#boueibu meta

[vashtijoy]

hi ! i was wondering if you had an ao3 account with any published fics or if there was anywhere else i could find your writing :) i recently read your shoplifting excerpt and got hooked so fast omg would love to read or subscribe for more of your p5 stuff if that’s okay

Hi, thank you for asking! I have some published excerpts in my meta index here (scroll down to find them). But mostly my P5 fic is sitting offline, very unfinished as I started writing meta instead.

I'm Vashti on AO3 if you'd like to check out my Boueibu and Death Note fic, but the last thing I uploaded there was like five years ago, and the DN stuff especially is more than a decade old.

[deuterium51614]

Igarao Oyaji: Who are you? Ojii Santa: I'm you but stronger.

[nardaviel]

after the fire: an analysis of kinshirou with borderline personality disorder

The headcanon that Kinshirou has Borderine Personality Disorder has been going around for a while, often with little explanation to follow it. This is probably partly my fault, since I’m one of the first people who voiced it, back near the end of season 1. So it’s time for a post explaining the reasoning for my headcanon that Kinshirou is heavily coded as BPD, and the reasons why this headcanon is so close to my heart, even compared to my other slightly self-inserty mental illness headcanons about my faves.

First off, a disclaimer: I’m far from an expert in the field. I’m not totally ignorant either, I don’t think? I’ve been diagnosed with BPD by a psychologist and done a fair amount of reading about abnormal psychology, as well as taken a class, not about BPD, but about a different personality disorder. Still, that doesn’t take the place of a degree in medicine or psychology.

People with BPD are like people with third degree burns over 90% of their bodies. Lacking emotional skin, they feel agony at the slightest touch or movement. —Marsha Linehan

To start out with, let’s define Borderline Personality Disorder.

...is how I’d like to begin this post, but it’s hard to do. BPD can be a nebulous disorder, and it has a lot of overlap with other mental illnesses, most notably PTSD. As well, it has a history of being poorly understood and stigmatized, even within the healthcare field. Calling a patient “borderline” in conversations between those in the field often really means “uncooperative patient I don’t like to work with”. Outside the field, it gets real bad, real fast. I myself have been shocked by an otherwise wonderful loved one spilling anti-BPD vitriol to my face after hearing my diagnosis. It’s to the point where there’s some confusion with diagnosis; difficult non-borderline patients are diagnosed as borderline when the psychologist is at their wits’ end, but conversely, people who have the disorder are often not formally diagnosed in order to avoid having that stain on their medical record.

I’m telling you all this because the concept of stigma will become important again much later in the analysis. Remember it.

Even if it’s hard to define BPD, we have to start somewhere. Since there’s nothing better that’s easily available to us, we’ll just go with the DSM-5.

Borderline Personality Disorder Diagnostic Criteria

A pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affects, marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment. (Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.)

A pattern of unstable and intense personal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation.

Identity disturbance: markedly and persistently unstable self-image or sense of self.

Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating). (Note: Do not include suicidal or self-mutilating behavior covered in Criterion 5.)

Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior.

Affective instability due to a marked reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days).

Chronic feelings of emptiness.

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights).

Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms.

As well as the diagnostic criteria from the DSM, I should note that factors that are thought to lead to BPD include genetics, brain abnormalities, and childhood abuse or neglect.

Now that that’s done, we can start talking about Kin-chan, which is what you were really here for all along. I’ll just say up front that I don’t believe Kinshirou shows signs of all nine symptoms, but that’s okay. He doesn’t need to.

“Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment” can be generalized here to overwhelming abandonment fear, a key facet of BPD. It interacts unpleasantly with the black-and-white thinking mentioned in criterion 2, also known as splitting, and the extreme emotions in criterion 6. The effect of all those symptoms mixed together is that a slight rejection, real or imagined, is seen as the final, inarguable abandonment, the borderline’s worst fear but one that they knew would inevitably become real. The despair, anger, and sense of betrayal overwhelm the borderline. Idealization turns to devaluation; in other words, the loved one that they idolized and saw, perhaps, as unrealistically perfect is now perceived as a shameless traitor, the worst person to have ever lived. I’m not exaggerating.

From the outside, this might look like, for example, your friend refusing to talk to you for years because you got food with someone else, and in doing so, broke the solemn oath of eternal friendship that you didn’t actually make. It’s a bizarre experience. People can be forgiven for being taken aback.

So that’s what happens to Kinshirou. Atsushi doesn’t even intend to slight him, but he sees the curry incident as a total abandonment. He must, in order to think it amounts to breaking their oath.

His devaluation wavers a little in season 1, episode 7, when Atsushi offers him a hand while he’s lost and disoriented. But when En speaks up, it flares back, as strong as ever. Then, at the end of season 1, when Atsushi makes it clear that he still wants Kinshirou’s friendship, you can almost see the switch flipping back to idealization. Kinshirou yells at him, sure, but it’s more along the lines of, “Why are you so kind? Why weren’t you meaner to me, like I deserve?” Self-loathing is another common element of BPD, by the way. It’s a possible manifestation of the unstable sense of self-image.

You can also check out Kinshirou’s reaction when he thinks Atsushi hasn’t showed up at the airport. Could he be late? Could it be that he was delayed by something? It doesn’t matter. The meaning of Atsushi’s new promise is enough to make the scene poignant even without the BPD diagnosis; Kinshirou has trusted Atsushi to keep the promise, even though his faith was broken before, and as far as he can tell, Atsushi has failed again.

But he looks for all the world like he’s starting to believe that he was wrong, and Atsushi didn’t bother to come because he doesn’t care about Kinshirou and never did, and Kinshirou should just give up on all this friendship stuff he’s been trying to learn, &c. He has literal tears in his eyes when he sees Atsushi outside his window. Again, that’s in line with the emotional extremes and reactivity described in criterion 6. In general, Kinshirou tries to seem very stiff and composed, but at this point I don’t think any of us are fooled. He has a lot of feelings.

So that’s criteria 1, 2, and 6. Three of five, and probably the most obvious ones.

On a more subtle level, there are elements of Kinshirou’s personality that shift, either abruptly or gradually, in response to major events. Criteria 3 and 7 are intertwined in much the same way as the three others I just discussed. A borderline often feels empty, as if they have no personality of their own. In response, they latch on to whoever they’re around and take on those people’s characteristics. They therefore seem to others to have a flighty or insincere personality, when on the inside, all the different, contradictory selves are genuine at the time.

So, Kinshirou. In the ep4 flashback and in the beginning of the ep11 one, he seems sweet enough. He’s anxious and a little clingy (again, abandonment fear), as shown by his wish and way he just wilts when Atsushi says he’s not coming over. Also, the way he watches Atsushi from behind a post, and the fact that Atsushi didn’t even feel like he could say where he was going. Why not? How did he think Kinshirou would react?

He’s the follower in their friendship, not the leader. We can infer that Atsushi is the one who took them out to see the stars, since Atsushi is the one who says, “Meteor showers are cool, huh?” as if to say, I told you this would be fun! Kinshirou tells Atsushi his wish is childish, which is itself a subtle sign of anxiety when it comes from a tiny child. But even though he doesn’t think there’s a point to wishing on stars, he does it when Atsushi does. He molds himself around Atsushi’s action, discarding his previous idea in favor of being like Atsushi.

All that vanishes when he decides Atsushi has abandoned him. Atsushi was his favorite person, or FP, an important concept in BPD. The FP can be a friend, a romantic partner, whoever. They receive the greatest part of the borderline’s devotion and affection, which are considerable, but they also bear the brunt of the borderline’s instability and abandonment fear. And to all appearances, Kinshirou only had one friend. There’s nowhere for him to turn, no new person to latch on to. He’s completely alone, with no one to fill the emptiness he saw inside himself.

At the end of the episode 11 flashback, Kinshirou radiates fury. But more than that, there’s a contempt to the noise he makes when he turns away from Atsushi that seems out of place for the Kinshirou just a day ago, before their split. Within that one day, he’s started to collapse in on himself and become the boy we meet at the start of season 1.

And that boy has his own issues with identity. For a person with such a high regard for his own sense of morals, Kinshirou is shockingly morally flexible. It’s always important to note that while we know that the student council’s plot is laughable, they believe in it. We know that the monsters will be defeated in the end, and that in any case they’re sort of silly. And now that season 1 is over, we know that the whole thing is a charade anyway. But each time Kinshirou makes a monster, he hopes that this one will be able to defeat the Battle Lovers and...

...and do what? Destroy the world? Bring order to it? How? Their plan is incoherent, and seems to rely largely on Zundar’s ability to goad Kinshirou into cruelty. And that’s a lot easier than it should be, until you consider that Zundar plays an important role in Kinshirou’s emotional life for a while. He listens to Kinshirou and validates him, and is probably the closest thing he’s allowed himself to have to a new FP; it seems that he can’t bring himself to trust the student council with overt friendship in season 1.

But despite Zundar’s encouragement, when Kinshirou first begins to act as Aurite, he needs Zundar’s explicit instructions, and he seems a little uncertain of himself. The uncertainty fades over time, and he becomes able to discern promising victims on his own. By the end of the series, he wears a cruel smile as he watches Rui run by or turns Uriya into a monster. He doesn’t grow as a character through most of season 1; instead, until episode 11, his arc is one of rapid moral decline.

When he finds out that Zundar has been lying to him the whole time, he doesn’t fly into a rage, as many of us expected. He refuses Zundar’s order with admirable composure, but there’s a hollowness in it, as well. And then he just stands there, empty. But then! His FP crashes back into his life, and he becomes a blushy, awkward tsundere.

That is an oversimplification. He still has a lot of issues, and he needs to work hard to change his negative patterns of thought and behavior. It’s a process that’ll continue past the end of the series. But, like I said earlier when I discussed splitting, it’s incredible how quickly much of it happens. With Atsushi back in his life to anchor him again, his personality undergoes another rapid change.

That’s 3 and 7 down. With 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, we’ve hit our requisite 5 criteria, all of which are some of the strongest indicators of BPD.

So let’s talk about 8. Let’s talk about Kinshirou’s temper. On the whole, he controls himself, although sometimes it looks painfully difficult. You don’t see the frequent flare-ups of destructive temper that people usually associate with BPD. Instead, "constant anger” might be the closest descriptor. Kinshirou is an irritable person, particularly in season 1.

