#loved this fuckin manga and anime so much

[youngpettyqueen]

caught up on the new Ranma 1/2 which I wasn't going to watch but caved to the nostalgia and god. I missed my ridiculous kids. so happy to see that they've kept true to the characters and that Akane is the most badass teenager to ever live and Ranma is a little bitch

[eikichi-supremacy]

crying myself to sleep im so sorry they cut you out atsuko they couldn't handle the cunt you were serving im so sorry but i know i saw you cheer on your son during the dark tourney i saw you hold onto a dying puu i was there i know

[camifornilla]

When I switched from reading the My Happy Marriage manga to the light novels, I worried that doing so would diminish my experience reading the manga in the future. However! No words can accurately describe the heavy emotions I felt getting this:

This ish is so god damn TENDER! So soft! So sweet! I’m genuinely going bonkers over it

[shisica]

HAIKYUU MOVIE WAS SO GOOD AND EVERYTHING I WANTED

[darklight-owl]

Okay Louis and Juno's relationship in the anime is actually being butchered and that makes me so sad. I went back and re-read the kiss scene and it's baffling how downplayed Louis' feelings are in the anime??? Like. Look how the scene plays out after they kiss:

Those internal monologues are EVERYTHING. He doesn't believe the Sigma Male Nonsense he's spouting!! He knows Juno is a social climber who has trouble controlling her emotions so he's trying to get her to not sabotage herself by pursuing a relationship with him!!

Not only did the anime remove his internal monologue (only the ones that imply he might actually feel something for Juno btw. When he's thinking about literally anything else noooo we can make him monologue pff it's fineee) but they also knocked down Louis' reaction AND removed the shot of Juno crying.

Which brings me to my next point. The anime doesn't seem to take Juno seriously as a character. They're using her only as a comedic relief, you're not supposed to feel bad for her, you're supposed to laugh at how incompetent she is at romance and how Louis is too much of a Sigma to EVER fall in love with someone like HER. As if these panels meant nothing:

While Juno is a very immature and emotional character and her chapters tend to go for something lighter and more comedic the manga is capable of taking her seriously. Something the anime doesn't do. They take what's surface-level about Juno and go with that.

I think a BIG part of this change is the fact Louis and Juno don't end up together in the manga and they don't want to dissappoint people. I think that's fuckin stupid. The entire point of the love failiure arc is that interspecies romance is COMPLICATED and more often than not doesn't work out. Legoshi and Haru stick to their guns and make it work, but Louis prioritizes his position as heir to the the Horns Conglomerate which is why he and Juno don't end up together. It hurts, but it makes sense for the characters and the story. Removing this and downplaying it as "haha silly Juno and her silly romantic endeavors" hurts the story imo.

Anyway in conclusion. Look how they massacred my girl.

[machveil]

HI POOKS- I have a request

Cosplayer reader with könig and Simon and whoever else u want?? How would they react to reader cosplaying their favourite characters

hi pookie<3 [bats my eyelashes], it’s headcanon time

König is a movie guy - he usually sticks to horror and anything that can get his blood pumping, but he’s also dabbled in some anime. if you aren’t big on horror and cosplay one of his favorite anime characters I think his jaw would be on the floor. he’s fawning over how detailed the costume is, gently grazing the fabric with his fingers. he’s seen other people cosplay them from photos, but you? no one compares to you, not even his favorite character. as much as he loves the cosplay, he’s more interested in the fact it’s still you wearing it

König, on the other hand, would think you look so cool cosplaying a horror icon. Ghostface? Jason Voorhees? the other mother? he’s asking to take numerous photos of you— with you, but snapping a few photos of you just around the house is more than enough for him. you’re dressed as Samara? go sit by the tv! Ghostface? hold this knife in the hallway, “Ah— be careful, Schatz.”

Simon Riley is a little harder, I think he really only watches tv for rugby matches and football soccer. that said, he’ll watch any media that you enjoy, he’ll wrap an arm around your shoulders and cozy up for a show binge or movie marathon. so, any characters that are your favorite? if you cosplay as them Simon will be smitten, he’s happy seeing you excited over dressing as characters you enjoy - anime or manga, sitcoms or films, Simon enjoys when you enjoy yourself

Simon Riley, going back to sports, would however love to see you in his team’s jersey. sure, it’s not really cosplay… but he can feel his cheeks heating up at just the thought. Simon owns a jersey or two, just something he bought over the years shoved in his closet. if you ever dug them out and wore one I think Simon would need to sit down for a moment - two of his favorite things, you and his beloved team all wrapped up nicely, “Fuckin’ hell, c’mere love.”

[cokicito]

I love that this implies he did not, in fact, know jack shit about Japanese culture and had to clutch so hard he fuckin nuked the study and had to leave it like that. Barely done with ch.1 and already he has more personality than in the anime ajdjdkajs idk maybe I'm reading too much into it but manga Seb is so charming!

[dellalyra]

I'd love to read more about Tsumiki and Megumi (cause yk Gege ain't doing stuff with her, smh) and their sibling bond. We did see Megumi being mean to her in the manga/anime, but I'd love to see your take on their relationship?

A/N: loved writing this sm, I’ve a baby brother so i related to it. this kinda turned into more of a character study nearly so I hope it’s okay!!! I love our siblings.

listen to: i love you so - the walters

moon river - audrey hepburn

𓇬 Safety, in human form. 𓇬

One day Tsumiki was taking care of her babydoll, the next an entire 6 year old and herself.

Her mom had never been great, never really wanted to be there - she did the bare minimum to keep her alive and that was that. Then Toji came into the picture, along with his little boy. She didn’t mind Toji really, he was the one who got her the babydoll the first Christmas he lived with them. She liked megumi too, he was a year younger than her but she could play animals with him sometimes and that was fun. Toji loves Megumi, even if he didn’t act like other daddies at school she saw, in the way he made sure he was okay and helped him not be afraid of the dark by making little shadow puppets. Her mom didn’t really do stuff like that - she didn’t know if she had a dad. Toji would go away a lot, but he’d usually bring her and Megumi a happy meal each when he got back.

Then he left.

And didn’t come back.

Then her mom left.

And didn’t come back.

So - it was just her and her brother.

She was scared, but she was going to be brave. Like Merida, or Mulan. She was going to be brave and take care of her brother. She already knew how to cook easy things, how to tell the man in the bank she’s paying a bill, how to help someone who was vomiting from drinking too much, how to do laundry. She learned from watching TV. She was never scared either, Megumi was the scary one. One day when a man started to follow them on their way home from school, Megumi kicked him where Toji said to Tsumiki you kick a man if he’s being a ‘fuckin’ creep’.

