#I dunno if I'm mad or deeply disappointed

[artsyneurotic]

welp I just bummed myself out further:

Even less of a chance of TRON IN A TRON MOVIE now, unless they recast the voice/actor.

... and will they not even mention/show Alan Bradley or the board of ENCOM then? Or perhaps they'll say he was ousted after Legacy offscreen or some crap...

I know everyone's excited that Jeff Bridges is in the next Tron in some capacity, but I will honestly not give a good goddamn about that if they don't resolve what the fuck happened to Tron in the Sea of Simulation.

[fruit-sy]

Spoilers for the ending of the soul eater manga

Finished reading the soul eater manga and uh,

Wha?

I am

A bit

Confused;

And also deeply conflicted....

First off, What the FUCK is Boob madness, hello?????? Also did they just fuck over Crona like that in the ending??

I dunno if I prefer the manga ending more than the anime ending if I'm being honest lol

Manga definitely had more time to develop and finish characters arcs and build tension, but the ending was,, a little odd and a bit rushed imo. They just brushed over Lord Death's death, things went back to "normal" way too abruptly, and I get that Crona's committed an unspeakably heinous act and deserves to be punished, but they just left them on the moon with a sorta cliffhanger? Pair it up with the boobs as an attempt at comedy, it's enough to take me out of the immersion.

Anime and its ending was rushed, but some of the direction for certain scenes/episodes took my breath away. A good mixture of music and imagery is always a guaranteed hit with me. Also the art style has this charm that the manga doesn't quite grasp at the ending.

Veryyy personal preference/nitpick, but I really prefer the way Anime!Maka's drawn more compared to how the Manga drew her later on. Something about the dead eyes with no highlights and particularly stylized body proportions makes Anime!Maka's art style more appealing to me.

(Thar's the girl I fell in love with <33)

I like how the face and limb proportions are stylized in a way that makes her not look like a generic anime girl, uh for a lack of a better term. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but point is, I just like how she looks cute, but in an aloof and kinda hardened way. A fine line to walk on but I thought BONES handled it beautifully.

I'm tempted to feel the same way about Manga!Soul (who's also been smoothened out a bit like Manga!Maka) but his identifying features like the shark teeth, droopy eyes and pinched eyebrows are still there.

...

Alright, to give an overall review of my personal enjoyment: episode 1-24 was peak Soul Eater imo, apart from some episodes, it was a continuous hype train for me.

After that (with the exception of episode 33) it didn't get my blood rushing as much as the first half did.

I read the manga, picking up from the Brew scuffle, and it was pretty good! That is, up until the book of Eibon in the lust/sloth chapter which made me want to bash my head against the wall again.

The Lust chapter was so cringe, it had no redeeming qualities in my eyes. Mayhaps the "creepy fucking asshole" vibes (which made me deeply uncomfortable) served the narrative for the Sloth chapter, which is Giriko wanting to instill absolute fear into Maka, but still, blergh. The fight with Black*Star and Kid was pretty neat I guess.

I don't mean to sound so negative, but this barely scrapes the amount of disappointment I felt. I came for Maka, my heart was stolen by the duo of the show, but in the end, SE is probably not the best when it comes to female protagonists in shonen imo, lol-

6/10, really strong start, such a damn shame it fizzled out and died at the end though.

[trickster-archangel]

Eddie Diaz: just a normal, repressed guy.

Sorry to jump to my ramblings from @yramesoruniverse always perfect and laser-sharp lines here

But there's just something so deeply unsettling about that Normal Eddie is throwing in..? What has even normalcy to do with it? Normal is not the word I'd medically use to describe a PTSD patient's healing, because who says what's normal?

Healed would do. Hell, healthy too. You know what?? Just use the fucking F-word: FINE. Just like he did with Bobby. Just say "I'm scared I won't be fine anymore". End of it. Great parallel with Bobby's outburst etc etc.

Except. Except they clearly weren't aiming for a one-layer meaning. I don't think Eddie is just talking about his mental health. Not only. Using NORMAL here is just like....dunno... being a cardiologist and using the word REPRESSED to explain panic attacks to a patient.