But then, of course, there’s Dark Aurite. I still think it’s up for debate how much control he had over his actions as Dark Aurite; he seems a lot like a sort of semi-monster to me. But that’s a topic for a different post. My point is that that entire scene is an example of destructive temper. He transforms into Aurite in a fit of anger, probably in order to intimidate, and then blows up Atsushi’s curry because Atsushi says the wrong thing. In the most generous interpretation, one where he has limited control over himself as Dark Aurite, he still chooses to become Dark Aurite, presumably knowing that it’ll grant him increased power to attack Atsushi. And in interpretations where there’s no alien technology affecting his mind, the entire battle is one long example of destructive temper.

Impulsivity for criterion 4 is a tough one, because he keeps such a tight rein on himself. That’s the opposite of impulsivity, really. But there’s a glaring example that has to be mentioned anyway: He goes around the world to Japan in about fifteen minutes because Atsushi didn’t answer a text message. That’s one area, then: impulsivity in his role as Aurite, which at one time was a source of comfort to him. Impulsivity in borderlines is typically just poor attempts at self-soothing. It probably helps Kinshirou to feel like he’s powerful and can control things that frighten him, such as Atsushi’s impending death.

Incidentally, that’s also another example of splitting, and, in a way, brutally suppressed fear of abandonment. It can’t be that Atsushi just lost his phone, no. Kinshirou is trying his very best to trust Atsushi, but true trust (or perhaps just reasonable, nuanced thinking, free of a borderline’s extremes) would take into account the possibility that Atsushi left his phone at school, or is in the middle of a tense conversation but will get back to Kinshirou as soon as he can, or whatever else might be the case. But in Kinshirou’s mind, Atsushi definitely won’t betray their friendship now, which means answering Kinshirou’s fake-casual texts unless his very life is in danger.

In the end, I’m not sure there’s enough evidence to say he qualifies as impulsive by borderline standards, but it’s worth noting that he can have tendencies in that direction.

Now I’m going to take just a second to cross off the criteria that I don’t see in Kinshirou.

It’s entirely possible to headcanon suicidal ideation or even self-harm in Kinshirou. I have some sympathy for that headcanon myself. But in this post, I’m talking about canon Kinshirou, and there’s no canon evidence to suggest anything listed in criterion 5. Nor is there any sign of transient psychosis or dissociation, as in criterion 9. There is that time he stands there, frozen, up on the roof at the end of season 1, but he snaps out of it pretty quickly when he’s in danger, so it doesn’t read as dissociation to me.

So if BPD is so strongly linked to childhood trauma, why would Kinshirou have it?

Well, he could have a genetic predisposition, you know. If you have that, sometimes it doesn’t take much extra prodding. But honestly, this is where it gets into headcanon territory. I can explain how he fits the diagnosis, but as for the causes, there’s not much to say one way or the other. The only hint we have is in chapter 9 of the seifukubu manga, where he and Arima seem to connect. Arima, certainly, is miserable and lonely, and there are worried little creases under his eyes that Kinshirou shares (and that Atsushi notably does not). So does that mean Kinshirou faced a childhood of abuse or neglect? No. Not necessarily. It’s not nearly enough evidence that we can decisively say anything like that. I have my own opinion, but I can’t support my BPD headcanon by just citing another headcanon. So it doesn’t really matter what I think.

Okay, that’s fine, Libby. But why does it matter so much to you?

Remember that stigma I was talking about?

Here is Wikipedia’s list of BPD examples in fiction.

Common cultural tropes associated with borderline personality include the “crazy ex-girlfriend,” “crazy mother,” and pretty much every “crazy woman” stereotype out there. ( x )

Look at all these tropes about love, rejection, and “craziness”. Look at the tone they generally take towards the woman in question—because let’s be real, it’s usually a woman. No one wants to be thought of that way, and yet those stereotypes all echo BPD, or popular perceptions of it. Borderlines see ourselves in these tropes and these stories of unhinged, typically irredeemable characters.

The second segment of this video discusses the inescapable “crazy ex-girlfriend” trope, and mentions the way studio audiences changed the ending of Fatal Attraction because they disliked an ending that was more sympathetic to Alex. Society is actively hostile towards sympathetic portrayals of the crazy ex-girlfriend. Maybe that’s why our representation is so bad.

The segment also features this quote: "There are no male equivalents [to this trope], are there? Can you think of a single film where a man would behave in such a way?" There are probably some examples, but generally, it's a trope for women, the same way BPD diagnoses are skewed along gendered lines for various unfortunate reasons that you can read about at length elsewhere. All I want to say about them here is that it’s lovely that Boueibu included a character who fits the crazy ex trope so well. It’s genuinely heartwarming to me to see representation for BPD men, especially those who present more the way people expect BPD women to act.

But the real reason I love this headcanon so much has more to do with the treatment and the fate of borderline-coded characters. Our representation in media is more or less what you’d expect, if you’ve read those links about how people see us. That is to say, it’s about as bad as it gets. Even when the character isn’t intended by the writers to have BPD—as I’m sure Kinshirou himself is not—the borderline coding shines through in the general crazy ex-girlfriend stereotype and its various relatives. Irrational, prone to taking things out of context or far out of proportion, often hysterical, sometimes dangerous... oh, and, without much actual personality. The role of the borderline-coded character isn’t to be a person. It’s to lose resoundingly, so that the real characters and the real people consuming the media can feel pleased and satisfied. 

Kinshirou fits the borderline-coded crazy ex trope, but he isn’t like that. He’s humanized, not dehumanized. He’s a person, with his own wants and hobbies and favorite foods, and a past trauma that we get to see and understand, even if it seems weird to a lot of us. He has friends, people who love him. Atsushi loves him, even though he’s been awful to Atsushi. Atsushi is willing to forgive him and give him another chance. And when Kinshirou finally gets that through his skull, he gets up off the ground and declares that he’s going to do better.

And then he does. He does start to do better. He’s capable of it. And even though it’s awkward and it doesn’t happen all at once, he’s accepted as he is, while he’s still a work in progress.

That’s so, so, so rare. I don’t want to say it’s never happened before, because there’s nothing new under the sun and so on, but I’d certainly never encountered anything like it before the end of season 1. Nuanced, ultimately positive borderline representation in a character I already loved, from a show I already adored. It’s probably the best thing Boueibu has given me, beating out such contenders as my first-ever period of normal mental health function. It's that important to me.

(And yes, by the way, I'm aware that there are stories out there about borderlines, written by borderlines. I think that they're valuable. But it means more to me when it comes from people who aren't actively trying to write about sympathetic borderlines, and the story probably reaches more people as well.)

On a less maudlin note, it’s important to everyone, the same way all representation is important. It gives borderlines hope, even if they aren’t consciously thinking in terms of representation or seeing themselves in the media they consume. It shifts non-borderlines’ perception of people who act like Kinshirou, hopefully in a positive direction.

That’s it for this post! Thanks to @vashtijoy for all her help, and thank you for reading this enormous wall of text, wow.

[thatlittledandere]

Nice

[cupkayke]

Cupkayke Rewatches/Liveblogs Boueibu!

Season 1, Episode 6

I have no explanation for the stupidly long wait for this one other than the fact that I am a lazy motherfucker. BUT. CHALLENGE TIME- I’m in the midst of a mini vacation from work so when I’m not working on cosplay I WILL BE WRITING. Er, analyzing. Er, plotting. Er, SOMETHING.

Anyway! Onto the episode where Io pissed me the fuck off but still managed to be a loveable asshole in the end, anyway! Also LOTS OF UNDER THE SURFACE SHIT! YAYYYYY. 

I also apologize if I miss responding to some comments on these; with as sporadic as my time on tumblr is these days (90% is on mobile) I can’t fucking remember what replies I’ve reblogged or not OTL

Firstly I haven’t really thought much about it but what’s up with the title for this episode? “Love is something you wear on your back?” Is that a reference to the “so generous he’d give you the shirt off his back” phrase? If that’s meant to apply to Io in this episode for his “loyalty” I think they missed the mark there...

Yumoto eats a lot apparently- damn son stop growing!

Was that a sex joke?

THAT WAS DEFINITELY A SEX JOKE BOUEIBU NOT 2 MINUTES IN I AM SURPRISED AT YOU alsolololololololololololololforever

FANCY STUDENT COUNCIL IS FANCY omg they’re so fucking rich why do they even have this setup it’s so ridiculous

I sometimes get the feeling that this is a wealthy private school, similar to Ouran academy, with scholarships for low-income students (IE Yumoto). The parallels are there- but as established later in the episode, why the fuck would Yumoto be given a scholarship because it’s definitely not academics.

Maybe the Hakone family is actually wealthy but they just live modestly because their parents are gone and Gora wants to make the fortune last?

I MADE MYSELF SAD.

Finger bowls????

Apparently I’m an unultured swine because I had to look it up. You dip your fingers in the bowl to clean your hands between courses really???

Can’t we just... y’know... use hand santizier? This is like... 2015 for you guys right?

However it’s hilarious that Kinshiro decides that FINGER BOWLS of all things are important enough to have for the three of them at lunch so he wants to see if they can afford it.

ALSO I JUST REALIZED THE FORESHADOWING HERE WITH IO HOLY SHIT-

I SMELL RIVALRY

Kinshiro is a grumpy butt. Look at his face. Eat a snickers, Kinchan. You get micro-managey when you’re hungry.

So we’re halfway through the season and Wombat is seemingly trying to point our boys in a particular direction. HMMMMMM. 

Seriously I would love to know just how much of this is Wombat talking out his ass for the sake of the reality show and how much of it is shit he actually believes and he actually wants the boys to do a good job and ‘protect the earth’

I for one am on Wombat’s side because he’s fucking adorable but I do love the conspiracy/manipulation theory~

Ryuu and foreshadowing in 3...2...1.. WRITERS I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

Dat dead body smell

Even disgusted Akoya STILL manages to be gorgeous like whoah

Someone get this boy a modeling contract

PINKS THROWIN’ SHADE

I feel like this is the most lines that Akoya has had the entire show

I also realized during his little speech here that EVEN COVERING HIS NOSE his VOICE is still GORGEOUS.

