#and shinji. wasn’t. he was just a kid

[apollos-boyfriend]

does anyone else ever think about how much evangelion is about growing up too fast and too soon and yet never growing up at all. because i do. i think about it every fucking day

[lizzy06]

Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader Fic Recs!!(Tumblr/AO3/Wattpad)

Haikyuu! Fic Rec Masterlist

Aoba Johsai Fic Rec Masterlist

the best bad decision ✨✨💖by @teamatsumu (oneshot, love confession, fluff, humor) wrote a confession for character A, accidentally gave it to character B instead. [COMPLETED]

Innocent Misunderstanding�� by @oreosmama (oneshot, humor) Last night, it was all fun and games until Iwaizumi accidentally pushed you too far. To be fair, you did underestimate his strength, so it wasn’t completely his fault. That didn’t prevent you from limping to school, though.[COMPLETED]

You’re jealous but you can’t do anything because you’re not dating him ✨✨by @screamin-abt-haikyuu (oneshot, fluff)[COMPLETED]

Misleading Marks by @oreosmama (oneshot, soulmate au) Your soulmark is a wonderfully misleading pain in the tuchus. Luckily, your hunk of a soulmate makes it all worth it.[COMPLETED]

Stone king✨✨ by @xsugarysweetsx (arranged marriage, royalty) You were given as a peace offering to the cold hearted cruel king, Iwazumi Hajime. He ruled with an iron fist and the people of the kingdom were tired of it. They offer you, the most beautiful girl in the village as a way to bringing peace to their lives once and for all. Will a simple girl be able to break his stone exterior or will the kingdom crumble?[COMPLETED]

A Different Kind of Ace✨ by @mimi-cee-hq (oneshot, fluff) You rejected Hajime when he asked you to join their intramural volleyball team. But at the rec center, his teammate drags you to their practice. You don’t want to join. You don’t want to potentially deal with rude teammates again. But as your initial impressions of Hajime change, your sets remind him a bit of home.[COMPLETED]

rivalry ✓ ✨| hogwart au, enemies to lovers, angst | one shot | by @tooruluv

all for you by @arigatouiris (oneshot, soulmate au, angst to fluff, fluuf!)[COMPLETED]

soulmates by 0Game0Time0(oneshot, soulmate au, humor) Iwaizumi can see the red string of fate.[COMPLETED]

I Love You THIS Much! ✨by deltachye (single parent! Iwaizumi, fluff, tooth rooting)Old friend Oikawa Tooru had called in The Favour—a blank cheque you’d signed many years ago that let him ask for anything, anytime. It wasn’t much, he’d said; all he wanted was for you to help his friend win custody of his kid. As a well-practiced attorney, it should’ve been easy as pie… if your clients hadn’t won your heart before you could win the case.[COMPLETED]

twenty-five✨ by krystallisert (soulmate au, aspiring photographer! iwaizumi )No change. You’re still twenty-five, just like you were on your birthday last year. And the year before that. Just like you’ve been for the last hundred-something years.[COMPLETED]

tiny love✨ by kuroopaisen (friends to lovers, slow burn, mutual pinning)as tooru’s younger sister, falling in love with iwaizumi hajime is easy. your feelings aren’t ignored, either. but is it worth the complications it could cause?[COMPLETED]

They were roommates ✨by atsukashii (college au, angst, fluff)in your defence, when you had come across an advert for a roommate from someone named tooru oikawa, you had thought it was a girl. so come move-in day where you discover that oikawa is actually a dude, you decide that living with him won’t be a problem. but living with his other super hot roommate? Yeah, that’s definitely going to be a problem.[COMPLETED]

With a little help from our friends by Teapots_and_Teacups (oneshot, fluff)You lost a bet with your best friend Watari Shinji, and now you had to be a temporary manager for Seijoh. Also, you have a thing for its ace.[COMPLETED]

Thinking Things Up And Not Thinking It Through by nomazee (oneshot, crushes, pinning, iwaizumi ooc)You and Oikawa were friends. Oikawa and Iwaizumi were friends. You and Iwaizumi, however, were not friends.

Stumbling Blocks✨ by dasfreefree (oneshot, humor, fluff, mutual pinning)After a shoulder injury, you're forced to take a break from playing volleyball for the Nekoma girl's volleyball club. You decide to manage the boys' club during your recovery, which is a good move, as you get to meet Iwaizumi Hajime at a training camp and he's just your type. While the feelings are mutual on Iwaizumi's end and his teammates have his back, Nekoma isn't entirely on board with guys from other schools hitting on their manager.[COMPLETED]

由貴 ✨✨by momothespicy (momothesweet) (oneshot, smut, first time) 由貴 - Yuki -Meaning "snow," with the characters used for "reason" and "value." Snow can serve as a bunch of different implications, depending on who you ask—cold weather, childhood memories, cozy sweaters.It can also serve as the fake name you give to a stranger for when you want to spend one night with him.[COMPLETED]

Aphrodítē✨ by michaelandthegodsquad (oneshot, omega verse, smut) It's been...a really, really long time since you had a heat partner. You hesitated before deciding to use an Alpha Companion Service, but this agency has good reviews, and all of their alphas are vetted and experienced at helping omegas through their heats. you open your front door, your grip tightens on the doorknob. "Iwaizumi? What are you doing here?" [COMPLETED]

favor the brave (o hand of fortune) by chimielie (strangers to lovers, college au)You've had your eye on this guy on campus for a while, but you're content to watch from a distance. He, your best friend, and the universe have other ideas. Sometimes the real thing is better than the fantasy.[COMPLETED]

pov: he’s a player and you’re his favorite game. ✨by @saintobio (angst, smut, fwb, college au, 18+) where one hookup with Hajime Iwaizumi turned into many nights of casual sex—all is good until you started catching feelings and he wanted no strings to ever be attached. [COMPLETED]<this fice is a prequel/part1/ kinda has a spinoff of an akaashi fic which is this >.

Sendai’s Pageant of Starlight by @mimi-cee-hq (oneshot, fluff) Because of a pair of misplaced skates, you and Iwaizumi end up walking down Jozenji-dori Avenue together almost as if… Wait, is this a date?[COMPLETED]

iwaizumi hajime x f! reader by @pies-writes-and-more (oneshot, humor) Iwaizumi should confess before its late.[COMPLETED]

[yuuuume]

househusband au headcanons

Shinji ver.

| 1 | 2 | ?

rating: safe for work

reader prons: they/them

Listen, if Shinji could have it his way, he’d still be playing the sax every night at the lounge he used to work at. Sure the pay was crap, and he wasn’t all that great of a musician, but he genuinely enjoyed his night job (because the man clearly needed a day job to get by), but things change, people fall in love, people have kids for Christ’s sake whether it’s planned or not. That’s just life for you, so welcome to Shinji Hirako’s, or should we say the new neighborhood stay-at-home dad. This happened because 1, he got married! Yeah, someone went up to that mysteriously cheap and swanky lounge one night, took a seat, had a drink or two, and said, ‘Damn, I want to marry that’. Who in their right mind would wanna do that? Aside from me and the Shinji fuckers. Not many, but hey, love is blind! So… yeah. This is his life now. Stinky diapers, a fussy firstborn, and a life full of mayhem to accommodate. Shinji absolutely doesn’t wish he was at work! Someone save him.

What he doesn’t realize is that he will come to love this more than any job in the world and that being there with his kid every step of the way is a privilege he was glad to experience for both himself and his spouse since they work very hard to keep the family fed, clothed, and housed despite working dreadful hours. Because of this, Shinji really tries to give it his all with this househusband gig, to not stress them out on their two measly days off of work on the weekends. The Hirako family is what I call the living example of surviving on each paycheck but despite that stress, they never take it out on their child nor deny them anything they may want or need. Shinji and his spouse try hard to be great parents and are successful, they just don’t know it yet. Just like any dad, though, they start at the very beginning, which is the entrance of their child into the world! Shinji was given a sweet baby girl and managed to take care of her fairly well when his spouse was on paid family leave as provided by their work. They could have taken extra time but the pay was too dangerous to live on for long without overtime hours and the family needed more to accommodate their newer, safer housing so off to work it was, and there began Shinji’s adventures with his newborn daughter.

To be honest, the new dad didn’t expect to do much since he hadn’t done so before but that reality came to a screeching halt when Shinji realized that 1. He was behind on laundry, and 2. His newborn had explosive- and I mean explosive- diarrhea. The kind that gets from the bum to the nape of her neck kind of explosive and she’s screaming her head off from the discomfort of her excrements. All is not well in the Hirako household the first week without parent 2 around to help and he’s quick to break down which is sad, not going to lie. Shinji is so overwhelmed by the lonely cries of his daughter, housework, managing expenses, and paying bills, that he kind of just breaks down that week. He feels like a terrible father, and an even worse husband once he realizes that he can’t even do what his mother and her mother had done and it was as if his daughter could understand his pain, that she finally let up on the crying upon behind held in his arms after cleaning her up. Shinji quite literally let out tears of relief at her silence and realized that all she wanted was to be held and loved by him. Pure Dad moments!

He took a lot of tips from various forums and mommy blogs, investing in regular skin-to-skin contact (despite the awkward clawing at his nips) as well as simply keeping his baby in a carrier wrap and her fussiness improves greatly! So much that Shinji can spend more time doing things he needs to, but will lie her down in the very expensive but effective baby swing as it mimics his movements well enough to keep her asleep for at least an hour while he completes more physically demanding tasks such as scrubbing the stove, mopping, etc. Now what you’re probably thinking is, Mia where’s the daily route? Or maybe, What about Dad friend!Kensei!? Well don’t worry, I’ll get to it, starting with Kensei. He and his spouse visited the Hirako’s with food in hand and young twins clad in matching outfits once the family of 3 had moved into the neighborhood as a welcome gesture. Least to say, the Hirako’s weren’t used to that as the most they’ve gotten before is a half-drunk man with pissed pants sleeping at their door. Ya gotta love the seedier parts of cities, amirite?

Those who came to visit after Shinji’s spouse returned to work were visibly surprised by his presence. He knew it wasn’t that common for men to practice this way of life but damn, he didn’t think it was that surprising when he informed a mother that his spouse was at work upon their rather concerned inquiry. The gifts of food for the new family eventually stopped as his daughter reached 1 month old, leaving him alone as not many wanted to schedule playdates or even a general hangout simply because he was a father. Kensei was the only person to extend an invite to his place as he swore the neighborhood mothers were like vultures and that he didn’t want Shinji’s daughter to be exposed to too many pathogens from the outside world all at once. Simply the teachings of a professional househusband that Shinji gladly accepted and modified to fit his parenting style much better.

Alright, so Shinji’s got one Dad™ Friend, the oh-so-trusty Kensei Muguruma at his side, but it isn’t often since the latter works at home. So what is a usual day at the Hirako Household? It starts a bit like this: A groggy Shinji rolling off the bed like he hadn’t slept all night… which is partially true. The baby has her days and nights crossed for a long while so Papa Hirako is up keeping her company for his spouse to get enough sleep for work. His first duty of the day is to get breakfast started and make sure his spouse's work clothes are set for the day. They’re very insistent that they can iron the clothes by themselves but Shinji does it anyway then moves on to perfecting a breakfast they’ve been eating almost every morning since the birth of the baby. Shinji tends to worry his spouse will get sick of it but they always comment on how much better he’s been getting, and how it tastes different every day (in a good way, of course). Kensei’s cooking tips not only benefitted Shinji, but his spouse too as the married couple would often cook meals together on the weekends to bond with each other.

