#I want there to be a scene where minato can actually just exist in this form and receive the biggest group hug

[floaties-for-arsene]

Oh no! He’s a little fucked up actually

Continuing with my Ryomina swap AU hehe.. instead of Ryoji being the Nyx Avatar here, Minato is the one to be taken over by Nyx 🥲

Fun fact! The blue eye is the only part of his form Minato can control and he’s constantly looking at Ryoji! 🥲🥲🥲🥲

[uh-oh-its-bird]

Fuck ok, gather 'round it's time for another fic idea spinning off of a crumb from my last post ab time traveling team Ro into founders era:

Summary:

Fact 1; Kakashi is now 3 weeks the last living Hatake.

Fact 2; Tobirama Senju, according to dusty old scrolls Kakashi finds in his father's study, was apparently half Hatake himself.

Lonley and hurting, Kakashi grabs on to this fact with both hands and squeezes it so tight to his aching heart that his hands bleed.

Or, still processing his father's suicide, Konoha's favorite baby genius finds out he's distantly related to history's favorite baby genius and immediatly starts projecting to cope.

Digging through old journals, history books, Kakashi begins to try his own hand at the man's favorite past time; creating jutsu's. It's the both the hardest thing he's ever done and the most satisfying to date.

Ft.

1) Weirdly chill scene with Danzo (fuck that guy but hear me out) where he kinda looks at Kakashi and sees the hint of the shadow of the man who taught him. Not quite there yet, not fully, but crumbs of it. Enough to make him nostalgic, and enough to hand over an old journal that used to belong to Tobirama.

A calculated risk, he tells himself.

An unspoken challenge, both Danzo and Kakashi understand.

He wants to see how far Kakashi can go, finds himself almost eager to see how close he can come to the shadow of the man he seems so determined to chase.

(and if this side project temporarily distracts him for long enough that Orochimaru slips through his fingers, well, it's not like he knows it was this event specifically that caused that plan to fall through)

2) The fact that, both due to time and the Hatake clan's less than stellar reputation during the warring states era, Tobirama's Hatake ancestry got buried. Kakashi finding him on a dusty old family tree has ✨️political implications✨️ for Kakashi specifically. Ones he isn't all too interested in — unless it means he might be able to access things he otherwise wouldn't've.

Also just general fun surprised Pikachu faces from some people as an added bonus.

3) Kakashi becoming even more terrifying than he rightfully should be at that age !! Danzo pretty much handed him a missile and went "lmao good luck" with that journal! He should not have that! He's learning things! He is experimenting! Someone take the missile away from the baby before he learns how to make his own— oh fuck it's too late hes somehow made a nuke instead

4) Orochimaru poking Kakashi with a stick and vice versa. They are making baby genius <--> baby genius eye contact it's mildly concerning, Minato is concerned. Obito is jealous, he wishes the Snake Sannin would poke HIM with a stick

5) Kakashi bites someone. That's it that's the bullet point I just think he should get to bite someone is all.

And more !!! Im ngl I think I like Tobirama just existing in the fic as as an ever present shadow, super influential in just every single chapter but never actually present. But I won't lie if I'm giggling over the thought of Kakashi finding Edo Tensei and going ".... ok but what better way to figure out this new jutsu / seal than to ask the source directly."

Orochimaru would so help he's having too much fun with this to bother experimenting on children for Danzo. Don't talk to him rn he's having fun with corpses!! No not the corpses you asked him to have fun with, the other ones!

[daily-rayless]

15 Years of Minako

It's time for another character appreciation post – the last of 2024 – and we've come down almost fifteen years to the day for a very, very special character. I first played Persona 3 in 2008, and I enjoyed it, but it was in 2009 when Persona 3: Portable was announced that my interest in the game rocketed up through the roof and into the stratosphere. Because, guys -- we were going to get a female protagonist.

September 2009

I don't know what my earliest art for Minako/Hamuko/Kotone was, but this is the earliest I could find. She had no canonical name yet. Her game hadn't been released in the States. As you can see, I wasn't even quite sure what her hair was supposed to be doing back there. But I was still excited.

December 2009

I've talked before about why having a female protagonist matters so much to me. The short version is that in an ideal world, where male protagonists weren't such a continuous majority, maybe it wouldn't; but that world doesn't exist, so it does matter, it matters to me. Minato has always been a fairly take-him-or-leave-him character for me. Minako? I was into her before the game was even released.

March 2010

I was intrigued by her design, her bright red eyes, her fluffy curls, the way her vibe was so different from Minato's. And, actually, her vibe is somewhat at odds with the game itself. P3 is a game of sad blues and sickly greens and grungy reds. Minako is all bright reds and pinks, tropical orange, soft yellow, warm brown. They could have taken the easy route and just done a gender-flipped Minato, a blue-haired girl, quiet, rather closed-off and antisocial. They didn't. They gave us someone new, somehow who visually contradicts the status quo.

September 2010

And, once I played the game, I saw that not only was her design very different, she had a different personality – different dialogue choices from Minato, a different mood. As far as the major plot points went, she did the same things as Minato, but she felt like her own person, not a gender-flip. She does change the status quo. You can diverge from Minato's narrative in some small but significant ways, but even if you choose not to, playing as Minako still feels different from the original version.

December 2010

And, miraculously, playing the game lived up to my own dangerously hyped expectations. Getting new insights into the female members of SEES without the tropey baggage of being a male hero romancing them; Social Linking the male members while getting the option to romance them or not. The original Persona 3, with Minato, is a great game, but Minato had to romance all of the girls and he couldn't even Social Link the guys. Minako's route gives you a deeper, broader experience when it comes to the core cast.

February 2011

Her being female adds nuanced conflict to her rivalry/friendship with Junpei, brings introspective weight to Akihiko's protectiveness, complements rather than undercuts Yukari's attempts to assert herself and not be dependent like her mother. Mitsuru doesn't have to step down as SEES' chagrined leader and cede her authority to this new boy – she cedes it to another girl. Tropes can be done badly or well, and these aren't inherently better than Minato's route, but Minako's tropes are often less typical, thus they feel more original – thus, to me, they're more interesting.

May 2011

I want to make clear that while I prefer Minako over Minato, I'm not arguing she's the better character or should be the default. And I'm pausing to say this because, unfortunately, ever since Minako first arrived on the scene, she's brought her own tension to an often already combative fandom.

December 2012

“She's not canon!” You used to hear that. As if the protagonist of a game that had been made and published and could be played wasn't canon. “Yeah, but she's not really canon!” It felt like there was a push within parts of the fandom to devalue Minako as a character, delegitimize her.

February 2013

Unfortunately, it feels as if this attitude is somewhat shared by Atlus itself. While Minako got a game route, a stage play, and is featured in promotional art, her absence in the Persona 3 remake is glaring. I'm not sure what I think Atlus is trying to say by omitting her, if anything. I'm just so disappointed that Minako's route, the route that gives you the most variety in plot points and character exploration for the main cast, wasn't deemed worthy of remaking.

January 2014

Minako, that brave, funny, smart, defiant protagonist, wasn't deemed worthy.

January 2015

Like many silent protagonists, Minako's a character open to a lot of interpretations. Broadly speaking, the game allows you to pick dialogue options for a reserved Minako or a more forceful Minako. But whichever way you go, if you've played the game, you know she's a character with pain buried deep inside her.

November 2016

Her fandom, her specific fandom, often sees her as a girl who smiles and sparkles and fights to cover that pain. Looking at Minato, you wouldn't be surprised to learn he's troubled. But Minako will make you believe she's confident and happy for a very long time until something breaks that illusion and you realize there are secrets in that smile.

August 2018

Minako is passionate, enduring, stubbornly brave.

October 2022

But she's not canon, right?

June 2023

She's not really a character. She's just a theoretical scenario Persona played with briefly, then discarded.

September 2024

Too bad for us.

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

Hello, how are you? Thanks for your BL recs. If you don't mind, can I send a 'BL challenge' ask to you? Also, have you read the update of Therapy Game? I love it (my heart breaks a little in that scene between Minato and Shizuma's mother).

No worries! And I'm existing, I'm OK, I hope you're doing well too!

Sure! I'll get to it when I am next online. It may not be fast, so I apologize if it's not.

YES! I have read the update! I would usually post all about Therapy Game, but I've not been active much.

Yeah, I agree. That was such a difficult moment. I really feel for Minato. It's really hard living as an openly gay person, and with relationships and family scenarios, or parents of the other not knowing yet can cause complications. I've experienced it a couple of times, things like that, it certainly leaves a mark and can lead to literally needing therapy later on, which, is.. welp, the title.

Some people prefer privacy, and all partners don't want to tell parents about their sexuality and relationship status, but when they do, or one does, it can be exceptionally difficult to experience, though I of course didn't think Shizuma is actually wanting to hide it at all but he just hasn't said anything yet, you know what he's like! Being a child where both me and my sibling are queer, and our gender is not binary cisgender, it was certainly a difficult thing for us both to come out to our mum. My partner as well, has 2 other queer brothers, and all have struggled with coming out because "other sibling/s came out", due to societies judgement on being gay, let alone multiple children being gay, and the pressure for grand kids and straight marriage, when 1. Nobody needs to have kids and 2. There's many many ways for gay couples to have children, we have a child ourselves! These worries are so old fashioned, I can see she's not seeming to be trying to be a bad person, but it's something I see so many parents say, and it's sad and ignorant and hurting their kids.

[ecargmura]

Cherry Magic Episode 10 Review - Ulterior Motives

Remember how I pointed out how the anime deviated from the manga in Episode 3 regarding the company dinner scenes and how it was originally a company trip in the manga? Deviation from the original source material happens in this episode, but it’s with the Tsugemina scenes this time. Just to warn you, I will be spoiling about future events of the manga—mainly about Tsugemina and some future scenes; please turn back if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Let me start with the beginning of the episode. Minato asks if Tsuge writes romance novels, which catches Tsuge off-guard, but he does admit it. Minato saw his newest work having a display in the bookstore which he read. This scene actually happens backwards in the manga where Minato sees the display first before talking to Tsuge about his book. It’s not a bad change as it doesn’t change anything too major; it’s pretty much the same scene in both versions. This scene is important because Minato learns about what motivates Tsuge to keep writing, to which the older man says that he visualizes the people who reads his book. Tsuge is correct as writing is all about wanting people to read your work; I can attest to that as a writer myself. The scenes with Minato dancing are all the same with him failing and what not. The only minor difference is that Minato’s other friend Hashiguchi wasn’t given a name in the manga. The scene where Minato goes to Hashiguchi’s company for a small visit is the same, as well as the Tsugemina bike scene. I have a bit of a soft spot for this pair, which is why I always enjoy their scenes. The bike scene must have been super unexpected for first-time viewers. I was confused when Tsuge dished out the bike; I was legit like “Where did that bike come from?” I initially thought he had a car before the twist reveal in that he had a motorbike.

