#i wouldn't be sad if i never had to read another battle scene though. i'm realizing a lot of books that i can't get into

[coquelicoq]

dammit. loved the end of the traitor baru cormorant. which means i'm gonna read the sequel. save me from myself. AUGH.

[stgosupremacy]

Hi! I just wanna say I love ur blog! I like how you see and talk abt Goh's character ❤️

I know some people (mostly those toxic pokemon fans) REALLY don't like Goh, and it upsets me bc it feels like me and them watched a completely different character on screen.

What do you think about it? I just don't get how they can hate him!

omg hey fellow goh lover!!!!!! 🥰 i also just wanna say thank you for the lovelyyyy message because i ask the same question daily honestly

(sorry i had to use that the animation is too slick)

ANYWAY

it actually upsets me a lot too that people don't see the good in Goh! im glad you think the same <3

okay there's some instances (yes im saying this 💀) where even i think goh went a bit too far like even though i think it's sick he caught suicune i do get why people were so mad about it? but cmon that was a bit too much hate 😭

Ash hadn't caught any legendaries his entire journey so yeah Goh catching suicune at the early-ish start of his journey was....just a bit like oh ok wow even for me lmao but yk that topic will probably never calm down lets be honest

Then there's him just catching every pokemon without battling, that I also get why ppl are mad because I was rewatching the unova anime a few days ago and a lot of the episodes had an emphasis onbattling before catching, and you can say that goes for the rest of the pokemon anime after that too...up until journeys 😂

Goh is a bit of a rulebreaker in that instance, i get that, but if people hate him taking so much screentime for Ash

(heads up the episode where goh goes on vacation and meets tokio again is the 1st episode in the anime history without any scene of Ash in it at ALL which is pretty crazy)

then I'm sure we wouldn't want to see Goh battle e v e r y single pokemon he catches, like his goal is literally to catchem all as well BUT BUT THEN AGAIN, that arguement is pretty weak i guess, and i understand why people would be mad, but I really dont like when they genuinely just hate him excessively 😭😭

OKAY POSITIVES NOW THIS IS WHAT I THINK

His character development was really nice in my opinion, and I really like how he more often emphasised the fact the reason why he wanted to catch throughout the series, and he reeaaaally understood pokemon better and forged such nice relationships with all of them

(also i was a bit sad Ash didnt get any galar starters too but....im sorry i feel like they're too perfect with Goh im proud of him)

🥺💖

he's really adorable goofy sweet amazing incredible gay and literally the entire package there are those minute things about the pokemon catching yadayada but that basically is forgotten when i watch him on screen

gonna reinforce my point about how he is perfect with the Galar starters...im sorry but look at them.

(you cannot talk to me about the drizzle episodes I will literally start crying. Also the grookey errand episode and that hug. Omfg)

You can see how much he cares for his pokemon (all the hugs above omg stop 😔💖) and I wish other people would also see that 😭 😭

He's so sweet and kind now especially at the end when Ash finally managed to help open his heart to other people and also Ash himself 😛 😛 OK I told myself I wouldn't bring satogou into Goh's honour post but they're another reason I love Goh so much, they compliment each other so well and I couldn't think of anyone else more perfect for Ash I love them both 💗🥺 (... In case you hadn't noticed)

Then again, it's still opinion based ig, not gonna fight about it 💀

Sorry this was such a long response (but cmon what were yall expecting..) but I kind of felt like I was gonna do a post like this sometime soon so thank you for anyone who voluntarily read this long-ass rant about Goh and @louie-inc for asking the question too!! 💕 💯 💕 💯

[innerchorus]

Arslan Senki Chapter 124

I've cooled off a little bit after the intense experience that this chapter was, so here are a few thoughts! (I read the official simulpub on Kmanga, apologies that I haven't looked for the raw this time but it may be out there if you check.)

