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vivid-bad-brainrot · 27 days ago

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Feel free to rant about VBS WL2 gang I gotta know now

why vbs wl2 is bad - a pathetic little rant

HIHI thank you for giving me an opportunity to rant holy moly do I have thoughts on vbs wl2..... most of them negative uhhhhh I think what I liked about it was Touya's chapters. they were probably the strongest (actually if I have to rank them on best to worst it bed touya--->an--->kohane--akito). I did enjoy an's whole "it was selfish of me to have dragged Kohane into this" spiel because its something that means a lot to her character and I cried from joy when she was talking about it!! The only think I liked in Kohane's chapter was the whole "it felt nice to BE an's partner" because that mentality stems from insecurity, which again, I wish her chapters dove into more.

Pretty much: I feel like this event wasn't individually character driven enough??? obviously these stories ARE angstbait written by a corporation to get money but we KNOW that PRSK is capable of making stories that are so impactful and beautiful so when they churn out slop like this its kinda insulting yk????? akito would hate the PRSK writers please stop half assing this!!!

most criticism I've seen for this even were "it only focused on the aibous!!!!!" and while that is a valid complaint that's not what made the event so ass. To me, the whole aibous braking up schtick wasn't a lame idea, it's actually really compelling! The main issue is that we didn't LEARN anything new about these characters from how they were acting (except maybe touya. Touya's chapter felt like a genuine character study of him and the fact that it focused more on his relationship with MUSIC primarily is what made it so strong for me!!!

i don't wanna be a whole "why is the author acting like he know so much" but genuinely the way an and akito's chapters were handled.... didn't feel right to me. Akito especially because WHY did he go to America (to get a fresh start???? bro IDK at least touya had a REASON to go to Austria) where he has no connections and cant speak a lick of English?? What was the point of sending him to America if all it did was give us the whole "hey Akito wanna team up" "no" thing??? Personally, I think it would have been stronger if it focused on the original fallout between akitoya (also. WHY THE HELL ARE THEY IN THEIR THIRD ANNI OUTFITS LIKE HAS THAT MUCH TIME PASSED???? I think that amount of time passing hinders the emotional impact also it poses a lot of logistic issues for the whole "it was all a dream" thing but I will get into that later BYE) if they really wanted to go down the America route, I think it did have a LOT going for it.... the writers kinda just did nothing with it? I want to see Akito transitioning from a community-driven-place to NEW YORK FUCKING CITY.... I want him to think this change will be so good for him only for him to totally realize he screwed up. He is a sixteen year old boy!!! Give him an actual REASON to go home because I don't think he'd give a fuck if some random guy from Kamiyama hit him up like what????? (Same goes for touya, in my rewrite I make TSUKASA call him and ask for him to visit! why would he go back for a random guy from school????). Also, we SAW how badly Akito overworked himself in sbd when he isolated himself from touya and vbs. He should NOT be okay in a touya-less world this early game!!!! He's all alone in America goddammit!!!! Touya told him that his dream is bulshit this kid is about to dedicate his life to proving him wrong!!!!!! Anyways. Sorry Akitos chapters pissed me off BAD and Akito is the character I care least about in vbs that's how you know its bad.

moving on to AN's chapters and.... Let's be real, the moment I saw that An's chapters were both five minutes long I knew this event was gonna be bad. First off, I thought an accepting Kohane's break up was pretty interesting (because she has the ingrained idea in her head that Kohane will inevitably leave her, so an is honestly thriving off of the skill gap. can we pls talk about how this kid manages to have both a superiority complex and an inferiority complex at the same time???) but then I thought. Hey. this is AN SHIRAISHI girl you need to fight for your partner!!! Obviously an is emotionally mature enough to know "hey, if singing is gonna make Kohane wanna die I probably shouldn't push her to do it right????" But I would like to see An, who wants to be so so cool in front of Kohane, become completely desperate!! I need to see her go through the five stages of grief within 10 minutes over this girl she's formed a codependent relationship with and known for like two weeks!!! Again, this is where the time skips hinder the emotional impact a lot. ALSO. WHAT WAS THAT SHIT ASS ADVICE THAT KEN GAVE HER??? HELLO??? KEN????????? I believe that after kiuan they replaced ken with his evil twin because this guy is bulshitting parenting (which again. I would like to explore how ken has slowly morphed more into a mentor figure than a father figure but that's a 20k word fic for another time) An: "Hey dad I feel like I cant sing right ever since Kohane left" Ken: "Move forward" An: "Type shit" bro. that literally did not progress the plot at all I'm fucking crying. Anyways, An shiraishi in an aibou breakup scenario probably has the most going for her . can she please realize that her self worth is tethered to everyone she's been attached to??? That she's been chasing shadows her entire life???? Can we take a look on her relationship with music and how its shaped her into who she is??? CAN WE PLEASE DIVE INTO THE CONCEPT OF BEING NATURALLY GIFTED VS HAVING TO WORK TO EARN SKILL????? BECAUSE SHES BEEN TOLD HER ENTIRE LIFE THAT SHE'S A NEPO BABY SO---

Sorry. Anyways. There many possibilities for an abandonment issues shiraishi. ten minutes didn't do shit him sorry.

ok okay and then kohane's chapter was suchhhh a nothingburger it was kind of sad I genuinely don't remember a single thing that happened in that chapter because it was a whole lot of the same sentiment repeated like 10 times. Anyways the route that I would have taken with her chapter was her feeling totally hopeless/?? In my rewrite at least I'm making her jump fully into academics to study and get a "safe" job to counteract her time w/ an. or even better Kohane still yearns for that connection she had with an, she still WANTS to feel special. like hear me out what if anhane were friends, but not singing partners. what if kohane's dreams are literally at arm's length and she refuses to take the leap and try again?? how would an feel about this?? but no lets make her talk to ichika and then make her think about an without diving too deep into her underlying insecurities of course!! /sar.

Also I wonder what the heck was going on in the street sekai when all of this was going down????? like is it falling apart?? are rin and len arguing all the time now???? When An and Akito talk they are all "I'm gonna surpass rad weekend" AKITO HASNT FESSED UP TO COVERING FOR KOTARO'S SABOTOGE YET BTW. LIKE AN SHOULD BE KICKING HIM IN THE BALLS BECAUSE IN HER HEAD *HE* IS THE REASON KOHANE BROKE UP W HER oh my gof

okay and then we get to the part of the event that truly made this event abysmal. I can accept lazy writing but the "it was all a dream" thing was just straight up BAD WRITING???? If their clothes are telling me anything, these characters have been in this "dream" FOR OVER A YEAR. MONTHS HAVE PASSED. you're telling me that when they find out they've been living a dream that felt so real their reaction is "hm.... I wonder if kens coffee will taste in this dream?" EXCUSE ME????? THIS IS MAKING ME SO MAD I MIGHT BREAK MY KEYBOARD. BUDDY YOU HAVE BEEN DREAMING FOR OVER A YEAR WHERE THE FUCK IS YOUR EXISTENTIAL CRISIS??????? and then when they get out of the dream they are like "wow I'm so glad that isn't real" ??????? HELLO???? I did enjoy what an said "well that was sad but doesn't it make you happy knowing that we all come together no matter what happens????" WHY IS NOBODY CRYING> BOY. and then everything that happens in this event has ZERO implications for the plot. it will never be mentioned again. hello. genuinely what.

if anyone read this through I am so sorry I put you through that but that sums up why I'm 20k words into a rewrite lmaooooo please tell me ur thoughts!!!!!!!!!!!

