#I'm not even gonna go into all the other factors like the regulation changes + all the stored data + marketing power

[chaoticlandworlder]

People are kinda unhinged about Checo's Red Bull contract renewal...

Like yes, I was also surprised that Checo got signed for 2 years (though if it's 1+1 that some ppl are saying it is, it is more understandable) but come on, taking so much time just to comment and spam hate? Ridiculous and so immature.

And who should've replaced him? There are only so many available F1 drivers. So many haters are from the Versainz-lineup side (I too would've loved Versainz lol just for the vibes), but come on, realistically, Carlos was never going to work (just look at the Torro Rosso days...) and anyway it was news weeks ago that Carlos/Red Bull had no interest in signing a contract. I can see why some may say Yuki should be there but I can also understand why Red Bull may not want to promote him yet (no I will not elaborate because *gunshots*). And tbh, whichever driver they put in that seat, will still be crushed by Max. In fact, I think one of Checo's strong points is that he's managed to last fairly well against Max mentally- until last year where he got in over his head with the early talks of him possibly becoming wdc. Besides, even if you think another driver should have gotten that seat, it does not justify all the hate.

Also, some are just straight up delusional like somehow spinning it to hate on Max? E.g. those who think Max masterminded the whole contract (crazy take tbh) or got angry at Max for saying smt along the lines of how he's happy for Checo. Like what do you want him to say? "Omfg I hate having Sergio Perez as my teammate I wish [insert name of rando driver said angry person wanted to replace Checo] was my teammate instead!!" Be so fr guys.

[frost-felon]

221 was mostly fine, and 222 was a valley of highs and lows for me. 222 is perhaps one of the chapters that suffers the most from Gege's hardcuts. I would go from, "Are we actually gonna get a better understanding of Kenny's relationship to Tengen?" to 'I love Ino, I hope he has at least a single line of dialogue.' to "'Regulations'. Are these 'higher-ups' or this 'Jujutsu Headquarters' in the room with us right now?" to bemoaning the timeskip, etc, etc.

I'm glad we got some character moments, but knowing that moments like these can't properly stand on their own weight stings. That is, the depth of each character is often held back. I noticed it particularly hard with Maki, whose actions are hard to discern (in comparison to, say, how she acted at her introduction, months prior in the story's timeframe) based on what we're given. The panel I'm discussing, for reference:

As told to some of my friends: "Is she making a light-hearted comment because she's grown fonder of Gojo? Because she's uneasy? Because she wants to lighten the mood? Is she conscious that she's still giving Gojo more credit than she did months ago?

"It's a change from how Maki acted earlier in the story, sure, but not one I can point to with analysis to her character or how her relationship to Gojo has (or hasn't) changed. It's just there."

I am factoring in how Perfect Preparation changed her, her discussions with Noritoshi, and the sumo self-discovery (which was less about Maki, in my opinion, and more about Toji haunting the narrative), but I can't really land on an interpretation for this moment, with evidence provided by earlier chapters. With the ~month-long timeskip, it is impossible for me to know if any of the character interactions I can presume happened with Maki and Gojo led to this. Simply because I can't know what those interactions were, or even how many they had.

So this ends up just being nothing. The bare minimum, and maximum, it does is tell me that Maki has returned to a state of mind where she can 'threaten' some good old-fashioned roughhousing, maybe. There are some bits just a little later that could potentially give me more to go on, but she's largely played as having the same role as at least two other people in the following scenes. There are differences in expression for the "Go get 'em, tiger." scene with Gojo, but Maki doesn't affect anything through her action or inaction, and ends up replaceable, as a result. Though not nearly to the extent of Miwa, who might as well be named "Missing", for all her lack of relevance to...anything.

This is fairly light analysis, damn near a vent post with extra steps, but I do think the short supply of character-building moments throughout the manga cheapens both its characters and its pacing. Culling Games, while having FAR more pressing issues than needing more time to flesh out characters, did suffer from the time-jumps that the first half of the manga was prone to, and I hate to see this story convention return so abruptly and damningly.

[letsgonipples]

if random questions are OK, feel free to ignore if not: if you were to assign a moral alignment for your character (lawful/neutral/chaotic) (good/neutral/evil), what would it be and why?

He asks, as if I don't send random shit his way constantly (jk ily and thank you for being considerate)

Truthfully? I think he's definitely a chaotic good alignment. "A chaotic good character acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. He makes his own way, but he's kind and benevolent. He believes in goodness and right but has little use for laws and regulations."

Jin is a serial killer, yes, but the only reason he ever actually commits these atrocities is in the name of justice. When a bully has atoned for their actions, he doesn't come in and swing the hammer down again. However, in cases like Kawai, he may have faced some consequences for his actions, but he never actually really atoned for it. Granted, I do think that Jin went to the extreme with Shinya because of his own guilt and that in other circumstances with identical repercussions (such as the public shaming), he would not go after that person.

Also, he has a conscience. When Sawa-sensei dies, it's not that he doesn't care. In fact, he's very clearly struggling with the guilt that this young woman died in the crossfire. As confirmed in the final sequence as he has flashbacks, you can clearly see that Sawa-sensei's face after she's murdered pops up. Keep in mind, her eyes are also open, meaning that, despite knowing full well that RK is doing everything and anything he can to find him, even using Sawa-sensei as bait, he still doubles back to go see, perhaps even try and save, Sawa-Sensei. Keep in mind, this is before Yagami can really get a true sense of who this guy is outside of the initial "who is this bitch and why is he stealing my friends?", so Kuwana's done this of his own volition. No one has to point out that he should feel guilty that a civilian got caught in the middle of his pursuit of vengeance. He's very well aware that this should not have happened.

He knows killing is bad, however, he also knows that without extremist action, things are not going to change to actually protect children in this regard. To him, the end justifies the means. As pointed out in the games, the parents of the victims as well as other characters, such as Higashi and Kaito, all understand where he's coming from. It's even acknowledged that there's a reason no one's reported him yet even though they declined his offer.

He's also more than ready to accept the consequences of his actions. Also depicted in the end of LJ, he could have very easily killed Souma in revenge for him murdering Sawa-sensei, but he acknowledged that in order for truth and justice to prevail, Souma had to be taken in for questioning. The main reason he was ready to die rather than come clean was because of Reiko. His guilt over Mitsuru was a huge guiding factor for him, and protecting her was, in a way, his own way to atone for his neglect. However, he carried on when she came clean, not in that he's necessarily continued killing, but he's created a challenge for the law enforcement. He's the one to have leaked the information of the deceased bullies. This isn't because he's trying to play a game, but rather, he knows that if he can be caught with proper evidence, it means the law is finally capable of protecting the bullied children he's sought out to avenge.

Honestly, I love this question, and I'm gonna keep adding to this because it's amazing and I love Kuwana so much.

(I'll also definitely have to reread/edit/addend this I'm running on 3 hours of sleep again alkjdfa;ldsjfka;sdf)