#i'll probably read the manga as well at some point... if i ever find free time :)))) which i have very little of

[raw-law]

About Parasyte: The Maxim, depends what you consider good, L.

I'd say it's nice, a bit gorey or more like some kind of very watered down body horror because it's about "alien" parasites (the creator confirmed they actually originated on the Earth). Also if you watch the anime you practically read the manga too because it's the same story.

I'll try to explain it without spoilers so here is it:

The story progresses smoothly, the animation is hella good, the soundtrack is too and what I love the most is the development of the main character Shinichi Izumi, who got infected on his right arm by one of those parasites. They usually take complete control of their host though, so that places him in the middle of both species

The whole plot is about Shinichi trying to stay in touch with his human side while also trying to "protect humanity" from these parasites, but Migi (the thing on his arm) is another whole being FAR AWAY from acting and thinking like a human, he doesn't actually care for anyone but for its own survival, making things hard to manage for Shinichi.

Both have to find a balance between their opposite beliefs and points of view to make things work enough while also fighting other parasites who want to end their existence-

And some annoying people.

That's the shortest summary I could do. Migi was the source of my existencial crises because he questions a lot of things humans do as individuals and society way more than I would've liked... but he's silly sometimes/pos

-🐉

Light:

Hm. It sounds like a show that'll allow for debates on morality and the like...always good food for thought.

Also, it reminds me of a hypothesis the Task Force had on Kira for a while, I guess----that the killing power was something that possessed person to person, never staying on each for very long. A parasite of sorts. That's probably one of the more hopeful theories we've come up with.

The idea of parasites isn't actually as terrifying as it seems to be, or at least that's what I think. What's scarier---the prospect of things controlling you to do bad, or the prospect of people, human beings unpossessed by anything, willing to do all that and worse? By their own free will?

Unfortunately that's the truth in this reality.

Sorry for getting off topic a little, but your summary does seem intriguing. I'll be sure to check it out if I ever get the time to!

L:

this honestly sounds like a show i'd quite enjoy... i'll be sure to check it out soon. maybe even read the manga if the anime convinces me.

what light brings up does make me think about what i'd do in shinichi's situation.. makes me wonder just how severe migi's possession over him is. seems like it'd be a lot more frightening depending on how the parasite works.... could he not have cut off his arm if it really hindered him that much? are there levels of parasites, seeing as he's willing to keep the one on his arm but fights off others detached from him? or maybe he's grown emotionally attached to migi as well? just a lot of questions.. what would you do, silly dragon?

i suppose all the questions just give me more of a reason to start watching it now. thank you as always for the ask. :)

[smolljester]

poll results are in. in this post i'm mainly going to be talking about the inspirations/influences for my fic, Fleeting Words.

this post, while mainly talking about how the story eventually came to be, does include spoilers for some majour plot points that happen inside the fic (and some spoilers for other games/series). if you've read the fic and already know what happens, feel free to keep reading. if you haven't read my fic, but want to know what happens before reading (i know that's a thing some people do), feel free to keep reading. that said, there's more under the cut.

the biggest influence, mainly on my writing as a whole, has been and still is, Yoko Taro (NieR, NieR: Automata, Drakengard, etc.). at the same time as me getting Splatoon 3, which was my proper introduction to the series as i never played the other two games beforehand, i also got NieR: Automata The End of YoRHa. it wouldn't be until a few weeks later that a noticed one glaring similarity between the two games that i hadn't noticed before.

both games take place on a post-apocalyptical Earth, over ten thousand years in the future. despite that, both games are jarringly different from one another in terms of outcomes; whereas Automata is borderline nihilistic from the start to the end of the game, Splatoon is its polar opposite. both games are so eerily similar in concept, but are on the opposite ends of the spectrum! "What would the Earth be like over ten thousand years in the future after humans have died?"

NieR: Automata's opening: "Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped... in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle... and wonder if we'll ever have the chance to kill him."

Splatoon 3 opening: "Think you're fresh? Start splattin', and we'll see!"

before humanity went extinct, they created the androids to preserve their legacy and fight back against the aliens in NieR: Automata. yet in Splatoon, sea life has taken over by means of... crystals that contain the remnants of humanity?

