#im just enjoying the memes about it while it lasts

[thewholeloaf]

Mission failed. We'll get em next time

[sentient-forest]

#cecilsweep and Welcome to Night Vale trending #1 in 2023

[givemethedamnflowers]

I had the extreme honor today of saying "he's our spider george" and to be understood it was amazing

[fev3rish]

hellaur wife kenji sato fic and acc recs PLEASE MWAH MWAH MWAH 🤗🤗🤗

VIC’S FAVS ! kenji sato x reader

hiiii wifey<3 i know exactly who sent this. she’s a newer addition to the fandom and it is my duty to help her adjust 😇 this is a complete YAPATHON. by the way. i LOVE using any given oppurtunity i have to compliment writers because it’s like a win win situation to me. i get noticed by a cool writer and the writer knows someone enjoys their work like what thats so coolio

overall recommendations . . .

@luneariaa -> stepping into her account is like stepping into another dimension. i remember skimming through the kenji sato x reader tag while i was first settling into the fandom—before i was a writer myself—and they were one of the first writers i saw. their whole aesthetic and the way they format their writing, the way they write in general, is so beautiful and she’s such an underrated writer in the community! im also obsessed with their account theme it’s like a living visual stimboard on my phone. how do u do those silly little gif videos bby. im like one of ur biggest fans please notice me oh mg god pls PLEASE NOTICE ME PLEASE HAVE DINNER EITH ME PLEASE PLEASE (does a handstand) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

@yzzart -> my inspiration hello 🙏 she’s the reason i actually started writing for ultraman! her kenji boyfriend headcanons were the first things that caught my attention, and it sparked a bunch of will to write in me. she lowkey got me out of a writing block that lasted almost one year and im forever thankful for her beautiful existence 💗 her usage of vocabulary is IMPRESSIVE. i don’t usually have to google the meanings of words but the first time i ever did was when i read her writing and i mean that in the most positive way possible. it is ALWAYS a green flag when a writer uses big words and uses them right. her writing prowess is EVIDENT. and she deserves every nice word people say about her she is such a GORGEOUS girl

@reyalvr -> my friend who doesnt know shes my friend btw. we both went through the avatar -> ultraman pipeline and i think its so funny ?? i distinctly remember reading her ao’nung fics and eating them up ALL the time. when i discovered her again, i was like “oh! that username seems familiar?” and it’s kind of peculiar because while i do remember reading her writing back when i was still @/victoirey, and enjoying it because she devoured everytime, i don’t know if she’s had the same username for like forever? i digress! whatever it is, her writing always has me hooked. like i physically CANNOT stop reading. it put me in this trance like state and im like so “woah!” when i experience it because usually i can’t sit still. she deserves all the hype shes gotten; her writing is the closest thing to perfect, everything about it is entrancing. from the storyline to the dialogue, it all just falls into place. the only thing that isn’t perfect, is the fact that it ends. like why cant u just like write forever boo… come on😡💗

@mitskicain -> i have her most recent works in my read later list. her previous twoshot lowkey had me all giggly! i kicked my feet while reading and i accidentally stubbed my toe onto the nearby table but the story was so great it quelled my pain immediately. she’s such a good writer and i LOVE her characterization of kenji like it genuinely makes me blush so hard. also her username? is that a reference to ethel cain in it? …if u see this, i love ethel cain. my fav song is unpunishable. ure so cool. also her blog is like so … how do i say, like organized? like she has a way of making everything fit and fall into place . literally even if its a MEME. she’ll make it fall into place because thats judt how skilled she is. also batter up is such a clever name idk why im so impressed whenever i see it on ur blog im like “woh. batter up….. name nice. i love the name kween” but overall shes SO FUCKING GOOOOOOD AUFH

my fav fics . . .

ultraman, ultrafine, ultramine ; “kenji sato, the man that you are.” / WORD? i fucking love this twoshot its so GOD ugh i gush everytime i read it user mitskicain you are so GOOD

cutely written by @mitskicain

when i was led to you … ; “kenji could get used to his routine, but, only with you by his side.” / grrrrrr grrrrr i 😡😡😡 punchign wall!!1! so good. always so good ysa

gorgeously written by @yzzart

she’s mine ; “catch me, i’ve fallen in love for the first time.” / me after entering the kenji sato characterization competition, seeing user reyalvr and user mitskicain: 🚪🚶‍♀️ so FUCKING YUMMY

extraordinarily written by @reyalvr

piece of art ; aka kenji and u go to the museum / my honest reaction:

flawlessly written by @luneariaa

mommys here ; reader takes the role of pretty baby emi’s mother🥺 / i haven’t read this in full yet, but from the first few paragraphs i already know its a good story!! I am literally so attracted to this authors writing style for some reason like wow…. beautifully written by @kiwiikato

kenji & baseball!critic reader ; okay so its not really a fic think of it as me recommending you a trailer for a movie im really excited to see because i LURK. and I LURK ON THIS BABES ACCOUNT AND IM READIN WHEN U LEAST EXPECT IT 👀 writing style is flawless, by the way, baby. you’re such a starling .

wonderfully written by @rieamena

labor of love ; I FUCKING LOVE KENJI SATO AUTHORS😭😭/ read this today and i went 🙏 . my hands clasped together in prayer. literally thank you god. i love this so much. spectacularly written by @jinwoosungs

that’s it from me my loves, if you actually did read this—thank you? that’s sweet? gimme a big ol kiss? and i hope you know that whether or not you’re on this list literally all you need to do if you want to get your works out there is send me an ASK and i will literally edit this post and add my fav work from you i will literally do it. to the authors i included and to the others i didn’t, your efforts are seen and appreciated. i know it is hard to write stories and it is so impressive that you’ve written in the first place. you are all so talented, and i just wanted to remind you of that fact<3

💋 kisses, v <3

[4pfsukuna]

Love love LOVE the asexual drabbles and headcannons! Could you do one with Gojo & black asexual woman? Like she teases him ‘i’ll only mess around if you give me a dollar’ as a snarky joke and he’s like ‘i’m rich baby hell yes’ and keeps the joke running🤭 I know i’ll enjoy anything you write! Thank you in advance!

OMG, thank you im glad you love them because i actually love writing them.

• You met him at the mall…the prada store to be exact, you weren’t necessarily shopping more so just debating on a purse or a pair of boots.

•You were a stylist in japan and your clients loved your American style although they had way cooler clothes. Safe to say business was flourishing.

•Yet here you are trying not to blow through money too fast so you were Legit window shopping.

.•The last thing you expect is a white haired man to stand next to you and startle you, you assume he’s going to say something about your hair as most people had done i mean you were a black person in japan.

• He’s holding a few bags and a cup you initially assume he’s blind because of the blindfold but when he begins to talk about the shoe, your slightly confused but you have decorum so you don’t say anything.

• “I’ve had my eye on the bag for a few weeks but they just dropped the new boots so I’m debating” you say and what’s $950 To any normal person its like a penny to him.

• “How about i buy both and you wear them on our first date” he says smoothly leaning up against the glass window and you laugh at first until you realize hes dead serious. You weren’t use to men here flirting with you and it makes you nervous.

• “Usually people start off with their names” you tell him before introducing yourself as you hold out your hand which he places a kiss on.

• “Gojo Satoru” lifting his blindfold revealing the brightest blue eyes you’ve ever seen

• You also notice he has a tag hanging off his shirt and it cost $1500.

• You decline him buying the stuff for you but accept his offer for a date. What’s the worst that could happen?

• He doesn’t know what he’s expecting when he sees you, he thought you were already gorgeous at the mall but looking at you right now it makes something… stir.

• He told you to dress cute but casual he was taking you sight seeing— he never mentioned it would be in a helicopter over the city.

• It’s obvious this man has money to blow and you contemplate looking him up to figure out just who he is.

• He also brings the shoes and bag as a gift, he couldn’t resist! Plus he likes loves the way your face initially lights up before trying to be humble and give it back.

• He lies and tells you its rude to not accept gifts.

