#indeed you cooked op

[boothefanficeater]

Mmmmmm feelings and thoughts.... yeahhhhh this the good shit

I keep thinking of Evbo between the first movie and the second getting a bit pudgy...

He's not being starved anymore and being starved made his metabolism all fucky. One day he wakes up and sees he has a chubby tummy and runs to EMF crying.

EMF thinks Evbo feels gross/bad for getting fat until Evbo explains that he never expected to gain any weight above what was needed to keep functioning and he's just so happy he doesn't need to worry about survival

softer... safer...

to be loved is to be changed

[beescake]

i am in love with your sollux i think

sollux love party :]

if you’re interested heres some of my personal fondness thoughts on him.. big warning for the mega long read ahead aye

as we alr know sollux's rejection of participation somewhat mirrors dave's rejection of heroism, but even without getting cooked to completion i still find sollux's character v compelling beyond the fourth wall

as someone who doesnt get a pinch of that Protagonist Sparkle to begin with, he can openly say he wants to leave anytime…. and unlike dave, he actually Can leave the scene anytime. but he can never be truly Free from the story via permanent character death like the other trolls.

his irrelevancy is indeed relevant - he’s there so u can point him out.

while his image is intended to be a relic of past internet subculture, his role is not only about hehehaha being a Chad or a 2000s cyberforum 2²chan haxxor ragequit gamebro.

his continued existence also happens to add a Bit to the overarching themes of homestuck! a Bit that gives him longer-lasting thematic relevance compared to the trolls who could’ve had more character potential but didnt get to survive beyond the main story.

the Bit in question:

his defiance contributes to the illusion of agency (treating characters = people with autonomy). he’s “aware” of it, and that recognition is worth noting enough to forcibly keep him alive as both reward and punishment.

considering how his personality & classpect is designed its definitely a very haha thing for hussie to do LOL. he’s made to be op asf so he's resigned to doing dirty work, gradually deteriorating along the way but never truly dying. as fans have mentioned before, him openly rejecting involvement after a while of grim tolerance is like if the sim u were controlling suddenly stopped, looked up and gave u the finger while u were step six into the walkthrough for Every Possible Sim Death Animation.

but since he’s just a sim… the more he hates it, the more you keep him around. if ur sim started complaining abt your whimsical household storyline you’d definitely keep that little fuck.

but yeah i like that sollux is just idling. the significance of his presence being that one dude who's always reliably Somewhere, root core Unchanged, no individual ambitions (possibly due to fear of consequence?), and design-wise: a staple representative product of his time.

compared to dirk's character, who has aged phenomenally well into the present (themes of control + AR + artificial intelligence, clearer exploration around navigating relationships/sexuality, infinite possibilities of self-splinterhood and trait inheritance), sollux's potential is really... contained. bitter. defeatist. limiting and frustrating in the way old tech is.

the world continues moving on to shinier, brighter, more advanced automated things - minimalist and metaverse or whatever but sollux is still here 🧍‍♂️ going woohoo redblue 3d. (tho personally i imagine his vibe similar to what the kids call cassette futurism on pinterest mixed w more grimy grunge insectoid influences eheh)

conceptually-speaking,

at the foundation of it all, the rapid pace of modern development was built off the understanding of ppl like sollux in the past, who were There actively at work while the dough was still beginning to rise

thats one of the cool things abt the idea of trolls preceding humans! the idea that trolls like sollux excelled back when lots of basic shit still needed to be discovered, building structures like networks and codes from scratch, and humans will eventually inherit and reinvent that knowledge in ways that become so optimized it makes the old manual effort seem archaic, slow, and labour-intensive.

but despite information/resources/shortcuts being more accessible now, much of the new highly-anticipated stuff released on trend still end up unfinished, inefficient, or expiring quickly due to cutting corners under severe capitalistic pressures

meanwhile, some of the old stuff frm past generations of thorough, exploratory and perfectionistic development still remains working, complete, and ever so sturdy.

those things continue to exist, just outside our periphery with either:

zero purpose left for modern needs (outdated/obsolete)

or

far too important to replace or destroy, bcs of its surprisingly essential and circumstantial usefulness in one niche specific area.

which are honestly? both points that sum up sollux pree well.

dramatic ending sorry. anw are u still on the fence or are u Sick abt him like me </3

[ask-idwmegop]

(humans) So you both look solidly middle-aged as humans. Is that an accurate reflection the other way (and what's middle aged for a Cybertronian)? Are you both around the same age, or is one of you older?

Sooo, Megatron said (pontificated) they are indeed “middle-aged” in both their human form and in their original cybertronian. Look, I lost interest once he used “thus” in like, the third sentence or whatever, so trust me they’re old. 🗿

(P.S. OP STARTED COOKING HUMAN CAKES OR WHATEVER SWEET STUFF YOU HAVE AND IT’S JUST SO FUNNY LOL)

- Rodimus

[brucebocchi]

Spring 2024 anime, Pt. 1: Ongoing/returning shows and the bench

yo! i also post this on my ko-fi! this is very much a labor of love, so if you liked what i wrote consider throwing a few bucks my way! thanks!

And we are back! This one came a little later because I'm much busier now than I was three months ago, but that's a good thing. It'll be a bit longer before I cover last season's new anime, so bear with me. I'm happy to say, though, that I didn't hate anything I watched this season! So there's that.

As always, the OP is linked in the title of each show. Check them out, there were some good ones this season!

Here we go:

Continuing & returning shows:

Delicious in Dungeon, second cour

Ahh, Dungeon Meshi. At the start of my review of its debut cour, I said that Dungeon Meshi is a difficult anime for me to talk about unprompted because it’s such a complete, self-assured work that saying anything about it besides “PLEASE WATCH THIS ANIME IT’S SO FUCKING GOOD” feels like a fait accompli. After twelve more episodes and spending the better part of a weekend binging the entire manga, I’m left with little else to say besides please watch this anime (and read the manga), it’s so fucking good.

Our adventuring party has managed to slay (and cook) the red dragon and resurrect Falin from its belly, but the victory came at a cost: They have managed to not only invoke the ire of the dungeon’s ruler, the “lunatic magician” Thistle, but Marcille’s use of forbidden resurrection magic has also raised another number of hackles. Reunions aren’t all happy ones and the dungeon is getting weirder.

This line break represents where I wanted to add so much more and just kept falling short. This continues to be an exceptional adaptation of an exceptional manga. For all the silly gags, for all the goofy potshots everyone takes at each other, Dungeon Meshi is a series with a beating heart worn permanently on its sleeve. The group dynamic remains superb, and no less so for the standoffish half-girl-half-cat Izutsumi joining the gang (my joy at seeing her added to the OP was indescribable). The ways in which everything interconnects make up only a fraction of this series’ unmatched worldbuilding; much hay has been made about how Ryoko Kui designed the dungeon as a living, breathing ecosystem, but there’s so much more of that within the human element as well, and the latter aspect looks to only improve when the show returns for the next season.

Dungeon Meshi is, without question, the best anime of 2024 so far, and I will be impressed if anything manages to overtake it in this year’s latter half. The manga became one of my favorites in record time, and I have little doubt that by the end of the second (and almost certainly final) season, one of my favorite anime of all time will indeed be Dungeon Meshi. Ahh, Dungeon Meshi.

KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World!, season 3

When I reviewed last year’s Megumin-centric spinoff, I mentioned that I’m not quite as high on KonoSuba as other anime fans. I always thought it was a perfectly serviceable comedy isekai, nothing too special, but mostly worth the watch. Even after the letdown that was An Explosion on this Wonderful World! last year, I was still looking forward to the long-overdue third season. And pretty much as expected, what we got was fine. Just fine.

That said, I was instantly delighted to see Megumin once again surrounded by Kazuma, Aqua, and Darkness. And as is frequently the case when those four are together, shit goes south fast. Kazuma, hoping to heal the mental wounds he incurred in the Legend of Crimson film, gets his groove back when he’s invited to regale the adorable Princess Iris with tales of his exploits. As a noble herself, Darkness is mortified throughout this ordeal, scrambling to ensure that Kazuma doesn’t get beheaded for being a loudmouthed freak, and also that Aqua and Megumin don’t accidentally burn the palace down in their revelry. 

KonoSuba gets a lot of comparisons to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in that both are ensemble comedies in which the entire main group consists of awful people who don’t entirely like or trust one another. It’s a fair enough comparison, but what makes the group dynamic work for both shows is that the moral center is never a fixed point; the “voice of reason” among either group changes along with the situation to ensure the comedy stays fresh. And the fact that Lalatina Dustiness goddamn Ford has to be the voice of reason for the majority of this season should mortify you.

Darkness losing her mind aside, I didn’t really care for this arc. There was some interesting worldbuilding happening toward the middle of the season, but Kazuma acting way too eager about having a tiny, prepubescent girl calling him “onii-chan” just made my skin crawl, and I’m otherwise pretty much immune to the bog-standard “hey, laugh at this man because he’s a pervert” anime trope at this point. Fortunately, it only lasted for half the season, but unfortunately, it still felt an episode or two too long. The second half of the season followed Darkness’ forced betrothal to a gross noble from an earlier episode, and that arc also felt an episode or two too long.

Season 3 felt like KonoSuba both at its best and worst. The character dynamics are as rich as ever, even as Aqua and Megumin largely fell to the margins in favor of the larger stories. The smaller moments with the main four just bumming around their mansion are always just as entertaining as their larger exploits. The narrative seems to want to continue pushing Kazuma and Megumin together, nurturing the seeds planted in the movie, but later episodes also make a pretty good case for Kazuma and Darkness getting together; for better and for worse, those two absolutely match one another’s freak. Some of the gags this season were pretty darn good as well: This anime’s facials are already the stuff of legend, and we got some bangers here too (see above). For as loud as it often got, there were a few gags that centered on prolonged, uncomfortable silences like a late episode of Evangelion. And for as bored as I started to grow with the last arc, the punchline at the very end of the season almost made the whole thing worth it.

On the other hand, this show somehow got noisier. Some of Explosion’s funnier moments last year came from Megumin’s shrieking outbursts, so Studio Drive (taking over the main series from Deen) seemed to think that everyone needed to yell all the time now. It felt jarring; like watching season 4 of SpongeBob for the first time. I’m also not impressed by the fact that this series still seems to think sexual assault is just the funniest when it happens to men. It was a serious lowlight of the Legend of Crimson movie, and it just seemed to double down this time for a completely unnecessary segment in which Kazuma helps Dust get back at a creep, only for it to backfire on Dust and only on Dust. That shit sucks!

