#jump giga really was The move

[courtesanofdeath]

Tears don't mark the end of a sin.

[pikachu-deluxe]

been thinking recently about how i play games (in general but also a bit on the competitive side on some)

turns out i don't particularly care about winning, i just want to have fun, but obviously i do like winning i just try to do win by doing very stupid stuff

it's way more fun for everyone involved when you do things against the meta or common sense and end up winning anyways bc it's so weird that it takes others by surprise

[razorblade180]

Long Distance

Weiss:*reading*

Bzzz! Bzzz!

Weiss:*presses speaker* This is Weiss Schnee.

Winter:Weiss, I apologize for bothering you while you’re on leave, but there’s a situation that can’t-

AAAAARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Weiss:Was that…a Leviathan?

Winter:Yes. It’s 55 miles due east of Argus. We’re on site but could use more power. If it gets closer-

Weiss:Evacuating procedures start. I really don’t feel like moving all that much.

Winter:You��re only three months pregnant.

Weiss:With twins. Let’s not forget that part. I feel bloated as hell. How many airships and do you have any heavy hitters there.

Penny:Saluuutations!!! Four airships in total!

Nora:Hiiii Weiss! Hope you’re putting your feet up!

Winter:That answer your question?

Weiss:*closes book* Nora, Penny, let’s play catch.

Penny and Nora:Ready anytime!

The tired young lady walks over to the fire escape and takes the stairs up to apartment complex roof.

Weiss:You said East?

Winter:Yep.

Penny:There’s a five mile head wind!

Weiss:Thank you!

She summons an Arma Gigas and lets it grow to its full size. One hand summons its mighty blade while Weiss creates a second blade made of ice for it to use. The grand beast began to spin slowly, its speed ramping up with each full cycle thanks to the weight of the blades. It wasn’t long before it actually chucked the blade in the right hand like a frisbee, then let the left blade fly out of its hand.

Weiss:Coming at ya!

xxxxxx

Leviathan:AAAAARRRGGHH!

Nora:Hold on a sec!

Winter:Stop acting like it understands you.

Nora:It knows it’s doing a lot.

Penny:*flying* Incoming gifts!

She points at two shimmering blades soaring higher than the airships at intimidating speed.

Nora:Uhh Winter?

Winter:I got it. Just jump.

Nora leaps out the ship into Penny’s arms and gets tossed sky high. Penny maxes out her thrusts to intercept the ice blade at the perfect time to grab the hilt; while Nora is added by Winter with the help of a giant gravity glyph that not only slows the speed of the sword enough for her catch without flying off, but also remain in the sky at the perfect angle.

With both girls above on each side of the beast, they launch themselves down diagonally. Nora swings downward from the left of the neck near the gills while Penny swings skyward, causing the Leviathan to lose its mind, literally. The head came clean off. Winter caught Nora and brought her back as the girls dropped the giant blades.

Weiss:Everything good? I…have two more of those in me.

Winter:On behalf of Argus, Atlas, and Mantle, we thank you for your services.

Weiss:Write it on a check and send it to my landlord.

Winter:Done.

Nora and Penny:Byyyye Weiss! Take care! Love you!

Weiss:Love you too! Don’t work too hard!

She hangs up with a satisfied sigh, her summon fading away as she makes it back inside. Weiss returns to her book just in time for Jaune to walk through the door.

Jaune:Hello, my Snow Angel. How has your day been?

Weiss:Jaune, I fear I might be really amazing. Dare I say, awesome?

Jaune:I definitely would. *kisses forehead*

Weiss:*smiles* Hopefully our kids think so.

[jujumin-translates]

[18TRIP] Event Story | WE ARE M・T・T・B | TRACK. 8

Characters: 🫰 Chihiro Natsuyaki, ☁️ Ten Murakumo, 🎨 Kiroku Kinugawa, 🌕 Muneuji Kaguya, 🔮 Toi Shiramitsu

Location: Dance Competition - Venue & Stage

Host: “Alright, that was “Heavenly Melonpan!”

*Applause*

Host: “Next up is someone you might know! From the viral dance video, it’s “Chii & Tenchamu”!”

Host: “This time, it seems like they’ve got a whole new team complete with new members joining them!”

Host: “And their name is “MATATABI”! The song they’ll be using is—.” (1)

*Crowd cheers*

House Dance Judge: The title is “Kink” …Wait, it was completely written by the masked artist unlove on commission!? Seriously, that’s incredible.

Reggae Dance Judge A: Seems like the audience is getting excited, huh? I guess they’re not lacking in popularity.

Reggae Dance Judge B: Popularity alone doesn’t mean anything. The real question is how’s their technique. I’m not gonna be soft on them—.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Heart beating*

Chihiro: (I always get a bit nervous before going on stage. But…)

Chihiro: (It’ll be okay. We’re gonna dance our own dance. Moments like these are exciting, thrilling, happy, and joyful—.)

Chihiro: (And I want everyone here to feel that too!)

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

*Music starts playing*

House Dance Judge: Ooh…! That’s crazy, they all came out on stage wearing masks, and then all of a sudden split up and started dancing as hard as they could! There’s a kinda aggression to it!

Chihiro: (Okay, our first big impact strategy was a success~! I can tell all the judges are all amazed by their faces!)

Toi: (...And now.)

Muneuji & Kiroku: (All together, stand still in a cat pose ♪)

Ballroom Dance Judge: The cat masks along with the dance with cat motifs… That’s just so cute!

Reggae Dance Judge: They’re perfectly in sync. This whole thing is pretty strategic.

Ballroom Dance Judge: Every member has a different choreography to match their personality, yet they’re still cohesive as a whole.

Muneuji: (I’m really enjoying this…!)

Breakdance Dance Judge: That kid’s movements are nice. He’s a little rough around the edges now, but he has potential.

Muneuji: (And now we remove the masks and— Hit them with the fanservice that Natsuyaki-san came up with…!)

Ballroom Dance Judge: P-Pretty boys! Pretty boys have appeared! 

Muneuji: (...And my own personal wave, and boogaloo…)

*Muneuji dances*

Chihiro: (Yep, that’s good. Really good…! Munechi and the others are moving even better than they were in practice, and they audience really seems to be eating it up!)

Kiroku: (Me… too.)

*Kiroku dances*

Breakdance Dance Judge: Look! That kid’s moving too!

Ballroom Dance Judge: His movements are so light… And if you look closely, you can really see his style too! I’m totally stanning him~!

Toi: (Muneuji-kun and Kiro-chan are moving so well! Time for my own moves too…!)

Ballroom Dance Judge: Kyaaaaah!!! Did you see his pose!? S-So adorable…!

Reggae Dance Judge: That guy’s cat pose is so innocent that it tickles my maternal instincts…

Chihiro: (Everyone’s seriously locked in right now~!! Chii’s not gonna let them outdo him ♪)

*Chihiro dances*

Judge: A-Amazing!

Judge: Just how is he so flexible!? He’s just like a cat turned human…!

Chihiro: (And the best is still yet to come~♪)

*Crowd cheers*

Ten: …

Ten: (Ahh, so everyone gave it their all.)

Ten: (Well, I am wearing a mask, so being center stage just this once might not be so bad.)

*Ten dances*

Ten: …Gh!

Breakdance Dance Judge: What’s with that jumping power!?

Reggae Dance Judge: Was that like a parkour-inspired dance arrangement… Huh!? How is he flying like that!? What is he, a ninja…!?

Ten: And finally, a backflip… To finish things off.

Chihiro: (Tenchamu is amazing~! He’s so giga-brained for being able to adlib like that~!!)

Muneuji: (And finally…)

Toi: (Finish off with the same cat pose we started with ♪)

Kiroku: (Now…)

All Five: —Done ♪

*Applause*

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Chihiro: …Ahhh~, that was sooooooo much fun~♪ We really got those vibes up and I’m feeling good about how hyped everyone was~!

Chihiro: It seems like the audience and the judges really had fun! That’s why—.

Muneuji & Toi & Kiroku: …

Chihiro: Don’t be so gloomy, smile ♪

Muneuji: …Yes, however.

Chihiro: Even finishing second is a great achievement, dont’cha think~? Especially ‘cause there’s lotsa dance pros competing. That’s why…

Chihiro: What matters isn’t really the results, but whether or not we’re satisfied with how we did. After all, no one can beat people who are just enjoyers ♪

Chihiro: BTDubs, Chii’s super satisfied~!

Muneuji: …I see. I gave it my all as well. I have no regrets.

Toi: Me too! I had a lotta fun, and I’m happy that I got to see the wonderful world that you and Ten-kun saw, Chihiro-kun!

Kiroku: Me… too… I had… fun.

Kiroku: I had fun, and… It was thanks to you… Natsuyaki-san.

Kiroku: So… Thank you so much…

Muneuji: Precisely. We’re very appreciative, Natsuyaki-san and Murakumo-san.

Chihiro: Wh…

Chihiro: I’m so happy I feel like I’m gonna wail… Ahaha! 

Ten: I’m glad.