Although the morning is the most tense time of the day, Shinji usually gets through unscathed with the baby slung to his chest, one hand feeding her a warmed bottle and the other feeding himself. He’d be lying if he said food never landed on the kid's head. Both he and his spouse find it funny, as it was the little things in life that made a difference in their day. With their little one back to sleep in the sling secured across Shinji’s chest, he kisses his partner farewell, waving them off before going back into the house to catch some extra sleep. He’s usually more energized after the nap and gets started on whatever needs to be done which is breakfast dishes, laundry, and any other daily cleaning. His little girl is just bordering 2 months at this time, so Shinji makes a good effort to stimulate her, jingling noisy toys, and talking about any and everything while being sure to listen for any cues that she’s had enough. She’s quite the talker just like her father, entertaining him as she attempts to form words that sound like pure gibberish. Shinji records countless videos daily just to capture her development, sending a few to his spouse to watch at work during their break since he isn’t much for showcasing his kid over social media.

At this age, Shinji’s special gal is developing well and for the most part, still on track with meeting her milestones. Everything is seemingly happy-go-lucky until he receives a call from the pediatrics office that she will need to be vaccinated. The appointment for said vaccination was for today, and since then Shinji believed he would face this with his spouse but sadly that wouldn’t be the case. The first-time father was more nervous than his baby but Kensei reassured him that everything would be fine, and to be a little more gentle as the injection site would be a little on the sensitive side. Shinji at least tried his best to stay calm but both he and his baby were left crying. Shinji only cried a bit when the doctor left the room, of course, the immense feeling of guilt was just too much for him. Regardless of their conjoined Hirako Meltdown, Shinji made everything better by getting her all swaddled up and offering a bottle of milk during the ride back home.

Should he need to go shopping, Shinji will typically do so with Kensei because they’re designated Dad Friends, and therefore must move together. Shinji gets into couponing to save a few bucks and makes an effort to clip any and everything he might find useful. He even gives Kensei coupons for the really expensive organic stuff he always buys and makes sure to give it to him on a near-weekly basis. When shopping, the father usually has the luxury of browsing through most aisles, shuffling among his many organized coupons to grab the right box of crackers. If Kensei tags along, he finds it a little more difficult as the mothers in the neighborhood tend to hover over his children when in reality they’re trying to score him. Some like to fawn over his little girl due to her chubby cheeks but nothing more ever comes after. He doesn’t mind shopping with Kensei, it simply feels as though someone is always breathing down his back and that's a very weird situation to be in, much less with his baby. The little one is almost always intrigued by the older babies she can see, giving a gummy smile. Kensei 100% thinks it's cute but won’t admit it. He cannot give those moms another thing to obsess over.

Once he gets home, Shinji tries to at least get the refrigerator items put away before settling on one of Kensei’s so-called “not complex” dinner recipes. He wouldn’t dare try grilled fish again as he once neglected to check on the food, leaving the dinner harder than concrete. They had to resort to food delivery although it hurt the couple's pocket but they made do. Shinji attempts the basic hamburger steak and surprisingly does well as this time he does not leave the kitchen for a single second, watching the meat sear in the pan and checking each steak with a meat thermometer for extra security. His spouse is usually not home until all of the last-minute cleaning for the day has been done so Shinji does well to keep the dinner he cooked nice and warm until their expected arrival. His spouse is reasonably tired by then but at least they get to eat with their husband, the baby either entertained or asleep not far. They are so grateful for Shinji and all that he does as they realize taking care of an infant solo is notoriously difficult. They thank him for the dinner, offering to co-wash the dishes before getting ready to wind down for the night. That is if their little one lets Shinji do so for long.

As Shinji’s little one gets older with time he tries to get into various hobbies that clearly don’t lean into his favor. Those include but are not limited to finger painting, as his little she-devil had a phase of painting on the floors and walls (thank goodness he got the washable kind), photography (she kept throwing the disposable camera at things she 100% should not have been throwing it at), singing (she grew a knack for screaming at the top of her lungs), and gardening. Shinji could never forget his toddler dousing the newborn plants with soap to get them clean. They ended up kicking the bucket that very week and never recovered. Needless to say, this papa has been through some shit the older his daughter has gotten. All those memories ended up in a scrapbook though, videos grew into compilations separated by year, and soon he’d be marking a 5th compilation.

She’d grown well into her striking blonde hair although it had the shape of her other parents, and her teeth were as showy as his but Shinji convinced her they were cool so she wouldn’t have to deal with self-esteem issues, and oh boy, did she have a lot to say. Shinji didn’t even have to teach her to talk either, she just up and started, then never stopped. Even though she may have her quirks, the mini Hirako acts similar to her father. She’s been aiming to nail every single one of his expressions and does so very well to the point no one questions whether or not he is her father. Despite that, she gets on well with Kensei’s twins, referring to them as her cousins and to Kensei as her uncle. Shinji’s daughter is happy that her cousins stayed back from kindergarten so she wouldn’t be lonely, and in turn, they helped their Uncle Shinji get his girl into a few hobbies before she entered school.

It was certain that Shinji did not want to let his little girl go to school, but his spouse enforced it, saying it could give him a break and that she’d have to go the following year anyway. It was tough on him as it felt like it was yesterday when she was just a swaddled newborn on the date of her arrival, so beautiful and sweet, craving nothing but the love and attention of her parents. She was still an angel that day, kissing her father on his cheek as she ran off to the school with the other kids. He promised himself he wouldn’t cry and did so to the best of his abilities as he got home. Shinji couldn’t help but slump onto the couch, staring at the framed picture of their very first family portrait. The one on his phone from this morning would soon make its way there too, having been taken outside their home, a simple photo of the family of 3 to commemorate her first day of school. Shinji was bored with nothing to do afterward, not even thinking about the possibility of having another child. It was too expensive, not to mention they wouldn’t have the space should it be a boy this time around. He’s left to sulk until noisy moving vehicles drive on by for a few days and he ends up outside checking out the new dad who gives both him and Kensei a bad vibe.

Mr. Sousuke Aizen and his little one.

do not steal or repost my works anywhere

© yuuuume

[gallusrostromegalus]

Ask game: 39, 39, 39, 39, oh and also 39

Blease give me more of your writing your brain weirdness is extremely satisfying to my brain weirdness in a way that few others understand or can replicate

Immediately after the battle with Aizen, in what's left of Fake Karakura:

--

Something neon pink appeared at Shinji's elbow At Speed and he startled, yelping loudly and having to fight the reflex to kick what appeared to be a small girl.

"HeyifyouseemydadIwaswiththefallbacktimethewholetimeokay?" She spoke at a speed Shinji had only ever heard from a dangerously overcaffienated Mashiro before.

"I'm not lying for you, Kusajishi." sighed Kuchiki.

"YACHIRU!" someone bellowed loud enough to make the few unbroken windows ring, and Shinji turned to the sound of Ominous Jingling to see a giant of a man with a peculiar vertical hairstyle and a captain's Haori approaching, livid.

"Shit." She muttered, turning to grin sheepishly at her father as he stomped over, expression dark and a tiny, teal-haired toddler on his hip.

"Where were you supposed to be today?" The Giant growled down at Yachiru, and Kuchiki excused himself to sit down on a nearby piece of bench-height rubble.

"...You told me to stay with the fallback team in Seireitei." She sighed.

"So why are you here?" the giant growled.

"BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN WEIRD ALL MONTH AND IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO YOU IN LAS NOCHES I'D NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF!" She shouted, reflexive foot-stomp blasting out a wave of enraged reiatsu.

"So, uh, who're Pinky and Punky here?" Shinji asked, limping over to sit down to watch next to Kuchiki.

"Eleventh Division Captain Zaraki Kenpachi and his daughter, Yachiru Kusajishi." Kuchiki nodded. "They're loud, but honorable and reliable."

"I'VE BEEN WEIRD ALL MONTH BECAUSE- Shit, it's- Its complicated, okay?" Kenpachi groaned.

"And the other girl?" Shinji asked.

"I believe Kurosaki said her name was 'Nel' or similar." Kuchiki nodded. "Not entirely sure why Zaraki is the one carrying her around but it's nothing to worry about. He's great with kids."

"SINCE WHEN HAS 'COMPLICATED' BEEN A REASON TO HIDE STUFF FROM ME?" Yachiru demanded, bristling at him.

"Great with kids, huh?" Shinji glanced over at Kuchiki.

"-BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON EITHER UNTIL ABOUT TWO HOURS AGO! WHAT IF SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO YOU, HUH? IT'S *MY* JOB TO WORRY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND DAMMIT!"

"Oh, nevermind, I see what you mean." Shinji nodded and there was the barest hint of a smirk on Kuchiki's face.

Yachiru sniffled, tearing up with rage. "WHAT? I'M NOT ALLOWED TO WORRY ABOUT YOU!?"

"YOU CAN WORRY ALL YOU WANT BUT YOU CAN'T RISK YOUR HIDE FOR MY SAKE, THAT'S NOT HOW IT FUCKING WORKS-!" he roared, jabbing his finger at Yachiru.

"Can I have a juice?" the teal-haired toddler asked from Zaraki's hip.

"-In a minute Yachiru, I need to-" Kenpachi started and stopped. He blinked a few times, then slowly turned to frown at Nel, then at Yachiru, then back at Nel, pointing between the two girls and expression shifting from rage to utter confusion.

"Did you see another abandoned baby and just pick it up because it was Yachiru-shaped and Neon Colored?" Kuchiki called, teasing.

Kenpachi looked up at him, bewildered "MAYBE??" and Yachiru rolled her eyes behind him.

"That’s the most 'Raised By Birds' thing you’ve done in a while." Kuchiki laughed, getting up to peer down at Nel with curiosity.

"Raised by WHAT?" Shinji asked, jogging up after him.

Kenpachi Stood up straight, shaking his shoulders like he was ruffling feathers. "One, I’m not putting her back, two, who the fuck are these assholes?" He asked, gesturing at Shinji and the other Visored who had started to gather in the rubble to catch their breath after the battle.

"Remember how half the captains had fallen in battle or otherwise vanished before you showed up?" Byakuya asked.

"No, because I wasn’t there." Huffed Kenpachi, rifling through his Kosode and producing a Juice Box for Nel. "-but I remember Ikkaku complaining about the employee turnover."

"-AND I WAS RIGHT!" Ikkaku bellowed from his stretcher behind them, too injured to stand but not about to stop fighting, as expected of someone wearing the 11th Division's lieutenant insignia.

"YOU'RE STILL IN DEEP SHIT FOR THAT BANKAI THING, CUEBALL." Zaraki holled back at his lieutenant, who only turned his head away, sulking.

"Apparently the assorted missing officers weren’t dead, they just caught an artificially induced case of hollowfication from Aizen, but managed to survive and stayed out here in the living world to recover and learn to control their abilities out of sight from him." Kuchiki explained. Beside them, meaningful eye contact was exchanged between father and daughter, and he gave her a juice box as well. "Tactical." Zaraki nodded approvingly. "Also, non-zero chance The Old Man would have killed y'all on sight."

