#but i hear the manga version is really good! i still need to read the manga

[cloudinal]

We're all in love tonight

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 108... You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

WE ARE SO BACK!!! 🗣 And this chapter was... SO DAMN GOOD! 👏😆

What an awesome early Christmas present!! 💗🤗💗 Now let's get back into the swing of things, shall we...? 😉

To start off, we pick up right where we left off with Mission 107... With Yor and Anya finding out that Melinda is a fortune teller at the sheep festival!! 😲 (Also, @yumeka-sxf shared the Japanese version of the first page of this chapter the other day with other Spy X Family Jump Festa news!! 😁)

Melinda then tells Yor to not tell anyone about her being into the occult...!! She even mentions how she believes in many things, including telepathy to Anya's surprise (though, I believe there might be a reason why Melinda is into the occult, perhaps she knows more than she's letting on? 🤔)

After Yor tells Melinda that she admires that she can do what she loves and Melinda happily thinks that Yor is into the occult too, Anya then asks Melinda to read her fortune:

I was like, "Oh gosh, what's gonna happen...? What is Melinda gonna see...?!" 😵 So as I waited with baited breath to see Melinda in action, she lays out her tarot cards to read Anya's fortune and...:

SHE'S HORRIBLE AT IT!!! 🤭

I mean, this could be all an act... 🤔 But for right now, I'm gonna believe that she really isn't that good at fortune telling, mainly because I think it's funny and cute...!! 😄

After reading that the grim reaper is behind Anya (A.K.A. Yor 👏😂) and saying that Anya will NEVER get another Stella Star, Melinda asks Anya if she likes Damian... Anya of course says NO because he bullies her, but Melinda appreciates that she is still trying to be friends with Damian...!! 😊 Soon Melinda starts to think about how she wasn't there for Damian during the Desmond "family" dinner back in Mission 106 and thinks that she needs to go and face Damian, then...:

HOLY SHIT, DONOVAN JUMP SCARE!!! 😱

Ever since she introduced herself as Melinda Desmond way back in Mission 65, I didn't know how to feel about this woman, I just could not figure her out... But thanks all to of these recent developments in the last few chapters that she's been in, I think that I can safely say that Melinda needs to take Damian (and Demetrius, if he isn't too far gone) AND GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM DONOVAN!! 😫 I don't know what's up with that man, but if he can make his supposed "wife" THIS SCARED OF HIM, then he definitely NEEDS TO BE STOPPED!! 👏👏👏

Moving on, Anya hears all of Melinda's conflicting thoughts, which makes Anya wonder something...:

It always warms my heart whenever Anya shows her concern and compassion for others...! 💗 Though currently for Melinda, she could not answer Anya's question and decided to leave as soon as possible... 😔 But before she goes, Yor stops Melinda to tell her something...

We then cut back the others as Anya and Yor make their return to the group...!! Becky asks how it went, and...:

GODDAMNIT BECKY, YOU ARE JUST SOOO DELUSIONAL GIRL!! 🤣

Besides Becky thinking that her fortune teller is a hack (this girl, I swear 😌) and reacting to Anya's grim reaper fortune (with Yor being adorable about it 💗), she asks Anya about her love fortune and Anya lies and tells Becky that the fortune teller told her to get invited to his house, which makes Damian to start yelling...!! 👌😌

After Anya convinces Twilight to stay longer (because he was gonna go look for Melinda, though he doesn't know that she already left), they all stay until it becomes dark before everyone decides to leave the festival. Yor thanks the Eden kids for being friends with Anya, while Damian scoffs at seeing Anya holding her mother's hand, which causes Anya to say this to him:

Which makes Damian flustered and then Yor chimes in reaffirming Anya's statement, causing Damian to run off...!! 🤭

After that, Jeeves and the other butlers say their goodbyes and even offer to get drinks again with Twilight sometime...!! 😊 But as they left, it reminded Twilight of something that broke my heart... 🥲

ENDO!!! 😭 WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS STUFF TO ME!!! 💔

This was literally bringing me to TEARS!! 😫 THEY REMINDED HIM OF HIS FRIENDS, I CAN'T-- 😭😭😭

Ahem...! Sorry about that... 😢 Anyway, after *sniff* that, Twilight asks if Anya enjoyed the festival, she of course did enjoy her time there and the Forgers headed home...!! 💗

After that, we see Twilight at his psychiatrist job and he has a new patient...:

IT'S FREAKING MELINDA!! 😵

Turns out the thing that Yor told Melinda was to go see Loid because he's a doctor (she also mentions that he does "concussive therapy" to his patients👏🤣), and now Loid can (hopefully) get some info from Melinda! 😲

And that was the end of chapter, and boy did I miss this...!! 😁 Not only was this chapter fantastic on SO MANY LEVELS, but it's also great to talk about a new chapter again!! 😊 This honestly the best early Christmas gift that I could ask for...!! 💗🤗💗

I am so glad that Endo is doing a lot better and I hope that he takes it easy going forward because even though I love this series with all my heart, I'd rather have Endo get as much rest and take as many breaks as he needs then to have this man die on the job just for our entertainment. Endo is a human being like every last single one of us fans, so it's always very sad to me when I see people care more about fictional characters and their worlds over the real people that make 'em...!! 😤 More people should know better, but they don't and that just sucks so much man... 😮‍💨

Anyway, sorry about my little tangent there... This chapter was a wonderful chapter for the series to return with and as always, I can't wait for the next one!! 😊 So until the next Mission; take care, be safe out there and be kind to one another...!! Also...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS Y'ALL...!! SEE YA!! 👋😄

[haleigh-sloth]

For scientific reasons, need to hear more on that Deku/Shigaraki and Isagi/Rin parallels (what r u cooking)

Stopppp DON'T ENABLE ME

Okay too late

First let me explain something lol--I find that I often look for specific dynamics in stories that I've found in other stories, ones that have impacted me and stuck with me. Deku/Shigaraki stuck with me (others have too), so I subconsciously look for dynamics like that. So whether it's valid to say Rin and Isagi are ACTUALLY similar in any way whatsoever, I'm not the best person to ask because I'm kind of searching for it lol. But I do have my reasons for feeling that way!!

I would say that "parallel" is a strong word because it's not exactly that they parallel, it's just the overall VIBE and the TYPE of dynamic I'm seeing reminds me so much of Deku/Shigaraki and I can easily break it down explaining why. BUT FIRST I did kind of dive into detail about Isagi and Rin here (and Bachira, my other son is important!), so if you're bored at some point today read that too. But to explain why, the number 1 reason is Rin's role and position in the story.

If you look at the Blue Lock cast as a whole, exactly how many people are dealing with true emotional turmoil that is detached from the world inside of the Blue Lock project? As far as I can tell, Rin and Kaiser are the only ones who fit the bill. Even if characters came with baggage, like Bachira, their baggage became intertwined with the world inside Blue Lock. So in other words, there are only 2 people who really have deep shit that they're struggling with that, should Blue Lock disappear, they'd STILL be struggling with and couldn't really escape from. So THAT in itself already puts Rin in a really unique position compared to everyone else in Blue Lock.

That's the long version of saying that Rin is this manga's little damsel in distress (like Tomura lmao). I personally really believe that his issues revolving around his brother, and his issues regarding himself and his sense of worth are the core emotional conflict of the story. I think they're absolutely crucial to Isagi's story too, because at this point there is no Rin without Isagi and vice versa. More on that later though. So what really made me start being like "ah yes, I think I've seen this before" is when the idea of Isagi "saving" someone was written into the dialogue AND then later shifting onto Rin completely falling apart because of Isagi.

Bachira brought the idea of Isagi "saving" him into the story by outright saying it, that wasn't an interpretation I came up with! It was said:

So now this idea is planted into the narrative that Isagi could be someone's fixation because they want him to help them. Bachira was that person first, but Blue Lock isn't a hero/savior story, and Bachira--despite him being the adorable little token freak of the manga--is actually QUITE emotionally stable lol. He had baggage for sure, and he wanted Isagi to carry that baggage with him, but he decided that he didn't want to NEED Isagi to be happy, he'd rather be okay no matter what but still want Isagi in his life and keep him there. He found a really solid answer that would be an ideal answer in a real life scenario. Bachira set a really good precedent for what the characters in Blue Lock might be expected to do, especially because Bachira's inner conflict was the first true interpersonal dilemma that was brought to the forefront in the manga. Like it was the first real emotional conflict we got to see present and resolve itself.

So Bachira put that idea out there, that someone could want Isagi to save them in some way (which is when the Deku/Tomura part of my brain somewhat started working lol). So what connects that to Rin is when I started seeing Rin relive some of Bachira's moments later in in the NEL arc. And I connect Bachira to Rin because Rin is the reason Bachira was able to even figure out his problems at all:

And like...Rin of all people should know when to apply this to himself. But he doesn't. Especially at this point ^^ in the story because nobody had ever come close to reaching his level when playing soccer, so he was able to just play with his goal of defeating his brother in mind and not think anything more of it.

I could go on all day about the process that led Rin to where he currently is now in the manga, but I did all that in my longer post already and I'll just continue by explaining why they remind me of Deku/Tomura.

