#not given the same treatment as shinigami at ALL

[grimmjowjaegerjaquez]

remembering ggio and that i do like him even if we only had him for a short time

[kiame-sama]

you know how it’s kind of seen as a failure for a woman not to be able to make children? at least in a lot of cultures, including mine. do you think the monster boys will care if reader physically could not conceive? not to get into specifics but i actively avoid telling people because i have been shamed and told that my future husband will be disappointed with me or to warn any future man i date because he deserves to know incase he wants to be with a woman who can fulfill her role.

Most of the boys won't be heartbroken over it and some may even try to find a work-around if their Human is comfortable with it. Such work arounds include adoption- as many still want to raise young with their Human- or even using magically advanced treatments to make an infant with their Human.

Lilia will be one of the first to suggest adoption and will likely hop right into adoption when he learns that his Human can't conceive. Raising a child together would be enough for him as he has already taken in several children to raise in the past. Certainly wouldn't make him love his Human any less regardless of if they can bear him children or not. He just wants to be a team with his Human to raise a child, as all his children thus far have not been related to him by blood.

Idia will be the first to suggest making an artificial womb and taking bone marrow to literally make a child that is a combination of genetics. He enjoys being given something to work on and he will happily do so to make his own young with his Human. Infertility isn't a deal breaker to the Shinigami, it is a new project to work on and something he can help his Human through.

The species that can implant others with eggs will also be considering using their own reproductive abilities and magic to make a child. It isn't an uncommon practice in Twisted Wonderland as some species have trouble conceiving together without magical and scientific aid (Driders and Centaurs have this trouble quite often). Besides, for most it really isn't an issue to have kids or not.

Leona may be a bit relieved as he isn't fond of children and though he would only consider cubs of his own with his Human, he is the second born and has no obligation to actually have children at any point in his life. If his Mousey really want a cub to raise with him, he can always kidnap Cheka and let them raise his brother's cub. Falena will be angry Leona took Cheka, but for appearances he wouldn't dare take the cub back from the Human especially if they wanted the cub to raise. The positive impact it would have socially for Sunset Savana would be worth letting the Human and Leona raise the cub instead.

In the case of Malleus, some dragons have been able to asexually reproduce and he will go out of his way to ensure he has a Draconic babe to raise with his Human mate. He is quite alright that his Human can't have young, so he will have the young for them. Either way, he is getting an Heir for Briar Valley and keeping his Human mate.

In the case of the Nymphs and elementals, they don't need a fertile mate to produce offspring that have traits of both parents. It is an elemental core that they form with magic and a combination of DNA from both intended parents. All they need from you is your blood or hair and they can typically form the element cores themselves. Nymphs and elementals are truly constructed and given life by magic and their elements, they will do the same to create young.

[yakool-foolio]

Would you say that Kodaka has toned down the weirdness in Rain Code? Weirdness as in fan service, sexualization, or mishandling of taboo topics

To me personally, I think the raunchy jokes in Rain Code are at least less drawn out and obnoxious as Danganronpa. Granted my memory on exact quotes from the Danganronpa series is fuzzy, but I do recall that some of its jokes were definite eye-rollers, with one such running 'gag' being the worst of them all by somehow being important to one of the murders (I'm sorry Mikan you don't deserve this treatment). The optional fanservice events in each game I could care less for cause at least they're optional.

Rain Code definitely has its moments of raunchiness, especially in regards to Desuhiko n Shinigami, but I didn't really mind it as much. Desuhiko fawning over high schoolers was very unfortunate (and let's not even get started on the mistranslation of that one interaction in his DLC), but I still ended up liking his character cause it was clear that he had a lot more to like about his personality rather than just him constantly hitting on girls. Same with Shinigami. Sure the 'flat-chested' joke can get old, but it does actually make sense for her character because she's acting out in a fit of jealousy since she never gets to interact with mortal life and is chained to Yuma all the time. This kinda ties back into my thoughts on how perverted comic relief characters can be more than the butt of a joke if given more thought into why they act the way they do. In my opinion, Shinigami is a prime example of this done right!

[rararazaquato]

chapter 2 is coming. here's makoto and kurumi.

a lot of design notes under the cut, both about these guys and the nda detectives

yuma was specifically given a little facial hair because, in the canon of the fic, he's been too busy to actually shave. however, the out-of-canon reason is that my art style is so chibi cutesit that it makes everyone look a bajillion years younger than they actually are. yuma's design is already a little young-looking despite most evidence in-canon pointing to him being an adult, so i wanted to give him that extra signifier of being a grown ass man.

the longer hair is also there for the same reasons - he hasn't gotten it cut for a while, and the bowl cut made him look childish.

because i have chronic same-face-syndrome, i put yuma and makoto in the same pose to emphasize that they are, genetically, the same person.

honestly, makoto's design versus yuma's in-game really makes it clear just how much a haircut and outfit change can make a character look older. with makoto wearing a suit and having hair that isn't in the perfect shape of a bowling ball, he looks a lot more like a young adult with a babyface. because i feel like he doesn't need the extra age signifiers (and because i feel like he'd want to differentiate himself from yuma more), i didn't give him the facial hair.

the "looking less like yuma" angle is also why he still bleaches and grows out his hair.

i like to think makoto starts taking better care of himself postgame, so i made his hair a bit fluffier and softer-looking to show he's actually been brushing and washing it. i mean, come on. canon makoto ily but you look like a greased-up yorkshire terrier.

i also gave makoto curtain bangs because girl... you have a forehead the size of the moon. i'm also a member of large forehead gang so i understand you pain but still.

makoto's outfit is actually loosely based on an outfit i own irl! i have a hawaiian shirt with similar colors (albeit a different pattern) and blue swim trunks with red lobsters on them.

makoto probably sunburns really easily, both as a result of being pale as fuck (yuma also has this issue) and being a homunculus (he won't die in the sun, but it does result in a mild allergy). so just imagine he's always lathered in sunscreen.\

mentally, makoto is the same age as yuma (so 20 when this fic takes place) and kurumi is 19 (i headcanon she's only a year younger than yuma). chronologically, they are both about four years old. #justhomunculusthings

i changed kurumi's hairstyle because her canon one is stupid. like why does she have two skinny ass braids hidden in her coat. give her those long luscious locks.

she's wearing disposable gloves to protect her hands, and almost all of her clothing is specifically designed to reflect uv rays.

you'll notice the inside of kurumi's mouth is actually a different color than any of the master detectives. that's the homunculus baby!!!

i gave her an ahoge because i hope she gets the protag treatment for the next game. also i hope she and shinigami become girlbesties and also that shinigami gets the fuck over herself. um ok now time for design notes abt the other people. artwork here if u didn't see the og one.

desuhiko actually does turn 20 in the timeframe of the fic. his birthday party is a future chapter.

he gets knockoff heelys in the upcoming chapter bcuz i think he'd enjoy them. but he got them flippy floppys in the meantime.

fubuki got a new hairstyle because i think she would be a bit more loose and silly as she starts going on more adventures.

her and vivia actually have two birthdays between the time i headcanon raincode to take place (march 2XXX) and the fic (july 2XXX+1). so while yuma is 19 in mdarc and 20 in usf, fubuki is 21 in mdarc and 23 in usf (and vivia is 25-27)

yes, that is ibuki mioda on her shirt.

i'm actually scared of needles so halara's earrings get a redesign. they get new ones in the upcoming chapter as well.

their outfit might be mostly long sleeves, but the jacket is lightweight and breezy and the jeans have wide legs, so it's actually nice and cool.

just realized this outfit is primarily yellow with some red and blue acccents. i can't believe i reinvented sollux homestuck. i'm sorry halara baby i didn't mean to compare you to an ugly bitch like that (this is a joke i actually like sollux)

vivia's outfit is inspired by the stupid shit i would make in the sims before i discovered custom content. i feel like he'd be a sims girly.

your guess for why yuma got facial hair due to never shaving while vivia, who is infamously too executive-dysfunction-riddled to leave the fireplace much less shave, has the skin of a newborn baby is up to you to interpret. possible options include (un)fortunate genetics on either/both of them, he is trans and hasn't started/doesn't intend to start t, or he just pays halara to do it for him.

actually i do think he pays halara to help him out with things when the chronic fatigue/executive dysfunction gets too much to deal with. fubuki will do it for free but also she is kind of bad at being helpful as a result of being fubuki.

aaand time for the general headcanons section

every single one of these characters is some flavor of neurodivergent. halara and kurumi are autistic, desuhiko has adhd, and yuma, makoto, fubuki, and vivia have both. i'm sure some of them also have other neurodivergencies but those are the two i'm most familiar with so those are the two that worm their way into my headcanons.

not a single one of these characters doesn't have ptsd. like i'm sorry but you cannot live through chapters 4 and 5 of rain code and not be mentally ill afterwards. most of em also have a few other mental illnesses because i love projecting on fictional characters <3

vivia's also got some sort of chronic physical illness (my personal headcanon is pots), and makoto sometimes uses a cane. yuma should sometimes use a cane but he has the bodily awareness of a fucking peanut and thinks it hurts everyone to walk.

yuma's gonna realize he's any pronouns nonbinary someday, but that won't be for a hot minute. makoto is the same, but he's a lot closer to that realization than yuma is. both are also bi, as is kurumi.

desuhiko is the resident kodakaverse problematic bicon. there's always one of em!

fubuki is a lesbian. "oh but she confesses to yuma in her final gumshoe gab!" well as i said before yuma isn't a man. it's a bit confusing to her because she doesn't know that yet but turns out she's just got that Sense where she can tell that yuma isn't exactly cis.

halara is nonbinary (obviously, that's basically canon) and pan

vivia is somewhere on the aroace spectrum (both out of general lack of interest and because sex and romance are physically/mentally straining) but he's generally gay-aligned.

