#I’m on chapter 92 of a manga I’m not even sure I like that much

[superbattrash]

It’s been. Nine and a half hours. Pups are both fast asleep on me might I add

Please. Someone make the parents come to their senses and take my sister home. I have to be in the inner city at 9am tomorrow and I need at least 3 hours to rewind after being in someone else’s home, no matter how amazing it is

I don’t wanna pressure her to come home when she’s already stressed but oh my god, please, for the love of everything, let her come home within the hour

[makeste]

BnHA 326: What’s up Kids, It’s Me, Your Old Pal Stain

Previously on BnHA: Ochako shamed the U.A. Clown Mob into letting Deku go back inside his own fucking school by giving them an hour-long speech about how not to be humongous dickheads. Kouta and Gigantic Fox Lady saved the manga by being the only ones brave enough to give Deku a hug. Shouto was all “man, all this togetherness sure does remind me of that promise you made that we would handle Touya together which you immediately bailed on, doesn’t it, Dad.” Aizawa was all, “for the one and a half people out there who thought that my losing an eye and a leg might actually make me less sexy, I’m very happy to prove you wrong.” All Might was all, “[standing outside the U.A. fortress alone in the rain talking to someone or something??].” Like seriously, what was up with that though.

Today on BnHA: All Might is all “here I am in Kamino having a belated mid-life crisis because Deku abandoned me and I’m a terrible mentor and everything sucks and I hate myself.” Stain is all, “don’t make me come over there and give you a ten page speech about why you’re still the goat while menacingly holding you at swordpoint the entire time” because idk if you knew this guys, but Stain is pretty crazy actually. Anyway so he does that, and then All Might gets all emotional, and then the lady from chapter 92 shows up and gives All Might’s statue an encouraging pep talk, and then Horikoshi is all “and it even stopped raining lol can you believe this shit I’m not even a little bit subtle,” and he really isn’t. But I still got emotional anyway, because seeing people reassure All Might that everything he’s struggled for his entire life hasn’t been in vain just got to me okay. Horikoshi knows I am weak to the All Might feels and he just goes for the jugular every time, that bastard.

lmao. “in the neverending downpour, All Might is...” yeah, thank you, glad we’re getting right to that then

“All Might is driving 95 mph in his busted ass car in the pouring rain, is what he’s doing.” huh

so basically a day or two after his adopted child refused to accept the handmade bento that he packed with love, my man is out here acting like he’s got nothing to live for anymore. this sure bodes well for certain prophecies on which the clock is still ominously ticking down

his fucking face though omg. is it weird that I’m kind of hoping more people ambush him just because I think it’d be funny to see them get their asses kicked like the last bunch

(ETA: or maybe he will just stand there openly not giving a fuck and basically daring them to stab him!! get it together please All Might.)

side note, “anti-hero supporters” is such a strange way of saying “people who hate heroes”, which I’m assuming is what they actually wanted to say?? this makes it sound like it’s a group that really loves antiheroes. “these Hannibal stans have been a real menace lately. time to go deal with them”

ha ha ha, fucking ouch

are you really gonna do it Horikoshi you bastard. are you really going to let that be the final encounter between the two characters whose relationship you once described as the vertical axis of the entire fucking story. are you really gonna?? huh??

huh

you’re telling me you were driving 112 mph and you still didn’t get there in time. you’re losing your touch old man. lol Todo’s ice is almost fully melted already, how late were you

(ETA: so apparently this is taking place after the end of chapter 325, meaning he went to U.A., hung out for a bit, saw the kids come back with his bedraggled half-dead protégé in tow, watched as they shamed the civilians into some long-overdue character development, and then was all “welp, time to go argue with the hero-hating faction or something because I’m feeling useless.” and Edge just let him go, just like that. though to be fair I have to imagine it’s pretty hard to say no to All Fucking Might.)

also belated lol at the fact that the kids were all “yeahhhhhhh we are definitely not gonna touch that thing, let’s just leave it here, he doesn’t need it anyway.” probably the right call to make since they couldn’t get a hazmat team on such short notice

fuck. ha ha ha fucking ouch part two

All Might please put that thing down before you get gangrene. also yeah, you dropped the ball, good for you to acknowledge it. nobody’s perfect and you did your best. but yeah you could have handled a lot of things completely differently. but I still love you

is Horikoshi really putting this flashback here. are you serious. what kind of fucking sadist

look, I swear I’m not one of those people that runs up and down the street shouting “DEATH FLAG!!” at every third panel lol. but this shit screamed Death Flag when we originally got it, and it’s screaming DEATH FLAG!!! even more now. like with the capital letters and exclamation marks and all. and that’s just a fact. I don’t like it but that’s how it is

ffkdjslk

“DID YOU READ THE SIGN??!” Horikoshi asks while zooming in maniacally because he thinks we’re blind or something. lol what

-- though actually, it only just occurred to me that this sign is actually written in English. I never really paid attention up until now and had been assuming it was written in Japanese and translated by the scanlators, but the writing here is clearly part of the original image. anyway so maybe that’s why he’s zooming in?? just to make sure everybody pays attention lol

okay fuck this

see, this is the whole problem right here. once again All Might is all on his own. Deku’s self-destructive angst spiral was fortunately brought to a grinding halt because he actually has support from his friends and family and teachers and classmates. but All Might never had that same kind of support, and it’s made all the difference between the two of them, and not in a good way. Katsuki wasn’t wrong when he said All Might and Deku were both cut from the same cloth. but now when it’s All Might’s turn to go all “I WALK A LONELY ROAD~~” once again, there’s nobody in sight

just, after forty plus years of him carrying this torch, I just wish someone would finally come along to let him know he doesn’t have to. all those things that he wanted to say to Deku are also things that he needs and deserves to hear himself. Aizawa was making a little progress there, but now he’s got his sad zombie cloud boyfriend situation to deal with, and we can’t expect him and his perfect hair to solve all our problems. someone else has gotta step up

oh my god

“you rang?” never mind I take it all back sob

omg why am I laughing. shit

this man truly has the best PR game in the series. we were truly convinced he was gonna suddenly become a good guy and defend All Might against the other villains or some nonsense. as if this wasn’t the same man who decided on a whim that Iida Tensei deserved to be paralyzed, and that his fifteen-year-old brother deserved to die for daring to be upset about it

lol even All Might is all “I genuinely never saw this coming” lmao

just want to say, for the record, I have always harbored a very sensible hatred toward Stain. feeling very vindicated right now. good job Past Me

adsfklwkfsdwgkj

ffffwefjslkg. ghsdlkg. dsfkkkslkjldwkjrg

STAIN: heard you talking shit old man

ME: smh that’s what I thought you’d say you dumb fucking Stain

STAIN: how dare you talk about All Might that way

ME: gljfljgk

(ETA: in hindsight I have no idea how I didn’t clue in sooner that he didn’t recognize him -- or, well, ~didn’t recognize~ him, to be more accurate lol. I think it was the whole “is that a slight against the heroes?” thing that threw me. Viz’s translation makes it much clearer that he’s offended on behalf of All Might specifically, not heroes in general. anyways.)

sob. so All Might is all “yeah I don’t blame you for not recognizing me in this sweet leather jacket”

good thing he still knows how to do this party trick

A+ reflexes on Stain’s part presumably pulling the sword back a few inches to keep this dumbass from impaling himself with his whole pufferfish routine. can you imagine if that was the gruesome death Nighteye foresaw. and he was just too embarrassed to say anything

lol anyways guess I was wrong about Stain everyone

way to fucking go, Past Me. you really biffed this one

oh wait

Stain sure is one wacky rollercoaster ride

oh fuck me lol I forgot how much I did not miss this

(ETA: “this here is the sacred ground where All Might gave up the last of his power and turned into a shriveled old man!! please ignore the part where I admit to knowing all about that, and yet pretend not to recognize said man when he’s standing two feet in front of me.”)

Past Me, I know we’ve had our ups and downs these past ninety seconds, but I’m really starting to think you were on to something. this dude has always been kind of insufferable. always acting like his high horse is a fucking giraffe when it’s actually a Shetland pony

dammit now he’s got All Might going off on a depressed monologue

oh my god my heart

shit

why the fuck does that hit so hard. he became a hero because he couldn’t bear to just sit back and let bad things happen to people who didn’t deserve it. I mean that’s basically the same as every hero ever, right? so why does it still hit so fucking hard every single time though. what is it about seeing someone so determined to stand up for other people and fight on their behalf. it just never loses its impact no matter how many times I see that determination mirrored in so many of my favorite characters

“I wanted to make the world a better place.” omg. but you did, though. like seriously, I feel like people are always dogging on him for not being 100% perfect, and fandom really doesn’t give him enough credit for everything he still managed to accomplish. this man came of age at a time when Japan was by all accounts a total shitshow, and singlehandedly managed to bring about an era of peace that lasted for four fucking decades. can you imagine having peace for that long?? that’s longer than I’ve been alive. shit

and he gave people hope. he inspired them and protected them and made them feel safe. and no, he couldn’t save everyone, because he’s only one fucking dude (and also because the whole time AFO was also out there desperately working to undermine him so that he could keep preaching his narrative of “heroes are bad actually”). but you know what he did do, is inspire multiple new generations of heroes who, if they can all manage to work together, will finally be able to accomplish everything he never could

so yeah. forty years of peace, and inspired the “that’s how we all became the greatest heroes” generation -- that’s a fucking win in my book. talk about having a net positive impact on the world. lol anyways now I’m all fired up and ready to fight anyone who tries to talk any shit about you, All Might

“but what if I talk shit about myself” okay listen up All Might I’m gonna need you to try just a little bit harder to work with me here okay. please calm down and stop blaming yourself for every single bad thing that’s ever happened in the world. do you remember that time Bakugou was blaming himself for Kamino, and you gave him a hug and told him it wasn’t his fault, and that he was only a boy, and that even though he was strong, even strong people can struggle with the burdens they place on themselves, and that you were sorry for not seeing that earlier? do you remember all of that? that’s what I want someone to tell you too, dammit. anyway please stop breaking my heart please and thanks

wtf

are you dead All Might

um

I don’t even have the slightest idea what’s happening lol

oh snap did he grab him so they could hide??

hold the fucking phone. don’t tell me this person in the background with the umbrella is here to actually do something decent??

oh my godddd

and here come the feels. oh boy. okay don’t mind me, I’m just gonna sit here sobbing over this fictional lady and her simple act of kindness in this weekly shounen manga that I care about way too much

FUCKING DAMMIT AND HERE’S A SECOND HELPING

DON’T MIND ME, I’M JUST GETTING DISPROPORTIONATELY EMOTIONAL OVER THIS WOMAN’S DETERMINATION TO HONOR A MAN WHO SACRIFICED EVERYTHING TO SAVE HER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS. I’M JUST HAVING SOME FEELS OVER HERE ABOUT HER HEARTFELT, DOESN’T-EVEN-KNOW-ANYONE-ELSE-IS-WATCHING FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE THAT COMPELLED HER TO COME OUT HERE AND MAKE THIS SMALL BUT POWERFUL GESTURE. I’M JUST OUT HERE GETTING ALL PROFOUNDLY WORKED UP ABOUT STATUE MAINTENANCE AND THE HUMAN RACE. NEVER MIND. JUST IGNORE ME AND CARRY ON

holy shit. I was not even remotely prepared. you can’t just do that to me. you can’t just leave all these death flags on my lawn and then suddenly shift gears to show me the best of humanity in a chapter where I was expecting the worst. that fucks a person up lol

OH ARE WE STILL GOING

my heart. you see that, All Might. your legacy is so much more powerful and meaningful than you think

...has. has Stain actually been giving All Might a pep talk this entire time

I give up lol. this dude is a fucking enigma

YAYYY

it may just be a metaphor panel, but I’ll take it lol. I missed them. nice to see the traffic light trio front and off-center. I know the whole “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes” thing had left some questioning whether certain characters would continue to play a central role in the narrative, and hopefully this will help to ease those concerns just a bit

anyway, so idk if it’s getting a bit chilly down there in hell, but damned if Stain didn’t just give an actual decent fucking speech

I have to say, earlier when I was whining about All Might not having a support squad, I really was not expecting Stain to be the one to come over and pat his head and reassure him that he made the world a better place

-- okay LISTEN

YOU CAN’T JUST COME INTO MY HOUSE AND HIT ME WITH THOSE ALL MIGHT TEARS AGAIN GODDAMMIT THIS ISN’T FAIR. my god. first 317 and now this

holy fucking shit

“I’m just gonna pretend like I haven’t been stalking him for two days and didn’t see the entire Deku bentogate thing go down, and then I’ll give him the whole big speech that I rehearsed, and then I’ll turn around and be all ‘BUT IF YOU’RE A TRUE HERO’, and then I’ll toss him the super-secret AFO wifi password that I stole from Tartarus. god I’m such a badass. fucking give myself chills”

so basically what you’re telling me is that this whole time my “what’s up kids” characterization of Stain from this shitpost has actually been 100% accurate. just want to make sure I’m understanding this right. okay then

“and then I’ll dramatically spin around and be all NOW COME KILL ME BITCH”

it must be so much fun to write Stain. drawing this coked-out maniac who talks like a chatbot that was trained to speak by reading Alan Moore monologues. that must be a trip

anyway so All Might is still crying, the awesome lady from chapter 92 is admiring her handiwork totally oblivious to the batshit insanity going on fifty meters to her right, and it’s finally stopped raining lol

“THE RAIN WAS A METAPHOR YOU SEE” yes, yes, we got it lol. thanks for that Horikoshi. don’t think we needed any help putting the pieces together on that one but I appreciate the effort

so that’s the end! and as I mentioned in another post, I had the count off by one chapter, but next week should be cliffhanger week! so break out your U.A. Traitor bingo cards, friends and fiends. either that or something else happens that I’m completely not expecting at all. which, based on my success rate with Stain predictions, I’d say is more than likely lol

mmm but anyway, so now that the Hug Deku 2021 campaign has finally come to an end, what’s it gonna take to get a hug for my struggling bento-preparing jacket-rocking world-weary death-flag-waving husband who is the worthiest man to ever live and deserves the fucking world, goddammit

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review, ch (92-93)

That was painful & so well-written! This analysis will focus on kyokyo mainly & faintly on her effect on kyo. Although, her story affects tohru’s life immensely, I won’t analyze tohru’s part & will wait until it’s a tohru’s chapter to use the knowledge of kyoko’s past to better read tohru’s mind & understand her decisions! Can’t wait! after all, that’s why I’ve read the manga to begin with!

-Kyoko’s Atonement:  (the weight of words):

 Kyoko breaks down after she learns she’s expecting. Why? cuz she hurt her mom. The notion that “yeah my parents caused me emotional trauma & so I’mma hurt them as well” is toxic & burdening as it starts a cycle of pain. Kyoko was right. She had no idea how her mom felt seeing her rebel, or follow violence or hear her harsh words. I’m not cleansing the mom from guilt nor responsibility. I’m just saying since the mom’s pov is blocked from us, assuming shes similar to the dad is wrong. kyoko’s fear of being punished with a child similar to herself is genuine, realistic & refreshing to see expressed in anime! usually character like kyoko are cool & brave, but here she’s humanly weak & doubtful. LOVE IT!

Moreover, in furuba words weigh on ppl & have consequences. We see this with kyo. His dad destroyed him verbally with words “ not my fault, it’s yours” that kyo echoes back to yuki! meaning the consequences of the dad’s words cause harm to his wife, kyo & even yuki!. Kyo was tormented with his own words for long time & clung to them even more in order not to resort to suicide! “ not my fault, it’s the rat’s” . Words can crush you down so bad if you hear them from loved ones, & worse if you utter them back to other loved ones! here kyoko learned that just the mere thought of her future child echoing her words back to her would torment her to death! Excellent writing!

-Katsuya invented Furuba’s vision (Accepting weakness & moving on):

The teachings of kyoko & tohru were really katsuya’s after all. I’m fne with that. These teachings are the core of Furuba’s vision. He tells kyoko to accept that she’s weak, afraid & doubtful. it’s okay. But gives her tools to move on. Your kid isn’t you. They’re an individual person. As parents all we can do is give love/hugs (sth kyoko’s parents didnt do), listen to them (sth yuki’s parents didnt do) & if they do sth wrong will explain it & teach them well (sth kyo’s parents didn’t do, his wrong deed was being born a cat spirit & he was hated for it with no explanation, mom gave lots of “fake” love & escaped by death, dad became a raging monster). Accepting weakness & moving on is what the cursed sohmnas needed to do to heal & what tohru taught them. Off course, tohru herself struggled to follow her own teachings & that’s amazingly realistic!