Splatoon as a whole is weird, which shouldn't be surprising; you play as a humanoid squid/octopus that can actively change forms and has ink running through their system. but i find myself drawn to a lot of strange concepts, the next bit of influence might sound off, but just hear me out. Godzilla.

the king himself, Godzilla! it's out of the blue, i know, but again, hear me out. Godzilla's whole thing is that he's a massive creature born of radiation. whether he be some preserved dinosaur, or an iguana, or something else, Godzilla is mutated to be the way he is because of radiation. now what does this have to do with Splatoon?

before the events of Splatoon, as evidenced by the short manga in the Splatoon 1 artbook, a number of different wars took place, with one of them launching a nuclear warhead into the South Pole, which caused water levels to rise drastically. now this (probably) won't be addressed in my fic as it's mostly background knowledge, but i might as well say it here. combined with the 'crystals' and likely nuclear waste that was left behind by the warhead, it's safe to say that sea life turned out the way it did in Splatoon because of a mixture in both factors. and in some rare genetic mutations for the Inkling and Octolings, a Kraken can emerge. (i made a whole post about Krakens that i'll link here.)

moving on. the biggest thing about me creating this fic in the first place was just one big "What if?" a lot of Marie's personality reminded me of my mother, and i know that some people interpret Agent Four as being her adopted kid, and one day i just had the thought of, "Well, what if Agent Four was actually related to Marie?" and i decided to follow in the footsteps of Yoko Taro and add some angst to the mix.

it's hard to pinpoint every single thing that gave me inspiration/influence, so i'll try to wrap this up with one final piece. the Octarians.

everyone loves the Octarians, right? i mean, sure, they don't have a lot of lore to them in-game or even in the artbook, but hey! that's what headcanons are for! a lot, and i mean A LOT, of inspiration for the Octarians came from Japan itself. there's not a lot known on their culture or their language, apart from the fact that it DOES exist; so i did what every reasonably sane person does and compare the different versions of Splatoon from Japanese and English.

for one, the Octoling/Octarian characters that are present in my fic have names that are mostly references to other pieces of media that i like. but, like every name, there's a meaning behind them. here's a few: Kotone (in reference to the sound of the koto and the FeMC for Persona 3), Naoto (meaning "honest/esteemed" and a reference to Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4), and Chihiro (meaning "a thousand questions" and a reference to Chihiro from Spirited Away.)

the political hierarchy of the Octarians is based around the "Four Auspicious Beasts," which are the symbols of the cardinal directions in Eastern mythology; the white tiger (West), the azure dragon (East), the black tortoise (North), and the vermillion bird (South). each of the Icons, as they are referred to in my fic, are in charge of specific aspects of Octarian society. Suzaku (the vermillion bird) oversees construction, technology, etc.; Genbu (the black tortoise) oversees geographical overlay, weather (on the surface), etc.; Seiryu (the azure dragon) oversees healthcare, farming, etc.; and Byakko (the white tiger) oversees military, law enforcement, etc.

granted, the Byakko, which is a title reserved specifically for the Emperor/Empress, creates the laws and oversees everything. "The Byakko's word is absolute."

that's about everything i'm okay with talking about on this post before i give too much away. take what you will, and have a good day. don't forget to drink some water!

[scary-monsters]

if it weren’t for retail prison i probably would have finished jojo by now

[alpona]

Self-awareness of BSD narrative:

...or something like that, I'm not even sure of the title. Ahem.

A story with a concept like incorporating real life literary figures as character names, and reference their works, is already meta enough, but it's also topped with more in-story materials too!

I'm probably 10 years too late to talk about this stuff, but, well, I'll just post this anyway.

*possible spoilers for the manga*

This one is pretty obvious , the book with power to re-write reality is a nod to, the bungou stray dogs script itself.

This whole thing is a self aware fiction within fiction 😌.

Every plot point that feels like plot convenience, the 'story like consistency', are because, they're exactly that! Atsushi is special because, yah, he was written as MC! He's got plot armour, because he does ! All the things that sometimes makes us think 'huh, ok, so that happened now', everything that actually does sound storylike, is because, they are!  If anything feels like it came out of nowhere, maybe it's because they did, like the sky casino for example.

This story is knowingly following the story-like consistency. (Stuff that we don't question and became part and parcel of supernatural anime-ness, but doesn't make sense in real context.)

"bound by the book" is also like how sometimes we, the audience/reader get trapped by the story narrative and don't see things from different perspectives. (After years of watching different shows, many of us saw this happening, right?) And then there are the audience who break free and enjoy a story from their own neutral perspective.

The hunting dogs, authorities can't see the detective agency is innocent because they're 'bound by the book's rule' to not believe them, and sometimes it's hard for the readers to see these antagonist's point of view either cuz we're bound by this story's narrative 😏. Again, there are one's who break free!

(Have you ever read/watched something and in the middle of the story, felt with a jolt that you've literally broken out of what the Narrative is saying? Kinda like Tachihara. I had this strange experience)

This is one of the storytelling issues I often ponder about, How brilliantly addressed! "painted as a villain by the narrative'' - Our MCs, detective agency literally faced this. and in turn, some readers might also be getting annoyed at the current antagonists, it's sometimes easy to forget that in their eyes, the ADA members are evil criminals.

