#ichablogging dgm

[icharchivist]

also hold on i'm just realizing Past!Lavi's eye is droppy exactly like Lavi's eye.

like do you see what i mean. it's the same eyeshape.

[icharchivist]

You’re making me think about something, his illusions always seemed to get worse when he was around Alma in general, i wonder, when the Third Exorcists came around, all with Alma’s essence inside of them, do you think it may have kicked out more illusions out of Kanda?

Like i’d be willing to bet the illusions get very bad around Alma in general, but away from Alma they’re still there but manageable.

But, considering the Third’s nature in regard to Alma, imagine if somehow, the illusions didn’t get *as bad* as when he’s near Alma, but they intensified?

Like in the time period between the introduction of the Thirds and the Alma arc, Kanda starts to notice his illusions become more and more common. And at first he brushes it off, this is probably just a fluke that’s gonna end in two days, but it starts to be distracting in missions too. 

Also since concerns about Kanda’s illusions arise around that time, with him visiting the Asian Branch and all it wouldn’t be far fetched for him to be thinking after a while that “okay it’s getting worse, why.” Perhaps in the begining he just blames it on the Thirds, as part of an experiments, just triggers back his own memories and that’s all on a surface level and he cannot connect it to the deeper reason why.

Now that he came to term with what happened with Alma, it’s likely the illusions calmed down again (although i don’t think they’re gone-gone either, just back to the usual “can ignore it” that he would have got used to during the ten years away from Alma)

BUT ALSO considering eventually one day we will find back the Thirds, i’m raising you this hc, what if, if all i say is a possibility, after finally having made peace with what those illusions were about, just finding back the Thirds would just make it go wild again? Perhaps even more considering how much of Alma had taken over when Alma became an Akuma, and that it’s this predominance that makes them under the Earl’s control as of present?

Sorry to rain on your acceptance, but there’s potential for even more angst right here.

Been wondering if Kanda's illusions got better after he sorted things out w Alma at the end. I mean he still sees them, but thankfully it shouldn't hurt him as it did b4

[icharchivist]

tbh when we said for over 15 years that the day Lavi comes back in the manga we will all awake and riot, i don't think any of us expected it to happen /like that/

[icharchivist]

dgm235 in lights of dgm251

friend is catching up on the flashback arc because she saw me post about the newest chap and she sent me this

THIS IS LITERALLY

FROM THE NEW CHAP

IT WAS FIRST HINTED AT DURING THE FLASHBACK ARC?

IM FEELING INSANE HELLO

[icharchivist]

WAIT WAIT WAIT DGM 251 JUST CAME OUT

KNEW IT KNEW IT KNEW IT KNEW IT OH MY GODDDDDD

Wait and she looked at Allen fondly like she remembered him, Past!A=Bookman real???? is this finally happening????

i. i have a song in my dgm playlist specifically for Lavi that goes "your blood is as good an ink as any" i'm lowkey going to start screaming

WAIT WHAT WAIT WHAT WAIT WHAT????????

wait so it was two people? but i wasn't wrong when all along i said there were clear connection between Allen and the Bookman Apprentice i'm feeling insane HOLD ON

wait this is the first time we're seeing Lavi in so long i aM going to start crying what the FUCK

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH????????????

EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE

ALLEN OH MY GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING

AAAAAAAAAaa

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Okay so Past Bookman Apprentice is NOT Past!Allen but they were clearly close??? they were clearly BOTH helping with Nea???

So i was right on my reasoning i just didn't expect it was 2 different people but i'm feeling insane

and what about the Past!Apprentice having a scar on the same eye Lavi has his eyepatch on????

Bookman Senior doesn't seem to have anything about his eyes going on but it's fair to assume Past!Bookman Apprentice and Lavi have something uniting them together because of their eyes?

my brain is burning, if Past!Allen's body changed because of the tempering by Apocryphos like they mention, what if the same thing happened to the Past!Apprentice and he became Lavi? Would that be fucked up or what?

BUT GOD. GODDDDDDDDDDD.

I'VE BEEN REPEATING!!!!!! FOR YEARS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT AS SOON AS WE WERE DONE WITH ALLEN'S FLASHBACK WE WILL BE ROLLING ON THE BOOKMAN CLAN ARC

and while i didn't imagine them to be two different people i have been theorizing for about a DECADE about how Past!Allen and the Past!Bookman Apprentice were likely linked i'm going to cry i'm going to cry im

IM FEELING SO VINDICATED I. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

IM GOING TO CRY IM GOING TO CRY IM--

[icharchivist]

th.the jump SQ previews. ICha. ICHA.

