#This scene will forever make me laugh both in the anime and in the manga

[astralhope]

I love how Astral can be the most majestic, beautiful, ethereal person in the universe and in the same page...

... be the most silly guy.

Bonus:

Bonus 2, because he's just the cutest:

[embossross]

caught up on tr s2 and have some thoughts on the good, the bad, and the ugly. spoilers for both anime & manga...

the good

this is definitely my favorite arc in the story, and it's fascinating to watch with the knowledge of where the story is going. it cheapens some things, but i still think it is holding up.

because the shibas are just amazing! i think character motivation might be wakui's biggest weakness (more on that later pft) and the shibas have the most well thought through motivations, tons of pathos, tons of payoff. love them.

yuzuha's voice actress! i wrote husky-voiced yuzuha before this season came out! i knew it i knew it i knew it

also the kick heard round the world! in a story filled with out of nowhere high kicks, yuzuha's is the best.

appreciating how violent these kids are, even the ones that i think of as sweethearts. chifuyu did not hesitate to break that bottle and take it to kisaki's throat. insane! kokonoi and inupi are feral in their intro scene. koko especially is so unpredictable, so slimy, so dangerous, like. it's making me want to write him lol

EVERYTHING about the taiju/mitsuya sit down is just incredible. what esp blows my mind is how taiju doesn't out hakkai when mitsuya wrongly thinks hakkai protects yuzuha. he laughs, yes, but he goes along with it. because hakkai in that moment must be just utterly humiliated to realize how he doesn't live up to the ideals mitsuya instilled in him. insane stuff. there should be more shiba household terror fic out there because their dynamic is so rich with awfulness. that said, fuck a taiju redemption arc. no one needed a taiju fucking redemption arc.

i forget that kisaki was actually a great villain! until they give you his motivations - bleh bleh bleh - he's actually so scary! he's always several steps ahead, he is good at setting traps and escaping them, he is charismatic in a strange way. he's a good villain. (and honestly, i don't even mind that he's an incel. i mind that he's an elementary school incel. if wakui had just written kisaki as staying friends with hina over the years, it would have drastically improved it. but alas. he is ruined for me forever)

i also forgot how deep hanma's voice is. that's it. that's the note.

the bad

the gag with chifuyu's "plan a and plan b" made my stomach turn. i can't stand watching people humiliate themselves.

takemichi revealing everything to chifuyu in the manga is a great moment, but i think it is spoiled a bit in happening in ep 3 of the anime because it's been a while since we have seen the bond between takemichi and chifuyu between seasons, so it just feels too sudden idk

hina's dad would have been a lot more convincing if he didn't open his speech with how he's basically an absentee parent that never sees his kids. he's not even a good dad!

really wish hina was a character and not just a prop while we're on the subject. the idea that this boy broke up with her in middle school, and she just pined after him into her mid-20s??? is she a femcel to kisaki's incel? what is this??? i know it's passe to point this out, but they really should have made them high schoolers. would have made moments like this a little more reasonable.

i request more mikey. and i know i'm not getting it for a few more eps but god.

the ugly

i know that you can't think too deeply about this story and how takemichi is 26 or it makes everything happening a) insanely creepy re: Hina and b) insanely cringy re: why is he so impressed by the company of these middle schoolers??? like, i know. suspend your disbelief and go with it. but the show keeps reminding me! they keep dropping lines about it as a joke and it's harshing my vibes.

also, takemichi is the most pathetic protagonist of all time, and it's worse in the anime than the manga because you can't read past it fast. watching those moments stretch out in the anime is agony. he keeps being outsmarted by children. CHILDREN! he jumps back to the past and his immediate priority is beating a child at bowling! he sees "bd" on a rival gang's jacket and wonders 'what does that stand for' a mere 30 seconds after thinking about the Black Dragons! i get that he's meant to be a loser, but why also make him this insufferably stupid???? (i don't even hate takemichi. i just think the anime is making it tough.)

[gabbylyons]

DouWata + Himawari or Yuuko with crush prompt 24!

If you do write with prompts, of course.

I was actually using that prompt list for my OCS, as it's been a long time since i've written anything longer than a scene and i wanted to practice. And yes, i do take prompts and Holic is my favorite manga/anime but, forgive if my writting seems kinda rusty!

As for your ask anon..

So..Douwata and Himawari/Yuuko

24. "It doesn't take an idiot to figure out how in love with them you are"

To Kimihiro Watanuki, birthdays were no occasion to be celebrated. For most of his life, they were a crushing reminder of his own guilty and shame, of the overwhelming loneliness that grew in his heart. After all, what there was to celebrate in a life that he didn’t want and only brought him pain? If it weren’t for this cursed existence, maybe his parents were still around, with each other. What was the use in the life they gave their own for, if he couldn’t even grace them with a memory?

Of course, those were all just some of the questions that tortured his mind. Even when he dared being happy for once, his birthday ended up being the day his first friend - his only friend - left this world. So, every april 1st, Watanuki carried on, doing anything that would help him forget himself. But at the time he turned 17, everything was different.

Yuuko had given him a day off to rest and the new volume of his favorite manga to read. It was on a saturday, so he didn’t have to worry about going to school and meeting that irritating Doumeki with his intense eyes that always seemed to be on him, or his stupid arms that always caught him and looked so invitating when he had his archer uniform on..

..no. Watanuki didn’t want to think of that idiot. No. The day was going perfectly. Nobody would ruin him.

Oh, at this point, he really should know better...

He had left to buy some groceries for lunch, and as soon as he reached the entrance of his apartment building, he felt a painful hit on his neck, only to turn around and be met with a very, very annoyed Ame-Warashi pointing her umbrella at him.

“Kimihiro Watanuki! Don’t you have any manners?! Ignoring us like that..”

The boy placed both hands on  back of his head, trying to protect himself. It wasn’t until he took a better look around that he fully grasped at what was happening.

Behind Ame-Warashi, was Zashiki-Warashi, holding tightly to something with a little ribbon. Despite being too flustered, the girl smiled. Around them were Yuuko and Mokona, gloriously holding sake bottles and, almost behind him, were sweet Himawari, always so beautiful, so gracious (looking at her made all the pain disappear. Watanuki just couldn’t hold back the happiness when she was around), Kohane and...the stupid. The idiot. The utter bastard. Doumeki.

“Oi. We want birthday snacks, Watanuki.”

He felt like he was about to comburst.

“WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO COOK ANYTHING?? ESPECIALLY FOR THIS IDIOT!!..DOUMEKI. AND DON’T YOU DARE CALLING ME UP BY OI!!”

“Happy birthday, Watanuki-kun!” - said Himawary cheerfully, making his heart flutter.

Yuuko chimmed in, approaching her employee with a big box in her hands.

“Given that this is our Watanuki’s day, I thought we should do a little surprise party, with delicious food and of course, lots of drinks!!”

“I knew it!” he retorted. “you’re looking again for excuses to drink! And what kind of surprise party makes the birthday person cook anyway???”

“Every day is a good day for delicious sake..and no one can cook like you!” Yuuko said, almost singing, making Mokona laugh. Words would always get in the way, but Watanuki would always be thankful to Yuuko for giving him a reason to live, a hope to hold on. For that, and many other reasons, she would forever be his most important person. And he could scream and shout the whole day, he knew he was going to cook when prompted. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

So that’s how he ended up going back to the shop, followed by his ‘guests’, and cooking a rich lunch for that afternoon with ingredients from that box his boss was carrying.

When they were finally gathered around outside, each eating from their own plates, Yuuko coughed discretly and poked at him.

“So..Watanuki..you’re getting older. Have you already got plans for your marriage?” she teased.

He jumped so hard he almost choked on the tea he was drinking.

“Ma-marriage? Yuuko-san I..”

“Oh my..Don’t tell me Doumeki-kun still hasn’t proposed!” she said, obviously amused. but there was a hint of something else, hidden behind her red eyes. I was more and more present on her looks ever since he fell off that window.

“If he can cook like this every day..” Doumeki said, still chewing on his food. Watanuki fell face down on the floor.

“What are you even saying you absolute cretin!! And you, Yuuko-san, what makes you think I would marry a guy like this?”

The witch fit her head on her palm and looked at him.

“Oh, well..it doesn’t take an idiot to figure out how in love you with him you are.”

He gasped. His arms were everywhere. In love, with him of all people? With that stupid smug face and caring eyes and strong arms and soft hair..

No..NO. NEVER.

His despair was broken with Himawari laughing so sweetly.

“You two get along so well!” she said “And are always doing things for each other..We just can’t help it when we like someone, can’t we, Watanuki-kun?”

As she said it, Himawari placed a hand on her shoulder and stole a glance at Yuuko so discreet that in other times, Watanuki wouldn’t have noticed. As he turned to the dimensional witch, she had her eyes locked on Himawari, so focused on her, so..soft. Could it be..?

Then Himawari got up and started picking up her plate and glass.

“I’m going to get more tea! Does anybody wants more?”

"No, Himawari-chan! I can do it for you!"

"But it's your birthday! Please enjoy it!" She smiled at him.

She walked away, but as soon as she was close to Yuuko, she bent down.

"Yuuko-san, do you need more sake?"

"Oh my, would you be so kind, Himawari-chan?" The witch said, gently holding the girl's chin with her long fingers. Watanuki mantained his fear that Yuuko wanted to eat her. Or, perhaps..Watanuki couldn't get the suspicions away, so he tried to turn the tables.

"So, Yuuko-san..you say that it's easy to see that I am in love with that idiot Doumeki, but what about you?! Even an oster could see that you're in love with Himawari-chan!

One second. Two seconds. Silence fell. Himawari froze in place. Yuuko looked at him as if she wanted to eat him.

Just when he thought she was getting up to actually devour him, she walked straight to Himawari, gently holding her hands in hers, and taking her right to her side.

"This girl's path may not have been filled with happiness until now..but she has filled mine with love"

Himawari looked like she was about to cry, but she held Yuuko's hands even tighter. Watanuki couldn't believe what was in front of him.

"So the dimensional witch is truly a wicked woman.." this time was Ame-warashi who spoke. "Talking about the misfortune this girl brings only to take the boy out of her way."

"oh, am i?" yuuko returned the same energy. "or is it something you would do to keep him away from this cute girlfriend of yours?? After all, it's not like you're trying to hide your feelings for Zashiki-warashi. And she did have a huge crush on him."

It wasn't even possible for Zashiki-warashi to blush even harder, but it happened anyway. Deep down Watanuki felt sorry for her. Poor girl couldn't even form a single sentence, being put on the spotlight by Yuuko and Ame-warashi.

"It is different, though. This boy would never be good enough for her and i have always been by her side, caring for her. There's no way he can compete with me, because i am hers in a way he could NEVER be!

"WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN???" Watanuki was desperate. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole. So, not only his Himawari was dating his boss, but also his birthday turned into a love declaration competition??

"Oh, tried to use your brain for once!!" Ame-warashi said sharply. "You look so stupid, being in denial like that. Even that child is mature enough to not hide her feelings for you!"

She pointed right at Kohane. The little girl looked at her feet and looked embarassed, but managed to speak.

"Kimihiro-kun is the most important person to me.."

"Kohane-chan.." he looked at Doumeki. The clown who started this circus. "Why can't you even say something you stupid Doumeki??"

The archer then got up, took something out of his pocket and said:

"Enough. He is right. Besides, it's time for gift-giving."

He handed his gift for Watanuki, who was expecting everything, except what he got.

A little box. And there was a ring inside.

And before Watanuki could even think, Doumeki was down on one knee in front of him.

The sounds that Watanuki made as he was yelling and running around after that werent even human.

And somewhere, a little apart from the others was Mokona Modoki, finishing his fifth sake bottle, and wondering how was it possible to have so many fools find each other at the same time. But he wasn't surprised. It was hitsuzen, after all.

[ouranbutworse]

Anime-Manga Comparisons, episode 22.

We get a change right from the get go here, in the anime we see Kasanoda in the morning, being greeted by everyone and them telling him to have a good day at ‘work’, and he corrects them that it’s school. In the manga he’s returning from school, and when Tetsuya asks if he had fun Ritsu glares at him. We get the reveal immediately that Ritsu is after Mori, in the anime it’s an imagine spot of him, and in the manga it’s a photo of him that gets punched. How scary!

Less scary is the hosts dressed as Tokugawa shogunate. The scene goes mostly the same, except anime Honey gets an extra line about how many ‘maniacs’ there are, and then Renge appears, also dressed up, and is labelled as a maniac. In the manga she appears in the background with the other guests, infodumping about history. It’s pretty cute, and she says that three bowls of rice line, again. In the manga Kyoya tells Haruhi that it’s important to be careful with what she says, because they don’t want to cast themselves as Shinsengumi, and it’s better to let the customers fantasise; in the anime it’s him following Renge’s advice. It’s amazing that this show is making me do actual history research!

In the manga, right after the girls talk about Haruhi being Soji Okita, there’s a little more with her, where the twins and Tamaki also join in the fantasising. They’re worried she’ll become a background character if they leave her alone, so them and Honey give her a big group hug, and tell her she’s the main character in their hearts, and Haruhi says she’d rather be an extra forever, and now to Mori!

The reactions to him lunging with his sword are the same, except anime Tamaki gets an extra line about how the anime is on it’s last few episodes and he hasn’t had many showcase episodes. I wonder if the animators knew they were only getting one season…

Anime Kasanoda gets on his knees and begs for the apprenticeship, but in the manga he pulls up his sleeve to show he’s written ‘respect for Takashi Morinozuka forever’ on his arm, and the hosts call him an old style yanki, and say writing on the arm used to be cool. Ritsu’s introduction is told the same way, via Kyoya, but the anime has them all on the sofa together, which is way cuter, in my opinion. When the twins get his name wrong twice and Kasanoda gets angry, they and Tamaki hide behind the sofa, while Haruhi, who was busy looking at Kyoya’s book, doesn’t even notice. In the manga, when Kasanoda yells, he makes Tamaki cry and the rest of the club have to console him.

The anime adds an extended scene of him as a kid being taught by his father how to talk, while the manga leaves it as a single scene, and the anime omits that his dad also told him not to smile, and to only speak when necessary. Manga Ritsu also reveals that he hates pain (his tattoo is just pen), likes to read and write (he has a diary), and that he loves kittens (his cheek injury is from a cat). He mentions wanting to play kick the can in both, and anime Tamaki interjects to say that playing that is nice. Haruhi looks baffled, but cute. In the manga the twins get bored around this point and go have tea, while Kyoya (labelled as a disinterested observer), figures out that because Ritsu has no friends, nobody has corrected his anachronistic style. I’m sure if I think long and hard enough I’ll turn this into another ‘pot meet kettle’ moment for him.

Kasanoda asks for Mori’s help by hurting his feelings, and while everyone’s quiet about it in the anime, in the manga the twins burst out laughing and don’t stop until the scene ends. In the background Mori faints and has to be helped by Haruhi, Tamaki and Honey while the twins agree to help Kasanoda for him.

In the anime, Haruhi asks if they should step in, and Tamaki declines and says it’s Mori’s situation to deal with, until Mori genuinely asks him for help (with his eyes) and Tamaki can’t wait to step in and take over. He tries to be altruistic about it, but Haruhi catches him out immediately and knows he wanted to get involved badly. This happens later in the manga, after the montage of Ritsu shadowing Mori. All the scenes are basically the same, but out of order. Also, the ‘lovely item’ scene in the anime has Ritsu bring home Tamaki’s ugly bear only, but in the manga he also brings home Shiro Takaoji! His gang questions if they’re related, from them both having glares, and then are concerned it’s a kidnapping. Shiro isn’t at all afraid, and simply leaves for his piano lesson when Tetsuya comes to question Ritsu. Ritsu immediately bolts from embarrassment.

