#meanwhile ranma... yeah

[indygotcha]

Such teenage boy & girl energy

[jeremy-ken-anderson]

The Mirror Match

The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower (APTT) has reached a trope that shows up with a lot of powerful characters, particularly if they’re cocky.

A favorite line on the topic comes from Minmax in the comic Goblins! where he says, “Oh god, it’s the one guy who’s butt I’m not sure I can kick!”

To some extent that sums it up, right? The reason behind your Negaducks and other shadow selves is sometimes to delve into a “there but for the grace go I” scenario, but also it’s kind of a chance for the series to delve into or reveal its core philosophy.

If it’s a true Shadow Self instead of just a pure copy, it often wins at first. The lesson expressed is that from a logistical standpoint evil, cruelty, and violence can be powerful but burn through their resources too fast. The support of friends, belief in something greater than oneself, or desire to protect, meanwhile, can be slower to come to full power but reaches a greater height.

It’s honestly hard to tell how much writers want to express these ideas as philosophies, because there’s a natural tendency to write the scene this way anyway, because having the hero lose a bit at first and then have a come-from-behind win is good storytelling.

Another benefit, back to what Minmax said, is that it neatly gets around the typical issue of the OP Protagonist; That is, the “being OP” part. The reason I said it can reveal the underlying philosophy is that it removes a lot of the more mundane comparison-points, math-style, by putting them on both sides of the equation so you can zero them out. Your hero can punch for 22.3 mountains worth of damage? The same is true of the mirror. He can access Lightning Force? Also true of the mirror. You have to then work out what makes the hero a winner independent of those physical attributes. If you don’t have an answer yet, this may be a case where the shadow wins the scene, and your hero has to back off, lick his wounds, and learn something better. 

I’ve talked about a few ways copycat characters can go awry before, when I watched the Copycat Ken episode of Ranma 1/2, but you definitely have to be careful about weird edge cases to avoid making some kind of on-the-spot rule for a neat individual scene that then spreads like ink to ruin your whole worldbuilding tapestry. There was a filler episode in Naruto where the villains made perfect copies of some of the heroes who could use all their moves. After a bunch of nothing back-and-forths with bad animation (it was a filler episode, after all) the conclusion was the heroes won because they could learn and get more skilled over time, and the copies couldn’t. As an idea this is actually pretty cool. The problems are a) This was merely told to us. The movements don’t reflect the idea that the heroes have gotten better at anything; We don’t have a sense that their movements are more considered, or their blows any sharper. b) Almost all of the heroes copied had moves they could use to burn themselves out for temporary extra power. There isn’t a sense that the copies had agency or a strong desire to survive after killing their originals. So why wouldn’t Evil Rock Lee immediately use the gates to power up and either win or force Good Rock Lee to use the same self-damaging power just to keep up? c) It was far less interesting to have the mirror copies split up and fight their own originals only. The team was supposed to be a team, so why didn’t they fight as a team? Given the horrible animation, this answer at least is clear: It would have been harder to animate, and they didn’t have budget for that during this episode.

But yeah. By removing the idea of one side or the other winning because they can punch through walls or whatever, the mirror match trope gives the writer a chance to essentially have one side win on philosophical grounds. They won because they’re always improving themselves. They won because they have friends who can cover for their own weaknesses. They won because they actually have something to fight for. They won because of some immutable qualtiy about who they are that can’t be copied and have the copy remain antagonistic. There’s all kinds of neat ways to go with it.

[dancingkirby]

The Sim(ps) GX Part 9A: The Horny House

I decided to start doing these writeups a little differently...it got boring and repetitive when I went by strict chronological order, so I'm going to try doing it by household instead.

WARNING: Sex. Lots and lots of sex (but as usual I try not to have the naughty bits showing.) Also a mention of abortion.

Sooo remember how I was all enthused about Fubuki and Rei's relationship? Well, it didn't last. Things were going great, and then they started arguing with each other all the time. I didn't notice how deep into the red they'd gotten until it was too late.

And then, in the midst of all that mess, THIS happened.

The stupid aliens went on ahead and impregnated Rei, bypassing her birth control pills! At first, my plan was to just have them find a way to deal with things, but then Fubuki and Rei couldn't tolerate each other any longer and broke up. Rei had no choice but to move back to the Harem, where she could more easily afford to terminate the pregnancy. This all happened on Thanksgiving Day IRL. I was kind of sad at dinner that night.

Meanwhile, Camula was getting pretty lonely, and wanted to have a big family of her own to restart the vampire race (despite the fact that she's a human in this universe), so I decided to try her with Johan.

Camula: "Hey Judai, I'm about to lose my virginity to Johan on Rei's bed. Is that okay with you?"

Judai, hunched over the computer and clearly not paying attention to a thing she was saying: "Yeah, sure, whatever."

He and his housemates continued to not notice that anything was amiss to a hilarious extent:

Aaand then THEY started insulting each other too, so I said, "Okay, I lost Fubuki and Rei, and I'm not going to lose this one because of some stupid bug too!" So I downloaded MCCC and turned off mean interactions until they fixed the bug a few weeks later.

As it turned out, Johan and Camula didn't work out, but I could accept them simply not clicking. So I had Fubuki go to the Harem to try to patch things with Rei, only for her to wander off to have sex with Johan in the middle of his visit.

Okay then.

So I decided to try things out with Camula and Fubuki, and FINALLY had success, ending up with probably the most devoted couple in Sim Nation.

Here they are confessing their love in a park bathroom (which would become the scene of many orgies in the future, but more on that in a later part.) Also, this was the time that my computer's fan started screaming at me, and I found that a clump of cat fur had somehow partially blocked the vent. I was just hoping I could get through this damn scene without my computer dying on me! (Which I did.)

Rei and Johan soon had a baby boy, Ranma. Here is Judai taking care of everything while Rei doesn't have a clue.

Fubuki and Camula wanted in on the baby-making too. So, after this VERY flexible sex act in the shower (seriously, I'm not even sure where all their limbs are supposed to be),

Camula got pregnant and Fubuki proposed to her at the park where they had their first successful date.

This reminded me of that scene in Friends.

Fubuki: "You have no idea how hard this is for me!"

Camula and midwife: :/

Fubuki: "Okay, BRB, I have to go kill Kenzan." (Actually, this seems to be a minor bug...Tatiana proved to look very much like her father when she aged up. She was a National Treasure (TM), with a penchant for randomly taking her clothes off.

But Camula wanted more kids, and so did Taniya, and there wasn't enough room in the house for them to both do that. So Camula, Fubuki, and Tatiana decided to move into a house with Johan, Rei, and Ranma, and...*to the tune of the Brady Bunch theme song* That's the way they became the Horny House!

[danaty-consolation]

I really appreciate your patience towards (possibly the same) anon keep asking about your opinion towards Rumiko’s writing 😅😂your analysis makes me even appreciate her more!

The legendary of Rumiko already proved she’s good! She may not be perfect but she’s good enough. Maybe that anon should suggest how will they write Ranma, UY and Inuyasha instead? Maybe you can be a billionaire too 😂

Thank you so much!!

Rumiko's Takahashi stories are one of my faves and as a person who read all of her stories (Because she has so many works that are interesting!) I most of the time try to think logically when it comes to explaining her stories and characters hehehe.

I have to say, a thing that I love about her stories is how she always makes her character stay true to themselves and the same with their relationships.

Besides Urusei Yatsura, where she paired Lum and Ataru (A thing that helped her is that she introduced Lum at the beginning of the story and actually make them interact and develop their relationship and their past lovers also grew in their characters)

She doesn't pair the main character with someone who has almost no interaction at all but is popular with the audience.