Chihiro: Wait, but this is all partly thanks to you, Tenchamu. Seeing you do such a crazy trick like that… That was so cool.

Ten: Ahaha, tha~nks.

Chihiro: Once again, thanks for today, y’all.

Chihiro: M’kay, before we dip, let’s all take a commemorative pic. Everyone, pose and say cheese~♪

[ ⇠ Previous Part ] • [ Next Part ⇢ ]

• • •

Notes:

(1) Matatabi means “catnip” in Japanese.

[gojuo]

Gojo has his head. In season 2 he tells toji he failed to kill him because he didn't cut off his head. Sukuna didn't cut off his head. He can still heal his body.

Plus we see Nanami tell gojo that there are two paths. One to change you or one to stay who you are. Gojo says goodbye to his dead friends and we see him walk away showing he's taking the second path. We also see a lotus then.

Which symbols strength and renewal.

Gojo is not dying. He may be gone a few chapters but everything his hunting he will heal his body and be back.

Gojo will live.

i wish i had your hopium but i gotta correct a few things here ... 1) it was said by i think kashimo (i dont even remember) that cursed energy comes from the gut, and gojo has been split into two from his stomach. toji never bisected him, even if he managed to stab him through the cranium. 2) gojo didn't say goodbye to his friends in the afterlife, that was a mistranslation. 3) he's not walking away from anything either ?? 4) the chapter title is called "going south" bruh...

listen. i so badly want him to come back. i really fucking do. i read jjk 0 when it came out in jump giga in 2017 and when it wasn't called jjk yet (it was called tokyo metropolitan curse technical school btw). i've been with gojo since mfing 2017... 2017!!! i've loved him for over 6 years now i can't even believe it's been so long.. i never expected that silly oneshot manga to become this popular 🥹 kinda makes me happy how loved jjk is currently :')))) but the fact of the matter is that gege has stated numerous times that he wants to finish jjk soon. he actually stated in late 2022 that he was planning on finishing it in 2023. gege's editor has come out and said that the manga will not be ending this year though, so my guess is somewhere around spring 2024 everything will be wrapped and and be donezo so that gege can move on to that goddamn idol manga he's been yapping about for a while now. so what am i trying to say with this tangent? i'm saying that jjk is ending soon and that gege has stated multiple times how difficult it was for him to write around the powerhouse that is gojo (which is just an admission of his own shitty writing/planning because mf YOU 🫵 are the writer like you are the one that created him!!! learn how to plan out your story and how to utilize the characters you yourself have created for it you stupid fucking cat i swear to god....). this all just screams to me that it's over. it's finished. gojo already died once and came back enlightened, he's not gonna have it a second time. not this close to the end. not after having been removed from the narrative for over a hundred chapters. not after seeing sukuna back at full health in his heian era form, something gege didn't even have gojo force out of him. like gege really got him out of the box so that he could be done with him unarguably and conclude his character arc because he wants to finish jjk.

gojo is dead, nobara is for sure dead, megumi is basically done for (we'll see him once more within the mind once yuuji does his soul cursed technique whatever bullshit on sukuna to have a talk but he's not coming back no more), and yuuji, the kid whose execution started this story, will be the only one left alive. gege said in an interview a while ago that he wanted to end jjk with either 1 of the main 4 dead, or only 1 of the main 4 alive. i think it's pretty obvious that person is supposed to be yuuji. "die surrounded by your friends" from the first chapter is going to turn into "all your dead friends will surround you". i am wholeheartedly convinced of this. i'm sorry, but after 3 years of having to sit through that worthless culling game arc leading to absolutely nowhere for our heroes, after realizing that there will never be a pay off for the last 100+ chapters because the whole point of the arc is now fucking dead just like that, i do not have it in me to have any faith nor hope in gege's writing skills. it's become painfully clear to me how mid that guy is at writing and how hard he is rushing towards the end. i have lost all faith and goodwill i used to hold for gege.

[sapphicserval]

one thing i really like doing is taking older copy abilities that the kirby series has essentially forgotten about and revamping them in a more modern style! this is the first time i've ever done this with a final ability, in this case star rod. the hat i gave it is based on the witch hat kirby wears in the portrait for the star rod ability in kirby's adventure, though i changed the design of the witch hat to reference nightmare's power orb (and gave it a little band that references the original color palette of the star rod, which was brown, pale yellow, and white).

i also gave it a complete return to dream land-style move set to go alongside the new design!

B: Star Bullet (this is taken from its initial appearance in kirby's adventure) Hold B, then release: Blaster Bullet (this is a larger star bullet, identical to the one kirby spits after inhaling multiple enemies at once, even taking the official name too!) Hold B longer, then release: Super Blaster Bullet Hold B even longer, then release: Giga Blaster Bullet Dash + B: Sparkly Swing (kirby will swing the star rod in front of himself, coming to a standstill) Down, then Up + B: Dream Spring Geyser (kirby will summon a geyser in front of himself, in reference to the fountain of dreams' appearance in kirby's adventure; this move would be an elemental attack, in this case using the splash element) A: Nebula Leap (this is star rod's other move in kirby's adventure, where jumping causes kirby to spin with the star rod around him the whole time; it even does damage!) Down + B in mid air: Shooting Star Drop (this references the opening cutscene of level 8 in kirby's adventure, where kirby slams the star rod back into the fountain of dreams) Hold X, mash Left/Up/Right/Down, then release: Fountain of Dreams (this move causes kirby to lose the ability, but also deal massive damage on par with crash's supernova move)

[psychewritesbs]

Hello any thoughts on the new jjk poster? People at X were confused whether the silhouette featured in the middle is Gojo or Megumi, although most conclude it's Gojo cause it does look like the panel from Shibuya when his reflection showed on the prison realm's eyes.

But, I kinda feel like Gege is being purposely deceptive here (cause that silhouette could really pass off as Megumi as well). For starters, the illustration feels like an overview of the entire Culling Games arc up until the current chap (esp. with Heian form Sukuna featured). And what's been at the forefront of the main cast's goal is to save Megumi (or at least that's how it is in Yuji's case). There's also the thing with Kenjaku's rule that everyone with the exception of Geto and Megumi must die for the CG to end. And feel free to correct me on this cause I may be misremembering/misinterpreting, but I've always thought the rule meant that 'Megumi and Geto must be the only ones left alive in order for the games to end'. So Megumi's survival is also to Kenjaku's best interest. And then we have Sukuna who is currently possessing Megumi, and Gojo and Yuji attempting to 'save' him. So like, the four main guys featured in the poster is involved with Megumi's current predicament one way or another.

Another reason why I think the silhouette isn't Gojo is because by chap 236 I believe he finally got an answer for Geto's question about who Gojo Satoru is, basically gaining enlightenment in death. And that scene of his reflection on the prison realm was moreso symbolic of his identity crisis right? So I think it's weird that a CG themed poster would backtrack on this despite the fact that the Gojo sealed in PR plotline was like how many chapters ago. The narrative and Gojo has moved on basically. And I also think it's redundant to feature Gojo twice in that illustration (esp. cause his unsealing is no longer the focus of the current events).

So I wonder, if the silhouette is indeed Megumi and this might be a hint on how he may come back, is the Prison Realm going to play a role in it?

Interestingly enough, there was a theory I came across before that one of the ways the main cast may go about sealing Sukuna is by using the Prison Realm. And if we're going full on with the symbolisms, and apply Gojo's confusion on his 'identity' being reflected on the PR's eyes, I think Megumi's current state may also mirror that very same concept. In the sense that, with Tsumiki (his moral compass) gone he has to reevaluate himself on a fundamental level. Basically rebuilding his identity from the ground up.

And idk I'm rambling now, I hope I'm making any sense cause I'm pretty shit at explaining my points. Anyways, maybe I'm just missing my boy but I sure do hope the center of that illustration is really Meg instead of Gojo.

I'm assuming you mean this one:

??

Let me overthink the hell out of it under the cut...

Ok so first thing's first, this is defo another mandala like the one from that jump giga issue with Yuji at the center.

What's relevant about the idea that it is a mandala, is that, in Buddhism they represent the universe and/or Buddhist teachings. I particularly like the idea that a "mandala generally represents the spiritual journey, starting from outside to the inner core, through layers" (Wikipedia).

Similarly, from a psych standpoint, Jung saw the mandala as a symbol of wholeness:

“I began to understand that the goal of psychic development is the self. There is no linear evolution; there is only a circumambulation of the self.”

circumambulation... what a word tho

“The mandala is an archetypal image [that]... signifies the wholeness of the Self. This circular image represents the wholeness of the psychic ground or, to put it in mythic terms, the divinity incarnate in man.”

I think I've talked about the Self in an ask before, where the Self (soul) (4) is the total sum of the holy trinity--mind is body is spirit (3).

ehem... you know the drill...

That said, I do agree with you that I don't think it's necessarily Gojo because, if we're talking about a mandala as a symbol of wholeness, it is redundant to show Gojo twice. Rather, it feels like Gojo is part of said wholeness.

