#bc manga panels are inconvenient

[ilovekork]

I made more of these

[moonlight-shadxw]

Omg so I haven't drawn manga pages in a while but I sped run these for Valeria and monty 😭 I'll explain some context because without it, it'll look like monty lost his shit for no reason ( he's also very easily triggered by some things, unmanaged BPD tings ), if you remember, i did mention briefly that bc of all the trauma he went through, Romeo's personality is fragmented ( basically, DID ) and the main two fronters are Romeo and Montague ; Romeo thinks that Montague is just his "cold and calculated part" while he's the emotional Part. He sees Montague as his "other self" who's just a dumbass who doesn't understand how important the things he wants are ( being human, being seen as human, finding love like in Romeo and Juliet ), meanwhile, Montague sees Romeo as intelligent but extremely emotionalTo the point of destroying his own self ( that means, too quick to judge, too quick to anger, too quick to cry etc.. ) so he considers himself the "leader" and perfect balance. He gives too little attention to emotions and thinks they're an inconvenience

Montague was basically Formed to deal with the highly stressful situations ever since Romeo's childhood, and he was the main fronter for years after their mother's death.

So, the one who created the society and came up with it was Montague ( what he cares about is ultimate power and immortality ),And he was highly infatuated with Valeria ( it's one sided ).

So when Valeria opened the box, when all those stressful events happened, basically the amulet went out of whack and monty barely managed to handle it, especially the series of betrayals and everyone Just leaving him behind. He secluded himself even more and it was even harder to control what was going on with the amulet

Vlad's soul ( remember i also said Romeo was Vlad Dracula's reincarnation, specifically my own version btw!! ) is also within the amulet Basically like the crimson stone ( castlevania ), and he operates without montague or Romeo's knowledge, to lead Romeo to his fate ( becoming the dark lord ),

While Dracula ( Vlad's own corrupted self ) incites Montague further to only care about the power. So all of them constantly battle between what is best and what isn't, knowingly and unknowingly

That is to say, Romeo / Montague both didn't take Valeria's "betrayal" well and directly were quick to assume she was an ill intentioned coward. All those feelings festered for MONTHS. So the moment she says "it's not that bad😜" he's instantly triggered because YES it WAS that bad and he absolutely hates when someone dismisses his feelings

So he turns into his vampire form by accident, just like he turns to diamond when highly emotional. Valeria doesn't react much, she knows a lot more than he thinks she does, and kind of WANTED him to activate the amulet's potential during her time away.

( the amulet feeds on the souls of people, as well as their blood. So if Monty were to die, it'd revive him through someone else's soul ー and it would drive him further into becoming the dark lord [ by controlling death ] )

So in the last panel, he's just wondering if she can tell that he and Montague are two ( or more ) separate sides of the same diamond 🫡 cause montague wouldn't react So emotionally at all skfkskdk

[imustbenuts]

nuts reading trigun 4 - i sniffed out the spirit of leiji matsumoto and his galaxy express 999

so this is. a bit of a doozy and a little detour i took...

first off, i thought it was really interesting that chapter 4 is titled Bang!Bang! in EN but ポポ popo in jp. popo is basically pop pop, but also if pitched down, would sound more like 'poooh poooh'. very similar to what sound a steam locomotive makes,

but not quite. the 'correct' one would be ボbo, not ポ po.

like the sound effect here:

sfx: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

there's no good way to translate this, to be clear. nightow seems to really like pulling off these weird little japanese wordplay here and there. theres one instance with the escorts trying to sleep with vash, but thats a lot of effort to explain a pun and its not very interesting so. uh. sorry. (these posts take very long to write bc im poopoo)

so. its CH 4: PoPo. 4 =Death? this feels deliberate.

the next chapter is CH 5: 強襲 / Assault. EN title is very accurate here so yippee. but wait.

that. dark contrast and a presence of a vaguely steam locomotive. the framing of the train itself being this romantic machine that was built to send people on their journeys to parts unknown. the presence of 4 = Death.

theres something about the following panel. and i know exactly what it is despite having never read or watched it bc of just how influential this particular work is.

so i went sniffing.

Galaxy Express 999.

and. uhm. i found a thread and a rabbit hole that links back to TriStamp again.