I think Eddie has seen something deeper than his failure at saving his comrades: reasoning by metaphors, they all went through a life changing event, something that made them rethink their whole life. They escaped death, but didn't survive life. They chose death: on duty, by accident, by drugs, by suicide. He didn't. He went to a fight club, but not to die. He almost died in a well, and decided to officially add Buck to his and Chris's lives. He was shot and revealed this secret to Buck, so that he would've not thrown his life away.

He already chose life. Not death or self-destruction. So why doesn't he feel NORMAL? He shouldn't be aiming for normal, just for fine.

Another parallel comes here at this point: when he told Bobby that Chris needed him to be in control.

He's not aiming for being Fine. Healed. Healthy. He's aiming for Normal. In control. Grit-your-teeth-clench-your-fists Normal. Deny-yourself-what-makes-you-happy Normal.

He entered a relationship for Chris (without checking first it was really what Chris wanted). He left Ana for himself. He left the 118 for Chris (again, without checking first it was really what Chris wanted, and not just his low self-esteem as a disappointing father talking). Wondering what kind of relationship he could enter now, for himself....

Oh, another detail. We've witnessed another violent mess in the Diaz house before. No, not the muffin breakup mess. I'm talking about Chris rage exploding at knowing Eddie is dating, and throwing a salad bowl to the ground. Because he was mad at his dad. And lost control. He was disappointed in Eddie.

Here, Eddie throws the same rage around, ten hundred times....Because he's disappointed in his comrades? In himself? Dunno, but the callback still stands.

[shes-fast-like-me]

Day Seventeen: Home

Day Seventeen: Home

TW: Discussion of drug addiction, sobriety, mental illness, relapse, abandonment issues and suicide. Mentions of vomit/nausea. Ask to tag!

Pairing: Established Lifetane (you know me :P)

this is decades late but i still wanted to post this even tho i didnt finish the challenge so. here ya go

If you like it, please reblog it!!!

=+=+=+=

He wakes up pretty late these days but it's okay. Ajay says it's probably better for him than his old schedule of going to bed at 5am just to wake up at 8am for a morning jog. Running on three hours of sleep his whole life wasn't healthy, according to her. Well, maybe he could see some truth in that.

Waking up to an empty, messy pink room was always nice. The blinds at the window did a poor job of masking the fact that it was almost noon and that Ajay had been awake for several hours already, starting the day without him.

He didn't feel like getting out of bed.

Maybe he was just tired or it was the anxiety eating him up from last night but he didn't want to stop sleeping. For the first time in decades, sleeping felt genuinely comforting to him and he'd hate to leave now and lose the comfort and warmth of their shared bed.

Or maybe it was withdrawals, making it hard for him to lift his head off the pillow and get up to put on his legs and start another day without his crutch. It was so damn hard to get through a day without at least one substance, but he was doing okay. Two weeks sober. A small victory but a victory nonetheless, Ajay had said. He wasn't really feeling like a winner right now though. This feeling sucked.

A twist in his stomach and a wetness in his mouth as he lifted his head confirmed his suspicions. Yep, definitely withdrawals. He knew he wasn't going to actually vomit though, but the thought still crossed his mind. He forced himself to stand up.

The world outside their bedroom was a lot brighter than the gloomy, sun-shielded bedroom. Honestly, Ajay should just leave the blinds open in the mornings despite the sun shining directly into Octavio's sleeping face. Maybe it'd wake him up in a happier mood.

"How yuh doin'?"

In the kitchen, Ajay stood over a pan of sizzling eggs, still in her pyjama shorts and in one of his many black t-shirts with some band's logo on it. His eyes definitely lingered on her frame before he crept towards her and wrapped his arms around her middle.

"Am fine." He mumbled into her shoulder and kissed the back of her neck. Honestly, his back kinda hurt from sleeping in his usual overly-contorted way but besides that and his withdrawal symptoms he was definitely better than he had been yesterday.

Ajay hummed, "Tha's good to hear."

Honestly he didn't wanna let her go but she needed to move in order to finish up their 'breakfast', if you could even call it that at this hour. It was nearly 2pm, he noted from glancing at the clock above her.