The scene after the “ulterior motives” part is where the story deviates. In the manga, after Tsuge declares to himself to not intrude in Minato’s life, a time skip happens as the chapter takes place in was well after Adachi returned from his Nagasaki transfer, which was a few months. Tsuge started having writer’s block and he suffers from it a lot to the point that he starts looking a bit haggard; his hair grew longer and he hadn’t shaved in a while. Adachi was shocked to see him like that when he went to visit. Eventually, Adachi learned from Rokkaku that Minato had been busy with stages, hence why he had been out of contact for a while. Tsuge eventually sees Minato on the big screen, like in the anime, but the time jump doesn’t exist in this adaptation. Now it makes me wonder if the Tsuge change will happen after this episode or if they’ll still keep him the same. The events of the last part of the Tsugemina scenes in the anime happened in Volume 9, which was released a few months ago in English. Basically, what happens after this episode is really up for assumptions now. Will they get together towards the end of the show? That’s for you to find out.

Tsuge does play another pivotal role in this episode as he helps Adachi realize what it is he did wrong. He tells Adachi that he was wrong to consult another coworker, let alone another man, while he is dating Kurosawa. You did good on giving Adachi advice yet you flubbed a bit when you were trying to confess to Minato but blurted out that you had ulterior motives. Great job, Tsuge.

Adachi and Kurosawa know that they both did something wrong towards each other. Adachi was wrong to consult someone else about his transfer. Kurosawa was wrong to corner Adachi and admonish him. Both know they did bad things, but the resolution has yet to happen. Hopefully, it’ll get resolved next week. It was agonizing to see them like this.

Anyways, I just hope I don’t get flack for revealing some spoilers despite me warning beforehand. What do you think will happen for both couples? Will Kurodachi resolve their conflict? Will Tsugemina resolve their misunderstanding? Find out next week. What are your thoughts about this episode?

[queen-ofsunflowers]

Five bucks says that junpei will mention the Kyoto incident while drunk one time. Wonder what the investigation team and Phantom thieves will react to that?

Actually, I think the closest that the Phantom Thieves come to learning about what happened in the hot springs in Kyoto was in the original draft for Strikers when I have Minato and Ryoji tagging along.

I'm not exactly sure how to put what happened, but I do have the scene saved still from when I wrote it down, that’s gonna be under the cut. All you need to know is that it leads to some Zenkichi bullying.

Anyway, I’m not sure at this point if the Phantom Thieves will learn about what nearly happened in Kyoto for S.E.E.S. But if the latter learns about what happened to the former, Minato’s going to fall out of his seat laughing about it.

(Note: this is shortly after the Sapporo Jail, as everyone’s driving to Kyoto so Zenkichi can meet with Akane.)

Minato: We and Kyoto have a... history. Let's leave it at that.

Ann: ...you guys are banned from entering Kyoto, are you?

Ryoji/Minato: No.

Ryoji: Just... memories, that's all. We went there for our class trip in high school.

Minato: Yeah. You wanna explain or should I?

Ryoji: It was a few weeks after Minato and I got together. All we wanted was to spend some time with each other because we were always around the others -- the people we live in the dorms with -- didn't exactly know yet. However, circumstances led us to sneaking around even more up until the point where we got caught in the hot springs--

Minato: They do NOT need to know that part!

Ryoji: It's important to the context of the story!

Goro: I'd rather not hear about your high school sex stories.

Minato: It is NOT like that! That's not what happened! We got caught--!

Zenkichi: ...Wait. Wait, wait. Wait! Arisato, Mochizuki, you two are--?! (A beat, some of the Thieves start chuckling.)

Minato: Yes, Inukichi. The gays do exist. Just like your so-called monsters and magic.

Ryoji: Ignore his sarcasm. But yes, we are dating. Have been for seven years now. Why? What did you think we were?

Zenkichi: Amamiya called you his COUSINS.

Ren: Biologically speaking, the only one I'm related to is Minato. He and Ryoji have been dating for so long, that my family has just sorta adopted him into ours. I've been calling him my cousin too since I think... sixth grade?

Ryoji: Just about.

Zenkichi: You introduced Arisato as your PARTNER.

Ryoji: Yes. That's usually what you would call your significant other. At least in our case.

Zenkichi: No, when you said he was your partner, I just-- ...*sigh* You know what? Nevermind, I'm just digging myself into a deeper hole!

Futaba: If it makes you feel any better, Zenkichi, no one here is straight so you missed the mark on all of that!

Zenkichi: It does not!

[plinkcat-gif]

do share!i love reading your funky ideas

thanks for enabling me 🧡🧡

kakashi can see ghosts lmao, obt is ghost.

“if you don’t get out i’ll kill you”

“i’m about to eat pancake hot dogs for dinner. this is my first meal of the day.”

this is based off a tiktok i’ll never find again ahdjsjdjdj, but essentially a crack au where obito does everything in his power to get kakashi to leave the home (genuinely traumatizing things) and kakashi is completely unfazed every time because he works full time at the town’s shittiest mcdonald’s where he’s definitely seen worse shdjsksjjs.

road trip:

“Aren’t you a little too old to be scared of the dark?”

this is just vibes there was no plot <333 i just thought kakashi teasing obito for this was cute, and the two of them goofing around with each other on a trip would be adorable!! also had potential to be a kkobrin au and if i were to write it now, it would definitely be that <3

*holds up fingers* “how many fingers do you see”

“too many”

“there’s one.”

this was actually for my firefighter obt and nurse kakashi au! obito gets severely injured in a fire and is sent to the hospital where they meet, about a week after obito saves kakashi’s house from burning down. kakashi is babysitting naruto while minato and kushina are out of town, and so he already has a lot on his plate, and obito has partial custody of his and rin’s child. (not a bad divorce, they’re still good friends!! he’s a really good dad and a good friend to rin, but couldn’t be a good husband because he worked hours that she couldn’t deal with while being a nurse and having a child. she’s since moved to a less demanding job in the medical field to take of their child <3)

anyway yeah that’s all <3 they’re so important to me i love them idk why the space above is so large i can’t make it go away

kid ghost kakashi and kid obito

- they had houses next to each other and would talk through their windows on the second floor bedrooms.

- kakashi died chasing after a soccer ball in a game. he’s not actually dead, just in a coma and healing slowly. he flickers in and out of existence based on whether he’s close to waking up or not.

- he is entirely conscious of everything he’s doing as a ghost. obito’s certain that he’s a figment of his imagination to cope, and since kakashi can’t make him believe otherwise, he just goes with it.

- obito goes to prom with somebody else and, unable to bear the fact that kakashi is also there, watching from afar, ditches (prom dress—mxmtoon).

- obito cries over math hw, kks helps him

- kakashi skipped a grade or two (can’t remember) and is in the same grade as obito. he’s only one or two years younger or whatever, DEF not four lol

IMPORTANT AU TO ME!!!! i started writing the first chapter but i just couldn’t get the tone right, esp bc it was from a squirrel’s perspective and…yeah. anyway. the main angst came from the prom scene, after goofy shenanigans with each other <3 obito goes to prom with somebody else (not rin he wouldn’t do that to her) and he can’t stand seeing kakashi on the bleachers, looking defeated and just. so sad. stressed, esp bc he’s having feelings ab somebody who might die, he ditches and kakashi tries to comfort him but hey, his best friend is about to die and he can’t deal with that, and just. fuck. sad.

kakashi does not die (…at least in one ending. never did figure out if i wanted to write the other too)

modern au kakashi gets flashes of different aus, mostly of obito dying. he can’t piece it together, until he realizes that he’s somehow connected to the multiverse.

i do not remember what this was about <3 but it’s cool in concept!! i think somehow he was able to travel the multiverse too, but like not intentionally. he was usually dumped in some random universe. (much opportunity for crossover aus, time change aus, i was also perhaps going to use this as an excuse to write friends’ aus and aus i liked dhhdjsjd

limbo dancing with the devil

- basically little to no morals

- western

- kakashi and obito were raised in a gang, but it was eventually killed and they were spared. kakashi picked up his life (it’s relative) and now works as a gun-checker for a saloon. also runs missions for tsunade, usually in killing people.

- obito simply started his own gang (akatsuki) and they go around killing killers. they’re looking for tsunade, because one of her men (kks) killed yahiko (but yahiko was actually killed by madara and framed kakashi)

- madara is the biggest threat—he’s been dormant since he got his town and was satisfied to live there, but with the new information, they have to go after him. kakashi, akatsuki, rin, tsunade and shizune all band together to go to tsukuyomi.

- obito kills killers and bad people, but kakashi’s revealed to have killed heartlessly (he didn’t get his reputation based on checking guns at a bar. he was taken in briefly by danzō and ran bad missions.)

- tenzo eventually joins the party when they meet him in konoha, the last stop before tsukuyomi. he’s gotten better (he used to work for danzō too) and is next in line for sheriff. he comes along because he’s been tracking madara for a while too, as he’s a threat to konoha.

- obito and kakashi’s deep talk: kakashi just killed someone by knife when obito was down, and obito says “you didn’t strike me as a killer.” kakashi responds, “that’s what makes me so good at it.”

- that sounds so edgy LOL in the moment it’s kind of sad.

incredibly important au to me. such worldbuilding, plus it means i would’ve gotten to write southwestern stuff which is simply <33333 LOVE!!!! i love love love writing about the southwest it’s just home <333🧡🧡🧡🧡 but also the plot is cool i really like it!! unfortunate i never got around to it, but i did write one chap on ao3 if you’re interested ;)

hatake norse

- old hatake wolves gone unused for so long that they’ve overgrown with moss and lichen

- tarot cards

- must all things end?

