#honestly he’s become like. one of my fav protags

[articianne]

i am an alear fire emblem defender

[violentlydefending]

genuinely always so shocked to see mirei hate. like literally god forbid women do anything.

[tomyo]

Now that the anime finally released and people made gifs of the opening, can we talk about Okarun and his effeminacy?

I don't want to reduce it down to "boy not masculine, therefore effeminate", I think he definitely embodies masculinity too but subliminal messaging keeps hitting my brain when I see his cuts in the first part of the DandaDan opening. The posing 4 poses he does invokes imagery of girls doing model posing, specifically the one with his hands on his cheeks while being more creeped out still makes me think of a pose a girl would do to show off her nails. Honestly his design in a different Shonen he would've been the fav uke of fujos everywhere.

I would say there's definitely meant to be SOME statement about gender in DandaDan as both Okarun and Momo use less common pronouns for themselves; Jibun instead of Boku/Ore and Uchi instead of Watashi/Atashi. It's also notable that Okarun has a lot of similar facial traits to the girls in the series; short flat eyebrow, large rounded eyes, and a rounder face which I think personally was really effective because the panels of the characters staring into the fourth wall is literally imprinted on my brain. And it's not just the design style of the series since we see Jiji who uses that more traditional Shonen facial type.

While I didn't think too much about this initially since an underdog male protag who isn't as manly (yet) is a pretty common occurrence, those opening scenes really make me think more on his otherness. I think it's a notable fact that he fits into and doesn't look out of place in Momo's clothes. It reflects a lot on how they both present more gender neutral. One of the things I do appreciate about the series is despite recently showing he's made a lot of physical growth, it has not resulted in him being drawn any more traditionally masculine. He is often outpaced by Momo in terms of fighting ability as well and often still needs her to finish a battle while she's more independently capable. He's also more of the worrier in these situations; the one who has to chastise or watch after a battled out Momo.

We also know that to some extent Okarun has a complex about this; he tried to get buff in secret and felt worried for how he compared to Jiji. I don't think these are bad traits necessarily (I liked him pushing his limit in the recent arc) but I do worry how this could possibly lead into Momo's characterization as well, the girl protag getting sanded down so the boy protag can stand in the limelight as a true male hero. While I don't think it would fully go that way, I've been burned by so many strong female characters (Sakura in particular) becoming more muted as a series went on. As far as I can tell (translations can bury some context), he isn't particularly focused on manliness and tends to avoid the two pitfalls of a male hero; The underdog who becomes more stoic/manly as the series goes on or the pathetic dude just normal enough to get a harem. In fact looking at that for a second, this series definitely pulls of the love dodecahedron with basically everyone crushing on one of the two but in the case of Momo's love rivals, it isn't really that they are crushing on Okarun for his traits but due to the narratives they build in their own heads; Aira needed someone to fill the tragic anti hero lover of her heroine story, Vamola believed she had to find someone strong because her adopted family wished that for her, and Sawaki fantasizes over the idea of a vampire ravishing her. (And to avoid derailing further, it could be interesting to examine how on the flip side Okarun's rivals tend to like her more so from bonding with her). But most of all, what made him and Momo work was not magically working for either other but a lot of effort and connection. Their initial bond coming from in a sense the excitement of discovery all the while they're still fighting over dumb shit and nudging each other as friends, they don't try to project (well at least they don't succeed to) an inauthentic persona around the other. He's not above telling her off but never in a way that isn't portraying them as equals and it's sprinkled in throughout the series how consideration for each other is taken (he bought her Golgo 13, he's given food when he brought Sawaki over, etc.) that by the time he is having those stereotypical protection moments, it doesn't feel like it undermines her as a capable person but rather shows off a natural protectiveness that anyone would have for someone they care about.

Which a final thought is again on what the possessions tell us about each person. I keep theorizing in some ways Turbo form represents elements Okarun wants in himself, he's got more muscles, is more traditionally handsome, and refers to Momo and others more casually (chan opposed to San) but strikingly it's rare his two forms are ever compared or commented on. Now with those powers gone, it's possible the idealer him he desired is no longer reachable.

[z-raven]

Various thoughts on Gundam

Kira in Gundam Seed clearly fills the Reluctant Hero type, he seems to really not like piloting the Gundam and doing battle.

I feel Kira will grow into the true hero by the end of the series, as that tends to be the way anime goes.

Just like in the original Gundam the main character gets into a Gundam when he isn't supposed to and then gets tied to it and somehow knows exactly how to use it and becomes the hero

Honestly, I prefer my main hero in Gundam to be someone that the Gundam was always for that character and they didn't stumble upon it, I guess that is why personally I still think that the main dude from 08th Team is still my fav protag so far

Uraki is not bad either, however I honestly can never remember what that Gundam from that anime even looks like without looking at a picture of it.

Though my fav character in that anime was the scientist girl that worked on that Gundam

At least Kira in Seed I like more than the main character of Iron Blooded Orphans, I just didn't like that character due to basically his entire personality revolves around what does Orga want

Then you got Heero which kinda is like Squall and Releena is kinda like Rinoah, which of course I am biased because I do like FFVIII, so yea

Speaking of Gundam it is pretty sad that the SD game that was originally a mobile game is my fav Gundam game I own, like the one with full sized Gundams is the one that I like the least

Yea, I know a Zaku is supposed to be heavy and not move very quickly, but for a video game that isn't very fun tbh, like Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation Code Fairy has such cool looking characters and I love the artstyle, but the gameplay is the worst aspect of it

New Gundam Breaker was a lot more fun than that game and it had the problem of you can only carry a certain amount of parts and you had to deposit them, so it got annoying going back and forth to your chest thing every few kills

Gundam doesn't have many good games that are great for single player that are easily available for modern consoles.

Like, from what I have heard the best Gundam games are like on the PS2 with that RPG game

Also PS3/360 had the Dynasty Warrior Gundam games which did badly with general audiences due to people finding Dynasty Warriors repetitive and boring, but look at the opinion now, Hyrule Warriors games, Fire Emblem Warriors, and Dragon Quest Heroes games were great, so I think people just wrote off Warriors games due to Dynasty Warriors and people not really liking the same Feudal Japan setting over and over, so maybe it is like Lego games in that just get the ones of the theme that you like and don't get every single one of them

Wish I could go back in time to get the Dynasty Warriors Gundam games, I heard the last one was pretty good, however I barely was into Gundam at the time, so I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I would now

[demonsfate]

i'm loving this blog so far. jin kazama is one of my most important comfort characters ever since my childhood (alongside guts from berserk and nintendo's cute small overpowered pink puffball kirby), he really means a lot to me. i always found him relatable, more relatable than most of the tekken characters - i was born with something i never asked for and had to learn how to accept it (autism), i suffer from trust issues and low self esteem, and i'm a shy introverted person who loves nature as much as he does (some of my hobbies include walking in the forest, gardening, or collecting sea shells on the beach). i'm pretty sure some people who suffer from dysfunctional families would find him relatable too. other fighting game protags like sol badguy are cool too don't get me wrong. but jin kazama is special to me. which makes looking for tekken content on youtube more painful because some one is almost always gonna make the same "haha emo edgelord/ww3 war criminal" joke for the millionth time. i'm so glad i got to see this blog and some tekken fan content on deviantart/tumblr in general because i finally get to see some wonderful fanart/fanon content of my boy without more constant reminders of his character assassination in tekken 6 which should've never happened. hopefully someday namco will just retcon this stuff by saying jin was brainwashed by azazel (or like you said on this blog devil jin brainwashed him). anyways, i hope you have a wonderful day.

thank youuuu! i'm so glad you feel that way!! honestly!! the funny thing is, i feel like a lotta ppl CAN'T relate to jin because "oh, he doesn't social much" (that was a legit praise ppl had for bloodline - that it "improved" jin because he socialized with the other fighters more often) and "oh he never expresses himself." even though... i think jin can be very relatable - just to certain people, really. and like... even if his personality might not be the "most relatable." he still has other things to relate with (not wanting something he was born with, trying to become better than his toxic family, grieving of a loss one, trying to make the right choice even when it's not so clear)

jin kazama is def my favorite fighting game character, actually - one of my fav characters of all time in general. even though kazuya seems to be more popular than jin (hell, even heihachi might be...) it's just that, jin does indeed feel different. like he's just so unique to me - when depicted correctly, that is lol. we don't talk about tekken 6.

honestly, even though this is "primarily" a RP blog, i consider it a FAN BLOG for jin in general. as i tend to write a lotta posts just regarding his character - regardless if it's a headcanon post, analysis post, or discussion post. i consider my blog to be a "safe haven" for jin fans where we can talk about the character, and enjoy content of him WITHOUT having to see those bad jokes or straight up HATERS everywhere. because my goodness, it really feels like you CAN'T go anywhere without seeing a "but jin started war-". so whenever i get frustrated with that - i just come here to talk about & appreciate the character. therefore, i'd want that for other jin fans, too!!

that's why, even though a lotta RP blogs don't like personals / NonRP blogs following them, i HIGHLY ENCOURAGE personals to come interact with this blog! to follow, and talk, and send messages! i really love getting to talk with other jin fans where i don't have to deal with the constant anti jokes or hate.

the only time i bring up tek6 or whateves, is to CRITICIZE it, demonstrate how it could've been executed BETTER, and to prove that jin is SO out of character in that game, he's not even the same jin we all love!

i was hoping bamco would retcon it... but seeing as tekken 8 technically DOUBLED DOWN on it? yeahhh... the only way i'm seeing it being "retconned" is if tekken, as a series itself, gets rebooted. sadly, the whole devil [jin] was in control thing will never be the retcon just because uhhh... it seemed tekken 8 has retconned the devil gene into not actually being a "bad thing" - but instead, just a reflection of how the user decides to wield it. as APPARENTLY devil [jin] has been "protecting" jin all this time. 🙄 so like... if devil jin only lashed out because jin was rejecting himself / his "sins" - then i don't see them making devil [jin] responsible for the war. which is lame, because i really enjoy my own take on that & tek6. oh well...! they still could've gone with azazel brainwashing jin, tho... they SHOULD'VE gone with that. (then again, imo, they shouldn't have made devil [jin] a good guy either... at least, NOT in the way they approached it. not in the "ACTUALLY. he was good all along" )

anyway, enough of my rambling. xD i hope you have a good day too!!