What a take on the theme of villainifying (is this a word?) charactes!

Sigma. Just sigma. Yes.

Literally a character who just landed in this universe,  who's "story starts from the middle". In a way, Isn't that true for most fictional characters we get to know? And sometimes he's the clueless, only normal one, perfect as audience avatar 😂

Random theory, The final main villain will be Asagiri Kafka 😉 lol

Random theory 2 : A character we know actually wrote the entire state of BSD universe that we're seeing now 😶. What we're seeing now is an already altered reality.

Maybe the 'book' was already used to change many things, alter most character's memories. Maybe by Natsume Souseki. Or even Dazai! (Kinda like Beast, he was responsible for beast...? I should've read Beast fully before posting this!)

.... And many more I'm not writing or haven't noticed.

Wouldn't be surprised if the 4th wall is completely broken at some point, haha!  Ok, I don't think this will be blatantly addressed, but still, the meta references, how various storytelling trope is being played with, even an alternate universe storyline, everything is already brilliant! I'm absolutely loving this meta-ness!

So, these were my.... thoughts? Some theories? Mostly rant? Basically what I find most intriguing about BSD. This aspect of storytelling is usually my jam, I think of meta references everywhere anyway, so this series is a feast for me!

Excuse my messy writing, my lack of vocabulary in any language to express everything that's been on my mind, me being new in the fandom and not reading the novels yet... And I'm starting to sound like Atsushi.

Let me know if anyone feels the same! And sorry if you hate meta references.

[couldyouspeakmyname]

Opinions on Ships

Sebun x Cosmo

I don't know who these people are. No opinion.

Bill x Louis

100k+ words, rivals to lovers, semi-slowburn with a side of initial hate-fucking. 8/10

Rokume x Gosha

Weirdest pairing I've seen. Is it because they're both reptiles? Either way, very unlikely. 2/10

Free x Sebun

Uhh...is Sebun one of Legosi's neighbours in the Hidden Condo? Again, no opinion.

Airdo x Agata

Ugh, I need to read the last bit of the manga. There are so many of these people I don't recognise. No opinion.

Miguel x Melon

I could see something being written about this, with Melon requesting 'favours' as leader of the Shishigumi, but that fic would probably go to a dark place very easily. 2/10, could happen but wouldn't be my cup of tea.

Melon x Louis

No. Bad Melon. Stay away from that deer, you hear me? This one is like the previous, except with the added angst of Legosi/Haru/Juno/whoever else Louis made fall in love with him finding out. For the super duper bonus angst points, have Melon devour Louis at the end. 0/10, would never read unless it was a good, non-murdery version of Melon

Haru x Pina 

Hmm. Kinda crackship-ish, but I could see it happening, between Pina's playboy attitude and Haru's desire for control through sex. 6/10, you both need therapy

Legosi x Kibi 

Oh, to be held as tenderly as Legosi did Kibi while...sprinting to the infirmary in a desperate effort to get Kibi's arm reattached. Again, crack ship ahoy, but there is at least some interaction between these two, unlike the last pair. 7/10, unlikely, but I could see it being a very sweet couple. I'd read it if it was there, probably.

Peach x Haru 

Peach is the zebra from the drama club, right? I'd put this in the Haru x Pina category, crack ship sailing. 4/10, since they're even less likely to meet.

Sheila x Tao 

Well, at least they know each other. I guess it could happen, both being felines with similar interests, although it probably wouldn't be more serious than the majority of high school romances. 5/10, would probably read depending on how fluffy it was.

Juno x Melon

Ew. I put this in the category of Melon x Louis, NOTP. Keep your grubby mitts off Juno, you overly dramatic murder-lope. 0/10

 Riz x Gouhin 

Uhh...we're back on the S.S. Crackship, I guess? Either way, very unlikely, especially since Gouhin reads as a middle-aged man and Riz is a teenager. That's not even squicky, that's just blech. Same as Melon x Juno/Louis, now that I think about it, although I don't know how old Melon is. Either way, 0/10, NOTP.

Jack x Ten 

The only person I know who gets called Ten is the Tenth Doctor, and I'm pretty sure that's not who you mean. If it is, what a weird crossover. Personal preference is Jack x Legosi or Jack x Legosi x Louis, so I'll have to pass. No opinion, since I know not the character named Ten.

Bill x Aoba

BROTP, platonic co-parents. I'm sorry, that's all I can see them as. I can't see them as anything other than best friends trying to co-parent a child together while dating other people. They are the most wholesome parents around for their kid, but if anyone asks about their relationship, it's full on 10th Doctor and Donna Noble vibes - "We are so not married. Never. Never ever." 4/10 for the wholesome parenting, but I don't see them as a couple sadly

Thank you for your opinions on our crackships anon!!! These were super fun to read. Would you guys like us to list more random pairings for yall to react to next Sleepover Saturday?

