#he hecking LEFT

[angermango]

Re: MEMENTO MORI

a few weeks back i suddenly had a lil kick and remembered I haven't tried making something for Madness Day or really done Madness stuff for a long time even though i still love these violent jellybeans dearly and figured I could redo a concept I did for the last Madness Day i did something for back in 2021.

so naturally i left it until last night to actually do most of the drawing. Jeb, Hank and Tricky have all died a stupid amount of times.

[intotheelliwoods]

Back on my huggy leo nonsense :)

Similar to one of those reptile heat rocks, id imagine a nicely heated metal arm also feels very nice! Turtles and all

[sysig]

Softly, slowly, I want to love you anyway (Patreon)

[sanflawoah]

After the finale, many seems to conclude that Toranaga's schemes has always been perfect from the start, that every events and every deaths are all part of his design all along, happening exactly how he wants it. But really it was only half true. His "sacrifices" aren't intentional sacrifices. No matter how clean he plotted, unexpected blunders always occurred beyond his control, he just happens to be very good at letting it flow rather than going against the current.

Tadayoshi and Tsurumaru, Fuji's husband and son. Toranaga never even intended them to die. Before he came to Osaka, he took Ochiba to Edo because her sister was in labour, knowing the regents wouldn't dare to do anything to him while the heir's mother is still in his domain. Everything would've gone all calm and well until at least Ochiba came back and the council voted. But Tadayoshi unexpectedly lashed out publicly with half-drawn katana in front of the regents (in Tadayoshi's defense: he does it out of loyalty for Toranaga), such offense would've sentenced Toranaga and his entire clan to die had he didn't de-escalate the situation. Tadayoshi then asked for seppuku and to end his bloodline out of shame for his outburst. Hiromatsu said he was foolish for it, but Toranaga acknowledged Tadayoshi's bravery, and ensured Fuji be spared from it.

The show didn't quite picture it, but in the book Toranaga was actually quite shocked to found that Yabushige had assembled a sizable army when he arrived in Ajiro, large enough to end him had Yabushige wanted to betray him right there. However, he kept a calm facade and maxed out charisma points to sway Yabu's army into loyalty, right out of Yabu's hands, acting as the true interest of the late Taiko.

Toranaga never intended to draw the first blood with the killing of Jozen. Nagakado was honestly to blame for this, even Omi too for provoking it. But then it turned out to be a W move for him, because in response the entire Osaka would be out for blood for his head into the open field . No matter how strong Toranaga's army is, attacking five armies inside a fully armed fortress would be a foolish instant defeat.

Then Nagakado acted out of place once again. So many had said that Toranaga "sacrificed" his son, when actually this boy is one rabid horse and Toranaga was right to pull his reins. If everyone is somewhat a "pawn" for Toranaga to use, he didn't actually count Nagakado as one. He always tried to keep Nagakado away from the big fight, if not out of love then at least out of wisdom for his son's recklessness. When Saeki handed the order for Nagakado to commit seppuku over the crime of killing Jozen, Toranaga sternly prevented it. Remember that he could've just let Nagakado took it like Tadayoshi did, it would've been a fair retribution and de-escalate the hostility, but still he didn't.

In Nagakado's defense, how would you feel being the son of a great lord famous for astounding achievement at such a young age, and then you, the no swag son. Even if Toranaga didn't expect Nagakado to copy him, the people around them would still constantly compare them. That's why Nagakado was so rogue to prove himself. It was exactly the same with Saeki, so jealous of Toranaga that when the opportunity arise to thwart his brother he took it.

Toranaga was fully prepared for the real Crimson Sky until the earthquake devastated his army, not to mention the unexpected betrayal from his brother. He had no choice but to surrender.

Nagakado's death was the most unnecessary, truly no beauty in it. He was the one blunder that kept blundering himself out of his father's control. But then turns out the mourning period for Nagakado was crucial for Toranaga to plan the next move. Without it, the council would've immediately ordered him and his clan's execution and it would be all for nothing. In the end, he made his son's ugly death into a meaningful one.

Then came Hiromatsu's death, the most costly death for Toranaga. Being friends for so long they understood the cost of the greater goal. Yes Nagakado's death did buy him some time, but the council wouldn't be so convinced of his surrender, the master of trickery™. Plus they took Nagakado's death as a bare minimum L. "Don't give up on our lord, even when it appears he has given up on himself." Hiromatsu knew that they have come so far and they couldn't stop now, so out goes Toranaga's best guy to complete the surrender facade.