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kikokus · 1 year ago

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Lucci and Kaku: An Analysis

I haven’t done long analysis/meta/essay-style posts in a while, but after seeing a comment that amounted to “every time Lucci’s shown an interest in something that doesn’t have to do with killing, Kaku’s involved” it made me think about whether or not that's true and, more specifically, whether or not there’s been sufficient build-up to justify what happens in Chapter 1111.

So let’s explore, shall we?

First of all, basic disclaimer that I’ve been heavily into One Piece since 2008 and Water 7 has been my favorite arc since the first time I read it that summer. Kaku, in turn, has always been one of my top characters in the entire series for various reasons…but this isn’t about him (at least, not entirely), so all of that is just to say that I’ve thought about these characters a lot over the years.

And I think what always struck me about them is that not only are they so fundamentally different, but that realistically Lucci should not tolerate Kaku at all. He’s pretty much everything Lucci’s not, and they’re more-or-less a perfect example of the ‘someone will die…of fun!’ meme in a lot of ways (and honestly it’s what I think of every time I see this card, but I digress):

At the same time, what happened in the latest chapter didn’t surprise me, because there’s been hints all along, and I’ve personally been waiting years for it to pay off…even though part of me thought it never would, or at least not in the way it did!

Still, how did we get here?

But First, A Bit About 相棒

So. Why is the fact that Lucci calls Kaku his “相棒” (aibou) so significant? Mostly because of the…individualistic meaning of the word. It literally translates to ‘partner’, but not in a romantic/life-partner way (not to say that it has never been used like that, but it’s not the inherent meaning of the word).

Unlike words such as 友人 (yuujin), 友達 (tomodachi), and of course, with Luffy, 仲間 (nakama), aibou generally only refers to one person. You can have many friends, teammates, crew members…but only one aibou. So by calling Kaku that, Lucci’s already placing him on a different level to anyone else in CP9 or CP0 and acknowledging openly that Kaku’s important enough to him to have earned that distinction.

Which is why a lot of us were very excited about it, since this is not a common occurrence where Lucci’s concerned.

That aside, let’s get to the actual canon content.

Water 7

Obviously at the beginning we find out they both work at the shipyard, but that in and of itself isn’t entirely significant…until you consider that, since Kalifa is pretty much with Iceburg all the time and Blueno’s running the bar, the two of them are working in much closer proximity to each other than to the other CP9 members in the city.

The first real indication we get regarding their comfort level with each other comes in chapter 327 when Kaku gets back from examining the Merry and goes to sit down to explain what he’s discovered. Paulie’s the closest to him, but he actually ends up stepping past both him and Lucci in order to sit directly beside Lucci on the same level.

It’s quite a while before we see the two of them alone again, and it doesn’t happen until chapter 339 when they’re speaking with Robin. Of course at the time we’re not supposed to know it’s them, but there’s really nobody else it can be since this is happening at the exact same time that Blueno’s talking with Franky and Kokoro at the bar. So, as will become fairly common, the two of them are again acting as a unit of their own within the larger group.

And then, of course, we get the infiltration of the mansion prior to The Big Reveal (which I’ve spoken about before because for me it’s still the single greatest reveal in the entire manga because of how carefully crafted it is, right down to Kaku’s limited dialogue in this section being completely devoid of his usual speech quirks in the original Japanese text). Once again, Blueno and Kalifa are doing their own things while these two are working together.

This panel has always been interesting to me because immediately prior to this Lucci says he can’t let Paulie live, and then he decides to just restrain him instead. In Luffy’s case it makes sense because they gave their word to Robin not to harm the Strawhats, but he has absolutely no reason to spare Paulie, and the little lines of shock/surprise beside Kaku imply that he hadn’t expected Lucci to do that, either. The ‘why’ is still unclear, but it’s interesting nonetheless, and it’s also…noteworthy that it’s the only thing Lucci asks Kaku to do. All of the actual damage Paulie takes comes from Lucci and he never asks for or expects Kaku to harm him.

I never connected these two panels before but it’s obviously very deliberate to have Lucci telling Iceburg that feeling emotions is a sign of humanity followed immediately by Kaku…demonstrating exactly that and thanking Iceburg. It’s important to establish that part of Kaku’s character, but keep in mind Lucci’s lack of a reaction here because it’ll come back later.

Again, very tiny moment, but there’s a lot of examples of Lucci deferring to Kaku or letting him take the lead without any hesitation, and I like this because Kaku’s noticed something that Lucci hasn’t and Lucci just goes with it immediately.

I’d forgotten about this but Kaku’s also the one that decides to take Usopp with them, first by recognizing him as one of the Strawhats and then going through with it even after finding out he doesn’t consider himself a part of them anymore. And Lucci just…stands back and lets him give out orders to the others while doing so.

Okay so this is what I was referencing earlier. Kaku shows actual emotions with Iceburg and Lucci’s silent, but the moment Kalifa gets even slightly happy about completing the mission he’s berating her instantly. Kaku’s expression here is interesting too because he looks absolutely haunted and it’s very telling.

And also another visual representation of Lucci and Kaku being equal to/on the same level as each other.

I didn’t include the panel but Kaku was ‘sleeping’ when Corgi was giving them all of the information about Nero while Lucci was (seemingly) wide awake, and yet Lucci has no idea who he is and relies on Kaku to have all the information. Which he does.

Kaku being the one to take charge again and direct the others even though Lucci’s standing right there. They do this more than I’d realized at first, especially since Lucci always seems to be looked at as the unofficial ‘leader’ of CP9.

Enies Lobby

We’ve made it to Enies Lobby, which is the first glimpse we get of these two interacting with the full CP9 group outside of any sort of ‘mission’ environment.

Mostly it entails Lucci being more combative (especially with Jabra) and Kaku being more annoyed, but again I can’t really imagine anyone else taking this tone with Lucci and getting away with it while Kaku does it fairly often and Lucci never retorts or gets angry with him.

And while Kaku’s not immune to taking Jabra’s bait in the right circumstances, his typical tendency is to de-escalate situations if he can and here he’s refusing to engage despite being deliberately called out…and Lucci, without being asked, immediately takes his side and defends his choice.

This is practically the next panel and while both Lucci and Jabra are kind of equally at fault for this little display, Kaku only berates Jabra for it while Kalifa’s directing her comments at both of them.

Now that I’m actually looking for these sorts of things it’s becoming more obvious, but again we have Lucci and Kaku in an equal position to each other at the front of CP9.

This isn’t just to Kaku since Kalifa’s there as well, but Lucci’s still encouraging them to eat the fruits and I have to believe it’s coming from a place of good faith because he’d know whether or not being able to swim is that big an issue in their profession. I also want to note that Kaku echoes Lucci’s ‘it’ll be fun’ line when he actually does eat his fruit, so obviously that resonated with him.

I’ve put these two together because they both highlight the same thing, that being in both of these sequences we get almost all of CP9 giving out their individual thoughts/comments on what’s happening but Kaku’s statement both times is a direct reply to what Lucci says, so again the two of them are paired off in a way that doesn’t include anyone else there.

The only other thing of note in this section is that while Robin’s talking about what happened during the Buster Call on Ohara, Kaku and Lucci are the only CP9 members to kind of…break formation and actually look at her while she’s speaking, which is interesting.

