#anyways he's not dead he's fine this is a shonen manga

[bxriles]

Fuck it. If Gege pulls a deus ex machina to kill Sukuna and keeps on with the bs about how ‘he wasn’t even giving it his all’ in the fight with Gojo, we can validly say JJK has gone down the toilet. It won’t be reaching, it won’t be delusional or biased, it will be legit criticism.

Am i nuts for thinking that at this point JJK needs to end tragically for it to be a satisfactory ending? Because good stories set expectations for how they will go. Sure, there can be some good twists, but there’s still a basic understanding of what kind of story it’ll be. Like Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender were set up so that the audience could tell that they would end with the protagonist saving the world and having a mostly happy ending, and that didn’t take away the quality of the writing.

But JJK isn’t set up for a happy ending anymore. People who valued kindness and/or had no ill intent are dead - Nanami, Haibara, Yaga, Riko, etc. Or there was Geto, whose kindness turned into something ugly and hateful. The most powerful character who was the cornerstone of the Good Guys’ movement was killed. And even worse is that Gojo makes his grand declaration to Ijichi that he’s going to change society and make things better, but in the end he didn’t accomplish that. He ended up killing the higher-ups anyway, told Gakuganji to continue the very same system just with different people, and he doesn’t beat the strongest force of evil that he was foreshadowed to defeat. That’s not a good twist, it’s disappointing.

If there’s a ~bittersweet~ conclusion it is going to come across as poor writing. The Good Guys have been steadily losing and losing and losing, jujutsu society hasn’t been changed, and a lot of interesting/good characters are dead.

At this point let Sukuna win. Uraume can cook all the surviving humans for him and then Sukuna can save his beloved chef for last to cannibalize.

Sorry this ask was long oops you don’t have to read all that

tl,dr - Gege is on the precipice of ending JJK quite poorly and Sukuna should win

YES!!! Literally yes to ALL of this!!! This sums everything up so perfectly. You said everything that needed to be said and took the words right out of my mouth. More unhinged ranting below the cut:

You are SPOT ON with the Naruto and ATLA comparison. I am not kidding when I say I am now Team Sukuna. Why wouldn't I be? With the way the narrative is right now, I would feel so cheated if he didn't win. Does Gege really expect us to believe that the remaining Good Guys can beat Sukuna when the singular character who has been set up to defeat Sukuna since chapter 2 couldn't do it? Does he really expect us to be satisfied with Yuji (ily bby but wtf can you actually do rn?) killing Sukuna when Gojo Satoru, the strongest, could not?

I saw a post the other week that compared JJK to Naruto. The whole point of the post was that with other shonen manga (Naruto, OP, DBZ, etc.), we KNOW the protagonist is always going to win, even if it feels like a cop out. So when Kid Naruto beats tf out of a very powerful Orochimaru, we're all like "yeah okay, makes sense." But JJK has done the opposite. JJK has told us that just because someone is the protagonist does not mean they're going to automatically win. I mean, we've seen Yuji get the shit beat out of him so many times because of this. So JJK set up this pretty legit power dynamic and told us that the only person who can defeat the big baddie is Gojo Satoru and we have been given no reason to think otherwise. So when Gojo dies and Yuji somehow defeats Sukuna with an ass-pull, we're all going to be pissed because we were promised otherwise. If we saw Yuji beating special-grades left and right from the first few chapters, then it would probably be fine. But that is not what Gege wrote!! He wrote the opposite of this ffs.

And your whole point about all the people who valued kindness being gone is another thing that makes me even more frustrated. If we're going for a straight up tragedy, FAIR ENOUGH. But if Gege wants to turn this into a bittersweet ending or if he wants Yuji to beat Sukuna, it'll feel cheap.

Let Sukuna and Uraume kill everyone and everything. Any other ending will be bullshit.

[vote-gaara]

your by far the best Gaara blog around with the most realistic view imo. Some people take their favorite characters way too serous and think they can do no wrong or they can defeat any opponent or they get really mad about ships they don't like and it's exhausting. its just nice to see you aren't raging every time someone has something bad to say about Gaara and its funny when you agree with them lol. You the true fan

ohhhh anon! Anon! Anon you mentioned the power scalers! Oh no, please forgive me. Anon...I love that you love this blog, but now I gotta rant. I am so sorry.

For real this might be the most malicious opinion I have, but... I can't deal with the power scalers. This is probably because I personally am not super interested in the whole "who is the toughest opponent Gaara could 1v1 without Shukaku, pre Shippuden, post-Naruto, while he stands on one leg and he already has been in 7 other battles in the past 30 minutes and Temari and Kankuro are dead and the moon is full and btw he also doesn't have any sand."

Of course I'm exaggerating, but honestly, power scaling just invites so much room for fighting it's not even funny. It's why sometimes curiosity gets the best of me and I end up on the Naruto subreddit only to slowly back away because there's just....so many power scalers and they're all fighting about the same fights, day in and day out.

And I know. I KNOW this is a Shonen manga...A lot of people are in it for the fights, but I feel like a lot of the nuance and themes of the series are lost on "who can beat who in a fight with just brass knuckles?"

Naruto wouldn't be the series it is without the themes surrounding friendship, love, betrayal, destiny and hard work over natural talent. These are the reasons the characters fight in the first place. Plus, a lot of the canon fights were won because of plot armor or as plot devices. Not to mention Naruto used to be about actual ninjas doing ninja stuff rather than sheer power...Remember when Naruto fooled Kiba in the chunin exams? Blew my freaking mind how brilliant that was!

Anyways... I always see people ranting about the canon fights and it's just so banal to me. For example, "Lee should've beat Gaara in the Chunin Exams."

And that's okay...Fair enough, you could argue that, but like....Where does the rest of the series go, though? HOW DO WE PROGRESS IF LEE WON CAUSE OF POWER SCALING?

You wouldn't get Gaara's hospital scene so you would never really know his motive for why he is the way he is...Then Shukaku would just erupt during the Chunin exams, I guess, and that would be that...No fight between Gaara and Naruto, no redemption. Really there would just be no story at all at that point.

It's like people take character losses as personal slights, which I understand because Deidara will always get two massive thumbs down because of what he did to my boy, but also Gaara's defeat and kidnapping just needed to happen. It demonstrated that the series had high stakes cause Kishimoto could just lampoon my favourite character at any point in time, and I'd be like "that's it, I quit!" only to realize that he's actually ok in the end. Actually, Gaara's defeat made me love him more because I felt more empathy for him that he tried so hard to defend his village only to die in the end, and also because no matter how much he had changed he will always have to deal with the legacy of once being bonded to Shukaku.

It's just feels like a richer experience to have characters fall on their faces and lose sometimes.

And as for Lee losing in the Chunin exams...Man...was that ever a battle because honestly I loved both characters. I didn't want either of them to lose, and I really felt for Lee. Yet, he was better off losing because we got the rest of the story surrounding Gaara, and we got that amazing poetic justice when Gaara comes and saves him from Kimimaru.

Plus, that fight humbled Gaara which is just great, cause he was a lil' brat in the beginning, which is fine cause I loved him anyways.

Thanks for this message...Sorry it literally turned into a raging rant though LOL

[olivereactsaboutgarbage]

One Piece - Volume 35

Haha!! WOWIE!!! YIPPEE!!! I’VE RETURNED TO POSTING WITHOUT MAKING ANY NOTABLE MISTAKES!!!

I love One Piece! I love pirates! I love long-running shonen manga! And I also love italicizing random words for no reason! Do not pay very close attention to which words I italicize in what order! IT’S NOT INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!!

Chapter 328 - The Pirate Abduction Incident

Admittedly, even though February and March were, for certain reasons, not good months for me to have this additional task on my plate and actually expect to get it done consistently, the long absence has also done a number on me. What was happening in One Piece again? There were like fifteen new characters or something? I think I got spoiled at some point in February or March that one of them was evil... who were any of the fifteen of them again??? I don’t even remember when it was that I got spoiled.

Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll just jump into it! How much could I possibly have forgotten?

What? WHAT’S bad? What’s Sal talking about? Uh, hasn’t Oda ever heard of providing context clues??? -_-

Anyway, Tony Tony Chopper is standing near Sal, but Nico Robin isn’t. No one is a fan of that turn of events.

Oh right, I forgot, Sonic’s friend Tammy was in this arc being the mirror version of Sal. I hate Sonic’s friend Tammy! I hope he’s the person who I got spoiled about being evil.

Sonic’s friend Tammy says the Merry Go doesn’t have a spinal cord anymore. The... uh... what was I calling the guy from Ace Attorney: Justice For All? I guess I can call him Matt Engarde. Matt Engarde adds that carpenters don’t have access to cloning technology, so a ship without a spinal cord is dead with no cheap workarounds possible. It sucks for Lufpy... but I’d trust any assertion that came from Matt Engarde!

Lufpy doesn’t want to accept it. He doesn’t want to have to change this manga’s branding and merchandise. This, uh, this guy named... *checks notes WITHOUT GOLFING since I DON’T EVEN NEED TO GO GOLFING* Lorenz Hellman Gloucester Slightly To The Left... is his name. That guy tells Lufpy that makes Lufpy a bad person. Well, that’s true enough I suppose, if you take into account that capitalism systemically destroys innocent people.

Also there’s a guy who looks like a fed who hates the feds, and a fed who looks like an outlaw.

nami aren’t you an accomplished pickpocket yourself

Anyway, Nami decides to go to Franky’s House. I think that’s where the circus freaks live?

Unfortunately, Usopp is yet again dead while Nami is nearby. He’s lying on his back...

Chapter 329 - My Name Is Franky

Actually, I take back what I said about Lufpy being a bad person. The high ethical cost of survival increases the minimum severity of bad actions necessary to overcome humanity’s innate goodness.

That aside, chapter 329 begins with a flashback to what happened right after chapter 328. From that, I can intuit that a timeskip happened right after chapter 328!

Anyway, now that the flashback is over, it’s time for Zoro to talk to Sal and Sal’s friend Tony about what’s going on.

no, humans do that too

Well, maybe ships are still unique in that they do that in water. Humans tend to have a nice time in water, or drown, or both. Hey, that sentence I just said is kinda like the thesis statement of One Piece!

Anyway, Franky’s gimmick is that he has terrible financial sense. “Finally,” he says, “I have the exact amount of money I need, instead of slightly less. Since I don’t have slightly less, I won’t run into the problem where I spend it instead of having it when I need it. As a reward for giving me the exact amount of money I need, here’s money.”

Also, Usopp is there, because he changed his mind about being dead. Also, Franky is a star man, but like, also a robot? Hey, that’s just like Earthbound! Wait, but Earthbound’s gameplay isn’t very fun since there’s a lot of grinding, so why is Usopp there at Earthbound? I thought better of you, Usopp.

You’re one to talk, no-nose boy.

I refuse to acknowledge that triangle on Franky’s face as a nose. It is little more than a defect. Anyway, it looks like he’s wearing a mask, which would be on-brand for this arc since it’s an arc about people who wear masks, so he probably has no nose underneath.

See, I told you all Tony Tony Chopper was a yandere! Now he’s killing people so he can show off their blood. I knew something like this would happen.

Zoro, Tony Tony Chopper, and Sal all stand there and watch as Lufpy hilariously dies in water. And guess whose duty it is to save Lufpy from drowning? That’s right. SAL’S, AS ALWAYS.

Next, it’s time for the Combatant Trio to beat up Franky’s House. Already, I guess. Also, they’re mad at the house instead of the Starman, I guess. Also, Tony Tony Chopper grew huge muscles to blend in seamlessly among them, I guess.

Chapter 330 - It's Decided

WHAT??? TWO GUNS??? WHEN DID NAMI GET TWO GUNS? I THOUGHT HER THING WAS THE BIG STICK OF UNIMPRESSIVE MAGIC, WHEN DID SHE GET TWO GUNS

One of the Titans from Attack on Titan dies. I’m gonna be honest: That Titan had the type of swag I want, just... grotesquely warped, in true Attack on Titan fashion. I think I’m going to make that One Piece character my new Titansona. I will not show a picture of him.

The Combatant Trio and their sidekick continue to do various cool moves, so people start throwing garbage at them. The garbage does not prevent them from killing the house they hate so much.

Lufpy decides to stop being a capitalist, because on second thought he doesn’t even care that much about merchandise or branding.

Chapter 331 - The Big Argument

We open on the fed who looks like an outlaw. He’s not having a good day :(

Also, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester Slightly To The Left has a picture of Nico Robin as a little baby with lots of numbers on it. I miss Nico Robin. Where’d she run off to

Usopp is very much not a fan of Lufpy’s decision not to be a capitalist. I bet Usopp felt SO GOOD about his backstory being essential to the manga’s entire brand, huh? I bet it made him SO HAPPY. Well now he’s super upset instead, so the joke’s on him.

Oh right, I forgot how good Sal is at calling people out on their bullshit when it’s not his turn to be an idiot. It’s a good thing I didn’t forget anything else about Sal!

Lufpy decides to beat up a recovering hospital patient. Wait, and USOPP is involved in this situation, too?! I thought better of you, Usopp.

Sal tries to put a stop to this, but the events that will result in the End of Usopp have already been set in motion. Usopp decides a good way to accelerate this process is by challenging Lufpy to a duel.

Chapter 332 - Luffy vs. Usopp 

awww sad puppy :(

Usopp unleashes his most powerful attacks against Lufpy, but all it does is make a puppy sad. Zoro doesn’t want puppies to be sad, but he is powerless in the face of Usopp. There’s nothing to be done.

Damn this is badass. Usopp is way better at beating up Lufpy than Zoro is. Zoro was so bad at it, he accidentally beat someone else up instead. Although that’s in-character because Zoro is stupid <3.

Also, prior to those panels, Lufpy told Usopp to stop being a comic relief character. That was rich, considering who it came from. Anyway Usopp blows him up

Chapter 333 - Captain

Wow! 333! I won’t reach a chapter number this exciting again until 4444.

Lufpy finally ekes out the slightest advantage after spending the entire fight not doing that, but even that was exactly as Usopp planned. Lufpy is largely incapable of failure though, so Usopp‘s plans don’t matter much. Then Lufpy says “Well, obviously. Anyways I forfeit. You suck”

Sal attempts to prevent Tony Tony Chopper from doing doctor stuff to Usopp, saying that would be just as shameful as it would have been for Usopp to back down or something like that, but Tony Tony Chopper leaves some doctor stuff with Usopp anyways.

Chapter 334 - Big Trouble in the Secret Room 

It’s the Bean Bonus Room...! Hmm. Don’t ask me what that’s a reference to, because I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

Ooh! Is this arc gonna be a MURDER MYSTERY ARC with Lorenz Hellman Gloucester Slightly To The Left as the victim?! Hmm... Lufpy’s crew would need a detective... better hold off on getting a carpenter for now then. Which means they can just leave. Phew, glad this arc is over with! ...Wait, they don’t have a ship anymore. Well, Usopp can just leave, and everyone else can stop being main characters.

Lufpy and Nami are going to deal with the main plot, Oda forgot to include Nico Robin in this volume, Sal and Tony Tony Chopper are journeying to Oda to remind him about that, and Zoro... uh... Zoro... uh...

I guess sitting arcs out has historically been a favorite pastime of Zoro’s, so maybe this is no surprise.

OHHH, I forgot this arc had a train! Is the reason this arc has a train because it’s a murder mystery arc?! Franky loves being a train passenger.

Oh, and according to the Obligatory Murder Mystery Medical Professional, yet another mask is relevant in this arc. I hadn’t realized it until I’d written it out earlier in this post, but this arc really is going to be “ABOUT MASKS” in the same way as the Noland Kong arc was “ABOUT GODS”, isn’t it? The Quadruple-H mini-arc, then, would just have been a little bit of narrative housekeeping, like setting up Nico Robin’s whole dealio so that her character arc is primed and ready to intersect with this arc’s themes. Are all the One Piece arcs from here on out going to so heavily deal with themes relating to fundamental aspects of humanity and society? ...I mean I guess you could argue that that’s been a thing this whole time, but not nearly this deftly until recently. Bro... One Piece is good... and on an upward quality trajectory...

Sorry, I’ll stop rambling and get back to actually reading and commenting on One Piece like I’m supposed to be.

Franky took his mask off.

Chapter 335 - Warning

Well, his mask is off, but his face is imperceptible by the audience, and he’s mad. Meanwhile, the Scary Heart Woman has Scary Plans. This is due to the nature of some strange calamity that the townsfolk have gotten so used to that one of them is like “You DON’T KNOW?” when Sal asks.

OH... FRANKY IS... UM... FRANKY IS... UM...

Ugh, do I actually need to find the words to describe this?