[kekisu]

TOP 5 CHARAS AND 5 REASONS WHY YOU LIKE THEM GO GO GO

AHHHH OKAY OKAY. I LITERALLY LIT UP WHEN I SAW THIS IN MY INBOX YOU HAVE NOOOO IDEA THANK YOU SO MUCH ah okay. i hope its ok if i leave it to just one or two of my fav things about them though cause NFHBGDF I DONT WANT THIS TO BE MILES LONG i hope you understand!!!!!

1. LIGHT YAGAMI

now. i dont think anybodys surprised. MFKSKFMFMHNGJN honestly, though i dont care about death note much at all anymore, hes like gum stuck to my shoe and i just cannot get him off no matter what i do. i tell myself that i dont give a fuck about anything in death note until i see him on my dash and i go apeshit. hes completely changed me and how i approach analyzing complex characters. i think hes the first character that ive ever actually cared about in that sense? the sense where i look into every detail about him i mean. its really just so fun...

my absolute favorite thing about him... i really love how funny he is. this isnt to say hes a humorous guy im saying hes funny as in he makes such stupid decisions and its hilarious to see him struggle so hard constantly. the entire ending of death note is fucking insane it sends me into laughing fits every time. theres so many funny moments in death note despite it being considered a psychological horror animanga because of him being a genuine fucking idiot 24/7. hes supposed to be a genius but he truly does lack so much self awareness sometimes.

if you wanna know more of my thoughts in depth, i have an analysis of him here that you can check out :) ID LOVE FEEDBACK ON IT so if you disagree with me or have questions etc feel free to shoot an ask and ill try to answer!!!!!

2. GORO AKECHI

god... hes perfect. he and light are on the same level of favoritism for me, dont let the numbers fool you. hes hands down my absolute favorite in persona 5 and it blows my mind knowing that the majority of the fandom feels the exact opposite or are torn over him ITS ALMOST FRUSTRATING because its mostly due to the amount of misinformation/mischaracterization spread about him!!!! but no he just happens to be the best written character in that piece of shit of a game! MFDKDHNGJJ AND PERSONA FANS CANT COMPREHEND GOOD WRITING

my favorite thing about him.. i love how hes written. and i know this sounds really basic and predictable, but its the truth i just really love his growth as a character, especially in royals third semester when he gets a chance to properly shine and oh my god! did he shine! hes literally so perfect in 3rd sem

theres just something so captivating about an angry teenager who truly thinks of his life as worthless and doesnt bother making bonds with others because of it who suddenly finds himself questioning his choices of self isolation when he finally meets a group of people he can resonate with and feel seen by. a group of people who are willing to reach out and listen to him despite his past mistakes. theres just something so perfect about seeing that same angry teenager want to take his life into his own hands and strive to grow... that same angry teenager who didnt value his own life start to see meaning in things because of bonds...

i love goro so so much he makes me so emotional if it isnt obvious enough NGFHGDGBDFH I THINK ABOUT HIM A LOT. i think about him healing so much.

(btw im working on an analysis for him atm thats similar to lights so! stay tuned for that dropping when its done in like a million years NFHFBGFHDBGHF)

3. AKIRA KURUSU

DAMN 2 PERSONA 5 CHARACTERS IN A ROW

OKAY SO i know Technically akira is supposed to be a blank slate silent protagonist but let me tell you THATS SO FAR FROM WHAT HE ACTUALLY IS. IM NEVER FORGIVING ATLUS FOR TRYING TO SHOVE HIM INTO THE SILENT PROTAG BOX AND NOT LETTING HIM BE HIS OWN CHARACTER! BECAUSE HE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE AMAZINGGGGG ugh sorryfor caps im so fuckng mad MKDFKMGMHMGMG

it really does get on my nerves how because of atlus trying to make him a silent protag, the majority of the p5 fandom sees him as that. blank slate. nothing. when in reality he very much has a ton of spunk and id argue that hes his own character entirely if you just look a little deeper past the surface Like... its not even that hard to see personality in him. beneath the mask is literally his theme song, have you Not seen the lyrics to that? HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THE ENTIRE THEME OF THE GAME? this little dude is so traumatized and angry at those who wronged him (aka the justice system! shitty adults!) and people have the nerve to say hes the worst persona protagonist? lmfao

my favorite thing about akira is how he looks like a cat and how cocky and annoying he can be.. he is such a jokester hes the absolute dumbest. i enjoy this silly guy. *holds him under the armpits like a longcat*

4. SHIGEO KAGEYAMA

ahhh mob. he makes me do this -> :)

mp100, of course, changed my fucking life. mp100 is the reason i am the way i am and though all the characters are incredibly relatable and memorable and i cherish them so dearly, i, like most people, cherish mob the absolute most. seriously his strength really is incredible and though hes just a fictional character he is so inspiring and i wish to carry as much gentleness in my heart as he does.

im so so proud of him on his development he started off so.. i wouldnt say he was weak, but i would say that he lacked experience. he lived in his own little bubble not knowing what the world was like and throughout the story he grew to learn so much.. he learned to make such. mature decisions at such a young age. hes so so wise. hes so powerful not only because of his psychic powers but because of his compassion for others. he can befriend even the worst of people...

my favorite thing about him is his determination to become the best version of himself he can be. and also his relationship with ritsu (not me, i mean ritsu kageyama <3) i always gravitate towards siblings in fiction because im an only child and well <3 i dont experience that. so i like projecting onto them GHBFBBHFG they care so much for each other.. sniffle sniffle

5. RYO ASUKA

ok im going to be real even though im into devilman i dont have much of a reason to enjoy him this much. i just think hes hilarious and really cool and his satan form gives me gender envy. i love it when he commits random easily avoidable acts of violence for no reason at all its just because he wants to. and thats just fine. i think he can kill people and get away with it because hes ryo asuka. gay rights

[fullhalalalchemist]

LITERALLY i am so close to just dropping bnha at this point. like i just fucking might

honestly as an overhaul stan it’s just.....it’s annoying. it’s annoying as hell. if mirio comes back and gains his quirk after what, 3 months? then what the hell was the point of the overhaul arc? what was the point of quirk singularity theory? what was the point of all that character development? mirio trained his ass off every single day to become powerful and then lost his quirk after saving just one person. and it was one of the most tragic aspects of the show, really. and he just what, gains it back like none of that meant anything? like it didn’t add on to his character? it didn’t give this sense of doom to readers and izuku and everyone involved? what the fuck is the point of quirk bullets then if they can just be undone? it was the first loss from heros and now horikoshi is like "haha nvm all that!!! heros never lose :)”

and on top of all that, bnha is like. the heros never lose. you know what makes shonen like bleach good? (i’d say naruto too and more modern ones but bleach is my fav example) the fact that the protagonists/”good” characters LOST. A LOT. they were outwitted, outsmarted, and had their worlds turn upside down with horrible consequences on the line. some of them died. the buildup to the biggest fight of the main protag and antag was satisfying because you saw the protag repeatedly beaten down, and he built himself back up and EARNED his power ups. there is no such thing in bnha, they just win by chance. by some last minute help - i.e. best jeanist somehow being alive, mirio, etc. the LOV and PLF literally have an entire ARMY and yet no relevent pro-heros/students are ever harmed, they are never killed, and apparently they wont face consequences since it looks like the biggest opportunity for that to happen - hawks losing his wings - is apparently not gonna happen. no, instead all the LOV are gonna either die and go to jail and the heros are gonna be redeemed and the main characters are not gonna learn anything.  hori is literally ruining the build up of what is the best arc of the entire series because of his american superhero kink or whatever the fuck and his shitty writing. 

[charmspoint]

What do you think about the rest of the second year students?

If I tell you my fav jjk characters in no particular order are nobara maki inumaki yuuta gojo geto and choso and that i love them all so much that they are constantly shifting places in that line up to the point where im hardly ever able to tell who i love the most would that answer your question?

I love first years but second years are my fav squad by far i wish we got more of them and im looking forward to the movie so! much! More under cut cuz this bitch got stupid long

I love Maki so much, it’s actually her story line with Mai that got me actually invested into jjk. Like before that i was liking it but when i read that i was like OWO I NEED MORE NOW. I just love like....normal siblings storylines, like legit ask me about Choso i love Choso so much for this exact reason but we are talking about Maki now. I love how her background with Mai is very complicated and you can’t really call one or the other right. Like of course Maki has every right to leave an abusive household on her own terms and Mai has no excuses in wanting her to stay in said abusive household just so they can be together but you can also understand how abandoned and thrown away Mai would have felt at that moment. Like sure theyd probs treat her a little better then Maki because she can actually see curses but they also still clearly treated her badly and as a servant because her technique is weak. You can understand how she would have felt betrayed by being left behind by the only person who should have been on her side in this horrible situation. I just really love Maki and Mai and by god i hope they get to met again and talk and work together MAKI AND MAI TEAM UP PLEASE. I’m not sure can their relationship ever be really good i feel like there's a lot there to work through but i also really want them to start working through it. Aside from that I just love her cuz shes Maki and she’s a badass. I love women who are so fucking driven and ready to fight their way to the top when the world has given them crappy cards. She’s a fighter and she’s a survivor. She’s made from tough stuff, she has survived being fuckin set on fire. I LOVE her redesign its so fuckin good like holy shit i already thought she was cool but now she looks like 10 times cooler the cape the fuckin cape. Anyway i like her a whole bunch i hope her and megumi work something out about the zenin clan and id also like to see more of her thoughts from her about that whole situation. Because she’s not able to prove herself and win over the clan like she wanted to :(. But i guess that doesnt really matter anymore with the whole situation going on. She has already proven herself to be tougher then Naobito and by god i hope she puts Naoya into the ground, actually i hope this is where her and Mai will team up and put him into the ground together.