And for the rest of Enies Lobby they aren’t together so there’s not too much more to say here other than Kaku of course being the one to have the actual key to Robin’s cuffs, but it’s never made explicit who came up with that plan or handed out the keys so…if I ever actually do the thing and write a full analysis of Kaku’s character we can talk about it then Lark you’ve been saying you’ll do this for years IF I EVER--

Interlude - CP9’s Independent Report

Besides the fact that this is still one of my favorite cover stories, there’s a couple of noteworthy things here, the first of which is that Kaku again is taking the lead. Even though he’s the only other CP9 member other than Lucci to be injured badly enough that he can’t walk on his own, he’s still the one directing them where to go.

Other than that, I love seeing all of them just…interacting like friends and being very relaxed and casual, and pretty much every panel where Kaku and Lucci are together they’re directly beside each other so I’ve included a bunch of those here.

Dressrosa & Egghead

The next time we see Lucci and Kaku is at the end of Dressrosa, where they’ve been promoted to CP0 Oda can we please get some explanation of how this happened and let me tell you, I remember this vividly because the spoilers at the time just said that Lucci was talking to ‘someone’ and when the raws came out you can bet I went right to the dialogue to see if it was Kaku because his way of speaking is so telling.

But even in this little scene, we can see they’re having an equal conversation and there’s a major difference between how Lucci’s speaking with Kaku and how he addresses Spandam mere seconds later.

After this we have the Reverie/Levely/what-even-is-this-thing-called arc where they get all of a single panel together and while it’s the first time we actually ‘see’ Kaku after the time-skip, nothing really interesting regarding their relationship happens, so let’s move on to…

The end of the colored manga! And Egghead.

We start with a very familiar situation: Lucci asking Kaku what’s going on, and while Kaku this entire arc seems more outwardly annoyed with Lucci than he ever was in the past (which is never really explained but then again, Lucci spends a lot of the arc doing things he’s specifically been told not to do, so maybe it’s understandable…), he still has all the information and relays it.

Though Kaku’s also much more comfortable letting his real personality show despite them being on a mission while before he was always completely serious after the Water 7 reveal, especially around Lucci. It came through with Zoro and Jabra but during the cover story he’s smiling and laughing a lot with Lucci right there so it makes sense he’d be more willing to let his guard down even ‘on the job’ by now.

So here’s the first real instance of Lucci showing concern for Kaku, something which escalates pretty quickly throughout the arc. It’s subtle, and though he’s framing it as a suggestion to Stussy, if he didn’t care at all he wouldn’t have said anything.

At this point it’s fairly obvious that Lucci and Kaku don’t really have any authority difference between them and Kaku spends a lot of time in this chapter especially telling Lucci to Not Do The Thing. Anyone that’s ever lived with a cat knows how well this works.

I’ve always found this bit of dialogue particularly interesting because Kaku’s very openly…praising Sentomaru for choosing his loyalty to Vegapunk over assisting the government, and there’s no way Lucci doesn’t hear him say this but he doesn’t say anything in return. There’s no real evidence that Lucci knows about Kaku willingly giving up the key to Zoro or how conflicted he was about Paulie and everyone else, but this seems to imply that at the very least, even if he doesn’t share those sentiments, he wouldn’t think less of Kaku because of it.

Putting these two together since they’re in the same scene but at this point it’s not even subtle concern anymore, Lucci’s genuinely worried for Kaku and you can tell this caught him off-guard.

Kaku’s the first one to suggest working together but Lucci immediately backs him up and goes with the idea. It’s logical in the sense that it’ll give them the biggest chance to survive, but willingly working with pirates isn’t exactly the sort of thing that Lucci, especially in the past, would have so easily done regardless of the situation.

So at this point it’s becoming clear that this whole 4-v-2 section is supposed to be the most…light-hearted thing going on right now and a lot of it is played to be comedic, including Lucci’s inability to lie, but yet again there’s almost nobody else that could get away with scolding him the way Kaku’s doing here.

…And then we skip ahead a day and things happen that I really hope get explained at some point because they seem important, but while Lucci’s never going to have impeccable bedside manner, he’s very concerned with getting Kaku to rest and while Kaku’s trying to justify what happened Lucci really doesn’t seem to care about that. It’s a big departure from him being willing to write off anyone he deems ‘too weak’ and it’s a nice character moment.

I’d mentioned on my liveblog that some of the things Lucci was doing after this point were confusing, but if you look at them through the lens of him wanting to protect Kaku, it makes a lot more sense. Yes, he’s deliberately keeping him out of the loop, but Lucci I think has decided that he’s going to throw caution to the wind and act alone since if Kaku can’t prove he knew about the plan, he’s probably safer being left with the Strawhats, and if the Marines show up he should be safe anyway or so Lucci thinks…

When this chapter came out, I’d said something about Lucci being a hypocrite considering what the rest of CP9 did for him when they could have easily just left him at Enies Lobby, but given what happens almost directly after and likely what he’s trying to do with this entire fight, these words feel even less genuine…

And that brings us to this. The moment that I’ve been thinking about for almost an entire week now. The moment that, looking back at…oh, wow…almost 3000 words of analysis maybe shouldn’t be as surprising as it was for most of us, but it does feel like the payoff for a long, long buildup that’s taken nearly twenty years to reach. Because really, there’s no other way to describe them other than ‘partners’, and probably hasn’t been for a long time…and I’m so glad that Lucci acknowledged it.

To summarize, I think what surprised me most about re-visiting all of this is how much the manga has framed them as equals since the beginning even though it was never explicitly stated between the characters themselves. Lucci’s always been far more lenient with Kaku than with anyone else, and Kaku in turn has never had any fear of Lucci even if he wasn’t really expressing his true self with him for a long time.

The cover story being the turning point makes perfect sense, and the progression throughout Egghead of Lucci being more outwardly willing to show his concern and Kaku not hiding his emotions at all seems like a natural progression of their relationship and their level of comfort around each other.

And the fact that Oda is never really…hitting us over the head with any of it until that final moment when Lucci says everything so plainly because Kaku’s life is the most important thing to him even when faced with a literal monster… It’s so effective.

I don’t know where we go from here. To be honest, I’m kind of scared of where we go from here. But regardless of the outcome, I hope this little essay has been at the very least interesting and perhaps allowed you to look at these two in a different light.

Thanks for reading.

#one piece #opspoilers #rob lucci #kaku #meta #analysis #i forgot about the 30 photo limit so I had to get creative here but #3k words of me examining their relationship sure happened

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project-sekai-facts · 2 years ago

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How are we feeling about ensekai’s emu3 translation!!! (I’m mad)

(if you remember the 3 whole posts i made when asahi got de-gayed on EN you'll know i am mad too and that this is probably going to get long)

i don't like to be too cynical but it was so obvious that they were going to change that line, i had a feeling since the event first released on JP and after the incident with Asahi where I went through and tracked down multiple other examples of EN removing queer subtext it became clear to me that in no way shape or form was "emu-chan really loves nene-chan" making it to EN without getting changed. what i didn't expect was them changing Nene's line after Luka's comment, which actually makes this whole situation far worse than many of their other instances of toning down queer subtext.

for anyone who isn't aware of what happened, in chapter 5 of the current Emu event, there's a scene where Nene, Rui and the Virtual Singers are talking about what would cheer Emu up. The vsingers all talk about how much Emu loves spending time with Nene, leading to the following exchange

If you look for them, any fan TL of this scene will be something similar to this:

Luka: ...Fufu. Emu-chan really loves Nene-chan, doesn't she? Nene: Th-that's nothing special...

