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chibivesicle · 2 years ago

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The sadness of Steven A. Starphase.

How Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront is painfully realistic. In the most banal adult ways possible.

With me going back to rewatch Trigun before Stampede began to air, I was itching for more work by Yasuhiro Nightow. However, his follow up manga that started as a one-shot that became Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront came out while I was in grad school and when the anime was briefly on Crunchyroll later, it didn’t ping me as a suggestion. I’m very much a josei/seinen person with occasional forays into good sports or slice of life series, then shoujo and then shounen series if they have a good sense of humor. Essentially, I need something like FLCL or Gintama to keep me amused.

With Stampede not meeting what I’m realizing were unrealistic expectations, I was curious and decided to follow up on Blood Blockade Battlefront (B3). The title alone would be a turn off for me; I put faith in it that it would have that original Trigun quirky vibe. Honestly, I wish they’d not have translated and told me it was Kekkai Sensen, I would have been easier to convince to watch it. I watched the first episode and was already loving the style, the artwork and the OST. That OST man - so good. And the VA cast - so many actors from Gintama and I was shocked no one was commenting that Femt, the King of Depravity, was voiced by one of my fav VAs, Akira Ishida! What sealed the deal for me, besides the incredible graphic design, story boarding and attention to detail from studio Bones was the entire sequence in S1E3 - A Game Between Worlds when Klaus and K.K. go to the Alterworld following the former Soviet chess grandmaster to the Alterworld Mafia Don’s home.

As the story unfolded in season one, I started to gravitate towards my usual character types; tough independent females and tall, dark, and handsome males. Yeeeaaaaah; I love Chain Sumeragi, K.K. and Steven A. Starphase. I also appreciate Leo with Sonic and Klaus Von Reinhertz is the best male tank character I have ever seen. He’s so adorable! And gentlemanly with his tie and oxford brogues. B3 is a workplace drama/comedy that just happens to take place in a secret organization that handles weird supernatural stuff. Seriously, that is a great summary and it is a great cast even if I’d likely kill Zapp and punch Brody & Hummer for being double ditzes.

I haven’t finished season two yet (I’ve watched through S2E7 - so no spoiler comments for the rest of season two or the manga please!). But the character who ticks all my boxes is Nicholas D. Wolfwood - er - I mean, Steven A. Starphase. Steven is the second in command of Libra, one of the oldest team members (over thirty), has a facial scar, dark hair, sarcastic, stylish and the team member; who gets shit done. That peaking bit of a tattoo and his ruffly black hair . . . Chain may have gotten Wolfwood’s outfit and is a werewolf, but Steven is the evolution of Wolfwood, balancing out Klaus’ unwavering principles, and willing to take on the role of doing the dirty work in the background which is necessary. The body language of Steven is the same as Wolfwood, he’s a mix of straight lines, angles and noodle.

Steven is also paired with Vash - I mean - K.K. on missions. Following the anime format he’s teamed up with her in S1E5 - Bloodline Fever where they have to fight a Blood Breed in a subway station. Unlike, Vash and Wolfwood, K.K. is not keen on him all the time calling him black-hearted and giving him the mocking nickname of Steven-sensei (I guess since he is the logistics expert of Libra always coordinating the teams while K.K. is a lone sniper character).

However, despite their one-sided discord, the two of them work well together where he shows his noodle qualities saving K. K. and the young girl and her mother in S1E8 - Z’s Worst Day - Part 1. Interestingly, Steven takes K.K.’s criticism rather seriously as he’s shaking as she scolds him . . . Steven takes K.K.’s words into account indicating that he does want work well with her.

Before, reverting to his oft “Now, now, now” line to de-escalate things. The two also naturally balance each other out and communicate well with their options when trying to determine which of the two mysterious individuals is the Blood Breed from the India Gate.

They are also characters who are able to info dump quite naturally due to them being the most senior members of Libra in the main cast besides Lucky Abrams. And the storytelling makes their info dumping flow with the story - sometimes they are trying to figure something out, sometimes Steven is pondering a situation. Either way it works well for the second in command to be the man with a bookmarked to hell reference text and even have a color swatch for a Blood Breed’s aura. He also has lots of paper reports which indicates he’s the kind of guy who likes to read through physical items than scan a computer all the time.

By the end of season one, we know that Steven is for the most part, serious about work, a deadpan snarker, leans towards the more pessimistic side despite having hope for the future. e.g. he’d likely describe himself a realist as opposed to Klaus being a dreamer.

It gives us enough information that he’s been beaten down and is no longer an idealistic youth. Take when he asked about why Leo wouldn’t accept higher pay despite struggling financially and comments that Leo is an upstanding young man. He also originally was hesitant for them to even invite Leo to join Libra in the first place, despite knowing the value he brought to them, we know this is alleviated by S1E5 when he takes a literal beating to stall for time. Steven looks chronically burnt out - he is the only character who always has lines under his eyes. His facial expression is rarely one of him smiling or laughing and he maintains a sort of meh or down turned expression when not dealing with serious work situations. Even in the image below when he’s smiling it isn’t a happy smile, he’s thinking about the situation they are about to enter, looking back on the past three years.

His character is frequently shown with a cup of coffee - at the office, he has a blue mug with a red bottom that matches his shirt, frequently when he has papers in the other hand. He will also drink tea with Klaus but it is clear he’s reached that working adult phase of life where coffee is fundamental to your day to day function. Steven is also shown to down energy drinks in times of extreme deadlines as well.

Season two, B3 & Beyond appears to be a season of back filling manga chapters that were skipped in season one to have a tight story. The one aspect that was a bummer in season one for me was how characters besides Leo, Klaus, Black and White got loads of development and growth everyone else was just in the background as support. Season two likely pulled from manga chapters that were published earlier which lead to some confusing/unclear points for viewers aka, like why K.K. calls Steven black-hearted and the Steven-sensei nickname. It is too bad they didn’t have these episodes earlier but I’ll take my character development background whenever, just give it to me.

We first get the explanation from Klaus and Steven at the hospital that reappeared about their personal experience of the Great Collapse to Leo and the introduction of Dr. Lucina Estavez (who should totally date Klaus) as well as defeating the Blood Breed that the two hand been training to fight.

