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calissarowan · 5 months ago

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The First Fairy Hunter

We’re back with another sarcastic comic summary! This time, we’re summarising Issue 133: ‘The First Fairy Hunter’. So, settle in, and remember that I do love the comics, I just really like being sarcastic. Be warned that this is ridiculously long.

So, we’re on Tir Na N’og, which is a school now. I don’t know where all the Earth Fairies live, maybe they moved into a condo. Nebula��s teaching - and can we all just take a moment to give a round of applause to whoever decided that, following her promotion, the woman that usurped the Queen and tried to kill everyone in Gardenia should be put in charge of educating the youth of today? Go ahead, applaud, they deserve it. Super decision-making…

Anyway, Nebula is announcing that Morgana, her mentor-slash-that-woman-she-condemned-to-an-extra-dimensional-void is here, along with the famous Winx! Who are here! For…some reason. They’re not teaching a class. Or giving advice. Apparently they just showed up to clap their hands and be name-dropped. (And have a random adventure, but we’ll get to that.) Also, Roxy isn’t here. Because why would the Princess of Tir Na N’og be on Tir Na N’og to talk to young Earth fairies. It’s not like she too is a young Earth fairy. Plus her mom is here. But that was two seasons ago; who can be bothered to remember genealogy?

Nebula asks Julia, the Fairy of Existing for Only Three Panels, to demonstrate what young Earth fairies are capable of, smiling uncomfortably as Julia pulls out her copy of ‘Disproportionate Global Vengeance for Dummies’. Fortunately, she rolls with it, and Julia levitates it, along with a couple other books, and the Winx are amazed, having never seen anything so impressive.

Julia gets interrupted by Lydia, who is apparently the class mean-girl, as she interrupts Julia’s book-levitating-skills to say she knows how to do it better, and when Julia defends herself, Lydia makes copies of herself to bully her, and Nebula, being the top-tier teacher she is, just kicks back and watches her student get picked on, because Julia stops existing in the next panel, so who cares.

Morgana, meanwhile, is applauding the illusory bullying, ignoring the inappropriate conduct in favour of complimenting the spellcraft (this is the woman who was willing to watch Nebula crush her husband with a giant iceberg; I’m not sure where you think the bar is, but it’s lower than that).

Nadine, Lydia’s b**** sidekick, decides to get in on the fun, glamouring herself to look like Morgana, which really impresses Morgana, and everyone says a sad goodbye to Julia as she drifts into obscurity and oblivion. (Not really, everyone’s already forgotten her name.)

Nebula finally gets up and does something, making Nadine look like herself again and telling Lydia to get rid of her bullying duplicates, and everyone watches with excited anticipation for the surely inevitable reprimand of Lydia for picking on another student, but no! The problem here is illusion magic, the bullying is AOK. Apparently illusion magic is forbidden at Tir Na N’og College, and they’re both suspended. Meanwhile, all the other students have just vanished from the classroom. Where have they gone? Did they leave early? Does anyone care?

Later, the Winx are just wandering down a hall with Morgana, trying to figure out what to do until their adventure of the week starts. Stella suggests they get a bagel. Bloom says no. Musa asks if she left her phone charger at home. Tecna says nah, it’s cool, she brought it. Everyone realises why Winx doesn’t show the behind-the-scenes bits.

Stella asks if Nebula was a bit too hard on Lydia and Nadine, and Bloom says they performed the spells correctly. Sure, Lydia was bullying another student, but Bloom thinks it’s okay to randomly assault royalty. Lydia was probably just having a bad week. Or she felt like it. She’s a fairy, so whatever. She can do what she wants.

Morgana admits Nebula was a bit harsh, but she understands why Nebula hates illusion magic, and says she’s forbidden it for a very precise reason, and Aisha asks what that reason is, since Morgana is being helpfully cryptic. Morgana says it’s because Nebula has never forgotten her defeat at the hands of Yllidith: the Lord of the Fairy Hunters! Dun dun dun!

Musa says this is the first they’ve heard of it. What? You mean there’s a villain you didn’t hear about until the exact, specific day it was relevant? Oh my God! That has never happened before! *cough cough* Wizards of the Black Circle *cough cough* Seriously, what are you learning at your apparently eternal course at Alfea?

Tecna asks if Yllidith is as powerful as Ogron and the other hunters they’ve fought in the past, and everyone pauses and goes ‘…Oh yeah! Remember them?’ Also, once again, Gantlos, Anagan and Duman are reduced to Ogron’s sidekicks or bandmates or whatever. I’m convinced Morgana and the other Earth fairies (see, I can reduce people to ‘other whatever’ too) just don’t know the other wizards’ names, and they’re covering up their shoddy research skills.

Morgana says that because of his illusion powers, Yllidith is far more powerful than Ogron and…um…the…other ones. Okay… I mean, Duman could turn into anything and Gantlos was the Wizard of Destruction and could summon natural disasters, but okay, some stage magic tricks are more powerful. (I’m sorry, Ogron and Anagan, but you may have to fight it out with illusion magic for least impressive powers.)

We get a flashback where we see the wizards kneeling before Yllidith in…a castle? They had a castle? They had a castle, and we saw them living in the sewers? What? Okay, whatever. Maybe it wasn’t their castle. Maybe it was an Air B&B.

We get to see the Gantlos and Duman in some pretty cool medieval outfits, along with the back of Ogron’s head (nobody tell him his face didn’t make it into the comic, he’ll be livid), while Anagan has apparently just been wearing that trenchcoat since the dawn of time. Meanwhile, Yllidith looks, to use @spilledmilkfkdies words, like a very colourful homeless man, while his…minions? Teammates? People whose moderate fame he’s glommed onto to become a disappointing comic villain? Look far snappier.

Apparently the wizards feared and respected him, and then we realise we’re getting dangerously close to the villains having actual human emotions, so we slam on the brakes and get to the evil bit, where the wizards besiege Tir Na N’og, and with Yllidith as their guide, they were practically unstoppable as they fought…what appear to be the college students from earlier. Ogron uses those blue lightning powers we all know he has in order to do an unspecified thing, well done him, now get out of the comic, your brief return to minor significance is over, see you for your anticlimactic cameo in twelve issues, and things are generally not good for the Earth fairies.

Nebula apparently tried super mega hard to defeat Yllidith, but he overcame her with his incredible power of making some duplicates and staring blankly at her.

But, fortunately, Morgana was there, and, with the help of Aurora, Diana and…Sibylla? She managed to blast Yllidith? Sibylla is blasting Yllidith? Sibylla’s in a fight? Sibylla? The Fairy of Sitting in her Cave and Doing Nothing is in a fight? So she can get involved? I guess the wizards unleashing the Abyss on the Day of Justice just wasn’t important enough to warrant getting off her stone chair, huh.

Anyhoo, shoving that glaring plot hole in with all our many others, we continue on to Morgana saying that Yllidith was locked in a cell in the castle dungeons, where he still is today. Nobody knows where he was when the castle was in that other dimension. Or where all the fairies were. By this point, nobody knows where anybody is, will be, or has been, we’ve made ourselves dizzy enough, so once the room’s stopped spinning from plot inconsistency, we pick ourselves up and move onto Musa’s very reasonable question of why didn’t the wizards come get Yllidith? Apparently, Ogron was super ambitious, and wanted to be the new leader, so Yllidith got left behind, because Ogron, Gantlos, Anagan and Duman cannot have human emotions or any motivations aside from power, so Ogron was the new leader. The fact that we hear nothing about the others being resentful of this feels like it says a lot, like maybe they actually liked Ogron better as a leader, and a guy that made them all bow to him like he was king rather than a guy who needed a new stylist wasn’t the greatest guide to have, but anyway.

Tecna points out that if Yllidith were freed, the school could be in danger, and that maybe keeping a felon under a school full of teenagers isn’t amazing decision-making, but don’t worry, because it’s not just any cell! It’s a special, magic cell, that Nebula monitors all the time, apparently even when she was in that other dimension, so apparently the wizards trapped Yllidith right along with the fairies. Or not, and Morgana is just covering yet another lapse in judgement from the Queen of Bad Choices.

Flora feels sorry for Nebula, and wants to reassure her, while Aisha was planning to feel some trauma with all this Ogron-mentioning, but then got reminded that this wasn't about her, and her trauma followed Julia to wherever it is things we’re pretending don’t exist go.

Stella wants to have a chat with the students Nebula suspended, and Bloom is curious to know where they learned those spells of illusion. I’d guess the Magic Dimension internet, but that’s not very dramatic, so probably not.

Bloom, Stella, Tecna and Musa get back from looking for Lydia and Nadine, and they find them, but apparently they’re in the basement, and the foreshadowing is so strong now that nobody can see the plot right in front of their face, and Morgana, who’s apparently just been standing there, doing nothing, says she’d better go check.

They go down to the basement and Bloom says it’s dark, so Stella says she thinks she can summon some light. You think? You think you can summon some light?! You’re the Fairy of the Shining Sun! Or Sun! Or Sun and Moon! Or whatever! You can relight one of the Pillars of the Infinite Ocean, but you’re iffy over whether you can make a hovering lava lamp? Really?

Lydia and Nadine, in the weirdly fancy basement, hear the Winx coming and don’t want anyone finding them, as ‘The Professor’ wants to keep his lessons a secret. Morgana appears behind them and asks what professor, and the girls beg Morgana not to punish them, forgetting that she doesn’t work at the school or have any authority anymore, so she can do precisely nothing. (Though, despite having made Nebula the queen, she’s still wearing her crown. Maybe her forehead was cold, I don’t know.)

Morgana says they’re in a sea of trouble for…going into the basement? I didn’t realise it was off-limits. But, fortunately, we see some of the Morgana that got overthrown by Nebula and gave the woman a promotion, because she says if they tell the truth, maybe she’ll look the other way and make them duchesses or something.

Bloom realises this has been not about her for a worrying length of time and quickly takes over asking the questions, asking where they learned those illusion spells, and they explain that they learned them from a mysterious teacher who lives in the basement, only contacts them telepathically, and has been teaching them to strengthen their magic by blasting a random seal. It is at this point that the Winx realise they are dealing with complete idiots.

Morgana flips because that’s the seal of Yllidith’s prison, and that it’s nearly broken, and Nadine finally realises that maybe something shady was going on here, and the girls learn the valuable life lesson to never start randomly blasting stuff because disembodied voices tell you to. Remember that, kids.

Yllidith pops up out of nowhere and blasts Morgana, because he’s the smart kind of escaped prisoner that hangs out right next to his old cell and picks a fight with the heroes of the dimension. I can see why the wizards were so invincible with his help.

The Winx do what they always do, transform and strike a pose, but unfortunately Yllidith actually is smarter than he looks (which isn’t hard), because a whole bunch of Yllidiths appear to confuse the Winx. (Frankly, going off the Winx in later seasons, if he wanted to confuse them, he could just have put a pull sign on a door you have to push.)

Turns out they’re all illusions, and further more that Darcy is suing because Yllidith stole her moves, but then everyone remembers that nobody cares about the law, so that gets thrown out.

Bloom says they have to warn Nebula, Aisha and Flora that the school is in danger from the exact specific villain they were talking about twenty minutes ago - what are the chances?! And Musa takes Morgana to a safe place. We don’t know where it is, maybe they went to hide in the void of irrelevance. Though that’d be a terrible hiding place, as Yllidith’s just gonna wind up there in ten minutes anyway.

Meanwhile! Nebula’s showing some remorse because she did a bad thing, so, based on the precedent, it’s time to make her Empress!

Flora and Aisha are telling her it’s fine, and it’s been years, so her trauma should be gone by now, and that everybody makes mistakes that almost get them killed and leave them with lasting emotional scars they can’t talk about because we’re keeping it light!

Flora points out that Nebula is now Queen of the Earth fairies, politely glossing over that time she tried to kill them all. And that second time she tried to kill them all. Don’t worry, she’s a fairy, so it’s all good!

Nebula says she’s not as strong a fairy as them, which is a bit weird, since she’s a highly-trained warrior and the Winx are still unaccountably in college, but of course, nobody’s as good as the Winx, so Nebula’s weaker for the purposes of nobody having to think too hard.

‘Morgana’ rocks up and says that if that’s true, Nebula isn’t worthy to be Queen, and I would say that’s a conversation that does need to be had, but for different reasons. (Like that coup she staged.) ‘Morgana’ says Nebula is weak and insecure and should leave the school forever, and somehow she just misses out on the ‘Understanding Person of the Year’ award, and Flora shows that she can be feisty by snapping at Morgana that she’s being spiteful, but the steadfast, almighty fairy warrior willing to fight the most powerful being in the universe for what she wanted admits that Morgana’s right, and she deserves to leave forever, so she prepares to follow what’s-her-face from class earlier into the void of obscurity, but thankfully Bloom gets there just in time to stop her, and Stella explains that it’s not really Morgana, it’s Yllidith, and he escaped his prison and decided to come mess with the person he already owned in battle rather than running for the hills and finding a better outfit that makes him look like a villain rather than a very tired guy at a Renaissance fair.

Yllidith, having anger issues and an apparent allergy to just getting the heck out of there, blasts Stella as though that will cause her to hoover back up what she just said and make Nebula believe he’s Morgana again.

Yllidith says that even if they find him, he’ll defeat them one by one, before proceeding to reveal himself. Thanks, buddy, that was really helpful, now we know where you are.

Flora and Aisha transform, and Aisha looks pretty close to doing that Black Widow hair flip thing, both of them just rolling with the bad guy of the week. Aisha puts him in a net, but it’s not him, it’s an illusion, and everyone starts to realise that this guy is basically a Darcy knockoff, but with worse fashion sense and he couldn’t keep his team around.

He disappears, and Aisha says it’s incredible, as though she doesn’t see her college roommate channel the supreme force of life in the form of a giant dragon on a weekly basis.

Nebula asks where Morgana is, and when Stella says Yllidith hit her with a spell that presumably did something, Nebula says they’ll never be able to beat Yllidith without her. Really? You have the Fairy of the Dragon Flame, along with a fairy with light powers that could disrupt illusions, and yet Morgana is the one you need? She was pseudo-involved in like, two fights in season four. She did basically nothing. Just let her daughter kick ass for her.

