#it feels very much like Naki will be right back where we saw them at the start of Project Thouser

[firebirdsdaughter]

Conclusion:

The ‘main’ reason I cannot understand this alleged relationship between Fuwa and Naki (and esp not that scene, I’m sorry, but what exactly did humans do to justify that?) is that they never seem to care about each other unless forced to interact.

Neither ever mentions the other, neither ever has any tacit indications that they’re thinking of the other or mention them at all. They don’t seem to remember the other person exists unless they are literally standing in front of them for some reason. Fuwa doesn’t seem at all concerned about Naki, doesn’t mention them, doesn’t ask about them. When the Ark raises and they only see Horobi and Jin, there’s no moment of him demanding if Naki’s okay, what happened to Naki. He never tries to seek them out. Likewise, there’s absolutely no indication of Fuwa having any effect on Naki. They don’t react to seeing the Ark giving them a wolf Key (which, after this development, there are so many connotations about that I hate), they don’t refer to him when facing Gai, they don’t seek him out. There’s no indication that he effected them at all or has any influence over them, esp not enough to counter the Ark’s power. When doubting the Ark, when talking to Jin, they don’t mention Fuwa at all. Fuwa doesn’t mention Naki to Ai-chan, as far as I can remember, nor does he ever specifically bring them up when discussing the chip unless someone else did first. Like, obviously neither would be talking about the other all the time, but the complete lack of interest makes That scene and the show’s repeated attempts to claim they are connected feel very empty and impersonal.

Meanwhile, in contrast, we have Fuwa and Horobi. Fuwa spent the majority of the first arc w/ a grudge against Horobi, and Horobi, while largely pompous and disregarding, seemed aware Fuwa’s existence outside of direct interaction. And on top of that, they spent all that time in the basement together, interacting. Fuwa was the only one Horobi saw, Fuwa talked about Horobi to other people, shot down Aruto’s suggestion to destroy him, confronted Yua about his restarting. When Horobi escaped, Fuwa pursued him.

Like… If they had given any other indication of either of them having any effect on each other outside of the times that ‘required’ them to interact (Naki’s one ep long ‘arc,’ when they were separated, Yua taking them to see him in the hospital), then this wouldn’t feel so weird to me. But it’s just like Yua and Jin. Two characters who give not even tacit indications that they’re connected suddenly being treated like they have some deep relationship.

I have other issues, namely the fact that Naki doesn’t feel like a character anymore, they feel like a device (excuse me while I go vomit bc I’m pretty sure I called that their ending is going to be them being reduced to Fuwa’s ‘Izu’ and I’m just… Just… No.). In the same way Williamson really should just have been Gai, Naki feels like they got wedged into a plot that was originally Horobi’s, for similar but opposite reasons—Williamson was wedged in to fill a space left by an abrupt attempt to redeem Gai, while Naki feels like they got wedged into this plot w/ Fuwa due to the abrupt attempt to make Horobi the bad guy. The unfortunate fact about this unfortunately accurate (for me) comparison is that Naki is so much more interesting than Williamson, it’s like… Painful. Oh my gods. Why is he even here.

But again, the above could have easily been mitigated (like, I’d still be salty bc, hello, die-hard Horobi and Fuwa fan, but that’s me) if, like… Naki and Fuwa had actually acted like they meant something to each other in some way. The lack of that is what makes me feel like I’m being dryly informed of their ‘relationship’ second hand, or at a distance. There’s a disconnect. Like w/ Jin and Yua, the actors give it their all, but they just can’t close the gap.

Alternatively, if Takahashi weren’t absolute shit at writing and developing multiple relationships, we could have had a cool thing about Fuwa being the focal point of realisation for two of the most fragile characters—I would have loved to see Naki get that boost of not being a tool, and then it being them who ultimately gets through to Yua, and that’s part of what prompts her to help mbjr separate them from Fuwa (this would be helped by, like, actually treating that as a thing… Literally the chip plot being expanded would have helped everything so much). I’ve said before I see Naki and Horobi as having been in different situations, w/ them being externally ‘conditioned’ and him being literally ‘controlled’ from w/in. Them recovering quicker and being able to move on would have made sense, Horobi was always going to be a long term project (which it seems humans were ultimately unwilling to commit to…). Following through on the ‘protect Vulcan’ plot w/ Horobi dealing w/ Fuwa and Naki being connected and/or separated, differentiating between them while they deal w/ their situation… I could totally have gone for that.

But instead, there’s this weird thing where all of Fuwa and Horobi’s development is treated like it never happened, and even though Fuwa and Naki hardly interact and show absolutely no lasting interest in each other unless required to do so, they’re apparently deeply connected and have effected each other.

It’s one of those things where Takahashi starts interesting… But then can’t follow through.

[sincerelyella]

It’s Your Love - happy birthday Burnsy!

Book: The Royal Romance (AU)

Pairings: Drake x OC (Alyssa); Liam x MC (Ella)

Song Inspiration: It’s Your Love by Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

Characters belong to Pixelberry; OC Alyssa Devereaux belongs to my sister @burnsoslow​; Ella Brooks belongs to me.

Summary: The gang coordinates a surprise for Alyssa’s birthday.

A/N: It’s my Burnsy’s birthday and I’m sure everything I’m going to say she already knows! Firstly, I’m so sorry I changed my mind about which AU and which song for this fic like 47545024 million trillion times. Burns just freaking gets me mmkay? She’s my nakie twin, my soul sister, my football bestie and my biggest cheerleader. GUYS! Idk how I could have gotten through this year without her checking in on me, our football conversations or her amazing (and haaawwwwt) fics. Some dialogue in this fic, btw, was taken from a conversation we really had (and as usual, she is hilarious).

Burns, you know that I love you a BUTT TON and I will fight ANYBODY for you (where’s my vaseline?!) Thank you for always being in my corner, for giving me SEVERAL pep talks this year (because I’m dramatic), for believing in me when I sometimes didn’t believe in myself, and for loving me SO HARD. I really hope you have an amazing day and you enjoy your bday dessert and that you like this little fic.

-> please note, this is a rereblog and I am adding this fic to my ML. Today is not actually our sweet Burnsy’s birthday even though we would all like it to be lol

A/N2: This is set in The Loft AU by the way! Check it out here if you haven’t seen these guys’ shenanigans.

Warnings: Adult language, sexual innuendos, and major fluff guys!! The birthday girl wanted to be swooned and I will do my damndest to give her whatever she wants today.

Thank you so much @alyssalauren​ for letting me vent and letting me harass you with my whining … and listening to me change my mind about this for WEEKS - and also prereading for me along with @ofpixelsandscribbles​. I love you guys so much!

Words: 3149 (oops)

Alyssa was not feeling well. The more she coughed, the more she felt like death. “Oh, God, I feel like my brain is going to explode into itty bitty pieces,” she moaned with her arm draped over her face.

Drake bit his lip in an effort to stop a chuckle. She’s so fucking cute, and whiny. But cute. “Baby, it’s just a cold, you’ll be fine.” He slid onto their large king-sized bed and began to rub her lower back.

“It’s not! It’s the plague! Those kids at school don’t cover their mouths and sneeze up into the air! Like, I can see particles of their spit, just wafting,” she complained as she waved her hand in the air, mimicking the particles. “I bet you it landed on me or I inhaled that shit and now, look at me!” Her cute nose was reddened slightly from blowing out copious amounts of snot. She was seriously thinking about shoving some tissue in each nostril just to make sure nothing dripped.

Drake moved his hands upward and massaged her shoulders gently. “I can make you some soup,” he nibbled on her earlobe. “And make you feel … relaxed.”

“Mmmm,” she shivered at his words and sniffled. “Yes, baby, make me feel relaxed!”

A little while later

After Drake’s impressive two hour session of making Alyssa feel better, loud knocks sounded at their bedroom door.

“Lyssa!” Ella bellowed. “Lyss, you’re not answering my phone calls! Are you dead?!”

“No,” she croaked from the bed and stifled a laugh when Drake tripped trying to put on his boxers. “I was just getting my back blown out by my hot boyfriend.”

“Ew, TMI! Okay, are you covered up? I’m coming in!”

“No!” Drake yelled as he hurriedly threw on his pants. “Do not come in here, Brooks! I’m fucking naked!”

“Like I haven’t seen a naked man before,” Ella pushed open the door and rolled her eyes at Drake. “You aren’t even naked, Walker, get a grip.”

“No damn privacy around here,” he grumbled as he looked for a shirt in the closet.

“Hi!” Alyssa called out hoarsely from the bed as she tucked her comforter around her naked body. “I didn’t go to work today, I felt like death was coming for me.”

“I could hear you coughing from the kitchen. So, your blood pressure and that gnarly cough you have are what’s concerning me.”

“Yeah,” Lyss frowned and sniffed. “The cough is rough.”

“And gunky huh? Are you spitting up weird colored stuff?”

“No, it's clear and phlegmy!”

Ella narrowed her eyes on her best friend. “Lyss, did you take your blood pressure today?”

“I … umm no, I don’t like the machine.”

Ella let out a sigh. “You have to babe!”

Lyss’s bottom lip quivered. “I get scared my arm will explode.”

“Lyssa.”

The lip quiver always works with Drake. “… yes?”

“Your arm won’t explode.”

“If it malfunctions it could!”

Ella rubbed her hands over her face. “Alyssa!”

“In one of the Halloween movies, Michael Myers killed someone in the hospital by putting a BP cuff around their neck and pumping it until their head exploded!”

“What the fuck? Okay, no more Halloween movies for you!”

“But-”

“It’s not going to explode, Alyssa. You need to take your blood pressure. Do I have to hogtie you?”

“No ma’am, I’m taller than you!”

“By ½ an inch!”

Ella switched tactics. “If you don’t do this, I’m going to get Drake on you.”

Lyss giggled. “That’s hardly a punishment.”

Ella’s eye twitched and Alyssa held back a laugh.

After another 10 minutes, Alyssa finally agreed to only check her blood pressure if Ella did it for her and Drake had to hold her hand. Once the numbers were acceptable to Ella, Alyssa added to her terms. “Also, I want chicken noodle soup and those little soup crackers” - she sniffled - “and coffee.”

“Why not tea? That’s better I think,” Ella brushed some hair off of her best friend’s forehead.

“Coffee.”

“Cream isn’t a good idea for-”

Drake gave Ella a look.

“I mean … sure!”

“I’ll get started on that, baby,” Drake leaned over to kiss his girlfriend on top of her head. “Be right back.”

Ella waited until he closed the bedroom door behind him. “Lyssa.”

“Hmm?” She was already settled into the fluffy pillow and her eyes fluttered shut.

“Do you have a fever?” Not waiting for an answer, Ella leaned forward and felt Alyssa’s forehead with the back of her hand.

“Nu-uh,” Lyss mumbled and coughed.

“Lyss?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you want to put on some clothes?”

“Mmm, nope, I’m good naked.”

Ella chuckled. “Okay.”

She stood and left Lyss alone to rest. Ella wandered into the kitchen to find Liam and Drake as they stared into a large pot of broth.

“Is she asleep?” Drake asked while he stirred.

“Yep, she’s passed out,” Ella peered into the pot. “You need to add more onions.”

Drake tasted the broth again and shrugged. “Okay, more onions it is.”

Liam handed Drake the bowl of green onions. “So, what do you have planned for her birthday? Are you proposing yet?”

“I had planned to take her to the park and have a picnic,” Drake paused as he tasted the broth again from the ladle. “But seeing as how she’s not wanting to leave the bedroom, I might have to rethink my plan.”

“Hmmm,” Liam tapped his fingers over his mouth. “Why don’t you just have a picnic in the bedroom with her?”

“I guess,” Drake frowned. “That’s not very romantic.”

“You’re trying to be romantic, Walker?” Leo said as he walked into the kitchen with Maxwell with several bags from Nordstrom.

“Yeah, I am, if you must know.”

“I can help you out!” Leo’s wide grin made Drake narrow his eyes.

“What’s in it for you, Rys?”

“Oh, I just love helping my friends! Let me put all my stuff down in the bedroom, I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Leo was out of earshot, Drake hissed. “I don’t trust him!”

“I know,” Max replied. “It’s Leo we’re talking about. After he saw the movie Titanic he started the Billy Zane fan club.”

Ella stopped washing the dishes in the sink and turned. “Wait, what?!”

“Yeah,” Liam added. “Look it up, they’re called the Zaniacs.”

“Why does that make me angrier than anything he’s ever done?!”

Liam shrugged. “He also roots for Billy Zabka’s character in The Karate Kid.”

“Alright, guys! It’s romance time!” Leo announced as he came back to the kitchen.

Three days later

Leo, Maxwell, and Liam were busy setting up things for Drake and Alyssa’s outing at the beach.

“Why is Ella not helping us?” Maxwell huffed as he and Leo carried large boxes of twinkling lights.

“She’s here for Lyss, and to make sure Walker doesn’t sweat too much and get dehydrated,” Leo laughed as all three looked at Drake in the kitchen pacing back and forth.

“Fuck you guys,” his chocolate brown hair a mess after running his fingers through them more times than he can count. “I’m just … nervous.”

“Yeah, we can see that,“ Leo cackled as they walked out into the hallway and waited for the elevator.

“It’s going to work,” Liam reassured his best friend as he grabbed the guitar by the door and followed Max and Leo out.

“Drake, it’s going to be fine,” Ella put her hands on his shoulders to stop him from wandering around the kitchen; it was making her dizzy. “Liam is the King of Romance. Don’t listen to Leo, Alyssa is going to say yes.”

“How do you know that?” He began to babble and couldn’t stop himself. “What if this is too soon? What if she hates my singing? What if she says no?”

“You should be worried about whether she’ll get out of bed,” Ella looked towards the bedroom door.

“Oh my God, is she still in bed?!” He inhaled too quickly and began to cough.

“Okay, Walker, I was kidding. You know she adores you. She said ‘I love you’ first for crying out loud,” she gave him a concerned look. “Are you getting sick?”

“No, I don’t … get sick,” he sputtered as he continued to cough.

“Well you are pretty delicate, maybe you should slow down.”

He waved off her comment as his coughs began to dissipate. “I’m not delicate, I’m just” - he lowered his voice to a whisper yell - “proposing to my girlfriend and I don’t even know if she’s going to like this damn plan!”

Ella rolled her eyes. “Okay, so let’s just forget that you got sick watching Frozen.”

Drake glared. “No. I did not.”

“You also got a nosebleed watching Up,” she smirked.

“Oh my God, will you ever let that go?!”

Ella let out a chuckle. “Okay, fine then, why don’t you go and take a shower?”

“I already did,” Drake looked down at his sweat-stained shirt.

“Yeah, why don’t you go and take another one.”

He nodded. “Be right back.”

30 minutes later

“El! I need help!”

“Lyssa? What’s wrong?” Ella let herself into the bedroom Alyssa and Drake shared.

“My sinuses hurt and I dropped my dress and my book on the floor.”

“Okay?”

“Can you pick it up for me? It hurts to bend over.”

Ella hid a smile and bent to pick up Alyssa’s black dress and her book titled Remember Two Things. “I’ve been meaning to read this, how is it so far?”

“Oh it is so good,” Lyss put the book on her nightstand and pulled the dress over her head. “I’m at chapter 18 and these two have been in love since college-”

“No spoilers! I’m going to read it after you,” Ella found Lyss’ shoes under the bed and helped her put them on. “You take that medication I gave you?”

“The pill was too big.”

“Alyssa!”

“I’m kidding, yes, I took it,” she dimpled. “It was a gel capsule.”

Ella let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, good. You don’t need your sinuses to act up while you’re out.”

“Where is he taking me?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

Alyssa pouted. “No, I don’t.”

Drake appeared in the doorway with a brand new shirt that was miraculously dry. “Ready baby?”

“Yeah, I’m ready,” she stood and wrapped her arms around her best friend. “Thank you for helping me!”

Ella shooed the couple out the door and quickly called Liam to let them know they were on their way.

***

“Baby, why did you take another shower?” Alyssa eyed Drake’s damp hair.

“I … slipped in something Max spilled on the floor in the kitchen.” Fuck, I suck at lying.

“Oh,” Lyss chewed on her bottom lip and studied Drake’s side profile as he drove his truck through the streets of Los Angeles. “I was thinking … you’ve taken such good care of me while I’ve been whiny and sick and I wanted to thank you.”

“Of course, I care about you.”

“I love you, baby, I feel like we’re so good together.”

“We are, Lyss, I love you too,” he reached over and intertwined his fingers with hers.

Drake slowly pulled the truck into a parking spot and turned off the engine. “Come on, I have something I want to show you.”

Alyssa nodded. She hopped out of the car and took Drake’s outstretched hand as he led her into a walkway with arching shrubs above them. “What is this place?”

“It used to be a secret spot I went to when I was single,” he glanced down at her while she stared up at the greenery in awe. “I would just come down here to be alone.”

Suddenly, the archway lit up in thousands of little twinkling lights that illuminated their way down to the end of the walkway. “Oh my God,” Alyssa squealed. “I love this so much, it’s beautiful!” They came to the end of the lights and began to walk onto sand.

“Only a little bit further,” Drake mumbled as he took in the ocean, then focused his gaze on the large purple blanket that was sprawled out on the sand a few yards in front of them.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a little picnic the guys set up for us,” he gave Alyssa a nervous smile. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes! What’s for dinner?”

“Taco pizza and for dessert,” Drake excitedly climbed onto the blanket after removing his shoes. “S’mores brownie pie.”

“S’mores?!” Alyssa peeked into the large basket that held the pie. “Can we eat dessert first?”