He was angry. She was too. She couldn’t go play with her friends because she couldn’t wear out her shoes too much, and she had to get Megumi home so he wouldn’t start another fight. Megumi helped her with the laundry. She taught him how to cook. She was better at math then him, so she took care of the big envelope of money that Toji had stashed away under a floorboard. Megumi was good with writing, so he signed all their homework and parental slips.

They were brother and sister. They had each others backs. Like Edward and Alphonse.

Tsumiki was going to the store today. Straight after school. So she sent Megumi home with the key and told him to go straight home and lock the door until she got back.

When she did get home - school backpack filled with rice and veggies she could afford - he wasn’t alone. Her heart clenched in her chest.

There was an adult in their apartment. He didn’t look like too much of an adult. Loads younger than her mom or Toji. His white hair was kinda crazy, like Megumi’s and he was wearing sunglasses inside. But for some reason, she wasn’t scared. Megumi was so unsure of strangers, if he was okay with him being here he can’t be a bad guy, right?

“Hello?” She called into the room.

“Hi! You’re Tsumiki, yeah?!” The strange man smiled at her.

“I am. Who are you?” She asked, in as polite a voice as she could.

“A weirdo.” Megumi answers.

“And you let him into the house?!” She responded, pushing her brother behind her.

The adult/not adult just laughs.

“Not that kinda weirdo. He’s just weird. He knows magic like me. We’re gonna go with him.” Megumi shrugs, and she noticed his backpack and a shopping back are half packed on the sofa.

“What? Megumi we can’t just go with strangers, even if they are magic.” She hisses.

“Since Megumi’s just making things worse, how about I try explain?” The man asks.

She eyes him, then nods.

“My names Gojo Satoru. I’m a Jujutsu Sorcerer, like Megumi. I - ehm - knew Megumi’s dad. The thing is, Toji got some money if he gave Megumi to his family - who are not the best people. They would wanna separate you guys. So, I asked Megumi, but I’ll ask you too, Tsumiki, would you guys like to come stay with me instead?” He asks, smile softening. He was pretty, like a prince. He kinda looks like Jack Frost. She thought.

The money was dwindling. There was barely any left. It had been 2 months since her mom left, and she knew she wasn’t coming back. Something told her Toji wasn’t either. She didn’t want to leave Megumi, but they’d starve if they stayed here.

She didn’t really have a choice.

“My girlfriend will be there too, she’s got a brother about your age Tsumiki. We have a cat too.” The man smiles, taking a candy from his pocket and plopping it in his mouth.

“Why do you want to help us?” She says.

“So the magic that Megumi can do? All the monsters he sees? The kinda thing he can do is super rare, and I want him to come with me because what I can do is really cool too, so I could have him learn with me. Then he can learn, you two can stay together, and you never gotta worry about money again. The only thing you gotta do is work hard, Megumi.” He says, and that makes sense to her. Toji used to say Megumi was a special kid.

She thinks for a second.

“Megumi, what do you wanna do?” She turns to her brother.

He shrugs.

“I think we should go with him.” He nods, still frowning.

She turns to the man, Gojo.

“Give us a minute to pack, please, Gojo-san.” She bows, retreating to the place she kept what little items and belongings they owned.

“Call me Satoru kid, I’m only 12 years older than you!” He laughs, she likes that sound.

She smiles shyly.

She packs, ensures Megumi has everything and then steps outside to find a really fancy car. It’s black and shiny, nothings broken and inside has computers and pale blue leather seats. She stretches out in the back seat, admiring everything.

Satoru asks them about school, what grade their in, what do they like to learn, who their friends are. He’s smiley, and cheerful and kinda funny. Megumi is still very guarded, he’s tense beside her. Hands in fists. She doesn’t want Satoru to think they’re rude or bad kids so she does all the talking and all the smiling.

They pull up to what looks to be a school. It’s quite pretty, there’s ponds and plants and lots of buildings. Satoru parks the car and opens the door for the kids, leading them to a building that looks like maybe a small apartment building. He opens the door and they take 2 flights of stairs up and arrive at a door, she notices there’s only 6 apartments in the building from the postboxes downstairs, with a sign that says ‘students prohibited - staff living quarters.’

Satoru knocks on the door, mumbling about a forgotten key and ‘oopsie daisy’.

The door swings open and inside is the prettiest girl Tsumiki’s sure she’s ever seen. The girl is a kinda grown up, like Satoru. H/C hair flowing around you and a pink sweater and loose jeans settling on your body. You were kinda short, standing beside Satoru made that obvious.

She sees your eyes widen and you glance at the man beside her then smile and welcome them in. You offer them snacks, and you hand them each cookies and some apple juice and they both devour them.

That evening, you, Satoru and the two kids go shopping. You let them each pick out some new bedsheets, Megumi picks ones with dinosaurs on them, Tsumiki picks ones with waves on it. She’s always wanted to go to the beach. They each are told to pick out any new clothes and pyjamas they like, but by now Tsumiki is worried about money. You seem to notice this, and you pull her aside saying you need her help picking out a new lipstick, and ask the boys to go grab you all some coffee, plonking a kiss on Satoru’s lips.

“Tsumiki, you seem a little worried - is everything okay, honey?” You say, kneeling down to her height.

“Um, I just need to keep an eye on how much money we’re spending. I have to make sure that we have enough for the rest of the month.” She says, with all the sincerity of anxiety a child shouldn’t have.

Your heart cracks.

“Tsumiki, you’re not going to pay for any of this. Satoru and I are. You don’t have to worry about money anymore, okay? C’mere, I’ll show you something. You know how bank cards work, yeah?” You ask and she nods.

“K, so - this here is Satoru’s card, my names on it too. It’s a black card, which means there is no limit to how much you can spend with it. This, is how much you have to have to be able to get a black card, okay?” You show her the page you’ve opened in Google on your phone. Your family wasn’t wealthy, but the Gojo clan heir lacked nothing. What you’d spend today wouldn’t even be a noticeable change in the figures on the card.

The girls eyes widen.

“You mean it? Because I don’t think we could pay you back.” She shuffles her feet.

“We mean it. If you guys are staying with us, if you still want to, we want you both to be comfy and happy okay?” You say and the girls eyes suddenly fill with tears and in an action so unexpected she flings her arms around your neck and hugs, sniffing her tears in.

