#i have never seen an anime protagonist act so much like me until i saw katarina claes

[supercalime]

Girl who’s too old for DCOMs talks about Descendants Rise of Red for way too long:

- Literally no joke, I’m a firm believer that this is the best descendants movie and I wish we could’ve followed this story since the beginning

- im so so happy that they had a much bigger budget! This franchise really needs big set pieces, a lot of CGI, costumes that look expensive and a cast that can actually act, so it paid off

- ok so I’m gonna highlight a few things, let’s go

- I was really shocked they killed Carlos off (for obvious reasons, my respects to Cameron), as this franchise is for younger kids and dumbs down a lot of things. China’s delivery and her tears made me very emotional. Which is no surprise as she carried the other 2 movies she was in on her back

- Red is a very likable protagonist but some choices made for her character were boring. She’s not really looking for approval from her mom and she clearly has a good head on her shoulders so I don’t see the reason of having the “fake outs” that she will actually sentence someone to death but again, kids movie

- we only got one and a half scene of Maddox but I already love him

- Rita Ora and Brandy ate and left no crumbs. They play queens because they are queens

- after the reveal that there was a prank that turned the QOH evil, I expected that Cinderella had something to do with it (more of that later)

- I did cringe a little on how much rapping/sing-talking there was. If you want that hire Lin Manuel Miranda

- I’ll forever be bitter that Disney flipped Kenny Ortega off and stabbed him in the back, but that being said, Jennifer Phang couldn’t have done it better. She knew how to work with the script and the budget. Although some of the photography and choreography felt a bit weird

- it was certainly a choice that young Bridget looks nothing like her older self. Specially um…skin tone wise. There’s some implications I won’t get into

- im very surprised on how little we saw of the supporting characters. I thought Aladdin, Jasmine and Fay were going to be more prominent. And poor zellie (btw stupid name, just use Rapunzel)! Who got cut out of the movie completely!

- Aladdin and Jasmine were absolutely adorable!

- uliana and the other villains were fun antagonists. They were what I expected so I don’t really have notes.

- it probably has something to do with the IP but I don’t see why not have Uli just be Ursula but whatever

- I do appreciate that this installment finally made clear of what the lore is. We finally got confirmation that this universe isn’t a sequel to the movies, which was very confusing in the first 3

- this is gonna sound horrible but. Im so glad they committed to killing Cinderella. I do wish they had done that before Chloe and Red time travelled to give Chloe more motivation. In fact I’m very happy that this movie was darker than the other. Disney animated movies always had a lot of death so this feels closer to them than the other 3 ever did

- Now onto me thinking Ella was in on the prank, this will be long: the movie has third act issues and it was very anti climatic, which even led me to believe there was going to be a twist until I saw there were like 5 mins left. Anyway, when Cinderella told the QOH “it was just a prank and that was so long ago” I was convinced she had been involved, so I was looking out for it. I was reading into every expression Ella’s actress had and thought I saw that she was pretending to be Bridget’s friend to get out of her abusive home. I thought that it would’ve been revealed that when the prank was done, she’d maybe just do nothing and leave Bridget helpless because she was afraid that if she did help, she’d never be like the other princesses or something. It would’ve been so cool to see Chloe’s view of her mom shatter, as she only knew her as this benevolent queen who’s only kind and perfect.

- obviously none of that happened and the climax felt really flat. We should’ve seen the dance in the beginning of the movie, not knowing who the characters were, then we go to the present, then once the time travel happens, we don’t spend as much time before the dance and we get the dance a little before the third act and see a few of the things play out. Like Ella and charming falling in love, or even Fay giving her the dress and shoes before, and a Carrie like scene of the prank almost happening that is stopped by Red and Chloe. Then back to the present and a BIG ENDING MUSICAL NUMBER!

- All that being said, I hope we get more sequels. I think it would be cool to see this as more of an anthology thing, following different protagonists so the stories don’t feel too stuck into a few characters. Also Disney, cmon. You’re a streaming site now, let’s get some cannon queer characters please

[saschax]

metamorphosis

(n) a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one

TRIGGER WARNINGS: death (described in detail), violence (acts such as killing and torture), grief and loss (protagonist experiences), suicidal ideation (thinking suicide)

please keep in mind this is my first post, and english is not my native language, i speak German. feel free to correct me if any errors is made in the story.

P.S i try to make ghost canon as much as possible, but i dont really know the story so i put a lot of research.

ghost felt himself as if he died completely, his heart stopped working when he witnessed johnny, died. making his soul even heavier, being weighed down by grief.

he wasn't always like this, full of hatred, anger, regret, and remorse. he wasn't always baring his teeth like a cornered stray dog. he didn't always have bloodshot eyes looking for a way out, but never could find a way.

he wasn't always like this, he used to be happy, loving, kind, talkative.

until his family died.

until he was tortured, buried alive with his dead teammate.

until he learned how to kill.

until he lost two friends: roach, and johnny.

ghost hated roach, but at the same time, loved him.

ghost hated the fact that roach saw the wounded and scared animal behind his gnashing teeth, hated him for showing him what it feels like to be held again, to show him how love and companionship feels.

the concept of being held was so strange to him, a language he couldn't understand until roach showed him.

but ghost loved the feeling of companionship, he found warmth in it. he found joy in it, he felt.. seen, roach saw more in him than just a convenient tool for him to have.

ghost's heart fluttered when roach placed all of his trust in him, ghost felt held, and ghost had someone to run to.

it all came crashing down.

roach was shot, the bullet struck his heart directly, blood pouring out rapidly.

ghost, being there, tried his best to help- he cried tears, something he'd never do for a friend, panicked and did everything he can.

roach was dying, gasping mouthful of air, trying to stay alive.

he couldn't stop roach from bleeding or stop the cardiac arrest.

roach was dead, laid in his pool of blood and- and- ghost- he- he failed.

he failed miserably. broke his own promise to himself, a promise that was meant to save roach.

and no matters how many times he assaulted the walls, cried his heart out, no matter how many-

roach, is not coming back. and ghost, failed to save him.

what good is he if he fucking failed to save his friend?

no wonder he couldn't save his own family, he's useless. he's not good at protecting, he doesn't know how. only thing he knows like the back of his hand is to kill.

and when roach died, roach mercilessly chewed his walls, stole his hopes, his joy, and his happiness, with him before going to heaven or God-know where he is.

ghost screamed, and snarled like some sort of a feral dog, begging for roach to give him his other half back- his hopes, his joy back. clawing at the surface, just give it back..

all ghost has is just half of him, the half that is cruel, mean, full of darkness, its all he have.

roach gave him a lesson, a lesson that meant friends are not worth the pain. roach gave him eyes that seen too much, and made ghost hopeless, hardening his shell.

ghost cannot let the same thing happened to him- he can't go through hell and back again. ghost knows he deserved it but its hurt, its hurt so much.

if ghost could go back in time and change the clock, he would. he would let roach's friendship go unanswered. he should've never welcomed in the companionship, the happiness, the pain was too much.

it made ghost felt cornered, deaths, unhappiness, regret, and hatred surronding him. mocking him. he can't escape them.

every time he loves something, death come.

every time he found happiness, something terrible happens.

every time.. history kept repeating themselves over and over and over again, it have ghost's head reeling.

ghost keep running and running, but they always seem to catch up to him. ghost keep scratching the black surface in futile hopes of clawing his way out.

he always seems to be standing on the dark side, all alone. and he gets envious of people who is happy, having a good life, a life he never had.

roach never deserved the death, if anything, roach deserved to live and died of old age.

ghost should've been the one shot, it better anyway because it would've end ghost's misery, it would've break his unhappiness streak because dying seems to be the only happy option he have in his hands.

then soap came into his life, and again, he felt a flicker of hope.

he knows this all too well, history is about to repeat itself.

but as the time turned into weeks, then months- nothing happened. sure, there was chaos, deaths all around them, but soap didn't die yet, surprisingly.

roach and soap was so similar, but at the same time, so glaringly different.

ghost saw roach in soap, of course they were two different beings but still.

just when ghost started becoming closer with.. with johnny, his walls slowly crumbling, letting johnny in.

maybe johnny could change his destiny of being alone.

and ghost fell.

ghost tried his hardest to try and hold onto johnny's hands, but ghost felt his hands gotten sweaty, accidentally letting johnny's fall into another realm.

ghost shouted his name when he saw johnny dead on the ground, kneeling beside him. ghost's wounds reopened, he wanted to tear his heart out.

he failed.

again.

he seemingly can't shed a tear, it was like his mind already knew what was going to happen, but ghost was too busy staring at the light, admiring it before it faded, leaving him alone in the dark.

ghost's soul feels missing, like all of him is gone.

roach took half of him, and now johnny took the other, or well, what left. the two left ghost scrambling for his lost self, on the ground trying to pick himself together but he can't.

they stole it from him, hid it from him somewhere he will never find.

he returned to his room, seeing a gun on his desk.

oh, how easy it would to kill himself right now.

but he can't.

he tried before, could never pulled the trigger. every time he tried, it felt like his fingers went through it.

the death of johnny made price scrambling to find new blood into the team, trying to fill the void, a 3-man team won't work considering their sort of operations.

ghost laughed hollowing, no one could replace johnny or roach for that matter, even if the two stole his soul and his bleeding, wounded heart.

ghost still love them, and he's going to honor their memories the only way he knows how.

continue the fight they started, until he dies or win the war.

maybe..

maybe he was meant to be alone angry confused angry sad alone regret grief alone with no one to turn or run to.

maybe he's not supposed to have someone.

[braveblackbutterfly]

Farewell to The Owl House: a personal essay (warning: this a long post)

When Steven Universe ended in 2020, I didn’t think I would ever find another animated show that I would grow to love dearly.

And then I found The Owl House a couple of months later.

I started seeing gifs (like this one) and posts about this cartoon on my dashboard, similarly to how I discovered Steven Universe. Eventually, I decided to check it out on Disney Now. I watched the first episode and immediately liked it. So I watched the next episode and the next til I caught up a week before the episode that rocked the world (or at least the fandom’s world).

Enchanting Grom Fright. 

I have seen a few epic moments/episodes in children’s animated shows like Steven Universe and She-Ra. But there was just something about the lumity dance scene and the episode as a whole that just warmed my heart. And when Dana Terrace confirmed that Luz is bi (and later that Amity’s a lesbian), I was over the freaking moon.

Growing up, I never saw much if any (good) representation of bisexual characters in the media. I just assumed people were either gay or straight. I recognized my attraction to boys when I was a kid and immediately assumed I was straight, ignoring any signs that I liked girls too because I liked guys, so I can’t be gay, right?

Right?

It wasn’t until college and meeting one of my roommates who was bi and being introduced to her queer group of friends that I began to realize “yes, people can like men and women, or any genders for that matter.” And I finally allowed myself to ask the question: “do I like women too?” The answer was yes and I began identifying as bisexual (or queer when people act like they can’t understand bisexuality *eye roll*).

So finally seeing a show with a bi protagonist whose also a girl of color and neurodivergent just made me felt seen all these many years later. To know that kids and teens (and yes, adults too) can see a character like themselves or realized that bi people actually exist and are actually you know...people who deserves love and respect.

Luz is one of my favorite characters in the series, and I relate to her a good amount. But I relate to a few other characters too, particularly Amity.

I talked about this in another post I made last year (or was it 2021?) but going to talk about it on here too.

Lost in Language is one of my favorite season 1A episodes, for many different reasons. But mainly because of the progression of Luz and Amity’s relationship (from Amity wanting nothing to do with Luz to admitting she was harsh with her and them hitting the reset button).

I have been an Amity in the past. Not the mean/bitchy attitude Amity back then, coming from a rich or esteemed family. But I was the top student of my class too.

I had to be.

Not because of my parents like in Amity’s case. But because I had no other social standing in middle and high school. Students knew my name because of my high grades, my awards and eventually graduating as salutatorian. Yes, I’m still a tiny bit disappointed about the salutatorian thing. It was a battle between me and another girl throughout our 4 years in school, but she ended up becoming valedictorian.

In middle school, I had a Luz at my school. She kept trying to be my friend, but I wanted nothing to do with her. It always felt like whenever I was around her, something bad would happen. Especially this one incident. I was at my locker, ready to go home when she came by. She was twirling her baton, and it smacked me on my head. I got pissed and told her off. She profusely apologized, but I was too mad to accept her apology, and I left.

Looking back, I know I was too harsh with her. It was just an accident. She didn’t mean for the baton to hit my head. But at the time, I didn’t want her around. So unlike Luz and Amity, we never became friends.

I have slowly but surely grown to not care about being the best student, the best employee, the best child, the best this and that. I am an awesome person because of the person I have grown into, making changes and opening my mind and falling in and out of like/love with my friends (and more than friends). And no one can dictate the path I choose for myself.

I typed all of this to simply say: I love The Owl House.

I sometimes hate admitting it because Steven Universe still means a lot to me, but The Owl House has become my ultimate favorite cartoon of the newer generation (I’m a 90s baby and 90s/early 2000s cartoons still have my heart).

Besides relating to the characters and enjoying both the lighthearted and heartbreaking moments, this show has awakened the creativity in me.

I am a writer...or at least I love writing. But I haven’t done or shared that many projects of mine online. But in 2021, I gave drawing another chance, specifically redrawing screenshots. I liked my work and had the bravery to share my artwork on here, which I still do. I have to admit that my drawing skills have improved throughout the years. I still don’t feel ready to make art inspired by my own ideas. If I did, I would make and post a hundred black racebent Amity/canon Luz fanart. 

And this year, I posted my very first fanfic. I have written fanfics before, but never ever shared them with anybody, especially not for the whole world to read. But again, this show inspired me so much that I just had to start sharing it.

Plus, my creative projects has helped me make some of the best friends I have ever made on here. And I love having their support and supporting them when they share their projects.

I’m not ready to see this amazing show come to end tonight. But I don’t think I will ever truly be ready to say goodbye. I’m going to miss this show. All the laughs, all the cries, all the shipping moments.

Thank you to the creator, the cast, the crew, and everybody who helped make this cartoon come into existence.

Us weirdos will always stick together.