"Er. Yeah." Shinji winced, looking over his shoulder to where a surprisingly non-apocalyptic-looking Captain-General was discussing something with Unohana.

"This man specifically is is Hirako Shinji, Aizen’s former boss." Kuchiki continued, introducing them properly. "Captain Hirako, Captain Zaraki."

"Hiya!" Shinji grinned, holding out a hand for Zaraki to shake, but instead, he too was handed a juice box.

Kenpachi eyed Shinji in a not precisely hostile but still unnerving manner, as he offered Kuchiki a juice box as well and when turned down, opened it for himself and drank, studying him.

"…This explains six or seven things." Zaraki finally spoke, nodding sagely.

Shinji glared up at the giant. "Excuse me?"

Kuchiki waved a hand between Shinji and Zaraki. "I promise, it’s technically a compliment."

"Yeah, if Ken-chan didn't like you, you wouldn't have a head right now." Yachiru giggled.

"Mostly explains the two sets of teaspoons in the 5th division break room." Zaraki nodded, holding his hands out to his sides. "You're, whatsit- tiger-tiger thing?"

"Huh?" Puzzled Shinji.

"Symmetry?" Tried Kuchiki. "I do recall Captain Hirako having immense talent with mirroring and reversing text and other things."

"That's the bitch!" Zaraki grinned. "Not a bad idea though, you always have enough spoons."

"Huh. I guess so?" Shinji pondered, eyeballing Zaraki in turn. "Kenpachi, so you're captain of the 11th? If I remember correctly, Kiganjo was the tenth Kenpachi- so how many Kenpachis did we run through while I was away?"

"Just him for the last century. Only the two serious challenges to his post." Kuchiki explained, looking almost... proud? There were strange political currents swirling here, leaving Shinji feeling adrift.

"For real?" Shinji asked with genuine admiration. Outside of statistical outliers like Unohana and The Old Man, it was rare for a captain to hold their post for more than two centuries, and the average in the 11th more like 60 years.

Kenpachi waved his hand noncommitally. "One and a half. Tetsuzaimon Iba was really challenging his Mother by proxy." he corrected, head tilting with a jingle and Shinji realized the vertiginous hairstyle was there to support a dozen or so small bells, before the rest of the sentence caught up with him.

"Tetsuzaimon?" Shinji blinked. "Wasn't that what Chikane Iba was going to call her son?

"Yah." Zaraki nodded, sounding like a sleigh full of presents.

Shinji stared blankly. "But- but- She was still pregnant when I.. left? He’s an infant!

"Nah, Lieutenant Iba's a whole-ass man now." Zaraki looked over his shoulder. "Ay Iba-" he called to a robust man with sunglasses wearing the 7th Division's lieutenant's badge, currently engaged in picking up Ikkaku and moving him out of the way for the 4th division triage. "-How come you're spotless when my vice looks like someone fucked up at the abattoir?"

"Hi Captain Zaraki!" Iba waved back, , Ikkaku slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "It's because he's a fucking idiot, sir!"

"FUCK YOU!" Ikkaku shrieked, flipping them off from where he hung awkwardly over his friend's shoulder.

"FUCK ME YOURSELF YOU COWARD!" Zaraki bellowed back.

Shinji watched the spectacle with wide eyes, slowly coming to an unpleasant realization, before slowly putting a hand on Kuchiki’s shoulder. "…Sojun." He sighed, using his colleauges given name with heavy morose. "I’m afraid we may be Old Men now."

Kuchiki turned and blinked at him, confused. "I’m Byakuya."

It was Shinji's turn to stare in confusion. "...Kuchiki Byakuya isn't even in the Academy yet?"

"No, I'm a captain now. Sojun, my father, died shortly after your disappearance." Apparently-Byakuya explained, arching a concerned eyebrow down at him.

"Fucking what." Shinji said flatly, feeling like he'd been drained of all color and redrawn with a sharpie by someone's off-hand.

"HAH!" Barked Zaraki. "Yer Old Fart, Tiger."

Byakuya scoffed up at Zaraki. "What’s that make you then?"

"An Ancient and Revered Relic, thank you." Kenpachi said, puffing up his chest in mock-pride.

"What's going on?" Nel asked Yachiru in a loud whisper.

"Bowlcut here is an old fart who is just now realizing that he's an old fart, but he’s younger than me, so he’s also a baby." Yachiru explained. "Either way, impressive bowel control for his age!"

"HEY!" Yelped Shinji.

"Drink ya Battle Victory juice, Tiger." Zaraki said, giving Shinji a consoling pat on the shoulder.

"...It's a bitter Juicy Juice I drink this day." Shinji sighed, disconsolately stabbing the box with the straw and drinking with despair.

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Additional Reishin Thoughts

I’ve been thinking about my OTP again and why it’s so hated by the fandom. One misconception I think a lot of people have is that it’s the “easy” ship compared to Asushin and that it would be a submissive tradwife marriage. Rei still challenges Shinji to not just run away, grow up and learn to love himself and challenges his worldview of demanding validation from others by calling him out for never trying to understand anyone else.

People who claim it’s incest ignore that in 3.33, Shinji wasn’t really upset about Rei’s origins, just that he failed to save the Rei he knew. Rei is sort of a metaphor for acceptance. Shinji accepts that Rei Q is still Rei even if she doesn’t have all her memories and him learning about her origins is less to squick people out and more a lesson about how you can’t have the good without the bad when it comes to people you care for.

I think some people are projecting their issues with traditional families onto this pairing and their feminist critiques are actually quite demeaning to Rei. Her whole arc is about breaking free and proving she’s not just Gendo’s replacement goldfish. I don’t think she’d be a submissive tradwife and is perfectly capable of holding her own. Shinji has his flaws but he respects her and wouldn’t treat her like a 50s housewife. I think a lot of people let their disgust towards this ship get in the way of understanding what it is and ignore the beauty of it.

What makes it appealing to me is that it’s the story of two lonely kids helping each other grow and face both internal and external challenges and gaining a deep emotional understanding. I respect people who prefer Asushin or Kawoshin for whatever reasons they have. I just wish that same respect could be afforded back.

[visohyenadraws]

As someone who loves the mecha genre I wish I was into any of the Gundam series but so far I have been unsuccessful.

I love the aesthetic of a giant robot with a big fuck off gun, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have gotten Armored Core VI lol, but still, I tried watching 79 quite a few times but fell off each times.

The first time was when I watched the first ten episodes of the original series off of a piracy site when they were still untamed by the feds, and just never returned to it. Then my second attempt was with the movie trilogy, I finished the first one and then dropped the second halfway through.

It’s been a while but I can try to explain why, I know what Didn’t spoil it for me: I have a stupidly high tolerance for old anime and old media in general, I was Raised on that shit, including many of Sunrise’s anime from the time, so I didn’t care because it looked old or outdated.

No I think what got me the most, and this might be an issue with the movies since I do remember some good episodes they had to cut out for time, was the characters, ironically. I’m sorry but I couldn’t care less for Amuro, he’s boring as hell and very generic… and he’s ginger (I’m kidding), when he’s not fighting he’s either ranting or getting beaten up by Bright and OH I’ll get to that cunt soon.

Idk maybe I hold up Shinji as the definitive example of how to make traumatised underage pilots, and Amuro just isn’t enough of a mess to work here despite the setting, and for the record I Like Shinji as a character.

My other issue is with a lot of the women in the cast, again, I didn’t finish the series so it prob gets better but a lot of the women in this show do nothing but stand around, cry, die, or keep repeating AMURO AMURO AMURO AMURO AMURO if they’re on the side of the Federation. I have seen films from the 50s with more feminist depictions of women ffs.

Now onto Bright, I like to think that my media literacy is good enough for me to not let characters who are bad people get to me, au contraire, some of my favourite pieces of media often involved the Whole Cast being pieces of shit, I am a massive Always Sunny fan after all. I can live with unsavoury characters if they’re done well enough.

That being said, I could never shake off the feeling that the series wasn’t doing quite Enough to call out Bright’s hardass martial approach to social interactions, almost as if the series was saying “yup, he’s in the right brah, nothing wrong here” which yeah this set the stage for me to bounce off the series incredibly hard in the second movie I think where he says some shit about women not being allowed to pilot mechs.

I really hope I’m misremembering some of this stuff because brother that’s not it. Really the only characters I really cared for where the villains like Char and the other guy, since they go against what you’d expect from mecha baddies, but even still they don’t have that much screentime and one of them famously dies in the tenth episode or the climax of the first movie.

But those were my issues with the series itself, on a more meta level, I have some amount of resentment over the series specifically the original 79 for its impact.

For those who don’t know, mecha series before Gundam were retroactively labelled as “Super Robot” since they were basically giant metal superheroes, animated Ultraman essentially, they could jump, move and run like it was nothing despite the laws of physics, and had extravagant weapons and attacks fighting whacky aliens or evil scientists.

Even Sunrise’s previous works like Daitarn 3 and Trider G7 were super robot through and through, especially the former being downright comedic at times and being closer to James Bond than science fiction, even their supposedly darker Zambot 3 was super robot through and through.

So when the original MSG came out in 1979, it really was a big deal as it was unlike everything else; it was a lot more grounded in tone and setting, the villains not only were fellow humans but had layers of complexity and weren’t just cartoon baddies, the robots carried shields and guns instead of cock-rockets and roketto-panchi, it was less a superhero Kyodai/Kaiju romp and more like a war drama, the severity of the conflict was made front and centre and not brushed aside for the cool fights.

That’s brilliant, even to this day it’s a great premise and deconstruction of the mecha genre, the problem is that this series became So popular that basically every single fucking mecha and scifi anime had to model itself after Gundam or be seen as outdated. Super robot was killed overnight, because god forbid we have some fucking fun with the concept of GIANT ROBOTS BEATING THE BRAINS OUT OF EACH OTHER.

Like Gurren Lagann being modelled after super robot shows as a fun throwback shows how utterly dead the genre is.

I understand that by the time Gundam came out the genre had run its course, you can only rewrite Mazinger/Grandeizer so many times, but fuck’s sake surely there’s ways to do it just be creative. I love the things Gundam helped create but the fact that it had to exist at the Expense of super robot is what bothers me.

Let me explain it by comparing it to Godzilla ok? There’s two kinds of Godzillas: serious war drama Godzilla and KWE standing for Kaiju Wrestling Entertainment. There’s fans that prefer one over the other but both Godzillas exist without cancelling each other out.

Now the 1980s movie The Return of Godzilla was the first movie in the series in a while, and it was a grittier more serious return to form that just had Zilla destroy a city without all the other monsters duking it out. Now IMAGINE if after that movie Toho went “right, it’s clear, people only want serious Godzilla it’s very clear” and from then on we ONLY got movies like Godzilla 54, Minus One and Shin Godzilla, yes they’re peak, but after a while a part of the fanbase is gonna get seriously tired of them and wish they would just get “Godzilla vs Mothra vs Kong vs Gheedora All United Brawl” already.

Now if you know me personally you’ll ask “but what about Evangelion” and yes, if Eva is not my favourite anime ever it’s in the Top 3, but honestly? Calling Eva just a mecha show or any of the sub genres is seriously selling it short, it is SO much more then robot fights and thats why I love it, watching Eva just for the robot fights is like playing Silent Hill 2 for the riveting combat.