He leaned on the counter next to the stove and watched quietly as the eggs sizzled and spat oil around on the pan.

He wanted Stim, just for little bit, just to go for a short morning run, but he was tired. He couldn't mess up his two week sobriety streak now either. Plus, Ajay would be disappointed in him and that would hurt more than the actual drug use. He glanced at her face fearfully as if to check if she was reading his thoughts. Sometimes when he thought too loudly he was afraid others would hear him and realize what a fuck up he was. He didn't want Ajay to know he was struggling that bad.

"Whatcha thinkin' about? You're starin' at me." Ajay mused and smiled, plopping the eggs onto two plates with some bacon on the side.

Embarrassed, he dropped his gaze. "Nothin’.”

Ajay nodded for him to walk over to the table as she handed him his plate. They sat down together, Ajay bumping her pedicured feet up against where Octavio's stumps met his prosthetic legs under the table.

"Yuh father called this morning."

Octavio's blood suddenly ran cold and he winced. "What did he want?"

"Askin' about the holidays, thinks he's gettin' invited over," She picked at her food with her fork, "I told him to piss off."

A small smile crept onto his face at that. At least Ajay had his back.

"Mm, I dunno, nena. Weren't you gonna visit your Nana in Olympus before we go back to Talos for the next season?"

"Plans changed," she shrugged, "I'd rather stay with you here."

He furrowed a brow. "I could come with you, you know."

"There's no reason for us to go to Olympus again. This is our home now." She said firmly.

Home, huh? Her little apartment on Psamathe, in a small, rural area away from Olympus and the big cities...

Our home, she said. With Octavio included in it. Granted, he had lived with her for the past three months or so but he never thought of it as being permanent. Would she really let him live here with her?

"I can see the gears turnin' in your head, O. Did ya think I would just kick ya out after a while?" She joked and Octavio knew it was playful but... something about her wording really struck a nerve within him and before he could even realise and stop it, the tears were in his eyes.

What’s happening? Why was he so scared of her leaving? Why did he even consider this as a possibility?

"....Yeah." His voice wavered.

It felt like he was with his father and the world was crashing around him all over again. He could remember how mad his father was when he refused to let Octavio come back home, how he said he had had enough of dealing with his failure of a son, told him that he's an adult now and could just fend for himself now. He remembered ending up on Ajay's couch, and later in her bed, that first night and how terrified he was. Nausea clawed at his stomach. Everything was coming back to him so violently, it felt like he was back to being a scared, broken man at the doorstep of his father's home. Overwhelmed.

"O, it's alright, I didn't mean it like that." Ajay stood up and he could barely make out her silhouette through the blurriness in his eyes. He was shaking and when she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, he instinctively pulled her closer, almost as if holding on for his dear life.

He didn't want to be left alone again. Not by her. He couldn't deal with it. He wouldn't live through the loss. He'd have such a destructive breakdown, he'd lose his streak and kill himself in the process. He just knew it, he just knew he couldn’t survive without her. It’d kill him. It'd be a death sentence.

"I'm not leavin' ya. Ever. You hear me?" She rubbed his back as his tears sunk into her shoulder.

"I'm not leavin'. It's okay."

He nodded. He wanted to believe it, needed to.

"This is our home now, O. You're gonna be alright."

Octavio's whole body shook against hers as he struggled to breathe in, deeply, trying to calm himself down the way his therapist taught him to.

He forced himself to believe that she wouldn't lie to him. No, she had never lied to him before. She was the only person he could ever trust fully. She’d never lied to him and he need to remember that. She wouldn’t leave him.

He took a breath in between sobs.

This was their home now. These walls, the pastel pink walls in the bedroom, the cool wooden flooring, the small but cozy kitchen and living room. The clock on the wall, the stove, the couch, the seats, the table. They were shared.

This was their home, where they laughed and watched movies together on the couch, where they came home and unloaded all the groceries into the fridge, where Ajay held him and reaffirmed that she still loved him and that he was still a fighter, no matter how bad he felt, over and over again, until he believed her.

He believed her. He believed everything she said.

Ajay was what made this place feel like home, and he wouldn’t lose her, not this time.