The episode that really hit on my idea that there is a sadness to Steven wasn’t until S2E3 - Day In Day Out. We get a few parallel story lines that show what happens in Leo, Zapp, Steven and Chain’s day where they are independent of each other but still cross paths by the end.

The first thing we learn is that Steven has an amazing loft apartment with a balcony and cool artwork and an Alterworld/Beyondian housekeeper, Mrs. Veded. He emerges from a bedroom with a cup of coffee in one hand and the newspaper as he greets her. With a genuine smile too.

I can look beyond his choice to put milk in his coffee - however, that goes against K.K.’s comment that he’s got a black heart. I’ll excuse his milk in coffee for his stress and soothing his tummy. The phone rings and he goes to pick it up.

We can still see the lines under his eyes so again, he is either always exhausted or we are to read them as actual wrinkles. Maybe both - he’s older and tired due to working hard. A rather playful female on the phone jokes with him about waking up early - at 11AM and it is clear that he hasn’t been up that long either.

There is a conversation about how much alcohol to bring tonight, cluing us into the fact that he’s having a dinner party at his place. Which again, is freakkin’ swanky as all hell. I want Steven’s place.

He’s got a carefree attitude as he talks to two different people on the phone about arrangements for the evening. These are not Steven at the office looks, these are Steven potentially having an outside life facial expressions!

When he gets off the phone, Mrs. Veded comments that he looks happy and Steven seems shocked. She also noted that he seemed very stressed out and tense all the time and she is glad to see him not in such a state.

Since we know that Steven keeps a straight face for the most time at work, he can’t help but reply that he’s shocked at her observation. Which is true, I’m sure Klaus can read him pretty well in work situations, but it is his thing to keep his cards close to his chest. In season one, he is frequently the go between for Libra and the government whether it is the FBI, HLPD, the League of Casters and so forth. Angelica’s comment of Klaus-san and Steven-shi shows that she knows Klaus from previous interactions, but the -shi on Steven implies that she’s never met him, but knows of him and speaks to him respectfully. The English equivalent would be like staying, “Oh, you’re the well-known organizer at Libra, Steven Starphase.” The point is, Steven is well known in certain circles and is respected professionally.

In season one, he was only happy when they were successful at work or his plans went well. For example, his delight at how Leo was able to spot the Ghost Wagon and how he told Klaus that he needed to work on his management skills of others. He additionally has a mix of a dark and offbeat sense of humor, able to laugh while Leo is wrapped up in bandages.

This is not a relevant image other than that it shows time has passed and I still want Steven’s loft.

Mrs. Veded has been helping him all afternoon to prep for his party and we see that he even gets in on the action cooking and wearing an apron of course. He goes with his more casual dress shirt with no tie. There is an almost excited look on his face. I’d guess he hasn’t had people over in sometime.

He goes to let people in and he hands the flowers to Mrs. Veded (who adorably inhales their scent looking happy) and after greeting them, trips over. Of course the friends comment that he’s been working too hard. Steven, adulting hardcore.

The gifted flowers are placed on the table in a vase by Mrs. Veded and he thanks her for all of her help. However, it is clear that he doesn’t need her for the rest of the evening and she takes her leave.

Again, we see another nice subtle smile from him here but something about it lingers, like he’d like to say more but can’t. After she departs, he talks to himself about getting things started, grabbing a bottle of champagne from a bucket of ice and commenting they should get started.

The next time we return to his place, all of the party guests are eating, drinking and chatting up a storm. There is chill music on, everyone looks fashionably dressed, wealthy - and human. All of this gives us the indication that outside of work, Steven has the most ‘normal’ social group. Look at his swanky place, the nice artwork, stainless steel fridge, kitchen island . . . yet while everyone is chatting merrily in groups we get a framing shot of him silently standing alone leaning into a column in his living room. You can tell that every single individual except for him is talking with another person or two based on their body language. This is such an excellent image and it lingers just long enough before it zooms into him looking off in to the distance with a wineglass of course.

Steven has such an interesting expression here, he’s got what appears to be his usual poor posture, leaning against the wall, holding the wine glass and has a soft but almost sad smile. Wistful is the best I can think of.

The fact that his left hand is across his chest and under his right is unusual for him. He rarely displays this type of conservative closed off body language, think of how frequently he’s got at least one if not both hands in his pockets. Steven speaks rather casually and bluntly; I like to call his overall posture, noodle, which is relaxed and confident. Yet, here, he appears much more stiff and is alone at his own party as you look more closely. Something is definitely off.

He goes off to get more beer and leaves the living room when all of his guests raise their arms to reveal biological weapons and tell him to remain in place, Steven Alan Starphase of Libra. Love the use of his middle name for emphasis as well. Of course he denies any knowledge of Libra at first before turning back towards them slightly. Another great part of this scene is how when he walks the few steps up to his kitchen we get a glimpse of his shoes he’s wearing at his house party.

They aren’t some sort of relaxed shoes, the few short steps allow us to see that they are his modified shoes for Esmeralda Blood Freeze techniques. We didn’t get this when he tripped in the foyer, but this is now giving the viewers a hint that he’s prepared for a serious fight.

The first sign that things are about to go south is that when he calls out two guests for only just meeting this evening but appeared to actually know each other.

As they continue to threaten him, he concludes that they need to capture him alive; likely due to his role as the second in command at Libra. This allows him to stall for time as he teases them to give him more information, by stating their bosses are idiots for wanting to capture him alive - as it implied he was expecting them to shoot him.

The framing for this entire sequence is top notch. He never turns to face them directly while continuing the conversation with Ellen. She tries to threaten him to stop being all pretentious and that they’d have no choice but to attack him. Of course he replies mocking them by throwing the question about it back at them. The resignation in his body language that this is what is happening. I don’t think that at this point that he can even look them in the eye. He’s too upset and is keeping it calm and collected.

The shading over his eyes as he looks down, the slack shoulders, this is not how he wanted his evening to go down. Yet, here he is inside his kitchen in a tight spot. Or so it seems.