So those are my thoughts, I still haven’t given up on the series as I plan to revisit it through War in the Pocket since fans quite like that one in particular, hopefully it’s more up my alley lol.

[yoditopascal]

Everything I Lost But Found In You

summary: Shinji reflects on everything he lost and gained from Aizen’s betrayal.

warnings: fluff, slice of life, post TYBW, pre-CFYOW, Sen is a tsundere, slightly suggestive content

a/n: I’ve been working on this OC since 2008 and I’m so excited to share her with you guys! The first chapter is short and sweet but I promise the next ones will be longer!

Masterlist//Next Chapter

Everything

Shinji leaned against the wooden railing of his office of the 5th Division headquarters, the air infused with the sweet scent of fresh cherry blossoms, flowing gently through his hair as his wife worked diligently behind him on his paperwork that was now a week late.

As he started to contemplate the twists of fate that had brought them together, warm memories of their earlier days resurfaced to the forefront of his mind. Just as he was starting to get lost in his thoughts the sound of his wife getting to her feet drew him back to his reality. Sen stretches behind him and lets out a huff, as she stood from his pile of unattended documents at his desk, drawing his eye to the undeniable curve of her belly that marked her heavily pregnant form with a smile.

She turned to him, a mix of frustration and affection in her eyes as she started to chide him for letting paperwork pile up so much over the past week.

“I swear the older you get the lazier you get Shinji.” She said with a frown though he could tell from the mischievous shine in her eye that the jab wasn’t serious.

“You can’t keep relying on me to forge your signature, Shinji. I won’t always be here to bail you out, especially when Asahi gets here!” she scolded, but her voice lacking any real bite to it as she rubbed at her swollen stomach. He couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle as he came back into the office space, stepping closer to her and attempting to steal a kiss to her cheek as he gently rubbed her stomach, placing a warm calloused hand over her much smaller one.

“You shouldn’t stress so much. It’s not good for him,” he teased, knowing she wouldn’t let him off the hook entirely. “Besides I said I’d take care of it when we got back, it’s not my fault you decided to start doin’ it before we leave.” he added, knowing how excited she was to see her friends and their kid again even if it was just to watch Chad’s boxing match over at Ichigo and Orihime’s.

Sen smiled at his affectionate antics but swatted him away playfully, “That’s because I knew you wouldn’t do it.” she waved him off as she continued. “Now go and find Atsushi, we gotta leave soon and she’s probably off training with Ichika so I’m sure she’ll need to get cleaned up before we go.”

“Go on, get moving, or we’ll be late!” she urged, her tone light but stern as she waddled past him towards their shared home. “So cold.” Shinji’s expression fell into a mock pout at her dismissal. “At least I know Atsushi loves me,” he quipped back at her retreating form. As Sen walked toward their home to get ready for their trip to the Human World, he continued to admire her form with a smile, hand resting in his cheek as he leaned in the railing of his office once again.

How the hell had he gotten so lucky in life?

The haunting memories of Aizen’s betrayal weighed heavy on him, even to this day, but amidst all the loss, there was a flicker of light, his love for Sen and the family they’ve come to make together never failed to ease his dread over what had come to pass.

He recalled the very first moment their paths crossed back in the tea scented walls of her father Kisuke’s peculiar shop, the warmth he felt the first time she had called him by his first name, their first date that she, to this day, still refused to acknowledge as their first actual date, their first fight, fueled solely by Shinji’s jealousy, over her spending more time with Kensei than him, the first time Sen patched up his wounds and chastised him for not letting her help him in the first place. Their first “I love yous” even though neither of them said it directly, they both knew the implications of what they had said meant to the other.

It was in those moments that he began to understand the depth of her feelings, she loved him, just as fiercely and unconditionally as she loved her family and he’d be a liar if he said he didn’t love her just as strong back then even if he hadn’t known it yet.

[iamumbra195]

MY favourite bleach head canons in no particular order

1. the idea that all shinigami in gigai give off uncanny valley vibes

Basically like Isshin, whose not quite human but not quite shinigami, meets some of Ichigo’s friends when he was a kid like Tatsuki and she obviously met his mom before and she was nice so she wasn’t expecting much from his dad and then she meets him and her first reaction is ‘what the fuck is that???’

The kurosaki kids, who have grown up with their dad and have pretty high levels of reiatsu, don’t actually realize this while their human friends just instinctually avoid Isshin ‘cause they feel like something’s off about him

of course over time and with extended exposure to Ichigo’s reiatsu, the weirdness kinda fades away but anyone outside of Ichigo’s circle generally avoids all the shinigami that come to Karakura in gigai for those reasons

2. all animals hate shinigami except cats and crows

literally for no reason besides the fact that I like them

I love the idea of shinji with his creepy ass smile just perched on top of a telephone pole and if he stays still long enough, crows will start sitting on him XD

I also have cats that I love and I love the idea of Ichigo just chilling on his bed with an orange cat and doing the purring thing with it while he’s sleeping

And then when he goes to a pet store with Rukia because she wants to see bunnies, all the animals go ballistic anf they get kicked out XD

3. the visored + ichigo with animalistic traits

laying down on hot things because it feels nice on their skin and soothes something in their lizard brains

eyes that flash hollow yellow when they feel intense emotion (inspired the scene in the anime where Aizen says that hollowification is faster when agitated so emotions heavily affect their appearance

I like the idea that they get very tactile with people they care about (not in a romantic way) and they get into little wrestling matches over stupid stuff because that’s they’re idea of playing and bonding

Shinji gives cat vibes, you can’t even tell me he doesn’t just look at him. When cats make eye contact as they push something off the table- that’s him

I also really like the idea of the hollowification affecting their zanpakuto. Given that Ichigo was pretty much born with his hollow, he doesn’t notice the different the way the Visored do 

Shinji’s whole standing upside down and reversing the gravity on himself, I like the idea that it came after his hollowification and if he wishes he can do it to others

Idk if there’s any jjk manga readers her but you know that attack kenjaku has where he makes you feel like you’re falling but you’re not really? He does it to Yuji a few times when he’s fighting mahito and I love the idea of Shinji having that ability, just completely fucking up their sense of reality and direction

I haven’t thought of the other visored abilities but from my other AU that I will never write, I mentioned that Kaien was hollowified as well so I love the idea of him just being completely obsessed with everything water related and having an affinity for any water type kido and being able to control minor amounts of water without actually drawing Nejibana and being able to breath under water

4. all zanpakuto spirits do commentary in their weilders head

but only ppl like Ichigo and Toushiro who have incredibly powerful spirits that they can literally talk to in the middle of a fight can actually hear

Like Zabimaru, haineko, and all the other zanpakuto are just constantly making fun or nitpicking the way their weilder uses them

But Ichigo is the only one who has to suffer through Zangetsu (Shiro) cackling in his head while Toushiro gets useful feedback and Ichigo’s just completely done with him

a sadder headcanon: all zanpakuto spirits talk to their weilders regularly however, the Visored because of their own fear of their hollowification have estranged themselves from their zanpakuto spirits and like Shiro is hostile with Ichigo in canon, the others are like ten times worse

5. If Ichigo every actually seals his zanpakuto, he’d be incredibly sensitive to reiatsu (I forgot to add this one the first time and I didn’t wanna make another post XD)

I personally love this little explanation of Ichigo’s powers and you know how Ichigo is just really shitty at sensing reiatsu at the beginning? Shinji commented on it a couple times and seemed pretty confused by it.

I think that part of the reason why he’s so bad at it-- especially after the SS arc ‘cause remember he was actually pretty good at sensing back then-- is because after he achieved Bankai, Hollow Zangetsu was in control rather than OMZ and with that switch in power came a significant uptick in his own reiatsu to the point where Ichigo actually feels like he’s being crushed by his own power and he can feel how close Shiro is for the first time and he’s actually scared of his own power

Hiyori even comments about how he’s scared of his own bankai because the distance between him and Shiro decreases everytime he gets stronger since Shiro gets stronger with him

Anyways, we’re not devolving into an analysis about Ichigo and Shiro but eventually Ichigo learns how to sense things properly even with his own reiatsu

So when he finally seals Zangetsu and he’s no longer covered by his own power because it’s finally sealed, he’s gonna be sensing things so much stronger and get sensory overload only it’s ✨reiatsu sensitivity✨

6. Souls in the Society age until they find an appearance both they and their reiatsu level is comfortable with (Another one because I’m an idiot and I forgot)

Excluding Toushiro’s weird case of appearanc shifting but I guess that could be attributed to his bankai’s weirdness that I don’t know much about

I don’t think we’ve gotten on actual explanation on how souls age so I’ve decided to apply this hc

Basically the reason why ppl like Unohana, who looks incredibly similar to herself from a thousand years ago, the only difference being how much less sinister she looks and how calm she looks

Plus, all the characters from the Turn back the pendulm arc barely changing over a hundred years is wild

I initially thought of it as comparing every decade a soul lives to ever year a human lives but that didn’t feel right so I chose this

[nero-vanderwolf]

Shinjiro Aragaki was many things. 

A fool, a coward, a self-destructive idiot. 

He hated being back at S.E.E.S. He hated Aki reaching out, desperately trying to rekindle what Shinji had deliberately snuffed out so long ago. He hated the fact that Ken Amada was there, was allowed to be there. He hated the feeling of Ken’s eyes on him, fully aware that he deserved to be watched. 

Shinji was many things. A good person wasn’t one of them. 

The walls of the Iwatodai dorms were thin as paper. More than once, Shinji had gotten a fist against the wall from Aki whenever he played his music a bit too loud or with a bit too much bass. 

It was gut-wrenching now, being able to hear everything in Aki’s room. 

He was crying, fucking crying, and Mitsu was comforting him. And the conversation was about him, Shinjiro. 

“I just- I don’t know what the hell to do... I wouldn’t blame him for hating me, honestly- I didn’t call him once to ask how he was doing, or whenever I went to see him I never offered a place to sleep- I was such a godawful friend, holy shit, no wonder he doesn’t like me anymore.” 

Mitsu echoed Shinji’s own thoughts, thankfully. Always the voice of reason, she was. 

“He doesn’t hate you. Just... give him some time to readjust to being here. He’ll warm up to you again, I’m sure.” 

Shinji sat against the wall, letting his head fall back with a dull thunk. 

Aki’s room went silent, save for the sound of faint sniffling. 

“...Shinji...?” Aki’s voice asked tentatively, and Shinji would never have guessed he’d been crying only a few moments earlier. “Are you okay?” 

“...‘M fine. Just tripped,” he answered, keeping his voice down. He wanted to run into Aki’s room, hug him and tell him it would all be okay. 

But he had to keep his distance. For everyone’s sake. 

Unfortunately, that Arisato kid made it difficult. He kept choosing both Aki and Shinji to make the trek into Tartarus, along with Aigis. It was almost irritating, but Shinji refused to get mad. He wouldn’t lash out again. 

“Aragaki-senpai, there’s a Shadow ahead. Think you and I could take it on?” Arisato asked, readying his sword. 

Shinji grunted in response, hefting his axe. “I could probably take it on by myself. With your power? No doubt about it.” 

Suddenly, much to his surprise, the ever-stoic leader smiled. It was faint, but he straightened up a bit and adjusted his grip on his sword. The two charged. 

“Stop.” 

Shinji froze, compelled by the voice.