[lightcreators]

@stardstschlar continue from here

Not prey, but purused.

He could count the number of times this had been the case in his own life. But for Tsuzuki to say it point blank, Jotaro had to really think on this now. The man was a Shinigami - or Shikigami, either way. He brought souls back to the Underworld, or wherever they were taken when the person died. Never in a million years did he think something like that could ever be pursued. Never did he think that someone that brought dead people to where they needed to be would have enemies. Shit. This had all been so confusing in a sense. The Joestar, though, wasn't willing to allow his companion to be hunted - not if he could help it. Since their very first meeting the raven haired stand user had grown to actually like the other man, had become intrigued with him and his story.

Everyone had a story, didn't they? What the hell made the other so much more interesting? Not even Jotaro himself knew this answer. Though, he supposed, he'd get it figured out at some point. "Then, what's pursuing you?" The man questioned, head tilting a moment as teals gazed upon Tsuzuki's features.

It  has  been  an  recollection  himself  had  keep  in  the  closet.

With  the  chaos  generated  by  the  Witch  of  Illusions,  he  hadn't  been,  for  a  long  while,  to  facing  frontally  what  happened  couple  of  months  before  …  long  before  they  crossed  path  with  the  main  concerned  who  never  stopped  his  ambitions  against  him  or  desiring  to  harm  Hisoka-kun  …  until  long  term  silence  followed.  Until  he  could  pretending  everything  he  had  been  surviving,  as  an  Shinigami,  was  actually  over.  For  an  while  only  ---  which  the  huge  difference  lay.  Backstory  concerning  Alois  Trancy  resonated  a  lot  with  Hisoka-kun,  and  compared  to  his  work  partner,  he  had  no  words  in  his  pocket  when  it  came  to  revenge.  He  orally  slaughtered  Lelouch  and  the  God  of  the  Underworld  without  any  restraint,  without  any  limits,  with  barely  concealed  disdain,  with  no  consideration  for  the  other  perspective,  and  wanted  only  pure  painful  vengeance  …  He  could  have  remained  out  of  the  spot,  nevertheless,  difference  of  treatment  between  Lelouch  vi  Britannia  and  him  had  been  made  somewhere  upon  one  detail  :  their  purple  eyes.  How  he  was  supposed  to  feel,  to  knowing  an  immortal  having  same  eyes  than  him,  likewise  associated  to  that  term  of  demon,  that  weighting  himself  with  an  simplicity  arrogance,  when  for  his  purple  eyes,  he  has  been  rejected,  he  always  has  sensed  himself  different,  had  lose  will  to  life  ?  He  wouldn't  have  becoming  an  Shinigami  since  he  wouldn't  have  given  up  of  life,  eventually  tired  of  everything,  eventually  tiring  about  how  nothing  would  change  of  his  world  of  loneliness  …  something  than  dramatically  he  shared  with  the  same  Emperor.  However,  the  other  detail  who  emotionally  broke  him,  since  Alois  Trancy  didn't  have  landscape  of  whatever  personal  revenge  to  spark  within  him,  within  recollection  of  that  inhuman  blood  inside  him  …  to  be  associated  with  demons  …  of  being  an  descendants  of  darkness  in  the  same  allegation  that  had  nearly  driven  him  to  suicide  months  earlier  …  His  mind  had  been  cracked  in  every  corner  of  the  mask  he  had  created.  Hisoka-kun  had  nearly  died  of  empathy  at  the  level  of  hatred  he  had  felt  coming from  this  witch,  who  was  the  embodiment  of  an future reflection.

Escaping  thoughts  for  gain  time  towards  THE  POINT  he  had  to  expose,  to  remember.  ❝  It's  an  doctor.  ❞  He  explained  in  an  lowered  voice,  in  which  thoughtfulness  betrayed  his  voice.  ❝  He  is  the  cause  of  several  crimes  which  prompted  us  to  investigate  …  ❞  Words  wouldn't  came.  ❝  He  is  the  origin  of  a  singer  who  became  a  vampire  who  was  resurrected  by  her  own  mother  by  refusing  to  let  her  go  and  thus  lose  the  ascendancy  she  had  over  her.  He  is  the  origin  of  several  murders  on  board  a  cruise  ship.  He  also  recently  killed  in  the  middle  of  Kyoto,  and  his  level  of  madness  was  only  measured  at  that  time.  He  is  the  murderer  of  my  work  partner,  to  whom  the  curse  that  afflicted  him  continues  after  death.  He  has  an  obsessive  look  on  me,  where  he  always  manages  to  find  himself  in  the  same  sector,  he  manages  coincidences  to  make  us  meet  ---  ❞  Annoyance  resonated  for  one  second.  ❝  I  thought,  during  one  of  our  meetings,  that  he  was  dead,  that  he  would  no  longer  be  there,  that  the  weight  he  makes  my  work  partner  carry  could  go  away,  but  he  is  still  there,  somewhere  …  and  I  know  that  he  will  not  stop  until  his  madness  is  put  in  place.  How  many  people  do  you  have  to  die  by  then  ?  How  many  victims  ?  ❞  He  didn't  want  to  bring  up  this  allegation  of  a  descendant  of  darkness right away.

[renardtrickster]

"It marked a bunch of people I follow as red!" You haven't provided screenshots so it's impossible to verify if the marks were warranted, as far as I'm concerned you haven't met the burden of proof and I am ignoring you now.

"Stop blindly trusting it." If you view it as a "shut your brain off and believe the redmark it never lies" then that says more about you than it does about it.

"You're crowdsourcing your morality!" There's a lot of baggage to address here and I'm throwing away every suitcase but one. I already have my morality, I think transphobes are bad, the extension just warns me when one shows up so I can either block them (and I usually check for proof anyways) or ignore them.

"But this person calls out transphobia all the time!" It is possible to take offense when someone on the internet calls for the death of all trans people, and to still cross the line for transphobia. You can be opposed to genocide and still think that nonbinary people are fake, or that any trans person who doesn't view their transness as some horrendous malady is a trender, or that if you don't intend to pursue medical treatment then you're faking it. The site's official guidelines say as much.

"But this one is a genuine false positive!" No system works perfectly, and instead of throwing your hands up and saying "it isn't 100% accurate therefore it's 0% trustworthy" you could instead be doing something more useful, like clearing the mark or spreading awareness of the fact/your argument that this person has been unfairly marked. I've seen trans shitpost accounts get marked red and instead of having a breakdown over the fact that a trans girl who says the t-word got marked red unfairly, I just unmarked her and moved on. I've seen people that used to be transphobes who turned over a new leaf and are still red, so instead of sobbing at the lack of redemption on the internet I just cleared them and moved on.

"You can just mark anyone as transphobic!" There's a review team staffed by actual people. If you mark someone red they're red to you, and only become red for everyone once the review passes. Goodness knows I've marked people green who have made trans advocacy half of their platform and they still haven't been given the go-ahead.

"It's essentially a tool showing you who to harass! Being marked red is like having a target painted on your back!" This doesn't happen. People mark you red to avoid you. Some transphobes do harass anyone marked green though! That's one valid criticism, and I wish an option could be implemented that lets you opt out of being marked green, or that the green option gets removed altogether! But it's not a criticism that I see anybody who hates Shinigami Eyes make really. Hmm...

"The creator is an abuser!" I never see this get backed up that isn't sourced from some site that's known to Make Shit Up for the purpose of harassment, but even if that's true what does this effect? The creator being a shit doesn't mean you stop being a shit either. Not to mention I know the people saying this line don't believe that reading a book made by some ancient racist means you're racist. Begone.

"B-" The internet is an ocean, and we live in an era where millionaires are dumping everything they have into radicalizing people into becoming sharks, making being a shark a "cool" and mainstream, making it sound like being a shark is some intellectual and subversive position to hold, even passing laws making it legal for sharks to eat and farm people. I don't know why you're so fixated on trying to convince everyone that the shark-detecting radar is actually bad and shouldn't be used. I don't think you're a shark for doing this, you're probably just misguided, but I do know a lot of sharks make the same arguments you do, and they do it because they're hungry. Having thought it out for quite a bit, and in the interest of self-preservation, I am choosing to treat words that sound like they came from a shark's mouth, as though a shark said them. I don't trust sharks.

I don't have a long post for this right now but I've seen one million arguments about why you shouldn't use or trust Shinigami Eyes and not only are all of them wrong, but they're so poorly reasoned or grounded in a faulty basis that at this point it's impossible for me to see those kinds of posts as anything but bad faith and/or someone uncharismatically attempting to persuade people not to use a genuinely useful tool for detecting transphobes that works 99% of the time if you're using it reasonably (read: aren't a strawman character that uses the redmark like a shotgun and runs in fear anytime they see a red link).

[dearcat1]

(Misconceptions)

Part 8 of Feral Home

It's become something of a routine for Xanxus to put Ichigo to bed after each session. Ichigo likes it and he's even gotten over his embarrassment by now. It's just… His hollow instincts seem to be the first thing to come back. Ichigo wants more. He wants more than hair petting and Xanxus watching over him from a distance. "Cuddle me." Ichigo is known for many things, subtlety isn't one of them. 

Both Squalo and Lussuria still and Xanxus freezes. 

Ichigo huffs, glaring at the other Sky sleepily. "Cuddle me, I said. I want closeness." And Xanxus hesitating is making him feel rejected. "Or do you not want to?" 

Xanxus looks at Lussuria first and Ichigo groans, covering himself with the sheets so he can sulk in peace. It's not that Ichigo doesn't realize he's being clingy or that the request came out of left field. They haven't done much proper dating or gotten to know each other outside of these continuous treatments Lussuria is given him. But hollow instincts are difficult at the best of times and right now… Ichigo is forced to make himself vulnerable to these people every other day. He lets his very core wide open and they haven't tried to kill him yet. The hollow side of him feels nervous, angsty about the wound and the vulnerability. That same part of him recognizes that if the Varia aren't trying to kill him, then they're allies. At least for now. And Ichigo has been lonely for so long. 

