#finally gathered my thoughts

[atomicradiogirl]

house md is in a way extremely groundbreaking and no show has gotten even close to what it managed to do. house is a disabled character who stays disabled for the whole series and yes he is a flawed and damaged person and his bad actions are in line with his character and dealing with chronic pain. he changes even though he is adamant for the whole show that people don’t change. house becomes self sacrificing and learns to love in his own flawed way. he goes to therapy and seeks help and support and he is 100% not the same person he started out the series as. there are canon queer characters that aren’t only treated as jokes and have actual three dimensional character arcs. there are unhealthy relationships and healthy relationships. there is loss but it’s not treated as shock value. actions have consequences. characters stay and go. house md is just as real as it is outlandish at times. it skirts the line with absurdity and realism. it’s beautiful and tragic and at it’s core it is a story of love and becoming a better person despite your trauma and flaws. it doesn’t treat house’s trauma and disability as an excuse for his actions but it’s why he is who he is. and despite all of this, house is happy at the end of the show even though the one person he truly loves, his male best friend, is dying. they could have gone the conventional route and gave wilson a female love interest who is actually good for him at the end of the show and yet they choose to have him run away to spend his final days alive with house. and this show ended before gay marriage was legalized. oh my god.

[starflungwaddledee]

running a little late, but someone's finally arriving at the @kirbyoctournament !

sent in to the tourney by her well meaning friends, starstruck is a Totally Normal adult waddle dee from king dedede's kingdom of dream land! she's here to try and meet new people, and maaaybe get out of her anxious shell a little bit!

equipped with her customary cheerful attitude, she's also sporting a brand new backpack full of lovingly packed goodies to help her through the event.

if you'd like to get to know her a little better, you can check out her tag on my blog, or these three important comics from previously! lastly, you can find the masterpost for her interactive tournament adventure here! this is an ongoing chronological story (separate to her canon story, but referencing it) that will last for as long as she's in the tournament!

a few notes for any interactions

🌸 despite being a waddle dee, other waddle dees typically don't like being around her, and folks who already know what a waddle dee should be like also tend to get a weird vibe off her. 🌸 she is quite friendly and approachable, but prone to extreme anxiety if she perceives she might have done something wrong or inappropriate. tiny wanya takes criticism the way a handful of hay takes a flame. 🌸 if you have wings and you take her flying she'll never leave your side. she's only palm sized, so if you are big and have wings or can fly, please pick her up and go flying with her please please pleeaase she wants to go go flying and fawn over your wings so so bad 🌸 for the purposes of the tourney, which by merit of its existence is something of an au timeline, consider this event to completely predate her ability to summon these.

[zuzu-draws]

So after the spoilers for Chap 257 dropped, I saw some tweets clarifying the meaning of the Kanji Sukuna used in the chapter when referring to his mother, and the overall reveals in the chapter got me thinking.

I’m making this post as a way of gathering my thoughts, personal speculations and where I think all of this connects to Sukuna’s character and the information Gege has given us over the years. Nothing I say is by any means new information, but like I said, I’m just collecting my thoughts here. By the way, just a warning, this post contains SPOILERS for the JJK Manga! If you don’t like that, please don’t read this!

Something I’ve noticed is that the theme of “Hunger” and symbolism of “Cooking/Food” is heavily referenced with Sukuna throughout the Manga. Gege in a previous Fanbook has disclosed Sukuna’s favorite Hobby to be “Eating”.

This theme is again very much ingrained within Sukuna’s cursed techniques and even his Domain Expansion, the “Malevolent Shrine”. With his two main techniques being “Dismantle” and “Cleave” are cutting-type attacks. He is also able to use a Flame-Arrow, and Fire is essential for making Food. The Shrine in his Domain Expansion literally has mouths on all sides, looking eager to chew down anything in-front of them!

This symbolism also heavily influences Sukuna’s own manner of speech, and the way he speaks to other characters in the series as well. With his post-fight chat with Jogo before his death, Sukuna mentions Jogo lacking the “Hunger” to take control of his desires, preventing him from reaching the heights of Gojo Satoru. Before the Start of their fight in Shinjuku, Sukuna called Gojo a “Nameless Fish on top of his cutting board”, and that he was going to start by “Peeling off the scales”(refering to Gojo’s infinity). There’s also further symbolism that supports this by analyzing the Kanji and meaning of Sukuna’s “Malevolent Shrine” but I’m not very educated on that so I won’t be opening that point here.

What all of this points to is that Eating and Food……is extremely important to Sukuna, to the point that it literally affects him in manners innumerable.

