#i expected a character poll like chapter 100

[bibyshitsuji24k]

Yana's comment on chapter 200:

✨Next time, chapter 200! I'm glad to be healthy enough to draw and deliver you this manga every month [Yana]✨

[biggie-chcese]

RESULTS ARE IN 👍

i posted this poll as a joke but i got a little miffed at the makoto character assassination in the notes/ask box so now im giving my reasoning of why i think this fight is a hard 50/50 and not just an easy makoto win:

(btw, this isnt out of anger. im genuinely having a lot of fun ranting about this silly topic because i love these two clowns)

Rage: the biggest pro-makoto argument people had was that he was filled with pent up rage, which... okay, but i actually don't think it's that simple. more than anything, makoto is frustrated with himself. not his original, and, hell, not even yomi. the only reason he started beefing with either of them is because both were putting kanai ward in danger trying to reveal the homunculus info. otherwise, his original is a non-issue and yomi is nothing more than a nuisance. in the game, when makoto's carefully concealed emotions begin to trickle out, he is far from angry. he's sad, helpless, and broken. he's close to crumbling under the pressure of his own tower of lies, and he's not the contained rage beast yall think he is 😭 makoto has the conviction to fight with his all, but i genuinely don't think he's going sicko mode when angry.

yuma, on the other hand, is ROYALLY PISSED at makoto. this is the chapter 5 bathhouse!! makoto just put him in zombie hell and spent the last couple hours taunting yuma with the corpses of his friends! yuma may be a doormat but he's literally shown himself capable of snapping in anger before! if anyone here is falling into a rage-filled frenzy, it is not makoto

Stamina + Strength: all im saying is that one of these characters spends most of his time doing legwork, running from cops, and doing QTEs with a small level of physical competence, and the other one takes baths while plotting in his fancy penthouse all day

Strategy: makoto 100% has the edge in this one. he still has number one's memories, and yuma is also a little stupid. i can see makoto fighting using trickery. sand-in-the-eyes level stuff, yknow? i dont think number one himself was actually trained in close combat though. he's a shut-in who is always on the run from criminal syndicates, so i'd imagine most of his skillset lies in how to stay out of fights rather than win them. still, im sure makoto can come up with a few ways to put himself at an advantage, as long as he can take/avoid enough hits.

Patheticness: this is a joke stat but i feel like people forget that makoto is JUST as pathetic as yuma is. he's just better at hiding it.

Power of Friendship: also a joke stat i think it has no actual bearing on this fight lmao. though yuma may be motivated by the "deaths" of his friends.

that being said, i still think makoto could win! i actually fully expected these poll results! but i also think it depends on whether or not yuma's raw determination beats out makoto's trickiness... and even then, they're both coming out of this looking utterly beaten and bruised. anyway if you got this far, thanks for reading my manifesto on this shit lmao

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 4, Poll 12

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Andrew Minyard-All for the Game

Qualifications:

He’s gay and has some sort of trauma disorder probably.

Propaganda:

Very gay, pretty commonly thought of to have some sort of trauma disorder, he’s neat. I have many thoughts about him as a character but I don’t really feel like writing them.

Chicory-Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Qualifications:

Just a hare full of depression. Chicory notes early on in her appearances that she often feels depressed and in general absolutely has depression. The LGBTQ+ part isn't 100% canon, but it's pretty widely accepted that Chicory is trans (to the point where I had to actively search to see if Chicory was confirmed as such for this because everybody accepts it as fact), and I've also seen many sapphic headcanons for her

Propaganda:

I love this hare so much. Okay so Chicory is a character who never really had friends or anything, had a very fractured relationship with her old mentor and had so many mental problems a the start of the game, since the levels of perfectionism, pressure and imposter syndrome she was dealing with at that point had been taking a toll on her for a while. Chicory was a wielder, who is the one responsible for coloring in the world until they pass down the brush, and was also connected to a recent wave of corruption (or rather, tied to the brush which was tied to the corruption. Chicory just blamed it solely on herself pre-chapter 6) that spawned due to her own emotions, which first began after she had defied the former wielder and became the new one without her blessing. The color ended up just disappearing one day, and Chicory ended up just leaving the brush outside her room for anybody to find it, wanting the cycle of expectations tied to it to be broken, though she still was tied to the corruption afterwards, which isn't great, because she was in a really horrible place and that only fueled things further, which was not great for anybody involved considering that the embodiment of her doubts about Pizza, the character who had since picked up the brush, being the new wielder came to confront them, and when Pizza asked her about this, she couldn't give Pizza a straight answer about the situation because of how much the whole situation took a toll on her. Then in chapter 5 she got to be hit with the realization that she wouldn't be given up on just because she thought she messed up, because, after being confronted by their own doubts, Pizza came back, and refused to give up on her. After chapter 5, Chicory gets to be in a healthier place overall, especially since she realized that the whole corruption thing wasn't her messing up, but was instead the result of the Brush responding to and materializing the emotions of all past wielders, with her own turmoil just being the breaking point instead of something which was her fault. She also gets to have Pizza, who makes things a lot easier. When the game ends, the Brush is destroyed and new brushes unaffected by the pressure placed on wielders are grown by Pizza and Chicory, Chicory absolutely isn't in a perfect place, because that's just how depression works. But she's healing, and helping pave the way to others being able to access color without the expectations she had to endure.

I know none of this clarified the trans-coded and sapphic-coded parts of her, so I will clarify that that headcanon was started due to the instances where Chicory is actually voiced being one where she's voiced by a trans woman and backed up by many different parts of her story. The sapphic headcanons largely came from her dynamic with Pizza, who does not have a canon gender (and is portrayed as non-binary by a lot of creators) but still ultimately spawned a lot of these headcanons, plus the fact that both Chicory and Pizza have gay love songs in their dev team assigned playlists which are very likely meant to tie them to each other and also lend a lot to Chicory being very sapphic.

Anything Else?:

I am so sorry for the propaganda section being so long. I just love her

Mod note: tell me why, despite the submission mentioning her being a hare multiple times I was still surprised when I went to do her image description.

[eclysia]

polls done! show results sweep! ..idk what i expected honestly. thanks for playing! let me know if anyone wants a part 2 ^^

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

One of the rivals is kind of her father’s dead wife

this one is true. aelita, a rival you meet in sheridan village, is a living result of a curse from a spell committed long ago. in short, when her 'fathers' wife passed away, she reincarnated in the form of aelita. ketas mental state is very normal btw

There's a nuclear bomb that isn't entirely relevant to the plot

correct. in zone zero, there's a shell of a nuclear bomb found within the depths of the city. at the time of discovering it, it's easy to assume that it was the cause of the city being in ruins, but chapter fifteen tells a different story..

One of the villains gets broken into a AT LEAST a thousand pieces

yes. a villain was sent away on a teleportation pad and the device was broken mid-transport. this shattered his essence into thousands of pieces and scattered them throughout the region, frustrating nastasia to her wit's end. worst zygarde cell quest ever

An eyeless android wins a cook-off against a pro chef

correct! in ana's (said android)s sidequest, you enter a cook off with her. it's fully possible to win against a professional chef!

A Corsola stabs you if you waste its time

this is a silly one! the throat chop tutor in neo gearen city is a corsola with a knife. if you talk to it and then back out of learning throat chop, it lunges at you and your pokemon take some damage.

A murder-suicide was committed with a Doublade used as a weapon

this one did not happen in the game. it's a slight spin on a story beat that actually happened: a suicide committed with an aegislash.

A bird married at least three women, causing a majority of the game's plot

the wording on this one is deliberately a bit tricky, but it's correct. vitus is extremely likely to be an incarnation of yveltal, and him getting together with nymiera, anathea, and narcissa have caused quite a lot of things to happen ingame.

A character being bad at math is plot relevant

true, though in a bit of a convoluted way. melia mentions failing the axis high entrance exam due to her being terrible at math. during multiple beats of rejuvenation, we meet a little girl bearing eerie resemblances to her who is extremely good at math. because of this, it's difficult to discern just what her connection to melia is, rather than assuming that it's 100% her.

The best strategy for an unwinnable boss fight is bringing two Fletchling

correct! god it's so funny. so the 'unwinnable' boss fight is a yveltal with an extremely powerful move, decimation. very early in the game, you can pick up fletchling that have quick guard as an egg move! quick guard, as of normal/casual mode v13, blocks decimation entirely, and it's possible to run this boss out of PP and force it to struggle to death.

Partying too hard makes a gym fight much harder

yes! amber's gym has a hype meter that powers up her signature move the more the party in her club kicks off.

A science fair project almost breaks reality and awakens a demigod

true. this one's genuinely a mess to explain. if you're here, you already know the explanation (chapter 15) or have yet to play the game yourself. don't ruin the surprise so much :)

Correct answers + explanations will be reblogged some time after the poll reaches its end!

(also play this game when the next version comes out.)

[catt-nuevenor]

Opinion Poll

Okay folks, I need all of your help with something.

It has been brought to my attention that to some readers the frequency of player interaction and choices in the game feels unbalanced, and that there are not enough choices in the story.

My initial response to this was:

In all honesty, I hadn’t planned on adding in any more choices to the prologue and chapter 1. The previous version did have more, I think for example with Huite you could choose to walk away from him and not see the ‘leaf incident’, for example. One of the problems and at the same time joys of this format of story telling is the iterations of narrative balanced with player agency. Which is all a fancy way of saying the more choice I grant the player, the more content is required to make those choices meaningful.

I want to make every choice meaningful in the story, every time I turn the rudder over to the reader I want them to feel the weight of the choice in front of them, and know that what they decide to do will have significant impact on the story and characters. I don’t really want to add in any throw away choices to pad out the spans where there aren’t that many occurrences of reader/player agency because I fear it will cheapen the pre-existing choices that do matter heavily to the path through the story.

I also want to be able to finish writing the story at some point. The more choices I add, the more difficult that becomes. There is only the prologue and chapter 1 out at the moment, and it is already over 200,000 words. There has to be a sensible balance between interactivity and my ability to finish writing the story. The current working word count (where I am in writing beyond the demo) sits at 397,411. I’m expecting the finished story to break 1.2 million at minimum.

Is there any particular section that felt jarring to you, though? In what you’ve read so far of the story? I’d be interested in hearing which sections had you feeling the most disconnected from things.

-----

But it has been playing on my mind, and I'd really like to get a sense of what the wider community thinks.