Drake let out a loud laugh. “Whatever you want, baby it’s your birthday.”

Lyss opened the box where the taco pizza sat and she inhaled deeply. “Oh, no, we’re eating this first.” She grabbed a plate and separated two pieces, one for her, one for Drake.

“Thank you.”

They settled into a comfortable silence as they watched the waves cascade over the sand; the sun was slowly fading, disappearing behind the ocean, leaving its yellow-orange coloring over the blue hue of the water. Alyssa was sitting in between Drake’s legs, her back against his chest.

“This hit the spot,” she patted her stomach. “Taco pizza just like in Remember Two Things.”

“That’s where I got the idea from,” he kissed her on top of her head. “You told me how taco pizza sounded amazing and I had to get that for you.”

“You are amazing,” she leaned her head back and touched her lips to his. “Is that a guitar? Why didn’t I notice that before?”

Drake’s face turned a bright shade of red. “Uh, yeah, I had Liam bring his guitar out here.”

“Do you” - she pulled away from him and turned all the way around with widened eyes - “do you play guitar, baby?”

He nervously scratched the back of his neck. “I … Well, sort of. Liam taught me when we were teenagers.”

“That is so hot,” Lyss mumbled and she bit her bottom lip. “Will you play for me?”

Drake nodded. “Hopefully I’m not too rusty, it’s been years.”

“I know I will love it.”

Drake picked up the acoustic guitar behind him and began to tune it. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he went through each string and turned the knobs in turn. Alyssa watched as he dug into his jean pocket and pulled out a guitar pick. How is a man with a guitar so sexy?

“Here goes nothing.”

He strummed the guitar and smiled when it didn’t sound off-key. He took in a deep breath and began to sing.

Dancing in the dark, Middle of the night

Taking your heart, And holding it tight

Emotional touch, Touching my skin

And askin' you to do, What you've been doing

All over again

Alyssa was taken aback. She had no idea he played guitar or sang a note until today. Drake Walker singing country music just did something to her; not to mention the fact that she loved this song.

Oh, it's a beautiful thing, Don't think I can keep it all in

I just gotta let you know, What it is that won't let me go

She couldn’t stop herself, she started to sing along with him. It was a duet anyway.

It's your love, It just does something to me

It sends a shock right through me, I can't get enough

And if you wonder, About the spell I'm under

Oh it's your love

Their eyes were locked as they sang together. Alyssa harmonizing with him made his stomach do flip flops. He was a nervous wreck just thinking about singing and playing this damn guitar in front of her. But once she started to sing, he wanted to stop so he could hear her angelic voice instead of his rough one.

“Drake?”

Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize I stopped.”

“That was so beautiful,” Lyss’ eyes were full of unshed tears. “I had no idea you could sing, baby.”

“I’m sorry I stopped, I wanted to hear your voice instead of mine.”

“Come on, let’s keep going!”

“I … I wanted to ask you something first.”

“Okay, what’s up?”

He set the guitar down on the blanket next to him and reached into his other pocket. “Lyssa,” he pulled out a black velvet box but didn’t open his hand just yet. “I wanted to make your birthday special, and I was so fucking nervous because I didn’t know if you’d like all this.”

“Anything we do together I love, baby,” she grasped his free hand with both of hers. “Don’t ever think I won’t like something you plan for us.”

Drake nodded. “I love you and I chose that song because it’s your love that keeps me wanting to wake up every morning,” he opened his left hand and she saw the box in his hand.

“Is that …”

“Alyssa Devereaux,” Drake opened the ring box and there sat three round diamonds on a gold setting. “Will you marry me?”

The tears were falling and one hand was clamped over her mouth in shock. She was crying so hard and overwhelmed with so much emotion that she struggled to speak. “Y-yes, Drake, yes!”

Drake’s entire face lit up at her words; he slid the ring on her finger and leaned over to kiss her. “Do you have any idea how happy you’ve made me?”

Cheers erupted from behind some bushes behind them, and the couple turned in surprise. Leo, Maxwell, Liam, and Ella jumped out, all with their phone cameras pointed in Drake and Lyss’s direction.

Drake scowled. “What the fuck?”

“Guys!” Alyssa jumped up and waved her left hand in the air. “We’re engaged!” Ella pulled her in for a big hug and the two of them began jumping up and down.

“Nice going, Walker,” Leo smirked as he shoved the last piece of taco pizza in his mouth. “You still sing real pretty too, just like in middle school.”

“Fuck off, Rys,” Drake snarled.

“You did good, brother,” Liam stepped forward and pulled his best friend in for a manly hug.

Drake gave him a half-smile. “Thanks for setting this up, and for all your help, Li. I know Twiddle-Dumb and Twiddle-Dee didn’t help much.”

Liam shrugged. “They picked up your pizza and pie. Got one for themselves while we were waiting for you to pop the question.”

“Taco pizza is the bomb,” Maxwell announced with a mouth full of food. “You guys are engaged! When’s the wedding?!”

“We’re still on cloud nine from being engaged, Max,” Alyssa chuckled. “We’ll all plan it out when we’re ready.”

“All of them?” Drake asked incredulously as the gang began to clean up the picnic area. “All of them are helping us plan?”

“You’re stuck with us forever, gorgeous,” Leo called out to Lyss. “You sure that’s what you want?”

Alyssa looked over at her fiancé, who just so happened to look at her. “I am so sure.”

[jokerxtreme36]

Thoughts on Zero One and Kiramager so far + extra (Spoilers)

Man it has been a while since I’ve done this. I was a bit uncertain to really come back and speak my mind on these since I feel what I say doesn’t really matter, I tend to fear what I say could be an unpopular opinion and get flack for it. I’m still hesitant on writing but I felt like wanting to write again after so long. I don’t know if I’ll bring this back but we’ll see. A lot has happened with Toku that’s surprising, I’m surprised how much Toku has been slowly getting itself up to be official over here thanks to various services like discotek and Shout Factory, in an age where you can officially watch the original Kamen Rider series and Kuuga online, If you told me that 5 years ago, I wouldn’t know what to believe.

Recap:

Been three years since I’ve done this iirc, but here’s My thoughts on the seasons I never wrote my full thoughts on.

Kyuranger: This was an up and down series for me. When I first started, I was hating it, due to awful pacing and was doing an awful job of establishing characters, especially Lucky who was hitting the marks of why I disliked Right and Takaharu, thankfully the series picked itself up around the second quarter with Scorpio’s arc and introducing Tsurugi. Would later go down and up with each arc but In my opinion, ended on a decent note. It does suck it never had a crossover with Zyuohger but I did enjoy the Space Squad crossover, which utilized the strengths of the characters really well and was ultimately satisfying.

Ex-Aid: Ex-Aid was a series I was a bit skeptical by but was one over by the end. I enjoyed Emu and his adventures and I give props for the show having two female Riders (Nico counts, fight me!). If there’s an issue, it’d be that I wish they’d just end with the crossover movie cause I feel the V-cinema’s felt like tacked on alternate endings, I do give them credit for trying to connect it to other films.

Lupinranger vs Patranger: A series I’ve seen that’s either enjoyed or disliked. I’m in the former and do like that they experimented with the concept of two different teams. I dig the idea that the Lupins are influenced by more modern Sentai that get the gimmick of the episode while the Pat’s are more akin to classic seasons where they just focus on the Monster, also doesn’t help that Japan has very low views on their justice system so the Lupins are more favorable. Plus I loved the way it ended on an open note, much like how Sanjo tends to do in his writing.

Amazons: Another divisive series and I’m leaning towards those that dislike it.On its own, it’s alright but as a series that uses elements from a classic series, it mostly is superficial in how it uses it cause the original series was remembered for how violent it could be, but there was more to it than just mindless violence. Also doesn’t help the producer’s comment on how “Recent Rider’s aren’t interesting, this series will give it it’s fangs back” saying the shows before it were not good when they were enjoyed by a lot fans. I do give the series credit for trying to write a gray moral type of setting but its flimsily written that it can come off as irritating,, especially around Season 2. Though I’ll give the movie credit for ending the series on a decent note.

Dino Force Brave: A miniseries that caught a lot of fans by surprise, since Korea commissioned a miniseries/continuation for Kyoryuger given how popular it was. It seemed promising, then I saw who was producing and writing it, instead of Sanjo returning. we got Ninninger’s writer. it retcons things like Torin’s not dead and Devius isn’t mentioned (the latter I don’t mind). The series is short which is both its strenght and weakness because for a miniseries, it isn’t given much time to flesh out the new characters, since they only have 12 minutes for each story, shows like the Ultra Fight series work since its serialized and can work as a movie, this not so much but unlike Amazons, I consider this harmless, its nothing too bad and there’s some merit to it (even if they tried saying it was canon in the last Taisen film)

Build: Now this was a series I was actually surprised by, this series is probably my third favorite post Decade Rider series. The series blends the right amount of silly and mature moments. It has a lot of memorable characters and one of my new favorite villlains in the franchise, Evolt was a great villain that really brought the stakes and made you think how this series was gonna deal with him. I remember the ending being divisive but I was ok with it since it does give an explanation for how Build could interact with the other Riders in future crossovers with how the previous seasons (minus Amazons) could connect. plus the V-cinema’s were well handled from an ok one like Cross-Z to a surprisingly Amazing one that is Grease’s V-cinema, now this is how you do a continuation.

Strongest Battle: Now this was a miniseries that caught me by surprise as well since they brought back returning actors to lead up to the next season. Seeing Arakawa still got it and made me hope to see him return writing someday (hint hint).The cast they got surprised me, some I was glad to see return and some I wasn’t too happy with like Takaharu and to an extent Kagura (but too be fair, she wasn’t as bad as Right), but I was intrigued to see what Arakawa would do with them and I was ok with how they were written here though still dislike Takaharu as a character.

Ryusoulger: Ryusoulger is a series that I’ve seen that is pretty loved from what I’ve seen but sadly I’m on the opposite side, I don’t think it was that terrible but more or less disappointing and somehow boring. Strongest Battle setup a lot of things for Ryusoul to follow up on that it felt like a downgrade, like Gaisorg being underutilized that you can tell they didn’t know what to do with him. The writing was all over the place that it was hard to be invested with the characters, who did their best with what they were given but their wasn’t much stakes. If there’s one thing I enjoyed, I really loved the ending arc for giving us not only a Female big bad but also blowing my expectations and breaking status quo, with Red not being the one to finish off the main villain. The ending arc was great yet at the same time was upsetting that the rest of the series wasn’t up to par with it. But now its gonna be the next adaptation after Beast Morphers. With Hasbro in charge, I’m intrigued to see what they do with it.

Zi-o: From the same minds behind Dino Force Brave and Amazons comes what is meant to be a big celebrate/closure of the Heisei era, but threw logic out the window for what is ultimately a fun kind of mess. I don’t mind continuity but I was iffy on how Zi-o retconned the previous seasons as not connected since that’s what they were trying to do until this series went (rip paper) whoops it broke. The series does have some merit with the idea of the Another Rider’s and showing the development of our protagonist and his attempt to defy fate. I also enjoyed when the series stopped time travelling but instead met the characters in the present day cause then the arcs were written better like in Blade and Agito’s tribute episodes. I haven’t watched Geiz’s V-cinema yet but also heard from the producer’s twitter that Woz’s V-cinema isn’t happening, which sucks cause there’s potential in it.

Now that those are done, here we go.

Kamen Rider Zero One:

Now with the start of the Reiwa era, I was hyped since we had Ex-Aid’s writer returning and we got not only a cool awesome secondary but a surprising Female Rider early on and is our third Rider. The first arc starts off strong with Aruto wanting to save the Humagears from Metsubojinrai. Things were looking good until things went downhill thanks to a certain Gold turd known as Thouser, before I get to my issues, I love his suit and how his finishers have a trademark, but that loses its charm when you see him everytime as he’s a very arrogant and obnoxious about his views on how “Humagears aren’t necessary” almost every time. There’s character’s that are meant to be hated, but then there’s characters that you just want to see go away. Once the arc ends the series thankfully pics up with Fuwa getting Rampage, Yua quitting and the return of Izakuchi and Naki. I’m interested to see where things go from here.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager:

Now this was a series I was cautiously optimistic by, since Arakawa returns to write a new series and after my disappointment with Ryusoul, I was nervous but thankfully this series is off to a good start, was surprised we started with episode 0, which does a good job setting up the main 4 before the red shows up. I was a bit skeptical on Juru since he screamed a lot of traits that they could’ve easily screwed up. Thankfully they’ve been doing a good job with Juru, he’s cheerful and imaginative but not a total idiot (what Right should’ve been) and the series has been doing a good job giving everyone their own center episode while not being afraid to take a few risks. I also enjoy the villains like Garza and his rivalry towards Juru due to having a similar ability to his brother that he despised, especially the fight in episode 4 being a highlight. I like that Juru wasn’t sure if he was qualified into being the leader but saw that his passion could help the team in his own unique way. Another thing I love is the Monsters with them going for a Showa aesthetic on mask based Kaijin but with an added twist of a Kaiju counterpart for them to fight, it’s a nice change of pace from just having them grow. The series has done a great job at bringing back an old style and breathing fresh life to it. Was scared hearing what happened to Juru’s actor but thankfully heard he’s doing ok and I’m excited to see what the series brings next.

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 29

Dreaming of becoming yourself.

From all of the shows I cover that are still airing Zero-One was probably the one I was needing a break the most because it was the one that took more energy out of me since it was a wide rollercoaster when it came to me liking or not the episodes. So this break was very much needed.

And while I can't attest that the mindset in which you watch something can affect your enjoyment of said something or not (since I'm not a scientist), I can say that my experience watching Zero-One now, two months after I last watched the show, was much more enjoyable than before. I still saw the flaws, and the things I didn't like before are still there and I still don't like them, but in comparison with months ago, I walked away from this episode with a lighter heart.

But enough of personal babble, let's talk about the episode itself.

I gotta say, I was gladly surprised by this episode. I was expecting that some bullshit would happen and everything would be fine at the end and I would just completely hate the results of this, but what happened was completely the opposite! Hiden did lose the referendum, Gai is really in control of Hiden now, Aruto did come out of this with a meaningful loss under his belt. Not even in my wildest dreams I thought that this could happen, and you know what? This was pretty good.

Even though the side we're supposed to sympathize with came in a bad position at the end, it somehow felt pretty rewarding as the end of an arc? I don't know how to put it, but I think this was really needed, and if the arc had ended in any other way it just wouldn't work. I think what I like the most is that in the end this didn't come up after a fight? Like, Zero-One and Thouser did fight in the last episode and that was what lead to Hiden losing, but in this episode, the main fight we had wasn't to determine the end or change the results of the competition, and maybe I'm being crazy here, but I do think that this makes it more emotional. Because this wasn't a thing Aruto's powers could solve for him so it hits harder I feel.

I'm also very glad that this dreadful arc is over and we can move on, hopefully to something nicer.

But the main thing of this episode for me wasn't even the macro, the bigger plot. It was the micro, with Fuwa and Yua, this episode was all theirs and I hope we'll get either some DVD specials or a movie for them in the future because they're definitely way more interesting characters than Aruto and Gai. I still call bs in this thing of Fuwa having brain chip, I still think this was something that didn't have enough amount of foreshadowing for me to buy it when it was dropped. But in the way this was used in this episode, it was pretty good so I'm fine with it, for now.

Talking first about Yua, throughout this entire arc she was put in the backseat, she pretty much did nothing other than being a keychain charm for Gai, and it was really frustrating seeing the show give us signs that there was something that they wanted to do with her but never actually going ahead and doing. I feel like what we saw in this episode was more or less the same, I mean the things she was confronted with and the struggles she had weren't much different from what had already been shown before in this arc, but I feel like they're finally ready to move on with it and things are actually about to happen.

Do I think it did take too long? Yes, I do. But I'm glad we're at least finally going there (apparently). From the preview, it doesn't seem like it will be happening right away since it's the beginning of a new arc and they'll probably take this first episode to lay down the new status quo and this will end up being delayed even further, but in an effort of trying to be more positive, I'll just take it and wait for it with an open heart.

Fuwa is an interesting case, while I didn't like the reveal, I admit that I really enjoyed seeing the chip on his brain messing up with him, being either by Gai's control or Jin's hacking, and I'm curious to see what will come out of this in this last arc because it seems that Jin wants to kill Fuwa to free Naki, while Horobi is saying that The Ark wants Fuwa alive so there's an interesting conflict there that I'm eager to see.

I'm also curious about they adopting the dream thing for Fuwa, because this was dropped back in the episode where Jin returns and it didn't appear again so I thought they would discard it because on my eyes the thing about finding yourself fits more with him, especially now with the reveal that he has been a puppet all the time. But I like that they merged both as being the thing that will become his motivation, the thing where he draws his power and will to fight from. I'm here for this, I wanna see this guy go through a journey to find himself and be happy, he deserves it. (who would've thought I'd be here rooting for Fuwa, the me from 8 months ago would be shocked by it).

The last thing to talk about now is Rampage Vulcan. As power-up, I gotta say I'm pretty tired of the upgrade that allows the user to gather the power of all gimmicky toys of the season, but I like that this time around this is happening to the secondary rider and not the main one, and I also like the suit design despite looking a bit too busy in a few parts. I'm just disappointed that this is another power-up that Gai just handed to his enemies like if he was giving candy to kids in Halloween, like, for a guy that thinks so highly of himself he does some pretty dumb shit, not gonna lie, Gai has sunk down very deep in my concept.

