#god I love mochijun's writing

[neversetyoufree]

Guess who noticed a really interesting tiny detail again?

Beloved mutual torterrachampion recently pointed out to me that the special thanks page in each vnc volume always has a nice crisp lineart version of the frame from its cover, and there's some really interesting details hidden in there. A bunch of the thanks pages even show extra details that aren't there on the actual color covers themselves!

In particular, volume 2's frame has this whole bottom bones/flowers arrangement that's totally left out/hidden on the actual cover:

And right off the bat, there's a couple things about that bottom arrangement that really catch my eye.

First of all, the position of the hands there strikes me as pretty important, since uh

reaching out and down toward Vanitas is a pretty major recurring image for Noé. It makes a lot of cool symbolic sense that this shape of reaching hand would show up in his frame, since it seems to be so important to his story.

Even more interesting than that, though, is what's going on with the left eye of that bottum skull. It looks like the skull's been partially shattered there around the eye, and while Mochijun does generally seem to enjoy a bit of cracked bone imagery, this one stands out to me because:

Something happened to Noé's eye when he was a kid, but he's never once acknowledged it, and we've never gotten a single hint at what it was beyond it happening with the traffickers. And now the one skull featured on his cover's frame has a huge crack around its eye.

This doesn't actually give us any new information beyond just drawing yet more attention to the eye mystery, but. DAMN.

The rest of the imagery in this frame (the book and pen, the mourning lilies, the reaching hands) is all pretty central to who/what Noé is as a character. So while the cracked skull is/could be just a clever little nod to the existence of the eye mystery, its surroundings make me wonder just how relevant that injury is going to be.

[existingtm]

THIS IS EXACTLY ONE OF THE REASONS MOCHIZUKI IS A TALENTED CREATOR

Both Pandora Heart and Vanitas are absurdly real and unreal, like you can understand their situations or feelings but God it's so hard to imagine such a thing in real life, it also shows the diversity in living itself as well, that there isn't a perfect "perfection"

Pandora Heart played a huge part in shaping my perception on fictions and fed me so much feelings

Mochizuki took gothic horror fiction to another level! The story is so dark yet at the end, there's still that glimmer of light

Though I know well that Pandora Heart got callbacks in Vanitas in background details, Dominique gave me major Lacie flashback y'know, I kinda want a huge link between the two tales, like White Alice, having another form in there, in the end, she and Cheshire did say they'll be together again in another story, another world after all

Anyway I just want someone to talk about Vanitas and Pandora with if you don't mind! Decided to share a bit of my brainrot

Thanks for scooping out some of your brainrot for me! I love your phrasing of how it "shows the diversity in living itself as well, that there isn't a perfect 'perfection.'" You're so right about MochiJun's elevation of the genres she writes in. I also love how overturns expectations for those genres! She absolutely shaped the lens through which I view fiction too

There are definitely some things in VNC that point to it taking place within the same multiverse as Pandora Hearts, such as the dimension we see Francis and the Shapeless One in, and the way supernatural beings turn to "soul dust" (term I made up on the spot) when they die. I don't think Pandora Hearts characters will have any major appearances but I do think we'll see more of Pandora Hearts within VNC

I also can't help but see different pieces of Pandora Hearts characters in VNC characters—Domi having Lacie's looks and paralleling Break, Noé having a similar childhood as Lacie and major repression issues like Oz and Jack, and so on and so forth. There are so many MochiJun motifs I could list (and I do have a list) but that would be another thing in and of itself

Thanks again for sending your thoughts!

[torterrachampion]

Writer Interview Game

Thanks for the tag @localvampirebitch I had fun answering!

When did you start writing?

I've always liked creative writing even when I was a kid but the first time I started consistently writing was probably in ~2016 when I started writing fanfiction. I did nuke all my oldest fanfics though so they're lost to time.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

For published fiction I really like science fiction but I find it very difficult to write and don't really enjoy writing it myself. And as for fanfics I read I really love multichapter fics but I almost exclusively write oneshots. I'd like to get better about writing longer stories eventually and get back to writing more original fiction, even just short stories since I used to write those every now and then. I mostly write fanfiction right now since it's easier.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I don't think I've ever been compared to anyone specifically but I have a lot of fondness for the sort of prose in things written by Ursula le Guin for example. And I wish I were half as funny as Douglas Adams. And I do admire Mochijun's writing a lot obviously.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I'll either sit at my desk with my laptop or type things fully on my phone. It depends how serious I am about something.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

I don't really do anything special. Writing is just a bit of fun to me so I only do it if I feel like it.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I feel like I write about loneliness a lot. I really like gloomy women. But I also have a strong penchant for violence. I just think it's really fun to write regardless of how good I am at it. I have martial arts experience so I think I get a kick out of writing fights. And I think gore is frustratingly fun because I can never make it graphic enough.