I also really love Yuuta, like he has the same soft boy protag vibes as Yuji but he also looks fucking depressed and anxious 90% of the time which just makes it all the better??? Like i love Yuji, but Yuuta has been through so much shit, he’s been terrorized by a curse of his own making for years, Rika had probably hurt a bunch of people because of him and like you can see it in his face, that dudes a wreck, have you see his fucking eyebags he hasnt slept in 25927 years and i love him so much. He’s so kind and caring and god if i dont love characters who go absolutely stupid feral for their friends. When the fanbook came out and it was like his biggest stress atm is not being with his friends i was like ;-;. I’m just a sap, I love him, I love how much he has progressed from this anxious stressed out kid to someone who can act calmly and tactically and even offer valuable advice to his underclassmen, he has grown so much! It’s just nice to see him coming into his own and becoming more confident into himself and his power. I’m really fucking sad hes gonna be separated from the squad again after JUST saying he doesnt want to be away from everyone again. Anyway his oscar worthy performance in Shibuya really fuckin got me like, the whole time i was thinking ‘noooo Yuuta wouldnt do this nooo its gojos student they are basically step brothers by teacher he wouldnt do this’ BUT i wasnt sure! I still felt like him becoming all fuckin feral for his friend was perfectly in character and also like really thematically interesting from the stand point of two protagonists clashing together. But honestly im glad he was just putting on an act, idk would my heart be able to handle villain Yuuta for long ;-; Another thing I like about Yuuta is Rika, like man I LOVE Rika, half of my upcoming curse!Gojo au is based on what Yuuta and Rika are. I was SO fuckin hyped to see her return like I was as hyped for Rika’s return as I was for Yuutas. Sure we don’t know if that’s ACTUALLY Rika or something else but god I hope we find out soon. Anyway I absolutely LOVE Yuuta’s n Rika’s dynamic like im feral for this shit. 1. Big monster girlfriend and smol human boyfriend 2. Master and servant allusions 3. THEY ARE AN ACTUAL PARTNERSHIP. Like sure Yuuta is in control but Rika is the one lending him her power and basically agreeing to play along, he needs to earn the strength to wield her. Like they aren’t on completely equal terms and boy would I love if they were cuz completely equal curse sorcerer partnership would be so! Cool! But they are the closest thing to that. Like she isn’t a shikigami like Megumi has or anything like that, her and Yuuta feel like actual partners who depend on each other’s strengths and cover each other’s weaknesses and I DIG THAT SHIT SO MUCH. Would I have loved if they developed a truly equal partnership and that Rika didn’t have to go? Yes. Am I happy with what I got? Also yes. Yuuta monsterfucker king. That whole ‘This is true love’ bit, amazing I love him.

 Panda is the only second year I don’t passionately love ajkkjbj sorry Panda but you’re just Panda. Like I like him, I like the concept of him, I like how he obviously sees himself as not the same as the humans and doesn’t really understand them and I would love to see him explored more, his third core, his relationship with Yaga who’s basically his dad, his relationship with other sorcerers, but I’m not feral about him like I’m about Maki and Yuuta. I think he’s a neat character and a funny joke and I love when he and Toge interact they are prank bros its cute. But that’s p much all I feel about him hjvbjhbj sorry Panda

[chibigaia-art]

Rambles of your fav DR OTPs?? thanks

HNGNF I’M... k gonna try to select a few, but its gonna be long (spoilers for all games)

ishimaru and mondo: Mondo was Ishimaru’s first real friend, they both believe in working hard, they’re competitive but care about each other and respect each other a lot (the manga chapter!!!! seriously!! read it!!!) + CHAPTER TWO YA KNO, MONDO APOLOGIZES TO HIM, TAKA VOTES FOR HIMSELF, HE’S SO DEVASTATED IT’S PAINFUL TO WATCH.... FUN TIMES.... + all the official art has them around each other and honestly I’m not even gonna say anything about it, they speak for themselves

sakura and aoi: this almost mirrors the boys ^ for the mourning part, because both Asahina and Ishimaru somehow tried to stop/avenge their friends at the expense of others (tho asahina really took it up several notches, while for ishimaru I think it was more of an impulsive instict to protect mondo - anyway ch4 is another one that’s tough on me because of how ishimaru and asahina react); besides that, I just!!! think their dynamic is super sweet and neat, they always spend time together, they promise each other they’ll become olympic athletes together in the utdp, all around it’s definitely one of my fave wlw ships

sonia and gundham: theatre kids with the passion for the occult get together and they’re an unstoppable force!!!! One of my absolute faves in the series, it’s just super cute and sweet and they complete each other so well!!! Gundham slowly opens up to Sonia and spends more time with her all while she keeps dropping compliments and he doesn’t know how to react!!!! chef kiss!!!! also the fact that sonia’s kingdom has a tradition where u have to show an animal you grew yourself and gundham is the ultimate breeder: they’re gonna get married (and that’s something i’ve always wanted to draw but time? i dont have it)

komaeda and hinata: liar disease liar disease liar disease and I think their dynamic is really interesting and I always love to see people’s interpretation that dig a bit more in what their relationship could be if they stopped being Like That

souda and nekomaru: i just think they’re neat

touko and komaru: udg is just touko and komaru’s road to becoming friends and then girlfriends; on a more serious note, they helped each other grow SO MUCH, their arcs in udg are some of the character developments i like the most in the series - AND WHEN TOUKO SAYS SHE FOUND A HOPE OF HER OWN, AND SHE LOOKS AT KOMARU??????? SIR THEY’RE MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT APOCALYPSE GFS

shuichi and kaede: the only protag/support ship I REALLY like besides toukomaru; it just felt more natural than the others for some reason, even if it happened in the spawn of i dont remember how many days - the time WAS short, so I get why people see it as forced, but imo the interactions were really cute, and it was nice how they were always together investigating during ch1 - also, their FTEs together were!!! so cute, with kaede being obviously interested in shuichi (when she asks him where he’d like to go on a date and his fave food.... wink...). Also the piano duet :’) I’m weak

maki and kaito: I know it’s chock full of cliches, but at the same time I really enjoyed it and the ‘character goes apeshit because their loved one is about to perish’ sends me in outer space (hahhdhdha hah) - kaito was the first person maki loved :) kaito kills kokichi so she isn’t the culprit :)) help

kiibo, miu and kokichi: ot3 with a lot of chaotic energy, I wish there were more interactions because they had a lot of potential - I don’t think I need to add more because you can just read the comics I’m making nfsf

shuichi and kiibo: i didn’t consider it until i read this and suddenly it hit me - how much potential this ship has

[neoncat666]

Reminder: I love you and you are the best. I love your babysitter! Sapnap au. Thank you for the free serotonin. Spare me a little more about your aus or the au 👉👈

I had to get onto my laptop for this So I don’t make all the aus myself so under the read more ill have name of the au then names of who worked on it (both of my friends are only on twitter)

Also if you want more info on a specific au feel free to send another ask about that au on anything you wanna know cause i just ramble unless i have a certain thing to go off of

Babysitter au - Blurry, Tal, and I Sapnap is a highschooler who needed a job that worked with his school schedule and honestly didn’t require a lot of work. He finds an ad by a single father to babysit his two sons, both 8 years old at the time. This is how he starts babysitting Tubbo and Tommy. He doesn’t really like get attached to them at first but after a bit of babysitting them and actually hanging out and learning about the kids, he finds himself actually enjoying his job and is always really excited for it out of school. I can do a post on everyone’s role in this au but there’s just.. so many. Think dreamsmp amount of people. There’s a lot. The main people tho are Sapnap, Tubbo, and Tommy though. Also Fundy is a piano teacher

Zombie apoc au - Blurry, Tal, and I Self explainatory except we said fuck usual main protag rights and it follows Sapnap, Tubbo, and Tommy again. Basically they’re all their actual ages and have to make it through the world. Sapnap ends up taking a really protective big brother role and it’s mostly just their adventures until they find other survivors. This au does kinda stand on the edge of what’s kinda ok so we’re lowkey making it not as bad cause in the end these are real people.

Clay friends au (storebought friends are fine) - Tal, Blurry, and I Sapnap is a college student who has trouble making friends and generally be social. He ends up messing around and makes these little clay figures which end up coming to life. They become his best friends and help him do stuff like cheat on tests, talk to other people, ect. Eventually Sapnap ends up making real life friends and doesn’t need the clay figures that maybe were a part of his imagination the whole time. Well Dream and George don’t really like being shoved into a bag to never be seen again. Yeah this ended up as a horror au

Flipside au - Tal and I Dream, Sapnap, and George are all irl friends who go to school together. One day they each find themselves in a completely new dimension that seems to be everything they could possibly ask for. The only way they can communicate with each other is a handheld mirror they all have. This mirror and bracelets they made as a symbol of their friendship is important. Well the dimensions end up shifting, changing into each person’s nightmare. It turns out these dimensions are actually alive and feed off the desperation and despair of others, I can go more in depth about this au if asked cause it’s genuinely one of our more complex aus

Brothers au - Tal! and I So Tubbo and Eret are brothers and when Tubbo was a tiny baby, a witch had tried to curse him but Eret ended up taking the attack instead. This ended up with Eret leaving Tubbo when he was young and Tubbo growing up to become a farmer. Years later there is talk of an evil king who is threatening to take over lands and resides in a castle not to far from where Tubbo lives. He signs up to be apart of the soldiers that are storming this castle to take down this king. Tubbo ends up being the only one to even make it to the ruler and is praised by this person for making it this far. The lighting only allowing Tubbo to see the glowing white eyes of this person, they end up fighting with the king using powers to throw chunks of earth at them. During the battle, the stained glass behind the throne shatters which allows light to enter the room and show the face of this evil queen. Tubbo feels like this person is familiar and ends up calling out for their brother. Eret, taken aback, kicks Tubbo out of her castle and moves his entire base far away as an attempt to get away from them. Tubbo, not one to give up, now finds himself on a quest to get their brother back and makes friends along the way.

