#WHERE THE FUCK IS SHIGERU

[smilingperformer]

Today's episode was so good, BUT ALSO, we got screenshots for final episodes, and ep titles.

Ep 9, "Rocket Gang's counterattack" involves ALL Rocket 'mon that are at Rocket HQ and them making a grand plan to catch Satoshi's Pikachu. HIGHLY likely this is the final ep involving them.

Ep 10 is about Satoshi & Latias (ep title is "Satoshi & Latios"). Could be a catching ep, could just be bonding. Latios being in title might imply just bonding and helping Latios out.

Ep 11 is "Rainbow & Pokémon Master". Literal translation of the title. Strong strong chances of this involving Ho-oh. Summary shows THIS is where Shigeru shows up.

Sources are Oricon articles that I BELIEVE are based on official press release.

[dizzybizz]

some haikyuus

[bilestat]

LIVE ACTION ZELDA MOVIE????????

[chonideno]

literally where can the zelda franchise go after totk. this is it. we've reached it. the pinnacle of video game entertainment. the whole dev team should just pack their stuff and enjoy a long and comfortable retirement. whoever decides their team has to follow-up on that with the next zelda game should answer for their crimes at the hague. what the fuck. I haven't even beat the game yet but what the fuck.

and how are AAA video game devs everywhere not losing their minds. how the hell did nintendo do any of that? and on that console?? you mean to tell me I can stack 15 differently shaped objects on top of each other and they don't vibrate violently into the skybox?? you mean to tell me the physics engine gladly accepts whatever I throw at it and holds it all together without dropping a frame while running on a machine that was outclassed two generations ago??? this is not witchcraft it's a grandiose demonstration of mastery over every aspect of game development that casts an immense shadow over every other AAA studio. fuck. fuck!!!!

everything about this game is crazy to me. the visuals are crazy. the soudtrack is crazy. the complexity of all systems and how they interact is crazy. the sheer amount of non-repeating content, NPCs, quests, dialogue, puzzles, environment variety - all crazy to me. every time I boot up this game I am humbled by the monumental effort and obvious love that went into every facet of the resulting experience. no cut corners anywhere. mirror-perfect chrome polish.

it's so rare we get something like that, in any field. I'd understand if nintendo never made a zelda game ever again because how do you follow that. god I hope everyone who worked on this game got the fattest check and the sloppiest head. I'm so happy I get to live in shigeru miyamoto's world

[silverynight]

Swap au but Only Gyutaro & Ume swap with the kamado siblings.

Like Tanjirou and Nezuko are Uppermoon six.

Tanjirou is alot more chill than Gyutaro is in Canon, he is more condescending than sunnily kind. He doesn't tell anyone how he and Nezuko work. He only eats bad people, Like Nezuko does. He just vibes, and does his thing. He's muzans favorite like seriously favorite.

Nezuko is less bubbly, and more vicious. She is angry and violent unlike her more easy going brother. She's short tempered, and sadistic. She does NOT fuck with people that say bad things about her brother. She eats bad people, but she sure as hell has fun doing it.

I have two evil(But not really) Aus of Tanjiro. Swap Shabana and Kamado siblings like I've been talking about.

But also Demon Kamado family where they take the role as "Uppermoon zero" (Muzan's most favored demons) with a thing similar to Hantengu and The Shabana siblings(Cut ones head off and the others will get out)

The pattern goes to youngest to oldest

Rokuta---->>Hanako

Hanako--->>Shigeru

Shigeru--->>Takeo

Takeo--->>Nezuko

Nezuko--->>Tanjirou

Tanjirou--->>Kie

Kie--->>Tanjuro

They all fight in duos or trios. (Kie and Tanjuro usually fight together. Nezuko, Tanjirou and Takeo fight together while Shigeru, Hanako and Rokuta fight)

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[babygirltangerine]

i think the bullet train as a space with rules and boundaries that shift and change is really interesting. it’s a very dangerous place, obviously, because it's teeming with contract killers with conflicting missions and nobody knows the truth of the situation, etc., but it is also sometimes framed as a safe space or the safer option with the outside world being even more dangerous. and within the train there are spaces that are safer still, and then even more dangerous. the bathroom for example is a safe space where ladybug can hide away and talk to maria, reflect on what he knows and gain new information, and the momomon car becomes a sort of halloween funhouse that's ominous and otherworldly and extremely dangerous and disorienting for tangerine as he reels from the perceived loss of lemon and the changed rule that open killing is now permitted. 

the boundary of inside/outside the train is also very thin and many characters find themselves on both sides of it throughout the journey. i've spoken about this before, but having the characters trapped on the train sometimes and willingly getting back on the train other times does a great job of building tension and keeping the audience on our toes while also doing a lot of really important character work. the fact that tangerine and ladybug both voluntarily get back on the train when they don’t Have to (and that tangerine has to fight so hard to do it!) shows the legitimate depth of ladybug's compassion and the strength of tangerine's devotion to lemon. also, the white death's power to police this inside/outside boundary, with his goons and the threat of his rage being a primary reason the characters are trapped in the first place, actualize and foreshadow the complete influence he has over the plot and the characters and the train itself.

this boundary also helps provide relationship development. shigeru getting on the train to help yuichi in the final act shows how much he cares about his son despite the friction we’ve seen between them up until this point. and tangerine and ladybug are shown flying violently out of the train in their fight and having to claw their way back on, and later they move in synch as they glance at each other and then run back onto the train, from enemies to allies almost immediately, and then back to rivals when ladybug kicks tangerine off the train again.

i just find the train setting really interesting. it’s a public space in the most straightforward sense. societal pressures to to be quiet in the quiet car, to not take too long in the bathroom, and to not kill people, for instance, do a lot for the story. so i think it’s perfectly fitting at the end of the movie, when everything’s going to shit and the story we knew is crashing to its end, for the train to go off its tracks and the inside/outside boundary to get ripped right open. the destruction of the train is a great symbol for the end of the mission and freedom from the restrictions it imposed on the characters. still pissed it had to fuck up that town though

[dragonmasterkaylz]

Tangerine x Pregnant Wife! Reader: A Father’s Duty

This is a fanfiction based on characters from Bullet Train. I do apologise if the characters seem a bit OOC. And if you don’t like this, you don’t have to read it.

