#not to mention the first page is literally the same thing from the previous chapter OMFG ARE U TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?????

[narugen-moved]

i do think it’s a bit laughable that if it had been any other character (ESPECIALLY IF MALE!) they’d probably have more close up shots and maybe more pages of them in action but because it’s mina she gets this

and . that’s it. thank you matsumoto once again for letting me down #CONSISTENCY 🙏

i will love you when no one else will

[thetorturedbuckydepartment]

chapter eight: twenty stitches in a hospital room

pairing: Bucky barnes x plus-sized!reader

summary: Six months ago, you were appointed to be Head Nurse to the Avengers by Tony Stark. Every day, you count your lucky stars, knowing the horrible past you quickly ditched back in England. It holds you back, restrains you, from getting close to anyone when on your new job.

That's until you met and fell in love with Bucky Barnes. The supposed assassin with a heart of gold, who seems to be eager to get to know you. To peel back your layers piece by piece, but could you trust him once you're laid before him raw and vulnerable?

masterlist

PREVIOUS PART -- CHAPTER SEVEN: LOOMING ON THE HORIZON

warnings: language, blood, mild gore, heavy angst, mentions of bullets, mentions of murder, lots of panic, mentions of anxiety

word count: 3.5k

Taglist: @scott-loki-barnes @cjand10 @blackwidownat2814 @blackbirdwitch22 @laughterafter  @blackhawkfanatic @mcira @bxckybxrnes24 @rachellovesloki @toffeacademia @bean-bean2000 @lana525 @selella

A/N: ah hope you guys like this chapter!! I'm off to my prom today -- my exams ended a week ago so am relieved, and this next week I'm gonna be starting revision for my driver's theory test so posting may be extremely inconsistent! hope u enjoy so far :)

The jet ride there is insanely quiet. Bucky is next to you after having put on his tact suit — highlighting his gorgeously thick thighs and wide shoulders, and you find yourself unable to breathe, watching him flip knives before stowing them away, and swinging a rifle over his shoulder.

Quite literally dressed to kill. You shouldn’t be attracted to a man steeped so seemly in violence like it’s his first love — you know the implications it can lead to in practise. But you just can’t look away, you’re too far gone. Maybe it’s the fact that you know he’s too pure — his heart is too set in its righteous ways for you to be scared of him, to doubt his purpose and intentions even as he wields deathly weapons.

But the thing that kills you the most are his eyes. So brilliantly, softly blue, watching you watch him. Why do you think he’s showing off so much? He could quite easily just shove all his weapons in his tact suit, but he chooses to flip the knives and play with the bullets to be loaded on his rifle, especially when it earns him that feral look in your eyes. Like if there wasn’t a mission he had to disappear on in a few minutes, you’d jump his bones and finally make the move he’s desperate for you to. 

You don’t even notice that he’s caught you, too lost in the nimbleness of his fingers and the confidence of his stance. And then you touch down, just outside the forest of Anastasia’s estate. It’s time to go.

You immediately jump up, out of your seat to stand near Bucky, while him and Nat recount the codes for danger and the plan of attack. You zone out, watching him command a team turning you on like never before. What is it about him? He’s firm, he makes sure everyone’s on the same page and all of a sudden your panties are in a bunch. You try to swallow it down, nodding along when he gestures to you as the standby team, ready in case of any scratches and bumps. And dear God, he almost loses his train of thought when your eyes meet, too lost in your beautiful face and staring at him like you’re starving for his affection. For…other things of his too. 

But he gets through it. And then, he rushes over to you, to say goodbye. You feel the tears welling in your eyes, scared at what the next few hours hold for the two of you. For the rest of the world. He grabs you by your hips, while your hands end up around his middle, resting your head on his chest. It isn’t enough, and the gnawing feeling in your stomach isn’t going away.

You decide to be a little selfish, wrapping your arms around his shoulders and pressing a kiss to his cheek. He pulls you in tighter, pouring every ounce of unspoken love into the embrace. “Come back to me in one piece, will you?”

“I’ll always find my way back to you.” Your eyes close as you stifle a sob, but he knows. He always knows, somehow. He decodes you, no matter how intricate you make the key.

As you part, something changes. Maybe it’s the tears glistening in your eyes, maybe it’s knowing he might not come back. He can’t help himself, and you don’t have it in you to stop it.

His hand winds up on your cheek, caressing it. Your eyelids flutter at the warm touch, and then his lips fall onto yours.

It’s electric. It’s fire. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted, even as your hands weave into his hair, desperate to deepen the kiss but—

Nat coughs behind the both of you, and you realise everyone’s just watched this sacred, supposed to be private exchange. You move away, blushing and rushing to cover yourself as if you’ve been caught naked, muttering a quick “sorry” and unable to make eye contact with anyone. 

Well, there’s no point in denying the rumours now. 

“Nurse, you’ll have loads of time to do that when we get back, okay? We need the Sergeant here to stay focused.” She’s only teasing, but you stutter through an apology.

“Oh, sorry! That’s not—” The only person you can stand to look at is Bucky, and you don’t miss his pink cheeks, and the joyful sparkle in his eyes. He was right, he thinks, his heart beating just as hard as yours is. You do have feelings for him. The motion of your lips against his were enough confirmation.

He touches the tips of your fingers, a silent promise of a later discussion. A later progression. You smile at him, mouthing Good luck. 

I’m too skilled for luck, doll, he mouths back and you chuckle, finally feeling lighter. Why were you so scared? Like you could ever doubt his mercenary ability.

But even so, the hour he’s away from you burns in your chest, lead coating your diaphragm and pulls it down. You wonder what he’ll say about the kiss when he gets back. Maybe he’ll dismiss you, say it was something done in the heat of the moment, where he wasn’t sure if he was going to die. Maybe he’ll tell you how he feels the same for you, that the fire that’s turning your ribs to ash has spread to burn at his heart, and you’ll spend the rest of your days entangled. You lose yourself in the sweet daydream for a while, playing with the necklace he’d gotten you on your day out. It’s a simple gold one, that perfectly compliments the necklace you are already wearing, but this one has an emblem of a wolf on it. Bucky’s signature, resting just above your heart. 

And then everything goes to shit.

“Shit. There’s open fire. Romanoff’s vitals seem to be strong. We need to get ready to open the Quinjet hatch,” one of the SHIELD agents frantically calls out, spurring the other into action. You feel like your entire world is crashing down amidst distant booms and yelling. Your heart aches as it beats, slamming away like its hellbent on hurting your ribs. 

The SHIELD operatives move, pressing buttons as you and the other nurses on hand spring into action, laying out the stretchers and assembling the tables full of bandages. But nothing can prepare you for the sight that awaits.

Natasha stumbles on, covered in blood, and— Bucky. He’s leaning heavily on her shoulder, splatters of blood everywhere from head to toe, dripping off of him onto the pristine metal floor. You can hear his ragged breathing from across the Quinjet. 

You run to them, words barely leaving you. “Nat, Buck. What happened? I— Are you both hurt?” His head lifts just the slightest at the sound of your voice, feeling like he’s finally safe now. 

“I’m fine, just a few bruises Denise can take care of. Bucky’s taken the brunt of it, three—no, four?— shots to his stomach, he’s bleeding out like crazy, Nurse. You gotta take care of him.” You nod frantically, the ringing in your ears only increasing, and you let your body move on autopilot. If you get too caught up in your feelings, then he’ll die for sure. And the world can’t afford to lose him, let alone you. Oh God, it would absolutely—

“Hey Buck, it’s me.” You take him from Natasha’s hold, calling Denise to come tend to her as the Quinjet takes off, meaning you have an hour in the air to do any essential surgery on him. “Let’s get you on a gurney, okay?” He relaxes and lets his eyes close at your smell and touch, knowing more than ever that he’s in safe, capable hands.

“Hey, hey no. You gotta stay with me, Buck. Until I patch you up. Can you do that for me?” He nods, letting out a grunt. His head thuds back against the stretcher, which in reality is just a thin metal table, and you quickly whip off your thick cardigan to place under his head like a cushion. The last thing he needs right now is a concussion.

“Good boy. Now, just relax for me, that’s it.” You try and keep the tremor out of your voice, but you’re sure you fail. You gently run a quick hand through his hair to soothe him, grabbing the large scissors you’ve kept in the metal tray.

And you talk him through every step, from cutting open his tact suit to checking to see is any vital organs of his are hit. You ask him to describe the pain, seeing as the wounds aren’t closing and he seems to be in more and more pain with each passing second. His blood is warm, and incredibly sticky. Deep maroon, so much escaping it looks almost black on your hands and against the front of the both of your clothes. You’re trying your best to keep him together, to keep yourself together. You were so good at it, but something about seeing the man you might be falling in love with so close to death…all your learnt sympathy and calmness has gone down the drain.

