#especially when amano wrote it like THAT

[hopeswriting]

[ID: A panel from the manga Katekyo Hitman Reborn, showing Uni.

She cries with her eyes closed, one half of her face drawn normally, while the other half is a decaying skeleton. She thinks to herself, “I’m scared... of death...” /End ID]

first of all you’re right about everything, but i just want to point out that it’s not just that she knew she’d have to sacrifice herself for this future. it just so happened that her needing to die in that moment also meant saving that future (and all the others), but uni says herself she’s been waiting for the moment she could make good use of her powers all her life, and not just from when byakuran started acting up. in fact she’s been waiting for it since the moment she was born, as she says the trinisette song was etched in her memory ever since. and worse than that, she was even hoping for it, hoping she would get that moment where she’d need to sacrifice herself, says in that same scene, “this is the only chance i can take”. because then, not only her death can mean something, but most importantly, her life can be meaningful too. the life she only ever got to live as uni the sky arco, and never uni the person.

and i’m not saying it’s not meaningful either way, that it wouldn’t matter just as much if she was to die from her time wearing the pacifier running out like the other arco and luce and aria before her, but if she chooses to give herself to the pacifier instead of just letting the pacifier take from her until there’s nothing left to take, then it’s different, isn’t it? then it’s not only just her having made peace with the only choice she was given and could have never escaped from, but her actually making that choice for herself, actually taking her own fate in her own hands for the first time in her life. and she’s still only uni the sky arco to the very end, but at that moment, uni the person is the one to decide what being uni the sky arco means, and when, how, and for what she’ll die.

but then when she does come face to face with death, not only it reminds us and her that at the end of the day she’s still only a child like you said, but i really think it’s also the first time she gets to be one. because if she really was born with the trinisette song already in her memory, then she never got the mercy to not know. she might not have been uni the sky arco all her life, but even before she became that, she was still uni the next sky arco. uni who’d have to eventually and inevitably die for the greater good. and even during those three months with the giglio nero where she was probably at her happiest, where she got to live the most freely, she still had to be uni the giglio nero donna.

uni just really doesn’t know who she is without the duty she’s always known she’d have to fulfill. she really doesn’t know who uni, full stop, who uni the person is. was never given the chance to, was never allowed to. and honestly, if you couldn’t tell that distinction you made between uni the sky arco and uni the person is fucking me up, then know it really is and i want to cry my heart out and never stop.

especially because i never noticed before that even in her death, uni still really can’t see herself as anything but the sky arco. doesn’t know how to, doesn’t know what else she can be. even in her death, even after her death, she’s still all about duty. even after her death, only her duty remains, and how fitting when that’s the thing that killed her to begin with, when that's the thing that didn’t allow her to live while she was still alive. like, the arco curse is all about sacrifice for all of them, but it’s about duty first and foremost only for the sky arco. because they aren’t given the mercy to not know all along it’ll happen, while at the same time their ability to know more than anyone else just confirm the inevitability of it. it’s their destiny, and there’s no running away from it, no escaping it, no winning against it even if they were to fight against it.

their duty is literally the first thing they know when they’re born, the first thing they know about the world, life and themselves when they’re born. so of course luce kept for herself where that mountain was leading all of them, couldn’t imagine there could be anything else past that mountain top that wouldn’t be inescapable tragedy. of course aria didn’t try to run away from it, for all she said she didn’t believe in the curse and tried to protect uni from it. of course uni was hoping she’d have the chance to give herself to it, to make it about her, to choose it too the way it chose her.

and like. is your heart breaking into thousand pieces yet, or are you a cold and unfeeling monster, because i for one will never ever get over this

Just want to take a moment here to appreciate this panel… 

Uni, since the beginning, has known that any meaningful ending to this future would require her death. She knows this destiny is what saves them all. And it seems like she’s prepared for that sacrifice. Just like her grandmother and her mother, Yuni comes prepared to sacrifice herself for the greater good. But when the time to actually make those words a reality comes…. 

She falters. 

Death is final. Death, for her, doesn’t include her coming back. Once she’s gone, she’s gone whether for better or for worse. This is her ultimate sacrifice, her life. In that moment of understanding, we get hit with a reminder that Yuni (at most!) is a late teen/early adult. She’s barely lived life with most of her life being in a role that required her to know suicide was an option for the greater good.  

It’s poignant that even in imagining her death, Yuni can’t see herself without her cap. She can’t separate herself from her job. Everything she is is the Sky Acrobaleno, she doesn’t know who she is without it. She dies as Yuni, the Sky Acrobaleno, not Yuni the person. Not even her own damn death can be about her –separate from the pacifiers.  

It makes me feel things…

[thoughtspresso]

Oshi No Ko was about Arima Kana all along.

And I think there’s a real possibility she may die at the end.

Or be placed in the way of grave danger.

I was reading some AquKane shippers say something about how they don’t understand AquaKana, and why the writers and directors keep clearly pushing Kana towards Aqua when they barely share any chemistry. Whereas, in their belief, his relationship with Akane is more honest, deeper, whatever. I’m not here to argue about that. But I get where they’re coming from. And the simple explanation is this:

It’s because this whole story was written for Arima Kana.

I’ve seen some Youtubers talk about how this whole story was meant to be fulfillment for Ruby/Sarina’s dream to become the next great Idol, something about Amaterasu favoring her.

And that’s near what I thought of it. But I really think if the God of Entertainment wanted to bless a child with cancer a second life as the world’s great idol, they’d also give her a great singing voice, y’know?

Spoilers for the manga, of course as we go along on this explanation. So anime onlies, get caught up before you start reading me ramble.

Here we go:

1. Arima Kana is the embodiment of Amaterasu, not Ruby.

Or at least, Amaterasu’s appointed representative, or her favorite daughter.

To give you a run-down of some of the core Shinto/Japanese Mythology that is important for the story, the Creator God Izanaki had three children:

Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun.

Tsukuyomi, the Moon.

Susanoo, the Storm.

The story goes that Amaterasu and Susanoo had a competition about who could create better gods. So Amaterasu took Susanoo’s Totsuka-no-Tsurugi* (longsword) and split it into three, from which she birthed the three Munakata goddesses.

And woncha knowit, there are three great actresses born in that year?

*A reminder that Kana plays the character Tsurugi, which literally just means Sword. And Akane’s character Saya-hime just literally means Sheath or Scabbard Princess.

In this bet, Amaterasu got clever with the rules and won on a technicality. Susanoo went on a rampage, destroyed Amaterasu’s ricefield, and flayed Amaterasu’s favorite divine horse*, and then threw its body at her loom.

*The name Arima is spelled with the Kanji of Horse & Exist/Live. 

Amaterasu, in her grief, flees into a cave, believed to be Amano Iwato cave, right in the town of Takachiho, Amamiya Gorou’s hometown, and the death place of  Tendouji Sarina.

The being that draws Amaterasu out of there was the Goddess of the Dawn, known also as the Goddess of the Revelry & Arts, a being that Aqua says he knows well, and believes there’s a grain of truth to:

And how does Ame-no-Uzume draw Amaterasu out of her grief?

By throwing an absolute rager, and dancing really wildly that it catches her attention and makes all the gods around them laugh so hard. Just like:

Ame-no-Uzume will later on marry a diety who tried to block her passage before, Sarutohiko, who in Ise is worshipped as the god who illuminates the world.

That’s some divinity-level AquaKana shipping right there.

Just like how Aka Akasaka wrote the story of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War about two lovers who couldn’t be together just like in the myth of Kaguya, but having his characters overcome all odds to defy divine fate, I do believe that apart from the parallels to the mythology like he did in Kaguya-sama, there is very literal divine intervention this time in Oshi No Ko.

I think what’s happening is that the gods, particularly Amaterasu and Susanoo are quarelling again about who could create better gods, just like before, but now more of whose favored child will shine the brightest and be worshipped by the most humans. But just like last time, Susanoo may have been enraged, especially at the sexual assault of his chosen Hikaru Kamiki, that he possessed him with a corrupting force that urges him to destroy shining stars before they reach their peak, hence the murders of Himekawa Airi, Hoshino Ai**, and Katayose Yura.

Which by the way, the name Hikaru means Radiant Light!

And Hoshino means Field of Stars!

Whether it’s because Amaterasu is angry that every daughter she sends to earth is slaughtered by Susanoo’s chosen, or just because she wants to win their competition, she appoints Ame-no-Uzume to assist in safeguarding her new favored one from Kamiki’s clutches. Her new favored one being Arima Kana.

And therefore, Ame-no-Uzume takes the souls of two motherless humans who had passed before they could shine and sent them to become Hoshino Ai’s twin children. It was all anyway happening in her territory of Takachiho at the most opportune time.

Ame-no-Uzume is also known as The Goddess of Dance, as well as The Great Pursuader. And wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly the gifts that the Hoshino Twins received.

An energetic performer who takes the stage with dance:

And a deceptive, persuasive, extremely believable actor, who:

fooled his own sister into believing she had been rejected from an audition

pretended to scout an idol from a competing agency to research them

get Director Gotanda to raise him and train him

make Akane not just date him, but follow him down a destructive path

convince Kana and Mem to join IchigoPro

impersonate Pieyon for several days straight

Anyway, I truly, truly believe that unbeknownst to Aqua, his true mission is just to keep drawing Kana out of her darkness until she shines the brightest. Which is what he keeps doing anyway:

2. The Timing of the whole Oshi No Ko plot is aligned with Arima Kana’s rise to unprecedented stardom.

The story of Ai Hoshino’s pregnancy and meeting of Gorou Amamiya in a quaint hospital occurs at the beginning of Arima Kana’s life, just after she is born.

She meets Aqua Hoshino around age 4, already talented, and already extremely arrogant which could have easily been the demise of her career. But meeting Aqua and seeing his acting was a necessary wake-up call for her, that it brings her to tears. She never forgets this experience that she brought that lesson with her to her adulthood: that she can’t be satisfied and keep working harder, and to be a better communicator with her colleagues. At their first point of contact, Aqua already becomes the reason why Arima Kana’s acting career survives the slump.

They meet again in high school, when Arima Kana has one acting job in a lackluster production of Sweet Today. The ratings had plummeted, if not for the fact that Aqua came onto the set to draw out the best acting Arima Kana could deliver. After this, Arima receives much more respect and recognition from her colleagues in the industry beyond just being cast to bring some legitimacy to their production.

It’s because of Aqua and Ruby that Kana joins IchigoPro’s Idol Division, and her career is reborn anew. Such that, even after quitting B-Komachi, Arima states she never regretted the decision to join, because otherwise the career of Arima Kana would have been already over. 

It’s because of Aqua’s presence that Arima trains to become better and better as an idol. Aqua kept drawing out the light from Kana’s eyes, to the point that it catches the attention of the crowd who previously had no interest in her.

It’s because of her experience as an idol that she regains the confidence and sense of greed necessary to grab the attention of the audience when on stage, such that even Akane recognizes this change in her when Arima takes the stage as Tsurugi for the 2.5 Adadptation of Tokyo Blade.