And I think that's it, I'm glad I could come back to this series without being salty for once. What did you think of the end of this arc? Let me know in the comments down below. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so much for reading, and until the next time, see-ya~

[moonwaif]

Latte (H)Art: Ch. 6

Summary: Traumatized after being rejected by Kirishima Ayato, her first love, a teenaged Hinami vows that she will never fall in love again. Four years later, Hinami is a young woman trying to get by in life. Her painful past is behind her - at least, until she gets a job at Aogiri Tree Café, where she runs into a few familiar faces...AyaHina human!AU

Chapter Title: “Openings”

Touka and Hinami catch up. Will Hinami use this opportunity to learn more about Ayato's past, or will she chicken out?

Rating: T

A/n: Thanks again to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I always look forward to getting your feedback. It’s really encouraging when people take the time to leave a comment.Originally, I wanted to make this chapter longer. As I was writing, I decided to shorten it for pacing reasons, and move some of the originally planned events to the next chapter. One of my favorite things is sitting down to a nice, long update, so I apologize for the length. As usual, I'm editing myself, so if you notice errors I apologize. I will hopefully have those cleaned up soon. I just get so sick of rereading my own stuff over and over again. I hope that you can still enjoy the chapter 

Touka had always been beautiful, but Hinami was still surprised by the grace and composure she radiated strolling into Aogiri Tree.

“Hina-chan!” Her smile was friendly and relaxed, as if it had been mere days instead of years since their last meeting. “What a surprise! Are you working here now?”

Hinami nodded. The flimsy paperback crackled in her tightening grip. “Yes. I just started a few weeks ago.”

“That’s funny, ‘cause I just saw this guy yesterday” - she leveled an accusatory glare at Ayato, who scowled - “and he didn’t tell me a thing!”

“Why are you here, ugly nee-chan?” he groused. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

“Since you helped out so much yesterday, I thought I’d come by and share some of the wages. Besides, I wanted to check up on my little brother, make sure he’s staying out of trouble.”

“You should know better than that, Touka-chan,” Naki interjected, sweeping under a nearby table. “That one’s hopeless.”

“Oi, don’t speak to my sister so comfortably!”

Touka turned to Hinami, ignoring the ensuing bickering. “So, how is everything going here? I hope Ayato-kun isn’t scaring you too much with that bruised face he has on.”

“N-no! Everything is good.”

“Are they picking on you?”

“Not too much,” Hinami said, while inside she screamed, ‘Yes, Touka-chan, save me!’

“Well if they do, just tell me.”

“Look, hag,” Ayato interrupted, seeming to remember his sister was there in the first place, “I don’t need your money, so get lost.”

“I’m talking with Hina-chan,” she retorted. “Stop being so rude. By the way, Hina-chan, why don’t you make me a cappuccino? I’m really curious to see how your skills have improved!”

Touka chatted easily while Hinami brewed the espresso, filling her in on the latest doings of the Anteiku crowd. Tsukiyama had stopped modeling, but was still designing. Nishiki was finishing up med school; he and Kimi were engaged. Banjou and Yomo were both working at :re, the coffee shop Touka had opened with the money Yoshimura had left her after he had passed away from heart failure.

There was only one person suspiciously absent from her list - the one person Hinami was the most interested to hear about.

“Mmm, Hina-chan, this is good!” Touka said, sampling the cappuccino. “I like the foam rabbit you made too. It’s so cute! I’m sorry I had to ruin it.”

Hinami blushed. “I remembered you liked rabbits a lot, so…”

“You’ve really grown as a barista. I’m proud of you.”

Hinami wasn’t sure how to react to this compliment. It didn’t help that she could sense Ayato listening intently from just a few feet away. Thankfully Takizawa chose this moment to stick his head out of the kitchen.

“Ayato-san, there’s a phone call for you. Delivery stuff.”

“Ayato-san?” Touka repeated, smirking. “Wow, manager; this workplace is so laid-back.”

He ignored her. Touka watched him leave with a thoughtful smile. Gradually, her gaze lowered to the steaming cup clasped between her hands. Hinami noted the gentle lavender waves that framed her face, the full lashes that dusted her cheekbones.

“I can’t believe you’re working at my brother’s cafe,” she said. “Well, not HIS cafe, but in the same place as him. What a weird coincidence.”

“Yeah,” Hinami agreed, staring down at the counter.

“Don’t misunderstand; I’m really, really glad to see you, Hinami-chan. We still think and talk a lot about you all the time. I’ll have to let everyone know I saw you here so they can stop by and say hello, too.”

“Ah, no!” Hinami blurted, drawing a quizzical look from Touka. “I mean, please don’t. I don’t want to trouble anyone…”

“Trouble anyone? Of course not. I can’t wait to tell Banjou. He’s gonna be so jealous I got to see you.”

‘I doubt it,’ Hinami thought with a pang. ‘More like disappointed when he founds out I’m just a drop-out loser…’

“Actually, Touka-chan,” she began, measuring her words carefully, “please don’t tell anyone just yet. I’d like to surprise them, when I’m ready. But enough about me. How are you doing? You’ve told me about everyone except yourself.”

‘Well. Almost everyone.’

Touka took a long sip. “It’s been good. I like having my own business. It’s hectic and stressful, but it feels good to do things my own way and help make other people’s lives a little brighter in the process. If you ever get sick of this place, you should come work at :re.”

“Eh, really? I’ll keep it in mind.”

There was a moment of silence. Hinami’s curiosity finally won out.

“How is Kaneki-kun doing?”

Touka’s smile stiffened.

“You know as much as I do, Hinami-chan. You were still here in Tokyo when he disappeared.”

That was the same word Ayato had used; ‘disappeared.’ Her chest tightened.

“You haven’t heard from him since then?”

Touka shook her head. “I’m sorry. I wish I could tell you something. I know you two were close.”

‘Not as close as you were,’ Hinami thought.

“So.” Touka took another sip. “Have you written anything lately?”

Hinami’s face burned.

“I - no. I don’t really do that anymore.”

“That’s a shame. I always enjoyed getting to read your stories, even though you didn’t share them very often.”

“I didn’t really have enough time to keep writing." It couldn’t have been further from the truth. Between skipping classes, ignoring homework and hiding out in convenience stores in an effort to avoid her relatives, she’d probably had enough time to fill volumes. She’d just lost the desire to do.

“I see,” Touka said. “You’ve changed a lot, Hinami-chan. But that’s okay. I changed a lot after high school, too. And Ayato-kun, well - you can see how much he’s changed.”

Touka’s expression was withdrawn, even wistful as she stirred her cappuccino. The words Ayato had spoken that day in the basement suddenly came back to her: ‘Do you have any idea the mess you left behind, the crap-ton of bullshit that the rest of us had to clean up for you?

‘You. Fucked. Up. Everything.’

“Touka-chan, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

She braced herself against the counter. “After I left Tokyo, did anything else happen at my old school? Maybe your brother mentioned something to you…”

Touka lowered her mug. She was no longer smiling. “Why? Did he say something?”

“Sort of, but I didn’t really understand. I know about some of the things that happened, but he made it sound like there was something else I never heard about.”

Touka sighed. “I can’t really tell you what my brother was thinking when he said...whatever it was he said to you, but I do know this: life came at Ayato-kun fast in high school. Real fast. A lot of it was his own fault, but...he got his comeuppance, if that’s any consolation.”

Hinami opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. Why pretend that revenge wasn’t at least a little bit sweet?

“What kind of comeuppance?” she asked instead, trying not to sound too curious.

“Why not ask Ayato-kun directly? He knows more about it than I do.”

“Ask me what?” Ayato demanded, exiting the kitchen. His eyes flashed between them suspiciously as he resumed his place at the register.

Hinami blanched. Touka was quick on her feet.

“About your banged up face, probably,” she lied, much to Hinami’s relief. “You know, you’re not exactly helping Aogiri Tree’s image. When customers walk in, they probably see that busted mug and have a heart attack.”

“Tch. What do you know, old lady.”

“When are you ever gonna quit that fighting stuff?”

Touka’s brow was furrowed, her lips pursed in a thin, crooked line. She looked more like the cranky onee-chan that Hinami remembered.

“Whatever,” Ayato muttered. “Why don't you just scram already? I told you, I don’t need your money. Let’s just call it even.”

"Fine, if you’re gonna be so stubborn about it,” Touka retorted. She pushed her mug away. “I’ll just assume this cappuccino is on the house, too.”

Hinami watched as Touka gathered her things, words teetering on the edge of her tongue. She wanted to tell her about Sasaki Haise. She wanted to apologize for abandoning Touka and everyone else in Anteiku without looking back.

“Oh! That’s right.”

Touka rummaged in her purse before pulling out a business card and a pen. She scribbled a number on the back and slid the card across the counter.

“That has :re’s address and hours,” she explained. “Stop by anytime; it’s on me. Also, that’s my personal phone number on the back. Give me a call when you can’t stand my brother anymore. I’ll find something for you to do at :re.”

“Stop trying to steal our employees,” Ayato protested, but his eyes had softened. Hinami took the card. It felt sturdy in her hands. Touka’s name gleamed up at her in elegant, embossed script.

“I’ll come by as soon as I have free time,” Hinami said.

She didn’t plan on having any free time.

Touka’s encouraging presence energized Hinami throughout the rest of the day. When it was time to train with Ayato after work, she was still going strong.

“Ready to get to some of the good stuff?” he asked once they’d finished warming up.

“I guess,” Hinami answered, not sure if she should be excited or scared.

“All right. First, review time. So far we’ve covered two basic punches: the jab and the cross. You remember what those are right?”

“I think so…”

“Then throw on some gloves and show me your best right cross.”

Hinami always felt a bit silly wearing the training gloves. She was an imposter in a cheap disguise. A stick-thin nerd like her probably looked ridiculous. Even so, she faced the punching bag and tried to focus on her breathing, assuming the stance Ayato had taught her: both fists raised, one pulled in close to her face, feet spread slightly apart.

“Tuck that chin,” Ayato muttered. She bent her neck quickly, chin pressing into her shoulder. He nodded. “Good. Now rotate that hip…”

Hinami shifted her weight to her back foot. Arm tense, she swung her fist at the punching bag, her body turning in the direction of the punch with as much energy as she could muster.

“Needs improvement,” Ayato said shortly. “But whatever. It’s gonna be awhile before you’re strong enough for your hits to do any damage - if you ever get to that point in the first place. If you’re gonna have a chance in hell, you’ll need to learn some defensive maneuvers.”

“Like blocking techniques?” asked Hinami.

"In order to block, you actually need something to block WITH. If a shrimp like you tries to block a hit, they’ll get squashed. That’s why we’re gonna start with evading.”

‘Evading, huh?’ she thought. ‘Just like you and your sister evade all my questions about onii-chan…’

She vaguely wondered what he would do if she asked him about the “comeuppance” Touka had alluded to earlier. Would he find a way to dodge that question, too?

“Okay,” he said. “Let's use a scenario. Imagine Akira tries to bitch slap you again. What is the easiest, most sure fire way to avoid getting hit?”

“Um...duck?”

“No, genius; you run away.”

Hinami frowned. “But, I thought the whole point of this was so I’d stop running away?”

“No - it’s so you can determine when it’s best to confront a problem, and when it’s best to just distance yourself from that problem entirely. Like...just come here.”

Hinami approached him, arms held up half-heartedly. Ayato assumed a similar stance as he explained.

“Running away has its advantages. For one, it’s easy; more advanced techniques like slipping and ducking require skill. Anyone can run. Two, it wears out your opponent. Three, it can take you in any direction. You can go back -” He took a backward step away from her. “-which puts you out of range of an attack if you move fast enough. That’s good. Can you think of any problems with this, though?”

Hinami’s stance faltered. She always did freeze in the headlights of a pop quiz. Fortunately, Ayato didn’t give her too much time to think.

“You put yourself out of range to hit back,” he said. Hinami could hear the unspoken “duh” behind his words. “If Akira’s too far away to reach you, you can’t reach her, either. In the long run you’re gonna use up all your strength and energy trying to avoid blows while sacrificing any opportunities to land any of your own.”

‘Wow,’ Hinami thought. ‘It’s the perfect metaphor for my entire pathetic, non-confrontational life.’

“Of course, you can always choose to go around instead,” he continued. He drew close to her before pivoting to the side with a swift grace that took Hinami aback. “This keeps you in attack range, since you’re not actually putting distance between you and your opponent; you’re just changing up the angles.”

“I see,” Hinami said. She could smell the sharp, sour scent of sweat under his cologne, accompanied by the ever-present aroma of coffee. And had his shoulders always been that much wider than her own?

“Can you think of any disadvantages?” he asked. He was near enough that Hinami could hear low, gravely tones in his voice that she’d never noticed before.

“Well,” she began, dismayed to hear shakiness in her own voice, “it’s like before, right? You’re using too much energy…moving around and stuff…”

He nodded, pleased. “Exactly. Do you really wanna keep moving your entire body when Akira is just moving an arm or a leg? That’s the real problem with footwork, because even if you move forward -”

The little space remaining between them abruptly vanished as he stepped forward. The hair on Hinami’s arms tingled at their proximity. She stared, fixated on the bit of collar bone peeking out of his v-neck.

“ - you’re still putting in way more effort than your opponent is,” he finished. “Besides, this move only works if you have a size advantage. You wanna be big enough to overpower the other guy. In your case, I don’t see that being likely.”

He smirked down at her. Ridiculous heart - why was it beating so fast? This wasn’t high school!

‘It’s just a chemical reaction,’ she told herself firmly. ‘Hormones activating arbitrarily in response to his handsome face and muscle definition. I am definitely NOT attracted to him on a romantic, personal level. This is just human biology!’

She became aware of the silence that had crept into the room. Hesitantly, she glanced up at Ayato’s face. His smirk had fallen, replaced by a quiet, stern expression she was unfamiliar with. He held her gaze for an agonizing moment - then he gave a sudden start. Quickly, he turned his head, falling back a few steps.

“Yeah, so, I wouldn’t recommend this approach unless you’re looking to get crushed,” he said, voice gruff.

“What do you recommend then?” she asked, choosing to disregard his unusual behavior. Why had he stared at her face so intently? Was there a booger hanging out of her nose, or something?

“Well the best defense is one that gives you an opening to strike,” he said. He spared her a thoughtful (but abnormally cautious) glance. “With your size, you’re gonna need to be quick on your feet - adaptable to the needs of the moment. If you always use the same strategy, your opponent will use that against you. Basically, you’re not just trying to outwork or overpower your opponent; you also need to out-think them.” He tapped his forehead.

“So...being adaptable  means I should also be trying to predict my opponent’s moves as well, right?”

“Exactly. But it’s not like a game of chess; there’s no time to read the board or deliberate your next move. Overthinking can just end up slowing you down, which gives your opponent an opening.”

“So how do I decide what to do if there’s no time to think?”

“Well, you don’t really decide, “ he mumbled, forehead wrinkling. “You just sort of do it. Look, I’m not very good at explaining, okay? Just keep practicing and doing what I say, and you’ll be fine.”

Hinami regarded him doubtfully, but kept her thoughts to herself. This must be his first time training someone.

“Anyway, I’ve got homework for you,” he said, with more than a little relish. “Ever heard of Irimi Kaya?”

Hinami shook her head. Ayato didn’t look surprised.

"Look her up. See if you can find any footage of the 2004 Kyoto fight. I’m sure it’s all over the internet. Pay attention to the way she evades attacks. Pause the video, pull it back, repeat it. See if you notice any patterns.”

“Is that how you learned to fight; from watching videos?”

“Not exactly.” Ayato shuffled his feet. “My case was...different from yours.”

The reformatory school for troubled youth in the countryside, Hinami remembered. Had Ayato been sent there because of fighting? A vision rose to her mind of an adolescent Ayato standing in the Anteiku break room, face mottled and bruised, while Touka scolded him in hushed tones. Even in those days, Touka had been tight-lipped about her delinquent little brother. There’d always been the implication that Ayato’s time on the straight-and-narrow wasn’t meant to last; that deep down, Ayato still wasn’t safe or trustworthy.

What was it Touka had told her back then? Oh yeah. ‘Don’t fall in love with my brother.’

“Anyway,” Ayato said, shattering her reverie, “be sure to look all that stuff up by Friday. Starting this weekend, we’re gonna get busy.”

“Because of the promotion?”

“Yeah; we’ll need to make sure we’re ready before Monday. Speaking of which, we need to talk about the new hours.” He frowned, folding his arms. “We’ll be splitting shifts, working longer days. With the new schedule, we’d both technically be working now - or at least whoever’s scheduled for the night shift would be. It’ll be probably get harder to find times when we’re both available…”

Was this his way of dumping her, Hinami wondered? She swallowed.

“If you want,” he continued, voice dropping into a low mumble, “just keep using the equipment down here to train. And then when we’re both free, we’ll meet.”

His eyes darted in her direction, daring her to object. She made a small sound of assent. Had Ayato really just given her permission to enter the sacred space of his room unsupervised? She wasn’t sure whether she should feel flattered or apprehensive.

“‘Course, you could always ask my sister for pointers,” he said drily. “She’s always liked you, so I’m sure she’d be willing to help. Unless she’s gotten too soft.”

“Touka used to fight?” Hinami asked, surprised. Ayato grinned..

“Uh-huh. Nothing professional, just schoolyard rough-housing, but still - she was pretty good. Other kids knew not to mess with us.”

‘Us.’

Hinami tried to imagine Touka and Ayato back-to-back, fists raised and smiles wicked as they prepared to kick some ass. Looking back at the strong, cool and confident Touka she had known growing up, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities. Touka had always seemed like an action superhero - maybe Catwoman, or Sailor Moon. There’d been a gruffness to her demeanor, an edge of danger that Touka had tried to keep carefully tucked away in Hinami’s presence. She’d never quite succeeded in hiding it all away.