Since Aizen was defeated and his soul became a jagged wound. He's had Mizuiro, of course, Mizuiro has never faltered. But Ichigo is also aware of how easily harmed he can be right now and for all of Mizuiro's smarts, he doesn't scream power the way Ichigo needs to feel safe. Xanxus does. Can Xanxus fight a Captain and win? No. Logically, Ichigo knows better. But instinctually? Xanxus has been looking over him during and after the treatments. His Flames feel raw, violent and possessive. Everything inside Ichigo tells him this man will die fighting before giving up and so… Ichigo wants reassurance, the physical touch that means he's wanted and welcome and will be taken care of. Does he logically know that Xanxus cares? Yes. But his instinctual side is causing a riot in his head. 

When the sheets move, Ichigo is ready to kick Xanxus back out of the way in annoyance. He took too long. Except, it isn't Xanxus. It takes Ichigo all of a second to identify the hand clasped around his wrist. "What are you doing, Hirako?" If it comes out as a growl, Ichigo doesn't care.

Shinji sighs. "Come here, pup." The Captain pulls Ichigo into an embrace, warm and secure. The low purr even manages to make Ichigo stop fighting this.

"You left me." Ichigo murmurs it against Shinji's skin but the quietness of it doesn't make it any less of an accusation.

"We were just stupid." It's an apology, reassurance. A promise. It's enough for now, so Ichigo doesn't protest when he feels the rest of them crowd into the room. Shinji holds him a little bit tighter. "We forget sometimes you're human, too. Not just shinigami. Or hollow."

Ichigo snorts. "Idiot." He's still hurt, angry. All of those things and maybe a little more now that he knows it was carelessness. But… he's also warm and safe for the first time in a while and although a part of him resents that Xanxus wouldn't give him this, the rest of him is content with finally having gotten it.

Of course, Shinji is, as always, a mind reader. "We'll talk to him." The Captain pets Ichigo's hair gently. "I think he's trying not to overstep a line, he's not rejecting you."

"Ok." Ichigo refuses to acknowledge that the words make him feel better. "The rest?" As if his words are some sort of cue, Ichigo finds himself being the bottom of an overprotective, apologetic puppy pile. 

[hakuteiken]

      i thought about how byakuya   &   his suppression of rukia's potential walked hand in hand with rigorous training to his standards   ——   especially post the first soul society invasion by the karakura gang.   his initial treatment of rukia was pure dismissal.   after her adoption into the kuchiki clan,   byakuya had not properly looked at rukia even once.   at the same time,   he was overbearing   ——   a protective nature,   but one crafted out of sheer selfishness that was meant to see his promise to hisana kept.   at her acceptance into the gotei 13,   rukia was not given a seated position.   for anyone who knew the inner workings of the noble clans,   it was clear as day that this was the doing of byakuya.

      unbeknownst to rukia,   byakuya made certain to impose teachings upon her that he knew would suit her skills well.   at the time of the soul society arc,   most of these teachings were given by tutors that withstood the selection criteria of byakuya.   post soul society   &   prior to the arrancar arc,   byakuya taught rukia personally in matters of kidō.   a reflection of this was seen when she fought aaroniero arruruerie   &   used bakudō #61,   rikujōkōrō.   aaroniero made the claim that byakuya specialized in rikujōkōrō.   while aaroniero was initially an unreliable narrator before the battle,   the arrancar was correct to presume so   ——   especially since rukia's reaction confirmed it.

      so,   while byakuya was able to halt rukia's growth within the ranks of the gotei 13,   he did not do so for everything.   byakuya recognized the unwavering loyalty that rukia held for her friends,   especially when it concerned the shinigami daikō.   but above all,   he recognized that it was part of her sworn duty to do so.   in the eyes of byakuya,   shirking one's duty was neither a choice nor an option.   now,   if that included going rogue   &   disobeying direct orders to retrieve a certain someone from hueco mundo,   it would earn his silent seal of approval.

[trashogram]

I just read your Ryuk smut and Aksjkskdkd I’m pretty I’ve reached the light at the end of some tunnel. Could we possibly have some Ryuk snackin on some good cooch? 😏🤚

Thank you for the ask! I appreciate it! <333

Prepare for explicit happenings below the cut, this time in third person POV (Y/N you lucky duck):

“I thought I said - ! T-to not be so rough, there.” Y/N mumbled between gasps and sharp intakes of breath. 

She had to hold one hand steady on the headboard of her bed, more to cling to something steady than to maintain balance. Her legs were nearly lifted off the bed entirely, her assumed position on her hands and knees broken by Ryuk’s enthusiasm. 

The shinigami behind her had her thighs spread apart with a steely grip, one hand sliding up until he could grab her ass with claws that were too hurried not to prick into her flesh. He kneaded the thicker flesh eagerly, all while his tongue continued to lap at her cunt that he’d given himself easier access to. 

Y/N had no idea how they had gotten there, from her limping into her apartment after a full workday, grousing over how her rear stung because of Ryuk’s prior treatment, to him eating her out with mild ferocity. 

She could not help the way her body responded to his, how the long tongue inside her stirred that already fervent heat in her belly and made her so wet that she and a mix of Ryuk’s galore of drool were dripping onto the bedspread. 

Ryuk did not let up from her, asking. “You ‘ant me to sthop?” 

His tone was curious, though husky. Y/N imagined she could feel the way his unique lips formed the words as he remained nose-deep between her swollen lips. It nearly overrode the sensation of her rapid heartbeat that she could feel in the same spot. 

Y/N shuddered, legs shaking in Ryuk’s hold. She cried out with a cant of her hips. 

“Oooh, don’t... don’t do that...” Her words grew faint by the end of her request.

Y/N wondered how he kept his teeth from nicking her as he wheezed with laughter.  

The peak she was near to reaching was held at a distance when Ryuk pulled back until all she could feel was his breath against her most sensitive 

“Stop?” He chuckled, nails raking ever so gently across her lower back now, smoothing over the little bruises that had already formed and arching over her hipbone to grip and stroke. 

“Nughh.” Y/N moaned, face pressed into the sheets while she shook her head. 

“Then what? Whaddya want?” Ryuk teased. “I can’t hear ya.” 

Her legs were too weak, even as she desperately wanted to kick at the mattress in the throes of a tantrum. The woman just could imagine her frightful partner smirking as he paid special attention to massaging her backside. 

There was movement behind her, and for whatever reason Y/N had it in mind that Ryuk had shrugged his massive shoulders in mock indifference, like he really couldn’t hear her. It sent a sliver of fear and an ache of frustration that her god would pull away entirely and leave her cold. 

“Please,” She pleaded. “It’s f-fine, just please...” 

Instead, she felt the familiar brush of his tongue, now warmer from being snug inside her, as he ran it up her slit with a lewd slurping sound. Y/N shrieked and shuddered while Ryuk hummed thoughtfully. 

“Guess we’ll never know.” 

[recurring-polynya]

Your thoughts and headcannons on Nemuri Hachigou because I don't think she gets talked about enough, when in reality she's pretty interesting, she's essentially, a blank slate, Mayuri's second chance that I don't think he feels like he deserves. She's Nemu but she isn't and I think people(especially Mayuri) forget that a lot, that's a fascinating position to be in.

Puttin’ this under a cut because I’m gonna say some unkind things about Mayuri and I do not want to cause any distress to the many lovely people on this website who delight in his horrible antics.

This is not so much a headcanon so much as a thing I came up with for fanfiction purposes, but it’s all I got.

Right. So, like I said, I despise Mayuri. I just hate him. I understand that he appeals to some people, but I strongly dislike the dude and go to exorbitant lengths to avoid him ever appearing in my fanfic.

Additionally, I do not vibe with Nemu 7. She registers as not-a-person for me, she’s basically an extension of Mayuri himself. Don’t get me wrong, I find Mayuri’s treatment of her to be vile and I wish someone would take her away from him, but she comes off as very robotic to me. She is conscious, but she is not an independent being, if that makes sense. She is not a real girl. It’s funny that Mayuri keeps talking about how advanced she is, because clearly he means only her cognitive and fighting abilities. In terms of recreating a person, she’s incredibly primitive compared to the other mod souls we see. Take Kon, for example, who has a fairly limited powerset, but is never presented as less of a soul than any of the other characters. An even more interesting example is Ururu and Jinta. Ururu is described as being older than Jinta, and she is clearly “less human” than him-- she has less affect, she shifts into a distinct “attack” mode, etc, which implies that Jinta represents advances in mod soul technology. It’s notable that Urahara and Tessai and even Renji, in the canon scene where he protects the Shouten kids, never treats them as anything less than people. The contrast with the way Mayuri treats Nemu is stark. He likes that her feelings and personality are limited, he sees this as a feature.

I was completely unmoved by the entire chapter where Nemu died. Her sacrifice did not come across to me as anything indicating growth or humanity-- in every battle she's ever been in, she nearly dies because Kurotsuchi tells her to. She simply prioritizes Mayuri over herself. She always has. It’s simply the logical extension of her programming. A lot of people say they would have preferred Nemu to live and Mayuri to die and for sure I would have *preferred* that, but I have never seen Nemu as enough of a character to be worth rooting for. Like, at least Uryuu would have gotten some satisfaction form killing his clown ass, and that might have convinced me for at least half a second that he actually was on the side of the Quincy.

Caveat: if some talented fanficcer wants to write a short novel on Nemu discovering her humanity etc etc, I’m all for it, I’m just saying that canon hasn’t given us anything to suggest she would do more than just shut down without Mayuri to tell her what to do.