-Kyoko’s guilt (punishment brings ease):

Kyoko wanted to be punished so harsh for her husband’s death. The gossip got to her. She failed him as a life’s companion. Taking care of our loved ones is a duty we carry with much love & care. Them slipping away is perceived as us failing by none than ourselves. The thing is, death comes with no warning at times. It was his time to leave. Accepting it or not, wont bring him back, but accepting it will help kyoko deal with pain while not accepting will cause more pain for her & tohru.

One of the most painful things abt grief is that it’s personal. Life continues around you. Only you feel it.  “didn’t the world end when katsuya died��. No kyoko. Only you died emotionally. Only him died physically. Kyo once said “ mom why didn’t you kill me instead”. A different reaction to grief, guilt & pain, but same conclusion: neither katsuya nor kyo’s mom are coming back no matter how much pain kyo or kyoko felt.

Kyoko found ease in emotional death, neglecting & refusing life, punishing herself for staying after him.

kyo found ease in rage & blaming others as he his father did, later he’ll escape to emotional & physical slow death “ cat cage/confinement”.

tohru... found ease in pretending "I’m okay” & her mom is alive.. but not physically.. emotionally, so she’ll ignore the truth & live only for her.

Didn’t I say grief is harsh, weird & very very personal. It’s hard to explain, deal with & heal. The mere words of consolation hurt cuz the grieving ones dont want to accept loved one are really gone. Her dad’s harsh words cemented the “emotional death” that kyoko felt. I’m not needed. neither katsuya. nor parents in general. depression. misery. sadness. emptiness.

-The tv show helped to trigger kyoko’s desire to “meet” katsuya. She has already reached the conclusion that she isnt needed. So, the tv show with their words of the deceased wanting you to be happy. triggered her into misinterpreting the words as to mean her death NOT fuel her to live in his memory as intended.

- “Loosing your way first before finding your answer” is okay & so human!:

Ironically..Tohru... was the person Kyoko was punishing NOT herself: By being emotionally dead, kyoko neglected her daughter. Her world shouldnt be just one person. There are others. Katsuya himself gave her a person to love. Tohru. Kyoko chose death & unintentionally set tohru into a world of loneliness 10 times harsher thsn what kyoko faced. She was about to do, but was saved by a nameless child who reminded her of tohru. She chose wrong first but later saw her answer. Kyo chose death by accepting the confinement & he, too, unintentionally set tohru into a world of loneliness 10 times harsher if he wasnt with her. He chose wrong first but later saw his answer. Off course kyo’s story is more developed & complicated as he dealt with bigger issues than just tohru & his answer wasn't just loving tohru alone but also loving himself & choosing to live for them both: himself & tohru.

-Kyo’s guilt is a concussion thought eating him alive:

Part of why kyo’s story was one of the most human & complex is due him loosing his way first, failing, repeating mistakes “ I always though that hurting ppl was the only thing I was good at, after all, isnt that why mom died?” Kyo’s nightmare being a conscious effect of hearing tohru’s talk abt “ videos & memories of loved ones” is 1000 times stronger & more human than a cliche effect of seeing a “ hat” & to revive a a blocked memory... What the hell!! truly disgusting how the emotional weigh is reduced for stupid cliche drama !!!!!! ..

Anyway, kyo actively & consciously wanted punishment .He was sure that kyoko blamed him” I wont forgive you” can only mean what it literally means. The purpose of the nightmare is to cause kyo to seek “ emotional death” like kyoko & to loose his path more. It is meant to prepare kyo to refuse tohru even more. Therefore, the pay off at the climax will be better & stronger.

Reading kyo’s inner thoughts will never not be refreshing!!! Also, the slow burn is cooked on low , hot fire , so the pay off will be the most delicious there is!

Side Notes:

I’ve stated my feelings regarding the age gap between kyoko & katsuya in last chapter’s preview post. I’m done with it & won’t let it interfere with my analysis of kyoko nor tohru.

The idea of just being together as a fun hanging out activity without being bothered much of where reminds ms so much of kyo & tohru!! we see them being happy together in the anime in kazuma’s house, shigure’s rooftop, cooking pancake in the kitchen! I really like this domestic feel of romance! it contradicts the notion of expensive restaurant with the girl wearing a breathtaking dress to woo the guy for it to be utterly romantic as we see in movies, & other stories.

NGL, katsuya looked sexy waiting home.. damn it! >_<

I cried watching tohru between her parents, how they acted & how loved she was! T_T. it reminded me of my niece How her dad’s death affected her! She was the apple of his eyes.. T_T.

Tohru is indeed a rice ball! her dad gave her a masculine name while tohru is so feminine! his reasoning is “finding salty taste in sweet things make the taste better & stronger, kinda giving it a hidden flavour”, the rice ball has a pickle inside it & it’s what makes the taste so savory & delicious!

Grandpa’s “ chance meetings could lead to variety of outcomes, good or bad” YES! kyo/tohru/yuki meeting each other by chance. Fiction make it look weird, but trust me, real life has those by dozens!

“ i wonder how lost you’ll be, how much time you’ll need to get your answer”. He will screw up so bad, kyoko! it will be so good! one of the best screw up’s I’ve seen! so painful for him & tohru & amazingly written!

Kyo’s nightmare being connected to him remembering/dreaming of kyoko’s story is bigger effect than opening the ep with it & having the cause be sth that happened last ep, a week ago... the effect is NOT the same.

Momiji is so cute!!! did his curse break here or not yet? he seemed as tall as tohru.

Writing tohru worried abt kyo after seeing him pale is the tohru I know!! Not that stupid girl who watches the guy she loves have a panic attach in se3, ep6, then goes in ep 7...” dahhhh.. Jeez.. I duno why kyo is sleeping until now.. better laugh & make cute rice cakes” giggle giggle...That scene got me so furious even when I first saw it!! THIS IS NOT TOHRU! tohru cried for a stupid story that haru told abt puppets!! she’ll forget the person she challenges herself for is sick?! ugh!

I love seeing yuki & kyo chill & cool around each other.

Kyoko being fully dependent on katsuya can be a factor in her grief, but I’ve seen cases where both partners are independent but still be completely broken after the others’ death. Grief isn’t logical at all & is extremely personal.

[the-bejeesus]

Shueisha What You Doing

    So everyone knows about, or ought to know about, the daily global character rankings that are going on right now. You can cast a vote every day and Shueisha tweets about the results.

Something you might already know is that the images they use in these rankings are hecking clean. And I don’t just mean the cropping. I’m also talking the image quality. Notice how you can see tone sheets in Shank’s hair in the top one, but not in the bottom one. This is because amazon.co.jp releases e-books at a standard (and rather low-res) resolution. The resolution Shueisha colors the manga is much higher. We already knew this because of the Vivre Card databooks

      Anyways I was downloading all of these images that I could. I thought it would be fun to use them to make cool pfp images (or even just release make the backgrounds transparent so that other people can do the rest. But then I noticed something:

MORGAN YOU SON OF A BITCH

THAT WAS NOT YOUR HECKING COLOR SCHEME

Same goes to you, Dragon!

So now I’m out here thinking to myself “hey what’s going on here?”

There are two possibilities going on here:

1) The color scheme used in the global ranking is based on an older version of the colored volumes.

This wouldn’t be the first incident like this. I’ve already discussed how chapter 714 and 761 had early colored releases, and got many, many color schemes wrong along the way.

so this wouldn’t really be big news if that’s what’s going on here.

2) Shueisha is intentionally retcon-ing their earlier volume releases. They may be planning to even go back and revise them.

Now this is the possibility that would indeed be big news. And it also has precedent.

When early volumes were colored, the SBS corners where just changed from black to brown. Not much of a “colorization” tbh, but also not a big deal. As long as the main chapters get colored.

But then, to many’s surprise, they went back and colored them.

So it’s entirely possible that older colored volumes have been revised to have the new color schemes showcased in this Global Ranking.

-

To be quite frank, I’m not sure which possibility I want to be true. Probability 1) is the most likely, but also the most boring. Probability 2) is exciting, but also a hassle. It mean that many fan translations would have to be redone all over. It would also mean that the legal owners of the colored manga who rip them so that we can view them and make fan translations will have to constantly check all 92 colored volumes for unannounced revisions.

[passmeabook]

Servamp: A Mother’s Face

I’m just going to refer to Mahiru’s mother by my own personal headcanon name of Shirota Haru because continuously writing Mahiru’s mother gets tedious after a while.

Shirota Haru to me is a fascinating character. She’s the mother of our protagonist, but we really don’t know much about her. Not her real canon name, not her inner opinions, and not even her perspective.

She’s an often unseen character who’s had much influence over Mahiru and his decisions. Yet, we rarely if ever see her face. This is important because in the manga Mahiru is usually the POV character, and despite the fact that he should know what his mother’s face looks like in his memories her face is either shadowed or not shown at all. The only time Shirota Haru’s face appears fully is when an external factor beyond Mahiru’s control causes him to feel strong emotions. Mahiru has never shown us, the readers, her full face from his POV without the influence of another person.

Hypothesis:

Mahiru actively blocks out the memories of his mother because he feels survivors guilt among other negative emotions about her death.

With the Ch. 97 raws it seems like there was a child’s hand in front of the car from Mahiru’s memories. Perhaps he accidentally ran into the road and his mother saved him at the cost of her own life? In the anime too we are shown a car accident that seems to be her cause of death.

Ch. 24: Tears

In this chapter we see the face of Mahiru’s mother clearly for the first time ever. Mahiru’s memories of her are brought upon by Licht playing on his piano-lead. Mahiru did not choose to remember his mother voluntarily. Licht’s piano brought up the memories of her. Since Lawless himself is also shown remembering Ophelia in this chapter we can guess that the music is supposed to bring up the memory of your most cherished and beloved person. In this case Haru for Mahiru and Ophelia for Lawless. We can only speculate who Kuro was seeing when the music played, but it's likely The Creator.

Since Lawless had regrets about Ophelia’s death and Kuro had regrets about The Creator’s death we can speculate that Mahiru himself also has regrets over his mother’s death. Ophelia and The Creator’s deaths devastated Lawless and Kuro beyond words. It is not a nice comparison for Mahiru to share this similarity.

Ch. 68: So That We Won’t Become Lonely

In Ch. 68 we see the face of Mahiru’s mother once again. Reaching out to Mahiru to hold his hand as they walk. I once again believe that the reason we see her face is because of an influence external of himself e.g. Tsurugi who interferes and enters Mahiru’s mind in the previous chapter 67. If you look closely you’ll see that the way Tsurugi enters Mahiru’s mind by standing on the ceiling is the same way Mahiru entered Inner!Kuro’s rose mindscape in Ch. 92. In Ch. 67 Inner!Kuro himself tells Mahiru that someone’s thoughts are intercepting his and calls mini-Tsurugi an intruder.

I think it’s important to realize that Tsurugi is the force that prompts Mahiru to remember Haru’s face. Because if you go back to the Ch. 67 chapter you’ll see that Mahiru and Haru had a colored introduction, but the top part of Haru’s face is shadowed. 

Continuing further on in Ch. 67 and we come to find out from Inner!Kuro remarks that they are inside Mahiru’s mind. Inner!Kuro pulls up a few memories that seem to be related to the topic of Haru and her death, and Mahiru becomes agitated at seeing them.

Even Inner!Kuro in Mahiru’s own mind couldn’t make Mahiru see her face. The scene above takes place right before mini-Tsurugi shows up.

Ch. 79: Touma Taishi- The Tower

We see Haru’s face come to Mahiru’s mind when Touma is giving him a run down of “The unjust conditions which you cannot choose.” It is only when Touma mentions “Parents” that Mahiru’s face changes as he remembers his mother. If you look closely you’ll see the picture of her is the same as in Ch. 68. Mahiru once again sees her face clearly because of someone else; in this case Touma.

Ch. 86: The Requirements of a Hero

This is currently the last time we see the face of Shirota Haru clearly. Again the reason we see her face is because of external factors beyond Mahiru’s control e.g. Toru being grievously wounded by Tsubaki and Iori bringing up the topics of heroes. Iori tells him, “It’s the fact that they will surely come back smiling… Toru knows that.” Iori is talking about Toru in regards to heroes coming back home and that Toru is Mahiru’s hero, but in the flashback Mahiru is shown to be thinking of his mother coming back home smiling. To Mahiru his mother is his hero.

Also the face Mahiru makes. It’s almost exactly like the one in Ch. 96 when he’s having his breakdown in the shower thinking about Toru.

Conclusion:

The topic of his mother is a sensitive one for Mahiru. Excluding Ch. 68, where Haru appears as some mixture between a memory and a sort of dreamscape being, all the times Mahiru remembers his mother are when he is his current age of 16-years-old. Just look at the faces he makes: Ch. 24 where he is literally crying, Ch. 79 where he has this shocked look on his face, and Ch. 86 where he just outright does not look good.

From what I’ve seen these four times in the manga are the only times that the face of Shirota Haru is shown clearly to the viewer. Other times her face is covered in shadows or only the bottom half of her face is visible to the viewers. 

I headcanon her name as Shirota Haru because we’ve never been given one for her, but I’m willing to bet that the chapter where Mahiru lets go of whatever negative feelings, such as survivors guilt, that he has about his mother’s death is the chapter where not only will Mahiru, and by extension us the readers, see her face clearly but allow us the readers learn her real canon name.

The other route for us to learn more about her is from either Touma, Iori, or Toru. Toru is her brother who grew up with her and also seems to know a secret about Mahiru’s birth, Touma is the biological father of her child and since both managed to keep their relationship a secret from Toru he probably knows a side of her that’s different from what Toru knows, and Iori would know her in passing as Toru’s sister and if she worked in C3 in any way. Iori also just seems to give off the vibe that he knows a lot more than he lets on. His conversation with Mikuni in Ch. 72 is highly suspicious to me.

I do think that there is more to her death than a simple car accident, but I’m not quite sure what. I look forward to seeing what the manga reveals about her.

If we don’t get as many chapters dedicated to her as we did to Touma and his backstory I will be sorely disappointed.

Picture Sources:

Ch. 24: @pastenaga​

Ch. 67, 68, 72, 86, 92, & 96: @hello-vampire-kitty​

Ch. 97: @svpages

I apologize for any grammar mistake. I also apologize that I couldn’t figure out how to properly resize the pictures. I’m still very new to this.

[gofancyninjaworld]

How many of the webcomic to manga changes wold you say that are dedicated to making Psikos a bigger villian?

Oh so many! :D  Strap in, this is LONG!  There’s a 20 word summary at the end.

Webcomic to Manga: Villain Upgrade

I’ve been thinking that one of the big unspoken reasons most fictional villain plots fail is that if they don’t, the villain is left looking rather sheepish as they try to come to terms with what they’ve ‘won’ and the sparseness of their plans become clear.  In the webcomic, Psykos’s ‘Get Rid of Humanity’ plan was definitely of that nature.  It went:

Gather together strong monsters.

Have them attack heroes.

???

Humanity will collapse.

And then unluckily for them, the heroes happened to chance on their base before they had any concrete plans, but luckily, they had an accidental hostage so the hastily-gathered team of heroes went in one at a time…  If they had been able to get rid of the S-Class heroes who’d come, they’d be little better off.  A few dead heroes and?  What?  There’s more heroes.  The Hero Association is still there.  There are lots of human beings, many of whom could step up and become heroes themselves.  There’s still a well-organised civilization. 

evil intentions are all very well, but without a means to execute them, they’re not going far  (webcomic chapter 77).

NB: A lot of manga chapters got renumbered after chapter 84 was split. Where I know them, I’m writing them as (## online/ ## in-print).

Manga: An Actual Plan

A: A good base of operations

In the webcomic, why the Monster Association was where it was was never explained.  It was hand-waved as an underground industrial complex, that’s all. 