However, Steven is anal retentive when it comes to organization and details, and he faked tripping at his front door to use his Needles of Absolute Zero move on them. Obviously, he likely did this at the beginning of the party for the rest of the guests being a good host circulating himself. This also explains why he sent Mrs. Veded home, he didn’t want her to witness him doing something this ruthless. Plus, she likely doesn’t know what he does for a living anyways.

The look on his face as he freezes them is so lonely, his eyes are closed and he’s hunched forward. He may not regret his actions honestly; he had no choice but to follow through with this course of actions but that feeling of disappointment, sadness, loss, betrayal. It hurts. Only after he’s frozen them all in place does he even glance back to them as his breath is visible in the air.

Once everyone has been subdued, he gets a moment to gloat over them and their mistakes. He notes that Larry was smart to select weapons that could get into his building undetected implying that he lives in a pretty secure building and that Larry was carrying his weight funny for the past ten days. He also tells Ellen that she tried too hard to cover the scent of the weapons with her usual perfume - by adding more. However, she should have changed the scent and he wouldn’t have noticed. After telling them how he figured out things were off, he steps back and looks at the group, his entire expression tired and blank. More stress lines under those eyes.

His own personal clean-up crew is there to take them all away. And since this isn’t under the guidance of Klaus, he’ll likely let those masked individuals use questionable methods to interrogate everyone for the information he needs to know. Who or what is targeting him? Why? What do they want from him? These are the sorts of things Steven has to know, but the type of things that Klaus wouldn’t be involved with due to his stricter moral code. In this instance, Klaus is Vash, holding an almost impossible level of hope and goals while it is clear that Steven is pragmatic and realizes sometimes you gotta slog through the shit to get things done and protect others like Wolfwood. Though, Steven would have been very upset if Mrs. Veded’s roast were damaged in anyway so he clearly loves her cooking and the love she puts into it.

The likely immediate reaction for a lot of viewers at the end of this scene when he goes out for some air is; Holy shit! Steven is a total badass. He just froze his entire dinner party and turned them over to shady underlings to pump them for information. Badass indeed!

Yet, when I saw the end of that scene, I felt so sad. When it goes to him alone along the road, he’s chastising himself for his own behaviors. He’s leaning on the railing looking out into the night giving himself criticism for letting his guard down and enjoying himself too much. He tried to meet ‘normal’ people who didn’t work for Libra and look what it got him?!?!

He thinks back to how he met various individuals like Ellen and Larry. And that is when it really sinks in and all of its subtlety. You think back to his comments and realize he had to likely know these people for a few years as he met them and slowly thought about having them meet. To realize what type of perfume Ellen wore all the time. To notice that Larry started walking oddly with in the past ten days meant he saw him walk a lot more for a decent amount of time prior to the recent days.

And then it sinks in - all of those people might have went out of their way to befriend him over the period of several years - for the purpose to kidnap him for their boss. The level of deception, of effort. If that was how he met all of them, it sucks so much that it could break someone down. I almost felt like crying the more that I thought about the entire situation. Even if they’d met him first to just be friends, it still shows they were convinced to join this plot to capture him.

Thinking about that hurts; it would make him absolutely paranoid to befriend anyone who isn’t associated with Libra and socialize with them outside of work. But you don’t want to hang out with your work friends outside of work do you?

The entire mood of this image captures his feelings of sadness, isolation and loneliness. He’s the darkest figure in the image as the car headlights, apartment windows and orange construction barrels are more illuminated than he is.

The car turns out to pull over and stop as it is Mrs. Veded and she’s got her two children with her who meet him. Steven smiles at them and they have a pleasant conversation.

The icing on the cake is when he thanks her for everything - she likely thinks it is about her help prepping for the party and cleaning his place. But Steven is speaking from his heart. She’s likely one of the most normal people he knows. Oh, that smile and his smiling eyes. Steven, you’re a good guy even though you have to do some not so great things. You care about normal people, you know how to talk to normal people and you are not biased based on species.

Her daughter shows him the cat they found and he knees down to see them eye to eye and comment on how the cat is so cute. Note, he’s totally channeling Wolfwood, by talking to the children like they are normal and then comes down to their level to continue to chat with them.

The bonus is that he properly pets that cat which shows it is happy. Aaaahhhh my heart is melting. I love it when someone knows how to properly interact with cats.

The episode then ends with Leo, Sonic and Zapp riding by, Zapp having a total meltdown about his eminent loss of his most important body part. Steven laughs how his friends are having a wild night out on the town - revealing that for better or for worse - his closest friends are his colleagues at Libra and Mrs. Veded.

I’m sure that when Leo stops by to chat with Steven, they likely notice the heads of the two goons in the car and figure out that cat is the missing purebred and all’s well that ends well.

The entire episode was a wild ride as the different characters navigate challenges for the current stages of their lives. The one though that stuck with me the most was how realistic Steven’s entire situation is, besides being a key member of a secret organization who can freeze stuff with his blood. I mean more along the lines of what it is like to be a hardworking professional over the age of thirty. Trying to navigate a work-life balance and meet people outside of a school context. It is really difficult and it makes his situation in this episode sadder. He likely put a ton of effort into meeting all those people as adult friendships are bloody hard. Steven’s actions were not out of revenge nor malice; it boiled to either something bad happening to him or to them. He outsmarted them and won the contest but at the loss of likely a bunch of people he socialized with outside of work and clearly never told them who he was - with the whole working for a secret organization.

We can also guess that with his multilingual skills, like Klaus, he’s not a native of NYC originally and moved there to be a part of Libra. Which makes his story even sadder and more lonely.

We don’t have enough information if he’s a native speaker of Spanish or that he knows it for his Blood techniques. Zapp and Zed have to do theirs in Japanese (with very Buddhist undertones as opposed to Christian for Steven and Klaus) and they were taught by a mysterious ‘otherwordly’ man with a dark skin tone and wears a skull sooooo one can’t correlate Blood technique language with ones own racial/ethnic background. All that it has revealed is that between Steven and Klaus, besides English, they can speak a total of nine languages knowing that Spanish and German are two of those nine.

I’ve gone off track, but getting back to my main point. The entire episode fills in a few gaps from season one.