Modeling contract AND record deal, PLZ 

So smug

Who knew pretty could be so evil~

I mostly just laughed at the cap of the DC all like ‘SHIT HE’S ONTO US’

So smug x2

Also this is where I started PINKSHIPPING

Like seriously I will go down with this ship even tho IoRyuu is OTP PINKSHIPPING MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

Just the rivalry and the pettiness sign me the fuck up for some angsty, angry making out in the SC bathroom

Whoops I just wrote a mini fanfic

Anyway this is why Cupkayke can’t decide on OTPs for this series because multishipping is fun

Wombat looks fluffier this episode

Too many Yumoto cuddles?

Pink kohai and dad-senapis!

Seriously I love the idea of these three hanging out together it’s adorable

And En is apparently really fucking smart

The entire conversation about Yumoto’s academic abilities is really interesting-

Apparently he has very good spatial awareness (child show me your ways I cannot directions for the life of me) but poor language skills

I don’t know if I am qualified to speculate about his cognitive state but perhaps it wouldn’t be so far-fetched to say that from that tidbit, Yumoto perhaps has a learning disability?

But then again, here it’s played for laughs/Yumoto’s just lazy and doesn’t see the value in school

Perhaps though he’s not motivated because he’s never really been able to get an instruction style that jives with him? So on certain subjects he’s over being discouraged and just accepts that typical academic instruction just isn’t for him?

This entire scene is fascinating from the lens of a future educator (albeit I haven’t taken any development or learning courses yet) but as someone who likes school Yumoto is the type of person (if he doesn’t have a learning disability, that is) who would confuse me IRL lolololol

“What? You don’t like the rigorous structure and inherent validation system of grading that even though it causes me undue anxiety and stress it gives me a sense of self-worth and purpose and without people giving me deadlines I cannot function?”

Well that got too deep oops I apologize for the too much in-depth taste of Cupkayke’s psyche

Someone more qualified than I am feel free to analyze this scene

Now back to your regularly scheduled magical boy blogging

Lolololol Gora wanting better for Yumoto - such a good big brother

“DON’T BE USELESS LIKE ME” - wait a second

IS THIS A LOWKEY REFERENCE TO GORA’S MAGICAL BOY PAST? Considering Maximum Gorar’s weapon is an axe and he has lots of chopping attacks.... hmmmmmmm did I just discover another layer?

Obviously Gora doesn’t know about the Battle Lovers just yet (or does he?) but still- interesting.

En trying to make them feel better haha such a sweetiepie

Atsushi get out of here with your logic

SWEATS NERVOUSLY

SCREW MONSTER FORESHADOWING

En and his ragging on Yumoto. I wonder when he goes from finding Yumoto annoying/exasperating to actually being that caring senpai? I mean, he could just be trying to be playful, but with his face here especially it comes across as he’s annoyed

Idk it’s kind of fascinating tho how he did not care for Yumoto at first

YUMOTO I HAVE NO WORDS

T________T

Revelation; Io is popular

Somehow I didn’t get that until this point in the series, but then again Io isn’t the type to care about his popularity unless it makes him money

So I guess he’s just admired from afar like this lololol

Io has a stalker- complete with creepy monologuing!

More screw foreshadowing!

Yellow phone for Io! They’re actually really heavy-handed with the color coding but most of the time it’s in ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moments. It’s like a fun game of I spy!

I can see where the headcanon that Akoya has a crush on Io started- the fact he goes out of his way to compliment Io is a bit telling.

Buuuut I still ship the Pinks over IoAko; but with the caveat of the Pinks both pining over Io and having their feelings unrequited! Oooooh the angst!

The cute evil is scheming

IO HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO EASILY

THEY WEREN’T EXPECTING YOU TO SAY YES EITHER LOOK AT THEIR FACES

...maybe you do get along with the SC Io you seem just about as evil and scheming as Akoya here-

WAIT WHAT AM I SAYING

WOMBAT IS SO CUTE IN HIS TITLE CARD AWW

I love how Ryuu is trying so hard look at him

Io what’s with that face! How can you betray them all so easily???

It makes no sense!

Creepy glowing Hedgehog

I still don’t know how Yumoto can get a ZERO in Japanese. Is it his grammar? Conjugation? Is Japanese like English is in the US where they go over literature and like Atsushi said he makes logic leaps that no one else does so he misinterprets the text? I AM CONFUSED. Wouldn’t he at least get some points? 

Look at this adorable fucker thanking his boyfriend friend in English!

En is really fucking smart, though I doubt he guesses ‘everything’

This could play into En’s self-consciousness on how he’s percieved (see his panic about looking ‘old’) and perhaps he also only wants to be percieved as ‘lazily intelligent’. 

It wouldn’t surprise me though if En did study a little bit, just to brush up on some things, or took school seriously but didn’t need to study because he’s really good at regurgitating info on tests

Either way, it seems like he doesn’t want people to know whether he actually cares about school or not so he just says he ‘guesses’ and gets 100s

Idk maybe I’m looking at the wrong angle but that’s not that far fetched I guess?

….Io… I am a very disappoint

Like this entire episode is out of character for him or at least my understanding of his character

Like, it’s not like he’s particularly very close to any of the DC except for Ryuu, but he doesn’t seem like the type to just up and ‘fuck you guys and everything we’ve been through’

Like it’s no secret he finds the Battle Lover thing bothersome but it’s likely he’s well aware of the fact that if he quits the DC he’s not going to stop having to wear the loveracelet and he’s still going to have to do all the embarrassing superhero things until he stops getting shocked by the thing

And like even if he’s really only in the DC because their ‘meetings’ give him enough downtime to invest in his business ventures I find it highly unlikely that the Student Council would pay him enough to make up for the loss he’d suffer because of his free time getting cut. And Io probably knew that outright.

Unless he is actually a teenage boy liable to acting without thinking! GASP.

Look, Io, you pissed off the Pink.

Really pissed him off! Ryuu sees through your bullshit.

Okay. Unpacking here- Io’s face in that cap says to me that he is well aware of how he’s being percieved. He’s well aware that he’s betraying the DC and the person who he would consider his best friend is calling him out on it. That look screams guilt.

However, what he says here- and here is where I am pissed the writers didn’t give us more context- he says ‘money is important/money doesn’t betray’. 

Which if you take him saying this to its most logical conclusion, he’s saying that he feels the DC will betray him at some point. Being involved with the DC, which doesn’t directly make him any money, will hurt him in the long run to the point where he would feel betrayed.

He’s said this before; money doesn’t betray. I can’t remember which episode (which is sad because I just did a write up on it) but I know the context of the conversation was when they were talking about the concept of ‘Love’ with Wombat. Everything Io does is for money. Relationships seem to do jack shit for him. 

But it appears here that this move is premptive. You have to do some inferring but it’s not so far fetched to say that Io has found himself caring for the DC (and potentially the Battle Lover thing) a lot more than he originally thought he would. And perhaps, based on previous experiences (what, we don’t know) he is afraid that they will betray him. Whether in terms of finances, emotions, or both, isn’t clear.

I feel like in the snow episode of s2 there’s a throwaway line about Io making Igloos that might have had some more under the surface about his past- for some reason I inferred he was often lonely as a child. I can’t remember why, though.

But I guess what I’m trying to say here is that this scene would be a whole lot more poignant if we had the entire narrative. Io is making this move, on the surface, because of money. But that’s foolish, especially for someone as smart as him, for the reasons I mentioned above. Even as rich as the SC are collectively, they probably wouldn’t be able to pay Io enough for his treasurer services to make it more lucrative than investing in his downtime with the DC. 

So it seems like he is trading his relationship with the DC- a personal relationship with feelings involved- for a relationship with the SC, one that is primarily business-focused. From their outer appearances, Io definitely knows that ‘rich kids’ like himself don’t tend to focus on friendship, so he’d be relatively safe to keep things strictly business.

Which means Io finds the idea of a business-only relationship more appealing/safer than a relationship based on friendship.

And supposedly, by extension, even if he did have to keep being a Battle Lover, he could keep that relationship strictly business too, by simply showing up and helping fight monsters without actually spending any time with the DC.

But without the context, this is speculation. Is there anything in the novels/comics/games that add to this???

Ryuu is rightfully pissed off! But the look Io gives here says again ‘I know what I am doing is hurtful, but I made my decision in my/everyone’s best interests’. Supposedly.

GAHH I NEED MORE CONTEXT.

Supporting my theory that Io is simply being a stupid teenager! Which I suppose could also play into the slightly deeper motivations I speculated about. Buuuuut still... a bit of a cop out.

Monster that makes its own sound effects! Or one that’s attempting to be a Pokemon!

I love when the boys other than Yumoto get into the fight! Yay!

I guess they have time for full transformations since they’re missing one! (or they need to pad the episode runtime, MAGICAL BOY STYLE)

Such an empty yellow spot

Ryuu… you ran right into it... it’s like you weren’t even trying.

Well that sounds suggestive

THIS MONSTER IS RIDICULOUS I LOVE IT

EVEN THE OTHERS REALIZE IT

Poor Ryuu- I’d cry if I was tickled that much, too. I probably would have also pissed myself.

Io jfc you can’t just stop being ticklish because an enemy decides to tickle you!

Nonetheless, boyfriend is pissed

Oh wait- Io transformation by himself. More screentime padding!

In other words- “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY MAN”

DAYUM IO- punch the monster through a fucking WALL. Somebody’s been working out.

Also idk why the color is so off in this action scene- it’s so daaaaark

“I’m so humilated and my pants are probably ruined”

“It’s about time you got your head out of your ass and saved my ass or I was gonna kick your ass!”

Yayyyyyy they made up!

Why is the monster adorable?

Sassing Yumoto, a DC pastime

PFFFT YUMOTO MY SMOL PRECIOUS CHILD NEVER CHANGE

Seriously why is a screw monster so cute

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but it so looks like the CA’s pants are actually leeggings

Maybe that’s why Kinshiro wears a cape he’s self conscious about showing off his ass ffffft

DUN DUN DUN SPOTTED

Pssssssssssh you all are cosplayers at heart

Oh… is this why Yumoto’s bad at Japanese???

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN (x2)

I love this conversation- even without the underlying context it basically supports my theorizing (except for the implication that the SC would have potentially been more profitable)

Ryuu is right; he knows Io should have been able to calculate which was financially a better deal in three seconds. He probably knows that Io was struggling with something emotionally.