Onto Nemuri 8. I can’t believe they let Mayuri have another one. It makes my blood boil. The dude is an on-screen abuser and Kubo had the gall to try to make me feel sorry feel him (I did not) and then gave him another one.

So, I took her away from him.

I mentioned earlier that I go to great lengths to keep Mayuri the hell out of my fanfic, and usually the way I do that is to have my characters go through Akon whenever they have to deal with Squad 12. I think I started doing this because Akon is sort of weirdly familiar with Renji and Rukia in the TYBW, but I have projected all over him and he’s mine now. The way I assume Squad 12 functions, based on my career in scientific programming, is that Mayuri is like a primary investigator-- he's the Big Ideas guy and he spends a lot of time doing wholly self-directed research. He’s the face of Squad 12, so he has to go talk to the Captain-Commander and beg for money and defend blowing things up, but when it comes to science stuff, he does what he wants. Nemu is the lieutenant, and I think she handles most of the usual lieutenanting-- paperwork, meetings, etc., but I think Mayuri takes up a lot of her time by using her as a personal lab assistant on his wacky projects. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think in a lot of squads, the lieutenant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad and spends a lot of time dealing with their subordinates and other lieutenants. Nemu, instead, focuses on her captain. Now, the rest of the Gotei counts on Squad 12 for a lot actually-- gigai, Hollow tracking, Dangai monitoring, etc. etc. From the point of view of most science people, this stuff is mundane-- it’s all application, not development, and all the difficulty is in the twitchy little details. It’s frustrating and it’s unrewarding and you never get credit for it, and it is vitally important. There is a certain kind of science professional that makes a career out of this. They usually have master's degrees instead of PhDs, and they are usually tragically underpaid and underappreciated for what they do. In the real world, without these people, you wouldn’t have mass vaccination sites or weather data on your phone or cute li’l robots landing on other planets. In Bleach, these are the people keeping soul reapers alive in the field. And in my mind, this is Akon’s department.

So here’s the headcanon:

After Nemu’s death, Mayuri has so much sad clown pain about it that he wants another robot child poste-haste, but can’t bring himself to do the actual work, so he shoves it off onto Akon, with a list of the design specs he wants. The last one was pretty good, Akon can handle a few minor upgrades, it doesn’t need his personal hand in it. Thinking about going through all that work again just pisses him off, honestly. What a waste!

And Akon's like, yeah, cool, fine. It was heavily implied that he did a lot of the work on Nemu 7, it's just a matter of digging out his old notes and cleaning out some vats.

Except that, right around the same time, Rukia and Renji decide to have a baby.

Babies are super rare in the Gotei, and it’s not like those stuffy nobles are gonna let Akon look at their precious offspring. But Rukia is a rank weirdo, and Akon is their pal, so she’s always like “I hear they have these things in the Living World where you can pee on a stick and tell if you’re pregnant, can you make me one?” and Akon’s brain goes, “Wow, what even is the first detectable sign of a newly formed soul, this is very interesting.” So, at the same time he’s trying to grow a new and improved Nemu, he’s got access to the developing fetus of two captain-class shinigami. So when he has to pick between eight good candidate embryos to move to the next vat, he picks… not the one with the strongest reiatsu signature, like they did last time, but the one whose reiatsu looks the most like a real baby.

Akon reminds me of a lot of programmers I know, so I always sort of headcanon him as particularly interested in whatever passes for programming in Squad 12, and I think he takes special interest in revamping Nemu’s artificial intelligence system, which is primarily based on taking in information about the world and building up a realistic personality based on people she observes. In particular, it gives extra weight to “people who resemble her”. Nemu 7 was raised by Squad 12, so she came up very Squad 12, just like Mayuri wanted. Unfortunately, toddler Hachigou Nemuri’s algorithm unexpectedly decides that she has much more in common with toddler Abarai Ichika than any of the adult soul reapers around her.

Nemuri 8 is a very successful sample in terms of power and intelligence but she’s also very boisterous, and the rest of Squad 12 is like “Akon do something” so Akon takes drastic measures: he asks Renji for parenting advice. Distressingly, Renji is full of useful ideas like “tire her out” and “only fight the important battles” and “we’re signed up for baby yoga, you wanna start comin’ to baby yoga? Your back is gonna thank you.”

Akon didn't mean to let them hang out so much, but Ichika is a very useful data point and also if he takes Nemuri over to the Abarai house, the girls will entertain themselves (i.e. chew on each other) long enough for him to have a beer with Renji and Rukia and honestly my man really needs that beer.

I don’t think Akon thinks of himself as Nemu’s dad past the first time when she calls him ‘Daddy’ and he corrects her (she only did it because that’s what Ichika calls Renji, very predictable quirk of her programming). She’s just a work project. She’s not even his project, she’s Mayuri’s project, he’s just handling the little details. Fathering just happens to be an adjacent field of study that he’s found to contain a number of very useful best practices.

I would prefer not to get into the detail of the physical abuse that Mayuri uses against Nemu 7, but I would like to think that Akon finds ways to protect Nemuri 8 from the same, or barring that, maybe this is what finally drives Akon to murder Kurotsuchi and become Squad 12 captain himself.

Other Nemuri Headcanons:

Her favorite book is Rejection of the Twin Fishes!, Captain Ukitake’s posthumously published children’s book.

She prefers to be called “Nemuri” over “Nemu.”

Nemuri’s second favorite person in Squad 12 after Akon is Rin, because he always has candy. Rin actually likes having someone to share his hobby with and helps her make a World of the Living Snack Bucket List. When other shinigami come in for gigai, Nemuri constantly tries to con them into bringing something back for her.

Rukia teaches her to cuss, but tells her never to do it around Akon. Nemuri never actually cusses around anyone, but really enjoys having Forbidden Knowledge.

Speaking of Forbidden, she is mildly obsessed with Urahara, even though she’s never met him. She’s constantly on the lookout for thumbprints of his work in modern Squad 12 technology.

The one thing she does have in common with Mayuri is an absolutely batshit personal aesthetic. She starts painting her face as a tween and is somewhat inconveniently both into piercings and inflatable outfits.

The true proof that she has surpassed her predecessor, at least in terms of humanity, is that she is able to learn the name of her zanpakutou.

Oh, if you want to read any of my fanfics with Nemuri, here's one where she and Ichika play football and here's one where she tries to con Byakuya into buying her shaved ice. I really like writing Nemuri hanging out with Byakuya because I think an adult man who navigates social settings via rigid system of etiquette and class hierarchy and a small child with a pile of Markov chains for a brain would be natural friends.

[littlenekosfan]

Friend - visual narrative

this is going to be a long thread bc i have a LOT of panels, so read under the cut!

since im reworking with Friend chapters panels, i paid attention to the details more than ever before.. and wow, the way these chapters are narrated is absolutely amazing

lets start off with my one of my fav panels

if there is a theme between these two that keep recurring it’s “duality” (whether when it comes to their character or the way their story is told) we will also find a lot of parallels with it.. this panel above starts it very well, one left, one right, they both call each other’s name, the expressions completely different, even the background is reversed

there we go again, all this in one chapter, i simply love how they have the same pose/image but reversed, its a really nice contrast with how different they are and yet are at the same level also, look at their speech bubbles, most of the time, jugram has a round one while bazz a sharper one, its the case here and the previous panels aswell

AGAIN! kubo gives us each’s pov with the same image/paneling, i love that method bc he treats them the same, even if one is stronger than the other and ppl will most likely root for/side with one more than the other, they both get the same treatment, also, we get to see how both lives the same struggle, it both conflicts them this whole fight considering the past they had together

the transition is also really nice, the black background outside the panel and the partial grey shading that matches with it inside the panel.. we will get to see that technique again, but here?? lovely.

a whole page not showing their face even if you guessed who they were, you get that little surprise with the face reveal which comes out really nice

the chapter reveal!!!! its so pure and empty (no dialogue and it’s only one panel), it perfectly empathize on the title and its meaning

i love how discreet bazz motive to help out jugo is shown here, obviously none of them would speak about it (jugo is pretty closed and bazz despite being loud, he isnt obnoxious and he’s smart) so it had to be shown without any words and these panels do it so well!

the first panel is just so beautiful and you can tell how jugo is just, happy. and then, the moment his uncle speaks, his face drastically changes, from white to black, kubo loves to work with that contrast of b&w (just look how the ritters/espadas are dressed vs shinigamis.. there is also the sun/moon theme and so on... its not called bleach for nothing lmao) kubo uses contrast very often and we can tell he loves to do it (and he does it super well!!)

i know we dont have any colour on these pages, but both pages are from the same chapter, first one (right) being their fist meeting on a normal day (probably an evening so the sky is orange ish) and the second page is again a jump to a flashback but this time it’s not the sky that we are shown in the last panel, but rather flames, the same colour as the day they met... the two last panels look the same but arent....

there is also the absence of facial expression in some panels, which imo conveys the mood much better, we are not left up to interpretation, we clearly know what kind of feelings that are expressed yet they didnt need to be shown...

again with the parallels (left/right) and using the same image from younger to older to show their growth? nice.

the built up with the grand reveal... wow, love it, also, that panel was such a surprise to me when i first read it... still give me goosebumps today ngl..(if you are a manga reader to likes to have the book, well, this the end of vol69... what an ending :))) just look at the build up, the bg is dark and you get that white and empty panel right after like, wow 

AGAIN WITH THE SUPRISE AND WOW IT HURTS, also the title being in capital... OOF, im going to loose it

ppl like to call kubo lazy with his titles, but is it?? i mean, here, i really cant think of a better title, remember how the first chapter friend was introduced? so sweet and smooth and then you get this... the fact friend is written here is a good call back to their relationship, what it is, what it really means, and the current situation

the way bazz recalls all the things he had heard about this.......th-that hurts (we’re like in his mind, we’re just as shocked as he is) also, it shows well how bazz recall all these moment in silence and does all the realization without saying a thing, bc no, he didnt say a thing ever since yhwach started to talk..