Wait, I literally don’t. Check this out:

This is not what I expected from the leader of a gang of circus freaks who repeatedly get killed. The mask was somehow LESS bombastic than his face. I barely even get how that’s possible.

Oh, I was thinking to myself that Franky and Nico Robin BOTH seem too obvious to be the culprit if this were a true murder mystery, assuming we put aside the fact that Nico Robin has been a protagonist lately. I guess I was right to be thinking that, because the victim just implicated one and a half of the two of them.

I’m sure I would be blown away by this turn of events if I didn’t know how murder mysteries worked and was therefore very easily impressed, but neither of those things are true, so I’m just going to move on to the next chapter now.

Chapter 336 - Luffy vs. Franky

Franky... or, I guess now that his mask is off, I know him well enough that it’s not rude of me to just call him Ky, still has a rather inorganic nose after removing his mask. My assertion that he was a no-nose boy seems to hold water!

Also, he seems to be charging up a super attack, but Lufpy has not taken that as his cue to run. That’s Lufpy for you!

Ky’s super attack is actually fire elemental. Not only is Lufpy completely fine, but so is Nami, so I guess it was correct of them not to run. Good thinking on their part then.

Imagine if Nami was correct and Ky just died here after all the buildup. That would be funny. ...Which makes it entirely plausible. Except Ape already called dibs on fire powers, so probably not. Oda wouldn’t do something that would run the risk of making the audience get bored of fire powers, because then the audience might go away.

Predictably, Ky isn’t actually a fruit guy. He does have something no Devil Fruit holder ever will... detachable hands. I bet Lufpy is now regretting the fact that he didn’t run! Because when people don’t run, they regret it!

Meanwhile, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester Slightly To The Left is implicating the entire crew as conspirators against him. Well, that’s definitely wrong! He should really run those numbers again! He should do it now before it’s too late!

There’s also a cabinet barbarian.

Wait, woah, Ky has like, a gun with a scope? So he’s like DOING THE CYBORG THING doing the cyborg thing, then. Wacky! Almost as wacky as saying “there are only seconds remaining you fools, flee now I’m begging you” to a stinky pigeon! XD

Anyway, the fight between Lufpy and Ky gets interrupted pretty quick, because it’s Lorenz Hellman Gloucester Slightly To The Left’s squad of goons here to make Lufpy say he’s sorry! So sorry, but you had your chance! Is what they’ll make Lufpy say!

It’s good to be reading One Piece again.

It’s fun to be reading One Piece again.

I think I’m ready to not be nearly as absent if you stick around and keep checking this blog, or hit the follow button or whatever, so do STAY! :)

Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY! Do STAY!

[greatwyrmgold]

I've been reading Bleach recently, after a certain professional shitbag recommended it. I'm only a dozen chapters in, but I have some thoughts.

First: If you've been reading my posts talking about new Shonen Jump series, I am sorry. But also, the thing I keep talking about is pacing. Shonen Jump titles are under a lot of pressure to perform well out of the gate; this means most of them cram as much of their premise and ideas into chapter 1, getting to "the good part" ASAP without having time to lay any groundwork for it.

Bleach isn't like that. Basic story facts are scattered throughout the first volume or so, giving more room for the characters and such to breathe. I dunno if Jump worked differently twenty years ago, or if Tite Kubo was more confident in his writing speaking for itself, or what, but I appreciate it.

Second: Maybe it's just that I binged Mieruko-chan earlier this week, but it feels like Ichigo seeing (normal) ghosts should come up more than it does. There aren't anywhere near as many ghosts around in Ichigo's world as Miko's, and they're a lot nicer (except the Hollows), but still.

Third: I was expecting the fact that Ichigo's physical body stays behind, unconscious, when he astrally projects or whatever to fight Hollows was just a handy plot excuse. A reason for Ichigo's broad-daylight swordfights to not be noticed, that would come up for the occasional gag or when it's convenient to the plot, but mostly be forgotten.

But nope! Characters have reacted to Ichigo going unconscious both times (so far) he's projected while outside his house—nothing plot-altering, but enough to make the characters feel like they notice the weird things he's doing and react to them.

Fourth: When Ichigo finds out Hollows used to be human (um, spoilers for chapter 3/episode 2 of Bleach I guess?), he's mad at Rukia for not telling him this, but doesn't really angst about having to kill ex-humans. He talks at them a normal shonen manga amount, but that's about all he does differently when he learns that his enemies used to be human. That feels like something that most series would give more focus (and angst) than it really deserves.

Fifth: There are a lot of nice little moments. Rukia stealing Ichigo's sisters clothes because she didn't pack anything for her not-so-brief trip to the mortal world. Orihime talking with her ex-brother. Rukia not knowing how juice boxes work. Some random guy getting mad at Ichigo for "copying his look," but nothing really comes of it; it's just a school Ichigo's been going to and has a history at. Rukia failing to comfort the dead kid in a parakeet, this makes sense in context.

Maybe this is just reiterating the pacing thing I started with, but...it's nice that there's space for things that don't really do anything except establish characters and tone. Also, I think Rukia's my favorite character.

Speaking of which, sixth: I kinda wish Rukia kept a bit more of her power. At the moment, it feels like she's basically only useful for spiritual cleanup and occasionally not dying long enough for Ichigo to show up. When she said she could only use a few Kidō spells, I thought that meant she'd use them to back up Ichigo in combat. But no, she's limited to a pretty normal level of physical abilities and some spells that don't do much.

Now, it could be a lot worse. Rukia refuses to be damseled, and the fight scene where she and one of Ichigo's mundane classmates work together to stall the Hollow proves that just because a character isn't as strong as Ichigo doesn't mean they won't get awesome moments. But it's still kinda disappointing.

I'm not saying Rukia should be as strong as Ichigo, mind. Rukia losing almost all her reaper power to Ichigo is the inciting incident, that's fine. I just wish she kept, like, 5% instead of 1%. Enough to keep some cool fight powers.

She's probably getting some power-up sooner or later, probably shouldn't complain too much. Anyways, that's six things I thought about in Bleach that I felt like sharing.

[sipsteainanxiety]

going into the bkg/reader tag on ao3 and just seeing one shot after one shot abt bnha 359-362 like damn everyone's just hurting rn aren't they skdhfjhsdkf

[rev3rb]

Aaaaah! Hi again. Wow. I did not expect that big of a fight between Ashera and Yu. I feel bad for Ashera, he’s so confused about if anyone else truly has his and Krul’s best interests at heart. I mean clearly the First only uses ppl as pawns, and while I’m sure Yuu does want to save everyone, as any heroic protag does, but if that’s not an option he will 100% settle for just Mika. It was lowkey funny watching Ashera call him out for it. For Mika, Yuu’s logic and morals literally go out the window, immediately lmao. Like wdym you’re gonna fight for Mika’s life even when you’re dead?? Be fr bro. It kinda makes me want Yuu to get his way just to see how he actually plans to accomplish this.

And I’m also excited that they’re continuing to address the core debate of whether one should let humans die. It’s interesting to see characters argue that life is not inherently better than death.

Hey! I intended to answer this early when you sent it as I saw the notif, but I was trying to avoid spoilers for another manga... not that that worked :) But anyways!

Yeah, honestly I didn't either. I thought either Yu or Ashera would get stopped before much could happen, but I guess I was wrong! Though, it doesn't seem like it will last much longer.

I also feel bad for Ashera. This chapter made his character grow on me a lot. As you say, he's really struggling, and I liked when he acknowledges that he's really made nothing but mistakes up to this point. I wouldn't necessarily agree with him, but it really shows that he's just doing his best. He's not perfect. He's willingly been The First's pawn, and it hurts to see him used and then thrown away like this, even if it does mean that he will now likely be aligning with Krul (and Guren and crew).

As for Yuu, I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised if he did want to save everyone because, as you said, he's a heroic shonen protag, but the story is really pushing us as the audience to believe that he's going to choose Mika over everyone else. Both are in line with his character. It all just becomes a question of how he'd do that. Other than some nonsense (deserved or otherwise) with his seraph abilities, saving everyone, Mika included, seems impossible. I guess only time will tell. Regardless of what he picks, I feel it's safe to say that it will have to involve Mika also being saved, bc yeah. As you point out logic and morals go out the window when it comes to Mika. I'm quite sure Yuu doesn't even have a plan at the moment and is just in 'they wanna take my Mika away. I won't let them' mode right now. He's a very "I'll wing it and I'm sure it will work out" kind of person. If he does have a plan then kudos to him I guess. I'd also be interested to see what that plan is.

Regardless, yeah. This all puts Ashera in an awkward spot, and I'm glad to see that he's done willingly being someone else's pawn and is trying to forge his own path to salvation.

The debate that life isn't inherently better than death has been a concept that's been floating around in OnS for a long time now and yeah. It's great to see it continue. Really, if anything, OnS seems to say that dying is easy; it's living that is hard. Specifically, living without those you care about, which plays into Krul's 'I'm fine as long as I have you Ashera'. Then again, really, OnS shows us that dying and living isn't what's terrible. Rather, it's not having the choice of whether you live or die. Dying without being able to live (aka being killed [look I'm trying to be poetic here]) and living without being able to die both suck. You don't truly understand that until you've experienced it for yourself. ... or maybe I'm just trying too hard to be deep...

Anyways, as a last note, something about The First being nailed down to a truck bed as the vampires drive around made me laugh harder than it should have. And that truck bed is massive??

Thanks for once again sending an ask!

[kuromantic]

Tales of Zombish: Haikyuu Light Novel Translation

*This is my translation of the Zombie Knight Zombish snippets from the light novel. It’s split into 5 parts, and inserted between each chapter of the light novel. Don’t copy this to another site. The translation is under the cut!

Zombie Knight Zombish

 1: Zombish is Born!!

Nightfall. A lone swordsman wakes up. A swordsman that does not know of true death, because of experiencing a false death. 

“...Wait, it’s still evening, you stupid crow!” 

The man yells at the small crow beside him, having just woken up by a thin bush. The man’s body was wrapped up in an old, tattered cloth—which must have been a cloak some time ago—which covered his entire body. 

“I could have gotten burned by the setting sun…” The man blocks out the sunlight with the tattered cloth, and the crow caws apologetically. 

“Well, it’s okay. I don’t even have a body that can be burned.” 

The man laughs, and the crow flaps its black wings, flying ahead up into the sky. The man follows it with his gaze, squinting at the brightness. He stands up. 

“Oh, well. Guess I’ll go.” 

The man starts to walk. His frame was thin and delicate, which could be seen even when it was covered with the tattered cloth. And on his back, was a sword. 

The sword, which is large enough to not be recognized as one at first glance, does not suit the lean man. 

“Man, I wonder if a car will pass by… Eh, I guess no sane person would have gasoline now.” 

There’s no road where the man looks ahead. 

In the dead world where smokey, dried up wastelands stretch out for seemingly forever, the man continues to walk alone today.

“Yeah, isn’t this good? Isn’t this good? It sounds like the story’s just begun, right?” 

The rookie mangaka, Udai Tenma, stands up with an excited face and gets another drink from the self-service fountains. He returns to his table with a glass of cola in his hand. He continues working on his storyboard. 

The only equipment on the table is a notebook, a pencil and an eraser. On the open page, there are scribbles that nobody else could decipher. It’s the storyboard Udai made with all his effort. 

I wanna try and make a manga. I like it. With that, Udai had drawn a manga during his college years. And it had won an honourable mention in the rookie awards. He had gotten an editor and debuted as a mangaka. But the reality was, he wasn’t quite reaching serialization. 

But now, “Zombie Knight Zombish”, is being created in the restaurant. And there’s a confidence that hasn’t been there before. 

“‘Everything but death is nothing but a scratch’? He needs to get over himself… No, maybe ‘Mortal bodies, they make me jealous.’...” 

Udai mumbles dialogues to himself, changing his expressions to suit the main character’s. The other customers at the restaurant glance at him. 

But he can’t afford to care about those gazes.

Zombish needs to help the heroine attacked by the enemy, in an extremely cool and overdramatic manner. 

And the enemy has to be a fated opponent that Zombish has known before turning into a zombie. The heroine needs to be a key person, for Zombish to return from zombie to human. And of course, she needs to be cute, a little strong-willed, who tries to join in on the fighting sometimes. But also a girl who you just want to protect…

A flash. 

The girl’s eyes can only capture the white hand, emerging from the tattered cloth and gripping the sword on his back. 

She feels wind brush past her cheeks, and closes her eyes. She opens them again, and the bandits have already collapsed onto the dry ground. 

“Huh? What…?” 

As the girl struggles to comprehend what had happened, Zombish is already starting to walk away. 

“Hey, don’t leave me behind!” 

She grabs the knight. At that moment, the tattered cloth on him rips and falls to the ground. 

What appears is not the handsome knight she expected. Nor a fighter that’s big and well-muscled. It’s a skeleton. 

“...Wait, bone?! Why bone! Bone? Wait, do bones even talk?!” 

“Yeah, I’m bone! So sorry I’m bone, sue me!” 

The knight picks up the truly tattered piece of rag, and hides his body. It truly looks like a skeletal model. He turns his back to the girl. 

“Anyway, I’m bone. So I can’t go with you. Protect yourself, you’re on your own.” 

The “bone”, that had slain a crowd of bandits instantly, tries to walk away from one single girl, as if to escape from her. 

Staring at Zombish’s lanky, weak-looking back and the huge sword on it, the girl shouts over at him. 

“Hey, bone! Can you eat?” 

Zombish turns around, lifts the tattered cloth, and points around his stomach with a laugh. 

“You wanna see me eat? It’s hilarious.” 

“If you don’t eat… That means I don’t have to share my food or water with you, right?”

“Huh?” 

“It doesn’t matter if you’re bone or not, if you can defeat these guys. You’re pretty strong.” The girl points to the iron-clad, muscular bandit with a mohawk. “And I should sew that cloth I ripped back together…” 

Zombish laughs, his hard skull distorting a little. “I’m not strong. Those guys are just small fries. But I guess I’ll have you fix this cloth for me.” 

At those words, the girl runs up to him. 

In the dried-up world of death, two footsteps mark their paths. Up above in the sky, a crow flies around in circles. As if to watch over them. 

Zombish’s journey has just started!! 

“I wonder what my editor will say…” 

 The man, once the “Little Giant”, leaves the restaurant and returns home. And without changing his clothes, collapses into his futon for the first time in a while.

2. VS Editor A!! 

“Zombies aren’t usually skeletons, right?” Akaashi Keiji opens his heavy mouth, holding his coffee in one hand. It makes Akaashi heavy-hearted to meddle with a work an author brought to him. 

Kanda, Chiyoda City, Tokyo. 

In the editorial department of Weekly Shonen Vie, there’s an extreme lack of people in the afternoon. 

The rookie mangaka, Udai Tenma, freezes momentarily in the meeting space. And he attempts to brush it off with a laugh. 

“Yeah, I thought, ‘Is a skeleton okay?’ for a bit. But maybe a Japanese-style zombie would be new, and I thought I could pull it off. We all get cremated in Japan, too. Hahaha.” 

“I see.” 

Akaashi looks at the copy of “Zombie Knight Zombish” on the table, and Udai laughing in front of him. And he says one more time, with force behind his words. That this is the last time he’ll say this, and he won’t say the same thing again. 

“Zombies aren’t usually skeletons, right.” 

The question mark had disappeared. 

It’s not a question, but a confirmation of fact. 

“...Yeah.” Udai replies weakly. He drops his shoulders, and bites the straw of his cola. 

 It’s tough. 

It had been his best work. He had a confidence in it, that he hadn’t before with his other works. But his concept had been fundamentally criticized. 

The editor continues talking to the crestfallen Udai. 

“And one more thing.” 

“...What is it?” 

Udai hunches his shoulders, looking up at Akaashi like a scolded child. Akaashi sips his coffee, adjusts his glasses and lets out a breath. He opens his mouth slowly. 

“We’ve established that a skeleton is not a zombie. But I think this skeleton’s design is a little lacking, in the first place. It’s no different to any old skeleton. For the main character, I want a quirk that will tell you it’s Zombish with just one look.” 

“Any old skeleton?” Udai says, and draws a normal-looking skeleton into his notebook. 

“Yes. For example, he could be wearing glasses, or he could have a large scar. I want a unique design. Even if you draw him simply, you would know it’s him. If I were to ask for more, I’d even say make his silhouette recognizable. That’s how strong his design should be.” 

Udai adds a scar to his skeleton, and mumbles, “I guess it can’t be a scar, if his silhouette has to be recognizable.” 

“The scar is just one example.” 

“I’m sorry…” 

Udai slurps the cola at the bottom of the glass, which is pretty much melted ice. He laughs disappointedly. 

“I thought the skeleton was fine, since he was cremated. Like a Japanese-style zombie. Well, there’s no zombie-ness, I guess…” 

At those words, Akaashi’s glasses shine. 

