#honestly still hoping we might get a translation at some point

[thistaleisabloodyone]

Man, I can't wait until I understand Japanese better so I know what's happening in this play 😂

[lawchwan]

do you like the sound of the music? (law, ace, sanji, zoro, kid)

summary: how the boys sound when they're getting pleasured. reader: gn!reader genre: smut disclaimer: not super detailed smut, but a grave detail on how these fine men sound like a/n: I know I haven't done an a/n, but it has been a minute since I posted here. I have been preoccupied (thanks to being a senior at uni) but now that I am done with everything, I hope I have more free time to post some fics and reignite my love for writing. I won't bore you much and we will proceed with more content (also my fem!law fic is in the works and it'll be put out sometime soon)

crossposted on ao3

Law

as much as i'd like to advocate for the whimper-whiny-loud-subby!law agenda that i have been adapting to my psyche while i was gone, he seems like the quiet kind while he's pleasuring you.

obviously not the type to be overtly silent to the point you won't hear a breath out of him. he's just simply a grunter and a light growler. he won't be very vocal unless you want him too.

when he comes, thats when you hear the magic beautiful sounds. it depends on the type of sex, dynamic, and/or pace you two have set in, he’ll either grunt a dragged deep moan or a slight whimper that cascades into your ears as he spills out his load onto you.

“mm, shit, fuck, y/n, you feel so fucking good…fuck~”

ace

oh that loud ass motherfucker. if you expect him to quiet down, well you’re out of luck. even if you placed a gag on his mouth, he’ll still spill out the loudest moan any human could produce (please gag him, he actually loves it).

ngl he kinda is the type to give exaggerated noises, like im talking those very exaggerated moans that you would hear in those shitty pornos (that ace may or may not unironically enjoy).

if you want to illicit the most hottest whimper that spills out of his mouth, simply just stroke and tug on his wavy locks—he will definitely go feral over this simple manuever. his mouth would probably be wrapped around your nipples, and his muffled moans could be heard on the outside, disturbing whoever’s nearby.

“mm—pfah! you think you can cover my mouth, baby?! huh?! think again—oo FUCK!~”

sanji

another loud boy. maybe not as loud as ace, but definitely can be loud if he needs to be.

he’ll honestly let out the most cutest and hottest moans any person can produce, it can even border into whimpering. he does get embarrassed when he gets super loud though, so keep a gag nearby if needed.

he’ll, however, take pride that only you can push him into the edge and let him produce music to your ears, much to the dismay of the crew. he’ll sometimes purposely moan out loud if it means to piss off zoro and keep him up from his slumber, leaving the green mosshead disgruntled and disgusted.

“oh~oh my god! y/n! you feel so—fuck!”

zoro

zoro’s a grunter. next.

no but in all seriousness, he does seem like a grunter and the type to give you dirty talk. he, like law, is not that talkative but he’ll say the most filthiest of shit in your ears that will leave you melting under his touch.

he’ll also maybe taunt you by groaning along with you with a smirk as he looks down at your wet parts.

“aww, you want my cock that badly?… well you might have to beg for it”

kid

jesus this man is crazy in bed. he strikes me as the type to be a growler. he seems to me to be very animalistic as he rails you like there’s mo tomorrow.

i can see him pinning your hips down as he thrusts himself into you, throwing his head back, letting out the loudest growls and groans as he speeds himself up. he’ll probably start talking in haste manner as well as soon as he feels himself getting closer to let his waterfall out.

“c’mon.. fucking, c’mon! you better come for me. come for me. come for me. come for me—grrr FUCK!”

characters are owned by oda. i will not tolerate nor accept translation, reposts on other websites, or plagiarism. divider made by mmadeinheavenn.

[nogenderbee]

♡˗ˏ✎*ೃ˚ 𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖? 𝕆𝕦𝕣 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖?! ₊˚ˑ༄

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ anon request: hiii!!!! hru? i have a little bit specific request, hope thats ok!!!

idk if u know the translation from the song “karakuri pierrot” by miku, but basically shes gettin dumped cuz her crush left her waiting on the date and never came 😭

id like to request smth based on this song with fantasista squad, like, they forgot abt the date and then theyre like😨😨😨😨((a happy ending would be appreciated <3

sorry if its too much, if it bothers you just ignore this LMAOAAOAO😭😭😭

anyways ty and bye!🤍

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ Hii! I'm sorry but u don't do songfics but it still sounded interesting so I just based it on your description! Hope it's alright!

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ fluff

Affiliation with @virtualbookstore

"What the hell is wrong with this strand..."

Akito muttered to himself as he tried styling his hair a bit more elegantly. He had a date at a restaurant with you today and he prefered to look properly on it.

He was fully focused on his hair, getting a bit annoyed... he let our so many curses, even Ena came to his room and gave him instecutions just so he could shut up! But despite her tips... he had that one annoying hair strand that he couldn't get a hang of...

He finally decided to just look up some tutorials on internet, when he noticed the time... it was half an hour after the time you agreed to meet! And the amount of messages he got from you only told him how pissed you could be now...

He decided to drop his tries at calming the strand and just get to you as soon as he could, hoping that you were still there... you didn't leave this place yet, right? At least you haven't texted him about it...

He tried not to run to not sweat in his suit, so he settled on quick walk. When he arrived he noticed you getting up from a bench, clearly disappointed and about to leave, and he couldn't blame you for it...

"I'm sorry... I... I had a little problem."

He points at his hair strand as soon as he walked up to you, and you couldn't help but chuckle. He was dressed formally but that strand was ruining everything about this style!

"Hehe~ You really did. You could've asked me, I would've helped you..."

"I guess I will next time... you look beautiful, thank you for waiting for me... let's catch up, alright? My treat. And we can go to mall after it..."

You knew how much he hated going to mall, and now he didn't even said anything about not caring your bags so maybe he will? He really looked like he wasn't lying so... might as well forgive him for this one time situation, right?

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @yulikesminori @toyaswif3y @miya-akane @hayillaaaaaaa - come get your pancakes lover!

Toya actually wasn't late, he'd be even 5 or 10 minutes early in this tempo so he walked calmly. It was when he was walking past some granny who was clearly struggling and he couldn't just walk past without caring...

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

And that's how it started... it turned out the older lady had a problem with getting 2 bags up to 4th floor, so of course he helped. And after he did that? She offered him some cookies, cup of coffee and even a small chat... she was so nice and chatty he couldn't just say he needs to go...

So thinking he has the time, he accepted it and didn't even realize it was half an hour that passed untill he looked at his phone, and finally excused himself.

"<I'm aware I'm running late, please wait just 10 more minutes for me, I'll be there soon and explain everything to you.>"

He texted you in a hurry as he picked up his peace and quickly walked towards location of your date.

When he finally arrived, he was just a little bit out of breath but quickly sat down next to you and as soon as he catched his breath, he explained everything to you.

And honestly, how can you even be mad at someone as pure as him? He just wanted to help person in need after all... sure, it's still 30 minutes delay but just this time, maybe he can be forgiven for that...

"And when I thought she finished telling me about her cat's story for past 15 minutes, it turned out she had 3 more cats..."

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @yulikesminori @toyaswif3y @miya-akane @toyaslove @bl4cktourmaline @infernoram - come get your cookie lover!

It may be a simple date, but for Tsukasa? It was big event and he had to look dazzling! He didn't care if he was rejecting 5th outfit by now nor did he about passing time... he thought he still had time and continued looking for perfect outfit for your date!

And when he finally found it... the perfect outfit! He finally reached for his phone but froze upon seeing the time... he was 1,5 hours late already and had around 17 unread messages from you!!

"<Y'know what? Fine. I'm going home. Thanks for nothing.>"

"<I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T LEAVE YET>"

"<Too bad, I'm already home since HALF AN HOUR>"

He could feel his heart sinking and he knew all of that is his fault alone. So he got up quickly and ran straight towards your house.

After around 10 minutes since Tsukasa's text, you heard a knock on your door, so you of course went to open, just for flowers and chocolates to be showed into your face when you did.

"Please forgive me... I wanted to look my best and... I had hard time deciding..."

"You're always looking your best... you could've just came..."

"I know, I should. And I'm really sorry that I didn't! Please let me take you out on a date... this time I'll be an hour early."

He had desperate look in his eyes as he tried to convince you to give him just one last chance... but whether you give him this chance or not, is only up to you! I mean... he does assure you plenty of times to set multiple alarms next time just in case... maybe he'll indeed do better from now on?

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @bad-the-an-enjoyer @yulikesminori @alicewinterway18 @nenes-numberonefan - come get your future star~

Rui hummed gentle tune to himself while he was working on a robot. He was fully focused but he forgot to mute his phone... so he kept hearing notifications in the background but ignored it, thinking it's Tsukasa having spider under his bed again... and that could wait a little bit~

But when notifications became too much, he finally checked it and his face immidietly turned to pure shock and nervousness when he noticed it's his partner... and it hit him, he forgot about the date! He quickly opened your texts and rushes to respond while he got dressed.

"<We can cancel it I guess...>"

"<Nononono!! I'm coming now, I'm so sorry for making you wait! Please give me 5 more minutes, I promise to run!>"

At this point, he was panicking, he just grabbed essential things and of course little gift he prepared for you, and ran out of his house.

When he arrives, you were just sitting on a bench with head in your hands, obviously disappointed and it was obvious he hurt your feelings. Seeing that, he immidietly rushed to you and wrapped his arms around you and caressing your back.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... It won't happen again, I promise..."

He could only wrap his arms around you tighter and he tried fighting the tears himself, realization of him driving you to this point finally hitting him. But now, he'll do his best to catch up for his mistake and make this date one to remember.

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌

@bleachtheidiot @akitosheart @yulikesminori @toyaswif3y @bl4cktourmaline @infernoram @superstar-ethereal - come get your crazy inventor~

[firstkanaphans]

I heartily concur with your interpretation of the Ray/Mew no-sex scene - it absolutely wasn't about sex, it was about Ray pleading with Mew to just give him a sign that he's actually genuine about this 'relationship' - at this point I think Ray wants to be with Sand, but as long as there's a chance Mew is being sincere about this, Ray feels bound to stay with him, not because he's in love with him, but because a) he begged for this (even though I still maintain he wouldn't have had Mew not brought it up again) and b) I don't think he has it in him to actively reject Mew (which in itself is part of the reason they don't work), so imo in this scene he's thinking 'show me something, anything, that allows me to convince myself I did the right thing playing it safe/not going after Sand' and THAT'S why he's so angry - it's not about sex, it's not about Top, it's not even about Mew not being able to love him. And it's not about him just being mad at not getting what he wants. It's about Ray realising that he's thrown away the possibility of real love for the lie that is this 'romance'. And like you said, Mew as good as confirms as much in the final convo. I appreciated Mew's maturity and honesty so much in that scene - it made me do a complete u-turn on his character. Mew realises that Ray wants out of this non-relationship just as much as he does, but he also knows that Ray will never be able to be the one to say it because of the power imbalance between them, so he does it for the both of them, which is a true act of love and friendship. I think for some ppl Ray 'choosing' Sand had to be an A or B scenario, aka Ray could have Mew but chooses Sand instead. But because Ray is a messed up raw wound seeping trauma and addiction and self-loathing and confusion it was never going to be that simple. What we get is more complicated but just as valid - Sand isn't his second option, Sand is who he WANTS to be with, Sand is who he loves, and who he WOULD be with if a) he was better equipped to recognise and understand his own feelings ('when I'm with you I'm so damn happy') and b) he didn't have such a longstanding and complicated (and unhealthily co-dependent) history with Mew. He doesn't drive off hoping to hook up with Sand because Mew turned him down. He seeks Sand out because, if we agree the Ray/Mew fight is the moment they both accept on some level their relationship is fake, then that's the moment Ray allows himself the chance to go after what his heart really wants, which is Sand. Ray doesn't have the emotional toolkit necessary to be able to articulate all this to himself, let alone to anyone else, which is why Mew very gently does it for him. But Mew being the one to break this to Ray doesn't mean Ray's feelings are any less his own. I think of it more this way: Sand is Ray's first choice, but Ray's own happiness is Ray's last choice, because on some level he doesn't believe he deserves it, and so without intervention - from Mew, from Sand - Ray would always continue to self-sabotage (as talked about in the tweet Jojo reposted a few days ago). And slightly but not entirely off topic: I also think nuance is often lost in translation - I might be wrong but I wonder if his words ('why won't you let me have it') are less...yeesh in Thai. Just part of a general thought I've been thunking about deep analysis of foreign language shows when you're reading so much into everything and yet relying on what are often serviceable at best subtitles (for which I'm still eternally grateful!) - SO MUCH can be misinterpreted by just a single word choice, and I sometimes find myself having to choose between taking subs at face value vs retranslating them in my head to what I think better suits the acting/story/characterisation. Apologies for the indecent length of this - I got carried away! Long story short: I agree with you!