At the same time, it’s still KonoSuba, so ESH. If you made it this far, you’re pretty much along for the ride until it breaks down, so you take the good with the bad. Neither particularly outweighs the other, nor are they enough to push me towards declaring this show as either essential or unwatchable. It’s KonoSuba, and KonoSuba is fine.

Laid-Back Camp, season 3

The reigning champion of Cute Girls Doing Cute Things anime returns to the present day after the 10-years-later film, and it’s in fighting shape. Though the third season of Yuru Camp (another anime I refuse to call by its official English title) is in the hands of a new studio, it’s still full to bursting with all the gorgeous countryside scenery, tantalizing food porn, and whimsical music you’ve come to expect by now.

This is one that was on my backlog for the better part of a couple years, so I figured there was no better time to catch up than to time it with a new season hitting the air. Through two seasons and an original movie, Yuru Camp was peak slice-of-life: Low on conflict, heavy on cuteness, and brimming with personality. It does what it says on the tin; it’s a show about high school girls going camping, and by God are you getting high school girls going camping. And in the meantime, you, the viewer, get to learn the ins and outs of camping while discovering all these real-life, lovely spots along the Japanese countryside with Mt. Fuji always in view, and maybe help boost the local tourism economies once you go outside and touch grass.

The previous two seasons largely followed the girls’ exploits at school and out in the open as individuals and smaller groups before building to a big destination trip with all five of them, but season 3 takes a more, uh, laid-back approach. The first half follows Rin’s bike trip along with Nadeshiko’s hometown bestie, Ayano, until they meet up with Nadeshiko after her own solo excursion. We also get a quick peek at a heavily-fictionalized retelling of Chiaki, Aoi, and Ena’s outing with Toba-sensei, as well as a cherry blossom viewing trip with Nadeshiko and her sister, before the girls all come together once more for a nighttime hanami outing. It’s more of the same, and that’s exactly what you’re here for.

That said, the character work is the glue that holds Yuru Camp together, and it’s as wonderful as ever. Rin and Nadeshiko’s friendship remains a delight, and Hazel covered it better and more succinctly than I ever could in the Yuru Camp segment in her phenomenal video on countryside scenery in anime. Watching Rin bond with Ayano one-on-one on their own trip was a real highlight; they’d hit it off quickly in the first season, and it was lovely seeing Ayano working at Rin’s go-to bike shop in the movie, so I was overjoyed to see more of these two. More than anything, though, seeing a habitual loner like Rin connect so naturally with another person (and one who isn’t Nadeshiko, no less) just warms my cold, dead heart. The looser plotting also gives us the time and space to take in how the girls individually spend their downtime. Nadeshiko’s quickly becoming as much of an expert solo traveler as Rin, and her youthful enthusiasm about everything remains as endearing as ever. We even get to watch her becoming a train nerd in real time! 

At the same time, the communal aspect of camping is a huge part of what makes this show click. Part of that, of course, has been watching Rin’s social circle expanding, but also in seeing how readily campers observe and aid one another. Nobody is “the best” at camping (except maybe Rin’s granddad), so none of the campers in this show have any reservations about going out of their way to help one another. Even an expert solo camper like Rin was a greenhorn at one point, so she’s always happy to give and receive help. The various campers the girls run into along their journeys are always ready with local information about good spots to eat, relax, and take in a good view as well. Even camping on your own, you’re never truly alone.

In that same vein, Yuru Camp is as educational as ever. Along the girls’ travels, we learn plenty about the myriad suspension bridges over the Oi River drainage basin, the various types of passenger trains connecting the countryside, torii gates along the mountains, and clever ways to build a camping menu around local crops. Yes, Yuru Camp is as much food porn as it is nature porn, and the dishes are sumptuous. On that note, my favorite thing I learned this season came from Nadeshiko’s drooling outbursts during the other OutClub girls’ camp retelling: It turns out that there’s an equivalent Japanese colloquialism to what we call food porn, specifically in the act of taunting people about delicious food they can’t have right now, and that is “meshitero,” or “food terrorism.” That is just terrific.

Yuru Camp is in the hands of a new studio for its third season, and the difference is mostly negligible. This is a show that trades largely in vibes, and the vibes remain impeccable. Almost everything still looks and sounds great, but season 3 leans a little more heavily on CG for moving bikes and cars, and they do look markedly worse. Not immersion-shattering, but definitely distracting. The scenery largely looks less hand-painted in favor of a more photorealistic style, which does make me wonder about the actual level of artistry put into it, but that could just be me splitting hairs. Otherwise, it still looks like Yuru Camp, which is all you can ask for.

This show still rules though. I don’t often get intense in my praise of slice-of-life anime, and the ones that get me acting like that are the ones that go to wild lengths for the sake of a joke, like Nichijou and Kaguya-sama. I don’t know what it is about a show as lowkey as Yuru Camp that has me wanting to scream from the rooftops that “THIS FUCKING SHOW WHIPS ASS,” but I’m not questioning it. Maybe it’s cuteness aggression.

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, season 2, part 2

And we’re back with more of the best-made anime that I can’t recommend in good faith to just about anyone.

The latter half of season 2 surrounds Rudeus’ aims for a quiet domestic life, settling down with Sylphiette and at the request of his father, Paul, taking his little sisters Aisha and Norn into their home (along with a very welcome reunion with their escort). Aisha takes after her mother, Lilia, and is eager to please and help around the house, but Norn’s last memory of Rudeus is of his violent reunion with their father. Norn idolizes Paul, so she doesn’t trust Rudeus and refuses to open up to him. While Aisha is content with working around the house, Norn wants to keep her distance, so she decides to enroll and board at the magic academy.

Norn’s apprehension towards Rudy and the mental anguish it causes her becomes an isolating factor in her daily life, leading Rudeus to believe that she’s being bullied, much as he was in his previous life. Rudy’s attempts at sticking up for his sister fall flat and lead him to realize he’s been projecting on her this entire time rather than actually reaching out to her. It’s these moments of learning and unlearning that nearly make all of this worth it; this was easily one of the best episodes of Mushoku Tensei’s second season, and frankly one of the best episodes of anime I watched all season. Another episode near the end also earned that distinction, but it got weird afterwards. Even in its lower moments, this season traded very well in the themes of family, growth, and loss, and those aren’t always tidy subjects to handle.

Because this is Mushoku Tensei, the cozy home life can’t last forever. Paul’s attempts at saving his wife have continued to fall short, so he calls on Rudeus and Elinalise to come and help rescue Zenith. Rudeus is conflicted; though he finally has the opportunity to save his mother and face his father as a man, Sylphie is now pregnant and he doesn’t want to abandon his wife and future child. As often happens at times like this, Rudy gets some face time with the Man-God who has been seemingly invested in his journey, and for once Rudy flouts his advice to venture out. Many reunions are had, including one that had been teased all season, and a lot of things go south from there. I was spoiled on some of what would happen in later parts of the series, so it didn’t come as a massive shock to me, but it still got weird, it wasn’t really addressed all that well, and people were rightfully put off by it.

On that note, I’ve given up on the idea of this series being about Rudeus improving as a person, because he’s done just about as much “improving” as he’s going to by now. As I’ve said before, he’s not quite the drooling pervert he used to be (he was actually doing great for more than half of this cour before a succubus attack briefly got the better of him), but his moral compass, even in his best moments, still seems to be poorly calibrated. I do see a side of him now that genuinely cares for others and actively wants to help, but it doesn’t erase his questionable acts, nor do I get any sense that he deserves to get the things he wants. I particularly don’t care for what’s already looking like a formula wherein sex seems to be his cosmic reward whenever he hits a low point or achieves something great. For a series that genuinely has such excellent worldbuilding and storytelling, that part feels cheap enough to undermine everything else.

But hey, a rapist died, so it’s not all bad.

I’m not sure I’d necessarily put Mushoki Tensei on the level of Frieren or Dungeon Meshi, certainly not thematically, but with all three off the air this upcoming Summer season, it’s been a minute since we’ve had a season of anime without one of those three lovingly-made fantasy series on the air. It feels like anime has a massive fantasy void now, and I desperately hope I’m proven wrong soon.

Urusei Yatsura (2022), season 2, second cour

The final run of the remade Urusei Yatsura ended on a strong note with an honest-to-God story arc! Lum and Ataru’s tempestuous situationship is put into stark relief with the fate of the world in the balance, except not really; Lum just wants him to think that because she’s fed up with his shit and that’s just how she operates.

Even as disjointed as this run has been prior to the final arc, there were still some gems this season. The time-travel segment where the gang tries to undo Mendo’s fear of the dark was a certified banger, Asuka’s violent androphobia is as funny as ever, and the introduction of Nagisa as a means of further muddying Ryunosuke’s whole gender situation was the most quintessentially Rumiko Takahashi shit I’ve ever seen. It’s the character comedy that makes Urusei Yatsura what it is just as much as the central will-they-won’t-they, and it was just as potent as always before the series hurtled towards its finale.

The four-episode arc to close out the all-stars run, similarly to the final arc of the manga and the final movie of the original anime run, centers on a blowup between our romantic leads over a colossal misunderstanding (sasuga Takahashi-sensei) involving a unilaterally-fated marriage between Lum and the prince of a dark planet, Rupa. Though Ataru and fellow dark-planeter Karula (basically Rupa’s own equivalent Lum) foil the wedding, a carbon copy of Lum created to ensure a proper exchange of vows tells Ataru that she’s over him. Ataru’s feelings are genuinely hurt, and he tells the real Lum that they’re through, and he returns to Earth with Karula, accidentally spreading spores of the dark planet’s enormous mushrooms.

Said mushrooms rapidly grow enormous when exposed to sunlight, so Earth is already in certain danger. Lum sees an opportunity to manipulate convince Ataru to finally get serious, so she sets familiar stakes: She’ll enlist Rupa’s help in destroying the mushrooms, but only if Ataru can beat her in a ten-day game of tag by grabbing her horns, just like when they first met. More importantly, though, she’ll let it all go if he can just say out loud that he loves her. And you know damn well by now that these two are both as stubborn as they come.

As I’ve said before, this is a shorter run, so we may not have the benefit of the entirety of Urusei Yatsura up to this point to be properly salivating for the finale, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t still hit like a freight train. The emotional climax was still meaty and satisfying in ways that made all of this worth it. Half of the joke of this series is that Ataru’s never going to get serious about Lum in a way that matters, but every time the mask slips is a well-earned shot to the heart. The ending is no different, and it made the shorter run still feel worthwhile.

And with that, that’s a wrap on a modern (if truncated) retelling of a legendary comedy manga. I’ll be forever grateful to this iteration of Urusei Yatsura for finally pushing me into getting into Rumiko Takahashi’s classic works, and I’m beyond excited that there’s also a Ranma ½ remake on the way. If David Production takes that one on as well, it’ll be in great hands.