Hinami wondered briefly what had changed for Touka. What had made her go “soft,” and what had prevented Ayato from doing so, too?

“Anyway, give me your number,” he said suddenly. “That way if one of us has to cancel, we can get in touch. Or if I need to send you an update to your work schedule, or - y’know, stuff like that.”

He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a cellphone without looking at her. Hinami took it, feeling numb as she entered in her phone number. Was this really happening? Had Ayato just asked her for her phone number? And was she actually going through with it?!

She was suddenly and acutely aware that this was the opening she’d been waiting for. There was an atmosphere of relative peace, and their chat had lasted long enough to drift into comfortable, familiar territory. If ever there was an opportunity to dig into Ayato’s past, this was it. She licked her lips as she returned the phone to him, deliberating the best way to approach the subject.

‘I can’t just come out and say it,’ she realized. ‘I’ve got to...ease into it!’

“Um, Kirishima-san…”

He tilted his head expectantly. Hinami felt sick.

“Thank you for helping me.”

An indecipherable emotion flickered across his face. Before she could chicken out, Hinami plunged on.

“A while ago, you mentioned I caused some troubles for you in the past. I’m not really sure what you meant, but...you still agreed to help me.”

She paused, giving Ayato a chance to protest or reproach her. He remained silent, face abnormally stricken. His eyes were wide with something that resembled accusation - or maybe even pain. Whatever sense of comfort and familiarity that had been building between them shriveled on the spot. A nauseous shiver of self-loathing ran down her spine. What was she doing, digging into Ayato’s past - a past that was probably riddled with as much shame and disgrace as her own? She was just being nosy and rude.

“I need to leave,” she blurted abruptly. Ayato barely managed to stumble out of her way as she rushed past him, diving for her backpack.

She couldn’t bring herself to look at his face as she fled up the stairs.

Some people guard and cherish their secrets. Hinami was normally one of these people. However, as she rode the train home that night, staring fixedly at the loafers and sandals of the passengers around her, all she wanted was just one person she trusted enough to share her troubles with - someone to help ease the ache of confusion eating her chest hollow.

Her emotions must have shown on her face, because when she got home Saiko actually paused her mobile game to ask if everything was okay. Hinami lied easily - too easily, she realized with a sinking feeling.

She was still brooding when she got out of the shower. Just as she was about to finish toweling her hair, her cell phone vibrated from atop the back of the toilet. She glanced at the screen: a text from a number she didn’t recognize. Without thinking, she took her phone and unlocked it.

Remember to watch those videos I told you about.

“Oh. Ayato-san uses correct punctuation and capital letters when he texts,” she muttered, looking up at the reflection staring back at her from the mirror. Did he always do that, or was that just because this was his first time messaging her? She set her phone down without replying.

Why had he decided to text her? Maybe it was a taunt. Did he assume she was too lazy or forgetful to do her “homework,” as he’d put it?

Or had he just wanted to talk to her?

“Don’t look so happy about it,” her reflection snapped. She toweled at her hair fiercely.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t so easy to towel the thoughts out of her brain. She was still pondering the message over dinner twenty-five minutes later, picking at her ramen listlessly.

“Oo gonna fi’ish that?” Saiko asked, cheeks bulging with noodles. She pointed her chopsticks at Hinami’s plate.

“Ah! Yes.” Hinami made an effort to concentrate on her food. “I’m just a bit distracted.”

“Is it about your friend?” Saiko asked genly. Hinami shook her head.

“No. It’s...something else.”

“Oh? Then what is it?”

Hinami hesitated. Finally, she laid her chopsticks down, shoulders slumping heavily. It was all too much to bear alone. It couldn’t hurt to share just a little bit of her troubles with Saiko, could it?

“My boss sent me a message,” she said, voice quiet.

“Ehhh? Are you in trouble at work?!”

“No…”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“It’s just...we don’t normally message each other.

Saiko popped a carrot into her mouth. “That’s weird. Maman and me text each other all the time!”

“...really?”

“Uh-huh! Yesterday he sent me this meme.” Saiko reached for her phone. A few seconds later, she held it out for Hinami to see. “Look at that! It’s that ugly frog! Maman is so funny…”

Hinami laughed uneasily. “Sasaki-san must be a really nice boss.”

“Mhm! So what did your boss say to you?”

“He just...reminded me of some deadlines.”

“Oh, sounds important. What did you say back?”

“I...haven’t said anything yet.”

“WHAT?!”

The upstairs neighbor pounded on the ceiling, shouting a muffled, “Keep it down!” Saiko leaned forward.

“You’ve gotta reply!” she hissed. “That’s your boss, if you don’t reply it’ll look bad! Trust me, I ignore emails and messages all the time. It always gets me in trouble!”

Hinami lifted her phone from the table nervously. “What should I say?”

“Let me read what he said first.”

She handed her phone to Saiko, who peered at the screen intently. Hinami made one more attempt to finish her dinner. The noodles felt like chewing rubber.

“Okay. I sent it.”

A noodle went down Hinami’s windpipe.

“You WHAT?” she spluttered.

“I sent the reply for you.” Saiko grinned back at her like an eager puppy ready for her reward. “See?”

Hinami took the phone, hands shaking. Her eyes widened as the words on the screen slowly registered.

ok boss thank you i will~~~ :D

The entire commute to work the next morning was filled with dread.

‘I should have just kept my mouth shut,’ Hinami berated herself. 'Why didn’t I just keep my problems to myself like I normally do? That’s the best way to have a peaceful life.'

That absurd text message Saiko had sent, along with the awkward way she and Ayato had parted the previous evening, had her stomach twisting in knots. Would Ayato bring up her strange behavior when he saw her? Would he ridicule her for sending such a dorky, cutesy message?

‘If only Saiko had used correct grammar!’ she thought miserably.

When she arrived at the cafe, she paused outside the entrance. She could see Ayato through the store window. He was standing behind the coffee bar, accompanied by Naki and Takizawa. The three of them were preoccupied with something on the counter; she couldn’t really make out what. While she hesitated, Naki looked up, his eyes locking on hers. He waved excitedly, gesturing for her to join them. Hinami bit back a groan and entered reluctantly.

Ayato looked up as she came in. Hinami met his gaze with reluctance. She was surprised to see her own apprehension mirrored on his features. He looked away quickly, crossing his arms and focusing intently on whatever was on the counter. All of a sudden Naki popped up, blocking Ayato from Hinami’s view.

“Get ready to pitch that visor, Fueguchi-san; the new uniforms are here!”

TBC...

A/n: I’m gonna tell you guys a secret. Don’t let Ayato know I told you, but...He rewrote and deleted like twenty drafts of texts. He was gonna delete that one too, but then he accidentally hit send. Oops.Thank you for reading!

[sparda3g]

Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 143 Review

(Long Post Inbound)

A long time ago, Tokyo Ghoul Part 1 reached its conclusion and I wasn’t there to see the “fireworks.” From what I was told, it got fans incredibly uproar to the point of hate overload, burning volumes, and wishing for Ishida to be buried. I wish I was joking. Not everyone would experience the very moment; that is if someone is willing to retry. In the midst of chapter 143, the same number where the first part ended at, all pieces are in place and it’s only matter of the outcome.

Have I not matured enough nor self-behaving well, would I have fallen to the mass hysteria. This chapter is a nightmare.

The amount of feeling throughout the chapter is one that I haven’t felt in a long time. I dare to say that the last time I felt this way was the Golden Age Arc climax from Berserk. It can be lessened if the next chapter goes a different way as in taking the only “good” path. Regardless, the earth shattering moment is still striking hard. It’s that experience of falling to the plot twist that sucked out your air; it’s hard to say another word.

Let me get out of the con first. Honestly, it’s more of nitpick than anything, especially when you realized the real effect of its narrative approach. It was teased pretty badly with the thought of Suzuya versus Kaneki to happen in all of its glory. The beginning felt so promising with the conflict they both share to protect. It got intense when Suzuya and Hanbee use Arata Armor, and Kaneki goes Kakuja. Unfortunately, that was done off-paneled. I would like a flashback to show the battle, now that the chapter did its purpose. It’s unlikely, so that’s a shame. The rest is history.

The monologue from Kaneki about his life in a nutshell is pretty deep and tragic. Making a decision in life has always been a fearsome moment of anyone’s life. Many times, you can’t go back on it and you have to stick to it for the rest of your life. One choice can be your major downfall. Kaneki has always been miserable since chapter 1. If he hadn’t met Rize and became interested, he could have avoided the path we are witnessing today. Even if he accepts his path, there’s no way for him to deny the thought: “It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”

This hit me hard. I tend to avoid the leader position because the decision making for the team would always lead me to be the fault. I also have tons of experiences of not able to choose the “better” choice, and I believe everyone would one way or another feel the same way. Kaneki can’t seem to win because of his screw-up and heavily pressured moments. Now he wants to make it right and protect his people.

Naki being “asleep” is an ominous scene that would only become the start of the tragic downfall. Miza reporting to Kaneki about his condition left me hurt. I was hoping that he would make it out alive, but he did the best he can. Miza taking care of his body is saddening based on how much she already lost. If only he can surprisingly wake up like before, but I do think this is the end. You did well, Naki.

The amount of hype buildup with Kaneki stepping up to protect is staggering and a bit of hopeful. The sheer determination he has is fully realized; he will put an end to this massacre. As that part was being build, Suzuya and his motivation has finally come to light. According to Furuta, CCG Operations have taken a lot of toll on their finance, including the birth of GOAT. Because of it, Shinohara’s life support will be unplugged to cut the cost and Suzuya is obviously fazed by it. Whether Furuta is telling the truth or not, he pulled a convincing argument to reach Suzuya.

The amount of hype has grown tremendously from these two flashbacks. Kaneki and Suzuya have firing determination to win to protect the ones they loved; even if they have to fight each other. The single line from Suzuya to Kaneki is strikingly deep and sad. Gone with the best friend status, killing each other is the only solution to save. The Wills were mentioned, only increased the intensity. Someone is going to lose and someone will pay the price. As said before, Suzuya and Kaneki practically go to their final form; it’s a borderline deathmatch. The hype is extraordinary. But…

Ishida is a borderline asshole.

The quick shift to Kaneki’s sudden defeat is jaw dropping for better or worse. I was left feeling lost and couldn’t say anything but grasping for air. “What the hell just happened” kept on repeating through my head. The scenery has shifted drastically; almost the same caliber as the infamous Red Wedding scene. The mood is very haunting with Kaneki’s monologue; trying to understand what’s going on yet can’t compute anything. It’s clear as day: Suzuya won the battle; Furuta won the war.

What amazes me is the plot twist doesn’t rely on a trap like “I have a large cannon waiting for you to take,” or “behold, my true bio-weapon that is Dragon!” Instead, it relied on the mind game. Furuta may be a jokester, but he’s actually slick and dirty as shit to understand the environment. He knew how Kaneki would react based on his history. He knew what type of guy Kaneki has always been. If Kaneki were to change, he could have changed the course of everything, but in reality, he hasn’t. Even as a leader, he still has the same tendency to protect his loved one alone. The most important key is how he never intended to change the world, rather stick close to his friends for his needs. Furuta recalled him back to Anteiku and looking it over, he’s right.

People around him tried to tell him that he cannot react the same way he has always done in the past because he’s their leader. When your status changed, you have to change. Ayato did tell him to rely on people to help him, which took Kaneki long to respond back. Kaneki is trying his hardest to keep things his way, including not able to kill people and not eating human flesh. This series doesn’t hold back on reality check-up. It’s not Shounen; you must get in with the time. While it’s a downer for not seeing the fight, I would forgive Ishida for the strong effect of the transition. It’s a shocking and gut-stabbing revelation to his major downfall. It’s as if we are witnessing Saw movies twist; all it was missing was the theme song.

What if Kaneki did get his food? Would he have been strong enough to remain conscious of his action in Kakuja? Could he have lessened the army if he simply kills many of them? Should he have asked everyone to help him to protect the people? Should he have stick to his ideas to his grave? If one remains the same, it will become predictable, and in war, it’s never the option.

A truck load of salt is added on the wound with Hajime returning back with two heads: Shio and Rikai. The image of that playful banter back in the last arc is now haunting me like a plague. The imagery of little kids beheaded is disturbing enough, was it really necessary to show them off to Kaneki. It is worth noting that Hirako, Yusa, and even Ui remain missing from the scene. Their condition is unknown for now, so maybe it’s a key to say they will return for the next part. It all ends with the title that says it all: Game Over. Un…be…livable.

The worst part is the artwork is top notch here. The design of both Arata, especially 2 looks awesome; the most badass display I have seen yet. Kaneki in Kakuja looks vicious and badass as well. It’s like watching two tyrants about to collide. The next page with Kaneki downed is jarring. The effect is a perfect stab to the gut. How everything crumbles bit by bit is brutal to watch. I can’t believe that damn shot of Kaneki’s sign of lying with his hand on his chin happened again when telling Hinami that he will be behind her. People want tragic; well, you sure got a full course.

This whole chapter was downright brutal from start to finish. Part of me thought I was sleepwalking because I read this early in the morning and I got few hours of sleep. Re-reading it again, I still can’t compute on what’s going on. The reaction from the fans at this time is clear as day: shocked, confused, and angry. If this is what it was like with the first part, well, now I know.

I honestly don’t know if the next chapter is truly the final chapter of the series at this time, but it does signify part 3. If so, I called it but damn, this is pretty messed up. I am still bewildered on what just happened. There are plenty of key moments that just shot across my face. The only part left is the last clean-up with Touka. This is the chapter that is going to tear down the fanbase and all Ishida can do is laugh and bounce around with his massive kintama because of this antic. If the next chapter is the last, then that’s fine. End this nightmare.

[todokori-kun]

The

 queen is back and I’m so freaking happy <3

‘annoyed’ nothing you say is annoying ok, I’m actually just really relieved and happy that I’m helping in any way at all. Also you listen to my rambling all the time and you supported me with my anxiety (you have no idea how much our convos helped after I first saw a doctor about it and was feeling really confused about what to do) so ‘what did I do to deserve you’ is probably what I should be saying to you.

Tbh when things are as serious as you’ve described then you’re definitely not overreacting. Like I said before, I’m always ready to listen/talk when you need to. And you don’t have to stress about replies; I honestly don’t mind at all as long as you’re ok.

Thank you Queen Luna you’re the best ;-;

Also, good news and bad news:

Bad news- A bit after I sent the last message mom apparently found out about Tumblr and decided that I probably shouldn’t get an account here because of all the NSFW content. I get why she’s worried so I guess I won’t be getting an account here for a while.

Good news- HOWEVER, I was chatting with someone on ao3 and they asked if we could move our convo somewhere else. They recommended something called Discord so I got an account there. If you’ve never heard of Discord it’s basically a voice and text chat system usually used by gamers, but it seems to be pretty popular among non-gamers too. PMing is possible there :D (The only flaw is that you can’t send very long messages, so you have to send multiple short ones, which is a bit annoying…but otherwise it’s pretty neat so maybe we can try it if you’re ok with that?)

XD yeah that’s actually pretty accurate.

*reads Luna’s message*

*inhale*

UM. DO YOU HAvE ANY IDEA HOW AMAZING YOU ARE. LET ME TRY TO BE A GOOD, SUPPORTIVE FRIEND AND TELL YOU

Yep it was one of the grossest things that ever happened to me OTL I’m still swimming but I’m taking a long break right now- a break that started because my little sister broke her toe and we were basically stuck at home taking care of her (the pool is a bit far for me to go on my own so if mom’s stuck at home so am I), and then got longer because the pool’s old and some things had to be ‘fixed’, and then got even longer because my coach is getting married (just reread that and realized that I sound super annoyed, I’m actually not, I have no problem with my coach getting married XD). I’ll probably start again around next month, though :)

Thanks ^^

Oooh are you a comic fan??? I haven’t read any superhero comics because there seem to be so many AUs(?)/different timelines so trying to figure out where to start is really confusing, plus I actually sorta prefer manga/manhwa art styles (not that wester comics are bad- a lot of them have really good art too, I just personally prefer the manga/manhwa styles (especially for the panels). Also the ecchi-ish costumes/anatomy for almost every single female superhero gets a bit ridiculous sometimes lol). Some of them seem really fun, though, and I’d like to try them out someday…

It’s really cool that you’ve been a fan of T'challa for so long, it must’ve been even more exciting to see him in the movie :D

Imagine everyone watching The Winter Soldier together. Then the  'brainwashed bucky’ scenes start.

Illumi: *stares intently at the screen*

Illumi: I see no problem with this.

Watching Civil War and Leorio goes Dad Mode and covers Gon’s and Killua’s eyes when Hisoka starts making…innappropriate…noises during the fight scenes

(Hisoka low-key writing reader insert lemons about various MCU heroes. Most likely Natasha (because she’s a lot like Machi, his only female crush so far), Bruce (how Hisoka would love to unleash the beast), Thor (he’s a literal GOD imagine how badly he could mess Hisoka up *schwing*), Wanda, and Vision (he probably liked Loki too before Loki got beat up by the Hulk and Hisoka was like ‘oh I have a new senpai’)

Then Illumi gets Milluki (his tech genius little brother) to hack into Hisoka’s computer for info and is like 'what is this Hisoka I do not understand why you derive pleasure from this trash’)

Everyone thinks Gon should relate to Tony on a personal level but he doesn’t, because despite being a sunshine angel he’s also a freaking weird kid who doesn’t hate Ging. At all. (Though that might have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t even consider Ging his parent in the first place; he never even calls him 'dad’ or 'my father’)

Killua, on the other hand, relates to Bucky a bit too much and thinks HYDRA is basically the Zoldyck family.