Back at the club the next day, the hosts refuse to accept blame for making Kasanoda even scarier (Manga Tamaki blames the twins and Shiro) and Haruhi continuing to adorably peek over Kyoya’s shoulder is, unfortunately, an anime exclusive. When Haruhi says she doesn’t like kick the can, anime Ritsu looks sad, but manga Ritsu gets shot through the heart with a big arrow. Ouch! When he blushes over how cute Haruhi is, nobody notices in the anime, but Kyoya notices in the manga. Is that jealousy I smell? And is it over Haruhi, or over the fact that Kyoya’s episode comes before Kasanoda’s in the manga and he knows the anime is going to change the order?

The manga episode finishes off here, the twins and Tamaki sense danger and separate Ritsu and Haruhi, while Haruhi and Honey already figured out what Kasanoda needs and Honey wants him to figure it out by himself. We see Tetsuya worrying over the weather and Ritsu catching a cold, some foreshadowing, the twins calling him the second dark lord (because the first is Kyoya, of course) and Kyoya thinks the situation might turn out interesting after all, while Mori is left forgotten and bored.

In the anime, we get the cat maid scene, but really cut down from the manga, as he only wears it for a second and is caught by Tetsuya. In the manga he first wears only the ears and tail during the club’s operating hours and scares off the customers (Tamaki writes in his operation book, Kyoya has a tally of runaway customers, and the twins just laugh at their misery) They all have a scene discussing how cat ears are always a turn on (Haruhi says their range is limited to only otaku), and then the twins pull out the maid outfit. Kasanoda gets mad, and the one braincell trio (I don’t want to keep saying ‘Tamaki and the twins’, you see) cry when he yells at them. He apologises immediately, and they probably would have stopped crying if Haruhi didn’t reassure him that it’s ‘obviously’ not his problem and there’s ‘obviously’ a problem with the trio. The twins point out that she used ‘obviously’ twice, and it hurts them more. Kasanoda goes on about how they’re kind and it’s his fault he can’t benefit, and we see other costumes he tried on, like an angel, a tennis player, and …some kind of grass skirt wearing tribal? Yeah, I got nothing. He agrees to wear the maid dress, and Tamaki wonders if he’ll kill them, while one of the twins wanted Haruhi to wear it. It’s hard to tell, but I think Hikaru is the one who’s thinking that.

Of course, Tetsuya walks into whatever the hell is going on, and Ritsu freaks out and scares him off. In the manga he just yells, but in the anime he physically grabs him.

Still in the manga, Mori’s been cut on all his right hand fingers by some glass, and before Kasanoda can say anything, Mori puts his hand out and stops an empty bucket from flying through the window and hitting them. When Ritsu looks outside to see who threw it, Mori shuts the window and stops him from getting pelted by rotten eggs. Tamaki is concerned that Mori’s attacks have been paranormal, what a dimwit. We also see the flower pot scene here, as one of the attacks, but he doesn’t smash it, just catches it with his hand. Along with that, he gets bonked on the head by a book, has to lean back to avoid getting hit in the face by something, and smashes another something. Probably a priceless vase, hope you like host cubs, Mori! Wait…

The club are all pretty concerned about him, but Kasanoda is the only one taking it seriously as an attack because the others don’t believe someone would go after Mori. The others are too busy joking about an exorcism, and he runs off, past Tetsuya and some mean students who talk about him out loud for maximum angst, and he runs right into the sparrow scene!

In the anime he’s out in the hedge maze, but I’m not sure the hedge maze even exists in the manga, so he’s just in a general outdoorsy bit. The scene plays out the same, though, except manga Haruhi gets an extra line about how when she was younger she’d feed the sparrows on her apartment balcony and trap them under a basket. Ritsu calls her a naturally cruel person. Either way, he still thinks she’s cute! He also gets some more time in the manga to talk about rescuing a kitten in junior high and how his men also helped with it. Haruhi deduces that he lacks confidence and is therefore oblivious to his surroundings.

In both versions we see Haruhi getting hit with paint, though in the anime Honey kicks the bucket and it hits her, but in the manga it hits her regardless. I guess she’s just as oblivious to her surroundings. The sparrow also doesn’t fly away, so Honey happily picks it up. We don’t see it past here in the manga, so I assume it flies away off screen, but I think it’s sweeter that Ritsu sees it fly away.

Mori gets the two perpetrators in a headlock in both, and manga Kyoya takes a photo of them for evidence, I assume. (Evidence of their wrongdoing, or evidence of how big and strong Mori is?)

Honey reveals that he and Mori knew all along (I just doubt the others even considered that Ritsu was being targeted.) and manga Honey tells him the broken glass Mori cut himself on was in Ritsu’s locker and desk. Mori gives him a big, strong headpat in each, and I think that’d fix me, too, and though he only gets the one line in the anime, he gets a lot more in the manga as he tells Kasanoda to simply be himself, and people who understand him are bound to appear. It’s really sweet, seeing the rest of the club together. Ritsu is about to argue that he doesn’t have anyone like that, but then Tetsuya comes in. In the anime he tells the perpetrators to get lost and they squirm away like caterpillars, but in the manga he threatens to send them to hell still alive if they try to hurt Kasanoda again. How tough!

Haruhi gets a line and the twins flirt with her when she leaves to change, but in the manga it’s just a background scene of her taking off her blazer while Tamaki fusses over her.

During Tetsuya’s flashback, manga Ritsu doesn’t remember giving his umbrella to Tetsuya, and says he usually does it for dogs and cats, Tetsuya tells him he can be a dog or a cat for his master. We also see more of Kasanoda caring for his entire syndicate in the manga, instead of the extended meeting scene of Tetsuya and Ritsu. He cries at sad movies, gives cake on birthdays, and presents at Christmas, even Tetsuya’s scarf was gifted by him! He also offers the umbrella, but the twins point out that he travels by car, and he gets embarrassed. Ritsu takes it anyway, though. In the anime the twins just cry over the touching (read: extremely homosexual) scene. Same.

Finally, Ritsu leaves to apologise to Haruhi, and Honey directs him to the club, where she’s changing, and I think it’s Kyoya pointing it out in both. It’s obviously him in the anime, and he’s the one missing from the realisation in the manga, so I assume it’s him there as well. We get some shameless fanservice, and that’s where both episodes end!

Episode 22… over!

[faerieismm]

HI :} today i have for youuuu🥁🥁🥁 a make out with levi oneshot >:)) didn’t see alot of these so i decided that meant i must make my own(☝︎ ՞ਊ ՞)☝︎chile anygays, ENJOY

“practice”

tw: none

genre: fluff ish? lil spice

the play. lucifer made it out as the most important thing in the devildom right now. much to everyones (but especially satan’s) annoyance, but the demons seemed to do their best anyway.

the roles were divided and you and levi starred as the main characters, with you playing the part of henry.

practice had been going on for about two weeks now, and to say things were not going smoothly was an understatement…

mammon constantly forgot his lines, lucifer and satan got mad at each little thing, belphie slept through almost every practice and levi was so nervous he couldn’t get a single sentence out.

the fact the whole thing was run by simeon was not making it any better either, as his constant criticism was getting to everyones heads, including yours ofcourse.

when you finally had a day off, you were still practicing for the play, and even tho you were getting used to it, it wasn’t that fun at all. you valued your free time, often being spend with levi.

you loved those days. trying ridiculous games, reading manga or watching new anime. sometimes you would craft random things together too, or go out for boba on the rare occasion.

as you were thinking about it, you decided to put your script aside and make your way over to said demon’s room. you didn’t even have to use the password anymore, your friendship having gone far beyond that.

opening the door, you let out your usual sweet and enthusiastic “hi levi~!” and walking over to the demon who was browsing through his phone a bit. he looked up and smiled. “hello m/c”

you slid down to where he sat, embracing him from behind. “not practicing the script?” you teased.

“no - he sighed - it just makes me so nervous!” you hummed and nodded at that. suddenly an idea plopped into your head.

“we can practice together if you want?”

“oh uhm yeah, that could work..” a blush crept to his face. you nodded, let go of him and got the script off of his desk. plopping down next to him again, you opened the script.

“oh great lord of shadows! i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.” you both laughed at how dramatic you made it.

levi took a deep breath. “henry my friend, you have made it!” at this the script said hug. at this you wrapped your arms around him and pulled him against you tightly. any opportunity you’d get to touch levi, you’d take.

levi made a little surprised noice, but wrapped his arms around you anyways, leaning into your touch. the hug went on much longer than needed, but neither of you minded.

“this is nice, i wish we could stay like this forever.” at this levi snapped back to reality and started to ramble and stutter about how he was sorry for holding on to you for so long. you reassured him you meant what you said and you didn’t mind at which he only got even more flustered.

you two made it through most of the script, with some struggles and pauses sometimes, but you had made some progress anyway. you hadn’t even come this far with the official practice held by simeon. but you were enjoying yourself and kept on going, not really paying mind to if you were doing the new scenes right or not.

“oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” you laughed, “nice!” you then read the next line, “me.. me neither my lord!” you glanced at the script again, and your eyes widened. at this levi looked at the script aswell.

passionate kiss.

you looked at eachother with uncertain looks, levi’s face beet-red, his mouth slightly agape. “uh-” “you-” you both said at the same moment. you let out a slight chuckle.

“you first.” you insisted. he tried, but the words would not come out of his mouth. you sat there for awhile as levi tried to put his words together.

“you.. don’t have to do this you know? - he stuttered - i mean, i totally get it. i’m just a yucky otaku! who’d want to kiss me?” he rambled on.

“levi.” you tried to break his rambling, gently grabbing his face. “i do want that.” if his face could get any redder, it would’ve. he swallowed and just stared, waiting for you to make to first move.

you had wanted this for so long, and so had he. always making little butterflies flutter in your stomach. he was the sweetest being you’d ever met and you truly loved him. you were so happy he was your best friend, but also sad because, you wanted to be more. but what if that would ruin everything you had?

maybe this kiss would make you even more sad, getting a taste, but never truly going any further. still, you wanted this, and it would happen eventually anyway, thats what you told yourself.

inching your face closer to his, you pulled his head down, as he was quite a bit taller than you. you softly closed your eyes and whispered, “you sure?” you felt him nod, and as he did, you closed the little space between your mouths, giving him a slow, soft, but passionate kiss.

at first levi was frozen. he had no idea what to do, but then he realized this might be his once in a lifetime shot at kissing you! so he just did what he thought felt right, kissing back.

the kiss lingered on for just a little longer, before you broke it. leviathan was speechless.

“that wasn’t really passionate, was it?” you chuckled, looking at him, before lunging yourself at him again, kissing him with much more passion now, less gentle. it took him a second again, but he went with it.

your lips parted again. “something like that.” it was just a whisper, but he caught it. “yeah.” it was safe to say he couldn’t look you in the eyes for the rest of the evening, unable to stop blushing aswell. his brothers looked at him a bit weird but brushed it off eventually.

the next day you tried to act like you normally would again, but you couldn’t help but blush and stutter and laugh after everything you said. levi tried to talk back and all, but it were mostly stuttered incoherent words, resulting in him texting most things if he really wanted to say something important.

as you walked back home from rad, conversation seemed to be a bit easier, especially when you started about one of his interests.

you held the door open for him, and the two of you made your way downstairs, but were stopped by lucifer.

“you two will be practicing, i take it?” his arms crossed.

the two of you shot eachother a quick look, and both stuttered out a sort of “yes” , speed walking to levi’s room.

“so uhh-” “i guess we-” chuckles. you signaled at the script and looked at leviathan with anticipation. he shyly nodded and you both dumped your bags to the ground. you pointed on the line you started at last time.

“from here?” he nodded at that.

“oh great lord of shadows.. i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.”

“henry my friend, you have made it..” thats how you slowly made your way through the script again, the moment you were so eager for coming closer and closer.

his heart was beating so fast he’d swear you could hear it.

he stuttered his “oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” and from that point on, he couldn’t really focus anymore, one line away from the kiss he’d want over and over.

gently, you placed your hands on his neck, and pulled him down to your level.

“aah no, this ain’t right.” you mumbled as you let go of his neck, and harshly yanked his head down by grabbing his tie, lips crashing into his.

he was shocked at this, but also thought it was kinda hot, this was what they always did in those animes too!!

he kissed back eagerly, and made a sad look as you broke it off.

you looked around for the script. “uhh..”

levi was holding it tightly in his hands. you sat down next to him as he was now sitting on the edge of his bathtub/bed.

“levi?” he looked at you slowly. you held out your hand. the dumbass then blushed and grabbed your hand, interlacing his vingers with yours.

you laughed. “oh lord you meant the script didn’t you?” you nodded but squeezed his hand and got closer to him. your beaming smile made not only his heart flutter, but reassured him a bit aswell.

with your other hand, you grabbed the script, but levi didn’t let go.

“once more..” he stuttered, “i think that would be.. good, you know!”

nodding, you moved to put your bum on his lap, half straddling him. this time you went for a very soft kiss, as you didn’t really see this as practice anymore, you were too distracted for that.

leviathan couldn’t believe that actually worked. but he tried to focus on the kiss for now. feeling you sliding off his lap, he quickly put a hand on your back and one holding your leg.

“want another one?” you teased as your lips parted. surprisingly he was the one who pressed his lips to yours now.

needless to say, the practice of the script was left at that, and now it was even harder to talk to levi. that night, the two of you just sat in each other’s presence. levi wasn’t even playing a game. at some point you were both getting tired and you decided to stay the night there.

the play was coming somewhat closer, so you and leviathan decided to practice again soon.

the time between it was rather awkward. you felt so bad, he truly was a great friend, your best friend even, and you felt like you messed it up. maybe he was uncomfortable? no, he wouldn’t have kissed you back then right? but maybe he felt forced to..

you tapped levi’s arm, and signaled him to leave the classroom with you. he didn’t look you in the eyes but nodded nevertheless.

as soon as you were out of the classroom, you let out a “i’m so sorry!” and before leviathan could answer, you rambled on. “i shouldn’t have kissed you, things are so weird now and it’s clear you’re uncomfortable-”

“no!” leviathan screamed, shocked on how hard he said it. “no.. - he repeated - i was fine with it, i’m just nervous because i..”

your face was still full of guilt and worry, and leviathan wanted to make it go away so bad, but he just couldn’t get out the fact he liked you.

“i really don’t mind okay?!” he stuttered. you nodded, but you still did not quite believe him.

you were called back to class shortly after that.

you still sat in class together, and walked back home. but you were silent, and levi didn’t like it.

