#By manga comparison lol

[fisheito]

I started reading beastars so now HE's reading beastars .wait

THEY'RE reading beastars

[akkivee]

the way hitoya’s using his phone to scan his train pass, likely upon entry to the station, jyushi still with his phone in hand implying having already done the same action, but he seems to be chiding kuukou ahead of him, who doesn’t have his phone anywhere in sight, and he’s looking back almost sneakily with the way he’s touching the nape of his neck i present all of this to say i think kuukou jumped the ticketing gate LOL

[c6lumbna]

jing yuan luocha love child

[etrevil]

Daily reminder that at fifteen, Chuuya had bigger hands than Dazai.

[yazzydream]

Jujutsu Kaisen Ch 2 // Ch 230

My own translation to reflect that Gojo used the same wording both times.

[gastlyarts]

I can't take it anymore I must draw this man

[the-nysh]

Do you think we'll ever learn the connection between God and Saitama? For me I think that's the biggest chekov's gun of the manga (since in the wc isn't fully developed)

Hmm…it’s true that the wc has barely scratched the surface while the manga’s been steadily setting things up with multiple linked arcs (with the cubes, more corrupted individuals, etc) showing how god(no ID) is likely the series’ endgame Big Bad behind the scenes.

Personally I’m hoping his connection to Saitama remains unlinked - where it’s important to me that Saitama’s just a regular guy who’s earned his power thru hard work + willpower - cause if he’s some special ‘chosen one’ by god or whatever, then all his personal achievements thus far would feel invalidated (and I wouldn’t want to see that.) So I prefer a Saitama who’s accidentally pissed off god by breaking his set rules (the limiter) into a forbidden realm of power that god himself can no longer directly control. Where Saitama’s now a free-roaming wildcard and anomalous threat to the balance of the world in opposition to god’s existence without ever even knowing about it. All that good fun stuff~

The story’s early throwaway line “it’s as if a god resides in his body” with respect to Saitama’s power (way back during his hero test) could hint or foreshadow many things to come, but whatever it is, we’ve also seen just how hostile and increasingly desperate god seems to be towards destroying him and humanity (along with unsealing himself - I’m sure Blast knows far much more about it he’s yet to reveal), and finding all the more vessels (victims) to exploit as a means + power conduits towards that goal.

The wildest speculation I’ve seen on that front would be if god’s aiming to mentally break Saitama to become the perfect physical vessel to finally advent into this world’s dimension. Orrrrrr that god -is- a future version of Saitama from an alternate time/worldline. And that would be O.O;;; ???? (almost encroaching into looping convoluted orv territory there) along with the whole Saitama -is- the world’s doomed god-level threat from the prophecy. I’ve seen all such related ideas brought up by fans before! So whatever the truth actually is (which for now is a big maybe and we shall see), at the rate the two stories (manga + wc) are going, we’ll probably receive more god coverage and lore answers from the manga all in due time long before the wc ever gets to it. :’D

[black-sapphire57]

Like Lord, Like Right-hand:

[gemini-queen42]

[neversetyoufree]

I have not stopped thinking about The Vampyre since I read it, so here's some extra trivia for y'all about Lord Ruthven's name:

VnC's Lord August Ruthven is, of course, named after the Lord Ruthven from the short story "The Vampyre." Written by John William Polidori and published in 1819, "The Vampyre" is often cited as the first piece of true modern vampire fiction. It makes sense for Mochijun to want to reference something so genre-founding.

However! The circumstances surrounding this short story (and thus the Ruthven character) are both deeply weird and deeply fascinating.

For starters, do y'all know the famous story about how Frankenstein was written? It started as a challenge between friends stuck inside due to bad weather—write a frightening story for everyone's entertainment. Mary Godwin (soon to be Mary Shelley) and her future husband Percy Shelley were there, of course, but so were the poet Lord Byron and his personal doctor: a man named John Polidori.

While Mary penned the beginning of one of the most famous books in history, Byron's own attempt at horror was abandoned partway through. He wrote a fragment of a novel about an aristocratic vampire and a foolish young man that traveled with him to Turkey, but he never inteded to finish it. However, after learning how Byron thought the tale would end, Polidori eventually came to write his own (complete) version of a similar plot.

The Vampire in Byron's fragment went by the name of Augustus Darvell, but for the majority of "The Vampyre," Polidori's titular monster calls himself Lord Ruthven. This name comes from the novel Glenarvon by Lady Caroline Lamb, a book that openly parodied and mocked Lord Byron (Lamb's ex lover) with its main character.

Now, why did Polidori name the monstrous, cruel, almost parasitic monster in his story after a parody of his patient and boss? That's because their relationship was deeply fraught. I am not the person to speak accurately on this history, so let it suffice to say that Polidori did not have a rose-colored image of Lord Byron.

Byron was famously promiscuous and often in terrible debt. He doesn't seem to have been particularly nice to his doctor. If you read about their time together in any detail, it becomes obvious why Polidori might feel the urge to mock him as a monster.

