#especially with Shocker :] he should be friends with these guys i think

[voltrixz]

Shocker is rlly funny to me becuase even though in the show he explictily says he doesn't like working with the s6 in show, to me he eventually does grow a liking to the s6 and being around them (friendship/found family win!!!!l )

So basically he's just a 'bitches be like "I can't stand these guys. To "me and the besties!!" Mf..

[dontbesoweirdkira]

Yandere Raiden x reader x Yandere Fujin? Or feed my delusional mind with just Yandere mk men x reader- with that harem “no she’s mine! Not yours!”

“Alright, men please listen up. Y/N can only choose one of us..which means you all will have to die.”

A/N: I love a delusional queen from infinity to infinityyyyyy. MHMM OFC!!! Anything for my delusional friends…I didn’t have Raiden in this one because I’m going to give you some good stuff in a separate post. I have Raiden and Fujin fighting for you in that. Plus a bonus;) this has been my favorite request so far.

Warnings: Johnny cage💀, Yandere/Toxic Themes, mentions of stalking, harassment, violence, a bit suggestive???

Requests: open 24/7

Masterlist

Let’s be real, the mk men are perpetually thirsty. Actually all the characters are to be honest. Did you hear the flirty dialogue?? Even the keeper is trying to get some of that action.

So really it’s no shocker that you, the new fighter, have all the attention from them.

Johnny is undoubtedly the first to strike. He may be an older man now but damn, you make him feel like he’s 20 again. He just cannot control making some kind of flirtatious comment when he sees you walk by.

“Woah, woah, woah, now sweetheart. I think you and I should have a nice long conversation. Get to know each other a little…or a lot…dealers choice.” ;)

Yeahh he doesn’t care that he has a kid and a mortgage. Cassie is grown now and Sonya doesn’t want him anymore…so free game, baby.

His eyes are hungry and he barely can hold himself back from pouncing on you—

Liu Kang and Kung Lao see this and apologize for his behavior towards you. They introduced themselves and of course did their absolute best to make you feel at home.

Don’t let this fool you though, those are some sinful monks. They are no better than Johnny and they want you real baaaad.

“So, Y/N. What is your skill set? Wait. Let me guess, you use beauty essence to trap your opponent in a daze before knocking them out?”

Liu Kang jabs Kung Lao in the stomach with his elbow, before speaking to you.

“I’m sorry for these two. You are very beautiful but please know we are just as excited to train with you as we would anyone else. Anytime you’d like to spar, please, don’t hesitate to find me.”

Ahh he’s so damn slick…he just wants a reason to pin you downnnn

“Hey! Liu Kang don’t you mean us? We all would like to train with you darling~. Some people like to fight over in the courtyard but if you’d like I have a very special place called, me casa.”

“I would also like to train with you…in the courtyard of course. I mean unless you prefer—“

“Thanks? Umm..I appreciate all of your….offers. I’m supposed to actually meet with Raiden, I’m just a little lost. Have you guys—-“

Before you could even finish your sentence all three of them bombarded you with offers and began fighting over each other, debating who actually knows how to find Lord Raiden the best.

“Uhh—“

That pretty much sets the tone for how everyone acts around you.

By a month or so into you being here, everyone knows about you. Especially the men. You’re all they talk about.

At first it was simply chatter about you being a new kombatant for earthrealm and of course mentions of your beauty.

But since learning more about and becoming closer with you, the little infatuations have turned into full blown obsessions.

No one can seem to get enough of you, even the grand masters have trouble focusing when you’re around. Hanzo and Kai Liang may disagree on many things but you are one of the few things they can get behind.

They are both trying to recruit you to their different clans so they can be fully entitled to you.

Scorpion wants extreme control over you, he wants to shape you into the perfect companion. He wants you to be just as poised as his wife once was. You already have her beauty so just let him perfect you.

Sub-Zero wants you to become his equal. What he failed to do with Frost, he will make up with you. How more beautiful you’d become if only your heart was frozen over.

Either one will stop at nothing to have you. A trophy they could boast over. For a second you ended a centuries-long feud, both agreeing on your excellence…only for it to start all over again for who is more worthy to own you.

This isn’t isolated to just them, all the men are fighting for your attention. Arguing about who you actually belong to, bragging about how much attention they got from you, and comparing it to each other. Don’t get me started on that. Mk men are so needy for your attention. Whenever they can’t get it, they resort to other ways.

Johnny is such a filthy pervert. You don’t wanna give him the time of day? Fine, he’ll take matters into his own hands.

He’s your very own paparazzi, you should be grateful that he’s taking this many pictures of you. You’re the first and only.

It doesn’t matter that he’s doing it without your consent or knowledge…. He’ll jump into the flesh pits if that meant getting the perfect shot of you…let him have this.

He refuses to share these with the other guys, it’s just for him. Over his dead body will Kano or someone else see you like this.

Shang Tsung has also caught wind of you and you’re a pretty sight indeed. He doesn’t want you to fight in the tournament. A gorgeous soul like you should be locked away in his throne room. He always tries to bribe you with fortune and power. He can offer you so much more than these rodents. If you need an extra push in his direction, a little trickery may help with that….he has no shame using an incantation on you.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao are no better. They manipulate that fact you see them as good friends as a way to be in the limelight.

They stalk you just as much as the rest, sometimes separately but often times together. It always ends up in a fight between the two tho because one person starts shit talking…

“Idk Kang. A woman like that would never be into you. Kitana barely even looks your way…what makes you think Y/N will? Besides, she called me cute.”

“Yeah, I think she’ll think it’s real ‘cute’ how I destroy you in the tournament..”

Perverted as Cage. Kung Lao is extremely touchy while sparring. He loves to “teach” you things. He never shines away from a moment to flex all of his years of training under the shaolin and that he’s a self proclaimed expert.

For some reason when he’s fixing your form, his hand always winds up a little too far up…hmm strange.

Liu Kang loves when you watch him workout or spar with others. When it’s finally your turn to be his opponent, he never holds back.

You cannot catch a break. Gifts and proposals are constantly sent to your door and no matter how much you try to decline, it just won’t stop coming. Sure being basically waited on, and desired by many is really nice. Every girls dream! But you have to admit just how it is scary having such dangerous men obsessed with you.

There hasn’t been a moment in the last few months where you’ve ever felt completely alone. The feeling that someone is always watching you has never left.

And, occasionally you would awkwardly overhear or walk in on a group of men fighting about you.

“With all due disrespect, I believe a babe like that would prefer a star like me. She’s all mine”

“Nonsense. Y/N belongs to the Shirai Ryu. Both her beauty and skill makes her a viable asset to the clan. You can fight me in hell over it, Cage.”

It doesn’t get any better when the tournament starts.

I think the men forgot they were fighting for their realms because it quickly turned into a fight for dominance.

A tournament that was once a noble cause, turned into a bloody showcase. Every man dedicating their wins to you, making sure to send a cheeky flex or wink your way.

Besides, what value did their realms hold if you weren’t there with them.

[thefiery-phoenix]

YANDERE BAKUGOU FAMILY HEADCANNONS (Platonic)

There would be NO DOUBT that they would ALL be HELLA OVERPROTECTIVE about you 

I mean, Masaru would be kinda chill actually compared to Mitsuki and Katsuki. He won't freak TF out if you talk to other people and have fun with your friends and he's the most lenient one in the family and he doesn't give a damn what you wear. He likes seeing you in all sorts of clothing and thinks his darling little daughter looks good in whatever she wears and won't force you to do anything 

But when it comes to the question of sleepovers and going to other people's houses WITHOUT EITHER one of the Bakugou's to accompany you is a big no go. They're worried that something might happen to you if you step out of the house and they half wish you'll stop trying to be apro hero. Why be a hero and put your life at risk while you have the big strong Ground Zero as your brother and 2 parents who are perfectly capable of protecting the youngest Bakugou?

Mitsuki, on the other hand will treat you like a child along with Katsuki. Everyone loves spoiling the shit outta you and Mitsuki likes dressing you up in cutesy cutesy little outfits. Mitsuki however will NEVER allow you to break rules like disobeying her when she says no to something and sneaking off with your friends. She simply will NOT tolerate rule breaking and even if you DO manage to sneak around her back, your brother Katsuki will always be there to 'get you on the right track' even if he has to use his quirk on you. They just want what's best for you after all

They are self aware yanderes and their relationship towards you is unhealthy and delusional and they KNOW it but they have to protect you from the horrors of the world. If you used to attend the UA, you bet Katsuki had something to do with why your mom suddenly wanted you to drop out and take a break for sometime and soon that 'break' turned into a never ending relaxing vacation at your home for you. You won't be working anytime soon while they're around that's for sure and while Masaru talks to you, Katsuki and Mitsuki will be busy preparing food for you guys to eat. They don't want you going in the kitchen, what if you accidentally hurt yourself or boil or burn yourself?

They'll love cuddling with you and making you feel safe and comfortable in their presence. They have NEVER hit you till date and never will either. And WHO expects parents to starve their own kids? Cuz, they aren't those types of parents

For punishments, they'll just restrict your usage of your favorite items but they won't leave you isolated or without food and water. They aren't THAT heartless psychopaths 

Katsuki is the world's MOST short tempered brother one can have and you BET he's gonna cling to you 24/7 and tell on you to your parents what you both did the entire day (This boi should come with a blabbermouth and a tattletale warning label). You can hate him all you want for it but he just wants what's best for his youngest sibling. He loves and cares about you too much and he won't cuss around you so much either since he actually rather enjoys your innocence. His blood will BOIL when you talk to other people ESPECIALLY other GUYS and he'll obviously threaten to blow them up, even if you talk to Kirishima

 Being in relationships is COMPELTELY off the table for you. They will NEVER allow you to date and if you are in a relationship in secret, oh... what a shocker, that scumbag broke up with you the next day? Well, you can BET your allowances your OWN family was behind it but they'll just comfort you as they get you and give you whatever you want

The house will be full of baby pictures of you and Katsuki and you all as a happy family. They'll have guests over a few times but they can't ever let someone try taking you away from them so they'll try limiting the time of the guest's stay in their household instead of maniacally killing them. They won't let pro heroes enter their house either and will come up with INFINITE excuses as to why they can't come in. They just don't want to lose you 

Just let them take care of you and everything will be all right after all, family ALWAYS knows what's best for you...

''Come on little firecracker, you'll look cute and adorable in that dress and I think we should CERTAINLY put up some pictures of the wall after this. What do you think Masaru?''

''Sure, our little angel looks nice in whatever they wear''

"Tch... you don't look THAT bad firefly..."

[burst-of-iridescent]

Aang was indeed a bad father. It's way past time we stopped making excuses for him.

An all too common defense for Aang is the fact that he's a monk and is not well-versed in how parenting looks. Yeah! No shit! But do you know who is well-versed? Katara! They talk as if Aang is a single parent like Toph but he is not. Katara's been on Aang's side since the day they met, always stood up for him, always complimented him.

Is this really the thanks she gets? Are they really that disinterested in explaining Katara's side of the story? As if her not getting a statue wasn't insulting enough.

Another major flaw in this defense is that Aang is not just a monk. He's the avatar. This means, part of mastering all elements also means embodying all of the ideologies based on said elements. That includes elements/ideologies completely opposite of his own. His daughter's crack about Aang "cutting and running when things get tough" shows that he's learned absolutely nothing.

We never truly see him master all the elements, he just gets them and, more or less, calls it a day. I'm even beginning to doubt that he's truly mastered his default airbending and he just got his tattoos prematurely because the monks were impressed with his scooter invention.