- flower field of daisies and lavender

- overgrown hatake estate

- skoll: devours the moon

- hati: devours the sun

- fenrir: will devour everything

- vargamor: a woman with control over wolves who lives in the forest. kakashi’s mom was one of these and she’s actually the one with hatake descent. this is how kakashi has control over wolves.

- kakashi wasn’t provided enough stability as a child and so he ends up destroying the world by freeing fenrir.

- he finds old scrolls under the floorboards where sakumo died.

- the island fenrir lives on is a marsh.

so yeah this is just a bad ending au no matter what. kakashi is enticed by his lineage in the hatake scrolls, which is great at first. then he associates with obito and the akatsuki, finds out obito’s plan because obito trusts him, foolishly. kakashi pretends to play along until he reverse summons himself to fenrir’s island and pulls the sword from the stone, releasing the wolf and ending the world. in his final moments, he gets to say goodbye to naruto, regret what he did because anything is better than this, regret it because naruto will die, and then justify it with obito’s actions. it’s for the greater good kind of stuff. it’s not. bad ending.

he doesn’t try to negotiate with fenrir after watching how quickly he took down kaguya. there’s no point in arguing morals without something that merciless.

this would’ve been a fun worldbuilding project, and i got pretty far! unfortunately i’m not writing anymore and so this project has come to a halt. i highly recommend the first few chapters because they were really fun for me to write, the last two are very meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it would mean a lot if u, who is reading this, read the first few chaps on my ao3 tho lol

better superhero au, invincible inspired

- obito is high school student, starts with no powers.

- gets powers one night, kamui makes him essentially invincible (wow what a cool name)

- madara (caretaker with hashirama) works with obito on his powers and takes him training.

- tobirama (cecil) adds obito to a superhero program he has, puts him on team with tsunade (black samson), kakashi (atom eve; final love interest), tenzō (robot), genma (rex splode).

- rin (amber; first love interest) is regular human, but volunteers at soup kitchen and helps in community, a hero in her own right.

- kakashi and tenzō are also secretly part of root, another organization that’s underground to the program. obito’s asked to join by danzō, to which he accepts, aka harder missions.

- he, kks and tenzō almost die (the mafia thing) and so does everyone else, but they all live thanks to tobirama and healing stuff.

- meanwhile, madara investigation ongoing, who killed the global guardians?

- subway scene and stuff. man. obito’s pretty much just fuckign demolished. iykyk.

- obito lives and recovers, kakashi suffers memory trauma from concussions.

this would’ve been fun to write for worldbuilding, i love working with magic/superpower systems!! also some major angsty kkob!!! i did write a little smth for this a while back but idk if i’ll be able to find it, if anyone’s interested anyway dhdjsjjd

“you will now go by magekiller as your new title. good luck, uchiha.”

- “every timeline. every single one, you kill me. why?”

- kakashi carries an opal, believed to be bad luck and carries the power of every gemstone. “magician’s stone”

- a desperate cleric slamming every healing spell in an attempt to bring someone back to life the ground sprouts flowers all around. deep in the forest, surrounded by flowers, lies a corpse refusing to rot.

- (from today) what was i even thinking?

- i think kakashi was supposed to have magic powers thru the stone. like a mage. and then obito was tasked by some higher being with always killing him forever

- they go through each timeline like this and at some point obito really does manage to kill kakashi. for real, for the final time (he’s not carrying the gemstone on him maybe?) and enter that last quote

- tbh i don’t remember i jsut made that up off the top of my head SHHDKSKAG

- this is Obito Suffering because He Cares So Much and what better way for angst than losing the one he cares most about? haha.

no comment idk what i was on about and the pinterest board is just some wolves and the word vargamor GFJJSKAHDJA

obito takes on kakashi’s mannerisms

- super cold, intimidating stare

- truly truly works and cares about people but as goes for obito, it becomes obsessive and twisted

- cares thru anbu if that makes sense. like he works for danzō and thinks he’s doing good for people

- perhaps some conscience-ghost haunting involved. because i think he should <3

fun twist on kks taking on obito’s mannerisms idk!!! potential for angst but i’m not the best at writing it so it’d probably be more uhhh grounded? idk. idk idk gn

[alwayshaveneverholdd]

REWRITING NARUTO ROMANCES SO THEY DONT SUCK

We all know that the romance in Naruto is trash and Kishimoto himself admitted to not knowing how to write female characters and getting embarrassed by romantic scenes…so let’s fix that shit

part 1: NaruHina

(I wrote this down as my notes for the post but I actually like it this way so I’m just copy and paste my raw thoughts lol if you get offended you can write a letter to your local congressman, prime minister, or whoever rules over provinces in other countries)

First let’s shit on the original ship shall we

Naruhina…

- what the fuck was the build up to this relationship

- “I respect naruto and I want to be like him! But I’m too shy to talk to him! I even fainted when I saw him after the blank period! JK I HAVE MEGA HUGE BALLS AND CONFRONTED PAIN TO SAVE NARUTO!!!! Confessed my love and got my ass kicked….then didn’t speak to him until the fourth great ninja war and now we’re married with two kids” what the Fuck

- Also can we just talk about how after Hinata confessed her love…and literally almost died for naruto…he didn’t say SHIT to her after he defeated pain, and it was like she never confessed in the first place Lmfao

- He still liked Sakura! But Sakura always loved Sasuke so wtf

- He even was like “YEAH YEAH” when Minuto asked if Sakura was his girlfriend during the war. Then ten minutes later he’s holding hands with hinata and their love and shit (ft the rest of the ASF) and going up against fucking madara obito whatever… what the fuck

- AND THEN BAM THEY GET MARRIED AWWWWWWWWBWBWBWBLEEHHHH

- It makes no sense bro—people say Sasuke never shows his love for Sakura,…to me, naruto never gave a shit about Hinata, at least not romantically (he literally acted like her existence was forgotten for 3/4s of the show; at least Sasuke always acknowledged Sakura from the start)

- It also feels like narutos crush on Sakura was never resolved (I know that they’re supposed to be shown realizing that they aren’t into each other in The Last but…bro isn’t that way too fuckin late to make sense lmfao) He just suddenly shacked up with Hinata???? Bc her cousin died….Idk man that’s kinda fucked up lmfao

So let’s fucking fix this shitshow

- I get that Hinata is shy and stuff but that bitch is a fucking hyuga SHE IS POWERFUL SO GIVE HER MORE SCREENTIME KICKING ASS

- And can we??? Give her more lines in the first part???? Other than “n…n…naruto….” “N-naruto?” “Naruto!” Like wtf was that dude that shit was way more annoying to me than anything.

- We all know Hinata has thoughts feelings and opinions (as humans do) so let’s have her voice them sometimes okay

- Being shy doesn’t automatically make you mostly mute and constantly stuttering

- That stereotype makes me want to crush skulls bro

- Can we give her some balls before pains fight bc that made no sense

- Like maybe standing up to neji even a little bit and defending herself more during the chuunin exams

- I’m not saying she has to be like “HEY SHITHEAD IM GONNA KICK YOUR ASS” bc that’s totally out of character but she totally could’ve been like “Hey you’re kinda wrong and pls show me respect as a member of your clan and an equal leaf shinobi”

- Also I get that Hinata was inspired by naruto but can we stop making every female character’s rise to power and want to be stronger related to a dude?

- Like fine if she was inspired by him but I think it would’ve been way more of a credit Hinata as a person if naruto simply REMINDED her of that part of herself that’s dedicated to proving her family wrong

- I’m just gonna write this as if it happened this way

- She keeps par with Neji, and does ultimate lose but it makes Neji see that Hinata is actually strong and a formidable opponent

- No more shit eating grins from that ego maniac

- And after Hinata battles Neji, she confronts naruto and thanks him for reminding her of her inner strength

- Naruto, who’s surprised that Hinata is talking to him, is like “yeah, sure thing, hinata. You did great!”

- And that opens the door for their real friendship

- Hinata is someone naruto can confide in about Sasuke, and he trusts her

- Hinata becomes someone that gives naruto compassionate advice, and he cherishes her comforting nature

- Then in part 2 after they’re all a bit older, naruto is kinda like “o” when he sees that Hinata has come into her wOmaNhOoD and he’s attracted to her.

- During the blank period he worked through his feelings and realized he only liked Sakura bc of his rivalry with Sasuke. End of that crap

- But naruto is dense as fuck and doesn’t see Hinata in a romantic way until she stands up for him against pain

- Hinata holds her own against pain for a bit bc she’s powerful in her own right but does get her ass beat anyway bc yk rinnegan and everything

- Naruto loses his shit seeing her cut down in front of him and defeats the last pain

- After naruto gives one of his MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES and changes nagato before his death, the entire village greets him as a hero

- Instead of Sakura running up to him to hug him in that strangely intimate way that’s out of character bc she doesn’t fucking like him that way

- Sakura gives naruto a good hug and is like “you did it buddy you’re pretty cool ig”

- Then naruto talks to Hinata bc she??? Confessed her love? And took a massive beating for him???