Honestly, I agree with all of this and couldn't have said it better myself. I don't have much to add, but I will pull out some of my favorite lines for a TL;DR:

"At this point I think Ray wants to be with Sand, but as long as there's a chance Mew is being sincere about [their relationship], Ray feels bound to stay with him, not because he's in love with him, but because a) he begged for this...and b) I don't think he has it in him to actively reject Mew."

"So imo in this scene he's thinking 'show me something, anything, that allows me to convince myself I did the right thing playing it safe/not going after Sand' and THAT'S why he's so angry - it's not about sex, it's not about Top, it's not even about Mew not being able to love him....It's about Ray realising that he's thrown away the possibility of real love for the lie that is this 'romance.'"

"I think of it more this way: Sand is Ray's first choice, but Ray's own happiness is Ray's last choice, because on some level he doesn't believe he deserves it, and so without intervention - from Mew, from Sand - Ray would always continue to self-sabotage."

As for the question of translation accuracy, I actually did a little digging into this. The line that was translated as "Why won't you let me have it?" was literally บอกกูมาได้ป่ะว่าทำไมมึงถึงไม่ยอมใ���้กูเอาสักทีอ่ะ (bòk goo maa dâai bpà wâa tam-mai meung tĕung mâi yom hâi goo ao sàk tee à), which can more accurately be translated as "Can you tell me why you won't let me have it?" I know that's not a huge difference, but it turns an accusatory statement into a legitimate question. Ray's not just stomping his foot because Mew won't give him sex. He's asking for an explanation. [Insert disclaimer about me not being a native Thai speaker here.]

[puckpocketed]

5/08/2023 - Berkly Catton captains Team Canada to gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, leading the tournament with 8 goals and 2 assists in 10 games || 19/01/2024 Meet the Future - Berkly Catton named Team White's captain for the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game || 5/07/2024 - Berkly Catton signs his ELC with the Seattle Kraken

Introduction, quotes/transcripts/bits and pieces under the cut!

I can't even begin to describe how jazzed I am that Berkly Catton got drafted to a team I already love. I wrote in my Sharks off-season roundup that I was hoping against hope Catton would drop to 14th overall (back before we had moved up to 11th) and the Sharks would snap him up, as unlikely as it was that they'd try to gather more firepower when we sorely needed defensive prospects. I'm so glad I got my wish one way or another <3

Krakenblr you will LOVE this dude. He's such a star. Such a character. Berkly Catton is so, SO fun to watch. You have no idea!!! I followed him in the months leading up to the draft because there was buzz that he might be available lower down because of the Height Issue (he is, tragically, 5'11 <- which makes him undraftable unfortch) + concerns with how his game will translate to the NHL level. He is an electrifying playmaker. He's so creative, throws in so many fakes, WILL break ankles, very good hands... ough <3 everything I personally love to see in a forward all rolled into one neat little package !!!

There's the suggestion that he's been "over-scouted," which really just means they've all been watching him so long they're probably overthinking things and looking for stuff to critique. I'm inclined to believe this take over the other one because I'm an optimist and he was one of my little guys going into the draft! I won't include more of that here, but there's plenty of material out there if you'd like to look for it.

Below are some of my favourite bits and pieces from media he's appeared in <3

“I don’t like to give it away (pause) but I look at guys before games,” Catton revealed. “What’s weird is going from midget to junior hockey is a big jump. Last year I was learning. This year I wanted to add stuff. My pregame stuff and to look at guys doing draws and seeing what works. That’s pre-scouting on my end. If a guy has a certain move, and you can trump it early, it gets in his head a little bit. That helped quite a bit.”

“I think I sometimes have a problem with passing the puck too much. I love seeing my teammates score and setting up for an open net. It’s one of my favourite things in hockey, if not my favourite,” Catton admitted. “That’s something I can work on. When I get a chance put it home kind of thing. I got better this year at it’s still something I’d like to improve. Honestly, I’m a pass first mentality guy I would say.”

- Berkly Catton’s video scouting has improved his overall game

You know, when I first read and saved this article I was like; this prospect who reviews VIDEO is gonna haunt me. That's my weakness btw, I'm freak4freak. If you tell me a hockey player is also deeply infatuated with the game to the point of reviewing tape in their free time that's IT for me. it's JOEVER. i have a type and i know it <3 also wowie a pass-first guy who gets really really happy when his teammates score??? crying. crying. Berkly Catton . tucking uou gently away <3 forever <3

From A Day in the Life: Berkly Catton & Conner Roulette

Fave movie is The Notebook (<- unrelated there's a . really funny comment on this video from a philly fan lamenting that Catton likes the Notebook - I assume because that's some uhhh how do the kids call it,, femme soyboy shit? lmao anyway stay LOSING toxic masculinity !!!)

The boys call him 'Berk' <3

He talks about Jack Hughes being a big influence on him (in other media, he gives Hughes as a player comp!) and going to hang out and work with the Hughes family in Michigan. I sense a thread of admiration here like it's such a sweet little crush LOL <3 I hope he notices you Berkly !!

he gives the player of the match hat to a coach/trainer (one of the two) it's lovely... ouhhh... good little fella so polite and so conscious of staff being the foundation of his success... mwah!!

From Berkly Catton Talks Hockey Sense, His Start In Hockey & More | Game Tape With Tony

His father and grandfather built him a rink in his backyard, very sweet.

1OA in the WHL draft!

Anime main character levels of training-arc... my guy shot thousands of pucks over the summer in his backyard and then came back suddenly able to score goals. <- this is where the DIY goalie made of wood and blocker pads comes in. lol. lmao. are u even real.

sorry. sorry. OLEN ZELLWEGER MENTION. <- one of my personal favourite little guys (undersized puck moving defensemen my BELOVED) "Kind of a funny story [...] I pretty much had a breakaway, when he just turned backwards and played it as a 1-on-1 somehow, and I was like 'wow, this guy's the real deal', so." I really liked how Catton easily recalled a specific person/moment when asked who challenged him the most in the WHL; I think it speaks to a thoughtfulness about the game - it would've been easy to just give a vague Oh Everyone Is Good answer here and I like that he didn't!

There's a section where he talks about how he got so good at stick lifting, such an interesting perspective I never considered - he played in situations and against people where he couldn't just throw his body around to win, so he had to learn to get the puck in other ways. KEVIN KORCHINSKI MENTION <- another one of my little guys <3

mentions his dad being a big influence on his 'patience'. parents are so funny to me. ur watching your sons juniors matches? and Ohhhhh Chris Catton was a hockey player too . it all makes sense. Berkly Catton product of jockdad like so many before him <3

I do love that throughout this interview, Catton defers to his linemates a lot. Always hyping them up and talking about how he owes his success to them. it could be construed as false humility, given Catton was the highest scoring draft-eligible in the league - but he really does go out of his way to emphasise how highly he regards them and how much of their on-ice success is owed to good chemistry built up over the entire season. It strikes me as genuine!! He's a good boy <3

Revealed he can solve a rubix cube at the end... wow... he just liek me fr...

PLEASE watch this on-ice interview where he's chatting after a game and then gets ABSOLUTELY WASTED by 5 water bottles and all the boys. he is clearly so so so beloved in that locker room waaaahhh <3

Anyway this isn't an exhaustive list but it IS a lot of the reasons why I really liked him pre-draft. welcome to the deep Berkly <3

[radioactivemelody]

After a long, excruciating wait, our suffering shall end. I literally woke up with this trailer being shown EVERYWHERE. 

And it is only natural for me to analyze frame by frame because I'm so, so hyped today. So, let's get into it.

Understanding the new trailer

The trailer opens with a phone call and what appears to be a young girl talking to Homura.

The entire sequence makes me understand that the Magical Girls knows, at some point, what Homura did. They are aware she isn't their Law of Cycles, asking if she can accept the risks and responsibilities.

Now, the risks and responsibilities of what? Of being essentially the replacements for what Madoka Kaname, the Law of Cycles, was? The salvation of all Magical Girls?

Which is promptly replied by Homura, who asks if they can fight against the curse of this world? I still haven't understood what she meant with that. The curse of this world? The witches, perhaps? But she says "curse", not "curses" as in plural. It is just one, singular curse.

Walpurgisnacht.

And then, the trailer begins to show a black and white sequence of Homura. Only Homura, from the anime to the last movie, Rebellion. The voice says there is only one thing she can do and that's love. They call her "Akuma-san", which translates to "Devil".

This part here intrigues me the most. They say she is a Magical Girl they don't know. And keep asking to bring hope, just bring hope, release that girl.

Which strengths my previously mentioned theory. The Magical Girls from the new world appear to have some type of acknowledgement that Homura isn't the Law of Cycles from before. They are asking for her to bring hope back. To bring Madoka back, thus, asking, demanding for her to release that girl. Release Madoka back so she can return to being the Law of Cycles.

They know Homura isn't their savior, that she is a false god who took the place from their true, original goddess and savior. And maybe, they might rally to overthrow her and put Madoka back in her place.

Look how Madoka's name is inside quotation marks. We kind of know post-Rebellion Madoka is just a Madoka without her memories of being a goddess, helpless to fight back because Homura keeps beaming her with a memory-wiping laser. This Madoka is not the original Madoka, just a shell, a reflection of what Homura desires her to be.

…A new Magical Girl? She wields Homura's bow after Madoka's divine ascension, her outfit resembles Homura's and has Mami's ribbons. What the hell is going over here? I saw someone saying that it might be an artificially created Magical Girl by Homura in order to defeat Walpurgisnacht but honestly, I have NO idea.

This frame in particular. Homura's uniform is a tad different from what we are accustomed to see. Also, the umbrella. It resembles way too much the bottom part of Walpurgisnacht's dress. I might be reading it in a nonsensical way but look, the movie is called Walpurgisnacht: Rising, everything counts at this point.

And just like Rebellion, this movie will be gorgeous in the visual aspect.

Aside from everyone getting some improvement in their outfits, we have Sayaka. Oh, Sayaka. She has ribbons(?) in her mouth.

When Homura became the Devil, remember who was the first person from the quartet to see her? Exactly, Sayaka did. In a way, Sayaka is the bearer of the truth. She knows the world they're living in is fake. She knows what happened to Madoka. And yet, she can't propagate the truth. Not even to herself because she can't remember.

Those ribbons in her mouth might symbolize the fact Homura silenced her from telling the truth. And if they end up remembering, she is going to be the first.

Everyone talks about a confrontation between Madoka and Homura but let me enlighten you: a confrontation between Homura and Sayaka. Scene absolutely worthy of every Oscar ever known. This is true cinema.

AND THE CLARA DOLLS ARE BACK!!! And in this scene we have three of them. I tried to identificate them but due to the "simplism" of them, it's kind of hard but hey, I tried! I might be wrong but anyways.

From left to right: Manuke (stupid-looking), Usotsuki (liar) e Warukuchi (slanderer).

Considering the Clara Dolls represent Homura's emotions and flaws… Yeah, our girl is suffering. Prepare for another movie that will wrench your heart beyond recognition.

[lovelyjasmari]

Sweet Dreams for a Fair Queen aka VIL GET BEHIND ME

Hello everyone!

Currently, I’m still working on my addendum to my pomefiore arc analysis with the new content from the most recent JP update. I’m still waiting for all the translations to come in but I’m hoping to have it done by Monday or Tuesday. Honestly, I found that there is SO MUCH going on in this most recent update both good and bad. Too much to include in this addendum. Hence this separate post. 

Ironically, while my analysis was mainly focused on Vil and how he sees himself, the one thing from the most recent update that really needed a separate post was Vil himself. In this most recent update, we see the dreams of Vil, Epel, and Rook. I might talk about Epel’s later, and I’m saving Rook's for the addendum. But Vil’s…my god…SO MUCH to unpack, and unfortunately, none of it is good.

I don’t know if Yana was hit with a crowbar and developed amnesia while writing, or if she realized she did too good a job portraying the tragedy of Vil’s arc and had to backpedal, or if Disney took issue with Vil being too sympathetic because this is still a game based on villains. Either way, the way Vil is portrayed in his dream is SUCH a departure from his actual personality and morals that it bordered like a parody. His cruelty to Neige, how he spoke to Yuu and the others, and his generally conceded personality might be how a good deal of the fandom sees him, but this was NOT the true Vil Scheonheit we have come to know over the last four years. 

