#mysteries maidens and mysterious disappearances

[ydotome]

[animenekos]

Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi; Mysterious Disappearances - Episode 12

[chaztalk]

Rinkai!

Studio: TMS Entertainment (Fruits Basket)

Summary: Izumi Itō is a high school girl who loves cycling. After witnessing a race in which the best female bicycle racers compete against each other, Izumi vows to become a bicycle racer with her friends.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics (Henjin no Salad Bowl)

Studio: Synergy SP (Major), Studio Comet (Initial D)

Summary: While trailing someone, the poor detective Sousuke Kaburagi runs into Sara, an imperial princess from another world who uses black magic. Sousuke and Sara gradually begin living together, but in the blink of an eye, Sara becomes accustomed to modern-day Japan...

Girls Band Cry

Studio: Toei Animation (One Piece)

Summary: The main character drops out of high school in her second year, and aims at entering a university while working alone in Tokyo. A girl is betrayed by her friends and doesn't know what to do. Another girl is abandoned by her parents, and tries to survive in the city by doing part-time jobs. This world lets us down all the time. Nothing goes as planned. But we want something that we can continue to like. We believe there's a place where we belong. That's why we sing.

Unnamed Memory

Studio: ENGI

Summary: Witches—the centuries-old mages that command power immense enough to bring catastrophe. Oscar, the crown prince of the powerful kingdom of Farsas, was cursed as a young boy to never sire an heir. Hoping to break the magic, he seeks out Tinasha, the strongest witch on the continent. To meet her, he climbs her tower, as she is said to grant the wish of any who successfully do so. Yet, when he arrives at the top…he requests that Tinasha become his bride!

Viral Hit

Studio: Okuruto Noboru (Tomodachi Game)

Summary: Scrawny high school student Hobin Yoo is probably the last guy you’d expect to star in a NewTube channel that revolves around fighting. But after following some advice from a mysterious NewTube channel, Hobin is soon knocking out guys stronger than him and raking in more money than he could have ever dreamed of. Can Hobin keep this up, or will he eventually meet his match?

Mission: Yozakura Family

Studio: SILVER LINK. (Non Non Biyori)

Summary: Taiyo Asano is a super shy high school student and the only person he can talk to is his childhood friend, Mutsumi Yozakura. It turns out that Mutsumi is the daughter of the ultimate spy family. Even worse, Mutsumi is being harassed by her overprotective, nightmare of a brother, Kyoichiro. Taiyo will have to take drastic steps to save Mutsumi.

Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night

Studio: Doga Kobo (Oshi no Ko)

Summary: The young artist Yoru Kurage has been on hiatus ever since a certain incident. In reality, her name is Mahiru Kōzuki. She became traumatized by the pressure of being "special" and instead decided to live a normal, standard high school life. However, things change when she meets former idol Kano Yamanōchi.

A Crow Doesn't Choose Its Master (Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai)

Studio: Pierrot (Bleach)

Summary: Yukiya is the lackluster second son of a regional boss in the North House territory. His younger brother has overtaken him in academics. He is no good at sword battle, either. Not that this ever bothers him. So it comes as a shock when this boy, who claims to have no ambition whatsoever, is the one chosen to attend the Imperial Prince in Court--. What awaits Yukiya and his new master is intrigue, murder, a mysterious drug, and invasion from an unexpected enemy. Can they save the world of Yatagarasu (three-legged crows of Japanese myth)?

Mysteries, Maidens, And Mysterious Disappearances

Studio: Zero-G (Grand Blue)

Summary: A mysterious incident that occurs in a row in a city. The challenge to this monster is... With a writer's aspiration, Sumireko, who is a plain girl and has a lot of sexual appeal and body. Although it looks like a boy, it is a bookstore clerk from Adashino who is full of mystery.

[recommendmeanime]

Everyone will remember this for the ridiculous booba and not its mysteries.

[gaymakima]

ooohhh what i would do to know what monty's plans for raven were pre-maiden plotline

[yurisorcerer]

The Weekly Orbit [6/10/24]

This week, Shuumatsu Train and Dungeon Meshi wind up for their finales, and transformations occur in Wonderful Precure and Pokémon Horizons alike! Plus; a look at Rozen Maiden and Witch Watch.

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers! The season is starting to wind down, and that shows in some of these episodes. Our first two anime this week are setting up for their big…

[malusokay]

The Pomegranate Plague of Gen Z Poets

First, it was the moon. Then cigarettes. Then, girls by windows, ethereal in their ruin. Now? Pomegranates. (from my substack)

If you’ve spent enough time around poetry circles, you’ve seen it before. The doomed love, the Persephone complex, the vaguely sacrificial undertones. And, of course, the fruit.