What is your reason for writing?

It's just a bit of fun really. To some degree it's also about writing things I want to read. If I feel like no one else is going to do it I'll take it upon myself.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've been complimented on my ability to characterise and differentiate individual characters a few times. So I think I'll believe what other people have said and say I'm good at characterisation.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I simultaneously have a God complex and hate everything I've ever written.

If any of you guys want to participate but no pressure @grassbreads @grelleswife @arcaneoddity

[grassbreads]

If you do actually write an inexplicably Midwestern vnc au you can give all the characters typical American surnames like Mochijun did for the Japanese school setting of the romance is a love☆mission omake

Wait oh my god aslkdjf. I was just going to make them all international students, but this is so much funnier.

[cheekbites-moved]

damn you know what the very concept that the story of vanitas is being told by noe bc he wanted to make a memoir of him is so... 

like, why are you writing a whole ass memoir of your buddy, huh, noe? bc you wanna remember him forever?? bc you want his legacy to live on for eternity?? bc you’re gay and madly in love with him, huh?????

[glasseswearingrabbitdetective]

HEY LOOK HOW HARD I CAN CRY :D 

[gdmonster]

@chironitas​ | “sometimes i try to make it look like i’m comfortable in the skin i’m in ” [for noé!] MISC ANGST SENTENCES ( LYRICS ).

---

And sometimes the sheer universe-sized distance in similarities between the life Noé has led and the one of Vanitas’ he’s only caught an outsiders glimpses of, slams into Noé’s chest heavily enough to leave him staggering mentally.

And other times, it merely washes over him, as if injected directly into his heart, intent on freezing him over on the inside. Cool and uncomfortable, like a dead hand whose grip is a little too tight and at the same time a little too loose.

Much like his own grip on Vanitas, he sometimes muses.

An outsider, on the other hand, one who might have watched moments like these unfold on other occasions, might wonder why they always happen a-top roofs.

The air seems warm and clear enough, Paris sparkles beneath them, indecisive between the flowers it claims as part of its moniker and the much stronger glistening of the sun caressing la Seine’s surface as if trying to brush over and mend open wounds.

And Vanitas is making a new face.

Noé sits and watches, as he always does, eyes kept wide enough as if fearing he might slip out of his gaze, lips kept closed as if waiting his turn or too preoccupied to utter anything.

And Vanitas looks, for the first time perhaps, or perhaps the nth time and Noé had only known been allowed to see it, as if he was much smaller than the strutting vampire doctor he’d first encountered on La Baleine.

Vanitas is fast and stronger than he’d claim most other humans to be. He spits and grins as if he’s putting on a show for no one but the devil himself, as if every time he gains a split lip or every time he pushes through a fight to get to a vampire to save, he’s winning some sort of race against... against whom?

Against Luna?

Their voice chills in the back of his mind, Mikhail’s memories faint but with a mark left behind.

Against vampires?

Against Dr Moreau?

Against himself?

The breeze musses his hair. Noé’s always wondered why he chooses to keep it this long. Lack of interest? Preference?

His hourglass earring glistens briefly and Noé thinks of Luna again.

Thinks of the Mikhail’s memory of a crying, feverish Vanitas, no older than Noé had been when he’d collapsed in a similar fashion after... after.

Crying, feverish Vanitas and the tales of his father’s turned back and his mother’s death, life as it had started and life as it had ended to turn into years of continuous torture - tries not to think of Mikhail’s memories in this context, tries not to hurl.

Does Vanitas even feel his skin to be his own still? Altered eyes and a vampire’s blood within him, cut up and rearranged for the mission of a madman.

I’m glad you are the person you are now.

He feels like vomiting for that line, considering all he had to go through to become who he is.

Still... He wouldn’t take it back.

“Why?” A frown, somewhere between confusion and the frustration of someone who just wants to understand better and understand easier.

He leans forward, doesn’t notice his shifting closer until his shoulder is pressed against Vanitas’, only tries to sneak into the human’s peripheral.

“I know you think lying and dishonesty in general is a valid strategy,” a jab he barely even registers as such, his already lacking filter completely thrown off this roof-top. “But you don’t have to pretend. If you’re honest, we can stand by you better. We can help you... until you’re actually comfortable in your own skin.”