Bloom tells Nebula to believe in herself, and some voice of reason left over from the earlier seasons asks why they’re not using Believix against one of the guys it was presumably created to defeat, before being shoved into a broom closet before they have to start having continuity again. She tells Nebula to remember she’s the Queen of the Earth fairies, because she can presumably defeat Yllidith with political status, or maybe she can give the Winx some new power using the crown Morgana won’t give up.

Yllidith just pops up behind them, and Bloom helpfully yells out what’s happening in case anyone just couldn’t be bothered to swivel their eyeballs in his direction, and Yllidith starts…wrecking the castle. I don’t know why, don’t ask me. Maybe he wants to destroy his prison. Maybe he thought it’d be scary. Maybe he’s just a weirdo, and who knows why he does anything.

The students run for shelter, a student running the evacuation because nobody could be bothered to hire a teacher other than Nebula for a school that won’t exist again in four pages.

Nebula says it’s the end, and they have to save themselves. Seriously? This is the woman who watched the ground be ripped open by an abyss of evil and her first instinct was to charge, but she’s faced with some property damage and the end is nigh?

Thankfully, Tecna and her computer are there to establish that this is just an illusion, and Nebula says it looks real. Yeah, Nebula, that’s the point of illusions. Nobody would take Yllidith seriously if he just had cardboard cutouts of himself that he left around as duplicates. (I’m not sure how many people take him seriously now, but they’d definitely lose all respect for him then.)

Yllidith once again tries to turn back time through blasting, this time wrecking Tecna’s computer like she didn’t already tell everyone everything they needed to know. Apparently the Winx bore him, so why he’s still there, making it look like he’s doing something when he’s actually not is anyone’s guess.

Bloom tells Nebula to concentrate, and that together they can put a stop to these illusions, and Nebula gets everything back to normal with the power of smiling and doing nothing, which summons some violet magic that presumably does something. Thankfully, Tecna was right, and it was just an illusion, or else that would have been a rather anticlimactic end to the Winx.

Yllidith, who’s just lost his only real power, tells Nebula she’ll never beat him without Morgana and the Major Fairies (seriously, she can see through your illusions now; you have no power over her. How delusional are you?).

Then, Morgana pops up behind him with Diana, Aurora and Sibylla, and Yllidith just goes ‘Whuuuuuut?’ Nobody thinks to blast him while he’s distracted, but maybe they’re just being polite.

Stella says it’s impossible for the Major Fairies to be here, which, Stella, it’s really not, it’d take two minutes max to text an overview of the situation, and Diana and Aurora are confirmed to have teleportation. They could be there.

But anyway, turns out they’re not, and the two morons that listened to a random telepath they met in the basement have figured out how to jump-start their singular brain cells enough to come up with the idea to use their illusion magic to create duplicates of the fairies to distract Yllidith. And it’s presumably a damn good distraction, as Yllidith remains distracted as Bloom announces that they can catch him by surprise (yeah, Bloom. Announce your sneak attack. Why are you in charge?)

Nebula orders Flora to trap Yllidith with her vines, because she’s realised Bloom can’t be trusted to run the show here, and Flora ties up Yllidith like she tied Anagan up, but with no flirting because Anagan was cute and charming, and Yllidith is just the weird guy everyone wishes would get out of the comic, or at least get an outfit change.

Bloom yells for a convergence, because when the chips are down, generic uniting of beams of signature-coloured light is your friend, and she announces a Bloomix convergence that Nebula joins in with, apparently being a secret Bloomix fairy - who knew - and this is the second Winx convergence Nebula’s got in on, and she never has the power they said the convergence was for, but what the hell? She’s got a signature colour light beam, so let her join in.

They blast Yllidith and…apparently kill him. They don’t say that, but apparently they did, because he’s been ‘defeated forever’. Now, I’m gonna get serious a sec. We were told in season four that they couldn't kill the wizards, even though they’d betrayed them and prevented them saving Nabu, and Aisha was villainised for it, but…because Yllidith was mean to Nebula and pretended to inflict some property damage, he gets obliterated? What? So killing people is okay as long as Bloom does it. Got it. Good. Great. Hypocrites.

Now that they’ve killed the bad guy and made sure Aisha doesn’t call them out on what massive hypocrites they all are, Morgana shows up again, just in time to do nothing, true to form, and Musa’s a little ticked off she missed the adventure, but no worries, because there’ll be a new random villain soon.

Morgana says she’s proud of Nebula, and that she’s a worthy Queen of the Earth fairies, and that she totally didn’t just give her the crown because she was sick of responsibilities and wanted to hand them off to the first person she saw, and Nebula says she’s proud of Lydia and Nadine, because their illusions saved the day, and Lydia asks if they’re still suspended, and Nebula says no, and now illusion magic is fine, and the can improve their skills and everything is brought to a nice close, until presumably someone tells Nebula that Lydia and Nadine let Yllidith out in the first place by blasting random magical seals, and then I imagine they’re expelled and have to go back to wherever the hell all these new Earth fairies came from in the first place. Ah well, the end.

Thanks for staying with me for this sarcastic comic summary! I had a great time writing it! If there are any other comics you’d like me to sarcastically summarise, let me know! I can access most of them up to issue 152, though I’ll only summarise season 5-7, as the earlier comics are actually really good, and have better storylines.

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purplekoop · 1 year ago

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Apropos of absolutely nothing, I present: my current personal ranking for how much I like the OW goobers:

This is based on a mix of story, visual design, personality, and gameplay (the last one throws a big wrench into the bias here), but yeah I think this is accurate enough.

To explain the tiers: Reinhardt. is the man. That should speak for itself. The subsequent four are my other top favorite characters, though Tracer is heavily ignoring this list's general bias towards gameplay, since I suuuck at actually playing as her, but adore everything else about her. Next tier down are my further less extreme favorites, really like those guys too. These are my general most played characters besides the top five, or if not then I wish they were. Then are a bunch of characters I actively like a good bit, but not as much as the others. I wouldn't call them "favorites", but they're a bunch of oddballs that have a number of things I like about them a good bit, and I'm competent at playing most of them. Or at least trying my best. Then are characters I... like more than dislike. There's generally just one thing holding each of them back (fandom oversaturation, questionable visual design, questionable gameplay design, boring playstyle, or playstyle I'm bad at, in that order). Characters I more than get the hype for, but still get dragged down a bit. Zen would be way higher if he wasn't the most bizarre bundle of personally dislikeable gameplay design, and Echo used to be a lot lower in my ranking just because of her questionable normal lady face. Then there's the characters I'm actively just kinda. fine with. Most of these are because I think they're boring to play (like Moira, Torb, and Winston), or I actively suck at them despite their popularity (Soldier and D.va). Reaper would probably be higher if I didn't publicly acknowledge how he's a robo-racist former cop who's now a super murderer. That said, there's a bit more of a gap than I wanna admit between Reaper and D.va, Reaper is borderline in the tier above and D.va borderline in the tier below. And then the last normal tier is the characters I actively just. Don't like. Hanzo's boring in-game and I am so removed from the hype he gets from the more "tumblr-y" side of the fandom. Yeehan does nothing for me. He's just a pointy depressed man who can randomly one shot me when I'm not on Tank. Widowmaker is the character who I think is the ickiest on a narrative level, and her extremely polarizing presence no matter what team she's on in-game is very much not helping. And Wrecking Ball... I love him in theory (he's a hamster I mean come on that's great), but he's just such a drag to play as, with, or against in-game, and he has absolutely zero fandom presence bringing him up. And Illari I think speaks for herself, she's very much not literally in the bottom spot, but she's too new and has so little content around her yet, along with no connections to other characters, plus her kit is something I'm still getting a grasp on. Don't worry though, she's definitely in the "solid enjoyer" tier minimum, it just feels unfair to rank her with everyone else, who I've had at least a few months to come to terms with (though Lifeweaver I maybe put a bit high, I'm just having fun with his most recent buffs making him finally playable)

Don't sweat the exact order within tiers too much (especially the "solid enjoyer" tier), but the tiers themselves I think work fine enough.

I could probably do a more in-depth ranking going over my specific thoughts on each hero (in fact I've tried in the past), but I don't have too much to say on a lot of these knuckleheads, and especially around the middle I don't have enough solid to really compare them to each other.

So uhhhh yeah! Feel free to prod me on why I'm being blasphemous towards your impermeable favorite! Or just tell me what they are! Genuinely, I at least find something to like in pretty much the entire cast, and it shows just how much I like the cast overall if there's only really four characters I actively dislike. I'll respect the armies of Hanzo fanatics even though I absolutely don't see the same things you do in that man.

#overwatch #overwatch 2 #ow #ow2

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vaulthuntersmybeloved · 4 years ago

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As someone who has watched since the start of season 1 here’s a short explanation of vault hunters season 2;

•The aim of the series is to collect 25 unique artifacts in 100 days. They can only be found in boss crates after killing a vault boss, the chance of getting them increases with the hunter’s level.

•The series is based around the mod The Vault made by Iskall and the Iskallium Dev team with other mods added that can only be unlocked using knowledge points which can only be crafted using items found inside the vault or bought from traders.

•The hunters all have a vault exp level that increases every time someone subscribes to them and when they open relic booster packs or consume vault pizza or vault burgers. Every time they level up they gain a skill point to spend on skills to make them better at surviving in the vault e.g ghost walk, speed, extra hearts or things that make it easier to collect materials e.g vein miner.

•The aim is to run vaults and open chests inside the vault which range from common to omega in the rarity of the loot or to punch 3-6 obelisks (the amount needed is random each vault) inside of the vault to spawn the vault boss and kill it for a boss crate. There is a 25 minute time limit on vaults and there is no health regen when inside them.

•Vaults get modifiers each time a new one is entered with things like crowded (mobs spawn anywhere), lucky (more high rarity loot) and locked (the only way to escape is to kill the boss).

•Vaults can only be entered using vault crystals crafted by placing a vault rock inside a vault altar and completing a recipe requiring a random number of 4 items with the amount scaling with each crystal crafted. To enter the vault the crystal must be placed inside a blackstone portal frame.

•Vault crystals are also given when a hunter does a raffle at the end of their stream which puts everyone who donated in the stream into the raffle and one person is chosen who will become the vault boss in the raffle vault.

•Once the hunter reaches level 30 they will unlock co op vaults where they can run a vault with 2-6 hunters. However, if one of them dies inside the vault they all die and lose everything.

•Relic booster packs are given using channel points and give the hunter exp and occasionally a relic which, when in a full set, will give the hunter extra time inside the vault.

•Channel points can also be used to buy traders once the hunter takes level 2 in trader. Traders can be gifted by tier 3 subs or donating £25 or 2500 bits or more and they have a random trade for valuable items and they can be juiced to create an eternal fighter to help the hunter inside of the vault.

•Gifting subs will give the hunter gift bombs and gifting 25 will have a statue gift bomb and gifting 50 or more will give an omega gift bomb which will also give the hunter a statue with your name and Minecraft skin (if your twitch name matches your java account name).

•Arenas are generated when 100 people subscribe to the hunter and the 100 subs fight one of the developers and If they win the hunter receives an arena crate containing randomly generated loot from ores to an Elytra.

•Statues are given at 25 or 50 gifted subs, in arena crates and in boss crates. The statues generate a certain material between I think 3-9 stacks before dying (turning grey). The hunter can then add the dead statues into a cauldron and once enough have been added an omega statue will be generated which will generate resources forever.

•Eternals are similar to statues but they’re made by juicing traders which can be juiced at any time regardless of if their trade is sold out or not. Eternals can be summoned once the hunter takes the eternal skill and they can help fight for the hunter inside the vault.

•Ancient eternals are eternals from last season and can only be found in the Ancient dimension which can only be accessed for 1 minute at a time and is where the hunter can mine useful ores and try to find their ancient eternals. Not a lot is known about them at the moment but they are stronger than normal eternals and may have their own skill trees.

•Currently there are 12 players on the season 2 smp but there have been hints of more people joining in the future. The players are; Iskall85, AntonioAsh, Stressmonster101, HBomb94, CaptainSparklez (og players from season 1), Fundy, CaptainPuffy, 5UP, Tubbo (og players from the start of season 2), Falsesymmetry, X33n and PeteZahHutt (echo hunters).

If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask :)

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gb-patch · 4 years ago

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Ask Answers: March 30th, 2021- Part 1

We’ve been really focused on getting the Step 3 DLC done and keeping up with asks kind of got away from me, aha. Thank you for waiting for a reply! We’re still definitely behind, but here’s a good chunk of responses!

I love Our Life so much but if the release of the step 3 dlc is in April, please don't "release" it on April 1, my poor heart can't take that prank 😭

Don’t worry! I’m horrible at pranks, haha. When we do post something specifically for April Fool’s it’s always to pretend it’s a joke when in reality it’s something we’re actually planning to do. But we don’t have anything like that arranged for this year. Any posts on April 1st will just be like normal.

Omigod, can you end the game in love with Cove but not in a relationship? My character stayed calm at the restaurant and Cove slept over at her home and I think I may have missed it. I'm delirious if I did, may never stop laughing. The children are idiots

Haha, yes, it is possible to be in love and still not get into an actual relationship. There’s no forced ending where the two are made to confess their feelings and accept, it’s all optional/avoidable.

How can you see the new main character cut-in images? I'm not trying to be rude, but, all of my playthroughs, but I haven't seen them yet. (I know you can go through an entire game without seeing them, but I have went through multiple games.)

It’s a bit of a spoiler to say here, but you can check out the guide we posted on Steam HERE!

Is it possible to win first place in the library quiz with Lizzy (Step 1 DLC)

Yep, it is! Someone made a guide for the answers HERE (it’s also on Steam). We probably shouldn’t have required a perfect score to win a children quiz, but oh well, haha.

Hello!

In the future (in step 4) can you marry Cove even if you are friends? I would love to have a platonic wedding with him!

I’m afraid not. As much as he cares for the MC when they’re besties, Cove would only really want an official marriage if it’s based on romance.

