#it was about a cursed game i think??? it like used people as vessels/characters for the game or something

[azure-lily24]

Kill Bill

Listened to Kill Bill by SZA while writing this so the title was fitting I think?

Context: Hurtful things said (if you squint), mentions of killing and death and probably toxic relations, reader with feminine qualities

A/n: I saw a fic of the person writing Sylus playing a game of predator and prey with the reader (him being a stalker-) and kinda decided to see what other "dark" themes I think this man could do. This is my own spin on things and this does not relate to Sylus's actual in-game character. Please remember that :)

Reader is their own character, not mc, enjoy :3

The building shook with great force as an explosion was heard from above. The guests were startled and started to panic and rush to the exit. Those who had malicious intent decided to act upon it with the disturbance being their distraction, cutting down innocent people of power and those who hold such status in the world.

You, whoever, stayed in the shadows and supervised the people with ill-intent and used your evol on them. Focusing your attention solely on the person and muttering under your breath.

"Stop. Pain.."

The person who was sneaking up behind an innocent woman, froze and their eyes widened. Placing the person under a mental spell, their mental image changes to show their stomach gutted and their insides sprawled all over the floor. They clutched their stomach in pain and kneeled down on the floor. Smirking when the fool was reduced to laying in a fetal position while their mind plays tricks on them, you hear one of the twins speaking in your ear piece, "Hey boss lady, you might wanna leave the building, it looks like it's gonna collapse in probably less than a minute"

You were just about to respond to Kieran, who spoke through when Luke also spoke up, "And don't worry! Boss and Miss hunter have already left the building" I sigh to myself but soon I start hearing loud thuds and look around to see the decorative pillars falling down and poor unsuspecting guests who haven't left yet either get caught under the pillars or narrowly escape them. You curse under your breath and quickly run to the exit.

Ignoring cries of help and pain, your heels clacking on the soiled marble floor as you were a couple of feet away from the exit, but suddenly a pillar fell and one of the beautiful ice sculptures that was on a table near the exit fell and ice shards flew everywhere. Thankfully it was just ice, but some of the shards flew and cut some of the panicked guests, including you.

You quickly dusted yourself off and ran out the exit. But you were too late...

~~

Sylus appeared with her outside the building just a couple of minutes before. He looked down at her as she held the aether core in her hand, well the vessel of it.. As the building was starting to collapse, the twins appeared in front of him, prepared to leave the scene.

While Sylus was occupied with her, the twins were muttering among themselves.

"Where's boss lady?" "She should've made it out by now.." "You don't think someone's got her, right?" "Definitely not, she's nearly on the same level as the boss"

Miss hunter turned her attention to the twins and questioned them, "Who are we waiting for? And what are you two talking about?"

The twins stop talking and stare at the girl. Sylus, on the other hand, summons Mephisto and sends him out to try and search for you among the nearly collapsing building. The crow leaves and the girl watches as he leaves. She turns to Sylus and asks the same question.

"Sylus, who are we waiting for?"...

~~

Weeks have gone by since that day of the auction. Mephisto had failed to find you before the building had collapsed. The twins were devastated because you were their friend who they could banter with whenever Sylus didn't need them nor you.

Sylus, however, seemed indifferent on the outside yet there was a strange empty feeling inside.. He didn't have anyone to nag him about being holed up in his office, nor did he have anyone to workout with whenever Miss hunter was away..

But most importantly, he lost his enforcer, his right hand person.. the person who kept him alive.. well.. mentally..

He sighed to himself as Mephisto appeared to inform him that Miss hunter was here again

~~

It's been almost 2 months since that day happened.. you stood in front of a mirror and took off the bandages and looked at the scars the stitches left. Scars ran up your arm and down the side of your body where somehow, a fool was still alive and picking off innocent folk and you just happened to be a target. If you weren't so distracted from wiping away the ice shards and all of the poor guests left behind that were screaming and panicking, you could've heard them and dealt with them with ease, but no..

~

Nearly being slashed open, you just managed to escape them and escape the building. Scrambling down each floor level, you barely made it a couple of meters away when the building finally collapsed, kicking up dust and killing all of the remaining guests trapped inside.

Your body felt like it was on fire as you tried to stop the massive gash on the side of your body from killing you of blood loss while you looked around to see if Sylus and the twins were still around. You tried contacting them through your ear piece but somehow it was swiped from your person.. probably from either the escape out of the building or the encounter from the foolish idiot that tried to kill you..

Looking around more, you spotted your bike that was still here and yet.. the others were nowhere to be found when suddenly you hear the voice of that hunter girl who appeared just two weeks ago..

"Sylus, who are we waiting for?"

Her innocent looking eyes gazed up at him as he shook his head and started walking to the car they arrived in. My eyes widened as I realized that Sylus was leaving me..

Rage started to rise but the pain was overpowering.. I quickly and carefully moved to my bike and sped away, leaving the others and leaving the scene.

~

Toss away the bandages, you slip on your jacket and head out, remembering that Sylus would be attending a banquet where he would buy out from an arms dealer. You smirk to yourself and decide to show up and announce your return from the "dead"..

Putting on your helmet, you walk out to your bike and sped off, leaving Linkon City, where you were hiding from Sylus and go to return back to the N109 Zone..

~~

The familiar red tinge and the dark sky of the N109 felt welcoming to you as you rode through, speeding up now that you were out of the beautiful night sky of Linkon City.

You pulled up to the place and put on an elegant mask that fit well with the black dress you wore, as well as a jacket to cover up your scar. Looking around and smirking when you see a familiar car parked not too far from you, signaling that Sylus was here and the possibility that he brought that girl with him as well. This just made your plan even better..

Walking inside and showing your invite, the bouncer allows you in and you look at the extravagant place. The ceiling had a starry sky, and the people around wore colors you would see in a galaxy. Those who wore masks were either body guards or those who would rather keep their identity a secret in hopes to avoid being targeted by undercover killers..

Walking around and greeting other guests who attended, you spot two familiar crow masks that were nearly hidden in the shadows. You smile as you turn and start walking towards the twins.

They looked surprised to see an unknown guest walking towards them and move to push them away, but you smirked and spoke,

"Why.. I'm hurt.. 2 months have passed and you two don't even look a bit happy to see me? Maybe I should just leave again.." The twins were shocked to hear your voice and Luke reached up to inform Sylus of your return when you grabbed his wrist and shook your head. "Keep my presence a secret and maybe you two will be spared from me~"

You chuckled as they nodded and kept their mouths shut, scared but also confused of why you didn't want Sylus to know that you were back.

Walking away from the twins, you spotted the hunter girl. She was idling around and chatting with those who would entertain her. She wore a dark purple dress with blue and black accents, and every time she would move, you could see the glitter that would imitate stars. You sigh to yourself and already know that Sylus had probably bought that dress for her.

You walked up to her and smiled, talking in a voice that's a bit higher than your normal tone. "Hi miss, can I just say your dress is absolutely stunning, where did you get it from?"

She smiled and shook her head, "I got it from the place at the Grand Center and it was a gift from my partner." Anger started to rise from that word she used to describe Sylus, but I kept my emotions in check and nodded.

'I knew Sylus for nearly five years and yet she's only been around for two, almost three months and this shit happens', you spoke out in your mind and sighed.

"Well since it seems like your 'partner' has the pockets, might I strike a deal with you?", you held out your hand, knowing this girl probably doesn't have enough knowledge to know when a woman is being shady, unlike men..

She looks at your hand and tilts her head in curiosity, "A deal for what?"

You smiled and beckoned her to follow you, "Come with me and I'll show you, I would rather prefer if not a lot of people saw the protocore I've acquired." You internally smirked as she nodded.

'This was too easy~'

You felt a pair of eyes on you as you led her out into a corridor, away from public eyes. You stopped once you were sure no one saw the two of you leaving the main floor and turned to her. She looked at you with curiosity as you reached into one of your jacket pockets and pulled out a protocore. It was a larger core from the usual ones you would see. You looked up and saw that her eyes had widened and she looked at the core in your hand in awe.

"That's incredible!, where did you get it from miss?", she asked with so much excitement, it reminded you of a child who had just seen the biggest candy store in the world.

You opened your mouth to reply when suddenly, an oh-so-familiar voice was heard and a certain snowy grey haired man appeared from around the corner. He looked beautiful in the suit he was wearing, a black suit with blue and red accents and bits of embroidery showing stars.

"It's a fake.. no protocore would ever form like that.." Sylus spoke in a condescending tone to try and intimidate me. I only scoff and tilt my head, putting a hand on my hip.

"Are you calling me a scammer, sir?", I smirk and the fake protocore in my hand shifts and turns into a small blade. The hunter girl backs away and Sylus glares at me and waves a hand, holding me in the air with his power.

"You would be a fool to try and lay a hand on her..", Sylus slowly starts to close his hand, the force of his evol increasing as he strangles me in the air. I smirk and focus all of my attention on him..

"Pain.."

His eyes widen and I am released from his hold. Landing on the floor as Sylus holds his head in pain as his mental image changes and burning pain clouds his mind. He lets out a groan as he tries to fight, yet I keep my focus on him and smirk while doing so.

Miss hunter looks scared as I do, looking worried as Sylus kneels down to the floor and looks up at me with pain in his eyes. I cross my arms and release him from his mental torture. I take off my mask as he recovers and stands up from the floor.

"Long time, no see.. missed me?" I smirk as Sylus looks shocked for only a second but quickly composes himself. Miss hunter shared the same reaction as she quickly recognized me. "If only you waited just one more minute back then.." my bottom lip pokes out to pout, as if I were mocking him.