Zuko got the privilege of understanding the ideologies of other nations, allowing him to grow, and unlearn any toxic masculinity lessons through them, and would blow a gasket if he ever saw a kid get mistreated by a parent in any way. Is it really any wonder why Zuko is the more popular character and the most requested choice for Katara, in comparison to Aang?

using the "but he was a monk!" argument to excuse aang's bad parenting is fucking baffling to me. even leaving aside that aang did have a father figure (or are we collectively ignoring monk gyatso?), i don't think you need to witness fatherhood in action to understand that showing preferential treatment to one of your children is a messed up thing to do. that seems like the kind of thing that should be common sense, especially when you're best friends with the guy who's walking proof of what happens when you play favourites with your kids.

truthfully, i also don't fully agree with katara being able to compensate for aang's supposed lack of knowledge. while i do believe katara was a good mother, and i don't think it was her responsibility to teach her own husband how to be a good parent, i have my doubts about how much, if ever, katara called aang out on his behaviour towards bumi and kya. if their relationship in atla was any indication, i suspect katara very much turned a blind eye (or at most tried to gently suggest that aang pay more attention to bumi and kya) to aang's flaws in this area, as she (unfortunately) does in most others. that's one of the reasons i was never able to get onboard with kat.aang, because katara is the only one of the gaang who is never able to meaningfully challenge aang, even when he desperately needs it. (the only time i recall her trying to push him to do something he doesn't want is in sozin's comet when the fate of the literal world depended upon it. not a good omen, methinks.)

the katara we knew in atla might not have idly sat by while aang favored his airbending child over the others, but the seeds for who she turns out to be in lok are already planted. it's not a stretch to see how katara's blind faith in aang, and her unwillingness to confront his flaws, could have easily led her down the path to the woman who would fail to stop her husband from neglecting two of their children.

it's no surprise that aang in lok is repeating all the same mistakes he did in atla, because his character arc came to a screeching halt at the start of book 3 and was never picked back up again. how are we meant to believe that aang ever became the avatar (yknow, the embodiment of all four nations in one) when he was still, at the very end of the show, prioritizing the values of one nation over the others?

truly the shocker of the century that people might prefer katara to be with a character who had a believable arc with well-written development and a satisfying conclusion, instead of the narrative equivalent of a brick wall.

[review-anon]

Despair Time Chapter 2 Review Part 1: The Good

Hey guys Review Anon here and what’s this? I’m reviewing something other than ASOOT arcs? Yes, yes, I am. Shocker I know but I am not treading too far as I’m still covering Danganronpa as I’m reviewing Chapter 2 of Despair Time now it’s finished. I have my thoughts on it and now I’ve taken some time to take it all in I can talk about what went well, what didn’t go well and what lessons we can take away from the whole thing. I was gonna wait until Bubbles does their review/rant but natural disasters are bitches and power hasn’t been restored yet. So, I’m doing this now to get out of the way.

And for any people coming here from non ASOOT related tags then I will apologise in advance because you are gonna be in for a LOOONNNGGGG read. If you are the type to go tl;dr then turn away now.

I presume the rest of you want to read it? Well, let’s get right to it. I’ve split this into three parts because I don’t want to do Google Docs for this, and it would be an easier read for those who came from the non ASOOT space as you guys aren’t used to my lengthy reviews. Consider this your crash course on how I review, in extreme detail and excessive word count. This right here is about 8.5k which is a bite size by my standards which should tell you everything.

Please bear in mind you will have to wait a bit for the next parts as I want to get my current project done before this. Its just I didn't anticipate this taking so long.

Anyway, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Chains of Friendship

Chapter 1s for any Fanronpa tend to be very shocking as it’s the creator’s way to try and surprise the audience and subvert any expectations they have. Some do this well, others do not. But Despair Time was one of those who did it well by how it handled the main protagonist Teruko Tawaki.

At first glance she seemed to be an atypical Danganronpa protagonist. Ultimate Lucky Student? Check. Has an ahoge? Check. Believes in friendship, trust, hope and all those bollocks? Check. Gets backstabbed by someone they believed to be a friend in the first chapter? Check quite literally. Forgives said friend and continues to be a ray of sunshine? Ch- oh wait hang on a minute she didn’t do that at all.

Yeeaahhh while Xander’s sudden attempted murder on Teruko was a massive shock, what was even more so that Teruko decided to say fuck friendship and trust and not trust anyone ever again. On one hand you can understand Teruko’s rage. She was very close to Xander and he used that trust to try and kill her. Min was also someone who supported Teruko and she was willing to throw Teruko under the bus to save her own skin. None of the others stood up for her as they all decided that Teruko killed Xander, and it was only thanks to the power of protagonist energy and using basic logic that saved them. As such Teruko was well within her right to call everyone out for being selfish bastards. Especially since as we get to know more of Teruko this chapter, we learn that what happened in Chapter 1, while extreme, is a snapshot of her entire life due to how ruinous her luck has been.

I don’t think I’ve said this before, but I will say it now, luck SUCKS in the Danganronpa universe. Look at all the Lucky Students we had, Makoto is the only one who has a decent life and he loses the most. Nagito is so ravaged by luck he’s become suicidal and depressed. Yuki goes through literal hell due to his luck and the less said about Utsuro, the better. And while it’s still very much a WIP, one of my OCs is a Lucky Student and her life is equally ruined by her luck. But don’t worry I’ve not copy pasted it from anyone else as the direction I’ve taken my OC is in a way nobody has done before. And what Teruko has here is a fine example of that. She is an orphan who was abandoned by everyone in her life, she has numerous wounds on her body, she barely has any education as she has to sneak into large schools as a student and then once the gig is up, run away and her finances are in ruins due to the hospital bills. Its little surprise why she likes the Killing Game, as she gets guaranteed food and shelter here, which is more then what can be said outside. But even that has a silver lining as we know whoever the mastermind is, they have it out for her.

However, while this is a massive departure from what the typical protagonist would go through, it’s a known fact that in a Killing Game, you NEED to work with others. Class Trials are decided by majority vote and so if you become a pariah, you are very likely to be ignored and might risk dooming yourself or others if what you are saying is true. Teruko doesn’t have to like her classmates, but she needs to learn to coexist with them. Especially since Teruko switching from “I hate and distrust everyone” to “We are all friends” is a major mood whiplash I doubt anyone would do. So naturally one of the main themes of this chapter is learning to rebuild trust after its broken and the consequences of not trusting anyone.

Two major voices object to Teruko’s self-imposed isolation and distrust of everyone. The first is Eden Tobisa. She’s always been a cheerful and optimistic person within the Killing Game and has taken Xander’s and Min’s deaths harshly. In a way Eden behaves more like what a typical Danganronpa protagonist does, wanting to be friends with everyone and being kind. When she tries to get Teruko to bake with her, Teruko reminds her the last time they baked was with Hu, Rose and Min and that was later used for Min’s murder of Xander. She calls her naïve for being optimistic and says she won’t be friends with her, because she knows that at some point, Eden will crack from the harsh reality of the Killing Game and the luckster doesn’t want a stake in it. Kindness will always be rewarded with cruelty.

But when she says this Eden surprises her as contrary to what Teruko thinks, Eden isn’t oblivious to the cruelness of the Killing Game and reality as a whole. Yet the small clockmaker chooses to be kind because it’s the right thing to do, and if you give someone kindness while people can backstab you, you can be rewarded. When it comes to trust and distrust you need a healthy balance.

When I reviewed Black and White Christmas, I didn’t like how Sunako was forcing the Quantum Crew to trust the 76 Squad for a couple of reasons. I tried explaining it at the time, but I felt I telegraphed it quite poorly and I’m sure that’s irritated Mod Poi. The first one is on me, as I didn’t really know the 76 Squad then and as such couldn’t really tell at face value if they were to be trusted or not. Since they are from NWPM and I struggled to read it, my lack of knowledge led to that judgement, but the other thing is that I compared the whole thing to Raja and the Last Dragon and how it mishandled the theme of trust. Expect I didn’t explain it very well or misunderstood the hate. The main reason Raja got betrayed the first time was because she trusted Namaari too much, which you should never do to people you literally just meet. Give them the benefit of doubt yes, but never open yourself up to someone you don’t know that well. Teruko made that mistake with Xander and that’s why she got a knife in her gut.

While it’s a heartfelt speech, it had a notable impact on Teruko as she didn’t know how to respond. When you expect nothing but betrayal and backstabbing, having someone be kind for the sake of it can shock you. It’s the same shock Kyoko experienced in Trigger Happy Havoc when she didn’t expect Makoto to keep his mouth shut about evidence that he knows is false, and he explained it’s because he trusts her, she didn’t know how to respond. While Eden isn’t the main protagonist, the same principle applies.

Eden isn’t the only person who objects to Teruko’s views that you should never have faith in others as the other is Charles Cuevas. Starting off Charles was your atypical smug intellectual who believes he’s superior to others, akin like Byakuya and Rei. But much like them, he softens up and learns to work with others though in Charles’s case it’s a bit more extreme. In Chapter 1 he was revealed to suffer from Hemophobia, so much so that if he sees blood, he literally goes into shock and can’t remember anything. Xander uses this to his advantage to try and frame Charles for his would be killing of Teruko, but when it seems like everyone is turning on Charles, Whit is the one who stands up for him, gives evidence why he couldn’t do it and so Charles is cleared. This has caused the formally smug chemist to go through a bit of character development as while in Chapter 2 he still thinks his intelligence is beyond that of most of the cast, he isn’t pushing them down as much and has soften up to certain characters, most particularly Whit and Teruko. The former because he stood up for him and is an honest friend and the latter due to demonstrating that unlike most of the cast, Teruko actually uses her brain. It’s a slow burn but assuming Charles survives all to the end, he will become a much better person.

So, when Teruko talks about her disbelief that he is trusting people after what happened in the Class Trail, he brings up some valid points on why Teruko is actually being quite illogical as cooperation with others is key to surviving this game and humans are social pack animals by design, we work better as a team.

Chapter 1 Charles is pretty much Chapter 2 Teruko but after learning he cannot look at a corpse and thus is incapable of surviving on his own, Charles has started to learn how to rely on others. In some ways he doesn’t like how everyone pities him now so Teruko is a relief as her interactions with him haven’t changed. But while Eden says why Teruko is wrong from an emotional and moral perspective, Charles approaches it from a logical and factual point of view. As many analysts have already pointed out, it’s impossible to do a solo act in a Killing Game, if you want to live, you need to learn how to work with others. Either to prevent yourself from becoming a target, or so others can help you when you are down, much like how Whit helped Charles in his lowest point. As such using his own experiences, he knows the direction Teruko is coming from and implores her to reconsider as eventually events will occur which will force her back to trusting others again.

I like this as we have two different characters, both who get tons of development this Chapter, attacking Teruko’s morals from different angles. But while they are definitely making dents, Teruko is able to justify in her worldview that she’s been beaten too many times to be like Eden, especially as Eden seems to have had a good life where her worst secret is that she’s a closet lesbian. Which okay its definitely something Eden might have been harassed over if bigotry is still a thing in this world, but with so many of the cast being LGBTQ, it’s not the worst secret in the world. And for Charles, he has a deliberating condition which prevents him from surviving on his own. Everyone knows about Teruko’s luck and she’s survived this well without needing help on it so she doesn’t need to rely on others.

Expect of course, she’s wrong, because during an interaction with Veronika, she brings up the suggestion that Teruko might have prosopagnosia.