[kokkuri3]

could you please elaborate on "consequentialist who had every reason to act the way he did"

Post was worded poorly "had every reason to act the way he did" was not quite what I meant so much as "the way he acted was pretty understandable and, in his mind at the very least, perfectly reasonable." So just getting that out of the way. My bad

Vincent felt he was in the right to do what he did because he believed A. that his actions would have no lasting negative consequences and B. that his actions were the only way to attain his goal. His philosophy was that the ends justified the means, and thus regardless of any personal feelings he may have had on something it had to have been done. Then, considering the nature of his ends, there was no reason for him to believe his actions would be wrong in the consequentialist sense, they were committed.

His entire motive operates based on a consequentialist philosophy. It explicitly entails the murder of a human child, no matter which way you spin it, and by its own nature this would be considered an evil action. Vincent believed this was justified, however, as (supposedly) the ultimate consequence of the death of this child would be the preservation of many more human lives.

As to how his actions are justified within his mindset is thus: Vincent knows a child must die to save the lives of many. Vincent knows that child is himself. As, within the consequentialist mindset, the survival of this child would be far more evil than its death, it's Vincent's understanding that to kill this child is the only moral possibility. Vincent prizes morality (this is explicit. canon. he thinks being of moral character is admirable) and thus, seeks to first lock himself into this path and subsequently end it.

The other part of this, to me, at least, is the "that's the only reason I was able to do anything" bit. It's mostly just alluded to in the main canon, but Vincent is... Lethargic. Echo's comments are probably the most indicative of this in the main comic; that he refuses to be cared for by servants, yet refuses to take care of himself. She explicitly notes that he's suffered bodily harm as a consequence of this and still refuses to take action. Other extracanonical sources supplement this, that he rarely leave the house, that he be disinterested in physical activity, that he apparently have no real friends or hobbies or interests nor any investment in gaining them. His profile from one of the guidebooks has him mention that he's tired most days. His schtick is that he sleeps excessively.

That Vincent do anything is, to him, an act of willpower. It was an incredible, active, moral decision he made at great personal expense. This was never something he had wanted to do for his own sake, but in pursuit of what he felt was the only morally acceptable outcome. For that purpose Vincent knew he would need to be hated - because he knew he would need others, but that no one would be eager to help otherwise - and for that purpose he acted in ways that would earn him hate.

There's... So much I could say about Vincent. He's sad and he's scared and he's a child. He loves in excess and he hates in excess. He makes me want to tear my hair out. But that's my explanation. Tl;dr Vincent is an anti-villain his methods are bad but his goal is understandable and his plan is specifically constructed so he can't back out of it and that when it succeeds nothing he's done will have had negative consequences

[myuheru-archive]

Thoughts on Noé? 😎

NOÉ THE LOVE OF MY LIFE NOÉ...he is everything to me ❤️ i love how emotion driven he is on a character, how intimacy, especially with regards to memories and his ability, plays a big role in his comfort in relationships! you just know his love language is touch 🥺 also the fact that he’s a sleep cuddler...oh my god he is just so sweet and tender and then he can enter beast mode ugh he has the range! he’s a very feel first think later person which means he sometimes doesn’t think about what it is he’s feeling like same king! and i feel like people probably mischaracterize him as dumb because of that, or his lack of knowledge on certain world mechanics due to being raised in like the middle of nowhere, but really he’s just smart in other ways i think he’s very emotionally intelligent (just blood empath things 🙄) and has this strategic but straightforward way of battle like taking vanitas “hostage” or just. sacrificing his arm. and part of thag dumb shtick is on mochijun for writing one of the only dark skinned characters as a brutish think later character to his light skinned counterpart -_- anyway! the way he blames himself for how louis died is so heart breaking and for sure will be a recurring theme with the retraumatization moments 😁 and how often we’ve seen people take advantage of him is so fucked the trauma really is just stacking up for him 💔....but yeah. male wife!

[cyclist-of-guilt]

@jkrobertson​ @shi-daisy​

Thank you for asking!

It’s under read more because oh boi it’s long

If you had to change the pairing’s very first meeting, how would you change it?

If i have to then give Hime random power up because it's bleach and why the fuck not

What song fits your pairing the most?

