#I remember that I watched the anime when the manga chapters that were being released were quite...explosive

[thegh0st-of-ingrid]

One of the first ships that I shipped knowing what shipping meant 🥹

(tbf it's (or was idk) like the most popular ship in the fandom)

“I’m so normal about them”

I wasn’t in fact so normal about them, I scoured the internet for crumbs.

[moongothic]

You know I wasn't going to post about this, but the more I think about it the more it drives me up the walls

So when Luffy and co release Crocodile from jail, it's specifically under the threat that if Crocodile tries anything funny, well, Iva-chan has a trick up their sleeve to put Crocodile back in-line.

So what the fuck was that actually about? What is Crocodile's secret weakness? I'm specifically looking at the way this is phrased in the manga, because the anime's added dialogue kinda messes with what's implied here. But what Iva specifically says is that Ivankov in particular holds the key to one of Crocodile's weaknesses, but they'll stay quiet about it as long as Crocodile behaves himself ("Vataashi wa koitsu no yowami wo hitotsu nigitteru", a very clunky but literal translation could be "One of his weaknesses is within my grasp". The way Viz translated the line is a bit different so I'm not bothering with getting a cap of the panel, you wouldn't be able to tell how these lines were phrased in Japanese based on Viz's translations anyways) (The dialogue Toei added was Crocodile furiously shouting at Iva-chan, telling them to not say anything and Iva-chan reminding Croc to watch his tone or else they'll reveal Croc's past to everyone. A lot of people don't remember this was in-fact added by Toei, hence I wanted to clarify/remind what happened in this scene originally)

And now. Obviously. When Oda went out of his way to introduce a brand new character whose entire personality is being queer and their power is giving people magic HRT. And then like five chapters later re-introduces Crocodile. And tells us that these two have Secret Beef. And never proceeds to fucking tell us what the hell that was about. Yes, the natural conclusion one would come to would be that Crocodile is stealth trans. That is basic, good storytelling. You (re)introduce two characters, tell us they have beef, one has a very specific ability; you're supposed to connect these dots in your mind. So that now, if Oda revealed to us tomorrow that Crocodile was canonically trans, it would not surprise anyone because it's already been set-up in the story, by this very scene. It's a logical conclusion.

But. I'm becoming more and more convinced that Iva-chan's blackmail might actually not be about Crocodile being trans.

Like the general fandom assumption for the past 15 years has been that Crocodile's stealth trans, but we actually don't know he's stealth. He could be openly trans, and between that being a borderline requirement for Crocodad to be real (since he would've been a Shichibukai for years before Luffy was even born) and the possibility that his earring could specifically be a gay earring, like. Yeah. Crocodile could be openly trans. If Crocodile's perfectly happy to let the whole world know he's gay, then him being trans shouldn't have to be a secret either. We the readers could just be unaware of it because it wasn't relevant information to us, and his transition would be old ass news in-universe and not worth bringing up.

And thus, if Crocodile isn't stealth, then Iva-chan can't blackmail him by threatening to out him, becaus he can't be outted.

Now for a while I did considder that Iva-chan could've been actually threatening to detransition Crocodile if he tried anything funny. Surely he would hate that, so much so that he might not have wanted to even hear Ivankov suggest it. But thinking about it. Unless Iva-chan can use Armanent Haki or get Crocodile moisturized, they shouldn't be able to hit Crocodile actually. Like Croc's Logia makes him impossible to hit unless he specifically allowed himself to be touched. So even if Iva-chan tried to surprise attack Crocodile with Estrogen, Croc should just turn to sand automatically, the attack should not land.

Meaning Iva-chan shouldn't be able to detransition Crocodile against his will, at least not without Haki and we don't know if they can use it, so that can't be Crocodile's weakness either.

And so we have to ask the question. What the fuck is that weakness then that Ivankov mentioned?

All we really know is that Crocodile doesn't want this weakness to be brought up, it's a secret. And for all we know Iva-chan might be the only person in the world who knows about it.

And I just. Like.

There is one weakness, kind of a universal one that many people could have, one that has been brought up time-and-time again post-timeskip, one that has become more and more relevant in the story, especially now at the begining of the Final Saga.

A secret weakness.

If pregnancy is what cracked Crocodile's egg and he transitioned immidiately/soon after giving birth, then it's entirely plausible Iva-chan could know Crocodile had a secret child. And surely he'd want nothing more than for his child to be safe, not end up in trouble because of him. And Ivankov most certainly could put that child in danger, especially now that Crocodile was officially no longer on the World Government's side, there'd be no protection for the baby. All Ivankov had to do was leak the information out, that Sir Crocodile had a child, and anybody who had beef with him could get their revenge by attempting to find the child.

Like I'm just saying. This could line up nicely, actually

[givemeanaccountalready]

Who's Whose Counterpart?:

Anya Forger and Yuri Briar against Damian and Demetrius Desmond

I love Spy x Family. It's adorable and heart-wrenching and fluffy and angst filled and I love it all very much. I am eagerly following the manga, and my guys, we have been eating good the past 109 chapters. And while 109 may seem like a "jump the shark" moment for the series, I agree with the fans who say that Melinda's confession at the end of chapter 109 is most likely her rationalization of Donovan's behavior and not a fact. But I will eat my metaphorical hat and giggle while doing so if she's ever vindicated.

On Christmas Day, I was enjoying my cosmos and a minute to myself when I was struck by a realization that Demetrius Desmond may be Anya's foil instead of Damian. I continued to mull over this, and I have come to the conclusion that yes, Endo meant for Demetrius to foil Yuri Briar. But, I can't help but note the number of similarities between Demetrius and Anya, and that Damian shares some similarities to Yuri as well. Foil characters are meant to contrast and highlight certain qualities of the main character.

This post will contain spoilers under the cut. For anime-only fans, this goes well beyond the end of season 2 (~chapter 59) and goes up to the most recent chapter released, which is 109.

Damian is to Anya as Demetrius is to Yuri:

Damian Desmond debuts in chapter 8 of the series, and his behavior is a stark contrast from what we are used to seeing from Anya. Fundamentally, they both have the same goal of making their respective fathers proud of them, but the way they go about it differ, making them a good example of foil characters.

Socioeconomic background: the Desmond family is a member of Ostania's elite class, most likely with a noble lineage if their coat of arms is anything to go by, while the Forgers are an upper-middle class family

Blood relation: Damian is the biological son of his parents while Anya is adopted. His maternal grandparents were mentioned by Melinda back in chapter 91 (the veterans' bazaar) and one would assume that Donovan's parents existed at one point in order for the young Donovan to attend Eden (chapter 99, someone had to take him to the interview and pay tuition). Meanwhile, the Forgers are all orphans. Twilight's mother was killed during the bombings of Kielburg and that his father was presumably killed at the border when Luwen (Twilight's hometown) was first bombed. Yor and Yuri's parents passed during the war when the siblings were young, forcing Yor to take on the adult role of caretaker and breadwinner for Yuri. Their father has yet to be mentioned, but we did see their mother's back during Yor's cooking lesson (chapter 24). Likewise, Anya's biological father has yet to be mentioned, but if her response to Master Swan's awful interview question back in chapter 5 is anything to go off of, she may remember her biological mother. Anya was also fostered out to four different families before she came into Twilight's care. But despite not sharing any blood, we have watched the Forgers come to each other's aid and grow to care for each other (even though Twilight is currently backsliding into his "for the mission" mindset following the Mole arc, you cannot convince me that he does not care. He does. He's just being a blockhead about it). Now compare that to the Desmond family, who despite being family by blood, have the most tense, once in a blue moon family dinner in chapter 106. Chapter 106 does not play around when establishing the distance between individual family members.

Grades: to be clear, I am not going to call Anya dumb. She is clearly trying her very best and the improvements she's made are something to applaud. I'm proud of the little gremlin and I believe that she is going to continue rising in academic rank throughout the story. But as we've seen throughout the first term, the manga goes out of its way to establish Anya's hatred for studying thanks to her time in Project Apple's lab, and that she studies better under Yuri and Dr. Authen's tutelage than when Twilight tries to tutor her. Dr. Authens probably said it best, back in chapter 92, "The very essence of learning is acquiring techniques for how to break through when one hits a wall. Those eureka moments are the greatest joys in learning!" Yuri even says something similar when he tried to tutor Anya in chapter 26, "What matters is that you understand the mistake and take care not to repeat it." Both Dr. Authens and Yuri stress the importance of understanding the material to learn, rather than rote memorization. Damian, on the other hand, has a much more positive association with studying thanks to Donovan's praise, and he studies to the point of his own detriment, as seen in chapter 39. I am actually worried for the first time he fails, because I've seen the impact of associating one's grade with one's worth not only with my friends growing up, but in myself

Second sidebar: And as a former tutor, current TA, and huge nerd, I cannot agree more with Yuri and Dr. Authens. According to Bloom's Taxonomy of Education, while the memorization of facts is the very foundation of learning and is necessary as a result, it's the most basic form of learning. You use memorization (the ability to recall facts) to build off onto other skills, like understanding (the ability to explain what you've learned), application (the ability to apply what you learned to a new situation), analyze (the ability to draw connections, question, and relate different ideas), and so on. Those cognitive skills are developed as a child grows older and subsequently gains the ability to abstractly reason. For example, that's why math drills were so important for early elementary school students. The issue so many parents and teachers today in the U.S. take with recent changes to math curriculum is that it emphasizes abstract thinking over concrete thinking with grade school kids.

Now onto Yuri and Demetrius. For better or worse, we know Yuri's character and motivation. As a child, he saw Yor's numerous sacrifices to give him a happy life, which includes but is not limited to, her showing up covered in someone else's blood. He wants to repay her for her kindness and strength by making sure her adult world is safe, hence his joining the SSS. Was he not a literal fascist lapdog, it would be considered sweet. He has a sister worship complex a mile wide, and it's thankfully toned down into Yuri acting like an overgrown Mama's boy who's upset that he has to share Yor with his 'stepdad and stepsister,' so to speak. We know a lot about him, and now compare that to Demetrius, who we know next to nothing about. Demetrius Desmond's image is teased back in chapter 27, when Twilight deals with Daybreak's shenanigans. We only see Demetrius's back, and we learn from Twilight that Demetrius, "barely got a single question wrong."

Side bar: I know the anime and the wiki placed the student ID numbers as "68133071" being Demetrius's ID number and Damian's as "61133229", but I'm extremely confident that these are meant to be flipped, with the ID starting with "61" being Demetrius's ID number and Damian's being "68". Spy x Family's year is ambiguous, but it is meant to be the late 1960s into the early 1970s. In my opinion, it's highly unlikely that the years count down rather than up. "68" and "61" are most likely the year at which a student starts at Eden, which is one of the two major reasons why I predicted that Demetrius was seven years older than Damian, and in the eighth grade, making him 13 years old. The other reason was that the Briar siblings have a seven year age gap, with Yuri being 20 and Yor being 27. End, nitpicky sidebar.