Hello! I bumped into Our Life randomly last month, and it is one of the best coincidences I have ever laid on. I love how the choices and little details in the story changes throughout the game, and I'm excited to keep supporting you! I'm absolutely in love with Cove and would like to ask what keeps him to be especially interested in the MC? Other than how you can choose what fondness level you have with him, what ultimately leads him to be in sync with us? Sorry if it's a little much & thank u!

Cove likes the MC because, regardless of the different personality traits you can give the MC, they meet him on his level, listen to him, understand him (even if you’re indifferent and not really close the MC still gets where he’s coming from), and if you’re fond/crush/love than you’re there for him. He finds the MC someone he can respect, trust, and, if they’re close, feel safe with. I’m glad you enjoyed the game!

hi there! for xoxo droplets i see the that female pronouns are used in the description, in the actual game can you change the pronouns or are they stuck as female? i'm aware the game is free, but i have a bad habit of buying dlc's before playing the game so it would be helpful to know before i spend money on it. if anything i'll save that money for more our life dlcs when they come out :D

XOXO Droplets does have a set MC. It’s the story of a specific person rather than a game about making your own story. All of our games prior to Our Life were about exploring MCs that were fully fleshed out people in their own right, so you can’t get the OL experience from what we did before. But we do plan to do more custom-style MCs going forward from here!

For the our life nsfw dlc, will you have to be in the patron to have it or will there be another way for people who really support the game but can't pay to get it?

I’m afraid not. We might put it up for sale somewhere other than Patreon someday (though never on Steam or Itch) since we know not everyone can use that site, but it will still cost money on any other hosting page we use. It’s unfortunately not a piece of content we can give away for free.

Hello! I finally got to play Xoxo Blood Droplets and it mentioned about a DLC coming out soon. Is it already out or are you still planning it?

We are still planning to finish it when we can, we just had to put it on hold because 2020 was a tough year and we needed to put all our focus on Our Life. There’s some of the extra DLC stories available for beta testing on the Patreon.

Is there a link to the soundtrack for Xoxo Blood Droplets? I really like the music in this game!

That’s not available yet, but we’ll probably put it up for sale once the rest of the stories are done.

Would there be any chance for XOXO Droplets OSTs to be released in the future? (Please take my money-)

We might! There are some things we wanna do and fix before we really start advertising XOXO Droplets things again, but hopefully it all comes together.

Why does Cove dislike Shiloh so much despite all of Shiloh's efforts to get along? I can understand his dislike for Lizzie, but why Shiloh?

They met under bad terms (with an arranged play date he had no choice in), Shiloh’s sort of pushy himself when it comes to trying to get along, and Cove thinks he’s just kind of unusual in how he interacts/reacts with people. They don’t click, basically.

Is there a way to have your character be a tsundere? And have Cove toughened up a bit due to that? Sorry if the is a stupid question! ^^;

Maybe? The options in the game aren’t based on those types of personality tropes and I don’t know them well enough to say if you can accurately find a way to make it work with the available options. But it’s not a stupid question, I’m sure plenty of other people have considered something similar c:

do voiced names work only with their exact spelling? cause my mc is called Sophia and one of the voiced names is Soffia so i was wondering but if only works like that it's fine (sorry if i made any mistakes, english isn't my first language)

“Voice” and “text” are separate! You can pick the “voice” you want and then type in whatever “text” you prefer. And your English is really good.

Will OL:NF be based on a season/break like the first game? Or some other type of setting?

Our Life: Now & Forever takes place over the full course of Autumn. So, the start of school and then into the fall holiday season type of time period.

Will we ever see a jealous cove😭😭 please im begging u-

Only in small ways, really. Sadly, I’m just not someone who enjoys jealousy in stories and therefore I don’t know how to implement it in a way that feels enjoyable. Maybe I’ll figure out a angle I can work with in future projects.

Do you have any plans with Our Life once step 4 has been released along with step 3's DLCs?

After the Step 3 DLCs and Step 4 we’ll be releasing the Cove wedding DLC, the Derek romance DLC, and then the Baxter romance DLC. The project will likely be considered fully complete at that point.

Hello, I just needed to first of all sat how amazed I was when I discovered this game. I thought I would be disappointed by the lack of love interests, but you worked so hard to make sure Cove is the Best Boy for so many different people!! It really has been my comfort game for a while now, and I think all the different choices you allow make it the best romance game I’ve played in my life. The only problem is now my expectations for love are Cove level, and no one can live up to that. You’ve put so much consideration to make this game super inclusive and I think it’s amazing. If I can ask, for the exclusive NSFW Patreon dlc, will it only be available for the month it comes out? Or could I become a patron months later and still be able to download it. I just don’t have a job right now otherwise I would LOVE to subscribe to your Patreon and definitely will once I have the money again!! Thank you so so much for making such a lovely game that’s brought me so much joy.

Hiya! I'm so sorry for sounding like a complete degenerate for asking, but will the nsfw moment on patreon still be available even if i'm not a patron of the month it comes out? (e.g. i didnt pay/join the necessary tier before the moment is released) Thank you for your hard work on OL, I really connected with Cove in a way I never anticipated.

Thank you very much for such kind words! The Patreon DLC will be up for download on the Patreon indefinitely once it’s done. Just like the normal DLCs, you can pay to get it whenever you like but it won’t be up for sale until it’s finished. So take all the time you need.

Sorry to bother you guys, but there was an earlier ask detailing the OL LI's love languages and I was just wondering- Would that be for them personally, as in what they do, or the love language they enjoy receiving the most? Because I know for some people it's different for both on giving and receiving and was a bit confused, haha. Sorry for the trouble, your games are really nice!

For Cove and Derek it’s what they like to receive and what they give. For Baxter, it’s what he likes to get. What he gives is tailored to his partner. He’s flexible that way~ And it’s no trouble.

asking (and also fanning... fanboying? fangirling? fanpersoning? screw it- from a distance) anonymously because my confidence is nonexistent.

will you be doing a kickstarter for our life: now and forever? i know it's probably been asked and mentioned before, but will you be doing a kickstarter akin to the one done for our life: beginnings and always? if so, will you be doing similar tier rewards? (if you guys do so, i will [politely] throw my money at you).

now, to the fan.. personing? FAN. uhm. to the part where this anonymous agender idiot will begin to act as the fan they are.

THE GAME IS SO. SO NICE. IT'S CUSTOMIZABLE. I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT THAT PART. AAAAA I ALSO ENJOY THAT YOU GAVE US THE OPTION TO JUST STAY BEST FRIENDS OR SOMETHING A8DBAIHEW- AND YOU INCLUDED AROS AND ACES IN THAT SEXUALITY CHOOSING PART- aaaAAA AND YOU MADE ELIZABETH FILIPINO- THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR CREATING SUCH AN INCLUSIVE GAME!!!

to summarize; will you be doing a kickstarter? and thank you for creating such a nice game. i, and likely the majority if not all of those who have played the game, am thankful.

Aw, thanks <3! I’m so happy it was such a nice experience for you. We are planning on having a Kickstarter for Our Life: Now & Forever. It’ll have similar rewards to the Our Life: O&A Kickstarter, but some changes will have to be made. Like, we’ll definitely need to increase the rate for getting a voiced name. Originally it was $3USD, which was super low for how much work it really took to add in a customized piece of voice acting, aha. Live and learn.

So sorry if you've already answered this, I looked but I couldn't find anything. Is the 18+ DLC coming out alongside the Step 3 DLC, or do they have different development timelines entirely? I'm so excited for all the DLC coming out in the future, and even though the release dates aren't out, I'm already counting down the days. :)

They have different development times and will come out separately. Despite taking place in the same Step period, they’re disconnected pieces of content and making progress on one doesn’t mean the other is closer to being finished. The normal Step 3 DLC is releasing first. It’s great to hear you’re looking forward to them!

Hey!! I'm absolutely LOVING Our Life! I have been pondering on one question though, what's Cove's ethnicity, if there is a set one? Or is it something we can Headcanon?

hi hi! i wanted to say first of all that i absolutely adore our life. it's one of my favourite games of 2020, and i think it was just the perfect dose of positivity we all needed, even if you didn't intend to release it during such a hectic year lol! secondly, i wanted to say: if it's alright to ask, what ethnicity is cove? :-0 and what about his parents? i was just curious about it ^^)/ thank you!!

Cove’s mom, Kyra, is white. But his dad’s, Cliff’s, race doesn’t come up and players are able to headcanon it. So Cove is half white and half whatever you prefer Cliff to be!

hello! there was a post on the patreon where you can run your fingers down cove's chest in errands - how do you get that scene? ♥

That was an old mistake on my part- you can only get that scene in the Ending rather Errands. You have to leave the big family dinner at the restaurant to go into the car, be dating Cove for a while, have Cove come see you there, and then mention using your hands when Cove makes a joke about hands.

in baxter’s dlc, is there any point where you can tell him about the previous renters of the condo?

You can talk to him about that in the normal Step 3 DLC!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you for all the interest in our games everybody :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

#our life #Our Life Beginnings & Always #Our Life: Now & Forever #ask #ourlifeba #ourlifenf #gb patch #gb patch games #long post

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ouyangzizhensdad · 3 years ago

Note

I just saw a post saying nhs has an inferiority complex and I'm?? Confused?? I always thought he was fine with being weaker in terms of cultivation, maybe I missed something

Hi anon,

I have to say, I struggle as well to figure out where people are getting this from the text. I think, oftentimes, people don't actually pay attention to what the text provides us in terms of characterisation as a whole, but take elements of what makes the character or which happens to them and simply extrapolate how they themselves would feel in that situation as a means of understanding the character. I can easily imagine how a reader would think: wow, if I had low cultivation in a world that values it (and within a clan that values strength even more so!) and a brother who was not only super strong and admired but who wanted me to fit into that role, and then found myself having to fill his shoes after his sudden death, I'd feel some sort of inferiority complex. I think that's the same reason you see so much people insisting WWX has self-esteem issues.

The thing about NHS is that, as a youth, we never saw him value high cultivation or "academic" achievements (not sure how to otherwise call his time at CR but there is probably a better word for it) or brute strength. He's afraid of consequences from his brother for failing at the CR, as we see here:

Although the brothers were not born from the same mother, their relationship was quite solid. Nie Mingjue had always taught his younger brother with extreme harshness, particularly caring for his studies. This was why, even though Nie Huaisang respected his older brother, he was the most scared of Nie Mingjue mentioning his schoolwork.

and here:

Although he didn’t understand a single bit as he listened in class, Nie Huaisang worked as hard as a slave when the date of the test approached. He copied Virtue two times for Wei Wuxian, and begged before the test, “Please, Wei-xiong, if my grade is lower than yi, my brother would really break my legs! Stuff like telling apart direct lineage, collateral lineage, main clan, clan branches… For us disciples from big clans, we can’t even distinguish our relationships with our own relatives, randomly calling everyone who are more than two tiers away from us aunts and uncles. Does anyone have enough capacity in their brain to remember those of other clans?!”

After thinking for a few moments, an expression of envy and yearning appeared on Nie Huaisang’s face, “To be honest, Wei-xiong’s words were quite interesting. Spiritual energy can only be obtained through cultivation and taking great pains to form a golden core (金丹). It would take I-don’t-know-how-many years to do, especially for someone like me, whose talent seems as if it was gnawed by a dog when I was in my mother’s womb. But, resentful energy are from the fierce ghosts. If they can easily be taken and used, it would be beyond wonderful.”

[...] . If disciple from a prominent clan forms the core at a later age, it would be a disgrace to tell other people of it, yet Nie Huaisang didn’t feel ashamed at all. Wei Wuxian also laughed, “I know, right? No harm comes from using it.”

The only moment that I can find that could tangentially be used to suggest that NHS has an inferiority complex could be this one, where NHS wants to avoid LXC's questioning about how his studies are going (and WWX picking up on his cues like a good friend to redirect the conversation). However, when you consider the whole context of the scene, it’s not because NHS feels self-conscious but because he’s afraid LXC is going to report to his brother that he’s not working hard at his studies:

Lan Xichen turned to him, “Huaisang, a while ago, as I returned from Qinghe, your brother asked of your studies. How is it? This year, will you be able to pass?”

Nie Huaisang replied, “Generally speaking, yes…” He seemed like a wilted cucumber, looking at Wei Wuxian in a helpless way. Wei Wuxian grinned, “Zewu-Jun, what are you two going out for?”

[...] Nie Huaisang also wanted to join in, but he had been reminded of his older brother as he met Lan Xichen. Cringing silently, he didn’t dare to have fun, “I’ll pass and go back so that I can review…” With this act, he hoped that Lan Xichen would put in some good words for him to his brother.

NHS seems very industrious at finding ways not to have to do anything that relates to cultivation or to leading a sect, and that is linked once more to the fact that he does not want to do these things (so not a case where we could say he’s self-sabotaging because he fears failure):

Lan Xichen took Nie Huaisang’s saber into his qiankun sleeve, “Huaisang has been using the excuse that he left his saber at home. Now he will have no excuses for lazing around.”

or here

“Nie Huaisang!”

Nie Huaisang fell at once.

He really did fall to his knees from the terror. He only staggered up after he finished kneeling, “D-d-d-da-ge.”

Nie Mingjue, “Where is your saber?”

Nie Huaisang cowered, “In… in my room. No, in the school grounds. No, let me… think…”

Wei Wuxian could feel that Nie Mingjue almost wanted to hack him dead right there, “You bring a dozen fans with you wherever you go, yet you don’t even know where your own saber is?!”

Nie Huaisang hurried, “I’ll go find it right now!”

[...]

In a hurry, Nie Huaisang dropped a few fans on the ground. Jin Guangyao picked them up for him and put them into his arms, “Huaisang’s hobbies are quite elegant. He’s dedicated to art and calligraphy, and has no propensity for mischief. How can you say that they’re useless?”

Nie Huaisang nodded as fast as he could, “Yes, Brother is right!”

Nie Mingjue, “But sect leaders have no need for such things.”