the left panel is yhwach talking (as he was for like the whole chapter) and there is no dialogue going on, the two boys didnt say a thing... as the slience was taking place, bazz breaks is with a shrieking voice, just looking how the letters are written in japanese, we went from pure, clear panel to a messy and dark one....

jump back to present, with both jugrams having the same pose but they both don’t convey the same feeling, with the shading and how cut it is (not being able to fully see jugo’s eyes) you can tell the first one is more disturbing/devastating than the second one

there we go... we get to see both of their expression at the same time and it change within the following panels,.. (im telling you, kubo love both of them, not just one.., both.)

this is one of my favorites moments, the way know bazz has lost his fight and how HE is self-conscious about it..., the way he monologues about jugram is really depressing, and how we are only given images that illustrates his struggle...the images are so strong, desperate and yet, his words are so empty, powerless, he knew he lost.. (the moment i start reading it, i cry on the fucking floor)

i mentioned earlier how i loved kubo’s choice in not showing the face, well we have it here again in a flashback and the end of the fight... jugram turning his back to bazz, he did it in the past and did it after bazz’ death..  it’s his way to avoid to face his feelings. (the fact we are shown he did it in the past and the reason to it, let us know why he did it again even later)

here again with empty panels, the fact it’s only bazz who is talking.... feels really heavy and the way he clings to jugram with burning hands....... you really need to look at every panel carefully to feel that heart wrenching moment,, there is no crying or screaming, he just softly admits his defeat and that’s it, like, im sorry but that’s fucking sorrowful

here again with kubo choosing to not show the face, but in this case, it’s harder for us to tell which expression jugram has (since he’s so closed about showing emotions or his intentions) but the fact kubo deliberately chose to hide it proves jugram has something to hide from us, something he didnt want us (readers) to see.........

these panels? concludes their story perfectly you have jugram walking up the stairs leaving bazz-b alone laying behind, being reminded of the day they met where bazz was the one standing high while jugram is on the ground the setting: the cold empty castle during nighttime vs the warm summer day met in a forest at daytime bazz reached to jugram and jugram left him behind, they met with touched hearts only to leave with empty ones, bazz used to look down on jugram and now, jugram does, they used to be so different and still do but only now, their role are inverted...

thank you @equipollency​ for that remark! i think your post does it much better if yall wanna read it !

i mentioned earlier how the background (outside the panel) would change from black to white, we know the black means the past,  but i love how its broken here, going back and forth from the past and present (within the same page) to show how things are still the same between them, the same struggle, the same fight over and over

also, the “not yet” is just so perfectly placed, i cant, it just emphasize even more on my point earlier (how things between them never changed on that matter)  and it finally concludes the flashbacks (with the way it’s presented: the b&w,, and the words themselves, how they weight so much)

the black shading like that is rarely used with kubo but when he does, you know it conveys extreme emotions (we didnt get to see it with bazz bc it wasnt as intense as jugram has it but also)  the trigger to these emotions for jugram are related to trauma, the first one being his uncle and the second being his friendship (im not calling his relation with bazz traumatic, its how important this relationship was to him and how ended up broken that triggers him)

but NaKi ThErE iS ThiS pAneL wHerE baZz Is ShaDeD bLacK! yes i know, but it’s not about bazz expression nor emotions, its about the scene, the situation (the white bg vs the black silhouette: perfect), so no it doesnt count, but its still a very nice panel just like with the jugo’s reveal with everyone “kneeling” to him.. white bg was The way to go

i forgot to talk about how i like their fight, how there is so little dialogue and how there are a lot of empty pages just to let place to the fight... it lets you enjoy their fight while we suffer with their flashback, anyways, im not a fan of endless dialogue in fights unless it really changes something, here, they both already know each other and they know what they want, so it was a good pick to just, us reader, witness their story through their mind instead of them narrating/recalling it to us

i know kubo uses that technique outside of these chapters, but the grey shading... i love.. he also has a LOT of close ups with eyes bc we all know how expressive eyes are;... i love that too

i know i talked about some facial expressions, but really, kubo’s art is amazing, the way he can convey certain expressions that are so precise... here, have some panels that i think are underrated naki your boys are underrated.. bc i love kubo’s art so much

i had the chance to see the colored version only once, and to be honest, the black and white is just, Amazing. nothing close to that, kubo’s use of b&w and how he keeps his panels pure is MADE to stay that way

anyways, im really in love with how Friend was made and thought out in it’s visual narrative (and story wise too ofc), kubo didnt just do a side story, these chapters are fucking amazing and ppl often ignores that sadly..

[eyecicles]

Thoughts on canon vs fandom treatment of female characters? Like the source material not having much in the way of female characters in general (at least relatively in the sense that I can count significant/developed female characters on one hand compared to the much larger number of important male characters) and how that translates into fandom treatment of female characters (misa and kiyomi being treated like shit in fanfics, ect). Sorry this is vague I just like your spicy opinions lmao

That’s a very interesting question! …Also a topic I’m very careful with but I do have some thoughts I would like to share nonetheless.

I completely agree that it’s quite obvious that Ohba cares more about the development of his male characters, about making them more unique in their motivations. Large parts of Death Note are about Light manipulating people (not about being accidentally successful and smart because of his ~magical powers~, that’s such an annoying take, honestly). And when you look at how he treats female characters, starting with Yuri, later Naomi, then Misa, Rem and Kiyomi, it becomes pretty clear that both he and Ohba always use the same tactic. Yes, because while writing a sexist character doesn’t make you or your story sexist per se, it’s just the sad truth that Ohba wrote it that way for a reason. (From what I’ve heard about his other works, DN is comparatively mild in the sexism department though)

If you compare that to the much more complex ways Light manipulates male characters, you can see very easily how they’re more developed by default. Not only has Light a much harder time with them, he evades characters like L and Near or even Aizawa, who isn’t a certified genius, by, well, not getting caught until the end.

Actually, I think it’s pretty interesting how characters deal with the fact that Light is Kira. The only female character who figures out his identity on her own is Misa, and she mostly manages that due to her special powers (the Shinigami eyes). Of course Misa is never praised for that and she’s routinely portrayed as dumb, while most of her character is about her obsession with Light… which only poses a problem for a few chapters. 

Very popular fanon but fanon nonetheless: Naomi figuring out Light is Kira. She didn’t; Light told her himself and she’s in fact more than a little shocked by it, and of course, already doomed when she finds out the truth.

Kiyomi is told as well, and she’s a Kira supporter anyway, in love with Light, and relatively easy to manipulate - even though we see her struggling with being ordered to kill people. What’s apparently more of a problem is her questioning Light about Misa, but really, he’s mostly just annoyed and her jealously is something the narrative actively makes fun of (confirmed by Ohba himself).

And I agree that that’s mostly why the fandom finds it so easy to reduce especially Misa and Kiyomi to romance- or sex-obsessed dumbasses who are basically only there to be annoying. I wouldn’t defend that kind of treatment ever, but yes, it’s obvious where it comes from.

It’s more mild with Naomi, and Rem might be the only female character whose motivation is her love for another female character, but most of the main female characters have one thing in common: their character arcs being about love. Compare that to main male characters, and you can tell that the narrative treats love and romance as a “woman thing”. (Even Matsuda, who does show interest in romance, gets a surprisingly interesting and even touching arc. His character is mostly about being painfully average (painfully is the keyword here: the narrative shows much less pity for our average women, actually; they aren’t necessarily average, just not as much as smart as Light which is treated as given), about seeking recognition, about being bitterly disappointed by the person he trusted (Light) and his final moments with Light are ridiculously intense and well-written.)

(Soichiro isn’t motivated by personal love per se, but his “blindness” for who Light really is treated as something tragic and relatable. Soichiro dies, yes, but he’s seen almost as a hero for his strong morals and love for his son. Not comparable to Misa and Kiyomi at all.)

I indeed can’t count the fics where female characters only made an appearance to show the reader how much dumber, or even more evil, they are compared to Light’s love interest (which is usually L or a female OC). And while I don’t see Misa as just a victim of Light, it’s disgusting how people take what those characters are mainly about and make it (+ their personalities) worse than they were in canon. Instead of, you know, giving them more agency. It’s fanfiction, guys, they don’t have to be an obstacle for your ships if you don’t want to. Considering that Light shows no real interest in them either way, I find it even more arbitrary to write them that way.

Even though I’m used to see that kind of treatment, since I’ve been in fandoms for almost 15 years, it still shocks me how nasty and spiteful people can be about characters like Misa and Kiyomi. I rarely see male characters treated like that in fanfics, even when the general fandom opinion about them is a negative one. (The exceptions are unlikeable, ugly, comic relief kind of antagonists like Demegawa)

The fandom can be wildly different depending on where you look; on websites like YouTube or Reddit, it’s definitely more difficult to find people who like them, or people who at least try to see past that one trope the fandom likes to reduce them to. I’ve seen people making fun of their deaths or writing their own gruesome deaths for them, I’ve seen people praising Light to no end while hating Misa for being a serial killer.

While on tumblr, I often see the exact opposite of that. I wouldn’t say it’s just as bad, obviously not, but it’s still worth discussing, I think. It makes a lot of sense to try and make characters like Misa, Kiyomi, Naomi, Sayu, or Rem more intriguing and complex. I absolutely love what “Those” did to Kiyomi for example; it shows very clearly what we could have had with a better (or at least less sexist) writer than Ohba.