Sonata Arctica - Kingdom for a heart and I accept no criticism this song about them

What the hell am I waiting here for, expecting you to come and give away your life Just for a moment of my time, have a hole where I should have a heart, I'm made of wood, I'm falling apart, I would give a kingdom for one more day I'd give - a kingdom For one more day as a king of your world I'd give kingdom, for one more day Now I know I will never love you, I'm a man without a heart, I'm not allowed to feel human feelings I'm king of the land, I'm a ruler of seas, I'd give it away in a moment. If I only had one moment

(..) I'd give it all for a heart if I was a King I would give away my kingdom Treasures and crowns wouldn't mean a thing If I only had her heart

What is your favorite AU/prompt idea/trope for your pairing?

he lived AU, more not really settled in reality AU (idk how to better explain it)

Do you prefer canon ideas or do you have your own headcanons for them?

This relationship is one of few good things in canon so

Favorite canon moment of them?

the same as everyone

Least favorite canon moment of them?

the "save me Kurosaki-kun" just bruh

Favorite headcanon trope/idea? (Your own or someone else’s)

Ulqui is fancy food enthusiast

Least favorite headcanon trope/idea? 

violent arguing (tho in some way it's canon)

Favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics?

Loneliness that is connecting them. Potential of redemption and hope that can give a hollow a heart.

Least favorite aspect of them/their relationship dynamics? (Can be headcannon)

Out of the top of my head maybe

ULQUIORRA BEING FUCKING DEAD

If they aren’t a canon pairing, how would you get them together?

Him being alive should do the work

If you had to take them and plunk them into another fandom, what fandom would that be? Why?

Yeet them into Miss Mochijun Multiverse of Pain because she knows how to write girls without powers being badass, villains (Aizen can eat That Bastard's entire ass, he's a little bitch compared to him), relationships and tragedies.

How hard is it write/draw your pairing? Scale of 1-10.

2 I'm in this business since middle school

Is there a pairing that you think rivals them?

Nah

Which character of the pairing do you like more? (Would you ever pair yourself with them?)

Ulquiorra and nope not my type in men

Which character of your pairing would be the one to break up with the other? Why?

Ulqui because self-loathing level over 999999999 and he goes to his place to listen to Creep by Radiohead on repeat

Are they relatable as characters or as a pairing?

As paring I would have sevral questions about irl relationship like that. As characters maybe Ulqui's extremely shitty coping mechanisms

Did you once/ever dislike one/both of them?

I was getting fed up with Hime at some points but god knows I tired to keep liking her

On an estimate, how many posts have you made about them?

as many as fuck

What made you decide to ship them?

fanarts that made me watch bleach in the first place

Favorite genre for them? (Angst, fluff, etc.)

I'm always slut for angst or hurt/comfort

[kokkuri3]

IM SURE people already sent you Vince for ask thing SO fuck him! Ada, Leo, Sharon and Xerxes one or all of them I don't care lol

You know Anon when you sent this in fact not a single person had sent Vince.

I'm gonna go w Ada bc the other ones got their own asks and I like her more than Sharon

favorite thing about them:

Genuinely one of the most strong and thoughtful characters in Pandora Hearts despite being so minor and I really do love her for how much she cares for others and how effective she is in responding to them. She's just a wonderful kind person and I love how the narrative uses her to establish that kindness or innocence isn't at all a weakness in character and she's another character who makes the active choice to be forgiving and full of love even at great personal cost.

least favorite thing about them:

Damn this bitch really does not have an arc outside of her shitty boyfriend huh which sucks bc Ada has so much going for her !!! The whole "I much prefer Onii-chan the way you are now" scene is one of my favorites... Her friendship with Gil is Very Cute... she wanted to be friends with Elliot and Leo... The drama involving her father... There's so much but we only really get to see her interact with Vincent outside of a few scenes :(

favorite line:

"If you want to disappear, give your life to me! I'll show you all kinds of delights you have yet to experience! I'll make you feel glad you were born!"

Pandora Hearts voice suicide bad universe good I love you :)

brOTP:

She and Gil !!! They are cute :) Gil doesn't have a whole lot of friends and basically none during the ten year timeskip aside from Break/Vince who are . Well. Except apparently keeping contact with Ada which couldn't have been easy since they lived in enemy houses and also Ada was 8 when he left. I like their dynamic of just being intensely fond of each other while having no romantic interest I like the emphasis PH puts on platonic m/f relationships. They got to miss Oz together

OTP:

Noise and Ada should be gfs bc I really do see two same gender foils and be like oh my good God they should kiss.

Seriously though in my ideal version of Pandora Hearts Noise still realizes she was never attracted to Vincent but THEN she goes and you know what? Ada hot and they kiss once and then she still dies bc tbh I'm not sure how to end her/Echo's arc differently.