Eating is an instinct, a necessity for the survival of every single living being.

And In the face of extreme Hunger and starvation, even those with the strongest will could lose their Humanity and revert to the basic animalistic side of their existence. (The Heian Period also had a Famine, although I believe the timing to be a bit off, but do with this info as you see fit)

In JJK Chapter 257, it is revealed to us that Sukuna and his Twin were most likely starving in the womb of their starving mother.

On the brink of starvation, Sukuna had to consume his “other self”(his twin), so that he could survive.

Btw, this tweet and this thread gives additional characterisation to Sukuna:

Link to the original thread: Link.

More context (and reactions :P):

Link to original thread: Here

This reveals to us that indeed, Sukuna was born a twin. And as we all know, “Twins” are seen with extreme scrutiny in Jujutsu Society, they’re not well liked. This too in a period where Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcery was at its peak, it is not far-fetched to assume that his Mother may not have been treated very well by the people in her surroundings, especially as she bore twins.

When Kashimo asks if Sukuna was born the Strongest or if he made himself the Strongest, this is the response Sukuna gave to him:

When you think about it, how do you think the people around them would have reacted when the woman: who was supposed to birth two twins, gave birth to a single child instead? and that child had consumed his other twin in the womb itself?

No doubt people would’ve been horrified, disgusted and even revulsed. With the woman and her newborn child.

This would’ve led to their further ostracisation in the already very close-minded society. Unable to fend for herself and her newborn child, it must’ve been difficult for Sukuna’s mother to survive. I feel like somewhere along the line, Sukuna was left alone to fend for himself at an extremely young age. To protect himself from both Curses and Society alike.

This is why I believe Sukuna knows what true starvation, weakness and hunger feels like. Both in the emotional and literal sense. He was left without another person caring about him or his well-being, in a cut-throat period where it was “Fight or be killed”.

Powerful curses roamed all across Japan, nowhere was safe. Simply be strong, or you'll die. There's no room for weakness. And initially, a kid!Sukuna was weak, as anyone would be in the beginning when they're just starting out in this world. (and maybe, he didn't have much to eat, leading to long periods of starvation? :') )

I believe it is this debilitating hunger, and feeling of weakness that eventually led to Sukuna’s current Hedonistic mindset.

He’s essentially traumatised by it, and believes that it was his own weakness that led him to experience this sheer starvation. That he deserved to feel this way because he was weak then. Perhaps, the people around him were right, that as long as they have the power and strength to overcome anything, they’re free to do as they please; And there is nothing anyone else could do about it.

I feel like the irony here is that Sukuna himself, must’ve been a “weakling” before eventually rising the ranks to become History’s Strongest Sorcerer. This is also why he values Strength so much.

Ultimately, Sukuna has decided that there was nothing more important than being strong enough to fulfill your own desires. And “eating” is one of his most important desires. It’s his favourite thing to do, the one he derives the most pleasure out of. And like an animal, whose main focus is to consume, consume and consume. He too, simply consumes.

Most morals likely have no meaning to him. He doesn’t care who he hurts, what he does, as long as he’s able to get what he wants. And this isn’t limited to eating.

This is why people referring to Sukuna as a “Natural Disaster” is so befitting of him. Because Natural Disasters also don’t care about what or who they’re destroying, they just come and go, wreaking havoc appropriate for their nature and magnitude.

I believe Sukuna himself has said lines similar in nature, when talking to Kashimo:

Now I’m not sure how Sukuna perceives or even experiences this “Love”, because I think he has a rather very warped idea of it. I do think that this definition of love is similar to the one that Gojo also understands, but I don’t think he knows what “love” truly is. I’m not sure how I could comment on this, but I do think that Sukuna’s emotionally starved, whether he realises that or not.

Because, like Kashimo himself asked Sukuna “What is the point of dividing your soul into 20 different parts and then traversing across time if you’re satisfied with this?” we do not know the answer to that yet.

But many people have speculated that “Black Box” panels in JJK manga represent a curse (either self-inflicted or put by someone) on the speaker. Like, take a look over here where Sukuna reiterates the same dialogue, except it looks like he’s trying to reassure himself:

This once again shows that Sukuna has only ever strived for himself, in the same hedonistic fashion, to a very very extreme degree. It is possible that he's been lacking something, and he himself does not realise that he’s lacking it. Maybe it was this subconscious feeling, that led to Sukuna agreeing to Kenjaku’s plan of dividing his soul into 20 different parts, and to traverse across time as a Cursed Object.