EN's official translation is this:

So what's the issue? I'll start with Luka's part. In the original text, she uses the word daisuki, which can mean to "like a lot" or "love". It's a word you will see frequently in the idol/idol-adjacent genre of games, due to its ambiguity in that it can be read as either platonic or romantic when used towards a person, and often will be used in ambiguous situations so that it's harder to confirm the writers' intentions either way. so here, fans of the emu/nene ship could view the fact that emu loves spending her time with nene as more on the romantic side, but people who don't like the ship could view it as platonic and move on.

while they didn't translate daisuki directly, Luka's line still works, and still contains the ambiguity that works as ship tease in the original text. it's a perfectly fine localisation that still conveys the original intent. despite that, there is something to be said about EN's consistent refusal to translate daisuki as love in most instances when it's not used on An/Kohane (but then again, EN has literally teased An/Kohane on their twitter account so is it all that surprising?).

Here's some examples:

Aibou no koto ga daisuki de / he loves his partner -> he cares about his partner very much (The Power of Unity chapter 7 when Kaito is comparing Arata to Akito and Toya)

HARUKA-CHAN, DAISUKI DAYOOOO!!! / HARUKA-CHAN, I LOOOOOVEEE YOU!!! -> You're the best!!! (Dear Me, As I Was Back Then chapter 4 when minori is at an ASRUN concert. this one isn't actually that great of a localisation)

Honachan no koto daisuki dakara. Kore de iinda yo. / I love Honachan, so this is fine. -> I want what's best for her. And this is it. (Leo/need main story chapter 14 after Saki tells Honami she won't bother her anymore)

Minna daisuki de - taisetsuna tomodachi na no / I love them all - they're my dearest friends -> They're all amazing, and very dear to me. (Leo/need main story chapter 17. this isn't good either)

What's particularly amusing about that last one is that there's a second official translation for it that I assume was done by JP staff (since EN never promoted doing the Journey to Bloom subs like they did back when they provided subs for Petit SEKAI) that actually keeps the word daisuki as love.

Yeah. I love all my friends - and they mean the world to me.

It's a better localisation than the official EN team one.

Questionable localisation choices aside, Luka's line is fine and is actually in line with the original. The issue with this localisation very much lies with Nene's part, because that is an entirely new line.

In the original text, Nene's "that's just normal" or "that's nothing special" or however you choose to TL it, is meant to be her questioning Luka's statement, since all the things that the other vsingers said that Emu liked were pretty normal things like going shopping and playing video games with nene. To Nene, these things are normal activities for them to do together, so she gets embarrassed by the fact that Luka concludes from that information that Emu loves Nene. When I dissect it like that I think you can really tell what the writers were going for here lol.

"That's just us being friends" does still convey the idea that Nene thinks these activities aren't anything out of the ordinary and she isn't sure why the vsingers are picking these out as some of Emu's favorite things to do, but it's very different from the original line. "But those are just normal things we do together" is something I just came up with on the spot, but it's a lot closer to the original text and still conveys the same meaning. The fact they changed the line to "that's just us being friends" is, honestly, not even subtle that they're covering up queer subtext. The original scene was very clearly written in as ship tease, and EN mentioning "friends" for no reason, especially since the word nor anything close to it was not used in the original, is instantly a red flag because it's like the go-to for queerbaiting and censorship. This was intentional. There was no need for them to specify that the relationship is platonic, Luka's part is ambiguous for a reason so that fans can view it how they like.

Just to top all this off, here's Rin's original line just before that Luka+Nene interaction:

Oh, and! And! She said that playing games with Nene-chan is also super fun!

And here's Rin's line from the official EN translation:

That's not the same thing, but even more weirdly, the incorrect part (super fun->really loves) is a correct translation for the part changed in Luka's line. So, they can do it, they are willing to say "really loves", just not in the right places. Maybe because Rin's part is less personal than Luka's part? It's strange actually, this isn't the first time they've done this either. Off the top of my head I can think of an example from Shiho's Varied Kindness 2* story where they translated the word "suki" as really loves, despite that being much stronger than the original word used (and the fact that daisuki is used a lot in the Leo/need stories and it's incredibly rare if not entirely unknown for them to translate it correctly).

It's not subtle that they're trying to remove implications of the characters possibly being queer, they did it in curtain call and they did it in walk on and on, and multiple times before then too. And considering some of the content in this year's events and the amount of times they say daisuki alone, it's gonna keep happening. honestly i hate the fact that i keep trying to justify the translations in these posts. these translations are intentional. what happened in the curtain call translation back in october says enough. when a character who uses explicitly romantic language towards another guy passes as a straight character in the translation you know they're doing it on purpose.

oh and once again, it's only the EN server that has this issue. The scene in question was translated almost word-for-word on the TW and KR servers.

read fan translations. they're better than what EN gives us and people put a lot of effort into them.

#since the EN translation qualifies as a leak i am scheduling this to post when the event drops #asks #mod talks #i'm going to leave this in the tags because i don't want to make the post any longer #but something that's been really annoying to see recently on twt has been the gradual uptick of players saying that there's no queer #characters/subtext/etc in the game outside mizuki being trans. and i do wonder if EN's consistent habit of toning down #or outright removing moments of heavy subtext and other more ambiguous shiptease moments has anything to do with it.#that or people live under a rock because even EN keeps most of An and Kohane's relationship intact and there's still plenty of #moments that were impossible to edit or tone down due to being plot relevant or being part of longer interactions that wouldn't make sense #if part of it was changed. like the An wedding event.#eh maybe people are just ignorant.#but anyway it does bug me immensely that EN-only players are getting a censored version of the game. it's 2024. staff can do better.#also like i mentioned in the part about rin. they /add in/ things occasionally. so why the hell are they removing so much?

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fuzzywindcat · 9 months ago

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I want to talk about Ryou and Yami Bakura as narrative foils for Yugi and Yami Yugi. Disclaimer: I never finished watching Yugioh as a kid (lost interest around the KC Grand Prix arc I think?), but I'm in the middle of a rewatch now. And I am convinced that that the lack of screen time for not just Yami Bakura, but Ryou especially, is the single greatest source of wasted potential in the show. I'm sure this has all been said before and I'm very late to the party lol, but bear with me.

I find it fascinating how the relationships between the vessel and the spirit inhabiting it are so similar, and yet so different. Both Yugi and Ryou are shy and don't have a lot of friends. Both are into games and have some interest in the occult. Both are possessed by an ancient spirit with a proclivity for evil. But while Yugi becomes Atem's heart and his moral compass, Ryou is nothing more than a tool for Yami Bakura. Look at what each spirit calls their vessel: aibou, or partner, versus yadonushi, or landlord. Plus, apparently yadonushi has the connotation of being a host for a parasite? Even more fitting.

Especially looking at Season 0 and how evil the Pharaoh acts in it, I think having this sort of contrast is crucial to the show. That's the whole point of a narrative foil, right? To show what could have happened to the protagonist had things gone differently. Ryou Bakura is a tragedy, forced to commit unspeakable acts against his will at the behest of an evil, sadistic spirit. But from what I hear of Season 0 (need to watch it), it didn't necessarily start out this way. Similar to Yugi's situation, Yami Bakura offered Ryou the strength that he himself lacked, and offered to stand up to his bullies for him. Of course, "stand up" in this case means "commit unspeakable acts of violence." But to a lonely, bullied kid, you can see the temptation. A temptation that Yugi himself could have succumbed to, had things gone differently. What if Yami influenced Yugi to become more evil, rather than the other way around? That's basically Yami Bakura and Ryou.