Anime I Watched Two Episodes of and Will Probably Get Back to Later

I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince So I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability

I mean, you read the title.

This is less an isekai and more of a lateral reincarnation story; magic already very much exists in this fantasy kingdom, but this is about a guy who is very obsessed with magic but sucked at it suddenly gaining a wealth of talent and the opportunity to go absolutely sicko mode.

Lloyd’s existing knowledge of magic serves him well, and he becomes a virtuoso at a young age. He manages to subjugate a demon lurking in the palace’s library and turn him into an adorable familiar (and having the demon go from being voiced by Akio Otsuka to Fairouz Ai was a brilliant move) and just terrorize the poor little shit with his experiments and travails. The kid could basically do a Hollow Purple by the second episode. He’s kind of psychotic, and I love that for him.

This is definitely a comedy, but the comedy is kind of all over the place early on. Prince Lloyd is surrounded by beautiful young ladies-in-waiting who, uh, seem way too into him, and that kinda sucks. Lloyd himself is drawn and animated a little too lovingly for a child as well. It’s definitely uncomfortable in parts early on, but I’ve heard it lightens up on that and gets crazier in the parts that matter, so I’ll be coming back.

And it started with a menacing monologue from Takehito Koyasu himself, so of course my interest was piqued from the jump.

Oblivion Battery

It’s weird, I love both anime and sports, but sports anime was just something I never sought out too much until I picked up Blue Box recently (also please read Blue Box, it whips ass and the anime is gonna be incredible). Oblivion Battery’s debut coincided with the start of the American baseball season, so it seemed like a great time to hop in.

I can’t say I was too intrigued by the premise, though. The intentionally generically-named Taro Yamada quit baseball after middle school after getting utterly rinsed by the high-powered battery of pitcher Haruka Kiyomine and catcher Kei Kaname, so he enrolls in a high school without a baseball club, only to find that his classmates are… Haruka and Kei. Kei, as it turns out, took a bad hit to the head and has completely forgotten all about baseball, and now spends all of his time trying to be a comedy boke for unwilling participants. Taro and Haruka would like Kei to learn about baseball again, so they start up a new club, alongside other classmates who also quit baseball because of the titular battery.

Fine premise, but eh. The hook wasn’t enough of a hook for me, and even MAPPA handling the animation didn’t keep my attention for long. I’ll probably get back to it eventually, but I ended up watching plenty of other anime this season that felt like higher priorities.

Also, I’m pretty sure Oblivion Battery’s manga introduced a character named Aoi Todo before Jujutsu Kaisen did. I still prefer the latter.

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose its Master

See, this one I probably should’ve picked up sooner, because it seems like it’s very much my jam, and I’ve seen plenty of praise for it. It’s a dense one, though, and I’d rather not cram it just to turn around and review it a few days later.

I won’t even go into the details because even two episodes in, there are darn near too many of them. This is a massive ensemble cast in and around a succession battle in a fictionalized, imperial Japan-esque kingdom created and ruled by yokai. We’ve got a battle of brides-to-be vying for the hand of an embattled prince, a cunning but resentful empress overseeing the proceedings, a possible spy or two, and a rambunctious little shit who looks like he got plucked out of Avatar: The Last Airbender getting roped into working in the palace. It’s a lot of moving parts, but I’m curious to see how they tie together.

Two episodes in and this show looks good, but probably not as great as it could. I know I’m spoiled on The Apothecary Diaries, but something like this already feels like it deserves better than some of the stiff character animation I saw early on. I’ll reserve my judgments for now.

YATAGARASU is continuing into the summer season, so I’ll take my time catching up on it. This one feels like it deserves to be sipped slowly, not chugged, and I’ll have my tasting notes in due time.

[rkiveinmarvel]

in all the seas - sanji vinsmoke. des. fluff. post-timeskip!sanji. the one time sanji left baratie: led him back to you. notes. sanji might be ooc. this is a test fic, i just miss my boy so much. fluffy! fluffy! fluffy! sanji meets enemies-to-lovers troupe, poor boy is nosebleeding again, mentions of smoking (don't smoke too much, guys!), mentions of the straw hat pirates shenanigans. i miss sanji, i want to kiss his forehead and give him a hug! ;&lt;

hey! it's my first time writing for op (gosh, i remember when i said i won't write a fic for anime anymore but here i am now enjoying skypiea zoro ;P what a clown) n e way, sanji might be a little ooc here but i miss him so here you go, a fluffy sanji. i wrote this around 1 am so, please enjoy! happy holidays!

w.c: 2k (and i oop--)

Sanji was indeed a man with a lot of tricks up his sleeves: he’s from the family of mercenaries, part of the famous Straw Hats Pirate, and of course one of the greatest chef in all the seas, with his handsome face, strong kicks and talent in the kitchen, one could assume he’s everything a person can wish for, and that he is.

You’ve been working at the Baratie for years ever since the restaurant found its place on the East Blue, as a kid you were raised by Zeff along with a blonde kid who hates putting artificially made flavor on a dish. You cooked something with something artificially made, he hates it. He cooks you something, you hate it. It was a game of cat and mouse but somehow, Zeff saw this a familiar scene and a everlasting promise between two kids that somehow will always find each other.

“Sanji! I’m hungry!” The voice of Luffy woke Sanji’s staring into space, as the cook of the straw hat stood up, the sharpshooter of straw hats watches him intently. “Sanji, is there something wrong?” Then, he met Usopp’s wondering eyes, as in the back of his mind, he is back in the Baratie, back to you. He lightly shook his head, ignoring the sharpshooter’s question: was it the empty space of the kitchen that made him wish he was with you, was it the vast sea that made him wish you see the lovely view too, was it his new family made him wish that you should’ve met them too, instead of speaking out his thoughts and secrets, he gave Usopp a smile, perhaps a reminder to the sharp shooter that their cook is alright. 

The lingering look of longing is still on Sanji’s face until their next voyage on the vast sea, it made the straw hat worry, hell, even the swordsman is now giving Sanji a look of worry, but somehow, when the crew has met a nearby island, they hoped that their cook would have a peace of mind, a recollection of what he longs for, what his face wishes for. As the reached the shore, the crew pushed Sanji out of the ship as they gave him a reassuring look to take all the time he needs to fill the void that’s slipping in his emotion, face, and his cooking.

As he walked to the island’s market, a familiar scent danced in his nose, a cooking that smells like his first home, as his feet lead the way into a fully packed restaurant, a familiar sight of food greeted him. He immediately sat somewhere on an empty table as he scans the menu.

The time pass by faster than he expected, as for once, he ate the food with a smile on his face, perhaps, realizing that he may have a competition in being the best chef in all seas: but this trivial things did not bother him, until, he tasted an articially made flavor on one of the dishes. Instead of throwing his anger like he always do when arguing with the straw hat’s swordsman, he clicked his tongue and requested to talk to the main chef of the restaurant.

Clink. Click. Clink.

Empty Dishes after empty dishes came into the kitchen, with a smile on your face you were happy with the unending order in the restaurant, until your new waiter had come bearing news about the blonde guy at table 19, with a tired sigh, you removed your apron and went outside to talk to the blonde guy at table 19.

Clink. Click. Clink.

“What seems to be the problem–Sanji?” Your eyes widened as your eyes seem to betray the sight infront of you. The blonde man then catches your surprise gaze as he was about to light his cigarette. “Oi–your..” he stopped at his words as he catches and drowned himself into a familiar sight. You’re here. You’re here infront of him. 

Instead of saying anything, the both of you seemed to memorize each others faces. 2 Years is indeed a long time, you noticed his growing beard, he memorized the length of your hair, you noticed his new suit, he noticed the tired yet happy look on your face.

“So, you left Baratie.” The both of you uttered the same time, as a chuckle left your lips: Sanji felt like crying—he missed you so damn much. “Bet Zeff didn’t let you go that easily.” He commented as he gestured you to seat. “He actually did, telling me to look for you and kick your ass as we saw your new bounty.” You laughed as Sanji bottled that laugh in his ear. 

“Did he now…” He countered as he lips curved into a soft smile. “Stop looking at me like that.” You immediately notice his gaze, making him look away. ��Looking you like what?”

Clink. Click. Clink.

—----

Clink. Click. Clink.

“Heard the Straw Hat invited you to be in his crew..” You stated as you sat next on the deck with Sanji as he lit his cigarette. He looked away as you asked the question. “He did. I don’t want to.” He openly sighed and filled the space with smoke, as you click your tongue, you grabbed the cigarette on his hand, and inhaled the smoke yourself. “So, I guess you’ll be here in the Baratie in all the end of time.” I laughed. 

“What? Do you plan to leave?” He wondered as you meet his knowing look as you just laid your head on his shoulder. “Depends. Your cooking sucks.” He chuckled as he glared at you. “You use artificial flavors in your cooking!” He sounded so offended. 

You nodded as you gave back his cigarette. “Go.” He knows that look, he’s way too familiar with that look. “Zeff can handle Baratie himself, that old man can be anything he wants. So, go.” 

Clink. Click. Clink.

“I’ll be fine, Sanji.” His voice seems to blend with sea and the seagulls. “It’s not about you.” He looked away as he hid his blush. “Is it?” I chuckled as you stood up and knelt infront of him. “I’ll be alright, Sanji, and besides, didn’t you say you’re going to prove to me that All Blue is real, how can you do that with you staying here.” 

“You’re really making this hard for me, you know..” He grumbles as you gave him a look. “I tend to make you suffer until the end of time, Sanji.” You smiled.

“Stop looking at me like that.” He softly uttered as he leaned in. “Looking you like what?” You replied as you closed the distance feeling his warm lips on yours, as the noise of the sea seem to silenced at this moment, seems like the seagulls have found a place to rest, seems like the warm rays of the sun has bit put on rest. As you pulled away, you met his eyes. “I’m still a better cook than you, you know.” He chuckled.

“Oh, I know. I know. Get out there, Sanji.” You smiled as you stood up, walking away from him, leaving the blonde boy with a distinct nosebleed and a lovesick smile on his face.

—-------

“So, you’re here.” He said with a smile. “Good to see, you still have your both feet on the ground.” You smiled as you saw that his bangs have changed its position. “You changed your look.” You commented as he just stares at you. 

“What?” You wondered as he just looked at the food: “You used artificially made flavors.” He complained as you rolled your eyes and just snickered. “You never really got over it, didn’t you?” you laughed. “Why don’t you walk over our kitchen, Mr. Sanji.” You teased as you stood up and lead him to the kitchen. 