[tiredbitchposts]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

Sure i'll try my best to answer this for you

10-) Gaara from Naruto

Reason: He's the first antagonist i've ever rooted for, not for his plans but for his mental health. When i first saw his backstory i just wanted to riot bc damn, people really treated this boy like a monster since day one and then got surprised when he started acting like it, i just wanted him happy and at the least i got that at the end of the anime (No, i refuse to watch Boruto on principle)

9-) Tsukiyomi Ikuto from Shugo Chara

Reason: We all have our problematic shoujo male leads that we love. In my defense i watched Shugo Chara when i was 12 years old and it wasn't until later when i realized the age difference but even then i still have a soft spot for him in my heart. He and his sister suffered so much and i just want them happy, healthy and taken care of (he's also the reason why i'm into catboys now that i think abt it)

8-)Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto

Reason: He's my baby boy (not in a carnal way), i watched this boy grow up rooting for him to achieve his dreams, he's the first male protagonist i was emotionally invested in and ngl to this day i still read fix-it fics for his childhood because in my heart of hearts he deserves it (Still refusing to watch Boruto tho)

7-) Haruka Nanase from free! Iwatobi swim club

Reason: The reason is not as deep as the others i'm afraid, i genuinely loved Free! When it first came out, i was obsessed with Haru's character and the way he was as a person, he's extremely attractive and i want to crack him open like an egg and study his insides (he's also very shipable and i like that in a fictional man)

6-) Kageyama Tobio from Haikyuu

Reason: He's my awkward lil guy. I loved the way he developed as a character, from a temperamental, lonely volleyball genius to the type of guy that still uses the signature his upperclassman came up for him in high school as a pro player. I also really liked how we only got the reason why he was acting like he did in middle school only at the end of the end of the manga and how it made everything make sense in retrospect

5-) Hinamori Amu from Shugo Chara

Reason: Shugo Chara was my first magical girls anime and i still have a really soft spot for Amu in my heart. I know she's not the most well written deep characters around but i really like how she was an escape for me when i was younger. She was a pretty, popular, preteen girl who was an awkward mess and while i could only relate to the awkward mess, the fact that she got publicaly rejected by her crush and her taste in fashion i still watched her go because it felt good to see her do so

4-) Jason Todd from the Batman franchise

Reason: He's my babygirl (not always in a carnal way), this boy suffered so much in life, was happy for a few years, got brutally murdered, then brought back to suffer more. He's one of Dc's favorite punching bags and my dream is to see him happy, healthy and in therapy. Really hate how his own father won't avenge his death or let him do it himself, just fuck that clown already since you like him so much

3-) Wei Wuxian from Mdzs

Reason: I really do have a thing for red wearing, died but got better, on his second life but sluttier than ever characters. This boy deserves the world, he did do many morally reprehensible things in his time but it's all justified because i said so, he deserved his happy ending and my only complaint is that it didn't come sooner

2-) Shen Qingqiu from Scum Villain's self-saving system

Reason: This man is a whole ass clown, a walking contradiction, he's the reason why some people describe Scum Villain as a greek tragedy with clown music playing in the background. I've never seen someone so in-tune but detached from reality, bro doesn't even know his own emotions, on the inside he's a chronically online millenial on the outside he's the milfiest shizun in the Cang Qiong mountain sect and everyone knows it

1-) Kagome Higurashi from Inuyasha

Reason: This is my girl and i'll not take any criticism for it. She's a 15 years old middle schooler having to go back in time to fix a magical jewel to save japan and she's being so brave about it. She's an extremely kind person, does her best to see the good in everyone, even in people that attempted om her life before, she's a bit immature at times and has a temper but again, she's 15. She deserved better in general and because of that, and many more other reasons, that i fucking refuse to ever watch Yashahime, i just think it sucks she didn't even get to raise her daughter

[skye-huntress]

I’m in Love with the Villainess Reaction

I am a little behind on actually writing these reactions, however I have been watching these episodes multiple times since they aired. This series is a favourite of mine, and I have read the novels and keep up to date with the manga. As you can imagine, I’m thrilled to see this anime, especially with a same day English dub, though the lack of text translations is still annoying. I’m curious to see how far along they get. It’d be great to see to the end of the second novel, that’d tell at least a somewhat complete story, but depending on the pacing, we’d probably need two cours for that.

Episode 1

Spent the first 30 seconds explaining the basic premise of the whole show, and zero ambiguity as to the protagonist’s sexuality or love interest.

The exact nature of what happened to Rae, and why, isn’t explained until much, much later, and it’s irrelevant to current plot, so don’t worry about it too much. All you need to know is that Rae reincarnated, and gained memories of her past life from the supposed starting point of her game, i.e. when she met Claire for the first time.

As for the whole age thing, again, it’s best not to overthink it. Personally, I find it easy to forget that Rae has memories of being an adult since she rarely acts like it. Physically, she is a teenager again, from her brain to her hormones, so it’s no wonder that 99% of the time she acts like her physical age instead of her mental one.

In many romances, the protagonists may often go most of the length of the story without revealing their feelings to those they are in love with. Rae is not one of those protagonists.

So yes, the bullying. For a supposed villainess, Claire’s bullying tactics are relatively underwhelming. Not surprised I saw someone questioned what makes her a “villainess”, but this is just the start of the story.

As for Rae, I wouldn’t say she is a masochist, more that she enjoys receiving the attention from Claire specifically. It certainly helps she knows all of Claire’s motivations and self-imposed restrictions. Plus, so long as she makes sure Claire hates her, she won’t ignore her.

One last thing I wanted to note, it’s never explicitly stated, but I’ve always suspected that part of the reason Rae responds to Claire’s “bullying” with more teasing is also a cover for Claire’s intended actions. Outsiders don’t see a bully and a victim, they see two seemingly close classmates playing some kind of weird game.

When I first read the manga, it was the first time I’d seen the flower thing and it was a long time before I learned what that was supposed to be. Apparently, it’s from a practice of placing flowers on the desk of students whom have passed away. It’s also a way of bullying the living. Probably the most inappropriate, disgraceful thing Claire does in this entire series, but naturally, Rae found a way to spin it into a gesture of kindness.

“Strange that you’d think I’d have anything to say to you.” Continues to talk to her because we all know she can’t help herself.

Ah yes, the boys still exist, even though no one is interested.

When Rae said they should go apologise to Thane, I think that was the first time she dropped the class clown act in front of Claire. Most of the time, she does these kind of silly voices, but then she’ll speak normally when she’s being completely sincere.

Valid question, why are there tests at the start of the school year? It seems especially mean to the commoners transferring in who aren’t familiar with most of the material.

According to the novel, Claire would often give these challenges to the protagonist, but despite the high stakes, the player doesn’t get anything for overcoming said challenges. Well, now Rae can set her own terms and actually make it worth her time.

“Are you trying to provoke me, Rae Taylor?” You should know, she’s throwing your own words right back at you.

“The funny thing is, I know you’re playing me…”

The fact that commoners have to take the etiquette exam with only a week of prep is just so wrong.

Rae really lost points for being a useless lesbian.

In the manga, they gave Claire an “Ultra High” (Exceptional) affinity for fire, but that might have just been a mistake, since both the novels and now the anime state her aptitude is only High. From what I can tell, it just means that she can’t use the highest tier of fire spells, but she’s still far more powerful than most magic users.

Since the dub didn’t come with text translations I can’t really read the test results, but I can easily look them up in the manga or novels.

Thane was in a bad mood before because he apparently “didn’t do so well” on the written test, yet he still ended up in the top ten. If you’re not comparing him to his siblings, his score is pretty damn good.

Rae claims to know the game better than the people who made it, and yet she still got two questions wrong. Thinking about it now, this could potentially be an early warning sign that Rae’s knowledge might be lacking in some aspects, or maybe she just made a careless mistake or two. Either explanation is possible.

As for the etiquette exam, for all Claire’s gloating, Rae still placed considerably high for a commoner without any etiquette training. She might have even beaten some lower ranked nobles with a score like that.

You can tell that Rae’s not worried at all when her only thoughts are on Claire’s cuteness.

Then there’s Misha, who should be out of practice but still placed 8th. Probably because she is such a reserved and collected person.

Finally the magic test, the only one Thane beats his siblings on, though only by a small margin.

Misha gets a nearly perfect score, which I think is partly thanks to having an Exceptional affinity.

Claire also placed exceptionally high. Not so many nobles are so blessed with magic, hence the transfers like Misha and Rae. Her high scores in each exam should have guaranteed her the win after Rae’s lacking performance on the second test, but well…

Then there’s Rae who basically broke the magic exam and came in first even despite intentionally flubbing the magic tools portion. Yep, this challenge really was rigged from the start, but it wasn’t in Claire’s favour like she thought it would be.

And that’s where we end it for the first episode.

[jotadoul]

had to watch the guy i like die in anime again smh... omg i keep remembering how i asked friends to call me folken in 7th grade, kinda mortifying. whatever. we've all done things

in typical fashion, when i read even modern-day intepretations of escaflowne and specifically of folken i feel like my head is going to explode. did anyone even watch this thing. of all the characters in the series, ALL of them, a disproportionate amount of attention is given to folken's shifts in facial expressions and tone, which i find to be fairly profound and Real even wrapped in this stylisation. every bit of him feels like it was natural for all involved, from artists to voice, and his design fits into the style more than most, so anything he does looks more natural too. this is the kind of "villain" i think people, esp people who watch anime, have always looked for, and it's crazy to me that he doesn't and really never did have an active fanbase... like since 2000 i've been looking for #relatable #content and i still see much of the same fanart and screenshots i saw 5, 10, 20 years ago. i g-guess i'll have to make some(?)

i know what i like. i liked it before i met him definitely but nothing quite hit all the marks. i like true pathos, a kind of sympathetic, evocative type of pathetic, of trying against all odds and failing— or missing the true failure, and true success, and neglecting something fundamental which tugs at their heart all the while, rooted in grief. i think that's why i like Into the West so much; profound to see a father fucking up so badly despite the love he feels, never able to rise above mourning, until, still mourning, the stakes cause him to act.

beyond that, i find such heartbreaking tragedy in characters— protagonists and antagonists— who are Aware of their narrative, aware of the role they must play. not exactly "resigned"— that implies maybe too much awareness, or, a level of emotion/sincerity withheld. there's a sense of knowing more than even the viewer/reader. in the media i like, what hurts most is this concept of being... "tricked" is too harsh a word... i think about The Fall, about roy lying to alexandria, ultimately culminating in their post-surgery conversation. none of the visuals of The Fall matter as much to me as the heartbreak of this scene. i guess like... promises broken fitfully even before realising how profound the break is/would be.

broadly, i'm moved other characters being "used" by a character, even with sympathetic aims— usually to keep those other characters safe by sacrificing themself in some way. sacrifice is the big tearjerker for me... sacrifice with gravity, the forfeit of something precious, with the bonus of not telling anyone their plans, because they'd be stopped. i do think n'doul fits into this— he knew exactly the role he had to play, and, despite jotaro admiring him and wanting to keep him alive, he kills himself, visibly upsetting jotaro. that's the heartbreak of it. it's so horrible to me. i love an unsung, charismatic, emotional person going against their nature for what they believe in, and ultimately succumbing to their true nature, even if still making mistakes (because of it?)

this is also rare for protagonists as much as it is for antagonists, and my favourite guys, Jotaro Kujo and David Snake, embody all i've said so far, perfectly.

and this sounds so simple, simple enough to find in most anime, or even film, but it's Not lol. i Don't find it. certainly not with the depth i need to nut. i've seen quite a lot and the things that break me are like— okay a non-fatal version of this, possibly, is Maya and Godot in the final courtroom scene of AA3. and to a lesser degree (because i simply can't fucking stand the animeful 3d look and feel of athena et al in the later games) simon and athena's arc at the end of their game (that case is really great to me, i Love the setting, Love the ancillary characters, but... it's a bit much to look at.) simon is great. love him. sad for similar reasons in a more cartoony environment.

anyway..... but folken receives such loving treatment from the animators that i have a hard time coping with how much even the fandom wikis or more recent re/watch discussions on like reddit or whatever seem to miss from his character. like did you watch it? did you look? i think a lot can be missed in glancing away, and i think that's also why when he's on screen he IS the most visually coherent and structurally solid design— so that you Do pay attention. his makeup provides a frame, it's an arrow, pointing to changes in his expressions as his reactions change over time. i do sincerely believe this from a design standpoint, that, regardless of how much you Like his design, he's constructed to hold attention. that's why it's weird to me that his nuances are passed over. he is much more like their mother and speaks with the same sense of Knowing, knowing, like she did, the tragedies to come, and his role in it. he is never not compassionate and charismatic, and over the course of the series he breaks down more and more to reflect this; the anguish of not living up to one's ideals/those ideals revealed as wrong, but the process of that discovery is painful, labourious, not quick, not easy, wrenching. his backstory too goes in SANE. i don't know how anybody couldn't like him lol GENUINELYYYYYYY

god, it's so horrible when naria yells at van about this looool aauuugh

[translationandbetrayals]

Non battle-battle anime and the masks within oneself

By the time, I had already seen a crazy amount of anime. However, it was not until I saw Bakuman that I realized the existence of a (sub)genre that, without knowing it, had caught my attention: the non-battle-battle series.

In short, they are series where the characters battle, fight among themselves, but they don't actually fight. Not physically at least, but mentally. C’mon, let's just look at the non-battle-battle anime par excellence: Death Note. Yeah, that sums it up pretty well, doesn't it? A psychological battle, a real “battle of the wits”, where words are heavier than any punch and the one that’s impacted is not the body, but the mind. From Kaiji to Kaguya-Sama. Kakegurui, Tomodachi Game, Classroom of the Elite and even Dr. Stone.

My young self didn't make the connection, but now I see that what attracted me to these stories was what I call “mental chess”. Shakespeare already said it: “All the world’s a stage.” “But the play is badly cast,” added Oscar Wilde. Personally, I stick with the first quote. The world is a stage, we all act and wear masks. Masks that protect us or protect others, that isolate us, hurt us, give us a role to play, connect us and allow us to live in society. And yet... it is so difficult to understand people, and even more difficult to connect with the unknown, with someone who is unknown to you (even yourself).