I couldn't resist watching the church scene that I've heard so much about, even though I haven't gotten that far in my rewatch yet. Oh my god. Being possessed by a demon in the very place you thought you would be safe? The stained glass windows breaking? This is the real shit. But it's less than two minutes long! This is all we get?! The relationship between Ryou and Yami Bakura deserves so much more screen time than this! We get to see plenty of times where Yugi and Yami work together, or butt heads, and again, I haven't gotten there yet, but the Ceremonial Duel, where Yugi gets to show the Pharaoh how far he has come? We get to see how their relationship evolves over the course of the show, and there's just nothing like that for Bakura. Like, the church scene is amazing, don't get me wrong. But what if it was a whole duel! Does Ryou even duel once in the show? Why does Ryou never/rarely fight back against the spirit? At least if we saw the two Bakuras duel, we could get some more character development out of it.

As it stands in the dub, Ryou Bakura is little more than a walking plot device. And that's a shame, because he could have been so much more. I remember reading fanfic back in the day and not really getting why Ryou seemed to be so popular. Like, he's just such a nothing in the show. Now I see that those fanfic authors were taking the few scraps we were given and expanding upon them. Ryou's dogged politeness, with a darker side hinted at by his interest in the occult. His fear of the spirit possessing him, yet his unwillingness to do anything about it. There is so much potential here. Ah well, that's what fanfic is for ;o

#yugioh #self post #yami bakura #ryou bakura #yami yugi #yugi moto #first self post please be gentle lol #ryo bakura #yugi mutou #why are there so many spelling variations on their names T.T

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lunrall · 11 months ago

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[Poll #1 Results]

> Take refuge under its shade and sing.

> You both sat underneath its shade, both of you lilt melodiously as you watched the shadow slowly shift. You then beamed a smile to your brother, who grinned back at you. It's nostalgic. It's like all the bad things never happened and it's just you and him playing out in the garden again, with you and Tsukasa imitating a musical you've recently viewed, passing the time while waiting for Toya to join your family for dinner. This moment was short-lived, far too short-lived for your liking. Tsukasa looked away for a moment and his eyes now clouded in sadness. He opens his mouth to speak.

"Have I mentioned that Akito had gotten lost in the desert before?"

You frowned at the mention of him, bits of guilt still plagues you, but you try to lighten up to not worry your brother. "I don't think I've heard of that one yet."

"It's a really amusing story," Tsukasa chuckled, his cracked voice a bit too hard to ignore but you both pretended to not ruin the mood. "There was one time where Aibou, Toya's dragon flew away for some reason, and Akito was tasked to get him back." He recounted, and you smiled at the realization.

"Wait! Is it the time when you and Rui tried to get the dragon's scale but you scared him off?"

Tsukasa seemed to have paused for a moment, and you were starting to regret mentioning Rui, until he chuckled. "It was! However, I didn't tell you about what happened afterwards. I heard it from Mizuki after the whole ordeal since they used to be Akito's subordinate."

"So what happened?"

"They were looking around the desert for the dragon. Akito was first to spot Aibou off in the distance and he practically dashed to catch the dragon. Mizuki said they didn't even have time to pick up their bags and Akito was nowhere to be seen."

"Did he really spot Aibou? It could've been a mirage." You questioned, and your smile widens when you notice the mischievous glint in your brother's eyes

"The funny thing is that, it was." And you both can't help but giggle at this. Tsukasa had to compose himself before continuing, "So Aibou returned not long after, then Akito's squad came to report that they lost their commander. Toya heard the news and was worried sick. Good news was Akito managed to return to the capital by himself 2 days later. Rui and I had to buy Toya and him lunch for the next month until they thought it's enough to accept our apologies." Tsukasa concluded, exaggerating his gloom.

"Awwww, it's okay." You patted your brother's back, "You totally deserved it though."

He clenches his fist in jest. "Even my beloved little sister thinks I deserve the torment! I'm wounded!"

"It's not that serious, big bro!" You pouted, rolling your eyes. "I think we've been here for a while, should we continue on so we'll reach the sea faster?"

"As you wish, my little sister!"

As you both continued onwards, the uplift atmosphere around both of you started to fade away, replaced by unknown tension yet again. Though, you're glad you decided to rest and had that conversation. You can't help but miss everyone, but talking about them with your brother makes the pain more distant.

This will do for now.

#project sekai #pjsk fanart #pjsk #prsk fa #prsk #tsukasa tenma #wxs tsukasa #tenma siblings #lunrall art

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lupincentral · 2 years ago

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Have you heard the news?

Lupin III is diving into the world of live action once again, with Jigen Daisuke ‐ a spin-off film releasing “worldwide” on October 13th, 2023, exclusively on Amazon Prime Video!

Tetsuji Tamayama, who previously portrayed the character in the 2014 released feature film, will be returning to the role of Jigen.

Yoshimasa Akamatsu (BD ~Akechi Tantei Jimusho, Corpse Party: Book of Shadows) has produced the script for the film, and Hajime Hashimoto (The Detective Is in the Bar franchise, AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo, Shimauma, Signal) is directing.

In preparation for his reprising of the role, Tamayama states in an interview with Natalie that he has watched the Lupin the IIIRD spin-off film Jigen’s Gravestone, and hopes to bring this cooler, more mature version of the character to television screens come October.

Details on the plot are currently scarce - however, the Natalie article mentions that it involves Jigen searching Japan for the world’s greatest gunsmith, after his trusty combat magnum is in need of some TLC (and said gunsmith just happens to run a rather curious watch shop)…

More details on the film are to be revealed closer to its release date. For now, you can check out the films first trailer embedded below, and its announcement over at website Natalie.

youtube

After Lupin ZERO wrapping up at the end of last year, and VS. Cat’s Eye releasing in January, a live action Jigen spin-off is not where I expected TMS to go next with the Lupin franchise. It is, however, in my opinion, a welcome diversion from the norm.

I would be lying if I did not first meet the announcement with some scepticism, though, mostly due to the series’ less than stellar track record of live action adaptations (the amazing 2017 Inspector Zenigata spin-off drama aside). Taking a moment to think back, I quickly realised that while the live action film directed by Ryuhei Kitamura did not win the hearts of fans back in 2014, it did do one thing right - the casting.

Shun Oguri as Lupin III and Tadanobu Asano as Inspector Zenigata were big gets for the film, and both appeared to take their appearance throughout it seriously. Meisa Kuroki played a gorgeous, cunning Fujiko, with Go Ayano trying his best to bring the stoic samurai Goemon to life. It was Tetsuji Tamayama, however, that best looked the part. Fans on social media were swooning over his Jigen as soon as the character portraits were revealed, with some saying he was made for the role.

Despite issues with pacing and its overall narrative, all of the main cast members represented their anime / manga counterparts well, and if there is one positive to take away from that film, it would be their performances.

This gives me hope for Jigen Daisuke - with fresh writing staff and a keen new director to the franchise on board, with an actor we already know can do the character justice, both Amazon and TMS may be on to something special, here. Now slightly older and more experienced, I have full confidence Tamayama will exceed that of his already good performance as Jigen from 2014.

I’m looking forward to finding out how this comes together. Keep an eye out for a full review of the film come October, which I will aim to post up on lupincentral.com a few days after its release.

#lupin iii #lupin the 3rd #lupin the third #anime #lupin #manga #lupin the iii #lupin 3rd #lupin sansei #Youtube

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thrilling-oneway · 3 months ago

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event leaks

so listed on sekaibest in addition to chapter 10/epilogue is an 11th chapter. neither of these have any data other than a title and thumbnail yet so presumably won't be added until the event ends, i.e very protective of potential spoilers here. the after live also hasn't been added yet but this is fairly normal for events now.

my theory is that since twitter has been beefing over the aibou pairs getting too much focus again, and every single time this happens we get an akty and/or ankh nuclear bomb shortly afterwards, that anhane are gonna kiss in chapter 10 or 11. this is very reliable, science-backed evidence and i'm totally right about this. that or sekaibest is glitching out. one or the other.