The chapter opens in the underground waterways and I am immediately relieved because this means that we did indeed backtrack a bit from last chapter, meaning that we are going to see the fighting there that reveals exactly how Andragoras reached Hilmes

Sam, when speaking of the existence of these tunnels, saying that if he'd known about them he wouldn't have 'helplessly surrendered the royal capital to the Lusitanian army'. Sam, please don't blame yourself! If the royal family chose to keep that knowledge to themselves, it's their fault, not yours. The fact that he's still blaming himself for this... That he thinks of himself as a failure in this respect... 😭

The Kishward-Sam fight was less nervewracking than the one the anime included in the battle for the Keep of Saint-Emmanuel, but only because I didn't know the outcome then. I think it's hard to get some of the nuances of this fight across in manga format but as usual Arakawa did a good job with it, and I want to discuss it a bit!

Sam's eyes here... He looks so sad, you just know he longed for that to have been him instead of leading the life he's living now

...and with that expression, the fight resumes. Kishward has already come to the conclusion that what Kubard said about Sam looking for death was true, and that's what we see when Sam next attacks, right after this line about envying Shapur and Garshasp. It's obvious that he's trying to force Kishward into a position where he has to kill him. He won't surrender, he won't switch sides, but he is willing to die like the warrior he no longer sees himself as.

If Kishward met him as he would someone he sees as a true enemy, he would have killed Sam then. He could have done so with his other sword while Sam is open after that strike. But he doesn't, because he doesn't want to kill his former comrade!

And Sam IS NOT WILLING TO KILL KISHWARD EITHER. If he had, Kishward would surely already be dead for what looks like seeking only to stand firm rather than land a fatal blow of his own, and that's why he only receives a broken sword and a shallow cut to the face. The... choreography (?) of the fight at this point is slightly different in the novels but I think the manga did a good job making a small change to show both of their attitudes more clearly.

(For the curious, in the novel Kishward's sword breaks on Sam's armour when Sam deliberately doesn't evade his slash, but as Kishward never intended for it to be a killing blow, it only cracks his armour. I'm not sure that would have come across from images alone so thumbs up to Arakawa for her modification.)

Sam still calling Andragoras 'Your Majesty' showing his inner conflict (Hilmes would hate it just as he did when Sam said 'His Highness Arslan' in his presence, but I find it understandable) but HE STILL DEFENDS HIS POSITION

and this is another small change from the novel but Arakawa's Sam is much more vehement here, much firmer in his conviction to not let Andragoras past and I love that because I can't deny it bothered me a bit in the novel scene where there's a lot of hesitance in his dialogue and he just says "Even though it's Your Majesty...' but here we get THIS:

And if that doesn't confirm that despite any inner conflict he feels, he will never betray Hilmes for Andragoras, I don't know what does. So I was thrilled to see this, honestly.

In the novel it feels as though it's Andragoras's imposing presence that oppresses Sam's will to resist him but that's not so here. I can only believe that Sam allows him through precisely because he wants to avoid the situation he mentioned earlier; 'more slaughter between kinsmen.' If Hilmes and Andragoras talk, will fighting between Parsians be averted? This must be his hope. I do wonder whether he ends up having his suspicions about precisely what Andragoras wanted to tell Hilmes, though... after all, he already knows part of it himself.

(I had some mixed feelings about this moment, so I did quite a lot of thinking about it before, but honestly, it makes sense for Sam's character and what we know is important to him. I'm just very, very glad Arakawa allowed him to face Andragoras down like that first. I do wonder how Hilmes would see things, though.)

Anyway Hilmes's expressions in the following scene wrecked me and just watching him sweat and tremble in position and be on the verge of vomiting was hard. Anyway, the sordid details come to light, and we know who the sorcerer who supplied Gotarzes with the prophecy that caused all of it was...

Some more images of Hilmes's (very beautiful) mother!

Gotarzes, though... The way he's drawn when he's grasping Osroes's wife shows how repulsive his decision was, and it's clear she doesn't want this, but she would have had no choice.

Hilmes tries so hard to believe that this is all a lie, but... you can tell that he can't. It's difficult to watch him go through this. And I can't believe we didn't even conclude this scene (unless Andragoras is just going to leave now in the manga; he didn't in the novels but we'll see, moving things around here could work but equally splitting it with the parallel conversation between Arslan and Tahamenay is a nice touch and I'm glad Arakawa is devoting the necessary time and attention to all of this).

You know... I'm exhausted lmao, someone else please post about the Team Arslan section that came after this.