Io’s ‘I can’t tell you that’ is cheeky but I can take it 2 ways actually. Potentially, the SC was more profitable money wise, but the DC is more profitable for Io emotionally. So it could mean both of those things. Or like I thought earlier, the DC could be both emotionally and financially profitable and Io is just being a little shit because he second-guessed everything but doesn’t want to admit why.

Buhhhhh these boys.

Pshhhh En YOU DID NOTHING AND YOU’RE TIRED

OHHHH YOU GUYS AGAIN - interesting implications fufufufufufufufufu

You look like a cat Kinosaki

And lastly.. Dat face

Kinshiro has the evil villain glare/’stare into the camera like you’re on the office’ look down PAT

Well then! I don’t know if my ramblings about Io’s motivations made much sense but that’s like, the ONLY thing I can think of that justifies his willingness to leave other than he was just being a little shit and following the yen for no reason. Again, if there’s any other canonical evidence from other media that explains this episode please point me in that direction because I am confused! This explanation makes sense but... I don’t understand how the writers wanted the audience to take this episode. Reminds me of Tokyo Mew Mew where Zakuro repeatedly threatened to leave/actually almost did leave the Mew Mews, sometimes because of her own insecurities and sometimes because Mint was being a little shit and Zakuro wanted to kick her ass into gear. I don’t get that Io was playing with the DC to make them realize anything- this was he was working through something that we just weren’t privy to. 

[cornytheclown]

Ya ever wonder if there were ship wars in the Can I Destroy The Earth fandom? Like fighting over who Atsushi should be with, shipping zip and Ryuu like Fed Ex, etc.

Or like CIDE Con, which would be like Brony Con in space? Is there fanart of CIDE, reader x Maximum Gorar fanfiction, cosplay, etc.

What I’m trying to say is, if CIDE is ever brought up again in Boueibu, they oughta include this stuff with it.

[magiccatprincess]

College is good for headcanons sometimes

So here’s a follow up post, to the one I made about Ryuu matching the type for likely people to be abused. In class at college today, the teacher explained there’s lots of factors that come into play that make someone the type to likely be or become a victim of abuse. These are the points I remember that definitely apply to Ryuu.

People who have a need to please often let people get away with more than they should. Ryuu is a people’s pleaser. Heck remember in season 1 when he got annoyed at a girl who wanted prove of that he realy was hanging out with friends? He sent her a selfie of him with Io to please her, and still called her cute when En asked about it. (Yumoto and Atsushi have a need to please too btw.)

People who are afraid to be alone. Ryuu dates around lots, surrounds himself with girls and takes pride in that. And then there’s season ep6 where he has that big reaction to Io leaving the defense club. This one fits Yumoto too and I assume this is likely how he ended up with those terrible friends in the flashback ep in season 2.

People from broken homes. Well I don’t know what happened to Ryuu’s parents, but there’s gotta be a reason why he’s being raised by his grandma. (Then there’s Yumoto and Io too)

 People who aren’t confident. Now Ryuu shows himself as very confident. But then there’s also moments like this. (Also applies to Io)

That’s all the points I can list for now, I might come back and add more next time I had that class.

[silvormoon]

📓

There was this really self-indulgent thing I was fiddling around with once, a Boueibu AU where instead of really being a hero, Gora was an actor on a TV show call "Can I Defend Earth?" He took the job because Yumoto, who was in college, really wanted to go on a summer program to Australia with his favorite teacher, Mr. Womble, to protect endangered wombats and he needed traveling money. So Gora took the acting job and it turned out the show was a huge hit so now he has to keep doing it.

Meanwhile Aki and Haru are trying to make it as musicians but haven't had their big break yet. One day they're chilling in a hotel room looking for a way to kill time before their rehearsal and they catch a few minutes of CIDE, and the show is kinda cheesy but the lead actor is hot so they start watching in earnest. Next thing you know, they've gotten really deep into the fandom. Their online personas, Salty Sol and Melty Luna, are the mainspring of the fandom, churning out endless quantities of fanfic, fanart, meta, etc.

Then the first ever CIDEcon is announced. The organizer contacts them and asks them if they would do a panel on something. They really want to go because Gora will be there and they're desperate to meet him. Then they find out that their manager has arranged for them to be entertainment at this convention, and now it's complicated because they have always been cautioned to keep their online life and their on-stage life completely separate. After all, it wouldn't be great for their career if anyone found out that they'd been writing smutty fanfiction for a corny kid's show. But they make a deal that they can do the panel and the concert as long as they can keep anyone from figuring out that they're the same people. They will go in cosplay, with wigs and makeup and contacts so no one will recognize them.

What follows is a comedy of errors as they desperately try to keep their two lives separate and keep anyone from figuring out who they really are, all while trying to get near enough to their celebrity crush to maybe get his autograph or something. And meanwhile Gora has been watching them do their bit on stage and thinking that these guys are real performers and he's just been faking it this whole time and he's desperately worried that now that people are meeting him in real life they won't be as impressed anymore. And eventually they all become friends and the TV executive Gora works for decides that Aki and Haru should play new characters in the next season and perform the new theme song.

And they all live happily ever after.

[lanliingwang]

Akoya and Yumichika: Just the beauty aesthetics? [Comparison]

Note: This is merely based on the observations of me, a nerd who has not watched the whole of Bleach and got most of what I know from the smatterings of episodes and chapters I’ve seen (as well as summarized stuff from elsewhere).Thus, I may or may not be wrong/inaccurate on the Yumichika front--or the Akoya one, for that matter, given I haven’t really watched Boueibu in a while, either.

With that in mind, let’s delve in!

On the surface level, Akoya and Yumichika already seem plenty similar--they both adhere strongly to their conceptions of beauty (which are remarkably similar, tbh), are generally disdainful/condescending of most others (especially those that don’t follow said conception of beauty) under a relatively polite veneer, tend to have one of their motifs being some sort of flowers, etc etc. In short, it really does seem like they’re birds of the same feather (no pun intended regarding Yumichika’s peacock motif). They even both use “boku” as the pronoun to refer to themselves I ca n ‘t

However, is that really all there is to them that’s similar?

One could argue that, yes, they’re only superficially similar. But for me, the answer to that question is--more or less--”no.” Delving deeper reveals a fair amount of hidden depths that actually parallel each other very well.

For starters, the few people Akoya and Yumichika have let into their hearts are people they’re fiercely loyal to--for Akoya, that’s Kinshirou and Ibushi, while for Yumichika, that’s Ikkaku (a longtime friend, if manga and expanded anime flashbacks are any indication) and more or less his division Captain. Those are the people they would go to great lengths to please and care for; this is easily shown when Akoya was implied to be furious on Kinshirou’s behalf in episode 12 of season 1 upon finding out that they were tricked (as well as his frequently amiable interactions with Ibushi, such as when they discussed feng shui in episode 10 of the same season), or...well, when Yumichika leapt to avenge Ikkaku after the latter was cut down by zombie!Toshiro during the last arc of Bleach.

Although admittedly, Yumichika did sacrifice a fair bit more initially due to his loyalty (read: hiding his zanpakuto’s true powers to avoid ridicule by the people he’s loyal to), the two of them still are similar in their loyalties in how they clearly appreciate the people they’re loyal to--and to some extent, this loyalty is reciprocated. Kinshirou and Ibushi both treat Akoya on equal terms and clearly come to appreciate his presence, while Ikkaku similarly entrusts Yumichika with some of his greatest secrets and leaps to the latter’s defense when he was clearly in great danger.

Moving on--it also should be noted that both Akoya and Yumichika are notably very observant and cerebral to some extent. In Akoya’s case, he best shows this side of him in season 1, episode 6, where he very nearly singlehandedly destroyed the existence of the Defense Club by some rather clever manipulations and tactics (ostensibly based on a reasonable-sounding “rule” and playing on Io’s desires; this bit is honestly best said by elucida here), but what’s perhaps less talked about is how, in episode 11 of season 2, he’s implied to have deliberately taunted Ryuu to get him back on his feet, knowing that the tone he used would have had that effect--which more or less indicates his strong intuition and ability to read people’s personalities:

Basically, he’s a manipulative and clever little shit who knows how to use his observations to his advantage--or to his sassing. Either way, it’s effective--and also very much like Yumichika, especially in the cleverness and sass.

On the Bleach side, given what kind of series it is, Yumichika doesn’t get those same moments very often. However, that’s not to say he doesn’t have his moments, as this moment indicates:

He literally got slammed into the pillar he was guarding and almost immediately knew that he’d broken his arm in three places due to his opponent’s attack. Which is a pretty big feat, keeping in mind that he’s not a part of the Medical Division, was likely dazed from the impact, and in general should not have been in the best place to make that sort of exact observation. This shows some fairly impressive observation skills (and likely anatomical knowledge), let’s be real.

And of course, the final arc shows this aspect of him a bit more--one instance that comes to mind from memory is that he’s able to conclude from Giselle’s taunting alone that she was purposely making them attack, further indicating that he also has surprisingly strong intuition.

Sound familiar? It probably should. Because it’s very likely what Akoya would also be capable of.

With all that being said, there’s probably more I could say on these two’s hidden depths, but I can’t really think of them at the moment. So I’m just gonna leave these here:

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Double Decker 12 - 13 (FINAL) | Golden Kamuy 23 - 24 (FINAL) | Merc Storia 11 - 12 (FINAL) | Zombieland Saga 12 (FINAL) | Gridman 12 (FINAL) | Cells at Work! 14 (OVA) | Shield Hero 1 | Boogiepop 1 - 2 | Egao no Daika 1

Trigger warnings for rape and slavery in the Shield Hero commentary.

Double Decker 12

Deana’s actually kinda tsundere…that’s kinda amazing to see, really.

I noticed Doug’s phone says “Dr. Apple”. Haha.

Kirill’s special. But why? You never answered that, people! Update: It’s because his antibodies are an antidote for Anthem.

There appears to be a Shell logo on one wall of Derick’s bar…LOL. Shell exists in real life. Why do we want it in an anime, now…?

I laughed so hard when I saw the landlady with what remained of Seven-O, hahaha.

Travis and Sophie, huh? Is it a ship or a working relationship? Who knows?