Steven does have a black heart - sort of. K.K. isn’t incorrect, but he isn’t doing this all for fun. He’s the guy who has to choose between two terrible options. He is the character who makes decisions - very deeply thought out decisions for the overall good of the many as opposed to the few. Unlike Wolfwood, he does not charge into situations and instead, does his research, assembles teams and will work himself to utter exhaustion to prevent disaster. He commands others with a strong presence and organizes almost all of their coordinated plans as well as making sure they are executed properly.

Though his interactions with Veded and her kids as well as his concern for protecting normal people or other staff; he cares a lot about others.

Older characters are more reserved. Steven frequently interacts with all sorts of people and is the contact point for Libra. Everyone has his number. He does not show his emotions easily and takes much effort to be convinced. Detective Daniel Law is the one who talks directly to Steven while Klaus listens silently. Though, as obvious as it is that Law is manipulating Klaus, Steven doesn’t say anything aloud and instead sighs and groans at the expected outcome. When Master Raju Jugei Shizuyoshi appears, it is Steven who quickly determines his identity, implying he’s done his research though it was still after the Blood Battle God utterly mocked both K.K. and him, the two most senior members of Libra. Yet, he holds his own and keeps his cool - interestingly, Klaus does not speak until addressed by Shizuyoshi, instead allowing Steven to carefully question him without being intrusive. A character like Steven also hits differently. The antics of say Chain or Zapp aren’t as interesting or realistic as watching Steven lose it over making sure his computers aren’t destroyed.

He’s realistic even in the context of something like B3. The burnt out vibes, the snarky comments, the confidence in regular work situations. Steven is an easy older character to connect with. And he’s got that twinge of adult isolation and loneliness where you wonder how you got to this point professionally successful, yet, somehow are still alone? What did you sacrifice to reach this point? Was it worth it? I still have a few more episodes to go, but I’m curious to see how things pan out. Annoyingly, the print version of the manga is out of print (throws serious shade at Darkhorse) AND they don’t even have it digitally for me to legally support. That’s pretty annoying there Darkhorse . . . Yet so far, hands down, I love Steven’s character and all of his banal realistic flaws. As life gets older, you have to compromise on things and his character is a great example of that along with the grind of working and being successful

#kekkai sensen #blood blockade battlefront #kekkai sensen meta #blood blockade battlefront meta #steven a starphase #character study

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shutupdia · 11 months ago

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Well since i finished Gintama yesterday just wanted to post my overall thoughts regarding it. DEFINITELY my favorite shounen. I've watched Naruto, Bleach, one piece, etc etc and Gintama wins for me. it's mostly comedy yeah and the comedy hits better than a lot of series but bro when it gets more serious its so enthralling. I do admit it's a little difficult to get through the first season hence why i hadn't finished it sooner but after that it's SO good imo. It's hard to say which arc was the best but the Shogun assassination arc was the most emotional for me. The fights in this anime are fucking incredible too. I have a bias and every fight with Kamui was my favorite but anyway. The sword fights are so good ugh. Also the characters in this show are really good. They never sexualized minors either which i appreciate. Gintoki as a protagonist is really great tbh. His personality is not the best like he's often lazy, an alcoholic scumbag, a bit of a pervert. he's not perfect. I like that though. I like it when protags have flaws it makes them more real. But when he needs to be, he'll go to hell and back for people he cares about. Speaking of which i do appreciate there wasn't any romantic subplot. Gintoki just ends up alone by the end of the series. Personally don't mind since i cant see him with anyone in the cast despite a few women seemingly interested in him. Speaking of the entire cast though holy shit. SO many good characters. My favorite female characters are probably Kagura and Tsukuyo. And my favorite male characters probably have to be Kamui, Okita and Takasugi. They're so interesting and fun man....

Overall the show was a blast, not perfect since there was a bit of cringe here and there but no series is perfect i guess. I definitely plan on rewatching it eventually and likely checking out that spinoff series that's coming out soon.

Also i love Kamui so so so so so so much.

#if you haven't noticed i really love Kamui #anyway i fucking love gintama #too bad i didnt watch it while it was airing LOL #although given certain things maybe that was for the best #blah just wanted an excuse to ramble about this series.#dia screams about gintama

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queenbananya · 2 years ago

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Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

Hi! Thanks for the ask!

I always find these types of questions difficult to answer because I don't have a set list of characters ranked somewhere, especially if we're talking about all types of media, but I'm going to cheat a bit and look at my favorites from Mal. So, this will focus mostly on anime characters as that is the type of media I consume the most, with some others thrown in there as I remember. Not particularly in order:

1. ZURA. from Gintama

He's also the one from my profile icon. I love this guy. He's a fucking idiot. And he is absolutely hilarious he never fails to crack me up no matter what mood I'm in. I have a lot of characters from Gintama I love, but I tried to stick to just one from the entire series or they would take up all ten spots here, and from the entire cast, I have to give it to Zura. He's a terrorist, and comes up with the stupidest of plans, like flipping the toilet paper of his sworn enemy, LOL. He can go on and on about a story while he's driving a car and doesn't realize he is crashing in the meantime. And hence why he can't get a license (and the only reason he needs a license in the first place is so that he can get an ID to be able to rent DVDs of outdated dramas he thinks are trending [they're not]). I have to give praise to Sorachi, the mangaka. He must have been on crack while writing Zura scenes xD

2. Griffith from Berserk

Griffith. Beautiful Griffith.

Griffith gets a lot of hate and deservedly so, and there's a lot of Griffith apologists out there, but I love him. I fucking love him. He's such a well-written character. The best unreliable of narrators, though for most of the story we don't actually get into his head and only that of his archnemesis, his friend, the object of his dreams and desires, his ultimate source of failure, and success, later, I guess - Guts. So we only see how Guts sees him, and it's such a tragic story because the assumptions that Guts makes about him, the way he adores him and grows to hate him, they make sense, but to us as the viewers who know these two just loved each other so much to the point they threw away what they cared about the most - it's such a good story. I mourn for Miura and the story he never finished telling.

3. Joe from Ashita no Joe and Megalo box

Yabuki Joe.

