#Anyways I have so much information on these characters and love doing analyses like these so feel free to send in more asks like this

[eudikot]

Who would win in a fight? Leorio vs Reigen

Substantial answer only

Oh my good friend you don't understand how hard of a time I had coming up with an answer to this question. And darn you for putting substantial and making me explain myself, because I would've overthought this anyways but not typed it all out.

On a base level, I think that both of them are fairly balanced. Neither stands out as "oh he would win 100%" and both have different aspects that would help them win. For this reason I'm going to go through who is better at what aspect and then summarize the final results at the end.

(Also, Reigen showed up today so enjoy them preparing to fight <3)

Physical Strength: Leorio

I will never forgive the 2011 anime for removing the fact that after two weeks of training, Leorio could open the first Zoldyck testing gate by himself (4 tons). Reigen may be muscular from the physical exorcisms he gives, but he in no way can compare to Leorio in this aspect. Not to mention that Leorio was able to send Ging flying out of his seat with a punch in season 6 as well.

Endurance: Leorio

This is another easy win for Leorio. Sure we see both of them run out of breath at some point during their anime, but Reigen wanted to stop at the beginning of his training with Mob on a 5k marathon while Leorio stopped after 5 hours of running, or 60km. Not counting the fact that Leorio continued shortly after that and then continued to run through Swindlers Swamp, even after Reigen's training that he shows off in season 3, he still doesn't compare to Leorio's endurance.

Mental Capability: Reigen

Leorio has been shown to be easily fooled by others, especially during the hunter exam when challenged by the quizzing lady, Leroute, and Tonpa. Meanwhile, Reigen is an expert at manipulating people with his words. I believe that Reigen could easily confuse/manipulate Leorio enough to give himself the upper advantage in a fight. Too add onto this aspect, Leorio is also working on becoming a doctor, looking to help people instead of harm them. While he still shows no problem hurting people (Ging), I believe he would still show a bit more restraint compared to Reigen who has no qualms hurting opponents and is more ambiguous with his morals (such as telling Mob not to hurt people and then going off and hurting people himself).

Technique: Reigen

Reigen has fought strong espers, or at least caught them off guard enough to land a punch even without being powerful himself. He has the skill to maneuver situations easily no matter who he is dealing with. Leorio's nen would not give him any advantage against Reigen because of this, especially since we only know of his punch which Reigen would likely be able to avoid and easily counter. While Leorio can fineness a rapidly-changing situation (the Yorknew Hotel scene. There was no prior discussion of him pretending to talk on the phone to give hints to Gon and Killua, meaning that he likely improvised the whole thing), he is mainly shown to go at things full force without much thought. In this aspect, Reigen would outperform Leorio in fighting technique, likely due to him having more overall experience (such as his claim of having a green belt in Shaolin kung-fu).

Trap Card: Mob

If all goes south for Reigen, he does have a trap card up his sleeve that Leorio doesn't have. If Mob saw Reigen getting beat up, he wouldn't hesitate to save his master. No matter the method, I think we all know Mob would eventually win over Leorio, and by association Reigen would too.

Conclusion: I believe Reigen would win in a fight against Leorio

While Leorio has the physical advantage, I think that Reigen's experience and skills would allow him to overpower Leorio. However, in a brute rush Leorio would have the upper hand. Another factor that would heavily sway the fight would be their motivations for this battle. I based my conclusion on an even playing field, but if this was happening in a situation like the hunter exam, then Leorio would have more motivation to win. In a situation where Reigen's status or dignity was on the line and loosing would mean a lot more to him than Leorio? Reigen would definitely go all out. Both of these men are very motivation driven for situations that benefit them, and I think that if they did not see any benefit or reason for fighting then they would not try hard at all. But, all in all, removing all outside influences (including Mob) my vote would be on Reigen beating Leorio in a fight.

[monstersinthecosmos]

Do you think Marius still loves Armand in the last books? Does he want Armand to return to him? Marius seemed to have left him in the past

The short answer is YEAH OF COUSRE HE LOVES ARMAND TO DEATH but let’s talk about this for a minute!

The question of whether or not Marius loves him is the easier one to answer. Armand is one of the great loves of Marius’s life! In the beginning of TVA (when he’s just spent however much time thinking Armand is dead) he’s a DISHEVELED MESS! And at the beginning of B&G he’s super lonely and isolated and seems worried about stuff he’s done recently and people in his life being mad at him. (Benji & Sybelle Incident? Something else?) I think when you look at a vampire like Marius, it’s remarkable that he makes it 2000 years only turning THREE fledglings (not counting when we get to B+S and Viktor bc that gets into like, vampire favors and isn’t really for himself LOL), vs a character like Lestat who made 3 fledglings in his first 11 years. These are the great loves of Marius’s life and not decisions he made lightly! And while I think we can (and have) sort of untangled selfish vs. selfless love in Marius’s life, I think it’s really important that 500 years later he couldn’t forgive Santino. Is that on his own behalf alone or on Armand’s? There’s a lot of unpack but! He loves Armand! He does!!!!!

But anyway on the topic of returning to each other;

I think their last conversation in BCtu sort of opens a door that they’re going to speak to each and work things out. Canonically, that’s all the information we get. We also never explicitly get information about like, what exactly is wrong between them presently. We know that

they had a big fight at the end of TVA but that they calmed down

Armand has been afraid of Marius because he's scared that Marius doesn't still love him like he used to

in ROA Marius said he had the savage & ignorant soul of a child.

I always assume there's just 500 years of tension and conversations they've avoided, but we also never get a confirmation that they HAVEN'T had these conversations off screen anyway. So canonically, all we know is that they just had a traumatic experience and want to talk to each other.

Also canonically, they’re making another attempt at Vampire Commune and we don’t have an answer of like, will it stick this time, will it dissolve like Night Island, is it sustainable AT ALL to have a small group of the elite making rules and holding dominion over an entire culture???????? Reader’s choice lol.

But it leaves a question of like, what does returning to each other look like in this setup—they’re in touch now, they can find each other, they have cell phones, Armand can come and go at the Ch��teau as needed, Marius has a room at Trinity Gate, etc. Their relationship is civil and functional at this point. And does “returning” mean to be exclusive companions and to fuck off? Will Marius leave Court? Will Armand come and stay more often?  Idk ! 

These are questions that have 100 different answers because it’s all headcanon, but, what we know by the end of the series is that they’ve gone through something traumatic and Armand and Marius are going to talk to each other. What is that conversation about? What is the result? We don’t know. Armand is letting his FEELINGS THE FUCK OUT in this book as if he's had therapy, and Marius says he thinks Armand is ready to open his heart, if that gives us any clues! But does opening his heart mean "I am feeling vulnerable and brave to tell you how I feel because I almost lost you" or "I'm gonna read you the fuckin riot act because I did that to Lestat as well" ? lol Either way the thing here is that it's ARMAND'S decision and not about whether or not Marius left him in the past.

I think something that often goes overlooked in character discussions is their inherent inhumanity, and I really dislike the “thEyRe MonStErs” easy out of a lot of analyses, because it’s more than that. The entire purpose of the series and the reason the series was unique is that built a world where they’re MORE THAN. It’s not about simply being a monster—there’s nothing simple about it. And not being human doesn’t mean it’s all negative and all evil. What it means is that it’s Extra. They feel things on such a deeper level than we do, their brains function differently, and they’re immortal. They have all the time in the world to forgive each other when they want to, and they’re social creatures who want companions! The older you are, the scarier it is! It’s horror! Like even Marius’s relationship with Mael is so fucking special because like, as much as they put each other off, it’s like, someone they each still have, that’s been constant, and the world would look so different without them.

It just reminded me of this line in Six Feet Under (sorry I’m obsessed, I think everything always comes back to SFU for me LOL) but when Brenda says she used to think as she got older that she’d have more people in her life and that the opposite was true. So anyway for Marius like, regardless of if we want to get into selfish/selfless, Armand is one of the most important people in his life, and has been around for a quarter of Marius’s life, and nothing would be the same if Armand wasn’t around. 

And without the distraction of The Parents in the modern age I wonder if he’s like especially fragile and traumatized about losing people? Is he still traumatized by losing Pandora? And losing Armand the first time? It’s great that they have cell phones and a community now so no one gets too far from each other, but gosh.  

I don’t know what returning to each other looks like, as far as where canon left. Like, does the Château collapse? Is Daniel with them? Asking if Marius wants it is like, yeah maybe he would want Armand around Court more for moral support. And maybe if he decides to step away, and get space, maybe he would want Armand there with him as a safe place to land. When the Court inevitably collapses, will he want someone around? 

In the past, Marius tended to isolate himself in times of stress; is he still like that? Has the loss of The Parents changed this for him? Will Daniel and Armand allow him to isolate? Idk ! !!! 

But anyway sorry I’m rambling but my point about not being human and about being Extra is that there are a lot of parts in the series where vampires have a relationship or forgive each other even after they’ve deeply hurt each other or committed atrocities. Louis and Armand come to mind, so do Louis and Lestat, David and Lestat, Pandora and Santino. Even Marius calming down enough to be in his situationship with Avicus and sorta metamour to Mael. They are not human, they are capable of forgiveness. There are atrocities that humans are capable of never forgiving because we don’t have time to get over it. How can we even know how much time it takes to heal a grudge if we don’t live long enough to test it?