Again, there is nobody else in Blue Lock (the team, not the story) who is being shown having anywhere near the level of inner turmoil that Rin is having. He's clearly a lone wolf in this area, and not only that--he's directly associated his turmoil with Isagi's presence as a soccer player and has obsessed over it ever since the U20 arc. There is nobody else who is suffering inside on the level that he is (again, we're not counting Kaiser here), so he very very obviously needs help in some way. And bringing it back to when I mentioned Bachira and Rin linking this all together--Rin is also putting his baggage on Isagi. He isn't asking for help or hoping for Isagi to notice something and actively do anything for him. What he's hoping for is that if he beats Isagi in a way he sees fit (who knows what that would even look like, seeing as how he's literally been ranked number 1 the entire time with Isagi at number 2), he'll have satisfied his brother (at least what he perceives to be satisfying to his brother) and the painful memory of his brother abandoning him will stop haunting him:

That's why he pulled a chapter 2 Isagi move and opted to not score an for sure goal, and do it in a way that would be "going after the strongest" and in a way that he believes his brother would approve of:

Another thing that made my Tomura/Deku brain switch on---having similar moments that are clearly parallels, literally the exact same except with one carrying an entirely different weight to it.

Everything explained so far is just the set up to what really made me start to fall for their dynamic (the same exact way I fell for the Deku/Tomura dynamic). What really did it was during the France vs. Germany match, when you really see just how damaged Rin is and how much he's completely fallen apart because of how threatening and painful Isagi's presence is for him. More specifically this was the first big moment:

Isagi...did not do anything to hurt Rin. Putting them next to each other in this context is so out of pocket honestly. But it's because of what Sae said about Isagi at the end of the U20 arc that Rin cannot let go of this idea that Isagi is his problem, and now he's obsessed with Isagi in a way that just isn't doing him any favors. Isagi is simply just viewing Rin as his rival, as someone standing in his way at being the best in the world because to Isagi, RIN IS THE BEST. And Rin's dumbass is literally number 1 and has STAYED AT NUMBER 1, and he's STILL over here saying shit like this:

So....Rin's seriously unnecessary fixation on Isagi is another thing that made my bnha brain turn on lol.

Moving on though because there are moments that only solidified this feeling of familiarity from their dynamic:

Rin was in a lot of pain and getting so desperate here, and then Isagi shows up and makes Sae disappear!** And look at Rin's surprised face ;---;. To me, it just felt so much like a moment where Isagi really did save Rin from completely unraveling in that moment. AND THEN IT GOT WORSE BETTER:

The whole "collide with me" and "the one who brings this side out of me is you" I think is the moment I was done for lol.

**Bachira and Isagi had a moment like this too btw!

Now granted--even with how this moment went it didn't fix anything, and Rin still puts a lot of misplaced responsibility on Isagi for his pain. But for a single moment Isagi matching with Rin, saying he'll take everything serious enough to put his life on the line like how Rin feels he's doing when he plays soccer, made Sae and his cruel words disappear and kept Rin from falling apart in that moment.

So like dynamic-wise, Isagi will be something good for Rin, I think. The same exact way he was for Bachira. I don't think Isagi can actively do anything for Rin, more like just his presence and his effect on others is something that Rin needs, and eventually he should be able to use this rivalry as something motivating not as something self-destructing--which is what he was doing for a sec during this match.

I think I explained it better in my longer meta--since I went into detail about how, like Bachira was, Rin is also searching for someone with his soccer (his brother, and indirectly Isagi). What makes me think of Deku/Tomura is just the dynamic of someone really REALLY needing help somehow, and fixating on someone because that person is clearly what they need, but instead they'll put the blame on them because actually facing the real problem (in Rin's case, the problem is how to cope with the overwhelming loss of his brother) is too painful (until they figure out exactly how that person is what they need).

No idea if that is coming across coherent or not. Good luck lol.

[duckiemimi]

Omg you so right like i cant JiJi and aria is literally super modern girlfriend with supportive goofy outgoing boyfriends

OMG I NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT THESE TOO( i havent read the mang fully but just seen the pic of them two together and it so cute 🥰 im literally waiting for the anime version of the manga 😭 because lowkey i dont want to finish the manga so early and catch up! LIKE UGH GOT ME ON A BIG CLIFFHANGER ON BOTH ENDS! and the voice acting are so freaking good that just hearing the voice is literally a spoiler😭 like there doing me dirty)

like i just know when aria get hurt JiJi would stop the goofy act and actually act serious or worried about her (and his friends) and aria be like “im fine idoit im the chosen one after all!” Jiji will always be there even for her dumb little ‘ jokes’ sighing at her words “yea i definitely know that! but your still hurt! Aria chan” 😣 like ugh i live this pair i really hope that there get together and developed more within the story and doesn’t make it seem forced.

and the alien girl and JiJi is literally sibling coded like ugh i seen the pic of them and i just can’t WAIT TO SEE THEM BOTH. but also i dont want to reaaddd it as well, like the surprise feeling its the best feeling ever. (Also can i be this 👾 anonymous?)

hi, 👾 anon!

I'VE BEEN THINKING OF THEM A LOT, TOO. i, too, am pacing myself to avoid waiting long, long weeks of being idle...i'm a little more than halfway through to catching up in the manga, but i also have a bad habit of purposefully spoiling myself, heh. i'm stuck on chapter 93 because seiko's just so fucking cool.

aira's been progressively maturing throughout the story (word is she's dropped the main character syndrome in the recent chapters, but i couldn't tell you) and i think if she develops romantic feelings for jiji, it would look a lot different than her crush for okarun. aira is comically bold with okarun, but considering jiji's class clown demeanor and their earlier clashes in choices, i think aira would have a tough time admitting her feelings to herself. which makes for a good time for readers, yes.

jiji's crush on momo, on the other hand, while heartfelt and less played for laughs than aira's on okarun, is probably something he could shake off and later make completely platonic. he's emotionally mature like that! if he develops romantic feelings for aira, he would likely treat her the same as usual, maybe with extra attention (think lingering touches, oddly affectionate glances), very subtle, something someone who doesn't know him could brush off as classic friendly jiji. i think he'd learn from his crush on momo, too, shedding some of his unserious tendencies to become braver and more sincere for a new love interest. (lord knows he would need that considering aira's way touchier than momo.)

now if aira got hurt and they have mutual feelings for each other...well. we'll get to see a lot more of assertive and protective jiji, and flustered, faux-aloof aira. in front of jiji, aira would brush off her injuries as scratches and he'd sit her back down, maybe even with a lecture. aira gets overwhelmed, flicks cold water from a nearby cup to shut jiji up by bringing evil eye out. evil eye, perhaps having matured more and having a deeper bond with jiji, would only relay the rest of jiji's lecture in verbatim to aira. big mess. big, fun mess. they'd drive each other crazy, oh my god.

anyway, if this is the direction the mangaka has in mind, then it'll probably be well-written, or at least it would make sense. he's done everything well so far! tatsu, you could literally write anything and i'd agree wholeheartedly. my trust is in your hands...

VAMOLA, OH MY GOD. i could definitely see her and jiji as sibling-coded! in my eyes, she's practically momo's little sister! i don't ship her with anyone for now, not even kinta. she's just a big ol' sweetheart to everybody :') yea!

[honeycreammilkshake]

Been reading some japanese opinions about the chapter and I'm glad some of them were able to start waking up about how bad fan pressure is. One comment that really caught my attention and reminded me of your Sukuna Gojo analysis is one saying

"this Gojo Yuji talk feels forced they don't really had that much of a deep relationship"

I mean....they are right. Gojo is a victim of leak/fandom culture. A person casually reading this or watching the anime won't even remember the 2 scenes of gojo and yuji. Yuji had more interactions with Todo, Nanami and Higuruma yet those fans don't care

I laugh at gojofans how they are constantly bringing random villains from other mangas like...why should I care about those? If Sukuna is that bland why are you constantly comparing him with random villains? Why are you so afraid to compare Gojo with other better mangas and characters? I think the character they want for Gojo is simple just Sukuna, and this is just pure jealousy

Though after the other pages were released I'm glad more and more people are starting to appreciate Sukuna

hi, anon!

i get your point exactly (also tysm for reading my gojo & sukuna analysis).

i feel like both gojo and yuuji were severely mistreated/ misunderstood by the leak readers and gojo-only fans. yuuji because people constantly put him down for not being a "smart" or "complex" enough main character (like what version are they even reading? yuuji might not be the sharpest but he's not a total idiot either, and he's far more adept and emotionally intelligent than most of the sorcerers we've seen) and gojo because the narrative "abuses" him. what they fail to see, however, is that the narrative abuses almost every character. the whole jjk world is founded on the concept of people's suffering and negativity being manifested into physical monsters, and the sorcerers that fight them every day are also not-so-stable and are treated as mere tools.

gojo is a wildcard whose birth shifted the very flow of the jujutsu world, but his story is one that reminds us that even if you work on the side of "good" you can still have bad qualities or experience the corruption that comes with having so much power, either literal power or hierarchical power. in this case, gojo had more literal power than hierarchical, but even though he did suffer under the corruption of the jujutsu higher ups (same as nanami and the rest) he himself shouldn't be trusted to have that hierarchical power because he's also morally ambiguous, selfish, overly confident, and immature.

him being the one in a powerful position is not a good idea. which is why his conversation with yuuji at the end, even though it felt a bit forced, was necessary to show us that the new generation needs to move on from the past ways of thinking that only pure strength can solve everything. he trusts people like yuuji, who are for more emotionally intelligent and compassionate than him, to make that change for a better world. him saying he believes he will be ultimately forgotten proves to us that being "the strongest" isn't something to aspire to, as it does nothing but corrupt and isolate people, like it did to both gojo and sukuna.

and yuuji was the key to igniting that change. it was his approach, with more emotional strength than just physical, that actually made a difference. and he's also the reason why the king of curses himself decided to go on a different path. sukuna lost to love. he couldn't handle that change immediately, of being destroyed by someone who had empathy for him, but i believe he was touched by yuuji's words and decided to go north this next time. and it shows a deepness and growth in his character that i was afraid we wouldn't get to see. but i'm glad we did.

sorry for my late reply btw, anon! hope you've been good! glad to hear your thoughts on this.