And it’s because of all of these that she captures the attention of award-winning Director Masanori Shima, who lines up some roles for her when her acting schedule had dried up. It’s once again because of Kana’s dedication towards Aqua that Shima D finds her so interesting that he was most willing to promise her the best role possible.

It was as if Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto appointed Aqua and Ruby to come draw Arima Kana out of her Cave, and bring the Sun out again, just like how the deity drew out Amaterasu.

If you think about the title of the show, Oshi No Ko, it literally means The Favorite Child. God’s favored child. Arima Kana had been born chosen by Amaterasu from the very beginning. And Ame-no-Uzume is sending Aqua and Ruby to aid on this quest.

Which explains why it seems like there had been a mission communicated to Aqua from the very beginning. And why Ai was never going to be reincarnated at all.

You would think that if The Crow Girl, which we assume is the divine guide Yatagarasu, was communicating with Aqua about his revenge plan or helping him find Kamiki, that Aqua would hold a more favorable relationship with The Crow whenever it appears to give advice, no?

But it’s exactly the opposite. Because The Crow is guiding him into something that is different from his personal goal that Aqua doesn’t understand.

And this is where I think Arima Kana could be put in danger.

3. Arima Kana is Hikaru Kamiki’s next target.

There were earlier theories that thought Kurokawa Akane was the one to die next, because of what people have now learned of Kamiki’s serial murderer profile targeting big celebrities before their peak, and because Akane had received a bouquet of white roses from him when she won an award.

The chapter when it was expected to happen was a fake-out from Aka Akasaka, and some people think it’s still possible that she’s the target. In fact, I keep seeing recent theory videos who discount Kana and say she’s “the safest”. Hah! If only!

The scenes with Shima D weren’t just a mere plot point to bring scandal to Arima’s name, and threaten her career and life enough that it pushes Aqua to reveal his mother’s secret in exchange. But it’s there because this is the upward path for Arima Kana. So far, the only people who have witnessed her dazzling star power have been fans of the Sweet Today manga, idol otakus, and people who attended Tokyo Blade. That’s not really masterpiece-of-the-century, performing-at-the-dome level. None of these gigs have placed her center stage in what could be Film of the Year, and a Best Actress spot. Now, the chance is here, and it’s real:

I think, The 15-Year-Lie will attempt to draw out Hikaru Kamiki, or that Aqua intends to reveal himself in the movie looking like him, and reveal the identity of his father.

But I also think what would happen is that they would be unsuccessful at taking him down completely. Instead, from the movie, he would be interested in Arima Kana, and target her through the course of her Shima D movie, and plan to kill her before an important awards night.

Alternatively, now that Kana is changing her focus to film, she may consider moving agencies, and ask Frill Shiranui about her agent. And if we’re right, she is likely represented by Kamiki Productions.

Either way, Kamiki will pay attention to her and try to kill her just before she reaches her highest.

But I don’t think Arima Kana will die. I think instead of being saved by Aqua, it’ll be Kana who takes Kamiki down. Echoing back to her getting mad at Aqua for thinking that avoiding her was protecting her, and Aqua believing that Kana doesn’t need help since she’s strong enough to take care of herself.

And then maybe, it’s Arima Kana who draws Aqua out of the darkness too.

And, just like with Kaguya and Shirogane Miyuki, Aka Akasaka is once again writing a story about two people who will defy a fate of divine tragedy, and come out of it being more truthful with each other than they’ve been with themselves all along.

[kuro-ayame]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Oh, this is a rough question, it's difficult to choose only ten characters. Anyway thanks for the ask! :D

Lavi Bookman (D.Gray-Man) I think I already wrote about him in a manga challenge I did some time ago, I don't want to repeat myself, but I love Lavi because of his personality, he acts silly most of the time, but when the situation demands it, he gets serious and pulls out of all his skills.

11th Doctor (Doctor Who) I need to say that I like all the Doctor's regenerations, but Eleven as a special place in my heart, because he is the Doctor in what is my favourite episode (Vincent and the Doctor) of the entire series . Anyway it's not the only reason he's my fave, this Doctor seems so joyful but hides a lot of suffering within himself and Matt Smith's interpretation convey all of this so well!!

Satoru Gojo (Jujutsu Kaisen) He is strong, handsome, smart and it's funny to see how he bothers everyone around him. Sorry, I have no special reason for linking him ahah

Osamu Dazai (Bungou Stray Dogs) The fact that he always seems to plot something is really interesting to me. He's pretty much a menace and I can't help to love him.

Akari Mizunashi (ARIA by Kozue Amano) For Akari every little experience is important and it seems that everything shines through her eyes, I think she's a reassuring character.

Gilbert Nightray (Pandora Hearts) The most loyal character I've ever seen, additionaly I like his design.

Ash Lynx (Banana Fish) He's intelligent and has shown a strong willpower despite his past, also I love his gentle side when he is with Eiji.

Sebastian Michaelis (Black Butler) I don't know why I like him so much, he is just…perfect? Oh and I must say that I laugh so much when he is placed in humourous situations, it's neat.

Cozmez - Kanata Yatonokami and Nayuta Yatonokami (Paradox Live) Ok, maybe I like Nayuta slightly more because he seems the quiet one, but still I don't want to choose between them, you know what they say: "They are a set, do not separate them". So aside their fraternal bond, I love their music and how their storyline has been handled, I don't want to go into details, but I was pretty moved by it and I developed a strong attachment to these two.

Doremi Harukaze (Ojamajo Doremi) She was my fave when I was little, I can't exclude her from this top ten. She is just too relatable, especially from the point of view of a child.

[hopeswriting]

finished rereading the shimon arc, and the later half of the arc just really doesn’t hold up to the first one in terms of... pretty much everything tbh. now the last part of the arc was good too, don’t get me wrong! i enjoyed reading it, and it gave us nice, interesting and insightful moments too, be it about the characters, their dynamics, the worldbuiling, etc.

(noticeably not much about the various shimon arc’s plotlines tho lol. which were all pretty much resolved the moment daemon revealed himself as the Big Bad Guy and The Cause Of Everything, because after that it was just a matter of making enma catch up on that too. and tho i wish we’d have gone another route, it of course makes sense that’s what happened because daemon is the one who started it all, from all the way back to primo and cozart, but i still wish amano would have taken a bit more time with it, would have allowed a bit more nuance there. like mostly i wish the characters would have actually talked to each other about the conflicts and issues between them first before making them all daemon’s fault and “resolving” them by beating his ass. anyway.)

but it’s also kinda the problem that we only got good moments in between succession of events that otherwise fell kinda flat, for me at least. meanwhile the first half of the arc had me soo invested every step of the way, which you know if you read my posts about it lol. and imo amano wrote it so well at pretty much every level right up until the daemon reveal, setting up so many interesting things, interconnecting them and making them affect each other, and exploring them little by little and more and more each time, but then we got the daemon reveal and...

okay i think i just figured out my issue with the later half of the arc. i think daemon took too much space in it. and of course it was inevitable that the story focused on him from the moment he revealed himself as the actual antagonist/villain of the arc, that’s not my issue here, but i really think it was a mistake to also put him at the forefront of the story to do that. like imo amano should have kept giving equal focus at the very least to everything she had set up until then between the shimon and the 10th gen, and especially between enma and tsuna. but she made all of that take a back seat, which inevitably made me less willing to pay attention to what was happening because that’s what i cared about and kept me invested to that point, you know. and that’s what we were made to care about too, so i guess my issue is also that the daemon reveal came a little too late? and also with little foreshadowing before that.

so yeah, not sure how unpopular an opinion this might be, but that’s how i personally feel about it. but all that said, i of course still had such a blast reading the arc!!! it was really a lot of fun, and despite the later half being lacking, the shimon arc is still what i’d personally solidly call a good arc. and a very enjoyable one at the very least. also enma kozato, my beloved, i’m so glad i got to have a new-found appreciation of him. <3 he’s entirely too underrated for NO reasons guys, he’s literally such a good character!!! both on his own and when it comes to his relationship with tsuna!!!

it’s still really a shame the quality of the writing didn’t last to the end because i was ready to call it my new favorite arc, but it still became my new second favorite arc. which is saying something because i had a really negative memory of it for some reason lol. anyway, shimon arc good and underrated and i loved it <3

[hopeswriting]

okay so i didn't plan to ramble so much, but should have actually expected it because i've been thoroughly consumed by a 10th gen and especially a tsuna brainrot lately lol. so yeah, have said ramble under the cut.

and tl;dr is that i totally agree with this and so i wrote an essay about it no one asked for. <3

SAY that!!!!!!! you're so right and you should say it and i hope we all know it. also i was literally just talking about this too, like. tsuna IS a loser and it's a fact and the truth and it's the POINT. it's entirely by design, it's intrinsic to tsuna's character and it's the foundation on which everything else about him is built upon. and it's not who he is at his core, obviously, but because he's a loser and grew up one, and was perceived through this lens in other people's eyes and was given what they decided was the warranted and deserved treatment because of it, tsuna ends up with the personality he has and the outlook on life and people he has. he ends up with the convictions and principles and beliefs he has about life and people, and ends up with the wants and wishes and needs he has about them.

tsuna being a loser is absolutely fundamental to what khr is all about and to what tsuna's character especially is all about. and taking that away from him doesn't change the message of khr to an unrecognizable or significant degree, but to me, it does absolutely do that to tsuna's character, and so i inevitably lose non-negligible interest whenever it happens.

there's a reason why to the very end amano made it a point to show us and remind us that tsuna only barely changed. and not in any of the ways he's been and has been considered a loser all his life. there's a reason why he looks at friends, knowing that he only barely changed, and goes "but now i have friends anyway". because the thing is that he's just as deserving of them now as he would have been even if he had gotten them from the very beginning. even without him having to "prove" himself worthy of it first through all the mafia things he goes through throughout the manga.

which is the point. which is the point. do you get it?

tsuna is a loser. tsuna will keep being a loser even as he keeps growing and keeps becoming better and more capable and confident in his strengths. tsuna has to remain a loser for the message of khr to stay true to what it is. do you get it???

because tsuna IS bad at all the things that makes him a loser, and so what of it? it's completely insignificant when it comes to what kind of person he is. it has absolutely no bearings on or affect in any way the worth and value he has as a person, nor the respect and decency he should be treated with as such. which are all something he's (and everyone else) inherently due for no other reason that he IS a person too. that he's been born another fellow human being just the same as everyone else.

tsuna's a loser and it's been held against him and he's been harshly punished for it and it shouldn't have. it's wrong that it happened and that everyone around him let it happen. because sure, tsuna's a loser at these specific things, but so what of it? he's good—he's great at other things that matter so much more and are the only things that matter when it comes to, like. the things we owe to each other as human beings sharing the same earth and reaching for the same happiness. and the ways we owe each other to treat each other because we're all human beings capable of inflicting pain and being hurt the same way.

