#NGL I THINK HES LYING IN THIS PANEL

[tyrantzeye]

me when they ask me if im obsessed w tbhk

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[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 410: Kacchan Fights a Baby

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was born and then he grew up and murdered the Demon Lord.

Today on BnHA: Kacchan fights a baby. Tomura and Deku finally remember that they were supposed to have been fighting too this entire time, and get on with that once again. Tomura is all, “[literally just reaches out and grabs Deku’s face because Deku’s main character powers suddenly abandoned him in a fit of confusion].” Deku is all, “[chops off Tomura’s fingers which is somehow not even in the top twenty of violent things that have happened in this series in just the last five chapters].” Tomura is all “joke’s on you I still got your quirk :D” and fuck me he actually stole Danger Sense, what the fuck.

logically I knew AFO still had to be alive somehow because he’s too big of a villain to go out that easily without a proper sendoff. but deep in my heart, I’m still secretly disappointed

it just isn’t fair, lol. this guy has died more times than Rasputin and he’s still out here scheming his schemey schemes. when oh when will it end

sir you did not just say you had yet ANOTHER unused trump card up your sleeve??

(ETA: the translation isn’t fully clear here, but I think the trump card he’s referring to is the whole “I’ll just go back inside him and join the part of me that was already in there and we’ll take over Tomura’s body again together” plan that he was trying to pull off. I think. if not though, that’s certainly something worth speculating about.)

well as always the psychology in this series is unironically fascinating! he just wants acknowledgement at the end of the day, huh. just wants some love and attention. too bad he was born in a rat-infested hellscape and learned all the wrong lessons and turned into a crazed omnipotent murderlad

also he really did turn back into a baby sdfsdlkjfl oh no. I need to see Katsuki’s reaction to this immediately

oh my lord

(●__●)

lmao this is so incredibly fucked up

ngl though, this is karma at its finest. he tortured and killed so many people trying to earn everyone’s fear and awe and reverence, only to literally blip out of existence at the end with absolutely nothing to show for it

everyone please enjoy this series of panels of a deeply vexed Bakugou Katsuki picking a fight with this slowly melting evil baby

“you think I care that you’re a baby now. you think I won’t fight a fuckin’ baby. let’s do this you little punk”

also I’m sorry but it’s absolutely ridiculous that the gigantic chest wound Tomura inflicted on him got sewed up so neatly lol. AFO’s not the only one who stubbornly refuses to die no matter what

...

just once, it would be nice if Horikoshi didn’t immediately shred my plot nitpicks to pieces mere seconds after I write them

LMAO

BABY AFO DON’T CARE. BABY AFO WILL THROW HANDS WITH ANYONE ＼(｀0´)／

KACCHAN MY BELOVED FAVE OF ALL TIME, ARE YOU REALLY ABOUT TO LOSE TO A LITERAL FUCKING INFANT

WHAT HAPPENED TO “PERFECT VICTORY” LMAO. MOVING THE GOALPOSTS EVEN AS HIS CONSCIOUSNESS FADES. “EH, CLOSE ENOUGH”

-- OH FOR THE LOVE OF --

me: wow it sure is uncharacteristic of Katsuki to just pass out before he properly wraps up this battle

Horikoshi: oh yeah good point, sure would be a shame if someone... IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED THAT CONCERN ON THE VERY NEXT PAGE

me: ఠ_ఠ

ldskjflaksdjfkds

fdsfsdkf. “SORRY ABOUT THAT, FOR A MOMENT THERE I ALMOST FORGOT TO BEND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE TO MY WILL”

holy fucking shit. his body was all “um, just a quick reminder that you’re HORRIBLY WOUNDED and have lost like ten gallons of blood and all of your cells are about to call an emergency meeting to shut this thing down before you get us all killed.” and he was all “WHAT WAS THAT?!” and his body was all “oh my GOD, FUCK, OKAY just forget we said anything”

and meanwhile Baby AFO is just lying there all “(◉⌓◉)”

this six-month-old child is truly and sincerely still trying to kill Kacchan while screeching death threats in high-pitched baby talk

this actually would have killed him too, if he’d succeeded in passing out. all that just to be punk’d by a damn baby

you are actually shitting me right now

at this point I’m genuinely not sure which of them has the more powerful angry toddler energy

oh no ffuffkdsfk

meeeeelting. meeeeeeltiiiiiing!!! oh what a world what a world

jesus Horikoshi I am genuinely speechless

... welp

WAIT NO WAY, REALLY?!?!

?!?!?! WAS IT ACTUALLY THAT SIMPLE THIS WHOLE TIME

-- lkjf

three times. three times in the same fucking chapter. I give up. apparently I’ll literally believe anything this man says. does it feel good, Horikoshi. preying on your readers’ hopeful naivete

yeefuckinghaw lmao

GOOD JOB KACCHAN YOU DEFEATED THE EVIL BABY

awwwww

I actually had a theory about this! well more of a wishlist item, really. I can’t remember if I’ve actually posted about it yet or not. but it’s like. you know how Deku and Kacchan are always being really dramatic about holding hands? wanting to hold hands; not wanting to hold hands; being afraid to hold hands; holding hands via proxy, etc. etc.?

and you know how both Endeavor and All Might have each done their own version of the victory pose that Kacchan is referring to here? with each one using a different hand?

so you see, I was thinking that it might be nice. might be a little poetic and all that. if at the end of the fight, Deku and Kacchan did, in fact, hold hands. and then did the victory pose together. and it became like their iconic hero moment. them standing there together. having accomplished their goal and defeated TomurAFO through teamwork. realizing their shared childhood dream. and sharing that moment of triumph with each other and with the world, ushering in a new era of heroes

anyway yeah. I was thinking that might be a pretty good ending. but it looks like Kacchan maybe really is about to pass out here now, lol, so maybe not? anyways time to finally scroll down

-- okay I literally said awww again out loud

what a fucking nerd. I have never felt more fondness for a character in my life

every damn person watching this on the news better have leaped to their feet and started applauding, goddammit. those motherfuckers better be CHANTING HIS FUCKING NAME. all those nagging reporters better be bombarding his phone with calls. those fuckers who deleted his footage from the Shouto interview better be shamelessly leaving him dozens of voicemails acting like none of that ever happened and presumptuously asking when he can free some time in his schedule to visit their studio again. all the heroes who haven’t hugged him yet better be lining the fuck up. that one guy from the post-kidnapping press conference in chapter 86 better be writing a fifty page letter of apology!!

oh hey it’s a random pre-battle flashback mysteriously taking place in Troy “a few days before the battle” even though I thought they only moved into that place the night before the fight

I love how Katsuki immediately narrows his eyes (I assume. we can’t see for sure but that’s the vibe I get) at Jeanist and has to resist the urge to call the police on him for that pun

so Hadou’s wondering what Jeanist is talking about because they already evacuated the civilians, so what else are they trying to protect. and Edgeshot is all, “well obviously we’ve gotta protect everyone’s future,” which is a nice... rearshadowing?? for him saving Katsuki’s life later on lol

and now Mirko is all “get to the fucking point already.” which, same

so Jeanist says that Tomura is an even bigger problem than AFO, because at least AFO doesn’t want to murder everyone on the entire planet. and he concludes with “he’ll probably try to touch the ground and use his quirk.” which is a conclusion that I have to say wasn’t really worth two pages of flashback buildup for, considering that we all figured that out years ago

I’m guessing this is all just some sort of awkward transition back to Deku’s fight now lol

and now we’re getting two pages of exposition on how long it would theoretically take Tomura’s Decay to spread throughout the city, and then the entire country, yikes

damn. talk about stakes

and now finally back to Deku!!

shoutout to everyone who correctly predicted that Deku was once again talking out of his ass when it came to being out of Gearshifts. we all knew. unlimited supply

wow Tomura way to throw AFO under the bus

the way I recall it, AFO wasn’t the one who failed to kill him back then lol. but go ahead and talk your shit king

DEKU WHAT ARE YOU DOING

holy shit?!?!

like my first thought was “well last time he did this he just tried to steal OFA rather than Decay him, so he’ll probably try that again and it’ll be fine.” only to remember that the AFO inside Tomura is currently permanently(?) out to lunch, and Tomura himself doesn’t give two figs about stealing OFA. so, uhhhh >_>

(ETA: nevermind.)

but then this happened

Deku what the actual fuck

OH MY GOD??!?!

HOLY SHIT

okay. okay, fuck. lemme gather up my thoughts, and then we’ll wrap this up

they’ll never admit it, but you know the other OFA Vestiges secretly resented Shino a tiny bit for being the only one of them to not be gruesomely murdered. bet they all feel guilty for thinking that now

Shino and Banjou also seemed to have this cute little pseudo-rivalry thing going on, so I really feel bad for Banjou now. :/ he looks so horrified in that bottom right panel

gotta admit, I did not see this coming in the slightest. OFA has been this immutable “I do what I want!” quirk for so long that I never thought Tomura or AFO would actually succeed in stealing it, even partially. that shook me to my core

BUT, it’s also really exciting to me because it’s going to make this battle much more interesting if Deku can’t use his get out of jail free card. shit just got way more real and I’m here for it

lastly, so! let me tell you guys my prediction. I still can’t see Tomura being the final villain lol. I just can’t. it feels too anticlimactic. if I’m wrong, I’m wrong, and I’ve certainly botched MANY predictions in the past, but I have not yet learned my lesson from any of it and I will not apologize lol

so here’s what I think. Deku and Tomura battle it out for the next chapter or two, and Tomura snatches up more of Deku’s quirks one by one. we see all of the Vestiges disappearing and the mood gets more and more desperate. eventually we’re down to just Kudou and Yoichi. Deku is panicking, but for some reason Kudou seems even MORE panicked

Kudou/Gearshift eventually gets stolen too, and it looks like this might finally be it for Deku (I have no idea how he’d stop Tomura from Decaying the ground once Blackwhip gets stolen, btw, but maybe Katsuki or someone else interferes in desperation towards the end). but just when it looks like Tomura is finally going to take the last piece of OFA, Deku’s vibes suddenly do a 180, stopping Tomura in his tracks

cut to the OFA Moon Gorgeous Meditation Realm, where Deku and Yoichi are staring at the door -- yes, that door -- in shock. because it’s finally been opened (now that the other Vestiges are no longer there to keep it at bay). and just like that, enter AFO, for the THIRD FUCKING TIME :D :D

tl;dr, HERE’S HOW HORCRUX!DEKU CAN STILL HAPPEN!!! wait where are you all going. wait come back

anyway so wow that was a really bizarre chapter that I truly thoroughly enjoyed, which should probably be a bit concerning. on to the next two week break! (for anyone who’s not aware, Shounen Jump will be on break next week, so yeah.) I’m on chapter 391 now. so close but still so far. the end of the year has gone by too damn fast tbh

[blackstarchanx3new]

FSR Rambles 15 times Shadow took the kids

Dark's utterly confused face here sends me every time.

Because DARK knows that Shadow doesn't actually give a rats ass if he's okay. HOWEVER.

This is where Dark's weird understanding of lying comes in.

Because I have faith in you you can see right through Dark's clear lies.

His phrasing is ridiculous paired with his expression being deader than a fish.

Dark is lying through his teeth here and guess who taught him how to do that... :)

Vio and Shadow-

Vaati fell for it. Lmao. Not like he hasn't been betrayed before.