Maybe that's why I liked “puppeteer” characters so much, manipulators if you will. Those who seem to have understood the rules of society's game, who know how to wear their masks without dying in the attempt. It is here, among all the mental chess players, that my favorite appears: Lelouch.

I know, I'm cheating. Code Geass (Death Note's rival due to various similarities) is not exactly a non-battle anime. It has brutal combats between mechas, with guns and explosions. However, to me that has always been the least interesting (and important) part of Code Geass. Because ultimately, it's a series about mental battles, psychology, strategy, politics and morality. All elements where masks are crucial, and above all, heavy.

Because, while Kira feels flat, lacking the passions, dilemmas, and contradictions of the human condition (treating his “Light” mask as a mere decoration, a costume that you put on and take off with ease), the masks Lelouch uses have real weight. Lelouch Lamperouge, Zero, and Lelouch vi Britannia. Those are the 3 masks that he shows during the series. One is a simple student of Britannia, another a rebel against the empire, and the last, a prince of the imperial royal family. He reminds me a lot of the Japanese proverb of the 3 masks: “Every person has three faces. The first face is the one you show to the world, the second face is the one you show to your close friends and family. The third face is the one you never show to anyone, that is the faithful reflection of what you really are”. In the series, how different they can be (and who you show these masks to) can be seen in the love interests. Shirley loves Lelouch Lamperouge, Kallen loves Zero, and CC loves Lelouch vi Britannia.

In fact, those masks, those “lies” are the center of the conflict. When the protagonist confronts his father, Charles, he reproaches him for how he has always hidden behind masks, behind lies. For him, the whole world is full of lies and that’s why he plans to destroy them. He wants to modify the fabric of reality to destroy the barriers that separate all beings. Mashing every person together into a single entity. A single consciousness embodying all of humanity. Basically his own version of the Human Instrumentality Project from Evangelion. He believes that humanity is actually one being, that people are fundamentally the same, and that the only way to stop the world from lying is to destroy the greatest lie itself: the lie of separation.

And so, masks are present in one way or another in this type of series, even in its most everyday expression such as Kaguya-Sama, where the protagonists use these masks to project an image to others while protecting themselves from their own insecurities.

To a greater or lesser extent, this type of series shaped me as a person. For much of my life I considered myself a mental chess player, someone who overthought interactions with others, who was relentless in hiding facets of himself, and yet was confused in this game of masks. Who is the real me? Who are the real others? Do we live deceiving ourselves? Why? Is it even possible to connect this way? But eventually I learned to accept the masks, I managed to be at peace with them, and above all, I learned to appreciate people. Because in my experience, every aspect of a person can contain genuine and immeasurable beauty, and as such, it is a treasure that should not be underestimated. Accepting the truth within lies and lies within truth. Ultimately, being honest with that should be enough.

  Raimundo Gumucio

[davyjoneslockr]

whats your opinion on the pink haired characters in jojo?

Okay so. I haven't watched the new batch of Stone Ocean yet (waiting for a friend to catch up and then we're going to watch them weekly to replicate JoJo Fridays :]) and I'm an anime-only, but just based off my impressions, Hot Pants and Yasuho are lovely and deserve the world, and Anasui is terrible but also pathetic and honestly? I kind of love that

Anyhow. For the ones I do know.

Reimi is a sweetheart and she deserved more screentime. That moment at the end of DIU where she basically sends Kira to Hand Hell? Excellent. Immaculate. I also really wish they would've explored her relationship with Rohan more, especially since she knew him as a kid (and seemingly before he became Like That). I've seen people toss around some headcanons about her being friends with Tomoko/Aya/Shinobu before her death. Idk she had a lot of missed potential (like most JoJo women :/), but I do like her a lot!!

Trish <333 Best girl pre-SO. Pinkest girl ever. The only woman in Italy. Again, I wish she had more development in the series proper, and I don't like that she's pretty much a Macguffin for half of VA, but I love that she eventually becomes an active player and serves as a sort of contrast against the rest of the Fucked Up main cast. At the end of the day, she's not like the rest of them - she's a normal girl that's been thrust into this situation - but the fact that she hasn't been hardened and disillusioned through years of violence is a strength, and that's sick as hell. I think she's an interesting parallel to Giorno, in that he actively shuts out "soft" things (ie emotions and feelings) with this stoic, somewhat distant demeanor - and so does Trish, at first. And while Giorno doesn't really grow much as a character in VA (which is. a topic for another day), Trish does; it's once she puts away the aloof primadonna façade and embraces the things that make her her that she truly becomes strong. Anyhow I think that's neat.

Doppio is. Fine. I guess. Idk I don't think about him much, he's funny and fucked up and the fight with him and Risotto was sick. The fandom does him really dirty. I just. Uh. Have no deep thoughts about him. Shrugs.

Diavolo I do have some thoughts on. People have written thought-provoking essays about morality in VA that convey my thoughts better than I could, but to me, unlike other JoJo villain fates, nothing about his felt cathartic? And that's because imo, he's not a very well-developed or good villain. Obviously some of this just comes by virtue of him not existing on screen until the final act (and then spending most of that as a spirit in other people's bodies), but like. he never feels truly threatening, because all his Evil Acts are pretty much off-screen, or committed while he's nothing more than a shrouded, vague concept. Like, we're told he sells drugs, and That's The Worst Thing Ever because Giorno and Bucciarati think it is. He tortures and kills Sorbet and Gelato, but... the main cast does the same thing. Constantly. Like, I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that Giorno and Narancia have some of the highest kill counts in the series (for protagonists at least), Mista is seemingly well-practiced in some fucked up torture methods, and. I mean. Look at what Giorno does to Diavolo at the end of the part. Diavolo tries to kill Trish, donuts Bucciarati, and kills Abbacchio while he's not even visible and we don't have any tangible character to tie the concept of the Boss to, and Narancia's death happens completely off-screen, making him feel less involved with these events, I guess - especially compared to, say, Dio making Jonathan's life hell and personally gutting Kakyoin, Kira carrying around the evidence of his murders and killing Shigechi/nearly killing Okuyasu on-screen, etc. Resisting my urge to rant about Giorno again, but I think part of it has to do with the fact that the protagonist he's up against has had very little struggle against any opponent, and the suspension of disbelief isn't enough for me to think that, hm, maybe Giorno won't kick his ass immediately (which. he does.) It just makes his fate feel disproportionate and his role as a villain kinda ineffective. Idk. That probably makes no sense but I have a lot of. Thoughts. About VA's writing. And Diavolo is a major part of it.

[itsclydebitches]

I kinda wonder, what could bakugou do (hori write bakugou to do) to make him less popular with the "anti" crowd. Like He was a horrid child no doubt and people who try to put blame on Deku or lessen the terrible shit bakugou did aren't great. But as we don't rly see it, we have to assume bakugous behaviour wasn't stopped, we only ever saw his mum "punishing" him when he was being rude after getting kiddnapped. Nothing will excuse what bakugou did, but he has stopped? He's overall a harsh person but he's not harrassing and bullying people anymore, specifically not deku, he's trying to attone for what he did to deku and has now apologised for it. His behaviour was never viewed as justified or good in the series, he's a scary figure in middle school, we're not meant to like his behaviour, so the series itself hasn't justified his actions.

As someone who relate to both bakugou and deku more than I'd like to admit (never told someone to jump tho, that's fucked lol) so I can 100% understand not liking or even hating bakugou but as someone who's not 15 anymore, looking back I also made a lot of really shitty decisions and like bakugou have tried to make up for it, and like deku I was 'friends' with people who hurt me.

Is there anything he can do for the "antis" to just dislike him rather that be "anti"?

(I'm very sorry if you've talked about this somewhere, you can just tell me to look for it if you have, I'll continue to look for your posts on the subject)

Hey there, anon! I think I’ve spoken about this only tangentially and/or in my main Bakugo meta, which is too big for anyone sane to read. So yeah, let’s chat here!

For me personally—and that’s all I can ever do: speak personally. I think it’s important to keep in mind that there is no single solution to please the “anti” crowd. Each fan will be looking for something slightly different in Bakugo’s character, much of which might contradict what a “stan” is currently enjoying. Given how charged a character he is, I'm not sure it's possible to get the entire fandom to like him—what I’m looking for hinges on having a different reading of the story than you seem to. Meaning, I think the series does justify his behavior. Not in any overt, super obvious way like having all the characters go, “Wow, Bakugo! I sure do love how you threaten people all the time. That’s super cool and heroic!” Things are rarely that straightforward. Rather, it’s in a more subtle, but consistent manner that paints a rather conclusive picture across hundreds of chapters.

Simply put, Bakugo is continually rewarded for his actions. Or, if not outright rewarded, his actions are ignored in a way that implies silent acceptance. Characters may not always like what he does... but they're willing to let it slide because Bakugo's heroism was always treated as a given, not something he had to earn and prove.

With the ever necessary disclaimer that I’m not fully caught up yet, here’s a list of some of the things that stood out to me in the first half of the series:

Bakugo’s bullying made him the most popular kid in school.

Bakugo’s bullying was ignored by/outright supported by the teachers.

Bakugo’s bullying did not hinder him from getting into U.A., one of the most prestigious hero schools around.

Despite acting horribly throughout his time at U.A. too, this behavior was continually ignored by the teachers and other authority figures around him.

Bakugo’s struggle to realize that other people aren’t “trash” doesn’t hurt his achievements in any way. He still gets top scores, still wins the tournament, etc.

Bakugo’s behavior gets him special attention from All Might, the greatest hero and Bakugo’s personal idol.

His behavior doesn’t make others dislike him in any manner that’s taken seriously. Everybody is still willing to not just put up with Bakugo, but—in time—start treating his behavior as a quirk (no pun intended lol) that they’re secretly fond of, rather than something he should legitimately be striving to change. Kirishima is the most overt example of this.

This is compounded by his behavior constantly being framed as humorous. Much like with Mineta’s perverted actions, characters might superficially go, “No, that’s bad!” but the story never demands any significant development because then we’d lose the “joke” of Bakugo screaming in rage at the slightest inconvenience, threatening to murder someone over nothing, constantly belittling everyone around him in a “funny” manner, etc. When fans talk about development of a manga character as archetypal and extreme as Bakugo, most don’t really want to see significant change to his base personality. Because then that would result in someone who doesn’t look like the “real” Bakugo: someone nicer, more even-tempered, more mature, etc. But for those of us who were never drawn to that personality in the first place, the continued acceptance of his rude, egotistical, and violent behavior is discomforting. The easiest comparison I can draw is between this and Bakugo’s mother slapping him. That slap is meant to be another “joke”—we see it constantly in shonen anime, something "humorous" you shouldn’t take too seriously because haha, it's just an overprotective mother—but many fans do take it seriously, using it as the basis for a whole “Bakugo was abused and this explains his behavior” reading. Well, I take the “joke” of Bakugo’s threats and insults seriously, especially in a story that starts with something like telling Izuku to jump off the roof. In the same way that many fans want others to treat Bakugo’s mother as a serious topic that has had a negative influence on his development, I want the series to take Bakugo’s everyday actions seriously as a negative influence on… well, everyone around him. But it doesn’t. His base personality is grudgingly adored.

The above two points are seen most overtly in Izuku, who never wavers in his respect for Bakugo despite how Bakugo treats him. Not just prior to U.A., but during their training too. Izuku, as the protagonist, is the emotional heart of this tale, so when he talks about how inspiring Bakugo is, it encourages the reader to see his behavior as inspiring too. Rather than, as said, something that needs to change. Izuku's continued friendship with Bakugo, his adoration of him, and his acceptance of the way he's treated has severely warped how the entire story sees Bakugo's actions. After all, if #pure Izuku can see the good in Bakugo, why can't everyone else? He must not be that bad after all.

I could get into detailed analyses of all the above—like how Bakugo was the one comforted after attacking Izuku outside the dorms at night and how the messed up relationship he has with Izuku is upheld as something to nurture; how the remedial courses he had to take were made to be rather silly, thereby undermining their supposed importance to his development; how Bakugo’s kidnapping had nothing to do with his flaws, but much of the fandom uses it as a way to dismiss any appropriate consequences because, “Hasn’t he suffered enough?” etc.—but in the interest of keeping this within a readable length, I’ll leave it at that. The point is that Bakugo has always been privileged when it comes to his behavior, resulting in others either outright praising it, ignoring it, or demanding that he change a miniscule bit, which always keeps him far below the standards of both his peers and the expectations of a hero. Everyone in 1-A must learn to be even better than the good people they already are... Bakugo needs to learn that other people aren't dirt at the bottom of his shoes. It's never been a particularly impressive development when pit against the rest of the class. All of which can make something like an apology feel pretty hollow. Yes, he’s apologized and I say with all seriousness that that’s great! But how does that apology stack up against 300+ chapters of content? As Bakugo’s words highlight, he's been a really awful person up "until now": he was consumed by Izuku being “miles ahead of [him],” he “looked down on [him]” because he didn’t have a quirk, he “didn’t want to recognize that,” he “hated that,” “grew distant,” “tried to beat you down,” “opposed you and tried to show my superiority over you,” and ends it all with, “it probably doesn’t mean anything telling you all this” before finally getting to the “I’m sorry.” This is basically a laundry list of how horrible a person Bakugo has been for the entire series, with an acknowledgement that this apology is coming really, really late. This is the moment where I could START to like Bakugo, depending on how he acts form here on out, but that pivotal moment arrived after six years of content and in the final arc of the story. It’s too late. Bakugo needed this kind of self-reflection and positive action 250+ chapters ago so he could (hopefully) grow into a better person across the story, not at the story's end. What we got instead is 322 chapters of him being a really horrible person, but the story going out of its way to excuse or even praise that behavior the majority of the time.