But if I’m being completely honest, what I’m not a fan of, is people completely taking everything about a character to make them something they’re 100% not. It’s one thing to make someone more complex, but something quite different to make Misa a feminist and mere victim who only pretended to like Light. I guess that’s partly a personal preference, but something about making a female character just a victim, when they’re canonically not, is a bit… icky to me. I think we can treat Misa with more compassion than Ohba did without making her a mere victim.

And some goes for Naomi; her indeed being tricked by Light, her being naive, yes, even in “Another Note”, doesn’t make her less sympathetic or cool. It often feels like we want to put female characters on a pedestal just so we can allow ourselves to stan them just as much as the male main characters.

I can’t see why Light is allowed to be a complex serial killer you can love or hate, while Misa isn’t. It’s telling how even people who like Misa often seem to feel the need to make her an angel, while Light fans often find it more easy to accept that he’s a bastard indeed. (There are Light apologists as well, but they at least rarely try to reduce him to nothing more than a puppet who got screwed over big time)

Even when female characters are very well-written and developed, like Discworld characters, the fandom often scrutinises them way more harshly than the male ones. But yeah, having a distinct difference in the writing of male vs female characters in a story… definitely makes the fandom react in more extreme ways. 

I would actually love to read more Misa, Naomi and Kiyomi centric stories where they’re allowed to keep their flaws while getting the development Ohba never gave them. And your ask reminded me that I can, want and should write stories like that too, haha.

[godkilller]

VERSE: THIRD SEAT

QUICK INFO

name: Ichimaru Gin nicknames: Hypponzashi, kid prodigy, creep age: Less than 50 occupation: Senior Officer, Third Seat of the Fifth Division location: Squad Five’s Barracks activities: Shinigami duties including leading the Fifth Division’s sub-unit Intel Team, fulfilling mission reports, and protecting the World of the Living from threats of Hollow and other anomalies, however, his treasonous activities involve direct opposition of those duties, and ultimately Gin favors actions requested of him via Aizen reputation: Genius prodigy, “creepy kid”, known for his “hundred-span” range likening him to a child carrying 100 swords, able to fell multiple enemies in a single strike

OVERVIEW

        Gin resides within the Fifth Division’s barracks as a seated officer of the Gotei 13. As Third Seat, Gin holds a reasonably high amount of authority despite his young age. Before even entering the Shinigami Academy, Gin showcased his ruthless potential in the slaying of three Shinigami who were secretly operating throughout the Rukongai districts in Aizen’s favor. Without a weapon, Gin killed each soldier, donned a bloodied black robe upon his shoulders, and declared himself prepared to become a Shinigami himself. In promising Rangiku that his rise in rank would “fix things” for her so she “wouldn’t have to cry anymore” Gin swiftly entered the Academy in order to achieve his goal.

          Immediately, Gin broke all known records and graduated from the program within one year. His feat remains unchallenged, and Gin was quickly accepted into the Gotei 13 to become a high-ranking officer----a rare honor not lightly given, let alone to a child. Gin was taken in by the Fifth Division under Hirako Shinji, with Aizen Sousuke as his Lieutenant. Whilst Gin did indeed follow any order placed by Shinji via his rank as captain presiding over the entirety of the division, Gin ultimately followed Aizen’s will above all else. Together, alongside Tousen Kaname, Aizen and Gin ventured through the lesser Rukongai districts in order to continue conducting Hollowification research and other traitorous experimentations. 

         Gin stood by Aizen’s side as he manipulated, lured, and overall toyed with the now-known Visored group, as well as created the narrative that brought Urahara Kisuke, Shihoin Yoruichi and Tsukabishi Tessai to become exiled. Witnessing various Hollowification tests by the time Shinji’s group fell before him, Gin remained fairly numbed to the gruesome process, even cracking a few casual jokes about getting caught when Urahara arrived in the midst of their treason. Though Gin was known as more than capable of handling multiple enemies at once, hence his nickname, he was not ordered to battle against the hybrid Shinigami at the time of their Hollowfying mishaps----instead, the boy looked on beside Aizen whilst Tousen issued Aizen’s will to destroy them. 

         In roughly a decade or two following Aizen’s eventual replacing of Shinji’s captaincy, Gin became trusted enough to be told Kyoka Suigetsu’s one weakness: to touch the blade before an illusion is cast negates its ability to do so, allowing an attack to hit true. Knowing that vital piece of information, Gin gathered his strength and trained to become strong enough for Bankai, strong enough to match Aizen’s spiritual pressure to avoid possible cancellation, to one day pierce a blade through his heart.

PERSONALITY

         Utterly ruthless, Gin presents himself as undeserving and wholly an exception to any childlike treatment given by his older Shinigami allies. He walks as an ‘other’, an outsider, a wolf in sheep’s clothing----if the sheep were to be an innocent kid. Though Gin retains some humanity purely due to his facade being in its early stages of development, he ultimately smothers that side of himself in favor of brutal and chilling indifference to other’s suffering. There’s a forced numbness, a cold carelessness, faked until it’s no longer felt. Gin speaks bluntly to even authority, untamed in his quick wit and tongue. Still retaining the loner lifestyle from the Rukongai ( with one exception ) Gin has next to no real connections despite being a reputable high-ranking officer of the Gotei 13. The boy trusts no one and is solely focused on gaining Aizen’s eventual trust----leading him to gladly murder without remorse.

          There’s brewing bitterness right beneath his skin, and Gin blames the very organization that he pledged loyalty to for failing to see the traitorous plot he’s partaking in. Hypocritical, yet aware, Gin marches alongside Aizen in hopes that his proximity, earned trust, and overall observance gives him better results than the Gotei 13′s futile attempts to protect against a threat from within. Extremely sharp, a viciously quick learner, Gin has begun to mold himself into the perfect weapon for Aizen to wield----free from the cloud of guilt, mercy, and most importantly any emotions of love. Gin has determined that it’s necessary for him to shed all layers of his humanity in favor of becoming a monster capable of terrible evils... condemning himself, his future, for the sake of what could only be described as divine vengeance.

STRENGTHS

         A child-genius, prodigy, Gin easily has earned the right to boast of his higher intellect----holding the record for the fastest graduation from the Shinigami Academy in a single year, quickly followed by the immediate acceptance into the Gotei 13′s army. Newly acquired power aids Gin in his vicious ascension in rank as a Shinigami, and experimentation leads the boy into finding numerous creative ways to wield his Zanpakuto, Shinso. By testing out his growing potential, Gin has quickly carved himself quite the nasty reputation for being capable of slaying multiple enemies in a single strike. Typically practiced upon Hollow, the boy’s hands have grown accustomed to the jolting impact of impaling his blade through flesh, muscle, and bone. 

        Gin conveys a considerable amount of patience for a child when considering his plot to kill Aizen stretched well past a century. Within a decade or two, he’s already been given a vital piece of information to be seared into his memory. 

        Thanks to his still-growing spiritual pressure, Gin is capable of perhaps even incapacitating others if they harbor low or no reiatsu of their own to counteract his. Sitting just beneath a Lieutenant in capabilities, his physical size as a child should not be used to determine his strength----he may be seen as reliant on his sword, but then again he doesn’t seem to ever be in a situation where he could be rendered weaponless by an opponent.

WEAKNESSES

        Though Gin holds his rank in power, genius, his age prevails in moments of naivety. No matter his attempts to remain emotionless, as well, the fresh facade of his creation still may be shattered with the correct pressure. There is ignorance, an uncaring for others that potentially brings him to dismiss friendships, allies, that could offer him help. Isolated, Gin threatens to corner himself into an irreversible role of villainy. His resolve to stick to his promise can become, as such, utterly stubborn and self-destructive as a result. As a child, however, his value of keeping his vow overcomes any hope of growing from the experience----instead, it forces him to hyperfixate on an event that could have been, and perhaps should have been, left in the past.

        Gin can become extremely distracted by Rangiku, causing him to miss meetings, forget paperwork, or even not hear someone who happens to be speaking to him at the time of her mentioning or appearance. Compensation for this flaw leads Gin to leave the vicinity if she’s nearby, though that tends to cause equal amounts of issue.

          The kid banks on others not particularly liking him from the get-go in order to avoid prolonged conversation, confrontation, or skepticism----so his early years of lying to authority’s face, or an adult in general, can at times come off as not particularly convincing. Gin attempts to own that fact by merely grinning and delivering his lies all the same. A spit to the face of anyone capable of determining his words as untrue; if pressured, Gin will not be able to defend his stance on the matter.

          A facade in its infancy is extremely and terrifyingly fragile.

APPEARANCE

        Relatively tall for his age, skinny, and with sharp features ( wrists, chin, jaw, etc. ) Gin’s appearance speaks of his likely state of undernourishment growing up in the Rukongai. His key traits noticed by others are his silver hair, stunning blue eyes ( in the case of a rare reveal ) and his ever-present grin. Gin will almost always be wearing his Shinigami uniform composed of entirely black robes, white tabi socks, and sandals. His wakizashi-sized Zanpakuto, Shinso, may or may not be at his side depending on the Gotei 13′s current regulations on their soldiers openly carrying their weapons, though Gin has been known to stretch the rules.

         Generally, he could be considered sickly to some extent—-due to growing up in an environment where food wasn’t always available. Gin appears at the average male’s mid-torso in terms of height in relation to the adults that tower around him. His signature silver hair, short, straight, messily covers his forehead and temples, highlighting his typically unopened eyes and sharp, pale overall demeanor.

          ALL  THIRD  SEAT  VERSE  CONTENT: -  HEADCANON  &  ROLEPLAY  POSTS -  MUSING  POSTS

[kazashiniwielder]

The Bleach movie

So I went out to see the new Bleach movie today. I have a few mixed feelings about it. Overall my first impression was cheesy acting and a rush to get what all they felt was important to the narrative. However as the movie went on I found myself enjoying it. For a live action remake it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing either. It was overall alright. There were somethings I like, and some I hated. I’m putting them under the cut here, so if you’ve seen the movie or don’t mind spoilers you can see it.