[craniumaniac-moved]

【 night of the lockdown . 】✘

a discord rp ft. @tender--age--in--plume​

This roleplay is set during the night of the Po Town lockdown put into effect by Plumeria after a bomb threat. The threat was a result of the events that took place the previous night when Rico ( @komala-scientist ) purposefully baited Guzma to beat him up. Warning: It’s long, took us over 12 hours to get done, and it’s emotional.

Mercifully, things have begun to quiet down. Shady House is fuller even than usual, with many team members having chosen to stay in the main house due to the lockdown rather than overflowing into the surrounding houses as is typical. The beds are packed and many have piled up on the floor like dogs. Plumeria doesn't mind, She likes knowing exactly where everyone is, especially at a time like this. Unable to sleep, she laps around the mansion and checks in again and again. Eventually her travels lead her to the Throne Room; she hesitates with her hand on the knob for a moment before sighing and letting herself in. "Hey, G."

While it may have been a hectic day for everybody else, it had been a quiet one for the Skull Boss. Holed up in his room and not communicating with anyone, he napped, he snacked, he drank, he smoked, he watched porn, and he played some GTA and even some Pokemon Crossing. Currently, he sat on his bed, a drawing pad open in front of him, many colored pencils scattered around him, and a bottle of gin nestled between his legs. He's surprised when she comes in, looking up with a small gasp. She'd been keeping him updated professionally, but other than that he didn't think she wanted anything to do with him currently. This mess was all kind of his doing ( but mostly Rico’s, as he would strongly argue ), although he wasn't taking it very seriously himself. He considered the entire series of events to be completely stupid, to put it frankly. "Hey, P. Sup."

There's a little pause as she notes his relaxed posture, a hint of resentment welling in her. The door closes behind her and she folds her arms, regarding him with a cool gaze. "Have a nice night?"

He shrugs, looking back down to his drawing pad to continue coloring something in. "I guess... Just tryin'a keep chill."

A small sigh ... she approaches the bed and comes to sit next to him.

He's quiet for a little bit as he puts the finishing touches on a Scolipede doodle. When he's done, he decides a big swig of his drink is overdue, still finding it hard to look at her. "How're you doin'...?"

"Shitty," she replies honestly, leaning over to slump against him. "Long night. Think shit's coolin' down now though."

"Ya prolly deserve some good sleep, y'know..." Another swig.

"Maybe ... was worried about you, though." She glancing at the sketchbook. "Guess maybe I shouldn't'a been ... looks like you ain't been much bothered."

"Oh, 'm bothered, that's fo'sure." He reaches to flip to the next blank page in the sketchbook, starting to think of what to draw next. "But I ain't scared."

There comes a small huff through her nose. "You ain't scared'a nothin'."

"Well... guess 'm lyin' a lil bit. I'm scared'a you bein' upset wit' me..."

Silence, for a few moments. "...I ain't very happy right now, that's for sure. But ... I dunno. I ain't really pissed at you."

In those few moments, he grabs a black colored pencil and nearly puts it to the paper multiple times before he realizes he can't draw with someone watching, not even Plumeria. A sigh. He closes the sketchbook and starts to bundle up the pencils. "I'unno what ya want me to do. I didn' fuckin' do nothin' wrong..."

Sighing deeply, she leans back against the headboard. "I know. I was pissed at you for not tryin' and then you tried and Rico went and fucked shit up. I just ... I dunno why you couldn't both try make it work for me. When one'a you was tryin' the other one was makin' shit hard and then you switched places. I was real excited when I thought shit might actually be okay ... I wanted it so bad. More then I ever wanted anything. And now it's all shit."

"Yo I fuckin' learned from my mistake before, s'why I was tryin' to try last night. Rico's a fuckin' idiot t'not go 'long wit' it." He flops his art supplies to the floor next to the bed, stretching out his legs and leaning back with her, gulping down some drink as he does so. "I knew you'd be real excited. I was, too. Not really to be his friend or nothin' but I knew it'd make ya happy... n' proud'a me. I was real proud'a myself, steppin' back 'fore I dove in givin' him a hard time, instead decidin' on tryin'a relate to him somehow. Even if it was just our fuckin' birthdays bein' around Halloween." A pause. "Yeah. It is all shit. I'm real, real sorry, Plumes. He's not gettin' another chance wit' me after pullin' that shit on me..."