Unfortunately, Vil’s dream seems to have done even more damage to how this fucking fandom views him. I’ve seen many posts here and on the bird app saying how Vil’s dream proves his cruel personality isn’t just headcanon and that he is not beating the mean girl allegations anymore. It’s extremely upsetting because it’s true. Honestly, Vil is NOT beating the allegations and this time, it’s canon that is fucking him over. But before we dive deeper, and before I get too heated again, let’s look at Vil’s dream and how and why it goes against his established character so terribly. Finally, I will share with you all my own ideas of how I imagine Vil’s perfect dream would ACTUALLY play out. Obviously, spoilers ahead for the most recent update.

~~~

First, let’s quickly assess Vil’s character, to better understand why I’m so pissed. As a dorm leader, Vil is meticulous, tenacious and VERY altruistic. He genuinely cares for his dorm mates (and seems to have a soft spot for all the freshmen) and wants to see them become better people. And he goes to great lengths to see this through. Sometimes his methods come off as harsh and overwhelming but at some point even his most disgruntled subordinates come to understand why Vil is the way he is.

Another thing about Vil is he often, willingly, bears financial burdens in order to help those around him. He’s gifted cosmetics to other students and he willingly paid the VDC prize money to his fellow members and Yuu because he felt personally responsible for their loss and that wasn’t a small price tag. And when Yuu, Ace, Jamil and Azul accompanied him to Fairest City in the Tapis Rouge event, it can be assumed that Vil footed the bill for their transportation, logging, their dinner at the fancy restaurant AND the couture outfits they wore.

Despite coming from wealth, I imagine Vil’s wealth isn’t limitless like Kalim’s so to spend so much money on your classmates, and not expecting anything in return, speaks volumes about Vil’s selflessness and nobility. And because Vil’s wealth isn’t limitless, it makes his actions all the more meaningful.

As an actor, he is equally tenacious but more importantly, desires that ALL his success come from his own efforts and not because he’s the son of such a famous actor and producer. To the point Vil went to the length of actually changing his legal last name to further distance himself from Eric’s legacy. It would be so easy for Vil to coast off his father’s success. Eric could probably secure for his son any role that he wants, including the heroic one that Vil so deeply desires. But such would be going against every value Vil holds and would open him up to accusations of nepotism. Further adding to the villainous image the public falsely has of him. 

And as for his dynamic with Epel, I know this is an unpopular opinion but the way Vil treats him is NOT abusive. I understand there is a cultural aspect to Vil’s issue with Epel’s speech patterns that was made worse by how EN translated it but even with that in mind, Vil’s demands aren’t really that unreasonable. He makes it clear from the jump that he takes no issue with his dialect and it could be argued that Vil being so hard on him is out of care for Epel. What do you think would have happened if Epel took up such an attitude with any other NRC student? He would regularly be getting his ass beat and Vil is trying to prevent that. Honestly I have a lot of opinions on Vil’s dynamic with Epel but they’ll have to wait for another time. 

And even then, it’s been implied a few times that Vil tries to help Epel out in ways that Epel doesn’t completely hate. Even if Vil doesn’t approve of Epel’s misogyny, he does accept his interests and understands he desire to be stronger. It’s further implied in Epel’s dorm vignette when Vil tasks him with creating the magical wheel for his film project because he knows that Epel would enjoy it.

So as we can see, Vil is probably one of the more upstanding characters in twst. His crimes, if you can call them that, can mostly be regulated by misunderstandings and he actually ends up subverting many of the expectations we’d have for a character type like his. Even when he overblots, how it happens is so removed from the other overblots (and even the ones that come after) that it’s actually incredibly tragic. 

Now, let’s look at how Vil is portrayed in his perfect dream world. 

Terribly, to put it lightly. Though I understand now one of the reasons we got the Tapis Rouge event. Anyway, in Vil’s dream, he’s still a mega famous actor, beloved by many fans. The main difference between this and real life is Vil himself. When away from his adoring fans, he’s shown to be conceited, arrogant and mean spirited. He speaks very insultingly to Yuu and the other characters and even threatens to curse them as well. Neige is also his assistant in this dream and Vil is downright abusive to him. Even Miranda Priestly was a kinder boss to Andy than Vil is to Neige here.

Later when Yuu and co attempt to wake Vil up, he ends up having another dream of the VDC. In this one, Vil actually SUCCEEDS in poisoning Neige, resulting in NRC Tribe taking first place. Despite the fact that this again goes against every value Vil holds and it was actually his guilt of what he could have done to Neige that caused his overblot in the first place. And despite the fact that Vil would be revolted at VDC victory at such a cost. EVEN MORE than if he had won with their imperfect performance. 

All in all, he seems more like a caricature of his archetype than the actual kind and complex character he actually is. The complete opposite of EVERYTHING we’ve seen from Vil thus far. Naturally, I took great issue with this, not only because this just feeds into the fandom’s misconceptions of Vil, but because it’s just not accurate. AT ALL! THIS IS LIKE A BAD FUCKING FANFICTION! 

Okay, okay, before I get too hot under the collar, let me actually explain why this is such an awful portrayal of a character I hold so dear to my heart. 

Departure from his canon personality: Despite being a famous actor and model celebrated for his incredible beauty, Vil is actually a very humble person. His nature is not naturally mean-spirited, and he’s not a spoiled brat. Even when people piss him off, he’ll make his displeasure known; make no mistake about that! But he’s always respectful and, in the instance during the Tapis Rouge event, sometimes even encouraging. Above everything else, Vil is never harder on people than he is on himself.

Oversimplifying/invalidating his disdain for Neige: Now I understand that Neige being Vil’s abused assistant is a reference to Snow White being the Evil Queen’s scullery maid. But based on everything we know and have seen from both Vil and Neige, the reference does a disservice to both their characters. I would even argue if the reference was really needed in the first place because Vil’s disdain for Neige was never so simple as just petty jealousy. There is an actual, unfair dichotomy between them that places Neige above Vil in the eyes of people like Rook and, ultimately, the public at large. Vil has every right to resent this and were he treated more fairly, he might even be more kindly disposed towards Neige. Because Vil isn’t a petty person. Neige clearly admires Vil and Vil at least respects Neige but the dichotomy between them unfortunately prevents them from having a healthier dynamic. I don’t know if this will make sense but I don’t believe Vil hates Neige, what he hates is what he represents. 

Disney vs Yana: Now, I wanna preface what I’m about to say next as it being COMPLETELY speculation of my own. I have no hand in creating twst and have no idea what goes into it beyond what Yana talks or tweets about. But I’ve always felt that Disney takes issue with their more heroic characters portrayed in a morally gray light. It would explain why we haven’t seen Prince Rielle, why we haven’t seen Farena despite there being a whole ass Sunset Savanna event, and why everything about Neige’s character actually works against him and why he should be seen as the fairest one of all. In this case, I wonder if Vil’s ooc dream could have resulted from Disney meddling. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened in a game Disney has a creative hand in; anyone who is a Kingdom Hearts fan and played  KH3 knows this all too well. If that’s the case, this actually makes me extremely worried when we see the future overblotee dreams. ESPECIALLY Jamil’s dream, if you know, you know. 

For the most part, those are all the things I disliked about Vil’s dream. But now, in the interest of not ending this post on a completely sour note, let me paint for you all a picture. Two in fact since Vil had two different dreams in canon. 

Scenario 1: Vil never sees Neige’s VDC rehearsal. He and his teammates review the rehearsal footage as he originally intended, and he’s not put in a position to be retraumatized again. So he doesn’t overblot and instead, NRC Tribe gives a perfect performance through and through. Even when Vil does see Neige on stage, he knows he’s given the best performance he can and still votes for his team. NRC Tribe wins and Vil is celebrated for his incredible talent and absolutely beautiful dedication. The first step in Vil finally seeing himself with value outside the villainous persona people have projected upon him.

Scenario 2: This one I like a little better. Soon after graduation, Vil is offered the lead role in the Legendary Sword sequel Adela tried to sign him up for in Book 5. He plays the role of the heroic prince phenomenally and people are wowed by how much tenacity he brings to the role. As a heroic prince, he's charming and snarky, no-nonsense but with a heart of gold. Bringing a lot of his personality to the role but in a way that makes the audience relate with him regardless of his otherworldly beauty. Proving that he has what it takes to be a hero and stand on the stage until the end, he ALWAYS had was it takes. Neige would still exist in his perfect dream world and may still be in the film. Not as a rival/villain, though, but maybe as a supporting character. But with Vil finally getting the recognition he deserves, his dynamic with Neige would likely become healthier over time. 

In both scenarios, Vil would still be compelled to face his overblot phantom but things would be very different than how they went down in canon. After Yuu and co attempt to wake Vil up, he would be taken by the darkness and then come face to face with his phantom but rather than the phantom blaming Neige for everything, it would despair in its ugliness and how he can never be the fairest one of all. Not because of Neige, but because of his “ugly” feelings that compelled him to want to poison Neige in the first place.

Now, I personally feel like Vil’s canon dream is incredibly ooc for him. But if I must accept it, the only way I can interpret it is as being a result of Vil’s more ugly subconscious feelings. His jealousy of Neige and the “ugly” feeling that Neige must be put down in order for Vil to rise on top. That is the ONLY way I can consider this even a little in character for Vil but regardless , in my version, Vil would have to face all of those feelings head on.

Upon seeing his phantom’s sorrow, something would click in Vil that would make him realize that he was never ugly simply for having ugly emotions. That’s what makes him human and he shouldn’t be punished himself for that. Vil would tell his phantom that he’s not ugly and while desiring to poison Neige was abhorrent, that is not who Vil truly is. Reminding himself of the true nobility of his character. However, the phantom would still cry and even try to attack Vil for “lying” to him, attempting to consume Vil in the blot and saying it will consume everything so it can be the fairest one of all.

But this time, Vil would be strong enough to face those ugly emotions and that’s when he would overblot again.

There would still be a fight for gameplay reasons. But instead of Vil realizing he’s a terrible person deep down and “accepting” his dark, evil nature, he would instead comfort the phantom after weakening it. As the phantom fades, it would still weep at its ugliness but Vil would reiterate to him over and over again that he’s not ugly and while doing so, realizing himself that he isn’t ugly either simply for having ugly feelings and desires. What makes a person truly ugly is acting on those ugly emotions. Vil doesn’t have to always be perfect, he just has to be the best person he can be. But in being the best person he can, continually perusing his true definition of beauty, holding on to his values and never compromising them, can Vil truly be the fairest one of all.

Damn…why am I crying?! 😭

That would not only be such a great message but considering how subversive Vil’s overblot was from the start, would be very in keeping with the themes of Vil’s character arc. It would be the first step forward in repairing Vil’s broken self esteem. Unfortunately, this is not what we got but considering how it seems that Vil is still internalizing a lot of toxic things about himself, it’s heartbreaking, but understandable. But I’ll talk more about that in the upcoming addendum.

In the end, Vil is an incredibly tragic and misunderstood character, probably the most misunderstood character in twst after Kalim. And unfortunately, this most recent JP update did little to help his case. But either way, I at least hope I did an adequate job at explaining why. And I hope that in the future, Vil’s complexities are more accepted and acknowledged. By both the fandom and the canon.

[lu-is-not-ok]

While we're psychoanalyzing the EGOs, what are your opinions on Dimensional Shredder? Deffo something on freedom there, but I'm having trouble putting it to words myself.

Alright, another shared E.G.O. Cracks knuckles.

You know the drill, under cut we go.

So let's talk about Wayward Passenger as an abnormality first. It's a representation of the horrible things W Corp puts people through on their WARP trains given form. In a way, that makes it similar to abnormalities like Mountain of Smiling Bodies or CENSORED (if you subscribe to the smoke war monster theory).

The dungeon event in which we meet Wayward Passenger is especially telling in what themes it wants to carry. The narration mentions that the corporation responsible for disappearance will simply pretend that this person never existed. The reveal that the Passenger was actually a W Corp employee further adds to this.

