#THAT'S worth getting annoyed over cause Rock was always his Civilian Name...
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I feel like people are conflating having a new translated name for a character who never officially got one with Retconning. It was never official, it was [good] [popular] Fanon!! But because it was never any kind of official, they can't use it now due to woke legal complications. They didn't change the name, they provided a new one.
#I'm getting irritated at looking in the tags and seeing so much malding about it#Translating vs Localising vs Popular Alternative fiiiiiight#Though in fairness it's not like the new names are direct translations I'm just thinking in tangents#not tagging this with relevant fandom but anyway I'm looking forward to The Game and Sillay yet Gud Names#Though an actual Lame Ass Retcon was MMPU making the odd call to translate Rock as Mega#THAT'S worth getting annoyed over cause Rock was always his Civilian Name...#But it's another tricky area cause Rockman -> Mega Man in translation is omitting the puns#anyway I might as well post this now I've written this much :v
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I read this fic recently where after giving izuku his quirk, all might works him way to hard, forces him to hide his pain from others, and hurts him when he can't hide it. All the while, izuku thinks its normal, and that all might is just trying to help him. could you do a one shot where dadzawa finds out and goes all "you will never touch this child again" mode? please i need comfort after all the angst.
Anon if it’s the fic I’m thinking of...I understand, here’s some comfort and if I can fit it in some Dadzawa fluff🖤
Also I’m using this song as inspiration cause it fits the way Aizawa would be feeling during the whole thing
Also sorry for my sins, I wanted to make it DAD Dadzawa 🙏
All of the students were back with their families for golden week so Aizawa was taking his time to get back home from the meeting with Ally Cat and the other vigilantes. He was going across an alcove that held a hidden beach when he heard the sound of retching. Normally that wouldn’t be enough to draw him in, drunks weren’t worth the trouble if they weren’t causing problems, what did have him looking down into the alcove was the sob that followed. It was the sob of a child, a child he had thought was safely at home with their mother.
Midoriya Izuku was huddling into the back of the alcove, right up against the rock of the short cliff, shivering and dry heaving. He was covered in dark marks and smudges, his shirt was way too thin for the weather and his wasn’t wearing any shoes. In the dark his hair and the smudges looked black while his pale skin looked sickly in the moonlight. Aizawa’s instincts had him jumping down the cliff in an instant, that probably wasn’t the best idea because the small boy flinched and curled into himself like he expected a blow. From here Aizawa could smell iron along with the bile. Midoriya was bleeding.
“Midoriya?” No response, “Midoriya?” Still nothing. Aizawa sat down in front of the boy, minding the sick, and tried again, “Izuku?” The kid’s head snapped up at the use of his first name. “S-Sensei? Why are y-you he-here?” Midoriya asked with chattering teeth. Thanking kami that he was in civilian clothes Aizawa took off his coat and draped it over his student’s trembling shoulders. “Well kid I could ask you that same question, I’m a off duty underground hero. What’s your reason?” He gently reached out and tilted Midoriya’s head so the light hit him better, the kid had a black eye that was swollen shut and a busted lip. “Who did this to you?” His voice remained calm but the instincts that made him jump down here were yelling at him to take this kid and book it. There was a crunch in the sand behind him just as Midoriya’s eyes grew wide and he gasped out “All Might”.
The crunch turned out to be a stray dog that came up to sniff them, whimpering into Midoriya’s side while the boy took to slowly petting its head. It didn’t take an idiot to put together the clues, the kid had a quirk he couldn’t control, he seemed unused to praise, he and Yagi knew each other before class, the low self worth, the clear aftermath of a harsh beating, and the fear at being found by Yagi. Obviously Midoriya was being abused by his father, a man who claimed that the boy was not in fact his. Aizawa had looked into the kid, he knew the boy got his quirk late and he wasn’t a stranger to a father leaving because of a quirk. It was plausible that a dead-beat might come back once he thought his kid was worth something now. “Midoriya does your mother know where you are?” He hopes that she doesn’t, that she wasn’t letting this happen. The boy stiffens and the dog whimpers again trying to snuggle the kid. “N-no, she d-doesn’t n-n-know. She i-is out of town.” Midoriya’s answer rings with a hollow note. “Mid- Izuku, where are you stay while she’s out of town?” The gut feeling is eating at him now chanting a montra of ‘grab him and run, hide’ and he was so close to giving in.
Midoriya didn’t get a chance to answer because another crunch in the sand, this one much heavier announced the arrival of someone else. The dog stood in the kid’s lap and growled. The figure standing behind Aizawa was the skeletal form of Toshinori Yagi. It wasn’t the Yagi or All Might Aizawa was used to and annoyed by, this Yagi had looked less like death was at his door and more like he was the reaper coming to collect his bounty. “Midoriya you shouldn’t run off like that, look you’ve worried this poor man and his dog. Come along we need to go back to the agency.” And if Aizawa hadn’t grown up hearing the same tone of fake concern from his mother or afterwards when dealing with domestic abuse cases he might have fallen for it. Standing up to his full height and letting all the protective rage and childhood fear fuel the fire behind his glare Aizawa growled out, “he isn’t going back with you. He’s never going with you anywhere again! I don’t care if he is your kid or not Yagi, you are never laying a hand on him or going near him again! I’ll make sure of it!” All Might blinks in shock then recognition, “Hello Aizawa, didn’t take you as a dog person. Now why can’t I take my charge back with me? He’s my responsibility.” The titan asked, the threat in Aizawa’s words either not taken seriously or not understood. “Because Yagi, he was scared to death that it was you when I found him. He’s terrified and covered in injuries and blood. You are not getting him back ever.” The anger and panic in his gut turned from a hot feverish wild fire to a freezing acidic poison that laced his every word. He would fight the world’s number one, the devil himself, to protect Izuku.