After all the basics and essentials are bought, and some new shoes for them both - Nike Air Force like yours for Megumi and lilac converse chuck taylors for Tsumiki, like Satoru’s blue ones, you tell them each to buy a plushy each. You had one as a kid, and any time you were sad or stressed it was your lifeline. Megumi picks a frog, and Tsumiki picks a tiger.

That night, Megumi and Tsumiki are getting ready for bed. Megumi seems to notice that Tsumiki seems on edge, and shuffles into her bed beside her. You had set them up in your spare room, a single bed each, but wordlessly, Megumi climbs under the blanket with his sister, and clutches her hand in his.

“I think we’re safe here, ‘Miki. It’s okay. I can protect us.” He says, before they both drift off to sleep.

6 months came and went, and she fell hopelessly in love with her new guardians. You guys were silly, funny, kinda crazy (very crazy) and so much fun. More than that, you guys cared so much and kept them safe. She heard Satoru laughing one night as you told him how you’d shouted at some old people who said that they couldn’t care for Megumi and her because you two were far too young. You had said they’d been so terrified that they immediately apologised. She quickly realised you guys were strong, and bad people seemed to stay away from you two - like superhero’s. She’d heard people (Satoru included) call Satoru ‘The strongest’ and you ‘The Dryad’, so having superhero names meant you actually were. She decided she wanted to call you mom and dad. Sure you guys might only be 12 years older than her, only recently turned 20 but she felt safe with you two. Satoru made her laugh and rescued them from the Zen’in family, and brought them cool places and kept them safe, and started training with Megumi which he seemed to really like doing, even if he was always grumpy she could tell her was happy. You brushed her hair every night and tucked them both in, you painted her nails and gave Megumi black and green ones when he said he liked Satoru’s (‘don’t tell him I like them though’), you read them bedtime stories sitting in Satoru’s lap and made fun lunchboxes for school and fought to keep them safe everyday. She liked not worrying about stuff, she liked seeing Megumi relaxed. That’s what a mom and dad did, right? She waited until Megumi was playing with Lego in their room one day when she very seriously sat you and Satoru down.

“Y/N, Satoru. Thank you for sitting with me. I don’t want to make Megumi uncomfortable but I was wondering, maybe, if when he’s ready, would it be okay if him and me started to call you guys mom and dad?” She said, hands clasped on her lap, looking like a little lawyer.

You and Satoru immediately burst into tears and said you’d both love it, whenever they’re both ready.

A few weeks later, when Megumi was falling asleep, he accidentally called Satoru ���papa’ when he was telling Tsumiki about his new frog shadow he had. She didn’t mention it, but she was so happy to hear it. She caught how you looked at Satoru a few weeks later, when after your fight with their school headmaster Megumi called you guys Mama and Papa for the first time.

Megumi couldn’t remember smiling as much as when he woke up one Saturday and saw you and Tsumiki both sitting with your legs curled under you on the living room floor, with Satoru behind you both. You both had towels on your shoulders and Satoru was doing a funny accent with a bowl of pink liquid in his hands. He was applying some of the pink to your hair, and you put a tiny bit in the ends of Tsumiki’s long hair.

“Morning ‘oniisan’! Look, I’m getting pink in my hair to match mama!” She smiled at her brother, and a rare return smile overtook his face. He liked seeing her this happy, and he liked how happy he felt too.

The older they got, the more they forgot how scared they used to be. It wasn’t just them against the world now. They had parents, parents who really loved them. They might not share your DNA, or Satoru’s - but you guys were there for every birthday, every baseball game, every track meet. They had Aunty Koko, and Uncle Nanamin now too. Yaga, and his son Panda came over sometimes too, now that you had moved out of your teacher’s accommodation and bought a cottage with a pretty garden. He and Tsumiki each had a bedroom now, decorated how they want.

Tsumiki scolded him after every fight, the only one to really scold him. Satoru congratulated him when he won, you tutted but then cleaned his wounds and told him you were proud of him for sticking up for other people and he wasn’t in trouble. Even Uncle Nanamin had helped him fix his punch for more effective power.

They both hoped they’d find love like you two had. Tsumiki wanted a boy to look at her the way her dad looks at her mama, like she painted the night sky itself. Megumi wanted someone who supported him and made him laugh like you do for his dad.

On your wedding day, Tsumiki wore a baby blue dress that she had gushed over for weeks, she was a bridesmaid and took her role very seriously. Megumi wore a black on black suit, looking very dashing and surprisingly enjoying being a groomsman with Uncle Nanamin. He grumbled, but truth was he loved his dad and he loved spending time with him.

He sat glaring out the window when they boy taking his sister on her first date arrived, and answered the door when he knocked. He liked that even though he was a year younger, he was taller than the date. He glared at him, but let him in. (His mama taught him manners, Satoru would’ve been happy to let this boy sit on the doorstep). Megumi stood and stared at the boy until Tsumiki came downstairs and skipped out the door with him. He smirked, seeing the boy almost run back outside. Guess all those years of being a middle school delinquent was paying off.

They were 15 and 16 when you two told them they were gonna have another sibling. You told Megumi one morning over breakfast and came to sit with Tsumiki in the hospital that afternoon, and placed a framed ultrasound photo on her bedside table with a card announcing ‘since you’re already the best big sister, how about doing it again?’

[bakudekublogblog]

chapter five of promises kept is up!! hope you enjoy it, i promise it's less angsty than the last chapter hehe

Four nights. Katsuki repeats it to himself like a mantra. He just has to make it through four nights, and then it’ll be Friday, and Izuku will come home. That’s hardly any time at all, really. It’s not even a big deal. Katsuki can survive that long without Izuku. He’s Bakugou Katsuki, for fuck’s sake. He’s fought villains with gaping holes in his chest, finished All For One with a broken arm, underwent heart surgery on an open battlefield, and still got back up to keep fighting. He can handle four nights on his own. Sleeping by himself should be fuckin’ easy compared to the shit he’s been through.  

It’s by far the most difficult thing Katsuki has ever had to do in his life.