Back to the point at hand, Demetrius is first heard from back in chapter 37, when Damian calls him from the Cecile Hall dormitory phone. He's straightforward to the point of blunt with his younger brother and curt, but he still accepts Damian's request that he ask their father to meet him in the courtyard of Library 2 after the Imperial Scholars' mixer. Though, Demetrius does warn Damian not to get his hopes up before he ends the call. Demetrius makes his first physical appearance in chapter 93, where we learn that this Tim Burton-esque (and I mean that affectionately) middle schooler earned six Stella stars during his finals. But what makes him Yuri's established foil character?

Family: Demetrius comes from a storied, elite family and seems to be a city boy (assuming the Desmond estate is within Berlint city limits) while Yuri comes from a more rural background (Yor's flashback in chapter 53 makes where they lived in East Nielsberg look more like a small town than a bustling city like Berlint) with the relatively unknown Briar family.

Appearances: with both Yuri and Demetrius, they appear the least of their respective families. But Yuri has been shown much more frequently than Demetrius, even having his own central chapters showing his work as an SSS officer. Demetrius appears in 2 chapters (93 and 106) to Donovan's 4 (37, 38, 99, and 106), and while his debut in 93, establishes some bare bone facts about him, his role in 106 is relatively small, with him turning down Damian's request for homework help and then him just eating during the family dinner. Demetrius barely reacts to the tension at the table and instead focuses on clearing his plate so that he can be excused. Yuri's chapters focus on his work with the SSS and his relationship with Yor. He only interacts with Anya when Yor asks him to, and then with Loid, Yuri tries to outdo him. Yuri's connection to the Forger family is really just Yor. Similar to Yuri, Demetrius's connection to the Desmond family seems rather weak, with Damian being his link to the family. Demetrius has yet to speak with Melinda or mention her, and vice versa. But Melinda has yet to say Demetrius's name, not even in the most recent chapter, 109. The closest we have to Melinda acknowledging Demetrius's existence is her saying, "My sons," to Millie back in chapter 92. Presumably, Donovan and Demetrius have interacted during the Imperial Scholars' mixer because Donovan went to meet with Damian in the courtyard, but we aren't shown their interaction. The only words we have seen Demetrius speak to Donovan are, "Thank you, Father," in response to being excused from the dinner table. Demetrius does not even speak to any of the estate staff like Damian does. Which, damn... that's pretty upsetting that the only person Demetrius will talk to is his six year old brother and even then, he doesn't volunteer much information about himself. He's all alone, like Yuri.

Book smarts: Both Yuri and Demetrius are extremely smart. Yuri having skipped all of high school and presumably some of middle school to be a college student at the age of fourteen (chapter 89), and Demetrius earning the highest score in three subject finals and then the second-highest in another three subject finals to earn six Stella Stars in one final exam period. We don't know exactly how many Stellas Demetrius has earned in total, but it's presumably very high. I did the math, and if Demetrius started out by earning one Stella star per exam period like Damian currently has done, he would have collected eight Stella stars by the time second grade ended. It could have been even sooner than that if say, Demetrius earned two academic Stellas in one exam period or if he had earned a Stella for heroism like Damian and Anya have done, or a Stella for athletic or artistic pursuits like Twilight had mentioned. Demetrius could have been as young as seven or eight when he earned his Imperial Scholar cloak, which makes WISE's expectation for Anya to quickly become an Imperial Scholar actually realistic. If Anya earned one Stella an exam period, she still would become an Imperial Scholar by the time she finished second grade.

Awkward age relative to the cast: Assuming that grade 13 is universal in Ostania and not unique to Eden and that they were both college freshmen when they first met, Chloe would have been 19 to Yuri's 14, making her 25 at the youngest. She is closer in age to Yor than she is to Yuri. Yor's coworker Millie seems to be the proverbial baby of the bunch of the Berlint city hall girls, and seems to be in her early twenties. But besides Yuri and Millie, there is not another prominent young adult character in their early twenties. Demetrius is the only prominent teenaged character in Spy x Family, which makes him unusual. Every major character we have met so far have been adults or literal first-graders.

Admittedly, these are more similarities between Yuri and Demetrius than actual foil character characteristics that we have seen with Anya and Damian. We don't really know Demetrius's goal like we do with the other three, but as time goes on and more chapters are released, this may change. For now, this gets me right into my question:

What if Anya is to Demetrius as Yuri is to Damian?:

I'll do Yuri and Damian first, since their connection to each other can be explained relatively quicker than Anya and Demetrius's connections.

As I've pointed out earlier, Damian's goal is the same as Anya: to make his father proud of him. It what makes him a great foil to her and why I love their dynamic. But Damian's relationship to his family is remarkably similar to how Yuri views the Forger family. Both have a family member whose praise and affection they want to earn; both have a family member whose relationship with them is dismissive and indifferent at worst but can venture into positive; and finally, both have a rival family member that they need to outdo to earn their target of affection's love.

For Yuri, it's Yor's love that he's trying to earn and keep. Yuri's fear of losing his place as the most important person in Yor's life leads him to act extremely childish and it fuels his one-sided rivalry with Loid Forger/Twilight. Upon introduction to Anya, Yuri views her as Loi-Loi's daughter but he's more dismissive than outwardly cruel towards her. The first light novel has him take Anya out to Step Works Kids to figure out what kind of career she'll want when she grows up. He doesn't really want to babysit her, and only took her out because she threatened to tell Yor he was mean to her, but by the end of their short story together, the two are getting along and bickering like a pair of siblings, to the point where Yor found it cute. If the novels aren't canon to you, there's proof that Yuri does care about Anya's safety during the bus hijacking arc. I know some have taken his sour-grapes attitude (chapter 71) when the First Lieutenant shot down his request to help as a sign of psychopathy, but I read it more as Yuri acting like a kid who's going, "You don't like my idea? Fine. See if I care, because I totally don't. Not one bit. Nadda." Yuri's a big ham, and he's being one at the moment. All it took was a Scooby snack of Yor being upset for him to drop the act and nearly charge onto the scene. The SSS had to sic him onto the other bus where classes 5 and 6 were being held hostage so Yuri wouldn't interfere with the situation of his niece's bus and get recognized (chapter 72-73).

In Damian's case, the family member whose affection he wants the most is his father, Donovan. Even when Damian's being comforted by his mother in the wake of the hijacking, he still thinks about his father and asks his mother not to tell Donovan that Damian cried (chapter 75). This triggers a switch in Melinda's line of thinking from relief over her son being okay to that love and hate thinking that startles Anya. In chapter 76, we see that she does go through with her internal promise to cook a meal for Damian, but that she doesn't stick around to eat with him. Melinda's reluctance to be with Damian is further seen in chapter 108, and it's implied that the distance between mother and son isn't self-imposed like how Yuri tries to treat Anya, but something Donovan ordered. Maybe rivalry is too strong of a word for how Damian interacts with Demetrius, but Damian's desire to become an Imperial Scholar stems from his belief that Donovan favors Demetrius, and that if Damian can be as good as his older brother, he'll have earned Donovan's love. When Demetrius points out in chapter 93 that he isn't in regular contact with their father like Damian had believed, Damian thinks, "I thought that he [Donovan] just didn't like spending time with me. But maybe he really is just too busy nowadays." Even so, we see in chapter 104 that Damian is still determined to maintain his role as highest scorer in history exams. Presumably, he made the logical leap that WISE and Twilight had done: Donovan really only goes out to Imperial Scholar mixers, so the way to keep contact with him is to become an Imperial Scholar and meet Donovan at these mixers. It's still 'earn his love' flavored ambition, but it's tempered by the revelation that Donovan really is just busy.

Now, onto the juicy bits: is Demetrius Anya's foil?

In my opinion, yes, Demetrius is Anya's foil because like Anya, he is a vehicle used by the adults by in his life to accomplish their goals. But whereas Anya has retained her individuality and autonomy, Demetrius has not.

Anya's mind-reading capabilities are a literary MacGuffin that we, the audience, are aware of, but no one else is. Damian may have suspected Anya's abilities and she did tell Damian about them back in chapter 96, but he didn't believe her. Twilight and Yor have no idea that Anya knows why they agreed to make this family. Twilight needed a six year old child who was smart enough to pass Eden's entrance exam, and he needed a wife to complete their image as a model family so that Eden's administration would pass Anya and not suspect anything of him. Yor needed a husband to avoid being reported by the SSS, so that she could continue to be a Garden assassin. Anya read their minds and is the one who made the first move to get Twilight to adopt her and then Yor to ask Loid Forger to act as her boyfriend for one night. But in Twilight's eyes, he adopted a somewhat strange child and is using her and an 'innocent' if unusually strong city hall worker for the mission. In Yor's eyes, she is using a widower and his child for her own cover, though she is quick to form a strong bond with Anya and fall for Loid Forger's earnest praise. When the truth comes out, Twilight is definitely going to be shocked by Yor's connection to an organization that's supposed to be an urban legend, and Yor is going to be livid that she helped a possible enemy and that said enemy used a child to advance his own mission. Anya revealing her own hand is what will probably save Twilight from Yor's golden needles.

We know from chapter 1 that, "[Donovan Desmond's] only public appearances are at events held at the elite private school his son attends. These events serve as informal get-togethers for the upper-crust of industrial and political leaders." These Imperial Scholar mixers are the only time someone outside of Donovan's immediate circle can gain access to him, and this basis forms the entirety of Plan A for Operation Strix. We know from Damian's remarks that even if Plan B was a success, it doesn't mean that Donovan would be at the Desmond family estate the same time as a playdate with Anya. Plan A would be more successful since it's almost guaranteed that Donovan would be there. It's why Damian seized the chance to ask his brother to ask their father to meet him afterwards. As Loid Forger, Twilight needs to infiltrate these mixers and gain contact. This is repeated to the audience in chapter 37 when Twilight is scouting Eden's school grounds. Given Donovan's secretive nature and paranoia, it's almost surprising that this man would come out into the public eye at all. But given the extremely high security detail around these mixers, you can see why these parties are as public as Donovan will get. He may not be in control of the situation he is in, but the likelihood of someone trying to harm him there is extremely small. It makes me wonder if actually pushed Demetrius to become an Imperial Scholar, like Twilight currently is doing with Anya, so that Donovan could have a semi-public place to socialize and make contact with valuable sources of information. In chapters 8 and 108, Twilight's head was practically spinning when he realized how many potential intelligences sources Eden Academy attracts, from military sources like Major Wesley Watkins (Bill's dad) to political sources (the parliamentary secretaries) to industrial sources like Byron Blackbell (Becky's dad). Donovan probably knows this better than anyone, since not only he was a student at Eden Academy but he is also a prominent figure among Ostania's elites.

