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takerfoxx · 5 years ago

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Coming to Terms with Homura Akemi, My (Formerly) Least Favorite PMMM Character

Or, How I Learned to Stop Whinging and Love the Emo Meguca!

I have a…complicated history with my favorite anime’s main character (and yes, Homura is the main character. Madoka might be the title character and the show’s POV protagonist, but like most things in this series, that was a clever ruse, and it’s really more about Homura’s journey than Madoka’s). The first time I watched the show, I walked away feeling kind of ambivalent toward her, even mildly hostile. And that’s weird, right? I mean, just look at her! Look how her character arc plays out! She was practically grown in a lab to be my favorite! And you know what? In pretty much any other series she would have been my favorite, no doubt. She would have been a first pick Fav of the Day, the starring character in whatever fanfic I wrote about it, etc. But since the show she premiered in is anything but traditional, the way I eventually came to love each character turned out to be a little…unorthodox.

Now, I’ve gone over most of this before, so sing along if you know the words. My first time watching Puella Magi Madoka Magica went a little something like this:

Episode 1: Blue funny, Pink cute, Yellow badass, Purple mysterious.

Episode 2: Blue favorite, Pink alright, Yellow probably evil, Purple mysterious.

Episode 3: Yellow’s not evil after all, and now is the dead. My bad.

Episode 4: Pink getting all fucked up, SOMEONE SAVE BLUE!

Episode 5: Hate Red for attacking Blue. Kick her ass, Purple!

Episode 6: Still hate Red.

Episode 7: FUCK YOU, BUNNYCAT! Red’s not so bad after all. But someone save Blue!

Episode 8: Aw, hell no, Purple! You don’t threaten Blue like that! You go, Red! You’re pretty cool after…oh shit. BLUE, NO!

Episode 9: GO RED! GO PINK! SAVE BLUE! YOU CAN DO IT, I BELIEVE IN…no.

Episode 10-12: Stuff is still happening with the plot, but I no longer care. My heart has been shattered, all light has gone from the world. My babies are gone. If only they had more time together, if only there was someplace they could reunite, really get to know one another, and go on adventures together…huh.

So yeah, that’s the story of how I fully got on board the KyoSaya train. Obviously, writing Resonance Days only solidified that, and coming across A Happy Dream by angel0wonder, AKA the potato lady AKA @smxmuffinpeddling (wazzup?!?!), pretty much cemented it as my top reigning OTP.

Now, obviously I got invested in the whole story as time went by. Subsequent rewatchings of the show, mainly through convincing people to watch it blind so I can laugh at them when they get to certain scenes (don’t hate, y’all did it too!) and taking part in online discussions really got me into the show as a whole instead of just being confined in my little KyoSaya bubble. But coming to love the other characters for their own merits took some time.

Mami was next. I’ll be honest, I just didn’t care all that much for her during my first watching, mainly due to believing that she would turn out to be evil for the first couple of episodes (I blame Disney and their recent trend of turning almost every kindly mentor/confidante figure into the bad guy lately), and me being more surprised that I was wrong when she died instead of being shocked that she was killed. Again, had nothing against her, that was just my reaction the first time around. However, she was included in Resonance Days because it felt like the logical thing to do, and she turned out to be so much fun to write for that I really came to love and care for her character in general, and her relationship with Charlotte ended up becoming one of my favorite parts of that story.

Madoka honestly took more time. I think the main reason I wasn’t all that invested in her is that she was pretty passive in the series proper while my attention was more on the more proactive side characters. And again, this wasn’t a bad thing! In fact, it was a clever bit of deliberate storytelling, as it’s revealed that she originally was a proactive main-character type, only to unintentionally get relegated to her observer role by the butterfly effect caused by Homura’s time loops. But anyway, the thing that made me turn the corner on Madoka actually also ended up being fanfiction, but not one of my own. Specifically, I came across a popular, yet also somewhat controversial, fic called Persephone’s Waltz (and wazzup, @erinptah!), in which Homura decides to just stop beating around the bush and lock Madoka up in a basement until Walpurgisnacht had passed. And as weird as it sounds, making Madoka a prisoner actually gave her more agency, as the fic really went into detail about the psychological effects of being a kidnapping victim, from the strange rituals to the escape attempts to coping strategies to Stockholm Syndrome to bouts of depression and so on and so forth, all the while never deviating from her core character. It really got me rooting for Madoka and, by extension, invested in her character in canon as well.

That just left Homura.

By then, I had gotten over being a little sore at her for trying to kill Sayaka that one time, and I was interested in where her actions would take the plot. I just wasn’t interested in her, per se, as I hadn’t had an icebreaker moment like I had with the other characters.

And then The Rebellion Story happened.

The Rebellion Story: PMMM’s End of Evangelion

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is often compared its nearly two decade-old predecessor, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and not without reason. Like Evangelion, it took a genre mainly known to be fun and kid-friendly (giant mechs for Evangelion and magical girls for PMMM) and turned it on its head, resulting in a brutal and twisted deconstruction that would end up altering the direction that genre would take for years to come. The key difference is that Evangelion’s brilliance was in many ways an accident, with the bizarre places it went being largely informed both by its troubled production and its showrunner’s personal demons staying bottled up through the early part of the show but letting them loose later on, whereas PMMM was meticulously constructed from top to bottom to become the hand-grenade to the genre that it would become. But in the end, the effects were the same. They even both had a follow-up movie that was not originally supposed to happen that ended up being highly divisive among fans due to the shots they took at the fandom that had sprung up around the original series, even if The Rebellion Story wasn’t nearly as spiteful as End of Evangelion was.

Now, I’ve already gone into at length about how PMMM brutally dissects and deconstructs the Magical Girl genre, and it did it so thoroughly that the genre itself was totally wrenched in a new direction, much like Evangelion did to the Giant Mecha genre. But after you’ve completely taken apart the genre in your first season, where exactly do you go? How do you continue when your work is seemingly done?

The answer: deconstruct yourself.

Much as Puella Magi Madoka Magica went after the Magical Girl genre, The Rebellion Story went after the fandom that had sprung up in the original show’s wake. The first third of the movie gives the fans what they claimed they wanted: a traditional Magical Girl reimagining of PMMM where everyone is alive and working together, everyone is mentally and emotionally healthy, the two fan-favorite ships are just a kiss away from being canon, Kyubey is now a cute and silent mascot that helps out instead constantly manipulating everyone around him, and even the most popular witch is back as a benevolent secondary mascot in a happy friendship with the character she had killed. We see Madoka and the Moemura version of Homura being adorable together, we see Kyoko and Sayaka goofing off, we see Mami cuddling with Charlotte with nary a head-chomp in sight, we see everyone being just being friends and protecting the city from weird but essentially non-threatening monsters. It is basically the summation of a hundred fanfics that had been posted between the end of the show and the release of the movie.

But this is still PMMM, and something is not quite right.

We all know what happens next. Homura starts subconsciously noticing that something is off, she gradually becomes Terminator Homura as she investigates the situation and regains her memories, and the perfect happy world is exposed for the farce that it is. Things collapse, and the truth is revealed: Homura had become a witch that had been trapped inside her own soul gem, those close to her had been lured in to complete the illusion, and of course it is all Kyubey’s fault. Because this is PMMM, and Homura doesn’t get to be happy.

But the movie doesn’t stop with that reveal. Once we learn the truth, it changes targets. It stops deconstructing the fans, and instead goes after something else.

It starts to deconstruct Homura Akemi, its own main character.

Despite her promise to continue fighting on in Madoka’s name to protect the slightly more kind world her beloved had created, Homura had found herself unable to cope without Madoka. Her mission had failed, and without that stabilizing force, despair had slowly crept in, corrupting her from within, to the point where (I believe at least) she had been fighting not to honor Madoka, but in hopes that she would fall in battle and be carried off by her goddess. She had been fighting not in hopes of building a better world, but as a way to seek release from her pain. She had been miserable in Madoka’s new world, even moreso than she had been during her time loops.

And because she had been foolish enough to tell the truth to Kyubey, the little rat had taken the opportunity to use her to set a trap. Madoka had been pulled out of Heaven right into the Incubators’ clutches, and it was all her fault.

Is it any wonder that she had been unwilling to accept Madoka’s salvation during the climatic battle? Is it any wonder that her own labyrinth had featured her own familiars dragging her away to her own execution? Homura hated herself. She hated what she had become, she hated what she had allowed to happen, she hated that she had failed so utterly and completely.

In fact, I’d say that this movie shows something about Homura that I don’t think a lot of people will appreciate me pointing out, and that is as much as Homura was single-mindedly devoted to Madoka, she never really came to know her. I mean, how could she? She only knew Madoka over the course of a few of a few infatuated weeks the first time around, which she then repeated over and over and over again, becoming increasingly traumatized over time. I don’t doubt that her devotion to Madoka is real, but The Rebellion Story does seem to suggest that after a while she was fixated on Madoka as an ideal rather than Madoka as an actual person, something to be protected and possessed rather than as a living, breathing person with her own autonomy.