Angels n Demons au - Me! Sapnap and Eret are angels while Bad (and maybe someone else) is a demon. This is honestly just me fucking around with the concept of angels and demons and I’ve only developed it slightly by yelling at my partner about it. I’m writing something about it rn but i’m always open to talking about it in asks and stuff like that lmao.

But yeah those are the aus ive worked/working on! My fav is maybe like... babysitter and brothers au but im biased on found family. Please talk to me about them i’ll tag each post with the au tag so we can get that shit organized!

[honhonluigi]

Hinanami is basically the bland, white-bread version of Naegiri... and so much worse. They really tried to do the whole "put the protagonist with the emotionless stoic girl" but did a terrible job

They didn’t even try to do that, though. The fans did. Chiaki and Hajime don’t have a single real conversation the entire game. He’s not her friend. He doesn’t care about her. Aside from trials and investigations, where they’re focused on solving a murder and they talk to everyone in equal measure, they never speak to each other. Nekomaru spends more time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Hinanami is not canon. Never once in the game is Chiaki implied to mean anything to Hajime at all. He never talks to her. They’re not even friends. It’s the fans who started shipping them and acting like they were best friends. Because Chiaki was a fan-favorite, and fan-favs always get shipped with protags (Ex: Rantaro and Shuichi, who haven’t had a single conversation). Chiaki was supposed to be a fan-fav. She was supposed to be Waifu-bait. But then the cash-grab shitty spinoff anime happened, and they saw how much the fans like Chiaki, so they shipped her with Hajime in the anime. But in the games? Hinanami isn’t even close to canon. Hajime spends more time with literally everyone else except maybe Peko and Hiyoko? He and Chiaki do not have a single authentic conversation. 

I made a whole thesis about this. I wrote a whole god damn paper about how Hinanami isn’t canon. It’s somewhere on this blog if you dig. It’s NOT canon. People only assume that it’s canon because of the anime, which came after the games. And if you think the anime is canon? Well, I’ve got a surprise for you. The anime completely goes against the game canon of everything to do with Despair’s founding, the Kamukura Project, and Junko/Mukuro in general. The anime says Chiaki was a real student at Hope’s Peak, but the game? In the game, both Chiaki and Alter Ego say straight up that she never existed outside the Neo World Program. She wasn’t a real person. The anime isn’t canon. The anime was nothing but fan-service. A cash grab. Completely and utter shit. Would you say the How To Train Your Dragon TV show is more canon than the movies? Fuck no! Same with the anime. The games are canon, not the anime. If Hinanami happened in the animes, it doesn’t fucking matter, because Chiaki didn’t even actually exist in the games. 

Point is, people only assume Hinanami is canon because of the anime. But in the game, there’s nothing to imply that they’re a couple, or even friends. Let’s take a look at DR couples, shall we? There’s three types of DR relationships. We’ll take a brief look into each. 

1. Chapter One Love Interest (AKA: The Red Herring)

You’re probably familiar with this one. It’s the ‘tutorial girl’. You meet them first. They become the protag’s best friend. The MC trusts them. They show the MC around, they get introduced to everyone together, and basically you spend the whole prologue and Chapter 1 getting close to them. You’re supposed to think ‘Oh, they’ll escape with the MC and be their love interest in the end’ even though it’s totally predictable that they end up dying. They end up dying in the first trial because they betrayed the MC by getting involved with a, unsuccessful murder somehow. This was Sayaka and Kaede. (I already went over on this blog why Kaede was a red herring, not a protag. She was only ‘protag’ to avoid people predicting that she would die in chapter 1 like all the other ch 1 friends.) Sayaka is friends with Makoto but ends up trying to kill Leon and getting murdered. Kaede is friends with Shuichi but ends up being executed for trying to kill Rantaro. 

What about Chiaki? Does she fit any of that? Fucking no she doesn’t. After her introduction, Hajime ignores her for all of Chapter 1. And ch 2, ch 3, ch 4, ch 5, etc etc... But anyway. She’s not his best friend in Ch 1. They don’t talk. She doesn’t get involved in an unsuccessful murder in Ch 1. Who’s Hajime’s friend then? Who shows him around? Who does he trust who ends up betraying him by getting involved in unsuccessful murder during the first trial? Oh yeah-- Nagito. He would’ve died if it wasn’t for his luck saving him. He was supposed to die in his murder, or be executed. But his luck got in the way. Nagito was the chapter 1 love interest. He literally follows the same exact beats as Kaede and Sayaka. But uhhh...Sayaka and Kaede are totally valid love interests, but Nagito isn’t! Why? (Hint: It’s because he’s gay and has a mental illness.) 

2. Plot Twist Love Interest (AKA: The Shady One) 

This love interest comes on after the Red Herring love interest dies in chapter 1. This love interest starts off as being someone that you don’t trust, who avoids you, who acts super shady and suspicious the whole time. They hide things, act cryptic in trials, and know way more than they let on. They act rude sometimes, but also nice and helpful sometimes, to the protag so that MC has no idea how this person feels about them. The MC is curious, but also wary of them. This person ends up disappearing towards the end of the game so that MC doesn’t have access to them anymore. We lose the option for their free-time events at some point. This person disappears because they’re hell-bent on figuring out the mystery behind the killing game. They end up getting involved in some kind of plot to reveal the truth/mastermind/traitor and then it fails, resulting in their death or the death of someone else. This person gets falsely accused of being the mastermind by the rest of the cast. This describes, to a tee, Kyoko. People acknowledge Kyoko as Makoto’s love interest (because she’s a girl!). But this describes Kokichi too. The role that Kokichi and Kyoko play is the exact same in the story. Now, I don’t think that Shuichi was at all in love with Kokichi, but I think Kokichi had a crush on him. (This is why I make a case that Byakuya shouldn’t be in the ‘unholy trinity’. Kyoko should. Byakuya hits none of the plot requirements for that. He’s just a dick. Also, by all rights, Shuichi’s second love interest probably should’ve been Maki. She was shady enough, and he actually had a chance to like her. But fuck that. They did NOT go that route. Abusive comphet KaiMaki all the way, right?)

Anyway, let’s look at Chiaki for this one, shall we? Suspicious? Well, I knew from Ch 1 investigation that she was the traitor, but no one else did. No one in the cast suspects her of a thing the entire time. They’re completely flabbergasted when she hints that she’s the traitor. They all think she’s perfect. No one ever suspects her of a thing. She doesn’t disappear mysteriously. We don’t lose access to her free-time events. She doesn’t look into the mysteries behind the killing game (because she already knew them). She may help in trials, but she’s not cryptic or mysterious about it. She acts super mega ultra fucking rude the MC, but he doesn’t care, and he’s never torn up in puzzlement over “how she really feels about him” the way that Makoto and Shuichi get frustrated with Kyoko and Kokichi. She doesn’t hatch any plot to try and expose the truth. She does everything she can to cover up the truth until Nagito forces it. Which brings me to my next point. Who does this actually describe? Oh-- Wait! It’s Nagito again!! He follows, line for line, the exact same plot that Kyoko does, and so does Kokichi. So...Why is Kyoko the only one who gets to be a love interest instead of a villain? (Hint: Because Nagito and Kokichi are gay and you could argue that both have mental illnesses.) 

The only part of this that Chiaki actually fits is the “knows more than everyone else”. But she doesn’t actually. She doesn’t figure it out because she’s smart, like the other three characters. She knows already because she’s the traitor. She knows more in the way that Sakura, Tsumugi, and Mukuro “knew more”. They were given that information. They are not love interests. And yeah, Chiaki uh...’gets involved’ in a scheme to find out the truth. But not of her own plotting or fruition. It’s Nagito’s plan, and she gets involved because he planned it. In the same way that Makoto ended up taking the fall for Kyoko’s botched first attempt at revealing the truth, too. Makoto, Chiaki, and Kaito took the fall for those plans. They weren’t the cause of them. Makoto only didn’t die because his luck (+ Alter Ego) saved him, just like Nagito’s saved him in ch1. 

3. Side-Character Relationships 

This is the last and third type of DR relationship. The love between side characters, like Taka & Mondo, Tenko towards Himiko, K1-B0 & Miu, Sakura & Aoi, Kaito & Maki. Honestly, you can’t even compare Hinanami to this logic, because Hajime is an MC. But let’s be generous and do it anyway. 

These couples are always super obvious. Since you can’t see them through the eyes of the MC all the time, they’re even more obvious than MC ships. Side-characters in love spend tons of time together outside of trials and investigations. They’re with each other in their free time. They talk about each other all the time. They’re always together. They talk openly about their ‘friendship’ and how much they mean to each other. We get cutscenes showing the love between the two. Even in KaiMaki, which I hate, all of this is present. 