Demetrius is the child WISE wanted Twilight to pick. If Damian's words in chapter 93 are true, then Demetrius has been studying since he was very young. Damian imagines a quiet, thoughtful young Demetrius who is dutifully making notes as Donovan watches him study, implying that Demetrius has always been a dedicated student and that he doesn't show any signs of reluctance towards studying like Anya and some of their Eden classmates do. If I had to estimate an age for Demetrius in Damian's imagine spot, his older brother may have been no younger than five years old but no older than eight. That image of him studying makes me think of Yuri's flashbacks of his younger self studying and waiting up for Yor, where he looks to be in early elementary school-aged to Yor's mid-teens.

Now, this could be a pre-Eden studying session, as young Demetrius's shirt lacks the Eden emblem on his chest and has sharper points to his shirt collar than the Peter Pan rounded collars the Eden first graders wear, making Demetrius five to six years old (a kindergartner). But, this could be six-to-eight-year-old Demetrius, which would put him in first, second, or possibly even third grade, studying at home, making him a commuter student at first and then Demetrius later becoming a boarding student, instead of always being a boarding student like Damian is. Initially, I believed that some incident happened either shortly before or after Damian's birth that led to Donovan gaining those head scars and further splintering the Desmond family, but now I can't help but wonder if Donovan supervised Demetrius's study sessions until the boy became an Imperial Scholar, at which point, Donovan had him sent off to live in the dorms because his objective is now complete. He can attend the mixers thanks to Demetrius's status, ergo, he no longer has to supervise or interact with a person he doesn't really understand (to reference his chapter 38 quote). Damian never got the same attention because by the time he was old enough to start studying, Demetrius had already established himself as an Imperial Scholar.

This is just an idea based off an imagine spot, but it would be eerily similar to what Twilight initially planned to do with Anya (have her study and only focus on earning Stella Stars through academics, athletics, the arts, or volunteering until she became an Imperial Scholar). Yor played an important role in reminding Twilight that Anya is still a kid and her own wants may differ from his, softening his harsher methods (chapter 10): "Loid, stop! You can't just force this sort of thing on her... Do you think becoming an honor student is what she wants?" Hell, Yor even inadvertently assuaged Anya's fears of Nightfall taking her place and making her life a scholarly hell by beating Nightfall in tennis and making Anya feel loved and cared for, as Twilight would later assure her. Even if you don't believe that Donovan didn't plan to use Demetrius's Imperial Scholar title to socialize with other elites, it is an established problem at Eden Academy. As early as chapter 8, Damian first rejects Anya because her father isn't impressive and other students seem to laugh in agreement. Henderson mentioned during the first-grade dance that the Eden students are often pressured by their parents to do some sort of political maneuvering, and that the ban on guardians chaperoning stems from that.

Okay, so that's a strike towards uncanny valley with Donovan-Demetrius to Twilight-Anya. But what about Melinda? And Damian?

Like I pointed out earlier, Melinda has yet to speak to Demetrius or even say his name onscreen. The closest thing I can get to her talking about him is when she says, "[M]y sons," plural during her talk with Millie in chapter 92. Now, she may be hesitant to talk to Demetrius because he looks so much like Donovan and shares his stoic, hard to read nature, but that has yet to be stated outright in canon. It kind of reminds me of how hesitant Yor was to act with Anya in the very beginning. Except, instead of fearing Loid's reaction to her acting motherly towards Anya, Yor feared she would disrespect Anya's biological mother, Loid's first wife, by doing so. It took some serious encouragement from Twilight after the tennis arc for Yor to start to become more assured in her role as Anya's mother. Before the end of the tennis arc, Yor was hesitant to scold Anya or even correct Twilight. Soon after she asked Twilight about Anya's wants, Yor apologized for what she believed was "overstepping" her bounds. But where Yor spoke her opinion, however hesitantly or forward it may have been, Twilight took her seriously and listened, Melinda fears her husband and she and Donovan don't talk. Like Yor, Melinda wants to be an active mother to her sons, but it seems that Donovan is unlikely to listen to her, even if she did stand up to him. It's rather disheartening to watch.

I seriously need to know what is up with Donovan, and how exactly he and Melinda married. It had to have been an arranged marriage, but did she always fear his responses to her or was that something she learned overtime?

According to two Lady Patriots' members in chapter 66, "The Desmonds follow what you might call a hands-off philosophy. With both boys being so exceptional, they hardly need much attention." Ladies, if there wasn't a nanny or even a butler to look after them, social services would call that child neglect, but that's a story for another day. The important takeaway here is that these upper-crust ladies think of childrearing as a chore they want to avoid, which contrasts sharply with Yor's active role as a caretaker in first Yuri's and then later Anya's life. Melinda does not seem to agree with this parenting philosophy, as we've seen from her thoughts in chapter 108, that Melinda wishes she played an active role in Damian's life. But, Melinda's hands are tied, and the blame for that lies with Donovan's orders.

So if Demetrius's relationship with Donovan is what Twilight's relationship with Anya would have become if Twilight didn't grow attached and listen to Yor, and Demetrius's nonexistent relationship with Melinda is what Anya and Yor's relationship could have become if Yor didn't speak up and/or she didn't listen to Twilight's encouragement, how does his and Damian's relationship relate to Anya and Yuri's?

Well, Yuri doesn't really have a use for Anya. Interacting positively with her will net him some praise from Yor, but Anya just seems to confuse Yuri and he doesn't really know what to do with her. Anya finds reading his thoughts to be annoying. As seen in chapter 106, Damian craves any sort of familiar interaction, so he will try to talk to his older brother. But the last two times that the brothers have talked (chapters 37 and 93), it was because Damian wanted something in relation to Donovan. Damian is six, and he does not mean to, but Demetrius is a vehicle in which Damian could hear some praise from his father. Neither brother really understands the other, like Anya and Yuri do, and Damian mentioning Donovan is enough of a slight for Demetrius to grow curt and end the conversation. Demetrius is visibly annoyed as he stormed off.

Also, just to kick you while you're down. We haven't seen Demetrius interact with Max, meanwhile, Anya and Bond are nigh inseparable. How's dem apples?

Edit: HRAGH! I forgot the differences in personality between Anya and Demetrius.

We do not know much about Demetrius besides the fact that he is extremely smart, extremely quiet, and extremely stoic. Anya is no slouch (going from 213th to 168th out of 228 students is nothing to sneeze at), but we see her struggle and work hard to get those grades. With Demetrius, one can reasonably assume that all he does is study, but we have yet to actually see how hard he studies and if he has any hobbies or favorite things himself. It seems that he effortlessly gets those Stellas through exam grades to Anya, who thinks she can read his mind and get a shortcut to genius level achievements. Unlike Anya who speaks her mind rather freely and without inhibition, Demetrius only speaks when spoken to. We have yet to see him initiate conversation. He waits for Donovan to excuse him from the dinner table, and only then does he speak (chapter 106). Anya is also very expressive (I love her little faces) while Demetrius only narrowed his eyes when Damian brought up, but otherwise did not change his rather neutral expression (chapter 93).

Demetrius is also extremely alone. Compare that to Anya, who at least, always had Becky by her side since she entered Eden. I’d even argue that she, Becky, Damian, Ewen, and Emile form a little friendship group of their own, since they rarely interact with any other classmates besides each other. We see some of Demetrius’s peers clap for his awards but their expressions range from surprise to slight fear to jealous. When he leaves the middle school Stella ceremony, he is alone. When he storms away from Damian, he is still alone. At home, he holes himself up in his room, only coming out to eat dinner, but he hardly speaks. Not to his father, not to his mother, and not to his younger brother or even the family staff. In chapters 91-92, Anya decide to adopt an elderly couple to be her grandparents. And that is relatively recent. This little girl has no fear. Name a situation where she didn’t either talk to a bad guy or speak up and create a situation to give Twilight or Yor an opening. I’ll wait. She is always out with at least one adult who she considers family (usually Twilight or Yor, but also Franky, Yuri, and the Authens). Her always being with someone who cares makes Demetrius’s lack of that more painfully obvious. Sure, thirteen is the age where kids become teens and start pulling away from their parents, but you don’t throw them to the wolves at that age. They still need an adult for guidance or even comfort. Other kids have started to admire Anya after the bus hijacking, while Demetrius’s classmates are wary of him. Demetrius doesn’t have familial or peer support. He’s just alone with shiny pieces of metal to briefly announce to the school that he achieved something.

TL;DR: Demetrius status as an isolated Imperial Scholar is not only Damian's worst possible future, but it also could have been Anya's fate, had Twilight and Yor been more, "It's for the mission/cover." Now, isn't that just upsetting.

[phantomwitch16]

So I just learned the Nanbaka ending. Safe to say that it was not what i expected and I wanna talk about it :,)

Warning to the many people who have not been able to make it past chapter 192 or only watched the anime, the majority of what i know is from TikTok's, the comments of the vids and what i've pulled together by myself and what i've seen on Pinterest. Plus, despite my like for the series, I don't know much, its been a few years since I've done anything with the series , there is a cut off point with the manga and even then i don't know if it was in any particular order.

When i first started the series, I felt like i had a good idea of where the series was going. Like as the series would progress, we learn the pasts and motivations of the main cast, like Uno, Rock, Nico and the others, while seeing Jyugo learn about the shackles and the man on the scar. Then at the end, some shenanigans results in our main cast of idiotic prisoners being released early or finishing off their sentences in around a year or two. but because they either grew attached to the prison or liked the perks of working there (annoying Hajime, anime and food), they decide to go back and become guards of building 13. With Jyugo possibly doing something like this each day.

But that didn't happen. Instead we get something a lot more different than what I originally imagined.

In the end of the series, we learn a lot about Jyugo's backstory, how he and the boys first me and more about the man who shackled him. As it turns out, Jyugo was never friends with Uno, Rock and Nico. They met him but they weren't friends, I think. Initally, I didn't think that he even met them before the start of the series until finding some of the fan translated pics of the manga on Pinterest (Search Nanmaka manga ending Jyugo and you should find something, just find one and keep on scrolling). All the memories that Jyugo had with them were fake ones that were inputted by the clone of the man with the scar/his biological grandfather, i.e. this guy, Hiiro, I think is his name. Hiiro with black hair, scar guy with white guy down here 👇

I'm not entirely clear on what they were planning initially but Hiiro was the one who inputted the memories and orchestrated him going to Namba and becoming friends with the three, who possibly have at least met them individually at tone point. From what I am aware, Jyugo was the clone of Mashiro Mutsuki's (Scar man), grandson who alongside his daughter's, Touko, Jyugo's mother. She died while she was pregnant with Jyugo and Mashiro kept her body so that she could be cloned and give birth to Jyugo.

There were bit and pieces of Jyugo's childhood, with him and Hiiro. And Jyugo was nothing like how he was during the series. He was serious, had no general emotions and all that and i think his clone body was falling apart or he was sort of shapeshifting. He only became somewhat normal and acts similar to how he does to the series when he put the shackles on.