[gofancyninjaworld]

Some more thoughts on 'Morality Pets Redux'

Link to original post.

ONE still blows me away by how clearly he differentiates between manga and webcomic. There's a tradeoff that he respects: if the webcomic is short, sharp and to the point, then the characters have limitations in how they can interact, try things out, and grow. Conversely, if the manga is long to the point that it can take a long time for it to get to some sort of point, the characters have more scope to find themselves. He treats both versions with respect and if there's no scope for characters to change themselves, then they don't. Which is why we have two great stories to read! :D

There's no point in Tatsumaki changing in the webcomic because there's no one willing to have her in their lives. She's been so toxic that all Fubuki wants is to be left the hell alone, and even Saitama's gone 'eh, I've lost all interest' after she rebuffs his attempts to reach out very rudely. She notes that she ends up driving everyone away, but she's far from actually accepting that she needs to change. Tatsumaki in the manga has positive reasons to change -- she has a sister who wants to get along better with her. Doing so means accepting both her and the people around her, even if it's difficult and there are legitimate challenges. It's a hard pill to swallow but she's trying.

I really appreciate the difference between regretting the consequences of one's actions and being prepared to change one's actions. So human. If feeling bad about our actions was enough to change them, there'd be no anti-addiction or dieting services, counselling would be rare, and prisons would be all but empty.

In both versions, Genos is the guy who wants ultimate destructive power and is willing to even kill himself if it'll take enemies to Hell with him. However, for a guy who is so committed to destruction, it's striking that he's cut to the quick when Sonic taunts him saying that he can't protect anyone.

There's no scope to explore this seeming contradiction in the webcomic. We need to accept that hey, he has places where he won't go and that's fine. The manga has more space, so ONE can dig into the protect vs. destroy issue and have him have to make decisions about what he actually values. The despair that lanced through him when victory slipped through his grasp when fighting Elder Centipede says so much about what matters:

Something @carma-tjol said in their tags really added a lot to my understanding: they pointed to the link between Genos seeing himself as having value and changing his outlook on heroes from assets to people. It added so much salience to Fubuki refusing to run away and risking her life to save him because she didn't abandon her people. She really challenged his outlook.

I like that he's still wrestling with himself after the fact. Had King not come when he did, it'd have been a lose-lose situation: Tatsumaki would be dead anyway and the monsters would be free to rampage over the land and kill millions. He needed to hear Saitama telling him he'd done right to feel a sense of peace. It's very human -- it's hard not to look back even when we see that we've made the right choice.

Come to that, there was something that we'd (okay me and the small sharing circle of mutuals who talk too much about Genos) had been fearing: that Saitama would just note that Genos was broken again, the way he had in the webcomic. Remember this thread? It very nearly came to pass but for King intervening and vouching for Genos so that Saitama had to change the way he saw his disciple. Thank goodness.

If King hadn't been there, because Genos is actively questioning himself, the outcome of Saitama seeming to be dismissive wouldn't have been mere depression. It'd have been total despair. What Genos would have heard is that he's weak and lacked the guts to follow through on his committment to destroy enemies even if it meant killing himself. Talk about a tragic misunderstanding! Blessedly, ONE meters his angst -- it doesn't do to crush all your character's hope in one go.

[hapuriainen]

Hapuriainen's animation, comics & Games from 2024

Anime: Delicious in Dungeon, One Piece Fan Letter

The magical girl stuff: Wonderful Precure!, Heartcatch Precure!, Precure movies, Märchen Mädchen, Sasaki & Peeps, MahoAko, MahoAku, MahoNare, Acro Trip, Magilumiere, Samurai Flamenco

Manga: Shangri-la Frontier, Pokemon Adventures, How Do We Relationship, Vinland Saga, A Sign of Affection, Maison Ikkoku, Girls Last Tour, A Sinner of the Deep Sea, Go with the Clouds North-by-Northwest, Enidewi, Is Reiroukan still alive?, A Kingdom of Quartz

Continuing: One Piece, Undead Unluck, My Hero Academia (end), Spy x Family, Frieren, Witch Hat Atelier.

The magical girl stuff: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, Shugo Chara Dream Joker, Magical Girl Dandelion, Mermaid Melody Aqua, Champignon Witch, Pretty Guardian Stress, Who Said Blues had to be Cool

Games: Zelda games (Adventure of Link, Majora's Mask, Four Swords, Four Swords Adventures, Minish Cap, Spirit Tracks, A Link between Worlds, Echoes of Wisdom), Pokemon Scarlet DLC, Animal Crossing New Horizons DLC, Ghost Trick. Unfinished: Some Pokemon BW2, Overcooked, Super Mario Wonder.

Movies: Elemental, Spy x Family Code White

Overall I think I watched very little animation that wasn't magical girls, and those have been extensively documented on the other blog. Dunmeshi and the second half of Frieren the only non-mahou anime I can remember, and I meant to watch many of the newer Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks movies but keep missing the chance and haven't even seen Wish yet. Hopefully next year will be better on this front, I do like magical girls but it's nice to branch out too.

The manga side had a bit more variation. I finished/caught up with several titles that were in the Humble Bundle set of award winning manga, but there's still plenty left. Vinland Saga is really good and I'm sad to see it go now that it's clearly about to end, Shangri-la is shallow as a puddle but good fun, and Sign of Affection is ok I guess but a bit bland. I also read a bunch of Harta/adjacent manga this year for the art and vibes.

Then I surprisingly started reading Pokemon Adventures, because I simply need to meet the manga version of Scarlet. I started from the beginning though and haven't even made it out of the Ruby/Sapphire arc yet so it's still a long way. So far I've been really happy with the writing of the female characters, but I hear the quality drops on that front after Platinum which makes me worried.

This year I've been quite the gamer because I played something other than one of the big Nintendo franchises I've been playing for years. Which is Ghost Trick and Overcooked, both of which were great. Mario Wonder is still in progress, it's a fun game but doesn't exactly have a gripping narrative, but I'll finish it for Daisy. Next year looks promising for game variety too since I bought a bunch of games from the Switch e-shop sale (and already finished Gris but that was in 2025).

For Pokemon I unexpectedly became a total hardcore player and voluntarily gave Protect to more than one mon. Ultimately getting into the competitive aspect is way too much upfront work with team building, but I feel I gained a lot of appreciation of the franchise in how there's some really complex mechanics under that kid friendly gameplay. And then I even got into the gotta catch 'em all aspect when I finally downloaded Pokemon Home and started filling my Dex, but that project is on pause right now since there's just no way I'll be able to get some of the rare/version exclusive mons. Also I found 3 shinies in like a week which still baffles me.

Best work: Echoes of Wisdom

Best music: Eow final boss final phase

Best visuals: One Piece Fan Letter, EniDewi

Best character design: Delicious in Dungeon in general

Best OP: Magilumiere (for the song)

Best ED: Samurai Flamenco ed1 is the one I most often didn't skip so I guess it wins, no real standouts this year

Biggest WTF: All those shinies in Pokemon. Also Mikau's death (in Majora's Mask) was really funny. The reveal of the painting in Ghost Trick was a great twist.

Best Girl: EoW Zelda, PokeSpe Sapphire for runner up

Best Boy: Thorfinn (Vinland Saga), Sissel (Ghost Trick) for second place

Best Side Girl: Hilda (a Link between Worlds)

Best Side Boy: Kieran, and also my Skeledirge! (Pokemon Scarlet)

Worst Girl: Lukia from Mermaid Melody Aqua

Worst Boy: This goes to Mermaid Melody Aqua too, forget his name but he sucks

Worst Side Girl: the other magical girl from MahoAku had a cute design but character wise was pretty worthless

Worst Side Boy: the one note big corporation boss from Magilumiere, those blue armoured freaks from Zelda 2 (assuming they're male)

Best romance: Elemental was ok, or alternatively SatoIro from Wonderful Precure

Best non-romantic relationship: I like what they did with EoW Link and Zelda but I'm not sure if I ship them

Worst romance: Lukia's drama from Mermaid Melody Aqua

Worst non-romantic relationship:

Plans for 2025:

Maybe it'll finally be the year of NGE? I should start keeping track of how many years I've been saying I'll watch Eva at some point…

Some anime that is not magical girls

Finish the backlog Precure seasons

Finish the backlog Zelda games

Wish, Inside Out 2, Wild Robot, Moana 2

The stuff from the Switch e shop sale

[blorbologist]

hehehe. hi :3

FMA AU: 🦋 | AooD: 🐜 | Jurassic Park AU: 🤪 or 🎨 | OFS+TFJ: 🎉 | Ruidusborn Percy: 💕 | BDSM Modern AU: 📖

answer as many or as few as you want!! i wanted to touch on multiple AUs >:3 and also search for things i don’t know yet lmao

OH BOY!!

AU Ask Game

FMA AU: 🦋 ''Share a downstream ‘Butterfly Effect’!

OH! hmmmm... see, the tricky thing is that this AU does broadly follow the plot beats of the manga, right? Some things are shifted around, but you know. Roy/Vex fucks up Envy/Delilah before Envy kills themselves, final fight involves Al/Beau giving their body back to Truth so Ed/Caleb can have his arm back...

I think the biggest butterfly is that our Hughes equivalent, Vax, doesn't die - because Vex, instead of being the Flame Alchemist like Roy is, is the Sewing Life Alchemist. So she can patch him up - or he ends up as a chimera through nefarious means instead. Either way, yahoo! yippee!!

AooD: 🐜 'What’s the smalllllllest change you want to share?'