The Persephone Myth (The Popular Version)

So you think you know the story: Persephone, wreathed in flowers, is stolen by Hades, dragged screaming into the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, weeps and starves the earth in protest. Zeus, eventually deciding this is a problem, orders Persephone’s return—but oops, she ate six pomegranate seeds, so now she’s doomed forever.

That’s the version that survives in girl poetry, anyway.

What Promegerants Girls won’t tell you? The actual myth is a mess. There is no single, definitive version—just fragments, scraps stitched together across centuries. And the pomegranate seed detail?

It barely even shows up.

What We Actually Have:

• Persephone’s myth wasn’t even originally Greek. The story of a goddess being dragged into the underworld predates Greek mythology entirely.

• In Mesopotamian myth, Ishtar (Inanna) descends into the underworld to confront Ereshkigal, queen of the dead. She is stripped of her power and trapped, only escaping by offering someone else in her place—a theme that later appears in Persephone’s myth. This suggests Persephone’s story wasn’t a Greek invention but an adaptation of older Near Eastern fertility-death-rebirth cycles.

• Despoina (“the Mistress”) was worshipped before Persephone—and before Hades was even relevant. In older, pre-Olympian cult traditions, Despoina was the actual chthonic goddess of the underworld. She was venerated alongside Demeter and was probably a far more powerful, independent figure before later mythology reduced Persephone to “Hades’ wife.” Despoina’s cult was deliberately secretive, meaning much of her lore is lost—but she was deeply tied to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were about life, death, and rebirth, not tragic romance.

• Hades wasn’t even a major figure in early versions of the myth. Before he was written in as “the husband,” the underworld was associated more with Gaia (Earth) and Nyx (Night). Hades’ later dominance in the story came as Olympian mythology reshaped older chthonic traditions.

• Persephone was originally Kore (“the Maiden”)—not a tragic heroine, but an archetype of the life-death-rebirth cycle tied to agriculture. She wasn’t a person; she was a function. The whole point was that she disappears, then re-emerges—her personality was secondary to the cosmic process she represented. Only much later did people start treating her as an individual.

• Hesiod’s Theogony (~8th century BCE), one of the oldest Greek texts, barely mentions Persephone. To him, she’s just Hades’ wife, no backstory necessary. This matters because it shows that her abduction wasn’t even a central myth at first—it developed later.

• The Homeric Hymn to Demeter (~7th century BCE) is our earliest and most detailed source. But forget romance—it’s a political nightmare. Hades kidnaps Persephone (the Greek verb used, ἁρπάζω, literally means “to snatch away”—no courtship, no tragic longing). Demeter shuts down the harvest, and Zeus steps in not out of fatherly love, but because no crops mean no sacrifices, and no sacrifices mean starving gods.

The pomegranate? One sentence. Persephone eats something in the Underworld, so she has to stay. That’s it. The number of seeds? Not even mentioned. The whole “I bit into a pomegranate and now I am bound to darkness forever ”dramatics? A complete invention.

• Ovid’s Metamorphoses (~8 CE) is where we finally get the six seeds detail—but Ovid was Roman, writing centuries after the Greek versions had already evolved. His retelling heightens the drama, turning Persephone into a tragic, doomed figure rather than a cosmic force tied to ritual.

• Later Orphic traditions tried to clean it up, recasting Persephone as the mother of Zagreus (a god later merged with Dionysus), tying her to death, rebirth, and mystery cults. At this point, the myth had already spiralled into layers of mysticism.

• Persephone wasn’t always tragic—she became terrifying. The helpless waif image is a modern fabrication. The ancient sources tell a different story—one where Persephone is feared, not mourned.

• In Euripides’ Helen (412 BCE), she is invoked as a vengeful queen of the dead.

• In Homer’s Odyssey (Book 10), Odysseus fears Persephone’s wrath during his necromantic ritual—she is powerful enough to control the dead without Hades.

• Hecate was Persephone’s underworld counterpart and guide. In later versions, Hecate leads Persephone back to the upper world, further reinforcing Hecate’s enduring role in the chthonic realm.

• In Roman tradition, Proserpina (Persephone) was linked to Libera, a goddess of wild fertility and ecstatic rites. This completely contradicts the modern image of her as a fragile, tragic figure.

The Pomegranate Wasn’t Inherently Tragic

• In Hippocratic medical texts, pomegranate juice was used for contraception and abortion remedies—a practical, everyday association, not one of doom.

• In Pliny the Elder’s Natural History (1st century CE), pomegranates were used to treat fevers and digestive issues. No poetic suffering, just ancient medicine.

• In Greek funerary practices, pomegranates symbolised rebirth, not entrapment. They weren’t about being bound to darkness forever—they were about the cycle of life continuing.

Why This Completely Destroys the Promegerants Version of Persephone

1. The myth is about agriculture and divine power, not doomed love. The earliest versions barely mention Hades—this was Demeter’s story, a myth about the life cycle, cosmic balance, and the survival of humanity.