As a quick comparison to end on, I think what Bakugo needed was what Soo Jin got in True Beauty. You don’t need to have seen the drama to follow along. The tl;dr is that she has a lot of the core qualities of Bakugo: an all-consuming drive to win that was created due to abusive parents with high expectations, resulting in her bullying a peer to a pretty horrific extent. The difference between them is how the story frames their actions. When Soo Jin becomes the bully she loses everything. Rather than succeeding academically, her grades plummet, making it clear that this anxiety and self-doubt (things the fandom keeps insisting Bakugo is struggling with, but that rarely ever show up in the text) is actually impacting her day-to-day life. Her best friend drops her because she’s not going to support her choices. The boy she likes rejects her. She’s eventually forced to start over somewhere new - which importantly separates her from the girl she was bullying - and get some distance from her parents, resulting in the growth needed to become a healthier, happier, good person again. So when Soo Jin apologizes to the girl she hurt, it feels earned. The story continually recognized how horrific her actions were and put her into a place where she either had to change, or continue losing at everything else that was important to her. Bakugo? Bakugo doesn’t lose. Oh, he claims he does because he’s comparing himself to Izuku constantly, but that’s just him thinking in extremes. He still wins academically. Still wins many battles. Still wins at having friends. Still wins by maintaining the prestige of being a U.A. student. Still wins by getting All Might’s attention. Still wins by receiving Izuku’s respect and an agreement to maintain this rivalry that Bakugo is so obsessed with. Bakugo comes out well 99% of the time, he just thinks he's "lost" because he can't stand not being the absolute best.

For me, the story needed to have Bakugo face consequences for his behavior, not receive rewards and/or have others ignore it, and that revelation/apology needed to come way, way sooner. For me the issue is not a specific action that Horikoshi can have Bakugo do in the next chapter and them bam, I like him now. The problem is Bakugo’s entire concept, how he’s received by the entire cast, and his run across this entire series. "Entire" is the key word there. Which is why the “But he’s apologized. What more do you antis want?” reactions don’t sit well. What we wanted is a better written redemption arc across those 300+ chapters, not a single scene that’s meant to have us forget all the other problems inherent in the story. At this point it’s a far more complicated situation than, “Bakugo just needs to do X, Y, and Z and then we’re golden.” At the end of the day, Horikoshi failed to make me like him as a person and I’m pretty sure he isn’t going to change Bakugo enough to make him likable to me. Bakugo was never the sort of character I’d be inclined towards without a serious, nuanced redemption arc, but sadly, a core, crucial part of that redemption arc took six years to arrive. At this point there’s no way to change the problems in Bakugo’s writing for that huge chunk of the series and not enough time left in the series, it seems, to do the work we should have seen across the entire run. Honestly, idk if the Bakugo we'll get going forward is someone I can just dislike as opposed to being really uncomfortable with, but my money is on there being too little story left and too much investment in upholding Bakugo's base personality for that to happen. I could absolutely be proven wrong! But I think the problems are structural and needed to be better dealt with from page one, not hastily patched over in the final hour.

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket Manga Review , ch 112 & 113 (part 2)

I hate that this chapter is cut... mainly cuz it deals with the most “ horribly presented” theme in furuba anime.... grief.

-The shame of grieving: “ Rarely discussed theme in Literature”:

When a love one dies... ppl differ in how they deal with it. Some cry their hearts out, some become depressed & painfully lonely, others get angry or cynical, some might deny it, some move on quickly, others move on but years after the realization crushes them, others stay still... Above all, you feel ashamed of yourself if you didn’t move on or if you DID move on.. “ Sometimes ppl around you judge you for it... for your grief”

The later is the theme of these two chapters. Rarely discussed themes & it saddens me that it is cut. You see, Furuba anime doesn’t get grief  at all. To them, it’s a small part of the generic protagonist after she finishes her job of nurturing the real main protagonist. Mothers are strong, they help us cross the bridge between childhood & adulthood. Tohru, the show’s mom, did it so thoroughly & in slow visual & narrative details for yuki. Afterwards, the anime brushed whatever is left of her character, which the anime viewed as sheer suspenseful drama, & collected it thro 3rd person story-telling techniques in one ep “ se3, ep6″ & excessive monologue for 10 minutes in se3, ep9.

In this chapter, Kakeru, a side character, sheds light into this theme. Kakeru didn’t lose a parent by death, didn’t grieve, has no dependent familial bonds with either dead parents “ kyoko & komaki’s dad”. Yet, kakeru stood & judged tohru on how she “ should” grieve. Harshly tearing her down while she’s standing there lonely, trying to hide her shock at the loss of her only pillar in life, broken & traumatized, dealing with the pushed down traumatic feelings from her past where her mom abandoned her as a child..now her mom did it again, this time thro death.. & kakeru, rightfully not knowing all that, but wrongfully lecturing her on how to behave... kakeru isn’t a monster, but he only saw what he wanted: komaki & how the world should grieve with his lover, how he should be the hero protecting her. So self-centered, insensitive, horribly cruel & unbelievably conceited, but above all... what he did is so sadly common... it hurts.

-Judging Grieving People:

As I said many times.. grief is so personal, so unique to the person & as common as it is, so misunderstood. According to kakeru & many ppl I’ve sopken to lately, tohru should have acknowledged komaki. Komaki, the not-traumatized version of tohru, did the right “ tohru-like” thing. Not only felt sadness at the loss of her own dad, but found it in her heart to visit the other orphan, tohru, & give condolences & respect to the dead mother. Such kindness & purity. Very deserving of applaud: To not only see your pain but others’ as well. Tohru has always done the “ right, kind” thing to other ppl. When she can’t now, the author brought another “ tohru” to do the “ right, kind” thing.

Kakeru is so many ppl. During my brother’s funeral. I’ve heard so many gossip on how my mom should’ve stood tall & greeted the visitors.” Being silent , emotionless & non-responsive is not how you show visitors you value their kind words”, they said. How his widow should’ve collected herself & acted properly, respected his memory by taking proper care of herself & her kids. “Being a broken mess is not how you “ honor” loved one”, they said. Kakeru is indeed many ppl & that’s how you discuss a theme by creating characters who sin, screw up & be cruel, even if momentarily.

Kakeru is wrong. There is no “ you should have” in grief. There is no ounce of truth in his demeaning lecture to tohru & I respect komaki for her reaction to him so much. Kakeru did learn & grew from it, apologized to tohru even if he didn’t actually sought her to do so & even if she herself started the apology. But you see, these two chapters are 90% focused on kakeru as a character, his growth, thoughts, the mini focus on his relationship with komaki as an example of healthy relationship & all that is another lesson for yuki to observe & learn. He learned abt tohru’s past, kakeru’s personality & growth & got to observe another example of romantic relationship so yuki can grow as a man & approach machi healthily. But then again... nothing at all stops yuki/machi from being healthy, no past issues, no contradicting personalities “ they’re quite similar” & yuki is the only furuba character that doesn’t screw up big. He learns & teaches. He’s the personification of the author.

-Tohru.. stays a “ tohru”:

Tohru’s part is 10% of the this chapter which is fine as I think/hope it will lead into more tohru depth in the following chapters. But It is for this reason I’m glad this chapter was cut in the 13 eps season of furuba anime, cuz tohru doesnt have much depth in the anime due to the quick wrap up & the la~~~~st  thing I want is another 3rd person story-telling flashback abt tohru in the anime. Honestly, one of the most frustrating aspect to me of the anime & I’ll hold judgement abt manga- tohru till I reach its end. So far~~~ Tohru’s depth & character exploration gets better one chapter, then regress the next one, then moves on, the... it’s a fluctuating process. It has nothing to do with tohtu’s feelings.

you’ see ... kyo himself as a character with issues fluctuates a lot, he does sth good, then does sth bad, chooses right words, then makes a horrible mistake & chooses wrong! which is one of the most well-done aspects of character exploration that is rarely attempted by authors! I highly respect Takaya-san for what she’s doing with kyo in the manga so far. Other authors show us a character doing one big mistake & then he/she learns from it in a dramatic way. But Takaya-san, nope! she decided to approach it in a very human way, making us be frustrated with kyo’s repeated mistakes yet understands where he’s coming from! kudos to her!!

But I’m not yet satisfied with how tohru is portrayed in the manga & this has nothing to do with tohru’s character. Takaya-san is discussing rare themes thro tohru’s character. But what I mean is how tohru is approached thro the viewers/readers eyes. I wont judge until the last chapter. but this is the part that is frustrating to me.

Side Notes:

The flow of the 2 chapters is little off. We go back & forth between the past & the present, between yuki-machi & komaki-kakeru. Again, I’m so glad the anime cut it cuz, nope! they can’t handle such narrative. they’ll reorder it in a such heavily monologing way & insert the comedy abruptly to lighten the mood. Just look at how the comedy is inserted in momiji’s se03 ep!

Komaki is such a tohru with a sprinkle of kagura’s very softened outbursts. lol. she’s fun!

I’m liking yuki-machi interactions a lot. no drama, which is why the anime cut it -_-’, but it progresses healthily. Machi is yuki’s third-stage growth after (1) leaving tohru’s nest (baby yuki), (b) making friends with kakeru/someone who gets him (young boy yuki), (3) finding romantic love (being a man). The anime was so interested in the 2 stages above cuz that’s where the drama is & cut the third. Honestly, the anime didn’t have to include everything as there is never a space in 13 eps, but they certainly could’ve squeezed few panels or even made brand new very short yuki-machi scenes. but the anime weirdly decided after yuki “ saved” machi from her trauma by talking with her in her apartment, he should just marry her.... lol.. that’s why next scene is ep 5 momiji’s ep intro montage where yuki was abt to confess!!! making yuki-machi the least developed couple in the anime!

I love all furuba’s characters, but yuki, tohru, kyo & akito carry the big themes, therefore, I not only analyze their characters, but how the themes are presented thro them & how their presentation affects such themes. This might make it sound as I hate them or am harsh on them. not at all. It is the anime director/ manga author that I’m positively or negatively criticizing most times. Most importantly, my criticism is not the law. It’s just my perspective & my consumption of the material. Feel free to differ with me. I dont mind it. It brings interesting discussions!

When it comes to tohru’s issues... his chapter introduced nothing new. We have seen/read in canon repeatedly that tohru hides her pain behind a smile (heck! even kisa knows that & told us), that she cant stand up for herself much, that she smiles for other ppl not for herself. All this was presented thro so many characters already, which is why I understand the anime’s decision to cut it. What’s new? that yuki didn know tohru’s smile is mostly a mask & that kakleru has depth.

I love this chapter for the grieving themes it discussed that are rarely touched upon in literature, but since such themes are rarely presented, the anime’s decision to cut it, ironically proves my point! lol . They don’t get grief & so, they reduced it to se03 content & two eps worth. sad.. but expected. The anime is indeed another form of “past” kakeru: seeing one side of grieving person. The happy side.

[pair-annoyed]

Anime I Watched This Fall

My first semester of college is officially over and the December holidays are upon us! I hoped to make one of these posts sooner, but I have been incredibly busy with schoolwork. Now that things have slowed down, let’s take sometime to reflect on things I’ve watched. 

These anime are listed in chronological order and encompass everything I’ve watched from 9/1/2020 - 12/15/2020

Like always, they will be rated on a 1-10 scale; 1 meaning complete garbage, 10 meaning masterpiece. I will offer my thoughts on what I did/didn’t like about each show!

1. The God of High School - 6/10 

Despite the stellar animation from MAPPA and my high expectations, I was really disappointed by how this series was treated. Most of the story’s crucial elements were handled poorly. I finished this series feeling more confused about the plot than when I first began. The power system is really cool, but poorly explained. More time should have been spent on exposition and world building for this series, instead the fights were given the most screen time. 

2.  Doukyuusei - 7/10 

I really liked the style of Doukyuusei. Granted, this was another movie I chose to watch primarily because of the hype surrounding it. The dynamic between Kusakabe and Sajou is an interesting one, and I also enjoy how the movies different acts were separated by the seasons. However, there's nothing that really sets Doukyuusei apart from other romance movies, its a little generic. Still, I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

3.  Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season - 8/10 

My opinions on Re:Zero’s second season are biased. This was, by far, the sequel I was most hyped for during the summer/fall anime season. I was so happy to see the story’s continuation and I’m looking forward to the season’s second part coming sometime in January. Re:Zero is one of my all time favorite series because of the way it handles it characters and power dynamics. I also really enjoy the show’s psychological aspects. If you haven’t already, give Re:Zero a try! 

4. Saint☆Oniisan (Movie + OVA) - 8/10

This was a wonderful comedy. I wasn’t sure how the subject of Jesus and Buddha living together would be tackled, but it was handled wonderfully. I was laughing for pretty much the entire movie. I love the art style and little references to both Buddhism and Christianity, plus the incorporation of Japanese culture. Saint Oniisan is a bright comedy, with two eccentric main characters. If you like a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and need a good laugh, I can’t recommend this more.

5. Clannad: After Story - 10/10 

Never, while watching anime, did I cry as much as I did while watching Clannad: After Story. I didn’t realize how much I related to Okazaki until I saw him grow up in After Story. I was left sobbing, especially after episode 18. I still, to this day, cannot listen to the Dango song without tearing up. The original Clannad is nothing special, but the continuation of its story its something heartfelt, emotional, and down-to-earth. I love Kyoto Animation with all my heart, and Clannad made me appreciate everything the studio has done just a little bit more. Thank you Clannad, for reminding me about the kind of person I strive to be. 

6. Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu - 5.5/10

The art in A Whisker Away was beautiful. The story itself, however, is nothing too enjoyable. I found it difficult to like our protagonist or her love interest. Nothing about this movie is inherently memorable. The emotional climax came far too early which made the second half of the film seem long and drawn out.  All in all, the movie has a wonderful concept, I just believe it could have been so much more emotional than it was. When I watch a move, I like to empathize with the characters. It’s difficult to do when the characters aren’t given the proper exposition to be empathized with. 

7.  Shikioriori - 6/10

This is less of a movie and more of a collection of short stories. Flavors of Youth is something you shouldn’t watch on an empty stomach, all of the food looks incredible. The same cannot beside for the rest of this feature. The stories themselves seems heavily clichéd. Much like A Whisker Away, the initial premise is intriguing, but the execution results in something that comes across as trying too hard and carries no emotional weight with the viewer. If you plan on watching, pay more attention to the artwork and animation than the actual plot. You won’t be missing anything. 

8. Vinland Saga - 7/10

Vinland Saga helped me get out of the rut that Clannad: After Story. Not only does this show have a great story, its action packed with lots of interesting fights. I especially enjoyed all the Nordic history embedded within the show. Its really unlike any of the other historical anime I’ve watched. I will say, it’s gory. But, compared to all the other things I watched this time around, I finished this series the quickest. Its good, its graphic, its fast paced! 