While it’s not confirmed in this Chapter, I do believe Bubbles has a point that Teruko might have face blindness but I don’t think its prosopagnosia. Recall that Teruko has had a very harsh upbringing where she couldn’t get close to people or have a solid support network. It’s known that having a disruptive childhood can lead to arrested development in various areas. I recall a case where a woman had blurry vision for a long time as a child and wasn’t diagnosed as shortsighted until much later in her life and because this happened after the point in a child’s development where the sense of self develops, it means this woman had a lot of self-identity problems and has a hard time recognising herself or others. But she doesn’t have prosopagnosia as that’s a neurological condition you are born with. Rather I feel the face blindness is due to people fazing in and out of Teruko’s life so much that she doesn’t bother forming connections and that is what’s fucked her up.

Regardless of the technicities, it IS a problem in a Killing Game because it would be very easy for someone to trick Teruko by merely dressing up as someone else. That wouldn’t be a problem if Teruko has a support network in place, but if she doesn’t, then she’s a goner. So, like Charles, for medical reasons Teruko doesn’t have the means to stand on her own and needs others to help her.

But the one character who shattered Teruko’s worldview and made her realise what she’s doing is wrong is the victim of this chapter; Arei Nageishi.

When Arei was introduced back in the Prologue at first it seemed like she was gonna be an insufferable Hiyoko-like character. She’s vicious, mean and enjoys tormenting others. But Chapter 1 reveals some layers to her as when Eden invited Teruko, Rose, Min and Hu to bake, Arei got really upset because she wasn’t invited, implying she wants to be involved with the group but doesn’t know how to approach it in any way other than being mean. Then during her FTE with J, she reveals that she has a ranking system in place for how badly she bullies other, while some like J get mild teasing, others she will try to ruin their lives completely. And for kind people she will make sure they cry because she cannot stand anyone being kind, implying that Arei seems to have a real problem with people being kind.

As such when Eden goes to apologise to Arei for excluding her, at first Arei behaves like how Teruko would think she would, she belittles Eden, calls her dumb and says she’s gonna die if she keeps this up, which causes Eden to burst into tears and run away. But alone with David and Teruko, Arei confesses that she didn’t like doing that. She said that stuff to Eden to protect her, because she believes the world is like what Teruko says it is, that kindness cannot be rewarded with anything other than cruelty. And if Eden keeps this up, she’s gonna die. The reason for this is as you would expect due to trauma as Arei’s older sisters would torment her constantly and make her life hell, until Arei just had it and frame her sisters for a bunch of crimes which resulted in them getting send to reform school. This here is a snapshot of one of the main themes this chapter has so we will come back to it later. So, is Arei just reinforcing Teruko’s worldview? Nope. Because then Arei reveals that despite all of that, she WANTS kind people to exist, she HAS to be doubtful of Eden because she’s so kind and optimistic, the exact person Arei wants to have in her life, but her past experiences have gotten in the way. And as she breaks down sobbing due to that, something stirs within Teruko.

Without realising it, Arei has shot a massive wound in Teruko’s armour. She’s someone who is basically like Teruko, who is rude and cruel to others because every time she’s tried to be kind, it was slapped down and punished. She also believes the world is a dark and evil place, but she also wants to believe kind people exist, despite what her experiences have taught her. This is what Teruko is going through. The fact she does cactus puppet plays of Xander and Min, shows that despite what Teruko claims, she is not a sociopath and can care for others, and she wants to be friends with everyone but having been hurt so badly, she cannot get close again. Teruko, without realising it, sees a lot of herself within Arei. She denies it at the time but those words have an impact on her.

David’s speech to her, even though its hollow and not even Arei believed it because she saw his secret and knew he was a piece of shit, still didn’t mind it. The reason being is that even if someone like David, who is seen as a beacon of hope and sunshine, is a rotten bastard deep down, then its proof she isn’t too far gone. While obviously we don’t have David reveal this to the others, we see the conversation happen, and it clearly had an effect on David, due to him remembering it so vividly. Arei’s drive to become a better person wound up saving Eden’s life twice as she interrupted Arturo’s attack on Eden when she tried to reveal his secret to him, and by doing her stunt Ace, the culprit for this case, decided to switch targets and go for Arei instead of Eden. Which I’m glad that Eden didn’t die because if she did, that would convince many that Despair Time was gonna be a cynical work like the Another Series and The Mistake. And why of course Arei still died this chapter, her death was NOT caused by her reaching out to others because Ace was gonna kill regardless of what was happening. And Teruko’s rage at Ace for killing Arei was less about him having a shitty motive but because had Arei lived, she and Teruko would have become good friends, since she would have understood Teruko’s pain and her desire to want to trust others regardless of her past.

Teruko also suffered the consequences of shutting others out as by being isolationist, Teruko has missed the context for a lot of what shenanigans have unfolded among others, and due to believing her viewpoint to be the only correct one, she makes mistakes. During the Class Trial, Teruko misreads the time and assumed the murder occurred at 8pm and NOT 8am which is Arei’s true time of death. Had Charles not pointed this out, David would be ruled as the culprit and everyone would have been executed. Another major mistake Teruko made was in how to end the Killing Game. When Veronika said that Eden had an idea to end the Killing Game by being as boring as possible, Teruko said that wouldn’t work as that’s why motives exist, whereas she has an idea but she needs to wait until the next murder occurs. We are left hanging, and for Arei’s case quite literally on what she meant by that, that is until Ace was exposed as the culprit and Teruko asks Ace to do something outrageous; Kill MonoTV.

Teruko’s logic for this at first glance seems sound. The reason the Killing Game occurs is due to the fact they have to follow MonoTV’s rules, and breaking them results in death. However, with Ace due to die via execution, he has nothing to lose. If he destroys MonoTV he has a chance to save his own life, of course if he fails, so what, Ace is gonna die anything so it achieves nothing. In short, there is no downsides and only upsides.

Expect of course if you have been paying attention, this is not the case. Firstly, normally with the mascots they tend to have copies, one gets destroyed, another takes its place. Thus, the game will carry on, but then there’s another one and one that tripped a lot of people up. When MonoTV was asked who would be the blackened, he said whoever was the most “mastermind-y” Now a lot of people interpreted this as being whoever is behind the murder and not necessarily the murderer. This is why Bubbles proposed that while Hu would be the one to kill Arei/J, David would be the blackened as he was the one who manipulated Hu into doing so. But this logic doesn’t just apply to murders, when Ace obliges and tries to smash MonoTV, it doesn’t work due to the robot being more durable then initially thought, the AI said that while Ace did break a rule, he was gonna be executed anyway so it would achieve nothing. As such the one being punished would be the one who told Ace to break said rule; Teruko herself.

As the countdown for Teruko to get gatling gunned occurs, I wasn’t worried like Teruko, as I KNEW someone was gonna jump in front of her and take the shots. The question was; who? I was thinking either Eden or Charles would do so as both have strong connections to Teruko, and for both it would be a massive contribution to their characters. In Eden’s case its shows she’s not scared to fight what she believes in, and returning the favour. Teruko stood up for her when the culprits narrowed down to Ace and herself, and Teruko decided to focus on Ace, so the petite clockmaker would return the favour. For Charles, it would be him facing his fears as he is terrified of the sight of blood and gore, so him jumping in front of the way of a gatling gun, assuming he survives, would show how much he is starting to care for the others. Anyone else aside those two…I didn’t think so. Ace would have never done so as I’m sure he is the one who voted for Teruko. Nico clearly wanted to get away with their crimes and the others either aren’t close to Teruko or jumping in front of the gun would be out of character for them. So, when the timer hit zero, I expected a CGI of either Eden or Charles with a lot of bullets in them…

But instead, my expectations were blown wide open by the fact that Levi of all people jumped in front of Teruko and shielded her from the bullets. This reminded me very much of when Akane was almost blown up by a bazooka by Monokuma but Nekomaru blocked his way and got shot. Considering what we learnt about Levi in this Chapter, this really took me off guard AND bumped him up several tiers in my character rankings.

But this had a total shock on Teruko, as she believed if she didn’t care for anyone else, nobody would likewise care for her, so the fact that someone cared enough to shield her from pain, and that they are on death’s door because of her, send shockwaves through Teruko’s body as when after Ace’s execution as everyone rushed to the infirmary to treat Levi, Teruko stayed behind to do something she said she would never do; mourn.

The amount of people who contributed to Teruko’s character development doesn’t end there as while those four are examples of positive interactions for Teruko, we have had two cases of negative interactions who serve a different purpose, the first is David Chiem.

When introduced David…seemed off. He seemed like an affable and friendly person who believes everyone has the motivation and desire to change, and Xander in particular seems to be a massive fanboy of him. But like most celebrities and people in public that is just a façade is in the Prologue when Xander went off to get something for his idol to sign, we see David chuckling to himself on how much of an idiot Xander is, without realising that Teruko was there to see it all, and his shock when she reveals she heard that, says it all. Chapter 2 brought up the suss meter even further when David ‘confessed’ his secret and implored everyone to discuss their own secrets, which far from doing good, ended up causing a lot of drama and tension. Anyone with a irk of sense could tell David was fake, I knew he was fake, Bubbles knew he was fake, pretty much most Youtubers reacting knew he was fake.

Another factor working against him is his VA. Quite a few SDRA2 English Dub VAs also worked on Despair Time, and for the most part is interesting to see their contrasts. Bblackroses is known for playing Hibiki Otonokoji, but here she is J who while Hibiki is a bubbly peppy girly-girly, J is a complete tomboy who hates the starlight and fame. Artimmissis Setsuka Chiebukuro, who is a very reliable woman with a prankster side to her, but here she is MonoTV an incompetent mastermind who tells the worst jokes. David Chiem’s VA is Sword of Swords who also worked on SDRA2, and what character did he play there?

Oh, nobody important, just Mikado Sannoji the Mastermind of that game, the leader of the main antagonist group Void and more or less a piece of shit.

At first glance the contrast seems to be that Mikado is an evil bastard whereas David is a moral force of good. But as the pressure mounts for David and the fact his secret is that he’s a manipulator who likes to deceive others, as well as how he mocked Arei’s desire for friends earlier, meant when it reached the boiling point the mask came off and David revealed his true self.

It’s here the true contrasts between him and Mikado become clear. Both are men who hide their true selves behind a mask, literally for Mikado and figuratively for David and both pretended to be forces of good before their masks slip and their true vile nature is revealed. David is obvious as he tried to be a good moral speaker whereas Mikado you might have missed it tried to be a hero and claim Void was a force of good before Rei and Teruya ruined it. In addition, their true selves are so VERY different. Mikado always remained polite and affable even when he is being extremely bastardry whereas David is rude, condensing and swears all the damn time. I also cannot help that David’s true self looking a lot like Utsuro, who is the main object of Mikado’s desires cannot NOT be a coincidence.

But what does David show for Teruko? Well, he seems to at a glance reinforce Teruko’s beliefs that nobody can be trusted as Teruko smugly pointed out she saw the warning signs of him being evil way before anyone else did. And whenever he talks to her, he seems to want to keep this act of Teruko hating everyone up, saying it’s her nature to distrust others and the only thing she trusts is the truth. And then here is his final confession he wants Teruko to trust what he’s saying. David is in a way a warning of the kind of person Teruko would become if she keeps on her current path. I also think that David had Teruko’s secret and knows it’s her fault the Killing Game is going on. The fact he keeps seemly praising Xander and calling him a good person is obviously an attempt to get under Teruko’s skin due to how she feels about him. I for one second don’t believe he cares about Xander.