2. Persephone wasn’t always Persephone. She was Kore, an agricultural symbol, not a tragic heroine. Her function came first, her personality second. The idea of her as a fully realised, suffering individual came centuries later.

3. She wasn’t even the first queen of the underworld. Despoina was worshipped before her—an older, more powerful chthonic goddess with nothing to do with victimhood or romance.

4. The pomegranate was never central to the original myth. It’s a tiny, passing detail used as an explanation for why Persephone had to stay in the Underworld. The number of seeds? A Roman invention.

5. The whole myth wasn’t even Greek to begin with. It likely evolved from Mesopotamian myths like Ishtar’s descent, meaning the Promegerants version is a distortion of a distortion.

6. Persephone wasn’t a victim—she was a force of nature. The later versions of her myth don’t show her as tragic—they show her as terrifying. She was a queen who ruled the dead, feared even by heroes. If Promegerants Girls really wanted to stay true to the myth, they wouldn’t write about Persephone tragically eating seeds—they’d write about her punishing mortals for disturbing the dead.

From Chthonic Queen to Tragic Girlcore

The Promegerants version of Persephone strips her of her original role and reduces her to an aesthetic prop. In the oldest sources, she isn’t even a person—she’s a cosmic force, an idea before she’s a character.

Persephone was never just a tragic girl in a dark room with red-stained lips. She was a goddess of cycles, a ritual figure whose presence dictated the survival of humanity. The oldest myths barely even cared about her personal emotions—because that wasn’t the point.

And the pomegranate? Once a symbol of fertility and power, now just a moody Tumblr metaphor for doomed relationships. Would the ancient Greeks recognize Promegerants Persephone?

Absolutely not.

They’d probably assume she was some mediocre Roman poet’s overdramatic rewrite.

In other words: the version we cling to is a late, Romanized, overly romanticised distortion of a much darker and weirder myth—one that was never about love, tragedy, or women choosing their suffering.

Why Has This Myth Been Hijacked?

Because it’s too easy. The modern interpretation lets poets turn Persephone into:

• A stolen innocence narrative—without engaging with its actual horror.

• A tragic queen figure—without ever giving her power.

• A martyr for womanhood—as if eating a fruit were some grand metaphor for the inevitability of suffering.

But Persephone’s story was never about being loved and ruined.

It was about bargaining, power, and gods who don’t care about human grief.

The Pomegranate Problem™

At this point, the pomegranate isn’t a symbol—it’s a decorative prop.

Its original meanings—fertility, power, the tension between life and death—have been stripped away, replaced with moody girlhood aesthetics.

Poets don’t use it because they understand its history. They use it because it sounds expensive—like a fruit for people who romanticise heartbreak in foreign cities.

But if your poem still works after swapping “pomegranate” for “grapes”, then what are we even doing here?

Read This Before You Write Another Pomegranate Poem

• Homer’s Odyssey → Pomegranates appear in King Alcinous’ eternal orchard, a symbol of wealth, abundance, and divine favour. Not doom.

• Euripides’ Ion → Associated with Aphrodite, symbolising fertility, passion, and desire. Again—not doom.

• Aristophanes’ Lysistrata → Used as an innuendo for female sexuality (which, frankly, would make for a far more interesting poem).

• Dionysian Mysteries → Linked to ecstatic rites, resurrection cults, and the cycle of life and death. If you want to write about pomegranates and darkness, this would actually make sense.

• Roman Religion → Sacred to Juno, particularly in marriage and childbirth rituals, reinforcing their connection to fertility and renewal, not suffering.

• Theophrastus’ Enquiry into Plants → Describes pomegranates as a cultivated luxury fruit, prized for its sweetness, medicinal properties, and status.

• Herodotus’ Histories → Mentions Persian warriors decorating their spears with pomegranates, symbolising strength, fertility, and victory.

• Pausanias’ Description of Greece → Describes pomegranate offerings at Demeter’s sanctuaries, representing fertility, rebirth, and ritual purification—never suffering.

• Plutarch’s Moralia → Links pomegranates to beauty, sensuality, and indulgence in Greek and Roman culture—so, more hedonistic pleasure, less tragic metaphor.

Next time someone writes about a pomegranate-stained mouth, ask them if they mean Persephone or Aristophanes’ sex jokes.

How to Write a Pomegranate Poem That Survives Scrutiny

If you must use it, at least be rigorous. If you’re going full Persephone-core, then be specific. Make it about something real.

Tell us if the juice stains the sheets, if the seeds taste like metal, if they stick between your teeth like regret.

Don’t just drop in “pomegranate” and expect us to do the heavy lifting.

Or consider letting the myth go.

There are so many other symbols, so many richer, underused classical references.

