#i actually love this fandom

[demonking-propaganda]

Hey @100-gar, sorry to take this out of the tags, but I want to reply to the criticism haha - don't take this as an attack or shade, I just think it's important to discuss these points (I actually forgot to add some to the main post)

Spoilers for the series ahead, if you're new to the fandom!

#the girls all being sidelined to go clothes shopping when they're at the amusement park was a little. you know

Hm, actually I disagree with this. I think we should distinguish between girls liking shopping and clothes, and the stereotype of it. If all girls in the manga were characterized like that, all the time, I would agree. But they are not. Just here: 1. while 3 out of 4 (Elizabetta, Clara, Keroli) wanted to go shopping, they all had different implied reasons - yes, Elizabetta likes clothes in the "stereotypical" way, especially when romance is involved, but Clara likes dressing up in general because it's fun, and Keroli was pushed by her inner perfectionist businesswoman. Like, "Ameri could look better with a dress, so she should put on a dress (gotta maximize cuteness)"; and 2. Ameri is just pushed around/is not enthusiastic.

IMO this alone lets you see that, for Nishi, girls are as complex and diverse as any other group. If you add the plethora of other feminine characters, I think it's even clearer (think: Bachiko, Sylvia, Marnie... All of them defy classical femininity in some way, and they're just the first three I thought about).

Finally, I believe this, together with the "Girls Talk" chapters, is a tribute to femininity by Nishi. Girls who like shopping and clothes exist. It's fair to acknowledge it, instead of erasing them, don't you think? Especially in a shounen manga, whose target demographic is technically adolescent boys. I know M!IK became a manga for the girls, the gays and the theys, but it's still a shounen. I low-key love that Nishi shows that femininity is okay too.

and kamui is icky but not as bad as mineta at least

This is what I forgot to add to my main post. I'll even add: I find/found Lead pretty icky too. However, I think it's important to note that both of them are somehow punished for it. Again: it's a fact of life that slimy men exist - the point is what the author decides to do with it. Kamui is shameless, but people around him react pretty badly to it, and Kalego as the Misfits' home teacher repeats several times that he should change his ways. It's never shown as an okay behavior. Something similar happens to Lead, who learns empathy when he's literally put in a girl's shoes (after the Evidol Games). As readers, we are never led to justify them.

#and i would be uncomfortable with how every girl immediately falls for iruma IF NOT FOR TWO THINGS #1. he's actually worth it his rizz is genuinely off the charts #2. the guys do it too

I see your caveats, I just want to specify:

it's simply not true that every girl immediately falls for Iruma; this is my interpretation but I think that "actual crushes" (from girls) are only 4 for now: Ameri, Clara, Eiko, and Chima. Some girls are shown blushing (like Keroli or Marnie), but it's more being flustered in front of Iruma's charisma and kindness than actually falling for him (worth mentioning that Eiko has a crush on Ameri too);

Given the crushes from boys (Asmodeus of course, and our icon-in-denial Vine Garson), I think this already counts as a subversion of the hetero harem trope;

The whole harem thing is a joke to make fun of the trope itself. Iruma has no idea of anything I've written above, he barely suspects something from Ameri - and they had TWO AND A HALF (OFFICIAL) DATES (I love his obliviousness).

#oh and it makes sense in context but high schoolers being taught how to seduce people is a little. you know.

Hm, let me put it this way.

It was a reference to succubi. You can't really say "in context but", the context IS the point here. I don't think teaching torture or other forms of violence to high schoolers is fine, too, but it's a demon school :)

It was an elective class, so it wasn't anything forced on anyone who didn't want to learn those topics;

Raim explicitly said that anything sexual was for "the advanced courses", so it was basically affective education.

Now, do I have some issues with chapter 17? Yes, mainly the strict binarism and heteronormativity of "only girls, no boys allowed", and the assumption that "all boys like ... (no male demon alive would turn down a demoness touch, etc.)".

My current opinion is that this reflects more on Raim's character than Nishi's, especially given the constant queer representation. Moreover, it was still volume 3, I believe some of these mishaps have been corrected with the development of the manga itself, as it gained more fame and Nishi was less forced into "stereotypical" content. Which we know she considered: think about the doubts about Clara's and Asmodeus's hair color.

Okay I'll stop yapping :D

13 spoiler-free reasons why you should read Mairimashita! Iruma-kun

...if you haven't done so already 👀 (With "spoiler-free" I mean I'm not describing plot points or characters, but under the cut I'll discuss the overarching themes, so be warned if that's too much for you. The first 7 reasons may be enough lol)

It's both funny AND wholesome. I literally can't read it without laughing out loud, and there are a bunch of chapters that make me cry every time I read them.

It's clever! The Japanese version contains several puns based on the kanji "魔" (read "ma", = devil, demon), starting from the title, but it's a recurring pun. The English translation adapts them pretty well. Plus, there are some of the best plot twists in recorded history (IMO). And the names and characteristics of most characters are based on real-life demonology.

It's queer AF. Like, really gay. There are explicitly homoromantic relationships and several nonbinary and gender non-conforming characters. One of these is the best unashamedly nonbinary character ever written. Plus, the manga premise can be seen as an allegory of hiding in the closet. The only thing that made me uncomfortable because of cisnormativity (boys in drag as a joke) is completely fixed in later chapters, and very well so.

It's feminist, without being preachy or paternalistic. Simply put, the women/girls are three-dimensional, complex characters, as the norm should be. And there are lots of them, without it being a harem (...the harem trope is actually used as a joke).

It's spooky and adorable, imagine Halloween vibes all year round. Both main and background characters are super diverse, and if you like monsters there is stuff for you.