I want to take a public opinion poll on this, because to be honest, if this is a big problem for readers I’d rather address it at this stage of development than try and shoe-horn something in later. With that in mind, I’d like as many active readers to vote on this as possible.

https://forms.gle/1Y84VRPusjsvEMX8A (had to change to google docs because the other site wanted me to pay to have more than 100 people vote... *sigh* capitalism...)

Please only vote once, but do encourage your fellow readers to vote. The more people we have answering, the more accurate the results will be in gauging the community feeling on this subject.

If you are not signed into google your responses will be completely anonymous.

[ryujin-zanba]

i realise given the notes that some of y'all are actually interested in reading what the newspaper articles say in this post so here they all are under the cut (please keep in mind that a lot of them contain personal headcanons and some hints at certain pairings which i will tag. it's okay if you disagree with/dislike the thoughts i have ab some characters' futures but if you find that's the case just keep it to yourself and dni please) ʕ•ᴥ•ʔง

[Poster which says: Vote for Froppy 🐸]

(Not so subtle Napoleon Dynamite reference from me)

 Hero Red Riot Saves the Day an Hour Before His Wedding!    As expected of our favourite man in red, but what did the groom have to say about this? (The groom is Bakugou and he was proud of Kiri ❤)

 Pro Weekly Deku takes title of Japan’s number one hero third year running! Following in the shadow of the longest reigning number one hero, newcomer Deku has a lot to live up to, but he is already breaking records and impressing critics with his heroism, and fans just can’t get enough of him.  In only his third year as a licensed pro, Deku has managed some incredible feats and is shaping up to give the former number one quite a run for his legacy. The retired pro recently shared in an interview that he could not be more proud of his junior and that he is cheering for our new number one the whole way.

 A New Ingenium Takes the Mantle But what can we expect of our dashing (pun intended) new pro? The youngest son of the Iida family is following in his brother’s footsteps as he officially takes on the name and the legacy of beloved hero Ingenium.

 Lemillion Saves One Million Golden hero Lemillion reclaims his position among the top five pros in only his first week back. After participating in the saving of a suspected one million lives involved in an international hostage crisis, Lemillion saw a 100% popularity increase in the polls and has been recognised by several world leaders for his incredible display of heroism. Lemillion has recently returned to hero work after taking a year off for paternity leave last Summer. A brief interview with the pro revealed that husband and baby are both doing well and their little one is already starting to show signs of developing a strong quirk.

(Mirio’s husband is Tamaki ❤)

 Former U.A Students Pay Tribute to Late Mentor Yagi Toshinori How the world is mourning a great hero and the people closest to him are upholding his legacy.

[Accompanying image of Toshi in his pinstripe suit, tired but smiling]

 Not All Heroes Wear Capes U.A high graduate goes on to make major advances in the field of restorative medical science.  Eri, formerly of U.A high school, is currently completing her doctorate at Tokyo University and is expecting to graduate this year with her first PHD. Her influence in the field, however, has already sparked plans for the implementation of several quirk-specialised branches in every major hospital across the country, a system speculated to be fully functioning as soon as next Spring. Having already successfully treated several prominent heroes throughout her blossoming career, we can expect many great things from Eri in the future and wish her all the best with her final exams.

 [Crude cat drawing next to the text 1-A]

(Reference to Aizawa’s cat drawing that he put on a banner for his class during the sports festival in Smash, which he then hid from them)

 [Magazine cover of Yaoyorozu with the top text ‘Women in Business’ and the bottom text ‘Creati’]

 Shouto-Out Former pro hero Shouto retires at age twenty five in order to pursue a career in nursing. After the new data that came to light last month showed an incline in children born to forced quirk marriages, the ex-pro expressed his interest in becoming involved with caring for and counselling the startling number of those taken into care every year as a result. His partner had this to say, “Shouto has had a lot of difficulty finding a path in life that he believes he truly chose for himself, but I think this is his way of being the hero he wants to be and he has my full support.”

(If you guessed Midoriya as Todoroki’s partner being quoted in this, you guessed right!)

 Hero affectionately dubbed ‘Pikachu’ by residents of local children’s hospital

(Kaminari, of course ⚡)

 Present Jack Pro hero and musical talent Earphone Jack has officially joined the Put Your Hands Up Radio team. Rumours that she is set to succeed Japan’s favourite radio personality have already started circulating, but we’re pretty sure the nation’s sweetheart, Present Mic, has got many years yet before we’ll see him retire.

 [Magazine cover featuring Midoriya with the top text ‘Deku’]

 Uravity Saves US Space Shuttle First person in history to be awarded a knighthood by NASA and her achievements haven’t stopped there. The hero known as Uravity is a staunch advocate for the proposed universal income scheme and her support for the bill has garnered such enthusiasm from fans that it is likely to pass in court this February.

(In the image I accidentally called her Uraravity instead of Uravity, sorry girl!)

 He’s Still Got It! Present Mic wins lifetime achievement award for Put Your Hands Up Radio, the show he has been proudly presenting since his debut as a hero. Maintaining a huge following and unwavering popularity, his nighttime slot every Friday from 1am to 5am has also earned him a place in the hall of fame for highest number of consecutive awards in radio hosting history, congrats man!

(Mic might not be one of Aizawa’s students, but he is just as proud of his husband’s achievements ❤)

 Tsukuyomi Gets His Wings Tsukuyomi and his quirk, Dark Shadow, have officially taken over at Hawks’ agency after the young hero retired from the field to pour everything into his successor. As it stands, Hawks will continue on to support Tsukuyomi and we wish them both the best with any future plans from here on.

(Possible spoiler for latest manga chapters... but I think the bird man might be taking a leaf from All Might’s book and finding someone to carry on his legacy 😅)

 Kacchan’s Kitchen Newly opened in the most up and coming area of the city, the restaurant will join several others on the renewed marina-front, though its owner and head chef are what really set the place apart. Already it has received great reviews from critics. 

(Personal HC alert! Bakugou decides the hero life isn’t what he wants anymore and invests in his culinary skills instead, making Kiri a very well-fed man lol)

 Dance ‘Til You’re Pink! Pro hero Pinky opens a second dance studio that offers new prospects for passionate kids who are unable to attend paid classes. Children from low-income families are invited to choose from a variety of options when it comes to which discipline they wish to pursue and all equipment, performance outfits and other costs are covered by the studio.

 The Modern Batman Or should we say Catman? Illusive hero known only by his mind-control ability is spotted petting a local cat during his evening patrol.

[Accompanying image of Shinsou petting a black cat and looking almost identical to Aizawa in his attire]

[accirax]

And with that, the polls are closed!

we uh... we were really going through it on this one, huh?

Not only in terms of denial, but in terms of being divided! My compliments to the killer, they made a baffling case indeed.

Thank you to everybody who participated in this poll! Even though the results weren't necessarily different from what I expected, it was still fun to watch the numbers go up and down all week. If you're curious about the actual numbers of how many people voted for each option, I've already done the math, and will talk about it below, along with some of my general thoughts and opinions.

Levi absolutely swept this poll with 129 votes on his own. Good god, man, that's more people than are in the entire US Senate! I can see why he would be a popular choice, though-- he has the means (strength) and the motive (his literal motive) to pull it off. I still feel like he still has a greater role in the story that has yet to be completed, but that's just my two cents.

Hu was an easy second with 72 votes going her way. This one surprised me a little. Like, I definitely knew that there were Hu culprit truthers out there, but I didn't know there were so many! I don't think I've actually seen someone write out a full theory of how and why they think she would be the blackened. Is it that most of you think that she was manipulated by David? Is it connected to her wire being used in the Ace near-murder? Or is is something else entirely? If anyone has defended their Hu choice in writing, please send it my way, because I'd love to hear what you think! (/gen)

After much fluctuation, J wound up in third with 27 votes. So my anti-dressup theory meant nothing to you guys, huh? (/j) Well, unlike Levi, I would believe that J's role in the story could be done here (I honestly have no idea what to do with her in terms of death order predicitons), so I understand the appeal. I do wonder, though, what percentage of J culprit theorizers think it's her because of the dressup theory, and what percentage believe it's her for other reasons (her relationship with Arei, her remote, etc). I'd make another poll, but it'd only have an audience of 27.

Ace took fourth with 21 votes. He started off slow, but gained traction over time! Ace is certainly quite relevant to this chapter, what with fighting Levi, bullying Nico, and overhearing the conversation between David and Arei, so this could definitely be the point of Ace's exeunt. Venus and I have basically determined that, story pacing wise, it probably makes the most sense if Ace dies here or survives. So for the sake of all Ace fans (including myself), I hope it's the latter.

Eden ultimately wound up with 19 votes. I would guess most are disciples of the 1moreff-creator/thebadjoe scripture, much like I am. As someone who currently believes that Eden is the blackened, I'm a little disappointed that she didn't do better, but also not that surprised. Actually, the reason why I made this poll in the first place was wondering how many people actually believed all of the giant theories we were writing about grippy tape. Somewhat like Ace, I originally believed that Eden would be a big, important character in DRDT as a spin on Teruko's "rival." Not necessarily a survivor, but at least, like, Chapter 4 or 5? While I now think that her character could end here and still be a well-written and important addition to the cast, I can obviously see why people would be against the idea, and believe that that still could be her path.

Fifth place is Whit, with 14 votes. To be frank, I don't really understand this one, given his apparent day-long alibi with Charles and openness about sharing his motive secret. But, I 100% respect whatever your guys' reading led you to. Maybe I'm the one getting duped by Whit's quips and quirks. Maybe Good Grief isn't his character song. Maybe then I can stop crying every time I look at it--

Sixth is the nebulous Teruko/Charles/something else option, with a combined 13 votes. (13, huh? Teruko coding.) I really hated having to combine all of these choices, especially seeing that they did get thirteen votes. Like I said in the comments, I suspect that most people just used this as a "see options" choice, but now I'll never know! I do feel like I saw at least one person semi-suspect Charles, so maybe there were some real votes for Charles or Teruko out there. If any of you want to share, I'm all ears.

Arturo wound up in seventh, having 11 votes. I love a good "suspected but disproven at the beginning of the trial, so you think they're good, but then it wraps around and you learn that they actually were the culprit all along"! To be honest, I (sadly) don't think Arturo is long for this world, but it could still be interesting to see more of his reactions to J having declared war against him by outing his secret. Not to mention how the student body as a whole would feel about him after learning about how he threatened Eden and led to his sister's death. A definite option, although a low one by consensus.