Regarding the "eye" at the center, I do like the idea that it is an eye upon which someone can see themselves reflected the way it happened for Gojo.

Crack theory here, but what if this is actually about the reader seeing themselves reflected upon the manga--more specifically the four characters drawn on the mandala.

That's just a thought tho.

Regardless of who is meant to be reflected at the center, this particular poster is just loaded with symbolism.

It's kind of interesting you have two "good" guys and two "bad" guys represented in this drawing, so there is very clear yin/yang symbolism in it.

Each side (good and bad) has a character upside down, we also have the good guys not directly facing the audience, while the bad guys directly face the audience.

One of the things that feels very relevant about this particular positioning is that there is a circular motion happening, in other words, you can look at each character in a clockwise or counter-clockwise manner. Why does this matter? Remember that word from Jung's quote? Circumambulation fuck this word is the ritualistic act of moving around a sacred object. In Buddhism in particular, circumambulation is done in a clock-wise manner.

Ok, next layer.

Another VERY prominent symbol is the number four. I already talked about the wholeness of the Self as represented by the number four, but you will also notice the number is repeated in the poster.

In Buddhism, the number four shows up in a lot of motifs... too many to address here. One representation of the number four is the Four Inverted Views, which represent inverted views of Buddhist ideals, but there's also the Four Noble Truths, of which, the 4th truth outlines the method through which we can overcome suffering--that is, following the eightfold path.

The number eight as a motif also shows up with Maho-chan, who belongs to the Eight Legions of divine beings, and whose eight-spoke wheel symbolizes dharma.

Perhaps not so coincidentally, Maho's wheel is featured in the top left and bottom right hand corner of the poster.

ANYWAYS...

So this is the thing, right... going back to this idea that a character sees itself reflected in someone else's eyes and defines their identity based on that reflection, whomever is reflected in the eye at the center of the mandala is made whole by all 4 of the characters in the mandala.

What is interesting is that Gojo and Yuji are not looking directly at the audience, while Kenny and Sukuna are. And there's something so entrancing (mandalas are technically meant to put people in a meditative trance) about the way Sukuna and Kenny stare directly at the audience.

Ok, to put it all together though, it's almost like all of these characters make up a whole. To me, the circular motion of the mandala speaks to an exploration of identity through the eyes of these characters.

To bring it back to the idea that a mandala is also a map of spiritual evolution moving in a concentric manner from the outer edges and into the center, it feels like these characters and the themes they represent are but pit stops or stages of psychospiritual evolution on the way to "enlightenment town".

As for Mahoraga's wheel being represented, it speaks to Dharma or cosmic and moral order.

Is Maho's wheel an allusion to Megumi? idk, but I'm going to make a crazy leap of logic here and say that one of the themes at the core of Megumi's character is his gray morality and his dualistic thinking around good and evil.

With good and evil so clearly depicted by the characters represented, I kind of have to wonder because they are positioned in a cross-type shape. Esoterically, a cross can represent a union of opposites as well.

Anyways... these are my #thought and I rambled too, but hopefully this helps you with your own #thoughts. I feel like you could be on the right track with the idea that Megumi's identity is being rebuilt from the ground up if he is the character reflected at the center of the mandala.

Also, I miss Megumi too, anon... can't wait to see what the suffering he's experiencing makes of him.

Thanks for dropping by 🥲.

[rolloollor]

Is it ok to ask a bit more of your loved ships in bio. I'd like to see what you say about Idoazu Jack/Leovil

Sure! I'm always down to ramble.

idoazu

This was my main ship before mallerollo popped up. Naturally, I have the most to say about them.

I started to love idoazu when I got to Azul's overblot. I assumed Jade and Floyd would fuck off when Azul was in trouble, but they stayed! I was like, "Oh my god, they love him..." or at least care about him. I was legitimately moved since I was sure they'd dip. I've read people comment on their relationship and that it's purely transactional. That the second Azul falters, the tweels will give him the boot or eat him alive or whatever. Certainly Azul seems to believe this. They say something similar to Jamil in book 4, but it's important to remember that characters can lie and they can lie to themselves. They had a chance to drop him with the overblot and they didn't. Actions speak louder than words, right, so I think it's more likely that they believe it's only transactional, but they do genuinely like each other.

Though this like doesn't mean that the tweels treat Azul all that nice... they fucked up his restaurant during book 6 for funsies. Jade is a huge weirdo and I bet he loves seeing Azul frustrated or pissed off. I love Jade so much... I'm not as big on Floyd, but he can be surprisingly normal when he wants to be. It is nice that Azul has been able to have events with both of his boyfriends and even one with Idia without the eels if you're into that.

I like how close they are and I like how they respect each other. They all know each other's strengths and they've been together for a while. To go on this go-on-land venture together I think is significant. The tweels were the first to 'support' Azul, even if it was mainly to have fun, and I'm sure Azul does feel a bit of fondness for them, even if he says it's all business. I also like how Azul is a bit afraid of them, but he knows them well enough to be able to make his schemes appealing to them. There's this ever-present atmosphere of danger. Both eels love to eat octopus, after all. They're predators and Azul has this balancing act he had to perform, but even if he slipped and they usurped his position, I think they'd keep him around anyway. Floyd uses Azul's name, after all, so he's on the same level as Jade.

I'm not that interested in tweelcest, though. I never got the appeal of twincest. They look the same... I like when there's some kind of contrast.

leovil

The main thing that jumps out at me is how well they know each other and how they respect the other. Leona picked Vil for his Tamashina event and Playful Land showed more of the way they understand each other. They know their weaknesses, too. Their relationship would be complicated and maybe volatile at times, but I think they could make it work if they wanted to. It's probably Leona who'd hold it back. I feel like Vil could encourage him to try harder, but it could easily cross into being really irritating for Leona. Maybe Leona could get Vil to chill out a little bit, who knows. The appeal for me, aside from the visual contrast, is that it's a relationship of equals.

jackvil is just really cute. They're both very driven, and they already jog together in the mornings... it could easily develop from there. There's something just so charming about this giga celebrity getting together with a random guy he knew briefly as a child. It's cute. I think Jack would be good for Vil, too, since he'd be extremely loyal and supportive. He'd also make a good househusband. I don't have as much like 'backing' for this one, it's simple and cute. Plus I'm sure Vil does have a soft spot for him. The story about them making snow stuff together was really charming.

Also I dabbled in rookvil for a while, but it's like... too easy? Like things are established already. The climax of the love story happened already, if you feel me? I also don't like Rook's home screen line from the Ghost Marriage event where he says he's fickle... It worries me. I'm not against the pair, it just doesn't intrigue me, I guess.

[miminmimikyu]

Hearing that PPPPPP has been cancelled is making me feel so sad and so angry. It's not the first time Jump axed one of my faves (RIP Mitama, Magu-chan, Agravity boys...) But this one really stings.

PPPPPP was a real gem among the current lineup-- unconventional and with so much potential. Of course an introspective story about classical music was never going to be the number one series in the home of the battle manga. But it took some other Jump staples as a starting point (the school setting, the mediocre main character persevering through effort, friendship and (piano) battles) and turned it on its head-- using beautiful silent panelling to convey sound! And convey complex emotions! Gently twisting reality and portraying devastating loss by making chapters 61-64 feel off and dreamlike. Losing competitions but winning the bigger fight: helping his siblings one by one by showing them kindness and love. A manga you'd expect in a magazine like Harta, or published alongside Totsukuni no Shoujo.. but read by thousands in Shonen Jump!

Yes they took a risk but you'd think that PPPPPP did enough to prove its value in Jump during its 70 chapter run: Despite not scoring high in weekly rankings, the volumes sold well (350.000 for 7 volumes in one year is not bad!!), it's been recommended by other mangaka (including Shiro Usazaki, artist of Act-Age), it ended up on a few lists of manga to watch out for (THIS MONTH placed #10 in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2023). It was by no means an unpopular or bad manga! It did not deserve to be cancelled like this. It's not even moving magazines or to Jump+. Not getting a long epilogue chapter in Giga or online. Not getting extra chapters in the final volume. Just an axe.

This story deserved a proper ending. No way Lucky is getting his catharsis in one 24 page chapter. No way are we going to gain insight into Gakuon's mind. We won't get proper reconciliation between the siblings. Find out how Don and Shikato played the piano, their relationship with Lucky. Or see what happens to Lucky's friends who have been deciding on their own futures.

I can only commend Mapollo 3 for still giving us so much in those last few chapters. I don't know how much notice he was given before the axe, but I am thankful that we got to meet Don and Shikato and got Dada's flashback. Shikato's creepy, dissolving smile and the "average Gakuon fantasy" two page spread will be seared into my brain for a whille.

For us readers, for a few days more, Lucky is still lying in that graveyard with Gakuon gazing silently at his unconscious body. It seems like a cruel, poetic coincidence that actually feels fitting for this manga. I hope chapter 70 takes us back there, so we can say goodbye to Lucky, and Mapollo 3's quietly captivating story.