Polidori wrote a vampire that seduced, tore through, and ruined innocent young maidens. He wrote this after traveling Europe with a man who was forced to flee England with a rake's reputation and a charge of sodomy. He named his vampire Ruthven, after a caricature of Byron, because his own Ruthven was also based on the man.

In other words, the first finished story to create the modern trope of the aristocratic vampire was in large part a parody of Lord Byron. It is a monster inspired by him and named after a character that existed to sleight him. It is also based on a story that Byron wrote.

And in addition to this being generally fascinating, there's something so fun about this in the context of VnC.

The Case Study of Vanitas is its own story, but it's also so chock full of allusions and references that you could almost call it a pastiche. Half its characters are half-crafted out of pre-existing characters and historical figures, but they're only ever halfway stolen. There's always something new built from the base of the reference.

And in a big way, that's what Polidori did back when he penned the first piece of modern vampire literature. His first vampire was partly a reference to a real man, partly borrowed from a pre-existing story (Byron's fragment), and partly conjured from Polidori's own imagination. It's history and literature and new content all bundled together, just like VnC is.

Lord August Ruthven is a reference to Polidori's Lord Ruthven, who was in turn a reference to Lord Byron. He's named after both Byron's Augustus Darvell and Polidori's Ruthven, and Polidori's Ruthven is named after Lamb's Ruthven (who was also based on Lord Byron). He's yet another layer on this tower of self-referential Ruthven-ness, now totally abstracted from any real Byron traits.

As much as Mochijun is playing with the tropes and ideas of this era of vampire literature, it's really fun to see how her tendency toward allusion and reference is itself a nod back to vampire literature's beginnings. It's another way in which VnC slots in as another link in this 200 year old literary conversation.

Anyway, if you want to learn more about the bonkers story behind the Vampyre, here's a link to a not super scholarly but very entertaining essay about it.

[adorawasright]

i have never watched the original she-ra besides a few clips, but honestly it doesn't seem to be as mean-spirited as spop can be. it seems very accepting of the characters. even if, like, bow is usually the comedic relief, i don't feel like he's the butt of the joke the way spop kyle is. og bow is just clumsy and dorky but overall he seems to be a good friend to adora.

while i may like some of the character designs from spop better, i also feel that the original ideas were far better. like, og she-ra just sounds more interesting overall? where i live though it's not very popular in comparison to he-man, so i never checked it out when i was younger. but that might change, who knows?

[beevean]

I'm still a long way until the end of the manga (although I got spoiled a very important scene for Laios' characterization), but in the meantime I theorize that the real reason he's so obsessed with eating monsters is something very similar to Ashley's speech about cannibalism in the Decay Route of TCOAAL:

Andrew: If you're hungry, there's other food available. Ashley: But don't you want to feel powerful? Andrew: ... explain? Ashley: [...] Humans are at the top of the food chain, right? And then when I come and eat the humans, I'm on top of that! Andrew: That's not really how it works, but whatever. [...] Ashley: It's like if eat someone, I'm eating their entire life so far. Like everything they've known and felt, I'm consuming all of that. And if I could turn that into some sort of energy, I'd be all powerful!

I like to think Laios, subconsciously, feels the same desire about monsters. Maybe he wouldn't express it, and limit himself to "they're so cool". But I like to imagine that part of him, deep down, wants to become powerful, and maybe part monster too as he absorbs their energy and knowledge.

After all, I know that he has issues with relating to people or understanding them (couldn't fit in the academy, resented his villagers for shunning Falin, the whole mess with Shuro), and he's uncannily good at imitating and relating to animals :)

[sysig]

Just take things at your own pace, there’s no need to rush (Patreon)

[unma]

@notwowee requested: Mettaton

There is so much to say about this robot but let me start off with my initial thoughts on him.

For like, a good good while I wasn't sure what Mettaton's gender was? In all fairness I was raised in a hella conservative country and Undertale was the first piece of media I'd ever interacted with that even depicted queer people, so for a bit I assumed the pink meant he was probably female. That wasn't helped when I discovered that Mettaton was Blooky's cousin with the locked pink house.

Luckily for me he was discussed enough that I eventually realized my mistake before I ever had to admit it. That would have been emabrassing.

Anyway I absolutely adored this robot and his style, his quizzes were cool and he had the most charming attitude that made me smile whenever he was there (not to mention the quizzes were funny, too). Don't get me started on the musical. Or when he hits you with the puzzle you've almost certainly forgotten the rules for. Hotland is very well done, even if some people dislike having to deal with Alphys's messages there (personally I thought those were neat).

Despite all this I have to admit that I initially thought he was a lot more shallow than expected. I didn't realize he was the type of person to actually care about his love ones, and I probably would've believed anyone who told me he treated Alphys like shit (okay maybe I'd have been a little skeptical, but you get the point).

Nowadays, I'm honestly pretty fond of his relationship with Alphys, as he's probably the one person she relied on the most during her various fuck ups. Also, his... his worries about Alphys in the ending where he becomes king... ah, that still makes me tear up a little. You can tell he cares and regrets not being a better friend to her.