What about Chiaki? Nah. She never talks about Hajime, and Hajime never talks about her. He never even thinks about her at all. He never seeks her out. They never ever have a single conversation in their free time. Unless you, the player, chose to do her free time events, they never talk outside of trials. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t spend any of their free time together. They don’t talk about how much they’re friends or lovers. They’re never together. They only get 2 cutscenes when they’re alone together: one of which is investigating Nagito’s room and revealing a major hint that Chiaki is a robot; the second of which is after she dies, wrapping up the plot that she is, in fact, a robot. These cutscenes don’t serve to show how much they care about each other. These cutscenes aren’t about Hajime at all. He might as well not even be there. It’s not like they have meaningful conversations. It’s just about finishing off Chiaki’s boring story, because it’s required. Compare: Taka & Mondo, whose cutscene is them fucking in the sauna. K1-B0 and Miu, whose cutscene is them fucking in Miu’s lab. Hina and Sakura, whose cutscene is Sakura telling Hina that she loves her. Kaito and Maki, whose cutscenes are them hugging and spending time together bonding over mutual interests. Chiaki’s seem pretty fucking stale compared to those, right? Yeah, because her only cutscenes are about bare-bones investigation and trial shit. Lots of people get investigation cutscenes. Doesn’t make them love interests. Chiaki and Hajime never spend free time together. They never seek each other out, have real conversations, or bond over mutual interests. They only talk during trials and investigations. Let me say this again, because I cannot emphasize it enough: HAJIME DOES NOT EVEN EVER THINK ABOUT HER. 

4. Elements of Any and All DR Relationships 

Now, there are elements of relationships that all DR ships have, regardless of if they involve the MC or not. The two characters spend free time together, outside of investigations and trials. The two characters have plot-related interactions outside of trials and investigations. (This is especially true in cases with the MC. Think how many plot-related scenes we got with Kaede + Shuichi, Sayaka + Makoto, Kyoko + Makoto that happened outside of trials and investigations?) These two characters have at least one heartfelt cutscene alone together. Like I mentioned above, they talk all the time. They think about each other. They talk about each other. Someone always makes a joke about the MC being in love with them. 

Like I already pointed out, Chiaki has none of this. She and Hajime spend exactly 0 free-time together, unless the player forces it to happen themselves. They don’t talk. They don’t have plot-related cutscenes, discussions, storylines, etc outside of trials/investigations. They never speak to each other outside of trials/investigations. They don’t spend time together. They don’t have plots involving each other. They don’t seek each other out. They don’t talk to each other. They don’t even think about each other. And absolutely no one in the cast makes a joke about Hajime and Chiaki getting together. Fun fact: Kazuichi makes more moves toward/thinks more about getting with Chiaki in one scene than Hajime does in the entire game. Another Fun Fact: Nekomaru spends more one-on-one time with Hajime than Chiaki does. Where’s my die-hard fans insisting that Nekomaru x Hajime is indisputably canon?

Who has all of the above criteria? Mikan. Mikan does. She’s infinitely more of a love-interest to Hajime than Chiaki. 

Now I’m gonna go over some popular arguments I see for why Chiaki is a love interest, and I’m gonna destroy them. 

“She’s The Helper Character.” That character doesn’t exist. That’s a fucking lie. Literally everyone talks in trials. Everyone helps in trials. Everyone helps in investigations. There is no singular ‘helper’ character. There’s no assistant. There’s no side-kick. Kaito helps Shuichi in trials. Maki does too. Are they his love interests? Byakuya helps in trials. He’s not Makoto’s love interest. Nagito helps in trials and people are pretty fucking insistent that he’s not Hajime’s love interest. Everyone helps in trials. In a trial/investigation, the MC has to talk to literally everyone. They have no choice. The fact that Hajime talks to Chiaki in an investigation, or listens to her in a trial, is not evidence of him favoring her. Chiaki talking so much in trials and investigations is supposed to be dropping hints at her being the traitor. Not her being a “helper” to Hajime. 

“What About The Swimsuit Scene?” “Hajime was totally drooling over Chiaki in that scene!” Yeah, he was. Because he’s a teenage boy and she was wearing a super slutty bikini. Literally everyone, boy and girl, in that scene looked at Chiaki and went “Jeez Chiaki...That’s a...bold swimsuit.” She wore a skimpy swimsuit and Hajime thought it was hot. So did Kazuichi. Kazuichi drooled over her WAY more than Hajime. Is Kazuichi automatically Chiaki’s love interest? Hajime also drooled over Peko when she walked in. Because he’s a teenage boy, and there’s hot girls in skimpy bathing suits. Also, Hajime talks nonstop through the entire fucking game about how hot and beautiful and amazing Sonia is. And he never once even has a thought about Chiaki. But uh...Nah, Sonia’s not his love interest. It’s totally Chiaki, right? 

“The ‘I’m Taking My Top Off’ Comment.” Yeah, Chiaki said that to Hajime. And Hajime freaked the fuck out. He didn’t want it to happen. He was like “WAIT WHAT!?” He wasn’t “oh fuck yeah, let me see those gamer titties!” Maybe Chiaki was flirting with him, but Hajime definitely didn’t flirt back. At the very least, it shows that he wasn’t expecting it, because he never thinks of her that way. Hajime didn’t respond to that line at all. Also, the only reason Chiaki even said that in the first place is because she was made to be fap-material for Otaku Gamer Bros. So of course they’re going to make her talk about her boobs, give her a slutty swimsuit, and make her boobs three sizes bigger when she wears it. (It’s true! I checked! Also, does this mean that Chiaki is a closet sex freak? Yikes...Well, it’s more interesting than everything else she’s got going on.) Point being, when she brought it up (and she was joking, for a reminder. She wasn’t serious.), Hajime didn’t want anything to do with it.

“Junko blackmails them about ‘The Girl You Love’.” Yeah, okay, I’ve never actually seen people make this argument. And I better never fucking see that. Because it’s so god damn obvious, and stupid. Junko’s lines are basically “you need to hurry up and make a decision, because the bodies of the girl you love and the boy you hate are in the real world wasting away.” She is talking to everyone, but specifically, she’d just been goading Fuyuhiko on about Peko. This line. Is clearly. About Peko. It’s about Peko. It’s not fucking about Chiaki. And I better never see anyone claim this. Why not? Why can’t it be about Chiaki? SHE’S NOT FUCKING REAL!!! She doesn’t have a body! She’s not wasting away! She has no body outside the Neo World Program! This line literally cannot be about her. Even if you go by the anime and say she did exist, she’s still fucking dead, and still doesn’t have a body to waste away in the first place. Chiaki and Alter Ego BOTH say that she doesn’t exist outside the Neo World Program!!!

“Then Why Did She Appear to Hajime in the Last Trial?” Because of plot convenience. That’s all. See, we’re not supposed to know she’s an AI. (Even though it’s incredibly obvious). When she is executed, we’re not supposed to know that she’s an AI programmed by the Future Foundation. We’re supposed to be like “Why did she do that? Why did she say all those weird things? Why was she the traitor?” We’re supposed to have all these unanswered questions. (I mean, I already knew all of that from ch 1, but the game clearly tries to keep you from suspecting Chiaki at all.) So, if she’s dead and executed, how can we finish her story? How are we going to get a chance to wrap up all those unanswered questions? She appears to Hajime and tells him. She reveals it all to him, answers all the viewer’s questions, and finishes her story. That’s it. She appears to him out of convenience to finishing her own plot. Why him? Why him specifically? Is it because they’re in love? Nah bitch, it’s because he’s the main character and the only way the audience could see their questions answered at all is if she appeared to him. She also appeared to Sonia, as Sonia specifically states. Is Sonia her canonical, definite, not-possibly-arguable love interest? No. Sonia’s love interest is Gundham. If seeing Chiaki had something to do with love, then why did she see her too? 

“But Her Free Time Events End With Them In Love.” Yeah, so does everyone else’s. Nagito’s, Akane’s, Kazuichi’s, Mikan’s...Sayaka’s, Toko’s, Kyoko’s...Kokichi’s, Kaito’s...Everyone’s free time events end with them falling in love with the MC. That’s the point of FTEs. That’s the reason why no actual ships are explicitly canon in any DR games. Because they want the player to have the chance to get close to, and pursue a relationship with, whatever characters they choose. That can’t work if that character is dating someone. So they make all FTEs end in love confessions, and they let no ships become canon. You can choose literally any character, go through their free time events, and have them fall in love with you. It’s for the player. It’s not canon. And sure, those FTEs might not specifically end in an outright love confession (like Nagito’s does), but it’s pretty fucking obvious in every single one that you win them over and fall in love. Why do you think you get their underwear? Even Toko, canonically smitten with Byakuya, goes “I’m already in love with master, but...” Sideways glance, smile, “You can think of me if you want...” It exists for the player, and can be done with ANY character. It doesn’t speak to any special privilege for Chiaki. 

And just a couple more things I have to say on this topic:

Hajime didn’t like her. Hajime doesn’t fucking like Chiaki. I’m not gonna say that he hates her, but he definitely doesn’t like her. Whenever he has to talk to her, he’s always thinking about how weird she is, how childish she’s being, and how rude she is for talking over him/falling asleep when he talks. He doesn’t enjoy talking to her. I did Chiaki’s first two FTES, and Hajime hated every god damn second of them. He thinks she’s rude, boring, weird, and childish. He thinks about that stuff any time he’s forced to talk to her. When he finds her diary, he goes “God, this is awful, it’s like a five-year-old wrote it.” Why would you think that he likes her??? (You know who Hajime really fucking despises? Gundham. God, talk to Gundham and read Hajime’s thoughts. He’s fucking brutal. This guy has a huge beef...)

So Who’s Hajime’s Actual Love Interest?  