Sylus sighed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If you were alive all this time.. why were you hiding these last two months?"

I smirk and played with the small blade in my hand, "You tell me, how would you feel if you were probably on the brink of death and saw your boss leaving you behind, huh?" I shrug off the side of my jacket that hid my scar and proudly show it to Sylus. "A clean cut from my arm.. to my waist.. nearly dying and yet you had the nerve to busy yourself with a little girl whose purpose has already been fulfilled..". I turned my gaze to her and glared at her and spoke,

"Burn.."

Her eyes widened as she cried out in pain as a burning sensation clouded her mind. Sylus quickly waved a hand, bringing you closer to him and holding your throat in his hand. You smirked as he looked at you with such anger.

"Why so serious? After all, she resonated with you and got the aether core, therefore, she's useless now.." you smiled as she cried out in pain again, begging you to stop it.

"Call it off, or else you'll actually die this time.." Sylus threatened yet your eyes widened when you realized what he had said. Miss hunter cries in relief when released from her mental torture, keeling down on the ground as tears fall from her face.

Sylus unhands you. You back away and look at him with a look of betrayal and anger. "Seems you couldn't cut off a loose end, but don't worry.." you spoke as you looked down. Sylus glanced back to check on her but that painful feeling returned and soon, when he looked up at you, the small blade was no longer in your hand. He turned and saw it lodged deep into Miss hunter's heart...

