#I've never hated a character like I hate Koichi

[initialmadi]

I hate Koichi Hiramoto

[ezekielisezekiel]

How I see the characters of Jotaro during the parts:

Let start from the beginning during his past life before he turns 17, so Jotaro grow up with a father figure but who was not always there due to his work, which mean he was raised by his mother: Holy, I and many people of the fanbase had been wondering why and how is rebellious phase apparent so late, having this type of crisis mostly end when we reach 17 and start like when we are 11, I personally think(this is headcanon time!) Jotaro was socially rejected and probably bullied for being a "haju"(Haju is a slang to call Japanese people with mixed races) which explains why the memories at the beginning of Stardust Crusaders was him alone or with his mother because he doesn't have any friends(or not alot) due to the high mount of xenophobia in Japan during the 70's(Japan is still a xenophob country) and he probably act like a macho and deliquent to co-op with his father's constant absence(Of course I'm not justifying his shitty behaviour towards some women especially his own mother which make Jotaro(part 3) slapable but just explain by my resonance and understanding of Part 3 and extra canon info) like he was trying to act like he was the man of the house because he's literally the man of the house! His dad choose a fucking saxophone over his son and wife! Of course he's edgy!(sorry I got carried away for this one) And he DOES SUFFER from the aftermath of Dio's fight and the travel I'm Egypt(honestly I prefer the Ova and the manga version of Jotaro, he's more emotional) he suffer but silently we can clearly see in the different parts that he's still affected by that, it haunt him till his 42, and it show that this Jojo isn't longer that one edgy teen that we knew he grew up and became more mature I hate when the fanbase hate this character for some dark bullshit he said 25 years ago I which the fandom could stop making a fixation on this and "interpret" his character well like it should be.

And many people says "why Jotaro get weaker every parts!" Jotaro never get weaker, part 3 ennemies was easy the only ennemies that make him struggle is The Lovers and Dio, if he lost his muscles its because of age, ptsd and depression

"He could choose Koichi over Jolyne!" He didn't separed himself from his family for fun he did that to protect them from Pucci, mf could literally die for Jolyne, I wish that people could see more his "hidden side".

One last thing: It's totally normal that Star Platinum appears smaller each parts do I've to remind how bad his first stand using experience was?(Egypt) of course he would be disgusted by using his stand.

Jotaro is a jerk but he's more than that.

(Next will be Joseph !!)

I might had poorly conjugate the verbs, English isn't my mother tongue

(Or he's probably turn into a delinquent bc it was commun in Japan at this time and I'm such trying to understand different characters like always)

(And no matter how though he try to act he will still be a mama's boy)

[stirdrawsandreblaws]

digimon you bitch. also i faved all your ask posts are you happy now >:c lmao <3

lmao yes i'm happy you little shit XD sorry to make you go feral waiting for me to share my top three favorite characters....i hate how hard this is so i'm gonna do like i did with pokemon and split it by series

Digimon Adventure:

Wizardmon

Izzy

Sora and Joe (tie--I literally cannot choose between them and my love for each of them is so different...very much solidified by the bakemon encounter, which is why i grabbed that pic lmao)

Digimon Adventure 02:

Ken Ichijouji (who i am still a little insane about, as you well know)

Yolei/Miyako Inoue

Arukenimon (sorry to wormmon, who is a very close 4th!!)

I didn't see enough of Tamers to have real favorites so i'm skipping to Digimon Frontier:

Neemon (if i had a digimon partner it'd probably be this goob tbh, if not numemon orz)

Koichi Kimura

Koji Minamoto

and that's the last of the anime i've seen... but i've played a bunch of the games and the TCG and stuff so I'll make a list of my favorite Digimon overall:

Tokomon

Wizardmon

Gabumon

i go to great lengths to get these ones whenever possible, as well as toyagumon, impmon, demidevimon, birdramon, tentomon, and dokugumon. i also really like the design for noblepumpkinmon but i didn't play ReArise.

as for the rationale behind #1...tokomon scared the shit out of me the first time i saw it do the teeth thing in the anime and it's basically never left my mind; 11/10 design, fucking flawless

[sepyana]

Jjba Diamond Is Unbreakable Ep 18-29 Thoughts

Ep 18-19

I feel like this arc would have worked just fine if it was a single episode. I think it drags a bit too long.

Our new character for this arc is Shigechi. I think his design and stand is way too good and it's a shame he is only in a few episodes before he dies. Characterwise he needs work, the show tries too hard to make you feel bad for him in the end. But that's because he only has like 2 episodes to build his character. I can't help but like him though. He is a prick but in his defense he is like 12.