- And they start a sort of flirty relationship where they both like each other but like waaaay too much is going on to actually date

- Like they try to between pains assault and the five mage summit but with the news of Sasukes massive downfall and the bounty on his head naruto is like dude I can’t do this rn

- And Hinata is cool so ofc she understands even tho she’s a bit sad

- And during the war when minato asks if Sakura is narutos girlfriend he says “😅 no dad, we’re just good friends”

- Then he holds hands with Hinata and the village and sings kumbaya to kick the fuck out of madara obito

- Then they get married and shit proceeds as normal

- Except in boruto when everyone returns from the battle in the other dimension she doesn’t run up to naruto first okay she hugs her SON and says “thank goodness you’re safe!” And then hugs naruto and thanks him for his work

God fuck okay I’m done

[madara-fate]

I also wasn't insinuating that MinaKushi or DanTsu are the only good examples of good romantic relationships (I don't even care about these pairing for the record, or any other pairing in Naruto). I'm just pointing out that people do not doubt that Minato loves Kushina or that Dan loves Tsunade. If Sasuke genuinely loved Sakura and Kishimoto did a good job at showing it, then there would not be a huge debate on whether he does love her or not, because it would be obvious to pretty much everyone that he does, whether they like the ship or not. The fact that it's not and that so many people still debate on this to this day either shows that Kishimoto did a poor job at showing Sasuke as a loving husband either that Sasuke does not love her, despite that "love is the real deal" line or his reply to Sarada's question. It's show vs tell if you know what I mean. On one hand he tells us that "love is the real deal" but on the other hand he does not really show it all too well, which makes many people think whether he truly meant those words or he was being sarcastic and simply mocked the fans. It's either a case of bad writing either Sasuke simply does not love Sakura. I personally don't know what to think. I tend to lean towards the first option, it may just be bad writing after all. He admitted he's not great at writing romance and to be honest? It shows. It is even implied they haven't kissed in Gaiden by Sakura looking sad when Sarada asked her if they ever kissed. And I know you like to refute that by saying that it's preposterous to think they haven't kissed when they obviously had sex in order to concieve Sarada, but the thing is, it is entirely possible to have sex with someone but not kiss. It really is. When you're having sex but you're not really enjoying it or when you have simply been pressured and pestered into having sex with a person. Sakura Hiden confirmed the fact that Sakura was determined to confess her feelings to Sasuke over and over again until he would've eventually reciprocated. She compared that with punching a villain over and over until they're defeated. Now please tell me, would it be so far fetched to consider that harassment? If someone tells you no once, you have to respect their rejection and stop pursuing them, not take it as a challenge to persist in reaffirming your feelings over and over again until they eventually get tired or take pity in you and accept to give you a chance. And even in Gaiden it was confirmed that Sakura had to chase after Sasuke. It's really easy to see this ship as... problematic, to say the least. I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt tho and blame it on bad writing rather than on Kishimoto simply implying SS is not really a loving relationship, but if other people are not convinced or deny that Sasuke loves Sakura, you have to let your bias aside and admit that they have reasons to believe that. The writing makes it really easy to interpret it either way, depending on your preferences.

I already answered a lot of the points you made here in my response to your previous ask, but it's important for people to remember the type of person Sasuke is, and understand that the manner in which he shows affection isn't the same as Dan or Minato. It's a lot more subtle. Are people doubting that Vegeta loves Bulma and Trunks? No, so then people need to ask themselves - in which ways has Vegeta demonstrated that he loves his family in ways that Sasuke hasn't? Both of them aren't outwardly affectionate, both of them aren't romantic, but both of them have undoubtedly demonstrated that they love their family. Yet, only one of them is questioned. It really is just a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" situation. If Sasuke acts all affectionate like Dan and Minato, people will claim that he's OOC (like they did for Sasuke Retsuden), but if he stays reserved and demonstrates affection in his own way, people will just turn a blind eye and say he doesn't care. It really just shows how little they actually know Sasuke's character. To think that Sasuke, who hails from the clan which values love above all else, would marry and start a family with someone he doesn't love.

On one hand he tells us that "love is the real deal" but on the other hand he does not really show it all too well, which makes many people think whether he truly meant those words or he was being sarcastic and simply mocked the fans.

People actually think that Kishi may have been "sarcastic" when he described their love as the real deal. Oh my goodness. Why would Kishi purposely give wrong information to the readers (and never reveal what's actually going on)? Why would he intentionally want the readers to misunderstand his story and characters? Why would he want to portray his 2nd biggest character as someone who would enter a loveless marriage when that literally goes against the ways of his clan and his entire character? Do people not listen to themselves?

It's like how so many people claim that Sasuke saying "because you exist" means that the only reason he and Sakura are still together is because of Sarada, and people really don't realise how stupid that sounds. They don't stop and ask themselves why Sarada would be brought to happy tears, why Chouchou would describe her as lucky, and why Naruto would give her a knowing smile, if Sasuke had really just insinuated that she was the only thing that was keeping her parents together:

They just don't think. They apparently believe that Chouchou was happily thinking to herself "aww, lucky Sarada, you're the only thing keeping your parents together!", and that makes sense to them apparently, Chouchou being so happy for Sarada after hearing such awful news. It's unbelievable.

And I know you like to refute that by saying that it's preposterous to think they haven't kissed when they obviously had sex in order to conceive Sarada, but the thing is, it is entirely possible to have sex with someone but not kiss. It really is. When you're having sex but you're not really enjoying it or when you have simply been pressured and pestered into having sex with a person.

This is just like the people who believe that Sasuke is gay, justifying their ridiculous claims by pointing out how "you can be gay and still marry a woman", and to that I always say - Why would Sasuke do that? Just like to you I'll say - Why would Sasuke do that? To have sex and not kiss? Why would Sasuke of all people be "pressured and pestered" into entering a relationship with someone? He obviously has no problem whatsoever with bluntly turning people down. If he doesn't want to do something, he's not gonna do it. Heck, if you're using Sakura Hiden to try and prove your points then I'll also use a novel to prove this one - The lipstick stain scene during Sasuke Shinden: The Teacher's Star Pupil, explicitly indicates that Sakura and Sasuke had kissed earlier that day. The motorbike scene during Naruto Retsuden has Sakura kiss Sasuke. Sasuke and Sakura having kissed, is not (and has never been) a topic that's open to discussion.

Sakura Hiden confirmed the fact that Sakura was determined to confess her feelings to Sasuke over and over again until he would've eventually reciprocated. She compared that with punching a villain over and over until they're defeated. Now please tell me, would it be so far fetched to consider that harassment? If someone tells you no once, you have to respect their rejection and stop pursuing them, not take it as a challenge to persist in reaffirming your feelings over and over again until they eventually get tired or take pity in you and accept to give you a chance. And even in Gaiden it was confirmed that Sakura had to chase after Sasuke.

I've already talked at length about that scene from Sakura Hiden so I won't do so again here, but I'll link the relevant post where I explained how that scene obviously was not meant to be taken as a negative comment, but people will of course just twist things in order to suit their own anti Sakura/SS agenda.

But if other people are not convinced or deny that Sasuke loves Sakura, you have to let your bias aside and admit that they have reasons to believe that. The writing makes it really easy to interpret it either way, depending on your preferences.

No, here's what people need to understand. If people think that Sasuke's love towards Sakura was not adequately shown, then that's a reason to criticise the writing. It is not however, a reason to deny what is canon. They are stating that Sasuke does not love Sakura, despite the fact that this has explicitly been stated. Sasuke loving Sakura is a canon fact, whether they like it or not. Criticise the execution all you want, I know I have plenty of times, but don't deny the truth. Hell, since you wanted to use the novels...

During Sakura Hiden, Sasuke rushed back for Sakura's sake, despite having ignored the village's prior pleas for help. What does that say about his feelings for her?

During Akatsuki Hiden, Sasuke described Sakura as "The Spring Sunshine" which illuminated his dark life. What does that say about his feelings for her?

What does basically the entirety of Sasuke Retsuden say about his feelings for her?

Many anti SS fans are always so quick to use the novels when it suits them. And then when a novel like Sasuke Retsuden comes along and completely shits over all their theories, they're just as quick to dismiss the novel as an OOC fan fic by a sub par author, figures. As far as I'm concerned, the manga is more than enough to show that Sasuke loves his family (seriously this really isn't up for debate), but I'll also definitely say that anyone who criticises SS and uses the novels as a point of reference, is in way over their heads.

[crescentfool]

I need an AU where Ryoji and Minato are in a LDR. AKA, AU where Ryoji actually lived overseas and he’s not the appraiser at all; he’s just a normal human being that coincidentally has a lot of similarities to Minato. Basically, “EVERYBODY IS ALIVE” fix-it fanfic. More under the cut because uh, I wrote 1.3k words to explain these two being mutually pining idiots in a long-distance relationship (featuring hamuko)

For the most part, the AU starts off fairly similar to canon (minus Ryoji being the appraiser, and Pharos existing, etc.). Ryoji transfers to Gekkoukan High School, and quickly befriends Minato. The two maintain the Helper’s Club together (I will never let go of these scenes, it is peak Ryomina), and they learn that they get along really well!  The two get some keepsakes on the Kyoto trip, and their bond is going swimmingly… until Ryoji is called back home. Before he leaves, Ryoji and Minato exchange Discord IDs with each other (OR Skype if you want to be accurate to p3 taking place in 2009-2010, lmao. The time doesn’t really matter for this AU. Ryomina is timeless, okay? that aspect of theirs makes me insane). They promise that they’ll keep in touch- and Ryoji goes back home at the start of December.

This is where the AU part starts to kick in. On Ryoji’s (excruciatingly long) flight back home, he’s hit by a truck at the realization that he’s in love with Minato. So technically!! The first part of this AU is basically Ryoji hopelessly pining for Minato and wishing that he had a chance to tell him that he loves him (and that they could’ve had some romantic experiences together). Ryoji practically spends his flight frustrated since long distance communication gets rid of a lot of communication cues, which makes it hard for him to get his feelings across. He’s effectively only left with his ability to type words (okay, more like, paragraphs) across text- and maybe his voice + hand gestures if he has the chance to video call with Minato.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop Ryoji from trying. Of course, time zones are an obstacle to the two getting to talk on a regular basis; but it doesn’t stop him!

At first, they just text each other about their daily happenings, making Ryoji very nostalgic toward his memories and times at Gekkoukan. Many of Ryoji’s responses towards Minato’s texts are generally some variation of “I miss being at Gekkoukan with everyone” (aka Ryoji trying to hint that he misses Minato while deliberately trying to filter himself so that Minato doesn’t realize that he loves him).

Recognizing that Ryoji almost seems sad over text- Minato takes it upon himself to ask Ryoji what he’s been doing overseas. And oh man!! Minato was not prepared for how long-winded Ryoji’s explanations of his days would be- but it made Minato happy to see Ryoji back to his enthusiastic self. What Minato was also not prepared for, was being hit by a wave of, “DAMNG, I miss being around Ryoji.”