After a great time of staring each other down All Might yields and takes a step back. “Fine, keep him, but I’ll always be there. He can’t escape his destiny and we’ll always be connected.” He states the last bit towards the boy still cowering behind the dog. The dog growls again and lowers into a fighting stance. “His destiny is his to decide. Being his father doesn’t automatically his dad, it doesn’t make you connected. Don’t ever think it does.” Aizawa declares with the wisdom of someone who had to find that knowledge firsthand. All Might scofts and walks away a dismissive wave of his hand.
Aizawa stands there for a long while making sure the skeletal was really gone before he turns back to the two behind him. Izuku is staring with his one good eye like the world had just flipped upside down. As gently as he can muster Aizawa starts talking to Izuku “Hey kid, it’s going to be okay. I know it might not make sense now but you’re safe now, what was happening with you and him was not how anyone should treat you. I won’t let him make you think it’s okay just because you share dna. I won’t let him hurt you again, you’re safe.” The kid still looks so lost but he nods, it looks like it causes him pain though.
“Okay first thing first, medical care.” The boy opens his mouth to argue, “Kid you look worse than I did at USJ please don’t try to fight me on this.” Aizawa pleads as he pulls out his phone and calls Ally Cat, they should still be awake and they have a car. The conversation is short and to the point, Cat will be picking them up with a change of clothes and some flip-flops for the kid and a leash for the stray. “Thanks for doing this Cat, I know it’s short notice.” “All emergencies are short notice Eraser, I got your back.” “See you soon” “you know it” And with that everything is set into motion, slowly but in motion non the less. He looks back at Izuku after he hangs up, the kid is dozing off with his hands in the dog’s fur. If it wasn’t for the injuries and time of night Aizawa could pretend that they were just at the beach for the peaceful silence. He figured he could take them to a different beach, make better memories, once the kid wasn’t beat to hell and back. “Huh, guess I have a kid and dog now. Mic and everyone aren’t going to let me live this down.” He muses just as a black mini-van pulls to the side of the road above them. “Cat must have been worried” he huffs as he carefully scoops up Izuku and heads around the side of the aclove and up to the road, dog loyaly following.
Izuku had three cracked ribs, neck and shoulder injuries like that of a retired boxer, and a fractured cheek bone. The doctor was suspicious of the duo when they came into the hospital but after Aizawa showed him his hero ID and explained it as an abuse case the worried anger faded. Aizawa didn’t blame the man for thinking the worst. As they waited for more tests to come back and the boy to wake up from the use of a healing quirk Aizawa called Nezu to inform him about what had happened and they made plans to have Yagi removed from the school quickly & quietly. After that the kid was still sleeping and the doctors saw he wouldn’t be waking for a least another hour or two so Aizawa texted Cat about the dog.
E: is it chipped
A: nope
E: can your friends have it checked over and chipped today?
A: sure but it’s not an it she’s a lovely shiba mix
E: ok thanks
A: anytime, you adopting just the dog or?
E: he has a mom
A: :/ you know what I mean
E: yeah I do and yeah
A: cool! I get to be the cool auncle! Dibs!
E: why are all my friends like this?
A: cause you like the affection:p
E: no you
He ignores the next text because Izuku wakes up. The kid looks lost again, just rotating his arm with the iv in it and mumbling to himself. “Hey champ, you fell asleep before we got you here.” Aizawa explains slowly because the pain meds might be messing with the kid’s head. The kid just looks up at him with pinched eyebrows and confusion,”we?” His voice is so small and dry, Aizawa grabs a cup and fills it up from the sink in the room they are in. “Yeah my friend drove us here. They took the dog to a vet to get checked over too.” He elaborates as Izuku drinks the water. “If you want to we can keep her, the dog I mean, she isn’t chipped and my friend thought you might want to keep her.” He asks a bit unsure of how to address what happened without causing the kid more stress. “But the dorms don’t allow pets if it’s not for a quirk or medical reasons.” The kid says sadly. And that wasn’t going to stand on Aizawa’s watch, he claimed this kid and he was going to be the best guardian he could be. “She doesn’t have to stay at the dorms, she can live at home.” He assures the kid.
But now the kid is tearing up and the man did not know what he did wrong or how to set things right. “I don’t have anywhere else to take her, mom got caught in a villain attack at work. The whole building came down. Yagi-Sensei had been letting me stay at this agency.” And just fuck, Aizawa hadn’t been told Ms Midoriya had passed and he had a feeling non of the other staff did either. “Izuku, you don’t have to ever go back with him but you can’t not have a home. After tonight I think Yagi will sign his parental rights over to me but only if you are okay with it. If not then we can figure out something else or make you a ward like Er-“ He stops mid sentence as Izuku hugs him, burying his bandaged cheeks into Aizawa’s neck. All The man can do as the kid clings to him is cling back, he had no idea when the last time an adult showed this kid love so he held the boy close. “He- he’s not my d-dad Aizawa-Sensei, my dad g-g-gave me up years ago. Yagi-Sensei du-doesn’t have p-parental rights.” The kid admits as he sobs, his voice just barely above a whisper. “I didn’t want to be alone.” Izuku confesses, breaking the heart of the man holding him.