The only series that did that and I personally liked it besides Urusei Yatsura was Hell Teacher Nube, where they made Yukime a much more interesting character compared to his original love interest (who also didn't have any chemistry since she always hit him bc he liked paranormal and demonic stuff)

To be honest, Hell teacher Nube could have been more interesting with less fanservice and problematic gags. I only read it bc the designs of the creatures were good, the Nube and Yukime relationship and how Nube was the father figure of the whole class lmao.

Meanwhile with Takahashi...I love her stories as a whole, of course they are nipicks but is mostly about her older series and development but she is more of the comedic side so yeah.

BUT HER SERIOUS ONES ARE SO GOOD.

And lastly, for being one of the "worst" writers based on that anon's opinions, her works are globally loved and have even such an important Harvey award!

Sorry, I wrote a lot askjbdksj

[abluescarfonwaston]

I'm gonna be completely honest, I don't know what Ranma 1/2 is, I just needed a hitting gif XD

Valid. But it proves the 'putting aa onto everything you see' mood.

Anyway Ranma 1/2 au where Phoenix falls into Spring of drowned dog and turns into a dog every time he's sprayed with cold water. (He turns back with hot water) Miles Finds him during a rainstorm and takes the Poor Poor pubby in. This is Missile- Oh he likes you! That's very good. Lets get you dried off you poor thing.

Feenie gets Lots of snuggles and convinces himself that Bratworth can be saved.

Miles Does try to give him a bath tho and he has to run away.

Feenie becomes the dog that Miles constantly runs into. He bares his soul to this dog. Multiple times. So Feenie Can NOT let him know that it's him or else Miles will never forgive him.

Meanwhile Phoenix keeps meeting this beautiful long haired woman who always seems so nervous around him and has all these so familiar mannerisms but he just can't put his finger on it. but she keeps drawing closer and maybe- maybe- maybe she's the one-

But then she pulls back. "this isn't right. I'm sorry."

"No! Don't go!" He grabbed her wrist to stop her retreat. It was so small in his hand. "what's wrong. Tell me what's wrong. Please."

"I'm not who you think I am."

"Heh. My last girlfriend said something like that too. Is your twin sister going to try and poison me?"

"Wha-What? No I'm- I'm a man."

He blinked. Studied her- no. No him. "I'm bi so like. It's all cool. He him then?"

"Wha- Wright!" She turned to him. They. He? He really needed to get Meter's pronouns. "That's not! That's not the point!"

"Then talk to me Meter. Please."

She held his eyes for a moment. Grimaced. Gripped her elbow and looked away. "I just wanted to see you again. I didn't mean for this to get out of hand. But then you talked to me and I... I couldn't stop. I knew I shouldn't. He told me not to but... I couldn't. I just wanted to see you again. Every time was meant to be the last but... But it never was."

"What- Meter what are you talking about. Who told you not to talk to me- we knew each other- What- Hold it!" She fell silent. Eyes lost to the floor. "We knew each other? Start there."

She reached her free hand down to her tea on the table. Still steaming. "It would be easiest just to show you. It all stared when I fell into this strange pool."

She put her fingers directly in the water.

The wrist his hand was wrapped around was no longer small.

"Sorry about this Wright."

Miles Edgeworth stood in front of him. Taller than him. Loose shirt pulled taunt over the berth of his chest.

"Oh." Breathlessly escaped him. "Spring of drowned girl."

"You... You know of it?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do." He let go. Grabbed a cup of water from the sink. "Because I fell in one too."

Lifted the cup over his head. "I just wanted to see you too."

Dropped the water onto his head.

Opened his eyes and watches as Edgeworth realized. Covered his mouth. Shaking.

Pressed into Edgeworth's leg with a whine.

"Pess." He whispered. Fell to his knees. He whined and pressed into him. Licking at his cheek, trying to pull color back into it. "Wright." Miles wrapped his arms around his neck. "How I've missed you." His tail started to wag.

Yeah. I missed you too.

[mysticdragon3md3]

Ranma ½ is GENIUS. Here’s Why by  Bonsai Pop

The thing I really appreciated about Ranma ½ when I was younger, was that it was a discussion about gender without getting sidetracked by sex, the way most “sex comedies” did, especially at the time.  At the time, publishers tried to market Ranma ½ as a “sex comedy” in the vein of raunchy college-setting Hollywood movies or fanservicy Male Gaze series (compare “Futaba-kun Change” or the proceeding “harem genre” that Ranma ½ started).  But Ranma ½ felt more like a discussion about gender more than sex, or even more than sexuality.  And being an AroAce kid, who didn’t know what AroAce was at the time, but was very confused about my gender, I really appreciated Ranma ½’s focus on gender over sex, fanservice, and heterosexuals navigating (sexual) relationships—which, I *cannot* express enough, was the saturated majority of all anime/manga, that even came close to discussing gender, at the time.  I just wanted a discussion about gender, gender roles, complaining about presumed traditional ideas about gender, and how to define one’s own gender despite society’s pressures about gender.  I wanted a discussion about Strength, that the martial arts genre did so often, without an advocation for sexist ideals, toxic masculinity, stereotypes about “feminine” being weaker (even as warriors), fixated only on romance, or any number of female stereotypes, etc.  I feel like I can’t remind people enough of how it was back then, when not only were these toxic mysoginist ideas portrayed frequently, but they were also portrayed as good, true, “right”, or unquestioned.  At least when Ranma Saotome was being a sexist jerk, he was punished for that terrible thinking or eventually had to reconcile with his dissonance.  And Akane Tendo was revolutionary at that time too.  It used to be that on the Shonen genre side, we had only hyper fem, passive, romance-fixated, love interests, OR nagging, cold female characters that really felt like the author was conveying all their horrible views on women in general, OR sexy eye-candy that had close-ups on their boobs or butt so frequently, that it completely made their lack of focus on romance or anything else in their personalities, secondary.  Then on the Shoujo genre side, we had girls who were fixated on nothing but romance, constantly jealous and possessive—and often over guys who hadn’t even proven themselves worthwhile to pursue romantically.  Let’s face it: A lot of Shoujo leading men were often jerks, treated their female love interests badly, and for some reason, she was just supposed to play the devoted “Lady Murasaki” and be totally “in love” with him.  Whyyyyyyyyyy?????????????  Even worse on the Shonen genre side too, because he treats her badly, it doesn’t get portrayed as bad treatment, he doesn’t understand why she’s angry, so she just looks like a volatile nag all the time, often existing only to be objectified or serve as a flimsy motive for his character arcs and actions. It was a pretty bad time.  Not that now has eliminated those problems, but when Ranma ½ and Akane Tendo seem like the shining lights of something different, maybe then you can understand how much I sorely needed Ranma ½ and Akane Tendo at that time.  

Really surprised that this video essay didn’t mention Jackie Chan.  The thing that differentiated Ranma ½ from so many martial arts battle anime/manga at the time, was that Ranma ½’s style of martial arts was inspired by Jackie Chan.  Meanwhile, all the other Shonen martial arts manga/anime were so serious and based more on “cool”, “action” genre toned martial arts movies.  