SEE NOW THIS ONE IS A BIG AU SO IT'S GOT SO MANY BIG CHANGES?!?!

Ok, hm. Small change:

I'm almost at the point where I'm writing an almost one-to-one replica of the Feast of Imyr. Bar a few tiny details such as...

Loquatius needing new jokes to make fun of Vex's name instead of Purvan's.

Percy either freaking out about Bolo being there or commiserating with her about 'this BAG. not MACHINE.'

Vex and Percy clocking pretty quickly that Dean Hollow was up to no good inviting the Champion of Ravens and behaving accordingly.

That '[S]he was one of us' comment from Hollow about the Matron being really fucking painful for Vex to hear about the Warden

Oh, yeah - and a Gau Drashari is going to Transport Via Plants out of the tree Nydas brought. Hey, hi, sorry! Don't mind Keyleth, she's making a great first impression.

More under the cut!!

Jurassic Park AU: 🤪 'Silliest part of the AU?'

The Briarwoods are collectively sharing John Hammond's role (the more evil book version). They are The capitalist assholes. Something something a necromancer bringing shit back from the dead, something something a vampire not letting things grow old and being a blood sucking billionair. It's perfect. It's awful. Do you see my vision!??!?

or 🎨 'What’s the most creative part of this AU?'

OKAY SO! The og Jurassic Park was written in 1990. A lot of our scientific knowledge has advanced in leaps and bounds since then: not just the paleontology and understanding of dinosaurs, but standards of zookeeping and animal behavior, genetics, computer systems and security, etc.

So most of JP's original failure points don't actually apply if you tried to rewrite this today - and either way they're all very well known. The lysene, the frog DNA breeding, the tracking glitch, the raptors having no fucking enrichment, etc.

The tricky and fun part about this AU is finding new, sensible ways to run the park / protect the guests and dinosaurs / get certified so they can run at all... and still have it go to shit when Vax, Keyleth and co have the introductory tour.

OFS+TFJ: 🎉 'What change are you most proud of?'

DALEN'S CLOSET HAPPENING OVER THE YEAR BREAK. GENIUS MOVE @ ME. Compounded on all the prior changes and gave Delilah a chance for an amazing entrance, and had so much dramatic irony compared to Dalen's Closet in canon.

Ruidusborn Percy: 💕 'How are relationships impacted by the AU?'

Oh god. So: Percy is both a lot more sheltered (no one wants to be friends with a mind-reading rich freak) and is lacking social skills (why bother when he can read minds if he has to?). He is... way less cool and more of a huge pain in the ass until VM can socialize him. like a feral cat. He's probably even closer to Keyleth than canon, and to some degree Grog too (easier to understand what's going on in that thick head), but the twins and Scanlan trust him far less due to not wanting him poking around in their heads.

The thing is, Percy is also acutely aware of all that from when he does slip up and get a grasp of what's going on in their heads.: he can pry behind Vex and Scanlan's masks in a way no one else can, and Vax just doesn't trust the spying potential. (Vex especially is terrified of Percy seeing her budding feelings, once that pops up, so she's slower to fall for him.)

I think things probably improve once Percy gets something like Imogen's circlet to block out the influx of thoughts - then he becomes extremely awkward and bumbling without that fallback of information and everyone goes 'oh wow he's harmless and also down SO bad for Vex he doesn't know what to do with himself'.

BDSM Modern AU: 📖 'What’s The defining moment of your AU?'

OHO!! OHOHOHOHOH!!

I think The moment I think of in my head about this AU is... Percy working on Vex's custom toy after he finds out it's for her. Getting very hot under the collar (HAH!) and trying so very hard to keep his cool. It's that tension I'm most excited about - but of course this is a BDSM AU! They'll likely start playing together before romantic feelings pop up (but after Percy comes clean ofc)! Which is its own bag of worms. sexy, sexy, writhing worms.

Also just like. All the horny tied up (HAH) with Percy's character growth and healing as he realizes that he's a switch, not a firm dom as he'd forced himself to believe for the longest time due to #trauma. muah!

[its-no-biggie]

it has been one (1) day since i finished trigun stampede so obviously its time to start trigun '98. thoughts so far

WAY better start. i was definitely right about the brotherhood effect- this version is easing you into the characters and setting way better, where stampede kinda assumes youre already familiar and just jumps right in.

this is ESPECIALLY true for vash. these first few episodes are way better at establishing just where he got his reputation- like, in stampede you really only see one town that gets ruined and blamed on vash, and then all the other stuff thats attributed to him happens offscreen. and then it turns out millions knives was behind all the thefts, which is what vash is wanted for in the first place. we HEAR that vash causes destruction wherever he goes, but what we see is really just him taking the fall for his brothers actions. but im only 3 episodes into 98 and vash has already destroyed 2 towns and been impersonated by multiple criminals. and they all seem to be unrelated incidents- he just gets mixed up in shit. he seeks it out. he CHOSE to be that billionaires bodyguard and he CHOSE to get involved in the bank robbery, because thats who he is. hes not unfortunate, hes MEDDLESOME. the characterization is completely different and so far i like the 98 version better (although admittedly the stampede version does play into the christian metaphor much better, assuming that millions knives represents "evil" or "sin")

additionally, the emphasis on how he doesnt live up to his reputation works a lot better when meryl just straight up refuses to believe hes vash the stampede lmao. like in stampede hes this kinda goofy and slightly airheaded badass pretty much right away, but in 98 hes so chaotic that even though all the evidence points to him she still refuses to believe he could be THE vash the stampede. like he seems straight up incompetent but hes NOT hes just less overtly badass. and just in general the slower pacing gives us a lot more insight into his character! its really really good and it adds a lot of much needed context to stampede.

also. milly????? milly my beloved???? my darling my sweetheart my babygirl milly????? WHERE was she in stampede. this is unforgiveable. the dynamic between meryl and milly is SO much more fun than roberto and meryl holy shit i fucking love milly

overall theres a lot more differences than i expected! im curious which one is more faithful to the manga but atm i would put money on 98. i can already see why a lot of the changes would be made to go from this one to stampede, to condense a huge arc down to 12 episodes and have it stand on its own. a more faithful adaptation isnt necessarily a better adaptation, and while i wish some of the really good stuff from 98 had made it to stampede, i understand that 12 episodes isnt a lot and within the context of a remake you can reasonably leave out a lot of character-heavy stuff. plus, since 98 was made before the manga finished, stampede will probably have better execution on things like foreshadowing and the major themes. overall im having a great time with both and im really stoked to read the manga (assuming the momentum will carry me that far..... adhd is a fickle creature lmao)

[chibivesicle]

Trigun Stampede - Episode 10 - Humanity - or - Am I now watching Blade Runner?

Episode ten dropped this morning and here in my small two bedroom apartment there was indeed the wailing and gnashing of teeth as I watched the episode unfold.  I had unrealistic expectations for Stampede is the mantra I need to keep repeating to myself as I watch it.

Also, I still have some unanswered asks - I’ll try to get to them when I can but they aren’t a quick reply so I need to have the time and brain power to think about them.

The episode starts off with Vash and Wolfwood riding on their ostriches in the desert heading to July.  Wolfwood screams randomly while Vash listens to a timely news update - on an earbud!  His earring doesn’t even act like a phone receiver device anymore - I mean with all this sci fi tech could you had at least kept his ability to use the earring to hear someone’s voice?!?!?

Anyhoo, this then leads to the OP.  The action then shifts to inside the area where Meryl and Roberto are, now with lights allowing for us to see the room full of red plants.

Zazie the Beast asks them who can make use of the planet - Humans, plants or the worms?  Of course Zazie states that the worms are the planet which, okay you also think quite highly of yourselves worms.  That’s it worm domination is settled if it weren’t for the fact you need to use people to apparently destroy them?  But this is Studio Orange’s animation demo, no budget for writers.

Conrad approaches and is easily able to convince Meryl and a reluctant Roberto to join him.  Roberto utters death flag number one asking Meryl if there is a bargain sale on her life.  You mean your life Roberto, eh?

It is obvious they have no choice but to go with Conrad, they know he is their only link to Knives’ motives for the red plants and his approach to humanity.

We get Vash and Wolfwood in a sort of street in July which is 100% cyberpunk and Blade Runner inspired.  It gives me immediate vibes of Ghost in the Shell (the manga) and Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star.  We are in a very Sinocentric city compared to the vaguely American early 20th century vibes of Jeneora Rock.  Honestly Studio Orange, if you wanted to do cyberpunk, why don’t you just do that instead of trying to jam it into Trigun?  Or maybe do a reboot on Bubblegum Crisis and Bubblegum Crash if you want to work with an older IP.

We also learn from Wolfwood that July is wealthy and successful due to having a monopoly on water producing plants which has made them powerful.  Water is canonically a scarce resource in the manga but there was some on the planet but there was enough that people were able to successfully do some agriculture.  And wash their clothes based on all of the laundry lines between buildings in the cities.

Lots of red Chinese lanterns, maybe we are in the Ghost King’s city but the seal script is too easy to read.  Joking aside, the very desert vibe of the July MP and our previous bad guy of episode one just happens to be on patrol for funsies.  And looks so weird in the Chinese centric area.

However, this metropolis still has no people - with all of that urban density we should see the streets packed with civilians but nah, they aren’t out and about.  Additionally, are we now to interpret that the nameless July MP captain is possibly ethnically Chinese? 

Why am I even pondering this?  I know based on the lazy writing that the entire point of having the MP captain walk by is so that he can interact with Vash to prove some sort of superficial character development point.  In this case, it is for one of the other MPs to point out that his family died at Jeneora Rock and shoots Vash.