Shadow tries intimidation buuuuut-

Well shit that only goes so far when you haven't proved yourself to act on said intimidation.

Shadow is still afraid of Vaati, and we know from Zelda's fight with him Vaati isn't easy to kill soooooo.

Reasonably so I'd say.

Dark is saying what we've all been thinking "Lmao let's just pull out Vio and the McGuffin sword"

Lol wait- Oh yeah Vio can't because of Dark.

Haha. Woopsie.

Dark going to just deal with it himself and being reeled back by Shadow is sweet to an extent.

Dark's confused about what this physical interaction means, whether or not this counts as a hug. Because let's be real Vaati isn't something he considers as a threat rn what else is his mind gonna focus on?

Shadow's angry Dark's so reckless but Dark's unfazed by the entire situation.

It's sad to consider Dark probably assumes temper tantrums are a normal behavior considering how frequent everyone he's watched so far has em...Just a thought.

Ngl Shadow's use of the word "Fool" in the OG manga always got a laugh out of me. His dialogue is so evil villain I try to capture that in FSR Shadow.

Shadow wanted to try to formulate a plan with Dark to get Vaati to go away but Dark questions why they'd even do that. Flabbergasting the fuck out of Shadow.

Dark HAS no sense of people working with HIM. Obviously Dark would know what team work is since...He's literally watching the team work pride parade but no one has offered HIM team work.

Vaati just bosses him around after all.

Dark's thought process on how his existence works is on full display.

He's alone. He WORKS alone and no body but him is going to get things done. Thanks Vaati.

...There's also the angle to consider he's actually learned this behavior in some capacity from Link...Link HAS been doing this shit by himself for a long time now....

So Shadow offering help is smth that gives him pause.

In the last pane the motif of Dark Link being his own cheer leader/being generally self aggrandizing pops up again.

His wording just being odd aside, he doesn't communicate what he actually WANTS to do, just that he needs Shadow's help getting close...

and from the quotes around help and the knowledge Dark can move fast as fuck on the reader's side, it's implied Dark is just placating Shadow's idea of helping rather than Shadow being actually useful in this interaction. At least from Dark's perspective.

Shield is up boys RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.

Shadow points out reasonably Dark is not being a very good team mate. XDDD

Be nice to him Shadow he's new to this whole "Team" thing.

Panel 2 here is funny because Dark makes the most NON Dark Link expression it stands out particularly just because it's funny but also like, take note of what he called Vaati here.

He just called him "Vaati".

Not "Master Vaati" or "Lord Vaati"

Just Vaati... HMM.

He also flung himself at Vaati full force so there's that.

OH FUCK IT'S YAOI- Oh a serious note...

Prepare to get bamboozled.

Yeah there's a reason Vaati is fucking confused. Dark was taking another conversation out of context to try and comfort Vaati.

So if there was any doubt about if that was what Dark was doing or not: Let me put those questions to rest that is what he was trying to do. XD

The kiss particularly is funny considering...Well yeah Shadow did kiss Vio a lot.

Shadow being, reasonably flabbergasted at this interaction just gets a laugh out of me.

Vaati's got nothing to say that shit hah. Dark isn't making MUCH sense in this interaction.

Dark does show he's still loyal in some way to Vaati though.

Turns out: Vaati's just not in the mood to deal with Dark's nonsensical behavior and points out an...interesting caviat to the whole "let's recruit Dark link" plan.

They have to kill him.

In no uncertain terms, to destroy the curse would be to destroy Dark Link. So having him on your side really doesn't mean anything. As he'll do what he was created for by nature.

In a way it brings you to question how much free will Dark truly has in this equation. Also, it makes you kinda realize in a messed up way Dark and Link both suffer due to the curse. They're chained to each other on a drowning ship.

Shadow's hypocrisy on display again. He JUST helped this dude and now thinks about killing him. XD

But also: What's the answer to this?

It's a train track scenario in a lot of ways.

Also since Dark's a curse, destroying his body or hurting him won't do much good to actually get rid of the curse itself.

His body will just regenerate or he'll retreat into the headspace.

There's also the thought of, if Link died, what WOULD happen to Dark Link...

Dark is insanely hard to argue with. Because dude can read you like a book and play you like a fiddle.

You can't LIE to him and he'll speak how he feels based on what he's seen.

Like, Dark isn't even just slinging the "you're gannon" ace up his sleeve card at him. He's bringing up things Shadow himself has actually DONE. And that pisses Shadow off.

No matter how much Shadow removes himself from his past self, he still DID those things.

And it does bring to question which of these two are more "Moral".

Dark hasn't killed anyone while it's at least heavily implied in the manga Shadow at least COULD HAVE and shows the willingness to do so to Vio at least.

Dark's "reason" for not killing people is "They stop being fun."

Dead people are boring. Like Link's dad. Which is just, a roast and a half.

Dark takes his aim and fires. Bro doesn't miss a shot. He'll drag everyone.

Shadow also has hurt Vio.

Really the idea Shadow and Dark have a LOT in common is a theme.

Like Shadow can get pissed off as much as he wants at Dark, he's done WAY WORSE than this lil demon guy and can't even argue about that.

The question of how much Dark truly means here is also up in the air as Dark will just say things on other's minds.

Reminder Dark is straight terrified of Shadow Link and just kinda shuts down when Shadow gets peak pissed off at him.

Dark sees Vaati as a fool who needs his help, and seeks Shadow as a threat who's going to hurt him.

Usually actions would speak louder than words, but in Dark's case feeling someone's emotions is 10xs more important. And what Dark knows is Shadow genuinely despises him.

Haha remembering the time pig dad abused you.

But this time Shadow takes the place of gannon being the threatening imposing force.

Thought to consider: Shadow's fear of gannon is reflecting in Dark's fear of Shadow link because...Well Shadow is a piece of gannon. They're in a way afraid of the same entity.

Shadow puts the mask back on and tries to be good boy.

Visually Dark's tendency to grab his hat and keep it close is similar to an animal keeping it's tail tucked between it's legs.

Welp, the beans have been spilled. Dark IS still working for Vaati...Kind of.

In Dark's own words it's not "For"

but Dark never makes sense to anyone other than himself so...

He also just, assumes Shadow knows what he's there for. Which is amusing. Dark in general assumes everyone else should know everything he does.

The comparison to Zelda is baffling but if you really think about it, Dark does make some semblance of sense here:

Link protects Zelda.

Dark protects Vaati.

Tis the same thing. According to Dark Link.

Dark Link in his own words is a hero.

Shadow's reasonable question of "What's wrong with you" is such a genuine reaction to that shit it makes me laugh. Dark's actions make no sense to Shadow but Dark's affections for Vaati aren't logical hah.

Dark wants to see Vio tho and Shadow just, shuts down thinking about this situation

He didn't give Dark an answer so Dark just goes to pick flowers. XD

Shadow's in a tight situation here. What's the best course of action?

"What to do with Dark Link" and "How to introduce him to the others" is a very...difficult one to answer.

If Dark was a mindless curse with no person attached it'd be easy to just destroy him guilt free. But he's not.

Shadow can't tell if Dark's behavior is genuinely malicious or if he's just socially inept (Third option Shadow: He's just acting in accordance to the curse.)

And another thing: How does dealing/handling Dark affect how Shadow should be treated?

After all they're very alike.

Final panels shows Dark offering up a flower to Shadow.

This page is both hilarious and disturbing.

Dark offering up the flower with a cute lil hopeful expression, paired with a happy looking eye on his chest.

Shadow accepting it and being like "Ah we're cool then right-"

only to see Dark vomiting up a bunch of flowers is just, funny. I find it very funny.

"You like one!? :D HAVE A BUNCH MORE!"

It's a reminder Dark really has no sense of how horrifying he is as he's trying to be nice here. XDDD

Which Dark being able to be kind (In his own way) is again smth worth noting. Dark isn't stuck JUST making people misseriable as he actively tries to do the opposite.

Dark continuously breathing out pollen is just a very funny thing to me.

The sense of "I've fucked up" seeping back.

I was listening to the song "Nuts" from adventure time while working on these pages. I feel like that song kinda relates to Dark and Shadow's relationship.

"You're so annoying you pitiful old man. I'd like to help you but I dunno if I can. I thought you were nuts. But, you're REALLY. REALLY. REALLY NUTS."

Actual page shit:

Shadow understands what Vio meant now. XD

Running away from your issues just FEELS easier in the moment sometimes.

Shadow's confessions of being "not a hero" and being terrified about their future make Dark visibly sad.

The comment "We are afraid of very different things Shadow Link" is I think the first time really Dark's directly addressed Shadow as such without the quotation marks or general disbelief in that name/title.

If it's not, at least the moment is impactful because Dark is giving Shadow respect in a way he typically chooses not too.

Shadow is very much afraid of Vaati, so Dark not relating to that emotion is a stand out.

Him fidgeting with his hands is a detail I just find cute.

"I feel that thing you hate" - directed at Vaati is Dark confessing he feels pity for Vaati. Since in FS Shadow says he despises pity.

Dark explains WHY he pities Vaati, he just finds Vaati utterly pitiful. XD

They have a little moment of bonding over their shared experiences with Vaati.

Dark mimicking Vaati here showing what he wishes Vaati would say to him:

Dark Link wants praise and affection and relationships with others.

But due to his very nature it's very difficult to actually gain these things, and the people he's spoken to outright deny him of these in any meaningful way.

Shadow's question of "Aren't you afraid of what he'll do" just gets "I like Vaati" in response. Pff.

Yes we know buddy, very insightful.

The 2nd to last panel shows smth very insightful:

Firstly that "Nobody loves Vaati" Any care Dark DOES have towards Vaati isn't just him mimicking someone else as it's safe to say everyone hates that guy haha.

More disturbingly:

Dark Link doesn't consider himself a "Somebody" and starts trailing off at the end of his sentance.

"I think it's sad, but it's his own fault...he rejects the only-" and then stops.

Dark Link referencing himself as the "person" Vaati continuously rejects but stops before he calls himself a "person" verbally.

You could imagine his continued sentence would be "He rejects the only person who cares about him"

Somebody's hair and eyes changed.

Instead of being white at the roots Dark's hair shifts to being Vio's complete hair color.

This is where we dive into psychological horror realm.

What IS Dark if not a person. IS he a person? What qualities does he have that make him a person?

Dark struggles with the distinction of if he's a "real person" or not but quickly dismisses it as smth Vio has been thinking. Which...Is true but also, considering his line about "Nobody loving Vaati" despite very much so caring about Vaati. Dark's identity crisis isn't exactly smth he has a firm grasp on.

PAGE. LIMMIT. Wrote this while sick so I'm sure I missed shit Aghhh.

[ave-cave]

I've come across a few theories suggesting that Lucy is being intentionally dishonest about the rules of Anne's Room to stop Kyōka from joining the fight, and ngl, as valid as these are, I kind of disagree.

The main thing the theories seem to stem from is confusion about how AOAR’s transportation system works – or in other words, why Lucy is insisting they’ll be crushed by rubble if she releases her ability when before it was shown that those she transports out of Anne’s Room don’t necessarily have to reappear in the same place they were transported from.