[alexr-fightgames]

Since last time on "get every character to purple" (the challenge given to me by Lord @jaguar-bomb)...

Geese. Geese rules so hard. He's unabashedly sick. This one was fairly difficult, tbh. He has a reputation for being the most normal of the "2D" meter characters, and his Normal Tekken moves are in fact quite good, but his combos are really strange for a Tekken player. You gotta do stuff like special-cancel your d+4 with half-circle-back moves to do his BNBs, and uhhh... I didn't get to the point where I was doing that reliably. His skill ceiling is very high, doing all the sick max-mode cancel stuff to really get all the juice out of having a meter character. His wall-jump is wonderful though. He takes flight majestically. Also I really wanted to hit somebody with DEADLY RAVE, but that's difficult to set up, tbh! I did get away with some scummy knowledge check stuff -- many people don't know that his rage art is a high unblockable, and I stole a handful of rounds with that.

GIGAS. Gigas is so much fun. What would you do if your character had just nuts range with those enormous gorilla arms and the best 10f punish in the game, but very little else going for him? Well, you'd be playing Gigas. The FOOTSIES BUTTON is ff2. What if Jim's demon paw reached nearly full screen and was Very Larg? That is Gigas's ff2. Oh, you're far away? How about... I'ma still touch you with my jab, or df1 or df2? Gigas, despite looking like a total weirdo, is a very normal Tekken character with big arms and not particularly good lows. I love him.

Hwoarang is super complicated. Despite playing Tekken since, y'know, the 90s, I had never particularly tried to learn him until now. This one, I had some difficulty with too, because I didn't feel like I deserved to win since I was the one playing Hwoarang. I got a bit better with finding timing mixups on flamingo stance over time, though, and that made him work. You know his two different flamingo stances are completely different? You might know that intellectually, but if you play him for a minute you'll get a little bit of respect for Hwoarang players for juggling the complexity of essentially having to think about four stances at all times. And then the respect will blow away in the wind, because it's not *that* hard, and the character is just there to be annoying knowledge checks.

Next up!! Kuma, Kunimitsu, Lars.

[justmanic03]

Amethyst - Chapter Eleven

Pokemon Trainer Mackenzie sent out Hydroxica!

I grinned. I knew what I had to do. "Go! Lily! I know you can do it!" Lily stood opposite Mackenzie's water Pokemon, and when I instructed her to use Giga Drain, the waterbear lost almost half of its HP. Mackenzie grimaced before taking a little over a second to contemplate his next move.

Hydroxica used Ice Beam!

Gladlily was frozen solid!

A smirk developed on his face, as I pulled out an ice heal. Although it hadn't affected Gladlily's HP too much, it still rendered her unable to move. Following my heal, Mackenzie was quick to make his next move.

Hydroxica used Hydro Cannon!

This zapped Lily's HP down to 40%, however, I knew that her attacks would have a much greater impact. "Come on Lily, let's finish this dude off!"

"My Hydroxica is a girl!" Mackenzie corrected.

Gladlily used Razor Leaf! It's super effective!

Hydroxica fainted!

"Yesssssss! Go, Y/N!" Danny cheered, clenching his fists for my victory. I smiled, Danny's support was proving invaluable to me.

Mackenzie is about to send out Gengar! Will you switch your Pokemon?

You sent out Manganese!

Gengar used Gunk Shot!

Fortunately, it did not poison Manganese. However, his attacks were not very effective against Mack's super strong ghost Pokemon. Despite being strong against ghost types, Manganese fainted before he had the chance to finish off Gengar. And so, I sent out Zelda.

Zelda used Hydro Cannon!

The opposing Gengar avoided the attack!

Eventually, Mackenzie and I were both down to our last Pokemon. Mine was an Espeon, and his was an Umbreon. My breath hitched in my throat, Mackenzie was by far the strongest Pokemon trainer I had battled up to this point. He was insanely sharp, and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. His Pokemon all had insane speed stats, and I definitely felt the pressure as the battle progressed.

Espeon used future sight!

Umbreon used Dark Pulse!

Espeon fainted!

Umbreon took the future sight attack!

Umbreon fainted!

It was over. We had TIED.

"Now THAT was insane!" Danny marvelled, clapping his hands as he jumped up. His Pikachu squealed in agreement. "You guys are top notch! Im nowhere near on your level!"

"So, who's buying the next meal?" Mack asked awkwardly. The three of us all looked between each other. I eventually spoke up, "I'll get it. But I think we should at least try to find Lisa first. Do either of you have any idea where she might be?"

"Last time I heard from her, she was on Juniper Mountain but the signal up there is kinda bad." Mack explained.

"Or she could've already made her way to Krodania to challenge the Steel Gym?" Danny suggested.

"Well I guess that's where I'm headed next." I said. "We have to get across Juniper Mountain in order to reach Krodania." The two guys nodded. "But I don't really want to go up there alone."

"I'll come with you. The Steel Gym is my next target anyway." Mack walked over and stood beside me before turning to Danny. "Are you coming with us?"

Danny shook his head. "Nah, that battle just now showed me I've still got a lot of work to do if I'm going to ever stand a chance against Maddie. You guys go on ahead, I'll catch you up, and if I see Lisa, I'll thrash her in a Pokemon battle." He proceeded to run off in the opposite direction. Mackenzie and I turned to each other. "He never changes, does he?"

****

The ascent up Juniper Mountain was a lot more difficult than I expected. It had a lot of really steep pathways, which were covered in slippery black ice. Since Stalagus was an ice-type, I decided to let him out of his Pokeball so he could guide us up. "Yeah, I'm not built for this." I commented, which earned a chuckle from Mack. "Me neither. I'm hoping to catch some little ice buddies though." As if on cue, a wild Snover appeared. When I threw out Zelda's Pokeball, she shivered due to the wild Pokémon's snow warning. "I really hope it doesn't actually snow. If my hair was covered in white stuff, I'd never hear the end of it from Danny."

"It'll be fine as long as there aren't any spiders up here." Mack replied.

As I pulled myself up onto a stone ledge, a very faint sound could be heard in the distance. "Do you hear that?" I asked. Upon listening closer, I could make out a gentle harp. Mackenzie and I looked at each other in confusion. "It's probably coming from nearer the summit." And so, as we began climbing, the harp sound grew louder and louder. I wondered to myself how it was physically possible for a person to lug not only themselves - but a heavy instrument - up such a steep mountain. Nonetheless, I shrugged the thought off so I could keep focused on climbing. Mack was only ever a few feet behind me. "This is nice and relaxing." He commented. "Makes me forget I could fall and die at any second-"

"Can you not?!" I hissed, not wanting to think about the possibility of falling. We successfully managed to haul ourselves out of the steep zone. "Yes!" I sang triumphantly. "Only a few more paths to go now." The paths were, however, slippery, and oftentimes we found ourselves clutching at the wall rocks for support. Yet, as we did so, the beautiful harp sound came to an abrupt stop.

"It's stopped..." Mackenzie remarked.

"Yeah no shit, Sherlock," I rolled my eyes. "Let's go check it out."

As we crept up the paths inconspicuously, we could make out two female voices. It seemed as though they were raised, arguing. Mackenzie and I scuffled our way behind some large rocks, so we could observe what was happening from a safe distance. Sure enough, two female figures were standing on the plateau of the summit, and the tension between them somehow worsened the already cold temperature. "Wait... is that Lisa?" He pointed towards the figure dressed in black. Upon further listening, we realised that it was indeed Lisa, and she seemed to be arguing with another woman, whose harp was placed behind her. She was very small, no more than 5ft, and thin. She was wearing a blue snood that covered the bottom half of her face, and her waist-length, platinum blonde hair was styled into a fishtail braid.

"I can tell you're a hoodlum simply because of how you're dressed. You look ridiculous, love." She sneered at Lisa, looking her up and down in a condescending manner.

"Hey! Who do you think you're calling a hoodlum? You're just sat up on a mountain playing a harp! Don't you have anything better to do?!" Lisa spat back. "And don't you dare EVER insult the style of Team Moon!" She was flailing her arm around, with a finger pointed at the nonchalant harpist who stood opposite her.

The blonde girl raised one eyebrow. There was a pause, before she burst out laughing. "You know, you're actually quite hilarious! When you're knocked out of the gym challenge, you should abandon Pokemon training and be a full-time stand up comedian!"

"What's so funny?!" A confused Lisa demanded.

I felt rage building inside me as the mysterious girl continued to taunt Lisa. Before I could stop myself, I sprung forward from the rocks and sprinted over to the scene, with Mackenzie in tow. "Hey you!" I called out. "Stop picking on my friend!"

The young blonde girl turned her head slightly towards me, and crossed her arms. "And what are YOU supposed to be?" She sneered.

"Mack! Y/N! What are you doing here?" Lisa asked us. This prompted the snobby harpist to take a few steps closer to where I was standing. Her piercing, turquoise eyes gazed right through me. I felt a shiver down my spine. "So you're Y/N, the little protégé everyone keeps banging on about? I must say, you don't strike me as being THAT powerful."