The manga starts by making it the previous habitation of the Subterraneans.  It’s incredibly huge, because it used to be a city housing thousands of inhabitants.  Murata and his assistants have been doing yeoman’s work fleshing out the place with excellent and varied architecture, murals, power, running water, and fittings all of which add believability to the idea.  We even get to find out what happened to the inhabitants in two particularly grisly chapters (chapters 99 - 100/102-3).

But being a well-built, well-hidden habitation isn’t the only reason for the monsters being where they are.  The Subterranean city might be well hidden but it was also very well-connected.  Some of those connections were thanks to Elder Centipede digging tunnels between places (chapter 85/86), but monsters could come and go between their base and every major city.   Finally, the Subterraneans were well-off and sophisticated because they’d built their city on a literal gold mine that was still being worked (chapter 126/?). 

ah, Mr. Unnamed Executive No. 12, you have no idea how important your question is (chapter 79).

B: Communications and Intelligence

Webcomic: which heroes ran into which monsters was purely a matter of chance.  The heroes just got really unlucky.

Manga: from the Day of Mayhem itself, the monsters that various heroes had to contend with seemed awfully… inconvenient.  We didn’t get confirmation until chapter (89/90), but Psykos had made sure to find the best-placed monsters for heroes, particularly the more troublesome A- and S-Class heroes.  Win or lose, how the battle went gave her information.  She continued to refine her plans all the way through the hero’s initial attack, going so far as to order low-ranking monsters to bring her up-to-the-minute information on the heroes.

Not only that, on the Day of Mayhem, she’d distributed pictures of key heroes and the high-value targets to the monsters so they knew exactly who to target at the places they were sent to (chapter 52, also see Face Ripper’s remarks in chapter 63).   

As we’re seeing, it’s paying off wonderfully in terms of most of the S-Class being quite effectively mangled by monsters they have no hope of defeating one-on-one (chapter 123/?).  Even Tatsumaki doesn’t look as invulnerable as she once seemed (chapter 128/?).

It is evident that a man can make no better decisions than the information on which it is based – Gyoro-Gyoro making clear the premium she places on up-to-the-minute information. (chapter 95/97)

C: Degrading the Enemy’s Capabilities

Webcomic: what’s that?

Manga: Psykos realised the value of launching an initial attack to spread as much confusion and weaken the humans as much as possible ahead of the major push. 

She started by attacking multiple cities in one go.  Because the base was well-connected, monsters could appear and disappear from everywhere in synchronicity (chapter 76), making it extremely difficult for any systemic defense to be made.

But respond they did, which meant that the monsters out on rampage got to take out as many heroes as possible. Every active hero has had to work very hard and the number who are tired and/or injured is very high.  The heroes weren’t helped at all by Garou’s hero-hunting activities (chapter 81) – thanks for nothing, Hero Hunter!

Recruiting strong people to become monsters.  Normally, it takes quite a while for a person to become a monster, but monster cells offered a cheap and dirty way to generate monsters.  In spontaneous monsterfication, a new being is created with a new limiter (see chapter 88/89), a being who can develop further as we find out with Rhino Wrestler (chapter 94/97), Phoenixman (chapter 98/101), and Orochi (chapters 127-8/?).  In contrast, monster cells exploited the human’s existing limiter and then made further growth impossible (explained in the chapter ‘Manhole’ chapter 92/94).  Recruiting strong people did two things.  First, it meant that they could get reasonably strong monsters in the first place (chapter 72).  Second, it meant that there would be fewer strong people available to be recruited as heroes in the future.

In the short term, it looks to have worked great:

sweet indeed are the uses of your enemy’s adversity. Good question, Drive Knight! (chapter 119/?).

D: Psychological Warfare

Webcomic: No use was made of this by Psykos.  The heroes pressured themselves to go in carefully to save the unnamed boy Royal Ripper had kidnapped, otherwise nothing.

Manga:  Oh ho ho ho, making the populace scared and not knowing which way to turn was a huge part of the plan.  The suddenness of the monster attacks and the way they totally overwhelmed the ability of hero and emergency services to respond. It’s resulted in ever-deepening doubts on the parts of civilians as to the ability of the Hero Association to protect them and even brought about short-term disorder.  Which is all to the good to actually eradicating humanity when the Monster Association moves to do so.

Using the heroes’ own natures against them.  Rather than having an accidental hostage, taking Waganma hostage was a way to both forestall the Hero Association simply bombing the Monster Association hideout and to force the heroes to go into the base to look for the child.  Even knowing it’s a trap. Even if they’d been ordered not to, it is in the nature of heroes to act heroically – they’d have gone in anyway.

Putting the Hero Association under intolerable pressure.  By breaking into the Hero Association to hand-deliver their ultimatum (chapter 79), Psykos brought both terror and insult directly to its executives.  Making them feel personally threatened narrowed the range of actions they were willing to consider.

Additionally, if the Hero Association had had any plans to keep Waganma’s kidnapping secret and persuade Narinki to accept that his son had to be sacrificed for the greater good, Psykos leaking that information to the press made that impossible.   If they didn’t save the kid of their biggest single sponsor, then what hope would anyone have that heroes would work to keep *their* children safe?

it wouldn’t have worked, but the idea of cooperating with monsters to forestall greater tragedy speaks volumes to how effectively people have been rattled (chapter 87/88)

E: A Means to Make Good on the Threat

Webcomic: This was the most pathetic part of her plan.  She had no way to make the Monster Association’s writ run. 

Manga:  Not only can the monsters get to every major city within a few hours from their base, but Orochi’s monster cells have been painstakingly harvested over a long period and nurtured.  Killing off the human population is huge ask, but once the Class S heroes were reduced, there wouldn’t just be more monsters everywhere at the same time. Those monsters would be rapidly making thousands more monsters to help kill the populace off.

Of course, things like the scientific equipment to culture monster cells cost money (and scientists too, if Phoenixman is to be believed).  Handy then, that they have a gold mine to fund such activities, eh? Gold is great – even when there’s a run on the banks, people will still exchange goods and services for it. As long as there’s work that useful human idiots can do, she has the means to pay for it.  Even stuff as simple as leaking adverse information to the press costs money.

Nor is she relying on Orochi alone. She had made lots more hyper powerful monsters that she could raise up as the next monster king in very short order (chapter 123/?).

Another huge change is her plans for Garou.  The webcomic, Psykos lost interest as soon as it seemed that Garou had turned on the monsters.  The manga, having Garou savaged by Royal Ripper and Bug God was all part of her plan to force his further development.   Even his breaking in to save Tareo fell in line with her plans.

the only thing better than not putting all your eggs in one basket is filling those baskets with bonus booby-traps (chapter 92/94).

F: Got Lucky

“I’d rather be lucky than good.” Vernon Louis “Lefty” Gomez (1908 – 1989) 

While the manga has done a great job of taking a lot of the random unlikely chance out of the story, still, Psykos has been damn lucky.  The manga makes it quite clear that Phoenixman wasn’t joking about the S-Class being an urgent threat to the monsters.  Through their exploits, we’ve really come to appreciate why the terminally-selfish monsters would see fit to gather together.  Nevertheless, there are a number of critical failings on the part of the heroes, the rectification of any of which would have made things very difficult for the Monster Association. Most of these missed opportunities didn’t exist in the webcomic.

Metal Knight made perfect the enemy of good and refused to cooperate at all if the Executive Board did not accept the entirety of his suggestion (chapters 80 and 89/91). Not even to share vital information like a map of the place or where the hostage was kept (chapter 97/100). [1]

Drive Knight had infiltrated the place ahead of time and not only had a fantastic map of the place, and the locations of the humans held captive,  but also detailed information about all the strong monsters in the base (chapters 118-9/?).  Just as he’d been able to use what he’d learned about Nyan to prepare both weapons and strategies to capture the monster, preparation would have given the heroes an edge the monsters wouldn’t have been able to overcome. [2]  But no, he hates and fears Metal Knight too much for that.

The mutual distrust goes further than bad blood between Drive Knight and Metal Knight. Thanks to Metal Knight’s cryptic warning about a traitor in the ranks, Child Emperor’s suspicions fell on Genos and unfortunately, Sekingar didn’t override the kid’s concerns to at least send a drone round to his residence to ask him to account for his actions of that morning (chapter 89/91).  Had they done that, several things would have happened. They would have had their fears allayed. Discovered the other missing S-Class heroes. Found a couple of very useful non-heroes. Learned about Saitama.  Bringing them into battle early would have meant the Monster Association would be history by noon.

No one forced Sicchi’s hand to make him call Blast already (chapter 85/86).  If Blast is 1/10th as strong as we think he is, his appearing on the battlefield would still have been morally and practically devastating to the monsters.

The heroes themselves are very poor at working together.  The Hero Association has never paid attention to the way pro-heroes organise themselves and have never tried to encourage anything like a formal leadership amongst heroes. While Class C heroes band together for their very survival, the higher up you go up in rankings, the more of a lone ranger heroes tend to be and it reaches its nadir in the S-Class. The leadership has never imagined that a situation that would force their most powerful heroes to work together could occur. Sicchi has thought about it, but even he has been lulled into complacency by the existence of Tatsumaki (chapter 123/?). [3]  Consequently, the S-Class have no actual leadership, bicker amongst each other, and are singularly confident in their individual abilities (chapter 93/95). [4] Had they been at least more cooperative, they might have elected to pair up when searching for the hostage, which would have made all the difference to their staying well and slaying monsters.

Two unforeseeable strokes of luck: Saitama and ‘God’.  First, Saitama, who carelessly punched out Orochi.  The resulting near-death experience allowed Orochi to come back stronger, in keeping with the explosive growth that some can see under such circumstances.  Secondly, God, who intervened to first, stop Psykos from getting eaten by Orochi and second, to grant them both incredible power.

Some of the points above (particularly point 5) are being addressed in the webcomic, but the results of the Hero Association losing status, heroes losing confidence and coherence will all be much better grounded when the manga gets to the aftermath of the Monster Association raid.

It’s interesting that good luck still has a large role to play in the manga.  But beyond that, the change between the webcomic and manga has been to give Psykos a massive upgrade in villainy, from wannabe to mastermind.

In 20 words: Psykos has been upgraded from two-bit megalomaniac to mastermind. Because a threat to all mankind deserves a great villain.

Extras

[1]  Flashy Flash may have been being rude to Tatsumaki, but his point about not needing as many heroes to conduct the rescue operation if they knew where to look stands (chapter 93/95).  Metal Knight’s given reasons for not helping – that telling the heroes would cost lives – really backfired here.

[2]  How much the lack of opportunity to prepare hurts their efforts is something Genos notes in chapter 122/?

[3]  In the extra chapter ‘Tatsumaki’s Day Off’, Tatsumaki notes to her handler that the Hero Association over-relies on her.  She might be a workaholic who can’t actually take time off, but she’s been absolutely right.

[4]  Not only have S-Class heroes not thought how to work together, they’re not even that sure of what exactly it is each other are good at.

[completeoveranalysis]

TRC Translation Notes Volume 12 (Chapters 83 - 90 + Omake)

The second dose of the new translation notes sent in by @giniroangou, now looking at Volume 12. 

Highlights include: fantastic closure on the names of the dragonflies, improved Fai and Kurogane banter, Tomoyo being boss, Kyle being extra, and justice for the Pretty Hair Detectives.

Chapter 83

p.6 - The story about the inventor of the maze (Meiro-san rather than Maze-san in the original text, since “meiro” is the Japanese word for maze/labyrinth) is a bit more ridiculous in the translation than it needs to be - rather than getting fed up with visitors “passing through” his bedroom (which raises some very strange questions) he just wanted to make sure that no one could reach his bedroom (which… perhaps raises other questions, but still makes a lot more sense.)

p.10 - The name of Ryuuou’s dragonfly, Ryuuga, is written as 龍牙, which means “dragon fang.”

p.18 - Ryuuou’s line after Syaoran saves him has been translated as, “You may have underestimated me, but you’re a good guy.” The original meaning of this was closer to, “You may be soft, but you’re a good guy.”

p.19 - Apparently this was pointed out by notpotable already, but there’s definitely a mistranslation when Tomoyo says, “The way he pilots his machine is very much like the one I know.” I would translate her line as a more general statement along the lines of, “The way that people pilot their machines truly does reflect who they are.” Of course, this is still in reference to Syaoran’s actions, but it becomes a broader observation as well.

p.24 - Fai’s “Syaoran” here was originally “Syaoran-kun,” as usual, but the Japanese wording of his line feels a little more casual overall. The translation has it as, “You couldn’t avoid that collision and still remain true to yourself,” which certainly got a lot of mileage in analysis, but the original line echoed something that you actually ended up saying in your post - “If you’d avoided that collision, you wouldn’t be Syaoran-kun, right?” In the end it’s the same idea, just with a slightly different nuance.

p.26 - Grosum’s dragonfly name is Legend, not Regent, which makes more sense in relation to his Jade counterpart (though what this references for Piffle World’s Grosum is anyone’s guess.) Chunyan’s dragonfly name, Renhi, is written as 蓮姫, meaning “lotus princess.”

Chapter 84

p.40 - The translation has Fai describe Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona as “children in the same family,” but in the Japanese version he just calls them “siblings.” <3

Chapter 85

p.60 - There’s a weird mistranslation of one of Mokona’s lines here - in the English version she talks about needing a water flow that would show the way, but her point in the original was that if they flew under the waterfall and all that water dumped on top of them they wouldn’t be able to fly anymore.

Chapter 87

The title of this chapter was translated as, “A Banquet of Laughter,” but it should actually be, “A Banquet of Smiles.” While Japan does have an identical word for both “laughter” and “smile” (笑い/warai), in this case the word used is “egao” (笑顔) which purely refers to smiling.

p.90 - Something went terribly wrong here and I’m laughing - in his explanation about Raigyo, Yamazaki is translated as saying that they’re only 3 centimeters when they’re fried, but the word the translator took that from is “fry,” meaning young fish rather than fried fish. So basically they’re small when they’re still young.

p.91-92 - There were a lot of mistranslations between Kurogane and Fai here that completely changed the tone of their conversation. Instead of saying that Kurogane is all better now and he should wave too, Fai points out that Kurogane chose not to bind up his hand despite the severity of his injury, and is complicit in helping him hide it (at the top of the page he says he’ll wave enough for both of them.) This leads more naturally into his observation that Kurogane doesn’t want to be too obvious about it for fear of making Sakura feel guilty, to which Kurogane protests that he just didn’t want to go to the trouble. When Fai pushes him on page 92, he’s responding playfully with something along the lines of, “Sure, we’ll leave it at that,” or more loosely, “Whatever you say.”

p.98 - Syaoran doesn’t actually call Sakura, “Your Highness” here, he’s just using basic polite speech. (I’m really tired of translator-san doing this by the way - it always creates a larger sense of distance than is actually there. Syaoran’s polite speech does imply a certain amount of distance, of course, but this goes a little far for me.)

When Mokona says her contribution to the race was “nothing to shout about,” she’s literally saying, “Though I can’t talk about it too loudly,” with an implication of, “This is just between you and me.” Her choice of words indicates that she’s referring to her rule-bending assist with the first checkpoint.

Chapter 88

p.106 - As a clarifying point, there’s a “kiiii” sound effect in the background during Kyle’s entrance, which would indicate some kind of high-pitched noise (also evidenced by Mokona’s reaction.) This would indeed imply that Kyle is shattering windows with a sound-based attack, presumably with the ultimate goal of breaking the glass around the feather so it becomes more accessible to him. It’s all still very extra though, hahaha.

p.107 - I’m only just thinking to mention this now, but Tomoyo’s title translated as “Madame President” is actually just “shachou” (社長), a gender-neutral title most often used for company heads, so just “President” would have sufficed there. Or, you know, “Boss.” BECAUSE SHE’S A BOSS. ...I’ll see myself out.

p.116 - Kyle’s warning(?) here is very awkwardly translated. The proper meaning of his original line is, “There are people with the same face in different worlds, but you never know if they’re actually different people.”

p.120 - This isn’t quite clear in the translation, but here Tomoyo orders her team to land the blimp (meaning what they’re all currently on) in a safe place and see everyone back home.

