#let me say I did NOT expect to be learning actual facts in this manga

[firestorm09890]

I'm reading this manga called Hengoku no Schwester and it's in 1500s Europe and there's this drug that makes people see miracles (they're actually just hallucinations) that I assumed was just a fantasy drug but this girl recognized several major facts bc her mother was a healer:

hallucinations are a symptom of Saint Anthony's Fire, aka ergotism

the establishment she was at had fields of rye they didn't appear to be using for anything

ergot was growing on them, which she knew was the cause of ergotism

if you synthesized ergot in a specific way, you could probably get it into a form that only causes the one symptom instead of all the other stuff

and then the narration box appears and says "there's no way Ella would know this, but this is how LSD would be made 400 years later"

[kerubimcrepin]

Wakfu Manga - Tome 1, Part 1

Finally, finally, finally we have arrived to one of my most favorite Wakfu media — the manga that happens between Season 2 and the OVAs, which are controversial among many, and beloved only by me and only for, like, 2-3 scenes.

The reason for my excitement is simple: this is the Krosmoz media that is the most abundant in adult Joris content at this moment.

The princesses got cursed again..., I don't even know what to say, man. They never learn.

[imagines Joris at 3-4yo trying to bite the nearest animal that isn't Pupuce the second Kerubim takes his eyes off him] [smiles]

I'm insane.

He is late. A likely thing for Joris Jurgen to be.

He came here. He saw a baby. He was like "aww. cute baby."

His nails.... This panel is the singular reason why I draw him with painted nails a lot, just so you know. Anyway.

Nobody expected him to come. And it makes no sense that he came, because he kind of barely knows these people. He is so fond of Yugo it's crazy.

He looks a bit taken aback by the fact he was seen being cute with a baby + that someone noticed that he is there (atypical) and happy that he came.

I think Joris has a very parasocial friendship with Yugo where he says nothing and just fucking stands there silently and menacingly, but is insanely fond of Yugo internally (I think he Projects onto Yugo. Yugo is just like him fr).

The casual way he just stands as Grougal sets him on fire. The way Yugo stares in horror. The way Joris just stands there, on fire, afterwards. I am going to cry from laughing.

Also, Amalia cares about him... I'm insane.

Adamai saying this combination of words to, out of all the people in the world that he could have said this to, Joris Crepin-Jurgen. Because he's scared that Grougal could have offended him...

Once again, this entire scene is so funny I'm actually going to fucking die.

He's so sweet... He really is like an awkward uncle who has no idea how to interact with kids when he visits them once in a while, but is happy to see them nevertheless.

Also, once again, his asocial nature and avoidance of close social bonds is called out. He's insane about Yugo and Adamai. They're just like him fr, y'know? (I bet he seldom visited Amalia's birthdays, and never came to Eva's... I'm insane about this man.)

Also, a small note: pay attention to the bag he is looking through. Here's why:

The fact that he kept an entire fishing pole in that bag makes me believe that Joris owns a haven bag.

Yes, literally nobody except for me cares about details like this, but let me have this.,

Also, I wish we could see his face as he gives this to Yugo. He's probably feeling shy about this. This is probably taking physical effort.

I blame this manga for making me care about the friendship between Khan and Joris even a little. fgsgsdfgsdfgsdfg

Clown-to-clown communication, clown-to-clown conversation.

As cute as it could have been, I really doubt Joris contributed to this gift.

It seems that nobody who was involved in the planning of the party was sure he would come, and when he did, he gave a singular gift to Yugo seperately from other people.

Joris went together with Alibert to get people to safety. Cute. Also the amount of hope and trust he has in Jiva is also cute.

Bontarian war criminal solidarity?

Awooga hummina hummina hummina weewoooweeewooo.

He's so cute.... Also, "Joris runs up towers" counter is up at 3. Yes, I count this as a tower.

[you can see my commentary actively degenerating due to my insanity] He is so handsome and so cute...

IM INSANE. IM CRAZEEEH. INSANE. ASYLUM.

Here are two panels that have the prettiest man in the world in them. The cute little fist clench...

[cocogum]

C'mon, sugar. Talk about Sadida and why you love him. You know you want to ;)

SJALDLEODODOWOFLFLFKODPE9D8SWIEOODOWOEOEOEIQODOFKSOSOSKKXOSOSLSODOD

GURL

When I say this man is fine, I mean he's FINE FINE LIKE-

Have you SEEN this tree man???

Of all the gods I could've fallen for in an unhealthy way, I really didn't think Sadida would be it.

And omg, I'm so glad I even saw this green guy ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I can actually remember when was the first time I got to know about him.

I was probably 11-12 at the time, and I was scrolling on the Krosmoz wiki. I wanted to know more about the twelve gods because Wakfu didn't tell you much about them, and that was in a time when I didn't know about the Krosmoz timeline and how there were so many other works lined up before Wakfu.

I came to learn about all the gods and how they looked, thanks to the wiki, and that's where I SAW HIM.

At first, I just thought he looked cool and mysterious with his mask, but when I learned about the Krosmoz timeline, my ass watched the Dofus movie, Kerubim's Treasures' show, AND THEN ENDED UP ON THE OGREST MANGA SET (i did all this in another year and i precisely remember that the ogrest manga still has four and thr fifth is getting NEAR!!)

As soon as my hands got the Ogrest volumes, my perspective on Sadida COMPLETELY changed. I didn't expect to find so much lore about one god in the Ogrest manga, but I was so glad it ended up being Sadida!!

Not only did Mig, the writer and illustrator, did such an excellent job working with such a mature style, but Sadida had been the center of some chapters WITH THAT VERY SAME STYLE.

(Yeah, I'm going to be talking a lot about the Ogrest manga specifically cuz Sadida has been seen so much in there)

And now you're telling me the fifth volume, a volume I've been waiting for AGES NOW, has Sadida as its cover!?!?!?

THE DELIBERATE CHOICE OF MAKING SADIDA THE MAIN FOCUS OF THE COVER CANNOT BE A COINCIDENCE ‼️‼️‼️

This only implies that we're going to see more of him in this volume, and I'm already ready for it like I've legit been spamming the Ankama shop's refresh button just to see that damn Ogrest volume 5 in the Dofus section already 😭😭😭😭

PLEASE I'M SO GONNA GET FED WHEN IT COMES OUT ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I follow Mig on tumblr and insta (cuz duh, why wouldn't I), so when I first saw that damn cover, I swear my ass freaking squealed when I saw his official post.

We even got some small sneak peeks here and there of the volume on insta, but my eye especially caught that one Sadida shot, which I think may have been from Lacrima's pov.

Just look at him 💖💖

Look at my cute little baby and his cute little cat feet I just wanna jxkskdldlldlfdl

Despite knowing and seeing all these sneak peeks and finally seeing what the fifth volume cover looks like, I didn't get to find an official release date....

Until @ol-files mentioned in a reblog how it's probably gonna come out in mid-October lol LET'S GOOOOOO ‼️‼️‼️‼️💖💖💖💖💖

My guy has game, look at him with himselves his women 💕💕

Name one other god who can pull up ten chicks like that all at the same time and keep them in his realm. THAT'S RIGHT, NONE.

Not even Iop can do that lol

The Ogrest manga made me learn so much about him that we even saw how he made the sadida dolls.

DJKSKDOSLSKDLDLDLDLDLDLDPDP

HE WAS LITERALLY A SEED PLEASE I-

He's so independent, my guy didn't even need anyone's help for this.

Like we're talking about the fact that he made his very first doll without any instructions. It's like he subconsciously knew what to do already. No beginner's guide, no anything. Damn.

HE'S SO CUTE WHY IS HE SO CUTE!?!?!?! 💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖❤️💖😍💖😍💖❤️💖❤️😍💖😍💖💖😍😍💖😍❤️💖😍💖

LOOK AT HIM ❤️❤️❤️ I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HE COULD BRAID HIS HAIR LIKE THAT 💖😭😭💖😭💖😭 he's such a babygirl omg.

I bet one or two of his dolls did his hair that one time lol

Imagine getting yourself a man who's fine with having cute little braids and doing anything with you no matter how "girly" or "weird" it may look AND STILL HAVE THAT RIZZ.

Iop is such a loser for that lol

I'm really sorry for bringing up Iop twice to criticize him, but I truly want to emphasize the significant distinctions between Sadida and Iop. If we closely examine their behaviors and personalities, it becomes increasingly obvious that these two are complete opposites among all the gods in the Krosmoz. They represent the two extreme ends of manhood, illustrating their polar opposition.

Literally, I'm not even exaggerating.

Sadida: plays with dolls, is sensitive to losing someone dear, isn't afraid to show his delicate side to women, doesn't mind having cute hair, cares for who he loves, plays an instrument, keeps his creations with him and only lets them out when they had to, enjoys plants and taking care of them.

Iop: big macho solid man, hides himself to cry, committed grape, is too prideful, doesn't think much, gets disgusted with anything that doesn't relate to his sexuality (no joke he literally said "ew" when he learned he indirectly procreated with Sadida in the Dofus manga), abandons his wives, put a curse on one of his kids (Goultard), disowned one of them (Goultard) and probably many more.

Like do you see this shit???

These two are so different from each other that it's weird but also ironic, given that they had a kid together lol

Sadida's rizz is superior to any other god, I don't care what you say. Just look at him rizzing up Dathura with his flute bro he's so good that he even ended up making Lacrima, another hottie, jealous of Dathura.

But I know what some might be thinking: he crafted them personally for a particular purpose, which is why his dolls necessitated his attentive handling, WHEN THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE.

When only six sadida dolls were able to charm the dragons to make the primordial dofus, Sadida did not get angry at the other four who failed. He simply told them they made a great effort.

Translation:

Once they were all reunited, Sadida congratulated the six who had succeeded and the others for their efforts.

And guess what? Even after the four sadida dolls' attempts, Sadida never stopped taking care of them!

He even comforts Lacrima, the only sadida doll of the bunch who truly felt troubled by failing the mission.

Translation:

Sadida comforts her, telling her how unimportant the result was in his eyes...

And in the arms of her beloved, she understood...

Her destiny was elsewhere, linked to the quality that had been entrusted to her.

GET YOURSELF A MAN LIKE SADIDA ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

He's so caring to his little dolls that it's too sweet. He's clearly that one boyfriend who will immediately take care of you when you're on your period or having cravings 😭❤️❤️❤️

I even made some gifs of him cuz I felt cute that one time 💕💕💕

Some were from Waven:

I could only find and make three of him there since Waven is still in construction and the only twelvian god things I could find at the shop were the emotes and each god had three expressions you could use: happy, angry, defeated.

And others were from Krosmaga:

The first is when you win the battle and unlock him, while the second is when you lose, so you don't get him and have to restart the fight 😭😭

However, the surprising part about Sadida was that his design was still being worked on when the Dofus movie was finished.

Can you believe that Ankama almost screwed up when they were still making his design, by the way?

No joke, if you don't know this, they were almost going to make him look like a cabbage or carnivorous plant....

LIKE BROTHER EWWW NO WHY DID THEY THINK HE'D LOOK GOOD LIKE THAT!?!?!?

These two Sadida character designs used to be design sheets from the Dofus movie 2 that the Ankama team still had in their folders. The title for the second Dofus movie was called "The Return of Julith," and we were going to meet all the gods in there, which is why you'd be able to see some very early character designs of them.

(We've still got no news for the second movie, but Tot did say there might be a chance that they'll make the second one, according to this post, which talks about the upcoming releases of Krosmoz media. So if we do get that second movie, WE MIGHT JUST SEE SADIDA !! Unlike how we only saw a destroyed statue of him in season 4 lol)

I'm genuinely grateful (and RELIEVED) that Ankama threw out his old designs because he clearly didn't look good in those. Not to mention that they didn't look clever like his now canonical design ✨️✨️

So yeah, my leafy husband is clearly very hardworking and sentimental 💕💕💕

I NEED HIS FINISHER MOVE (the gif on the right) SO BADLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

I also already bought his emotes from Waven lol

Look at him looking all giddy and happy while twirling some plants around!

This man has no excuse to be this cute 😫😫

art by maba-product on facebook

[lurkingshan]

Kinou nani tabeta/What Did You Eat Yesterday?

You should know that I attempted to start this write up about half a dozen times before I managed to get a single word down. Every time I tried I just ended up staring at the wall. I don’t think I’ve been this emotionally stunned by a show since I Told Sunset About You, and I don’t say that lightly!

So, is this a good show? My god, YES. What an understatement. Let me tell you, as my MDL can attest, I’ve watched nearly 300 dramas. I’m sure I’ve watched even more Western shows since I had a 30 year head start on those. And I can say confidently that I’ve never seen anything quite like this gem.

Kinou nani tabeta, or What Did You Eat Yesterday?, is a drama about two middle aged gay men living their everyday lives, making and sharing food, reckoning with their identities and expectations, and figuring out how to be together in a long term relationship. That’s it, that’s the show. If that sounds boring to you, I gotta tell you: YOU ARE WRONG.

We meet Shiro and Kenji when they’re in their mid 40s and already a couple years into living together. Over the course of the show, we learn more about their relationship - how they got together, how they differ, where they struggle, where they shine, what they are still figuring out - and we see them work through it all, together. We see them at work, with friends, with their families, out in public, and in the privacy of their own home - we get a full and complete picture of their lives. And we are invited in to experience it with them and get up close and personal with their relationship in a way that feels both cozy and thrilling.