But the shackles had another function and it was to repress his memories and powers. Specifically his memories with Hiiro, the scar man and what his friends did to him. Uno, Nico and Rock were brought in to teach Jyugo how to live in order to be released from prison and gain their freedom. And kill him some time before the series started. This was part of Hiiro’s plan but I’m not too sure about his reasoning. They did that, and when the shackles are gone we see the evidence of it on Jyugo's neck.

All this makes looking back on previous adventures quite differently. In short they were never his friends for a time but did grow close in the time afterwards and began to feel guilt for what they did to him. They eventually come to talk to Jyugo about it and apologise but at this point, it was too late. Jyugo remembers everything when the shackles break and is practically reverted to his previous state. And it leads to a bitter confrontation that leaves the three shaken. As seen below 👇

I'm not sure to what degree of involvement Nanba Prison and the staff there had. By all accounts, its seems that Hajime and the other guards were just as or even more in the dark than Jyugo. Upon finding him, Hajime treats him like he's always has.

The only moderately positive thing and relatively Jyugo related thing that the reverted Jyugo does is that he has a brief interaction with Hajime’s cat who he says goodbye to.

In the end, Jyugo disappeared from the prison with a splatter of blood left behind, leaving apparently with his grandfather. Then that's it. A very WTF kind of ending for a comedic series. It...honestly not what i expected. Beautiful art stuff, yes. WTF moments, yes. Hilarity, yes. A very bitter ending with barely any sweetness in it…neat.

[conostra]

My thoughts on Gojo vs Sukuna

Spoilers for the Jujutsu Kaisen manga. I’ll be discussing things that happen after the anime’s ending in the Shibuya arc, so be warned.

I was there at ground zero for Chapter 236’s release. I was scrolling Twitter as it all went down. I saw every flame war, every cope, every Gojo fanboy meltdown, every Gojo Pack Smoking gif, and found it all hysterical.

But after watching all of JJK season 2, I decided to read the manga for myself. And I have to say, I absolutely love the ending of the fight. I loved every part of the fight, and although I am quite sad to see Gojo die, I loved the way it was done.

See, as they were fighting, Gojo and Sukuna had inverse goals. Sukuna’s primary goal was to stall the fight through Mahoraga and attempt to, as he put it “create a model with which to violate Satoru Gojo’s inviolability.” Gojo, on the other hand, was attempting to rush Mahoraga in order to deal with Sukuna, who would not be able to best him in an iso so long as Gojo won or tied the Domain Clash, which he actually ended up doing.

Sukuna refers to Gojo’s Infinity as his inviolability, and as explained both in-universe and by Gege Akutami himself, Infinity is the neutral usage of the Limitless technique, allowing Satoru Gojo to essentially halt any thing that has properties of mass, speed, or energy. This is done by forcing the target to effectively cross the infinite divisions of space between itself and Gojo, directly compared to the Achilles and the Tortoise paradox.

Achilles and the Tortoise is a paradox proposed by Zeno, an ancient Greek philosopher. Suppose that a tortoise is placed ten meters in front of the hero Achilles, and Achilles is told to sprint towards the tortoise. The paradox proposes that Achilles, despite running faster than the tortoise, can never actually reach the tortoise, since so long as they both continue motion, by the time Achilles reaches the point in space the turtle had occupied, it will have already moved into another point in space. If Achilles reaches the ten meter mark, the tortoise will have moved a meter. When Achilles moves the meter, the tortoise will have moved 10 centimeters, and so on.

Through these mechanics, and with the power of cursed energy, Satoru Gojo takes the figurative place of the tortoise, and anything incoming takes the place of Achilles.

What I truly enjoy about the fight, however, is that Sukuna proves himself the superior Jujutsu Sorcerer by disproving the paradox, similarly to how modern mathematicians do now: they cut to the chase.

The issue with Zeno’s paradox is that although the subdivisions of each measurement are infinite, the measurements themselves are finite. There is a definitive endpoint. Eventually, so long as the series of infinities they are crossing is convergent (ending at a single point), it will inevitably cease. Despite there being an infinite series of fractions between me and the end of a space 1 meter away from me, there is a defined minimum for the defined distance I can traverse over a defined time, and eventually, that distance will overtake that endpoint so long as the movement continues. Gojo is the equivalent of that endpoint. This is important to remember when looking at how and why Sukuna defeated Gojo.

Mahoraga was obliterated by a Hollow Purple shortly before Gojo’s death. And yet, Mahoraga had found the time to adapt to Gojo’s infinity, at first by “transmuting its own cursed energy.” Sukuna admits this was not something he was able to do, and so he had to wait as Mahoraga continued to adapt.

Mahoraga’s final full adaptations were exactly what Sukuna needed. It was the method through which to bypass Infinity, because Sukuna’s slash would not traverse through any of the points in which Satoru Gojo could halt it. It simply was at all the points along its route at the same time, not targeting Gojo, not triggering Infinity, but simply cleaving through the very space in which Gojo was existing at, and beyond him. The target was the very world itself, existence, all the space behind Gojo, every space Infinity's manipulation occurred in, all at once. And Gojo simply happened to occupy the space the cleave occurred in. As Sukuna himself says, It was different from what he normally does, sending the cleaves flying at others. It’s like the difference between throwing a knife at someone, and materializing the knife into their chest.

I kinda understand why people may be a bit upset- after all, no matter what, this is an anime about the fights. The battle is the point, and chapter 236 is definitely understated in that regard. But I think this was a very cool, very interesting way to handle the kind of powerset that both of these sorcerers possess, and the amount of thought that goes into (some of) the very interesting mechanics that make up JJK’s power system. But I’ve always been a big physics and philosophy dork, so this kinda hits right in my ballpark.

And with that, personally, I enjoyed Chapter 236. I thought it was very emotionally compelling! Gojo, even in death, is the only man who could truly relate to Sukuna, and is his near-equal in Jujutsu as well as, let’s be honest, battle-lust, although mayhaps he is not so bloodthirsty as to consume the flesh of his enemies as well. But people called it just Gojo dickriding Sukuna, and although I can kind of see it, he’s… not exactly wrong with what he says. Sukuna literally couldn’t go all out. There was no point in wasting the cursed energy on useless attacks or revealing his techniques, like the fire he used to kill Mahoraga and Jogo in Shibuya. It would have simply given up some of the aces up his sleeve with no real benefit to him since their boosted strength would not let them bypass Infinity, so why not save that energy for RCT to continue to stall? Limitless put a massive dampener on Sukuna’s ability to really fight Gojo, so it turned into him trying to use his wisdom and experience in the field of Jujutsu to out-strategize him. 

Also, realistically, he wouldn’t have been able to defeat Gojo with any vessel except Megumi, because of ten shadows. The only way he could have really gone all-out with Satoru Gojo was in his Heian Era form, where the extra hands and mouth could have radically changed the way the Domain Clashes went because of his ability to chant and throw out extra hand signs with no downside, and it could have potentially evened out the physical fighting between them- after all, Gojo definitely had the consistent upper hand in close-quarters combat. But later on, in one of the most recent chapters, physically dominates Maki, the undoubtedly best physical fighter the heroes had after Gojo’s death, chaining into a Black Flash. And even still, he was reacting to Gojo's attacks, deftly dodging, blocking, and even grabbing Gojo on several different occassions. If he had multiple limbs with which to fight, or even just defend himself, who knows if Gojo could really have put the beats on him the way he did? Does he still get to chain those black flashes and re-amp his RCT? Does he even get that far?

Throughout the fight, even to the end, the two are trash-talking, joking back and forth, and it is made clear that they regard each other with a level of respect- a level of respect that, for Sukuna, is saved only for those who he can truly regard as incredible sorcerers. And upon Gojo's death, he still laments, not his death, mostly not that he lost, but that he could not quite get through to Sukuna. The point is hammered throughout the fight- there was an ideological conflict superimposed over their physical one. Sukuna, who utilized his strength to dominate, to do everything he wished, to murder and slaughter and eat his way through all the entertainment that is around at a given time, and then move on. Gojo, on the other hand, knows just as well how lonely it is to be at the top. And what did he do? He built an army of comrades, and ushered in the next generation. If he could not look for an equal in strength, he could look for allies, friends, those who followed in his beliefs, those he could help to become as strong as him, or, as he puts it, “strong enough to keep up.” He holds no false hope about his predicament. But he had an inkling of hope that he, perhaps, would be able to show Sukuna not the error of his ways, but that there was a better, maybe even more enjoyable path for him to take, one with more passion and elation and self-reward.

And with that, what does Gojo see when he dies? His friends, those he considered his family. He is in the part of his memory, his life, before everything fell apart. Before the man he loved the most killed a part of him, before all the issues in Shibuya, everything. And he is happy. He is content. And what is Sukuna left with? The fleeting taste of happiness left in his mouths by his victory over the greatest sorcerer of the modern era, and an army to face down, all bearing his same ideals, including the one he hates the most, because he has made him feel, and think about his actions, more than even the late, great, Satoru Gojo- Yuji Itadori.

But, because this is Battle Shonen, everyone is mad that they didn’t get to see the world-splitting slash, or something.

[kyojuuros]

Just a question found your blog and really loved your analysis for attack on titan. What are your thoughts on the ending? A lot of people I saw hated it's not my favorite but I don't understand to huge hatred. Did you ever share your thoughts?

Hi Anon!! First off, I apologize for the late response... I know you sent this in a couple weeks ago but I wasn't in the headspace to type anything up at the time. Life is busy! lol

I'll start with a lot of people disliking the ending... I think a lot of that stems from the fact that we all had our own ideas as to where the plot was going and some were able to adapt to the ending better than others. Especially for those of us who put a microscope to everything and spent every monthly chapter release overanalyzing every small detail.... lol it sometimes was a shock what Isayama would end up doing in the next chapter! I definitely had my ups and downs with that during the run of the manga.

I actually can't recall if I ever shared my thoughts on the ending here either than maybe being a little lukewarm on it? My initial response to the final chapter was kind of in the middle of positive and negative. If you read any of my analyses on the latter chapters I'm sure you noticed a lot of cope when it came to Eren doing the rumbling... I couldn't stand that one of my favorite characters would do something I find morally reprehensible! lol I was trying to come up with any other answer for his behavior than wanting to enact the rumbling. Once he finally did, it took a long time for me to make my peace with it. Although, in retrospect, it makes total sense for his character and, imo, sets this story apart from so many others and will be what makes it so memorable for decades to come. It gave him more complexity in the end and makes his character more memorable.

I think what helped me not be so initially angry at the ending was actually the conclusion to Mikasa's story and how she was able to overcome her feelings for Eren to do the right thing... both for the remaining people on the planet and for Eren himself. I was happy with her ending - and since she is really my favorite character of all time and my comfort character, I was able to be more at peace with the conclusion of the story.