• “Gojo i cant accept this without you knowing all about me…” you speak pouting knowing the good time was coming to an end and while the shoes and bag looked perfect you had to confess.

• “Its the wrong size?” He asked looking at your foot and back at the box on the table.

•“What? No strangely enough you got the right size…im asexual” 

•“…thats… cool. I can write with both hands too”

“Gojo thats ambidextrous! Asexual means—“

• “Im just kidding sweetheart, of course i know what it means”

•He definitely did not and googled it under the table.

• You know the meme “we hung out once and weve been together ever since” that was you two.

• The next few weeks he finds time to either take you to breakfast, lunch or dinner and on days hes completely free he’ll take you on some one of a kind date experience. 

• Hes a kid at heart so when you take him to a virtual reality place and literally fight to pay, you have to distract him by kissing him and biting gently on his lower lip.

•He loved it nobodys every paid for anything for him and the fact that you planned the date, paid and had a great experience hes lovestruck.

• He ended up paying since he put a hole in the wall fighting demons in the game mentioning something about it feeling to real.

•Its when 3 of his students run into you two and their shocked he’s not harassing you and actually enjoying voluntarily spending time with him, mainly because he has no idea who you are.

• Nobara follows all of your socials loving your day in the life videos, style advice videos even when you have your celebrity clients in the videos.

•Its megumi knowing who you are and thinking you’re cool that seals the deal for him.

•Gojo loves your cooking so the day you pack him leftovers with a cute smiley face and a note hes literally on the desk kicking his feet in the air… weirding out his students. This was next level even for him.

•They beg to bring you around loving seeing him happy with you.

•Its a collective though and nobara who wants to enjoy regular teen things breaks the ice officially by asking 

“Take this dollar or have sex with Gojo-sensei?”

“Give me the dollar” at the same time he shouts her name. Hes also taken aback cause what do you mean youre going to take the dollar.

“No babe i dont think you heard the question take a dollar or—“

“Give me the dollar”

•For the rest of the day Gojo chooses to be dramatic from the grocery store to the hair supply store where guess whos short $1 of buying hair supplies. You turn to him seeing hes fascinated with the hair clips and different color edge controls.

•“Hey sweetheart i think you should get all of these” he suggest ready to pick them all up waiting on your command. 

•“Hey babe im short” you tell him and he scoffs not paying you any mind looking at the conditioners catagorized by hair type.

“I knew that when i first seen you… what’s your hair type? Does 4b mean 4 everyone? Like your down for interracial dating… how do they know that by hair type? Like hard wig soft life?” He rambles and you almost lose it.

“No im short $1” and he sends you the most devious smirk as he holds open his wallet repeating the question Nobara asked.

“Give me the dollar” you smirk back watching his smile be taken over by a glare as he gives the cashier his card to pay for everything  instead.

“Dont give me that look baby, im rich now come on i ordered a package for you” he loves to buy you things he jokingly ask siri how much the world cost one time.

“Satoru it better not be another pair of prada shoes” you scold as he carries the bags, his silence tells you everything you need to know though.

“Babe I’m running out of space to put all the stuff you bought me, please” you pout loving that this was a problem in your relationship and not anything else.

“I have enough space… You can live with me instead”

[the-s1lly-corner]

I got an idea from the child reader request.

Like the same wolf in sheep's clothing concept but like FULL SWEET TO DARK PERSONALITY.

Wanna hear?

So basically child reader is like cute and innocent at first sight but IS A TOTAL DEMON, Having a very dark sense of humor, Sometimes out of nowhere walk up to someone of the gang and threaten to gouge out their eyes while they sleep, they are always with an cute expression but turns out that they like to cause chaos and havoc just like Jax but in a more creepy way.

For example, SOMEHOW reader is caught hanging from the ceilling scaring the fuck out of gangle just because its fun. Or staying in the dark waiting for someone so they can jumpscare them.

Basically child reader uses their cute-kid as an advantage to scare others off.

TADC x child!reader who is a menace! (platonic)

wasnt quite sure what to title this so!! some segments may be shorter than others since im still trying to get a hand of writing/coming up with ideas for certain characters (cough cough gangle) (i love her sm but shes so hard for me to write idk why) hope you enjoy! majority of this post is just me tormenting the cast TToTT

CAINE:

oh my god you kind of remind him of bubble but more... flkmddlvm

makes a time out rule when you keep making threats to the other circus members, that behavior is not family friendly!

he might even consider trying to go into the code and censoring your common phrases as well as some other words, if he has the capabilities for that

still tries to be a dad to you, though, wants to be a good role model and guide you in the right direction for the sake of everyone else

the first time you say something... morbid to him he just

slack jawed, stares at you before shaking himself back to reality and just

bro is astonished he was not ready to hear that today, let alone hear it from a small child

POMNI:

you know how in the other post with a child!reader i mention that pomni is vaguely uncomfortable around kids since she knows they can dish out some real cruelty

take this idea and multiply it by 10x

actually looks like that one sad spongebob meme with the big eyes and tear when shes put in charge of keeping an eye on you during an in house adventure

meek attempt to get you to behave

not much to say here imo, since its like an amped up version of the last post :O

JAX:

makes a joke about how youre already entering your edgy phase, he now has to watch his back lest some of his digital fur be shaved off

fear does not come close to describing how he feels when he discovers that you somehow found keys to some peoples rooms. he hopes you dont have a key to his room

and he thought he was hot shit, but no some random kid makes him fear the consequences of his actions

is this his punishment for his constant bullshit? what did he do in particular to deserve this?

instinctively looks up at the ceiling when he enters a room to make sure youre not about to drop on him

congrats, youve instilled fear into the funny rabbit

RAGATHA:

the 'nightmare kid' thing some babysitters go through at least once in their life, but instead of tantrums and such its just you talking about how you sometimes tear apart the dolls that came with your room. to the doll person

very uncomfortable by a lot of the stuff you casually say, even more so because its coming from a kid. though i think she would be uncomfortably be talk like that in general

SWEARS that one day shes going to blink and youll suddenly be right next to her or within her proximity

like on one hand she wants to try to guide you to be less dark, like caine, but i think she would need someone to back her up because she cannot get the image of the torn up dolls out of her head

KINGER:

poor man

like even if the things you said were empty threats, he would be scared shitless

if he isnt already in his fort, hes retreating to it the second he sees you around

kind of funny since kinger is in his late late 40s and youre a kid and hes terrified of you

anyways

less of a discomfort thing and more so scared that youre going to go through with the things you say

he walked into the common area one day and saw you literally crawling across the walls, he was with gangle when he saw it. you see his irises of his eyes shrink

doesnt even bother going to his fort, which is under where you currently are

he just

slowly

backs away, he can find refuge in his room... unless you have a key to his room

ZOOBLE:

less discomfort more annoyance with zooble, i think that while she would find it funny when a kid swears she finds people talking like that to be cringe; kid or not

the only one who isnt really scared of you. sure you threaten to disassemble them constantly and hide their pieces across the grounds to assure they can never be whole again, but they're just internally cringing while you try to make them turn away

in a weird way you two create an odd dynamic where you just go on and zooble just halfway listens, you kinda just talk at them

like while caine tries to be your dad, and ragatha tries to be.. something.. zooble is like a weird 'friend'

probably has the most potential to become a friend and get you to chill, but thats just based on my experience

like if its an attention/reaction thing, zooble isnt going to give it to you, which kind of. ruins the point of it for you, and you just

stop, or at least tone it down over time

or maybe thats just me seeing zooble having the potential to be an older sibling figure

GANGLE:

the gif is gangle when you get your hands on her

i understand that she cries easily, but like, you have probably made her cry at least once either on accident or on purpose

i think shes one of the few characters out of the cast who would probably start avoiding you for the sake of her emotional state, but she would feel bad about it since at the end of the day you're a kid

refuses to go anywhere near you when her comedy mask is broken, because otherwise shes a glum mess

you know how in poppee the performer, kedamono's mask sometimes just. pops off when he gets scared or surprised (well it happens regardless of expression/mood but yk)

gangle does that when she sees you LITERALLY CRAWLING ON THE WALLS LIKE A BUG

how are you even doing that

she doesnt wanna know, actually

"imma tie you up double knotted style" *high pitched crying*

[arkus-rhapsode]

Gachi-Bachi: A Tale of Two Roads to Success (A Discussion)

Back again with another think piece on this blog. And while the last two came from an inspiration of topics that I had floating around in my head for awhile, this one came about from me scrolling on twitter (I'm not calling it X) recently and noticing the in real time evolution of two of the arguably biggest battle shonen releases of the 2020s. That would be Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi.