Now, I am not going to go into detail about everything that happens in this show, or attempt to provide deep analysis about its story, its characters, or the various cultures it depicts. This show was released in 2019, the manga began its run many years before that, and there are folks on this website - like @isaksbestpillow and @bengiyo - who have been at this a hell of a long time and thus have a broader context and lived experience from which to critically examine the show and its messages as they relate to Japanese familial values, life as a queer man from an older generation, and building community while living in a culture that is actively hostile to who you are. I implore you to go read their thoughts and learn from their wisdom. But what I will do is mention a couple (3… no 4, okay 5!) things that really made it stand out to me, a lifelong romance reader, avid media consumer, and drama enjoyer (I’m going to keep plot stuff vague because I hope if you’re reading this, you will be watching very soon!):

Let me repeat: this is a drama about a middle aged couple in a long term relationship, and the ongoing growth and deepening of their relationship is the main plot. Do I have to tell you how unique that is? The romance genre is rarely interested in what happens after the couple gets together, and even in other dramas featuring a couple in a LTR, the plot is usually about something else with the relationship in the background. And I’m fairly sure this is the only show of this nature in the entire bl genre (@absolutebl please fact check me if I’m wrong). In this show, the relationship is the point. It’s a rare look at what it actually takes to learn to deal with your baggage and share your life with someone, and I found it deeply moving.

My god these actors. With all due respect to the many fine actors in the bl industry, these two are on another level. We just never get to see seasoned actors of this caliber headlining ql dramas. If I have one tiny critique of this show, it’s that I found the moments when they let us listen in on the characters’ internal monologues mostly unnecessary - every emotional beat played out in their faces and body language. There’s this one scene I can’t stop thinking about, where the main pair are fighting, and one of them says something he doesn’t mean, and you see the regret on his face instantly, followed by a quick aborted movement as if to take it back, but his partner has already turned away and doesn’t see it. Just perfection. And the acting was so good in the finale (@waitmyturtles informed me my absolute fav moment was improvised for fucks sake) that it actually laid me out for like an hour, I was just sitting there in a crying daze.

The writing is so fucking smart. What’s absolutely brilliant about this show is that it’s structured like an episodic slice of life drama, but there is a deeper long term emotional arc at play and the writers forget nothing. Just like in life, in each episode something will happen, it won’t really get fully resolved, and the characters will move on. But on this show, it always comes back around, usually when your guard is down and they can inflict maximum damage by sucker punching you right in the solar plexus. I can hardly believe how many times this show managed to sneak attack me with emotional realness (official Shan cry count: 8/12 episodes caused me to burst into tears, sometimes more than once).

This show will take you through every possible destination on the spectrum of human emotion. I was so emotional while watching this show, in every sense. Crying both happy and sad tears. Swinging wildly between giddy delight, deep sadness, low key anger, and belly laughing. Sometimes the switch happens literally one scene to the next! And yet, there is an evenness to the tone and assuredness to the filmmaking that makes it all feel smooth. You never feel jerked around by the narrative. This is a credit to the writing, acting, and editing all coming together with perfect precision. The people who made this show are masters of their crafts.

OBVIOUSLY I MUST MENTION THE FOOD. Every episode of this show features at least one instance of a character making Japanese food that looks like the best thing you’ve never gotten the chance to eat. I do not recommended watching this without feeding yourself first, because it will have you salivating. And they don’t just show you the characters making the food (even narrating the recipes for you!), they always show you the characters actually eating and enjoying it. Some real foodies were involved in this production and as someone who loves to eat and absolutely was raised to view feeding people as a love language, I loved it.

So now that you are obviously dying to watch it, you must be wondering: where can I find this show? Let me point you to this post on @kinounaniresource, where the amazing Siiri has compiled all the video files and English subs you need. If you’re not familiar with how to use these, you’ll find instructions on her blog (if you get confused come ask me, please don’t bug her about it). I know sometimes shows being a little hard to access is a big deterrent to watching them, but please trust me that this is absolutely worth your time and effort, you will not regret it.

[renjihoe]

My Thoughts on Juvia and Gray’s Relationship.

May contain spoilers for the anime & 100yq manga but I’ll be as vanilla about it as possible. This is a long one so get comfy.

A few years ago, I used to be upset at the fact that Gruvia took so long to happen. But now that I’m older and I’ve hyper fixated on the couple long enough, I’ve learned to appreciate their relationship for what it is now and for what it was in the beginning. From the start I’ve always shipped Gruvia but I never expected them to be together in the first place, PLUS I only shipped them because I honestly just liked the idea of them being together. Liking the idea of a couple and the couple actually being good together is two different things and I knew that. My initial thought was “how funny would it be if they actually got together”. Kinda like a gag if you will. But overtime I started to REALLY appreciate their build up. There are plenty of couples out there in popular anime who’s relationships parallel to Gruvia, (the girl or guy is deeply in love and the other party pays them no mind). But what I really hate about relationships like that is when they get slapped together at the end just to please an audience. If Mashima did the same thing, I could honestly say I probably wouldn’t be shipping Juvia and Gray to this day, but luckily for me and other Gruvia fans he did not go that route. People say that fans forced Gruvia to be canon which is just not true since FROM THE BEGINNING of the series, Gray was told by the fortune teller that he would be tangled up with a water woman in the near future. Plus the simple fact that their characters were designed to match each others (water and ice), Juvia is also a semi-yandere (I only say semi because Juvia won’t actually do anything to hurt Gray or the others she cares about) and Gray is a Tsundere. In the beginning Gray was honestly just a dick to Juvia, but that was more for comedic effect which me being a hard core Gruvia fan at the time, sometimes I didn’t appreciate. But now a days I really do appreciate the comedy between the two characters because I’ve realized there is a good balance between their comedy and the seriousness of how they actually feel about each other. You could even call Gruvia a slow burn but in my eyes the pacing is perfect and very realistic.

Here are my thoughts on Gruvia from Gray’s perspective. Gray was pretty compassionate towards Juvia when they first met, even though they were enemies, Juvia of course gets love at first sight. As they get to know each other, Juvia’s love grows more and more intense and in Gray’s eyes it comes across as pushy. Though I personally saw her love for him being a “I see you need love, let me love you” type thing. He slowly (very slowly lmao) warms up to Juvia and they start going on jobs together and forming a close friendship, to the point where they would rather go on jobs together instead of with the rest of the team.

And then the plot starts to get a bit heavier and so does their relationship. Juvia and Gray have multiple occasions where they make protecting each other their main mission. But two particular scenes stood out to me in the last two anime arcs. Juvia sacrifices her relationship with Gray to do what was best for him, we all know the scene so I won’t go into details for the sake of time and spoilers. But in that moment that’s when I decided I didn’t ship them just because the idea was cute, I shipped them because they NEEDED each other. Juvia finally understood Gray and his history, while Gray not only understood his festering feelings for her BUT he got the closure he deserved of his family, all thanks to Juvia. Although there were subtle hints that Gray started to develop feelings way earlier on than this scene, THIS is when he knew for sure how he felt.

The last and finally scene that pretty much sealed the deal for them being my otp was when they both sacrifice themselves to save each other. **cries 😭** We got a full length scene of them damn near confessing how much they meant to each other. We all know what happens at the end of that scene, then Gray makes a promise to Juvia and that was to take her feelings more seriously. The thought of him loosing someone else he loved definitely shocked him into reality and broke that Tsundere spell that was casted on to him by the creators…well kinda. In the anime Gray eventually confesses his feelings in a round about way and I HATED IT! I just wanted him to lay it all out there on the table. But maturing is realizing that, that actually wasn’t the confession and that’s apparent in 100yq.

Although I would love for them to just be together already, I appreciate Mashima and Ueda taking their time with this couple and really putting emphasis on their shared character/relationship development. I also appreciate that we get this development through Gray’s perspective, it adds a bit more to them as a couple. In conclusion, I’m lonely and I want what they have. No but seriously I’m soaking up every bit we get from Gruvia! Since Gruvia days is coming up, I had planned on doing a relationship/couple analysis from Gray’s perspective but this honestly sums it up lol!

[autumn-foxfire]

toga is saving ochako on live tv. i was right the villains were going to be redeemed in the eyes of (some) civilians this way. the contrived situations is why i’m not a fan. quick note, pre plf war i don’t remember the set ups and executions being this bad. week-by-week hori was really good at it, idk what happened.

also looks like hawks might save toga now too. it’s what i expect from him anyway and it feels less impactful because toga isn’t out to hurt anyone anymore so he has no reason to not save her anymore. maybe fandom will get off his case about twice?

Who is going to save the heroes, Ochako asked! Well the villains that caused you to be in this state of course, Horikoshi answered as I try to brain myself on the nearest counter.

From what I've seen from the manga though, I don't think Hawks will be involved because that would have been good writing to include the man who initially caused Toga to actually reflect on her actions due to the consequences they could have.

Honestly it's annoying me how fandom is eating up this fight because of the wlw implications. I've said it before but I wouldn't have too much of an issue with Ochako wanting to reach out to Toga if it had actually been set up well. But no, it went from Ochako disliking Toga for her attempts at the lives of herself and her friends (with the fact that Hori in his attempt to make Toga 'sexy' made these acts come across as sexual in nature which brings up insane issues of consent), to her being angry that Toga killed an innocent women just to be selfish and ask what Ochako would do to her for her crimes and Ochako's answer was that she didn't even fucking care at the moment she's trying to save the people Toga and her 'friends' have condemned to death, to her wanting to save and then reaching out after being nearly murdered by this girl by saying she thinks her smile is the cutest in the world???

Ochako knows NOTHING about Toga's past. We could have had a chapter where Ochako learns that Hawks killed Twice and that Toga was very close to him, to Ochako asking Hawks why he did what he did, to her looking into Toga to find out about her and her circumstances (such as confronting the parents and the counsellors and we can see if their treatment of Toga was truly horrible instead of it being left extremely fucking vague for the purpose of letting the audience fill in the gaps like Hori loves to do) to THEN her reaching out.

It's lazy writing but fandom loves it because it's queer (and I'll probably have people angry at me because I'm critical of said queer writing but as someone who is bisexual so Toga is most likely my representation, I can be annoyed at the sloppy handling of her arc and the unaddressed and toxic traits Hori made her have.)

[kimbapisnotsushi]

Hi....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite anime (can be series or movies) or top 10 favorite manga? And why do you love them? Also, what are your top 5 (or top 7) favorite moments from any anime (can be series or movies) or manga that you loved?

Sorry if I ask too much, feel free if you want to answer both of my questions or just pick either one......Thanks....

aaaahh no i'm so honored to be asked something like this!! these are REALLY hard questions tho LMAO like holy shit i STRUGGLED. i ended up choosing the series/moments that left me with the greatest emotional impact or were really formative during my younger years. this turned into a really long and wordy post so uhhh sorry about that, I would have added more pics but they couldn't all be the same size so i gave up LMAO. Anyways let's get into it!!

TOP 10 ANIMANGA SERIES/MOVIES (in no particular order)

I. HAIKYUU!!

I wouldn't be much of a Haikyuu!! fan if this wasn't number one on the list (even though I said they were in no particular order, haha). With how the anime adaptation is coming along, I do absolutely recommend reading the manga. Aside from the fact that the art is just gorgeous, I love how Furudate puts so much care into the characters and story. The symbolism and poetic one-liners that have no business being in a sports manga are fucking fantastic, the development is great, everyone gets a happy and fulfilling ending, and it all wraps up like an emotional sucker punch to the stomach. I also LOVE that there's so much canon material for fans to play around with, and that there's so much left to the imagination. Haikyuu!! really is just a master class in storytelling and a total dream to analyze.

II. THE NIGHT BEYOND THE TRICORNERED WINDOW

Okay, I lied earlier. I just HAD to put this one second. (I swear after this the order doesn't matter!) It has an anime series and live-action movie adaptation, which I haven't watched, but I've heard that they don't really do the manga justice. Now, I wouldn't really recommend this one to kids, which I guess can be pretty broad or specific based on your definition? Strictly speaking there aren't any NSFW explicit scenes - nobody even gets naked at any point nor is it the hated ecchi style with random underwear/breast shots or whatever - but the two main characters are pretty euphemistic in, say, the first quarter or so of the series.

(Hiyakawa borrows power from Mikado and when that happens the feelings mirror the pleasure of intercourse, to put it bluntly, but that's not something that actually ever happens. Mostly we, the audience, just see Mikado get red and flustered, although Hiyakawa says/does shit to go along with it sometimes. It gets milder -> nonexistent as the plot progresses because that's not really the focus of the story.

Also, if you're sensitive to dubious consent then this probably isn't for you, since a big part of Hiyakawa's arc is learning how to be less fucked-up than he is and he often uses Mikado's power while Mikado tells him to wait or slow down - not because he wants to hurt Mikado or make him suffer, but because Hiyakawa just genuinely doesn't know that it's the wrong thing to do due to his upbringing. I won't go into why for spoiler reasons, but it becomes really clear by the end of the story. For those of you who are willing to look, I'm going to show a couple pics of this in action down below - otherwise, please skip over it and just scroll down to the parenthesis.

I wasn't really expecting to to go as in-depth as I did about this, and I do love this series, but I also want to give fair warning since the way the dialogue and Mikado's expressions are depicted give off a very real sense of urgency that I would hate for anyone to be caught off guard/be triggered by. I'd love to talk more about it if anyone wants to ask, but I've already diverged enough from the original question.

I don't want you thinking that they have an imbalanced toxic relationship in which Hiyakawa has all the power and Mikado is subservient to him, though, because that's not what it is either. Mikado has always been his own person, and Hiyakawa never tries to control him in any way besides from his own misunderstanding of consent. They help each other on equal grounds, but apparently the anime does a terrible job of showing that.

END )

So, why do I love this series? Well, it's modern paranormal/supernatural, which I'm a HUGE fan of. Apparently Gege Akutami (Jujutsu Kaisen author) named it as one of their own favorites, and once you read it you can really see a LOT of similarities. There's a character just like Okkotsu in that they've done REALLY shitty things and don't know whether they deserve to live or not. There's also a lot of learning how to be brave when you've been running scared your entire life and taking back your own control/power through it. And, other than the heavy stuff, it's actually quite funny. There was one moment I wasn't expecting where I actually laughed out loud.

Also, the characters are really compelling! Aside from everything I said about Hiyakawa earlier, he's one of those nonsensical types who says the most ridiculous things with the utmost sincerity and with a straight face. Mikado acts as his opposite - he easily freaks out and is very expressive. Also, the villain? Like holy SHIT. I could go on about them forever. Like. Holy fucking shit. Top-tier how they handled the boss battle because hoooolyyyyyy shiiiiiiit. But I don't want to spoil, so I'll leave it at that.