And If You’re Tired of the Pomegranate, Try These Instead

there’s a whole world of classical symbols that carry just as much weight—without the overuse. Here are a few:

Chthonic & Underworld Imagery:

• Asphodel – The ghostly, liminal flowers of the underworld in Greek myth, growing where souls linger. Less overdone than pomegranates, just as eerie.

• Lethe – The river of forgetfulness. Its waters erase memory, a far more unsettling metaphor for loss than a single piece of fruit.

• Orphic Gold Leaves – Real funeral tablets placed with the dead, inscribed with guidance for navigating the afterlife. The ultimate memento mori.

• Owls – Athena’s symbol, but also a nocturnal watcher associated with wisdom, death, and the unknown.

Fertility, Desire & Ruin:

• Fig Trees – Symbolizing sensuality, abundance, and decay (the Greeks also had fig-wood coffins).

• Laurel Wreaths – Victory and poetic ambition, but also a crown of temporary glory—since laurel leaves wither fast.

• Myrrh – A resin used for perfume and burial rites, evoking both seduction and decay. (Also linked to Myrrha, who was cursed to fall in love with her own father. Greek myths were wild.)

Dionysian Madness & Ecstasy:

• Thyrsus – A staff tipped with ivy and pinecones, wielded by Dionysus and his followers. Represents intoxication, divine frenzy, and the thin line between revelry and destruction.

• Ivy – Unlike flowers, it never dies in winter. Clings, suffocates, overtakes. A more interesting metaphor for entanglement than Persephone’s six seeds.

If you must use a pomegranate, at least make it bleed. But if you’re ready for something richer—there are so many other symbols waiting.

[ydotome]

[animenekos]

Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi; Mysterious Disappearances - Episode 9

[chaztalk]

The spring 2024 anime season will begin tomorrow, so here’s what I’ll be watching:

-Whisper Me a Love Song

-Vampire Dormitory

-Gods’ Game We Play

-Spice & Wolf

-Unnamed Memory

-A Condition Called Love

-The New Gate

-The Many Sides of Seiyuu Radio

-The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases

-Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included

-Mission: Yozakura Family

-Mysterious Disappearances

-Astro Note

Anime that I haven’t caught up to:

Demon Slayer

Konosuba

Mushoku Tensei

The Irregular at Magic High School

The Misfit of Demon King Academy

Date a Live

[arsonlookers]

Devotion [part 1?]

YAN! Fox God! Childe x reader warning: yandere, obsession, no beta we die like Folcalor,

For over a thousand years since he met you that day, an innocent child who unknowingly helped an injured Fox God of the woods.

That day he met you, he knows, deep inside something changed. His dead eyes met with your pure innocent eyes and got himself, a God, entangled in your life, your fate, until your unfortunate end. He promised and devoted his life to searching for you, to love you, to devote himself to the bone for you,

A God who unknowingly falls in love with a human child, and chains him to his destiny. At first, he actually does not even acknowledge this... feeling...yet, he just thought that it would be fun to tease and scare you in this deep forest, which you are always intrigued to visit.

You were always, always warned to never enter the forest alone, tales of merchants and woodcutters telling stories about the mischievous Fox God that loves to play tricks, pranks, lies, and possibly eat mischievous or scared children who visit his Forest. Alone. It's also in the tales that he is merciless, bloodthirsty, and a crazy God.

As a child at the age of 11, you were always the type of child where your imagination and curiosity clouded your judgment or fear. That is why you always do the opposite of what the adults around you says because you love how it feels new, exciting, and how amazing it is when they say it's dangerous when it is actually not. You want to see it for yourself before you decide or act on it.

There is this one tale that always intrigued you as a child, some people are said to praise the Fox God who brings blessing and abundant wealth to those who he favors, but there are also those who are scared, hate, and reject the Fox God for he is said to be someone who enjoys eating young children and loves young maidens, and Absolutely Loves war, battle, and blood of the people who does not worship him. That, they are a victim of his wrath and prejudice. Or a god who grants wealth and wishes to those he likes.

All tales are said. About the mysterious Fox God who lurks in the Forest just behind your sweet abode.

All the time your parents warn you to never, ever step foot inside the forest. Whatever circumstances, if you ever hear whispers of invite and giggles, you shall not entertain or respond to the said voice.

But have you ever listened?

No...

You never did, One particular winter day your parents were busy with the festival, and you were left alone to guard the house for they believed that you were old enough to do so. your parents raised you responsibly, except for that mischievous side of yours. though for you to learn and grow, they have left you with a big responsibility to guard the house and dont ever leave the house.

It was a simple task, a very simple one that you ended up enjoying your warm abode for yourself. Knowing that even if you are very curious about the forest since your mother always tells you tales of merchants and from fellow woodcutters about the Fox God, you are just also too busy playing with yourself to be curious. Yes, you love the thrill but leaving the house alone in a very cold winter is not a very wise idea even as a child knows that, You convinced yourself that.

That is until you heard a cry. whimpers. can be heard outside your house.