However, this isn't gonna be a simple compare and contrast of the series as works of fiction as I personally feel each one has different qualities that really distinguish them from each other in a way that doing a comparison wouldn't be too interesting. Rather what intrigues me is how they are a fascinating study in how series become big so to speak and despite the overlap in fans, there's actually some pretty key differences in their success stories that highlight greater things in the manga industry in particular. So let's ask ourselves: how did we get here, what role has fanbases played in it, what role has their respective magazines played in this, and just how truly successful are these series?

Background and Rise

Now for those who are just not initiated, I'll briefly explain the premise of these two series.

Gachiakuta by Kei Urana is a series set in a dark fantasy world where an orphan named Rudo is banished to the trash filled abyss after being framed for the murder of his adoptive father. In the Abyss Rudo discovers he has the power to use his magic gloves to turn objects into weapons, which he uses as a member of the Cleaners. He fights trash monsters and criminals in a journey to get back home and take revenge on the one who framed him.

Kagurabachi by Takeru Hokazono is an urban fantasy series set in contemporary Japan that deal with Chihiro, the son of a mystical blacksmith who had forged six magic swords. Chihiro's father is killed by a group of magical mobsters and his swords taken from him. Chihiro, armed with a secret seventh magic sword, will cut a blood path through Japan's criminal underbelly and take revenge on those responsible for his father's death.

I know Im grossly summarizing both works because I'm focusing not on the series themselves but rather the things surrounding each of them. So if you wish to know more, please check them out yourselves and see if you enjoy them. And just for transparency's sake, I have made multiple posts on this blog about Gachiakuta so I think its safe to say I enjoy it quite a bit. While my relationship with Kagurabachi is not that intimate as I actually don't read much Weekly Shonen Jump anymore, I did at least read the first volume just so I can say, I totally see why this got a following. Also just for clarity as I know the internet can flatten time in many instances, I want to point out that while I'd call these series contemporary, its worth noting that they're not exactly same time rising stars. Kagurabachi came out this year, in 2024, while Gachiakuta came out in 2022. A whooping two year lead. Hot did Kagurabachi get so hot? How?

Well if you're familiar with Kagurabachi in even a tertiary form you probably remember this meme.

This was a piece of promo art used by Jump along with a brief summary of the series before it was publishized. Now for a little context, at this time, two of Shonen Jump's biggest action staple series, My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen, were in their twilight stages. And at the time the shonen jump magazine had an interesting assortment of genres probably more than the last two decades. However, while One Piece would still be evergreen and their were action series such as Sakamoto Days and Undead Unluck, there was a hunger for a new battle series. And not just a new battle series, a long term investment battle series.

So when the news came down that WSJ would be releasing a "urban fantasy revenge sword battle series" with an accompanying art that definitely would fit alongside the heroes of the 2000s like Ichigo Kurosaki or Death the Kid, there was a reasonable excitement. Course there was also a bit of an over enthusiasm. Now like I said in my 2000s anime nostalgia post, I don't think this definitively means anything deep that there are just people who got into anime around the 2000s who just enjoy that types of series they were introduced to and were excited for more of that. However, over enthusiasm on the internet, is always prime material for ribbing.

So a lot of people on Ani/manga twitter saw slews of people posting this, and I mean this with no disrespect, kinda bored looking guy drawing his sword and being excited for a series that hadn't come out. This lead to of course memes. Lots of memes.

That this was the best jump manga of all time before a single chapter came out. It even lead to a bunch of people redrawing this promo image several times with different characters each with the same kind of expression. Now of course, this did ignore the fact that there was at least a translated one-shot released by Hokazono that people could at least check out to see if they enjoy his work. As well as the fact this kinda happens everytime there's a new jump rotation. Its just kinda in fan nature to get hyped for something even if all they have is a simple description. But lots of memes tend to flatten out context.

And so it seemed like that was that, the set up for the ultimate punchline. People had some genuine excitement, a bunch of guys on twitter made a mountain of ironic excitement, and now all the series had to come out and not live up to that hype. But then Kagurabachi did come out and the chapter was good. Sure it wasn't change your life spectacular or anything, but for a first chapter of a brand new series, it did exactly what it needed to do: Clearly introduce the stakes of the world, who the main character is, what their motivation is, mixing in some action set pieces, and leaving a little room for intrigue to watch the series grow. It hit the emotional points it wanted and hit the action beats it wanted. The end. That wasn't bad at all. Quite the opposite.

So here we are, left with what was essentially a free marketing campaign for people who probably expected it to get the shonen jump axe like a lot of new action series tended to get and instead they got something pretty okay. If there was ever a group of people vindicated it was those guys excited for Kagurabachi for the start.

Yes I know, meme popularity can be dumb or annoying. And some super fans and hype beasts who want to be there on the ground floor can be kinda cringe, but there is no doubt this was one of the most successful social media campaigns ever for a series that actually was managing to justify it. And for the next few weeks it would keep going and irony was almost completely replaced with sincerity.

The fact this was actually getting Shueisha's social media to acknowledge twitter hashtags and release a promotional trailer for it in English was such a first. Even if you don't like Kagurabachi or are indifferent to it, there is no denying this was unique.

But I've spent all this time reminiscing about Kagurabachi's social media rise. What about Gachiakuta hmm?

Well Gachiakuta was a series made by Kei Urana who had served as an assistant to Atsushi Okubo on the Weekly Shonen Magazine series, Fire Force. Fire Force itself is an odd beast we don't have the time to fully get into, but it was pretty popular for a non jump series and featured Okubo, a creator who has possibly one of the most devout fanbases ever, striking it big with many people's formative anime, Soul Eater. Urana herself was a massive fan of the series and if you've read Gachiakuta you can see the inspiration. However, when it was time for Fire Force to come to a close, WSM had announced that a new series by Okubo's assistant would be starting just before its end. And people were excited right? Well not exactly. Cause you had to be looking in the right places to even notice this announcement.

At the time, WSM series were mostly readable on Azuki. However, there seemed to be a weirdly non commutable relationship with Azuki and WSM's publisher Kodansha. As such it was kinda a gamble if a new WSM series would even show up on Azuki let alone simelpubbed. So it seemed like whatever Gachiakuta was would be Japan exclusive. But as if by miracle, the translation group, Pair of 2+ came in and dropped an English version of the chapter on release. The first chapter of Gachiakuta was pretty strong though mostly for Urana's incredibly striking artstyle. Made even better by the fact that the world of Gachiakuta was a fantasy world. And not fantasy in the way a stereotypical isekai is borrowing from romanticized European fantasy. But rather this sorta grudge world that was capable of having what looked like modern convinces, but there was things like a mysterious trash pit, a bunch of soldiers who dressed in ostentatious uniforms and a ginormous and intimidating trash creature.

I know it might seem kinda like a broken record now, but a big thing in the 2010s era of action manga and anime was a move towards more grounded and contemporary setting with stories. Juxtaposing supernatural or spectacular elements with the modern day Japan structure and order. Plenty of series were popular with this such as My Hero, Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, hell even Demon Slayer does the same though set in a turn of the century version of Japan. These certainly have an appeal and obviously they're not going anywhere, but there was a growing perception that fantasy worlds in manga were kinda fading. We weren't really getting a bunch of One Pieces. Were were getting stuff closer to Bleach. So of course, deny someone something long enough and they become enthusiastic for the tiniest taste of it.