“Then… How about you make Zombish look more Japanese? It could link with his sword, too.” 

“What?” 

“Well, this is just one what-if scenario.” 

“...No, I think it could work. I’ll think about it! Then maybe he can look different from any old zombie!” Udai grabs his pen, and draws a Japanese-style zombie in his notebook. “If it’s Japanese clothes and a sword, he’d just be a samurai… How do I give him the zombie knight feeling…”

Watching the pen move busily and create many versions of Zombish, Akaashi feels a weight lift from his heart. 

It makes him heavy-hearted to meddle with other people’s works. But sometimes, his words make the author take a step in a good direction. That must be why he can continue with this job. 

“So now, please brush up on the work. And, depending on the edited manuscript, I may bring it up during the serialization meeting.” 

Udai’s pen stops moving. “Wait, why?! You’ve been talking about my work so harshly and tearing into it this whole time!” 

“...I haven’t been tearing into it. It’s entertaining, so I just want to make the story even more entertaining.” 

Udai’s face crumples, as he looks up at Akaashi. “Akaashi-san, you weren’t just an unpleasant person, after all!” 

“I’m an unpleasant person…?” 

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean it that way! I meant it in an um, good way!” 

Akaashi doesn’t ask what exactly he means by that, and organizes the manuscript. “Zombish is very entertaining, compared to the works you have brought me so far. I think you have a chance.” 

“Thank you!” 

“Oh, and lastly…” 

“There’s… still more?” Udai tenses. 

 Akaashi chuckles, before talking. “I’ve been thinking for a while, but this bit on the edge of the page, saying ‘Zombish’s journey has only just begun!’. You don’t need to write that. It’s the editor’s job.” 

“...!!”

4. Get Serialized!! 

It’s just past noon. Noticing that the phone is ringing, Udai reaches out from under the futon. He checks, and realizes it’s Akaashi. He gets out of the futon in a hurry, and answers. 

“You were asleep.” Akaashi says, in the same straightforward tone. 

“...I’m sorry.” 

“No, I’m sorry too. I’m going to get into it. Your one-shot is well-received.” 

At those words, Udai’s hand begins to sweat. He had been told to make a one-shot for the extra issue, and had made “Zombie Knight Zombish” with everything he’d got. 

He had changed Zombish’s design into a young man with patchwork skin, after Akaashi’s critique. He likes the way the bandages show around his collar. It can’t have been a skeleton, he thinks. It’s hard to relate to a skeleton. 

The “recognizable by silhouette” task had been cleared with the axe on his head. The zombie knight element was incorporated, by making him detach his left arm to wield his sword. Maybe they’ll make a movable figure out of the character. 

Above all, it was a work he’d been confident in. If it had still been absolutely hopeless, Udai wouldn’t have been able to recover from it. 

“Thank god…” Udai feels the tension drain out of him, and Akaashi continues. 

“And now, I would like to brush up Zombish to prepare for serialization.” 

“Of course! With pleasure!” Udai answers with gusto, almost like an izakaya employee. 

“Firstly, your heroine.” 

“Yes!” 

I should probably fix up the heroine a bit more, Udai thinks. Make her cuter, better… But Akaashi doesn’t steer the conversation in that direction. 

“In the one-shot, Zombish saves her, and they decide to go on a journey together, and it ends there.” 

“Huh? Oh, yes.” 

“If the one-shot will be chapter one, are they going to be travelling together in chapter two and beyond?” 

It’s not anything fun, like about making the heroine have a good figure or about how revealing her clothes should be. 

And really, Udai hadn’t been thinking what would happen once it got serialized. Well, he supposes it would be like what Akaashi just said. 

“Wouldn’t the readers grow bored of that?” As if to read Udai’s mind, Akaashi says. 

“What?” 

“The main character and the heroine go on a journey together the whole time, an enemy appears, he saves her, he defeats the enemy, and then moves on. And they continue like that until the final boss.” 

“Yeah…” 

“Wouldn’t that bore people?” 

Wait, am I getting given out to? 

No, he’d only been thinking of the one-shot as a base, so he hadn’t set anything beyond that in stone. He had only thought that leaving the readers hoping for more would be enough. 

“...Um, if it’s possible, I’d like to talk about this in person.” Udai says, wiping the sweat off his palms with his t-shirt. 

“All right. When are you free?” 

And so, in the editorial department the day after, the brainstorming session in the meeting space had continued for more than two hours. 

“So then, instead of a heroine that just keeps getting saved…” 

“She’d be like a buddy that also gives witty comebacks.” 

Udai draws a bunch of expressions for the female character. Flustered, angry, glaring… He stops his pen, and looks at Akaashi. 

“Then maybe Zombish will have a goofy side, instead of just being cool?” 

“But please don’t make it into a gag manga. Looking at the survey results, there are a lot of people saying that the manga is interesting because Zombish is cool.” Akaashi answers, looking at the survey chart. 

“I see… Balancing it out is hard.” Udai draws out a bunch of Zombish’s expressions in his notebook, and laughs. “But it’s fun. It feels like I’m making a manga.” 

“It’s good to hear that.” Akaashi smiles for a moment, and continues. “And also, about the enemy. Instead of them being a group of bandits in the harsh world, making them an organization would add depth to the story.” 

“Oh, maybe they’re the reason Zombish turned into a zombie?” 

“Sounds good.” 

Udai’s mood lifts from Akaashi’s acknowledgement, and opens up a page earlier on in his notebook. 

“Look here! The final boss is a fated opponent from before Zombish turned into a zombie. And the heroine is a key person for Zombish to turn back into a human. So I thought right now, maybe the heroine is the daughter of the final boss.” 

In contrast to the excited Udai, Akaashi lets out a low groan of uncertainty. 

“...So what, exactly, is Zombish fighting for?” 

“You always ask questions that can make the whole thing fall apart, Akaashi-san.” 

“Well, isn’t that the most important part?” 

Expanding ideas simple-mindedly is fun. The more he expands, picking up the pieces and making the story coherent will be hell, though. But knowing that, talking about final bosses and rivals is genuinely fun. 

“Secret hideouts are great, aren’t they?” 

“If they’ve taken over this world, isn’t there no need to keep it a secret? Something that would display their power…” 

“A castle!”

7. Secret Technique: Bolster Up! 

Just after serialization, the response had been very good. It had been. Udai had been in a good mood, asking “This will definitely be turned into an anime, right?” 

But now, it had gotten to a point where they couldn’t let it get any lower on the survey rankings. 

“........” 

“Are you okay?” Akaashi’s senior sees him with his head in his hands, and speaks to him. 

“...Oh, yes.” 

“It’s about Zombish, right? You should bolster it up with something. Like, with a pretty girl or a handsome guy,” the senior says. “Well, I don’t know.” He returns to his seat, after saying his part. 

“Bolster it up…” 

Akaashi’s brows knit together. 

Would that be enough? Could such a hasty, superficial solution entertain the readers? Well, the current results point to the fact that they’re not entertained. But even so, shouldn’t they be charming the audience with the protagonist’s appeal, or how interesting the story is? 

“The protagonist’s appeal, huh…” 

But what are the features of a protagonist that will be loved? 

What kind of story makes the readers want to come back for more? 

“.....” 

It would be the anticipation the readers have for the main character. What will happen next week? What will he show us next? Expectations as such. There must have been a lack of absolute protagonist strength, if he thinks about it. 

But that was the result of trying to create a dark fantasy, painting a delicate picture of emotions. Precisely because it was an absurd world with a zombie knight appearing in it. Was that what they had done wrong? Was it impossible for his literature department-aspiring self to make an entertaining manga, after all…?

After pondering for a long time, Akaashi lifts his head with a start. 

“....!” 

Wait a minute. 

Am I making the same mistake again? 

Am I thinking I could control the author and the readers? 

“...No. Pour your spirit into each ball, pour your spirit into each ball…” 

Yes. Focus on the next point, the next ball. Focus on this week’s story, the obstacle the protagonist must overcome. 

His desk becomes messier each day, as if to reflect inside his heart. Akaashi closes his eyes, and focuses his mental state. 

“Don’t think about what’s easy, think about what’s fun. What’s fun…” 

The survey rankings going down, getting discontinued isn’t fun. Then what is he meant to do…?

“Give feedback… Connect it to the next step… The next…” 

The seniors look at Akaashi worriedly, in front of the printer. 

“Akaashi is muttering to himself again, is he okay? He won’t quit, will he?” 

“He always comes back to life afterwards, you can leave him alone.” 

“Yep.”

“I want an absolute, strong main character.” Akaashi says to Udai, during their meeting. 

“Absolute?” 

“Yes. Like a star that hits any ball with his utmost ability.” 

“Am I going to get discontinued?!” 

Udai stands up with a clatter, face growing pale. Akaashi shakes his head quietly. 

“...Please calm down. It’s not getting discontinued, yet.” 

“...Yet…” Udai shrinks, and sits back down. 

“It’s a tough situation, but let’s turn things around.” 

They’re burning their bridges behind them. 

On the walls around the meeting space, there are many posters of works that had been turned into anime and movies. And the cardboard boxes blocking the corridor are packed with samples of goods. 

They have to join the ranks of those popular works, at all cost…!

Akaashi brings his gaze back to Udai, and starts to summarize the things he had thought about for the past week. 

“The main character… Zombish is a ‘star’. The readers have expectations for the star. What will he do next? What awesome moves will he show us? What kind of crazy risks will he take?

“We want the main character to amaze us with unexpected, yet charming actions. Whether Zombish sinks or swims will depend on how he overcomes next week’s desperate situation.” 

Akaashi lifts the paper bag on the floor. “And there’s a favour I want to ask from you.” 

“What’s this? I was wondering about it for a while.” The paper bag handed to him is unexpectedly heavy. Udai glances inside. “A blu-ray?” 

“Yes. I picked out swashbuckler films of all types, that have useful scenes for composition and pose references. At this point, we should take in anything cool and flashy.” 

“Thank you!”

“Also, it will be hard for you to watch it all, so I wrote the times for scenes I want you to watch.” Akaashi gives him a note. 

“I’ll definitely watch it! I’ll use them as references!” 

“I’ll do anything I can as well. Let’s both try our best.” 

There’s no way Akaashi can control what story the author will bring to him, what the other works will be like, how the readers will react. 

So, he should think about what he can do, what he should do. 

Avoiding discontinuation— it’s hard, but it shouldn’t be impossible.

10. Our fight has only just begun! 

“Zombish is getting discontinued… You have seven chapters left…” 

After getting the phone call informing him of the discontinuation, Udai had gone outside. Staying in his room felt too painful. But why, and how he’d come to the editing department, he doesn’t remember. 

Akaashi had been taken aback, after Udai had come without contacting him. But one look at his face, and he knew he couldn’t leave him by himself. And so he had taken him to a nearby coffee shop to talk to him. It was just his luck that he hadn’t gone outside the company. 

“Please order anything you like.” 

Akaashi gives the menu to Udai sitting opposite to him, but Udai drops it onto the table, not having enough energy to hold it. 

Akaashi pulls the menu closer to himself, trying not to show his shock. “Is coffee all right, then?” 

“........” 

There’s no answer, but Akaashi asks for two cups of coffee from the waiter. He chooses his words carefully, and begins to speak. 

“We had unfortunate results this time, but…” Akaashi continues, to the dejected Udai. “And as a suggestion from me…”

“........”

“I would like to get a fresh start with a new work. We should solidify the concept more for your next work, and compete with a work only you can make.” 

“Next…?” Udai raises his head at last, only to slam it back into the table. “There’s nothing! There’s no such thing that only I can make!” He lifts his crumpled face, and yells. 

“That’s not true. There must be something…”

“It is too! There’s nothing!”

Akaashi can only bite his lip, while his assigned author descends into total panic. 

What should he do…

He can’t just say “Bye, then,” and leave him feeling downcast. He had wanted to part ways with him in a positive manner, connecting him to the next step. That might just be his own ego talking, though.

“...I’m sure there’s a good theme for you. Is there anything you liked as a child, or something you put your heart into?” 

“I’m just a jack-of-all-trades, average guy. I’ve just gotten by in regards to study, sports, art and music…” 

When Udai had been in good form, he had preened about it, saying “I can do pretty much anything!”, but now he’s totally dejected. Well, that can’t be helped. He’s getting discontinued, after all. 

The only thing Akaashi can do, is to tell him his completely honest thoughts. 

“I don’t think a serialized author is just a jack-of-all-trades, average person.” 

“I’m not a serialized author anymore, I’m a discontinued author…”

At that moment, the waiter arrives. He shows a slightly intrigued face at Udai’s words, but immediately puts on his professional face and turns on his heels. 

Akaashi takes the cup, and inhales the aroma of coffee to calm himself down. He thinks. Maybe he should make some small talk, and change the mood. 

What should he talk about? Not about his work, or about what lays ahead. Then, about Udai himself? He wonders what he had talked about with him recently. What club had he joined in college? Where was he from? 

And he remembers. 

“Udai-san, you told me before that you’re from Tohoku. Were there any unusual traditions there? That you can write a manga about.” 

“...Yeah, I’m from Miyagi. But I lived in a normal estate, it was all pretty normal.” 

Udai says with a hoarse voice, and absentmindedly puts sugar cubes into his coffee. Many, many sugar cubes. Akaashi thinks he’s adding a bit too much, but there’s an atmosphere around them that makes him unable to say that. 

“Well, maybe where I live is in the middle of nowhere in the countryside, to you. You’re from Tokyo, after all.” 

“That’s not…”

Akaashi thinks that Udai is getting a little too dejected with him, but he can’t be blamed. “Zombie Knight Zombish” is Udai’s first serialization, and his first discontinuation. 

Food, sleep… Udai had sacrificed such human necessities, and yet his work had not been well-received. Of course he would be dejected. 

And as a new employee, “Zombie Knight Zombish” was Akaashi’s first work that he had launched from nothing. Due to being emotionally invested in it, Akaashi had felt deeply disappointed about the decision made for Zombish. 

Which is exactly why he had wanted to end it on a positive note. Surely there’s something in common with them, that they can talk about…

Akaashi, feeling cornered, opens his mouth. And starts to talk about something unexpected, even to himself.

“...Actually, I have someone I know in Miyagi. It was in relation to the club I was in during high school.” 

“I see.” 

Udai stirs his coffee with lifeless eyes, not picking up the conversation at all. He doesn’t even drink the coffee that is surely too sweet. 

“........” 

Of course. Someone else’s high school years is the most irrelevant subject to Udai right now. But really, what should he do? Telling someone they’re being discontinued, and thinking of what happens afterwards, is a first for Akaashi. And it’s a big job. He isn’t sure what the correct thing to do is. 

Akaashi falls silent, and Udai opens his mouth. “...What club were you in, during high school?”  He asks, not sounding that interested. It feels more like he asked out of obligation, because there was a break in the conversation. 

Akaashi feels regret, after realizing he’s made Udai read the room for him. But at the same time, he feels relieved that some of Udai’s energy has come back. 

“Volleyball.” 

“I see. I did volleyball, too.” Udai says. “During my years, we went to the Spring High nationals, too.” 

At those words, Akaashi places the coffee he had lifted back onto the table. 

“Oh, me… too.” 

“Really?! That’s amazing, Akaashi-san!” 

“No, you too.” 

And with a light premonition, Akaashi asks. “...Which school did you attend in Miyagi?” 

“It’s not a powerhouse, so I don’t know if you’d know…” Udai laughs, before answering. “It’s called Karasuno.”

Please look forward to Udai-sensei’s next work, “Meteo Attack”! 

[itsclydebitches]

YYH Recaps: Episode 1, Surprised to be Dead

Hello, all you hypothetical readers! It's a beautiful spring day and I have a free afternoon ahead of me, so what better time to start another massive project while I guilty stuff my other WIPs deep into the depths of my hard drive? Yeah. Iffy life choices aside, someone mentioned a few weeks back that they'd love for me to recap a show I have more positive things to say about than negative (RIP RWBY) and ever since Netflix announced that their live-action adaptation of Yu Yu Hakusho is in the works, I've been itching for a re-watch of the anime. With the RWBY hiatus underway, it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill both desires.

Before we begin though, I'd like to touch on a few things that are going to influence this project.