I’m intrigued by this video essay’s idea that Ranma ½ the series isn’t sexist, but rather, characters within the series are sexist, and are so in order to make a point about how them being like that is messed up.  I need to grapple with this because one of my problems in looking back at Ranma ½ is that it can be a little transphobic and/or homophobic at times.  Like, I’ll never forget when Tsubasa Kurenai was introduced and, Akane, this character that we’re supposed to completely sympathize with during this series, just keeps screaming in Tsubasa’s face that they are a “pervert”, simply because it’s revealed that Tsubasa identifies as a boy but dresses as a girl.  I think the episode just ended like that, and that was supposed to be a joke, but I don’t know whether the reveal’s shock intended on the audience was supposed to be conveyed through Akane and we were expected to have the same reactions as her, or if we were supposed to be shocked at Akane’s reactions and her reactions being ridiculous were the joke.  I dunno; it was a long time ago, I don’t remember much context, and I really should look it back up.  But frankly, there’s a lot of Ranma ½ to sift through and that’s more time than I have, writing this post.  Akane does seem to repeatedly have instances of being perfectly nice to characters, but when she discovers they’re actually guys, she spends a lot of time yelling “pervert” in their faces.  Sometimes I don’t know if we’re meant to see how ridiculous Akane is being or if we’re meant to agree with her.  Again, I watched/read the series a long time ago, and maybe if I re-watched/re-read it now, it would be clear to older me.  Because, when it happens between Akane and Ranma, Ranma has a specific line, grummbling about how Akane was perfectly nice to him, up until she found out he was actually a boy.  And Ranma was a bit nice in his characterization up until that early line of dialogue, so maybe we were supposed to be on his side in that thought.  So maybe Akane spending the rest of the series yelling “pervert” at Ranma (repeated so often it’s essentially their running gag), is supposed to be a joke laughing at how irrational Akane is being.  o.o?  I’d hate to think we’re supposed to be on Akane’s side, repeatedly calling Ranma a “pervert” over a curse that he had no control over getting, and early on was portrayed as a misfortune that the audience was supposed to sympathize and pity him over.  Maybe the whole thing is supposed to point out Akane’s flaws, since everyone in the series is pretty messed up.  (Even Kasumi unsettled me a bit when I was younger, in that she dropped her entire life, to replace her mother’s role when she died.  For me, being a young girl who didn’t buy into those traditional female roles, that were still at the time, strongly pushed onto girls in society, that was a little unsettling.  Still love Kasumi as a person though.)  Akane did have reason to “hate boys”, as the series specifically states early on, but I’d like to think that she was given this flaw as a point to grow away from.  Just as this video essay calls to attention Ranma being sexist and, over the series, eventually growing out of it.  But back when I was young and initially into Ranma ½, I feared that some of these sexist or even homophobic ideas in Ranma ½ were actually reflective of thoughts that Rumiko Takahashi advocated.  After all, there’s a point in Maison  Ikkoku where Kyoko berates herself by saying all women are fools.  Maybe I was too young to see the nuance in a character berating her own mistakes in her love live, vs the implication that all women are “properly” stereotyped into being obsessed with love and end up acting foolish for it.  Nowadays, I can see how we can berate ourselves whenever our specific actions can slot us into generalized stereotypes, and we curse ourselves for falling into proving stereotypes true on occaision.  But back then, when I was younger and watching Ranma ½ for the first time and reading Maison Ikkoku for the first time, I was afraid that such lines were reflective of Takahashi believing such stereotypes as truth.  Which is why I was so happy when sometime after Ranma ½, Inuyasha had a canonically gay character, and instead of Inuyasha calling him a pervert the entire time, he just got exasperated with his non-stop flirting, the way that all the female characters from Ranma ½ are tired of guys who won’t take “no” for an answer.  At the time, I thought, “Yay!  Takahashi has evolved to a less homophobic stance!”  But maybe, all this time, she was always against such things, and merely portraying them, even through characters we were supposed to sympathize with, merely to show how messed up such ideas are.  I really like that thought which this video essay presented.  

But I will disagree with this video essay on 1 thing:  The manga is better.  I’m not trying to be elitist.  I realize that comedy has a very subjective sensibilities, and the anime leans into awkward silence type comedy, whereas I am sick of that type of comedy.  But so many visual gags and jokes in the manga, and Rumiko Takahashi’s style in general, involve panels that are almost completely re-drawn, with only 1 element changed—the gag element—suggesting that the eye is supposed to read from panel to panel quickly (since the human eyes/brain filters out a lack of change, and is hard-wired to focus on changes from previous conditions).  To me, this suggests quick punchlines, whose sudden oddity is supposed to shock, implying an intended fast pacing to the jokes.  And yeah, Takahashi will draw seemingly normal scenes, detailed with all the normalcies of a commonly recognizable environment, then suddenly the next panel is exactly the same except a character is contorted into a silly pose or an absolutely ridiculous creature with an intentionally nonsensical facial expression has suddenly appeared, amid that completely “normal” scene, with all its “normal” details _redrawn_.  It’s why the “evil oni” episode in Ranma ½ had a ridiculous face, despite its supposedly ominous background.  In fact, anywhere Takahashi can fit a gag face, especially if it contradicts the surrounding scene’s/story’s serious tone, she will do it.  She has even said in interviews that if scenes are too serious, she will try to put in a gag in the corner.  I remember reading Maison Ikkoku during a depressive episode (for both me and Godai) and suddenly Yotsuya had poked his head through a hole in the wall, into the scene, shining a flashlight onto his own face, like a kid telling a ghost story, all while he made funny faces and Takahashi’s typical gag with the sign language “I love you” gesture.  The woman cannot let things stay serious (except for Mermaid Saga, parts of Inuyasha, and some short stories), and I love her for it!  ^o^  But the way she suddenly injects ridiculousness into scenes and character designs, suggest, at least to me, an intended fast paced delivery with the jokes.  That sudden shock when you notice Yotsuya making faces in the corner of a depressing scene. That sudden shock, when Ranma is hiding from his mother, and is clinging to the ceiling or futons like Spiderman, and Akane is just supposed to act natural so Ranma’s mom won’t notice where he’s hiding.  To me, this suggests the punchline is supposed to come at you like a sudden punch, unlike awkwardness that hangs in the air.  So when the anime tries to make the joke linger, I just don’t enjoy it as much as when my brain can dictate the faster pacing I want (and believe better fits) while reading the Ranma ½ manga.  

Also, the manga is better because those manga filler episodes were not as well written as the manga.  Rumiko Takahashi is a master of short stories.  And that shows when you run into the less-effective filler anime episodes–even when you don’t know they’re filler episodes!  I remember watching the Ranma ½ anime before reading the manga, before there was even internet lists of which were the filler episodes, and coincidentally, all the filler episodes did not make me laugh out loud, whereas every episode up until that point, had made me uncontrollably laugh.  I feel like the anime thought that because Ranma ½ was an episodic, very silly series, they could just insert anything and it would fit.  But clearly, only  the manga-based episodes—and even individual scenes!—had the nuance of Takahashi’s writing and pacing, to make even an episodic, ridiculous series work.  

  Also, I love how this video essay just lavishes the love on Rumiko Takahashi.  ^o^  

Another thing this video essay pointed out that I appreciate about Ranma ½ is how indifferent Ranma is to all the advances of his suitors or even accidental fanservice.  All the consequential “harem genre” series that tried to emulate Ranma ½ always seemed to include male protagonists who were surrogates for the audiences’ intended horny reactions.  But Ranma was neither turned on, enticed, nor tantalized by even accidental fanservice falling into his lap.  (As Mother’s Basement has noted, harem genre protagonist have a penchant for accidentally falling and grabbing a girls’ boobs, or their face falling into her boobs, or accidentally put into a position to forcibly see up her skirt, etc.)  If anything, he’s more embarassed that he accidentally walked in on girls in undress, rather than enjoying the view OR reacting so long, that the scene drags on, fixating on the accidental nudity/groping/fanserivce.  And I was about to postulate that maybe because most harem genre and fanservice series are usually made by straight men for an audience with a Male Gaze.  But Takahashi wrote Maison Ikkoku’s Godai, right before she created Ranma ½, and he very much enjoyed the view, took peeks, and fixated on any accidental fanservice.  So it’s actually Ranma himself who had reactions and a perspective that were very agreeable to this asexual.  