Oh! This didn’t make sense until Derick declared the bus was a bar. Rigggggggggght.

Kirill, believe in the Doug that believes in you…or something like that…

Kirill’s holding two guns, so when Cooper says, “Put down the gun,” which one does he mean???

“And Then There Weren’t None!” – Parodying (Agatha) Christie again, I see? (Referring to Hyouka’s Why Didn’t They Ask Evans parody, Why Didn’t She Ask Eba?.)

Golden Kamuy 23

How did “pig food” in a sentence become so terrifying???

Why is Tsurumi’s head leaking???

*Sugimoto bashes the earless twin with his prosthetic foot* - Well, that’s one way to get a leg up on someone…okay, I’ll see myself out.

Merc Storia 11

If Orthos is complaining about rain, why is he a water-element unit in the game???

This show is gorgeous. Not to mention the backgrounds look like they’ve been ripped out of the game…

Aw, Orthos is kinda cute. Kinda tsundere. I wonder if he wanted to hear “happy birthday” from Raviol…?

Every time I watch through the ED, I think Raviol’s going “Geddof me!” to Yuu.

Zombieland Saga 12 (FINAL)

The Yuugiri slap returns!

The 21st of December seems to have been the original airdate of this episode…

Karatsu-jou is Karatsu Castle, quite obviously.

Wait…does this mean Kotaro Tatsumi’s real (last) name is Inui? Or was this a “I changed my name bcause my mother/I (re)married” thing?

There’s an end of episode segment…keep watching.

That was…such a non-ending! This definitely needs a season 2 if it wants to finish its storyline! Plus, Yuugiri, Tatsumi and Tae never got their focus episodes!

Gridman 12 (FINAL)

What the heck was up with that smoke cloud? It looked so real, and yet so out of place!

Ooh, I see Anti now has the ability to transform by himself…although I should’ve figured that out last episode, since I think that happened then as well.

*Anti gets stabbed with Alexis’s sword* - What the hck just happened to my garbage son??? (refer to This Week in Anime for how that nickname came about for Anti)

Eyy. So you’re saying Gridman was a magical girl robot all along? Haha…hahahaha.

So basically, it’s Boueibu LOVE! but with less meta. With lessons of mortality instead of the Kabuki Rule. Akane’s basically female!Kinshiro, right down to the hairdo…

Wow…someone really ran out of budget. It’s literally just a slideshow, but with black and white over it.

Oh, there’s actually a nice piano song in the background. So maybe I was wrong about the budget…? I don’t really want to go and watch the slideshow again, y’know.

There’s a random live-action segment at the end of this show??? Wuh??? What do I need to expect next, a talking meteorite??? (referring to Dimension High School)

Okay, seriously??? What was up with live-action Rikka???? I don’t get it… Update: Okay, so the live-action girl was Akane, not Rikka. That’s why it was so confusing…

Double Decker 13 (FINAL)

I laughed really hard at the explosions. Probably because I Photoshopped someone into a picture of an explosion and the scene with Kirill being shoved forward by an explosion reminded me of it…

I wanted Max to slap Travis, as weird as that might be for a show like this (but not for a show like Zombieland Saga). A punch in the gut’s good too, though.

“To be continued?” – Oh. Ohh. Ooh���Heh. I already knew there were some extra episodes, but at this point, there’s no ruling out a season 2, either…hmmm. I really wouldn’t mind a season 2, y’know.

Golden Kamuy 24 (FINAL)

For some reason, I’ve ben referring to Hijikata as “old fart” for the length of this episode (meaning “not long”). He’s an impressive old fart, to be sure, and he was hella nice-looking in his heyday, but in the age of Golden Kamuy, he’s still an old fart.

I thought “Say hello to my little friend” was from Scarface, not…whatever Tsurumi’s pulling here. (commnt made in jest with straight face)

Seriously, what happened to ruin Nopperabo/Wilk’s face, anyway?

Someone make me a Civil War poster with Golden Kamuy characters, stat!

Wait, so Kiroranke, Asirpa and co. are headed north to meet up with Kiroranke’s allies, which could cause a civil/national war. Hijikata and Blockhead Dick-sensei (forgot his name) are headed south due to the info they got from Inudou’s hut (the chapel). I’m pretty sure that’s what just happened, but…I could have missed a bit and then I’d be wrong.

“Send the beloved child on a journey” is a Japanese saying, by the way. That’s (probably?) what Sugimoto’s referring to when he talks with the boat captain (the elder Koito). Oddly, the elder Koito seems to drop the last O from “-dono”, which seems to be a Satsuma thing…?

Cells at Work Special Ep (Ep 14)

Oh, you can see the effector cell amongst the other T Cells! Hello there!

I remember studying stuff about how a cell divides…man, that was at least 2 years ago! You’re making me feel old…

*Helper T Cell appears* - Gaddangit, Kazuma! (from Noragami)

Merc Storia 12 (FINAL)

There’s just something too awfully cute about a brother leaving the “nest”.

Even birds need to learn to fly. I wonder why Orthos didn’t…?

Ah! It’s one of those low-level hooting monsters! I’ve seen them in the game but I don’t know what they’re called…Update: They’re called Goldories. Spoke too soon…

Well…that’s a bit frustrating. That’s the second non-ending this season…hey! I’ve seen that elephant in the game! Plus that slime! (LOL, I’m so easily distracted…)

Ooh, that non-ending. I’ll give it a piece of its mind by giving it an average rating on my AniList!!! Rah!!! Anyways, see ya later…for 2019 anime.

Shield Hero 1

First anime of 2019 and it’s this one. Hoo boy – I’ve read one chapter of the manga, courtesy of CR. It’s gonna get nasty down in here, judging by the buzz that seems set to replicate Goblin Slayer’s…

Oh…that’s not a very favourable opening, the “It was all a dream” opening. Sure, it was gripping and showd Raphtalia (saw her name in promo material from ANN), but f*** if it weren’t overused at this point in time…

I always thought Shield Hero started out like Fushigi Yuugi…speaking of which, is that no longer on Crunchyroll?

Motoyasu’s got his own spinoff, so I’m hoping I’ll get to know him well over the next 12 weeks or so.

I find it interesting that they put the heroes together to reveal they’re from different versions of Japan so quickly. I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen in the manga.

Honestly, that “NOOOOOOOOOOOo!” could be an awesome reaction GIF. Just sayin’.

Sigh…Myne, Myne, Myne…you and your ways with Naofumi…

(Trigger warning: rape discussion) See? As I said, I knew this was going to happen. The thing is that it played out a lot more clearly in the anime than it did in the manga. As much as I don’t like the trope of “rape as accusation” enough (enough to have never encountered it before), it would be hypocritical of me to say I haven’t used it before – it appears in Half-Paid Heroes. However, one year out from having written it (due to the #MeToo movement), I can only say “rape is so not on”. I do not condone rape, but from a storytelling perspective it’s the perfect trope to make a character look like a monster and it makes a clearly false accusation have more oomph behind it, so…let’s just say Shield Hero’s doing its job here, making me despise Myne and the system in this world. Besides, I only stand on the side that does the better story.

For some reason, Naofumi’s “You can shove it all up your a***!” demand reminds me of when I’m angry and doing unreasonable demands…which means it’s won me over now.

I just realised…there hasn’t been much music until now…

(Trigger warning: slavery discussion) Oof. Now they’ve gotten to a new low of depravity in this show. Naofumi’s probably gonna buy a slave…again, I don’t condone this, but I assume Raphtalia is here.

Yep, even without knowing past ch 1, I was right on the money. That’s Raphtalia!

Poppies, huh? The symbol of bloodshed. What a perfect flower for this show, which demonstrates Naofumi’s blood, sweat and tears…

As much as I don’t condone some of the acts done in this show, I see some huge potential. Even if it’s got controversy flying around it like flies, I’ll stand with it. Are you with me?

Boogiepop 1 – 2

Double length premiere…oof, this’ll be tough on my spare time. Lately, I’ve been told to clean up the house a bunch and doing all manner of other things, so it’s just eating up time on all sides.

OP start is…for some reason, never a good start. For some reason, I just don’t like it. Maybe that might be the fact I was taught to start with a compelling opening scene when I was a fiction writer, though.

The subber got so bored they even subbed the Dengeki Bunko logo in the corner…wow. (sarcastic)

For some reason, the art style reminds me of Banana Fish (or Parasyte). Must be the chara designs.

This seems to be coated in a fine film of 90s edge. Or maybe the early 2000s, because that’s when this really comes from. C’mon, Takeda doesn’t even seem surprised when his mouth hangs open!

Notably, Boogiepop uses boku.

Wait, I don’t get why Boogiepop is called that. They pop the boogie(men)? That right?

I started zoning out and fiddling with my wrist in the middle of this episode. That’s another bad sign…

Wow, that ending’s really minimalist.

Currently, this episode raises more questions than it answers. Its overall impression level is trending slightly towards the negative. There must be a double premiere for a reason, though…let’s move on.

Wait - Kirima Seiichi? Is he Nagi’s father??? How did I not notice that earlier?

That manticore business seems to be correct…according to Wikipedia.

This doesn’t add up. Taniguchi. Kirima. Maybe Taniguchi is the name of the mother/father and Kirima is the name of the other parent? Update: Spoke too soon on this point and a previous one.

Kirima’s OS appears to be Windows 10 with a few adjustments.

Wait, but isn’t Suema meant to be the girl’s surname? Or is it Kinoshita? Update: It’s Suema. Kinoshita is another girl.

This white-haired man is the one from last episode, right? I didn’t really recognise him since there’s always terrible lighting plus he was wearing orange then, but yeah. Can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots there either.

White-haired man seems to be like Anti from Gridman. I presume he’s Echoes…? Update: Yup, Echoes it is.

Egao no Daika 1

This sounds like it’s outside my field of expertise, but I’ve been proven wrong before with Planet With, not to mention Toshiki Masuda is a character called Huey Malthis. It seems to be pretty standard Princess and the Pauper fare though…

There’s just a bunch of tablets with fancy-looking English on them…the heck?

Is it just me, or did the mecha game have the solitaire success sound effect…?