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gx-gameon · 4 months ago

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Part 5 of “and I’ve been waiting” au

Start, previous <- part 5 -> next

It had been months since Jaden had been able to check in with the human dimension. Some creature of darkness had started stiring up trouble in the monster spirit dimension and his focus had been solely on making sure it didn’t spread to the other dimensions. Specifically his home. Where his friend were. Where Jesse was.

He had done a good job at forcing Darkness to the board of this dimension. Not allowing him to gain any power as he pushed the dark force backs Tanya and Sit Freed were helpful and organizing experience teams to evacuate potential victims from his reach and holding him back till Jaden could get there to fully push him back. The coward always fled before Jaden could defeat him though and Jaden was getting tired of these games.

You could imagine his absolute horror when the Ojama brothers showed up and told him that it wasn’t just this dimension that was under attack but the human world to. And darkness had been far more successful in the world of humans. Chazz had already fallen as well as many of their other friends.

“What about Jesse.” Jaden’s heart was racing as he got ready to leave. The Ojama following him around as they caught him up to speed. The lose of Chazz and the others was already to great. It to lose Jesse again when he was suppose to be safe. When Jaden wasn’t even there to help, was unforgivable. Just another way Jaden had failed him.

“When we came to get you Jesse and Axel were in Domino city. I think the only people left are the two of them, Atticus and Fujiwara.” Ojama Green informed him.

“Alright you three stay here. I’ll go handle this.” Jaden said as he turned to leave his hand reaching into the shadows as he prepared to cross between dimensions.

“We’ll come with you! We have to save Chazz!” Ojama Yellow insisted. The other two nodding along.

Jaden turned to look at the three trembling but determined Duel spirits. “I swear to you I will get Chazz and the others back. But I need to go quickly and use a deck I can trust.” Jaden liked the Ojamas but they weren’t his monsters. They wouldn’t sync with his deck and would just increase the likelihood of him drawling a buck of a hand when he needed to be as efficient and ruthless as possible. If Chazz was here Jaden would happily tag duel with them or if he had time to rebuild his deck to make them work he’d use them to honor his fallen friend. But now he was on a timer.

Jesse was safe when they left but that didn’t mean he was still safe. Every moment he spent here was a moment longer that Jesse was in danger. Further more Jaden didn’t know how long he had to save everyone before they became a permeate part of the darkness. He had to go now.

But he saw their faces fall. He knew how desperately they wanted to help Chazz. How much he meant to them. And knew if their roles were reversed and it was Winged Kuriboh going to Chazz for help, he’d want to Chazz to comfort his aibou.

“Lorpar” he called out as Parlor Dragonmaid popped her head around the corner. The dragonmaids had lost their home to a monster faction lead by Buster Blader. They monsters had fled before they lost anyone and while being displaced Jaden had offered them refuge in the castle town. There had to have been some miscommunication as instead of finding a home in the town or surrounding village the Drahonmaids had made themselves at home in the castle. Jaden would be more upset if they weren’t so good at what they did. The castle was better maintained and ran smoother with them around. They seemed to like him to because even after Jaden had solved the dispute with Buster Blader the Dragonmaids had ordered to stay at the Castle then return to their original territory.

Lorpar came bounding over to him and the Ojama brothers. “Yes your majesty?” Jaden rolled his eyes at the playful use of the title. He had tried to get them to stop but apparently Sheou, house dragonmaid, the leader of the Dragons was a stickler for proper edict and he was, for all intents and purposes, a king.

“Can you lead the Ojama Brothers to Chazz’s room?” Jaden asked.

“Boss has a room here?” Ojama Black asked excitedly.

“He’ll be so excited!” Ojama Yellow cheered.

“Yes he does.” Jaden smiled warmly at them. “Why don’t you three go see it and make a list of any changes I need to make or things to add to it before I show it to him.” Jaden was trying to give them something to do. Something safe that would still make them feel like they were doing something for Chazz.

“You’re going to show it to him? Does that mean you’re coming back?” Ojama Green asked

“Or at least encoring people to join you over here? Ojama Black pushed.

“Chazz has really missed you.” Ojama Yellow finished which was a stab to Jaden’s heart.

He had missed his friends a lot over the past few months. Having Chazz here would be great. But before he could reunite with Chazz and the others or show them the castle he had to defeat Darkness. And hopefully get there before he could hurt Jesse.

“I miss him to. Which is why I got to save him. Wish me luck.” And without looking back Jaden stepped into the shadows and in between dimensions, heading straight for Duel Academy.

———————————————————-

When he arrived the world was dark. There was no one around except for two people in a duel. One of who was immediately familiar.

Jesse was dueling.

Jaden’s heart leapt at the sight of Jesse. Only to fall as a finishing blow was dealt to him and he cried out in pain.

“Jesse!” Jaden screamed as he ran forward to catch Jesse. His arms encircling the Crystal Beast duelist before he could hit the ground. Jaden gently turned him over in his arms but Jesse was out cold. He’s eyes closed and face relaxed as if he were sleeping.

“So you must be the great Jaden Yuki! I’ve heard so much about you!” The figure across from his spoke. “I was told that you would come out if we threatened your friends but I never thought we’d have to remove all of them before you would come. I thought for sure you’d come to save Jesse, but it seems you’re too late to do that.”

As he talked Jaden gently reached for Jesse’s duel disk. Removing Rainbow Dragon from his deck before placing it into his own. Then with absolute care he laid Jesse down, carful not to jostle him too much.

Then he raised his head to look at his opponent for the first time. “You’re going to pay for hurting my friends.”

I’m trying to ad some more monsters and flesh out this world. Also I like the dragonmaids. Their design is so fun

#yugioh gx #jaden yuki #judai yuki #jesse anderson #johan andersen #spiritshipping

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johannepetereric · 3 months ago

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Sonic sniffing a pink flower: "😌 My, what a lovely scent. It makes me feel alive."

Knuckles: "😠 Sonic, *kiisama!*"

"Don't get so angry. Relax, buddy [aibou]"

"I don't remember letting you call me 'buddy.' Come, Sonic! I'll settle things with you once and for all!"

"I see. You really insist on fighting, then?"

"Opens with eyes and holds out a glove like the come'ere pose. And Spanish music plays because Sonic is so cool and it's a common fight music: "Personally, I don't feel like it.

"Shut up! I'm not gonna let you have the Chaos Emeralds! Give them to me! 😡"

"😧😏Don't tell me you've been tricked again."

Now western cowboy music

"😲😡"

Sonic throws away the flower.

Knuckles charges, "Hrraaaaaaa!" He punches, Sonic dodges easily. The stone flies away and craters where Knuckles hit like it's nothing.

Sonic lands easily. Knuckles continues his barrage of attack and Sonic keeps dodging backwards like "😏heh heh this is too easy"

More stone destruction.