“Burns like hell, doll. You gotta put me down I can’t—“ His face is pale like he’s deathly sick and it hits you. Bullets coated in acidic poison of some sort, maybe Hydromanias? You have the course for Up to Date Poisons: Symptoms and Signals scheduled for tomorrow, and so you can’t say for certain.

“No, no, we’re not putting you down Buck. You’re stronger than that. Luckily you’ve only hit flesh, all the vital organs are intact. But I suspect you’ve been poisoned Bucky, and I think I know what it is, based on your complexion, breathing, and heart rate, it seems to be Hydromanias, but strong enough to counteract the serum. It’s— it’s almost like they knew you would come… I need a quick sample of your blood just to narrow it down, is that okay?” He nods frantically.

“You’ve got a lot of spots to choose from, you—you won’t even need a needle.” He tries his best to smile as you take the sample and quickly plug it into the Sample Reader — one of the newest tech developments in Stark Tech. It’s supposed to take all the necessary readings for blood like platelet and white blood cell count, and for any abnormalities, then dispose an antidote to any detected foreign cells to it’s designated machine, which happens to be right next to the pilot’s seat. It’s a marvellous invention, seeming like it was conveniently designed for this exact moment. And your hunch was right, it is some sort of poison.

Then a loud ding from across the room, as you’re holding Bucky’s wounds closed. “Good to see you still have a sense of humour, love.” You yell at one of the nurses to bring the antidote over, while still making sure Bucky’s awake. 

“Well done, Bucky. You’re doing so well for me, just drink this, will you? It’s the Sample Reader’s antidote, it identified the poison as Hydromanias. Once you’ve done that, we can begin to patch you up, okay? That’s it, good boy. You’re doing so well for me.” You praise and coax him into doing as you need him to. 

His pupils dilate and lips part, breathing steadying as he lets out a sigh of relief, a few tears slipping down his face. “That feel a little better, baby? Yeah? Can I patch you up now?”

“Y-Yeah. Please.” His voice sounds so weak, you know you’re losing him to the dark side, the temptress of death poised with a blade kissing his throat, whispering in his ear to just give in. You have to goad him back to you, to keep his eyes open.

“Alright Buck, I’m not gonna lie this next part is going to hurt. I’ll have to sterilise the wound and then stitch you up, but the good news is, it won’t take me more than ten minutes. Can you put up with it, sweetheart? Ten minutes?” You nod, trying your best to keep calm.

“For you…an eternity.”

“Well lucky for you it’ll only be ten minutes, huh?”

“I can last longer than that.” He smirks at you, and you feel the catch in his breath when he tries to suppress a wince.

“Well, you can impress me with your stamina once you’re better, yeah? Just keep those pretty eyes on me for now, baby. I’ll get you a towel so you don’t break those teeth.” You gather the supplies, running over in your mind a million times how to tie a surgical knot. You look around, searching for a cloth to put in between his teeth. 

You’re the only nurse still tending to a patient, and you notice Denise, assistant Nurse to the Avengers Tower, sitting down, after having just patched Nat up, who’s currently clutching her head and wrapped in bandages.

“Denise, can you bring me a towel, please?” She doesn’t quite like you, seeing as you got the position she’s coveted for ages before you even set foot in the country.

“We don’t have one, boss. They’re all used.” Your eyes widen in panic, and Bucky catches on.

“Don’t need a towel, doll. I—I can take it.” 

“Darling, you know I don’t doubt you, but the poison’s done quite a lot of damage. You have about the same strength level as an average human right now. We need to get you a—Oh fuck it, just bite down on my hand.” You usher Denise over, trusting her the most to stitch up a gaping bullet wound. 

“W—What? I can’t, doll. Don’t wanna hurt you.” 

“Fuck it, Buck. I trust you, we don’t have a towel. Just bite down on my hand. I can deal with it later. You need something, or your teeth with shatter.” 

And you see his eyes, so desperate to close, so eager to just give in. You press the side of your non-dominant hand against his lips. “Bite down, baby. We’re about to start.” You nod at Denise, encouraging her to start. 

“Come on, open your mouth, Bucky. Be a good boy, and open your mouth.” Now that you’ve passed on the responsibility to patch him up to someone else, you focus your full attention on him, your other hand coming around to stroke his hair. He complies, teeth just resting ever so gently against your skin. 

“Hey, it’s okay. We’re going to start, bite down as hard as your need, okay? Nod for me if you understand.” He nods eagerly, pupils blown wide as he watches you. When the first swab of cotton drenched in disinfectant makes contact, a pained groan leaves him as his teeth dig in slightly, not enough to hurt, but enough to keep your hand firmly in place, in his warm, wet mouth…

And then he bites down hard, groaning even louder as Denise continues to tend to him. You try your best to keep your face straight offering more praise.

“That’s it, Buck. You’re doing so good, Denise is almost done with disinfecting your wounds, aren’t you.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m just about to start stitching.” 

And then the antidote kicks in — known famously to make any area of the body where the poison is present burn even worse than Hydromanias itself. Bucky’s teeth dig in deeper, staining his mouth red as his eyes screw shut. The pain is burning you, sharp as a knife and hot as a flame, and you feel yourself shaking, internally assessing your own damage as you stroke Bucky’s hair, his hand latched around your wrist and gripping tight. 

“Just a few more minutes, Buck. Just one more wound to go, hey, hey, I know it hurts, but just hold on, okay? You’re doing so well for me, come on Buck, open those pretty eyes.” At this point, you have no idea what you’re saying, the pain in your hand overtaking almost every single one of your senses, as blood begins to drip down the sides of his face as he can’t let you go, his eyes fluttering. 

He complies once again, bright blue eyes burning through you as you offer him a watery smile, and you feel his entire body shake. He’s definitely not going to last much longer. And then Denise ties up the last stitch, you counted fourteen. You estimate you might need six, but his teeth clench even tighter when he slumps in relief. 

Denise all but runs away, taking the bloodied needle and cotton balls away with her.

“Well done, Bucky. You did so well! You’re all done, I’m so proud of you, I know how painful that must’ve been, but you stuck through it. Good job.” You pat his forehead as he lets out a shaky exhale and releases your hand. You grab a cup and encourage him to spit out the blood and offering him some water. “Right now, when we touch down, we’ll put you in the infirmary under surveillance for 12 hours because of the poison, okay?” 

“Y-Your hand…I—“

“Don’t worry about me, pretty boy. You can rest now, everything’s okay.” His eyes close, and you see him fully relaxing, still gripping tight to you hand.

And then you collapse, letting yourself fall onto the floor, trying your best to not lose it. All of the feelings of the past hour or so resurge, the anxiety, the gnawing pain at the state of him, the uncertainty as you touched his wounded, broken body. You’re relieved he’ll live, but distraught that he might end up in a coma. 

You can’t even explain exactly how it feels, to have your heart severed at a harrowing sight, and then to have to keep it together in front of everyone. You're absolutely hysterical

You don’t even register being pulled off the floor and your hand disinfected, stitched and wrapped in copious bandages, too busy sobbing. 

It feels like every tragedy in your life has decided to present itself now. 

When the Quinjet lands, when they take him away, you follow. Somehow, you feel like it’s your fault he’s ended up like this. If you hadn’t distracted him by kissing him before he left, maybe the bullets wouldn’t have hit him. As you watch them hook him up to a monitor and take another blood sample to use as data collection for the efficacy of the Sample Reader, you can’t help but wish you could’ve kept to yourself and waited until after, and then maybe he would be okay, he wouldn’t—

“Nurse, you’re a hell of a woman, you know that?” Nat’s voice comes behind you, startling you out of your thoughts. You run to her, sniffling and wrapping her in a tight hug, careful of her bumps and bruises. “I’m so glad you’re both alive, and you’re okay, Nat. I love you,” you sob against her fiery hair.

“Hey, we’re okay. You healed Bucky, you got us here in one piece. And I love you too.” She pulls you away to wipe the tears off your face.

“And you just let him bite down on your hand like that? I would’ve let his teeth shatter and not even pay for his veneers, you’re a better woman than me.” She laughs, and you sit down next to her. She recounts exactly what happened, that the intel was fake and how the place was practically swarming with HYDRA scum, and they both fought valiant and killed several and several men before getting what they needed. But Nat holds up her necklace, telling you she did it. 

“Oh God, once the both of you are better we should go out for drinks, to celebrate. Who knows what valuable information you’ve gotten into our hands.” You smile, and for the first time in hours it reaches your eyes.

“You should try and sleep, Nurse. You look tired as hell, and so am I.” You shake your head.

“No, I want to be awake when Bucky gets up, he’s killed people today. God knows what kind of headspace he’s in. I need to be there for him. I’ll let you sleep, though. Good night, Nat. I’m glad you made it home.” She smiles in response, a yawn quickly taking over.

You drag a chair over to Bucky’s bedside, admiring his sleeping face. You’ve never seen him sleep before, always buried in his chest or his face hidden away against your heart. He looks so beautiful, face not looking bogged down by worries or past trauma. You miss his eyes, though. Ever brilliant, ever blue, and not looking at you, for once. 