Ooh, I sense animosity regarding Japan’s emperor abdicating within this show (in a metaphorical sense)! I could analyse this show to bits, maybe…

The CGI in this actually ain’t that bad. Then again, we are talking about mechs here…

Oh, end of episode segment. Keep watching…

Well, I noticed the characters go off model if you’re paying attention to something you shouldn’t be, but otherwise, it’s a respectable first episode…respectable, but fairly average.

[crazy-grrrl-on-the-computer]

Really, boys? Are you sure about that? Maybe you should think this one through.

Oh no…

Now, you’ve done it…

ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!

THOSE DON’T LOOK LIKE HAPPY FACES TO ME!

[theliterarywolf]

Great!

Wonderful!

Amazing!

...Is it going to actually be good in of itself or is it just going to be constant terrible attempts at being ‘meta’ about the magical girl genre like BoueiBu was?

in extremely surreal and almost bizarre news: tokyo mew mew is getting a male spinoff in 2020 to (most likely) celebrate its 20 year anniversary

[fortune-maiden]

4, 15, 20, 25

Thank you!! :D

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

He’s tired. He’s sat in that room for so many hours staring at words on a page. He’s circled things and wrote things and bubbled in things and they are all a blur now. He can’t remember what the last question he answered was. What the hardest question - the one no ever forgot - was. If he’d remembered to even write his name.

All he knows is that no amount of guessing in the world will save him.

This is from an older fic that I have on anon for certain reasons (the main being it feels awkward to go off anon now), but I really like how certain sections of that fic turned out including this piece. The context for this paragraph is that the pov character just took a college entrance exam for a notoriously difficult to get into school, and knows he failed.

I like how this bit turned out for that post-exam feeling of exhaustion and uncertainty especially for an exam you know you did not put your best studying efforts into & it turned out to be harder than anything you’d anticipated. I think everyone’s experienced that at least once...

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

TITLES! Sometimes with my fics I’ll come up with either a title immediately and then its fine, but if I don’t come up with a title, I will end up calling the fic something stupid (still crying over the title of my last fic and want to change it but I kinda worry about doing that at this stage because that fic did bizarrely well).

Summaries are easier because if I really can’t think of anything, I’ll use a relevant passage from the fic itself.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

I feel like this is one of those things where I always want to ramble about it but I never know what to say.

One recurring thing in my boueibu fics is mentioning a alien-language dub of the series’ in-universe show and a (made up) actors in said dub. This originates from a bunch of fun conversations and headcanons with a friend and I love including it any of my fics.

One other thing I like having in my fics is characters with either a very close relationship or rivals/enemies who are more alike than they think being on the same wavelength when independently encountering identical situations right down to their word choices.

Other than that I think I do probably reference my own fics all the time or reference the same headcanons on multiple occasions (like if a character is reminiscing about their childhood or something) since I’ve generally built up a specific headcanon mythos I’m drawing from.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

I answered this one earlier with outlines, but I also love writing little dialogue back and forths (especially if they’re snarky). If I come up with a fun exchange during the writing process, I’ll stop my current writing to jot it down for later.

It’s a double-edged sword though because if I really like the dialogue snippet I’ll try to force the preceding scene to lead to it even if the scene wanted to spin off elsewhere ^^”

[nardaviel]

nutritional facts of spinach: an atsushi analysis

i tried for days to think of a better title and i couldnt so y’all are just gonna have to live with this one

I initially wrote this Atsushi analysis for an RP application. The chat told me I should adapt it for the fandom on Tumblr and post it here, and I think they’re right because I’m always saying that Atsushi’s an interesting and complex character, not average/boring/whatever, so at some point I need to explain what I mean. The analysis itself doesn’t have a thesis, it’s just talking about what Atsushi’s like as a person, but maybe people will be interested anyway?

There are some canons where most people are so strange that if someone so much as approaches normalcy, even if they fall short, they stand out. In Boueibu, that person is Atsushi.

To put it simply, Atsushi is just a nice Japanese boy from a good family. He's the most genuinely polite member of the main cast. His life's ambition is to have a calm, conflict-free existence and take care of his friends. If he's more than he seems, it's not by his choice, and he would take the lovracelet off his wrist if he could. He didn't ask to be a magical boy. In fact, he rejected the offer, for all the good it did. He's not interested. It's too much responsibility.

Atsushi's most important distinguishing feature is probably his gentleness. He's kind and concerned about others, whether they're friends or total strangers. He tries to see things from others' perspective, or at least understand that they have a perspective, even when those others have wronged him or the people he cares about.

He's almost too forgiving, judging from the way he immediately forgives Kinshirou for trying to murder him and Yumoto. Indeed, he asks hopefully if Kinshirou will be his friend again. He does have an occasional tendency to surprise you with smartass comebacks and clever put-downs, but it's never anything too serious, and if he does accidentally go too far, he feels bad and tries to fix things.

He’s not all sweetness and light, all the time. He switches his chair with En's because his is wobbly, for example, and he has significantly less sympathy or concern for Wombat, who's caused him a lot of pain and inconvenience. He can get snappish when annoyed. But, on the whole, he's a kind person who cares about those around him.

Because he's so caring (and well-adjusted and normal, compared to the others), his role in the group is the long-suffering mom friend. He keeps the group together, makes sure everyone is comfortable, and scolds people, when necessary.

Just a few examples:

He gets outright stressed when En won't let him help make his own birthday cake.

His entire second image song is about how tiring it is being everyone's mom friend, keeping them all together and making sure they're acting at least kind of socially acceptable.

Even though he gives En a hard time about his laziness, he still comes to pick him up in the mornings, probably not always, but on a regular basis.

That last example says a lot, especially when considered in relation to his history. Kinshirou was a high-maintenance friend in his own way, although his demands were more emotional. He seems to have been the type to need a lot of reassurance about their friendship, and he would have taken the news that Atsushi was getting curry so badly that Atsushi didn’t even feel like he could tell him. And when he left, Atsushi immediately attached himself to En, who, frankly, wouldn't do much of anything without someone there to prod him into it. Of course, En was there when Kinshirou stopped talking to Atsushi, a new friend already being supportive.

But there was more to it than that. En needs Atsushi, and Atsushi needs to be needed.

That's not to say that Atsushi doesn't care about En or enjoy his company. Left to his own devices, Atsushi tends to be serious and perhaps too prone to worrying. En's laid-back attitude and frequent digressions into random, pointless conversations amuse him and help him relax. If En suddenly became more independent, Atsushi would feel lost, but he wouldn't want to be En's friend any less.

He does have the same lazy, slightly selfish streak as the rest of the Defense Club, minus Yumoto. None of them have any interest at all in fighting monsters. They didn't volunteer, so it seems unfair to expect enthusiasm, especially from En and Atsushi who explicitly refused Wombat's offer more than once. Still, even if they don't enjoy fighting, they know that the monsters are real people, often their fellow students, that have been transformed. They could at least want to help those people out, or, if not that, prevent the damage the monsters often cause. Instead, by season 2, they are completely done with the whole situation and want to avoid fighting entirely if they can get away with it.

This comes back to bite them when they're willing to fight for Goura, but the Beppus have given up on battling it out and moved on to a new, more dangerous plan. But at least that shows that they'll make the effort when it's someone they personally know and care about.

The third drama CD is similar in spirit. Atsushi, as well as all the others except Yumoto, is completely willing to throw anyone else under the bus if it means he doesn't have to serve as the president of the Defense Club. This is a manifestation of the same impulse that made the four of them find a small, remote room and hide in it during club activities to begin with. All of them, including Atsushi, want to spend their free time relaxing and doing their own thing.

People make a few references to a possible hidden “dark side” of Atsushi’s throughout canon. All jokes about sadism aside, there are some aspects of himself that haunt him and make him unhappy, a quiet darkness that conflicts with the calm, essentially happy manner that he tries to portray.

As a child, Atsushi was cheerful, open, and relaxed. He stood in sharp contrast to Kinshirou, who wore suspenders as a tiny child and worried about seeming childish while still in elementary school. In the flashbacks, Atsushi is open with his affection and excitement.

However, as a teenager, he's become more reserved. It's harder for him to express his emotions. Although he himself is polite and friendly, his body language tends toward the closed and unwelcoming. He crosses his arms over his chest...

...and he puts a hand to his chin when he thinks, which has the same effect of placing a barrier between him and whoever he's talking to.

Even when he's clearly unhappy or preoccupied, he tries to smile anyway and act like he's fine. And he doesn't like any of this. He feels like it's a character flaw. His first image song is about how insecure and guilty it all makes him feel.

He struggles, as well, with confrontation. When Kinshirou refused to talk to him in middle school, En urged him to talk it out, but Atsushi said he'd rather let Kinshirou have some space. That space grew into years of bitter silence and hesitant, awkward attempts at small talk. In season 1, episode 8, history seems to repeat itself when his best friend once again gets mad at him for no reason that he can see. The first time En runs away, he follows, attempting to learn from past mistakes, but as soon as En tells him to fuck off, he gives up.

It's not a stretch to think that during episode 8 Atsushi wonders what's wrong with him, that his best friends all decide after a few years that he sucks. Luckily, the situation gets sorted quickly, and in the season finale, he takes a more active role in his reconciliation with Kinshirou. (It was a step in the right direction when he got angry at the monster in episode 8, but in the finale, he actually talks about things with Kinshirou.) Still, those two fights highlight Atsushi's biggest weakness. When it comes to the big things, he's too gentle. He makes it a fault. He has such a hard time dealing with confrontation that he'll let his friendships be destroyed first.

He's also insecure in some areas. As I mentioned, he thinks he's too cold and closed off. He also thinks he's kind of boring.

Because he thinks his company isn't interesting or emotionally rewarding, it's likely that he doesn't understand his value outside the role he's given himself as a caretaker. It doesn't cause him too much angst, because he is in a caretaker role and his personality is fundamentally not that angsty, but the thought is still there, in the back of his mind. This is probably partly or entirely why he needs to be needed like he does.

However, now that he and Kinshirou are friends again, a lot of the sadness from season 1 is starting to fade. The two of them are still awkward with each other and don't quite know how to act after so long apart, but Atsushi is happy to have him back and he's determined not to mess it up this time. Regaining Kinshirou’s friendship has helped him learn to be more assertive, less inclined to just let bad things happen. ...But the day before he goes to all that effort to see Kinshirou off at the airport, he does this:

So he's still pretty nervous about conflict.