Aki stood behind him, and Shinji slowly turned around. Caught right by the stairs- he could bolt if he wanted.

“What the hell is it this time?” He asked, trying desperately, so desperately, to further that rift between them. It hurt, but he knew it was for the best. 

Aki strode forward, closing the gap between them. Whether it was the physical gap, or the metaphorical one, Shinji wasn’t sure. Probably both. 

Definitely both. Shinji couldn’t stay away from Aki, even if he tried. And he tried. 

Aki’s expression shifted, and there was a softness to his eyes that Shinji found incredibly unfair. He wanted to reach out, to hug Aki close and never let go. 

Instead, he stayed silent, waiting for Aki to make the first move. 

Aki reached out, and hugged him. Shinji closed his eyes, wrestling with the urge to give in, to hug him back and finally let go of his fear. 

“What the hell is going on...? Do you hate me, Shinji?” 

Shinji almost started crying, hearing the emotion in Aki’s voice. No, no he didn’t hate him. He could never hate him, never. 

“...No. I don’t,” was all he could choke out. Aki pulled back, an unreadable expression on his face. Shinji hated when he couldn’t tell what his friend was thinking. 

“You sure are acting like it. If you don’t hate me, then why the hell are you avoiding me like this? Why the hell aren’t you talking to me? If I fucked up, stop playing this game and just tell me!” 

Shinji couldn’t breathe. He felt as though Aki had punched him. 

“This... Isn’t a game...” He choked out. He felt like he was being strangled. Something was ripping at his insides, screaming for release. 

The world was plunged into green, and he almost threw up. He was about to lose control again. He was going to hurt Aki. More blood would be on his hands, and this time it would be the blood of his dearest friend. 

In the green light of the Dark Hour, Aki looked pale. Even paler than usual, Shinji would garner. 

“Shinji... Shinji! Hey, look at me. Focus- It’s okay, it’ll be okay. You’re okay. Stop trying to fight him, you’re making it worse.” 

Shinji felt warm hands on his cheeks, and was suddenly aware of the wetness on them as well. He was crying, Aki was holding his face and their foreheads were pressed together. He wanted so many things, yet could have none of them. 

Castor screamed in his head, demanding to be released. Demanding to see Pollux. Demanding to be freed. Castor wanted the same things he did, yet Shinji knew. He would lose control in an instant if he released Castor. 

“Castor- He’s fightin’ again-” He warned, but Aki remained stubbornly in front of him. 

“You aren’t the only one with a Persona, Shinji. All of us can handle ourselves if he gets too rowdy.” 

“Aki-” 

“I’m not fucking leaving. Everyone in this dorm has a Persona,” Aki said, easing Shinji’s fall as his knees gave in. Castor was fighting even more now, screaming for the one thing Shinji couldn’t have. 

In their new position, Aki could hold him close, and did. Shinji was trembling against him, fighting against it weakly, but Castor demanded to stay there, content in Aki’s arms. 

He couldn’t have it. He couldn’t have anything. He couldn’t, he couldn’t- 

Why not? Castor asked, still tugging to be closer to Aki. 

I don’t want you to hurt him, Shinji responded. He swore he could hear Castor scoff. 

I would never hurt any of them. You were a child back then, forced to harness my power. You’re stronger now. You cannot control me, but you can work with me- or you could continue this fight until you die. 

Shinji choked back a sob, letting his head drop onto Aki’s shoulder. That night still haunted him, still stained his hands crimson. 

But Castor was right. It wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t Castor’s, either. 

Aki went still underneath him. “...Shinji...?” 

Shinji groaned, wrapping his arms around Aki’s waist. “‘M sorry for bein’ such an ass... I’ll make it up to you, Aki. Promise.” 

Aki sighed, holding him closer. Tighter. Castor was right- this was amazing. It was almost like being in the orphanage again, cuddling up to Aki after a rough fight on the blacktop. 

“Well, at least you admit you were an ass,” Aki laughed. 

Shinji laughed too. 

It felt nice. 

GAHHHHH AKISHINJI........ WHY ARE THEY SO FUCKED UP AND SAD!!!!! i love the castor content.... shinji not wanting to hurt aki while hes comforting him, saying it wasnt castor nor shinjis fault he didnt have control... and aki being scared that shinji hates him for avoiding him.... gahhhh.... this fic has it all

[hxhhasmysoul]

General Thoughts on Yuuta?

As few as humanly possible? I wish the fandom let me forget about this boy.

I’ve never found Yuuta interesting. Now, thanks to fandom I find him downright annoying. 

Yuuta has strong Shinji vibes at the beginning of Zero and while it’s realistic, there are people who are like that, I just find it boring. This is a very personal bias but as a person who has several concurrent mental issues, I have a strong dislike for characters and actual people who make their mental illness their whole personality. 

His arc in Zero also doesn’t excite me. He is super powerful from the start but can’t control it. Then he puts practically zero work into it an can control it.. He seems like a scrawny loser but starts to do gymnast shit with a sword really quickly. His CT is Copy, where he just copies the techniques of others and uses them in a more powerful way than they do, with no conditions or downsides.. When he needs to, he learns reverse curse technique and can apply it to others which we learn is super hard… 

Basically, everything he needs to know and be able to do, he is able to do in the moment he needs it… 

And Yuuta has no principles, not ideals. He is unfazed by Getou’s fascist speech. Yuuta fights Getou because Getou directly harms Yuuta’s only friends. It’s really sad because Getou actually is shown to have a vested interest in pursuing Yuuta, or more precisely Rika. I mean Getou’s plan and ideology are nonsense, but what fascist ideology is internally coherent anyway, it’s always reactionary drivel that focuses on targeting the weak instead of trying to get to the bottom of societal (in this case jujutsu society’s) problems. But Yuuta has no personal connection to Getou, no thematic one either. 

I think Gege really noticed what a weak protag Yuuta was because all of this is fixed in Yuuji whose ability to perform gymnastic feats is established in chapter one. Who also has principles and a personality more complex than: I’m depressed.  Same with Getou and his primitive plans are replaced with Mother, the perfect plotter, and their amazing multi-layered plans. The Gege added Sukuna, an emotionally constipated jujutsu and poetry nerd who can also forge a plan of his own. And Mahito, a creepy kid curse who thinks he can plot but alas adults were in the room, so no he can’t And Yuuji has a deep personal and thematic connection to all three of them, and likewise.

It really shows how much Gege grew and developed the world of JJK between Zero and the main series.

There’s a hint that Yuuta’s so powerful partially because of Rika’s love for him. She loves and she stayed with him after she died. “Love is the greatest curse”. So the arc goes that Yuuta is told that he can stop keeping Rika’s soul from crossing over, can break her curse by simply talking to her, releasing her. 

And this is where Gege in my opinion really made a serious mistake. The way this is set up, and later much more well developed in JJK proper, there should’ve been a cost to releasing Rika. There is a strong idea of balance and give and take to jujutsu. Gege had a perfect opportunity here to grant Yuuta space to grow by depowering him. Letting Yuuta lose some of his powers by letting go of Rika. But Yuuta just became more powerful for JJK proper… 

And that meant there was nowhere to go with Yuuta’s character. Yuuta was still unconnected to any of the major villains and barely to any of the important characters, only to Maki and Gojou, though he barely interacts with either in JJK proper. 

I and also other people have written before how Yuuta literally does nothing during the final showdown, how he only pauses the fight, prolongs it and distracts from the people who Sukuna actually connects with during the fight, ie Yuuji and Maki. Or how he wasn’t even necessary to kill Kenjaku.  

And Yuuta has no personal connection to either Kenjaku or Sukuna. He has a forced thematic connection to Sukuna when he takes over Gojou’s body, a pathetic attempt at becoming the strongest. And he has that connection for like five minutes in the story… 

If Yuuta never appeared in the JJK main story… it would’ve been almost the exact same story. Gege needed Yuuta for one moment, just after Shibuya to fake Yuuji’s death. And maybe even that could’ve been handled differently. Someone else could’ve fought in Sendai instead of him, there are other capable characters to fight in the Culling Games.

_________________

More posts on Yuuta by me and others. If I missed any good ones, please tell me and I will add them to the list.

[duhragonball]

Neon Genesis Evangelion 02

I’m honestly not sure if I knew beforehand about the penguin.  This is one of those “wacky” anime tropes where it’s like “Uh-oh, we have a kooky thing in our show!  Wokka wokka!” and I’m pretty sure it’s in so many different titles that I probably heard about the penguin and got it mixed up with some other show’s wacky animal.  Anyway, let the record show that there is a penguin in this anime.

So last time Shinji Ikari got voluntipulated to pilot Eva Unit 01 in battle against an “angel”, a powerful monster that occasionally shows up in this world.  All we really know so far is that the angels are hostile and only the Eva machines can stop them, if they have a compatible pilot to operate them.  I guess the NERV Agency built the Eva machines, and recruited Rei Ayanami to pilot one of them, but she’s been hospitalized, so the NERV director, Gendo Ikari, has brought in his son, Shinji, to pilot another Eva unit in her place.

And he reluctantly agrees, despite having no training or prior experience.  Hell, it’s not even clear he had any idea what he was getting into today.  Anyway, he seems to have a gift for controlling his Eva, but the angel still overpowers him and starts kicking his ass.  One of its powers is some sort of energy piledriver thing it uses to batter the head of Eva-01. Shinji can feel the damage, even though his own body isn’t physically harmed.

In the NERV command center, everyone’s freaking out because this clearly isn’t working, but there’s nothing they can do about it.  Well, everyone except Shinji’s dad, Gendo.  He doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other.

Then we flash forward to after the battle, when Shinji wakes up in bed.  The middle of the episode just moves on, and for a while it’s unclear what the hell happened. 

A bunch of big shots have a meeting in a darkened room, talking in circles about how expensive it is to fight the angels and all the projects they want Gendo Ikari to work on.  I feel like I’ve seen this a hundred times.  Pop Team Epic spoofed a scene like this, and this whole show reminds me of the not-funny parts of the Excel Saga manga.  All these vague references to things the audience couldn’t possibly know about, and flashbacks to lines delivered earlier in the same episode.  I don’t know if Evangelion was the inspiration for a lot of this stuff, or if it was just using tropes that were already familiar in 1995.  Certainly the giant robots vs. giant monster thing is nothing new. 

Anyway, nothing really gets settled in this scene.  The authorities want Dr. Ikari to handle this crisis, and from what I can tell he already is. He’s a callous prick about it, but none of these guys seem to care about his attitude. They briefly ask why it’s so hard to find compatible pilots for these Eva Units, but we never get a clear answer. And Gendo has no reaction to their posturing, so this scene really doesn’t advance his character at all, unless the point is to show that he’s just as indifferent towards his superiors as he is to his subordinates.

At some point Shinji is released from the hospital, and Misato sets him up to live in this city.  He wasn’t injured from the battle, but he was shaken up pretty badly.  On their way, they briefly run into Gendo, who just stares at Shinji, who looks away in frustration until the elevator door closes.  Soon enough, Misato learns that Shinji won’t be living with Gendo while he’s here.  That doesn’t seem to bother either of the Ikaris. 

So Misato arranges to have Shinji live with her, since she doesn’t like the idea of him being in a place by himself.  She tells Ritsuko about this, and jokes that she isn’t planning to seduce the kid, and Ritsuko is upset at the very thought of it.  