First, YYH is near and dear to my heart. Written by Yoshihiro Togashi in the early 1990s and later adapted for an American audience by Funimation, I had the pleasure of experiencing this story five different ways: as a serialized tale in Shonen Jump, a binge read when I had the money to buy the manga, tiny snippets of the anime on Adult Swim late at night — don't tell my parents ;) — as an after-school treat on Toonami, and then years later as a re-watch when I introduced it to a friend (who, in turn, blessed me by having us watch Fullmetal Alchemist next). I used to keep a Hiei bookmark in everything I was reading, the spirit gun made it into our witch-wolf-space adventures on the playground (middle school was wild), and there was a long period of my life where I tried very hard to teach myself to stand with my hands behind my back, precisely as Genkai does. Spoiler alert: I failed. So to say I love the series is... a little bit of an understatement. I bring this up simply as a way of demonstrating that there's more than a bit of nostalgia attached to YYH for me and that will inevitably cloud my reading of it. How can it not? So that's just something to keep in mind as I work through a series that, like any having hit its 30th birthday, has its outdated, flawed, and other questionable aspects.

Second, but very much connected to the first point, is that these are pretty casual recaps. I summarize and extrapolate, focusing primarily on plot and dialogue (but with the occasional cinematography aspect tossed in). I'm not conducting research on the cultural history here — something that will come up at least once in this episode — I'm not arguing an overarching thesis, and I've never been someone who focuses on the author/production/trivia of a series. I'm here for the story as the story is presented to the viewer. If you've read my RWBY Recaps, this will function precisely the same way, with the only difference being I'm engaging with a finished text as opposed to an ongoing one, so there’s a lot less, “Maybe ___ will happen” theorizing going on. 

Third, I obviously recommend that you watch the show yourself (you can find it on YouTube!), but you don't have to know the series to follow along. As these massive paragraphs attest, I tend to be both detailed and verbose, so we'll be covering every major plot point — and most of the smaller ones too.

Finally, I'm working from the dub. I know, I know, the horror. But it's what I grew up on and, honestly, I think it's superior to the sub. YYH's dubbing is in a class all its own and to this day there are very few shows that compare to it. Trust me, it's a good call.

That's enough of the boring chit-chat though. Let's get started!

Our very first episode "Surprised to be Dead" opens on a crowded street. We see lots of traffic, people going about their business, and a pedestrian crossing sign that, crucially, turns red. This is our normality and, like in every genre story, you need to break that normality at some point so that the protagonists can go on their fantastical/supernatural/science fiction journey. YYH eases us into things by first breaking the normality of an everyday afternoon: there's a screech of tires, quick shots of a man pushing a child out of the way of an oncoming car, and then his back is hitting the windshield. We begin this story with a horrible — but otherwise mundane — car crash.

Now, these flashes alone have a fair bit to unpack. Despite later getting a brief shot of the man's scared face right before he's hit, the moment's focus is really on the child. He's the one foregrounded in the initial, slow-mo shot. He's the one who appears in color while the man is kept in shadow. This isn't just a hit, it's a rescue. The camera is also careful to follow the soccer ball this kid was playing with (more on that later in the episode), with it flying through the air as the man is hit and bouncing to a stop in the street, acting as the dramatic finish. It's childhood! It's innocence! It's play on a sunny afternoon! And it's all gone wrong.

This moment is chaotic and even a bit confusing. Not in the sense of what's happening — that is quite obviously a guy being hit by a car — but who the victims are, how precisely this came about, or even why we're meant to care about this beyond a generic capacity to feel for other human (fictional) beings... that's all removed. And it works. As the crash takes place, the camera pans across the stunned crowd and we, the viewer, become a part of that crowd. They don't know what precisely is going on either. We're all just horrified onlookers as a sudden tragedy takes place. We're all watching the same show.

So everyone realizes this guy has been hit. People are staring in shock and someone calls for an ambulance. We see the driver fall to his knees in the street, distraught, shakily saying, "I didn't mean to..." It's a very serious and emotional scene that —

— is immediately tempered by this guy waking up, complete with a cute 'pop!' sound effect when he opens his eyes.

This is YYH's brand, this Very Serious Circumstances skillfully interwoven with casual indifference/comedy. It's admittedly far from a unique brand, but it's an excellent choice given that this is the same attitude that will drive 99% of our protagonist's interaction with the world.

Speaking of said protagonist, our guy wakes up, opens his eyes, and realizes that he's floating. There's a great, disorientating shot from his perspective where everything is upside down, causing him to nearly fall out of the air. Well would you look at that, he's as confused as we are. It's our audience surrogate!

A narrator says, "And so it all begins. This boy's name is Yusuke, he's fourteen years old, and he's supposed to be the hero of this story. But oddly enough, he's dead."

Game of Thrones might have made it popular, but YYH did it better.

(Yeah, yeah, I know one death kick-starts the journey and the other is a shocking twist. Just let me have this.)

Now, it's a weird introduction, right? At least at the end. The announcement that change has occurred, a name, an age... that all checks out. But "supposed to be the hero"? What the hell is that “supposed to” mean? Our narrator gives us the easy, surface answer: "But oddly enough, he's dead." We're capitalizing here on the audience's expectation that death ends a character's journey and though they may have been a hero previously, they can no longer be one moving forward. That function within the story has passed. So it's this intriguing question of, "What kind of hero do you have when that hero is dead from the start?" but as we'll see soon, there's an additional meaning here of, "How can Yusuke be the hero?" As this premiere sets up, Yusuke doesn't act like the hero is “supposed to” act. 

Until he saved this kid.

But right now he's just confused: "Okay, this is weird. Stupid weird."

Two EMTs arrive on the scene and are hilariously useless. You know how in any medical drama a doctor will stop CPR after a couple of seconds because obviously you're not going to spend half the episode on realism? Well, that's this only a thousand times worse. One guy just looks at the kid and announces he's fine except for some bumps and bruises. Meanwhile, the kid is sobbing.

"Well, at least one of them is," replies the other EMT, because I guess he can tell Yusuke is beyond hope without taking a pulse or anything? "I hate cleanup," he complains as they load his body onto a stretcher because that's? An empathetic response to have??

Honestly this scene is wild.

Yusuke is understandably upset that he's, you know, dead and all. He starts hounding the EMTs who, unable to hear him, just go about their business of taking the kid and his body to the hospital. "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on? You can't just write me off. Listen to me!" and Yusuke tries to punch one of the EMTs in the head, resulting in him floating right through.

What a great way to introduce your protagonist's personality. We see here that when things go wrong Yusuke's default emotion is anger and it starts creeping in even before he thinks the others are ignoring him: "Stupid weird." He has problems with authority — "You think you can just do whatever you want because you have that stupid uniform on?" — is used to others listening when he gets angry — "You can't just write me off!" — and is poised to use violence at the slightest provocation. Yusuke is a guy who, right now at least, is ready to punch first and ask questions later.

As Yusuke floats back up into the air and the ambulance drives away, he finally cools down enough to try and think his way out of this. "It's not like this is the first time you've been in a jam,” he thinks. Yusuke recalls that yeah, something was different about today...

...he actually went to school.

Catch me laughing that this idiot boy equates the weirdness of him dying with going to school. Good lord. 

Anyway, this jumpstarts our flashback. We open on a generic, anime middle school (that always feels like a high school to me) where the principal is calling for Yusuke through the loud speaker. Oooo someone’s in trouble! We follow a young girl up to the rooftop and she gets a classic hair-blowing-in-the-wind moment to  establish that she's our love interest. Meet Keiko Yukimura.

Keiko finds Yusuke hanging out and immediately starts lecturing him for trying to chew gum and refusing to wear the boys' uniform. "Oh, give me a break, Keiko. I look better in green." Note that it's here we learn her name and it's an easy, casual way to introduce it. I bring this up because Yusuke's introduction via our narrator is very much... not that. It's an on your nose statement about his name, age, and importance to the story, and if you're just starting the show in 2021, it might come across as a rather armature move. Like something out of a kid's show, perhaps. Yet here we see that this was a deliberate choice, considering that YYH is capable of introducing character information naturally when it wants to.

This moment also tells us that Yusuke cares a great deal about his image. More on that in a bit. Because Keiko isn't finished her list of grievances yet, going on to say that his attendance record has hurt their entire class, hurt her as class representative, and if he keeps going down this path he won't even graduate middle school. "Sometimes I think you don't care about anyone but yourself and then you don't even do that right!"

They're legit complaints. Too bad Yusuke is busy looking up Keiko's skirt.

Yeeeeah. Sadly, this is common for anime, particularly a 90s anime like YYH. Even presumably more progressive series like My Hero Academia feature characters like Mineta, whose entire personality is being a pervert, and the creation of abilities that "require" kids/young women to be scantily clad. See: Yaoyorozu. YYH is no different in this regard, with various forms of sexual harassment functioning as a shorthand for how much Yusuke secretly likes Keiko. "Boys will be boys," right? Obviously not. 

Like so many others series, the creators get away with it because they’re framing it as a bad thing. It's totally fine because look, Keiko slaps him! This is  teaching the viewer how wrong this behavior is. Never mind that this is clearly an established habit between them, that Yusuke laughs off Keiko's discomfort, and that the whole scene is meant to be funny for the viewer. That's the real purpose here; it’s not a PSA on harassment. 

That, and to establish the long-suffering love Keiko has for Yusuke in turn, largely stemming from a life-long friendship. "Dumb boy! He hasn't grown up a bit since he was four years old." We see that Keiko's early interactions with Yusuke have given her insight that others lack. As she heads down from the roof she runs into two girls hiding around the corner, too scared to come out lest "the great Urameshi" set his sights on them. Isn't Keiko terrified of what he might do to her? "Or worse, what others might say of it?" Like any classic high school middle school setting, one's reputation is king. Yusuke cares about how others see him — maintaining that tough boy attitude — and the girls care more about what the rest of the school might think of Keiko's interactions with him than the presumed harm Yusuke could do to her. They heard he can summon 2,000 men with just a whistle and that he "kills for fun!" But that means nothing in the face of people talking about you. Despite being one of the most popular girls in school, Keiko is the outsider here via her disinterest in what other people think.

The animation changes here, giving us a good look at how the girls picture Yusuke: tough, scowling, surrounded by shadows, and backed by an entire army.

In contrast, we've already seen what Yusuke is really like.

Keiko laughs the image off too. Yusuke is more like a "lamb" than a killer and besides, he couldn't order around two people, let alone two hundred. "He doesn't have many friends."

"That's not what I heard," says one of the girls. 

"Yeah," goes the other. "I think we would know." 

Again, rumors rule here, with whispers in the hall considered more reliable than someone who interacts with Yusuke on a daily basis. Keiko doesn’t have a hope of changing their minds. 

Oh, as a side note, I love that they gave Keiko Miyazaki-esque hair. It's very emotive.

Yusuke escapes outside where the principal is still calling for him to report to his office. He overhears a conversation around the corner and we cut to two boys, one of which is showing a wallet off to the other. He explains that some bully tried to rough him up, but he said he was Urameshi's cousin and the bully took off, dropping his wallet in the process. The guy's friend is impressed, but what is he going to do if Yusuke ever finds out he lied? Not to worry, he says, that "blockhead" would probably think it's true even if he did somehow hear.

Yusuke, obviously, does hear about this and he, also obviously, does not believe this guy is his cousin. He looms ominously and they scurry up against a wall, terrified and offering him the wallet as an apology.

"You think I want your money?" Yusuke yells.

YYH is, in many respects, a rather simple story, but I appreciate the hints of complexity in these otherwise straightforward interactions. It's not that this guy used Yusuke's name to steal a wallet, he used it as a form of protection against another bully — a far more sympathetic motivation. It's not that Yusuke's fearsome reputation has resulted in any genuine respect because once people think they're safe they reveal how little they think of his intelligence — he's a "blockhead." And Yusuke, though intimidating and violent, is not your average, schoolyard bully. He doesn't care about money, only the insult and the damage this guy using his name might have done to his reputation. There's a little more nuance here than you might otherwise expect.

Also, note how dark the boys' standard uniforms are and how much they blend into the rest of the world. Yusuke, as our protagonist, stands out in his bright clothing. He was right, he does look better in green!

So he's ready to clobber this kid when one of the teachers arrive: Mr. Iwamoto.

Iwamoto demands to know what's going on, but the boys are too terrified to rat Yusuke out. Noticing the wallet on the ground, he assumes that Yusuke was after their money, something that greatly offends him: "Whatever!" Iwamoto goes on to say that, "No good weeds like you should have been plucked a long time ago," making it clear that he considers Yusuke a hopeless case. The positive aspects that Keiko sees, as well as the complexity the viewer sees — to say nothing of his introduction of saving a kid — aren’t considered here.

Notably, Iwamoto exists in part to show us what Yusuke could become. Not a teacher (he's obviously not attending school enough for that!), but a cynical man who is cruel for cruelty's sake. Yusuke is already barreling down that path, ignoring Keiko's advice, terrorizing other students, trying to punch EMTs, etc. If his life (or afterlife...) hadn't changed through that accident, this is the kind of person Yusuke might have grown up to be, and we can see that clearly in the visual parallels between them. Dark haired men dressed in green who scowl with ease and toss out cutting insults. Yusuke is staring his future in the face.

For now he walks off with a final shot, "You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." This time Yusuke makes it to the school's entrance and tries to enjoy his second attempt at chewing gum, but someone hits him in the back of the head.

"Okay, somebody's DEAD — ah. Sorry, old man."

"That's Mr. Takenaka to you."

Our principal has finally left the office and hunted down Yusuke for himself! Putting this interaction immediately after the one with Iwamoto allows the viewer to compare them. Yusuke might be irreverent towards his principal, but it's clear there's still some kind of respect between them. Yusuke only starts threatening because he doesn’t realize who hit him and once he does realize it's Takenaka, he immediately apologizes. That "old man" comes across as a teasing insult and Yusuke allows himself to be briefly dragged back towards school, rather than throwing a now classic punch. In turn, Takenaka cares enough about Yusuke to try and keep him on the straight and narrow. He utilizes Yusuke's preferred language — violence — but in a casual way, nonthreatening way: slight hit to the back of his head, noogie, pulling him along by the ear. 

It's the sort of physicality we're used to seeing in media between a parent and child who are outwardly antagonistic, but actually share a deep bond. Takenaka is also careful to frame their return to his office as a "discussion," not a punishment, and offers Yusuke tea along with the conversation. Whereas Iwamoto considers Yusuke to be a "weed" that should have been plucked from their school long ago, Takenaka is determined to help Yusuke bloom.

If we're continuing the flower metaphor :D

Yusuke isn't in the mood to play along though. He gets away by using a fake ear, startling Takenaka when it unexpectedly pulls free. Yusuke escapes the school grounds and Takenaka, suffering a back twinge from his fall, can't chase after him. Poor guy. I understand that pain lol.

Yusuke heads home where we're introduced to his mother, Atsuko. Most notable in her first shot is the soft lighting that highlights her looks. We're not told how old she is here, but I believe she's around 28 — and she looks it, if not younger. Given that Yusuke is 14, that means Atsuko was a mom at his age. This is a quick and subtle way to tell us about Yusuke's home life. There are more overt details in this scene — it's at least lunchtime and Atsuko hasn't left her bed yet, she demands that Yusuke make her coffee instead of greeting him, it's all meant to imply (before we actually see) that she's an alcoholic — but her age is another way to highlight the broken household here. There's no partner in sight and she clearly had Yusuke as a teenager. He hasn't had a strong parental figure to take care of him. If anything, Yusuke is taking care of Atsuko here.

"Oh great, mother of the year!" basically sums things up.

Atsuko wants to know why Yusuke isn't in school and he says that everyone is pissing him off today, particularly with their preaching. "Dear, if you hate preaching so much you should live on your own... but you can't do that, can you?" Alongside a rough upbringing, Yusuke is suffering from the common problem of being trapped in a dead-end life. He hates his school, his town, and coming home to find his mom hungover. Yusuke has no prospects and, outside of one principal, no one who is actively working to help him find some. Even the little things he hates, like being preached to, are unavoidable because if you want to live on your own, that requires money. Good luck pulling that off as a middle schooler whose only skill is street fighting!

Yusuke walks off in a huff, literally shouting in a street about what a bad day he's having (and hilariously scaring off pedestrians in the process). His shout brings trouble though. A couple guys appear to ambush him, their boss close behind. The music increases the tension, Yusuke's expression is serious, and we even get a Dutch angle thrown into the mix. 

For any who don't know, the Dutch angle is a popular film technique to establish that something is wrong. There's tension in the scene, something uneasy is at play, and the world is now literally off center. It's perhaps most famously used in Do The Right Thing to establish the friction between an Italian-American pizzeria and the predominantly African American neighborhood it's based in.

But it's also used a great deal in horror as a way to say: yup, shit just got real. Scary real.

This Dutch angle introduces a character you may not appreciate at first, but absolutely should: Kazuma Kuwabara.

He's initially the comic relief and that's clear in his introduction. Within seconds we move from that intimidating arrival to, well, seeing him. To be clear, I've got nothing against redheads with big chins, but compared to Yusuke's design, Kuwabara is meant to be the funny looking one. His threat level plummets the moment we get a look at his face, especially in a series that will occasionally use looks as a (supposed) measure of intelligence. 