This poor boy. I mention both Ashita no Joe and Megalo box because Megalo box was an anniversary special project based off of Ashita no Joe. Not another adaptation precisely, but more of a modern cyberpunk approach to the classic with more mature themes. I love both versions of Joe. In the older classic, you have this orphan boy that is happy roaming around doing nothing with his life, until he meets this drunk man that shoves boxing down his throat. It's your typical sports plot of stacking up win after win, until it isn't. The difference is in the characters, and their suffering, their growth. You learn to love Joe. He's an annoying little brat that wins your heart gradually, and towards the end, when it's over, you feel as though you've lost a friend.

In Megalo box, Joe is a bit older, and is dealing with things that are very real and that the og Joe would have also had to deal with, had things turned out differently. It's a great complement to the original. An AU of sorts.

4. The Fool from the Elderling series by Robin Hobb

The Fool. Beloved. Amber. They have many names and aliases, from Robin Hobbs' fantasy series The Elderlings.

Beloved is such an interesting character, not defined by any societal expectations and always confusing everyone with their words. We watch them grow throughout the series, from the king's creepy little jester that unsettles others, to an adult that is admittedly treated very harshly by the author (the story) but I still love to death. Here are some of my favorite quotes by the Fool:

"You are confusing plumbing and love again."

“As for what it means, how should I know? I’m a fool, not an interpreter of dreams. Good day.”

"Tomorrow owes you the sum of your yesterdays. No more than that. And no less."

“I have never been wise”

“Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.”

5. Yang Wenli from LOTGH

Yang Wenli from the Legend of the galactic heros. A classic anime series and one of my favorites. Again, I struggled to only choose one character from the series, because I really love Reinhard as well- the other main character, but from the two I had to to with Yang Wenli.

LOTGH is a space war epic between two different states, the old galactic empire, and the newer, democratic planets alliance that broke free. Yang Wenli belongs to the latter. And while it may sound like the better choice-and he thinks so, as well-it's only the better choice from a theoretical standpoint. Because the one he's up against from the empire, Reinhard, is a wonderful leader. The kind that comes around only once in a century. Meanwhile the so called democracy is corrupt and ugly. Heading downhill while the empire is only getting better. And that's where the two collide. I love Yang Wenli for his idealism, his self awareness of his flaws, and those of others. He once says, 'if I was born in the empire I'd be flocking to join Reinhard's ranks'.

He's a realist, and a damn genius. And that's where the tragedy and irony strikes- because of the badly led and structured democracy he's in, he doesn't have full command of the army. He doesn't have any real power. All the corruption and red tape don't allow him to do much, to use his full potential, so he's always a step behind.

And yet. All he wants in life is to retire peacefully. He didn't even want to be a soldier, but he's dragged there by others, a bit of a pushover that he is. He's a tragic character really. Full of contradictions that he himself is aware of, and you can't help but love him for it.

6. Zhou Zishu from tian ya ke/word of honor

Zhou Zishu.

He is just. So. Relatable.

A burnt out man in his early 30s/late 20s who only wanted to live his last few years in peace. Essentially committed slow suicide to get the fuck out of his job because he couldn't take it anymore. We've all been there. Not that I'd take such drastic measures but. Who hasn't fantasized getting into an accident on their way to work to, you know, not go to work? Just me? OK. Moving on lol (according to reddit it's actually quite common. Sad that we live like this. Kudos to zishu for doing something about it).

The novel (tian ya ke) is quite different from the drama (word of honor), where the gif is from. The characterization is also a bit different, and I have to say I prefer novel! Zishu over drama! Zishu. He's more free, more shameless, learns to live without shackles and is not your typical protagonist. In fact, he's no protagonist at all. He's really just a side character, despite being the narrator of the story. Like many of us. But the man learns to be happy. Learns to fly free.

7. Wen Kexing from tian ya ke/word of honor

I broke my own rule about one character per series because there is no way I can have A'Xu (Zhou Zishu from above) listed anywhere without his Lao Wen. They come as a package anywhere they go. Anywhere. So here is my favorite malewife Wen Kexing. A beautiful, eerie man that looks more like a ghost. Knows how to cook. Knows how to clean. Knows how to split your throat in half with his bare fingertips.

He's terrifying. The king of all "ghosts"- the most brutal criminals. He's also someone that learns how to lower his defenses for the first time in his life. How to be a little bit selfless for once. To care for another. He's the one that teaches Zishu how to he shameless. He's fucking hilarious, a flirt, an unashamedly gay man that takes pride in all the men he's fucked and yet will cry crocodile tears to Zishu to let him get it on, and then he'll thank his dead sister for it later. I love these idiots. They're perfect for each other.

Also prefer the novel version of Wen Kexing, but the drama has a perfect cast and beautiful robes. I've got two replicas of them!

8. Nodame from Nodame Cantabile

Idiotic Nodame. Love this girl. She's hilarious and silly and isn't embarrassed to go after what she wants, even if she makes a fool of herself.

She's an aspiring pianist. A piano student to be precise, on the older side compared to her peers. But she's really great at it. Not in the traditional way, because she does things in her own way-- she's with the teacher designated for the worst students and spends an entire semester (or years? It's been a bit, I don't remember) composing a song about farts LOL.

She's a really likeable character, and what I really love about her is her stubbornness and grit to stick to what she wants. It's not something easy to do, and oftentimes we have to make decisions against our own wishes, especially when it comes to our careers. Nodame tries, but all she wants is to be a kindergarten piano teacher, but everyone tells her she shouldn't do that. In the end, her choices are hers and hers only.

9. Balsa from Moribito

I recently finished this anime and fell in love with the MC, Balsa.

It's not often we see strong female leads in anime, that are not only well written but stand on their own without relying on romance or other characters. She's an incredibly strong woman, both physically and emotionally. The series focuses on her growth and her bond with the little burden she's tasked to care for.

She is a little selfish, perhaps a bit too cold. Plain looking, and very much an adult at 30. And she looks like it! Not something you see often in anime. She's a great fighter, and through her journey with this child that she has to care for, she learns of a different kind of strength. And yet, towards the end, she's still the same lone woman we meet at the beginning. Someone simply just... living.

10. Renge from Non Non Biyorin

Little Renge. I adore her. She's adorable and so, so funny.