Galaxy Express 999 first ran as a manga in 1977- 1981. Made by the late Leiji Matsumoto (25th Jan 1938 - 2023) who passed away last year.

the gist of this story. we follow a boy named Tetsuro in the super far off future, who wants to obtain a mechanical body so he never again feels the inconvenience of a flesh one. and to also fulfill his promise to his mother who was hunted down in front of him and turned into a trophy by mechanized hunters. he meets a mysterious blonde woman named Maetel who gives him a pass to ride on the Galaxy Express 999, promising him one at the end of the journey, but there seems to be a catch.

the same themes of a train in the darkness, its window the main lightsource, but in GE999 theres the added planets and stars. GE999 is full of promotional material and artwork like this, its iconic

the story is very philosophical and full of questions about death, living, and the worth of a human life. theres a constant theming of the train bringing its passengers to a place unknown, and how its a departure from the base in which they start the further they go. like a wanderer. (something something blank ticket wink wink.)

but anyway. Chapter 2: The Red Wind Of Mars is the interesting one.

i strongly recommend reading this chapter at least, but ill summarize the interesting bits.

the cast arrives on Mars, a Red Planet thats constantly being buffeted by a Sandstorm. its said that the planet is pretty much in a state of poverty and is barren due to people turning themselves into machine bodies and having no need to care for the environment and nurture it.

also an american saloon on this red desert planet wowee--

testurou later gets jumped by a couple who basically wants to steal his pass to the GE999, but once they realize the boy has not been mechanized at all, the couple lets tetsurou kill them. they are then left in the desert to be eventually covered up by the red sand. and then, the final page has this fucking thing:

"They say that the sound of Mars' red wind comes from the wailing of people resting under its sand. This vermilion wind will continue to lament for the fate of those who couldn't make their dreams come true... That's why they say this planet will stay red forever..."

....studio orange. listen.

STUDIO ORANGE. PLEASE

ON WHAT LEVEL ARE YOU GUYS EVEN COOKING. stop sending me on these rabbit hole runs i swear to god ill never finish trigunbookclub at this rate GGGGGGGGGAAAAAH

anyway the sandsteamer arc in the original trigun seems to be a homage to Galaxy Express 999 in a way, and Studio Orange understood the assignment.

[mostly-monotonous]

SO!! we all know about this scene, right?? gojo steps on the ants that yaga and gakuganji are watching but they don’t die because of his infinity.

so here’s a few things that i think this could symbolise/represent:

1) gojos power places him above everyone else (including yaga and gakuganji to a degree, despite their authority. tho gojo couldn’t get rid of them so easily - they’re kinda protected bc of their position). the rest of humanity is as good as ants to him and he could easily crush them if he wanted to/if he was careless. this could also be an allusion to the shibuya arc. he chooses to avoid using his domain expansion or else he would ‘crush’ all of the people there. (literally speaking if we’re talking abt how he could potentially have crushed the ppl between his domain’s boarders and the veil like kenjaku said). also how he refused to kill the civilians by trapping them in his domain for too long, even though it would have won the fight for him. this all links to how he has more than enough power to kill everyone, but chooses not to use that power. like a god. he shows restraint. but if he wanted to he could snap at anytime and kill everyone. or if he was even a little careless with his powers, lots of people could die. just like how a person could kill a lot of ants if they wanted to or if they didn’t pay enough attention when walking around.

2) yaga and gakuganji are helpless to watch him. as shown by how they’re just watching the ants from their little perch. they have to trust that gojo will use his infinity to protect the ants (/people) because if he doesn’t, they’ll only be able to watch in shock as thousands of them are killed. if he decided on a whim to murder everyone or to go rogue then there would be nothing that they could do to stop it. it’s lucky for them that he decides to show self-restraint and use his powers to protect people instead.

3) his infinity separates him from the rest of humanity. in the sense that he can’t even touch them (or connect to them/empathise with them). he’s so different from everyone else that he’s basically like another species. there’s also such a large gap between him and the ants that he is unable to make any real differences on their lives. “when granted everything, you can’t do anything.” despite how much power he has he never really makes a difference to outcomes of things for the other people in the show. his power distanced him from geto and meant that he couldn’t save him from his spiral. + despite all the times he’s fought special grade curses in canon, it’s never made all that much difference in the long-run. it certainly hasn’t protected his students and it didn’t stop him from being sealed away.