She anticipated that, but it's still painful to hear. She pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, resting her forehead against the backs of her knees. "I know."

But wait, there's more. The kingpin's about to go on a tipsy ramble. "He fuckin' used me, Plumeria. Asshole was thinkin', 'Hurr durr I wanna get hurt 'cause boohoo I hate me! I know what I can do! I can go make the big dumb thug get mad! I'll take advantage 'a how easy it is to piss him off 'cause he's so stupid! Insert some random ass gibberish ain't nobody got time for! And fuck Plumeria's feelin's to hell 'cause obviously I don't give a shit about her!' Arceus damn!" A deep breath. He's clutching the neck of the gin bottle so tightly his hand is trembling and his knuckles are white. "Ya tol' me to shut up earlier when I was tryin'a say this, but you keepin' close to him got me real worried."

As he speaks, she closes her eyes. Okay, Melia. Keep it together. Slowly, gradually, she unwinds, stretching her legs back out and sitting up to square her shoulders. How stupid of her to think that coming to him would give her a soft place to land. "Yeah, well. I wouldn't be who I am if I gave up on every person who hurt me," she replies stiffly.

Finally, he turns his head to look at her. "You tryin'a hold on like he's family, but he ain't yo' family, Plumeria. That's me, that's all'a Skull, that's Tutu n' anybody else you close wit' who don't fuck wit' us like T n' even Hyde. I been fucked wit' by Rico, so's T."

"You tellin' me you want me cut him out?"

He runs a hand through his hair and sighs, becoming distressed. "I can't control what ya do. Jus' don't be fuckin' disappointed in me for not acceptin' him like he's part'a the fam."

Time passes. At last, a slow nod. "I understand." She's still not looking at him.

And he looks away. Hugging the bottle close to his stomach with one hand, his other hand covers his eyes as he hunches over. "I'm sorry..."

Her eyes snap closed again. "I'm sorry, too."

"You still gonna be disappointed in me, aren't ya?" Shuddering sigh. "Dammit, I was so proud 'a me, Plume, I really was... Couldn't wait for you bein' proud 'a me, too..."

"I ain't disappointed in you, G. I'm just ... disappointed. I really wanted this, and I--thought I could trust him." Her voice breaks.

He sits up, places his bottle on the floor and scoots himself over to her, arms slipping around her for a Komala hug. "It's gonna be aight, y'know..."

The moment he touches her ... she breaks. It starts with a sharp, haggard gasp and a flinch, her eyes shutting tight as her body tenses up, and then continues with ugly, shuddering sobs that wrack her body.

Although it's not something he has never experienced with her before, the reaction admittedly startles him. He doesn't know whether to stop or to hold on tighter, so he simply loosens his grip for the time being. "Plumes...! Shhh... I got ya, Plumes...," he attempts to soothe.

She grips his arms around her tightly as though to keep him from slipping away, squeezing, gulping down deep, wet breaths until she calms down enough to speak. "...Sorry."

Since she seems to want him to continue holding, he squeezes and he doesn't stop, rocking her back and forth slightly. "That's okay, P. Just let out what ya need to. G's here for ya."

"I'm––s–so–––fuckin'–––tired..." She chokes, gritting her teeth hard as she tries to swallow down the fresh wave.

"C'mon, let's put ya to bed then? You been workin' real hard today..." He doesn't quite get it.

"No...not tired like that. Tired of this." She sniffs wetly, lifting a hand to swipe at the tears that have fallen.

"Oh..." He lovingly kisses her cheek and the edge of her jaw, hoping to further comfort her. "I still don't quite get what ya mean... What's 'this' exactly...?"

She stammers, then takes a big, shaky breath. "I just...spent all day...talkin' to the fam, textin' with Aether, dealin' with people wanna kill you, makin' sure everybody safe, dealin' with Nanu...and you been in here drawin'. 'Cause you think it's all stupid. Well, maybe it's stupid for you...maybe this all real fuckin' easy for you...but it ain't easy for me. It's hard. I never signed up for do this all alone. You s'posed'a have my back." A ragged breath. "Maybe...maybe you don't even care. Maybe this all sounds like more bullshit 'cause you don't think you did nothin' wrong...like that makes it better...like that means less fallout for me. Well--at least you got somethin' you wanted outta it all." She sighs. "I stayed home."