Tangerine’s private life was a mystery to everyone, except for Lemon. He didn’t want anyone to know who his wife was, or his daughter and so they were also given codenames. Cherry for his wife and Peach for his five year old daughter. He never wanted either of them to be involved with his job since it was possibly one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. He just wanted them to live a normal life in London. So when the White Death found out about them and made them hostages… he was pissed.

Everything on the Bullet Train had gone wrong for the pair. From them losing to the case to Ladybug, to the White Death’s son being killed by some unknown killer, Lemon’s supposed death and Tangerine’s near death experience. Ladybug almost got him by accident, but he managed to escape certain death. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!!” “Sorry… it was an accident, I swear! I told you, I have bad luck!” Tangerine then rolled his eyes and pointed at Prince. “She’s the bitch you wanna fucking shoot! She’s the fucking Diesel!” Then she ran away. “… Bitch. Ugh”.

Then he stood up and mumbled, “Okay, here’s the deal… that bastard, the White Death, has my wife and daughter! And you’re gonna help me get them back once we get to Kyoto! After that, you’re dead but she’s dead first for killing Lemon”. Tangerine followed Prince and Ladybug sighed before walking over to sit somewhere else. He put his legs up and heard Prince scream, along with a gun shot before Tangerine walked back into the room. “Well, now that she’s dead… I still can’t fucking relax!!!“, he shouted, thinking about his family. “FUCKING BASTARD!!!”

“Daddy! You’re home!” He chuckled and picked up his daughter before kissing her cheek. “Hello Peachy. Have you been good for your Mum?”, he asked. She nodded and leaned against his shoulder. It was the middle of the night and she was tired. “Can you read me a bedtime story please?”, she asked. Tangerine chuckled and nodded. “Of course I will darling. But, where’s your Mother?” “Sleeping. She’s… um…”. He smiled since she couldn’t find the word. “Pregnant?” “Yes, that! She’s very tired”. He nodded and then walked to her bedroom.

After reading her a story, he walked to his own bedroom and found his wife sleeping. She was now three months pregnant and very hormonal. He slowly got into bed and hugged her from behind. She turned around and woke up. “Hello darling”, he whispered. “Hello sweetie”. He placed his hand on her swollen stomach and asked, “How are you feeling?” “Tired… so shut up, and let me sleep”, she told him before kissing him and then snuggling up to him. Tangerine smiled and held her close but gently. “I love you so much darling”. “Love you too”.

Tangerine sighed and then heard his phone go off. “Fucking hell…”. He answered it and asked, “What the fuck do you want now, you sick fuck?!!” “You will meet us in Kyoto, both of you, or they both die”, the White Death told him. Tangerine then slammed his head on the table and shouted, “Fuck! My wife is fucking pregnant and my daughter is only five! Why the fuck— well, he is a soulless, psychotic leader”. Ladybug then nodded and said, “I’ll help you as much as I can, man”. “Alright, then we need to come up with a plan”. That’s when an old man walked up.

He sat down in the seats opposite them and Tangerine felt his gaze on them. “Can we help you, mate?” He nodded and said, “My name is Shigeru Kimura, do you know where my son is?” Ladybug then said, “I think he’s dead”. “Yeah… everyone who was on this train, except for me and this fucker are dead”, Tangerine said angrily. Shigeru chuckled and said, “My son is not dead. And neither is your partner, my son”. He and the Ladybug looked at each other before running to the bathroom near them, where Yuichi Kimura and Lemon were in.

Tangerine opened the door and looked at his brother, then at Yuichi, who looked at his Father. Lemon then woke up and yawned before looking around. “Am I in hell…?” “You fucking bastard!!! I thought you were dead!!! You had me crying!!!”, Tangerine shouted angrily before helping his brother up. Ladybug then nodded and said, “You drank the water…”. “What water?! What the fuck are you on about?!” Lemon then put his hands on his brothers shoulders. “Calm down”. “Don’t tell me to fucking calm down!!! That bastard has Cherry and little Peachy!!!”

They all sat down in the Momonga carriage, Tangerine sighing. “Lemon… if I have to trade my life to keep them safe, you make damn sure that he holds up his end to the deal. I just… want them safe”. His brother nodded and held his hand. “We’ll all get home safe, okay?” The plan was pretty insane, but it was the only chance they had to killing the White Death. And the brothers knew that they were feared by all, especially after that Bolivia job. But it was simple. Tangerine was going to be the one to kill the White Death and then threaten his entire clan.

The train stopped and the brothers got off, looking at Cherry and Peach. They were tied up and gagged, so they could no longer talk. “We’ve got your fucking case! Now what?!” The White Death then sent two of his men to check the contents of it. “Well… you completed only half of the job. And the Hornet did her part in killing my incompetent son”. Tangerine smiled and said, “Good. Can you please let my wife and child go now?” “You really care for your family, don’t you? Would you die for them…?”

Tangerine’s eyes darkened and he said, “If your next big plan is to sacrifice me for my family. Fine”. Tears ran down Cherry’s cheeks. “But, there’s just one thing first…”, he said with a smirk on his face. The White Death nodded and asked, “What’s that—?” Blood splattered all over the floor as the White Death was killed in an instant. Not even his own men or Lemon saw it coming. “Bloody hell mate”. “As for the rest of ya, since you don’t have a boss anymore, I’ll give you a chance to run”.

Then they trained their guns on him. “Yeah, thought not. Lemon! Get Cherry and Peachy into the train! Now!” His brother did so and then Tangerine shot at case, causing it to blow up. “Tangy!!!”, his wife cried out. “Daddy!!!” Peach then started to cry, when they heard further gun shots and looked through the broken windows. “Bloody hell… he’s still kicking”, Ladybug said with a smile. Tangerine had been pushed to the edge and seeing his wife and daughter cry… made him snap.