Even knowing that, 500 years still wasn’t enough to forgive Santino for what he did to them. Like sure if we wanna dunk on Marius and remind ourselves that he’s an arrogant self-centered jerk sometimes, and we could say that he’s mad at Santino for what he did to MARIUS—it’s not just the ego this time. He took Armand. He separated Marius and Armand. He destroyed their home. And even if they cooperated a few times in the 20th century, by the time B&G happens, he's been able to read TVA and knows what happened, what Santino did to him, what he did to the boys. (Like, did Marius read TVA? Did Armand ever tell him this privately? We don't know! But we do know that this is now been published for EVERYONE to read which is probably re-traumatizing for everyone involved and now everyone knows hajkgsdl)

So anyway, like. I know this has kinda been a non-answer because we’re talking about stuff that didn’t happen in canon and everything past BCtu is going to be our own headcanons. But I can say: Yes, Marius loves Armand deeply, and vampires are capable of incredible levels of empathy and forgiveness for each other, because their lives are too long and bleak and painful not to.

As to the idea that Marius left him in the past, personally I don’t agree! 

Marius not rescuing Armand from the cult is often misunderstood in fandom, but I could see why someone would point to that as a clue that Marius has left him in the past. It’s not that simple, though. Marius is too injured to save him, doesn’t even know if he’s alive,  and by the time he finally finds Armand he finds the cult situation too complicated to navigate. Don’t forget that Marius has pretty severe religious trauma, and is one of the characters who was turned against his will. By a cult!!! So to see Armand thriving with a cult is so triggering and disappointing, and I don’t think he’s strong enough to risk being rejected if he goes to rescue Armand only to learn he no longer wishes to be rescued. 

I would say that’s very unlike leaving him in the past, it’s more like seeing him as another one that got away. 

And then when they reunite in QOTD it’s during another extremely traumatic event in Marius’s life—we don’t know details about how everyone left Night Island or where everyone went, but what we DO know is that Marius lost The Parents—>Armand attempts suicide about a decade later—>Marius commits the big B+S Fuckup shortly after learning Armand is okay—>Marius fucks off to Scandinavia with Daniel to lick his wounds because everyone’s mad at him. 

VC skips around a LOT, and there’s so much that we don’t learn about, so much that happens between books and off screen. Like, we don’t KNOW how Marius wound up with Daniel. We don’t know exactly how much longer he stuck around in New Orleans after TVA, we don’t know what he and Armand were gonna talk about in BCtu before the series ended. And that’s the enD oF IT THERE’S NOTHING ELSE!

Marius truly doesn’t leave anything in the past, that’s the thing about him.

He’s still traumatized by the way he was turned. He still tries to sculpt his identity around what his life was as a Roman. He committed to the burden of The Parents for 2000 years, even when he was overwhelmed and wished he could stop. He spends centuries painting Pandora’s face over and over and over when he can’t find her. He still thinks Mael is a bumbling redneck from the woods. He still wanted Santino killed, even when they’d been civil with each other in QOTD and up to TVA.

And in BCtu when he’s living at Court he’s like, trying to embrace himself, allowing himself to be a weirdo because he’s around his own kind now. HE QUITS PANTS, YOU KNOW WHAT? HE ALWAYS HATED PANTS, LET’S NOT. 

I think even as humans there are so many things that shape us forever, that we never really move past. Even when we leave something in the past, it shapes us, it allows us to leave it in the past. People and events in our lives carve into us, whether we like it or not!!! And part of the horror of immortality is that it goes on, and on, and on, and on, your physical body gets hard and cold and monstrous, more and more uncanny, physically impervious, but their BRAINS AND HEARTS ARE STILL TENDER!! 

So no, no, I really don’t think Marius ever left Armand in the past. I think he left him to the cult because he thought Armand wanted it, I also think he gave Armand space after a disastrous fuckup. When he goes to speak to him at the end, he says it like ARMAND is the one that’s ready. He’s waiting for Armand! Marius was there the whole time, ready to be called upon if someone needs him! He lives to serve! 

Armand was his baby and one of the great loves of his life, the first (and only) fledgling he made because he truly wanted to. Marius loves him so much!!! 

[azaharinflames]

I really thought I would be doing my post on Buck and Eddie's friendship before making this one (and I am still doing it eventually, because oh do I have opinions), but I've been seeing a lot of discourse on Eddie lately, so it motivated me to write this first.

Now, small disclaimer, I guess. Eddie is nowhere near my favorite character from the show, and from our 118 main crew, he ranks fifth on my podium (sorry for not counting Ravi here, only counting mains this time). I don't necessarily dislike him, I just feel mostly neutral about him. I do dislike his actions, and, admittedly, I do dislike how he was portrayed in some episodes in Season 7, but that's mostly regarding the buddie platonic friendship. So. No hate for Eddie. Don't love him, but don't hate him either.

And, look. One of my passions when watching a show is to analyse the fuck out of the characters, and I think Eddie is painted very clearly for us to admire. As much as the writers were at a loss on what to do with him for a long time, we can all backtrack his actions and see an explanation for them (not an excuse. But to explain them).

So. Eddie's actions.

I've seen a lot of discourse on these lately, including criticisms and opinions, and all are valid. Eddie is an incredibly flawed character, and one thing we have going on with him is that he rarely seeks change for himself. He doesn't necessarily want to grow out of those behaviors, and only does it when they reach a limit, or someone else calls him out on it. He's pushed to change, to correct his behaviors, and eventually, he does. Sometimes.

And I think Eddie's selfish actions and attitude directly result from his childhood. And I know we have somewhat little information on what it was, but we do know he had to act as the man in the house from a really young age because Ramón was always traveling. We know he's had a heavy weight on his shoulders since he was very small, and we know that weight only grew heavier once he had Christopher. He had to be a husband, a father, and a provider. We can debate if he did a good job or not, sure, but he did make an effort and a lot of sacrifices to do what he was supposed to do.

And then he gets home, and he struggles. And Shannon leaves. And his parents are pushy and a bit overbearing, and Eddie is kind of drowning. And then he moves to LA.

And it is at this point, and not before, that Eddie lets himself be selfish, in my opinion. He lets himself take from the people around him because, and this is important to note, the people around him are okay with him doing so. He's still a father, and now he's a widower. But things are different because he has a web of people who would do anything for him and Christopher, and he can sort of breathe. And perhaps it reaches a point where he's overdoing it a bit, where he does not realize he's taking too much, or not being fair. But he has not had this before, so how could he realize his actions are not necessarily right? Even more so when no one has ever told him of his wrongdoings?

I am the first to think the Buddie friendship is not 50-50. On a good day it may be 60-40, but not always. Yet, I also think Eddie is not a bad person, and that just like everyone else in the show, his actions are a result of his trauma and his childhood.

I do want the writers to have him finally find solid ground, to have an idea of who he is in the way that every single character other than him does. I do hope Season 8 can bring that to him.

Also, I am not even going to get into how he treats women, because I think that's been heavily debated, but to be clear: I think he's a terrible romantic partner and that every single one of his romantic partners deserved better. Even Shannon, and I am no fan of her.

Anyway. I hope this made sense. I'll still do a post on the Buddie friendship - too many thoughts on it not to.

[bonesandthebees]

I have watched the vod. I am losing my MIND about q!sandduo.

On one side you have q!Phil, who has been taking care of these eggs by himself for months. Who loves them very dearly. Who completely loses it when they go missing to the point of leaving all his items and running of into the woods without telling anyway for the chance to get them back. Like this man tried so hard he got stuck in a birdhouse for a week and he’s still not sure if it was actually real or not. He’s chasing every lead including the mission in the maze. And then Wilbur has the gall to imply he’s not trying hard enough and he’s to happy when the eggs are gone while on a mission to try and gather intell.

Then on the other side you have q!Wilbur, who just got here after being on tour for months. Who wrote consistent letters to his daughter for as long as he could, but couldn’t be there for here in person. And from the moment he gets there he’s overwhelmed, because there’s constant people and things requiring his attention when he just wants to see his daughter. And nobody’s catching him up on anything because no one wants to be the person to tell him his daughter is gone (and so are all the other kids). Maybe none of them think it’s there place. So when he finally gets told, he’s upset. Because he doesn’t know what’s going on, hasn’t for at least an hour, and he’s only being told his daughter is gone now? In his mind it’s more important. And they are just running around in a maze and he doesn’t get why because it’s not been explained to him. He’s so incredibly out of the loop and frustrated that he lashes out at Phil for telling him the news.

Like it’s a miscommunication plot, but it’s so well done because you can understand where both characters are coming from. Because we know what Phil’s been through, but Wilbur doesn’t. He’s missing so much information. So to then have him walk around and see all the things he’s missed, to see that he missed Tallulah’s birthday, helps him understand that maybe he did miss a lot and maybe he was wrong. I’m paraphrasing but “maybe Phil wasn’t angry that I was gone, maybe he’s angry that I left in the first place”.

Not to mention the “I wasn’t:the first to look for her but damn if I’m not gonna try” or something like that. Because he’s starting out easy. He’s starting out with the same thing he did last time he lost her, but how much further will he go when that doesn’t work? Not to mention the Lovejoy funding the island + wanting to talk to the federation thing! Like there’s a couple directions that could go and all of them are interesting.

Anyway, sorry that I just started analysing QSMP in your inbox, but I had thoughts about q!Sandduo and I know you do too.

-🌲

YESSS EXACTLY!! you can understand where both of them are coming from. phil has been tormenting himself for the past month trying to find his kids. wilbur just showed up, no one told him his daughter was missing for his entire first hour there, and everyone is laughing running around a maze while he's barely being given an explanation of what's going on. of course he thinks no one's taking it seriously.

it's a very well done miscommunication plot. I liked how they pulled it off and I think it worked out very well to give wilbur a chance to get away from the chaos and investigate what's gone on in his absence himself

I really think q!wilbur is primed for a federation plot. lovejoy (apparently) canonically works with the federation already, so they already like wilbur and will likely give him similar favoritism that they give jaiden. considering how disorganized and chaotic the players were yesterday, I can see wilbur thinking he's more likely to find his daughter by working with the federation, while being unaware of the darker things the federation has done in his absence. obviously things might go completely a different way and he could get roped into the resistance stuff through phil, but I think wilbur is in a position right now where the federation is 100% going to look like the best option. and if so, imagine the q!sandduo interactions we could get out of THAT

[soupthatistohot]

an absurdist lens is SUCH a good one to use for bsd i feel like, seeing as how it came about because of the war and so many of bsd's characters were involved in the bsd great war.

what do you think of how the great war in bsd is written looking at it through an absurdist lens

(btw your analyses are so good and interesting i love reading them!!)