Sukuna’s an incredibly complex character, and I’m excited to see where this goes. Gege has put extra care in the way he characterizes and depicts Sukuna, and again, I’m really sad that a lot of that characterization gets lost in translation. Still, I’m going to try my best to understand and get the most accurate feel of his character as I possibly can.

If you made it this far, Thank you for reading! And if you would like, please do leave a comment in the tags or replies because I would love to read what other people think of this and just Sukuna in general. I do not see a lot of people doing critical analysis of him, and a lot of his actions are seemingly swept under the rug. I don’t like that, so hopefully this contributes to people focusing more on Sukuna and his character. (/^v^)/ <3

[iersei]

the law of being hermie the unworthy (any iteration) is that you aren't allowed to win

[allpromarlo]

i’m actually really glad that yuji empathized with megumi’s depressive state instead of just outright telling him to live tbh. it lets megumi keep his agency as opposed to the damsel in distress narrative that some people were pushing, and subverts expectations on the whole 'start by saving me itadori' thing in general

[guiltymepleasures]

To all the people behind Lovely Runner - directors, writers, staff, crew, make-up artists, stylists, producers, and everyone else - I sincerely thank you for being part of this drama. I have read a lot about how there were many obstacles to even get production going but you all persevered to get this masterpiece to us. Your dedication was translated well on screen.

To the supporting casts, you were all an essential part in the success of this storytelling. Big or small roles, long or short screentimes, you effectively portrayed the characters that love and are loved by our Sol and Sun Jae. The bonds formed seemed genuine and I hope they stand the test of time.

To Byeon Woo Seok, my heartfelt gratitude to you for taking this role when so many others were doubtful. You embodied Ryu Sun Jae in his essence of unconditionally loving Sol with different nuances in the different timelines. When I say you will always be Sun Jae, please see it as a high form of compliment. I am very glad to have witnessed this point in your career.

To my lovely Kim Hye Yoon, I missed you so much and I'm glad that I get to meet you again in this drama. I've always known I would like it the moment I knew you were in it, and true enough, I ended up falling more deeply in love with your acting. The scene that hooked me to this drama was your first hospital scene. I was crying and blaming the people who labeled this a romcom. Sol was a character you were always meant to play. Your love for her has reached the viewers' hearts and I'm so proud of you.

To Hye Yoon and Woo Seok, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for being our Sol and Sun Jae, for making us believe that a love as selfless and unconditional can exist, for making us laugh and cry and hope and look forward to Mondays, for being the promising actors that you are. May your paths be filled with only love and sunshine from here on out.

To the Subeoms, it was a pleasure to be able to enjoy a drama as special as this with you. Your edits, theories, comments, and even delulu, were a welcome source of warmth and strength amidst the rollercoaster ride we were in. We all deserved that happiest happy ending!

A drama like Lovely Runner comes only once and I'm glad I was here for it.

[coolmanjohnny]

Do ppl actually think of mark hoffman as like a super genius. I've always thought of him as a sort of Macbeth character where he got where he is out of brute force and luck

His arc reminds me a lot of Walter White. He got pretty far by lying/being lucky and now he's convinced that he's unstoppable. Eventually he collapses under the weight of his own ego and has a meltdown especially when met with any sort of scrutiny

[antaripirate]

I think there’s something really powerful about the way Tes thinks of Kell…

About the way she never sees him as anything other than a person. The way she has to actively force herself to think of him as an object in her shop when she tries to fix him.

Kell has spent his whole life being seen as something to be used. An object. A weapon.

His birth parents saw him as something to be sold - he was simply a currency used to remove a pair of limiters.

His adoptive parents saw him as something to be wielded - he was the prince’s protector, and then his life force. He was a way of communicating between worlds. A symbol of power for Vesk and Faro to see.

Aside from Rhy and Lila, no one had ever seen him for himself.

And then we meet Tes, who clearly has some form of admiration for Kell - having named her bird after him - and she can touch the threads of magic. Manipulate them. And yet she never once sees Kell as just his magic. Never sees him as a test subject or a source of magic to tinker with, despite the fact that of any magic she could ever touch or handle, the type he possesses is the most rare, the most unique.

I think the fact that she always sees him as a person, more than she sees him as an antari is really important.

She wants to help him because she can see he’s hurting, can see he’s broken, but refuses to reduce him to something to be tinkered with. And even after copious threats from Lila, who wants nothing more than for Kell to just be ok again, and being asked by the King, and seeing what she was really capable of, she still has to force herself to see him as anything other than a person.

I just think it’s really powerful when you consider how he’s been treated his whole life by literally everyone but his partner and his brother.