So with all this, how was Gachiakuta's first few weeks. Well outside of some territory nods and the obvious "This manga is trash" jokes. It kinda stayed low key. With people relying on scan groups to handle it, there was really no guarantee of consistent momentum. Sometimes it'd take two weeks to get a chapter out in English while the Spanish versions were available. sometimes another scan group may come in a drop a chapter, making it harder to find the series in one place. However, all of this really did end up benefitting Gachiakuta. Because when you remove convenience you end up creating your strongest soldiers. If you were actively looking for Gachiakuta and not just waiting for an app update, that meant you were committed. And committed people had to use word of mouth to get this out there. If there was a moment of big promotion it would be when AniTuber Gigguk's Trash Taste podcast had well know Vtuber (Full disclaimer I know almost nothing about Vtubers or Hololive. I'm sorry in advance if I'm not going into greater detail on their significance) Mori Calliope discuss the Next Manga award winners and give Gachiakuta a shout out.

So, we had Bachibros and the twitter take over, while we had Gachibros and their slowly growing cult classic. Both methods ended up creating some real die hard fans, but the visibility and promotion of both series is very different. And ties into...

How Each Series Respective Company Has Handled Them

So before I start this section, I know I've made social media a big reference point for the success of these series. I want to make it clear that social media popularity isn't a full story. Something may be popular on twitter or YouTube but not necessarily be successful. I think social media can be a good barometer of the actual interest of a series, but not its end all be all for its results. And I think no series really knew this better than Hunters Guild: Red Hood.

For those unaware, Hunters Guild: Red Hood was a series that released in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2021 and was a big darling with Animanga twitter. Its art style, its premise on western fairytales, going for a more traditional dark fable vibe, and of course attractive characters. It was easily the series a bunch of people were calling the next big thing. And then it flopped. It was regularly last place in the popularity polls and its Japanese volume sales were really unimpressive. So it got axed by Jump.

To say this caused an outrage with people would be an understatement. This caused a trend of people really trying to find "the answer." Try and make this seemingly senseless action make sense. Well tragically if you are a manga industry watcher like me you know that this isn't actually all that unique.

For a lot of non Japanese fans, particularly Americans, we never had the accessibility of the Shonen Jump app or the Manga+ app in the 2000s-2010s. If you wanted manga, you were using MangaStream and MangaPanda which had focused on basically the biggest series in the industry. While countless series that have run in jump and other magazines have just been ended after 20 chapters. But that information wasn't available to us in real time the way it is now.

If you're around my age range and know about the shonen jump ranking system, you were probably introduced to the concept through the series Bakuman, manga about manga that was really the first popularized look at how the sausage was made in the Shuiesha offices. A big thing that was a point of tension was the rankings. If a series fell low consistently in the ranks of readership surveys filled up by the ones who purchased a copy of shonen jump and submitted it, then it would be cancelled by jump. Now its important to remember, Bakuman was a dramatized recreation of how Shueisha operated. Things were exaggerated in the name of making an entertaining and tension filled series. In reality, the ranking system is important, however the editorial department of Jump weights multiple factors when making this judgement: what is in the magazine at the time? Is something ending so we can risk having this run longer? Is there a new batch we want to role out soon so we need to free up space? How are the volume sales doing? And has this carved out a viable niche for itself?

While yes its a good rule of thumb to say something in last place is generally in danger for not maintaining interest to keep it around, its not a simple yes no.

Thanks to Shueisha's Shonen Jump App we now get everything as it comes out. We get the future best and the future failures and there really isn't a way to control it. So to see Red Hood a series with some very vocal fans, it was always at the whims of Japanese customers who seemed neither interested in voting for it over other series in the magazine or purchasing its volumes as they came out. It is a hard pill for people to swallow, to have something that they like, that they want to be invested in and tell its story to be cut short.

But I would say that in this day and age while it is hard to witness this, the benefits of the SJ app are phenomenal. The SJ app is a convent subscription service at a reasonable price that offers the first chapter of a series free as well as the latest three chapters free. So even if you want to not subscribe you can still keep up on an official platform. And Manga+ being similar and not region locked. Thanks to this any new series debuting in Shonen will have the eyes of the world audience on it. When there is a new batch of manga that enter the series, it feels like an event. It really is a high risk high reward situation-you run in WSJ and you have the opportunity for everyone even beyond Japan see your work simultaneously, however you will still have to fight and maintain interest and hype for your series on a weekly basis.

As previously stated, Kagurabachi absolutely benefitted from this. And while yes some it was ironic, the fact that the promise of a new battle series was going to be on everyone's screens and have the biggest reach to find an audience is good. Now of course, we have to remember that WSJ still doesn't let non Japanese voters participate in polls, so while you can find a foreign audience it might not be what gets people excited in Japan (Although there have been instances of foreign fans purchasing Japanese volumes). Well jump may have gone an extra mile with this one. Kagurabachi would actually really early into its run cycle be given a recommendation by Gege Akutani author of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Now for those who actually don't know, in Japan, some manga are printed and packaged with a recommendation band that acts as an extra form of promotion. Siting a famous or well liked author giving a series a recommendation and a little image of the series they worked and sometimes a quote.

Obviously getting an on the cover cosign is a bit more prestigious than say, going to your Barnes and Noble and an employee has written why you may enjoy this series. And not just any mangaka, Kagurabachi was getting props from one the biggest mangaka in the magazine with a pretty ravenous fanbase. But for me a big thing that got my attention that showed how much jump was investing was the previously mention Kagurabachi PV trailer. A simple YouTube animation to get people to check out the work, plenty of series get this. But Kagurabachi's was the first to have it in English. A Japanese company acknowledging the server of the global audience is huge and I'd say this already seemed like it was hyped up enough, but then you have an editor of Jump+ openly acknowledging the "#BachiFlex" in an official statement. There's no doubt there is a fanbase and Jump is absolutely aware of that fact. And of course you can't forget those color pages.

So that's how Kagurabachi was doing, how was Gachiakuta doing? Well first we need to talk about Weekly Shonen Magazine and get something out of the way, they do not have a ranking system like shonen jump. Weekly Shonen Magazine actually seems to operate more along the lines of volume sales. waiting for a manga to hit print and see that actual tangible interest of the people who buy it. Because of this, you can see that WSM has actually a much lower turn over rate than WSJ. And that when there is a new series its usually only one or two at a time in a year. So if the series hinges on sales, it should love having a massive reach?

Well sadly, WSM and Kodansha have been pretty poor when dealing with the global market. I mentioned earlier its relationship with Azuki getting official scans out but there was also the deals it had made with Crunchyroll to have a reader for their work. Both services were not the best received, so wouldn't it be nice if Kodansha had a web service like Jump? A simeulpub on the international market. Well enter K Manga and possibly one of the biggest fumbles ever.

I mentioned before that the SJ app was made with the mind as a subscription service, this was done with awareness of what western audience were willing to financially invest in. Well, Kodansha instead responded with a resigned version of their Magazine Pocket app that included a frankly confusing points and ticket system with just straight up micro-transactions. If you're keyed into the Webtoon scene you probably know this type of weird gamification of a service is done in Asia.

Im sure you've heard the famous quote about how piracy is a service problem and not a pricing problem. People would be perfectly happy to spend money on an official release if the way to access it was ultra convenient. And making Americans learn things like 24 hour tickets, and daily prizes, and just having you pay for each individual chapter. Its just really cumbersome and I'd rather get back to reading scans instead. Also to add some insult to injury it is region locked so even if you wanted to purchase this in countries like Europe, you can't.

I will at least say some positives, I think K manga has a much wider range of series available than the SJ or Manga+ apps. As it takes from Kodansha's many different manga magazines like Weekly Shonen Magazine, Weekly Young Magazine, Monthly Afternoon, Monthly Morning, Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, and Magazine Pocket originals. And Gachiakuta was part of the first few titles at launch and it was some good promotion as later that Fall, Kodansha USA would release the English print copies. But promotion through an app a lot of people weren't really happy with.

Speaking of the print side wasn't doing so hot either. As this may be a surprise to some, WSJ is rare in the fact that it makes manga a real center focus of why you should purchase the magazine, meanwhile many other mags use covergirls.