You touch your hand, noticing spots of red through the bandage. You carefully refresh your own bandages, noticing you did indeed need six stitches yourself. And then it hits you, the way you acted in front of the other nurses, who you're supposed to command come tomorrow. You need to draft an apology, and are almost too lost in thought trying to construct what to say, when you hear Bucky’s strained voice, fogged over with sleep.

“Doll.” Your breath catches in your throat, yet again.

He’s safe. He’s finally safe, and it didn’t kill you. 

NEXT PART

[drstonetrivia]

Chapter 221 Trivia

I hope you like Stanley, because this is mostly about Stanley.

Once again we have Stanley represented as the knight. Sure Xeno was his original princess (even if he denies it), but now his princess seems to be the rocket.

Will Stanley get a fairy tale ending?

Xeno obviously wants to keep up his act as a villain, but Ryusui is denying him the privilege.

Stanley's original criteria for revival were loosely based on society being up and running, which is now the case as Ryusui mentions here. Like they'd agreed earlier, what Stanley did was considered justifiable acts of warfare and thus they trust him as a soldier.

Stanley and Xeno are both said to be 180 cm tall on their character files, yet in this picture there's clearly a height difference.

Obviously, the only explanation for this is so that Stanley could fondly tilt Xeno's head up towards him in the following pages.

Stan's new outfit makes him look less imposing and inhuman than his previous one, and instead mimics the buttons on the the front of a double-breasted military jacket.

The double "V" of his belt buckles could be the zig-zag of the American clothing, or it's two halves of an X.

(Conspiracies for the belt buckle, don't take these seriously:

a marker that he's loyal to Xeno

a simplification of the current KoS crossed-rockets flag

V + V = X

"V" for victory)

Stanley's scar is still here, but it's changed slightly: the line across the bridge of his nose is gone.

However it may fully disappear soon, since he'll be petrified on the rocket. This change will likely mark his atonement.

This is a brand new lighter based off the one Stanley had before they got petrified. For most of the Americas arc he simply used matches, apart from the "gag" lighter that looks like his handgun.

The math checks out.

This is, in fact, Stanley and Senku's first conversation (if you can even call this one).

Before now, Senku's never allowed Stanley to get close enough, and they never communicated directly over the radios either.

All Ryusui has wanted since he was a child was to make one of his models a reality and to pilot it himself, along with the help of his brother Sai.

Now, he's forced to sacrifice that dream for the greater good.

Sai knows this, which is why he's shown in the same room Ryusui was (across the table from him? In the same seat? It doesn't seem to be the same window, but the rocket is aligned the same.)

It looks like Stan does say the exact same thing: "dekiru ne", which literally translates to "I can". The "ne" at the end is used as a form of agreement, similar to saying "right?" in English. I sort of wish it was translated the same...

[dazais-guardian-angel]

alright I've thought about it for a while, and I'm fairly confident that is in fact Bram, and that Aya isn't hallucinating/seeing an illusion.

The biggest thing casting doubt, aside from the obvious different outfit, is the fact that the chapter ends on this reveal, suggesting it could be a cliffhanger bait. However, BSD's cliffhangers always involve something terrible happening that gets rectified in the next chapter(s), to scare us before giving us back hope; there's never been a case of the other way around, where something good happens to get our hopes up, only to have the rug pulled out from us at the start of next chapter to show that we were foolish for hoping. Asagiri is never that cruel. He loves his death baits and his dangerous situation baits before letting us know that everything is okay, and he'd never suggest that it was wrong for the audience or the characters to have hope, when BSD is quite literally about having hope even in the most absurd situations.

But more specifically, just.... what would a fakeout like this accomplish? The only way I could maybe see it was if this is Fyodor, and we think Aya is safe but she's actually not, but there's no way it's him, because we see him with the singularity and Kunikida/Tanizaki at the same time as this, he's wearing Bram's outfit and not the one this person has, and we've established that he wants to protect Aya, not hurt her. Granted, he obviously doesn't care enough about protecting her since he let her escape and get hurt all on her own lmao, so that's exactly why I ask what would be the point of him suddenly showing up just to save her from the rubble, only to then just hurt her anyway? None of that is logical.

And then, if it's Akutagawa, then that means we had our emotions played with for a twist that is just.... mildly disappointing but also not outright bad for the characters? Disappointing because Bram isn't back after all, but also not a net negative because Aya is still being rescued by someone we know and trust. If that were to happen, Aya hallucinating Aku as Bram, I just can't see it happening as a chapter cliffhanger fakeout at all; it would just feel cheap and cruel, playing with our feelings (not to mention Aya's feelings!) regarding a character we want to come back, for a reveal that isn't really worth it and doesn't change the status quo (because she's still safe regardless if it's Bram or Aku).

Aside from the lack of narrative justification, I also believe that if Aya were to hallucinate Bram, she would see him exactly as she knew him back when he regained his body — I mean, she basically does see him like that when she's remembering his last moments with her in this chapter and in the previous one when she's yelling at Fyodor; sure they're just repeated panels as flashbacks, but they're still her memories of how she sees him. I was unsure for a while about the figure's identity, but it was seeing it pointed out that Bram no longer has his nails that was really the final nail in the coffin haha get it, it's a multilayered joke, please laugh- for me: why would Aya hallucinate Bram not only not in his own outfit, but with his body altered from how she knows it? There'd be no reason why she would, and no way she could. She's never seen him in a different outfit, with different nails. Note that every other instance we've gotten of characters hallucinating significant figures in their lives (Atsushi, Mushitarou, Dazai), they're always wearing the clothes they're most known for and what the person knows them to wear. There's no reason to assume this would be different for Aya, and that she'd imagine him wearing a completely random outfit from the one she associates with him, and randomly without his signature long black nails.

This closeup panel of Bram's collar right when he first begins speaking pretty much proves my point. It's inconsistent with the new outfit (Aku's outfit) we see him wearing on the last page, but with the framing of this, with him being entirely in shadow in the rightmost panel when he first appears, it's clear to me that Aya can't see him clearly yet, so she's imagining him the way she remembers him. And then he gets closer/lifts the beam higher so that the shadow starts receding from him, and his feet and hands and different outfit become visible. The tone of this moment and the way it plays out is exactly as I've seen in numerous other visual media, where a character thinks they're on the brink of death and has lost all hope and is ready to accept it, before the slow, grand reveal of the person they thought they'd lost rescuing them, often with them posing a philosophical question to challenge their current despair or their belief that their loved one couldn't possibly still be alive, just as Bram does here. If you've seen enough movies and TV, you can probably imagine exactly the kind of scene I mean, and exactly how this moment would play out if it were animated I say "would" because it's never a given that Bones will adapt it with the right tone like I imagine.

This is framed as a triumphant, hopeful scene, of a knight coming to rescue his princess after he was thought to be dead. Aya has hurt her leg here, she's trapped, she's realizing she's about to die, and she's at last fully convinced herself that everything she so staunchly believed in was wrong and that everything she fought for all that time was for nothing; firstly, why would she suddenly hallucinate Bram if she had already lost all hope, but most importantly, why would the narrative have Bram defy death and return to her and challenge the idea that all her ideals and actions were meaningless, only for it to turn out that it isn't really him, when she misses him so bad? That just.... wouldn't be right at all, that's not the feeling this scene gives at all. This is their moment, Bram has to be the one to say these things to Aya with their history together, not anyone else, and I can't imagine Akutagawa saying something like what Bram says to her here, about royalty carrying out their pledge to protect someone without fail, even if he has inherited Bram's protectiveness towards Aya like Fyodor has. No, I'm 90% certain that is indeed Bram. It can't possibly be anyone else.

...And so, all that to say that yeah, I believe that Bram has Fyodor'd himself into Akutagawa's body, since he's wearing his outfit. We don't really know the extent of Bram's powers, but it's looking likely that he can bodysnatch any of his vampires for himself if something ever happens to him, or perhaps Aku might be special since he was the first vampire Bram created at the start of all this. Needless to say I'm not at all worried about Aku though; this is probably the beginning of why he ends up with that suit of armor later on, since Bram has his clothes... I just have no idea how we get to that point. But Aku will be fine, I'm sure; this may even be the only way he can come back from being a vampire.

[joltai-showa]

ah shit here we go again, let's reread Naruto again

reading it in official English translation for the first time and really have no idea if it's good or not lol (I've been translating MHA for 5 years straight and official English translation from the same company fucking sucks)

chapter 1 is huge as hell, which is normal for Shonen Jump, mangaka needs to introduce the concept and characters and all yada yada

what I find really funny about Naruto is a lot of the stuff is written backwards (meaning, we have some stuff introduced early on, but then more shit is slapped on top) to the point that pre-Shippuden things directly contradict what is going to be stated later. Kishimoto most of the time gave approximately zero shit about things outright not making sense and, y'know, you gotta respect him for that, cause I don't have balls like that

(unfortunately when writing anything canon-compliant in Naruto you have be mindful of things being rewritten and outright not making sense💀)

Anyway enough yapping, very first page is already ripe with shit that is going to be retconneced later

Firstly, description of Kurama's abilities. Naruto's orange puppy certainly can not start tsunamis and landslides with just his tails, lmao, this is something closer to Ten-Tails. If the terrain allows it, sure, I can see him starting a landslide, but orange puppy isn't starting anything in the seas, he's got siblings with lesser number of tails for that haha.