Also, the background stories for the characters - once you get to them - will break your heart. Yamashita draws really simply, sure, but they have such a powerful way with storytelling that the emotions just hit you like a brick through the window.

Mostly, though, it is a story about healing, and I'm a sucker when a bunch of people who need to heal in different ways because of the same thing all come together and help each other. I can also guarantee a happy ending, so look forward to that!

III. SNOW WHITE WITH THE RED HAIR

Oh, how I love this series. I know the anime hasn't adapted to its current point, so I def encourage you to read the manga even though it's not complete yet either (and I started in like middle school LMAO). Shirayuki was honestly such a huge role model for me growing up - she was smart and pretty and determined and, even when she wasn't so sure of herself, she always wanted to do the right thing. All the characters in the main squad are so lovely and feel like a real family altogether, and I adore every single one of them. It's sweet and romantic and nails nonmagical fantasy worlds right on the head, and I'd LOVE for more people to get on board with it.

(If you need more convincing, there's pirates and festivals and assassins and a character to love for every single person out there. I know Kiki and Mitsuhide are enough to cause a crisis.)

IV. BOYS RUN THE RIOT

OKAY Y'ALL. LISTEN UP. YOU WANT MORE LOUD AND PROUD QUEER REP IN MANGA?? HERE'S YOUR QUEER REP COME AND GET IT.

It doesn't have an anime adaptation so you can't really watch anything and be done with it, but there's only four volumes so it's easy to collect. it's a story about a transgender teenage boy named Ryo who expresses himself through fashion and GOD I love everything about this series. Jin is the BEST ally. It feels like such a warm hug to see something so proudly represented in manga. ALSO Boys Run the Riot started as a prototype one-shot that the author entered into a contest, and in THAT one of the first characters prototype-Ryo comes out to actually reveals to him that he's Korean!! He kept it hidden and changed his name to protect his identity!! Do you know how fucking REAL Keito Gaku was for that!! Like there is a whoooole conversation to be had about that topic but that is not for now!!

Anyways yes Boys Run the Riot makes you want to cheer and scream when everything comes together in the end because it felt like an uphill battle you were holding your breath through the entire time and I LOVE that they get a hopeful ending. Give it a try, I'm BEGGING.

V. CARDCAPTOR SAKURA

Okay, I'm going to be honest: this is pretty much the only series that has a manga AND an anime in which I've only ever seen the anime. I hear it does a pretty good job of adapting, though, so I'm not too concerned about it. (I do plan on reading the manga to catch up to the Clear Card arc.) I'll also admit upfront that since CCS is a kids' series, there were quite a few problems in it that I didn't realize until I was much older and went back to it.

I like that Sakura feels like a very real protagonist. She was scared and wimpy quite often, and as a kid it was really empowering to watch her develop into someone confident of herself and her abilities. She's got such a great supporting crew behind her, too! I especially loved that CLAMP brought in Syaoran and Meilin from Hong Kong - even nowadays, a lot of non-Japanese foreigner animanga characters fall into the American or European category.

Also, Yuki and Touya. Just do it for them. Seriously. You can watch CCS for them and ignore everything else.

Mostly CCS, for me, was fun and magical and a great escape for a little kid who wanted to get lost in a world not too far from their own. Also, it's got that 90s-drawn aesthetic we all know and love.

VI. PLAY IT COOL, GUYS!

Honestly, I love all of Kokone Nata's works so far. She's one of the more modern authors who got picked up on Pixiv, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where she's going. Play It Cool, Guys! is one of my favorites. It's actually a manga in color, and Kokone Nata utilizes it beautifully. She has so many fun characters and makes normal, everyday life seem so bright and fun. And not to sound like a main character, but I'm also a very clumsy, accident-prone person, so it's really nice to be able to see the crew do everything that I do and do their best to overcome them.

I also love how naturally their relationships develop. Like, seriously - how would a high school kid, two entirely separate and totally opposite college students, a late-20s office employee, and a semi-famous author all fall in together?? Everything is up to fate but Kokone Nata has a way of never making it feel forced. It's not at all unreasonable to bump into each other at the bookstore or in the park - especially when we see that they actually DO interact as strangers first who all happen to hang out/live near each other, and they just drift closer when they finally recognize each other. It's so subtle but so amazing to watch in action.

Also, it's very soothing and fluffy and healing and you absolutely do not have to put the amount of analysis I do into it LMAO, so if you ever need a pick-me-up I absolutely encourage this series or any of Kokone Nata's works!

VII. POKÉMON

Yeah, yeah I know. But I couldn't not include another childhood fave!! It was one of the very first I watched and Ash is honestly such a great protagonist and role model for younger kids. Sure, he can be an annoying brat in the ten-year-old way, but he takes losing like a champ and he always tries to do what's right. He was incredibly selfless, kind, and considerate for a character of that age and growing up alongside that really taught me a lot about what I wanted to put out into the world. Watching any episode just makes me feel comforted and like I'm paying an old friend a visit and it will always be in my favorites list. Plus the dub actually has some HILARIOUS lines LMAO.

Also, the Special Adventures manga series by Hidenori Kusaka is a total gem and was my first introduction to fandom, so if you're a Pokémon fan who hasn't read it then I really encourage you to check it out!

(I would like to make a note that I got stuck after this and was kind of fishing around in my head for the last three LMAO)

VII. HIBI CHOUCHOU

This one is one of my favorite high school romance series - it's sweet and fluffy and might be a little cheesy, but the characters are all so lovely and you can't help but want to cheer them on! The plot is kind of ridiculous when you first start it - "all guys instantly fall in love with the super pretty MC who hates the attention and has been declared 'unattainable' because of her distant attitude towards them and ends up falling for the one guy who didn't act crazy-in-love with her from the start" - but it's really heartwarming to see the growth Suiren and Taichi go through. I also really love Taichi because he feels so different and refreshing from a lot of high school romance manga male lead/love interests that I've seen. (Maybe because of the glasses? I can't name any other male lead/love interest with glasses LMAO.) It's such a gentle series and feels like a warm hug, and watching two quiet people find their way together really did wonders for shy high school me.

IX. FADED FIRST LOVE

Oh gosh, this one is SUCH a gem! You know how sometimes people want representation as a sweet story that's not about an identity crisis but just having fun and in love? That's what Faded First Love feels like. It's genuinely funny and sweet, and while Aoki DOES encounter a couple homophobic problems here and there, it's mostly lighthearted and nothing he can't handle with the help of his friends. He and Iida are both learning and doing their best, and it's one of the series I go back to whenever I want a pick-me-up.

X. JUJUTSU KAISEN

I did say before that I was a huge fan of mixing paranormal phenomena with modern settings, and Jujutsu Kaisen is a great example of that. It's crazy how much thought was put into the technical aspects of that world - every time I think about Gojo explaining to Itadori how to channel cursed energy, it makes my head hurt. The monster designs are so creative and the characters are all such a great bunch. I tear up whenever I remember Miwa listening to Mechamaru's voice recording on the plane. What really nailed it as a Top 10 for me was JJK Volume 0, because hooolyyy shiiiit. Okkotsu's growth was FANTASTIC to watch and I LOVE how confident he is now and how he follows the philosophy of "the people I care about care about you" when it comes to Itadori.

So that's it!! God, that was hard. I hope you enjoyed, and for anyone else reading it I hope this encourages you to pick up one or the other!!

Honorary mentions to: Promare, Kimi ni Todoke, From Up on Poppy Hill, Our Not-So-Lonely Planet Travel Guide, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, and tbh I'd list more but that would take forever LMAO

This is already a really long post so I'll reblog or make a part two with my fave moments, I'll let you know!

thanks all <333

[twilight-orchid]

How The Demon Brothers React After Fighting With Their SO

tw: some angst with resolution at the end, mentions of past arguments, insecurity.

Lucifer:

This man is petty as hell.

He doesn’t do the silent treatment, but he acts like you aren’t dating.

If you need to work on something together, you’re a co-worker.

At RAD you’re a classmate.

Around the house you’re just a housemate.

His poker face is immaculate and it will not crack when you’re around.

If someone didn’t know what was happening, they’d probably think you two barely knew each other.

However, you won’t notice, but as soon as you look the other way his eyes are on you.

He’s used to arguing with his brothers and is no stranger to explosive fights that end with he and the other person not being on speaking terms.

But you’re different.

He tries to go on with business as usual, but he can’t think about anything other than how much he misses you.

Yet, he lets it continue because he just can’t put his pride aside and apologize.

If you decide to sleep in your old room it’ll both hurt his feelings and royally piss him off.

He thinks you’re being childish and will be pretty rude about it, but that’s because internally his blood just ran cold.

It adds a degree of seriousness to the argument that he’s uncomfortable with.

Yes he’s mad, but he can’t lose you.

If you still sleep in his bed, he makes sure to scoot over to the very edge so he doesn’t cuddle you in his sleep.

In fact, the first night after the argument he’d probably put a pillow between you just to really punctuate the fact that he’s still upset.

I’d say it could go 4 days to a week tops without you making up.

After a point though, he just can’t function until the issue is resolved. He can’t sleep, he’s falling behind on his work, and he’s just generally not doing well.

You get called to his office one night and find him at his desk surrounded by piles of paper, disheveled and exhausted.

“MC, come sit down. I’d like to talk this through. Please.”

Mammon:

He’s so dramatic.

You dare defy him? The Great Mammon can’t believe this tiny fragile human would have the audacity.

The theatrics are just a front though.

His ‘The Great Mammon’ act is a mask for his insecurity, one he hasn’t had to use with you in awhile.

Even as the words leave his mouth he regrets them.

He’s going to be very uncomfortable with everything until the argument is resolved, but most of all himself.

He’s learned not to take his brothers too seriously when they toss insults his way, but words have a way of morphing to belief over time.

Internally he is going to be super hard on himself. 

Regardless of if the fight was his fault or not, he’s going to kick himself constantly for making yet another mistake.

He’s over the argument pretty fast. The anger quickly melts into anxiety.

Are you going to leave him? Do you hate him? Did he hurt your feelings? 

That being said, he doesn’t know if you’re still mad and he doesn’t know how to ask. 

As a defense mechanism, he defaults to how he treated you when you first arrived in the devildom.

Calls you human, disregards you, stuff like that.

If you decide to sleep in another room, before midnight expect him to be knocking on the door.

“Oi, MC. You awake? I just - I can’t - *sigh* Can we talk about this?”

If you sleep in his bed, he makes a point of sleeping with his back to you.

Less because he’s actually mad and more because he doesn’t want his image of you as he drifts to sleep to be a look of anger.

Though as soon as he passes out he’ll roll over and tuck you into his arms on instinct.

I’d say any after effects of an argument with Mammon would be resolved in a day, maybe two tops.

Leviathan:

Arguing activates his trolling the forums mode.

Goes back to calling you a normie and contradicts everything you say.

He’s less mad about the argument and more using the bitterness to cope with how upset he is.

He feels like a break up is less of an if and more of a when.

Why would someone as amazing as you settle for weird otaku like him?

Honestly doesn’t understand why you’re with him in the first place, so when there’s a serious argument he assumes its over.

Tbh don’t know how you and Levi would sleep together being that I doubt two could fit in a tub, but any deviation to your routine sends him into a panic.

It’s his reality check that the situation is serious and he needs to fix it NOW.

He’d have trouble apologizing in person. He can’t think of what to say, he stumbles over his words, and he feels like he’s on the verge of a panic attack.

Instead, expect a long ass text message.

He says how sorry he is, how much he misses and loves you, and legit begs you to forgive him.

If you sleep with him like normal, he’ll probably try to make up after laying there for awhile. His mind is going a million miles an hour and there’s no way he can sleep.

Still really has trouble verbalizing how he feels, so give the poor boy a break and take over the conversation.

He hasn’t had a serious relationship before and he doesn’t know what he should do to make it better.

So the after effects will last however long it takes him to read several mangas, watch some anime, and play a few games to see how the characters get over arguments in the story.

Satan:

Satan makes sure not to fight with you over minor issues.

He’s worked tirelessly to tame his wrath and he refuses to feed into it over a minor issue.

Thus, if you fight with Satan it’s a major argument and it’s explosive.

The aftermath isn’t much better.

He doesn’t want to risk blowing up again, so he’s frighteningly calm.

He’s an absolute master of the silent treatment.

He won’t say a word to you until he’s certain he’s calmed down enough.

For the first few days he’ll straight up leave a room if you enter.

For a good while the only way you can expect to communicate with him is through his body language and the expression in his eyes.

Satan’s biggest fear is losing control and lashing out at you. 

He couldn’t live with himself if he hurt you and he can’t stand the thought of you being afraid of him. 

He’s a whirlwind of emotions, so he isolates himself until he can figure out how to deal with it.

Not just from you, but from everyone else too. 

Satan will not share a bed with you for at least the first night.

If he got worked up enough to actually fight, it’s gonna take him time to simmer down.

And he’d rather not risk doing or saying something he regrets in the meantime.

Once he’s ready, he’ll approach you when he’s completely calmed down and has thoroughly analyzed the situation.

He’s considered both of your sides, tried to pinpoint what caused the disagreement to turn into a fight, and made a plan of action to prevent it from happening again.

“MC? I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what happened. Would you please talk it through with me?”

He won’t apologize for the argument if he feels like he was right, but he will apologize for letting the disagreement escalate into a fight.

Satan could go weeks without making up if necessary, but he tries to resolve it within a couple of days.

Asmodeus:

Wants to give you the silent treatment, but is physically incapable.

He can’t stand to have you ignore him.

He’s the type to go back to normal then suddenly remembers you guys had a fight.

“Wait, no! I’m not talking to you! I’m mad at you!”

His biggest downfall is that he’s so stubborn.

If he thinks he was right, he will die on that hill.

There are arguments with his brothers that happened a thousand years ago and he could still tell you exactly why he was right.

But with you, he realizes that doesn’t matter too him nearly as much as it usually does.