4) not rly symbolism for this one but an observation: this scene proves that, despite gojos careless front, he clearly is a lot more meticulous and cautious then he lets on. he either consciously made the decision to activate his infinity to protect the ants. or his six eyes subconsciously activated infinity because he values the ants lives to some degree. cuz i highly doubt his six eyes activated bc they considered the ants a threat to gojo.

5) this entire moment also links to that manga panel where gojo tells geto that “it’s such a pain to look after the weak.”

this shows that, whilst protecting the weak is still an inconvenience to gojo (it requires extra effort and care to protect those ants), he still does it. he still seems to take it seriously (even if it’s subconscious), even for things as insignificant to him as ants. ig he really took what geto said to heart. he’s also “being kept in check” by this ideal/moral code. it handicaps him during the shibuya arc. if he hadn’t cared so much about protecting those civilians, he would have won. he probably wouldn’t have been sealed and in-all it likely would have lead to less overall deaths.

but also imo it’s a good thing that he does cares about protecting the weak. it’s a curse and a blessing. like geto said, “the strong need to be kept in check,” and if gojo really didn’t care about civilian lives then he would probably end up directly killing a lot of people throughout his career. it’s a good thing that geto was such an influence to him for a time.

6) it also parallels this manga panel from the shibuya arc:

here the people clearly parallel the ants from the anime. SO COOL!!! this is the realisation of all the stuff that’s represented by that scene!! he’s even got his hands in his pockets just like in the anime.

he’s walking over them without touching them, just like the ants. he’s above them because of how powerful he is but it also means that he’s too distanced to really help them or have much of an impact on their fate. (shown by how a lot of people still die during the shibuya arc).

by these people representing the ants from the anime, it also shows that gojo can’t see them as real people because of how detached he is from the rest of humanity. he cares about protecting them because they’re living people and he knows that that’s the right thing to do. because that’s what geto said to him. “jujustu exists to protect non-jujustu sorcerers.” so he continues to avoid hurting them, and continues to use his powers to keep them safe. despite being detached from them. in the same way someone might avoid stepping on ants. you don’t want to kill something so, despite not really understanding them or seeing them as equals, you’ll avoid killing them.

not sure if i articulated this all very well but i promise this makes sense in my head!!😅

[totallygayforrukiakuchiki]

Why I love Rukia Kuchiki (aka rlly important facts that make her the best female manga character ever )

- First I have to say I love everything about her : how well-written she is, even her short temper, her ugly drawings, how funny she is, her love for plushies and cute things, her cluelessness about the human world like she cannot even open a juice box omg, how good she is at acting, the fact that she loves sweet food, her bickering with Ichigo, her small habits and everything that makes Rukia.... Rukia.

((The pics are only here to illustrate ( lol) I didn’t do any reseach and used the ones I already had so it’s SO NOT exhaustive))

Now let’s start with the deeper stuff PLEASE READ:

- Super selfless I mean even TOO SELFLESS for her own good, even Ichigo states that she should care about herself for once, this girl is selfless to the point of self-sacrificing and blames herself for just ??? Self-defending?

- Super forgiving , cannot believe how this girl has forgiven Byakuya, Renji, Urahara, Kira & co without thinking about it twice and never holds a grudge against them.

- Has the strongest sense of justice among all the characters. (Refuses to hurt Riruka, her speech to ichigo at the beginning of the manga, etc etc) Because before “protecting loads and loads of ppl” became ichigo’s motto it was hers.

She is willing to give her life to save human souls and to go anywhere for them. Honestly if even 50 ⁒ of the shinigami has her sense of duty the world would be ideal

- She is a tiny girl. Who can kick your ass and order you around. She is also able to stand on her own and OMG that’s so refreshing a shonen heroine who is selfless and caring but needs no man and is bossy THANK YOU. I mean she has all these qualities but still she can act boyish and punch you in the face or kick you if needed.

- She is FUCKING beautiful/ pretty without even trying and without fitting the standards She is also super graceful like woooooow. (And don’t fight me on this. Mizuiro, Keigo, her whole gang from the Rukongai, Hantarou, and even Orihime said so). I’d even say she can be sexy too, looking at Kubo’s drawings (dancing with Snow White, Mafia colorspread, honeymoon colorspread, Halloween costume etc etc)

- Extremely brave. Always ready to jump in front of danger and ready to die to protect ! (Even from her first appearance in the manga) (and she did it again)

- Has been through so much shit and is still so strong and amazing. She started off in the Rukongai as a kid with no family and had to steal food and fight to survive. Might have gotten killed everyday, it was hell litterally.