“i meant what i said okay? - he paused - and i wanna practice again today!” you smiled at that. “okay then.”

and so you did.

the usual “oh great lord of shadows.. i have searched for thee everywhere, my friend, my dear friend.” and “oh henry! thy are so dear to me, i feel like i can’t put into words what i feel!” ‘s were spoken, and neither you nor levi was really focused.

you sighed. “lets just get to the good bit shall we?” levi blushed profusely, but nodded, hearts could almost be seen in his eyes.

and that’s how it started. a few soft kisses led to passionate kisses, and passionate kisses led to a pretty intense make out.

you laid on a pile of pillows and blankets, hands tangled in leviathan’s hair. leviathan was surprisingly on top, each hand on either side of you.

the kiss was a bit sloppy, but oh so sweet. levi seemed to pour all of his feelings into it, as did you.

oh how you longed for this. how he longed for this. feelings always hidden away, scared to make any wrong moves. scared to break this sacred friendship you had.

but now all of that was released. and damn did that feel good.

the kiss got softer again and when you broke, leviathan laid down on you chest, panting.

you gave eachother some time to calm down and steady your breathing.

you looked at him, smiling, looking at him lovingly. he returned the favour, but with alot more blush. you whispered a sweet “i love you so much.” as levi’s eyelids slowly fluttered shut.

“i love you too m/c.”

okay this one turned out quite bad in my opinion but i kinda pushed myself because i promised content hahaha, i hope y’all still enjoy it tho!

yours truly,

[shroudcore]

Speak now, or forever hold your peace. (III)

Summary: You successfully convinced Eliza to stop the wedding. Unfortunately (or is it really), Eliza has come to a solution that she thinks would be best for everybody and it’s happening no matter what. 

Idia x GN!reader. Reader is MC, or takes the role of MC in this story.

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

Warnings: none

As if by some miracle, he was still standing—even after you failed to convince Eliza how unnecessary a wedding would be. Now face-to-face with you on the altar, he still couldn’t believe how things turned out. This wasn’t  supposed to happen in real-life. Things like these were the stuff of movies. Or anime. Or dating sims. 

Ace, Epel, Rook, and Riddle were freed at your request. They, along with Ortho, were now arranging the paralyzed students into chairs, since Eliza refused to let them move for disrespecting the “couple”. When you ran out of excuses, some heavily opposed the impromptu wedding. Idia knew why: he wasn’t the only one in NRC who liked you like that. He’d been aware of some schoolmates’ attempts to romance you for a while now. Really, all you had to do was pick a route. 

How did he know, you might ask? It’s not like he secretly researched and listed down his competition so he could keep an eye on them. 

Alright… maybe he did. Heat crawled up to his neck at the thought of anyone finding out. 

“So… we’re getting married,” you said, pulling him out of his thoughts. You spoke slowly, as if testing the words in your mouth. Like him, you couldn’t quite wrap your head around the fake wedding just yet. You fidgeted more than usual—barely looking at his face or talking to him since you joined him at the altar. 

Were you thinking of the same thing? The inevitable kiss after you say your vows?

A weak hum was all he could manage. A smile appeared on your face, showing that you understood. You didn’t tell him to speak up; you never told him to. Somehow, the sight of that smile put him at ease like a recovery potion after a Despair battle ailment. It felt like another day in his room, the two of you hanging out and eating candy. 

“Nice suit, by the way.” 

“Th...anks?” Idia turned his head to the side. If he looked at you any longer, he might combust. Not that he didn’t already. Which was embarrassing btw.

You inched closer, making him gasp and jump back as multiple alarms went off in his head. Really… mind the Personal Space Bubble! Oh wait… that’s right. He’d stopped telling you off for getting too close long ago. 

Your face flashed a look of surprise, which quickly faded into concern as you observed him. When you whispered, your breath grazed his neck and ear. Hopefully his shudder escaped your notice. 

“You okay?” Immediately, you backtrack. “Wait, that was stupid. I know you’re not.”

“So many people watching...” he mumbled. His eyes quickly scanned the hall. “I can’t do this.” And he ended it there. You didn’t need to know how he felt about marrying you.

Again, you understood. Your smile faded and Idia found himself missing it immediately as it went. 

“Sorry, I...” you look down, fiddling with your fingers again. “I really should’ve tried harder to stop this.” 

Idia silently wished for dialogue options, because he didn’t quite know what to say to that. However, it looked like he didn’t need to. You took his hand and squeezed it, a determined fire flickering behind your eyes. 

“This’ll be over soon. Just hold on,” you said, squeezing his hand. “It’s just another quest, player 1.”

At the familiar nickname, he smiled in spite of his thumping heartbeat and everything that had happened. “Let’s do it, player 2.”

“Let us proceed with the ceremony!” Eliza, who had been watching the two of you closely, was eager for the wedding to commence. She clasped her hands in anticipation, looking no different from a normie watching a Rom-com. At her command, the wedding music played again—the same one as before. You gave Idia a look and shrugged. 

“Can’t believe we’re getting married to this music...”

“Sounds like doom, doesn’t it?” 

“Isn’t that what marriage is? Doom?” 

“Haha! E-exactly…” Normally, he would’ve agreed wholeheartedly. This time, he couldn’t help but wonder if that’s how you felt marrying him. 

The ghost officiant returned to the makeshift altar (maintaining a good distance from you). Each NRC student who had the misfortune of attempting a proposal sat in a chair, watching the event. You smiled reassuringly, eyes sparkling like embers. 

“We are gathered here today to unite these two lovers in the bonds of matrimony,” the officiant begins. The darkness of the hall gave him quite a sight: the flickering flames of his hair illuminating your face in blue light. Seeing it, when in the safety and darkness of his room, made him feel this warm, fuzzy feeling he thought was reserved for 2D characters. 

“Do you, Idia Shroud, take … as your lawful spouse, to have and to hold from this day forward—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, keeping yourself solely unto them for as long as you both shall live? If so, answer " I do". 

This’ll never happen in real life. “I do.” I don’t have a chance, do I?

Confessing would only ruin the bond he had with you. If it meant never losing your friendship, then this fake wedding would be enough. 

He looked at you, standing in front of him as you were about to say your own vows and silently implored Mnemosyne to burn this scene into his memory forever. 

“Do you take Idia Shroud as your lawful husband, to have and to hold from this day forward—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, keeping yourself solely unto him for as long as you both shall live? If so, answer "I do."”

It seemed that you were doing the same. Idia faltered under the intensity of your gaze. “I do.”

“I now pronounce you as spouses. You may now kiss!”

Here it comes. CODE RED! CODE RED!

The way Idia’s face burned rivaled that of his hair. He was becoming hyper-aware of the snickers coming from his schoolmates. Seeing you made him worse—the corners of your mouth twitched and your shoulders shook as you fought back a laugh. 

“Hey! We’re about to kiss and you’re laughing?!” he cried, covering his face. “Kill me now.”

Just like that, your quiet and tender moment was gone. You couldn’t hold it in anymore. Covering your face like he did, you erupted in giggles. Peeking out from the gaps of his fingers, Idia thought about #3 from the Signs of Attraction list he found on the Internet: 

“Another unconscious sign of attraction is mirroring, or matching another person's movements. When people are interested in one another, researchers have found that they tend to mimic each other's movements and gestures.”

Nah. Can’t be. He would have thought it was cute, if you weren’t laughing at his expense. 

“S-sorry! Your hair’s just—” another round of giggles interrupted you. “...burning really brightly!” 

“I can’t help it, okay?” he said, face red from annoyance and of course, the thought of what you were about to do. “Stop!” 

You tried to stop, but just the sight of his red face and hair sent you into another round of wheezing laughter. So hard you laughed, that an inhuman sound came out of you. Immediately, you stopped and looked at him, eyes wide. 

But it was Idia’s turn to lose it. 

“You… sound like… a Minecube pig!” he said, each word punctuated by uncontrollable peals of laughter. The wedding attendees had no choice but to watch on as you and your groom wheezed at the altar instead of kissing. 

“Baaya, what is wrong with them?” a confused Eliza asks. 

“I do not know, but it is apparent that they were made for each other.”

It wasn’t until the annoyed officiant cleared his throat that you and Idia stopped. You straightened up, wiping tears from your eyes as you tried to catch your breath. It was only then that your expression turned serious, but not without a few traces of your mirth from a few seconds ago. 

“Idia, we don’t have to—I’m really, really sorry about this, okay?” you whisper to him. “I know how much you value your firsts…”

“It’s fi—”

“...not that I’m assuming you haven’t had your first uh, kiss yet but—oh god, I uh… ” 

No dating sim—nothing could have prepared him for this situation. But strangely, laughing his ass off with you gave him a spark of courage that he rarely ever felt. In a moment, he would be kissing you. He hopes that courage lasts. 

“Let’s get this over with,” Idia surprised even himself with how steady his voice sounded.

“Oh…” 

You were still, staring at him open-mouthed for what seemed like a few minutes. He stared back, until you were forced to avert your gaze to the ground. Something told him that he was doing something right. A lone voice from the audience chanting “Kiss!” pulled the two of you back to reality. Someone was making an obnoxious kissing sound. Neither of you dared to look and see who it was. 

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” the ghosts joined in on the chant. 

Shyly, you lifted your head back up. “O-okay. Here goes nothing!”

He tried recounting how first kisses were described by people on the Internet, from his manga, and the countless dating sims he played. Some said there were fireworks. Some said it felt electric. Some described the feeling as the rest of the world falling away. One swore it made them feel like the ground disappearing beneath their feet and before they knew it, they were floating. 

Should he close his eyes? Which side should he tilt his head? Where does he put his hands? How exactly do you kiss? Questions, panicky thoughts, and movie kissing scenes ran through his head like a computer reading code. When you leaned in, someone pressed ‘mute’ on the sounds in the hall and all that was left was him and you. 

When you held his face in your gloved hands, it was Error 404. He let his eyes flutter closed. When everything went dark, all he felt was the shy, feather-light brush of lips against the corner of his mouth. Not quite on his lips, just dangerously close. 

Purer than a first kiss, but more than just a friendly peck. The students of NRC witnessed Idia’s hair at its most fiery just the same. 

~~

To be continued. 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA Characterization hard

Hehe, hope you liked this. Part 4, the finale, coming soon. 

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4)

[bakugohoex]

Porco Requests? I've got plenty. This man is running through my mind 24/7 now. What about Porco with a super shy s/o? This man would treat his S/o right. Uncomfortable? Just tell me why. Too nervous? I'll tell everyone to shut up and listen to you. UGH I LOVE THIS MAN.

“i’ll make them listen, don’t worry baby”

pairing: porco galliard x gender neutral reader

cw: modern au, langage, fluff

word count: 1300+

a/n: brooo porco is so baby i love him so much, i’m a simp 

summary: in which you the shy reader are in a relationship with porco

↞ back to attack on titan masterlist

THIS MAN WOULD BE THE SWEETEST BOYFRIEND EVER.

He’d definitely be the one who came up to you asking for your number, you’d probably be walking outside of uni or something and he saw you and he needed your number.

Asks for it with the worst pick up line ever, something along the lines of I seem to have forgotten my phone number, can I have yours? You were an entire mess refusing to meet his eye and even forgetting that numbers have 9 digits and not 8.

You don’t even give him your name; you just say your number and leave in a hurry. 

His bad pick-up line clearly did wonders to you. 

He’d definitely text you straight after with his name and start asking questions, can’t lie he’d carry the conversation until you became comfortable with him.

He would definitely ask you to dinner or the movies on the weekend, you aired him for 20 minutes in shock. 

No words, he’d see the three dots in the bubble multiple times and then it’d disappear.

Half an hour later, a simple yes comes through. You’d never told him how you texted and called all your friends for advice on the mysterious man. 

You make your friends follow you both on your date, they actually take notes on how he opens the restaurant door for you, pulls the chair out, pays for the meal, he's such a gentleman and he does the talking after he realises, you’re shy around him.

He would walk you home, you’d both do that thing where your hands keep brushing against each other before he finally just grabs your fingers.

You’d give him a kiss on the cheek at the end of the night and this man would blush so hard. His ears would prick pink and a redness with speckle across his face. He hides it so quickly and before you can go inside, he’d ask for another date in the quietest voice possible. 

You accept, who fucking wouldn’t.

A couple months into your relationship, the facetimes and texts were equally split between you two. 

You’d scream down the phone to tell him about the new anime merch that had just arrived or complain about your day. You do not talk half an hour to send a message to him anymore.

Your friends think you two will marry, it’s certain, they have it all planned. 

Even with your shyness around new people you got along with his friends having met them a couple times. Pieck was always your favourite person to see at parties and gatherings but you were often talked over a lot when the louder confident ones at the parties spoke. 

Porco would notice this in an instant and always try and get your opinion out knowing that you liked the topic and had insight on it.

This man will literally tell everybody to shut the fuck up (politely to not make you embarrassed), just so they can hear you speak.

He also does it just to listen to you ramble on about your favourite topics.

*heart eyes*.

Or if someone makes you uncomfortable by getting too close or trying to get with you, this man will be at your side, lacing his fingers with yours and taking you to people you’re more comfortable with.

All in all this man is a simp and would bring but the best in you. 

“Y/n, Porco, you guys finally made it.” Pieck laughed a drink in her hand as she slouched against the sofa, the sound of music blaring and lights flashing sent you to grab onto your boyfriend's arm. 

He could already sense your unease at your surroundings, your grip tightening as his arm wrapped around you. “I’ll stay by your side the entire night.” 

You smile nodding at the boy, his blonde hair pulled back as usual, he gave a soft smile back before kissing your forehead. You had expected a night filled with drinking and being around friends, but you seemed to have been taken by Bertholdt and Reiner with Porco following along to the living room. 

They sat down as you situated yourself next to Porco, his hand in your hair as you leant against his body, the conversation had been boring, talking about some game on the PS4 that you had heard Porco shouting at a couple weeks ago. 

“I won that match.” Porco took a swig of the drink, your own drink on the table as you stared at it bored out of your mind. 

Reiner raised an eyebrow leaning his arms around the sofa, “fuck that you know I won it all together, one-win doesn’t make you a winner.”

Porco scowled at the boy before the conversation turned to something you enjoyed a lot more, “this guy really said Ichigo would beat Naruto.” Your ears perked at the conversation; it was between people you hadn't met but Annie had noticed how your eyes widened knowing you’d have the best input. 

She smiled starting to converse with the boys, “what the fuck really?”

You had always loved Bleach and Naruto, your favourite being Bleach and having talked to death about it to Porco and now with Annie including you, you had started to break off from your shyness, “Y/n’s up to date on both manga’s actually.” Annie was often cold with people but you two had become friends with ease having the same interests and her coldness and your shyness became an unlikely duo. 

“Let me guess another Ichigo simp.” One of the guys said and you gave a wary look, Ichigo was hot. You knew that and you knew that being a girl involved in a manga that had been directed towards teen boys made you become quiet. “She probably read the manga for the guys.”

“Not really.” You muttered, “I read it because it was actually interesting especially when Ichigo fights Ulquiorra”.

Your entire statement had been ignored and Annie had tried to include you, but you continued to be dismissed as just another girl simping for the characters. Of course you were a simple but to exclude you too one category was disheartening. You moved closer to Porco, he had watched the scene, how you had been ignored and now with your head leaning against his chest once again. 

“I’ll make them listen, don’t worry baby.” His voice was a soft whisper, leaving a soft kiss against your forehead before starting to converse with the guys. “You guys are talking about who would win?”

“Yeah, some guy saw Ichigo and thought he’d win against Naruto.” Porco started nodding, acting like he knew who these characters were, of course he had some idea of who they were, but he hadn't watched either as he got bored of how long it was.

“Oh, my girlfriends read and watched both, she’s better suited to this.” He pointed to you as you smiled at him, he was never going to tell them to our right shut up as it’d be a dick move, but it allowed for you to talk.