[naggingsugaisar]

[Anime Review] Mars Red

After taking weeks to finish watching <Mars Red>, I've finally finished this tormenting anime the day before yesterday. I was glad that I didn't straight away believe bad reviews I've happened to read somewhere online beforehand. From its first five minutes, I've already engrossed with the opening theme and the cinematography it applied through the anime.

Unusually, it used movie-like cinematography. The 2.35:1 scope has already intrigued my curiosity because <Mars Red> is the first anime that I've watched with such screen size. Automatically, I doubted if I could maintain watching it till the end because I'm not the type to watch anime movie (unless the movie is super melancholic).

The first episode began rather slow. I could yawn at first. But honestly, I was hugely wrong as I thought it was boring me out. In fact, <Mars Red> was a masterpiece! The plot flowed not slowly, but to be more precise, it slowly burned me down.

I'm sorry if this contains spoilers. But it's so good that I can't help myself but to expose things!

There are many things I love about this anime. The cinematography is one thing. The best part is the plot. It portrayed how bad the world these characters lived in, plus the historical background and setting through the anime added on the tense. Everyone knew how less complicated our technology was hundred years ago, but <Mars Red> excellently showed the ability of those soldiers and personnel strived for winning the war despite the lack of technology usages.

Beside the plot, the personality of each of the characters played their role finely. I love how <Mars Red> showed Maeda Yoshinobu's cause of sadness and sorrow, the lost of his beloved ones, and how the world began and ended for himself. His naturally stern face could hide his real emotion, yet only those closest to him could figure out his overwhelming frustration. Even though he was anguished by those hurtful incident he witnessed with his own eyes, he kept on moving.

This was the unit Maeda worked with - Code Zero consisted of capable vampires. Maeda was the only human (of course the others were initially humans too) but he never planned on killing any of them. In fact, he believed in the unit's ability to solve the elevating numbers of vampires throughout Japan, therefore he trained them in combat and stuffs (this didn't show much in anime but judging from his reliability, I knew he did).

Another interesting characters in <Mars Red> are these vampires.

Suwa was the oldest vampire. He wore a mask because it was said to control himself from lashing out too much power, but I never saw him going on berserk (There was one scene that he could barely control his movement once the mask detached from him). His life experience was his best teacher, which explained why he tried not to get too close to anyone. His failed romanticized relationship told <Mars Red> viewers that vampire - human relationship wouldn't make it, and this drove him to have one with a vampire instead.

Nevertheless, Kurusu Shuutaro's romance surpassed that bad dream of Suwa. Kurusu was a powerful A-class vampire, who loved Shirase Aoi. Due to a logic agreement with Maeda, he declared himself as dead since he has contracted as a vampire, yet he kept on stumbling at Aoi's whereabouts. Despite being aware of his vampire-ness, he was the one who didn't drink blood, which lessened his strength by time. After Aoi was revealed about his condition, Aoi gave him her blood so that he could replenish his strength and fight against other insane vampires.

All right, I've become too focus on the characters.

The soundtracks really gave me goose bumps. The sound contradicted in that one battle between Kurusu and Maeda, which I found it fascinating. Shonen anime lovers must have known how the music was played when main leads fighting against each other, but the paradox music was beautifully engraved through that last episode. It portrayed Maeda's climax of devastation and yearn to meet that particular someone, and at the same time Kurusu craving for Maeda's recognition and acknowledgment.

Other than that, the opening theme is a heart capture. I kept on humming the melody while driving, and I've already added it into my list of Jpop song. I've always heard Wagakki Band but I had no idea how their songs are. <Aria of Life> practically summarized the lamentation of <Mars Red> characters have endured. Please try listening to it on Youtube Music.

In conclusion, I will recommend <Mars Red> to military and vampire genre lovers. I'm not a fan of historical anime, but <Mars Red> is an exception. Please give it a try and spread the word to everyone.