The tour in the kitchen was just short and subtle; it surprised him that the artificial flavor he hates was actually made by you: he find it funny and continue to tell you that he is the best cook in all seas. By the time the tour finish, he caught a familiar wanted poster hanged on the wall. A poster that he hates so much.

“Seriously, that poster?” He rolled his eyes at you. It was his first wanted poster with no picture attached but an illustration. You chuckled at his antics: “What? The artist took your beauty really well.” You chuckled, as you stare at him.

“I miss you too, by the way.” You stood closer to him as he walked towards the wanted poster hanged on the wall. He blushes as he looked at you. “Does your miss kinda works its way on you giving me a ki–”

“ORDER UP!” Before he can continue, orders came in like a wave from the sea, Sanji frowned at the timing. “Oi, loverboy, talk to you later.” You tapped his shoulder as you left him on the corner, with a smile on his face. He hid his blush and walked back to their ship.

—-----

A familiar straw hat greeted your eyes as you walked on the shore. “OI!! SANJI!!” He shouted happily, as you noticed Sanji walking down excitedly as you approached their ship. As he ran towards you, he gave you a tight hug. “You’re acting like we didn’t talk earlier.” You grumbled in his hug, as you return it. “I had to keep my appearances, there were bounty hunters in the restaurant, after all. If they knew I had some connection on you, they might–”

You punched him lightly on his stomach. “I can handle myself, Sanji.” You sighed: “We’re both raised by Zeff, you know how he is.” you ran your hand in your hair as you looked at Sanji’s face dancing the sunset’s rays. With a teary-eye he looked at you: ah, they’re going to leave again. 

You nodded as you just offered your hand to Sanji as you both walk, quietly and appreciating the fondness of the gift of time in the shore. As you two walked, Sanji noticed that you never let go of his hand. “You actually missed me.” He said in such proud tone. He waited for a teasing remarks instead, you just nodded which surprised him.

“Missed you so much, ‘Ji.” You admit as he stopped his tracks and looked at you. Without saying anything, you embraced him as you hid yourself in his chest: god, he missed you too—so damn, much. He just nodded and hugged back your deep embrace. As the sun continue to bathe in the sea, you whispered the stories on how you got to the island and leaving Baratie. He listened intently as he drew circles in your hands, as the moon slowly reveal itself in the sky. He kissed your hand.

“Will you be here, ‘till I find the All Blue?” He asked, but his tone was pleading and full of hope. And just like before, you lay down your head on his shoulder: but this time, you grabbed a cigarette and lit it up as he muttered. “I’ll come back, you know that right?” He smiled as he grabbed the cigarette from your hand as he inhaled the smoke. You just nodded as you held him a little closer: for once, he thanked the past that you let him go—not only because he met an amazing crew but for once, you looked at him: not as a rival in cooking but someone—as your person. 

He thought the kiss from the past was just a mere kiss of heat of the moment, but here you are next to him and you looked so gorgeous—as if he was made to see you in all your shining glory—the lingering looks, the bickering, it all leads him back to you. “Go.” You muttered as he smiled as he kissed your hand. “We’ll be alright, Sanji.” That’s it, he leaned in and gave you a knowing kiss, a kiss that bears a sorry for the two years he wasn’t able to hold you and a kiss that carries promise of the upcoming and untold stories of the both of you—and by all the pirates in the world, he can’t wait to spend the rest of his days next to you in all eons, in all times, and definitely in all the seas.

fluff is like a new ground for me lmao, angsty-fluffy zoro and luffy coming right up!

⚘ masterlist 1 | 2 | 3

[inafieldofdaisies]

Siblings Q&A | The Donovan sisters (feat. John bcs he's a funny lil guy with things to say) | Tagged by @raresbaby

Note from OP: It can be used for any family member/friends who's close to your OC! / Questions from this post

1. Who looks the most like dad?

"Oh, I know that one!", Savannah grinned proudly, "Rin-Rin, looks just like her dad. Even got his hair."

2. Who looks the most like mom?

"This one here is mom's mini-me.", Sabrina nudged Savannah's shoulder before adding, "And with double the charm."

3. Who eats the most?

"I do?", Savannah nodded to herself, "Yes. You know, so I can grow up and be taller than John." John's gaze narrowed playfully, "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, Savi."

4. Who has been on the weirdest situations?

"How weird do you mean?" "Definitely me.", Sabrina's mumbled quickly after her sister, "For obvious reasons." "Yes, Deputy. I can vouch for that." Savannah let out a laugh at John's remark, "He always says 'yes' so funny, doesn't he?"

5. Who sleeps the most?

"Rin-Rin loves to wake up early and I LOVE my beauty sleep.", Savannah framed her face with her hands, "Mom says it's very important."

6. Mom and dad's favorite?

"Sav, of course. How can she not be?"

7. Most stable romantic life?

8. Worst habit of each one?

"I can be quite restless." Savannah appeared deep in thought, "I have a sweet tooth? Does that count?"

9. Who's the most dramatic?

"Uncle Cal?", Savannah giggled. "They mean between us two, pumpkin." "Still uncle Cal. Or that blond boy that follows him around, remember how he freaked out about getting his shoes dirty?" A smile emerged on Sabrina's face at the memory, "Seb stole them from John. Said they were Prada." "They were, Deputy. Past tense, indeed.", John frowned, "And I haven't forgiven that Sinner for it."

10. Who had a weird phase?

11. Best cook of the family?

"Rin-Rin! For sure."

12. Best memory together?

"Crater Lake.", the sisters said in unison.

13. Worst memory together?

Sabrina shook her head, "No such thing when we're together. We make the best out of every situation."

14. Dream trip together

"Paris. Uncle Cal promised to teach me some French."

15. Would you rather not being able to shower for a month or have the same clothes for a month?

"Um... same clothes." "Same clothes.", Savannah repeated her sister's pick, "But can I choose which? I have a favorite outfit."

16. Who's the older one?

"Why, of course, Rin-Rin."

17. Describe each other in three words

"Joyful, funny, and creative." "Best sister ever?", Savannah beamed, "That's three words."

18. Role model?

"My father.", Sabrina replied without missing a beat. "Rin-Rin, mommy buut for some things, Uncle Les, Ollie, Max, Mary May...", Savannah bit back a grin at John's expression as she continued to list off names, "And John, of course. You promised to teach me how to fly, remember?"

19. Who usually has the worst ideas?

"That Deputy Hartley... since we're naming him.", John spoke up before either of them could.

20. A GIANT insect is on the wall, who's taking care of it?

"I got that one covered." "And we would set it free outside, right, Rin-Rin?" "You bet."

Tagging, @socially-awkward-skeleton @strangefable @rhettsabbott @shellibisshe @wrathfulrook

@purplehairsecretlair @aceghosts @icecutioner @josephslittledeputy @josephseedismyfather

@harmonyowl @imogenkol @trench-rot @cassietrn @voidika

@finding-comfort-in-rain @la-grosse-patate @direwombat @carlosoliveiraa @simonxriley

@simplegenius042 @g0dspeeed @thesingularityseries @theelderhazelnut @cloudofbutterflies92

@killyourrdarlingss @captastra @justasmolbard

@dumbassdep @jackiesarch @derelictheretic and anyone that would like to do the Q&A <3

[seoul-bros]

Jikook Week 28 Complete ✔️(18/06 - 25/06/2024)

Their twenty eighth week in the military is now complete and time to celebrate this milestone with a look back at this week in 2020. This really was a jikook extravaganza week. I've never seen so many classic jikook moments all fitted in one week before.

BTS were in the lead up to the release of Map of the Soul 7 The Journey on the 14th July 2020. This was their fourth full length album in Japanese and their eighth studio album overall.

This week a series of photos to accompany the release including these two stunning pictures of Jimin and JK.

Stay Gold was released on 19/06 and this live version on the 22/06.

Also this week, BTS Music Journey Part 1 and Part 2 were released with them talking about their seven years since debut. When asked to say something about Jimin, Jungkook had the following response.

JK: "Jimin-ssi ...... are words necessary" JM: Yes, words are necessary"

JK: "I'm always watching you Jimin-ssi" JM: "I'll work harder"

The interaction itself and Namjoon's reactions in the background send me every time.

Twix Link

Finally on 21/06, it was the jikook - we are gimbap chefs live parts 1 and 2 and afterwards Jimin posted this photo on TwiX. It was the epitome of domesticity and ease and reflected how comfortable they are with each other. Part 1 was the dry run and Part 2 was when they put what they had learned in Part 1 into practice.

In Part 1, they laid out ingredients including Perilla leaves - yep the same Perilla leaves that caused a heated debate in the MBTI episode.

They fielded marriage proposals from ARMY which led Jungkook to swiftly change the subject. Egg gimbap anyone.

Then they got on with the serious business of cooking complete with dramatic soundtrack and sesame oil mishaps.

JK was teasing Jimin and dropping honorifics left, right, and centre...

..and couldn't contain his laughter at Jimin's gimbap slicing.

Not totally satisfied with their initial efforts they launched into Part 2 which went very well indeed.

Cr. to OP

So great to watch that again.

Post Date: 25/06/2024

[strykingback]

You know what Crimson you just really had to bring the anime argument onto a post talking about RWBY's legacy. Aight then. Might as well break down your most recent post then ya big whiny baby.

First things first to kick things off. Our friend here posted this image of Worick Arcangelo saying: "Hi Failure" in response to their RWBY Final Thoughts: Legacy.

This I assume is in response to how you (Crimsonxe) had gotten cooked many many MANY fucking times by the RWDE community here on tumblr, so much so that it's like a five-star course at an expensive ass restaurant. Plus, I am certainly aware the person who posted the image is aware of Gangsta for it's great usage of dark themes and the like as well.

Then, as soon as you respond back to "Leave Gangsta Out Of This" to which the OP then responds with the character Nicolas Brown while captioned "sleepy nico" Once again showing that they are aware of this manga and anime because Nicolas here is DEAF and uses sign language and sometimes even speaks as well!

I can assume yet again this was a means to tell you again Crimson that they are ignoring you as well while simultaneously cooking that five star course meal in the most vaguest way ever.

But aside from that. This was what prompted the response Crimson ya little bitch boy.

As you said yourself: "Also psssst newsflash anyone that does support manga/anime has no ground at all to speak against RT on the grounds of how they did things behind the scenes."

Now since you did mention "on the grounds how they did things behind the scenes." I think it's time I brought up a situation that happened last year.

Studio Mappa came under extreme controversy as it was revealed that the employees there was underneath extremely harsh conditions because they were working on four things at the same time.As quoted by the famous japanese freelance animator Mushiyo who criticized MAPPA as he compared the studio to that of a factory and how eighty percent of employees there had THE SAME COMPLAINTS AS HE DID.