That being said, I think Isayama didn't do the best with the final chapter - mainly with how he handled Eren and Armin's conversation and there's a part of me that still kinda hates the "only Ymir knows" thing lmao but MAPPA really remedied a lot of that when they adapted it into the anime and tweaked Eren and Armin's conversation. But I remember reading the final chapter and feeling a bit empty. Partly due to the story coming to its conclusion but also just feeling like it could have ended better. I could have still been coping with the rumbling though! LOL

I do like the ending now though. and I give MAPPA a lot of credit for that. I absolutely loved watching the conflict and conclusion unfold in the anime, and I still get chills when I rewatch the finale. I don't think there could have been a more appropriate way to end the story and I appreciate that the ending maintained an aura of hope despite also portraying the reality of human nature and how conflict is something that will never truly end. It was realistic while also giving a good conclusion to the characters and their arcs. And knowing that the surviving characters got to live out their lives in relative peace makes me happy. All in all, I don't think there could have been a better way to end it and I'm happy with it.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. Final

I do wonder if I did myself a disservice by reading the series back to back in one go rather than spacing it out across some unspecified length of time. I’m certain that the person who had to wait years between entries (be it originally as they released, or when the translations were coming out a few years ago) probably has a much different take on the material than me: a guy who read the series across a few months. For instance, I’ll probably have a different take on Ciconia because who knows if chapter two of that will be available by the time I read the first one compared to the person in 2040 who in theory might have all the chapters available.

My feelings on Matsuribayashi are complicated I think; on the one hand, it clearly did something right. I would not have written all that I have (all 232 pages of it), nor would I have been willing to go through the visual novel six times, and then the anime and manga adaptations. However, on the other hand it is loaded with so much stuff I found particularly annoying in the back end that it brought the experience down for me quite a lot. In many ways Higurashi When They Cry Hou Chapter Eight: Matsuribayashi is a perfect encapsulation for the series as a whole.

I have mentioned in the past, both throughout the playthroughs, and during my time with it that I read Umineko before I read Higurashi. So I admit that perhaps I had certain preconceptions of what this series would do in comparison to what Umineko had done. I don’t think I ever really mentally adjusted for the differences between the series, despite enjoying a large amount of the things Higurashi did. That being said, if I had read Higurashi first I truly doubt I would have read Umineko, or indeed any of the other works of Ryukishi07 that I have read. I would probably have gotten to Umineko eventually, but I would not have acted as quickly to read that as I did going from Umineko to Higurashi.

Please be aware that what comes after this is a quite frankly absurd amount of text. I have edited it to be slightly more coherent and readable however. Originally this was seven pages of rambling walls of text.

Having gone through the story of Matsuribayashi eight seperate times I think I can state with the firmest conviction I can muster that the visual novel is the way to experience the events of the chapter. The manga adaptation is a pretty decent adaptation, and I do enjoy some of the recontextualization it offers to some of the events. The anime… was certainly eleven episodes that I watched. The overall framework of the story is more or less consistent across versions, but the visual novels are the one that is the most comprehensive version of events. Which, I mean it definitely should be, you don’t get damn near sixty hours worth of story in a piece of media and not provide a deep wealth of story and lore and so on. The sixty hour count is my initial time it took me to read the visual novel, if you want to factor in the other read throughs, the manga, and anime I’d say you could easily double that amount.

During my initial reading of Matsuribayashi there were several points throughout that instilled me with a certain amount of dread. The one I remember most vividly was during the Connecting Fragments. I became apprehensive that the chapter was going to do like the series had done so many times throughout the series and just slam on the brakes and drag the story to a crawl. Which, I would argue it certainly did, looking at it in hindsight it doesn’t really seem like the story slowed itself down to a crawl, but in the moment I was painfully aware of how the story seemed to be spinning its wheels. It felt so much worse than when Minagoroshi put the plot on hold to take care of Satoko’s horrible life circumstances and the attempt to unify the village into helping her.

However, I felt that for the majority of the chapter that it was a good read, and it was advancing at a nice pace. I recall not particularly caring for the one time the gaming club engaged in their game to welcome Hanyuu to the group (you might notice that was the only section I skipped), but for the majority of the chapter it was proceeding at a good speed. Midway through the later third of the chapter I began to notice the pace was slowing down and it was becoming more of a chore to get through. I feel you can easily segment each part of Matsuribayashi into three sections. The prologue leading up to the Connecting Fragments, the Connecting Fragments themselves, and the remainder of the story that occurs after the Connecting Fragments. This is of course excluding the TIPs, and section where Ryukishi talks about what it was all about. Which I suppose is in keeping with the general layout of each chapter as a whole. Every chapter has the pre-story sillies, where it kind of vaguely hints at the troubles to come. The main incident that changes the story’s tone, and then dealing with the fallout from that. Matsuribayashi just greatly expands upon it.

For a while however, this works out quite well in its favor. I may have had some complaints about where exactly the plot was going during the first third, when it was all about Takano and setting up the Irie institute. But it was an interesting change from the previous chapters’ focus on the minutiae of the gaming club and life in Hinamizawa. It helped establish Takano as a villain, her goals and methods. As much as I make fun of the turn it makes into being a political novel I felt that the chapter had the good sense to change topics so it could give the topics some breathing room. Just when it would become a grim and dour portrayal of institutionalized violence it would switch gears to talk about Takano trying to secure funding for her research from right-wing political types. Then when that would get long in the tooth, Hifumi is talking to young Miyoko about the parasite of Hinamizawa Syndrome and how that influences her research. Just about the only thing I really feel the section gets wrong is setting up a grand confrontation between Hanyuu and Takano.

The Connecting Fragments was the most interesting section of Matsuribayashi by a wide margin. While it would have been an interesting idea to stick with Takano for the length of the chapter you of course have to talk about the rest of the characters from the series. For the most part anyway, Shion got nothing from this section. It presents the story vignettes in a great way that if you find yourself getting annoyed with whichever character and their story you can most likely read a section that doesn’t involve them. They also provide some much appreciated exposition for what characters were doing prior to June 1983. Sure some of them get the short end of the stick (I’m specifically thinking of Mion), but it was worth it to see Ooishi’s investigation into the Oyashiro killings get shut down and all the troubles that causes him. Maybe it would have been needless extra exposition, but I think it would have been interesting to see a sort of Himatsubushi-lite in the Connecting Fragments from Takano, or Tomitake’s point of view. Maybe we could have seen Mion and Shion be the firebrands they’re regarded as later in life during this time. Or, and I mentioned this before, Hanyuu could have been a more active participant in these events, or at least be a viewpoint character seeing stuff go down during the various Fragments. Perhaps instead of having Rika tell Keiichi about Hanyuu’s past the Connecting Fragments could have actually shown some of these events. Regardless of my complaints about missed opportunities here I do genuinely believe that the Connecting Fragments (Connecting Pieces, whichever you prefer) is the height of Matsuribayashi. I don’t think it would have worked out very well if the rest of the series had this type of thing in it, but I love the way it was implemented in Matsuribayashi.

The third section however I feel was a general decline overall. It never hit the lowest of the series, not even close, but it was a very noticeable downgrade in how the finale would land. Setting aside my own personal grievances I have with characterization as the ending approached I just feel like the overall quality the chapter had displayed dipped in quality. I know that the series has had a habit of using repetition to get its points across, but it became particularly annoying after a while. There was so much endless talking about how Takano is bad, and we need to convince people that Takano’s bad, and what if they don’t believe Takano’s bad, now let’s talk with the newly convinced ally that Takano’s bad, and how to deal with the situation. Then when the various plans of both sides kicked off it became downright farcical how inept the Mountain Dogs had become for seemingly no reason. So much time had been spent in Minagoroshi establishing the Mountain Dogs as such an elite combat unit who were nigh unstoppable. Yet in Matsuribayashi they failed at every single thing they attempted, and that’s in addition to becoming a mutinous crew to Takano for basically no reason. I know that in Minagoroshi when the fight was even somehow this crack military kill squad was losing to a group of teens and pre-teens, but the sheer incompetence on display is ridiculous. And that’s prior to the divine intervention that the gaming club has going for them.

This being said however, the thing I really don’t particularly care for in this chapter is, admittedly, the ending. I don’t really have a problem with it from a thematic sense, my problem with it stems from the fact that for the most part the ending is a massive whatever to me. I suppose it’s a more realistic ending to the series, because it more or less shows that despite everything that has happened throughout the last one hundred years of this Rika’s life, life will just continue regardless. It’s anti-climactic in a way, which I suppose you could argue is the point. Despite all of what’s happening to you presently, life will just continue on regardless. Did your boss get arrested for trying to commit massive amounts of murder? Well you still have to go to work tomorrow anyway. Did you successfully get away with obstruction of justice by getting a fellow officer dragged away to get beaten by “law abiding citizens?” Cool, let’s go hang out and play mahjong with your new mafia princess bestie. Did you successfully break the cycle of being unable to communicate with people for literal millennia because you’re fundamentally a ghost? Great, go to school, and live your life I guess, try not to have to deal with the existential nightmare of knowing you’ll probably still be alive long after your new friends are dead.

Even the alternate ending of the being who acts like Rika saving the life of young Miyoko Tanashi’s family I didn’t particularly like. Hindsight being what it is, I know why that ending exists, but at the time I was quite displeased with it. It felt, in the moment, like it was just too “and they all lived happily ever after, and there’s a rainbow.” You could argue that the fact this makes it so the rest of the series never happened is in fact the golden ending Rika was striving for, even though it really isn’t. Just because in this particular fragment Fragment Rika gets to snap her fingers and make it so the events never occurred doesn’t change the fact that the events did occur. Yes it makes life better for Miyoko, but that’s all it does.

I know how it all of this reads, this is an awful lot of words being dedicated to ultimately come to the conclusion that Higurashi isn’t worth the time to read. The thing about it is, that isn’t the case at all. If it came down to a binary recommend or die, I would recommend the series. I would not have dedicated so much time to the dual prospects of reading all eight (nine) chapters, nor documenting my entire feelings about the series along the way if I didn’t think it was worth it. It’s just that I make the recommendation knowing fully well that this series is definitely not going to land well for everyone. If you look through my entire playthrough of Higuarshi at this point you will notice a not inconsiderable amount of time is dedicated to me complaining about plot aspects I don’t like, character foibles, and so on. Throughout this chapter alone I dedicated a ludicrous amount of time to me complaining about how I feel characters were done wrong by the narrative.