9.  Mononoke Hime - 7/10

It’s ironic considering how much anime I’ve watched that I have yet to watch all of the most classic Studio Ghibli films. Princess Mononoke is grittier than most other Ghibli films I’ve seen, but it’s message is positive and its characters are wonderful. I can’t really speak ill towards classics like these. I guess maybe my one complaint is that this movie could’ve been a faster pace. Other than that... I really enjoyed everything Princess Mononoke offered! I understand why it’s so popular.  

10. Howl no Ugoku Shiro - 8.5/10 

Can you believe it took me this long to finally watch Howl’s Moving Castle? Me neither!! This movie is so endearingly beautiful. I loved every second of it, from the characters to the soundtrack. So many iconic things come from just this one movie. I would like to take this time to thank my best friend for reminding me that Studio Ghibli films are wonderful! Thank you for watching this with me, I loved it! All in all, I regret not watching this sooner! 

11. Toradora! - 6.5/10 

Toradora took me a while to finish, just because I lost interest about halfway through. But, I powered through it, and ended up really enjoying the show! I’m not the biggest fan of the ending, but that’s just a personal preference. Somehow, this show also made me cry? I’m not entirely sure why because Toradora! is probably the thing farthest from sad. Apart from the show’s dull slice of life moments, it was super cute! A much needed light-hearted romance. 

12. New Initial D Movie: Legend 1 - 5/10 

Full disclosure, this is the only thing related to Initial D that I’ve ever watched. My band and I watched this expecting to hear some of that iconic Initial D music, itself all we got was a mildly confusing story about different types of cars. It was cliché and frankly a little boring. Although, I am still considering watching the original Initial D just so I can hear the music in the way it was original intended. I’ve got no other opinions on this movie. It’s best not to watch these movies without the context from the rest of the franchise.  

13.  Uchuu Patrol Luluco - 7.5/10

I didn’t really understand why people enjoy studio Trigger so much until I watched Space Patrol Luluco. I loved all the fun references to other studio Trigger works. I loved the humor, and I loved all the bright colors. The animation was extremely high energy, and the art style fits the show’s premise. Each episode was only 12 minutes long so it was a super quick binge. If you’re looking for something quick, light-hearted and comical, this is the perfect show to watch.

14. Orange - 7/10 

I owe a big thanks to a tumblr mutual for recommending this show to me! This holds the honor of making me cry by episode 3! I honestly did not expect the subject matter of this show to be as dark as it was. Usually when I see the genre ‘shoujo’ I do not associate it with a love story like that of Orange. The heavy subject matter made it a little too close to home for me, but I still really enjoyed this series. It reminds me off all the good times I had with my friends in high school, and of all the regrets I carry with myself to this day. 

15. 3-gatsu no Lion - 7.5/10 

March Comes in Like a Lion is another show that was a bit of a slow burn for me. Each episode left me feeling emotionally drained, so I had to take a lot of breaks while I was working on watching this series. Shaft, the studio behind this anime, holds a special place in my heart because I loved their work on the Monogatari Series. March Comes in Like a Lion is a little different. It’s driving force it is characters, and it was cathartic to watch our main character transform through the entire duration of the first season. I know the show’s second season is much better, so I’ll be starting that soon! 

16. Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei - 8/10 

I loved how artsy and smart The Tatami Galaxy is, but honestly I couldn’t watch too much at once cause it would hurt my head. I also couldn’t watch this show while I was tired because the speaking rate is much faster than typical anime. The Tatami Galaxy is so unique for its medium. I loved the different time loops and the crazy animation. The characters were fascinating. The dialogue, although very fast, it also fantastic. There’s an element of humor to this unique story telling, and I enjoyed ever minute of it! 

Currently Watching:

Hunter x Hunter - 6.5/10 (As of Episode 30)

I pride myself in having watched a lot of shounen anime, but I was reluctant to start Hunter x Hunter for years because I thought I would find it boring. I was oh so very wrong. Considering great shows like Naruto and Fairy Tail that fall under the same category, I expected Hunter x Hunter to be subpar in comparison. It gets a low score for two reasons. One, the power system was introduced a little too late and now I’m wondering if all the fights post episode 30 will involved nen in some way, shape, or form. Two, its still on hiatus. 

Two Cursed Additions For This List

Please to do not let these be representative of my anime taste. 

1.  Yarichin☆B*tch-bu - 4/10

I am a CLOWN for not knowing this was 18+. The only reason I watched this was to see why everyone was talking about the pink-haired boy with the glasses and tongue piecing. I know why now, and I regret it. This was a massive mistake on my part. But hey, at the least the art and ending song kinda slap? 

2. Euphoria (Dropped After 1 Episode) - 2/10

If you know what I’m talking about when I say Euphoria, I am so sorry. And no, I am not talking about the HBO series. Seriously, don’t google this. Don’t watch this. Don’t interact with anything related to this. You’re probably wondering, “Then why did you watch it?” I did not watch this willingly. You see, I have a very bad habit of starting anime and then taking months to finish them. I made an ultimatum with a friend, lost, and then was forced to watch this a punishment. Not a fun experience. I’m very glad there are no GIFs of this on tumblr...

[jinkicake]

Ushijima, Tendou With a Clingy S/O

Ushijima and Tendou with a s/o who likes to cling onto them.

Ushijima x Reader

Tendou x Reader

For @ryreeee who requested this, I hope you like it, I really liked the prompt so thank you for requesting it! Muah. Omg, I saw someone on twitter call Tendou ‘bootleg Hisoka’ and I have not been the same since. (-д-；)