Chapter 89

p.132 - To soften Nokoru and Shougo’s intrusion a little, their original line was not so much that Tomoyo would need them to help her explain, but that they ought to join the discussion. There’s more of a sense that it’s their responsibility to help explain and apologize given the large role they played.

p.134 - The explanation for Tomoyo’s false sabotage is a little shaky here, so to clarify - it was intended as a diversion for the real saboteur to make him believe someone else was after the feather, and as a way to keep the Tsubasa family vigilant during the course of the race.

p.138 - Syaoran’s “Doctor Kyle!” here was originally just, “Doctor Kyle.” I swear I do not correct every punctuation difference that pops up and I know it gets a little ridiculous, but it really does make a huge difference in tone. Just look at his face! And now compare the effect that line has with the exclamation point vs without. There are a lot of scenes that feel much more weighty and intense in the original manga simply because of the punctuation.

p.140 - Tomoyo’s, “I didn’t bother to help you,” could be cut entirely - it wasn’t there in her original line and I think it sounds a bit rude tbh.

p.142 - Fai’s line to Syaoran about banning fun is actually a proposition that he temporarily lift the liquor ban. In Mokona’s follow up, she says that they should drink to celebrate Sakura’s first victory, not her own.

p.147 - In the original text, there’s less of an implication that Tomoyo-hime has walked through Kurogane’s dreams specifically - he’s just saying that given who she is it’s not surprising that she has this ability.

p.148 - What’s been translated as Kurogane saying, “Did she look okay?” should actually be Tomoyo saying, “She looked well.”

p.149 - Tomoyo’s line on this page is beautiful in the translated version, but I think it has slightly different implications than the original. Instead of “Please don’t resist too much. Allow yourself to heal,” she says, “Please don’t be too reckless so you can heal soon.” The concept of allowing himself to heal is certainly implied there, but there’s no sense of deliberate resistance, just that Kurogane doesn’t always take care of himself the way he should. Ultimately, while it’s still a significant moment between the two of them, Tomoyo’s original lines feel less weighted.

Chapter 90

p.155 - Sakura isn’t asking if Tomoyo gets drunk easily here but the opposite, whether she can hold her liquor well.

p.163 - “They call it a sewing machine,” seems to have been translated as if it were one of Sakura’s lines, but this is actually Tomoyo chipping in to say, “It’s called a sewing machine.”

Omake

p.175 - “Shadow Hero” would be better represented as “Shadow Protagonist.” Mokona is literally being presented to us here as the lead character and it’s glorious.

p.178 - Kurogane says the pictures in the Jade version of Maganyan looked pretty/sparkly, but he never says that they’re too pretty so he might not actually disapprove! (Judging by his face though, I wouldn’t bet on it.)

P.178-179 - Regarding the Country of Fog/Country of the Lake discrepancy: This world was first introduced to us in a chapter titled The Country of Fog (Kiri no Kuni/霧の国) and here it’s Fai who calls it the lake country aka (Mizuumi no Kuni/湖の国), but the first case could easily just be a description of the place rather than its formal name, and the second case could just be Fai’s impression of it, even with the matching title card of sorts on the following page. The way these names are depicted in the English translation makes them look somewhat official, but it feels casual enough in the Japanese text that I wouldn’t be surprised if that world actually has a completely different official name that we simply haven’t had occasion to learn.

[razberryyum]

A Gintama episode a day keeps the ending away...Episode 92

Episode Title: Be A Person Who Can See People's Strong Points And Not Their Weak Points and Totally Naked Gintama

MY 10 FAVORITE MOMENTS IN EPISODE 92 (episode core is based on manga chap 152, bookends based on the anime team’s need to drag out the episode to 24 minutes): 

I loved the meta-ness of the bookends.

1) Oh how I wish that were true because I would buy so many copies of those DVDs just so I can display them all over my bookshelves.

2) Just love their reactions to how they successfully killed 5 minutes: by talking about how other shows fill out episodes and then by just staring at each other with full intensity.

3) Turtle the sniper got the first part of that right, except Gin-chan wasn’t in search for blood or souls, but rather for women who undresses in front of open windows.  

4) He’s so handsome, even when he’s totally perving on someone.

5) Only a dork like Turtle would ever see a dork like Madao as a threat.

6) This was pretty horrible in theory, but I couldn’t stop laughing because of how much Turtle was freaking out, thinking the crowd below was there for him.

7) So glad they kept the tears which I thought was a weird but funny detail only Sorachi-sama would think of.

8) I’m glad Turtle was there to break her fall cuz the alternative would’ve been pretty dark for an otherwise funny episode.

9) Bless the anime team for including Kamekichi’s babies! They were not present in the chapter so I was left wondering what happened to her babies and worrying about their well-being.

10) I loved the creative ways the anime team sometimes comes up with in order to fill out an episode. Sure beats a long-ass recap or flashbacks or other lame filler options. 

SHIPS TALLY:

None but that’s ok because it was still an enjoyable episode.

Gintoki x Hijikata: omg, can’t believe I almost didn’t count the DVD cover. If the anime team acknowledges them, doesn’t that make them, like, canon???? 

Disclaimer: Gintama is not only about shipping. Gintama is hilarious, clever, exciting, poignant, heart-breaking, loving, brilliant, and just completely unbelievably amazing.  It is only due to Sorachi-sama’s immense generosity that I am able enjoy Gintama on an extra another level, the shippy level, and I am forever grateful for that. GINTAMA IS LIFE AND LOVE.

4/2/2019

[moistwithgender]

(Overdue) Media round-up (January 2019)

Feb’s almost over and I was gonna write about what I’ve processed when I realized I only posted about the anime I watched, I think? So this is a catch-up post for manga and games, before the end of this month in a few days. If you want to read the January anime round-up, it’s in my “curry watches anime” tag.

Games:

Puresabe’s 2019 New Year Rockman Hack (NES): Puresabe does one of these every year and they are always pretty hard! But I think the last few years have been much more balanced than their older projects. They are always just boss fights, but with complex patterns and sometimes multiple phases. Being just a boss fight (or two) means they are super short, but you will spend most of your time learning them. Also there are no checkpoints, so every death means you’re back to phase one. It’s very fun when it’s a good hack, and this was a good hack. I had a very rough start to the year and considered giving up, but went back and beat it, for good fortune in the new year. (Beaten 1/2/19)

The 2nd Super Robot Wars (NES): I decided 2019 would be the year I got into SRW, and so I started here, because the first game actually has no hard plot. I enjoyed it to a point, but the difficulty climbs to an absurd degree, and I wish I’d cut my losses and just youtubed it. The game allows you to save at any time during a turn, and resetting the console means it recycles the RNG and you can get different luck. This is...required. Most of the way into the game, I was having to reset twenty times in a row per unit action, just to make sure I could survive an enemy attack, or successfully hit an enemy. The funniest thing is that when I finally beat this, I almost immediately started up one of the later games, so clearly the kernel of value was visible to me through all that bullshit. (Beaten 1/13/19)

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light (Switch): I had been chomping at the bit for what felt like forever just to play this mode of this game, and not only was it good, it surpassed my expectations multiple times. This mode has a lot of twists for something that mostly implies narrative, or otherwise ignores it. I’m the rare person who mostly plays Smash Bros solo because I have NO FRIENDS, and this was worth the price of admission for me. I don’t consider Smash Ultimate itself beaten yet because I haven’t beaten Classic Mode on 9.9 difficulty yet. I have finished with 9.8, like, four times. Please kill me. (Beaten 1/18/19)

PaRappa the Rapper (PSP): While taking care of my cat, I found an opportunity to actually use my PSP for the first time since...2008 or 09? When I bought it secondhand? Jesus. Anyway, it turns out that PaRappa actually has absurd input detection and an equally hard to parse system for what counts as “freestyling”, which ultimately results in a final stage where you’re...required to play notes that are completely unrelated to what it says to do on-screen? I still beat the game (in a single sitting, too. it’s short), but I was pretty frustrated. Greenblat’s aesthetic is iconic, and the songs are very fun to listen to (this game has maybe the only potty humor I actually enjoyed), but the game part is actually the problem. (Beaten 1/25/19)

Patapon (PSP): I played PaRappa spontaneously, but I’ve actually meant to play the Patapon series for quite a while. This is less a song-performing rhythm game and more of an action/strategy type of rhythm game where you consistently keep a beat to keep morale up. It’s pretty good, but missions can be 3-6 minutes of consecutively hitting four notes and then waiting four notes, and while that itself sounds doable, I am just terrible at rhythm and messed up a lot of good opportunities. The difficulty curve in this is high in the beginning, lowers over time, before hitting a huge spike and then being a cakewalk for the last four or so missions. There’s also a lot of grinding, which means this rhythm game came out to almost a 16 hour run. A bit tiring. Not sure when I’ll jump on Patapon 2, but I hope it’s easier to play, since my impetus for picking up the series was the intro FMV for the third game. (Beaten 1/30/19)

Games beaten in January: 5 Games beaten in 2019 thus far: 5

Manga:

Getter Robo Vol 2 (Finished): I didn’t feel like plowing through 51 episodes of the old 70s anime, so I decided to just read the much shorter, and somewhat unrelated manga. In the show, the heroes are what they are, heroes. Likable mains for kids to watch on Saturday mornings. In the manga, as per Go Nagai’s influence (and the main author, Ken Ishikawa, who I LOVE and who was Nagai’s assistant), the heroes are violent asshole moron sociopath terrorists who gradually become more unhinged as they are exposed to the very radiation that powers the machine they use to fight dinosaurs (though said gradual descent is more of a thing in the later manga/OVAs). Also, the villains are dinosaurs. Turns out they had the original ancient civilization and Getter Rays chased them into the Earth’s core and they want to planet back. That’s Getter Robo! It’s very good.

Getter Robo G Vol 1-3 (Finished): This is kind of more of the same as the first, and again, I didn’t want to watch the 39 episodes, I wanted the primer so I could play SRW. As I’ve approached the later games, it turns out they prefer to take influence from the shows, not the manga. Oops! Whatever. In this sequel, it turns out the Dinosaur Empire was a pawn or something to It Was Aliens, the Hyakki Empire, and it’s...more of the same. In both the GR and GR G mangas, I found the occasional chapter with wildly different art, and I figured that those were Ishikawa’s gorgeous art, and the majority was Nagai’s. But, I’m not sure, and I wonder if those were revised or extra chapters done years later. Idk. Anyway, they are both very fun reads, even if they serve more as primers of the lore.

Shin Getter Robo Vol 1-2 (Finished): HERE’s where things start to get really good, and surreal, and bleak. This manga is not adapting a tv series (though later OVAs would reference it. This manga is actually I think where a lot of the inspiration for Gurren Lagann came from, and if you like that series, you should read this to see the connection. I can’t really explain without spoiling either (though if in 2019 you don’t know what happens in Gurren, you are super lucky and need to go watch it all asap). NOTE, this takes place after the 7 volume Getter Robo Go manga, which has a show but I think is unrelated, but more importantly is probably the BEST Getter Robo series. I read that before knowing a thing about Getter and still loved it (though I think having context will really benefit it). GR Go is the biggest justification for getting into the series. If any friends of mine want to look into this series, I’ll actually help give them a guide. Interestingly, the most modern Getter series (of which the most recent was in 2004 (please come back)) all take reference from the darker mangas, not the old 70s show.

Mazinger Z Vol 1-5 (Finished): I think Go Nagai’s works are weird, melodramatic, gross, and just kinda badly drawn. They are great experiences, if you go in with a grain of salt and also avoid the *most* transgressive ones. Don’t google Iron Virgin Jun. Just. Don’t do it. Devilman is probably his best work, but Mazinger Z is another series with a much more famous long-running 70s cartoon (92 episodes!!!) and burned itself into the nostalgia of Japan. Whereas Devilman eventually becomes traumatizing, Mazinger Z is pretty laid back and goofy, while also being Nagai’s brand of The Most Dramatic Thing Ever. If you follow me, you might’ve seen me post pages in my manga tag. It’s a LOT. Though, actually, I don’t think this manga is all that great. It can be *really* funny, but I don’t even remember if the series actually ends. If you read one or two volumes and want to put it down, I think you’re safe to. You got most of the lore. The biggest events seem to take place in later series that I haven’t delved into yet.

UFO Robo Grendizer Vol 1 (Finished): I actually haven’t been able to find anywhere to read Great Mazinger, the sequel series, so I skipped to Grendizer, which is the second sequel. It’s pretty unrelated continuity-wise, so it’s easy to pick up. This is only one volume and yeah they really just want you to watch the 74 episode show, but I’m good. Still, this is a fun book, and Nagai throws in his batshit ideas. The main character is an alien prince whose tragic backstory is literally that the villain kidnapped his younger siblings and all the country’s children and just! Dropped them all from the sky to their death in the middle of the city! And they don’t censor it! GO NAGAI! I really need to read the autobio manga Gekiman because of what snippets I’ve seen, Nagai is actually a super mild-mannered dude who doesn’t really get where his ideas cross lines. If you want to say “oh that’s just wacky Japan”, it’s really not, he was public enemy #1 with parents all over the country for a long time.

Super Robot Retsuden Vol 1 (Finished): This is a single volume crossover of Nagai super robot IPs including Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Great Mazinger, Grendizer, and Steel Jeeg (a guy who’s more Ultraman-adjacent than super robot), and there’s no real plot beyond “oh no new bad guy! buy the toys, kids!” It’s throwaway, and I mostly read it to see who Jeeg is without getting into his own series. Also, it was drawn by Ishikawa, so I felt a bit obligated. His art is just so pretty.

Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer Vol 1 (and maybe 2?): Satoshi Mizukami is a godly storyteller who uses the language of shonen to tell deeply mature and introspective stories for adults and if you follow my posts you might remember me gushing about Spirit Circle and Planet With. I actually haven’t touched this series since February started but I need to get back in because the first two volumes out of ten are amazing (warning, though: there’s a pet death and it’s real sudden and was hard for me to handle). Please read Mizukami’s works.

Manga volumes read in January: 14-15 Manga volumes read in 2019 thus far: 14-15

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Okay that’s everything. I wrote a lot more than I expected to. If you read all that, thanks. If you are interested in any of the things I wrote about, great! If you decide to play through SRW2, don’t, stop, don’t do that. In a few days I’ll be writing about a much better SRW game.

[pretty-eyes-jaeger]

“Children of the Devil”

If you’ve followed me for a while, or even just a few days, you may have been able to tell that my favorite characters in Shingeki no Kyojin are the Titan Trio: Bertholdt Hoover, Annie Leonhardt, and Reiner Braun. I don’t try to hide that at all, and even though I really do love all the 104th kids, these three have captured and captivated my attention and heart since I first started to read the manga. Therefore, I’ve given them the most thought in the series. I go into every chapter hoping for more about them; their background, their story, if nothing else, the other characters at least talking about them like they exist. 

Around the release of Chapter 91, I posted something expressing these sentiments, to which @bertltolt replied that they felt the same way I did. Thus, we’ve decided to collaborate to bring you a consolidated post of our Titan Trio thoughts and theories in the hopes that you’ll perhaps give these characters a second look and will actually take a moment to see the complexity behind the “villains” of the series. 

"Children of the Devil"

I think that the most tragic thing about these characters has to be their upbringing and the idea behind their actions. Let’s start by looking back at what little information we have about the warriors, the training and the way their chosen:

Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie and Marcel were chosen at a very young age. Going by the 13 year life span and the fact that Reiner's time is coming up as of chapter 92, we assume that they were 7/8, give or take a year, when they were given the power of the titan or at the very least began their training, (because they had to learn how to control those titans, and we saw how long it took 15-year-old Eren to control his. They had to start them young to ensure that they’d still be in control after 5 years lying dormant through cadet training.) These children were either taken from their families or given up by them for a chance of luxury as Marleyan citizens.

As part of the program, the chosen soldier children were subjected to brainwashing as part of their training. They were taught to hate their people, to hate themselves and to believe that the entire Eldian race was evil and the cause of so much suffering for the Marley and somehow needed cleansing. It's hard to think that these children had a chance to do the right thing when the idea was so integrated into their society, that it was taught within their homes, the core of any child's upbringing.