“He is an honourable man. Putting his family first, is what any good Father would do”, Shigeru said with a smile. Ladybug frowned and mumbled, “Weren’t you going to kill the White Death though?” “I believe that Tangerine needed to protect his family first. If we had waited… the White Death wouldn’t have had mercy on them”. They heard the final shots and Tangerine walked back onto the train, covered in blood. “No one… and I mean, no one makes my girls cry”.

Cherry then ran up to him and hugged him. “Honey! I’m so glad you’re safe!” “Daddy!” He hugged them both and mumbled, “I’m sorry for putting you both in danger”. Cherry shook her head and said, “You didn’t. He found out, ahead of time, where we lived. And when the ‘time was right’… they kidnapped us! I couldn’t do anything because—!” “Woah, Woah… calm down sweetheart”, Tangerine said softly before kissing her. Peach then smiled, tears in her eyes.

“Tangerine”.

“Lemon”.

“You’re bleeding mate”.

Cherry looked at her husband to find that he had two bullet wounds. One in his shoulder and one in his side. “Sweetie!” “I’m fine—!” Then she slapped him. “No! No telling me you’re fine when you’re not! Now sit down!” Ladybug then asked, “Is that case…?” “It was turned into a fucking bomb”, Yuichi told him, making him nod. Cherry then said, “Let’s get you to the hospital sweetheart”. Tangerine nodded and said, “Yeah… alright”. Then she kissed him again.

Five months later, Cherry gave birth to twins, one a girl and one was a boy. They were also two minutes apart, the boy being older. “Fucking hell… we’re gonna have our hands full”, Tangerine stated before looking down at them both. After the bullet train incident, Tangerine had only decided to do small jobs, so he could spend more time with family and protect them. He wouldn’t ever admit it, but seeing his girls at the mercy of the White Death scared him.

“So, what are their codenames?”, Cherry asked before giggling. Lemon walked in with Peach, who smiled when she saw her younger siblings. “Twins? That’s so cool!”, she said, excited to be the big sister. Tangerine chuckled at his wife’s joke and said, “That ain’t a joke darling, so like their names, we have to choose carefully”. He looked at his son and said, “Apricot”. And then his daughter. “Clementine”. The others smiled and laughed, but Lemon knew why he gave his family codenames.

To protect them.

And it was a Father’s duty to protect his family.

END

[professionallydeadinside]

Au where Shigeru and WD are partners in crime of taking out their branch of the Yakuza for different reasons, and stay friends afterwards:

Shigeru: ...What have I walked in on?

Yuichi, 17, sitting there in a full face of makeup done by Prince, 9: Your guess is as good as mine.

WD, having his makeup done: She wanted to have tea with only pretty princesses. So, we're being made into pretty princesses.

Prince: Uncle Shigeru can just sit. He's pretty enough already.

Yuichi and WD, insulted: WHAT THE FUCK!?

-Kirk anon

LOVE THAT PRINCE PROBABLY DOESN'T EVEN MEAN TO BE SASSY SHE'S JUST SAYING WHAT SHE THINKS IS THE TRUTH WAJHGFDFGHGF

[ryuuseini]

BEFORE THE BEGINNING for the ask game!

Oh my god a LOT goes on in this project but hm… rereading it, I think some backstory on who made Shinji (Paul) stupidly moody is in order. (For context - this is a pokemon anime angel!AU where Satoshi (Ash) is god and most characters are angels. Shigeru (Gary) got bored one day, ran into Shinji’s brother, and at his request, started talking to Shinji about religion. Og names are used but hopefully its easy to follow!!)

When Reiji arrived home with someone next to him, Shinji had assumed it was just another trainer his brother had business with. Considering that Shinji barely knew his clientele — more because he couldn’t give a damn about who dropped off what in their backyard than a lack of Reiji trying to include Shinji into the conversation — he tried shrugging it off, until Reiji called for his name. “This is Shigeru! Shigeru, this is my brother, Shinji. He’s a bit of a handful, but I think you can handle it.” To that, the brunette extended a hand towards Shinji, who ignored it and stared directly at his brother. “I don’t need anything,” he said in response. “I heard from Reiji that you don’t believe in god?” Oh fuck off.

[bugtransport]

Kamen Rider Stronger finished April 20, 2023

i forgot i finished this on 4/20. LONG POST WARNING!!

Okay, before I start this one, holy shit I’ve done so much since the last time I wrote one of these. Let me get back into the groove here. Stronger is in a weird spot where I feel like I have to recap a lot to talk about what I want to talk about so there’s going to be a lot of that. This one builds. Let me convince you that General Shadow is an interesting character.

AS ALWAYS: I’ll be dropping spoilers willy-nilly for like every series leading up to this + all of Stronger but there's an extra warning before the show ending spoilers. Thank you.

YIPPEE!

I know I've already owned up to it but at this point let's make it official... Showa Rider might be made for me? Every single time I try to think back about what I just watched to write about it I'm hit with the exact same thought: holy shit, that was SO fun. It is, it really is and always is. I had a blast, thanks. This is also the first time I've really felt like the way that I'm watching this (by starting at the very beginning and just blasting through season by season) has actually paid off! The past couple seasons have gotten interestingly experimental but Stronger feels like they were attempting to return to form while still using the knowledge they learned along the way. It's kind of adjacent to how V3 felt like '71 Rider refined; Jo Shigeru came in like "we are SO fucking back." 

The comparison between V3 and Stronger extends to the main characters too; I think that Kazami and Shigeru are more alike than not. We've been rotating protags (sans Hayato, sorry babe but you’re special in my eyes) in a pattern I've described as "sensory issues -> batshit -> wet" where for as much as I compared Hongo and Amazon to each other in the "the world is so loud and scary and I can't trust myself to not lash out and that scares me more" department I have to do the same for Kazami and Shigeru in the "hey boss, I'm gonna go fucking, I don't know, dig this bullet out of my shoulder with a knife I cleaned by spitting on it and then electrocute myself for funsies" department. Like okay, take a look at this list I whipped up here:

Both Kazami and Shigeru wanted to become borgs to avenge people who were dear to them and killed by the organizations in their respective series; Kazami for his family and Shigeru for his friend. Though Shigeru went straight to the source while Kazami tried to convince Hongo and Hayato to borg him first to no avail, you can’t tell me that Kazami didn’t jump into that beam and save the two of them and not think that might win him brownie points that he could then later use to convince the two of them that yes, this is the right thing to do and he would be a great addition to the team. 