His mouth falls open and slowly and unsurely... he lets go of her. Maybe he deserved it, but that really, really wounded him. "Nobody came t' me 'bout anything...," he says weakly. "An' I didn't come to nobody 'bout anything neither 'cause I felt like I'd fuck it up. I'd get mad we was even havin' to deal with this stupid shit Rico's dumb friends brought on us 'cause they ain't know shit, 'cause he can't fuckin' make it clear he asked for it, makin' me out to be all fuckin' wrong when I—" Deep breath. He doesn't want to get off track. "Plumes... I'm real thankful ya stayed home... real thankful for all the shit you done today... been wantin' to talk to ya but I thought you was still too mad at me..." Suddenly standing from the bed, he begins pacing the room to help expend some of his newfound anxious energy before he possibly cracks, pulling at his hair.

Her eyes follow him. When he stands she wraps her arms around herself and draws a deep breath. "I know...I know." Her eyes slip shut. "I don't..." Fuck it, Melia. He doesn't understand. He gonna think me stupid. Trust him. "I don't wanna lose my dad. Again." She winces, bracing herself as though for impact.

He stops his pacing and just stares at her, hands still gripping his hair, but the tenseness in his posture goes limp with a heavy exhale. "Plumes... He ain't your dad. Even if he was he ain't been a good one, 'specially not that I ever seen."

"No...you ain't ever seen it. And you never asked, either." Her face is expressionless.

"What's'at s'posed to mean...?"

"Just ... there's more to it than you ever saw. There's more to it than I ever told you. You actin' like you got all the information ... and you don't."

He lowers himself to the floor, sitting and curling into a ball in the middle of the room. "I try stay outta yo' business like'at...," he mutters. "And... look... I been there, done that havin' a father in my life n' it's jus' not somethin' I think's worth it. Hard for me t' get, hard to want to. But if there was stuff ya wanna tell me I'd'a listened..."

Slowly, she sinks to the ground and crawls over to settle down beside him, hesitantly lifting a hand to gently stroke his back. "I... never really thought you wanted for hear it. Maybe I could'a prevented all this if I been more honest with you." She sighs. "I know it ain't a topic you got good feelin's about, but ... I dunno. It's important for me. Was important for me ... still is important for me. Just ... I guess maybe I gotta make a choice now." She bites her lip. "Nothin' I want for myself can be more important than my fam ... no matter how bad I want it."

"What options you think you got...?" His head is lifted and he turns toward her. Selfishly, he'd want her to cut Rico out. The things the man has done around him and said to him about his family—their family—are unforgivable, really. But if he is truly a father figure to her who makes her happy, Guzma doesn't want her heart broken... He'll try his best to accept whatever she chooses.

"That's the thing, G. I dunno if I got an option."

"Well then I mean what're you thinkin'...?" He uncurls himself from the position he was in and once again puts his arms around her.

"I'm thinkin'..." Deep sigh. She shuts her eyes and stiffens, refusing to lean into his embrace—not out of anger, but because she needs herself to be strong at the moment. "I'm thinkin' I been puttin' my own needs ahead'a my fam too long. If it gotta come down between him and their safety... it's gotta be them."

Guzma gives a nod. "My opinion's prolly obvious, but I do think that's smart thinkin'..."

So ... that's it. She goes stone silent and still.

"I'm... sorry. I don't want you hurtin'..."

"It don't matter." She stands. "You okay?"

"Yes it fuckin' does matter." He stands as well, letting her slip out of his arms and ignoring her question.

"G... don't."

"Don't what?!"

"Don't make this harder for me."

A big sigh. "Aight. Fine. I'll shut up."

"'M doin' what you want and what's best for the fam. You ought'a be happy." She pauses and drops her gaze, glancing towards the door. "So should I."

