twist yet?

9 years later, in the present, Kanda discovers that he didn't actually quite kill Alma. The Order kept Alma secretly half-alive in order to do more dubious experiments. And, more importantly, when they meet again, Kanda discovers the truth. The woman that he's been searching for his whole life, the woman he's in love with, the woman he tried to kill Alma in order to find, was also killed and made into a second exorcist. And her brain was placed into the body of Alma Karma.

After quite a lot more violence and tragedy, Kanda and Alma end their story arc by running away together on their deathbeds. Alma dies, for real this time, in Kanda's arms, and his last words are to tell Kanda he loves him. These words are presented as something Kanda hears from both the boy and woman versions of Alma's soul.

So! At the end of a very long and complicated story, one thing holds true: Kanda and Alma are in love. As passed down from their past selves, they are specifically in romantic love. They were a couple. And to speak as a fan, the sheer absolute devotion to how Kanda's love for Alma is presented is seriously intense and moving.

Now, given the absolute hell that is Alma's life, gender identity is frankly the last thing they have time to worry about, so it's hard to say how the whole "literally a woman's brain in a male body" thing might have settled for them if given time to think about it. But that is inherently a pretty trans narrative. And given the whole Alma gender situation, there's simply no reading of their whole situation where neither of them is queer.

If you take present day Alma as a guy, which is more or less how he's presented in canon (though again, who knows how he would've felt about that male body in different circumstances), then congratulations! You've got mlm in your shonen manga. They were straight in a different life, but now one of them's a dude, and they are still deeply in love with each other. They've even got not one but two "let's forget it all and run away together" scenes, just as every mlm couple seems to have.

On the other hand, if you go with the angle that Alma's still a woman based on her mind/soul, even in her new body, then Kanda may not be canonically queer, but Alma is inarguably trans. Again, literally a woman's brain in a male body. It may not be how most people end up trans, but that doesn't change the facts of her situation.

You see what I mean about how they're undeniably queer, but also kind of easy to miss? There's so much other insane shit going on in their story that Alma's whole gender situation can get passed over. Plus, you can look online to this day and find people arguing that Kanda's not "technically" explicitly in love with the present day male version of Alma, since he doesn't 100% unambiguously say as much. I love reading comprehension.

Also! As a possible extra reason for why people don't talk about them much, the official English translation of the manga translated Alma's final "I love you" very differently. There's always a lot of nuance and argument when it comes to translating "大好き" into English, but given the full context of their relationship and the scene it's in, Viz's handling really sets off the censorship bells in my head.

Here's the different versions (Japanese then fan then official), if you want to compare:

Nothing more classically queer than censorship by way of questionable translation 🙃.

At the end of the day, Kanda and Alma are in kind of a strange middle ground. They're each in love with the other one, but the whole second exorcist brain transfer situation makes it complicated enough that people argue their feelings aren't explicitly romantic (and thus not gay) in the present. Alma is literally a woman's brain implanted in a male body, but we don't have time to dwell on the gender complications of all that because of the hell that is the rest of their life. They're canon but not canon—queer people whose stories don't have space for them to be queer.

However, given that all this messy, tragic ambiguity was published in a fairly popular shonen manga back in 2010, it still feels kind of remarkable to me. Alma is somewhat an antagonist (it's complicated), and he dies at the end of his arc, but once again, Kanda was/is the fan favorite! And when he re-enters the main story after Alma's death, he's more important than he's ever been, and his history with Alma continues to be a huge part of his character.

Katsura Hoshino took the much-beloved edgy toughguy character from her long-running shonen series and, after keeping his origins secret for such a long time, confirmed that his whole life has revolved around love this entire time. Almost every facet of his character can be traced back to his love for his lost best friend or his yearning for his past life's missing partner. And then she reveals that the best friend and the partner are one and the same.

You can go back and forth about the degree to which they work as representation, but in any case, I think their story is something people ought to know about. It's romantic and it's heart-wrenching and it's fucking wild, especially given the context in which it was published (a Shonen Jump spinoff in 2010). I never see anyone besides the few remaining hardcore dgm fans talk about them, and I think that's a shame.

So anyway, that's tale of one of the most insanity-inducing romances I've ever seen put to paper. I love queer people.

Here's some choice pages if you want to cry with me (the last two are a sequence):

[camellcat]

you guys I'm losing my MIND

I have NEVER seen this sort of thing in any other fandom I've been in and I LOVE IT

[fictionadventurer]

"What if the South won the Civil Wa--"

BORING!!

The only Civil War alternate history worth caring about is, "What if they fixed the sewage issue that was contaminating the White House water supply and killing presidents?"

How does the country progress if William Henry Harrison gets a full term? How do we handle presidential succession with no Tyler Precedent established?

If Zachary Taylor doesn't die, is there no Compromise of 1850? If Taylor lives to push for more strident anti-slavery measures, does this delay war or start it sooner? Does he try a different compromise just to keep the Union together? Or does he push his own ideas so strongly that the South secedes? Imagine if the war starts ten years early with a firmly anti-secessionist Louisiana plantation owner (who until like two years ago was a highly successful general) in the White House. Is this a Robert E. Lee in reverse situation--a man having to choose the Union over his people? There's no way to know, and no one else cares, but for some reason I do.

[princelancey]

The straight up lack of manners being shown on here is mindboggling. By that I mean the weird as fuck anons people send. I've been fortunate to not be on the receiving end of too many of them but my friends have gotten the most out of pocket anons and I genuinely wonder how some people think this kind of behaviour is acceptable. Like nothing to do with F1 at all, people will comment on personal stuff, make horrible insinuations and level cruel insults and why? because your super special pookie had a bad day at work? genuinely there are people who need to seek professional help if that is the way they see the world, it is not ok or acceptable. There are people behind these accounts, if you wouldn't say it to someone's face don't type it out, I feel like that's a pretty normal way to act.

[shadowedvales]

hot take, but the "i dump your ass" line wasn't even funny and was just super ooc…….

[wasabikitcat]

community college is so funny because half of the teachers are like "For this class you need to use lockdown browser for all quizzes and tests. You need to buy this 70 dollar textbook, and all papers turned in must be in APA format with a title page even if they're only 500 words long. I will not accept late assignments. Also you have a minimum of 4 assignments a week." and the other half are like "you don't need proctoring for the final exam I trust you. here's a download link to a pirated copy of the textbook. as long as your writing is coherent and demonstrates an understanding of the material I literally could not care less what format you use. I can't figure out how canvas works so I'm not giving you due dates, just make sure it's turned in before the grading period ends. your only weekly assignment is a forum post with a minimum of 100 words."