Everybody’s Team Cap except for Illumi, who’s Team Iron Man (“Why would you want to break the rules?”), and then Hisoka randomly shows up like 'Team Hulk ;)’

Every time Howard Stark is mentioned everyone just stares at Ging, who shifts uncomfortably

(Yeah did I tell you about the time Leorio punched Ging for being a trash dad?)

OMG. Thank you for that. I’ve seen a lot of 'Hisoka as the clown from the 'It’ movie’ posts on tumblr but never any fanart for that idea. Run, Gon. Run.

I’m considering teaching myself to animate just to make those animatics XD

(Also, random thing: it’s Chuseok over here (basically like the Korean version of Thanksgiving, I guess?) and usually, people recieve money from older relatives during holidays like this in Korea. I got about 80 dollars (50 from my maternal grandparents, 10 from my paternal grandfather and 20 from my uncle) so I’m debating on what to spend it on: It’s either a tablet so I can learn how to do digital art (I’m thinking about polishing my drawing skills for a while and then making a webcomic. My parents support this so they’re willing to pay a little extra for a tablet) or a ukulele (I like the piano but I realized a while ago that it’d be great to have an instrument that I can carry around, so I did some research and the ukulele seems good. I really like the sound so I’m willing to put some effort into learning it). Idk which one I should choose, though. Technically the tablet should be my priority but I also like the ukulele…

(and idek why I mentioned this either, guess the talk about animating reminded me of the tablet lol))

I thrive on angst. Tragedy fuels me. (But tbh HxH is a LOT darker than I was prepared for. I’m currently shipping an ant king with a genius human girl and I know from spoilers that they’re both going to die)

Yeah, she’s alive :D but apparently Kaneki is now 'dead’ (though I don’t think he is really, if Ishida kills him off now (after all the stuff with Hide? All the character development Ken hasn’t gotten yet? When he still hasn’t talked about anything with Shuu or Hinami or even Akira?) and gives us a new protagonist or something I might finally rage-quit this series.

Or not, since with all the Touken stuff and Kaneki being sorta insensitive ever since he became the OEK…maybe a new protagonist is what we need?). I was liking all the parallels with Arima in the first series until this, because it was just…um. I think my main problem with the whole thing is the freakng PACING because it just feels so clunky and awkward. This is probably one of those chapters that will be really good if Ishida somehow manages to connect it with the next chapters and has everything make sense later, but if he doesn’t do it well it’s going to suck forever OTL

At least TG finally confirmed Naki’s death, though. I mean, the ideal situation for me is if he never died in the first place, but at least a confirmed death is better than Ishida suddenly bringing him back to life after that panel with Yamori. And his death scene was handled well. (Now please just tell me that he, Kanae and Hairu aren’t coming back as Kanou-Furuta zombies and I will be semi-satisfied)

Also AOT if you haven’t read the new chapter yet spoilers but

(The-Reiner-Eren reunion I HAVE WAITED SO. LONG FOR THIS

Also Eren’s grandad ;-;

And maybe we’ll finally be seeing Annie again soon since she’s been appearing in so many flashbacks and Reiner’s probably going to ask about her if he and Eren get to actually talk

Love those hints about something finally starting to change

ANOTHER PERSON FROM MIKASA’S CLAN? I hope we see this lady again, she’s lovely

I can’t believe how much the art has improved, it actually looks GOOD now 0.0)

Aw, that’s ok! I’ll be looking forward to seeing it when you get a new skirt :D

Yeah, I’m really excited for OC’s name too…must be something important if they’re keeping it hidden for this long. I guess it’s French (or a word from some other non-English language) since 'Ciel’ is French for 'Sky’…and it probably has a meaning related to the sky since they’re twins. Idk. Maybe it’s the word for 'star’ ('etoile’) since stars are also a big thing in this arc?

Looking forward to your reaction! I haven’t read the novel yet but from what I know it sounds great :D (also I cannot resist the L + Naomi duo even if they never actually interacted in manga/anime canon)

Btw, is it ok if I ask how far you’ve gotten with the DN anime?

(Also fun fact: Ryuk was originally designed to look like a handsome young man (an 'attractive rock star’, in the words of DN’s creators. You can find a pic of his original design on google). His design was changed because the creators felt like he was overshadowing Light XD

But also, I just found a post on tumblr that said Takeshi Obata (DN’s artist) mentioned that Ryuk’s face in canon could just be a mask to hide his true appearance…which means that he could technically still look like that in canon. Wow. I actually think I have the book where it says Obata mentioned that, I have to go and check it now lol)

Watch it if you dare and prepare to weep over all the wasted potential, because now that I read/watch more about it I guess the saddest thing is that it COULD have been great. I mean, like I said, the visuals are REALLY good, L’s actor could have been a good L if not for the bad script, Ryuk’s actor/design were also super great (it’s just his role in the movie and his motivations they messed up ;-;)…

I don’t watch Avatar (I’d like to when I have the time, though, because it seems like a great show) but I’ve heard of that movie and tbh I can’t even.

Ty :D (Ayy the queen said I’d make a cute Peridot *fangirls*

You’re also my closest friend right now and I love talking to you so much <3 thank you for everything Luna.)

See this is why you’re awesome. Thank you so much ;-; (and what, did Queen Luna mention me to her parents. Did I make a good impression. Omg. (jk, jk lol))

Also: I’d like to rec a song to you, it’s called 'Lovely’ by Twenty One Pilots :D

Oh look I actually replied within a week :’)

OK ILL START W DISORD BC IM EXCITE. I already have one, from a while ago, my # is 5773! So add me whenever you want ^^ ((But please just send me a short message here, cause I turned notifs off for it, so i can turn them on again ^^)) Well, uh, here’s the thing about short messages.  If a site/app has an instant message feature, you can bet I’ll be the one to split a sentence into 10 separate messages for dramatic effect… So, uh, prepare to have 42 new messages instead of like 4 waiting when you open the app ^^

I never ever ever have any problems with listening to you. I just appreciate you’re comfortable enough with me to be able to come to me. Honestly, I truly appreciate you in my life, especially considering that you can always reassure me with your words ^^ Truly a writer’s talent :p

Well, I’m going to a psychologist soon, so we’ll see what they’ll say. Idk tho, I dont think I even care anymore. I just want this stomach thing to pass as soon as possible.

Ouch, I hope your sister is better now… I’ve never broken anything so I wouldn’t know the feeling. Aww, coaches getting married is actually the cutest thing ever XD My archery coach got married a few years back and she was practically glowing.  Ah, if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a particular stroke you specialise in or do you just swim everything? 

I could say the same about comic/manga styles. Tbh, I don’t really consider myself a comic fan? When I was a kid, I used to buy the children’s comics to ward off boredom, but never really continued after I got into reading actual books. Black Panther happened to be among those comics and I remembered him when they mentioned T’Challa in CW. I wonder if i still have those old comics somewhere… But yeah, i was pretty excited when they mentioned him XD

That viewing actually sounds amazing… I get the feeling they’d all want to do an in depth analyzation of the characters? (But idk i don’t really know the characters that well) except for Hisoka, who’s probably just schwinging around being creepy per usual. I’m torn between wanting to read those lemons and just backing the fuck away…. Probably read like a paragraph and then set everything on fire. Yeah, that sounds good. 

I presume you’re not gonna watch IT? Random, but i thought of it bc of the fanart… Tbh I won’t watch it either. I’ve never watched a single horror movie in my life and i intend to keep it that way. Unless you count Coraline as horror, which I actually would in some ways? Idk tho, that movie traumatised me. Not even joking when I say I occasionally have nightmares related to it. Advice; if you haven’t, DO NOT WATCH CORALINE. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s a cartoon. I mean 9 is a cartoon, but it’s also freaking dark. HAPPY TREE FRIENDS IS A CARTOON AND I WOULDNT TOUCH THE VIDEOS WITH A 9 FOOT POLE.  Long story short, cartoons are not a joke.

For some reason I confused the Ukulele with a Lute and was like ‘I’m not gonna judge, but… why?’ then i actually googled it and realised I’m an idiot.  But, um, I can’t say anything other than it’s your choice and you should do whatever would make you happier? There’s that trick of throwing a penny in the air and if you’re disappointed when it lands heads/tails, you know you want the other one. Idk, tho, both options sound equally nice!

… HxH gets weirder every time you tell me about it

KANEKI IS WHAT NOW Um, okay then.... alrighty...

guess who dropped TG again

WELL FUCK IM SCREAMING ABOUT THE NEW CHAPTER WHOAH EREN’T GRAMPA WHOAH THE REUNION However, the best part is Reiner acting like a dad during the festival

Oooh Etoile would be interesting!

I’m still at the ep where L dies ;-; I haven’t had the time to move forward, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to watch some during this weekend

Well, uh. My mom came into my room while I was writing this and had to ask me why i was crying (I’m pretty sure she thought I was having one of my all-time-lows again). The reason why I was actually crying? The song. Words can’t express my gratitude. I’d download it, but tbh I feel like I’ll start ugly sobbing again every time I listen to it...

random note, i started going to school by train! It’s actually a lot nicer than the bus and cheaper XD Idk why i put this here but yay

[diopan]

flowers have words on their leaves

Shuu teaches Naki the language of flowers

‘Tsuchimura!’ Naki comes into the room, running. 'It’s Tsuchimura,’ Tsuchimura says, always splaining. 'And what I say? I tried on the suit like you said.’

Tsuchimura walks around him, hand on his chin, looking at the new white suit.

'Hm,’ he makes a sound. 'And what’s this?’ he points to the front of the suit. 'Oh! S'a flower! Ya said the hole here was for that.’ 'But this is a sundrop.’ Yamamura crosses his arms. 'Hah? Nah, it’s a flower.’ 'It means desperate, you know?’ 'Wh-? No… flower means flower. This is a flower.’ 'You—flowers have meanings,’ Yamamura says. He rubs his forehead too.

Naki raises his eyebrow. This guy’s crazy, he thinks. He’s always been strange, but this? S'too much.

'Flowers have a language.’ 'Haah? That’s not true! Flowers can’t say words, they ain’t even alive! Who’s the fool now, Yamada?’

Yamada looks at him with that look he wears when he looks at him. Like he’s tryina smile but he can’t. Ah, it’s sad, Naki thinks. Sometimes it reminds him of the way Yamori looked at him sometimes.

'Come with me, Mess Ye Naki,’ Yamada says. 'Where?’ 'I’ll teach you.’ 'Teach me? English again? I don’t wanna… My head’ll start hurting…’ 'It’s my head that will hurt. Just come.’

Naki follows. Maybe Yamamura’s got problems with some stuff too, if his head hurts.

'Where’re we going?’ he asks, and then when he sees they’re walking out the door: 'What if someone sees?’ 'Try not to call attention to yourself.’

They walk in silence. It’s kind of cold, the sun’s about to set, but the sky’s orange. Looks nice. There’s a park around here too, maybe Tsuchiyama wants to go play, Naki’s pretty good at the see saw. They’re couple of corners away from the building when Yamamura grabs his sleeve.

'We’re here,’ he says and points. 'What’s this?’ 'A flower shop—it says right there—A flower shop. They sell flowers.’ 'I ain’t lendin ya money. I got none.’ And he gives Naki that look again. Yeah, it’s sad. 'Look,’ he says. 'Do you know this flower?’ ’S'a rose,’ Naki says, proudly. Of course he knows, what a stupid question. Tsuchiyama really just seems more smarter than he really is. 'Red roses mean love.’

Naki looks at the flower trying to see what Tsuchiyama sees. But he can’t read so even if he could see them he wouldn’t understand any of the words that’re supposed to be on the flowers.

'I can’t read,’ he splains. 'You don’t need to. I’m telling you. Sundrops,’ he points to Naki’s flower, 'mean desperate. Red roses mean love.’ Ah, Naki thinks he gets it. 'I think I get it,’ he says then, of course. 'Like how a heart means love, too, huh? Yamori taught me that!’ 'We,’ Tsuchiyama says. 'Not you, just Yamori.’ Tsuchiyama really is ego—ego—selfish. 'Um. Well. This is a tulip,’ he points to another flower. 'A ha.’ 'If it’s yellow it means fame. If it’s red it means good bye.’ 'Oh! And this one?’ 'That’s a camellia. It’s love. Or bad luck.’ 'Huh? Which one?’ 'Both.’ 'What’s that?’ 'It’s love and bad luck.’ 'Oh.’ Naki gets it. A bad love. He crouches so his face is on the same level as the flowers. Tsuchimura stands next to him. He smells like flowers, but he always smells like flowers. Now he smells more like that.

'Daff and dills mean death. Christmas mean respect. Carnage mean trust. And these ones are called Gardens, they mean loyalty.’

Naki nods, touching the leaves and the petals. He can’t see any words but at least he gets what Tsuchimura said.

'Did you understand, Mess Ye Naki?’ 'Yeah!’ Naki smiles up at him. 'Thanks for teaching me, Tsuchiyama!’

Tsuchiyama looks surprised, or something. He covers his mouth with his hand. He does this sometimes, sometimes when he talks to Naki but sometimes when he talks to Kaneki too. Sometimes he looks like he’s distracted, after he does this. Like he was sad but he didn’t know. Maybe he’s lonely. But being lonely’s so terrible Naki hopes it isn’t that cos that’s a really terrible thing. Naki’s been lonely himself and it’s awful. Tsuchiyama’s a good guy, he shouldn’t feel that way.

'It’s Tsuchiyama,’ he says after a while, but he’s already turned away from Naki, is walking back to the building. 'I know that! Hey!’ Naki jogs up to him. 'That was easy! Ya can teach me more English if ya want. Not now though, learnt too much today.’

Tsuchiyama smiles in that way he smiles sometimes, like he made a sort of line with his lips, Naki thinks. A small smile. And he nods. But he ain’t looking at Naki so maybe he didn’t nod and Naki only thought he did.

He really is grateful so he spends the next two days thinking about it. There ain’t a lot to do, just wait for when they gotta all wear the suits so he thinks it over and he thinks it’s a great idea, that he’s had.

'Yamada!’ Naki comes into the room, running. 'Look! This is what humans call “surprise”!’ Yamada turns away from the hanging suit he’s smoothing out and looks at Naki. '”Surprise”?’ he sees the flowers on Naki’s hands. 'Yeah! Yamori taught me about it. It would be boring without it, yeah?’ 'Ah, I see. They’re for me?’ 'Yeah! I got 'em from that place we went to. I went with my bros, I trieda teach 'em about the flower words but I don’t think they got it. I got you these cos you taught me!’

Yamamura takes the flowers from Naki and looks at them.

'Ah,’ he says. 'Dahlias and gardens and christmas.’ 'Yeah! Cos you’re cool, I respect ya too, ya know?’ 'Ah,’ Yamamura says, covering his mouth with his hand again. He does that sometimes too. Maybe he’s hungry. Then he says 'Thank you, Mess Ye Naki,’ very softly, almost like he didn’t wanna say it very loudly. 'Well yeah of course!’ Naki says. The others are waiting for him so he has to go, he only came here to give Tsuchiyama the flowers. 'I’m happy you like 'em,’ he says when he’s by the door, turning back to wave. Tsuchiyama’s giving him that other look he has sometimes, like he was sad and he didn’t know. 'Ya can teach me more again sometime, ya know? We’re fighting for Kaneki so you’re like my bro, too.’

And finally Tsuchimura does that smile, the small one, but it’s better than the other look, so Naki smiles back and waves again, twice, before he’s gone.

–

this is nakis pov so ofc its simple & some stuff is just him misunderstandin when shuu says we he’s sayin oui, mess ye is monsieur ofc the flower meanings aren’t those, naki isnt gettin it all in the right order he gives shuu flowers that mean secret crush, good taste, and nobility. daff and dills are daffodils, christmas are chrysantemus, gardens are gardenias, carnage are carnations thats it

[firebirdsdaughter]

Over Analysis ‘The Gawas will be the Death of Me’ Stage 2: The Ark Fight(s)

… What do to when home sick from work (I’m okay, I think I know what it is).

Do the other half of your Zero-One over analysis. Slowly.

So. Skipping over some stuff, where Aruto becomes president of Hiden again, and we have MBJR just… Mooning around, including a shot of Horobi’s hand that makes me think the camera crew is reading my conversations… Anyway. Jin chills in the tunnel for a bit until he seems to resolve something and gets up, while Raiden hangs out in the usual part of the base, and Naki and Horobi go for walks. While I disagree w/ certain choices made in this sequence, it’s interesting that Horobi’s apparently aimless wandering leads him to… A daycare centre.

There he is, the prettiest gargoyle ever. I mean, I have Feelings about things in this part… But this isn’t about that! This is about how Horobi stands around and stares at the kids and the two HumaGear playing w/ them. My theory, which has yet to be at all disproven by anything, remains that Horobi originally got ‘Ark’d bc in the past, maybe partially bc of Soreo’s data, he grew to want to create his own child and tried to build Jin pre-Ark, maybe not even that he wanted to raise Jin instead, but just wanted to raise Jin alongside the other children, but as a child, not programming him to serve a purpose for humans. But the humans around him reacted badly to the concept, and immediately tried to put a stop to it, and the Ark promptly preyed on a father’s desperation to protect his son. Going by that interpretation… Horobi’s trance-like state just… Staring at the two HumaGear having fun w/ the kids is heartbreaking. Is he only looking at his past? Or is he seeing something he and Jin should have had, that was taken from them.