Design wise they are both simple and unique (in Jojo). Which is a hard combination to find in jojo I think. Plus they are really goofy, especially Harvest. Onto the episodes:

It's funny that Josuke has a stronger reaction to having no cash on hand compared to Red Hot Chili Pepper almost killing Okuyasu. If I had Crazy Diamond my whole life I would be the same way too probably but It's still funny to think about.

Okuyasu is quickly becoming my favorite character. His expressions, his voice all come together to create an absolute goofball.

I will never forget jojo fans for what you guys did to Kakyoin. He says one awkward line and the jojo fans won't shut the fuck up about it for years yet Okuyasu -who called someone's mom hot when he first saw them on multiple occasions- flies under the radar somehow. I am thankful for it, I wouldn't want Okuyasu to get the same treatment too.

Speaking of him, I've been looking thru sdc stuff and wow do people want him in part 4. Making "What if they were alive?" AUs are a common thing obviously but I've never seen it be this huge. Sometimes I'll see part 4 posts where Kak (Sometimes Avdol and Pol too) will be in it without acknowlegding that they are dead (missing in Pol's case). They are just there.

I do get why, Morioh is brimming with stand users and most of them aren't trying to kill people Kak's whole thing is that he is lonely because he can't find other stand users like him. Also I've read CDDH and apparently he is from Morioh. I think we don't need another crusader when Jotaro is part of the main cast already but the thought of Kak with heart shaped sunglasses is not lost on me.

I was gonna use another screencap but this is funny out of context

Do they don't know they can jump high with their stands? Maybe it's something you have to learn.

Ep 20

Wow...... I wonder what the message of this episode is.

It's generic and subtle as a brick to the face but for someone like Araki? who only stumbles onto themes on accident? This is huge.

It makes a lot more sense for Yukako to be still be with Koichi, instead of, "Just being able to like him is enough for me" act she had going on.

Our stand user for this arc is Aya. She speaks like she has low blood pressure and she like invading people's personal spaces.

I laughed out loud when I first saw her stand. Those are not boobas those are kikis. I do like her stand. It might just be my bias towards pink.

He brings Koichi with him everywhere because he is the only person that can tolarate him. He is just some guy. Josuke is suppose to be the type of character you wanna be friends with but everyone loves Koichi cuz he is just a guy. The funniest thing is that is the exact reason Yukako gives as to why she likes him. He is like the token cishet of JoJo.

Honestly? I like Yukako. I wasn't really expecting it cuz I hate yandere/tsundere or whatever type characters but she is entertaining just because of how off of her rockers she is.

My favourite part of the episode is when Koichi tells Josuke and Okuyasu he and Yukako kissed and Josuke almost falls from the window from shock while Okuyasu looks like he has died.

And then Josuke goes "What did you say she did to you?!? That girl never learns" because of course he would think she forced him to do that, considering her track record and all.

Josuke's reaction after hearing Koichi say he likes her to says everything. Like girl what.

I love how Josuke is just casually talking all the while Okuyasu is crying in his arms. Later Josuke still has one hand on his shoulder while Okuyasu cries but he is also completely ignoring him. Love that for them.

It's so wild that Koichi tells Aya to fucking *blind him* just so Yukako won't feel bad. Both of these people are insane and they deserve each other.

Nice attention to detail that he asks Aya to blind *his stand* since he can see through his stand's eyes otherwise.

Ep 21

While I was watching this part i was like there is no way he is gonna li- ohh noo

One thing I really like about Kira is that we will sometimes see what he is up to from his perspective. It's partially here but really shows up in the Stray Cat arc. He is not the type of guy to be plotting or thinking about the heroes all the time so it's just Kira's adventures. His silly adventure. And he is being incredibly pathetic about it with the most smug expressionsyou've ever seen.

Plus it's fun seeing the heroes from an outside perspective for the entire episode.

They say your stand reflects your soul. I have no idea what a wrestler cat with a thousand yard stare is suppose to say about Kira.

Killer Queen is the best stand btw. I will not debate on this. Just look at her. Kira doesn't deserve her, she is way too good of a stand for a guy whose whole thing is wanting a quiet life (besides the murders) (ignore the murders).

Ep 22

Araki reeeally wants to make you feel sorry for Shigechi. How am I suppose to believe people will just ignore a fellow student on the verge of death just because he is ugly. If it was some strangers down the road then yeah sure but this just looks stupid.

Shigechi going to heaven in the exact same state he was in when he died. Crusaders also get stuck in the same expression when they get their souls ripped out of their body. I'm not sure if this was intentional or not.

"I doubt he'll come to my shop but I'll keep an eye out." Girl you have NO idea

Seeing Koichi next to Jotaro you'd think he is around 90cm or so but apparently he is suppose to be 157cm. I was looking at the Jojowiki and noticed that earlier. The canon weights for the characters make zero sense btw.

Koichi:"Rohan always forces me to go to places" Andkasjskdshsjs??