The secret ultimate ace card was Mariko. From the beginning, no one seemed to fully catch up with Toranaga, not even Hiromatsu, except for Mariko. The relationship between Toranaga and Mariko was a mutual one, each with their own goals but happens to be intertwined in the same path.

Toranaga didn't even intend for Mariko to die. The book explained that Toranaga had future plans for Mariko after the war, to divorce her from Buntaro and have her as his messenger to England with John. He knows that Mariko was the only one who could reach Ochiba. He just wanted Mariko to come get Kiri, Shizu, and their newborn son to get out of Osaka, at the same time tell Ishido he's a bitch and hopefuly broke Ishido and Ochiba's alliance (the Minowara sends their regards). It was ONE BIRD throwing TWO STONES. Unfortunately, then he lost his ace card too but damn did it worked a little too well, he literally won the war because of it.

People expected John to be Toranaga's secret weapon, setting the expectation of a "Some dude got isekai-ed into foreign world and now he's destined to save it" trope.

To borrow Mon Mothma's quote: "I show you the John in my hand, you miss the Mariko at your throat".

Yabushige was the audience's voice when he asked "How does it feel to shape the wind to your will?" Because everyone saw Toranaga's final reveal and thought damn it was him all along! But then Toranaga went meta and replied, "I don't control the wind, I only study it." No, everything didn't fell into place like exactly how he wanted. He's not the all-knowing untouchable god. Many times he was crossed and blocked, but instead of trying to force his path through, he simply let it flow. His schemes are not a rigid linear one like how his opponents worked, but it branches and found its own way, and that's how he won.

[crippling-pages]

Linh: idk tam is different now :( I think the neverseen changed him...

Me: NO SHIT SHERLOCK omg linh i love you but HE WAS KIDNAPPED, BLACKMAILED, TORTURED BOTH MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY, WAS A PRISONER, FORCED TO DO HORRIBLE STUFF HE DID NOT WANT TO DO (shadowflux,etc) THAT LIKELY HURT HIM, HAD TO BASICALLY KILL KEEFE, A WHOLE LOAD OF OTHER HORRIBLE STUFF!!! HE WAS A FREAKING SLAVE TO THEM!!! YEAH HE'S GONNA CHANGE HE'S TRAUMATIZED!

[bloogers-boogers]

Previous >> Next

[scootkiddo]

corporate wants you to find the difference between this picture and this picture

[7goodangel]

Does Pj even have friends?

*raises one index finger and was about to say something*

*Pauses*

*puts index finger down*

I'll have to get back to you on that.

[problemswithbooks]

BNHA Ch. 429

So, I guess Toga is dead, and people are losing it.

I get why people liked her--she was actually queer, being pan/bisexual. She was representation for them and that's rare in shonen manga. But here's the thing--she was bad representation at best and insulting at worst. Nor do I think she was made queer because Hori really wanted to represent a queer girl. Himiko was always the author's poorly hidden fetish--she just was. She liked girls as much as boys because Hori wanted to draw a girl touching sexually on another girl. You can see this in how he draws her and Ochako in solo pics together.

I mean, people seem to understand this when it comes to Momo and her outfit being overly sexual or that both Himiko and Hagakure's Quirks either leave them naked or they have to be naked to use them. These are excuses to draw girls in a sexual manner. Himiko being into other girls is the same thing and that's the kindest interpretation.

Given how Himiko acts and her Quirk being heavily coded sexual desire, and therefore her use of it against someone unwilling being sexual assault, it could just being playing into harmful stereotypes of predatory gays.

As a queer person myself I just found Toga insulting. She was designed to be overly sexual and give the male author a female character that he could draw being suggestive with his other female characters. When he did flesh out her character, her backstory was eventually the trope/fear of straight people, that gay people will be so overcome with their lust that they end up sexually assaulting them.

In the end Ochako accepts this part of Toga and says she'll giver her blood forever, but as much as a lot of readers took that that as some deep lesbian confession, for me it really fell flat. Hori never really gave any of the main kids time to actually learn about their villain or show how that changed their minds toward them. Shoto only works because Touya is his brother (even though he admits he barely remembers him). But Ochako goes from not thinking of Toga at all pre-first war, to one thought about her during her speech, to suddenly caring about her so much she--given how Toga's quirk is coded, is willing to essentially fulfill Toga's kink for the rest of their lives.

It's weird and it comes out of nowhere. It's made even stranger because Toga doesn't actually change or show remorse for anything she did, which included personally hunting and murdering people before she joined the LOV. None of the death and destruction she is also partially responsible for is brought up either, something that Ochako was rightfully upset about during the first war when less people and property had been destroyed. Ochako just accepts everything about her suddenly and her past serious crimes are forgotten so they can cuddle and cry.