Our main literature man insane, David, got 8 votes. When I first got into DRDT, I thought I had been spoiled that David was the Chapter 2 killer, so I guess that would be the fulfillment of that prophecy. Maybe I'm the Ultimate Clairvoyant, who knows. The appeal for David is there, given that he... literally confessed to it. Him getting an MV also matches Min's MV after she was the culprit. I think the Trial is probably about to lead us away from David as a suspect, but we'll see what happens if/when DRDT resumes.

Veronika has 5 votes, which puts her in ninth. Her percentage was weirdly high at the beginning, so I guess most of the Veronika culprit enjoyers are prone to stalking the DRDT tags? Or they just really like to vote. Not sure why Veronika would want to kill here, given that she seems to enjoy the killing game. Maybe it's about her yet unrevealed secret? Hit me up with an explanation if you've got one :D

Nico has four votes at tenth most likely. After trying to kill Ace, they just couldn't resist going for another, huh...? I feel like, given their behavior, Nico didn't try to kill again here (why would they target Arei, also), but who can really say? At least if Nico is the culprit, it might give us more of an excuse to discuss the gym crime scene in canon. I want answers for that thing so bad.

And in the end, even Rose couldn't avoid getting one vote. Sorry to everyone who was hoping that she could escape scot free. Of course, given that literally only one person thinks she did it, she's probably going to survive this trial. However, if she is the killer, props to the one voter for seeing what the rest of us couldn't! Assuming that that one vote isn't just someone who saw that Rose didn't have any votes, and wanted to give her one to be unique...

Again, thank you for voting, and thank you even more for actually reading my opinions! I want to stress that although I think some culprits are more likely than others, I truly do respect everyone's opinions and interpretations of the work. There's a lot of information to go through, and everybody comes into it with their own biases and beliefs on what makes a good story (including the creator himself!)

What I find most fun is hearing what everyone thinks and remaining flexible such that we can explore every possibility. Therefore... please share your culprit thoughts. I am once again asking politely.

I was thinking about this the other day and realized that I really had no idea what the stats were for the fandom as a whole....

Please note that I'm asking about the blackened-- AKA who would be executed-- for this poll. In the case of "Levi was Eden's accomplice," "David manipulated Hu," etc, I want to know who you think is Going To Die.

[fanmoose12]

I am not over it. I am SO not over IT. I read the SNK manga YEARS ago when it was only chapter 100 and one day I had the dumb idea to continue that shit. I am not PLEASED and Hanji's death UTTERLY WRECKED ME, someone who wasn't even a Hanji Stan!! reading the manga made me fall in love with her quiet determination, leadership skills, and sense of duty when before I was more of an Armin type of girl? She just. won me over. and her death was NOT OKAY. I CRIED while saying no no nO NOOO OH MY GOD -

and it TORE ME APART and she was the only person in my mind ever since and I couldn't read the manga in the same nonchalant way ever again. i'm sorry i promise im getting somewhere! it legit ruined my moods and made me so sad all the time IT WAS THAT BAD and i started hating eren with absolute passion. Idek where to start? How her death was pointless & nobody gave a fuck?? and Levi thought of FRICKING ERWIN instead of Hans & I wasnt even a Levihan shipper it doesnt make SENSE! He just LOST HANS

-- and all he can think about is FUCKING ERWIN. come on MAN, and she parented the 104th even REINER had more emotions than these mfers. Everyone is alive EXCEPT HER, like onyakapon and even yelena, minor characters, it just feels so UNFAIR, i'm not mad abt death, i breathe angst like it was chocolate it was just so pointless and meaningless and no one even grieves, especially Levi who was closest to her. there was just no room for her in the plot anymore and thats what makes me pissed -

- not bc it was her time, but bc she ran out of uses to the plot and like in GOT where the character is smarter than the author. not only that, she was made so powerless and pathetic and she felt so useless and she died like that. where's the justice? the character arc? right she was there Just to Save Levi :// it's like that quote from gone girl - "the world will know that [man] threw his beloved wife like garbage, and she floated past down all the other abused, unwanted, INCONVENIENT, women"

(sorry for the fem pronouns, i'm all abt anime hange here). and its not like she wasnt a fan favorite, she's top 3 of the last character poll. just bc shes not levi and eren and armin. and cmon. yams had to nerf and minus 100 out of her iq for the INSANE plan of fucking zeke and the yeagerists, can you BELIEVE she trusted and was OUTSMARTED by ZEKE, who legit massacred the survey corps, even though SHE HAD THE SAME LEVEL OF IQ?? but noooo, plot reasons!! shes not eRwIn, what you expect 🙃

im upset, not bc my fav character died but bc it was meaningless (if falco can fly, why tf didnt he do that in the first place) and hollow in logic and in emotion. maybe snk's lesson to us is life is unfair and we should suck it up. it wasn't well earned & yams wrote hanji in a corner, like (again) in GOT where no matter what daenerys chose she was wrong. sorry i dumped all this to you!! if you're still here, thank you for listening to my month long pent up emotions, im still really sad about it

- and idk how to let go? but your writings have definitely made me feel better, it just comforts me like Levi to a bottle of bleach. thank you for still writing!!! about an anime girl in a fictional world and still delivering more emotion than the original author. my heart definitely feels better these days, though it still aches bc she deserves so much better & didnt deserve whatever the fuck she was given, thank you for championing hanji zoe rights! im 99% sure she wont be revived -

but she lives on in your writings and other fanfiction authors and artworks and i'm just so grateful we have a community like this, honestly im just glad you're here :) keep doing what you do and i hope you're safe and warm & healthy!! also to every hanji stans out there one fucking day when we love a character the author wont rip our hearts and throw it to the garbage, im so so sorry for my long long ask but if i could request maybe eren apologizing to hanji inpaths or when she got captured or

or when she died or you choose!! i saw this art by @siroyuki 2015 in twitter where he's hugging her and shit, you should check it out it gave me feels!! i just want her to be loved and appreciated :((( again thank you so much if you made it this far! im sorry if you're annoyed or smthn HHAHAHA i promise this is the last! thank you for your service to humanity we stan 💪😩👌💕💞 

ah don’t you let canon frustrate you, it doesn’t matter anyway :D like you saud, we still have fics and fanarts

however, yeah, i do kinda feel you :/ like the way yams keeps glossing over hange's death is actually a bit weird? like i know they're at war and i know that they have no time for grieving etc but the kids were literally bawling their eyes when hange died but no mention of her sacrifice at all after that? like in 136, gabi said that they should stop the rumbling to repay azumabito's kindness and that's ummmmmmm.... a little bit weird. sure, gabi is a little girl with no connection to hange but reiner, jean and connie were there, when gabi said that and they saw hange’s sacrifice, so why not say something like “yeah, we can’t let commander hange’s sacrifice go to waste?” like come on. what did azumabito do? let falco transform on the board of her ship, so now she travels on a boat? i don't think that can compare to hange's acts though. she literally brought these mfs who were ready to jump at each other's throat together and then she sacrificed her own life to give them yet another chance at success. a sacrifice that was proved to be utterly meaningless in the very next chapter? why did falco learn about his ability to fly only after hange died? why didn't he discover it upon first transformation? :/

oh, and speaking of hange's character arc? like i get it, she was depressed, she struggled with her role as a commander (even though she did everything she could and she did a damn good job at it). and i guess that this plotline was kinda resolved when she heard that erwin approved of her actions? and that's cool, if what we've seen was actually an afterlife and not hange's hallucination. because if it was indeed a product of her mind then that's, um, kinda depressing bro. hange was so desperate for someone's approval that she dreamed about it while literally dying. i just don't understand why yams didn't include a scene where kids tell her how much they respect her and what an honor it was to serve under her command or SOMETHING. but as it is, hange died, thinking she was weak and useless and, um, yeah, certainly not the end you want for your favorite character :)

so yeah, hange's death was kinda meaningless and pointless - it didn't serve the plot whatsoever + it could have been very easily avoided 

[douwatahima]

Turns out I have some more feelings about the manga I finished yesterday. Not naming it so this doesn’t end up in the tags. Please don’t read this, lol. The fourteen year old version of me jumped out.

I think the thing that bugged me most about this last stretch of DN Angel is how much it felt like Yukiru Sugisaki was just...done with the whole thing. Like everything felt very rushed towards a specific, easy conclusion that didn't address a lot of the interesting pieces she had previously laid down.

Like, I remember reading those last few chapters before the eight year long hiatus and HOLY SHIT there was so much! The Dark/Risa relationship all of a sudden becomes an actual threat, not just to Daisuke/Riku, but to Daisuke himself! Satoshi completely lets his guard down around Daisuke, trusting that the person he loves will make this huge sacrifice for him, and when Daisuke refuses he POINTS A GUN TO HIS OWN HEAD. AND THEN WHEN HE GETS CAUGHT HE GOES OFF INTO THE FOREST WITH. THE. GUN!!! AND THEN!!!! RIKU FINDS OUT DAISUKE IS DARK!!!!!!!! IT'S WILD AS FUCK!!!!!!!!

And then we come back and a lot of this is immediately dealt with in a comedic fashion and we just move on. Dark and Daisuke don't talk about that Risa interaction. No one goes after Satoshi. Daisuke comes up with some excuse and Riku is satiated for now.

Then we got the whole dream circus arc. Which was honestly alright. I enjoyed Daisuke coming to terms with the fact that he cannot separate himself from Dark. They are one and the same, for better or worse. And honestly, at first I thought this arc was going to lead us somewhere interesting. Because if Daisuke and Dark now understand that they are a package deal, how do they deal with the whole Riku and Risa thing???? (The answer is they basically don't but I'll get there). I was 100% ready to love this arc and then they did...the thing and I...

Okay, look. Full disclosure, I've been a DN Angel fan since I was like, fourteen. It is linked to me in a way that can only happen when you're obsessed with something at the height of your awkward teen years. And the thing that continues to be my favourite part of the whole story is the relationship between Satoshi and Daisuke. They were my number one ship, not just at fourteen, but...honestly probably through all of my teen years. Like, remember when people used to make jokes on this website about someone asking about your otp and you pull out your binder of reasons? I literally made a Satodai binder. That's not a joke. They were it for me.