Nie Huaisang, “I’m not going to be a sect leader, though. You can be it, Da-ge. I’m not doing it!”

or here

Nie Mingjue was on the school ground, teaching and supervising Nie Huaisang’s saberwork in person. He did not acknowledge Jin Guangyao, so he stood at the edge of the field, waiting with respect. Since Nie Huaisang was quite uninterested and the sun was bright, he was rather half-hearted, complaining that he was tired after just a few moves. He beamed as he got ready to go to Jin Guangyao and see what presents he brought this time. In the past, Nie Mingjue would only frown at such things, but today he was angered, “Nie Huaisang, do you want this strike to land on your head?! Get back here!”

If only Nie Huaisang were like Wei Wuxian and could feel how great Nie Mingjue’s rage was, he wouldn’t grin in such a bold way. He protested, “Da-ge, the time is up. It’s time to rest!”

Nie Mingjue, “You rested just thirty minutes ago. Keep on going, until you learn it.”

Nie Huaisang was still giddy, “I won’t be able to learn it anyways. I’m done for the day!”

He often said this, but today Nie Mingjue’s reaction was entirely different from his past reaction. He shouted, “A pig would’ve learnt this by now, so why haven’t you?!”

Never expecting Nie Mingjue to burst out so suddenly, Nie Huaisang’s face was blank with shock as he shrunk toward Jin Guangyao. Seeing the two together, Nie Mingjue was even more provoked, “It’s been one year already and you still haven’t learnt this one set of saber techniques. You stand on the field for just thirty minutes and you’re complaining that you’re tired. You don’t have to excel, but you can’t even protect yourself! How did the QingheNie Sect produce such a good-for-nothing! The both of you should be tied up and beaten once every day. Carry out all those things in his room!”

The last sentence was spoken to the disciples standing by the side of the field. Seeing that they had gone, Nie Huaisang felt as though he was on pins and needles. A moment later, the row of disciples really did bring out all the fans, paintings, porcelain from his room. Nie Mingjue had always threatened to burn his room, but he had never actually burned them. This time, though, he was serious. Nie Huaisang panicked. He threw himself over, “Da-ge! You can’t burn them!”

Noticing that the situation wasn’t good, Jin Guangyao also spoke, “Da-ge, don’t act on impulse.”

Yet, Nie Mingjue’s saber had already striked. All of the delicate objects piled at the center of the field erupted in roaring flames. Nie Huaisang wailed and plunged into the fire to save them. Jin Guangyao hurried to pull him back, “Huaisang, be careful!”

With a sweep of Nie Mingjue’s hand, the two blanc de chine antiques shattered into pieces in his palms. The scrolls and paintings had already turned into dust in a split second. Nie Huaisang could only watch blankly as the much loved items that he had gathered throughout the years vanish into ashes. Jin Guangyao grabbed his hands to examine them, “Are they burnt?”

He turned to a few disciples, “Please prepare some medicine first.”

The disciples answered and left. Nie Huaisang stood at the same place, his entire body trembling as he looked over at Nie Mingjue, pupil encircled by veins. Seeing that his expression wasn’t right, Jin Guangyao put his arm around his shoulders and whispered, “Huaisang, how are you feeling? Stop watching. Go back to your room and have some rest.”

Nie Huaisang’s eyes brimmed red. He didn’t even make a sound. Jin Guangyao added, “It’s alright even if the things are gone. Next time I can find you more…”

Nie Mingjue interrupted, his words like ice, “I’ll burn them each time he brings them back into this sect.”

Anger and hatred suddenly flashed across Nie Huaisang’s face. He threw his saber onto the ground and yelled, “Then burn them!!!”

Jin Guangyao quickly stopped him, “Huaisang! Your brother is still angry. Don’t…”

Nie Huaisang roared at Nie Mingjue, “Saber, saber, saber! Who the fuck wants to practice the damn thing?! So what if I want to be a good-for-nothing?! Whoever that wants to can be the sect leader! I can’t learn it means I can’t learn it and I don’t like it means I don’t like it! What’s the use of forcing me?!”

I'm not saying he didn't have a hard time during the first moment of him taking over a leadership role in the sect after the sudden death of his brother (ultimately we can wonder whether the yiwensanbuzhi persona originated then, as he could have felt overwhelmed and actually didn't have the answers needed for the position he didn't prepare for--or whether it was always a pure fabrication to serve his goals), but I don't think we can chalk it up to an inferiority complex.

In the past, Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang studied together, so there were a few things he could comment about this person. Nie Huaisang wasn’t an unkind person. It wasn’t that he was not clever, but that his heart was set somewhere else and used his smarts on other areas, such as painting on fans, searching for birds, skipping classes, and catching fish. Because his talent in terms of cultivation really was poor, he formed his core around eight or nine years later than the other disciples of the same generation as him. When he lived, Nie Mingjue was often exasperated by the fact that his brother didn’t meet his expectations, so he disciplined him strictly. Despite this, he still didn’t improve much. Now, without his older brother protecting and supervising him, under his lead, the QingheNie Sect declined day by day. After he grew up, especially after he became the sect leader, he was often troubled by all kinds of affairs unfamiliar to him and looked for helpers everywhere, mainly his brother’s two sworn brothers. One day he’d go to Jinling Tower to complain to Jin Guangyao, and the next day he’d go to the Cloud Recesses to whine to Lan Xichen. With the two leaders of the Jin and Lan Sects supporting him, he still barely managed to settle on the sect leader position. Nowadays, whenever people mentioned Nie Huaisang, although they didn’t say anything on the surface, the same phrase was written on their faces—good-for-nothing.

And after NHS pieced together what happened to his brother and set out on a path to revenge, I don't see how someone who is so sharp and deceptive and able to reach his goals while hiding behind a facade the entire time would feel "inferior".

#anon ask #nhs #mdzs #mdzs meta

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betawooper · 4 years ago

Text

rating every demon fight in kny bc i can

non-biased, completely objective rating (more or less) of every significant demon fight in kny based on a number of factors, including:

cleverness of fighting tactics

placement in the story’s timeline

integration of character backstories

cohesive themes between characters

etc

by non-biased and objective i mean i’m not skewing the rating if a death felt fair or whatever

everything past where the anime ended will be under a read more so anime onlys who havent watched mugen train, youre safe lol

oh and i reread the manga like 20+ times (reread the latter arcs at least 40 times, haha hyperfixations am i right?) so be rest assured im not pulling these ratings out of my ass

also ill randomly be bolding certain phrases just to improve readability

anyways let’s gooooo

VS NEZUKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Nezuko. Tanjirou is fending her off by putting the axe handle in her mouth, keeping her from eating him. End Image Description.]

10/10

i like how realistic it is, because yeah tanjirou would react the way to he did with zero fighting skills against a demon

very clear why tanjirou is fighting nezuko and shows a bit of worldbuilding on how normal people react to their family becoming demons

always nice to see worldbuilding

giyuu is the perfect example of a seasoned demon slayer who’s good at his job, and he juxtaposes tanjirou very well in that aspect

my only complaint is not directly in this fight itself but how nezuko is handled throughout the story as a whole

like bro, it is literally never explained why nezuko is different from demons

could have been easily explained if maybe her family’s ghosts like slapped her hand every time she wanted to eat a person but nope

she’s just built different lol

so yeah youll see future ratings get points docked off bc nezuko unlocks some secret power with no prior explanation other than she angy >:3

VS TEMPLE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a demon. The demon has a sharp-nailed hand over his neck and there are four text bubbles around him saying “But a wound like this... will heal in no time! See? The bleeding already stopped!” End Image Description.]

10/10

may be more forgettable compared to like rui but still good

tanjirou did exceptionally well in this fight and his ability to think on his feet is once again beautifully illustrated here (trapping this dude’s head against the tree trunk with the axe)

very clever

again, establishes more demon worldbuilding regarding regeneration and still being able to move without their head

and the demons burning in the sunlight thing since nezuko wasn’t able to show that

the ending where tanjirou hesitates to kill the demon also serves to show his sympathetic nature towards demons that will last throughout the entirety of the first 60-ish chapters

we’ll talk about what the hell happens to tanjirou after that

or not, it could honestly be its own post

VS HAND DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a many-handed demon. He has six hands around him, three of them covering his mouth while he chuckles, two of them grabbing his cheeks, and one holding on to the top of his head. There are two text bubbles saying “That’s how many of Urokodaki’s students I have eaten! I’ve decided to kill all of his students!” End Image Description.]

10/10

ooooh probably the first big fight against a demon in the series

oh yeah not doing the two random demons tanjirou one shot in a single blow bc eh

anyways hand demon’s pretty goddamn scary, considering the fact that this is the 5th demon or whatever tanjirou has had to face so far

very nice way to show us how much tanjirou’s innate intuition and all his other random abilities (sense of smell, hard forehead) can come together and help him decapitate this guy

i liked the mini history with urokodaki this dude had and why he had beef with our favorite mentor figure, it establishes that urokodaki was in fact a super good demon slayer and its cool to see that actually shown

i also liked that small moment of compassion tanjirou gave this demon, staying consistent with tanjirou’s established kindness

the demon’s sad tale with killing his own brother very much humanizes him when all the reader has seen up to this point is that this guy is a monster who eats people

sets up the theme of demons just being humans but being victims of circumstance that unfortunately doesn’t hold up as well in arcs past mugen train

VS SWAMP DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou fighting off three horned demons as they appear from below. There is a spiky text bubble saying “Three of them!!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not my most favorite fight but it still portrays everything alright and im not allowed to let my personal opinions mess with the rating so

i like how tanjirou mentioned the fact that he trained in conditions similar to the bog and explains how he pulled off the whirlpool form

using past experiences to aid him in the present, nice nice

tanjirou and nezuko dont quite work together very well but its yknow the first mission so ill chalk it up to simple inexperience

also the way the muzan curse thingie was hinted at here? fantastic way of showing that little bit of demon worldbuilding

...

oh god, it mentions nezuko being stronger than normal demons

ok its not a problem here per say since i can still suspend my disbelief, but later on it just becomes a glaring problem that gets worse over time

VS SUSAMARU AND YAHABA

[Image Description: Manga panels of Susamaru and Yahaba. The first one is a joyful Susamaru about to throw a temari ball. There is floating text saying “Is she one of Kibutsuji’s minions?!” The second image is an annoyed Yahaba, holding one of his eye-hands to cover himself. There are two text bubbles around him saying “My kimono got all dusty. Tch!” End Image Description.]

9/10

why dont these bitches have a good looking panel together dammit

anyways amazing entrance, the way yahaba used his hand eyes to track down tanjirou is really neat

the synergy yahaba and susamaru have is incredible, its awesome dude, they work extremely well together and it shows

tanjirou actually mixing his water breathing forms together is a god tier move and i absolutely love how he can show off his ability to think on his feet once again

establishing how yushiro’s bda works early on is really well done

establishing tamayo as a fugitive this early on is also super well done

not to get into spoiler territory but both these things pay off

how tamayo ended up defeating susamaru is literally awesome in so many ways

shows off both how smart she is by exploiting the muzan curse

and speaking of the muzan curse, we actually get to see what happens to demons who even say his name, back when it was hinted with the swamp demon

tamayo is amazing dude, and we get some real evidence of the horrible suffering demons go through if they even accidentally attempt to betray muzan :D

...

now heres what keeps this fight from being perfect

nezuko somehow grew stronger against susamaru’s temari

with no explanation

which could have been easily explained if tamayo was like “oh yeah the drug also boosts a demon’s strength temporarily”

but nope

god, i just dont like how gotouge handles nezuko’s power boosts throughout the series bc like i said before

no explanation is given anywhere

this is a huge issue, this isnt a pokemon game, you cant just kill demons and get exp at the end of every battle, level up, get some sweet stat bonuses and move on

(actually if gotouge established that this is how nezuko grew in power, than all my complaints about this would be gone, im not even joking)

anyways i get that nezuko is supposed to be “special” but thats too vague of a descriptor

how the hell is she special? ya gotta be more specific and stick with that explanation or that suspension of disbelief is going to disappear

VS TONGUE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a four-eyed demon with horns and a long tongue. He is crawling in an awkward position, one foot in front of his tilted head. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Heh, heh! I’ll slurpy slurp your brains out through you ear!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not much to say, showcases zenitsu’s true abilities really well

nicely done

VS HORNED DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a big, single-horned demon. There are three text bubbles saying “You dodged! You’re awfully lively for a human! It’ll be a treat to carve away your flesh!” End Image Description.]

10/10

would have ignored this fight if not for the fact we havent seen inosuke fight before

it definitely shows how very fast-paced and wild inosuke is

no complaints here lol

VS KYOGAI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kyogai, a demon with tsuzumi drums attached to his shoulders. There are four text bubbles around him saying “Why?! Why does everyone keep sneaking through my house? It’s so aggravating. It’s my prey! It’s my prey! Found in my territory!” End Image Description.]

10/10

establishes marechi blood pretty early on, once again expanding the worldbuilding of kny which is always cool

interesting terrain where it’s always shifting, tanjirou once again proves his ability to adapt really quickly by altering one of his forms to work with the turning room

(man, i wish the form mixing/form modification thing carried on throughout the rest of the story, but it really didnt which is just a shame)

the injuries tanjirou had prior to this mission actually affecting him was a nice touch

oh yeah, kyogai gives us more worldbuilding (which is always nice) regarding the 12 kizuki, and the aspect of him being cast out due to being weak shows a lot about muzan’s indifference towards his own demons if they arent strong

his backstory being a failed writer once again humanizes kyogai as a former human being and not just a monster

tanjirou shows his sympathy and compassion again by not stepping on his written work and complimenting his bda

well, tbh tanjirou’s actions kinda came out of nowhere but its a very minor thing and not enough to dock a point off, like it didnt affect the outcome of the fight that much if at all

(so if you see future battles where points are docked off for things not logically making sense, its bc whatever nonsensical concepts were integrated into the fight actually turned the tide of the battle and thats a big no-no)

very good fight and if you remember how kinda bad tanjirou was at accurately slicing the swamp demon, you can see that he’s already improved leaps and bounds

im so proud of him

VS MOTHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and the Mother Spider Demon. There is a light shining down from the top right on to the demon as Tanjirou slices her head off, rain following in his wake. There is floating text saying “Water Breathing: Fifth Form - Blessed Rain After the Drought!” around them. End Image Description.]