When doctors give them the okay and Izuku has gotten himself back together enough to put on the clothes Cat had brought Aizawa has Cat take them to His apartment near U.A. the shiba is waiting in the back of the van with a shiny red leather collar. Izuku and the dog fall asleep quickly. “So Sho, this mean you’re gonna petition for custody?” Cat asks as they drive, careful to not to wake the kid with the sudden sound. “Don’t have to, circumstances have changed. I’ll just have to file for adoption.” He sighs, he knows they won’t pry into it while everything is still happening so he feels safe enough to let them know. “Cool, just remember I called dibs on being the cool auncle. I’m spoiling him and that sweet pup.” They remind the tired man as he spots the apartment building up ahead. “You’ll have to fight Mic but I think being spoiled by both of you idiots will be good for him.” He laughs softly as he pictures the gift war that’s bound to happen now. “Don’t worry Mr Dad, I think you’ll spoil him enough before we can. You gave him a dog and he’s not even your kitten yet.” They tease.
It’s been three weeks and Izuku settles into his new bedroom with his new dog, Kēki, the room is kind of baren but he didn’t have a lot to decorate with yet. He’d thrown out or given away most of his hero merchandise, only keeping a few things his mom gave him. He was looking forward to the next week, Shota had told him that the papers were in and that by that time they would approve the adoption. Soon Izuku would be Midoriya-Aizawa Izuku, he wouldn’t have thought he’d like living with his teacher but the man gave off the same soft caring aura Izuku’s mom had...just in a quiet way. While the man wasn’t very physically affectionate he did listen when Izuku needed him, he asked questions about Izuku’s interests and goals and just overall made the kid feel like he mattered.
Izuku loves his dad, he hadn’t really known his birth dad so it was easy to give that title to the man that had taken him in so readily. Life was looking up, All might had been let go from U.A. and wasn’t allowed to teach ever again. Grand Torino had reached out in condolences when he heard that his non-grandson had lost his mother, the old man offered to watch him if the situation ever occurred. So now Izuku had a dad, most of the staff of his school as aunts and uncles, some odd vigilante that called themself his ‘auncle’, Kēki, and a grandpa! He still missed his mom but his dad had sent him to therapy to work through what All Might had put him through and Izuku had discovered he had some deeper issues of self worth and expecting abuse from those around him. So things were steadily getting better, not noticeably but he was just starting.
“Izuku! Kēki! I brought home dinner!” Shota called as he locked the door back. An exicited kid and dog bound into the front room looking so happy that Shota had to blink away from their brightness. “Come one lets eat while it’s still hot.” He laughs as he carries the bags of take out to the coffee table by the couch. As they dig in a feeling of rightness surrounds them. “Thanks dad.” “No problem Champ”
Kēki is a shiba mix with an all brown coat with a white tail that makes her look like chocolate cake with a dollop of white frosting this the name cake. Ally Cat wasn’t meant for more than just a throw away line but then they needed a car so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ hope you liked it anon
#foxx writes#bnha#midoriya izuku#dadzawa#aizawa shouta#mha#aizawa izuku#izuku gets adopted#izuku gets a dog#bad person All Might#Ally Cat is an oc#i wasnt going to have them in this but then keki showed up and they needed a car#anon ask
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[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (130/?)
Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation. This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.
Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.
[10 October, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]
Luffa's star-yacht, the Emerald Eye was constructed as a civilian pleasure craft, but under her ownership it now served as the de facto flagship of the interstellar Federation she had created. As a Super Saiyan, she had little need for fleets or armaments in battle, but she needed the transportation to get her from one battlefield to another. The current war against a cult of alchemically-enhanced Saiyans had kept her very busy. When she wasn't liberating a Federation planet from Jindan cultists, she was recuperating from her wounds or traveling to her next battle. Today, she was en route to a conference with the Federation's civilian and military leaders to discuss the situation. In preparation for this, she contacted her allies in the field to compare notes. The dining room of her yacht had a set of video conference monitors. Luffa sat alone at the table, scooping reheated pottage from a large bowl and eating it with her bare hand while they spoke.
"I've fought this rock creature thing on a dozen different planets by now," Luffa said. "All of them were attacked by Jindan Saiyans beforehand. I think their mission was to prepare those worlds for whatever magic trick he's using. Whatever it is, it assumes the form of King Rehval, Seltiss' father, and it talks like him too. I've gotten pretty good at fighting them, but they're too strong for most of our forces. Katem might do okay on his own, and maybe a few dozen of Seltiss's troops could figure something out, but your fleet wouldn't stand a chance, Marshall."
To Luffa's left, a screen showed Seltiss, leader of the Saiyan Free Company, with Xibuyas. They were teenagers, and uncomfortable with Luffa for a number of reasons, not the least of which was her claim to be Xibuyas' mother. But Luffa was rather accustomed to making other people uncomfortable. To her right, Marshall Ryba Booth sat at a desk in one of his fleets' command ship. Physically unimpressive, Booth's only real power lay in his political savvy and his sway over the Federation's military.
"And how do we stop him?" Booth asked. "The Saiyan invaders have been difficult enough to handle without some indestructible rock creature backing them up."
"The one thing in our favor is that he only seems to be able to manifest himself in one place at a time," Luffa said. "So far, he only seems to be using this power to draw me away from his underlings. That tells me his main objective is something he needs his troops to accomplish. Maybe he wants them to take something from the planets he's been sending them to, or he wants to conquer and hold territory. His rock body can't move from place to place, or he'd do it himself."
"What's to stop him from destroying Federation planets?" Booth asked. "He has more than enough power. Even his weakest soldiers could do it."
"It's not a small thing, destroying a planet, Marshall," Luffa said. "I'll let the kids explain it, and we'll see if they learned anything."