And, don't get me wrong, there was never a point where I honestly thought the manga was gonna have Daisuke leave Riku and end up with Satoshi. I dreamed about it, but didn't honestly expect it. BUT I loved the way the manga addressed Satoshi's feelings for Daisuke. This is someone who Satoshi treasures above all others. The person who makes him believe the world can be better. The person he would do ANYTHING for. Like, Satoshi LOVES him.

Which is why it's so frustrating to me that Yukiru Sugisaki decided it would be better for Satoshi to have a two second dream about Risa that changes all of his feelings instantaneously. Like, I'm not here to shit on Satoshi/Risa fans, and I'm happy y'all got your ship. Honestly. But, the two of them have barely spoken before this and then Satoshi has a dream and literally says, "oh I guess my feelings have changed now" like...two volumes before the end! AND THEN THEY DON'T EVEN TALK UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE SERIES. FOR WHAT????

It honestly just read to me as, the mangaka wanted to end the series and Satoshi continuing to be into Daisuke was too emotionally complicated to quickly wrap up so he loves Risa now. And hey, that clears up the whole Dark/Risa thing, right? I'll get to that.

ANYWAY, so then we jump into an elongated story about some past Niwa/Hikari drama which would've been fun if I hadn't been growing more and more confused as I noticed how few chapters were left and we were STILL ON THIS. Like, I love when DN Angel gives us fun new characters to talk about. Hell, the Freedert arc and the Argentine arc are two of my favourites. But, when you only have a limited amount of time...It just felt like this was something Yukiru Sugisaki was maybe sitting on for awhile so she didn't want to skip it, but she also wanted to finish the story as soon as possible so the ending comes IMMEDIATELY after which makes this whole arc feel...weird. Like...we could've spent our last few chapters on the characters we know and love but...instead...

Then we get to the endgame. So, quick poll, do we think the mangaka already had this ending in mind before the anime came out or do we think she decided to do the anime ending because she had no idea how to finish the story. I'm really not sure, but either way it felt soooo anticlimactic given that we've had the anime ending for almost 20 years. Like...what was I waiting around for if you were just gonna do the same thing????? And look, I honestly never finished the anime because I couldn't stand the way they chose to characterize some of my favourite characters (most notably Satoshi and Risa) and I'd read what the ending was and hated it lol. But I digress.

The thing about the ending that gets me most is that it all comes on so fast. Like, you wanna do the anime ending? Okay. Don't love the idea, but okay. BUT it all happens in like... 2-3 chapters. Like, all of a sudden the Black Wings is sucking up power from the artwork and, oh no, here comes Krad ready wreck shop. And then we, randomly at THE END OF THE MANGA find out Satoshi's adopted Dad is actually his real Dad and also he's a piece of artwork which makes Satoshi half a piece of artwork???? Why are you telling us this now???? Then Satoshi and Daisuke seal Dark and Krad into the Black Wings the end. Like...????? That's it?????

OH ALSO I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT THE HARADA TWINS ARE MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY. HONESTLY PROBABLY BECAUSE IT FEELS LIKE YUKIRU SUGISAKI FORGOT TOO SINCE THERE'S NO CLOSURE ON THAT?????? (Honestly, I'm laughing because I literally forgot about this fact until just now. AGAIN WHAT WAS THE REASON LMAO!!!)

Okay, so the story's done but where does it leave our favourite characters???

Daisuke and Riku have figured their shit out and are...presumably going to do long distance??? Idk, they never really address whether they're staying together or not as far as I can remember???? Like, this is the relationship I thought we would get the most closure on but ?????????

Risa just gets to be sad for awhile I guess. It's honestly so infuriating to me that we got this awesome moment before the hiatus where Dark asked Risa if she would love him no matter what and she says yes with her WHOLE CHEST and that's enough for Dark to almost, like, take over Daisuke's body permanently. Like, her love for Dark is as real as Riku's love for Daisuke but she's not allowed to have a happy ending like her sister. She gets to see Dark one last time where he kisses her and hopes she'll always be his best girl and then he flies off into the night while she begs him not to leave. Then, she gets to cry in the street, trying to remember him while everyone else is forgetting. Well, at least she has Satoshi, right????

But like, we don't even know if she likes Satoshi that way. There's been...no indication that she does as far as I know. And as he's hugging her, Satoshi is having these thoughts hoping she'll be able to remember Dark because he knows how meaningful he is to her. So their ending is LITERALLY Risa gets to be horribly heartbroken and Satoshi gets to pine for someone else who, at this point, doesn't love him back.

Like, once again not to shit on Satoshi/Risa fans but...is this the ending y'all wanted????? Because as someone who stans them both this just felt horrible. It reads as a feeble attempt to "pair the spares" (since in the story the mangaka wanted to tell, neither of them could be with who they originally loved) but, like, even then this is the saddest way to do that. OH! And once again, if Risa is moving, ARE THEY EVEN GOING TO BE TOGETHER????? Like, what are we supposed to get from this what is the REASON??????

And then there's Dark and Krad being stuck in the Black Wings for eternity. The biggest reason I didn't like this ending in the anime. Like, look. I get that you have to end your manga somehow. BUT if your plan was to reunite Dark and Krad in this way I don't understand why you would write a whole interaction, mere chapters before, having Dark say that that's the LAST thing he wants to do. HE SAYS THAT THEY AREN'T THE SAME ANYMORE AND THAT HE DOESN'T WANT TO RETURN TO HIM. AND THEN HE'S FORCED TO DO JUST THAT. FOR. WHAT?????

Like, Dark isn't a villain. He's one of our main protagonists and has been this whole time. I get that in stories sometimes characters have sad endings. (I've already argued that I think both Satoshi and Risa's endings were bittersweet at best). But to have Dark say mere chapters before it happens that he categorically DOES NOT want to rejoin Krad and then force him to do just that feels like such a needlessly cruel thing to do to this character we're meant to love.

Once again, it just felt so much like Yukiru Sugisaki wanted to end the series as quickly as possible. I get her wanting to come back to it; she's kinda notorious for not finishing things so I get the impulse to just drive through and get at least one story done. But, it felt like so many things were skipped over or changed just because it made getting to the end goal easier and less complicated. Not addressing some of the cool shit she laid down before the hiatus, completely morphing Satoshi's feelings in a dream, writing off Risa's feelings for Dark, telling us all of the Satoshi backstory stuff at the last goddamn minute, giving Dark his worst nightmare as an ending, so many of these things done just to move things along towards a specific end goal as fast as possible.

Honestly, there's a part of me that wishes she hadn't come back and finished it at all. I was happy enough with the ending I had written in my head and would've preferred it to what we ended up getting ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Anyway, to anyone who actually read this (and a part of me hopes no one does lmao) thanks for listening to me ramble. And if you're a Satoshi/Risa fan, uh, sorry I hated on your ship lol. You're cool.

[recentanimenews]

One Piece Celebrates 1000th Chapter with Global Character Popularity Poll, Message from Eiichiro Oda, and More

  The legend actually did it; Eiichiro Oda has officially crossed the 1000th chapter mark for his long-running One Piece manga, and publisher Shueisha has been building up to it with the ONE PIECE 1000 LOGS project. The latest part of that project is a big one, too, as Shueisha kicks off a global character popularity poll to commemorate the milestone.

  The World Top 100 campaign is officially live right now, with the worldwide poll to be open until February 28 at 6:59am Pacific Time. During that period, fans will be able to vote on the best One Piece character through the homepage and by mail-in postcards, and will even be eligible to win prizes for participating. 

  Once it comes to an end on February 28, the final results will be tallied and we'll finally know the answer to who RULES One Piece in popularity. If you plan on casting a vote yourself, you get one vote per day while the poll is running. Prizes include a random AR model of a character from the series for your own unique One Piece photo ops. 

  The AR character models given away as prizes will be updated throughout the campaign with new characters. Here's a sample: 

    Shueisha is going all out with this announcement, which will include a full-page color ad in The New York Times promoting the campaign. The ad will be published on January 4, and here's what it looks like: 

    As for that ONE PIECE 1000 LOGS project, the homepage has a bunch of content in store beyond this poll. New trailers and a live-action teaser looking back at the series' history are on the way. There will also be collaborations with other magazines, the largest release of free One Piece manga volumes to date, and more.

  The cover art for Weekly Shonen Jump combined issues #3 and #4 and combined issues #5 and #6 will create a special double-sized image when combined. The art features Luffy surrounded by the characters drawn by other artists, including My Hero Academia author Kohei Horikoshi's take on Don Krieg, Dr. STONE artist Boichi's take on Ace, JUJUTSU KAISEN creator Gege Akutami's version of Arlong, and more. 

    The posters within both issues can combine, too, forming the biggest poster insert in the history of Shonen Jump. On the front of the poster there's new art by Eiichiro Oda, and on the back are all the memorable moments from the first 1000 chapters. 

    Here's Oda's full letter about the 1000th chapter:

  "1000 Chapters!!

  I, uh, wow…Words pretty much fail to describe the whirlwind these past 23 years have been. Literally half of my life has revolved around the almighty ‘WEEKLY SERIALIZATION’ hehe. But it’s not just me, Luffy and the Strawhats have navigated themselves to so many different islands and found themselves caught up in so many adventures. At this point, even I’m not sure how many lives they’ve touched along the way! But it’s thanks to them that so many special people have entered my own life; first and foremost among them being my family. All of these people have supported me through the years and I am deeply indebted to each of them. Meanwhile, my readers have been leading their own bustling lives. There’s a certain theory that exists for long-term readership in the entertainment world that states, “A given pool of readers will rotate out of a series after five years.” And so for a while now, I’ve avoided calling my readers, ‘fans’. It’s like they say, “Pride cometh before a fall.” I convinced myself that I shouldn’t get too full of myself because my readers would eventually leave the series and move on with their lives. Let me say that all of you have put me to shame for thinking such a thing. Your belief in Luffy has led me to believe in all of you, and that is what allows me to continue drawing exactly the kind of manga I want to draw. So here we are, ready to dip our toes into the final stages of the story. It’s taken us a long time to reach one thousand chapters. However, it’s because I’ve completed a thousand chapters that you must believe I’ll take us to the end. The story waiting for you will defy expectations! I mean it!!

  I have a favor to ask. This is for everyone with whom —by some means or another— I’ve managed to create a bond, in other words, the ONE PIECE FANS of the world! My story is a long one. But for just a while longer, please watch over Luffy and his crew as they continue their adventure!