I hadn’t noticed before this video essay said it, but Happosai really is condemned much more for being the “pervy old man” archetype, whereas other series are very permissive towards that same archetype, even when they’re being sexual predators.  I’d like to attribute this to Takahashi bringing a woman’s perspective, but Sailormoon was also written by a woman and (if I remember correctly) Rei’s grandpa’s pervy ways were reprimanded in only 1 episode then permitted as a running gag in the rest of the series (thankfully, not often).  Then again, lots of the Shoujo genre also advocated for many toxic traditional ideas about gender (like girls picking romantic partners who don’t respect them, and girls being fully devoted/invested in such guys, because they “once” meet the bare minimum for human decency by being nice to them once).  So maybe it was uniquely Takahashi’s prerogative to not let the “pervy old man” archetype slide as supposedly “endearing” silliness.

[oreozfox]

I posted 729 times in 2021

171 posts created (23%)

558 posts reblogged (77%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 3.3 posts.

I added 642 tags in 2021

#my post - 167 posts

#kny - 101 posts

#my art - 70 posts

#inuyasha - 59 posts

#mao manga - 56 posts

#rumic world - 48 posts

#ranma 1/2 - 40 posts

#my writing - 38 posts

#hxh - 33 posts

#bnha - 30 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#might redesign the characters but i'll have to change em up just in case those chatlands and foopets ppl are still using their characters

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Me:

48 notes • Posted 2021-10-19 20:04:24 GMT

#4

my first rumic world meme

56 notes • Posted 2021-02-22 12:04:48 GMT

#3

My Favorite Girl

Finally wrote an InoAoi fic! I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was dark. Snow was falling softly outside. The Butterfly Mansion was quiet, since its residents were asleep. Or rather, most of them.

Aoi Kanzaki was enjoying a moment alone after a very long work day. Winter had come, and with it an outbreak of viral illness in the village nearby. Up until now, Aoi had been constantly busy with ailing patients. She’d hardly even had the time to greet Tanjirou, Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, who had come to visit.

Presently, Aoi sat down by the kotatsu with a thick blanket around her shoulders, drinking a hot cup of tea and watching the snow fall outside. Just a bit alone time, she told herself, then I’ll turn in for the night.

However, her solitude wasn’t to last. She heard the shuffling of tired feet before she saw who owned them. Inosuke trudged into the room, his eyes half-lidded and sleepy. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Aoi replied, arching an eyebrow as Inosuke plopped down next to her. “Do you need something?”

“Nah.” Inosuke yawned. “‘ ‘S just chilly in here.”

Maybe if you actually wore a shirt, Aoi wanted to retort, but she decided against it.

Meanwhile, Inosuke could observe that Aoi wasn’t as cold as he was, so he scooted closer to her until their shoulders were touching.

Aoi tensed slightly, feeling an all too familiar blush creeping onto her face. “You know where the extra blankets are.”

“Yeah.” Aoi felt Inosuke shrug. “But you’ve been holed up in the medical ward all day. I’ve hardly gotten to talk to you yet.” I missed you, was what Inosuke might’ve said, had he not conditioned himself to never admit something that might sound needy. He turned to look at her again, and Aoi saw his brows furrow in confusion.

“What?”

“You’ve got Kanao-Face.”

Aoi turned fully to him now. “I beg your pardon?”

“You’re all pink here.” Inosuke gestured at his face. “I know you can’t be sunburned in this weather, and I can’t sense any sickness. You’re doin’ that thing Kanao used to do. Y’know, when she thought Tanjirou wasn’t lookin’? She’d look at him and get Kanao-Face.”

Aoi sighed. In the privacy of her own mind, she could admit that she’d had a special fondness for Inosuke for many months now, as dense and bullish as he could be. This had led to him noticing her embarrassed blushing a few times, and he never failed to comment on it. “I’m surprised you’re not calling it ‘Zenitsu-Face’.” she finally said, completely dodging the accusation. “He blushes way more than Kanao does.”

Inosuke shook his head. “Zenitsu-Face is different. His face goes completely red, like a tomato. It makes him look like an idiot.”

Aoi stifled a laugh at this, shaking her head in amusement. Because of this, she didn’t notice that Inosuke was still looking at her, almost thoughtfully. On top of that, he’d gotten a touch of ‘Kanao-Face’ himself, and he didn’t know why. For a few months now, Inosuke too had noticed he felt different around Aoi. He’d chalked it up to her being his “favorite girl”, but somehow it felt like there was still something missing; something he didn’t yet understand. And for some reason, not understanding frustrated him. A lot.

“Hey, Aoi?” Inosuke broke the short silence, surprising Aoi that he’d gotten her name right on the first try. “Speaking of Kanao… Is Kanao Tanjirou’s favorite girl?”

Aoi looked at him strangely. “Besides Nezuko, I guess.”

“That’s different, though. Nezuko is Tanjirou’s kid sister.” Inosuke glared at the floor, his cluelessness beginning to irritate him again. What made it different, exactly? Well, there were things Tanjirou did with only Kanao, like… “If someone has a favorite girl, does that mean they love her?”

Aoi nodded slowly, still unsure of what Inosuke was getting at.

“Then…” Inosuke turned fully to Aoi, no longer hiding his ‘Kanao-Face’. “Since you’re my favorite girl, does that mean I love you?”

Aoi’s eyes went wide. Her heart began thump, thump, thumping. For a few moments she was lost for words. After a few moments of staring, mouth agape, she managed to croak. “I dunno… Do you?”

Inosuke thought about it. He thought he loved a lot of things. Fighting and food, for example. And yet, what he felt for Aoi felt like that and more. “Yeah… I think I do. I, uh, think I love ya, Aoi.” He didn’t understand why it was so hard to say. It seems so easy for Monjirou and Monitsu…

Testing to see if it felt right, Inosuke mimicked something else Tanjirou did, one last time, leaning forward and giving Aoi a quick peck on the forehead, which left her stunned. He sat still, waiting for her response and resisting the urge to poke fun at her quickly-evolving ‘Zenitsu-Face’. But then, he noticed tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. Aw, man, I messed it up!

But then, with speed that frankly impressed Inosuke, Aoi suddenly dove forward, throwing her arms around him. “You dummy!” she cried, and yet her voice sounded utterly delighted.

Hesitantly and a bit awkwardly, Inosuke rested his hands on Aoi’s back. “Whatcha cryin’ for?”

“I’m not crying!” Aoi protested, not lifting her face from his chest to prove it.

Inosuke frowned a bit grumpily at that answer. “Yeah you are. Did I… hurt your feelings?”

“No!” Aoi looked up at him, wiping her eyes. “What made you think that?”

“I dunno…” Inosuke rubbed the back of his neck. “I just… didn’t know how to say what I wanted to say, y’know? I thought I said the wrong thing.”

Aoi smiled, a bit charmed. He could be really sweet on the inside, even without meaning to. To reassure him, she gathered the courage to kiss his cheek. “You didn’t. I’m proud of you. These are just happy tears. I’m happy because I love you too…” Her voice became uncharacteristically small at the end as she averted her eyes, still a little embarrassed.

Inosuke blinked, a bit surprised at her answer, before grinning slightly. “Heh.” Not much of a response, but it was all he could come up with at the moment.

What a profound effect they had on each other.

64 notes • Posted 2021-04-23 02:08:54 GMT

#2

My List of InoAoi Headcanons

We're back for another one!! Beware of spoliers!

Aoi was the first one to get a crush. I fully support @demonslayedher 's idea of her having an internal "oh no he's hot!" crisis upon seeing Inosuke without his mask for the first time.

She didn't realize her crush until much later tho, probably after the final battle.

Inosuke started crushing on her after their last scene together, but he didn't quite know what to make of his feelings. He just chalked it up to her being his "favorite girl", as I stated in my fic of the same name.