My fists immediately clenched at her words. How could one person be so small, and play such a gentle instrument like the harp, and yet still be so brazen and arrogant?! "Are you challenging me?!" I asked, swiftly whipping out Gladlily's Pokeball. This girl had rapidly made her way into my bad books, yet I couldn't understand why I suddenly felt so protective towards Lisa. Harp Girl only scoffed in response. "I really wouldn't go there if I were you." She smirked, before reaching into her pocket and grabbing a luxury ball. Damn, so she's rich as well... I cursed silently. The creature that proceeded to hop out of the Pokeball was one of the most bizarre-looking Pokemon I had ever seen. It didn't even look like a Pokemon to me. It looked like a monster.

"AGIAS! AAAHHHH-GIASSSS!"

It was... terrifying.

The monster towered over not only Harp Girl, but also the rest of us. Lisa and Mackenzie both let out gasps as the mysterious Pokemon inched closer towards us.

It was a very pale pink colour, and on the sides of its body were wheels that vaguely resembled a Cyclizar, oozing with psychic energy. Its eyes were red and beady, and I could tell by the sounds it made that it was at least partly mechanical. Another wheel protruded out from its chest, to which a third eye was attached. Then, perhaps even more bizarrely, the Pokemon started to speak.

"Epsilon hungry..." it hissed, licking its lips with a lizard-like tongue.

"It TALKS?!" Lisa exclaimed, earning a growl from the threatening creature.

"Epsilon not an it!" The creature spoke, although its tone appeared confused.

"Calm down, sweetheart. These are just miscreants. They can't challenge us in any way." Harp Girl patted the Epsilon on its back.

"Would you like to bet on that?!" Lisa stepped forward, whipping out her own Pokeball. Mackenzie then followed suit, grabbing an Ultra Ball. However, neither Harp Girl nor Epsilon seemed remotely phased.

"If you really want to play this game, then fine. Open up your Pokeballs." Harp Girl instructed. The three of us clicked on our Pokeballs, yet they failed to open.

Our Pokemon wouldn't come out. They were too frightened. I looked back up at Harp Girl with a frown etched on my features. Despite the fact the lower half of her face was covered, I could tell by her eyes she had the smuggest grin on her face.

She proceeded to speak, "Yeah, thought as much."

The large monstrosity also chimed in, "Epsilon's Master too strong for miscreants." It hissed, with an equally smug grin on its face.

"Come on then, dearie. We've got places to be." Harp Girl then jumped onto the back of the creature, and pulled up her golden harp, before ushering her Epsilon towards the cliff. She then spun around at the last second. "Good luck with your gym challenge, you bunch of weirdos. Ciao!" She snapped obnoxiously, before the creature spread its wings and leapt up into the sky.

The three of us watched, speechless, as the mysterious girl and the even more mysterious creature disappeared into the night sky, her long braid flowing in the wind.

"I'll absolutely have that stupid Regina George wannabe someday!" Lisa yelled, kicking the ground in frustration.

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

It’s so strange in retrospect because you’ve got Pokémon with high attack and miserable sp attack like Hitmonchan who end up having all their thematically appropriate coverage moves scale with their worst stat

In Gen 1-3 Hitmonchan has moved with “punch” in the name that don’t do any damage because of how the split works. It’s honestly kinda ridiculous.

And physical hyper beam felt great for a lot of pokemon in Gen 1, but once they removed the accidental-but-really-cool mechanic of removing the recharge turn if hyper beam kills, it became a lot worse. Which is a shame because the introduction of Giga Impact as the physical Hyper Beam replacement never actually saw use due to said recharge turn being detrimental. I know the meta would become significantly worse if they have some of the power creeped special sweepers of today access to 150 power moves that don’t punish you if you kill in the form of Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant, and Hydro Cannon, but I still love the idea of that mechanic even if it was a total accident. Well whatever, at least Slaking can use it without issue. Okay I’m gonna stop typing here because I have jumped to a completely different topic at this point. Physical Special pre split is weird though

Going back and playing Pokémon games from before the physical special split just fucks me up a little. What do you mean Thunderpunch exists in a game where all electric moves are special? What’s the point of it?

[seeyounexttime]

Blank Page Brigade Spotlight: Assistants (6/5) + extra

6 of 5? yes, because last time I left off at 5/5 but now I have obtained scans of the Blank Page Brigade for vol.31 and vol.32

At the end of volumes of Black Clover is space for the “Blank Page Brigade.” This particular “brigade” is composed of the assistants (you know, those who help with art) and others from the Black Clover manga team, lead by “Captain Tabata.”

In each volume there’s a question that everyone answers. Assistants also include a drawing with their answers. I’ve compiled the answers and drawings from volumes 1-32, and grouped them together.

Previous answers (and drawings from the assistants):

Assistants (1/5) – Hayato Gotou, Genya Hori, Asahi Sakano. &  Assistants (2/5) – Kouki Ishikawa, Masayoshi Satoshō, Kou Shimameguri. &  Assistants (3/5) – Teruaki Mizuno, Hikaru Mizuno, Suzuki, Yōtarō Hayakawa

Assistants (4/5) – Kazuhiro Wakao, Shuutarō Koga, Seiya Miyamoto. &  Assistants (5/5) – Souta Hishikawa, Yagasa, Yuu Aoki, Tatsuya Hayashi, Ajina Yuu, Shion Kobayashi; +vol.30 Miyamoto drawing

Staff – Comic Editor Tomiyama, Comic Editor Koshimura, Comic Editor Fujiwara, Comic Editor Chiba, Designer Iwai, Media Editor Takahashi. &  The Tabatas – Captain Tabata and his wife. &  Editors – Editor Katayama, Editor Toide, Editor Iwasaki, Editor Fukuda

(( I've also gone back and updated/replaced some images with cleaner scans and in some cases with the official translation ))

You've already seen the vol.29 and vol.30 drawings from Tatsuya Hayashi and Ajina/“Witty” Yuu in a previous post, but I decided to just redo their pages with cleaner scans + the vol.31 and vol.32 drawings:

Hayashi seems to enjoy drawing demons/monsters

and Yuu is a straight-up baseball fan (also that drawing of Yuno is so cute!)

more new drawings by:

Seiya Miyamoto (present since vol.18) – Kou-chan’s 15 seconds of fame! really made Sekke look fierce in that vol.32 drawing too :0c

Souta Hishikawa (present since vol.18) – well, I have also learned that wombat dung is cube-shaped... to quote wikipedia "As wombats arrange these feces to mark territories and attract mates, it is believed that the cubic shape makes them more stackable and less likely to roll" and yes, wikipedia has a picture

Yagasa (present since vol.20) – Yagasa continues to win, that Liebe drawing is the best :>

and what’s this? the return of Yotaro Hayakawa as well! Hayakawa has been present since vol.11 and I guess was only absent for vol.29! rip lucifero

20. Shinobu KASAYA

was only around for vol.31

according to Tabata, Kasaya had a one-shot published in Jump Giga

the 20th known named individual to have been Tabata’s art assistant, even though their time together was brief, that is an expressive drawing of Zora that Kasaya left us

EXTRA: So was no one gonna tell me that the guidebook also comes with Blank Page Brigade drawings or was i just supposed to find that out while wading through possibly sketchy sites myself

Blast from the past seeing some of the original 6 again!

Hayato Gotou was really by Black Clover’s side for 29 volumes straight and the guidebook. Also, if it’s hard to see, the spell is Heat Wave Magic: “3-Meter Radius Summer Vacation”

And on god that’s the most on-brand weirdo shit Kouki Ishikawa could’ve said and drawn...

"carry your heartbeat" let me explain... this seems to be a reference to a song lyric from Exile's "Choo Choo Train" and made popular in Japan a certain dance move they called the ぐるぐるダンス ("guruguru dance") or ロールダンス ("roll dance"). Some meme examples here [exhibit A // exhibit B // exhibit C]. However it turns out this move was showcased back in the 90s in "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" by American R&B group Hi-Five

anyways your ride Valtos is here to pick you up

Teruaki Mizuno wrote the most and never used punctuation, hopefully I got the gist of what was said...

also idk what “Ashi era” refers to... Tabata was assistant to Toshiaki Iwashiro, now while you may be tempted to go it's from iwASHIro that.. well i mean idk but that doesn't seem to me the kind of nickname that would be created from i-wa-shi-ro to-shi-a-ki?? idk idk

Hayakawa bringing a new attribute to Black Clover and a crossover!

took me a while to find what 金斗雲 was but apparently it's an alternate writing of 筋斗雲 which is the name of that cloud that they use to fly around in Dragonball which Funimation translated as "flying nimbus" ☁ guess Hayakawa wasn't pure enough...

Kazuhiro Wakao really did indeed write "godfather" ゴッドファーザー now if he means like from the movie of the same name or like the position of a godfather idk but what are you doing down that bad for that gal Wakao why out yourself like this...