A cry of an animal?, you ran outside your house as you heard the loud cry. and when you were faced with the forest, it was cold, creepy, and scary, but the cry slowly echoed and disappeared inside the forest. These cries now picked your interest, your hands started to shake and you kept looking between your house and the forest in front of you.

But you decided to turn around and go back to your comfortable house until you heard whimpers. again. soft whimpers. this time its closer, still inside the forest but it's like closer.

"what?...whimpers?" You said to yourself

Slowly you decided to get close, and this time you walked and walked, entering the forest hesitantly, you kept looking back to make sure you were not that far away so that if anything happened you could run for your life. As you got closer you could hear the whimpers of a cry clearer and nearer. few more steps in and brushing the bushes away from your vision, there... behold an injured fox.

"a fox?" You asked tilting your head to the side as you approached it slowly and letting yourself not be noticed.

but then the foxes head turns to you...its eyes looks at you...as if pleading, scared, cautious, and curious in its eyes. it has such deep blue eyes, as you stared at it more.

"you ok?" you grabbed a stick and slowly sat a meter away beside the injured fox and started to poke it gently "Are you hurt?"

The fox whimpered, closing its eyes, and looked at its injury. There is a patch of blood on its ankle and a bear trap on its leg and looks back at you pleading... you think.

"that looks bad," you come closer to the injured fox hesitantly, but then start to be not scared to touch his soft fur anymore you examine his actions cautiously and touch its fur more gently and pat his head as if trying to comfort it. "dont worry! mama can help your bubu!" you said excitingly as your eyes shines in determination

"mama always helps with my bubu! maybe she can help you!" You said patting its head gently he was docile as it acted, it just kept looking at you as if observing you closely, and every time you touched a sour part of its injury it started Whimpering again

"oh, sorry sorry, we should get you to Mama!" You stand up from your squat position and try to open the bear trap gently and cautiously so you won't injure yourself, your father always teaches you survival skills and basic hunting since you are their only child, after the successful opening of the bear trap for a few minutes you then try to lift the fox up, but without any strength enough to lift it up, you just worsen and touch the injury which causes the fox to cry louder, so you let go of it, so you get back to your previous position squatting beside it.

"I cant lift you UP!" You whine and pout "Your fat and too HEAvy for me!!" you touch its fur patting it again

You didn't notice it but the fox gave you a looks as if it was offended by what you said, it started to wiggle gently and tried to stand up from its position only for it to fall into the thick snow and back from it laying in the snow whimpering.

"dont! you will hurt yourself more..." you stood up from your position and looks at it.

"I'll be back! I promise! wait here" You walk away quickly and go back to your house, you search for your sled which you always use to carry your heavy things, you take it out and tie a rope in the front and go inside your home and grab plenty of cotton and your favorite warm thick blanket and put it inside the sled.

You quickly go back to the forest with the sled in hand "I'm back! I can help you now!!" you said excitingly

you moved the sled closer to the fox and gently pat its fur again asking for permission "Can I carry you, mr. fox?" you said with your child tone, the fox looked at you and gently moved and rubbed its head in your hand as if confirming to you that it's ok to hold him.

You carry the fox gently in your small arms, supporting it with your small body, and gently place the fox in the sled after some bloody moving, you immediately start your journey back home with your small injured fox in your sled.

After a lot of walking, from afar you can hear someone calling your name.

"Y/n! Y/n! Where are you!?" it sounded concerned and worried as you come closer you can see you parents searching around the house and keeps calling you in a panic.

"Mama! papa!" you called out cutely with you sled in hand you never let go.

They heard you from afar and after seeing you exiting the forest they immediately rushed by your side and hugged you asking you questions about what happened and why did you came from the forest.

your father who looked at you closely sees that you had a sled with you and sees an injured fox

"Y/n! What is this?" he pointed out and tried to distance you from the injured fox

"papa! it needs help! he is injured!" you said rather pitifully

"I wanna help it!" said pleading your father and looking at your mother also pleading

"no, we can't! Y/n! you know how dangerous the forest is and Foxes!" your mother scolded you and tried to make your grip on the sled lose and take you away far distance from the injured fox.

"Mama!" you whined clearly saddened and pleading

"I can treat him! you can help it! pleaseee!" you said looking at her now teary-eyed

they tried to make sense out of you when suddenly the pick up of the snow and the wind started to becomes stronger.

"y/n, we need to go back now" your mother once again tried to take you away but you persisted

"pelasseee pleasseee pleaseeeee" this time you are crying not caring about the cold just crying with the sled in hand, iron gripped.

your father sighed in this sight and admitted defeat, after all its starting to become colder and dangerous the more time all of you are outside, on this upcoming winter storm

"ok, ok but, once it starts to attack I will not hesitate to kill it... understand?" your father warns and glares at the injured fox

You smiled brightly and answered, "yes!, he is a very calm Fox! he didnt hurt me at all!"

after entering the house with your new injured friend you welcomed it inside and looks at your father with pleading eyes

"he is hurt...he needs treatment pleasee" You pleaded again

your father looked at your mother who was now in the kitchen and has a medicinal kit in her hands, she walks in front of you and patted your head.