- Lexi

I like all your comments! The manga is DEFINITLY worth a read, as the anime cut a lot of stuff, and Ibuki got done so dirty. I'd encourage you to read the manga. There's a few places to read it online, though it's the translation. 

Even better? Support the series and buy the books! The books are good quality, on the larger side for a manga, which lets your really appreciate the details.

 -Maeve

[androgynousblackbox]

Re having One Big Fandom: the thing that's hard for me is that a lot of fandoms have a relatively high barrier to entry.

You want me to get into a shonen anime? There's probably 100s of episodes that I'll have to first find space to download (we don't have good streaming options around here) and then find time to watch. Video game fandom? I don't own any consoles and I'm also not very good at games so that's a big time investment as well. Things like Star Wars and MCU have more than 10 different movies not to mention all the other stuff. Even book fandoms can get expensive (going to the library isn't really an option around here) considering that some series run to dozens of volumes or more, not to mention the investment of reading time.

As a working adult I don't really have time to spend getting into new canons all the time so mostly I stick to what I already know I like. It's simply not feasible for me to spend all that time on a new fandom only to have to give it all up every couple years.

Whoops that one big fandom ask was meant for someone else please ignore Anon, I know you said to ignore it but I hope you don't mind I answer anyway because I have some thoughts about this: 1. First, do you even care about those fandoms? I don't mean it in a bad way, I mean, like, do you really feel attracted to any of the stories that have Big Fandoms or just want to get into those stories because, well, the fandoms are so active and you want to participate on the action? If you do not care about Star Wars, MCU, that particular anime, that other show, then there's absolutely nothing wrong staying on the fandoms of the properties you already know and enjoy. They might not be the biggest fandoms ever, but who cares? As long there is a community for it and you are enjoying your free time in the way that makes you the happiest, then that is all that matters. 2. But if you do feel like there is something interesting about those stories and want to participate on fandom, then you don't need to watch however many episodes/movies to get on it. I barely ever play videogames, but I am still on videogame based fandoms because I watched gameplays, I follow blogs talking about it and/or read articles about them from other fans. You don't need to play anything to just know about the characters, the world or the universe. If you know who is who then that is more than enough to have your own ship, look for fanart, etc. 3. Likewise, you don't need to watch however many movies because, especially for something so mainstream like Star Wars or MCU, there is already plenty of fan made summaries for anyone to be up to date with whatever the fuck is happening right now. Same for anime! The reason shounen anime specifically can last so fucking much is because of filler episodes that do nothing for the overall plot (although they can be fun). The manga is always straight to the point, but if that is also way too fucking long, again, fan made summaries are your friends! Even if you got the minor details wrong when writing fanfiction or making a comic, who cares?? You either keep it in mind for the next, correct it if possible or forget about it entirely and declare it your very own AU. Nobody will mind. And if they do? Well, fuck them because you are just doing this shit for fun. Who cares about canon anyway! 4. Book fandoms? You can either pirate them directly online and then only invest on a small basic e-reader to have an entire library like that (that is what I do because book ARE way too expensive here) or find audiobooks for you to listen while doing something else. You might also find articles speaking on broad strucks about the plot. Read reviews, the more indeepth the better. If those books have movie adaptations there might be already videos comparing the two source material. If it's an entire saga that has been popular for a long time then no doubt someone already talked in lenght about it. I never read After, the Harry Styles fanfiction turned to movie, and yet I am way too knowledgeable about it because of listening other people talk about it. 5. If you don't have time to do any of that either then, again, it's just fine to keep doing what you can and keep with what is good for you. Try to get into a fandom only to get more stressed about it is literally defeating the purpose of a hobby so don't worry about it.

[littleeyesofpallas]

Was chatting with a coworker the other day and two things crossed my mind...

that I've been at this weeb shit so long that I forget what I just sort of take for granted and what might not be commonly known little factoids, and

that VIZ's attempt at a monthly Shonen Jump magazine has been gone so long most people probably never saw them. (nevermind the old RAIJIN Graphic Novels that tried the same thing)

So, here's some fun little things you might not have known about manga if you've only ever read English publications and/or digital scans...

For one, there's the matter of print formatting... In general, Japan actually uses their own standards for print that tend to differ from those in the US; The JIS(Japanese Industrial Standards) series A and B. Magazines like the typical anthology format manga are printed in JIS B5, which is comparable to the US Letter standard, or the ISO A4.