"I took care of it..."

~~~

(WOOOOOOO I wrote this in the span of two hours while Sylus held me at gunpoint from 30 minutes of that- also while I was writing this, I realized that reader's evol seemed quite similar to the blonde girl Jane from Twilight. Anyone else thought of that or was it just me?)

[pixelheartthrob]

Elise & the Duke

Elise's relationship with her father isn't discussed very much. I think it's actually one of the most interesting aspects about 06.

In a flashback, he's shown telling a young Elise "Don't cry" and "Become a strong queen who doesn't cry no matter what happens" in response to her grieving over her mother's death, which is...not great. A child should be allowed to grieve over their deceased parent. Although the Duke means well and says this because he genuinely believes strong leaders never cry (which is far from the truth), that doesn't make what he's doing okay. It doesn't matter that he's saying it in a soft and gentle tone, either. To a child, it's likely gonna seem like a dismissal of their feelings (which it is). This also shows that he was telling Elise to never cry before he used her as a vessel to seal Iblis.

Another thing I find interesting is that Elise says "I understand everything my parents said to me now." It could imply that Elise's mother held the same sentiment as the Duke, but we don't know for sure.

Now, onto the Solaris Project. Some time before the project began, the Duke told Elise that Solaris' power would allow them to travel through time and rectify past mistakes. The main reason the Duke began the project was so Elise could see her late mother again. Once again, good intentions, but the Duke experimenting with supernatural forces beyond his understanding cost him his life and hurt many people, perhaps his daughter most of all.

So long story short, the project goes wrong and the Duke is fatally wounded in an explosion but shortly before his death, he sealed the Flames of Disaster in Elise and pretty much left her clean up his mess. She was cursed to never shed a single tear, had to rule an entire kingdom at a young age, is relentlessly pursued and kidnapped by a madman who wants to harness her power, and when she makes a single friend, he gets murdered right before her eyes by the creature that her father experimented on all those years ago. Elise is suffering the consequences for her father's actions.

And how does Elise feel about her father after all this? She still loves him deeply. She doesn't express any anger towards him or angst about the way he treated her, or that he inadvertently caused her suffering, even though she has every right to do so. You get the sense that she doesn't realize her father's "love" was actually quite abusive, which is just really tragic. At the start of the game, Elise lacks confidence, is unsure of what she can do in her situation, and even blames herself for the things that are happening. Her attitude gradually changes when she meets Sonic, who encourages her to be more proactive and truly enjoy life instead of being restricted by her role as a princess.

Yet people get on Elise's case for breaking down once at the tail end of the game over the fact that she'd lose the memories of her only friend and would be separated from him?

Elise doesn't mean what she said in this moment, and blows out Solaris' flame to save the world seconds later. She had to bottle up her emotions for a decade and now has to say goodbye to the person whom she grew to love over the course of their adventure. Her reaction here is more than justified.

Elise is such a good character 🤍

[hermitw]

Jjk theories / opinions / thoughts part 3 uwu (they are becoming more stupid and less coherent, let's go)

-Gege began the rumor about sukuna drinking his own milk. It is TOO MUCH OF SOMETHING GEGE WOULD SAY I cannot be convinced otherwise

-Gojo's twink death happened in the prison realm

-kenjaku was involved in founding the star religious group. He's already been making pacts with sorcerers for a thousand years, so putting him in the Nara era isn't a stretch. We already know he made several attempts to interrupt the star plasma vessels. (yes I blame him for every thing ever. His fault. And I think he'd rather watch things crumble than do the work directly bc then it's like a game, unexpected things happen and it's more interesting. Bro is always playing games even with curses smh)

-Hakari would have started a fight club to fund Kirara's transition. Idk if the higher ups would have had issues w trans students or just with Hakari's unconventional domain and methods (not hesitating to lose a foot bc he'll get it back, for example), but Gojo called them a lot of variations of conservative idiots so it seems likely I think. And they left the school before she even came out, bc Panda didn't know.

-kinda unfair that Yuta gets to transfer into Gojo with his best outfit on, he didn't have to dress like Edward Cullen for years to get there (pls don't get offended I swear to God it's a joke but also I do kinda feel this way lmaoooo)

-how the fuck do nanako and mimiko's technique work? They're twins right? I get the feeling like Mimiko can't use one on her own, but she likes to threaten people with her doll and Nanako can hang people with it. I rly wish we got to see them more (I want to believe they survived sukuna bc Geto would have prepared those girls to stay safe, maybe there's just a time lag or something pls)

IN THE AIRPORT SCENE there's even Toji but those girls are not there so that gives me hope I kajahxkakdn (I get that maybe it's Gojo's mindscape but how would he have known that Haibara showed up to Nanami? It's not just his imagination imo, those girls are alive, I need them to be.)

-I miss rainbow dragonnnnnnnn I'm so sad and still mad at toji (despite my theory that he lost himself bc the worm is banana fish I'm just bitter lmao)

-I'm so fucking sad that we didn't get to see Hanami's domain. So I made one up myself but I don't have a name for itnkajsxjskmax I just think Hanami needed a redemption arc like Choso got :(((

-the other dubs are so fkn good that when I'm tired of it I'll just play that shit in another language. The first minute of the series in French tho made me laugh so hard I had to change it. But the exchange event in German was so good

-remember when Megumi brought out Max Elephant against Noritoshi Kamo? It's like. He knew that the blood manipulation weakness was water. Maybe that's a benefit of growing up in one of the 3 major clans.

-I feel like no one ever talks about how Megumi lost Orochi AND one of the demon dogs that was with him since he was a kid when he also watched Sukuna rip out Yuuji's heart. Like we all talk about how he gets more upset over losing animals than people but all 3 of those events at once... I was rly sad at first bc I wanted to see the snake more too.

-Megumi's head bleeding in every fight for most of the anime is meant to represent that his weakness is in his head.

-when it's raining, that shows that the characters are up against something bigger than they are prepared for. (I made a whole list of every use of water and its symbolism but God I feel insane)

-the shibuya arc hurts less to watch after the first 5 times (I think? I'm on My 9th watch and I think 2 1/2 read. It's hard to keep track at this point)

-I want to see the extended mahoraga vs sukuna fight in theaters I'm so jealous oh god

-I cannot be convinced that a single character in this show is heterosexual. Everyone is gay except for hakari ig but he's an ally so

-I think that Miguel and Larue might be together but idk

-kinda weird that no one mentioned nanako or mimiko (like how no one mentioned todo and he was fiiiiiine I knew he was having fun in the culling game the whole time)

-despite how much I love hanami, my favorite animated Gojo scenes are when he is exorcising them. The English dub especially oh god

[resquices-of-godhood]

I was going to post about the Bishops first, but... I think it's better we start with the titular character of the game and their counterpart instead.

Leoda the Lamb: Their name means "Of the people" in German, which is fairly fitting, given their position and general behavior.

As a vessel, Leoda is very similar to their canon appearance, safe for the wool not being as puffy, which requires it to be tied up with a headband to keep out of their eyes. During that time, they used the Fleece of the Fates and had a preference for swords throughout most of their original crusading under the orders of The One Who Waits. Most importantly during this period, however, is how well they used and manipulated curses, being a natural from as soon as they received the very first one to wield. Only other notable change to other sheeps is the fangs they get from the crown's connection, though its easily concealed.

After becoming the rightful bearer of the red crown, however, a lot starts to change. Physically, they get the ability to manifest a pair of crimson wings from under their fleece during the battle in the land of the dead. In the following months, a third eye opens up on their forehead (kept closed most of the time) and their teeth become a more balanced mix of carnivore and herbivore. They stop wielding the crown altogether, instead relying on curses only, while also starting to use the Fleece of Cursed Crusade.

Leoda is the last living sheep in the Land of the Old Faith. Sacrificed by the Bishops, they find themselves in the land of the dead, where The One Who Waits is... Well, waiting for them.

Even before their sacrifice, they are entirely devoted to the Bishop of Death, specially after they start interact with him more often during their crusading days, learning how much their god actually cares.

Most of the following events surrounding the game are the same, except that, after Heket's defeat, Leoda is summoned by The One Who Waits to then be informed what awaits them at the end of the journey, so, by the time they are to put down their life and return the crown, they not only are expecting it, but are ready and willing.

The Red Crown, however, is not.

It takes control of Leoda's body, manipulating it like a puppet as they fight Baal, then Aym, then The One Who Waits himself, all the while the Lamb is not only conscious, but desperately trying to fight back against the influence of the crown the whole time. It only relents and let go once the now former god of Death is laying down on the ground defeated. With the damage done, but not willing to kill their god, Leoda instead sends him to be indoctrinated into the cult.

After indoctrinating him, the lamb takes the broken body of Narinder to the healing tent, and for the next four days they check to see how they are recovering, only to be met with cursing and lashing out from the delirious three eyed panther.

Upon leaving the tent after one of the visits, the cult's healer, Saleos, approaches the Lamb and comments how, whenever Narinder is lashing out, he seems to be aiming at the crown, so they should leave it in their personal tent for the next visit.

The morning of the following day comes, and Leoda, following Saleos' advice, comes to the healing tent without the crown, only to be met with a more sober, albeit still weakened, Narinder having their wounds cleaned and dressed. That's when they learn what really happened in that fight: the crown has betrayed them both.

Narinder by choosing Leoda over him.

Leoda by possessing and forcing them to fight Narinder.

That was when the Lamb vowed never to wield the crown again, even as a tool. They will perform their role as the new god of Death and Judgement, but they will not give the crown a single inch more of their will. And so they do, meeting the Mystic Trader and releasing the Bishops from purgatory.

And that's the point where the AU begins.

Gayne the Goat: Besides the obvious joke, the name means "Ingenuity; Cunning; Trickery" from the French engaingne. It describes well the general demeanor of this Goat: a cunning trickster, so much so you might as well give them a spear and call them Odin. The more asshole-y traits comes from the environment of their timeline of origin, and tone down significantly with time in Leoda's.

By the time Gayne crossed into Leoda's timeline, they were already well into the infant god stage, and replacing the Purple Crown of their timeline of origin for the Lamb's did not reset that progression. Their Purple Crown was sent back to their timeline, where it belongs. By the time they did cross, they already had an extra pair of arms sprouting from the middle of their chest, as well as six extra, smaller eyes surrounding the original two (remain closed unless he is having a vision stemming from Future Knowledge, willing or otherwise), a pair of large metal wings and more pronounced fangs that poke out of their mouth (similar to Shamura's, but not as large), as well as a damaged eye that they keep covered by an eyepatch. Although they can see through that eye, anyone that sees it say it's rather disconcerting to look at. They prefer to use axes during crusades, and are incredibly good at timing their swings in tricky but powerful ways. While they do use the occasional curse, it's not their first choice during combat.