10/10

i mean does anyone disagree?

all the demon slayers getting their necks snapped by her threads was pretty horrific, probably more horrifying than anything else we have seen in the entire series if im gonna be honest

the death scene is probably the most beautiful one in the series

it reveals a water breathing form that we havent seen before thats the 5th form

as far as i know, no other breathing style has this merciful sword stroke so it shows a lot about the original water breather and what they might have been like

but enough about them, really the focus is on tanjirou bc this is like the best example by far of how kind and sympathetic he is to demons

dunno what else to say, its perfect

VS SON SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Agatsuma Zenitsu performing Thunder Breathing 1st Form: Sixfold on a spider-like demon. Zenitsu is crashing through the roof of a shed, and a zig-zag path is left behind. There are sound effects all over the panel, saying “Bam!” in large font. End Image Description.]

10/10

chose a picture without a huge spider on it bc i would like to not scare myself half to death

anyways extremely amazing fight, showcases zenitsu’s immense talent and skill, adapting the 1st form of thunder breathing to be a more versatile move

theres a moment where his backstory with kuwajima and kaigaku were revealed and his hidden insecurities are out in the open which is super nice and further develops a character weve only considered as comedic relief until now

the anime made the backstory scenes and the killing scene so much cooler

while there is no thematic connection between zenitsu and the demon, it really isnt necessary to keep this fight interesting

anyways another pretty much perfect fight

VS FATHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Inosuke slashing at the Father Spider Demon. The demon has blocked Tanjirou’s sword with his arm, and Inosuke is slamming both his blades down on the demon’s other hand. End Image Description.]

10/10

again, not my most favorite fight but it does everything right

i do have to say it was excellent how gotouge hyped up the father spider demon to be the big bad, only just so the plot twist later takes the readers by surprise

nicely done

VS DAUGHTER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kochou Shinobu and the Daughter Spider Demon. Shinobu’s back is seen and her haori looks like a butterfly’s wings keeping her afloat as she holds her stinger blade out to the side. The demon looks surprised as blood gushes from her side, arm, shoulder, chest, neck, and forehead. There is floating text on the panel, saying “Insect Breathing - Butterfly Dance - Caprice!” End Image Description.]

10/10

first time weve seen shinobu and her fighting style

what i love most about this is how much it shows her true character, appearing as a carefree and naive individual so she seems underwhelming

then bam, reveals exactly how dangerous and uncaring she is of demons, listing out the specific ways she would torture the daughter spider demon in grotesque detail

her using poison to take demons by surprise is also super clever and brings back the worldbuilding established way earlier about wisteria being poisonous to demons

amazing integration of that concept

anyways this fight really encapsulates who shinobu is as a character and thats why it gets a perfect score

VS RUI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Rui holding his hand out directly towards the viewer. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Give me your sister. If you hand her over quietly, I’ll spare your life.” End Image Description.]

8/10

not only is it a super scary fight but there is a deeper conflict between rui and tanjirou, what it means to be family

they are opposites in the sense that while tanjirou believes love is what makes a family, rui’s subconscious desperation for an unbreakable bond drives him to use fear to keep his “family” together

excellent juxtaposition of their values, and this is only further emphasized when rui expresses out loud what he was going to do to nezuko

i also like the symbolism regarding rui’s bda, how he uses threads or the “familial” bonds to cut up his fake family with it if they act out of turn or annoy him

super neat detail

alright what i dont like about this fight is nezuko (again)

mostly her unlocking her bda to turn the tide of the battle bc her mom was like “yo, wake up, your brother is going to be killed”

feels... forced ig

her bda in general is confusing and not consistent

man, i wish i could make a stronger argument for this but i do believe the problem stems from the fact that we dont ever know what nezuko is thinking, and what she thinks of tanjirou specifically

if she even cares for him as a sibling or if shes only going along with what her family is saying to her, things like that which would have been fixed if gotouge actually gave her thoughts some screen time

so the action feels pretty shallow

im also conflicted over tanjirou somehow remembering how dance of the fire god works

on one hand, hes using past information and applying it in the current setting so he doesnt die, which is understandable

but on the other hand, this was a teeny bit random?

i think what could have fixed this is if there was a scene in the beginning of the series where tanjirou was performing it himself, like practicing before he actually had to do it for new years

so that when the rui fight rolls around, it would have felt less like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

but yeah

overall super good fight, giyuu ending up having to kill rui instead of tanjirou was super good in that tanjirou didnt become a pillar this early in the series and to show how strong giyuu is

there are some odd bits regarding the ultimate “beheading” of rui using nezuko and tanjirous supposed bonds but it doesnt kill the fight entirely so it deserves its pretty high score

***under read more is manga-only fights so beware***

VS ENMU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Enmu holding his hand out directly at the viewer, with a mouth on the back of it. There is floating text to the top right of Enmu that says “Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” End Image Description.]

9/10

id say this fight is definitely overshadowed by the dream stuff prior to this but its pretty good in its own right

enmu fusing with the train was kinda confusing, like when was it established that demons could fuse with objects?

this worldbuilding element doesnt even appear again so yeah thats why it loses a point

how the kmbk gang end up defeating enmu is pretty sweet though, tanjirou using dance of the fire god to sever the neck bone was really nice and shows that him using the breathing style in the rui fight wasnt a one time thing

while kyojuro’s role was smaller in this part, the next part makes up for it so i cant complain

anyways ye, almost perfect score but its pretty good

VS AKAZA (MUGEN TRAIN)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza holding his hand out to the viewer’s left. There is a text bubble saying “Why don’t you become a demon?” End Image Description.]

10/10

this encounter is literally amazing okay?

after the crew kills the big bad, it seems like everything is fine

but plot twist, upper moon 3 appears out of nowhere

this is the first time the reader has seen an upper moon, let alone the 3rd/4th strongest demon in existence and the way gotouge handled this twist is fucking amazing

kyojuro’s death scene really shows just how human even the strongest pillars are against demons with incredible power

its just

amazing

VS OBI DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panels of the obi-like demon. The first image shows the obi hung in the air and strung over each other like decorations, with women-shaped patterns in its folds. The second image is Hashibira Inosuke fighting the Obi demon which now has lips and eyes. There is floating text in that panel saying “Breath of the Beast: Sixth Fang - Jagged Gnaw!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

on to red light district

this fight is admittedly super forgettable and not very interesting at least compared to the main fight with daki and gyutaro

but it wraps up the sub plot of the women and uzui’s wives going missing so it gets a perfect score for not messing that up

oh and it establishes the stretchy neck thing daki has going on which is very good

VS DAKI AND GYUTARO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Daki and Gyutaro. Daki is sitting on Gyutaro’s shoulders. There is a text bubble on the top right that says “The two of us are one, after all.” as well as floating text that reads “The power of the irregular siblings...!? Next issue lead color and the fight reaches its climax!!” End Image Description.]

8/10

love how this battle challenges tanjirou’s sympathy and kindness towards demons, just simply bc daki and gyutaro are horrible people

(too bad nothing came of this, which ill explain in the hantengu portion)

daki and gyutaro are very good villains and kept this fight super interesting from start to finish

uzui acting as a foil to gyutaro is nicely integrated and properly shown with how jealous gyutaro gets over seeing uzui’s perfect form and stature

tanjirou not only mixes forms but mixes breathing styles as well, which is so fucking awesome

(too bad it was only used like once throughout the entire series, its quite unfortunate)

the super high tension right after inosuke gets stabbed and tanjirou wakes up was expertly portrayed and handled, it felt like the kmbk gang and uzui were actually going to lose

super awesome

the tanjirou and gyutaro parallels are expertly portrayed, with how gyutaro taunts tanjirou over failing to protect his little sister, and the more visual thing where tanjirou imagined his own neck underneath his blade, that was super duper nice

the ending is extremely tense and emotionally gripping, gotouge did a really good job with that artistically too

the demon mark acquisition scene was surprisingly not frustrating, considering that it wasnt really explained prior to the battle

i do think it has to do with how it was explained later just exactly how they worked so its not just some random thing gotouge pulled out of their ass

so pretty good

what i dont like is nezuko and her full power demon form

first of all where the fuck did that come from? she just got angry and suddenly shes as powerful as an upper moon

how?

that doesnt make sense???

her extremely quick regeneration makes no sense

her ability to manipulate her blood’s properties makes no sense

and it doesnt even appear again so what was the point of that existing

none of this is even explained later which annoys me

that one part where tanjirou sings a lullaby to her to calm her down was alright ig but nezuko in this fight makes me extremely irritated and frustrated

just ugh

VS HANTENGU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Hantengu opening a shoji door. He is crawling inside, his hand in a gnarled, unnatural position. There is a text bubble saying “Eeeeeeek.” End Image Description.]

1/10

swordsmith village

this fight can go fuck itself /j

no but seriously it has so many problems that it would be shorter to name its redeeming qualities (which ill do later)

first off, the nezuko full power form thing again

i hate it so much with a passion

again, where did her ability to regenerate instantly even come from???? this is never explained, ever

and why did she cut herself on tanjirou’s sword anyway

did she somehow know that it was going to turn red if she burned it?

gotouge what the fuck, there is literally no reason why nezuko would do that and we cant even read her mind to see her thought process

gotouge hates nezuko, i swear

remember when i said uzui is meant to be a foil to gyutaro in the rld fight? its pretty obvious that those two are opposites, it was nicely done

... what the hell does mitsuri’s insecurities about strength have to do with whatever the fuck hantengu has going on (which is basically nothing)?

so no meaningful connection between mitsuri and hantengu

theres no meaningful connection between tanjirou and hantengu other than tanjirou getting pissed off for like the second time

also tanjirou’s thing with being kind and sympathetic to demons was entirely dropped at this point

but instead of it leading up to a corruption arc of some sorts, it just doesnt

like honestly if something actually came of that anger he exhibited in this arc and from red light district from this point forward story-wise, i would have counted this as an amazing writing decision

but it literally doesnt so who cares

(god, i really start to hate what happened to his character after this )

and genya’s revealed motivation also doesnt fit at all with hantengu’s thing, he’s not a foil, not a parallel, nothing, there is nothing

tanjirou being the catharsis for development for mitsuri and muichirou, who he has only talked to like twice

theres definitely a better way to handle those two’s developments without his help

like gotouge, you have a big cast of characters, use them lol

i want to kick hantengu in the face for being boring as fuck (at least his clones have cool looking weapons)

doesnt even have a proper backstory, just a single spread of him being blamed for shit as a human

like... thats it? this is upper moon 4 what the hell

theres no clever form mixing here at all (regarding tanjirou) which probably would have helped with foreshadowing the 13th form for dance of the fire god/sun breathing better

also gotouge established that as tanjirou’s thing and now he doesnt do that stuff anymore which sucks

oh hey remember when tanjirou actually learned how to do zenitsu’s speed boost thing?

if you didnt, i dont blame you bc it literally doesnt appear again, ever

you could argue that he adapted it into his “waltz flash” technique or whatever the fuck that is but the way it was integrated into this fight was like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

which is just a shame bc its meant to be representative of how tanjirou and zenitsu are good pals but the way it was utilized is forgettable as hell

i absolutely loathe the crimson blade concept as a whole and im mentioning this now bc its going to come into play why future instances where this goddamn thing comes up again causes points to be lost

its inconsistent as fuck ill tell you that

at least some yoriichi stuff appeared here and not shoved into the final battle with everything else

so the yoriichi stuff later didnt come out of absolute nowhere

genya and mitsuri’s unique fighting styles expand the kny worldbuilding just a little more which is always nice

tanjirou got a cool sword out of this which would have been cooler if him and yoriichi had a deeper connection that was actually explored

but we didnt get shit so whatever

other people getting demon marks being revealed here is also okay so that again, the final battle isnt filled with absolutely everyone getting their marks at once

demon marks have their own slew of problems but its not as bad as the fucking crimson sword shit

god i hate the crimson sword shit

...

dude this section needs a tldr, even i cant sit and read through my shit

TL;DR - this fight sucks and crimson swords are bullshit (more on this later)

VS GYOKKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Tokitou Muichirou and Gyokko. Muichirou is looking to the left while Gyokko is looking to the right, both with their backs to each other. There are mist clouds billowing in the foreground and background, as well as a slash mark going across Gyokko’s neck. End Image Description.]

7/10

this fight suffers from the same lack of cohesive themes through characters like the hantengu battle bc the antagonist is given nothing

but its better

we havent actually seen mui fight before so theres no consistencies that the reader has to keep track of for now

and there arent like 10 characters in the fight so this fight gets a lot of points just for being a lot more coherent

i do like that this fight shows just how good mui is that he can defeat an upper moon by himself

mui’s backstory is neat

gyokko’s bda is very interesting too

... thats pretty much it lol

ye, anyways not the best fight but not the worst fight either

VS KAIGAKU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kaigaku holding the hilt of his blade with one hand. There is two text bubbles around him, saying “...As usual, you’re still shabby. It’s been a while, Zenitsu.” End Image Description.]

9/10

alright on to final battle arc

theres some good fights and then some really sucky ones, but this one was pretty incredible and very emotionally charged

theres a clear reason why zenitsu and kaigaku are battling each other (kai betrayed the corps and inadvertantly caused the only parental figure in zenitsu’s life to die, and zenitsu is rightfully pissed off about that)

the visual yin-yang symbolism is awesome too

zenitsu winning due to using the 7th form he created himself (which i have reason to believe was inspired by tanjirou) was the perfect ending to the fight, really couldnt ask for anything better and is a perfect example of how much of an effect tanjirou has had on zenitsu

the 7th form is what tanjirou’s waltz flash should have been lol

what keeps this fight from being absolutely perfect is lack of development prior to this conflict

(since the final battle arc is basically a culmination of all the hinted developments through the series, im going to actually factor in how much and how well these conflicts were foreshadowed)

anyways if we had actually seen zenitsu, kaigaku, and kuwajima actually interacting with each other and showing how they were essentially a family (not just through flashbacks), it would have made zenitsu placing the responsibility of killing kai onto himself a lot more tragic

but like, apart from brief flashbacks where zenitsu actually met kaigaku off screen and that one thing all the way back in natagumo where both kuwajima and kai were introduced, thats pretty much it in terms of thunder family development

so yeah its underdeveloped for sure

also one random thought, i personally think zenitsu should have gotten his demon mark in this fight, it would have been cool to see

VS AKAZA (INFINITY FORTRESS)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza’s face. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Okay, let’s get started. It’s time for the feast.” There is also floating text saying “The inspection of the strong has begun...” as well as a simple box on the lower left, denoting its the end of chapter 147. End Image Description.]