You gave a soft smile before you joined the conversation properly, the guys seemed intrigued by your opinion. Explaining both sides and why other anime fans would believe it to occur, as you sat upright rambling and talking. Porco watched with an intense look, he didn't need to speak, just watch and admire. He knew how you’d talk and talk and talk about anything you were interested in, but he saw how even with your initial shyness and dismissiveness they listened. Adding their own input, his hand went to reach your fingers, you felt it lacing your fingers.

He could listen to you talk forever, listen to every single word you ever said. Because he loved you and in those moments. Just staring at your beauty, the way your fingers gripped his own, the soft necklace he had bought your across your neck. He knew you’d be the one he’d spend the rest of his life with.

i’d really appreciate if you guys could leave a like, reblog or comment, thanks x

if you guys want to be a part of a tag list, just reply to any post and i’ll add you xx

@samusimp @alainarose13 @crispychannie @underratedmage​ @jennammaee​ @cathy8taffy @sugacious @moonlightaangel @kat-sukis-hoe @effmigentlywithachainsaw @swankiifiied @maat-the-prescriptive @missmultifangirl @tvwhoresblog @kuroos-world @chrrylevi @katsuhera @answer-the-sirens @animexholic @wapbenders @the-shota-king-masayuki @bakugousmrs @crystal-lilac

[sunvisetrip]

We may not have chapter 45-47 adapted on the 1st season...

But under Madhouse's mercy and hopeful rumours, season 2 is finally confirmed and I'm glad!🤩😝😆

Now as for the 12th episode, it was just as wild as I expect.

First part really made me convince that Ronaldo is at the same level as the ginger-haired ladies man who wears a red jacket. (I'm referring to you Robby Yarge, but you are still likable in my book because a journey through Isekandar and your husband Hatchi have changed your life.😇)

Thankfully, Ronaldo never abandons his duty as a hunter and his friends help him out to defeat spider lady. The way he killed her reminds me of the climax from a provocative and heart-pulsating, adult-oriented DoraRona doujinshi on Pixiv. (Search it if you are brave enough to venture through the world I explored.)

Both second and third part were a blast!🤣

Lots of references, twists and turns happened at the late-halloween party and I cannot spoil the entire experience, so go and see it for yourselves!

Last segment gave us DoraRona shipping material and it ends off with a dance rendition as our homosexual nightowls and their child John had fun without a care. All is well and ends well. (Not until my sister's look-alike Mr. Fukuma shows up at the end.)

We may not have the aniki saga us fans have hoped, but it made us laugh until the end.

For years I've been through, many vampire-themed animes disappoint me. (The exceptions are Hellsing and Visual Prison, of course.) Most of them are watered down to depressing, edgy, or at worse-case, is being used as an excuse for inappropriate non-con scenes and approve abusive behavior against the weak.

But Kyuushi hits well as it should.

I guess vampires aren't so overrated and lame after all; and Dralc, Ronaldo, John, and the rest of the cast offered us a tour of a world where the creatures of the night and humans can get together, be friends, fall in love, and have fun! (Also while turning into sand in the process.)

So Madhouse and director of Hunter x Hunter 2011 Hiroshi Kōjima, thank you for making the best anime adaptation of a gag manga made by Bonnoki-sensei.☺

As a DoraRona shipper and a fan, I now declare "The Vampire Dies in No Time" as my all-time favorite anime. I will forever cherish them like the grand master should have done in the first place.

Once again, thank you Kyuushi for making us laugh and cry. We'll meet again at next season! (And goodness sake, I hope the Aniki Saga will be adapted for real next time!)

[goldenheartstudios]

I wanna talk about my issues with One Piece

  Disclaimer 1: No, I do not dislike/hate One Piece, I quite enjoy it actually. Just because I have criticism towards it doesn’t mean I don’t like it. And if you really enjoy One Piece, I encourage you to not think too much of what I’m about to say in this post and keep doing whatever you like! (also don’t worry, this will not be a fully negative post and I'll keep it as respectable as possible)

  Disclaimer 2: Remember that people have different opinions and the problems that I find may not be problems for someone else. Also, this post will have spoilers about the events from the manga (because I follow the series by reading the manga, not by watching the anime)

  Alright, we’ve got that out of the way

  You see, I really do like One Piece. I was first introduced to the anime when I was little and it was one of the first anime I watched. I loved the concept, the feelings, and most importantly I loved the bond between the characters. It still has one of my favorite scenes from all of the anime ever, like the Brook scene, the Robin scene, Sanji’s past, and many others. The first individual arcs for each of the crew member are something I hold very dear in my heart and they’re done very, very well

  Eventually, I started to follow the manga since it’s easier for me to read than to watch, and let’s be honest, the anime has serious pacing issues because of following the manga too closely

  However… the story has issues as well, and I started to notice them for a while, but I truly felt them from the beginning of the Whole Cake Island arc

  I wanted to see if there are people that make note of those issues, but the series is almost universally complimented by the anime community and it’s constantly called the best shonen/story

  And I’m like… no. No, it’s not, and there can’t be one to begin with, because this will forever be subjective. And I was never a fan of holding something to such a high pedestal, because it brings too much expectations and it’s harder to criticize that said thing when there are people that treat it like it’s a perfect work made by gods

  Then I saw people that criticized it, but either in an ironic way (which they keep bringing the “It’s too long” bs into discussion), or in a way that makes it seem like the series is garbage

  And this is not right either. Of course One Piece is not bad, and the fact that people keep bringing shallow arguments when they attempt to make fun of it it’s very old and tiring. I know it’s easier to call something names without putting thought into it, but there’s nothing entertaining into pointing and laughing at something like you’re in primary school

  So, since I personally didn’t see people talking about the issues I found about One Piece, I decided that I should talk about it myself. Who knows, maybe someone will read into this and agree

  Or maybe not, which it may be more probable haha

  Without delaying this further, let’s begin!

  Okay, let’s begin with the obvious: the female characters are handled poorly (the side ones mostly)

  No, I’m not talking about their design, I’m talking about the way they’re written. No, I’m not really talking about their utility either-

  Let me explain. At the beginning, most of the female characters are shown to have potential of being interesting, by showing fun personalities and intriguing morals. But later on, they suffer in different ways by either becoming underutilized, too simple character wise, or black/white without room of moral ambiguity

  There’s nothing wrong with characters having black/white morals, but when you have many male characters that are morally ambiguous while you don’t have female ones, it gets noticeable. Especially when you have female characters that have the potential to be morally ambiguous but they end up falling on either of two sides, which is “with you” or “against you”

  Two examples that I can give are Reiju and Pudding. They both showed hints of wanting to do their own thing for their own benefit, which I was excited about since it could have been used to show more complexity about them, but they end up being on the “good side” (narrative wise) at the end

  Honestly, Pudding’s character was what suffered the most with this change into one side, and that was the moment when I got tired of the trope “the character’s good now because they love a member from the team”. And to make it clear, my problem is not that she ended up loving Sanji, my problem is that she got rid of all/most of the past morals and beliefs after a freaking single compliment

  This may be because I’m aroace, but I really don’t get this change just because she fell in love

  Now, I know many male characters end up being neglected in the story as well, but I would put this more in the issue of having too many characters. When you have new characters for each arc, and there are many arcs, it gets harder and harder to have significant and different characters. I respect and appreciate the effort, but at one point you have to stop making new characters and try to reuse the already existing ones more if you want make them more memorable and impactful

  Also, I have issues with Sanji’s character, but since I actually saw people criticizing him before, I’ll tell them shortly: he has lost potential of being more complex with the arcs involving him, the author doesn’t seem to know what to do with his character beside making it repeatedly understood that he’s kind and he loves women (with times being annoying), and the times when it’s hinted to be something more with his arc at the end it’s once again resumed with “He’s very kind”

  And I have to make note of the time in the Wano Country arc when he asked Robin to save him. I don’t have an issue with him asking for help, I have an issue with the execution. Like, no offense but it was too exaggerated and the dialogue wasn’t that good either to balance it out

  I get the author’s intention, but it really could have been done better

  I’m really sorry for Sanji’s character, because he’s one of my favorites, but at this point I think it’s because of what he can be instead of what he is

  And since I talked briefly about the female characters, I guess it’s time to talk about Big Mom, which she’s kind of a mixed bag

  Her characterization in the Whole Cake Island arc was not good for many reasons: her character and personality was flat, she was either reduced as a joke or just a threat, and my god her backstory made me feel so off-

  Listen, if it was only her accidentally eating her mother and other kids, it would have been fine and solid. But why the heck did the author make a plot twist with the mother being bad and not caring for any of them in the first place? Was it really needed? Was it really needed to make Big Mom’s act look less bad by making the mother bad? Why does this arc have two twist characters?? Wasn’t one enough-

  I’m sorry, but after that reveal I couldn’t feel bad for Big Mom anymore because I couldn’t feel for the mother. That reveal wasn’t necessary

  And I doubt this, but if there would be someone trying to explain why that thing was good on an ideologically/philosophically level, I have one thing to say: An ideological interpretation does not make me like something I don’t to begin with. Anything can be interpreted deeper than it’s shown, and I use those interpretations for things that I already like to make them more meaningful and impressive, but they don’t excuse faults in writing or scenes that I don’t think were handled well. Maybe some people do, but I don’t

  I don’t care if One Piece has 100 layers of philosophical depth to it, all I personally care about are the characters and storytelling 

  Going back to Big Mom, I have mixed feelings about her because she was handled way better in the Wano Country arc. It showed more of her past in an actual interesting and fitting way, it showed more of her personality and she actually felt like a mature, powerful and competent character while keeping her integrity. She was a well balanced character and I appreciate that

  But now I have to talk about my last significant issue with the series: the pacing

  This was more visible in the Whole Cake Island arc (at least in the second half), but I also felt it in the last arc as well. I don’t know why but it seems that the actions from the arc are going one after the other with little time for reaction between them. One of the author’s strongest points is how well he handles the emotional moments with the characters, but aside from a few short moments, I’ve barely had time to properly process what’s going on because there was no time for it, and I feel like I’ve been through two consecutive action arcs without having reaction. I constantly feel that the author is rushing with the wrong elements for the sake of not having the arcs too big-

  Like, the Whole Cake Island arc didn’t feel like a well paced, developed and memorable arc. It felt like a checklist

  The Wano Country arc was better, but it still felt like that in some parts, with the only difference of having more meaningful moments. The gear 5th moment for example, that one was very good and it represents the whole series so, so well! But this arc already had issues of keeping with the action, without a room to breathe, for too long. And when you do that, the immersion you have with the fight breaks which affects the interest

  Man, I really miss seeing the crew members interacting with each other and showing more of their bond, and it has been so long since I saw this

  But I’m still hopeful about this series, because the arc just ended and the next one will happen with them being together! And this is what I want to concentrate on: I want to be hopeful that the issues that I felt will be resolved/ameliorated, and I want to be hopeful that I’ll get to feel once again attached to this story like I used to! The end of this arc is what made me still feel hope at least

  The thing that One Piece really needs is room for showing more emotions and less consecutive actions. I know it’s a shonen series, but I’ve been watching and reading a lot of shonen in my life, so I know it’s possible to have a balance of action and reaction in this genre, by either having slower moments or by properly incorporating the reaction in the action

  So, the conclusion to all of this is: if I hear one more time the criticism of One Piece being too long or just “trash”, I will start thinking that the literature from school was indeed important to learn for having critical thinking skills among people. And this, is truly terrifying

[sobdasha]

had a few more thoughts about the Honda family

and all the Souma parallels.

(and by “a few” I apparently meant “a lot”, I did not mean to write this many pages)

In the other post I’d made a comment about how Katsuya’s romance with Kyouko, severe age difference issues aside, is just plain pathetic, a point which I believe to be Upheld by canon. And I wanted to talk more about that, the implications of that, and how that further builds the Akito and Tohru parallel. And also, Why Tohru Can’t Love Her Mom And Kyou At The Same Time.

The ideal, in Fruits Basket, is that when you make a connection with one person who loves you and sees you, this will enable you to make further connections with the people around you. Tohru does a whole heck of a lot of this; for one example, see Yuki explaining this to Kisa in the liking-yourself speech. Yuki does some of this for bitty Haru and later for Machi. Kazuma does this for Kyou. And so on and so forth. The positive experiences are meant to have a ripple effect.

It’s important to be grateful for what you have (Yuki and Machi’s “just one person would be enough” scene), but it’s human to crave more than that (Kyouko telling Saki that it’s probably normal to want other people to accept you even if you already have a loving and supportive family). It is important to crave more than that.

This was, in fact, the entire point of the curse. God meets cat. Cat’s companionship allows god to form connections with other animals. Cat is dying and god decides that 13 friends is the perfect number of friends and starts the reincarnation cycle. Cat says, “god you never once left your house. I wanted to see you go down and make friends with the humans. I wanted to see you experience the world and laugh in the sunlight. God you made 13 new friends but you’re still lonely and closing yourself off to the world forever, this is wrong and I am sad.” The banquets were supposed to be the gateway drug of friendship and meaningful connections, not the place where 14 souls stagnated alone and isolated until it became a curse.

That same wrongness happens in Ren and Akira’s relationship, where finally making a connection with one person who loves you and sees you made their world smaller and smaller. It wasn’t healthy, probably because 1) they remained in a toxic environment, 2) Kureno implies that Ren has mental health issues and I assume those existed prior to Akira’s death and were exacerbated, rather than created by, her grief; also I can’t imagine she actually came from a non-toxic family herself, and 3) Akira’s “you’re going to die an early death and the only thing we need from you first is a successor” trauma. Akira never found anyone other than Ren who understood how upset he was. Ren never formed a relationship with anyone other than Akira, partly because she was now trapped in a toxic family that despised everything about her and she refused to Prove Them Right by leaving. They both viewed their child as an object rather than a person; Akira seeing proof that he and Ren were definitely OTP and the Souma could go shove it, and Ren seeing a Rival.

I have a memory that I said at some point—probably in a Talking About Shigure post—that Kyouko helps Katsuya connect with other people. But this, I think, is not really true. I was thinking of how Kyouko helps bridge the non-relationship between Katsuya and his father. But that’s just one person.

Really, Katsuya and Kyouko are more like Akira and Ren.

Marrying-someone-who-just-graduated-ninth-grade aside, the fact that Katsuya and Kyouko meet is genuinely a good thing. Katsuya finally connects with the humanity in another person. Kyouko is finally cared about as a person. Their misanthropic-jackass-and-abandoned-cat relationship improves both of them, probably. Their connection is definitely the reason Kyouko decides to go to high school and quit her gang. It’s harder to tell with Katsuya, but you could argue that seeing Kyouko struggling and fighting and screaming against the world, as honest about her joy as she is about her loneliness-channeled-into-rage, causes Katsuya to say screw it and pursue the career in pharmacy that he’s interested in, instead of fake-politely submitting to the world’s expectations and internally resenting and disdaining everyone around him.

Katsuya softens in his relationship with his father. Both Katsuya and Kyouko see their child as a person in her own right, Tohru, rather than an object. Katsuya, in fact, is adamant about that fact when Kyouko is terrified of her pregnancy—that they can treat their baby as her own person, and if they aren’t perfect parents and they hurt their child, they’ll apologize—because Tohru is a person and an equal—and admit that what they did was wrong and why it’s wrong. They’ll treat Tohru with the respect they should have gotten all along.