Xibuyas opened his mouth to object to Luffa's tone, but Seltiss spoke first, and he remained quiet. "You're right, Marshall," Seltiss said. "It doesn't take a Super Saiyan to blow up a planet. I could do it, and I'm not nearly as strong as Luffa or Xibuyas. I know some Saiyans who are weaker than I am, and they still have the raw power to damage a planet's crust. That wouldn't cause it to explode, but it'd still be enough to render it uninhabitable. But most Saiyans know better than to use that much power carelessly. Tactically speaking, it just isn't worth it."
Luffa smirked with approval. "Very good. Your turn, Katem. Why's it a bad idea?"
"My name is Xibuyas, and I didn't come here to play your games," Xibuyas grumbled.
"Oh, chill out, Xibuyas," Seltiss said. "Just answer the question."
He sighed and did as she said. "Everything a Saiyan needs is on a planet," he began. "Food, air, water, the light of a full moon. Oh, there's battle to be had in space, but no one wants to be cooped up in a starship, afraid to cut loose for fear of wrecking their own life support system. Planets are sturdy enough to support the Saiyan lifestyle. They're too valuable to destroy. Only a fool would annihilate one without a very good reason."
"Well done," Luffa said. "Rehval's a coward, and a bastard, and a lot of other things, but he's not stupid enough to tear down a potential resource. If nothing else, he knows we have to stretch our forces pretty thin to defend the Federation. If he starts blowing up our planets, he'll make it easier for us to defend the ones that are left."
"My father still thinks of himself as a cosmopolitan head of state," Seltiss said. "I don't understand why he's taken this aggressive posture, but I'm sure he plans to advance his standing in the galactic community. He might conquer your Federation, or weaken its influence, but if he destroys it, he'll only be proving that he's a rampaging monster. He would be undermining everything that the Rehval Dyansty has been trying to do for the Saiyan people."
"No, it's worse than that," Luffa said. "Your father's got some kind of god complex now. It's not just about good standing in galactic politics. Now, he wants people to worship him. Either way, he can't blow up all the little people, or there won't be anyone around to thank him for it later."
"Can you defeat him, Luffa?" Booth asked.
"I managed to knock those rock bodies of his around pretty good," Luffa said. "The trouble is that he can just abandon it and move on. Make another one someplace else. I can't hurt him unless I find his real body, and that could be anywhere."
"Well, his followers won't tell us," Xibuyas groused. "I've interrogated plenty of them, and it's always the same result. They'd sooner die than betray him."
"There must be some limit to his power," Seltiss said. "His base must be close to Federation space for him to animate all these creatures."
"Even if that were true, it's still too big an area to search," Luffa said. "And we can't commit our forces to look for him because we're stuck on the defensive. Our only option is to whittle away at his goons. But it's the only option he's given us, so it must mean we're playing into his hands. The whole thing's pretty damned annoying."
"Which is why the Federation Council has ordered this conference," Booth said. He rested his elbows on his desk and steepled his hands. "It's been almost eight months, and if there really is no end in sight, then we need to plan ahead for a prolonged conflict."
"A waste of time," Xibuyas muttered. "We should be fighting, not wasting time with a gaggle of bureaucrats!"
"Oh, I agree," Booth said, "but this is what happens when wars grow old. Strategy gives way to policy, and the public has to be reassured that this is all worth doing."
"Cheer up, boy," Luffa said to Xibuyas. "You and I can spar a little if you get bored."
He winced with disgust at the suggestion, and Luffa grinned with satisfaction. King Rehval had raised him to hate her, and he still did, even after he had turned against the king. Teasing the young man was the closest thing they had to a relationship.
"We ought to think about how to search for my father," Seltiss argued. "I agree that we can't spare the ships, but there has to be some way to track down his base. Until we do, we're just treading water."
"What are thinking, Seltiss?" Luffa asked. "Hire a few bounty hunters to snoop around?"
"It's worth a try, right?" Seltiss said with a shrug. "They don't even need to find anything, just as long as they can point us in the right direction."
It pleased Luffa to have Seltiss on her side. Rehval had turned her son against her, so turning his daughter against him seemed appropriate. The girl was too interested in fashion and poise for Luffa's liking. Her bright pink hair dye and pressed suit coat made it hard to tell she was a Saiyan teenager, but she made up for it with her skills as a leader.
While they were talking, a crewman entered Booth's room and whispered something to him. "Hold that thought, ladies," Booth said as he began tapping buttons on his computer. "I've just received reports that a Saiyan surrendered to a patrol ship near Qongoding. He was dressed in the same red uniform the Jindan cult uses."
"Surrendered?" Xibuyas asked in disbelief.
"That fortuneteller of yours didn't say anything about this, did she?" Seltiss asked Luffa.
"No," Luffa said, "but Dotz can't predict everything, and she's been focusing on attacks. If this guy turned himself in without a fight... Where is he now, Booth?"
"On his way to you, apparently," Booth said. "He kept insisting he has vital information, but he refuses to talk to anyone until he sees you, in person. So the captain decided to grant his wish."
They all looked at one another for a moment, and Luffa finally said: "I think I'll be a little late to that conference."
*******
[12 October, 233 Before Age. Interstellar Space.]
So far, Guwar's plan had worked. Knowing as much as he did about the Jindan Cult's tactics, it was easy for him to enter Federation space without running into any invasion ships that might have tried to stop him. The trickier part was avoiding the Federation's Saiyan allies. Guwar had heard that bands of Saiyan mercenaries had joined the Federation cause, but he hadn't expected there to be so many of them. It gave him a shred of hope that King Rehval could be stopped, but it also made it harder to enter Federation space. He was certain that a Federation patrol would accept his surrender, but a Saiyan would show him no mercy at all.