"I mean, I guess, yeah... but still hurts seein' you hurtin'. Always will."

"Yeah, well ... I had my chance. I fucked it up." Her words are cold--not cold like ice, but cold like a corpse.

"You didn't fuck up nothin'."

"Yeah. I did."

He crosses his arms and looks away, not wanting to argue anymore.

Silence.

"I love you. Missed ya lately, too..." His gaze is still averted.

"...I love you, too."

He looks at her with a tiny smile.

He does not receive one in kind. "You need me tonight, G?"

Swallow. Noticing she doesn't smile back, he loses his. "Uhm..." He shakes his head. A lie.

"I'm gonna need a couple hours off-base. I wanna tell him in person." She doesn't meet his eye.

"...'Kay."

Anguish.

"What is it, P? If you done here, if ya don't need me, ya can go on..."

She shakes her head. "Ain't about not needin' you. You know that, yeah?"

Nod. "Uh-huh. So what you still here for?"

"Nothin', I guess." She doesn't move.

He just stands there, looking at her with a subtle glare.

...Sigh. "A'ight. Later, G." Finally, she turns to go.

He almost stops her, wishing he could give her a quick kiss, but is afraid she'll reject it after how the past few days have gone. "Lemme know how shit goes. I'll be awake, I'll be here for ya."

There's a brief pause in the doorway. "...I know. Thanks, Guzma." She doesn't look back. The door closes behind her.

He sighs, finding his unfinished bottle of liquor to continue nursing the thing, and places himself on his throne so his bed doesn't tempt him to pass out.

[mari-m-rose]

Hi, Mari! Thanks for always posting good info about Magi! I recently read your post about japanese fans and I'm still curious about specific opinions they might have, if that's ok with you. It's not always we have such international disasters in fandom, so I wanted to know they words and obviously your opnions on the final arc as well. Do you think Magi can recover from it?

Hi ♥, I’m happy you enjoy what I share ♥♥♥♥Haha you should have seen them when Sin died, I guess they freaked out a lot more when that happened, ofc they were sadder than this time.

The amount of salt is too big this time and I’ve never seen people wanting to mute words on twitter for their own safety.

First of all I’m not a fan of this chapter either so aside ele’s summary (I read it because she assured me that it was not gonna upset me) I don’t know anything about this chapter. People ponder a lot about if they got married or not. I’m not sure either and Idk if it’s confirmed, tbh I don’t wanna know either, at least not for now.

A lot of the tweets I read just went:

“poor Seren/Seren-chan doesn’t deserve this/I wanted Seren-chan to be happy”

People are mad because their relaitonship is portrayed like something sweet between them when it’s written like a curse for both characters. (I’ll elaborate more about this below)

“When love does not have sweet and gentle elements, it’s just dust …. I thought that the reason for Sin not getting married was Seren, but I did not think that it was such a heartless reason. It’s not cute at all,“I take responsibility that you took away your life” … It’s not marriage out of love, but atonement“ (all of them are google translate, beware of bad English)

“Although it’s too muchimpact on the picture surface, so much content is not coming in, I wonder ifthere is Seren black Rukh inside Sin now.”

I love these ones because this is exactly what bothers me too. The portrayal of their relationship in Magi, picture-wise, contradicts the true nature of it. So much Seren dearly in his memories, and now the hand-holding at Zepar (even tho this is Zepar doing it), all sweet and close and intimate, yet Seren left the company in this week’s chapter, they were never friends and didn’t even bond deeply,So instead of emphazising all the other relationships she’s created around Sin, Ohtaka suddenly decides to focus on this one and sugarcoat it when it’s one hell of a toxic relationship. Ofc we still dunno how it will end but at this point if it’s a “good” end, I won’t be able buy it anymore. 

Then pretty much everything is people unable to empathize:

“If such sweet heroine would have been introduced a lot earlier, I’m sure I’d have fallen for her, but this is the last arc and this makes no sense and I already prefer other characters’ connections to Sin.”