We can see just how conditioned the Eldian people are with instances like Grisha as a child and the way that Mr. Jaeger spoke about the Eldian people to him, so much so that he didn't fight the murder of his own daughter because somehow, he believed it was right. It's easy to assume that the children of the Warrior program had the same upbringing with the same ideas put into their head by their families, society and the Marley and these ideas were only pushed further the moment they entered training.

While the conditioning into the Warrior stages happened, these kids were probably being taught to give their utmost loyalty and respect to the Marley, like any soldier would. It wasn't a matter of mental or emotional strength or attachment that drove them on that mission. They did it because it's what they were taught and told to do. They were broken down and rebuilt with Marley's interest in mind. These children were nothing but assets with the power of a titan, conditioned by the Marley’s ideologies and shoved into a selfish battle that wasn't their fight to begin with. It wasn't a choice.

After years of training, with their lives literally ticking away, these children are sent out on a mission to breach the three walls and rid the world of the people within them while retrieving the coordinate. Four children sent out, only one returns.

The “brainwashed” child soldier archetype has been clear for these three from the Clash of the Titans arc, shown particularly through Bertholdt’s dialogue in Chapters 47-49. He insists that he and Reiner are ‘warriors,’ not soldiers. He calls the 104th kids ‘children of the devil.’ He asks ‘who do you think wants to kill people?’ Everything Bertholdt says, (and even does) throughout the course of the battle in this arc reveals the fact that a.) he, Reiner, and Annie were forced to do this, and b.) they don’t want to. 

There is absolutely no way to justify what they did. The acts they committed cost the lives of thousands of people and destroyed homes and families of many. Even so, we can't look at their actions and say that these children weren't remorseful for what they did.

It was shown in obvious ways.

Beginning with Annie, she was always the most distant of the group, which was her biggest weakness as stated by Shadis. Her isolation from everyone, including her partners, was a way to keep herself from getting attachments to the members of the 104 not only because she was aware of her mission and what it required her to do but also because she could jeopardize their positions as the titans. Although she kept herself distant, it didn't prevent her from harboring feelings towards her fellow team members. One example is the small amount of excitement she expressed when she offered to train Eren her dad’s fighting techniques. This is a small way for her to interact with this hopelessly passionate boy in a way that isn’t suspicious and won’t necessarily form too strong of a bond between them. She also showed deep respect for Armin and in a way considered him a friend which later led to her sparing his life during the Female Titan arc. This incident allowed Armin to later identify her as the female titan. Her sparing Armin gave up her position.

Bertholdt also isolated himself but was different in the sense of being able to keep himself distant while still being there. He maintains a safe distance, written off as just a shy, awkward guy. He was rarely seen apart from the group, say for a few times but even so, he spent less time interacting with the 104. Part of this probably has to do with the fact that he was always with Reiner which lead him to being around the other members of the 104 a lot more frequently even if he hadn't of wanted to, and inevitably getting dragged into the moral morass of trying to reconcile the Marley’s preachings of “All Eldians are wicked” with the living contradictions of his fellow cadets (but more on that later.) 

Reiner's way of dealing with what he's done is probably the most tragic of the three. He gets up close and personal with his fellow cadets, thanks to either a naturally charming personality, really great acting skills, or the dissociative personality he’s acquired from the trauma of murdered hundreds of people. Many were surprised to learn that a lot of Reiner's feelings and actions within the 104 were nothing more than a 'soldier' persona created due to the trauma and regret of his actions that caused the death of thousands of people.

It's easy to point a finger and call a fake every time Reiner has tried to grieve with the SC but could it really all be a lie? While yes, maybe there were instances where Reiner was aware of what was happening and acted, I'm sure there were other times where his soldier persona took over and truly felt the sorrow and anger shared by his teammates. Switches between personality disorders are triggered by events or memories that bring recollection of trauma to the one experiencing it. After a "switch", that person has no recollection of their thoughts or actions during the episode as it's a whole different person.

Focusing more on Bertholdt and Reiner's relationship with the cadets, despite the isolation and split personality, they state that they were not lying during their time as 'soldiers'. Their time in the cadet corps was probably the best of time of their life. Shadis’ training probably seemed merciful when compared to what they had to go through with the Marley military. And it would be impossibly hard not to make friends when you live with people for three years. Naturally, they had to deny their ‘warrior’ selves for a while; it made it easier to live with themselves, sharing so many moments in the 104. But despite this, they needed to complete their mission. You can’t completely override brainwashing with a few years of happiness. 

Going back a bit and following age profiles, Bertholdt and Reiner attacked Shinganshina somewhere between the ages of 10-12. About as old/same age as Eren, Mikasa, and Armin when the walls were attacked. They were children when they murdered an entire district of people. What 11 year old child do you know that would do that by their own volition?

Clearly, there’s some sort of “brainwashing” at work. And it’s clear that that’s the case based off of the military-industrial complex of the Marley state. The Marley people (or the leaders at least) continue to feel the wound of wrong done to them hundreds of years ago by Eldians. They refuse to let go of the past, and insist upon making war instead of making amends. But, back when the conflict started, the most powerful weapon at their disposal was the power of the Titans, which could only be inherited by Eldians. So, how’re the Marley gonna get use it? 

Simple: make the living conditions of the Eldians living in your territory absolutely miserable, and then create a program where people can gain social benefits by volunteering their children to become the next batch of Titan warriors. Because people will do anything to survive, right? Let’s be honest, there’s definitely brainwashing propaganda used somewhere in there too, making the adults believe in Marley’s cause as well as the children. 

Well, the children are another story. Children’s brains are still developing, making them more susceptible to new ideologies, no matter how dangerous. If a child is told from a young age that a certain group of people are evil, and they’re given no examples/information from the other perspective, of course they’re going to grow up with the same belief that’s been fed to them. And it’s clear Marley’s feeding these warrior kids with the ideology that Eldians are pure evil and need to be eradicated. Does it matter that the kids themselves are Eldian? No. As stated above, they’re wired to be loyal to Marley, even if that means fighting against their own people. And even once they realize what’s happening, it’s too late to turn around. What’s done can’t be undone. 

When these children were sent to the walls, they were sent with the idea that the people within them, much like themselves, were the children of evil. Both Bertholdt and Reiner said it at different instances during their mission.

Even though Bertholdt ultimately claimed that they were not evil, the people within the walls still needed to die and Bertholdt didn't say that out of malice. He truly believed that it was what was right and what would save them. Looking at the newer Warriors now, Gabi seems to share the same ideologies as the originals. Back to the mission that they need to accomplish. After all the time they spent getting to know who the people within the walls really were, they still needed to complete their mission. Even when they learned that the Eldians within the walls were not ‘evil,’ they couldn’t just go back to Marley and say ‘Hey, we can’t do this.’ 

That brings us to the new batch of warrior candidates in Chapter 91. That’s probably the most telling piece of semi-backstory we’ve gotten for the Titan Trio. Here we see a group of young kids in a trench, trying to prove that they have what it takes to become Marley’s warriors by killing Eldians. Which they happen to be. It’s a weird concept, and these new kids seem to be struggling to understand that. Falco saves an Eldian soldier, and is genuinely hurt when the man refuses to be helped by them, calling them “demons.” Because that’s what they are to the Eldians they’re fighting: they’re traitors to their own race, helping the enemy destroy their own people. That’s incredibly hard for a child to understand. And they’re just barely on the cusp of understanding it, as the Marley soldiers are still shoving their ideals down their throats, cramming the kids’ heads with the same kind of talk of ‘us vs. them’ that they imparted to RBA. And it’s working. Here’s a group of young kids, willing to die to prove that they were worthy of inheriting the Titan’s power. This is what Reiner, Annie, and Bertholdt had to go through. And they proved themselves worthy of it. 

This has interesting implications for Reiner’s line to Bertholdt: “You’re supposed to be the strongest.” Does this mean that Bertholdt ‘won’ their training exercise, proved himself to be the strongest of the four (because they had Berick at this time too)? If so, why was he so weak-willed when he got to the cadet corps? What changed? 

If I had to guess, I’d say it’s the emotional weight of wiping out an entire district of people at the age of 11. It’s very apparent that both Bertholdt and Reiner, (and to some extent Annie,) are traumatized by their mission. (I say Annie less so because she wasn’t involved in breaking the wall, but that’s only a minor condition, seeing as though she’s still very affected by seeing all the bodies in Trost.) They don’t know what to do but follow it blindly. And even once they open their eyes, see what’s actually going on, they don’t know how to stop it. Annie gives up. Reiner's personality splits. Bertholdt accepts that life is hell and is resigned to kill all his friends in order to get them out.

Think about that for a moment, please. Bertholdt wanting to kill the Survey Corps in the Return to Shinganshina was not out of malice or wicked intent. It was out of mercy. He wants to kill them to let them escape from the hell the world has become. He doesn’t want to kill them, he’s never wanted to kill anyone. But that’s the mission he’s been given, and if a child is given a mission like that, the world has to be pretty depraved. Bertholdt wants out, and wants his friends out too. He knew his life had an expiration date, and didn’t expect to die in Shinganshina. But his goal there was to end the mission and go home. 

I’ve said it before, but one of the lines that touches me the most in the series is Bertholdt’s “This world is cruel” before transforming in Shinganshina. I think it’s so important that it mirrors Mikasa’s “The world is cruel but also beautiful,” but drops the beauty part. Because for Bertholdt, all beauty in life has been denied. There is nothing good about the world. Bertholdt’s life is defined by loss, the irreparable kind of loss that eliminates any hope of a future. Mikasa has hope; Bertholdt has none. And everything that was good has been taken away from him. He lost his family when they (willingly or not,) volunteered him to become a shifter. He lost his will power and confidence after breaking the wall. He lost his life for Marley’s mission. He lost his friends in the 104th when they found out the truth about his identity. Another line that always gets me too is the “It wasn’t a lie!” during the fight with the Armored Titan, when Armin, Jean, and Connie are yelling at Bertholdt through the Armored Titan’s hand. Bertholdt’s exclamations in that moment, all of them really, are so scared and hurt, so genuinely human. “It wasn’t all a lie!” “Who do you think wants to kill people?” “Somebody, please find us.” These aren’t the words of a cold blooded killer. They’re the words of a teenager, lost and confused and unable to handle the blood on his hands. Blood that he was forced to shed by the Marley government. Not because he was an innately evil being intent on killing thousands of people, his own people, mind you. 

That’s another thing. All the Titan Trio really wanted was to go home. Just like EMA. But while EMA’s obstacle to home was reclaiming Shinganshina from the titans, the Titan Trio’s hurdle was their mission. Which failed pretty royally. 

Now, we have a few loose ends to add, so we apologize for the shift in focus. 

First, there’s Reiner in the recent chapters. The few words said by Reiner in chapter 92 truly show the feelings and resentment towards the walls and it's people.He's finally reached the end of his journey because his life is coming to an end. While completing his final mission, there are new recruits being trained to inherit his titan. Again, nothing but a pawn being wasted away and replaced after 13 years.

To him, the walls are to blame. They were sent out on a mission to kill everyone within them and thought out the way, he lost two of his friends. They killed thousands of innocent people for that selfish reason and after being saved yet again, he garners hatred and anger for what the walls caused.

Another implication to add in here, that I don’t know where to put otherwise, is the topic of Marco. People were outraged to find out that these three were behind Marco’s death. But we have to look at this objectively. What were they supposed to do, let Marco go tell someone what he heard? Jeopardize their mission? That’s just stupid. Sure, what they did was awful, but it’s not like Levi, Hanji, or EMA would’ve let him live either if the roles were reversed. In fact, we’ve seen our main characters torture people for less. It’s all a matter of perspective here, people. This is a world of gray morality. The ‘good’ guys aren’t all good, and the ‘bad’ guys aren’t all bad. 

Also, it’s very clear that Marco’s death severely impacted the Titan Trio. Annie sobbed the whole time. Bertholdt was quieter than usual. Reiner, who orchestrated most of it, was so traumatized by it that he snapped from warrior to soldier in an instant upon seeing his friend suffering. There is no way that one could argue that they weren’t affected by Marco’s death, that they wanted to do it. Again, they had no choice. Now, it’s arguable that Reiner shouldn’t have forced Annie to do it. That was a pretty shitty thing to do. But, we have to remember that Reiner’s personality has split by this point. We don’t really know warrior Reiner’s motivations for forcing Annie to “prove” herself. Maybe she didn’t go through training the traditional way, and her loyalty is thus in question. Maybe there’s implications behind it that we don’t understand, seeing as though the backstory for these three is still missing. But it’s clear that warrior Reiner is in full control at that moment, and all he’s thinking about it getting rid of the evidence of their mission, which is unfortunately a human being. In summary: Marco’s death was a tragedy that broke their hearts to commit, but they had no other way around it. 

Another consideration: Ymir. It paints a bigger picture when we think about Ymir returning with Bertholdt and Reiner to their hometown. We took a very short lived glance at Ymir's backstory and we learned so much about this girl within a simple letter. Through his his, we learned about her simulated affiliation with a cult dedicated to the founder Ymir. We learned about her punishment for being part of it; she was pelted with rocks and hatred from the Marley citizens alongside her followers and later turned into mindless titans. For sixty years, this girl lived in an endless nightmare until the Warrior boys crossed paths with her. Aside from her gratitude for what they had done, she knew that those boys returning to their hometown empty handed would result in punishment. Yet she walks into the lion’s den anyway.

Final considerations. We’ve read some theories and things on here that we just want to share our opinion on. 

1. Annie’s Redemption Arc. The two of us personally agree that Annie does not need ‘redemption’ per say, only peace with herself. Seeing her side with the SC would be confusing. Sure, the SC has no reason to trust her, but she has zero reason to trust them in return. She knows they're against her, she knows they used her friendship with Armin to trick her. She knows that she can trust absolutely no one in this world. So we don't really see her "switching" sides per say. But we can see her stepping away from the conflict all together, like Ymir in a way. She wants nothing to do with either side, and doesn't side with anyone but herself. We also wouldn't be surprised if she's used as a vehicle for backstory or used as Titan fodder; wouldn’t even be surprised if they executed her after getting any info they can. She doesn't necessarily need redemption, per say, but to find peace with herself, whatever that may be. Maybe it is switching sides, maybe it's accepting her failure and moving forward. But it is SC centric (as the whole narrative is) to insist that she needs to redeem herself. It's kind of impossible for her at this point, and I don't think she owes them anything after the deceptive tricks they pulled on her. Plus, there’s the issue of her father. He was the last thing she thought of when she fell. She wouldn’t just give him up to work with the people who stabbed her in the back. 

2. Reiner and the Survey Corps. We don’t think reconciliation between them is possible, and making any "amends" with the SC at this point would be traitorous to the friendship he had with Bertholdt. We don't think that there's a chance that he would anyways. Especially with what we saw of him in this last chapter. Reiner’s incredibly resentful. We don't know how a meeting with them is going to play out (if he makes it to meeting them anyways) but having him tell THEIR story would be a good end to him (but let's be honest he shouldn't die, Isayama) We don't want him to die pathetically or wishing to be heard... We want him to die in peace with himself. They need to talk for sure, Reiner needs to explain the warriors’ backstory. But under no circumstances would he willingly reconcile with them now. The people who’ve tried to kill him repeatedly, AND took Annie, AND killed Bertholdt?! No. That’s incredibly unrealistic. 

I hope that reading these thoughts by @bertltolt and I have helped shed some light on Annie, Reiner, and Bertholdt for you. I hope that you’ll consider them as more than villains. I hope that you’ll see them for the amazingly complex characters that they are. And even if none of this changes your mind, thank you for reading this, for taking the time to try to see the other side. 

And to close, two cents worth of salt: 

(Note: you don’t have read this. I just... was in a salty mood and felt the need to express these things. You really don’t have to.)

1. Can we also talk about Bertholdt’s death? Can we talk about the fact that this fandom was so focused on Armin vs. Erwin that no one realized that Bertholdt was dying regardless? We lost the first major antagonist of the series, and no one batted an eye. Why is that? Cause he’s an antagonist? That’s a lot of tunnel vision there, friends. Also, this has a lot of implications for Reiner’s development since Shinganshina. He lost his best friend. The person that meant the most to him in the world. He knows Zeke left Bertholdt behind to die. He knows he’ll never see Bertholdt or Annie again. That’s why his line in Chapter 92 about the walls disgusting him is so powerful. The walls took everything from him: his childhood, his friends in the 104th, his people that meant everything to him, even his mind. Reiner has lost everything. And the only reason he’s still fighting is because he has nothing left to lose, and there’s no way that he can get out from under Zeke/Marley’s thumb now. He won’t have to be under it much longer anyway, expiration date and all... Wow. Okay. I’m sad now. 