And so, he couldn't truly relax until he was aboard Luffa's ship. Once the patrol ship took him into custody, they rendezvoused with her star-yacht, and a blue-skinned woman crossed over via a docking tunnel. Instead of leading him back to the yacht, she studied him carefully, without a word of explanation.
"Haven't I seen you before?" Guwar asked.
"I doubt it," she said.
"I'm sure of it," Guwar said. "The eyepatch, the red hair... I wouldn't just forget--"
"He's clean," she suddenly said. "I'm bringing him aboard."
It was then that he noticed the earpiece in her left ear, and he realized she was talking to her ship. Then she put a gun to his lower back and nudged him to lead the way through the docking tunnel. As they walked, he finally realized where he had seen her before. That bar on that planet where he first ran into Treekul and Endive. Endive had disguised herself as Luffa, and Treekul had been dressed up as a blue alien with red hair. It was all part of some test to see if Guwar could be trusted before they recruited him in the quest to find the Jindan Cult. He suddenly remembered that Lesseri, the third woman in their gang, had actually trained under Luffa for a short time, and she must have based Treekul's disguise on this alien.
It all felt like ancient history, but it must have only been a few months ago. He had lost track of time since joining the cult, but he was sure it couldn't have been that long ago. It hurt him to think of the others. He had harbored a certain affection for Treekul and Endive, and he had only recently learned that they each felt the same way about him. And now that he finally knew, he would probably never see either of them again. Well, it saved him the trouble of having to choose one of them, he thought bitterly. He disliked Lesseri, but he had no idea what had happened to her, and that bothered him more than he cared to admit to himself. For all he knew she was long dead, another martyr sent to the Federation to die in King Rehval's pointless war.
Though he knew it wasn't fair, he resented this blue alien woman for reminding him of all of this. He supposed that Lesseri's little test had failed. At long last, he had chosen to betray them to Luffa after all.
"In here," the woman said as she led him to a small room.
He noticed the word "brig" on the door, though the lavish accommodations made him wonder if he had misread the sign. There were two rooms which might qualify as holding cells, and each of them had a fake plant and a magazine rack. The whole thing looked more like a waiting room than a jail.
"I guess even rich people have to put their unruly guests someplace, huh?" Guwar said. The woman didn't reply. She just nudged him into one of the cells and activated a force field to seal him inside. Even in his weakened condition, Guwar expected that he could break through the field, or even smash through the walls around it. The woman seemed to agree with his assessment, which was why she kept her plasma pistol trained on him while they waited.
A few minutes later, Luffa entered the room. She ignored Guwar and spoke with the blue woman instead. Guwar wasn't surprised by any of this. This sort of treatment was what interrogations were made of. They would do whatever it took to rattle him and shake his self-confidence. What bothered him instead was how much shorter and younger Luffa looked in person. There were bandages wrapped around her shoulders and arms, and bruises on her face. He knew that she had the ability to transform back and forth from her glowing golden form, but she looked so normal right now. Almost pathetic.
This was the miracle warrior he had risked everything to find?
"I'll take it from here," Luffa said, and the blue woman left them alone. Luffa found a chair and shoved it in front of Guwar's cell before taking a seat. She didn't say anything at first. She just stared at Guwar, like a bird-of-prey regarding its next meal.
"I know where he is," Guwar said. "That's all you wanted to know, isn't it? The last time we met, you were chasing me because you thought I knew something about Rehval. Well now I actually do, and I'll tell you all about it."
"Nagaoka, right?" Luffa said. "I've never heard of it, but that's where you want me to go, isn't it?"
"You already knew?" Guwar asked, somewhat anxiously.
"The patrol crew who brought you here? They went over your ship's computer core," Luffa explained. "I was talking to them while you were moving into your new 'quarters.' Now, I'm pretty sure you could rip your way out of that cell, but I think you're smart enough to know what'll happen to you if you try to leave."
"I know things that weren't in the computer," Guwar said. He hadn't counted on anyone to backtrack his navigation logs, and suddenly he began to realize how expendable his life would be once he revealed all his secrets. "I was part of his cult. He shared the Jindan power with me. He took the power away from me when I left, but I know how it works, and how to deal with it. I can help you plan your attack, but you need to move quickly! He thinks he's invincible, but if he finds out you know where he is, he could pack up and move to a new hiding place--"
"Why should I believe you, Guwar?" Luffa asked. "You don't have much credibility where I'm concerned."
"I risked my life to come here!" Guwar exclaimed. "Doesn't that count for something?"
"Sure it does," Luffa said. "It means you're more afraid. Something's got you so scared that you'd rather risk flying into a war zone and turning yourself in to me. You figure if you give me some intel on my enemies, I'll protect you, instead of turning you into a red stain on the ground. But being desperate doesn't help your credibility. Kind of the opposite, really."
"I don't believe this!" Guwar snapped. "The last time we met, you were chasing me across the universe for information on Rehval that I didn't even have! Now I'm coming to you with his exact location and you threaten me?"
"Let's say I believe you," Luffa reasoned. "Most likely, you ran to Rehval because you thought he could save you from me. Now, you're running to me because you're afraid of him. That makes you a coward, Guwar, no matter how you slice it. Right now, I'm disgusted to breathe the same air as you."
She made a derisive snort as she crossed her arms, and waited to see how he reacted. The fearful look on his face was no surprise to her, but then his expression shifted, and he looked more insulted than afraid. And then she was surprised to see a flicker of defiance in his eyes.