If it means going back to normal, he’ll forget who’s right or wrong.

If you sleep in another room, he’s beyond offended.

“What?! Well fine! I don’t want you in my bed anyway!”

Laying in bed alone is a different story though.

He can’t sleep. All he can think about is you. Your face when you sleep next to him, your smell, the feeling of his arms around you.

He 100% cries.

Finally goes and knocks on your door with wet, glossy eyes.

“MC? Can we talk about this? I can’t get my beauty sleep and my tears are wiping off all of my skin care lotion!”

Will throw himself into your arms before you can answer.

If you sleep next to him still, he rolls over and watches you sleep.

It puts him at peace and he decides seeing your sweet, resting face every morning is worth more to him than the argument.

He’ll initiate the conversation the next morning.

I think Asmo could make it a few days if it was a really serious argument, but he will not function well until you make up.

Beelzebub:

Wants to make up immediately.

He doesn’t like to argue, even less so with you.

Whether he was right or wrong, he blames himself. He’ll take all the blame in the world if it makes you happy.

He’ll go make you your favorite food and bring it to you.

If he thinks you don’t want to talk to him, he’ll leave it outside your door and text you to let you know it’s there.

He’s honestly devastated if you decide to sleep in another room.

You guys migrate to your old room when you want privacy from Belphie, but you almost never sleep separately.

Seeing you grab your pillows and march out of the room nearly stops his heart.

He goes completely numb and silent as he just stares at the space you had just occupied.

Like Levi, he thinks this means the relationship is over and he genuinely does not know what to do with himself.

He can’t even bring himself to eat, he just wants to lie there, lost and trying to grapple with his emotions. 

He’s another one who will absolutely cry, but unlike Asmo he will make sure no one knows it.

If you still sleep in his bed, he’s very nervous about it.

He doesn’t know if it’s okay to touch you, what he can or can’t say, stuff like that.

He just lays there stiff as a board not even able to close his eyes.

Honestly the fight would probably have to be resolved before bed. His anxiety just can’t take it.

I don’t think he’d initiate the apology. Not because he doesn’t want to make up but because his confidence is rock bottom in these situations.

He catastophizes and honestly thinks you hate him.

If you don’t initiate the apology soon, Belphie will. He can feel what his twin won’t say, and he knows Beel won’t approach you about it for fear of making it worse.

Belphie will lock you two in a room if that’s what it takes for you to make up.

Belphegor:

The embodiment of if looks could kill.

He won’t talk to you, won’t look at you, basically pretends you aren’t there.

If he must interact with you he’ll roll his eyes and sigh the whole time.

Tries to sleep through any interaction so he doesn’t have to deal with it.

He feels almost betrayed by the fight.

He thought the relationship was stronger than to have such a huge divide, so he’s really insecure about it.

After the first day, the anger has melted away to guilt.

He ‘s not guilty that you fought, but he is guilty about how he treated you after.

Guilt and self-blame have become unwelcome friends at this point. Guilt over Lilith, over his plans to destroy the human world, everything.

But more than anything else, the guilt for the fact that he attacked you weighs on him every day.

He moved past it quickly after, essentially pretending he hadn’t killed you, but that’s because he just couldn’t confront what he’d done. 

He feels like the luckiest demon alive that you forgave him, let alone  opened you heart enough to love him, and now it’s all in tatters.

Another thing to regret.

If you decide to sleep separately, it’ll hit him like a bag of bricks.

“You - what? Where are you going?” 

It’ll take him a second to process what you were doing, but then he’ll roll over and let you leave.

“Fine. Don’t let the door hit you.”

No one will see him for awhile. 

Belphie sleeps all the time anyway, but he just can’t make himself get out of bed.

If you don’t approach him to apologize, Beel will tell you that he’s been nauseous and randomly emotional which must mean his twin is coping very badly. 

Will beg you to go make Belphie happy again. 

If you sleep in his bed still, the argument will be resolved by morning.

He can’t keep himself from embracing you in his sleep, and it’s hard to say you’re mad at someone when you wake up in their loving arms.

It’s hard to pinpoint how long it could last with Belphie. If you don’t apologize first, he won’t let himself be conscious long enough to approach you.

This is both my first hc post as well as my first obey me post so I’m sorry if le boys are ooc. I just got this idea and couldn’t stop thinking about it so here we are.  Especially Belphie, he was hard to me for some reason. Let me know if you guys agree or disagree and if you want to send a request or ask, my box is open! 

[itsmyartfam]

Dadzawa fic rec list #2

You guys really seemed to like my last dadzawa rec list, so here’s p2. Once again, they’re in no particular order of greatness, and many of the summaries were very long so I put the shortened down versions of them. 

1) Splintering Ice- emmals16

Aizawa should really consider not letting his kids off campus at all. It never goes well. He has enough nightmares about their past excursions gone-wrong. And dragging a half-frozen kid out of a frozen lake is definitely something that will haunt him forever.

Incomplete, 9/10. Hella fucking good angst, I LOVE the protective!Dadzawa in this, it absolutely does not shy away from anything, it is raw and angsty and beautiful. This one is so painfully underrated too, it deserves so much more attention so please go read it, it’s so well-written. 

2) Smoke before fire- achievingelysium

Aizawa meets Midoriya's middle school teacher, who seems to have an alarming view of his former student.

One-Shot. Dadzawa angry at how his broccoli son was treated. Love it, but I literally love everything that achievingelysium writes so yeah, go read all their stuff, they write amazing BNHA pics.

3) Refraction- achievingelysium

After an incident that leaves several students hospitalized, Shouta thinks about one student—Midoriya—and finds he's reminded of a friend from another time.

One-Shot. Manga spoilers for this one, so I won’t say much in my review, but like all of achievingelysium’s stuff, it’s very good.

4) Of Bias and Bravery- Mintoki

"It’s not that his peers are inherently cruel to the Quirkless. Izuku firmly believes that, if the truth ever got out to his classmates, they would still welcome him with open arms. At the same time though, acceptance does not necessarily mean they are well-informed on the subject. His classmates might be well-intentioned, but sometimes the words that come out of their mouths cut deeper than even he could have ever expected."

One-Shot. I LOVE this one. It’s so painfully delicious (I’m a sadist) to see how even Izuku’s friends are affected by society’s ignorance and how it hurts my precious broccoli boi. This isn’t a dadzawa centric fic, but it has a very nice dadzawa moment at the end, so I included it.

5) Dam failure- orkestrations

Aizawa addresses the fact that Bakugou physically assaulted Midoriya, for no good reason, during their final exam.

One-Shot. Dadzawa doing what he really should’ve fucking done in the show?? Thank you!!

6) The World on His Shoulders- baggytshirtsandtiredeyes

During their second year, Aizawa decides to take some of the students on patrol to give them a taste of the underground hero life. But of course, nothing goes as planned when UA's resident Problem Child is involved.

One-Shot. OOO I LOVE THIS ONE! Usually a lot of Aizawa and Midoriya fics are whump but for once this involves Aizawa actually being shook and amazed at Midoriya’s strength cuz he’s a freakishly strong boi and everyone should remember that!

7) Problem toddler- anonymous

Izuku gets deaged, and Yagi learns what suffering is.

One-Shot. Dadzawa AND Dadmight for you! Featuring jealous!Dadmight cuz baby Midoriya loves Dadzawa more.

8) Fatherly Affection- otawritesthings

Shota Aizawa 's full time job is teaching. It is NOT fathering twenty-something screaming highschoolers. It isn't. Nope.

22 Chapters. Gotta love Dadzawa pretending like he’s not a dad when he’s in the act of being a dad. I like how each chapter focuses on his interactions with a specific member of class 1-A, even the ones that get less screen time. 

9) Recovery- liions

Class 1-A has been noticing something different about their teacher since the USJ Incident. Not bad different, just, Different. It fueled their gossip hours, just why did he keep dropping things? Midoriya gets a chance to find out.

One-Shot. I love fics that actually address the consequences of big, traumatic events, like Kamino, the camp attack, or heck even Bakugou attacking Midoriya during their test. Or, in this case, USJ and the Nomu beating Aizawa to a pulp. Fun times- not. 

10) darken your door- beeclaws

Aizawa tries to go get popcorn and instead gets an uncomfortable encounter with a student's estranged father.

Three chapters. BRUH how have I not mentioned beeclaws before? They write THE BEST dadzawa fics! This one is one of my favs, but they have plenty of other great ones too! 

________________________________________________

I’m sure I still have a lot more (I love reading Dadzawa fics) so if you guys want another rec list after this, let me know! But for now, toodles! 

[recurring-polynya]

Once again, I am thinking about the dubious claim that people make from time to time that Renji would have gotten better character development in the TYBW arc if Byakuya had died. The thing is, though, that Renji did get excellent character development in this arc, particularly with respect to his relationship to Byakuya, it was just very subtle and I want to talk about it.

So, the first thing I want to point out is that the captain-lieutenant relationships is one of the major themes of the TYBW. A lot of this is sort of weird and awkward, but this is perfect, actually, because captain-lieutenant relationships are, for the most part, weird and clunky and awkward. Take for example, the part that I always make fun of, where the captains are told not to go to bankai, and Hitsugaya, Komamura, Byakuya and Soi Fon immediately go to bankai-- but they all do this on the assumption that they are luring their opponent into a trap to see how this works, and that their lieutenant will somehow ??defeat them anyway?? (well, except Soi Fon who seems to think she can one-shot her Quincy). There’s Sasakibe’s funeral, where we find out that Yamamoto cared far more for him than we ever imagined. Kyouraku returns Nanao’s zanpakutou to her and stands behind her as she defeats an opponent he can't. Iba carries Komamura’s body off of the battlefield as he loses the last of his humanity. Isane struggles to keep her head above her grief because that’s the burden Unohana left her with. Rose avenging Kira. Hitsugaya and Matsumoto fighting and (sort of) dying together. The Zaraki-Yachiru thing. The Mayuri-Nemu thing. Momo and Shinji actually got to have a relatively normal one, which they each deserved, but at least they got to have normal one together. Anyway, that could be an entire essay, but as usual, I only want to talk about Renji and Byakuya.

Renji’s introduction as a character happens in stages. Initially, he sort of appears to be Byakuya’s sidekick-- he's here to do the dirty work during Rukia’s arrest, while Byakuya stands by and calls the shots, but even early on, it’s clear that Renji’s a little hung up on Byakuya. He’s trying to impress him, and gets more embarrassed and self-conscious as things go progressively pear-shaped. When Byakuya finally enters the action, Renji’s thought bubbles reveal that he’s watched Byakuya for a long time, that he knows all his moves. When we get the Renji backstory reveal a few issues later, we learn that Renji’s goal is to defeat Byakuya, which he seems to feel is necessary to seeing Rukia again, even though there has never been any sort of causal link revealed between these two things. Don’t get me wrong, if Young Academy Renji had tried to continue to be friends with Rukia, I think Byakuya would have kicked him out on his ass, but it’s clear that a lot of Renji’s hang-ups are internal-- he doesn’t want to face Rukia again until he can stand against Byakuya. I think the origin of this is that he simply wants what’s best for Rukia, and he can’t stomach the idea of asking her to leave her rich, noble family for him, unless, of course, he’s somehow better than Byakuya in some dimension, and the only thing Renji’s ever considered himself good at is fighting.

Even more interesting is that he’s chosen to go about this by... studying the man’s every move and becoming his lieutenant. But for as much energy as Renji has put into learning Byakuya’s favorite combat moves, he doesn’t actually know anything about him as a person. He’s shocked when Rukia predicts that Byakuya won’t lift a finger to help her, and then horrified when this actually comes to pass. A few chapters later, as he’s running Hinamori through, Aizen comments that “Adoration is the state furthest from understanding.” I would probably classify Renji’s feelings towards Byakuya more as admiration or idolization, rather than adoration, but I think this statement is also very true of Renji and Byakuya’s relationship. Unlike poor Momo, Renji gets a little more time and opportunity to do something with this information. With a little Ichigo-forced soul searching, he realizes that he’s not going to come out the hero of this story no matter what, but if he doesn’t do something, Rukia’s not going to come out of this story at all, and even if he’s not really ready, he’s spent 40 years trying to figure out how to beat Kuchiki Byakuya, let’s hope all that was good for something.

The Byakuya-Renji fight has no direct impact on the events of the Soul Society Arc. It makes Byakuya show up to Rukia’s execution 5 minutes late and without his scarf. Renji gets healed, so it really doesn’t matter all that much to him, either. You could argue that they both wasted a bunch of energy (that they could have used to fight Aizen later) but it’s primarily a character-driven moment of them both drawing lines in the sand about where they stand, vis a vis Rukia. Byakuya wins this fight, and he wins it handily, but he’s wrong, as he comes to realize a few issues later, when Ichigo kicks his ass and tells him he’s a bad brother, a lesson that Byakuya will take to heart for the rest of the manga. Byakuya claims that the difference between Renji and himself is class, but the real difference between is the heart, and in the long run, Renji is the real victor of this fight.

The hospital scene is an interesting footnote to this. Byakuya defeated Renji, but Byakuya was the asshole and everyone knows it. There’s an expectation that perhaps Renji will quit or perhaps Renji will give him an earful and perhaps even Rukia will choose to leave the family, either to go to the Living World or to be with Renji (and Byakuya would deserve this), but instead, both Renji and Rukia give Byakuya another chance, which is not, I think, a place Renji ever expected to be.

Rukia and Byakuya building up a sibling relationship after this is fairly straightforward (although I’m sure it had its weird moments), but Byakuya and Renji now have this profoundly awkward relationship where Byakuya is obviously in charge, but he sort of depends on Renji as a personal compass because he’s shit at dealing with people and he doesn’t want to screw stuff up with Rukia again. Take for example, the part of the Hueco Mundo arc where Orihime is kidnapped and Rukia and Renji desert their posts to come help rescue her. Kubo takes to the panel-space to tell us that Byakuya has tacitly approved this. As a clan head and a captain, a person who is entrenched in the hierarchy of Soul Society, Byakuya couldn’t possibly go to Hueco Mundo-- but he can turn a blind eye while his sister and lieutenant scurry out through the Kuchiki family senkaimon. Renji, for his part, tried to go to Hueco Mundo through official channels and got shot down. We don’t know what Renji would have done if Byakuya had explicitly forbidden him from going, but it doesn’t matter-- Byakuya enabled Renji to follow his heart here, because Byakuya can’t. Rukia would have gone to Hueco Mundo regardless. She cares about Byakuya, but she doesn’t depend on him for validation the way Renji does.