tsuna sucks at studying and at sports and at talking to girls, and he's clumsy and awkward and a coward and lazy and doesn't want to have to try hard in life, and he doesn't know how to approach people, but he's good at people. he's good at kindness, at understanding. he's good at mercy and compassion and forgiveness and giving second chances. he's good at seeing the worth in people despite all their imperfections and flaws, no matter how obvious or deep or seemingly unforgivable they may be. he's good at loving people for all their imperfections and flaws too, making it easier for them to love themselves too. he's good at making the most out of the happiness within the little things in life, helping others realize that maybe this is all they need out of life too, that maybe it's enough and they don't have to work themselves to the bones to be more and better and perfect, and reach some arbitrary greater height. he's good at knowing what is right and where to draw the line, and what should be fought for and protected to the very end.

tsuna's great at all of those things, which becomes more and more apparent as you read the manga. and he could have learned to be great at these things so much sooner if he was just allowed to, because he's always had it in him to be great at all these things at the same time as he was bad at the other things. and part of why he's a loser and remains one is, of course, because he was harshly and cruelly and unfairly bullied for it for years, to the point it destroyed any kind of self-esteem in him before he had the chance to show he also was much more than that. and another part of it is that he's thirteen years old when the manga starts and should have been allowed to be. but yet another part of it is that it's also just who tsuna is and it's okay.

tsuna wasn't secretly or unknowingly super skilled and talented and better than everyone else all along, and it's okay. and he felt bad about it and thought lesser and lower of himself because of it because he was made to, but it's still okay if he doesn't feel like changing that part of himself even once he grows out of it. it's still okay if he still feels at peace being the way he is in that respect, because it just has no bearings on what he calls happiness and his abilities to find it. and i firmly believe that even if reborn never showed up in his life and brought everyone else along with him, happiness would still eventually have found its way to him. people—his people, people who'd have been able to see him for who he truly is in all his imperfections and who'd have loved him for them and for everything else he also is, would still have found its way to him. and maybe, in a scenario where life is a little kinder to him once he's out of school and allows him the time and peace to pick up the broken pieces of his self-esteem and self-worth off of the floor, tsuna would be even brave enough to be the one to look for them first, to reach out to them first.

i firmly believe that even if reborn never showed up in his life, another reborn would have eventually showed up in his life anyway, because—

because this is the point of tsuna as a character. because khr is all about growth, about it never being too late to do better by yourself and others than you did yesterday, about you never being too far gone to start learning how to do that, and about how, despite undeserving and unworthy of it you think you are, there will always be people who eventually and inevitably will be willing to love you anyway, healing the pain away and making it worth it and making you a better person for it. and of course, tsuna's journey throughout the manga is the embodiment of all that more than anyone's else, but khr is also about how you're deserving of kindness and love and happiness even right now, in all your flaws and imperfections. even before you start doing anything about it. it's also about how you're still deserving of people to have your back, to support you, to help you back up on your feet and help you heal the bruises from the fall. how you're still deserving to have people to hold your hand and stand by your side right where you currently stand, making it more bearable and kinder and loving and happier until you're ready to walk on a less harsh path. hand in hand and side by side still.

tsuna's a loser, and it's no personal or moral failure of his in any way. it's not a flaw of his or something he ever has to overcome if he doesn't feel like it. and it's not something that should have ever taken anything away from him where it matters the most for so many years. it shouldn't have been allowed to, and it's wrong that it was--tsuna was being unfairly and cruelly wronged every moment it was allowed to happen.

tsuna's a loser, and still went on to love people and to be loved back just as wholly and fiercely, as it should be and should have been all along. tsuna's a loser and remained a loser through everything he achieved throughout the manga anyway, proving (even if he should never have had to) that happiness and love was still within his reach all along. as it should be and should have been all along.

tsuna's a loser, and he's still loved for being one too, not in spite of it, never in spite of it, and it's only right that he is. it's the only right way it should be.

and it's so, so important to me that tsuna carries this message within him and embodies it so relentlessly and unyieldingly and proudly throughout the manga, and it's absolutely the one thing i personally love about him the most.

(also on a side but still relevant note, i do personally mean tsuna's a loser, and not useless by any means. and when i call him a loser, i'm only saying it factually with no judgement attached to it, and would use another word with the same meaning but with none of the (or less of anyway) negative connotations attached to it if i could think of it lol. but yeah, "useless" is just the demeaning monicker and nickname that was forced onto him so relentlessly and for so long, he came to believe it to be the truth too, but it still doesn't make it true. it isn't, does not actually truthfully reflect on him or is an accurate assessment of who tsuna is and what he can become. what tsuna actually is, is lacking in certain areas to an extent people around him just decided it'd mean he'd never amount to anything in life, but once again, just because they believed it and made tsuna come to believe too, it still doesn't make it true.

tsuna is not useless and has never been so. and he didn't get the opportunity to learn it for himself before people decided that was all he could be, but then do learn that once reborn shows up in his life. and we learn it alongside him as we witness and accompany him on his journey through the manga that tsuna always had it in him to live a good life. and maybe to not make something great out of it too, or something that'd leave a mark behind him once he'd be gone, or something admirable other people would strive to achieve in turn, but so what of it? what does it matter when it's not something tsuna himself cares to do, when it's not something he needs to do to still be happy and content and fulfilled with his life anyway?

tsuna would have done just fine at life as long as he'd have been left alone to try his best shot at it. i mean, take the fact he's bad at studying as an example. and he's bad at it because it's simply something that doesn't come easy to him, but also the bullying sure as hell can't be helping the matter, especially when we know some teachers are in on it too. and maybe tsuna still wouldn't manage to achieve average grades or above average grades even without the bullying, but no doubt he'd do a lot better than he does in canon if he was just left alone to try his best at it anyway no matter how bad at it he is.

now as it is in the manga, he does go on to live a great life, by becoming vongola decimo and all (it's strongly implied anyway), but it's still very much not something he wants or something he'd call happiness. if it was left up to him, tsuna would have gone on to find and build his quiet and peaceful and unremarkable daily life for himself, and would have been perfectly happy with it. with or without reborn showing up in his life, once again, for the reasons already discussed above. and some people would still pity him for it, would still see him as lesser and lower for it, would still force their beliefs on him that his life is lacking and that he should strive for more and better, but that very life still would be everything he's ever wanted out of it. and he'd still hold on to it tightly and protect it and fight for it unyieldingly through thick and thin, comes hell or high water.

which is, again, the point of tsuna as a character. tell me you get it. this is what his character all comes down to. this is what he fights for and what keeps him standing back up again and again, both for himself and for other people too, especially the one he loves, so they can at least have the chance to choose if it's something they also want for themselves because it's what they also call happiness. the mundane and unremarkable and ordinary.

because the thing is, tsuna is so very plain and unremarkable and average, and then fails at even being average, and still, still, happiness and love and acceptance have been within his reach all along. and still, he's been deserving of them all along. and still, he's been due those things all along.

because these are not things that should ever have to be earned. these are not things that should be tied to your inherent greatness or lack thereof, or to wether other people think you worthy or deserving of it. these should not be tied to how hard you worked beforehand to get them and prove yourself worthy of them, even if you can't help but feel it unfair then that other people got those things easier than you without first having have had to do all of that. and these should not be tied to how grandiose they might be, or how impactful, or how much it makes people look up at them and envy them for themselves too.

and you should be worthy of them, should know how to cherish them and look after them so they'd flourish and prosper, and it's only right they're taken away from you if you turn them into something hurtful both to you and to other people, but happiness and love and acceptance are things that should be given. for no other reason thay we've all been born in this world without asking to. from a human being to another human being. and if it's not given to you, you're well within you right to name them that wherever you find them, and pick them up and hold them close to your heart and refusing to let go, comes what may.

the point of tsuna is to say with his whole chest and while believing every word to his very core that "you've been unfairly withholding happiness from me when you had no right to deem me unworthy of it to begin with, and i will never let anyone take it away from me again now i found it anyway and should have been allowed to find it all along."

the point of him is to say "who are you to tell me i don't get to have happiness too? especially because of things that don't even make it harder for anyone else to find happiness too, that don't hurt anyone else, including myself, and that won't make it harder for me to find my version of happiness? who are you to call my happiness any less meaningful that yours, to see it as lesser than yours just because we have different definition of it? who are you to decide what i call happiness isn't actually making me happy or isn't happiness at all, just because it's not something that would make you happy too? who are you to make it harder for me to reach happiness just because you think i shouldn't get to have it?"

the point of tsuna as a character is to say "this is what i call happiness, and this is the happiest i've ever been, no matter how many other people may believe there's some greater happiness i could achieve and should strive to achieve instead. these are the people i love, right the way they are in this very moment in all their flaws and imperfections, and with all the room they still have to become even better and all the potential they still have to fulfill, and i will keep loving them just the same should they choose to stay right the way they are anyway and wouldn't change anything to them.

the place in life i'm at right now and the people i'm surrounded with right now is everything i've ever wanted, and i will fight you to the very end if you try to take it away from me or change it in any way just because you think i should want more and better and it's not actually all that important or meaningful. and i'll win.

try me."

the narrative always and constantly takes his side on the matter, and does allow him to keep winning over and over again. not without cost, not without paying the price for it, but still he undisputably and undoubtedly wins over and over again.

and another thing in khr that's also so, so important to me and that i love so much, is that tsuna's allowed to be right about this. he's always and constantly proven right in this stand he takes over and over again and is rewarded for it too. is rewarded by having only barely changed by the end of the manga, and not in any of the ways people tried hard to change him against his wishes.

as it should be.)

One of my favourite things about Tsuna, that I don't think people really enjoy, is that he's useless. A lot of ff, especially on wattpad or ff net, change his personality a lot by making him a martyr or a cold-blooded assassin. I just think it's a shame. He's useless, and I love that about him. Even in the ending, he's still dumb and clumsy and terrified and it's him. I love that Amano wasn't afraid to keep that when he made KHR more serious. A true zero to hero. (Bottom line: Tsuna's great.)

.

[natsumebookss]

⭐ for the magia ask! (Semi-relatedly, Umika has already been confirmed as the event's welfare unit so I would doubly not hold my breath for welfare Nico. Maybe for next Kazumi event's gacha, like what happened to Isabeau and Minou?)

Favorite spin-off characters (based largely on personality and potential because some of these girls were done dirty, and as a salty Cure Moonlight stan, you know I'm willing to fight the writers on this kinda thing):

🔮 Oriko Mikuni 🔮

I'm starting with the best-written one of the bunch (and also so Muffin knows when to stop reading lol). In all seriousness, though, I've always been fascinated by Oriko's character, and not just because she was my first-ever magical girl on my NA account. People tend to use the term "tragic villain" to mean one with a sad backstory, and that's what we tend to see in media, but what makes Oriko tragic is that she just doesn't know. She bases her motivations on visions that are, quite honestly, incomplete, and we know that she can be a good person from Oriko Magica's supplemental material. Something about that is just very Shakespearean to me, as Oriko Magica is essentially the Tragedy of Oriko, and as an English major, I adore these kinds of characters.

also the fact that Valka's dad is a washed-up politician was not at all based off Oriko nope

🔥 Suzune Amano 🔥

And now we have a character I desperately wish had been written by a different writer. My love for her is largely based on two very silly things, one being that Suzune Magica was my edgelord high school self's favorite spin-off and the other being the idea that Suzune is a brainwashed magical girl assassin. Was it pigeonholed into the story? Yes. Do I love the idea of a magical girl Winter Soldier anyway, to the point of taking the idea for myself for Premiere Nebula? Yes. She was my first lim on my NA account, and for this reason, she's also a little sentimental to me.