For all the negativity I’ve written about Matsuribayashi, I feel I’ve written an equal amount of praise for the chapter. During some of the times where I complained that I felt the plot was dragging its heels there were moments in those very scenes I complimented because either they just amused me or they added something to the plot. If I really felt that Matsuribayashi was beyond saving I don’t think I would have dedicated so much time to discussing it. I’ve mentioned it before, but I do not like the games Disco Elysium, Mouthwashing, Danganronpa V3, and Bioshock Infinite for various plot related reasons. And because of my dislike of these games I never actually talk about them, because I don’t think it’s worth dedicating the brain space to dissecting the stories and figuring out why exactly I don’t like them. The fact that I have is irrelevant. I condemn these games and their plots to the black hole of the void, whereas if I like the story for the game I will try to figure out what exactly about the plot annoys me so much. Or just otherwise think about the plot when I’m doing other things, if I’m thinking about the sheer absurdity of an alien mind control parasite being the cause of the entire mystery of the series while I’m doing my job that means that for all my complaining it did something right.

Matsuribayashi meanwhile I finished reading months prior to writing this part. Yet, for three months since I had finished it the first time something about it kept gnawing at my brain. So much so that I took it upon myself for no good reason to read through the visual novel five more times, as well as watch the anime I didn’t have any interest in, and read the manga that was in the same situation. I would not have done this if I truly hated Matsuribayashi.

When I write my pages long diatribes about how I feel Takano, Hanyuu, and Rika were done poorly I don’t attack it from a place of hatred I do it because of how I like the characters. I’m sure people will say this isn’t an “objective” way of looking at things, but that’s cowardice, I don’t need the veneer of objectivity to say whether or not I think something sucks or is great. Objectivity is a suckers game, what matters is how you feel about the thing you’ve engaged with. Just because on my repeat readings I had the added context of Saikoroshi doesn’t change the fact that when first encountered I thought the ending was not a very good ending.

As contentious as it is I would say that yes, I do think Matsuribayashi is good. It’s not great I feel that I might have set myself up for disappointment after all of the enjoyment I got out of Minagoroshi. It may not have ended exactly like I would have preferred, but for the most part I enjoyed what I got out of it. Towards the end it kind of began to read like Ryukishi07 was wanting to just wrap it up, because honestly outside of making an actual completely separate chapter nine I don’t think there was any chance this would all be wrapped up in a completely satisfying package. As much as I adore Saikoroshi that was very clearly written as an epilogue to the series, and not meant to be a full-blown ninth chapter.

Even though I will admit to liking this chapter generally, I am big enough to admit that I do have some pretty severe problems with it (as I have documented throughout this playthrough).

[freyalir-posting]

Crossposting from Twitter~

At SDCC I bought a cel of Rock Holmes from Metropolis. I saw this film when I was about 8, and it's what truly sparked my lifelong passion for art and Tezuka manga. It's amazing being able to own part of a film that's made such a huge impact on my life. I included a screenshot of the sequence it's from above. It's not my exact cel, but you can see the overall scene it contributes to.

I'm going to print a background for it eventually, but for now I'm glad it's preserved safely in a frame. In an age where many animes are colored digitally, painted cels like this are only going to become more rare. Older cels especially will degrade over time if not properly stored...

The Read More below is me rambling on about the the film and Tezuka in general, so click that at your own peril...

I really loved rewatching it with my friend recently too. And then a couple days after that I also made my husband watch it lol. It's great being able to share something that impacted you so much with people you're close to. The film is still as beautiful as I remember it. In addition to art, this film also sparked my fascination with stories of sentient robots/creatures, themes surrounding liminal existence, and what it means to be human (or more accurately personhood). This would thus lead to my love for media like MMX, Kikaider, Devilman, etc.

By chance at SDCC, my friend also found out someone he knew was selling an english edition of the Metropolis manga. It's been out of print for over a decade and is a collector's item at this point, so I went ahead and bought it. Now I own the book the film is based on too...

I also learned recently some of Tezuka's english-translated mangas are actually being published again, including some that never had official english releases before. We were at Barnes & Noble just browsing manga for fun when I spotted Apollo's Song, then several other works. In particular, I'm hoping Black Jack will be getting a special rerelease. While Metropolis was the very first Tezuka film I ever watched, Black Jack was the very first Tezuka manga I ever read. Regardless, I now have a growing collection of Tezuka manga in physical form. For Black Jack, ideally I want to own the volumes with chapters related to Kei Kisaragi and Rock (particularly Nadare for the latter). But on ebay those out-of-print volumes sell anywhere from 80$-130$... One day...

Anyway I've rambled a lot now lol. The last thing I'll say is this big Tezuka binge I've been on has helped keep me motivated while I relearn some foundational art skills. I'm happy I get to share it with some of my closest friends too. Soon, I will become even more powerful...

[thephantomtheory]

A small note,

So as SnK is now officially ending, I just have a few thoughts I’d like to share — and in many ways, this is a thank-you note. I feel like this is a place where I can do that and no one will pass judgment on me for feeling so attached to a story (and forgive me, as I’m feeling very sentimental). So thank you, if you decide to read what I’ve written below. 

I was just 13 when I watched Attack on Titan for the first time, all the way back in 2013/2014. I remember my friend introducing me to it and I can still remember sitting on my bedroom floor while she showed me the first episode. Back then, it was such a different show. Or at least, we didn’t know that the story which was unfolding before us could only be told for the first time, once. There is no going back. Once you learn the truth of it, you can only return to realize that it was always this way, the signs were all there — you just didn’t know how to read them. What a way to tell a story. What a way to build a character, with that same approach. 

It’s been 10 years and my love for SnK has only grown as I have. I was 13 then, I’m almost 23 now, and so much has changed. Within all that change, I’ve always been able to revisit these beloved characters as every new chapter or season released. Despite the horrors they’ve endured, I found comfort in their perseverance. I grew up with them, and so as a new graduate, in which I’m watching my childhood sunsetting before me, it makes it twice as hard to say goodbye to them now. Sure, the manga ended 2 and 1/2 years ago, but there is such a sense of finality now that the anime is coming to a close as well. 

SnK is a masterpiece. In my opinion, it is one of the most brilliantly crafted stories I’ve ever read, and trust me — I’ve read a lot. As a writer, I look to stories, in any medium, as a foundation from which to build my own. I will look to SnK over and over again as a model for my own characters, my own arcs, and mostly as a way to answer the question: How do I tell the story I need to tell in a way that matters? Because at the end of the day, no matter how many flaws are littered within the pages of SnK, the story that’s being told matters. It matters to me, and I know it matters to so many of you, too. 

In many ways, the characters from SnK are my heroes. Truly, I often find myself wondering if I am acting with empathy and compassion the way Levi does. If I am able to grow and lead the way Jean does. If I’m allowing myself to be me, shamelessly, the way Hange does. I think about my relationship with my brother, and I think about Connie and Sasha — two halves of a whole. I try to love wholly, and fervently like Mikasa. I try not to doubt my abilities, the way I know Armin does so often and shouldn’t. Am I acting before I understand something? Can I hold onto my hope, breathe life into it, the way he embodies it? And every once in a while, I hear Eren in my head — fight. I have so many dreams and I’ll never get them if I cannot fight for them. I won’t live them if I don’t try. 

For what will I dedicate my heart? 

It has been such a pleasure to experience this story from beginning to end, to watch how it’s evolved and how it’s been received. And it’s been so humbling and beautiful to be able to experience it with all of you. It’s been so much fun. 

Here’s to many more years of loving this story, even when the dust on the shelf begins to settle. 

“Maybe the reason I was born was so that the three of us could be racing there. I thought the same thing when I read books at home on a rainy day. When a squirrel ate some nuts I gave it. When we all walked around the market, too. I felt it. That these trivial moments… might actually be precious.” - Armin Arlert

“I was very happy to spend time with readers that I would never have been able to experience if I lived a normal life. Also, now that the series is over and I’m free, I want to walk around an unfashionable town with a cup of sake in my hand. I think that’s what freedom is all about.” - Hajime Isayama 

See you later, Eren. 

[amelikos]

More interviews. They were released when chapter 3 was ongoing (translation here).

There are several interviews with different VAs. As usual, I'll go over the parts I find interesting to keep reference of them.

Liko's VA (Minori Suzuki)

Liko's VA talks about how Liko used to be introverted and insecure and how she grew a lot over the course of her journey. Her whole answer to the "Early on, Liko often acted due to external factors, didn't she?" is great all around (Liko growing to understand her own desires, her optimism becoming more pronounced, going from having lots of internal monologues to putting her thoughts into words to convey how she feels to others etc). I love Liko, and I love seeing so much care and understanding put into her character arc.

I also have to point out that part with Minori Suzuki bringing up Liko's monologue when she wondered if she was the lead in a shoujo story. This is not the first time I see Horizons being called a shoujo in interviews and the likes. I remember another interview mentioning it. Some of the Horizons manga are also officially serialized in shoujo magazines (such as Liko's treasure). There is basis for this stuff. Truly, Horizons is my favorite shoujo anime (anyway, something something, if Horizons shoujo, then AmeLiko budding shoujo romance etc).

There is also talk about Liko's Pokemon, mentioning that Nyarote comes off as an older sister (which is super cute). They also mention the battles Liko had against Chili and how Minori Suzuki felt voicing these scenes.

Minori Suzuki also describes the bond between Liko and Nyarote. I like the description that they aren't too close, but not too distant either and how both of them maintain a perfect balance between the two. She also describes what she thinks is the ideal bond between trainer and Pokemon (and she mentions Friede and Cap).

Roy's VA (Terasaki Yuka)

Terasaki Yuka talks about how Roy has grown through his adventures. I like the part where she mentions that Roy used to run off and do his own thing when Friede was watching over him, but he's grown to be more conscious of how his behavior would affect others since he started traveling with only Liko and Dot and would warn them before going off on his own etc. It's a very neat detail (I don't like when male characters cause lots of trouble and let girls pick up after them, so Roy is a real one for not being like that). The mention that Roy would encourage Dot by saying the destination isn't far away when she says she is tired is also very cute (genuinely gives me more appreciation for the character because I didn't consider that he would be trying to encourage her in his own way by saying that, which is very sweet).

They also mention other sides of Roy's character, such as how he is observant and intuitive, on top of his straightforward nature.

I also liked the mention that the sound director specifically told Roy's VA to deliver a line in HZ052 (telling Hogator to stay away from the water etc) as if she was warning her own child about danger, and not just saying that to a friend.

Also, the answer to "which group would you join" question is heartbreaking in its own way ("Amethio always looks like he is suffering so much...").

Dot's VA (Yoshino Aoyama)

Just like with Liko and Roy, they talk about how Dot has grown as a character. Dot's VA brings up the fact that Dot's desire to entertain others as Gurumin is something she inherited from her mother and her love for talking (I like this side of Dot, since it shows a lot of nuance in regards to her relationship with her mother).

They also talk about how reliable Kuwassu is, Dot's relationship with her Pokemon, and how they both motivate each other.

Dot's VA also talks about Nanjamo and Poppy and her thoughts on their characters.

"You learn whether you win or lose" is also a line that stood out to me.

--

Afterwards, there are many interviews with the Elite Four VAs. They all bring up interesting stuff. Such as how Dot's battle against Aoki was more of an evaluation to ascertain Dot's skill level than an all-out battle. The interview with Chili's VA was also a nice read (lots of talk about Liko's character).