Both of them have another Rider with them (I count Tackle!) who aren’t really… fully borged? Yuki isn’t for sure, he’s just got the arm; I’m not sure exactly whether or not Yuriko is a full borg because I don’t believe they straight up address that in the show but they sure didn’t address her like one and I’ve heard some things (...we’ll get into this later) that would lead me to believe that she was meant to be only partially there originally and get to full borgification by the end of the show. Both of them fought with the respective riders they were paired with. Also, both of their mouths are out in their suits! Very cute! 

Speaking of suits, both of them have very silly little suits that I don’t think anyone else in the series could pull off wearing. Imagine if Keisuke transformed into V3 or something. I think I’d cry looking at that. Hayato as Stronger? Man, he doesn’t have the sheer balls for that one. Sorry king…

Which of course leads me to: they’ve both got huge egos. I really don’t need to elaborate on this one, look at the shit the two of them pull… Kazami a little more in the physical department with the stunts he does and Shigeru socially with his cockiness, but you can see the comparison, right? 

And before we go on I think I need to clarify something: Shigeru jumping himself with his bike is very very real. That is actually a scene that happens. Anyway! I adore the way that the show started off and Shigeru and Yuriko had already been through their borg procedures and that the first time we meet them they're already fighting. It's a nice break from tradition! It feels fresh and new! I also think that it's one of the only ways that you could possibly sell how they borged Shigeru in a way that would make sense in a children's show. They gave him electric hands? Like, metal hands that he has to wear gloves over lest he fucking electrocute everyone? There had to have been an adjustment period there but by the time we meet him he's fine with things. I think this was probably the right call; while I love myself some good borg angst and it's interesting to see them adapt to their new lives and Ishinomori back me up here I think you would agree that exploring this idea is fun... for the way that Shigeru is borged specifically I think there's a little too much room for things to go south way too fast. Those two concepts can coexist in my mind. Can you imagine what it would have been like if he had tried to go swimming or something? 

After the first episode we do get a flashback in the second to exactly how Shigeru got borged which was basically:

Shigeru: [walks into Black Satan] hey I want to be on your side I love facism 

Scientists: ok what borgification u want

Shigeru: just fuck me up and make me stronger

Scientist: okay [electric hands]

Shigeru, Stronger: haha fuckin idiot I’m actually here for revenge! you killed my friend and I hate nazis. taste the powers you gave me [explodes them] 

And then he escapes, taking Yuriko (Tackle) with him. From the start he’s really cocky! My remark as I was watching the show was that he really feels like he can do anything because he just doesn’t give a shit about the social implications of anything that he does. Take him just walking into a lighthouse, getting stopped by the guard who works there, patting the guy down and being like “alright, well, you’re not a monster I guess,” and leaving. He’s silly and kind of rude to Tachibana (when he shows up) and has a “Who are you?” “What? Don’t you know who I am?” exchange with all the monsters he meets. He has a whole damn speech he does every time he transforms. It’s so good!

^ HE GOES :D

While this might have set Yuriko up to be the Female Straight Man (which she kind of is for him a little) she’ll rib Tachibana or the two of them will team up and slander a monster together. I love the way they interact… I think it helps them remain on pretty equal footing even though Shigeru is absolutely the primary fighter. He still leaves things to her and trusts her to do them. I don’t think she’s fully borged - she’s never referred to as such and instead gets the term… what’s it in English, electrowave human? So she can do special attacks and such. It kind of feels like a Taki type role but stronger? Not exactly; a lot of Taki’s importance in ‘71 Rider comes from the fact that he is fully human and able to keep up with them to contrast Hongo and Hayato, but Shigeru doesn’t have the same need to connect with his humanity as they do (being borged was his choice, after all) and as such I think Yuriko fits with him much better. If we let Tackle and Taki 1v1 I think Tackle would sweep. 

You see what I mean about Stronger seemingly learning from and refining the previous series? There’s not a way that I can talk about it without contrasting it – I think this is the point where I would stop and say that if you’re thinking about taking on the Grand Prix for yourself in full or in part and would like Stronger to be one of the series you watch to watch whichever of the series come chronologically before this that you are also interested in partaking before starting Stronger. I personally believe that there can be a lot of value in experiencing things in reverse order [<- guy who played the Layton series backwards and loved it] but also… I think that seeing things build up to Stronger as opposed to experiencing Stronger and then going behind the scenes to take a look at the building blocks is the way to go. Nowhere is that more apparently in my opinion than with: 

Hey man, what if the Generals fucked? 

^ he's calling the cops on me for that one

Maybe this was the part of the series I was most excited to talk about. Don’t worry about it. So far I’ve pitched Stronger like a continuation of ‘71 Rider to V3 which I’d say the main cast falls into; there’s not really a lot of the others in Shigeru… but if we’re talking villain generals? We’re talking X, baby. I think that meeting Apollo Geist first is absolutely essential if X is something you’re planning on watching (don’t watch X but like, watch X) so that you can see the fields from which Titan was grown. I have it on anecdotal evidence that doing things non-chrono and going back to watch X and therefore meeting Apollo Geist post Stronger feels a little underwhelming, but meeting Apollo Geist fresh off the heels of V3 feels correct and the ramp up in Stronger comes naturally. All of that to say: we’re back with the sexual tension, but it’s even more nuts this time. 

There’s one scene in X where civvie Apollo Geist shows up at Tachibana’s coffee shop and sits down at the counter to order. He asks where Keisuke is; Tachibana tells him that he’s out, and inquires as to how this man (who has not introduced himself) knows Keisuke. An old friend, perhaps? Apollo Geist shrugs – something like that. It feels like Titan took that scene and decided to build his entire goddamn character around it. 