📖 Umika Misaki 📖

Umika's backstory is one of my favorites in the franchise, and it's a shame MagiReco doesn't go more into it. Basically, her first manuscript was accepted by an editor, but her joy over this soon turned to sorrow when she found out this editor was not giving her credit for her work, instead saying an idol wrote it and forcing her into ghostwriting. Umika said "fuck that" and used her wish to find an editor who respected her work and her rights. Her role in Kazumi's story is also cool, but I admire her so much for wishing for this and not just wishing to be a bestseller, especially now that I'm shopping a debut manuscript myself!

⚔️ Tart ⚔️

My connection with Tart isn't as deep since I still haven't read her manga, but I've adored her since the second Tart event. Every time I think about her sacrifice to save Ui, I just tear up thinking about how she'd literally go straight to the gallows for this girl she barely knows. She's everything good about classical magical girls like Usagi with Joan of Arc mixed in for extra badassery! Her second event is also one of my last really vivid memories of NA before the shutdown was announced (I remember seeing so many people memeing the Ui "every time I look at my phone, I'm sad for some reason" screencap), so there's also that sentimentality. Never got her on NA, but I'm super happy to have Final Tart on JP!

✨ Matsuri Hinata ✨

My current goal on JP! Like Tart, I love her purely for being a sweetheart, even to the point of trying to befriend the slasher in the Suzune manga! She's a naive weirdo who just appreciates everything she has, because Kyubey really did give her another chance to see the world. As much as I have a problem with the plot point of her using her wish to cure her blindness, I will admit that it does contribute a lot to who she is in the story and how understanding she is towards people due to her (former?) disability. I feel like she and Mito would be great friends.

Also, even though the Captain America movies were better written than Suzune Magica, my love for magical girl ships means that I'll always get way more emotional over MatsurixSuzune than Stucky, lol.

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Midara na Neko wa Tsume o Kakusu

Title: Midara na Neko wa Tsume o Kakusu (みだらな猫は爪を隠す)

Release Date: 2020/03/25

Author/Artist: Shimaji

Cast: Nakajima Yoshiki x Saitou Souma

Synopsis: Amano, a deliveryman who works for “Sukegawa Danshi” Delivery, is constantly at wits end because of rival deliveryman from “Mikeneko” Delivery, Miike, because the latter was this small, unfriendly, and cheeky fellow. One day, Amano is tasked to deliver a parcel to the man himself containing adult goods. Knowing the contents of said parcel, Amano asks Miike to show him how he uses them! Although it was initially done to tease him, Amano suddenly gets turned on by it?!

Review Proper

CHESKA, YOU WROTE THAT GODDAMN SYNOPSIS YOURSELF YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!!!

I’m sorry, but I bought the raws on impulse.

STONE HER

I’M SO FRUSTRATED. SAITOU SOUMA, NAKAJIMA YOSHIKI, Y’ALL BETTER KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU BOTH SEEING ALL THE SHIT I DO FOR YOU. 😩 I’m sorry, I was really just depressed that I might or might not have bought a bunch of things on impulse.

Anyway, umm, it’s actually quite well-written for what it is porn. I just wish that they didn’t add any romance to this because it’s really...this ain’t it folks. I was even considering working on this for a whole 12 pages. Had I seen a preview of page 13, I would have noped out of buying it! UGHHHHH. Kimi e Otodoke is just laughing in my project grave. Rest assured, children, I will try my best to finish translating you especially after this fiasco.

Enough with the plot, let’s move on into the voice work.

I’m quite surprised that the manga is 70% Amano’s monologue, which in turn, made the BLCD 70% Nakajima Yoshiki’s. I did have my doubts, but y’all, it looks like Nakajima Yoshiki’s also starting 2020 strong!!! 💪 If anything, I thought that it was Saitou Souma who was cast in the wrong role. At first, I thought that Miike’s role should have gone to someone with Shimono Hiro’s tone which had a certain roughness to it. Nojima Hirofumi or Yamashita Seiichirou would have done good, too. But at the end of the day, Saitou Souma made this his own unsurprisingly and with another unique tone obviously. It was funny to hear them both call Amano’s dick as a meat dildo sometimes. I wonder what the studio looked like when they were recording. 😂 

This was leagues better than their performance in XL Saizu in terms of Nakajima Yoshiki’s comfort with the tone he’s using and their chemistry with each other. XL Saizu’s sequel will be adapted to a BLCD in September if time permits, so I hope to see an even better performance then and the same level of performance if ever the sequel to Midara gets adapted. 

In regards to accuracy, the BLCD was a little jumpy with the organization of the dialogue and there are a lot of adlibs here, so I honestly wouldn’t recommend it if you’re a beginner. See just how useless me buying the raws was??? Anyway, you do you. If you’re a Nakajima Yoshiki fan, by all means, listen to this. It’s safe to say that he was the one who carried this work on his shoulders mostly.  👌

[laine-o]

who are some artists u take inspiration from / are some of ur inspirations? love ur art btw :)

Wow I’m so sorry it took me awhile to get back to you anon! This was a hard one. I haven’t thought of my inspirations lately since they have changed a bit. I tried to keep these relevant more to my anime art since that’s what I’m more known for, but some are influences on more of my original art that I hope someday I’ll feel brave enough to share with you all.

From left to right, top to bottom.

CLAMP (Magic Knight Rayearth) - they were the reason I started drawing manga/anime artwork at all back in early 2000′s for me. The only “shoujo” artists on this list, I was really taken by the eyes they drew at the time and it still can be seen a little bit today, though I’ve really tried to steer myself away from the large pointed eyes with thick lashes and elongated bodies that plagued my art for a long time. I’ll always love their compositions, use of color and just how they use marker.

Yusuke Murata (Street Fighter fan art) - known for Eyeshield21 and One Punch-Man. This man can draw anything. His sense of anatomy, foreshortening and movement is breathtaking. I love the lighting and rendering as well. He also has a knack for creating really original faces and he doesn’t have the “same-face” syndrome problem. Just top-notch. I don’t aim to be as shonen in style as him, but I hope to start being able to add more dynamic poses into my work.

Kyohiko Azuma (Yotsubato!) - known for Azumanga Daioh and Yotsubato! I really love the comedy and slice of life genres lately. I love softer styles and I really adore the more simplistic approach he has to his character design that really allows the slice of life genre to shine through his art. Despite the simplicity, it still is very anatomically technical. It’s simple, but warm and effective and very soft. His skill in backgrounds as well is phenomenal. I think it’s a whole atmosphere he creates and the story he tells in his illustrations that I would love to apply to my own work if I can. I also related a lot to an interview where he stated he struggles blending little Yotsuba into the world he created because she’s so different stylistically from all the characters, so it’s a lot of fun and helpful to see how he accomplishes this throughout the manga and the panels.

Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) - of course one of my biggest influences due to all the SasuSaku I draw. I think his style is very effective. It’s also I think more on the simpler side actually (if you compare it to CLAMP and Murata’s). But it’s so dynamic and full of strong composition and memorable character designs. I really appreciate how by his influence, I never really stopped drawing thanks to the characters, Sasuke and Sakura, that he created that had such an impact on me.

Xia Da (Song of the Long March AKA Choukakou) - This one is a manhua artist. Her inking and watercolor artwork is absolutely phenomenal. Definitely someone I look up to when I’m inking my own pieces, I would love to be at her level of skill someday. Primarily an inspo for inking.

Kamome Shirahama (Atelier of Witch Hat) - another artist with phenomenal inking skills that I really admire. She’s also really good at drawing children! But I definitely believe she can draw anything, the fact that she has crossed the barrier to illustrate comic covers for both DC and Marvel is just incredible to me and a testament to how much skill she possesses. Primarily an inspo for inking.

Kozue Amano (Aria) - Known for Aqua, Aria, and Amanchu (lots of A’s!). Her ability to design precious soft characters, gorgeous scenery, and write a beautiful and gentle slice of life fantasy tale has always made her one of my absolute favorites. I absolutely love how she colors her works.

Adachitoka (Noragami) - this is a team who does characters and background art. It’s not a secret that I love watercolor. I also love the movement and action and fighting scenes from this manga. The fact that this team is female and broke through with a popular shonen series is simply amazing. I hope to be as good as they are in drawing figures and in watercolor someday.

James Gurney (Dinotopia) - the master of creating fantasy worlds and making it look like it EXISTS with his painting skills. His “Color and Light” book is an absolute staple (I have it always ready as reference) and it’s a must if you want to give your lighting that more realistic feel. I think my love of lighting really came from growing up with the Dinotopia series. He is always constantly sharing his wisdom as well on his website and twitter and just an amazing and inspiring person for generations of artists.

Makoto Shinkai (Kimi no Na Wa) - This movie’s aesthetics (especially the lush backgrounds), surrealism, and existentialism really spoke to me. I adore the starry skies and heavens and clouds. Screencaps of his movies fill my phone as a quick reference whenever I’m rendering some complex lighting or trying to create some sort of composition with the sky.

Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki (Kiki’s Delivery Service) - nothing really needs to be said especially given my love for the details in all the movies, the fantastic scenes involving flying in the sky, the gorgeous backgrounds, and the delicious food. Always a good choice to use as a reference for anything with nature or even cluttered cozy houses and rooms and greenhouses. It’s still a desire to delve more into world building for me and I’ll be using these movies for reference. I also keep tons of their artwork in my phone as reference.

Satoru Takizawa (Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild) - Known for his work with Twilight Princess and Breath of the wild. You know where I’m going with this - he is the MASTER of ambient lighting. I love his rough and loose painting style that I wish I could achieve someday, but I still have a tendency to over-render. A great resource for learning how to world-build and for concept art.

Andrew Loomis - anatomy and figure drawing master. At the end of this list, but not the least important by a long shot. His book I think is not the most beginner friendly in terms of seeing basic shapes and breaking down the form (I think his construction is still more on the complex side), but it’s a good place to start and keep grinding until it “makes sense.” It took me years, but once it started clicking, I have him to thank for it because my anatomy was an absolute mess because of my background of starting from CLAMP’s art style. Buy his book and make it your bible. Attend figure drawing classes. If you want to illustrate people no matter how simple, you must make studying anatomy a part of your process.

Lastly - some original artists to check out who I like the inking, watercolor skills, and concepts of that closely align with my interests for my own original art.

meyoco - twitter, instagram

maruti_bitamin - twitter, instagram, tumblr

Qinniart - twitter, instagram

Some mangaka honorable mentions -

Takeshi Obata (Death Note, Bakuman)

Kaoru Mori (Emma, Otoyomegatari)

Satsuki Yoshino (Barakamon)

This was super long, I apologize, but it’s something I’m passionate about. I love art to pieces. I think a lot of what I admire is very technical - anatomy and lighting. I think my influences also reflect my aim to be more proficient at watercolor and inking. And lastly, world-building, fantasy/cosmos, and background art. I think a lot of what I really love though, is color and lighting and that’s found within any of these artists. :)

Thanks for the question anon! You allowed me to geek out on art for about an hour while I wrote this out.