I said this was going to be about the TYBW, so let’s get to that. Early in the arc, we’re shown several scenes where it’s clear that Byakuya respects and values Renji as a lieutenant, but he’s also pretty damn patronizing to him. Renji is the first one to engage As Nodt, and when Byakuya shows up, he acts surprised that Renji hasn’t taken him out yet, but then proceeds to take over the fight (real, “stand back, fives, an eleven has arrived” energy). After Byakuya then loses his bankai like a doofus, Renji wants to take point so that Byakuya can figure out As Nodt’s attack and Byakuya won’t let him... and then proceeds to get thrashed.

This has to be one of the most emotionally charged fights in Bleach. Byakuya is losing, and Renji jumps in, absolutely incensed that As Nodt would use Senbonzakura against Byakuya. Renji isn’t doing great, but he’s not doing terrible when Byakuya gets up and tries to help Renji, even though he’s a big bloody mess. As Nodt reacts by shredding Byakuya into chunks, and Renji just loses it, and if Mask de Masculine hadn’t shown up and kicked him halfway across the Seireitei, I daresay Renji would have killed himself trying to take down As Nodt.

This is where I usually make the point that if Byakuya had died to here, it would have broken Renji into little pieces, but that’s not today’s essay. Instead, everyone goes to the Royal Realm, and by virtue of the fact that Byakuya is injured worse than everyone else, Renji has to go forward without him or his approval.

In typical Renji fashion, the thing that motivates Renji here is not glory or heroism, but the desire to accompany Ichigo, the need to be with his friends in their times of trial. In fact his companionship here is absolutely essential-- at Hikifune’s, Ichigo expresses deep doubts that he’s doing the right thing, and Renji reminds himself that if he wants to protect others, he has to take care of himself first.

At Nimaiya’s however, Renji and Ichigo are split up because they must follow their own paths. The other extremely interesting thing that happens here is that Renji’s sword is reforged. Byakuya shattered one of Hihio Zabimaru’s joints the very first time Renji used them in combat. Renji brushed it off at the time, saying that he could get by without it. Even though Byakuya has long been his motivating force and his mentor, he’s also been held back by his connection to him. And at this point, it’s gone.

I really wish we got to see where Renji and Rukia meet up again, but we don’t. Unlike with Ichigo, though, Rukia doesn’t seem to need anything from Renji. They travel together, fight together as equals, wear matching outfits, like you do. Oh. Wait. After all this time, in the 493 chapters between Needless Emotions and Blue Stripes, Renji can finally see himself as an equal to Rukia. They get. bankai. Together.

I want to emphasize that it’s not really anything about Rukia herself that allowed Renji to make bankai, it’s the fact that he’s finally managed to move past the feeling that he’s not enough. Defeating Byakuya would not actually have solved this problem, and having Byakuya dying in front of him wouldn’t have either. Renji gets criticized for losing a lot of his fights, but that’s such a key to his character. He’s not always the strongest, he doesn’t always win, but he keeps fighting for what he cares about. He struggles with his need for approval, for external validation, but Renji is at his best when he doesn’t have time to think about that, when he’s just fighting by his friends’ sides against impossible odds, doing what he knows in his heart is right.

I think people tend to make a little more than is strictly necessary of the line where he tells Mask that he’s “a villain”, I think he’s most just making fun of Mask’s own self-aggrandizement. On another level, though, this is just Renji being at ease with himself. Byakuya typically enters a fight bloviating about the honor of Soul Society and “how dare you raise your sword against me, the 28th Head of the Kuchiki” and even Ikkaku had the whole deal about telling people your name before you kill them, but Renji is more like “you beat up my friends, so I’m gonna break your face,” like there’s no ego in it, just you’re there, and he’s there, and then you’re lying on the ground and he’s taking a nap somewhere. This is so different than the insecure, posturing young man he was at the start of this series and I love this growth for him.

Even after he eventually meets up with Byakuya again, something has changed about their dynamic. The group gets split up and rejoined two or three times, and Renji and Rukia always stay together while Byakuya ends up fighting alongside others, Hisagi and later Hitsugaya and Zaraki. This is cemented in their last scene together, where Rukia and Renji try to stay with Byakuya and he sends them off to fight with Ichigo by saying “your help is not needed here.” In some ways, it’s an echo of Byakuya sending them off to Hueco Mundo, but in other ways, it’s acknowledging that they are their own people, not just an extension of him.

Hitsugaya follows it up with this:

There’s more here than meets the eye, though-- Byakuya and Renji have maintained a pretty strict superior-subordinate relationship, because that’s the easiest way for them to make sense of the world, but the fact is, they do care about each other and are important to one another.

I know there would be a certain narrative satisfaction in seeing Renji make captain at the end-- he’s one of the hardest working people in Bleach, and it frankly seems weird to see Iba get the haori when he doesn’t. But Renji has never wanted to be a captain. Renji becoming captain would, in some ways, be a failure. He spends years pre-canon chasing rank and prestige because that’s what he thinks will make him worthy, and it didn’t. Instead, he found worth in being himself, in loving his friends and being there for them, in learning things from Byakuya and teaching him things in return. Renji doesn’t need to be Byakuya’s lieutenant anymore, he just does it because he likes it. It makes him happy. What better character development is there than that?

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 315: I Didn’t Expect This to Blow Up

Previously on BnHA: Horikoshi was all “guess which plot that you thought was dead is actually not dead and is making a comeback!” and we were all “EVIL HPSC??” and he was all “girl you know it,” and that’s the story of how we got a sexy Lady Nagant flashback with lots of guns and murder. Flashback!Lady was all “gotta murder peeps to preserve the people’s trust,” but then a little while later she was like “actually wait that makes no sense,” and so she shot her evil boss and they sent her to jail. Back in the present, Deku was all “okay fair, the hero system might in fact be a little fucked up, but hear me out... have you considered not helping AFO take over the world so he can murder like a bazillion more innocent people??” The chapter ended with the not-all-there Overhaul finally revealing himself to Deku, and I honestly have no idea where this is gonna go.

Today on BnHA: In what is unfortunately the single worst plan ever concocted by anyone in BnHA, Nagant is all “I’m going to try and get this Deku kid to panic and freeze up by putting someone in mortal danger.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t panic and freeze up at the sight of someone in mortal danger].” Nagant is all “omg no way.” Deku, who is now all of a sudden being so OP that even I have to acknowledge that it’s OP lol, is all “[smashes Nagant’s gun arm to bits]”, which sucks but is also really cool, and which also apparently makes Nagant decide that she actually likes this kid after all. Deku is all “NAGANT I REALLY LIKE YOU AND THINK YOU’RE GREAT SO PLEASE JOIN UP WITH ME AND STOP BEING EVIL.” Nagant is all “aw shucks (✿ •͈ᴗ•͈) well okay then” and everyone is all “( ･◡･) ✰ ( ˆᴗˆ ) ( ᵘ ᵕ ᵘ ⁎)” and then Nagant FUCKING EXPLODES LIKE AN EGG IN THE MICROWAVE AND FALLS TO HER DEATH!!!! except not really because Hawks saves her??? In conclusion, (a) THE FUCK, and (b) AFO TURN ON YOUR LOCATION I JUST WANT TO TALK.

so I have to tell you guys something, which is that barely ten minutes after I made that “please don’t send me spoilers” post the other day, someone replied to the comments in a stunning fit of “tell me that you’re twelve without actually telling me you’re twelve” energy and posted what seemed to be the copy-pasted spoiler summary from reddit or twitter or whatever lol. so here is my good news/bad news rundown of all that

good news: I have very well-conditioned ABORT!! reflexes and have trained myself to immediately look away from the screen (usually in dramatic fashion) as soon as I realize that whatever I’m reading is a spoiler

bad news: unfortunately as I was subsequently deleting said comments, I accidentally read the very last one

good news??: said spoiler was so unbelievably, absurdly over-the-top that I’m almost positive this person was just trolling. like, there’s just no way lmao

bad news: but in the unlikely event that it is true I will absolutely lose my shit I swear to god

(ETA: “NAGANT DIES.” that was the spoiler I read lol. like, literally all I read from the person’s comments was “My Hero Academia Chapter 315 Title: “Beautiful Words.” Chapter starts with...” and then I noped out of there, and then of all the comments to read as I was deleting, it had to be that one lol. I seriously was just like “SURE, JAN.” all “just how gullible do you think I am” sob. but I was wrong. a troll, but an honest troll they remain.

but anyways like I’m pretty sure Nagant isn’t even actually dead lol, so in the end this whole little adventure doesn’t even have a point to it, but for me it was a journey!)

anyway, so there are apparently two versions of the chapter today?? no idea what the difference is, but I’m going to go with the Bean version, because it’s the one at the top and I don’t feel like making decisions today

huh, so Overhaul is actually more coherent than Horikoshi was letting on

look at him having a whole back and forth conversation with her. side note, how is he still this jacked when he’s been sitting in a cell doing absolutely nothing for the past six months

anyway so he says he’ll go with her on one condition. I wonder what that condition could possibly be. do you think it could be the thing he literally hasn’t shut up about ever since he reappeared lol

yep! and damn -- maybe this guy will surprise me after all

still would be nice if you also felt a bit sorry for the little girl you tortured and traumatized, but this is something at least. maybe Deku will yell at him for that other stuff lol

(ETA: also can’t help but wonder if he wants to make amends because he put him in a coma, or because his plan was a failure and ended up destroying the family. just hoping you’ve finally had that “hurting other people is bad” epiphany dude.)

anyways so now Nagant’s arm is transforming again, and this particular transformation happens to be the only truly unsexy thing that Nagant has done thus far so I’m just gonna skip right on ahead lol

aaaaand we’re back to the delirious ranting

buddy. just. read the fucking room, guy

wow she really is aiming at Overhaul, then. those theories were spot-on

damn she’s really out here all “it really fucks with kids’ heads when you kill people right in front of them and make them blame themselves” like yo

I’m picturing her saying all this in a very loud stage-whispery tone while making very significant eye contact with Deku lol

uh oh but wait

um. okay. who’s gonna tell her. Nagant I might have some bad news for you about the kid you’re trying to capture here. specifically about the way he tends to do the opposite of what you’re thinking that he’s about to do

holy shit

so it’s basically just “tap x repeatedly to charge up your attack” lol

and okay, so that’s cool and all, but is anyone else wincing at the thought of what that must be like on his knees. oh to be young

anyway, but so to the surprise of basically no one, Deku did not, in fact, freeze. I am very sorry, Nagant. he’s just like this

LMAO

someone wanna tell me how getting yoloed in the fucking ribs by this fucking slingshot kid moving at literal sniper bullet speed is in any way even remotely better than getting hit by the bullet itself lol

(ETA: this is 10x funnier now that we know the bullet wasn’t even gonna hit him lmao.)

anyway so now Nagant is having an extended “!?!?!?” reaction about how Deku just moved with no hesitation, and I’m starting to get an inkling of fear that the rest of this fight isn’t going to go very well for her and maybe that’s what all the “hoo boy” is about

oh my god Deku are you about to Gomu Gomu no Rocket yourself at her you insane little man

now Three is popping up again and he’s all “I see you’ve learned your lesson and are now only using three quirks at once instead of five” like with all this effusive praise about how great and badass Deku is and sob, okay, yeah. this chapter is basically one of those machines that shoots tennis balls at people, except instead of tennis balls it shoots hot piping discourse

OH MY GOD

YOOOOOOOOOO but also, NOOOOOOOOOOO

lol oh my god it’s literally two opposing reactions at once wtf. do I love this or hate this. like just for once can Horikoshi actually let a badass lady character win their fucking fight without getting their arm ripped off, BUT ALSO fucking look at that absurdly cool “SMASH” onomatopoeia though. it looks like it’s about to float right off the page holy shit that’s some seriously good art

anyway so is this really the end?? do I need to break out my ಠ_ಠ faces

lmao okay yeah I can definitely see how this would piss a lot of people off

he basically one-shotted her and she’s all “damn this kid is so amazing that I’m about to do a complete 180 turn on all of my previous angst” lmao. Horikoshi is really shounening it up today

on the plus side though, maybe this means there’s still a chance for her to join up with him after all? unless that spoiler was true lmao, then all hell is gonna break loose

YESSSSSSS

OH MY GOD AND HE SAYS THE BULLET WOULDN’T HAVE DONE MORE THAN GRAZE OVERHAUL ANYWAY, wow, I’m actually more relieved by that than I would have expected. I mean I would have forgiven her either way, but it means that there was still more hero in her than she was letting on

YES!!! FUCKING YES, THANK YOU

lol but I mean, it’s also like, “oh so today they get to have brain cells”, thank you so much lol. sometimes it’s really hard to tell which times we’re supposed to question these character decisions that seem dumb, and which times we’re just supposed to full on embrace them and switch off our critical thinking

but okay, so in this case it really was Nagant going easy on him on purpose, and not just her fucking up for no good reason even though she used to do this for a living and was the best in the game. and I know in this case it’s probably just Horikoshi giving us some consolation headpats to soften the blow of her losing so abruptly, but you know what, shit. I’ll take it

also you guys the light is coming back into Deku’s eyes again for just a moment here and I’m having feels about it?? the way it still comes back when he’s reaching out to save someone, and following his own hero path instead of the much darker and lonelier Christopher Nolan path that’s been laid out for him instead that he never wanted?? it’s both reassuring and also very sad

YESSSSSSSSSSS

DO IT LADY OMG PLEASE?? PLEASE COME BE HIS NEW IRRESPONSIBLE ADULT SUPERVISION YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO

AHHHHHHH SHE’S GONNA DO IT AHHHH

p.s. I am now absolutely scared shitless that that spoiler was actually true sob. swear to god, I will throw this manga into a fucking volcano. but we’re almost at the end of the chapter and this seems just WAY TOO GOOD to be true fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck f

UCK

NOPE NAH SEND IT BACK, NOPE, NUH UH, DIDN’T ORDER THIS. “GULLIBLE” OKAY FUCK YOU?? “COUNTERMEASURES” NOPE, DON’T NEED ‘EM, WE’RE ALL FINE HERE. WE’RE ACTUALLY GOOD SO YOU CAN JUST GO, OKAY. PLEASE

fuck, lol, I don’t wanna do it. I don’t wanna scroll down what have I ever done to deserve this oh my god

WHAT THE HONEY-ROASTED FUCK

WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT FUCKING VOLCANO IN ICELAND THAT I KEEP SEEING ALL THESE PICTURES OF. WHERE THE FUCK IS THAT SHIT. LET’S GO

ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

can someone please give AFO a really good, sharpish kick in the balls. just really let him have it. I’m so tired, what the fuck

-- ARE YOU KIDDING ME LOL WHAT

bro. I was literally going through my Excel folders to find the spreadsheet about female characters in BnHA that I made back when Midnight died. was gearing myself up for a wholeass rant. and honestly I might just let all of that continue simmering on low to keep it warm just in case lol, because to tell you the truth I have absolutely no idea what’s happening right now

my girl straight up does not have a face. she used to have a face. people usually need those, idk. like, even if she’s alive, her gorgeous eyebrows are definitely not making it out of this and I’m gonna throw a funeral just for them

how the fuck did AFO just blow her up?? how did he know what was going on?? and if he had a quirk that could explode people at will, why is this the first we’re hearing of it?? you’d think that might have come in handy at Kamino or Jakku, like what

(ETA: present!me, who’s had more than three hours of sleep and can now actually remember facts about the series, would like to remind past!me that AFO gave Nagant a quirk, and so this is probably just more Vestige shenanigans now on his part. that’s also probably why Air Walk suddenly stopped working out of nowhere. still doesn’t explain why he doesn’t go around blowing people up more often though but maybe he thinks it’s gauche.)

Hawks just straight up out of nowhere. just Mirioed his way straight into the chapter just in time to be too late sob. here I was looking forward to seeing your face when Deku showed up with his new best friend. can’t believe Horikoshi deprived us of that moment

on the plus side, WELCOME BACK, HAWKS’S FEATHERS. I have no doubt that in this chapter of Deku being an almighty threequirk-mastering god, and Nagant losing anticlimactically only to be immediately blown up because girl characters in BnHA can only be cool for one fight and one fight only, there are still some people who are focusing solely on the “how dare Hawks get his wings back when he is a MURDERER this is an outrage what about CONSEQUENCES” discourse, and to hell with all the other discourses lmao

anyway, so yeah. wow. and now it’s just occurring to me that maybe the real reason why Overhaul is there is so he can get a head start on that amend-making by actually doing a good thing for once in his life, and using his quirk to heal Nagant. assuming he can still do that

and so now Horikoshi has got me out here actually rooting for Overhaul. you know what, on that note I think I’m just gonna go ahead and call it a day sob

[marrys-dream-world]

Imposter

Read on AO3

Summary:  Adrien's mother is kind and sweet and loving. The only problem is that it isn't her at all.

Notes: This is based off on this post by @infinitysgrace and a post athat I can’t find anymore, but was about how Emilie’s eye color could be wrong in the wishmaker flashback because it wasn’t her, it was a sentimonster. I took some liberties with sentimonster lore because I’m not 100% sure about all that, but I think it turned out well. 

One of Adrien’s earliest memories is of crying. 

He was young, perhaps three or four, and his room was blurry through his tears. When he grew older, he would get used to his father’s insistence that a night light was coddling Adrien, but at the moment, all he knew was the darkness surrounding him. The room was too big and his bed was in the middle of it, the light from the huge windows playing shadows that tricked his eyes. So he started crying, hoping it would call his parent’s attention and that they would come to him.

(When he grew older, he would learn that crying was useless.)

He felt more than saw his mother coming in, leaving the door open in a crack of light. Her arms wrap around him and she hums soothingly, the sound filling up his chest. She’s warm and smells sweet, like her favorite lavender perfume. He sinks into her, tears drying and sobs reducing to whines. He has tired himself out with that and would probably fall asleep even if left alone, but his mother doesn’t leave. She tucks him in and stays as his eyes close.

The last thing he sees are her wide blue eyes. 

-

Both his parents have drastic mood changes, but Adrien would say that his mother is the most prominent example of this. His father is usually just stoic and, if Adrien pushes him enough, gets annoyed with him. At worst, he’ll get angry and rage at Adrien, calmed down only by his mother’s calm words as she diverts his attention so Adrien can get away. His mother, though, always feels like whiplash.

“Why can’t I go with you?” Adrien, aged seven, asks his mother. He’s sitting on her bed as she packs her bag for another trip with his father. He stopped keeping count of them after the fifth. 

“You’re too young, baby.” She said and even the pet name didn’t stop the sting from her dismissive tone. “Next time, okay?”

He bits back a ‘you said that last time, too’. 

“But I’m already- “

“Adrien.” His mother chides, frowning. Her (disappointed) green eyes held him down. “I said you could stay here with me if you weren't going to be disruptive. Can’t you behave, just this once?”

He swallows back a lump in his throat. “I-I’m sorry, mother.”

But she already turned her back to him and packed the rest of her bag in silence. His mother leaves out her customary goodbye kiss when she leaves for the trip. He isn’t allowed downstairs to see them go and Nathalie insists it isn't a punishment, even though it feels like it. Adrien mopes in his room, not feeling up to enjoy his free day, no tutors or photoshoots, when all he can think about is his mother.

That’s why he’s taken back when she walks in his room.

“Mother?” He gaps, unable to hide his surprise. “I thought you left. Aren’t you going to miss your trip?!”

“I changed my mind, Adrien. Your father and I decided that the trip would be more productive with just him.” She said, eyes warm. Adrien always thought it was beautiful how her eyes could look blue or green, depending on the light. 

“But why?” He asked. She had been so excited for the trip!

“To stay with my precious son, of course.” His mother said, taking him into her arms.

All his questions evaporated right then and there. 

-

After their last trip, his parents decided to take a break from traveling. To network, his father informed him, which meant more boring family dinners and stiff ties. His mom always tuts when he complains about it, so he stays silent this time. At least it’s a dinner with Chloé, his best friend, and her family, so he and her are really only required to have dinner and then they can go off and play in the hotel rooms. 

“Arnold- “ Mrs. Bourgeois starts during dinner, before being nervously corrected by her husband.

“It’s Adrien, dear.”

“Oh right, Adrien. You grew up really well, you look more like your mother everyday.” Other people say it gushing, followed by a ‘so cute’ and pinches to the cheek. Mrs. Bourgeois says it like it’s a fact she approves of; Chloé even copies the small nod her mother makes. “You have her eyes.”

“Thank you, ma’am, but I don’t think so.” He says as politely as he can, but everyone in the table still throws him confused glances.

“You don’t think you look like your mother?” His father asked, raising an eyebrow.

Adrien shook his head. “No, I just don’t think I have her eyes. Mother’s eyes are blue and green and mine are just green.”

The Bourgeois family looks at him like he grew a second head. His parents, however, become tense all of sudden.

“Emilie, Gabriel, I think your son might be colorblind.” Mrs. Bourgeois says dryly and Adrien waits for his parents to come to his defense. They don’t. 

“Maybe. You know how children are.” His mother says, lightly. “I love your hat, Audrey. Is it new?”

The topic changes to Audrey’s new fashion exploits and Adrien and Chloé are finally allowed to go play. 

(Nathalie takes him to an eye doctor Mr. Bourgeois recommended the next day. The colorblind tests come back as negative.)

-

At age eight, Adrien was already used to working on fashion shows for his father’s brand. It didn’t make them easier to go through, however. 

It’s a summer one, this time, and his clothes are light and airy and his skin felt itchy and hot in the air conditioned cat walk. Looking at the bright lights around him hurt and the camera felt like it was looking uncomfortably deep into his soul. Was it too obvious that he wanted to run away? The crowd claps everytime he comes and everyone is smiling. Except for his father. 

After the show, his father spends the rest of the ride in silence as his mother tries to defuse the heavy tension that permeated the air with small talk and gushing compliments about the clothes and Adrien’s performance. It falls flat as she hardly looks like she’s up for talking, dark shadows under her eyes and skin paler than usual. Whenever Adrien asks her if she’s sick, she denies. As soon as they arrive home, he drags Adrien from the car towards the house, grip strong on his left upper arm. 

“Do you enjoy embarrassing me in front of everyone, Adrien?” His father asked calmly, but his hand tightened on his arm. 

Adrien couldn’t speak. It felt like it was happening to someone else, his mind weirdly detached from the situation. The only thing stopping him from floating away was the pain in his arm. 

“That’s enough, Gabriel.” He heard his mother, voice muffled. It felt like he was underwater in the pool and she was speaking from far away. Her hand, though, he felt acutely as she extricated his father’s hand from his arm. “Adrien, go, please.”

He runs away without second thought, only pausing guiltily at leaving his mother with his irate father when he starts hearing his father’s screaming. Adrien hides under the blankets in his room, heart racing long after the noise stops as he tries to focus his mind into anything else. He startles when he feels a hand touching his blanket cocoon. 

“Shhh, it’s okay, baby.” He hears his mother’s voice and frantically tears his blanket away. 

Adrien relaxes as he looks into her wide blue eyes and comforting smile, trying to leap for a hug. She stops him. 

“Let me see your arm first.” She says and he reluctantly takes off his jacket, wincing. The bruise on his arm doesn’t look pretty, so it’s for the best that he doesn’t go out much after fashion shows. “I can’t believe I let you get hurt.”

Her tone is soft and she looks, weirdly enough, genuinely confused as she touches the bruise on his arm and coos in apology as he flinches. 

“Father is just stressed.” Adrien parrots back his mother’s usual spiel after his dad does something less than exemplary. “It’s just how she is, it’s okay.”

"It 's not okay.” His mother says right away. “I’m supposed to not let anything hurt you, Adrien.” 

She says that with such a passion that he can believe she actually means it. But instead of the elation he expected when he heard it, all he felt was a surge of anger. Because why now? After all those moments when she scolded him for avoiding his father or not looking him in the eye, why now?

“There isn’t anything we can do about it, is there?.” He snaps, echoing her words to him from what felt like yesterday. 

She deflated. “I’m sorry. There isn’t.”

-

His father went away from a trip again and his mother, once again, decided to stay. 

Spending time with his mother during father’s trip was great, especially since she was in such a good mood and looking much healthier than she did these days. She lets him have an extra scoop of ice cream for dessert as soon as Nathalie turns her back on them, she spends the whole day playing with him in the garder, she helps with his homework and makes him a snack between classes. They play the piano together, making up different tunes and giggling. 

“Don’t I have to practice this?” He asked, pointing to the sheets of the classical song he was supposed to learn. 

His mother wrinkled her nose.

“You already work too hard, Adrien, it’s nice to have some fun once in a while.” She said, twisting her wedding ring on her finger. She usually didn’t wear it when spending time with him, only when she spent time with father, so it caught his attention. “Besides, nobody has to know.” 

They watch a movie he picked that night. His mother rarely did that and when she did, she was very picky about it. Artist stuff, he supposed. This time he got to choose, though, and he picked on based on a manga he liked, Astroboy. His mother seemed excited in the beginning, but her mood quickly subdued as the movie went on. 

“Are you not liking it?” He whispered to her and she shook her head.

“I am, baby, don’t worry. Are you?”

“Yeah. It's not really like the manga, but I like it.” He said. “I just think it’s a little unfair, you know. How he doesn’t know he isn’t really the scientist’s son, that he’s just a robot.”

His mother’s arms tighten around him. “I don’t think it’s unfair.”

“Really?” Adrien watched as the images from the screen played on his mother’s blue eyes.

“Really.” She repeated. “Him knowing would be crueler.”

-

At age ten, Adrien is awakened on a rainy night by his mother shaking him.

It was the night his father was supposed to come back from a trip and he had spent a fun day with his mother, studying and playing (“You need both to be a healthy boy, Adrien!” She grinned at him and he beamed back at her). His mother had looked a little skittish earlier, looking over her shoulder often only to just find Natahalie and fidgeting with the ring on her hand, that she usually wore every time his father was traveling. She wouldn't tell him what was wrong and insisted she hadn’t been sick. Nevertheless, he worried. 

“Mother, what’s wrong?” He asked, sleepiness fading away as he noticed how frantic she looked. 

“Adrien, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Every moment I’ve been conscious, it’s been on my mind. Can you trust me?” She asked him, stroking his head with the hand that wore her wedding ring, and he nodded. “I need you to pack a small bag and come with me, okay? We’re going on a trip, just you and me.”

“A trip?” It was all he ever wanted, but the look in his mother’s blue eyes made him hesitate. “Is everything okay?”

“No, baby.” She said, kissing the top of his head. “But it will be. Hurry up, I need you to pack while I handle some things. Meet me downstairs in five minutes, okay?”

With anyone else, even his father, he would have asked more questions. This was his beloved mother, though, so he just got up and started to pack his clothes and some of his stuff that he couldn’t do a few days without. He carefully closed his door, running down the stair and to his mother by the door. She looked damp, her outfit changed and an umbrella hanging by her feet along with some bags. 

“Adrien?” She asked, turning her green eyes to him. In her left hand, she held her wedding ring.

“Mother? Are you okay?” He asked, noting how much paler and shakier she looked than when he saw her upstairs. 

“Yes, of course.” His mother said as she put her wedding ring back on. “Whatever I said to you upstairs, forget it, okay?”

“W-what?”