While I agree that this is puzzling, I feel inclined to take an Occam’s Razor approach and attribute it to the pre-established proximity rule: just as Lucy can only transport people or things she’s in close proximity to, she can only make them reappear near where Anne’s Room has been deployed. And so in this scenario, where there’s no way of knowing how much of the surrounding area is rubble, reappearing would be taking a major risk no matter what.

Loopholes are a feature of Anne of Abyssal Red, not a bug (in keeping with its “imagination incarnate” theme), and most inconsistencies in the rules can be explained by them. For example, while Lucy can't change the spatial location of Anne’s Room once it’s already been deployed (if she could, the Guild probably wouldn’t have been able to capture her on the Moby Dick +  it’s indicated in chapter 71 that she can deploy it around her body instead of a location, but only so long as she herself remains outside)...

... she can at any time alter the conditions of the exit door. It was, after all, implied that her linking the door to the Moby Dick’s outer wall was what allowed Atsushi to keep his memories.

What’s more, in chapter 33, it’s revealed that Anne, while indeed undefeatable, can be restrained, and in 77, we learn that an enemy can transport themselves along with a target if they attach something physical to them beforehand. What Lucy can and can't do with loopholes is what makes her ability so versatile.

But aside from the ability aspect, a more obvious sign that she's being honest is her dialogue in the last panel. Why would she remark, worried expression and all, that the enemy accounted for Anne's Room if she were lying to Kyōka about what Anne's Room actually does?

I take both this and the fact that she replies “I don’t know” to Kyōka asking what can be done less as her trying to throw Kyōka off and more as the story underscoring just how helpless she is with Anne’s Room nullified. One because the former would be kind of pointless (more on that below), and two because not knowing things is far from out-of-character for Lucy, lol

Granted, lying for a good reason isn’t out-of-character for her, either. All the way back on the Moby Dick, she lied about waiting on Atsushi’s salvation, knowing that he would be more motivated to stay alive himself if he thought there was someone counting on him to save them. This situation with Kyōka feels a bit different, though. She's upfront with her about why she doesn't want her risking her life, something that would be rendered meaningless by her lying about their situation. Why be simultaneously honest about wanting Kyōka to show self-preservation in the face of danger and dishonest about there being danger to begin with? They're conflicting tactics.

The only slight manipulation I believe Lucy is employing is – again, like with Atsushi on the MB – touching on their shared love for Atsushi, i.e., deliberately communicating with Kyōka in a way she knows will get through to her. But if anything, that just makes it more doubtful that she's lying. Again, why would she make such an effort to dissuade Kyōka from risking her life if she could just further reinforce a lie about escape being impossible instead?

Don’t get me wrong, I do think Lucy is trying to protect Kyōka, but I also think it goes a little deeper than that. I went more in-depth about this in my previous post about them, but basically – in keeping with who Lucy has been from the start – she’s applying her philosophy of personhood > heroism to Kyōka and Atsushi at the same time. She’s encouraging Kyōka to be more than just a hero by telling her to think of how it would affect Atsushi as a person if she died. I don’t think this would have nearly as much impact if she were additionally using underhanded tactics.

No disrespect to any hardworking BSD theorists, ofc – y’all rock – I’m just not so sure about this one.

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #8 (Part 2)

This is my first time reading Carl Barks' Dangerous Disguise but I've certainly heard a lot about this story before so. Let's see how it goes!

Ok so right off the bat I know this is the story that's just full of Regular Human People which I'm gonna try REALLY hard to not be frightened by the whole time. There's a reason Disney told Barks to stop drawing people after this ok, it's because humans are SCARY!!!

There's also the sort of unintended side effect of ageing the comics. Generally speaking I think the ducks look pretty timeless, but looking at these human designs I can tell right away like "Oh! These are from post-war America!" This is absolutely NOT a bad thing btw, nor do I think any of the artwork looks bad, it's incredibly charming as always.

somebody please get her brown contacts I'm begging

The last guy's text getting cut off by the paneling really gets me

I'm having Three Caballeros flashbacks

I love when the triplets just fucking Stand There with their hands up like that btw. 0 thoughts in their brains.

They just fucking killed that guy right

NOOOO OH MY GOD FOR ONCE THIS IS A BAD TIME TO BE A SNOOZER MALE NOOOOOOOOOOO

Dude he's kinda serving. Also how convenient that the ONLY other duck in this comic happens to be this guy lol.

Did they have to spray him RIGHT on the crotch 😭

DAMN CHILL

Me when I see literally any of the ducks

so long suckers!! i rev up my motorcycle and create a huge cloud of smoke. when the cloud dissipates im lying completely dead on the pavement.

Ok yeah shoutout to Madame Triple-X she really carried the story for me. Another Barks Banger, though he never misses... ok well maybe he misses when there's racism but like OTHER THAN THAT. But I haven't read any Carl Barks in a bit and reading this has given me an itch to read some more ngl... as soon as I can find the shelf space to buy some physical copies that is 😭

[lookismaddict]

Lookism Chapter 439 Memes/Thoughts I Have:

(SPOILERS !!! I don’t own any of the Lookism panels and the translations. Only the memes that I made.)

God, I was looking forward to doing this chapter review today but then my day really started off not as good as I hope for. But it’s ok. I just hope that this review will be uplifting for me while it’s being made. Anyways, CH. 439 EVERYBODY!! WOOOOOOOO!!! I LOVED READING THIS CHAPTER. SO, LET’S GET INTO IT.

Um... Jichang? Try him. 😀

UMMM... SORRY JICHANG, WHAT WAS THAT? CAN'T HEAR YOU FROM THE SOUNDS OF GETTING YOUR ASS BEAT... 🙄

Wow. So it really has come to this, huh? I didn't wanna do a Master vs. Student comparison because Daniel was trained by Gun, not James. Although James didn't personally train him, Daniel did get some of his moves from him so he's clearly a beast... Damn.

Daniel Park, a model? 👀 I can't believe I made a clothing brand flyer out of these panels. 💀💀💀

Tbh the Allied shirt that Daniel is wearing looks so fucking dope. 🔥 If PTJ ever drops the actual merch for Allied, I really wanna purchase one so badly. The design is so sick, and you already know Imma stunt on them hoes if I ever get my hands on a shirt. 🤪

He's really just playing around with them, huh? Especially Daniel. 😭

I swear, Hudson and Jay are only in this chapter to provide reactions to the fight. They really do be representing the crowd. 🔥 THE CROWD SAYS :O

This shot of Jichang is so cool ngl... and hot. 💀💀

Bruh he really do be thinking this.

JESUS CHRIST- DANIEL IS GETTING SLICED AND DICED LIKE HE'S A STALK OF VEGETABLES. PEPPERS? OK! ONIONS? YOU GOT IT! GARLIC? I GOT YA COVERED!!! 😜🌶🧄🧅

Jichang looking all sinister, like he about to end Daniel with the most deadliest Karate chop of the century. BUT OH GOD, DANIEL NOOOOOOOOO!!! 😭😭😭😭

*inhales* Bro... you guys had no idea how much I was jumping at that first panel right here. Jumping and running around and shit. My reaction was literally, "No... Noooo wayyyy... Nooooo FUCKING WAAAAYYYYYYYYY... PTJ, YOU'RE LYING!!!!!! IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING????? OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! UI DANIEL IS BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!" 😤😤😤😤😤😤😤

And not me anticipating a Gun Park memory because it always happens whenever Daniel is in UI... (or at least, Gun is mentioned whenever he's in the zone... Auto Zone. 😩 If you get the reference, ily.)

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT'S GUNNNNNNN!!!! I KNEW IT, WE'RE GONNA GET ANOTHER SCENE WITH THIS HOT ASS MESS OF A MAN. 😩😩🔥🔥🔥🔥 UGGGHHHH IMMA CREAM ON HIM I SWEEEAAAARRRRRRRRR. HE CAN EAT ME UPPPPP AND BEAT THIS COOCH UP ANYDAY. GOT ME QUIVERING SHIIIIIII 😩😩😩💢💢💢💢💢 Also, is he NAKED??? 😳 Bruh. He's naked around Daniel, but he isn't naked around his previous successors. Hmmm... do I sense... favoritism? And why is Daniel kneeling down in front of him. Don't tell me they "fought". 👁👁 Or he gave Gun a good suck. Pero come on Daniel, tell us that his dick is huge. GINORMOUS. MASSIVE. LENGTHY. THICK. HEAVY??? LMFAAAOOOOOOOO OK, I'LL STOP.

Hehehe, if you aren't familiar with this by now-

*N S F W M E M E W A R N I N G*

(If you're not comfortable with inappropriate memes, then just scroll past them.)

This really is my mind 24/7. You should know me by now and how I want this man soooooooo badlyyyyyy. God, I want this man to ram me so goddamn good. Legs shaking, loud moaning, ass smacking, hair pulling, back blowing... AEUUUUGGGGHHHHH. 😩😩😩💗💗💗💗 I just wanna keep it real. I'm not ashamed or sorry. 🤷🏽‍♀️ If you don't want me to simp so badly, then you shouldn't have followed a Gun simp in the first place. 😤

OH MY GOD- OF COURSE HE'S INTO CHOKING. 😩😩 PTJ, YOU'RE DOING THIS ON PURPOSE. MAKING ME EVEN MORE NEEDY FOR HIM, FUUUUUCCCCKKKKK.

"Leave your body to Lady Death." God, that gave me chills. 🥴HNNNNNNGGGGHHHH EVEN THAT SMIRK TOO. GOD, I'M GOING FERALLLLLLLL. HE'S SO SEXY!!! CHOKE ME, DADDY GUN. 😭😭😭 HE REALLY GOT ME IN A MENTAL CHOKEHOLD, I'M JUST SAYINGGGGGG.

CALL ME DELUSIONAL. IDC AND IDGAF. I WANT GUN TO CHOKE ME. 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️

Ok I'm done. *sighs*

*E N D O F N S F W M E M E S*

Man... I love psychotic men. Men who go crazy insane with power. Men who are overpowered. Men who can silence anyone. Men who can dominate others. Men who can beat the shit out of anything and anyone. MEN WHO CAN RUIN OTHER PEOPLE'S SELF-ESTEEM. MEN WHO CAN TAKE AWAY THEIR WILL TO FIGHT. MEN WHO CAN SLAUGHTER ALL OF THEIR ENEMIES ONE BY ONE WITHOUT CARING. MEN WHO- ok I'll shut up about my taste in men.

Oh my lord, look at UI Daniel fight so diligently and so swiftly too. AND DAAAANNNGGG DUDE, LOOK AT THE IMPACT HE HAD ON JICHANG'S BACK!!! He for sure is a menace, no doubt about it.

I love how hyped their fight was. LOOK AT JICHANG'S FACIAL EXPRESSION TOO!! HE REMINDS ME OF SAMUEL IN SOME OF HIS FIGHTS HAHAHAHAHAHA INSAAAAAAANE

BRUH, ISN'T THAT THE OLD MAN ON THAT TRACTOR??? 👀

I KNEW ITTTTT BRO. IT'S THE SEOUL GRANDPA. Also, I'd like to point out how interesting it is that UI Daniel suddenly faded away as if he doesn't exist anymore, when Daniel suddenly retreated from subconsciousness. I almost forgot that it took UI Daniel a while to cease due to the drugs that Daniel's other body was on in that room full of shrooms, back in that arc with Vivi's Club.