Oh but it gets worse.... MAPPA had all employees and animators there sign an NDA that prevents them from talking negatively about the company online, low wages, abusive staff.

It would all come to a head during Jujutsu Kaisen Season two when MAPPA employees went to twitter to vent about working at MAPPA which garnered an incredible response from anime fans across the globe came to their defense praising the animators for their hard-work and demanding that MAPPA give the animators a LONG NEEDED BREAK.

Surprisingly enough.. its not just also Studio Mappa!

Studio Madhouse well known for Paprika, Perfect Blue, Hellsing Ultimate, and the first season of One Punch Man also suffered from this as well. As they were accused of violating labor codes as employees there worked over four hundred hours per month and went THIRTY SEVEN DAYS BACK TO BACK WITHOUT A DAY OFF!!! This was so SO BAD to the point where an employee working there who had committed suicide and was working 600 hours in a month.

Now while there are many other studios who could be just as worse as the two listed here. Surprisingly there are studios who do treat their animators fairly and like actual human beings. But some studios like Studio Bugs Film who created the popular Zom 100: Bucket List Of The Dead actually calls them out IN THE FIRST EPISODE.

Now with Manga most of the time the volumes released depends on one thing! The Mangaka's schedule and how detailed some of their art might get.

But at the same time there is indeed the brutality of the Manga workplace is competitive to hell! So much so that there has been accounts of manga artists suffering from mental, physical, or even internal health problems that can cause such problems so much so that it can lead to an early FUCKING GRAVE.

So Crimson... what was that about not having anime/manga fans not having grounds to stand on to speak against RT when anime and manga fans had known about this FOR YEARS.

Rooster Teeth had done this to their animators just like MAPPA did. How the hell are you gonna sit there and continuously glaze Rooster Teeth but ignore all the controversy they have done.

Low Wages Towards Employees

Literally made a slur as a nickname towards Kdin Jenzen

Had a Mocap person suffer permanent damage to their body

Many Many Animators working for Rooster Teeth suffering underneath Harsh to Abusive Conditions

Frat-Bro workplace

Gee the list goes ON AND FUCKING ON MAN. Like get it through that THICK HEAD of yours dude!

Now onto what else you said: "Especially in regards to femme characters, racism, homophobia, and transphobia."

Okay now that you mentioned that might I remind you that... RT also... did the same thing to their female characters

Gee I wonder if theres a post somewhere talking about that......OH WAIT!!!

1) Pyrrha has very noticeable cleavage 2) Ruby was put in a pin-up pose when she drank the tea 3) The anti-upskirt technology in itself is a bit counter-intuitive if they just like oh idk, didn't have upskirts at all like the V4 'joke' with Nora and Ren during the Nuck fight 4) Yang exists, especially her RWBY x JL Part 2 design. Not to forget other characters like Pyrrha, Glynda, and even Nora having cleavage or boob windows incorporated into their designs 5) Ruby when being tortured by Neo in V9 had clothing damage, one cut noticeably on her chest

Also it's not like I too also made a post about some tough femme fatales

Homophobia? Motherfucker there are plenty of anime that do have LGBTQ+ in it.

Banana Fish Citrus Yuri On Ice Revolutionary Girl Utena Bloom Into You Given Junjou Romantica Komi Can't Communicate (Contains a Nonbinary Character)

Trans-Anime? Oh Yeah THATS THERE TOO!!!

Claudine Boys Run The Riot Hourou Musuko Paradise Kiss Princess Jellyfish Skip and Loafer Ouran High School Host Club Tokyo Godfather Zombieland Saga Stars Align

Racism? Maaan CRIMSON YOU MADE THIS SHIT WAY TOO EASY

Code Geass Aldnoah Zero Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Inuyasha Attack On Titan Naruto FUCKING ONE PIECE.

Oh dont get so quiet now, I'm your bumper now Crimson!

Especially their views on Handicapped People? Crimson... you are stupid... just so so FUCKING STUPID.

Handicapped Anime:

Ranking Of Kings- Main Character Bocchi is Deaf and Mute A Silent Voice- Shoko Nishimiya is a deaf character as she has self-esteem issues and her childhood bully is learning sign-language in order to apologize. Yuki Yuna Is A Hero- Mimori Tougou is a magical girl that when she transforms she does not gain the ability to walk on her legs, but instead uses extensions of her costume to help her fight, even as the series progresses the other characters lose bodily functions and must figure out how to live with it.

Josee, The Tiger and Fish- Kumiko is a paraplegic girl who has a dream to see the Outside world with her own eyes, but due to the way how society treated her she generally is afraid of strangers and tries to act tough in a way.

Your Lie In April- One of the main characters, Kaori Miyazono suffers from a sever illness which prompts her to have multiple hospitalizations for most of her life. Then when its is revealed she does not have long left to live, she lives out her life the best she can while helping the main character.

My Sister Momoko- An Emotional movie about a girl named Momoko who is both mentally and physically disabled as after attending a special school she has the opportunity to study with her twin brother, which leads to her growth slowly becoming more independent as the movie goes on.

FULL METAL ALCHEMIST- Needs no Explanation. Literally does an incredibly amazing job talking about prosthetics, PTSD, mental health, physical health, etc. ITS ALL THERE.

Real fuckin' quiet over there Crimson. Cause certainly I did my fucking research! So yeah, basically me and the rest of RWDE all watched anime and we all do have the right to criticize RT and RWBY.

So do me a favor and Shut the FUCK UP.

Lastly before I go @surgepricing I read your RWBY Final Thoughts: Legacy and I hereby bestow upon you this.

You literally cooked an amazingly well done breakdown of everything for what may possibly be RWBY's legacy and so on forth. I hereby say that you are indeed a head chef cause goddamn I'd rather just be on a station and listen to you cook more! Once again well done !

Anyways Im out of here its 3:37 AM and I gotta get some sleep.

[hallucinateonpaperspines]

Curious but how you think Ashlyn would feel about the Shattered Glass version of the characters? Crazy Optimus, Sane Megatron, Very expressive Soundwave. Cause i feel when her origins get revealed it be a good time to go into that fact that there is a universe where Megatron is a good heroic guy....and high heels(Screamer) isn't backstabbing for power. Honesty it be a kind of fun short of Bots meeting the good Cons. Otherwise LOVE YOUR FICS^^ and can't wait for Ash/Makeshift meeting.

Ashlyn would see Shattered Glass as a chaotic mess and be simultaneously terrified and fascinated by it. If I was going to do a version that would fit with the lore I've created specifically for OT&T, that would be even more of a wild experience if she was exposed to it because there would be no hesitation about her intended function.

A lot of what has happened, the Voices, the glitches, the Shadow's appearance, and Ashlyn's weird healing, is an effect of hesitation on one singular individual's part to follow the program. That individual would have no moral dilemma in a Shattered Glass AU, and would probably be delighted by this Guardian's 'mutations' in the face of a failed claim.

It would also be partly why he's on Earth, to begin with, why such a small team has lasted so long without additional resources from the government, in spite of the government's attempt to help remove them, even partnered with other Cybertronians.

In short, SG OP would be stealing a Shockwave plot I've got cooking for later, and the Voices, for once, would be 100% useful.

Run away indeed.

[aiglesperch]

Go Out With a Fight

Fandom : Project Zomboid

Word count :

Summary : As the zombie population swells to its peak, Jean decides to go down with a final fight after a helicopter descends down Arizona.

Content warnings : Apocalypse, zombie, blood, burning inside a car, death

*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_-*-_

The days run by, the nights are spent with chill in one's spine and in a half-awake state as one awaits zombies to ambush at any given point. More people are turning day-by-day.

The morning news is getting worser and worser. Well, it'd be damn a surprise if they were still alive and breathing with the turmoil taking place in the USA.

And Jean?

Let's go back to Jean. What does he do when such a world-wide crisis takes place? He sits in his home and reads. He learns a lot about driving a vehicle and making emergency rations.

Wounds are no longer a problem for him provided he blindfolds himself when it bleeds. Well, what could a hemophobic do otherwise? The zombie crisis is a nightmare, indeed.

Hemophobic : Someone who has an abnormal and persistent fear of blood

He partakes in the duties of a ranger - chopping down branches, clearing out alternate routes for him to dash into when the shamblers come onward to the highway road, striking flint together to create a billowing fire.

His heart is steeled in resolve of surviving this horror. Him being an introvert would advantage him by a large margin.

At times, zombies do come. All sorts of them. Florists and hairdressers from the shopping strip, prison wardens from the bashed-open prison entrance, police all around the highway road, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters - all united in this perverse relationship fulfilled solely by a hunger for human flesh.

The books left behind by his beloved did prove useful enough to teach him jiu-jitsu, moreover his axe-wielding skills weren't rusty yet. He continued staying alive as the lone human wanderer for a few days.

When he was hungry, he raided the abandoned kitchens barring the zombies. Canned food was a luxury during these times. He had to store cooked meat and lentils in the ground, salt chicken, pickle the vegetables. It seems the world's gone back a few centuries behind with the death of electricity and water supply.

Then he did remember

It was the year 1982. Kentucky was a pleasant place to live in. Jean, born to a Québécois father and a Irish mother, was brought up in rural Rosewood. Being the child of mixed parents ensured that he was bullied frequently at his school.

He also did recall his parents' insults when he was rumoured to have kissed a boy, such was the thinking back then (and even now in 1993). Ah, the joy of having to hide bits-and-pieces of yourself until you are but a false image to please one's own loved ones. Such was life...

...Until it wasn't. He went to serve as a ranger. Wasn't a honourable job given the amount of people who'd purposefully dump waste on the shrubs and let their pets poop everywhere. Not to mention the children screaming, adults getting themselves in danger for a mere selfie.

He then met this man at a bar. Unlike the others, he didn't drink and rather chose to busy himself in strumming an ukelele.

It didn't take much for Jean to be interested in him, though it did take long for him to date and eventually marry him.

A thudding sound fills the air

It attracts the zombies from all around Arizona. Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers - all formerly unrelated, now lumped into a single category called 'zombies' - shamble onward to find the source of this noise.

Jean peeps from the heavily covered window.

A helicopter.

And it's attracting everyone close-by, okay, zombies close-by.

This was bad news to Jean. Oh dear, he can already here a couple of hands banging on the doors and windows in desperation. The helicopter has the gall to lower to his location, shine the brightest light available on his house, and leave as if nothing happened.

Wait. If there was someone operating it, it would mean there still are humans!

Rescue, or was it?