This was the same format that RAIJIN Comics printed in as well, and although I don't have a copy of the old English Shonen Jump for reference, if memory serves they printed in the same format as well in an attempt to really sell that "authentic" manga feel. Sadly, I don't know that the effort or attention to detail was much appreciated. Neither published a volume comparable to a Japanese weekly or even monthly serial magazine, though --not by a long shot. But this might not be the most practical for comparrison, since there actually just isn't much of an English language equivalent format. (unless you count actual magazines that happen to include comic illustrations or miniscule comic strip segments)

Despite the mammoth size of a serial magazine, Japanese tankoban are actually smaller than the North American equivalent. But notably the Japanese small book format isn't just a matter of contending with nearest print standards... What I believe is the JIS B40(although I could be wrong) tends to be the standard print size of small books in general, not just manga, and it's a print size that is only marginally smaller than VIZ's standard size manga, but with the very particular benefit of being deliberately portable. The small difference in size is the difference between a Japanese manga fitting in my coat pocket where as the English equivalent can't.

(I realize I photographed a copy of Shonen ACE, and not Weekly JUMP, but I measured a copy of Weekly JUMP for the thickness and not the copy of ACE; the copy of JUMP was around 506pg, while the copy of ACE was 570pg. Those are both older though, and the most recent digital copy i have of Weekly JUMP actually had around 520pg)

And I don't think it's always addressed just what a difference there is, culturally, in how Japan approaches the print medium. It's kind of an old cliche by this point, and I don't know how accurate it's remained in the past decade or so, but the quintessential image passed around between comic nerds has always been the Japanese bullet train; A place packed with commuters all passing their transit time with isolated preoccupation with music and/or reading, with manga being the king of this time killing arena. And its not just about sheer popularity driven by interest, American comic vendors have long envied the sheer accessibility of manga in Japan.

Here in the U.S. we used to have a thriving newsstand retail scene for comic books, and a kind of similar ease of grab and go comic purchase, rather than the explicitly niche interest driven "direct market" model that has been slowly but surly strangling the comic market ever since. But in Japan serialized manga has remained in relatively quick, impulse friendly, arm's reach of readers on the go. And what lubricates that business model more than anything is price.

I still remember a time when VIZ dominated the English manga market by offering at $7.95(and am I crazy or am I remembering a time when it got down to $6.99?) but now'days it's settled on a low end of $9.99. You know how much the recent vol.29 of My Hero Academia goes for? ¥484. That's less than $4.50.

You know how much that big ass magazine with 500+ pages and 21 different series goes for? Do you think it's more or less than the little pocket-size tankoban? Did you guess something close to ¥290? That's less than $2.75. But how does something bigger in both page size and page count managed to sell for less???

There are a few secrets to that, but one is that the things are packed to the gills with ads. But that's the boring answer. The other feature contributing to keeping an accessible cost on weekly/monthly manga is something we don't think about much in the U.S.; it's the paper and print quality.

The nice little books are printed in what you might expect as far as starch white paper and clean black inks, but those big honkin' phone book(do people still know what phonebooks look like??) size magazines are printed on cheap recycled pulpy newpaper with typically rough print jobs. This is most noticeable in the quality of solid blacks, and when scanning the texture of "white" space.

(I tried to take individual photos of different series chapters to show off the fact that the paper is differently colored... but my phone's camera seems to be smart enough to auto balance that kind of thing when there's no other context to anchor it to. (It doesn't help that it's night and my lights have a harsh yellowing glow to them.) but on th left you can still kind of see the different paper colors; this particular issue alternated every 3 chapters between pink-ish, green/gray, a kind of off-white/gray, and sepia, but I've also seen blue-ish, oranges, and a different shade of yellow different from the sepia-ish one.)

Back in ye olden days when it came to fan scanlations, more slapdash teams and projects would often stumble over levels in photoshop (too much black and the pulpy paper texture shows up as grainy shadows, but too far white and the edges of lineart get crunchy and ugly) but those who had more robust readership and a regular streamlined flow of work, we'd actually go in and touch up the solid blacks and whites by hand. We'd also redraw art to erase overlaid text so the type setters could lay the new English in over top.

(Weekly Jump: Left, Bleach tankoban: Right)

They do however keep a few coveted color pages in better quality paper and ink. In contrast, the standard quality tankoban actually don't include color pages at all, and just print what had been color pages in grayscale. There are also all kind of irregularities between publishers and special editions and such, but on the most basic level this difference in quality both keeps serial prices down, while also incentivizing tankoban purchase.

In the U.S. we might still have the draw of an ad-free reading experience in our TPB, but the print quality between a biweekly issue and a TPB are basically the same. Incidentally, even though manga are generally drafted at a much larger scale than even the serial magazine proportions anyway, the scaled down size of the tankoban also serves to sharpen the image. When put side by side the nice clean tankoban print looks noticeably better than the serial.