This is only partly related but I dislike Papyton. For no reason, really, I just don't like it, and I disliked having to see it so often (until I learnt filters existed, anyway). I couldn't tell you why; the ship's perfectly fine. Yet if I see a fic with it I click out. Oh well, maybe I'll get over it one day.

I could totally see a world in which I become as attached to Mettaton as I am to Cagliostro from GBF. I'm not trans by any stretch (perhaps I'm non-binary, given I don't actually care much about my own gender in the slightest, but for now I'll stick with cis+ until I actually feel like I should consider it more) but I do have admiration for characters like them who strive to be their best selves in terms of appearance and are absolutely confident in it. I suppose if I was born a girl, I'd be more attached to Mettaton than Cagliostro, but eh. Who knows.

Mettaton's importance (or rather, lack of) in the genocide run is saddening, though I have come to terms with it because in terms of the game's writing it's a pretty damn good decision. I do love that he got fangames giving him an actual battle though, it's lovely to see him actually get that chance to fight back.

I feel the need to restate once more that I adore his relationship with Alphys, and seeing works explore that relationship is always great. I think Mettaton is one of the least fan-explored of the game's main cast, so it'd be wonderful to see more works. It's a shame I'm too busy thinking about Sans, Frisk and Chara to do that myself, though.

One more thing: Until I wrote this post, I always wondered why Mettaton didn't just fight the human in his indestructible body instead, especially in the genocide route. I mean, it's obviously because his other forms are the ones actually designed for human eradication, of course, but I also like to think it's because he likes those forms a lot more than his box form, as he sees them as a proper expression of who he truly is. I just think that's neat. Sure, he's indestructible when stuck in the closet, hiding who he truly is, but it's restricting, and wouldn't you prefer to simply be you? Even if it could mean you could get hurt? I think that question is somewhat inseparable from Mettaton's character as a whole, as his overly confident and theatrical personality could perhaps be one answer to that. It's fine if you get hurt a little, because in the end you'll be much happier for it.

[devilrosola]

Close ups just to compare:

[haleigh-sloth]

I've felt for a while that Deku is like the Tohru to Shigarakis Akito lol. I feel like MHA and Fruits Basket have so much in common. I love that Deku has met all these people that need help and he is able to be there for them. But kinda like Tohru, he sacrifices his own wellbeing too much and he needs to accept help from others. I also love that characters like Todoroki are similar to Yuki. They receive help from Deku but then grow on their own as well and become a positive force to help others.

!!!!! This comparison has been in my head for a very long time, yeah.

I think that's what turns people off to Midoriya as a protag because he's far more similar to a freaking shojo female lead than a shounen male lead aks;gaskgn Personally I find that both hilarious and great but not everybody feels that way lol.

There are people who hate it because he's not their tough guy kick-ass tough exterior protag, and people who hate it because he's not as complex as the villains..or something along those lines.

Sometimes the protagonist halo of "selfless to a fault" is just who the character is. Either you like the trope or you don't, but trying to make it into some awful crime against the manga is stupid imo and it's better just to admit it's not a trope you like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But tbh I do find it interesting that ✨for some reason✨ it's perfectly fine for Tohru to have that protag halo and people receive it super well in Fruits Basket but god forbid Midoriya have the same type of characterization and because of this specific trope played into him he's just so god awfully written 🙄. What's the difference between the two characters and genre? Lol we'll be up all night trying to figure that out.

No but seriously. I 100% get the comparisons to Naruto and I've made them myself, but I find much more in common with a manga like Fruits Basket, as you said. Especially because much like BNHA, Fruits Basket covers dark topics that can be icky to think about, it covers different reactions and victims, it talks about forgiveness and resentfulness and family dynamics and relationships, connections, bonds, all of that stuff. BNHA covers interpersonal dynamics with much more detail like Fruits Basket. You can go back to early chapters, look at the characters that are in the forefront of the conflict of the endgame and see exactly why each pair of characters was matched up together.

Also you've completely opened my eyes to the Shouto|Yuki comparison. God you're so right. I've mentioned this being one of the things I liked about Shouto's healing so much but he's one of the few characters who has almost complete independence in his healing and his choices to move forward. I love a dynamic where someone is so damn helpless that they're depending on someone else's kind heart to survive, and I'm getting that with the villains, but Shouto himself is a breath of fresh air.

Tomura really is like Akito, where he fights his salvation over and over and over and rejects any implication that someone may want better for him and is just lost in self-hatred to the point that it's going to swallow him-----up until the very last second. Yeah, that's him, and Akito. It's also crazy comparing it because Tohru and Akito didn't interact much to each other, and all they had to go off of was the butterfly effects their actions had on each other and how everything they did eventually reached the other and that's how that connection was strong enough by the end for Akito to accept help. Sounds very familiar to me. Man, wild.

I said I wanted that scene with Rin and Tohru recreated with Tomura and Izuku and I mean that, but I do think Akito and Tohru are more similar a dynamic to the BNHA bunny and cat duo.

Also this is what I mean by BNHA has boiled down to "I can fix him" being the answer LOL

"I (Izuku, Shouto, Ochacko) can fix him (Tomura, Touya, Toga)" 💀

Fruits Basket was very much like that also with pretty much no irony at all 😂