Now, am I saying that Homura is a bad person and that anyone who felt inspired by her resilience and devotion is wrong? Of course not. Am I saying that anyone that ships MadoHomu is bad, promoting toxic relationships, etc.? Hell no! What I’m saying is that due to everything she’s been forced to endure and fight again, she is a very mentally unhealthy individual, one who is in desperate need of help. And if an actual relationship between her and Madoka is going to realistically work, well, first something drastic will have to happen to upset her new system and give Madoka her power back, but Homura is also going to need tons of therapy.

As I said before, Homura’s decision to rip Madoka out of the Law of Cycles and turn herself into Homucifer has been pretty controversial, with many people claiming that it betrayed her characterization. To those people, I would say that they never really knew the real Homura Akemi. The show set up an idealized version of Homura, and people had that ideal imprinted in their mind. And I can’t really blame them for that. The show ended on a big, optimistic moment with Homura making a big speech about how she was going to keep fighting in Madoka’s name. It’s all very stirring, and I can’t fault anyone who would feel betrayed by their Homura acting against that promise.

But as a sadistic bastard in another dark show that is now also very controversial once said, “If you think this story has a happy ending, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention.”

Homura Akemi Did Everything Wrong, and It’s Okay to Admit That

Even though The Rebellion Story got me interested in seeing where the whole Homucifer vs. Godoka thing would go, I still wasn’t all that invested in Homura as a person. I was entrenched too deep in my KyoSaya world, and everything outside of that was just so much plot. Most of my focus was on Resonance Days, which just didn’t involve her at all.

It took years, but three things finally cracked me out of that shell. The first was writing Walpurgis Nights, of course. Granted, Homulilly was more of a Moemura than Homucifer, but that story really made me dive deep into her innate insecurities, to explore her struggles with self-loathing and her reliance on Madoka for any kind of validation.

The second was watching through a few blind reactions to the series, seeing how other people reacted to her character and the things that they picked up that I had missed. One thing in particular stood out to me: during Homura and Madoka’s first meeting in episode ten, Homura is actually shocked when Madoka casually addresses her by her first name, as no one ever called her by her first name.

And the third might get me some hate, but it was through coming across this little video:

youtube

Now, like many things I’ve discussed in this post, this video has been pretty polarizing, with some people outright hating it and labeling it as slanderous character bashing. The clickbaity title certainly doesn’t help, and I can’t say I agree with all of its points. But the video really isn’t the character-bashing piece that it might seem like. Rather, it’s as much a deconstruction of a character that has been heavily idealized by the fandom, pointing out the many mistakes and, while it certainly was not her fault, how she was driven more by a personal need for validation rather than selfless love.

That’s when it all clicked for me, all the little pieces coming together.

Despite how badass she appears to be, despite how unwavering her adoration for Madoka is, Homura Akemi is someone who was broken from the beginning, who was re-broken again and again, who never seemed to make the right choice, who was never allowed to have what she wanted, who was never allowed to win, until she finally snapped and ripped apart the carefully-laid plans and systems that seemed to be set against her.

Homura Akemi did everything wrong, and that is fascinating!

Consider: when we first meet her, she is a young girl who has known nothing but neglect, who has been shuffled around by an uncaring system her entire life, who is physically weak due to a heart condition, who is terrified by any kind of attention and is genuinely perturbed just by being called by her first name.

Of all the tragic backstories in the series, hers is easily the worst. Mami and Kyoko’s characterizations are both defined by having a single horrific event in their respective pasts that took everything away from them, events that shattered their worlds and which they blamed themselves for. But at the very least they had something before the cruel hand of fate reached into their lives. Homura never had anything! Her family is so completely out of the picture to not even warrant a mention! Her heart condition leaves her constantly balanced on the precipice of death and frequently leaves her weak and in pain. She’s never had a real friend, never had anyone close, never had anything that made her feel good about being herself. So when the Arch of Victory witch ensnares her with suicidal thoughts, it doesn’t really have to try very hard.

And then Madoka came into her life. A cheerful, outgoing girl who showed her kindness, one who called her by her name and said that it was pretty. Someone who came to her during the scariest moment in Homura’s life like a guardian angel and saved her. Someone who was everything Homura had ever wanted: kind, humble, encouraging, non-judgmental, loving, powerful, protecting, and the list goes on.

Is there any wonder that Homura became infatuated with her? Not one bit.

But then something terrible happened. Madoka and Mami were faced with the horror of Walpurgisnacht, and it killed them. Finally Homura had someone in her life that made her feel good about being herself, and that person was stolen from her. She had to watch Madoka fail. She had to watch Madoka die. And she just stood by and did nothing.

And it is then that Homura made her first mistake. Kyubey being the opportunistic manipulator that he is, he took advantage of her vulnerable state in order to add another soul to his quota. And of course Homura accepted; who could blame her?

But consider this: Homura could have wished for Madoka to be resurrected. Walpurgisnacht had been defeated; it was no longer a threat! Then the two of them (or three, had Mami been brought back as well) would have been together, fighting side-by-side! I mean, it would have eventually ended in tears anyway, but Homura had no way of knowing that. As far as she knew, she was in a traditional magical girl story that just so happened to have a bad end, one that she could have fixed.

Instead, she wished to be sent back in time to redo her first meeting with Madoka, only this time as a Puella Magi. That way, she could help Madoka and Mami prepare for Walpurgisnacht! She could protect Madoka!

It wasn’t enough just to have her dearest (and only) friend back in her life. Homura wanted to switch the roles. She wanted to protect Madoka like Madoka had protected her. She wanted a reason to keep existing, a mission, a way to prove her worthiness, because she still hated herself and needed something to validate her existence.

But it wasn’t that kind of show. She didn’t have all the information. How could she have known that Kyubey was being deceptive? How could she have known of the truth about witches? How could she have known that her time-looping would make Walpurgisnacht stronger? How could she have known that each loop would alter the timestream, entangling both Sayaka and Kyoko in its web?

Still, she kept trying. She made herself stronger and stronger in hopes that she would be able to stop Walpurgisnacht in time. She tried to warn everyone about Kyubey and the witches only to be disbelieved. She watched the others die around her again and again. She watched Madoka either die or succumb to despair and become a witch herself.

And then it happened.

That all-important timeline, where everything in her changed.

The one where she and Madoka finally successfully defeated Walpurgisnacht, but lost everything else. The one where they laid side-by-side in the ruins and the rain, as their cracked soul gems grew darker and the darker. The one where Homura resigned herself to becoming a witch.

The one where Madoka sacrificed her final grief seed, Sayaka’s grief seed, in order to save Homura. The one where she made Homura promise to go back and prevent her from making a contract in the first place. And the one where Madoka died again, not in battle against a witch, but by Homura’s own hand.

Something inside Homura broke that day, something that was never repaired and never will be. It was then that Homura shed the last remnants of the frightened, insecure girl she had been and became the Terminator-esque warrior that we were first introduced to. Her missions was clear then: stop Madoka from making a contract and defeat Walpurgisnacht by any means necessary. Nothing else mattered.

But despite all her resets, despite all her preparations, despite (supposedly) finally having all the information, Homura still kept failing! No matter what she did, Madoka always made a contract and became Kriemhild Gretchen. And Walpurgisnacht just seemed to be getting stronger.

Finally, in the timeline that encompasses the show proper, Homura learned the reason why. She was doomed from the start. Her own resetting of time was only building Madoka’s karmic destiny, increasing the power of both Walpurgisnacht and Kriemhild Gretchen. The more she went back, the more the universe itself stacked the deck against her, and now it was all but impossible. And what was worse, she had done it to herself.

Just look at her in that second to last episode, when she’s lying there bloodied and broken, when she’s about to go back yet again but stops herself. Just look at her face as her soul gem darkens as literal years of despair seep out of the defenses she had built up around herself. She knew that it was hopeless, she knew that both she and Madoka were doomed, she knew that she was seconds from finally becoming a witch after all of her efforts were for naught, and it terrified her.

But then, just as all seemed lost, Madoka herself appeared to save her, but did so through the last thing Homura wanted her to do. She took all of that karmic destiny Homura had burdened her with and made a witch that shook the very foundations of reality. Witches were removed from the equation, and Puella Magi who had succumbed to despair were simply allowed to pass peacefully instead of becoming monsters. The contract system and the advancements wasn’t removed, and the girls’ wishes weren’t negated. But the cruelest aspect of it was.

And all it cost was Madoka’s existence.

Yes, Homura was saved. Yes, Madoka was spared of dying or turning into Kriemhild Gretchen. But the person that Homura had devoted her entire existence to protecting was gone, and by her own hand. Only Homura herself was left to remember her.

Can you imagine how that must have felt, to be forced to soldier on while bearing the weight of that knowledge, to know that you had ultimately failed in your mission and had to go on without the only person that had ever meant anything to you? Sure, there was that whole “always be with you in spirit” thing, but that is a poor comfort to someone like Homura. Yes, the show ends on an optimistic note, with Homura promising to fight on in Madoka’s name, but it’s often been said that the only thing that give a story a happy ending is where you end it. And while I’m sure that many fans would have loved to believe that Homura had done just that, had fought the Wraiths to the bitter end until she was welcomed into Madoka’s arms, the sad fact of the matter is that reality is rarely ever so simple.