We're. We're in past Laven territory. ICha hold me I'm losing my SHIT. With this being Nea cover volume too!!! Past Lavenea is a stupidly high possibility right now, assuming Lavi as a name is not fakeout and given how it's very unlikely to be Cross, unless Hoshino pulls a got you with it being him anyway, we are in. We are in past Laven(ea) territory. what the fuck. wath the fukc

NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY

OH MY GOD????

WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCK???? WHAT TH FUCK??????

We never believed him to be Cross so that's cool but WTF???

tho remember they mentioned "Lavi" is the name of the records of this specific war. Is /it/ Lavi or is it just because the two Bookmen were recording this specific war after all?

BUT EITHER WAY THIS IS FREAKING ME OUT WHY THE FUCK IS HE NAMED LAVI

glad to see Lavi is joining Allen on "there's going to be multiple characters sharing my name on the wiki now"

ALSO E'S GORGEOUS WHAT THE HELLLLLLL GHAAAAAAAA

we're so fucked what the fuck. what THE FUCK

[icharchivist]

oh shit wait, dgm250 reactions up

-this is such a cool design from the mind of the problem twins i love it

-I've been saying for YEARS that i didn't believe Allen to be the heart, even when Apo started to obsess with him and everyone started saying he had to be the heart to justify why Apo was after him so bad. Tyki you and i share the same mind. thank you so much for putting it into words i'm going to start yelling. wanna hear my heart theory ag--

Though for equivalency sake i do have to mention that if Allen was the heart, i think Apocryphos would see Tyki say Allen couldn't be the heart and actually roll with it to protect the heart. so i don't think the fact Apo "confirms" Allen isn't the heart actually confirms anything, since on the contrary it's giving him an opportunity to protect the heart by agreeing.

I still think Allen isn't the heart, but Apocryphos's confirmation isn't actually one until we know for sure.

-"You're also obsessed with My Allen" "he's not Your Allen" TELL HIM TYKI, BUT ALSO WTF APO GET THE FUCK AWAY. CREEP.

-So it's attachement that provoked it? bc ngl i kept expecting Joyd took this face out of spite. but does it mean Joyd and Nea used to be close??? Oh the mystery thickens.

-this reaction is so fun lmao

-you're trying to hide something Wisely. I feel that.

SLFHJDLKFJDKLJFDKLFJKLDJFKLDJF

-So Allen not the heart, Tyki wonders why he's so obsessed with him....

but if Joyd and Nea used to be close, wouldn't it make sense of Joyd used to know Past!Allen? So Tyki could have become obsessed with Allen due to vague memories of the past?

and besides of Past!Allen was actually the ex Bookman Apprentice it would also explain why Tyki has been challenging Lavi in particular during fights. NO i'm not letting my ten years old theory dies i have a point i swear (have no point)

-So Wisely is to blame for it??? Makes sense then that the innocence was the thing that more or less broke the lock on Tyki when Allen poisoned him. BUT THEY'RE REMOVING THE LOCK? HELLO???

-wet.

-oh my god Kanda ALREADY reached Mana's grave?!

SHITTT THEY REALLY DIDNT WASTE ANY TIME HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHITTTT.

WE'RE GETTING THERE.

tho seeing baby Allen near Mana's corpse like this is destroying me.

Also add "their loved ones who became akuma are associated to flowers who found their ways down in the mud" to the similitude between Kanda and Allen.

Also never has grave robbing looked this pretty.

God this is gorgeous and stunning.

Final thoughts:

the chapter was so good wtf.

Beautiful art as always, some interesting things regarding the lore. Heart Theory is back on track, we have progress with the Noa memory and how Joyd apparently was affectionate to Nea?? god does Joyd know past!Allen is now the question....

But yeah more questions than not and more recentering some old theories back in topic.

i'm looking forward to see where it's going. dgm amazing as always, incredible chapter.

[icharchivist]

about dgm 251

also like can we just. admire the bait and switch Hoshino gave us.

when we met Lucia for the first time it was in a little scene where she is a CHILD and she runs to someone to tell them "Bookman no longer has a successor", and we've been freaking out ever since because we thought it meant Bookman Senior has been recovered by their clan and Lavi disappeared and/or died?

(or like we knew he didn't die because he was too important to die but we were worrying about his fate for him to be declared no longer a successor, you get what i mean)

and now we meet Lucia again in the story and she's a grown adult and she is telling us about the disappearance of the Previous Bookman Apprentice, and how Bookman was supposed to have passed down his legacy to his next successor by now if not for how he had lost his previous successor

we were freaking out for years about hearing Lucia say "Bookman no longer has a Successor" thinking the worst and it was a FLASHBACK??????????????????????