Lost all her friends to death except Renji.

Entered the academy and lost her best friend, her childhood friend, the only person she had left . Was adopted by her noble step-brother who didn’t even bother to look at her for 40 years and made her feel like a nuisance / a disappointment (I am not blaming anyone here, I know they may have their reasons I am just stating the facts).

Was bullied at the academy and had NO FRIENDS because people considered that she didn’t deserve to be here and only got a place bc she was privileged and a noble.

Had to kill the only man who ever looked at her as “Rukia”, understood her and was here for her when she was in the academy (and whom she loved - and if you think otherwise I’ll assume you have the emotional awareness of a pebble or cannot read a panel properly)

- Super self conscious despite having it all??? (Am I good enough? Do I deserve to be here? I nii-sama doesn’t look at me it’s probably that I am worth nothing) Girl stop doubting and blaming yourself !!! You are amazing !! (I relate a lot so that makes me love her more).

I’ll just add this , this is from her wiki page: “her cool and lone demeanor often forces her to hide her personal troubles, even from her friends. Ukitake says that Rukia rarely opens up, and has difficulty making friends”.

She is not just “cold” she doesn’t want to get hurt again and that touches my heart woooow

- Strong in a physical way. She protected Ichigo as many times as he protected her. I love how equal they are (even despite their big difference of level). I mean she defeated a fucking espada when she only had her Shikai + being in the deepest emotional and mental pain possible, stood against Yammy, is really talented at Kidou, beat strong hollows when she was powerless and IN A GIGAI, reaches bankai and became a captain when she started off as... nothing. She was a nobody from the Rukongai. She was very mediocre and her Kidou skills were average. And nobody really believed in her at first but she did it.

- also how she is attached to the human world is so touching to me. There are many other small things like how despite being a noble she remains so modest and chooses to talk to ordinary people. Etc etc.

- Caring and understanding. Always here to help the others. She is the only one should could lift ichigo’s spirit in one go when he was down. She did several times. She helped him through the trauma he went through due to his mother’s death, offering him a shoulder to lean on AND DIDNT ASK HIM to talk to her yet because she know it wasn’t what he needed and knew it would hurt him. But told him that when he would want to talk about it to someone, she would be there for him. I MEAN GIRL YOU ARE AWESOME IF HE DOESN’T ASK YOU TO MARRY HIM, I WILL.

And it made him feel so much better that he quoted the exact same words to his fathers chapteeeeeers after. She also helped Orihime and encouraged her when she thought she was useless and an inconvenience. She said together they would find a place for her to fight alongside everybody. WHEN all the other characters didn’t allow orihime to fight with them bc she was too weak, Rukia offered her support and to find solution together instead. (( Q U E E N)).

Encourages Ichigo’s sisters to eat next to him when he is severely injured etc, etc

- And how eager she was to save orihime!!She was litterally dying and yet crawled on the floor because she empathized with her and wanted to save her so much

- Annnnnd to finish I love how her relationship with Ichigo is written like, how deep they trust each other and don’t need words to communicate (like how she respects his personal space [“it’s enough just to know he is safe / memories in the rain/ their fight vs Grimmjow etc etc]).

I also find it AMAZING that she cares for him so much when his hollow is coming out, I mean she is not even slightly frightened and worries about him instead, she could-she should be traumatized after what happens with Kaien being possessed by a hollow but no she isn’t. + How they protect each other, helped each other through trauma, how they offered each other everything that the other ever wanted (Power to protect / normal and comfortable relationship).

Imma stop here because I could write 45 more pages explaining why their relationship is like the Golden Book of Healthy and Mutually Beneficial and Equal Relationships but that’s not the point here lol. But I like pretty much every relationship Rukia has with any character (Renji, Byakuya, Orihime, Ukitake etc..) I think she really brings out the best from each one of them.

I’m stopping here but there are so many more reasons to why she is my favorite character ever, just Knox this is rushed and non-exhaustive, I just felt like screaming how much I love Rukia Kuchiki to the world . But yeah non-cliché strong girl. Who will fight you. Who can stand on her own. But still shows us many emotions and is so caring and selfless.