Also, Kuwabara is dressed in light blue so, like Yusuke, we know he's important!

Any assumptions that his appearance isn’t meant to imply a goofy, embarrassing personality are put to rest when Kuwabara starts rambling about how they last time they fought Yusuke just got a cheap shot in and he'll definitely win this time. Yeah, he won't. Yusuke is thrilled by this diversion though and we get a shot of him looking almost as creepy as Keiko's friends think he is. Whatever else might be said about Yusuke, he is absolutely a monster in a fight.

Which we see here. If anyone picked up the series without knowing this was a fighting anime, they'll realize it now. Yusuke's choreography is stylized to show off his skill: he disappears with a 'whoosh' and dark lines to suggest inhuman speed,

attacking Kuwabara with a knee to the face, utilizes flying kicks, lands perfect, precision punches, and ends it all with the toe-tip landing we've come to expect of all powerful fighters. Kuwabara never even got a hit in. 

Happy as a clam now, Yusuke wanders off whistling and Kuwabara's friends are left to pick up the pieces. AKA, his likely broken bones. I love that they're legit friends though and not just nameless goons for the sake of giving Kuwabara a small gang (though their names won't come up until later). "That makes 0 wins an 156 loses!" one of them cries, trying to get Kuwabara to stop ending up in the hospital, probably. We establish that Kuwabara is The Most Dramatic Ever when he pulls his broken body into a seated position, shouting, "No! I almost had him that time!"

Then he passes out.

Kuwabara, honey, you obviously did not almost have him, but god bless you for the outlook. The most optimistic thing on this Earth is a well-loved Golden Retriever, but Kuwabara comes in at a very close second.

With his dream to one day beat Yusuke in combat established, we cut to Yusuke wandering the street where the episode opened. "Okay, I'm remembering" he says in a voiceover. "After that I met the kid."

The soccer ball reappears as it rolls to a stop at Yusuke's feet. He grabs it and immediately starts yelling at the kid. Horrible protagonist, right? Well, Yusuke is trying to instill in him the danger of using this street as a playground, a worry the viewer already knows is 100% justified. “Listen, kid, that’s dangerous! There are cars going by that will splatter you into the pavement!” It's one of those quick moments where we get to enjoy Yusuke's duality: he's someone who is nearly making a toddler cry, but for rather understandable reasons. He's got the right idea, but needs to go about it in a more mature manner.

Which is precisely what he attempts to do. Sort of. Yusuke changes gears, though whether it's a more "mature" route is certainly up for debate lol. He tries entertaining the kid instead, raising and lowering the soccer ball to reveal goofy faces.

When these fail to impress, Yusuke goes full out by stuffing the ball into his pants, pushing his nose up with a pair of chopsticks he got from god knows where, and generally just putting on a display.

So Yusuke cares very deeply about his reputation... but only when it comes to those who are an established part of his life. Keiko, Mr. Takenaka, and the other kids at school all need to maintain a particular image of Yusuke, one that he's carefully cultivated. But random pedestrians on the street? Who cares about them? Let them talk.

This shows us that Yusuke does indeed have priorities over his own, selfish goals. Namely, the happiness of some kid is more important to him than looking "cool" for a bunch of strangers. Lots of characters with Yusuke's surface attitude would sneer at the idea of degrading themselves for — their words — some brat. But Yusuke, as we constantly see, actually does have that heart of gold. “Well, if all else fails I can still make kids happy.”

Although... I'm not sure what to make of his display itself. I have the distinct sense that there's something prejudiced here that I'm not able to fully articulate, what with the chopsticks, slanted eyes, bald head, and the like, though to be entirely frank I don't have enough knowledge of Japan's history to say precisely what it might be. Or, really, whether it exists at all. Just something to chew on.

What I am sure about though is the importance of having the child label Yusuke as monster — "Yeah, monster! — but in a delighted manner. Yusuke is indeed some kind a monster, someone who disappoints adults and terrifies his classmates, a demon fighter on the streets too, but here that identity is reworked into something positive.

Having successful secured a laugh, Yusuke tells the kid — calmly this time — to go play elsewhere. The toddler stares up at him with the blank expression only kids can manage.

Well, kids and whatever headspace I'm in after writing these metas.

To absolutely no one's surprise except Yusuke's, the kid does not go elsewhere. Instead, he continues kicking the ball down the street, causing Yusuke to exclaim, “Dammit, what’s the use? The kid can get smashed by a car for all I care!” Liar, liar. 

The picture becomes desaturated as the kid kicks the ball and it flies into the street, time slowing down to show it landing precisely in the middle of the road. Yusuke again yells for him to stay put, but when has a toddler ever listened? He begins to walk into the road as our driver arrives, speeding, swerving, and paying more attention to the girl at his side than what's in front of him.

This time, we see the accident from the front with both Yusuke and the kid presented equally.

There's a cut to black and when we return we're in the present, Yusuke floating above the policemen now investigating the scene. “So that’s it? I’m roadkill?” As Yusuke realizes he's dead, specifically that he's a ghost, a voice goes,

"Bingo! Bingo! You win the prize!"

A woman has appeared who is quite obviously othered by the standards of the episode so far. Unlike the greens, blues, and browns of the series' modern clothes, she's dressed in hot pink kimono with blue hair to match. She's also, you know, floating on an oar.

“I didn’t expect you to figure it out so quickly," she says, referring to Yusuke's revelation that he's dead. Apparently, those who meet unexpected and/or violent ends tend to take some time coming to terms with their demise. It's a nice acknowledgment of Yusuke's intelligence in an interaction that's otherwise... not great for his self-esteem.

Meaning, this woman is about to drag him lol.

She introduces herself as Botan, pilot of the River Styx and guider of souls to the afterlife. You might also know her as the Grim Reaper.

(Hey, RWBY fans: I originally wrote that as Grimm Reaper 🤦‍♀️)

It's an claim Yusuke takes issue with because 1. Botan is too pretty to be the Grim Reaper and 2. If she was really some god of death she'd be taking this much more seriously, not laughing and saying, "Bingo!" For the audience this does two things. First, it acknowledges our own expectations and validates them. Yusuke's world isn't so far removed from our own that he takes Botan's looks and personality at face value, he also expected a skeleton with a scythe. So don't worry, all the weird stuff in this series is weird to our protagonist too. They'll be explanations. Or, even if there’s not, you’re not wrong for being surprised. 

Second, it sets up the very common theme in YYH of undermining those common assumptions again and again and again. We've already seen it with Yusuke, wherein characters who look and act a certain way are, supposedly, destined to be that person and nothing more. Yusuke is meant to be just a "weed," a dumb, violent, angry loser who goes nowhere in life... but we already know he's more than that. Botan is supposed to be scary and serious, but she says nah, I want to be cute and bubbly instead. No character in YYH embodies who they're "supposed" to be when you look past those surface characterizations. They play the part of archetypes — and do keep certain parts of their expected personalities — but they're also far more well-rounded than that. Which yeah, is something most people expect from any story nowadays, but YYH is particularly adept at making you think you're watching Simple Show A only to turn around and surprise you with More Complex Show B.

It's great, trust me.

So Yusuke is pissed that Botan isn't adhering to those expectations, in the same way that he works hard to validate others expectations of him. He doesn't know how to deal with someone challenging his world view yet. Rather than angering Botan though, she just nods and says that this response makes sense for him. “Rather than being scared, or surprised, you yell a lot and tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about." Taking out a notebook, she quickly summarizes everything we learned in the flashback — minus Yusuke's complexities: he's fourteen, in middle school, is ill-tempered, violent, hates authority, and is a horrible student.

Typically, Yusuke responds by getting angry and trying to snatch the booklet out of her hands, only for Botan to pull it out of his reach, laughing. The tables have turned! Rather than being surrounded by people who cower at Yusuke's imposed authority, he now finds himself faced with someone who laughs at his transparent attempts to take control of the situation.

Calming down, Yusuke wants to know if the kid he saved is really alright and Botan offers to let him see for himself. That offer produces Yusuke's first, genuine smile.

They fly to the hospital where a doctor is in the process of giving the kid a clean bill of health, his mother crying with relief. 

That's enough for Yusuke. “Alright, Botan, I’ve got no regrets, so you can take me to hell or wherever it is I’m going.”

That tells you all you need to know about Yusuke's self-worth, despite his bad boy attitude. His life is a dead-end as far as he can see and most of those around him haven't done anything to dissuade him of that idea. He says he doesn't care if the kid lives or dies, but then instinctively saves him. Post his death, Yusuke doesn't have anything he considers a regret, or anything he'd like to do before he leaves, like saying goodbye to a loved one. Oh, he's also pretty sure he's going to hell and has resigned himself to that without a fight.

Uplifting!

Botan just laughs though, saying that she's actually here to offer Yusuke an "ordeal" that could bring him back to life. See, he wasn't supposed to die today — let alone die saving a kid — and frankly they don't know what to do with him. It's another neat summary of what we've already learned: Yusuke is a far more complicated case than the afterlife assumed and now, when push comes to shove, deciding whether he belongs in heaven or hell is... muddled.

There's a fantastic story there about the problems with an afterlife that reduces a person's entire life to a few surface characteristics recorded in a book, refusing to acknowledge the context of their situation, or their capacity for change. “Run someone with your credentials a thousand times and they never would have saved a kid like that." Except, of course, Yusuke did save him, so those "credentials" are suspect, to say the least. However, YYH is not a story that explores these issues. Instead, I recommend you watch this!

Rather than being upset at the afterlife's low opinion of him (because let's be real, Yusuke shares it), he latches onto a little detail Botan let slip. If he wasn't supposed to die today... then was the kid?

Mmm... no. Actually, without the chaos of Yusuke jumping into the road, the driver would have swerved at the last second and the kid would have not only lived, but actually come out with one less scrape.

So Yusuke is obviously upset by this news! I would be too!! Holy shit, hang onto the "it's the thought that counts" message with everything you've got.

Also, don't think too much about the fact that the afterlife apparently knows exactly what will happen to people, down to how many cuts they accumulate in an accident. Also, don't think too much about where the afterlife foreseeing the crash begins and the unexpectedness of Yusuke interfering ends. That way lies madness. This will never come up again, so just let it go.

Sorry, 2013 me hijacked the post for a second.

As said, Yusuke is understandably upset by this revelation and as he fumes I'm reminded that this series likes to pull some amazing expressions.

Botan reiterates that it's all fine because Yusuke can come back to life. Weren't you listening? He should feel honored, in fact, considering that an offer like this only arrives every 100 years or so. Well, that explains why all of humanity isn't grappling with people coming back to life on the daily. One person every generation isn't going to cause much of a stir.

However, instead of jumping at the chance Yusuke announces that Botan is just like the teachers at school: she doesn't know what she's talking about. “You said yourself my life was kind of pathetic, right?” he says, going on to explain that everyone will be happier now that he's dead. His school won't have to deal with his behavior, Keiko won't have to nag him, and his mom will be able to party whenever she wants. It's a win-win for everyone involved. 

Hmm, this feels familiar. 

Don't worry, Yusuke doesn't need to experience a whole alternate reality to get the message.

“I’m sorry you feel that way at such an early age," Botan says and she is sorry, because despite her teasing nature that's a legitimately horrifying thing to believe. Yusuke won't budge though and after a little back-and-forth Botan leaves, telling Yusuke he should think it over while visiting his wake. She'll come back once he decides what to do.

“Do you have worms in your ears, lady? I did decide!” but Botan is long gone.

We cut to that night where Yusuke has indeed decided to attend his own wake. Maybe because of Botan's advice, maybe because he's just morbidly curious. We’re not given insight into the decision. 

Atsuko is a mess, to put it mildly, not dressed for the occasion and sitting slumped against the way, staring vacantly as the guests offer their condolences. Yusuke is surprised by the fact that his entire class is here, but quickly writes them off when he sees two of the boys laughing. I'm on the fence about this detail, which I'll unpack in just a second.

First though, Yusuke sees Keiko exiting the house, inconsolable in her grief. She collapses on the ground with her two friends trying to offer comfort, despite the fact that they had nothing good to say about Yusuke himself. Good on them.

Before he can think too long on this though, Yusuke is distracted by Kuwabara's arrival. Unlike Keiko's crying, he expresses his grief through yelling. Specifically, yelling at Yusuke. For dying. For daring to "run away." His own friends are physically holding him back as he charges into the wake, screaming, “Who am I gonna fight now, huh? Who am I gonna fight?" It's not really about the fighting, of course. At least, not the fighting alone. "You’re supposed to be here for me," Kuwabara finishes, the punch he's thrown at Yusuke's photo going limp and catching his first tear.

You know, for all the  goofy expressions, this show really is gorgeous. Just wait until we get to the fight animations.

Kuwabara's reaction is why I hesitate to write off the classmates like Yusuke has. Granted, we have no reason to believe that they care for him as Kuwabara does — they're nameless background characters defined only by their terror of "the great Urameshi" — but it's still a split second taken out of context. We don't know what they were laughing at, or if laughing is a part of their grief. God knows I personally laugh at the most inappropriate moments. If you tell me someone has just died there is a very good chance I will laugh awkwardly as I try to process that. It’s just a reflex. All of which I bring up not because these side characters are important, but because Yusuke's perception of his own worth is. The point of each of these moments is to show that those around him have always cared for him, even if Yusuke didn't notice. It's nice to think that extends to his classmates too. The variety likewise exists to show us how people grieve differently, with Kuwabara's friends not understanding that this is how he's working through the trauma: “This place is for mourning!” He is mourning, even if his way of mourning isn't as socially acceptable as Keiko's. So if screaming and throwing punches is valid, crying is valid, staring stoically in a drunk stupor is valid... why not laughter too?

Not likely, perhaps, but possible.

As an additional possibility to chew on, watching this premier again, it struck me how more emotional Kuwabara's scene is compared to Keiko's. Don't get me wrong, crying and calling Yusuke’s name gets the point across, but it's two seconds of generic grief compared to a much longer scene rife with intensity. When Kuwabara arrives the music swells and everyone is forced to pay attention to him. His grief is loud, violent, and given symbolism with his fist and the photo. There's more effort put into his reaction, frankly, so it wouldn't surprise me if fans started shipping them after this. That grief combined with an "enemies to lovers" possibility is a pretty potent mix. To be clear, Yusuke/Keiko is the (oh so obvious) canonical endgame and in the fandom Yusuke/Kuwabara can't compare to another slash ship that will turn up later, but this is a good example of how writers can craft some Very Gay Scenes without realizing it. When you have the girl crying prettily for a second and the guy absolutely losing his mind over Yusuke's death, questioning his purpose now, his support network, and then collapsing in grief... don't be surprised if your audience goes, "Oh hey, maybe they'd be a good couple instead."

But I digress.

The only people who are unquestioningly happy about Yusuke's passing are Mr. Iwamoto and his co-conspirator, Mr. Akashi. You know Akashi is another bad guy because he has bucked teeth and "ugliness" is an easy way to code for evilness. YYH is not immune to those mistakes :/

These two are really something else though, standing in the middle of a wake and claiming it's “too bad that car wasn’t big enough for them too," referring to Kuwabara and his friends. Wow! What stellar members of the academic community. Iwamoto goes on to say that Yusuke dying at least accomplished something good. Not, mind you, saving the life of a child, but rather looking good for their school's reputation. Akashi agrees, but says it's likely Yusuke only accidentally saved him while trying to steal the kid's lunch money. Remember, that accusation of theft is the one thing Yusuke has said outright that he does not do.

He's pissed listening to all this — wouldn't you be? — but knows by now he can't do anything about it. In another fantastic shot, Yusuke hovers his hand over Iwamoto's shoulder, desperate to grab him, when Takenaka's arrives there instead.

“What do you suppose is more disgraceful? That boy showing his misery, or your insensitive and idiotic words!”

HELL YEAH. You tell 'em, Mr. Takenaka.

Yusuke gets his third shock of the night at this passionate defense. Takenaka leaves the teachers to go pay his respects, but admits to Yusuke's picture that he just can't speak well of him. He was surprised to hear that Yusuke gave up his life for another and it's a fact that he acted selfishly. Though he doesn't say it in as many words, Takenaka explains that he's not grieving because Yusuke was a good person, but because it's so clear to him that he might have been. “Why didn’t you stay? You could have made something great out of yourself.”

Normally, "Why didn't you stay?" is just something for the living to grapple with, as the dead obviously don't have any say in what happens to them. But Yusuke does. It's here that the lighting grows soft again and Yusuke considers Takenaka's words. Keiko and Kuwabara grieve for who he was, but Takenaka grieves for who Yusuke could have been — someone that might still exist if Yusuke decides to undergo this ordeal.