"No," he said. "I don't buy it. That holier-than-thou act of yours doesn't wash with me."
"Really?" Luffa asked.
"If I'm so offensive to your presence, if you're so confident that you can get along without my help, then you would have killed me already. You can still kill me right now, so what's stopping you?"
"Suppose you tell me," Luffa replied.
"You're the one who's desperate, Luffa," Guwar said. "I can see it in your eyes. For all your power and majesty, you want to end this war more than Rehval does. That's why he's using attrition tactics against you. He knows you care about the people who live in the Federation, and that you can't stand the mounting civilian casualties. Oh, you may be an invincible warrior, but no matter how inevitable your victory is, you won't be able to bring back the war dead. You need a way to end this conflict quickly, and the only way to do that is to take the fight to Rehval, and this 'coward' you're looking at is the only lead you have."
Luffa glared at him for what seemed like an eternity. Then, at last, she jumped out of her chair. For a split-second, he expected her to tear through the force field and rip him to pieces. Instead, she simply laughed, which somehow felt almost as terrifying.
"Well, I guess you've got a little spine left after all, haven't you?" she said. "There might be hope for you yet, Guwar."
"Please," he said wearily. "You have to listen to me. You've got to believe me."
"Oh, I will, Guwar," Luffa said ominously. "I just need to confirm something first. You say you were part of Rehval's cult, but I can't sense the Jindan power in you."
"I already told you," he said, "it was taken from me when I turned against him."
"Sure, and I can sense how much weaker it's made you," Luffa said. "But that could just mean you've gone soft without any battles to fight. No, there's only one way to be sure you really were part of his cult, and I was kind of hoping you'd admit you were lying to me so that I wouldn't have to check." With that, she shut off the force field and stepped into his cell.
"What are you doing?" Guwar tried to ask, but before he could finish the question, Luffa planted his hand on his face and concentrated.
"Rehval fixed up his goons with something called the 'Mindworm'," she said. "It keeps telepathic beings from reading their minds. The last time I ran into it, it felt like I poured hot spices into my skull. So if you're only pretending to be in with the cult, I'll see it in your thoughts. But if you really joined Rehval's side, then you should still be... Aaaah!"
She released him and staggered backward as she grimaced in pain. Guwar stepped towards her, unsure how to proceed, but Luffa waved her hand in a wide, awkward sweep, producing enough of a ki force to knock him away from her and onto the floor.
"You idiot!" he shouted. "The Mindworm is a booby trap! Even a brief exposure to it will put you into a coma!"
It had never occurred to him to warn her about the Mindworm. He didn't think she would do anything so impulsive, so reckless, and now she was seconds away from becoming a vegetable. To think he had pinned all of his hopes onto this stupid girl! He had begun to wonder if she might really be a Saiyan messiah after all. Against King Rehval, anything less wouldn't be enough to save their species. But no, she was no better than the rest of them, and when she fell, there would be nothing in the universe that could protect him...
"Wrrrrrrong," Luffa growled through clenched teeth. "I told you I encountered this once beforrrre, and it didn't stop me thennnnnn..."
She screamed, and then balled her fists and tensed her body until she was transformed. She couldn't see Guwar with her eyes closed, but she could smell his fear and sense him scooting across the floor in a feeble attempt to put some distance between them. He didn't have to worry, but Luffa saw no pressing need to tell him that. Instead, she focused on the battle that mattered, and as she turned her immense power inward, she began battering her hands against her head and chest.
"I'm... not just another pretty face!" she snarled. "Creeps like you think they can get the drop on me once in a while, and that somehow proves I'm not so tough after all. But there's more to being 'invincible' than just winning lots of fights. It's about... unngh... about taking the worst shots... and finding ways to overcome them!"
She cried out one more time and when the light of her aura subsided, she opened her eyes and stood before Guwar completely composed. The effects of the Mindworm lingered, but she had dispelled them much more quickly than before.
"There," she said, still maintaining her glowing golden form. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Maybe I should try that again some time and use a stopwatch to track how long it takes me to shrug it off."
"You... you...!" Guwar babbled. Luffa shook her head and walked towards him. Before he could try to scramble away, she grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up over her head.
"Oh, calm down," she said. "I'm not going to hurt you. Not while there's a chance that you could be useful to us. Even if you are lying to me, there's no doubt that you've been involved with the cult."
"I'm not lying!" Guwar pleaded. "I can prove what I'm saying, I swear it!"
"Good for you," Luffa grumbled. "Because you're going to get your chance. I may not be able to interrogate you telepathically, but Marshall Booth has all sorts of people working for him who know a lot of creative ways to get information out of people."
She tossed him into a nearby chair and chuckled as he nearly fell over.
"Welcome to the Federation, Guwar," she said. "It might be an unpleasant stay at first, but if you give me Rehval, I promise we'll make it up to you later..."
NEXT: To Win the Peace
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talkin bout fire force
shit boys it’s been too long time for another unprompted juvenile rant about manga, click keep reading if you’re insane and keep scrolling if you aren’t
So Fire Force anime starts in just about a week and I decided to just read it all instead of waiting for any anime. It took a while to read all of it and now I just kind of have a lot to say about the manga, the anime, and the author. So here we go.
I actually have a lot of good things to talk about, but I’ll get the bad shit out of the way first:
THE WRITING
idk his name it doesn’t really matter since he’s made like 2 things he’s just the soul eater guy; his art style has always been charming and the action scenes keep improving but his actual narrative writing is real bad. I’ll talk about the characters themselves since I actually think FF’s characters are a ridiculous improvement from soul eater, and the setting/aesthetic are on point as well but the plot is just as bad if not worse than whatever soul eater was.