2. I’ve seen a lot of people upset that we have seen EMA and Levi for two chapters. Oh gee. Wonder what that feels like. Reiner and Bertholdt didn’t appear for 40 some chapters. Ymir and Annie haven’t appeared in longer than that, save for flashbacks. You can survive a chapter or two more without seeing the main protagonists. Expand your horizons a bit. 

[momtaku]

SnK Chapter 92 Poll Results

The chapter 92 poll closed with 500 reported entries.

RATE THE CHAPTER (486 responses)

This chapter had a better reception than the last one. Seeing Reiner and Zeke was cited as a factor by many. Also the action was hard to resist.

that was an interesting way to set up a new story arc. i don’t really know whether i liked it or not, and i’m really eager to see what’s going on with our main crew. i’m gonna reserve most of my judgement until there’s a bigger picture though, so i can fully see what’s going on and why Isayama decided to start like this.

I have no idea what’s going on anymore.

Switching perspectives and presenting intel for readers from new, fresh and different povs is an ability Isayama has like no other, tho can be criticized for its abruptness and the kinda unexplained way it came crashing to the story..but nevertheless I enjoyed it and I think Isayama aced it.

It’s odd, I can see the effort made for us to connect with these new characters. But that just isn’t working for me sadly. While this and the previous chapters have been useful, I would have preferred more SC content. In particular reactions to the recent losses

I have no idea if it was intentional or not but Zeke’s dramatic “War is bad” line right as he chucked a fistful of rocks at the boats was hilarious. Like stahp Isayama I can’t handle all this Edge.

Zeke did the superhero landing, now I can die in peace

I’m grateful as we’ve finally seen Zeke’s method of turning humans into titans and I believe it has nothing to do with his titan form since he’s able to use it without shifting

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF REINER’S NEW LOOK? (482 responses)

Unsurprisingly, 86% of the fandom found something here to agree on. Reiner scored extremely well on the scale from “No Thanks” to “Hello Daddy”!

Reiner is getting hotter with each passing chapter. I fear we may rapidly be approaching a state of ultimate hotness that may be too much for us mere mortals to handle.

I am sad that “Hot Dayum Daddy-o” Is not an acceptable answer for Reiner’s hotness rating.

  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ZEKE’S SHORT HAIR? (483 responses)

While the results were still favorable, Zeke’s long luscious locks were missed by a significant portion of the fandom. The scale from “No Thanks” to “Hella Hot” had the largest percentage of respondents sat right in the middle.

  THE DRUGGED ELDIANS BEING USED AS WEAPONS WAS THE MOST TRAGIC MOMENT OF THE CHAPTER. WHAT WAS THE #2? (483 responses)

I was very curious what this result would be. I watch the poll numbers shift back and forth between sympathy for Reiner and the big picture view of Eldians as whole. In the end “The world’s view of Eldians” narrowly edged out Reiner’s flashback and comment about walls at the 2nd most tragic moment.

Seeing what actually fighting within the walls has done to Reiner–his trauma, etc. was an excellent contrast to the relative innocence the new cast gives off, and it’s heartbreaking to consider that the Warriors we know may have once been the same way. Eren & co. please arrive promptly and save them.

Reiners flashback scene was the most impactful moment in my opinion. It was so heartbreaking.

I thought poop machine was bad, titan carpet bombing is even more wtf

Devastating. To see the Eldians being used as mindless weapons was severely disturbing. And Zeke finally realising that War is indeed a terrible thing. 

These chapters are hella intense and enlightening about the world outside. It’s still really sick though. Totally sick I can’t even.

  LAST MONTH THERE WAS OVERWHELMING SUPPORT FOR GABI. HAS THIS CHAPTER CHANGED YOUR OPINION OF HER? (445 responses)

Gabi’s glee in the last chapter didn’t sit well with some people. In this chapter she was more sedate, but still very much in it to win it, even accusing Falco of having ulterior motives for rescuing that dying enemy soldier. While the majority claim to have had no real shift in opinion, I urge you to look at the next question to see how popularity numbers have changed.

Her sympathy for her older warriors. that line with “Reiner… be careful” killed me

Her character seems more sympathetic. She was kind of a brat last chapter. This chapter she seems to actually see the realities of war.I was supposed to have an opinion on her?

I lost a lot of respect for her when she didn’t support Falco’s choice to help the soldier from the other side

Something that stuck out to me was Gabi’s concern for Reiner, “Reiner… be careful.”   It’s a bit odd, she wants his power (aka eat him) but is concerned for him?

I think it was kinda satisfying to see Gabi’s view on the world change since she seemed so cocky before hand.

I was supposed to have an opinion on her?

  WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OF THE NEW RECRUITS? (471 responses)

In the last chapter poll, support for Gabi is overwhelming. She had 38% of the popular vote and Colt was second with 25%. Falco was sitting in 3rd with only 19%. But look at how opinions have changed! Falco is new best boy with 37.2% picking him as favorite while Gabi has dropped more than 10 percentage points.

Gabi and Falco warmed on me but not enough. I still want to spend the whole volume on Marley before moving on.

It was really disturbing to realize that Annie, Bertolt, Reiner, and Marcel were once probably just like Gabi, Falco, Udo, etc. They might have been idealistic, prone to kindness even to their enemies (like Falco)…

  HAS REINER’S LUCK FINALLY RUN OUT? (474 responses)

The overwhelming majority think Reiner’s streak of immortality will continue. This is one of those times that I disagree. I think Reiner’s titan age plus the severity of his hit may have weakened him to the point of no return.

I’m still sad about Reiner’s potential fate but I have to get prepared for him to die next chapter or in the chapter after. Poor boy only dedicated his life to an imposed duty since childhood without a break, on top of losing everybody he loved.

Since Reiner’s been knocked out (again XD) it could be a good time for the next chapter to open up with a flashback and end with him waking up?  He’s been kept alive for a while, and there’s obviously a reason for it.

Maybe im in denial but Reiner cant die yet, he’s the warrior that knows the enemy best and needs to teach someone to use the 3dmg (If he hasnt already in these 4 years)

  WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO INHERIT REINER’S TITAN FORM? (477 responses)

Last month 39.3% thought Reiner would keep his power. Confidence has grown slightly in chapter 92 with 42.3% thinking he’ll stay around a bit longer.

i hope reiner will not gonna die because of gabi , if isayama want to kill him no matter what i want him to die like a hero

I really don’t want Reiner and Zeke to be replaced, as I don’t see how that would add anything to the story and many conflicts would never be resolved.

  WHO DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO INHERIT ZEKE’S TITAN FORM? (473 responses)

Last month 55.4% thought Zeke would keep his power. That number has increased to 58.6% with The Jaeger Brothers Reunion Tour cited as the primary reason. 

The real difference here is that last month 26% thought Colt would be his successor. That number is down to only 16.3% with Falco gaining the difference.

I wish they would show why zeke was the holder of the key to the whole story.

I don’t think Zeke is going to get eaten, not soon, at least. He’s got so many plot points that require him

I can’t wait until Eren re-unites with Zeke.

Perhaps I’m really reaching, but I hope Zeke was genuine when he said he’d save Eren.

I refuse to bid Zeke farwell before he gets to see his lil bro once more

DA BEAST DADDY IS DA BEST DADDY.

  WE GOT A LOOK AT GALLIARD’S EXTREME AGILITY. DO YOU THINK HE ATE YMIR? (474 responses)

Last month 39.8% of people thought Ymir was dead. While this question isnt identical, it carries the same thought. 69.2% of people think Galliard is a new and unique shifter and not a recycled Ymir.

While Gaillard is agile, Ymir’s titan didn’t have the special jaw design, which would be weird AF if she really was the “Jaw Titan.” So I’m pretty sure she’s still safe

I feel 50/50 about the probabilities of Galliard eating Ymir, but the agility he has is not a proof, i don’t believe the “every titan has a unique ability” thing.

I hope Ymir isn’t dead not just bc she’s my bae, but bc, contrary to Reiner to who I don’t see relevant to the story anymore, so, Ymir is…

YAMS my man dude bro I wanna know the dealy-o with Ymir ASAP thx

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE PIECK AND GALLIARD’S HUMAN FORMS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER? (475 responses)

People are curious, but seeing Pieck and Galliard as humans is not as important as seeing the main cast.

I’m really hoping to see Galliard and Pieck’s human forms soon. Since there were many parallels between RBA and EMA and Zeke is said to be like a warrior Levi, I’m hoping for Galliard and Pieck to be like some warrior versions of Erwin and Hange.

I do want to see Galliard and Pieck’s human forms but not if it means we get another Marley chapter. It’s time to go back to the real protagonists.

HOW READY ARE YOU FOR THE MANGA TO MOVE BACK TO OUR MAIN CAST? (486 responses)

I’ll leave this one without my usual commentary :D

All I hoped for was to at least see Reiner and Zeke again. But I’m ready to see my children again next month. :’)

honestly I really want to see Eren’s side again, but I think it would be extremely entertaining to discover what exactly changed within the Walls and the Scouting Legion from Reiner/Zeke/Marley’s point of view once they will actually attack them. It would mean more surprises which is always good, no matter how much I’m dying to see what our other characters look like now.

please @ god i miss our main cast babies

I can’t wait to see Eren & Co! \>o</ Maybe Armin had grew his hair into a Ponytail too!

back to eren, please

fans are making too much drama for the recent lack of the main trio and the 104th squad. I’m more happy to learn about new characters outside the island and see differents points of view about the world

It’s all well and good to introduce new characters but this late in the story, after all these very dramatic plot/character changes and massive mystery revelations it’s a bit… abrupt, to suddenly be with all these new people.  I feel like it’s a different series and no one told me about it.

WHICH CHARACTERS DO YOU GENERALLY ENJOY THE MOST (484 responses)

Last month 42.1% cited the 104th as faves; 33% favored the vets; 10.9% said the warriors. This month the warriors saw the a nice increase, moving up to 14.7%.

Final thoughts

There are more chapter thoughts in this post. If I didn’t publish your comment, please know that I read it and I thank you for the support. Even though these polls are more silly than serious, I enjoy getting a perspective that’s wider than my own. Thank you!

[kyojuuros]

hi heidi. i haven't been able to follow the manga very closely lately and i'm a bit confused about what's currently going on, like who the mid-east allied forces are etc. would you mind doing a little recap of the last 3 chapters or so? i'd really appreciate it :)

To be honest, anon, lately I’ve had the tendency to read chapters loosely until I can get a few of them in a row to marathon and then I really make more effort to absorb the material. So this may not be a perfect recap. I’ll take it that you’ve read the Grisha Files, though! If you don’t remember much there, though, I would recommend checking out @leapingtitan‘s Timeline and History of SnK videos to give yourself a good refresher on everything that’s happened prior to the time skip. I think it helps to understand current events very well if you’ve absorbed this information first. 

But for the purposes of the ask, I’ll start with chapter 90. 

So basically the Paradis military held a ceremony to commemorate the fallen Survey Corps soldiers who gave their lives in the mission to retake Wall Maria. Flocke calls the others out on their shit, drama ensues. Eren reflects on how he will be unable to use the coordinate power unless Historia is turned into a titan, but is unwilling to sacrifice her life for it. 

But moving forward from that, winter approaches Paradis Island so generally much doesn’t happen. Hange’s titan guillotine kills off the titans one by one until Wall Maria is completely cleared. Her hypothesis was that the titans that infiltrated Wall Maria were likely all that remained on Paradis Island (I’m certain this theory come to mind after they learned about Marley). 9 months pass after the events of the Return to Shiganshina arc and the Survey Corps leave Wall Maria for the first time since the story began. They make it to the ocean where Eren can verify that his father’s words and memories are true. They also verify that most titans have been cleared save for the one they found who couldn’t move, so Hange’s theory was right. 

In chapter 91, we are taken across the ocean to Marley, where they have been at war for the last 4 years (so, 4 years from the end of the Return to Shiganshina arc, presumably). We are introduced to notable characters like Gabi and Falco who are competing to become next in line to receive the power of the Armored Titan. We are also introduced to Falco’s big brother, Colt, who is more or less set to take over the power of the Beast Titan and take the role as war chief. We can infer from this that Marley may transfer all of the titan powers around the same time, but we don’t know for sure if that’s the case (#reasonswhyymirmightstillbealive). 

We are also introduced to a new titan, the Jaw Titan, who is owned by someone named Galliard. And then the cargo titan is confirmed to be a shifter as well, the Cart Titan, who is owned by a guy named Peak (not sure of the correct spelling atm). So I believe this leaves us with all 9 of the titan powers accounted for. 

Anyway, Gabi is very determined to become the next Armored Titan and tries very hard to prove her worth, even going so far as to violate international law and pose as a civilian so that she can throw a makeshift bomb at the enemy’s armored train. She is successful.

As of chapter 91, Marley was currently fighting against the Mid-Eastern nation and trying to capture one of their fortresses, saying it would put an end to the 4 year war. I believe that Marley is also enemies with the East Sea Nation, but nothing has been brought to the light about their current situation. 

One of the Marleyan generals goes on about how the power of the titans is absolute and how they need to regain the Founding Titan in order to maintain the level of power they currently have now. Unfortunately (for them anyway), since they were defeated in Shiganshina and lost both the Colossal Titan and the Female titan while trying to receive this power, their standing has started to dwindle. 

As of chapter 92, it is now revealed that the Mid-Eastern Nation has created weaponry that poses a threat to the titan power, and by the end of the chapter it is stated that titans are basically no longer the threat they used to be because of great technological advances. Marley is still very reliant on the titan power, so they are still bent on getting the Founding Titan back. 

In chapter 92, Zeke is able to transform several Eldian people into titans with his scream alone, and they use this method to take down Fort Slava. Along with that, he and Reiner both transform into their titans and are ultimately able to take down the fort (although Reiner still gets Rekt™, but what’s new lol), thus winning the war and subsequently signing a peace treaty with the Mid-Eastern Nation. 

The Eldian warrior children all seem pretty horrified at what pure titans are capable of as well, but it wasn’t expounded on much. 

That’s more or less the summary of the events. If you need to recall anything in particular, though, feel free to shoot me another message. This is a rough summary at best, lol.

[makeste]

Bnha is a little too irregular for me right now (covid is the worst :( ), so I started reading One Piece and it's like, soooo long. Got me thinking, how long do you think Bnha will be? Personally I think we're just before time skip and it will take, like 300-400 chapters to end? So manga would be 600-700 chapters long. I could be wrong of course. Thoughts?