[adragonhoardingstories]

Of Blood and Bonds - Chapter 1

@mystery-5-5

@abrx2002 @clumsy-owl-4178 @daminett4life @zalladane

@heaven428 @unmaskedagain

@dawnwave16 @virgil-is-a-cutie

@kris-pines04 @hypnosharkrebeldreamer

@weird-pale-blonde-person

@ravennightingaleandavatempus

@persephonebutkore

@be-happy-every-day-please @blue-peach14 @annabellabrookes

I hope I got everyone in the tag! I know I said this was gonna be fluff but it's also going to be angst. Sorry not sorry.

On that note, this book will contain swearing, mentions of rape and torture. I will try not be explicit but that's really relative. Read at your own risk. There will be warning before if I make a explicit scene so that you can skip it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy and don't hunt me down for this.

___________________________________

Marinette had punched Bruce Wayne. 

Marinette had punched Bruce Wayne, Prince of Gotham, in Wayne Enterprises Tower in Gotham City and she was probably going to get kicked out because of this but it was so worth it. 

"Marinette honey," He said cautiously, "I'm sure I deserve it but why?"

She clenched her jaw and took a few deep breaths as she opened and closed her fists. She was trying really hard not to punch him again. 

You won't be able to get a second shot in without the boys intervening. She told herself, eying the way the boys - her brothers, she reminded herself stood, ready to pounce on her at any instant.

She had no doubt that the only reason she wasn't being restrained yet was because they were too shocked to react. 

"I don't think I asked for much Dad." She practically snarled the words out. "I just asked for a few phone calls and yet-" Her voice was shaking. "Yet, I haven't heard from you in over three years."

"Mari I can expl-"

"No, no, you don't fucking have that right to anymore. I did not come to Gotham to ask an explanation or beg for your attention. This was an unfortunate coincidence. I would have been perfectly happy to never see or hear from you again."

She turned to leave but Bruce grabbed her shoulder. She froze. This was Bruce Wayne, She had to remind herself, This was her father. He would not harm her. 

"I needed you Bruce. I needed you and you were not there." She shrugged off his hand from her shoulder and left in the direction of her class. 

Dick wordlessly moved out of her way and she tried not to think about the fact that she may have lost her chance to have a relationship with her siblings. 

~

Dick didn't know the whole story. Hell, before today Dick hadn't known that he had another sibling. He hadn't known that Bruce had another biological child. 

At least, he guessed that she was his biological child but he couldn't be sure because, once again, Bruce hadn't told them.

He watched the man. As always, he had an incredible poker face but he knew him better, he knew him enough to see the emotions waring among themselves behind his eyes. 

"You messed up big time B." He said quietly. "You know that, don't you?"

His father said nothing, instead he pushed past him and Damian to go after Marinette. He and his little brother had only to share a look before they took off after him, if only to stop him from doing something rash that he would regret and and that would probably damage their chance to know their sister better. 

Damian, Tim, Jason and he himself already had had the chance to talk to her. They could all collectively agree that they already loved her, even Damian, and they had no doubt the others would too.

Dick saw Marinette head towards the washroom. It was clear that she needed a moment alone, just like it was clear that that Bruce intended to wait for her to come out to be able to talk to her again. 

He disagreed. 

"B-"

"I need to talk to her."

"I know." He soothed despite wanting nothing more than to yell at the man. Sometimes, Bruce understood less than Damian. "But she won't like it and you've already pissed her off enough. Why don't we go to the cafeteria? The rest of her class is there. We can wait for her there, once she had some time to calm down."

Dick could see that he was about to protest. "Damian will wait for her and accompany her back." He said, sparing a glance at the youngest who gave him a nod back in return. "She'll be fine. Come on." 

He tugged Bruce along with him and the fact that he didn't argue and let himself be pulled along was a testament to how much he was upset by this whole thing. 

Dick was angry, he wanted nothing more than to scream at Bruce because didn't he know better than to keep secrets like this from them at this point?

~

Bruce knew he was a coward and definitely not the father one would wish for, but if Marinette really had given up on him, she wouldn't have been so angry. 

There was something he was missing.

"-your stupidity aside, she was found bound and gagged with clear signs of having been assaulted. She was tested positive for rape for God's sake. What more do you need to leave her alone?" 

There seemed to be an argument going on in the cafeteria. While that was alarming enough, the blond girl's words gave him a very bad feeling. 

