#inou rambles

[inou-ie]

an idea suddenly crossed my mind...

what if demon!genshin women choosing reader as their master who they follow everywhere.

you tried to summon only one, and someone did came... but another one appeared, and another one and another–

until your room was filled with demons looking at you like you're a helpless and innocent prey. then they all offered you a contract, protecting you at all cost and fulfilling your every wishes and desires in exchange of having you as their master.

they can't help it, you look so pure and innocent, which is something irresistible for them... they wanted to control and dominate you so bad.

they'll fight for your attention like puppies fighting for their toy. they're all possessive and controlling but just one word from you and they'll stop fighting. suddenly looking so tamed and behaved...

*coughs* ei, miko, shenhe, yelan, arlecchino, navia, clorinde, eula, lisa *coughs*

could be applied to hsr too, I think kafka, jingliu, ruan mei, stelle, yukong, and natasha would fit the role very well but that'd be for the future content

[inou-ie]

Keeping puffball and getting to pet it warmed my heart.

congratulations starch (stelle and march) on their child (artificial warp trotter)

[irlkisukeurahara]

The BLEACH ending isn't bad because of the ships. It's bad because it's fucking bad. It's anticlimactic garbage haphazardly slapped on to conclude the series as fast as possible. It is genuinely more frustrating to me than it should be that genuine criticisms of this series are overshadowed by people bitching about the ship. We know IchiRuki's relationship was more interesting, get OVER it.

[lesbiansanemi]

Okay actually, here are the only Bleach romance dynamics that matter

Urahara/Yoruichi except it’s strictly a friends with benefits situation while Yoruichi and Soi Fon are Divorced(TM) and Yoruichi and Soi Fon would go back to each other in a heartbeat if they actually Discussed Feelings

Grimmichi + Ichihime but specifically in a “Ah yes, me, my husband, and my husband’s six foot tall Hollow archenemy” type of way

Queerplatonic Ichiruki and queerplatonic Renruki. Rukia has two hands but neither of them are for romance, they’re for holding onto Ichigo and Renji’s backpack leashes

Yumichika/Ikkaku but specifically Yumichika is a homophobic gay and Ikkaku is convinced they’re just “guys being dudes”

Harribel/Nel but Harribel’s lesbian harem (Mila Rose, Sung Sung, and Appachi) are deeply in love with Harribel and pine after her in increasingly wet and pathetic ways

Aizen/Urahara but Aizen is just pissed he’s in love with Urahara and Urahara is completely oblivious while Yoruichi is eating popcorn

Renji/Uryu wherein they started making out when they were left alone one time and have no idea why and will never tell anyone

Orihime/Tatsuki wherein they were together the whole series and everything was resolved much quicker with Tatsuki around because she actually has a brain

Gin/Rangiku and everything is exactly the same as in canon except Rangiku was given the opportunity to punch him at least once

Basically romance in Bleach only works if it, and everyone involved, is supremely stupid

[o0o0thorn0o0o]

Hello~

I'm curious, are you into chibi art style? I wonder if you drew any for Ichigo and Orihime.

I would love to see chibi ichihime tybw if you still take requests.

I’ve got more so chibi-esque styles, and I have drawn TYBW IchiHime in one before (the IH over the years post). I assume you mean something chibi-er, though + I’ve never posted IchiHime in this art style before + it’s been a year since that post + I’m always down to draw more IchiHime <3 <3 so here you are:

You probably meant the second pair of outfits, but I decided, since I’m at it (and I tend to use this art style for bases often), to include the first pair, too.

Haven’t drawn in this style in a while, but I really hope you like it ^^ ‘Twas fun to work on!

And also decided to include a TYBW color palette version (and by that, I mean their hair/eyes/skin, eheh) since that’s an easy adjustment:

[inou-ie]

her dead wife's smile 😞

You know the mara is getting bad when you see the anime shots of your dead wife.

[lilinaea]

infinite futures found in the redamancy of us (☘)

[aurora-313]

In all your readings, have you found another couple that functions perfectly as both platonic friends and as lovers as ichiruki do, but that is so underutilized by its creator in any capacity?

(Imagine Lisa easing out from Black and Blue, then she and Kaien are friends for a little while, then they see each other once a century.Fans of their relationship will be upset, and it will be their right. What will not be their right will be to act nasty about it. You know that you assume a risk with a WIP. )

Any author can do what they want with their story, but when you create expectations that you don't meet, people will be upset, especially if they pay you, and you use their friendship/romance as a selling pitch. I still don't get why people are upset on the people that are upset. Again being a WIP, doesn't mean that I have to like whatever direction the author chooses. I personally rarely take risks on WIPs, so I STARTED BLEACH AFTER IT WAS FINISHED AND I KNEW THE ENDING, and the false advertising still hit me. I fell for ichiruki, and the end and then the soul burriel chapter where they barely speak on the phone and Renji now replaced Rukia as Ichigo's friend was an 180degree if I ever saw one. I wonder if in the Hell Arc, they'll even recognize each other anymore..