Ooh this is a really interesting ask! I'll admit that I don't know much about the great war, but war itself is such an inherently absurd concept. Like, you have some issue with another country/territory, so your conclusion is to start killing each other until one of the parties taps out? It's so weird when you think about it like this.

I think the best thing I can analyze with my current knowledge is Yosano's backstory. Because the soldiers Yosano treated were forced into this never-ending loop of horror and brutality, the war kept going and going, and I think this serves as a commentary on war and its absurdity.

Absurdist storytellers often exaggerate situations that already exist in our real world in order to bring to light just how ridiculous they are. For example, in Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa wakes up as a gigantic bug, but is more concerned with the fact that he won't be able to attend work and provide for his family than finding an explanation for his circumstances. This is likely commentary on how our capitalist society forces workers to overlook their own physical wellbeing for the sake of attempting to live off of inadequate wages.

In a similar way, Asagiri does this with the concept of war, exaggerating it by forcing this group of soldiers and Yosano into this literal vicious cycle that traumatizes both parties time and time again. Living through the horror of war once is already bad enough, but imagine if you had to do it hundreds of times, wouldn't that be awful? A soldier that's been healed that many times over will have seen many more people die and killed more people than if they just died. Yosano as a nurse has to treat so, so many suffering people, and she's only like 11 at the time. And yet, isn't this what we're doing by forcing generation after generation to fight these wars because of the conflicts we keep making? It makes you question why the idea of a war even exists in the first place.

Even with the current arc we see it. The hunting dogs are military, and they're the villains! Yes, all of them but Fukuchi are misguided, but it's commentary about corruption in systems of power that are supposed to be protecting us. I'd also say Jouno and the satisfaction he derives from torture is probably some sort of commentary on police brutality. Hell, in the latest chapter, we're 30 seconds away from a nuclear warhead destroying Yokohama. If there's one thing that's completely absurd in our modern world, it's nuclear weapons that are literally world-ending.

Anyway! Anon! If you want to tell me more about the war, I'd be happy to try to analyse it based on what information you can give me, but also no pressure. I'm just worried I didn't really answer your question, but I did the best I could! I'm glad you enjoy my silly little rants :)

[mister-eames]

Hi I love your analyses :) just wanna you’re idea on first and possibly the only time before inception they executed me Charles..,eames didn’t know about it (arthur was explaining to him) so May be it was sth cobb and arthur came up with during their around the world in 80 days? and was arthur so bitter that he has never said anything to eames about it? (May be cause it reminded too much of forgery?) :)

Oooh, the Stein job! What a good question!

As you say, Mr. Charles-- unlike other concepts like 'kicks' and 'totems' in the movie--- seems to be less universal amongst dreamers - the idea of informing the mark that they are dreaming is something unique. I'm gonna go ahead and say the idea was a Cobb Special. Don't get me wrong, I respect Cobb and like his character, but this does not have Arthur written on it anywhere. This is absolutely not Arthur's brand of troubleshooting.

I rewatched that section where they mention Mr. Charles and Arthur's response is interesting. It's immediate and adamant, but also... a little hesitant? I don't want to say 'fearful', as such, but certainly not as curt as Arthur usually is - there is something a little different in his tone.

Cobb: I think we run with Mr. Charles. Arthur: No.

Maybe this reaction is because of what happened on the Stein job and he's not keen on repeating that particular type of death (being torn to pieces). Maybe it's that he thinks that suggesting Mr. Charles is dooming them all not just to failure and a painful death - but to limbo, and that horrifies him above all. Aaaand actually now I retract my earlier suggestion. I think Arthur's 'no' is very much one of fear.

Eames: So, you've done it before? Arthur: Yeah, and it didn't work. The subject realized he was dreaming his subconscious tore us to pieces.

I imagine the Stein job's mark possessed... not necessarily a militarised mind, but a spooked mind. Arthur's "we've dealt with subsecurity before" and his reaction to reviving Mr. Charles, does not suggest, to me, that it is the typical way to deal with militarisation, even for them. That perhaps the mind in the Stein job was like a frightened horse that needed a rearer to show all their hands, hoping they wouldn't get kicked in the chest by doing so - except they did.

I think... the Stein job was probably before the Mal projection became 'worse'. I don't know why but I feel like the job was maybe working with someone young. A kid, or a teenager, maybe - something that necessitated the reveal that they were dreaming, of warranting an authority figure to 'guide' them.

And it was maybe one of the first times that Arthur was killed so brutally in a dream. It seems to have left a mark on him. Maybe he'd never mentioned it to Eames because he'd rather forget it. Or because he doesn't want Eames to think less of him for going with an idea that Arthur knew was going to fail anyway. Or to reveal that he didn't know how to deal with a mind like that. Or drill down the idea that he's fallible. Or all of the above. Thank you for the thought-provoking ask, nonnie <3 I'd love to know your thoughts!!

[death-in-a-handbasket]

random but character analysis on kusuriuri?

Hmmm, there isn’t an extraordinary amount of info to work with when it comes to this man, however, I can give it my best shot with the subtext available

I would recommend that you head to @dharmafox for really good analyses, as they are the elected leading expert on this media and their posts are quite lovely and informative

Moving on, I think this man has an inclination to be a shit bastard, I mean in the original three bakeneko episodes he was ripping the men of the house a new one, which was much appreciated by everyone. His sense of justice is strong, not necessarily because he’s been wronged in the past, but more along the lines of he knows he has the ability to offer defense to those who need it and thus he will put it to good use. I believe he tries to remain an impartial audience whilst working but I do think he has an intrinsic disregard for authority and will have sympathy for whoever has been wronged, human or otherwise.

Him and Yukito are in the blondies with pipes and an affection for cats club but I also think they both share a similar issue of work/outside life separation. I mean this in the sense that they both have a distinct bluntness and detached “on the job” mannerisms that prevents the viewer from truly knowing who they are outside of their work. But outside of doing the daily slaying, I think Kusuriuri has the potential to be more of a warmer person, albeit he’s still blunt and off-putting but that just means he will narrow down who he keeps for company more often. I know that he also is prone to flirting while on the job but I think he does that more so to weasel information out of people than anything. I think actually romancing this man would involve more shit disturbing banter, but he will whip out the clothes disappearing stare on occasion (it’s utterly blindsiding).

I think his work and the fact that he’s a kitsune doesn’t leave much room for building relationships of any kind but I do think that he makes friends with people in passing. I do wonder though if this absent opportunity to live a little normally for once weighs on him. I know he takes his duties seriously and takes great pride in his work but does he ever envy the fleeting wonder of life that humans have? The whole theme of “that is a love that could not be” in nopperabou makes me inclined to wonder if some of that was projection.

Otherwise, I have several silly little shit hcs for your viewing pleasure.

For one I think this man’s sex drive is probably insane but he’s got such a good handle on it that when he does make a stop to do some whoring that whoever receives the brunt of that pent up shenanigans is not leaving the bed for some time.

I don’t think this man sleeps but given that nobody has ever been able to locate him during normal sleeping hours it’s never been proven or disproven. Schrödingers sleep schedule. I think he startles people a lot with the “oh what the fuck I didn’t know you were still up” random encounters.

While not incredibly materialistic, I do think that when he passes by shops, his attention is snagged by shiny trinket jewelry, sparklies that you don’t really need but want anyways.

I think that his bullshit detector is strong but he holds it still while working just to be sure about it, but his instincts are 99% of the time right, you can’t get much past him.

I think that it’s in his nature to be a bastard and I feel he’s probably picked someone up by the scruff of the neck at least once. I imagine he teases like a motherfucker.

[elijowa]

The Nice and Accurate Observations of Good Omens by Elijowa, Fan

Being a Close Re-Watching of Season 1 in the Light of What We Now Know from Season 2

Containing therein Analyses of Crowley, Aziraphale and their Relationship throughout the Show

Episode One

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So I have a confession to make. I've only ever watched Good Omens Season 1 twice and Season 2 once.

I know, I know, I need to get my priorities straightened out! How can I possibly be a fan if I've only got a mere 18h of watch-time under my belt? What can I say? Life keeps on getting in the way.

Anyway, I decided to treat myself with a close re-watching of Season 1 and see what jumps out at me now that we have new information from Season 2. You're very welcome to follow along or ignore these ramblings as you please!

So, without further ado, I present my thoughts on S1E1.

(Much, much more below the cut)

Let's start with the big one:

Crowley and Aziraphale don't appear to be in love - or even "in like" - during Episode 1.

So, picture this: I'm settling down with lots of warm fuzzy anticipation for all the stolen glances and hesitant hand gestures between Aziraphale and Crowley that I was sure I had either missed or forgotten about from my previous two viewings, and I make a surprising discovery:

There aren't any.

They barely seem to like each other in this episode - they are quite distant and snarky with each other (not the affectionate teasing banter that we've come to know and love, but almost a condescending snideness).

I can't see this version of Aziraphale trusting this version of Crowley to aim a live firearm at him (in fact, in the very next episode, he isn't even comfortable with the demon pointing a paintgun at him). And this version of Crowley would not dream of following Aziraphale around to help him fulfil his dream of being a professional conjuror, and actually actively discourages him from pursuing the notion (although, as many people have pointed out, it's amusing to think that this is because of happened the last time he did this).