Everybody!!! This is actually a theory I cooked up. I think each MC gets a ch 1 love interest (Sayaka, Nagito, Kaede), and then a second plot-twist love interest, but it happens in different ways each time. Kyoko and Makoto get together all nice and neat. Shuichi has a second love-interest who likes him, but Shuichi absolutely does not like him back. Hajime’s second love interest? Everyone. Hajime has this kind of curse where the second someone captures his interest/gets interested in him, they die. I noticed in the game that they’d push characters on Hajime hardcore, and then kill them the next chapter. Now, this happens in every game. But in Hajime’s case, they weren’t just pushed on him as characters. They all flirted with him. One of the reasons why I think almost everyone in the class had a crush on Hajime. First, it’s Nagito, and Impostor confides in Hajime and Teruteru flirt with him too. Then, they either get killed or get taken away (and chained up for three days without food, water, or bathroom access). Next, Mahiru starts flirting with Hajime by bossing him around and always seeking him out. I don’t think Hajime liked her back, but she liked him. And then she dies. After that, Mikan flirts with Hajime, spends time with him, gets cutscenes cuddling with him, hits on him, and other people even make jokes about them fucking. Then she dies. Hajime becomes closer friends with Ibuki, then she dies. Hajime starts to get close to Nagito again. Then he goes crazy and dies. Hajime showed a ton of interest in Sonia, but then she goes for Gundham. Hajime gets close to Kazuichi, but then he goes for Sonia. Hajime is cursed. I think everyone in the game got an inkling of being Hajime’s love-interest before they died/got taken away. With the exceptions of Peko, Hiyoko, Gundham, Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Nekomaru. I think they give Hajime a person who he likes/likes him, and then immediately take them away before any relationship can be formed. 

Now, I guess this is the time where you could make a case that Chiaki fits. “Well, he gets close to her, and then he loses her!” But actually, that kind of doesn’t fit. He gets close to her only after she’s already dead. And he’s only ‘close to her’ for one conversation, after she’s already dead. He doesn’t get to spend any quality time with her before she dies. Even if you wanted to make that claim, it still wouldn’t make Chiaki any more of a love interest than Mahiru or Teruteru or Impostor. She wouldn’t be the one-and-only, indisputable, only option for Hajime. Based on evidence in the game, I don’t think Hajime actually had a crush on Teruteru, Impostor, or Mahiru. I think they liked him, but I don’t think he ever would’ve liked them back. And that’s the only way I can see Chiaki being even a little bit his love interest. In this world, where pretty much everyone gets to be his love-interest at some point. In a world where she crushes on him but he doesn’t like her back. Because he doesn’t. That’s obvious in his thoughts and actions. (He reacts worse to Peko and Fuyuhiko’s execution than he does to Chiaki’s, btw.) 

But I really don’t think she’s his love interest. She’s definitely not “the” love interest. She’s not the only one. She’s not the “canon” one. She’s not his canon love interest at all. That’s not at all what the evidence in the game points to. 

If my crackpot theory isn’t true, then I’d say Hajime’s love interests are Nagito and/or Mikan. Maybe Sonia. They’re the ones that he actually spends time with, and have all of the criteria that are set by literally every other DR couple. He has none of that with Chiaki. Honestly, I think Nagito is the more prominent love interest. I think Mikan and Sonia definitely had their spots too, but Nagito fills the role of both first and second love-interest. He hits literally every single beat of Kaede and Sayaka, but also of Kyoko. Whether or not Hajime loved him by the end is debatable. Sometimes I doubt it. But he loved him at first, and Nagito loved Hajime the whole time. And Hajime was destroyed after Nagito’s death. But even though Nagito hits every single point of being a love interest compared to Sayaka, Kaede, and Kyoko...He’s still not allowed to be a valid love interest for Hajime. If you think Komahina is canon, then you’re just “biased”. You’re just looking “through your shipping goggles.” Even though Nagito’s story is literally both kinds of love interest mixed together. Nah, nah, nah. Who cares about evidence? Clearly I’m just biased. Clearly I’m just “using shipping goggles” to see what I want to see. Because... *looks at smudged writing on hand* Hinanami, the ship with no evidence at all, it definitely 100% canon and Komahina, the ship with all the evidence you could ask for, could never be canon at all. I’m just stupid. Right? Right. And why? Because Nagito is a gay guy with a mental illness!!!!!

I despise KaiMaki, but I still acknowledge that it’s at least partially canon because it was in the game. But I don’t acknowledged Hinanami, because it was never canon. It was never even hinted at. Nobody better come onto my blog arguing that Hinanami is canon in the fucking slightest. I can’t deal with that bullshit. It’s not canon. This is my second essay on the subject. (I wrote a huge essay listing all the reasons they weren’t canon, and yet I was still able to find MORE evidence against them for this one? Wow, that’s a lot of proof that they aren’t indisputably canon.) I’m fine if you want to ship them. You can be like “they had a lot of potential for a relationship!” You can be like “I think Chiaki had a crush on him!” or “I think Hajime would’ve liked her!” That’s fine. You can do that all you want. Like any other DR ship. But don’t go around being like “NO, it’s DEFINITELY canon!!! No other ship is canon because Hinanami is canon and it’s completely indisputable! You’re wrong and stupid!!” It’s not canon. No DR ship is canon. You can ship them but please, do it like any other DR ship. Ship them because you saw potential, but don’t cram it down everyone’s throat as ‘must be canon’. 

Hinanami is the only ship that does that. It’s the only ship that is insisted to be 100% canon with no disputing evidence whatsoever. People dispute Kaede and Shuichi. People dispute Kaito and Maki. People dispute Kyoko and Makoto all the fucking time. Every other ship is flexible, except that one. “Hinanami is the only canon ship and no other ship is valid or matters, you can’t ship Hajime with anyone else, all the other ships pale in comparison because Hinanami is so canon, and you’re just a biased delusional idiot if you ever dare to imply otherwise!!!” Stop it. It’s not canon. I should be able to make a valid case for another ship without being immediately shot down because of Hinanami. No other DR ship does that. Quit. I hate seeing everyone insisting that it’s canon. Acting like it’s just “common sense” that it’s canon. It’s not. There’s no fucking evidence for it AT ALL. But it makes me feel like a crazy person whenever I see people insisting that, as if I’m the only one who missed the scene where they fucked without protection or something. If everyone is allowed to dispute literally every other ship, then it should be the same for Hinanami. The “canon” ship with absolutely -67% evidence towards it. 

[yukisohmasmokesweed]

Top 10 episodes of the anime so far?

woof ok this is probably gonna be s2 heavy because i think s2 in general is better than s1 and it is also more to my tastes (i prefer the darker parts of fb) and also s2 is my favorite part of the manga haha.....and i’ll include the major beats of each ep because i personally can never remember the order and the episode naming conventions for fb eps are totally useless

10. 1x9 (haru intro)

i just love haru and he has one of my favorite character intros. its one of the funniest eps imo and haru and tohru’s dynamic is super sweet off the bat. love haru and yuki flirting, love haru and kyo’s brotherly relationship, love the insight we get into haru and yuki’s childhood. great episode all around i watch this one a lot

9. 1x2 (curse explained to tohru/yuki corners tohru at school/shigure and kyo talk)

i love this episode. definitely one of the funniest/most memorable cold opens (its tohru opening the door for the mailman with shigure kyo and yuki in tow). they do such a good and fun job setting up yuki and kyo’s relationship and the scene bw yuki and tohru in school is one of my fav scenes in the show and an amazing summation of both their characters. it sheds light very early on onto how serious the curse is and how traumatized yuki is over it as well as tohru’s inherent kindness and compassion. this scene is a huge turning point for yuki and is a convo that completely changes his life. the scene bw shigure and kyo is gorgeous as well and sets up kyo’s character arc for the season in a way i really like

8. 2x18 (shigure/rin scene/rin searching for answers/rin backstory)

definitely one of the heaviest eps yet. great shigure material in the beginning and rin’s backstory is devastating but beautifully done. visually one of my fav eps as well

7. 2x10 (kyo/momji convo/akigure fight + kureno is there/tohru finds out who akito is)

this ep has everything. kyo angst. tohru angst. akigure sexy times. shigure getting super duper mad. tohru finding out gigantic plot points. akito wearing a button up. i love this ep it was a great cap to the beach house, i love the way they solidified all three protag’s goals for the series in this ep as well. good job team

6. 2x13 (back to school/student council intros/yukeru fight)

i like this ep as a sort of return to normalcy after the very intense beach house arc. all of the stuco intros are rly funny and i looooooooooooove the yukeru fight, i think it’s super well done and actually more impactful than it was in the manga

5. 1x7 (hatori backstory)

imo the best episode of s1. the first time we see how truly dark the curse is and how deep the damage on the zodiacs can go. visually very beautiful, hatori and kana’s story was told beautifully and it’s also the first time we see what akito is capable of. also a great episode for tohru’s character development 

4. 2x4 (haru goes dark in class/kyo is torn/yuki goes to the estate)

ahhh i love this episode so much. excellent momiji shenanigans. i love finally seeing dark haru in a non-comedic way because haru’s anger issues really arent funny. haru screaming that he doesn’t want to hide anymore and accusing yuki and kyo of thinking about revealing themselves too are honestly some of the hardest hitting lines in the show. this ep also has a big big moment for yuki where he realizes that he just can’t keep repressing his memories and emotions anymore and decides to take an active role in his own healing and stop avoiding the things he is afraid of. this ep also has one of my fav shots of the season: 

WOOF. this shot just gets me every time, it feels like a gut punch. love this ep, i totally slept on it when it came out but now i watch it all the time

3. 2x21 (yuki backstory ep)

i’ve said before these are my favorite chapters and i thought they were adapted beautifully. i dont really know what else to say, this ep was a total knock out, visually stunning, voice acted beautifully....only reason it’s not higher is because its not exactly rewatch material, its sooooo heavily lmao i definitely need some space from this episode

2. 1x1 (its the pilot lol)

I LOVE THE PILOT. its so good. i love the way every character is introduced and the convo bw tohru and yuki when they walk home from school together lives on in me foreverrrrr, it’s excessively beautiful and seeing yuki struggle to keep his mask up in front of this girl who was so vulnerable in front of him is really interesting, especially in retrospect. i adore the scene where yuki invites tohru to stay with them and also kyo literally has the best character introduction in the show, get more iconic. love this ep and i watch it all the time

1. 2x7 (yuki/akito confrontation/yuki starting to realize what it is he feels for tohru/kyo telling tohru about his parents/suuuper tense akito/hatori/shigure scene/yuki/tohru beach scene)

ahhh i love this ep, its definitely my fav ep of the season so far. it has humor which i appreciate but for the most part its setting up the plot and setting yuki’s storyline into motion properly. every single interaction is incredibly layered and careful. i especially love the scene bw hatori and shigure and then bw hatori, shigure, and akito because its prime shigure scheming time. of course i love love love the tohru/yuki scene on the beach. its incredibly beautiful and meaningful and i love their relationship very much. it’s definitely been one of my favorite aspects of the season and is becoming one of my favorite facets of fruits basket as a whole!