Now'days the English scanlation scene seems to be conducted almost entirely through ripped digital releases (at least as far as I can tell with popular, regular weekly titles) which is great for quality, frankly, but it does kind of lack the charm and personal touch of a band of amateurs finding round about solutions to a convoluted bootlegging pipeline. But obviously I'm a little biased.

[edit]: Oops i posted this without really ending it in any sensible ro conclusive way... I feel like ive lost sight of the point since i first drafted this but I guess its mostly just me pining after if we could just get super cheap, disposable quality, bulk manga in that classic Japanese magazine model to work here in the states. I already tend to sell manga in big runs, even at $9.99+, and frequently I'll have customers put volumes back, or clearly want the next volume but just can't afford it and wait to come back. If I could sell these customers more volumes, and more importantly more titles, at the same price, I would love to. I would love to see these things fly off the shelves. I would love to see people keeping up with multiple series. I would love to see someone look at a 44vol long series and actually feel like that's a number of volumes they can afford.

[justanotherlifeff]

Chapter 3

April 10 2316

Wednesday

Musutafu, Japan

In your two days at UA, you figured out a few things. Firstly, KAMINARI WAS BEST FRIEND MATERIAL. You were always into anime/manga and guess what? KAMINARI WAS INTO THAT TOO! Hence, there were the two of you obsessing over random anime characters and fan-girling/fan-boying the hell out of them. Secondly, Ashido Mina, or as you called her just Mina cause she insisted, was Kirishima's old classmate. They probably even had a thing for eachother and the two of them decided to stick around you and Denki, eventually becoming friends with you all. Thirdly and lastly, two unsuspecting members happened to join your rather crazy group. One of them being a pretty chill guy named Sero Hanta, who also happened to share your interest in anime but not as much as Kaminari and the other being the notorious Bakugou Katsuki. While Sero had a good reason to hang out with you all, Bakugou demanded that he was around because he had nothing better to do. You, however, figured out that it was because he for some reason, felt comfortable around Kirishima, who, to be fair, was really patient with Bakugou. There weren’t many people who would want to deal with his antisocial explosive personality. However, what you didn’t figure out, despite having a quirk that literally allowed you to read people's emotions was the fact that he had an interest in you. As to why, the only answer to that was the fact that you absolutely surpassed everyone else in battle training. While even he got defeated by shitty Deku, you on the other hand beat the crap out of Todoroki, who happened to be the most overpowered student in your class beside you. Since there were 21 students in class, you were paired up with Todoroki, it being his second match since his first match lasted only for a few moments. Watching you completely unaffected by his ice since you could levitate and breaking his ice with ease thanks to your powerful telekinesis made Bakugou heavily interested. However, that's what he was telling himself. While he definitely wasn’t lying to himself, he was still denying the fact that he was heavily turned on by your skin tight bodysuit that left nothing to imagination. The way your body suit lighted up wherever your veins got enlarged only made you look more attractive. Then again, ofcourse Bakugou wouldn’t admit it to himself. It was just his stupid hormones acting up.

Now, things may be going too fast but then again, you almost spent a lifetime without normal friends. That meant, you were willing to speed up this process of making friends, given that everyone you became friends with was infact very accepting of you. Well, everyone except Bakugou. He barely ever talked to you ever since the first day at school even though he stuck around with your group almost all the time. That didn't mean that you haven’t noticed how he's staring at you sometimes when you aren’t looking. Normally, no one would notice that he was staring since he's pretty good at hiding it, however, you were always detecting this intense emotion from him all the time whenever he stared. You didn't understand this emotion, however, you could tell that it was a weird mixture of admiration, competitiveness and anger. Then again, every single one of Bakugou's emotions seem to be laced with anger. Now, normally you'd be creeped out by Bakugou's intense attitude towards you. However, like your friend Kaminari, you happen to be a huge pervert as well. After all, how can you not notice that amazing jawbone, those toned muscles (you asked God to bless whoever made his hero costume). Hence, instead of being creeped out, you actually enjoyed the attention. Which is why, you were currently having this weird ass conversation with Kaminari which only made Sero more uncomfortable every second. "Oi Kaminari, he's doing it again." you whispered to Kaminari looking excited. "I can't believe you aren’t creeped out by that..." Kaminari glanced at Bakugou who looked like he wanted to murder you. "Now, now, did you notice how hot he is? You don't know how far I'd go to see him shirtless... Imagine those abs..." you drooled, making Kaminari sigh. "Aww I wish someone drooled over me like that..." Kaminari whined. "What's wrong with you two?" Sero muttered in disbelief looking at the two of you. "Well, besides, he's an interesting dude you know. He's hiding a lot of emotions in his head and I still can't figure him out. That rarely happens you know..." you muttered, taking a bite of the food infront of you.