"I'll try my best, honey. I won't promise anything, understand?" she said calmly with only a small smile in her face

but with her words you smile brightly and goes back to the injured fox side and beamed

"mama! agreed! I'm so happy for you fox!" you said happily

throughout the session, your parent were at first hesitant, and your mother was petrified on the inside since it would be her first time treating a fox. Still, shockingly whenever the fox snarls, and once you pat and hum to the injured fox it immediately calms down, as if understanding that it is fine and nothing to worry about.

After all the treatment your parents tried and practically begged you to leave the fox alone and go back to your room to sleep, but to your stubbornness you didn't.

"I want to stay here, with Fox! I don't want him to be alone here" you said looking at him with sad eyes and looking at your parents with a pleading one

After all the reasoning and banter they gave up on it and ended up all of you sleeping in the living room that night.

You were snuggling yourself gently against the injured fox and talking to the fox as if it understood you it kept its attention fully focused on you, and your stories. until you have fallen asleep and your parents put a warm blanket for the two of you. As they sleep on the couch watching intently, they too fall asleep.

For the past few days a week to be exact your parents just end up trusting you with the fox, after all, they can't always be by your side all the time. They just hoped and always told you that whenever the fox acts violently go to the neighbors' house immediately. And in the night they too just gave up reasoning with you to sleep in your own room, they just always leave a warm and big blanket for you and the fox and two pillows.

for over two weeks now, you have become really close with the fox that you ended up giving him a name.

"Tartar! you can do it" you called to him

right now he is trying to stand up with his injury since it started to heal but the fox however, he still limps every time he walks towards you which makes you worried whenever he falls on the ground.

And this routine repeats the next day, spoiling Tartar and him being sooooooOOOOOooo cuddly with you, to the point that sometimes he growls at your parents when they try to take you away from him, whenever you are asleep. he is watching.

the next morning you keep cuddling him too, he is so warm that you just want to stay cuddling with him. You are very affectionate to him too, you love his eyes, his fur, his warmth, well practically everything. though your parents found it odd and well-protective of you, though it really didn't stop you from spoiling and cuddling with the fox.

as Tartar is recovering fully, it made you sad that your parents told you to let it go, and it made you cry when your one last sleepover with Tartar tonight.

"you-you should take care of yourself out there ok?" you said sniffling and in between your hiccups as you hugged him tightly and snuggles your face and body on his fur

"I'm gonna miss you" you pulled out from his body and offered him a sweet but messy smile, thanks to your snot and tears all over your face.

your snot and tears and a little bit of drool are all over his fur, you just swipe a towel over it and go back to snuggling him again, until you have fallen asleep with your tears.

That night, the fox... or Tartar didn't fall asleep, he kept watching you and your small body thinking

'you should take care of yourself, little child' he snorted though he had this soft gaze on you. he couldn't stop looking at you.

something in his ears picks up sounds upstairs, after all his hearing is pretty good.

"at ...he....the....is going to be released..." you father said

"his eyes..... terrify... and how....it growls... it's weird" your mother's worried, scared, and relieved voice

The fox already knows that both your parents are well, protective, and terrified of him, though he can really see why. You are so sweet, so kind, so cute, so....lovable. over all understandable.

'if only I could take you~' he said in his thoughts planned for you and him, though he could clearly see how terrified and sad you would look if he ever took you away from your parents. You are only just a child, after all, a sweet and ignorant 11 year old human child~

'I can wait~ I promise to wait for you~ my mate' he smirked and snuggled his face into yours, rubbing it to your soft and warm cheek.

A promise he made that night, he will always not break promises since he rarely promises someone after all.

though you will never know that, for now.

[yurisorcerer]

The Weekly Orbit [6/3/24]

In this week's Weekly Orbit, the anime girl band wars heat back up, and Train to The End of The World gets back on track. Plus, retrospective coverage on Asura Cryin' and Rozen Maiden and manga coverage on Deep Raputa.

The Weekly Orbit is a weekly column collecting and refining my more casual anime- and manga-related thoughts from the previous week. Mostly, these are taken from my tumblr blog, and assume familiarity with the works covered. Be wary of spoilers! Hello, anime fans! Over the last week, things have really been heating up in certain corners. I won’t belabor the point, every episode covered below is,…

[fandomsmadness]

TBHX episode 9 rant

Oh it's going to be a proper rant this time. The conspiracy theorist in me is working so much OT that X is going to snap me into oblivion any time now.

This child is so precious LHO how dare you play around with her like this

Hey but because I'm totally normal about this, speaking of X...