(I should also mention that if these two send pictures to each other, it’s always of other objects/people, and never themselves. boohoo for the both of them because they miss seeing each other but they don’t have the balls to directly say that they miss the other one ALKFHLSDHSD i just want them to be pining for each other in the stupidest way possible okay!! i’m insane!! yes i know i have a magic hand that makes these two never send selfies of themselves to each other but so what!!! these two are going to suffer in overthinking their relationship and you will enjoy it too)

After a month or so of near daily texting, they move into a stage where they talk to each other over voice chat (because Ryoji said that “typing messages is time consuming especially when I can explain it better out loud,” TOTALLY. Are you sure about that, Ryoji Mochizuki? Are you sure it wasn’t just, “I missed hearing Minato talk even though I have to be the one to draw out whole sentences out of him?”). Sometimes their voice calls are just Ryoji being an enthusiastic and unreliable narrator, while other times, they’re simply listening to a selection of Minato’s favorite songs together (listen you cannot convince me otherwise that if these two LDR they wouldn’t listen to music together to emulate the idea of “being together in the same room.” it’d be illegal if they didn’t tbh /s).

In any case!!! Once these two start voice chatting, their levels of pining go off the charts. Like, man. Imagine not seeing your “best friend” in person for nearly two months; and not hearing their voice for that same amount of time! Dude, I don’t know what to tell you, but they’re going to be run over by a truck at that moment when they realize that they love each other (again, lmao. they’re very dense and keep attributing each other’s signs as their brains playing tricks on them).

And also! Imagine how much these two would do that Freudian slip phenomenon over voice! Minato could be talking about something that he was doing at Gekkoukan and Ryoji would just respond with something like, “That’s great Minty! I wish I could’ve been there to see it with you!” ONLY TO END UP panicking because he didn’t mean to verbally express his mental nickname of Minato aloud. (Poor Ryoji but also not really he did this to himself by asking to voice call with Minato /s). Or for Minato, he ends up muttering something and Ryoji somehow manages to pick up on what he said (and tries to get Minato to elaborate).

On the note of these two voice chatting, I like to think that Hamuko knows what’s up. I mean… there is no way that Hamuko isn’t aware that her brother is hopelessly pining for Ryoji. I mean, the dude is actually talking to someone on his laptop rather than just looping music so??? Of course she would notice LOL. Being the good sister that she is- she teases Minato about it while they’re going to school together, much to his chagrin. Or, if she’s feeling bold, she’ll stop by Minato’s room to drop something off and leave by saying something like, “Hey Ryoji!! Minato won’t stop talking about how much he enjoys talking to you. He really likes your voic-oh he’s telling me to leave now, bye Ryoji!” Either way, I think Hamuko would be a very vocal advocate for Ryoji and Minato to stop beating around the bush about their feelings (while also being a great person for Minato to confide in and ask advice regularly too, even if he wouldn’t want to bring himself to do it out of embarrassment).

Anyways, I know a lot of this is just “hehe mutual pining but they don’t know it’s reciprocated because they’re too caught up in their anxiety making it hard for them to decode the hints and signals.” BUT! I promise you that they will get together and become their most open and authentic selves (probably because Hamuko set them up or something, she recognizes that they’re too dense LOL).

When they do end up together though!! Well… they’re still pining (because grrr distance), but their relationship is a lot more relaxed since they know that their feelings are mutual. I think they’d only really start doing video chats + sending selfies on a regular basis after they get together, but!! I think even across distance and time zones, they would be really good at communicating and making each other feel loved. Ryoji would be the type of boyfriend who sends a lot of gifts over mail; Minato would be the moral support boyfriend who gets Ryoji to open up (so that Ryoji doesn’t have to shoulder everything on his own).

At the end of the day, all that matters is that these two love each other! When their semesters wrap up- they find a way to reunite in person again (so probably July or August?)... and uh, yeah. Let these two have a happy AU!! And maybe get Ryoji to go back to Gekkoukan for Minato’s last school year (if that’s even possible. I don’t even know and I’m too tired to research that).

If you read to the end- thank you for reading! I have many thoughts about these two in a LDR and I think it’d be interesting to see unfold!

[140smashedguitars]

Something that I love about Cherry Magic is the way it ignores a bunch of tired/toxic tropes in stories about queer people. I'm gonna list them under a read more because this is gonna get kinda long.

No homophobia This is the big one, obviously. Every story about queer people involves the main character and/or the love interest fighting homophobia. You have the character(s) dealing with slurs, mockery, being isolated from people who they thought cared about them and potentially violently abused. Instead, the only thing vaguely homophobic thing we hear is episode 7 when Adachi is worried about the fact that they’re both men, but then moves past it and tells Kurosawa that he wants to be with him. The only time anyone is suspected of being homophobic is when Minato thinks Tsuge is being homophobic towards him and Rokkaku, a (presumably) cishet character, stands up for Minato and is ready to throw hands for him, until the mistake is quickly rectified. Homophobia just doesn’t have a place in this story, and I know that homophobia is rampant in the real world, I’m not saying it’s not, it’s just that so many stories are already about that and it’s nice to see a queer story focused on someone learning to love and accept themself and realise and accept that they are allowed to be happy.

No coming out Someone made a post about how mainstream stories about queer people are about coming about because that’s what affects cishet people and mainstream media wants to cater to them. I am so tired of this; cishet people being focused on/pandered to in stories about queer people. Our stories are not about you. The stories don’t need to be for you. You can enjoy them, but you don’t need to be the centre of them for that. Instead of having literally any coming out in this show, whenever anyone is revealed to be queer, it isn’t made to be an emotional, important scene. The revelation happens, and the other character accepts it and doesn’t make a big thing out of it. When Adachi finds out for definite that Kurosawa likes him, he doesn’t think “Wait, Kurosawa likes men?” He thinks “Wait, Kurosawa likes me?” Again, I know in real life that coming out is a big and terrifying thing for queer people, but it’s not the only part of our life.

No one is already in a relationship Films like Imagine Me & You and Free Fall (both of which I like) have one of the characters start the film in an opposite sex relationship which they seem happy in, until the other character of the same sex as them comes along and confuses them and then they either want to or do cheat on their current partner and then they have to choose who they want to be with and it’s just a mess. Queer people aren’t just homewreckers or need a special person to come along and make them realise they were gay all along. Bisexual people do exist and can have happy relationships with people of the opposite sex. Who knew! Instead, all 4 members of the couples are single until they get together. Kurosawa isn’t trying to avoid his feelings by being with someone he doesn’t really like and then breaking their heart. Adachi and Tsuge obviously aren’t in relationships because that’s the point of the plot and Minato is single as well. It all works out nicely. There’s no going behind a partners back or promising to leave the partner, but they don’t want to upset them. Just 4 single people who find each other with some bumps along the way.

No aggression at realising they’re gay Brokeback Mountain, Free Fall and a bunch of other films about queer men will do this and I HATE it. One of the characters will fall in love with the other and accept that part of themself, and the other character will start sleeping with him and then get angry and then potentially physically violent if not just verbally abusive because he can’t deal with being attracted to a man and the other character will just continue to love him and want to be with him despite that. Just. Why? Queer people aren’t just toxic or drawn to toxic relationships. This is an awful narrative, especially when the films are catered towards cishet people. Instead, Kurosawa loves and respect Adachi so much, putting his needs first, going at his pace, letting him make the first moves. In return, Adachi loves and respects Kurosawa even if he is nervous about it. He’s respectful of Kurosawa’s feelings and wants him to be himself around Adachi. They love each other for who they are. We get constant shots of them smiling at/because of each other. After Adachi reveals his magic to Kurosawa, Kurosawa doesn’t get angry or upset and only interupts Adachi after he starts insulting himself. And when they break up, again, Kurosawa isn’t angry (though he’s obviously upset), but doesn’t take that out on Adachi. Instead, he takes him back literally with open arms because he understands that Adachi’s problem is with himself and that he needed time to work on that. Kurosawa wants Adachi to see himself as a good person, and Adachi wants the reverse. And even though we don’t see much of Tsuge and Minato, we know that Tsuge is so happy to be with Minato and Minato is clearly happy with Tsuge even if he has a harder time communicating. They both respect each others boundaries as well and Minato goes slow for Tsuge their first time in case Tsuge wants to stop. The relationships have clearly made all 4 of them happy and it shows the queer audience that they can be in happy, respectful and non toxic realtionships too, as is what we deserve.

No fetishisation The fact that this show is based around the main character and his best friend losing their virginities yet there’s no gratuitous sex scenes or even a kiss from the main couple is quite astonishing. Most films about queer people (especially queer men) will have so much explicit sexual content, which is probably there for the cishet female gaze. All 4 members of the couples are treated with respect within the narractive and when one of them does get overly sexualised (Kurosawa) it’s seen negatively. It forces us to see all the characters as human beings and focus entirely on their stories. What wer get instead of the fetishisation is better as well. The first time Adachi and Kurosawa hold hands makes my heart swell. Kurosawa grabbing Adachi’s hand nervously is an amazing shot and it’s so wonderfully intimate that no kiss or sex scene could’ve beaten that. And when we do get a kiss (from Minato and Tsuge) it’s there to make a point. Like I said before, it shows Minato cares about and respects Tsuge’s feelings. We know they had sex, same with Adachi and Kurosawa in the finale but they don’t show it. They don’t need to. Also, Fujisaki is very intersting this aspect. She’s the only female main character and not only is she not fetishised, she’s aroace and it’s completely accepted by Adachi. She’s treated like a human being, and she doesn’t fetishise Adachi and Kurosawa.

No one dies and both couples get together and stay together Self explanatory, but how many stories about queer people do we know of where after everything, one of the main characters die, or the couple just simply don’t end up together? I’m sick and tired of watching so many stories where queer people fight to be themselves and be with someone they love only for that fight to be futile. What’s the point? So seeing a show with FIVE queer people in the main cast who are happy and 4 of them end up in relationships with someone they love that are not toxic that we know will actually last is so refreshing. The show takes the bury your gays trope and says ‘fuck that, we’re not about that’ and I absolutely love it for it.

This show all in all is quite fascinating. It’s 5 hours long and takes all these tropes and throws them in the bin. It tells a compelling, beautiful story that I and so many other queer people really needed. It gives us hope that maybe one day we can find someone who loves us for who we are, be it a friend or romantic partner. It shows us that there are other people like us and we can find them. We are not alone. It shows us that even if we don’t love ourselves, we are still capable of loving someone else and someone else can still love us.