Major Spoilers under the cut.

Things that I liked, because if I start with what I hated then we’ll all have a bad day.

1. Isshin. Isshin was amazing in this movie. I loved that he was actually being a dad. Yeah, he attached Ichigo like he had in the series, but he cooked for his girls, he sat by Ichigo’s bedside when he was injured and nursed him to health, he talked to Ichigo, and overall he was great. I think my favorite moment of his and probably the most relatable was where he sat in front of his wife’s grave and pulled out a beer to share with her.

2. Uryu. Uryu was a snarky little shit and while he didn’t like Shinigami that didn’t keep him from helping Ichigo. They changed the order of when Ichigo met other characters, having him meet Renji first before Uryu. Recognizing Ichigo was in trouble, Uryu showed up and chased Renji off without showing himself. This gave Renji a little more animosity towards him for shooting at him, and he also recognized Uryu as a Quincy instantly. Uryu also seemed to know more about the Soul Society than he had in the series, knowing Renji by name an even directing Ichigo to Kisuke Urahara. Uryu had done much more research on the Soul Society in this movie. He also was clearly an able fighter, coming to Ichigo’s aid during his battle with Grand Fisher. Uryu and Ichigo didn’t really have that much tension in the movie. Uryu mainly just showed up to annoy him, then help him, and go off again. On a side note, Rukia knew exactly what a Quincy was on sight too.

3. Ichigo’s fighting abilities, rather lack of. Ichigo killed the first hollow through the art of surprise. However he didn’t just leap into fighting hollows afterwards. Rather Rukia made him train for a while until circumstances forced him to face both a Quincy and Shinigami. When Ichigo finally fought his second hollow he nearly got killed and was saved by the timely arrival of Renji, and he was saved from Renji by Rukia. Then when he fought Grand Fisher he had to team up with Uryu to win. I found it much more realistic. There was much more training in this movie for Ichigo to get up to the level of the other characters, who we already knew have been training to fight for the majority of their lives.

4. The fact you can see the exact moment where Renji developed a level of respect for Ichigo.

Things I hated about this movie.

1. Sado and Orihime. Before any of you jump down my throat, let me make it clear I’m not mad that they are in the movie, rather the treatment they received in the movie. I understand that this movie was trying to put the entire first arc in a small movie and therefore didn’t have the time to develop them in the least. It just makes me so angry that if you took the two of them out, the narative wouldn’t have changed a bit. It fells like they were there just to be there. Orihime’s main role in the movie seemed to be getting envious of Rukia’s closeness with Ichigo and Sado just stood around watching. He only did one thing in the entire movie. They didn’t have any abilities and couldn’t even see what was going on. They deserved a little better.

2. Byakuya and Renji. When Byakuya and Renji were first introduced in the manga/anime, I hated them. I didn’t actually start to like either of them in the least until they were in Hueco Mundo. In this movie Byakuya was content to use Rukia to deal with Grand Fisher and just allow her to die afterwards. He had no problems killing Ichigo either. He and Renji had literally just showed up to upset Rukia and Ichigo, then leave them to fight Grand Fisher, then when they were exhausted and recovering they strike. There was one time in the theater where everyone of us watching reacted at the same time to something, an that was Renji running Uryu through from behind. Everyone gasped, a kid started screaming, and the guy next to me got super pissed, cussing up a storm. Renji had given Uryu no warning, just walked up behind him and ran him through. Renji and Byakuya both actually looked happy about the suffering they were causing and neither had any issues hanging around in the human world for who knows how long until Rukia and Ichigo took care of Grand Fisher.

Things I’m not fully sure about

1. The rearranging of events. I could explain how they rearranged them, but I think I already spoiled enough. I don’t like how some things were rearranged but I understand that they had to spin a shorter narrative.

2. The ending. It was set up in a way that it can either end there or they could make a sequel. Ichigo returns Rukia’s powers, mostly by force, and watches as her and the others leave. He wakes up at home and starts a normal day. Goes to school to see Keigo, Orihime, and Tatsuki gossiping about him where Sado is listening, and sits at his desk. We see he’s surprised to see Uryu, since the last any of us say him he was unconscious on the ground after being attacked by Renji, and asks if he’s ok. It ended in a way that we can just assume there will either be a second where he runs off to save Rukia, or that life had just returned to normal. 

3. Ichigo killing Grand Fisher. I kinda liked it better when Isshin killed Grand Fisher but I don’t see much wrong with Ichigo being the one to kill him

Anywho, that’s how I feel about it. What did you all think?

[creative-type]

The Problem with Ichigo Kurosaki

Back when Bleach’s final chapter came out, the one thing that perplexed me most about the omnishambles that was the last arc was that Ichigo had taken over the Kurosaki clinic. 

I’d long-since given up on a satisfying end to the series and was following out of morbid fascination more than any sort of interest. I’m not a shipper and the glacial pacing and empty pages killed any spectacle that might  have been entertaining enough to cover the massive flaws of the series. I entered the Quincy arc with no expectations and still managed to be surprised by how little thought and effort Kubo put into his product. There was no personal investment left, so I didn’t care enough to get upset over how things ended up.

But Ichigo taking over his father’s clinic...that was a surprise. And through that I came to a startling realization that after almost 700 chapters and 15 years I still knew nothing about Ichigo as a character.

I want to be careful when writing this, firstly because as a self-admitted filthy casual I’m not nearly as familiar with Bleach as I am with most other things I write about. Secondly, while it’s a nice bonus I don’t think that every story necessarily requires a deep, super nuanced character driving it. 

I’m gonna use One Piece as an example here because I think it fits well. Luffy isn’t a complicated dude. He’s well-rounded with clearly defined dreams and goals, but ultimately he’s your basic Shonen power fantasy. What sets One Piece apart from almost every other manga in existence is its world building, and by creating Luffy the way he is, Oda has made a main character that facilitates the exploration of his world.

Ichigo starts off well enough for the protagonist of a monster of the week-style battle manga. I think it’s pretty apparent that Kubo wrote Bleach by the seat of his pants, because a lot of early details don’t match what we see later in the series.

...

...

...

And, again, this type of writing can be done, but it has to be done carefully because without forethought it’s really easy for plots and characterization become a muddled mess. 

Early Ichigo stood out from other mainstream manga protagonists. There’s a mature edginess to early Bleach, and a strong aesthetic that highlights one of Kubo’s greatest strengths as an artist: drawing really cool shit. Ichigo isn’t a hyperactive goofball, in fact he gets pretty good grades and is generally regarded as being a reliable - if grumpy - guy. His backstory isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but again, having a main character that’s hellbent on protecting others is exactly the sort of protagonist that can drive a monster of the week-style story.

More importantly, at this point in the story Ichigo has agency as a character. In chapter 2 of the series, Rukia demands that Ichigo fulfill her duties as a soul reaper while she’s out of commission. He initially says no, but quickly changes his mind when he sees a cute kid almost get eaten. Ichigo agrees to help, but on his own terms. In his own words, he’s only paying off a debt. 

Fast forward to chapter 25. Ichigo has survived his encounter with Grand Fisher and had a nice little heart to heart with his dad. He makes the above declaration, effectively choosing to continue on as a soul reaper even after Rukia regains her powers and his “debt” is paid. 

What makes the Grand Fisher fight effective is that it highlights how much growth Ichigo needs to undergo, not as a fighter but as a character. It is vitally important for a battle manga not to have fights for the sake of fights, or even because they’re demanded by the plot. A good fight conveys story and develops characterization - a clash of ideals as much as swords. 

The problem is that this doesn’t really go anywhere. Ichigo’s gotta protect them all nature suits shorter, one-off arcs but isn’t suited for the long, sprawling epic Bleach would become. The scope of Bleach’s world and story expanded, but Ichigo stayed the same. Or rather, he devolved into something lesser. 

Ichigo’s goal to protect those he cares about is problematic in two ways:1) it requires someone to need protecting, and 2) it’s reactionary. This limits how much influence Ichigo has on the plot as a whole. It’s no wonder that the Arrancar saga is copied wholesale from the Soul Society arc because rescuing people from danger is literally the only thing Ichigo ever shows interest in doing.

Instead of taking the time to develop Ichigo as a person, Kubo instead has to create increasingly-ridiculous ways for him to play a part in the plot. This has the unfortunate side effect of making Ichigo literally everybody’s pawn to be used and manipulated in whatever way it takes for the story to get from Point A to Point B. I would think by the time Yhwach comes around he’d be sick of it, but all Ichigo is capable of doing is react, react, react, often looking very surprised when someone plays him like a fiddle yet again.

And maybe to compensate Kubo gives Ichigo a mishmash of powers and abilities, but ironically the more things that are added to Ichigo’s moveset the less unique and special each one becomes. 

It’s kind of like mixing colors. Red and blue together make purple but if you add yellow and green and orange along with it, in the end all you’re going to have is a brownish sludge. Ichigo starts the series as a human-shinigami hybrid. For the sake of brevity, I’ll call this version of Ichigo a humigami. As a humigami he has basic swordsmanship, immense spiritual power, and the ability to follow spirit ribbon thingies to find people. So far so good.

But with the introduction of the Soul Society and the massive influx of characters, Ichigo is no longer The Special. Kubo has two choices here: further develop Ichigo’s shinigami powers or add something new into the mix. Kubo elects to do both, and Ichigo gains his hollow masks AND learns bankai in a matter of days. 

Now a human-shinigami-hollow (humagollow for short), Ichigo saves the day only to get curb-stomped by Aizen. The post-Soul Society chapters would have been a good place to do some old-fashioned character development, but while there is some nice closure chapters nothing really changes before the next major arc kicks in.