Look Im not gonna say Shueisha doesn't do this, their Weekly Young Jump covers are really raunchier than this with their cover girls. But yeah not exactly the most bright thing for a series when its being paired against glamor girls and quite literally pushed into a corner.

But it wasn't all bad as Urana would actually end up promoting the series through other means. As mentioned before, a pretty popular Vtuber had already devoted time to promote it of her own free will, Urana herself would even be commissioned to draw cover art for them. Urana would do the same for Jpop band cvlte. We'd even have Kodansha ambassador and professional skateboarder Yuto Horigome have Urana in for a session to talk about art and just recently, British rock band Bring Me The Horizon was promoting the series.

Now its my opinion that no series deserves success or deserves failure. It needs to stand on it own merits and the ones interested will come to it. However, I do find it interesting how Kodansha as a company has chosen to promote their work. Even when its going harder (especially post anime announcement) it feels weirdly word of mouth. Getting all these guys from different subgeneres to talk about it while internationally having such a mixed roll out. But maybe that close inter-personality is what makes the Gachiakuta rise story more unique. Sure it doesn't have the same all eyes on me as Kagurabachi has gotten, but in a way its kinda made this more intimate whether once again cultivating fans who are really really faithful to Gachiakuta's success. This comes to a head in the 101st chapter of Gachiakuta with a color page, Urana thanks her friends in it fitting several graffiti names of people who have supported her and the studio that will be making this a reality.

And hey, while I've definitely been critical of Kodansha, there's no denying that, but hey they agreed to give this series an anime so that must mean its a success. Right?

Success?

So I've been mostly talking about aspects of Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi's more social and industrial significance. How they became popular and how they're been treated by their respective companies. But what about results? Why bore you all with all this hot air when I can just give you cold hard facts? Well by sales-yeah Kagurabachi is a hit. Like there's no other interpretation. It is a hit. It debuted at number 4 on the manga sales chart, by two volume on the market it had hit 100K copies in circulation, and is receiving reprint after reprint.

Also this is a bit tacked on because this happened while I was editing, Kagurabachi just overwhelming won the Next Manga Awards print category. By a huge margin and being the second highest number of votes submitted for a series after Oshi no Ko. Like I don't really have much to say but like... Congrats to Takeru Hokazono. Like there's not denying this is a hit. Like I read the acceptance tweet, he knows. He knows people have been gasing him up as "the next big thing" like. I have nothing else to say this is a success.

The Kagurabachi train is a rolling and knowing how hotly people are anticipating it to fill the shoes of success like MHA or JJK, its showing the results to back up those expectations. In fact, this has actually been one of the few times I've seen a lot of anticipation for a series that doesn't have and anime and that anime is probably off for quite a bit. As of the time I'm writing this Kagurabachi sits at 46 chapters.

As for Gachiakuta this was actually the most surprising for me to actually see the Japanese sales figures.

So for all the anticipation its final result is... okay. Like yeah these sales are fine. There's no way it be in danger of being cancelled and like any business would look at this and say its steady. But that's kinda all it it, steady. I always kinda hate talking about sales that are kinda just doing okay. Cause no one ever wants to be told that its not exceeding expectations, but there's no like rubbernecker cratering that can be entertaining. Its doing just fine. And that's really all there is for a series that's manga only for now.

Obviously the anime is announced. Its coming and it will likely get a boost in audiences interested in it (Know if it doesn't get stuck on like Disney+ or Amazon), but that's kinda why I wanted to get this blog post out before hand. Cause I wanted to compare these series as manga. Now of course you have to remember these sales charts are accounting for Japanese sales on debut. So its likely that there is longer tails than we know of for each series. However, its kinda funny seeing Gachiakuta's figures and remember how it won a Next Manga Award in the category of "Global Special Prize." So its not too much of a stretch to say in Japan Gachiakuta is still pretty punk and underground and the value is definitely in that global market. Though I have to have a bit of laugh now a how much that's been a pretty hit or miss effort.

So Gachiakuta is a success story, but its that sort of "A first party Nintendo switch game sold over a million units" type of success. That's good, but its not like making those Mario numbers.

Conclusion

So I'm sure you're asking what was the point of all of this? Why did you spend so much time of comparing the rises of two shonen action series that outside of probably their hardcore cheering section don't really think about their success stories?

Well to me, I'm of the belief that the ultimate goal for a mangaka (And really any creative professional) at the end of the day is to be able to tell their story, entertain people, and make a comfortable living while doing so. The end goal may be the same for many, but the paths to how we get there can vary greatly. If you made it there by blockbuster success or by underground hit. And the fact that those paths can be so varied by factors ranging from independent social media movements and the actions of making a piece of media even available for an audience you want to reach.

When writing this piece, I really got the sense of just how much bigger manga in particular is effecting the more broader ani/manga subgenre. Its not just that thing where only the best of the best we're getting English translation posted on scan sites, we've reached a point where now a global audience can have a series in their reach. Yet their reach varies.

We still don't have the chance to submit surveys in jump and we still don't have physical volumes of manga printed around the same time so we can take into account global sales, but we can hashtag. We can share these on live streams. We can have our own grassroots efforts that are actually having something resembling an effects on the choices of Japan. All of this change in practically a decade.

Will Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi go onto to be pillers of the anime and manga community? Mmm maybe. Their fans are super passionate and the great thing about fans is even though they can be loud, they are the ones helping make new fans. They're the ones making the fan art and fan fictions and reddit posts. For all we know when they get anime they'll pop off harder than before. Or maybe they'll get a bunch of normies who don't get or like them and will tell you how its secretly never good.

Still its interesting to see how despite these two series having so much of the same ground, both of their roads were so different. And that maybe you can't control how things will turn out in the world of social media and corporate management. Sometimes all you can do is your best and stand on your own merits and the people will find you.

Whether they run for 200 chapters each or 700 chapters each or anything down the middle. Gachiakuta and Kagurabachi, here's to you're accomplishments now and here's to many more successful years down your respective roads.

Anyway folks that's my time. I hope you enjoyed this think piece. If you do please drop a like or reblog. It'll really tell me if you're interested in seeing more content like this. And maybe I can share more and more about this industry that I'm passionate about.

[zephyrine-tale-archived]

im doing the rant about N25 KAITO i fucking lied about it coming on the weekend because im bored as hell :3

*ahem*

so N25 KAITO is memed a lot because in the April Fool's event, there's an area convo with N25 Rin where she's talking with another unit's KAITO (either VBS or WXS i can't remember 💀) and she's like "oh. i wonder if our KAITO will be like that :)"

and in EN server there's almost certainly people meming the way the new stamps tastefully ignore N25 KAITO

and I'm interested by this because I think niigo KAITO coming last was a very purposeful decision by the writers?

let's look at the first four KAITOs. Leoni KAITO is quiet, shy, but still a helpful senpai- exactly what the Leoni girls like Saki and Ichika have been needing for direction in their music studies and becoming a better band by working together individually and as a group.

MMJ KAITO is a hardworking manager, who provides that "push" that's shown to help Minori the most. Minori has her head in the clouds often and is shown to be helped by very severe, what I would consider maybe slightly "harsh" instruction from the others. (Think Airi always training her and pushing her to go harder, that's what Minori needs.) KAITO provides that push and also shows the management side of being an idol group for MMJ- all of MMJ are idols after all, to my knowledge none of them have managing experience. But keep in mind, he's still kind. He's still helpful and nice, and smiles often.

VBS KAITO is shown as mostly a direct contrast to Akito and how since the main story, he (akito) has wanted to work hard and consistently for the goal to surpass Rad Weekend, even perhaps putting his studies aside. KAITO represents keeping talent and being hardworking, while still being lazy and having fun. I think he also represents as motivation for Kohane, who was convinced by the main story she needs to work constantly and hardly and push herself beyond other things she enjoys to be able to reach this goal- but she doesn't. All of VBS can achieve their goal while still having fun with it, and that's what their KAITO represents.