Shutaro Koga answered with 社長 shachou which translates to “president (of a company)” with alternate translations of "manager", "director" and "CEO" so I went with "The CEO" because it sounded more quippy :p

Captain Tabata didn't answer the Blank Page Brigade question because the question was about himself, so instead of the usual, he provided a new drawing of Asta & Yuno

what does it say within the black arrow and why didn't I replace the words? well that says something like from page 137 onward it's all about Tabata, and yeah it's like stuff about his process and questions and so on but that's not included in this post, it's a lot and my reading level is not that high *finger guns*

21.? Uemura?

according to a comment by Tabata in Weekly Shonen Jump back in April: “My mysterious assistant Uemura-kun, who hasn't been with me for very long, has a one-shot in this week's issue of Jump in Japan! What's it like?"

the one-shot in question may be Koi, Tokidoki Chounouryoku – is the assistant Taishin Uemura?

I did not find their name in vol.32, which was published in early April. Maybe Uemura will be in the blank page brigade for volume 33?

*Mike Rowe voice* We've explored the bonus pages looking for and learning about the hard-working men and women - 20(+1) assistants, 4 editors, 4 comic editors, media editor, designer, and Tabata's wife - who made Black Clover possible

ありがとうございました

[suchine-toki]

Hey can i ask u something? I just finished rereading gintama again and read the final chapter, and kinda stumbled to ur blog. Do you think in the end Takasugi kind of ressuracted, reincarnated, or not? It's really bothering me since he is my fav character and besides lackness that i felt towards his story, his 'death' chapter was delivered... so great, and i dont think ressuraction was needed:( isnt that mean he becomes immortal, again?

Hello! Thank you very much for your question. Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see your message because I was on hiatus due to the end of Gintama lmao

I consider the death scene very beautiful, and it shows that there was a lot of love behind it. In fact, Sorachi himself admitted that he cried while he was drawing it (didn't we all?). However, I think when Takasugi's death is judged only by the scene itself and not also by the context, you miss the forest for the trees. (I previously talked about his death in this post.)

Other people and I have discussed the ending as such, so I’ll now address the circumstances surrounding the end of Gintama before delving into Takasugi’s possible resurrection. I'll try to analyze what happened from other angles, including information both inside and outside of the series, like the fanbook released some time ago.

The prolongued ending

Damn Manabe you could've done a better job. And I blame you for all the Utsuro crap, even if it wasn't your idea, you should've stopped it!

Weekly Shōnen Jump, where Gintama was published, has a system in which it’s announced half a year in advance when a series is about to end, to give it a conclusion in that time. Nevertheless, Sorachi exceeded this deadline, and for three years was unable to finish the series. Faced with this, they moved it to Jump Giga, where he would’ve three extra chapters with more pages and more time as it was a monthly publication. But once again he was unable to finish it and ended up concluding it through the Gintama App.

Even though at the time we all laughed at it, in hindsight the series did suffer from this. Especially if we consider that Sorachi's intention was to defeat Utsuro in Weekly Shōnen Jump and then use the other magazine just to have an epilogue. Even in the last chapter uploaded to the application they made him cut four pages. This denotes that it was a turbulent period, and the end was extremely hasty.

I think what happened in the end was Sorachi's attempt to squeeze ideas into a short amount of time. Takasugi and Zura weren’t present to defeat Utsuro, despite foreshadowing it. Thus, because he didn’t pay enough attention to the relationship between the members of the Shouka Sonjuku, the second part of Silver Soul arc emerged, in which Utsuro/Shouyo was revived and there was a greater focus on the connection between Takasugi and Gintoki. I explain this to emphasize that there wasn’t enough planning to properly develop and conclude what happened to Takasugi.

Takasugi's fate

The last page of the manga referring to what happened to Takasugi strongly suggests that he revived, due to the presence of a newborn baby in one of the dragon holes (places where altana veins sprout), along with dialogue from Sakamoto expressing, essentially, the high probability that Shouyo intervened to save him from death when his corpse was sucked into the terminal’s altana.

However, in the fanbook, a page is dedicated to what happened to Takasugi. Sorachi is frank, revealing he intentionally left it vague to avoid giving a clear answer that might disappoint fans. Also, once again he alludes to the fact that he didn't have more pages to delve into what happened, so he opted to just put more jokes, thinking that was enough.

In said fanbook, Sorachi chats with his former editors about various topics, including Takasugi's death, which he repeatedly avoids talking about. He says it's weird having to explain everything. Nonetheless, the others insist with questions. Among the most important things to salvage, he clarifies Takasugi’d already been sort of dead when he lost Shouyo, and he was just looking for a way to die. He also indicates he doesn't consider that Takasugi needed to be saved because he already was. Instead, he was going for the image of saving the Kiheitai beyond whether or not the baby was Takasugi. This gives me the impression that Sorachi didn’t actually plan to revive him.

I fundamentally disagree with the above point of view. Although I'm not a fan of resurrections, I think his rebirth would make sense, given that it's an element already introduced in the series. Also, I believe it's necessary because it didn't make sense to kill him in the first place, both for consistency on a character level and on a series level.

Now, regarding his possible immortality, I really wish he isn’t. Since it was never explained how that or the altana worked, I can't say for sure. But, considering the dialogue of the master protecting his disciples, it wouldn’t be logical for Shouyo to sentence Takasugi to live an immortal life. What would make the most sense is for Takasugi to live in a normal body with his own memories, experiencing both suffering and happiness, just like everyone else.

Regarding his growth as a normal human or abnormally by the altana, it’s even more difficult to discern. I think if he kept his memories, it would make sense for him to grow at an accelerated rate just like Shouyo, until the altana runs out at some point.

Deliverance from sin?

Goddammit Manabe it's all your fault!

Since the concept is used on several occasions, I would like to comment on what is meant by “salvation”, a term closely related to religious beliefs. The perspective I’ll take in this part is that of Shinto and Buddhism, the predominant and deeply connected religions of Japan.

In both cases, the most common path after death is reincarnation. In Shinto, the concept of salvation is based upon the belief that all living things have an essence, soul, or spirit known as kami. This lives among us rather than in Heaven or Hell. Buddhists believe in reincarnation after death, known as rebirth. Depending on the actions a person has done during their life (karma), they’re more or less likely to be reborn as a lower or higher being. If one has a multitude of good actions, one is likely to be reborn as a human.

In Buddhism, anyone who understands Buddha's teachings can attain salvation. This includes the understanding that since suffering is a part of life, one must find ways to overcome it. In this regard, I don’t consider that Takasugi has been “saved” in the more traditional sense of the word, quite the contrary. As referenced, the true way to find salvation isn’t to die to stop suffering, but to continue living despite it, as Gintoki has shown.

From now on

Sorachi explains he’s aware that the people who liked Takasugi aren’t as happy with how he ended up, and hints he knows the ending could’ve been better. This, coupled with the fact that he's been inactive for so long after Gintama ended (despite declaring his intentions to start another series) makes me think there might be more Gintama content in the future.

Could it be wishful thinking? Absolutely. But it’s true that Sorachi is interested in making money, and what better than to return to his star series with a question that interests many fans? Maybe it's something he didn't plan on doing. Do I take it? Without a second thought.

The next Gintama festival will take place on March 19, 2023. Perhaps nothing will happen. But hope is the last thing that dies. Being a successful franchise, I think it's very likely that in the near or distant future they’ll release more material showing what happened to Takasugi.

TL;DR: I think it would be more consistent with the character and the series for him to be resurrected, keeping his memories, possibly growth-accelerated by the altana until it finally fades from his body. This would allow him to keep a mortal body. But no one can say for sure what will happen.

[bushcloverprincess]

Let me explain Sai and Ino's love life to everyone who is still saying "I don't know how they ended up together": 💜

People really be jumping to Boruto series without knowing what has happened in the Naruto series after the war arc. So here is Sai and Ino's relationship throughout the entire Naruto canon timeline.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN MANGA

First and foremost, Sai and Ino met in the very early episodes of Naruto Shippuden. Ino immediately had a crush on him because he was handsome, also noting that he looked like Sasuke. That is basically Ino, the flirty girl as we know. Having a crush and falling in love are two very different things.

Sai was introduced as a character with no emotions and feelings whatsoever. The reason why he thought Ino is "ugly" in their first interaction was because he didn't know what a real beauty is. He had no emotions/feelings, how do u expect him to understand beauty? Ironically, despite this, he called the opposite of what he thought at her, "Mrs. Beautiful" - building the foundation of SaiIno (Also Ino being the only person who didnt get insulted by Sai's nicknames.)

So, here Sai thought Ino was ugly and Ino had a crush on Sai solely because he was handsome. Two flaws, alright. Most of the fans know their relationship up to here. But that's not even close to the end of Sai and Ino's relationship before their marriage.

Moving on. As Sai and Ino are both side characters, they had almost no interactions on-screen afterwards in the manga, until the Fourth Shinobi War Arc. In the war, both Ino and Sai had each other in their Infinite Tsukyomi dreams. Ino dreamed of Sasuke and Sai fighting over her and Sai dreamed of Ino, along with his other close friends acknowledging his smile. (Sai's dream was in anime-only).