Atsuko adds fuel to the emotional fire, breaking down and hiding her face in her knees.

Finally, the kid Yusuke saved arrives with his mother. Because yes, Yusuke saved him in every way that matters, considering no one else knows — or will know — that he'd have lived anyway. I like that the show doesn't allow that knowledge to undermine the emotion of their arrival, or what Yusuke’s act meant to them. 

The mom tells her son to pay his respects and the kid thanks Yusuke for saving him, and for "making faces." He clearly doesn't get what's going on here. This is confirmed as the two leave and he asks his mom if he can play with Yusuke again tomorrow. “I know some people sounded angry at him, but he’s really nice!" 

They're probably just crying because they want to play with him too, he thinks, which just makes his mom join in. Everyone is crying in this club tonight.

Those words are the cincher for Yusuke and with a brief montage of all the grief he's witnessed, he makes his decision.

We cut to later that night where Yusuke floats above the city, admiring the moon. Botan reappears and he asks, “Have you ever not known about something that seemed obvious to everyone else?” Yes, everyone has experienced that at one point or another. She asks if he's made his decision and Yusuke agrees to try and come back to life.

Emotional revelations out of the way, we're allowed another tone shift as Botan yells with joy, speeding off and causing Yusuke to grab hold of the end of her oar, lest he be left behind. Cranky as always, he demands to know where they're going. "To the spirit world, of course!" They're off to see someone who can explain the ordeal and give Yusuke the tool needed to complete it. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.

Thus ends our very first episode! Ah, the nostalgia. This is part one of a four arc series, with the anime cutting out a lot of the filler stories found at the start of the manga — a smart decision, I think. They primarily do the work of teaching Yusuke what he learned at the wake, so if you can accomplish that as quickly as the adaptation did, all the better. Especially since Yusuke needs to grow a great deal beyond the basic understanding that people might, sort of care for him, and that work will occur primarily through a job he's going to take on. The series isn't really about his death and it's not about an attempt to come back either — it's about what happens once you get that second chance. So this is the setup, but it's important setup all the same.

No need to skip ahead though. I've blathered enough for one recap. I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you when the writing gods next bless me with energy! 💜

[ravelights]

Is Inko Midoriya abusive?

I've seen this argument get tossed around a lot, and I'll admit some people have very convincing arguments, but I think most people can agree that there always something off about those claims.

So if I can add my two cents into the whole: "Inko not doing something about Izuku bulling" Or "Inko is abusive/neglectful because she wasn't there for Izuku" ect, argument, here it is:

Inko Not Abusive, She Underwritten.

I just want to preference this by saying: Inko isn't and is not meant to be an abusive parent/character. She's not an antagonist of the story, and she's not someone that Izuku must either get away from, or do whatever's going on with the Todoroki fam. I'm sorry, but if people are seeing her as an abusive parent in the story, they are not reading it right.

What she is, is a realistic parent, that has been underwritten.

I think the problem when it comes to these debates, about whether or not Inko is a good parent, people tend to think of it in the story context. This is fair, especially when we start talking about Fanfic and Meta-analyses, people would want a in story explanation for her actions.

What the audience sees is that Izuku got bullied for several years and Inko did apparently nothing, but the confusing thing is that this doesn’t line up with her as a character. We seen that she’s more than ready to go up against All Might of all people and pull Izuku out of school because he kept getting hurt.

We also know that even though she not completely on board with Izuku being a hero, she still gives her all to support her son, even when attempting to pull him out of UA she said that Izuku was allowed to go to another hero school. She just didn’t want her son at UA (which seem justifiable, given several events)

We also see that despite her worries she still protects her son, and they have a good relationship, in no way has Izuku ever been resentful towards her, which you would think he would be, if Inko was abusive/neglectful in the story. Izuku is a good person but he’s not a pushover, if Inko was abusive in anyway Izuku would make it clear that he doesn’t like her.

The worst we seen Izuku act towards his mother was disappointed about one moment when he was four, when she apologised for him being quirkless. Which we later see her apologising for when she gives Izuku his first costume, which he wore and even when given the opportunity to change designs, he doesn’t.

Most of the time it pretty much typical teen “Mum, I’m fine” response to a nagging/worried parent, which is pretty realistic because I think most people sometimes get annoyed by their parent, especially when they are teens. And I’m curtain everyone has one moment with their parent when we felt as if they didn’t handle the situation as best as the could have.

So, what’s going on, we have a character who apparently did something (or nothing in this case) that could been seen as abusive/neglectful, but it seems like the exact opposite of what Inko would do as a character. Realistically if Inko was a good parent she would have done something about the bullying.

In the real world, yes.

But MHA is a story, not real life.

I think people need to step away from the Story perspective and start looking at it from a Writing perspective.

Let me explain, Inko is a side character in the story, but she in a very unique position because she is the protagonist mother, which in most Shonen’s is pretty damn rare, most of the time they are dead or missing. But she still a side character, and on top of that she is a female. As much as I love Hori writing, world building and character arcs, his biggest weakness is how he treats his female characters. Although he has gotten a lot better in the recent arcs, and is better than some anime out there, he still has room for improvement.

And Inko is very justifiable, underwritten, she had about one and a half major moment in the whole of MHA. That being when All Might beg her to intrust her son to UA and when Izuku was diagnosed quirkless, that’s about it, everything else has been moments with her that really don’t last more than a couple of pages, at best.

But Inko's Izuku mother, shouldn’t Hori at least show she tried to do something? Hypothetically yes, but the truth is he hasn’t, and it’s probably because he has just not thought about it, or it’s going to be brought up later. There are a million different things happening in MHA right now, with way more central characters and plot points, and the bullying thing happened all the way back in chapter one to about three.

Also, there is also the whole Izuku being bullied throughout middle school. Because it’s barely mentioned throughout the whole manga. We have moment where it’s been mentioned but it’s sort of been forgotten by Izuku and the Manga. It just starting to pick up again now and it more with Bakugou arc, because Bakugou was the bully, and is trying to atone for what he did, it doesn’t really involve Inko at all.

Because Inko is a side character, who purpose is to show that Izuku is still just a kid, that has a worrywart mum. That was literally said by Hori himself in an interview:

(Mama Midoriya Is the GOAT (greatest of all time), You can’t pick a favourite character in My Hero Academia because everyone loves them all. However, everyone loves Inko Midoriya. What was the inspiration behind her character?

KH: Well, first and foremost, I wanted Deku to be like any other kid. Not like every man, but every kid. So, I wanted him to have a kind of worry wart mum. And my own mother is a bit of a worry wart.)

Also, Izuku had to have an underdog story, meaning he had to have a rough beginning at least, him being bullied at school and being quirkless was his rough beginning. It was to show his progress to where he is now, aka someone with a powerful quirk and friends.

I saw this with Rei as well when a lot of people got kind of mad that Shoto ended up apologise to her when she the one that threw boiling water on his face. But then as we got deeper into her background of the event, we see that Rei was horrified by her actions, apologising and trying to cool Shoto burns, and people perspective on her changed.

We might get more about Inko when Hisashi eventually shows up, especially if it turns out he's All For One. But for now, she just plainly underwritten, with like three basic character traits.

So Tl;DR: Inko isn’t an abusive person in the story, she underwritten character that has been given little thought to when it comes to major events in the story. Because of that people have filled in the gaps of what it must be, AKA abusive/neglectful, when in reality she just written as a realistic mother in the beginning and then basically getting next to nothing afterwards.

[asukaskerian]

Askerian: ... adi i'm watching this anime and there's this massive warrior guy coming in to flex on the newbie heroes (mostly the sasuke analogue) and then he's like "ok tell me your type of women! your taste in women tells me everything about the kind of guy you are! men with boring tastes are boring themselves and i hate nothing more than boring men. btw it's fine if you prefer guys. btw my taste is tall women with big asses." Askerian: i'm dead Askerian: this guy's hilarious and i love that he was like "ok you can also be gay that's at least not boring"

adiduck: XDDDDDDDDDDD

Askerian: then the Sasuke is like "as long as they're a virtuous person i don't really care what they look like" and immediately "BORING."

Askerian: seriously this manga reads like if someone came up with a naruto fanfic at age fourteen like what if they were exorcists and has been working on it for ten years and now it's entirely its own thing but you can see the bones everywhere

((even more spoilers inside!))

Askerian: "kakashi if he was actually 700% more of a troll" "sasuke if he was actually just awkward and not stupid with his revenge issues" "sakura if she was actually inner sakura nonstop" "naruto with pink hair and a BIT less stupid" "kyuubi if he was human and terrifyingly fuckable" Askerian: also i really like that in this manga a lot of the girls are really scary and some are complete hardasses etc and they actually do shit Askerian: i mean, it's a shonen/seinen so the focus is still on guy hero and guy mentor and guy rivalfriend but Askerian: oh yeah and also there is sexual tension between kyuubi guy and sasuke guy

adiduck: but the girls are not brushed aside? nice

Askerian: yussss Askerian: also no compulsory het bullshit >> Askerian: ... also adi, main guy has an evil spirit that looks Just Like Him sealed inside him

adiduck: ...welp adiduck: so yeah it's Naruto

Askerian: guy sits on a throne of bones and cackles crazily and/or sneers disdainfully at weaklings Askerian: well he only looks like him because possession but Askerian: also he wasn't born with it Askerian: but yes Askerian: i told you it reads like someone dusted off their super involved exorcists AU and made it an ofic XD Askerian: except it's not afraid to have its girls do un-dainty and hella fucking violent things >_>

adiduck: Good

Askerian: also kakashi-like is actually godmode XD

Askerian: allowed to make crazy faces ;;

adiduck: niiiice

Askerian:

adiduck: ...okay yeah it's inner sakura

Askerian: usually she's not disheveled like that but she's always abrasive and childish and hilarious Askerian: also not!sasuke works with shikigami which means. he has! wolves! and giant owls! and they're PARTNERS and sometimes he PETS THEM GENTLY Askerian: also a giant white snake and things

adiduck: :OOOOOOO adiduck: GOOD

Askerian: XD yesss Askerian: also he has a tragic past but it's not "his life was perfect until bro went crazy". he's some kind of bastard child and his dad's at best negligent? i forgot, been a while since i read that part Askerian: like he's related to some Big Name family in the exorcist world but he only looked like he'd be worth bringing back in when he manifested powers and before that he had a pretty ehh childhood Askerian: and after that, still a pretty ehh childhood tbh because they're all jerks in the family

adiduck: :frowning:

Askerian:

naruto and kyuubi appreciating each other

adiduck: :DDDDDDDDDD

Askerian: o btw pink/rose hair on the guy. looks nice Askerian:

Askerian: look at that pompous jerk XD

adiduck: lol

Askerian:

Askerian: making looking down his nose at people into his day job Askerian: i love him Askerian: ok i'll stop

adiduck: it looks really fun XDDDD

Askerian: it is! ^^ Askerian: ... wow, the inner world where not kyuubi is locked up even has ankle deep water as a floor

adiduck: LOL

Askerian: anyway there's only twenty-two works in english in the not narto/not kyuubi tag Askerian: >_> Askerian: i have officially read them all.

[that-bajan-kid]

Boku No Hero Academia Chapter 273 SPOILERS

(Well what do you fucking know. He didn't immediately cut back to the mansion. I'm so proud.)

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Holy shit Deku. That's my fucking son right there! I'm so proud. Now get the fuck outta there.

OH FUCK IT DIDN'T DO SHIT!

Izuku has a flash back of that time he saw Shigaraki at the mall where Shiggy explains how his quirk works.

Izuku realises this is all Shigaraki's doing, like no shit Sherlock. Who else do you know has a quirk like this.

Shouto has used Heaven Piercing Ice Wall. It was ineffective.

We got a double page spread of everyone running for their fucking lives. The kids are carrying as many people as they can.

BURNING IS STILL TRYING TO CONTACT THEM. SHIT THAT CLOSE UP ON SHOUTO AND NEJIRE WHEN SHE CALLED OUT FOR ENDEAVOUR AND RYUUKYUU.

Everything went to shit so fast for them.

Fuck.

Tomura I love you but please stop. You're going to kill my children.

Also look at this bitch with his brand fucking new cape and his goddamn stage he made for himself. Are we sure Tomura isn't a Todoroki too. This some dramatic ass shit he's doing. First he wakes up from the dead in the most dramatic way possible and the very first thing he did was steal a fucking cape and destroy a whole ass city. If that ain't dramatic...

Well that answers that fucking question. Guess X-Less actually did destroy the machine like he said he would. Probably why Tomura went all Thanos on everyone's asses.

Someone says "Do... It..." and I can't tell if it's Tomura hearing voices or if it's him remembering shit. With the way the speech bubble is drawn it could be either.

Tomura picks up an ominous looking remote off the ground while talking about how OP he is now. He also realises that if he's awake then his people are probably fucked.

OH FUCK IT WAS A COMUNICATOR FOR GIGANTO. TOMURA JUST FUCKING SUMMONED THE WHOLE CREW TO HIS LOCATION. WHERE THE CHILDREN ARE. I'm suddenly getting flashbacks to that season 2 (?) intro. The one with Izuku fighting all those fucking villains all by himself.

Oh right this shit is happening. Between Hawks being on his deathbed and the absolute shit storm going down at what used to be Jakku Hospital, it's hard to keep track of all the reasons to lose my shit.

Wait lemme guess. Fucking Giganto's gonna pick this moment to make his presence known, right?

Fat tells Fumi to take Hawks to their back up team and for some reason doesn't follow him but that's fine.

Mt. Lady is not happy about Geten knocking her flat on her ass and proceeds to punch her way through the ice.

Everyone is following the path Mt. Lady made.

The fuck?

I was like "Didn't Twice already kill this bitch like five chapters ago?" And then I read the dialogue. Shit, Toga's gonna fucking kill them all. And she can use this no-name's quirk too. Oh fuck this guy's fucking dead lol.

Yup.

I expected nothing less from her. You kill those extras Toga. Since we don't know their names then they probably weren't important anyway. You're doing great sweety.

Dabi hops on down to where Compress is literally just chilling on the balcony watching the chaos that is Toga unfold like he's watch the fucking sun set.

Compress is all "The fuck have you been? You're one of the leaders." To which Dabi responds "You too bitch."

Compress says Toga lost it after Twice died and now she's on a suicide mission to take out as many heroes as possible. And then Toga says living is to hard which is a big mood but like also don't do a kamikaze please. I can't have my favourite Yandere vampire villain dying on me.

Toga says she wants a world full of things she likes and that the heroes are in the way of that while sport a truly TERRIFYING face. The for some reason zoomed in on Gang Orca when she said this who, by the way, did actually see that villain that tried to sneak up on him in 271.

WHOSE FUCKING HA- OHMYGOD FUCKING GIGANTOMACHIA! I completely forgot about his ass and it hasn't even been 5 minutes!

MY MAN ENDEAVOUR COMING WITH THE CLUTCH. But seriously, there's no way they were dying. At least not out of sight of the students.

If Horikoshi really wants them dead he'd do it in full view of the kids. They're training to be heroes damn it, they need their daily dose of trauma. Fuck, Aizawa is full fledged hero and he still has to take his daily recommended dose of PTSD inducing trauma.

If Shouto wants to be the best hero he can be he has to watch his father die a horrible, pain full death before he resolves his conflicted feelings about him. Hawks still needs to tell Katsuki that he killed Best Jeanest. All Might still needs to die in Izuku's arms. Aizawa and Mic still need to bring Shirakumo back only to lose him for good this time. This is a Shonen manga damn it! Horikoshi isn't allowed to kill important characters off screen.

HEAR THAT HORIKOSHI? YOU AIN'T ALLOWED TO PULL ANOTHER BEST JEANEST!!

Until next time.

[transsexualhamlet]

*slams fists on table* CATASTROPHE ANIME

yeah this is just my long ranting hypothetical post about “omg what if there was an anime for catastrophe at 16″ because I’m like that @autpunk-godling feel free to add on because we just yell about this for hours on end

I have also now brought it up in the discord server just bc i wanna yell about it

This is the recording of all the shit we came up with screaming about it

-it could only possible like after the manga is finished and translated officially plus resurrection novels probably finished or close to but like,,, we can hope, we can dream, please-

-people coming to it and seeing the trailers and shit would probably see the school and the cherry blossoms and go “oh it’s ouran high school host club but like with swords” and then everyone fucking dies and the fans are like I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS???