[icharchivist]

i guess it's not a earthshaking dgm update without me frantically trying to look for scenes in my physical copies because i feel like i have to connect a hundred more things together

[icharchivist]

hold on a second i'm connecting more dots

about dgm222 but linked to things from dgm251

chapter 251 shows us that Lucia is an adult in the current timeline, but therefore i went back to chap 222 to read her introduction back again and

this is the chapter that starts like this, i think it's relevent, because it's at the end of this chapter we're introduced to Lucia this way:

she's clearly a CHILD so why is it "at the same time"? unless it's "at the same time" based on Nea's memories of that place then?

Like clearly now with the context we have to figure out that the "Bookman no longer has a successor" thing is a flashback to when Past!BMJR disappeared, but therefore this is... linked to the memory Nea would have had of the day Nea became one with Allen?

LIKE IM SORRY Everything lined up for Past!Allen=Past!BMJR but like, now also taking Lucia's whole thing i'm going to have a headache

[icharchivist]

but yeah as we're discussing in replies with @/apeironstella, we've been discussing for literal decades about how despite having very little screentime together Lavi and Allen are foils in many way and it feels important to look at both their character arcs in parallel to one another to understand them, and it added to why we thought Allen was the Past!JR, and after literal decades of reaching about how their arcs are intrically linked actually, it. it ends up being true? it ends up being a case of "they might know each other in their past lives"? im feeling insane what do you mean we were right while we were REACHING at THEMES

[icharchivist]

dgm 249 spoilers, thoughts as i'm reading

(im using a french translation as of now)

-One Shot Kill on the first page

"After having been with his friends only for a moment while eating at his heart's content, he felt a little bit of happiness" fucking crying in the club

-Johnny still MVP

-Tiedoll has patrons??? he has a luxury mansion somewhere because he has patrons????? wow talk about the dream life. -Allen: you have patrons? woah just like Cross's mistresses Tiedoll: EX-FUCKING-CUSE ME. what an exchange, i wanted to make a joke about tiedoll being a boytoy and i held back and for what? for Allen to walk into this one on his own???

-BABIESST BOYYYYY

-serving cunt.

-Oh Allen actually shared SOME of what happened with Nea with the gang???? actual growth oh my god he's aCTUALLY trying not to shoulder everything on his own for once. even if he didn't share everything, that's already progress

-secret library? secret library time? like archivist time? like bookm- 👀 -A DEADLY LIBRARY???? next arc made for me--

-"Just show them Timcanpy as a proof that you're trustworthy" OUTCH?????????

-Johnny: "i don't know if we should go there. It seems dangerous..." Kanda: "don't worry. everywhere you'll go with the beansprout will be dangerous anyway." Johnny: ". Fair but outch??" this is so funny to me please. Kanda really was just "why would you worry about a deadly library's danger when just being with Allen is danger enough"

-THIS PANEL RULES forget what's written i'm still in denial about Nea taking over

-oghhh pretty

-love that Kanda can't get along with anyone, go bitch give us nothing

-OGHH PRETTY

-AAAAH BABY

-Allen realizing and understanding than Cross and Tim both raised him to be a vessel to disappear one day, but still being unable to hate them, instead loving them so dearly for having been by his side. that's making me cry.

"we'll always be friends. whatever happen, we will go together, Tim" fucking crying in the club

-NOOO IM NOT READY TO SEE KANDA AND TIEDOLL LEAVE :(((

-JOHNNY BEST BOY and one of the only 3 people Kanda might allow to do something like this to start with

-remember when Hoshino was like "oooh drawing Kanda is difficult because it's difficult drawing beautiful people"? how am i to deal when he's so pretty.

-Kanda Tsundere Moment (also: the whole manga)

BITES FIST BITES FIST BITES FIST???

Allen believes he's not going to make it out from this journey, that once he will learn the truth he might not be able to remain himself, to remain "Allen", regardless of if Nea take over, so he tells Kanda farewell, thanking him for the journey so far, but it's so obvious they all believe it will be the end of "Allen" as we know him

it fucking guts me. god.

-most frightening panel wtf

aand that's the end for now. a transitional chapter in between two arcs but a really good one. The separation between Kanda and Allen is really emotional.

and now, this mysterious library is on the horizon. Allen's identity is at stake. and this mysterious smiling individual (that shouldn't be Apo since he's been taken by the Noah, so maybe whoever the Librarian is and... this is a bad sign.)

and now. we wait.

i'm super hyped for the mysterious library though. Genuinely can't wait to see where it's going.

we're so back baby.