P.S. Thank you for remembering Rukia in your fiction more than her creator does in canon.

(Please forgive me. This answer went on a ramble and I don't think I actually answered your question.)

I'm sure I've seen a few in my time.

The ones that readily leap to mind from my childhood are Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill from Stargate SG1, and Doctor Weir and Major Shepperd from Stargate Atlantis. Although I'm not sure the first duo count since there's multiple alternate universes where they do get hitched.

But onto Bleach. IchiHime fits under this category in my opinion: the 'under developed and under utilized' part.

Sure we have the 'love you in five lives' speech and the not-kiss, but"

One: Kissing an unconscious person that you're not in a committed relationship with is not cool. Under any circumstance.

Two: She's consistently scared shitless of Ichigo's powers and rejects his hollow, even though the Hollow is literally his soul manifest.

Three: Orihime repeatedly demonstrates she doesn't really understand how Ichigo works.

In the post-Deicide novels, Orihime was actively happy Ichigo didn't have powers anymore, only to reluctantly change her tune when she saw how thoroughly miserable he was without them.

It would've been great character progression to see Orihime delve into that personal stance: why was she happy about Ichigo being powerless? Because she legitimately didn't want him to get hurt anymore? Or relief that he wouldn't turn into a monster again?

And overcoming those personal scruples would've been a fantastic personal journey to see in the manga. Her coming to terms and reconciling her image of Ichigo being this heroic ideal and the flawed, deeply traumatized individual who had the capacity to be literally monstrous.

Orihime could've reexamined her feelings about ichigo at their core, and realise perhaps she doesn't actually love him after all. That she lusts after an ideal she's modelled in Ichigo's image. In realizing and coming to terms with that error, in abandoning her preconceived notions and actually seeing Ichigo for the first time, warts and all, Orihime could've paved the foundation to build a genuine friendship. Later possibly a romance.

If this was the journey Orihime went on through Bleach, taken entirely of her own accord, with a conclusion on her own terms? Then I wouldn't have been nearly as jarred by the epilogue. Ichigo's Oedipus complex aside.

But I digress.

Rukia was one half of the main duo that made Bleach compelling. And Kubo absolutely pushed her away after FKT, attempting (key word "attempting") to put Orihime in her place. Which is a frankly bizarre decision. Rukia is the "Death" to Ichigo's "Strawberry". She is the deuteragonist, the inciting incident to the whole story and the primary motivation for the first two arcs (Aizen's and Kisuke's century's long trans-dimensional chess match aside).

Ichigo pushed himself beyond breaking and learned skills well beyond his paygrade to save Rukia from unjust execution. In his desperation to achieve that goal, Ichigo had to learn to fly before he could crawl, ultimately mutilating his own powerset in the process.

In any other media, in any other story, that tends to be a giant glowing give away about the nature of his feelings, even if Ichigo wasn't entirely clear on them himself. Its the classic handsome knight rescuing the princess in the tower and riding off in the sunset to live happily ever after.

Yes, Ichigo went through the same motions to rescue Orihime from Aizen, but he had doubts about her. Even in his venture, Ichigo entertained the idea that Orihime had legitimately betrayed them. Then the narrative goes out of its way to demonstrate her presence was merely an excuse for Ichigo to settle his scores with Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, and for Aizen to remove Soul Society's best weapon from play. Ichigo did personally want to save Orihime but he felt like he was conducting himself out of obligation, driven by his white knight/martyr complex. As soon as Ichigo felt Rukia's reiatsu flagging, he immediately shifted gears because 'Oh shit, gotta go save my totally platonic bestie first, bye!' and would've proceeded to do exactly that until Ulquiorra goaded him.

To me, Ichigo and Rukia is what made Bleach BLEACH. Their banter is what I loved about the first arcs, the teasing sprinkled with moments of heartfelt connection (in case you can't tell, its my favourite love language. Hence why Lisa and Kaien poke and tease each other all the time).

There's no 'Now I realise I why I wanted to save you' moment with Orihime in HM. She's narratively bait for Aizen's schemes and little more, as soon as she's safe-ish, Ichigo ditches and moves onto other grudge matches.

Then the final arc and the epilogue chapters roll around and I had to ask myself, is this even the same manga? Where's the Death and the Strawberry? Where is the bond that started ALL of this? Rukia is the woman who gave Ichigo the means to combat his despair, and they don't even talk anymore? You don't think Ichigo would've wanted to extend his congratulations for Rukia getting married? Having a kid? Getting prompted to Captaincy? Or anything to indicate they were friends at all?