Gayne's timeline is a lot different from Leoda's. Instead of the Bishops betraying Narinder, Shamura's prophecy instead created a schism in the Old Faith, sending the 5 remaining gods into an all out war amongst themselves. As a result, none of them are crippled by trying to imprison the Red Crown's bearer, but they are now locked into war, every Bishop's army having an advantage that makes even the Bishop of War struggle to come up with strategies. It's a thousand years of never ending bloodshed, with Bishops appointing vessels so they can try to get something, anything, to get an advantage, before recalling the crowns when they need to get personally involved in the frontlines.

So it goes until Shamura finds themself a most peculiar vessel: a very cunning, yet deeply devoted, goat that is a menace in the battlefield. As this Shamura has both not lost their mind as well as they withdrew themself deeper and deeper in their godhood to avoid their failure as head of their pantheon and elder sibling, so they are a more cruel and manipulative, fully taking advantage of Gayne's devotion, dependence and love for the spider.

The thing is, Gayne is more than Shamura bargained for. Not only did they fell the other Bishops and conquered their lands, they also turned on the Bishop of War when they were ordered to give up their life and return the crown. The ensuing battle resulted on Gayne's metal wings that they keep folded as a second fleece layer, as well as the permanent scarring of their left eye.

At that point, their timeline started to unravel. There was no god of Death alive to keep things stable (Narinder was the last Bishop to fall before Shamura), and new crown bearers are starting to pop out from the former territories of the other Bishops to challenge the remaining god for power, but how does an infant god defeat a veteran war deity and god killer? It had been a few months by the time they find themself in the remnants of Anura at the same time that Leoda is struggling against a particularly strong opponent in the same area.

As both look at a puddle at the same time while Leoda is trying to recover their breath enough to continue the fight, that's when Gayne crosses over, going all out against the cultist threatening them and winning. A talk with the Lamb and a teleportation to the cult later and the Goat starts settling in, taking in this timeline's Purple Crown while the one from their timeline seemingly vanishes into a puddle of ichor.

They help Leoda to release the Bishops from purgatory, and that's where the AU starts.

Both are roughly on the same spot in regards to godhood, about a year and a half into the infant god stage.

[epickiya722]

Sometimes, I just think about to that part where that worm curse comes across Geto and calls him "mommy" and get amused by that. Like, "that had to be foreshadowing" or just a playful joke Akutami threw in. Or both!

And I say "foreshadowing" because Suguru does get possessed by Kenjaku who is Yuji's mother.

But it doesn't end there for me. I just kept thinking and thinking and realize there some other "hints", I guess... coincidences that play into that plot detail (Kenjaku being Yuji's mom).

Before anyone says anything, Suguru and Kenjaku are totally different characters to me. I do not think they're the same person. For this next bit, I'm just saying how they are similar. That is all. It's like comparing Choso and Megumi (which I have done in another post). Two different characters but have some comparisons.

Onwards!

Okay, other than the "mommy" thing, there's the fact they both manage to gain a following/get others to cooperate with them to carry out some big plan that could affect Japan. Whoa, again! Two different people!

It's just funny to me that both have this charm to them that makes others follow them. I don't mean "Well, Kenjaku is using Suguru's body". No, Kenjaku was able to convince sorcerers over the years to join in the Culling Game. Suguru has only been dead for a year. So yeah, Kenjaku is capable of being charming without Suguru.

That's not necessarily a "hint" about the whole "Kenjaku, who is possessing Suguru's body currently, is Yuji's mom". But I wanted to throw that out there. It could count, could it?

Anyways, children. Both have multiple children. Kenjaku has 10 kids and Suguru took in the Hasaba Twins. (And two of them die!)

Another coincidence I caught is physical features.

Look at the current and previous vessels Kenjaku had possessed/is possessing.

Suguru and Kaori have dark hair with the bangs favoring the left.

That's about it, I just wanted to ramble for a bit. I'm, like, half sleep writing this. Don't take this post too seriously...

[thepanopticon-is-just-azkaban]

Jjk 261 spoilers ahead. I don't usually do this but I have no friends who are following the manga properly and this is just a brain dump.

At first I thought this was an an asspull, and considering all the shit Gege has been doing since the fight with Sukuna started, that'd be an accurate assumption. But. Kinda makes sense why he'd do this:

1. All of us expected, someone to come back with stitches across their forehead, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who thought Gojo was a good possibility after he died (off screen, mind you). This was just the worse possible way for the worst possible thing to happen.

2. Gojo's entire character. "Are you the strongest because you're Gojo Satoru, or are you Gojo Satoru because you are strongest?" This will be answered definitely depending on the outcome of the fight, but tbh I feel like we are leaning towards The Strongest being more of an impactful character than Gojo Satoru himself.

Leave subverting expectations and realistic depiction of systemic corruption and war, jjk is more about Murphy's Law, anything that can do wrong, will go wrong. We haven't had a single moment of triumph or even joy since Shibuya started. Technically, the losses were heavier on the curses' side (only Kenjaku was left alive, at the cost of Nanami and Nobara's deaths) but we didn't get to see Yuuji kill Mahito, and Kenjaku started the Culling Games. This has been a losing battle from the start, and I didn't think for one moment that Yuuta actually killed Kenjaku permanently. And technically. He didn't. He took the curse technique. And Kenjaku himself handed over to Sukuna the switch to start the merger with Tengen. So in essence, Kenjaku isn't really dead, is he?

Hear me out: All the things that Gojo has been trying to do by raising and teaching the younger generation to be better (taking in Megumi, saving Yuta and Yuji, being a teacher, however badly) will turn out to be useless if jujutsu society doesn't stop its people as weapons treatment of sorcerers. If the things he was doing as Gojo Satoru, and not The Strongest, don't have a tangible effect, does it mean anything? If a tree falls in a forest and no-one hears it, does it make a sound?

Yuta knows its disrespectful, dehumanising, absolutely cruel to take over Gojo's body but he did, he had to, there was no better option, not against someone like Sukuna, not if they want things to not get any worse. He is 17. He is currently the strongest. He is, and was always meant to be, the next Gojo Satoru. None of the special grades, except perhaps Yuki, have been their own person more than they have been the product of jujutsu society's depravity. Geto and Yuta have taken choices they knew were bad because they didn't see anything better they could to in that situation. Nothing has changed since the Star Plasma Vessel arc. Gojo Satoru's efforts have not yet brought any fruit other than saving a handful of kids lives and then immediately putting them in the higher ups' hands. The Strongest, in the meantime, has always been an effective weapon.

Huh. This got way longer than I expected. But regardless of what I've said, I don't think I can say anything about narrative choices until we know the ending. I cannot tell what jjk is about, other than exploiting the younger generation in an endless cycle, weird family relations, and maybe a bit about how the history repeats itself. If anyone has more themes to assign to jjk, please let me know. I don't know wtf is going on Gege's head.

[cursedvibes]

My JJK Arc Ranking

Culling Game (ch 159-221) + Baka Survivor (ch 239-243)

Perfect Preparation (ch 144-158)

Itadori's Extermination (ch 137-143)

Death Painting (ch 55-64)

Shibuya Incident (ch 79-136)

Vs Mahito (ch 19-31)

Fearsome Womb (ch 1-18)

Hidden Inventory (ch 65-79)

Shinjuku Showdown (ch 222-262+)

Kyoto Goodwill Event (ch 32-54)

Cursed Child (Vol 0)

Note that this is my personal ranking of which arcs I like the most and least, not any objective statement. Like for example, I think Hidden Inventory is well-written, but it doesn't interest me much, that's why it's further towards the bottom.

With the manga drawing to a close, I thought I'd write down my thoughts about what we've gotten so far and what I like or don't like in the different arcs.

Culling Game

Starting at #1 with the Culling Game Arc. It's where my interest in the story really picked up and I got invested to the point of bothering to write analyses, dig into the lore and historical background and even start writing fanfiction. Culling Game is the meat of the story, where we got introduced to new important lore of characters, further explored their themes and connected dots that had been set up before. It is sort of a lul after the big climax of the Shibuya Incident, but I think that's also what was needed here, since this is more of a section where Gege takes time to explore concepts and characters further. Shibuya is a big payoff for the first part of the story and Culling Game builds on that, it establishes a level ground for the last part of the story. Characters like Yuuji and Maki for example found themselves fundamentally changed after Shibuya and used this time to find their footing again and try to create a new way for themselves to move forward. In Yuuji's case he had to do it twice even with the massive turn of not being Sukuna's vessel anymore aka having his role, purpose and ideal death taken from him. He catches himself relatively quickly though.

Also this arc just had a lot of moments I really like, actually most of my favourite moments in jjk happen here. Like Kenjaku calling Yuuji their son, Yuuji's fight against Higuruma, Maki's awakening, Noritoshi reconciling with his mother having a new family, Kenjaku & Uraume rolling up to the White House, the Yuki vs Kenjaku fight, the Heian trio spa day, Yorozu's backstory, Kenjaku and Tengen getting Sukuna's mummy and much more. The fights were for the most part also great. You always took something new away and I liked how we were slowly spoon-fed information about the Culling Game and Kenjaku's plans. Almost every chapter had something to pick apart and even with the cycle through the colonies there was always tension because you didn't know what this would all lead to. Even when the protagonists were doing well, things could change at the drop of a dime. There was a false sense of security. The main group got a little bit of control only to have it ripped away when they least expected it.

Baka Survivor

I put the Baka Survivor arc up here as well because while it might technically be during the Shinjuku Showdown, I thought it was so far removed from the fight against Sukuna that it's reasonable to see it as its own mini-arc. Plus, I think this section is a lot better than the majority of the Shinjuku Showdown. It's like Gege took some time to play around and write what was fun to them, the stuff they actually want to write. The end was a bit...meh. Mainly because of the context of this fight and Kenjaku's larger role in the story, especially what Kenjaku's death this early would mean (or not mean...) for Yuuji. Yuuta's integration here was also very weak because while he might have reasons to go after Kenjaku that were a little bit explored (although I think you could've done way more with it than just "wants to do it for Gojo" after all a big theme of this fight was connecting with other people and building friendships/partnerships, which is something closely related to Yuuta's character), he was absolutely irrelevant from Kenjaku's perspective. You could've put anyone in his place and it wouldn't have changed anything from Kenjaku's point of view. Well, maybe if you put Yuuji there, but Gege was clearly not interested in exploring their relationship like that....

Anyway, I have raved about this arc a lot on my blog already, but in summary I absolutely love how we explore both Kenjaku and Takaba further, compare them and their understanding of comedy/curiosity and how both of them struggle to open up to others, show their real self and make themselves vulnerable. I especially think that this was actually thematically a very nice end for Kenjaku. They indulge in what they really want, have fun without the need of excessive cruelty (although there was violence from both of them) and they allowed themselves to connect with someone else again and make a friend. Chasing after their superficial goals of merging humanity they lost their closest friend, Tengen, were thrown into doubt and Takaba both offered himself as an alternative and pulled them further away from their insane ideas. Best thing about it is that Kenjaku went for it! They got caught up in the comedy with Takaba, they paid the price for allowing themselves such a close relationship with someone else and lowering their guard, and they still didn't regret it. In fact they were glad they spend their time before their death with Takaba and finally having fun. Of course the merger plan continues, they can't just let Tengen die with them or fall into the protagonists hands and it is too late for Tengen to change back anyway, but I absolutely love Kenjaku's character development here. Just remains to be seen how Takaba will leave this fight and how he will react to having once again lost a partner.