-everyone new would know the spoilers for the end by like episode 2 bc manga fans wouldn’t be able to shut up cause someone would just like post a screencap of guren saying “i’m gonna save the world” with a pensive emoji under it some anime only would see it and by the end of the day everyone knows how it ends

-gureshin exposure and seeing it on screen like just imagine how fucking gay it’ll look like I swear this would become the new mikayuu like imagine,,, the beginning when he’s leaning over guren’s desk, the love hotel scene, love hotel 2 electric boogaloo, when they fight over who gets to top omg “become my subordinate” “no u” and every time shinya LOOKS at guren, the part where he comes back to guren’s house and goes “uwu you were looking at my phone”, the motorcycle scene, the *thinks about shinya while taking a bath* the entire part where guren goes demon and shinya saves him and holds him and i,,, and well the entire end

-guren’s va in the last episode would be DEAD lemme tell you the SCREAMING I WANT TO HEAR IT

-Hypothetically this would probably cover 2 seasons, the first season covering books 1-3 and 2nd season covering 4-7, and then like. No one’s gonna want to end it at *guren sticks sword in slot* so like uh resurrection’s gonna need to be a thing unless it gets cancelled which uh fuck i hope not

-more appreciation for characters, THERE WOULD BE PEOPLE ACTUALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO MITO, GOSHI, SHIGURE, AND SAYURI, guren antis would actually just shut up because they’d see him being a fucking softie, and uh well kureto stans would have something to answer for

-the MEME possibility just THINK of the MEMES

-i want to see the trailers,,, i want to see them,,, i want to-

-the levels of horniness compared to vampire reign omg like they’re the same age as yu squad and they like all wanna fuck like how will that translate to anime like

-the. the last episode i. omg it would be so intense I can’t it would be so epic there would be so much blood oh god

-this would cause more exposure for the manga too because 1. the old anime-onlys would come back, 2. everyone already in the manga fandom will be revived for any kind of content, 3. the fans who’ve dropped off will probably watch it, 4. new fans who liked WIT studio shit will be like :eyes emoji:, fans who looked at the trailer and went that sounds kinda gay will watch it, actual shonen fans and people who like high school anime and liked the vampire reign school arc would watch it, like it would have a pretty good base

-like bro there would be actual diversity in ships kjhghjkj like people would actually pay attention to the characters omg please i just want some content like yes of course gureshin but like also the other characters please CATASTROPHE CONTENT OMG I NEED IT C A T A S T R O P H E  C O N T E N T

-you know how the dub for the vampire reign anime is like 80 percent gayer than the sub with the “girlfriend or boyf-” “or a lover” etc uh how can they possibly make some of the shit in ca16 gayer but they WOULD like uh some of the stuff shinya already says in canon is like so fucking gay like the “you’ll never get a husband if you don’t let me clean your wound haha”, the misunderstanding in the love hotel, the “uwu people will think we’re a couple” on the motorcycle, all of that, there’s more, literally every time someone makes a joke about being in love with guren fucking-

-it would actually be good bc new anime tends to be Shit so yeah people would watch it I swear I think it would get even better ratings than vampire reign because it has a comprehensible plot and the ending and shit is already decided, I think different people would like it

-ok but like the problem is there’s a different beginning in the manga and the light novels of ca16. And like, the manga’s beginning would be a really bad thing to go with. In the light novel, the book starts right off with Guren going into first shibuya high school with sayuri and shigure, explaining the situation with the ichinoses and the hiragis. That’s a good beginning, it gives a good idea of what the story’s gonna be like, it doesn’t give away what’s going to happen. Whereas in the manga, they decided to shoot in before that a bullshit chapter that’s straight out of fucking tokyo babylon. I don’t even,,, it was really bad, and it doesn’t even seem to be canon. There’s no indication that’s anything but like crossover fanfic because the gist of that chapter was Guren, Sayuri, and Shigure like,,, exorcising a bitch which is like so not the vibe of this story. It makes no sense?? That’s not even what Guren did in middle school? What???? There’s also a bunch of really offputting shit in there, if you’ve ever seen it. That’s gonna get rid of so many potential fans. It’s a really bad idea. Also at the end it literally gives away the fact that Guren’s gonna end the world which is just. shit. it’s shit. Like everyone’s gonna know anyway just don’t give it away in canon!!! It was a bad idea in the manga and it would be a terrible decision to do in a potential anime.

-what would it even be rated omg like it’s. So much hornier than vampire reign so like I don’t even fucking know like, there is sex,,, with fucking m a h i r u, i don’t like that, and i mean other than that every other word out of someone’s mouth is wanna fuck like that’s fine in a light novel but on screen uh

-!!!!!! THE OP AND ED !!!!!!!!! the SHIT that would be FORESHADOWED in the ENDING i sWEAR TO GOD I JUST WANT TO S E E  I T like even if they just reused scapegoat and xu it would still be fucking amazing LIKE OK. KAGAMI FORESHADOWED CHAPTER 94 WITH THE ORIGINAL ED WHAT THE F U C K KIND OF FORESHADOWING WOULD GO ON WITH CA16

I just really really really want another song to vibe to ok and I want to see the images i want to see them fighting I want to see them in front of cherry blossoms uuuuuuuuuuu please like I want to see Mahiru like posing with two swords or some shit please omg please mahiru don’t turn into a demon you’re so sexy ahaha

like broooo I really just want to see it like anime ops are just so amazing and epic and the eds are all kinda sad and foreshadowy and UH FOR CATASTROPHE THAT’S LIKE A L O T LIKE THE IMAGES THAT PEOPLE WHO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE ARE JUST GONNA SEE AND GO “F U C K” like just imagine the ed having like. like guren’s sword in a slot in a white room or like a flash forward to the world after it’s ended

-we can see on screen, colored: NOYA, SAITO, (ferid with green hair???), I want to see all of them omg also maybe they can decide for sure what aoi’s eye color is

-THE ELEVATOR FIGHT WITH GUREN AND SAITO GHHHGHGHGHGH I JUST WANNA S E E IT

-we get to see them actually fight with magic and not like jumping off of buildings abilities and shit

-Guren going demon omg omg omg

-BABY YU BABY YU BABY YU BABY MIKA BABY MIKA BABY SHINOA BABY SHINOA

-I think the anime wouldn’t want to have it end with Guren sticking the sword in the slot so I think they’re probably pull a vampire reign episode 1 and after the sword thing just like,,, fast forward to a quick ambiguous shot of Guren at 24 standing in a broken world in his demon army uniform uuuh like OW I WANNA SEE IT I WANT TO SEE IT I WANT TO oH MY GOD THE CINEMATOGRAPHY-

-in conclusion *mails kagami 12 dollars* pwease mw kagami

[davidmann95]

Comics this week (12/16/2020)?

Iron Man #4: Still good! Every issue I remain surprised that this is staying good, and yet it does!

The Immortal Hulk #41: A real good revisitation from a completely different angle of the ‘here’s why regular superheroes can’t fix what’s going on here’ thread from way back in #7, and god between this and Empyre Ewing writes such a perfect Ben Grimm.

King In Black: The Immortal Hulk: Surprised this didn’t end up a direct follow-up on the dangling thread left behind from the Absolute Carnage tie-in, but this was excellent so I’m not complaining.

Solid Blood #17: A new Robert Kirkman comic (joined by Ryan Ottley) announced right before its release like Die! Die! Die! before it, this one has the added gimmick of dropping its seventeenth issue with no preamble. The actual comic...well, the actual comic is basically 1963 for the 90s in the most fun way (it’s even printed on authentically fitting paper stock!), but the seeds of something much stranger are established and I have almost no clue what to expect next, quite literally. It must be nice to have that sort of fuck-you Walking Dead money, and I’m glad Kirkman’s choosing to do something as weird and interesting as this with it.

We Live #3: This one felt somewhat disjointed, but still an excellent experience.

Stillwater #4: I cannot believe I’m getting and enjoying so many horror comics on a regular basis now.

Once & Future #14: I keep saying I’m appreciating and decently enjoying this book while not connecting with it, but maybe it is winning me over.

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead #4: Get this book.

Decorum #6: I swear to god this series might be the prettiest comic of all time.

Commanders in Crisis #3: I didn’t review this one for AIPT, but this one’s a bit of a bridge between the first two issues tonally, both as grounded and as weird as the book has been thus far. I’m ready for it to return to something more bombastic, but I still have zero doubt this is going to be an all-timer when it wraps. No character interview with Ritesh Babu on AIPT this month, BUT in its place @deathchrist2000 has interviewed Prizefigher for Comic Book Herald on the subject of an in-universe James Bond novel written by Steven Moffat, and it rules.

Second Coming: Only Begotten Son #1: To borrow a line from @deathchrist2000, that sure is the death of Krypton as portrayed by the writer of The Flintstones. That’s the opposite of a complaint for me, but that’s sure what it is.

Superman #28: Kind of a perfect ending to Bendis’s tenure, in that it ends up totally whiffing some great ideas even if you can only mind so much given the quality of the character insight with the narration, but then there’s a Superman Moment so perfect it breaks your heart. Very glad Bendis will keep writing him in his half-announced Justice League with Marquez, and that he said today he’ll keep writing him elsewhere as well (I continue to assume he’s working on a Future State-era Jon as Superman book). Let’s see how well Action can put even more of a bow on it next week even with that art holding it back.

Batman #105: Does the ending here totally make sense? Ehhh. Am I willing to forgive any lapses in logic that get us way more Ghost-Maker? Hell yes. Speaking of which, he and Bruce totally used to be a thing off-panel, right? That’s the vibe I got from the opening in a BIG way.

Catwoman #28: I’ve been saying I’ve been loving it but also been waiting for what it looks like when it gets out from under Brubaker’s shadow, and I think I’m starting to see it, and it’s definitely my jam.

The Batman’s Grave #12: So someone either didn’t see or didn’t care that I explained I had already checked with my store to ensure my purchase of this wouldn’t result in any money going to Warren Ellis, so they messaged me spoilers for the ending of the issue in an attempt to ‘dissuade me’ from any further interest. A. Wherever the motives there are coming from, incredible dick move, for the love of god don’t do this. B. They misunderstood what happened in the ending? Wild. Anyway, it’s fine but also Ellis’s fourth-best Batman comic, strange if not at all undeserved that his now presumed/hopeful final Big Two comic, intended as a huge prestige Batman perennial (still confused why it wasn’t Black Label) and sure to forever be pushed as such if not for outside circumstances, ended up one of his passable third-tier works, destined to be remembered only as “that Batman comic DC had to finish publishing even after it turned out Warren Ellis was a piece of shit”.

Rorschach #3: Standard policy regarding my comments on this series applying: it was good.

Dark Nights: Death Metal #6: This one...kinda blew? Totally perfunctory moving-the-pieces into place issue for the most part, one or two nice moments aside. What a disappointing capstone to a story from 2017 to now I largely loved, hope it at least delivers a few haymakers with the finale.

Tales of the Dark Multiverse: Crisis on Infinite Earths: Mixed feelings. The beginning and ending are the sort of slaughter in mass of super-dopes without fanfare and on such a scale that it reminds me of World’s Funnest doing the exact same scenes for comedy, but that middle chunk? By god, Orlando makes me give a shit about the JSA, and that’s no mean feat, plus nice to see him write a few great Superman bits on his way out the door. Speaking of which, I’m mainly parsing this issue as an expression of Orlando’s bitterness over said exit and his time with DC as a comic about a big swaggering puffed-up dumbass living for destruction before whom our heroes our powerless, and a man has to sacrifice himself for a queer kid in servitude to it so that they can have a future and keep building that world. I liked it in balance, but I think I found it more interesting than good.

(Since I’m mentioning two Orlando books in here, worth noting I read this week his and Ricardo López Ortiz’s The Pull on Comixology. I’m not clear if it was released in single issues - I can’t quite wrap my head around TKO’s publishing model - but it’s basically an unholy mash between shonen manga, grungy noir crime comics, and a Crisis, and it rules and you should get it.)

The Green Lantern Season Two #10: What a strange, messy, fascinating capstone to Morrison’s DC work this series has turned out to be, and holy cow how has this been Liam Sharp lately? When did he get on this amazing Frazer Irving shit? And how is Ultrawar gonna happen and be resolved entirely within #12, unless it goes for a more abstract “The Ultrawar was really inside us all along!” conclusion?

[forloveofcaptain]

Is Luffy being immature in his actions against Kaido?

So over the weekend I received an ask in my inbox asking me if I believed Luffy was acting immature in how he’s dealing with Kaido. Originally I was going to address it in my chapter recap, but since there were a lot of manga caps to post in addition to my other thoughts, I decided it would be best to make a separate post. 

To summarize, no, I don’t think Luffy is acting immature, even though yes, he is acting emotionally. So let me break down the difference and explain as best I can why I believe Luffy was put into a situation where ultimately, he had no choice but to attack Kaido.

Kaido’s first appearance is over the village that Luffy just finished bringing food to and liberating. He asks for the children. As soon as Luffy sees where Kaido is, he takes off running. He isn’t going off to fight Kaido because “I see a strong guy therefore I must fight him!” Luffy isn’t Goku, lol. In this instance, Luffy understands that if Kaido shows up to this town, people will probably die. His primary concern is the safety and welfare of the townspeople.

Luffy’s actions in bringing food have caused the town to receive a lot of attention and it definitely jeopardizes “the plan”. If you really wanted to, I suppose you could argue that Luffy shouldn’t have brought food for people in the first place. The problem with that argument is, Oda showed us a woman who was just about to kill herself while holding her baby because they were so hungry.

Saving the town from starvation was the right thing to do. Oda makes it clear for us by showing just how desperate the town was. But just because it was the right thing to do, doesn’t mean it won’t have negative effects. That’s the way the real world works. Helping people is messy. It’s why a lot of people don’t offer help to others.

For Law, who is constantly trying to stop Luffy from doing something that could cause attention, the plan always comes first. Luffy is the hero, whereas Law is not. Law is a neutral party. It’s not that Law is averse to helping people, but only when the situation allows it and there’s minimal risk. It’s easy for him to think “logically”, because quite frankly, he doesn’t care all that much for people outside his small circle.

So in the middle of Luffy running to check on the townspeople Kaido blows up Oden castle in a completely unrelated incident. And from Luffy’s perspective, he doesn’t know if his crew and allies are unhurt. To stop Kaido, Luffy gets in a good punch and turns around to run the other way towards the castle. And here he finds Horselina who delivers some terrible news.

From our perspective we obviously know Otama isn’t dead. This is Oda we’re talking about. Out of the 950+ named characters in this manga, we can count the ones that have actually died on one hand. Oda doesn’t kill people. He’s certainly not going to kill a little girl. But from Luffy’s perspective, he thinks Otama is dead. Luffy knows the pain of failing to protect someone he loves. It’s a huge reason for his shift in character post time skip.

He’s pissed. Of course he’s pissed! So are his emotions dictating his actions here? Yeah, a bit. It doesn’t mean he’s being immature though. Luffy has two sound reasons as to why he should try and fight Kaido now. When I was reading the chapter, I thought of these reasons before Luffy even voiced them. But he does voice them which is important. It shows us that even while being upset, he’s thinking clearly. He’s not as brash as he used to be.

The first reason is, they have no idea if their friends are seriously injured or worse. The plan might be completely foiled anyway. There’s no way to verify until its too late because the window of opportunity here is so small. The second reason is, if Luffy wins now, it’s over. The country of Wano doesn’t have to suffer anymore.

Kaido is drunk. I think from Luffy’s perspective it means he has to at least try. No matter how “mature” he gets, Luffy will never let innocent people get hurt if he can help it. I certainly hope that’s a character trait he never grows out of. Remember that speech he makes to Doflamingo?

“If only you guys hadn’t come here, Dressrosa could’ve been peaceful!”

“Cut the crap! It was only on the surface! You made my friends cry and made my crew-mates mad! But you still haven’t fallen so I will take everything on myself! I won’t let anybody die!”

It’s the exact same situation. To walk away from Kaido at this point would be contrary to Luffy’s character. Stick any other shonen protagonist in this situation and they would all be going after Kaido. That’s what heroes do. They try to protect what’s important to them, even if they aren’t strong enough. 

Luffy is quite capable of following a plan. He did in WCI just fine. It’s just that for Luffy and his fellow shonen heroes, saving lives > the plan. That’s why we love them. And ultimately, that’s why everybody around them loves them too.

[yoshimickster]

RETURN OF THE RWBY MICKSTERECAPS-(Rwby Volume 6x01 “Argus Limited” spoilers)

HEY EVERYBLOODY-sorry I’m a day late, went to a punk show and got home around 2 AM-EITHER WEITHER-let’s get to the show!

WE START OUT WITH-

A niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice and snowy landscape, *SIGH* so peaceful-BUT SUDDENLY-

0:28 First rule of Rwby, any scene that starts with a train is gon’ have SHIT GOIN’ DOWN YO!

0:32 See that? Giant fluffy Manticore Grimm-BUT THAT FUCKER GETS SLASHED-

0:38 I love the smell of Grimm dust *SNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFF* smells like victory-BUT THEN-

0:45 A WILD WEISS APPEARS-all smilin’ and KICKIN’ ASS!