(Also, random tangent, but am I the only one that got reminded of Bongcheon-Dong Ghost by this abno's event? Something about having to point a terrifying monster in a direction away from you and hope it doesn't come back just brought back memories. At least the Passenger has enough manners to not jumpscare you.)

When it comes to the abnormality itself, Wayward Passenger carries themes of corporate exploitation and negligence, specifically in the way W Corp might find its employees expendable and doesn't care about inflicting suffering upon its clients as long as they profit from it.

There are also some themes of abandonment and being lost, but also tenacity in spite of it. Despite not being able to escape, Wayward Passanger still searches for a way out and never stops moving forward.

So. With all that being said. How does it all tie back to Hong Lu and Yi Sang, as they are the ones with Dimension Shredder?

Thanks to Canto IV we now know that Yi Sang absolutely fits under the exploited by corporate greed umbrella. It's a major theme of his whole chapter in fact! The themes of being lost are also reflected in Yi Sang's aimlessness after the League collapsed. He was completely lost and effectively abandoned by everyone except Gubo, only to be further exploited by even more corporate greed.

Hell, you could even say his character arc in his Canto represents that tenacity in spite of being lost I mentioned. Though his goal might not be all that clear, he still wants to keep going and keep moving forward, no matter what.

When it comes to Hong Lu, we don't have nearly as much information... But we can speculate! I think in this case the "corporate exploitation" is less literally corporate, but still applicable. I'm talking about Hong Lu's family, of course. Though we don't know much, we do get quite a few hints about his family exploiting him for their own gain, especially now that we're getting a Hong Lu ID that is quite literally based on the idea of paralleling that part of him with Actual Corporate Exploitation!

With how cagey Hong Lu is about the deeper parts of his past, and how hard it is to tell when he's being genuine, it's honestly hard to pinpoint any of the other themes onto him.

However, we could work a little bit backwards here and see how Wayward Passenger might apply to Hong Lu's recurring themes of freedom.

In that way, we could be onto something here. Wayward Passenger is no longer under W Corp's protection, if it ever was. It's lost and abandoned by the thing that was supposed to be protecting it... But on the other hand, it is free now. W Corp can't reach it anymore. It can go wherever it wants and nothing will stop it.

If you want to translate that to how that might apply to Hong Lu, then you could interpret that as a sign that Hong Lu can only attain "true" freedom by severing ties with the thing exploiting him, aka his family... At the cost of losing the comfort and protection they offered him, as little as it may have been.

You could say that idea is reflected in Tingtang Hong Lu. Yes, he is probably the most free when it comes to authority bearing down on him compared to all his other IDs. ...But he's also a gambler living in the Backstreets leading a gang so incompetent he has to threaten them with death to keep them in line. He may be free, but his life is far from comfortable.

...I think it's funny that I already wrote that much and I haven't even touched the actual E.G.Os themselves, whoops! Let's go do that.

First thing to note about Dimension Shredder is that its damage type is Pride, especially since Yi Sang's version doesn't even *require* Pride resources. In fact, Dimension Shredder is the only non-base E.G.O that deals Pride damage.

To go a little bit deeper into that, all of the base E.G.O that deal Pride damage seem to imply taking an action while ignoring the consequences that might follow them. Rodion's What Is Cast is the most obvious example here, representing her murder of the pawnbroker without considering how the Middle would react to one of their family being killed. Likewise, Outis, Meursault, and Faust seem to carry similar ideas. Outis reminding herself of the Odyssey's purpose, as if trying to cope with the unforseen consequences of her actions. Meursault acting out despite noting how doing so only tightens the chains of those judging him. Faust opening herself to knowledge and possibilities regardless of what it may do.

In a way, that is what Pride is at its core. Performing actions purely because of what benefit they bring to oneself, without considering the drawbacks and consequences.

There's a couple of ways we could interpret that with Dimension Shredder.

For one, we could zoom back out to what Wayward Passenger represents. Dimension Shredder being a Pride E.G.O could be signifying the Pride inherent in corporate exploitation. By its very nature, it's an action done purely for the corporation's benefit, without considering the consequences on other people.

The other is a bit more directly applicable to Yi Sang and Hong Lu themselves. It could represent how they, and the abnormality included, continue moving forward regardless of what may stand in their way. Regardless what the consequences may be for doing so.

During the attack animations for both Dimension Shredder Awakenings, we see Yi Sang and Hong Lu enter a dimensional rift they make, with both of them notably hesitating before doing so. Judging by Hong Lu's expression when he exits the rift, it's not exactly a pleasant experience. And yet, they both do it anyway. The benefit of continuing to move outweighs the damage it may inflict on them, so they ignore the consequences. I think it kinda points to my second interpretation above.

When it comes to Sin Resources, both Yi Sang and Hong Lu require Gluttony, but while Hong Lu requires Pride, Yi Sang requires Sloth. Let's dissect it one at a time.

Gluttony in Limbus Company has two meanings, in my opinion. On one hand, there's the Greed-adjacent aspect, where it represents the want for more and more. This neverending need for growth, for consumption, for progress. On the other hand, when it's seen in a more sympathetic light, it can represent the actions one commits for the sake of one's own Survival.

When it comes to Dimension Shredder, I think it's a little bit of both for both Hong Lu and Yi Sang. They both need Gluttony to survive in an environment where they're actively being exploited, but at the same time they need Gluttony to keep moving further and further forward, to keep making progress endlessly.

For the other Resources that each of them uses, I think it specifically represents what part of them is what allows them to be easily exploited by those above them.

Sloth for Yi Sang represents his apathy and passiveness. He gets exploited because he doesn't care enough about himself to fight back against it. Why bother? It doesn't matter, everything and everyone else was exploited, so why stand up to being exploited yourself? While this is something that Yi Sang starts to come out of by the end of Canto IV, I doubt it's a habit that will be easy for him to break just like that.

The fact that Pride is a resource here for Hong Lu paints his passiveness when being exploited under a different light. He doesn't buckle because he's apathetic like Yi Sang, it's because he believes that the benefits of letting himself be exploited outweigh the drawbacks enough to ignore them. If we apply this to his family exploiting him, it paints a pretty vivid picture. Sure, he is being used and hurt by his family, but just accepting that it happens means he still gets to enjoy the comfort and "love" they give him. Because what happens if he stands up to them? He likely gets punished. He loses that comfort he relies on. So he'd rather just bear the pain and pretend everything is okay, because the alternative is far worse.

Now, let's examine the dialogue lines, because I think they are very interesting with all of that analysis behind us.

For starters, I think for both Dimension Shredder users, their Awakening lines are a reflection of their coping mechanism in the face of being exploited being pushed to its absolute limits.

Yi Sang's Awakening line is a reflection of how he tries to throw himself into research and scholarly pursuits as a form of escapism from his reality. Whether it's his activities with the League, or his dependency on the Mirror, we see in Canto IV that he turns to acting the part of a researcher when faced with corporate exploitation.

Likewise, while using Dimension Shredder he makes notes of his surroundings like a researcher traversing the space. Noting the enchanting colors and how he can't memorize the path he's on. However, his tone of voice is a lot more... manic? It's emotional, seemingly entranced by what he's seeing. I think it signifies how, when pushed to his limits, Yi Sang would completely throw himself into his research, to a perhaps almost obsessive degree.

Hong Lu's Awakening line on the other hand reflects how he tries to keep a happy tone regardless of the circumstances. His defense mechanism is hiding what he's truly feeling behind a mask of smiles and jokes.

Tingtang and Kurokumo Hong Lu are probably the best examples of this. While having a constant jovial tone, Tingtang Hong Lu is an utter piece of shit only using kindness as a thin veil to hide his actual intentions. Kurokumo Hong Lu on the other hand uses a somewhat polite tone despite the fact he clearly does not respect anyone. It's even more obvious with the latter when you examine his post-uptie illustration more closely. While he wears a smile on his face, the veins shown on the hand clutching his sword say that he's not as calm as he seems.

While using Dimension Shredder, Hong Lu tries to keep up his smiling facade... Except this time, he fails. At his very limit, he's too worn down and tired of the abuse to pretend he's fine. The words do come out, but he can't make them sound the way he wants to anymore. The mask finally cracks under the pressure.

Matching with how the Awakening lines share a specific theme, the Corrosion lines do as well. Dimension Shredder Corroded dialogue lines all seem to express some form of realization that they are finally free.

Yi Sang's Corrosion line describes how the alley he's going down does in fact have an exit. It's an open one. Not only is it a reference to Poem No. 1 from Crow's Eye View, but the way Yi Sang speaks it is very interesting here. His tone is fully confident, and even seems to lack the usual tired breathiness that Yi Sang usually has.

Good thing I'm writing this after Canto IV has come out, because... All of that is reflected in Yi Sang's character arc. He does realize that the alley is open. He does realize he can keep moving forward. And, most importantly, he does gain the confidence to not let himself be stopped.

With all of that context, let's look at Hong Lu's Corrosion line. His dialogue line expresses how nobody (or nothing) is forcing him to "be located there", causing him to fall into a fit of gasping laughter. There is something. Incredibly disturbing about this line to me. It's this dichotomy between Hong Lu hesitantly realizing that he's no longer stuck, that nobody is ordering him around anymore, and his downright histerical sounding delivery.

Since we don't have Hong Lu's Canto just yet, I can't do the same comparison as I did with Yi Sang... But I could try to predict what Hong Lu's Canto could end on if we assume this line is foreshadowing it the same way Yi Sang's was.

I think Canto 8 will show us Hong Lu finally break. There will be no more mask to hide behind, just a flood of emotions that had been held back for all of his life. Most importantly though, it won't be pretty. If there's any Sinner who will be in need of emotional catharsis through a mental breakdown boss battle, Hong Lu seems like the perfect candidate for that. Either that or Hong Lu just straight up fucking murders someone on screen. Ideally both.

There's probably more I can analyze based on the visual designs of the E.G.O... But honestly this already got way fucking longer than the Roseate Desire analysis so I'll just leave you with the mental image of me chanting Hong Lu Commit Fratricide.

[alpaca-clouds]

Some thoughts on Nocturne

Okay, we finally have a trailer and some actual information on the show, I think it is kinda fun to speculate, right? And just have some thoughts. No, scratch that: Actually I got a lot of thoughts. Even though barely anything is confirmed.

Firstly: Yeah, let's face it, it does not look like there is a ton of plot tonna survive from the two games inspiring it. Which undoubtedly will once again leave the game fans angry. But even though I enjoyed the heck out of Symphony of the Night (still gotta play Rondo full), I still think it is kinda a good thing. Because most Castlevania games are fairly light on story. Which - I said this before - is okay. It is totally okay for a videogame to be like: "Slay big monster." But if you want to translate it into a more narrative focused medium, you gotta change stuff.

I was originally kinda sceptical about the entire French Revolution thing for two reasons. 1) Well, technically I doubt that the French Revolution is still gonna happen after how the first series ended. But that might just be me. 2) Western Media, but American Media especially sucks when it comes to portrayels of the French Revolution as it usually goes back to the "There were good people on both sides!" kinda outlook, that does not really get the revolution and everything that was going on.

Funnily enough the thing that made me a bit more optimistic on this point is just them making Annette Black and from what I gather from that preview article released two days someone who has escaped slavery. I mean, game!Annette is just the usual passive kinda woman for the most part. And this is... definitely more interesting than that.

Especially given there is also another detail that nobody seems to acknowledge: Outside of showrunner Clive Bradley, all the episode writers (Temi Oh, Testament and Zodwa Nyoni) are Black. Which kinda seems like a very conscious choice. And given that the French Revolution does not get the credit it deserves as an abolition movement and something that definitely also helped to lead to the Haitain Revolution, I start to get my hopes up that they are gonna actually work with that aspect of the (hi)story.

One thing that is also interesting to me - though also kinda iffy - is the thing with Orlox and Richter's mother.