  January 2021 Eiichiro Oda”

    Fittingly, the new slogan Shueisha is launching with this is "We Are One," which hopes to unify the world as one in fandom, while showing the diverse nature of One Piece fans through each region's Top 100 characters.

  Now, go on and cast your vote for your favorite One Piece character, and let us know who you chose! 

  Source: Press release

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his brand new comic, MONSTER FLIGHT, at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.

By: Joseph Luster

[elmaxlys]

I'm gonna be honest for a second because if anon didn't understand sarcasm last time, there's no guarantee it will register this time either

Yes the TGSMP is on hold until at least next week-end

It has to do with the fact my health, both physical and mental, is dropping fast and low. The only thing I've been able to do is read, this entire week, and even that is hard. I'm trying to get myself back on my feet and the drawing I posted yesterday (Tenkuu Shinpan Beach Episode AU) is a small step toward being creative again, and I'm sorry to say but making the banners is way, wayyy more taxing than a simple doodle - and this simple doodle took a lot. Not as much as I expected, so progress yay, but still a lot.

The Number 1 Rule of Fandom is and has always been "if you don't like the way other people are doing it, then don't complain and do it yourself" fandom is a hobby, we're all doing this for fun and for free

So anon, go ahead. Instead of being a rude little shit hiding behind anonymity in my inbox, take a swing at making the banners, spending hours at a time to find the right panel so it's not too repetitive but still looks nice, to redraw it in the missing parts of a texte bubble or another character, to edit it so it doesn't look too bad when it's with colorful illustrations, to come up with summaries that are both descriptive and concise enough, to make the polls make the bracket update the lists reblog regularly (I've been failing even that, hence why I'm waiting a bit before resuming) see people trash talk your favs in the tags and learn to laugh it off because yeah you do trash talk your fav's opponents too fair enough. Go ahead anon. If you can complain, you can do it too and I look forward to voting in your poll.

You can also grow some balls and come off anon to ask "hey max I see you haven't been uploading polls in a bit, are you alright? Is there any way I can help?" and I'd say that indeed I'm struggling a bit but I'm getting there, new polls soon 💪 oh and would you happen to know in which chapter i can get a nice full-body panel of this character?

Or you could make propaganda for your favs and I'd feel a bit more motivated to work on it just to please you becsuse yes! people are excited about this thing! My efforts are not completely worthless :D (if you do, tag it 'tgsmp propaganda' or 'tg sexyman poll' and I should see and reblog it. Mention you're the anon, too, so I can block you)

Hell you can even send me money asking me to work faster and I guarantee you it'd be far more effective than whatever you're trying to achieve with messages like that.

Because you know what messages from entitled asshole like the ones you sent not once but fucking TWICE achieve? Make people quit. Just one thing, sometimes - fandom activity entirely, way more often. Now as I've repeatedly proven I'm a spiteful, salty bastard (and I don't forgive, sorry that's it's not very catholic of me). Quitting the entire TGSMP just to annoy one anon is totally up my alley even if I were 100% motivated to keep going (this was in my mind after the first message. I was doing fine at the time, just busy with work), so don't tempt me further, anon. I can drop this any fucking day. This is internet, I don't owe you anything and, since you decided to tick the anon, I don't even know you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Your tokyo ghoul sexyman is taking too long. It is becoming boring and uninteresting

Your anonymous comment is too repetitive. It is becoming boring and cowardly

Also, this might help:

(the unfollow button is also available on people's profiles! hope that helps!)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 214: 4th Popularity Poll and 5th Set Climax

Previously on BnHA: Deku met a Hellboy-looking dude in another one of his One For All Dreams and they had a chat! This friendly yet intimidating fella told Deku that the power that had just exploded out of him was actually the dude’s quirk, Blackwhip. It turns out that OFA hasn’t just been stockpiling physical power; all six of the prior wielder’s quirks are included in the package as well! It’s just that up until now, none of the other wielders has ever been able to access them. Before vanishing back into the dream abyss, Deku’s new friend told him he needed to gain better control of his emotions, as his anger toward Monoma was what triggered Blackwhip’s rampage and made it so difficult to handle. Back in the real world, Deku awakened unharmed thanks to Ochako and Shinsou’s efforts. But since the teachers hadn’t called off the battle yet, Monoma came rushing in to attack, with the rest of Team B not being far behind. Mina and Mineta showed up to battle Yanagi, Shouda, and Kodai (they really need to do something about that number disadvantage), while Ochako battled Monoma and Shinsou got ready to take on Deku. The teachers are still watching btw, but it seems like they want to see how this plays out.

Today on BnHA: The newest popularity poll results are revealed and I have a lot of thoughts. A lot of thoughts. Vlad and All Might question why Aizawa wants to let the kids keep fighting, and Aizawa says it’s cuz they’re all still trying their hardest to win. Mineta saves Mina’s life and then completely ruins it because of course he does, but she takes it in stride and uses him to attack the others by flinging him at high speed to ricochet endlessly off of his grapes in a Gran Torino-esque fashion. Monoma tries to attack Deku with One for All but it doesn’t do anything (fortunately for Monoma), and Ochako then takes him down while Deku goes after Shinsou. Deku by the way is fighting quirkless because he’s worried that if he tries to use OFA right now he’ll lose control and put everyone in danger again. He and Shinsou start tusslin’ and we have a flashback to when Ponytail!Aizawa (omg) was training Shinsou on how to use his capture weapon. Back in the present, Shinsou uses the scarf to send a bunch of heavy pipes crashing down towards Deku. But Deku chooses this moment to make peace with himself and his quirk, and catches the pipes using Blackwhip.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 225, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

how are BnHA’s Jump covers always so epic you guys

Shinsou you better watch out, Deku’s fist is too close for comfort. well you’re the one who wanted to fight him again buddy

all right now let’s check out that character poll

oh, nice

BUT WHERE ARE MY POLL RESULTS. HOLD ON A SECOND, I’M GOING TO THE WIKI TO INVESTIGATE

...okay so apparently the results were actually in chapter 207? but the color spread wasn’t released until this chapter wtf why

okay well let me analyze the color page first, and then I’ll go find and complain about the poll results

BAKUGOU AND DEKU’S SWORDS. okay I’ve seen this image before and I love it so much, and that is of course because it’s a sequel to the color page from chapter 120. and the two of them are now each carrying one half of All Might’s sword. basically this is symbolic confirmation that the two of them together will carry All Might’s legacy forward. this is so important to me you guys. this brings me so much joy and happiness

can we talk about what Hawks is wearing. I thought this was a medieval AU, but he’s looking rather steampunk to me. what, are you too cool for D&D, Hawks? also is that a literal hawk. that you’re holding. for some reason. huh

can we talk about what Todoroki is wearing?? and also what the actual hell is going on with his face? he’s wearing some sort of weird mask. and his outfit looks nothing like it did in the previous AU color spread. was Horikoshi just being extra or is this some indicator of a crazy plotline coming up for him somewhere down the road?

I notice my boy Aizawa is missing from the top ten, which is AN ACTUAL CRIME THAT SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE POLICE, but! on the other hand! BEST FUCKING JEANIST OH MY GOD. WELCOME BACK BEAUTIFUL PRINCE. PLEASE HEAL UP SOON

loooooool Endeavor being in the top ten must have pissed off lord knows how many people. it would have pissed me off, before the Endeavorhawks arc. but I’m cool with it now. I get it. having him as your favorite doesn’t mean you’re giving a ringing endorsement of all his actions; it just means he’s a compelling character who’s been getting some really good development lately. still absurd that he’d be ranked over Aizawa, but if I’m honest with myself it really should be Jeanist who was bumped down for that. he’s just there because Japan apparently shares the same weird tastes as myself. by the way how fucking strange is it to see Jeanist without any Jeans holy shit is that even allowed

and winding down here, (1) I’m glad to see All Might still in the top ten ranks at least, (2) Iida is a handsome boy and I love how his armor is reminiscent of his Ingenium costume here, and that he’s the one actually riding the dragon (be careful Iida or my idiot son is going to fall right off its head), (3) Kirishima is still as popular as ever I see, and lastly (4) Momo being in the top 10 is giving me life and I hope she gets some more spotlight this year! it was great to see her as the head of her respective Joint Training battle team

okay! so now let me find the list from chapter 207

holy shit, okay so first of all let me just say that apparently this poll received almost 81,000 votes. for comparison, the third poll only received about 36,000

so having said that, it is absolutely astounding that my boy Bakugou came in at number one yet again, with a margin of over 1000 votes. glad to see you being appreciated boyo

and Shouto made it to #2 for the first time! good job hot and cold! the Endeavorhawks arc definitely gave him a boost as well I think. and well deserved!

and my boy Deku at #3, but while the difference between Katsuki and Shouto is only about 1200 votes, the difference between Shouto and Izuku is more than 7,400. basically the top two are in a league of their own here goddamn

and Hawks is all the way at #4! holy shit! more than 4,500 votes between him and Deku, mind, and Kirishima is nipping at his heels less than 200 votes away from him, but still, that’s amazing given how recently he made his debut and how relatively few chapters he’s been in. I expect the number of votes for him to skyrocket in the next poll, assuming we get more of that double agent storyline. Touya -- I mean Dabi -- is probably gonna get a boost too lol

my boy Finest Jeanist on God’s Green Earth is next at 6th, and then MOMO IN 7TH PLACE YAAAAAY GO MOMO

and Endeavor made it to 8th! HOLY SHIT ENDEAVOR YOU FINALLY BEAT ALL MIGHT IN THE APPROVAL RATINGS. THESE TRULY ARE MAD DAYS

Iida beat All Might as well and made it to #9! though only by 100 votes

and All Might is in 10th, and then Aizawa is at 11th. oh Aizawa. you were upstaged by a crotchety old man seeking to make amends for his past sins, and a denim-clad meme who nearly made the ultimate sacrifice against AFO and then proceeded to not be in the manga for 120 chapters and counting. but it’s okay you were never in this for the fame

anyways the rest of the results are listed here, but some quick parting remarks:

Gang Orca came in at 15th, presumably thanks to his EXTRA GUIDANCE

my boy Denki is in 16th place and I want him to keep moving up! go kick Shindou’s ass. how the hell did that tool make it all the way to 14th place

Ojiro is still inexplicably popular to me. he’s a nice guy but you could replace him with a cardboard cutout of himself probably and I bet you it would take some time before anyone noticed something was off

Jirou is at 21st despite her performance in the Band AU arc and that is fucked up, people. WHERE IS THE RESPECT

Shinsou somehow went down despite finally making his reappearance in the series?? I seriously don’t understand how popularity works, at all

Overhaul beat Mirio by 3 votes and while I’m so psyched Mirio did better than the last poll (up to 26th place! these 455 people have impeccable taste), this fact is utterly depressing to me. did these people actually read the arc, for real

NIGHTEYE IS AT 27TH AND I’M SO SAD. not about him being at 27th, because that’s actually pretty good. but just, you know. because once again I am reminded that he’s dead sob

lastly, in the American popularity poll Bakugou received 38,000 fucking votes holy shit. we may not have any fucking clue how to vote for presidents but at least we fucking got something right, goddamn. and Mirio in 9th place. and Aizawa in 6th. you guys are all right, US fandom

anyways that took like 25 years and if I’d known it was going to be this long I would have saved the poll to be its own damn recap lol. but now on to the actual chapter!

lol so Vlad is like ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS, YOU DON’T WANT TO STOP THEM??