In The Rebellion Story we learn how true that is. Without her mission, Homura was unable to keep herself together, and despair did finally overtake her. But instead of peacefully disappearing and being taken by her love, she had made the fatal mistake of confessing to Kyubey of all people the truth about the way things were.

Now, why would she do that? Why tell Kyubey about the witches and how Madoka had changed things? Did she not suspect that he might do something with that knowledge?

Personally, I think she did. Maybe not consciously, but I feel that deep down inside, she hated what the world had become, not because the Law of Cycles had removed a significant portion of the pain, but because Madoka had to erase herself in order to create it. Yes, deleting witches was a net positive, but it wasn’t the positive Homura had been fighting to achieve. Madoka had made her promise to keep her from making a wish, and Homura had to execute her right after. So I do think that she told Kyubey the truth because part of her was kind of hoping he would intervene somehow and bring Madoka back.

And he did, and he did so though screwing Homura over. Again.

Within the labyrinth contained within her own soul gem, Homura build the world she had always wanted to exist. The endless loops had been washed away, and she and Madoka were fighting together in a joyful magical girl show. She worked so hard to build a place that would make her happy, but in the end she had been unable to accept even her own gift, in part because she subconsciously knew that something was off, but also because she had conditioned to be suspicious anything that seems like it would be working in her favor.

Learning the truth broke Homura yet again. She had done this. She had been the one to admit the truth to Kyubey, and he had used that knowledge to ensnare Madoka once more. Her love was again trapped by Incubators, and it was all her fault. Is there any wonder that while everyone was fighting to rescue her from herself, she was screaming for them to stop while her own familiars executed her over and over again?

Homura’s decision to rip Madoka out of the Law of Cycles and again rewrite reality is a controversial one, and I get that. But when you put aside the cool, determined badass that she presents herself as and look at the whole of her journey then it only makes sense. She was sick of it all. Sick of being manipulated by the Incubators and their contracts, sick of having her desires denied by the Law of Cycles, sick of being held back by her own inadequacies. She was sick of losing, and that was going to end.

The movie is called The Rebellion Story, and that title couldn’t have been more accurate. Because at the end, Homura rebelled against everything: against the Incubators, against Madoka, against herself, against a world that seemed set against her from the beginning. She forcibly seized control, dominating Kyubey and his ilk, ripping Madoka from the Law of Cycles and reprogramming her to be sweet and docile, and even erasing Madoka and Sayaka’s friendship so that Sayaka wouldn’t interfere. In the end, she finally won.

And she still hated herself. Even after overcoming everything and embracing her status as the world’s new Devil, we see her own familiars throwing trash at her.

And that is the Homura I came to love. The icy, mysterious warrior that she was presented as just didn’t do anything for me. But the broken girl who seemed to have the entire world set against her, that had what little happiness she had stolen from her time and time again, that made mistake after mistake as she tried to fight against the unfairness of everything and constantly made things worse, that finally said “Fuck it” and forced the world to bend under her will but still wasn’t happy at the end it all? Well, just look at the stories I’ve written, the kinds of stories I gush about. That is a story I can sink my teeth into. That is a character worth investing in, because she is just so damned fascinating!

Now, I’m not going to say that she’s my favorite character now, but her story is the one I’m the most interested in. And when we finally get that long-awaited follow-up, I’m definitely going to be swooning over any and all KyoSaya interactions and watching what happens to Mami and Madoka with rapt attention, but the bulk of my investment will be in Homura’s story, because in a very strange way, her story feels the most human.

Now I just wonder how many people I’ve managed to piss off.

#puella magi madoka magica #pmmm #homura akemi #Madoka Kaname #sayaka miki #kyoko sakura #mami tomoe #the rebellion story #essay #character analysis #don't kill me please i really do think she's an awesome character

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merryfortune · 5 years ago

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Day 9 / Genuine

Ship: not applicable | Kiku/Miyu

Universe: Vrains

Word Count: 739

Rating: G

Tags: Canon Compliant, Long Distance Relationship, Unrequited Pining

Miyu read the pleasantries over again and inside of those beautifully scripted characters, she wondered what the meaning between the words were. Was she projecting? Pining? Or was it something else entirely as she wished so dearly to answer truthfully.

As part of the literature curricular for her class, every student in the room had been paired with another student miles and miles away, out in the country; far away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Therefore, so different that they may have been from different countries as most the brats in the school had never been taken so far inland and to the rural. Not to mention, the two schools were so different demographically; one stratified far above the other, as the way of private versus public. It was supposed to be a tame cultural exchange but nothing could ever be tame with Miyu.

She was a hopeless romantic to put it politely.

At the first sign of niceness, she was prone to fall head over feels. Girls, guys, it didn’t matter to her; only the smile on their face or the loveliness of their voice and this girl from the countryside, she sounded and seemed like the loveliest of all.

Her name was Kamishirakawa Kiku. She was best friends with a Homura Takeru person; he was assigned to Miyu’s friend Kasumi but Kasumi had received a grand total of one letter from him, where Miyu had been in a rally of five each with Kiku so far, and it was the bare minimum requirement and barely lucid. Kiku had apologised profusely about this in her letters to Miyu; she loved her friend deeply, he was a good boy, just a little distracted. Miyu wasn’t buying it but through that, Miyu could ascertain that Kiku was a very kind and caring person.

The way she wrote was beautiful. She was poetic in her turn of phrase without meaning too. Ergo, she was candid rather than pretentious. She asked genuine and sincere questions about Miyu and her life whilst revealing tender moments from her own. She wanted an earnest connection between them despite the distance. Miyu wanted that too. Very much so but she was scared.

Up until now, Kiku had asked questions which were general. What was the weather like? What subjects did Miyu excel at? What did she struggle with academically; can she lend study tips? It was all adorably helpful and Miyu cherished the sweetness of it all but now they had moved to pop culture; as innocuous as it all.

Does Miyu-san enjoy music, movies, or novels? I like books, somewhat and play karuta. I don’t like very many card games; I especially don’t like Duel Monsters very much…

Miyu wanted to laugh. Duel Monsters was her life blood, whether she liked it or not given her history with the game. Whenever she needed a thrill, she would put a rare recording of a Playmaker match on and she chased all the Charisma Duellists gossip as well; she loved Blue Angel the most.

But it was all so bitter. Miyu didn’t want to show Kiku that side of herself. She didn’t even show it to anyone; not her friends, not her parents, not even her therapist. So she was very much not going to clue the lovely Kamishirakawa Kiku that she was actually a rather blood thirsty duellist. She had to be, to survive above the loneliness and electrocution, and starvation she had been put through as a child. All whilst crusading for her best friend and their mutual saviour, the Blue Angel from that splendid storybook tha Aoi adored.

So, as to not ruin the illusion of being a normal and palatable young woman, Miyu swallowed all her pining and decided that it was in her head. She wouldn’t make it Kiku’s problem, even though Miyu knew she would be up later, at one am, yearning for a face to face conversation with this polite pen pal of hers, venting all the problems that she had.

And, in the meantime, whilst the teacher gave them time in class to reply to their dear friends, Miyu would write - allude to - her favourite storybook character without coming on too strong lest her troubles bled into the ink and was strewn onto paper. It was unfair. Miyu really did think that she like liked this girl; she wanted to be vulnerable but she really shouldn’t.

#writing tag #yugioh vrains #vrains #yugioh #kamishirakawa kiku #kiku kamishirakawa #sugisaki miyu #miyu sugisaki #kiku x miyu #miyu x kiku #femslash february #clover and violets #clover and violets 2020

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365daysofsasuhina · 5 years ago

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[ @sasuhinamonth || SasuHina Month 2019 || Day Three: Post-War ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

There’s been chaos in the aftermath.

For Sasuke’s actions as a missing nin, and after the final battle with Kaguya, he was placed under a temporary arrest while the village debated what to do with him. He’d aided Konoha’s enemies...but also saved their world. He’s a criminal under village law...but there’s also only one person strong enough to actually enforce said laws upon him.

In the end...he’s released. And for a time, he leaves entirely. He has too much to think about. In regards to himself, his actions, his wants, his bonds...and he can’t think with everyone and everything so close, so stifling.

...and then he gets a troubling note from Sakura. One demanding he return immediately, that something requires his attention...but she doesn’t elaborate what.

That what, as it turns out...is a revived brother.

And suddenly, several new cans of worms are opened. The council knows the truth. His team knows the truth. But everyone else…? The rest of the world knows Uchiha Itachi as a mass murderer and traitor. How to go about clearing his name…

Lucky for them, however...his reviver and sweetheart has connections: namely to the Hyūga clan. Having been one of the medics that saved Hinata’s life not once, but twice...and used Neji’s revival as a test before Itachi’s, they owe her quite a debt.

So, they hatch a plot: entrust the truth to the Hyūga, and have them set an example for the other clans as the Uchiha confront the council about the truth behind the massacre. If the Hyūga remain calm and collected, surely the other clans will follow suit. Hiruzen’s administration sanctioned clan genocide...any clan head worth their salt would immediately call into question the chance of it happening again: of any dissent being met with another wiping of a bloodline.