6/10

oh god please dont hate me for this

ill list the good things first how about that

this conflict was foreshadowed perfectly in mugen train, you bet the readers were expecting a tanjirou vs akaza battle after the death of kyojuro and gotouge delivered

akaza’s power is shown extremely well with how many close calls tanjirou and giyuu had while fighting him

akaza eventually giving up on his own volition was really nice and fit into the context of the battle very very well, like sure tanjirou and giyuu wouldnt understand why he gave up but us readers do know

akaza is a really good character and a good villain

now notice how im only mentioning akaza and not giyuu or tanjirou in the good aspects

bc those two are eh

no form mixing at all from either tanjirou and giyuu

i know i said form mixing was kind of tanjirou’s thing but you’d think giyuu would have gotten more creative with his moves once akaza said that he was getting predictable

(well he said he “ran out of water breathing forms” but same thing)

so its kinda bland lol

speaking of giyuu, his whole thing with his insecurities of being weak wasnt handled well (it was sort of immediately brushed off in pillar training, and its unclear what part of his character arc he was in)

like sure him announcing that he’s going to protect tanjirou is cool but it feels like he was haphazardly dropped into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

isnt he supposed to be both their foils? that wasnt really explored that well in this fight and theres no deep meaning behind him even being here just analyzing what he did in it

he could have been handled better or even given more focus is what im saying

the anatta state came out of nowhere, im sorry okay? just bc inosuke like barely hinted at not being able to sense grandma hisa bc she had no fighting spirit and tanjurou magically taught his son how to achieve this state doesnt mean it was properly integrated into the fight

if the anatta state was actually explored prior to this battle, i would have given it a pass but it just feels like a cheap and poorly developed trick to get around akaza’s technique development (which is overpowered as fuck might i add)

gotouge should have just given akaza a plausible weakness to his technique development instead, especially since they dont use or even mention the anatta state after this

the transparent world shit makes no sense but ill elaborate on that in the koku battle analysis

oh and this thing doesnt affect the score but why wasnt there a “yoriichi visage overlapping” moment when tanjirou was fighting akaza? hes an upper moon, he should have gotten those visions but he didnt

for some reason

anyways this battle was alright and has good set up but the middle and end parts didnt hold up as well bc random concepts were thrown at us without prior explanation or development

VS DOUMA

[Image Description: Manga panel of Douma licking Shinobu’s butterfly pin. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Anyway, tonight is a good night. Such fine feasts keep showing up one after another.” End Image Description.]

9/10

damn, such an amazing fight

the build up to this was properly foreshadowed

shinobu finally showing her true anger after hiding it for so long is amazing

douma is a super interesting character and fantastic villain

shinobu showing off her true power and determination against douma was sooooo nice

shinobu’s poisonous body plan is so clever and so interesting

if i was to rate the shinobu part of the fight alone, it would have gotten a 10/10 no question

the reason why its knocked down a point is because of the kanao and inosuke part

dont get me wrong, the way kanao is able to hold her own against douma by herself is pretty cool, how shes meant to parallel douma with their similar struggles surrounding human emotions and demonstrate how she has grown as a person, how she regains the ability to cry

that shit is cool, inosuke also getting in touch with his emotions after learning what happened to his mom was super neat as well

however

bc this battle takes place in the final arc with everything else, there wasnt proper build up regarding many things, the kotoha reveal especially

so inosuke feels kinda forced into the kanao shinobu and douma conflict, similar to how giyuu felt forced into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

its quite unfortunate bc if the kotoha stuff was actually explored prior to the confrontation, this “forced” feeling would have disappeared

i know some people have suggested that the douma fight should have just been its own arc, and i very much agree, it would have certainly helped fix this problem regarding inosuke and kotoha

last random thought, i wish shinobu, kanao, and inosuke got their demon marks

VS KOKUSHIBOU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kokushibou looking directly at the viewer, holding the hilt of his blade as if he’s going to pull it out. There are text boxes around him saying “This... is Upper Moon One... He’s so different compared to the other Upper Moons. He looks so dignified and majestic.” The text boxes are narrated by Tokitou Muichirou. End Image Description.]

5/10

this fight is... mediocre

at least theres a more tangible connection between muichirou and kokushibou

even though that was handled kinda poorly

tbh there really was no point to revealing that mui is koku’s descendant like at all, it just had no significant bearing to the plot of the fight

sanemi’s backstory being here is... okay ig?

idk the whole shinazugawa conflict has fundamental problems that i just cant think of any other place to put it without changing the entirety of canon

the marechi blood concept coming back was nice though

genya is there

him getting his bda was cool and helped turn the tide of the battle in a satisfying way (before kicking the bucket but thats not the focus here)

gyomei is a hollow husk of a character who barely got anything at all

but his fighting style is extremely cool and conveys his immense power very well

oh and him and sanemi are amazing at working together, like better than giyuu and tanjirou, and better than kanao and inosuke

theyre that good yet pretty much nobody acknowledges it which is sad

koku himself is pretty interesting and pretty tragic, very nice villain

but everyone together?

gonna be honest but this is such a random collection of characters, there was basically no foreshadowing that these four were going to go up again kokushibou, they are not that connected very well

i know there was this one post that focused on the theme of family that was common in all 5 characters in the fight but its just not enough

it would have been more cohesive if gotouge emphasized gyomei, mui, sanemi, and genya being like different aspects of yoriichi coming together to kill kokushibou hundreds of years after yoriichi failed to kill him

lmao its not like the 4 of them defeated koku with the power of family or friendship, they just smacked him over and over with a flail, shot him with magical bullets, and stabbed a crimson sword into his abdomen

wouldnt have been too hard to switch over to koku’s pov and go “damn these bitches are like my stupid brother”

...

speaking of crimson swords

i fucking hate the crimson sword concept oh my god can i complain about it now? im gonna complain about it now

unlike demon marks, the crimson blades werent even given any proper conditions, you just hold the stupid thing hard enough and it somehow imbues it with magical properties with no logic behind those properties

what part of crimson swords completely destroys a demon’s body in an instant? even muzan didnt go through that process when he was almost killed by yoriichi so where in the goddamn fuck did it come from

it could be explained bc the sword was left in the same spot for a long time but this tactic doesnt even appear again in a meaningful way (didnt kill muzan when tanjirou and giyuu held the sword together) so what the fuck was the point of having this even exist

its so underdeveloped and confusing and i hate it

the transparent world stuff is also confusing as shit and its pretty much never explained how they work aside from the vague “close your mind” advice, like why did it exist, it did nothing to help the present day demon slayers

its just so... poorly integrated

yeah anyways this is around the same rating as the akaza fight but a little worse bc there wasnt that strong set up beforehand

VS KOKUSHIBOU (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panel of a bag getting ripped open, pieces of a wooden flute tumbling out. End Image Description.]

10/10

easily 10/10

this fight shows the tragedy of kokushibou giving in to his envy and hatred, when yoriichi cries over seeing his own family commit terrible attrocities against the people he wanted to protect

and yoriichi dies, now carrying the fact that he couldnt even save his own brother from the influence of muzan on his conscious forever

what a sad ending for yoriichi

and after koku angrily slashes apart yoriichi’s corpse, having him find and keep the flute he gave to him when they were kids to the present day gives him a small shred of humanity in the midst of his monstrous anger

VS NAKIME

[Image Description: Manga panels of Nakime. The first one shows a low quality version of her playing her biwa. The second one is a close up of her eye. There are spiky text bubbles saying “It’s Upper Rank... 4!” End Image Description.]

0/10

no nakime backstory

not even a goddamn fight

forgettable

useless

VS MUZAN

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kibutsuji Muzan in his white-haired, mouth-covered form. There are text bubbles around him saying “Not a single one was of use to me. I will crush the demon hunters tonight. I’ll massacre them all right now.” End Image Description.]

1/10

._.

i have many complaints but ill try my best to not make this another hantengu rant section lol

first off, obanai deserved better

im serious, this poor dude was forgotten until pretty much the end when we finally get a backstory out of him

and then he died

what a waste of a potentially amazing character

mitsuri getting taken out early was ehhh

pretty sure someone else made a post about her supposedly being extremely strong but she was nerfed in this battle which i agree with

literally none of the pillars work together very well, like remember how i praised sanemi and gyomei for being super coordinated? lmao that doesnt exist anymore

you could say this is caused by desperation though and you wouldnt be wrong, its just boring to sit through

that causes issues bc this now basically requires the crimson sword and transparent world concepts to be there to spice things up

but in this fight, they do nothing in the long run (except for tanjirou using the crimson sword at the very very end)

youve already heard me talk about why those two things are super shittily integrated and i cant be bothered repeating myself so moving on

kanao, inosuke, and zenitsu

they... exist? they didnt do much tbh, which i guess is the point but like, now its boring again

nezuko could have been used as a potential way to raise the stakes and make things interesting again (like “ah shit, muzan might actually be unkillable if he gets nezuko but its okay bc shes not here- oh fuck shes here this is not good”)

but nothing came of her running off except confirmation that she became human again so whatever

uzui and shinjuro are useless, why werent they at the fight?

like they could have followed nezuko and contributed to the battle even a little but they just didnt and now theres literally no point to them appearing in this arc at all

wasted potential

tanjirou

i wish him going absolutely apeshit had actual substance behind it, like it being a part of his character arc or something

i remember having this one theory that he had a corruption arc (due to dropping his kindness thing towards demons) and i wanted this to be true so badly

but it doesnt exist

not with how the series ended

god

the only thing that saves this fight from being complete trash is tamayo’s poison thing being amazingly executed

and the part where everyone got blasted away, losing limbs and shit, that made things a little more interesting again

but thats it

VS MUZAN (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kibutsuji Muzan, Tamayo, and Tsugikuni Yoriichi. The first one has Muzan and Tamayo, while the second one has Yoriichi pulling out his sword. There are text boxes saying “And the moment I met him, I understood that I was born into this world to defeat this man.” End Image Description.]

9/10

finally something good again

while short, that’s just the nature of all of yoriichi’s battles with demons

anyways pretty nice, theres a clear reason why this battle exists (shows the scenario that made the original breather get super close to defeating muzan in detail)

adding tamayo here was a nice touch

my only complaint is that it seemed extremely coincidental that yoriichi somehow developed a breathing style specifically countering muzan’s multiple organs without even knowing prior that he had all those brains and hearts floating around freely in his body

like thats kind of ridiculous, even for yoriichi whos supposed to be “blessed by the gods”

could just be me though

VS TANJIROU

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kamado Tanjirou in his demon form. The first image has his eyes closed. The second image has his eyes opened and the tumor on his face almost completely faded. There are text boxes around him saying “You will destroy the demon hunters in my stead.” End Image Description.]

1/10

hoo boy

ok first off, demon tanjirou lasted for 2 chapters

thats it

2 chapters

so thats already a problem

i am aware its meant to parallel the beginning of the series but also its ridiculous how completely vague and rushed this entire thing was

nezuko doesnt do shit through not just this battle but this entire arc which i already explained so not gonna go into it further

kanao magically having a demon cure on her made very little sense

the scene where tanjirou leaves muzan in purgatory is pretty but if you look at it in the context of everything else, its ambiguous and confusing

(if someone could explain it and see how it connects to the original theme of “demons just being victims of circumstance,” i would love to hear it)

actually you know what makes me so mad about this “fight” as a whole? there was so much potential to do more with this concept

and im not talking about him escaping and nezuko becoming a demon slayer roleswap au (even though its a pretty cool concept)

him becoming a demon could have been a metaphor for his lost kindness and sympathy towards demons halfway through the series

it could have been a punishment for letting his anger towards muzan cloud his judgement

it could have symbolized literally anything about him losing his humanity as he got stronger

but those three things are just scenarios from my head, they dont exist in this series just based off of what weve seen from these two chapters

its disappointing

the only thing keeping this from getting a 0 is the one part where inosuke couldnt chop off tanjirou’s head bc he cared about him too much

that at least shows inosuke had grown as a character

everything else is just meaningless and convoluted garbage and “convoluted” is not what you should be aiming for if this is supposed to be the ending of your series

IN SUMMARY

early kny is very good, later kny is questionable and the ending is just a mess of wasted potential and disappointment

i get why gotouge had to have the transparent world ability, crimson blade ability, and the demon marks appear before they all appeared on yoriichi but theyre all just so underdeveloped and terribly handled in the battles they are used, it makes me want to kick a wall

like lmao, i could literally think of so many ways they could have been properly integrated, hell, im even writing a whole goddamn rewrite using my ideas for these three things (link to that is in my pinned)

just, god

if you want to debate over these ratings, my ask box is open ig? idk

#kny #kimetsu no yaiba #kny meta #demon slayer #my writing #long post

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akwardlyuncool · 3 years ago

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Class Favorites: Just Like, Folks On The Internet....

Basically here’s some people from my time on the internet, that I’ve found to be good or based in someway and yeah... check them out.

@Basementghost (Shaolin G)

I learned about him from a live stream he did with other Black people about racism in the scene that EmoNite put on and from there I followed him on Instagram and frequented his IG Lives for a good chunk of time. He’s just good people and I enjoy just chillin inside is his lives, in an internet friend kinda way. Also he’s Jay and I’m Jai, so there’s a kinship there too. Go check out his music (UnityTX) and just anything he’s involved in cause if you like rap and heavy music, it’s most likely gonna be your thing. Also check him out if you just like cool Black people.

@Toriphantom

I believe I randomly found one of their parenting videos on Instagram and I immediately was drawn to that style of parenting and liked the conversations I was able to have surrounding it, but I also really liked how they specifically spoke on these topics. There are other people out there who discuss the act of “gentle parenting” and things of that nature that I’ve caught from time to time, Tori was just one of the first ones that stood out to me. I have no kids, but now I see more of this kind of content than your average single person, with no immediate plans to change that and start a family, ever thought they would. It’s all just so fascinating to me and I think it’s helped how I view kids, as well as even my regular relationships.