Everything's going to be okay

The helicopter was fluttering over like a dragonfly

"YAAAAAAA"

Then the vehicle hit a few gasoline drums on the way. Sparks ensued and soon the whole vehicle was on fire. Jean bit his bottom lip as he steered clear of more obstacles that may disturb his movement. His lip was bleeding and fire is catching up to his seat quick.

Arizona's heat wasn't helping it. It spread its fiery tentacles into the backseat, the bonnet, etc.

"Everything's going to be okay" he whispered to himself repeatedly as flame licks the back of his seat.

"Everything's going to be okay, indeed" he whimpered. At least, the zombies won't get him now.

--- THE END ---

[superman--yoosung]

hi there!! i was hoping i could ask for a mystic messenger matchup please OP :D

- i go by she/her and i’m bi - so i’m open to any of the (adult) characters from the game.

- in my spare time, i like playing my flute/piano. and reading - i really love a lot of classic lit (with fanfic being my guilty pleasure lol) . if i’m not doing either of those things, it’s games (i think i enjoy getting lost in worlds other than my own). i love coffee and would really love to go sightseeing/travelling once i’m out of uni!

- i want to like insects - but i don’t because a lot of them jumpscare me (lol). i also don’t like the taste of cooked mushrooms,, i don’t know why. and i can’t stand untidy or messy places - i’ll tidy for you lol.

- personality wise i’m a little reserved - but i’m cheerful and can be quite the goof when i feel comfortable. i’m always thinking of others and little things i can do for them, or help them in any way possible. i have a strong sense of morality and loyalty towards others. however, i’m stubborn, and honestly somewhat bossy. i don’t know when to give up, which i think is a bit of a double edged sword tbh ^^;;

- for extra info - i’m pretty tall (5’9”) so i feel like a little bit of a giant. my sleep schedule is in shambles, i have a pet cat and my favourite colour is pink 🌸

on a side note - i am so so happy to see the mystic messenger fandom alive and well. and i hope i haven’t written too much for you OP <3

It's funny you mentioned the fandom - I have mostly mysme requests this round! it's definitely still thriving :)

Your matchup is.....................................................

JUMIN HAN !!

"Did you see that new magazine cover? Oh, you know - the one with the C&R heir and his wife? Wasn't it stunning?! Oh, to have someone look at me the way he looks at her..."

When searching for information online about Jumin Han and his recent marriage, comments such as these are rampant. But for good reason - after all, a proposal as sensational as theirs was sure to drive up public interest on the two. Nonetheless, information about Jumin Han's wife, in particular, is rather scarce. But it's evident to anyone who looks that Jumin Han has everything he needs to know about her - and that whatever it is he knows, it's only made him love her more with each passing day.

Fun details:

Your pursuits of the classical arts are noble indeed, and Jumin values your efforts. You'll have access to the finest tutors and lessons the world can offer, should you desire them. If you are already loyal to certain teachers or methods, he will invest in them to ensure your continued learning and growth. He would be delighted if you chose to give a private recital just for the RFA, and very proud of the work you put in to your instruments.

Funny enough, your new beta reader is Jumin. He became curious about what you spent your evenings on in the comfort of the luxurious living room, and when you finally showed him some of your fanfiction, he was unsurprised that your love of reading transferred to writing, too. Still, he admires all of your interests and efforts, and will support you by beta reading your works, bringing his critical eye to your fics. (And if you spend a long time explaining the nuances of the characters and fandoms to him, well, that's just icing on the cake for him, because he gets to hear your beautiful voice and see the sparks of passion in your eyes.)

You get along with Yoosung pretty well. Jumin Han isn't much of a gamer, but at some point he will become intrigued by the two-person (or more) games you play with Yoosung online sometimes. He'll never be as good as either of you at games, but he's good enough to play the cute stereotypical couples games together with - and he'll be quite enthusiastic about doing so with you!

You want to travel the world? He's got the private jet ready to go when you are! During breaks in university, he'll show you around the world, to all the places he's been before, and then to exciting new locations for the two of you to make wonderful new memories together.

He will have the best of the best coffee beans imported for you. If you have a favorite brand or store, he'll get a whole franchise installed in the C&R building just for you. (And the employees, of course, but mostly for you.) If you prefer Jaehee's coffee brewing skills over his, expect him to be pestering her to teach him in exact details in the RFA groupchat (much to Jaehee's eternal annoyance).

No bugs allowed in the penthouse!! If you care about the bugs being kept alive, he will ensure that each bug that does wander inside the building is escorted safely outside the entire perimeter before being set free. Luckily for you, there are two cats on the hunt for any stray bugs, so you likely won't have any trouble with them either way! And speaking of the cats - Elizabeth the 3rd will have a matching collar with yours. Jumin makes sure they're introduced properly so they get along with one another! And they will both be spoiled rotten - don't be surprised if Jumin manages to charm your little baby quickly.

Jumin will be the voice of reason when you've looked out for others to your own detriment, or when you're being overly stubborn. This may lead to a few fights - but as logical as Jumin can be, he's most spineless when it comes to you, so you'll typically get your way, or at least a compromise that's to your liking.

You may worry about your height sometimes, but whenever you put those thoughts to voice, Jumin will remind you that you're the perfect height for him to rest his cheek against your head. (Because this man is taller than everyone.) If you enjoy wearing high heels or platforms, he will adore looking straight-on into your eyes.

Jumin Han was instantly smitten with you when you met in person - and with every day, he learns something new in your mannerisms. They're small things - how you bookmark your page in a story, the shape your hand makes when you reach for one of the cats, which new pink wardrobe item you're favoring. Each and every one of these new details, when he comes across them, never fails to take his breath away, because it is you silhouetted in the lamplight, holding the book he got for your birthday - your hands, which he knows the feel of so well by now - your form, standing in the doorway, face lit up with a smile to greet him. With every new detail, he falls deeper in love with you. And he will always find new details, because to him, you are fathomless, and so is his love for you.

~~I hope you enjoyed this! I did seriously consider Jaehee for you as well - you seem the type to be able to match with multiple members very easily, to be honest!!

PS AHHHHH I THOUGHT I QUEUED THIS UP IM SORRY!! Publishing it a bit late oops--

PPS IM A MESS I FORGOT THE DIVIDERS LOOOOL should be fixed now

[lostacelonnie]

True but thats like. Part of the charm almost. All the issues. Yeah thankfully the days are lengthening again & the terrible holiday season has finally passed, which made me. So tired. Hence my response delay. Yeah they should chill but im glad that the last bit was. Easy for you? I was around my family for like. A day. & it was exhausting i can only imagine what a week takes out of you. I wish more americans were like that some guy tried to talk to me a bit at the theater yesterday when i went to see godzilla minus one & it was exhausting. Also funny story everyone at my work was so exhausted last week i said something in spanish to my co worker from el salvador & he completely did not understand because of exhaustion. Oh that pretty cool. I had to learn so that i wasn't like. Having sandwiches & ramen all the time & now im trying to find time to make my own bread so like. Slippery slope. But yeah knowing a few recipes is always a good idea. Thats always the best, having friends who are chill with quiet. Does anyone have a good school? I will believe in the process because star rail is also giving me that pain with argenti's story quest & ruan mei's swarm thing. Ah okay so antimatter legion but less controlled in a way. Oh so thats what herscherr means. How come some have like multiple herscherr forms if ive seen right? Entymology is very interesting i love it. I sure need to remember traces & such more i keep forgetting. & it shows in my multi target dps characters. Worlds worst wingwoman indeed i love her. Cant wait to get further into it & see more claire. Roguelikes are a lot of fun i enjoy them greatly. I thought they would annoy me but hades proved me wrong. Noita sounds fun ill check it out at some point. Himeko mvp of all time she better survive penacony. Whoa that's a lot of seele lore. I love her damn. Explains her a bit in star rail too. What with sea of quanta, themes of death, scythe as a weapon. Also cocolia connection. And bronya really went hard for seele damn i love her too. Are her legs being broken why she like. Uses something to hover in the game? Have any other bronya facts? Or mei? Im glad your polish post radar works so well.

it really is ADHFGLSKFKG. and god yeah FINALLY. also happy new year!!!!!! very late but still!!!!!! this was my first week back in school after the holidays [well. actually it was Two Days] but im already tired. aooougugh. but oh well! GOD. my family In General is like. Fine. i really dont mind them. but i have to stay with my grandma who is just impossible to coexist with...... luckily my mom allowed me to mostly just hang out in our room and not interact with her that much since she shares my opinion. and augh that sounds. Irritating. i enjoy being left the fuck alone. AHDKKS it really is like that........ on wednesdays we have 8 am classes with the one teacher we have that speaks Exclusively spanish so we often do a irl co op mission with the entire group if we wanna convey like literally any message to her. and oh understandable!!! im probably gonna end up the same way sjfkgj. my mom never really taught me to cook since she doesnt like to do it [which, i get it] but i personally really enjoy the process so well see how that goes. AND FOR REAL i genuinely do not believe theres such thing as a good school. or even a Normal school. also fairrrrrr i actually returned to star rail for ruan mei [<- not immune to Pretty Autistic Women] and also had trouble with the swarm boss...... actually made me update my clara build. can you believe this. but tbh i havent done argentis quest yet and im fully spoiler free so im gonna see how that goes JDJGKKSJG. and yeah!! and with multiple herrscher forms its like. usually people obtain multiple herrscher forms either in like. change in belief? approach? which lets them harness other parts of their power [or add new ones], like in the case of HoFlamescion or HoTruth; merge [HoRimestar]; or find a new external source of their power [CE HoOrigin, HoFinality]. but i dont believe its ever explained in Detail so yeah. but generally, the power of a herrscher is stored in their herrscher core, so obtaining multiple cores can give people multiple authorities [like in the case of sirin]. but as i said, typical Honkai Confusion. ETYMOLOGY IS SUPER FUN YEAH...... and for real. if manaria has 1000 fans i am one of them if manaria has 1 fan its me against the world if manaria has no fans i am dead. noita IS fun but i should warn you youre not gonna get anywhere without external guidance. i mean. Maybe you will but its gonna be frustrating as hell and near impossible. its that kind of game. but the fanbase knows that and is actually very helpful!!! solving this games secrets is a team effort. as of right now i have 63h in and 2 wins [got one today, actually! congrats, me.] but i rec it heavily. its fun. AND YES GOD YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HI3 FANS SCARED ARE FOR HSR HIMEKO. they cant take her from us again............ AND YES SEELE. I LOVE SEELE. its actually canon she has a kind of "you are not immune to seele" aura that makes people unable to say no to her bc of just how much of a lovely person she is. and yes that is the reason bronya floats around ingame!!! AND WELL. due to the fact that bronya and mei are both a part of the Main Trio, telling you. literally Any amount of lore about them would take me way too fucking long. and im so sorry but im just mentally unable to do that. and thank you o7 polska gurom ‼‼‼‼💯💯💥🔥💥‼💯🔥💥