But neither Tsunade nor Kakashi are Hiruzen. And the Rokudaime is keen to clear out the clutter as it is. So, with the Hyūga on board and Sasuke’s classmates made privy to help keep their own clans calm...they demand public admission of the council’s crimes against the Uchiha. And the declaration of Itachi’s innocence as not the brains behind the massacre...but simply the tool wielded by a corrupt council.

It all goes off as planned. Koharu and Homura are stripped of all their power, ousted from office, and Itachi is formally pardoned by Kakashi during his Hokage inaugural address.

...but not everyone is so ready to forgive.

With their role in the whole affair, the Hyūga then make an...interesting proposition. To declare themselves allies to the Uchiha. Hanabi, as advised by her clan, extends the invitation, offering protection of numbers to the tiny remnants of the once-mighty Uchiha...hoping that it might stave off naysayers from acting against them.

Sasuke, ever prideful, insists he’s powerful enough to protect them as Itachi recovers, and his niece and nephew are young and vulnerable. But his brother gently counsels that, overall, it’s a wise move. It will tie them politically, and may result in some...crossed wires, but in the end, they need the bolstering such an arrangement would give.

...so, he begrudgingly agrees.

Suddenly, after a lifetime of never saying a word to her, Sasuke finds himself running into Hinata at a growing rate. With the alliance in place, her friendship with Itachi’s wife, and the pair of them becoming third and fourth wheels to a newly-paired Naruto and Sakura...a post-war Konoha shoe horns Sasuke into a friendship he never intended, nor imagined.

...and yet...the more he gets to know her...the more he realizes what he’s been missing.

Hinata is one of the few of his classmates he left without any true opinion on. Unlike his team, and others who dogged him, he had no reason to harbor any distaste with her. A clean slate, then, gives her an edge as he tries (at his family’s behest) to ease back into life in the village. Her quiet, unobtrusive nature fits perfectly with his. She doesn’t feel the need to fill every silence with blabber. She doesn’t intrude upon his person. She just...spends time with him, making conversation only politely, and openly. There’s no digging into his past, there’s no speculating about his behavior. While the others walk on eggshells as though he might revert any moment, she just...treats him normally. No prejudice, no expectations. Just...simple acceptance.

He comes to appreciate that more than he first realizes.

They become fast friends, meshing almost spookily well. As Hinata recovers from a broken heart, Sasuke is the perfect distraction. He doesn’t pander to her, doesn’t rub the matter in her face. He just helps her move forward. Soon enough, they subconsciously seek each other’s company.

And one more thing they share is a feeling of being...idle. Hinata, with their changing world and her changing clan, feels...purposeless. No longer heiress, questioning a shinobi’s role...she longs for something to do that’s useful, beneficial. Sasuke, too, finds no reward in missions, nor a call to politics like his brother with the clans, or his role in ANBU.

...then he gets an idea. Revive the police force. Employ any willing Hyūga. Let their clans be the eyes that watch and tend to the village from within, as Itachi’s ANBU do beyond the wall.

At his proposal, Hinata volunteers to help...and then to join.

Soon the force is back on its feet, and the eyes and hands of her clan make perfect officers: seeing all, and quickly stopping anyone who tries to run. With Sasuke at their helm, they begin to clean up the village from within. Hinata becomes his partner, working fluidly.

...as if natural, given all else they so simply adapt to...the pair soon find themselves falling neatly into love. Something neither ever imagined before, but...war changes you. And when circumstances line up just right...miracles can happen.

...but there’s trouble waiting in the shadows.

.oOo.

Day three! I actually have a MASSIVE AU for post-war Naruto that branches off after 699, and this is a very vague summary of it! A lot changes from canon, including the 'main' ships: we have, instead, NaruSaku...and Sasuhina. In ALAS, the story is focused far more on the Uchiha and their struggles against an unknown enemy that seeks to wipe them out once and for all...! This was all built through RP a looong time ago, way before the manga even ended. I later took those disjointed scraps and polished them up into a huge AU I tried writing at one point. I got about 300k words in before I lost mojo, and...it's sat idle ever since. Sadly I don't know if I'll ever have time / mojo to redo it (as it's...old and very unpolished lol), but it's still fun to write little fics about and to RP! Anyway, that's it for today! Thanks for reading~

#sasuhina #sasuhinamonth #sasuhinamonth2019 #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #a light amongst shadows [ canon verse ]

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lucifinalunalaurel · 6 years ago

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Madoka AU idea

Fandom: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Slash: Madoka/Homura Theme: Non-magic/School Bully/Redemption/Homura is stoic by default Consider the following:

Even before middle school, Madoka always had a bully problem. Her childhood friend Sayaka could only do so much to get back at the girls who were insulting and pranking her, but it never really stopped. Then, in her first year of middle school, a well-known bully from another district has transferred in: Homura.

Homura quickly becomes an idol among the gyaru and popular kids alike. She’s a hardass with an attitude problem, very independent and doesn’t take shit from anyone. She takes what she wants, when she wants, and gets suspended/scolded for rule-breaking regularly. It’s expected, of course. The staff know she’s had a troubled childhood as an orphan with a lot of bad influences. Although she’s always causing trouble, it never seems to make her happy. Even when she hangs out with her self-proclaimed “friends”, she never smiles and barely acknowledges them. Everyone who gets close, she pounds them down with insults. Anyone who makes her mad, she either just directly beats up or pulls particularly vindictive pranks on.

However, the only people Homura never personally attacks is Madoka and her two friends. Sure, the others still do their thing, but Homura merely stays silent and turns a blind eye. Madoka could never tell why she made such an odd exception. Does she pity the weak, or maybe something deeper than that?

Sayaka hates her. She extends that hatred from the others, and says that Homura is just as bad for letting it continue even though she could stop it. She confronts Homura on multiple occasions, but always gets dismissed. Madoka tries to approach her, but never gets through thanks to the constantly following entourage. Sometimes, she catches that strange, stone-cold girl staring at her for no real reason and can’t help but feel vulnerable.

But one day, Homura’s inner circle gets her in on a scheme to pull a prank on Madoka: A fake love confession. A simple plan, just corner her and then confess, but then take it back and mock her for being a useless, unlovable “slut”. They can’t tell, but their plan personally offends Homura. So when the day comes that they put their plan to action, she does the confession and takes it completely seriously. In an effort to salvage their prank and personal image of Homura, they hop out and start insulting her, only for homura to scold them in her voice so cold that it could give you hypothermia. She then pulls Madoka in and kisses her far too deep to be just a “friendly kiss”, and right in front of all of those other girls.

Needless to say, Homura’s cold defiance of them and display of actual affection for Madoka makes the bullying suddenly disappear, as if by magic. The others fear any recompense from her. As Homura reveals, she had actually been attracted to Madoka from the start. She had been crushing on her since transferring in and wanted to express it, but didn’t have the opportunity to do so without damaging her reputation. She also just had plain-old cold feet. Sayaka is surprised by all of this, but still not pleased by how long it took. Homura and Madoka end up being secret girlfriends after the latter reconciles with Hitomi and herself about a same-sex relationship --- with the school’s top bully nonetheless.

Over the course of the next few months, Homura meets Madoka’s parents who aren’t thrilled about her, but accept her based on Madoka’s trust. Homura never had a family or any really stable, good relationships, so the change in that regards is so jarring for her that she goes through a rapid personality change and becomes more openly happy with everyone. Eventually, their relationship is outed at school after a failed PDA incident, and the entire social structure of the school is disrupted.

Then until their second year of middle school, Homura becomes overly generous with Madoka to the point of being low-key clingy and spoiling her to no end. Madoka doesn’t know where she gets all of the money, but the barrage of gifts makes her forget about that. That is, until a video of her surfaces online which reveals that she’s been whoring herself out for those huge stacks, and one of her customers was not very respectful of the rules. Even the bullies at school know not to touch that topic with a 10-foot pole and can only express both concern and disgust at her, and her popularity tanks. School staff, therapists, and all manner of people get involved, but none more important than Madoka who sees the video and feels utterly cheated. She confronts Homura, and the two fight so badly that they temporarily break up.

Temporarily because, after a long and difficult period of depression, Homura works up the strength to grovel at the Kanames’ door and beg Madoka for forgiveness. Of course Madoka forgives her, on the condition that she not do that ever again, even if it means not getting a deluge of gifts (which she gave most of away out of sheer discomfort).

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing she was doing. Over the course of their remaining middle school and high school years, Madoka would come to learn of all the very illegal things that Homura had been doing, ignorant of why they’re wrong. It takes a lot of educating, but she eventually shapes Homura into a much more functional and not-criminal person. She learns that behind all of the stoicism and brutality, Homura is as emotionally vulnerable and stunted as a little girl. Despite how childish her soft side ends up being, Madoka still sticks with her, and the two end up marrying somewhere down the line.

And in that future, they often get visits from the people who used to be those middle school bullies, who saw everything Homura had done and gone through and decided to turn their life around. They all come to thank the couple for their inspiration, and end up staying for dinner most of the time.

Of course, Madoka’s parents were never fully supportive of her being with a delinquent, but ended up relenting when they saw how good of an influence she was. Sayaka was much the same way and never really came around until high school when she found her own delinquent sweetheart and one of Homura’s old partners from before she transferred. Hitomi had to come to terms with her two best friends being lesbians, but still ended up being Kyosuke’s light on the dark horizon.

And they all lived happily ever after. The end.

And yeah, go ahead and use this AU in your own fic if you want. I got other things to write.

#pmmm #madohomu #homumado #homura akemi #Madoka Kaname #Sayaka Miki #Hitomi #au #fanfiction

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saccharinedanganimagines · 6 years ago

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY PURPLE GREMLIN!!! What would the other V3 characters give him for his birthday? ^_^

These choices will be based on what Kokichi and the respective characters are interested in.

The ‘Kokichi Ouma’s Theory of Happiness’ song randomly played when i was writing this. Now I’m so S a D.

~ Mod Ouma

Gifts the V3 Cast would give Kokichi for his Birthday!

Kaede Akamatsu

A custom ordered keyboard set with the theme of Kokichi’s DICE uniform.

She hopes he plays a few songs with this keyboard and make people smile too.

She also gives him a really thick binder filled with ‘beginner songs’ like the Flight of The Bumblebee for him to practice on his own.

“I’m sure you’ll be able top make a lot of people smile in no time, Kokichi!”

Shuichi Saihara

Shuichi tried his best to come up with a gift based on what he knew of the Supreme Leader. He wants to get a gift that he knew Kokichi would enjoy based on his hobbies… Lying and pranking.

10000 DICE members… If he claims to have so many followers, then his gift wouldn’t quite stand out.

He gets him the Electempest, a pop electro water-gun. He slightly regrets it, but he knew Kokichi would have fun with it.

“H-Hey! just don’t cause trouble on the streets- uh. I… Gave him an idea, didn’t I…”

Maki Harukawa

Even though Kokichi will pester her for weapons as gift, she will never give him anything sharp.

Growing up in an orphanage, she developed a sort of insight when it comes to child-like people.

She gets him an epic-looking blanket cape.

“Just don’t trip and die from it.”

Gonta Gokuhara

Gets him a small terrarium filled with cute bugs! Gonta wants to remind Kokichi that bugs wants to be friends with him too!

Small butterflies, vibrant caterpillars hairy tarantulas, and more!

Kokichi better take care of these precious beings.

He proceeds to list off all the special needs his new bug friends has.

Miu Iruma

As if she’d waste her beautiful golden brain for this little gremlin!

… She remembers the blueprints he’d have with him whenever they planned out inventions together.

Also slips in a vaguely inappropriate photo of her.

“H-How did that get in there! Aha! So you are a closet pervert after all!!”

Ryoma Hoshi

He barely interacted with Kokichi, but he still wanted to give him a gift.

He gets Kokichi a cat-themed jacket. He’s slightly regretting it as Kokichi teases him.

But the way he slings it through his arms and wears it for the rest of the day tells Ryoma he appreciated the gift.

“Guess you still have a ways to go when it comes to talking to people, Kokichi. But you’re getting there.” panta-boy didn’t expect hearing that from Ryoma, but he muses over the gesture.

Angie Yonaga

Gives him a life-sized painting of Atua to hang in his room!

oh, and also a portrait of him looking cool in his Supreme Leader cape and hat.

“Kokichi needs god in his life, Angie’s wishes him a happy birthday with this reminder!”

Rantaro Amami

Gets him a hammock and an advanced lock picking set.

“Just don’t break into anyone’s private property okay?” He knows his request might be left unheard.

He remembers a conversation where he and Kokichi make small talk about comfort zones. Kokichi offhandedly mentions wanting a hammock.

Himiko Yumeno

A magic hat!

Or, really just a magic trick hat with a hidden compartment where you could hide things in. Now, Kokichi can do magic too!

“That’s right! I actually used 36%of my mana just for this present, so you better appreciate it.”

Tenko Chabashira

Why would she spend time thinking up a gift for a degenerate male!

… She gets him a custom practice sword she secretly carved out herself. Kokichi did do so much for her and her friends.

“I-It’s not like I put my time and effort for this! S-Stop calling it cute, you- you male!!!”

Korekiyo Shinguji

He gives Kokichi an anthology of great ruler, king, queen, war generals and other types of leaders.

He hopes it’ll entertain him and inspire him as the Super High School Level Supreme Leader.

“This barely scratches the surface of history, but I will be more than happy to give you the other 42 editions of the anthology.”

Tsumugi Shirogane

Gives him cosplays of purple-haired anime characters like Shinsou Hitoshi, Homura Akemi, Minene Uryuu, Kamui Gakupo- the possibilities are endless!

She also offered to make him a revised more detailed version of his uniform, but Kokichi wanted to stick to what he has.

She was gonna give him a gift she thought he might like, but she got carried away with imagining him as her favorite characters.

Kaito Momota

His relationship with this boy is rocky and Kaito needs some coaxing from Maki and Shuichi to get him to stop being so distant with Kokichi.

But that’s because he’s frustrated and upset over Kokichi’s villain complex. He knows it can’t be healthy to hold all of that malice in him.

Kaito gets him a pair of boxing gloves and a punching bag.

“Don’t just bottle up your anger without doing anything about it, yeah?”

Kirumi Tojo

People ask for her services as the Ultimate Maid and she knows how to grant their wishes, but only when prompted for it.

So, she assigns himself the role of his personal maid for the day and cooks/bakes him whatever he wants.

Kokichi makes impossible requests most of the time. “Travel to outer space!”, “Find my long lost, non-existent twin brother for me!”

She only smiles, fondly shaking her head, and tries to compromise through baked goods.

Kiibo/K1-B0

He considers writing Kokichi a short but concise manual of Robophobia and proper etiquette when facing robots.

But he ends up buying him a copy of Detroit: Becoming Human he can play with him. Maybe their friendship will improve after this?

There’s only a few people who knew Kokichi’s love for video games. He hopes Kokichi would enjoy the game’s interactive story and lessons on morals.

They play it at his party, Kokichi stalls most investigations by goofing around as Connor.

“H-Hey! You’re ruining the game play, maybe I should’ve gotten you that book first after all…!”

#Danganronopa imagine #kokichi ouma #kokichi ouma imagines #kokichi oma #kokichi oma imagines

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yuissamidare · 8 years ago

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aight aight lets do this

zombie au

i wanted??? to develop the side characters more because i love them and they make me super happy when they get on screen and i went to sleep and woke up in the dead of night like. Ah. I Know.

the gist was dekapan creates a virus that mimics those weird wasp things that inject venom in caterpillars and wasps and leave them zombie-fied until they end up sacrificing themselves for the wasps babies. it works like my theory for gakkou gurashi and idk the zombies should follow their everyday routine expect that they also kill people. i’ve scrapped that idea and like, recreated how the zombies work but shhhh this part is a Super Secret.

he’s having trouble with money and! he loves science! he loves messing up and starting over and finding that one xyz fit that makes everything click how he wants to! but that costs money, and it’s money he doesnt have, so? he calls a kid he used to babysit and get along with for some help. hatabou gets him a job with a sketchy government probably trying to cure the common cold or make it impossible to burn your skin in the sun or something so of course he does the work given to him, because money is money, but the moment it gets on tv and is announced to the world dekapan calls everyone like 'hey guys dont take the vaccine something fuckys going on' and then the zombie outbreak starts and everyone gets split up and they find each other eventually after Bad Things and everyone gets fucked up about it.

people who we dont get to see pair up find each other and begrudgingly work together.

jyushimatsu and todomatsu are w matsuyo!! she has them go on a trip to the mall with her, and it’s very densely packed and a trains ride from home (jyushimatsus here to carry bags and todomatsus here bc oohhh a mall far away). the outbreak happens while theyre in the mall, and momma and todomatsu get separated from jyushimatsu for a little while -- they do find him again, and momma decks a zombie in the face. todomatsu cries. if i were to write this, i’d focus like??? 2 - 3 chapters focusing on them being in the mall, finding a group of other survivors, and then leaving the group. depending on length and my Stamina which is. not good.

next group is totoko and karamatsu!!! and. its not because of.... anything. but totoko!! if anything is really strong and i can see her carrying an iron will and inspiring other people to follow he lead and! i like the dynamic they had with that like One Interaction. idk the beginning all too well?? like how they meet up and stick together, but i have everything after that pretty clear in my head. this would be??? the second arc of the story maybe? it take a while for them to actually get along and things go Bad in the start because ahaha karamatsu is a Fuck Up, and after that karamatsu just stops trying to talk to her and just trails behind while totoko vehemently refuses to let him help her with anything. and i actually?? dont wanna say too much about this because. ITS SURPRISE. but after they start getting along karamatsu gives her a fishbone braid, and she talks about missing her brother and they do some Feelings Talk.

idk what the fuck to do with osomatsu, ichimatsu, and choromatsu??? someones learning medicine and surgery from dekapan, someones getting yelled at by chibita while hatabou mediates, and someone starts stealing things with iyami and then starts crying in the back of his van after a close call, but idk who because they all keep flip flopping positions in my head. like, at first ichimatsu was getting yelled at, but then i put him with iyami, but then im like ‘ohhh doctor ichimatsu’. then osomatsu was with chibita n hatabou, then i was like ‘but oh he and iyami have a great dyamic’. and choromatsu was with dekapan at first bt then i was :/ with that and put him with chibita. those three are hecking me up idk what to do.

paranormal investigators

We Are All Dependant On Our Brothers

the matsuno bros start up a ghost bustin company thats set up in a run down project and they’re all crowed up in a shitty apartment funded by hatabou and todomatsus part time job with equipment provided by dekapan because after high school it was decided that ‘shit lets hunt some ghost’ and everyone was like ‘yea sure.’

it was spawned by a dream i had where choromatsu and karamatsu are on a case and choros like 'k we gotta distract the ghost' and karas like 'got it' and while choros doing. whatever. karamatsu comes out in a bathrobe and sashays like 'ooh noo ;)) i sure hope no ghosts are going to get me while im naked and vulnerable ;)))' and choros like. 'who gave you permission to be such garbage.' and. oh. he did.

and then later in the day a stray thought where osomatsu and karamatsu got confronted by a ghost thats like ‘ICHIMATSU MATSUNO!!! YOU, MY ENEMY WHOVE IVE TRACED DOWN FROM BARBADOS TO THE ARAN ISLANDS TO-’ then osomatsu cuts him off like ‘bro we arent ichimatsu’ and the three of them stare at each other for ten minutes before karamatsu offers to call him for the ghost and the ghost is like ‘!!!! could you?? i mean, im still damning you both to hell but’ and then ichimatsu picks up the phone, and as soon as the ghost starts talking he expels it in 0.0000000000000000000000001 seconds.

superheros

the brothers are b-rate superheros who end up in the newspapers sometimes. iyami and chibitas That Dude who ends up in hostage situations all the time and begrudgingly drive them home and make sure they eat even though they claims to hate them. its actually.... based of the storyline for my ocs so i wont actually talk about that again. nnu9mubvufe8n.

again, they live in a shit ass project but they live right next door to each other instead of crowding in One Apartment, its two with three each. they are all actively looking for day jobs because while the government pays well they struggle being adults. but this time adults with superpowers.

rpg/video game

like. back in the naru.to fandom there was a point where video game aus were really popular, like the whole grinding/gaining stats/unlocking new areas thing n all that and it surprisingly worked really well when written right?. so i was thinking about that and spacing out and i was like Oh Fuck. so this au got birthed. osomatsus the king, karas the knight, jyushi is a prince who gets kidnapped, ichis prince #2, choromatsus a wandering mage, n todos the royal advisor.

jyushimatsu gets kidnapped in the dead of night, and osomatsus like ‘what the flying fuck karamatsu get over here lets go get him back.’ so they leave, and have ichimatsu look after the kingdom for him. hes like 'wait what please im' and is thrust into power anyways. he and todomatsu are surprisingly competent leaders and the kingdom does really good under him, even better than with osomatsu?? though he locked himself in his room for the first week and todomatsu just kept banging on the door OPEN UP YOU FUCK YOU HAVE PAPERWORK. and its an insanely huge amount because osomatsu keeps putting it off unless someone watches him and he does all the stuff like funding the armies and expanding territories before stuff like regulating taxes and funding schools and hospitals.

jyushimatsu escapes on his own after a day n is like HMMMM HOW TO GET HOME..... but then he enters a little run down village and meets homura and falls In Love and they spend time together and he eventually just forgets to come home because hes so happy with her

meanwhile with the idiot eldest duo. karamatsu doesnt know how to fucking.... spend money so when they meet choromatsu whos like the stop n shop npc he gives him all the money he has for an enchanted pair of ankle warmers that he could put his face on and that can react to his emotions. osomatsus like ‘what the entire fuck bro’ and goes to get their money back, but then ends up spending all his money on a charm thatll increase his gambling luck.

‘we’ve been bamboozled, my dearest king. our money taken right before our eyes as a miser deceived us and robbed us of everything we’re worth,’ ‘wanna beat him up, karamatsu?’ ‘of course i do.’

choromatsus like ????? wtf its not my fault you two dont know how to spend money. but they fight, and osomatsus like ‘join our party!!’ and they take a few days to convince him but he does join and he and osomatsu hit it off really well, and osomatsu decided after everything, hes going to adopt choromatsu.

(’but we’re the same age, my king’ karamatsu says in response to his proposal.

‘FINE, then ill get mom to adopt him, geez.’

then they meet chibita and n chibita and karamatsus like ‘if youre taking choromatsu, im taking chibita in if he says yes’ and osomatsus like ‘ask mom first’)

the three of them go to the place jyushimatsu was taken to, beat everyone up, and then realize he isnt there. so they just. dejectedly walk into a nearby village for rest and chibita gives them free beer.

they meet jyshimatsu an hour later on a date with homura and yes. they decide to adopt her as a sister too. (is someone marrying into your family considered adoption?? idk but everyones family now, no excuses.)

royalty/split at birth

i hate angst i just wish everyone could be happy, i say as i look through my notebook with angsty plot points as i reference my life.

the gist is: the cold color trio living in slums rather than a palace but then oso finds out OH SHIT WE HAVE MORE BROTHERS WE GO GET THEM and everyones stressed the fuck out

as soon as osomatsu finds out he has troops scour the kingdom for the them, with the directions ‘there are three more people with my face, go get em’ and he sends troops out. to everyone outside the castle this is a very ?????!!!!!!!!!! thing???because the royal family has solidified themselves as Bad Selfish people who tax unfairly and dont care about the poor. like, the rich people are all like oh! i wonder what the royal family is planning theyre so good to our kingdom ha ha! while the poor people are freaking the fuck out.

the cold colors only get a brief warning about the troops coming and the first thing ichimatsu does when he hears this is go and break all the fancy plates and choromatsus like ‘wtf are you doing!!!’ and ichimatsu just looks at him like ‘i love and respect my family so im doing what i need to’ and karamatsu takes that as his cue to take his mothers valuables and hide them under the floorboards and in the walls where the stucco breaks away and choromatsu writes a note to their mom Just In Case.

they actually do get taken and theyre fucking shocked. like, instead of the royals taking everyones valuables like they expected, theyre taking them??? and the troops are no help theyre just like ‘kay go take two sets of coats and three sets of day wear’ and they have them leave straight away.

an abrupt abduction is gonna stir up shit in the village especially if they only take the boys and leave their parents and friends. imagine how paranoid they'll be. ‘oh no what if im going next' 'i hear that theyre taking our boys now and selling them off to foreign labor' 'theyre taking our children as punishment for not being able to afford tax' ‘i heard things breaking in their home what if they got taken away for resisting’

imagine all the drama and discomfort theyll feel when they see the other bros living in the lap of luxury why their friends and family suffer like :)))

its frustrating and tense for everyone because osomatsu expected them to integrate without issue. jyushimatsu doesnt understand why they get so mad at him and refuse to be his friend. todomatsu doesnt understand why all these poor people are a problem. as long as youre happy and healthy it's fine! theres no need to concern yourself with what doesnt directly affect you. if you dont see it its not happening so its best to ignore it.

ballet

osomatsu does ballet again and is happy and has found something he loves and enjoys and everyone supports him. basically, he starts feeling nostalgic and then starts watching youtube videos and goes ‘haha pah! i can do that’ and then he realizes ‘holy shit this is something i wanna spend the rest of my life doing’

sophie even wrote a fic about it and its great and every time i read it my heart pounds ten thousand times a second and i start smiling so hard my cheeks hurt.

detectives

jyushimatsu’s an overworked forensic scientist, choromatsu’s an exasperated detective, osomatsus is watson, todomatsu’s head of the branch, and ???? ichimatsu where are you??

karamatsu’s fucking dead but he aint important.

they solve mysteries n do detective stuff.

theres also another au thats like platonic soulmate thing but eh

#mbbbaf #long post #no like for real its a long ass post #these are all awful and they could all use Work but i like them #what is this

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jyushimatsu-falls-in-love · 8 years ago

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steven universe/crystal gem(atsu)s au

Alternative post title: ‘In which Nature tries to make a silly Matsu AU out of something she hasn’t actually watched but because it’s so prevalent on Tumblr she picked up a lot about it and is now trying to make a silly Matsu AU out of what she knows’

I’m going to get hate for this aren’t I

So yeah, as mentioned above, I don’t actually watch Steven Universe (I think it’s mostly because the fandom scares me orz); however I do love some of the concepts it has, like the Gems themselves, and fusions, and some of the lore surrounding the Gems. Oh, and the songs! I’ve listened to some of SU’s songs and they’re absolutely lovely :D

I was talking with @chororine yesterday about the recent SU episodes, and she linked me a couple of Gem!Matsu AUs that are really cool! And then it got me thinking of ideas for a Gem!Matsu AU which I kinda feel bad thinking up of since I haven’t watched the show orz

Perhaps those who watch SU can tell me if this makes sense as a Matsu AU-slash-SU adaptation or not? XD;; Feel free to correct me on certain things, or even share ideas! This AU’s actually kinda really fun :’D

Anyway, all of it under the cut! (It’s very long orz) Content warnings for suicide mentions and pregnancy, but that’s all there is to it I think.