Iffy because it makes Richter join the ranks of Castlevania protagonists at least partly inspired by the death of a woman. What is it with this franchise and that fucking refrigirating warehouse filled with women?! I mean, Jesus, you people are aware that man can actually be inspired to do stuff for other reasons than a woman dying, right?!

But... We also know that Orlox does not seem to be the main antagonist, but apparently is someone who ends up making uneasy allies with Richter and Co., which kinda makes me hope that there is actually gonna be a bit more nuance to this than it appears at first glance.

Orlox says in the trailer that Richter's mom killed someone very dear to him (honestly, if this is gonna be another refrigerated woman, I am gonna flip a fucking table, though I guess I also do not want buried gays) and a part of me kinda hopes that it might go into the direction I brought up concerning my Belmont family headcanon with this discussing the idea of "killing all vampires is kinda bad, too".

Another thing about Orlox is, too, that he is not white. I read him as Black originally, but given that he is voiced by Zahn McClarnon, who is indigenous, I am gonna assume Orlox here is of Indigenous heritage. Which is gonna make for an interesting storybeat, given that in the series so far we had non-white vampires, yes, but... none of them had much in terms of story, let alone even voicelines.

Especially given another thing...

Given from what we see in the trailer, there definitely is gonna be a theme of "nobility = vampires" going on here. We can only guess about how much of it being like actual: "Oh, yeah, all nobles are vampires!" But there are definitely gonna be some vampires nobles opposed to the revolution. That seems to be pretty clear.

Aaaaaand... that makes me wonder, whether or not there is actually gonna be some commentary about the different ranks within vampire society.

Let me explain: All vampires with voicelines (or, heck, NAMES) within the original Castlevania series were nobles of some sort. It was what in other franchises would be called Vampire Lords. Well, with the exception of Ratko, that is, who explicitly is a soldier. Most of the vampire soldiers are just faceless characters with the same four designs repeating over and over. They are just the canon fodder who dies, when the heroes need their action scenes. But... That always made me wonder what vampire society actually looked like for these people.

And given the time this is now set in... and that Orlox is apparently indigenous... I kinda doubt that he is a vampire lord, given the times. If we have the vampire nobility being actual nobility... They gotta be racist, right?

Maybe I am just conjecturing too much here. But... That would actually make for an interesting idea.

Also, also... In the original show there is not a single Black or Arabian vampire. Which is also... interesting. Just saying.

We also know that the main antagonist seems to be Erzsebet Báthory (rather than Shaft or Dracula, though obviously this could also be the trailer trying to mislead us).

Fun Fact: Did you know that there is two vampires in the Castlevania games based on historical serial killers, who these days are both presumed to have been innocent? (Bathory and de Rais.)

This is something where I am super interested to see, where they are going to go with the character. Because there definitely is this historical assumption these days that she might have been innocent - and man would that make for a more interesting character than her being actually just a child murderer.

We so far see too little of her to really speculate much. But I definitely find it interesting that they have chosen her as the antagonist.

Also... There is this whole thing of Vampire Messiah and all of that going on and blocking out the sun and what not. And I kinda do wonder if anyone is gonna go like: "Uhm, yeah, without a sun we cannot grow shit and everyone is gonna starve, including vampires!"

Other more short form thoughts:

We see this night creature apparently saving Annette from a vampire or other night creature. What's up with that? Or is it even a night creature? We definitely see night creatures in that big eclipse scene, but there issomething else that might be going on here. Because...

Admittedly, the one vampire I have trouble placing in my theory is this one. She does seem to be on the side of Bathory in this based on everything we see in the trailer. From all I can find, she does not have a name as far as I could find. But she does fight Annette and all of that. And she definitely is Black, making me wonder what her story is.

BUUUUUT... If you look at her full design in the scene where she is fighting Annette, she looks remarkably like the night creature saving Annette in the above screenshot. So...

We see those masked figures in the trailer, with the clear implication that they are vampires. And last night (well, European night that is) someone on one of the servers was like: "Hey, is the blond masked guy Alucard with short hair?" And I originally brushed it off. But... I also think now they might be right, because he has normal ears and not poity vampire ears. And that is only something we saw in Alucard so far (not that we see a ton of his ears - which made me to always assume for my fics he has pointy ears, but I crossreferenced the models and yeah, no, Alucard has normal ears). So, either this is Alucard... or some other dhampir. Probably not a full-blooded vampire though.

In this one shot of what seems to be Annette using her magic, we see that she has a Fleur-de-lis either painted, tattooed or branded on her right hand. And I gotta wonder what is up with that. Given that she is a freed/runaway slave, I do wonder whether she has some ties to the royal family in one way or another?

We do see Maria summon what clearly looks like Byakku. And I am wondering how they are gonna go about Maria's powerset. Because it is another thing were the games do not have a ton of story happening. She summons beasts that are strictly linked to East Asian mythology, even though she is not from East Asia because of... reasons. I certainly hope she is gotta get more of a reason to do so here. (Especially given her entire Ninja-thing in Symphony, that made about as much sense lol Please note: I love game!Maria. It is just kinda a hilarious "Japanese games will do this" thing to me.)

We do not see a ton of Tera using magic in the trailer. Buuuuut in this scene she uses ice magic and definitely uses the same hand sign for it Sypha uses. She also vaguely has the same color scheme (blue and black) as the speakers do. And the same blue eyes like Sypha. Is she related to the speakers somehow? (And given the role that the Romani people also kinda had in terms of the revolution: Will we just stick with the speakers taking over the roles of Sinti and Roma?)

What is going on in this scene?

I mean, we definitely see Richter using magic in the trailer (which still makes a ton of sense to me, given he is gonna be as much of a descendent of Sypha as he is of Trevor). But this... does kinda seem as if he might have something more than just normal magic going on there.

Also: I just adore that half of the trailer Richter is crying. Someone hug this poor boy.

Finally: I sure hope it will keep up the gay levels of the series so far xD

[piracytheorist]

Is there a scene in the Spy x Family anime that you wish was in the manga, or vice versa?

Hmmm... honestly, I'm quite satisfied with what I've been seeing so far, considering I'm one of the very few that go anime-to-manga instead of the opposite. It's always a surprise when I read the respective manga chapter of the episode I just watched, and to see that something was added in the anime.

Of course, my top favourite addition is the over-the-top Loidman adventure in episode 5. However, I don't believe it misses from the manga; it's just as ridiculous (affectionate) as it is, the anime simply took advantage of its animation perks to bring it to a different level. Similar is the scene of Yor bringing Anya's gym clothes to her, I even remember watching it and going like "I wonder how that goes in the manga" and being surprised that it was an original part! Again, in this part, there was a lot of focus on the over-the-top action and movement, something that the anime can use much more easily.

So I don't think I have an anime-only scene that I miss from the manga. As for vice versa, I wouldn't say it's the lack of a scene, more like how they make some expressions less... passionate.

In the manga, Loid here looks nearly desperate, surprised, out of his depth. In the anime, his expression is more neutral, more reserved, like he feels more confused than anything else. And the point of that moment is for him to actually feel out of his depth, until Yor offers a helping hand.

I'd dare say this is one of the worst offenders, if not the worst offender. I understand why the anime team avoided showing Twilight too worried for Nightfall, as they probably feared it would make audiences think that Oh No Twilight Doesn't Love Yor Because He Showed One (1) Iota of Care for Another Woman!! Is Nightfall Gonna Break Them Apart???!... which, let's be honest, is a totally valid fear to have. Endo makes it crystal clear that Nightfall has no hope as a romantic rival, but audiences can be really thick and stupid, especially when it comes to (even potential) love triangles.

Still, that "neutering" of his expression takes away from his characterization. Twilight is a deeply empathetic person, and seeing Nightfall so upset makes him truly worried. He is Nightfall's mentor and whether he has control over it or not, he cares for her feelings. And this can happen platonically, for the love of fuck, romance isn't the only nor the holiest of connections a person can have with someone else. So for the sake of "protecting" the audience's secure feelings for twiyor, they ended up making Twilight look like an ignoramus.

Again, I get it. But I can love twiyor and have my Twilight be empathetic towards people that aren't his wife or daughter, you know?

Another, subtler but still striking change. Look at that worried eyebrow in the manga, we only see half his face yet we clearly see how touched he is by (what he thinks are) Bond's motives. In the anime, this is really dulled down. It's only the barely visible blush that makes him look a little touched.

Overall, I believe the anime does a great job translating Endo's expressions, from the emotional ones to the subtle ones to the ridiculous ones. But if I were to be asked, I'd change those examples (there might be a few others, but these were the first that came to mind) and make them closer to the manga.

There are, however, a few changes in the pacing that hit the spot perfectly right. One example I'm thinking of is from Chapter 35/Episode 24:

In the manga, it's straightforward. Loid sees Yor's reaction to what happened, he's thinks of his mother, and he shares the memory with Yor.

This gif was sped up to fit in the gifset I made, but notice how there's pauses for Twilight to go from one expression to the other. There's even one moment of him looking to his bottom right, and there's a very interesting correlation to lateral eye movement here.

Per this graph, he's remembering a feeling/sensation. The feeling of calmness he felt in his mother's presence.

The anime takes time to show him go from realizing that Yor feels bad, to feeling guilty himself and wanting to placate her worries, to remembering his own feelings about his mother, to wondering if he should share that memory, to deciding to share it.

So I feel the anime team knows very well what they're doing, and they respect the original material enough to make additions that bring the story and characters to a whole new, precious level. But, I don't doubt that they're terribly overworked and underpayed, so sometimes things can slip through. I don't blame them, in any case.

Not directed at the asker, but if you feel like shitting on the anime, this is not an invitation to do so on my post. Make your own and leave me out of it.

(Anime only (or anime first?) fan here, don't spoil me for the manga)

[natureismynature]

I'm finally home and ready to talk about The Book!!

So, this book I've been talking about was found by Roier yesterday when he was looking for Cellbit in the castle. I don't think anyone thought much of it since Grandma's room is kind of a hotspot for almost all of Foolish's pranks. But I'm telling you, this one is NOT a prank. Especially not when said book was found accompanied by a VERY illegal gun.

Now. Here's the contents of the book.

i hope this finds the right person... hide it for now, be careful who you tell.

7 space 27

no one suspects a thing

that was a giant middle finger... asshole

no meaning. just for fun :D

3000 cielo 0

could someone find this first (alternatively: someone could find this first)

Ok, now that we've laid that all down, I'm gonna start rambling and theorizing under the cut

If you guys remember, Forever tried to barter Foolish's gun for his silence/lesser aggression. But Foolish told him he already had other plans for the gun... and I guess this was it.

I suspect he did this during that time Aypierre was doing a 24-hour stream and he randomly logged on. He usually logs on offline nowadays if he was hiding something from chat and other people... anyway, that's not the point! The point is the binary code on the first page and whatever the hell that was on the last.

The binary code translated to "7 space 27" which means. Literally nothing. Or DOES it?

Because I refuse to believe Foolish just randomly typed out binary code on a secret book handing over his gun to whoever finds it (most likely assumed to be Cellbit) which ACTUALLY translates to something. So I dug around and bullshitted my way to find a SOMEWHAT acceptable conclusion because I am not delusional and will never be as smart as Cellbit.

Keep in mind I have no fucking clue how enigmas work and used a chart for this bullshit. Specifically this one:

According to this chart, if we take the translated code and refer to them as our decimals, we've got 7 and 27 to look at. Now, if we look at our decimals' rows, we will get BEL and ESC as our ASCII symbols.

I searched up what they meant and they are literally:

BEL - bell, alert

ESC - escape

Now if we take those and complete the "sentence" that was there originally it would become "Alert space Escape" which is... something... but don't quote me on this, I could be 100% wrong.

But enough of that because my brain is already mush. Let's check the next one!

Next one being "3000 cielo 0"