It’s absolutely fucking miserable. Sleeping is impossible. He tosses and turns most of the night, his thoughts spiraling, his body fidgety and anxious. His brain won’t stop throwing terrible scenarios at him. What if Izuku doesn’t make it back on Friday? There could be a training accident, a bad run in on patrol, an emergency mission that requires all hands on deck for the weekend. Principal Nezu had promised Katsuki that their weekends were theirs to do as they pleased, but what if they changed their mind? The longer he tosses and turns, the worse the scenarios become. He has a list of all the active villains in Fukuoaka memorized and fuck, some of them are really dangerous. What if the skin-stealer gets to Izuku? Or that particularly nasty villain with the blood boiling quirk? What if that melting quirk villain goes on another rampage, crosses paths with Izuku’s train and derails it, and Izuku is killed before Katsuki can ever see him again? Oh god, it’s like an icy spear in his heart; Katsuki can’t help but roll over and check the on-going facetime call, just to check to make sure Izuku is still breathing. And even if Katsuki manages to get his mind to settle, there’s still his body to contend with. He keeps catching his hand reaching out, seeking an Izuku who isn’t there and jolting himself awake in his panic. And it fucking kills him every time.

They leave facetime running as they drift to sleep every night, so Katsuki knows Izuku isn’t faring much better. When Izuku does manage to drift off, it’s shallow and fidgety and plagued with nightmares. Sometimes Katsuki will hear him begin to whimper and sniffle in his sleep over the line and it fucking feels like Katsuki has just swallowed glass. Katsuki can’t just let him suffer; he always rolls over and wakes him, which usually leads to Izuku apologizing and crying, which also fucking sucks. Katsuki feels like a goddamn prisoner, forced to watch the man he loves suffer through a tiny screen and unable to provide any real relief. Forced to murmur to Izuku instead of cradling him, forced to watch Izuku hug himself and tremble instead of being there for him like he fucking promised. Katsuki is gritting his teeth so much he swears that his enamel has worn down a layer. God, it’s so goddamn infuriating how literally everything would be better if Katsuki could just fucking be there. 

READ MORE

[vaultlink]

Free space: talk about an anime or manga character you love that you think doesn't get enough love!

Shit, this has been sitting in my drafts for over a month hasn't it.

Fuckin' love ADHD timeblindness (I should finish and post this now so I don't forget again)

When I first saw this at like 2am (a few days ago before I originally started writing this) I missed the word 'character' and thought it was a slightly different question

I've only gotten back into watching Anime relatively recently (literally a month or so before VTuber Legend/MayoPan started airing.) Looking back at what I watched when I was young and at the stuff I've watched/read more recently? I've always ended up liking characters that would turn out to be more popular.

But there is one in particular I can think of from a show that came out recently (which itself doesn't get enough love)

Yuki Banpai

I need more people to watch Mayonaka Punch please please please I'm gnawing on wood

I just loved how she first comes off as this eloquent mysterious and threatening presence

Before almost immediately being pacified by garlic paste when a fight starts

Each time she shows up (if she doesn't leave scene fast enough), eventually her intimidation gets undercut by someone taking her off-guard and/or she lets slip in some way that she might actually cares about the girls of Banpai Manor

I mean just look at how she catches Tokage after the garlic eating competition the 2nd time she ever shows up

gay

And as the show goes on and we get more of her, learning about her history with Live

Seeing her cutesy behavior when garlic drunk/high compared to her cutesy persona on camera (especially in the web exclusive)

And the brief glimpse of the no-life-gamer

Aaah, Yukirinko~

I feel like I have so much more to say but my brain is just fried right now and I just need this actually posted already instead of trying to make it perfect

she's such a huge fucking dork just look at her

......

Just because I couldn't figure out a way to slide them into the rest of the post here's some more screenshots

also, something random that started out completely unrelated, but while I was working on this again I was on twitter checking some mangaka I started following recently to keep up with updates, checking if there was anything new and managed to stumble my way into the MayoPan tag and found there's actually more Yuki fanart. I'm blessed

(there's still not much but 3 new pieces is a lot to find in one 10min look for a character that isn't the most popular in an anime with what seems like a rather small fanbase)

ough, MasaLiveYuki, never thought I'd ever see it

[donkeys-waffles]

(WARNING SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 425.)

Just casually thinking about how "Creep" from Radiohead is so AFO and Izuku coded. Just separately, both characters emulate the feelings behind this song. "Creep" is a very self-deprecating song, with deep devotion to another person, referring to this other person as an angel, as something that is 'perfect' in comparison to how they refer to themselves as a 'creep'.

This part I'll be talking about Izuku, next I'll talk about AFO.

We've seen the discrimination Izuku has experienced from being quirkless, the isolation, neglect, verbal and physical abuse.

He mentions that this was the moment he realized that not all people are created equal. It speaks volumes of his character and how he views himself, like he's the main problem of this equation. As if in some way it's his fault for being born without a quirk so it's natural for others to treat him with discrimination. There's not enough righteous fury in this recap.

Everyone, every important figure in his life has told him to be realistic, his mother apologized for him being quirkless as if it was a disease, (I love both her and All Might don't get me wrong here, I can understand their reasonings, but that doesn't take away the impact of what was said.) and both his childhood friend and idol crushed his dreams.

It reminds me of these lyrics from "Creep"

"I wish I was special You're so fuckin' special

But I'm a creep I'm a weirdo What the hell am I doin' here? I don't belong here"

I also wanna add this fun little tidbit for the "But I'm a creep," section,

So many times has his mumbling been a source of discomfort for people, so much so that Bakugou felt the need to have an outburst each time he did it in the beginning of the manga. Makes it even funnier knowing it's about quirks.

The last two lines remind me a lot of Izuku's mentality in the early chapters, during the sports festival and the first appearance of the League of Villains we see a lot of Izuku feeling completely useless. We also see Izuku degrading his own accomplishments, giving the credit to All Might, Gran Torino, or his other classmates. Despite, him earning OFA because of his heroic spirit he views himself as a burden.

I feel like the line "I don't belong here" is emulated in so many ways, you can easily argue that his vigilante arch could emulate this, but I really think that his resolve for being quirkless again is what takes the cake for me.

Of course, he's not too heartbroken by it if he never felt he deserved it anyway. He always viewed it as a gift (not something he earned the right to), we see this with Shigaraki and even Aoyama. That's his line of empathy with them, he views himself as fortunate to be given the opportunity he has, while they suffered a worse fate by hands that wanted to use them. Here are some other honorable mentions when it comes to this idea. (Even though Izuku isn't very lucky either, he's also been used as a weapon in two wars at 16 but that's beside the point.)

And many, many others really, let's be honest. It's one of the first things I noticed about Izuku's character that I feel never truly got resolved.

"I don't care if it hurts I wanna have control I want a perfect body I want a perfect soul I want you to notice When I'm not around"

The first two lines emulate a lot of Izuku's lack of self-preservation.

The first picture illustrates the sacrifices he's made saving others despite it shattering his bones. The second is him grabbing Tomura's hands despite decay and losing his arms.