I officially follow them on Instagram, but I mainly consume their content on TikTok, however they also have a website with more things, they’re involved in, like a podcast with their partner.

@Madeline_Pendleton

During a Hasnabi stream one day, Hasan was reacting to a “based small business owner” from Tik Tok and I was like this is interesting and my world view is definitely attracted to this. The way that she runs her business is a very, I think she’d call it Communist, or a Socialist kind of way, one where everyone has the same take home pay and they profit-share and there is unlimited PTO..... and if I knew anything legit about the fashion design world I would send in my application to join the rest of the applications that they have to ignore because they are fully staffed at the moment. I eventually started watching more of her content and just started learning little bits of stuff from her and it’s been a great time. The system is completely messed up and broken beyond repair, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have to find a way to live inside it’s walls and I’m grateful for people like this who drop their knowledge, even if I only catch some of it.

Other Internet Recommendations (That Aren’t Just Youtubers, Cause I Have A Separate Category Specifically For Them.)

I only gave one link, but they all do multiple great things, across many platforms that y’all should be checking out as well, so follow their trail.

@Yeahitsak “Akintoye” (Musical Artist) *I’d also say he’s top tier when it comes to the clap backs.

@TheConsciousLee (Educator, Professional Debater and Online Content Creator) *“Education is elevation.” Also shout out to the Speech and Debate team!

@Hebontheweb (Music and things) *Every jingle is fantastic and you’ve probably already heard/seen her and her stuff.

@TheDarkestHue (Community Organization) *Prioritizing Safe Spaces for Dark Skinned Black Girls, Women, and Femmes.

#Class Favorites 2021 #AKWARD CLASS FAVORITES #Instagram #TikTok #Shaolin G #Unity TX #Tori Phantom #Madeline Pendleton #Yeahitsak #The Conscious Lee #Heb On The Web #The Darkest Hue

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uwua3 · 4 years ago

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hi bunnie! can i first just say that your name and blog are both so dang cute aaaa 🥺 can i request a best friend!izumi hc? 🥺👉👈 thank you so much 💛

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU ARE THE CUTEST PERSON EVER~ i am in Love With You !!! also omg IZUMI ♡u♡ she is the Best Girl ever but #AllGirlsAreBestGirls !!! i love her so much, i’m so glad this was requested!!! i am so happy to write this ♡ PLEASE LOVE IZUMI!

summary: together, you and the currian are unstoppable! watching the cooking channel with your best friend just got even better

author’s note: i hope you love this 🥺 i am genuinely so soft over izumi she deserves the whole world

count how many times i say curry, it isn’t even Funny at this point T___T anyways, i was a bit nervous over this because i hadn’t watched the anime, so i didn’t know izumi well as a character! if all else fails, use the traits you know to the best of your ability! i love our curry queen regardless, though~

word count: 2,001

music: good as hell – lizzo ft. ariana grande

my best friend.

🍛 tachibana izumi

you, funny enough, met izumi at the grocery store in the spices aisle

you were unable to decide between which spices were necessary for the curry recipe you were about to attempt, staring at your phone screen with obvious confusion

what was the difference between each type of curry? which one was better? you scrolled down, reading off the countries,

“india, thailand, malaysia, china, south africa, japan...” you mumbled inaudibly before you heard a very distinct crash in the next aisle over. someone must’ve just hit their cart into a display or—

you saw a girl with long brown hair and pink eyes with... wait... were her pupils heart–shaped? you stumbled back as she approached like she was on a mission, standing a mere few feet from you as she smiled pleasantly at you like the situation wasn’t out of the ordinary at all

(oh no... was she one of those pyramid scheme scammers?)

“are you making curry?!” she questioned, leaning forward to glance at your screen only to squeal in excitement at the confirmation. you gulped, nodding with a tinge of doubtful fear

if you said yes, were you about to be attacked right here and now in the middle of a grocery store? you just wanted some curry...

“i’m so happy for you! do you need help? i know the perfect combination of spices for any type of curry! i can make a different curry for each day of the year!” she offered to help, putting her hands together with a pleading look like she was dying to talk about curry

you nodded again and her entire face lit up again, going off on a rant without taking a moment to breathe

she was so knowledgable on all types of curry! you took notes diligently, deciding on japanese chicken katsu curry as the meal for tonight

when you told her, she clapped her hands and giddily jumped up and down. it was honestly refreshing to see someone so enthusiatic about food!

“i’m sorry for randomly talking to you, but i just love curry! do you need help looking for the rest of the items?” she offered to help, already with an armful of the spices you needed and dumped them into your cart

you pondered, thinking as you looked at the girl. she was nice enough, and clearly wasn’t much of a threat if she was willing to approach a stranger without any discomfort

why not? you smiled, offering your hand out to shake as you introduced yourself. she took it quickly, enthusiatically shaking it up and down as she giggled

“izumi! glad to meet you!”

from that point forward, you two became best friends for life!

izumi was the life of the party and brought happiness wherever she went. not only that, but she was incredibly polite and kind! it wasn’t everyday you met a girl that was full of life and always determined to overcome any obstacle in her path!

izumi would go through anything and everything for her friends despite how busy she was 24/7. she juggled being the mankai director (which was babysitting 20 boys), helping other acting troupes, and cooking at night but still made time to see you at least every week

you weren’t surprised when you were encouraged to come over for a company dinner one night and saw so. many. variations. of curry set up at the table. like the other boys, you attempted to hide your grimace (but very poorly, you weren’t a trained actor like the rest of the entourage was)

“what’s wrong? are you okay?” izumi’s motherly instincts kicked in as she hurried to put her hand against your forehead. you had to pretend like you were coming down with a cold the rest of the week and forced the curry down your throat

(the boys secretly gave you water under the table, whispering advice on how to bear it and grin as they made up fake situations to pass your chair)

(the high schoolers just looked relieved to not be the victim that night)

(seriously... so. many. variations.)

(every time you were invited to a meet–up, you texted the groupchat named “stop the currian” to see if izumi was making curry)

(she always was. you still ate it because you loved her too much to say no)

but other than curry, izumi loved cooking! she was subscribed to sooo many culinary and baking channels on youtube. she loved sending you links with a follow–up text that said: “wanna make this tonight? i know you want to eat it! ;)”

(you complained about how it always ended in a minor food fight you had to clean up. you still let her in when she knocked on your front door with bags of groceries)

(after so many visits, izumi was beginning to be proficient at other forms of culinary like baking since you enjoyed it so much)

one time, you even convinced izumi to make her own youtube channel. you had set up a camera omi loaned on a tripod, acting as the best cameraman ever of course

(you had a clapperboard that had the production titled, “izumi is replacing bon appétit’s claire” with take 1 freshly written)

“you got this, izumi!” you encouragedly put a fist in the air, “fighting!”

izumi nodded cutely, wearing her favorite striped shirt with a pastel pink apron. she held a automatic whisk in her right and was already posing with a mixing bowl in her left, ready to demonstrate how to make your favorite dessert

(maybe you suggested the idea because you wanted food, who knows?)

counting down vocally, you watched as your fingers dropped down to a zero and the red light on the camera started blinking. it was go time, and izumi immediately got into action

“hello, everyone! my name is tachibana izumi and today we will be making—”

the camera fell off the stand as izumi’s whisk flew out of her hand and smacked the lense directly in the middle. a sickening thud echoed through the apartment as you two stood in shock, staring at the expensive camera with unease. it didn’t look... uh... functional?

you quickly put your finger on your nose since it was an unspoken rule that touching your nose automatically meant opting out. you were a second earlier than izumi as she gasped like she was offended

“i am not telling omi!” izumi freaked out, running over but the damage was already done. the camera definitely didn’t turn on anymore

(you and izumi bought the same camera that day and switched the memory cards) (omi raised his eyebrows at the sudden newness of his trusty camera, but didn’t say anything as he just took it and thanked you for bringing it back safe)

(yeah... omi definitely knew. but, he wasn’t too bothered to say anything about it)

(“izumi? what did you spend so much money on last month?” sakyo reviewed her financial statement, watching as she nervously sweat and glanced at omi. he just shrugged like he had no idea)

so you two stuck to mindlessly watching the cooking channel on the tv. it was the usual weekend: becoming insecure over the unreal and extremely talented kid bakers who made a whole 3–tier cake in two hours, making fun of america’s worst chefs when they didn’t know how to cut a chicken, and yelling at cheating cooks who were way too competitive on chopped

it was better that way, anyways. maybe going viral on the internet wasn’t meant for everyone. you still got your dessert, much to your satisfaction

(“yeah, yeah. it’s only because you’re my best friend.” izumi laughed, shoving the plate with extra servings as you stuffed your face. she just fondly rolled her eyes as you tried saying thanks with your mouth full)

(“gross!” izumi squealed, throwing the kitchen mitts at you as you fought back, nearly hitting her with one of the pastries. you already know what happens next. izumi stopped baking for you for a long time [a month] as punishment)

speaking of baking, izumi loved making the most ridiculous cakes you’ve ever seen in your entire life

on random days, she’d make the most creative cupcakes ever with individual designs with meticulous attention to detail

(izumi always had to slap masumi’s hands away from the white box she’d set aside specifically for you. he’d pout, hurt, wondering why she didn’t make any food other than curry for him)

(“masumi... you really need to look at other girls.” you remembered advising him, sympathetically patting his back as he angrily accused you of being in love with izumi, too! to this day, it’s still awkward on your end when you see masumi and he thinks you’re his lifelong competitor)

but on important celebrations like your birthday and anniversaries, her cakes were... something. they’d be the most delicious things on earth, but the design would be comically ugly. she’d put the most bare minimum art ever and write the words way too big and it wouldn’t fit. there were always misspellings. maybe it was a curse for being so well–rounded?

another fun fact was you and izumi were the ultimate power duo! whenever you two went to hang out in public, you always made sure some creep wasn’t staring at her and she did the same for you all the time

as friends, it was your job to make sure you two were as safe and sound as possible

(one time, an absolute douchebag tried to wolf whistle her and izumi had to stop you from getting into a fight in broad daylight)

izumi was way too nice. she was such a selfless person and often acted like the big sister you never had. she was always ready with the most agreeable advice and showed up with her arms open. she was so giving, it was easy to see why everyone loved her

but you liked giving back, too! (much to her surprise) you even tried your hand at making some new form of curry by throwing in random spices and calling it a day, but you realized she was the most critical judge ever for any type of curry

(you stopped making curry for her. she would narrow her eyes and push her imaginary glasses up like an anime character. it was terrifying, she always appreciated it but... you shuddered, izumi was scary)

once, you even rented that curry truck to come by for her birthday! you never saw someone look like they were this close to passing out from maximum happiness

(you even bought a director’s chair for her with izumi bedazzled across the back)

(she now sits in it to get that extra confidence boost before a big show)

but the most important gift that kept on giving was spending quality time with izumi when she needed it most

when the anniversary of her father going missing came back around, you were the first person at her room. with curry you knew she liked from that really one obscure place and all the time that day to make sure she way okay

(she was such a big sister! izumi always claimed she was fine and it was just another normal day, but you were always there to provide comfort she didn’t even know she needed)

you took time out of your day to help her with all her mudane tasks after you saw she once physically fainted from tiredness

(it almost gave you a heart attack the first time, but then you noticed tsuzuru also did that too so it must’ve been something in the mankai dorm air)

you then became a well known figure in the theatre community as “izumi’s best friend”

(you were not upset with that title at all, in fact, you hoped it never changed)

who knew you’d meet your best friend forever at a grocery store? over curry nonetheless?

(yes, you’re izumi’s best friend, but it doesn’t mean you’re exempt from the spices rant)

#tachibana izumi #izumi tachibana #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! headcanons #act! addict! actors! headcanons #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #izumi x reader #a3! izumi #a3 izumi

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aragima · 4 years ago

Text

hannibal questions! 🍖🔪

@nietzscheantrout @horrorlesbians and @hanniba1 wanted me to answer these hannibal questions and i wrote too much but oh well! thanks to all 3 of you ilu!!!

favorite episode and why: oh we’re just goin straight to the hard questions huh um OKAY so i think i can only do an ep a season - s1: SORBET SUPREMACY! you get to see the exact moment will looks at hannibal and thinks “.........shit. it’s him isn’t it. he’s The One. SHIT.” and that is so important to me - s2: this one is really hard maybe naka-choko? it’s so fucking gay and sexy. but tome-wan... but mizumono............ yeah idk - s3: torn between digestivo and the wrath of the lamb cuz they both hurt SOOO good much; i love will breaking up with hannibal and hannibal manipulating the situation so will can’t leave asldkjansk it’s so toxic we have to stan..... and for twotl i mean do i really have to give a reason every scene LIVES in my mind and it contains my favorite shot in the whole show:

that is LOVE baby! that is DESIRE! that is being ENTHRALLED!!!!

least favorite episode and why: i feel like they’re all so necessary that it’s kind of impossible to say but probably antipasto. i get sick of hannibal and bedelia’s shenanigans really quickly and as much as i hate to admit it... i miss will. i also think it was an extremely weak season opener and i blame it for getting the show canceled sjshshsgsg the resentment...