Misato was only kidding, but yeah, that’s kind of a messed up thing to kid about.  It’s not even a case of the joke aging poorly, because Ritsuko takes offense in the very next line of dialogue.

On the way to her place, Misato finally explains to Shinji what this place is: Tokyo-3, a fortified city designed to repel Angel attacks.  I think I can make an educated guess about what happened to Tokyo and Tokyo-2. What I don’t understand is what good the city does.  It didn’t protect anything, and it was up to Shinji to defend it.  Maybe it’s just easier to clean up and repair than a regular city.

Anyway, they get to the apartment and there’s empty beer cans and trash everywhere.  Shinji is uncomfortable being here, he’s uncomfortable eating instant meals with Misato, and when he doesn’t immediately relax like she wants, she brow-beats him over it. 

I guess that’s the point of all this.  Misato’s the only person in this show so far who even tries to treat Shinji like a person, and she’s frustrated that he isn’t more like the kind of person she’d like him to be. 

I mean, the additional frustration of living with an adult woman must be stressful as well, and the penguin probably doesn’t help matters. 

Okay, so this is kind of a thing.  At night, Shinji lies in his bedroom listening to his mixtape or whatever, and it switches from track 25 to 26.  I was reading a Twitter thread that mentioned this, and how he only listens to those two tracks over and over, so I think that becomes important later.  Anyway.

At last, we finally flash back to the battle, and learn how Shinji survived.  Somehow, his Eva went berserk and began fighting back all on its own.  Or maybe Shinji was controlling it unconsciously or whatever.  The Angel is quickly overwhelmed, and it tries to self-destruct, but the Eva survives unharmed. 

The NERV crew mention something about the Eva’s “true form”, which I guess explains whatever this thing is that we see beneath it’s helmet.  Shinji gets a look at it through his viewscreen and they stare at each other for a while before he blacks out from terror.

Before turning in for the night Misato stops by to tell him what she feels she should have told him earlier: that he did a good thing by saving Tokyo-3 from the Angel. 

I don’t know, it didn’t quite hit me until now, but yeah, it’s kind of fucked up that no one bothers to thank him until well after the crisis has passed.  I mean, if Tokyo-3, the NERV Agency, and all the rest are so crucial to the future of humanity, then you’d think there’d be more gratitude towards Shinji.  I think part of the disconnect here is that the Angel problem is a lot bigger than this one attack, and the characters are too busy worrying about the big picture to appreciate a single act of heroism, no matter how important it might be. 

Anyway, that’s it for now.  Join us next time when... actually I have no idea.  I watch the next episode preview, but I couldn’t make much sense of it. I’ll find out soon enough.

[skateironicallycantskate]

We were playing Mafia in orchestra and I got to be mafia twice 💃🏽🕺🏽 (putting this under a read more cause I’m gonna yap)

First round, I decided to target a kid named Toby. Everytime someone would accuse him I would kill them off, even when the ghosts were trying to get me to kill the detective :3

And then I got the townsfolk to vote off Toby and I tried to kill off this other girl cause I thought she wasn’t medic but she actually was and saved herself HOWEVER this ended up working in my favor cause then I was like “woah! no one died as soon as toby was kicked?? seems like we got the mafia!!” and then we went to sleep and I killed the last townsfolk and I WAS SO CLOSE TO WINNING BUT I LOST IN ROCK PAPER SCISSORS AGAINST THE MEDIC AND GOT VOTED OUT 😔

teacher: you are now on trial, what is your defense?

me: ….come on. I’m just a silly little guy :3 You’re gonna vote off a silly little guy? seems like something the mafia would do

Second round, was not the mafia but I did get killed off second

Me: Come on!! I know I got a little too silly in our past life but like. come on 😔

Third round I was the mafia again and decided to kill off Toby just cause everyone was sitting normal and he was sitting in the shinji pose for some reason. He then turned to me and mouthed “I hate you”

[twilightknight17]

Last night on P3R: middle-school SEES, struggling with my social calendar, the Abyss of Time, questionable movie choices, and oh god we finished Sunset and now I’m hitting sad stuff in everything else I’m playing/watching too.

I’m still in Tartarus from last time, so I can knock out a few more floors before we go home. I’ve been introduced to a new thing, though, and it’s a Big Hand!

I kind of love how goofy the hands are. They do a little dance and sometimes it syncs up with the music. ^_^

After that, it’s time for the next gatekeeper floor! And it’s--

...oh. Oh god. Is this it? I’m not ready for this. I’ve got Mitsuru with me, but oh man. Not the Table.

……

...false alarm. This is a Terminal Table, not a Crying Table. We’re safe for a little longer.

That wasn’t so bad.

Also, I got a weapon for Shinji as a quest reward, and it’s a crossing sign from in front of a school. It’s so silly.

I rolled through the next set of floors pretty quick, but I don’t think anyone’s quite prepared to take on another gatekeeper. Everyone is pretty drained in terms of SP. So we’re gonna head home for the night, and go learn some more nonsense from school tomorrow.

...all right, actually an acceptable discussion related to the book we’re reading. But hey, sometimes your soulmate can be your rival! Seven years from now, two rival soulmates are gonna be climbing through a cognitive space station!

This is not a fair discussion when Minato’s soulmate still isn’t here for another month and a half.

Anyway, Mitsuru is very worried about Shinji. He wants to extend his leave of absence from school again even though he’s come back to the dorm. So I guess he’s been absent for two years now? She really wants him to re-enroll, though. She, Akihiko, and Shinji were the only three members of SEES originally, back when the three of them were in middle school.

Apparently they could barely handle the first floor of the tower, which… They were children, so I’m not surprised. No adult supervision, either, and Mitsuru only had minor navi powers. I’m surprised none of them got killed. At least Ken has all of us who’ve already learned to fight to keep him safe.

They promised that they’d all graduate high school together, which explains why Mitsuru is so invested. She clearly cares about both of them a lot.

You can hand over the extension form here, but there’s also the option to hold onto them and go find Shinji to talk again. So… I guess you can literally just end the events there if you choose to not take the form back and go pry.

...there’s nothing we can do?

And any miracles I can make will come too late. If only my sister was here… It’s just a cruel twist of fate that which twin survives the car accident determines whether Shinji can live ten years later.

He says he’s happy to spend time with me, though.

This isn’t fair, you can’t hit me like this after the fic Jade and I finished and the end of MGS4 and the fic my other friend is writing AND--

God. And he doesn’t want to tell anyone.

At least Junpei is happy. He really, really likes Chidori. But he’s willing to go at her pace on everything.

Good for you, my guy.

Let’s go upstairs and check on Ken. He’s banging something around in his room, so probably good to make sure that he hasn’t dropped a box on his head or something.

He’s fine, but he does ask me to come in, because he wants to ask for a favor. Turns out, he’s got a pet hamster!

...you’re gonna be fine, Ken. But okay. What’s the little guy’s name?

……amazing. Yes, I will take care of Hamburger, but I’m also not gonna let anything happen to you. Everyone here is going to take care of you. You’ve noticed, right?

Because you’re the youngest and you’re our collective baby brother/kid. No one wants you to get hurt, and it’s unnerving how you talk like you don’t matter, and like you’re not planning to make it through all this alive.

Maybe school will be less depressing. It’s a good day to go to art club. Apparently Keisuke’s dad is very enthusiastic about him studying art abroad! And he says he’s going to go! But then he immediately says he’s not excited about it, so… Keisuke, seriously. What do you want to do?

Ah, well, I’m sure he’ll figure it out.

And then a box falls on Minato’s head, and everything goes dark.

Keisuke gets Mina to the nurse’s office, and after he wakes up, checks him over. Apparently Minato has dodged a concussion. He blames himself, because apparently he’s the one who put the box on the shelf. He’s not used to cleaning, because the maid does all of that at home.

Right. Sure. Careless at cleaning because of the maid. Cool.

He really seems to like the idea of being a doctor, and he’s afraid that if he goes to become an artist, that’s it, he can never be a doctor.

So… sounds like you made a decision, dude.

Keisuke. What. Do. You. Want. For fuck’s sake.

Anyway. So people have been talking about the culture festival all week. There’s gonna be a haunted house. There’s gonna be fried food. The archery club was gonna do a maid cafe, which I know because Yukari was so mad she was gonna have to wear a maid dress.

But, a typhoon is rolling in, so the festival is canceled, and isn’t gonna be rescheduled despite Mitsuru’s efforts. And after school on Friday, we head straight home, because the wind is starting to really kick up.

But… there’s still one person wandering around Port Island Station.

He’s not worried about the oncoming storm. He wants to talk, specifically about Chidori. He asked if she was okay. If we were taking care of her. If she was being a problem.

...no, you dumb asshole.

He also wants to bitch at me again about how we want to stop the Dark Hour.

Apathy? Maybe if you’d caught me six months ago. I have people I like now, and a reason to care. Meanwhile, you’re sitting there talking about how I don’t understand the ‘true value’ of my powers. What value is that? Wandering around at midnight killing people, like you do?

Minato is drenched by the time we get back to the dorm, because the downpour has kicked in and the typhoon has properly arrived. Everyone is a little cranky about missing the festival (except Yukari), and Minato’s got chills and fatigue from getting soaked, so he opts to go to bed early because he’s not feeling well.

…uh. Hi? Is the elevator about to crash?

Igor says that he hasn’t called me in my dreams in a while, and wants to open up some more special fusions for me to do. Which is great and all, but like… I am trying to sleep because I am sick. Can we do this any other time?

I see. Well, that’s… vague? Are you talking about like… the other Full Moon Shadows? The Clockwork God? Do you know what’s about to happen and won’t tell me? Although I guess you can’t help it, considering who made you.

Even if he wasn’t always like that.

Well, let’s get a good night’s sleep and see how we feel in the morni--

Minato. Mina. Darling. It’s MONDAY. You slept for TWO DAYS?

So, according to Q, Minato was feeling well enough that the team went to Tartarus last night. And Igor left the Velvet Room at some point, making it unstable enough to crash the elevator into the Abyss of Time. Apparently it’s not just the Abyss that no one remembers. They don’t seem to remember the instigating trip to Tartarus either.

Weird. But understandable I guess.

Anyway I missed two days of possibly playing my MMO all day. You could have at least showed me my teammates checking on me!

I guess I’ll spend my vacation hanging out with Shinji. Senpaiiii, teach me to cook!

...senpai is mean. XD

But apparently I’m a menace in the kitchen, so maybe I deserve it.

Let’s go to the movies, too!

Yes, we’re seeing this. It’s a movie about cute animals!

…….oh fuck me this is Watership Down isn’t it

Shinjiro-senpai I’m so sorry.

He sounds like he’s about to cry. X’’’’D

I thought it was a nice movie!!!!

Well, now someone has wandered into Tartarus again, so let’s head back, and check in with the Velvet Room about those new fusions. I’m not a high enough level for them yet, but it can’t hurt to look.

...why does it get its own fire attack. Why does it inflict charm.

WHY IS ITS LEVEL UP ITEM ITS HEAD. WHAT HEAD.

God.

After buying everyone new weapons and fusing some more personas, we’re probably going to be in Tartarus for a while. Because, well…

I’m broke.

So next time, yeah, we’re gonna save people, but also, time to look for so much money.