WXS KAITO is literally fucking WXS KAITO idk what you want

Okay jokes aside as the "main" KAITO he is there to provide the more serious aspect to WonderShow's silly goofiness. Tsukasa definitely also has is head in the clouds, but all he wants is "to become a STAR! ⭐️" without really knowing how to achieve that goal. KAITO represents the path to that goal, and motivates him to work for that future. We see before PXL and SEKAI, that Tsukasa wasn't really getting anywhere with his acting career, right? And there's a whole other bucketload of info about what he represents for Emu, Nene, and Rui, but I can't figure out how to word it 😭 😭

So to sum it up, KAITOs seem to show what the unit members (especially the "leaders" but not always) need and motivates them to get to their overall goal, they were created in the image of what they want and what they need. And in contrast to Niigo KAITO, they are all NICE. They are all helpful, kind, fun, and genuine.

Now, remember what I said just now, about how they were created in the image of what the unit members want and what they need.

With Niigo, it's a common theme that could be said that "all roads lead back to Mafuyu." Kanade wants to save someone with her music, and Mafuyu represents that desire for her. Ena wants to prove herself as a talented and respectable artist, and she'll know she reaches that goal once Mafuyu is able to genuinely tell her, from the bottom of Mafuyu's heart, that Ena had improved and gotten the feeling she wanted to convey across to someone who is practically incapable of feeling anymore. And Mizuki ,,, there's definitely something for them to but I can't remember anything abt their stories rn 😭 😭 im a failed mizuki kinnie istg (also this entire paragraph was not supposed to invalidate any of their individual stories and characters and say that mafuyu is the best and only character of N25 that's not it at all)

So, considering Mafuyu under this lens, and quoting that KAITOs tend to represent what a unit member needs and wants to move forward, this becomes interesting because deep down, Mafuyu doesn't know what she needs or wants. There were definitely people who predicted that N25 KAITO was gonna be an asshole, but for the most part KAITO's harsh strictness and rudeness came as a direct contrast to all of the kind, helpful SEKAILOIDS we've seen before. Even N25 MEIKO was just kinda chill and quiet with the occasional not nice comment, but KAITO came forward with the sharp, harsh comments about what exactly Mafuyu needs to do. I heard somewhere that Mizuki tells Mafuyu that maybe running away would be a good idea, and that Rui tells her something similar.

But KAITO flat out fucking commands her (and the others i think) that she needs to confront and cut ties with mafumom IMMEDIATELY, and not in a nice or encouraging way either.

Anyways that was my midnight thought I had and I definitely did not do any research, so if I said something totally wrong or you'd like to make an argument/bring up new points, PLEASE feel free to reblog and tell me your thoughts! Plus I didn't beta read this or anything so it probably won't flow well and there might be a few typos or grammer mistakes. Hope you enjoyed reading!

[kpopscruggles]

its time for the resident boyfriend of sungchan to tell a prompt! -🏳️‍🌈

so imagine you and your friends going to a new car wash which are just hot men using their pretty privilege to gain money by washing people's cars half naked as your friend rants about how icky it is that people are attracted to random shirtless men washing and putting their bodies in dirty cars you got shocked seeing your friend's crush sungchan half naked and your friend speechless

(btw if you want a recent sungchan abs picture: https://x.com/autumn0913_/status/1786723808474468715?s=46)

so it was a no brainer for your friend to be the one paying just to see his crush again but he forced you to go outside in the heat instead of staying in the cold car just for him to not be shy but you would thabk your friend later when you see whos waiting in the cashier

anton lee. the man youve been crushing ever since he moved in the neighborhood crosssing his arms on his chest making his arms really visible with a cap on top of his face while he sports a sleepy smile making it obvious he just slept

as you were going to pay to him he sees you and yawns flexing his six pack abs and glorious obliques that you could watch move all day. the two of you were awkward with obvious blushes covering your face his friend suddenly said

"anton they're the last customer btw" sungchan shouted rushing to your friend. you mentally note how much your friend is gonna be in pain knowing how short he is. you remember that meme of that hamster eating a banana meme and laughed.

anton smiled at you before asking "wanna hang in my house after i clean this up yk we could netflix and chill"

"i swear to god anton you didnt just told your girlfriend to netflix and chill but yeah im waiting in your room" you said while tracing his abs and looking at the surrounding making sure no one was there to see your secret relationship bloom

OFMFMDNSNND BABES IVE MISSED YOU!

Okay cause they way both o them would be that type to start secretly flexing and doing stretches if they ran into their crushes, knowing the car and all!

And once Anton gets you alone it’s a wrap! He’s got you on his lap, being a moaning mess on his cock as you ride him and he’ll talk about how you were eyeballing him the whole time he was washing your car.

- “Don’t think I didn’t notice baby~ f-fuck…it’s okay, I’m glad you enjoyed it~”

Meanwhile Sungchan doesn’t give two fucks, he had you drop the two off co on a lil car ride and now he got you giving him the most messy head on planet earth in the backseat!!

- “there you go~ take it all down your throat…fuck! Hold it~”

Pic⤵️

[australet789]

Btw sorry for all the spam about Hazbin Hotel

Last year i got obsessed with a show but it was super unhealthy to the point i fucked up my sleep schedule and i had anxiety attacks. I ended up looking at every little source for a spoiler, because the actors would love to do that and for some fucking reason, i got into the spotlight by several of them.

And i knew. I knew they were using me. Every single part of the fandom on twitter had eyes on my little account (that i made to look for MEMES) because i "predicted" almost every single twist of one of the main plotlines. It was absurd.

But i enjoyed it. Not guessing the plot, but being able to analize something and feel I was being "rewarded" when i didnt even get a thank you just a fucking like.

Until it all came to crash in December. Until i finally noticed i was just their toy, for their good PR, because i kept the hashtag trending.

I was their Angel Dust

For these past few months i have been detoxicating myself from that show. Coming back here. Giving them subtly "fuck yous" and even direct ones. Enjoying Hazbin. I dont want the chains anymore. I just want to have fun and not having to keep the fucking act that im somehow okay because IM FUCKING NOT.

I dont want them to feel they have control over me.

So like, if im annoying with Hazbin for a while, forgive me. I'm trying to find myself between all the trash i poured over me.

And maybe, i will finally start to heal

[formulafics]

whatca working on for the future i live for the fixes you give im not an addict i can stop when i want

thank you LMAO im glad you enjoy them 🫶🏻🫶🏻

i have a lot of requests, and the ones i’m working on right now (since i’ve talked about them and already presented them to my followers) will be:

BABY, JUST SAY YES | while it’s known that logan sergeant isn’t single, no one can figure out who the mystery girl is. logan chooses to keep that information private until she’s no longer his girlfriend, but his wife. (LS2 x fem!reader)

MIDNIGHT MEMORIES | in which no one knows or even has an idea of who yn ln is dating, until she’s caught making out with one of her fellow drivers after a particularly good race. (OP81 x fem!reader)

SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR | your best friend is arthur leclerc, and his best friend is oscar piastri. you’d think that’s grounds for being close with oscar, but here you are, age 22, and you aren’t even sure you could call him a friend. what you do know, though, is that you have a ridiculous crush on him, one that you’re struggling to hide. (oscar piastri x fem!reader, enemies to lovers-ish)

those are the requests i have set in stone, then i have some ideas of my own, which would be:

LUCKY CHARM | jenson buttons return to f1 is a blessing and a curse for yn ln. on one hand, she always seems to have quite the weekend when he’s around. on the other, her feelings for him from 2016 are still present - extremely so. (JB22 x fem!reader)

THE JPG CHRONICLES (3) | another part to the chaotic series in which yn lns jpg account isn’t aesthetic photography, but rather an f1 meme account. this time around, everyone wants to know who her supposed “boyfriend” is after a comment she mad on a previous post.

EYES OF A CHAMPION | a series that follows mercedes rookie yn ln in her career, personal life, and love life. (this is a very brief description of this, as i don’t have it fully planned out, but i know i want to do it.)

truthfully i’m in a spot right now where im stumped on those last requests that i’ve presented, hence my requests being on hold for the time being, but i digress.