^ man what the hell was this pick up line

Remember earlier when I mentioned that none of the monsters seem to know who Stronger is? That’s very much true, but Titan absolutely knows. He follows him around and smokes his stupid little cigarettes from his stupid little cigarette holder and just watches him. Titan’s obsessed with this man but whereas with Apollo Geist all the monsters were like “oh fuck yeah, let’s tie up X and drag him back, I’m sure that would make Apollo Geist happy,” it almost seems like Titan wants to keep Stronger for himself and just… doesn’t tell anyone about him. He’s possessive. He’s really intense about it. He is also using X-era techniques which didn’t even end up working against Keisuke to try and get Shigeru, of all people. It’s a fascinating strategy. The two of them follow each other to a concert and just stare at each other across the hall. Titan doesn’t really get his ass kicked, but he knows he’s not strong enough yet for Stronger. He upgrades himself. He fucking goes for it. And Titan… dies.

Well, let’s put a pin in that for a second. In any case, we need a new general, because that’s how these things go. Despite looking like a cross between an anatomical model, an astronaut, and the fucking Joker, Shadow is oddly compelling as a character to me in a way I have absolutely no idea how to describe or talk about? He’s not actually a part of Black Satan – he just kind of heard that Black Satan was fighting Stronger and was like “well shit, I want a piece of that, let me in,” and is just kind of here now. He proclaims so to Shigeru upon meeting him. Shadow really likes to play whatever game he thinks is going on by his own rules and he seems to have a blast doing so. He’s enigmatic, he’s fresh, he’s unlike any general that we’ve had before. His weird secretive nature almost makes him seem more like the leader type than the general type. Shigeru seems to understand that Shadow’s much more of a sinister threat than Titan, but doesn’t really seem to know what to do about it. 

Let me quickly detour you another time just to finish setting up this stage here: throughout my time watching Stronger I was also working on over easy, you know, that Donbros comic I made! Still really like that thing. I know I and others have joked about Tarou being Showa-coded and honestly if you were to pick him up and place him down in a 70’s Rider series I think he’d be right at home; I mentioned up top that Shigeru doesn’t seem to give a shit about societal expectations and while I think that Tarou gives a little more of a shit about the consequences (seems to have less of a grasp on how the implications actually work though) I’m fine putting them in a similar category. Did you know Inoue’s dad worked on Stronger? That’s a fun little fact for you. 

Okay, time to get back to the show. 

Titan gets one funeral (which Shigeru gets invited to in the funniest way, by just Being in a field while this was announced to him somehow) but it was kind of a flop and nobody showed up and they didn’t even manage to use it to capture Stronger, so they decide that he needs another one. It’s at this second funeral that Shigeru finds Titan laying in a casket on a bed of roses (yes, just like Shigeru has all over his outfit) and manages to prick his electric hand on one of them, bleeding like a human, directly onto Titan’s lips, who then revives, licks it, and becomes Hundred-Eyes Titan. Buildup’s over, this is where the mad yaoi really starts. 

You might now be understanding why I brought up Donbrothers earlier; yes, this scene shares really striking similarities with the time that Tarou got the juice sucked out of him at Sonoi’s funeral but even more homoerotic, because it’s actual blood?

Nevermind the actual Showa-era “how human are cyborgs, really” conversation that’s to be had both in the borg angst sense but also about the fact that he can bleed from his what-I’ve-been-presuming-to-be-metal hands. Again, calling back to X, it’s almost like that point after Apollo Geist got resurrected and was going to die unless he took one of X’s parts and put it in his heart, but this actually happened and wasn’t just theoretical. We’re going past where Apollo Geist got to. If first base is fighting the Rider and home base is actually killing them, I think Titan’s made it to second. Uh, but he’s got a problem getting to third. They’ve already brought in his replacement. There’s only one way to fix this one. 

Titan and Shadow Get Divorced 

Titan was kind of a flop in his first life. He’s been powered up a little more with Shigeru’s blood, but Shadow’s also been given Titan’s position pretty recently, and it would be a dick move to fire him. Look, usually the generals don’t come back unless the people they’re working for are the ones bringing them back, and they sure as shit weren’t doing that for Titan. Might as well just make them work it out together? For some reason the Black Satan leader seems to think this will work; really all it does is just instantly sets the two of them at each other's throats, and they begin to fight over Stronger.

They get exceptionally petty about it. Titan shows up, with a rose again, leading Stronger into a minefield, also strewn with roses, just to really rub in the whole “haha, your blood revived me” thing. Shadow at a couple points ends up straight up giving information to Shigeru so that he can get the upper hand on Titan. Shadow (who has a playing card theme, by the way, that’s his whole deal) shows Titan one of the cards that he just did a fortune reading with, and who else appears but Jo Shigeru, dripping wet, in the outline of the spade (cropped with the tail not showing) like he’s being framed in a heart. 

^ the way he looks at that card just takes me the fuck out every time

I feel like I’m losing my mind every time I think about the two of them. Titan staggers up a dune into the good ol’ Toku Desert, dragging himself to Shadow before Shadow kills Stronger so that he can have the pleasure of at least torturing him a little bit before he goes. Shadow pokes fun at Titan for being like “I’ll be the one to kill Stronger!” with a “are you sure you actually can?” and Titan, hand to my heart, blushes. 

Titan staggers up a dune into the good ol’ Toku Desert, dragging himself to Shadow before Shadow kills Stronger so that he can have the pleasure of at least torturing him a little bit before he goes. What the fuck?!

^ DIVORCED BITCHES REALLLLLL

Titan has his own hell! Titan has made his own hell and takes Shadow there to show off his accomplishments in a scene that I can only call “two socialites who desperately need a divorce” in which Titan plays the tired husband who’s got eyes for his secretary (Shigeru) but has to bring his bitch of a wife Shadow with him to work to show off just how much he does for this family while his bitch wife Shadow looks on, unimpressed, and thinks about also fucking his husband’s secretary (still Shigeru) or maybe killing his husband and taking the life insurance money, because there’s no way this plan of his will do anything but collapse down around him, which it does, and Titan once again dies as Stronger throws him back down the crevasse to this pit he’s quite literally dug himself. 