[kitsmits]

New Chapter of Mono no Aware is UP!

Chapter 27: Trust

The next chapter of Mono no Aware is up on AO3 and FF.net! Check it out, leave a comment…and be ready. It’s a heavy one. Check below the “read more” line for a preview!

“Wake the fuck up, ya snot-nosed baldy!”

Hiyori kicked the orange-haired brat right in his empty skull. “You owe me a hundred sets o’ katas! What kinda weakling passes out after crashing through one measly fucking boulder?!”

“To be fair,” Shinji called out lazily, “he went through that boulder headfirst, Hiyori. And Ichigo's only got one head, so let's not bash it around too much!”

“Shut the fuck up, baldy-Shinji! So what if he's only got one head? Doesn't mean shit when there's no brains in it.”

“Hey, I have enough brains to know that your teaching style sucks!” Ichigo shot back, rubbing his head as he sat up.

“Oh?” Hiyori turned back to Ichigo with her arms crossed. “You wanna make it two hundred kata sets? An’ did I say you could take a break? Get to it already! The longer you make me wait, the harder I'm gonna kick your ass in the next spar!”

Though really, she’d hardly consider what they just did “sparring”; the idiot could only keep control of his masked state for a few seconds at a time. Once those few seconds were up, the brat got so wiped out that Hiyori pretty much spent the rest of the time knocking him around like a ragdoll. Even when he did get a few real moves in, he was way too predictable.

You keep attacking from the front - that’s what I mean by ‘predictable’…

Hiyori’s lip curled into a sneer. Why was she thinking about her freakin’ Academy days all of a sudden? What the fuck did that have to do with anything? Those days were long gone, and no amount of pouting or crying or staring wistfully into the distance would bring them back.

Shinji sidled up to her, watching as Ichigo began performing katas like his life depended on it. “Gotta say, the kid’s got stamina. What’re we up to now?”

Hiyori scoffed. “Ten seconds. Little over. He ain’t tryin’ hard enough.”

“He’s still afraid,” Shinji mused. “We all went through it - well, maybe not Mashiro, but still. We all had to figure out how to live with our new Hollow roommates, an’ it ain’t an easy thing to do. ‘Sides…he ain’t the only one we gotta rely on now.”

“I ain’t relyin’ on anyone who ain’t in front o’ me,” she said, acid lacing her every word.

“But everyone’s kinda behind you right now…”

Lightning fast, in a move she could do in her sleep (and sometimes did), Hiyori whipped off her sandal and smacked him with it. ”Shut up, Shinji! You know what I mean!”

She could rely on the other Visoreds - they’d gotten each other through this hell together, after all. Urahara…she wasn’t so sure about relying on him. Never had been. But he usually came through when it mattered.

Unlike some.

Just then, Hiyori’s pocket began buzzing. She pulled out her phone to see who the hell was calling her at a time like this.

Unknown number…?

Oh, did that clog-wearing dipshit really think she wouldn’t know this was him?! This was a freakin’ spirit phone! He’d sold it to her - no, extorted her for it was more like it, but still! There was no way anyone was calling her on it that she wouldn’t already know about!

She flipped the phone open like a switchblade and snarled into the receiver, “The hell do you want, baldy?!”

"Hiyori-san!” Just as she suspected, Urahara Kisuke’s overly-cheery tone immediately set her teeth on edge. “I’m so glad I reached you! You see, I have a bit of a predicament on my hands. You know Kurosaki-kun’s friend, Sado-kun? He needs a new training partner.”

“Well get some other dopey Shinigami to do it! I’m busy trainin’ yer other idiot over here!”

”Oh, I’m sure Kurosaki-kun will be fine under the tutelage of one of your colleagues for a while,” Kisuke dismissed. “But you’re the only person I could think of for this particular case. I mean, I could just keep having Abarai-kun work with him, but Sado-kun requires a particularly strong Melee-type fighter to help him, and while I would never speak ill of Abarai-kun's abilities, he simply doesn't have your talent. Besides, frankly...he's a bit of a pushover. And I know you would never pull your punches."

Hiyori squeezed the phone so hard she was sure she heard something crack. That damn Kisuke…he thought he knew exactly what to say to butter her up, didn’t he? Like she’d trip over herself to show up some damn Shinigami that she was obviously better than anyway…because he was right, she wasn’t a pushover, and if that Abarai-or-whatever was pulling punches and calling that “training…”

She growled and snapped the phone shut without giving Kisuke an answer - because she was sure he already knew what she was going to do.

“Oy, dumbass,” she called out.

“You talkin’ to me,” Shinji answered, “or the kid? Hard to tell when ya don’t use people’s actual names.”

“Well, both o’ you are dumbass baldies, so what does it matter?! ‘Sides, I’m talkin’ to both o’ you, so listen up!” Hiyori jabbed her finger at Shinji. “Take over baby-kun’s training ‘til I get back!”

Ichigo stopped his kata mid-swing, sputtering in indignation. “‘Baby?!’ The hell you get off calling me a ‘baby’ when you’re barely two feet tall? And what ‘training,’ anyway? You just keep kicking me in the face!”

“Did I say you could stop doin’ katas?!” Hiyori brandished her sandal at him. “Or do ya want a permanent imprint o’ this on yer cheek?!”

He glared at her but resumed his exercises, grumbling under his breath.

”Why d’you need me to take over?” Shinji asked. “Who was on the-“

”Just do it, Shinji! I ain’t gotta explain shit to you!”

“Okay, fine, whatever, do your thing.”

Hiyori could feel Shinji’s lackluster gaze follow her out of the warehouse, but she didn’t care. It wasn’t any of his business what she was doing, and he certainly had no right to tell her off about it. Hell, she was doing old hat-and-clogs a damn favor out of the goodness of her heart! Shinji should be praising her for such altruism!

Hiyori lifted the brim of her baseball cap as she approached the innocuous-looking shop. Just outside the entrance were two small figures, each armed with a broom - though only one was actually using it properly.

“The pitcher winds up,” narrated the red-haired kid, gripping his broom like a bat. “The batter stares him down like a hawk - the pitch is made and whoosh!”

Hiyori caught the broom single-handedly, interrupting Jinta’s daydream. “Oy, brat, watch where ya swing that thing! You wanna hit your customers an’ get sued?!”

Jinta jumped back from her and glared. “Yeah, like you’re a real customer, pigtails! The heck’re you doin’ here anyway?!”

Hiyori’s hand squeezed the broom handle hard enough to make it splinter. “Clearly, your boss ain’t teachin’ you proper manners, but I ain’t got time to give you a lesson! Where is your stupid boss, anyway? He’s the one that begged me to come all the way out here, the least he could do is greet me like a proper host! No wonder you brats don’t know how to mind your p’s and q’s!”

“A likely tale,” Jinta retorted, squinting his eyes at her. “How do we know yer tellin’ the truth, huh?! You could be a spy or somethin’-“

”Ano, Jinta-kun,” Ururu piped up in her mouse-like voice, “We know Sarugaki-san…and if Urahara-san sent for her, then…”

Jinta cut her off by pouncing on her back and tugging at her pigtails. ”Hey, I’m in charge o’ the shop when the old man’s busy, so I’ll decide who comes and goes!”

Hiyori rolled her eyes and strolled past the brawling children. “Whatever. I’ll just let myself in. Not like I was requested or nothin’.”

The shop was quiet inside. “Oy, baldy, get out here! I came all this way, you gonna show some respect for that?”

No answer. With a scowl, Hiyori stomped behind the counter and headed for the back room. If he didn’t want random people barging in, he shouldn’t have left everything unlocked with only a couple of brats in charge! Hell, he should’ve just been a good host and actually been here when he asked her to come over!

There was no one in the back room either - but there was an obnoxiously bright, flashing red arrow pointing at a spot on the floor. When Hiyori looked down, she found a note laid out on top of an exposed trap door. Come on in, Hiyori-san!

”Freakin’ dumbass baldy ‘oh I’m just a humble shopkeep’ Urahara Kisuke,” she grumbled as she lifted the trap door and started down the stairs. She knew where this led; after all, Kisuke had built the Visored’s training area as well. She blinked as the dark stairs gave way to obscenely bright artificial sunlight, momentarily blinding her.

“Ah, Hiyori-san!” came the annoying shopkeeper’s voice. “Thanks for coming so quickly! How’s Kurosaki-kun’s training coming along?”

“Can it, Kisuke,” Hiyori snapped, blinking until her eyes adjusted properly. “Where’s the big lug you wanted me to whip into sha-“

She stopped and stared down into the arena. “The fuck is this…?”

Below them was what could only be described as some sort of ground zero. It looked like a bomb had gone off, but someone had hit the “pause” button mid-explosion; mesas and plateaus had been reduced to rubble that hung suspended in midair.

But that wasn’t what made Hiyori freeze. Down in the arena were two figures, one of whom she recognized - but it was the other one that kept her from leaving right then and there.

It had a mask.

That was the first thing Hiyori noticed. It had a bone-white mask with dark streaks on either cheeks falling from empty sockets; its exposed teeth formed a terrible, mirthless grin.

“Why the fuck,” Hiyori breathed, “is a Hollow in here?”

”That,” Kisuke answered calmly, “is Kaede’s Zanpakuto spirit.”

Hiyori did a double take. The actual fuck? That couldn’t be right. No way was that a Zanpakuto spirit. She’d seen plenty of Shikai in her time, and even a few Bankai; she’d experienced the Hollowfied weapons of her fellow Visored lots of times over the years. None of them made her feel like…like…like a rabbit that stumbled upon a wolf by accident.

Deep in her soul, Hiyori felt her own Zanpakuto stir. Kubikiri Orochi had always appeared to her as a large serpent with a spiked spine that closely resembled the serrated edge of her Shikai; even before her Hollowfication, it had been bloodthirsty and battle-hungry, quick-tempered and all too happy to answer her call. It didn’t matter how strong their opponent was; Kubikiri Orochi took any hint of strength as a challenge to be conquered.

After Hollowfication, that delight in battle had turned to an ever-present ache of hunger that could never be satiated. For the first few decades, she couldn’t even be near human civilization for long because even a whiff of a living Soul’s spirit energy awakened a primal imperative to hunt and rend and tear and consume. Even now, she was wary of coming into Karakura proper too often; high-spec Humans still made her salivate, and there were way too many of those sorts of people in this freakin’ town.

But now…even though she was in the presence of some of the strongest reiatsu-emitting beings in this world, Hiyori’s mouth had gone dry. Her Zanpakuto stirred, but not to strike; instead, it shrank back into her soul, like it was trying to hide.

Whatever the hell the thing in front of Kaede was (because she sure as fuck didn’t buy it being a Zanpakuto spirit), Kubikiri Orochi was afraid of it.

Hiyori swallowed and gritted her teeth. She didn’t care what her Zanpakuto wanted right now; she didn’t run from anything. “What the fuck did you bring me here for, Kisuke?”

“I admit that I called you here under false pretenses,” he said somberly, all traces of false cheer gone. “But I do need your help…and so does she.”

Hiyori jerked out of his hold with a sneer. “She made it real fuckin’ clear that she doesn’t need anybody.”

Least of all me.

Her lip curled into a snarl as she beat back that thought. Who cared what Kaede did or didn’t need? She sure as hell didn’t.