They also ask the cast their thoughts on the Elite Four characters. Roy's VA talking about how Chili is great at psychological warfare (putting Liko on the spot by telling her she represents her school and then making her relax with a joke afterwards) is something I didn't consider. Chili is a fun character for this.

The VAs for Liko, Roy and Dot also talk about how they feel about each other's characters (summer love letters to each other). Liko's VA talking about how she feels about Roy and Dot's characters, and so on. It's pretty interesting seeing how they perceive the characters.

The parts that stood out to me were: Dot's VA talking about how different Liko's relationship with Nyarote is compared to Dot's relationship with Welcamo (the talk about Liko's love is cute too), and her insight on Dot's friendship with Roy. Roy's VA talking about how considerate Liko is (which is not something easily done) and how trustworthy and dependable she is, and her talk about Dot taking steps forward. Liko's VA talking Liko's respect towards Roy, and her insight on Liko's friendship with Dot. Especially liked the mention that Liko and Dot's friendship is not one-sided, and Dot's loyalty towards Liko and how she shows courage for her friend, and the way she analyzed Kuwassu's relationship with Dot.

Overall, very interesting read. These interviews had lots of stuff to ponder about. I just like reading what the VAs have to say and how they perceive the characters, and seeing the things they point out which I don't think about, etc. "An introverted girl, a boy who longed for adventure from an island, and a girl who used to be holed up in her room" describing our current trio is still something I find amazing.

[kustas]

top 10 Animanga pet peeves (that could be creators or industry or fans, or a little bit of everything)

The sheer volume. There's just too many shows, too many series being made. Not a recent thing either, I remember an interview of Miyazaki calling out the same thing decades ago. Who has time to watch all of this? At some point there's just not enough staff either. The industry is completely bloated and would benefit from doing less and of better quality.

I, personally, don't like "the anime style", the big shiny eyes and spiky bangs and whatnot, I think it's ugly and that's my problem. However there is a real problem with (western) fans only looking for that style. I remember the backlash stuff like the One Punch Man manga got at release, how people were tearing it a new one because of the art style, and regularly see shows and films that look a bit different get snobbed by a major proportion of the public in a way that I don't see with European animation

Most animes are badly adapted. Boarding is a whole art I don't practice so it's a tad unfair to rag on that in detail, but I see a real problem with trying to be too faithful to the original manga in a way that ignores the format changes. You can't just do a shot per panel. It doesn't work. Jojos and HxH2011 are some of the worst offenders I've seen in this. Rare are the anime that commit to the video format by daring to go all in on the adaptation part at the risk of going further from the source. The best example I've seen of one who does is Tekkon.

Stop coloring manga oh my god a comic isn't lesser because it's in black and white. Especially if it was made originally without colors in mind. It looks like ass please stop

Weekly chapters are rampant worker abuse and monthly isn't too far. IDGAF about updates if it means the creator gets to have a life. Fans of mangaka like Togashi who ruined his body drawing and makes a chapter every three years should consider them blessed, NOT bitch about the guy being "lazy".

I hate how modern anime is composited. Everything is too shiny. Droplets of water don't need individual sparkles. Skies Can be a single color. Can we go back to cell era flats

Fanartists who draw characters as white by default are wild. That's a japanese comic book

Huge pet peeve this one because it literally doesn't matter that much but it's so so sad to me when people talk about Ghibli like they're groundbreakingly original indie creators when they're SO commercial. Your controversial fave director has a theme park to sell plushies

Seeing fandom shippers fight with fandom powerscalers. They're doing the same thing of playing with dolls instead of looking into the plot. Stop fighting guys you should kiss

I'm running out of smart stuff to talk about so

Give those bitches noses or I will

[blueeyeswhitegarden]

Day 24: Extra Prompt 2) Guest Appearance: @arcvmonth

I honestly don't have much of anything positive to say about the Arc V manga. The most honest praise I could give it is that the artwork is nice, but that is pretty surface level at best. Plus, I never finished reading it. I read the chapters as they were being released monthly and I did that well after the anime wrapped up. I don't remember when I dropped it exactly, but I'm pretty sure that I read about three or four volumes worth of chapters. For a lot of reasons, I really didn't like it. I don't want to rain on people's fun for those who do like the manga by focusing on my issues with it. Plus, I'd feel like a hypocrite for doing that with the manga when I didn't want to do that for the anime.

So instead I'll go through this extra prompt. I kind of like the idea of Carly being in the Synchro Dimension. I thought about her taking Melissa Claire's role, but even in an alternate universe, it would be hard to picture Carly as an MC trying to excite the crowd for the next duel when she's well known for being a clumsy and awkward person. I think that she could be working under Melissa Claire as an assistant, trying to work her way up the ladder to become a journalist. She would be part of the Tops, but on the lower end of that scale. She'd have enough to survive with this job, but she wouldn't be up with the high and mighty rich people.

She would eventually be allowed to get a quick interview with Jack after the end of the first round of the Friendship Cup since Melissa is too busy trying to get more scoops from the remaining duelists. It would be interesting if they could fall in love even in this universe. A big reason why they fell in love during 5D's was because Carly could pick up on the feelings Jack was trying to hide and he opened up more to her as a result. But Arc V Jack doesn't have the emotional baggage that 5D's Jack did. Not to mention Carly wouldn't die this time either. Jack already cared about Carly before then since he was trying to keep her away from the Dark Signers to keep her safe, but worrying about her safety after the Arcadia Movement was destroyed clearly intensified his feelings for Carly.

Carly would be of course nervous to talk to Jack, going through the usual questions he's used to hearing from countless other interviews, but unlike other reporters, she would be able to pick up on how distant and sad he looked while answering her. Carly would then ask Jack a new question:

“Why do you look so sad when watching the duels though?”

Jack would be caught off guard by her bluntness and that would make Carly nervous in turn, but he would quickly answer back. He wants to find new horizons and evolve in his duels. He wants someone to thrill him in a way he hasn't felt in ages. He wants someone's passion to match his own in order to go past his limits. He has not felt that kind of joy from watching other people duel in ages. Carly was determined to publish this interview, but she was so shocked from seeing this more vulnerable part of Jack that she decided against it. She didn't want to ruin Jack's image, even if he wanted to be more honest with her. Jack hadn't felt comfortable opening up to anyone before like that, so he was still happy to meet with Carly. He keeps an eye out for her during the rest of the Friendship Cup, sending a note to Melissa Clair's team to praise Carly for her work.

Carly would be in the stadium during the riots, but she would be trying to record whatever she could. She would be watching Yuya vs. Jack like the rest of the City and would be even happier to see that Jack got what he wanted in that match. She could appear once the dimensions started to merge together since other characters from different dimensions were appearing in Academia. Carly would be understandably panicked and start to fall off a building. Jack would have been riding through the area on his D-Wheel, looking for Yuya with Gongenzaka and Sawatari when he heard her scream. Jack would arrive just in time to save her, but she would be tossed through another portal during Jack and Gongenzaka's match against Zarc.

I don't think that they'd be able to talk again until after the finale. Carly would do another interview with Jack, asking about how it was being with the Lancers, fighting Zarc and his plans for the future. Jack still wouldn't admit that he is part of the Lancers, but he would recount his efforts to help them stop the Dimensional War. Jack still wants to keep dueling with passion and wants to find more opponents to push him to his limits. Carly is still aiming to being a high profile reporter and to her surprise, Jack encourages her to keep on her path as well. They do feel a connection with each other and over time, they do develop romantic feelings for each other. The notion that these two would still fall in love with each other even in a different universe is just really sweet to me.

[melverie]

if you get this, answer w/ three random facts about yourself and send it to the last seven blogs in your notifs. anon or not, doesn’t matter, let’s get to know the person behind the blog! (sorry if you already got this!)

Sorry it took a bit to answer anon. College and work have been killing me these past few days^^;

01 - I speak five languages (German, French, English, Japanese and Korean) at varying levels of proficiency. I actually had my Korean final yesterday and I'd say it went pretty well 👀 Also I learned Italian for a while, though I only remember some basic phrases, how to say one idiom & how to flirt

02 - Ever since the Sins of Flesh update I've been SO obsessed with Cult of the Lamb again. These past few days the game icon just kept staring into my soul while I was trying my best to stay strong and focus on studying Speaking of being obsessed over games, once the new Professor Layton game releases I'm going to be SO annoying. Those games were my childhood :)

03 - When planning out a story, I have the habit of writing the plot details out on flashcards and putting them up on my walls. I get embarrassed over it whenever someone other than a select group of friends come over though, so when someone else visits I usually end up taking them down only to hang them back up once that person is gone lol

Bonus fact!

This one is probably going to MASSIVELY wrap everyone's view of me, but I feel like half of the more creative school work I submitted ended up being fandom related:

In eighth grade, we were supposed to write a two page long story about a murder case, and I just made it a Professor Layton x Phoenix Wright crossover. I even took one of the cases from Phoenix Wright as the base for my story, and I only barely changed the names, so you could EASILY tell that it was fanfiction

I got my English teacher to watch Assassination Classroom because we had to give a 3 minute presentation on something we liked. That's the same teacher that made one of his tests entirely about Batman btw, he was great <3 I also got my math teacher to watch the anime AND read the manga because I asked him about one math problems from it that I just didn't get. He wrote down the solution and literally programmed a little something to help me better understand how to get there. Another great teacher <3

Had to write a three-word story (you're given three words as prompts and have to built a short story around them), except one of the words was "chinchilla". I ended up writing about a "killer chinchilla" which is just the nickname my sister gave Minccino

I once ended up the state winner in a nation-wide art competition with a Pokémon ORAS-themed watercolor drawing I did (that piece was graded, so I'm counting it toward school work)

We were tasked with drawing a picture inspired by a song. I took My Hero Academia's first ED and made the drawing itself about My Hero Academia as well. Burnt through way too many pencils for this one. They hung it right next to the teachers' room, idk if it's still there tho

That same year we were also tasked with "building a creative trash can", and so I decided to make a little Korok that collects paper waste in a little bag. I also learned how to sew in order to make the bag, so that's cool (pic below!)

I somehow convinced my teacher to let me write my seminar paper on My Hero Academia

In elementary school, my friend group came up with a play set in Animal Crossing, and I ended up writing the entire thing (as in literally writing it so that you could act it out in Animal Crossing itself). That wasn't school work by any means, but regardless, I still very much did print it out just so I could give it to my homeroom teacher, so there's that

Also not school work, but once again in seventh grade I wrote an Animal Crossing New Leaf fanficiton (???) where you could vote what would happen next on the end of every chapter. A good portion of my class read it and I also made my PE teacher read the first chapter

That's by far not all of it but those were the first few things that popped into mind. Anyway, here's the pic of my little Korok paper waste collector!