The story is riddled with what should obviously be throwaway characters that keep being brought back and doing something evil and unexpected because it’s a shounen manga and if you aren’t being betrayed then the plot isn’t moving forward, or someone introduced as an obviously villainous character just kind of agrees to be friends in a couple chapters. This is used as a constant cycle of introducing both a set of “evil” and “good” characters, then one of the old “good” sets of characters does something evil and the newest “evil” guys turn out to be good. It’s not interesting or shocking to have a character you can’t even remember come back and act like they’re important, especially if it’s repeated over and over.
FF pretends to have some kind of politic overtones where religions and businesses and such act as their own entities and betray each other and prey on the civilians, but you see absolutely none of the impact anybody’s actions have on the world despite ridiculous things constantly happening and world shaking truths being brought to light over and over, nothing happens. Villains will also have ridiculous unbeatable abilities but then just be ignored, such as making zombie apocalypses or controlling minds and such. This is also likely a concession of being a shounen manga, where you can’t expect readers to read every single chapter, and usually on a week to week basis, so every chapter needs to have its own big shit happening, even if there’s no plans to follow through on anything.
The worst part about the writing is how much stuff that the reader didn’t know about and has no idea what it is is passed of as some shocking twist when it’s introduced. This mostly happens with powers and with new factions. There’s a ridiculous amount of times where a new group steps in as the bad guy like mentioned earlier. But for the powers, there’s so many things layered on top of an actually acceptable power system that just seem to cause a DBZ type of escalation of power without the fight scenes actually becoming that much crazier at all. On top of the simple 2nd/3rd generation fire fighter powers, the main character is meant to utilize the adolla burst, the adolla link, the preacher’s divine protection, the okay hand emoji that makes you go fast, the breath of life, and superfire fighting. None of that means anything to anyone and are just used as “MC needs to be better at something but only temporarily” over and over. It’s similar to Maka and Soul’s deals with the devil in soul eater except much more common and with absolutely no downsides.
Also not the fault of the writer himself but there is not ANY good translation of this manga out there holy shit. There’s so many incredibly obvious puns and connections and choices of words to be made that are just entirely ignored, the typesetting is always awful, and no name for moves, characters, or even the title are ever agreed upon. It took until the official release titled “Fire Force” before people stopped trying to call the manga “Burning Firefighter Squad of Fire”.
THE ANIME
Just a bit more bad to say before I go into all the shit about this manga i actually like. The anime looks awful. A lot of anime does right now, very little of note has been coming out or seems to be coming in the future, which is usually the case but its not getting better and that sucks!
But specifically the fire force anime, following up after soul eater, has absolutely none of the visual charm translated from the manga to anime, the voice casting is absolutely abysmal, and there’s nothing to give me hope in it, not enough to even give it an episode most likely. People might try to defend David productions because woah man I love jojo!!! but they’re pretty fucking bad at animating anything. The choice of color is gross and the visual effects are bland, which is a bad place to start for a show that will contain tons of fire and other bombastic effects. Big shame.
OKAY ONTO THAT GOOD SHIT
CHARACTER DESIGN
The visual designs in soul eater were cool if a bit janky, and the actual concepts for characters were far from astounding, usually being able to fully describe characters in single words and not having much development outside of combat abilities. But Fire Force has some of the most tight characters I’ve seen in a while, they’re all simple and focused with strong thematic elements.
Ya’ll know me, hopefully. I really appreciate simple designs and simple characters. Complicated does not equal deep, and simple does not equal shallow. The characters in fire force will usually embody a concept, or a concept and its exact opposite, and be never waver from their design. I’ll talk about em for specific characters when I get to em but even lots of minor characters are very well focused and I appreciate it.
SHINRA
The main character, and while his grocery list of special abilities and “chosen one” kinda shit is annoying, he starts of as a very strong introspective of the weight of your actions vs the impression you give of in the eyes of society. The easiest way to describe it is through the very obvious identity struggle he goes through of wanting to be known as a “Hero” but instead being “The Devil”. All Shinra ever does is selflessly save peoples lives and put himself at extreme risk, he tells everyone and their grandma that they can call on him when they need a hero, and yet his visuals consist of a dark haired punk who constantly smiles a sharp toothy smile, his ability that he uses to fly in and do kamen rider kicks with spews fire from his feet in the shape of pointy wings, and this fire puts a heavy shadow over his face, giving him a monsterous siloutte. It’s not at all subtle that he just looks as evil and menacing as possible, and so his reputation is constantly negative no matter how kind he is. It’s not explored all that deeply but it is still a strong contrast.
ARTHUR
What a fucking idiot. What an absolute buffoon. This stupid fuck functions as a very simple gag character by being nearly too dumb to function and living in a made up reality as a fantasy knight, but is also able to exist as one of the strongest characters in combat. His ridiculous power is handled in a much more engaging way than Shinra’s. As instead of layering multiple chosen one abilities on him, he becomes weaker or stronger depending on his suspension of disbelief. The more in character as a powerful knight he becomes, the stronger he is. It’s a clean way to make a funny delusional characters struggle actually mean something to the people around them, instead of being left to his own devices or constantly told to fuck off. And while I said the plot isn’t very good, the smaller character beats can be very powerful. For example, It was already pretty easy to just accept Arthur as he was, but his family situation is explored late into the manga, and it’s shown that he began to live in fantasy to escape from his families arguments and poor living conditions. His parents take advantage of his disconnect and abandon their home with him in it, leaving all their responsibilities to him with a note saying he’s now the king and has inherited their castle. This pushes him to an even more absurd degree of fantasy in order to just live out his life knowing he was unloved and unwanted. It very understated how you can make a character that’s mostly used for jokes still be very easy to connect to and empathize.