"Oh, please." A sausage-haired girl rolled her eyes. "She was probably there willingly. No one would get through such  traumatic event and be back to normal so soon after. Not even her parents believed her. "

"Normal? Are you serious right now? I was there when they found her. I was there when she screamed at the sight of anyone with blonde hair or green eyes. And you've all seen how after that, she hates being touched."

"She's just over-reacti-" Sausage-hair stopped in the middle of her sentence, staring at something in his direction. 

"Oh no, please do continue to speak so openly about the worst month of my life." He couldn't help the flinch when he heard his daughter's voice as she walked past him... because that meant that Marinette, sweet precious Marinette - his sunshine had been kidnapped and assaulted for a month and if the other girl was to be believed neither Tom or Sabine believed in her. 

The sausage girl scoffed but backed down. Her reaction meant that she was at least a little guilty. He filed that information for later. She muttered a 'Whatever.' and walked away. 

"Marin-" the blonde haired girl who was defending his daughter spoke up but Marinette cut her off. 

"I do appreciate you trying to defend me Chloe but I'd appreciate it better if you didn't speak of it at all."

The girl - Chloe, gave a nod in acceptance. "Go on ahead," Marinette said, from beside him. "I'll catch up." 

The blonde eyed them for a moment before she walked away. 

Bruce looked down to his daughter who was still staring ahead.

He had so much to ask her, like What the hell happened? But she beat him to it, unclenching her fist. 

"I'm sorry for punching you, but I was. Angry." She was gritting her teeth. "But I did meant it, you don't need to bother trying to contact me or anything. I'm perfectly happy without you." 

She started walking away.

"Marinette-" he called out and she stopped. It reminded him of earlier and he had a sinking feeling that her words would be as heartbreaking as the first time. 

She shook her head. "Like I said B, I needed you." For the first time, since she arrived in the cafeteria, she turned to look at him and gave him a small sad smile that broke his heart all over again. "It would have been nice to know that at least one of my parents supported me."

He didn't say anything. What could he say to make this better? 

She walked away, and this time, he didn't stop her. 

~

Jason was a little more than pissed. 

His day had started out nicely enough, made better when he saw a tiny girl taking out two men probably twice her size. 

He was going to help her but she had already taken care of them. 

She still thanked him for trying to come to her aid and when he offered to walk her to wherever she was going, the girl took a few moments to assess him - to him it felt like she was looking through his soul.

There was something about her that screamed to him not to underestimate her.  She knew what she was doing, that much was clear and when she offered him a sunny smile and told him that she was heading to Wayne Enterprises, he felt something loosen inside of him. 

It was bizarre to say the least but he felt at peace near her. Safe. 

Later on, he would realise that the haze of the Lazarus pit that he had struggled with everyday since his ressurection had retreated when he was near her. 

Jason's mood started to worsen when he found out that she had been left alone by her class. Something like an ugly acidic green snake coiled up inside of him wanting to protect her and extract revenge. 

Jason's mood improved again as throughout the day she saw the girl interact with his brothers, clearly winning over them as well. 

Though, he was rarely - to the point of never seen at WE usually, he decided to make an exception that day and hang out with the tour group Tim was supposed to be leading. 

Damian had also supposedly been bored and had decided to crash the party and Dick wasn't too far behind their youngest to keep him out of trouble. 

Everything was going smoothly and honestly, it was after a long time that they found someone the others didn't have a problem with. 

Then he had noticed Bruce, and not even a few seconds after, he noticed the bluenette slipping out after him.

Dick and Damian - who had been shadowing her all day, slipped away after her and he was stuck behind babysitting with his replacement.

That class had nothing of worth except Marinette. There was actually even a fool that was stupid enough to claim that she knew the Waynes in front of them, while not knowing that they were the Waynes and instead treating them like mere employees. 

He would enjoy putting her in her place. 

But before he could, his day started taking a turn for the worst, impossible to brighten again.

The girl, he didn't care enough to know her name, out of the blue stated that Marinette probably just slipped away again to draw attention to her. That escalated in a very…informative battle of words that made him want to take a plane to Paris and drench it's streets in blood.

As if that wasn't enough, he saw Bruce again, now looking like someone slapped him in the face with a fish...