Wow, just amazing storytelling skills there!  I couldn’t see this coming at all.  I knew that this was going to force the reveal of Vash’s scarred body.  Which compared to previous versions is pretty good looking.

The ‘98 anime and the manga really worked to show the level of detail and the ugly/gross factor which was played for comic relief in both where Meryl and Milly walk in on Vash coming out of the shower with a towel around his neck and he blushes in embarrassment.

As Vash sits down across from them he with a scarred hand pops open a can of Kuroneko beer and explains he both doesn’t like people to see his scars but that he can’t run away from his past.

Studio Orange really did a disservice to the viewers by cleaning up Vash’s torso making it look clean and more sterile.  The original shows the nubbiness and the fact that Vash could hypothetically heal his scars per the manga but what is the point of doing it out of vanity when it would simply accelerate his aging and hair turning black?

The action turns back to Conrad who is explaining that Luida’s geoplant goals are too slow and passive and that he’s using humanity itself to survive.  I really miss that ‘Little Arcadia’ arc now . . .

We know exactly where this is going.  It is the classic, ‘It is okay to sacrifice other people because they were gonna die anyways.’ villain trope.  Yeah, just show them your high tech experimental lab.  By the way, that is the worst sterile lab technique I have ever seen - are you sure you are following proper lab protocols?

The blood stains make for a horribly cliche dramatic effect which made me laugh.  Conrad tells them that Knives is the perfect life form.  This is clearly a huge departure from the original manga, since he was never this actively involved in things in this sort of way.  I’d say that Conrad didn’t have a strong characterization in Trigun Maximum but he wasn’t a mad scientist drinking the Knives Kool-Aid.  He held his own trump cards against Knives who forced him to work for him.  In Stampede, it appears that he decided to go all into the cult of Knives as opposed to doing stuff at knife point.

We get the explanation that Conrad sees Knives as the ultimate life form and he’s trying to make more of them.  With the help of cloned cells from Knives of course.  For example a child we can all recognize, Elendira in the tank.

But she is translated with an ‘its’ power level being fairly weak.  Meryl stares into the tank with a sadness.

The fact that she is in the tank seems to imply that she still needs to hook into the system and isn’t a true independent like Vash or Knives.  The entire situation is the monologuing of a man who has completely lost it and sees all of his actions as justified with the Knives Kool-Aid.

Meryl feels pity for Elendira who is not pleased to hear this.  This puts her immediately into beserker mode and she creates a nail to blow open the tank.

What have you done with my QUEEN Studio Orange?  She’s now an unhinged 25+ year old plant-human hybrid child who doesn’t age as quickly as Vash or Knives?  I’m not even going to address the issues with this ‘update’ to Elendira’s character in the main summary.

This causes Roberto to grab Meryl and run, again while Conrad stands there and Roberto makes death flag number two.  He mentions worker’s comp to Meryl since she keeps getting them into risky situations.

Roberto and Meryl get chased to a large room full of red plants and oddly placed elevators in the middle.  This doesn’t make any sort of structural or design sense but, hey all of the timing in this entire story doesn’t make any sense.  Roberto is clear to Meryl that they are the bait that is to lure Vash in and they end up stuck between the elevator and Elendira.

Elendira gets more unhinged monologue time of her own about humans and their superficial judgements of others.  Everything is okay though as Roberto knows that Vash will pop out of the elevator when the doors open, so he pulls Meryl off to the side as a rain of nails comes after them.

Sure enough, Wolfwood bursts out and Vash hangs back to help them safely enter the elevator.

This gives time for Wolfwood to square off with an even angrier Elendira.

We see a quick glance of Roberto running oddly back and then a closer look at him holding his side as they enter the elevator.  We know that he’s been hit, though Meryl doesn’t know it yet.

Wolfwood destroys all of the nails and one broken nail cuts her as she falls in overly dramatic fashion.  Again, what have you done to my QUEEN Studio Orange?

Wolfwood being the jerk that he is in this version gives her crap and Vash timidly tries to care about her injury.

This only invites a scathing retort to Vash who is scum in her eyes compared to Knives.  For plot reasons, Wolfwood goes back to the elevator and makes Vash go with him, since it is his job to deliver Vash to Knives.

After this we get Roberto’s lame and predictable death scene with Meryl.  It is the follow up to ‘sempai noticed me’ to the ‘sempai died to protect me’ this now allows for Meryl’s character to have ‘growth’. 

She gets called by her full name and he gives her his Derringer.

I’ve said this many times before, but Studio Orange has done an amazing job with the animation of Meryl’s facial expressions since episode one.  Other characters seem awkward and fall flat but she’s been a highlight.  Her facial expressions - not her actual character which is a shallow imitation of her previous self.  But I can at least take the time and really appreciate how well they animated her.

While she considers Roberto’s request to accept his derringer, Wolfwood narrates to Vash his philosophy that to survive on this planet you have to hurt and kill others to protect others.  It is clear that Meryl is going to take some sort of action as she wipes away her tears with a look of resolve.

Before she pushes a button on the elevator, likely one that goes up.  Either she is going to help Vash - which would be a bit silly alone - or if her wits hold up, she’s looking for Wolfwood instead.

I really hope she goes for Wolfwood to help Vash.

After Wolfwood finishes his explanation to Vash, they part ways in a dark corridor.  I guess he was clear which way Vash needed to go to meet Knives?  This then sets up our reunion of Vash and Knives in July, which should kick off a July incident where Vash causes the city to go boom.

Knives is at his fancy piano and explains that the statue over him, is actually a plant from ‘back then’.  I’m unsure if he means back 150 years ago or from when he witnessed the final run of plants.  I want to say from 150 years ago personally - my gut says so.

Knives starts gaslighting Vash immediately.  Stating that Vash’s actions are based out of guilt from helping Knives get access to the computer to crash and destroy many of the ships.  If you are a peak villain you need to make sure your underlings have black and white morals, so Vash is just guilty.  Nothing else.

No one would argue that Vash doesn’t feel guilty for his actions and it does underlie many of his actions and intentions.  However, this does not make it mutually exclusive from the fact that he can love humans.  It is a huge theme of the manga how Vash is able to process his guilt, come to terms with it, face it and overcome and accept it which make him such a powerful character.  That does not matter here though.

The action bounces back to Wolfwood who apparently has a completed contract for his services within the Eye of Michael.  If you zoom in you can see that there is the added special note at the end stating that if Wolfwood completes the terms, the orphanage will not be used in future experiments.

Though the wording is that it is removed from a pilgrimage route which is a bizarre term to code for a location to take children for experiments from.  Wolfwood questions what the meaning of the paper is crumpling it in anger.  I mean, he could argue that Legato tried to destroy the orphanage anyways so can you even expect it to be upheld?  That would require more depth and we don’t have time for that so Wolfwood leaves angry.

Which results in the weirdest line from Conrad - that makes no sense in the context of Stampede.

He asks a man, holding his cross if he were able to lay it down?  Now, we decide to try to pull up a theme that needed to be explained from the beginning for Wolfwood but we didn’t have time for that earlier - toss it in here! Wolfwood then asks the question he was asked and leaves.  Conrad sighs and looks at a photo of him and Tessla!  On his freakkin’ desk.  This man is clearly off the deep end.

I saw this and thought, okay we are going to get our Tessla flashback. Good.  And then I get a flashback where Conrad is happy to see that Knives is alive and that he survived.  This means that he’d been aware of Vash and Nai via Rem before the crash.  However, he had no idea that the twins had survived and Knives threatens to give away his old identity.

We then see a bright blue eye on Knives’ hand and Conrad recognizes it and asks for forgiveness. 

I’m going to squint really hard and conclude that Vash and Nai found out about Tessla on the ship, found her remaining body parts and then Nai absorbed her parts into himself and that is her eye now looking at Conrad.  Creeeeepy!  Knives not only can absorb living plants into himself, he can also take dead parts?

However, with Conrad collapsing before him, asking for forgiveness does this mean that Conrad continued to experiment on Knives as well???? 

The action returns to Knives and Vash.  Knives activates a hidden trap door - because his is peak villain and Vash tries to stop falling with his tiny thread arm ability.  Knives declares that he is remaking his sick brother, tying into Conrad’s previous statement about sacrificing one of the twins.  Though he didn’t say which twin.

Vash then falls into a pool of water which likely isn’t just water but sci fi water something or other.

With that the episode ends.

My initial reaction was “Aaarrrrrggggghhhh, so much lazy writing and what on earth are they even thinking?!?!”

I will watch this season to the end, but there is no way I’m watching this any further if they leave it open ended with a time skip or whatever.  All of this feels like Studio Orange wanted to do a cyberpunk series or some sort of homage to that type of series and they got the IP to that odd under performing manga and anime, Trigun.  They never even stopped to ponder why it didn’t do well in Japan or why it was wildly popular in the States or how the original characters were well received in the original works.  It is almost like they figured, “Hey we have this obscure IP, it is fine to skim a bit off and then create our own dystopian cyberpunk series.”

No one can touch Cowboy Bebop, that series is too special for a remake (in the animated form, not the live action) so it will stand alone.  It is also an episodic series that no one can attack. Even though so many anime fans nowadays are aghast at episodic series when there are true merits to episodic storytelling.

I guess Outlaw Star was too 90s in a different way with the obvious alien cat girl, samurai chick and generic East Asian/Chinese vibes?  If they wanted cyberpunk they should have gotten the IP to Bubblegum Crisis and remade that.

Character comments:

Bill Conrad - Oh boy, did they really change him from the manga.  He was a member of the crew and knew Rem and found out she was hiding Knives and Vash.  He allowed her to continue to hide them.  Unlike Rem, he survived the crash and had set up a nice life for himself before being found by Knives and forced to work with him.