Lines 3 and 4, as well as

"You're just like an angel Your skin makes me cry You float like a feather In a beautiful world"

Emulates how he views All Might and Bakugou throughout the manga,

All Might is always shown as this unstoppable force for a big chunk of the manga, we can see it in the season 1 anime opening when All Might is standing with his back to Izuku, a light silhouetting him with Izuku reaching his hand out to him. As if he's this unattainable picture of heroism, furthering the lyrics of "I don't belong here," "You're just like an angel" and "You're so fucking special."

Now for Bakugou, which my main examples come from early in the manga of course.

"As you've said, I had nothing going for me."

"I could admire All Might from a distance, but you were right there. This amazing person in my life."

I think this just illustrates my point. He considered them both pillars of strength. (I wouldn't say that has changed with All Might despite him being retired, even though All Might is admired, and cherished, now he's viewed as more human. Which is so sweet.)

"I want you to notice me when I'm not around"

Is also, very Izuku coded, considering his history with being bullied. Looking back to the beginning of my spiel, we see a lot of bullying taking place in the classroom with teachers that could've reported Bakugou's aggressive behavior. A lot of adults failed Izuku, they turned a blind eye to the obvious abuse happening right in front of them. And that's made even worse if you consider whether Inko knew of the abuse herself. There was negligence in the system on Izuku's behalf, that's made clear. Also considering his first friends (in a decade,), and his extreme anxiety surrounding Ochako and Iida when he first met them. But it also makes me think of this recent panel

It really hurts looking at these panels, because he's clearing wanting to talk with them and they're brushing him off. He wants to be noticed here, he wants to reach out to them and have friends to confide in. And Ochako just talks about his hair and brushes him off, while Todoroki does the same thing.

It just makes me sad considering his history, he probably thinks it's because he's going to be quirkless again. And the saddest thing is Izuku wouldn't blame them, he wouldn't feel the anger he's entitled to, because again I don't believe he feels deserving of living the dream he had. With it all disappearing with his quirk feels natural to him when it shouldn't. Bringing us back the beginning of this self-deprecating song and cycle in Izuku's life.

[shinneth]

My souring sentiments on Sailor Moon's manga

It'll be a surprise to no one who knows me even remotely that Sailor Moon was my everything back in my childhood. From the age of 9, I was utterly obsessed with it.

That was just a couple of years shy of 30 years ago.

Since then, I've often revisited the series. I watched the entirety of the Viz dub of the classic anime; all 200 episodes.

And I loved it all the same, if not more so than before. Because now I have context for why exactly the anime was the way it was, including its gradual diversion from the manga source material. And I respect the hell out of the staff who poured their life into this work, while concurrently running with the manga and doing whatever it could to not completely outpace it in the narrative.

Are there a lot of fillers in the OG anime? Yes. Too many? Well, not so from a functional standpoint (this show had to run weekly for 5 years), but there are definitely some fillers you could skip and miss nothing in doing so.

But a story like Sailor Moon honestly needed some breathing room in order to properly flesh out the cast.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the live-action reimagining of the show, was phenomenal back then (despite looking low-budget even by 2003 standards), and having re-watched the whole series recently, I can safely say PGSM more than holds up and deserves way more love and respect than it gets. It's THE perfect example of reimagining the story of Sailor Moon while still respecting its roots and maintaining the soul of the franchise.

Which is exactly why I couldn't stand Sailor Moon Crystal. We knew from the off that it was supposed to be completely faithful to the manga, but one look through @crystalvsmanga will show you Crystal took shitloads of "creative liberties", and the amount of changes I could dare to call "good"? I could count them on one hand.

The animation is low-hanging fruit, because everyone and their dog knows how godawful it was for the first two story arcs. But more than that, I actually loathed the general art design. Yukie Sakou's style DID NOT closely resemble Naoko Takeuchi's. People kept saying it, but I couldn't really see it. The eyes especially are a far cry from Takeuchi's style. And Sakou's style did NOT facilitate the OTT cartoony expressions that were definitely present in Takeuchi's manga; everyone looked so goddamn soulless, like overly-expensive porcelain dolls.

My biggest gripe with Crystal was the story, of course. While a great deal came from just being from the manga (which I'll get to in a bit), the changes they made went a long way to actively make the manga's story worse. My main takeaway from Crystal S1-2 is that it took itself waaaaay too seriously.

That being said, I did like Crystal's third season a lot better BECAUSE Chiaki Kon had way more competence and held a lot more respect for Sailor Moon. Like, my god, for once it felt like there was a soul in this show! It can actually take the piss every now and then!

Some silly things kinda broke my immersion (such as the Senshi just being able to fuckin' fly and Chibi-Moon in particular was literally sky-stepping), but most of that can be blamed on the source material it was adapting. While I was fine with Crystal3, I definitely didn't feel it was anywhere near as good as Sailor Moon S. Outside of Hotaru/Sailor Saturn having more of a presence, there wasn't really much in Crystal's take on Infinity that I liked better than S.

But most of that comes down to the fact that I liked S more than manga's Infinity arc to begin with.

Which is a good segue to talk about the manga proper.

I have not yet watched Eternal or Cosmos. the movies that adapted the last two manga arcs, but it'd be redundant since I know ahead of time what they're going to be about, and so far I haven't heard about any of them deviating from the source material, so it'd be moot to talk about them even if I had watched.

When I first got my hands on the manga, which was when I was around 12-13 and thus got the crappy MiXxZine translations, I was fine enough with it. Thought it was too fast-paced and didn't care for 99% of the villains being one-and-done jobbers, but I was also reading it with my impressions of the 90's anime characters still intact. I was reading the manga like an extension of the anime, rather than the other way around.

It wasn't until many years later when I grew older, when the manga was properly translated, when I acquired the wisdom my teenaged-ass self lacked, and learned to look at the manga as a completely separate entity that I started to see the cracks in the manga's narrative.

Further rereads have left me in something of a mindfuck, as I experienced the manga the proper way. And I realized:

The more I read the manga, the more I disliked it.

The manga is lauded for having an infinitely better depiction of Mamoru, as well as his ~Miracle Romance~ with Usagi.

Objectively, the manga definitely spends lots more time giving UsaMamo attention as a couple than any other aspect of the story...

I'd say they're also more developed as individuals in the manga too, but usually the beats, uh...

... let's say they usually ring hollow, when these two (and sometimes their daughter) are the only ones who consistently get shit done across the series. Hell, on the rare occasion that the Inner Senshi weren't rendered into street pizza, Neo Queen Serenity basically told them to fuck off and let her daughter, past self, and past hubby take on motherfucking DEATH PHANTOM/NEMESIS BY THEMSELVES.