Currently, you were having your lunch break and the unofficial Bakusquad was sitting together in one table. Your comment was based on the emotions you picked up about Bakugou during both the quirk test and battle training. He suffered from extreme inferiority complex and it was obvious that he tried to hide it with anger. However, you decided not to reveal his secret to random people. After all, you wouldn’t appreciate it if someone revealed your secrets... "Hiding a lot of emotions? Oi (L/N)-chan, is Bakugou in love with someone?" Kaminari exclaimed loudly. Before you could answer, Bakugou was already shouting. "WHAT ARE YOU DAMN NERDS SAYIN' ABOUT ME HAH?!!" Bakugou barked. "(L/N)-Chan thinks you're in..." Kaminari started but paused as soon as he saw your death glare. For a laid back person, your glare matched that of Bakugou. "OI SHIT HEAD! WHAT DID YOU FUCKING SAY ABOUT ME?" Bakugou turned his attention to you. "Relax Bakugou-kun. It's about what I didn’t spill about you. Kaminari was just assuming things" you answered with a smile since you knew that there was no point at getting angry at someone who used anger as a defence mechanism. "What the fuck do you know?" Bakugou growled at you trying to sound intimidating. You knew better though. His emotions were always so intense that even if you didn't want them to, they would always reach your head. "Bakugou-kun, I can read emotions. It's a part of my quirk and I can say exactly what every single person is feeling in this entire dining hall. This is something that's completely out of my control. I think you'd rather discuss your issues with a psychologist instead of asking me about it infront of a group of other people. After all, you're an antisocial bitch aren’t you?" you answered with a smile. Sure, you weren’t going to shout at someone who uses anger as a defence mechanism but that didn't give him a free pass to call you a 'shit head'.

The tension between you and Bakugou was as intense as it could get at this point with Bakugou throwing you a murderous glint while you smiled at him as if he was nothing more than an angry pomeranian. After a short staring contest, surprisingly, Bakugou grumbled, "Go die you fucking nerd" before looking away. "How was that an insult? Kaminari and I are otakus for life! Though, I'm not to sure how long Kaminari's life expectancy is cause he's a fucking snitch..." You gave Kaminari a sadistic smile which made him gulp with a nervous smile. "Uh... (L/N)-Chan? I promise I'll buy you a (Favourite anime character) figurine to make up for this please don't kill me?" Kaminari rushed. "Okay! We're going shopping after class!" your sadistic smile suddenly turned into an extremely sweet one at an extremely creepy pace. "You're kinda scary you know..." Kaminari muttered. "Yeah... Speaking up to Bakugou like that and shutting him up? That's scary..." Sero joined Kaminari. "Oh shut up! Ya'll still love me!" you pouted as you continued to eat and carry the conversation. Little did you know that Bakugou now had a new found interest in you. It was obvious that you were completely reading him by now. His murderous glint didn't work on you for exactly that reason. Cause he didn’t really have any murderous intent deep down. It was really rare for someone to not be scared of him and infact, stand up to him. While it did piss him off, he couldn’t help but find himself seeing you as more than just a shitty extra who happens to look hot. However, his trail of thoughts were quickly broken by the emergency sirens.

[imagine-that-haikyuu]

i feel like this is cheating but i can't help it, would it be possible to request (short, because i'm not an asshole) character analyses from you in the future? if not no worries, i'm just such a sucker for meta and i really like your style haha. i'll try to be specific so you'll have an easier time writing it. i mean it's basically headcanons without the head so it's just... canon. yeah that was not the smartest sentence i've ever written and i'm not proud of it sorry

i know i said that i’d do tsukki for this meta, but i started rambling about keishin in chapter 255 in a post for the other blog and halfway through writing it, i thought it would just best for this. also because you asked for something short and the tsukki meta will be long. since we haven’t seen as much development from everyone’s favorite coach as we have from tsukki, it seemed like a good opportunity to highlight some subtle hints that furudate-sensei’s been giving us that something is in the works

and also for me to ramble about my husband

so that being said, there are spoilers past season 3 of the anime since this is about the latest chapter, 255

if you like what i do and want to show your support, consider supporting me on ko-fi!

- admin rachel lauren

Never underestimate my ability to hyperfocus on Keishin in every chapter, but chapter 255 has me beginning to think we’re going to get some development from him in some capacity, and perhaps regarding his relationship with his grandpa.

I’ll never stop talking about how Furudate-sensei is a very smart in crafting their stories and bringing what may seem like minor details or throwaway lines to attention again many chapters later, so I think it might be fair to assume that some parts of 255 are hinting at something important to come for Keishin. Even if this ends up being nothing more than speculation on my part, it’s still something that might be interesting to think about for the rest of the Nationals arc.