(yes, Ichigo does in the novel but its telling one interaction between them is completely overshadows the story's 'main' pairing.)

My issue with TYBW and epilogue isn't the pairings - though that is a part. My issue is the narrative took great pains from the start to demonstrate Ichigo never felt like he belonged in the living world. His life was a dull tedious affair. The Fullbring arc reveals how much he actively hates Karakura and wants to leave ASAP.

Ichigo only began to truly LIVE once he gained shinigami powers (we'll ignore the fact he was only born and raised to be a weapon/universal battery). He loved every second of it, even when the power scared him and acted beyond his control. He fit into the realm of the dead far better than he ever did in the living.

Then Kubo turns around and claims; actually, NO. Ichigo's super content with exactly the same quiet kind of life he despised with every fibre of his being, living in a town he fucking hates and wanted to leave as soon as he graduated.

How does that shift in gears not raise serious red flags?

I'm not saying Ichigo had to go and live in Soul Society (though that was being set up thanks to the god-tier powers he'd been juiced with) but I did expect him to leave Karakura behind when all was said and done.

As a random-ish segue on the matter of friendship.

The Karakura gang feel like fair-weather friends more than anything else, excepting two circumstances: Ichigo and Chad (first arc) and Tatsuki and Orihime. Even then, those friendships become a stretch in later arcs before basically disappearing entirely. Sure, Chad, Ishida, Ichigo and Orihime have had life and death adventures together, but those scenarios were either a matter of self-preservation or wounded pride. Sometimes both.

But remove the supernatural circumstances, the Karakura gang felt like the average transient high school friendship. Circumstance brought them together, they would remain friends until graduation, then they'd all go their separate ways never to see each other again. Which is a sad state of affairs given Bleach's theme about the heart and nature of human connection.

But one must ask how strong those friendship really are when Ichigo will jump to the worst conclusion at the drop of a hat?

Orihime in Hueco Mundo, as stated above, Ichigo seriously entertained the idea she was a traitor until Ulquiorra claimed otherwise.

Chad with Xcution, Ichigo immediately assumed the worst intentions about it until Chad revealed he joined as a means to help Ichigo get his powers back.

Ishida joining the Quincy, Ichigo instantly assumed Ishida was 110% on board with the whole destroy reality plan until Ishida outright states 'I'm a double agent, you fucking dumbass.' (I give the Fullbringer arc incident a pass because Ichigo was not thinking clearly at the time)

It doesn't strike me as particularly strong or healthy when the first instinct is to immediately assume the worst.

But anyway, I shall get off my soapbox for now.

I do enjoy writing a great deal of Kaien, which means Rukia is inevitably involved given how intrinsically linked their stories are. Kind of hard to have a story about him and not have her in it. :D

I hope you continue to enjoy Kaien and Rukia in my writings. :)

[alpaca-clouds]

Digimon Adventure 02 THE BEGINNING | Some thoughts on the retcons

It is still kinda magical to me. Today is the official release of Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning and me, in Germany, actually could see it on releaseday in cinema, instead of waiting like a year for it to make its way to either BluRay or ovr to Germany in general.

So, yeah, I just came back from Cinema and... I sure have thoughts.

Like in general: It was a very fine movie. Not great. But good enough. Felt more like an OVA, to be honest, and be it just because of the very short runtime. But... It was the first time since 2001 that I saw a Digimon movie in cinema. And did I start crying on the opening credits? You bet I did.

But... That's not what I wanna talk about. I wanna talk about the retcons.

Because boy, did the movie retcon a lot of stuff. I mean, technically it retconned basically the entire Adventure-verse base lore, the reason for the Chosen Children and of course the epilogue.

Also it completely retconned Digimon Adventure tri. - which, let's be honest, was probably the best call on their end.

Let me talk under the cut, just to make sure nobody gets spoiled who does not want to get spoiled.

So, the movie basically retcons the entire thing about the first chosen children (aka the stuff that tri. basically is build around), by... mostly ignoring they existed or at least moving them much, much closer to the events of Digimon Adventure, than what tri. had imagined.

Now the entire reason for the chosen children existing is, that one child made a wish in 1996, the wish leading to the events of the very first movie - and that of course leading to everything else within the timeline.

The child of course is the "first chosen child" the movie is about, Rui. This child per chance - or maybe in an attempt of the universe to create balance (more about that in a moment) - got partnered with Ukkumon, a Digimon that is at least implied to be linked to the Homeostasis. At least Ukkumon can make strong wishes into a reality. And Rui wishes to have friends who are like him. And because he is partnered with a Digimon, Ukkumon makes it that other children get partnered with Digimon, so that there are more children like Rui.

And, yeah, that one wish leads to everything else, to more and more children being paired with Digimon partners - until eventually every person on the world has a Digimon partner (which is what the epilogue said after all).