It's likely because my first exposure to Sailor Moon was via the 90s anime, which had more of a focus on friendship and comradery between Usagi and her friends than it did her romance with Mamoru. I mean, romance was DEFINITELY a prominent thing even in that iteration of the story, but that wasn't where my interest lied. I was, am currently, and always will be more interested in Usagi's galpals than I'll ever be interested in her love life.

And, well, I'm sure this qualifies as a hot take, but...

This one moment with Usagi and Mamoru in the elevator (hell, their interaction across this entire episode was great) resonated with me far more than any ultra-romantic declarations of eternal devotion that Usagi and Mamoru kept regurgitating at each other in the manga.

Granted, the manga had a FEW moments early on where their dynamic was more playful, but they were pretty much confined to the early chapters and this element of their chemistry pretty much died not long after this.

Some say 90s anime Mamoru was far too mean-spirited in his teasing of Usagi. And I mean, sure, he was kind of a douche at times, but he usually got some karmic blowback from it (I remember one time he made Usagi cry without even really meaning to, and she cried so loud in public that randos nearby were giving Mamoru the evil-eye or a scolding). But honestly, after R, Mamoru kinda became a bland, generic love interest, just as he almost always was in the manga. The only difference was that anime Mamoru was never granted powers that were literally equal to Usagi's. The manga gave him a GOLDEN FUCKING CRYSTAL.

There was that infamous break-up arc in R that, yes, was shitty in concept and execution. But if I had anything positive to say about it, it at least shook up the status quo. It didn't make him immediately fall into the bland, generic love interest he would soon become. And it gave us some of the most emotionally-charged Usagi moments in the entire anime.

Conversely, in the manga, we had THIS shit for our UsaMamo "drama":

(the former incident with Usagi literally accusing her boyfriend of falling in love with a kid, by the way, happened while MOST OF HER FRIENDS WERE KIDNAPPED BY THE ENEMY AND COULD'VE BEEN DEAD FOR ALL SHE KNEW AND YET SHE FUCKING HAD TIME FOR THIS STUPID SHIT)

Everything seemed to revolve around Usagi and Mamoru (sometimes Chibiusa too). It lowkey came off that way at times even in the 90s anime, but in the manga or Crystal? You'd be hard-pressed to find the girls engaging in their stated hobbies at most points in time, because they're usually all together and talking about their prince and princess.

Hell, even Haruka - Sailor Uranus herself - seemed much more interested in Usagi than she ever did in Michiru, her actual girlfriend.

So... am I just missing something? I've seen people say that as they grow older, they prefer the manga/Crystal to the 90s anime. But I've never seen anyone other than myself express the opposite sentiment.

But it's true - unless I completely leave my brain at the door, I have a hard time enjoying the manga for what it is. The characters I'm most interested in or attached to quickly get swept aside for the characters I have the least interest in. No more does that ring true than the Stars arc of the manga, where Naoko Takeuchi basically speedruns killing off literally the entire cast until Sailor Moon's the only one left standing. Most characters don't even get to go out in a blaze of glory or anything - it's got nothing on the finale of the 90s anime's first season in that regard. If you're lucky, you'll get a single panel where your entire existence is ripped to shreds - but sometimes you'll be killed literally off-screen!!

There's a number of questionable manga-exclusive aspects that rubbed me the wrong way as well, such as poor Sailor Pluto being assigned as a child to guard the Door of Time in complete and total solitude. While I appreciate more Silver Millennium lore that the manga provided (the anime hardly mentioned it past the first arc), it was more than a little uncomfortable knowing the OG Queen Serenity conscripted the Inner Senshi as small children to become Princess Serenity's guardians. Really casts Queen Serenity and her Moon Kingdom in a much darker light - like maybe Queen Beryl and Queen Nehelenia had a point in trying to take them down (though the manga I believe retcons all past villains as incarnations of Chaos, so that arguably removes all prior villains' agency?). Lots of little things that I didn't think twice about, but now that I look at them again, I'm wondering WTF Naoko Takeuchi was thinking.

Though I don't want to be too hard on her. Poor girl was working under stress far longer than she'd planned to (she'd intended on ending the story either by the Dark Kingdom or Black Moon arc), so it's no surprise there's a lot of clunk and clutter in the narrative.

I often wondered if Naoko Takeuchi really wanted to make Sailor Moon with a Super Sentai-esque setup in the first place. After all, her first big hit was Sailor V, which was exclusively Minako and Artemis fighting evil with Minako having her own masked love interest she ended up being at odds with and he eventually died. With a scant few secondary characters here and there.

It led to me thinking about what Sailor Moon would be like if Naoko kept the cast to a more Sailor V-like size. That, perhaps, the Sailor Moon she really wanted to make would be quite a different beast from how we know it to be today.

So this lengthy diatribe about my personal conflicts with my waning fondness for the manga versus my strengthened love for the OG anime and live-action show was actually a preamble to a bizarre AU I wrote an outline for over a year ago but never posted in public. I had considered posting it to Sailor Moon's Reddit back then, but I (probably wisely) held off, as my musing went way off the rails.

But I figured now's a good time as any to share it here, at least. Though it'll need to be its own post since I wrote so goddamn much in this post alone, wow.

On that note, I'll end with this: The only iteration of UsaMamo that I unironically enjoyed and rooted for is...

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

not a hc but can you rank lucy's stardresses?

A fit rank huh? Sure I can do that. Just gonna preface n say that obviously this is my opinion and whatevs and that I won't be includin any of the ones introduced in 100yr because I don't care about the sequel :]

Alrightie lets get into it! This gonna get long tho, so imma put it under read more so I don't murder ppl who are scrolling.

Aquarius Stardress

This one honestly might be on the lower tiers for me. Like for the first stardress shown its rather, boring. The colour choice of green and yellow is weird, and visually disconnects it from Aquarius (like seriously? No blue anywhere?). The wrap skirt is cute and I do love how she has Aquarius' collarbone tattoo. That's fire. But the basic bikini top is meh. Overall its serviceable, 6/10 on the Phoenix scale.

Leo Stardress

Honestly can't go wrong with a nice black dress. I really would've preferred a pants suit for this one but the dress regardless is fun. I has a nice shape with the asymmetrical skirt and I like the ruffles all over. I also like how the anime gave her stockings

If I had nitpicks i'd say to get rid of the center line down the middle of the chest, the two under the bust are enough and get rid of the purple hair clip, it feels tacked on and just tosses in a random colour to the palette. I'd also maybe change the yellow to something more orange so it pops more (maybe even make the interior of the dress something eyecatching to add some extra oomph visually when she's kicking.)