Ep 23-24

What the fuck happened here.

Sheer heart attack is like the world's most evil roomba. If I was kire I would simply tape knives on that thang and set it loose inside my house.

I hate Koichi's shieking so much it's unreal.

I think the remote control stands are a really cool concept. Kira functionally having two stands though? Ehhhh... I not a fan of that to be honest. Sheer Heart Attack is basically it's own stand, sure, it's gimmicky but it's also really strong if you don't know how it works. I understand why Araki would want to break the rules for Killer Queen, It's hard to make her look like a threat compared to Star Platinum or Crazy Diamond.

Sheer Heart Attack bring completely neutralized by such a simple trick is why I love stands so much. Hamon is like if everyone had Mew but with different levels and moves. Stands are more like "everyone has different Pokemon but they are all at the same level". Some are obviously stronger than others but even the strongest ones have some sort of trick or Pokemon that counters them, or at least checks them.

I think Act 3 is less interesting compared to act 2 design and ability wise.

You know, I thought Kira's theme was too goofy for me to take seriously at first but it did hit pretty hard here.

I did say I don't like Koichi's VA very much but his confontation with Kira was pretty good.

Fucking christ.

Can we take a moment to appreciate how good the English dub is. Especially Kira (and Jotaro but I already talked about him during part 3).

Ep 25

The way they handled Kira's new identity is genuinely cool. As mentioned in this episode, Kira doesn't have anyone he is even remotely close to. Not having any dynamics with other people could definitely work for a character but it could also make them boring.

Kira now has to deal with Shinobu who is in a full marridge feeling love for the first time when Kira replaces her husband, and Hayato who is definitely knows something is up because he has never seen his parents have a positive interaction before, ever.

This is before Araki had the most horrible case of same face syndrome so Kira's new face does look slightly different. I like that his pitch black eyes get a pink glow whenever he summons Killer Queen.

I don't have much to say on this and the next few episodes. The Hand doesn't get a change to do anything, again, god forbid.

Ep 26

Rohan jumping in front of the bus Jesus style was pretty funny and I liked Rohan and Joseph's interactions. I also like Shizuka otherwise this episode sucks I don't wanna talk about it more

Ep 27

This episode and the one after it straight up confirm aliens are a thing and knowing Araki, I doubt this will come up again ever.

Mikitaka is actually just like me for real because I too lose my shit whenever I have to hear sirens and alarms (Misophonia)

I think he is a bit too generic, I also don't like how mamy symbols he has on his outfit. Also someone buy him brown contacts.

It's really funny that the first thing he does with an alien friend who can shapeshift is: take Rohan's money in a bet and piss him off.

Ep 28-29

Love that the op starts right after Rohan stabs himself.

He knows that Josuke wouldn't leave without healing him. Also because he is insane and willing the hurt himself and let his house burn down just to know how Josuke cheated.

I like the interactions between the two of them a lot. Josuke annoys him sure, but Rohan is a petty and stubborn asshole who gets upset just at the though of Josuke being happy. He is mad at Josuke for beating him up even though he knows Josuke beats the shit out of people who insult his hair. There is no way that isn't written in Koichi's files. He is just upset that he is experiencing the consequences of his actions. He is beefing with a 15 year old.

The action for this arc is pretty good.

I normally don't mention this because they tend to be brief but the sniffing and the walking noises Highway Star makes annoys me to no end. I am really bad with this stuff.

I especially like the addition of Koichi. He can be a piece of shit sometimes, like in the lock guy episode. I find that pretty funny personally.

It's been a while. I was on vacation for 2 weeks so I didn't have much time to write this.

I don't think I am going to do these posts for part 5 because I will not be able to finish the show otherwise. I don't watch new episodes before I write these (except for maybe a few) since I prefer it that way. I still might do something similar for part 6. We'll see. The issue is I wanna write all my thoughts but I am not good at being coherent.

[silvershadow1711]

I just finished reading My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, and... oooooh my god, I loved it so much! Not enough to give MHA proper a second chance- season 1 nuked any good will I had for that series and I'm not about to punish myself by enduring a tornament arc- but I might be interested if there are anymore off-shoots staring different characters and written by other people? Does that exist, because I like this world, I just hate Horikoshi's characters... and writing.

It's Attack on Titan all over again- I'd rather read profesionally published OC-centric fanfiction than whatever the original author is doing.

But Vigilantes was great. It had problems- a LOT of problems: the way female characters- especially underaged ones like Pop- are sexualized and victimized never stops being gross. The way people keep bringing up legitimate societal problems only to be told to stop whining never stops being gross. Naomasa in general- fuck him. ACAB, especially Naomasa. "Accepting help from vigilantes would mean admiting that the system is broken" and we sure as shit can't have that, can we, piggy? How the fuck is a character as great aa Makoto related to that boot-licking asshat?