Now, I find the story with Rui interesting under the idea of balance.

Because... Well, the homeostasis is always kinda ill defined and runs into the same problems like Star Wars (like, yeah, Anakin brought balance to the force, just not in the way the Jedi expected). The show itself barely explains it, the novels go a bit more into it, then tri. is very chaotic about it and... that was it.

But in a way the situation with Rui seems to be very much about balance. Because you have this child, who is poor, whose father is comatose, who gets beaten and abused by a clearly overworked mother. And this child, who really has anything imaginable thrown at him, he gets his wishes fulfilled. Which weirdly enough brings a bit more balance into the world, right?

It is an interesting concept to use the homeostasis for. Way more interesting than "dark vs light".

Weirdly enough it also kinda fits very well with the idea behind the Adventure children, who were back then created around the idea of "children struggling with real world problems". While nobody is abused like Rui, they are mostly very much struggling. So, yeah, they are a lot like Rui in that regard.

It is also kinda funny. Digimon Adventure 02 went very strong originally (especially in the finale) on the "the digital world as a vehicle to fulfill wishes", which this again also takes up. And in a weird way the epilogue also took up in a ridiculous way. With the kids not only fulfilling their dreams, but doing it to a frankly stupid amount. Like, they do not only do what they wanted to do as kids, they are literally the most successful at it (except Miyako, who does not get a dream, she just gets to produce babies, ugh).

This also gets toned down here. While for the most part the chosen career paths are still mostly the same (with the big exception of Miyako) to what we saw in the epilogue, they are no longer "the best" in it. Daisuke just makes ramen, he does not need to have a worldwide ramen franchise, you know?

But yeah. There is of course the big one. In the epilogue every human has a Digimon partner. And... Well, Digimon Adventure 02 released in Germany in 2001. While I already knew the ending from the Japanese run (because I got first access to the internet, just two weeks before Digimon Tamers released in Japan), I do very much remember coming home from school on 9/11, wanting to watch Digimon and... well, 9/11 being on every single TV channel. So, one of my first thoughts even as a child was: "Wait, everyone gets a Digimon? Even the terrorists?" And I also wondered about the people, who do not want a Digimon.

Which very much is what this movie lands on, when they face the possibility of every person getting a Digimon partner.

Weirdly enough my adult self, 20 years later, is a lot less world weary, than my 12yo self. Because as an adult seeing this part of the epilogue retconned, I cannot help but wonder: "But maybe it would have been good, if everyone had a partner? Maybe it would have helped heal people?" But that might just be my idealism talking there.

So, yeah. It is a bit bittersweet to see this ending, that very much feels like a definite ending. (And really, I hope it is. Like, I know Digimon Adventure prints money, but maybe... just... let's move on?)

I don't know. I have a lot of complicated feelings right now about this, I have to say.

Just needed to ramble about this, I feel.

[inou-ie]

What if... reader, a new member of the Stellaron Hunters, gets lost during a mission and unexpectedly encounters Jingliu, who is calmly relaxing under the moon. Sensing reader's inexperience, Jingliu decided to teach her swordsmanship. After a few days, Kafka arrived to search for reader and bring her back, only to witness reader and Jingliu being a little intimate. Of course, Kafka didn't like that; reader had always asked her for guidance all this time, after all. Seeing reader smile when Jingliu patted her head made Kafka's blood boil, so she quickly tried to snatch reader away, but Jingliu held reader tightly.

They ended up sharing reader in bed though then they lived happily ever after. :)

(idk i just want my favorite mommies to sandwich me. 😞)

[christine-ye]

The reason why the Kamen Rider Blade movie is called Missing Ace is because Hajime was the missing ace all along (both as the Ace of Hearts and also asexual)

[absolutelyfibulas]

You know those studies done with rats where they had to push a button for a treat and they found the rats were more likely to push the button if the treat acquisition was random instead of guaranteed?

That's me with shows by Inoue.

[inou-ie]

So relatable.. This is the reason why I don't put a lot of dialogues 😔 (unless they're praises..)

Writing dialogue for my smut fics is so hard and for what.

Sometimes it sounds way too cringy and vulgar and degrading but at the same time I can't really tell because I like that kind of stuff😭😭

[shipyardghostman]

one of sony's biggest flaws is that it really cannot decide on a mascot. they switch around on it and replace one every decade or so meanwhile nintendo actually stays firm in its recognizable IPs

[nugulover69]

Oh hey I know you. I do need to watch Agito eventually thanks for the reminder

[irlkisukeurahara]

The people who get so riled up and angry over TYBW deleting comedic scenes that sexualized minors (Rukia's naked ass, (if you see her young enough to ship with Ichigo ig) 16 y/o Masaki's nudity, Orihime being assaulted by Yoruichi) give me a huge ick