I love this show, and it means more to me than I can explain. I didn’t expect this to get mushy towards the end, but honestly, I want to say thank you for everyone who made Cherry Magic the way it is. It’s a truly amazing show and it’s sad that more people won’t get to see it, but I’m glad I did. ❤️

[thegirlwhotalksabouteveryth-blog]

Cherry magic!!

So recently I watched a video on the decor in the all of the character’s rooms and I just realised how much detail is just in the decor alone. The video is in chinese but watch it if you want, heres the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqrWjGL8AW8

Anyways this series was legit so cute!! The actors were cute and so were the characters (and there were cats!!) and the homes of each character represents their personalities so well.

Adachi

light beige/brown overall colour scheme

so freaking homey and bright and very typical japanese home ngl but very pretty

its minimalistic and simple but at the same time so full of life with all the mangas he has and figures he collect

I only noticed this from the video, but he has an entire wall full of stationary and his entire desk is filled with boxes and storage that could store his stationaries, that’s why he does work on the dinning table. It’s such a small detail but it does show how much Adachi actually loves stationary and I think it’s pretty cute showing that

Kurosawa

on the other hand tho, his house is cool

the house is based on a dark colour scheme, blue and browns, making the whole tone very cool in general 

The style/plan of the apartment itself looks rather high class, so that adds on to the coolness

but like similar to Adachi, cuz he loves cooking, his kitchen is filled with stuff, and you have a space for it to hold all the utensils and like in that way they match each other (in my opinion) 

Tsuge

In a way its really similar to Adachi’s house in terms of colour scheme, but Tsuge’s house is darker, in general of colours and also because he constantly shuts his curtains

There is also a huge bookcase and all the books inside are a mess, some are horizontal, some are not, things stacking on each other, sticky notes everywhere, tbf its kinda like my own bookcase too lmaooo (oops) Anyway it does show that he do read a lot and have a lottt of research

He also has a lot of cat stuff (and the cat is so cute!!! OmG!!!) Of course, not only he already has a lot of stuff, he also buys a lot more in order to see minato but hey good for the cat

So in general, all three houses have their own unique style but at the same time it fits their personality so much omgggg

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Ok anyways to this its just my personal rant-ish and contains SPOILERS so skip it if you want lmaoo

Kurosawa is the BEST BOIII omggg he is legit so caring?? like how can a human being like him ever exist.. The scene where Adachi was like I don’t want to give up my powers, he legit when like then lets break up cuz I dont want you to be sad like ??? How far are you willing to go for him, like hes so sweet!! And like before that when he hasn’t confess yet, he thought “I’m sorry I fell in love with you” Like ?? my heart ?? Like how the freak can he be sooo pure and cute and sweet, cuz like japan isn’t that open to homosexuality yet and they do go through a lot of trouble at times and for him to say that like my heart....  its so sweet and sad at the same time. Not to mention  Machida-san is really really adorable \(//∇//)\

Anyways follow me for more!!!!!

[lunawings]

Minato’s Birthday PriZoom (8/21/21) commentary/report

Oh geez where to begin. 

I originally intended to do two showings this time (which is one more then usual) but due to a last minute decision based on other poor decisions I ended up doing three which was the most I’ve ever done in a row! My translation of the bonus content is in a separate post.

Not only that but like... it kept putting me in the main screen up at the top too!! Like more than I’ve ever been up there! And I’m sure none of this was intentional, but I also happened to be positioned right next to a couple other people who also knew the traditional cyalume cheering stuff so that was really cool!

Heck I even made it onto the Mantan Web article apparently!!? (This is an official event photo.) Am I that recognizable even in blurry pixels? (Haha well I guess there’s the background too...)

I put a lot more concentration into my own cheering this time so I wasn’t clicking around to look at the other people in the room as much and thus I have fewer shoutouts to make. 

I happened to catch a guy trying to balance TWO of the giant Shin mochikoros on his shoulders though? 

And there was that guy hula-hooping to Kakeru’s entire performance!!??

And the person whose screen was just a cheering piece of celery. 

The highlight was probably “Kouji’s Kitchen” though. A Kouji cosplayer who spent the entire show actively cooking. 

I really admire the folks who make the actual food for these showings. I’ve been thinking I want to make pudding a la mode (probably the only KinPri food I could actually manage to make) if they do a Taiga showing next year but how would I keep it from melting during the show ahah ha... (Mashed potatoes I suppose?)

In the weeks leading up to the show I’d been wondering if we’d see any Minato cosplayers. I realized I’m not sure if I’ve actually EVER seen one at a showing (PriZoom or otherwise) as he’s not an easy character to do (what with body type and a lot of Kinpri cosplayers being female) but I think I saw at least two! 

This was the first showing where I made an honest attempt to keep the soundboard on, largely because of @takadanobaba’s posts on it, but also just because it’s our STYLISH NEW ABNORMAL (...watch Idol Land PriPara). Ever since they introduced it, traditional cheering has gotten quieter and quieter with long periods of silence except for big moments like Over the Rainbow’s prism jumps. (And what is King of Prism when you’re actually able to hear it.)

So I tried it, really I did. And as I was saying, I can somewhat see the appeal. People are finding ways to use it creatively to bring out that same brand of humor that makes traditional cheering so fun. I turned it on and off during Pride the Hero and the first half of SSS Part 2. The best and worst moment I had with it came during episode 5 however, when Ace kabedon’d Miyo and Joji pulls up in the car.

D-DDDDD-D-DDDD-D-DDDDDDD-DD-DDD-DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEETAAAAAAAAAA

“But Joji is my star!”

KKKKKK-KK-KKKKKKKK-KKKK-KKKKKKKKKK-KKKAAAAKKKKKKKKKKOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Imagine that but like too fast and too loud for your brain to actually interpret what’s going on.

So that was... that was... that. (Thinking of how it will be at Joji’s actual birthday next month is giving me chills.)

I did turn it back on briefly during Best Ten while Platonic Sword was on. And for some reason I can’t quiiiite comprehend it was a grand chorus of ORE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Okay, okay on to the meat. This showing had the BIGGEST bonus of all. Masashi Igarashi appeared for a “talk show” at two of the showings. 

One of the first things he pointed out was how, unlike traditional theater greetings, he could see all of our faces individually. And then he actually clicked through all of our video feeds and made comments!!!! (Tatsuyuki Kobayashi didn’t do that.) 

Throughout the first session he actually directly acknowledged me THREE SEPARATE TIMES. The first time was when he recognized that I had S-Pulse Dream Plaza as my background. (The real life location in Shizuoka where Minato saw Kouji for the first time.) The second time was when I pasted a message into the chat about being his American fan and HE ACTUALLY READ IT! The third time was during the All Stars Playback when they put me on the screen and he thanked me in the chat again for putting up Dream Plaza. 

I’m really happy I put in the effort to do a meaningful background! 

All of a sudden I’m inspired to do more for each character. It was years before King of Prism existed, but I did go to Okayama once. I’m thinking I might need to sort through some old photos before Joji’s showing.

Anyway. 

Masashi-san didn’t really seem to have anything planned out to say. He just kinda played off us when he could and rambled for a while about how great Minato and King of Prism is and all that. I think he’s a bit better when he has someone else to play off of. (Junta usually ends up being his straight man.) I don’t even know if he knew what he was saying half the time hahah.

The part that really stuck with me though was when he was talking about how there was such a large concentration of Minato fans here, but then he corrected himself as that’s not necessarily true since King of Prism fans cheer for everyone. So instead of camps for certain characters, he suggested we should do “club activities” as a fandom and since so many people brought vegetables to the showing we were the vegetable club. 

This was followed by a rush of puns in the chat like VegetaBU (”bu” is Japanese for club). 

Another official photo from Mantan web. I love it when they show the “behind the scenes”. 

I didn’t realize the second session of the greeting would be starting at the beginning of the next showing, even though that is how they usually do it for theater greetings (so the voice actor doesn’t have to wait around through another movie). It’s kind of odd that they had two different sessions actually, since pretty much everyone had the opportunity to do both as the tickets didn’t come close to selling out. But more money for them either way I guess. He actually changed shirts in between hahah. (From one Minato shirt to another.)

But anyway, when he suddenly came up on the screen again I was actually in the middle of trying to change the batteries in my cyalumes ahahah. And it put me up top of the main screen AGAIN! I kinda wanted to switch my camera off so someone else could get a chance but I didn’t want to seem rude for disappearing either!!!

Eventually I did turn my camera off, giving up my space, because my cyalume blades were all DYING from having been on CONSTANTLY since the beginning of Pride the Hero and I didn’t want it to seem like I was checking my phone or something while I was changing the batteries. (One of them ended up cutting out during Best Ten anyway because in my mad scramble to change the batteries I guess I put the old ones back in haha.) That felt like the right decision since I crashed and burned pretty hard during the middle of Best Ten. (Cheering fatigue is rare for me but I was pushing 24 hours being awake at this point...) I also sure heck didn’t want to be up there during Love Graffiti BUT I didn’t do as bad as I thought. The drills I did without the video before the showing paid off! I’m so happy I’m finally learning it after all this time. Take THAT two year depression spiral.

Although this showing was lively, I have to admit it didn’t quite meet my overinflated expectations, though. I don’t think either room broke 200 people at any point during the showing. I could have sworn at least ONE showing I went to in the past did... I think the Shin/Louis one maybe... but looking through my past posts I can’t find a mention of it. ...Wait, even if that’s true I guess it doesn’t count since we only had one room back them. Mmmrhghg. 

I do have pretty high hopes for the next few months though because Joji and Hiro are EXTREMELY popular characters. 

So you. YES YOU! The person who somehow read this entire post and is now somewhat regretting skipping out on this one. YOU CAN DO IT! I’ll see you are the next one right? RIGHT?? OKAY!! 

[steamedcake]

Haruha Rara chan will retire from Takarazuka at the last day of the next performance of Soragumi

Takarazuka official announced that the following people will leave Takarazuka after the next performance Sherlock Holmes and Délicieux.

Kanon Mai, Ayase Akina, Mitsuki Haruka, Hoshizuki Rio, Nanao Maki, Satosaki Shigure, Haruha Rara

(not only retirement but Rinjo Kira will be senka member....)