But I don’t think it ever goes any farther than that. Like god, the Honda family becomes more and more isolated.

Does Katsuya make any work friends? We don’t really get a complete view of their lives, because Takaya is one person who can only do so much and space is very precious, so we only see what’s crucial to the story. But I would be really surprised to find that Katsuya had made any close friends outside of Kyouko. I honestly doubt that he has anything more than casual work acquaintances. (In contrast, we repeatedly see Kyou together with the two guys who got names in the anime that I forgot in his class; his friendship with them doesn’t get explored much in the manga, presumably because it doesn’t do any heavy lifting for his character development, but Kyou clearly has casual friends who seek him out and whom he doesn’t mind being with. See also the way Saki and Arisa also interact with those guys as a part of the group, while Tohru really only interacts with Saki and Arisa or the Souma.)

And I don’t think Kyouko fares any better. Does she have any close friends, other than her husband and daughter? Does she make friends at work? I don’t know what kind of work Kyouko does, and if she would have the opportunity to take her breaks socializing with coworkers. But it appears she spends her work breaks in an abandoned area socializing with a first or second grader. Kyou is the only person, as far as we know, that mid-twenties Kyouko can start to open up to. She doesn’t get all the way there—Kyou doesn’t connect the dots until much later—but it’s the closest she comes to talking about how she hurt Tohru after Katsuya died.

Where are the family friends? It doesn’t strike me as weird that the Honda family doesn’t have them, because I have also grown up in a poorly socialized household, but even I am used to running into unfamiliar people in public who explain that they know my mom or dad. I’m pretty sure family friends are a normal thing, and that’s how you get aunts and uncles that aren’t related to you, much in the same way that I’m pretty sure it’s normal to be friends with your cousins (especially if they’re in a similar age range and live nearby) and it is very common for grandparents to bring grandchildren with them to the grocery store because the grandchildren are staying over and they’re having a relationship.

Where is anyone but the Honda family at at Kyouko’s funeral? Kyouko made friends with Arisa and Saki, but did she ever make friends with Saki’s parents? Where are Saki’s loving and supportive mother and father and grandmother when the Honda family is arguing about who has to take on the burden of Tohru? Where are they, if they knew of the bad blood between Kyouko and the Honda family (and the disinheritance between Kyouko and the Katsunuma family), to sweep over Tohru’s protestations and tell her that it will all be fine, they’ll make it work out (they packed up and moved house for Saki, after all), it’s not Tohru’s job to worry about being a burden, it’s the job of people who love her to take care of her?

It can be both “because of the necessity of the plot” and “because they didn’t know.”

Tohru inherits this small, isolated world. And because of the trauma of being abandoned by her grieving, depressed, absolutely-not-coping mother, Tohru picks up on that Souma curse mentality. Tohru’s dad left, and Tohru’s dad tried to take her mom with her, leaving her with no one but Grandpa (who is not intimately part of their world but is not fully outside it either). Tohru’s dad is now a Rival. Tohru’s dad is now an Outsider. Clearly, a bond with an Outsider weakens the True Bond that Tohru had with Kyouko. Clearly, Tohru’s dad is Not Needed (because the other alternative is that Tohru is Not Needed). Clearly, only one of them can have Kyouko.

And it’s going to be Tohru.

Tohru picks up Katsuya’s fake-polite speech, equally disingenuously but from the opposite direction (ie, Katsuya was fake-polite to be an asshole, and Tohru is genuinely polite but faking the words). Tohru is pretty sure this is a form of wicked manipulation (much like Yuki is convinced that “be kind unto others as you would have them be kind unto you” is a form of wicked manipulation). Tohru keeps up with it anyway. Kyouko, as Kyou suggests, was probably comforted by this; rather than going full Akira “you exist to prove that I lived and loved a woman”, seeing Katsuya’s mannerisms in Tohru reminds her that her husband did exist without having to erase Tohru as a person. Kyouko does a lot of growing on her own, but with no support system and no friends outside the family and being fresh-out-of-college age, it’s not surprising that she fails to talk with Tohru about this, and tell Tohru that she knows why Tohru’s doing this, she knows how she hurt Tohru and it was wrong, you don’t have to do this anymore. This is a hurt between them, a grief, that they never talk about, even though they both know it’s there and Kyouko tries to smother it with love and affection and Tohru tries to shut it up in a box of denial.

Tohru’s world is now just Tohru and Kyouko. Tohru doesn’t make any friends until middle school. We know she gets bullied and doesn’t fit in throughout her entire school life. She is a riceball in a fruits basket and probably just manages to scrape by in conformity culture. When she does make her first friends, Arisa and Saki don’t count as Outsiders who compromise Tohru’s bond with her mom because Arisa and Saki are also misfits on the fringe. They are outcasts Tohru can bring into the circle. They are all monsters together, like the cursed Soumas (the only reason no one refers to Akito as a monster to her face, the way they do the rest of the Zodiac, probably has less to do with the fact that Akito doesn’t transform and more to do with the fact that Akito being in a position of power is useful for their own ends, so best not to undermine the head of the family by pointing the whole monster thing out).

And then Tohru’s mom dies.

Tohru isn’t god and she can’t make an eternal banquet. Tohru doesn’t know how to process her grief and how not to fall to pieces. Tohru knows how to empathize with other people, but she doesn’t know how to be vulnerable. Did she remember Kyouko wanting to follow Katsuya, and think about doing the same? But Tohru also wants to keep living, somehow.

So she makes her mom not be gone. Her mom is dead, Tohru knows that, just like Akito knows that Akira’s soul isn’t in the box choosing her over Ren and showing her the way to happiness. But maybe. So she talks to the portrait of her mom. She tries to rescue her mom from suffocating inside a mudslide. She takes her mom on holiday to the onsen. Her mom gets kidnapped once by Hiro. Tohru’s mom is definitely not gone. Tohru and her mom definitely still have an eternal bond. Tohru’s mom will always be first in her heart, so that Tohru will always be first in her mother’s heart. Tohru will never abandon her. Tohru will never leave her behind.

(Tohru will never be left behind.)

Tohru’s world is just Tohru and her mom.

Tohru has two best friends, Arisa and Saki, but she won’t let them in. She won’t depend on them. She won’t tell that that her grief is crushing her and that she’s living in a tent because she’s terrified of being abandoned. Tohru makes a lot of new friends in the Souma family, and she’s very happy, but she won’t let them in either. Tohru can’t open up to any of them freely.

I don’t think I saved it anywhere the survived the computer death, but I saw at least one post in the fandom talking about the growing disappointment of the reboot anime, and they had a valid point, so I’ll bring that in now.

I really like the reboot, but I am losing my passion in the final season. Adapting a story from one media to another is hard, and at the beginning I thought they were doing a good job. Small things were being cut, scenes were being rearranged and stitched together, but there was a definite purpose behind it. Instead of literally following each chapter, each episode tried to be a self-contained theme in the same way a manga chapter would be. Because themes repeat again and again in Fruits Basket in a slow build, this was working well. But small things that didn’t quite fit got cut. Scenes I liked and was sad not to see, but that I accepted had to be left out to make the episodes stronger.

But they’ve been piling up and piling up. Small holes have accumulated into big plot holes that the third season is tripping over. I’m sad that we don’t see the small progressions of Yuki and Machi’s relationship, the quiet scenes that show Machi is trying to pay attention to Yuki the way he has paid attention to her, and also all the Mogetas. I’m sad Komaki is the new manga-only character. If we don’t get Kyouko’s full backstory, we lose a lot of the context that’s in this post. I could go on and on.

But most importantly, as that someone else pointed out, we missed out on the progression of Kyou and Tohru’s flirting. It’s too late to cram all of that into a montage episode, and so now we’ve been given episode after episode of Mom Tohru, and hardly any Tohru Struggling With Romance In Addition To Struggling With Grief before suddenly everyone is confessing their love and I’m not as into it in the anime as I am in the manga.

So many of the Souma love and accept Tohru, but Tohru remains an Outsider—not because of the curse, but because she hasn’t formed close friendships with them. Tohru has a lot of people among the Souma she likes who like her, but she’s always a Mom to them. Tohru shares some of her own pain with them, but it’s shared for their benefit, not for Tohru’s own catharsis. Tohru shares so she will be loved, not so that she will be accepted.

Except Kyou.

Kyou, who looks at Tohru and thinks, “I’m pretty sure she’s that lonely person even now, even while she’s smiling and genuinely enjoying every moment with us.” Kyou, who’s falling in love with Tohru. Kyou, whom Tohru’s falling in love with.

Kyou is the only one that Tohru takes a desperate risk with. Kyou is the only one Tohru ~disillusions~ and ~disappoints~ in the hope that he’ll accept her regardless.

Kyou is the only one Tohru tells, “I don’t talk about my dad because I kicked him out of the family. I know my dad loved us and I loved him back, but I pretend to talk like him so my mom will forget about him and love me instead. He came between me and my mom and now I pretend he doesn’t exist. And I know I’m an awful person for behaving like that, so I keep his picture and pretend I don’t, and I pretend he’s the Bad Guy who earned it.”

The idea that Tohru can’t love both her mom and Kyou is, in a way, true. (I think that same post I’ve been referencing also talked about how dropping the budding romance also dropped a lot of the clues that this is Tohru unable to process her grief? Which is also very true. But if Tohru has the Souma mindset, then actually she has a legit point about not being able to love two people at once despite being a very loving person. Both can be true. Multitudes.)

Kyou is an Outsider to the world of Tohru and her mom. And if Tohru chooses to love him, it will weaken her bond with her mom, which is predicated on loving her mom more than anyone else. If she expands her world to include him in it, she will be betraying her mom. Tohru will be the Bad Guy who left her mom behind and abandoned her. Tohru will be her own villain, condemned for the same crimes she pinned on her dad.

Kyou 100% gets where she’s coming from with this, because he turns this exact argument on her when she confesses to him and he panics (akin to when Tohru chases him down in his true form and he slashes her and, in the reboot, yeets her into the lake, so that she will be hurt so bad she’ll never pity/love him again). He asks her if her love for her mom—her bond—was just a lie.

Tohru making friends after Kyouko’s death has been a lot like Akito letting Yuki and Kyou out into the world, certain that it would drive them back to the bond. Yuki getting character development is a huge betrayal. Tohru wanting to be together with Kyou, when she should only want to be together with her mom, is a huge betrayal.

Tohru has no model for expanding her world. She’s good at loving people, but bad at letting them in (Kyouko was bad at that too—like Mom Tohru, she was very good at sharing anecdotes about her violent youth, but very bad about sharing how she’d failed Tohru as a mom). Like Akito, she only really knows the bond—the certainty that her mom would love her. She’s been so terrified of not being loved that she’s acted this entire time like her mom is still around. When Kyou’s love is a possibility, she can only conceptualize it as a betrayal of her relationship with her mother.

It always seemed a bit too abrupt that Tohru looked at Akito with the knife and went “oh shit we’re literally the same”, but now that I’ve thought this all out, it makes eloquent sense. The whole time Tohru’s been working against the curse, she’s been in denial about her own blessing-burden-curse. Now that she’s just admitted it and had it thrown back in her face, she can look at Akito and see another person in an insular little world, isolated and lonely and walled-off from the world. Of course Tohru desperately wants to make friends with knife-wielding Akito—she just decided to let go of her ties to her mother that were suffocating her, and take her first steps into the world, and got immediately dumped by the person she loves. Of course she wants to make friends with someone who knows exactly where Tohru’s coming from and how terrifying what Tohru just did is and how awful it is to be rejected even though she’s got other friends she loves out here in this world she’s decided to finally step into.

Tohru is so damn lonely, and Akito is there, also lonely and screaming and crying and undeniably human.

(Smile, Tohru tells herself in the hospital. Smile and tell Kyou you were happy to meet him and just let him go. Don’t be a curse. Smile and let him find his own happiness. Which is more or less the same struggle Akito is also going through. But maybe they’re going through it together. Maybe they used their words, together, when they couldn’t confide in anyone else. Although it feels a bit unlikely that Tohru let herself break down about Kyou in front of Akito, and Akito already had one pity-party in front of Momiji and may not have wanted to burden Tohru with a second.)

One thing I really love about Fruits Basket Another is that Hajime alludes to the fact that Kyou probably won’t inherit Kazuma’s dojo after all.

Kyou inheriting the dojo is something both Kyou and Kazuma have wanted, and it gives me many warm fuzzies. It is very narratively satisfying. The dojo, while Souma property, is not actually part of the main estate.

What I love is that Kyou probably won’t take over the dojo specifically because he and Tohru have made so many friends in their new town that they don’t want to pick up and leave. Kyou finally succeeds in freeing Tohru from that small, lonely world, much like he’s been freed from the fate of the Cat Room. Their relationship enriches them personally and also enables them to make so many new connections. Kyou has friends at the dojo! Tohru has friends at work maybe! Friends where they buy groceries, friends among the parents of their children’s classmates, friends outside of their extended Souma family! They’ve kept ties that don’t hold them back and made new ties that don’t weaken or steal away any of their old ties!

When they left Tokyo, Tohru was prepared to go anywhere as long as it was with Kyou. Now, she and Kyou both don’t want to leave because their world is so much larger than just their nuclear family and they’ve put down roots. They’ve seen each other not only lonely in the moonlight and worn thin by death and loss, but they’ve gotten up and gone down the mountain to where the people live and made friends among them, laughing in the sunlight. Just like the cat always uggghhhhh I’m not crying I’m just so damn happy for them I can’t

[x0401x]

Given Movie Cast Comments

← Staff Comments

Yano Shougo (voice of Satou Mafuyu)

——Could you please tell us about your impressions and excitement regarding the movie adaptation of Given?

Both as an actor and as a fan, I am deeply touched and full of gratefulness for being able to play Mafuyu once again and see the world of Given on a theatre screen. Since it is also a continuation of the TV anime, I cannot help looking forward to the love stories of the adult group, which I am very curious about, and to how their music will sway and bind together in the finished movie!

——What were you conscious of when playing your character in the movie?

I had the impression that the craving for singing and creating songs definitely develops Mafuyu’s music and makes Mafuyu himself stronger. I believe Mafuyu’s talent lies in his abundant sensitivity, so when Mafuyu turned towards his music, cladding himself in passion as to proportionally represent what the love of the adults seems like, I felt more strength from him than ever before. I also think I became able to let out his emotional parts in a natural manner. I have performed Mafuyu in a way that people would be able to feel his growth through the main story.

——Please leave a message for the people who will watch it.

After reading the script, I could not keep control of my emotions and became a mess.

They are skillful yet inept, honest yet insincere. They look like they are not in gear with each other, but they actually are, and even though their happiness is right at their side, they are helplessly pained. What does it even mean to be rewarded? Ugetsu is similar to Mafuyu in some aspects, and it is difficult to try to understand the mental state that only prodigies can. I think their agonizing circumstances will squeeze everyone’s hearts from beginning to end. By all means, do check it out at the theatres and see it through.

Uchida Yuuma (voice of Uenoyama Ritsuka)

——Could you please tell us about your impressions and excitement regarding the movie adaptation of Given?

This is the story that comes after the anime series and I was curious about what was made of those two after all of that, so I had been looking forward to it. Hearing Mafuyu’s words as Ritsuka for the first time in a while gave me a feeling of relief!

——What were you conscious of when playing your character in the movie?

This story is about “a sense of distance that has changed” and “an unchangeable sense of distance”. I thought it was importance to have people feel this thoroughly.