ALSO !! there will be more male reader for anyone who is curious about that <3

[nohoperadio]

I'm gonna have a crack at @perdvivly's ask meme what I got tagged in now... let's go!!

1. What virtue do you most often see in other people that you feel comparatively deficient in?

A less brave question asker might have built up to the heavy shit and put the lighthearted questions first, I respect it. Okay part of what's tricky here is that to answer this properly I'd have to make some judgment calls about which of my deficiencies are rightly attributed to genuine lack of virtue vs to something like disability, and that's a scary distinction to look at too closely. So my instinct is to avoid any territory close to that border, but the actual true answer probably is close to the border--the below is probably something of a cop-out is what I'm saying.

Here's something I've only relatively recently started conceptualizing as a virtue: the desire and ability to share the enjoyment of the things you're passionate about with other people. The books and music and etc I like, I tend to be content to enjoy them by myself in the corner, whereas for other people experiencing these things alongside others and talking about them and stuff is a large part of the point. This latter tendency is most obvious in what gets called fandom but there are lots of other expressions of it, some more casual/normie, but I don't really do any of it very much. And I used to think this difference was just "people care about different things, whatever" but lately I'm leaning more towards thinking that the more communal approach is just straight-up superior; it looks like some important, richer varieties of experience are available over that way, and I now regret that I didn't try to move myself further in that direction when I was younger.

2. Show us an object in your daily life that you have an emotional attachment to - tell us a little bit about it if you want! (a favourite mug perhaps? socks with a cute pattern? dealers choice)

Mugs (plural) probably is the best answer to this, but I've already tackled that at great length here. What else... well, my main bookmark, given to me by a friend and depicting a scholar I respect very much, has lasted an impressively long time im humble o:

3. If you could choose, what level of fame would you want? How many people would you want to recognise you?

Impossible to imagine strangers randomly approaching me in the street to start conversations being anything other than nightmarish, so the ceiling has to be below that. I guess there's different types of fame that presumably make for very different experiences, a famous actor probably gets a rawer deal than an equivalently famous author, and the type of famous author whose demographic is such that self-promoting on instagram and twitter is part of the job description surely has a worse life than one who doesn't have to do that.

Someone who knows more about the culture than me could probably say exactly what kind of thing you should be famous for to minmax getting all the pleasant-feeling respect and financial rewards while preserving privacy and minimizing unpleasant public obligations, but I'm not sure what the answer is. However this comic still pops into my head occasionally after all this time and it might be a better answer than any of these words:

4. Where do you feel language is least adequate to capture, communicate, or express your experience?

Actually I don't often get the feeling that my difficulties in expressing myself are related to the limitations of language, I tend to run into more mundane constraints before that one becomes an issue, like my embarrassment around talking about myself or my not being in tune with my own mental life or the fact that my brain is very small. I think generally if something's too subtle to put into words it's too subtle for me to think clearly about/have anything worth saying about in the first place.

I guess my other possible answer to this would be "all of my experience of life in its entirety" which is also true in a way.

5. If you had to come up with a question with the following criteria:

a) it should disuade knee-jerk reaction answers (i.e. it shouldn't be something people are likely to have spent a lot of time considering before)

b) it shouldn't be too specialised (the audience should be general, don't ask about people's top 3 byzantine spice merchants opperating between 754AD-816AD)

c) it shouldn't be needlessly emotionally charged or divisive

d) it should be a question you expect people to have lots of varied opinions about

What would your question be?

Yeah no it's hard, you've done well. My first thought with criteria A (which I think is the hardest one to cover) is to make the question require describing somebody else's perspective on something, because that way even if the answerer has their own knee-jerk opinion about the thing they'd be forced to suspend that in their answer. Maybe something like this would work:

Think of a topic that somebody close to you has very different feelings about from your own--it can be the smallest, most trivial matter of taste or something weightier if you like--what do you think is the relevant difference between you and this person that explains your different takes on that topic?

I would hope that if this question were in an ask meme like this people would tend to focus on fun and/or lighthearted differences but maybe it would turn people's brains towards bitter conflicts, I'm not sure. Anyway I'm glad question 5 doesn't end with "...and what is your answer to that question?" because it looks difficult to me!

---

This was fun imo, some of the questions were more intimidating than is the norm for these things but what's wrong with a little spice you know, I recommend it, thank you @perdvivly for erecting this jungle gym of the soul. I'm following the same coward's strat as last time of picking people sort-of-randomly by tagging the last three mutuals to show up in my notifications, this time excluding the three I tagged last time, so that gives @fregolious, @abodywithorgans and @wellmetmat. I'd like to hear from you! If the random method somehow gave people I didn't want to hear from I would have had no qualms about fudging it until I got people I liked, so don't let that put you off! But also, again, any mutuals who feel like doing this and claiming that I tagged them should do so, because in spirit I have, you understand.

[mijikai12]

BIENVENIDOS!!!!

hola chicos!! this is my main blog and this pinned post is also a more updated and simpler than the og!!

warning: LONG POST ⚠️⚠️⚠️

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i am a minor (13) and my birthday is March 2nd! 🎂

i am a aromantic lesbian

i have adhd and some autism

im an extrovert mainly around people i know. but i am literally forcing myself to interact with people (i swear it actually works omfg)

i go by Kayla

i love talking to people here.

i joined i think in september or october.

i play flute, piano, and a bit of recorder

my favorite colors are 💚🖤🤍❤️

i like weirdcore

im a big adventure time fan

im open for asks

im in seventh grade

i like to draw, animate, make music, and write!

she/them/green

im a Pieces

i'm hispanic

i speak english + spanish

MAIN OC'S!!!!!!:

Mijikai Tsocka(mascot): she is a bunny hybrid bc of course. i gues she was tested on or something, i havent quite figured her lore yet. she's a she/them 16 lesbian female.

Sarahnah Dandila(princess): She's fucking annoying anyways; she is a she/her 23 straight female. She's princess of whatever idk i dont have a name for the kingdom yet. (most parent standard hehe)

Mattie Sercel: He's a he/it 21 bisexual trans (least parent standard haha) he's in college and majors in 3D art and animation.

okay! i really hope you enjoy my blog!! i cant wait to meet yall and to get into situations id rather die than be in!! 😊

edits below:

edit1: guys i made a Neobook account!! i dont know what shit to do there so it might be empty for a while.

edit2: im trying to make an ao3 account. i should be on by 1/30

edit3: i know ive already said this but my reblogs are slowly being deleted. so my art posts will go to Yoki while normal text/memes/etc posts will go here (≧∇≦)

edit4: i lied in that last edit. anyways, i am gonna make an insta soon (maybe tonight) and i might make a Pinterest account! 😆

edit5: I MADE AN INSTAAAA

edit6: i have a twitter if you didnt notice

edit7: AO3 DOESNT LIKE MEEE

edit8: i have a gf omggg i'll be posting a lot about it at @kayventa

edit9: yeah ao3 does NOT like me wow. anyways, so springbreaks coming up soon. i'll post about this on thursday or friday ✌🏽

edit10: ive had an c.ai account for months ive posted about it idk if yallve seen it yet 😒

edit11: i found out a few days ago that when ao3 said i'd be on by 1/30, they didnt mean 1/30/24, they meant 1/30/25. wtf

[moonybemine]

WHO WANNA BE BESTIES‼️ i need someone to giggle over hp with. you HAVE to be a jkr hater tho bc i hate terfs and am agender(im just vibin tho all gendered terms i use by vibe alone)

MINORS DNI

i have some Opinions on a lot of things about hp and i have some fluctuating emotions on certain characters. i genuinely treat every hp character like barbies that i play with and put into Shenanigans and Situations.