I got sooooooo shocked by Rara chan's retirement 😢 I really love her.... Actually I really like all the 98th, but she's one of the most favorite musumeyaku of mine.

Followings are my favorite roles of Rara chan

-Alma in Hotel Svizra House

This is her latest role. Alma is a beautiful lady who lost her husband, and came to the hotel Svizla house with Herman (played by Kiki chan). I was moved by her young age in a music collage where she majored the violin.

Audience can enjoy several costumes for Rara chan..... Sexy and elegant green dress, formal trousers (she has long legs😍) and black court. I believe all beautiful clothes exist for Rara chan !!

-Frida in the Immortal Thorn

Original story: The Makropulos Affair by Carel Capek

She was a heroine and played two Frida...Frida Mucha, and Frida Prus (Frida Mucha is an ancestor of Frida Prus)

The main role Errol was played by Aizuki Hikaru. Most characters were in white, and it was kind of modern style, I felt.

Her advantage and charming point are "modern" and "stylish" that's why this play was suitable for Rara chan. (While Ai-chan is very classical otokoyaku) When she is in white, she really looks like an angel or a fairy 😍

I like serious and sad love story rather than comedy, that's why I love this story, too. Many of my favorite member joined this play....Hanaki Maia, Sumiki Sayato, and Junya Chitose. They have been retired....

Hurrem in the Magnificent

https://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/revue/2020/soureitei/index.html

Let me say first..... I'm a big fan of Zunrara pair!!(Sakuragi Minato and Haruha Rara)

The main role Suleiman, the King of Osman, was played by Zun chan, and Hurrem is one of his wife, but he loves her the most in the harem.

If you've never seen this, JUST click this link 😇

Zun chan says you are cute....and after several conversations, he pushes Rara chan into bed..... 🥺 What a sexy and beautiful scene!!!

That's all (Of course there are more my favorite plays of Rara, however, I can't write all down)

I want to see her more in Takarazuka. I want not her to leave now😭 even I understand she herself decided. She will leave Takarazuka when she is the most attractive as musumeyaku. Her last role is Mrs Hudson. I don't know who she is in Sherlock Holmes....So just looking forward to seeing her!!

[x0401x]

Why do you think the writers of the Tsurune anime decided to tone down masamina and outright cut out kaisei while pushing for sei/mina instead? It's just so baffling to me why they would alter the canon content from the novels so much. Like, what was even the point?

I’ve answered this question quite a few times before, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever made the point entirely clear, so here we go one last time. Sorry that it turned out so long.

So, in novels and manga or any written medium, creators normally have more freedom to do what they want, but when it comes to TV series, animators have been developing the habit of toning down whatever they can. Most of them have this conviction that the viewers only want to watch calm and relaxing stuff nowadays. Other than this, we get adaptations of popular works that basically exist to promote the source material, most of which rush up towards the end like crazy. It does seem like the Japanese audience has an obsession with comfort animes now, since life in Japan gets more and more stressful with each passing year, but it’s not like they’ve abandoned other genres. This general belief that creators should water down the contents however they can is pretty much destroying the industry, and it’s probably what the animators of Tsurune had in mind when changing the novel’s events into a much less dramatic versions or just cutting them off. That’s issue number 1 with the anime.

Issue number 2 is that animators of adaptations tend to ignore the reader demographic in favor of making the series neutral to please all audiences lately. But that’s only when the majority of the readers are women and girls. If it’s guys, you’d rarely see alterations. It feels like the general conception is that making the contents less “cringy” for men means more people will be watching it and having a positive opinion. It seems to completely slip the staff’s minds that the fans they disappoint mostly won’t feel willing to buy the DVDs or merchandise. This is where most of these adaptations fall flat, by the way. It’s kind of really obvious to me that these series are more prone to succeeding if the studios animate what the readers fell in love with, because the originals are popular for a reason, and it’s that people liked them the way they were. I think it’s only the expected when readers are disappointed not to see animes live up to the expectations, and that whoever picks the source material will feel the difference as well. Still, if the anime isn’t a BL, there’s this unsaid rule that you can’t show too much gay between male characters unless you have an excuse for it. Normally, nakama power and rivalry is what does the trick. I don’t think I need to mention that this is the standard in sports animes.

In the Tsurune novel, most of the gay doesn’t have an excuse. Of course, it’s not officially gay unless canon states it, but the books not only don’t give any justification for it, they get rid of possible justifications, so while you can’t say it’s not fanservice, you can’t label it as just fanservice, either. For a studio that banks off fanservice like KyoAni, that’s a problem, especially since the novel is packed with heavy scenes and even heavier quotes.

I mean, in Masaki and Minato’s case, they don’t have the nakama power or rivalry elements, so one possible excuse for them being so close would be that they’re master and disciple. But Minato makes it clear quite early in the story that Masaki doesn’t have to be his master because just having Masaki’s company is enough for him, and all in all, the two of them have a much more affectionate relationship than the other teacher-student ones from the books. Another excuse would be the found family dynamics, but Masaki already shares that with Kaito, who canonically sees Masaki as the older brother he never had, and their relationship is unlike Masaki and Minato’s as well. Kaito also has a monologue in volume 2 about Masaki treating Minato differently from everyone else in the club, and the way he describes it denotes that Minato is Masaki’s favorite, and that Masaki doesn’t bother hiding it. Just as a cherry on top, Minato often loses his rationality when it comes to Masaki despite being a serious kid, and he’s very verbal about wanting to monopolize Masaki. Add fate to the mix and you have the perfect recipe for anything except an ordinary mentor-pupil relationship.

As for Kaito and Seiya, there was a lot going on between them since the beginning, but the nakama power excuse only starts applying late in volume 1, because they didn’t get along very well at first. And even then the nakama stuff hardly applies to their interactions, where Seiya often acts like Kaito has a thing for him, for no reason other than Kaito’s reactions being amusing. Their relationship also does some big strides in the middle of volume 1, and Seiya literally migrates to Kaito’s side at some point. They don’t seem to have a friendship as strong as the one between Seiya, Minato and Ryouhei, but it’s Kaito who Seiya interacts with the most in volume 2 and he’s also the one that Seiya leans on whenever he needs any sort of assistance. There’s other unexplainable things here and there, such as Seiya taking a peek at Kaito’s sleeping face when it’s just the two of them in the room, or him implying that Kaito is jealous of the motherly attention he gives Minato. It goes on as far as the novel does. There’s literally no scene with the two of them that doesn’t make it look like Kaito is really into Seiya and that Seiya owns his ass but he’s the last one to know.

Back to the main point, it’s really hard to animate all of this without giving people “ideas”. For KyoAni, any gay exists ultimately for the sake of fetishization, and they often follow the “ship whatever you want, even yourself with the characters” model. If being gay is canonically a character trait in the original, it’s out (Violet Evergarden is probably the best example of that one), and if the gay can’t be interpreted as something else, it’s either out or downplayed. In Seiya and Minato’s case, that’s perfectly feasible. Not only are they best friends, they also have a familial relationship where Seiya treats Minato like a son. Minato has sworn eternal friendship to Seiya in the novel, and both he and Kaito describe Seiya as something like a helicopter parent. There’s more than enough counter-argument to remind the viewers that, whatever happens between Minato and Seiya, it’s all a product of their childhood friend bond. Anyone is free to interpret it differently in fanon, but the viewers (at least the Japanese ones) are ultimately aware that the anime is in its “safe zone”, portraying a friendship. Nobody on the Japanese side of the fandom actually believed that there was romance going on in it. On the other hand, if you search in Japanese for people’s impressions of MasaMina, you’ll notice people often saying that the novel makes you wonder if Minato and Masaki aren’t actually dating, or if Minato doesn’t have a puppy crush on Masaki, at the very least. Basically, everyone seems to agree that what goes on between those two is hard to define, but whatever it is, there’s this very particular, “special” air about them that differs from the rest of the characters, which normally manifests when they’re alone together.

As you can tell, this overall view is the opposite of the animators’ ideal. If the novel had been animated the way it is, it would’ve probably felt like a BL for the people watching. Not only does it come with practically set ships, it also doesn’t give much space for the proverbial “ship even yourself with the characters” option. To put it bluntly, the animation went through those changes so that it could fit the mold. It gave us SeiMina and even some NanaKai (the latter being honestly disturbing, since they’re cousins), while either toning down or erasing the rest of the duo and trio interactions. It made Minato’s accident with his mom actually seem like Seiya’s fault and didn’t really take the burden off his shoulders but instead swept it under the rug. It also made Masaki seem like a two-faced bastard who only became a coach for the sake of revenge, which means he was using his students (actual 15/16-year-olds) for his own personal gains. Shuu and Minato’s friendship went down the drain, Ryouhei was pushed aside as if Seiya was Minato’s only childhood friend, Nanao was never depicted as his own person, and the girls didn’t even exist 90% of the time. So yeah, none of the changes served any good purpose for the characters’ images. All it did was (try to) fill a quota.

Personally, this whole thing feels like we’re being told to the face, “we’ve given you what you want, now give us your money”. It brings me back to interviews I’ve read featuring Stars Align director Akane Kazuki and his statements about the anime industry being in a pinch, specifically because animators nowadays keep trying to make a fool out of the audience for monetary ends. Seems clear to me that the staff thought the female viewers would latch onto anything as long as it looked remotely gay, and that’s why I was so angry back then. Being looked down on like this by people who expect us to consume their media is pretty offensive, in my opinion. I’m glad there’s at least one creator speaking up about this matter and using the exact same arguments as I have been for more than two years now.