...BROSKI WTF ARE YOU DOING HERE??

My previous theory (I don't even remember where I mentioned it earlier) that X is making and breaking the current hero roster is so validated right now. He definitely curated the current (well, what's in the website) top 10 with a purpose. At this point, wouldn't be surprised if he went and seduced Ms. Blazing Fire to create a cheating scandal too. My man complaining about working till midnight while he's busy taking the time to toss a coin to the witch, er, sacred maiden on his way home.

This is also now right before the Yang Cheng arc which means it's confirmed that X was operational by that time (not that most of us had any doubts). My ep 5 hypothesis that Lucky Cyan was just becoming popular before the Lin Ling arc is also now validated. It's also kind of sweet in hindsight that both Shang Chao and Yang Cheng went and got tickets for Cyan's first big performance (must've cost a pretty penny) for Xia Qing's sake.

I need to start one of those red-string-connected-mystery-boards.

The next big thing (for me): Trust Value, as always. It was confusing to see Cyan's go down to zero after she mentioned last ep that it's been high since she was small. Running theory (still) is that she's the child of a hero couple, she had trust value because of that which disappeared since it was never publicized that she survived the plane crash and thus people believed her dead. She didn't notice, because by that time it had already been replaced with the Sacred Maiden trust value instead.

I was wondering how she would get it back up after losing her lucky powers as a performer. Coins for good singing don't equate to trust value, after all.

On a somewhat related sidenote, hero agencies are really just PR firms for heroes. I'm not sure if I should be thanking Liu Zhen for bringing her to DOS's attention (but you seemed surprised they wanted to sign her on, why bring her up in the first place?).

But on the note of thanking people, I suppose I should thank these morons for bringing up her past and cultivating trust value, but really I was far too busy being thoroughly annoyed instead. Like fuck off and leave the poor girl alone! Ugh.

This shot is my favourite from the whole episode (which is saying a lot, I loved the animation and art style this entire ep) because you can see how people are just squinting at and recording the worshippers lmao.

But seriously, stop forcing your beliefs onto innocent children.

Oh but speaking of forcing your ideals on children...

Alright bro, spill the tea. Who were you, what did you do, why do your powers look so similar to the X hero couple's fire powers? HOW did it go from this to The Little MermaidTM? WHERE did the zombie powers come from?

WHAT is up with you and Bad Luck Calamity?

You give Luo a guitar that has weird effects. Why? You also abandon your own Sacred Maiden in favour of tussling with Luo in the escape scene. I'd almost be convinced that you wanted to separate the two more than you wanted to stop Cyan from getting away. Did you want to keep him around as leverage to force Cyan back when you wanted to? Is the guitar bugged? Are you torturing Luo for him to be bandaged in a locked up room two years after the escape? Too many questions gah. AND WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TELL THE GUY AT THE END?

Running theory: Luo's family was in the same plane that crashed, and you just blamed Cyan for his entire family being wiped out, becoming an orphan, and being branded bad luck.

Are there any other explanations because I would kill to know. Like there's no way this is a coincidence.

But going back to the escape scene, the whole thing is weird. Firstly (and this is just funny) how does wind blowing close the gate against the wind?? What was the animation physics department (is that a thing?) thinking?

Secondly why is the guitar this important, to the scene and to the ep? This is, mind you, the Guitar with Effects. I am suspicious. Very suspicious.

Thirdly what was up with that truck driver? Who's compelling him? His eyes were purple, but it's unlikely the Dean would disrupt his own intervention (unless he wants to act like the bad guy to drive Cyan away with the guitar, for whatever reason?) Do we know a hero/villain with hypnotic powers? I'm drawing blanks.

The only other possibility is that this was Luo, which would make sense, although we have to admit that was a surprising amount of good luck for a supposed bad luck person. This would also bolster the popular theory that Zombie Mode is Luo's powers going out of control because hey, that's also purple.

Just hoping the shared purple doesn't mean anything-

My conspiracy theorist brain hurts now.

Lastly, the art sequences in this episode and the colours were so beautiful (fitting for Lucky Cyan's moniker I suppose) I simply must ogle them.

Just stunning. Also is that song out yet, because I haven't been able to hunt it down.

Now that we've caught up to the YC arc in terms of timeline, I wonder what next week's ep will bring. Fresh trauma, no doubt.

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #34

Do cry me a river

Imagine dis…

I re-watched some of my favorite anime when I was a kid and… Another idea popped up if I do say so myself.

If the words Yukina and Ice Maiden ring a bell then you know which direction I am heading…

…

Deep within Gotham, specifically, its underground city seems to be buzzing with intrigue and curiosity at something new. Now, when something new has appeared all of them are watching, as if it was not the usual drug or weaponry to use on the other heroes. All eyes were on them, each turn and each step this new player had brought into the game were all being watched and carefully cataloged.