He confessed his feelings in his own way a few months later, mostly by asking Aoi directly if his fondness of her meant he was in love. Of course, Aoi felt the same way!

Kanao is the #1 InoAoi supporter

We all know Inosuke shows affection by giving ppl acorns. With Aoi, he eventually learns to make all sorts of different things out of acorns for her. We're talking bracelets, necklaces, all that good stuff. It may seem strange to some, but Aoi thinks it's very sweet

Canon fact: Inosuke makes Aoi laugh!

Like Tanjirou, Inosuke is actually a big cuddler once he and Aoi get together

After TanKana and ZenNezu get married, Inosuke's visits to the Butterfly Mansion become longer and more frequent

Eventually Inosuke asks Aoi to marry him, in his own special way like before

After their marriage, Inosuke goes to live at the Estate permanently

He helps around the Estate as best he can

In my historical fanfic The Real Monsters, they have three kids. I think they stop there

Is Inosuke a fun dad? Absolutely. Is he a good influence? Debatable, but he tries to be!

Aoi's a bit strict of course, but she's a very good mom!

98 notes • Posted 2021-06-13 17:52:51 GMT

#1

My List of Tankana Headcanons

Tanjirou was enamored when he saw her at the Butterfly Manor for the first time (I mean it at least seems that way judging by his expression in the manga upon seeing her)

He had a crush on her basically from then on, but he didn't realize it himself until they were standing under the sakura tree

Basically canon fact but Kanao started crushing on Tanjirou after the whole "follow your heart" scene

Kanao went to sit by Tanjirou's bed a lot while he was unconscious after the Red Light District arc.

They became a couple at the end of the series, either in a part of the sakura tree scene we didn't see or shortly after

This means they're dating in the little snippets we see of them in the second fan book

I've already said this but Tanjirou is a big cuddler. He is very very affectionate and I also hc that he gives GREAT hugs. I've said this too but his specialty is hugging Kanao from behind. Sometimes he does this to greet her if she doesn't find him first

They get married after a few years of visiting back and forth, and Kanao goes to live on the mountain with Tanjirou

They don't have to share the house much bc I hc that by then Zenitsu and Nezuko were already married and had moved elsewhere. idk how long Inosuke stayed but he eventually goes to the Butterfly Mansion when he marries Aoi

When they have a baby, Kanao is actually kinda scared of the idea of giving birth, so around the time she's due she goes to the Butterfly Mansion to be with Aoi, whom she wants to be her midwife

Aoi ends up being her midwife every time

Tanjirou is a very emotional new dad. You bet he was a blubbering mess when the baby's finally born

He's like that with every single one of them

He's also so excited to see his kids grow up, little by little. He loves every last milestone.

Not to get angsty but Tanjirou's trauma really starts to show as their family grows. He has nightmares often about demons attacking Kanao and the kids

Kanao is able to reassure him over time tho, by reminding him that she is a pretty capable fighter

Tanjirou is a great dad

Kanao is a great (and rather protective) mom

They have quite a few kids (Tanjirou had a lot of siblings and Kanao had a lot of adopted sisters, so it makes sense)

I will most likely add more as they come to me.

102 notes • Posted 2021-04-19 22:17:43 GMT

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[straightfacedstrangeness]

Pretty sure that Kuno thinking his dad is dead was an invention of the anime. In the manga he realizes's that the Principal is his dad the same chapter he's introduced. (After a gag of not recognizing him because he got a tan and a pine tree instead of a topknot). I'm also pretty sure that Takahashi's intention was that Kuno was an idiot playboy wannabe instead of literally crazy. Kuno's "delusions" about his objects of affection are pretty in line with all the other stalkers in Ranma 1/2.

Meanwhile, with Kodachi. She does say in the manga that she knows Ranma doesn’t like her. Her flamboyance and over the top acting+ her laughter seems to me like she’s basically just having fun with life and trolling everyone (Like her father)

Yeah, I imagine the intentions for Kuno’s character by both Takahashi and the anime staff were pretty harmless (”here’s a goofball loser who thinks he’s a ladies’ man” VS “here’s a traumatized, psychologically messed-up person”)

But at least with the extended denials in the anime—Sasuke aggressively bringing up proof that Principal is his dad and Kuno repeatedly explaining it away (he says something like “my father is in heaven~” in the dub and “he’s a star in a foreign land [America, his last known address]” in the sub, but either way he talks about his father as a noble man with none of the terrible qualities that he associates with Principal)—plus the anime filler episode where Kuno and Principal are teamed up with no mention of / recognition of the fact that they’re father and son—plus the fact that all the flashbacks of their relationship (in the anime, at least) are of stuff like Principal forcibly shaving Kuno’s head and hanging him naked upside-down from a tree…regardless of the staff’s intentions or the fact that it’s played for comedy, it’s really hard not to interpret the whole thing as “Kuno is straight-up dissociating as a way to repress his trauma”, and once you’ve got that reading, it’s hard not to then apply that to the rest of his personality.

(And I am super curious about the anime staff’s decision to withhold the “Principal is Kuno’s father” info for like a whole season, with that “Principal and Kuno team up” episode in between…I’m halfway convinced that either a) they deliberately left it out and had no plans to address it, and someone else on staff hated that decision and wrote the later episode with Sasuke as their author insert, or b) they waited JUST for the sake of the “they’ve been in the same school for months and NEITHER of them recognized each other??” joke)

Anime filler also seems to write Kodachi somewhat inconsistently (a lot of eps make her seem more gentle and more delusional than clever and manipulative), but I definitely prefer your view up there, that she’s playacting for her own enjoyment.  It’s just a lot of fun and provides some entertaining contrast with her brother.

[jeanklemwriter]

Marvel recently made yours truly (and a good number of other people) pretty cross with their recent statements that their attempts at diversity aren’t working and that “people don’t want diversity”.

Let’s ignore how Marvel charts sales only via floppies, and not trade paperbacks and/or digital copies. Let’s ignore how Marvel fails to hire new writers to reflect their diverse characters or audiences. Let’s instead focus on a graphic novel industry that’s currently eating Marvel’s pie while it complains about SJWs and makes old characters Nazis (because women inheriting Thor’s title is cardinal sin, but making them Nazis is A-OK).

Let’s talk about manga.

The Big Two, these being DC and Marvel, have a lot they should be learning from manga. It’s a growing industry! It survived a cataclysmic bubble-burst in 2008, but currently is still in a growth period. Shonen Jump has survived its print parallell being shuttered, as a digital-only publication. What are the likes of One-Punch Man, Please Tell Me! Galko-Chan!, and Attack on Titan doing that DC and Marvel aren’t? Well, for starters (more after the break)...

Manga is cheaper. Used to be, people on Gaia Online would joke that manga was a drug because it was more expensive than crack, but that’s not quite true. When it started, a Shonen Jump trade paperback (commonly called a “tankoubon”, because that’s what they’re called in Japan) would retail at $7.95. Eventually, Viz bumped up the price--to $9.95 a pop. Today, you can expect to spend as much as $12.99 a pop per tankoubon, although Shonen Jump stuff still retails at just under $10, for something between 190 - 256 pages in length. Meanwhile, the MSRP for a 168-page-long Spider-Man trade paperback is $24.99. A lot of arguments can be made here: anime is only in black-and-white, the paper stock is different. But why is an imported comic that needs to be licensed, translated, edited, published, then distributed a cheaper alternative than a comic made in the US? Monthly issues (”floppies”)  are a terrible investment, clocking in at $3 - $7 a pop, only 16 pages, and flimsy/fragile as all heck! Worse yet, in Marvel’s case, digital copies of the same issue cost the same as the print copy. (With Shonen Jump? They’re three bucks cheaper.) People only have so much cash, and they want their money to last: a story that’ll last you ten minutes isn’t going to be considered if that same money can go to a game that’s on sale on Steam. Considering how much work goes into a comic, I’d never even dream to consider that comics should be cheaper, but at least give people more bang for their buck.