[victorluvsalice]

Welcome -- to the Not-So-Micro Wedding Chapel! :D This is my own personal update of the "Micro Wedding" lot by TrimbleTwist on the Gallery -- that lot is a cute little chapel built to be placed on one of the smallest lots in the game (the 20x15 lot size), but as I plopped this one down in place of the rather larger rental lot in the Bramblewood in Henford-On-Bagley, I decided I could expand it out a little bit. :p Specifically, I made the outdoor patio reception area a lot bigger, adding in a proper buffet table and a fancier table for the cake, more tables for guests to sit at (with color schemes at least somewhat appropriate for a Van Alton wedding -- gotta have our black, yellow, and purple!), a dance floor, a fancier piano (that's actually the one you normally unlock through completing the "Musician" branch of the Entertainer career), a few more plants edging the whole thing, and a "photo op" area with backdrop and tripod (keep that in mind for later). I also updated the lot traits -- I kept Natural Light, as that went well with the photo area, but Homey became Romantic Aura and Great Acoustics to Party Place as I felt those better suited a wedding venue specifically. I mean, you're not coming here to do anything but have a wedding party, right? I didn't actually do much to the chapel itself, though, beyond recoloring the wedding arch inside, adding a few more lights to the interior --

And adding the True Colors Pride Flags by @itsonlythee-sims to the outside! This is an edit of a flag mesh from Discover University made base game compatible that features a bunch of pride flag variations (plus one Simlish BLM flag), and one of the ones included is a polyamory flag (the classic blue-black-red stripes with a yellow infinity heart). Given that what I was hosting was a polyam wedding, I had to stick that out there -- along with the "Progress" pride flag, as that felt like it covered most things queer. :) So yes, this was the lovely venue that Victor, Alice, and Smiler arrived at to have their big wedding event! I promptly sent them downstairs into the tiny basement to use its kitchen to make the wedding cake (a white and black cake, because fancy) as a group, as I thought that would be sweet --

And -- okay. Let's just get this bit out of the way now -- it took me three tries to get the wedding to go off the way I wanted it to. First time, they wouldn't even start making the cake -- there was just a lot of that Sim "okay, let's just stand around because something is stopping our AI from actually completing a queued task" bullshit that we all know and "love." Second time, they actually got through the cake and got to the ceremonies -- but while I got some halfway decent shots of Victor and Alice's vow renewal, Alice actually walked out of Victor and Smiler's wedding because for some reason the game decided that "attending the wedding" meant she had to go OUTSIDE, and that and an ill-timed "hey, should Alice officially Like Photography" pop-up meant that I missed capturing most of their ceremony both in in-game pictures and screenshots. *sigh* It's really fortunate that I saved the minute the trio stepped onto the lot, because otherwise...

All right, let's not worry about that anymore -- let's talk about the third attempt, which was indeed the charm, I'm happy to report! (Mostly because I'd learned from the mistakes of the previous two attempts.) As indicated, I sent the trio downstairs to work on the wedding cake together (Alice leading the group action because she has the most points in Cooking), and happily with me having already gotten all the items that could possibly restrict a Sim from helping off the counters, the trio WERE able to collaborate properly on their cake. And get real fancy about it too, as you can see :) Between getting them down there and actually starting off the process, though, the guests started arriving before they were actually done -- said guests being Clement Frost, Angela and Lilith Pleasant, Nalani Mahi'ai, Felipe Sisson, Rory Oaklow, and Angela and Lilith Pleasant! AKA all of Smiler's friends that Victor and Alice also know and are friendly with. XD The guests began filtering downstairs in search of their hosts as the cake was completed -- I quickly had Alice stick the wedding topper on it so no one could sneak an early piece, then let her get in a bathroom break as Victor used magic to fix the busted fridge (I dunno why getting cake ingredients out of it broke it, but it did) and Smiler sucked down a plasma fruit to prevent any Thirst issues. I then turned autonomy off temporarily to stop at least my own Sims from doing too many "forbidden activities," changed my trio into their wedding outfits, added as many guests to their group as I could, and marched them all upstairs to sit in the wedding chapel so at least a few of the guests would be in position to actually watch the ceremonies. And then it was just a matter of getting Victor and Alice into position at the altar, and Smiler into position (with Alice's super-nice camera in their inventory) to act as cameraperson...

[chiquititaosita]

Latina, bruja and a OP fan? I am sold!!! Also latina (Brazilian bdw) also, Luffy with a bruja s/o? Maybe a with a little more focus on the curandeira side of things? Thank you, love your blog

bear note: omg thank you so much! love my brazilians, y’all’s good though chefs kiss 😩❤️ anyways yes!! I must complete the monster trio with this 😭❤️! all im going to say luffy with more of a curandera s/o is more cursed (the shit I see happen for context of those what people don’t know a curandera is  

A curandero/curandera is a traditional native healer/shaman found in Latin America and the United States. A curandera is claimed to administer shamanistic and spiritistic remedies for mental, emotional, physical, and "spiritual" illnesses. 

Luffy w/a curandera s/o (latina reader)

Luffy x latina reader

post type: head canon

-if luffy had a curandera for an s/o (that’d be you), you’d be choppers doctoral assistant, or a holistic nurse

- he supports you, as long as you support his dream being pirate king, he’ll support you and your curanderismo

- “Y/n makes all of these jars with shells, rocks! And this liquid called Florida Water!! she speaks highly of it I remember she used it on me this morning! I felt more relaxed after fighting a marine!”

- cleansing his energy from the nightmares he’ll have.

-“y/n! I had a dream this morning, and I don’t know what it means!-“

- you’re the one treating his wounds

-“EWW IT TASTES NASTY!”

-“it’s not supposed to be consumed. It’s vaporub. Now hold still amorcito or your cold is going to get worse.” you’ll be stern with him, and flick his head.

-“I feel better y/n! Thank you thank you thank you!!!” When he finds out you have talented skills when it came to healing he was shocked.

-“YOU DO MAGIC?!” He’s like a little kid with stars in his eyes. It’s super duper adorable 🥹

-“GUYS Y/N IS A HEALER!! SHE DOES MAGIC!!! LOOK AT WHAT SHE CAN DO!!” Will do his best to hype you up, and make sure you’re good enough.

-“Y/n, I found you a rock it was pretty like your eyes! You should put it in a potion!”

-“ i got you more Florida water!!”

-“ I had nami and sanji go get your supplies of herbs that you needed, so we can spend some time together!”

-“so do we eat the egg?”

-“no. we dispose of it, it has all of the negative energy we needed to release.”

-“but can we eat eggs?” he’ll give you puppy eyes

-“Luffy you barley like eggs-“

“sHUT AP!”

- sanji thinks your hands with cooking are said from the gods 💀

-“oh y/n swan! the way you execute that menudo dish is magnificent! Extravagant divine!!!”

-“wait! I wanna taste it!!”

-“OMG THIS IS AMAZING! Y/N YOURE ON DINNER DUTY TONIGHT EVERYONE WILL LOVE TO EAT THIS!!” Let’s just say luffy didn’t even get full.the whole crew agreed that this soup is a comfort dish indeed. It became everyone’s go to soup on the seas. Let me just tell you. Everyone was so full.

- If your abuelita and tias saw how much he can eat. They’d be so happy and compare him to everyone like

“why can’t you eat like y/n’s boyfriend luffy,”

“Mama he’s rubber, and HES A PIRATE!”

“y/n! Look I found you a rock! It reminded me of you!”

-“Y/n!!! Play with meeee!!!!”

-“I can’t right now amor I’m working.” You’ll be cleansing chopper,ussopp, robin, nami, zoro and sanji. With copal and smoke, waving it all around them.

“What are you doing ?!”

“SHH!! SHES CLEANSING!” everyone knows that you need it to be quiet when cleansing. If not you’re going to lose focus. trust the curandera you don’t want to ruin it.

- He really tried to eat the copal, and Florida water that was being sprayed.

-“LUFFY!”

-he’ll just cough the shit out and laugh out loud

- “Im okay *will immediately get distracted* ooh taste earthy.”

-“At least he’s cleansed. WAIT WHAT ABOUT THE DEVIL FRUIT POWERS BEING GONE!?” Chopper will screech on the top of his lungs poor bby

-everyone will sigh in relief realizing that he’s okay , and he in fact is still a rubber man.

- instead he started acting like a fucking goat

-looking at the bottle you saw the label with a goat potion that was poorly drawn. You didn’t even think about the fact that your boyfriend would outsmart his crew and his partner.

- “See guys THIS IS WHY WE DONT FUCK WITH BRUJERÍA AND ALWAYS LOOK !!!?” you’re stressed the fuck out after a minute of overly researching how to save your boyfriend

-“GOTCHA!!” You’ll hear him pick you up and laugh. As you’re crying in frustration smacking him!

-“PINCHÉ! COCHINO!! LUFFY! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW WORRIED I WAS!? WHAT IF SOMEONE ACTUALLY PUT AN ATTACHMENT ONTO YOU!” you we’re scolding him, and nami even punched him for you.

-“whatever it doesn’t matter, I’m just happy you’re okay my captain.” You’ll hug and kiss his cheek.

-“that was fun we should do that again!- wait imagine if I actually turned into a goat.” Y’all will just laugh

- “wait Lu! I have a question what did the bottle you drink say?”

-“oh it had a horseshoe, berrys, and gold.”

-“aye wey.” you facepalmed at the fact he drank a luck oil. All it took was to find loads of food, and be rewarded with abundant amounts of you guessed it.. meat.

- it’s an adventure to have luffy as your partner while you’re a curandera on the ship. You’re kinda like the second mom of the ship (robins mom, franky is dad.) it’s so adorable that the both of y’all are passionate about y’all’s dreams, and planning to accomplish those dreams together 🥹❤️

[monkeydluffy19920]

Random thoughts about One Piece Movie 6

Been sick since yesterday so decided to watch some older One Piece movies and since OP Movie 6 is one of my favorites, just felt like scribbling a little.

So shortly introduced: the Strawhats are lured into a “paradise” where this Baron Omatsuri gives an offer for them to join a “Ordeal of Hell” which includes different tasks/games.  Of course his crewmates are more skeptical and try to warn that it’s a trap and but Luffy is carefree and up for the challenge.