Tes, Lila, and Rhy always see Kell as Kell. Magic or no magic. He is a person, and not something to be used or exchanged for personal gain.

[stargazingcarol]

And this is why the carriage scene in bridgerton is my favorite:

The fact that Colin says: "you cannot marry that man. He will leave you. And he is too particular" 'too particular' bc he eats only vegetables? Colin is a certified hater. There's nothing wrong with a person who's vegetarian and here is Colin bridgerton being a fucking hater. Just to have no more words to say on why pen cannot marry that man and just resolve with "and he is just not right for you pen."

Colin's "friends" said it themselves. There's practically nothing bad to say about lord debling. Except that he doesn't eat meat. That's the only particular thing about him. That he loves animals so much he won't eat them.

When Pen suggest that Colin might like her is a silly idea, she might laugh. Gosh my girl is so hurt after her love being one sided for 2 seasons...

Her soft "What?" After Colin says what if I had feelings for you. She never expected that. She obviously doesn't believe it.

And then Colin blurts the most romantic poetry I've heard in bridgerton yet. Telling her how he prefers sleeping because that's the only way he might seek her out. Don't even get me started. I swooned.

But Penelope STILL doesn't believe him. "do not say things you don't mean" this girl. This girl thinks he is JOKING. only way a person would think that is if they have been hurt in the past before from said one sided love. She has even been mocked by her mother in season 2: "Colin is no more your friend than I am catherine the great". No one thinks Colin might like Penelope. So why should she think differently? That he might actually like her? Not possible in her eyes. Not after everything.

"but Colin we are friends" the face he makes when she says this. He apologizes for thinking she might feel the same as he does.

But when she says that she would love to be more than friends. He eyes her with lust and love all the same. And he kisses her open mouthed. This man was fucking STARVED.

And and I KNOW pen has wanted to run her fingers through his hair since forever and the pleasured face he makes, makes the scene all the more better. His smug face before he kisses her...

The boob grab!!!!!! 🐝🐝🐝

And the silent permission to touch her where no one has ever touched her...

When the carriage finally stops and Colin makes the joke of the carriage driver it's so HIM. And it's so THEM. cause they make jokes and puns and they're both funny people and writers. WHAT ever...

The final small peck, not open mouthed anymore or frantic, just pure love. QUE VIVA EL AMOR!!!!

Colin holds her dress with the fingers that weren't inside her if y'all even care btw.

When he silently gets out of the carriage and pen calls out to him, looking scared, as if she still thinks this is all a joke. A dream. That he does not like her at all.

Until he asks her to come inside. To marry him. And then she's on cloud 9. That's all she ever wanted. To marry him. To marry Colin bridgerton. Her best friend.

He does NOT want to court her. He already is in love with her. He grew up with her. He KNOWS her. No need for courting in Colin's mind. He wants to MARRY her. Gosh.

Anyways I made real notes on my journal to gather my thoughts on this.

I've seen the carriage scene a bunch of times, bye.

[mishy-mashy]

Theory: All For One gave Tomura the Decay Quirk

I was thinking this for a while. Midoriya learned that Tenko was originally Quirkless, already being five, so there was no way for him to have the Decay Quirk; All For One gave it to him

Isn't it awfully convenient that right as Midoriya wonders "Who is this guy?", that All For One showed up?

All For One knew Tenko was a blank slate without a Quirk (yet, or at all).

Going back to ch. 235, we see that after Tenko was playing heroes with other kids, he got walked home by a man in a suit

Suit, shadowed face, hat, tall, and Tenko still has black hair? This matches this memory, and we can see there's a lot of shading in the palms

All For One walked home Tenko. He could've given him a Quirk during that time. Right after he brought him home, Kotaro got mad that Tenko was playing and talking about heroes. Already, while Kotaro is upset at him, we see Tenko scratching. According to Nao, his allergies got worse, and if he was just given a Quirk, his allergies could've been fueled by the new Quirk as his body adjusts

Even if it's just a mutation, we do know that his itchiness was related to Decay, since the itching went away after he destroyed what he didn't like (his Quirk revolves around de-constructing and destroying, so natural leanings toward those urges, etc)

Yes, Tenko's Decay may very well just be a mutation like Eri, but I just want to bring one more thing to attention about the theory (All For One gave Decay when walking Tenko home):

When Tomura used Decay and was fighting Re-Destro, back when he only had Decay, Machia was in shock, because it reminds him of All For One long ago. Not only his figure as a ruler that Machia remembers, but All For One could've done the same thing as Tomura (Decay), long ago

[bharv]

Butcher Daathrata is a loving callback to the Arishok, and I appreciate that, but I’m also desolate because with just a modicum more care he could have been even greater in my opinion.