[ohmykhr]

Oh. My. I love your blog ! 💕 I've read everything you write. I have a request please ! Varia's fear. What are they afraid of ? (Bel maybe a little fear of the dentist ? as Akira Amano wrote in " Reborn hidden bullet series ", did-you read them ? Sorry if my english is bad, i'm french. ;-;)

Yeah I have read it! Thank you so so much for your sweet words and for requesting. Don’t worry, your english is perfectly fine!

Xanxus

He is just a little bit claustrophobic and can’t handle small spaces or getting locked up in a room. This fear is connected to the cradle affair and him being frozen for such a long time - he is afraid of being stuck like that once again, unable to escape.

Superbi Squalo

It may seem like an absurd fear, but Squalo is afraid of balding. He holds a certain pride in his long, silky hair and the thought of going bald terrifies him. Whenever he is stressed and losing a lot of hair, he will take extra good care of his hair and take vitamins to ensure that it will stay long and healthy.

Fran

Surprisingly enough, Fran has quite a few fears. His biggest fear is Vindice (especially as a kid he was terrified of them) but he is also scared of bugs and thunder. Though, as he grows up these don’t cause that much fear in him, except for bugs.

Belphegor

Dentist is definitely one of his fears, though he wouldn’t admit it. Along with that, he also has a fear of vomiting. This fear comes from Rasiel force feeding him mud and worms when they were younger, which caused Bel to hurl it up, so every time he feels sick in the stomach, he is reminded of this particular memory.

Lussuria

He is afraid of gunshots, mostly due to getting shot in the back by Mosca during the ring battles. It’s not an intense fear, however, but he will flinch every time he hears a gunshot nearby - this also applies whenever he hears fireworks which he isn’t a huge fan of either. 

Leviathan

Rather than a fear, Levi gets extremely uneasy whenever the Varia mansion or shared areas are filthy or dirty. There’s something about untidiness that he simply can’t handle because he is afraid he will find something disgusting, such as expired fruits with mold all over them.

Mammon

Mammon is scared of burglars, because they have a lot of valuable things which a burglar would want to steal. They have spent most of their life collecting money, so having someone steal all their hard work would be a nightmare for Mammon.

[tricksheart]

TAGGED: by @vvigilante TAGGING: @outcaste and @jokaito​ along with anyone else who feels like doing this!

▌𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 :  Akira Kurusu ( in Tokyo, Alias ), Akira Amano-Suou ( pre and post game, Real ). ▌𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 : single. ( verse dependent. ) ▌𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 : Wildcard ability. As in he is able to summon multiple personas while very few others can do this feat. Third eye ability. Can see alternate routes and traps while in anything supernatural, not just Mementos. Has the ability to repel and block dark spells and later on can block and repel physical and mental attacks. Great observational and listening skills, learned from his father, who is a detective. ▌𝐄𝐘𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 : varies. cool gray. ( natural. ) red and yellow. ( metaverse. ) neon yellow ( shadow ). ▌𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 : black ( normal ), white ( when placed in velvet room attire). ▌𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 : mother ( Maya Amano ) and father ( Katsuya Suou ). ( not together because of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment events and Philemon. ) paternal grandparents ( grandfather was also false accused of a crime he didn’t commit ). ‘adopted’ son of Sojiro Sakura and older ‘brother’ to Futaba Sakura. ▌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐒 :  he doesn’t actually have any pets — his parents would never let him have one — but he does like to visit pet shops to look at rabbits. Morgana would count here but the cat insists that he isn’t a ‘cat’. ▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 : cops. people in power who abuse said power. coffee ( despite knowing how to make the beverage for his friends ) and tea. chocolate, mint, bubble gum, butterscotch, tomatoes ( basically he’s very picky about the food he eats ). feeling like he’s drowning, people who pretend to have his best interests at heart. fake detectives, being called ‘attic trash’. anyone who sues him for no reason. dogs. jealous people. anyone who breaks his personal space.  ▌𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 / 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 : video games ( he’s not too keen on XBOX games or the system itself however ) , writing poetry ( wrote with his mother when he was younger ), dancing, writing ( has written fanfiction before ), fishing ( has caught and cleaned them before ), modeling ( does this more in his moon arcana swap verse ), playing the piano ( loves playing moonlight sonata but hates Clair de Lune with a passion ), watching movies ( doesn’t always go to see the most popular one. willing to try the indie films as well ), Meme-ing ( due to his sassy nature, this is a given ), parkour ( how do you think he’s so extra in the metaverse ) , cooking and baking ( cooks more when helping Sojiro but bakes more when home in Sumaru City ) and has an emo style instagram account. ▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : yes. even if it wasn’t intentional. ▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : no. ( he has sometimes wanted to for sure. But it was mostly in his head. he has never acted upon doing so. ) ▌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 : a cat since he has based on a cat with a hidden side, according to Atlus developers. ▌𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐒 : he’s too cocky for his own good and basically thinks he can topple higher opponents. he has to have several people bail him out because he’s so prideful that its borderline unhealthy. his dark humor isn’t for everyone, let he lets his mouth carry on anyway. he’s sometimes blunt when he has to be, telling people to back the fuck up when they invade his personal space. he doesn’t keep an eye out on his low blood sugar and doesn’t eat that much each day. he’s prone to pass out many days in the week. he purposely pisses people off that he doesn’t like, including Akechi. which makes his days numbered. he shuts down completely when things don’t go his way and won’t speak to the other person until a week later. ▌𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐒 : it used to be his father until events happened. now, it’s mostly Sojiro and his uncles Tatsuya Suou and Jun Kurosu. ▌𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : bisexual, with a lean towards women. the only one that he’s comfortable to be in a relationship with men would be Yusuke Kitagawa or Yuuki Mishima. He’s still a little closed off to anyone else when it comes to men. he values chemistry above all else. ▌𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄 / 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 :  he’s not opposed to the idea if his s/o wants to be married and/or have kids. since his parents couldn’t be together because of past events, he would like it if they could stick together. to be safe and happy. ▌𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 :  punk and minimalist. he loves retro clothing though if it looks like it can be modernized a bit. can be seen with a few cute things, like keychains and pocket chains. ▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 : his uncles, Tatsuya and Jun. they care about him so much. ▌𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 : he wants to be friends with people badly but can’t really form bonds that easily, especially after going to Tokyo since all his friends back home abandoned him after his record. he was even wary about being friends with Ryuji at the start of the year. post game, he’s trying to reach out more. ▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐊 :  flavored or frozen lemonades. ▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐓 : big banger burger. he just loves spending time there and making the employees freak out when he eats the giant staked burger towers in one go. ▌𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 :  mostly in the lake but he hates the feeling of drowning so not even that. ▌𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 :  someone kind and caring. anyone that is loyal and puts up with his bullshit meme-ing and that can takes jokes from time to time. cute or interesting. strong sense of justice. redheads. ▌𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐒 :  indoors. keep that camping bullshit away from him. he’s like that spongebob song with the penny. he always goes home after he goes fishing so there was no need to stay overnight.

[ciaossu-imagines]

salty ask list 3, 8, 11, 12, 16, 26

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Yep. I have no shame in admitting it. Honestly, I don’t get why unfollowing someone is such a big deal - most of the time I never really even speak to the people I follow so it’s not like they’ll miss me following them or anything! Sometimes I’ll be following someone and I’ll be loving their blog and they’ll either get really into a ship and it becomes all they post (most of the time, I don’t even unfollow then, unless it’s a ship I really hate - I’ve had that happen a few times) or they’ll post something about fandom that really upsets me (I’ve followed a blog once only to discover later on that they had no problem with pedophiliac ships because the character was old enough to know about sex). Sometimes it’s something really stupid and silly, like them continuously bashing a character I like...honestly, if I end up just not really feeling their posts, then I don’t see why I should have to keep following them. 

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?*

Umm, have you read my blog, anon dear? Read any of my other imagines blogs? Hell, I even got hate starting back on fanfiction.net! Back then, it was claims I was misogynistic and anti-feminist because my female reader inserts were apparently too weak and I used girl and woman too much. On polycanons, it was that I was transphobic because I don’t write transgender requests and wrote nsfw assuming a female gender. One-Imagined closed down due, not only to having little time to run another blog, but hate over there when I tried to expand my fandoms because I wasn’t posting often and if I couldn’t write for the fandoms I hate, I shouldn’t be adding more. On Devilbat Imagines, I got hate for taking away scenarios and not being active. On here, I’ve gotten hate for just general fandom opinions. Honestly, I’m just apparently really fucking easy to hate. I need a new personality, I guess...oh well.

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

All of them. I like Iemitsu. I like Adelheid. I like Shamal. I like Skull. I even like Levi! Does it mean I think they’re good people who have done nothing wrong? Does that mean I don’t think they can be annoying and does that mean I can’t see why others might not like them? Nope. It just means I think they have the potential to be wonderfully complex, fascinating characters and I like them because of that.

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

While it definitely had its faults and it’s by no means my favourite arc (even I sometimes groan about certain parts of it), the Daily Life arc is completely horrible and does have a few interesting or funny chapters.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

That’s a dangerous question, my dear anon. I could write thousands of words on this subject alone but, because I’m trying to write a bunch of these quickly, I’ll stick to simple sentences and not get into all the details behind them or my reasoning! If you’d like to hear me rant and rave more, just ask, but I’ll spare everyone it for now. I’d definitely change the ending. The last arc was extremely rushed, the characterization all over the place, the plot confusing, and the final chapter a disappointment. Characterization overall is another one - I’d have loved to see more character development, especially for some secondary characters, and for the character development of the main characters to be a continuous thing - the whole Bianchi and Gokudera’s relationship thing again, to name the most egregious example. I’d change how the female characters were represented. Just because a manga is a shonen manga does not mean that the females have to become satellite characters or be weaker than the males and Amano really failed her female characters in a lot of ways.

26. Most shippable character?

Well, I don’t ship but according to fandom, it’s Tsuna because god knows, he’s shipped with anything that moves throughout the entire manga. Fandom’s just made him a giant slut, I swear!

[visarcana]

Kamakura

Since I have made quite a lot of research about Hitomi’s hometown, I thought it may not be a bad idea to write it all down. In this part, Kamakura itself, the trains and Hitomi’s school. I plan to make a shorter second part, too.

The series’ production team modeled the scenes after the real Kamakura, which is a Japanese coastal town with a quite long and important past. At one time, it was considered the (unofficial) capital, which is why one chapter of Japan’s history is named “Kamakura period”. Today, the population is under 200 000, which cannot be compared to the biggest cities of Japan, but it can be reached from Tokyo in just about an hour, which by some definitions makes it a part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It is probable Hitomi&co. can make trips to Tokyo quite easily. For example, Hitomi’s dream date with Allen takes place near (a version of) Tower 109 in Shibuya.