TAMAKI
This one is likely to be the hottest take made from me here today, but this is the most interesting character in this series for a variety of reasons.
Visuals out of the way, the fire fighter outfits everyone wears already look cool as shit and big puffy coats just get me goin, this girl absolutely rocks it on top of having twintails and a cute face. That’s not objective in anyway this is just a character designed to bait specifically me and its fucking working, okay? The writing is the actually interesting part.
So something that’s usually not even worth talking about is fan service. Show of a girls titties cus its what dudes in their teens want to see, its free (You)s for shounen manga, and soul eater was full of it. It was pretty bad in soul eater and could come at jarring and unneeded times for characters that didn’t seem to exist for any sexual reasons. It was a very poor way to include fan service.
Fire Force also begins in a similar spot, the 3 main girls that are around in the beginning chapters are occasionally seen changing or in a bath or covered in water or whatever, with one particularly bad spread of them with the classic no nipple no vagina bodies all standing together in a shower. Its awkward and stiff and even as a fan of anime tiddie it just wasn’t worth having.
But then that wildman just does it. He creates one single character to put literally every single ounce of horny energy in to. A character who exists to fall over and get her tits pushed into someones face, but pushed to a cartoonish extreme. It sounds silly to try to pass off fanservice as funny, but it is. It’s so ridiculously intended and impossible and always varied that its actually fun to see her do something stupid and for something to happen. Sometimes its just her ass landing on a dudes face (god i wish that were me) or her body being exposed and drawn in pretty high detail. Sometimes instead they get an entire dude stuck in her shirt after just tripping in a way that is not not being sexual to the reader at all since you see absolutely no skin. She’s simply destined to be put into lewd situations in universe, not in regards to the manga itself. For an example, here she is just standing completely still, and suddenly becoming naked, drawn in a distant, goofy way:
It’s stupid. It’s definitely still fan service, but it’s just ridiculous. And that’s way more interesting than having every girl in your series randomly get naked at some point. Despite being insane it still works on boys, as Tamaki is the most popular girl in the series by far, ranked as the second most popular character consistently.
Tamaki also leads to the single best chapter of the manga where a horribly designed throw-away assassin who was beaten by her returns for revenge, but just ends up as a short, self contained, well paced comedic story of love.
And guess what, she’s still interesting outside of being funny and having fan service. Her cartoonish luck is essentially treated as her actual power, and her fire cat abilities aren’t explored too deeply during most of the series, but this is done for a greater purpose of essentially spitting in the face of high stakes. Tamaki easily witnesses the most deaths in the series, and most of them are cruel and unusual. She witnesses children being killed by a man who inspired her, she sees people she just met be beheaded in some gruesome shots that aren’t anywhere else in the series, and she gets involved in all sorts of life threatening situations. She still just falls over and gets naked. She’ll have fairly serious fights where she tries her hardest or the people around her are completely serious, and without bringing any direct attention to it she still ends up showing skin. There’s a point where every single character is at risk of dying at once to a trap set by the enemy, and Tamaki quietly laments over how she’ll be the only one to survive. She is completely aware of her ridiculous luck and her complete immunity to stakes, which is honestly just great.
Even beyond that, Tamaki is slowly being built up as more and more of an actual character, she has a short backstory section where her own hard work and effort is basically ignored by everyone around her, as if her success in life is only a result of her good luck, which is a feeling that hits very close to home to me (fuck you if you’ve ever discredited someones hard work because they’re “””””talented””””). And in the most recent couple of chapters, shes made an active effort to train alongside Shinra and Arthur, who both value the improvements they can make to themselves through hard work. No other characters in the cast make conscious efforts to improve from their status in the way Tamaki does. She moves up from a joke character to now trying to stand along side the main character as a useful and though out character. It’s a genuinely wonderful character to have been developed and the best thing I’ve gotten from this author.
VISUALS AND COMPOSITION
Okay enough about the characters, the last little thing I wanna touch on is just some of the absolutely bonkers kinds of compositions in this manga. One of the villains has an ability that is explained incredibly poorly. Pretty sure it’s just a time slowing ability that has nothing to do with fire but whatever. The pages where he uses the ability have this absolutely sick warped look to them that plays with the panels in a way that couldn’t be depicted in any other medium. Just look at this shit.
Every panel has a different background and yet still describes a single cut in time. It might not really mean anything, but that’s fucking sick dude.
Another pretty interesting one is this one kid named Nataku, who has an ability forced onto him by a maniac with a motif of stars for eyes, who dies immediately after. This event is shown to have absolutely traumatized him not because its directly said, but because this dead character appears constantly in panels with this kid, sometimes taking up the entire background to yell at him, or being an almost impossible to see spec lingering behind him. Nataku is also drawn in this strange sketchy style where he seems to be melting, and sometimes melds into shapes that resemble this dead character, such Nataku’s mouth becoming the fucking eyeball of the dead guy, star pupil and everything. It’s just such a specific and horrific way to depict that kind of identity trauma and it really stuck out to me.
I’LL SHUT UP NOW
And ye that’s about it. It was a lot of rambling and there are still lots of little things i like about the manga, good designs and cool fights and stuff but i just wanted to talk about the things that were really noteworthy to me.
It’s been a long time since I’ve spent 4 hours just typing about stuff but if you actually read any of this, on this dead website of all places, you’re cool. Hope you found something interesting too.
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