Sonic looks down at him from a higher-up cliff. Then he frowns, brows furrowed down, hands on hips, lips curled like "~"

Then the intermission cards:

Name: Christopher "Chris" Thorndyke

Known as: Chris

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Height: 140 cm (~4 feet, 7 inches)

Weight: 35kg (~77 pounds)

Age: 12 years old [why the fuck is he is elementary instead of middle school? Was he held back a grade? The names come off as if the city is in the US]

Likes: Animals

Name: Miles "Tails" Prower

Known as: Tails

Race: Fox

Gender: Male

Height: 80 cm (~2 feet, 7 and a half inches)

Eight: 20kg (~44 pounds)

Age: 8 years old [Bro's a kiddo, probs like 2nd-3rd grade level]

Special Ability: Flying in the air by spinning his two tails

Hobbies: Tinkering with machines, operating mecha [so basically he'd likely be into Gundam, Transfmets, Hot Wheels, etc. in a Human AU]

#Sonic x #ep5 #Sonic the hedgehog #knuckles the echidna #chris thorndyke #tails the fox

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ferrocyan · 1 year ago

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okay so. tart and estinien. at first their relationship was very normal, in hvw she agreed w estinien's pov on the dragonsong war but decided to put alphinaud at first priority, so they still got along well even w different goals. then in stb when tart's mental state spiraled after zenos' death, it was estinien (and aymeric) that snapped her out of it by rescuing her from elidizenos. so all in all they were friends even if they didn't interact much, and tart was very grateful to estinien for saving her.

now. keep in mind that i watched edw before the end of shb. so i saw that early edw there are things that make the wol as a role less exclusive, right. id heard of the tempering cure, then vrtra gave his scales to protect people from tempering entirely. so the way the wol's role has been defined as the only one who can withstand tempering, that's gone now. okay. so then i got to finish shb, then 5.4 onwards, when estinien started to join the scions. despite them only sharing a couple scenes i think estinien and krile have chemistry, alphinaud clearly adores estinien too, and g'raha idolizes him. right then an evil thought formed in my mind.

i wonder how tart would react to this? tart who defines herself by being the wol and is desperate to belong. who is seeing someone join her group and being welcomed by everyone. someone who is nearly her equal at her most valuable skill. and tart's advantages over him are slowly being eroded, while her detriments are only increasing. oh, tart fucking hates estinien.

it starts as petty jealousy over her favorite people liking estinien so much. then she becomes passive-aggressive at him. estinien thinks it's kinda funny, the hostility just bounces off him. but by the time they reach thavnair, tart snaps at him for the hairtie incident and estinien's like :/ wow ok and avoids interacting w tart more than necessary. he stays away until fandaniel's funny prank.

we all know in from the cold. best part of edw. the aftermath is lacking, though--right now tart has had all her wol privileges stripped from her, while her being targeted specifically by zenos is becoming a huge liability. just look at the mess fandaniel created... tart panics and runs away from camp broken glass.

the scions are alarmed bc what do you mean the wol is missing AGAIN, estinien volunteers to look for tart while everyone else prepares to storm the tower of babil. he finds her easily w the dragoon jumps, and

by the way, you know what stuck out to me when i played this section of edw? before setting out on the previous mission lucia told the wol that hot soup will be waiting for them when they get back. then we got the scene where jullus eats soup and cries about it, then like a glimpse of the wol before they got kidnapped by fandaniel. we never got to eat the soup guys. we never got the soup!!!

so tart never got the soup. she's starving and cold and in pain and has just had the worst dysphoria experience of all time earlier that day and now here stands the motherfucker, the guy poised to take her place as savior of the star effortlessly, confronting her when she's alone and weak. ohhhh it's so obvious what he's doing here. estinien is going to kill her. well not if he dies first

for years since learning the discipline of the warrior tart never let the inner beast take control until right then. she goes berserk and attacks estinien. who is just like, standing there, and suddenly the wol goes stark raving mad and tries to kill him. fortunately for tart he isn't insane, and it's easy to kick the ass of a tank who is at 25% hp and not using any mits or self-heals. so tart gets beaten handily

estinien lets her lay still in the snow for a bit, then sighs. "aibou, sound off if you aren't dead"

and the sound he hears is wailing sobs. bc its over. if the scions didn't intend to get rid of tart before, they surely do now that she's attacked one of their own. estinien picks her up to bring back to camp and tart struggles and begs to be left alone, until he shuts her up by grabbing her tail. tart gets quiet and lets him carry her like a sack of flour after that.

estinien deflects the scions' questions and dumps tart in a room to eat and get checked out by a chirurgeon. he stays to watch that she doesn't run off again. before he leaves, though, tart calls out to him, "i'm sorry."

"i tried to kill you, you tried to kill me. we're even."

"i'm sorry. i've been such a jerk."

"yeah, i really thought we were friends."

"i'm so sorry."

"hmph. get some sleep while you can. we're leaving soon."

and so things end in a.. clean slate. ish. tart treats him better from then on and estinien decides he does like friendship after all. their relationship recovers enough that by the end of edw estinien is the one tart asks to please carry her like a princess off the ragnarok bc she doesn't feel like walking* and he does carry her nicely this time www

and then in 6.1 they're back to teasing each other again! with friendly hostility this time! tart makes fun of estinien for getting ripped off again, then when finding out it's on purpose she's like "what you think that's cool or something? you think that makes you sooo cool? cause it doesn't and you're lame as hell estinien" (says this while doing the /wow emote bc she does find him so cool for this) and then estinien rolls his eyes bc "i told you to bring one guy and you brought four"

"that's 'cause i'm more popular than you! AHAHAHAHA"

"that's not even funny that's just true"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

they're best friends. they're my favorite. i love when i can make tart blow up at someone and make up w them bc without fail that becomes her strongest relationship. tart and estinien are truly aibous now i'm so proud of them

#tart the wol #long ramble about this fic idea i have. idk if it will exist someday so enjoy this post in the meantime haha

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bibookdemon · 1 year ago

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Ugh there's this one fic of mine that I will go back and read and absolutely ADORE

Puzzlesmut btw

Anywho, Imma list some of my fav sentences/paragraphs below the cut (again. Smut. But cute smut teehee)

✨️

"What are ya doing?" He asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Ah!" The spirit knocked a Dark Magician Girl figurine off the bookshelf, then picked it up, stumbling to keep the silent connection between them from betraying them.

"Oh." Too late. Great.

"S-sorry," he mumbled.

✨️

"Um…" He looked away. "Ok. Well. I don't usually…do…this so often. Usually once a week, maybe a couple of times a week. But, uh. You just. You seemed really uncomfortable being in a body that didn't have a, you know, a um. You know." It was adorable how flustered Yugi was getting.

"A dick?"

"Yeah! Yes. Yeah."

✨️

He lightly scratched at his cheeks, as if trying to scrape off the blush there.

(This line is one of my favs. I cooked majorly here lmao)

✨️

"You can do it, baby." Yugi placed his hands on the other's knees, gently nudging them apart.

✨️

Yami curled his finger, moaning and letting his head fall gently against the back of the tub.

✨️

"Ah…you're so hot," Yugi muttered, and Yami felt another wave of heat bloom in his stomach. "Think you wanna try the vibrator?"

✨️

Yami nodded his head, incapable of coherent speech. After another moment, he held his hand out. "P-please. Please, Yugi."

Yugi took the hand and smiled. "You're so precious," he whispered as he pulled the bangs away from Yami's face. When the spirit's grip began to tighten, he kissed his hand. "It's ok baby, you got this." He noticed tears forming in Yami's eyes, sharp, sobbing gasps escaping him.

Yami used his other hand to claw at his thigh, overwhelmed. "I c-can't," he sobbed. "It's so much."

"You're almost there. Almost there. Come on Yami, almost there." And, without thinking about the spirit's earlier sensitivity, he moved his free hand to press down on the dark clit.

(Erm. I love all elements in this fic equally. [This is my favorite part])

✨️

"Mmmm." Yami opened his eyes, blinking lazily at his aibou. He watched the movements as if from far away, purring as Yugi toweled him off as if he was drying a tired kitten. He quite enjoyed being treated softly by his aibou. "Thank you," he mumbled.