Watching the two of them interact is absolutely fascinating. Titan’s passion for Shigeru seems renewed and completely focused now that he has a rival, Shadow’s ignited something in him, and Shadow seems like he’s having fun playing around messing with Titan while enacting his own plans. Shadow turns out to be superstitious, and bases most of his decisions off readings that he does with his deck of cards, which adds an even more fun element to his character. This is the part of the show where he seems the most… I don’t want to say happy, but how about “in his element.” These are all some really good episodes of television and they’re a blast to watch. 

Black Satan leader susses out that Shadow’s up to some shit (don’t know how that could have happened, it’s not like he’s been telling everyone he meets or anything) and decides to try and bring in another General instead of letting Shadow lead. Shigeru gets captured, defeats the leader, and Shigeru and Yuriko are the FIRST RIDERS IN HISTORY TO CRACK OPEN A COLD ONE WITH TACHIBANA!! 

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL! THE END! 

LET’S GO TO DEMON WORLD! [SHOW END SPOILERS START HERE]

No, things aren’t actually over. This is where you can tell that things got rushed in production as (from what I’ve heard) ratings kind of tanked. Shadow brings in his friends from Demon World (where he lived before?) and decides to start a new army with them called the Delza Army, which he kind of leads. This is what he’s spent his time fighting with Titan and Shigeru and Black Satan secretly working towards - taking over the facilities that Black Satan already had and using them for his own new purpose. And sure, to do this, they need to kill Stronger, yeah. 

In much the same way that Titan and Shadow fought with each other, giving Stronger an edge, the Delza Army part of the show is mostly about these characters showing off their weaknesses through their bickering with each other, but there’s a whole fucking throng of them this time around. They each brought their own themed goons with them, and on multiple occasions the goons even begin fighting with each other while Stronger just kind of looks on in confusion and gets a clean path to the monster he’s actually looking to fight. This being backed by scenes of Shadow (somehow) drinking wine listening to one of his compatriots drone on and on makes it seem like he really misses being on the front lines?

^ look all i'm saying is that it looks like it's 2:55 and he's got another meeting with the guy this dude is bitching about at 3 to hear the other side of this story and he hasn't had lunch yet

The thing about the Delza Army is that it’s absolutely a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation. Shadow’s brought in a bunch of people with conflicting views and outrageous personalities and different fighting styles who spend half the time using him as HR to work out their interpersonal issues and he just seems… tired. He doesn’t seem like a guy who was cut out for management! This is not a new character type by any means, I could name so many characters who get into a position in their job and realize like “nah, actually, I was way happier where I was,” fucking Jim from The Office does it, but it’s a completely new role for any General and like also, this was what he was working for from the beginning. To finally get here and realize that actually, he doesn’t want this, is kind of weirdly fucked and not at all what I was expecting from this show. All of the characters around him have so much personality and character that they’re completely forgettable because of the oversaturation . They went an oddly adult angle with his character and I can’t tell if it’s at all intentional or if it just happened to turn out this way. I don’t personally think that this part of the show is as good as the part with Titan and Shadow fighting, but I feel like that decrease even more helps support the change in Shadow’s character, so it ends up wrapping around to working.

This is also the part where Yuriko dies. 

There’s not really much that I can say about that one other than the fact that I’ve heard she was supposed to be brought back later as a full rider this time but, because the show had to be cut, isn’t. I have a story in my mind where the rest of the guys – because they all come back at the end, they have to put on one last big show, and they’ve got a lot of science guys there – manage to jump her back to life in much the same way Shigeru did himself and transform her into a full cyborg, like I said earlier, and that she’d fully join the ranks. I know that there was talk of possibly making Taki V3 or even Riderman, which is another reason I compared the two up top. They could have done that without all of the additional angst that it would have caused the '71 cast to borg Taki since Yuriko's already been modified. It would have been so good... I’ll mention this again I’m sure come Skyrider post, but I really liked his little spotted scarf, mostly because it reminds me of Tackle’s suit. It’s like she did get to be with us in a way! 

From there on you get your usual show beats: as mentioned previously, all the previous riders show up which is very fun, they defeat Shadow (who kind of seems relieved to be going out, to be honest) and the rest of the Delza army, and then it’s time to fight the Leader.

^ Tachibana's really silly in this one and but it's the sweetest thing seeing his boys come back to him

The leader this time around is like, I think the quarry come to life? No, but for real: some kind of rock monster that has been pulling the strings of all the different groups that all the different riders have fought. It’s all the same guy behind the scenes. I’ll say it, I kind of appreciated that one as a “no matter what name you put to it, facism is facism” type thing? I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to interpret it that way. It feels kind of appropriate. The specifics of what they’re fighting change but the root cause and their aim is always the same; though there might be infighting between the groups, Kamen Rider is a show about punching Nazis at its core. 

^ and they all love Tachibana so much!

This is the last time (besides the little special) that we get to have Tachibana on the show. There’s a break between this one and Skyrider and you can absolutely feel it looming in the horizon as everyone rides off again. Despite that, Stronger’s a blast of a show! I think this is one where there are absolutely different ways you could watch it and I just managed to take the path where I ended up probably the most satisfied I could have been during the Delza part since I was just watching the degradation of a man in bureaucracy. Which is always, always fun. 

TO RECAP:

YES fuck yes I recommend Stronger, with the caveat I gave at the beginning that you should probably watch whichever shows chronologically come before this one that you’re interested in watching before you Tackle Stronger. 

Bu dum tss…

[terriwriting]

YES GOOD! BEAT THOSE FUCKING GERIATRIC FASCISTS WITH A STICK! MAKE THEM CRY!

The ruling coalition secured 215 of the 465 seats in the chamber, sharply down from 288, missing its goal of at least retaining a majority.

Komeito party chief Keiichi Ishii, who took the post only a month ago, lost his seat, becoming the first head of the coalition partner to suffer a defeat since 2009.