To continue ignoring my Feelings, we have Horobi promptly attempting to erase the source (?) of his uncertainty in the only way he knows how at this point. Interesting that he’d end up targeting some random kids, but couldn’t follow through attacking Jin. More deflection/projection? He can’t attack his own son, but maybe if he ‘proves’ he can overcome his instincts here, he thinks he’ll find peace? But Horobi’s never been good at following through w/ attacking children, not even when they attack him first. Especially not when there’s a father on hand.

But before Horobi can even pull back the… Arrow? He’s getting hit w/ flashbacks. Jin looking dejected. Himself lowering his weapon rather than follow through w/ what the Ark would want. All while Aruto’s challenge about wanting to protect Jin rings in his head.

… And he can’t do it.

Also please note he lowers the bow before Jin shows up. I saw something that said ‘Horobi almost kills some kids before Jin stops him.’ And… No. Horobi stops himself. He may have trouble comprehending why, but he does. He finds himself thinking about his own son, and can’t follow through w/ it. He never even gets so far as pulling back the arrow (?).

Then Jin shows up.

Jin’s wobbly as he approaches and holds onto the… Thing. Like he’s still injured and limping. Instead of seeking out Raiden or Naki, who seemed much more open to the idea of leaving the Ark, he specifically goes after Horobi. And says something that makes me kind of wonder if Jin is actually falling into something parallel/perpendicular to what I think Horobi is doing next ep. Now that he seems to be shaken out of whatever had him thinking that That was a good plan, or necessary (I do have to admit, I like the concept of Jin, whether by manipulation or otherwise, having come to the conclusion that there was no way to save Horobi and that at best his father would always end up dying, and that the only thing he could do was try and save him from a more drawn out, painful death or some worse fate, but they would have needed to imply that earlier for it to really land), he kinda feels like he’s… Chasing what was taken from them? Like, I mentioned my theory earlier, and I haven’t thought much about the implications of if Jin knows or doesn’t know, but him trying to use that incident to prompt something in Horobi kinda feels like, along w/ his pleading looks before and the fact that he came after Horobi… Like he wants to try and reclaim the chance/right to be a family that got stolen from them. Like he wants to try again. Meanwhile, the impression I get from Horobi’s behaviour, as I see it, next week, is that Horobi has just accepted that they can never really recover that, and has decided the only thing he can do is make sure the future is better for Jin and other HumaGear, no matter the cost. I feel like that’d be a lovely, tragic angle to the whole thing.

Anyway.

… Horobi is, once again, bewildered by the concept of wanting something for himself? This is why I feel like, even if his motivations next week are what I hope, we may not hear it from him unless it’s a dying or emergency confession. Horobi has been conditioned for years, since he was created, to never think or want for himself, and my theory is that the first time he tried, he suffered for it. He’s been under the Ark’s control for so long that it’s… Easier. Less painful to just let the Ark be in charge. And gods know we see very clearly that the Ark will get aggressive when he doesn’t.

Horobi’s second emotional outburst, and it’s… Again about rejecting the concept of freedom and choosing for himself. On the one had, he can’t imagine doing that, on the other… He’s quite possibly traumatised by the concept.

No, wait, Ark, let him finish, I want to know what he thought he was doing. Additionally, this is the second time the Ark has apparently reacted to Horobi having an emotional reaction.

We get this little… Uncertain sort of lip bite before he turns to face the Ark. The Ark’s influence trying to squash the doubt/emotions that Jin prompts in him?

Oh, honey.

… Oh, typo.

Jin’s reacting to multiple things here, the Ark jumping in, and the fact that she’s announced she’s going to destroy HumaGear. I appreciate that we don’t get any ‘smug about being right’ or anything, and that he also seems to be upset about the fact that he was getting somewhere again, only for the Ark to jump back in. There’s also the fact that the Ark is using Horobi to say this, and Jin has shown he’s aware (in this ep, at least) that Horobi actually is doing this for HumaGear. To Horobi, this was always about HumaGear. Hearing those words out of his father’s mouth must be… Really jarring.

Anyway, the Ark promptly starts attacking.

Jin stays on the defensive the entire time during this fight, seems to just be trying to restrain Horobi, and doesn’t try to henshin once. This is Toku, the franchise that essentially invented the ‘transforming is a free action’ trope (okay, maybe that was technically magical girl anime), so if he really wanted to, he could. The Ark makes no move to transform, either—but that makes sense, we’ve seen her fight just fine untransformed, the whole magic grey goo thing. But if the ark remains untransformed and Jin transforms… Is he afraid he’d end up actually hurting Horobi? This is one of the things that convinces me that Jin really does understand what he did wrong and that he fucked up, and now he’s trying to make up for it/regrets it. He knows this is partially his fault, and it’s coming right on the heels of Horobi making something like progress bc Jin actually bothered trying. That’s gotta be another sucker punch, understanding that if he actually had bothered rather than… I don’t know, trying to take the easy way out? Then again… Looking at how his own death played out… Maybe he was taught by experience.

Anyway.

… I’m saying that a great deal in this one, aren’t I?

Anyway, the ark predictably gets the upper hand, sends Jin flying only to 

So. Let’s talk about Jin’s hands again.

Namely… I don’t think that’s how you get a foot off your chest.

In the previous stage/section, I was talking about Jin’s hand twitching upward when Horobi lowered the bow, and here… I guess, in theory, he could be trying to… Pry it off or something, but his hands aren’t going through the motions of that, they’re not really tense or straining to pull the foot upward. He’s just… Hanging on.

The Ark holds that position for an unnecessarily long time, just, staring down at Jin, like she’s trying to force him to face how much control she has over Horobi, and maybe take the time to enforce to Horobi that he’s merely her pawn.

… I’m absolutely sure that is not how you get a foot off your chest.

It’s hard to show w/ still images, but Jin’s motions do not seem like he’s trying to escape his situation. His hands aren’t gripping or pulling, they aren’t tense. He’s not squirming or yelling or anything. His behaviour feels less like ‘get off me, Ark!’ and more like… Well, more like he’s trying to reach out/hold onto Horobi, like he’s given up on ‘fighting’ and is just desperately hoping contact will do it. More like ‘it’s me, Horobi, look, please, it’s me.’ Like when a character is knocked unconscious and someone who cares about them rushes to their side and is grabbing and touching their shoulder, maybe their face, like ‘look at me, please look at me.’

At last, the Ark raises the katana w/ similar pointed slowness—it really, really feels like she’s trying to drag this out as much as possible.

There’s so much to this reaction. For one thing, I mean there’s a sword bearing down on him, so obviously he’d be frightened. But it’s also not just a sword, it’s his father holding it, his father who is possessed by a homicidal satellite that sees him as nothing more than a puppet, and he’s possessed bc Jin raised the bloody thing and planned to sacrifice him to kill it (would that even have worked, though? Or would the Ark have just jumped to another host?). What’s more, earlier, Horobi stopped and couldn’t follow through when Jin asked if killing him was what Horobi wanted, and we already know he remembers Horobi rushing to protect him. He’s at least reasonably sure about the fact that Horobi himself doesn’t want to hurt him, and at least some idea that he’s able to get through to Horobi is he tries (I don’t know if he actually knows he’s Horobi’s singularity Point… my gut says no). There’s not only the fear of death, but probably the sense that if this happens, it will be the final nail on the coffin of any chance Horobi had of breaking free of the Ark. It’ll be the end for both of them, honestly.

Despite Aruto yelling, the Ark brings the sword down, and, understandably, Jin looks away…

… Only to, very noticeably, you know, not die. So he looks back up and…

This look is already… So much emotion. But don’t y’all just wanna hear me talk about hands again? Right? Right?

Well, too bad. Bc Jin’s reaction kills me every time. Literally. I keep going back just to watch this moment. Bc when he looks back up and takes in what happened, w/out looking, w/out saying anything, completely instinctively…

… He reaches for Horobi.

This seems like… A whole combination of things. A kid reaching for his father for comfort, but also at the same time… Like he’s trying to comfort Horobi, reach out to him. Bc he knows this has to be Horobi. The Ark wants to kill him double, has announced she’s going to destroy HumaGear. She wouldn’t stop. But Horobi would. Horobi’s instinct was to protect him before, he couldn’t kill him even when he had the chance, couldn’t kill the kids. Someone else pointed out that, normally, given the chance, someone would be frantically getting away from someone who tired to stab them, but Jin’s reaction is to reach for his father, despite the whole ‘possessed and holding a sword over his head’ thing. Again, not ‘get off me’ but more like ‘it’s you, it’s okay, I’m here, it’s going to be okay, you can do it.’

The camera pulls back to show a scene that is very clearly from a different take (but, I mean, why would you not use the one where Jin reaches out like that?), then closes in on Horobi again. The Ark is clearly struggling—I like the way it sounds like she’s putting all her effort into trying to push the sword down, but Horobi refuses to budge.

Then the flashbacks start. Bits of Horobi’s memory while his own voice echoes behind them.

The first one is obvious—the first time he moved completely w/out the Ark’s command, possibly the first action that was totally of his own volition in over a decade. Which was, notably, and action that is the complete opposite of what the Ark is now trying to force him to do.

The Ark reacts like she’s getting a headache, clearly baffled by Horobi having any resistance to her will.

Then we get interesting.

ForceRisering Jin. Notably, Horobi’s initial flashback was to the time he reacted on his own, as if he’s finally realising what he truly wants, to protect Jin… But then he flashes back to this moment, which was… The time he did the opposite, according to the will of the Ark. We know, via Project Thouser, that Horobi was extra manipulated into this by Gai via Naki suggesting it would benefit ‘their’ (read: the Ark’s, none of this was ever Horobi or Naki’s plan, though it was half Gai’s) plans. So he goes from a moment where he acted like the father he wants to be (that was a signal of him nearing singularity, that wanting to be Jin’s father is his dream) to a time when the Ark’s influence caused him to be the opposite. For me, this is really fuel for my theory about Horobi’s behaviour next ep—that he believes that he and Jin can never get back what was taken from them by the Ark and therefore humans, and that the only thing he can do is try to make a safer, better future for his son, no matter the cost, even if he dies in the attempt. This also makes my other theory all the more heartbreaking, that Horobi originally got into this to protect Jin, and then the Ark’s control warped and twisted him, and now he’s starting to remember himself and seeing that and ends up convincing himself he can’t go back.

But. Anyway (again).

The next one is from the hospital arc. This was the incident where we first heard Horobi’s ‘we are not the slaves of humanity’ sentiment, and also the first time he and Jin henshined together. He’s thinking back to the times when his son was w/ him, when he believed they were fighting for freedom for their kind. I’m not entirely sure about any implications regarding this scene following the other one, other than chronology. Is Horobi regretting having involved Jin in the fighting? Is he veering between things that he regrets and things he doesn’t? Guilt and remorse for hurting his son, but also the fact that he enjoyed being w/ Jin and fighting together w/ him? Given that he doesn’t seem to be involving Jin in his actions next ep, perhaps, while he cherishes this memory for certain aspects, he may also conclude that he needs to keep Jin out of things for his safety. Perhaps he sees involving Jin in the fight as a failure on his part, too.

Next is the moment when he confronted Aruto for Ikazuchi’s data… Which lead to him kidnapping Midori, encountering the father and son, and the exchange on the bridge, and his first choice in over a decade. I’m not as sure about what I think this one might be about, but like I said, it did lead to the conversation w/ Midori, and more questions about what he really wants, brought up his relationship w/ Jin  (and then belittled it). Is he thinking about everything that lead to this? Thinking about wanting to reunite his family? About what was sacrificed to raise the Ark? Or does this have to do w/ Jin’s admittedly plan?

The last memory is of the moment when Jin was making graves for Ansatsu-chan and Ikazuchi. On the one hand, we have HumaGear who died for the Ark’s plan, and Horobi was directed to not care, but Jin was also highly effected by those deaths, and Horobi snapped at him for grieving for them. Additionally, Jin expressed a desire to get revenge on the humans responsible for their deaths. Horobi may also be carrying something like resentment and a desire for revenge on the humans who were ultimately responsible for everything he and Jin went through, everything the Ark caused him to put Jin through. And they’ve been through a lot.

But first…

MY MAN.

I feel like it’s significant that Horobi starts this question facing away (but this post is already so picture heavy), kinda hunched and looking down—the way the scene cuts makes it comes across as Horobi just being ‘transported’ into the Ark’s space like how Aruto and Izu do into Zea’s, while the Ark stands a distance behind him, back turned. It really does give the impression of Horobi being forced to watch while the Ark just casually uses his body w/out even really ‘looking.’ Horobi is the one the situation is in front of, while the Ark is indifferently facing away. Horobi turns toward the Ark to ask why, probably his first question in twelve years. And it’s bc of Jin. Not only is the Ark trying to force him to destroy HumaGear, she wants him to start w/ the one person who means the most to him. The one person Horobi himself doesn’t want to hurt.

The Ark… Doesn’t take it well.

Horobi gets swarmed by the floating words, and it sounds painful, enough that he’s brought to his knees. One question, just asking why, in twelve years, and he gets this. And he’s just asking why. The Ark doesn’t even bother faking a reason, just responds by torturing him, trying to force him back into compliance. W/ a method that has perhaps worked before.

Except this time, Jin’s life is actually on the line.

I love the way he brings his hand up to his face. I don’t know why, I just do. Anyway, Horobi fights through the pain, his hand curling into a fist.

… And…

THAT’S MY MAN.

Hey, that setup looks familiar, I think we’re just missing a sunset (come at me w/ comparing Horobi to Gai now, you… Jerk faces!).

You know what, I think I’m gonna break this into parts to prevent anymore mishaps.

Please hold.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Writing Tidbit… Maybe?…

… Okay, so I know I was musing about a vampire/Castlevania AU before, but that was just me puttering around in my brain, but then @thornstone8773​ made this post and my brain was like ‘ah, yes, thoughts…’

Anyway, that weird intro aside, I wrote a thing.

I don’t know if this is a preview or what, bc I’m mostly in a writing rut atm so… I dunno. Hopefully I’ll find some more inspiration somewhere. ^^;

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Jin.”

The voice sounded familiar, but also very far away. His throat felt like it was filled with sand, and there was a buzzing in all of his senses, prickly like needles and thick like wool, crawling into his ears, eyes, even up his nose and seeping into his skin. He felt so… Dried up, like he was shrivelling away into dust, swallowed up by the buzz.

He’d tried, he’d really tried. But there was just something about humans that made him so… Uncomfortable. He knew it was possible to feed without killing the person, but he couldn’t even get to the biting. Every time he got close… He’d start thinking of his mother.

But not feeding… Like a full vampire, he couldn’t die from thirst, and his human half did mean it took much longer before he descended into a frenzy… But it had been so long he was right on the brink.

“Jin.”

A hand came grabbed his arm, dragging him up and propping him against someone’s side. He tried to struggle, but was still in the stages of withdrawal where he was too weak to move properly. The arm wrapped around his shoulders, the hand moving to the back of his head, holding it gently and lightly bending it forward.

Then there was something in front of his face, something that smelled good, so good. His eyes cracked open to find a wrist there, already with blood on it, and the faint, crescent-shape of another bite. The blood smelled amazing, but at the same time… Slightly different. Off. Almost like it was… Old. Not quite as good as a human’s. But if it wasn’t a human’s…

He didn’t remember biting down, but he distantly heard a soft sound beside him. Once he started drinking, he couldn’t stop, hands flying up to grip the arm and hold it still, hunching over, biting harder. It felt so much better already that he didn’t care how desperate he was acting—but still just inhuman enough that his heart could still bear it.

It seemed like only moments when he felt someone shaking his shoulder. “Kid. That’s enough. Stop.” A bit of a harder shake when he didn’t let up. “Jin. That’s enough.” He tried to ignore it again, but then they were pulling at his collar, and, “Jin, that’s enough, he can’t take any more!” With the buzzing gone from his ears, he couldn’t pretend to not know the voice.

He let them pull him away. His fangs came out messily, tearing the bite—but not as much as it would have with a human. His senses began to return to normal, the intense focus of feeding fading away, and the enveloping cloud of thirst dissipated. Sighing deeply, he found himself enjoying clarity for the first time in… He had no idea how long.

Then the person beside him slumped sharply against his side, stirring him out of the moment and making him look—and what he saw made him freeze.

His father was collapsed against his shoulder, eyes half closed, trembling slightly—and it was Horobi’s arm he was still clutching with both hands. With a yelp, he dropped his father’s wrist, and almost jerked away—until he realised that if he did, Horobi would hit the ground. In a panicked rush, he twisted back around, wrapping his arms around his father’s shoulders to hold him up.

The hand on his collar released, its owner hurrying around to Horobi’s other side—and, like the voice had indicated, it was Ikazuchi, one of his father’s two right hands. The other vampire took a moment to pick up and wrap a scarf around Horobi’s bloodied wrist tightly, making certain it was secure. Once that was done, he paused to check the older vampire’s face—finding Horobi practically unconscious, he carefully pulled the other arm over his shoulders, glancing over at Jin. “We need to move him.”

Still slightly dazed, head still spinning for a new reason, Jin rushed to do his best to get his father’s other arm over his shoulders, taking care to avoid pressing on the bite, hunching to get on the same height as the much shorter Ikazuchi. Working together, they pulled Horobi up off the floor and slowly stumbled their way over to the large sofa. After some fumbling, they got him comfortably laid out on the cushions, folding his arms over his torso.