The very first scene of the series takes us to an imaginary school called Kamakura Kita Private High School (Shiritsu Kamakura Kita Koukou), where Hitomi experiences her early high-school dramas together with her classmate, Yukari Uchida, and the upperclassman, Susumu Amano. The inscription on the track suit suggests the name of the school can be casually shortened to ‘Kamakita’.

Since the school is private and ‘all ages’ type, I somehow believe that the students are middle class and higher. I made especially Amano’s family loaded in my fic, it was just offering itself with his overseas study and the connection to Allen (whose family is by no means poor either).

Kamakura Kita itself means “Kamakura North”, which would suggest the position of the school in the city. As Hitomi and Yukari are on their way back from school, they pass by some existing buildings (I have an artbook with map regarding just that). However, the most specific location given is by the Sasuke Inari shinto shrine, which (but only when this anime is concerned), is right across the street from Hitomi’s school track field. Of course, in real Kamakura, there is no high school in the vicinity (in fact, there are no buildings where the school is supposed to be - just hills with a forest). The shrine itself is one of the main tourist attractions of the town, along with the steps with the set of red gates which lead to it.

As Hitomi&co. run “up the hill” to escape from the dragon, you see them pass something that looks like a bus stop sign to me, called Kita Kou-mae - “(in front of the) North High (school)”.

But on her way to school, Hitomi waits at the Kamakura Koukou-mae tram station, which means “(in front of the) Kamakura High School” itself, probably dating back to when there was just one high school in town (meaning, it’s a coincidence and the station is not close to Hitomi’s school, but rather, her home).

It is one of the most famous stations in Japan because of it’s captivating views of the sea, Mt. Fuji and Enoshima island. And because it serves the historical electric railway (or tram) called Enoden. The tram connects the railway stations of Kamakura and the neighboring town. The station has besides Esca been featured in the anime/manga Slam Dunk and some movies!

Anyway, it can be assumed that Hitomi (and possibly Yukari, who accompanies her on her way home) live somewhere in the southern (southwestern) part of town, closer to the sea, and take the tram on their commute to their school which is located more north (northeast).

In Vis Arcana, Yukari&co. take the same tram to the main railway station so they can board the Tokyo train there. The logistics got a bit difficult, because I could not give up on some details, for example, I wanted to open with Yukari having the same view Hitomi had at the end of the series (which fixed her at the tram station). And I could not really see how Hitomi could get into the life-threatening situation there.

Now that I look at the screenshots, I see a similar scene as the one I wrote was maybe possible, but looking at the map I thought there was not even a reason to cross the track on the tram station. Or the road. Because you know, the very first draft of this chapter from, idk, 2014 or something, had Hitomi almost ran over by a car. But then I was hit by a realization, “Wait, you have her being ran over by a CAR in front of a TRAIN station???” Also, I specifically wrote it to be a VAN... and when I reread later I was like... “Won’t someone take this as a symbolism of the crappiest sort imaginable, lol?”

Anyway, the main train station looks something like this [IMG SRC]:

What surprised me is that there are only two tracks/platforms and the station is relatively small. Apparently, the Tokyo train always leaves from the track/platform 2. Since there are train otaku out there, I even found a video of how it looks like, haha (from about 3:00 there are trains leaving from platform 2):

When I saw the situation on Google Maps, I saw that backyard shortcut opportunity, you can even get to the parking lot behind the station with Street View and see the little hill and fence which divides it from the station.

So there, this should explain the first chapter in more detail than anyone ever wanted, haha. In my defense, this is several years of rewriting the chapter, occasional rewatching and researching. Especially when I felt I wrote myself into a corner, things like these helped me to get back on track (no pun intended).

I plan to make another (much shorter) post like this in relation to chapter 4, because there were some interesting findings as well... see ya!

~Rin

[alexannedra]

Vulpes vulpes

In the Scandinavian countries, foxes were believed to cause the northern lights.  These aurora were called  "revontulet" in Finland, meaning "fox fires".  Foxes sometimes replaced cats as witch´s familiars in medieval European folklore, and were occasionally persecuted in the resulting hysteria.  The Japanese revered foxes as the divine messengers of Uka no Mitama, the Shinto rice goddess, although tales were also told of evil Japanese foxes that could possess people. Many cultures have stories about shape-shifting "werefoxes".  In China and other Asian countries, werefoxes were demons that prolonged their lives by seducing humans and feeding off their souls.  A variation of this theme is a myth common among the Siberian Koriak people, the Inuit, and various tribes of native North Americans. "The Mysterious House Keeper", tells of a fox that entered a hunter´s house and removed its skin to become a beautiful woman. When the hunter returned, he found that the woman had cleaned his house and he decided to marry her.  The bliss was short lived, however, as the hunter began to complain about his wife´s smell.  Her feelings hurt, she transformed back into a fox and ran away.

Some of the best known classic fox literature was written over 2,500 years ago by Aesop.  His fables told stories about various intelligent animals, and were used to convey a moral point to the reader.  Because of their craftiness, beauty, and solitary nature, foxes figured prominently in these fables whenever deceit, pride, or individuality was necessary to the story.  One such fable is The Fox and the Grapes.  In it, a red fox finds itself in a vineyard and tries to feed on the grapes hanging on the vines.  Despite its best efforts, the fox just can´t reach the fruit and gives up in frustration.  He saves face and consoles himself by saying the grapes were probably sour any ways.  The moral of the story is that people often badmouth things they can´t have.  Like many other of Aesop´s fables, the story gave rise to a popular expression (sour grapes) or proverb.  With the possible exception of the lion, few other animals are mentioned as often by Aesop as the fox is.

Both clever and foolish, creative and destructive, perfectly civilized and utterly wild. Trickster foxes appear in old stories gathered from countries and cultures all over the world -- including Aesop's Fables from ancient Greece, the "Reynard" stories of medieval Europe,  the "Giovannuzza" tales of Italy, the "Brer Fox" lore of the American South, and stories from diverse Native American traditions...

...but at the darker end of the fox-lore spectrum we find creatures of a distinctly more dangerous cast: Reynardine, Mr. Fox, kitsune (the Japanese fox wife), kumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox), and other treacherous shape-shifters.

Fox women populate many story traditions but they're particularly prevalent across the Far East. Fox wives, writes Korean-American folklorist Heinz Insu Fenkl, are seductive creatures who "entice unwary scholars and travelers with the lure of their sexuality and the illusion of their beauty and riches. They drain the men of their yang -- their masculine force -- and leave them dissipated or dead (much in the same way La Belle Dame Sans Merci in Keats's poem leaves her parade of hapless male victims).

"Korean fox lore, which comes from China (from sources probably originating in India and overlapping with Sumerian lamia lore) is actually quite simple compared to the complex body of fox culture that evolved in Japan. The Japanese fox, or kitsune, probably due to its resonance with the indigenous Shinto religion, is remarkably sophisticated.  Whereas the arcane aspects of fox lore are only known to specialists in other East Asian countries, the Japanese kitsune lore is more commonly accessible. Tabloid media in Tokyo recently identified the negative influence of kitsune possession among members of the Aum Shinregyo (the cult responsible for the sarin attacks in the Tokyo subway). Popular media often report stories of young women possessed by demonic kitsune, and once in a while, in the more rural areas, one will run across positive reports of the kitsune associated with the rice god, Inari."

(To read Heinz's full essay on "Fox Wives & Other Dangerous Women," go here.)

There are tales of fox wives in the West as well, but fewer of them; and they tend, by and large, to be gentler creatures. (To marry them is unlucky nonetheless, for they're skittish, shy, and not easily tamed.) An exception to this general rule can be found in the räven stories of Scandinavia. The fox-women who roam the forests of northern Europe are portrayed as heart-stoppingly beautiful, fiercely independent, and extremely dangerous.

(Fox Woman by Susan Boulet)

(Little Elvie in the Wild Wood by Catherine Hyde)

The "nine-tailed fox" of China and Japan is often (but not always) a demonic spirit, malevolent in intent. It takes possession of human bodies, both male and female, moving for one victim to another over thousands of years, seducing other men and women in order to dine on their hearts and livers. Human organs are also a delicacy for the nine-tailed fox, or kumiho, of Korean lore -- although the earliest texts don't present the kumiho as evil so much as amoral and unpredictable...occasionally even benevolent...much like the faeries of English folklore.

In the West, it's the fox-men we need to beware of -- such as Reynardine in the old folk ballad, a handsome were-fox who lures young maidens to a bloody death.

Mr. Fox, in the English fairy tale of that name, is cousin to the kumiho and Reynardine, with a bit of Bluebeard mixed in for good measure, promising marriage to a gentlewoman while his lair is littered with her predecessors' bones. Neil Gaiman drew inspiration from the tale when he wrote his wry, wicked poem "The White Road":

There was something sly about his smile, his eyes so black and sharp, his rufous hair. Something that sent her early to their trysting place, beneath the oak, beside the thornbush, something that made her climb the tree and wait. Climb a tree, and in her condition. Her love arrived at dusk, skulking by owl-light, carrying a bag, from which he took a mattock, shovel, knife. He worked with a will, beside the thornbush, beneath the oaken tree, he whistled gently, and he sang, as he dug her grave, that old song...

shall I sing it for you, now, good folk?

Jeannine Hall Gailey, by contrast, casts a sympathetic eye on fox shape-shifters, writing plaintively from a kitsune's point of view in "The Fox-Wife's Invitation":

These ears aren't to be trusted. The keening in the night, didn't you hear? Once I believed all the stories didn’t have endings, but I realized the endings were invented, like zero, had yet to be imagined. The months come around again, and we are in the same place; full moons, cherries in bloom, the same deer, the same frogs, the same helpless scratching at the dirt. You leave poems I can’t read behind on the sheets, I try to teach you songs made of twigs and frost. you may be imprisoned in an underwater palace; I'll come riding to the rescue in disguise. Leave the magic tricks to me and to the teakettle. I've inhaled the spells of willow trees, spat them out as blankets of white crane feathers. Sleep easy, from behind the closet door I'll invent our fortunes, spin them from my own skin. Although chancy to encounter in myth, and too wild to domesticate easily (in stories and in life), some of us long for foxes nonetheless, for their musky scent, their hot breath, their sharp-toothed magic.  "I needed fox," wrote Adrienne Rich:

Badly I needed a vixen for the long time none had come near me I needed recognition from a triangulated face     burnt-yellow eyes fronting the long body the fierce and sacrificial tail I needed history of fox     briars of legend it was said she had run through I was in want of fox

And the truth of briars she had to have run through I craved to feel on her pelt     if my hands could even slide past or her body slide between them     sharp truth distressing surfaces of fur lacerated skin calling legend to account a vixen's courage in vixen terms

(Full poem here.) Ah, but Fox is right here, right beside us, Jack Roberts answers, a little warily:

Not the five tiny black birds that flew out from behind the mirror over the washstand,

nor the raccoon that crept out of the hamper,

nor even the opossum that hung from the ceiling fan

troubled me half so much as the fox in the bathtub.