YEAH BRO, YOU BETTER RESPECT DANIEL NOW. And how did Jichang not notice that he looked like Jinyoung Park? Like... everybody did except for him. Come on sir, get with the program. 🧍🏽‍♀️

OMG...??? GAPRYONG KIM'S DRIVER??? 🤭🤭🤭 DAMN, EVERYONE WHO WAS A PART OF GAPRYONG'S FIST CAN BEAT ANYONE UP. EVEN HIS DRIVER CAN KICK ASS. 😧 Also... bro. Wtf. Does that mean that they fought for no reason? They got THEIR ASSES BEAT FOR NO REASON??? MAAAAAANNNN WHAT DID I FUCKIN TELL YOU, JICHANG AND DANIEL??? IN THE PREV REVIEW, I SAID THAT YOU COULD'VE SETTLED THIS THE CIVILIZED WAY, BUT WHAT DID Y'ALL DO? Y'ALL THREW HANDS. And poor Jay and Hudson. They fought their asses off against some people of Chungcheong and FOR WHAT??? 😭😭😭 WELL, I GET IT. IT'S FOR DANIEL. BUT COME ON MAN, THEY BEEN THROUGH SOME TRASH-TALKING AND SOME INJURIES FOR NOTHINGGGGG. Idk, that just pissed me off. But, the purpose of those fights was to show how much they improved. I admit though, they did improve A LOT and I'm proud of the both of them. Even Daniel too, who just fought with a First Generation King to the point that Jichang had to get into serious FIGHTING MODE. Here kings, your crowns. 👑👑👑 I keep saying this repeatedly, but we better get the full explanation of Jinyoung's backstory or else. Imma go over to PTJ, grab him by the collar, and- 😤😤👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽👊🏽 /j

Not kidding. Oops-

[giggly-squiggily]

I AM HERE TO SCREAM

first of all, 10/10 i'm legitimately blown away, i never expected to love it as much as i do! i'm always hesitant to read manga with a lot of fighting but everything was really nicely drawn and i didn't lose sight of what was going on so that was cool :D

THE FIGHTS WERE SO GOOD HOLY- esp loved fuchi, gantetsusai, chobei and toma vs ju fa and tao fa (also ju fa and tao fa made me so sad, i wasn't planning on feeling bad for any of the tensen but goddamn 😭😭) and THE FINAL FIGHT WAS SO COOL WHEN SAGIRI BEHEADED GABIMARU AND WHEN GABIMARU HESITATED TO KILL JOFUKU'S REMAINS BECAUSE THEY WERE HUSBAND AND WIFE BUT THEN SHUGEN CAME IN AND JUST SLICED HIM TF UP THAT WAS EPIC-

shugen was such an amazing character i loved him!! like he had so little screentime compared to a lot of the other characters but during that short time span he was given so much depth and ahhhh i'm still in awe of this writing 😭😭😭🩷🩷🩷🩷 also hands down my favorite panel which i don't think surprises anyone BUT IT JUST LOOKS METAL AF OKAY

also speaking of shugen THE CHARACTERS OMG I LOVE ALL OF THEM 😭😭😭😭😍😍 (except idk maybe jikka and shija but even they were pretty badass in their own right lol) sagiri is still my favorite but like fuchi?? nurugai?? TOMA?? they're up there ngl, even tho i never thought i'd get attached to toma but i loved his growth and how he sorta grew a spine while staying with the group (him and gantetsusai were so funny together but also so adorable i loved that dynamic) and then when him and chobei attacked ju fa and tao fa SHFBDXJKLNG and yeah anyway he's a close second is what i'm trying to say lmao

and when shion renounced the yamada asaemon titel for nurugai and when nurugai went back for shion and when mei called hoko her father and when mei sacrificed herself and when gantetsusai carried fuchi's body and when chobei defeated the banko and when the ship burned down with shugen's body still lying there and when gabimaru and yui reunited and when *explodes*

ALSO YUZUSAGI CANON ARE YOU KIDDING ME TF YOU MEAN 'BODYGUARD' YUZURIHA JUST SAY IT LIKE IT IS

here's a small compilation of panels that made me snort:

also i'm sorry this panel is really cool but the way gantetsusai carries gabimaru just cracks me up:

also gantetsusai's nicknames for everyone are hysterical (kittymaru had me CRYING) and fuchi calling sagiri sagi when they reunite help my heart 😭😭😭

that was the screaming for now, i'm sure i'm forgetting something lol but anyway, i hope you're having a wonderful day and don't stress yourself at all with the response ♡♡

AHHHH HELL YEAH!!!! I'm late as hell to replying but LETS FREAKING GO HELL'S PARADISE LOVE AHHHH REY! :D AND YES!!!! That's how I felt when I first read the series- I wasn't expecting to be so obsessed with it like that! My heart, my soul- my love; absolute perfection!

(No cause honestly their story made my heart hurt and I didn't want to feel that but here we are I suppose- damn them tensen for making me sad!) WASN'T THAT THE COOLEST?? AHHH GOD I LOVED IT! AND THE HESITATION- it's those small details that really make me love him as a character- Gabimaru. No matter what he went through- he stuck to his guns and his goals. I just- YES!

Rey you're making me question everything I know about that guy- gonna be 10000000% real: I didn't like Shugen when I first read the manga. He just kinda pissed me off and made me wanna slap him, you know? Now I wanna reread the manga where he's introduced cause there's some moments where I really did like him and I feel like I need to give him some fresh eyes, you know? (Also I have this idea for a Fuchi-Shugen fic and I want to reread it for more context) He truly is something else! :D THAT PANEL THOUGH IT'S SO GOOD!

AHHH YAY!!! Sagiri is a true queen- the absolute love of my life. BUT ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE REALLY AMAZING (I completely forgot about Shija- they were strange as hell but I agree they had some cool moments): YES! Toma surprises you like that! He starts off in the "Meh?" category and grows into the "I love you forever" kind! And GOD I LOVED THE BANTER WITH GANTETSUSAI JHERJEHJRJHE it was perfection!

RIGHT ALL OF IT!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! AND AHH THE CANON CONFIRMATION!!! Rey my little heart exploded when they were confirmed canon AHH! Bodyguard smoddyguard- they were lovers your honor. She even says "I love you Sagi!" like COME ON!

I can't even begin to express how much joy your screaming over this manga brought me, Rey. I love Hell's Paradise so much but understand it's fairly niche- so hearing you love it as much as I do really made my entire soul happy! Thank you for that <3

[csoisoi]

i was sad a few hours ago bUT HEY MAIRUMA UPDATED

I LOVE TEACHER CHAPTERS

BLUSHENKO AND SUZY'S REACTION WAS 100% TOP TIER maime the adults who makes moves towards students, destroy them

momonoki feeling bad for camui💛

robin😭😭😭 robin😭 im heartbroken, his smile with atori is so bright i dont wanna see him sad, if we get a single panel of robin crying im going to cry

he was so happy to have a junior teacher under him too, let's hope shiida won't double cross them again,

i read this panel as her thinking which side she's on, because she's like, dedicated? and did her best to be an actual teacher during the heartbreaker exam, giving iruma's team a second try before charging in again, i feel like she'll actually be a really good teacher. but she still had some sort of emotional(?) connection to the six fingers, we dont rlly know her past and her past with the group yet so her being hesitant and lying about atori is understandable. she's on the fence, i hope we get more content on shiida💛

marbas scares me/hyp. HE WANTED STRONGER TOOLS😭 hes very morally gray and askewed, very passionate about his teaching subject and it being torture arts is absolutely very very scary i wanna see him fight seriously ngl but i do not want to be at the receiving end of it

(also i love orias' casual look , its both so cool and simple i love it)

oh? the dantalions have a security devil?? i wonder how high up in society dali's family is. we see him from the start of the series and thought of him as just a teacher, then we learned he's kalego's superior, then as of writing this he announces a majority if not all of babylus' school events and then leads the mantra(?) during that one chapter. he's obviously a high ranking demon! his smiles and cheery attitude outshines how much we dont know about him despite seeing him so many times, more teacher content please

[midwinterrmemento]

(**Major BSD manga spoilers below!**)

Okay but like… now I’m really curious what’s going on in Teruko’s mind, and what she’s going to do next.

Let’s talk about her a little bit. 👀

Since the Hunting Dogs were first introduced in the story, I would say she’s been the hardest for me to figure out—but even though she came right out and said in this chapter that she knows the truth about Fukuchi and still sides with him, that only raises more questions for me.

Of course, Teruko has always been obvious about her affection for Fukuchi, but ngl sometimes she was so obvious about it that it made me doubt her sincerity a little bit? Take this panel from Chapter 60, for instance:

I don’t know if it’s just me, but honestly, this panel has always felt a little odd to me? Especially the look on her face on the top left? Jouno doesn’t seem to think she’s lying, or at least he didn’t say so, but if that really is the case, then where exactly does Teruko’s intense devotion to Fukuchi come from?

If she knew that he was the mastermind all along, then what was she thinking when she heard that her comrades in the Hunting Dogs were kinda going off the grid one by one? Would it really make no difference to her if she knew what Fukuchi did to Jouno and Tachihara? Especially Tachi, seeing as they seem to have a particular bond, which we saw from their teamwork during the Sky Casino arc. What must’ve gone through her mind when she watched the video Tachihara made, defending the Agency?

Because obviously, she does care. And I can’t be convinced otherwise.

Think about the shadow that falls over her eyes when she’s done watching Tachihara’s video.

And then, not long after, how dull her eyes look when she reports to Fukuchi that she’s lost contact with Tecchou.

As far as I can remember, this is the first time we’ve seen that kind of look on her face? Like… to me, she seems kind of jaded, almost resigned. And that leads me to wonder.

We still don’t know much about Teruko’s past or her motivations, but she clearly takes her role as a Hunting Dog very seriously. Does she show… sadistic tendencies? Sure. But, kind of like Jouno, she seems to find some satisfaction in protecting the innocent—and punishing the villains in order to do so. Just look at her conviction here:

The Teruko we’ve seen in the last few chapters has been very different than the Teruko we see here (at least in my opinion). Part of me wonders whether something happened between then and now—like, if she actually didn’t always know that Fukuchi was the mastermind, but somehow found out later on? What if he approached her at some point and invited her to join the Decay of Angels, like he did with Jouno?

In any case, I really wasn’t expecting things to take this kind of turn with her, and right now I can only think of a few possible explanations.

If she really is loyal to Fukuchi, as she claims…

It’s because of her genuine respect for him (which seems more and more unlikely to me with time idk), or at the very least, because she believes that his plans really will stop the world from becoming the “garbage” that she describes up there in Chapter 76.

It’s because she fears his power, or maybe something has prompted her to come to the conclusion that trying to defeat him—or evil in general—is pointless. Imo, the way she got so upset with Atsushi in this most recent chapter for saying that there was still enough time to stop him kinda supports this.

But I also don’t want to rule out the possibility that she’s lying, and that she really isn’t as devoted to Fukuchi as she has seemed all along. After all, she’s already proven that she’s capable of surprises. If things continue to get worse, and if her teammates continue to get hurt (or… y’know), I wonder if that would be enough to push her to action.