favorite side character: chiyoh or jimmy or actually wait— RANDALL TIER 🖤

if you could bring back one character who died, who would it be?: RANDALL FUCKING TIER. i want there to be a weird thing with him and hannibal and will going on. but also i love what his death did for will so idfk, other than him it’s gotta be beverly

dish prepared in the show that you would like to try eating/making: i was supposed to make hannibal’s osso bucco recipe like 3 weeks ago but it completely slipped my mind so i guess i’ll get on that my next grocery trip

which side character would you kill off?: chilton just because for god’s sake just let the man DIE ALREADY poor guy <- i’m taking ava’s answer because YEAH

was there any scene that you didn’t like to look at?: nah. the skin ripping scenes at the beginning of either kaiseki or sakizuki (idk i don’t remember, i hardly watch s2a) are particularly brutal but i tough it out

biggest ship: i mean do i even have to say

why did you start watching hannibal?: my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and her dad were watching it as it was airing and i was like “oh cool hannibal lecter origin story” but due to inconsistent access to the episodes i would just watch it randomly and that is... not the way to watch hannibal. i gave up around the end of s2 but knew hannigram was It regardless. i decided to watch s3 for the first time earlier this year just to have finished it and was like HOLD UP and did an immediate rewatch that left me... well, how i am now

favorite hannibal fic if you’ve read any?:

oh boy. yall ready for this? all of these can be found on ao3 obviously (i’m so sorry this is so long but i guess i’ve been asked to put together a fic rec anyway)

as soft, as wide as air by blackknightsatellite, the ladders series by emungere, blackbird by emungere, consenting to dream series by emungere, taken for rubies by emungere, at first meeting by emungere, protect me from what i want by @alienfuckeronmain, god of the cold, cold wars by highermagic, the abyss smiled back by highermagic, pomegranate seeds by highermagic, absolute zero by highermagic, in the truly gruesome do we trust by sidnihoudini, TKO by sidnihoudini, oh dear by lunarwench, each according to its kind by chapparral_crown, a flood in our hearts by nanoochka, let me sinful be by darlingred, uncomplicated by stratumgermanitivum & youaremydesign, good bones by @damnslippyplanet, like they do in babylon by @damnslippyplanet, your obedient servant by kareliasweet, past our satellites by shotgunsinlace, only the tender meat by isagel, the shape of me will always be you by missdisoriental, a white-walled room by rodabonor, spleen et idéal by rodabonor, the paper doll series by rodabonor, a common point of interest by rodabonor [i do NOT like a/b/o stuff but if i did... it’s this fic], just thought you should know by earthsickwithoutyou, the sacrificial lamb by princesskay, transcendent suffering by itsbeautiful, not something polite by moistdrippings, leave your message after the tone by onewhositswithturtles, holes in the floor of the mind by feverdreamblood, crossing caina by feverdreamblood, the archipelago series by melusine10, but seas between us braid hae roar’d by kareliasweet

have you watched any of the hannibal films?: yeah all of them except manhunter! i grew up watching silence of the lambs because my mom loved it and i went thru a big edward norton phase as a teen so i’ve seen red dragon like 10 times

have you read the thomas harris books?: no and i’m not going to lmao #fakefan

favorite murder tableau: if we’re talking just hannibal’s- the judge. if we’re talking Murder Bad But Kinda Pretty like in general probably the mushroom people or the totem

favorite blood spill: will imagining hannibal while he beats randall to death or The Gutting of Will Graham

what’re some of your headcanons?: - will is good at shibari (backed up in canon: his fishing knots, the firefly man’s full body hishi karada harness) - hannibal rarely listens to modern, non-classical music but he’s a björk fan and he saw one of her chapel performances during the vespertine era and was Moved - will listens to classic rock (zeppelin, the doors, pink floyd) with some classic country (patsy, merle, johnny) and blues (billie, muddy, bessie) thrown in. he’s also a sucker for early/mid-90s college rock/alternative/grunge - will plays the piano (because of the piano in his living room) and the harmonica (because he’s country white trash); he’s kind of shit tho - hannibal fell for will somewhere between “my thoughts are often not tasty” and “you won’t like me when i’m psychoanalyzed” (love at first sight! at last sight! at ever and ever sight!!!) - will’s circumcised, hannibal isn’t 🤪 - hannibal’s a gemini!!!! adaptable, creative, intelligent, outgoing, impulsive, etc - will’s an aquarius!!!!! analytical, a loner, temperamental, unique, compassionate, etc - will’s mom was jewish go read my fic about it https://archiveofourown.org/works/26774326 - hannibal is an agender man (tbh i think of this as canon, it’s just unstated/undefined) - hannibal can speak russian, spanish, and a teensy bit of portuguese in addition to the other languages we know he speaks (lithuanian, english, french, italian, japanese) - will speaks limited amounts of french; he learned it as a kid in louisiana - ED TW will sometimes has a Difficult relationship with food due to food instability by the way of poverty as a kid and goes through periods where it’s hard to keep himself fed, but hannibal is so good for him in that way because he keeps him from going hungry 😓 (yes this is me projecting but also it makes SENSE) - hannibal typically bottoms but THEY DEFINITELY ARE BOTH VERS and will never stops being surprised by how much he loves catching a dick. every time is like religious experience. okay? okay - they’re also both very kinky and switches but tbh.... will was made to Dom hannibal like that’s the reason he exists he could drag that old bitch around by a leash and hannibal would be in heaven HANNIBAL WOULD CALL HIM SIR - the first time they have sex hannibal comes like immediately but he isn’t embarrassed because he’s hannibal fucking lecter and hannibal lecter doesn’t get embarrassed - i have a hc for their favorite sex positions but i’m not gonna put that here because i don’t want yall calling me crazy any more than you probably already do but if you wanna know just DM me all i do is think about them fucking it’s a curse - okay no more dirty stuff abigail called hannibal “dad” on more than one occasion and it was half-joking but it also felt comfortable to her; she never thought to call will “dad” because he’s a weirdo and never knew her as much as he knew his idea of her - hannibal taught her to play piano at the cliff house - beverly is pansexual!!! - brian and jimmy kissed one time when they were drunk and they NEVER talk about it EVER - chiyoh is straight probably. i know, i know, everyone says she’s a lesbian and if she’s a lesbian to you that’s awesome! she’s a lesbian! but idk i just think she’s SO fucking straight and tbh i mourn bc that’s my wife. she could MAYBE be bicurious... - chiyoh is non-monogamous and doesn’t do serious relationships, she doesn’t like the idea of being tied to one person ever since she left the lecter castle - she helped hannibal and will escape after The Fall; she told hannibal she would continue to watch over him and i think she did, she got them a boat and got them the fuck out of there - MOLLY IS DOING SO MUCH BETTER WITHOUT WILL. SHE’S SO GLAD SHE GOT OUT OF THAT WHEN SHE DID. she has a good, long talk with alana and finds out all the shit about him and hannibal that will never told her (and it was a lot), gets drunk and burns all his shit, and then washes her hands of the whole thing; moves to a different state, gets a girlfriend, and never thinks about will again

okay i’m capping it there or i’m never gonna stop!! i’m not tagging anyone cuz i think everyone has done this by now lmao but if you’re a mutual who hasn’t and you want to just do it and say i tagged you!! mwah!!!!

#blood #long post #hannigram fic rec #hc

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songofclarity · 4 years ago

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i hc that nhs went to cloud recesses early bc nhs used to be ahead of the curve in certain areas of academic development (ex. his interests in astronomy and poetry—not anything martial, but cloud recesses is a scholarly place after all), but when he got to cloud recesses he didn’t have his standard structure and without that structure (in true adhd fashion) he kind of fell apart, and then it was easier to own it as “laziness” and make that a personality trait than admit that he really had Tried and Failed (can you tell i’m projecting lmao)

Oho, that's a good headcanon, Anon!

The fan is the sign of the esteemed gentleman, but now you’ve got me also thinking... the most beautiful fidget toy

I like how you specify astronomy and poetry, once again the subjects of a refined gentleman, because by all means he could still be ahead of the curve in those areas! It’s just they’re never talked about because that’s not what he’s at Cloud Recesses to learn. Although I feel like I’m going to completely deviate from your headcanon in a moment, projection is just one way we show our love for characters so keep it up, Anon, you’re doing great!

My understanding is that Cloud Recesses is what was supposed to give him structure. The structure back in the Unclean Realm was likely, “I do whatever I want when Da-ge isn’t looking, and then I do whatever I can to slip away” judging by how he behaves when we finally get to see him in his natural habitat lol

So Cloud Recesses is, practically by it’s definition, structure. And the dilemma I see with measuring Nie HuaiSang’s academic success/intelligence here is that, by what I recall, Cloud Recesses doesn’t teach science or art to these 3-month-long guest students. It’s a cultivation sect and it provides instruction to young cultivators about clan history, clan politics, historical cultivators, etc.:

Lan QiRen’s lessons were not only tediously long, but everything was also tested on. The generational changes of important clans in the cultivation world, the division of their areas of power, famous quotes by famous cultivators, family trees…

Although he didn’t understand a single bit as he listened in class, Nie HuaiSang worked as hard as a slave when the date of the test approached. He copied Virtue two times for Wei WuXian, and begged before the test, “Please, Wei-xiong, if my grade is lower than yi, my brother would really break my legs! Stuff like telling apart direct lineage, collateral lineage, main clan, clan branches… For us disciples from big clans, we can’t even distinguish our relationships with our own relatives, randomly calling everyone who are more than two tiers away from us aunts and uncles. Does anyone have enough capacity in their brain to remember those of other clans?!” (Ch. 14, ERS)

So it’s necessarily that Nie HuaiSang is unintelligent or a bad student but rather the subjects being taught are really... well, boring for someone who prefers science and art! He’s not even lazy about his learning. He still listens in class. It’s just that it all goes in one ear and out the other.

In that way, I’m not sure I see any signs that "he kind of fell apart" when he arrived at Cloud Recesses. From the sound of it, he had the same struggle at home and that didn’t change: he can't memorize the lists of names of these aunts or those famous cultivators, and he can't remember the birthdays of all these cousins or when all these random famous people were born, either.

(The people in his p*rn books begin and end with the shapes drawn on the page! Please don’t make him think too hard about genealogy and politics!)

He’s getting the education he needs, the kind of education he absolutely wasn’t getting at home, and he flounders because it’s a type of learning and thinking he hasn’t been forced to do, and that alone is a struggle to overcome.

Now I’m gonna bring Bloom’s Taxonomy into this because I can, but the school at Cloud Recesses focuses on remembering, understanding, and applying. It explains why Lan WangJi is so unwilling to bend against the rules. They say remember this rule, understand that it is important to live by this rule, and apply this rule to every day life.

Meanwhile analyzing, evaluating, and creating involve taking that information and making it one’s own.

[Disclaimer that Bloom’s Taxonomy is based on Western thought and may or may not have a proper place in a collectivist society like the Fantasy China which MDZS is based on. This is NOT to classify higher order skills as being more intelligent or better than lower order skills. It’s just to describe how much mental manipulation is done to the subject matter. Geniuses on Jeopardy are masters at Remembering! The brain shows physiological changes and develops new neuron pathways regardless of learning method. Nonetheless, for our independent thinkers like Wei WuXian and Nie HuaiSang, this kind of scale seems applicable.]

Consider when Wei WuXian ponders the benefits of demonic cultivation at school. He takes the application of current techniques and the knowledge of the known world and creates something by blending the two. It doesn’t go over well in the classroom:

Another book came flying from Lan QiRen. He spoke harshly, “Then, let me ask you again! How do you make sure that the resentful energy only listens to you and does not harm others?”

Wei WuXian ducked while speaking, “I haven’t thought of it yet!”

Lan QiRen raged, "If you thought of it, the cultivation world would not allow your existence! Get out!" (Ch. 14, ERS)

This is a case in point for no analyzing, evaluating, or creating allowed. It’s sit down, listen, memorize, and obey.

(Note that Demonic cultivation is dangerous to everyone, as we later witness, so Lan QiRen is not wrong to be furious and having no tolerance for this line of thinking. Wei WuXian is literally talking about desecrating people’s graves and bodies and using them as weapons. This is so far out of line with Gusu Lan teaching, but it still deprives Wei WuXian of hypothesizing other ideas with the material he’s being given.)

And, it should be noted, Nie HuaiSang is the only person who not only understands where Wei WuXian is coming from but builds upon it. The same Nie HuaiSang who has to beg Wei WuXian to help him cheat when it comes to clan heritages and family quotes is the one who realizes ANOTHER use for Wei WuXian’s idea all on his own.

Wei WuXian suggests using demonic cultivation to fight evil with evil, resentful energy vs resentful energy.

Nie HuaiSang suggests using demonic cultivation as a possible power source -- for people who don’t have a core:

After thinking for a few moments, an expression of envy and yearning appeared on Nie HuaiSang’s face, “To be honest, Wei-xiong’s words were quite interesting. Spiritual energy can only be obtained through cultivation and taking great pains to form a golden core. It would take I-don’t-know-how-many years to do, especially for someone like me, whose talent seems as if it was gnawed by a dog when I was in my mother’s womb. But, resentful energy are from the fierce ghosts. If they can easily be taken and used, it would be beyond wonderful.” (Ch. 14, ERS)

Nie HuaiSang has analyzed, evaluated, and then created a new place in the world for demonic cultivation. And the notable element is that he thinks in regards to himself.

And despite how this appears, this is not egotism. It falls quite soundly under Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development for Nie HuaiSang’s age group: Identity vs. Role Confusion. Poor, self-deprecating Nie HuaiSang is trying to find his place in the world where his brother won’t yell at him for his grades lol He’ll take whatever help he can get!

(But it’s not Nie HuaiSang who has to put this theory into practice)

I think what I’m trying to get at is that Nie HuaiSang is perfectly intelligent, perfectly active in his learning, but his talent lies outside of cultivation -- and saber practice:

[Nie HuaiSang,] “I can’t learn it means I can’t learn it and I don’t like it means I don’t like it! What’s the use of forcing me?!" (Ch. 49)

And yet we always see him try, until he has to try something else:

Nie HuaiSang also wanted to join in, but he had been reminded of his older brother as he met Lan XiChen. Cringing silently, he didn’t dare to have fun, “I’ll pass and go back so that I can review…” With this act, he hoped that Lan XiChen would put in some good words for him to his brother. (Ch. 16)

“WITH THIS ACT” -- Nie HuaiSang is so sneaky but he’s so obvious about it, I love him. This is the mind that’s going to bring down the Big Bad in the end. Keep up the good work, Nie HuaiSang!

#asked from above #anon #i was trying to say something about nhs and education #but idk how effectively that worked lol #i'm like reaching for a point but i might have juuust missed it #so if this doesn't make entire sense it's me not you lol #nonetheless!!#adhd headcanon is very good and i love it!#but i also think nhs's learning difficult can be explained in another way #at least in regards to cloud recesses #nie huaisang #mdzs thoughts

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