Secondly, the entire second paragraph feels like a fever dream honestly. "Suffering people gathered the shinobi clans to fight this menace" = Konoha was founded as a way to stop the endless tiny conflicts between the shinobi clans living in the Land of Fire (why have small-scale conflicts between each other when you can have literal world wars with the guys from beyond the border lol, jk, I know Hashirama wanted a peaceful future for the kids, but ultimately hidden villages system solves none of the issues of the previous system besides "7 year olds die on the battlefields" because now we have "15 year olds die on the battlefields"), Kurama literally wanted nothing to do with humans (as far as we know) during the warring states period, he was literally frolicking in some meadows and eating weird twins from to-be Kumogakure, got captured by Uchiha "read some mossy stone that my clan carried for years for some reason and went totally delulu" Madara, was used to attack Konoha, got bitch slapped by Hashirama a few times before Mito stuffed him into her stomach. And people are surprised why is the orange puppy so evil most of the manga lmao. But anyway, the entire sentence also implies that Fourth Hokage had some sort of mega-epic showdown with the evil puppy... while in reality it was something closer to Konoha's nuke being stolen by a delusional angry fourteen year old and Minato had to simply recapture the nuke again.

anyway, that was a long-ass rant lol

love the early style, it's so goofy, Kakashi is especially wonky in it

first question: why are we tying up school kids after they are caught for their terrible pranks? what is the educational idea behind this thing? like, i get doing that on the training field, imitating combat and all, but why do the same thing in the classroom? is it supposed to encourage the kids to learn how to run away after being tied down by some ropes?

(if that's the case i guess i know at least one academy student who always failed this task, yeah, looking at you, rin, i'm sorry, i can't hold myself back from bashing that thing, lmao)

anyway, back to the manga, i really love how it mentions that Naruto flunked this exam two times already (and it's not stated how often this exam is, so I guess yearly?), and only graduates at like 13, which is supposed to be a super late age and Naruto is such a lazy bum for that... but then you realize the funny fact that Naruto's classmates aka "genius" Sasuke, "book-smart" Sakura, team Asuma and team Kurenai are all the same age as him. Lmao. This isn't the first time Kishi will forget about this silly thing called "timeline".

let's... not adress this gag.

AHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH.

Naruto, allow me to introduce you to this wonderful concept called "nepotism". It's quite common in your village. Second Hokage was First's younger brother, Third Hokage was the student of the Second, Fourth Hokage is the student of a guy who studied under Third, Fifth is literally both the granddaughter of First and a student of Third, Sixth is the student of Fourth and you, Naruto, is the son of Fourth and the student of Sixth.

I absolutely love how early Naruto is trying to be this story about this poor underdog when in reality our MC is the nepobaby to ever napobaby lol. I think only Iwa beats Konoha at having the most absurdly nepotistic system for Kage, because 3 out of 4 Tsuchikage are directly related to each other through blood and the one guy that isn't happens to be the teacher to Third.

(I do remember there was so bullshit about Kazekage clan or something but I think it's pretty much only a title and only Rasa and Gaara are actually related to each other through blood)

>badge of adulthood

>given to literal 9-13 year olds who can't throw a kunai in a straight line

yeah, you know what, this actually checks out.

you immediately know that mizuki is fucking evil when he says "nah let him pass iruka, he managed to produce a single shitty clone, he's totally not gonna be killed after 30 seconds on the battlefield" like WHAT IS THIS SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

also another good question to the world building: does Konoha have other schools besides Academy? Like, what do kids do if they don't want to pursue military career? Their parents hopefully teach them how to read and count and that's it? I mean, Konoha is a military settlement at the end of the day, but they can't be teaching only guys who will be throwing knives at each other?

absolutely nothing, naruto, lmao. you were born a nepobaby, prepare to have an endless supply of chakra for any tricks of yours and the best senseis Konoha has to offer.

is the Hokage building supposed to be their residence as well? huh.

also let's not talk about this gag.

comically large kurama jpeg

[misterradio]

house of leaves has my mind blown at such random stuff. page 97 has a check mark in the corner.

[i'll add random other musings below]

notation 127 references a real book which is even on archive dot org..!!! and it says to check out a diagram But you need to log in to view the book. AAGHH!!

page 119 it is now time to be confused on how to read this 👍

nevermind the box is just all one long footnote. and the backwards box is like a reversal of the previous box.

"this is what happens when you hurry in a maze. the faster you go, the worse you are entangled"..... UH OH !

the footnotes along the sides are just BUILDING NAMES?? and then ARCHITECTS ??????? i do really like the cyclical nature of these notes, one makes u flip thru several pages and then you have to turn the book upside down and flip back thru the same pages. the last note in this series is right at the 2nd page in this sequence but along the side. makes me think of. a spiral ::-) makes me smile.

im just now realizing some of these notation marks are letters instead of numbers....X appears several times (that footnote is on page 107) but theres also like, LL (but if the first L was reversed)? and this one is F (page 122). not sure if there is a meaning here

page 127 guys this is scary

(page 151) "I was sorry to hear he disappeared. Do you know what happened to him?" HE WHAT?????

(page 620) okay i decided to read some more letters from (checks her name) Pelafina and. this is one is. ::-(

okay i finished her letters and wah........... sad. i wonder what was the one jewelry johnny kept from her.

(page 154) i already forgot what these different names were for ermmm lol. great hall and antechamber. i forgor

(page 159) the fact that the stairwell was around 13 miles long for Roberts' crew and then for Navdison its 100 feet.... LOLLLL F--K the explorers in particular

(page 192) YAY JED and wax !!! i never thought id be so so happy to see them again. yayyy. but now getting out is the next obstacle.. F--K OFF I CANT BELIEVE HOW SOONI SPOKE f--k this book

SICKENIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!!

(page 263) I LOVE THAT there are occasional emails from people after the 1st printing and someone says "what was all that crazy stuff in the introduction about guns and blood?" THATS WHAT IM SAYIINNGGGGG

(page 272) this makes me think that the stairwell is analogous to a throat..

(page 305) once again. witnessing the staircase lengthen and groan. makes me think it is literally swallowing navy.

(page 318) im so so glad wax survived YAY

(page 320) this made me get up and start pacing and smiling. like. this house wants navy so bad. SO BAD

(page 326) JOHNNY BECOMES SELF AWARE THAT HE A FICTIONAL CHARACTEr (scary)

btw i did find ouf the letters used in notations are actually symbols bc there is a photo of a graph of them on the inner cover. i dont actualy know how to look up what they are called at all tbh. theyre like. aircraft related.

(page 342) bruh this is new and scary. fhe house's shifting horror now extending beyond the imposible hallways but into the main house ...... what the......

(page 397) everyone in this book is so FREUDIAN !!!! like all the psychology is so fruedian i think.

(page 402) im so fascinated by these dream scenes i didnt expdct this book to really have a dream scene but there u go ^^__^^ im sad the promised third dream is missing......

OH YEAH BABY WE ACTUALLY HAVE A MINOTAUR PRESENT also in a dream scene. EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR A MINOTAUR PRESENCE

(page 406) this is some like. reverse tma thing. you know how in tma everyone who gives a statement to jon has nightmare of him. this is like what if jon did something to absolve everyone of their nightmares. huh. (also i havent gotten past this part i dont even know what navidson Does back in the house yet.........)

OH I JUST REALIZED THE SKETCHES IN APPENDIX II ARE JOHNNY'S. he mentioned doodling on any scraps of paper he had like mail and i was like heh. just like in the appendix. OH WAIT

i love that tgis chapter does NOT end in a period and ends with an open-ended sentence that segues into the next chapter. thats so neat ::-) idek if navy is still alive like wtf i dont know yet SHHH shhhh

(page 425) the dread this is imbuing in me. the floors tilting slightly wherever navy goes to guide him along. youre at the mercy of this house now..

(page 465) WHAT THE ? THIS BOOK IS WITHIN THISBBOOK? (navidson has a book titled house of leaves) WHAT?

(page 468) this desolation almost made me cry somehow . maybe logcially its not the worst thing thats happened in this book but the nothingness is crushing

this part makes u turn the book around a lot and i really did get a sense of dizziness while reading bc i realized i didnt know whether the text i was reading was really along the bottom of the page or what... also im still so tripped up that they mention this book by name, even say how many pages it has, and that 'maybe some of the pages are hard to read'. bro.

the song on page 479 is apparently "when johnny comes marching home" which i had to look up but thats where the tune of that song the ants go marching one by one comes from???? u learn something new every day.

i like that the footnote on page 488 is another of those aeronautic symbols (theres a chart of some of them on a collage in the back) and this one means "heavily injured, need a doctor"...............