In three minutes and fourteen seconds I got so much!

[fionnaskyborn]

Was tagged by @oceancamp to post my current five favorite songs! (They should invent a stages-of-grief-esque model that encompasses and accurately describes both types of anguish I had to go through making this list - the one of limiting myself to only five songs, and the one of trying to put as little videogame music on here as possible so that I don't end up looking like an absolute goddamn geek, which... I am... Oh well!)

Thank you so much for tagging me - here are the songs!

Heaven Pierce Her - War Without Reason

Tatsuro Yamashita - Love Space

This specific arrangement of Death And Republic + Meet Again

Winger - Junkyard Dog (Tears On Stone)

The Protomen - Light Up The Night

Is it courtesy to tag other people after you've been tagged in a post like this? If that's the case, I'll tag @spiralled-fury, @solradguy, @swamppossum, @five-by-five, @northstarring, @ineedmoredragons and @tbonechessor!

[pumpkin-wants-a-cherry-scone]

COC 30: Crack

Okay so it's just pencil BUT omg I read Fifty Names for a Cat (which I somehow didn't see before today) and I had to. No time to re-read for fact checking cause I want the last day on time, so hopefully nothing too wrong... (what time period is What Remains After the Storm??)

does this count as crack? maybe. anyway. some love to the changeling

[wikiangela]

just spent my whole evening binging the entirety of gen v and oh my fucking god it was fucking AMAZING

my thoughts in short: loved all the characters, fr didn't see the twist coming and it was so good, it was all so fun and crazy, and I'm so happy we saw Victoria Neuman my beloved!! lol and Marie's powers are like hers and it's all soooo interesting aaahhh!!!!! I'm so curious where they're being kept and what's gonna happen now aaahhh

I need more, went to google if there's gonna be a s2 fucking immediately lol

also, jfc I can't wait for the boys s4, it's gonna be fucking diabolical 😈

[aftout]

Charlie and Puppet icp concert adventure gets to be its own post because there’s something important about two people forced to be one finally finding individuality in each other’s presence <- a sentence that only makes sense to me and the people who have been talking to me since 2018

[pandora15]

so yeah I still feel the same way I felt at the beginning of the ahsoka series

there are things I really REALLY liked about it. but there are also things that I find frustrating and like. not really fleshed out at all?

like.

ezra's whole arc was amazing. his dynamic with sabine? him getting to make a new lightsaber that looks like kanan's? him finally getting to go home and reuniting with hera? i was almost CRYING at that part and I literally screamed when it cut away before we could see them hug. all of it was AMAZING.

but I'm also like. frustrated with the way that they didn't really explain sabine's past? or like, the things that connected her from the end of rebels to now. like I feel like I still don't understand what happened between her and ahsoka before the events of this show. there was that moment where huyang talked about it to ezra a bit but it's like. so quick and just like "oh ahsoka was worried about sabine turning to the dark side" and then it's never mentioned again???? it's just like how baylan mentioned mandalore's destruction in ep4 and how it drove sabine and ahsoka apart as like a throwaway line and then it's never brought up again? i'm??????

but I also really REALLY liked baylan and shin, and the fact that the mortis gods are referenced at the very end of this season INTRIGUES me. i need to know where this is going.

every time hayden showed up in this series he was INCREDIBLE. probably definitely my favorite part of the series. episode 5 is definitely my favorite episode.

but I'm also like. not feeling great about how ahsoka seems to think about the jedi at the time of the clone wars. she says this line about how anakin was the only one to stand by her, even when no one else would, when homeboy literally turned to the dark side and later tried to kill her in rebels? did she forget about that?

did she forget about all the jedi who mentored her during tcw? about plo koon, luminara unduli, tera sinube, aayla secura? about obi-wan? we haven't seen her even mention any other jedi from that time other than anakin (and kanan, in today's episode, but that's literally because of ezra).

i'm just hnggggggggggg so conflicted. the show does some things so WELL and I'm in awe of those things but then it also just. completely misses the point or confuses me or just makes me vaguely upset and it just leaves me in this state of being frustrated

anyways.

overall I did enjoy the show, even if it sounds like I didn't. It's just. I think it would've been better if the ahsoka series and the rebels sequel were two different things, y'know? it would've given more time for both of these storylines to be fleshed out more properly.

but here we are, I'm accepting that this is the show that we got, and I think it was good. I'm intrigued to see what happens next.