“She’s been training almost nonstop this past month,” Kisuke told her.

“So have all of us,” Hiyori dismissed, looking away from both him and the fight below them.

“True,” he conceded. “But right now, she’s risking irreparable harm to herself-“

”So have all of us,” she reiterated with a sneer. “So what?”

”So,” Kisuke continued patiently, “she’s not doing it to get stronger or to conquer an inner demon. She’s doing this because she’d rather destroy herself than face what happened.”

Hiyori’s gut clenched a bit, because she could absolutely believe that Kaede would do such a stupid thing. Not that she cared.

“Then let her do it,” Hiyori uttered in a hollow tone. She didn’t have the energy left to spare on someone who…who…

”Aw, I know you don’t mean that, Hiyori-sa-“

”You think I don’t?” Hiyori seethed, her fists shaking at her sides. “You think I give a damn about someone who ran away ‘cause she couldn’t face the consequences of her own actions?”

”That’s not exactly what happened,” Kisuke said, an edge to his voice that she didn’t often hear. “She wasn’t running away from what happened to you and the others. If that was the case, why did I find her getting ready to run before she knew what had happened to all of you?”

Hiyori’s eyes widened, her muscles practically seizing with impatience and rage. “The hell does that mean?”

“Maybe it was by design,” he mused, “maybe it was pure coincidence, but I found her in the lab exactly when I was getting ready to come after you and the other Hollowfication victims. I’ll admit, I was as surprised to see her as she was me. Not just because she was supposed to be on assignment in the Human World, but because it was pretty clear that she was getting ready to run away. However, when I told her what was happening, and that you were in danger…she came with me without a question.”

There wasn’t much about that night that Hiyori remembered. Her body remembered the unbearable, ripping pain as her soul was turned inside-out; she vaguely recalled trying to warn Shinji to run…and, though she’d tried to deny it over the years, she remembered a familiar voice shouting her name over and over again…

“Don’t try to tell me that I’m the reason she turned on him,” Hiyori seethed. “I ain’t fallin’ for it. If she actually gave a damn-“

”She left because she gave a damn,” Kisuke snapped back, a hint of impatience coloring his tone. “Look, I could give you my theories on the matter, but they’ll be just that: theories, conjecture based on what I happen to know for certain. Or, you could hear the truth straight from the source.”

Hiyori whirled around and gave Kisuke her fiercest glare, her fists clenched so tightly her skin threatened to split. “She coulda said whatever she wanted years ago, but she fuckin’ ran away instead! Why the hell should I listen to anything she’s got to say now?”

“Because she won’t talk to me!”

Hiyori flinched - not because of his tone, but because of the slightest flare of reiatsu that came with it. She stared down at her former captain in astonishment. In all the years she’d known him, she’d never seen him lose his temper - not with her (despite her best efforts at times), not with anyone. But now…she saw the tension in his jaw, the way his own hands had balled into fists in his lap. Urahara Kisuke wasn’t one to show his hand to anyone, but for this one second, he seemed to slip. Frustration, impatience - no, that wasn’t it.

He was worried.

Within a blink, he had donned his usual, relaxed visage once again. His hands relaxed on his lap; his expression turned thoughtful, even a little sad. “Please believe me when I say that I wouldn’t have asked you here if I didn’t think it absolutely necessary. Of all of the people she believes she directly harmed, you are perhaps the one she feels the most guilt over, and the one she did the most to protect. If anyone is able to get through to her, it will be you. Now please, Hiyori-san, if you’d just wait a few more minutes - it shouldn’t be long now.”

[hopelessbluebird]

We’re living on Oda Sakunosuke character details:

Arc 1 - [yet to be named]

Adopted officially by fukuzawa at 13 with ranpo (14 at the time)

Extremely protective of his siblings (yosano, ranpo, atsushi, kunikida. [later dazai, junichiro, naomi, kenji and kyouka] )

actual menace

the current thorn in kunikida’s side

beats up child abusers and sexual assaulters for fun

cat person

knows a bit about medical stuff from listening to yosano figure stuff out/ramble about it

everyone’s favourite big brother (yes ranpo is older than him but shh)

currently looking for a way to infiltrate the port mafia

his mission is to save people before they thrive in the dark like he did

the biggest soft spot for kids

17-19 for this

Arc 2 - Port Mafia

has gradually collected children (kosuke, karma, Shinji & sakura, [im only having four of them bc yeah] )

thinks of Dazai as a lost black cat

has successfully infiltrated the PM

befriends ango and dazai in A2C2

has very little contact with the ADA since this is a solo mission, only really talks to them once a month if he’s lucky

misses his siblings a ton

nobody really suspects him

if they do they brush it off bc he’s a low rank and doesn’t seem to want to climb the ranks

has spoken to Ryunoske in passing

knows Chūya and Dazai are close, but doesn’t know how close

i actually can’t say anymore about arc2 without spoilers :(

Arc 3 - Welcome Home

recovering from events in arc2

helping Dazai and some others else adjust to the ADA

made Karma go to school, and has been tutoring Atsushi

less of a menace, but he is still one

he’s helping dazai recover from his pm days, and has seen the kid at his worst, but he doesn’t think of him any less for it

he’s still seen as a universal big brother

teases dazai from time to time

cut off contact with ango

Arc 4 - present-ish

has been tutoring kenji, and helping with the tanizaki’s schoolwork

took a liking to kyouka, and made sure she was safe and registered in school

remembers akutagawa, but doesn’t know what happened to him when he was under dazai’s “care”

made sure ranpo was okay during perfect crime

approves of poe, just not at first

helped kunikida through the cannibalism arc, but he did get triggered by it

keeps in touch with aya after, and offered her to stay with the ada if she wasn’t safe

RAHHHH I WANT TO SAY MORE BUT IVE ALREADY SPOILED TOO MUCHHHHH AUGHHHH

we’re living on - skip to chapter one as this link is for chapter 7

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

Christian Themes in Ben 10

Before people light the torches and grab their pitchforks, this is not me making Ben 10 into evangelical republican propaganda, nor am I some moralistic Bible thumper like that person who called Steven Universe “anti god”. As someone who was raised Christian in a Christian culture, these were just things I picked up on while watching the series. This is an examination of the Christian motifs and themes present in the story, whether intentional by the writers or not. These elements are most prominent in UAF, particularly the Highbreed and Dagon story arcs and the episode “The Ultimate Sacrifice”. Ben 10 isn’t unique for having Christian themes or imagery but it’s seldom talked about, possibly due to being viewed as just a campy kids show meant to sell toys.

I think Ben 10 appeals to me because it’s fairly vague on pushing any religious ideas compared to SW and allows for different interpretations. The characters aren’t explicitly religious, allowing people to form their own headcanons, and aliens are shown to be behind the existence of the universe like with the Forge of Creation or Sir George getting Ascalon from Azmuth as opposed to God. That said, a story can create an atheistic universe while also containing allegories and references to real life religious stories.

Christian imagery and allegories can be found in many stories. Other cartoons and animes I enjoy like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Princess Tutu and Steven Universe are often cited as examples of this. With Evangelion and SU, the creators have denied there to be intentional Christian metaphors but many viewers have interpreted them that way. Steven is sometimes viewed as a Christ figure, as are Ahiru, Shinji and Madoka, with Pink Diamond being compared to God, although Rebecca Sugar cited Hillel the Elder as an inspiration for Steven, not Jesus, and was raised Jewish. This makes me wonder, could some view Ben this way too?

Ben is not the first person people would point at as a Christ figure which, again, may be influenced by how people view the series and his character. He is far from flawless which goes against the biblical narrative of Jesus being a perfect being, but also makes him more human. Despite that, one can find some similarities between him and Jesus. While less so than Steven, Ahiru or Madoka, Ben is a very compassionate and altruistic person who even at his most selfish wanted to help people. The first time we saw him was him attempting to defend a bullied peer. He also showed compassion for the Kraken when most would have seen it as a monster. While handsome, Ben is fairly plain looking compared to the long haired, pretty boy Kevin like Jesus being described as having a lack of beauty in Isaiah’s prophecy and is fairly average as a human compared to Gwen or Kevin.

Alien Force is where more of the Christian symbolism comes in. Ben befriending Kevin and offering him another chance may be compared to the disciples Matthew and Judas. Matthew being a tax collector, similar to Kevin being a criminal but offered a chance to change despite what he’s done. Kevin did betray Ben in the OS and in Ben’s perception he did it again in UA when absorbing the Ultimatrix. Unlike Judas, it wasn’t out of greed but self sacrifice to stop Aggregor and the team was able to save him and was quickly forgiven by Ben.

The biblical parallels don’t stop there. Azmuth compared the Omnitrix to Noah’s ark and Ben to Noah during the Highbreed invasion. The Omnitrix being a tool meant to bring different beings together can also be seen as very Christian in nature. There’s also Ben healing Reinrassig and the entire Highbreed race despite everything they did. Most would see them as unworthy of redemption or help but Ben still chose to save them. A lot of people, including those who claim to believe in restorative justice, forget that redemption isn’t meant to be for those who “earn” it and even those who’ve done bad things can be capable of change. Also, while a coincidence, like Greg and Blue Diamond from SU, I do see some similar imagery between Big Chill and the Virgin Mary, especially in “Save the Last Dance”.

Moving on to Ultimate Alien, the Dagon arc is filled with references to Christianity. The name Dagon comes from the god the Philistines worshiped in the Old Testament and was also a short story by HP Lovecraft. The writers had wanted to do a Lovecraftian story for AF s3 before CN interfered but got their chance with UA. The story of St George and the Dragon is retold by Driscoll with the in universe Sir George and Dagon being the inspirations for it. The Flamekeepers’ Circle is also meant to be a commentary on real world cults like Scientology and Mormonism especially with their charity outreach in impoverished nations and preying on people with good intentions like Julie.

I think “The Ultimate Sacrifice” is the most obvious biblical allegory in the series. Ben quips after waking up in the Ultimatrix that if he’s dead, “the place with the fiery red light” is not where he wants to go, a clear reference to Hell and eternal damnation. Then there’s the sacrifice itself. Ben accepts having to die to set the Ultimates free from suffering and forgives them for attacking him while giving an emotional goodbye to Gwen. For his selfless act, he is given another chance at life by the Ultimatrix. All of which people can compare to the resurrection story.

The themes of Ultimate Alien with Ben’s arc about power are very Christian as well. Ben accepts that he can’t be in control all the time and can’t determine people’s fates. “Duped”, while poorly executed, had a good message about how trying to please everyone pleases no one. He chooses not to kill Kevin after spending the whole arc angry over his failure to save the andromeda aliens and stop Aggregor, plus the aforementioned sacrifice of him giving his life for the Ultimates. Then there’s the final test that proves him worthy of the completed Omnitrix. He’s tempted to wipe out all evil which can seem appealing but realizes that he’d be stripping away the free will of every being in the universe and gives up the power.

I know this seems appalling to a lot of people here on Tumblr with how “give up control” have been weaponized by conservatives and what Christianity has become in our society. But Ben 10, for all its flaws with the writing, presents an idealistic view of the world regarding second chances, accepting differences and letting everyone, even the villains, have free will. It, as well as the other shows I’ve mentioned, can be seen as an example of a show with religious themes that doesn’t preach or condescend to its viewers and can be enjoyed by a broad range of people with different backgrounds.