I think the key factor here is how much she knows. Clearly, she understands that something bad has happened to Tachihara and the others, but does she know the extent of it? Would it change her mind if she were to encounter one of them in vampire form, and witness exactly what Fukuchi did to them? Because we all know whose side Tecchou would end up on if he knew the whole truth.

So, then there’s secret option #3, and the one I’m hoping for the most: all of this, such as her open adoration for Fukuchi since her very first introduction, has all been an attempt for her to gain his trust. Because it really doesn’t seem to me that Fukuchi would be expecting her to turn on him at this point, it would be a hell of a twist if she was the one to take him down now.

All in all, Teruko is such an interesting and under-analyzed character, and this chapter has me questioning everything I thought I knew about her. I don’t know about anyone else, but when the BSD manga resumes in the fall, I’m hoping that we’ll finally get a better understanding of who she really is. As it stands right now, she’s in a very unique position, since she’s basically the last Hunting Dog standing, and I’m really excited to see what she’s going to do, knowing that.

[raamitsu]

⚠️ tokyo revengers chapter 215 spoilers ⚠️

ladies and gentlemen, hanagaki takemichi is now officially a BRAHMAN'S MEMBER!! 😭 YES YES I'M SO HAPPY NOW I CAN REST IN PEACE ! i can't explain properly because there's just TOO MUCH going on with this chapter and i can't still stop laughing 😂 respect to you with the cliffhanger, wakui-san 🤡

from the following sources, draken was mad at akashi for not telling him about scouting takemichi (who's lying to who now sksksk). then he proceeded by saying no one from the toman members shall never get involved as well.

as we all already know, draken joined brahman because he wanted to save mikey, and in this chapter, both senju and akashi have a conversation with them, it seems like they have the same goal. their gang's motive is to destroy bad people, akashi claimed.

even senju welcomed takemichi to join them.

just as how draken yellled to them that he won't allow anyone from toman's former members and that also included takemichi as they have made a promise/deal because he didn't want them to be a delinquent anymore (best bro indeed). ngl they're almost started fighting because of it.

then, i guess since takemichi really didn't have any other choices left, and perhaps he understood draken's motive so he too decided to join brahman, FINALLY! i was worried thinking he had to do things alone because he knew very well that it would be a very dangerous plan.

so after he made up his mind to bring mikey back, suddenly senju gave him an umbrella. looked at the way he's behaving, reminded us of mikey when he first met takemichi :')

oh btw, in the fourth panel, senju told takemichi to meet him at harajuku @ 3pm and michi was kinda unsure of it. and of course like mikey, senju too is getting pretty much interested in takemichi.

so now here's what confusing the whole trtwt timeline today:

so here, some people are assuming that the girl is:

Senju's {twin} sister

actually Senju

it's Senju but disguising as a girl in a school uniform (this is so funny xD)

Senju's crossdressing for work.

so everything about this panel is all up to your theory/assumption !

*just updated the hq scans.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 310 Spoiler Thoughts: “The First and Second Holders”

Some fan translations are out and it’s time to flex some thoughts out again!  I couldn’t do them last night because I didn’t have all the scan images with me and I didn’t want to jump the gun with only text descriptions.  Anyway, this was mainly an exposition chapter that properly introduces us to the second and third OFA Holders, especially the 2nd and what his relationship to the 1st is.  This might not be as long as others “Spoiler Thoughts” I’ve written, but let’s see:

First off, we have a colored cover page by Horikoshi-sensei himself!  It’s a solo page featuring Vigilante Deku and he looks badass!  Deku looks ready to kick ass and take names.  And, his Mid-Gauntlet is colored red like a lot of us thought and it adds to the theory that Melissa Shield did create it like she did with Deku’s Full-Gauntlet back in Two Heroes.

The chapter starts in a dark and rainy night.  A large woman (she’s like maybe 10ft tall; she’s taller than All Might who I think is 7ft) with a mutant-type quirk who’s getting attacked by some civilians because they think she’s a villain.  Deku jumps in to stop the attacks and the woman explains that she was just trying to go to one of the evacuation centers at a hero school.  Deku is kind enough to give her her umbrella back and reassure her that things will be ok.  

I gotta say that this whole situation is scarily close to real life right now.  I don’t like getting too political, but we live in a scary world where discrimination is, unfortunately, alive and well...  If you are a POC, you can be attacked from anywhere with the only reason being that “you’re a danger because of the skin you were born with”. It’s horrific, it’s disgusting, and it’s been around for a long time.  Even in the BNHA universe, there used to be cults solely dedicated to discriminating against mutant-type people (we learned this back in the My Villain Academia Arc).  So, like in the real world, this problem has risen again.  Thankfully, there are people like Deku and All Might who are more than willing to help someone in need regardless of who they are.  BNHA hits too close to home sometimes.  

Anyway, going back to the BNHA story.  Before All Might leaves to help the woman in his Batmobile, he hands Deku some Pork Katsu in a cute bento box wrapped in a bunny cloth!  Deku is visibly happy and thanks All Might for the meal.  This is so cute!  I’m so glad to see that All Might is making sure that Deku is being properly taken care of.  Boy needs to eat if he’s going to save the world.  I’m also glad that Deku can still show signs of happiness despite, well, everything.  I swear, if All Might doesn’t legally adopt Deku as his son by the time this series is over, I’m going to jump into this manga and force him to sign those documents myself. 

The next panel shows Deku standing on what looks like Tokyo’s famous Sky Tree (or Sky Egg if we’re going off what Vigilantes showed us).  He’s back to talking to the OFA Holders like they’re angels on his shoulders.  Banjo talks about how it’s like the world’s reverted back in time when things were worse and Deku responds that if he doesn’t use all of OFA’s power, he’ll never be able to defeat Shigaraki and AFO.  I know we’re in the final act, so Deku’s gotta get to 100% fast if he wants to win this war.  Last we checked, he was at 45%, but he might be at a higher percentage now since he’s unlocked En’s Smokescreen.  Also, Deku’s looking more and more like Batman each chapter and I gotta say that it really suits him.

Back to the Vestige Dream back when Deku was still in a coma after the war.  The 1st Holder begs the 2nd and 3rd to corporate with him so that they can provide their power to Deku.  The 1st calls the 2nd and 3rd “My Heroes” which causes some awkward silence lol.  Neither one is responding, so Banjo breaks the silence by suggesting that Deku learn everyone’s Quirks so that he’ll get used to them once he starts using them.  We learn why the 2nd and 3rd are the 1st’s heroes soon, but it’s actually a good idea for Deku to learn about all these different Quirks while he’s sleeping so that he’ll get a good idea on how to execute them when he wakes up.  It’s kind of a way of training for Deku just without actually using the Quirks themselves.  

The 3rd Holder (the one with the spiky ponytail and headband) starts to talk.  He says that the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd came from the “Harshest era of history”.  It was a time where AFO ruled all and peaked in power and control.  He was going to take over the whole world if the first 3 Holders didn’t step in to stop him.  My guess is that after AFO was defeated for the first time, society started to calm down and become more or less the world we knew before the War Arc.  So, things weren’t as bad during the 4th Holder’s era and so forth.  This would explain why Shinomori was able to hide in the forest for so long without being detected.  

And now the big part of the chapter: the 2nd Holder.  Who does in fact look A LOT like Bakugo.  Big difference is that he has a massive scar across his face.  I am aware of the whole “time travel” theory that people have going on with Bakugo and this dude, but I’m not on that train.  Instead, I think that the 2nd Holder is one of Bakugo’s ancestors.  Like, a really, really-great-grandfather.  Horikoshi doesn’t just design his characters for no reason.  The fact that the 2nd user looks so much like Bakugo, has a costume similar to Bakugo’s, and that future panels in this chapter straight up parallel that iconic scene with young Bakugo and Deku in the river only add fuel to this fire.  Unless Horikoshi says otherwise, this is the theory I’m sticking to: this “Ancestor” theory.

And we know of the 1st user’s real name now too, which is Yoichi!  If Horikoshi is keeping up with the “numbers in names” theme, then I’m positive that Yochi has the kanji for “One” somewhere in it.  And, if we’re going to believe AFO at all, then that means that the 1st user’s full name is Yoichi Shigaraki.  We don’t know AFO’s full name yet.  But, again, AFO could be lying with his last name, so I’m taking this one with a grain of salt.

Back to the 2nd Holder, he tells Yoichi that a lot of lives were sacrificed in order to stop AFO back then.  He believes that there is only victory or defeat in battle; that there’s no hope of saving their archenemy.  He has doubt about putting his faith in Deku because of this.  Given how the 3rd Holder still has his back turned too, I’m lead to believe that he also thinks Deku is crazy for wanting to save Shigaraki.  I don’t exactly blame them.  Really, none of us know if Deku will be successful in saving Shigaraki.  He might have to kill him in the end.  I think they should offer Deku help, but I don’t blame them for being at least a little skeptical.  

But, Yoichi reminds the 2nd and 3rd users that they saved Yoichi back when AFO locked him up to die.  They found Yoichi with the intention to kill him it seems, but the 2nd Holder showed sympathy for Yoichi and lent him a helping hand despite Yoichi being AFO’s little brother.  This is the parallel panel I was talking about.  Yoichi is kneeling down on the floor and the 2nd user is standing up extending his hand to help Yoichi.  I don’t even need to look back in the manga to know what inspired this.  Hell, I don’t even need to tell you!  We all know what Horikoshi was doing when he drew and wrote this.

Yoichi convinces him that he should believe in Deku as Yoichi does think Deku will save the day.  If the 2nd user didn’t extend his hand to help Yoichi, OFA wouldn’t have begun.  I think that the trust between these two is ultimately the reason why the 2nd user finally agreed to help Deku; the same with the 3rd user too.  And, kind of a tangent, but I really like how Horikoshi draws Yoichi and the 2nd user’s hands as they’re reaching for each other.  Horikoshi has always been really good with drawing hands like they’re facial expressions (something my ass could never do 😭) and this one shows kindness and empathy.  It’s almost like what would’ve happened if Bakugo accepted Deku’s hand for help when they were young instead of letting his pride and ego get in the way.  Oh, the parallels! 

Finally, the 2nd user speaks in present day telling Deku that they’re going full speed ahead now.  My guess is that Deku’s going to have to improve on OFA and the rest of his Quirks quickly in order to find and beat the LoV.  We are in the Final Act after all.  The chapter ends at a good place if we want to switch to the UA kids, which is honestly what I’m hoping for.  Again, I love Deku and his Vigilante adventures, but I miss the rest of the kids.  The new BNHA Exhibition in Japan apparently has a giant drawing of the main class, All Might, Aizawa, and Shinso in his new hero costume!  Which tells me that 1. Shinso probably took Deku’s place in the class for the time being, and 2. We’re definitely going to see the other kids again.  I’m hoping soon.  But, I wouldn’t be surprised if Horikoshi decided to continue focusing on Deku’s Vigilanteism and have him practice with he 2nd and 3rd Holder’s Quirks now that they’re working with him.  We’ll just have to see.