Perfect Preparation

Really like this arc for all the new lore we get as well as emotional chapters like the Zenin massacre and Yaga's death. The introduction of Hakari and Kirara was fun too, but the highlight for me is definitely the meeting with Tengen and Maki's massacre. Ch 145 and 146 might be in the top 5 of the chapters I have reread most often. You always find something new there and there's so much about the relationship between Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessels and the six eyes to take apart, particularly with later reveals like Yuki also being a Star Plasma Vessel. Those two chapters were also what first really got me more interested in Kenjaku and their history with Tengen. It's when it becomes apparent just how much Kenjaku has planned and arranged over the past millennium and it also raises even more questions of why Tengen never mentioned them before and how Kenjaku could stay undercover for so long.

Then we of course also have the Zenin massacre. I like how it starts with giving us some clan politics. I love that shit. Wish we got something similar for the Kamo and Gojo, but oh well. Maki's meeting with her mother when she goes for the weapon storage is already pretty chilling, but it's even better when you see her mother go from "why can't you make me proud of you for once?" to "I'm glad I gave birth to you". Shows how much she suffered under the Zenin as well, despite playing by their rules. Too bad she only came to the conclusion to treat her kids decently when it was already too late. Maki also only found out her mother did care about her and was the one to finish off Naoya when she was already dead. Just like her reunion and clearing conversation with Mai, it all happens just a little too late and that's what makes it so wonderfully tragic.

Also shout-out to Yaga's death scene. I've come to appreciate it much more recently and I particularly like seeing him together with all the other autonomous cursed corpses he keeps hidden away and the hints of the friendship he has with Kusakabe.

Itadori's Extermination

Honestly, I mostly like this arc for its atmosphere. It's one of the instances where you feel the most just how much destruction, chaos and desolation Shibuya and the start of the Culling Game caused. The main characters roaming the streets all split up and sleeping by campfires, the broken buildings and civilians hunting for scraps of food, curses praying on desperate humans...it's great. Wish we got more of that later on, but I only really got a similar feeling when the foreign armies attacked.

And of course we get the fateful Itadori flashback here. I don't know how many hours I spend looking at those two pages and taking the dialogue apart. Just two pages and I've become utterly obsessed by this weird family. Also the first time we see Kenjaku in a vessel that is not Geto, so that's extra nice.

I remember also really liking Yuuta's reintroduction when the chapters first came out. He looked so much worse than in Vol 0, so that was really intriguing. Bit disappointed there wasn't more conflict and it turned out he looks like shit because...well, that's just his look now. Still good arc.

Death Painting

I like this one because it's where Yuuji, Nobara and Megumi feel most like a team going on a mission and solving a mystery. Especially the opening of it, with weird paranormal events that remind you of classic Japanese horror stories is really nice and always manages to draw me in. Kinda wish there were more missions like that just for the sake of atmosphere, even though I don't think the story necessarily needs it. Seeing Mahito and Kenjaku capture a civilian man, strip him, nail him to a wall and then feed him a cursed fetus was also insane. Never get tired of watching/reading that no matter if it's the manga or anime. Vol 7 was the first jjk volume I ever bought and I remember how striking it was to open the book and start with that scene. Gave me chills.

I also love the entire fight with Eso and Kechizu. One because I just like their characters and getting introduced to the background of the Death Painting's existence was interesting, but I also really enjoyed Yuuji and Nobara's dynamic here and their talk about what it means to kill.

Shibuya Incident

Really good arc and what made me more interest in how jjk would continue when I first read the manga, but rereading it there are definitely some fights and scenes that really drag for me and I end up skipping whenever I read it again or when I watched S2. Like all the curse users working for Kenjaku that ended up being entirely irrelevant. The backstory of Ogami and the guy with the big eyes was nice because it gave us an insight into what the life of regular curse users (not big hitters like Geto or Kenjaku) is actually like and how society changed when Gojo was born. That's some world building I very much appreciate. Aside from that all the curse users are very forgettable though. There's a reason I only remember Ogami's name and none of the others'. Some other stuff also just comes down to character preferences like I'm not that interested in what Nanami or Ino were up to and Toji was also...eh. Nice, but I'm not losing my mind over it. Nanami's death scene is great though. I mostly love Shibuya for its later stages. Yuuji's fight against Mahito, how seeing his friends and civilians die through his inaction makes him breakdown, how his world view changes over the course of fighting Mahito and their scene at the end when the roles of predator and prey are reversed. Kenjaku's entrance and explanation of their plan and what was to come is also very interesting and probably the part I reread most in this arc.

Vs Mahito

I gotta say I do really like Junpei's story and his developing friendship with Yuuji. Yuuji's first few encounters with Mahito are great as well. It's nice seeing them get to know each other and seeing the inciting incidents that cause both of them to gradually get more and more obsessed with killing the other. I also really appreciate this arc for giving us some of those slower scenes that are just focused on Mahito, the curse family or Mahito & Junpei talking philosophy. Mahito is a quite fascinating character even in his simplistic cruelty and here you can also see the most just how horrific, but also intriguing, Idle Transfiguration is. This arc has one of the best horror in jjk and I appreciate the anime for emphasizing the comparisons to the Human Centipede movies and human experimentation even further. It's really close between this and Shibuya Incident. I just ended up putting Shibuya higher because when it hits, it hits hard and I still like the high points it has more than the Vs Mahito arc. Still appreciate the groundwork this arc laid for Shibuya to be as impactful as it was.

Hidden Inventory

Like I said in the beginning, I do think this arc is well-written and I think it's a great way to flesh out Gojo and Geto's characters as well as give us more world building and establish the background presence of Tengen and the connection of the Star Plasma Vessel and six eyes to her. I'm also convinced that what we learn here about the Time Vessel Association and the cults that build around Tengen will become relevant again when we get to the Heian flashback and Sukuna's/Tengen's/Kenjaku's backstory. Still have that "Kenjaku created the Time Vessel Association in the Nara period" theory in the back of my mind. This lore is also the main thing I like about this arc. Don't get me wrong, Gojo and Geto's struggles and change in mindset is nice too, but I don't care much about Gojo and don't like Geto, so I ended up focusing more on everything around them. Including Riko. I find her story, the way she grew up and her inevitable death very interesting. Episode 3 of season 2 is still my favourite episode of the season of maybe even the entire anime because it's just that beautiful and I love how they added to the themes of her character by connecting her to the ocean. The inside of the Tomb of Stars is also so eery and entrancing, I could soak in that atmosphere forever. The only reason it's so low is because a lot of this arc is dedicated to Gojo and Geto and their relationship etc. While that is absolutely necessary and was very well done, it's not something I'm much interested in.

Fearsome Womb

Start of the series. It's really those first few chapters and the mission at the detention centre I like about it. It's where you see Yuuji still quite naive and ready to play the hero. I am very interested in his life before joining Jujutsu Tech and when he first got introduced to jujutsu, so this is always nice to revisit and see how he acted before he was forced to become a seasoned sorcerer very quickly. Those glimpses of how Yuuji was always a bit of a loner and also extraordinary from the start due to Kenjaku's meddling. Knowing his family background makes these scenes now even more interesting. His mentality back then is also what makes the moment in the detention centre so special, where he realizes Sukuna isn't Kurama and won't be a convenient power source for him. He could die if he is careless (which he is, of course, he never dealt with anything like this before) and he is scared of it.

Besides that, I also like the introduction of Kenjaku and the curses, how chill it is and how you see them walking among regular citizens undetected by anyone. I think that's especially a fitting introduction to Kenjaku's character. They are unassuming in the beginning of the series, easy to overlook next to flashy Mahito and Jogo, but that's how they have always been throughout history and it's part of the reason for why they never drew much attention besides the Death Painting experiment, which wasn't directly linked to them. Of course Tengen covering for them was the other big reason.

Overall, nice start into the series, even if some parts are a bit slow and don't animate me much to reread them.

Shinjuku Showdown

Shinjuku Showdown fights on a reread do merge well into each other, but it's undeniable that they are very formulaic. Yuuta starts out the same way Higuruma does. Talking about regrets, giving his all, how he has to end everything with a technique only he can use and then he gets cut down. Same with Maki, Kusakabe, Miguel and Larue. It is all the same. We are currently literally watching a slight reshuffle of the fight that started this arc.

Parallel we learn more about Yuuji's new abilities and Sukuna has to gradually exert more force. Technically a good thing, but it's all so repetitive that it loses more and more of it's emotional impact for me. If there is any emotional impact at all. Eventually it just becomes explaining of cursed technique after cursed technique that won't work anyway with minimal depth otherwise. Things get a bit better when most people have been cut away and we start focusing on Yuuji and Sukuna, but by that point I'm already so tired by everything that came before that I can't get that hyped about it and just want a complete change of pace that breaks all rules that have been set up and introduces something completely new. Like the merger for example... Although I have to say, Kashimo's fight might be my favourite still out of the bunch. Has a lot to do with my particular interest and what I'm looking for in a fight. It was short, but we got a nice wrap-up for Kashimo's character, learned more about the Heian era, explored the theme of love and strength and got what is so far one of the deepest looks at Sukuna's philosophy and mindset.

Besides that, on the reread, by the time Kusakabe's fight happens I'm catching myself only skimming the pages. It doesn't help that there's not much initiative happening from Sukuna's side besides the very recent chapters. He's just waiting for others to do something, which lowers the perception of any imminent threat from him. The later half (before Yuuta showed up again) isn't as bad as the Gojo vs Sukuna fight, but I'm still having a hard time staying invested while reading it. Gojo vs Sukuna 2.0 pretty much tanked my interest again. Every week I'm shaking Sukuna to just spit out his backstory already and release Tengen because that's the only thing I care about at this point and I'm bored of this fight. But again, my opinion, others likely feel otherwise.

Kyoto Goodwill Event

Was a bit tempted to put it above Shinjuku Showdown, but at the end of it Shinjuku Showdown still has some scenes I really like, like Kashimo's fight, Yuuji fighting Sukuna and the Sukuna, Uraume and Kenjaku scenes in ch 222. That's more than what I could say for Kyoto Goodwill Event. I don't necessarily dislike it. It doesn't really have any moments that bother me as much as the ones in Shinjuku Showdown, but at the same time nothing in this arc really stands out to me or catches my interest. Often I end up forgetting about it entirely. There's not really much to say about it because I don't have any strong feelings about this one. Not really something I reread unless I'm looking for some very specific information.

Cursed Child