So what gives? If there are people saying that the ending of S2E6 doesn't make sense (it does) because it betrays the millennia-long journey these characters have been on (it doesn't) - then I feel like we ought to be having that same discussion about the beginning of S1E1.

OK, OK. Obviously there are lots of 'out-of-universe' reasons for this inconsistency in the portrayal of C & A's relationship. This is the first episode of a new series and not all of the audience will be familiar with these characters; it's necessary to start them in the position of being hereditary enemies in order to give them room to grow and change; the show is a faithful adaptation of the book in which there's basically no romantic tension between the A & C at all, and Neil Gaiman is on record saying he didn't want to make any big changes this relationship, since he could sadly no longer consult with Terry Pratchett. Plus, S2 hadn't been written at this point, so there are undoubtedly details that Mr Gaiman didn't yet know with regards to the shared history of Crowley and Aziraphale while writing S1.

My current theory is that the infamous "You go too fast for me Crowley" line was NOT Aziraphale saying "please be patient with me because I need more time to catch up to where you are in our relationship". Rather, it was him saying, "I can't keep doing this. It was fun while it lasted but it's time I grew up, faced reality and put this silly little crush behind me. So goodbye forever." And he meant it.

But where's the fun in just talking about real-world reasons when we can come up with lots of juicy headcanons instead?!

From Crowley's point of view, I think that by now he'd be used to Aziraphale having periodic wobbles about their friendship. And so, from experience, he knows the best way to handle it is to back all the way off until Aziraphale has 'completed his process', is ready to re-engage again - maybe in a couple of hundred years - and things can go back to what Crowley thinks of as normal.

But knowing all this doesn't make it any less hurtful or frustrating to be rejected because of who he is. So maybe Crowley throws himself back into his bad boy role with a bit more venom than usual - still not doing anything directly evil per se, just enough to tick the boxes on some Hellish paperwork (bringing down mobile networks, designing the M25). Maybe he's more likely to foment discontent while simultaneously not really caring about anything he does either way, because what's even the point if he doesn't have his angelic foil around to wind up/impress?

And normally they would both have about a century or two to successfully work through their respective feelings, and so when they eventually reconnect they can slip back into their comfortable familiarity with relative ease. But the birth of the Antichrist screws up this schedule, truncates both of their coping processes, and means neither of them are quite ready to be best buds again. Hence their 'more prickly than what we might expect' attitudes towards each other in Episode One.

Hooo boy. I feel like I've barely even got half way through all the things I noticed and want to talk about in S1E1, but I think I need to save it for another time or we'll be here for all ineffable eternity. Well done if you made it this far and thanks for coming along for the ride!

[thelordofgifs]

Anyway some thoughts on part 18 of tfs because sometimes self care is lying in bed on a Saturday morning analysing your own fic. I like this part a lot actually, but it’s also very self-indulgent. There is a battle going on outside and I should be dealing with that! But instead I am going to make the little guys have dramatic conversations!

So this part is mostly about slowing the plot down for a bit to do character work – for Maedhros and Maglor mainly, Fingon and Curufin are both involved but I wasn’t really focusing on what’s going on in their heads here. Maglor in particular has a lot to do in part 18. Since the stabbing he has generally been very Wise and Kind and Patient which is all quite nice but also! I wanted him to be snappy! I wanted him to be determined to save Curufin’s life and also be SO annoyed that he has to do it! I wanted him to verbally rip Curufin to absolute shreds, which. I think he did. Better than Fingon managed, anyway. Maglor knows how to hit at Curufin’s worst insecurities – his weird relationship with his father’s legacy, and the fact that his son disowned him – and he does just that. Without spoiling too much, I am setting stuff up with Maglor and Curufin and am SO glad I get to write them interacting now; it’s a brotherly relationship that fascinates me.

Anyway still on Maglor: he isn’t doing very well. Because! being stabbed by your brother whom you love more than anyone else in the world because he thought you were literally Sauron is Intensely Traumatic! But also he has no idea how to deal with this at all. Because he isn’t angry with Maedhros – he knows it isn’t Maedhros’ fault – but he also can’t forget. And he’s started flinching when Maedhros moves suddenly and he doesn’t mean to but he can’t stop. Almost all the conversation between Maedhros, Maglor and Fingon is from Maedhros pov – with a little omniscient head-hopping because I’m allowed to do that – but there was a lot I was trying to get across about Maglor’s emotional state too. He’s deeply unhappy basically. And that’s important because the story has focused so much on what’s going on in Maedhros’ head – and will be again now that he’s remembered – but he is not the only person with a lot going on atm.

But also, Maedhros! The central conversation of part 18, in which he confronts Fingon and Maglor, was very important to me. Maedhros has not had much agency lately. (In fact, for such a central character, he’s had very little agency throughout tfs. He’s much more reactive than the other protagonists: he doesn’t cause plot events so much as respond to them.) So I wanted him to be rightly frustrated by all the secret-keeping, and even to take it out a bit on the two of them. Particularly snapping at Maglor felt quite necessary – Maedhros and Maglor have been very gentle with each other throughout the story, but they do still have Tension sometimes. And then when he finds out about the whole cancelling-the-patrols thing, he’s initially upset, but by the time Fingon finds him he’s gone kind of composed and existential about it instead. I like Maedhros to be unpredictable, even to those who know him best: they don’t really have any idea how he might react to any given piece of information. (This is a quality of his I think is quite strongly based in canon. Abdicating, standing aside at Losgar, forming the Union instead of going after Lúthien, even searching for Eluréd and Elurín: he tends to do the unexpected.)

Anyway, it was important I got all this character work in now, because of course we are now at the Revelation and once again into very high angst territory. It’ll be fun!

[quodekash]

tis friday night, aka the third night in a row im staying up past midnight for a bl and its gonna be like this for the next five weeks so id better get used to the exhaustion (send help), aka ABAAB NIGHT LETS GOOO

threezo my lovelies pls exist this episode

did he get prettier over the last week or did i just forget what he looks like

bc either way this man is very pretty

suspector #1

suspector #2

jack as a gossip icon was a pleasant surprise in this show but im living for it

bro there so tender with each other im gonna cry

i think i forgot what everyone looked like cos every single character feels 10x prettier than they already were (and everyone was already at optimum pretty) and i love it

i love how much more casual gun has become with his employees, it makes me happy

BOY

MY BOY

MY BOY WITH THE EYEBROWS

HELLO DRAKE HOW ARE YOU ON THIS FINE FRIDAY (typing this out at literally 11:59pm so its still friday)

okay its now wednesday but HOW ARE YOU DRAKA SATTABUT LAEDEKE, ILY

his luscious eyebrows are furrowed

in anger

he is angry

ah shoot pls chill bro

MY BOYS THREEZO HELLO

hell yes flashback time, lets get a good insight into the characters so that we can aggressively analyse them later

they always looks so comfy with each other what the hell

bRO you fell asleep ON THE BEACH?? what if high tide had caught up to them? they wouldve drowned in their sleep

nice visual (but soundwin did it first btw)

there are people already swimming.

these people walked past these two grown-ass men sleeping on the sand on the beach, fast asleep, in formal button-up shirts, where theyd clearly been all night. and no one said anything.

you can do it you luscious locked lovely boi, i believe in you

(you thought you were free from the obsession of the hair but you were WRONG, his hair is now and forever and always and all of time)

im just now noticing his earrings, that's awesome

the hair look at the hair look at his hair i love his hair

FLUFFY FLUFFY HAIR

THREEZOTHREEZO

i love them i love them i love them i love them

THE LAYERS TO THIS

HIS SERIOUS EXPRESSION

SAYING 'MY BOYFRIEND ZO' INSTEAD OF JUST ZO, SO THAT EVERYONE KNOWS THEYRE DATING JUST IN CASE ANYONE FORGOT

AND KNOWING ZO'S FAVOURITE RJIDGFNRN

absolutely he does

IM DYING

i freaking love jack so much

he knows what's going on between them. and he loves and appreciates and accepts it, but he's been getting so much pressure from the other workers to talk to cher because theyre friends, and he doesnt want to invade but he doesn't want anything bad to happen to either his friend or his boss

why is the man so pretty

i genuinely dont understand it, this man and his hair are so pretty

"i used to have a lover too. i know how painful it is to lose someone." BRO WHAT THE HELL??? WE WERE NOT TOLD THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE EXPAND UPON THIS

snack is good. yummy nom noms. eat them eat them you eat them and then poop them out yum yum yum

i need to go to bed

i love him probably too much

BISEXUAL SITTING??

noooo we barely got any threezo todayyy (if i were more awake id be outraged by this but im having trouble just keeping my head up so i'll get to that anger in the morning)

im surprised we didnt get a sponsorship for cleaning gun's punch wound

anyway ive been on the verge of falling asleep this whole episode so im gonna go to sleep now and hopefully catch up on three days of not-enough-sleep

goodnight folks!

[sophiie2000]

The Only Woman He Could Ever Marry

Shu Hasunuma x MC

Shu realises something has happened to his wife at work, before she can even confide in him, how does he come to her rescue?

~ 2364 words

Disclaimer - Characters belong to Voltage Inc

Hurried steps bashed along the pavement. The sound of shoes meeting the hard floor sounded almost jolly in tune. You could hear the skip in the owner’s step. 

Shu could not hide the smile forming on his face. The thought of returning home to his IRL wifey had him behaving like an excitable pup. 

Before he was married, going home meant he could finally shed the princely façade, hop into his oversized green tracksuit and play video games for hours upon hours. 

Yet now he got to enjoy the thrill of doing all that, with the woman he loved. With the woman who loved him. The real him. 

When he entered his front door, his jovial mood came to an abrupt holt. He knew immediately that something was wrong. 