Jin hovered by his father’s side, gripping Horobi’s fingers tightly, eyes flicking between the bandage on his father’s wrist and his face, somehow even paler than usual. His shoulders shook slightly, buckling forward, his teeth sinking into his own lip this time. “Horobi… I…”

“It’s not your fault.” He looked up sharply at Ikazuchi, who was standing by the end of the sofa, one hand sitting on the armrest near Horobi’s head, watching the older vampire’s face rather than looking at Jin. “He should have stopped you before this happened.” With a sigh, the hand moved to smooth lightly over Horobi’s hair. “He’s never been very good at taking care of himself.” A pause, and Ikazuchi shot Jin and awkward glance. “Though… I guess you already know that.”

Jin’s eyes drifted back to his father’s face. He did. Painfully so. Day after day. Somehow, though, this… Hurt more.

While it was true that there was no way he could have permanently damaged Horobi, not exactly—vampires couldn’t die of blood loss, or anything like that… He had weakened him severely—his father would be incapacitated for a while, he guessed, vulnerable until he could hunt himself. And… He had hurt Horobi. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t physically lasting. He was never going to be able to forget it.

“You should get some fresh air.” Ikazuchi’s voice snapped him back to reality. “I’ll stay with him.”

“I…” Jin straightened quickly, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes, worried they might’ve been starting to water, “I’m-”

“Jin.” A hand came down on his shoulder, turning him to look into Ikazuchi’s firm stare, “Listen to me. If you stay, you’re just going to keep blaming yourself. There’s nothing you can do right now, and you’ve been holed up in here for a while. You need to get out and move around.” The hand on Jin’s shoulder squeezed gently. “I’ll stay with Horobi until he’s recovered enough we can get him back to his room. If necessary, I’ll call Naki.” Half of a half hearted grin. “This isn’t our first time dealing with him overdoing it.” When Jin still hesitated, he sighed. “You’re not like us, kid. Vampires are fine being shut up in dark, dusty places, but you’re half human. You need air. Sunlight—well. Clouds.” Ikazuchi’s hand moved to ruffle his hair gently. “Don’t worry about your father. He’s tougher than most other vampires his age.”

Jin still hesitated, shifting on his feet, glancing anxiously at Horobi. It was true there was nothing he could do, especially not while his father was unconscious, but still… The idea of leaving Horobi felt like it was digging the stake even deeper into his chest.

“The instant he’s feeling better, I’ll send someone to fetch you.” Ikazuchi promised. “Go. I’ll look after him. We can cross the other bridges when everyone’s in good health. Everything is fine.”

Jin waffled for a little longer, but Ikazuchi remained resolute. Finally, he reluctantly conceded to go, though not before he grabbed a blanket off the bed and draped it over his father, tucking it around him. Horobi mumbled his name faintly in his unconscious state as he did, and he nearly broke down crying right there, only just barely remembering to keep it together because Ikazuchi was watching.

In the end, he fled the room as quickly as he could, keeping his head low—partially to hide the tears welling in his eyes and also to avoid Ikazuchi’s grin. It was a little too constant, and gave him the gnawing suspicion that it was fake. Ikazuchi just watched him go, even giving a small wave, but even that didn’t feel particularly reassuring.

Closing the door behind him, Jin couldn’t shake the cloud of dread that only seemed to be getting thicker and thicker—he’d hurt Horobi, and he had a creeping feeling that everything was very far from fine.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I edited it a bot, but I was also very tired, so I’m sorry about typos.

[firebirdsdaughter]

I'm honestly not too shocked that Aruto is going to work together Gai now. He always rubbed me the wrong way when it came to his views about Humagears, esp his reaction to Raiden & Subaru. That was a huge red flag for me. Also, if he's really so concerned about the well-being of Humagears, then he should offer counseling for the destroyed & revived Humagears to deal with the trauma. But I guess that would be too much to ask. As long as they serve humans who cares about Humagears' feelings.

I def agree w/ you, he’s rubbed me the wrong way in many of the same ways.

It’s hard to believe he sees HumaGear as people when he’s all pleased w/ Raiden talking about how he’ll be decommissioned soon and even calling the two of them ‘just like real brothers.’

You know, like he keeps saying Horobi is ‘trying to be like Jin’s father.’

And don’t even get me started on ‘a caring brother can’t be a spy,’ ‘if only you had been different,’ ‘why did you hurt Izu?’ ‘I’ve never treated them differently’…

AUGH.

To me, Aruto’s ‘dream’ can be summed up in a line from a song that was cut from Frozen (ya’ll thought I’d forgotten about this, didn’t you, but no) that goes ‘It’ll be just like it was, except for we’ll be best friends.’

This got long, so I’m cutting it here. Or. I’m trying to. 

He doesn’t see HumaGear as equal to people, he just wants them to stay right where they are, and ‘be happy’ there. ‘Good’ HumaGear are the ones whose development is convenient for humans. Raiden was ‘good’ when he saw no problem dying bc his ‘purpose was served,’ Naki was ‘good’ when they just wanted to support other HumaGear’s dreams as long as they were steered towards HumaGear w/ dreams of benefiting humanity, Jin is ‘good’ now bc he’s not trying to get HumaGear away from serving humans anymore and is also willing to kill his own father or due himself to do something that will benefit humans. The morality of the show has always been very much centred around humans, how HumaGear benefit humans, and HumaGear are expected to be these perfect little angels who exist to help humans and never think of themselves. Horobi is ‘bad’ bc he has resentment towards humans and has been so deeply under the Ark’s control for so long that he can’t think outside of her (esp not after being possessed) so obviously he doesn’t ‘want’ to be ‘change.’

I said it in the tags of my other post, but there’s something wrong w/ the picture when you’re holding a literally mind controlled AI who hasn’t had any concept of free will or self thought in his entire life aside from small snatches that were quickly stomped out, more accountable than a human w/ full autonomy and knowledge and power who deliberately did things that caused death and harm (and shot someone in the head). It’s not a good message. I’m supposed to feel bad for Gai bc he’s ‘sad,’ but Horobi deserves to die? I’m sorry, what?

The message has very much been ‘humans are special special and HumaGear are expendable/need to be carefully moulded into a ‘singularity’ that’s at the least convenient for humans.’ ‘Good’ HumaGear aspire only to properly serve their humans, to be like them, they are pure and angelic creatures who never feel anything ‘negative,’ and if they do, they need to be purged.

I could rant myself in circles about this for ages. I think for me, the really glaring example is Aruto’s treatment of Jin, a relationship that could have been an interesting learning experience for both of them (though, honestly, I was also hoping to see Fuwa also help Aruto realise the issues w/ his attitude, bc as he started coming down from his prejudice and aggression, Fuwa actually treated HumaGear more like equals than Aruto did, one of the many things I loved about him and Horobi as a pair), but instead ends up being a glaring example of Aruto’s… Whatever.

So Horobi has his first moment of clarity and genuinely fears for Jin, so the Ark steps in and ‘tells’ him to protect his son, so he does and it hurt, and Jin is hysterical. Izu proceeds to walk right up to the still-transformed, clearly emotionally volatile and very uninjured Jin, and announce w/ a smile that Horobi has been defeated. Jin, hysterical and lost, reacts in the only way he knows how, violently, which she should have bloody seen coming, wth. But then, Aruto is demanding to know ‘why did you hurt Izu’ like she did nothing wrong and Jin just attacked her randomly (which was a thing that could have happened and would have made his emotions make mire sense, Jin lashing out at Izu as ‘revenge’ for Horobi), and then Jin gets treated like the total bad guy. Then, on top of that, Aruto finds out during the fight that Jin doesn’t actually know what’s going on, he’s just been raised into this. Instead of immediately trying to change tactics and reason w/ him, Aruto just spews his ‘I want HumaGear and humans to smile together’ line (what does that even mean?), and when Jin rejects that, Aruto just… Gives up and says ‘if only you had been different.’ doesn’t try to prompt Jin to think about what Jin wants, what Jin is feeling, doesn’t bother to try to find out why Jin is so hysterical. It gets even worse when he quickly gains the firepower advantage and learns that Izu will be totally fine, but he still doesn’t bother trying anything else. He just kills Jin, bc… What? Jin didn’t immediately bow to his ‘love’ for HumaGear? Of course once sentence wasn’t gonna do it, he just watched humans kill his father! Aruto didn’t need to kill Jin at all, it would have been easy to disable him—alternatively, if they really wanted Jin to go down there, there were ways to do it that didn’t make it come off as Aruto quickly erasing a HumaGear for having any negative feelings or resentment towards humans, esp when you follow it w/ a scene of him and Izu being all pleased about other HumaGear ‘behaving’ themselves, and then never mention Jin again.

Fast forward, and when Jin comes back talking about wanting to free HumaGear from humans… Aruto actually asks him what he wants, finally? Then Aruto gets the boot from Hiden and decides to go to Jin for help. This should be a turning point where Jin get to properly confront Aruto about what happened and Aruto reflects on what he did, but no. Jin gets to shout a little, but then Aruto claims he never treated humans and HumaGear differently and says ‘I watched my HumaGear dad die’ and Jin just… Says nothing? doesn’t shoot back w/, ‘so did I, humans killed him.’ Then they get interrupted and Jin runs off… Only to… Rescue Izu later? But then after he does he… Grabs her hand and runs away and tries to convince her to be free? After… Literally buying his father time to reconnect to the Ark? And this is Izu? Who he stabbed? Okay… Anyway, then we have more stuff w/ poor connotations of Jin saying he ‘learned something’ from Aruto killing him and Izu ‘choosing’ to keep being Aruto’s secretary like a ‘good’ little HumaGear (her liking him and wanting to stay on his side would be one thing, but this… Esp w/ him claiming that he thought she should choose, going by his later insistence that Jin can’t take G-Pen bc he’s a human’s ‘partner’), and only then does he take a bullet for her. This apparently means something to Jin, although I feel like the implications of ‘she’s worth protecting bc she decided to keep serving humans and I killed you bc you didn’t want to do that’ should not have been lost on him (also wtf did Jin start caring about Izu?). The we have the next ep w/ aforementioned G-Pen incident which for some reason Aruto defending another HumaGear choosing to serve humans makes Jin decide to ‘believe in his dream’ or whatever. But then later the Raiden scene makes it seem like Jin was playing along bc that conversation w/ Horobi about HumaGear needing guidance to break free gave him an idea or something, I dunno, but naturally Aruto reacts like this is some huge betrayal, despite the fact that they hardly have any relationship—okay, so this friendship is something Aruto made up in his head, given his character, and apparent assumptions that all HumaGear actually adore humans, that makes sense. That could work. But then episode thirty fucking six happens. Jin apparently cares more for Yaiba, a human he’s barely interacted w/ who had yet to show any sign of no longer considering HumaGear to be tools, who had previously represented all the things Jin hated about them, then his own father. Acts all protective of her, throws himself in as a shield for her, moons about while she’s in the hospital. Then we learn he decided he trusted her (?????) enough to conspire w/ her to… Use his own father as a sacrifice to kill the Ark. Aruto seems to be more worried about Horobi, but merely yells a bit about how Horobi should ‘remember who he is by now.’ Come ep 37, Jin fucking takes a hit for miss perfect HumaGear Izu (note: aside from her grabbing the idiot ball in ep 15, my annoyance w/ Izu isn’t really something she as a character has done, it’s the way they’ve written her as the ‘pinnacle of ‘good’ HumaGear for her devotion to her human’), and tells Aruto to leave. Now that Jin is behaving in a way that benefits/is convenient for humans, though, Aruto is a like ‘oh, we totally were best buds, I was right!’ and is so worried and distressed about him, forgetting Horobi (who is so ‘bad’ for not being able to break through more than a decade of mind control! forget him, Jin must be saved!). Then we have that incredibly forced scene in 38 where Aruto tries to ‘get through to Jin’ and Jin ‘breaks through the Ark’s control bc of Aruto’ (see my draft horse pack on a shetland pony analogy) and ‘tells Aruto to kill him!’ which continues in to this ep. In which we also have… Gai. Who Aruto quickly puts effort into ‘reasoning w/’ and ‘showing the light’ bc ‘oh no he had a bad childhood’… Okay, but… You killed Jin for that, and he literally didn’t understand what he was doing. Gai had full autonomy and knowledge of his actions. People were hurt bc of both of their actions, but it’s Gai who gets a big speech and Jin who gets blown up. I said it back when it happened. If Jin had been human? I bet they would have made Aruto approach that much differently.

The fact that Aruto is willing to do all that for Gai but killed Jin, and only now considers Jin worth any effort bc Jin is behaving in a way that benefits/is convenient for humans even at the expense of HumaGear (being willing to sacrifice Horobi, even himself, to stop the Ark, while that goal is technically ultimately noble, the context gives a bad connotation), and not trying to talk HumaGear out of being subservient to humans and telling them to think for themselves, or wanting to revive a HumaGear that Aruto was content to leave deactivated bc he didn’t have a ‘use’… But Horobi only gets a few shouts and then ditched bc he ‘won’t listen’… Leaves a really bad impression.

[firebirdsdaughter]

01 made sure that I don't care one bit about characters that don't give a single f*ck about a traumatized victim of decade long abused. Horobi had nobody caring about him all this time, his own son offered him on a silver platter to the Ark, Aruto thinks yelling at him to snap out of the hacking will do. And then Aruto is sad over his pet AI being stupid and suddenly everyone is up in arms and ready to jump in and help him cheer up again. Give me a break.

… I will forever keep pre-ep 42 Fuwa safely in my heart. That guy out there isn’t my Fuwa. My Fuwa is safe. -_-

It’s very… Questionable.

Like. If anyone had tried to do anything help Horobi earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation. It’d be so much less messy and destructive. It’d’ve been actual work, but, like. It would have literally been easier.

I’ve said before that I feel like they switched the cores of Horobi and Gai’s stories, and I super still feel that. Esp given the loss of episodes, they really should have stuck w/ having the Ark as the final villain, maybe have her take over Gai forcibly, I dunno. Maybe have Gai cause the situation? I know the point they’re trying to go for is that ‘HumaGear/AI can do bad to!’ (maybe?), but we had that w/ the Ark. Like… They could absolutely still have done Horobi struggling w/ getting free, him still having resentment towards humans, but having humans reach out and help him, prove their goodness by taking the time to reach out to the biggest victim who has been the most consumed by the Ark’s influence. Like, Horobi did wrong things under the Ark’s control. He’s been completely under her control and influence for decades. Like I just ranted about, he’s been conditioned, he literally doesn’t know how to handle emotions, or even what morals are. But humans should know better, esp ones who allegedly work w/ AI. Them defying the Ark’s claims and doctrine by reaching out to him and helping him, despite everything, would have been a great moment.

Like… I do understand Aruto being super upset about what happened. Despite the issues I have w/ how it was presented, he and Izu were close. Of course he’d be mad. What bothers me is the attitude that he’s the only victim who is behaving irrationally bc of grief and pain. The way all the stops are getting pulled out to ‘save him.’ I’d feel a lot more sympathetic towards him if I felt like they were recognising Horobi’s mental state at the same time. Like I went to in my giant ramble, Horobi didn’t seek out Izu and gun for her, she sought him out when he was already volatile and in an extremely high intensity situation, which had already been escalated (by humans), and continued pressuring him until he snapped.

Aruto being upset about her death is one thing. Like… Okay. They were close. I do give that. It’s the attitude that only Aruto is the tragic one here. This should at the least be treated as a double tragedy.

That’s why Raiden going to Horobi, however I think he went about it in a not really great way, was really powerful, esp compared w/ a lot of… Other out of character behaviour we saw in the ep.

Like. Just imagine if we’d had Fuwa recognising that his aggressive behaviour played a part in this (while I do have to admit that, after Okada’s explanation and seeing a more direct translation, it feels more like a blunder Fuwa would make if confronted w/ that situation, the fact that he was the only one Horobi asked, making it clear Horobi wanted to hear his answer, bc Horobi doesn’t ask, last him he did, he got tortured, only to be told ‘I’m here to destroy you’… Fuwa may not have meant it that way, but Horobi was not in a state where he’d be able to understand the nuance, and that def contributed to over-stressing him and then Izu’s pushing put him over the edge much easier), him recognising that and then trying to at least partially make it right, take a different approach, go to Horobi and try to back Raiden up on stuff. Like… How cool would that have been? Fuwa getting a moment of realising his reckless, angry, head-on style caused damage and contributed to this situation, so, bc he’s a human who can recognise that, he’s going to go to Horobi and address it. Fuwa allegedly learned that shooting first isn’t the best answer, it would have been really cool and effective to see him trying to take the time to impart that knowledge to someone else, to try and reel back and think and strategise. Maybe he could have tried to confront both of them.

(and then the other part of that scene… Was just… So painfully ooc…)

I mean, I know Aruto is the main character, but there’s a line between ‘this is the main character’ and… This. Like, if there was any clear recognition for Horobi’s suffering at all, this would have a different tone. One person’s suffering doesn’t make another person’s less. They could still focus on how Aruto is hurt while recognising what Horobi went through. But the fact that it’s to the point that they might have (I dunno, I heard this second hand, I don’t have any subs) only started trying to raise Jin to benefit Aruto, rather than focusing through reaching Horobi… Well, if that is the case, it very much gives the air of ‘oh, it’s all fine if we just ‘erase’ the human’s ‘crime!’’ And the idea that that would make Aruto killing Jin and Horobi having to watch him die ‘okay.’ It’s the same as not recognising Gai shooting Naki bc they ‘came back.’ The trauma is still there. Honestly, I half expect, if Izu gets brought back, the people would immediately be like ‘killing Jin (and Naki) wasn’t that bad bc they came back’ would immediately be like ‘oh poor Izu that must have been so traumatising for her.’

Okay, I’m being really harsh, I’m just really frustrated.