But good fit, 8/10

Virgo Stardress

Well, it's about what you'd expect tbh. It's a maid outfit lol. There ain't much here to say cept that its cute. 6/10

Tauros Stardress

Oh hell fuckin yea. HELL YEAH

Unabashedly this one is one of my favourites solely because of the uneven pants. It's so fun and stupid. I also like how she and Tauros have matching belt buckles.

The basic ass bikini top does bring it down though (sorry i'm a bikini top hater. If you're gonna put a character in a bikini top at least make it a different style! There's different types of tops that can be both sexy and interesting!!!!). It also looks wack at certain angles.

My chest hurts lookin at this.

Apart from that I don't think the double buns works best with this dress, I think it'd work better if swapped with the double braids of the capricorn dress. Also I just think it'd be cool if this dress gave her an axe, like how the cancer dress gave her weapons.

but because of how much joy the stupid pants give me, 9/10.

Sagittarius Stardress

Another banger stardress despite a glaringly obvious issue.

This shit's great to me. Good colours, fun patterns, i fuckin love that its backless and the high ponytail is great here. The issue?

That deep ass coochie cut.

On god it just looks so uncomfortable. The anime tried to even it out by giving her tights but that just tossed in another colour to the palette and just unbalances it. A simple fix would've been just to make it white leggings under there. Skin tight, sexy and still practical. Apart from the coochie cut the only nitpick I have is that I think the boob window should've been star shaped and i wish her sleeves also doubled as archery gloves.

Apart from that and how much the coochie cut haunts me, its a 9/10

Aires Stardress

Now I have no idea why, but I was never exactly big on this one. Like it's not awful, all the stardresses have a baseline cuteness to them. The alternating pink and white tiers on the dress is nice, but the cut under the bust kinda kills the uniform pattern it had goin on. Likewise the leggings don't feel coherent to the rest of the fit. Like still cute, but the stripes and the introduction of black makes the whole thing feel busy and plain all at once. Though ironically when it's in the manga and purely black and white i think it looks better.

But I dunno, i think this one actually might be my least favourite. 4/10

Gemini Stardress

Ok. I like the alternating blue and white all over. That's cool. But, that headdress on top of the already busy outfit feels like its a lil too much on top. Also the random gold baubles on the outfit itself feels sorta thrown on. The belt can stay I suppose but nix the tassels near the collar and trade in the boob window for a deeper neckline.

We can just get rid of the headdress altogether and change her hairstyle to like, crown braid with a hanging blue and white ribbon on either side to keep with the alternating colours and we golden. 5/10

Scorpio Stardress

Gonna start this off to say, not a big fan of the bottom (the leather panty thing with the chain on it? Dawg idk i don't like it lol). and the chain on it looks so silly and not in a fun way. If anything I think she should have a bigger tail, not as big as scorpio's but defs something bigger that what she has currently. And as much as I like backless fits I don't think it works here, the deep cut boob window can stay though. I do like the headband and how her hair frames her face but overall its another 5/10.

Also here's a scorpio stardress redesign that I like. Doesn't fix all my issues with the og but it's still pretty dope.

Cancer Stardress

I like this because it looks cool and gives Lucy weapons. I don't like it because it doesn't connect well with Cancer the spirit visually. But Cancer's design sucks and I like this better than Cancer himself. Truly a design with conundrums for me. 6/10

Capricorn Stardress

I don't like this dress! Not one bit! Why is it a bdsm tit dress! The hair is cute and I like the shades and the horn clips with the bows but the dress!!!!!!!! Why is it so visually disconnected from Capricorn the spirit! Why isn't it a skirt suit with sexy fishnet leggings like in the concept art!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why isn't this the canon design!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tragic/10

[raeii-of-sunshine]

Infodump about Will, please?

OMG ANON U HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY U JUST MADE ME. I PROMISE U MY FIRSTBORN FOR THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY

okok so first of all he’s a gemini (05/31/1994) which is crazy cuz i don’t think this man is capable of wearing a mask. he wears everything right on his face even if he’s not yapping about it. not very gemini of him tbh

SECOND also getting basic info out of the way he’s puerto rican and he has a lot of tattoos to pay homage to his heritage!! including the frog (a coqui) and hibiscus (amapola) tattoo on his neck, as well as i BELIEVE the aztec-style mural on his back!!!!

before he got into harder music like lamb of god, white chapel, etc, he listened to pretty tame rock like AC/DC. he actually played the guitar and the saxophone! he was in band in hs!! fun fact, his parents were NOT excited about him going from his “normal person music” to deathcore and other metal genres. one time when he was first learning how to scream (in the shower), his mom knocked on the door to ask if he was okay lmaooo. nowadays they’re all very proud of him tho!!

he has a tattoo of a goblin with his curly pink hair and gauges on one of his legs, eating ramen out of a skull bc he fuckin LOVES ramen. he’s also really big into anime and manga

he appeared several times on the youtube channel “the charismatic voice” to discuss his and other people’s vocal techniques, AS WELL AS letting them put a camera up his nose and down his throat to record him while he did all of his insane vocal techniques!! ANDDDD also did another video with them where they put needles in his neck to get an even more accurate recording of everything!! i couldn’t watch that one bc i can’t do needles ‘:D but it was probably pretty fuckin cool.

he is a really big fan of opera and is friends with one of the people from the charismatic voice named elizabeth, who is a vocal specialist and (used to be(?)) an opera singer. he made a whole video reacting to one of her very old opera performances and said that he really likes opera bc it’s like deathcore in the sense that there are SOOOO many vocal techniques used in every performance, much like the best deathcore vocalists out there !

elizabeth said in the putting-a-camera-down-his-throat video that one of the first things that she noticed about him when they met in the airport was that his hair was super animated and kinda flips around on his head like it’s got a personality of its own!!

example:: (him playing ping pong with elizabeth)

getting back into music, he’s said that he actually doesn’t listen to a ton of deathcore or metal music anymore, he’s more of an indie guy!! if he wasn’t in a deathcore band, he’d apparently be making indie music. and one of the main reasons he doesn’t listen to a lot of metal is so that any ideas for songs that he comes up with won’t be accidentally pulling from other songs so they’re more original. he also doesn’t usually try to force lyrics out of himself, he just kind of writes down things whenever he thinks of them (and it works quite well!!)

his first gig was in an old vaulted church building in new jersey (BECAUSE OF COURSE THIS MAN IF FROM NEW JERSEY) that no longer hosts gigs, and the acoustics were TERRIBLE bc of all the reverb from the vaulted ceilings. his first gig was fucking NERVE WRECKING but nowadays after the first couple of days of tour the pre-show jitters just go away??