Call it a husband’s intuition, or the fact he could analyse the information he had managed to accumulate over the course of their co-habitation, the logistics did not matter. Shu knew something was wrong. All based on a few little differences. 

First, upon opening the door, he could not smell the delish aroma of whatever meal his wife was making for their dinner tonight. Nor could he hear her pottering about in the kitchen. 

Secondly, there was no music playing. No humming along from the woman he loved. Which meant he would not be graced with the view of his wife dancing around the kitchen, singing whatever song was next in her playlist. 

And finally, she was not there to greet him. 

These three facts told Shu that something wasn’t right. Forgoing his usual ritual of putting his bag by his desk and heading to the bedroom to change into his oversized tracksuit, he dropped his belongings and started going in and out of the rooms of their apartment. 

It was a small apartment, cosy and plenty for the two of them, so it did not take him long to search each room. Finally, Shu came to the final room of the apartment to check. MC’s old room. They had all but forgone staying in separate rooms once their relationship had become a true one. 

Upon approach, he found the door slightly ajar. The sound of his wife talking quietly on the phone while crying came through the open crack. He could hear every devastating word his wife spoke. Her words crushing him.

“I don’t know what to do Yuiko… I’m not sure how much more I can take. I always thought I was strong… stronger than this. But their words hurt. Hearing they don’t think I am good enough for him, that he deserves someone skinnier, prettier and smarter… I ignored them to begin with but now it’s too much. When they just spoke about my looks I ignored them. It didn’t matter what they saw in my looks, that’s all superficial anyway. But now they’re trying to sabotage my work. You should have seen Mr Kasai’s and Kuranosuke’s faces when I had to inform them that I didn’t have the materials they wanted. Who would have thought they would go as far as to destroy my back up copies too?”

Shu went to move away from the door before he heard his wife’s next words, stopping him in his tracks.

“No of course I haven’t told Shu about this… no I’m not going to, he doesn’t need to be worrying about this. I just came home to grabs some bits to go back to the office. I need to finish those files again before 9 am tomorrow so I’ll be staying over at the office all night. God, I hope Shu doesn’t ask too many questions, he’ll probably be disappointed in me too…”

Shu could listen no more. His wife was breaking, and that hurt him too. But what hurt more was she still felt unable to talk to him. After everything they went through before, she was going to keep something like this from him.

Shu knew his wife wouldn’t confide in him, not yet. But now he knew, he couldn’t pretend he was none the wiser. Especially not when she was getting reprimanded and having to work late to try fix a problem that was not her fault. 

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialled a number he hardly ever used anymore. After a few rings, a gruff voice answered on the other end. 

“Kuranosuke, it’s Shu. Yes… I need to talk to you about the situation with MC earlier today. You are still at the office? Splendid, myself and MC will actually be on our way back shortly, if you could wait for me there, I would appreciate it. Mr Kasai too if he is still there.” 

Hanging up the phone, Shu announced himself loudly. Making it appear as though he had only just returned home. He was ready to be her support. Even if she would be none the wiser to it right now. 

Shu had informed his wife that he needed to go back to the office. When she had told him she too needed to return, he took her hand and insisted they journey together. Her eyes showed the tell-tale signs that she had been crying, but Shu politely ignored them. He knew his wife wouldn’t appreciate him pointing out her red eyes, and puffy nose. A sight he, however, found endearing. 

When they arrived that the office, Shu noticed how MC cowered from the harsh glare she received from Kuranosuke as she hurried to her desk, immediately beginning to work on her files. Shu felt the room go cold, understanding fully why they called Kuranosuke the blizzard. 

“Shu.” Kuranosuke spoke, directing a glance towards the conference room. “Kunihiro is already waiting for us inside.” 

Nodding once, Shu followed the other man towards the conference room. When he entered he Kunihiro offered him a polite smile, although Shu could sense the tension rolling off him. Evidently the files were a lot more important than Shu was aware of.

“Shu, what can we do for you? I hear you phone Kuranosuke and asked for us both directly” Kunihiro got straight to the point. His face was now in business mode. 

“Mr Kasai… Kuranosuke. Before I begin, I must stress the fact my wife is unaware I am having this conversation with you… in truth she is unaware that I overheard her conversation regarding the matter…” Shu began glancing out the conference room towards MC’s desk.

“So this is regarding MC.” Kuranosuke grumbled. Despite his tone, there was a hint of concern in the glance he directed towards the woman sitting at her desk.

“She was set up. And it is my fault” Shu blurted out. This earned him shocked looks from his superiors. Thinking it best he explains, he continued. “MC hasn’t confided in me, but I overheard a phone call she was having this evening with her friend. Truthfully it is also the reason I am aware that some files she was supposed to hand you did not find their way into your hands.” 

“That is correct. MC was supposed to have the finished files complete and on my desk at 3 pm this afternoon. However, not only did she come empty handed saying she had misplaced them, she then informed me that she had not saved any back up files, so there was nothing. The client is expecting a meeting regarding these files at lunchtime tomorrow. I need those files at 9 am latest tomorrow to salvage some sort of meeting.” Kunihiro was evidently furious. But Shu could tell from his tone, he didn’t believe MC had told him everything.

“You say she was set up… how?” Kuranosuke asks.

“Since we announced our marriage, she has been being harassed. From what I heard her telling her friend, it started out as comments about her appearance. Her looks, her weight… those sorts of things.” Shu was evidently uncomfortable that his wife had endured something similar to what he had at school. The difference being, to him she was perfect. Shaking his head, he continued. “But now, they are beginning to try ruin her work. Taking files was the beginning. Making it look like she had misplaced them. Now they are taking the files, and destroying the back up ones. Putting her in situations like the one she finds herself in now.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell us this earlier?” Kunihiro asked, looking at the other two men.

“MC isn’t that sort of person. She doesn’t like getting others into trouble. She hates confrontations. She is kind. She would take all the blame, if it would prevent someone else getting any grief.” Kuranosuke spoke. 

Shu nodded. Kuranosuke had described his wife in a nutshell perfectly. 

“Very well. I best go help MC with these files. It was not her fault that I had employees who think it is ok to knock others down. Kuranosuke, keep an eye on the floor over the next week. I want to be the first to know of any employee sabotaging others. Shu, thank you for informing us of this. I didn’t think MC was incompetent at her job and I was struggling to find an explanation for such an out of character lapse in judgement, so I am glad you informed us. I will personally be speaking with MC about the matter and how we hope to resolve it going forward. Gentlemen, if you would excuse me, I have an employee to help” Kunihiro declared. 

As he set off to walk, both Kuranosuke and Shu followed behind. They too would help. The more hands, the quicker the work would finish. 

MC evidently had heard their approaching footsteps. She looked up and cowered slightly at the intimidating sight of the three of them together. 

“Mr Kasai, Sir, I am so sorry about the mess I have made. I promise you, these files will be done and on your desk by 9 am.” MC stumbled over her words, her voice trembling still from the tears she had cried earlier this evening. 

“MC. No apologies. It was brought to my attention that this was not your fault, and frankly I did not believe you would have had such a lapse in judgement. We are here to help you, let’s get those files completed before the night is out so you can get home” He offered her a kind smile. One MC returned gratefully. 

Her eyes drifted to meet her adoring husband. He offered her a slight smile, one that told her he had been the one to inform the others of something being wrong. She didn’t know how he knew, but she mouthed him a grateful thank you before directing her gaze back to her computer screen. 

Five hours later, and the clock was dangerously close to signalling a new day. The printer fell silent. A chorus of soft sighs waved across the room. The group had successfully compiled the files that were needed for the meeting. 

Kuranosuke and Shu had worked on half, while Kunihiro and MC had worked on the other. During that time, Kunihiro had questioned MC about what had really happened. When she had divulged the details of what she had been experiencing, Kunihiro was both angry at his subordinate, but also grateful MC had felt she could talk with him truthfully now. 

Instructing Shu and MC to return home, Kuranosuke stated he and Kunihiro could manage the rest. Maybe it was his way of being polite, knowing the couple needed to talk, nonetheless Shu was grateful. Grasping his wives had tightly in his own, he headed towards the elevator. 

 The journey home had been peaceful. Shu had kept a firm hold on MC’s delicate hand, rubbing his thumb over her hand, caressing her fingers. As soon as they returned home, MC headed straight into the bathroom, showering before heading into their bedroom. 

Shu was already waiting for her in their bed. He listed the edge of the duvet, beckoning MC into his warm embrace. Once she snuggled into his chest, he finally felt himself relax, releasing a sigh he hadn’t realised he had been holding. 

“How did you know something like that had happened Shu?” MC asked the question she had silently been stewing over since the three men had agreed to help her. 

“I heard you on the phone earlier. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know anything, but I knew you would never ask me for my help. I’m sorry for going behind your back, but I wish you would have felt like you could confide in me. Or been honest with Kunihiro and Kuranosuke!”

“I know, I’m sorry Shu. I thought I could handle them without giving them any attention. But I guess I couldn’t… I just wanted to show you, you married the right person. When they suggested you should have married someone better, I was upset. I wanted to prove them wrong.” MC murmured her confession into his chest. Shu felt his chest warm and a blush tinge his cheeks. 

“MC… You are the only woman I could ever marry. You will always be the best decision I made. I love you” His confession fell from his lips easily, despite the furious blush tinging his cheeks. 

He tightened his embrace on his wife. No way in hell was he going to let her look at his face right now. If he could feel the blush, he knew she would be able to see it. 

However, she seemed to revel in his embrace, and she nuzzled in closer, inhaling his scent.

“I love you, too, Shu. And thank you for coming and helping me” Her words vibrated through him. Warming him right to his core.

The usual happy feeling he felt when he held his wife close filling him to the brim. 