Manga stories aren’t a messy web. When I started reading Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man run in 2014, there was a whole extra series being sold alongside it that I also found myself needing to read: Learning to Crawl, which was sold as--get this--decimal-issues of Amazing Spider-Man. LtC counted as issues 1.1 to 1.6 of ASM. What. It can be argued that Learning to Crawl wasn’t necessary to understand Amazing Spider-Man, but then an important character introduced in LtC became an important recurring character in ASM. Now, let’s get even messier: ASM continued with the Spider-Verse event, with no less than four comics tying into the darn thing: Edge of Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Woman, and Amazing Spider-Man. All of those characters and comics were involved, and had a hand in that event. I didn’t read all of those comics, only EoSV and ASM--so I can’t begin to explain why Spider-Woman was hiding in the Inheritor World when she was, or how Kaine appeared. Compare this to 20th Century Boys, Naoki Urusawa’s tale of childhood, post-war Japan, friendship, and political intrigue. If you want to understand that story, pick up volume one (I insist, it’s so good) and start reading. Wanna catch up on Berserk while its on hiatus? Just buy a volume and start reading! Anyone jumping into a comic book has to be ready to read three different books just to get the low-down on one story, which doesn’t combine well with the aforementioned pricing problems. Floppies are already a tough investment, and they feel even cheaper when you’re supposed to supplement them with even more purchases. It gets worse when you remember...

Manga stories don’t come with baggage. Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t as great an introduction to the character as it could have been. If Peter Parker wasn’t such a cultural marker, that story would have left me confused. Who is this guy in the red-and-blue? Why does he have spider-powers? On a deeper level, what happened with him and Doctor Octopus?! Yeah, see, ASM takes place after a period of time where Doctor Octopus switched minds with Peter Parker and took over his body, becoming the “Superior Spider-Man”, and ASM starts with Peter having regained his body and finding the messes that Doc Oc left for Peter--and trust me, not having read the SSM books, I was surprised to see stuff like Electro and Black Cat having a vendetta against Spidey, or Mary Jane having married someone else. In other words, to understand a current comic book character, you’ve had to have been reading about them for over two years--or dived into a wiki. Now, few manga in the US have lasted the forty-plus years that the likes of Captain America, Batman, or Animal Man have, but even after 84 volumes One Piece is somehow still easier to jump into than an alleged reboot (they’re pirates looking for treasure, also yo-ho-ho Luffy took a bite of gum-gum). If your point is to create an entry point for new readers, you’ve failed when people need to read at least one other book to understand the current one.

Manga covers a lot of ground. Used to be, comics in the US had all kinds of genres: besides superheroes, we had romance, horror, suspense, crime thrillers, and comedies. The rise of the Comic Book Code changed all of that; now all DC and Marvel publish are superheroes. Shonen Jump may be the house that’s ruled by Dragon Ball and One Piece, but Shonen Jump still has piles of variety. Besides action stories, they also cover comedy (Cowa!, Gintama), romance (I’’s, Strawberry 100%), horror (Muyo and Rohji’s Supernaural Detective Agency), sports (Prince of Tennis, Eyeshield 21) and thrillers (Death Note). I’m only covering series that are licensed in the US, mind--Japan has weirder stuff from Shonen Jump, like the positively-ancient KochiKame. Too much emphasis is put on capes in the Big Two. Even their attempts at moving away from that are overshadowed by capes: Grayson may have been a spy thriller, but it still starred Dick Grayson, alias Nightwing (and onetime Batman). Gotham Academy was a fun adventure series set in a large prep school--in the middle of Gotham City. The closest we could hope for Marvel to do as a romance would be Spider-Man Loves Mary-Jane. It seems Marvel and DC aren’t capable--or willing--to release anything that isn’t attached to their superheroes. (There’s a lot to unpack with that last statement, and there’s no space and time to cover that--let’s just say you can’t have an audience you don’t cultivate, and you can’t complain about people ignoring you if you ignore them.) Finally...

Manga actually hires women. Two of the most beloved manga of all time, each responsible for an entire generation of manga fans, are Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha. They’re both romantic comedies with lots of action; the former is more comedy than action, the latter is more action and fantasy than romance. Both of these came to be genre-defining works. Their creator? Rumiko Takahashi--a woman. She’s not alone, either: Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon, Yana Toboso’s Black Butler, CLAMP’s Chobits, xxxHolic, and Tsubasa Resorvoir Chronicles, Hiromu Arakawa’s Full-Metal Alchemist... there is a not-insignificant list of very, very prolific manga that are written and drawn by women. Meanwhile, DCs policies during the New 52 meant that only two women worked with them: writer Gail Simone and artist Amy Reeder. A lot of people on the internet argue for a total meritocracy: that creators should be hired for their talent or skill, and not because they’re women/people of color. But you can’t have a healthy industry without a wide variety of creators. A wide, diverse team of writers means you have a wide, diverse set of viewpoints and experiences that translate to different stories. Ranma 1/2 isn’t a great story because Rumiko Takahashi is a woman, it’s a great story because Rumiko Takahashi is a great writer and artist. But she actually had to get hired in order to make Ranma 1/2. The only reason for Marvel and DC to not have more women in their teams is if they don’t give a crap... and, really, that’s quite telling: you can’t complain attempts at diversity aren’t working if you’re not willing to commit to it. Manga isn’t great at diversity either, owing to Japan’s far-more-ethnocentric population, but there’s still startlingly-more variety with manga than there’s ever been with comics in years. If publishers in the US want to make better business, start looking at how their international fellows handle business. Millions of One Piece fans worldwide exist for a reason.

[danaty-consolation]

Mermaid Hunters

Ideas for the amazing au  @artistefish made:

1. Yuuta and Mana can’t believe this young gang wants to travel with them. like kids were are your parents??? like ya’ll sure you wanna be in this??? We fight almost immortal and immortal people do you know how dangerous that is??

2. The rumic Gang doesn’t care and since they’re teenagers they want adventure and to help people, they are so selfless I love them.

2,2 Yuuta low key adopts them and he and  Manna become the Dad and Mom fo the group because they are older in this Au ( Yuuta is 23 and Manna is 22)

3. Poor souls don’t know what they signed for,

4. Yuuta had to for an old but big bus that later on they customize to be more comfortable to sleep.

5. Ataru and Sakura get trained, by the gang.

6. Mao helps in the fight and being a doctor of the group(until that incident happens) meanwhile Nanoka helps by being a distraction since she’s super fast thanks for her ayashi powers.

7. The girls together are a force to be feared, when they get separated from the guys they can keep it together and fight.

8. The boys are also really good at fighting as a team (Yuuta takes time to get used to it since he was only used to fight with only mana)

9. they pretty much sleep on the customized bus or camp outside it if they want

10. When they were gonna to had their 1 year anniversary for the Mermaid Hunters, they go to  a famous and well now Mansion to celebrate, they eat and had an amazing Dinner, made with a delicious meat that all of them had never eat with the other Resident’s,  they all go to sleep to their respective rooms until  it becomes Midnight, then  strange noises that all of them know so well  wake them up in the night, all of the other Residents transform into lost souls, they fight all of them and eliminate the organization that was under it, they transformed their residents so they could kill them and later on steal their identities and their money, they paid a certain part of the Japan government so they could have a blind eye  about the black market of that organization that is around the world.

11. “Why they transformed?” “Yeah we eat the same thing as them so it will be impossible to,,,,” “Oh No” “ Hey, look out!”