(page 527) "and whenever she laughs the notes sing a call to Victory" STARTS BAWLING

okay i done YAYYYYYYYYY AAAUUUUUHHHHHHHHHGGGGHHHHHHHHHH i have yet to finish the appendices....

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

Okay so I binged I Will Change The Genre manhwa last night and when I started googling stuff this morning I got confused.

In the localization that I read, it said that Larissa (Judith's sister and Luca's mom) died of the plague five years previous to the start of the story.

That's when Larissa sent the letter to Jonas (Luca's dad), and Jonas ignored it because he wasn't interested in acknowledging some random bastard.

The letter that Rudiger found after Jonas died in a horse riding accident and lead him to discover Luca existed in the first place and come to get him.

Judith took Luca in after Larissa's death, as his only remaining family member (that she knew of) when Luca was 5, and she was 22.

Like in the original timeline where she resents Luca, the fact that she got stuck raising Luca in her 20s instead of being able to date and find love is part of why she resents him.

If Larissa had died in child birth and Judith raised Luca his entire life, then she would have been raising him since she was 16/17 [when Rudiger asks if she's Luca's mother, she denies it, saying she would have been 16 when she had him].

But when I googled how Larissa died this morning, because I thought I'd waffle around with some fic I probably won't post, everyone keeps saying that she died in childbirth.

Like I literally brought up the page of the manhwa that talks about the death of Luca's mother, and it very clearly says she died of the plague five years previously. It's this one:

Right there. Died of the plague 5 years ago, and Luca is 10. So she definitely didn't die in childbirth like so many people keep saying she did.

Even the tvtropes page says Larissa died in childbirth. What's happening?

Though the tvtropes page is also under an alternate name, The Villainess Flips the Script, even though the picture it uses for the cover of the wanhwa still uses the title: I Will Change the Genre.

Which I assume is from the Light Novel. So maybe that's also where the "Larissa died in childbirth" story is coming from.

So Larissa doesn't die in childbirth (in the manhwa at least, but you know who does?

Now Luca's paternal grandmother Princess Vanessa did die due to complications giving birth to Jonas. So maybe people are conflating the two because Jonas and Luca look so similar. Not to mention it seems like Princess Vanessa and Larissa were similar kinds of people, who had sons who look basically identical.

Anyways I needed to vent about this because when I started googling, I thought I was going crazy, because I binged the whole manhwa in a single sitting, so I retained the vast majority of the story pretty clearly.

And I clearly remembered Judith's older sister dying of plague five years before the start of the story, but all of google (and reddit, and various forum sites) kept telling me that Judith's older sister died in childbirth.

So either I'm right and people are mixing up Larissa and Vanessa's deaths (or at least forgetting Larissa's and giving her the same death as Vanessa), or the localization I got changed things radically.

Which is totally possible. Like there's an entire chapter where Judith's name has been mistranslated as Eudith for some reason. It's not even like chapter 1, it's chapter 13 or something. She's Judith before that and Judith after that, and apparently this is all done by the same translator/localizer team so I don't know who dropped the ball on that but woof.

I can only imagine they were in a rush while translating that chapter, or someone who was new to this manhwa was way too confidant in their ability to guess what english name it was supposed to be, because J and E aren't even anywhere near each other on the keyboard. So it's definitely a translation error, rather than a typing mistake, especially when it's consistent through that whole chapter.

[lee-hakhyun]

no prob :D (regarding sharing the star writer factoid) i can’t read korean and i’m not in a position where i can just pay to read willy-nilly, so i’m enjoying seeing you and others talk about it in the meantime

it does leave me to wonder though; using minor villain cheon inho, giving focus to a character that originally had a smaller role, reusing a character from a previous, discontinued work, on top of the world after the fall revisions bringing in another one of singsong’s older babies (jaehwan) into the forefront… it’s making me think of the whole situation with the outer gods being forgotten stories, and how kim dokja had sincerely wanted to see even them come to the forefront back in the n’gai and journey to the west chapters

the thing about that is that he tried to help them by first making the yogoes follow along in their revised ‘journey to the west’ followed by trying to become an outer god himself, but kim dokja by that point was too beloved - and despite what his past taught him to believe, his story has long since turned unforgettable. transformation halted by shin yoosung whose story is told through her survival which kim dokja ensured, and then by sun wukong who had witnessed kim dokja’s story from the very beginning and didn’t want it to fade away

but what about now? the curtain has fallen upon the saga of kim dokja and friends, beloved by readers all around the world and hailed as a masterpiece, but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’. but i imagine singnsong loves them still, wouldn’t they? past works that lay as the building blocks for their future successes… the same way kim dokja wanted to ‘repay his debt’ to the story that kept them alive, perhaps the authors want to pay it forward to the stories that helped them get this far.

perhaps the side story may be a story ABOUT the Reader, but it’s FOR the Authors singnsong and the Protagonists and other Characters they had loved but couldn’t bring to the forefront before; a side story because it’s not the main tale of ORV itself, but written upon its premise and loved all the same

and the Reader who loyally followed through 1863-1865 separate tales (worldlines) based on the same premise where no one else would, who mourned the stories that laid forgotten; perhaps he’s loyally reading this too? lovingly reading through its pages, no matter how flawed the words can be. and just like how the yogoe followed along in han sooyoung’s journey to the west, the premise of orv now acts as a stage to bring the characters of old into the fray in the side story. perhaps it won’t get as much attention as the original, but that’s okay; this story is for the authors and the protagonist whose story they couldn’t finish before.

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same. your lee hakhyun brainrot proves it, after all!

i got an inkling when you mentioned a character that didn’t get much screentime being fleshed out more in a previous post, but finding out about where lee hakhyun came from helps bring into perspective what singnsong might be doing right now

ok. ok wow. first of all, i haven't actually read TWAFT yet, so i can't really speak on jaehwan, though i do plan on reading it this is about to be all over the place, but i do agree with you!! you're right!! your comparison with the JTTW arc is lovely

with another disclaimer that i don't know korean and all my thoughts stem from my own edited mtl, adding on my thoughts ^^

i do believe at least some part of the side story is made for exploring other sides of orv, from scenarios, to characters, and forgotten stories as singshong said in the author's note for the prologue, it's a story for kim dokja, but not just that one kim dokja and even if this isn't solely kdj's story anymore, he's still everywhere in the side story, even if he's not physically there. in the thoughts of the readers, in lhh's dreams, literal kdj kkomas watching lhh. there are a lot of stories that can still be told, and new ones that never had a chance to blossom

but the tales that came before them still lay ‘forgotten’.

on characters that gain a new focus, i want to talk about bang cheolsoo again

bang cheolsoo, in every regression, was nothing more than a very minor villain, defeated in the early scenarios and always ending up as nothing more than a minor villain but lee hakhyun meets him early, and he's in a position where he can easily deal with bang cheolsoo and his group. but he doesn't, and with '☐☐' he gives bang cheolsoo a chance to change

and he does! he jumps at the opportunity, and follows lee hakhyun. instead of monopolizing geumho station, he protects the people there, distributes food, and gains the trust of everyone in geumho station and when yjh barges into the station and subdues cheolsoo assuming he'd be the previous regressions, and subsequently getting harassed by the people in geumho station defending him, peacefully leaving (41st yjh being different than what kdj described is a whole different topic) there are stories to be told for these characters who didn't originally have a chance, what would happen if they had gotten support early on? could more of them have survived? even yoo joonghyuk was surprised at the amount of survivors in geumho station when he arrived there.

lee hakhyun clearly has different views than kim dokja, with him trying to save everyone in the first scenario and giving out food instead of selling it to those in geumho station even after acknowledging that he could get more coins through it. neither way is better than the other, orv is in kdj's pov and you can understand why he did what he did.

and even the major characters of orv, they're changing too. with lee hakhyun writing a backstory for jung heewon, and her new attribute, it's obvious that things are going to be very different than kim dokja's round. with different characters, perhaps we can see other sides of these characters that wasn't shown in the main story kim namwoon is likely still alive in this round, i would especially love to see him.. poor guy died so early on

and on reusing previous works, i do remember the star writer novel being mentioned in chapter 549

he wrote his own story! and now he's starring in another one i do love how singshong are connecting all of their stories together as well, jaehwan meeting kdj in orv, yjh showing up in TWAFT's revision, and lee hakhyun getting his own side story in ORV,,

and regardless of popularity, it ensures it receives love all the same.

just like the main story, the side story is so full of love and even if it is less popular the characters will still get the love they deserve <3

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Atonement Chapter 2

This chapter gives us more backstory on Rena than all the previous arcs combined.