[fanlucadango]

MAJOR SEKAIICHI HATSUKOI SPOILERS AHEAD(Vol.16 & Future Volumes)+ Thoughts

Well its been.... 15 YEARS since

This BL Manga with a very... obscuring plotline counting how many days till this beautiful man named "Onodera,' falls in love with his Senpai, "Takano,'

By looking at how the generation changes as Years have passed where many Great BL shows, Manga's are becoming adapted in many languages and how society is changing to a point everyone is aware, Different Morals, Spotting Red Flags & reactions to the Ships & Chemistry has becoming more vocal of their opinions about it.

All those Years ago, Us kids when we know Sekaiichi Hatsukoi(The world's greatest first love) had always been either our First BL to watch or if never been the first -Could be Second or Third-

We never knew what it was like watching and knowing the fact we giggled & fangirled at those scenes as being Animated(Except those in Mangas)

Now this generation, as us Kids who were nowhere Adults or older teens grew to understand how toxic their relationship (Takano & Onodera) is in the manga as they grew to understand the plotline more. Little did they really know... what happened to the manga??? Had it ended after that?

When I checked in the Wikipedia source,

The series is still alive😳😳😳

(Fr my literal reaction)

But anyways LETS GET STARTED

Im not gonna say that much but if you wanna know the latest update of:

How many days till Onodera Falls in Love???

The latest Chapter that is being Translated said it was 16 Days.

Since 2021. VOL.16?!

Holy shit

And how it go when the effect come by as the manga showed:

16 DAYS TILL HE FALLS IN LOVE

Gurl... I tell you what I saw it's more of like Onodera My guy.

Madam Sir. You have this man kissing you every 24/7 every now and then. In every single chapter where you guys being Friends with Benefits doing all the Nasty Hardcore Version: Birds & Bees.

And ur asking HIM TO KISS YOU???

He has been doing that to Onodera for too many times oh my goodness gracious. And You know this man is jealous when he saw Onodera with other people.

ESPECIALLY THIS OTHER GUY WHO we saw in the latest chapter who have been there for Onodera when he went Abroad 🥹🥹

(Lowkey rooting for that man tho)

After a Banana & Donut Hole moment, I realised they were longing for each other but they both were sort of afraid to show it. Especially, how both of them can be really intense, despite their personalities. Even just for a little things they always see & realised how they grew or small things that they find, as they both reminiscent.

What got me surprised is when Onodera noticed Takano's lashes were long, he usually doesn't care before but when progressed has started as I read the recent chapters. I realised Onodera's feelings grew when Takano was there. Longing for his touch, gaze, kisses, his dire moments, his company... whatever you call it(Remember my previous post where Onodera Touches himself??)

I realised, he's starting to grow his feelings onto him, slowly getting there yet had many doubts.

After reading, the translations STOPPED and I didn't even get to read ANY UPDATE and its been 2 years from now.

All I got was... A Book Cover from Vol. 17 & 18(LATEST 2023)

I just even realised something...

Volume 16 had... 16 Days left...

Let alone there's 17 & 18...

I feel that Volume 17 onwards are going to start a Single Digit number. As Onodera PROGRESSES ONWARDS....

(I mean LOOK AT THIS COVER BELOW HERE)

This is legit...

The LATEST COVER SHOWN IN 2023

And it's gonna be released in 1st May...

Oh my GOD

Onodera's Hands DIDNT EVEN FLINCH.

I'm starting to bet when it releases.

We are getting a Single Digit Number till he fells in love & see how Onodera will react that way.

Starting from Vol.18

What if Onodera wanted to confess Takano back when Something bad happened to them again. Will do they do poetic Justice????

I HAVE SO MANY ANSWERS

THE END IS NEAR

[meimi-haneoka]

Thank you so much for everything. Yes, real life gets hectic and unfortunately, it will be more hectic for me for a while soon. ;-; Hope everything is going fine for you now. As for the chocomint post, hmm, I don't remember the exact chapter number (probably 60/61/62-ish?) but it had Lilie and Kaito in it and because I had never picked up Clear Card as I wanted to binge read/watch it, I was left very confused as to who these two were once I began coming across them in Tumblr. The reason I even came back into the CCS tags because I am actually taking a hiatus from Boruto (yeah, I will confess that I am one of the rare few who went straight from Naruto to Boruto and actually enjoys its sequel). Boruto right now is in a "let's torture the protagonist" phase ala Tsubasa style and it's actually becoming painful to read (actually good writing, it makes you squirm and feel pained for Boruto, he is shaping up to be one of my most favourite shonen protagonists). I am thinking of keeping my hands off it for a few months for binging purposes and thought why not check out my first preteen/nearly teen OTP. And yeah, I come back to find that it is nearly in its arc end. And then I search tags and of course, I find very confusing and disconnected things, especially with random chocomint references, and people being very critical about a lot of things. I totally understand the valid criticisms now that I have caught up but I admit that I did enjoy a lot of things in Clear Card as well and I am looking forward to watching season 2 on weekly basis just because of this. I wonder when that is going to be aired because I can't find any info regarding it beyond its production announcement.

And now I can proceed to reply to this ask of 20 days ago 💦 I'm sorry, but I reaaaaaaally wasn't in the mood to write anything, back then.

Thank you for explaining how you reconnected with the CCS franchise and how you found my blog! 😆 AH yes, our main chocomint sponsor Lilie 😂😂😂😂it makes me laugh so much everytime I think about it...

Now that the manga is ending, I can start working again on the long list of posts addressing many topics, and one of those (I think it'll actually be my next one in line, after the one I did of the literary references) will precisely be not only about the significance of chocomint inside the story, but actually all the food and all the handmade stuff. Yes, they're there to bring a very special message and not only to waste time in the plot. 🙂

And yes, we're all waiting for more info about the sequel of the Clear Card anime, because ever since the announcement on April 1st they haven't said anything else. I expect we'll hear something along with the release of the next chapter, the final one!!

[crumbedtuna]

Meet the Admin/Artist!

Hello! I am Isabella but you guys can call me Tuna, Sushi, Onion, Well anything actually I am a 14 year old Australian artist and SynthV producer

some personal stuff

I was born in Cairns but moved to Brisbane after moving from Western Australia in 2021, this year I am almost half way through highschool in 8 grade! I draw as a hobby but sometimes will make headcanons or post synthv songs or covers! I am genderfluid but often like to be referred by It/Its. I am also bisexual! I also want to try and animate but can't really find any free animating software's (Pls recommend some that can work on windows laptop :'))

My main interests!

~*...............................................................................................................*~

GANGSTA

I've watched this anime early March or April this year and it is really good! The storyline is very interesting for an anime that was released in 2015 with only 1 season with 12 episodes. It also has diversity! Showing rather accurate looking dark skinned characters! And also showing mixed races!

My most favorite character from the anime is Nicolas Brown. He's a very interesting character and the representation of him being deaf is really realistic, it also surprised me when Worick mentioned he was half asian in episode 5 but it was also so cool to me, his and Worick's backstories were really sad but also interesting to watch, I also loved how the JP va of Tristan from 7DS: Grudge of Edinburgh voiced the young version of Worick. I was also very surprised when I found out Nicolas was also voiced by the JP VA of Nanami (Kenjiro Tsuda) from Jujustu Kaisen!

Another character I like is Cody Balfour, he's so cute and shy I wanna place him into my pocket, he doesn't show up much in the show nor manga but he is very cute I love him, Cody my son :')

Another Character I like is Emilio, he is a rather interesting character since he has black and Chinese heritage, but I feel bad for him since he just wants to have the destroyers help him find Alex who is his older sister but is watching twilights get killed left and right. And its sad how in chapter 38-39 he thinks his sister is dead since the bastard was attacked, my poor child needs a therapist :(

Nanatsu no taizai

I loved this show from when I was about 10 years old which was 3 years ago! My twin brother got me into the anime and I'm very grateful he got me into it. It is such an interesting show and I always and I mean always would talk positively about the show.

I love Estarossa and Mael, their both interesting characters and thats what I love about them! The way Estarossa was first shown in the anime and manga was just a big game changer for me, I just fell in love with him, I also got spoiled from manga images on google when I searched them up to look at Estarossa panels on my tablet which sounds weird but ay, you gotta do what you gotta do, I also already knew that Estarossa was Mael from manga panels but I found it so cool and always admired both of them, my little brain filled with stuff about them and I wouldn't stop thinking about them. I love them both equally!

I also like Dubs and Daliah from Cursed By Light, when they got introduced I thought it was very interesting as we never got to see another giant that was human sized like Diane and never got to see a fairy with an athletic build, but they both were such interesting and I always rewatched the movie, also for some reason I thought they died because I would randomly stop watching the movie and when I realised they were alive in Meliodas and Elizabeth's wedding scene, I just was like "I'm a dumbass lol"

VOCALOID

this was one of the big parts of my childhood and what got me into making SynthV covers and songs, I remember playing Project Diva Future Tone on my PS4 always playing Weekender Girl and Out of the Gravity, but their not gonna count as the first songs I listened to, the first vocaloid song I listened to was either Rolling Girl from Wowaka(Rest in peace, you will be missed Wowaka) or Common World Domination by Pinocchio-p who is currently my favourite Vocaloid producer, fun fact I always pronounced Pinocchio-p's name wrong and pronounced it as Pino-cho-p :')

My fav VOCALOID songs

Apple Dot Com by Pinocchio-p

Reincarnation Apple by Pinocchio-p

Godish by Pinocchio-p

Be my Guest by Azari

Nightmare by Azari

Sweet lies by Azari

Ghost Rule by Deco*27

Salamander by Deco*27

MKDR(DSCF) by Deco*27

Bitter choco decoration by Syudou

Cute Girlfriend(Cute na kanojo) by Syudou

Her boyfriend Jude(Kareshi no Jude) by Syudou

Corpse Attack!!(Mukuro Attack!!) by Utsu-p

Easy Peasy Euthanasia by Pepoyo

Melty Land Nightmare by Harumaki Gohan

Patchwork Staccato by Toa

ID Smile by Toa

~*......................................................................................................................*~

DNI list

Proshippers

DON'T interact, its VERY gross to ship adults with minors

Zoo's

WTF, same thing. DON'T interact...why would you want to fuck an animal???

Fushoji/ Himedanshi

just don't.

Homophobes and Transphobes

If you have a problem with people liking the same gender or people wanting to live happily as a gender they feel happier as, FUCK OFF

Racists

just no. Go OUT THAT FUCKING DOOR

M@P's

Just leave...JUST FUCKING LEAVE

Estarossa X Mael Shippers

...Ok why tf do you exist, just go. GO, GO AND DON'T EVEN VIEW THIS ACC, JUST GO AND TAKE YOUR DISGUSTING SELF CEST SHIP OUT THAT FUCKING DOOR!

Anyway, thats all for now! hope all of you enjoyed reading this and also hope you liked learning about me :)

Bye bye!!