WC- 1,498

~~~

Tendou Satori

Omg Tendou would L O V E this

He is already such a clingy person who loves contact so you’d be like his own personal heaven

He always feels so good when you hold onto him

Whenever you’re walking anywhere, like to class or back to the dorms, one of your arms would be looped through his

The two of you are always, somehow, touching one another

Tendou just radiates safe energy, he would be so refreshing to be with

Imagine just holding his hand, holding onto his arm, holding onto his jacket pocket, holding any part of THE Tendou Satori

You’re like a personal heater the way you’re always pressed up against him

Tendou, and I cannot stress this enough, would LOVE this

Even after a game, whether they win or l̶o̶s̶e̶ win, you capture him in a tight hug

One where you simply hold him and tell him how awesome and cool he looked or how proud you are of him and the team, before teasing him and telling him he needs to take a shower since he is drenched in post-game sweat

While the two of you have your own respective friend groups you still hang out a ton, to the point that people think ‘how are they not at each other’s throats?’

The two of you just get along so well, both supportive of the other, and completely utterly in love with each other

It’s early in the morning, birds are beginning to chirp and the sun is just starting to light up the outside. Yet, you’re still awake, you never went to sleep. Neither did your boyfriend. The two of you just started a new anime and are determined to get halfway done with it before the next day. Thankfully it is the weekend and Tendou has no practice. Your arms are wrapped around his waist and your head is buried in his chest, occasionally squeezing him every now and then.

“That guy reminds me of you.” You glance up at Tendou before looking back at the TV, watching as the character takes out a bunch of people with his cards.

“Huh?! The little boy?” Tendou teases pointing at the dark-haired protagonist, you pinch his hip in response and ignore the yelp that leaves his throat. His red eyes widen when the magician comes back on screen. “Oh, the clown? Why him?”

“Because you’re both hot.” You tell him honestly, though it really is the hair. The two have a similar hairstyle.

“Oh, you think I’m hot?” A finger pokes your cheek and you can practically see the smirk on your boyfriend’s face.

“Obviously.” You sit up and reposition yourself so that your face is resting in the crook of his neck rather than on his chest, it’s easier to kiss his cheek from this position.

“(Y/N), you think Hisoka is hot?!” Tendou shakes his head disappointedly and you gape up at him.

“What you don’t think he is?!” You retort, equally as shocked. The two of you stare at each other in silence before bursting into a fit of laughter that drowns out the show playing in the background. Tendou eventually moves to cup your face in his large hands and stare down at you. His face lowers to brush his nose against yours and he smiles softly at the giggle that leaves your lips.

“I love you.” You shyly look up at him, your face heating up at the confession, even though you tell him this twice every day.

“I love you too (Y/N), with my whole entire being.” Tendou confesses back, his lips now kissing along your neck.

“Do you want to go get ice cream from 7/11?” You manage to ask, your eyes closed at the sensation of his lips working on your sensitive skin. Tendou halts for a second and a noise of confusion leaves his lips.

“I’m feeling you up right now and that’s what you’re thinking about?” Tendou nips at your ear and you nearly squeal at the feeling of his teeth.

“I-Is that a no?!” You ask, your breath hitching in your throat as he begins to suck under your jaw.

“Of course not, let’s go!” Tendou is off of you in an instant and you almost regret the offer you made. A frown makes its way onto your face at the lack of heat you’re facing after Tendou left.

“Come here baby,” Tendou coos and you turn excitedly towards him, only to meet a face full of a sweatshirt he threw at you. “Oh, headshot!”

“Tendou!” You whine and throw the warm material on, quickly moving to put on your shoes as you wait for him at the door. The two of you look like quite the pair, decked out in your pajamas and matching hoodies. As soon as you make it out into the hallway and Tendou locks the door, you instantly wrap your arms around one of his. You glance up at him cheekily and pout as he pretends not to notice you. That only lasts a couple of seconds though, because not before long you feel his lips pressed against the top of your head. He removes his arm from your tight hold to wrap it around your waist, pulling you into his chest so he can pepper soft kisses all over your face. Leaving the last kiss right on your lips.

Tendou Satori is, oh so, incredibly soft for you.

Ushijima Wakatoshi 

Ushijima loves when you touch him

He might not understand it, he seems like such a, not a touchy guy but he adores it when you touch him

He appreciates the little ways you show your affection

He also likes how small you look next to him

Ushijima is very busy, with school and volleyball but, he lets you tag along so you don’t feel left out

You study together and try to help each other understand the material, the whole time your leg is pressed against one of his

You watch volleyball practice when it is just him in the gym, silently you wait on your phone until the moment when he is finished and yours for the rest of the night

Ushijima doesn’t understand why you like being around him so much until you go on a trip for a few days

Very quickly he realizes how much he adores being around you, he loves every second he gets to be with you and misses you every second you’re not together

When you get back from your trip, Ushijima shows his true colors

You had never seen him act so clingy before, the hug he holds you in is long enough to the point you feel you might have to push him off

He only says he missed you once but holds your hand the entire way back to your dorm

Ushijima might not be the best at expressing his emotions, but that's okay because he has his own love language and you’re fluent in it

“I can’t believe it’s raining.” You stare up at the cloudy night sky, glancing at your boyfriend and feeling slightly guilty that you dragged him out here this late at night before checking the weather. “I saw that the Moon was supposed to be super big and bright tonight,” Ushijima only continues to stare up at the sky and you sink further into your jacket. Mentally you curse at yourself, with a new relationship like this one, only being together for a few months and you go ahead ruin it with some weird ‘spontaneous’ date. “I just wanted to spend time with you.”

“I’m happy you asked me out tonight,” Ushijima confesses and you look up at him with hopeful eyes.

“Even if we can’t see the moon?” You ask, your timid tone showing through.

“Even if we cannot see the moon, I am still having fun.” At this, you grab his hand in yours and squeeze it. Ushijima can only watch with a new fascination as you bring his hand up to your lips and press a kiss against his knuckles. His face heats up with a light blush dusting his cheeks and you hold his hand to your chest even as you continue to watch the rainfall.

“Do you want to go eat, I’m sure a cafe must still be open.” You offer and Ushijima continues to stare at you, you feel warm under such an intense gaze.

“Where ever you want to go.” He answers and you nod your head before standing on the tips of your toes to reach his hood and pull it over his head.

“Don’t get too wet.” You wink and when you start to let go of his hand Ushijima only grips your hand in his own, a silent plea not to let go. He can see the wide smile you’re trying to hide off your face. 

Ushijima can’t help but smile back, feeling that same affection swirling in his heart.

[hei-ch0u]

It’s long...(fair warning) ✰

 Shingeki no Kyojin 139 (Theories)

Since everyone is throwing around their theories from the wild to the more likely, I thought I should contribute. After all, it will be the last time we can theorise this amazing manga full of all its twists and turns. Like most, I do agree with the popular fan theories simply because this manga is consistently unpredictable with each chapter. Let’s face it, some stories are easily picked apart these days and finding one that continuously has you thinking about what could occur is a winning tale. So first, I will start off by saying that I am so sad that Shingeki no Kyojin is coming to an end. But! I will never forget this amazing manga as I have grown so attached to the characters and the story as you can tell from the past nearly 9 years of running this blog. So, thank you yams for being such a genius! Regardless of the ending, it will go down in history as one of the best stories I personally have ever read and witnessed.

With typical fan theories, I won’t go into them too much as I feel the concept of the “time loop” has been written about to filth and I think it is very blatantly clear at this point that the concept of a time loop is very likely in one way or another given the overall concept within aot/snk in general - there is a obvious manipulation of past, present and future. I will hold my hands up and say that I definitely do agree with ‘some’ popular fan theories and will list a fair few below in brief detail - as I do think they are highly likely to be true in some way or at least implied within the last chapter. Now, with the usual leak dates coming up on the horizon, I wanted to put my input in before hand. Although, because of recent prosecution warnings for leaking the final chapter - I would advise others just to wait for the 9th of April on official release for concrete facts rather than speculations and leaks simply because we have seen with past few chapters that a lot of false spoilers get released and I think with the final chapter it would be wise to wait as I have previously stated on here that it will be the ‘revelation’ chapter that ties this manga together.

So! With the typical fan theories, we see the likes of:

Eren being the baby daddy to Historia’s baby

Eren sacrificing his reason for living - freedom. By being the greater evil to bring about the greater good

The baby itself could become the new beast titan or baby Eren/Ymir reborn

Eren isn’t dead, but on Paradis by way of transferring his subconscious into a crystallised version of himself

Eren and Ymir have struck a deal

And of course - the time loop concept

…The list is endless of popular fan theories. It would be silly not to agree with any of them given the story and where we are currently at, its very clear that Historia, Eren and Ymir will play a big part somehow in the final chapter (if not id be genuinely shocked) since majority of the past few chapters they have been absent in full form and I feel this needs to be explained. After all we still haven’t seen the full extent of the memories of past/future that Eren was aware of from his contact with Historia and his connection with Ymir in Paths. We saw 137 being predominantly Armin based, 138 being Mikasa based and I think it is only reasonable given his absence as the initial protagonist that Eren will be the revelation within 139. Ultimately culminating EMA / the trio as a whole. We began with them, so it only makes sense to end with them (albeit separately as individuals).

Moving on, as you can see I agree with said fan theories as I think any route could be possible! The thing with Shingeki no Kyojin is that it has many hidden ‘Easter eggs’ (how fitting given its easter), whether it be in the background of scenes, characters wording, placement of scenes/characters, flashbacks, paths and even in the opening and ending credits of the anime we see hidden meanings through imagery. It has all been laid out very well for our finding, its just if we have an intuitive enough imagination to pick it apart and figure things out. This leads on to my own theory/theories (it can go any way and I wont sugarcoat it - I could be reaching)

I generally have 2 theories that run about in my head with how the story itself could turn out or how it works. Both theories kind of tie together in one way or another featuring predominantly Eren and then Mikasa or overall ‘Ackerman’ blood/gene concept and its potential involvement in control of said time loop. I will do my best to include manga panels to give visual insight to the points.

To begin, I want to touch on Mikasa's “dream” in 138 - although devastating, I think it is being taken as the opposite of what it was and personally I see many looking at it through rose tinted glasses. This wasn’t an alternative universe (in my opinion), this was Mikasa’s Ideal life - her dream. When it comes to Eren as a connection to Mikasa, he is her reason for being, even in death she chooses not to part with him for her own good and creates a dreamlike reality for herself to make herself go through with the deed. She as a character has dominantly surrounded her existence on Eren, he is categorised many times within the manga as ‘home’ - like other fan theories have stated, it has been mentioned many times Mikasa referencing the word ‘home’ and also how she wants to ‘be close to him’ because it gives her comfort and strength. The Ackermans as a whole have attachments to people and this is where they ultimately gain strength from. Without any of the Ackermans ‘attachments’ being in danger or being killed, their powers wouldn’t be awakened and without them I feel their strength almost weakens until they find a new reason for living to keep moving forward. I’ll touch more on the ‘Ackerman’ theory later as its one of the open loopholes still currently alive within the manga.

Mikasa has always been a character that confuses me, particularly with the way she acts and things she says or thinks. She has said many things that don’t make sense unless she has a certain belief system or knows of things from past lives.

Examples:

As you can see and I will produce more evidence of such comments further in. She implies that she either believes in reincarnation or she is aware of different periods within the said time loop. She speaks of starting over, being dead and returning and implies in different ways that she is scared of the same thing happening again. The last panel - what plan is she on about here? Her own plan. In my opinion it is - "Don't let Eren die". As we have seen, that may be what has to happen. It's fate. She interferes with this and never lets him go.

Mikasa does have an unhealthy bond with Eren, I do think he loves her ( I’m not dismissing that ) but do I think its the type of intense love she feels? no. Some things she has came out with has even shocked other characters and countless times her comrades have tried to ‘break the barrier’ to get her to realise her way of thinking when it comes to Eren is unhealthy. Hence why I think we seen Jean in this particular scene below so frustrated

not because he himself has feelings for her, but because she’s not letting them get through to her that she is refusing to believe Eren could ultimately be a changed person (which he definitely is, I’ll not go into my rant of why he isn’t ‘evil or a ‘monster’ because i’ve done so already) but overall, Mikasa constantly makes excuses for Eren and doesn’t recognise it, her life revolves around being close to Eren and she gets very emotionally troubled at the idea of not being with him or him ultimately taking a path that doesn’t involve her. We even seen Annie question her and this wasn't many chapters ago and she replies with the same mindset of bringing back "the old Eren". He is not the person he once was particularly as a child. Something that is implied at beginning of manga, it opens with them as children and somehow links with 138.

As stated by Armin below we see him even explaining to Mikasa that Eren’s never close, he always takes his own route and that ultimately both Armin and Mikasa aren’t his reason for living. Let’s face it - Freedom is Eren’s reason for being, his only desire. Armin has also expressed disbelief and almost frustration at her way of thinking when it comes to him (below examples) I think in a way the famed ‘table scene’ was Eren trying to break the bond, but he’s not doing that for no reason, its implied he does it to protect them, but it could also be because of what he has seen in memories past and future - he has perhaps became aware of Mikasa’s involvement within paths and the loop. He has to try to alter her way of thinking to protect her, but maybe also himself.

Armin + Other comrades reactions to Mikasa’s mindset 

Another visual point to make regarding Mikasa’s ties with previous loops and Armin, was her comment made about him at a very early stage in the manga just after Eren had been eaten by a titan after saving Armin - leaving his fate at this point unknown. 

this is implying that Mikasa has some knowledge of previous times Armin has helped them with his ‘ability’ which if we are referencing him as a character is his methodical intelligence. But, even here he is confused by the comment, simply because at this point there has been no signs of Armin’s usage of this ability - mainly fear and lack of confidence with that in comparison of his peers. We don’t necessarily see this until perhaps even a chapter later and as far as we are aware, Mikasa doesn't follow through with “i’ll tell you about it later”.

I don’t know about anyone else, but it seems odd she has such an attachment to Eren like this that is so intense. It’s not normal to be as intense as she is about someone unless she is used to losing that person over and over. Even as children Mikasa acted possessive over the ‘concept’ of Eren dying - it wasn’t allowed to happen. She doesn’t have this intense reaction with Armin or other comrades. She fixates on the idea of Eren being her saviour, the one to give her a ‘home’ and a ‘purpose’. Mikasa consistently opposes his death and his death alone, I can only see this from a standpoint that deep within her own memory she has experienced his death countless times before. She even uses force a couple of times to increase this intensity. Here are some examples of this even in childhood -

There are many more examples of this throughout the manga and her refusal to accept that what she doesn’t want, may just happen. Now this might just be my over active imagination or my own ability of media studies kicking in. But, previously I had been under the impression in the presence of a time loop that Eren was in charge of it and controlling it, that somehow it would constantly reoccur when he himself died and he would have to come up with a way to either prevent his death or ultimately stop the timeline of the titans. Whether that be under making a deal with Ymir herself or by essentially “breaking the wheel” and turning others against him to show Eldians as triumphant heroes.

However, the more i’ve thought about it and given the revelations of 138 - i would be more inclined to say it is Mikasa Ackerman herself due to either her specifically or her Ackerman gene. There is something about the bloodline that is missing and we have not had the fabled Ackertalk or much explanation of how they work (something I’d like to see covered in 139 - although i feel it will be an Eren chapter, I also think it will include the visions Eren has seen to give an explanation of why the previous 138 chapters played out the way they did)

I think there is a possibility Eren had to break the wheel on the loop,  Mikasa would go back each time and always Eren would die, something we’ve established she tries to prevent and never accepts. The only escape was her accepting his death therefore he did everything he could to push her away, break the bond and push her to kill him to end the cycle (since he’s seen the future). As I have a hunch previously in other loops he was not killed by her hand - it had to be her to break the cycle or vice versa (but we will get to this).

there is hints of this in the “Lost Girls” OVA. Yes, I am aware it’s said that OVAS are not necessarily canon per say, but I don’t think it would have so many open links if Isayama himself didn't want it to. This particular one gives many hints to Mikasa’s involvement in the loop and alternative universe theories. The anime adaptations are on point with showing us details we only recognise after more plot points are revealed. It may explain the headaches, every time Eren dies, she reverses the loop or changes realities. This ailment could be a product of her memory issues. In the OVA we see Mikasa in real time thinking about Eren and his constant state of taking his own path.

After this moment, the said “Scene” she speaks of is revealed to us. Another example of Mikasa’s dreamlike state or perhaps another timeline? We are taken back to the time where she had given up, had ran out of gas, a titan was approaching and she was ‘lost’ - her reason for being was gone and she knew her death was coming, but also in the manga during this scene she is “worried” she’ll have to start again (above in examples). This again implies she knows something we don’t. We then hear Mikasa’s voice speaking to Mikasa herself, telling her that if she simply didn’t like this reality she could choose the place she wanted, but as we have seen before - she can’t stop his death.