——Please leave a message for the people who will watch it.

When feelings are deep-rooted, you might not be able to move at all. Still, I would like everyone to see those guys through as they try to take even just one step forward. We will be counting on your support for “Given the Movie”.

Nakazawa Masatomo (voice of Nakayama Haruki)

——Could you please tell us about your impressions and excitement regarding the movie adaptation of Given?

I was very happy about the movie adaptation. But, strangely enough, I accepted it smoothly without any surprise. I felt that there was a high level of fellowship between the atmosphere and tempo of the original work and the anime. I am planning to respond to the bouts of each section, all of which exist for the sake of an environment made for a theatre venue’s screen projection, where the animation, sound, configuration and such are all different from television.

——What were you conscious of when playing your character in the movie?

My natural posture has not changed since the time of the TV series, so even in the movie, I performed as Haruki the way that I feel I should. In doing that, I took the moment when Haruki listened to Mafuyu’s song and realized that he was “actually lonely right now” - in short, the last part of the TV series - as a starting point to stand on the sandy beach that Haruki’s heart had turned into, riding on the waves of his emotions, which oscillated between stormy weathers and calmness.

——Please leave a message for the people who will watch it.

I am happy to be able to see it in the theatres! I would be glad if this applies to everyone else too. I hope that you can sense the atmosphere of their daily lives as if you were there with them, that you can experience the concert scene as if you were listening to them live, and that you can feel the pain and joy of love. Please support “Given the Movie”!

Eguchi Takuya (voice of Kaji Akihiko)

——Could you please tell us about your impressions and excitement regarding the movie adaptation of Given?

I was happy. After all, I was finally going to put my voice into the bits where we get to know the deep parts of Kaji. These are parts that we were not able to perform in the anime, so I want to do it to my heart’s content (laughs).

——What were you conscious of when playing your character in the movie?

I was conscious as to how I would let show the realistic parts of Kaji. He was a reliable person in the anime, but he is human like everyone else. He has faults too (laughs). I did my best on how to express these parts of him.

——Please leave a message for the people who will watch it.

I also thought this when reading the manga, but there are many scenes with complicated twists and turns, so I was super emo during the recordings (laughs). I think it has turned out as something everyone will enjoy. Please come watch it!

Asanuma Shintarou (voice of Murata Ugetsu)

——Could you please tell us about your impressions and excitement regarding the movie adaptation of Given?

That the music and art were made in a sensible and very delicate way is a given, but I felt that a work so merciless to the point that you grow miserable when you think about the machinations of their hearts, which you can sense from their lines, or about the mood of the series, which is so gentle that it seems close to breaking, is quite a rarity. I am honored to have encountered it.

——What were you conscious of when playing your character in the movie?

There is no reason for falling in love with someone; it is something that suddenly comes down to us. And the trigger for it might be just a postsctript. So as something that is nothing special, that is extremely mundane and that is not uncommon to happen to anybody, I was conscious of the naturality of that world, to the best of my abilities. Still, it might be so lacking in uniqueness that it will be buried down, and might turn out as something that will leave so little an impression that people will not be able to remember it when they finish watching. But I thought that this might actually match the slight cruelty that Ugetsu has. This atmosphere seems like something you could find anywhere, like it could disappear. I would be happy if I could make people empathize with it, even if just a little.

——Please leave a message for the people who will watch it.

I think this is a very delicate yet naïve, frustrating yet adorable, warm yet painful, beautiful yet messy, fragile yet strong series. I would be happiest if everyone could accept very, very dearly the many aspects of these awkward guys as they unfold in the big screen. I pray that this work will be something like a piece of music that lasts for eternity, like a scar, for everyone.

(T/N: In this last sentence, the word “scar” is written in katakana, just like the title of the song “Kizuato”, the anime’s opening theme. It’s a well-thought double-entendree, where AsaShin is referencing “Kizuato” as a song that lasts forever. Dude aced this comment section, holy shit.)

[ary-se]

Mankai with a roach

some of these are based on irl experiences so i hope y'all enjoy reading this as much as i did writing it LMAO no braincells were involved in doing this i am so sorry.. also tagging @tsum-uwu-gi for some of the totally whack ideas, tysm 🥰

🐪 the mankai dorm never really experienced having a roach flying all over the place that much, and even if it did, they're immediately dealt with by the moms of the dorm

🐪 that was mostly the case until that one specific day arrived, when the reliable people were gone for different reasons. tsuzuru was in his part-time job, omi was getting groceries, tasuku was a guest actor for another troupe, and no one knows what in the world sakyo was up to

🐪 anyways the first one to notice was azuma, he walked in the bathroom probably to take a dump or something - who knows really lol - when he found himself staring at a roach that was literally on the toilet.

🐪 azuma literally has no idea how or when it got there, but the fact remains that there is no freaking way he is going to use the toilet unless he wants a death sentence. the logical choice was to close the toilet and flush it, but at that moment he kinda lost his shit, both literally and figuratively, and so all he did was act composed as he quickly left the bathroom

🐪 "azu-nee, why do you look so pale?" yuki asked him out of curiosity in the dining room, but azuma is hella smooth so he just laughs it off and acts as if he totally wasn't horrified at all, "it's nothing, you're probably imagining things."

🐪 after that incident, nothing happens for at least an hour. unfortunately, a roach doesn't simply disappear just because you want them to, which was why azuma's efforts of not letting the roach escape from the bathroom were in vain...

🐪 for some apparent reason taichi sometimes has this tendency of holding his own pee before he sprints to the toilet and just bursts in there, so when he ran to the bathroom and immediately let out an ungodly screech, it's all fucking over

🐪 did taichi piss himself? who the hell freaking knows. if he did, mankai would normally either laugh or feel bad for him or both, but at that moment nobody cared about that. what actually mattered was that taichi left the fucking door open so the moment he screamed, the roach already started flying EVERYWHERE

🐪 the one who was nearby the bathroom that time was kazunari. even if kazunari acts like he is scared of roaches, he actually isn't and he is capable of killing a roach in sight. would he help taichi, who has his fly almost open, by killing the roach and call it a day?

🐪 the answer is hell no. killing it doesn't even cross his mind. kazunari thinks this is really hilarious, and if he finds something funny he doesn't do anything to solve the problem. kazunari would basically make things worse by going live on his instablam to record what is happening. in this case, it is all about the unwanted creature and where in the actual world it is gonna land

🐪 gladly, kazu's sanity is still intact that he didn't include taichi in his live for the first few minutes. if kazu did, taichi better say bye bye to his remaining dignity and write his last will so he can finally dig his own grave. people will forever know him as the ugly sobbing, screaming dude in the bathroom with his fly open, and that is honestly the last thing taichi wants to be known for

🐪 sakuya goes to where the chaos is, poor boy was legitimately confused as to why two people are yelling and laughing at the same time. it is normal in mankai but every time it happens, somewhing whack is happening. unfortunately for sakuya, he was completely unaware of the roach flying behind him

🐪 "hi kazunari!" sakuya greets, and the roach lands on the sleeve of his hoodie. sakuya is a pure little bean, he is ALWAYS a pure bean but if kazu was being honest, the current image of sakuya smiling widely while a roach is chilling on his sleeve was really unnerving in its own way

🐪 kazu started to laugh so hard that he is physically unable to explain to sakuya what was happening, and he felt so bad about it. sadly, kazu doesn't have the capability to stop laughing by force, does he? because of the lack of explanation, it took sakuya approximately 7 seconds of obliviousness before he notices

🐪 tenma arrived right after that, and the roach flies off sakuya's hoodie after he jumps from surprise. high and mighty carrot boy is now in for a storm cause the moment he appeared, the roach lands on top of tenma's freaking head out of all places

🐪 "hey guys, what's happening?"

🐪 "there's a flying roach. and it is now on your head." kazunari deadpans. he always tricked tenma when it comes to these kinds of things, but he is serious this time

🐪 tenma literally HUFFS as if he doesn't believe kazunari in the slightest, and tbh you can't blame him cause summer troupe gave him trust issues from their pranks. sorry mister. unlike their old pranks, it is actually real right now... kazu ain't joking, please believe him now

🐪 tenma shrugs and places a hand on his head nonchalantly to ~prove his point~, "you won't fool me again-" he froze the moment he actually felt something moist moving under his hand

🐪 at that moment tenma screamed one hundred fucking times louder than the entire mankai company could, the entire neighborhood would learn their lesson to bring earplugs wherever they go cause his screams are literally ear-splitting

🐪 tenma should say goodbye to his reputation as a k00L b0y 4ct0R😎 that he has maintained for so long cause a lot of people are already watching the live. also rip to the people who were using earphones... at least you have witnessed tenma's most unglorious moment on public. from that moment he is already and permanently a meme and there is no going back

🐪 "STOP SCREAMING HACK!!" yuki yells at him with all of his might, but it was super inaudible because his scream still reigns. the roach lands on the wall, so yuki grabs whatever was on the table. it was banri's fashion magazine, which is fucking useless by the way, because he still can't dress himself up no matter how many fashion magazines he purchases. good job yuki for using it as a sacrifice

🐪 yuki rolled the magazine and repeatedly whacked it to the wall out of pure annoyance so he can kill the roach. in all honesty, the roach would've been dead by now from yuki's wrath, but curse his height cause he can't reach the freaking roach no matter how hard he tried. sorry yuki, your courage and bravery were all in vain

🐪 amidst all the chaos, nobody freaking noticed muku, who was deadass in the living room the whole time. question is, how is muku not aware of what was happening? how did he manage not to hear taichi's and even the mighty tenma's screams? the answer is simple. HE WAS TOO ENGROSSED IN HIS SHOUJO MANGA.

🐪 when yuki was about to finally hit the roach, it flew to the cover of muku's shoujo freaking manga. for an unknown reason, muku doesn't even flinch. HE JUST KEPT ON READING. muku, everyone adores you especially with your love for romance but the kissing scene isn't important right now, PLEASE STOP READING THIS INSTANT

🐪 everyone literally went silent, nobody had the heart to tell muku. they just watched the roach crawl slowly to muku's fingers in suspense. after what seemed like forever, muku closed his book while giggling, but that didn't last forever cause he saw the roach and in a split second he dropped his book without any hesitation

🐪 muku got so freaked out they all felt sorry to the poor boy. he just stared at the shoujo manga that is now on the floor, endlessly mumbling about having to buy a new one because the roach already cursed his book and he will become unlucky and he might pass on the curse to everybody else and they will fail all their upcoming shows and---

🐪 anyways. the roach lands on citron's palms, and citron... surprisingly doesn't freak out. he doesn't care. actually, CITRON'S HAPPY??? he just looks at the roach in fascination and if it were any other creature it would look so adorable. but no, it had to be a ROACH and it's absolutely whack and disgusting. please remember that it is the same roach that came from the freaking toilet. citron, please wash your hands RIGHT NOW.

🐪 "CITRON KILL IT!!"

🐪 "NO, NO! POOR COACH!" citron shakes his head, reluctant to kill it. he kept the roach in his hands so nobody would be able to kill it... he was oddly protective of it and NOBODY KNOWS WHY. THEY ALL DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHY EITHER. citron please stop, what you're doing is making everything way worse. let go of that roach this instant and be hygienic just PLEASE oh my god

🐪 everybody already lost hope on trying to kill the roach, citron and his questionable logic is beyond their comprehension. but they refuse to waste their time fighting him about it because it will fly everywhere and no one wants that... lucky for them, tsuzuru finally arrives the dorms. HE IS EVERYONE'S SALVATION! SOMEONE WHO CAN FINALLY KILL THE ROACH! FREAKING FINALLY,,

🐪 yeah no, nevermind that. tsuzuru was so fucking tired from his part-time job that he just collapses right after he closed the door. please let the poor man sleep, don't even bother on trying to wake him up to kill the roach cause there's no way he is gonna wake up any time soon. cut him some slack. they felt bad for him but it happens way too often so they just left him on the doorway and that's it.

🐪 a few minutes after tsuzuru passed out, banri got back from no one knows where, probably shopping for more animal print clothes... who the hell knows. unlike the others, banri already knew what was happening without asking cause he has been watching kazu's live for like ten minutes already. if he was being honest, the whole thing was making him lose his shit so he tried to go back to the dorms asap to not miss out on anything good

🐪 coincidentally, juza also left their room from his long ass nap to see wtf was happening cause they were being hella noisy. after some explaining, when juza already fully figured out what was going on, he was aboutta kill it, ACTUALLY KILL IT, when banri stopped him. "you get out of this. i am the one killing it."

🐪 "get your own roach for you to kill, settsu"

🐪 curse their competitive asses cause it has reached to the point where they're already starting to beat each other up to death. the goal here is to kill the roach, not each other you dumbasses, get your brains straight please that's not helping anything don't be stupid for once

🐪 the roach flew from citron's hands and everybody screeched but finally, FINALLY AN ADULT walks in. tsumugi went in the dorm from the garden with a bottle of pesticide in his hand. once everybody noticed what he was holding, they were all getting panicky so they angrily screamed at him to spray it to the roach, it was too chaotic

🐪 tsumugi was so confused??? why was everybody angry at him?? what did he do to deserve this?? he doesn't actually think his pesticide works on roaches, but it was probably better if he stays silent about it since everyone will not listen and would force him to spray it on the roach anyways, what's the point

🐪 and so he did. at first, the roach stopped moving, so they assumed it was already dead. tsumugi then sprayed a lot more to make sure it actually was dead and everybody collectively sighed in relief. finally the fiasco is over. everyome can go back to their normal lives before this fucking happened

🐪 or not. the ROACH DEADASS FLEW AGAIN AND THEY ALL PANICKED. funny enough tsumugi calmly explained amidst all that, and it turns out tsumugi's pesticide was weak, and to top it all off it was water-based so it had no freaking effect on the roach whatsoever. too bad, so much for everybody getting false hope, huh. they wanna blame tsumugi for not saying anything before spraying but it is also their fault for getting worked up so whatever

🐪 itaru arrives from work, and one quick glance on what everyone was yelling about tells him that he refuses to participate in this crap. give him a freaking break please. he was dealing with work and you're telling him that he has to put up with this, too? hell fuckin no. he manages to quickly escape to his room to catch up on his games and it is a good thing that no one really noticed. they're too busy screeching every time the roach just flies outta nowhere.

🐪 masumi was deadass watching them from the sidelines. he could tell them to open the windows and just wait for the roach to fly outside so they can get it over with and call it a day. what a joke though, masumi giving helpful tips so everyone can calm down? yeah right haha no. he doesn't want to waste his energy on doing that even if their noise was actually getting into his nerves, so the whole duration he stays silent while he watches them lose their shit

🐪 this is one of the moments where they all legitimately wished misumi was here right now. him blabbing about triangles every second made them think that the roach kind of looks like a triangle when its wings are out. misumi what did you do to them to make them think this way?? did you make them do the triangle calisthenics or cathletics or whatever the heck that is??

🐪 knowing misumi, he can catch the roach in a matter of seconds. so where in the world is misumi? he is out again for his daily triangle hunting, obviously. come back, misumi... literally everything would be over in a flash if misumi decided to stay in the dorms today

🐪 despite this, for some apparent reason homare manages to find inspiration in all this. look, mister. the dorm is a fucking chaos. actual chaos. kazunari is somehow still live on instablam, wheezing so hard like he is gonna die any second now. the scene is literally just teenage boys screaming and running all over the place. two of said teenage boys are beating each other up... and one (1), ONE roach flies on top of everything, still fucking alive. EXACTLY WHAT PART OF THAT MAKES YOU FEEL INSPIRED HUH HOMARE!!! SPEAK UP!!!