[semi-imaginary-place]

rewatching decadence

ep1: so... indoctrinating kids that they life their life in service to an upper class. also like, the way deca dence takes care of giant gadoll is to punch it like no giant sword or laser canon or anything just the power of a giant mountain sized fist. this show actually has some good foreshadowing from seeing Natsume from the perspective of Kaburagi’s hud, to Natsume’s dad (Muno) finding the Solid Quake logo at the beginning of the episode and the logo again being shown in the last shot at the announcement signs off with have a profitable day which is a weird public safety announcement but makes sense as a company slogan. I’m still not sure what the “TIME 1:00  POINT SE,07,G” means. I didn’t write it down last time because I was unsure of myself, but my first thought when the cyborgs showed up was VR chatroom for the upper class.

ep2: yeahs that’s totally an advertisement that plays right after natsume realizes the human costs of war as the tankers pay respects to the fallen. I realized what it was with the cartoony designs, the bright colors and patterns, the funky shapes of all the structures aboard the space ship, it looks like a tv show for toddlers. inoffensive and deliberately cheerful to distract from the horrors of a corporation owning your person. the eng subtitles are confusing here it should be “real death(simulation) awaits” in that the company is advertising being able to experience death but not have any of its permanent consequences as a feature of the game. The cyborgs are corporate wage slaves being compensated for their labor in company credits and the only other things we seen them do outside of work is play the company’s mmo, or recreational drugs. “I should be proud of my function and to be scrapped” as property of the company. aaaa that’s terrible. aaa. what are cyborg cores??? and why are they valuable. Solid Quake has no control over the core, only the cyborg’s housing. Is it that they cannot produce more? Considering the others on the team got executed for sentenced to an eternal forced labor camp with appalling conditions, Minato really did pull some strings for Kaburagi. ooh so “time until scrapping” and “operational limit near are two different warnings. the first is a general reminder of lifespan and the second is because oxyone levels are low. now its “TIME 20:00  POINT SE,05,I”. all those new gadoll events probably wreck havoc on the tanker economy. its 400c now and i think it was 500 for 2 earlier. First time through I wasn’t paying attention and totally thought kaburagi was an assassin, but no he’s just clean up crew. ahh yes, come spend you wages at the company run stores. micro transactions... wait so where were people getting the number 13 from?

ep3: ah yes Solid Quake charges to use the media center, truly a micro transaction hell. Natsume’s character arc is about whether to push herself or not. Here Fei acts as part of a continuing dialectic saying that Tankers have no place outside of Deca-Dence, that sooner of later Natsume will die from it, and once again highlighting Natsume’s right arm. In the other level of this though, tankers shouldn’t go outside because that’s not their role in the solid quake mmo, and those who would disrupt the mmo are killed. I like how you can see Kaburagi switch from videogame logic (oh she’s low level so let’s just stick her in the tutorial zone) to real life (what skills and experiences would help in fighting). So several corporations took advantage of desperate people to sell them a service that would augment them with mechanical parts. I get that pipe in a little outfit is funny, but does no one really realize its a gadoll, i meant natsume recognizes it instantly. like the scene where Natsume talks about her right arm, the anime does a good job of showing how her feeling about it are complicated. She’s lived with that arm for years, but it also hinders her sometimes, and people will comment about it. there’s this specific type of humor that pops up in this show and given how its the same joke, my guess is that its the same person behind it. The “joke” being that Natsume is put in a position that references sexual assault. The first is with fennel where she makes up an excuse of having to go see kaburagi to get away from him. And then there’s this episode. There’s also a few stray lines here and there that alarm me in that they imply Natsume has dealt with the threat of assault before. Since they didn’t do anything meaningful with this, I’d rather it just not be there. Minato is in on the secret of Pipe’s existence and by the way the two talk, they’ve called each other before in the last 7 years. Its good to know that Kaburagi wasn’t JUST brooding for 7 years and that the two of them stayed in contact.

ep4: Natsume after having gained confidence in herself takes down several gadoll and earns her place in The Power. Its a fulfilling payoff after seeing her train for several episodes. Natsume is where she always wanted to be, fighting gadoll in the Power. gahh It really is a patch release trailer. Ohh so I assumed that the other structures on the cartoon earth were other corporations, but in this episode we see one of them (the white and red striped cone thing opposite the deca-dence dome) and the cyborgs there are talking about the game (MMO LARPing lol), so either Solid Quake owns multiple of those structures, or these cyborgs are customers not owned by Solid Quake and playing of their own volition. that would makes the cone cyborgs where solid quake is deriving its profit from since its not like it pays its workers. reading comments online, a lot of people missed that because a ranker was found to be cheating (mikey), the rankings were abolished. In the present time, gears/players are not ranked. Ah so Kaburagi was transferred to the maintenance department from the warrior department. Wow reassignment is so much better than the poop jail. I remember it being said, armor repair, doctor, and weapon shop could be employee(cyborg) run so I wonder if the medics and that one armor shop guy are tankers or not. So this anime already snuck in a sex joke with the when the poop gang swapped kaburagi’s avatar with a sex toy, so i wonder if the safetyprivatemode was made so that the mods wouldn’t have to listen to robot sex. I really wish this show could have had 24 episodes. The trend for the past 20 years has been shorter and shorter shows so I know it would have been likely impossible to get the clearance and funding for 24 eps but oooh in som alternate universe maybe... i brought up fleshing out minor characters and character relationships before but there also stuff like Natsume’s right hand almost clamping on ... Mindy? Which usually would be a narrative flag but is completely dropped because of the episode limit. And the confidence Natsume gained last episode come to work against Kaburagi trying to keep her from the suicide mission. Its only from this point on that Kaburagi starts to really change, as of this point he is still a loyal cog to a machine that does not care about him. Kaburagi and Natsume in the 2nd half of the episode continue the same dialectic that runs through the whole of the show, about giving up and learning to try again, about pushing your limit, about why someone bothers trying. On the collectivist versus individualist spectrum, Deca-Dence is on the individualist side with assertions of the importance for deciding for yourself what you will do with your life. Its an interesting counterpoint to The Twilight Mirage (Friends at the Table) which I am currently listening to in that The Twilight Mirage is a western production and strongly collectivist with one of the antagonist being sort of kind of an embodiment of independence/individualism while japanese works as a whole tend to be more about the whole over the individual than western ones. Kurenai talking about why she fights is very good and very important for 2 reasons, first it help flesh out not only her but offer a very needed other opinion on what its like to live as a Tanker, second it segues nicely into Natsume’s memories of her dad telling her about the outside world and him being the only one to believe she can do it (fight in The Power) as contrasted with flashbacks of all the other characters telling her she can’t. This culminates in Natsume gathering her resolve to fight not because of something grand like changing the world or the fate of humanity, but something very personal scale: changing herself and proving to herself that she can do it. The is also the climax of her character arc, the point of no return.

ep5: If last episode was natsume’s point of no return, then either this episode or episode 7 is Kaburagi’s. Rationally speaking, the optimal scenario would have been for Kaburagi to stall long enough for the Tankers to escape before pulling back himself, but emotionally and narratively, there’s no way he couldn’t. After all the build up of deciding for yourself how to live and pushing your limits. Its appropriate that here in defense of the girl that inspired him to live and choose for himself rather than just continue existing in the default of what Solid Quake demands of him, that Kaburagi chooses to release his operational limiter (literally pushing him limit) and derail the company’s plans. How did no one realize purple dude was breaking imprisonment to play on a hacked avatar. Like he’s still as purple and bloodthirsty as ever. He acts and speaks the same. Someone would have totally seen him and gone “eyyyyy [i forgot this guy’s name] is back” and talked to people about it and someone should have heard. So I remember reading comments from various idiots who were mad because they mistakenly thought the anime took place in a virtual space and that Natsume was made of lines of code. And first off even if that was true there’s a difference between objective reality and the lived experiences of a person and what’s to say her experiences and emotions would be any less real than yours. And second, did everyone forget The Hunger Games? Like its just another game that plays with real lives and doesn’t care who gets killed. Solid Quake is just using humans as a stage prop. Man this episode is jam packed. Its like getting punched in the face 4 times. The pacing of the last 4 minutes was really good. The quiet scene as dawn breaks acts in direct contrast to the high energy of the Stargate takedown that preceded it. After time and against not listening to him, Minato still calls Kabu to check in with him. There’s also his certainly that it was Kaburagi that saved the Deca-Dence mech (i need to be clearer when I’m talking about the physical fortress city mech, the mmorpg game, or the deca-dence system itself). And then when the world state gets reset is just so good because it make it clear that the gadoll were never the true enemy. The tankers could kill as many gadoll as they want and nothing would change. Kaburagi’s at an interesting point here, in that he’s no longer in a state of having given up like he was in episode 1 just waiting to die and following along with Solid Quake’s orders, as of this episode he has deliberately gone against the company’s rules, and yet he’s still believes that nothing will actually change. He’s broken a rule and resigned himself to punishment instead of say for example getting rid of the punishment all together. He’s still a good little employee that hasn’t rebelled against the system. And then the “Take care of Pipe” and Natsume turns around and he’s already gone, is sooo good. The final shot too of his avatar face down in the snow! The “This world needs bugs” is in direct contrast to Hugin/Fugin(?) repeating that this world must be rid of bugs, and the same phrase Kaburagi repeated 7 years ago when he was transferred to the Maintenance Department instead of being killed. I wonder how much the cyborgs feel in their original bodies  vs. how much they feel in their Gear avatars. Kaburagi doesn’t seem to care about food and no food stalls were shown in the Gear area so maybe they doesn’t have much sense of taste? The avatars also have a lessened sense of pain. And then the limit release sequence shows connections increasing between the two bodies so does it make the cyborgs more attuned with the avatar’s senses?

ep6: eh so this is another example of what I mean when I say some of the humor in this show is in bad taste. They probably put the oxyone port where the ass would be just to make this joke. But this is better then doing to it Natsume. The animators even had a gleam censor for the over where the capsule was inserted as if it wasn’t obvious enough what it was suppose to look like. Spurned on by the the promise that one day if they work hard and behave (”rehabilitated”), the cyborgs will get let out when in actuality its a forced labor camp so that Solid Quake can squeeze just a little more labor our of the cyborgs for even less compensation. The cartoony style here helps offset just how horrific there working conditions are. And Kaburagi still the good little employee (iiko) tries his hardest to play by the rules and win. Except in this game, there is no “win’ written into the rules. So finally he is forced to move outside of the system Solid Quake has made. I still can’t believe they let Donatello keep the gun... Maybe cyborg cores are brains. In 5.5 Kaburagi’s core is in the top half of his metal case, and Donatello’s is also in his head. I’m still not sure what that sequence where Kaburagi takes the head fin and an image of a cyborg core is overlayed, means.