I just wanted to figure out if the "i"cky comment regarding why she changed her name from Reina to Rena was a translation liberty or not and I ended up falling down a rabbit hole of all sorts of Higurashi lore.

First thing I want to mention is Rena's name is in katakana while her original name is in kanji. For anyone who doesn't know the difference, kanji is a logographic writing style where each symbol is its own conceptual word. Meanwhile katakana is a syllabary where every symbol represents a specific sound.

When I looked up Rena's original name, I found 礼奈. According to jiisho.org, the 礼 means "salute, bow, ceremony, thanks, remuneration". I'm not sure what the 奈 is supposed to mean because the site just gave me "Nara, what?"

Meanwhile, Rena's name is レナ which literally reads as "Re-na" with no deeper meaning.

I'll add more about what I found in that rabbit hole as I continue, but for now, the conclusion I found is "i"cky was indeed an accurate translation.

I was originally not going to comment on Rena's mother divorcing her father and leaving for another man. We only got the perspective of a small child who wasn't aware that anything was going on. But I ended up finding out a lot during my digging so I'll include that as well.

She divorced him because she managed to be a very successful designer while he struggled to hold down a job and became a homemaker but struggled to do even that.

They had originally met in Okinomiya working at a clothing manufacturing company. When the company started to have financial problems, Rena's mother decided to become an independent designer which led to her getting the job that caused them to move to Ibaraki.

So she divorced her husband because she didn't like how he was dependent on her. Honestly, it's her loss.

Look at this guy. All the dilf-hunters should be pining for this man.

Also, when Rena's mom's business goes bankrupt in the 90s, Akihito straight up abandons her and their daughter. So yeah.

It's very much not Rena's fault that her mother abandoned her and her father. She would have done it regardless of if Rena accepted Akihito or not. If Rena didn't accept Akihito, the only thing that would have changed is her mother wouldn't have asked her to come live with her and Akihito.

Another thing I discovered in my digging is Rena's mother is name Reiko. And her name uses the same kanji 礼 as in Reina. So part of the ick that Rena had with her old name might be that it shared a kanji with her mother. She probably could have kept a full kanji alternate name for "Rena", but she wanted to utterly destroy every bit of her old name so she changed it to katakana spelling.

That image of the maggots is another amazing instance of the manga using its format to amazing effect.

The previous page has a panel in the bottom-left corner. I'd assume most people would turn their eyes toward the top-right as they're turning the page.

The maggots are on the bottom-left of the page, where your unfocused gaze will likely start when you're turning the page. They are far enough toward the center that they don't overlap with the final panel of the previous page. But they are directly in the path a person's gaze would move as they prepare to read the next page.

So you turn the page, move your eyes toward the top right corner, and along the way, your brain says it saw something wrong. And you turn back and see maggots crawling out of Rena's body.

In Abducted by Demons, it was mentioned Rena has dysautonomia and I wonder if it might have something to do with the sensations she felt. Some symptoms of dysautonomia include dizziness, clammy skin, and irregular heart rates. Maybe some of the effects of her symptoms mixed in with the sensory hallucinations other people suffering from the curse experience.

In a reversal from Abducted by Demons, Keiichi sees something is wrong with Rena and is trying to help, but she rejects it.

The big reveal that Rina works as a loan shark etontionist with Teppei came faster than I thought it would.

Also, one last thing I discovered in my digging. Rina's name is also in katakana but her real name Ritsuko is written in kanji. And one of the kanji in her name is 子 which happens to be the other kanji in Rena's mother's name.

So there's a double overlap in meaning over her name. Rina and Rena both use katakana for their chosen names but Rina kept the i while Rena discarded it. So Rina is the ickiness Rena wants to discard.

And Ritsuko shares a kanji with Rena's mother. And Rena sees the part of her mother that she hates pouring out of Rina.

If the source I used is correct, 50 million yen in 1983 was roughly equivalent to 208,420 USD which is roughly 653,577 USD when adjusting for inflation.

back

[rhetoricandlogic]

Stars Uncharted - S.K. Dunstall

Reviewed December 12, 2018.

You all might remember how I raved about the Linesman series of books two years ago (OMG, HAS IT REALLY BEEN THAT LONG ALREADY?). That series from sister act S.K. Dunstall literally reinvigorated my flagging love of space opera, no word of a lie. Go read my reviews for more on that.

Stars Uncharted is a new offering in a new universe, and it too is brilliant in so many ways. Far more ensemble in its casting, Dunstall in this case follows two main protagonists: Nika Rik Terri is a skilled body modder (one of the best of the best) who suddenly has to go on the run from some bad dudes; Josune Arriola is living under an assumed identity after the exploration ship she has lived on for years is destroyed. Their stories intersect quickly and forcefully as they and their newfound allies try to escape from a corporation that needs to silence them, quickly, for the information they couldn’t help but find.

Lots of really cool worldbuilding happening here. As with their previous series, Dunstall has a knack for giving us just enough exposition to help without bogging us down. This is a galaxy run by corporations rather than governments. Nullspace (like hyperspace, I guess) is the main way of jumping around systems, but it’s a touchy technology that requires calibration. Modding one’s body is commonplace enough, if one can afford it, but it too has elements of art in addition to science. And resources remain king: the main plot McGuffin is about finding the location of “Goberling’s lode”, a source of transuranic elements.

Dunstall knows how to open a book with a bang. They waste little time setting anything up. In the case of both viewpoint characters, things go wrong pretty quickly, and from that point out, they have little opportunity to rest or regroup. This works well for almost the entire book. Plans and allegiances shift frequently. I admire that Dunstall isn’t afraid to set something up only for it to go awry, turn pear-shaped, and turn out entirely differently. Less confident or less experienced authors will often create a much more linear plot. Instead, Dunstall is happy to make us think the characters will zig one way, until a new wrinkle gets introduced and they zag instead.

I say this works well for “almost” the entire book because—here’s where you have to lean close while I whisper my dirty fan-boy secret opinion—I’m not a huge fan of this ending. Specifically, at some point around chapter 30 or so, the pacing just went bananas. Too many things began happening at once, too many characters cycling around, people being captured and then being released and then … yeah. Just a lot to keep track of, at least for me, and the book overall felt like it had lost some of the focus it had in the earlier parts of the story. Moreover, I had long ago figured out the twist around Roystan’s identity, and I was just kind of impatient for Nika to figure it out and then reveal it to the others.

Similarly, other elements of Stars Uncharted felt somewhat repetitive or could have been tweaked, in my opinion. The dramatic irony of Snow not knowing Nika’s true identity (it is so obvious, dude), while he keeps mentioning her name, gets old fast. Same with the constant warnings that Josune or Roystan or whoever needs to get into a modding tank ASAP, only for this to get drawn out far longer than it probably should be. At some point, I just found myself wishing for the end … and that’s never something I like in a novel.

Keep in mind, too, that I started this book with high expectations and overall it met them from page one. I curled up on my couch under a blanket on a Saturday night and read the entire first half of Stars Uncharted then and there in one sitting, because I was excited and, more importantly, it was good. It was like a drug, which is my favourite experience when reading a book.

Also, don’t think that just because the ending let me down somewhat, I didn’t enjoy the book overall. I loved most of the characters and their relationships. In particular, I think Nika was my favourite. I liked how she had to set aside a lot of her comforts and her habits in order to make do with this new, imperfect life she was living on the run. Perhaps some of my frustration with the pacing at the end is that, for the reasons of plot and conflict, we never had enough time for these characters to breathe and expand as much as I would like. I think I wanted a bit more “calm before the storm” than Dunstall ever manages to provide … it reminds me of Serenity, which, while an incredible science-fiction movie when viewed as a standalone, is a disappointing Firefly story, if that makes any sense (but that’s a whole other essay).

In the end, Stars Uncharted doesn’t do it for me the way Linesman and its sequels did. There isn’t that same mystery that the alien ship in the Linesman series offers us. The resolution isn’t as good for me. But this is all kind of like saying that the chocolate ice cream isn’t as satisfying as the locally-made chocolate caramel gelato I have in my freezer. It’s still chocolate ice cream, after all.

[nabrizoya]

honestly would LOVE to hear your thoughts on the nikolai duology because i really only see blanket praise or blanket hate for it whereas I see a lot of wasted potential. Bardugo's actual writing was beautiful as ever for the most part, but the choice of the plot/beats feels baffling to me. I love Nina, but her parts felt so separate from the rest of the book until the very end, and even that felt off. I liked the first 2/3 of KoS enough, dealing with the monster, political tensions, 1/2

and even the cult of the starless saint was at least interesting because dealing with people trying to rewrite the narrative of their greatest enemy (who hurt these young leaders in deeply PERSONAL ways) was really compelling (making him literally come back was. a choice) but I feel like somewhere in the last third, KoS went in a wholly differeent direction, and RoW has this vibe of feeling like she definitely wrote it after reading the show scripts or even seeing some footage. idk. 2/2

I will try to be brief (1/12)

Hey anon! Thank you so much for asking this even though it took 38756588247834 years to answer this I’m so sorry !! The Nikolai duology was good—wonderful too maybe because of the myriad of themes and topics it discussed and explored, all in addition to how beloved these characters are. For me, it’s the end of KoS as it is for you, and the entirety of RoW in particular that irk me the most.