He may not have been able to enjoy their usual evening of watching his wife sing and dance in their kitchen, welcome him home, cook him food, or play video games together. 

But so long as he could hold her in his arms come nightfall, well, that would be a blissful end to another day married. 

Married to the only woman he could ever marry.

[heinzpilsner]

Okay, here's the... third? second? - anyway, another part of analysing Maiko interactions in "The Beach" series.

Because I absolutely hate myself, apparently! Yay!

This part is kinda intermediate - today we'll look at the beginning of the party events in all their depressing glory.

But before analysing Maiko interactions themselves, we need to dissect Zuko's weirdly... passionate relationship with Ruon-Jian for the sake of the context.

(Ugh, who chose this guy's name? I couldn't remember its spelling properly and had to copy it every time! Your parents should be cursed for it, Rohn-Juhn!)

Anyway, our characters enter Chan's house and are greated by Ruon-Jian, who for some reason is an object of Zuko's special attention now, apparently.

"Hey! First ones here, huh?" "He thinks he's so great!"

That's a bit of... intense reaction for such a casual greeting, I'd say.

But when I think about it, it kinda... makes sense?

So far, Ruon-Jian did three notable things:

1) Had the audacity to be a popular guy who didn't want to invite Zuko at first;

2) Invited Mai personally to the party (in a pretty casual manner though);

3) Checked his hair several times.

Okay, now, when Zuko's antipathy looks much more reasonable (I bet it was the hair thing that did it to him!), let's return to the characters' lines.

The next thing Zuko does is addressing Mai about Ruon-Jian in a conversational manner:

"Well, what do you think of him?"

He actually sounds calm, but the question is downright childish. I mean, what kind of answer he expected from Mai?

"His haircut is awful"?

"Socially adapted boys are so boring?"

"You're so much greater than him, Zuko"?

"You're my forever boy"?

Mai agrees with me in my bewilderment.

"I don't have any opinion about him. I hardly know him." "You like him, don't you?"

And here it is!

Honestly, this accusation always sounded so out of the blue for me!

I mean, Mai didn't even look at the guy that much! The only one who seemed to be oddly fixated on Ruon-Jian so far was Zuko himse...

Wait a minute.

Zuko, are you... projecting?

Ta-da! What a twist!

But no, I'm just fooling around here. I mean, I wouldn't judge him if he were, but as we learn in the next part of the analysis, this is not the message that the episode really tried to deliver.

(Which makes this scene pretty awkward.)

To detect the reason behind Zuko's bizarre jealousy, let's consider some facts about the character:

The previous three years probably didn't make him especially confident about his appearance (Did he overlook all those swooning girls on the beach? Who knows, it's kinda weird);

When it comes to equal status informal interactions, Zuko is totally unsocialized. He never had an opportunity to learn how to earn respect of his peers without fighting or throwing his title around. So, it makes his position in normal teenager hierarchy relatively low;

Actually, if I remember correctly, the only non-enemy teenage boy Zuko previously interacted onscreen was Jet, and... It kinda was all about business and ended in disaster anyway?

Zuko is pretty awkward in romance, and his relationship with Mai is not exactly in its best stage now.

the best stage was in seasons 1 and 2 if you ask me

So, when Zuko can't be a prince, but forced to be just a boy among other boys in front of Mai, he feels insecure and threatened, even If he doesn't reflect on it properly.

But there's one guy around who seems to have no problems with getting respect from his peers, as well as concerns about his appearance.

The guy who also happened to invite Zuko's girlfriend to the party.

Basically, Ruon-Jian is... Zuko's new Zhao? Only from the world of teenage romance and socialization.

... And this context kinda turns Mai into either a new Avatar or a new Ozai* (yep, again). Which is... kinda cursed, I agree.

(*I mean, outwardly the competition between Zhao and Zuko was about catching the Avatar. But catching the Avatar for Zuko was mostly just a way of getting his father's love back. So, Zhao in this context can be considered as someone who tried to steal Ozai's love from Zuko. Just like Ruon-Jian in Zuko's mind tries to steal Mai's love.)

Geez, it was weird. I didn't plan to dig that deep!

But whatever.

One way or another, right now Zuko feels pretty undermined - and this is on top of his generally bad emotional state lately.

Alright! It all sounds... quite logical to me now, actually (even although seeing Zuko like this is not exactly pleasant).

The only problem though is that half of these things weren't addressed in the actual episode previously.

The show doesn't make accent on Zuko's reaction when Ruon-Jian invites Mai, and instead of showing Zuko's insecurity about his appearance, it shows us girls swooning over him.

So, Zuko's jealousy streak looks quite random - not to mention unmotivated. Mai literally didn't give him a single reason to suspect her interest in Ruon-Jian.

I dunno, perhaps Mai can be hard to read for Zuko sometimes, but she's not that unreadable! That way, he could imagine any random feelings and intentions behind her poker face and accuse her of it.

"You want to smear a platypus bear with mayonnaise and tie it to the chandelier, don't you, Mai?" would sound about as legitimately at this point.

and I have no idea why it's the first thing that came to my mind

Seriously though, there is no respect or trust for Mai in Zuko's behaviour whatsoever. Basically, he just ignored the lack of evidence, as well as Mai's own answer, completely.

But what kind of relationship can you build without respect or trust?

If he just doesn't believe Mai's words even though she didn't lie to him before, what is she supposed to do?

On the other hand, can you really blame Zuko for doubting Mai's love after the way she treated him recently?

So, instead of reacting to the real situation with the real people, he's stuck too deep in his own head, where he's never good enough, and all the resources inevitably end up in the hands of zhaos*, while all the love is slipping away.

In his mind, Zuko is in the process of losing another battle.

(*Hmm, on the other hand, his rivalry with Azula should run much deeper than with Zhao. I dunno, both versions kinda work, when I think about it.)

Of course, this is just my far-fetched interpretation - Zuko's irrationality could have different mechanisms behind it. But all I can really think about is either this, or... suppressed bisexuality hypothesis? Or both. Oh my.

...Anyway, the boy is clearly not okay.

Mai isn't going to address the problems though - she just sighs heavily and walks away. Perhaps she's planning to wait until Zuko ends up in a less distressing environment to... just stop worrying and forget about it?

Well, good luck with this strategy, girl. I'm sure with Zuko in such a state it will lead you to fantastic results.

But so far, it's calm before the storm.

...And we'll look at the storm in the next disastrous parts of the 'Analyzing beach Maiko' series, because I can't take more of this torture today, apparently!

Thanks for your attention?..

I still ignore all the notifications.

(Kinda didn't expect that I'll manage to find not just one, but two hypotheses of Zuko's irrationality here, lol. I wonder whether it was a writer's intention, or this meaning kinda worked out in itself in spite of sloppy writing.)

[justin-peudeau]

WHY MADOVICH IS ANOTHER FORESHADOW OF TSERRIESNICH'S ANCIENT PERSONALITY

Everyone notice in this last chapter that Madovich just had the apparence of a buff Tserriednich.

BUT.

We really need to unstack each information contained in this page to better understand this. Togashi isn't just presenting a wish version of the main antagonist in this arc just for the joke (even if I laugh hard when I first saw him...like... buff Tserrie 🤣😂🤣😂)

Anyways, we will see in one hand how Madovich's presentation stands out from others before further analysis. Of course, all the descriptions are important for the scenario, but the more we discover bonuses on the Madovich one, the more we will be certain that this particular character is essential in the plot of the story and what important role will he plays in it.

As you can see each bodyguards describes themselves with 2 bubbles. One with their name and their affiliation with Tyson. One with a quick synopsis of their character roleplay.

Those 4 peoples don't have the exact same case space (Himanse's case>Hyuga's>Planet Muni Prince's>Enzel's) but their are all next to each other by pair.

Their character are all none violent one in the fisrt aspect.

Now Madovich part (🔥□🔥)

Madovich is the first one introduced. He have the 2 bubbles speach but doesn't talk in the naming part because Tyson do it.

Madovich's case side with nobody's, just the prince's chamber number. Plus, his case is waaaay larger than the others. He seems to have an aura around him while the others don't have any trace.

Finally, the character he plays is a violent one since he can only wield a gun. His background illustration (the only white on black one) even shows trace of blood.

.................................

So he is special...ok...but why in the living freak does Madovich means !??!?!

In my opinion, Madovich is really supposed to mirror how Tyson views his big brother : a very brutal but lost soul.

Madovich's character implies that he doesn't feel worthy enough to be useful to someone again. He don't even know why he forget his past all of a sudden and why the only remanant memory just have a destructive use. In the end, it's like if he is forgiven for his past and present sins because a force that he can't control prevents him to be himself. (And don't get me started over the gun wielding which is a direct parralel with Tserrie's past accident bc I this element alone just give so much information in the Tyson-Tserrie relashionship 🤯).

In conclusion, I am 99% sure that Tyson knows atleast about Tserrie incident. And I am 100% sure that before this Tserrie and Tyson actually bond pretty well in the past. Because, why does she want to forgive her brother's cruelty while she doesn't forgives her mother's one ? Why does she persuade herself that current Tserrie is a good guy who just forgot about himself and not the psycho everyone sees. Madovich character defenetively exposes her will to reunites with her brother again no matter what he did, because the love she have toward the 4th prince is stronger than her natural hatred against violence.

And THAT means something about Tserriednich's ancient personality, a mindset that created bonds so strong that even after drastically changing, the people (with whom you cut off) who loved you for who you were before still loves you for who you are now.

.

.

.

Tserrie have so many enemies but also so many friends that care for him Harkenburg, Tubeppa, the 5 bodyguards in the 3th level, Volksen and now Tyson. I love how the main antagonist have the most fanclub members in canon and he isn't even aware of it 😂🤣.