WHERE IS YOUR BUDDHA NOW YOU FUCKING BIGOT?

[erischeatsdeath]

bullet train moments i 🫶 adore part 3

[part 1/2]

-the white death saying, "i will look into your eyes as i kill you. and your brother," and shocking tangerine into silence even after his vulgar "your son and your money" speech. tangerine just mournfullly muttering, "my brother.." the childhood flashback?? what if i cried.

-"it's my bad luck-- it's bad luck on acid."

-the white death playing russian roulette. shigeru staring into the barrel of the gun knowing he's lost.

"what's your plan, mate? you gonna fucking waltz up in here and blow my brains out in front of this whole fucking carriage of-- witnesses!" and then turning around to find the whole train empty 💀

-ladybug CONSTANTLY shit-talking carver. "carver? you picked me second to carver? man, what an ego! calling in sick, what is this, high school? 😡 talk about a candidate for self improvement 🙄" "fuck this job! fuck carver!" "if you meet a guy named carver, he's a dick... tell him i said so."

-THE KIMURA NURSE ASSASSIN

-ladybug flushing the boomslang down the toilet with his jacket.

-lemon pointing the gun at prince and complimenting her acting skills 😭

-TANGERINE JUMPING ON THE TRAIN AND BREAKING THE WINDSHIELD. literally iconic.

-maria calming ladybug down after the hornet incident!! >>>

-"tell tangerine that.. tell tangerine.. tangerine.. he's got-- tangerine."

-the dramatic ass howling sound effect when ladybug says, "so the wolf was here to kill the hornet.."

-the little quirk in prince's eyebrows when she tells lemon, "just lucky, i guess"

-tangerine's disheveled, pissed off walk (channing tatum saying "god, he's got a great walk")

-"everyone.. loves lemons--" [fucking passes out]

-shigeru saying some serious shit into his phone thinking yuichi still has it only for ladybug to go "i think yuichi dropped his phone on the bullet train--" and tell him him about tangerine's find my phone app. then hanging up on him.

-"DON'T-- CALL ME-- BRO!!" being the last words of the scariest most dangerous crime boss in the world 😭

-ladybug stealing the wolf's knife and using it to save lemon <33

-"oh, the cat's out the bag now, innit?" [...] "you know, i don't know a thing or two about being a parent, but you know what i would do? being that it's your son, and your money, i'd stop crying about your dead wife, get off your fucking lazy arse, and finish the job yourself. but now that we're having a little heart-to-heart, i've got a couple things to tell ya! your sons a complete bellend and he fucking deserves to be bleeding out of his eye sockets. and as for your case, i have seen it since tokyo, and i hope someone's found it, put it all on red, and is having a fucking wonderful time!" "i will meet you at kyoto station." "oh, how fucking wonderful, i can't wait!

-THE PART WHERE LADYBUG GETS BIT BY THE BOOMSLANG. LADYBUG FLAILING AROUND SCREAMING?? shigeru blankly watching and prince going, "... was that a snake?"

-the shot of shigeru at the station waiting for the train. he's so badass actually.

-everyone saying cool one-liners before/after kills (or attempts) and ladybug just saying dumb shit like "let this be a lesson on the toxicity of anger.." and a defeated, confounded "karma's a bitch--!"

-shigeru stopping when he hears the prince say "be honest" and remembering the voice on the phone. him sitting down next to them and ladybug being so confused and so exhausted.

-THE FUCKING WATER BOTTLE

-"we're on the wrong track!" and everyone-- ladybug, lemon, the white death's men etc.-- bracing as the trains collide. the whole sequence when the train is half-destroyed.

-i love the soundtrack, actually. just though i'd mention it.

-prince frantically running by ladybug going, "i'll fucking kill him myself!" and ladybug's "??"

[sushispider1212]

Shigeru constantly using his knowledge/college class in psychology to fuck with Akira, some examples being:

-Handing him random objects/trash while on the phone (weirdest object was a skull of an unknown animal, Akira doesn’t know where Shigeru got it from and is terrified)

-Leading Akira to random spots when he is too busy ranting to notice Shigeru is taking him somewhere (he was once taken to the edge of a cliff and left there)

-Giving Akira candy/treats when he does something Shigeru likes (genuinely this fucks with people so much when you randomly stop doing it, which is what Shigeru did, basically trained him like a dog and Akira was so upset when he figured it out)

-Learning Akira’s body movements and mirroring him at random times, it unconsciously makes him uncomfortable

-Staring intensely at a random part of Akira’s face then wiping that spot on his own to make Akira think he has something wrong with him

-Mentioning something random and often wrong things about Akira’s appearance and then promptly saying “But don’t worry, you can hardly notice it.”

-Staring at his forehead intensely when having conversations, it really freaks Akira out

-Asking Akira if he’s ever gotten Deja vu, then asking it again a while later

And the list goes on, Akira is absolutely terrified of Shigeru because he knows he’s being messed with, he just doesn’t know how to spot it when it happens, or when it’ll happen next. (lemme know if you have any other ideas of what this asshole (loving) has done to Akira)

Oh please that’s hilarious.

I imagine Shigeru just occasionally moves things around, but only slightly, and denies it was ever moved. It was always like that, what are you talking about?

Or like randomly texting Akira “remember”, leading Akira to wonder what the hell he is supposed to be remembering.

[metatextuality]

first lines meme

Rules: Share the first line of your last ten published works or as many as you are able to, and see if there are any patterns!

tagged by @whetstonefires!

(Last ten published works, huh? That does rather narrow it down...)

1. The Man Who Would Not Stop for Death – a short, pulpy original noir scene for The Merry Whump of May.

The problem with discovering your payday is committing felonies — apart from the fact that they're committing felonies at all, of course — is that your odds of getting paid take a sharp downturn.

2. The Man and the Moon – a longform noir serial in which the same protagonist finds himself attempting to apply hardboiled rationalism to cosmic horrors from beyond the stars.

Chicago is an improvement over Hoboken, which should paint a sufficiently damning picture of both cities.