“I didn’t know what I was saying.” She said, eyes staring straight at her ring. “Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. Go back to bed, baby. Your father is back earlier than expected and he won’t like to see you up so late. ”

He nodded, unwilling to argue, and took his bag back with him to his room. His mother suddenly acting weird and standoffish wasn’t anything new, it was fine. She would go back to being his sweet, kind mother soon enough. He was sure of it. 

(She never did.)

[dentos-wife]

Tokyo Mew Mew New Analysis

I need to start this off by saying, Mew Mew Power was my Sailor Moon. Learning that actually came from Japan and watching it subbed on Youtube in 6 parts (anyone remember that? Boy what a time that was) is what introduced me to anime and magical girls. I am *insanely* nostalgic for Tokyo Mew Mew. It was my first manga, owned all the volumes. Then I watched Cardcaptor Sakura tried Sailor Moon again found more obscure magical girls (anyone know Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne? Mermaid Melody?) So when news of this remake came I was cautiously excited, I saw the Sailor Moon crystal fiasco but hey if it sucks I always have the og to go back to.

Now keep in mind season 2 could completely miss the mark and it’s not fully done but as of now, Tokyo Mew Mew New not only defied my expectations but I have no need to ever go back and watch the original again.

From someone as nostalgic as me that is some damn high praise

This girl?

Is the better Ichigo. Making the pink haired one feel like a different version at this point

-Let’s stat with her. I’m going to admit, I liked Ichigo for her design she was cute was a cat (I love cats) and I rooted for her. She was pretty shallow though, always surprising for a show about the environment how little she cared for it. I’m all about that development but her relationship with Masaya never felt earned to me, she clearly didn't’ even care about his interests just thought he was cute she even says that at one point. But hey, my girl liked Masaya I’ll root for them, I support you Ichigo! She did eventually grow but with all the monsters of the day and original stuff thrown in the pacing didn’t feel right for her growth and it was so subtle you could miss it. So to me she was cute and fun to watch but it never went past there.

In New she was more honest right from the start and actually...seems curious about his interests she mentioned she wanted to find her purpose and it all culminates in episode 11, where she looks back on her life so far. She did find her purpose now, she wants to protect the environment she loves being a Mew Mew! She loves her friends, she loves Masaya and she wants to protect this planet it’s now of great importance to her. Better development in 11 episodes than a whole 52 episode season and that’s impressive. She’s no longer a Sailor Moon expy which to be honest after I watched Sailor moon I totally got all the comparisons, she’s the best version of her character yet.

-Masaya. I uh never cared about him in the original, I liked him with Ichigo because she liked him never went deeper than that. He was bland always there to give advice kind of perfect not as interesting as Ryo (hated him with Ichigo though lol) but the antithesis to Kish until...it we got Deep Blue it all clicked. But they did not do it well, I will defend him but in the original anime yes he was boring. He was better in the manga but the manga wasn’t a pretty moving picture so the anime version is what stuck with me.

In New? My god what a good character. He’s stilted, He has no idea how to deal with his feelings, he’s not the advice giver anymore he just let’s Ichigo feel, instead he dumps cat facts and environmental facts because Ichigo listens to him and wants to know more, he’s comfortable around her (and it appears only her) he’s smart, I’m pretty sure he figured out early she’s a Mew Mew and lets her be until she’s ready to tell him. He’s not perfect the bell thing was odd yes, he’s odd but he’s also super sweet, shows emotion and found something else he cares about as much as the environment and while Deep Blue was shocking in the original I had no feelings about it. It’s absolutely and utterly going to break me here. I love and care about both Ichigo and Masaya this go. I have become a true ichisaya shipper (before it was my girl likes him best so I do too) and he’s become my second favorite. I hope Ikumi is smiling down from heaven because I get the feeling the anime team did not like him.

-Mint! In the OG anime she was a snobby rich girl stereotype that most magical girls have. In New while she still has shades of that she feels reworked for the better, just like Ichigo. She’s still I need my afternoon tea do not disturb me, but her relationship with Zakuro is better it feels more equal she’s the reason Zakuro decided to join because she saw Zakuro for who she is, she wants to grow and struggles with her big decision the culmination of “I don’t have to do it” like Ichigo’s arc of her finding her purpose; and ends with her finding the Mew Aqua saving Tokyo. I also love how she was actually the first one and not needing to be recruited like the OG anime it speaks to her character who is always wanting to be at her best and be someone to rely on. As someone who didn’t care much for Mint in the OG I’m very curious on her growth and quite enjoy her in this one.

-Lettuce feels more than the shy girl magical girl stereotype too now. She is coming into her own, can use her powers outside of her Mew form, reading the Aqua was really cool and her bond with Pudding’s brother was really cute. I also think her bond with Ryu feels a lot more natural than him picking on Ichigo all the time so hey might actually like this ship this go we’ll see

-I don’t have much to say on the others except Zakuro and Mint feel more equal and I really hope they canonize it this go, it again feels completely natural and they keep paralleling it with Ichisaya sooo. Pudding is pudding. Still excitable and cute I don’t see many differences but I always felt she was the most under utilized anyway.

There are of course things done better in the original though, it’s just I *personally* don’t care about them as much. I bet others do which is why they prefer the original and they’re valid as long as they don’t call New a vapid cash grab because boy if you think this is a vapid cash grab you don’t actually know what that is.

-Ryo. He’s just kind of...here. I’m sure he’ll do more in season 2 but at this point his purpose feels like it’s to force a love triangle. Ryo is such a better character when Ichigo isn’t involved and I understand some people love that trope but when the end game is that obvious eh. I’m still annoyed he knew what was going on with Ichigo and didn’t tell anyone, little shit. I look forward to his backstory in season 2 because that’s when he became interesting to me

Side note! back in 02 days Kish and Ichigo shippers were the most annoying and I don’t know why but it flipped here, The amount of Ryo and Ichigo shippers I had to block for bashing New and Masaya FANS over the character...kind of proves my point about if this is something you liked of course you’ll prefer the original. Stop attacking people, you aren’t 12 anymore :/

-Kish and the aliens are also very underused right now. But again I never cared about them, in fact I hated Kish back in the day lol, little consent problems creep. It might be because I’m seeing less of him which is why I didn’t put this in the positive section but I like him more in this one. He has some issues he has to work out but when he’s not antagonizing Ichigo and is a mean little gremlin he’s really fun. Also Kish fans I’m sorry about all the hate you see about your ship and boy in the tag, I may not ship it, but I respect you for putting up with it in a mature way. I’m assuming again in S2 it’ll pick up and they alien arc will get going, we know Deep Blue is coming after all (might mean I’ll dislike Kish again too we’ll have to see)

-Cat Super Girls isn’t as good as My Sweet Heart. That’s a high bar to pass though so I’ll let it slide. I hope season 2 has a new op and ending!

-Where is the MERCH?! I want plushes!!! The figure is a good start but the og had so much where is the MERCH I’LL PAY COME ON

All and all yes. New is better. The original wanted to be Animal Sailor Moon, giving only Ichigo the powerups for example? Having her go around and recruit everyone? I’m glad New followed the manga. I read Ikumi worked on this one and boy can you tell. The stuff that has been enhanced is something she passionately probably cared about and I think it shows and well.

Final note oh my god the My Sweet Heart cover. The full version is a true love letter and you could call it blatant nostalgia pandering but going from a slow version to the original tempo is creative and shows, in my personal opinion this is not a nostalgia grab like Sailor Moon Crystal. If it was it’d just be a bland cover. I fact I feel like this show saw Sailor Moon Crystal and said let’s not do that. This is a true love letter to Ikumi’s series and now a tribute to her so don’t screw it up season 2

[shoichee]

okok hc or fic: reader was teiko’s “head” manager(?) and her talent was being a medic (if someone gets injured they’re back on the court in under a minute type thing) and training plans. suddenly momoi’s talent blooms, she starts working w/ everyone in the team (+ reader’s crush akashi) and people think she’s a better manager than reader. because of this, she overworks + collapses in front of her best friends kuroko + kise (don’t let akashi know yet i have plans for that 👀)

HELLO? YES OFFICER? I JUST FOUND A BANGER REQUEST RIGHT HERE? YOUR BRAIN IS SO BIG AND SEXY IVE BEEN DYING TO WRITE THIS🏃🏻‍♀️💨 part 2 here and part 3 here AND update: part 4 here

Akashi x Reader

[Teiko!manager Headcanons]

you had a knack of being a natural chiropractor in loosening up tense muscles instantly (for more fluid play) or easily putting in back dislocated joints

basically you have crackhands

in your free time as a hobby and a job as the “head manager” (that Akashi announced to the team himself), you’d often bury yourself in anatomy studies and gym plans on the internet and databases to review over Akashi’s team training routines to see if they were effective and safe; oftentimes, you’d return back with improved plans, and as time went on, Akashi entrusted you with creating the plans yourself completely

you took on the job so eagerly to impress the Teiko captain, if you were being honest to yourself

your enthusiasm even inspires Momoi, Teiko’s other manager, to work harder

no one in Teiko knows physiology better than you, and as expected, it was also your best subject along with health

Kise often looks at you in horror and respect at how you don’t cringe/flinch at the loud cracks resonating across the room or court when players come to you for instant relief (the origin story of how he came to call you (y/n)-cchi was the very fact that you manage to put back his dislocated shoulder in 3 seconds flat one game)

when Kuroko first joined the 1st-string, he was a walking magnet for injuries, and you ended up being there for him every single time… nosebleeds? check. sprained ankle? check. nausea from over exhaustion? check.

both you and Kuroko relish in the fact that everyone in the team can never understand how the both of you do some incredible things with your hands

both of you being quite dexterous, you both often teach each other your specialties for fun; it’s almost shocking to see Kuroko effortlessly loosening up a stress knot and you pulling off a well-done palm pass

you admit, you do juggle a lot of responsibilities… from being a makeshift nurse, to a chiropractor, to a budget gym coach, and even to being moral support

Momoi often reminds you to take breaks being the caring person that she is

you often showed her the ropes and tricks of being a manager, on top of your duties, and you find it really endearing that she’s so earnest in learning from you

even if you enjoyed doing what you do, part of the massive workload is to try to get into Akashi’s good graces

talking to him about basketball duties is easier to achieve than talking to him outside of the extracurricular

you might be a tad bit insecure about it; after all, what middle schooler is already so accomplished in academics, sports, and everything you could think of? wasn’t he also studying to take over his father’s company??

to you, who only starred as Teiko’s humble manager, it felt hard trying to establish common ground for conversation outside of basketball

so you stuck to working hard at your position, hoping that your work ethic would get his attention one day; you were a firm believer of actions over words, so you hoped your actions would come off as genuine

picture you and Momoi running across campus with stacks of papers for the team… it makes most of the teammates’ hearts melt at the sight

your work certainly got you praises from other teammates, but out of all players, Kise was the one who figured out your motive

you felt absolutely morbid; to think that Kise, of all people, would figure you out like the back of his hand

Kise being sweet as he is, offers to help you get with the captain but you merely prompted to threaten to break his arm if he spilled your crush to anyone else

“(y/n)-cchi… I’ve been thinking.”

“Yes, Kise?”

“It’s really cool that you’re working so tirelessly for the team, but I can’t help but wonder if there’s a reason why you work so hard.”

“O-Of course I do! I want to see you guys all succeed!”

“Then I’m curious as to why you always look at Akashicchi—o-ow, ow, ow!! (y/n)-cchi, I’m sorry! So can you please let go of my—ow!”

“H-How did you know?!”

“I-It was as obvious as day, (y/n)-cchi! I’m pretty sure even Kurokocchi found out about this before I did!”

“N-No way!!”

“Tell you what, I’m super duper knowledgeable in this stuff! You can count on me for this sort of advice—OW!”

spoiler alert: Kise was right in that Kuroko definitely noticed your attraction to Akashi before anyone else… he just never brought it up to you

one day, Kuroko comes up to you to whisper:

“(y/n)-san, have you realized that Akashi-kun has been observing you recently during practice?”

“W-Wait! Is he looking over here right now?”

“Not that I think. He’s occupied with the coach right now.”

“D-Do you think this is a good sign?”

Kuroko gives you a small smile before he replies, “I would like to think so. Keep working hard, (y/n)-san.”

and you do, you’re constantly on top of your game for the next season until Momoi suddenly gets more recognition for her “precognitive defense” skills

her newfound talent was extraordinary and never-before-seen, and her ability became more critical to Teiko’s victories than your own skills

you were happy and proud for her, because after all, her achievements were extremely deserving to be praised

it’s only when some 1st-string players started making offhand comments about how you weren’t really needed in the 1st-string and was more suited to the lower strings that placed seeds of doubt into you

these people would often compare you to Momoi in how she improved much more despite you being in the team for longer

there’s also talk about how your skills are more useful for 2nd-string and 3rd-string players because Momoi’s ability is already sufficient enough for Teiko’s starters

after all, how would a player even be injured if they can predict their opponents’ moves to avoid such incidents?

there’s also the fact that Akashi has been calling Momoi more frequently to research on upcoming teams for analytical data because her talent has become very useful to ensuring victory

the same peers and adults who gave you praise were the same people who began to ignore you or dismiss you; that being said, the collective change in attitude is definitely subtle enough that it would fly under most people’s radars

Kuroko was the first to notice and defend you against a small group of players who were bold enough to badmouth you in the gym

Kise would find out a little later about the somewhat unpleasant gossip about you and would pull the “no you” reverse card, returning back with MEANER underhanded comments that would send these shit talkers CRYING HOME (manga Kise strikes here unexpectedly eh?)