I have very little issue with KoS, and I agree with everything you’ve said. The political tensions, the sort of urgency in trying to secure a country at the cost of personal reservations, preparing for a war that seems unforgivably near the door, etc. was all thrilling. After all, it is the first installment in the duology, and it’s supposed to set the course for the upcoming books.

KoS managed to introduce the stakes and the circumstances, lay the rails for what the characters will face and what it might mean to a vast set of entities connected to the events. And it’s hardly out of sense to expect Rule of Wolves to pick up where the previous book left off and carry forward the themes and plot points introduced in the first book.

Except, RoW failed spectacularly in that aspect.

Rule of Wolves: the second book, and the supposed finale to the Grishaverse and the Nikolai duology; it fails to continue the other number of threads that KoS set up for it, effectively compromising the characters, their characterizations, the themes and other political tensions and stakes. The due importance that should be given to the heavy set of topics that get brought up in the povs are not through, nor are the small details that Leigh added to the conversations evolve into something worth talking about, which are the actual points that could have been given some more page time to explore than just making them facts or points of nostalgia for the characters.

If you take a step back and analyze the whole timeline, events, characterization, objectives of the arcs and the plot points etc. etc., all the way from Crooked Kingdom to Rule of Wolves, there’s so much that is left out and tied in, quite haphazardly, which leads me to believe that Leigh wanted to attempt writing a duology that is more plot-driven than it is character driven. And we know that Leigh writes character driven stories brilliantly, and SoC, CK and TLoT are testament to the same. Heck, even TGT has more consistency than whatever TND has.

So, objectively? Plot possibilities? Characterization? Potential? Personal goals? Addressing the very serious themes it brought up, in little or major light, but give no proper elaboration about them?

The lost potential readily compromised the characterizations of many characters, and it all amounted to their arcs being very underwhelming.

I’m dividing this into four parts and here’s the basic outline.

Writing and Plotting

The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Remedy (what I think would've worked better to tie this all up)

This can get very looong, so be forewarned.

I. Writing & Plotting

Now, Leigh Bardugo’s writing is exceptional, no doubt. The sentences are short and flowy, and convey the tone, psyche, environment and the setting and its effects on the pov character marvellously. It's also immersive. It’s the same in Rule of Wolves, except, a little or a lot weaker.

The two main parts of this is that one, that Leigh slightly overdid showing a lot more than telling, and two, that the RoW (and perhaps KoS too), was more plot driven than character driven, the latter of which is actually Leigh’s strength.

In Rule of Wolves, Leigh’s writing seemed very choppy and snappish. The descriptions were lacking, or maybe that’s just me wishing for more internal conflict and dilemma, and going back and forth in one's own head for a bit. It felt like she showed more than she told.

Example being how Zoya ‘snaps’, ‘drawls’, ‘scoffs’, or ‘scowls’ less, and even if that’s supposed to be show Zoya beginning to be a little less unpleasant than she usually is, the tone in those chapters was not strong enough to distinguish how and why the character was acting a certain way. Nor pinpoint an explanation on what brought that change about. (And there were many instances like this with many other characters), which resulted in the characters themselves feeling so off to me.

Leigh’s characters are important to the story. They carry tremendous weight and actively contribute to the plot. Except, by focusing a lot more on the plot, some parts of these characters’ relevance was not up to the mark. It is greatly due to how weak the plotting and pacing of the book was, tbh, more than just her writing.

Consider: Mayu Kir Kaat. She is integral to the story, but she is thrust into responsibilities, and that doesn’t give us much time to see her as a person, and then as a person with a duty, like we see with most other characters. Whatever parts of her we did see were very circumstantial and timed, which is probably the reason why not many we’re unable to appreciate Mayu as much as we should. (Maybe fandom racism also plays a part, so, well,,,).

Like, we know from Six of Crows and with The Language of Thorns, how great care went into describing the characters’ state of mind, which further heavily influenced their choices and decisions. This time though, I think she wanted it to be more plot driven, hence the whole crowded feeling of the book and general worry about oh my god too much is happening, how will all this be solved and all that.

And this, I think, greatly hampered Leigh's writing, leading to unsettling and rather unsatisfying character arcs. Not to mention that there was quite little space given for the characters to develop or let them grow in a satisfying way which touches on most of the elements and themes that get brought up with regard to their powers and potential,,, and when it was indeed brought up, it was all in vain since they were never followed through.

That's one of the biggest problems for me in RoW: Plot points brought up in KoS were not brought forward in RoW.

II. The Plot, Possibilities and Potential.

Phew. Truly buckle up because this train has too many coaches. And to discuss them all, let’s keep the starting point as Crooked Kingdom.

a) Parem

Now, by the end of Crooked Kingdom, we know some important things about the parem.

It's dangerous asf for the Grisha who have to sacrifice their will and capabilities for a short time superpower high that they didn’t even ask for

Which means they are more often than not forced to consume the drug

Shu Han is the creator of the Parem and are also creating a new kind of soldiers called Khergud (who additionally require Ruthenium, but we’ll talk abt that later)

Fjerda snatched the formula after kidnapping Bo Yul-Bayur, keeping him away in the Ice Court and in their possession, and used the Parem to further their own heedlessly heinous agenda

I think it’s easy to understand how KoS started off on the right track, considering that Kuwei Yul Bo is mentioned, the antidote and jurda is brought up and so come the political tensions alongside it (what with the impending war, the demon, the lack of funds in the coffers and security and peace for the country alongside safety for the Grisha).

The point is, parem is a character of its own. CK was its inception, and its fate was decreed along with its lifespan and its doom. Ideally, by the end of RoW, parem should have been vanquished while addressing its nature as a deadly drug, the addiction and aftermath, and the key person who will guide the plot: Kuwei Yul Bo.

Parem is a political tool that pitted countries against each other, making one another their allies or enemies. (Though parem is not the only one factor). Ravka doesn’t yet know about Kerch’s neutrality. The Shu made their move to assassinate in the end, just as Fjerda cleared the air about their goals.

Point is, parem is weapon, a new kind of warfare that keeps getting alluded to in KoS. The first book gave a glimpse of how the Shu and Fjerda are using parem, thereby exploiting, prejudicing etc. the Grisha in their countries. Khergud whose humanity is washed away with parem + ruthenium, and the Fjerdan Grisha (are targeted) drugged and exploited while be subjected to torture, training and imminent death, parametres of these outcomes being severely gendered.

Ravka too wanted to weaponize it and create a usable strain that would still give the Grisha their powers but at a minimal cost, until Nikolai’s conversation with Grigori convinces him out of it and to use only the antidote for the Grisha.

And when are the contents of this conversation brought up again?

Never.

Another aspect of parem (that the conversation also covers) is this: that what was once merzost, parem is its strange cousin. Parem parallels breaking the bounds of Grisha norms unnaturally, while merzost takes it a step further to break the bounds of nature itself, which comes with a heavy price. They're both the same with little differences. Amplifiers are in tune with this discussion, hence the conversation between Zoya and Nikolai about how, and whether or not the abomination in him, the parem, and the amplifiers are tied together. This gets brought up again in the conversation with Grigori.

Parem parallels the superpowers, something that Zoya too manages to achieve once the corruption of the amplifier business is resolved, which makes her realize how in tune with nature the Grisha must be, and how limited the Grisha powers until then had been. And why the amplifiers were a corrupted piece of magic.

Zoya was supposed to be the conduit in that sense that she reversed the Grisha norms and understood the importance and nature of small science. This is alongisde parem getting abolished or resolved in the least, be given a redressal.

Yet instead in RoW, we barely see any of Zoya’s powers, nor even her experimentation and hunger for power which would give her protection. We don't see how she begins to realize that while power was indeed protection, it was also a responsibility. Not clearly, anyway.

So like, not only is this entire discussion thrown away in Rule of Wolves, but no matters are resolved either. Parem did not reach its end like it was supposed to. Merzost with regard to parem would have been an excellent thing to address, with or without the Darkling being present, because the blight is there. But that doesn’t happen.

What happens instead? We get one chapter of Grisha getting the antidote during the face off at the start of the book, the women in Fjerda are not brought up again and instead we jump to Shu Han. Kuwei is also conveniently forgotten because hey, the Zemeni are here so it’s all sorted!

RoW could have (should have actually) sought to address both the political and medical (?) aftermath and implications. Maybe it did succeed in showing the political side of it, with regard to Mayu, Ehri, Makhi and Tamar’s storylines. But that’s only in Shu Han, whose state of affairs we had NO idea of until RoW. No idea, so much that it was completely out of the blue.

And what we did know (get to know about in KoS) is Fjerda and the affairs there remained… unsolved.