Mr. Politician isn’t the only person who serves as a warning as the culprit of this chapter, Ace Markey does as well. Ace always seemed to be a coward as he is easily scared of his own shadow and while he talks tough, he doesn’t have the actions to back it up. However, in Chapter 2 Ace gets sick and tired of being a wimp and thus decides to become a bully, which is still being a coward as pretty much most bullies bully because they are cowards who want someone weaker than themselves to lord over to make themselves feel better. Yet what drives Ace’s actions is his Thanatophobia, fear of death which is a very bad thing to have in a Killing Game. Due to this fear, Ace decides to commit murder as he feels if he doesn’t kill someone, someone will do the same to him and the fact Nico almost does, reinforces this belief. Teruko is someone while not paranoid, is very distrustful of everyone and if she feels that anyone and everyone is out to get her, she could fall down the same slippery slope that Ace does.

Despite this, Ace still manages to surprise her as when Levi takes the bullets for her, everyone needs to get to the infirmary to treat Levi otherwise he dies, but the lift won’t work since Ace still needs to be executed. Ace has already made it very clear he hates and despises Levi, especially after the latter confesses that he doesn’t care about the former, which seemed to really hurt him, but seeing someone he hates that much do something so selfless, means he decides to do the one decent thing in his life, while also being his last, getting MonoTV to execute him so the lift doors open and Levi could be saved.

That I think was the final straw which broke Teruko. She has had mounting pressure throughout the entire Chapter but then someone who was a coward, sacrificing himself so that someone else could live, is the final crushing proof as well as the knowledge that while she avoided making the same mistakes as before, she just wound up making new ones, that caused her to cry alone in the Trial Room.

We also get interesting character interactions with Teruko and MonoTV throughout the chapter. Since Teruko isolated herself so much from the others, MonoTV hires her to do maintenance around the Killing Game since he’s too incompetent to do it himself. As Monokumas were originally butler robots this would have never happened in the main series. We learn a far bit about MonoTV, that he is a simple robot designed for the Killing Game and he doesn’t have full knowledge on who’s running the thing as he was only programmed to do what his tasks enabled. And as Teruko pointed out, he is sadistic as Min was executed before she could say everything she wanted to and Ace’s execution was dragged out for as long as possible, in both cases it’s to make the victims feel the most despair. The other interesting thing is that Teruko can use Monocoins to get him to remove other characters who are bothering her which is the complete contrast to FTEs. What should we call them instead? Exclusion Zone Effects or EZE? Nah that doesn’t roll off the tongue.

In conclusion, I really liked how Teruko was handled in this Chapter due to how much of a cliffhanger the previous chapter left with her. This chapter did so much to knock her down for her high and mighty view and while she won’t be buddy-buddy come Chapter 3, I do believe that she will be more approachable to the cast. Teruko’s journey throughout this fanganronpa will be interesting to see and I see her opening up more about her past as she gets more comfortable with the cast.

Trust in Nature

Every Danganronpa game has two themes, no matter how you slice it. The first theme is the most obvious one and this is a theme that the protagonist and the mastermind have in common. For Trigger Happy Havoc its Hope vs. Despair, Goodbye Despair is Future vs. Past and Killing Harmony is Truth vs. Lies.

Some have said that it’s too early to call what the themes for Despair Time are, but I disagree as Chapter 2 imo is the ideal time to introduce your themes, and I think I’ve worked them out. The primary theme is one that doesn’t take much to deduce and others have caught onto it and that is Optimism vs. Cynicism. Teruko is a very cynical individual and doesn’t think she can trust others but more optimistic people disagree, saying being jaded makes you more open to being deceived. Eden and Charles, who are 100% the partners in this fanganronpa serving similar roles to Kaito and Maki in Killing Harmony where one represents the emotional connection and the other the logical one. Eden is always a bundle of sunshine and wanting everyone to be happy, but unlike someone like say Makoto, she isn’t oblivious to the fact the world is cruel but chooses to be kind regardless because its decent and it’s the most moral thing to do. Charles is more logical based and originally was quite cynical but having been shown kindness by Whit, he has opened up a bit more to some other people and while he definitely is a work in progress, he is more optimistic about surviving and escaping the Killing Game.

And this brings me to the Rival of the Fanganronpa; David. Bubbles didn’t like David surviving past Chapter 2, ignoring their own hatred for David aside because they didn’t think David contributed anything meaningful to the overall narrative of Despair Time. I disagree harshly as if I am right with the main themes of Despair Time, David is 100% a perfect Rival character as he represents those themes so well. The cynicism side is obvious as David believes that everyone is gonna die in the Killing Game and there is no point to continuing so might as well get it over and done with. This is why when David’s true nature was exposed, he tried to claim to be the killer, which is another typical rival tactic, so everyone votes for him and they all die. This very logic is why Teruko said she is not the culprit because as soon as David went on his tirade, it would have been an instant win condition for her. And as the game progresses more and more people are gonna want to live to prove David wrong and his mental sanity is probably gonna decline as a result until his Rival protection cause expires in Chapter 5 where he probably dies in a way to try and spite the cast. Going back to the Mastermind, I believe they think the Despair Time cast are all horrible people that deserve to die, whenever that be because they are Neo Remnants of Despair or something to do with Teruko, and as such use the Killing Game to kill them all. By the end of the fanganronpa, Teruko would have become more like a typical Danganronpa protagonist and be able to defy the mastermind wanting to kill her by showing the world is not a bleak place and people can change and improve.

That brings me nicely to the secondary themes. The primary themes are shared between the protagonist and the mastermind, whereas the secondary themes are shared between the group and the rival character. This take a bit more thinking to figure out but I think I’ve cracked what Despair Time’s secondary theme is. Trigger Happy Havoc’s is working together as a team as the class are trying to work together to survive the Killing Game while Byakuya is trying to play the Killing Game in order to “win” and isolates himself from the others. Goodbye Despair’s secondary theme is a deconstruction of the idea of talent as despite being Ultimates, Class 77-B doesn’t really care about their talents and support each other for their own individual characteristics and despite Hajime being revealed to be a Reserve Course Student, are extremely accepting of him. Nagito by contrast believes Hope’s Peak talented and talentless system is gospel, praises his fellow Ultimates for their talents which they do not want to be reminded by and is extremely cruel to Hajime when he finds out he is a talentless person who thinks he can mingle with his idea of the elite. Killing Harmony’s secondary theme is wanting to remain stagnant and compliant as the V3 Cast are very content to stick to the status quo and carry on with their lives, whereas Kokichi would rather shake things up and challenge said status quo. All of these secondary themes are very important to the story. And with that I believe Despair Time’s secondary theme is if humanity is inherently good or evil.

That seems very similar to Optimism vs. Cynicism but it isn’t. This theme tackles if humans are capable of changing their nature or if they are always either good or evil. From this it’s very easy to see where David lies, he believes humanity cannot change their nature, people are either saints or scum. If someone can “change themselves” it’s because they were never that bad to begin with, whereas truly evil people cannot change. And Teruko also seems to agree on this concept because whenever Eden says she is a good person, Teruko tells her to stop as by saying that, she makes her feel worse for the fact she can change but she hasn’t made the effort to do so. Teruko always believed she was scum and would die like scum if she cared about nobody around her.

Naturally this chapter has a few characters who challenge this rule big time. Let’s start with Levi, the guy has always seemed chill but we get to see more of a scary side to him when he threatens to kill Ace if he doesn’t stop being an arsehole. We also have an interesting opening discussion with him and Eden where Levi confesses that he doesn’t see himself as a good person, contrary to what Eden thinks. This all gets revealed in the Class Trial when Levi admits that he doesn’t possess empathy and therefore cannot care about anyone around him, the fact he’s killed 4 people, one of whom being his own father and yet he treats it with the same disinterest as one would swat a fly, is very telling.

Fans were quick to diagnose Levi with Antisocial Personality Disorder, and this is where DT Dev actually impressed me big time. This disorder is one of the most maligned within society, even more so in my opinion then those on the autistic spectrum. The reason being is simple, almost every single time a fictional character is revealed to have this disorder they are almost always a psychopathic villain who kills everyone around them and gives zero shits. To say how damaging this stereotype is unbelievable and Levi is frankly the most realistic portrayal of someone with this disorder. Yes, Levi doesn’t have empathy, or a very low level of it, but he still tries to be a good person not because of morals and emotions, but more so out of a sense of duty, especially as before Levi revealed it nobody suspected a thing due to Levi not behaving like the usual stereotypes. He isn’t very good at it because he's trying to figure out how to be a good person which isn’t easy when it’s not instinct. When Ace asked if he cared about him at all and Levi responded with flat no, while Ace screamed at Levi in his usual manner, it’s clear the jockey was hurt by this reveal as a small part of him wanted to consider Levi a friend.

So, for Levi to then shield Teruko with his body from the gatling gun, not only comes as a massive shock but I believe this is Levi’s attempts of trying to prove he is a good person. Chances are, he wasn’t happy with how he handled the situation with Ace and wanted to prove something to him, so that’s why he protected Teruko, not only because thinking about it, Levi was probably one of the few characters who could survive that, but to try and redeem himself from how he mishandled the situation with Ace. And the effects of this are very clear as Ace, who was trying to prolong his death as much as possible, upon realising the only way to save Levi is for him to die, demands MonoTV to execute him. If someone without a clear concept of empathy can be a good person, then isn’t that proof humans can change?

Arei is another character who also wants to believe she can change. After she decides to become a good person, the bowler saves Eden from being threatened by Arturo and then later that night confronts David about the fact she knows he’s full of shit. We heard some of this originally from Ace who overheard the conversation, but when David is thinking about what to say to Eden, we hear the other half where Arei says she’s glad David is horrible because it means there is no such thing as a pure good person. That even someone like Eden might have done something nasty and if he’s so deprived then there’s hope left for her. She even offers a hand of friendship to David because she thinks they are one and the same, and they can improve their behaviour together. The fact David remembers this means the conversation had a meaningful impact on him, even though he doesn’t show it. What Arei is showing is clear existentialism or optimistic nihilism. Nihilism which I’m sure 75% of people reading this believe in, is where you believe nothing in the world matters because it’s all meaningless. Optimistic nihilism by contrast is saying that yes nothing matters, but that’s okay because you have the power to decide what is most important. Arei clearly believes there is no such thing as a pure good person, but what she can be is a slightly less shitty person then she was before.

And finally, there’s Ace. Ace’s motive for killing Arei is the fact he is scared of death, and that if he didn’t kill someone, then he would be killed. His reason for targeting Arei was simply coincidence, his original target was Eden but upon learning of Arei’s desire to change, decided to exploit that to target her. Ace also demonstrates a level of intelligence we haven’t seen from him before given that he was able to memorise how Nico tried to kill him, replicate that method, overpower Arei with a method unique to him and since everyone thinks Ace is dumb, he was able to pull the wool over their eyes and he could have damn well gotten away with it, especially with David’s stunt making so many convinced he was the one who killed Arei. Goes to show that people are not as stupid as you think. He gets chewed out big time by Teruko who calls him a coward, his motive is dumb and that Arei didn’t deserve to die because of that. However, even when facing death there is still a chance for character development and that comes when Levi eats a rain of bullets. Not only does this change Ace’s opinion on Levi considering he hated his guts before, but he gives Arturo a well-deserved callout who claims he doesn’t know how to treat Levi’s wounds because of his mix-maxed medical skills, but Ace calls him a coward saying as a surgeon he should know the basics and apply that skill to save Levi’s life or at least keep him alive as he gets executed. And yes, despite being as scared as possible for his death, he accepts it as it’s the only way to save Levi as the lift doors won’t open until he is executed.