We all know that Bill Conrad is simply Patrick Stewart in manga form and that he was forced to do Knives bidding.  However, he still managed to deceive him and only revealed to Knives that when his hair began to turn black that he too was aging and would die.

Knives asks Elendira to confirm if Vash’s hair is also changing colors . . .

Before he kills Conrad on the spot.  He is no longer useful to Knives since he can no longer continue to use his power in an unlimited fashion. 

Did Knives think he could have unlimited power or did Conrad lead him to believe that in the hopes he could control or fight back?  Potentially both?

The main point is that Conrad was a part of the group who were involved in the Tessla experiments, however, we never know exactly to what extent, but that he is knowledgeable enough that he’s been working for Knives until his death.

This then leads into Tessla.

Tessla - Was the first independent plant that the crew learned about.  We know that Conrad and Rem were both there when the horrible experiments were performed on her which resulted in her death.  They then saved all of her remaining body parts in tanks for reference.  The entire thing is wrong on every possible level and knowledge of this event forever shaped how Vash and Knives moved forward in their lives.

It doesn’t take Knives long to undercover the files and they are curious to learn more - leading them to what remained of her body! 

However, Stampede hasn’t given us enough information to go on at the moment so we don’t know how they found out about this. 

Elendira the Crimsonnail - Has fallen victim to trans erasure apparently.  The 13th of the Gung-ho Guns, she was a force to be reckoned with wearing her pillbox hats, vintage suits and her suitcase full of nails.  I know that the translation isn’t the best where she’s referred to as a transvestite, but our language has been shifting rapidly over the past ten years and if this were translated now, she’d simply be referred to as a trans woman.

Apparently, Stampede doesn’t like to have too many adult women and this resulted in the shift of Elendira to a perma-child, which is just weird if she is a plant human hybrid. 

Roberto and Meryl - got their predicted death scene.  Are any of us surprised?  No.  Roberto did not contribute to the plot, nor did he do much of anything so of course he got his ‘moment’ to hand off a single gun to Meryl.  They were not the same as Meryl and Milly from the original as both were actively engaged in events and the fact that the two of them were always having interesting and dynamic conversations.  Wolfwood - completed a legally binding contract.  This doesn’t even make sense to me since - did he really have a choice in the matter?  No. Why bother to draft a contract and who the hell is even going to enforce it?  The NMP?  And he’s not dead yet!  Plus, the contract didn’t even follow its own note about the orphanage making it a sort of breach of contract by the writer . . . Vash - Passively walked right into Knives’ trap.  Wow, shocking.  Now, he’s going to get some sort of sci fi torture in the water pool to activate his gate/angel arm something .  . July then go boom? Knives - Wow, yeah.  Now he’s working with Conrad, he apparently absorbed Tessla’s eyeball into his arm before finding Conrad and he wants to remake his weak and sick brother.  He keeps the remains of dying plants as statues around him to remind himself to not make mistakes and he’s been hanging out in July and no one knows.  But based on his encounter with Conrad, the translation makes it sound like Knives may have been experimented on as well . . .

Zazie - The worms think very highly of themselves, however, they need to learn how to persuade others.  Speaking like you are the better species is not going to win over Meryl and Roberto to hear you out.  That’s why you lost to Conrad and Knives.  Honestly, no character in Stampede knows how to make a good persuasive argument to convince others to follow their cause or goals.

Wow, this meta has spiraled out of control and I really need to wrap it up.

1.) The writing continues to use so many ‘perfect’ timing instances.  I can’t take it anymore.  The entire elevator setup had me groaning aloud on my couch.  The scene where Vash is shot - is solely there to show his scars.  There were so many other ways to convey this point, like when he was on the uncrashed ship maybe?  Yet, Studio Orange lives for the most literal way to demonstrate things and it is well worn out its welcome for me as a viewer. 2.) The empty cities.  We’ve been shown the metropolis of the planet and it apparently isn’t December.  Where are the people in those massive buildings?  Wolfwood mentions they can buy as much munitions as possible but where does their food and drink come from?  I miss all of the normalcy of the original anime and manga.  Where are the cafes, the city squares, the children in the streets?

3.) The sci fi cyberpunk tone.  Baffles me.  Studio Orange had a creative vision which was not even remotely aligned with the source material.  The shift to a Sinocentric July also baffles me.  Let’s slap up some red lanterns everywhere and Chinese-ish decor elements to set the tone for July.  Is this some sort of hidden political message from the team at Studio Orange?  Is the water monopoly a fill in for something else in current events?  The original was much more Western US in the vibe but with international elements mixed in.  The characters are diverse and we still have that reflected in the population, for example Meryl and Milly hitched a ride with a woman who was clearly black. There were other characters who were definitely black in the manga. Yet, have I seen a single black character even in the background in Stampede?  No.  It was bad enough that they made Wolfwood white but apparently no one of any darker skin toned ethnic group made it onto those Project Seeds ships. 4.) Lack of diversity.  Thus, the lack of diversity of Stampede is killing me.  The entire main cast has light skin tones.  A subset of humanity is supposed to be stuck on the planet and that has not been reflected at all.  Wolfwood in the background appears to be foodie, as he rates the following dishes; curry, ramen and finds an incredible bowl of udon.  Clearly, there is cultural diversity and it had carried over to the desert planet.  The lack of diversity then extends to what was the complete change in Zazie and Elendira as well.  Zazie was a sort of non-binary character able to shift from host to host, implying that the gender construct was meaningless in their choices.  Elendira was a powerful trans woman, with excellent fashion taste.  Wolfwood didn’t even know what she looked like but was more than aware of her reputation.  Legato was canonically gay, but he hasn’t done enough yet to determine if that will be maintained as well.  My point is, what happened to all the queer characters? With that I shall wrap up.  My snark was strong with this episode and excuse my puns throughout the meta.

[jun-ipher]

Omg thanks hahah. No worries it’s not a request or anything. Just ranting and asking your opinion because you write chishiya so beautifully 😩 and it’s no fun to share random blurts that I had about this man with my rlfriends who couldn’t appreciate his existence.

I have been thinking about Chishiya with a popular s/o. Do you think Chishiya will mind? I think he would be annoyed because he prefer to be in the shadow and doesn’t like people to know about his business. But I can also see him as perfect candidate as a famous person’s boyfriend ya know? Like that man will not be bothered at all if you got scandalous dating rumours or working with attractive costar. He is pretty secure with himself.

So yeah I’m stuck here with my plot. Which do you think Chishiya would value more. Will having no privacy be his deal breaker?

Im looking forward to hear your thoughts! 🫶 you are one of my favourite Chishiya’s writer and I trust your opinion

OMG THANK YOU! not you saying you trust my opinion🥺

rant under the cut!

i think chishiya as a famous person's bf has its pros and cons? he is definitely a very private person, so he wouldn't mind signing an NDA and keeping everything a secret/private

at the same time, i wonder if he would think it's too problematic/too much of a headache? i can definitely see him being put off by the paparazzi 🤔

i think he might need some convincing, but he could consider dating a famous person, especially if it means he can have benefits, such as private and avant-première viewings. i headcanon manga chishiya as secretly enjoying art galleries bcs art is subjective and he won't feel weird for not understanding a painting exactly as the next person does

netflix chishiya is portrayed as having more empathy, so depending on which version of canon you prefer, he will be more or less a good boyfriend for a celebrity. ofc, i don't really see manga chishiya as trying to date anyway. at least not before the borderlands🤷‍♀️

if his s/o is a normal person, but just popular in general, he would definitely be smug about it still. he would also find it interesting how so many people crowd around a person who isn't even famous, just because they are nice or funny. he would definitely choose to hang out with s/o's friends just to observe the interactions (i think this gave me some ideas for trtc omg)

also, if the celebrity!s/o has dating rumours or good-looking co-stars, i agree that he wouldn't be bothered by it. he is too rational to let jealousy get the best of him fr.

i imagine it more like, he is on the sofa, scrolling on his phone. celebrity!s/o is sitting next to him. an article pops up on his phone.

y/n l/n rumoured to be dating co-star. then some pictures of them together laughing in close distance.

chishiya looks over to you, an eyebrow raised, and reads the title out loud. "there are some interesting pictures too," he muses.

when you turn to look at him, you see his lips quirked up in amusement and his shoulders relaxed.

"it's just a rumour," you say the obvious. "we started doing the promo for the newest season and have to act close. he asked to meet you, by the way. if you want to come on set one day, you could. or we can go out for drinks."

chishiya turns back to his phone, wondering if coming on set and dealing with the paparazzi is really worth it.

"we'll see," is all he says, then he scrolls down. he's never cared about the rumours anyway. he knows that at the end of the day, he is the only one in your mind.

he is so secure, i don't see him getting jealous too often. maybe if there is something else going on with the rumours, like s/o not having time for him anymore, or them not answering his texts? then, i see him acting petty for a short while before telling s/o about it. i don't think he would sit them down, he would just be asshole-y and cold about it

anywayyy this is only what i headcanon

this was so fun!!

[theladyelara]

Death Note 'Hurricane' Remixed

Welcome! Second installment of 'reworking' the English death note musical songs with taking nods from the Japanese versions.

We're leaving the melody and instrumentation unchanged, all we're doing is trying out new lyrics.

Last time we did L's song, let's see how Light does today >:)

I love Hurricane English, but the Japanese Hurricane gives Light so much more sympathy, and imo makes the point better and clearer that Light at least professes to wanting to save the world. He does things out of a…humanitarian drive, or at least that’s what he tells himself. The Japanese is able to carry this over from Where is the Justice, better than the English. You'll see a lot of the edits go towards making this point.