Vlad this is just how we do things around here. not all of us can be ~safe~ teachers whose students don’t get attacked and abducted every Wednesday afternoon. some of us like to live on the edge and be super irresponsible because we’re lazy and also because the students will honestly manage to get into trouble regardless of whether we do our jobs or not

and anyways Aizawa says that if Deku’s quirk acts up again he’ll stop it so it’ll be fine

and All Might’s asking Aizawa why

well it’s obviously because he wants to give Shinsou a chance to complete his examination. and maybe he wants to see how the kids deal with this unexpected twist as well. so long as nobody gets hurt, why not

oh my god Aizawa

this man is fighting to reclaim that top 10 spot. never give up. never surrender

so we’re cutting to panels of all 9 battlin’ kids, and he says all of them are still trying to win this battle

because fucking plus ultra, in other words

sob I should be more indignant shouldn’t I. has this school actually made me come around to their way of thinking

nah, it’s only because everything is clearly fine now. had this scene taken place even 90 seconds earlier I would have been all “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, OF COURSE YOU SHOULD STOP THEM”

lol what

he just shows his affection in some very strange ways tbh

anyway so here we go! back to the kiddos! Deku and Shinsou are each holding onto Shinsou’s scarf and staring each other down!

and now Shinsou has GONE FISHIN’

this is beyond hilarious to me. oh my god. Deku you could just let go

but I guess he thought he could out-muscle him. like if anything, he’d be the one pulling Shinsou down to where he is. but instead he’s falling off of the platform where he and Ochako were standing

and Ochako’s running over and she’s all “Deku lost...?! in a power struggle?!”

that makes it sound like Game of Thrones lmao

Deku’s glancing back up at her and says he can’t use his quirk right now because he’s worried about putting everyone in danger again

yeah, that’s probably a good call. at least until you get a handle on your emotions. even ol’ Hellboy was all “much as I love my awesome fucking quirk, it’s been powered up to here and back now so results may vary”

Ochako says that in that case they should retreat and regroup

lol how are you going to fucking retreat. this has already turned into a melee battle, they’ll just follow you

and Deku says that if they retreat now, they’ll lose

ah, good point

this is their chance to capture him, when he’s exposed and his quirk which relies heavily on stealth and surprise has been neutralized

Ochako’s jogging over to him

oh my god

IT’S THE BATTLE HE’S BEEN PREPARING FOR HIS ENTIRE LIFE

oh to see Katsuki’s reaction to this. sigh

oh. but Deku is dotting and he says “not exactly”

what are you up to you mysterious little chia pet

meanwhile ASHIDO MINA IS BEING A TOTAL BADASS AND I’M HERE FOR IT

THIS ACID MAY STING! A BIT!!

(ETA: you know, I made fun at the time, but given all the other shit we’ve seen today, I have to give her credit for at least warning her opponents before attempting to maim them.)

and class B is just doing the same damn thing as before

I’m surprised they’re not trying to go on offense. mind you, it shows that they have a lot of respect for Mina’s offense and they don’t feel like getting pummeled by acid this fine afternoon, which is understandable

oh shit but here we go

MINA YOU BETTER DODGE THAT SHIT, SHOUDA’S QUIRK HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL TO BE RIDICULOUSLY BROKEN IF HE USES IT RIGHT

...holy shit

QUICK, LET’S ENJOY THIS BEFORE HE SOMEHOW RUINS IT. WHY CAN’T WE LIVE IN THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WHERE HORIKOSHI GAVE US A LOVABLE, FUNNY, AND COOL MINETA AND NOT THE HOT GARBAGE PERV THAT WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH INSTEAD

good job Mineta. how many panels before you say something stupid to enrage us all again

oh shit I scrolled down to the rest of the page and SO FAR SO GOOD?! wow this is like a record

Mineta did something smart and creative and swooped in to save a teammate and didn’t say or do anything perverted to ruin it?? better get me an umbrella cuz I suspect the other shoe will be dropping shortly

(ETA: 3... 2...)

aaaaaaaaaaaand the very first panel on the next page is him being smacked into Mina’s chest as a result of the twin impact, apparently just as planned

well so much for that. he made it a whole five panels though

hey, imagine if Horikoshi had written that scene and then not thrown in that last part in for absolutely no reason. imagine if Mineta was like that all the time. underestimated and mostly overlooked because of his mascot-like appearance and oddball quirk, but impressing us all with surprisingly clutch saves at crucial moments. kind of like the little niche that Aoyama has established for himself. it honestly wouldn’t be that hard to make Mineta an interesting and actually funny character, and the fact that we’re going on five years of the same old shit instead is kinda disheartening

anyways, enough mourning what could have been, I guess. in the meantime Mina is grabbing him and hurling him lmao

and he’s bouncing around like a ping pong ball and class B is trying to avoid getting hit by him

oh my god. he is the special attack

ain’t nobody wanna get hit by that. that’s a smart move

Shouda says he wants to pull back, but they’re kind of surrounded now and it’s hard to come up with a plan in the spur of the moment

all credit to Mina’s astounding creative mind, which has fucking flourished in these last couple of arcs and I hope it continues to do so. she is brilliant

Tsuburaba says Shouda is having to protect the other two because they’re weak at close-range combat? say what now?? how is a telekinesis quirk weak at close-range combat, exactly?? just float some metal shit into the air and wait for Mineta to inevitably ricochet into it and concuss himself and just like that you’re free to take on Mina three against one. even someone as awesome as her would struggle with that

meanwhile, Jirou is wondering why the hell the teachers haven’t stopped the battle yet

and here’s the first we’ve seen of Katsuki since The Thing happened, so yeah you bet I’m posting that shit

he looks openly confused, and not in his normal “I don’t know what’s going on and that pisses me off so Imma make an angry face” way. but in a more overtly “what the fuck” way. not that dissimilar to the way he looked when he was watching All Might battle AFO, but with less panic, thankfully

it definitely says a lot about how far his relationship with Deku has come that this is his reaction, though. confusion and maybe slight concern, rather than anger or jealousy or automatically thinking this is something new Deku had up his sleeve that he was purposely hiding from him. he really has come such a long way since Ground Beta

anyway so here’s Deku and Ochako taking on Monoma

at least someone is using that TK quirk. or is that twin impact that he’s using. well either way, at least he’s doing something and not just standing there

oh look more Monoma monologuing

officially the most dramatic motherfucker who ever lived. but more importantly,

OH MY GOD HE’S GOING TO USE ONE FOR ALL LASKDFLKJSLKDJFLK DON’T DIE MONOMA

why he would attempt to use a quirk that he has seen breaking its original owner’s bones and only MOMENTS AGO causing its owner intense pain as he flailed around out of control is beyond me. he kind of snapped here and got all go big or go home, I guess

Deku I assure you it very much can

now Ochako’s telling Monoma to stop and that it’s dangerous! and she’s charging toward him!

OH MY GOD

HE WAS FUCKING BLUFFING?? HOW

AND OH MY GOD OCHAKO, I STAN YOU SO FUCKING HARD RIGHT NOW THOUGH. IS IT JUST ME OR ARE THE LADIES THE UNDISPUTED MVPS OF THIS FIGHT!? DEKU DOES SHE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING HERSELF OR WHAT

wow what??

so he was trying to activate it but it wouldn’t work?

well (1) he’s damn lucky it didn’t, and (2) is that because Deku’s technically quirkless? or is it because the nature of OFA makes it so it can’t be copied or passed on to anyone against the owner’s will? that is really convenient if so

(ETA: or (3) he did copy the quirk but not the accumulated power stored within it. oooh I have some thoughts on that. gonna try and take some time this evening to type out that OFA essay.)

Shinsou’s trying to save his partner, but!

oh shit

he looks so caught off guard sob. Deku are you gonna punch him. please be gentle he is still new to this

once again, I submit for your consideration: your MVP

you see Monoma, this is how you take a supposed “supporting character” quirk and elevate it to its max potential

so now Deku’s tackling Shinsou and they’re tumbling onto the ground

Shinsou’s making another attempt to get Deku to talk but our boy is too smart for that shit now. fool him once, shame on you. fool him twice, shame on him. but you still haven’t managed to fool him thrice so it looks like he can be taught!

and Shinsou is again saying he’s not the same as when they last fought

ahhhhhhhh we’re cutting back to the teachers now ARE WE GONNA GET SOME SHINY MENTOR FEELS

YESSSSSSSSSSS

HOWIRHFALSKDLFJL THE PONYTAIL LIVES, MY FRIENDS

oh my god oh my god

mentor feels! All Might you’re not the only one who’s been training kids out in the woods in the wee hours of the morning!

Aizawa is self-taught holy fucking shit this man’s talent is severely underrated

THE PONYTAIL. I NEED TO MENTION IT AGAIN FOR OBVIOUS REASONS

and I don’t think I’ve rambled about this yet, but! now we’re finally getting to see why Aizawa took such a personal interest in Shinsou, and I’ve been waiting and waiting for this and I’m so happy we’re finally getting to it. he sees himself in him. they both have powerful quirks capable of incapacitating even the strongest opponents, but the catch is that those quirks are mental rather than physical. physically they are essentially quirkless, and so if they ever get caught off-guard -- or pitted against giant robot opponents, or opponents who are otherwise immune to their abilities -- they’re at a huge disadvantage

so here’s this kid who’s very much like him, and Aizawa has no obligation to reach out to him, but he does so all the same, because he cares, and if he can help this kid fulfill his dreams and not have to stumble along and make it up as he goes the way he had to, isn’t that worth doing?