12. when they finished the fight all of them were all  in really bad shape but they see how their scars and deep wounds heal by themselves to their surprise

13. Yuuta and Mana are heartbroken of how their friends end up like them, The Mermaid Hunters are all now officially immortal.

14. They all fake their deaths to their loved ones, it hurts them all  a lot and mourn over for months (excluding Yuuta and Mana of course) since they won’t grow older they will catch bad attention and they can never stick to one place (yes, angst) and they will keep their young appearance for eternity; Inuyasha is 19, Kagome is 18, Ranma and Akane both had 18, Ataru 18 and Lum  was going to had 18 in a few month but now she will be forever 17 with Rinne and Sakura meanwhile Mao keeps his 18 and Nanoka is 17.

15 The group decides to make the organization disappear by going around the world since in Japan they take years to eliminate it for good, they go to all the countries since now they all had the time of the world, they eliminate bad people, bad immortal people, lost souls the organization.

16. There is a rumor about a mystery bus that goes around for year about a group of teenagers that never grow on the internet but they never had solid proof,  but they all call them the Immortal Slayers.

Arty look at what you make me do.

[danaty-consolation]

HUMAN BY ACCIDENT!

A/N: This is a birthday present for @artistefish, happy birthday arty!

-,-,-,-,-,-,

Sakura Oozuno has been married since a half year now with Tsubame and the married life made her happier than ever, Lum felt really happy for her, she deserved to be loved and to be more relaxed after of the craziness her life is connected to.

That’s why when Lum received a call from her old friend to visit her the next day to show her some old artifacts that she found while cleaning her uncle’s house when she went to check on her mother, she couldn’t help to say yes.

“The artifacts are really old, I found a manuscript that had an old date, it was made 506 years ago!”

“That’s almost the period where Inu-chan comes from!”

“Yeah, I thought it was interesting so I decided to give you a call, maybe Inuyasha knows more about them”

“Sure, we will go at 2, love ya!”

“See you then, Lum!”

It wasn’t hard to convince Inuyasha to go with her since the others were busy; Ranma and Akane went to help Rinne and Sakura out in a martial art case where ghosts were craving to had one last match before they passed away, meanwhile Ataru and Kagome went to buy the supplies for their next nightstand.

Lum was happy to see darling being friends with Kagome, they were smart and had an incredible authority, but it was a fresh air to her to see him  be actual friends with girls, with no flirting and he didn’t ask any of them to a date after the events of when they all had their first adventure together; when they broke Tomobiki’s seal.

And Darling even became more open with her, the guys were his friends and he didn’t felt so left out anymore, it was all going great.

“So, do you think it’s okay to walk around like this?”

“It’s okay Inu-chan, I have seen a lot of persons wearing weirder stuff in these last two days”

And it was true, unknown for the two youkais there was actually an Anime Con in the prefecture, where there was a contest for the best cosplay so there was a lot of cosplayers walking around.

“Hey, both of you have a great cosplay; can I take a picture with you two?” A person wearing what it looked like an armor went to them, Lum nodded and Inuyasha didn’t say no, so the person asked a person nearby to take a photo of them.

“Thanks guys!”

Inuyasha and Lum looked at how happy the person was while he said to them and the person who took the photo goodbye.

“You see?”

“Keh, this era is weird”

As they walked around and got closer to the Ozoono residence, she remembered what her Darling warned her to not touch any artifacts, after his last case with the gloves of hate and love, they decided to be more cautious about those kinda things.

“Oh, Inu-chan, promise me to not touch any of those things!”

“Why, are they dangerous?”

“Not exactly but the last experience we had without being prepared wasn’t good”

When they entered the residence they were received by Cherry, Miss Ozoono uncle and Lum decided to be on guard.

“Where is Sakura, cherry?”

“My dear niece will come back shortly, she asked me to guide you to the living room, where the things where”

Inuyasha hasn’t treated cherry, but he couldn’t help to feel wary about him, his atmosphere was like Myoga or Happosai, it spelled problems to him.

Both at them sat down next to each other at the Living room where a box was, cherry stood in the table on flipped it down, a lot of artifacts went down.

“Look how weird these look even the touch is weird!” Cherry said holding a dragons jade statue on his hands, making it obvious that he wanted to make them hold it.

Don’t touch it Inu-chan

Inuyasha and Lum had a good intuition that told them what the other was referring to or even thinking with just one glance, their connection made their loved ones surprised, calling it ‘sibling intuition’, assuring their special connection.

As if!

Cherry noticed that his plan wasn’t working, it was time to think in something else, cherry knew he wasn’t a bad person, he was a monk who gave himself to Buddha and he couldn’t help feeling curious on these artifacts, he bought a long time ago and he forgot about  them until his niece found them again in the attic, he knew that when humans touched them nothing actually happened but what could happen if youkais touch them or interact with them? Lum was an alien but she was clearly an ogre and her new friend was an interesting person, a half-breed born from a human and a dog demon, so he had the perfect people to satisfy his curiosity.

“Well, this one is really interesting too, it’s an old mirror that belonged to an old Chinese emperor, the legend says that it shows a point of yourself you never saw before” cherry said holding a circular mirror that had gold dragon ornaments around it, Inuyasha and Lum let their guard down a little and came closer to see their reflections, it was ok if they only see right? After all they won’t touch it.

“UNCLE, NO!” They heard a voice said but it was too late, when they saw their reflections the mirror glowed making Inuyasha instantly put an arm in front of Lum in a protective manner, the light was strong enough to make all of the people on the room momentary blind.

When the light dissipated Inuyasha felt different but  at the same time he was familiar with this feeling, he opened his eyes and looked around, two surprised persons were looking at him, the old man being one of them, he was ready to shout at him when he saw the reflection in the mirror the old man still hold, it was him but he had his human appearance.

Inuyasha cursed, that’s why he felt different, dammit!

“What happened?” A female voice said, coming from beside him, Inuyasha noticed a girl with black hair, with a similar appearance as him, she opened her eyes slowly, her aquamarine blue eyes were gone and were replaced with a soft blue, her horns and fangs were nowhere to be seen and her electric aura disappeared.

She looked human.

“Inu-chan, you’re in your human form!” Lum looked at Inuyasha surprised, she knew that Inuyasha transformed into a human in some nights when the moon was in a certain position, but they just passed that day a few days ago and it wasn’t even night!

“Yeah” Inuyasha said slowly, he was used to looking like this but Lum was a pureblood ogre and he wasn’t sure how to say this without scaring her off ”I could say the same thing to you”

“What?” Lum was confused, she then instantly went to touch her horns, she didn’t find them, next were her ears, they’re also different and finally her fangs weren’t there either as she touched her teeth slowly.

Lum then looked at the mirror and gasped, the reflection couldn’t be her! A human girl with black hair and pale blue eyes looked back at her, it was her reflection, she made expressions to confirm that the reflection was her, and it really was her!

Lum touched her face, still in shock.

“Oi, Lum!” Inuyasha moved her shoulder, this was bad.

“Lum!” Miss Oozuno said going towards Lum, her worried tone was evident as she saw that Lum didn’t respond.

“Interesting, so this mirror makes the youkais turn humans” Cherry said looking at the mirror surprised ”this is amazing don’t you think niece?”

“You fuc-“

“UNCLE, YOU DON’T SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID?!”

“What?”Cherry said taken back by the shouts of his niece” they will be fine, it was just bad luck”

“YOU’RE THE BAD LUCK, I EXPLICITLY SAID TO NOT SHOW THEM THIS ONE!”

“You said that?” Cherry felt a bit guilty now.