From Non Non Biyorin, which I also love to bits because I grew up in the country and the country life humor just sends me.

She's a 6 yo child that is smarter than the 8th graders, and always so serious about everything she does, even the cold corner store owner has a soft spot for her. She's like a cat. Really cute, really funny, and really mean, even unintentionally.

Ugh. I miss this show. I wish we had more seasons!

#asks #sorry that took me so long #typing this all up took forever #then I couldn’t decide in the last one but settled for Renge because she's best girl #top favorite #favorite characters

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piduai · 7 months ago

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I totally agree with you , I tend to remember the bad more than the good . I guess for self care it's better to just watch the arcs you loved . I watched the episode 153 or 157 something ( I don't remember the exact number but it's about Kagura not wanting to sleep ) more than ten times because I liked it. I think it's the best way to view an anime like this.

After all not much is to be expected from an author like this.

The aliens versus us is just a way to portray the pre opening era . CLEARLY . No reach. If he could write "THOSE FOREIGNERS " he would. Very weird it's giving Isayama with Snk , the world population vs us the people of ( I don't remember honestly 🥴). It's like a nostalgic / xenophobic stand but not outspoken.

I just wish we got more contents of characters like Asaemon and nobume + mutsu these three really could introduce interesting drama with their profession and personalities. I will never NEVER get over it 😩👹. You know what ? I wish gunatama was a female only cast ( I DARE TO SAY IT👹👹👹)

Also I don't like Emosugi , Kamui is so cringe , he's what to expect from a teenage boy. He's so predictable, a violent emotional red hair emo .

But Takasugi Dramasuke ?! I just can't . His rage is valid but he never gave anything . A plate of pasta without salt . The hype about him is what all his character is . I never understood it. He doesn't look cool and I think his feet smell NGL.

He's the example of a delayed frontal lobe growth. Soratchi just used limited appearance to tune the citizens on. I don't know how they fell for it . When the whole truth was finally exposed i was disappointed 🧍🏻‍♀️.

I don't know how to explain it and why . He's just so cliché i thought ginballma would be more original but it's not when you look back when it's about serious topic.

i don't have arcs i particularly hate, tbh i watched it in 2013 for the first time and a lot of the cultural & linguistic jokes flew over my head, as well as a lot of references. so now i rediscover a lot of stuff on my rewatch, which is fun. but ig if you have stuff you really hate it's just better to skip altogether, i mean who cares. i only started rewatching it bc i need something to play in the bg while i eat/do my nails/clean around the house etc and short series end too fast while i don't feel like committing to a long series i haven't watched yet

yeah i do wonder, i didn't notice it the first time at all but now it feels very sus. it's also funny that earth = japan it seems, the word japan is never uttered actually but the existence of other nations is never brought up either. and amanto = foreigners, with kagura and the rest of the yato being alien chinese while catherine being alien something vaguely southeast asian. with the rest being animals. i don't think it's that deep just something that made me raise an eyebrow

asaemon is a one arc character and mutsu was shown for a bit towards the end, but nobume was snubbed lol. but again everyone else who isn't g*ntoki was also snubbed. with nobume it's a shame that her shoyo disciple side was never explored while some whomstie (oboro) got an entire thing around it. zura was also sidelined when it comes to this. nobume didn't really do much after sabuchan died from what i recall which is a shame. but also the cast is HUGE so with sorachi's limited formulaic writing abilities it's understandable lol

people always praise the character writing in gintama and i always disagreed with that because 98% of the cast is the same thing from different angles, or rather it seems that he can't write anything else. default character in this series is kind of a rude jerk who is actually super duper kind and niceys deep down and when it matters, and if push comes to shove they'll give you a helping hand no questions asked. most of them have their own quirks (kagura is an abrasive glutton, tae is arrogant, mean and backstabbing, nobume is aloof and apathetic, kyuubei and tsukuyo are overly-serious and awkward and so on and so forth) but the mold is the same. which is like, fine for shounen standards, and a lot of them are very likeable, but let's be real no giocondas are being painted here

i liked kamui until it was revealed that he actually fr fr is obsessed with his mom and sister and this whole time he was just lonely and misunderstood and lashing out. boring. he was fun as a power-hungry #psycho little shit but obviously we can't have any divergences from the mold in this house. as for takasugi he's always been one of my favorites so i can't say much here lol to each their own

#anon

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thescrapbookingscientist · 2 years ago

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Biweekly Media Roundup

- Trigun (Anime) - Ah yes a new hyper fixation for the month, I’ve been watching both the OG series and Stampede after being enticed by spoilers of some alien activity, something I had completely forgotten about from when I originally watched it back in middle school. I like both for different reasons, and desperately want to do a comparison of what aspects do and don’t work for each adaptation given the themes each is trying to convey. For a quick thought I would say that OG does a great job of fleshing out it’s world and central cast as interesting/likable concepts while Stampede is doing a good job expanding upon the stories philosophical arguments and humanizing (haha) the main villain. At the moment I do prefer the original, both for it’s more likeable world and how that lends itself to the “All people deserve a chance as people will improve when offered kindness” message, but to be fair to Stampede it’s far from a finished product and it’s most recent episode has been it’s most solid yet, so we’ll see where it goes. Really hope the theory that Roberto is Milly’s father comes true, I miss her.

- Sense 8 (TV) - Finally finished Sense 8, debating on whether I’ll write up a full review ranking each characters storyline from best to worst. It definitely had it’s issues but I’m glad I watched it, the sci-fi concept was pretty unique, the various international locations and fun framing made it quite nice to look at, I appreciated the focus on the wide spectrum of sexualities, races, and identity, and in general it just had a fun cast of characters with various interesting plotlines. That being said, the main thing I’ll remember about it for awhile is how in the finale, my sister commented how surprising it was that the 2.5 hour special hadn’t featured a single sex scene in a series notorious for them, only for it to end with a 10-minute-long sex scene featuring every major character in the show intercut to look like one giant orgy, with the final shot of the entire series being a pan over to a used dildo. Wow. No notes, what a fitting end.