i will reading bashing fics especially albus ones i hate the things he did but i on occasion have been known to enjoy a good albus fic including ones where he's less "we have to kill voldy!!" and more "you (platonically or romantically)Love someone, dont you Tom?" like that spongebob meme. i do not like sirius or remus bashing, it's always overly harsh and vilifies a man locked away in the harshest prison who's mental faculties have been horribly abused, and while The Prank was an incredibly stupid attempt of a prank due to the danger it put severus in and also remus i ultimately believe it would've never happened in the first place if albus and minerva properly chastised the marauders earlier for their treatment of snape. we also don't know when this happened in the timeline of the marauders, was it before or after snape and lily's falling out. in remus' case he's a man who's been treated as a monster his whole life who was allowed into hogwarts by albus who then used this BOY'S gratitude to make him go into enemy territory and spy on and try to recruit people to the other side of the war. not to mention that albus groomed them all to fight the boy he FAILED(ive got so many opinions on tom and albus) and then when remus who support network was either dead or imprisoned he was told he couldn't raise harry and was told to not contact him. albus did all he fucking could to make harry miserable and pliable so that he'd sacrifice himself to end a war like a pig to slaughter. ur telling me Great Albus Dumbledore defeater of grindelwald couldnt find a solution to the horcrux besides having him walk to his death not to mention that he could've probably figured out horcruxes decades earlier and tried collecting them and probably would've succeeded! also i hate that the whole marauders generation is completely wiped out jkr u nasty bitch!

my ultimate fav ships are nottpott and wolfstar. ive BEEN a wolfstar lover since i was literally a child. nottpott entered my life last year and proceeded to ruin me on drarry(and pretty much every other ship involving harry and someone else or theo and someone else) i used to hate dramione bc i was apart of a toxic forum back in the day but i have grown to enjoy it bc it usually goes hand in hand with nottpott. i am forever a fremione and a pansmione gurlie tho. i love a lot of marauders ships as well jegulus/jily/jegulily/wolfstar/marylily/dorlene/pandalily/rosekiller/etc

i will mention i have dipped my toe into tomarry. i have enjoyed quite a few fics with this pairing and while i have enjoyed mostly ones where they are both teens, i do not like or support ones where its oldie voldie and literal child harry. its a grey area with somethings with them because of a multitude of factors and it shifts from a fic to fic basis. im not one to judge overly harsh over liking ships but i will judge in cases of straight up pedophilia but it will mostly result in a block because im not a child that starts fights on the internet anymore. i also do not support bestiality or incest and i'm specifying these things in particular due to a intimate relationship with the harry potter ao3 tag i know what freaks and weirdos exist there. literally the only fuckin fandom thats got a UNIQUE BESTIALITY tag

anyways msg me if ur interested <3

[seariii]

Hi Seari 😭 sorry to flood your ask box again lol, but I just wanted to let you know how I appreciate how appreciative you are if that makes sense? You always take the time to thank everyone frequently, you’re eloquent with your words, and you just have this air of gratitude with you where ever you go. And I really admire that about you <3 I want to strive to personally work on that because it’s difficult for my brain to comprehend those kinds of things for myself, so I wanted to let you know how you’ve inspired me to work towards that <3 ilu and thank you so much for being you

aw rose.... this made me really soft.... i love you a lot, really. and dont apologize, you can flood my ask box with more than 20 questions/messages a day and i'll be extremely happy

serious talk for a little bit hahaha... ill put it under the cut because i started rambling and got a bit long.... YOU DONT HAVE TO READ ALL THAT OKAY???? just the last paragraph, thats a message for you

tldr of the serious talk under the cut: Unknown Mother Goose by Wowaka (i also really liked this adaptation) "Even if the world were to reject me today, would i still be able to sing a song of love?"

i never really thought about that, you know? i enjoy telling people how i feel about them, especially to people i love. and im thinking for how long have i done this... when did i start... im not entirely sure... i can go far back when i barely did it, but did it every once in a while like a birthday or when i started to notice the people around me werent giving up on me... and i can go back relatively recently where this feelings landed me in a kind community during covid...

in all honesty, i believe this feelings of gratefulness, of having to express them come from being scared of losing people... come from a lonely place... when you feel cold or have felt cold for so long that you dont remember much warmth, when you find that warmth its soft, gentle, and a little overwhelming... i have many problems connecting with people, and in my own brain, sometimes i feel like im all alone in the world... but... people are warm... people are kind... you, them, make it feel like maybe the entities around me arent just faceless shadows...

i joke with my bestie about how we are that meme of "nothing in life matters" but im the happy one and hes the existential one, but a lot of time i truly feel like that. and from that, makes it easier to enjoy the little sweet stuff, the sweetness of the people around me... and its impressive when i notice that sometimes it doesnt have any reason behind it, or that the reason is just love... its like my brain cant comprehend others doing stuff out of love for the world, so i always get surprised when someone does it for me (and oh boy have i been surprised to tears with you all pretty people)... i think life is a little silly and there isnt much meaning, but that gives us freedom... and that makes everything a person does beautiful...

... you know rose? thank you. i feel like im about to cry hahahahaha /pos ... thank you for always being so kind, so sweet to me, you make me feel like things are okay, and it genuinely makes me happy to see you or interact or talk with you. it made me really happy that you wanted to include me in the conversation, in the group. im someone who feels lonely easily, and the kindness you've shown me has really made me happy and... i really appreciate it... sometimes i say i dont have the words and still try to express myself, because i want to make my message get across... like right now in this paragraph hahaha.... you are someone who i really really appreciate and i just wish to see you happy and achieve everything you want. just know that no matter what, ill be rooting for you, you truly deserve everything in this world, thats how i feel.... im thankful and moved that i inspired you... i never thought id have that effect on people... thank you

[widevibratobitch]

Hi! It's me, the rant anon again. I wanted to ask about two things:

1. What was the drama with opera bracket? I've only heard legends but nothing certain.

2. Who is your favourite living opera singer? And what do you think of Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazon and Dimitri Chrostovsky?

Sorry if I'm bothering you with questions. Love, S

hiiiiii anon dear <3

1. WELL. long story short: basically it was just an innocent poll contest that got a little heated and split operablr in two. some people "took it too seriously", some not seriously enough perhaps, which resulted in a wild vagueposting storm from both sides, some blocks, some frankly hilarious memes, and finally ended with a beautiful callout post (happy anniversary btw, it was exactly one year ago <3) and the most mediocre opera of all time ultimately winning.

2. now that is a complicated question since there are opera singers nowadays whom i have a lot of very indulgent fondness for even though i personally think they don't sing that well at all (some of them genuinely sing Very Badly lol). there are also some that actually sing quite well but i just cannot fucking stand them alas.

from the ones who are alive and still active, I'd say Saioa Hernandez is worth checking out, god knows she has her issues, she's been becoming more and more wobbly these last few years and just lacks the idk. grace? in her singing but damn is she loud + i don't know of any other soprano (OR mezzo for that matter) who uses her chest voice this freely and audaciously in the very old school fashion that's been steadily disappearing since about mid 20th century to the point where it's near nonexistent nowadays (and I'm a bit of a chest voice fanatic fyi). to me she's akin to Alessandro Moreschi aka the last and only castrato we actually have a (wax cylinder actually, ha!) recording of - basically, you can tell the technique and execution is not quite it, but with their singing we at least get the idea of what it Could have sounded like.

Damrau - absolute fucking wreck of a singer, im sorry but she's a disaster. i get physically tired just listening to her. totally inaudible live too. i do enjoy her totally over the top acting sometimes tho lol

Villazon is I'd say somewhat self explanatory. He completely ruined whatever voice he had and is now singing as a baritone if i recall correctly? Good technique doesn't do that to a singer. Don't hate him tho, he seems like a very sillygoofy dude and i remember him being somewhat entertaining.

Hvorostovsky, ah yes, certified operablr sexyman. He started out really, really good and kept like that for a while, went downhill from there but I do acknowledge his severe health problems. I get where people obsessed with him are coming from and I have a lot of respect for him. he just never quite did it for me, we never really vibed, sorry. Definitely a solid artist tho.

so. definitely not bothering me! quite the opposite actually! i love talking into the void about things im passionate about and sorry if i sound like a pretentious big-headed cunt, that's probably because i am just that, peace and love <3 totally seriously tho, thank you for asking!