There's a wildness in our lives. We need not look for it.

(Full poem here.)

There are a number of good novels that draw upon fox legends -- foremost among them, Kij Johnson's exquisite The Fox Woman, which no fan of mythic fiction should miss. I also recommend Neil Gaiman's The Dream Hunters (with the Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano);  Larissa Lai's When Fox Is a Thousand; and Ellen Steiber's gorgeous A Rumor of Gems (as well as her heart-breaking novella "The Fox Wife," published in Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears). Alice Hoffman's disquieting Here on Earth is a contemporary take on the Reynardine/Mr. Fox theme, as is Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox, a complex work full of stories within stories within stories. For younger readers, try the "Legend of Little Fur" series by Isobelle Carmody. And for mythic poetry, I especially recommend She Returns to the Floating World by Jeannine Hall Gailey and Sister Fox’s Field Guide to the Writing Life by Jane Yolen. 

[fanfictionhopper]

Okay so I think my bad habit is kinda never introducing myself like- in any of the socmeds so- bcs I've embarrassed myself and creeped ppl out in twitter alr, I'm just gonna introduce myself here.

So- I'm a she/her, 22, honestly I would use my usual alias but apparently that name got busted irl and my irl friends call me that sometimes so to avoid any risk, feel free to call me as shura or rozen or hopper, eh. I don't usually stay in one fandom for long bcs of my half-assedness but apparently kuroo manages to rig me here for quite some time now. Let's see how long it'll last.

To take my half-assedness one step further, i'm an half-assed anime lover, lololol. I prefer reading manga to anime, i no longer even follow the recent animes. The last anime i completed was Violet Evergarden and that's it. Ye, I didn't even watch hq, i got roped in here because of kuroo, stayed for like... 200-ish chapters of the manga bcs for him and the rest- i just kinda figure it out by wikis and ppl's fics and posts and ig posts of hq that are starting to fill my explore page. That's why i'm kinda reluctant to join the fandom bcs i do things halfway okay. I don't have a big enough heart to love and adore all the characters but i kinda wish to meet some fellow kuroo simps. /cries/

Most animes I watched and finished, even through mutiple seasons are only stuffs like Mushishi and Aria (amano kozue's) bcs i'm weak to those kind of soft and slice of life stuffs YwY clamp's works are so frickin' ✨ too. I read random manga that catches my eye but i totally love manga like kusuriya no hitorigoto or manga that teaches you random stuffs of life, really. There were also two mangas about bartenders, one was a male bartender while the other was a female and I discovered the term 'bar hopper' where ppl just basically hops from one bar to the other in a night to taste these bars' gin and tonic and that's exactly where i got my inspiration as a reader of fanfictions :)))

I did have favorite bois before but i think it's limited to one per anime- i prefer ootoya in utapri, sebas in black butler, mikazuki in touranbu, i did like izaya before switching to masaomi in drrr, kaito in vocaloid was one of my main bois (i was as obsessed as right now to the point of downloading his music and covers from youtube as audio, wrote one or two of his fic during ff net yo vocaloid was fun times bcs i draw inspiration from songs and their song stories were SO GOOD back then), saru of k project (that boi straight up having THREE kings' power and i got weak spots for pretty bois with messed up pasts YwY saru bby main boi too, straight up wrote his fic with misaki, mikoto and reishi in one chapter lololol), ray in tpn (god i love it so much when norman and emma are baby-ing him dem this boy needs to chill ugh), and now- kuroo :")))) and i love my bois as bottom don't ask why i don't even know myself it's pure torture sometimes especially during sebastian's phase

Bbc's merlin was a wild phase to be in too tho, the fanfics are straight up on all kind of universe and deep plots on varying degrees, fun times

I draw or write or watch anime straight up based on my will and even with the story ideas, i have yet in the mood to write stories so it's mostly just collecting notes in my phone. Kinda leaning more to drawing nowadays. Reading manga / webtoon is an always.

I'm into the isekai genre too but i totally love them when other characters are developed too, kinda like shield hero and my current love, omniscient reader (still can't read their novel tho, i'm not good with novels, i'll patiently wait for the webtoon), solo leveling is no good for me even of my friends' hype, too focused on the MC YwY it's good, ye, but it's preference i guess.

I frequent MRM for yaoi mangas and dem bro i got recs up my sleeves if you ever want some but i'm most definitely into 'black-haired' bottom and most i saved bcs of their fluff and wholesomeness if you're interested- anyways. This is long enough, I'm sorry YwY.

And anyways, I've got AO3 and twitter if y'all interested, same profpic, fanfiction swinger in AO3 and shura_rozen in twitter. I'm not active much bcs i don't know what to post lololol mostly just on these socmeds for fun and discover gorgeous kuroo's art and i intend to make a thread for my favorite fics and pixiv artists so-

Feel free to drop a message or a hi, I'm putting this introduction here bcs i'm not the best at initiating introductions like do i just reply to their posts casually and go from there (bcs ig artists lately are really friendly they reply to story replies) or do i specifically dm ppl but i'm always afraid that i'm imposing on my kuroo simpness. I don't want ppl to hate kuroo bcs they think a kuroo fan (aka me) is toxic- i- but anyways, ye. YwY

[hopeswriting]

[ID: A screenshot of my own tags reading “#agreed that the shimon arc is giving us soo much important things about the characters and that’s so nice #but i’m honestly loving it so far so i’m really curious about why you don’t #like genuinely would love to hear the grips you have with the arc if you feel like it (eye emoji)”. /End ID]

you know what, i actually agree with pretty much everything lol. like i’m focusing on the things i think were well-done and i like as i reread the arc, but as far as i’m concerned you pretty much nailed it when it comes to the flaws of the arc.

it really IS such a shame amano glossed right over the consequences of the futur arc, and honestly i think we could and should have used a whole arc to deal with them. idk if i agree the shimon arc should have been solely about it, but yeah, considering all that the shimon arc brings up and deals with, there was definitely room there to deal with some of the consequences of the future arc at least.

it’s funny you brought up hibari and adel specifically, because it’s the dynamic i wish the most amano would have done more with haha. as for the other shimon, i do have to agree that so far only enma and shittopi feel like they’re here to be characters in and of themselves first before being a parallel/foil to their counterpart from the 10th gen. i’d say there was a little bit of fleshing out rauji during his fight with lambo too, but it was mostly through his dynamic with lambo and not about him in and of himself. can’t say for the rest of them because i have yet to finish the arc, but the way i remember it i can agree the shimon were written to pretty much just wink at the readers and go “hey see how soo similar to the 10th gen we are but also not? isn’t it fun?” lol.

as for the battles... yeah, i’ve always thought and said managing the power scale between her characters well is one of the flaws of the manga and amano, so i haven’t anything to add here.

i personally actually wouldn’t say that daemon’s involvement necessarily invalidates the shimon’s feelings, or makes everything they said and the motivations for why they did what they did any less true or right. especially enma yeah, who IS right in pretty much everything he says and in seeing the situation the way he does and in the why he does the things he does!! like yes, daemon’s involvement of course definitely takes agency away from them, but i actually find that amano wrote it in such a way it leaves enough agency all around for everyone involved, and also in a way she can use it to make enma & tsuna dynamic more layered. but that said, i of course still see and get where you’re coming from here.

thanks for humoring me and sharing, it was very interesting to read!

[ID: Panels from the manga Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

1: Tsuna says "Don't cry, Lambo!!"

Reborn says "This is my fault. Treating brat Lambo the same way as the other guardians, like a man. I was wrong about that."

2: Reborn continues, saying "I shouldn't have brought him here."

"That's not it!! I'm the one to be blamed!!" Tsuna says, and Lambo from ten years later is surprised by it. "I could have stopped him from coming along if I wanted!! But I couldn't reject him!!"

3: Lambo's speaking over panels of his five years old self watching Tsuna and his guardians with admiration, saying "I was happy to be there and I enjoyed it more than anything. I wanted to catch up to them as soon as possible. To the world that young Vongola and others live."

4: Lambo continues, saying "You must take the younger me with you whenever from now on, too. I'm the one that wants to stay with you." /End ID]

this isn't the whole scene but this is such a heartwarming scene, my heart. 🥺😭💖 lambo just wants to be included, wants to be with his big brother wherever he is, and with the people his big brother cares about too who also care about him. he wants to do whatever they're doing too because for how much he may be annoying with them and not listen to them, he does, in fact, respect them. he admires them, and wants to grow up to be just like them, so of course he wants to stay close to them as much as he can so he can learn from them.

i still think they could let that happen in a better way because bringing him along with them doesn't have to mean letting him fight too (tho i'm aware that ever since they gave him the vongola ring the choice wasn't fully theirs anymore), but i stand corrected that he's the one who wants to stay with them. because he only wants to belong with his family, and catch up to them as soon as he can and be seen and treated by them as equal to them.

and in that light it makes perfect sense that his desire to play with rauji, to "make him his subordinate", was enough resolve for his vongola gear, and that his pride is about how he never rejected an invitation to play. because for one, it makes sense that as a five years old he'd understand such things through concepts he can have a clear grasp on, like playing, and also of course, as a child, playing is high on the list of the most important things to him, so it does have meaning and weight in his mouth, but most importantly play is his love language. it's how he bonds with people, how he shows them he likes them and trusts them and wants to grow close to them. and it's a little bit heartbreaking to think about his pride with that in mind, because he's saying "i know what it's like to be denied play (love), so i'm not ever going to be someone who denies it to someone else" on one hand, and on the other is also saying "i've been denied play (love) many times and i'm starved of it, so i can't afford to pass up any opportunity that might give it to me".

but tsuna & co give him play all he wants. like yes they get annoyed at him and snap at him and scold him when he goes too far, but they still indulge him. and when he makes mistakes they forgive him and keep indulging him. reciprocrate his desire of play, and namely here, by bringing him along too whenever they have to "play" their adult games.

also i like how tsuna says he couldn't reject him. because whether subconsciously or consciously or somewhere in between, it seems he was already aware that it was all about belonging for lambo. and tsuna, who'd know what its like to crave for belonging and be starved of it, of course couldn't bring himself to reject him even as he knew better.

and okay amano, you got me here, i may be crying a bit over this 😭💖💖💖

[medea10]

My Review of Berserk (2016 - 2017)