🐪 the noise levels of mankai dorm is practically a headache at this point, if sakyo was here his boomer brain would be having a migraine that would be worth a week of pure pain and agony. for some reason, hisoka, who is on the sofa in the living room, literally in the MIDDLE OF THE CHAOS, just sleeps through it all.

🐪 how does he do that? just what kind of marshmallows does he eat?? do they permanently damage a person's hearing?? no matter how many times they woke hisoka up, he doesn't budge. what the actual fuck. and tsuzuru is still sleeping in the freaking doorway. at this point they could cuddle each other for all they want until they fucking die cause no amount of noise is gonna wake them up from their eternal slumber

🐪 after what seemed like forever, sakyo arrived and everybody immediately went silent. they stopped what they were doing except kazu, who was either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave, nobody wants to answer that right now. he is still live on instablam. even the live chat went silent.

🐪 sakyo still doesn't know what was happening but he knows it is BAD news, so he glared right at kazunari's camera and the last moments before the live ended was sakyo angrily stomping his way to kazunari and the screen blacked out

🐪 after learning that everything was only caused by a roach, sakyo got so mad that he managed to snatch a flip flop out of nowhere and killed the roach until it was completely crushed. it was safe to say everybody felt bad to the roach despite being the cause of everything. by the way, whose flip flop was that? nobody knows.

🐪 tasuku, misumi and omi arrived in the dorms while sakyo was lecturing everyone, and they still got dragged in without knowing what in the world happened. please pray for these poor souls they have to deal with his yelling without even being a part of it.

🐪 omi just bought groceries for dinner, he didn't waste his time to do that just to have no dinner tonight oh my god please give this man a break from everyone's bullcrap. tasuku's role in the other company's play was some random teen whose parents were mad at him for doing shit. he doesn't have to deal with sakyo actually getting mad too please let this man live in peace. and misumi? he isn't happy that he got dragged in, too. this is not very sankaku of you, sakyo

🐪 "MIYOSHI, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO RECORD THE WHOLE THING? YOU'RE RUINING THE COMPANY'S IMAGE. ALSO THE BOTH OF YOU FIGHTING YADDA YADDA YADDA"

🐪 the lecture lasted for 5 hours and nobody ate dinner that night. everybody was so tired after that. nobody was allowed to speak and if someone mutters, sakyo will yell at them next. can sakyo still lecture you for another 5 hours even after that long ass session? unfortunately yes.

🐪 everybody was banned from eating meals the next day. the resident moms reached an agreement that at least one of them always stays in the mankai dorm so this never EVER happens again. once is enough, they do not need another fiasco like this one.

🐪 oh and was it mentioned that kazunari doesn't have a phone for a solid month? cause that happened, sakyo banned him. you bet he managed to live a phoneless life by logging on his social media platforms on other people's phones without sakyo knowing,, not really the definition of "phoneless" if you ask him..

[earthbovndmisfit]

Provisional Title: Rhapsody In Blue Chapters: One shot/almost drabble. Summary: Jonathan and Speedwagon spend a calm and lovely time together outside. No further summary since it’s already a super short story lol. Pairing: JonathanxSpeedwagon (jonawagon)

It’s been a beautiful day outside. For once in what seemed to have been a long long time, England’s skies were clear, allowing for a warm, sunny, day. Not wishing for the opportunity to go to waste, two gentlemen decided earlier to spend some time together outside and just bask in each other’s company, enjoying the wonderful day they had been granted with. They had been talking for a while now, about anything and everything on end, as they sat on the parapet of a stone bridge, their feet dangling in lazy and absentminded motions. They were somewhere in the countryside, on a bit of a ‘secret spot’ that they knew was rarely frequented and where they would have all the privacy they needed as a male couple in the middle of a place where being an ‘invert’ was largely frowned upon. They had been watching the first minutes of the sunset over the calm river, with the stream of their conversation leading towards that subject.

”I had never seen anything as beautiful before.” Jonathan commented after a small pause, taking a short puff of his pipe before he went on, directing his attention to his companion as he spoke. “That is until I saw your eyes. Those beautiful oceans of honey.”

“Pfffft.” Robert was unable to hold back a chuckle at that.

“Oh, come on now. I’m being honest, and trying to be smooth, too! Cut me some slack.” The young Joestar retorted.

“I’m so sorry,–” The blond responded, sincere in his apology, as he turned to look at him this time. “–it’s just that... that was super cheesy, darlin’.” He added, teasing him a little as he put his own pipe down for a moment. His free hand, marred with a number of scars from his years as a criminal in the street, then went to cup one of Jonathan’s cheeks, stroking the smooth skin with his thumb as he spoke. His tone was soft, silken even. “ ‘sides, it is your eyes that hold those beautiful seas in which I would gladly drown forever. Mine are but the earth surroundin’ those seas, guardin’ them. Protectin’ them.”

“Oh, God. That… that was so sweet…” Jojo responded. The light shade of pink dusting his cheeks showing he truly meant it. He always loved it when Robert lavished him with sweet words, and yet, Jojo still managed to get him back as he added. “...And incredibly cheesy, too.”

“Ahah. So you’re gonna tease me now?” Speedwagon was the one retorting this time, cocking a bushy eyebrow, visibly amused, with the little smile on his lips giving it all away.

“You started it, honey.” The gentleman replied, shrugging a little. A small smirk on his face as he feigned innocence.

“You can be ruthless, darlin’. And that ’s just one of the many reasons why I love you.” His tone went back to that soft tone from before as he gently pulled Jojo closer to him, closing the gap between them and pressed a kiss to his gentleman’s lips, tasting that fine tobacco they had been smoking, mixed with Jojo’s intoxicating lips. They parted the kiss just enough so they could look at each other; their faces still just inches away from the other. “Y’know, I’m not used t’ compliments comin’ my way at all. However, I will gladly take each and every single one of those terribly cheesy compliments as long as they come from you, my dearest. Any day.”

“In that case, I’ll make sure to come to you with the cheesiest, most terrible, ones you’ll ever hear, honey.” Jonathan added, smiling down at his lover. And they both shared a soft laugh. Robert then wrapped an arm around Jojo’s waist, and Jonathan did his own part by wrapping one of his own around Robert’s shoulders, pulling each other closer so they can properly enjoy the sunset.

“Then I will hold you t’ that promise, you big daisy.”

Final notes: They be trying to outdo each other the cheesy way, huh :pensive: Also, they totally pick on each other like that, so there’s that too! lol These gays, i mean, guys have been living in my mind rent free for so long it’s unbelievable. Then I recently made the grave mistake of watching some super cute videos of a super cute gay couple going about their day(s) and hhhHHH I swear it sometimes felt a lot like I was watching these two dorks, no kidding. This was named after Deodato’s cover of Rhapsody In Blue for obvious reasons, and because I’ve also been listening to Deodato a lot while writing stuff for these two dorks so it was a bit of a tribute of sorts~ I’ve wanted to start a series of one-shots for this ship for about a year now but hadn’t been able to get to it for a lot of different reasons. I’ve had the idea and a name for the project from the start: Letter – From The Lost Days, and it comes from the title of a Silent Hill song (the lyrics happen to be relatable to some extent to what I’m aiming with all this, too). There is a lot of things from Phantom Blood that we didn’t get to see on camera due to the many timeskips in this part, and the many butchered scenes –this if you’ve only watched the anime (if you haven’t yet, please please PLEASE read the PB manga!!)–. So, basically, they are all missing scenes in a way, hence the “lost days” analogy. In addition, letters were a thing in Victorian times, especially between lovers. Letters, much like photographs, can work as a window to the past, and as a record of those past days and experiences, and the one shots are meant to be seen as that, as letters telling the stories from those “lost days” we didn’t get to see on camera. With all that in mind, the title for the project seemed more than perfect for this (I think!). Also, expect some jonaeri+jonawagon one shots to be included in the project eventually!

[empty-dream]

So I read 86 LN vol 1

S1 anime covers the entire Vol 1 except for the latter's epilogue, so full anime spoiler here.

And as of this writing, I'm still on Vol 2 so the things I mention here are solely those that happen in Vol 1. Idk if a thing happens in the latter volume, gotta dodge spoiler so I don't browse about it.

There was an interview with a person inside the anime industry that basically said "The point of an anime adaptation is not to be an exact replica of the original material, but to shine as its own medium for a story." I forgot who it was and I can't find the interview anywhere for the life of me, but that statement opened my eyes. I agree with it, that's why I can appreciate the differences between LN/manga and anime, especially if they turn out good and/or interesting.

And that's exactly what happens in 86. I'll start with this: I watched the anime first, and after I read the Vol1 novel, I actually like the anime more. Because there are a lot of meaningful original scenes in it

And because the Vol1 novel turns out exactly what I fear when I first watched the anime: that I won't care much about the squadron aside from the main 5. (Look, the anime promotional materials mostly only have Lena and those 5 only. As shocked as I was in the anime, I did have an idea where the story would go from those alone). The rest are barely mentioned. Not even the girls are named in the novel, even though they do talk and Lecca is even prominent in anime.

For example, the second half of the first episode, the one that shows Spearhead squadron's daily life right before Lena contacts them, is anime original scenes. Kujo already dies the moment the novel starts focusing on the squadron. Simply put, a lot of the squadron members that aren't the main 5 or Kaie get a *lot* more focus in the anime, like Daiya, Haruto (For characters who appear on the introduction page, their novel screen time is less than I'd expect), Kujo and Lecca. While the other members often appear in the background and actually behave like equal members instead of glue-them-on figurines.

(Idk if those other members are named and/or designed in the light novel before the anime is a thing or when the anime becomes a thing.)

The anime also adds relevant information in the Raiden's talk with Lena in EP7, like Kaie receiving racial abuse from 86 (in fact in both versions, she is the first one to get highlighted about this) and Haruto also having prominent Giadian Empire blood like Anju and Shin. These weren't in the novel.

I might be just nitpicking here because I love Kaie and Haruto, but see, this scene is amazing on its own. This is where Raiden and the squad reveal the weight of their motivation all along, that they *each* have different backgrounds and different kinds of sufferings, yet they are all sentenced to die, and they all choose to fight because they know no side is saintly but some things are still worth fighting for.

The prominent characters' deaths (besides Kaie's) are often mentioned with only one or two dry lines. I expected at least Daiya's to be detailed more, but it's just that so matter-of-fact-ly. Well I came from the anime, so I guess it's normal if I expected something as heartbreaking.

I broke down HARD at the last half of EP10 and that is nowhere in the Vol 1 novel. (Having Hands Up to the Sky playing in the background is also an advantage for being an anime. Fuck that song, I now play it 24/7 in despair)

Having a lot of original anime scenes really complement the story's nature. That there are two different sides of life here, it's not just Lena's or 86's only. And those couldn't have intertwined if not for their willingness to listen and communicate.

I know I mentioned this some days ago but really, I can't get over how many of the merch are Lena (and Annette) being cute doing cute stuff while the story itself is actually depressing. Merch staffs know the market lol.

- Novel side -

That said, the novel does have an advantage that the anime/visual media doesn't: Internal explorations and explanations.

It's obvious from the get-go, but Asato confirms that the inspiration of Republic of San Magnolia and its racial discrimination and genocide is taken from Nazi Germany in WW2. The Republic who favors the white/silver haired-eyed Alba drives Colorata out of the 85 sectors, overtakes their properties, and forcibly sends the now-called-86 to either fight their war and die, or work on the wall and die.

The life inside the Republic is also elaborated on. Class always exists, even inside one race only. The center of the republic is for the elites, Lena and Annette's families included. The farther a sector is from the center, the lower the education and economy there is. Most of the military come from these areas, which explains why Lena herself is in difficult situation. Since no one in the military is either capable or willing to bring change.

It's *insane* how easily the Republic could create such vile lies, and how easily the majority of the citizens go along with it.

Gotta admit, Asato does a good job at foreshadowing the fate of the 86, the truth that we can only see after Ep7 of anime. It is mentioned that supposedly, 86 soldiers will be welcomed back once their 5-years term is up. Lena once wonders about it, but ultimately she buys it thinking that surely they must have come back to another sector. She only realizes it's utter bullshit after Annette points out how, 9 years later, they have never seen even one Colorata inside the Republic when they should have seen at least some. This also shows that Lena has never ventured to the other sectors to find out more, probably due to work or maybe she's still a sheltered noblewoman in the end.

And the mentality of the majority of Alba is shown differently. Whereas the anime uses the academy classroom to show how deeply rooted the racism against 86 is, the novel uses Lena's mother who a) more or less does the same as the classroom, and b) presses Lena to get married and preserve their pure noble bloodline. This, when the nobility doesn't actually mean anything anymore. This version shows not only Alba's racism but also Lena's strained family life.

There is a scene of an Alba high school valedictorian who, during his graduating speech, says “My friends died fighting the Legion.” I’m not sure this will make it to the anime, and it’s just a minor scene in the novel, but the weight of that scene is heavy.

The science of Para-Raid is explained, which has something to do with tapping the collective consciousness of humanity and connecting it to one another. A bit far-etched but I guess that works, science fiction and all. But I like the part where despite (or maybe because?) of connecting via hearing only, the other senses are faintly receptive as well. For example, one can sense that the other side is biting their lips in frustration, something like that. Of course, actual real life things like sensing the hidden bitterness or elation in a talking partner's words are present, this being a story where listening matters.

The novel elaborates on Raiden's stay with the Alba old woman. He calls her Old Hag, but it's clear he greatly respects her. The part where she screams and curses in the middle of the road at the Republic soldiers who take Raiden and the other children away stays in Raiden's mind forever, and so it does to me. Ngl it is quite a chilling scene.

Same with the story of the previous Laughing Fox, Theo's Alba commander. It turns out, the entirety of Theo's first squadron didn't like him at all and bet on how fast he'd tuck tail and run back to the Republic. When he faced his death the way Theo explained, he sent a message to Theo revealing he knew about it and knew his place to not ask for acknowledgment or forgiveness. This made Theo regret why he didn't try to talk more with his commander and he keeps thinking about it forever. Now it makes even more sense why Theo, blunt as he is, is willing to listen to Lena and when he snaps, he wonders if his late commander would do the same.

What actually happens in Kurena's backstory is also touched upon. While in the anime some viewers could think "Man, I get where you're coming from but chill out." The novel graphically shows her parents being toyed on by the Alba soldiers while her sister protected her, the two could only watch, and then the same sister got sent to the battlefield to die. Now at that, anyone would think "Man, no wonder she can't chill out. Not with all that trauma."

I also like the addition that Lena can sense Kurena is the one who dislikes her the most.

The novel describes greatly that it isn't just Alba and Non-Alba. Essentially speaking, Non-Alba is called Colorata, and they consist of different race groups as well. Just as Alba is associated with the color silver/white, the other race have their associated colors as well. Asato assigns races to the named members in Vol1 and what their distinguished color features are. This also explains why Anju is exiled despite looking like an Alba.

It's a question that I pondered on when I first saw Shin's armor plates, and that I pondered harder on when Chise died: What happens if there is no armor plate to carve its processor's name's on? So it turns out Shin would substitute it with anything; piece of wood or some random piece of metal. For Chise's case, Raiden, Chise's leader, suggested using the wing of Chise's in-progress airplane model. Which did my heart so bad because I'm strangely fond of Chise and finding out that in his spare time in his limited lifespan, he was working on an airplane model made me sob.