Aizawa Shouta let me just once again say that it’s a war crime that you were not ranked in the top ten, and I think we need to conduct a special investigation into these poll results. I’m only seeking justice and the truth

OKAY BUT THIS IS SOME INDIRECT HIGH PRAISE FOR THE ENTIRETY OF CLASS “NOT A SINGLE ONE OF US WAS EXPELLED” 1-A THOUGH AND I CAN’T EVEN DEAL

AND THEN THE FLASHBACKS TO SHINSOU AFTER HIS FIRST BATTLE, AND BEING SO HARD ON HIMSELF. BECAUSE HE WANTS TO LIVE UP TO AIZAWA’S FAITH IN HIM. OH MY GOD I CAN’T, THIS IS SO GOOD THOUGH AND I’M EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED

so now Shinsou’s shouting again that he’s not the same as he was back then!

and he’s using his capture weapon to bring a bunch of heavy pipes crashing on top of them!

BUT NOW DEKU IS HAVING SOME MENTOR FEELS OF HIS OWN OH GOODNESS

;________; WHY DID THAT MAKE ME TEAR UP, SOMEBODY EXPLAIN

(ETA: I think because it’s a reminder that all of the past wielders of OFA are just as good and pure as All Might in their own ways, and they’ve all been working tirelessly to fight evil this whole time, and it’s like Deku doesn’t have just one mentor, but he has eight now.)

AAAAAHHHHHHHH

LOOK AT HIM USING BLACKWHIP IN THE SAME MANNER AS THE CAPTURE SCARF WEAPON, THOUGH?? DID SHINSOU INSPIRE HIM

(ETA: of course he did. this is Deku, he takes and learns from everyone. I love it.)

AND JUST LOOK AT THIS FUNKY LITTLE SUCCESSOR LIVING UP TO THE FAITH THAT’S BEEN PLACED IN HIM

oh my god. what a damn chapter. this recap is almost 4000 words and it was worth it. I love this arc

[clarste]

Should the 3 beast spirits be considered "newhu" as well? They might lack any humanoid appearances and don't seem to have anything indicating they're female (unless it was lost in translation), but they had significant amount of dialogue, appear on-screen and show their personality throughout. In particular, how likely would we see them continue to interact with the rest of Touhou casts? What's the chance they would be recorded by Akyu: ? Should they be part of subsequent popularity polls?

Whatever else, they will absolutely 100% be part of subsequent popularity polls. Because those polls include absolutely everyone, even the most minor background characters who show up in one chapter of WaHH or FS. So you don’t have to worry about that at least.

Honestly, I do not expect them to ever show up again or interact with other members of the cast. At best they might, say, appear behind Yachie or Saki as a yes man. That kind of role. I doubt they’ll have articles written about them by Akyu, although depending on the format I suppose there might be an article on “Animal Spirits” generally.

[f1g]

this a compilation of all of the moments in the dr.STONE manga that senku and gen share together! they're sorted in order by chapter, and they include descriptions and links to the panels. at the end, there's a section with some random fun facts/crumbs/observations that don't quite fit into the main list that are nice to know. many thanks to ukyoxchrome for helping assemble this list! now let us proceed under the cut to contemplate why exactly they are boyfriends and how cute they are... (as one would expect there are major manga spoilers throughout this whole post so read at your own risk)

Chapter 12 - gen first appears on the psychology book cover in a flashback! senku proceeds to stomp all over his quiz

Chapter 23 - gen introduced in the flesh when he arrives at ishigami village and asserts his status as resident cola man. senku recognizes him from way back when (omg) and calls his book trashy and we get these panels of gen being a sad ferret

Chapter 24 - senku calls gen a “capable fake magician”, gen is impressed by senku making a generator

Chapter 25 - in order to help senku with his generator for the first time gen works his psychology stuff to manipulate someone (kinrou and ginrou) into achieving one of senku’s goals

Chapter 26 - first big sengen moment. gen gets beaten up by magma, senku and gen have, uh, this moment i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. the tenderness... the intimacy. god

Chapter 38 - gen returns during the tournament, senku and gen team up so that chrome can burn magma

Chapter 40 - also a huge chapter for sengen. gen blushing and being tsundere while thinking about senku, some banter between them, and FINALLY colaman gets his cola oh my god look how happy he is

Chapter 46 - teaming up against hyouga and co look at their faces at the end ahh and also gen being cute and waving back while he returns to tsukasa

Chapter 47 - senku makes a katana, something gen suggested in chapter 24

Chapter 48 - gen officially defects to senku's side and at the end of the chapter there’s a cute drawing of gen and senku wielding katanas together

Chapter 51 - senku makes cotton candy, gen wants to taste it. also, a gay-coding moment where we are yet again reaffirmed that senku is not interested in girls

Chapter 53 - gen calls senku cool, and is impressed by senku’s light bulb. senku and gen stand by the christmas tree and gen realizes it’s christmas

Chapter 54 - gen invites senku to see the new year’s day first sunrise with everyone and asks senku how many days he has lived, which leads to the birthday party.

Chapter 55 - gen starts planning for the birthday party

Chapter 56 - gen's surprise birthday party! gen says he liked senku before he met him! gen uses “好き” which can be used in confessions in japanese!!!!! best chapter.

Chapter 57 - senku drags gen by his hood into the lab and gen doesn’t understand anything. senku tells gen he expected him to be smarter lol

Chapter 59 - gen remembering senku's birthday again and figuring out that they should go visit byakuya's grave

Chapter 60 - senku is looking through his telescope and he can literally sense that it’s gen at his door oh my he is so gay… then a total hell yeah motherfucker moment

Chapter 61 - senku and gen talk alone together for a bit until chrome busts in. senku says that gen’s lillian impression is good. epic brofist ensues

Chapter 63 - gen and senku communicate with each other via morse code. it is revealed in the volume 8 bonus content that senku taught it to gen himself TT_TT

Chapter 65 - gen escapes from ukyo and RUNS back to senku. just before, senku thinks “if gen doesn’t come back before then, it’s game over” he doesn’t even mention chrome or magma haha

Chapter 66 - popularity poll results are out, gen is in third place and senku is in first place, they appear in a color page together (with kohaku in second place). gen and senku make the phone call to convince nikki to join senku’s side, bantz ensue idk

Chapter 67 - senku and gen wear modern japanese school uniforms while nikki is yelling at them in this gag, very cute. Gen is surprised by senku wanting to build a car. also in one translation senku says “stan” and gen says “yikes”

Chapter 68 - gen notes how excited senku and his pals are over building a car several times

Chapter 70 - cover page has senku riding the tank and gen inside it. gen is impressed by the paper that senku made

Chapter 73 - gen and senku team up as lillian weinberg and sebastian the interpreter. gen calls senku “senku-kun” (the only time he has used an honorific that wasn’t “-chan” for someone)

Chapter 74 - gen cries because senku doesn’t know how to negotiate with people

Chapter 75 - senku and gen are in the tank together while they take over the cave of miracles

Chapter 76 - gen calls senku “hella prepared”

Chapter 77 - Senku and Gen try to make a weapon to defeat tsukasa. Gen touches snake shit for senku. (kat’s note: That is real love lol)

Chapter 82 - gen mirin senku’s medical adhesive making

Chapter 84 - ukyo talks to gen about his decision to defect from tsukasa, gen stares wistfully into the distance and says “senku, huh…”. really makes you think pic (kat’s note: HE LITERALLY SAID “SENKU” FOR NO REASON OH MY HE IS SO GAY) (macklemore’s note: in the pic it’s a little different as it’s a different translation but in the viz one he does in fact say “senku, huh...”)

Chapter 86 - gen and senku just, being on the absolute same wavelength here. effervescent

Chapter 87 - more scheming ft. ryusui, devilishness ensues. up there in the most iconic sengen moments

Chapter 88 - gen does his thing w the cards, more shenanigans. Wonderful

Chapter 92 - gen pretends that senku has made a camera so that they can get the extra revival fluid from minami

Chapter 93 - senku says “that mouth of yours is really too much, mentalist!!” lmao

Chapter 94 - senku tries to quiz gen on the discovery of the sagara oil field

Chapter 95 - gen mirin senku’s motorboat. senku and gen are both on the boat together. gen also interprets morse code again in this chapter

Chapter 97 - ukyo and gen have another little discussion about senku, gen stares wistfully into the distance yet again. what did they mean by this

Chapter 98 - senku finally makes paved roads for gen

Chapter 99 - senku and gen conspiring to get money from ryusui again

Chapter 100 - gen is the last one to go on the boat, senku calls out to him and tells him that they need his skills, gen goes up really close to him and says that he would rather stick with senku’s group because that would be the safest bet TT_TT

Chapter 101 - gen is curious about where senku is, he goes to where senku is (with ruri) and literally just falls asleep next to him. later on gen has a question about soyuz he calls for senku

Chapter 103 - senku chooses gen to go to treasure island with the team of 4

Chapter 104 - senku and gen get a color page together, and they work together to deduce that amaryllis is around

Chapter 105 - senku needs to use the tear gas contraption that is on Gen’s back. gen understands immediately and becomes senku’s table hfsdjkf

Chapter 106 - they realize the thing amaryllis is talking about is the petrification beam after she describes her flashback.