[skittymon]

Finally finished Tales of Eternia!! 

And that makes 11th tales games finished and 15th overall played in some degree (Phantasia, Legendia, Innocence, and DotNW being the ones I havent finished yet).

Once I started again in December I decided that instead of liveblogging I’d make a review at the end instead.

So here we go! I will keep this spoiler free as possible!

I’m pretty scatterbrained but I’ll try to divide this into: combat, story, characters, and other game mechanics.

Combat: So obviously, the combat is above Phantasia and Destiny’s, being made after them. I honestly have grown fond of the 2d linear style format. There’s so many different boss fights in this game that can only work in a 2d field rather than 3d. 

On the flip side, that’s not always a good thing. I count bosses like the wild dog thing in Vesperia, and Fodra Queen of Graces to be among the hardest mandatory boss fights in tales. Welp, Eternia added one to the ranks. Rem (aka Aska the light spirit) is one of the most frustrating boss fights I’ve done. Apart from constantly slowing healing itself, on the field it brings a shiny ball with it. You cannot destoy the orb, it’s there all fight, and if you touch it it hurts you. And of course it blocks the way to Rem. There is a way past it, it moves up and down so you just have to wait until its up to move past. BUT GUESS WHAT THE AI DOESNT DO. So your party will probably either be dying or constantly in pain. AND REM CAN MOVE THE ORD ANYWHERE. Also you cant physically hit Rem while its casting a spell only far away skills. So if you ever play this game just cheese it and spam variations of Sonic Blade.

Of course, on the flip side it’s every easy for you to cheese boss fights and just back them up into a corner unable to move or do anything until they die, so it evens out.

The sprite animations for the artes are gorgeous. Reid moves so fluidly in his artes, he’s honestly my third favorite protag to play as behind Yuri and Ludger because of this. The caster animations are great as well, granted it can become cluttered and hard to see in when artes like blizzard and earth shaker are used. BUT GOD DAMN I CAN WATCH MEREDY USE METEOR ALL DAY IT LOOKS SO COOL.

Nitpicks about the combat system are, Life, the reviving spell Farah has, takes to long to charge, and for Meredy and Keele to use healing artes you have to mix and match who has what craymel (spirit). There might be a guide but I didnt look beyond reddit so Life was the only resurrection spell I had. 

Last nitpick comes from the Aurora Artes. Aurora Artes are skills only Reid can use, but in order to use them you have to have health below 15% and press circle, square, and x at the same time, so it’s very easy to mess up and die. Then to use more Aurora Artes you press the same buttons repeatedly, and after you use them Reid is left with 1 hp. AND the final boss has an automatic kill skill, you have to press the buttons at the right time to activate it and keep everyone alive, or you can cheese it like I did and have Farah hold a reverse doll to revive her after she dies. Did I also mention this skill happens in phase 2 of the fight when the bosses health is less than 20,000 after starting from 300,000? If you fuck up thats like 10mins of redoing.

But to end on a better note for this section, I love the way artes are learned. You have to use certain artes a number of times before you can unlock it (I THINK abyss and vesperia and many others are like this but this is the first time I found it rewarding). I grinded like hell to get the best artes for Reid AND YOU BET IT WAS WORTH IT. Omega Demon Chaos I love you,,,,

Story: Like countless other Tales titles, the conflict comes from two worlds being at odds with each other. However this game does something that none of the other games have done with this story beat. Language barriers! It’s super cool in the first couple of hours theyre just trying to figure out how to talk with Meredy. Of course by the end this point is nearly dropped entirely, everyone else just getting the special ear ring I spent 3 hours to get so the plot can move on.

Like most tales, theres a moment you thought the story would end but BOOM the twist. I wasn’t shocked by it, but that’s because I knew who the final antagonist of the game was prior to playing it, but still it was executed well. 

Something that makes this Tales stand out is how they deal with backstory. So the main fours backstory is vital to the story and their characters but they don’t show it till like 20 hours in. It’s like if Graces you start off in main arc and learn about the childhood arc 2/3 of the way through and went “ohhhh that’s why they were distant with each other.” And other stuff about it but I won’t spoil it.

Overall a good story, though I do feel like I’m missing things either from missing some side quests, or because of no skits.

Characters: The main ones to shine are the four main characters (Reid, Farah, Keele, and Meredy), everyone else literally is either one dungeon and/or optionable. Chat does still feel like a character being the owner of the Van Elita aka means of transportation for half the game. Max and Ras tho rip. ESPECIALLY MAX. Ya know how every tales there’s the mandatory Talk Before The Final Battle? Yea well they all get one except Max. You see him, but he doesnt talk, YET THEY CRAYMELS DO.

Another odd, yet charming, thing is that there’s no big moment of character development for anyone like Luke cutting his hair, Magilou keeping the portal open, or punch in the face like Alvin. They just. Slowly change. And its really weird cause for all of disc 1 Keele is basically an unbearable asshole and he just? Learns to be a better person from everything he sees? There’s no callout or moment of realization, he just slowly learns and it’s super refreshing. 

Reid is probably one of the most relatable protagonists up there with Jude. I’m sure most of you know the “he doesn’t want to do shit lol” persona he has BUT GOD WHY HE’S LIKE THAT BABY I LOVE YOU. Farah’s personality is also explained in the backstory, so for any of you crestoria players that Farah’s backstory is really different like how Emil’s is, but the sentiment of why she’s like that is the same and stem for a similar event.

Meredy’s also great. I thought I’d get annoyed of her and her “You bet!” but god when she says it the last time at the end of the game, I was pretty moved. I wish I knew more about her backstory but I’m pretty sure a certain section of her life info was left to skits and ya know we didn’t get those till Symphonia :)))

As antagonists go, besides the Craymels who are there to test you before you get their power, there’s just two. Main boss and their lackey. The lackey is eh. You see him once at the beginning of the game, then see him destroy a  city, then one last time where you kill him. You do get his backstory and stuff but eh I’m usually not fond of tales mini villains minus Chimerad, God Generals, and Artorius’s lackeys

The main antagonist tho, I really don’t wanna spoil it but it’s hard to talk about why I’m conflicted on it without spoiling. So it’s like Destiny’s final boss but written better in some part and worse in others. So at one point it’s super emotional and pretty powerful with the message eternia wants to send but at the same points its a jrpg where you gotta kill god cause he doesn’t think humans are worth it. 

Oh one more thing thats honestly hilarious, there’s literally SINGLE animated cutscene by Production I.G in this entire game minus the op. 

Other things: the amount of mini games in this game is insane, but the amount you have to do IN JUST THE SECOND DISC to continue the plot is more than any other tales game I can recall. Some of them are fun like the card game, others like the bomb one I want to throw in a fire. 

There’s also so much Destiny pandering in this game. There’s portraits of the characters, you can collect lens, I’m 95% sure the way a certain character is done is because they wanted another Leon, you can SUMMON THE SWORDIAN USERS ARE AS AN ACTUAL SUMMON. While all Phantasia gets is the cameo battle and the Eternal Sword. I mean I didn’t mind cause I’ve finished Destiny and it’s one of my fav tales games but damn it was pretty obvious. 

EXPLORATION IS SO FUN IN THIS GAME. Mainly near the end when you have free reigns. YOU CAN DIVE UNDERWAY AND EXPLORE THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA WHAT OTHER TALES GAME LETS YOU DO THAT??? 

In conclusion: A fun game! I don’t think it was worth 133 dollars tho consider my play file was 35 hours and thats with a good chuck of side quests and ex bosses. Probably in my top 5 combat systems of tales and final villains, but not in terms of story or characters. A really hope it gets remastered soon I’d love for more people to play it.

[whrrlwind-a]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; mun & muse.

fill out & repost !

tagged by:  no one! i stole it from ren <3 tagging:  anyone who wants to do it!!

my muse is:  canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless / complicated

Is your character popular in the fandom? YES / NO Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom? YES / NO / IDK and im too afraid to find out Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK Are they underrated?  YES / NO / IDK Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / THEY’RE THE PROTAG. Are they widely known in their world? YES / NO How���s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL How strictly do you follow canon?  —  pretty strictly! it’s really only towards the end of SA2 and after it where i start taking creative liberties! as whirl nearly dies himself trying (and failing) to save his shadow, and then starts going into rider’s time instead of jumping into heroes.

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  —  you like the adventure era sonic? you hate how he sometimes handles really serious scenarios or brushes them off like nothing, as if they aren’t traumatic as shit in any way? wanna see a pretty mentally and emotionally fucked up lad struggle with handling his troubles and keep up the dark/serious theme SA2 set that sega is too cowardly to go back to in modern day? well bOY DO I HAVE THE HEDGEHOG FOR YOU. this bad boy ACTUALLY has emotions and struggles with handling them and many other things due to the position he has put himself in over the course of his life, but also doesn’t completely wear him down and stop him from being who he is! as well as dealing with the fact he and his timeline are MUCH further behind than other alternates of himself and friends. sonic “ whirl ” hedgehog is a young hero still running his way through life the way he wants like the rebellious, free-spirited teenager he is, while learning that not only is he a hero, but he’s also a person.