Did I hear correctly? Did it really happen? Was it simply done by writing down his name? Killing indirectly Anyone I choose to It’s so easy now my hand’s already stained

First edits come here, as Light in the English sung part never actually acknowledges that he’s a murderer now. (He canonically goes from ‘ah murder’ to ‘I am a God’ very quickly, but it’s nice to at least have him balk a tiny tiny bit first). My lines try to be ambiguous and emphasize the duality of Light’s “morals”, the line ‘it’s so easy now my hand’s already stained’ could be read as ‘killing someone with this thing was so easy, I can’t believe I am already a murderer’ coded with horror. OR ‘I am already a murderer, so killing people is so easy now’ sung with relish. 

These 'either or' readings will be a staple of the edits, as it leaves things open to interpretation on a spectrum of morality, just as I believe the show as a whole strives to.

Could this be the hour? Unimagined power Can I throw a thing like this away?

Again the minor edit here serves to give Light more sympathy and at least gesture towards the idea of horror at a literal murder notebook. The lost line 'ready to devour who I say' immediately throws Light into evil villain territory, and here we want to let him dance upon that line a little longer. You could read the ‘can’ as Light questioning whether he has the personal strength to reject this power, as if knowing rejection is the right thing to do. Or you can read it as Light questioning why anyone would ever throw away such power as if it is the responsibility of one with a murder notebook to cleanse the world.

This rotten world Is fading fast Still waiting for a hurricane

We lose the hook ‘the hardest rains, the coldest winds’, which always felt rather weak (thematically) to me anyway. We’ll repurpose ‘this rotten world’ from manga lines, which helps reinforce that Light says he has good intentions. At this point also, Light has not made a decision, and he speaks of the world as a third party observer, watching it fall to ruin. 

If what I do Brings change at last Can I stay?

Again we get to see Light questioning and reasoning, which helps justify him and his batshit god-complex to the audience. With ‘can I stay’, I mostly mean ‘can I stay my hand’. This moment of questioning and reasoning helps further humanize Light, bringing him closer to the emotions rather than a metaphysical observation on ‘the human stains and all their sins’, though we lose some of that religious imagery. 

A righteous flood Will clear the sky Once they feel the power of the hurricane

Because we lost the ‘rains and winds’ imagery of the hurricane, I bring back the flood, which also refers to Noah’s flood that wiped out evil humanity in the Bible. As before, this is chorus one, so Light does not personally identify with the hurricane or flood—yet. 

Finally a chance to Find a little justice I’ll do what I need to with a lowly pen

This is Light accepting the death note, accepting that he is justice. The minor edit gives him more agency in making the turn, and he tries to give himself a little justification in, ‘I do what I need to’. The ‘lowly pen’ is a play on the phrase: the pen is mightier than the sword.

This is what I’m meant for Give my all to guard it Once you have begun you write it to the end

Again, same sentiment as before, minor edits to bring Light closer to the emotions and allow him to justify himself a bit.

Security and safety No one to replace me No poor judges now to block the way

Emblematic of the shift in tone/focus of English to Japanese, the English gives Light almost nothing to hedge, and has him go full megalomaniac. ‘Elegant solution, flawless execution, righteous retribution on the way’ the focus is on Light’s god-complex and arrogance. The Japanese focuses much more on his self-delusion and inner sense of justice. Edited line ‘no one to replace me’ is meant to bring out the feeling that Light is the only one who could do this, hinting at the arrogance. And ‘no poor judges’ could be read as Light sneering at the ‘poor, pitiable judges’ who are powerless compared to him, OR as him deriding ‘poor, incompetent, bad judges’ who can no longer obstruct his idea of justice.

This rotten world Is mine to cleanse This power is my hurricane I’ll save the ones No one defends This is my way I’ll bring the pain So be afraid I will bring the power of the hurricane

Not much new to add here, edits are serving the same purpose as above, to communicate Light's viewpoint. Light, having decided to turn the corner, further identifies with the hurricane and with the DN’s power. The line "this is my way" is the first w/o a 1 to 1 match on beat, so some rubato is required from the singer here, sorry.

I am the God of a brave new world Much better than the last The time for talking is finally in the past This rotten world Is fading fast Waiting for the hurricane

Only one note here; we can read this ‘fading fast’ as different from the first chorus, here being a triumphant declaration that the rot is fading away, thanks to Light, of course.

And what I do Brings change that lasts So I say This rotten world Will feel my wrath I am the mighty hurricane And what I do Brings change that lasts Brand new day! My righteous flood will clear the sky Once they feel the power of my hurricane

Again, nothing much new to say here, all of the subtle word shifts showcase Light’s acceptance of his self-proclaimed ‘godhood’.

For the song rewrite, I think the flow may not be as good as the original, and the hurricane throughline a little less clear. Still, I felt before that the hurricane symbolism sort of eclipsed any other messaging the song had to offer, with the constant repetition of ‘the hardest rains, the coldest winds’ which doesn’t really say much about Light as a character. The main shift in molding after the Japanese is, of course, to give Light more personal equivocation, then reasoning, then motivation to do what he is doing. Now we get both a more sympathetic and understandable view of Light, and we can see how and why he's convinced himself to do what he is doing, whether we agree or not.

Lmk what you thought, and stay tuned for more!

OG English Lyrics

Japanese Lyrics

Japanese Lyrics (Japan 2015 production)

[ciaossu-imagines]

Could I request Mukuro for prompt 1? All or as many as you like of the 20 items ! Thank you!

Of course you can, my lovely anon! Thank you so much for the request and I hope you’ll enjoy!

What’s their go-to fifteen minute meal?

I do see Mukuro as someone who eats out a lot. If he’s not up to going out, I think he survives on junk food – chips and instant ramen are a lot of what he eats. He likes spicier chips and his go-to instant ramen is Ippudo Tonkotsu Ramen.

How would they describe their perfect vacation?

Eventful. Mukuro does have his moments where he wants a little breathing room but mostly, he’s not one to sit around and do nothing. He wouldn’t take true vacations often, since even when travelling, he has plans and things in the works that he’s keeping himself occupied with.

What’s the most read book on their bookshelf?

It’s a tie between Machiavelli’s The Prince and Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morality.

If they had to describe themselves as a type of shoe, which type would they choose? Why?

I think I would compare Mukuro to a worn-in pair of good leather boots. Strong enough to take a beating, practical and long-lasting, but changeable enough to go with a lot of different things.

What song would they choose as their theme song?

I’m going to cheat here but Mukuro has a leitmotif in the anime that I think really fits him perfectly and at least the first five or six seconds play in my head every time he showed up in the manga.

What’s the oldest item in their refrigerator?

Honestly, nobody cleans out the mini fridge in Kokuyo Land enough…there’s a little piece off a block of cheese that is old enough to have filled the entire Ziploc baggie it’s in with mold.

Do they have an emergency treat (ice cream, cookies, candy, etc.) hidden somewhere in their kitchen for bad days? What is it?

It’s ice cream. Mukuro changes his favourite flavour of ice cream up a lot, but he normally does have a tub hidden in the back of the little freezer. Doesn’t really matter though, because no matter how much stuff he piles in front of it, Ken or Fran ends up eating it on him before Mukuro actually wants it…maybe Chikusa once or twice, though Ken still ends up getting blamed.

What’s their weirdest bedtime ritual?

Mukuro has to brush his teeth. Pretty normal, yeah…except he brushes them one by one, first along the bottom and then along the top, going tooth by individual tooth. He always ‘forgets’ to floss though; the feeling of the waxy string kind of drives him insane, especially since he has sensitive gums.

Who/what is the one thing that can make them smile no matter how terrible their day has been?

Honestly, not to get too sappy but it is Ken and Chikusa, and then eventually Chrome and Fran too. As someone who never really had the luxury of a family or of people he could rely on, those four, while they drive him insane and while he isn’t above using them (though they willing consent to it), are really his own version of a safe, happy, warm place.

Where do they go when they need some time alone?

Mukuro is lucky enough in that, when he needs to retreat, he doesn’t need to go far. If it’s safe for him to do so, he simply retreats into his mind. Given the powers he has, his mind is more of a retreat than most other people’s, obviously.

What’s one conspiracy theory that they secretly agree with?

Mukuro has very little faith in the world, honestly, and he could easily be convinced of most conspiracy theories, with the only one he strongly disbelieves in being the whole flat earth theory.

Who’s the person they most want to tell when they hear a funny joke?

Honestly, it’s usually Chikusa or Chrome. Ken is too easy to make laugh so there’s no satisfaction there. Fran will just insult any joke. Both Chikusa and Chrome, while near impossible to make laugh, do both have senses of humour, and there’s a sense of accomplishment Mukuro feels in making either of them laugh.

What’s the first section of the newspaper (or online news source) that they check each day?

Mukuro subscribes to a lot of different news sites and does check them, keeping an eye on both major world news, on smaller news stories in places where the Mafia has strongholds, and in the tabloids, which tell the truth far more than people would think.

Who would they call to bail them out of jail? Bonus points if you describe why they were arrested!

This one is kind of obvious, as it’s shown in canon that he calls the rest of the Kokuyo Gang, including M.M. when he needs to be broken out of jail. He’s likely arrested on one of the many, many crimes he’s wanted for, let’s be honest. Mukuro isn’t exactly the picture of the ideal, law-abiding citizen.

What’s the one scent that most reminds them of home?

Blood. With the human experimentation being such a big part of his youth, and then the infiltration and slaughter of Lanchia’s family being another big part of his childhood, the smell of blood almost permeates all his memories of ‘home’ for him, though he’s learning to replace that smell with the smell of the damp earth, wet dog, apples, and that fancy smelling body soap that Chikusa likes so much.