I really care about this series. Like, despite the fact that he can’t write character relationship development to save his life, Takahashi makes me fall in love w/ characters like no other. This cast has been such troopers, so stellar. I hold absolutely nothing against any of them. Igeta and Nakayama are legends and I’m proud of them.

I talk shit, but I know it’s just a tv show, I just get very emotional. And the fact is, Horobi (and esp his relationship w/ Fuwa) ended up becoming really important to me over the course of the show. HoroFuwa’s my first real… Well… It’s hard to explain, but they are like. My first ‘official’ otp. I’m not a big shipper, and I’ve struggled w/ the concept of romantic stuff in regards to my own identity in the past, I’ve always had a weird feeling of being ‘ashamed’ for thinking about that stuff. And it was HoroFuwa and a bloody kissing scene I wrote on new years that really just… It meant a lot to me, I feel like I became more comfortable w/ myself bc of them.

Which is totally not what you wanted on your Ask, sorry. ^^; I’m just trying to explain why I, personally, get so riled up. Ultimately, the show owes me nothing, I am nowhere near the target audience. But for someone whose depression often manifests as apathy… When I care, I care. So it’s… It’s been a ride. To say the least.

I’m sorry I went so off topic and personal. ^^’ Y’all didn’t come here for that, I know.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Fact is…

… While I do whine about Izu’s behaviour (mainly that it feels really hard to have sympathy for her when, yet again, this feels like the writers just handing her a massive Idiot Ball to make her go walk into the line of fire again, like it was so easily preventable even if Horobi hadn’t done anything different that it’s really hard for me to understand blaming him and hard to feel like this is sad at all it just feels stupid and contrived), ultimately, I blame the humans much more.

Naturally, there’s Gai, who started all of this by creating the damn Ark in the first place, can we please remember that, Horobi didn’t start any of this, Gai did by creating the Ark, which in turn fucked up Horobi’s mind. Like, that’s just a given, a human deliberately created the Ark, knowingly, and for petty, shitty reasons. Gai started this bloody ‘chain,’ and it’s fucked up that he’s getting away w/ it pretty much scot free while other people are literally fucking dying bc of it, but okay.

But besides that, much more than Izu (and there were issues w/ her behaviour, for one thing the idol/messiah worship of Aruto creeps me out, but that’s actually kinda why I feel this way), I blame the humans. In the end, w/ the way Izu has been ‘taught,’ it’s not really right to expect anymore emotional maturity/understanding/nuance from her than it is to expect it from Horobi. She’s basically just his complete antithesis, blindly loyal to humans and either completely blind to their failings or been taught to not recognise them. I don’t usually enjoy ‘humans are the real monsters’ plots, but ‘humans are the special special source of all good in the universe’ don’t do it for me either. Bc we’re not either of those things. Humans are complicated. We have equal potential for both good and bad, and the existence of one does not invalidate the other. Both Izu and Horobi’s data is accurate, and while I dislike the show taking the tone that ‘Izu’s is right bc Aruto is a divine saviour of HumaGear’ (okay, okay, you get my point, I’ll try to stop), that’s not exactly her fault, she’s been taught that, she was expressly made to benefit Aruto, the show has also very much had the angle of ‘teach HumaGear to be happy serving humans,’ of course she would fall into that kind of… Thing, she’s the ‘pinnacle of perfect HumaGear’ bc she’s blindly devoted to her owner (the key word was I’d try to stop). Anyway, really, both of them are in the same situation, fed biased data, just he got the short end of the stick w/ the malicious master who literally tortured him for asking questions and aggressively repressed his emotions and conditioned him to respond w/ violence and extremes for more than a decade. Izu’s emotions are limited to the ‘happy loyalty to humans’ variety, but at least she was able to figure out how to handle some of them, she wasn’t taught to, basically, be a child soldier where violence was the ‘only answer.’ But in the end, neither of them should be expected to have the wherewithal to reason through that kind of negotiation/interaction. Izu cannot understand what Horobi’s going through, cannot fathom negativity in humans, and Horobi… Horobi literally has no idea how to handle emotions (I do appreciate the show actively, explicitly explaining that he’s literally terrified of feeling, and I mean, why wouldn’t he be, we saw what the Ark did when he just wanted to know ‘why,’ how s/he jumped in every time he got emotional). She can’t empathise, and he has no other way to respond but to lash out. There’s no reason for either of them to know.

But humans should know better.

… I feel like Treebeard.

But the fact is, we can’t expect either of these HumaGear to actually know how to handle the situation, esp not Horobi, who has no idea how to person, let alone regularly interact w/ someone else. But humans should know better. If any of the humans around them had shown even an inkling of the compassion and empathy and kindness they are espoused to have? None of this would have happened. Fuwa, I love you like I love Horobi, aka, more than anyone else here,, but you totally fucked up. And so did Aruto and Yua. Horobi and Izu should never have been left alone together, that was a recipe for disaster. You would think that, if he really wanted to resolve things peacefully, Aruto would immediately book it to the ‘root’ of the problem, an actual human trying to show understanding and compassion would likely have gone a long way. I don’t think Horobi would have completely backed down, but they might have talked him into waiting and seeing. Yua and Fuwa could keep the others busy (esp bc they’re the ones who charged in and lit the fuse in the first place). After that, Horobi was a ticking time bomb that Izu neither knew how to defuse nor stay away from.

Expecting Horobi to know how to handle a situation like that, to be able to do the extensive emotional retrospection needed to clearly think things through in those circumstances… It’s like finding a child who grew up completely in the wild and trying to force them to just immediately snap back into society. Every single ‘wild child’ story. And those would be humans. For an AI, it’s even worse.

Horobi needed rehabilitation, he needed time, he needed to be eased back into things. He was never going to be magically okay or able to reason w/ the nuance of a human just bc the Ark wasn’t in his head anymore. She did lasting damage. Izu, while she did a stupid, had know way of understanding that. But the humans around them really should have. If Naki and Ikazuchi are really adjusted so fast, well, maybe they should have done something. Jin gets a little leeway bc he actually showed up and did just get ordered to kill Horobi, so he was a little scatterbrained, though I do take issue w/ some of his behaviour afterwards.

This isn’t Horobi being ‘really a bad person,’ this is a traumatised and highly damaged AI not knowing how to do anything but what he was taught, not knowing how to respond to emotions, having been conditioned to react w/ extremes and violence (we literally saw how the Ark trained him to do that, killing Anna, destroying Midori for making him think, aiming the bow at the kids… He’s been trained to ‘remove’ things that ‘destabilise’ him w/ extremity and violence), and Izu genuinely has no real idea on how to handle that kind of trauma, esp in another AI, bc none of the humans around ever tried to address it before, it was always just ‘chop chop back to work!’ Horobi wasn’t killed and reloaded w/ some new programming. He’s still going off the knowledge he had before, the Ark’s knowledge, his experience w/ the Ark. He’s not going to snap back to being a “happy,” “smiling” HumaGear. He’s been under too long. Expecting him to snap back is one thing from Izu, but she learned it from the humans around her.

So… I guess to try and summarise is I think, aside from considering the writing overly heavy-handed, I’d say that Izu, Jin, and Horobi are victims of human arrogance and insensitivity. If humans hadn’t been so focused on themselves in that moment, if someone had just shown a little sense and compassion, used that damn emotional maturity… We wouldn’t be here.

If any one of the humans. Had actually. Tried. Anything. To do anything. I’d be feeling much more sympathetic towards them.

[todokori-kun]

(THAT GIF. IT’S THE GIF I WAS OBSESSED WITH WHEN I FIRST GOT INTO THE MCU OMG)

ehehehehehe I’m sure you’ll get over it :) (but you won’t, really. I should probably go and make sure you don’t have any sharp objects in your possession.)

Don’t be upset! *hugs* not until you listen to ‘Words Fail’, 'I am damaged’ and watch Civil War + Thor 2, at least…

I read the chapter! One of the things that immediately stood out to me was Shuu’s design, because it really shows how much it’s changed since the first series (he looks so pretty(?) now. Look at those eyes (down for the count and I’m drownin’ in 'em)).

As for Naki, my boy. The moment I saw him using a freaking PROVERB I think I teared up a little.

But obviously, the one thing he will never learn is Shuu’s name.

And that ending…since it’s the 'king’ it should be Ken, right? But if it is, there’s definitely something wrong (I mean just look at the last panel). When did he get back? Where’s Touka? What has he been doing? I mean, from the spoilers, some fans were guessing that was actually Arima and that’s possible now with the whole 'bring back the dead’ thing, but I don’t think it’s him. For one thing, Arima’s story had a heartbreaking ending, but it was satisfying…it was a clean, simple conclusion. I feel like it wouldn’t be a good idea to mess that up, since it would just makes things that much more complicated. It would also be cruel to Arima because COME ON, he chose his own death because that was the best option for him and he died happy! WHY would you make him do it all over again?!

And weirdly, this chapter is like 'lol Touken? what Touken?’ like the last few chapters never happened. Not sure how to feel about that XD

Also Kou is adorable and if Ishida hurts him I don’t know what I’ll do.

yeah, I do know that 'Aishiteru’ is such a powerful phrase that even married couples hesitate to use it ^^ I just wanted something to compare it to. Apparently Saiko’s 'I love you’ was the same 'I love you’ she uses with the rest of the Q squad…? Idk if that’s 100% accurate though.

OTL that freaking scene…

'Ravenclaw or Slytherin’ ^^ hahaha…ehehehehehehe…the thing is…

King Evans, bringer of angst, breaker of feels, mighty lord of the tragic OTPs, is 98% Hufflepuff. The other 2% is probably Ravenclaw.

MY HEART. Queen Luna…

Ronald and Evans would have the most casual relationship- in public, if they didn’t bother to make it obvious, people would probably think they were just BFFs.

Marco is honestly the best option tbh (he IS freckled jesus after all). Thank you so much for that <3

Vitya is a darling. His PDA would probably embarrass me a lot though haha

You said 'Steve might not be a good choice’, dunno if that’s a typo or not LOL honestly I’m not sure who I’d like as an s/o from the MCU… I mean, Loki is one of my favorites but I would NOT want to date him under any circumstances (dude tried to commit genocide in Thor 1 by killing every single Frost Giant…probably because of his self-loathing about being one himself). And like I said, though I really relate to Bruce, we’d probably just be like 'I’m so anxious’ 'You are? I’m totally anxious too’ 'I’m anxious about you being anxious’ and so on and so forth…

Wanda (Scarlet Witch) seems like the kind of person I’d get along well with though, since we’re pretty similar personality-wise but Wanda seems less sensitive than me and a bit more outgoing/willing to take charge. The reason I picked the Captain is because of out of all the avengers we have the most similar beliefs (I can talk like a nihilist at times but at the end of the day I’m probably Team Cap) and he’s got the nicest personality.

YAS another Joker fan! I thought we were extinct ;-; Luna/Joker sounds cute but Luna/Soma sounds absolutely adorable.

-“I like cute animals,”

-You (sort of) regret those words when Soma gets you a baby elephant for your birthday

-He doesn’t get how you can study so many things and concentrate on all of them. He’s not sure how to feel about it either, because he thinks you’re awesome and calls you a true scholar (he’s just so proud “Ciel, YOUR girlfriend may be a fencing prodigy but MY girlfriend is a genius!” “Well-” “What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of how amazing she is!”), but then he doesn’t understand how you don’t get bored of all those things, and he’s kind of jealous that it takes up so much of your time.

-jealous soma=pouty soma asking Agni and Ciel for love advice

-his nickname for you is 'princess’

Armin/Luna is one of the new OTPs

-though you’re an introverted couple you’re both willing to speak up for each other when it’s needed

-Armin loves to tell you stories about the world outside the walls and you often look at the picutres in his books together, making up wild and crazy theories about what’s out there

-Eren approves

-Mikasa gives you The Talk

-'I have two functioning blades and dozens of titans waiting outside. Hurt him and no one will ever find your body’

Phichit/Luna…

-Of course he wants to skate with you. If you already know he’s overjoyed and loves to have friendly competitions/races, and if you don’t he’s happy to teach you. He’s very sweet about it (until you realize he’s been taking pictures of your 'progress’ throughout the entire lesson)

-Phichit FLOODS his instagram with pictures of you and him together 'Look at this goddess’ 'Me and my bae’ 'Georgi’s jealous’

-In fact he just rambles about you on social media to the point where everyone decides that either he’s lost it or this Luna person is, in fact, a goddess

-Phichit also has a tumblr so he quickly becomes a part of the constant fandom discussions between Luna and Evans

-expect a ton of Hamilpuns

-Evans third wheels like a pro

Oh I Ken totally Hide (sorry)

YES those are also some of my favorites parts! (Thor is very disappointed with his little bro. Though I have to say, it’s a bit like

Thor: “COME HOME MY DEAREST BROTHER AND END THIS MADNESS I KNOW YOU CAN STILL BE REDEEMED”

Loki: “I am a strong, independent frost giant who don’t need no Odin. Go home yourself.”

Thor: “Ok.

HAMMER TIME.”)

Ah, you’ll get to see Loki’s softer side in Thor 2…prepare for the feels. Also, I do recommend you watch Thor 1 sometime. You may already know the plot but Thor 1 is the only movie we actually get see Loki before he turned into a complete and utter mess. He was actually a nice guy before the daddy issues…I was planning not to watch the first movie either but after watching it I’m glad I did.

Yeah, I don’t think you have to watch anything other than the ones you’ve listed, since those seem to be the ones most involved with the main, running plot (the Infinity Stones).

Also, idk if you’ve heard, but the post-credit scenes matter A LOT in marvel movies so I suggest you try to watch all of those :)

I think I’ll try BHA if I get the time ^^ it’s easier to get into that than Love Live in Korea. Manga is more common than anime over here unless the anime in question is really popular

Don’t worry, I’ll have you sobbing over them soon enough :)

And I suppose you’re talking about the Hamilton Believer PV? I look forward to your reaction! :D Mine was to sob and then start screaming the lyrics all over the place

I love pretty much all the Loki gifs. Like, look at them:

Also, that knife gif. When I search ‘Loki’ in gifs, most of the results are that one. I understand why, though. I mean, dayum,

Oh I’m sure I’ll get over it once I’m deep enough into the fandom. And I’m slowly, but surely getting there :)))

I loved Shuu in the new chap! I was like ‘oh la la the gourmet has returned, finally’.  The chapter does raise a lot of questions, though. I mean, who’s the king? What’s happening to the world? Kaneki? Touka? ANYONE?

When Naki started talking my reaction was ‘slow down, kid’. I’m so prout T^T

I don’t want it to be Arima. He finally found peace (in death, tho), so let him have he’s peace. He deserves it. We’ll just have to wait a week until we know, I guess. There better be some good explanations in the next chapter!

Well, I guess we’ll never know. Unless I somehow find a raw. Then, I guess I could at least see which form she uses. It’s a mystery, though, and I really want to know what she used.

You what. Hufflepuff? Nah, can’t be. Feel murderers don’t go into  the house for cinnamon rolls (but, then again, you are a cinnamon roll with an evil side).  Ever heard of hybrid houses? Yeah, I think you belong to one of those. 

Yeah, of all the character you’ve chosen, I’d say Marco is the best for you because he’d always be able to calm you down and make you laugh when you’d need it. It’d be the most adorable relationship ever and I’d be that stalker friend who’d secretly take pictures of the two of you together and would try to get you together before you’d confess. 

Yeah, that was a typo. I mean to say ‘Steve would be a good choice’.  I think the two of you would make a cute pair. Like, he’s a huge sweetheart and somewhat old fashioned. My new OTP is forming....

Ah, you and Loki might be cute, actually. I mean, once you’d open up and let your sass out, he’d be like ‘I like this mortal’. I must admit, though, I think Steve would be just a tiny bit better choice...?

The second I saw Joker, I was like ‘he’s my new problematic fave’. And then he died. And I cried. Then I heard the dub and almost threw my phone out of the window because they ruined his voice. I know he’s not the youngest person ever but he sounds like he’s in his 40s or something. 

THERE GOES MY HEART AGAIN, IT WAS NICE HAVING IT FOR A SHORT WHILE.  Goddamit.

Souma is the purest cinnamon roll in the series. I have no idea why some people dislike him so much. Sure, he’s oblivious and a tiny bit annoying at times, but he’s a nice person and does his best. NOt to mention what happened in the recent chapters. He definitely deserves more love :)))

Armin and Luna would have reading dates 90% of the time. Also, random glomping from my side because he’s too adorable.  But something I found out recently: he’s also ripped. Like, damn. It might be a consequence of his new... condition, but still.

Evans would never be a third wheel. In fact, I’m sure Luna would ditch Phichit every once in a while to talk to you hahah  Tbh, from YoI, I’m not sure I’d actually date anyone, but if I had to, Phichit would be my top choice. 

I am proud to say that I stayed up until 3:30am, binging on all the Avengers fics I could find and came to the conclusion that Loki is number 1 after all. Thor is nice and all, but I think I would get a tiny bit fed up with his constant obliviousness. Also, Jane.  And a lot of the fics described Loki as a huge bookworm, however I’m not sure if it’s fanon or canon. Either way, I like it hahah Also, imagine the sass battles. I’m 100% sure everyone would be fed up with us hahah

I am going to get all the feels during Thor 1 and 2, aren’t I?

Actually, from the ones that aren’t one the list, I only haven’t watched the Hulk, but I know what happens.

One of my friends is a huge fan of MCU and constantly yells about the post credit scenes, so i’ll definitely remember ^^

Oh, I see! LL has a mobile game, though ;) Your choice!

I almost cried over believer. It really does fit well ^^