But uh basically I think since it's meant to be understood that Noise and Vincent exist in toxic parallel while Ada runs perpendicular to them both I see no reason why Ada couldn't become invested in Noise the way she had in Vincent, particularly with the context that Noise's arc was about overcoming her internalized misogyny/comphet (as opposed to Vincent who... Was a man.) In many ways Ada is supposed to exist as a direct challenge to all of Vincent's previously held convictions (PARTICULARLY his misogyny) and well. I think Noise deserves her more than Vincent does. They'd be so much better for each other than either would be with Vincent.

nOTP:

VinceAda which I dislike intensely as a ship but in a weird way. I like both characters quite a bit individually a lot of their interactions are either very funny or very touching their dynamic is interesting I post about them a lot.

But it doesn't change the fact that Vincent is a misogynist and a predator who behaves in a very... Rape-y manner towards her early in their relationship. Ada is an adult but she's only just barely an adult and she's still in high school while Vincent self identifies as 23 which is creepy as hell. And then just... Not to draw attention away from the fact that Ada is definitely the exploited party in the power dynamic but Vincent associates her with the image of his abuser to the point of becoming physical with her during a flashback and it's just... It's not cute it's just unhealthy and sad.

I do feel like the narrative understands their relationship is unhealthy. In the True End where we're supposed to understand that things worked out Well Enough but in a realistic manner Vincent breaks up with her and then fucking fakes his death to stop her from trying to contact him again. I think this is an important and positive part of his development and I'm glad he acknowledged that the best thing he could do for his victims would be to separate himself from them and seek to improve himself on his own but the narrative still acts like it was the job of a teenaged girl to reform a predatory man in his 20s which is !! Not great miss Mochijun !!!

random headcanon:

I like to think during the 100 year timeskip she became something of a polymath ala Ada Lovelace who I like to think is her namesake tho I doubt it. She seems like she'd be the type to really enjoy writing horror short stories and submitting them anonymously to literature magazines. She also seems like the type to invent computers because she felt like it. Fuck it

unpopular opinion:

She's not stupid in the slightest she's just kinda scatterbrained. She knows what she's doing she just overestimates her ability to do it.

song i associate with them:

Bokura wa Minna Imi Fumei (Nobody Makes Sense)

favorite picture of them:

[kokkuri3]

Oz Pandora hearts for the ask

favorite thing about them:

He just loves Alice SO much she does anything and he goes Holy shit. This is the coolest person in the world. He finds her on the kitchen floor comatose covered in spaghetti and goes Oh my God she is so great and then he gets down on the floor and also gets covered in spaghetti.

Also that scene towards the beginning where Break is being his archetype's brand of smug jerk and telling him not to trust Alice so he just looks him dead in the fucking eye and tells him he does not trust him as far as he can throw him. That's really good. That was when I gasped and went OH so he's smart. Ok. He knows what he's doing

least favorite thing about him:

I think he is a little too mean to Gil when they are kids but I can live with it . It was all jokes and we're meant to understand that the worst Gil got from it was some kind of abstractly unpleasant memories. So it's not a big deal

favorite line:

"But... I'm here now, nonetheless. I was finally able to realize that that's okay."

Pandora Hearts' arc question of "where are you" is very cool and fun and it's interesting to see the lines which answer it. PH gets into a lot of stuff about realness and presence and what one has to do to be allowed to exist and well. I like it being resolved the way it was. Especially with the context of Alice at the start of the manga proposing that parents are the reason one has to exist.

brOTP:

Golden Trio.......... However if you ship them romantically. No. Actually I do not care abt Oz/Alice shippers much tho I Respectfully Disagree but you know what I mean

But yes They love each other so so much and every time I see images them I cry

OTP:

Ozellileo...........

Ozecho is also I think the only het Mochijun pairing with rights

nOTP:

I said I wasn't gonna acknowledge pedophilic or incestual ships so no real answer for this one.

random headcanon:

As runs in the blood were Oz to have actually gone to high school normally he absolutely would have been on the Stuco yes I know in the actual school AU he's a delinquent but within universe? That boy is at the fucking top baby.........

unpopular opinion:

I love him a lot and his writing is very good but I'm not as into him as a lot of normal person PH fans... He has done nothing wrong tbh I mostly think it's just a matter of him being a child which kind of limits how much I can project on to him. Which is the main way I get into characters

a song that reminds you of them:

Little Light One

favorite picture of them: