#i love how manga took a full circle

[xinesthetic]

"Dazai's a genius this, Dazai's a genius that" my man's most reliable trick is playing rock-paper-scissors with people that somehow always works

[risuola]

— all of it began with a miracle || character analysis, manga spoilers chap. 261, 2,6k this piece is not a fanfiction, there's no reader. it's a story from beginning to an end, it's what i think he was going through, what i noticed and assumed.

— sensei || teacher+student, suggestive, 1,4k he's your teacher and everyone seem to notice that he likes you; everyone, but you.

— too much || idiots in love, hurt/comfort, 2,5k his composure snaps and he unloads his frustration on you.

— policeman || exes to lovers, cop!satoru, hurt/comfort, 2k when someone broke into your apartment, your first thought was to call your ex boyfriend.

— mug cake crisis || husband!satoru, tooth rotting fluff, 0,9k there was a crisis at 2:48am and you had to sweeten your husband's way into peace again.

— promise || pregnant!reader, angst, manga spoilers chap. 236, 0.8k your husband promised your unborn child to come back, but you couldn't help but worry when watching his fight with sukuna.

promise pt. 2 || alternate ending, fluff, comfort, 1,5k broken promise || alternate ending, angst, hurt/no comfort, 1,1k

— birthday gift || friends to lovers, fluff, 2,8k sometimes you forget about your own birthday, but no worries, satoru's got you.

— real life surprise || fictional!satoru, real life!reader, 1,4k life's full of surprises, but last thing you expected is for the fictional character to jump out of the screen.

— 07.12 || established relationship, fluff, 1,4k gojo satoru doesn't celebrate his birthdays, but to you that day is important.

— skip santa, we're both on the naughty list anyway || friends with benefits, suggestive. fluffy, kissmas 2023, 0,9k it's easy to tell that there's something between you and satoru. it's also easy to tell that there's no way to pull him out of the bed.

— infinity || idiots in love, 1,3k when was the last time you slept? you couldn't tell, but satoru was determined to get you to rest.

— miserable || husband!satoru, heavy angst, hurt/barely any comfort, 2,6k satoru hated that he'd recognize you always, even if just by the taste of your tears.

— serendipity || series, arranged marriage!au story about two people lost in the middle of arrangement not one of them wished for.

— love medley || polyamorous relationship, series, college+roommates!au a collection of tracks about friendship, trust and love.

— lost cause || manga references, angst, 5,5k you had a soft heart, but the cruel world of sorcery took a toll on you. an universe in which satoru and suguru have another closest friend, but it's her that spirals into the circle of evil madness.

— observation || asexual!reader, suggestive, 0,6k they love to make out and you love to watch them.

— shush, we're in the library || teacher+student, part two to sensei, smut, 1,8k how far can a teacher-student affair go?

— you cryin'? || frenemy!satoru, smut, 1,4k you and gojo hate each other. he bites and you always bite back. one time you say too much and his self-control snap.

you cryin'? pt.2 || frenemies to lovers, smut, 1,6k your reality now? gojo's shenanigans, idiotic pet-names and so. much. touching.

— do you want to stay? || exes to lovers, curseless!au, angst, smut, 5,5k after the painful breakup with satoru, your friend dragged you to the party, but the night went very wrong and very right.

— safe word || hurt/comfort, smut, 1k satoru got back home angry and that got him carried away. contains heat, regret and aftercare.

— do you want my fingers? || teenage!satoru, smut, 1,9k you really needed to rest, but satoru, your classmate decided to practise his pen-spinning abilities.

— say my name || strangers to lovers, smut, kinktober 2023, 7,8k never in your life you thought you'd go to bed with a compete stranger from the internet.

— sinful heavens || series, archangel!satoru, demon!reader he's above it all, god's favorite, the honored one. he's above devil's temptations and carnal desires. he's above you.

— call it double trouble || threesome, ex-boyfriend!satoru, stranger!suguru, smut, kinktober 2023, 6k it's been a while since you last saw your college ex-boyfriend and a halloween party led to your reconnection. this time though, he has a friend.

[thechekhov]

Dungeon Meshi Quick Reacts

CH.27 (Red Dragon)

Simpler times....... or were they?

ah, so it's harder with just the bones. That explains the reacts but... yeah, they were doomed from the start, in that case.

They don't have DNA testing to confirm what's hers and what isn't. How are they going to make sure they don't pull a Full Metal Alchemist with this resurrection?

I'm sure this won't go wrong at all.

And now they're planning to get a person down there? After it took them... weeks???? to come and find this dragon and get these remains? I love them, but this plan is mad. Who would even attempt it? Would they even have the money for it?

Chillchuck went "you aren't even a Necromancer" and Marcille raised him a "no, I'm something much worse."

Love this girl. Love the determination.

Oh, she's 'I broke the world for us' levels of in love with Falin. Got it. I'm in.

At the beginning of the manga, you think 'oh wow Senshi is a little weird.' and then you think 'oh, Laios is a little weird too. That's why they get along.' But now I'm beginning to realize Marcille is a card carrying member of the Obsessed With Stuff freakshow, and that's why she's here. She pretended to be normal the whole time, but she's just as far gone in the rabbit hole as the rest of them.

Chillchuck, buddy, you're on thin ice.

Guys, assemble the skeletons FIRST and THEN draw the evil magic circle. You're going to smear the runes! smh....

look at her go! She screams about eating a mushroom with a face in chapter 1, but here she is, assembling a digested skeleton of her beloved with minimal issues.

.............K-Kui san... did you... did you want to go to med school by chance...?

the recipe card...... I'm fuckin dead..... bonus doggies.

I've seen this panel in so many screencaps, but knowing its context makes it 2000% sexier.

this is............reverse cooking..........................

OH??????

this is.......significantly less horrific than what I was prepared for.

Something still feels off but. You DID bring her back using fuckin dragon meat so. I guess. You can't exactly be born the same way twice.

How heartwarming! This wizard brought her beloved back from the dead using illegal magic! It just warms your heart.

Is it cannibalism to eat something you were recently made from...?

[dolljunk]

This is actually a full circle moment for me as some of my first ever repaints were on 23cm Obitsus as they were the only Obitsus with heads included at the time. I knew a final cap off to a series of custom dolls that I poured so much of myself into, it would have to include the 23cm Obitsu as the base doll.

Since the other Wonderland dolls took influence from various Anime and manga, for Alice I looked towards 70s Shojo as the basis, especially since you can really trace the inspiration of a lot of 90s and early 2000s Barbie screenings to how stylised 70s Shojo art was. Especially in how iris and eye shines were done during that era, it's fun to think my own love of 90s/00s Barbie has fostered my own love of 70s Shojo.

I'm really so proud of how Alice has turned out that I can't say I would have done anything differently.

[blueikeproductions]

Got to see TFONE last night.

Spoilers obviously.

This is more looking at the world building and references than the film as a whole though.

The theater I was in wasn’t exactly full. Initially it was just me and a mother & son. Later on another family and some college/high school girls trickled in, but that was it. The box office so far, despite the film debuting at #1 and positive reviews and word of mouth, is pretty weak.

It’s been pointed out that once more that casuals don’t really care if it’s accurate to Transformers or not, they just like seeing the shredded metal Bionicles smashing each other and transforming into cool cars, skeletal dinosaurs, & skeletal nonsense animals.

Like it or not, the Bayformers are still very popular, heck the audience for The Last Knight I was in years ago was considerably bigger than this.

Do not be shocked if at some point the movies go back to these guys:

Over these guys.

The TFONE toys have rolled out, and have largely superseded the EarthSpark toys, but so far they don’t seem to be budging. Now before you say kids don’t like toys anymore, the kids I saw in Ollie’s were excited looking at the toys, but even at Good Stuff Cheap, the kids didn’t buy anything because it was still too expensive for them.

It’s all about price, and I’m sorry to say the TF toys are just too expensive still. I almost got a Sentinel Prime toy because I liked him in the film, but the cheapest thing was 10 dollars and not worth the amount as a 1-Step Changer.

The toy aspect I’ll circle back to because it’s relevant, but as for the movie itself, it’s good!

I liked it well enough, it’s definitely the film hard cores claim they wanted. Personally I still kinda prefer the Bay films. DotM is my personal favorite, and the use of Sentinel Prime as the main villain echos some of that. As a new origin story, it does what it’s supposed to do, and it’s the only time Optimus and Megatron being friends actually makes sense. The old G1 episode that sparked it, Megatron was never Orion’s friend, he just feigned interest to get Energon. Cyberverse and Prime, despite what the writers pat themselves on the back for a showing a nuanced Megatron, no he was just an unstable idiot that threw a 4 million year hissy fit when Optimus got what he wanted.

Here, TFONE takes great pains to establish Optimus and Megatron’s relationship. It’s very believable they used to be close friends, and I think part of it is the movie ignoring the political aspect that drove Aligned, IDW, and Cyberverse, instead casting both as underclass Worker-Bots that mined for Energon in the bowels of Cybertron. They’re just a couple of college aged dudes bonding over their love of the Primes, their wide eyed optimism and their job. Simple as that. Honestly I think the political aspects that stuff like IDW went so hard on was what made Orion and Megatron being friends before hard to believe, especially when most stories made it clear Megatron had a corrupt, semi selfish agenda to put himself in charge. Regardless if this film does well financially, hopefully the goodwill will see Hasbro and other creatives go with the blue collar approach for Optimus and Megatron’s origins. That works so much better. Also a big change is Orion was the well meaning reckless go getter, while Megatron as D-16 preferred structure and routine. Usually past stuff had it the opposite, so this is a welcome change. Even a recent manga took this to heart with Optimus as the reckless prankster doodling on Alpha Trion’s statue and falling asleep during class, while Megatron was the more attentive, studious one. More of this please.

Similarly, the future Autobots all being the Cogless while the future Decepticons were the high society/corrupt High Guard also makes so much more sense, as it never made sense before how the Decepticons were bad if they were the ones standing up to an oppressive government and the Autobots were the privileged ones that seemed to be defending it. Netflix WFC even acknowledges in-story that’s what’s happening but doesn’t really offer a reason as to why things escalated this badly and why we should root for the Autobots if they’re supposed to technically be the rich we’re supposed to eat.

So yes more of this, more the AUTOBOTS were the oppressed underclass. That makes much more sense, than they were the ones who largely benefitted from the old system.

As for the general lore, this is pretty divorced from what’s been the norm so far.

The Primus origin story is the default with the Quintessons as an ancient alien enemy that attacked the Transformers years ago still in play. From there it spirals into its own thing.

The Primes are simply known as the Primes, they’re never called The Thirteen at any stage. They were the peaceful, benevolent rulers of Cybertron who were prone to epic speeches. Zeta Prime is among the Primes, and was the Matrix holder before Sentinel Prime. It’s unclear if Zeta is the replacement for The Arisen, since The Arisen being Optimus was such an unpopular idea (wouldn’t it make more sense if he was Rodimus?), but until an art book comes out to clarify it, I’m leaning towards Zeta Prime being the replacement member.

Zeta’s character model was a loose hybrid of his previous designs but with a G1 ‘toon bent.

Also, Primes die (except Alpha Trion) during a Quintesson ambush. Alchemist Prime never goes on to become Maccadam in this universe. Megatronus Prime is the most popular Prime among the youngest population and he has a lot of merch. Megatron had posters and a sticker tattoo he proudly wore gifted to him by Orion. Megatronus was the biggest, and most powerful Prime, but unlike most incarnations, he didn’t turn on his siblings for selfish, Unicron related reasons or was perpetually on fire as he was among the first to be killed. If anything they made him look more like a G1 cartoon version of IDW Tarn. I thought it WAS Tarn at first until I corrected myself.

The Primes have more unique designs, taking cues from the Aligned designs, though Vector Prime is more specifically based on his Galaxy Force design, but otherwise are their own thing. Potentially the upcoming Age of Primes successor to Legacy may use these as a basis. In particular they finally found a readable design for this monstrosity.

Taking the base idea and pushing it into an Ed-209 direction.

Sentinel Prime is the current leader of Cybertron, but he’s a fraud. Formerly an assistant to the Primes, he hated them and coveted their power and the Matrix. Making a deal with the Quintessons, he stages a coup that kills the Primes, with Sentinel slaying several himself, Megatronus (and much later Alpha Trion) among them. While having a certain charm, he’s a selfish, greedy weasel who sold out his people for power, robbing the newest generation (Orion, Megatron, Bumblebee and Elita among them) of their Cogs and making them into a worker class to mine Energon to pay off the Quintessons. It’s never explained WHY the Quints attacked Cybertron, though maybe that’s something for TFTWO to tackle if we get one. While described more as paying off debts to loan sharks, it comes more off as Sentinel paying them to leave Cybertron alone. Sentinel’s actions also caused Cybertron’s energy crisis, as in this universe, the Matrix itself is tied to the flow of Energon on the planet. When Sentinel ripped open Zeta’s chest to claim the Matrix, the babble disintegrated like it did in RotF, denying Sentinel the power he craved and starving the planet of free flowing liquid Energon. Instead, he took Megatronus’ T-Cog as a trophy. Like RotF, the Matrix only appears to those worthy of it. This again makes more sense than just having it laying around for writers to make Megatron be worthy of it instead when he absolutely shouldn’t be, let alone able to use it at all.

Despite the Quintessons being the background antagonists, it’s never clarified in the film if they’re still related to Quintus Prime or not. To an extent I’d sort of prefer if they weren’t related, I’ve always been mixed on the idea that the Transformers created the Quints, vs the more clever meta gag the TFs are in-universe product created by the Quints.

The Quints, what little we see of them, have unique designs that are way different from the tiki mask wearing eggs but still harken back to them somewhat. They took great pains to make them look scary, giving them a more bio mechanical look. Even their ship looks somehow alive, having the same bio mechanical design. The Quintessons aren’t usually known for their fighting ability but these guys are brutal. Their foot soldiers are crablike versions of these one offs from the G1 ‘toon:

No Sharkiticons for these guys, at least not yet.

A funny observation is while the Transformers have a written alien language, it flip flops between a Japanese looking script to just being straight up English. Perhaps English is galactic standard on Cybertron.

Circling back to the toys, the toys don’t take advantage of a unique gimmick within the story itself. The T-Cogs are a major plot point, and like in more modern media, are the reason the Transformers can Transform at all. Not having one is seen as bad, as some throwaway lines see some Cogless having tried to Transform without one, but twisting themselves into pretzels.

Despite being present when D-16 openly said he wanted to kill Sentinel dead for his betrayal (Megatron LOVED Sentinel originally, a big don’t meet your heroes moment for him), Alpha Trion saw fit to gift the four Cogless workers the Cogs from the Primes to shape their destiny and save Cybertron. Orion got Prima, Bumblebee got Micronus (cuz he’s small, geddit?), but the other two I’m not clear on. The other donated Cogs were Onyx’s and Alchemist’s, but who they went to I’m not super sure. I THINK Elita got Onyx and D-16 got Alchemist, but feel free to correct me. Later on, D-16 stole back Megatronus’ Cog from Sentinel, and installed it in himself after removing Alchemist’s. Doing so causes D-16 to evolve into his more traditional Megatron body, with a tricked out triple barrel cannon in place of his usual cannon. Sentinel also briefly turns into artillery laden battle mode using Megatronus’ Cog.

My point being is you could’ve had the One toyline be built around a Mini-Con/Powermaster like gimmick, where plugging in a Cog unlocks a battle mode and the ability to Transform. Even if it’s not 100% accurate, how cool would it be to have a toy of Elita where upon plugging in Solus Prime’s Cog causes a pop out Solus Forge Hammer to appear. Alternatively, the Cog itself Transforms into a Prime themed weapon, so Orion Pax gets a Cog that turns into Prima’s sword or Megatron gets a beastly clip on cannon from Onyx. Stuff like that would be really cool I feel. They kinda have a Cog theme in the current 1-Step Cog Changers, but it’s not quite right.

My only real complaint with the movie itself is the High Guard, the future Decepticons and soldiers that worked with the Primes originally, feel tacked on. Screamer, the Waves and the Jets occupy the Guard, with Starscream as the leader. They broke off from Sentinel after seeing his betrayal, but they also seem very keen on seizing power for themselves, as Starscream has no Nobel intentions, he simply wants to be in charge as those in charge have the power and luxury. The Guard are responsible for minor attacks and inconveniences to stick it to Sentinel, but the movie only tells us this when we meet the group. It might’ve helped if there was a scene early on that better establishes them, like Orion and D-16 watching a news report about them, and D scoffs at their audacity or something. Nevertheless Megatron high jacking the Guard is a clever subversion on his and Starscream’s schtick: Megatron is the young upstart who took it over from the much older established Starscream. Future resentment should be amusing though despite being humiliated in front of his squad, and his voice box damaged, Starscream seems content to follow for now.

Shockwave is also more of a comic relief character here. He’s very emotional and silly, berating the others for not having Bee’s gag on tight enough so he’d shut up, and there’s a running gag about Elita punching him in his eye, that caused him to shut up and listen to her. Shockwave was also the one to try and help Starscream when D-16 beats the crap out of him, but Soundwave stops him. No logic from this version, so perhaps Shockwave in the future will be more like his traitorous Marvel G1 self? Skybound also entertained a huge departure in Shockwave as a highly emotional mad scientist, so we’ll see if this bares fruit.

All and all, this is a solid entry and as it’s own thing (Lorenzo was finally forced to admit One is a new universe unrelated to Bayformers), but with the movie currently struggling to make back its budget, it’s functionally a flop right now. It will probably do far better on Streaming like RotB (besides P+, it also did really well on Netflix in other countries) but with people generally being okie-dokie with the film’s premise, hopefully that sees Hasbro using this backstory going forward for other projects as this is what we should’ve had for Aligned, Cyberverse, EarthSpark & IDW, not the crappily written moral ambiguity we’ve been stuck with most people hate.

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

ORIGINAL OUTFITS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

COMING FULL CIRCLE INDEED

Going ALL the way back to their most iconic looks, that speak the most directly to who they are and who they were, and we can SEE the visible differences in their designs. Kurogane’s arm has been replaced, doubling down on his signature colour as he’s become the truest version of himself. And as a FASCINATING parallel to that, his sword is the actual one this time - not a copy or imitation, like HE was before. Haunted by his past as he was, he was a damaged echo of who he was when he was younger, but not anymore. Now Ginryuu is really here and it’s the actualisation of Kurogane BECOMING the Kurogane he was always meant to be. He’s fulfilled his family role by relearning the love his parents taught him, he’s regained his true name by healing from the grief their loss left in him, he has more family than ever before, and now he’s on his way to punish the one who took it all away from him in the first place. Kurogane is PEAK Kurogane. 

And FAI. He’s in his Seresu clothes, but he’s not displaying the damaging lessons Ashura taught him in order to manipulate him into doing what he wanted. Fai isn’t lying anymore - he’s not smiling, he’s not pretending to be happy, the entire facade is gone. He’s showing how he really feels - in a direct contrast to how Ashura taught him to fake smile as the only way to help them since he couldn’t do it with magic. Now he doesn’t even HAVE that magic and he’s helped the people that mean the MOST to him without ever touching it. Fai knows his VALUE now - he knows he is loved, that he loves them back, that that’s ENOUGH, that that ACCOMPLISHES more than magic itself ever did, and that he doesn’t need to fake anything in order to make a difference. 

Also his HAIR is longer. He’s no longer keeping his appearance the same as a facsimile to the twin he wanted to switch places with. He’s healed from that too, moving on as HIMSELF and not just as a living promise that he was manipulated into making in the first place. He’s his own person now, all the chains on him are gone, and there’s nothing in his past looming over every action he takes. He’s free now - and he’s chasing down the man who DID THIS to him in the first place, along with the people he loves. 

OH IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL. 

And then Mokona outlines it for us in words too, because Mokona is still awed by the plot coming back around to the beginning and it’s utterly adorable. Because at this point ME TOO MOKONA.

MEANWHILE I SEE BOOTS AND A CAPE AND I THINK I HAVE THOUGHTS (tm) ABOUT WHAT THIS NEXT PAGE WILL HAVE ON IT

LAVA LAMP DRESSED AS SYAORAN

OH now THAT is interesting

On the one hand it’s a FASCINATING move to make. Because visually? YES, the Syaoran should dress like Syaoran in the beginning of the manga.

But we know now! It’s not the same! This ISN’T the Syaoran we started the manga with! Moreover Lava Lamp NEVER DRESSED THIS WAY. These AREN’T his clothes. He never looked like this! He didn’t grow up in Clow like Syaoran did - though he WAS apparently there, in his Lava Lamp, the whole time. 

And all of THAT is difference enough that we get no other visual signifiers of his growth. His outfit is the SAME because it’s the CHARACTER who’s different. Instead of the clone donning the identity of the original, now it’s the original donning the visual identity of the CLONE. 

And THAT’S an entirely different kind of circle, but I kind of love the inversion of it all. Especially since the last time Lava Lamp left the Clow Kingdom (where he was trapped) he travelled TO Acid Tokyo, in order to hopefully fix Syaoran’s soul. But now Syaoran’s soul IS fixed, and he’s travelling BACK to the Clow Kingdom to find a whole Syaoran instead!

… OH AND HIS EYE. He only has ONE eye in the reaction shot at the end, because that’s an echo of the link he had with Syaoran, and how he ALSO used to have all the single eye imagery that foreshadowed Lava Lamp watching through it his entire life. 

Lava Lamp is the reverse of everything that has happened - the mirror image of things coming full circle, but coming full circle all the same. 

[themattress]

The Brilliance of Sailor Moon Cosmos

Because I watched it on Netflix last night and I'm sorry - I ain't done talking about it!

First off, some background: the Stars arc is the fifth and final story arc of the Sailor Moon manga. According to Naoko Takeuchi's editor, things in the worldbuilding such as the Galaxy Cauldron were a thing in Takeuchi's head since starting the series, and that he was the one who convinced her to make the Stars arc to wrap things up after she initially intended on ending the series at the fourth arc (which was after initially intending to end it at the third...and before that, the first. The second arc was the only one not designed to potentially be the end, despite half of it ironically transpiring at a later chronological point than the other arcs).

Naoko Takeuchi served as the supervisor of the Sailor Moon Crystal web series, which became the Crystal: Infinity TV series, then the Eternal film duology, and finally the Comsos film duology. One particularly cool thing is that Sailor Moon Crystal begins including this shot:

It's the Milky Way galaxy....and Sagittarius A is very noticeable, setting up the end stage from the very beginning, which shows Takeuchi was dead set on adapting the entire manga.

What the preceding Dream arc, adapted in the Eternal films, did perfectly was set things up for this final arc. Things appeared to come full circle as the Sailor Senshi faced an evil queen nemesis to the Silver Millennium that predated Beryl and Metalia, the source of Mamoru's power and connection to Usagi's power was revealed as the Golden Crystal (Golden Crystal and Silver Crystal, Golden Kingdom and Silver Millennium...perfect symmetry!), the Inner and Outer Senshi were fully united, Chibiusa came into her own, and the goal Usagi's had for a while of reaching Neo-Queen Serenity's level finally transpired with her becoming Eternal Sailor Moon, with a heavy emphasis on how it's her loved ones who give her that power.

The end message seemed to be that nothing was more invincible than a Sailor Senshi.

So how does the final arc begin?

An evil Sailor Senshi rips out Mamoru's Golden Crystal, and he fucking DIES!

Oh, wait, sorry; that wasn't how it begins. It actually begins with a meteor shower.

Sound familiar? Well, no, not if you've watched Crystal sadly. But in the manga:

It's a way of saying "Oh, you thought the Dream arc brought things full circle? Just wait."

Now, I didn't care for the Sailor Starlights in the manga. I didn't hate them like in the anime, but I didn't really see the point of them. They were primarily build-up to Princess Kakyuu's character, and there's nothing they did that couldn't have just been given to Kakyuu if she was out and about from the beginning. However, I actually liked them in Cosmos! I think getting to hear their voices in things like their songs plus getting fully animated facial expressions did a lot for them, as did the big change in how they ultimately get taken out. In the manga, they were knocked unconscious by Sailor Lethe and stay that way even as Sailors Phi and Chi eliminate them to take their Sailor Crystals. In Cosmos, they are awake and take an active last stand in protecting Kakyuu, reaffirming that this is their life's mission and that they are proud to fulfill it. It's a stronger send-off and a far better emotional moment for Kakyuu, who now has to watch them die for her rather than simply watch them die.

Chibi Chibi is a fantastic subversion of expectations. She enters as a little pink-haired child from the future with an umbrella, which gives even the characters the impression that she's a Chibiusa retread of sorts. In reality, she couldn't be further from that, as we will later see.

So, Rei and Minako are absolutely a couple. I just can't take this scene any other way.

Another interesting thing to note about the Dream arc in relation to this one is that Usagi, quite deliberately, did not have much of a character arc. Chibiusa took center stage instead, with Usagi's role being more about proving how much she's matured and cementing that, in the words of Kingdom Hearts, her friends are her power. It perfectly sets her up for now, where she has a character arc that shakes her to her core and puts everything that she is to the ultimate test. Those friends are gradually and methodically taken out, starting with her true love. She actually represses that memory and lives in a haze of denial for a good while before finally being forced to confront reality. All of the strength and maturity she's developed seem to be failing her, her hope and faith are threatening to be crushed, and she is tempted to give in to feelings of rage and hate toward Sailor Galaxia. It's all as Galaxia herself plans, as she knows that to claim the Silver Crystal from Sailor Moon, first she has to break her.

Sailor Tin Nyanko of Shadow Galactica is utilized to show how the Sailor Animamtes aren't evil at heart. When Sailor Galaxia attacks their planets, she gives them the sadistic choice of perish with the rest or assist her in destroying everything, with those who accept having mind-controlling bracelets that grant them power put on and their Star Seed holding their soul extracted, meaning that if the bracelets go, so do they. Nyanko is the only of the Animamates that still feels a connection to her soul and still has good intentions behind following Galaxia: to ultimately get her Star Seed back and the bracelets removed, and become the new Sailor Mau on a new planet to honor the memory of the old one and her old planet. After seeing Sailor Moon protect Luna, Artemis and Diana, she lets her live...at the cost of her own life.

My favorite of Takeuchi's story arcs, the Black Moon arc, gains even more relevance in this final arc. First of all, we have Usagi still haunted by Safir's words that she and her Silver Crystal are the cause of everything wrong, which is a sentiment that goes hand in hand with Nehelenia's words in the preceding Dream arc about how light will always beget darkness.

We then get a huge fix to an issue from the previous two arcs: the Black Moon arc set up a definitive future where everyone makes it out OK, so the stakes of the Infinity and Dream arcs feel neutered when you remember this. But here, Sailor Galaxia point-blank challenges the notion that the future is set in stone...and indeed, what we see transpiring in the future shows that she might just be on to something, a theme that is revisited with Chibi Chibi's character.

And finally: Wiseman / Death Phantom! The series' best Big Bad returns with a major role in Sailor Galaxia's backstory. Projecting himself from the future with the Malefic Black Crystal's power, he is the one who guides Galaxia to the Galaxy Cauldron...and, of course, to Chaos.

While both Eternal and Cosmos do the same thing of dividing the manga arc in half, with the first movie being the first 5 and 1/2 chapters and the second movie being the next 5 and 1/2 chapters, Cosmos does it better. Eternal had to close out its first film with the second half of its 6th chapter and open the second film with the first half, which made it feel a little disjointed and caused the first movie to end rather abruptly. Cosmos, meanwhile, has its first film just end on the first half of its 6th chapter, which is a way more appropriate place to finish given that it follows a battle with Sailor Galaxia herself and has Usagi firmly rediscovering her heroic resolve, cutting off just before she and her new friends leave Earth to go into space.

I love Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne. They have a sad and understandable backstory regarding how they joined Shadow Galactica and what they seek to gain from it, the compellingly tragic factor of Lethe hardening her heart and bloodying her hands all for Mnemosyne's sake with the latter having to anguish over this, and a great redemption with Mnemosyne finally stepping up to stop Lethe and undo the damage she's caused which is shortly afterward followed by the previously stubborn Lethe finally standing down after Usagi is willing to allow herself to be killed in order to secure a better future for them. I also love that after they are killed, they are included in Usagi's flashback to all of the friends she has lost.

Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon is the definition of a One Scene Wonder. She's only on screen for two minutes, but my God: the butterflies in a funeral procession, the graveyard of all Sailor Senshi that Shadow Galactica has killed, the gravediggers she has digging fresh graves for Usagi, Kakyuu and Chibi Chibi, the way she fucking crucifies them and then tries to burn them alive all as she relishes it....it's simply unforgettable. But OK...she goes out like a bitch. One-tapped by the Sailor Quartet doing a circus routine kind of puts a damper on her overall.

The Inner and Outer Senshi as mind-controlled zombies is a twisted but perfect penultimate hurdle for Usagi to overcome: can she kill her precious friends, the source of her strength? But I will admit to groaning when Mamoru showed up as well. "Whaaaat? Tuxedo Mask is brainwashed and evil!?" Haven't seen that before! No, wait, we've seen it twice before! It's no longer effective. He really could have just stayed vacantly at Galaxia's side and not said a word before getting shoved to his second demise and that would have been perfectly fine.

The animators spared no expense on this battle. Hot DAMN.

Bad touch, Galaxia! BAD TOUCH!

Speaking of Galaxia, her plan is brilliant. She not only deliberately broke Usagi down, but she also fully counted on Usagi building herself back up, which would make it all the more devastating when Galaxia melted all the loved ones she sought to revive into the Galaxy Cauldron, followed by Chaos revealing the truth about itself to her. Usagi would then be so unstable that her power would go out of control. When Chaos then tries to possess her and the Silver Crystal, Usagi would wipe Chaos out along with herself, leaving the Silver Crystal and control of the universe for Galaxia. Another full circle type moment calling Beryl and Metalia to mind. And it would've worked, too....were Chaos not fully aware of it, of course.

Speaking of Chaos and the truth about itself: it's a being that failed to make it out of the Galaxy Cauldron and become a star, which warped it and turned it into pure evil, negative energy. While still unable to escape the Cauldron, parts of Chaos have been able to leak out of it, and they became all the major enemies Sailor Moon has faced. The point is that so long as Chaos exists, so too will conflict. The battle between good and evil will rage on forever.

After Usagi defies all of Galaxia's expectations by saving her life from Chaos, we get one of the story's biggest, most subversive twists. Chibi Chibi, in reality Sailor Cosmos, the Big Good, has all this time been waiting for the moment at hand where she can urge Usagi to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron in order to destroy Chaos...even though this ultimately means the death of the galaxy since no new stars will be born. She is the advocate for the wrong solution. And then Galaxia, the Big Bad, becomes the advocate for the right solution through a resigned acceptance that no matter how much power you have, you cannot control the nature of existence. Even if this galaxy dies, another one would be reborn, and the conflict between good and evil would continue. Destroying the Galaxy Cauldron is not the answer.

This also leads to Galaxia's death scene, and despite how horrifically evil she has been, it still got me a little misty-eyed. Galaxia was not born evil, she was shaped that way through a truly hellish life on a barbaric medieval planet, and she always sought to heal the wounds it left on her soul with more and more power, attempting to make herself into a god in order to finally feel a sense of belonging. But only now at the end does she see that Sailor Moon, the person she had tried so hard to break, is actually the true sort of person she wished to become, and that true security and belonging lay in her values of compassion and acceptance. She is the star Galaxia has sought for so long, but as she puts it, she can't reach it. It's far too late for her to be that sort of person. But at least she can hope that Sailor Moon will last forever, since as long as she does then wretched souls like her can still find salvation in her light.

I mentioned before that this arc and its thesis statement is sort of like Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but there's actually another comparison to be made: to Neon Genesis Evangelion. The messages of "so long as life goes on, as existence exists, then there will always be hope no matter how dark things get" and "every human at their core yearns to be with others and achieve a sense of belonging" are in both. And Usagi's epic final act displays this beautifully: combining Galaxia's Sailor Crystal with her own so that even she too can be reborn, she dives into the Galaxy Cauldron and pushes the ascendant Chaos back downward, her heart resonating with the Cauldron's power in the process. She succeeds in causing the Cauldron's energy to erupt like a geyser and send all the Star Seeds within back into the galaxy, and even attempts to embrace and purify Chaos, who pushes her off and accepts falling back into the primordial sea rather than be redeemed. It's a stunning and truly inspirational conclusion.

Can I just say how hilarious it is that all of the Sailor Senshi, including Sailor Moon herself, die in this arc....except for the Sailor Quartet, who somehow manage to outlive all of them and never once get killed and reborn. Never underestimate those four circus trolls, it seems!

When I originally read the manga, the whole Sailor Cosmos stuff was the most confusing to me, but the movie clarified it a lot better. Sailor Cosmos is the future version of Neo-Queen Serenity, who has achieved the highest possible level of power due to tapping into her bond with the Cosmo Crystal (the Galaxy Cauldron's own Star Seed) and Guardian Cosmos (basically God) that she achieved through this big sacrificial act. The Japanese version was far more blatant about this connection, as Sailor Cosmos had Guardian Cosmos' voice.

If Cosmos is God, then Chaos is the Devil. And in the far future, Chaos finally escapes the Galaxy Cauldron and incarnates as Sailor Chaos. Rather than just be grateful that she's now a star, Chaos continues to lash out in resentment of all those who became stars before her and wreaks destruction as she tries to conquer the universe. The brutal war between Sailor Cosmos and Sailor Chaos lasted so long that for all her great power, Sailor Cosmos lost all hope of prevailing, which is why she transformed into Chibi Chibi and went back in time in order to persuade her past self to destroy Chaos and the Galaxy Cauldron. But witnessing her past self's hope and faith utterly shamed her, making her realize that she can never truly be the ultimate incarnation of Sailor Moon unless she recovers that same hope and faith. Honestly, this is an ingenious Izuru Kamakura-style deconstruction of a Power Fantasy - Usagi can become immortal, insanely beautiful, and powerful to the point of being a living god, yet still end up as a failure and a coward who is outshone by her greener teenage self.

The movie adds this scene of Usagi going home and reuniting with her family and Luna to address two long-standing fan complaints about the manga. The first was that we never saw any of the cats after their death, which I always found to be oversensitive: we confirm that the Crystal Tokyo future is coming to pass, meaning Diana will be born, so of fucking course Luna and Artemis are alive again; everyone who died in this arc was revived when the Galaxy Cauldron erupted and the Star Seeds released. But the other, which is far more valid, is that we don't see Usagi's Earth family again following the scene where she leaves to go to space and Ikuko starts crying because she feels like it will be the last time they ever see her. This feels like a more valid complaint, since it feels cruel to have that scene be indeed the last time Usagi's Earth family ever sees her on-screen, plus it reinforces their importance to her.

Finally, I appreciate how the scene where Usagi wakes up in bed with Mamoru frames her as having forgotten much of what transpired in the arc as a result of her going in and out of the Galaxy Cauldron...not everything, of course, but a lot of it is now hazy. This means that she most likely doesn't remember Chibi Chibi, which in turns means that will allow her to become Chibi Chibi when she's Sailor Cosmos in the far future. It seems to reinforce that in the setting of Sailor Moon, time travel is in fact incapable of changing history, only fulfilling it. Crystal Tokyo and Neo-Queen Serenity wouldn't have happened without the Black Moon Clan trying to destroy them in the past, Neo-Queen Serenity also couldn't have come into being without the Holy Grail which was partly made by a time-traveling Chibiusa, Sailor Pluto couldn't have been on hand when she was needed had she not died in the future and gotten reincarnated in the past, Galaxia couldn't have met Chaos and set everything in motion if Wiseman hadn't projected himself from the future to tell her about the Galaxy Cauldron, and Sailor Moon couldn't have made her big decision concerning the Galaxy Cauldron if not for Sailor Cosmos as Chibi Chibi being there trying to push her into making the opposite choice.

Bravo, Naoko Takeuchi. I know it was a pain to have to keep working on Sailor Moon for longer than you ever anticipated, but you could not have ended it on a more perfect note.

[silversatin2105]

I'd love for a fic on Baji x fem reader who is struggling with depression and anxiety (the way he takes care of everyone is so sweet)

Hi

Yeah I can write that situation, I do hope that my Interpretation of how depression can manifest is accurate to what you were requesting if not I can reword it upon request and without further delay I present the scenario to you.

Trigger warnings:

Depression

Anxiety

“ a problem shared is a problem halved”

Keisuke Baji X Fem-Reader who suffers from depression and anxiety Scenario:

You had always suffered from bouts of low moods, hell to you it felt normal and during times of high stress they manifested itself more intensely, you’d loose all interest in your public image, you’d neglect bathing, you’d stay up super late just distracting yourself with any little pointless thing, burning yourself alive emotionally because you accepted this a the norm, however you had this loving beast of a guy who knew your tells and when to tell you “No stop it …its enough” and one morning he did this for you.

It was a dreary Monday afternoon, it was raining outside and you had just gotten up from what pitiful amount of sleep you managed to muster, you yawned and shambled into the kitchen of where you lived in Harajuku, you pulled your phone from your pocket and looked at the screen with your tired eyes, dark circles from too many nights stressing over the littlest thing, as you scrolled though unopened texts your phone began to ring and a famillar name appeared in the caller ID, your guy “Keisuke Baji”.

“Hey there Y/N been a few days since you contacted me, How’s it going?” Keisuke inquired in a slightly worried tone as you answered the call, You didn’t know what to say, you had done it again, unintentionally you ghosted him, you came out of your brain fog and began lightly crying as you began to speak.

“H-hello Kei..im…” you began to speak, it didn’t take Keisuke long to notice that your voice was monotone, that you sounded tired and with that he knew what to do, he needed to get you out for some fresh air, to stop you from burning out any further, to cheer you up and help you smile again, within five minutes it turned from a phone call to full blown plans for an impromptu date as Keisuke told you to be ready in 30 minutes, that he was coming over.

Whatever you had planned for that day was cancelled, not that you were planning on doing anything amazing and if you protested he knew that you needed out of the house even if it was for an hour, you sat on the backseat of his bike as he drove you through the streets of Tokyo, the destination a zoo in Tokyo.

You both walked through the zoo, Hand in hand as he could sense your unease and apathy to the whole situation , you both looked at the animals and in the enclosures and their fuzzy little faces appeared to cheer you up.

“Hey Dear..(one of his names for you) they even have a petting Zoo…lets go see it !” Keisuke chimed in knowing your fondness of small fuzzy animals and within space of no time you were sitting inside the petting zoo with a small grey rabbit in your arms as you pet its little head you started to feel a little bit more like your usual self, a small smile on your face as Keisuke sat with a little brown rabbit on his lap.

“That rabbit is cute, just like you” Keisuke complimented you with his usual toothed grin, to a degree it did cheer you up but it was early days, you were still far from a ball of light but you seemed brighter even after one date and so for the foreseeable you and Keisuke had little meet ups just like this on the fly even if he had to blow off Toman meetings, he’d just have Chifuyu take notes for him, big bear hugs were a must along with breaks from stressful things, He even brought you manga to read and would give you positive affirmations everyday.

It took a while for that spark in your soul to return but with unconditional love and care from Keisuke it came back and little by little you smiled more, you laughed more and hung out with the gang of lunatics Keisuke hung out with a little more, after a while all of first division called you comrade, Keisuke and his friends were a little different but with their gentle encouragement and Keisuke’s unconditional and unending love you had found a support network albeit a one that was built different.

END SCENE

[meimi-haneoka]

i feel like i need to give you this ask as a free space to talk about yunaaki in the final chapter 🤭 i need yunaaki content in my life and i KNOW you're the right person to ask for it 🤲

YOUUUU, YOU ANON! YOU'RE A GOOD PERSON!!!

I dunno who you are but you're a friend to my heart and I thank you for it! 😂 (why do I have the feeling I already know you, though...? 😂)

Okay, since you so graciously gave me the chance (I would've probably made a post anyway but this motivates me more), let's explore the final chapter from the YunaAki point of view and let's analyze what happened!

UNDER THE CUT!

It was obviously wonderful for me to see them finally reunited and living in that house again. I have to be very honest before diving into the analysis of their scene, I had expected Kaito to "talk a little more", express a bit more how he felt, what he understood from all of this, but I guess CLAMP really want us to infer it on our own by what's shown in the scene itself. Ohkawa did say, during a Space, "I hope that people will re-read the story once it's over, and ask themselves why a certain character acted the way he did". With Kaito, the understanding of his character is a job they leave completely up to us. And it kinda makes sense because he's a real introvert, he doesn't really speak earnestly about his emotions or feelings, he's just barely started to accept to let them out and follow his heart so in a way, it's totally in character. Just like Syaoran, his feelings are not really expressed by words, but by actions. And in this finale he did something huge, to pass the message through.

But let's take a step back and talk about the beginning of their scene: what caught my attention is that Akiho didn't even hang her coat, probably she went straight up to his bedroom and took it off there. This is why I love CLAMP so much, they tell you so many things just by portraying certain details. Details that tell a story. Akiho couldn't wait to see and talk to him and didn't even give herself the time to remove and hang her coat. Probably that was the first day he felt good enough to talk, and she must have waited in agony all those days (he took longer than Sakura, I want to remind you). Despite what she'll say at the very end, this girl truly loves Kaito with an unconditional love.

Another thing that I loved to see, is Kaito's sweet smile while she tells him of the reaction of her friends at school, after hearing she'd be tranferring abroad. She said "I was happy to hear that" and that is enough for him to feel his heart filling with warmth and bring on his face that sweet smile that we saw so many times directed at her, throughout the story. It is a bit difficult to frame precisely his expression because now he's got the dragon eyes, so you don't see his pupils like the other characters, you only see a "fog" where the pupils are supposed to be, but if in your mind you "replace" it with the normal pupils you'll feel the warmth and sweetness of his expression better.

Everything speaks of love in this scene. The way Akiho nonchalantly says "I'll make the no-fry croquettes" and any soul who's reading this manga and cares about their story even just a little can't help but remember "awww, the ones she asked Sakura to teach her, to cook them as a surprise for Kaito". It was her first step towards autonomy (something she felt bad about, because she always had to rely on other people and she couldn't be ok with that anymore) and it was for him. She made those croquettes even for their date... That's also why it hurt a little when they've shown us she cooked them for the Kinomoto family. It made sense because without him, they were the closest ones to her, but that was something that she learned for him... So this scene reconciled me with that low blow I had felt earlier on!

Kaito apologizing really felt like the world started spinning in the right direction, like everything was coming full circle. There was nobody else who could make him stop and understand what he went wrong about. She truly is the only one who got any type of "power" over him. Not even Momo could reach there. And I love that he's apologizing for thinking and deciding things on his own, without asking her anything, but he's not apologizing for wanting to save her. He'll never regret that, I'm sure. And I don't think anyone in Tomoeda (and beyond) is blaming him for that. Kaito knows perfectly well that Akiho is someone strong enough to decide her destiny on her own, her strong spirit was forged by overcoming the child abuse she experienced. And this is not something he understood now, Kaito always had a lot of respect for her and for her strength, in fact that one time he almost lost control of his emotions in front of her in chapter 61, he had already expressed how much he believed in her.

But the heart is a complex beast, and when you mix love and fear there's going to be irrational outcomes. The fear to lose someone you love can be destructive. Moreover, this is something that started and was decided when he still didn't know her very well. When he accepted to have the Seal of D. imposed on him, he signed off his demise. Because it was either about staying (and not saving her), or freeing her from the artifact. And there's no doubt that he would choose the second one, no matter what. Even when he started feeling that heart inside beating faster and making his hand try to reach out to her multiple times. Even when his face was screwed into pain everytime the topic of the play came up. Nothing was going to be more important than her survival. Despite all of that, he doesn't make up excuses in this scene, his apology is absolutely honest.

And then, to show her how serious he is with this, he does something that I had hoped for this finale, because it would've confirmed even further just how much he loves her. The true name revelation to me felt equal to a declation of love, I'm not exaggerating. As CLAMP fans know and as it was explained by Yuuko in xxxHolic, if you give someone your true name, they can take your soul. Not only that, but Momo did remind him in chapter 51 of how dangerous can be to disclose one's true name, especially for a magician: "When you made the contract with me, you told me your true name. We could say I have your magician's heart in my hands. You wanted the power of the Book so much that you didn't care about betting it away". Kaito was just lucky that Momo is a very kind creature (or better, he already knew and that's why he did it), but he did make a dangerous move, there. Momo tried to use that warning to make him realize who he was doing this for.

And I think it's kinda emblematic that he decided to reveal his true name to Akiho right after apologizing. Akiho had cried about not having a name to call him with to scold him as he deserved, and here he wants to make up for that, with something more important than the name she's called him with till now. Kaito surely is barely starting to realize all matters concerning love, he's surely just beginning to get a grasp of what he feels for Akiho (and that's perfectly fine and works well for them), but if there's something he has understood in the last 2/3 chapters is that Akiho is everything to him. Her existence is stronger than the call of death, than his depression, than his little self-worth, than his destructive tendencies. Akiho is what pulls him towards life, and she proved to him that not even a tremendous forbidden magic could erase her feelings for him. She proved to him that she truly loves him. Hence why he wants to reveal his true name to her. Akiho is perfectly aware of the importance and even danger of revealing a true name, since she comes from a family of magicians (and Momo, in the Drama CD 2, did spell out that Akiho knew of the whole true names matter), that's why she asks him if he's sure. And his reply, of course, sent me over the moon, with that あなた between brackets. 🥹 If there's anyone who can know his true name, if there's anyone he wants to know, it's her. With this act, he's basically telling her "take my soul, it's yours". I mean, is there anything more powerful than that??? See, the first time he tried to "give all of himself for her", it didn't go quite well. But now that he understood what he needed to understand, he's trying again, this time giving her the most vulnerable part of himself, without damaging anyone.

In CCS, there are several ways in which the characters tell "I love you" to their loved ones. Sakura chose the iconic "you're my most important person" (it is to be noted that, till this day, she's never said the most classic "suki da yo" to Syaoran). Syaoran, as the straightforward and honest boy he is, went for the classic and direct "suki da" (I love you). Akiho first tried with a poetic and indirect way, "the moon is beautiful", but in the finale, when she desperately felt the need to express her feelings, she chose "my most important person" just like Sakura, and she repeated it several times. For Kaito, we could say he chose this indirect but also very powerful way to express what he feels. He feels enough for her to entrust his entire soul to her. And Akiho, well....we can barely see her hand and torso when she agrees to listen to the precious information, but the panel is framed in such a shoujo way (with all those bubbles in the background), that I'm sure she felt really touched by that....I think she understood what he was trying to do.

The moment he reveals his true name will forever be at the top of my favorite scenes. There's just so much emotional tension here. It's like you can cut it with a knife. And the way she replies, I have already mentioned in my commentary post how significant it is, how she appropriates that g*ddamned "blank book" comparison to turn it into a way for her to decide her life from now on. And his true name, his true essence, is going to be on the most important page of her book, to make sure she never forgets about it ever again. But I have to admit that I've also thought "dear lord Akiho, that's so cheesy, are you already flirting???" 😂😂😂😂 Well, it's not like Kaito minds, actually, he's pretty happy here 🥹

Again that sweet, tender smile, those eyes he only reserves to her. 🥲 Only Akiho can make him happy in this way.

Other things to mention: Kaito's stopped time. OF COURSE I've screamed when I've read that, because of what it means for a ship with an age difference like this one 😂but at the same time, it seems to me like a very powerful statement from CLAMP: these two will keep being always themselves, nothing will change even if their external appearance will, because Akiho will keep growing up eventually into a beautiful young woman, and he's likely still going to look like he looks now. I don't see them finding a way to fix Kaito's problems anytime soon. But the fact is, what really matters here is their mental maturity, and that will proceed hand in hand because Kaito is just so inexperienced and immature, and that already made him closer to her than his external appearance might have suggested. These two will basically grow up together and I think that's so beautiful. I think they've already shown plenty of how the external shape doesn't matter at all when it comes to true love, cause Akiho had recognized her beloved Kaito even with the appearance of a dragon. It is a bit unfair that we couldn't see his reaction to her "my most important person" with his true face, but I think that was done to reiterate the concept. So, age gap or not, these two for me are soulmates and CLAMP have reiterated the same stuff in countless ways.

Other thing of course I cannot avoid mentioning is the scene we got right at the end, where Akiho confides her true name to Sakura and says she will withhold it from Kaito for the moment being, because she's still a bit mad at him! 😂A month passed by but it's just normal that she still feels the burn, cause he really messed up big time!

I absolutely love that part for two reasons: first, it's so funny to see how the tables turned; she was the one who looked more in love out of the two, and would do anything to get his attention, but now things are kinda reversed and we know that Kaito literally changed an entire world for her, and even gave her his true name: as I always say, she basically owns his ass 😂😂 This is *exactly* the dynamic I've always pictured between them, even after the events of CCS and I'm glad that canon confirmed it for me! 🥹 Second, it's just another confirmation of her strong, assertive personality and self-awareness: Akiho knows that Kaito hurt her a lot with what he did, and knows that her feelings are valid, so she's got the right to still be mad and take things easy with him. After being hurt by someone we love, we might need some time to get back on track and trust them completely, 100% again. Forgiveness isn't automatic, it's a process. The deeper the wound, the longer it'll take to heal. And even after a month, there's seemingly still so much she has to elaborate about this. It's not that Akiho wants to withhold her true name from him because she doesn't love him as much anymore, but choosing to entrust your soul when you're still so vulnerable might be quite difficult at the moment. Kaito needs to work hard to have such a intimate and important part of her, but I'm sure she'll be ready to disclose it at a very important (and romantic) moment. (I'll have to imagine it by myself???? CLAMP??) For that reason, I loved how CLAMP have shown once again that Akiho now is completely in control of her choices, she's never been emotionally dependant on Kaito and she's never had a toxic relationship with him. This truly isn't a thing of chapter 80, but not even of chapter 78, she's been assertive like this for long time (chapter 52 chapter 52 chapter 52).

The future looks radiant for Akiho, despite the difficulties they might find on their way to heal Kaito, but she truly looks happy at the thought of travelling around with her true love. Look how beautiful and happy she is here!!

By the way, I think Kaito asked Syaoran for his contact also because he needs to ask advices for his relationship with Akiho!! 😂😂😂😂 Now that even Momo left them, he's really on his own for that!!!

Of course I always hope to see more in the special chapter in March, but I am quite satisfied with what they've shown us in the finale! ❤️

Thank you again, anon, for giving me the opportunity to talk about these two in depth once again!

[waitmyturtles]

do you prefer bls which are adapted from pre-existing ips (novel/manga/webtoon...) or do you prefer original bl works? specifically for thai bls, i feel like there's not many original scripted bl series out there, off the top of my head only itsay and mlc comes to mind. or even when it's original sometimes they'd release a novel version first too? (eg: never let me go, only friends, dangerous romance, last twilight...)

Thank you for the ask, Non! Such an interesting question to ponder.

I don't think I have a preference. I took this question back to my amazing BL elders circle, and we chatted about various states of provenance for canon material. What's particularly fascinating by way of trends now in Thailand is when a screenplay gets written first, and the Y novel gets written after, which I think has happened only extremely rarely in Japan and Korea. What's interesting about this phenomenon to me is the cultural "need" for a novel component to be associated with a show, as original Y novels were so very integral to the birth of the BL/Series Y genre in Thailand with the premiere and adaptation of Love Sick from an original novel. I happen to like the component that fans of a drama need a full-circle experience with a novel to accompany the process of being a fan of a drama series.

But all that being said, there are times when it's clear that a screenplay is based off a novel, times when it's clear that a script is original, and times when none of this is clear. When a drama is good, it's usually when the right balance of script, editing, and acting excellence has been hit, and I don't think that's necessarily always dependent on there needing to be a prior source material element. It should hopefully be as simple as that. I had my first full-circle experience with a drama and a novel when I watched, then read the source material for, I Feel You Linger In The Air, and the novel did indeed change how I felt about the drama (I want more sassy Jom, damn it!). But that process was a LOT of fun to go through, particularly because the novel's plot happened to be quite solid, and the show's director, Tee Bundit, futzed around with the plot in ways that indeed suited his vision for sad boyz, but also added drama and unexpected spotlights on other equity issues that I think made the drama a lovely piece of art on its own.

The Elders DID remind me that the second season of Minato's Laundromat was original, not based in manga canon, and that may have sunk the show -- without the direction of the manga, the screenwriters may not have known how to tie plot knots as well on their own. In the end, if a novel, a manga, a manhwa, or a drama series is great, I'm happy to celebrate that piece of art without putting pressure on it to influence other pieces of art. I just hope the time I spend watching dramas ends up being worth the payoff!

I hope this kinda answers your question, Non!

[duckiemimi]

jjk episode 29 thoughts!

wow…just wow.

the opening title card dating back to august 2007 was so poignant to me because if i’m not mistaken, high schoolers in japan graduate in march, and though i know jujutsu tech has a four year curriculum, i can’t help but think that if geto stayed until at least march 2008, it would’ve been somewhat of a milestone for him, considering if he never got scouted, he would’ve graduated by then.

i especially appreciate the detail into the sound engineering in this episode, the lengthy, strategic silences that aim to linger, and i especially appreciate the sound of the pitter patter of geto’s shower/the rain morphing into the cult applause as he thought about non-sorcerers. and then they gave us a full circle moment by introducing cult leader geto with the sound of the organization’s applause, i really liked how tidy they tied the loose ends up. i do wish that the geto cult leader scene was paced a little slower, though, everything happened so fast. perhaps it’s to juxtapose the long, long downward spiral sequence that took up most of the episode.

speaking of, they did a great job portraying geto’s downward spiral with yuki’s words (“make one of them your true thought”), miminana and what was implied, the pitter patter of rain/the shower; overall fantastic buildup. the way they animated him to look so exhausted and lost and unstable, him physically zoning out as we hear his racing thoughts—i thought the way they animated it was so effective. the little sequence we get when he went on his rampage, of him standing straight-faced in the midst of wild blue flames, screams all around. the button. absolute chills.

let’s talk about the shinjuku breakup. i thought it would be more emotional? it was definitely emotional in the vol 0 movie, and though the animation is cleaner and better in the anime, it packs less of a punch? maybe it has something to do with how bright the scene was (yellow overlay in contrast to the grey blue we saw in the movie) or maybe it’s the music choice? (it’s definitely the music choice.) i do understand that maybe they went ahead with these artistic decisions to juxtapose the movie, like a “this is what happened vs. this is how they remembered it” type of theme.

i love how we can viscerally feel gojo’s hurt and confusion. i’m a sucker for lingering scenes, so i did wish it was longer, but the voice acting alone made up for it.

seeing the main trio after the manga leaks yesterday is active cognitive dissonance, i tell you. and ending the episode with geto and gojo playing in the fucking rain was unusually cruel. but it was the ending song that made me cry for real, when the music goes half-time? waterworks :’) i do wonder if they planned that since the beginning of the season (they probably did) because that half-time sequence with sashisu and nanami and haibara just being teenagers absolutely shattered my heart this time </3

gojo’s little laugh when the main trio woke him up is nothing short of crazy. what kind of person dreams about their biggest trauma and laughs upon waking up? someone with issues, that’s who. maybe he laughed because as soon as his six eyes detected the kids, he knew that the past is the past and he can only be happy with what he has in front of him? well, as happy as he can be.

anyway, the episode lived up to my expectations, ascended beyond them, and i can’t believe we’re getting a filler episode next…with the main trio…that’s all we’ll have before shibuya, GOD.

[kimbapisnotsushi]

managers? managers. let's go!!

(aka kennedy made an excellent excellent post and i realized I WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM so now we have miyagi manager headcanons bc i don't do nearly enough for them . . . also have a healthy side of runayachi)

runa feels like soft synth pop and slow sweet indie music and makes playlists to show her love, so while yachi definitely does not understand the significance of getting a playlist from her the rest of johzenji does!!

she's in charge of the aux cord when they hit the road for games and the team always has the best time jamming out together even if they have no volume control and annoy every car within a five mile radius

(also if you remember my post where higashi and narita bond over playlists? this is totally where higashi gets it from)

speaking of which i think yachi is pretty oblivious when it comes to someone actively trying to flirt with her, especially if it's not in a way she recognizes from shoujo manga LMAAAO

it's because she always thought she was in the background!!! character b!!!! a tree!!! she doesn't think that stuff would happen to her!!! she reads high school romance manga and recognizes the obvious stuff when it happens (i.e. hinata grabbing her hand and pulling her through the city on a mad dash) but it's a SURPRISE bc why would it happen to HER!!!! she doesn't think anyone would be interested in her enough, and definitely would not flirt in ways she's not familiar with!!!

so basically runa is in for a hell of a time trying to show yachi she likes her without saying it

runa got convinced to sign up as team manager when misaki caught her crouching outside the gym one day bc she was trying to figure out a way to repay jiri and higashi for helping her catch her dog when he'd gotten loose during a walk the other day

otherwise runa would be in the music club with her mad piano/keyboard skills

sometimes misaki wonders if she took something away from runa because runa really is talented and would probably thrive in music club and she always seems so anxious with the team (they can be a bit much, she knows) and she tells runa that it's okay for her to leave not knowing that it would break her entire heart

is runa not wanted??? did she do something wrong??? did they not like her??? but she thought she was getting along so well with them, she really considered them her friends . . .