He can get kind of annoyed with En or impatient with Yumoto, but he rarely gets truly angry. It happens in episode 8 when En is yelling at him and being completely unfair, and later, when he confronts the monster that's made En like that.

It happens again when Kinshirou is smashing up the school to try to kill him.

And that's pretty much it for genuine anger from Atsushi in the anime; even in season 2′s climactic episodes, he doesn’t show as much of it. When he is angry, though, it can be startling how intense he becomes and, given his usual demeanor, how unwilling he is to back down. Even so, he stays on topic in arguments and doesn't try to hurt the other party, even when the opportunity presents itself.

It's because of things like that, as well as his politeness and general normalcy, that he has some of the most mature behavior among all the main cast. Arima is the only one who might have him beat. As another sign of his maturity, he gets very good grades due to study and diligence, as opposed to En, who usually gets mediocre grades but occasionally surprises everyone with a streak of 100s based on (he claims) excellent guesswork.

He’s clever, too. He doesn't think quite as quickly as En in the moment, but his grades are the second best in his year, and he has a good memory, where En often does not. Because of his memory, an intellectual strength of his is synthesizing information.

Despite that, he can be a little credulous sometimes. For the most part, it shows up when Kinshirou is there to serve as a counterpoint.

And even though he’s smart and often reaches the right conclusions, there are times where he comes up with some very unusual theories.

That naiveté might be a result of his upbringing: He's from a rich family, although not an obscenely wealthy one. He seems to have a good home life, because instead of being snobby or cruel, he's just sweet and, as mentioned, a little naive. Even after the events of the show, he thinks the world is basically a kind place. After all, nothing disastrous happened in the end, right? He talks about his sister, both in the stargazing flashback and in the game, and he mentions that the reason his family bought their very fancy TV is because his dad wanted it. (But he doesn't use it much, because he has another one in his room.) Also in support of the idea that he has responsible parents, or at least parents without unlimited funds: He's expected to go to college and become independent, instead of living off their money forever. On the other hand, he's also under the impression that most people go to college...

...which suggests that he's somewhat sheltered. He doesn't know yet what he wants to do with his life, so right now he intends to just go to college and hope something presents itself.

He's image-conscious, and doesn't enjoy drawing attention to himself. He finds the Battle Lover uniforms and scripted lines extremely embarrassing. There are others in the cast who are more easily embarrassed, for sure, but it's still not hard to make him feel awkward or self-conscious. In particular, it's possible that he's self-conscious about being too skinny: En tells him he is twice in season 1, and then in season 2, he's seen weighing himself after a bath.

He's also a pretty bad actor.

He enjoys reading, jigsaw puzzles, baths, anime, and video games. In other words, he enjoys calm, relaxing indoor hobbies with a playful or escapist feel. According to the fanbook, he hates needles. He knows a whole lot about anime, particularly older shounen and sentai shows.

That’s all for this analysis. Thank you for reading about Atsushi :D and as always, please comment with whatever you want!!

[thatlittledandere]

for the fandom ask thingy: idk what fandoms you're in but i like pink so uhhhh a series that has a character with pink (or red) hair

Aight Boueibu it is

It would have come up eventually anyway lol AND they have four pink boiyes so yeah here's a recap!

Favorite character

Ibushi Arima! Forever and always

Least favorite character

Of the main onessss I guess Martha. Idk I just don't vibe

5 favorite ships (canon or non-canon)

Ioryuu

Ibukin

Akoio

Mmmm enatsu??

Kinatsu maybe?? Or maybe Taichiro...

Character I find most attractive

I don't know when and how and why it came to this but probably Io jesus christ. I mean Akoya and Taiju are right there...

Character I would marry

I already married Ibushi five years ago so I'm good thank you :) Realistically I don't know. There are too many characters, there's too much to consider, I know these characters too well. I haven't had the time or energy to go through every possible scenario.

Character I would be best friends with

Same as above! I need time to think these things through and haven't taken that time. My go-to answer is Ryuu, providing he lets his guard down instead of playing Mr World Wide.

A random thought

I'm sad I never got all that attached to Happy Kiss. It was good, I liked it, but when asked about Boueibu I still default to LOVE like I forget HK exists.

An unpopular opinion

I saw Miss Bara Beach as nonbinary, possibly genderfluid or agender. To me, it looked like they didn't particularly care what they were called and went with "miss" because it was Yumoto's first guess. I know what the actual meta reason behind them was but shhh it's bigoted and we're not talking about that now.

I also don't hc Yumoto as ace but I can't be the only one with this lol

My canon otp

Not applicable

Non-canon otp

Still Ioryuu 😊 Best boueibu ship forever and always

Most badass character

I don't want to think, Taiju

Pairing I am not a fan of

Oh there are so many ships there must be many here but hmmm let's say I never really warmed up to any beppuships. And weirdly enough I keep growing further and further away

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another)

Considering how much screentime the twins got, I find it weird how little time the writers spent trying to make them sympathetic and likeable. Of course, their jerkiness is likeable to many by itself, but if we were supposed to feel bad for them... I don't think what we got was enough to turn the heads of those of us who didn't already like them at that point. I also feel like they integrated to the group even less than the SC did, and they were kinda just slapped in there too. Of course I am one person looking at this from my own biased pov but hey, this was about my opinions. And now that I've learned to appreciate the twins more, I think their potential wasn't used to its fullest.

Favorite friendship

Aaaah... En and Atsushi. Ngl I'm too obsessed with ioryuu as a romantic couple to be truly satisfied if they're completely platonic without even pining LMAO, while enatsu have a great friendship going on and I can appreciate it for what it is.

Fandom, ship or character asks

[cupkayke]

Cupkayke Rewatches/Liveblogs Boueibu!

Season 1, Episode 5

Hokay! Moving right along- and surprisingly I actually have a lot to dissect in this episode! (Well, mostly about a couple of key conversations). This ep is where we get introduced to the Press Society fuckers and the boys start to pick up on a base level that their monster fighting might have a bigger purpose- although most of that is glossed over in favor of focusing on the lack of privacy. 

Thanks again to those who keep commenting on/reblogging my liveblogs! I come to love this community more and more each day, it seems like. You all rock <3

THAT GODDAMN FISH I FORGOT THIS WAS WHERE HE WAS INTRODUCED

And from his first moment on screen I remember thinking he was going to be significant

And they aren’t concerned about the censoring?

Like that isn’t normal in real life, dude.

Ominous scene is ominous - I have more on this later~

Animation callout here- I could even notice Atsushi’s eyes scanning the pages here. A+ detail.

I agree En- I hate the rain with a burning passion. Makes me just want to nap. (Again- I have a strong feeling that En is my spirit animal)

Again noticing the color-coordinated cups lol- @nardaviel 8D

ATSUSHI WITH THE SASS AGAIN- similarly to Arima, why did I not notice how much fucking shade Atsushi throws (mostly towards En) the first time I watched this series? He has the best lines lol.

AND EN IS JUST LIKE ‘ORLY?’ LIKE HE ISN’T SELF-AWARE.

Not quite compliments there- but what does En say?

HE CALLS HIM “MY ATSUSHI” AND COMPLIMENTS HIS ENGLISH OMG I AM DEAD

Like... is there any doubt that they’re boyfriends at this point? Or at least getting there? Lol

Side note I just noticed that while En never wears his tie he keeps it in his jacket pocket at all times... c’mon En if you make it a point to have it on you why not just wear it?

I apologize in advance that I am basically screencapping this entire conversation but I am going to over-analyze it to death because A) My graduate degree is in English and B) Linguistics is fascinating. SO BUCKLE UP KIDS.

On this note- at first, I agreed with Io wholeheartedly that ‘naive’ and ‘sensitive’ are not considered compliments in English-speaking cultures and was a bit confused as to how they could be in Japanese.

However... then I thought about it again, and taking ‘naive’ as its definition of ‘innocent’ and ‘sensitive’ as its definition of ‘sympathetic/empathetic’, then the former can be seen as neutral, rather than an insult, and the latter can be seen as a compliment. So... culture differences are fascinating.

But definitely gut reaction is that you do not want to be called naive or sensitive in English so...

The way Ryuu says this makes me think he’s heard that phrase directed at himself on more than one occasion lol- which is probably why he brings it up.

Atsushi’s definition, however, is not one I commonly would think of when confronted with ‘naive’. It more to me means ‘childlike’ or ‘ignorant’, because ‘careless’ is a deliberate action, whereas ‘ignorant’ is simply passive. 

I have no reason for this screencap other than that I melted at Io’s English. Adorable- and I get the feeling from his pronunciation that he’s definitely got top marks in English.

Though it makes sense that he’d be pretty fluent in English due to his business transactions.

Then the fact that he pointedly directs this at Ryuu is hysterical for other reasons.

Well, Ryuu, you kind of had it written all over your face when you brought it up that you were thinking of a phrase that had been directed at you~

Love Io’s sutble teasing here, too haha. Look at his face.

Ryuu is so earnest in his defense of himself lol

But the word he chooses here- ‘guileless’- is interesting because when I went to the dictionary page for ‘naive’, ‘guileless’ is one of the synonyms

So they’re all basically meaning the same thing here, however- ‘guileless’ has a more direct definition of ‘honest, sincere, & straightforward’, which does describe Ryuu pretty well.

His demeanor in this entire scene as an example, and the phone call with a potential girlfriend we hear later (which is hilarious for other reasons) definitely contains that tone.

And Io continues with his gentle ribbing lol

The camera cuts away before we see Ryuu’s reaction but I would imagine he pouted at Io after that

In general, aside from the language discussion this scene just shows how the boys interact with one another beautifully and asdfgjlskjf;lkj they’re all so cute

En you just keep setting yourself up for Atsushi’s shade lol

Ummm Yumoto you okay?

That is not convincing me that you are okay at ALL

I LOVE THE PEANUTS REFERENCE

Smol fluffy child stop being creepy you are molesting an innocent creature

Like seriously I don’t care how cute you and Wombat look here it’s UNSETTLING

Yumoto says ‘feel so fine’ in English- but this one I’m stumped. I haven’t heard that used as a phrase, before. I mean, I get his meaning... does he perhaps mean to say “that feel good feeling?” Idk... I guess it can be said multiple ways but that particular phrasing seems weird to me

MOLDY TEACHER

Uhhhh I don’t think it works that way, Wombat

Psssssh En just gave Wombat the ultimate diss- you almost feel sorry for the poor pink creature

Side note- Press kids are creepy as hell

And then they don’t give a shit when Wombat falls THREE STORIES- or is it 5 stories?