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?).  — quite frankly, he’s sonic. there’s a lot of them out there. he can probably be too energetic, positive, etc, or perhaps this blog focuses a little too much on his trauma and internal struggles or even the general dark theme to the point it’s a turnoff or just hard to really read. he’s also an annoying idiot to the point it’s frustrating.

What inspired you to rp your muse? — yo sonic was my fucking LIFEBLOOD as a kid. lived and breathed this franchise. sa2 was my first game ever, sonic was my fav character (and still is), so my absolute love for this specific version of him became too much to internalize sooooo here we are ; w ;

What keeps your inspiration going? —  straight up, sonic is probably my biggest comfort character to exist ever. always makes me happy, always makes me feel better when im down, etc. there’s nothing he can’t do that doesn’t make me smile, regardless of how sega treats him. being able to pour my ideas into a character i love so much to the point he becomes really personalized (and personal for me), and it’s actually something people enjoy seeing and interacting with? it gives me so much goddamn sertonin.

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO / I SINCERELY HOPE I DO? Do you frequently write headcanons?  YESSSSS I CANNOT SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT WHIRL ask anyone i Do Not Shut The Fuck Up even if i don’t post abt it on tumblr Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO just bc im bad at writing them abndhjbfd Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day? YES / NO Are you confident in your portrayal? YES / NO Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO Are you a sensitive person? YES / NO / SORTA. Do you accept criticism about your portrayal?  —  always!! i’m always willing to learn and improve on things, especially with the canon of some events from games and such, as i’m not 100% with everything besides SA2. all i really ask is that when receiving criticism, people are as nice as they can be with it! thanks adhd and personal trauma

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?  —  ABSOFUCKINLUTELY I DO

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?  —  mmmmm? mm. kind of? but also not really? like. everyone’s entitled to their own opinion ofc, i’m not gonna rip anyone apart for disagreeing with something, but like. i have adhd. i’m v hypersensitive to some things, so it can really be processed in my head the wrong way and it makes me feel bad. so i guess just....... be careful about it if you ever wanna tell me why?

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it? — i’d probably just kinda be like “ damn that sucks bro, but thats literally not my problem, there’s a whole ton of other sonics out there bye ” bc like. i dont care? don’t even really tell me bc honestly ur just wasting ur time lmao

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it? — ill be the first to admit im. v attached to sonic as a whole. he means a lot to me! so going off abt how you may (generally) hate him really....... is just upsetting to me. but thats just bc im v attached to him, and there’s nothing wrong with having that opinion on him!! we all get upset when someone talks bad about something we love. all i ever ask is that try to keep it away from me, especially if it’s abt whirl in particular, bc it can really upset me and thats just not fun for anyone <:3c

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors? — absolutely!! i make them all the time and i even have a friend proofread some of my stuff bc of how common it is aBJDBHBJC, again i just ask if people are nice about it when pointing that stuff out to me!!

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?   —  oh fuckin yes absolutely, im tooting my own horn and i dont even care, im one of the chillest people on this fuckin planet

[starredfishing]

24, 25, 30?

You wanna put me on blast??? You wanna put me on fuckin blast kian???

24. If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why?

Id wanna meet these kids

Astros one of my older ocs whos been thru like 3 or 4 retcons and his story is one of my biggest although its unnamed :/

Yoruko i just like. theyve become one of my favs

25. The OC that resembles you the most

Sapphire (saph for short) is a rlly old rwby self insert from like 2014 but now her universe is really big and not rwby (although its Extremely rwby adjacent) and i share it w my brother so i gotta put him on blast bc the protags were just Us. My brother actually made me a doll of saph and its one of my favorite things Ever

Hibiki is from Last One Down, a non existent manga/anime about competitive skiing bc there wasnt a skiing sports anime and both my brother and i ski (you guessed it. The protags were Us) eventually i made a whole team and then some and we got attached so we had to, in turn, detach ourselves from the characters. I love them all a lot tho

30. Which one of your OCs would likely have a secret stuffed animal collection?

Honestly idk but i wanna say kazuo (LOD) bc he rlly likes cats and i can see him owning a bunch of cat plushies

[the-nysh]

Who are your favourite manga/anime protagonists of all time and why?

Of…of ALL TIME!? *mind goes blank* Whew, that’s a difficult + huge pool to choose from, but ‘protagonists’ actually narrows it down, as not all my fav characters are the protags either. Usually I go for the Vegeta + Raphael archetypes instead, cause their character arcs (growth that’s often emotion-based) are more interesting/appealing to me. Protags in general are often nice and likeable by default (in the sense that if I didn’t like them, I wouldn’t force myself to continue the story where they’re the main focus), but they’re also often portrayed with average traits to make them most relatable to the target demographic. Many of them are similarly structured this way with comparable traits/behaviors, so I tend to prefer the ones who can still stand out (in their own unique way) from the rest in general. I also tend to prefer those who aren’t ‘chosen ones’ or who don’t have special hereditary gifts. Instead I prefer them being special through the merits of their own character and the choices they make. So with that criteria said, some names definitely came to mind.

Nausicaa: probably the one I most looked up to and was inspired by as a kid. She did everything I liked and thought was cool, from her free flying/piloting abilities, exploring nature on her own, running her own lab, easily befriending animals, and often finding interesting/different solutions to things that her people wouldn’t conceive of (often in a pacifist way). She could still lead and take charge & responsibility of things as a princess, but still believed in freely doing what she wants (and could still be girly about it too). However, the defining scene that most stuck with me all these years, was her reaction upon finding her father assassinated. The one where she wordlessly gaped in horror and flew into a blind rage (even Teto, her critter, sensed it and got scared), and murdered every assailant in the room with a blunt weapon. Before she picks up the nearest sword and her uncle stops her with his own body, accidentally harming him in the process, and shocking her to her senses, where she then becomes so petrified and guilty at what she’s done that she passes out. She confessed she became that afraid of herself when her emotions and anger ran out of control. And I thought, wow that’s powerful, especially unprecedented and rare for a female (mostly pacifist!) character to suddenly do as well, because that was the strength of her heart, her love for her family, that shone and drove her with the instinct to react so brutally that way. It always made me take pause and ponder, that if I witnessed anything like that happen to my own family or those I cared about, just what form would my anger manifest in response? It’s chilling and ugly to think about, because I’d never want that to happen, but I honestly don’t know if I could hold back either. So I could understand her fear. It’s quite humbling. It’s always this scene I remember and gauge in comparison to when I see other characters strongly react with that same righteous anger/instinctual drive to protect who they care about. And it’s always a fav when I see that happen.

Edward Elric: oh he’s definitely a keeper. Probably one of the most well-rounded and human I’ve seen, with the full spectrum of emotion, badass feats, and quirky + dorky character traits of his own too. A standard I feel, when it comes to well-written and memorable shonen protags. Probably one of my first legit anime crushes obsessions back in the day (even way before Brotherhood existed). I got all the merch, shirts, wall scrolls and everything (got a bunch of craft models for Nausicaa too for that matter). I remember back when my sister asked me who my fav character of the series was, and I answered him without hesitation, but she said ‘oh that’s boring’ just because he’s the protag, (://) so preferring him is apparently expected I guess, oh well. I didn’t go back on my answer then, and I don’t think I could ever go back on it now either. I still faithfully wear an old chibi keychain of him on my bag. My fav scene is probably that really touching moment when he convinced Winry not to kill with a gun, because her hands were better for healing, including how she created and continually fixes/heals his arm & leg. :’) Just ahhh, keeper. 

Guts: hoooo boy. The one and only. The most badass determinator around, continually struggling against all the absolute shit dealt to his life. Just ugh, it’s amazing he hasn’t keeled over yet, after surviving through so much literal hell. His life is just eternal suffering and tragedy, and he’s accepted going down that path. He almost submits to the despair sometimes, but he’s strong. Strong to keep going and not give in no matter how bad it gets. Because he has a mission he absolutely must see through and commit to the end. It’s both painful and awesome to watch him, and I honestly have no idea how he can win (vs Griffith) on his own eventually, but I can only hope he survives to achieve some form of happiness someday, because damn, it’s been so unfair to him. Please just give him a break. I’ll be in that long haul of a ride just to see how he’s doing.  

For more recent protags (and I wish I could choose more girls), ONE is definitely onto something though with his massively relatable yet genuinely hard-working characters, where even if they’re strong in ways, they’re also very humble, and their own merits shine through even stronger. Saitama probably fits my fav protag criteria, along with being an interesting commentary on what happens once you reach the peak of your craft. Is it really worth all the hard work and effort if there’s no one else to share it with? Most interesting food for thought. However, I’m still waiting for him to do something more…where he becomes a bit less passive (and oblivious) to things happening around him, and a bit more engaged and emotionally receptive. For example, if he’s physically invulnerable, then that leaves his mental/emotional vulnerability as a possible target. If it ever comes to that, and he can feel something that makes him react, reflect, and feel alive again, then that’ll be something worth waiting for. He’d really enter my all-time favs that way.

Another recent one who’s caught my eye is Senku (Dr. Stone). Sometimes you’d think he’d be a scheming sneaky bastard (mad scientist) but he’s actually a very standup and compassionate guy. Trustworthy, persistent, and dependable. He’s quirky, he’s unique, and he’s not your typical shonen protag. (He’s also immune to all advances; not interested in the slightest cause his priorities are much stronger.) And I like that. It’s like if Hiruma (es21) got the chance to be the protag, but more down to earth and less threatening/imposing. So far the story’s still pretty new but he’s already pretty memorable. Just gotta see now how his persistence and faith in science will change and save the post-apocalyptic world.