The peculiar scene in this OVA that got me intrigued by this theory is the masked figure and young mikasa scene. Mikasa is rushing to meet with Eren and Armin to escape the walls in a hot air balloon, but she has to be there by a certain time or the plan fails. As she is running she is stopped by a mysterious masked figure who asks her to join in on his hypnotism trick to spectators. Comments he makes involve him telling her that her ‘friend’ will ultimately leave her and that she couldn’t accept his death and created this universe. Also, that he is no one, but someone at the same time. I think this holds great significance since the strange thing about this is that his voice mirages into a distant adult Mikasa.

implying that she has to ‘kill’ a part of herself or she has to die to prevent and hault the loop. She has to return from her idealistic dreams of keeping him alive as it will only fail otherwise. Upon hearing of Eren’s yet again untimely death within this universe, she begins to have memory flashes of multiple scenes appearing within her eyes with a typical media ‘rewind’ sound as she wakes up back in the street with no gas and a titan approaching but... she says something I find interesting and links to what Eren says at the beginning of the manga 

“the feeling I’ve had a really long dream”

We witness Mikasa have these “headaches” multiple times within the manga and in the anime they are heavily focused on whenever it happens, which we can only recognise that this is an important part of the story itself. Eren too has random headaches, just not as much as Mikasa, he mainly experiences them when he accesses new memories. However, what if Mikasa too is affected by memories she cannot tap into or it is paths/ackerman gene warning her she is repeating past mistakes?

Notice how there is a lot of emphasis on the word ‘again’ when it comes to her headaches or the thought of losing Eren. It is constantly repeated. I think it is highly likely she only remembers some parts from previous loops, but the one that sticks is simply - she has to save Eren each time, but fails. Everything begins again after his or her’s demise. Perhaps each time Eren is the one who dies first, creating a somewhat butterfly effect. That maybe Mikasa has died once like she implies in previous example. However, the one to die first (in this case primarily Eren) loses all memories of the past loops - again this is implied as Eren does tell Mikasa he cannot remember his dream. I think deep within his mind Mikasa does remember, but given the fact she has potentially reversed the outcome many times...her memory is simply warped - that or she died in the previous loop and lost those components. 

Will she not remember due to her memories being altered in her death?

Either way something needs to change. Eren Kruger says this in Eren’s attack titan memories. They are doing something wrong.

I believe Eren in 138 within Mikasa’s dream, was trying to tell her to move on, not necessarily forget him, but at least accept his passing - to stop the loop reoccurring, he influenced part of her reality...maybe with the help of Ymir. In a way it could be implied Eren almost regrets wrapping the scarf around her (this is heavily emphasised as a symbol of their relationship), for me the scarf seems like a softer symbolism for a chain - a binding if you will. By wrapping it round Mikasa he binds her to him. He has always insisted she should throw it away, even in 138 within her own conjured reality he says the same. She needs to kill this part of herself or “the same history” will be repeated. I do have a HUGE feeling in my heart, head and gut that Mikasa may need to end up dead first as I do have another HUGE feeling that Eren is not dead (maybe its wishful thinking, but his death doesn’t make sense right now, so Yams I trust in you for explanation). His death seemed too convenient.

Now, before I go onto “Ackerman” gene factors, I’ll briefly bring in another peculiarity I have always had about a particular scene in the beginning of the manga. After it is decided Eren will carry the boulder to plug the wall, Eren (the attack titan) seemingly loses control and succumbs to pure rage, in turn he attacks Mikasa. Something he hasn’t done against humans unless its free will.

However, a part of me has always felt that this could be the attack titan itself (in past inhabitants and memories) recognising her as a threat and trying to rid her of the world first to avoid the loop of Eren dying first to Mikasa controlling the loop to return to try to save Eren - nothing changes. This is what I meant by “breaking the wheel”, we have saw it in other tales, things can’t change unless you choose a different path than the same one with the same brutal cycle. As Kruger says, to save Mikasa and Armin, Eren has to change things - this could be to separate not only Armin, but Mikasa from him, that maybe in previous loops...they follow him. In this instance, he has definitely separated Armin and by way of second hand - Mikasa too. Hence why Ymir says goodbye to Eren in 138, he is free. Another notable concept is that aot/snk is made up of trios, we see it in:

Eren / Mikasa / Armin

Reiner / Bertholdt / Annie

Connie / Jean / Sasha

Hanji / Erwin / Levi

Levi / Farlan / Isabel 

Kenny / Levi / Mikasa

It would partially make sense for the trio to be the reasoning for the ending. Almost illuminati based - very yams style. 

Why not Mikasa?

Lets talk Ackerman and a slightly different theory, but with relation! 

(Obviously, I cannot provide much evidence to support any Ackerman based theories other than what has already been provided, which isn’t a lot to be fair. Dammit Yams)

I want to briefly start off on the Ackerman front with a brief comparison of our two currently known Ackermans: Levi and Mikasa. The main categorising difference between these two is that Levi moves on regardless of what happens to him or his comrades or his ‘attachments’. He also does not appear to experience these headaches, some say he does, but I can’t find evidence. Isayama shows these headaches with a throbbing sign around Mikasa’s head - so unless the Ackertalk happens and Levi confirms it, its still absent in theory. Levi treats Ackerman-ism as moving on, making choices with no regrets (as his backstory indicates) and even in current states he has said he doesn’t regret his decisions. It is why he is able to move forward and keep surviving. Its simple...his mindset is stronger than Mikasa's, she is the weaker link. This could be due to age difference and overall past experience, Levi has more life experience as an Ackerman to have mastered his emotion and reactions to outcomes - he accepts the bad. 

Mikasa is weaker in this regard, perhaps if you link it back to the theory of her control of the loop...due to this weakness she creates the loop since she can’t accept his death and tries to return to make amends. I think in reality, Eren knows due to the attack titan ability - he will die. Hence why he appeared so shocked upon making contact with Historia to then very depressed and detached before vanishing in Marley. He became aware of the outcome and I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d be depressed too after finding out my life was made to end especially since all he wanted as a character was Freedom. Eren x Freedom will be the only canon ship at this rate.

However, I do think the only way she can create said loop is through her Ackerman gene. Ackermans are products of ‘titan science’, they were genetically engineered (if you want to put it that way) to have titan like abilities while still maintaining their human form and sense of self being. Created to protect the Fritz family (royal blood), to eventually being ostracised for their dismissal of the plan to wipe Eldian’s memories. Therefore banished, but allowed to live, I can only see there being one reason why - they would be still useful at some point and their deaths/extinction would be wasteful. 

From what we know and can tell from mere viewing, the Ackermans are very skilled and powerful beings that have ‘hosts’ or attachments (I like this name better) to channel their goals, strength and energy into. They were made to protect, fight and survive. The only surviving Ackermans are Levi and Mikasa.

They cannot be affected by the founding titan and their memories cannot be altered. But, this brings about another question. Why were they created to protect the founding titan, yet could not be controlled by it? The theory with this bloodline is that they can do more than what we see, that they themselves don’t know it yet. One in particular can alter realities - that being Mikasa (as we don’t have mass amounts of information on Levi’s experiences other than his surge of power awakenings demonstrated throughout the manga to confirm his part) due to fact Levi really only knew he was an Ackerman within his 30′s after the previous Ackerman - Kenny, dies and informs him of this. Mikasa has always been aware. 

Mikasa’s ‘Power’ ultimately has something to do with the Attack Titan and the Founding titan - that being Eren and Ymir combined. In past loops, I believe each time she has seen Eren die she has said “see you later, Eren”... hence the ending of 138 and the beginning of the manga. Isayama did say the beginning would relate to the ending. Each time this happens they are transcended to the point Eren wakes up at the tree within the walls to begin once more, its the only clear explanation for why Eren comments of her hair length. The attack titan itself is the component of Ymir that captivates her freedom, it continues to move forward for 2000 years each successor until one has the power (the desire for freedom like her) to release her from enslavement to the power of the titans. In this instance Eren too has been a slave to the power, lets for arguments sake blame Grisha for passing it on to him. 

Again, with the Ackermans there is something I’ve always noticed between Levi and Mikasa - they have never touched skin to skin. It has always been over their clothing. I wonder if their Ackerman powers may stem similar to how Eren draws memories from contact with the royal family, i.e. Historia. They need to touch in order to access Paths and manifest it into their control. Eren is aware of this due to his connection to Ymir - there is heavy implied material to denote the idea of Ragnarok and reincarnation. Eren is the reincarnate of Ymir and previously I don’t think they were aware of this.

For anyone not familiar with the term “Ragnorok” - its definition has multiple meanings in Norse mythology. Particularly - development, origin, cause, relation and fate. It is a series of events that often lead to a great battle, the deaths of multiple people of importance to the ultimate end revelation of the world being remade and fertile (the opposite of Zeke’s plan) with the remaining ‘gods’ returning and ‘two’ human survivors repopulating the world. I personally believe this to be either two of these: Levi and Mikasa or Eren and Historia by the way of Ymir as the ultimate god, but just in different ways. The Ragnorok element is particularly of importance within Germanic studies, this would connect with Shingeki no Kyojin since it is implied its set in early germany/europe and given characters name origins - it makes sense.

The two human survivors are that of Lif and Lifbrasir (shown below) who survive by ‘hiding’ in the woods while the great battle commences. 

They repopulate the world starting with a daughter. In germanic regions, the concept of mankind originated from trees is an ancient notion “the tree of life” essentially. Trees have a massive importance and connection in Shingeki no Kyojin, we see Eren wake up at one in the beginning, the main Path coordinate resembles a tree, Ymir originated from trees and being within the woods would indicate “trees”. This would make me more inclined to believe the Eren and Historia theory to be likely, simply because Historia is all the way back in Paradis and potentially Eren himself by transferring subconscious. To me it seems very likely the leaked final panel released by Yams himself is Eren holding a child rather than anyone else as whoever this figure is tells the child they are free and this could only relate to both Ymir and Eren, the ones who sought freedom. This could mean in this instance Levi and Mikasa are the ‘gods’, the ones with the power to restore and mend, again through the concept of the Ackerman Gene being more than what meets the eye. Ymir will be reborn ultimately and no longer enslaved as will Eren. 

Ragnarok and Shingeki no Kyojin combined have connotations of ‘fate’ being a big part of their depths. It is fated. Everything is. Just like Eren’s death and potentially ability to be reborn into another timeline. Just like Eren’s fate to obtain the founding titan and attack titan, both very powerful titans in the manipulation of time and events. Eren makes a statement around chapter 123 in Paths when talking with Zeke that if someone tried to take his freedom, no matter who, he would remove theirs. That he has been like that since birth because he was “born into this world”.

Zeke: “Since birth?”

this further implies fate. He was born free, he expresses detest for people who aren’t free and bound by something, 2000 years, Ymir etc. This only ties together if Eren himself in past lives was someone with the same views and personality traits, like Mikasa, except hers are the opposite. Paths has always been there and everything that has happened in the past is imbedded within its clutches through Ymir. These two titans needed to be combined, Grisha was informed by Eren himself through Kruger and future versions of himself that he had to obtain the founder or nothing could be changed. Grisha is even seen asking Eren to show him everything that happens, whether carla dies etc. He did not have full control, this was made for Eren’s inhabitant period and he did not have access to all memories due to only being able to access the ones the future successor sends back in time. Like the mirror scene for example, Eren is speaking to someone else, not himself. Grisha was only instructed to go within the walls and have a family. Eren was instructed to save everyone. Remember that the common rule with time is that you cannot change the past or it significantly alters the future.

I believe all the memories (the ones we are seeing even now) are actually in paths, the story has always had an indication it is being ‘narrated’ by someone - in most instances this is Armin. This has implied he will survive into the future, but that others may not. How this will happen...I can only theorise that Ymir will factor into who lives or dies. She will need to leave paths however, the only way the titan curse will end is if she leaves and no one is there to build titans. She will be either reborn to capture her freedom or reborn through Eren for them both to obtain the same dream. There has been multiple theories that some other titan other than the attack titan could be the key or another character, like that of the Ackermans or armin for example as I do think the trio concept is likely. But, remember the manga is called “Shingeki no Kyojin” meaning “the attack titan” - its always been the key and Eren is that key...again, key? Eren. scarf? Mikasa. Equals symbolism.

At the end of the day, the characters who I feel personally will tie together the ending are Eren, Ymir, Historia and Levi, Mikasa, Armin - both trios on different sides of the coin. Just remember, this isn’t the type of story where the characters get what they desire and that they could die without obtaining these desires. Erwin died before learning the truth of the outside world. Hanji died. Sasha died, Niccolo lost her. Floch did not live to see Eldian rule. Levi may have killed Zeke, but what for? He killed a different version of him, not the one who murdered innocents in Shinganshina. Levi lost every attachment of his. Mikasa lost Eren. I’d be angry and sad for him, but Eren also could lose his freedom by striking a deal with Ymir for her own freedom. But! he could free the world and his friends through both Mikasa and Armin, the chain will break, the titan curse will end and he will cease to exist or be lost in Paths dormant, unlike Ymir for 2000 years. This would be a good culmination of Eren’s character, extremely heart breaking, but fitting. A character who only sought freedom for humanity. He is humanity’s hope after all. Remember, Kaji Yuki (Eren’s Japanese voice actor) expressed extreme sadness at learning Eren’s fate from Isayama. It has always been a manga that indicates a bittersweet ending, so this could also be highly likely. (Eren is my favourite character...so this guts my heart from my chest)

To conclude, these are merely my own speculation of the final events within 139 and although sad of its ending, my excitement for this final instalment knows no bounds. I can only wish for the best and I know Isayama will deliver. 

[charmspoint]

how was it ^-^

Let's seee. It was good, perfectly enjoyable, it reads fast and i was never really bored with it. I'd give most chapters like a 7/10 and then chapters 71-82 like 8 or 9/10 and then back to like 7/10 and the ending was weird but also kinda sweet in its own way.

Now to preface anything else: This isn't my type of manga. I can easily see it being a 10/10 for someone who really likes fight scenes and death and gore and what not. I'm not really into that, I'm a character and story driven person which is why the manga as a whole scored as just goodish to me while chapters 71-82 which kinda make a lot of emotional and psychological aspects of the chapters before them come to culmination scored a lot better. You know I don't GET fights. Chainsaw man was very gory but I didn't even really register it. Like because of all the gore I feel I heard people say it has horror aspects but I never really felt scared or off put or anything. It was just kinda like 'oh a lot of people are in pieces rn, okay, that's a thing that's happening'. So yeah that's why the score is the way it is, it simply isn't a manga that focuses on things I like and that's perfectly alright. I couldn't buy into the hype like I did with jjk and I certently didn't feel 'oh this is the best thing ever' like I felt with witch hat atelier.

With all that out of the way let me talk long and hard about Denji and sexual aspects of the series in a surprisingly positive light:

I like Denji as a character. I think he's still a bit rough around the edges but he's not a character made for introspection so that's fine, you really kinda have to take what he says and how he acts and think about it because the author won't do it for you. That being said, I think Denji is probably the most compelling shonen protagonist I've read so far. Like when I read bnha or jjk I see Izuku and Yuji and I'm like 'this is a shonen protagonist'. They are a likable character but they won't be your favorite character. They are largely made for japanese high school boys to project themselves on and I'm not a japanese high school boy. That being said, Denji feels like a character of his own and not something meant to be projected on to. Honestly if anyone projected on to Denji I'd be worried about them. But that makes him probably the most compelling shonen protagonist I've ever read. You just wanna dig a shovel into his skull and go 'man kid ur fucked up'.

I know when you first read csm you were off put by Denji because it felt like a manga put a pervert character as a protag which is naturally off putting and I can 100% see that. Now be it because I was warned about it first or something else, I didn't actually find fanservice jarring at all. It kinda was integrated into the world in a way that made me think 'yeah of course it's like this'. This is a very grim and rough and drty world and things in it would be just like that. It is a story about base desires and sex is one of those. These are people who expect they will die any day now and Denji is a person who's just now getting to experience a somewhat decent standard of living. Here's a thing I noticed though: even as Denji thinks many sexual things (which, he's a teenager, that's normal) he's actually very respectful. I don't think I've ever seen him touch anyone without their permission, in fact i think things like that mostly happen to him. Like example how Power comes in just as Denji is in the middle of his 'i wanna touch some boobs' phase. You would almost expect that what happens next is we see him try to grope Power as she's sleeping or something. But no, he doesn't do a thing until she asks him to help her save her cat and he gets to touch her boobs for it. And it's like this with p much every other sexual encounter through the series. Both partners are consenting and getting something out of the whole thing. Sexual aspects are used as normal bartering chips in a world where your whole body is a bartering chip. It's normal and no one is forced into it. I've told you before that my biggest misgiving with fanservice is that it's often based on embarrassment and unwilling participation of the girls. Like fanservice isn't fanservice because you saw a boob it's fanservice because you saw a boob when you weren't supposed to, when the girl didn't want you, when she's angry or scared or embarrassed because you did. A lot of fanservice feels very much like taking something from the girl, debasing and humiliating her for the sake of watchers/readers satisfaction.