What do they consider their greatest achievement?

Though he doesn’t consider his greatest achievement accomplished yet, as I do believe that, even at the end of the story, Mukuro does still have an intent to wipe out the rotted, evil parts of the Mafia world, I do think the fact that he has escaped Vindice prison, TWICE, which is supposed to be inescapable, is something he’s definitely a little proud of.

How much time do they spend on the internet each day?

I do think that, while the internet is a source of information for Mukuro, it’s not his main or only source, and that he really does keep his internet time relatively short, no more than a couple hours a day.

What’s their go-to procrastination activity?

Mukuro doesn’t really procrastinate all that often, actually. He’s pretty motivated and ambitious as a person but when he is putting something off, he normally spends a lot of time with the others, letting them drag him into stuff or deliberately provoking odd situations just to have the excuse to put off whatever it is that he genuinely doesn’t want to do.

If someone were to make a movie of their life, who would they want to play them?

Nobody. Absolutely nobody. Mukuro’s story would never get told because it’s not really one he wants publicly told and he would honestly stop it from getting out or ever even being thought of as a movie.

Is there a number in their phone that they should definitely delete but just can’t seem to erase?

He still has Lanchia’s cell phone number and he updates it every time that the man changes it. He really doesn’t need it…it’s just a ‘to be safe’ feeling that having it gives Mukuro.

[setagaya-division]

Yorii's Thoughts on Suginami Division

Ryuko Umemoto

"Ah, Mr. Big, Bad Animator, himself!" Yorii laughs at Ryuko's photo. "Would you all believe me if I told you I had to work with this guy once? Apparently, he and his team were doing some animated version of this highly-acclaimed manga. What was it called again... oh yeah! Red of the Ambitious, I think. I took a gander at it. It was alright, but once you've read one isekai manga, you've read them all. They're all the same, really. Some hero or heroine dies a sad death, they come face-to-face with their Maker or the God of that universe, get transported to a new world where their abilities are a lot better than they were in the old world. Same-old, same-old."

"Anyway, apparently one of the characters had my size and build, so they asked me to act as something of a model." Yorii then shows Ryuko's photo again. "And guess who was in charge of that. Boy, I had some fun teasing this guy. It was fun seeing his expression, and knowing he couldn't do much about it since he'd get into a lot of trouble! But still, I decided to cut him some slack at the end and do my parts correctly. ...For the most part, anyway."

"After that, we were both paid a hefty sum and went about our separate ways. I wouldn't have bothered with him after that, but I hear he works as a sort of babysitter for Kanra-chan and one of her friends. If so, I'll have to find a reason to bug him again!"

Maki Umemoto

"Maki-sensei? You mean he's joining this rap tournament too? Huh. Like Mina said, I'm surprised, but at the same time, I'm not. I mean, seriously, if you could hear some of the things this guy says about the government. I tell you, if he ever got tired of teaching, he could have a career as a public speaker or something. ...But still, for all his talking, you'd think he'd do less of that, and more action, you know? I mean, it's all well to talk about doing something, but if you're not actually putting your words to good use, then what good are you?"

"Besides that, Maki-sensei is... an okay teacher. I've noticed he gets a little bit nervous when it comes to teaching a large number of students, which doesn't bother me then. The more time he works up the nerve the teach, the more time I get to chill in the back of the classroom, playing on my phone and browsing PROFILE!"

Shuu Edogawa

As the singer looks at the photo of the detective, Yorii bursts out laughing. "Really?! Are you kidding me?! This guy?! I can't believe it!" Yorii starts laughing again, but manages to calm himself down. "Oh geez... sorry, sorry. I guess I should explain myself, right? Well, here goes. See, before I met Kanra-chan, you all know I liked to flirt and hang out with girls, right? Well... as it turns out, some of the girls I spoke too may or may not have been together with someone else at the time. And as it turns out... seeing their girls with a guy shorter and younger than them was bound to piss some guys off. But instead of doing the jobs themselves, they decided to hire this guy to get proof first!" Yorii points to Shuu's photo.

"Ever since then, he and I have been engaged in a rather fun game of 'Cat and Mouse'. There have been several times he's actually caught me, but it doesn't really do him much good. Know why? Simple. This is why."

Yorii then opens his mouth and starts singing an enchanting song, which makes the camera black out for a bit. As he finishes, you are left wondering what you were just doing and why Yorii is sitting smiling at you innocently, as if he has a dirty, little secret...

山茶花 Zombeez

"Do I need to say it? I like all of the guys from this team! ...Or rather, I like messing with all of the guys from this team! I mean, hey, can you blame me? They make it too easy! Especially Mr. Investigator here!" Yorii says, laughing out loud again. "Oh man, I cannot wait to face these guys in the tournament! It is going to be a barrel full of laughs for everyone involved!"

[multiplicity-positivity]

Hey, I think I sent an ask a few days ago about headmates you're afraid of, not sure if it got eaten or you just didn't have enough time / info to respond, but I'm feeling a little more stable now so I'd like to elaborate if that's okay?

So. I'm a fictive of a character from an anime/manga, and the host of my system. This past weekend, we had a very traumatic incident happen. I don't want to put too many details that might trigger people, but the short version is that an event we were attending got swatted. It was all a false alarm, no one was hurt, and we were back to usual activities within an hour or so.

We knew.. Pretty much immediately that we were splitting over it. The symptoms we have for traumatic splits usually line up to a pretty consistent order for us so we were just braced for it. What I wasn't expecting was that we would split.. My grandmother.

We never met properly, in source. She died before I was born, and I grew up being told by my father and then my.. caretaker, for lack of a better word, that she had abandoned us, didn't care about her family, didn't care that we were hurting, and put the lives of strangers above her family. I only ever saw her.. Spirit? I suppose? In a few instances, and it obviously wasn't a happy reunion because I was so full of hate that I didn't care what she said.

I know from an objective sense that she was doing what she thought was best. I read our source and the longer it's gone on, the more I've realized just how much of my life was lies and fabrications from the people around me who wanted me to be hateful. I can see as an outside viewer that she wasn't pure evil like I thought. But that doesn't change the immediate gut feeling that I'm dealing with now that she's right in front of me again.

I panicked really badly when she first showed up in headspace. I'm usually a frontstuck host, but I fully switched out and hid in a corner of headspace for a few hours until our gatekeepers were able to pull her back into a different corner of the world that I don't have access too. She.. Looks a lot like I did when I was a kid. I wasn't expecting that.

I'm still not entirely sure how to react to all this or how to get comfortable with her being here. I don't want to panic and run every time she needs to front, but I also have no idea how to even approach her without all the heaviness from source crushing me completely. Sorry if this is really heavy. I'm just hoping you guys or someone else has some advice on coping with this.

Hi! We genuinely think your first ask got eaten, we’ve never seen an ask like this in our inbox… I’m so sorry!

It sounds like you’re dealing with a really tough situation. I guess we’d like to remind you that what you’ve heard from others may not align to what’s actually happened in your source’s past. Sometimes emotions can get the best of people, and situations can be misinterpreted, especially when tensions are high and family is involved.

Have you spoken to your grandmother in the system directly to hear from her what happened before you were born in your source? Maybe she had a good reason to leave, or thought she was acting in your family’s best interests at the time.

Additionally, she may not come with source memories, and not feel attached to her source at all. We firmly believe that introjects are their own people and cannot and should not be held accountable for events that happened in their source, even if they feel extremely connected to their source.

If it’s difficult to interact with her directly, perhaps try writing her a letter, or asking another headmate to pass a message along. Beginning to communicate, even if it’s hard, is the first step towards building trust. I know it won’t be easy, but unfortunately, it’s probably necessary in order for the two of you to come to an understanding and exist happily in the same mind.

We’re so sorry you’re going through something like this. If it’s easier for you, please remember that the grandmother in your headspace is an introject, just like you. She can’t help being formed and did not choose this - sometimes the brain makes internal choices that can’t be helped. We hope y’all can grow together and learn to coexist, and we’re wishing you the very best!

🌸 Margo and 💫 Parker

[thatsitso]

Now anyone wanna hear me ramble about Orient? You will, cause I need more people to read it

Cause yeah as much as I love Orient, the ending was sadly incredibly rushed :[[ I wish Ohtaka took a break instead and finished it properly in the future, but I guess we can't know if it was her decision or what exactly led to it. And it really wouldn't be a bad ending imo, I'm satisfied with the conclusion, it all makes sense, but it's just obviously a veeery compressed version of what was originally planned

It's a sad thing really, cause Orient was great! It's actually one of my fav mangas, I admit it starts a little slow, but it was reaaally good! The Houjo arc was amazing, everything involving Kojiro and his father, I remember all that scabbanger stuff had me going crazy!! The relationship between Kojiro and Musashi is so interesting and masterfully written!! (Emphasis on that honestly I love their developments and relations with Jisei and their roles in the story, Ohtaka's so good at writing complex characters and relationships) Also with Michiru, Katsumi (my underrated king), the Shimazu siblings!! (Tatsuomi and Soma's relationship actually turned out to be interesting too, but they only had one chapter to show it 😭! Wasted potential)

All the other characters are really great too, the comedic elements are always so good, the art is obviously fucking STELLAR!!? I have many critiques of course, even apart from the ending, but still I loved this series. I think it's extremely underrated and worth a read, especially now that it's finished, go for it guys! Just 150 chapters to binge 😗, it's not the best manga out there, it's no better than Magi, but it is hella good and deserves some more love 💘

Read Orient!!!

Goodbye ♥️!