✨️

In conclusion, the best 1887 words I've ever written. Would love you forever and ever if you checked this out :3

Also got lots of other ships!

Got some Wish, some Puppy, some Mobium, shit ton of Puzzle ofc, some Rival. God I need more Rival. And gotta toss in some Flare. Big plans chat, big plans. Gonna get some Klepto in there as well. (Klepto is Yugi x Y!Bakura right?????)

#ygo #yugioh #yugi mutou #fanfic #yugi mutoh #yami yugi #duel monsters #fanfiction #smut oneshot #smut #puzzleshipping #trans yugi #trans yami yugi????#b18 #bi's fics

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theshippingqueens-blog · 1 year ago

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More puzzleshipping stuff

They knew. It was nearing the time for him to go - only a week left.

“Aibou, it’s alright,” Yami murmured, “We knew this was going to happen. You’ll be fine.”

He ducked his head, determined to not let him see the tears that he indubitably knew were streaming down his face. Hands came up to curl gently around his biceps, trailing down to catch the loose fists he had brought up for unconscious protection.

There was a tumble of emotions across their link, scatterings of love and pain, acceptance and regret and sadness. It sparked like the primeval neurons each thought was intimately made of.

This rippling uproar, solid grief, and submissive torture placated themselves between them. Ages of memories were wound around them. His other self (to which he had the unsettling feeling that permission would be revoked), so ever loving, kissed his forehead with the closeness that was only ever born from years of absence and mingling between two fractured souls.

“It’ll be okay,” was the calm, weathered reassurance repeated into his fringe of starry-colored hair.

He pressed his fist hard against his chin, resisting the urge to scratch the place where his tears stripped his skin. His arms shook as his larynx strained to keep the uneven sobs from becoming vocal.

It was the greatest lie he’d ever told him, and he very much wished that for just one moment, they could be honest.

There was a steep cost to the magic that had been trapped in that awful, gilded box. Like a grotesque monolith, cobbled together by the foundation of their fallen enemies, mangled souls, blood, sweat, and sleep, the sacrifices to that long-dead pharaoh’s covenant with the devil reared up before them. And now, as its acme, it asked one more offering — insurmountable love, snuffed out by the inarguable reality that it was fate.

Yugi wondered if his other could understand — if he wanted to. In his deepest heart, he hoped that the spirit had not tried. His most precious friend had already suffered enough — he deserved to be spared the yawning wound that this break would surely cause. He was going home — to family, friends, to loved ones he had been desperate to meet again for more than his fair share of lifetimes. He had done more than enough to earn his heaven — and in the Field, there could not be pain like this. It defied the very idea of Elysium.

He could take this last blow. He could bear this final burden so that this person he loved more than himself could find peace.

So he allowed the sweet lie whispered against his forehead, and clung to the astral hand budding warmth spreading from where his other’s mind cradled him.

And he cried. He cried because he knew he needed to be strong in front of the spirit when the day came, but right now everything was alright. Lie everything was going down in flames His Aibou was crying and He could feel a small lump forming in the back of his throat he's never felt this way he had always stayed strong even in the harshest times but now he saw his Aibou sobbing and he could do nothing about it hurt not even a trip to the shadow realm could be this painful. Everything seemed to be a lie now the fact that fate was rolling the dice for these two was hard enough but what was even harder was the fact that they had to say goodbye when neither of these two wanted to say goodbye. They were like yin and yang two halves of one soul insperable but only fate could tear them apart as well as bring them together. The spirit tangled his fingers into the boy's hair trying to calm him down as his heavy sobs grew quieter yet tears still streamed down the boy's face like two waterfalls. The Hikari finally met the eyes of the Pharoah as a sad smile formed on the pharaoh's face "H-hey don't cry please it hurts to see you cry." Yami pleased wiping away a few tears from the boy's face sending a dust of hot pink to the boy's cheeks." sorry atem." the boy whispered looking away from the spirit "Hey don't be sorry it's normal to cry." He said cupping the boy's cheek and turning his head so they were looking into each other's eyes. Amesthsy met crimson. A shaky sigh escaped Yugi's lips as Yami placed another soft kiss on the Hikari's forehead."Don't worry so much OK spend this time with me like we used to before all this happened okay." Small tears left the boy's eyes again " You can’t die. I love you. So if you die you'll be leaving someone who loves you." the hikari murmured.

Thought he said it low enough for the spirit not to hear yet he was wrong dead wrong "Yugi...." The spirit whispered his eyes going wide in disbelief at what his Aibou had just said. Yugi looked up shocked his face scarlet. "Did I.......?"He asked. "Did you mean it? Yugi felt his heart racing he just made the biggest mistake ever. "I-I-I" He couldn't even form proper words anymore. "Did you mean what you just said? "The spirit said again as the boy's breathing picked up."I don't know." He said his head spinning. He didn't need the spirit to know any of this he wasn't supposed to find out this way his feelings were supposed to be with him and only him until death.

"Yugi.....why did you say it then? Why would you say something like that only to not know if you meant it?!?” The spirit yelled making the boy wince tears of rage spilling down the spirit's face this hurt if he didn't mean it if he said he didn't love the pharaoh it would shatter his soul into tiny pieces.

"Atem........"The boy said a cluster of tears falling down his face "WHAT! what could you say to make this any better?" The spirit said in a blind rage. Making more tears fall from the boy's eyes "N-never mind." the boys said as the pharaoh disappeared into the puzzle

~A Week Later~

The battle between the two souls had begun as fast as it was about to end. Yugi was determined to win this it was the least he could do especially after what happened the week before. Their fight had left the young Hikari restless and still upset. This was the final turn of the duel the final attack. Yugi couldn’t bear to do it as much as he wanted the pharaoh to return to the afterlife he couldn’t watch him leave even when they hadn’t really been on speaking terms since last week but he did it anyway. “Silent magician direct attack on the player! Silent Burning.” The attack was successful as the boy dropped to his knee tears streaming down his face. He defeated him he had done it. As the mist cleared you could see a small smile on the pharaoh's face. “you did it Aibou you won.” He said walking up to the crying boy. ”Stand up the winner shouldn't be on his knees. If I were you I wouldn't cry.” He said to the sobbing Hikari. “I... I'm too weak... You were my hero... My goal... I wanted to be strong... Like you... That's all...” There was some truth behind this statement yes he wanted to be strong but he also wanted to love him with all the love he could give and so much more. ”Hey it's okay Aibou your own person.” He said lifting his chin to meet his eyes. ”Your Yugi the most wonderful human being I’ve ever met and nobody I mean nobody could ever change that That’s what I love about you.” He said making him stand. “B-but you're going to leave..” He said wiping a few tears away from his face. “Aibou if I leave that doesn't mean I don’t love and care about you you’ll always be in my heart no matter what.” He said cupping his Hikari’s cheek and wiping away the rest of his tears. ”Atem….I’m sorry about what I said a week ago it just hurt to see you leave so soon and I thought it would make things harder if you knew my feelings.” He said honestly. It felt better to say that out loud than keeping it bottled up the countless nights of sleep lost between the both of them because of this one fight. “I forgive you it's not your fault I blew up and I shouldn’t have done that.” The crowd awed around the two lovebirds. As the pharaoh left the Hikari called out to his darker half one last time “I love you.” The darker half smiled and said the same. Even if Yugi’s true love had left him he’d always be in his heart.

~The End~

#yugi mutou #pharaoh atem #puzzleshipping #yugioh #yugioh duel monsters

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