But the moment it had proved its worth each and everyone, from the big names and players of the underground that stretches from Gotham to its neighboring cities to all those who had a single line of connection to the underground. All began clamoring to buy and claim such precious little things.

All of them began to whisper among the shadows and had all of them in traded hushed tones in fear of the Bats who may have or have not been listening.

Let me tell you… It wasn’t any ordinary rumors, but it was all because of a new production of pearls. Pearls, strange and enchanting pearls, that glowed with an otherworldly greenish blue hue. Unlike the typical black, white, pink, and rare blue pearls that adorned the necks of Gotham’s elite and the rich, these are not only rare, mysterious, and sought after not for their beauty but for the miracles they had performed.

These pearls were said to have amazing therapeutic abilities. Stories circulated about wounds healing in seconds, incurable diseases disappearing, and organs regenerating as if by magic. The pearls' magical qualities increased their value to astronomical levels, making them a sought-after treasure on the illicit market. Wealthy collectors and desperate folks were both eager to pay for everything to obtain them.

But despite their efforts to be quiet some noise and rumors had already reached the ears of Gotham’s vigilantes.

…

Gotham vigilantes had already heard of these new pearls slowly circulating in the underground world. Batman had it at the end of his priority as it was just a gemstone and in some cases had his attention, Red Hood didn’t even bother as it was not drugs and thought of it as another rich eccentric trend that soon to fade, so did the rest of the vigilantes dismissing them without a second thought.

…

One evening, Red Robin was on his usual patrol, this night his patrol route was line on keeping an eye out for the upper echelons of Gotham’s elite as there had been a massive Arkham breakout meaning that the rich were out for grabs for the usual kidnapping and ransom.  

He intercepted a poor attempt at a robbery between a wealthy civilian, their bag had released all of its contents in a fit of panic. Red Robin helped the said civilian to gather their things all up after he had tied the robber with some zip-ties. As he was gathering their things he picked up a unique-looking necklace. A simple silver necklace with a singular greenish-blue pearl in its center. The unusual color caught his attention but never thought any of it until tomorrow morning.

The next morning, As Tim was dressing up for his morning job as the CEO of Wayne Enterprise, he noticed something peculiar. The scar from his missing spleen, a constant reminder of a near-fatal injury, and another reminder that Ra is a creep for stealing a minor’s spleen had vanished. Alarmed and more awake than seconds ago, he hurriedly went to Dr. Leslie’s clinic for an impromptu check-up. The X-rays revealed the impossible, his spleen had regenerated as if it had never been missing in the first place.

…

The Bats are now scrambling for any information about the mysterious pearl that Red Robin had contact with just last night.

Meanwhile, Danny was imprisoned in a remote, strongly fortified manor. Unlike Yukina from Yuyu Hakusho, Danny's tears transformed into a powerful healing agent capable of miraculous recoveries.

This wealthy captor, who had been a player in the underground for quite some time yet always had the ambition to be more than just a buyer, when he became aware of Danny's existence and his tears' healing abilities, had been exploiting him to create the greenish-blue pearls that were now circulating in the black market.

Danny was not alone in captivity. He was accompanied by his younger, de-aged self, Dan and Ellie. Both had been captured and used as leverage to compel Danny's cooperation. The three were confined in separate, high-security quarters that were closely monitored and strongly guarded.

…

As chaos is slowly filling up the streets of Gotham, at the edge of the city’s border there stood a woman with a purpose.

Talia al Ghul, the Demon Head's daughter and mother of Damian Al Ghul-Wayne, commonly known as Robin, is well-known for her strategic abilities. She embarked on a personal mission to protect and save her son Danny from the pig who dared to hurt him.

Danny, Talia and Bruce's first kid had been hidden from the world, even her father, for his safety. Safety? She felt selfish for the first time, keeping Danny concealed from everyone except her. Talia had decided to keep him concealed, including from his brother, Damian.

Talia had lately received an unusual package—a VHS video with a green sticky note bearing the letters "CW." The film contained a warning and a guide, as well as critical information about the forces that had kidnapped her son and instructions on how to exploit something she had never seen before.

The tape revealed Danny's captor's identity, a wealthy and powerful figure deep within Gotham's underbelly who had discovered Danny's new powers and was forcing him to create healing pearls. The video also contained plans and security information about Danny's detention facility, as well as the network of individuals involved in this nefarious enterprise.

Talia devised a strategy based on the tape's information, contacting trusted allies and resources while also depending on her network and the element of surprise. Talia walks through the city like a ghost, her love for Danny so strong and unwavering that she is willing to eliminate anyone who endangers her son's safety.

…

PS: If someone out there wants to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

PPS: This one is for the month of August since I’m going to be a bit busy so ENJOY!!!

[ydotome]

[animenekos]

Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi; Mysterious Disappearances - Episode 11