This proves that both have had interactions off-screen to the point that they were already very close friends before the war began. Morever, their Inifinte Tsukuyomi dreams reveal that by the war arc, Ino likes Sai as much as Sasuke (as she did not choose Sasuke over Sai in her ideal life/dream), and Sai likes Ino complimenting him.

During the long timeskip after the war Ino and Sai eventually starts dating. This was revealed in a spin-off manga chapter written in Akamaru's point of view by Kishimoto, where he spotted Sai and Ino together on a date and described them as "A couple totally on fire".

Around a decade later, in the very last chapter of the Naruto Shippuden manga (Chapter 700), they were shown married with a son together.

That's the end of Naruto manga contents for Sai and Ino's relationship, as expected not much because Naruto manga is NOT a romance manga.

BLANK PERIOD

Now, for those who wanted to know more about Sai and Ino's romance and the ship's further build up during the timeskip between the end of war and Boruto (Blank Period), there was a Novel series called Hiden. (Note: All Blank Period Hiden Novels are approved canon, illustrated and proof-read by Masashi Kishimoto, the author of the Manga himself). The Blank period is a part of the official canon timeline.

As mentioned above Novels are the stories of all the important events that took place during this blank period, including the romance between the characters. Get ready to hear one of the cutest love stories of Naruto series.

1- SHIKAMARU HIDEN NOVEL

Ino lost her crush on Sasuke long back and is pretty much not into any relationship. This was until in Shikamaru Hiden events, Ino read a letter which describes Sai's tragic life. Since then Ino wanted to know even more about him than she already does. Ino was sent on a mission with her fellow ninjas to help Shikamaru and save Sai, who has been caught in a very strong enslaving genjutsu by some enemies. Her top priority after reading the letter was nothing but to save Sai.

As they confronted the genjutsu-controlled Sai, for some reason Ino believed that she is the only person who could save Sai. Ino risked her life and used her Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sai, in other words, Ino's soul entered Sai's body. Ino dived deep into his mind but all she could see was darkness. She didn't give up and tried to find his soul by diving even deeper into his mind despite the fact that it could be a threat to her own soul too. Ino finally found Sai's soul crying deep inside, covered with his memories and darkness. Ino learnt about him (in the novel it says "She knew all about him so much that it hurt her"). Ino called out for him and showed his soul the path out of the darkness. Ino cleared his mind hence saving him from the genjutsu, also giving colors to his colorless soul. Ino's soul then hugged Sai's soul with a heartfelt smile ~ A hug between two souls.

This is the point where both of them fell deeply in love. The point Sai achieved his dream, the point where he got his emotions and feelings completely back. This is the first time he felt this much kindness from someone and learned what a true beauty is. When Sai is successfully saved by her, the two wake from Ino's jutsu and Sai finds himself resting on Ino's laps. Sai instinctively reaches for Ino's hands and he expresses his gratefulness to her, as her eyes begin to tear up, by affectionately calling her "Thankyou, Miss Beautiful". This time, he truly meaning this unlike the first time he called her beautiful. "Idiot" - replied Ino. And this time, Ino fell in love with Sai, not because he resembles Sasuke unlike the first time they met. This interaction was the complete opposite of the first time they met. This is how their love story began ladies and gentlemen. *Tears because how beautiful this is*

2- SAKURA HIDEN NOVEL

Later, while Ino and Sakura was on their way to Sand village to participate in an international Medical Ninja Conference, Ino reveals her love for Sai to Sakura after what happened. She was thinking of confessing her love to him properly but was unsure which flower to give him: Flower Dogwood or Lavender. Ino, the botanist explains that in Flower language, Dogwood means "Accept my feelings" while Lavender means "I'm waiting". Sakura tells that Ino was more of Flower Dogwood type, as she wants a direct answer from Sai. Whilst for Sakura herself, Lavender will be the best because she is willing to wait for Sasuke.

When they returned back to Konoha after the conference, Ino finds out Kakashi has sent Sai alone on a dangerous mission. Ino gets worried and questions his safety, and is angry that Kakashi let him go alone. After Sai returned and Sakura got kidnapped, Ino ran to Sai's place to inform him about Sakura's disappearance. When she arrives, she becomes flustered to see Sai only in his underwear, as he was taking a shower right before she came.

Following the crisis, Sai and Ino together goes on a mission alone to save Sakura upon Hokage's orders. They are the only couple besides Sakura and Sasuke who did a mission together alone in canon. Sai and Ino flew on a Choju Giga Bird, and Sai comforted Ino as she was afraid flying and had a difficulty maintaining the balance, causing her to feel a sweet warm sensation well up within her heart. They both together infiltrated a hideout. The Saiino duo's teamwork was amazing and flawless.

After Sakura is saved, they had to fight the enemies. Ino, who has been usually positioned near the back lines during close ranged combat situations was now instead supporting Sai with her taijutsu and healing Sai's injuries with her medical ninjutsu. Sai and Ino confronted a very powerful enemy, Magire who was drugged with Tailed Beast chakra, but their flawless teamwork and bond strength lead to their victory. Sakura, and Sai himself compliments Ino on how well she works together as a duo with Sai, getting Ino blush even more. Later Sakura prompted Ino and Sai to have a date dinner together, where Ino possibly confessed him with flower Dogwood and that is when they started dating.

3- KONOHA HIDEN NOVEL

As usual, Sakura and Ino keeps on fighting and competing, and now Ino takes a lot of pride with her blossoming relationship with Sai, claiming she has better love life than Sakura and that she will get married before her, much to Sakura's infuriation. After some days, Sai and Ino attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding ceremony as a dating couple holding hands, with everyone around them admiring their relationship. (Bonus: SaiIno is the only couple that was featured in The last opening of Naruto, Opening 20 (Karano Koroko).)

4- SASUKE SHINDEN: BOOK OF SUNRISE NOVEL

Later, after Ino was hospitalized due to the injuries she had after stopping an invasion, Sai was with her at the hospital all the time. Shikamaru and Chōji decide to visit Ino at the hospital and find that Sai is watching over her whilst she sleeps as he sketches a flower that Ino's mother brought her. Shikamaru and Chōji asks Sai to come with them for some investigation, but Sai remains, claiming that he will leave as soon as he has completed his drawing, however, Shikamaru notices several of Sai's already near-completed sketches in the trash as he exits. Sai intentionally made many half-complete drawings and discarded them before completion because he doesn't want to leave Ino. Shikamaru and Chōji realize that Sai did not want to leave Ino's side and begin discussing how much he has changed from the emotionless man he used to be after he met Ino.

Ino and Sai then got married, and had a wonderful wedding ceremony where Shikamaru and Choji were both so happy for Ino that they cried and wished their sensei, Asuma was there to see Ino. Sai and Ino's wedding ceremony is the only ceremony to have been mentioned after Hinata and Naruto's wedding. Well, that's the end of their relationship's details in the Blank Period Novels. Sweet, right?

NEW ERA: BORUTO ANIME, MANGA AND NOVELS

Sai, now married to Ino is the only male known to have taken his spouse's surname upon marriage, being now a part of the great Yamanaka Clan, finally having a family of his own. This family confronted gossips and prejudice from the villagers, and Ino's relationship with Sai was not well received by the Yamanaka Clan, all due to Sai's dark past in the currently disbanded Anbu Root. Despite all this, they managed to be as happy as ever. It is when he married to Ino and got to hold Inojin in his arms, Sai finally felt free and got control over his own life after years of being a puppet to Danzo.

As Boruto series is the story of the new generation, it's main focus from the Yamanaka Family is obviously Ino and Sai's son, Inojin Yamanaka. (Trivia: It is believed that Inojin's name is a mixture of Yamanaka Clan's customary name prefix "Ino" and the suffix "jin" is reference to Sai's late brother Shin). Sai has already told his son Inojin how his mother, Ino saved him with her shintenshin and how they fell in love, and Sai uses the same method (a hug or an affection) to calm Ino down when she gets upset or angry now. Boruto notes that Sai's only weakness is when it comes to Aunt Ino. According to Ino, Sai has never forgotten their anniversary throughout more than a decade they have been together. Although Ino remains as boisterous as ever, Sai is the sole person that gets Ino to fluster despite how angry or upset she is since beginning and even now.

According to Kakashi, Sai and Ino is the most beautiful couple he could imagine, and they both are so close that it seems they are glued to each other, noting that they are like a peculiar picture. Sai and Ino also often gets teased by their friends because how close and affectionate they are even in the public. Ino takes pride in Sai's ninja abilities and Sai takes pride and is proud of Ino's abilities. Ino is thankful that she moved on from Sasuke (Her childhood crush), because according to Boruto Manga, Ino now she feels bad for Sakura, whose husband, Sasuke visits her only very rarely, noting that she has been living such a perfect love-life that she cannot even imagine having a husband who is hardly at home. She is thankful for Sai, so is Sai for Ino. In one of the Boruto Novel it is stated about Ino:

"Because her husband was the one she knew was the best in the world" ~ 💜

SO,

I do not think this much of content, especially for a side-couple is less at all. It's more than enough, It's explained perfectly well. Only people who aren't having an idea on Naruto complete series will question or doubt SaiIno's relationship. So "Random couple", "Ino likes Sasuke because he looks like Sasuke", "Sai is a Sasuke rebound", "Ino lost to Sakura in love-life becuase she couldn't marry Sasuke" arguments are all total crap ~ 💕

AND FOR THOSE WHO SAYS SAI AND INO DOESN'T HAVE CHEMISTRY...