ALSO he brings tea and an entire tea set to every venue!! and says shit like and i quote, “where am i gonna set up my tea party today?” he’s VERY serious about his vocal care! he drinks his tea, he has a bunch of fancy serums and other vocal products, and has a handheld nebulizer that he swears up and down by. <333 better self care routine than any of us out here tbh

he’s apparently always late to rehearsal lol. and he’s a cat person!! he’s literally so perfect <3

that is all that i have rn!! thank you so much anon you seriously made my fuckin day!!!!

[nottsukkomia]

hi this is skittles and I'm not normal here's some proof of that

Pearl(Pokespe) is a Tsundere

-whatever the hell this thing is-

Okay, so as y'all know or maybe not know, Tsundere is a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with an initially harsh personality who gradually reveals a warmer, friendlier side over time.(from Wikipedia). In some anime Tsunderes can be rude only towards targeted people like their love interest.

Now let's take a look at Pearl from Pokespe manga.

Right off the bat, he gets introduced as an aggressive, hasty and rude character. He often tries to, like, show his superiority over Diamond because the latter seems slow and unorganized to him.

He also cannot take Missy’s “egotism” at first and is really harsh towards her in a way. The traits that tsunderes are known for are.. You guessed it: aggressiveness and trying to seem better than the other subject. But he'll be just an asshole if it was just that.

What Tsunderes are also known for is being cold on the outside and soft on the inside. Tsunderes are really helpful if they want to be. Pearl is also one of these cases. He quite literally says

Though he's not afraid to admit that… Or is he?

If you look far enough past the aggressiveness facade that he has, Pearl cares deeply for both Diamond and Platinum, that's why he helps them all the time. He might not admit it, trying to wing it with something like

but then he secretly sends Chahiko to spy on her and tell Pearl if something happens. Though, when Dia mentions it..

look at this his ass is literally blushing even though he denies it

He tries to pretend he doesn't care at first

And though his methods can be harsh, he actually tries to teach Missy a thing or two with these.

This doesn't only apply to Missy. Diamond is looked after as well. Even if he gets called names and gets hit during first four volumes, Pearl tries his hardest to prevent Dia and his Pokémon from getting in trouble or getting hurt. It more so happens because they're best friends since their childhood and naturally he cares a lot about him(let's remember that moment at the lake when they both went to search for a red gyarados which might be a cause of Pearl's worry for Dia.) than it being a crush, since there's also platonic love and stuff.(but if you want to you can just say pearl is in denial) There are many examples of that happening and I doubt I can list all of them. So I'm going to just give you the most important scene in proving my point.

this scene in particular shows just how much he cares about Diamond, even though he doesn't really know how to show that care. This scene becomes one of the largest steps of Pearl's tsuntsun melting into the deredere.

he blushes, bro. he fuckin blushes.

After this chapter his relation towards Dia in particular noticeably softens. He now knows scolding isn't the best idea of letting his friend know he cares. This is character development my dear reader!!

That's pretty much it thanks for coming to my small talk about the cause of why I draw Pearl blushing a little above his nose all the time, no matter the situation

bye

[yurisorcerer]

Finally fuckin' finished my favorite show of last season. I got lucky, most of the episodes I had yet to watch formed a contiguous arc.

And what an arc. It's been a while since I've been simultaneously really excited about where a show *could* go and a little trepidatious about where it might fail to go.

So! Ruby knows that the doctor she bonded with in a past life was murdered some sixteen years ago. She doesn't YET know that said doctor is now her brother, but I imagine that's coming down the pipe in pretty short order. She handles the former....in what is I guess the Hoshino family way, by which I mean she develops a single-minded obsession with catching her beloved's killer. This will have knock-on effects, I am quite positive. It's already *having* knock-on effects. I mean even just for me alone, I've long fluttered between Akane and Kana as my two favorite characters, but I think dark-star-eyes Ruby might give them a run for their money. Predictably---because this is how this series works---her psyche being stained with trauma and obsession gives Ruby a palpable dark charisma, something that's a million miles away from where the character was up to this point. It's an interesting direction, and and it's incredibly entertaining, but part of me does wonder if Oshi no Ko has the chops for all this.

Put super bluntly, I love this series, and I love a lot of things about it. I love its endless bag of visual tricks, I love its sheer sense of style and panache, I love its characters, almost all of whom are a joy to watch. Its THEMES, though, those are a thing where I've never been totally clear on where exactly Oshi no Ko stands. I think up to a point (around the end of season 1, maybe?) you can make the case that ONK is a pretty straightforward "fame fucks you up" kind of thing, and it definitely is at least partly that, but the series takes waaaaaaaaay too much voyeuristic pleasure in showing us just how magnetic people whose personalities are cracked in a certain way can be. It's downright lurid, in spots. And that's not to say that there isn't a real joy to be had in the talents that the cast have, because there is---Melt's episode is almost entirely about that---but now that we're heading once again into the darker, seedier aspects of this series' story, I do wonder what it's all going to add up to by the end. Again being honest, I wonder if it's writing checks it can't cash with imagery like this.

(Yes I know that first one is from their music video, but the music video is also part of the anime. Oshi no Ko *loves* to mix textual layers like this.)

I have always kind of suspected that Akasaka Aka is fundamentally a somewhat morally conservative writer, so I don't know what him attempting to steer Ruby in this new direction is going to look like. I'm not sure he really has it in him to let her go apeshit the way a couple scenes in this episode seem to promise. Certainly, I am vaguely aware that at least some fans of the manga think it's all downhill from here, but the guy's surprised me before and I wouldn't be too shocked if he did so again.

Even if the series completely fucks up its landing, I have to say I've REALLY enjoyed the ride. Season 2 is probably even better than Season 1, and Season 1 was no fucking slouch. These are my soap operas, and I do sometimes wonder if it reflects badly on me as a person that I get as much of a kick as I do out of seeing The Hoshino Family's Fun Time Misery Hour when it's airing.

I may cave and read the manga at some point, but even if I do I will definitely be there for Season 3 next year. The anime has been end to end gorgeous so far and I am really interested to see what they pull off in the episodes to come.