So, that’s it!  Solid chapter overall.  I’m glad we finally got to see the 3rd and 2nd Holder’s faces.  I think the “Kirishima is the 3rd Holder” theroy has been debunked at this point, but I’m still on the “2nd Holder is Bakugo’s ancestor” train.  The similarities and parallels are too strong for me to deny it.  Horikoshi-sensei, please confirm or deny soon 🙏.  We are getting break next week for Golden Week BTW!  All of Shonen Jump is actually, so no One Piece or JJK either (I’m not sure about Jump+, so we might still be getting some Spy X Family for example).  So, basically all our favorite mangakas are getting a well-deserved break as they should!  I hope they enjoy their vacation!  Waiting’s going to suck tho, I’m ngl about that...  Oh well, I’m willing to take the sacrifice if it means having healthy mangka.  Thankfully, we still have the anime and the new exhibition to tide us over until then.

Edit: OR NOT SINCE THE EXHIBITION IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED BECAUSE OF A CERTAIN PANDEMIC GOING NUTS IN JAPAN AFTER ONLY BEING OPEN FOR 2 DAYS 😭 

Edit: I went back to re-read the chapter and I completely missed the date for the next chapter (chapter 311) which is set to release on May 9th!  So, we’re actually getting a 2 week break instead.  Damn...  Sucks for us, but it’s good for mangaka to get breaks when they can especially considering their absolutely insane schedule.

Me reading this chapter:

[makeste]

some rambly Wednesday night thoughts on Kacchan’s hero name

so out of acknowledgement of the fact that the vast majority of fandom has basically accepted Dynamight as canon, I have been doing some analyzing of my own internal fandom biases these past few days, trying to identify just what it is that’s still making me have such a hard time accepting this name reveal. and I think I’ve pinpointed that now. and so now that I have, I would like to partially renege on my previous post, because that was four whole days ago, and we have to grow and change with the times or else they will a-change without us.

anyway, so basically what it boils down to is that for me, it’s not enough for his name to just be an All Might tribute. for me, the reveal of oh, he named himself after All Might is just not enough on its own to justify having a 200-chapter arc devoted to this plot. it’s not a satisfying resolution. because the thing is, we already knew that. and so that’s basically the thought that’s been running through my head these past few days whenever I see posts analyzing the new name. okay, but we already knew that, though.

I’m trying to figure out how best to describe this, but basically it’s like this constant feeling of waiting for someone to finally finish the rest of their sentence. like, yeah, I get that, I already heard that part. but where’s the rest of it? because this doesn’t tell us anything new, is the thing. this is something we’ve known about Bakugou since day one. “I’ll even surpass All Might and become the best hero out there.”  yes, he looks up to All Might, that’s fine and that’s great, but we knew that.

here’s what it is for me. I need the name reveal to answer this specific question: what makes the Kacchan from chapter 252 different from the Kacchan all the way back in chapter 45? what is it that’s changed? what is different about him now? different enough that it took a journey of more than 200 chapters for him to finally settle on this choice?

and in my view, the answer to this question is very clearly not All Might, but Deku.

Deku is what has changed for him. his relationship with Deku. his restored trust in Deku. his desire to make amends to Deku. that’s the difference. this is what chapter 252 Kacchan has that chapter 45 Kacchan did not have. this is the only answer that to me makes any kind of narrative sense. when he makes the decision in chapter 252, when he finally settles on a name, his mind is clearly fixated on thoughts of atonement. and so his chosen name, in the end, has to relate back to Deku in some way in order for it to connect. that link has to be there somehow. that’s the only way that his name ties in with all of his character growth. that’s the only possible way this is going to feel right to me.

so yeah, if it turns out that the origins of the name “Dynamight” begin and end with Katsuki being a colossal fanboy nerd, I will be disappointed, ngl. not because I don’t think his admiration for All Might is important, because it is. but I will be disappointed because “I want to be like All Might” is his starting line, not his finish line. I’ll be disappointed because he’s had so much character growth since the story began that for him to choose a name that’s seemingly unrelated to all of that would seriously feel like a letdown.

having said that, there is one popular theory which, if true, would check off that box of “the name has to be connected to Deku” which is apparently such a deal-breaker to me! and that is the “Dynamight is a name that Deku originally suggested for him when they were kids” theory (as seen here for example). which I guess technically falls less under the category of “theory” and more under “speculation”, but still. the thing is, it’s all based on reasoning rather than evidence, but I think said reasoning is pretty sound. it’s basically that same rationale of “this doesn’t make narrative sense if there is no connection to Deku; so therefore, if this is his chosen name, it means that it must relate back to Deku in some way.” which to me is reasonable. and so if it does turn out to be true, I’m thinking I can get on board with that.

the 293 reveal scene is still pretty out of left field to me, ngl! but it’s worth noting that this is absolutely not the final version of his name, because as of right now the full name is technically GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GOD DYNAMIGHT. the “GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GOD” part isn’t just a title or preamble (all of those end with “hero”, so if that were the case it would have been “Explosion Murder God Hero: Dynamight”); it’s literally part of the name. I do appreciate that (as others have pointed out) he has apparently upgraded himself from Lord Explosion Murder to God Explosion Murder. but anyway, so it does mean he’ll need to change it at least one more time, though. which means we’ll get another “reveal” scene, and Horikoshi can pour all of the emotional weight and resonance into this second one, and if he does it right I don’t doubt he will sell me on it fully and completely.

and actually, if he really wants to go for the jugular, there is one long-awaited bonus move he can pull that will make it so that I basically never question anything he does ever again lol. and that is... well okay, let me backtrack. so first of all, maybe we get a scene where class 1-A is gathered at the hospital, or back in the dorms after everything has wrapped up, just convalescing and taking comfort in each others’ presence to distract them from thinking about how much therapy they’re all going to need now. and so they’re all there talking, and somehow word of Kacchan’s new hero name gets out, and while everyone else in the class is collapsed on the floor in tears, Kacchan and Deku maybe make some Significant Eye Contact for a bit and then Deku eventually says he likes it, but maybe shorten it down to just “Dynamight” though. and Kacchan is all “stfu nerd if I want your opinion I’ll ask for it” but of course he does go on to change it though, but not because of Deku’s suggestion!! just so we’re clear!! it’s just cuz he felt like it!! shut up!!

anyway. and just to be clear this last part is just me being WILDLY indulgent really, but I think it would be a real Power Move on Horikoshi’s part if afterwards, we cut to Deku heading back to his dorm room and thoughtfully lying back on his bed to reminisce, leading us into the flashback (by which I mean THE flashback, where Horikoshi shows that the name was actually his idea). and then, once we emerge back out of the flashback and into the room again, we see the familiar All Might posters on the wall and assume that we’re back in the present with Deku. but then we see the person that’s actually lying on the bed and it’s like WAIT A DARN SECOND, and that’s when Horikoshi reveals that we have actually transitioned to Kacchan’s room instead. BOOM. HOW YA LIKE THAT. TWO MYSTERIES SOLVED FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. TWIN FLASHBACKS, TWIN NERDY BEDROOMS. ALL THE PARALLELS YOU COULD EVER POSSIBLY WANT. MIRROR IMAGES, BABY. IT’S SPIDER-MAN POINTING MEMES ALL THE WAY DOWN.

lol but so anyways. tl;dr I’m coming around on this a bit. there are still certain things about “Dynamight” that will still feel slightly off to me even if the Deku Invented It theory does come to pass, mind. the main one being that it doesn’t really fit in with the theming of Deku and Shouto’s hero names, which I think are so simple -- basically just their own names -- for a reason. that reason being that it symbolically sets them apart from the flashy, superficial hero society of the past, and signals that this new generation will be different from that. and I won’t lie, I’ve always liked that about their names, and so if Kacchan’s doesn’t also fit in with this theme, it’s always going to look just slightly out of place to me. but unlike the Deku thing, that one’s not a personal deal-breaker, and I can learn to live with it.

so I guess we’ll see how it goes! right now it’s still about 50/50 for me; I can only talk myself into it so much until we see more of how this develops. it’s been long enough since the chapter release that I’ve had just enough time to completely second-guess myself on everything I ever thought I knew, but then two seconds later I’ll be like “nah this whole thing is completely crazy lol it was literally just a joke panel” and the whole process begins itself anew lol. all I know for sure is that I seriously cannot wait for the aftermath of this arc. it’s gonna be lit you guys. it is going to be so stupidly, stupidly good.

[messwriting]

Summary: “He would like to say there’s been a long time since the last time he’d felt panic. That gripping feel of impending doom blooming inside your chest like a weight constricting your heart and taking hold of your lungs while you struggle to think.  Last time he felt it he was close to watch one of his students die and follow soon after. That time, through it all, he managed to think clearly and act by setting the clear directive of not letting his students die and buy time. This time is different.” 

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five

Warnings: Reader is a hero involved in intelligence work, with a specific quirk. This bit has car persecution and brief descriptions of anxiety; intoxication (drugs) and driving, though the person doesn’t drive long; car accident and Aizawa being a old man. 

Note: So sorry I couldn’t post this yesterday, but it’s here now! Like I said before, I’ll add another part and this one is short for the sake of cliff-hangers ngl there. THIS PART BEGINS WITH READER’S POV AND THEN CHANGES TO AIZAWA. Also, it’s on the short side, just a bit over 1k.

This guy shouldn’t be driving.

You notice the way he takes too long to open his eyes when he blinks, how his hands grip the steering wheel more tightly than necessary and how his hands slide over your body aimlessly, suddenly gripping parts of your flesh like he's just noticed what's in his hands. His legs are not moving right against the pedals and you check your safety belt just to be sure. 

There’s a feeling telling you he’s close to crashing this fucking car. And more than anything, you’re about half-certain he was drugged in the club. The nagging feeling in your gut telling you’re not the only one who got notice this motherfucker was about to get his hands on these drugs and now trouble is probably on the way.

You get your phone while putting your hand above his on the wheel. He sends you a drowsy smile, like his drugged mind thinks you’re looking for his contact. The car moves at a high speed from his heavy limps on the pedals and you try to send a message with one hand. Text and drive really proving to be too much for your coordination when a lethargic man keeps going in and out of consciousness behind the wheel. 

Getting tired of it, you hop on the man's lap, press the lever under the driver's seat that causes the seat to slide far enough so that his feet move away from the pedals and yours can replace them. You almost hit two cars during the change, dodge a pedestrian when the car enters the sidewalk, but finally can comfortably place yourself with both hands on the steering wheel and your foot on the accelerator.

It’s not hard to discover you’re being followed when it’s this late at night and on empty streets two cars don’t get out of your tail. Finally, the aggravated voice of Eraser Head comes through your newly activated communicator.

“You’re being followed.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“What happened? The car almost crashed moments ago.”

“The dude’s out. Someone drugged him and he got drowsy while driving. I’m on the wheel now and he’s passed out.” You inform him and try to make enough curves that whoever’s following you get thrown out.

“Who could’ve drugged him?”

“Someone who knows what we know and wants what we want.” You’re working through hundreds of possibilities though you know it’ll be hard to guess with no Intel as of right now. Maybe if it turns into confrontation you could actually come up with some names to the faces.

“Do you think they’d care if I show up?” A pro-hero is always a threat. But the quantity of drugs this man has is too good a prize.

“They have two cars and probably backup; You’re good, but I doubt.”

“I’ll call backup. Keep trying to lose them, I’ll follow through the track device.”

“Good. And Eraser?”

“What?”

“Try not to get us killed.” You try your best in the teasing remark though you’re sweating in the driver’s seat. You’d prefer hand to hand combat over car persecution ten times over and god, your driving skills are smooth. As proof, you turn a sharp curve like a pilot, without warning and in little seconds, losing at least one of the cars - that’ll have to maneuver.