0:57 AND FINALLY-

BUMBLEBEE-fighting together with absolutely no awkward tension between the two of them at a-PFFT-HAHAHAHAHA-oh I couldn’t say that with a straight face, but seriously they’re in a better place than last season. ALSO-

1:05  TEAM JNR-fashionably late as always, the sassy bitches.

Nora: WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOMETHING?!

Jaune: BECAUSE WE TRAVEL WITH MILO MURPHY’S ALCOHOLIC COUSIN!

And everybody just starst BLASTING THE SHIT OUT OF GRIMM-Ren sniping with knife guns, Jaune blocking with his shield, and Nora just doing her thing-ALSO-

1:17 FIRST RENORA MOMENT OF THE SEASON-at least ONE section of the shippers will be sated...although I DO find it weird how the two haven’t kissed on screen  yet, I mean like why not? They are UNDOUBTEDLY a couple now, what they tryna hide? Its kinda like how in a lot of Shonen manga when NO official couple kisses on screen, just odd to me.

Everything’s going fine...well fine for battle standards-UNTIL-

1:24 Jaune: TUNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL!

Damn Miles has some pipes.

Everybah starts RUNNIN’ to the tunnel-BUT-

1:29

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWeiss gets suckerblasted by one of the manticore Grimm-IS THIS HER END?! 

NOPE-almost girlfriend to the rescue! AND THEN-

1:33 WHITEROSE COMBO MOVE-awesome.

WOO-that was one god damn minute and a half, like seriously! After that triumphant scene I’m sure we won’t transition to something absolutely horrifyi-

2:23 Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus Adam, you do NOT take getting dumped lightly do you? Ah well, at least he has that expensive chai-

2:32 *SLASH*

DAMMIT ADAM-what’d that chair ever do to you? Could’ve at least sold it at a Pawn shop, got a couple hundred Lien I’m betting, absolutely wasteful, SHAME Adam-SHAME! 

ATHENCUTTO-

2:44 THE TRAIN STATION FROM AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER-but in the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuture! Nah it ain’t, but it TOTALLY looks like that right?

Qrow than gives a shameless recap-I MEAN-reads his own letter that he’s sending to General Ironwood(he probably wrote it drunk so I’m betting he was checking for spalling erors...don’t you JODGE me) which he ends with-

3:43 “See you soon, bro”.

‘Daaaaaaaaw!

BUT THEN-a wild Ruby appears, utterly excited that her train’s coming up so she could get out of that god damned train station! I understand her antsyness, the wait can be a NIGHTMARE!

3:50

Well that hall way has enough space, I’m sure Ruby can just saunter on over to the gift shop-

...or use her semblance and dash on over there like a crazy person. One of these days your gonna HIT someone young lady-GAH!

Team...RWBY...OJNR...Ruby O’Junior, yeah let’s go with that, then has a short moment of shooting the shit.

Heh, look at these two, fussing over gifts-PROTECT THESE SWEET BABY CHILDREN AT ALL COSTS! 

ALSO-a random Nora Beach fantasy!

...that apparently leaked its way into reality. Oscar H. Pines, Nora is so thirsty to see Ren in a swimsuit she alters time and SPACE!

BUT-just when you thought everybody is completely happy about this-

4:31 WEISS-casually reminds everyone how hard it was for her to escape her abusive father, and how this is hard for her-CONTINUITY!

After Ruby than gives the obligatory pep-talk-WE ARE INTRODUCED TO-

-Dee and Dudley, two corrupt pro-huntsman who try to shake down Ruby O’Junior, one of whom is JUST 2 weeks from retirement.

They also condescendingly tell them they’ll give them extra protection if they pay them...did...did these idiots NOT watch the news?! THEY’RE PRACTICALLY A SUPERHERO TEAM!

AND NOW-the greatest Rwby Reaction pose of ALL time-

5:05

THIS right here, THIS is art.

Qrow than shows up and GIVES THEM THE BUSINESS! No-one tries to shake down HIS kids! 

5:17

Look at Dee’s dumbfounded ass face after talking back, this is Qrow fucking BRANWEN mother fucker! Now go lock that gate that Adam sneaked into!

5:48 Oscar: I’m sure glad its our job saving the world and not theirs.

Jaune: Yeah, now if ONLY one of us didn’t hide a billion secrets from all of us because reasons.

Ozpin: Okay let me at him.

Oscar: YOU SIT IN YOUR SHAME OLD MAN!

After that, everyone in Team Ruby O’Hara is READY to go, except for Blake which Weiss points out...in the best way possible-

5:55 Weiss: Just waiting for Blake, as usual.

HAHA-she abandoned her team for months on end.

A THEN CUT TO-

6:02 Blake saying good-bye to her almost-ex-girlfriend Ilia, and its just SWEET.

6:24 WHOA-that’s a little forward Ili-

6:25 Ooooooooooh that was DIRTY Rooster Teeth, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! DAH-but its still a cute good bye-ALSO-

6:55 BEST BOY SUN WUKONG-here to say good bye as well!

OH-and Neptune’s here too. Hi Neptune, still living under that idiotic lady killer facade?

Neptune: OH...I didn’t know Ilia was gonna be here.

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup.

7:22 Blake: Wrong tree.

Sun: Yeah teaching him gaydar is one of many many MANY reasons I gotta rejoin my team.

The two than have a nice heart to heart about where they’re going in life, Sun needs to go back to Vacuo to be with his team he LITERALLY abandoned, Blake needs to save the world from a Maleficent cosplayer, they’re just passing ships in the night and it comes to a head...when Sun says this-

7:55 Sun:I GO WHERE I’M NEEDED...and...you don’t need me anymore!

Blake:...well when you say it like that it sound sad.

Aw man, sad Blake ears.

Sun(paraphrased): Despite everything I had a lot of fun but-

-you’re with who you’re supposed to be with now.

Bumblebee shippers will interpret THAT how they want to and I. Do. Not. Blame. THEM!

Sun and Blake than finish off their good bye saying they’ll probably see it again(and by probably we know definitely because COME ON Michael Jones is one of the heavy hitters in Rooster Teeth). The good bye then ends-

-with a cute Blacksun peck on the cheek. Feel conflicted about which ship for Blake is better yet? If not, you haven’t been watching this show so...what the hell are you reading this blog for? SHORT CUT TO-

8:49 

Neptune: I dunno man, it feels like your just letting her go.

Says the guy who can’t stick to one crush for more than five seconds. Notice how he didn’t say hi to Weiss? Because she’s logically MAD you blue haired Lothario!

AFTER THAT-there’s THIS little scene:

Sun: Now that your leader’s back and hardened from battle, I’ve gotta focus all of my time on getting you boys ready for the wastelands.

9:01

Neptune: *SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH*.

Anyone else think Neptune’s sigh might mean something more than just annoyance? I know Sun said his team was okay with the small hiatus, but what if they weren’t? Also maybe he was insulted by Sun implying that his team was just standing around without him, that while Sun was going on his adventure time standed still with them. Sun’s a good kid, and was mature enough to let Blake go once she got her real team back, but even to his own admittance he’s not the best leader. Just saying, food for thought.

A THEN CUT TO-

9:05 A nice snowy train where nothing bad is gonna happen. And INSIDE THE TRAIN-

-a totally not-suspicious looking Maz Napata from Star Wars meets old lady Katara from Legend of Korra who will TOTALLY not interact with the main cast...totally. BUT-enough about that-BEHOLD-

9:22 ALL of team Rwby sleeping in a bunkbed room like the good old days-HUZZAH! But all is not well AS THERE IS ALSO-

SUPER AWKWARD TENSION BETWEEN YANG AND BLAKE! But nah, Yang tells Blake that while things are weird and it’ll take a while before things get back to normal, she glad she and her posse are back together which PROMPTS-

THIS cuteness, which Whiterose shippers will interpret how they will.

Either way its TIME TO PLAY VIDEO GAM-

*CRASH*

10:31

DAMN that was a tough crash, it made Qrow lose his usually iron grip on booze! A THEN CUT TO-

...the...beginning of the episode...yeah I don’t know why they wrote the story like this either, I guess to start the season with a bang in showing how team RWBY is back in sync but I dunno.

But hey don’t worry, DEE AND DUDLEY are on the case, and I’m sure it TOTALLY doesn’t matter that Dee is two weeks from retirement!

*GASP* I am truly shocked. You shall always be remembered Dee, as a creepy weirdo who tried shake down a bunch of highschoolers for money.

THEN fighting fighting fighting, AND THEN-Dundey remembers he’s a security officer in charge of a high tech train!

12:06

I show four pictures here to point out that that WHOLE sequence took less than a MINUTE! Its like WE GET IT Rooster Teeth, you have an animation budget now! 

It also activated the turrets which take out ALL four of these Grimm, which I’m SURE the boss Grimm won’t notic-

12:46 Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit it  noticed. It tells the lesser Grimm to attack the turrets and...oh god I found this by accident but it must be shared-

It landed-ASS FIRST! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And as to be expected knocking out the turrets didn’t JUST take out their defenses-

But ALSO-put the passengers in danger. Its like, use the turrets some Grimm die but they’ll attack the train more, DON’T use the turrets and they’ll attack anyway with less dead grimm, its a total catch 22!

Obviously bad-ass Qrow Branwen realizes and gets his TOP GUY TO STOP DUNDY-

...Oscar...desperate times I suppose.

Dundey like an idiot DOESN’T listen to the logical decision to turn off the glowing red fuck me spots for the Grimm to hit, and even MORE idiotically-

*CRACK* NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

...decides to hang from the SIDE of a train going into a tunnel....instead of finding a way to duck...how many good Huntsmen/Huntresses did Salem’s unnamed faction kill, because I can’t help thinking he and his late partner were scraped from the bottom of the barrel.

BACK in the train, everyone’s as completely calm as they possibly could be.

14:19 Qrow: I SAID, turn those damn things OFF! *SLAM*

Seriously, in this situation Qrow is SUPER calm, I’d wanna kick his ass too.

Ruby then ACTUALLY calmly asks the guy to turn off the turrets(she’s got resolve of STEEL that one) AND THEY COME UP WITH A PLAN-to use a combo of Jaune’s Aura-booster powers and Ren’s emotion mask powers to mask the train. A plan that I’m sure will go off without ONE hit-

15:32 Oscar: I’m afraid there’s one complication.

Son of a god damned bitch Oz, I SWEAR TO GOD!

“The Grimm are also attracted...to this.”

Logically team Rugby O’Shaunnesy is as pissed at Oz as the fans for putting everyone in danger without telling them because he’s a mysterious wizard.

BUT-they gotta stay on task and kick Oscar in the nuts later, THEY MUST SAVE THE PYORPLES!

Sadly, they realize that they have to seperate the car with the passengers masked by Ren and Jaune, from the one with Team RWBY Qrow and a dumb old man in a child’s body. The two teams have to say good bye.

Jaune: Only if you’ll promise you’ll meet us there.

Ruby: Promise.

Weiss: Just know it’ll probably take a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time for us to get there.

Qrow: I estimate about 12 to 14 epis-I MEAN days.

Team Bad-name-pun then SPRINGS INTO ACTION-getting all the passengers in the front car-

16:29

-including this one bespectacled passenger who will in no way affect the plot in any way no and forever QUIT ASKING ABOUT IT!

Blake then cuts the cable cars-BUT SEES-

GAH-stalker much? I can’t believe Adam followed them-OR DID HE-

Is it actually Adam, or PTSD induced hallucination, FIND OUT NEXT EPISODE!

And what’s cool about the next sequence is that it needed NO explanation, you get it obviously from what you see.

Rubes gets JUST enough of a signal from Nora-

-so the MOMENT the Grimm land-

17:02

“NOW!”

-they start the maneuver.

No real comment on here other than how I LOVE how the black and white color palette over-takes the colored train car.

And then BACK TO FIGHTING!

And dear GOD there are so many great Grimm-kills here, so many I’d be here ALL day cutting and pasting every single one so I’ll just put the boss take down-STEP ONE-

Yang slides herself to the back-

-Blake THROWS it to Yang-

-AND YANG JUST PUNCHES THAT SHIT BACK-

-tying that greasy Grimm in PLACE-WHICH WEISS CONTINUES-

-with a classic “Freeze that fucker’s wings off attack”(with assistance from Ruby and Qrow of course for shattering said wings)-and then Uncle and Niece-

-get they scythes in gear-

-AND THEY SLASH THAT BITCH IN TWO! AND.THIS.IS.JUST.THE.FIRST.EPISODE!

BUT-the beast lets out ONE last fireball knocking them off track and....EVERYONE IS OKAY-incluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuding-

-THIS LADY-whose name I’ve read is Maria Callavera! Turns out she WASN’T just a random side character, I couldn’t tell with how HEAVILY lampshaded it was!

AND THAT’S VOLUME 6 EP 1-a fantastic start to the season with AMAZING action and animation, and great story-progression. Minor criticism, I still feel they didn’t need to do a “Something hours earlier” thing with the train battle, they could’ve easily done the story in sequential order and it would have worked just as well if not better. BUT-I still loved it and I hope you did to. If you liked what you read, consider donating to my Paypal on my blog page, I’d appreciate it. SEE YA NEXT WEEK ON MICKSTERECAPS!

[fizzingwizard]

Another couple pics from the new Gintama chapter. Can’t believe there’ll only be two more chapters left?? Well I suppose that nothing’s ever 100% certain with this manga, but, as much as I don’t actually want it to end, the idea of having to wait and wait, get a few chapters, then wait and wait again does not appeal xD Maybe it’s time to end. But I don’t want it to!! This is the only manga I read hahaha. What will I have left, X-men?? Nooooo

So when I was reading the raws I was wondering if Katsura got Yamcha just because his hair was long, and maybe because I’m not into DBZ much, I missed this bit where he actually addresses it. HAHAHA. Whatever it’s perfect

Also missed the fine beauty that is Takasugi’s face in this panel on my first read BWAHAHAHAHHA

ok so now I have a couple hopes/wishes/worries about what comes next:

obviously there’s gotta be some great dramatic reunion between gintoki & kagura/shinpachi, and now the circumstances of it have me really on edge. because takasugi basically just tried to give gintoki an out to go to them, and gintoki doesn’t because he’s doing the same thing he did when they went to war in the first place - trying to hold on to what he’s already got. I have no doubt that he wants to be with Shinpachi/Kagura, but for some reason he’s thrown in his lot with Takasugi/Katsura and decided that’s where he needs to be. But Takasugi just got stabbed, and Zura fell from quite a height with bad wounds. Now, while a normal human would die, this is shonen manga, SOOOO jury’s totally out on whether they’ll be dead next issue. But if they are. And that’s a big IF. But if they are - I suppose that’d be impetus for a Yorozuya reunion. Because the things Gintoki needs to hold on to will still exist, just somewhere else.

When Zura fell, Utsuro’s heart also fell out of Gintoki’s sleeve. Zura didn’t manage to catch it, but they did fall together. So, I’m wondering if that’s going to lead to something, or if it’s purely for the effect of putting Zura and the heart out of commission so (assuming Takasugi’s out too) Gintoki will be alone when he sees Utsuro and the new heart growing inside him. My hope is that the old heart still matters and Zura still matters, but anything’s possible at this point. It does sort of look like Sorachi built up the sweetness of the three disciples’ bond so that the tragedy would be all the more effective when he eliminated them. And it makes a parallel too - Gintoki once killed his teacher to protect his friends, and this time, to save his teacher, his friends have to die. But at the same time, I kind of can’t believe Sorachi would be that Grecian about it. It’s too fucking poetic for Takasugi to die right now. At least we have the assurance that fatal wounds are often conveniently non-fatal in shonen manga.

What I really like is that I have no idea, and haven’t for a long time, of how this story is going to end. A lot of times in manga/movies/stories in general, it’s not hard to make at least a general prediction about the ending and be right about it. But I’m not convinced of anything beyond that Kagura and Shinpachi will live and continue the Yorozuya in their own way. I think Gintoki will live too because it seriously would be too Grecian to kill him. And I can’t see the Shinsengumi dying at this point. But Takasugi and Katsura, yeah, they might. And they might not. And I don’t know what the heart means, or the new heart, or what possible final outcome there can be for Utsuro/Shoyo that will truly be satisfying. And I don’t know how Gintoki figures into all that because in the end, he’s got to do something that shocks everyone and really encapsulates who he is - that’s what I think anyway, but I have no guesses what it’s gonna be. The two year time jump already threw me for such a loop. I don’t know what’s up or down anymore. But I’m super excited and impatient to see what happens. Gorilla!! You won’t do to use what Kubo did with Bleach!! I believe in you!!