Onto Ace’s execution I was pleasantly surprised as I have seen somewhere on YouTube an Ultimate Jockey Execution where the horses are used to tear the victim up, and I would have complained MASSIVELY if Ace went down a similar route. But no, the execution is more tailored to Ace’s fear of death by him escaping horror scenario after horror scenario, no wonder Veronika was orgasming over it, until when facing an execution squad, they shoot confetti and Ace suffers a heart attack and dies from fear. This is actually a real way people can die as during the 1970s, there was a string of cases where Hmong refugees would die from heart attacks in their sleep despite being healthy and middle-aged. Doctors at the time concluded that they were suffering nightmares so bad it would cause heart attacks and kill them in their sleep, and if this sounds familiar to you, it should as it was one of the inspirations behind A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s a reason you shouldn’t scare someone with heart problems and while Ace might not have any heart issues, he has been suffering a lot of stress which could have made his heart rate dodgy and then the execution delivered.

These themes are extremely heavy hitting and I’m glad Despair Time is covering them. I could be wrong about them but that’s my theory on what they are.

Murderer Among Us

And finally, my last big positive about Despair Time’s Chapter 2 is the fact we not only get an attempted murder, with the plot twist the would-be victim would later become the culprit but the fact that this attempt didn’t succeed means the would-be murderer walks among the cast still and they have to deal with the consequences.

I have wanted this since Killing Harmony when Monokuma offered the tantalising prospect that if there are two blackeneds, only the first murder counts. So, when Korekiyo confesses to killing Tenko, the cast cannot vote for him because if he didn’t kill Angie, they would have got it wrong. I REALLY wanted it to be that Tenko was Angie’s killer, my logic being that Angie invited Tenko to her Talent Lab for a chat which got into a heated debate about how Angie was brainwashing Himiko and Tenko, who is quite hot-headed and doesn’t always think straight, accidently killed Angie in the heat of the moment. She would then either cover up her crime or someone else like the Mastermind would make the locked room mystery which the cast discovered and when Kiyo announces he is gonna do a séance, Tenko grows worried as if the séance is a success, Angie would reveal the culprit so Tenko offered to become the vessel which led to her death. You could also argue that maybe she sensed Korekiyo was up to something and did it to protect Himiko. Either way that would make for an interesting Chapter 4 because tensions between Korekiyo and Himiko would be high, but of course Kodaka doesn’t do anything with that and as a result we end up with 4 deaths, and 2 ruined chapters.

No other fanganronpa tried anything like this as they were all not willing to commit so I thank Despair Time wholeheartedly for actually having the balls to do so. As Nico, being pushed to their limit by Ace’s tormenting of them, which is very similar to how they are ostracised for being non-binary, meant they tried to commit murder by hanging Ace on the fans, but they not only miscalculated the strength of the fans but Ace woke up from being knocked unconscious and struggled awake. Before Nico could try again, Teruko and Eden showed up, foiling any would be attempt. Not only did Nico try to commit murder, but they betrayed the trust of both Hu who was trying to protect them but also Rose as Nico stole Hu’s wire and Rose’s turpentine to use for their murder scheme. What’s interesting is they didn’t apologise because they not only were not sorry for trying to kill Ace but know an apology won’t cut it. J gave Nico a very harsh verdict that even though their attempt was foiled, the point is they still tried to commit murder and was willing to give up the lives of everyone here for their own, and betrayed the trust of those who reached out to them. Hu hasn’t had a very good time this chapter because two of her closest friends; David and Nico, turned out to be using her for their own schemes, and we see the consequences of her mother hen nature. I feel a major theme for Chapter 3 is gonna be forgiveness as both Nico and David have burnt a lot of bridges this chapter and the fact they still live, means they need to somehow get back into the good graces of the group. How they do this I don’t know; David probably would be fine being a pariah but I’m not sure if Nico is wanting to make amends. They might, but they might also think they went too far. I do hope that Nico tries, especially after they have seen that even people like Levi and Ace were willing to act selflessly. And who knows, maybe David might try but I think it would be a ruse, which will still work because this cast isn’t the brightest.

Does this mean Nico would be a survivor? I don’t know as I do believe between David and Nico, one will be a survivor and the other will die, probably as a victim but who I cannot tell as Chapter 3 would probably expand upon these two a bit more. Regardless I’m glad this is being touched upon and I for one am looking forward to see where it takes Nico.

And that’s all the positives I have to say about Chapter 2. Teruko had a good character arc, I like how we know the main themes, we know who presumably the partners and rival characters are, we have an attempted murderer walking among the cast, quite a few characters like Levi, Arei and Ace got moments to shine and the execution was well done. But it cannot be all sunshine and rainbows. As much as there is good, there is also bad so when we come back next time, I’m gonna talk about what didn’t go well for Chapter 2 and what DT Dev could do to improve things.

Until then, see ya! -Review Anon

[f0point5]

I always did wonder when people criticize Jos that how a mother could just leave her son like Sophie left Max? Especially knowing the kind of person Jos was. I know it's none of my business and Max has an amicable relationship with his dad, but I always thought that the same criticism should be applied to his mother who up and left with his sister. Like isn't his mother on the same page that Max needed his father and how he treated him to be where he is now? If she didn't believe this she would've taken him with her. Like she kinda agreed with Jos's methods and what not since she left Max with her. Doesn't that also make her a "bad parent" like the one that did the abuse? Sophie was also known in the motorsport world so it's not that he wouldn't have had a chance to get into it, and still Sophie decided that Max needed to be with his father to achieve what he wanted.

Obviously there must have been a lot going on that we didn't know about but you raise a valid point. I've never seen a person criticize Sophie with the same attitude they do with Jos, and people even go as far as praising Kvyat when we (at least I) know nothing about what P's life is like when she's with him. He's also still active in motorsports so if he had full custody, P would actually be more trackside or in the care of a nanny or idk but thinking about that is too much work, and people only really care is about hating on these perceived villains that they elevated Kelly and Jos to.

Sophie has been quoted as saying that she left Max with his dad because she knew if he was going to be successful with racing that’s where he needed to be. That’s pretty telling to me. She is also a racer, comes from a racing family also I think, surely if she hadn’t agreed with Jos’s methods at some point over the years she could have kept Max with her and continued his racing it didn’t have to be one of the other. But to me it seems like she knew that Jos was pouring his whole life into Max’s career and that that was his best chance of success. Which…fair enough. You’re the parents you make the calls. But I think it’s wild that even people who’ve got all this energy for Jos think that Sophie is this kind hearted Saint when she’s actually never come across that way to me at all. You left the guy, you know exactly who he is, and you left your son with him. So…what does that say about what you think the right way to raise a child is?

And to be clear, I don’t know any of these people and really even if I did, the only people any of them have to make peace with is their children. Max and Victoria both have a relationship with both parents, and Sophie and Jos seem to get along fine so tbh for all anyone has to say about all this…they’re literally doing better than 90% of broken families out there? Sorry but these kids aren’t raised in vacuum, it is bullshit to say they - or Jos - did absolutely everything wrong when they have a son who by all accounts is a nice person as well as incredibly successful and they have a pretty strong family unit which most divorced couples cannot even manage with half their stress.

But the fact remains that anyone who thinks Jos is abusive and the devil incarnate better be coming for Sophie as an enabler (but I’m not that person) and yet they never do.

Same way they come for Kelly for posting Penelope but nothing about Victoria using her newborn to advertise products or her sons to advertise Max’s merch. And I have no issue with either of things because they’re not my kids but what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

And yeah, Daniil is held up as a Saint for not posting Penelope on the internet but is never demonised for having a career that takes him away from her most of the year and then going on holiday without her (people were having a go at Kelly for taking Penelope on her holiday with friends to Portugal…where else should she leave the kid when her dad isn’t there? People take their kids places…shocker), but Kelly is lambasted for going to Paris for three days as if she’s left her child locked in a playpen with a cup of water or something. It is unhinged to care about any of this because if it’s not your kid, fuck off, but if you are going to be a Parasocial…let’s not do the double standard.

Or, alternatively, just admit you’re bitterly jealous of her and be done with it.

[weightedblankettt]

Honest to god, I will never ever ever understand the disproportionate amount of hate Nico gets for (checks notes)

1. Being shy (That obviously means that theyre acting like a kid /sarcasm)

2. Getting defended (They’re totally being babied and need to act their age because theyre being childish /sarcasm)

3. Attempting to kill someone who’s made their life a literal living hell (Ace was just projecting so its okay!! /sarcasm)

I’m definitely not saying they were right in their methods but the way people look at these two and somehow decide Ace is the one that has no faults is… So shocking to me, really genuinely… What happened to “Just because you have issues doesn’t mean you get to make it everyone else’s problem”??? The majority of takes I’ve seen regarding the situation are so abhorred… Especially when it comes to their neurodivergent-coding and Hu. Like. No they are not being babied because they have a friend. Do you want them to be shit on by everyone?? The one person that isn’t completely disregarding the fact that they’re being tormented is getting demonized for giving a shit, and the reason she’s doing it is because of her own insecurities!! I don’t understand why so many people have come to the conclusion that somehow Nico is worse than Ace because they took a drastic measure. They have repeatedly insisted that people would throw rocks at them and physically assault them because of their identity. Is it such a shocker that you would immediately resort to leaving a potentially dangerous situation?? Sure they weren’t right to do it, but saying that there were other ways to resolve it is disingenuous at best and outright ludicrous at worst. When has Ace ever been the type of person to listen to someone telling him to stop doing something? Never! And unless you want to suggest that Nico should lock themselves in their room and give up their ability to exist freely just because Ace can’t deal with his own problems, there’s literally no other solution. They can’t even tell anyone because nobody cares. Seriously. Teruko, Levi AND Rose were there when David and Ace effectively outed them and did nothing. I’m not saying they’re bad people, they had their reasons most likely, but do you really think that they would do anything. Genuinely. And plus, why would you want to stay in a place where someone has forcefully revealed something about you that you were demonized and assaulted for. Tell me. Why should Nico have to be the bigger person when Ace is causing all their problems because of his inability to regulate his emotions?? I can sympathize with Ace. An attempted murder is serious, and no amount of harsh treatment can justify it, but acting like it can’t explain it is just running on a blind desire to defend Ace. I see people say that they “hold both of them accountable,” only for them to list 10 paragraphs on Nico’s wrongdoings and giving Ace a: “Bullying is wrong but he had his reason.” What. Obviously he did, but so did Nico?? And the constant borderline ableism revolving around their personality and mannerisms is genuinely crazy. I see people regurgitating the same two quotes: “Nico is being babied!” or “Nico is an adult!” The first one isn’t even true and the second one is just stupid. Ace is an adult, why can’t he stop bullying people?? Somehow a loud, angry, bully is more “adult-like” than… a shy person? I just don’t understand it. And even if you want to say that you JUST hate them for that, let me ask you: WHERE ON EARTH IS ALL THE HATRED FOR XANDER???? HE TRIED TO KILL HIS CLOSEST FRIEND OF ALL PEOPLE. I apologize if this came off as hostile, I really don’t mean it in a hateful or angry way, I’m just confused and dumbfounded.

TL:DR: You guys should listen to J when she said they both suck, and not just Nico.

PS: I’m defending Nico, yes, but that doesn’t mean I excuse their actions. That is a different conversation entirely

[krikeymate]

I feel like all my anonymous requests are really depressing cause I’m just a lil angst goblin.

I was reading a fic where Sam was getting beat up cause if the rumours about her and I was thinking about how the deaths of the Bailey family would play into that conspiracist narrative. I was especially thinking about ethan’s death I mean even if you just look at the scream fandom there are pages and pages on Ethan who really didn’t have that much of an impact but…SHOCKER, he’s white, male and conventionally attractive so it’s literally impossible to escape him (no hate or anything but cmon fandom let the other characters shine) anyways I got so side tracked there. I can imagine Ethan being really glorified and fawned over by people in the scream universe itself in was way that actual serial killers were because people thought they were attractive (ew). Upon hearing that Tara was the one to kill ethan (i know it was technically Kirby but they did it together) I think the conspiracists would go insane and can you imagine a scene where Tara and Sam are just walking together before they both get jumped but Tara is the target of this attack and Sam is just held down unable to do anything while she has to watch tara get brutally attacked.