“I’ll do my best.” Comes his grumpy retort. Somehow you feel like you’re holding it too close to your heart.

You manage to drive at a crazy speed enough that you put some distance between you and the other cars and just to be sure about staying out of the radar, you move in the direction of the docks. Even if there’s surveilance around there, you’re half sure you can manage to fuck it up later. What you’re not expecting, however, is their backup.  

A motorcycle is coming behind the cars, the pilot indiscernible with the black clothes and helmet. But it’s eating the distance necessary to overtake the cars at a high speed.

 “Oh fuck.”

You scramble for the comms while doing your best to drive in the narrow spaces on the docks. But you’re soon to be without roads to drive on. And still having two cars closing on you - and a motorcycle.

“Tell me you’re close.”

“I’m close. Look, I’m gonna need you to turn right in the next one-hundred meters and then the third left.” 

“‘Kay. Where’s the backup?” 

“They’re coming.”

“Oh god, you better not be fucking lying.” Your voice turns into a whine when you’re on the last word, right in time to make the curve into the right. The bike’s passing the cars, but you hope you can lose them with the motions.

“Are you scared of some thugs, y/n?” Eraser is being playful. You almost gasp. And turn the first left as he told you to. 

“Oh, please. I’m scared of their bullets, I don’t have an impenetrable quirk you know? Also, I hate being shot, it hurts like hell and it’s a pain to heal.” Turning the third left in a few seconds. Right in the end of the street, a few hundred meters away, Eraser Head signals for you to turn. 

“You could’ve used a vest.” He offers over the comms, while you watch him jump over buildings way in front of you.

“Oh yes, so sexy, a bullet vest. Not noticeable at all.” You sass him and turns right when he tells you to. On top of the buildings, he starts to signal your way. “You couldn’t send me GPS directions or something?”

“Don’t know how.” It’s his earnest and surprised answer. You sigh. Gulps when you see the bike approaching too fucking fast for comfort, eating the distance like it barely exists.

“Boomer.” The word had barely left your lips when suddenly the car just… stops working. The panels are dead, lights out like a blackout. The pedal gives you no acceleration and the car is slowly losing velocity and the wheel it’s jammed so hard you break a nail trying to turn it. The only thing in front of you is a metal security bar between the road and the fucking sea. 

And, of course, the comms are dead. 

You sigh. 

“Fuck.”

-

Eraser watches, with no little shock, as the sports car goes through some kind of electrical pane and completely blacks out, losing control while going at a slower but still too fast speed and then breaks through the metal railings and flies into the water.

He would like to say there’s been a long time since the last time he’d felt panic. That gripping feel of impending doom blooming inside your chest like a weight constricting your heart and taking hold of your lungs while you struggle to think.  Last time he felt it he was close to watch one of his students die and follow soon after. That time, through it all, he managed to think clearly and act by setting the clear directive of not letting his students die and buy time. 

This time is different. 

He’s not in a fist fight or being overpowered. There isn’t a person threatening you. No quirk is involved in the way the car flies over the metal bars and into the water. And he can’t fight gravity. Or the pressure of the ocean. He can’t run faster than that car flies, too. 

So Eraser watches as it falls inside the sea with a huge noise, and starts to sink. And as the black cars slowed and stopped about seconds later a few meters away from the broken railings and armed goons started to run in the direction of the water, he jumps. 

That’s when the fight breaks loose. 

-

tag list: @therealwalmartjesus​ @danicalifxrnia​ @thatcutewerewolf​

[unordinaryquotes]

UnOrdinary Chapter 189 Review

-It’s almost like beating people up and sending them to the hospital makes them afraid of you. What a weird concept am I right guys?

-I can’t tell if Cecile’s being truthful or not. Sure, she’s a liar and John calls her out on it but her face here does look pretty soft and devoid of negative intent. Maybe she’s warming up to John? I’d be fine with the two of them getting together since they’re both bitches

-Thank you for spreading the truth Isen. We’ll make sure your grave is adorned with beautiful flowers

-I’m guessing Isen’s gonna get caught, but not know it. Then maybe he’ll have to deal with a meeting with Keon or even Arlo’s aunt. And if it is his aunt, then Isen could realize who she is and tell the others.

-Bruh, I got fucking blindsided by this. Because so many people in the subreddit were saying that Sera didn’t care about John and wouldn’t figure out what happened between him and Keon. Now I know to equate the subreddit’s opinion to a piece of garbage but with how many posts I thought “I guess the Keon thing isn’t brought up yet”. BUT NOPE! It’s right fucking here! Are these people incapable of reading?!

-Sera asking Arlo if he’s okay is really cute. It shows she’s starting to learn how to express concern for friends and take their problems. (Not to mention we get some sweet Arlo x Sera fuel)

-Now she’s even proposing talking about it. This is really sweet. I can definitely see Sera being the first one to comfort Arlo when he figures out his aunt’s secret.

-I think not being King anymore is a good thing for Arlo. He really needs a break since he’s been showing that he’s cracking under the pressure. He was running Wellston alone a good bit and you can tell it affected his mental state badly since the moment he learned their was another high tier (John) he tried to pull him in an instant

-However Arlo does seem to be taking this hard, which Sera notices. Now, he brushes it off as just being a similar situation but I think it’s something deeper. He placed a lot of pride in his King title, even swearing to Rei that he’ll remain King his entire school time. Also looking at his eyes, they seem really sad. He’s probably mentally beating himself up now or something

-Another panel proving the r/UnO subreddit can’t read. They talk so much shit about none of Arlo’s past activities being brought up or how he’s portrayed as a good guy. This panel proves that no one has forgotten what Arlo did. Not Sera, not the author, and not Arlo.

-Arlo’s on the revenge path, mostly doing this to find Rei’s killers. This is gonna be even more fucked up now. Imagine Arlo finally finding the person who killed Rei and being happy cause he’ll finally get revenge for him and then he figures out it’s his Aunt. Soul crushing. We might need a suicide hotline on speed dial for this man.

-The group has finally put together that these are two different groups. I wonder if Ember and these mid tiers might battle it out. The mid tiers did yeet Sera’s ability before Ember could snatch it. Maybe they hold a grudge? Arlo’s aunt vs Sera’s sister when?

-Despite butting heads, Arlo and Sera think very similarly. I’d love if in the future the two just end up finishing each other’s sentences or talking over one another with the same point.

-Ngl, this shot pretty cool. Mostly cause of Cecile. Though I can’t help but notice it’s similar to the way Arlo bust through the door during chapter 174. John can’t come up with anything original can he? Stealing fighting styles, abilities, and now epic door slams.

-Sera has zero chill and I love it. She just basically said “And who the fuck do you think you are?” I’m happy to see Sera asserting dominance and truly come out into her own. She went from her parent’s puppet, to the school’s puppet, to John’s puppet, and now she’s becoming independent and breaking away from what other people think or say.

-Once again, on a certain brain dead subreddit, people were calling this hypocritical of Sera. But it’s not. Firstly, Sera never had beef with John telling her not to hang out with Arlo, she had beef with him lying to her so she wouldn’t talk to him and figure out the truth. Secondly, there’s a big difference between telling a person not to hang out or be around a person and thinking it. Sera isn’t telling John off, she’s simply thinking it’s sad that he’s fallen into Cecile’s trap. Also low key hoping for Cecile to pull a Scar, but with the best of intentions.

Next chapter’s gonna be juicy. Two chads vs two bitches, who will win the speaking match? Will Isen live to see another day? And when can I finally see Arlo shirtless? 

[botaniia]

128

Good chapter, all in all! My thoughts will be much shorter on this one than on 127 because I really hadn’t a clue what to expect from this chapter as opposed to 127. I also read some discussion before writing this so that may influence this, I dunno

Jumping right into things with the airships and answering a question the fandom had since 127: why didn’t the Yaegerists destroy the airships? To push it even further, not only was the question answered, but this fact became a plot-relevant detail as well.

Random thought, but it’s interesting to see Hanji talk about the future prospects of recapturing the uninhabited rumbled lands once this is all over

It’s absolutely divine to see Hanji and Magath strategising and working together

Love love LOVE the panel of everyone getting equipped for battle. I’m dead at Reiner’s “Ah shit here we go again” expression. Very cool to see Annie holding a blade handle again after so long! Jean and Mikasa looking like models as usual, and I love Pieck floating in the background there

So at first I thought the steam was the colossals entering the water on Paradis’ shores. Apparently it’s all the way over at Marley and the rumbling already reached the north. That’s fast! And the fact that the steam can be seen all the way over on Paradis, does that mean that Marley really isn’t all too far away from Paradis?

Falco and Gabi on the lookout are the cutest ever. Glad we get to see my son this chapter! 

Annie: “Hey y’all ‘s okay if I’m armed right?” Everyone: “....”

Every chapter needs a random panel of Levi sleeping because Yams didn’t know what else to put there

Very interesting to see Annie talk using revenge as a frame of reference. It does show how long she’s been under. Pieck explaining the situation to her made me realise we need more interactions between these two

These panels make it obvious how much weight Reiner has lost. Jesus, look at his torso, his neck. He could rival Berthoto in his post-depression  height to weight ratio

I hadn’t even considered that the Yaegerists consisted of their comrades, not the way it’s presented by Jean anyway. It makes a lot of sense that they don’t want to fight and kill their old friends

Annie is to Jean this chapter what Jean was to Hanji the last chapter. Asking the really hard questions in response to a pacifist mindset.

Armin has gotten thick, wow

If I still shipped aruani I’d consider this a strong moment but now it just feels less impactful bhjvk

The dam finally broke for Connie! All these past chapters, he’s been off looking stoic and determined, but it looks like his emotions are finally showing outwardly as well. Poor fucking kid, he’s really seen too much

And he does raise a very important moral question there. With the realisation we see him make later in the chapter, it’s also a very fitting thing for him to wonder about. He’s just not ready to start killing, even if it’s the best option for their cause, and I can respect that he has issues with such a plan.

Annie’s expression... hurts me soul, man

I don’t think I follow yet how she came to the conclusion that JCAM wouldn’t have destroyed the walls if it were them. I don’t agree nor disagree, because I don’t think that it’s possible to estimate that. The JCAM of today definitely wouldn’t have done it, but the JCAM of today are adults who didn’t grow up as child soldiers under heavy propaganda and who were used as disposable weapons. It’s impossible to compare the two with each other. Is Annie saying this because she as the adult she is today would do it all again, as she stated a few chapters back? I’m sure discussion in the next few days will clear this line up.

It’s gonna take me a few days of thinking to understand what exactly that callback to Eren saying he’s just like Reiner means, and how it connects to Annie’s words. Does he think back of it because he likens himself to Eren, or because he likens Eren to himself? It feels like Eren’s saying that he would’ve broken the wall, which is exactly what he’s doing right now with the rumbling, but what do I know? I’m usually dead wrong about things like this. 

I can admire Reiner giving JCAM a choice to not fight the ones they hold dear. After all this time and despite everything, he still holds his old comrades dear enough to spare them from this battle

Hanji’s ready to kill, and I understand it. People are already dying in Marley and there’s no more time left to be humane about things. It’s just like the decision to torture Sannes, like the decision to kill RB given the chance. In an ideal world they’d be able to talk and take their time, but right now they unfortunately don’t have that luxury.