Put yourself in Ichigo’s shoes here. You’ve gone through the gauntlet to save a friend from her execution, witnessed the slums of the afterlife, fought several life or death battles against an organization who keeps, among other things, genocidal maniacs in their employ. You’ve seen corruption, you’ve seen conspiracy, you’ve seen a totalitarian regime that insists on following the letter of the law over common sense and justice. You’ve lived your entire life striving to protect those weaker than yourself and the last several months sending spirits to what you thought was a peaceful, idyllic afterlife.

Would you leave the Soul Society in good terms? Would you consider them allies and fight their wars? Would you be okay with leaving your friend, who you risked life and limb to save, in the very environment that wanted her dead just days before? Would you not have questions and demand answers?

Apparently not, if you’re Ichigo Kurosaki.

Fast forward again to the introduction of the arrancar and visored. It’s about this time where Ichigo loses everything that made him unique as a character. A whole host of characters are introduced that have a mix of shinigami and hollow powers (which, despite ostensibly being antithetical to one another are functionally identical) and it’s revealed that Ichigo isn’t even the only shinigami in his family. 

Isshin’s fight verses Grand Fisher becomes especially egregious when we the audience get this little tidbit about how all high-level shinigami compress their sword’s spiritual power into a smaller form

because back when Ichigo first showed off his bankai one of the notable things about it was that it was kind of tiny - a direct contrast to how most releases worked. 

It’s the same for all of Ichigo’s other attacks. His bankai is supposed to boost his speed to incredible levels, but he’s constantly out maneuvered by enemies, the surprise attack from behind being a Kubo specialty. His main ability is nothing but a giant energy slash, easily replicated by a shinigami’s kido or a hollow’s cero.

By having Isshin steal the Grand Fisher fight from Ichigo, Kubo robs his main character of a chance to show off how he’s changed since the early part of the series and robs him of his uniqueness as a fighter. The fight itself is not good, memorable, or fun enough to counterbalance how much the author is crapping on its protagonist, a trend that unfortunately gets worse as time goes on.

Anyway, through training Ichigo becomes a human visored (hisored) and goes off to Hueco Mundo to kick ass and get his ass kicked in about equal measure, and once again questions are brought up, if not explicitly than implicitly through the course of the narrative, that are never even addressed.

1) If it weren’t already obvious, the Soul Society cements itself as being absolutely terrible by its treatment of the visoreds. Are they really the good guys here, and why is no one trying to reform their more archaic and barbaric practices?

Unfortunate Implication: Ichigo is willing to ally with complete assholes to accomplish his goals. The whole “protecting those who can’t protect themselves” schtick only applies when people he cares about are in danger.

Conclusion: Ichigo is kind of an asshole, or at least apathetic to the plight of others, a direct contrast to his characterization thus far

2) If hollows are impure spirits, and high-level hollows spirits who have evolved by consuming countless others, would it not be in the best interest of Nel and other “good” arrancar to be purified? Is it even appropriate to think of hollows who have evolved as individuals or a conglomeration of all the souls that have been consumed? Are hollows inherently evil, or has the Soul Society’s understanding of the hollow/non-hollow spirit dynamic been flawed this entire time?

Unfortunate Implication: Either Ichigo doesn’t think through the logical conclusion of having hollows as allies enough to question what he’s been taught about hollows thus far, or he’s okay with leaving countless spirits in an impure state and damning them to a miserable existence of insatiable hunger and denying them access to the proper afterlife/reincarnation cycle

Conclusion: Ichigo isn’t as smart as he’s presented to be, or he’s okay with making friends with the very monsters he’s sworn to destroy...as long as they’re cute and helpful

This is what I mean when Ichigo devolves as a character. By the time the Fullbringer arc rolls around (for those keeping score at home, Ichigo has gone from hisored to fullbringer back to humigami) Kubo has built a world full of shades of grey, but continues time and time again to have Ichigo play it as if it were black and white. The reveal that Ichigo is, in fact, a quincigami is just the icing on the cake, stealing the one thing that made Ishida unique only for it to go absolutely nowhere and confuse an already muddled backstory.

All of these changes in power and the complete disregard for the moral quandaries brought up by the story mean that any change in Ichigo is superficial, like a skin change in a video game. He might look cool and give his attacks spiffy names, but it’s all an excuse for Kubo to draw him in different outfits because once again, all Kubo really cares about is drawing really cool shit. Everything else is secondary. Nothing has to make sense. Who cares about Ichigo’s hopes and dreams and desires when he can have two swords that he’ll never use in battle. Oh, it’s the epilogue and Ichigo needs to be a grown up doing grown up stuff...might as well make him a doctor. It was good enough for his old man, right? It wasn’t as if he said anything against taking over his father’s clinic some day.

Then again, Ichigo never said that’s what he’d like to do either. Almost 700 chapters and 15 years went by and Ichigo never once said what he wanted to do with his life when he grew up.

And that, my friends, is a problem.

[spectrumscribe]

What is the top thing that messed you up and made you super angry with tmnt 2012? I know there are loads but what ranks at the top for you? This isn’t an accusation post or anything, mine was how Splinter treated every non-Leo and raised soldiers and called them sons (side eyeing the lone rat and Cubs episode and setting it on fire 🔥) so just curious on your one.

wow okay that’s a loaded question. i have a lot of issues with 2012, but i’ll give you my highlights. (long post, apologies.)

big starting issue: bad interpersonal dynamics. 

they started so strong with the brother-brother relationships, and over time they dissolved into something that barely resembled familial closeness (i’ll talk even more about that later). there were multiple instances where serious fights and conflicts between the brothers got swept under the rug and ignored, and that is a major failing of writing.

also, shitty romance attempts. i ship capritello, but the individual components of that for capril and apritello were presented blandly at best, and uncomfortably at worst. and don’t even get me started on all the hinting and teasing with leorai, which, by the way, is incest no matter how people spin it.

they started good with all of these things (if heavy handed with apritello) and by the end of the series… nothing was given any resolution! there was no awkward talk between Leo and Karai to put to rest their weird relationship, no final sit down and conclusion to the capritello trio’s mess of feelings, and on the topic of romance, “ramona” her name is Y’Gythgba dammnit was a flaming disaster from start to finish.

so family relationships went bad, romance went bad, and none of the fights or overtures were every concluded.

next issue: the absolutely minuscule pool of reoccurring female characters and their treatment.

is it honestly so hard to give another five or so female characters, when the cast is made up of like sixty+ men? or!!! let any of them do things in the show besides be sometimes literally plot devices? even Karai, who had spent all of the seasons building up to taking revenge for what Shredder did to her, and was an incredibly dangerous and highly independent fully trained kunoichi, got her character arc stolen by Leo. or, you know, was reduced to being a damsel in distress every time Leo so much as breathed in the same scene as her.

And let’s not even talk about how Y’Gythgba, this badass soldier of a warrior planet, was similarly reduced to a romance object; who got to fire her gun like twice a scene and then wait for the turtles to save her. OR, how they claimed Shinigami was younger than all the cast members, (17), and yet endowed her and sexualized her like she was 20+. (and she hardly got to do anything cool, either.)

and April, sweet glorious murderous April, who was literally designed to conquer entire worlds, who did Some Cool Shit, but was never treated with the proper fear or respect she deserved. i wanted less of her being fawned over as a romance goal and more of her punching people in their teeth. (actually, i wanted that in general for all the ladies of the cast.)

they could have done so much more with all these wonderful ladies (and given us MORE OF THEM, THANKS) and they did not. assholes.

issue three: dropped plot lines.

i’m not the best at remembering every single dropped plot line in tmnt ( @hotmilkytea has an entire post for it and she has blessed us with that) but there was a metric fuck ton of unresolved plot and character arcs. the writers left so many loose ends you could make a wig out of them. (not just the romance ones i mentioned above, but ones that had world scale effects. just dropped and never spoken of again. shameful.)

they had an entire board of writers working for them. keeping continuity should not have been so hard for them.

biggest issue i had, and still have: abusive familial relationships.

now i know a lot of people might disagree with me on this- heck, majority of those people would strongly disagree with this- but i have my opinion and this is how i see the big picture.

they didn’t start out like that, certainly. they actually had very realistic sibling-sibling dynamics in the first season! it was only after that that things started to go downhill. but as the seasons went on, a lot of the fun and love of the Hamato family dynamic got written out.

there was a steady increase of physical violence, especially towards Mikey, and a steady increase of emotional manipulation, especially towards Donnie. and, it became very clear that Splinter only put real effort into teaching and loving Leo, somewhat towards Raph, and nearly nothing to Donnie and Mikey. its neglectful, how Splinter treated the B-team, and its downright abusive, how the A-team treated their siblings.

just…. the things that used to be gags got very serious in implications, and there were never apologies for hurtful words or actions. Mikey actively was flinching away and getting ready for hits by the third season, and Donnie just accepted every criticism given to him, as well as keeping quiet when his glory got stolen. (Donnie’s brothers claiming victory with his inventions, and Mikey burying his anger and hurt not five seconds after each conflict. that happened at least every two episodes.)

its not that hard to write a loving family that teases and roughhouses without it going bad. i’m very disappointed in 2012 for failing so thoroughly on that highly vital aspect of the turtles.

i wrote a fanfic that really expresses my views on things, which is still ongoing and will go into deep depth on all of these issues. check it out if you want a better idea.

i think that’s all my biggest problems with tmnt, though i know i had a few more about stereotyping and lack of true racial diversity.

honestly, after the disappointment tmnt 2012 turned out to be on almost all accounts, i’m very concerned how 2018 tmnt is going to go. i’m sincerely hoping i don’t see any more of what i listed above in the next animation, but considering my doubts about Nickelodeon, i am not overly hopeful.