When I first read Vol 0 (right before the Death Painting arc) I thought it was a concept story for jjk. The infant stage of it before Gege made the proper story. Sort of like the original chapter of Naruto where he's actually a fox spirit. Interesting to read to see where jjk started, but not tied to canon. That's also why I didn't question Geto acting very different here. I just though "wow, they made his character way less aggravating". So yeah, Vol 0 is really not something I find interesting or enjoy and I think the writing in it is quite rough. I didn't find Yuuta very compelling. He's an obvious Shinji rip-off, which wouldn't be that bad in itself except I don't find his personality that interesting and him pulling powers out of his ass without any of them being set up prior made me really dislike him. He can just copy techniques now and use them much better than the original person because he's just that overpowered. Who knows how he learned about any of this, who knows what the limitations to any of his powers are, he can apparently just do anything and that makes his fights not very thrilling because there aren't really any stakes. He also has barely any connection to the villain of this arc except that he happens to kill people Yuuta cares about. Geto's ideology is entirely irrelevant. Geto could've said he's killing people because he wants to turn them into Christmas decoration and the fight would've happened the same way. I think putting an ideologically-driven villain against someone whose only care is that his friends are alive and who has also not even the experience to judge if anything Geto says is justified wasn't a very good move. Centring Gojo and Geto's conflict would've been better and also showing us literally anything that would make it possible for us to judge if any of Geto's complaints are justified, if he's talking about real problems. Just going by Vol 0, we don't know that. We can only tell that the bullshit he spouts is an allegory for white supremacy/racism, which obviously is bad. But on it's own it seems like he's just spouting bigotry for bigotry's sake, which doesn't make for a very compelling villain, especially if the rest of the characters and setting don't fit his attitude. Nobody can ever even bring themselves to say something like "genocide bad, eugenics bad". They just don't engage with what he's saying and if that's the case, then why bring it up in the first case. It makes Geto's antics even more unnecessary. On its own it's really not that good of a story and since it's a oneshot with initially no guaranteed sequel, I would expect a bit more.

All that being said, the first time I read Vol 0 I was very annoyed and glad I followed it up with the Death Painting arc, something which is much better written and more up my alley. If Vol 0 was my first exposure to jjk, I don't think I would've continued reading. Having more context from Hidden Inventory fleshes at least out what Gojo and Geto have going on, but my complaints about Yuuta and his lack of meaningful relation to Geto and what he stands for still makes me dislike this arc.

[yggdraseed]

Thinking About the Itadori Family

Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen. Reader beware, you're in for a scare!

I find Kenjaku a fascinating character in a lot of different ways. There's always a game being played and a lie being told, and yet there's still this damp, flickering spark of humanity under all the theatrics, bullshit, and centuries of accumulated junk.

When Kenjaku escorted Itadori's former classmate from aeons ago back in chapter one out of the Sendai Colony, there was this really interesting softness they display nowhere else. Gone is all the pretense of mocking others and keeping secrets... perhaps because they knew most of it would be forgotten, as dreams often are. But it seems like Kenjaku may have given away some deep insight into the nature of sorcery by casually mentioning the "Cursed Realm" - which has never, to my knowledge, been mentioned before or since. Not only that, but Kenjaku tells her something truly shocking:

"Thank you for getting along with my son."

Like, you can see how weird this is, right? Face to face with Yuji, Kenjaku says, "I expect great things from you." Talking with Choso while Yuji isn't in the room, Kenjaku talks about him like some object; a mere vessel, the eye of the storm for the age to come. Talking with a non-sorcerer teenage girl who's unlikely to remember much, if any of the conversation, Kenjaku accepts Yuji as their son and expresses gratitude that she was kind to him.

So, is this a "Who we are in the dark" moment of honesty? Is this the consequence of Kenjaku being a composite of all these different personalities bubbling to the surface at different times? It's really, really hard to say. But I like the idea that somewhere at the bottom of it all, there is genuine love, if misguided in its expression. That's what I want to run with.

Personally, I've seen theories that Kenjaku duped Jin, or somehow used sorcery to enthrall him, or that Jin simply went insane before or after Kaori died and wasn't in his right mind. I think those are all possible, and they're more straightforward answers. But I want to get off the road and into the woods and see where I end up.

What if Jin knew? What if a pact was made to try to bring Kaori back, and even when the person who came back wasn't Kaori, Jin was still grateful? What if Jin was just grateful to get to see Kaori smile one last time, to get to hear her voice one last time, even if he knew in his heart it couldn't be the same ever again? Just like when Yaga brought Takeru back as a cursed corpse for Kusakabe's sister, so she could hear her son's voice and hug some part of him one last time.

And what if genuine love grew out of that gratitude? What if seeing this acceptance and kindness in Jin, of having someone give gratitude and a wish to be by Kenjaku's side, started to morph and change who Kenjaku was without them realizing the full ramifications of that at first?

What if that ache for a family, for a place to belong, for some connection to other human beings, has carved itself open inside this nomad of flesh and time? Journeying across a thousand years and potentially dozens of bodies, duping themselves into thinking they only cared about their grand experiment, only to narrowly dodge getting ensnared by their human heart and spending all this time since then trying to ignore their own humanity?

I still have a feeling Kenjaku isn't quite dead yet, and I want to believe a change that was started by Jin will have been finished by Takaba. With Kenjaku realizing they do want other people, that they do want to see human potential, not the potential of this mad experiment. And that they'll now be gunning to change the outcome of the Merger, in whatever way is possible.

Though I think this is probably just me spinning my own theories out into something that doesn't even resemble GeGe's plan. But hey! Each theory I make that's proven untrue by the author is an idea I can use in my own writing for free.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

TLOZ translations always seem to be a bit shitty. I still see people talk about the weird translation of the Demise monologue at the end of SkSw. I think someone said that Demise was more general with his statement, as in there will always be forces from the demon tribe fighting against the light or smth? Not specifically "us three will always fight". (I've read it a few times, but hard to remember, sorry.) (On the topic of SkSw, I kinda dislike how much it impacted theories within TLOZ, some theories are really cool, don't get me wrong. But now, even games that existed for years before suddenly are being pushed to fit with the lore presented in that game. Ganondorf being the best example: He no longer is his own character who did bad things because of his own will and actions, it's now "He did it all because an evil curse made him do it. He had no choice, he was born as a vessel for the demonic lord." The implications that "the curse of Demise" also would mainly go for the already vilified race of the Gerudo, and make their one male an evil warlord is already kinda... yeah... no. (Not to mention that there are other demon lords throughout the franchise that have nothing to do with Ganon.)

Ohh speaking of this I recently saw this post that did a good translation of that very moment, and pretty much confirms what you are mentioning anon; that it's basically a promise of that cycle coming back moreso than Demise himself coming back (especially since his actual and definitive death is a big deal in that game).

But yeah, I agree it has taken a huge space in the way the series is thought about. I pretty much completely missed that hard turn, as I couldn't play Skyward Sword when it released and wasn't super into Zelda afterward anymore (I had gotten too edgy.... 2011 was the year where I got obsessed with every horror videogame in existence basically except for Resident Evil for some reason I could never get into that series ANYWAY WAY off topic........), so coming back a few years later had me very ???? puzzled about how the theories had reconstructed themselves around Hylia and Demise and endless cycles (it's not that it wasn't a thing before, but I wouldn't say it was as much a Series Trademark as it is now).

But yeah. Ganondorf having his own motivations makes him immediately stronger as an antagonist, especially since his deal is quite complicated all things considered.

I am having a thought about how a lot of Zelda villains' motivation is a sort of rebellion against nature. I have scratched enough digital paper about Ganondorf's situation, but like... Minish Cap Vaati is also very much motivated by his refusal to remain small and whimsical and seize power instead of staying in his lane (and then he gets horny in Four Sword so, maybe let's not go there), Zant is.... Zant, Hilda in A Link Between World has been cosmically punished for trying to reject the Goddesses and create a world on its own terms --like SERIOUSLY this is HORRIFYING I feel like we don't talk enough about how utterly nightmarish of a reality that paints for Hyrule as a whole-- Girahim is devoted but fights for the side more or less destined to lose... It's interesting how Hyrule is hostile to change and anything that threatens the statut quo.

(then you have the occasional Majora and Yuga, whomst I dooon't think really fit the above category --to their full credit! and then you have Bellum, who is..... a blob...... And I don't remember enough from either the Oracles game or about Malladus to put them in either category, I need to replay those games)

Hyrule really has this frightening quality to it when you stare at it for too long: that your two only options are to either graciously submit to your assigned cosmic role, or fight it and become darkness incarnate in some way. A Link Between World showed, quite starkly, that trying to escape that binary choice is *not an option*.

[ultfreakme]

Geto and Yoshino parallel ramble:

Geto and Junpei parallels are so high in terms of the role they play in defining the themes and key events of the story. I feel like if Junpei survived, he would have written to be as a counter to Geto's character arc.

The biggest reason for why they remind me of each other is the way their death affects their associated main characters. Geto's departure and death transform the way Gojo sees Jujutsu society and his role in it, making him far more grounded and giving him a reason to help others who are weaker. Junpei's makes Yuuji see the dangers and unfairness of the world he's in, and how even a dignified death is something difficult to provide for people.

Geto and Junpei were both let down by the systems they were in. Geto's struggles were wholly unacknowledged by Yaga and any of the higher-ups in Jujutsu Tech. Junpei's suffering was noticed but no one did anything about it.

Fundamentally, they are both people who care for others. This is important in understanding their downfall.

Geto went to extremism because he thought he could protect people if he just tried hard enough. He understood that the strong hurt the weak, accepted it to some extent at the start and made it his mission to be the kind of strong person that would instead protect the weak. His motives are, even if simplistic and filled with issues, empathetic. Junpei says he doesn't believe that humans have hearts but its revealed that he's only led to this thinking because he can't stomach that any human being is capable of inflicting the cruelty he and his mother suffered through(also because Mahito guided him there).

They care way too much and that's what is used to break them.

Next, is how they are used by the special grade curses. Kenjaku is obvious, he's possessing Geto's body. Mahito's also pretty obvious, he used Junpei to manipulate Yuuji emotionally in order to bring forth Sukuna. In Shibuya Arc, Geto and Junpei are used to emotionally break Gojo and Yuuji(I'm not putting Nobara and Nanami here because they serve roles outside of the parallels I'm drawing between Geto and Junpei).