Poor fucking Pieck, Annie, and Reiner. Learning they may already be too late and the worst can have already happened. And Connie’s face. This is the most emotion we’ve seen out of him in a long time that wasn’t just flat out bitterness. He looks destroyed.

Magath shoving Onyankopon had me gigglin’, ngl

It was something else seeing Yelena so emotional and pained. Have we seen her like this before? In a situation where she’s not her usual confident, in control self but she’s genuinely in pain or scared? And then her crying... She’s growing on me more and more the more I see her, now I’m sorta hoping she survives this story

Magath’s confession... I’m gonna be honest, when I first read this it felt like it came out of nowhere and felt forced. Rereading it, I can see where it came from. It’s been on his mind for quite some time since it happened and the fact that they suddenly, just like that, ran out of time probably got him to decide that if there’s ever a time to say this, it’s now

It also proves the idea that right before someone is about to crack, they double down in their ideals. It’s a type of stubbornness all humans have and it often leads to conflict. Doubling down didn’t work, so he finally allowed himself to accept something he didn’t want to be true but somewhere knew was true anyway. That’s growth. I did think Magath would end up coming through in the end

Good on him, a Marleyan, to tell Eldians that the one truth Eldians had always been taught, that they are responsible for their ancestors’ sins, isn’t true at all and that they do not deserve the blame. It just doesn’t hold the same relieving value if an Eldian says it. That was sorely needed, and for Magath specifically to say that is a good thing!

And to tell it to Pieck, Annie, and Reiner as well? That’s a very important detail as well. Done are the days of only absolving the 104th when the warriors deserve it just as much

‘Forgive but don’t forget, teach our children what happened without pointing the finger’ is such an important key idea and I’m glad it’s been put into words. Maybe the school kids from the s4 preview are the outcome of that?

I’m gonna wait for the official translation to look at Armin’s refusal because I don’t believe I fully grasp what he means there

Floch implying that the death of Kiyomi’s nation is a good thing, that she no longer has to worry, shows just how wrong his entire school of thought is. He’s literally “can’t worry about your homeland if your homeland doesn’t exist anymore”. 

Kiyomi’s words as parallel to Erwin’s? Love it

“But what’s most important is for you to know your place” WOW, guy really is on a power trip where he wants to establish a rigid hierarchy, huh?

He does look absolutely terrifying in those panels. Congrats, Yams, you made me intimidated by Floch for reasons other than “he might shoot anyone at any time”

Armin’s strategy bkhjvgjh use the chaos and confusion to get the edge on him, I like it

Absolutely love the dynamic between Connie and Armin. Armin, you lying shit, you’re fake crying again

He knew from the start it hadn’t worked though

Samuel! DAZ!!!! Finally! They’re back! The memes are no longer just dreams!

Kiyomi charging Floch and proceeding to wipe the floor with him will be the subject of my dreams for years to come

When Armin and Connie first realised that the plan failed, I was sure they were surrounded by Yaegerists on all sides and they’d stand no chance. That’s also the moment I accepted that one of them was gonna get KO’d. I honestly expected Connie to bite the dust

When Mikasa first crashed through the window, I thought that she was Levi. Look at that face! It’s such an Ackerman face! It took me a few pages to determine whether that was Mikasa or Levi, even if I knew Levi definitely wouldn’t have been a possibility.

God, how good it feels to see Floch so desperate and distressed! That panel where he’s on his stomach and shoots his anchor out of the window is hilarious

Floch thinks Jean is dead, so he didn’t call for the Yaegerists to attack him. I wonder if that’ll play out somehow. But it does show that he believed that Armin spoke the truth when he said that Jean and Onyankopon were killed. So does he still think the warriors are not on their side (until he’s obv proven wrong, ofc)?

Magath in a SC jacket is 😩👌

Armin being shot had me bamboozled. If he still were my fav character I would’ve definitely had a heart attack, but even now that fucking HURT and caught me completely off-guard. Especially since it’s not just one shot, but three, all of which hit a major artery in one way or another. I was sure Armin was out for a good moment here

Oh wow. I didn’t realise it the first time reading, but the second time? God damn, the parallels between SC and warriors in that particular scene. Just like how Jean and Connie talked to Bertholdt and Reiner about how they’d grow old together and share a good drink once this was all over but their betrayal destroyed that possibility and nullified their camaraderie, Samuel is talking to Connie and Armin about how they’d retake the lands and raise as much cattle as they wanted once this was all over but their betrayal made that impossible. Connie got it. Connie understood in that moment and that’s currently emotionally fucking me over

Reiner and Annie shooting up behind Floch... 😩👌

THEIR TRANSFORMATION POSES, HOT DAMN They’re ready to wipe the floor with some Yaegerists

At first I thought we’d gotten nakey Reiner (ain’t his ass plates missing?) but his face gave me renewed hope. The unhardening thing was a one-time thing only, so it looks like his titan does get armour!

I wonder how convincing it would’ve sounded if in 2016 we heard that in 2020 we’d be overjoyed to see the armoured titan and the female titan wrecking some Survey Corps shit but look where we are now

Zombie Armin looked TERRIFYING, holy fuck

And then there’s those last two pages. Wow. I didn’t even know what I was reading when I first read them, I hadn’t a clue that I was reading the exact narrative I’d been begging to see for many many years. And when I realised it, fuck, that felt good

Connie is betraying comrades, dearly beloved people whom he shared good times with, whom he made promises to, but who unfortunately ended up being on the opposite side of the conflict as he is, because it’s what his goal requires of him. 

The way Samuel words it, it’s even a direct parallel to the way the 104th worded their grievances to Bertholdt and Reiner when they were running away with Eren and Ymir. And when Connie finally answers “You are our comrades, but...” it just clicks. They’re his comrades, they are valued, and yet they still have to die. Just like they did in Clash. Just like they did in RtS. He’s in the exact same situation as RB were years ago, and he’s 100% aware of how this is what’s happening

And it’s the fact that Connie doesn’t use this memory to back down to prove to himself that he’s ‘better’, letting Armin and possibly himself get killed in the process, but instead reevaluates his stance and recontextualises what he knew back then, that’s exactly what I’ve been wishing for for so long

I intend to make a separate post on this because I have so many thoughts on this subject. This tiny detail changes so much for me, clears up so many of the doubts I had, and gives me so much hope that I’m sure will be shattered over the next few weeks but let me DREAM

In fact, I made the post right here

[lordshaxxion]

Guys holy shit i’ve been working on this referral for an hour or so and i have sO MANY MORE IDEAS than when i did this project initially what the fuck!!!!

i’m legit and honest to god so excited to draw more for this idea for once and i’m loving where it’s looking to be heading

(gonna shove this under a cut i didn’t expect to suddenly explain eVERYTHING about this project in this post holy shit i’m just so excited and this got so long sO quickly omg)

essentially this project was set by me to challenge myself in designing creatures and bosses for a game and the first time around i didn’t do so well (obviously, i mean i failed the module d u h hence the referral) but i also couldn’t get into it thoroughly either. I based the three boss designs on yarn, crystal and metal but fell supremely short on the metal design (it fucking sucked yo) so these are the crystal and yarn designs i did (and i’m still pretty proud of ngl, and no you aren’t going to see the metal one it’s literally. the single worst thing i’ve drawn known to man in terms of quality and i’ve fucking drawn asher with his nips out aight)

Now ofc they need their own attentions and not all of the aspects of them are all that great etc. BUT. since i’m redesigning/doing more design work for this project in general i’ve taken literally one look around my room for inspiration for the yarn-based creatures i’m working on and lo and behold my room is full to the fucking brim with yarn. so that’s not hard to find inspiration right??

smash cut to me fucking taking one look at the biggest jellyfish i’ve made to date (with the usual jellyfish for fucking reference on how BIG this fucker is)

so immediately i think “well jellyfish could make for an interesting enemy. CROCHET JELLYFISH THAT IS” and already i’ve got sketches for a hostile jellyfish that’s literally based on that giant bastard up there AND sketches for a passive jellyfish based off the three-tentacle jellyfish in the commissions post.

general idea for the hostile jellyfish is that it has the thicker curly cues like above and strands of yarn for thinner stingers etc but it can actually grab the player with the thicker tentacles and electrocute them etc (because we all know yarn can hold a fucking static charge and a half like the bitch it oft wants to be)

general idea for the passive jellyfish is that it literally is just that - passive. the three tentacles (as opposed to six) denote that it’s a passive creature, and it’s just subtle enough a difference between them that the player wouldn’t necessarily notice at first and think it’ll attack them. all it does is serve as like a bouncy platform or a drifting platform for the player to be able to get around on

sO. branching off like haywire from this i looked at the shawls i’ve got lying around and immediately was like ‘LETS CONTINUE THE DEEP SEA THEME WITH FUCKING SHAWL-RAYS’ because i am a fucking. GENIUS. so shawl flap-flaps that wrap themselves around the player to crush them to death fucking SURE and with added thread needles on the end as a stinger and such

t h e n. i was thinking about what the fuck the player character would look like and y’know what? @cappurrccino i must thank u for sharing that picrew mouse maker because otherwise i wouldn’t have thought of this because wHAT IF the player character is a fucking mouse.

This is the first one I made just as a bit of fun but then I remembered it as i was drawing just now, went to have a look at it again and thought ‘YEAH THIS’LL WORK FOR A PROTAG FUCK YEAH ITS CUTE AND ITS NOT HUMAN’ so i went back to the picrew maker and made ANOTHER

now THIS badass little shit looks more like the adventuring type!! since the whole premise of this project was at first to design a game based on numbers which lead to a game based on collecting things. This little guy looks like he’s gonna be collecting ALL the things and the hook and rope make it even better because then he has a means of getting around and swinging from platform to platform or hooking enemies and jumping on them to damage them etc or even getting other weapons to use - without just defaulting to ‘GIVE MOUSE NEEDLE-SWORD’, even though i am. hella fucking tempted to now. if hollow knight bapy gets a nail sword, mouse bapy gets needle sword.

I would use the first one, but i don’t want to make redrawing the little guy over and over a pain in the ass to do by having so many details on there to keep consistent. i learned that the hard way with soile’s design from my comic - by the end of that monster of a project, i fucking hated drawing her because her design was so convoluted. absolutely great for one-off pieces and stances, fucking awful for continuous redrawing in different comic panels. so yeah, not fucking doing that again.

plus this feeds into the themes for each enemy type - yarn, crystal and metal. each thing is something you could easily expect to find in some kind of house or something, and are naturally bigger than a mouse in 99% of cases, so it makes sense for a little mouse to be traversing whatever places and facing off against these things. ofc it won’t actually be set in a house, it’s in some kind of world idk the full nature of yet but still.

i still think i may overhaul the boss designs entirely and resubmit a way better version of this project because the first time around i was dealing with a lot of personal stuff at the time and lost focus on it altogether. i literally didn’t fill up half the sketchbook i got for it, that is a pretty good indicator of how badly i flubbed this. BUT. i really, really like where this is going so far!! and all in an hour or so since i sat down to start working on it!!

i apologise for just how rambly this got but holy shit i NEEDED to put this all down somewhere before i forgot anything and i needed to give my thanks to cappurrccino for unknowingly inspiring me for the main player character :D