I looked up what cielo meant, and it had various different meanings, but the common denominator was that it was high up. (i.e. sky, heaven, roof) But it could also be used as a term of endearment like mi cielo (my heaven) or something along those lines. And 3000 is some kind of angel number or something that means love and stuff.

My immediate thought upon searching up these two is the phrase "I love you 3000" but I might be grasping straws here. This might just be cords to a place somewhere up high with 3000 and 0 as the x and y axis. But you know, I like to make things harder for me.

Honestly, if you're still here and reading this paragraph, then I applaud you for being smart enough to understand whatever the hell I just wrote down.

There are two wolves inside me. One that thinks Foolish didn't really mean anything by these codes and the other that KNOWS he's smart enough to do this (AND would absolutely get help from the admins if he didn't)

[runabout-river]

Thoughts on JJK chapter 237 (spoilers)

(First, read the fan translation from this site)

We get right into the battle with immediate interference from Uraume who comes down on an ice block, but then another person makes another interferes and traps Uraume in a DE. Hakari talks about a promise there and I think that was about ensuring that Kashimo can fight Sukuna unhindered.

Out of that block of ice, Sukuna brings out a cursed weapon but not any cursed weapon: it's the gift Yorozu had made him with her life in exchange. It's in the image of Sukuna's old weapon and it's ability seems to be about generating lightning.

This weapon is one of the failsafes that Sukuna had kept back in his fight against Gojo in anticipation of the heavy hitters from the good side attacking him next. Kashimo isn't really on the good side and I wonder how much Kenjaku and Sukuna had planned for him appearing here.

(Favourite theory on that Kamutoke is that Tsumiki mixed her own soul into the creation of it (like Mai) and with that she'll be able to communicate with Megumi later on as long as Sukuna uses that weapon)

Kashimo has a resistance to Kamutoke's lighting ability due to his cursed energy trait. The theme of being lonely at the top comes back, this time with Kashimo who tries to relate to Sukuna on some level. And for the first time, we get a glimpse at Sukuna's past.

He says he was a scorned/unwanted child and that he doesn't know if he always was the strongest or not. Fascinating past. Was he already born strange with the predisposition to become the strongest (like Gojo) or was he an average child that became the strongest through will power and gear? (I'm hoping for the latter.)

Without much waiting, Kashimo activates his CT, which lets him transform his entire body into all phenomena relating to electricity. Sonic boom and electromagnetic waves among others. At some point this CT will destroy his body completely and he's most likely on a timer right now because of it.

Presumably Kashimo had never activated his CT before. That he knows what it is is probably thanks to family members that died because of it. Honestly, I hope that he survives somehow because Kashimo is quite the funny character if you ask me.

Another failsafe that Sukuna had in store for the others, was his transformation into his original self. This transformation automatically heals all of his wounds (I counted 24 panels, the entire chapter, where Sukuna hadn't been able to heal his eye and left hand before this). The brain damage he received from Gojo is probably healed now as well, meaning that Kashimo will have to face Sukuna's DE.

But will that DE be effective against Kashimo? Right now his body is in flux and can you cut lightning? Even with the evolved form of Dismantle I don't think that Sukuna will have an easy time cutting Kashimo at all. Also, as long as Sukuna's CE reserves didn't get a boom with that transformation, he'll still be extremely low on that front.

But now to the Gojo question. I see this chapter as one that sets up some things:

Kashimo/Sukuna fight

Hakari/Uraume fight

First interference from outside forces

The continuation of the Shinjuku Showdown

Kashimo's CT

Sukuna's original form

B-plot that might play parallel to the Sukuna fight

All of these don't leave much room for anything else but still it's extremely telling that we didn't get a single panel of anyone else mourning or being shocked about Gojo's apparent death. Not even Kenjaku. And not even another panel with Gojo.

There are now multiple strong theories out there for why Gojo will survive and I'm still of the same opinion especially with the setup of this chapter. But we'll still need time to tell.

Further notes on Sukuna and his true form:

What does this mean for Megumi? It's not like Megumi is dead, he's still in the abyss, maybe mourning his hand at killing his teacher or still recovering from Unlimited Void. But for his future?

A long time ago, I made the theory that Megumi can activate his DE through short control of Sukuna's arms and that he can clone himself into Chimera Shadow Garden through his shadows. That scenario just gained some points in coming true at this point.

But there is also my theory that Megumi will turn into a curse and, if we're going with good scenarios, that he or someone else (like Angel's Jacob's Ladder attack) will reverse the transformation and give him his body back.

About the transformation, Kashimo too can probably heal himself one last time before dying 🤔

Poll results: half of you believe that Gojo will survive.

[hatredmadeofgold]

I'm a terrible person with words, but here I go. (using a translator, my English is a little shit when it comes to writing and a little bit when it comes to pronunciation, ha!)

I would like to say with ALL my heart that I love your work and the writing in "Sing to Me", my heartbeat even accelerates when I remember the existence of this work of art and how wonderful the sensation was, the euphoric feeling of read each chapter and see all the care and dedication put into it. I have immense affection for Raiden, Sam (and Monsoon :)). Seeing how complex they are in the story brings me immense satisfaction, and I just wish all the positive recognition for you, it's impeccable.

(There's a lot I'd like to express, like my hyperfocus- but hey, I'm a terrible person at showing appreciation and affection, I hope you got the message anyway :))

hugs and kisses from a Brazilian! 🇧🇷❤

Oi, não se preocupa! Não sou falante nativo, mas entendi muito bem. Da próxima vez, você pode me escrever em pt-br (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

Thank you so much!! I am really happy to know that you enjoy my work 💕 Honestly, every time someone tells me that they enjoy Sing to Me so much, I am getting really happy. This fic means a lot to me and gives me lots of strength and stability, although on the outside it might look that I am not doing much for it for the past year (I do, it's just background work that I can't show T_T massive spoilers and so on). But I mean, I kept saying that each time somebody came to my inbox about it for the last months.

And I am so glad to know that you're feeling like this for each chapter you've read so far! This fic in itself is really complex and long, I could give you a rough estimate of around ~100 Chapters for the main story (Those would be just arc 1-3, the series, however, has 6 arcs in total excluding the 2 AUs). Sooo... let me say, you've got a lot to look forward to, I suppose :3

Also I hope that you'll be curious about the revisions too. Chapter 5 and 6 will have a darker tone than their current version that is on AO3 at the moment, but also will be much better in quality. Chapter 6 will have major changes I think, especially the second halve of it. I am all giddy and excited myself whenever I think about all the plans I have for this story. The drama, the comedy, the (bitter-) sweetness, but also the chaos, the pain and the darker parts of this fic. I wish I could go on a ramble but it's so many spoilers lmao And I don't want to take that away from my readers. If anything, I might drop a few essays about Raiden and Sam that I've got on my to-do list at some point, that in some cases will directly tie to Sing to Me as well.

The series also goes in great detail about Sam's past and who he is as a person because I was a bit dissatisfied with how most fics for this pairing at least that I've read didn't come up with much for his past (but I still liked all of them regardless), hence I went a little bit insane about him. To the point that Sam is technically my OC now (according to my beta reader) lmao

Jsyk, this is my current graph view of my Obsidian vault for Sing to Me and all the dots that connect to him:

My vault is an absolute mess still tbh because the program is a bit overwhelming when you don't know where to start, so this is far from how complex this fic actually even is.

What I can tell you pretty much spoiler free is that the series is complex because timeline wise, it starts in the year of 2001 and ends (technically) in the year of 2026. I say technically because ARC3.5: The War in Heaven goes a bit crazy with science fiction elements and time is... let's say, "relative". The main fic spans from 2019 until 2023 btw.

The prequel (ARC0: I Come with Knives) is entirely about Sam's past, from his POV entirely, and a collaboration with @thatthereneverwas since he originally requested me to write it. Basically adding more Sam lore that we definitely need :3

Please don't hesitate to come to my inbox or DMs if you want to chat about Sing to Me, samuraiden or just Sam or Raiden with me! I don't bite :] Monsoon is also my favourite from the Winds of Destruction aside from Sam, so I get you! I've been thinking of maybe including him in the fic as well, but it's uncertain how so yet, and if it will just be a flashback of some sort 🤔 But I take notes as I go, we'll see :3

Beijos pra você também 💞

[sexyleon]

I felt that post of yours about the Dracula fandom and the way it talks about adaptations tbh, like, I'm someone who was very involved in DD last year and I've written critique myself about Dracula adaptations bc I love comparative analysis and really thinking about the choices adaptations make, for good or for ill, but from my personal experience, a lot of fandom commentary on adaptations isn't really thoughtful analysis, and don't get me wrong, I'm a hater sometimes too and enjoying venting, but I noticed that this year, there were so many posts that started out as thoughtful commentary on the book, then launched into bitching about the evils of adaptations out of nowhere, and people can write what they want, but it got tiring after awhile to be in a fandom with so much angry energy, not to mention the divergence in canon vs fanon that was much starker this year that made me feel like I had read a different book.

Also, every time I see people point at re: Dracula to be like, see, it's so easy to do a perfect 1:1 adaptation of the novel, why can't other adaptations do it?, it's like, it's an audiobook, a movie can't be that long, even a television mini-series would have to make cuts. And I might dislike a lot of choices adaptations make, but creatives absolutely have the right to take a public domain work and put their own spin on things beyond book accuracy as the number one goal - and like, do we truly want a 100% accurate adaptation when the novel is still ultimately a xenophobic reverse invasion story? Like, I would hope modern directors would seriously grapple with those aspects of the original story instead of reproducing Victorian bigotry unquestioned.

Hi, thank you for your response! I'm glad that my post resonated with a few people!

I definitely also felt a shift in energy with this season of Dracula Daily, and I'm pretty sure it is a direct result of the phenomena that is Re: Dracula. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE supporter of RE: Dracula, and I found it to be absolutely delightful specifically because it was a 1:1 adaptation of the book, but I also think that it has skewed the way people engage with all the other adaptations of Dracula. You are so right when you say that Re: Dracula's media as audiobook is what allowed it to be so authentic. Even if it was a long-form series, there would have to be creative liberties taken to account for visualising certain aspects of the text. I am 100% sure someone would be able to do it, but it would undoubtedly be a labour of love and expense.

I think the biggest thing that got lost in translation in my post is that I was speaking specifically on the rhetoric of "bad adaptation = bad media." I don't even like to use the term "bad adaptation" because it feels inaccurate and gives the connotation of being holistically terrible; "failed adaptation" or "inauthentic adaptation" seems more apt when discussing how close an adaptation relates to the source material. I think it is unfair for any adaptation to be written off solely on the fact that it does not strictly adhere to the original text. This can be in way of narrative, characterization, theme, etc. I don't think it's fair to say "x adaptation is bad because it ignores x from the text" because that fundamentally dismisses all the other attributes that contribute to whether or not a piece of media is subjectively good (because honestly that's all it is-- subjectivity). Media, especially film and stage, has so many dynamic and moving parts. There are so many attributes that contribute to the success of any one given thing, especially adaptations (which can claim the title with even the loosest references to the source material). I feel like the black and white thinking when it comes to this doesn't really allow for a dialogue to exist between people who enjoy Dracula adaptations for what they are and, forgive me for saying this, book purists.

Understandably, there is criticism against some adaptations that have claimed to follow the source text closely, but very distinctly did not (Ahum, Cappola). However, I think it does everyone a disservice to deny the impact of a lot of these (mostly) films. Someone in the reblogs of my original post did a good breakdown of the origins of the Dracula genre itself, and I think it goes to show that the story of Dracula has a life of its own outside of the pages of Bram Stoker's book.