They are both characters who are broken by the systems that are meant to foster them, and are then used callously by curses to further chaos. I really want to know what kind of human emotion made Kenjaku, because I think it'd be something that works in an opposite yet complementary fashion to the cause of Mahito's birth; humanity's hatred for each other. I think it'd be like that because Mahito and Kenjaku have a discussion that's very important to the idea of 'humanity' in JJK, which is, the connection between 'the body' and 'the soul'.

Even more, Junpei was the prototype for all the sorcerers that were awakened during the Culling Games. Kenjaku brings up Yuuji as an example for the vessels, and I thought it was interesting to mention Yuuji and Junpei together when he was explaining the Culling Game participants. But I actually think Kenjaku counts as a 'vessel' (vessels lose autonomy, their souls are removed and replaced by a curse or sorcerer that was once alive and there is no way to separate the possessor from the body without killing the soul of the original).

In canon, they show the worst of human society and exhibit what can happen when you are let down and uncared for by the people around you. Their deaths happened because they were alone. Either out of choice or because they had no other options. In contrast, the lessons Gojo and Yuuji exhibited from these events was the importance of reaching out to people.

Gojo reached out to Geto and had an honest, private conversation with him before his final moments. Yuuji stopped attacking and listened to Junpei in his. Neither of these actions saved the characters, but they showed us that reaching out is important, even in the face of how overwhelming and awful the world can be.

JJK is a story about love, but it's also about the consequence of isolation and the power of community. Sukuna and Gojo are powerful, but they are overwhelmingly lonely. Yuuji calls himself a cog in the machine, and that sounds really bleak. The phrase is not used in any good context and is usually to show that an individual is detached or unimportant to the mechanism they're part of. But in this case I think a new perspective is needed. They are cogs that come together for a greater cause that they are all aware of and would eventually benefit them. Yuuji is surrounded by people who want to help him. It's what his grandpa wanted for him. Even if he dies physically alone, he'd have the hearts of others mourning for him and treasuring him.

Geto and Junpei died, but as tragic as it was they didn't die alone and their deaths made people reconsider the systems around them.

[storm-driver]

Having finished the DLCs in full, and thus gotten my fill of FFXVI in its entirety (save the Final Fantasy mode and the Kairos Gate endings), I can officially say, with all certainty, FFXVI is a game that exists.

Spoilers below the cut for FFXVI and its DLCs.

I'm not one to mince words when I wanna gush about a game I love. And FFXVI has the makings of something truly fucking incredible. Wonderful fight choreography, out-of-this-world kaiju battles, music that brings you to tears through passion alone, environments that speak for their rich history, characters with such strong bases and motivations, all tied up in a bow of underwhelming character writing and a misguided ending to what could've been one of the best stories I'd seen in the JRPG genre.

I wanna reiterate: I love this game. I think FFXVI is fucking amazing, was worth the 60$ price tag, and it's two DLCs were very fun to play through. I stand by my original word that Clive Rosfield is one of the best FF protagonists we've gotten since Final Fantasy X.

However, loving the game for what it does right can stand in the same room as disliking the game for what it does wrong. It's unfortunate that I feel the need to tear into the game like this, given how much I want to praise its feats. And I still will, I still think this game is worth playing in spite of what it does wrong. But it also be remiss of me to say "just ignore these parts of the game!" and hope that people can turn a blind eye like I can.

I was hoping the DLC could ammend something I originally disliked about the original game: the ending. The ending is by far one of the most contested parts of the game when it comes to discussing the positives and negatives. Some people like the ambiguity of it all, others would rather have the truth spilled.

For me personally, I'm not in either field. Because I don't think the ending to the game is a culmination of the journey Clive takes. It does not feel genuine. It doesn't feel like he deserved his fate to be left up to guessing. If he died on that beach or if he let his name fade away in history in favor of his brother. Neither of those choices speak to me as "Yeah, that's where the story was going."

It's bitter. Not bittersweet. Plain bitter. It feels like a kick in the teeth for trying to fight his destiny. How dare he try to change fate for himself and the world. You are now cursed to live a false life, if you even survive that long. Not even your dust will be remembered.

Now, my fervent and desperate hopes regarding this game were that the acquisition of the Leviathan eikon would change his fate. After all, we saw at the end of the game that Clive was an "incomplete" vessel, thought we're never told exactly why. The assumption is the missing Eikon in Leviathan. But if not Leviathan missing, what is? Is his humanity itself keeping him grounded, to a point where he cannot change his fate? The fate of his brother?

Is the ending, and I ask this with the utmost of curiousity, meant to tell us that Clive was destined to lose everything in the end? That fighting his shackles only helped the world, and he couldn't even save himself or his brother? That a price must be paid for hubris on this grand a scale, and Clive is the unfortunate victim of it all?

This game screamed to me constantly that he wasn't going to die easily. He would not let himself lose everything he'd worked so hard to retain. For god's sake, the main message of the Bearers and Dominants is that they should get to choose how to live their life, and to live their life to the fullest.

The ending of the game speaks of inevitability. A direct contrast to everything Clive was fighting for. The ending doesn't do a good job of making it feel like a bittersweet victory, as it just kills off Joshua and deliberately tells Clive, "Nope, not good enough."

I digress, this is gripes with the ending, and how I had hoped it would change. Obviously my hopes were misplaced. Or maybe I'm jaded and trying to interpret this in ways that the writers didn't intend. But I can't help but percieve it this way, especially when I look at other people discussing the DLC and finding a lot of them thought the same.

Another thing, the hidden Eikon in the Kairos gate content. Ultima being an eikon you channel. I genuinely do not understand the point of this eikon outside of it being a means for trailer bait. Because that's all it ending up being. No story implications. Not even true practical usage besides being intense damage nukes and an overall homage to Ultima as a source of power. Prove me wrong if something at the end of Kairos gate ends up being story related, but I have a very strong feeling it is not.

[penheadie]

I've always been a fan of child characters in horror specifically being tormented by some sort of malevolent supernatural being that only they're capable of seeing like tattletale or fnaf and other games with that formula. I feel like Tiny very much is the "I see dead things" type of character often spewing nonsense about seeing living dead things, monsters living in the cracks and floorboards and predicting future bad events before they happen but nobody believing him because nobody would take the word of a blind kid. Why would they believe somebody who can't see? They can't give any eyewitness testimonies or be a reliable narrator when they're near sighted. Besides what happens in your nightmares aren't real right? They can't hurt you right?

For this many people think he is cursed, and he brings bad luck causing the said series of unfortunate events to happen seeing him as nothing more than a liability than an asset. Tiny having ties with the paranormal and supernatural with all of these evil demons living rent free in her head. If the demons actually found a way out of her head and into the real world it would be bad news bears so instead, she just has to carry this huge burden being used as a vessel with nobody believing him. Sometimes I just forget about how much of a favorite character he is of mine. And when I start officially writing his story, I can't wait for y'all to meet him.

[beevean]

addendum to the 'Hector is a misogynist' being a very weird read of his character because i don't really want to put that person on blast or derail the OP lol:

Hector being an out-and-out -ist of any flavour seems odd to me because he himself was shunned and hated by society for some perceived flaw he couldn't help - i think he'd be intelligent and sensitive enough to not want to perpetuate that same kind of mindless hatred, or he wouldn't have defected

you could argue being raised in a vampire's castle that is a hotbed of evil and godlessness might have put some funny ideas in his head, and, yes, the time period certainly doesn't help but if we're going with the idea that 'church bad' and is the sole cause of misogynistic thinking, then would't that same godless environment promote beliefs that's counter to any religious doctrine? isn't that cultish 'we're all equals here' part of the appeal that made Hector stay for so long?

plus, the way Hector displays having gentlemanly manners (apologizing and bowing to Julia before taking his leave) leads me to believe that he was expressly educated against that sort of thinking - maybe only because of his role as a servant, and possibly Lisa being the only woman he'd encounter up until meeting Rosaly, coupled with her role as Lady of the Castle, meaning Hector would have to act respectfully towards her at all times, so it sort of becomes his 'default' state when interacting with any women from that point on

the most misogynistic thing Hector's actually ever done is kill his own mother, but we both know that's because she was physically abusive towards him on whats implied to be a regular basis and not just because she's a woman lmao

like. i'm not trying to be 'my blorbo is more socially aware and morally cOrReCt compared to your blorbo' but this is just. not a facet of his character that exists in any way

Like. First of all, getting over your dead wife that quickly is certainly morally questionable, but it's not what I'd call toxic masculinity. Wikipedia gives this summary:

The concept of toxic masculinity is used in academic and media discussions to refer to those aspects of hegemonic masculinity that are socially destructive, such as misogyny, homophobia, and violent domination. These traits are considered "toxic" due in part to their promotion of violence, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Socialization of boys sometimes also normalizes violence, such as in the saying "boys will be boys" about bullying and aggression.

The topic of male hegemony doesn't belong in the series at all. The absolute worst you can say is that Hector reacted to his pain with violent rage, which is a stereotypically masculine response and yes, could lead to harm. But:

unlike Dracula, who spread his misery through all of Europe and involved innocents, Hector only targeted Isaac, the primary culprit of his loss. Aside from yelling at some people, he never harms anyone who isn't directly involved in his quest.

it's stated in the game itself that that rage was exacerbated by Dracula's Curse, and when Hector realized what was going on, he was horrified, and said textually that "this is not me". It's not the same as a man killing his gf in a fit of passionate rage, because that rage wasn't even his! He was being corrupted by the Curse!

he doesn't even end up killing Isaac directly. Death uses Isaac as a vessel, which kills him, and Hector understands that he can't fully blame Isaac for his evil actions, because both of them were victim of the same Curse and manipulations. Is that toxic to you?

Hector displays unmanly signs of grief as well. He's suicidal, cries when overcome by emotion, and thinks he has to pay for the right to be loved. This is the complete opposite of toxic masculinity, that teaches men that they are entitled to women's love and sexual favors.

fucking Isaac displays more toxic masculinity than Hector. My man killed Hector's new lover out of jealousy. Sure, he also did it out of revenge and to lure him for his plan, but let's be real here: he acts like a dumped boyfriend lmao.

I wouldn't even say that Hector killing his mother was misogynistic. Aside from the fact that he also killed his father, that murder had nothing to do with gender. There is a difference between, for example, a male robber killing a female cashier during a robbing, and a man killing his ex-girlfriend because she broke up with him: only the latter is considered a femicide and an expression of misogyny.

Hector displays a chivalrous attitude towards Rosaly and Julia. He helps the former even when he didn't know how, and is almost impeccably polite towards the latter (he yells at her when he suspects she's Isaac's ally, but when she explains herself he's quick to apologize). If you want to see this as benevolent sexism, be my guest, but it is not, in any stretch of the word, toxic masculinity. It's just, well, politeness and respect.