On closer look, he could see that someone had actually punched him. He was so going to hack the Tower's camera. 

And then Marinette spoke up and...what? 

He was completely lost.

Did she say one of my parents? He hoped for Bruce sake that he misheard because otherwise that meant that this father figure fucked up again...which wasn't that suprising really.

So really, Jason was a little more than pissed and he felt like his choice of words was appropriate. 

"What the actual fuck Bruce?"

~

Tim was tired. 

His day had set out to be a tiring one, irrespective of the fact that he had stayed up all night to work on a case. 

He had to lead a tour group. 

Wayne Enterprises had a habit of keeping an eye on promising students for schools that they funded. For some reason, Bruce had started funding a College François Dupont in Paris. Why? He didn't know but knowing the man, he probably had some ulterior motive. 

That had intrigued him and he had taken a look at the students in their last year. There was indeed some very promising young talents - who by the looks of it, already knew which career they wanted to do and were clearly working toward them. Many of them had already been on T.V shows, had their names in newspapers or did small gigs and commissions. It was rather impressive. 

There was this one class however which at the beginning was one who seemed to have a lot of potential but he saw in their files that over the years their...efforts dropped collectively around the same time. It was extremely bizarre. 

One particular student in that class drew his attention though. It was one Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Her academic records were stellar - always had been and while her grades had dropped a but at one point, she got them back up within the year which was more than impressive since she had skipped two years. She also seemed really talented, had won several awards and supposedly had a website for commissions - her file seemed...rushed and considerably lacking in details compared to her classmates even though Tim felt like she did way more than them. 

Call it his detective instincts but he knew that there was something going on in that class, his doubts were further re-inforced when he saw a report about Marinette, it was once again quite vague but what little was in it still chilled him to the core.

But...still...there was something else about her. Something striked him as soon as he saw her picture - she seemed really really familiar but he couldn't put his finger on where exactly had he seen her before. 

Well, as CEO he was supposed to be leading the tour groups anyways, so hopefully he'd get to find out then. 

The tour group consisted of all the senior class of the college and he prayed against all hope that it wasn't to be a disaster. 

Flashforward to the big day...it wasn't actually so bad. His brothers had crashed the party...which was unexpected but they weren't causing any trouble which was for more than he could usually hope for and while some students were absolutely aboherent ((mostly from that one class that had caught his attention)) the rest were genuinely nice. He had managed to talk to a few of them and was pleasantly surprised at their intellect. 

The most interesting student there though was, as he had predicted, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, she was able to keep up with him throughout all of his explanations, whatever department may it have been in even though it was clearly stated in her file that she wanted a career in fashion. But well, he knew better than most that appearances could be receiving. Simply put, she was a genius. 

She reminded him of Elle from Legally Blonde for some reason. 

There was however also one student who had certainly not impressed him, thoroughly disgusted him actually - Lila Rossi. 

See the thing was that no one knew that he was actually the CEO. That had been done intentionally. The aim of the tour after all was for him to be able to see if there was any potential employees for Wayne Enterprises among them. 

And boy, was he going to blacklist her. 

The girl was a lying machine and the lies weren't even good. She name-dropped at every other sentence and even did the mistake of lying about him and his brothers in a place where any employee who knew them personally could call her out on her bullshit. It was such an amateur mistake. 

His opinion of her only soured when she insulted Marinette, he had taken her a liking to her, however brief their conversation had been and even if he hadn't - the fact that Lila bought up her kidnapping and downplayed it would be more than enough. 

Thankfully not everyone from that College was total numbskulls. A few people immediately jumped to the defense of the absent girl. 

He cataloged them mentally - The Braindead, The Neutrals and The Defenders, while also taking notes of what they were saying. 

What he heard out was even more horrifying that what he had read. 

That it! He was going to be looking into this girl's case personally.

As of all of this wasn't bad enough, Bruce just had to make everything worse. 

Because he could finally out the pieces together and understand why Marinette looked so familiar. 

Marinette was his sister. 

Marinette was Bruce's daughter and he was going to have to answer to Tim - and but the looks of it, his brother too - about what had happened to their newfound sister. 

~

Damian…

Damian didn't know what to think.