Although there is loads of One Piece-styled humor,  the movie gets darker the further it goes but what makes this movie special is that is that outside canon story this is the first movie where the chemistries and nakamaships between the Straw Hat Pirates are put into a real test.  Not only between some certain characters but basically it affected on the whole crew (outside Robin and Chopper who went to discover this island)

Baron Omatsuri’s goal was to separate the crew eventually and whereas it’s normal to see i.e Sanji and Zoro fighting or Luffy beng scolded for his randomness or Sanji being sent flying by Nami (all as a running gag partly) but what made this movie more interesting was that especially Nami’s and Usopp’s nakamaship was on close target line.

Well obviously, Baron Omatsuri sabotaged the races on purpose to poke the ant nest even more and he knew that ropes to pull (i.e by letting his “minions” annoy Nami before boat race and later giving Usopp the flying thingy and Nami those teacups from the rescue box during the race). He wanted to create that toxic atmosphere so it would be easier to split up them.

There was some discussion in Youtube whether Nami’s reaction towards Usopp (both slaps to his face) was ok.  Well, I think they both had a bit of an emotional burst which was mixed into this toxic and competitive atmosphere this island had.

Nami felt hurt because she felt that Usopp “dumped” her on purpose during the race (athough that flying thingy kinda just took him away). The argument gets more heated when Usopp in confusion replies after the slap by slipping something that went right under Nami’s skin which made her slap him again.

Although this movie is non-canon and the aftermath is not shown, what happened between Usopp and Nami can be seen as emotional slaps which are quite rare in One Piece but important for the characters’ relationships.

Surpisingly, Nami held that grudge even after the boat race. She kept ignoring poor Usopp a big time although the sniper was clearly regretful about his actions. It honestly felt so bad when Nami went to cheer Sanji when they had this cooking competition and Usopp wanted to join the cheering but Nami kept still the distance (whereas usually they have their own cheer squad or other shenanigans).   

Frankly spoken it’s understandable why Usopp got eventually frustrated and confused with her behavior. It’s not said in the movie whether Usopp got the chance to apologize or did she keep on not talking to him the whole time (until the ending). But on the other hand it must’ve felt awkward to encounter after you have slapped your close buddy and still being a bit mad.

After they find out Chopper, Robin and Usopp are missing things get even more serious and cracks between the nakamas can be seen at least now. They  start to blame each other and it’s no more just small bickering.

Which is maybe most interesting in their heated arguments was that Sanji yelled at everyone. Usually he doesn’t yell at the ladies angrily especially Robin or Nami but now it’s shown that even the navigator gets her share if Sanji’s frustration too.

It almost looks like Sanji’s question makes Nami a bit uncomfy (maybe she was surprised to see Sanji so upset or maybe it was  the “wake up call” she needed to realize that she indeed was mean to ignore Usopp on purpose and if she hadn’t done that, the sniper could be still there and maybe this encouraged her to apologize from Usopp after the story if they didn’t lose their memories.

The tension between is so bad that now the rest of them split up too before the next Ordeal of Hell-game. Nami tried to ask for Luffy’s advice on what to do on the shooting but the captain went silent because of all this madness so she tried to run away like the others because the chase began.

Like said, what amazes me in this movie is how dark it gets. First we have this huge creepy flower root that eats Luffy’s crew and then it shifts to that little flower on Omatsuri’s shoulder.

Later it’s revealed that Baron Omatsuri has quite a sad back story. He lost his crew (kinda reminded of Brook’s backstory a little) and now wants to revenge to everyone else while that weird flower thingy is the only way to keep his (ghost) allies alive. 

Like written in earlier review (in my rp blog) what still hits the most in this movie is how harshly it digs into Luffy’s deepest fears (which we later learn in canon) of being left alone.

He is used to it that when they fight, he always has his nakamas backs but now the first side of the battle was just him and Omatsuri and when they hit on his weak spot (seeing his nakama disappearing and being unable to help) he felt despair and weakness.

But thankfully he had befriend with the locals in the island who helped to beat zombie plant and Omatsuri and the crew reunites happily. Luffy’s relieved expression says it all :>

Besides this movies proves how much a cheery and happy OP movie poster/cover picture can mislead. Still after so many years it’s impressive how this movie surprises with its darkness and depth.

Back then it really stood up from the other OP movies not only with the animation (which splits opinions, some like some not) but also because how the tension of this story was not built by just usual fists and kicks but with twisting the emotions into a huge drama.

Definitely worth trying! *thumbs up*

[sashi-ya]

~💟 Sashi's Valentine's Corner 💟~

🧸Mini Scenario SFW- Roronoa Zoro x Sanji ~ Death Fears Love

a/n: I could tag this as a spoiler for non manga readers, but I'm sure no human who is into OP and specially into Zoro will be reading this is he didn't know about the Grim Reaper situation (even if they are non manga readers) so yeah. But, if you aren't aware about what I am talking about pls be aware of MANGA SPOILERS. What happens next is my own idea/theory turned into a sweet love story. I'm sure Sanji will rescue Zoro from falling, if not him nobody will and the arc will turn into something DARK.

tw: just some blood and fluffiness. Angsty little scenario with a happy ending.

wc: 1.1K

Marimo? Are you still breathing? Huh? Yes… are you worried that if I die you will be alone and in danger? Idiot. I saved your ass and you are telling me I am afraid?

Sanji isn’t sure if this is like Thriller Bark or not, the Swordsman was on the verge of death and he found him… but this time the cook was able to do something besides passing out. Sanji used his sky walk -and thanked in secret his Germa 66 genes for being now so fast- to rescue his friend while falling from Onigashima into a dark abyss.

Zoro, still covered in blood, unable to move, lays next to Sanji’s side over a pile of rocks. Both rest for a little, watching his captain still fight against Kaido up in the sky. They know, maybe, they should go and help him. But it won’t be possible, not in their state. Sanji, feeling a little bit better than Zoro, is too exhausted to even think about doing something else than resting… or maybe, he doesn’t want to move from his side… from the stupid marimo’s side.

Sanji feels curious, though. What has happened to his friend to end up in such a bad state? Who beat him up so badly? “Oi, marimo… What happened?” he asks, trying not to sound like he is trying to mock him. The green haired samurai sighs. He is clearly in pain, and the many cuts and wounds on his body make him feel as if his soul is being ripped apart.

“I had to tame Enma… Apparently, I can use Haki” he mumbles. “Conqueror’s?!” Sanji asks, half amazed, half jealous. “Yeah… then the grim reaper came” Zoro adds, as if the information he was giving was irrelevant.

The cook stayed in silence for some minutes, he was sure Zoro was delirious, yet the wound near his heart might as well have been done by a sickle. “The… grim… reaper?” Sanji asks, with a trembling voice. The blond never feared losing Zoro except during Thriller Bark. He was -secretly- convinced the alcohol pickled marimo is indeed stronger than him, and that’s been a thought that both amazes and haunts him since they fought Kuma.

“Marimo, don’t lie… how did you escape the grim reaper?! Did you fight him?” he asks, a little annoyed because he is sure Zoro was having a hallucination. “I didn’t fight. I wasn’t able to -I still can’t- move. He asked me if I was ready” Zoro mumbles, with some kind of trauma in his words.

Sanji turns to his side; he needs to confirm if his friend was laughing and mocking him after all. But he isn’t. And Zoro’s eyelids are closed and shuttered strongly, as when someone is choking back tears. Sanji felt sorry, and a shivering run through his back… many times he told him to “die already” and now to think he could have been dead by now made him extremely sad.

So damn sad.

“So, how did you escape then? Don’t tell me you got lost on your way to heaven” Sanji dares to joke with a subtle attack towards his friend, because that’s the only way he learned to communicate with Zoro… and yet, he never ever understood why. And Zoro, learned to do the same with time. Every time Sanji flirted with a woman, or when Sanji’s eyes were sad, or even when he was alone cooking, Zoro would pick a fight to get his attention. Just to get his attention…

A dynamic they have that makes people think they hate each other, but do they? Do they actually hate each other?

“I told him I wasn’t ready. And he asked the reasons why” Zoro adds, coughing some blood. Sanji, who is the definition of a gentleman, quickly crawls near his friend and using the remains of his ragged maroon suit sleeve, cleans his mouth.

“And what were the reasons? You wanted to taste more sake?” he jokes, now trying to cheer up his friend. The insides of the cook were a mess, confirming he didn’t lose his feelings because the desperation he feels in his heart now is too high. Zoro is still alive, but for how long?

Zoro smirks, for some reason Sanji’s joke about sake made him happy. “At first I thought about Luffy, but then, I knew he would be the Pirate King even without me” he utters, owning a frown from Sanji. Of course not, not without him. “Then I thought that my dream of being the best swordsman won’t be fulfilled” he continues “but, If I had died there, then that meant I’m a man that could only make it that far”.

Sanji, who has always admired Zoro for being so sure about his dreams, remembered the day he left The Baratie when Zoro stood up in front of Mihawk willing to get killed. And he also remembered those exact same words his friend pronounced in front of Kuma when he was too injured and yet kept fighting. Such a reckless man, so sure of his destiny he wasn’t afraid of dying.

“So… what was the reason, then?” Sanji asks, at this point extremely curious. What could be so strong that even death fears?

“You” Zoro mumbles, after coughing again.

Sanji freezes. “This idiot’s reason to stay alive was me? fighting me?!” he thinks, ignoring the way he was holding Zoro’s hand so tight. “Marimo… you didn’t die because you wanted to fight me?!” he protests, annoyed -and frankly trying to find excuses for the thought on the back of his mind; he loves you, idiot.

“Not to fight you, idiot cook. To protect you” he spits. “HUH?” Sanji complaints in disagreement. “I can protect myself; you know? What’s wrong with you?!”.

Zoro opens his eye, glossy, watery. “Just… for the love of God. Can you stop? Just for now? for some minutes. Stop” he pleaded for his blonde friend to accept what everybody except him was aware of. “I really need you to stop for now, I really… nee-” Zoro begs but his lips got shut all of a sudden.

Lips meeting for the very first time. How much they’ve hurt from the need, from the necessity of being one against each other. So slowly and gently, but so passionate, their mouths melt into one. Feeling weird, but happy, so damn happy Sanji kissed the idiot Marimo.

“Don’t you ever leave me again, idiot cook” Zoro tells him, in between Sanji’s needy kisses. “I’m so sorry” Sanji mumbled, so regretful for putting so many walls in between the two of them. “DON’T FUCKING SCARE ME THIS WAY, NOT ANYMORE. PLEASE”. The cook’s tears fall over Zoro’s countenance, washing away the dried blood.

Smiling and kissing, slowly so slowly, both fall asleep. They were so exhausted, and yet they waited for this before closing their eyes to finally rest… 💖~