Right after using Karasuno’s signature weapon against them, Inarizaki rubs salt into the wound by reading Kageyama and successfully blocking Hinata. Like the great coach that he's proving himself time and time again to be, Keishin of course is going to try and ensure that this doesn’t get to them and lead to mistakes later on.

Something any good coach would say to his team, right? Though, in retrospect, I’m not entirely sure this was directed just at Hinata and Kageyama, but also to himself. Shimada and Takinoue’s comments from the next page are what tipped this off as a possibility for me:

This chapter contained very little comedy (as expected given what’s happening in the match at this time), but this would have been the time for sensei to demonstrate exactly what Takinoue is saying here. We already got something similar from Daichi after Oikawa’s first serve in the second official match against Seijou.Given that it’s been a very long time since that chapter was published, it would have been fine to pull that gag again without risking it feeling cheap or stale. The fact that sensei didn’t go down that route is an interesting choice, and even more so that they felt the need to have Shimada and Takinoue note this for the reader. If it wasn’t going to be important at some point, it would have never been mentioned. I say this with confidence because it happens again and again with other characters in this series. Furudate-sensei has an incredible knack for setting up important plot points by making them seemingly minor details far before they’re even needed. (Whether or not they include these things knowing they’re going to utilize it later or including it and realizing later that it can be incorporated into the story is beside the point. It doesn’t matter when those things come to a writer so much as if the writer can and does find/create an appropriate time to remind the readers of it).

Regardless, I’d say this highlights very well how much Keishin has grown as coach just in the three months since the Miyagi prefecture finals, let alone from when he first started prior to the Nekoma practice match. He was very much a rookie coach in the beginning; he’d show his frustration and helplessness through a bit of a temper whenever the boys were backed into a corner and he couldn’t immediately think of a solution.

Now, we’re getting some wonderful examples of how differently he’s handling his position as a coach. He’s spending more of his free time researching and strategizing not only to minimize the anxiety from not knowing exactly what a powerful opponent is capable of, but also to minimize the anxiety from not knowing how to combat them. Chapter 253 gave us this gem:

And in earlier chapters right before Nationals, (I don’t remember which chapters exactly and I don’t think screenshots are entirely necessary for them anyway) there are very sweet moments where he instills confidence in Kinoshita regarding his serves and Kageyama’s abilities as a setter among other things. More recently, Asahi’s flashback in 254 really drives this point home.

But I digress. Back to the “calm on the outside” panels from 255. Unlike before, we see Keishin not lose his cool outwardly. It’s safe to say that he’s learned that a team’s morale can hinder on how their coach is feeling. While he may have been outwardly worried in the past during time-outs, one of the boys was there to assure everyone that things were going to be okay. But he can’t rely on that happening every time. While the boys are fantastic at motivating themselves and their teammates, they’re still high school students: they’re going to look to adults they trust for guidance in times of doubt. Keishin becoming a more mature coach is absolutely necessary for Karasuno to hold it together on the national stage. 

I’d argue that a good part of this, too, comes from the fact that Ikkei is in the hospital again at this point in the manga. Given that he seems relatively close to his grandpa--however odd it may be to have your relationship with your grandfather be a rivalry--this is probably weighing on Keishin enough to affect his disposition in the middle of a match. Chapter 247 has a very ominous moment which makes me believe that Ikkei is a huge component in Keishin trying to dry behind his ears a little while at Nationals.

We know he’s talking about Karasuno here, but having that blank, black panel show up right after he learns from a relative informing that Ikkei’s condition is not getting better is incredibly unsettling. His grandfather as his motivation before was markedly immature, with Ikkei constantly taking jabs at his grandson and Keishin reacting to them mostly out of mild contempt and because of his competitive spirit. Now, it’s’ easy to see that this shift in tone also shifts the nature of Ikkei as his motivation. It’s less of a matter of wanting to beat his grandpa and more so wanting to continue the legacy his grandfather left before his retirement, that his grandfather can look at Karasuno and know that they’re in capable hands, and that he is a coach worthy of leading a team at the national level. And god forbid the man dies--because sports manga aren’t immune to character deaths (Area no Kishi, anyone?)--Keishin would certainly want his grandfather to pass being proud of him and of Karasuno.

Keishin can only be a proxy for sensei to explain strategy to the readers for so long. I think Shimada and Takinoue are better suited for that because they’re spectators as much as the readers are. While a flashback to the Neighborhood Association trio’s time in high school would be ill-timed at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a different type of development for Keishin in the coming months. I’d be more surprised if we didn’t, considering what I mentioned earlier about sensei’s storytelling style. If it doesn’t happen now, it’ll happen eventually. And if not I’m flying to Japan and personally giving sensei an earful after I thank them first.