Am I shocked Toga died--a little. I didn't think Hori would have the guts to kill off a young girl character, especially one that he clearly got a lot of joy drawing in sexy poses. But at the same time, once he killed off Shigaraki and ended Touya's story with his slow death, I'm not surprised he went the same route with Toga.

This isn't Naruto--Hori isn't really kind to characters that do something wrong, especially if they don't try and change. Enji, Bakugo, Hawks, and Aoyama all sort of got punished for what they did. Enji is the worst off, being permanently crippled, missing an arm and burned everywhere. Bakugo's hand is damaged, his heart weaker, plus he feels bad that Izuku lost his Quirk so they can't compete the same way he wanted them to. Aoyama, despite doing way less wrong and even helping his class during the forest raid, still leaves school because he doesn't feel he earned being there yet. Hawks lost his Quirk and even though him running the HPSC could be seen as good for him, Hawks always wanted a break, but now he has one of the most time consuming and stressful jobs out there.

So, if this is what characters who actively did good things and even changed and fought to be better get, what would characters who never changed and never did anything positive for anyone but their friends/themselves get?

Before the last Arc started, when so many people said the LoV were 100% going to be redeemed I had doubts and always thought it wouldn't make sense with how the story presented redemption or treated other non-LoV villains in the past. That if the main LoV did get some happy ending where they were bffs with the main cast it would clash with how other characters had been treated.

That doesn't mean that I think how Shigaraki, Toga, and Touya ended up in the manga was well done. I think their endings fit far better then a last minute redemption would have, but at the same time you can feel how rushed everything has been since the end of the first war arc. Hori was done with this story months if not years ago, yet he was contractually obligated to finish it. Because of that I think he left out as much as possible. As much as I think he's written some pretty obsessive stuff, particularly towards women, I can't really fully blame him cutting corners or the story being shit at the end.

We know Manga authors, particularly those that work with Jump are treated like shit. That they suffer incredibly long hours at times not even getting to go home for days. We've gotten messages for Hori saying he's sick quite a few times. On top of that, weekly story telling is not a great way to tell a cohesive narrative. Ideas probably change week to week or at least month to month and you can't go back and change the last chapter no matter how much you need or want to. Then you remember he also gave a lot of ideas to the people who made the movies, which would also change his plans for how he wanted the main story to go.

The story is bad--it has been for a while, but I think a lot of people put their hopes on their favorite characters getting a happy ending, even when there were signs that probably wasn't going to be the case. I know how much it sucks when a character you love gets a shitty ending (Stain was my fav, but he got an absolute dogshit ending) but at least, knowing what I know about the industry I can't really blame Hori the way I see some other people doing. Criticize it, sure, but saying Hori hates his readers or is horrible writer isn't true. BNHA was popular for a reason--he's great with characters and the beginning of the story had some great pacing. We'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if BNHA could have been amazing if Hori had been treated better and the story hadn't needed a chapter every week.

If anything BNHA has taught me how much a story suffers when authors/artists are treated like crap and forced to work past burnout.

[scratchybeardsweetmouth]

“Oklahoma?” | Ted Lasso 3x04

[drakothedragon55]

Discovered The Friends We Left Behind/Imaginary Friend Asylum, and proceeded to make this goofy goober.

[kinokoshoujoart]

the sos awl development team really looked at rock and said “even if we could fix him (we can’t) he would never agree to it, carry on king”

[magpie-trove]

Pls Mr Giles come back sir we need you

[moltengoldveins]

broke: Technoblade is the deity of blood/war/anarchy/violence and his power comes from shedding blood/waging war

Woke: Technoblade is the deity of covenants/blood bonds/family/vows and his power comes from people’s (and dog’s) fealty and devotion

Bespoke: Technoblade is the god of the harvest and the anarchy blood thing is like… just the Way He Is. His power comes from like, veggie sacrifices. He makes peoples potato farms flourish.

[find-the-path]

how can one feel so happy and also CALLED OUT

[bloodbathfortwo]

Alex Forbes will never forget how much he yearned to hold Nigel Colbie on their wedding night. He wanted to taste his skin, temptation thumping in his veins, his hands were itching to pin him down, see his whole weight pressure the life off of Nigel's wrists, wanting to see the lines he'd leave on his skin, the way his parched throat is seeking his heavenly waters: He felt like a lecherous teenage boy. But for all he knows, he cannot wait to be one with his beloved Maraclea.