3. To Serve Satan: Miss deManners' Guide to the Heavenly Host – a Good Omens short about Crowley's methods that came to me fully-formed in a dream, so I'm not sure I should be counting it, but it did probably come from my brain technically so what the hell.

"Would either of you like something off the dessert trolley, sirs?"

For once, it was Crowley who looked up with such sudden diamond-bright joy that it cut.

4. But Be the Serpent Under ’t – an AU of my own pirate noncon epic in which Captain Crowley possesses one of his captors.

When Crowley finally died, it came almost as an anticlimax.

5. The Seas Incarnadine – the aforementioned epic pirate noncon fic, which I stg I am going to finish one of these days. (This sentiment also applies to every other unfinished fic on this list.)

This whole piracy lark had, in retrospect, gone a bit further than intended.

6. Conversant With Terrible Objects – DC mirrorverse character study of Owlman in the form of filthy, filthy phone sex with Superwoman.

The Crime Syndicate believed that Owlman loved Gotham City, when they credited him with the ability to love at all.

7. Black-Clad Bats and Making Money – the one where John Mulaney becomes the Riddler™

You may recognise me as the man who programmed — because that’s what being a game programmer gets you, instant celebrity, like Shigeru Miyamoto and the guy who invented Tetris — you may recognise me as Edward Nigma, the man who programmed Labyrinth of the Minotaur, a bestselling game whose apparent claim to fame is that it is unwinnable.

8. Crowskin – the one where Owlman catches an Australian magpie like a fuckin' baseball.

“What,” uttered Johnny Quick, “the fuck.”

9. Those Who Fight Monsters – a casefic wherein the mirror-universe Riddler deals with the moral dilemma of rescuing Owlman's favorite child assassin.

You would think, thought Edward Nigma, crouching behind the wall of shipping containers he’d scaled partway up for a better vantage point, that criminals would find somewhere else to conduct their business.

10. King's Gambit – DC mirrorverse fic where Lex Luthor and Sinestro discuss rationalism and then kiss (and then try to reverse-engineer God so they can use him as a nuke)

“Good news,” said Sinestro as he pulled away. “You’ll probably keep the eye.”

So the first thing I notice is that I like to open with an immediate, snappy Establishing Character Moment, usually in a close POV. That's probably related to the fact that my usual catalyst for writing down a scene I've been building up in my head is finding an opening hook that I like too much not to use, and which leads naturally into my mind expanding on it for another few paragraphs whether I want it to or not; also to the fact that most of my fic is character-centric, and almost always written in a POV limited to the inside of the viewpoint character's head even when it's in third person.

Something I wasn't expecting from this selection of opening lines – and possibly this is a pattern that would be broken if I included some of my many, many unpublished WIPs – is how many of these take a tongue-in-cheek jab at a significant aspect of the story itself. I don't think it's a matter of being convinced of my own metafictional cleverness, nor of being unconfident in my premise and seeking to lampshade it before the reader gets a chance to notice the cracks themselves...more that my favorite characters tend to be those that overthink everything, in part because I find it a relatable trait. Hmm.

Let's pull in a few of my closest-to-publishable WIP openings, for the hell of it:

My mother, may G-d bless her because he certainly hasn't given her much to work with so far, named me Sidney Solomon Jacobi.

--

"Y'know Sandra Nylund?" I ask, winding my way through the bullpen to my desk, where I navigate the organised chaos of notes and reports until I find the file I'm looking for.

--

The new navigator arrived on the HMS Essex's eighth day in port.

--

The thing about alcoholism was that it was perfectly socially acceptable to drink yourself to death.

--

The second time someone called him, she had Owlman tied to the bed.

Okay, yeah, I'm figuring that pattern's probably just a weird coincidence. Interesting that it worked out that way, though.

Tagging off the top of my head: @punishandenslavesuckers @anneapocalypse @weird-mcgee – and anyone else who sees this, consider yourself tagged as well!

[silverynight]

I think it I’ll be funny where Takeo would be the older brother that will be like

Shigeru: can you heat some water for me too?

Takeo: fuck you

Shingeru: well dam

(Later)

Takeo: Its in the kitchen

Shingeru: thank you :) I love you🩷

Takeo: …(mumbles) love you too

Shingeru: what was that

Takeo: nothing (leaves)

Kinda like a Tsundere but in sibling love

Bet he was exactly like that when Tanjirou was busy selling charcoal.

[cynfuldelights]

I've also been thinking about Shigeru Mizuki's Showa: A History of Japan, a manga series that focuses on the author's experiences living through Imperial Japan and fighting in WW2 for the Japanese. So far the biggest takeaway for me is the fact that history truly is written by the victors. Here in the US our perception of the war pretty much only exists for as long as we've been in it. They don't really teach about what happened in the leadup to WW2 very often (even though I feel like that's a lot more important)

And this comes up extensively in Showa. Mizuki emphasizes that by the time America entered the war, Japan had been conquering Asia for years. They didn't just become an empire in a day or two, this went on for so long that a good portion of Mizuki's childhood was spent with his country at war.

Why? Because Japan was suffering. It went through the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 followed by economic troubles, one after another, each bad in their own right but altogether created a situation where even farmers had nothing to eat. The country was destitute and desperate. Ultimately, right-wing ultranationalists began to blame the excess and progress of the leftists. The Japanese people just wanted a country they could have faith in again and they ate up their nationalistic rhetoric. Militarists took power; authoritarianism and fascism began to take hold.

It's depressing, it's wrong, it sucks but is it any surprise they proceeded to invade China? The rest of East Asia?

Why do we as Americans feel like this history isn't important? We get so stuck on the battles, the events, the bombs, everything involving us. Nothing involving how this happened. We're given one or two cut or dry reasons, Nazis invaded Poland, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Nothing about what allowed fascists to take power in both countries.

Even though Germany and Japan were half a world apart similar events; national tragedy, stacking economic crisis, and a broken people, led to a very similar conclusion. Fascists taking advantage. An oppression of the people. War. Everyone suffering.

But nah kids, let's read about Pearl Harbor again. Let's justify the bombs again.

Fucking bullshit.