*inhales* But infuriating issues aside, it has been years since a manga has gripped my heart like this. I love Koichi so much, I would die for this man. I spent the entire back half of the series sick with dread that they would force him into a relationship with Pop because it's a shonen manga and you gotta shoehorn a heterosexual relationship into it somewhere, but they didn't!! My boy is a pro in America! Fuck Japan, they don't deserve you! Accidentally saying he's gonna tear down Wall Street made public opinion of him sour instantly in Japan; I guarantee you he would soar to the top of the popularity rankings stateside. And he's working for Captain Celebrity! I cannot explain, nor understate, how much I love him. I went from hating his guts, to loving to hate him, to just genuinely, unironically loving him. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! For me and him! Every interaction he has with the Dance girls (also, fuck the artist for trying to claim these toddlers are 18) melted my heart.

And the final battle between Koichi and 6? I cried. There have been 3 times in the last 20 years that I cried while reading a shonen manga: when Haku died in Naruto, when Erwin died in AoT, and seeing Koichi and 6's final battle represented as two little kids playing with action figures. Holy shit.

It's been so long since profesionally published work not only engaged me, not only made me feel things (because I've read plenty of stories, but all I feel while reading them is apathy tinged with contempt for the characters?), but left me satisfied.

[potatogirlll]

so, jojos and autism

Since it's 7 am and i have nothing else to do, I've decided to compile a list of Jojo characters that i think may be autistic. Because there are. A LOT.

Part 3

Jotaro: dude. He is literally THE most autistic anime character I've ever seen in my entire life. How he gets upset over stupid shit but remains calm during actually distressful situations. How he's mostly quiet and his expression is always the same. HOW HE THINKS EVERYONE ELSE KNOWS WHAT HE IS THINKING. and also that one clip with koichi where he is UNABLE to make small talk. Yeah

kakyoin: Self isolated masking child prodigy that memorizes random trivia he finds and uses it as a conversation starter. Literally feels like he is alone in the world and no one can understand him because no one tries and no one can, he also has an extremely internalized displeasure and apathy towards the world... This is mostly subtext but if you pay attention its there, i love my boy

Part 4

Kira: extreme anxiety over his nails, masks all the time, kind of infodumps, lack of empathy, obsession with his routines, etc. This one i am not so sure about, as he definetely has antisocial personality disorder and his obsessions with his routine and his nails could be interpreted as OCD. just some thoughts

rohan: OK HEAR ME OUT. No social awareness, has a very specific way of writing his manga, DOESNT CARE WHEN HIS HOUSE IS BURNING DOWN AND WANTS TO KNOW HOW JOSUKE CHEATED. Licks a fucking spider and doesnt see the problem!!!!!!! ik yall hate him (affectionately????) but i just had to say this.

Part 5

Giorno: usually monotonous voice, thinks outside of the box, always the same expression, socially distant. This one is mostly a gut feeling, but it could also be interpreted as him being a very traumatized kid.

Part 6

Weather Report: RAPTOR HANDS? ONLY WHISPERING TO PEOPLE HE TRUSTS IN FRONT OF PEOPLE HE DOESNT KNOW? TIPTOEING??? yeah

Anasui: (disclaimer: i hate jolysui i hate him as a person i hate how the manga did him i hope he just stays in his little queerplatonic relationship with weather while taking care (very horribly might i add) of emporio and never is exposed to the outside world. i love him. ughhhhh) lack of social cues, especially with jolyne, obsession with dismembering things, extreme emotional outbursts,,, the signs are there, but it could also be interpreted as ocd, ocpd and intermittent explosive personality disorder, respectly. whatever.

Pucci: uses prime numbers as stimming mechanism, kind of sees social interactions unconventionally, lack of empathy (but not as much as kira, also no clear malicious intent, so i dont think hes coded as a psychopath?). Again, could be interpreted as OCD.

not gonna add foo fighters because theyre literally plankton but they do have autistic traits

i havent finished part 7 and havent started part 8. as of writing this, part 9 currently just released its first chapter, and i dont see any autistic traits in any of the characters rn. might edit this in the future and add anyone that i might have missed or just discovered through reading the later parts. Thats all i wanted to say, thanks 4 reading

[rad-neto]

Josuke? For the character ask thing?

hell yeah! i'm doing part 4 josuke bc he's my fave

my favorite thing about him: his style. he's so fucking stylish, look at his pompadour, his color coordination, what an icon.

least favorite thing: the sfx he makes when punching is so goofy. like i don't hate it but i do find it weird lol.

favorite line: "We're gonna be hunting down chicks with nice bodies? I'm a guy who's more into pure love so I've never done that."

brOTP: josuke and koichi. iconic friendship duo.