The most annoying thing about the responses to my initial post was the refusal to believe that anyone was making these comparisons. I really would not have gone out on a limb to rant about this if I hadn't been consistently seeing vent posts in the main tag with mostly negative responses to a lot of different adaptations of Dracula based on the authenticity of them to the text. I admit I was frustrated when I wrote it, but it really was meant to just address the black and white thinking re: failed adaptations making bad media. This is not to say that criticism of adaptations isn't valid, but I think there should be more nuance to this conversation and that's what I wasn't seeing. It's not fun to dive into the broad Dracula tag and find post after post shitting on your favourite media because it isn't like the book.

Sorry this was a bit long! I am just really passionate about Dracula okay!! And I really really really like all the shitty little shows and movies and plays and comics and all other media that comes out of his name (because YES, a lot of adaptations really make vampire synonymous with Dracula and ROLL WITH IT). Vampires are really neat and the Dracula genre of film has been a huge influence on horror media. I think there is a lot to be said when analysing adaptations, but none of it can come from blanket statements against them.

@spider-xan

[archiveikemen]

Abe no Yasuchika Main Story: Loving You END

This is a fan-made translation solely for entertainment purposes with no guaranteed perfection; expect mistakes, grammatical errors, and some creative liberties. All original content and media used belongs to Cybird. Please support the game by buying their stories and playing their games. Reblogs appreciated.

Read this before interacting┊aikm’s Genjiden Glossary

The day talks about the armistice between the Shogunate, Rebel Army, and Imperial Court reached a conclusion.

Yasuchika-san asked me…

Yasuchika: I’m going to ask you the same thing one last time. Just tell me honestly what your choice is, you don't have to worry about me.

(Huh?)

Yasuchika: Do you want to return to Kamakura?

Yasuchika-san was no longer smiling.

He waited for my answer with a serious look in his eyes.

Yuno: I…

I thought hard about it before answering.

Yuno: I’d love to live in Kamakura with the other members of the Shogunate, but…

Yuno: We can still write letters to one another when we’re living apart.

Yuno: Just like how I’ve bonded with my allies at the Okura Castle, I want to foster new friendships and strengthen bonds in Kyōto too.

Yasuchika: — I see.

Yuno: Of course, with you too, Yasuchika-san.

(The bond between Yasuchika-san, Akihito-sama, and Ibuki is a twisted one.)

(I hope that, someday, they can acknowledge one another as allies without hesitation.)

That was something that could only be achieved over time… and that was why this moment of peace was so precious.

Yuno: Erm, please don't restrain yourself from expressing that you’re concerned about me.

Yasuchika: I’m not going to, but… up till now, I’ve been trampling on and destroying your hope, so I’ll be mindful of that.

Yuno: Oh…

Yasuchika: Anyway, let’s do it this way.

Yasuchika: For as long as the armistice is still ongoing, you’re free to visit Kamakura as you please.

Yasuchika: And therefore, as a member of the Imperial Court, I will do everything in my power to maintain this peace and harmony.

Yuno: Yasuchika-san…

(I don't know of any promise that can be more reassuring than this one.)

Yuno: Thank you. Please allow me to help you with that too.

Yasuchika: You’ll be of great help.

Yasuchika: Just having you by my side is enough to give me the strength of a hundred men.

His gaze, as sweet as honey, made me burn up from the inside.

I covered up my embarrassment with a smile.

Yuno: I’m afraid of what might happen if you’re so sweet to me, you know?

Yasuchika: I don’t mind. I’ll take that as a challenge.

(I can tell that he meant what he just said. It's making me so incredibly happy, I’m embarrassed.)

Yasuchika: I might love you way more than you think I do.

Yuno: Hmm… I could say the same.

Yuno: I love y— mmph.

He planted a kiss on my hair, cutting my words off.

Yuno: W-what was that for?

Yasuchika: Hm? Because you’re adorable.

Yasuchika: A shame I didn’t get to hear you say “I love you”, though.

Yasuchika: Can you say it again?

Yuno: I don't mind, although…

(Saying it again feels more embarrassing than the first time.)

Yuno: I love… ah

This time, he kissed me on the lips.

Yasuchika: Oh, I couldn't hear you finish the sentence.

Yuno: Hey… you weren't listening to me in the first place, were you?

I knew that was definitely blushing bright red at that point and turned my face away…

Yasuchika: My bad, my bad. I’ll listen properly this time, so please say it again.

Yasuchika-san flashed me a seductive grin and brought his face closer to mine.

Our foreheads together, we gazed into each other's eyes so close up that our breaths mingled.

Yasuchika: Come on. Let me hear you say it.

Yuno: …

(This is so unfair.)

(His eyes that sparkle only for me, his gentle voice, all of it…)

Yuno: Yasuchika-san.

Yasuchika: Yeah?

Yuno: … I love you a lot.

Yasuchika: … Mm-hm.

Yasuchika-san smiled happily and our lips met…

Yuno: Nn… mm…

His skilled tongue slid through my slightly parted lips as he caressed my hair.

Yuno: Mmph… ah…

I let out a wanton noise as his tongue stimulated the sensitive spot in my mouth.

Our kiss ended with a brief wet sound…

Yasuchika: I love you. With all my heart.

Even the way he exhaled was oozing with sensuality, making my head spin.

Yuno: … I feel like I’ll continue being messed with by you even when we’re lovers.

Yasuchika: I personally think you’re way better than me at doing that.

Yasuchika-san chuckled and took my hand.

Yasuchika: It’s about time we get going.

Yasuchika: There’s going to be a “welcome back” banquet for you tonight.

Yuno: Really!?

Yasuchika: Yup. I just found out about it this morning, His Majesty and Ibuki were the ones who organised it.

(I’m so happy to hear that.)

Looking forward to tonight, I tightly squeezed Yasuchika-san’s hand.

…

That night…

Yuno: I didn’t know Ibuki had a mansion in Kyōto!

Ibuki: Yeah.

Akihito: It’s a convenient place to hold a banquet, because it has plenty of alcohol.

We had a banquet in one of the rooms at a mansion that was located somewhere quiet.

Yasuchika: It’s fine to use Ibuki’s hideout for a banquet but…

I followed Yasuchika-san’s gaze to see what he was looking at…

Kurama: Oi, there isn't enough alcohol.

Tamamo: The snacks here are acceptable. As expected of Sutoku’s refined tastes.

Yasuchika: Why are Tamamo and Kurama here? It’s not that I’m not happy about their presence, though?

Tamamo: I have a contract with Yuno, of course I have the rights to attend a banquet held for her.

Kurama: I wouldn't have shown up if I knew this was Ibuki’s hideout.

Despite having said that, Kurama was filling his cup with sake and showed no intention to stop.

Kurama: Tamamo brought me here, saying that this is where the strong fighters are gathered.

Yuno: Everyone here is strong, excluding myself, so he isn't wrong to say that…

(Akihito-sama may appear to be graceful, but he is said to be able to make use of Ibuki’s powers and his curse to use kotodama.)

Akihito: Are you not strong yourself, Yuno?

Akihito: It’s impressive that you have the ability to absorb a demon’s cursed powers regardless of how strong it is.

Yuno: No, that’s not…

I hurriedly shook my head, Kurama’s red eyes sharpened.

Kurama: That’s bullshit. Even if their powers have been taken away, they can easily crush her using physical force.

(S-scary.)

Ibuki: You’re so naive, Kurama.

Kurama: What?

Ibuki: Yuno may have weak physical appearance, but a couple of words from her is enough to sway Yasuchika.

(Now that’s clearly an exaggeration.)

Yasuchika: I mean, I’ll surely do my best for Yuno-san.

Kurama: …

Kurama stared at me without blinking.

Yuno: W-What?

Kurama: I don't get it. Yasuchika is the only human being who can waltz into the underworld whenever he wants to and do as he pleases.

Kurama: You’re a very mediocre woman, and yet someone like him is this obsessed with you.

(I can’t say anything because that’s true.)

Ibuki: Naive.

Tamamo: Naive, indeed.

Akihito: So naive.

Yasuchika: Too naive.

(Hm?)

Kurama: What.

Everyone besides Kurama and I said the same thing.

Yasuchika: Yuno-san is a lot more powerful than you think, Kurama.

Yasuchika: I strongly advise against making an enemy of her.

Akihito: And because she harbours no ill intentions, she's able to easily find her way into people's hearts without them realising it.

Ibuki: That’s because Yuno can see through a person’s true nature.

(What’s going on with this series of backhanded compliments…)

Kurama: I still don’t get it. Can I torture this lass a little to confirm everything you all said about her?

Yuno: Absolutely not!

I quickly spoke up to break the tension.

Yuno: You are all exaggerating. I’m only an ordinary apothecary with no special abilities.

Kurama: We’ll find that out soon enough.

Having lost interest in the topic, Kurama finished the sake in his cup.

Tamamo: Personally, I can’t figure out why would Yuno pick Yasuchika.

Yasuchika: That’s mean.

Tamamo: You only get to speak after you’ve reflected on what you've done.

Tamamo directed his gaze back at me

Tamamo: Yuno. Is he really the right man for you?

Tamamo: Based on what I think — if you’re going to choose a human being, a man like Yoritomo would be a good choice.

Yasuchika: …!

(Yoritomo-sama!?)

Yuno: Even if he’s only being used as an example, that’s still quite scary…

Tamamo: Is it? Although he has a slight flaw which is his habit of prioritising official matters over his personal life… Yoritomo is a capable and fair man.

Tamamo: Once the two of you become romantic partners, he will definitely never hurt you or put you in uncomfortable situations.

Yasuchika: …

Yasuchika-san had been silent for some time, and I sensed his uneasiness when I met his eyes.

(This is embarrassing to say, but… I should say it properly.)

Yuno: Yoritomo-sama is indeed a person of outstanding character, and I naturally have great respect for him.

Yuno: But the only person I ever want to be in love with… is Yasuchika-san.

Yuno: I remained fond of him even after my memories were taken away. Yasuchika-san is the only one I love, no one else.

Yasuchika: — Yuno-san.

I nodded firmly at Yasuchika-san, who sat there with his eyes slightly widened in surprise.

Tamano: … I see.

Tamamo: Yasuchika.

Tamamo: Be careful on moonless nights. I don't have confidence in my ability to hold myself back from sneaking an attack on you.

Kurama: …! Tamamo, come at me first if a fight is what you want.

Ibuki: Things will get messy, just be quiet.

Without saying a word, Kurama sent a wind blade flying towards Ibuki’s throat.

Ibuki skillfully deflects it with his sword.

(That was so dangerous!)

Everyone, except for me, remained calm as if it were a regular occurrence; and so I refrained from screaming.

(Spending time with Yasuchika-san seems to have trained me for such situations…)

Yasuchika: Nevertheless — Tamamo, you’re nasty for deliberately bringing up Yoritomo-sama’s name.

Tamamo: Occasionally experiencing something undesirable isn’t such a bad thing, you know.

Yasuchika-san smiled wryly and turned his gaze back onto me.

Yasuchika: Thanks, Yuno-san.

Yasuchika: I’ll do my best to become a man worthy of your feelings.

Ibuki: That’s a very heartwarming declaration, but there are plenty of other issues in Kyōto that require fixing first.

Kurama: Speaking of which, didn’t those cowardly Onmyōji underlings of yours run away?

Yasuchika: That’s correct, but a few have returned and asked to restart their training from scratch.

Yasuchika: I was a little surprised to hear that, so I did a reassessment of them.

Tamamo: … You’re too used to being surrounded by useless people.

(Yasuchika-san’s subordinates were overly reliant on him…)

I couldn’t help but agree with Tamamo’s statement, after recalling the time I spent assisting Yasuchika-san in dealing with ayakashi in Kyōto.

Ibuki: He doesn't realise that he sacrificed himself more than he trampled upon other people. You’re surprisingly quite cute, Yasuchika.

Yasuchika: Can you not talk as if you know me very well?

Yasuchika-san shot Ibuki with an icy glare.

Yasuchika: Back to the topic…

Yasuchika: I’m actually thinking of opening up the Onmyō Bureau to not only the children from noble families, but to commoners as well.

Yuno: Really!?

(It’d be great if people who aren't born into nobility could have the opportunity to serve in the imperial court.)

Tamamo: Would someone who has never experienced the world of the nobles be able to survive in the imperial court?

Yasuchika: I’m planning to form a specialised educational institution that not only teaches Onmyō techniques, but also culture and principles of governance.

Yasuchika: It’ll be a place where people and children from all walks of life can learn and grow.

Yuno: Wow! I like the sound of that.

Yasuchika: Children who possess large amounts of spiritual power often struggle because no one understands them.

Yasuchika: Even if they decide not to become an Onmyōji in the future, it’d benefit them to know how to control their abilities.

(Yasuchika-san himself grew up in a toxic and dysfunctional environment…)

(I’m confident that he can guide those children to a path of righteousness and kindness.)

Kurama: So a bunch of people who can’t use their powers without receiving training. Boring.

Yuno: I think that’s the case for most ordinary individuals…

Tamamo: Won’t the nobles have objections, though?

Akihito: Their objections won't be tolerated.

The look in Akihito-sama’s eyes was both elegant and unsettling at the same time.

Akihito: Since Yasuchika has expressed his determination to carry out this plan, I will do whatever I can to silence anyone who may be against it.

(Akihito-sama…)

Akihito: Although, as much as I’d like to say that, there actually aren’t many court nobles at the moment who can criticise Yasuchika.

Akihito: After all, he’s the most powerful Onmyōji in all of history, who even controlled the Four Gods.

Ibuki: Previously, Akihito held real power behind the scenes, but he didn't have complete control over the upper ranks of the court.

Ibuki: Those who took advantage of that and burdened Yasuchika with unreasonable demands should be shaking in their sandals by now.

Yasuchika: I have quite an impressive job position, but I’ll put it to full use for as long as it lasts.

(All this time, Yasuchika-san remained calm and fulfilled his duties well while in a stressful environment.)

(From now on, I hope the imperial court becomes a place where Yasuchika-san can feel at ease.)