[icharchivist]

still dgm251

but also can you BLAME ME for thinking the Past Apprentice = Allen after they showed us that

WHILE the flashback we got of Nea talking to "Allen" were THIS

YOUR HONOR NEA LIED TO ME OKAY

because CLEARLY the guy in Nea's flashback looks like Past!Bookman Apprentice and we've been led to believe it was Past!Allen!!

Like i connected that THIS GUY in those panels must have been the past!Apprentice and since Nea called him Past!Allen i just made the conclusion and just

RAAAAAAAAH

every few years dgm updates just to remind us that we don't actually know Allen at all and that every single time we think we figured something out

hits my head on the table

[icharchivist]

DGM 248 spoilery thoughts:

(link to the chapter there)

-There's something so soft and intimate about all of them naping together it makes me want to cry

-Allen sleeping with the jar is so upsetting :(

-"haha yeah Allen! Go stay hydrated! this is what you deserve king! .... something is going to go wrong."

-AND WHAT A THING. HELLO NEA? ITS BEEN A WHILE.

-NEA YOU CANT SAY THAT TO PEOPLE

-World's most adorable and annoying parasite.

-Man Nea is REALLY MAD Allen forgot about him. But he is really being a bitch about it :sob:

-Also Nea REALLY doesn't want Allen to go to the Campbell Mansion? I hope it doesn't discourage Allen since it's our only clue as to bring Lavi back in the story since it's the only place that seems to hold answers. But if anything that just makes the mansion even more suspicious to hold actual answers.

-EXCUSE ME EXCUSE ME EXCU???? HAS ALLEN NOT BEEN THROUGH ENOUGH PEOPLE USING HIM

-first this page absolutely slaps, it looks gorgeous

-Second, that's good Allen knows about it now, i kinda. forgot he wasn't aware of it yet

-but third: Nea and the WORST WAYS to inform someone they should start having an identity crisis.

-He's SOOO petty about the fact Allen gave himself to him, then forgot about him, and now is actively working against him. Fucking blows man.

-So like does Allen have to expect Nea to pop up from any mirrors to give him existential crisis at all time. poor lad.

-Allen you were doing such a good job at finally opening up to the people around you and not lying and faking a smile to pretend that everything was alright while nothing is. Sweetie you had made progress like, yesterday night. Please. Don't lie now. especially when Nea told you something super important that everyone could try to learn about.

Esp since you have Kanda with you right now like *grabs his shoulders* how about you talk with mister "was forcefully reincarnated in a new body without my memories" when the man inside of you tells you you've been reincarnated in a new body without your memories, but out of your own free will. Allen. Allen.......

I mean i know why he does that, Allen always takes everything upon himself and all but :( god this is so sad, he was making progress and Nea just came along and ruined everything again.

im in shamble.

Anyway it was a great chapter reminding us of the threat Nea has and how difficult the whole thing is emotionally speaking for Allen.

Damn all i wanted was him to be hydrated and now he has yet another identity crisis :( this guy never wins.

Chapter was gorgeous also. A wonderful read. thank you Hoshino-sensei. And thank you to Kougeki scans as always!

[icharchivist]

Wait. Wait given what Lucia lampshaded with Allen's current hair color being like someone's and heavy implication being it was old jr's hair color, why. Why did 'Mana's curse' who we still don't fully know what was up with it made chesnut hair kid Allen gain hair color of potentially past Lavi, who if deaged, you'd think. Have same hair color jfjdhfhfj

Then again. Lavi's own redhead-ish hair color if some kind of hair color swap for some fucking reason isn't completely off limits atm. God I need that chapters and multiple answers RIGHT NOW I can't do this Icha jdhdjgnfnfkf

YOUR BRAIN

this is honestly so confusing, i don't know what all of this means just yet but this is so fucking much. I need that chapter too, i'm with you, how the fuck are we supposed to wait more.

and you're SO RIGHT about the timing of their meeting. I always found it interesting considering it made both of them having only one eye when they met, but this is recontextualizing everything. This is insane. good lord.

[icharchivist]

I'll also be /hysterical/ if current Allen and Doug overlap thing was an additional full circle brick joke where whether there was any subconscious pull or more tragic irony, current Lavi being drawn to Doug who potentially acted similar to Pasta, and that having added to his roster of complicated feelings and attaxhment with current Allen, while thinking its bc he reminded him of Doug initially, blissfully unaware of the awful cycle of similar events going on here, with also adding to people who knew/called Allen as Allen at different points whether he was named as such at the moment or not gang

RIGHT??? oh my god this would add so much.

this is breaking me, what sort of reveal is that. what the hell is happening. you're so right but also what the fuck.