OTP: josuke and okuyasu. dumbasses in love? sign me tf up

nOTP: josuke and rohan. josuke is a teenager and rohan is 25.

random headcanon: he's a secret britney stan.

unpopular opinion: i don't know if this is unpopular but he's my favorite jojo. i prefer him over jotaro.

song i associate with him: shine on you crazy diamond by pink floyd. i think it's pretty obvious why.

favorite picture:

he's such a goof

[twiixr4kidz]

The JoJo's Playing Among Us

Here's some maybe long awaited content! I've been like, super hooked on playing Among Us lately. It's a million times more fun playing with my friends than it is playing with random people online. As always, I hope Jolyne, Johnny, and Gappy aren't too out of character because I have yet to read the manga jfkentodkt

Jonathan

He definitely prefers being a crewmate

He often leaves the game if he gets imposter, or just doesn't kill anyone

Accidentally rats out the other imposter sometimes

Usually gets killed first, but he makes sure to get all of his tasks done as a ghost

He mains dark blue with the mini crewmates

Joseph

He is... Not that good

He never does his tasks as a crewmate

He just follows people around

Emergency meetings because "(color) sus"

Usually gets voted off first for being sus

When he's imposter, he often vents and kills around people

He mains orange with the "dum" sticky note hat

Jotaro

He's an amazing imposter

Usually kills Joseph first

He takes people out, one by one, super slowly

He self reports, but runs around the map to check everyone's locations to figure out who the blame

He's a pretty reliable crewmate as well

But he doesn't do any of his tasks until he dies

He follows around people he think are sus instead

He mains black with the balloon hat

Josuke

Loves being crewmate because the tasks are fun

Refuses to step foot in electrical without Okuyasu or Koichi behind him

Rohan kills him first every

Single

Time

He's indifferent to being imposter, but is usually found out because he never kills Oku

Mains purple with the pompadour, of course

Giorno

Arguably the best imposter

He doesn't mind if he's a crewmate or imposter

He does what he has to do

Takes advantage of the sabotage buttons

If he gets voted out, which is very rare, he keeps the sabotage tab open

Doors don't stay open and the reactor is almost always going off

Mains pink with the wet floor sign hat

Jolyne

Barely does her tasks until the last minute when she realizes the crewmates are gonna lose

Gets salty when she gets killed first

She completely forgets about the sabotage button, but when she remembers, she usually does the lights

She also has a habit of locking the doors on rooms with more than 2 people so killing someone and/or venting is never the option

Mains lime with the backwards baseball cap

Johnny

Only wants to be imposter

Leaves the game if he gets crewmate

But he'll keep playing if Gyro convinces him

He's a pretty good imposter, but he slips up every now and then

Has to repress the urge to kill Diego first or else people will catch on

Mains cyan with the cowboy hat

Gappy

"Why's my name red?" "What does the sabotage button do?" "How do I do this task?"

Okay, yeah he's pretty clueless

But he's a damn good imposter for someone who has no idea what they're doing

He gets away with asking questions like "why's my name red" because no one thinks he's sus

Hates the card swipe task

Mains white with the cheese hat

[drshojo]

The World, My Childhood And My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Hello friends!  

Its Dr. Shojo coming at you with a post that will be divided into three parts!

Part One: The world as we know it! 

The world has changed a lot since we last connected. For starters, TOILET BOUND HANAKO KUN HAS NOT ONLY A PHYSICAL RELEASE BUT A GORGEOUS ANIME! And not only that, but MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM! IS GETTING AN ANIME AS WELL! The last time I wrote about Katerina there wasn’t even an official English translation of that long-ass light-novel-title. And now?

A WHOLE ANIME. A BISEXUAL HAREM AWAITS! I am JAZZED!

Do you think it’s my fault? No matter, I’ll take all the credit. All the manga I talk about are getting anime adaptations. I’LL DO MY DUTY AND TALK ABOUT SOME MORE!

But first. Let us address the Covid-19 shaped elephant in the room

I deeply regret that it took a whole-ass pandemic to get me back to writing. In my defense, I bought an iPad and started drawing like 900 kokichi oumas. I was really busy with that. And then I started reading fanfiction. Then that got me thinking about how fanfiction such an interesting look into how people interpret fandom, use it for wish fulfillment and escapism, and good god is everyone OK cause that bulimia fan fic was super detailed....and I am officially on a tangent. Off track. Ahem.

We are all staying inside a whole lot more which means y’all probably need some reading material and Dr. Shojo has your back! Go read “Horimiya”! It’s amazing! Ahhhh, my work here is done! I'm serious, if you’re here for a Shojo rec, that’s it! There's also like 8 million more Otome Isekais to check out now. It’s like they’re multiplying like rabbits..............

As a Doctor, I must advise you to stay inside and read some manga and practice social distancing. Embrace your inner hikikomori. 