Well, Tara is my whump blorbo. There's a place for angst in our lives, because it's not about the pain at all, it's about the aftermath. It's about the being picked up, and the softness and the love and the support. It's about being reminded that no matter what we go through, there is a brighter side to be found and there are people who will help you reach it and sit in the sun with you. Anyway, none of that here.

~

Ethan Landry. Sweet, dorky, Ethan. He couldn't find his way out of a wet paper bag, people say. Soft, and shy, and smiled awkwardly at girls. Always nervous, but tried his best. Murdered. They tried to say he attacked them, that he wanted to kill them, that he was a savage monster. Who would fall for such a lie? He didn't even like horror movies, he was shaky around blood.

Samantha Carpenter is to blame, they know. It's heavily debated as to whether she attacked her sister last year, or whether it was simply a home invasion and she took the opportunity to make it something more, to sate her blood lust. But Richie was innocent, they all agree on that. A wonderful man who was guilty only of loving the wrong woman. That poor teenager, the best friend of her sister's... well of course Samantha decided she had to go, she wanted her sister to herself.

And it works! Because here they are, a year later, and it's the sister who does the deed, who thrusts the knife into Ethan's mouth, who twists it, slices it open. He'd had a crush on her, sources say. She used it to lead him to his doom. It was deliberate, pre-planned, it had to have been. Why else would he follow her there? Tara Carpenter may have been innocent, once upon a time, but not anymore. She's spent too long in her sister's clutches, corrupted, ruined. Just look at how passionately she defends her, as if she were innocent, as if the truth wasn't out there.

We should help her, some say, get her away from her sister, imagine what she could tell us, what she could reveal! She needs to pay, say others, she's just as guilty as her sister, it's too late for her.

No one agrees on how to stop this madness.

~

Sam's walking Tara home from her evening class. It feels a little surreal. A month ago, Tara would never have agreed to this, Sam had been desperate to do this. And here they are, Sam's hand attached to her sister's as Tara waves it around in the air, complaining about the professor. (She's not sure what she's talking about, but she's just happy to see Tara this animated).

They're turning the corner when they bump into someone... someone's. There's a couple of guys in hoodies, with surgical masks on their face. "Oops, sorry!" Tara smiles up at them, pulling Sam to move around them. They step back into her path, and Sam begins to feel nervous. Tara's hand tightening around hers tells her she feels the same.

Sam steps backwards, but before she has a chance to speak, arms wrap around her from behind and she's yanked away from Tara, as her sister is shoved to the floor.

"Hey what the fu-" Sam manages, before a hand is covering her mouth, jaw wrenched closed as her head is forced backwards against someone's chest. More arms appear to grip at her own and hold her back.

Tara is thrown to the floor, and a boot kicks out at her arm, stepping on her wrist as she tries to reach into her pocket. The figure looming over her bends down to reach into her jacket, and pulls out the taser she was reaching for. Scoffing, he hands it to one of his companions.

"What did we ever do to you," she growls, breathing deep to push down her fear. "It's not what you did to us," he says with conviction, "it's what you've done to others. What you'll do again!"

Sam kicks out and tries to speak, understanding setting in. Someone punches her in the stomach.

"We haven't done anything!" Tara yells, watching her sister get hurt. She tries to get up off the floor only to be kicked down again with a boot to the chest. "Just leave us alone!"

"But you have!" The one holding Sam shouts. "You killed Ethan! She-" he shakes Sam, "killed Richie and all those others." "They were innocent and you killed them," another pipes up. A chorus of agreement follows, and for the first time, the girls begin to notice just how many people are surrounding them. 6... 7, no, there's more further back, hiding in the shadows... watching. Some of them have their phones out, recording.

"You're going to pay for what you've done," the one looming over Tara declares.

"It was self-de-" he kicks her in the jaw, her head snapping to the side and smacking back against the pavement. He pulls her up from the floor, hands fisting her jacket and slams her back into anothers waiting arms.

Sam struggles against the numerous arms holding her back, unable to move. Her head is pinned, her jaw is clamped shut, tears begin to fall.

The ringleader leans in close to Tara's face, eyes meeting her dazed ones. "Your sister seems upset. Is it real, or just another act? Is she even capable of caring? I mean, she wanted you for a reason, right?"

"Fuck you," Tara snarls back. He grins, rewarding her with a backhand. "It doesn't have to be this way, Tara," he speaks, voice softening in faux-compassion. He cups her chin. "Just tell us the truth, tell everyone what she did, what she made you do, and it can all be over.

"She didn't make me do anything!"

"So you admit it, you killed Ethan in cold blood?" His voice is frantic, delighted.

"Ethan was a sadistic little fuck who got what he deserved." Tara finds herself thrown back to the floor. "He was a nice boy who never hurt anyone!" the one who threw her shouts, kicking her.

Tired of Sam's struggling, the one holding the taser moves closer, releasing it into her stomach. She groans, body twitching. Her legs give way beneath her, held up only by the formless figures clutching at her. They drop her to the floor and a boot presses down on her back. Sam is stuck, unable to convince her body to move, prongs digging in painfully from their place stuck between her skin and the pavement. She can do nothing but watch as the two figures assault her sister, kicking her, watching them pull her onto her back to hurt her some more.

"Stop, please, please stop," Sam begs. She's ignored.

It's only the sirens closing in that make it stop, dark figures scattering. She manages to drag herself forward, limbs slow to respond and shaky. "Tara," she cries. Her sister doesn't respond, still and bleeding.

[itsclydebitches]

Yeah, the Bees vs Adam fight had a lot of iffy dialogue but nothing quite had my head in my hands as much as, "Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were pretending to be?" You mean the guy who runs around in a monster mask explicitly because he wanted humanity to fear the Faunus like they do with the unambiguously-evil Grimm was, actually, not a good or mentally-sound person? Shocker. Like say what you want about Adam, but there is nothing subtle about him. From the moment go, he is 100% transparent in who he is and yet the characters acts like he isn't.

Yeah, I think a lot of fans who get frustrated by critiques forget that the disappointment has never been, "Omg they made Adam a bad guy!" but rather, "It's a problem that the minority representing an oppressed group is depicted as the bad guy and also a lot of people are doubly frustrated that his crimes changed from political extremism to stalking a presumed ex." Because you're right, nothing about Adam is subtle. He's introduced in black, red, a creepy mask, and callously shrugs off the potential death of countless humans. He's preeeeetty straightforward.

However, that line still should have made sense by the time we reached that fight because based on everything else we know, Adam wasn't always like this. Blake grew up in a rich, loving family that was at the heart of peaceful activism. AKA she's well-adjusted and primed to question extremist methods. Given that we've seen no manipulation on Adam's part--again, he's straightforward--that heavily implies that Adam was once a far more empathetic, level-headed activist who could legitimately inspire one of our heroes. Someone like Blake isn't going to just randomly join the guy who's just as happy with humanity's destruction as their change in treatment; she's going to join someone who seeks her own goals and reflects her own morals. Sometime between Blake first joining the White Fang and cutting the train cars, Adam changed. This is supported through, again, what we know of Blake as a person, her early Volume comments that the WF wasn't always like this, how Adam steadily grows more and more unhinged as the series goes on--a spiral that began long before the show started and is continuing until his death. Hell, it's shown through Blake having some sort of ~intimate~ relationship with him (mentor or romantic) and doodling him in her notebook. There's a version of Adam that exists pre-RWBY that's the kind of man Blake would befriend, defend, and possibly fall for. Or, to put it another way, make promises to about loyalty and companionship.

But he exists only in the occasional implication, subtext, and the application of some basic logic. RWBY doesn't actually show us this Adam, let alone allow Blake to work through losing him. By the time Yang says, "Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were pretending to be?" the audience should understand that no, Adam was never 'pretending.' That person existed... and then he changed. We should read that scene as Yang being wrong, applying a simplistic and no doubt comforting narrative to her friend/teammate/love interest. Blake didn't once love another faunus who fought for an important cause, only to watch him succumb to a violent ideology, resulting in a complicated, emotional landmine where she might still love the man he once was. That's way too complicated to deal with! And makes the bad guy too compelling to boot. So Adam just lied to her. Tricked! Bamboozled! Deceived! Because RWBY can't keep track of its plot-lines, doesn't investigate its heroes bias' (especially Yang's), won't allow those bad guys to have depth and nuance--Ironwood's turn to cartoon villainy highlights that. Adam isn't a subtle character, but as the primary representative of a racism-coded conflict, he should have been. Worse, what little complexity we got was stripped away by the end. Adam isn't a freedom fighter anymore, he dies a deranged ex stalking Blake. Except no, without confirmation of them being in a former relationship, or Yang and Blake having a relationship now, he's just a pathetic guy freaking out over losing her for... reasons. Adam isn't given that sympathetic past, so this conversation doesn't track with past implications and we're just supposed to take Yang at her word (after a Volume where Yang assumes A Lot). Adam isn't a subtle character, yet he's apparently "pretended" to be something he's not for years, tricking Blake and stealing a promise he never had a right to. Too bad we never got that story and what little we did get actively contradicts that.

I know I've said this before, but I don't even like Adam. I have no emotional stake in this fight, yet RWBY's handling of him was such a mess that, same, head in my hands and all that. I'm the one on the sidelines going, "No, I don't actually care, but it's the principal of the thing!" lol

[dadsbongos]

So kinda lame summary but here it is. A monster/half-monster/beastkin reader joins the Touden party with no ill intent. They just want to make friends, find a place in society, and live normally. The reader covers their monstrous features so they look human, and only shows them if they trust someone.

The plan was to become friends and maybe reveal that they're a monster/part monster. That option is immediately thrown out when they learn the party mostly eats monsters. So now the reader stays fully covered up out of fear of possibly being eaten. Shocker, they get caught by Laios. He's even more surprised when the first thing the reader says is "please... please don't eat me" while they're on the brink of tears.

I'd like this to have a happy ending cause I love hurt/comfort. The issue is I'm so stuck on how Laios would respond to the reader begging for their life and seeing how scared they are of him. At this point they're kinda friends, maybe Laios has a crush, either way they're on good terms. I doubt that Laios would get mad, but I feel like he'd be hurt that the reader fears he would want to eat them? Part of me is like "he'd be interested in them and want to trust them" and the other part of me is "he would feel betrayed and would want reader to leave."

I hope I'm making sense. This has been rotating in my brain for days and I have no friends who watch this anime.

oooooh i love hurt/comfort especially this brand

so in my head, i can see laios feeling Odd that a monster was traveling with them without revealing themselves. but i don't think he'd exhibit outright anger or betrayal, more so disappointment. since reader can talk, he obviously acknowledges them as sentient like orcs despite the danger they present, so he knows to tread carefully.

he's also not a stone wall, so his affection towards reader is going to make him not want to push them away. he's probably not initially very upbeat about it and just says that they should tell everyone as soon as possible so the party's informed. he's conflicted about the lie, but doesn't want reader to leave.

his next action is probably addressing reader's fears because he is a nice guy at the end of the day. so he's going to explain, in his brash laios way: the party 1. only eats to survive and 2. only eats inhuman monsters without evident cognition past survival

love the synopsis! can't wait to see how it comes along :3 and hopefully *i* make sense bc i feel like i sound nuts

[thefriedbird]

Public service announcement… because as someone who has used mobility aids to help with my POTS and fibromyalgia.