Murasakibara is someone who would be slightly uncomfortable with the gossip about you, especially since you’ve always been so helpful and kind to the team and himself; he’d either leave the room himself or easily scare them away with his looming height and presence without saying a single word when he enters the room “minding his own business”

Midorima is a bystander judging from how he’s reacted to the Teiko dynamic changes in the actual show // he, of course, wouldn’t like the nasty talk about you but would actually mind his own business, choosing to focus on himself and what he has to do to contribute to his team; he assumes that you would work hard the same way he is and let your contributions do the talking

now Akashi surprisingly wouldn’t hear much of the gossip, since his presence alone SHUTS them up and commit to their practices like normal; after all, it’s very clear that Akashi doesn’t tolerate this type of behavior in the team (example: Haizaki), and it’s more apparent that he wouldn’t hesitate to drop kick them out especially since he has a soft spot for you (which Kise never fails to bring this up to you, but you think he’s reaching too much into it) // TLDR; the teammates mostly have the common sense to not utter anything bad about you… maybe one kid would slip out and get punished for “bad sportsmanship,” but Akashi merely assumes that it’s just one bad apple and not necessarily… the many others as well

Aomine???? bro he ain’t even at practice wdym (HELPPP LMAOO) // jokes aside, if he catches wind of players shit-talking outside of the gym… say at the convenience store or when he’s walking home or something, well… they wouldn’t have a good time…

Momoi simply chastises the gossipers when they try to talk shit on you to make Momoi herself look good, and it leaves? such? a? horrible? taste? like, she wants to believe that they’re just really poor jokes and not what they really believe in, and the teammates merely reassure her that they’re just bad jokes and that they “wouldn’t do it again;” poor Momoi wholeheartedly believes them

the weird talks about Momoi being “the better manager” just signalled to you that you haven’t contributed enough to the team yet, and it motivated you to work even harder

oddly, you weren’t jealous of the fact that Momoi was receiving more positive attention than you

you were more afraid of the fact that you were going to get left behind, and this fear only tightened its hold on you when more teammates (who used to talk to you a lot) have changed their tunes when they speak with you now, compared to them talking to Momoi

and you felt that the Generation of Miracles would do the same too… including Akashi

it wasn’t an irrational fear for you because he’s already been calling Momoi a lot more frequently for help than you recently

so you even offered to mop the gym floors after practice, offered to stay later than usual to be the one to lock up the gym for anyone (cough, Kuroko) who wanted to practice whenever they wanted

at one point, you even tried to do what Momoi does: researching on upcoming teams and making your own predictions (that didn’t really work, and that cost you a few nights’ worth of sleep every single time)

not to mention that you still had regular school like any other student? you were the epitome of a mess

Kuroko was with you in the empty gym, you putting away the extra basketballs in the storage closet while he practiced his dribbling, until he heard a crash in there and a few basketballs rolled out the door

you collapsed right when you rolled in the basketball cart

POOR KUROKO HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO // he just tries to give you a piggyback ride as he abandons his plans of practice and tries to jog to the nearest local clinic

that’s where he bumped into Kise, who was heading home after an evening shoot when he saw the two of you

chaos ensue as Kise freaks out and Kuroko had to calm him down himself after answering the never-ending questions

at least the doctor there gave relieving news that you only collapsed from over-exhaustion and that the bruises from the fall were very faint

Kise makes a joke to Kuroko about, “What’s with you and (y/n)-cchi falling to the floor and fainting? You guys can’t be that alike.”

when you shortly regain consciousness, you were met with a… very stern Kuroko and Kise, who were both ready to hear your explanation and to scold you to oblivion

to your surprise, they were understanding; Kuroko understands the feeling of not being enough and working hard to meet other people’s expectations, and Kise understands the struggle of juggling multiple things in his schedule (come on, student, athlete, and model?)

they still scolded your ears off:

“(y/n)-san, you idiot. Why didn’t you ask anyone to help out?”

“That’s…”

“(y/n)-cchi, do you think we’re undependable?!”

“Er, no, that’s…”

you were still dizzy from the fall and the lack of proper sleep (and maybe nutrition if we’re being honest), and you were just a ball of stress

you kind of begged your best friends not to tell a SOUL to anyone about this incident, especially to Akashi… you didn’t want to look even more incapable in his eyes than you already were

they do agree on one condition: for you to take AT LEAST a day or two off school to completely recover and rest up (you reluctantly agree; besides how were you going to explain the bruises that can’t be covered to your peers?)

HELP WHY ARE KISE AND KUROKO THE BEST LIARS TOGETHER ON CAMPUS LITERALLY NO ONE SUSPECTS A THING… except Akashi, the ever sharp captain, felt something was amiss

especially since some Teiko players emanated a feeling of relief at the news of you not being here that day, or the next

Akashi would play detective sleuth and find out what’s really going on sooner or later

End Note: gonna cut this off here b/c I KNOW this anon got a juicy part two i FEEL IT

[harley-style]

Pro-tip for reading Isekai/villainess-esque/reincarnation/transmigration series/novels/adaptations

Don't read the reviews. It's not because of the spoilers. Throughout my experiences, and a recent revalation, I've learned that most of these "reviewers" tend to be overly critical and lack the forethought or in-depth thinking that I expect to see in these kinds of genres. Granted, its a genre dedicated to wish fullfilment, self-indulgence, and allowance for petty vengeance which isn't normally appropriate in real scenarios, so I'm cutting it a little slack. Furthermore, I read these things on sites that affer free scanlations by very dedicated teams (not naming names, of course) and the reviews on the comics of those sites tend to be...shall we say, shallow.

Its not that I don't understand where they're coming from, but I just wish they wouldn't try writing a character off as "trashy" just because that character holds one or two traits they happened to dislike. Or had done something "irredeemable" in the audience's eyes that the character becomes "abhorrent", even when making an effort to have character development. It makes me dreadfully guilty when I like said "trashy character" because I find them interesting, for that same character to be written off as a "two-bit, no good villain" instead of someone with incredible potential.

Now, why would I bring this up? See, just half an hour ago, I finished rereading one of my favored manga adaptations, which held the cliche "I've beee reborn as the Villainess and I will aim for happiness" tropes. And it was a refreshing manga. Characters were respectful, wonderfully characterized, and the dynamics were very cute. It wasn't the best, but it was simple, and I enjoyed that. In particular, how the capture target fiancé of the villainess seemed to genuinelly enjoy the villainess' presence, even having a chapter dedicated to his feelings about her. I ran out of chapters to read, and wanted to see how the story would go, and searched up some sort of raw or synopsis I could follow.

This is where my displeasure began. There was a very informative post about the spoilers of later chapters, and in one of them, mentioning the "condemnation event" that is a staple scene amongst villainess manga, and it goes as follows: Apparently, all capture targets seemed to accuse the villainess for bullying the heroine, which wasn't true, as the villainess spent her time trying to be cordial and open-minded. Her fiancé then said the damning words of "I'm annulling the engagement," but had an interesting twist of having a pained expression as he was saying it. Turns out, there was an unknown force controlling their actions, and the fiancé didn't actually want to say those things, as he truly loved the villainess, as previously implied from the chapter dedicated to his feelings about the villainess, which were of the "I want to see her smile/protect her" variety.

Now here comes the annoying part. Somehow, someway, the "reviewers" whod also read the spoilers somehow got it into their heads that the fiancé was trashy and that the villainess MC should have just dumped him. What really got my gears rankled is when they kind of dismiss the fact that he was very much being controlled by the unknown force through no fault of his own. What, is he SUPPOSED to be able to fight back? He didn't even look like he wanted to say the things he did during the condemnation event.

The "reviewers" also believed this to be a flimsy excuse? Which really confused me. Like. They also accused him of only loving the villainess after the condemnation event, which wasn't even true, he basically kickstarted all their time alone himself, before the condemnation event. Where did this idea that he "only loved the villainess after the heroine proved to be a back-stabbing wench" come from??? He was clearly in love with her. And not to mention how these reviewers also disregarded the villainess' fondness and affection for him. Like. Yes I get that she let him off lightly, but don't?? Say she was "in the wrong" for forgiving the man she chooses to love. For crying out loud there's a reason they're together. I'm just sat here wondering what would it take for these people to get a few braincells more the understand that not every character they see embodies one trait. Like seriously, they keep expecting cardboard cutouts and are surprised when they get a realistically depicted character in a fictional setting, with regular, humanizing reactions that provide conflict, drama and fluff foe them to enjoy.

basically, what I'm trying to say is that going through these reviews, while it may seem like good idea, kind of takes the fun out of reading and discovering a story on your own. Even if they "sound" intelligent, chances are they're just touching on personal experiences and thus their review should be taken with a grain of salt. Acknowledged and noted, sure, but ultimately set aside.

Don't read the reviews. Just don't. Enjoy what you want, when you want to.

[demonxlove]

【character analysis ― douma】

✎ just wanna start this by saying this is sort of both an analysis but also my own personal portrayal on douma’s character based on what we see from canon, so it definitely has a lot of my own opinions on it. & and it also sort of shows how i plan to write him if/when i get requests for him. you don’t have to agree with any of my thoughts but ya know i wanted to share them since douma is my fave character!

✘ warnings before you read: cults, mental illnesses, mentions of death and trauma, especially childhood trauma (that partially stems from neglect) - also not so much a warning but this is very long and obviously contains manga spoilers.

⇢ let’s be completely honest here, douma is an extremely complex character. and while we know a lot about him, at the same time, it’s almost like we know barely anything. we don’t really know an extreme amount of what goes through his head, but it’s kind of just assumed he’s a completely emotionless character, usually stated to be a psychopath because of this.

⇢ i really, really urge anyone labeling a character with a mental illness to do research on it before even considering to use the term, i should mention. and it’s very important to mention mental illnesses are very different to how they effect each person. but from what i understand, both psychopaths and sociopaths (just in case that term gets thrown around too) feel emotions, just very differently to how someone not suffering from the mental illness does. now since i don’t have either illness i’m not gonna say douma is either one, as i personally don’t feel comfortable diagnosing characters with mental illnesses i don’t have or haven’t very clearly been stated they have in canon, but it’s very important to have a very clear understanding of those illnesses if you’re gonna say douma is one.

⇢ but regardless of how you see douma mental illness wise, i personally think he does have emotions, they’re just obviously not as clear as others due to his upbringing. and we do see he has emotions as a kid, shown very clearly by him crying due to everything these grown adults were piling on to him.

⇢ he’s very obviously upset. and why wouldn’t he be? to hear such things from adults day in and day out as a child, being expected to be the one to solve their problems? it’s stressful. it eventually leads up to what we see of his parents death. he’s not upset. he doesn’t really feel any sadness for the two. but that can be explained.

⇢ his parents never acted as parents to him. from the moment of his birth douma was just an object for them to create this cult. i don’t really know what they wanted from it: money? fame? who knows. but it doesn’t really matter. douma was just something for them to use in order to gain what they wanted. even if they did genuinely believe he was a special child, their actions sure didn’t show that. and while douma said that he felt sad they believed he was special, douma was a child. his parents had no reason to show their genuine intentions to him, so we’ll never really know what they thought. but as i said, they didn’t seem to care much how messed up he became as long their cult was in place. douma never had a chance to live a normal childhood, he was placed on a high pedestal from birth and never got to be child. never got to really understand things he should understand. he couldn’t understand actual genuine love from his parents or if he actually loved him. sure, he could feel things such as happiness and love and all of that, but if he did feel it, how could you ever expect him to know? he was in such a constant horrible state, how would he ever know how positive emotions even felt?

⇢ to go back to his parents deaths for a second, even if he didn’t feel anything, it didn’t mean it didn’t cause him any suffering. he was a child, that sort of thing you don’t come out from without trauma. especially since he saw it happened with own eyes. and that probably significantly worsened his already poor mental state. but that also means he was raised from that moment by the cult, and his chance of every coming out okay was straight up zero. let’s be real, the only reason douma has any sort of hold over the cult is because he is their object of worship. they didn’t treat him like a child or even a human being. he was nothing more than someone for them to worship and believe in that they would be blessed. of course, it’s a cult, so most of these people are victims much like douma himself, but the fact there had to be people at the top that were raising him and used him to accomplish their own goals. to use his influence as they saw fit.

⇢ and it was never ending cycle, he never got out of it. all he did was learn to keep the cycle going since he couldn’t simply just leave. and maybe there were moments where he thought himself to be happy due to having so many people worship him, but it wasn’t true happiness. 

⇢ maybe the first bit of happiness he got was from being a demon and getting to interact with other demons? unclear since it’s not like we really saw it. but it was different. it was a small crack in the cycle. but those demons all ended up hating him due to his attitude, that despite no one liking he still kept up. why? why didn’t he just act in a way to make others like him?

⇢ maybe it’s a reach, but to me personally, it’s a mixture of how he desired to be - carefree without any troubles - mixed with how he imagined a child to act. like i said, he had basically no childhood, and it’s not uncommon for those who never get to experience a proper childhood to act more childlike later on to my understanding. he even uses terms like “bully” to describe people much like a child would.

⇢ however, this brings me to what i truly believe was one of the few happy times in douma’s life: kotoha.

⇢ i don’t think he realized it himself, because why would he? but he cared for a lot more than one would believe capable for him. i’m not sure if i would call it romantic or purely platonic, but kotoha was genuinely important to him. i mean, what purpose would he ever have to say he didn’t plan to hurt her?  he wanted to keep that small bit of happiness in his life, maybe in somewhere deep in his heart he even believed they could be their own happy little family to break this never ending tragic cycle he went through.

⇢ but he lost that happiness. she grew scared of him and basically hated him in his eyes upon finding out the truth. and the cycle of tragedy continued once again.

⇢ and to really come to my last point: we’ve seen douma mad.

⇢ and i suppose some could write this scene off as him continuing to be emotionless, but it doesn’t explain the way it’s drawn. the shading on his face that is usually used to show anger. or why he would ever really care about what kanao said in the first place if it was actually true and it didn’t hurt him in some way. the reality is douma does many things that can’t be explained for someone who supposedly has no emotions. and a lot of these details about his character are more subtle, so maybe they mean nothing at all at the end of the day, but in my personal opinion this is how i interpret them.

✎  but that’s really how i see douma, another demon with an extremely tragic story, but one that doesn’t come to light just how tragic until you think more on it. and that is how i do plan to portray him when writing for him personally! maybe i’ll do this more for other characters at some point, but he was the one i wanted to talk about the most since i just have so many thoughts on douma.