Allright? All good? Okay now one final disclaimer:

This post is going to be talking about something a little different than usual and I want to start by giving you some context about who Dr. Shojo is in real life. 

Part Two: Dr. Shojo Exposed 

You see, when I was little I was obsessed with Japanese media. This doesn't surprise you at all I can tell. Probably because I walk around calling myself Dr. Shojo and shout about manga that you should read.

Anyways, the reason why I was obsessed wasn’t because of the big eyes or the spikey hair or the interesting new culture. It was because it tended to have more character development and overarching plotlines than the media I was used to in Canada. Dexter’s Lab, Magic School Bus, pretty much everything I saw on TV was episodic in nature, so imagine how much my mind was blown when I saw Naruto and Card Captor Sakura, heck, even Pokémon had the Indigo Plateau! Here were kids that were learning more and more each day and got to see enemies become friends and vice versa. They lived and grew older just like me. Except they were cooler than me. And had more interesting lives than me. I gotta tell you, I was so sad when I was 12 and Kero didn’t tell me I had latent magical powers. But there was magic in my life and it was the magic of a complex narrative story. And not only that, it had a sense of movement and had cool costumes. I was hooked immediately.

Also, fun fact, at that age I happened to be a complete and utter tomboy! I loved pretending to fight my friends in the playground and was really worried that puberty would ruin my life because being a girl sounded so CUMBERSOME.

Which leads me up to my confession. Before I became Dr. Shojo, I was in fact......Dr. Shonen.

Bleach? Naruto? One Piece? I've read every single chapter there is.  

Hundreds of hours of watching fight sequences. Another fun fact, I only got into shojo because my aunt bought me volume 7 and 8 of Fruits Basket thinking “all mangas like the same right? Kids love comics?” It’s a tribute to how episodic western media was back then that she thought buying volume SEVEN and EIGHT was a REASONABLE PLACE TO START READING.

Now you might also say, Hey! Dr Shojo! Cardcaptors was a shojo! And you are right! but back then the anime was marketed to boys over here in the west and they actualy like, edited out episodes that they thought wouldn't interest boys?! Second fun fact, Once when I was in Grade 3 I was told I was not allowed to join a club under the stairs cause I was a girl and it was BOYS ONLY. The point of the club? To talk about how great Cardcaptors was! I Kid you not!

So anyways, your pall Dr. Shojo loves Shonen manga to this day!

The only reason I made this Dr. Shojo blog specifically about shojo is because, being a tomboy with no female friends, reading shojo manga was the first time I really thought about what it meant to be a girl and fall in love. And y i k e s. Shojo manga, like most media, fails miserably most of the time in displaying real world relationships. Or at least, it  doesn't prepare you for how disappointing everything can be. When I had my first kiss, I was thinking about how it didn’t feel at all like how I felt reading Zen and Shirayukis kiss in Akagame No Shirayuki Hime. Those were formative years, and shojo was one of the only places I saw romance being talked about for younger audiences. I liked reading romances where no one had any sexual experiences and were figuring out what love meant to them. But let’s shelve this topic for now.

The point is that gender roles are dumb and if you have an open mind there's a world of stories out there for you. Take this time inside to read something you wouldn’t normally. Critically think about the ways that the worlds you see in stories and how you experience the world differ. What are the messages a story is trying to tell you? And why do you like the stories you do? Reflect on how the stories you tell yourself color your view of the world. Even mindless entertainment leaves an impression on us. Anyways.

Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to absolutely lose my hecking mind over the Shonen Jump series MY HERO ACADEMIA: Vigilantes!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Part Three: I downloaded the one month free trial of the Shonen Jump app and made you read all that, so I can tell you that today Dr. Shojo is going to rant about a spin-off of a shonen manga

THAT’S RIGHT, OF COURSE I READ HERO ACA AND YES I DID PICK UP THE SPIN OFF SERIES. SHONEN JUMP LETS YOU READ ALL THE NEW CHAPTERS FOR FREE ON THEIR APP. KIDS, IF YOU LIKE SHONEN AND YOU’RE PIRATING ON A SCANLATION SITE STILL GET OUT BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO SEE THOSE WEIRD PLASTIC SURGERY AND DENTISTRY ADDS ANY MORE.

SHONEN IS HERE AND ITS LEGAL AND ITS FREE FOR YOU. GET OFF MANGA FOX OR MANGA ROCK OR WHATEVER THE KIDS ARE USING THESE DAYS.

OK, so by this point in the article you have learned two very important things about me: 1) I love Shonen manga and 2) I read a lot of fanfiction.

Specifically, I read an absolutely biblical amount of My Hero Academia fan fiction and let me tell you, A solid chunk of it is vigilante/ Deadpool / criminal with a heart of gold themed.