THIS NEW STORY: It has been approximately two years since that fateful day when Guts nearly escaped a bloody hell-hole. Since that time, he roams the countryside. With one eye missing and an arm made of metal, he continues on a solo journey. But because of a brand on his neck, he has become a roaming target for demons that lurk in the night. This story of Berserk takes Guts into a whole new set-up with new allies, new enemies, but his attitude remains. Most of the first season is dedicated to finding Casca (who ends up missing), while the second season adds more characters that travel with Guts as they slay random demons. BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: First the sub. Unfortunately, it’s the same cast from the movie trilogy instead of the original cast from the television series. I’ve already made my views pretty clear that I liked the TV series cast better than the movie cast (with the exception of Takahiro Sakurai playing Griffith). For new character purposes, there are many voices I can recognize within seconds (including Mitsuki Saiga and Satomi Arai). Now for licensing purposes, this anime is being streamed by Crunchyroll and will eventually be released by Crunchyroll on Blu-ray and DVD with an English dub. So now Berserk has three licensors for the franchise. The original series is with Media Blasters, the movies are with Viz, and now Crunchyroll has the new series. Never mind…I think FUNimation has its hands in this as well. And with that said, let's talk about the new dub. I didn’t think it was possible, but they just made this shit worse than it possibly could be by replacing the remaining 3 voices with other people. I don’t want to pass judgment on the new voice actors. I honestly think Kaji Tang is okay as Guts. But it’s just a definite kick in the ears when they replaced Guts, Griffith, and Casca’s English voice actors. And seeing as the dubbing company is in L.A. and two of these voice actors are stationed in L.A., this seems really fishy. Especially since they’ve been doing these characters for almost 20 years and just recently did the movie trilogy. With that said, here’s the NEW English cast to Berserk 2016/2017. *Guts is played by Kaji Tang (known for Archer on Fate/stay night: UBW, Tsumugu on Kill la Kill, Kizakura on Danganronpa 3, Kouen on Magi, and Derflinger on Familiar of Zero) *Griffith is played by Steve Staley (known for Hitsugaya on Bleach, Neji on Naruto, Inumuta on Kill la Kill, Moondoggie on Eureka Seven, and Senri on Vampire Knight) *Casca is played by Karen Strassman (known for Takano on Higurashi, Suigintou on Rozen Maiden, Kallen on Code Geass, Anna on Monster, Miyuki on Lucky Star, Sawako on K-ON, and Yasuko on Toradora) OLD CHARACTERS: So it’s been two years since the events of the original series/story. So aside from Guts, where are the other memorable characters? Let’s start with the Band of the Hawk…oh…that’s right, they’re all dead. Except for little Ricket! Little Ricket grew up in 2 years and spends his time as an apprentice for a blacksmith. Princess Charlotte is still missing Griffith and her father is dead. Casca has no memories of her past left and literally has the mind of a child since the day she escaped from the blood-soaked, corpse-filled hell-hole. Griffith…is still a fucking demon! But somehow has acquired his human form back. NEW CHARACTERS: In a tough new world Guts is in with demons and evil spirits looming around, why don’t we add fairies, witches, and Christians? Yeah, why not?! First we have Puck, a fairy that’s there…He’s just there. Isidro is a young boy who takes a shine to Guts after he saved him. But I honestly think he’s just the comic relief of the show. Farnese in the first season was a leader of a prominent group of knights and was heavily religious. But after being saved by Guts on several occasions, Farnese and her right-hand man Serpico wound up traveling with Guts. Schierke is a witch-in-training who ends up helping Guts. And Sonia…I want to say this bitch has some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. She ends up following, helping, and praising Griffith. She's just a complete mystery! With that said, here’s what you might recognize these new characters from. JAPANESE CAST: *Puck is played by Kaoru Mizuhara (known for Misao on Lucky Star, Rea Amano on Mirai Nikki, and Satoshi on Anohana) *Isidro is played by Hiro Shimono (known for Hiro on ef – a tale of memories, Hiro on Soul Eater, Aoba on Durarara x2, Akihisa on Baka and Test, Connie on Attack on Titan, and Shou on Uta no Prince-sama) *Farnese is played by Yoko Hikasa (known for Mio on K-ON, Rias on High School DxD, Izumi on Working!!, Satan on Umineko, Yukinokouji on Inu x Boku SS, Young Rei on Free!, and singer to songs on Attack on Titan, K-ON, and Hayate) *Serpico is played by Kazuyuki Okitsu (known for Madarame on Genshiken Nidaime, Seishin on Shiki and Vincent Phantomhive on Black Butler) *Schierke is played by Chiwa Saito (known for Senjogahara on Monogatari, Natsumi on Sgt Frog, Aika on Aria the Animation, and Homura on Madoka Magica) *Sonia is played by Yoshino Nanjo (known for Eli on Love Live and Akio on Baka and Test) ENGLISH CAST: *Puck is played by Sarah Williams (known for Sayaka on Madoka Magica, Nonon on Kill la Kill, and Rika on SAO) *Isidro is played by Erik Krimerer (known for Takeshi on Your Lie in April, Sonic on One Punch Man, Ryuuji on Toradora and Alibaba on Magi) *Farnese is played by Erica Lindbeck (known for Kaori on Your Lie in April, Eli on Love Live, Anaru on Anohana, Moko on Skip Beat, and Gyokuen on Magi) *Serpico is played by Max Littleman (known for Saitama on One Punch Man, Kousei on Your Lie in April, [older] Konohamaru on Naruto/Boruto, and Yunan on Magi) *Schierke is played by Mela Lee (known for Rena on Higurashi, Erika on Durarara, Shinku on Rozen Maiden, Rin on Fate/stay night, Yuuki on Vampire Knight, and Darry on Gurren Lagann) *Sonia has not been announced yet. NEW FAVORITE CHARACTER: So in the old Berserk series, I enjoyed Casca very much. But in this series, unfortunately Casca’s memories and mind are just…well, let’s not go there. This time, I found myself liking Luca from the 2016 season. I don’t care that she’s a literal whore. She was faithful to her friends and did what she had to in order to survive. And did her best to protect Casca and even help out Guts. She’s one of the nicest characters out there in a world of uncertainty, demons, and God-fearing dick-wads. SHIPPING: Sighs...Someday dammit! Someday! Schierke x Guts is still cute though... MUSIC: As you know, the original Berserk had one of the best OST’s in anime history (excluding the opening and ending themes). And even those themes were pretty awesome in their own way. Now if there was one thing I was satisfied with watching this abomination, the music was decent. The background music was fitting and definitely a step up from the movie trilogy. As for the opening and ending, I really loved the first opening. The music I mean, the animation can suck it. The first opening shows a 1:30 condensed story to Guts’s time with the Band of the Hawk, while the second opening shows more action with the new cast. The two ending themes were softer than the openings. But if I had to choose my favorite songs, I would pick the 2016 opening, Inferno by 9mm Parabellum Bullet and the 2017 ending, Issai wa Monogatari by Yoshino Nanjo. ANIMATION: So did the animation improve after the movies? Hell no! I don’t condone the animation being so CGI. A lot of the character designs feel very sloppy and lazy to a point where I’d almost compare it to the first season of Sailor Moon Crystal. The animation to this series is somehow WORSE than the movie trilogy (I didn’t think it was possible). It almost makes the series unwatchable. Me personally, I like to see things through to the end, but the animation is just so atrocious that it bugs me how some of the character designs and movements can set off my eyes. For God’s sake, the Playstation games for Berserk have better character design than this fucking anime and that’s a fucking shame! ENDING TO SEASON ONE: For half of the season, Guts has been searching for Casca and every episode he gets close but no girl! Casca has been literally wandering around where she’s cared for by a band of whores, groped by creepies, revered by more creepies, praised, condemned, and eventually captured by bad guys. And let’s not forget that her brain has been reduced to that of an infant's! Casca ends up being kidnapped and is about to be sacrificed because she has a mark (just like Guts) and is somehow immune to being eaten by these demons that consume regular humans. Isidro and Puck were able to save Casca before she could be burned at the stake. And Guts was able to slay his way to where Casca is and take down a few angels. But during this night of hell, demons of all shapes and sizes were coming towards anything remotely human. But thanks to Guts, he was able to take care of them all. And then morning came and there’s one more giant monster to take care of. But that monster has… ...wait...is that Griffith in human form? Well seeing as this is the last episode of the season and the last 5 minutes of the episode, we're not getting any questions answered. Thought so. Okay, onto season two. SEASON TWO: The animation is still giving me eye-cancer. Come on guys, if Sailor Moon Crystal could improve tenfold within nine months, you guys could have improved to a point where the characters don’t look like dead-eyed bowel movements! But I digress! Guts and Casca return back to Ricket and the swordsmith (or lack there of). The old swordsmith died sometime after Guts left. But that moment has passed because guess who returned? Bastard betrayer and dude looks like a lady himself, Griffith! Because Ricket doesn’t know, he’s optimistic of a revival for the Band of the Hawk. But Guts is all, “HELL NO, GRIFFITH MUST DIE!” Griffith even has one of the old monsters (Zod) that Guts fought in the very first season go after and fight Guts. It wasn’t until Griffith and Zod left that Guts told Ricket everything about why he hates Griffith now. That he was the reason all of his comrades are dead and that Casca is in a state of…let’s just call it confusion. And so it’s decided that Guts and Casca will take a trip to wherever the hell Puck (the fairy) came from. Because fairies for whatever reason this story has to continue! However, certain bad things happen at night that cause Guts to act beastly around Casca. A possible side-effect to the brand on his neck, who knows? END OF SEASON TWO: So this 2017 version seemed a little better compared to the previous season in the action department. Guts does get another upgrade in the weaponry department thanks to the Skull Knight (the same one that saved him at the end of the third movie), though this upgrade does come at a price as it does shorten Guts's life-span. But Guts does get the job done when protecting his group from uncertain doom. Well, Guts now has the Berserker…and now part of his hair has a silver streak. And this group got a hot tip that this next town may help Casca regain her brains and she can go back to normal. YAY, my favorite character could go back to normal! How many more episodes to this season? One. But…there could be another season next year, right? Manga author puts Berserk on hiatus until further notice. OH, FUCK ME! And I suppose we’re not going to see any interactions between Guts and Griffith! Didn't think so. So the last episode has them in a new town filled with humans. There’s a meeting between Schierke and Sonia. Then another meeting between Isidro and Wolflame (that turned into a brawl)! So Gut’s comrades meet Griffith’s comrades. And the final episode is just Schierke getting upset at Isidro for saying something but then he apologizes to her by the end. And for a second, we had to worry about Schierke joining Sonia, which would lead her to work with Griffith. But she’s sticking to Guts. And we end with Schierke getting a wardrobe update (since she gets looked down a lot for dressing like a witch). And a promise of this journey continuing! This anime is a fucking mess. While the original Berserk anime left off on a WTF ending, the two seasons that followed were just a mess to sit through. And at the top of the list of complaints, it was the damn animation. I think many of us long for the days of the hand-drawn animes of the 1990s, especially when we get this CGI dump. But I think another thing that set me off was setting us up for something that might be amazing only for the last episode to just give us a middle finger. I think it’s too late to ask for a reboot to this since the reboot to Berserk has shit animation too. But as long as we’re waiting for a continuation, you think the animation could improve…just a bit? I don’t urge anyone to sit through this eye cancer. But if you were a big fan of Berserk, original Berserk and were truly curious of what happens to Guts next, go for it. If you want to watch Berserk…I urge you to find the original series. Please, see it if you can find it. But if you can’t, the movie trilogy is available for purchase from your video retailer and even Youtube has it available for purchase/rent. As for this series in particular, as usual Crunchyroll has all the episodes available (including the two recap episodes). And FUNimation has the dub available for paying subscribers.