anyways everyone barely lasts two days before they're clamoring to get runa back and it turns into a whole messy thing where runa keeps avoiding them bc seeing them hang out without her makes her sad so it becomes a game of "who the hell can get runa to stay still and let us talk"

in the end it's jiri (FULL CIRCLE!!!) who manages to get her to listen and there's a lot of tears and snot and hugs from everyone all around

nametsu kicks ass in competitive pokemon battling. i don't even know how it works myself i just know she would

she'd really like to design/code her own game someday and have her own game development studio!!! her notebooks are full of little doodles and sketches of all her ideas

(i am still so salty we never got a timeskip appearance for her)

through the power of 'everyone is following everyone in the high school boys' volleyball circuit' nametsu gets hooked up with kenma and he becomes her number one beta tester and gamer nerd friend

she's a big fan of visual novels and mmorpgs and ropes futakuchi, aone, onagawa, and obara into playing with her

okay yeah kogane and sakunami too

(she tried with the third years, but moniwa is for some reason terrible with technology, kamasaki keeps trying to fight things like 20 levels higher than him and dies without ever improving, and sasaya just likes collecting things to cook with)

also i DO think nametsu actually grows pretty close to runa and yachi and keeps an eye out for them because as much as yachi and runa admired kiyoko and misaki they were third years with their shit (relatively) together as the third years tended to be, whereas nametsu is a hot mess second year figuring things out (which makes her less scary) but still has the experience that lets runa and yachi see her as some sort of authority even if it's just by a year

tl;dr nametsu is more approachable as a second year so she, yachi, and runa actually develop more of a friendship where neither yachi or runa are tripping over their tongues all the time

also!!! childhood best friends with futakuchi!!!!

i like to think that nametsu and futakuchi met aone in middle school and they took him under their wing, which means aone's social buffs were futakuchi being a little bitch and nametsu being a little bitch in a completely opposite way

in nametsu's first year she got insecure bc she didn't know if the team saw her as "aone's and futakuchi's friend" and only talked to her because of that or if they cared about her as a person individually and she was too afraid to ask

but they did!!!!! onagawa always walked partway home with her even after they left futakuchi and aone, obara always wanted her opinion on pc mods and games and whatever, moniwa always asked to go out to coffee shops and hang out . . . and so on and so forth

nametsu didn't really believe it until they all pitched in to throw her a surprise birthday party and the cake was her favorite flavor (chocolate orange) and futakuchi was like "yeah i put onagawa and obara in charge of that and didn't really tell them to do much other than don't fuck it up" which meant. they LISTENED to her and they cared enough to know her favorite flavor and to even decorate it with a stupid coding joke and and and -

she almost burst out into tears right then and there

it was okay, though. they ended up having a lot of fun!

(even if they almost committed arson trying to light up the candles)

[risuola]

BROKEN PROMISE — F. READER x GOJO SATORU

He promised he will never leave you.

cw: angst, manga SPOILERS – AND I MEAN IT, IF YOU DON’T FOLLOW THE MANGA DO NOT READ (spoilers regarding chapters 223-236), hurt, blood, death, sadness – all of that jazz, reader is pregnant — 1,1k words

a/n: one of TWO endings to PROMISE – this one's angsty, it’ll rub salt into open wounds, it might make you cry, read the warnings please. If sadness and sorrow isn’t what you’re looking for right now, check THIS FLUFFY alternate ending out!

He made a promise, so he had to keep it.

Satoru promised to never leave you and your daughter, so why you felt like this?

Sitting there, watching how the fight was moving, following every movement of your dearest husband only to see him fail, time after time, over and over. Every time he seemed to be on top, the cursed king crawled back up. Every time something unimaginable happened, something equally unreal followed. Why were you here, stuck in the room full of tv’s, unable to do anything?

Waves of nausea were crashing over you one after another, your breaths slowly turned sharp and shallow as the terror in front of your own eyes played like the bad horror movie. You kept your shaky hands over your belly, smoothing nervous circles over it and your daughter that up until this time was sleeping with calm, now began turning. Your nerves finally got to her.

Your chest began rising and falling at an alarming rate as the panic slowly was taking over, and it’s only the reassuring squeeze on your shoulders, Shoko’s trembling hands, that kept you somewhat grounded. You didn’t even notice her there before, you barely noticed anything in the room. It was only him, struggling to win the fight that from the beginning felt unwinnable.

Thoughts clashed inside your head, your mind was racing off the cliff and you felt like no brakes would stop it now. You were hot, feverish even, but the sweat that glistened over your forehead and the back of your neck felt like ice. Your throat was clenching, as if your own heart got stuck there, preventing you from breathing and you felt the tears threatening to roll down your eyes, when Satoru faced three opponents at one. You managed to make the sound of Yuuta’s voice, because he was right next to you. He tried to hop in and help, he wanted to support his sensei and you wanted nothing more than to join Gojo’s side yourself. You wanted nothing more than to give him whatever power was inside of you, to take the burden of this fight off his shoulders, that although broad and strong, seemed to slowly collapse under the weight. “No,” someone told the boy, but you couldn’t recognize the voice. “It’s his fight, we’d only get in his way,” he reasoned, and you knew it was true, but still wondered if anything would go differently if there was someone, anyone, that would support your love on the battlefield?

And then, it was silent. With the grounds of Shinjuku permanently scarred by the largest, most powerful purple that you had a chance to see, everything around you went silent. Sukuna was standing, barely, bearing deep damages over Megumi’s body and Satoru was there as well. He was wounded, but he was fine. Satoru was fine, he won. Satoru won. He won.

“Something’s wrong…”, you whispered, with eyes glued to the screen, paying no mind into the quiet cheers and comments that were coming to your ears from the very back of the rooms. Satoru won, you should be now exhaling in relief, but why it felt that wrong? “Sukuna’s still standing, it’s not over…”

“What are you talking about, he won, he-“ someone tried to scold you, but it took just a second to shut the whole sound down.

You caught a glimpse of a smirk stretching the lips on Megumi’s face and something bright blinded your eyes for a moment. And then, next thing you saw took your breath away. A deafening silence rang inside your brain, your body stiffened, every muscle tensed at the sight of the purest terror. The sight you could never imagine, the sight of Gojo Satoru, cut in half, on the ground. Blood gushing out of his torn out torso, the lower half of his body still standing as if it didn’t realize how light it became.

Gojo lost.

He promised he will never leave you.

The silence suffocated you. You couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t think and only thing that kept you from passing out was the waves of pain shooting out of your shoulder, where Shoko kept her grip iron and shaking. You felt like everything you went through up until this point rushed in front of your eyes, you felt like your own heart was ripped out of your chest and stomped over. Blood left your face and you could feel your body tensing up even more. You could feel your baby girl twisting and turning inside your belly, her feet were constantly kicking your abdominal walls as if she tried to snap you out of the trance. She was the reason you had to keep living, when now you wished nothing more than to die. With him.

Getting up, despite many protests and objections, in few seconds you made your way to the battlefield. As you dropped to your knees right next to Satoru’s body, he still seemed to be aware of what’s around him. He breathed out the smallest huff of air when you landed your hand over his bloodied cheek.

“You did well, Satoru,” you whispered to him.

“So…rry…”, he mouthed, no voice leaving his mouth, but his blue eyes shifted from the sky to your face. “Sorry,” he tried once again and once again, just air slipped over his tongue.

“It’s alright, love,” you told him, caressing his pale skin with your trembling hand.

“I promised,” another try resulted in more blood gushing from his mouth.

“It’s okay. We’ll take care of her together; I know you’ll always be there.”

A tear gathered in the corner of Gojo’s eye, but you were quick to wipe it away with your thumb.

“You don’t need to be the strongest anymore, Satoru,” your whisper caused the corner of his lips go up just slightly. “I love you so much. You can rest now.”

His mouth shivered as he tried to shape them into one more “love you”, before he stilled.

Leaning in, you pressed a kiss to his forehead, gently closing his eyes and finally, the tears burst out of your eyes. It’s as if you were holding them, sparing him the sight of your cries, because if he couldn’t be the strongest anymore, you had to be as strong as you could. But now, you couldn’t feel him anymore.

He lost.

But he promised.

A scream ripped through your throat, burning its way straight out of your heart. A cry of devastation and loss, mourning sound of agony that rushed through your vein as you laid your head down on his unmoving chest; ear over the heart that no longer beat.

He promised.

But now, he was gone.

[godlizzza]

3 + 17 + 21 for the book asks! :D

Yeee!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

-Swordheart by T Kingfisher

Amazing fantasy/romance about a woman attempting to be married off by her family, who finds a magical sword left to her by a deceased relative. When she draws the sword, it releases an immortal warrior bound to serve whoever wields the sword. The two of them then escape together and travel across the land in search of legal help for her. Halla and Sarkis are amazing characters, with great chemistry and the journey they take together, both physically and emotionally, is soooo good.

-City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

Historical fiction/coming of age set in New York City in 1940 about a young woman named Vivian, who's been kicked out of college and is sent to live with her theatre director aunt. I'll talk about this book more in just a sec haha.

-And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

A crime/thriller about a bunch of people invited to an isolated island by a mysterious person known as U.N Owen, however soon after they all arrive, they start dying one by one to the theme of a haunting nursery rhyme. Agatha Christie is the queen of crime for a reason and while I'm most familiar with her Poirot mysteries, this standalone book was so creepy, so atmospheric, and full of so much dread that I think it might be my favourite of hers that I've read so far.