So when I saw Hero Aca had a spin off, and it was about vigilantes, I was NOT SURPRISED IN THE SLIGHTEST. Ao3 sure is powerful.

Now, if you will permit me a tangent in a post full of tangents—HOLY CRAP, THERE ARE TOO MANY VIGILANTE AUS. I CAN'T KEEP TRACK OF EM. IT’S THE ISEKAI PROBLEM ALL OVER AGAIN. I GET AN EMAIL A FIC HAS UPDATED AND I’M LIKE IS THIS THE FIC WHERE DEKU HAS AN ABUSIVE MOM OR THE ONE WHERE HE HAS SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER OR THE ONE WHERE HE’S VIGILANTES WITH HITOSHI. OH WAIT, nvm, it’s the one where deku has a healing quirk.

OH WAIT WHICH OF THE 6 DEKU WITH HEALING QUIRK VIGILATE AU FICS IS THIS ONE?! ARGH WHY DIDN’T I WRITE A DESCRIPTION IN THE BOOKMARK FOR THIS!

My gripes aside, there's a reason why there's such an abundance of vigilante story telling—

Deadpool made like an absolute buttload of money and people love sass and memes.

People have a desire for a story in which they see themselves. Or, how they think of themselves.They like a story about someone who maybe came from nothing. Someone who has less money, maybe someone who is unlucky and had some bad breaks. Someone who never learned they had magic, never got their Hogwarts letter, never saw Kero, someone who never got that God-level quirk from All Might. And if your on Ao3 They want someone who also has seen a lot of memes and kind of wants taco bell and is also questioning their sexuality a bit?

Enter our new hero VIGILANTE DEKU.  

But the cannon can't do this, cause hey, Deku is the chosen one. Albeit, chosen by All Might, He’s got his own thing to do. But how can we still cash in on a vigilante story?

And thus enter our New-New hero KOICHI HAIMAWARI—code name Nice Guy and then later The Crawler. True to his relatable roots. He’s just a dude in an hoodie who can go about as fast as a bike.

First off, I love Koichi. He wants to be a hero and fight crime, but most of the time he has to run away because at the end of the day he's just a dude.

He’s cute but not wildly good-looking, A bit of a nerd but not like an extreme okaku. He’s got a part time job and hates violence.

And this is where Koichi really shines—in every day stuff. He helps out wherever he can. Often, that just means listening to people complain and maybe helping his friends out with whatever they’re going through. He’s the kind of guy who smiles, not because he's especially brave, but because he just takes things one at a time and doesn't sweat the past. I think it’s really telling that he missed getting into hero high-school because he skipped the entrance exam to help someone. He’s the kind of person who lets us experience the superpower of human decency and empathy. And you know what? That’s something the world need desperately.  

This theme of human decency is really the driving force of Vigilantes—it’s a manga about how the laws are there for a reason but sometimes they unfairly impact the poor and vulnerable. It's about how a lot of criminals are just people who fell into bad social circles or on bad times. People have the capacity for cruelty and violence but that’s never all they are.  

Now, speaking of crime, the entirety of Hero Aca falls into some murky water when it comes to its evil doers. Much of the fandom has a huuuuuge problem with how much the franchise is willing to sweep under the rug in the name of redeeming their baddies. RE: people getting mad about forgiving Endeavor’s child abuse, or Bakugo’s suicide baiting. Or Mineta’s blatant sexual harassment.

But this theme is in Vigilantes even more than it ever was in the main series. To start off with, there’s this guy who tries to rape Pop Step early on, and the later he later winds up befriending everybody. It becomes a running gag that each new villain winds up befriending the other villain guys and then they all open a cat café together.

Using jobs as a way to lift people out of lives of crime is great and all but in the story there is no nuance or consequences for past wrong and well.....it feels very weird.  It's like Vigilantes plays at having an opinion about moral ambiguity and the complexity of human existence and then just.......lets everyone get along because who has time to get into all that. Make of that what you will but it sits weird for me personally.

Anyway, let's move on and talk about POP STEP our main girl!

I love pop stars and I love vigilantes and a guerrilla performer is defiantly a character I could get behind. And I think they do a good job with Pop. She is actually kind of shy, but has this secret edgy persona she puts on when she performs. She is every girl on tumbler in the early 2000s. I also looooove that they make her not that great a singer. SHE’S GOT PASSION AND CHARISMA and maybe not born talent but like why should that stop you! Talent can be earned through practice and this is a great lesson to show people.

Unfortunately, Pop is also a great example of everything wrong with romance in Shonen.

It’s established early on that Pop loves Koichi because she is the girl he rescued all those years ago and yada yada yikes we’ve heard this one before. Many times before.