One Piece is fucking awesome, and the beauty of it is that is is 12 million chapters long so it will take approximately 182 years to finish reading, and you are almost guaranteed to be entertained for the vast majority of that time lol. I actually took a break from it a little ways into the Wano arc (sometime in the middle of what would later become volume 92) because it was getting harder for me to keep up with the plot week by week, especially since I was really into BnHA fandom by that time. my plan was to binge it once Wano ends. however when I was looking at the list of chapters on Wikipedia just now I saw that Oda is only 11 chapters away from breaking the 1k mark, which is pretty awesome. so I might try to catch up in the next month or two in celebration of that milestone, because damn.

with BnHA though, my own guess for how long the series will be is actually a lot shorter than most estimates I’ve seen. first of all, full disclosure that I am definitely biased regarding the timeskip part, because I personally am not the biggest fan of BnHA timeskip theories, unless they’re really short timeskips like the 3-month one we got recently. the thing is, this is explicitly a manga about their time at UA. it’s in the title and everything lol. and I like that. I like reading about them as kids, little hero eggs gradually growing into little hero chicks who will eventually become big hero birbs, but not just yet. a lot of the story’s appeal for me comes from that. there’s a certain... I don’t necessarily want to say innocence, but idealism, maybe?, that’s associated with stories about young adults, and doesn’t always carry over into the stories about those same adults once they’ve grown up. and I want the story to keep that.

there are a lot of things about the current setting that I’m very attached to and don’t want to lose. I like that they’re kids, and that they’re full of potential but don’t always know what they’re doing, and they screw up and make mistakes and get in over their heads, and are dealing with all of their messy jumbled teenage emotions. I like that they’re living with each other in the fanfic dorms and seeing each other every day in their classes. I like that romance isn’t a big part of the series (though there’s still plenty of shipping fuel to go around). I like that we get to see them interacting with their parents and siblings and get to see those relationships. and most of all, I like that -- unlike almost every other young adult series I can think of -- BnHA acknowledges that they are just kids, and the adults by and large actually treat them as such. and yes, I’m even including the child soldiers arc here, because the decision to basically draft them into a war was handed down by the HPSC (an organization that likely has a history with child abuse from what we’ve seen). U.A. was against it, and tried their best to keep them away from the front lines, chilling out in the woods and helping with evacuations instead of fighting villains. contrast this with, say, a:tla, which I love, but which is very much one of those series filled with full-grown adults who are all “it’s up to this 12-year-old and his assorted 12-to-15-year-old friends to lead the battle to save the world lulz.” and this includes possibly the most beloved full-grown adult of all time, who nonetheless peaces out with an ironclad argument of “while it is true that the final villain is my actual brother, I’m still going to let the 12-year-old handle it because something something politics slash destiny.”

but anyways lol got sidetracked there. so steering this back on course now, I genuinely, truly love that in BnHA there are all these adults in the characters’ lives who are trying to keep them safe and nurture them and shield them from that extra burden of responsibility for as long as possible while they’re still learning. and so the kids have that extra safety net of support, which to me as a reader is just... comforting, I guess. like, I understand that it’s not going to last forever, but it’s reassuring to know that it exists for them for now. and I’m not in any hurry to say goodbye to that in favor of just tossing them out into tHE REAL WORLD!! lol. like omg no my babies.

anyway but so the point is that, with respect to everyone else’s theories, I personally don’t want a timeskip lol. and tbh I don’t really see the need for one either? if anything, we’re about to enter the most chaotic period in the entire manga once this arc ends. I’m assuming Tomura will survive this and escape somehow, the better to live and fight another day. and so if that’s the case, I feel like this would be the absolute weirdest time to do a timeskip, because how far ahead can we even jump lol. too far and we’d basically be coming back to an already-destroyed world lol whoops. basically I just don’t see how we can jump ahead more than a few months at the most, assuming that the threat of Tomura is going to be looming over everyone’s heads the entire time. plus we’d miss out on what I’m betting is going to be some of the most intense worldbuilding drama in the entire series, with our beloved characters potentially being swept up in like half a dozen political controversies. I sure don’t want to miss out on any of that. we didn’t wait so long to see this war play out only to skip out on the highly entertaining aftermath of it all.

anyway so that’s my as-usual-longer-than-necessary rant about timeskips. so now let’s talk about the series length. and here, I’m basically just basing my guess off of what Horikoshi has said in interviews. off the top of my head, there are three times he’s mentioned the ending of the series in interviews. first, there’s this interview, published in July 2018:

Interviewer: Previously in SUGOI JAPAN*, you mentioned that you would like Boku No Hero Academia to be a short and concise story and not drawn out, but what percentage of the story is complete at this point?

Horikoshi: When the decision to extend the series happened, I personally thought “I guess I want to end it here” and it was around Volume 30.

Interviewer: So then are you 2/3 done with the story?

Horikoshi: That’s what I had originally planned, but when I think of all the things that must be set up before getting into the last arc, I realized, “Ending the series at Volume 30 will be impossible” (laughs). However, the current arc that is going on all has purpose that will be relevant in the last arc.

*this is referencing a remark he made back at an awards ceremony back in March 2017.

second, we have this interview from August 2018, where he again mentions wanting to keep the story concise:

Do you know what the ending of My Hero Academia is? Do you think it'll be 80+ volumes like One Piece?

No, it won't be infinite – I don't have the stamina for it to be as long as One Piece. I'd like to keep it concise.

and lastly,  this one which was published in December 2019:

What can you say about the future events of the manga?

I’m conscious of the end of the series, and writing towards that. I think the story will always be moving in big ways going forwards. My Hero Academia has a lot of characters, a lot of characters doing different things with different motivations, and the story is heading towards a conclusion where all of that comes together and heads towards the end.

my takeaways from these interviews are that (1) he originally planned for the story to be about 300 chapters long, (2) he’s had a clear idea of his overall endgame for a while now and has been steadily working towards that (as he put it in another interview, he knows all of the dots, but is still figuring out the lines to connect them all), and (3) he specifically said a couple years back that he did not want to write a long One Piece-length series, and his goal was to write a more concise story than that. Horikoshi’s pacing has always been much faster than Oda’s (or Kishimoto’s, or Kubo’s, etc.), and so I think it’s a realistic goal for him to wind up with a significantly shorter story in comparison.

my best guess is that BnHA won’t be much longer than 400 chapters, or a little over 40 volumes. he said back around chapter 180-something that he was nowhere close to being two-thirds of the way done. but it’s been two years since then, and if we haven’t reached at least the two-thirds mark by this point, I would honestly be very surprised. it would mean we’ve barely made any progress at all, and I don’t know about you, but the past few arcs have felt very purpose-driven to me. I think he has a pretty good idea of where he’s heading at this point, and that to me supports the idea of a shorter story than a lot of people have speculated. mind you, he might end up doing a sequel or something afterwards (although I kind of cringe thinking about all the ways we’ve seen that kind of thing go wrong in the past, ngl).

but as far as the series proper, yeah, I’d say 400 chapters is my best guess. ultimately I just hope he’s able to tell the story he wants to tell and gets as much time as he needs to do so, without feeling any pressure to then drag it on past that. knowing when to end your series is so underrated honestly. I have my fingers crossed that it’s a skill Horikoshi hopefully possesses.

[tossing-cookies]

Sick Ciel who just wants cuddles (i realize this is ooc but i need h/c lol) and pukes on Sebastian

Hi! Thanks for the request! It was hard to fill because Ciel is such a standoffish character and doesn’t enjoy much physical contact. So, I made it fit into a time specific to the manga. It takes place sometime between chapter 90 and 92 when Ciel was injured in Germany. It actually fit in really well there? He’s not cuddling Sebastian, but he pukes on him! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

-

He had not stopped trembling since his restless slumber took him to places he wished he could forget. Finnian had him now, but he could still feel the cold roughness of rusted metal holding his ankle, chaining him. He could still, though he was blind at the moment, still see the blood running through the stone floor.

Finnian, just as terrified, though for different reason, held the boy as delicately as he could manage with his fingers still touching him. They nearly hovered over the boy’s back, shaking as his muscles held themselves back. His young master was so fragile in this weakened state, and Finnian, in knowing perfectly welll his own strength, was careful not to hurt him in the slightest.

His heart broke at the state his master was in, so defeated, scared, unsure, when always he had been a symbol of emotional strength. To see such a foil had the gardener in his own level of shock. Whatever happened had broken him, and Finnian would do everything in his power to his pieces back together.

“Young master,” Finnian began softly, praying he did not startle the jumpy boy. When Ciel looked through a blind eye in his direction, the gardener continued, relieved his voice had not stirred another panic attack. “You’ve hardly eaten anything since yesterday. You must be hungry!” He was trying to lift the anxiety with a gentle voice.

Against Finnian’s chest, Ciel shook his head. His stomach was still upset at him from the mustard gas poisoning and the way it had been treated. Just thinking of it made him recall the funnel in his mouth, force feeding him, hands touching and grabbing. He felt sick. “I’m not hungry,” he whispered truthfully.

Feeling his heart sink slightly, Finnian nodded. He hoped Ciel would be doing a bit better after some time to relax, but it seemed whatever the nightmares had shown him had torn open old wounds. “Oh, okay,” he decided not to push, trying instead to come up with another subject that would help take Ciel’s mind off of his suffering. “What about a card game, then?” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a dirty and ripped deck, clearly loved and used frequently. “You gave me this deck when you taught me to play! I’ve been practicing.”

Although Finnian smiled at the fond memory, Ciel’s pale lips stayed a tight line, his bottom lip on the verge of trembling as if in constant threat of bursting into tears. Again, he shook his head, though this time hestitating, memory clouding over his mind’s eye. As a child, he played cards all the time, but childhood was not so,etching so happily remembered. It served as a reminder of all that had been taken from him, what had been lost and could never be returned; his family, his dog, his happiness. “No…”

Beginning to panic at the forlorn look on his master’s face, Finnian quickly shoved the deck back in his pocket. “Oh, of course! You’re probably too tired to be playing games, silly me.” Hoping to cheer him up, the gardener chuckled lightly. “Um, how about a book then? Lady Sullivan has a lot of interesting books in here!”

Before Ciel could respond, probably with another “no,” a knock came from the door. Immediately, the young master retreated further into Finnian’s arms, a yelp of terror leaving him as he did.

Finnian could feel Ciel’s trembling growing stronger. “Young master…” he clicked his tongue despondently, carefully giving his back a pat. “It’s okay. It’s probably Lady Sullivan just coming to change your bandages. I’ll go check!” When he went to get up, however, a small hand reached blindly for him, begging him not to go.

Gently, Finnian took it. “Don’t worry, young master, I’ll protect you,” he promised, giving Ciel’s tiny hand a single shake as if making a deal. He got up then, letting the hand slip from his own before making his way across the room. When he got to the door, he opened it curiously.

Sebastian stood, waiting patiently with a benign grin painted on his face. “Good evening, Finnian.”

Ciel, at the sound of Sebastian’s voice, shrieked and dove under the blankets.

Finnian, hearing this, turned his head to look at his master briefly before glancing back at his superior. “Good evening, Mr. Sebastian,” he began, making sure to block the way with his body.

The dark butler loomed over the adolescent, cold maroon eyes past him and locked onto the shivering lump on the bed. “I see the young master’s condition has not improved,” he observed, keeping the disgust he felt to himself.

Finnian’s curious expression fell to sadness as he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. You’ve trusted me to care for him, but I can’t even help him feel better…”

Dismissively, Sebastian pushed inside the bedroom, effortlessly shouldering the gardener out of the way. “Precisely why I’m here. I need to speak with the young master.”

Panicking all over again, Finnian stepped in front of Sebastian, his expression clearly displaying the concern he felt. “I-I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,” he stammered, struggling to block the older butler’s way as he continued toward the bed. Finnian could hear Ciel whimpering. “The young master is still scared, Mr. Sebastian, sir, please think about how he feels.” The words came out in one panicked jumble, but they had no effect in deterring the demon.

Coolly, Sebastian swung his arm, pushing Finnian to the side before stopping at Ciel’s bedside. For a moment, he stood silently, only watching as the blankets trembled. How could this be his master? He felt disgusted. All of the strength, the willpower, the desire for revenge, appeared to be gone, and it sickened him. It was pathetic. “Young master,” he all but barked, giving up on feigning respect. This display deserved none.

Ciel flinched, and gave another whimper. Finnian panicked and moved closer, his hand absently reaching out to Sebastian, as if debating whether to try pulling him away. He waited, watching anxiously.

With one swift motion, Sebastian’s gloved hand gripped the blanket the bluenette hid underneath and cast it aside. Ciel held himself in a fetal ball, his whole body shaking. Sebastian gazed down, his expression darkening. “Honestly, sir, are you quite done with your temper tantrum by now?”

As soon as Sebastian’s large hand began to extend in his direction, Ciel’s heart seized in his chest, and his mind went blank with pure, unadulterated fear. With a primal shriek, Ciel slapped Sebastian’s digits away. Ice ran through his veins, his muscles burning with the instinct to flee. “No! Don’t touch me!”

A flashback came to Ciel when Sebastian did not withdraw and instead reached again, refusing no as an answer. Bars were suddenly around him; he was trapped. Hands wanted to grab him, hurt him, their evil fingers wrapping around his wrist. Ciel screamed at the touch that now came from his previous captors.

Suddenly nauseous with the overwhelming fear, Ciel’s stomach lurched and a forceful stream of vomit splattered onto Sebastian’s neat suit.

The butler was unaffected, standing still as he watched, making no motion to help. Finnian pushed his way forward, however, quickly grabbing a plastic basin. “Young master, please…” He begged, desperately wishing his master be rid of this torment. The words fell on deaf ears, for now the young teen was hyperventilating and forcing up mouthful after mouthful of bile.

Biting his lip, Finnian carefully moved one hand from the basin he held under Ciel’s chin to rub his back. Through the thin fabric of Ciel’s sleeping shirt, he could feel muscles tensing and quivering in violent trembles. Against him, Ciel felt so small, so fragile, and it tore his heart open.

Ciel gagged up another wave of sick, one Finnian unfortunately happened to catch a glimpse of, and gasped sharply as the sting made his throat freeze, and he began to panic all over again. He was suffocating. There was no control.

His lungs began to heave as horrendously as his stomach, terrible, deep coughing wracking his small frame. The sounds were wet, crackling in his chest, and almost immediately brought up more vomit.

Feeling his own stomach doing a backflip every time Ciel retched, Finnian kept his eyes only on his master’s back, concentrating on the hand that massaged it soothingly. “Please, young master, calm down. I’m here, I’m here.”

When those soft words were spoken, Ciel unraveled, tears beginning to bubble from his eyes and run down his cheeks with a weak sob. It was interrupted by a dry heave, but Finnian still caught the sound. Something in his chest broke then. “Please, don’t cry,” he whispered, his own voice wavering with emotion. He too felt like crying, seeing his master in such a miserable state.

Ciel’s quiet, strangled sobs came freely as the last of his unproductive retching tapered off. Abandoning the basin in his lap, his head turned then into the crook of his trusted gardener’s neck. Everything hurt, and he was terrified, exhausted, wheezing for breath in between tear-laden, incoherent mumbles.

Taking this as a signal that the vomiting was over, Finnian, feeling relieved, moved the bucket to the cart of supplies and used his now free hands to hold onto the young lord as gently as he could. “I’ve got you, young master. You’re all right. You’re safe now, okay?”

To his surprise, Ciel nodded, having heard and listened to his words in the midst of a meltdown, and Finnian began to softly rub his back again. The boy was still crying, but Finnian no longer heard any sobs, only congested sniffling. “There you go, just relax,” he cooed softly, going with what felt natural. He had no idea how to care for another, especially when vomiting or crying, but he seemed to be succeeding, at least to some degree. That gave him hope.

When the tears finally stopped, Ciel lifted his head, his uncovered eye glaring in Sebastian’s direction. “Get out!” He ordered, his previous fear inexplicably morphing to anger, and a stroke of bravery.

Sebastian, not saying anything in response, simply bowed, vomit dripping down his clothes, and then exited the room.

With the demon gone, Ciel’s rigid body went lax against Finnian with a deep sigh of relief, as if he could finally breathe again. “…you stay.”

“I’ll stay beside you as long as you need me to,” Finnian promised with a small smile, glad that the turmoil was over with.

Ciel nodded, pulling himself back to sit upright, his eye blindly directed at Finnian. “…I want to sleep.”

“Good idea,” the servant agreed, standing from the bed to tuck in his worn out master. “You must be exhausted…” He waited for Ciel to lay back before he pulled the blankets up. “Do you need anything before you rest? Maybe some water?”

Against the pillows, Ciel shook his head. He had not the energy to do anything but sleep. Even drinking sounded too daunting of a task at the moment. “Just… tired…” he mumbled

“Okay,” Finnian ceded, figuring that after a nap, he’d try again with the glass of water. “I’m just going to take care of the basin, young master. I’ll be right back.” He waited for a nod of approval before moving to leave, trying to avoid upsetting him, unsure if any absence would be tolerated currently. Thankfully, that was not the case, and Finnian carefully grabbed the bucket in his hands.

As soon as it moved, the smell of stomach acid hit his nose, and he was instantly nauseous. Resisting the urge to gag, he turned and quickly made for the door. With every breath, the pungent stench burned his nostrils, and his throat was straining with the threat of a retch.

As soon as he was out of the room, he shut the door behind him, and his body doubled over, his stomach pushing itself up. A gag brought forth a powerful surge of vomit, the incredible strength of his muscles forcing everything out of his belly at once. Lucky for him, the bucket he held caught most of the mess.