Sai was an emotionless and socially awkward boy who worked for the Root Section, meanwhile Ino was an emotional and lively sociable girl who works at a flower Shop, what else do you see other than the raging chemistry between this root and flower? The flower that baths in sunlight and the roots that grow in the dark! It has everything. They perfectly fits into the Yin (Sai) and Yang (Ino) philosophy Kishimoto seems to have considered when making the couples and friendships. As mentioned above Sai is the only man who can make Ino blush since beginning and even now! Ino had no problem with glomping on Sasuke and hugging him, but Sai calling her "Beautiful" makes her blush - See the difference? They both are perfect for each other. Ino gave colours to Sai's black & white life. Ino was a rainbow when Sai was colour blind. Not to mention they both wear crop-tops with exposed midriff. In addition Sai and Ino is the most affectionate couple who has shown most PDA (Public Display of Affection) content and closest moments together so far. I'd argue they have the most chemistry and couple symbolisms.

There, its done.

I hope its clear how they ended up together now 💕 So again, saying SaiIno is forced or random / Calling Sai a Sasuke Rebound / Saying Ino settled for Sai because she didn't get Sasuke as a plan B / Ino lost to Sakura in love life / Sai and Ino don't have chemistry- is making yourself a huge 🤡, actually an entire 🎪

Thankyou 💜

[noctisfishing]

What Feels Right

Taiora Week Day 01 - Brave

Rated: T/K | Action/Adventure.. and some Fluff

I had a small idea for this prompt and based it off of the 'antics' of the reboot (which I'm still not finished watching). The fic is set years after that. Shoutout to @canisblack who chose the Digimon opponent for this fic, Crescemon and you'll see the appearance of its In-Training form, Moonmon, too.

I wasn't going to participate this week, but the following happened: an unexpected day of recharge, seeing the incredible Taiora stuff pop up from this week, and motivation from my Taiora friends - things like this can really turn things around. I can't promise another prompt fill this week, but you should know for certain that I'll show up with another Taiora fic sooner or later. ;) Until then, I hope you enjoy my latest offering. 

One evening, in a normally peaceful mountainous area of the Digital World, Koushiro had spotted one Crescemon terrorizing its small, In-Training and Rookie Digimon inhabitants. Seven years had passed since the Chosen Children saved the Digital World. Nobody knew for certain what was causing the odd behavior lately, but the Chosen knew that it was up to them to help. And, as always, Taichi and his Digimon partner were the ones to lead the pack, with the others split across the area to help the inhabitants to safety.

But as Taichi sat on Metalgreymon's back, he gasped just as Koushiro did through his Digivice, when Taichi and Metalgreymon were met immediately with icy arrows heading straight towards them.

Metalgreymon dodged, and Taichi sensed his partner pause for a moment, knowing that he would quickly think of his next moves. Then, the Digimon darted forward, jumping side to side to attack the enemy head on. His Metal Slash struck Crescemon and made him fall backward, though he quickly bounced back with what seemed like a spring in his step.

As the moon rose into the sky, Crescemon moved forward and back, up and around and with a twirl, and Taichi watched with awe.

"Don't fall for it!" Koushiro shouted through the Digivice. "It's part of that Digimon's attack!"

"Snap out of it, Metalgreymon!" Taichi yelled, and his partner seemed to snap out of his enchantment in time, as Crescemon charged forward with his blade. The Digimon swung and missed, and Taichi knew that Metalgreymon saw the opening to attack with his Giga Destroyer.

Crescemon was knocked down from the blast, yet moments later, he was able to stand tall, the remnants of the flaming missile surrounding him.

"Man, he just doesn't know when to quit!" Taichi said.

"He's known to get stronger under the moonlight!" Koushiro explained. "The others are on their way. You need to stall him!"

Metalgreymon couldn't shake Crescemon so easily. Taichi tried to be Metalgreymon's eyes from behind while he jumped back and dodged more arrows that flew more quickly. Crescemon leapt toward Metalgreymon in his graceful yet swift moves, and Metalgreymon was able to avoid his attacks, but just barely.

"Hold tight, Taichi," Metalgreymon growled. "I'm going to try to outrun him."

Taichi believed that he would, the wind blowing his hair back as Metalgreymon ran through the rocky terrain. The uneven craters and stones in the path seemed hardly a challenge for Metalgreymon to stomp through, though it was unfortunately more of a breeze for Crescemon, whose blade seemed to swing closer.

The next attack came too quickly, and it launched both Metalgreymon and Taichi against a rock wall, causing both the wall and the ground to shake. Taichi was suddenly on the ground, and his vision began to blur when he realized he might have hit his head during the fall. Shouts of his name became distant echoes, and he couldn't tell whether it came through the Digivice or nearby.

Taichi could see, as his vision refocused and waned, Crescemon's form standing in front of them, holding his weapon not towards Metalgreymon, but above them, where Taichi saw shapes of boulders that looked ready to fall with the right amount of force.

He saw the shot of a dark arrow, then he heard a cry of his name. His vision faded for a second, but refocused once more, as a gust of wind brushed past and the sight of dark red talons spread over him.

He knew the sound of that voice, the one who called for him. She was always the first to show up, especially whenever he was in a bind. And as he felt a rush of relief washing over him, he called her back, weakly but he knew she would hear, just before his vision faded to black.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Taichi heard soft murmurs when he came to. Without opening his eyes, he could tell he was in a dark area with dim lighting, likely a campfire based on the low sounds of crackling. When he heard a girlish laughter so distinct, he registered that Mimi was nearby, and likely the other Chosen Children and their partners.

Unfamiliar to Taichi were the soft voices that sounded nearer to him. He couldn't pinpoint who they were from, but when they were followed by Piyomon's familiar hiss for the others to quiet down, he knew that he was surrounded by friendly company.

And he knew that Sora was right beside him. He knew it from the touch of her gentle hand clasped in his. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and hers were the first that he saw, seeing the joy in them mixed with worry.

Taichi couldn't help but feel amused. She had always been like this, even when they first became friends. She didn't care what kind of trouble he got himself into, even if a boy made a dirty move in a football match, or even if he was cornered by a Digimon with no way out. She rushed to his side no matter what.

Perched on Sora’s shoulder was a small Digimon that looked like a water droplet. It stared at Taichi curiously as Sora looked at him in confusion. 

"Why are you smiling?" Sora asked. "Don't you realize what would've happened to you and Agumon if we didn't show up sooner?"

"Agumon…? Agumon-!"

Taichi sat up and immediately regretted it, feeling the throbbing pain in the back of his head.

"Taichi!" Sora said in frustration. "I know you've just survived another one of your acts of bravery, but no sudden movements!" then she placed her hands on his head and shoulder to gently lay him back onto his pillow. "Agumon is alright. He's just resting."

"I'm glad he's alright…" Taichi said, closing his eyes while waiting for the pain to subside.

"I'm glad you're alright, too.."

He opened his eyes again, and noticed that there were more water droplet shapes Digimon around, some surrounding Piyomon and a few near Sora, including one sitting on her lap.

"You're amazing, Sora," he told her. "You helped bring them here, didn't you? You made sure that Crescemon couldn't hurt them anymore."

"I couldn’t stand for them to be in any more danger, so I needed to protect them."

Taichi watched her rub the tip of her finger against the cheek of the mini Digimon, whose cheeks turned pinker as it nuzzled back in delight. Her warm smile seemed to brighten the dim lighting of the cave.

"You know, that counts as an 'act of bravery', too," Taichi added. "Protecting the ones you care about."

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yeah. Protecting the Moonmon tonight. And protecting me, always…"

The color of her cheeks began to match that of the Moonmon.

"It just feels right to me."

Her hand that held his the moment he woke up was currently resting at her side, though something urged Taichi to reach for it. He hesitated at first, knowing that she had held his while she waited for him to wake up, and he wondered if taking hers this time would reveal feelings that he hadn’t shown her just yet, and give a meaning that either of them had yet to explore. 

He thought of it as a tiny act of bravery, as he followed his urge to take her hand. Sora turned to him, meeting his eyes with a look of surprise.

"Does this feel right, then?" Taichi asked, holding her gaze, though for a split second, he wondered if it was too impulsive.

But her hand wrapped around his in return.

"It does." 

Even with her reddening cheeks she gave him a soft smile, and Taichi felt his own face flush. Yet, he lay there at rest, with his hand in the warmth of hers, knowing that his feelings were already known to her, and they were feelings she returned.