Chapter 110 - gen calls senku cute as a girl

Chapter 113 - gen has his moment in the spotlight, general banter between them, modern au thing with them in the chapter cover page

crumbs

now here are just some panels and observations that aren't critical in the development of their relationship but are nice to note regardless

Chapter 26 - senku noting that gen isn't quite dead yet and senku helping hoist gen up into the hut lol

Chapter 39 - in the viz translation gen calls senku “my dear senku” i just think that’s really cute

Chapter 45 - just this omg why is senku so pretty

Chapter 52 - senku says that gen is good at impressions (this is also foreshadowing for when gen impersonates lillian weinberg)

Chapter 56 - just a few more crumbs from this chapter

Chapter 58 - gen saying "tewwible" i think this is great

Chapter 60 - being cute together. i am addicted to that "long day, huh?" panel

Chapter 84 - in the cover page, you see senku with basically the entire cast in front of him, and gen is the only person behind him. really makes u think. gen really is senku’s right hand man huh :’’)

in general, gen is shows just being really impressed by senku’s stuff which isn’t really matched by any other named character

in conclusion sengen is cute and canon they are chaotic good bfs and are in love thank u for coming to my ted talk. the world needs more sengen content

[izupie]

100 Relatable Writer Things

(Courtesy of the creative writers from the Kacchako Discord server. We suffer together fam.)

doesn't write for 84 years 

starts a billion things, no time to finish or update

daydreaming about writing 

thinks about writing in shower, has no writing utensils

about to fall asleep, sudden motivation and inspiration

stuck at dayjob, pure, unadulterated motivation and inspiration

arrives home too tired to write

sits down at computer to write, spends two hours on the internet doing everything except writing

listening to music and it slows your writing to a snail's pace.

accidentally write the lyrics instad of dialogue

ignore typos

your Internet sucks and you can't connect to Google docs for a day.

trying to write angst only to slowly turn it into fluff

you remember you have pets and wanna cuddle them over writing 

you have a carefully written plan, that all of your characters are ignoring and start going in directions you are unprepared for

your characters do what they want, fuck u 

you realize you wrote a plot point too early and then mash the delete button.

you bingewatch a sitcom and plan all of these everyday aus and don't write any of them and demolish ice cream in the dark instead

you stare at your screen after doing nothing for an hour and the whole time you are internally screaming.

you open your story document and suddenly realise the bookshelf in your room needs alphabetising 

you look back at the manga for reference but end up just rereading the manga 

you fantasize about your characters and blush because they're so attractive

you realise you've been making weird expressions at your screen while you've been typing

the people around you have also noticed.

people wonder if you are okay in public settings writing angst

you brainstorm amazing ideas for your fic as you sleep but when you wake up you don't remember shit

having idea bouncing buddies to help with your au and end up creating a separate au

getting aus mixed

finding somewhere to write smut where nobody will accidentally look over your shoulder

you write smut in public but you're so tired that you don't care who sees anymore  

doing dumb shit like "bakugou looked at bakugou" and publishing it

you finish writing a chapter and look over your outline only to learn you skipped doing a scene.

try to quickly edit things, end up combing through chapter again

lots of picture refs for characters

forgetting your time scale while writing. how much time has passed? idk man

writing a one shot that becomes a 20k multichap

hitting 4k a chapter and crying it's not enough

hitting 19k a chapter and thinking, "maybe I can do more."

wondering if word count its too short/long

just crying. in general.

intending to write an epic slow burn and dropping it two chapters in for another idea

having a fully written arc expecting 10 chapts but with editing it becomes 7 chapts somehow

wanting to write a slow burn but getting so excited to get to the big part you just say fuck it

having so much of an au build up that you are excited for that it unintentionally becomes slowburn

intending to write a serious fic but you don't want to put the characters in any more pain than they canonically are so you turn them all into major goofballs

OR character didn't get enough pain canonically and it was supposed to be funny story

writing angst and pain because you're a masochist

love watching readers cry

taking pleasure in watching them cry

blasting meme music in your ears as your readers scream at you about breaking their hearts

hoping for fanart

teasing spoilers bc you want validation

running from rabid readers

sometimes you write for an hour and have done 500 words. Other times you blink and 3k words are suddenly there.

having a decent steady schedule or becoming spastic update qween, there is no in between. Bonus points if you do separate fics like this

watching a movie, inserting characters for yet another au

taking polls what to update next

never listening to the polls you create

making a schedule and sticking to it. Your fans think your organized but it's more like controlled chaos.

motivated to do something but what? 

literally buying a journal with goals and a tentative update schedule so you can keep your ass in check

not using said journal bc lazy

having monthly updates but writing more than half of it in the last week.

WHAT THE FUCK DO I TITLE IT

what's editing

can someone edit my stuff pls

writing the title of the chapter and then nothing else that day.

write, no edits, only write. Cry

69... 

setting a day to respond to comments. forget

stare at comments with awe and fear

wordvomit, keyboard smash

comments are life

kudos are resurrected life

holy shit a bookmark???????

holy shit someone recced me

wanting to share but don't want to be annoying

wanna collab?

surfing tumblr for writing refs bc your english sucks

i love dialogue~

i hate dialogue

does this sOUND NATURAL THO

is this too descriptive or not enough?

how do i describe this place i've never been to

have i used [blank word] too much?

more pic refs

said is too plain, but they're not doing anything but sitting and talking

does this smell description sound too fanficcy?

having a color bible

is this ooc?

how would you describe a <____> hitting the <___> floor?

how do i describe violence accurately

how many followers/readers will i lose to this

what does <___> pain feel like?

compare yourself to other popular writers

what are you writing has several word docs open

googling stuff that makes you sound like a murderer for rESEARCH

staring at your phone praying someone reviews it soon

how do i write texts or IMs

having that one follower who always comments

BONUS:  Is it truly finished or am I just sick of writing it

[themattress]

Here are the male and female characters poll pages from this poll.

These are the results broken down into percentages:

And now, to go on a tangent based on something Nomura said about it:

In regards to the responses regarding favorite characters, most of the results were as expected, but I feel Riku ranked a little low. I think I have to do something about that. Maybe I should give him a little more opportunity to shine?

At first, this quote amused me, since I associated it with the other poll that said Noctis was the FF character people most wanted to see in KH3 - Nomura said it was going to be difficult to make that happen, but given Riku’s blatantly Noctis-esque redesign for KH3, I figure he tried to knock out two birds with one stone. But the more I dwell on it, the more pissed I get.

Riku WAS more widely popular back in the earlier days of the franchise. But times change and tastes change, and the “angsty tortured pretty-boy anti-hero” archetype fell out of favor and even now still isn’t in favor (example: Keith from Voltron: Legendary Defender and the generally polarizing reception he’s had). Riku isn’t exactly UNpopular now, though, as he still ranks 4th on the poll, jumping ahead of Terra who had actually surpassed him back in a 2011 poll, when BBS was all the rage. And yet Nomura feels he “has to do something about this”?

There are three reasons why this angers me.

1. Nomura muses that “maybe I should give him a little more opportunity to shine”? Oh, yes! Because THAT’S clearly the problem - Riku hasn’t had enough of an opportunity to shine! 

Forget the fact that he had his own playable story mode in CoM, that he was the final party member and requisite for the final battle (where he was even playable for a brief moment) in KH2, forget that he had a role in Days and was a playable Mission Mode character, forget that Data Riku was the journal’s avatar in Coded and had almost an entire chapter dedicated to he and Data Sora’s bond, forget that even as a child he got the most screentime in BBS, forget that he not only had his own playable story mode in 3D but was the actual main protagonist of that game who became the True Keyblade Master, forget that you beat us over the head with how “more Sora-esque” he’s become in 0.2 BBS (and Sora’s still the most popular male character even now)...Riku hasn’t had enough of an opportunity to shine!

This is ridiculous. If after ALL of that, Riku still doesn’t even breach 100 votes in a fan popularity poll, then there is literally nothing more you could do to “make him shine” that would work. If anything, I suspect the opposite holds true - I think people already feel that Riku is being forced down our throats, to the point where he’s been given more to do than the series’ actual main character (which Sora is, regardless of what Riku’s own most hardcore fangirls might believe). If you continue to give him “opportunities to shine” and basically yell “YOU MUST LIKE THIS GUY!”, the less inclined people are to actually sincerely like him. Take a tip from the crew behind The Legend of Korra - when they saw their blatant attempts to make Mako popular were only making him less popular, they scaled his role back and stopped trying so hard with him. Because of this, he became less artificial and more genuine, relatable, and likable, and he naturally gained a lot more fans by the end of the show. If you don’t do this and instead keep pushing Riku, he’ll only be seen as a Creator’s Pet by many.

2. Hey, you know who HASN’T had a lot of opportunities to shine, who could really use it, who has lots of fans clamoring for it?  KAIRI.  But because of the very vocal hatedom she has, Nomura and the other folks at Square became convinced that she was unpopular. and what did they do? Did they say “we have to do something about it and give her a little more opportunity to shine?” Hahahahah, nope! They just threw her out like the garbage and kept her presence to a bare minimum in all the games between KH2 and KH3, even when it very blatantly defied all sense and logic to do so. She’s only got a bigger role in KH3 out of some sense of obligation, that because it’s a “mainline game” she’s got to at least have 30 minutes.

The fucked-up thing is that this recent poll disproves the notion that she’s unpopular. She got 182 votes and sits at 20% of the results, which is just 26 votes and 2% less than Xion, the first (heroic) female playable character in the series. It’s just 6 votes less and the same percentage as her current training buddy Axel on the male poll.  And it’s more votes and a higher percentage than Riku has on the male poll. There are more people who are willing to name Kairi their favorite female character than there are people willing to name Riku their favorite male character. And need I remind you, this poll was taken LAST YEAR. After well over a DECADE of Kairi having no significant role in any game! Clearly, in her and KH’s country of origin, Kairi is very well-loved by a plurality, regardless of all the online shrieking against her. And yet Square still refuses to give her the time and development she deserves.

3. And this leads me to my last point. Consider the characters above both Riku and Kairi, and who aren’t the main character, Sora.  The trio of Roxas, Axel and Xion are popular - Days is much bigger in Japan than it was elsewhere, and the two boys were popular well before it.  As such, we keep getting them in KH games, even when it doesn’t make sense for them to be there.  Aqua is the most popular KH female character, so they gave her a special KH3 prologue to star in that elevated her to being possibly the most popular KH character period.  

Yet this poll indicates that at this point Kairi is more popular than Riku and...Nomura’s immediate response is that he needs to “do something about” Riku’s situation, with no indication that he’s going to accommodate Kairi based on her popularity. So basically, when all these other, significant, non-Kairi characters are popular, Nomura makes sure to give them more to do.  But when there’s a significant, non-Kairi character who polls worse than Kairi, Nomura...makes sure to give him more to do.  All while Kairi herself is left hanging. WTF!?

My point is that we desperately NEED a writer who actually cares about Kairi as a character on board the KH games, someone like Jun Akiyama or Daisuke Watanabe or even freaking Shiro Amano! Because it’s painfully obvious that Nomura does not give a shit about her.