Stunned, Finnian stood there unmoving, spitting out the acrid taste and regaining his breath.

Sebastian, who had been standing just outside the door, sighed and palmed his forehead in exasperation. “Honestly, now,” he began in a chiding fashion. “Must I do everything?” The demon took the sloshing basin from the gardener. “Finnian, clean yourself up and return to the young master. I’m leaving him in your hands for the time being.”

Ashamed of himself, Finnian nodded and headed to the bathroom to wash his mouth out.

[makeste]

Oh right, I forgot to ask now that you finished the Yakuza/Overhaul arc but on a scale from Endeavor to All For One, where does Overhaul fit on the bad dad scale?

somehow this very simple ask which could have been answered in like three sentences turned into my definitive ranking of the top ten Known Dads in BnHA. I’m not sure how either. but here we go

(spoilers in this post up to chapter 165!)

10. Overhaul

dad score - [unknown] [the scale broke when we tried to measure him]

is asked to care for his boss’s granddaughter; proceeds to torture her for profit

constantly tells her that she’s cursed and all the bad things that he does are somehow her fault

doesn’t even bother to give this kid some fucking shoes

keeps killing her babysitters

I know I already said it, but it really can’t be stressed enough, this guy routinely disassembled her limbs on a molecular level, causing her excruciating pain and trauma, for the sake of trying to make himself the new drug-dealing kingpin of the underworld. he is sooo bad you guys

9. All for One

dad score - 11/100

is super creepy and manipulative and purposely brainwashed Tomura into hating All Might through a series of meticulously calculated encounters

decided the best way to help Tomura reach his full potential would be to step out of his life and get himself arrested

hasn’t even seen his other son, Izuku, since he was a baby! what a fucking deadbeat smdh

but on the other hand, he does seem supportive and indulgent towards Tomura and gives him lots of praise and encouragement

8. Endeavor

dad score - 39/100

abused his kid

abused his kid’s mom, in front of his kid

you wouldn’t even know it, but he actually has other kids, whom he never seems to acknowledge or pay even the slightest attention to whatsoever!

only had kids in the first place so he could raise his kids to beat All Might. has no problem telling this to said kids and even to All Might’s own face

having said that, the only reason his score isn’t in the negatives is because as of chapter 165, it seems like maybe? possibly? he just might be trying for the first time ever. or like. trying to try. if you can count showing up to Shouto’s supplemental course to shout “SHOOOOOOOOOOUUUUTOOOOOOOOO” at him from the stands as trying. but like, I feel like he is attempting to be encouraging. it doesn’t mean he’s not still a piece of shit, but if the guy is trying to be better then, like, it’s better than him not trying, you know?

but he’s still terrible

7. Kurogiri

dad score - 60/100

Tomura’s Actual Dad

is calm, rational, polite, and a respected doctor of medicine (probably) (idk you guys I just still get that vibe)

took Tomura and all the other kids on a character-building trip to Villain Island in an omake from chapter 149 which I consider to be canon

there’s nothing more dadlike than taking your kids camping and trying to teach them how to survive in the wilderness

taught Tomura how to get along with others

always seems to have his back, which is real important you guys

6. Gran Torino

dad score - 70/100

not the best score but a C is still respectable. mostly it’s just cuz he was out of the picture for so long. although we’ve since found out that Toshinori by his own admission had a habit of pushing away people who cared about him, so that may have had something to do with it

cares a lot about Toshinori even though he’s shit at showing it

made him into a man by beating the shit out of him until he got super strong

was right there in the thick of things with Toshinori during both of his fights against All for One. he straight up risked his life to back him up against the strongest villain alive

took it in stride when he found out he had a grandson that he’d never met, and took him under his wing as well and raised him for like three whole days and taught him how to use a microwave

5. Ochako’s Dad

dad score - 80/100

I probably should have given him a higher score, honestly. he seems really sweet. he’s probably a better dad than Bakugou’s Dad tbh, but Bakudad gets the edge just for the much steeper difficulty level. because let’s be honest, there’s a biiiig difference between raising a sweet baby angel like young Ochako, and raising a sentient roman candle with a potty mouth

but he works so hard to make ends meet, and somehow he and his wife managed to scrimp and save enough to send Ochako to U.A. because they wanted her to follow her dreams and they want the best for her

and they’ve always been so supportive of her on like the three occasions we’ve seen them in flashbacks or talking to her over the phone or visiting her after the sports festival

look at this thumbs up though

tell me that’s not the most dad thing you’ve ever seen in your fucking life

4. Bakugou’s Dad

dad score - 82/100

has like two lines in the entire series, but

as previously mentioned, raised Bakugou Katsuki and somehow survived to tell the tale. so honestly he probably deserves some kind of medal

also, since we know virtually nothing about him other than what was in the omake profile from volume 11, I’ve been imagining him as being kind of like Calvin’s Dad from Calvin and Hobbes

so he gets bonus points for that positive association

really there’s no reason for him to be this high up tbh except that I firmly believe he’s a great dad and I’m just waiting for canon to prove me right. I’ll be right here waiting, manga

3. RockLockRock

dad score - 90/100

he’s awesome

also, look. being a hero is inherently dangerous. you never know where you’re going to get called to next, and any mission could end up being your last. injuries and trauma go hand-in-hand with the job. most of the hero characters we’ve seen don’t have families, and I have to assume that’s not a coincidence. so to me, all of this means that if a hero character actually does go through with starting a family, it means they wanted that family more than anything, and you can bet they freaking love the shit out of said family. I have no doubt that RLR is and will continue to be an amazing dad

plus his kid is just too damn cute

2. Aizawa

dad score - 95/100

first of all, if this was a ranking of Hottest BnHA Dads, you better believe he’d be at the very top and it would be no contest

he has 20 kids and somehow he’s able to handle each and every one of them

risked his life to save the kids barely two weeks into the school year with no hesitation, even though he nearly died

did the same thing again barely two months later. this time thankfully without the nearly dying

has the total respect and trust of each and every kid in his class. and considering the personalities of some of them, that’s no small feat

specifically, it says a lot that even Bakugou doesn’t give him any lip and always listens to him without complaint and is even polite

speaking of Bakugou, he defended him to that Jerk Reporter during the Hideout Raid arc and proved that he understands his students better than anyone

isn’t afraid to deal out strict discipline when the situation calls for it, but it’s always for the students’ own good

isn’t above trolling the shit out of his kids on occasion when he feels like it

is good with kids of all ages and not just teenagers, as evidenced by how good he also was with Kouta during the forest invasion arc

lastly, as we saw in chapter 136, he has an untold repertoire of secret dad moves just waiting to be unleashed, such as (a) crouching down to a seated Deku’s eye level, and (b) gently punching him in the chest while affectionately calling him by a nickname. who knows what other moves this man has in reserve. I for one can’t wait to see more

1. All Might

dad score - 96/100

indisputable best dad. A+. although even he didn’t get a perfect score, because nobody is perfect and there’s always room for improvement

always knows exactly what to say. despite constantly seeming to stress about it. probably he only stresses because he cares so much and he’s worried about doing things exactly right

loving father to the two most difficult children in the whole series, Midoriya “which bones did you break this time” Izuku, and Bakugou “like I said, anyone who even attempts to parent this child automatically deserves a medal” Katsuki

this man literally got down on his hands and knees and begged Deku’s mom to let him try to be the Best Dad Ever to her child. he loves him so fucking much

gives THE best dad hugs

I need more All Might hugs

honorable mentions: 

Nighteye (I forgot about him until after I had already made the list and was too lazy to go back and insert him in his rightful place at number 3. 92/100. loses points for FUCKING DYING AND MAKING ME CRY)

Fat Gum (same deal as Nighteye in that I forgot about him. 75/100. he’s loving and jolly and gives out free candy, but he let Kirishima get all beat up. BE MORE CAREFUL NEXT TIME)

Vlad King (haven’t seen his dad skills in action much, but according to his profile he’s nicer to his kids than Aizawa is. okay but DID HE NEARLY MAKE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE FOR THEM though. because Aizawa did. 85/100)

Present Mic (not a dad. is at best a Weird Uncle. 70/100)

Jirou’s Dad (I forgot about him too lol. he’s a wacky dad who likes to rock and roll! he tried to be a Stern Dad to impress All Might and Aizawa but failed miserably. took his wife’s last name!! so secure in his own masculinity. wants his daughter to live her best life and follow her passions. 93/100. he’s fucking great)

[completeoveranalysis]

TRC Translation Notes Volume 13 (Chapters 91 - 99 + Omake)

The wondrous third installment of the new Translation Notes from @giniroangou, now looking at Volume 13. I can’t believe how far we’ve come, this still feels so recent. 

Highlights include: that’s so love, secret drugs, justice for Syaoran’s detective skills, improved Kuroparents, and cuddle pile!

Chapter 91

p.11-12 - Just for fun, the word that’s been translated as “love birds” is “raburabu”/“love love,” which is frequently used to indicate that two people are lovey dovey together, so to speak. Mokona continues to use the word “rabu”/“love” throughout her proceeding comments. First she says, “It’s love! It’s love!,” then she turns the word “love” into an adjective (so, “But it was so romantic” becomes literally, “But it was so love”), and finally, “Isn’t love nice?”

p.15 - Since a commenter asked, this world’s name rendered directly from the katakana is “Rekoruto.” I think the fan translation of Lecourt works the best as a country name, but I’ve always liked how the original name is reminiscent of the word “record” given all the libraries, so I can understand the use of Recort as an alternate translation. As far as I know there are no right answers here - I don’t think CLAMP has officially clarified? - but in fandom you’re probably most likely to see people using Lecourt.

P.22 - The translation has switched from “Daddy” to “Father” but the original Japanese is the same as it’s always been. As I mentioned earlier, this was “Otou-san,” for which “Father” would be a more accurate translation.

When Fai says that they’re “not permitted” to sell the swords, he’s really just saying they shouldn’t sell them. I’m pretty sure if they actually wanted to they could.

Chapter 92

p.31 - As a bit of trivia, Kurogane calls his mother “Hahaue,” which is a more formal and old-fashioned word for “Mother” than the commonly-heard “Okaa-san.” It’s something you’d be unlikely to hear from anyone today, but fits right in with the apparent time period of Kurogane’s Nihon. (Likewise, a little later he calls his father “Chichiue,” the equivalent word for “Father.”)

p.33 - In the translated version Kurogane’s father calls him a “brat,” but the term he uses is “wanpaku bouzu,” different from both words Kurogane has used for Syaoran (“gaki” and “kozou.”) While I think “brat” works well for the exchange between Kurogane and his father, normally I’d interpret this phrase a bit more warmly - it’s like he’s calling him a little rascal. Not that brat can’t be said fondly, of course.

P.34 - Following up from the previous note, Kurogane’s “I’m not a brat!” can be interpreted along the lines of “I’m not a kid!”

Kurogane’s father is referred to as the “ryoushu” (領主) indicating that he is a feudal lord, but the extent of his holdings isn’t necessarily as large as a daimyo (though it very well could be!) From the tiny bit of research I’ve done, ryoushu seems to be a fairly ambiguous term, so we have some leeway in interpreting his position. If anyone is well-versed in historical Japanese terminology and/or has more information on this, feel free to step forward!

p.35 - The translation of “kusa” as “grass” here is unintentionally hilarious - that is a legit translation of the word, but in this context “herb” would be more appropriate. (Either way they’re suddenly sounding like pot farmers though, HELP.)

p.38 - It seems like you may have misinterpreted the speech bubbles from your tags, but the parent who Kurogane is said to resemble is his father rather than his mother, much as I love the image of baby Kuromama climbing trees (though who’s to say she didn’t!)

Chapter 93

p.51 - Kurogane’s “I want to protect Suwa and everyone in it,” is spoken first as, “I [want to protect] Suwa,” then clarified to, “I want to protect everyone.” You could interpret this the way the official translation did, or you could say that to Kurogane, Suwa is equivalent to the people there.

More significantly, Kurogane’s vow of protection is, “I want to protect Mother and Father, who protect everyone else.”

p.59 - Now that Kurogane’s grown up a bit, he calls his father “Oyaji.” This means “Father” as well, but it’s used primarily by men - it’s rougher and more casual than “Chichiue” or “Otousan.” In English translations it’s often rendered as the colloquialism “my/the old man.” We see later that he still uses “Chichiue” when speaking to his father directly, though.

Chapter 94

p.67 - There’s nothing here I would consider a mistranslation, but I’d like to clarify some nuances in the dialogue. Kurogane’s “I’d rather have you feeling better!” is, “It’s fine as long as you get better.” When his mother responds by calling him a good child, the word she uses is “yasashii,” meaning gentle/sweet/caring. I really love this word choice in juxtaposition with Kurogane’s actions - he’s yelling, but his mother clearly recognizes that it’s coming from a place of care and concern.

p.68-70 - This is getting into nitpicky territory and I’m too lazy to write out the specifics, but please take my word for it that in the original text it feels clearer that Syaoran is actually in the process of figuring things out and heading towards a conclusion rather than just summarizing information he’s already said, lol.

p.79 - Since “You people...” sounds kind of alienating in English, I’ll clarify that Kurogane’s saying, “Everyone…”/“All of you…”

Chapter 95

p.87 - I don’t think it’s clear in the translation, but Kuromama tells Kuropapa that he mustn’t take Ginryuu with him without calling for her first (to bless the sword, as we learn shortly after.)

p.88 - The tone of this exchange is different as well - it’s not about demands being made but about the actions each of them choose to take. Kuropapa says, “You’ve always been like this. You keep pushing yourself too hard,” and Kuromama replies, “I could say the same of you.”

p.90 - A little elaboration on Ginryuu as the “Dragon of Water” - the original text refers to Ginryuu as one who rules over/controls the water.

Chapter 96

p.107-108 - I’m not certain that Kuromama’s final words are a request for Kurogane to protect Suwa. It’s difficult to tell because she’s speaking in sentence fragments, but she’s using the same structure for both “Suwa” and “You” (“Suwa wo...” “Anata wo...” vs “Anata ni/ga…”), and there is no pronoun associated with the following “Must protect…” This leads me to believe that she’s still struggling under her own obligations here, feeling that she must protect both Suwa and her son even as she dies.

p.120 - A clarification so Amaterasu doesn’t sound totally irresponsible here: She says she led her army in assuming that monsters would invade Suwa, the implication being that she came as soon as she could after hearing about Tomoyo’s dream.

Chapter 97

p.133 - Amaterasu isn’t trying to reason with Kurogane, as it appears in the translation. She’s speaking to the people with her (or the readers, however you want to see it), saying that he’s lost himself and that it can’t be helped, but she has to stop him. My interpretation would be that she’s ready to put him out of his misery here, tbh, hence the look of pain on her face. It’s brutal, but she believes it’s the only thing to be done at this point. Tomoyo literally saved Kurogane’s life here.

Chapter 98

p.142-143 - Since this became a topic of discussion, the “U” noises Kurogane makes here are indeed a sort of animalistic groaning noise (at least that’s how I would interpret them.) The Japanese “u” sounds like a shortened English “oo,” so just imagine he’s alternating between short and long versions of that sound and you should have an idea of what it’s supposed to be.

p.150 - I’m pretty sure this came up near the start of the manga, but as a reminder this castle is called “Shirasagi,” not “Shirasaki.”

p.153 - When Kurogane says his name here it’s “...Kurogane” rather than “Kurogane…” There are far too many weird punctuation-based tonal shifts in this translation, let me tell you.

p.156 - SPEAKING OF WHICH… Mokona’s line should end in an exclamation mark (“Syaoran is crying!”) and the ellipsis comes at the front of Fai’s line (“...He won’t let go.”) I don’t always point these out or even notice them but they’re deeply frustrating. As subtle as the changes may be, they still affect the way these lines come across.

Chapter 99

p.165 - It’s actually quite likely that Syaoran led with “I think I saw your past” - the language Kurogane uses in the original text implies that he’s confirming something that was already speculated/assumed. I don’t think it lessens the moment at all, though.

Omake

p.177 - What’s been translated as Yuuko telling Mokona to find a good place to stay was originally, “You need to make sure you get enough sleep.”

p.179 - Mokona’s actually saying here that everyone’s going to sleep together! Canon cuddle pile! :D