So, as always when it comes to these Crystal Gem AUs, the Matsuno brothers are a set of six similar-but-different Gems. Tbh I have no idea what kind of Gems they would be; some AUs make them the same type of gem, some make them different kinds of gems. I still want them to be “brothers”/“sextuplets”, in a way; is there a way to strike a balance? (This person’s AU has all six be a kind of gem that can be dyed different colors; that’s a good idea, but I feel like if I applied that here I’d be ripping them off...) But either way, they’re Gems. (I have no clue what their roles in Homeworld would be, either...)

The thing about the Gem!Matsus is that they’re not part of Rose Quartz’s rebellion - but at the same time, they’re not totally loyal to Homeworld either. If anything, the boys’ true loyalties are to themselves and to each other (for the most part). So they’re neutral parties in the Gem War - but they do consider Homeworld, well, home, and can’t imagine home being anywhere else.

Then one fateful day, the Gem!Matsus end up becoming displaced from Homeworld. Maybe it’s because of the Gem War, maybe they were running away from someone/something, or maybe they were dicking around in space and then they crashed their space ship, I dunno. Either way, the Gem!Matsus lose their way home, and they find themselves stuck on Earth - specifically, they find themselves stuck in a small coastal town somewhere in Japan.

With no means or even any idea on how to get home, the Gem!Matsus settle down on Earth. They assume - some of them (e.g. Choro), hope - it’s a temporary thing; after all, Homeworld is home, and even the shittiest Gem would want nothing more than to be home, right? So they stay there and wait for help, or anything to come their way that can bring them home. (Meanwhile, maybe they can fight corrupted Gems that they come across? Assuming there are corrupted Gems in other places besides Beach City. And maybe the boys don’t even know they’re corrupted Gems at all...)

Years pass, and the Gem!Matsus are still stuck, but still trying to make the most of their time in that Japanese coastal town. They observe the humans going about their daily lives, but never really interact with them and kinda look down on them the same way the Crystal Gems initially looked down on humans. And then one day, a certain yellow Gem strays far from the Gem!Matsu’s main base to a part of the beach he hasn’t explored yet - and there he sees a pretty human girl with freckles on her face, standing at the top of a really high cliff facing the ocean...

Because Jyushi is a Gem here and not human, I don’t know if he’ll be able to pick up on or understand Homura’s suicidal tendencies like he did in Ososan canon; but either way he distracts-slash-talks her out of jumping off the cliff. He does notice that this pretty human girl is very sad though, which isn’t good! Humans are cute and nice when they’re laughing and smiling! So in true Jyushi fashion, he does whatever he can to make her smile and laugh. Through her, he also gets to understand humans more, and thus be able to empathize with her (and by extension other people) better. Perhaps he also learns her backstory, and surely tries to assure her of her worth despite it.

The other Gem!Matsus don’t understand why Jyushi’s so enamored with this Homura person. Oso and Kara shrug it off and say, hey Jyushi’s having fun, let him have fun with his human friend as long as she doesn’t hurt him (and soon enough they end up befriending Homura too); Choro and Totty are more worried about it, why is Jyushi fraternizing with a human, what if she gets him (and by extension us) into trouble? (although maybe they warm up to her eventually); and Ichi is rather irritated that this dumb human girl is taking all of his best friend’s attention, but seeing as Jyushi’s very happy with her, he tries to suck it up as much as he can (although he’s still rather prickly, if civil, towards Homura).

Of course, it leads to Jyushi and Homura falling in love with each other, as well as Jyushi falling in love with the planet Earth itself and with human beings (and baseball!). After everything, he realizes he doesn’t want to return to Homeworld; instead he wants to stay here on Earth, so he can be with Homura and make other human friends and play baseball! This gets... mixed to negative reactions from the other Gem!Matsus. (Oso and Kara are torn, Choro and Totty are upset, Ichi is fucking pissed.) They all probably argue about it for the next couple of years - not that it really matters, as they’re still stuck on Earth whether or not anyone wants to stay or leave.

And then things get worse when said couple of years later, Homura finds out that she’s... pregnant. With Jyushi’s child. This causes yet another stir among the Gem!Matsus, as they never knew humans and Gems can have create children together; however it also causes more issues and more arguing between them over what to do now that this baby’s a thing. Half the team still want to go back home, after all.

Then another bad thing happens - around the time Jyushi’s baby is about to be born, Jyushi ends up having to give up his physical form for it. I’m not sure how or for what reason exactly, but it has to happen and there’s no escaping his fate.

This leaves the other Gem!Matsus incredibly upset. I mean sure, Jyushi's no Rose Quartz; he isn’t a major figurehead in any wars or rebellions, he doesn’t have a huge legacy to follow. Hell, he isn’t even the leader of the Gem!Matsus. But for the brothers, losing any one of them can be just as devastating as losing a major figurehead - especially since the one they’ve lost was the sunshine of the group. This leaves Homura extremely devastated too, not to mention that the poor woman is now left to be an unmarried single mother.

The Gem!Matsus figure that there’s no point returning home now that Jyushi is gone, so they reluctantly decide to stay with Homura to help her watch over her child. Imagine their surprise when they see that the baby (who I decided would be a little girl, mostly because the idea of the Matsus trying to raise a little girl together is funnier) is half-Gem, half-human! She has her dad’s exact same gem somewhere on her body, all shiny and yellow. The boys come to the conclusion that part of Jyushi is still there, so resolve to stay on Earth so that they can help raise the girl as well as train her in order to be a good half-human, half-Gem. They may or may not have a plan to bring her along with them back to Homeworld once they deem her ready, so they can finally be home and complete...

Homura names her daughter Aiko (”child of love”; because tbh Homura would be a sap when it comes to naming children :P). She, Aiko and the Gem!Matsus move to a house that a relative used to own, and Homura takes a stay-at-home job as a translator (like Yotsuba’s dad from Yotsuba&!). (She can’t bring herself to work outside of the house, as she’s still ashamed of some parts of her past; that and she wants to be able to raise as well as home-school Aiko by herself and watch over the Gem!Matsus. Maybe Gem technology can provide free fast WiFi? :P) The Gem!Matsus are once again NEETs, doing nothing but staying around the house all day; their only job is training Aiko in the ways of being a Gem, so training her to fight and shapeshift and fuse with other Gems and stuff like that. Also getting her in trouble.

So begins Aiko and The Gems, the adventures of a little girl, her single mother and her five Space Rock Dads. Hilarity (and some angst, but mostly hilarity) ensues.

so yeah it’s basically Rose and Greg’s backstory ==> Steven’s story but with Matsus and Homura and a fanchild instead how original right

Compared to canon SU, this AU might be less... serious? I mean, there’s still a lot of sad things, all the Gem!Matsus + Homura have serious issues they need to deal with, and there’s still a lot of room for character + relationship development; but at the same time, the Gem!Matsus don’t have as much pressure on them to keep fighting off anything and/or preserve a rebellion’s legacy as the Crystal Gems do? They’re neutral parties who just want get home-slash-want to take care of a kid. Unless there’s something I missed and the boys could very well still be in trouble with the Diamonds...

(Also it’s probably not as serious as SU because the Gem!Matsus are, well, Matsus. :P)

Honestly though this AU idea is a lot of fun!! :’D I have a few more ideas based on it; I’ll get to writing a post about those soon (later?). Um, so tell me what you think, I guess? :’D

Also, please: if you have ideas for this AU too, please tell me!! Building AUs with others is fun c’: (That and I’m not an expert on SU anyway, as mentioned above; maybe you guys know better than me XD)

(P. S. @chororine @irkimatsu @risuquest you guys like SU, right? You guys might like this, hopefully :’D)

(P. P. S. Not Gem!Matsu related, but still Gems - even though I don’t watch SU yet, for some reason I thought that Phillipa Soo could be a guest star VA on it - and I would love that. I’d gladly watch for her :P)

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medea10 · 8 years ago

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My Review on Rewrite

#rewrite #kotarou tennouji #shizuru nakatsu #kotori kanbe #kagiri #akane senri #chihaya ohtori #lucia konohana

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goji-pilled · 2 years ago

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You’ve been waiting! I’ve been writing! Now I’m here to present that ever so dear OC you’ve been waiting for me to make to you.

Now without further ado, I shall present her!

Name: Mizuki Hoshi

Weapon of choice: Scythe

Why a scythe you ask? Well simple, scythes are cool! And the one I imagined for Mizuki is even cooler as I envisioned the blade of the scythe being in a more crescent moon shape than a regular scythe’s blade!

Magical Girl Outfit Color Scheme: Black and White

Why black and white you ask? Simple, they work well together. That’s literally all.

Wish: To be able to see all the wonders of space

Mizuki has an incredible fondness for space. It’s beautiful, mesmerizing, and a getaway from the troubles of her life. Now she gets to experience it all, this couldn’t possibly backfire of course. …Right?