- Next In Fashion (TV) - “Watching” is strong word for what I’m doing with this, which is fast forwarding through to see the completed outfits at the end. Still, I do enjoy seeing what kinds of fashion people create when given specific prompts, it’s fun. I basically never agree with the judges though.

- Ranking of Kings (Anime) - Hey boy it’s me the haunted mirror from your childhood. Drink this potion made from your liquified dead father boy, It will grant you magical powers, believe me boy I would never lie to you.

- Gintama (Anime) - Yup.

- Welcome to Demon School! (Anime) - Weekly dose of wholesome fun, does a great job at making me love every single character.

- Last Week Tonight (TV) - We’re back! The story on AI awareness about killed me, I think more company's should employ robots that try to convince customers to leave their wives for them.

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Yup.

- Persona 5 Royal (Video Game) - Very funny to me that no less than 5 of the ladies confident storylines revolve around rekindling their connection with a close female friend. It’s like the writers were like hmm, so what is something women love in which they’ll base their entire lives around? I got it. Other women. Like based my dude but there are other women-centric stories out there. Also, if you’re gonna feed me all these wlw you gotta stop cockblocking me in my attempts to date Yusuke.

As usual I’m also keeping up with The Greatest Estate Developer, Land of the Lustrous, The Vampire Dies In No Time, and Buddy Daddies.

Listening to: I Really Want To Stay At Your House cover by Lunity, Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo, TOMBI by Kvi Baba, My Kind by Hilary Duff, This Is Not a Party by The Wombats, Odds Are by Barenaked Ladies, Nothing is Going Right by Meiyo, Snakes by PVRIS, The Sound by The 1975, Rule #4 by Fish in a Birdcage, They’re Only Human cover by Annapantsu, Kiss Me, Son of God by They Might Be Giants, Still Feel by Half-Alive, My Eyes by Neil Patrick Harris

#weekly roundup #My posts

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inqua · 6 years ago

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i have been following u for your awesome fe content all this time and then it turns out u also like gintama? what an icon

OH MAN GINTAMA that takes me way back! it’s been like what. 2 years since I drew anything for it? I just had to doodle earth dad and his space daughter haha

it’s honestly still my favourite long-running anime BY FAR (and the only one I ever bothered to keep up with tbh). like ever since I watched it everything else pales in comparison (still have to watch the most recent season tho).

#kagurasdad #gintama #sakata gintoki #kagura #doodle #inquart #ask #inquask #the thing about gintama is also like. it gets better the more other things you've watched/played bc it sets out to parody anything at all #and it has the best female cast of like. all time you CANNOT change my mind #and also the ops are always complete bops??? hellooo go watch this shit now #i haven't talked or even thought about gintama in ages this is a blast from the past #thanks for bringing it up actually cuz now i'm motivated to continue watching/reading

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beautiful-fleshy-bisexual · 2 years ago

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tsukuyo🤝tae sexism in fandom. ppl are kinda shitty actually. godspeed on coming back to this space hahah

I am not even sure if I miss this place after seeing the posts

there are always crazy fans who make this place so much worse but I am glad you are here lmao

#gintama #gintama still has the best female cast

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animebw · 2 years ago

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Hm... top ten characters of all time in any medium would probably take me too long to figure out. But if I just isolate it to anime?

10. Winry Rockbell (Fullmetal Alchemist)

I've already gushed endlessly over Winry during my Brotherhood re-watch, so I'll just direct you to that for my more complete thoughts on her. Suffice to say, this girl isn't just one half of one of the greatest romantic subplots ever, she's the beating heart of Fullmetal Alchemist in all its forms, the unsung hero that makes this series so special. A world where she didn't exist would be a dark world indeed.

9. Rikka Takanashi (Chuunibyou)

Rikka embodies everything I want to be. Unashamedly embracing cringe and imagination even when others around her tell her she needs to stop, she basically represents the reason why anime itself, in all its earnest goofiness, matters so much to me.

8: Sawako Kuronome (Kimi ni Todoke)

This girl is literally just me. Like, literally.

7: Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)

The protagonist of my favorite piece of fiction ever and the peak of shonen heroes. What more can I say?

6: Hitagi Senjougahara (Bakemonogatari)

There was a time when Hitagi and Araragi were my absolute favorite romance in all of fiction. That time has faded thanks to Hibimiku, but this girl's indomitable wit and courage in the face of her inner demons ensure that she will forever be my Best Girl. If I'm ever lucky enough to be in a relationship, I want it to be with someone as incredible as her.

5: Shinji Ikari (Evangelion)

Evangelion will never leave me, and neither will Shinji. If he can claw his way up from the depths of human misery and still hold onto hope that he can be someone worth living for, then I have no excuse.

4. Hina Kawamoto (Sangatsu no Lion)

My love, my heart, my angel, light of my life, I would both kill and die for her without question

3: Kumiko Oumae (Hibike Euphonium)

The cast of Hibike feel like real teenagers like nothing I've ever seen. And Kumiko isn't just the realest among them, she's the most compellingly authentic portrayal of adolescent angst, uncertainty, and determination ever put to screen, with the single greatest voice acting performance ever recorded. I don't know what black magic Tomoyo Kurosawa performed to get so good at voice acting, but I'm not complaining.

2. Kagura (Gintama)

My love, my heart, my angel, light of my life, I would both kill and die for her without question 2.0, but like, even moreso.

Asuka Langley Soryu (Evangelion)

I'm just...

gonna leave this here.

#anime #the anime binge-watcher #tabw #tabw q+a

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arirna · 3 years ago

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Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime, books, movies or tv series)? Thanks....

Oh now that's a great ask! Thank you for giving me an opportunity to gush about my faves!

Disclaimer: the order in this list is irrelevant since i love these characters equally (although for different reasons). Also possible spoilers too, since sometimes i need to explain why i like these characters due to their true role in the narrative.

1. Tsukuyo (GIntama)

Gintama in general has a great cast of female characters (which was severely underutilised in later arcs to my great dismay) but Tsukuyo still remains my favorite among them. The story arcs which involved her are considered by me the best Gintama arcs by far.

What really resonated with me about Tsukuyo is the way she's allowed to be both strong and vulnerable by the narrative. She's a person who is greatly defined by her duty and loyalty to the people she protects and cares for but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have her own personal struggles and insecurities to work through and the story doesn't shy away from that. I'm always a sucker for quiet understated characters with inner turmoil.