Do not and I mean DO NOT… pray for me…

What seems harmless and may seem like people expressing their care and concern… is actually a form of proselytization.

To proselytize is the act of attempting to convert someone into a religion or different opinion.

While yes, I grew up southern baptist. (Have forever been really questioning though.) It is NEVER okay to try to convince or pray for somebody whom you do not know their belief system.

Especially if it’s someone like me who is disabled and you “pray” for me to be cured 😡

Small story time:

Over the holidays, my chronic illness was acting up but I still wanted to spend time with my family to see the Lights in OC. So for long distances, depending on how much pain I’m in that day. I either use my cane, wheelchair, or braces to help get me by.

Well, not long after getting to OC and stopping for food. Two “Christians” began to try to “help” me and to “pray” my disability away 😑

1. Not very Christian-like to pray for an illness that I will have for the rest of my life to be gone like God can fix that. This gives off the same energy as people who have told me in the past “there are no wheelchairs in heaven”. Not only is this extremely fucked up to tell me. But it leads me to further believe that God doesn’t love those with disabilities and that’s simply not or shouldn’t be the fucking case.

2. Also if I’m struggling, I WILL ASK FOR HELP. I do NOT need anyone’s help unless I SPECIFICALLY ASK. My mobility aid is an EXTENSION of ME. It’s like touching my arm when I hardly know you. DO NOT TOUCH ME OR MY MOBILITY AIDS WITHOUT MY SAY SO. And ESPECIALLY DONT CORNER ME. This does way more harm than good.

Another story time (UNRELATED TO RELIGION):

I went to ANOTHER set of lights in Rehobeth where this time I was in my wheelchair with my best friend’s family. Some guy had the audacity to tell his wife that I didn’t belong there… Wanna know why? Because he said “what was the point in her being here if she can’t do anything” 🤬

Ambulatory wheelchair users EXIST!

JUST BECAUSE YOU DONT OR REFUSE TO SEE US DOESNT MEAN WE DONT EXIST!

Also heaven should ALSO be disability accessible. And if you fucking think, that “yeah, when everyone goes to heaven they are their perfect selves!” “There are no wheelchairs, disabilities in heaven”

Actually sit on a cactus… Rethink and reprocess that line of thinking because I PROMISE YOU there is a deeper line of thinking than just that… The Bible has constantly been retranslated over and over again and if you honestly don’t think that ableist ideas haven’t been written into it, I don’t know what to tell you. it’s one of the MANY reasons why I don’t go to any church anymore or follow ANY group’s train of thought is because of the ABLEIST nonsense I have heard in the past from churches and fucking pastors AND HAVE HEARD RECENTLY AT A FUNERAL OF ALL PLACES!

AND OF YOU WANNA KNOW SOMETHING THATS NOT FUCKING SHOCKING TO ME AT ALL TO PROVE MY FUCKIMG POINT.

Churches are not obligated to follow the rules of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 ☺️

What a fucking shocker.

If you were truly Christian you would fucking DO BETTER.

[arcplaysgames]

Seen here: Me IRL jumping because I was so concerned about Morgana that I fucking didn't notice Akechi was here until the little card icon appeared. BEIGE ALERT.

Akechi bro this is like not a good time but also i'm worried about missing flags for the extra content so I guess we can hang. (Morgana, I know you are going through a crisis rn but pls forgive me okay.)

man i haven't taken a bath in probably about 15 years, are they that good? my friend sent bath salts from japan, i should just try them. people are super into baths in this game.

oh because apparently they are some key to heart-to-hearts I guess???

wow that is a Lot

I was joking to cardiganism that something about Akechi makes me want to study him under a microscope. They said probably because out of the whole cast, he's the most opaque. Which, yep, honestly.

If the seed of Akechi's justice is wanting revenge for the mistreatment of his mother by his absentee father, that's... potentially high-minded?

Honestly a later moment from Akechi is way more interesting so I'll hold until then.

jfc are you my Vriska, what is this? what's the term? The pathologically competitive?

Is that true?

You know what's weirdly rare in video games? Liars. I feel like when it comes to quests for truth and understanding in games, the usual force pushing back is unrevealed information, not someone giving you false information. And in the games where outright lies are used, they tend to be used sparingly, as a second act twist that sets up the rest of the plot.

I think it's less common to have to deal with a character that just lies to you continuously without any real indication that you are being told a lie. Akechi itches at me because he's not, like, the Citadel Council keeping big secrets from the galactic community. He's a guy who is lying and I don't have any context for what the truth is.

Anyway, I guess it's time for the class trip.

... Mishima, I'm not going to nonconsensually change the heart of someone who cheats at video games.

WHY DOES NO ONE IN THIS GAME TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF BEING A PHANTOM THIEF SERIOUSLY? This is why I have always hated the Phansite and I especially hate the "rankings."

Also, I know this is shocking news, but I love Futaba. The realism of this is great.

Also hey I'm up to 9 for Yoshida, and is that the big reveal for every Confidant? That they totally knew you were a Thief the whole time? That'd be super funny. Bc I think Yoshida knows too.

DO NOT PULL A FUCKING NAOTO SHIROGANE, AKECHI, I SWEAR TO GOD. I WILL LEAVE YOUR ASS TO GET EATEN BY FOG.

I wanna reach through the screen and shake Reverie. Morgana is seriously on the verge of a breakdown, isn't comfortable reaching out for help, and you're LEAVING HIM FOR A TRIP TO HAWAII.

WHICH: SPOILER. SUPER SUCKS EXCEPT FOR YUSUKE ONCE AGAIN, SHOCKER

/puts head on desk and yells

they really did work to make joker the MOST pretty huh

god i thought the beach trip was boring but the hawaii trip actively sucks

it's just Ryuji wanting to get laid so bad he does splash damage of suck to everyone around him...

(what the fuck ryuji, chill the fuck out, this shit made me fucking uncomfortable)

Mishima literally refusing to talk about anything except the Phansite's Alexa Traffic ranking

And Yusuke being the fucking load-bearing column of this entire game I swear to god. He is the only reason I did not just press fast-forward and skip this ENTIRE section. It was miserable.

Atlus. Atlus. Atlus. Stop fucking punishing me for not having a romance locked in these games. This whole segment was more excruciating than Yosuke Hanamura's Joker Mode. I'm dead serious. It was less homophobic but something felt more homophobic to me specifically. I think because my was of reacting were much more locked down. Whatever.

God, send me back to Japan so I can check on the people I care about. (Ann, Yusuke, not you, I'll never be mad at you, I love you both. If I got to spend this trip having mai-tais with you, it would have been a blast.)

OH SIDEBAR:

motherfucker where have you been, I have been trying to talk to you since school started and you just blow me off! rude!

I don't think Maruki is a good therapist but I think he's decent with people. He notices Futaba and Morgana talking and uses it as a springboard for conversation. Or, tries anyway. Futaba is still working on being observed by other humans. We know how that is.

Then, Futaba sees that Maruki..... has a book on cognitive psience. And Sojiro immediately tries to throw him out but Futaba is like "chillax" and actually talks to him.

Maruki notices the past-tense and tells Futaba that her mother sounds cool and would be proud of her.

He's a nice guy.

However. He's working with Reverie to talk through basically the necessity of pain and trauma in people's lives, has mentioned wishing that pain was curable through more easily actionable means, and is toting a book on cognitive psience.

there is not enough side-eye in the world.

Hey Maruki, can I see your phone real quick, do you have a weird malware app on there?

Out of images, whup.

[everlywindex]

my headcanon for how robin and finney met!

bonus character analysis/rant under the cut

when robin was 7 years old, before he properly met finney, he'd just lost his dad and was a lot more stressed out and emotionally volatile. as a result, bullies liked to take advantage of his temper in order to rile him up and get him to attack them, that way he'd get in trouble even though they were the ones who started it.

one day, one of these kids got robin to shove them during recess, but as they ran off to tell the teacher, he bolted and hid underneath the slide. finney had been noticing this happening and felt bad for his classmate, so when the teacher came near, he went over and lied to the teacher about where robin was hiding, sending them in a completely different direction.

once the teacher was gone, finney made his way to robin's hiding spot under the slide. he sat next to him and they started to chat. finney revealed that he'd lied to the teacher, and thanked robin for finally standing up to those bullies even though it got him in trouble so often.

finney couldn't help but look up to the other boy for being so recklessly determined to stand up for himself, as well as for others less fortunate (whether it be another kid being targeted by older students, or a random spider that one of the other kids was threatening to squish) and that's why finney did what he did.

but robin, meanwhile... in that moment, even if finney didn't think that highly of himself, robin was awestruck at this kid who'd just lied to a teacher for someone he didn't even know. it was a sign of pure boldness, bravery, and compassion, the likes of which were pretty uncommon, especially among their peers.

and yet here finney was, acting like it was no big deal.

that's when they became best friends. decided to look out for each other and have each other's backs, no matter what. this was going to be the start of something special, that was for certain.

(granted they both got found under the slide before recess ended and they were put in detention the rest of the day but they just spent the whole time passing notes to each other with silly doodles on them so it was okay)

☆

prepare for an essay folks. it might even be my longest one yet.

okay. so. i get. SOOO FUCKING ANNOYED BY INTERPRETATIONS OF FINBIN THAT ACT LIKE THEY WERE FRIENDS BECAUSE ROBIN JUST FELT BAD FOR FINNEY AND WANTED TO PROTECT HIM OUT OF PITY OR BECAUSE HE JUST THOUGHT HE WAS "CUTE" OR WHATEVER!!! IT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL!!!!!!

here's the thing. Guys. this may come as a shocker but robin explicitly states:

"you've always been a fighter, finn! that's what we had in common. why we were friends. you were always afraid to throw a punch, but you always knew how to take one. and you always got back up, every time."

finney never was the type to beat the shit out of those who challenged him or intimidate others with his mere presence. finney is shy. he's conflict avoidant. he'd rather run from his fears than face them head on. but finney is not weak. and robin knows this.

that's why their dynamic is so special! robin understands finney's situation. he knows that finney has a terrible home life and he can't just fight back against that due to the power imbalance between him and his dad. robin knows that all of the relentless bullying that finney had faced has given him issues with his self esteem and confidence.

robin understands that strength does not equal invulnerability.

finney had to practically raise his little sister on his own for what's likely to be nearly half his life due to abuse and neglect while shouldering all this trauma that no kid his age should ever have to deal with. it's fucked up. of course that takes its toll on someone, of course they won't come out of it unscathed and unbothered.

but in robin's eyes, that's what makes finney's strength so obvious. he was forced into being the strong one, he didn't ask to be the strong one, and yet he's still here. even after everything terrible he's suffered through, he still always gets back up.

finney doesn't recognize it, but robin does. robin tells finney that he needs to stand up for himself someday because robin knows he already has it in him, even if finney doesn't recognize that himself.

so when i see an interpretation of finbin becoming friends that states that robin wanted to be finney's friend just because finney needed protection... it feels. so weird and wrong. because it completely takes away that respect and admiration on robin's end that was so present in the original movie

i think you guys forget sometimes that robin does admire finney and not just in the shippy "he's so pretty/nice/cute/sweet!!" way. no. robin thinks finney is just straight up really awesome and strong and cool. and he wants finney to have as much faith in himself as robin has in him!