Personality/Family Relationships

Mizuki is relatively quiet girl, who keeps to herself for the most part. Which leaves her incredibly lonely, as she doesn’t really have friends at school because of this. She does however have her lovely little sister, who always admires her for her knowledge of space. Her parents always tell her that “A girl your age should have plenty of friends at school!”, Mizuki has learned to tune them out when they’re like that though.

Normal Design Description

She looks like your everyday normal schoolgirl. She has straight black hair that’s shoulder length, and she has a a star shaped hair accessory she always wears. She’s also decently tall for being 15, coming in at a height of 5’1. She’s moderately skinny too, which she takes pride in. She has poor eyesight though, so she wears glasses.

Magical Girl Design Description

The top part of her outfit is similar to Homura’s but not exactly. If you were to get rid of the coat she wears, the ribbon, the collar, and then give her short sleeves you’d have something similar. She also wears two white arm sleeves that go up to her elbow, they’re both white. She wears a white skirt and leggings to balance the black of the upper portions. She wears black boots as well. Her soul gem is located on the side of her skirt. Now for my favorite part of her design I imagined. She has one of THESE!

A SHOULDER CAPE THING!! It’s so sick, I know. Big fan of it.

Abilities

She has all the basic abilities a magical girl would have. Enhanced strength, speed, durability yeah yeah. She has one funky little trick though, she can infuse her scythe with magic to allow it to shoot a few star shaped “bullets” that are quite sharp. I think it’s quite unique.

Backstory

A regular day gone peculiar. It’s not exactly everyday you get a strange cat like creature talking to you about wishes and magical girls. Mizuki was just on her way home from the planetarium, a place she holds close to her heart, it wasn’t her intention to come across this creature. Or did this creature come across her? Of course however, Mizuki inquired the creature about its “wish making”, an opportunity like this doesn’t happen hardly ever after all. After the creature explained all the details, Mizuki could hardly hold back her innermost desire. And thus, the contract was sealed, and Mizuki was set on a path she could never walk away from.

Fun Facts!

Did you know that Mizuki actually means “beautiful moon” if you search up its meaning?

Mizuki is a humongous nerd on all things space and star related. You could ask her about a specific constellation and she could tell you everything about it as an example.

Mizuki’s grades in school are often low. Not because she’s dumb, but because she’s always reading on more space related books in her quest for knowledge.

Mizuki’s most prized possession is a telescope she got when she was 12. It’s very important to her. As a matter of fact too, her wish actually affected her telescope, giving it magical properties so she could really see all the wonders of space like she wanted.

Mizuki and her sister often sneak off into the planetarium without their parent’s permission.

Extra Fun Fact! What you’ve read up to this point is actually the SECOND draft I ended up writing, because when I was working on my first one I had unknowingly was making it a post and not an ask, so I copied and pasted it into my notes. Here’s the funny thing though, when I tried to paste it into the asks here it didn’t work! Fun right? Though in a way I’m thankful for it, as I revised some things on this one I wasn’t exactly content with in the first draft.

It’s the end and we gotta wrap this up now. Not without saying a few thanks first though. First up, you Nyom. You totally enabled and encouraged me to make up a magical girl OC for Amalthea and for that you have my gratitude. And second, the MK-S anon who makes frequent appearances in your asks inbox. They gave me a really good base for this OC with their amazing SCP Amalthea ask, which I’m grateful for. This OC of mine wouldn’t of been nearly as good without their amazing mind. And that’s that, thank you for your time. As usual, I’d love to hear your thoughts too.

(One more random note. I’m no artist by any means but I should like totally try and doodle Mizuki and Amalthea sometime lmao)

YES FINALLY IT DROPPED LETS GOOOOO

#felix answers #long post #also welcome to tumblr #where things just are a bit broken lmao #love to see the creativity though hehe

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recentanimenews · 8 years ago

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My Week in Manga: March 6-March 12, 2017

My News and Reviews

Every month I post a Bookshelf Overload feature which takes a quick look at some of the manga and other media that make their way onto my shelves at home. And so last week I published February’s Bookshelf Overload. As I mentioned in that post, I’m currently working on an in-depth review of Kazuto Tatsuta’s Ichi-F: A Worker’s Graphic Memoir of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. I expect that it should be ready to post later this week (that’s my intention anyway), but I’m also incredibly busy right now getting ready to change jobs. Taiko performance season is also steadily ramping up, and the Lion Dance troupe is still getting regular performance requests, so I’ve had a bunch of extra rehearsals and less downtime in general, too. Still, the writing is slowly but surely happening!

Despite being so busy and not being online as much as usual, I did come across a few interesting reads last week. Jennifer Robertson (who I’ve actually briefly met before) recently wrote for Salon about Japan’s long history of blurred sexualities and gender-bending. Brian Hibbs takes his annual look at the BookScan numbers for comics and graphic novels for The Beat. The analysis includes a section specifically devoted to the manga being released in English. Finally, in what I think is terrific news, more of Yen Press’ digital-only titles will now be getting print editions, too! Look out later this year for Homura Kawamoto and Toru Naomura’s Kakegurui: Compulsive Gambler, Higasa Akai’s The Royal Tutor, and Sakurako Gokurakuin’s Sekirei. Finally, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to publish anime director Yasuhiro Irie’s manga Halloween Pajama in English.

Quick Takes

The Ghost in the Shell, Volume 1 by Masamune Shirow. It’s been a long time since I’ve read Shirow’s The Ghost in the Shell. The series was actually among one of the first manga that I encountered. My introduction to the franchise was through Mamorou Oshii’s animated film Ghost in the Shell which probably remains my favorite interpretation of the story and characters. I actually often find the manga to be very difficult to follow. Shirow has some great, thought-provoking and intriguing ideas, but the flow of the story can be extremely disjointed at times. A live-action American Ghost in the Shell film will soon be hitting theaters, so it makes sense that Kodansha Comics would take advantage of the opportunity to re-release the original The Ghost in the Shell manga in a beautifully-produced deluxe hardcover edition. This “definitive” version is being presented in right-to-left format with Japanese sound effects for the first time. I’m fairly certain there are more color pages included, too, but the volume does lack some of the additional textual content found in previous English editions. The controversial lesbian sex scene has also been excluded at the creator’s request which does cause some slight narrative confusion.

Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun, Volumes 5-6 by Izumi Tsubaki. I love Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun so incredibly much. This series, along with My Love Story!!, is something that I can always count on to make me happy. I find myself constantly smiling while reading Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun and on more than one occasion have even caught myself laughing out loud. At this point the manga series is far enough along that almost all of the content is new to me. (My introduction to Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun was through the anime adaptation which is likewise an absolutely wonderful series.) There are new scenarios and even new characters–Nozaki’s younger brother and his judo teammates have become more prominent as one example–but those that were previously established are never forgotten. The good-natured humor in Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun remains consistent throughout the manga. Most of the hilarity is the result of the fact that none of the characters quite manage to be on the same page as any of the others and the ridiculousness that ensues because of it. The quirky characters themselves are incredibly endearing, too, even if they’re not particularly nuanced.

Ten Count, Volume 2-3 by Rihito Takarai. Well now, that escalated quickly. From the very first volume Ten Count presented itself as a dark psychological drama, but if anything its intensity only increases as the series progresses. The relationship between Shirotani and Kurose is an incredibly unhealthy one which only becomes more troubling as sexual elements are introduced to it. Kurose, whether or not he realizes it or intends to be, is abusive, manipulative, and controlling. He pushes Shirotani, often without consent or consideration, to his limits and beyond. Shirotani does have some personal breakthroughs but heartbreaking glimpses into his past and into his current emotional and mental states reveal a man who is conflicted and struggling with his own self-worth. Frankly, I find Ten Count to be disturbing and unsettling, verging on psychological horror rather than romance. At this point I can’t really envision things turning out well. (Honestly, I’d probably feel disappointed or even somewhat betrayed if Takarai manages some sort of romanticized happy ending.) To me Ten Count is still immensely engrossing, but I certainly can’t blame anyone who would want to avoid the series.

Dragnet Girl by Yasujiro Ozu. I recently had the opportunity to see Ozu’s silent film Dragnet Girl in a theater narrated by a professional benshi and accompanied by music cued by a prominent local DJ. There was even a brief lecture beforehand which I wasn’t expecting but found interesting. I enjoyed the production as a whole immensely–it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events–but I also specifically enjoyed the film itself. (I really ought to seek out more of Ozu’s work.) Dragnet Girl is a gangster film which largely follows Tokiko and her boyfriend Joji, a retired boxing champion and current small-time crime boss. Hiroshi, a promising young hoodlum, joins the boxing gym and their gang. His older sister Kazuko worries about him and so tries to convince Joji to make her brother leave. Some romantic entanglements and turmoil ensue, but eventually Tokiko and Joji decide to leave their life of crime together but only after they pull off one last heist for the sake of Kazuko. Dragnet Girl is available from Criterion, collected together with two more of Ozu’s silent crime films, Walk Cheerfully and That Night’s Wife. It won’t quite be the same as watching it “live,” but it’s wonderful that there’s a home release readily available at all.

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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