Io how do you have such a calm face saying that- Atsushi looks like he’s about to shit himself with panic

No explanation other than their expressions are hilarious- NOW Io looks panicked

From their first like 3 seconds onscreen I immediately hated these assholes. Well, I suppose the smol asshole. The other one is just... there.

Also, how the fuck did they get up to the club room so fast from taking pictures down below just moments before???

Binan’s website is sophisticated as all get out like whoah

From this monologue, I get a couple of things;

1) Kinosaki’s hair is stupid

2) I feel like his true calling was drama club but he got stuck with newspaper/website instead

3) He just REALLY rubs you the wrong way with how he talks out of his ass like that- it makes me wonder exactly how much they know ahead of time about the DC

Like, if I remember right, it’s revealed later that they knew about them (because the fucking fish- Hireashi- is apparently their club mascot???)

But it isn’t clear at this point if they actually know their identities, or if Hireashi just told them about CIDE2 but didn’t tell them right away about the DC’s identities and Kinosaki just kind of deduced on his own that they should probably investigate the club that does nothing because they’re kind of suspicious now that this cosplay group thing has shown up

...but I suppose it makes more sense in hindsight that they’re in on the entire thing and they’re just trying to see how the DC react- their real purpose here instead of getting a story is getting better ratings for CIDE2

Regardless-

I agree, Yumoto

En once again picking on Yumoto.

Sometimes I get the impression En’s just doing it in a teasing, good-natured way and then at the same time I get the impression that En just barely tolerates Yumoto in the earlier episodes.

Hm. I can’t tell.

I wonder if this line is just more bullshitting on Kinosaki’s part or if he’s actually hinting at something here.

And now I can’t tell if Kinosaki just simply DOESN’T NOTICE Tawarayama is technically DEAD or he KNOWS because of the stupid fish and is blatantly ignoring it just to see how far the DC will go to get him the fuck out of there lol

Either way, he’s succeeding in freaking them out

Evil reporter is evil (THOSE EYEEEEEES)

I love their expressions here- and then the way they all look at one another, expecting someone to come up with a plan to get the annoyances out of there

Like idk it’s super cute how Ryuu and Io look at one another and then En and Atsushi look between each other and Yumoto and Yumoto just looks up at his senpais like “ummm”

And it definitely WOULD be Io who’s the one to come up with some loopholes or a ‘logical’ point about press responsibility in an effort to scare Kinosaki off

I have a feeling he’s well versed in these things because business

I sometimes have a hard time remembering he’s like 16/17- he acts MUCH older than all of the others.

Not quite sure what he’s implying here- though it’s definitely an interesting line if you take into account that he likely knows all about the DC and their true identities as the Battle Lovers

Perhaps he’s alluding to the fact that they should use their interviews with him to make themselves look better to CIDE2′s audience, which would be really interesting because potentially he’s operating under the assumption that the DC know they’re being filmed. Which is plausible because Hireashi could have told them anything.

Or on a more local level, it could be him wanting the DC to take him up on his offer to improve their position in the school (although I get the impression that some of them are already pretty popular as is? Ryuu definitely but potentially En as well)

Maybe he has heard rumblings of the conflict between Atsushi and Kinshirou and knows that the DC is on thin ice with their status as a club so he’s offering them a favor to make Kinshirou hate them less?

Oooh looking at him from these angles he’s a bit more likeable as a character

But this is all still speculation so I most probably am wrong.

En goes from adorable to annnoyed in .2 seconds flat lol

Snerk- he points out so easily that En an Atsushi are always together.

Everyone knows they’re boyfriendssssss

This conversation is a bit telling- definitely a lot more so than when I first watched it.

En doesn’t like talking about himself. He says as much in his next line, although it’s a bit sutble;

Give me some questions that are easier to answer.

I can read this scene as En nearly admitting that he doesn’t find himself remarkable- or he’d have to think about it a little harder if Kinosaki wanted a better answer. 

Talking about himself doesn’t come naturally- he doesn’t think of himself as anything special, or he has a hard time thinking about what does make him special.

Talk about a pointed question

Io just ignores him lol

Though that’s a bit on the nose. Io definitely finds the whole Battle Lover thing bothersome

Although that contradicts my headcanon that Io is secretly super into it even though he isn’t at first lolol

Money is SRZBZ

RYUU I HAVE A FEELING THAT’S NOT HOW YOU FLIRT WITH GIRLS

Though there is his self-described ‘guilelessness’ lol

Guys... stahp

Fffffffft RYUU WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE A VIBRATOR

I’m sorry I can’t picture anything else that he could possibly be talking about. Nope. Can’t do it. My mind is trash.

Though I have to say this is probably some of the worst foreshadowing. It was like the writers were like ‘shit we’re halfway through the episode and we haven’t foreshadowed what the monster is going to be here let’s let Ryuu talk about it suggestively’

Upset Pink isn’t getting laid tonight

Meanwhile Atsushi is still trying to rival Arima to be the Sass Master

I can’t with Tarawayama and Wombat it’s so silly

And all the kids have just ACCEPTED that their teacher now carries around a pink plush wombat that sort of seems alive all the time

Yumoto bby that’s not how you get to college...

WHAT THE FUCK GUYS THAT’S SO CREEPY

AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICES

That was the quickest exposition for a loveless character

Like seriously, 2 lines, a Zundar Needle and a sassy line from the CC

At least they all realize it’s just Kurosaki who is annoying. Tazawa just snaps pics in the background.

Wombat has spent too much time on Tumblr. I’m sorry I had to

Wombat’s Kansai accent cracks me up

So basically you’re admitting that Tawarayama is dead-dead and your ‘technology’ isn’t doing much?

WOMBAT! Is that anything to say to the character who’s mother is mysteriously absent? <.<

Nice callbacks!

NAKED HANG OUT

Tho why the fuck does he have a camera in the onsen?? INVASION OF PRIVACY MUCH?

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU NOT NOTICE HE’S DEAD

Wombat’s pissed and firing back the nonverbal sass at Atsushi

Another line supporting the “Press society knows too much” idea- it’s as if he was clued in on what to listen for~

Wombat’s little anxious dance is like wtf

I like how imaginary Yumoto is covering his shorts all ashamed lol

Is this Yandare simulator?

No srz tho Yumoto is savage af and everybody’s like “WTF”

Self aware “we are in an anime” joke featuring genre/time period awareness

I think someone on staff just really wanted to draw Ryuu like that lol

About here is where I realized I really liked Tazawa’s design- his ponytail is super cute

Yumoto is a very convincing actor in a pinch

Attempt at badass poses isn’t very effective when you all are naked

Side note I just realized they all tie their towels in the same manner- is that a cultural thing or are they all simply right or left handed???

Or is it just a lazy animation thing? hahaha

I swear Tazawa only has like 3 lines but he’s adorable AF

Also... he’s got a point

Ryuu does have a point

Because how else will we know that we’re true magical boys???

Okay, so I’m not a huge fan of the ‘remote control monster’. But I suppose its symbolism is twofold;

1) It directly represents the micro-conflict of the episode, the DC having their image controlled by the Press Society

2) It leads the way for the DC to put two and two together and realize that the monsters are being controlled by someone (although I feel like that’s obvious because they’ve been... y’know... members of their school spontaneously turned into monsters? Like that doesn’t just happen)

Idk tho I wish we’d gotten a smidgen more about this student; but I suppose the actual conflict is the one going on with the DC

This line made me giggle hysterically but I just realized how big of a culture gap there is because I have never even SEEN a bidet toilet. The quick google search I ran indicates they’re fairly common in Europe/Asia? Like WTF America you’d think we’d be more hygienic.

I love when they use physical violence lol it makes it more serious

It also serves a dual purpose in knocking annoying monsters down a couple pegs

ONE HIT KO

Srz though Yumoto that was epic

Though there definitely wasn’t much of a point for the others to be there which I know is a stab at the typical magical girl genre trope of the main character being OP’d but on the other hand that’s so frustrating that this happens ALL THE TIME

Like once is funny, the entire series playing it as a running gag is old

Though I wonder if we timed all of the monster encounters in this show if this one would be one of the shortest lol

But seriously though... this show HINTS at being a much deeper magical boy show and then it just subverts everything by having Yumoto be OP and they talk their way out of ridiculous, potentially DANGEROUS situations

Like exhibit A)

Like this COULD BE REALLY SCARY. Cliche remote control monster with the ability to control real people!

He could have ALL the battle lovers fight one another! Or like what’s hinted at happening- have Yumoto do the love attack on his friends!

Like it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Yumoto to fire a shot at the others. They could have dodged, and having him resist the control is a great tension device, but then-

DEUS EX WOMBAT

Like... so disappointing. Boueibu your narrative needs to go up a notch.

And this is where my crunchyroll app fucked up and couldn’t buffer anything over 240p long enough to take screencaps, so I’ll just summarize the last couple of points;

The monster before it turns back into the student is self-aware enough to exclaim that he was being controlled by someone else’s will- which is enough for the DC to pick up on the fact that the monsters are being controlled. I mentioned it earlier but I suppose it bears repeating that these poor boys aren’t necessarily too bright lol- or they just aren’t thinking too hard about the surreal monster thing.

The scene back at the onsen doesn’t have much- I just thought it was funny that Kinosaki was scared of Gora with his giant axe.

Kinshirou’s typical arrogance was typical; a bit more of his irritation towards anything having to do with Atsushi’s new crew but nothing major here with their characters.

And then the last scene- Kinosaki’s line about ‘our initial report went well, huh?’ and then the shot of Hireashi is an example of foreshadowing DONE WELL and not played for laughs. That definitely confirms that those two are in on the whole CIDE2 thing and are acting as agents for the TV network. Makes me wonder how THAT conversation happened- like those two probably would have been WTFing over a TALKING FISH.

But anyway! Another episode that’s a bit deeper with character development than at first meets the eye, and disappointing shades of what could have been a magical boy show that played at the tropes but ultimately subverted them. Sigh. I suppose this is what fanfic is for... and thusly I continue my research gathering!