And no, even assuming that he and Julia do end up together post game, that's not toxic masculinity either. Disrespectful towards Rosaly? Sadly yes. Disrespectful towards Julia if the main reason Hector grew attracted to her was her resemblance with Rosaly? Also sadly yes. But it is not toxic masculinity, it's not about male hegemony, it's not about normalizing male violence.

Anyway, going into headcanon territory: while Dracula isn't certainly jugging Respect Women Juice lmao, he's not an outright sexist (especially not pre-Lisa's death), so he might have taught Hector and Isaac to respect Lisa and by extention the women in the castle (except succubi, no one likes succubi lol). And yes, it could be precisely to fight back the Church-influenced sexism of the time. I can imagine Hector seeing a bit of Lisa into Rosaly too, which might have influenced him to be more respectful than he would have been at that point in time.

i also find the idea of dracula teaching his boys to not be homophobic with the exact same logic hilarious. i mean the logic flows :P

[yukisdomain]

If you don't mind, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Jujutsu Kaisen? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this before.....

Hi! Thanks for the ask :)

Yuuji is definitely my favourite. If you've seen my recent post about what I think makes him a good character you probably already have an idea about what I think of him.

However, what initially drew me to him was how kind hearted he is. There is a certain childlike (not childish) innocence about him that makes him so endearing and sets him apart from other characters. I know Miwa is a sweetheart too, but something about Yuuji makes it feel more earnest. Of course he isn't that "happy go lucky" kid after everything that's happened to him, but it seems to me that he did preserve some of that purity. Mahito said it himself - Yuuji saves people without a second thought. And while that doesn't have to be the best thing one can do in a certain situations, I still love that about him.

There was that scene when Gojo tells Megumi he needs to be more selfish and not throw his life away. That tendency of his was evident during the game of baseball they played against the Kyoto students. But here's the thing, while Yuuji might be more "selfish" in the way Gojo put it (and even compared himself to him), I still think Yuuji is more "selfless" on the battleground. Megumi knows what should be done. Yuuji feels. Megumi will do something because he knows it's for the better (based on his set of values), Yuuji will do something because he feels it's for the better. Because he genuinly cares (not saying Megumi doesn't, but not as much as Yuuji). What I'm trying to say is that if Megumi sacrifices himself it's because it needs to be done, if Yuuji sacrifices himself it's because he feels for those who would suffer if he doesn't. At least that's how I see it.

Then there's Kenjaku - someone who would cause the apocalypse because they are bored. Here's the thing, I didn't read the manga and go, oh I like this one. I started posting silly little scenarios of them and then it hit me like, wait, they are quite interesting. A mad scientist. I do quite like that. I like how curious, playful and unpredictable they are. Plus I have a habit of liking those who think outside the box.

Which brings us to Yuki. Her character is probably the most similar to Kenjaku's in jjk universe - a playful non-conformist who studies ways of the cursed energy. She wants to treat the root of the problem, not simply exorcise curses - finally! It is interesting because her ideals directly oppose Kenjaku's. She thinks breaking away from cursed energy is for the best, while Kenjaku believes that optimising cursed energy is the way to go. Both of them also have a connection to Tengen, she as a previous Star Plasma Vessel and Kenjaku as Tengen's friend. I wish Gege delved deeper in both of their pasts, or at least showed us how two of those traveled (Kenny across Jappan, she abroad) and studied cursed energy.

Also, she's damn cool, okay? I don't make the rules. She just is. I also love how tall she is (probably because I'm tall too 😂 and you don't see many tall women in the media).

Some other characters i like are Shoko, Nobara, Nanami, Choso, Hakari...

As for the favorite moments, the first two on this list are my actual no. 1 and 2, the rest is listed in no particular order other than me remembering them in that way:

1) Yuuji vs Mahito's last fight in s2

2) Yuuji and Nobara vs Eso and Kechizu, then Nobara comforting Yuuji in her own way, s1

3) the trio spilling coffee on Gojo's shirt, s2

4) Nanami saying everything is shit, s1

5) Yuuji vs Mahito first fight, s1

Sukuna vs Jogo was great too imo, and I love the animation of the Star Plasma corridor scene. Actually all scenes with Amanai Riko were well animated.

There are probably more scenes but this list is off the top of my head.

Sorry for the long answer 😅

Have a nice day :)

[ultimablades]

Some thoughts and my interpretation on the FF16 ending

I’ve seen a couple different interpretations of the ending now so I want to share what I think happened. Personally, I am in camp “Clive brought Joshua back and then died on the beach,” so I’m so….confused I guess, that so many people saw the book at the end that’s titled “Joshua Rosfield” as proof that Clive??? Survived??? And not Joshua??

People say it’s cause Harpocrates wished for Clive to put down the sword and pick up the pen one day. But Harpocrates also said that Joshua had a gift for words and would be an excellent historian. In that same vein — we never see Clive showing a particular interest in books or history or writing really, while history and research are a big part of Joshua’s character, he’s one of the only people in the world to have a copy of Moss the Chronicler, like my dude is a nerd. He’s described as bookish in official material.

And then there’s the whole “Clive would take up Joshua’s name,” but….why….why would he do that? It makes sense for him to take up Cid’s name because Cid had already made a reputation for himself as an outlaw who was freeing Bearer’s. Clive could use that notoriety and connections to his advantage and also hide his true identity from people he didn’t want to know it. Why would he use Joshua’s name then? There is nothing for him to gain by penning the book in his brother’s name rather than his own when he could’ve said something like “in memory of my brother,” instead.

I also just think Clive living and Joshua dying makes for a worse ending. I saw someone say the opposite, that Joshua living and Clive dying is worse, and I just don’t agree. Being Joshua’s shield is a huge part of Clive’s identity, perhaps the biggest part of his identity, all he wants to do is protect him. If Joshua dies for good, then that means the game both starts and ends with Clive “failing” what he sees as his duty to protect Joshua. That’s….really unsatisfying for his character!!!

Joshua’s story is about rebirth while Clive’s is about protecting the person he loves most. Clive’s entire story begins the day he loses Joshua and he spends the next 18 years focused on first avenging him, then reuniting and protecting him. He carries that Phoenix feather with him for five years, as a constant reminder his brother is alive. An ending where Joshua dies and Clive does nothing to save him hurts both their characters I think.

And Clive HAS the power to save him. Earlier they said that even the Phoenix doesn’t have the power to bring someone back from the dead and that’s true but Clive doesn’t just have the Phoenix’s powers — he absorbed the power of creation from Ultima too once he defeated him. The power to create and destroy life mingled with the power of the Phoenix I could absolutely believe could revive someone who had just died. Like, do people think he just closed Joshua’s wounds so he would leave behind a pretty corpse? What did you think was happening in that scene?

“But the montage proves Joshua’s death,” the montage that happens while Clive holding Joshua’s body shows us two scenes that we hadn’t seen before: the day Clive officially became Joshua’s shield, and the very first time Clive met Joshua as a baby. Why these two scenes? To remind us what Clive sees as his most important duty — to protect Joshua. The ceremony makes it official but I think it was that first meeting when little baby Joshua grabbed his finger that Clive knew he would do anything for him.

So I think Clive used the combined powers of creation and the Phoenix to save his brother’s life. After that, he uses the rest of the power he had gathered to destroy Origin. When we see him on the beach, with his hand quickly petrifying from the curse, as he is no longer Ultima’s chosen vessel and must now lay the price for all the aether he channeled through his body.

I think he dies on the beach and it’s very sad and bittersweet but I also think it’s ambiguous enough that you can believe he survived that. Like I get it! I don’t want Clive dead either, even if I think he is in the end. I think that’s why Metia fades. But I do think Joshua lived and he really was the one who wrote the book we see at the end with his name on it.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group D Round 3: #D5 vs #D6

#D5: Three brothers work together to stop an ancient evil

#D6: Most adorable-dork villainess in dating game isekai

Details and poll under the cut!

*D6’s tagline has been changed.

#D5: Laughing Under the Clouds (Donten ni Warau)

Summary:

In the 11th year of the Meiji Era, the end of the samurai shogunate and the prohibition of swords has left Japan with lasting scars. Displeased by these recent changes, many former samurai plot against the new government, inciting a wave of bloodshed. To counter this movement, the government constructs a colossal prison in the middle of Lake Biwa.

Unofficially assigned to help the police arrest criminals, Tenka Kumou also serves as a ferryman to the Lake Biwa prison with the help of his two younger siblings: the ambitious Soramaru and the enthusiastic Chuutarou. Together with the former Fuma ninja Shirasu Kinjou, the Kumou brothers live a frugal and joyful life mostly dedicated to studying and training.

However, behind this relatively uneventful daily routine, the specter of the “Orochi” curse is starting to spread its shadow over the city of Oumi. According to legend, every three hundred years, Orochi reincarnates in a human vessel—and it is believed that this is the harbinger of an imminent catastrophe. As various groups clash in search of Orochi’s vessel, some aim to seal the curse, while others have darker plans in motion.

Propaganda:

I found this series absolutely entrancing when I originally watched it, the portrayal of the characters and themes is really interesting to watch.

It tells a fantastic story about trying to defeat a legendary evil that can corrupt those around it to do its biding, all the while mixing in comedy and really heartfelt moments between family. For a 12 episode series they did a really good job of tying up any loose ends and finishing the plot, some things could have been expanded upon a bit more, but for what it is they producers did a wonderful job.

The series might not be the most groundbreaking anime ever, but it does have some lovely moments and explorations of its characters. I really like the themes of family, and wanting to do anything you can to help the people you love, it’s always nice to see and I think it’s done really well in this anime.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Suicide.

#D6: My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! (Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta…)

Summary:

Most people would prefer being the protagonist of a world full of adventure, be it in a game or in another world. But, unfortunately, a certain girl is not so lucky. Regaining the memories of her past life, she realizes that she was reborn in the world of Fortune Lover—one of the games she used to play.

Unfortunately, the character she was reincarnated into—Catarina Claes—is the game's main antagonist, who faces utter doom in every ending. Using her extensive knowledge of the game, she takes it upon herself to escape from the chains of this accursed destiny.

However, this will not be an easy feat, especially since she needs to be cautious as to not set off death flags that may speed up the impending doom she is trying to avoid. Even so, to make a change that will affect the lives of everyone around her, she strives—not as the heroine—but as the villainess.

Propaganda:

This show is so much fun. The protagonist is a lovable girl himbo, who is completely oblivious to everyone around falling in love with her. It’s a bit of a harem anime, but with equal opportunities: the girls are just as enamored with the main character as the guys are. The increasingly dumber ways in which she thinks she’s going to meet her doom (she is supposed to be the villain of the story, after all) are a delight to behold.

Trigger Warnings: Incest, Rape/Non-Con. The main character gets assaulted like two or three times, but it’s not graphic. One of these instances, where a kiss is forced on her, is by her adoptive brother, who is also her cousin, who is one of her main love interests.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how it’s presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.