Anyways I know that I don't express myself correctly sometimes so don't hesitate to ask questions if you don't understand a point. And it will be an honor for me if you analyse something that I didn't mention 🤩.

Ok ok I stop talking for now on bye guys 👋

[abysscronica]

I hope it's ok to ask, I noticed you don't interact with many blogs or fandom discourse in general. Is there a reason?

Okay, I've received a couple of asks and DMs more or less revolving around this topic, so I'm going to address it here.

My blog's main goal is to interact with my existing readers, since all my stories are on AO3 and Wattpad (I've only posted a couple here). I use it to answer your questions on my writings, the characters, and whatever you guys want to ask me, and I love it. Of course I'm happy if I get some more readers from Tumblr, but that's not my primary aim here, at least for now.

It would be great to use this page to expand my followers, but I barely have time to actually write these days, so unfortunately, at the moment, I can't afford to spend any to curate this space... except for answering your asks. (on this regard, I know I'm months late for some, please don't lose hope, everything is there and will be worked on eventually!)

That said, even if I do get time to dedicate to my tumblr at some point, it'll probably be ordering my posts and posting my other stories, not much more. Before I go into more details on my thoughts on fandom discourse and fics/headcanons, let me repeat the usual disclaimer...

The ones below represent my very personal views. They are not right or wrong, and it absolutely does not mean I disapprove of different views. I encourage you all to enjoy the fandom experience and community in the way you see fit, as long as it's not damaging you or anyone else.

Fandom discourse. I... simply don't really care about it. I'm talking mainly about One Piece, but this can apply to any content I enjoy. Here's how my experience goes: I read the manga, the SBS, watch the anime, consume basically any content available. I follow a couple of OP youtubers talking about every little thing, from chapter reviews to any kind of news (Tekking101 and Sawyer7mage). Then I write fanfictions based on all the knowledge accumulated, of course expanding into my personal headcanons. This pretty much satiates my thirst for content and need for sources.

Obviously I enjoy talking about OP with other fans, especially like-minded ones such as Kid Pirates fans. Buuuut being an active part of the community can also be exhausting. I'm sure you know there's a lot of Kid dissing going on for example, and Kid fans are often caught in battles to defend him. I honestly don't want to take part into it, because I don't think other people's feelings about a character should influence my experience of the show anyway, so I don't care about changing their mind either. I just... wanna do my own thing and share it with my mutuals & readers.

Analyses, meta, theories. Honestly, the two OP youtubers I follow (plus Arthur's posts on Twitter) fulfill this need in a very comprehensive way. I've yet to see a single tumblr post that comes even close to their insights (but if you know some, feel free to point me in that direction, I'll be happy to check them out). They often even contain inaccurate information. I do reblog whatever I deem interesting though, and I'll gladly answer to anything if you wanna know about my thoughts.

Fics & headcanons. Once again, I'll always be super happy to share my content with you guys. I cannot accept fic requests but feel free to ask for any headcanon you may be interested in!

As for other people's stuff. I said this before, unfortunately I'm a terribly picky reader (this does not only apply to fics, but to literature in general). The slightest hint of "unjustified" OC, a Mary Sue trait on a MC, too many cliches, a writing style that does not catch me... I'll scroll ahead. I know many will roll their eyes at this, and they are right, but I just won't impose something I don't fully enjoy to myself, not with my limited spare time. But writers should write whatever they want and I'll never be unsupportive of that, even if it's not my jazz! The stuff I read and enjoyed, I reblog.

This should be all I have to say on the matter. If you have any further question, feel free to send and ask.

[chaotictarlos]

Hi I'm the Love-interest anon. First off, I'm really sorry, I realise based on your response that my phrasing of that ask meant things to you that I totally did not mean. I knew even then that you've never interpreted Carlos as just a Love Interest. And I absolutely was not meaning to call you out or criticise you or anything, though I can see now why my words would have sounded that way to you.

I want to clarify that I wasn't using the term 'love interest' as just someone who the main character sleeps with. I meant it more like, a proper fully loving partner but someone whom we as the audience know much less about, compared to TK. Not the quality of info, but the quantity. Which just unconsciously made ME treat TK as the Main Character.

When I had these thoughts a few days back about my whole love-interest-perception thing, the realisation itself made me uncomfortable because I wasn't aware I'd been thinking about these characters this way. I genuinely thought that I loved and valued both characters equally and could not figure out in the beginning why I was so uncomfortable with S4. And it wasn't a nice feeling realising that I'd had this weird unconscious bias. My knee-jerk reaction to discomfort, much like Carlos, is usually to just avoid it. And I didn't want to lose 911LS, so the way I've tried to rationalise it in my head is - I wasn't completely in the wrong or narrow-minded when I watched the show. I just fell into some of the traps that this type of storytelling can lead to, taking everything shown just as is rather than analysing the characters in equal ways. Like, in my head, screentime translated to how much I thought about the characters basically, so they all fell into typical tropes and boxes. And now I know I need to change some of those notions if I still want to enjoy the show, and step 1 is to actively look at Carlos as beyond just being a love interest.

I saw you mention Carlos-being-treated-as-a-Love-Interest and my thought process in sending in that ask to you was literally just "hey I did that too, but I'm trying to move away from it, let me tell this person why I did and how I realised since they're talking about this". So when I used terms like "this is valid" and "that's false" it was to describe my internal dialogue, and absolutely not to call you out at all.

Anyways, I realise I'm rambling again in this ask too, and since that hasn't gone well already once, I'll stop. I'm just really sorry that I made you feel overwhelmed, and maybe attacked in a way? I didn't mean to. I should have reread the word-vomit once to see how it would sound to you before I hit send.

Hey! Thank you for the clarification! I think, based on this, that we had miscommunication based on terms and our understanding of things. The way I've always viewed "love interest" is someone who is literally just there to be arm candy, etc. That's how I've seen it used in the past in fandoms and by people. Thank you for clarifying what your definition was! That puts things in a different look now!

It can be very hard at times to get what we mean across in a text format.

I think it's good to be made uncomfortable by shows that we adore. Sometimes we hold biases that we don't even know that we hold until we're made to look at them and face them.

I was overwhelmed by just the amount of information in the ask, I try to be transparent in things like that. In no means, do I not want you to send lengthy asks - I do enjoy them and responding to them! It was my way of saying why it took me awhile to reply to it.

I truly do appreciate you clarifying things! I tried hard to not come across as attacking you, and had friends read it over to see if it gave off those vibes - I hope it didn't. Feel free to ramble in my inbox or DMs at anytime!

Discussion is good! And, in my case, helps me to analyze a show and characters that I love dearly.

I hold no negative thoughts towards you and appreciate the opportunity to delve deeper. 💙

[harukamitsuki]

Okay. Wow. What the hell.

I feel as though you purposefully inferred the worst information possible.

'Missed potential' because there was. You bring up quirk discrimination and the kid you use to do it, Shinsou Hitoshi, is a douchebag quirkist whose comments on his quirk were basically 'cool quirk but don't use that on me'. That is missed potential. We could have seen the societal and mental impacts of having a so-called villainous quirk but we never did.

Boiling down complaints as missed potential to 'the writer didn't write the story the way I wanted' is wrong. Missed potential means that the author set things up and never delivered. Missed potential means awe, shucks; that's disappointing. The point of mha being a cluster of missed potential means that there's a lot of missing depth in his world building and lore.

I'm talking about the fact that Eri can rewind the state of a person's body, but could rewind All Might to his prime or Aizawa'a leg and eye back or rewind the dead? Nope, she's only kept and used for Mirio.

Also, it's highly ironic that you called me American because I am British. I'm saying that it's stupid that the kids had to wait for a hero to say 'yeah you can use your quirks in this life or death situation' when they could have just used it from the beginning and had Aizawa or someone claim they gave them permission. Also, self-defence is not American exclusive, so I don't know where you got that from.

I will say, self-defence in Japan is very finicky, so I will give you that. If that's even a point you trying to make? But I guess not.

That comment about me being curious about a system mha set up, with the title literally being mostly 'hero ACADEMIA'. Um. Yeah. I am sooo sorry I wanted some academia in my hero academia.

You say I can't analyse fiction and story telling because 'of course dabi will fight endeavour'. I never said he shouldn't. I'm saying that the narrative completely forgoes Shouto by focusing more on Endeavour's mindset. Shouto is no longer the main character in his own storyline, much like Izuku is no longer the main character in his story. I'm so sorry I didn't want to see an abuser become the main character in his victim's story.

By the way, you basically threw out any lasting respect I had for you with that line about Bakugou. Which is mighty impressive considering I didn't think I had much left to lose after you basically just insulted me again and again for having an opinion.

I am not against character written to be bad people. I love them, in fact! Many of my favourite characters in other media are complete scumbags who are not worth any redeeming and they don't care. They own their horrid ways and are fully aware of how depraved they are. And the narrative acknowledges this. They don't write them to be good, they write them to be entertaining.

But Bakugou? Horikoshi just keeps giving him everything again and again. Yes, Bakugou has had bad things happen to him, such as being chained at the sports festival (that was pretty shitty of UA) and getting kidnapped and literally dying at one point. But nothing as a direct consequence of his shitty actions.

I can see that he's become somewhat better. I can see how he has a begrudging respect for some of his classmates. And yes. I know he 'apologised'.

It also takes over ten years and hundreds of chapters for Bakugou to finally refer to Izuku by his real name. His apology was full of insults blaming All Might for Izuku's self-sacrificial tendencies, had all of 1-A corner and beat Izuku into submission, and didn't even fully explain what he did to Izuku.

You know why? Because Horikoshi didn't want to deal with the fact that the best way to deal with your abuser is to leave.

Bakugou didn't earn that apology and it was shitty apology anyway. It wasn't an apology for Izuku, it was to help himself sleep at night. It was a fake, manipulative apology.