Akihito: — Yasuchika, won’t this be more burdensome for you?

Yasuchika: Not at all. If anything, my heart now feels lighter instead.

Yasuchika-san looked directly at Akihito-sama.

Yasuchika: Up till now, I believed that pitting the Shogunate and Rebel Army against each other was the only way to fulfil Your Majesty's wish.

Yasuchika: But now that I didn't choose that option… I want to find a different way to fulfil Your Majesty's wish, one that doesn't require us to walk into the darkness.

Akihito: …

Akihito: Thank you, Yasuchika.

(I’m glad…)

Ibuki: Your baby bird has left the nest. Feeling lonely, Akihito?

Akihito: Isn’t this what people call a new beginning? This is a cause for joy.

Tamamo, having been staring silently at Yasuchika-san for a while, sighed.

Tamamo: I understand now. You seem to have truly changed, Yasuchika.

Yasuchika: Eh?

Tamamo: Your old self lacked something very important, despite having a good understanding of human psychology.

Tamamo: You’ve become much more human, Yasuchika.

Tamamo: Yuno’s sincerity and strength must’ve changed you.

Yuno: Tamamo…

(It feels reassuring to hear that coming from Tamamo, someone who knows of Yasuchika-san’s past.)

(I’m glad I could create change in Yasuchika-san, even if it’s something small.)

Akihito: Tamamo. Did you come all the way here tonight just to ascertain that?

Ibuki: When I saw the fox who hates Yasuchika to the core like a snake and a scorpion arrived, I thought it was going to be a disaster.

Tamamo: I have to personally make sure that he’s a suitable man I can entrust my dear Yuno to.

I smiled at Tamamo who gave me a wink.

Yuno: Thank you, Tamamo!

Yasuchika: The people around you are very critical of me, aren't they, Yuno-san?

Tamamo: Got a problem with that?

Yasuchika: — Nope. This is great, actually.

Yasuchika: I’ll make all of you acknowledge that I’m capable of making Yuno-san happy.

(... I’m happy to know he thinks of me this way.)

My embarrassment was overcome by the amount of joy I was feeling, and I discreetly covered my blushing face with my hand.

…

After the party, everyone returned to their respective places of residence…

Yasuchika-san and I were getting ready for bed in his room.

Yasuchika: This should be good enough.

Yasuchika: Come over here, Yuno-san.

Yuno: … Okay.

I approached Yasuchika-san, who had his arms spread out on the mattress, and we laid side by side.

Yasuchika: Have you gotten used to sleeping together like this?

Yuno: Uh… not quite yet.

Yasuchika-san smiled in amusement at my honest response.

Yasuchika: That means you’ll need more practice, then.

Yuno: I-I’ll do my best…

(... No matter how many times I’ve seen him, I can’t help thinking of how attractive he is.)

(But I can’t outright say that to him.)

Yasuchika: You know, I haven't been scared of going to sleep these days.

Yuno: Eh?

Yasuchika: All along, I’d stay up till late at night because I didn't want to have any precognitive dreams, but…

Yasuchika: You gave me the strength to overcome that fear.

Yuno: Yasuchika-san…

My heart felt so full, and I was at a loss for words.

Yasuchika: Besides, having you in my arms seems to make it easier to fall asleep.

Yasuchika: It feels warm and comfortable… and you smell nice too.

Yasuchika: Your voice, your facial expressions, your gestures… it’s like all of it is made up of only the things I like.

(... I hope he doesn't pamper me too much with his sweet words.)

(I won’t know how to respond.)

Yuno: … Shall I sing you a lullaby again?

I mentioned a part of our memories together from before we became enemies…

Yasuchika: That’s fine too, but your singing voice isn’t the only thing I want to hear tonight.

Knowing what he meant, my heart started racing.

However…

(I’ve been on the receiving end of Yasuchika-san’s overflowing love for me tonight… I want to reciprocate those feelings.)

(I want to touch him and have him all to myself.)

I boldly placed my hands on Yasuchika-san’s chest.

Yasuchika: … Yuno-san? [surprised]

Yuno: … Understood. Please take all of me.

Yasuchika: …

I gently undid the sash of Yasuchika-san’s sleepwear… revealing his bare skin.

I ran my hands over his smooth skin and slowly got on top of him.

Locking gazes with his dark coloured eyes that had regained their calmness made me want to move away…

Yuno: Please… close your eyes.

Yasuchika: Okay.

I kissed his thin lips to prove my feelings for him.

Our breaths touched with every peck on the lips.

(Ah.)

He suddenly grabbed my wrist…

Yasuchika: Won’t you take your clothes off too, Yuno-san?

Yuno: W-Well…

The way Yasuchika-san looked up at me from below was so sexy, it made my head spin.

Yasuchika: I want to see you. — Can’t I?

(... I decided that I want to give Yasuchika-san my everything today.)

Yuno: Nn… alright.

With trembling hands, I undid my own sash and exposed my completely naked body.

Yasuchika: … [staring]

Yuno: P-Please don’t stare too much…

Yasuchika: Why? You’re beautiful.

Yasuchika-san traced my body with his fingertips.

Yuno: Nngh… ahh… stop…

My shoulders trembled as I held myself back from collapsing onto him.

Yuno: I’m in charge tonight.

Yasuchika: Of course. — I love seeing you do all the work for me.

(When you say it like that…)

Yasuchika: But this is unusual coming from you, you’re usually shy. What happened?

I let out a small noise when his fingertips grazed the peaks of my breasts as he whispered.

Yuno: Ahh… Yasuchika-san…

Yasuchika: Hmm?

He urged me to continue my words.

Yuno: … I was so proud of you for gaining… everyone’s recognition… but I wanted you all to myself.

Yuno: I wanted to reciprocate your feelings that you’ve expressed to me… and make you obsessed with me.

Yasuchika: … [surprised]

The look in Yasuchika-san’s eyes told me that my response wasn't what he expected.

(I told him everything…)

Yuno: Every day of life has been very fulfilling, and I have the love of my life right by my side… I’m being strange, aren't I?

Yasuchika: — Not strange at all.

(Yasuchika-san?)

Yasuchika: Since you put it that way, I’ll go crazy trying to keep you to myself.

Yasuchika: Without you knowing, I’ll get rid of everyone who wants you or tries to harm you.

Yasuchika: So that I’ll be the only one you’ll ever look at.

Yuno: That’s not what I meant…

Yasuchika: Can’t you see it?

Yuno: … No.

(Yasuchika-san always appears so calm.)

Yasuchika: Then I'll show you tonight.

Yasuchika-san slid his hands over my bare skin, sending a shiver through my back.

He held me close, so tightly that there was no room for escape.

Yasuchika: I'm sorry. I won’t be able to let go of you for the rest of my life. I know that I’m broken, but…

Yasuchika: You’re the only one who can fill the void in my heart.

Yasuchika: In return for that, I’ll devote my life to protecting you… so please forgive me.

(— I can hear heartbeats.)

With our chests against each other's, there was no knowing whose heart was racing at that point.

I slowly closed my eyes… feeling that this was proof all our feelings had been shared with each other.

[thinkin-bout-milgram]

Cat: Initial Thoughts

Venus here, sorry if this is shakier than usual! I have a lot less thoughts on this MV for one reason or another, so it’ll probably be faster and possibly less detailed, but I want to get my opinions into the world anyways.

Let’s just get to it!

T/W: suicide, substance abuse, homophobia

Kazui didn’t cheat on his wife.

As always, I’m using @onigiriico​’s super fast translation of the audio drama, so thanks so much!

In said audio drama, Es says Kazui was unfaithful. However, he says that “it didn’t even turn into infidelity.” Obviously, that implies that it could have been or that it got close, but he doesn’t say it’s actually infidelity, and in most senses, I’m willing to believe him.

At 2:20, Kazui has just recently had the apple sneak up on him again. He seems distressed, saying he “can’t be normal,” and then takes off his ring and says, cigarette in hand, “let’s take a breather.” His wife looks quite distressed. 

My best guess is that this is Kazui asking for a break. Now, obviously, it’s not the most faithful thing to be super tempted in cheating to the point of asking for a break. Still, it does mean that he did stop himself before he violated an active relationship where it seemed like nothing was wrong, so that’s a plus.

I’m not sure if it was just straight-up temptation or if he might have had an emotional affair with someone. Emotional affair would make some sense to me (more on that in a sec), but I have no idea who it would be with. I’m honestly hoping the interview questions might help us out there to an extent.

The person Kazui didn’t-quite-cheat with is someone who stands out from the other people Kazui meets.

This is largely based upon my interpretation of 1:08, shortly after the wedding sequence.

There are a ton of apples, but most of them are red. In fact, we only see one green apple. That green apple is the one that follows Kazui throughout the rest of this MV, and it’s the one that keeps sneaking up on him in the half MV. Because it’s the one he eventually bites, I think there’s plenty of reason to believe that this is the person he has relations with outside of his marriage.

I want to focus on the fact that it is green, because that obviously makes it stand out. I don’t think that this is just to make it more identifiable; I think there’s a point being made here.

Kazui IS gay?

Yeah, uh... I wasn’t sold on this one at first, when I first watched half, but as I think I’ve said before, the longer we go on, the more I think it’s true. Like, yeah, it does seem like there’s more to it than just Kazui having relations outside of his marriage.

The entire MV, he’s talking about the charade. He’s clearly living the life that a guy is “supposed” to lead; eventually, you get married to a woman and go down the journey of life together. Still, the fact that, even at the altar, he calls it “loving affection minus love” seems to imply that he feels, at least in retrospect, like the love was never present. He didn’t fall out of love with his wife, it simply wasn’t ever there. He married her out of obligation.

Through in the suspect interview questions about his childhood friend who he went fishing with or whatever and lines from Kazui’s POV saying stuff like “I can’t be normal,” and... I think Kazui is kinda just a closeted gay man?

I say “just” here, and I mean that literally. If you trust his audio drama, he says that he wants his “sin” to be found out, but even so, Es hasn’t found it yet. To me, my best theory is that he just has internalized homophobia and his big “sin” is the fact that he’s gay. I honestly kinda hate this explanation though, just because that is nowhere NEAR a crime on the level of the other prisoners, so please let me know if you disagree/if I’m missing something here.

Kazui has developed some unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I don’t remember if we’ve heard why Kazui smokes before. I know that Shidou says that he does it because he wants to be unhealthy, and Mikoto presumably does because he thinks it makes him seem cool or something. I don’t remember learning anything similar about Kazui.

Still, with the moments at which he pulls out a cigarette or a drink in this MV, I definitely feel like he’s using substances to dull the pain of... I don’t know, life? His constant lying and the self hatred that goes along with it, probably. 

Obviously, he went to the bar in the half MV, but this time, the devs are definitely trying to draw attention to it. There’s a line in the song that’s literally just “oh wow I’m drunk,” and that line is important enough that it shows up as background text at other points in the MV. 

I don’t really know what this means for Kazui character interpretation, but it’s something to consider. For whatever it’s worth, it does make me believe the self-pitying “act” a little bit more; if he didn’t actually pity himself/feel upset that he has to lie all the time, I don’t know what he’s drinking so much for.

Kazui’s wife committed suicide because... ???

This is one of the big places where I’m kinda stumped. Kazui says that she died because he told her the truth. If I’m right and his crime is being gay... I don’t get it? 

I know that divorce is pretty taboo in Japan, so my best shot at it would be that, in being honest with everything, Kazui asks for a divorce because he knows that he can’t ever love her. If that would mean that she’s dead socially or something, that COULD be a potential reason she would commit suicide? I don’t love that explanation, but it’s all that I have right now.

Other Things I Want To Mention But Don’t Have Full Thoughts On:

- In the first MV, Kazui bites the apple. In the second one, he bites the dove. There’s probably some connection here, but I honestly have no idea what it could be.

- “Love, it’s tacky, this two way deceit.” What two-way deceit is Kazui talking about? Like, I get him calling himself the perpetrator and her the victim if he’s saying she’s a victim of his lies. Still, if that’s the case, why would the deceit be two-way? 

- Copzui canon? I saw that undercover cop theory and mostly disregarded it as “probably too out there to be true,” but honestly, it seems basically confirmed at this point. The only struggle I have is what to do with the information. I don’t think that knowing he’s a cop really changes anything about how I read his character or the situation? Other than possibly suggesting that yes, he cares very much about social laws/rules and making sure society stays “correct.”

- What do I make of Kazui asking for an innocent verdict along with the premise of “I can protect the other prisoners”? I don’t really like him bargaining with his strength for a verdict--especially after Kotoko trial 1, I don’t trust bartered verdicts--but on the other hand, it’s true that it’d be nice to have him on defense for whatever the devs might spring on us between trials 2 and 3. 

Anyways...

CURRENT VOTE: INNOCENT

I was actually pretty shocked when I opened the votes and saw a slight guilty majority. To me, the big thing is that... well, I don’t really know why I’d vote him guilty. He’s useful to us, he doesn’t seem like he’s done all that much wrong. I can’t really come up with a genuine reason that I’d want to give him a guilty verdict at this point, so it’s innocent for me.

(Plus, if I’m not sure, I always lean towards a 50/50 so it’s more possible to change the verdict later. So, while he’s guilty-leaning, I’m DEFINITELY voting innocent.)