Most characters are neurodivergent-coded. It's basically the autistic/ADHD manga.

The art is phenomenal. It's especially good to see the improvement of the art style over the years (the first chapter was published in 2017 and the manga is ongoing). Some panels are really breathtaking.

8. The story is about personal growth - like most shounen manga, fair enough. But the protagonist, Iruma, is so far from toxic masculinity I dare say he's the antidote to it.

9. It's also about found family, the discovery of unconditional love, and trust, and healing from familial trauma.

10. It's about finding a group of friends you belong to, and transforming your weirdness into a strength, identifying and cultivating what you're good at instead of fitting into a mold.

11. It's about the beauty of learning in your own way, and the importance of education and the shaping of future generations.

12. And the reason why I opened this blog: it's about fascism and fighting against it. I mean real fascism, as in "a powerful individual/group wants society to be hierarchical and oppress certain minorities, elevating a specific subset of the population based on intrinsic characteristics which are being misleadingly treated as merits". Ethno-nationalistic stuff. More specifically, it's about being a somewhat politically illiterate person, who learns about systems of oppression beyond personal injustices. It's about questioning what is the best way to arrange society.

13. Most importantly, this manga gives you hope about the future, something I find harder and harder to have. Hopelessness is dangerous - as people without hope stop fighting. This manga makes me actively feel better. Since it's ongoing I can't ensure it will always remain that way, but I've come to trust the author enough that I expect it to.

[noka-exe]

breaking news… local bird comes back to life and is NOT happy…

[lilacpaperbird]

direct, concise, unapologetic, succinct, compelling

[bean-spring]

Hot take and not to be a killjoy or the shipping police but people treating Viktor or Jinx's aroace headcanons as if they were canon is not the revolutionary take people think it is.

Headcanons are always all right but we have to acknowledge that they are somehow damaging when they apply to stereotypes. It might not be the case for everyone but most of the time people unconsciously assume that disability/mental illness=asexuality. These headcanons erase the freedom of attraction from people who are already seen as unable to have sexual/romantic experiences/desires, when it's completely untrue and harmful.

You can headcanon Viktor and Jinx as aroace, but I have seen people changing their minds once Viktor is no longer disabled (s2 with all of his other forms) and Jinx is no longer as mentally ill (alternate universe Powder). And it speaks wonders of how people see these characters.

"I never thought about Jinx being able to feel romantic/sexual attraction until s2!" To believe she's actually only capable of that when she's not "damaged" is incredibly disturbing. Especially since Jinx has always had a bit of a flirty personality too.

"I've always seen Viktor as asexual, I don't know why!" That's fine. You can headcanon him as ace. But I believe there is a reason behind it, most of the time, if for some inexplicable reason the "vibes" of the disabled character are making you think he's ace.

I say all of this being aroaspec myself, by the way. Headcanon all you want but going to people's posts commenting how "it's weird for you that they have romantic/sexual plots when they're clearly aroace" is not a win at all. It's a headcanon, after all, and it should be treated as such, and that's fine. But it also is damaging to spread stereotypes like these.

Of course the disabled character is asexual. Of course the mentally ill character is aromantic. It's not as revolutionary as you might think, tbh.

Fandom is not activism and it's all right to have any headcanons you want BUT some of them are filled with damaging stuff and perhaps we should look into ourselves more before treating these assumptions as something canon.

[maigetheplatypus57]

Do you think Evbo learned how to do those jumps and thought "oh this is so sick what's the best way I can show off my parkour skills"

[somewhereincairparavel]

"jason is a knockoff watered down percy" NO hear me out, jason actually parallels annabeth immensely, sharing SO many similarities with her personality, not percy, in this essay I will-

edit: my full analysis is out now! here

[russenoire]

GO HARD OR GO HOME.

[mountainshroom]

”These games lowkey fun” - frontman

[umblrspectrum]

i hate perspective. happy new years also

[spikeplate]

massive horrible terrible sun-centric doodle dump under the cut ✂️

oof and then i hit tumblrs 10 page limit- may have to make another doodle dump soon

ft ldr by @spadillelicious !!!

[good-to-drive]

I did a little concert for somebody in Hollywood. Paul McCartney was there. I've never met him before, but I'm a fucking fan of The Beatles. I'm in the back smoking, and they're like, "Sir Paul would like to meet you." I'm like, "For real? Hold on," and I put that blunt out. Cuh walk in the room like, "Don't put that down."

Snoop Dogg on meeting Paul McCartney

[cozmic-ash]

help help help I can't stop drawing gay lawyers

Trucy should be brown and I'll die on that hill

The fact that Klavier is 5'11" and Apollo is 5'5" 🥹 I love a height difference

I am convinced they drew Valant's hair Like That (tm) in-game because otherwise we would have all fallen madly in love with him

Wesley is my favorite witness in Apollo Justice, I'm so sorry for my shit taste 😔

I've drawn Godot without a mask before but I wanted to do it Again because I am still enamored with the idea of him having white eyelashes

Aromantic Miles means so much to me

I get that it's probably just the way they drew his jacket but why is Miles's little court sprite so caked though 😭

[wilsonmybeloved]

heard we were fiddlestanning

you know the drill..

(full image under cut)

[darkmuffinstudios]

Another WIP for another thing I'm working on

mmmmmm oh boy do I love having WIPs mmmmmm delicious

[oatmealdoodles]

Stolas protec

[renaissanceousia]

i think poseidon surrendering the war for percy explains why percy choose the gods' side in the future. because percy actually saw that his father is willing to give up glory for him, and he knows that glory is a big deal for the greeks. that's why despite understanding that luke's argument makes sense to some extent, he's still on the gods' side. his father's side.