it's so frustrating how people see this extremely sweet dynamic between an abused bullied kid who has low self esteem and considers himself to be weak despite the fact that he's shouldering more trauma and responsibility than anyone his age should ever have to deal with & his best friend who sees him for who he truly is, thinks he's SO fucking awesome, and wants him to see how awesome he is as well... and then those people just proceed to make it a flat "soft uwu boy x strong tough protector boy" with absolutely none of that incredibly engaging nuance

it just makes me... sad. y'know? i hope one day more people in this fandom can come to appreciate these guys for their actual dynamic instead of shaving off everything about their dynamic that's unique and just leaving us with a pair of cookie cutter generic Gay Boys™ that can be easily molded into any incorrect quotes template that shows up on their dash

because that's just not finney and robin.

and i will die melodramatically in a magnificent blaze of glory on this hill if there is even a slim chance my martyrdom will inspire a change in this cursed hellscape of a fandom /lh. i just want justice for my boys!!! but these weird boring one dimensional interpretations of them are so common!! it drives me insane

anyways i'd love to hear your guys' takes on this. mostly because i just want more excuses to talk about finbin. please talk to me about finbin pl

[mangoposts]

also i actually had the worst day of my entire life today so im gonna share 😻😻 a few weeks ago i went to this st. patrick’s day party and long story short my friend hooked up with a guy and i hooked up with a guy and by the end of the night we ended up finding out they were friends. AND LET ME TELLL UUUUU… the guy who i hooked up with was so sexxxxyyyy. or so my black out drunk brain thought he was. when i opened his snap the day after the party i was in for a quite a shocker 😋😋. it’s not that he’s ugly he just looked better at the party when i was drunk and the lights were low. like he’s cute ig but i could have sworn he looked like a blessing from heaven sent straight for me that night. like idk why but i just remember i was crying in the bathroom to my friend bc of how hot he was. anyways he kept asking for a two man since my friend already hooked up with his friend but i would always come up with an excuse bc i did nawt wanna hook up with that man again. fast foward to tonight, i was driving my friend home at like 9 and she starts screaming so i was like wtf and she goes i just got us a two man. and i immediately knew exactly who she was talking about. i told her there is no way im doing that but she’s already in my car so what can i do yk. so she tells me that he wants us to go to his house but i was like u literally have to be home in 30 minutes and he lives an hour away so how would that even work. so then she was like i’ll ask my mom for more time and her mom was like 10 but she was like 10:30 so they compromised for 10:15. but i was like that still isn’t enough time to do anything and then she goes they’re gonna meet us halfway. so guess where halfway was. the fucking street parking right in front of LMU. so we are literally just sitting in my car parked in front of LMU waiting for them to come. they finally come at 10 but i’m asking my friend wtf she thinks is gonna happen in like 5 minutes bc i still have to get her home by 10:15 and all she says is don’t worry about it and jumps out of my car to go see the guys. they talk for a minute on the corner and then she and the guy she hooked up with start walking in the other direction and the guy i hooked up with starts walking towards my car. he gets in the passenger seat and is just staring at me. and mina oml. it’s so fucking awkward. so finally he’s like should we get in the back and i was just like yea bc i didn’t know where my friend went and how long they would be gone and idk how much more of the silence i could take. we get in the back and start kissing but i keep pulling away like every 2 minutes bc i was just not in the mood for the surprise two man. especially not with this man. also i turned my car off so there’s no music and i quite literally have my body as far away from his as i could possibly have it. after like 20 minutes he’s like do u want me to get out and as much as i wanted to say yes i felt rlly bad for the way i was acting so i just said i was worried where my friend went bc it’s now 10:30 and i was supposed to have her home and her phone is in my car so i can’t call her. he’s just like oh i get it and we just end up talking. when it becomes 11 i was like do u think we should get out and look for them and he’s like yea so we start walking around and we see them making out on the corner. that was actually my final straw. i just walked to my car bc i couldnt deal with any bullshit anymore lmao. my friend finally comes back to my car and she’s all giddy and shit and i’m just like i’m glad ur smiling bc im definitely not. so then she goes to check her phone and she has like 30 missed calls from her parents bc it’s now like 11:30. and so she’s rushing me to get her home now bc her parents are hella pissed. like bitch. ik u aren’t rushing me. anyways now idk what to do bc i feel so bad for acting that way towards the guy but i also don’t know if i should apologize. anyways tell me ur thoughts or whatever 😻😻😻

-🐒

WOWWWWWWW UR FRIEND IS A DAWWWWGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG i would literally buy her an uber and drive home myself i cannot believe that Lmaoooooo but i meannnn if you don’t like the guy you can’t force it, there’s really no need to apologize nothing went wrong 🤷🏻‍♀️ You could just tell him you couldn’t focus because you were worried and ghost him after that like he doesn’t seem that serious

Ur friend is so strange though if i was responsible for her whereabouts id straight up call her mother myself and be like heyyyy yes i have ur kid but im going HOME❤️ I do not play like that

[hoghtastic]

"With Alex, it was often the case that he followed beautiful girls and they liked him, but the girls ALWAYS stopped liking him after a short time. Or they unfollowed him. According to Danish reddit, there were a few comments about him. One user said he was cute but not boyfriend material and had acted "superior" towards her and always talked about his work. That they only had a brief thing. Another said she was only over for sex. It was good but he would supposedly like something that was too extreme for her."

...

"There have been countless comments over so many years about why Alex chases women who ignore him and why women lose interest so quickly."

Omg. Things I learned about my fluffy crush: he's a SuPAhFrEaK in the sheets and a potential douche to women?? 😳

These were so specific, wtf🫣. How do we know for certain this is true? Who are these redditors?

It seems like he's awkward around girls though. Him only talking about his work and seemingly acting 'superior' was maybe him just trying to make conversation and doesn't know what topics to reach out from, so naturally he talks about stuff from his work. It happens to me as well, I find myself talking about gross/depressing details of my job and inside my head I realize what I've done but things keep snowballing between me apologizing for TMI and dismissing my job to apologizing for dismissing my job and defending that it's actually not THAT bad! 😵‍💫🫠 It can be cringe. No doubt he felt that at some point, especially when he's trying to score! Haha

I guess he comes across as immature at times (based on IG videos him and his friends post) and that may be a factor on why girls lose interest fast. Hence why (maybe) his GF studied him well and could probe on his geeky interests and copy cutesy/awkward antics in public...OR it could be that they're both immature and that's why they get along 🤷🏻‍♀️ Possibilities are endless.

As for only chasing women who ignore him: the only girl I know this has happened (from older tumblr posts elsewhere) was apparently a danish IG model he had met during a music fest and that he posted something about being in the friendzone. I seriously thought this was his only try to get back at love after his serious relationship but apparently he had his fair share of booty calls, according to the redditor above 🫣,

I'm not so sure how I feel about this, as he came across (and has stated in a few interviews before) as somebody who seems very serious about relationships to the point he wants a family of his own. So finding this out comes as a shocker to me ! 😂

Very curious about the "other countless comments", someone spill the tea please! ☕️

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this, anon! 😊

You’re right, we should always take everything we read online with a grain of salt. However, I don’t think the redditors the anon quoted had any reasons to lie. They were just telling their experience, but it didn’t feel they were bragging about it, much on the contrary. Plus, I find it super plausible that a young, beautiful and famous guy would take advantage of these privileges to adventure himself into the dating world, even if most of his hookups didn’t lead to serious relationships. As long as everything is consensual and people are honest about their intentions and feelings from the start, I personally see no problem with it. 😊

[monstermoviedean]

#this is why I'm always so baffled when people talk about Dean being ✨so mean✨ to Cas in Clip Show ''for no reason 😔'' #like we can talk all we want about learning to talk through interpersonal problems in a calm rational manner #but the last interaction Dean had with Cas was.... THIS #Cas beat the shit out of him ignored his love confession (and I do think Dean's memory is shaky here and he isn't totally sure #what he said out loud vs what he just thought REALLY REALLY LOUDLY) told him he was a threat and DIPPED IMMEDIATELY #w/almost no explanation given beyond ''well I was mind controlled and now I'm not and I don't know how but also I don't trust you BYEEEEE'' #jfc I would be furious and upset and not really inclined to be rational or polite either #and then Cas rocks up and pretends like none of that even happened??? #(which. Cas fully doesn't understand that from Dean's pov a big component of their last interaction was confessing and getting rejected) #(of course he's not gonna acknowledge it bc he doesn't know there's anything like that to acknowledge) #but point is Dean got beat up rejected and ghosted last time they talked #of course he's mad and pushing Cas away literally who wouldn't in his position #but of course all this requires that we acknowledge that Dean is a self-aware rational adult who knows how he feels about Cas #and since we still live in the era of people insisting that Dean is so repressed and in denial he still thinks he's straight post-canon #obviously many MANY people are going to look at Dean lashing out in Clip Show and go ''what does he have to be mad about?'' #(which. oof. even if he WAS in denial emotions don't just go away just bc you don't understand where they're coming from lol??) #anyway point is ppl will have this preconceived notion of Repression Boy Dean and then when Dean reacts like someone #who is fully aware of his feelings for Cas and is very understandably hurt by Cas's actions in light of those feelings #you get people acting like his reaction ''makes no sense'' #no it makes perfect sense he's reacting like someone who just got his heart ripped out because. shocker. HE JUST GOT HIS HEART RIPPED OUT #and now the guy who did the ripping is trying to (as far as he can tell) brush past it like it didn't happen #and to be clear this miscommunication is not Cas's fault either!!! #Cas didn't handle the situation great at all #(he fell into his constant fatal flaw of insisting on handling everything without support and inadvertently hurt Dean in the process) #but he doesn't understand what the crypt scene looked like from Dean's perspective and doesn't understand what Dean was communicating #and that's not his fault! neither of them has done anything ''wrong'' here! #they just aren't understanding each other and it's a damn tragedy!! #spn

@ilarual thank you for blessing us with these tags!!! as always you are so right and thank you for pointing all this out because yeah, yeah, exactly. i'm not saying dean should have been angry (or angrier) but i think if he had been it would have been completely understandable! he's not repressed he's not in denial he understands his feelings extremely well! i truly believe that one of dean's biggest problems is that he feels things so deeply, and he's always aware of his feelings to a degree that makes him extremely self-conscious and frustrated. because he isn't supposed to have feelings at all, let alone the feelings he has like love and care and concern! so he's been ruminating over this specific one for months and then when he finally says it he gets ditched? that's a deep wound.

and even if he didn't have all his very real abandonment issues (and especially abandonment issues with cas specifically) he would still be valid in being upset! if you take everything out of context, remove the romantic implications, ignore dean's issues, and strip it down to "i told my best friend i needed him and he didn't acknowledge it and then he left" that's still a VERY normal thing to be upset about. i would be upset about that if that happened to me. dean's reaction is pretty mild honestly...if literally anyone except cas had done that, he'd probably never speak to them again. but because it's cas he forgives him immediately, even though he's still upset and acts like it.

and like you said this isn't about fault or blame or wrongness! they both are entirely justified in reacting the way they do and they have very good reasons for acting and feeling in certain ways! i am sick to death of "evil repressed dean is mean to poor innocent cas who's never done anything wrong" for so many reasons but especially because it's always seeking to place blame, to assign a winner and a loser/victim. when this is about two people who love each other so deeply and profoundly that they don't know how to handle it, but they still choose each other and choose to do the best they can for each other. and sometimes they make mistakes. and sometimes they hurt each other. that's how relationships work. what's incredible is that after these instances of big hurt, they always forgive each other and they always return to each other to try to move forward. because ultimately they just want to be around each other.

dean can't even stay mad at cas...from dean's perspective cas (while under some degree of mind control but dean isn't sure how much): cuts him out, ignores his prayers, lies to him, leads him into a trap, beats the shit out of him, ignores his love confession, calls dean a threat, and abandons him. and dean forgives him for all of it. he doesn't even care. he just wants cas back.