“I DID AND WHAT DID YOU DO?” Miss Oozuno took the mirror from cherry’s hands and hold cherry’s clothes from the back, she carried him to the open door, he let him down and hit him with her leg strong enough to make him fly to another neighborhood.

Inuyasha was surprised to see that and felt more respect for the priestess; the damn old man deserved it.

“I can’t use my electricity” Lum said staring at her hands and Inuyasha looked at her again, she looked so vulnerable in this state” and I probably can’t fly either”

Miss Oozuno told them that there was an opportunity to revert back to what they were thanks to some manuscripts; in a night of the new moon they needed to see their reflection before the morning came.

They called Ataru and Kagome to meet them at the Higurashi temple and they told them everything that happened.

Inuyasha and Lum excused themselves for the Oozuno residence while Miss Oozuno still apologized; they told to her to not worry and that they will come back to break this curse.

As they walked Lum felt different as she hugged herself, she felt vulnerable, she couldn’t use her powers to defend herself if the situation needed it and she couldn’t fly either, the electricity aura that always makes her secure and warm wasn’t there, making her feel naked.

Inuyasha noticed right away that she felt uncomfortable and the looks some men were giving her wasn’t helping either, he took his haori off and put in on her shoulders.

“You should wear it, since it’s cold now” Inuyasha said with a soft tone.

“But…”

“Don’t worry, you can put it on yourself, you can do it in that part between the buildings, I will guard”

Lum nodded and went in the closest alley, Inuyasha was on guard until he saw her walking off, how she could make his haori to something she looked decent with it was incredible to him, that was enough proof to him that she was friends with the girl he loved, she had the same sense of style.

“Keh, not bad”

“Thanks, Inu-chan” Lum gave him a smile, feeling more relaxed and secure.

Then he gave her his arm and she hesitantly took it, Inuyasha wasn’t strong in this form but at least he was still stronger than her, so he could protect her.

“Inu-chan, is it okay to walk together like this?” Lum said while looking at him” People could misunderstand”

“Moron, have you seen yourself?” Inuyasha said” We already looked related and now, being all human and with the same hair we actually look like we came from the same mother”

“Really?!” Lum said excited, she always liked it when people said to them that they looked like brother and sister, after all she looked at him as her stubborn but good big brother.

Inuyasha always treated the oni girl like his sister, it was when he was with her his parental side shined through, maybe it was because they personalities’ and looks were similar, but he didn’t mind people confusing them as siblings.

“Hey beautiful, let’s ditch your big brother and have some real fun” a guy with a cap and street clothes came closer to them, Lum held his arm tighter.

“Nah, My sister has better tastes and more important things to do than losing time with bastards like you” Inuyasha almost hissed.

“Oh, I was suspecting why both of you looked so similar, so you’re brothers” The guy said still looking at Lum” Man, your sister looks finer than wine”

Inuyasha was losing it.

“You should leave your brother and be my girlfriend, I can teach you new things” his tone made her shiver in the wrong way, the guy remembered her of Megane.

“Listen, Man” Inuyasha said holding the collar of his clothes, raising him up the floor” My sister has already a boyfriend, who is miles better than you”

And with that he threw the guy to the wall, satisfaction filling his body, at least he was stronger than normal humans.

 Ataru wasn’t prepared for what he saw.

Lum was different, her beautiful aquamarine hair was replaced with a pretty black hair, and her electrifying Aquamarine eyes were now a cute blue.

She looked so shy and vulnerable, he couldn’t contain the urge to hug her when she came closer to him, he will definitely thank Inuyasha the whole night for protecting her in this state, she looked so out of place and boy did that make him overprotective.

[mysticdragon3md3]

How Japan Got Me Over Toxic Masculinity! - Gaijin Perspective by  Gaijin Perspective

That decades'-old mentality was such a hurdle, you guys now don't even understand.  lol  

I remember being a kid and so concerned with proving I wasn't into "girly" things, that I even hid my affinity for things I actually liked.  Back then, the hyper-fem image was still the primarily accepted definition of "female", and if you weren't a tomboy, boisterous and into sports, then you were expected into the other binary.  There wasn't the allowance to be neutral or even nonbinary, back then.  The closest there was to bending gender roles, was the image of "females who adopted 'male' traits denoting power, but feminizing them".  Think of all those business suits or dress shirts cinched in at specific parts to show off your waist, hips, bust, etc.  You could do "manly" things, but you better be wearing lipstick and looking like a model while doing it.  But still, wearing pants, operating in "male spaces", yet still being visibly female, was the closest thing to crossing gender lines back then.  So at that time, I felt like I had to "play up" my "non-girliness" in order to defy that narrow hyper fem box (since I didn't enjoy sports nor being loud).  I may have watched both Sailormoon and Dragon Ball Z, but I made sure to put up larger wall scrolls of DBZ and buy much fewer Sailormoon posters.  I didn't hold back my fanaticism for Shonen anime and the martial arts anime genre, but I hid any of my interests in Shoujo series.  I filled my anime collection with martial arts, scifi, demon hunter series, Shonen action,...But heaven forbid I buy too many Shoujo romance series for my shelves.  "Oh, Maison Ikkoku?  It's fine, because Rumiko Takahashi did action series like Ranma 1/2 and I'm just collecting every series of hers."  "W Juliet is okay because the female protagonist is one of those 'cross-dressing tomboys' that I love."  "Kare Kano?  Hey, Hideaki Anno directed the hell out of that anime, but didn't finish through to the end of the manga. I'm just seeing how the manga ends.  And it's more drama than romance anyway."  "Claymore, you get the front row on my bookcase, but Monkey High?  You stay hidden in the back."  I honestly did have more fun with Shonen series and gory demon subgenres.  But I feel like I was a little too afraid of anyone knowing that I could like Shojo romance genres too.  I wasn't comfortable showing off that part of my collection or even fandom.  Not like my very hetero brother who stuffed his shelves with romance manga and harem anime.  He also wasn't afraid to show off how much he liked cute things.  Meanwhile, I was afraid to carry a Pokemon manga to read somewhere, in case someone saw me reading something so "childish" and cute.  When I told him my hesitations, he said, "If someone wants to judge you for it, well f*ck them!"  Here I was, trying so hard to prove how "manly" I was in so many areas of my life, through my physical strength, my "non-girly" interests, and my rejection of "traditionally feminine" things, meanwhile, my big football linebacker brother, was like, "Hell yeah, I like cute things and fill my shelves with Romance manga!"  So who was really "manly" there?  Of the 2 of us, who was actually Strong?  He really taught me to stop fearing my cute and "feminine" interests.  And it really helped that anime was so popular and blended together so many genres, that one could commiserate with fans of a gory demon hunting anime as well as a cute "slice of life" anime.  Because it was all anime, we didn't divide our fandoms into series, as much as other geek cultures.  It was easy to blend our interests together and overlap.  You could go to conventions and watch dark action series one minute, then sincere "slice of life" the next minute, then buy all the cute merch.  My siblings and I got into the first Fruits Basket anime together, and it was a big deal for me to watch a romance series with other people, in a lit room, where they could see me emotionally effected and reacting to it.  This was after years of growing up, priding myself on no one seeing me cry at movies, even though I'm a total crier.  I will cry at the opening minute of movies I don't even like.  It was so freeing to finally stop being afraid of showing that I could have vulnerabilties, appreciate cute things, and even like flowers.  I didn't have to be only repressed and stoic all the time, just because I respected those "manly" traits.  There was Strength in being unafraid to be yourself and not stress over liking cute "feminine" things.  The whole anime subculture community taught me that.  Especially when online fandoms became a thing and there were people to share our shipping with now. What?  It was amazing how much more normalized enjoying romance became, after there was a full online community who also supported your ships.  Anime did all of that for me.  And it's thanks to Japan's culture of valuing Cute.