I'm not particularly into mecha, and could care less about how it moves. But Asato did a good job describing the fight between a glorified suicide car and a line of brand-new solid A-grade tanks. Special mention to I-IV because wow the concept arts for all the mechas are so cool, even though I don't really understand. (Asato even said to I-IV "Go draw a tank so horrible it's stupid for the Juggernaut" and I-IV came up with the current Juggernaut)

You know how the Republic greeting is "Glory to San Magnolia and the five-colored flag"? I won't disclose who says this in what situation, but there is someone of Colorata saying "If you hate colors so much, you should have just colored your flag white" AND OOOH THE BURN SO HOT HOT HOT

Tl;dr: Bottom line is, I personally enjoy Vol 1 because I already watched the anime and got attached to it. If I were to read the vol 1 first, most likely I wouldn't fall this hard for the series. Hell, maybe I wouldn't even pick it up in the first place because I knew it'd be depressing. But this is not to say that the LN is bad. It’s very good, it just does not really touch the lives of other soldiers whereas that’s the very thing that I love from the anime.

[reeeyachi]

W-HELLO I AM dropping in both ur askboxes to ask if u guys think that there's a possibility that killugon could always stay one-sided (killua never confessing, aro gon, or any scenario tbh)? - im asking u girls because u can provide an artistic/writer point of view - as an artist, wouldn't it feel wrong/incomplete to make a character fall in love with another only to be rejected and be told that they wanna stay platonic friends, when they have such a deep relationship and potential for romance?

HELLO DON’T MIND IF I DO. allow me put my "writer" hat on so that i can give you a very subjective yet creative short answer and a super long answer to this one. Short answer is, unfortunately (it breaks my heart), yes it is possible. Long answer is also yes but with explanation below:

ok i want to slice this ask piece by piece. let’s check possible endings to this relationship and try to fit them in hxh’s concept/context and togashi’s style of storytelling:

purely platonic / just friends;

one-sided love (vice versa killua & gon);

both in love, but won’t confess and will stay platonic;

both in love and will be together forever; and lastly

both in love and will be together for a long time but will break up

i know most of these sound disheartening for us but for me, as a writer, i like to have as many options as possible. especially for romance. because there’s so much character growth potential in this genre -- as what it would let you experience in real life. people learn so many lessons when and after falling in and out love and i like to think of this as one of togashi’s main considerations in writing a romance. most esp a romance that developed at a very young age between two boys.

explanation after the cut:

purely platonic / just friends - let’s just get this out of the way. the answer is a solid no. if i were to strip off my fangirl mask and put myself in togashi’s shoes, an author who goes out of his way to write about the LGBTQ+, it’s not possible. forget about this. i have your metas to back me up on this.

one-sided love (vice versa killua & gon) - ok this one’s interesting because it is possible. @sincerelysamedt has this amazing headcanon (that i can’t stop thinking about bcos it is so damned possible) about killua confessing to gon and gon rejecting him because, while he does love him, he thinks he doesn’t love in the same way killua does (which is romantically). if we are to put it in hxh canon context, it might actually fit in, but with a different scenario. okay so, after separating, togashi gives us the “little detours“ scene between gon and ging, and throws gon back to whale island basically back to square one -- suggesting that gon will ponder and will realize his feelings for killua in his time alone. but it also suggests that killua might take this chance to move on from gon, and that by the time they meet again, by the time gon finally tells him about how he feels about the both of them, killua’s feelings for him are long gone, and they mutually agree to stay just friends.

both in love, but won’t confess and will stay platonic - talk about funny and frustrating. slow burn gives me physical pain, but hiding of feelings when it’s too fucking obvious kills me. and i am certain togashi knows this. if you are a writer, you would know what your reader wants. you would know what they think of your characters. and sometimes, most of the time, to break the norm and stereotypes (and to break hearts and laugh evil laughs), writers will tend to NOT give you what you want. in this scenario, he gives us BOTH. and it just blows my mind how he already does it in the manga. i really like how togashi tells a story because he doesn’t really “tell“ per se. he “shows“ it. like, he doesn’t tell us that killua has feelings for gon but we SEE it. he doesn’t tell us that gon’s best detour is killua but we KNOW it. he gives readers the power to interpret his contexts without being evasive. so i think it is possible he might pull this shitty yet brilliant strategy until the end. an open-ended conclusion, an “it’s for me to know and for you to find out“, a giving the benefit of the doubt, something that will make you stare into the distance and feel complete and incomplete at the same damn time -- really, the best and worst kind of ending

both in love and will be together forever - YES. this will fit right in the hxh storyline because of the BUILD UP we’ve witness at the start of the story. i repeat, not in the middle, not at the latter episodes of the anime, but AT THE START of the freaking manga. if i were to just pull out manga panel’s of gon and killua from the moment they met, without the side quests, focusing only on their relationship, and arrange them in chronological order, i’ll have myself a good-written slow-burn romance. i don’t think togashi would want to throw the idea of them finally being together out of the window after all the build up he wrote between them. this is the ending that we want. and it’s likely togashi will give it to us BUT, as mentioned, as a writer of his caliber, he might just go apeshit and give us more after this which my last scenario suggests...

both in love and will be together for a long time but will break up in the end - thinking about this makes me sad. but it is possible that this can happen. gon and killua were 12y/o when they met. they’re 13-14y/o when they developed their feelings for each other. while yes, they may realize that being together would be the best decision to make when they meet again, given that they are growing boys with maturing emotional and intellectual capacities, they might later on decide that they’re better off as friends. being in a relationship is not all fluff and games. they will have problems, they will disagree and they will fight. through and through, they will develop their understanding of the world and of the people around them. heck, they might even meet new people they’re interested in. and togashi might give us this. before and after being together. he might code it as character growth, similar to what he showed us after CAA, but as adults. it’s a loop -- like how real-life romantic relationships play out. i personally like this idea because it suggests that there is more to their reach than just each other, and that they can grow on their own without depending on each other. BUT BUT BUT i strongly believe that togashi doesn’t intend this to happen given what i said about the build up and all. he MIGHT make this happen BUT in the end, gon and killua would still end up coming home to each other.

i’m not really sure of i answered your ask right because i said so many things and presented so many scenarios HAHA but to summarize, killua and gon are gay coded and they definitely have feelings for each other, however, it’s togashi’s thought process as a novelist that i’m not really sure how to decode. the way a good writer thinks is amazing. they’re crazy genius yet so, so unpredictable and fucking poetic. he might give us what we want, but he might also fuck around and explore all possible scenarios of a slow-burn relationship before they actually get together, like the true shoujo mangaka that he is

it’s just a matter of time, really :3

[samanthaa-leanne]

A Sea of Stars

The @bnhabookclub​ did a Secret Santa event and I was lucky enough to get the AMAZING @todorki-shoto​ as my Secret Santa. I just wanna say I love your writing and am so glad I could write something for you. Merry Christmas love, I hope you like it!

New year resolutions were always something you made but never completed. Don’t get me wrong, you always tried to accomplish what you said you would do, but somewhere along the way you just gave up on it. However this year was going to be different. This was the year you were finally going to tell your best friend that you were in love with them. You gave yourself a deadline of Christmas day giving yourself enough time to get your nerves in check. There was no way you’d wait until the last minute, or so you thought. 

                                                          *

“So have you told him yet?” Kenma asked from his bed as he continued to play his game. 

“You would be the first person I told if I did Koz.” You answered with a sigh as you dropped your head onto his lap. 

“I don’t see why you’re so hesitant. It’s obvious he likes you back.” He said not looking away from his console.

“This coming from the emotionally constipated twin.” You let out a laugh as you close your eyes and pinch the bridge of your nose. 

“You can poke fun at me all you want, it’s not gonna change the fact that you have a week until Christmas.” 

You let out another sigh bringing your hands up to cover your face. You had been in love with Kuroo ever since boys stopped having cooties. When he first introduced himself as your new neighbor you didn’t really like him. You didn’t have a reason why either, you just didn’t like him. Until you saw how good he was with Kozume. 

You and Kozume had very similar personalities. You were both shy and didn’t get along with very many people. You had a handful of friends you were close with, but you hated meeting new people. Kozume had a hard time making friends, until he met Kuroo. He was apprehensive about the raven haired boy, but soon they were inseparable. Seeing your brother open up to someone other than yourself was something you didn’t think you’d ever see. From that moment your feelings for Kuroo changed, even though you were nowhere close to being in love with him at that point, it only took a few years later until you fell for him. 

“I know Christmas is next week. I just don’t want to get my heart broken.” You admitted as his hand came up to pat your head calmingly. 

“We can call off the punishment if that will make you feel better.” He reassured as his eyes met yours. 

“No, I think this is something I need to do.” 

“What do you need to do?” Kuroo, the man of the hour, said as he stood in the middle of the door. 

“Oh hi Tetsu. I was just telling Koz that I need to try and get over my fear of crowds and go to the aquarium tomorrow since I have an art project due soon.” You said sitting up from your spot on your brother's lap as your eyes met his. You technically didn’t lie, you did have an art project due soon and you had been pushing it off because you didn’t want to go to the aquarium by yourself. 

“Can I come with you? I haven’t been to the aquarium in so long.” He asked excitedly as he gave you a bright smile waiting for your answer. Kuroo absolutely loved the aquarium and tried to get you guys to go with him all the time. You and your brother didn’t particularly like big crowds, so you always turned him down. 

You were about to say no when Kozume nudged you in the back, silently telling you that this was the perfect opportunity to tell him how you felt. 

“Sure. That sounds like fun.” You answer as you smile up at him, trying to contain your nerves as you think about spending the day alone with Kuroo. 

“Then it’s a date.” He said with a wink before turning his attention to your brother. “Kenma are you ready to go practice? You’ve skipped the last two, and Coach said you had to come, even if I have to drag you there kicking and screaming.” 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” You watched your brother set his switch down on the bed before slowly getting up and walking to where Kuroo waited. “If I’m not back in two hours can you start my stream for me?” 

“Of course. You know they love me more than you anyways.” You answered with a laugh as Kozume rolled his eyes and walked out of his room, leaving just you and Kuroo. 

“I better follow him or he’ll leave me here. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He gave you a bright smile before he ran after Kenma, your heart hammering in your chest as you thought about the possibilities tomorrow would bring.

                                                            **

“What do you wanna see first?” Kuroo asked from beside you after you entered the aquarium. You fiddled with the camera you had hanging around your neck as you thought about what you wanted to do first. You told yourself this morning that despite his words, this wasn’t a date, it was just two friends hanging out at the aquarium, for a school assignment. 

“Whichever exhibit has the least amount of people in front of it.” You answer honestly, the thought of a large crowd alone made your nerves go into overdrive. 

“That’s fine. I’ll be next to you the whole time. Just let me know if it gets too much and we’ll go, okay?” He offered as he looked down at you with a small smile, his hand coming to sit on your lower back as he directed you to the first exhibit, which just so happened to have one of your favorite animals inside; penguins. 

You waited until the group in front of your left before you walked up to appreciate their beauty. There was just something about the birds that filled you with joy. You got your camera ready and began photographing them. You got pictures of them running around, swimming, and even one of a group of penguins helping another penguin get out of the water. Your heart was filled with joy from just one exhibit, watching the birds with a bright smile. 

“You really like penguins, huh?” Kuroo asked from beside you as he looked down at you with a smile. You had honestly forgotten that he was here with you. 

You nodded up at him when you heard a group of people walking up behind you guys. You took one last picture before going to the next exhibit, Kuroo staying close to you just like he promised. 

After grabbing a quick snack and taking some pictures of the whales, sea otters, jellyfish, and dolphins you called it quits. You had spent half the day in the aquarium and it was now packed. You could feel your anxiety rising as more and more people walked by you. Kuroo noticed right away and quickly grabbed your hand and pulled you over to the exit. 

“Are you okay?” He asked once you guys were outside, his hand still holding yours. 

“I’m fine. Thank you.” You reassured as you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, letting the cool air calm your nerves. 

“Did you get enough pictures for your project?” He asked, looking down at you cautiously. 

“For the first half, yes. Thanks for coming with me Tetsu.” You looked down and saw his hand was still in yours. 

You couldn’t stop the blush that crept up on your cheeks as you looked at your conjoined hands. He followed your gaze and let out a small laugh before releasing your hand. The second he let go, your blush faded. You wished he would hold your hand forever. 

“What do you mean, first half?” He asked as he shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes meeting yours as he waited for you to answer him.

“I want to get some nature pictures and maybe some sunset pictures before I call it quits and go home.” 

“Want some company?” He asked, giving you a breathtaking smile. 

“Are you sure you want to spend the whole day with me?” You asked shyly, your eyes moving from the snowy covered sidewalk to meet his own. 

He nodded in response before gesturing for you to lead the way. You couldn’t believe he actually wanted to go with you, but there was no way you were going to complain. By the end of the night you were determined to tell him how you felt. 

On the way to your favorite hiking trail you guys talked amongst yourselves. Talking about what your plans were over break to what your favorite mangas were. Talking with Kuroo had always been one of your favorite things about your friendship. He always listened to what you had to say and never judged you. It was one of the things you loved most about him. 

When you reached your destination, a beautiful open field with trees surrounding the area, the sun was slowly starting to go down. You quickly put your camera up to your face and snapped some pictures of the scenery before you. 

The colors of the sky mixed with the snowy trees in the background created a beautiful aesthetic that you knew you had to capture. 

You heard a soft gasp from Kuroo’s lips as he took in the view with you. It was apparent that he hadn’t seen a view like this before and you were beyond excited that you had been the one to show it to him. 

As he walked in front of you to get a better look you quickly focused the lens on him and snapped some of the prettiest pictures you had ever taken. Seeing his bright smile as he enjoyed his surroundings was something you could never unsee. 

“I love you, Tetsu.” You announced suddenly, your words causing him to turn around from his spot as his eyes bore into yours. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and if you don’t feel the same way that’s okay. I just felt like I needed to get it off my chest.” 

He was suddenly standing in front of you, pulling you into his chest as his lips kissed your softly. “I love you too. I’ve been trying to find the right time to tell you, but I guess you beat me to it.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh as you wrapped your arms around him and hugged him close to your body. He set his head on top of yours, kissing the top of it as he held you close. 

While the sun set and the stars came out, you both stood in each other’s arms, stealing kisses and “I love you”’s. 

                                                             **

Bonus scene:

When you got home that night you ran right to your brother's room, not caring that you were about to interrupt his stream. 

“I did it Koz!” You shouted as you jumped up and down in his room. 

“So you ended up telling him?” He asked, not looking up from his screen as he continued playing his game. 

“Yes I did.” You said proudly as you sat on his bed to watch him play. “Why do you ask?” 

“I bet Yamamoto and Lev that you would confess your feelings before Kuroo did, and it turns out I won.” He said with a shrug as the round in his game ended. 

“Kozume!” You shouted as you grabbed a pillow off his bed and threw it at his head, laughing when it hit the chair instead. “How much did you win?”

“50 euros from each of them.” He answered with a smile before turning around to face you. “Wanna get lunch tomorrow? It’s on me.” He said with a laugh that had you laughing with him. You couldn’t be mad at him, it was a good bet after all.