-The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

You may have seen me reblog quite a bit of stuff from this series and that's only because it took over my life for a good few months there. This series is so hard to concisely describe because it's unlike anything I've ever read before. It's a Scifi series set in the distant future where humanity is spread out across the solar system, and there's a House on each planet that practices some form of necromancy. Book 1 follows our protag Gideon, an indentured servant to the ninth house, being roped into joining the reverend daughter of the house, Harrow (who she fucking hates) in this competition where duos from each of the nine houses are sent to a dilapidated castle on a distant planet to try and unlock the mystery of ascending to a higher power known as lychtorhood. All you need to know is that the series is funny, action-packed, mysterious, confusing, often mind-fucky, and gay as hell. Just read it.

-She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki.

A manga series this time! I read quite a few manga series that I really loved this year (Cherry Magic and My Love Mix-up were also contenders for this spot) but this series holds such a special place in my heart. It's a slice of life romance about two women, Nomoto and Kasuga, who live in the same apartment building and bond over their mutual love of food. They cook together, go out to eat together, and just spend loads of time together. It's very sweet and wholesome. Watching them grow closer and seeing how much they love spending time with the other and are just looking for any excuse to invite the other over is sooo cute. There are 3 volumes out in English rn as well as season 1 of a live action tv show adaptation, which is also really good. It truly makes my heart sing and is the best Yuri manga I've read so far.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Here's where I circle back to City of Girls! I knew very little about the book going in and was surprised at how immediately taken I was with it! The narrative voice is so strong, and the way the book tackles so many things- friendship, romance, sex, family, passion, changing political climates, class- it's all so good. The book is a wild ride. You go through a lot with Vivian, including her highest highs and lowest lows, but through it all you see the simple journey of life that everyone goes through. It's truly an amazing book and one I'd recommend to everyone, even if you don't typically reach for historical fiction.

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?

I haven't participated in any but I've seen quite a few unfold. The ones sticking out to me rn are that girl on tiktok who would loudly and publicly thirst over hockey players because they reminded her of fictional hockey players she'd read about in sports romances, to the point where she was literally at games irl filming these men and catcalling them. It got so bad that the wife of one of the players came out on instagram to talk about how uncomfortable this shit made her and her husband feel and the tiktoker's reaction was to be like LOL get over it. wild.

There was the one where this indie horror author saw a negative review of one of his books, so he publicly started dragging the girl who'd made the review and even dedicated a book he wrote to her, and was just generally a massive dick.

And most recently that upcoming debut author who had made a bunch of fake accounts on goodreads to boost the rating of her book and bomb the ratings of fellow debut authors. Then when people started to follow the trail of breadcrumbs she'd inadvertently left behind, she made a fake conversation between her and a supposed 'friend' on discord admitting to being the one behind the review bombs. Eventually, proof of her being the culprit got released and she lost her book deal, her agent, and all her author friends. Sucks to suck.

[team7-headquarter]

I was thinking how to arrange the events of the Diamond Girls au, now that I've decided that Madara is not in the frame and neither is anything related to Kaguya.

First of all, that means Akatsuki is free to be a group searching for peace within all nations and doesn't have to play the villain role, while able to still play as the antagonists. I want it to be less extreme than in the manga/anime, but still show the conflict of violence in the search for peace.

Rin is alive, right? So I like the idea of Obito still snapping and joining Akatsuki, because he wants to fix the world and make it a better place, for Rin, for Kakashi. But if Madara isn't controlling him, then who killed Minato and Kushina? Who is playing the puppeteer?

Well, we know about the Uzumakis genocide and we know Konoha was planning to do the same to the Uchihas, so I said okay, why not go directly to the point and make the big big conflict of the Diamond Girls au about how the Hidden Villages like their clans strong 'til they are strong enough to overrule them and their authority.

I said from the beginning that I want the au to focus on the normally invisible parts of the story. I don't want to tell the story through the main events, like Naruto unraveling the thread of Konoha's corruption and realizing the depth of his Konoha's betrayal to the Uzumaki clan, or like Sasuke agonizing over the political tension regarding his clan and the fact Itachi joined Akatsuki.

If the hypocrisy of the Hidden Villages is the main problem, I can also do cool things like frame Orochimaru assassination of both the Kazekage and the Hokage in a grey light. It was murder, yes, but he also took the lives of two of the most corrupted leaders around. I can make the Konoha Council try to frame Tsunade as part of the conspiracy along with Orochimaru, allowing Danzo to become the next hokage, forcing the Uchihas to go after the last Senju and her apprentices or go all against Konoha, which would justify their later destruction. I can even twist the story and involve Jiraiya in all of it, 'cause Akatsuki helped Orochimaru and Jiraiya unknowingly had played the part helping Nagato, Yahiko and Konan escape. A real mess.

I can depict the conflict of Sasuke realizing he doesn't want to be a cop 'cause he doesn't want to blindly follow orders, he doesn't want to feed that oppression machine. I can finally involve Naruto with his Uzumaki heritage and say Konoha killed Minato because he wanted to restore the Uzumaki clan in Konoha and I can do justice to Kushina, the woman who knowing the stakes, decided to hide clues for her son to find, decided to build him a whole spy network and a trust circle he could lean on when the time came. Even if they killed them, they could not defeat their son.

And in the middle of it all, our girls.

Hinata having no room to do anything else but turn into politics and struggling to find the words that would help her survive. Ino shouldering the weight of being the heiress of her clan but refusing to let it be all she is, refusing to allow a job to become her life. Tenten being forced to marry Neji so no one can touch her and hating it as much as Neji does, not because they don't love each other, but because they hate how people reduces Tenten for it, while also enduring the Hyuga treatment, rooting and plotting on how to dismantle the structure of that rotting clan with Hinata. Sakura realizing that being a medic with a good heart is something really dangerous in a world full of violence and malice, worse even when she's the spiting image of the woman Konoha has wanted to break or kill now for many many years; she doesn't have the pedigree of a clan, Sasuke and Naruto and Kakashi can't protect her if they are fighting their own battles, she can only run and hide in Suna with Chiyo and hope for the right moment to come back and help her friends fix the whole mess (meaning try to keep them alive as the fight the system suffocating them).

But more than anything, I want the readers to notice how no one really looks at all these girls in Naruto, and how perfect is that set up for a story of political intrigue.

[pendulum-sonata]

16, 22

Hey there! Well, let's get onto this:

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I'm gonna be honest, I'm starting to get a little tired of the mean girl syndrome.

What do I mean with mean girl syndrome? I mean the tendency to flock towards the "mean girl" female character, you know the one, she's a bitch, she's posh, she's fashionable, there's a good chance she is rich too or privileged in one way or another, and seems to have a serious personal problem with the resident "loser" girl for whatever reason, she usually also a bully, you get the idea, and you'd think this character is only found in teen dramas, but when you look at it closer, almost every piece of media has a mean girl character, even anime and manga, although usually as a secondary or side character or sometimes the antagonist.

That's not a problem on its own, even if it's not necessarily my thing, I'm not condemning people liking her, or wanting to be her, or being attracted to her (you know the whole "I'd let her step on me" deal)

What is annoying in when people go like:

"Yeah, we took your resident mean girl, we enshrined her and washed away her flaws, we also made her lesbian or sapphic or some other queer identity for brownie points, because obviously the real problem all along was the other girl, who we've also took and forcibly fit her into the mold of the true monster, because if she didn't antagonize mean girl, if she wasn't a goody-two-shoes and boring, then mean girl wouldn't be troubled and wouldn't have to make her miserable, yeah sorry, no we can't take it back."

Notice what I'm talking about here? The mean girl in question is a mean girl because she's tormenti- sorry I mean, she's giving her well-deserved punishment to this other girl character who for one reason or another people can't project onto, so that means they dislike her, and in turn, they warp everything about both of them so the mean girl, is actually right all along, and honestly does that even make her a mean girl anymore? IDK.

And I make emphasis on the fact that despite switching the dynamic, people still very much pitch them against each other, because, again, people can't handle girls having bad feelings about men, so the mean girl is only mean to other girls, or alternatively the men she's mean to, are the ones who aren't likeable enough for the fandom to care, and even when they make the mean girl a queer character, they end up both warping ans justifying the meanness by saying the loser girl is "obviously" gender-conforming and cis, so that makes it okay? I guess?

Idk, I feel like I'm rambling a lot, bottom line, I usually don't like this type of character and I don't care for this part where fandoms kiss the ground they walk on, and then turn around and demonize the "good girl" like, it's a very weird version of the madonna and the whore complex if you ask me, so I'll stop here and get to the next question.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Mmm, what could it be? I can't say it's the synchro arc because even if a lot of people dislike it, they very much spent way too much time talking about it, a lot more than us, tbh.

Mmm, I know, people don't talk enough about the aftermath mini-arc!

I know because of what happened, Yuzu doesn't appear until the end, and i wouldn't call it flawless (*cough* Shun's duel *cough*) but I genuinely love how despite having their airing time cut short, the staff still kept this part, it would have been easy to just end it all after Zarc was defeated, but Arc v rarely went down the easy route.

Every single lesson Yuya learned in the series comes around full-circle, and closes the few loose ties left by the battle, literally, because as Yuya travels around to each duel, the remnants of the dimensions are closing and becoming one.

If I had to choose a favorite moment of all time for the aftermath, it would be that moment where Yuya fibally wins against Reiji, and he smiles! He smiles! A tiny little proud smile and what follows is so awe-inspiring, and then the whole arena is silent for a couple seconds, except the laugh of little Reira echoes all over the place and is slowly joined by a beautiful score, and then, as if wasn't already great, we get the shot where the dimensions are finally uniting and in turn Yuzu is starting to come back again from the limbo form she was trapped as and she says "I'm back home"

Beautiful, inspiring, great.

And people want me to buy into the narrative that the ending was ruined because *checks notes* the counterparts didn't get their bodies back.

Please, you're all weak and didn't deserve a series like Arc V.