Despite all it's sexual jokes and themes and everything else Chainsaw man never once made me feel like that. It never once made me feel like the author expected me to gain sexual satisfaction out of debasement of female cast. Which is why even though boobs and naked women are literally all over the manga I didn't mind it at all. It stopped being fanservice and became just a natural part of characters lives as sexuality and sex is a natural part of real world.

Back to Denji.

So I mussed a bit about Denji and Maslow before but here it is in total

Denji is 16 years old and at the beginning of the series he's just starting to have his physiological and safety needs met. Like he doesn't live like a human being at the start of the series and Makima recruiting him is A BIG CHANGE for him. Like for a good while Denji is like 'Now I have three meals a day and a place to sleep at so I'm good with whatever'. He's given reliable sources to fulfil his needs and he's given a way to keep those sources stable. He has a job, it's not a good job but he has it. He has a place to live and a theoretical safety net. He's immortal so there's nothing to fear in the death and injury department which means the otherwise unsafe job is perfectly fine for him. Now what Denji gets stuck on through most of the series is Love and Belonging. Because you can't just give someone love like you can give them food (not that Makima doesn't try). People are more complicated. Compromises need to be made and human connections are hard to establish, especially if you are someone like Denji who has no idea how to interact with others aside from obeying orders. This is why his need for love and belonging first manifests as a sexual need (that and he's an allo teenager). Human connections are hard but sexual contact doesn't have to come tied with connections so it's easier (if unsatisfactory as Denji finds out with Power) to achieve. A lot of Denji's personal growth is tied to him finding out that this need can be fulfilled by other things alongside sex. This is why I love chapters 71-82 so much because they are really a culmination of Denji's emotional journey in that category. Along the way along with sexual love he finds romantic one. He wants to spend time with girls he likes, he wants them to like him beyond the sexual. Of course sexuality is always an aspect of it but after that scene with Power it's never the only thing. Human connection, understanding the other person, knowing them, loving them, making them happy. And it all culminates in the familial love he finds with Aki and Power, taking care of someone and being taken care of for no other reason than they are your family and you love them, you care for them, you want them to be well and happy. There's this scene with Power later on when they are taking a bath together and Denji is like 'huh we are both naked but it doesn't feel naughty at all'. He's stopped seeing Power sexually because he started to see her as his sister and it's just really nice, those few chapters we get to see them as a family are really nice.

By the end of the series Denji starts checking off the esteem box too, by people accepting him and loving him and him feeling like he wants to respond to that, but I feel like that aspect and possible self actualization will be more explored in part 2.

There you have it, my essay about why Denji is the most compelling Shonen protagonist I've ever read :)

Also I really liked the girls in this series, it really isn't afraid of letting it's female characters be weird and gross and in Makima's case just plain evil and I appreciate it for that. I just wish Quanxi got more time and things to do but she's a side character and it's not her fault she's cooler than the whole main cast (Power best girl tho).

I feel like I talked a lot already about what was my most important take away from the whole thing but yeah, in general: pretty entertaining read, would probably be a complete blast for someone who's invested in fights, a little thin on psychology and emotion for my tastes but when it delivers them it delivers them good.

Also I like how it basically ended on 'you should give people more hugs' it was cute

Additionally I think the authors idea to basically release manga in seasons like you would an anime is straight up genius I hope that more mangakas start picking this up because it allows them more rest in between big arcs.

Ok now that's it for real this time.

[fizzingwizard]

Go ahead y’all ask me how I am... do it, I DARE you... after Digimon Adventure: episode 50 - the 1999 equivalent of which, I feel compelled to mention, was “Jou’s Battle,” when Taichi strategically splits his group apart with the goal of gathering the whole team for the final confrontation - I think my emotional state can best be described like this:

meme so funny haha

but the truth is I’m very sad. I just can’t with this show anymore. I don’t know if I’ll continue to review future episodes. Actually, as I was watching this one, I thought it was the final episode, even though I knew there were supposed to be more and it hadn’t been hyped as the finale at all. I just thought, “What else can they do after this? It seems like the kind of ending this shitshow would get. At least it will be a relief to not watch it every week anymore.”

However, let’s be clear that this is NOT the finale. I’m gonna watch till the very end, but idk if I have it in me even to make these depressing little reviews. At first it was fun, then it was meh... I held out and the show got fun again, but the last month or so have been such a drag. And this week’s episode is just the final straw. So we’ll see.

Anyway real episode review below the cut. Warning: I hated everything except for Taichi’s face so it’s mostly caps of him.

Pic of the day:

“At this rate... I’m gonna request a transfer to Boruto...” /Sanpei Yuuko joke

More below

Last week big bad Millenniumon appeared to be resurrected. Here he is.

Totally lacking a clear motivation other than “destroy the world...” Even in appearance, ALL of Devimon’s evolutions mid-season were WAY scarier.

Turns out Taichi and Agumon have faceplanted on this hunk of rock, which immediately breaks off and sends them catapulting earthward.

Wind noise what? Taichi and Agumon encourage each other while freefalling.

Agumon: Hey shouldn’t we have broken every bone in our bodies by now

Taichi: I once broke my leg tripping over Hikari’s hairbrush. This is starting to seem silly.

Meanwhile the others awaken inside what Tailmon explains is a cut-off dimension created by Millenniumon, where they will eventually fall into a dreamless sleep forever and ever.

Millenniumon’s power is immense and he makes volcanos erupt. So his power is he gives the earth digital acne.

Yamato evolves MetalGarurumon and stars just attacking the walls (of... the endless void... lol). This appears to slow Millenniumon down in a total rip-off of the way cooler way Koushirou slowed Diaboromon down in Our War Game.

The Holy Digimon are inspired by Taichi’s courage to fight wheeee I didn’t realize they were having problems with that

no kidding

Taichi fights a lot and escapes certain death a lot. Even when he and WarGreymon take a head-on hit and are sent spiraling into the ocean. Still fine because THE POWER OF BELIEF

Chumbawumba: I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down

WarGreymon is able to knock the black ball thingy out of Millenniumon’s mouth. This is fortunate because it’s what contains Yamato and friends and now they are able to free themselves thanks to the Holy Digimon, who randomly start acting like the Crests are important. But since we don’t know what they are *cough* they just call them “everyone’s hopes!”

Now let’s interrupt my mocking to appreciate an adorable Taichi waking up face:

Alll the d’aaaaawwwww

... Aaaand his back is broken x’DDD

The HolyDigimon have evolved to Ultimate level! More on that later. First, they divided the group in halves with them, because because. Hikari gets Taichi, Sora, and Koushirou, and Takeru gets Yamato, Jou, and Mimi.

So yes... those Ultimate evolutions... Tailmon becomes Magnadramon and Patamon becomes... GODDRAMON, GOD OF STEELY ABS

no seriously thats all I could think. Magnadramon is all soft and fluffy looking and then Goddramon is like “I HAVE SMALL HEAD HUGE BODY ABS ABS UNTIL KINGDOM COME, VERY MACHO”

He punches Millenniumon in the mouth, of course.

Millenniummon considerately starts to melt. Thank you, Millenniumon. We wouldn’t want Goddramon’s ego to get bruised.

There’s a few good attacks here - I liked Magnadramon’s Apocalypse attack - but like who even cares. The animation is so half-assed that there’s nothing really to appreciate.

Just when it seems Millenniumon’s defeated, he comes back like... this. It’s enormous. Even Koushirou’s digimon analyzer doesn’t know what it is.

Lopmon does though!

bahahaha

but wait what’s this

sparks! are they fireflies????

no they are the hopes and wishes of all the Digimon we’ve met on our journey! how lovely and inspiring! what are they saying?

hopes and wishes: I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE I DONT WANNA DIE

now I shall spam Taichi looking adorable while being as cliche as an anime protagonist can get.

Good heavens, WHY. WHY WHY WHY. I looooooove Taichi (obviously) but WHY is he the one fighting here?? First it was Taichi, then it was Goddramon/Magnadramon, and now it’s... back to Taichi??? FOR WHAT REASON???

I mean the reason is, we don’t know anyone else well enough to cheer for them the way we cheer for Taichi. As cool as the Holy Digimon are meant to be, I guess the one thing the producers realized is that, uh, they’ve only spent time building up Taichi (and even that, while they’ve done a lot of it, they haven’t done it well).

Kinda cool death scene.

Our heroes wake up no worse for the wear. Millenniumon is gone. Everyone is together and happy. I’m just spamming Taichi again.

his face when Mimi gives him the corsage

Taichi: “Wtf, what is this, is this supposed to mean something??? also didn’t we see this burn to a crisp a few frames ago??”

And we end with a blue sky, which is both the most beautifully animated frame as well as the most Digimon Adventure-like scene in the entire episode -____-

So, like I said, I was all prepared for this to be the inauspicious ending, despite what I’d heard about the number of episodes. But nope, there’s more. Although I’m frustrated beyond belief, I’m somewhat relieved because this does mean there’s still potential to recover somewhat from this utter train wreck of a battle. The big problem is that Millenniumon is a TERRIBLE villain.

The other problem is that the show HASN’T been terrible the whole time. It’s been up and down a lot, but the ups were very much there, and they gave us some stuff I found pretty interesting. Like, I really wanted to know more about what the heck went down between Taichi and DoneDevimon - the fact that only Yamato has any idea about it (Takeru too but he’s a baby) hasn’t been addressed. Then there’s the connections between Devimon and Angemon, SkullKnightmon and Tailmon. Those have been addressed, technically, but they left sooo much room for more.

Then there’s things like the kids’ family situations - my guess is we’ll end up back in the human world at some point quite soon - which were hinted at back when most of the team was exiled to the human world. Really want to see that expanded on.

Mosty of all, what gave me any positive vibes about this reboot at all was the first three episodes, which were pretty good overall - did a lot of things different but still preserved what I felt was most important. We saw Koushirou coming into his own, Yamato being standoffish and slowly opening up, and Taichi being the glue that keeps things together. Those first three episodes are arguably better than the rest of the show combined. And I bet it’s no coincidence that they predate covid-19 (sort of - I mean, covid was already a thing and around, Japan just hadn’t started caring much about it yet).

Episode 4 is when we started hitting misteps, and that’s also when the show went on brief hiatus due to covid. It never got back what made those first three episodes so promising, even during the highs.

I’ll make a list of the things I liked sometime, but I suppose the main points are the ones I mentioned above, plus the arc with Ogremon, and the kids getting new evolutions not seen in 99 Adventure (well, by “kids” I mostly mean Taichi tho - but I thought it meant everyone would get them. Technically, Takeru just did.)

So yeah. I’m  so done with this show and the things is, I just love Digimon Adventure so much, it meant so much to me as a kid. I didn’t expect the same show. I think my expectations were set at a reasonable level, though I knew I had to be cautious about comparing the now and the before too much. This show just hasn’t been able to live up to 99 Adventure, but that’s not even my issue - it’s that it doesn’t live up to other current children’s cartoons either. It’s got no heart. Just think about that, Digimon has got no heart. It’s literally all about the connection between kids and their partners, kids and their friends, kids and their families, and it has no heart! That is failure. It says to me that something got confused in production - there wasn’t enough money, or there was too much staff turnover thanks to covid, etc, and people just lost sight of the story they were planning to tell.

That’s what I think happened. It can’t be fixed at this point, but I’ll still watch till the end and hope for the best. At least maybe I’ll get more Taichi pics to spam.

I probably need to rewatch 99 Adventure soon to get my soul back.

Next week, apparently the Crests will finally matter. My hope is that this whole debacle with Millenniumon is gonna turn out to have been a cover for something much bigger and less boring going on. Millenniumon didn’t even get a villain monologue. He reminded me of the way Mugendramon had been somewhat, more like a puppet than his own person. Makes me wonder if the Vademon were up to more than simply resurrecting a vanquished evil. Here’s hoping.

[heretherebedork]

Hiya there! The scenario with the realization of their feelings was just.. soft.. and warm. Not going to lie, it kind of makes me sad, but in a good way. Shows rarely ever have those type of intimate scenes that are quiet like that.

Premise: Everyday life setting (house settings, school settings, etc.) + dream settings with a ML who keeps having strange dreams of a man. ML tries to tell other people but no one listens, so he talks to this dream guy and they can do whatever they want in these dreams.

That's one thing a lot of the Korean BLs do well, I cannot deny. There's a lot more small, soft, quiet moments than we see in some of the others. Still not quite everything, but good. I mean, Oxygen and Tossara are some of my favorites and I love them so much because they're soft and slow and gentle and filled with love and respect.

Anyway!

ML is the most typical guy you've ever met. He's kind of boring, has a small group of friends, studies engineering and mostly just goes about his life without much change from anything. He's very, very average and he's happy with that. He's never wanted to stand out. Think an anime opening except you pass over all the people with bright hair and interesting earrings and painted nails and end up on a guy with plain hair, a plain uniform and a blank expression on his face.

But he dreams brilliantly. All his life ML has had bright and vivid dreams about anything and everything. They're fantastic and he loves sleeping. He's never had a boring dream in his life. But he learned early on not to talk about them.

And all his life he's dreamt of another person. At first he was a kid like him and they ran around in this vivid fantasy world together and everyone laughed about his stories and his imaginary friend. But the older he got without anything changing, the less patient everyone got.

Then the dreams stopped. Not the dreams, they were still vivid. But his friends vanished from the dreams and ML found himself wandering around alone. It was lonely at first but he grew used to it and assumed that he'd just imagined the friend, like everyone had told him, and that he'd finally outgrown that.

So, here he is. ML, boring but with vivid dreams, walks into his second year at the university, dressed casually but in uniform and sees a familiar face in the crowd. Only... only it's not familiar in a way he can place. The sense of deja vu keeps happening.

When he goes to sleep, when he opens his eyes to his vivid dream world... he's not alone.

For the first time in nearly a decade, he's not alone.

There's another young man, the same age as him, sitting in front of him and just staring. Dream is of the anime protagonists we saw earlier, well, styled like one. He has brilliant blue hair, multiple earrings and he's grinning ear to ear.

ML flips out a little bit. But Dream just keeps repeating ML's name excitedly and trying to talk about missing him and how sorry he was that he vanished and finally ML calms down enough to listen.

Dream's family, it turned out, had moved to the United States for several years due to his father's work. And it meant that Dream and ML had no longer shared sleeping hours. But Dream was finally back in Thailand and so, so excited. He'd been worried that the dreams wouldn't be shared again. But he'd never forgotten ML.

So their nightly adventures return. Dream shows ML all the experimenting he's done in the dream world, all the ways he figured out to change things in his search for ML, things that ML never really tried because he was too worried, too nervous, too shy to take those extreme steps.

It's fine, though. They resume their friendship almost as if it had never paused. And ML starts to realize exactly how... boring... he is. Dream's been traveling the world, both IRL and in the dream, seeing all kinds of things and experimenting and ML has just been in the same place, in the same home, in the same everything.

Dream's enthusiasm is hard for ML. He's not jealous, honestly. He's just worried that he's not good enough. He's never met anyone like Dream and soon he's spending most of his waking hours worrying about what he'll say in the dream to Dream. School's getting harder, everything's harder, and when ML finds himself doodling Dream on his workbooks and he realizes that he's in love.

But how can he be in love? How can he even imagine living up to the fascinating person that Dream is and that he isnt?

Now, all through this, in the university scenes, he keeps getting deja vu around this one student who looks and acts almost as boring as he does. ML has no idea how to handle this immense familiarity, especially when his classmate seems oblivious to his existence. ML is struggling both in the university and in his dreams and his friends are worried.

One night, it comes to a head. ML can't handle it and he ends up in a huge fight with Dream about nothing. Literally just... nothing. ML's upset and feels like he can't be good enough and so he fights about everything because he has no idea how to express that feeling. And Dream leaves the dream, he leaves in tears and ML's regret cannot be measured.

Several nights of dreaming without Dream send ML spiraling... and he hasn't seen Deja Vu around either, not that he's ever spoken to the other student. But ML suddenly feels alone and isolated and like he's never felt before...

Finally, he goes to take a nap in the middle of the afternoon, nothing better to do... and sees Dream there. It has to be Dream. But it looks like Deja Vu there in his dream world, just another boring university student ant not the anime protagonist he'd grown used to seeing.

He calls out to him, rushing over to apologize and Deja Vu tries to stay away from him. He's obviously been crying and he keeps trying to hide himself from ML.

ML apologizes again and again until Deja Vu... until Dream looks at him and finally lets himself be pulled into a hug. And they talk. Well, ML talks. And Dream asks questions that ML forces himself to answer, no matter how painful.

Dream goes from crying to laughing very quickly. Because the idea that ML thinks he's boring, thinks he's not worth Dream's time, is just funny. Dream spent the past near-decade searching desperately for ML anywhere in the dreamverse. Finding him again was the best thing that ever happened.

And ML listens, finally. He listens to Dream and he believes him. He believes, he realizes, that he doesn't need to be everything, to be the most interesting person or the best to deserve to be more than just average, to not be overlooked.

Then comes Deja Vu. Who Dream suddenly looks like. And the full realization hits ML when Dream starts to blush...

Less than hour later they're standing together in a parking lot, eye to eye for the first time in the real world, two average looking young men, two average students, sharing something so beyond average there's nothing that can stop their kiss.