“I always knew there was a dear person for Sin in the past and was prepared for it, …but not like this, I cannot accept this.” (These two tweets are written from memory tho, I lost them on my TL)

This is another weak point about Ohtaka’s writing. I think that talking about Sindria’s tragedy during first Sindria arc was cool but instead of slowly revealing info she just suddenly makes her picture appear with no explanations (Mystras’s and Ruru’s at least had more mentions). Yeah I know pretty much everyone reads SnB by now, but Magi is a different story and such an important character deserves a well-written introduction, not an assumption that everyone already knows her.

And well these were some of my fave tweets, I also faved a lot of salty tweets from angry people, I don’t think I should share cause it’s hate and a lot of swearing (one tweet just literally says: shit shit shit shit).

As for my opinion, I couldn’t agree more with the japanese fandom. (long rantish opinion incomming:)

I reacted the same and I’m very disappointed. Not about this chapter but the lack of sense and coherence in Ohtaka’s writing lately. It’s all piling up and as I said before, it feels like the last straw. A lot of people and I feel betrayed at this point and are upset with how Sinbad’s family was put away, so this tragedy could happen.At the beginning of this arc we were all pondering about Sinbad’s friends opposing him or at least being in conflict with him about all the changes, why? Because it makes sense, because they love him and they would have tried to stop him more. But Ohtaka suddenly made them unable to do anything and even when Ja’far’s role is to criticize Sin (and he did), he didn’t do much and seemed terrified, when he was just a little confused and worried (very OOC)…

And now at Valefor they all seemed to be Sinbad’s cheerleaders, minimized to blind followers when none of them were like that. But what’s worse is implying that Sinbad feels that way about them. All those people loved him and sacrificed a lot for him, their entire lives, yet they all got reduced and minimized to a dungeon in which they cheered Sin like robots, while Seren gets to share one with Sin in equal terms and hold his hand like a sweet couple? Seren who just wanted to do things her own way? (there’s nothing wrong with that btw) She who just wanted Paretevia back? She who presured and upset Sin so much he just had to accept any offer to find land so he could reject her plan? (I hope this doesn’t sound like Sin is Seren’s victim because I think he brought the worst out of her too and made her suffer) The difference of opinion of Sin and Seren isn’t even a discussion of who’s right because they just want to do things their own way, so why did she make a sacrifice for him? And if she did, does that mean that because of that sacrifice she is the most important of Sin’s dead friends when they never genuinely liked each other? It’s infuriating.I, at least, wanted them to be good friends and well, then they could have fought all they wanted because even if they had conlfict they would have already harbored feelings for each other and all of this would make sense.Btw this doesn’t have to do with a romantic relationship between them, such things is just not gonna happen nor is important and people aren’t upset about it, but it’s the way Ohtaka draws it as if they were a sweet couple and a sweet memory when it must have been hell for both of them. With this I don’t mean that Seren isn’t or shouldn’t be important for Sin, she clearly is and deserves to be, but to put her above of all his friends this late is definitely upsetting for everyone who loves the eight generals, Mystras, Ruru, Mahad and Vittel, who were also very important for Sin and who actually had a good relationship with him. 

There is lack of information and maybe, just maybe the thing that will happen between them will be well-written and cute, but idk if I’m gonna be able to enjoy it anymore with so much bs in between, especially when there are more beautiful relationships to focus on. So yeah there is always hope for better writing but if things continue like this I doubt it.I just hope that in Magi in future dungeons we see more love from Sinbad directed to his dearest family or idk maybe at Magi’s ending……or  else Magi just lost me. I refuse to support a manga that has destroyed everything I loved about it and fucked all the relationships I cheered on.

I will only read new chapters if my friends assure me I’m not gonna be upset, because I’m a little tired to be upset. So I’m just gonna dive into new manga and anime to enjoy other fandoms until this mess is over.

(Oh and sorry if you were expecting that I talk about the current main 4…I seriously don’t care much about them: Aladdin lost me with his lack of character development, Alibaba lost me with his mysoginistic remarks to Mor, Hakuryuu lost me when he had his edgy phase and Judar never had me. But I understand that a lot of you are supporting them and are excited every chapter, tbh enjoy it all you can, doo iit, be happy, I wish I could join you but ……eh)

Anyway thanks for asking and I hope things just start improving…soon. I also kind of want to enjoy myself like the old days…