And also she has a great character design as well which is always a plus for me.

2. Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd (Fire Emblem Three Houses)

Three Houses as a game was quite ambitious in regards to the way it tried to structure its main plot and character arcs for its main cast. Having three (+ a not so secret 4th) routes which explore each main lord and their closest allies was an interesting idea but unfortunately the way it was implemented wasn't the best one. It was mostly due to the inconsistencies between character writing in different routes (Edelgard for me was the biggest victim of that) and the way some importaint reveals about the main plot and lore were hidden behind only one or two routes so you may completely miss the point of certain scenes or character motivations in other routes (although that was most likely made on purpose but i'm not sure it worked in the narrative's favor).

However, Dimitri and his route Azure Moon avoided most of these problems by making its main narrative focus mainly on DImitri's character arc and his relationships with Byleth, Dedue, Edelgard and his allies without focusing too much on the game's very vague and convoluted lore and the frankly underwhelming "true" main antagonists.

Thanks to that Dimitri managed to get one of the best character arcs in the game which fully explored his struggles with his mental illness and the pain and tragedy he had to endure. His redemption arc may have been slightly fumbled due to the limitations of this game's gameplay and structure but I still consider it a very good example of how redemptions arcs can be done.

The way he managed to pick himself up again after ending up in such a dark place mentally in his life and to persevere despite everything so he can become the person he always aspired to be was very uplifting to see. Also he’s a huge simp and a great malewife material - we love to see it!

3. Sessyoin Kiara (Fate franchise)

Kiara is the case of a person who was actually qualified to be a Messiah figure in her life going very very horribly right(???).

This lady was the head of the sex cult which promised salvation for humanity and she was very good at her job. Unfortunately for everyone involved Kiara only considered herself to be the one true human being (she’s just like me fr) while everyone else she viewed to be mindless apes who are only useful to her as her personal playthings and it’s their true salvation in her eyes. After certain shenanigans involving digital space battle royale on the Moon she managed to become an actual Demonic Bodhisattva who almost drowned the whole world in pleasure for her own ascension into godhood.

So she was the Girlboss(tm) basically and while she was defeated in the end since people hate to see a girlboss winning, thanks to a certain gacha spinoff game she made a glorious comeback and now she’s busy scheming and helping the protagonists along the way for her own amusement.

Unlike the previous characters i just like Kiara because she’s nuts and evil and she owns it 100%. While it’s obvious that she toys with the idea that she might change her stance on the whole “i’m the only Human Being in this world”, she still remains true to herself and it’s fun to see a villainous character like her.

4. Queen Marika the Eternal (Elden Ring)

Another Girlboss(tm) character who is for the most part relegated to be a background figure for the lore and yet her actions and her agenda shape the world and the narrative of the whole game.

Marika was chosen as the reigning sovereign Goddess of the world called the Lands Between and she proceeded to rule it by getting rid of Death as the concept in her world, war mongering her rule across all lands, starting multiple relationship dramas involving her exes, her new husband (but not really) and her multiple demigod kids, maybe or maybe not helping one of her kids with their planned heist of the rune which brings back Death, shattering the World Order, getting imprisoned and secretly guiding you, the player, while pretending to serve the true Big Boss of this world.

Did she utilize her Girlpower correctly while doing all of these things? I’m not sure but hell, she sure was committed to it all. I hope future DLCs will allow us to learn more about her as a person but even now i can safely say that she’s a fascinating character and i can see GRRM’s handprints all over her since he’s a huge fun of morally dubious but ambitious characters like Marika.

5. Taichi Mashima (Chihayafuru)

In the cast full of idealistic people fully dedicated to their favorite card game Taichi instantly took over the narrative for the most part of the story by being an extremely flawed and human character full of jealousy, self-loathing and insecurity, but also compassion, understanding and loyalty.

He is the second lead in the romantic drama who is (tragically) destined to lose to the perfect (debatable on my end tho) main male lead and yet you root for this guy anyway since he’s so compelling as a character (he’s also hot AND rich and he is voiced by Mamoru Miyano so he has that going for him, i guess).

6. Makima (Chainsaw Man)

No way! Another very morally dubious Girlboss(tm) character on this list! Groundbreaking!

Makima is the benevolent (???) head of the government group responsible for hunting and killing demons haunting Japan and she is the one who recruits the main character to do this job with the promise to personally fulfill any of his wishes (so you know it’s a good deal without any hidden agenda on her part).

You can instantly tell that this lady is to be reckoned with and that she will use anything and anyone to achieve her goals. Considering what a rarity it is to see such a female character in a shounen manga, she really was a breath of fresh air for me personally and I uncritically support everything she did in that series since I (unlike some of you) love to see a girlboss winning.

7. Claire Stanfield (Baccano!)

He’s a cute guy who instantly got a crush on a lady who tried to kill him (he’s just like me fr). He also happens to be an assassin who is infamous for slaughtering his victims in a brutal fashion. So you know, gap moe! Love capable guys who are also loyal malewives!

8. Zagreus (Hades)

The Son of Hades, this character won’t ever shut up, cracks jokes at every opportunity, acts like an asshole when provoked and he also may end up in a polyamorous relationship with the personification of Death and one of the Greek Furies.

Zag could’ve been quite an insufferable character but thanks to the strong writing he comes off as a charming, kind, honest and chill dude who just wants his family and his friends to be happy and at peace with themselves. Also he’s an important genuine sassy bottom representation! We need more of those!

9 and 10. Hori Masayuki and Kashima Yuu (Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki kun) (do not separate them!!!)

They were the Blueprint for me. The two absolutely dense and idiotic characters who are unknowingly in love with each other. Hori is a short king with anger issues who is perpetually tired and simps non stop for Kashima, while she is an extremely charismatic and energetic himbo who wants to be noticed by him at all times.

I love all of the GSNK cast A LOT but these two will always have a special place in my heart since their relationship is so silly and yet so compelling. They really should kiss ASAP.

#ask replies #won't tag every series since it's just my personal brainrot for the most part

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