'He changes'. What, because he mellows out slightly? He threw an iced-over snowball at Izuku's head. He threw a tantrum at Izuku, dragged him outside to beat him up, but oh he's crying so I guess that development and he deserves to know the secret behind OfA.

He also then decides to mock the previous owners and it's supposed to be seen as endearing. He's constantly belittling Izuku when he's getting control over quirks suddenly appearing. He still hurts him in front of everyone but it's supposed to be funny!

Bakugou is, at his core, abusive. Best Jeanist was the only one to see Bakugou's behaviour at the Sport's Festival as a red flag but he's treated as a joke. Hell, people rip into Satou for commenting on Bakugou's attitude when he's right.

Let me see a single scene of Bakugou admitting that he beat Izuku black and blue and burnt him and told him to take a swam off the roof. Let me see him telling Ochako or Tenya or Shouto that because they would not let him get away with it if they knew.

Or, who knows, maybe Horikoshi will bend their writing again to make everyone go 'oh, it's the adults' fault for never telling you off'. No. He was old enough to know right from wrong and his parents, who are not as blinded as Aldera, to set him straight.

Maybe he has changed, but it sure as hell doesn't erase the shit he's done.

Ugghh been consuming some bnha stuff and I'm reminded of why I largely prefer fanfiction over the actual story. I have so much hate and pettiness within me. Even so, I am never going to change my mind on how much I hate how bnha is just an amalgamation of wasted potention. Search the definition of wasted potential up and there's just an image of bnha.

I remember watching it as the first season was coming about because it was made by Bones and I just have to watch it in that case. I watched episode one and was so excited.

We have our mc, Midoriya Izuku, being powerless in a world full of quirks.

His childhood friend turned bully, Bakugou Katsuki, is shown to be favoured by literally everyone and this feeds into his ego.

All Might, the number one hero, is jaded and powerless for 21 hours of the day because of a fight nobody knew existed. Izuku is attacked and helpless, but saved by All Might. All Might tells him he can't become a hero. A much needed reality check because Izuku didn't work out a single bit before then and it's so incredibly hard to fight someone who has something you lack.

Then Bakugou is attacked and helpless. Bakugou, who is so much stronger and who people love, is left useless, only able to make the situation worse with his explosions creating a fire hazard. The pro-heroes can't do anything. All Might and Izuku both hate themselves for the part they played and how useless they are. Then Izuku sees how scared Bakugou is. He runs in, inspiring All Might as he mocks himself for breaking Izuku's dream yet forgetting the core of heroism.

Then, after all is said and done, All Might goes back to Izuku. And he tells him he can become a hero.

...

Then he offers him One for All. Now, when I was watching this for the first time, I was so disappointed. You set up a powerless mc in a world full of powers and you just give him the power of the strongest hero? Great. But, I kept watching.

I watched Izuku work to get his power, struggle even after getting a quirk. I watched as Izuku finally stood up for himself and win against Bakugou. I watched as the series went on and I... I started noticing more and more missed opportunities.

See, bnha is supposed to be a zero to hero story. It's supposed to be about the mc going from powerless to powerful. But it does it so quickly. Suddenly, it's not about Izuku finding his own form of strength, or realising how being quirkless may not give any advantages but it also has no disadvantages, or even any commentary on quirk discrimination or fantastic racism or anything.

It turns into a story about controlling your power. It's not what I signed up for.

That's just one missed potential. There's so many more. Horikoshi clearly tries to make some commentary on quirk discrimination and female heroes/sexism in the workplace and entertainment over peace. There's some effort put into making a comment on how heroes are glorified and people don't see them as public workers, they see them as celebreties.

But it's never delved into. We don't see how bad people with mutant or 'villainous' quirks are treated, and we don't see how people with weak quirks are treated, or how the quirkless are treated (because the only reason Izuku was treated so horribly was because of Bakugou). We don't see how female heroes need to have a bit of allure in their personas to have any sort of support.

Yuuei is literally a camp for making child soldiers, yet there's no controversy over it? There's no such things as heroes having to take lethal action and no moral dilemmas over it? There's nobody speaking out about how Midnight flirts with students?

We have literally no information about how heroes work. We don't know how their salaries are decided, how they're ranked, how undergound heroes work. if twilight heroes are a thing, how anybody but Rock Lock feels about bringing children into adult matters, (seriously, why do people hate Rock Lock for being rightfully worried about having 15 year olds in a raid against the yakuza), we don't know how villains work and how to decide if one's a criminal or a villain.

Heck, the only laws we know of are fanon, and the canon stupid idea that you can't use your quirk in self-defense.

It's just. Incredibly infuriating.

Also, analysis as a whole is so under-utilised. Both Izuku and Shigaraki are deemed creepy for their analysis, which is such a useful tool. I mean, Izuku accurately guesses Stain's quirk, which is useful because, otherwise, they wouldn't be wary about Stain licking their blood or cutting them. Shigaraki accurately guesses the time intervals between Aizawa's blinks, which helps him a shit ton.

But is it ever used outside of these situations? No. The thing is, quirks are scientific in nature, not magic. Therefore, they're not restricted like magic is. Fire doesn't always have to be fire, it can be smoke or just heat. Ice can be water or steam. Acid can melt through anything or just be used as a mario kart banana peel.

There was so much missed potential and that's exactly why there's so much fan content.

Horikoshi leaves so much out, and everything he misses tends to be the interesting parts. He willfully explains Bakugou's quirk in detail, but everyone else? Nah. Fuck them.

I mean, let's look at Ochako's quirk.

Gravity negation. Or is it? See, if it were just gravity negation, then two things, in particular, would happen. First of all, Izuku would have fucking died when she saved him from falling. Second of all, she would not have been able to get infinity in the ball throw.

Negating gravity does not negate the forces. Therefore, when she saved Izuku from falling, he would have still been affected by the force of his fall. It would have been no different from hitting the concrete. Additionally, when she threw the ball, it kept going. Air drag would have made it so that she couldn't possibly get an infinity.

More accurately, rather than force negation as some fanfics suggests, she's telekinetically accelerating whatever she touches. She telekinetically accelerates Izuku's body to stop him falling, and does the reverse for the ball, making it so that it continues to accelerate after she throws it.

See what I mean? Because Horikoshi gave Bakugou's quirk a scientific explanation with him sweating a nitroglycerin-like substance and being able to spark it, you have to look at every quirk with scientific knowledge. He could have said 'oh, yeah, I store energy from my quirk in these gauntlets' but Hori just had to be a smartass.

By the way, because of Bakugou's explanation, it's possible that his quirk is not what is named. Yes, it's possible to have two sides of a quirk, as we see in Shouto, but Bakugou's quirk isn't explained in the same way.

Rather than his quirk being creating explosions, his quirk is more like creating sparks in his palms. Why? Well, you see. Bnha never delves into actual quirk theory, but there's more than enough canon evidence that you have one main quirk and then one or more quirk mutations. For example, Ashido Mina's quirk is secreting acid that she can manipulate the acidity and viscocity of. Her appearance is not related to her quirk at all, meaning it's a quirk mutation from her parents. Same with Tokoyami Fumikage. Quirk is Dark Shadow, so there's no need for the bird head.

Why does this relate to Bakugou? Let me explain: Bakugou explains that he recieved a mutation from his parents with his mother secreting glycerin and his father sweating acid with combustive properties. In other words, Bakugou inherited nitroglycerin-like sweat from his parents, but his actual quirk is being able to create sparks.

His quirk is 'Sparks'. Not Explosions.

Why am I ranting about this? Because bnha completely misses all of this! It makes no sense which is a shame because the concept is so interesting! But then it throws away any scraps of potential left when it becomes 'My Kacchan Academia'.

Seriously, why do people and why does Horikoshi love abusive pieces of shit so much? Why did he throw away the potential to look into Shouto and his siblings' feeling about Endeavour? Why did he make Dabi's plot all about Endeavour instead of Shouto?

It's so easy to compare the ways Dabi and Shouto handle their trauma and their ways of revenge. It's so easy to look at Dabi and think about how easy it would have been for Shouto to become like him.

Shouto was transfixed on Endeavour. Everything he did related back to his hate for Endeavour. Using his quirk, fighting, grades, social interaction, everything. His only reason for becoming a hero is to spite Endeavour. It's only because Izuku reaches out to him and saves him from his own toxic mindset that he's able to move one and do things for himself.

Dabi, or Touya, on the other hand, doesn't get that. He doesn't get that person who recognises how far he's gone, how, in trying to spite Enveavour, he's living a life centred on him. How he's jealous of his little brother for being abused and tormented.

While Shouto became a hero to spite Endeavour, Dabi became a villain.

They're both full of hatred at first, but Shouto is saved from that spiral. Izuku helps him. Dabi doesn't have that. It would have been so interesting to see these two face of as parellels, but nope. It's all about Endeavour. Shouto is nothing more than an accessory.

I understand Dabi being hung up on Endeavour, but to outright replace Shouto with the abusive flaming trashbag? No.

Also, if Horikoshi wanted Dabi to be seen as sympathetic or redeemable, don't make him kill innocent people. Don't make it so that he unlocks an ice aspect to his quirk in a life-or-death situation because all that means is that Endeavour was right to hurt Touya the way he did. All that says is Endeavour should have hurt him more.

AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU.

This piece of shit bullied Izuku relentlessly for years, used his quirk on him (yes that is canon), told him to end his life, tried to assault him in Yuuei, tried to kill him, threw a tantrum at an abused kid for not being magically okay with using a quirk that reminded him of his abusive father, assaults Izuku when he tries to work together but still magically gets a pass for being carried out unconcious which Sero was failed for, and the list just keeps growing.

Oh, but my bad. He has a sad backstory. You see, he fell in a river.