Sure, it's fine that they’ve met before, but gosh am I sick of damsels in distress. It's like she can't love him just because she respects what a great guy he is in her life and in the community at large, no no, she just needs to be rescued on top of that. And LOLOLOL isn't it funny he never noticed she was a girl because she was a child with short hair?! Once he realizes she has boobs now they will for sure fall in love! That’s how love works!

She's just with him all the time—nothing romantic ever happens she just gets a little tsundere.

I am never ever going to believe Koichi likes Pop because he spends like sooooo much time with her and they never have like, a moment. The first time he considers her is when Makoto is like, ‘hey I would love to get together with you, but have you thought about if you are crushing on Pop’. (Also this entire plot point is suspect—she's arbitrarily falling for Koichi cause he.......is the protagonist?)  

Say what you will about shojo, they give you the emotional conversations, the moments where you think.....ahhh I can see why she is falling for him. They give you context! Shonen likes to just say HERE’S A GIRL YOUR AGE. YOU CAN DATE LATER WHEN THE ADVENTURE IS DONE.

Just when they might get together, Pop suddenly turns evilllllll. The evilllll beeeees made her eeeevilllll (and more sexy).

*Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Because why on earth would they get together if Koichi didn’t get to rescue Pop one more time?

I’m tired. These troupes are tired. I’m sure you are too. HOWEVER! If your still with me, Let’s move into why I'm really writing this post. Let’s get to the part that got me screaming to my friends, who by the way, don’t even care bout Hero Aca….but listened anyways. May you all find nakama like these my friends.

Anyways,

HOLY FUCK ERASERHEAD’S ENTIRE BACK STORY IS IN THIS AROUND CHAPTER 60 AND IT IS WONDERFUL AND ABSOLUTLY HEARTBREAKING AND IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTER BACKSTORIES I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IS THE REASON WHY THIS SERIES IS A MUST-READ FOR MAIN SERIES FANS.

AND BY ALMIGHT.  

WHY. IS. IT HERE.  

I present to you my late night text messages to my friends

ALSO, AIZAWAS TEACHER IS PRINCE?!?!?!

AHEM, so as you can see, I kinda lost my shit.

And now, I would like to formally defend my claim that DESPITE HOW AMAZING IT WAS, ERASERHEAD’S BACKSTORY HAD NO BUISSNESS BEING IN THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF MANGA.

Eraserhead, aka Aizawa Shouta, is a side character who is working with the police on some crime stuff. He is not a main cast member in this spin off. He’s a guest character that fans of the main series will be like OH COOL. GRUMPY CAT MAN LIKES CATS ON HIS OFF HOURS TOO. LOVE THAT FOR HIM.

So, my imagine my absolute surprise when Aizawa runs into Koichi and the following happens:

It starts to rain, so, like in any good manga, this means some great FORCED BONDING TIME

Except no. It doesn't because rather than start talking, Aizawa JUST STARTS REMEMBERING—ABSOLUTLY SILENTLY TO HIS OWN PRIVETE SELF—HIS ENTIRE TRAGIC BACKSTORY.

AND THIS GOES ON FOR CHAPTERS.

THIS GOES ON LONGER THEN ARC ONE IT FEELS LIKE.

I LOVE IT, BUT KOICHI IS ABOUT TO JOIN ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA IN THE DUBIOUS CATEGORY OF “PROTAGONISTS THE SERIES FORGOT ABOUT IN LIEU OF COOLER SIDE CHARACTERS”.

AND LO IT HAS NO BEARING ON THE REST OF THE PLOT, CHARACTERS, OR STORY

What the ever-loving-just WHY?

WHY?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

SURE, IT’S A COOL TIE-IN.

YES, OF COURSE I LOVED IT. I SHIP ERASER MIC, I DREW THIS FOR HECK’S SAKE:

AND YET I AM ANGRY.

I AM ANGRY BECAUSE MY FRIDAY WAS RUINED BECAUSE VIGILATES SUCKER PUNCHED ME WITH AN AMAZING STORY THAT REALLY WASN’T PLOT RELEVANT AND PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THERE.  

IS THIS WHY THEY TOOK LIKE NEXT-TO-NO CARE WITH POPS ARC?!?

I mean its ongoing, so it’s too early to say but—

In conclusion—

Excuse me one more,

AIZAWA WAS TAUGHT BY PRINCE!?!??!?!?!?!? PURPLE RAIN PRINCE!?!??!?!?!? WHAT!??!?!?!

It’s so ABSURD that I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I HAD TO WRITE PARAGRAPHS TO JUSTIFY YELLING ABOUT THIS ONE THING. WHAT THE ABSOLUTE—

Ahem,

Anyways, I hope you liked this weird rant/personal-story/random-diatribe in three parts.

If you’re reading this, thank you, stay safe, and I’ll be back with more shojo manga next time.  

Ciao!

Dr. Shojo

(aka Dr. Shonen)