(...sorry).

b) Grisha Powers

Re: From the conversation between Nikolai and Grigori, and Juris and Zoya, about how parem and the amplifiers are parallel to each other in terms of being abominations, a corruption of Grisha powers. Now the theory of it is not entirely explained, but we do know that the parem and whatever Zoya learnt from Juris was meant to move along in the same direction.

But we don't see another mention of it, except maybe we could dig a little deeper and realize that it all adds up because Zoya is the Grisha Queen of Ravka, Summoner, Soldier, Saint, all of it rushed and unnecessarily magical in a war so dire and realistic in RoW.

Welp.

c) Spy business

Just… genuinely what even was Nina up to in RoW? A spy, sure, but only to garner information on the pretender?

Why couldn’t there have been two responsibilities for her to uncover: the lies or truths about the pretender while the Apparat causes hindrances, and Nina trying to seek out more documents of the locations and labs where the Grisha women are being tormented and the other Grisha being weaponized? It could have been a leverage to discredit Fjerda in front of everybody in the Os Kervo scene. Imagine if Nina whipped out the documents of Grisha labs and brought the truth of the exploitation and killing and kidnapping etc. in front of the convention of all nations. All of it together would have upped the political tensions by quite the notch.

Even then, there’s a possibility that it wouldn’t matter either because the Grisha aren’t exactly valuable to all the nations. But killing and exploiting is still wrong so maybe it might have worked? Or see, even if it wouldn’t have, the slow and sluggish realization of Mila’s identity by Brum, and alongside writing it as a tragedy where Nina’s efforts seem to have gone to waste, or where Nina is telling Zoya about not accounting for Prince Rasmus’ word and she informs her about the documents she has snatched? Something could have been done here?

The point is, KoS focused on Fjerda and its unraveling, and it wasn’t continued with and through in Rule of Wolves. Instead it sought to find the problem in a whole new country, Shu Han, and fixed it within the same book leaving the other country as it is.

d) Ruthenium and the Blight

Ruthenium, the metal that is an alloy of regular metal and Grisha made steel, could have been utilized more significantly in the books.

I mention it in association with the blight because while on one hand it is true that the blight is an area full of nothingness, ruthenium as a metal could have been utilized to show the effects of rushed industrialization that is leading to the ground losing its essence. This is supposed to be advanced warfare after all. Besides, Makhi loses someone very dear to her. Perhaps ruthenium is more dangerous in Shu Han because the Shu use it to create the khergud, so the constant manufacturing of it has been leading to the metal leeching the lands of their fertility, along with the blight.

And so also to broker peace, Ravka could have provided aid in some ways. :

1) The Darkling sacrificed himself, as a result of which the blight vanishes. While the blight took away her niece, the possibility of a blight persisting despite the ending of RoW could be attributed to ruthenium.

2) Ravka could provide the reversing effect to the alloy of ruthenium and metal using Grisha and otkazt’sya engineering and ingenuity to replenish the lands.

All in addition to whatever will be Shu Han’s policies to bring lushness to their lands.

e) Women and War:

Holy fucking Shit, where do I start with this?

Whatever we saw in Fjerda was haunting, and we see it from Nina’s chapters. There’s literally no resolution for it, nor is it ever brought up again, at all. In Zoya’s chapters, we see through her eyes the brunt that Grisha faced with the war, and in a country that has refused to recognize Grisha as the citizens and considers them expendable.

Add to it her own narrative of how the women are never mentioned, let alone the ones that she has lost or has known to suffer, at the hands of the war, at the Darkling's torture and powers. The description of these women suffering, often being forgotten and thrown aside as mere casualties… where or when was it ever going to be brought up again?

Like, switching between such horrifying things happening in Fjerda to whatever was happening with Zoya and Nikolai and Isaak is such a contrast, horrifyingly demeaning and insulting, even more so when it failed to align with the importance of parem and offer a solution to both these problems.

Now switch to Rule of Wolves, where the Tavgahard women immolate themselves on Queen Makhi’s orders. Not only is that such a cheap and insensitive thing to do, it gets treated a simple fucking plot point in the book, and it barely gets addressed afterwards. Women in Asia have a vastly complex and complicated history with fire, and this is a serious criticism that culturally affects readers in personal ways. And what gets done about it? Fine, Zoya feels baaaad, sorry oops why would the women do that?!?!?

Where is the adequate sensitivity to the topic? Where is the continuation of the pain Zoya feels for many people, despite them being the enemy? How does she honour them? Where is all that dilemma and pain? Why does she not think of them or just get a line or two to talk about them?

Where is the due importance for this suffering given? Structurally and culturally?

f) Soldier, Summoner, Saint / Yaromir the Great

We never really get any explanation for why Zoya deserves to be the Queen, and why she is the best. But we do get to see why Nikolai isn’t the one supposed to be on the throne, and it’s not just because of his parentage but also because of his failings and doubts and the need for acceptance with the secrets he carried.

Here's the thing though; it’s not just about her showing mercy. It’s very subtle, and in good sense, should actually have been given a little bit more importance that be loosely brought up at random times.

Keeping aside the fact that Zoya is representative of Ravka—a woman, a Grisha, a Suli girl who changed the course of war and who knew what it was like living in poverty, being as an underprivileged person of the society in addition to the trauma from then and the state of living at her aunt’s place—which is meant to be covertly apparent, the other reason tracks back to Yaromir the First, who with the help of Sankt Feliks of the Apple Boughs—the one who raised the thornwood—lead Ravka at that time into the age of peace.

The Darkling testified that in his POVs, that while Feliks and Yaromir worked in tandem for Ravka, Aleksander worked for safeguarding the Grisha. In one sense, Zoya is supposed to reflect that moment in history in the present moment, except she is Queen and Sankta, and Grisha, all three at once.

It is brought up in one of the Darkling’s POVs and once in the conversation with Yuri in KoS. Other than that, we never actually get any more hints of this explanation in the text, which is the reason why the entire ending felt so so rushed, and like a fever dream, that even if it was a plot twist, it was kinda very baseless when it should have been more ohhhhh sort of a thing.

g) The Starless Cult and Saint Worship

This cult had immense potential to blossom into many things, some of which were indeed touched upon in KoS when Zoya says that she saw a bit of herself in Yuri, and brings up time and again how easily she’d been led and had not been aware enough of what’s right and wrong, just as she supposes Yuri is too. And to some extent, there is truth there, because in the Lives of Saints, we do see why Yrui comes about to hail the Darkling and how it parallels Zoya’s, of being helpless and ten being saved by a different power/ their own power, respectively.

That’s where it forks, that Zoya is older and realizes the path that Yuri has chosen and understands that it won't happen until he realizes it himself because the Darkling’s crimes are so obvious.

Even then, there’s still more potential: This cult could have been the mirror that would make Zoya reflect on the questionable methods of the Darkling, and the ways in which she might be mirroring them, despite or not it is the necessity because of the war. How she is training soldiers too, just as the Darkling did, and while the need to take children away from their homes just as soon as they were discovered Grisha was abolished, it was war, and they needed soldiers.

So like, there’s quite a big narrative going on here, how mere children are pushed into one path of becoming a soldier and the whole system that was that the Darkling followed to train the Grisha and all of that. All of this in addition to the juxtaposition to the Grisha being seen as elite despite them being hunted, and the people who are not Grisha frowning upon them. This is also the work of the Darkling, which actually paves the way to see how there can be a world where the Grisha are not feared or seen as abnormal, despite or not they are given a Saint-like narrative.

This cult could also have been the segue to discussing Yuri and his brainwashing, and the sort of cult-ish behaviour of believing in something firm when you couldn’t believe in yourself, or not seeing the magnitude of the crimes of their supposed Saint, alongside always staying focused on becoming a soldier only and never actually thinking beyond what is told.

Some of these are very subtle and some are brought up, but never given too much of an explanation.

Genya brings up another good point in the funeral chapter, about how Fjerda seemingly taking into the whole Saints thing could mean that if the Darkling moved there, he could very well sprawl his influence there to bring in supporters. Which leads to another discussion that gets brought up towards the end of the book: about Nina telling about the Ravkan Saints to Hanne and therefore to the Fjerdans,,, which doesn’t exactly sit right with me. It’s still a very nascent topic, and I think SoC3 will explore this path of faith and personal beliefs etc. but leaving it just there, while talking so much about Saints in both the countries,,, don’t exactly know how to put it into thoughts here.

But regardless, the cult of the Starless had different potential to talk of (blind) worshipping of an ideal without critically examining why the person must be put on the pedestal in the first place (and if it is simply power, then there is actually a narrative right there, which RoW gets right, about the people valuing the power still, as a result of which the monarchy still persists at the end of RoW. Even then, there’s more discussion awaiting there).

Not sure if any of this makes sense, but I’ll leave it at this here for now.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I think what I was trying to say here is that we do not have any kind of narrative evidence to seeing how and why it seems right that the Fjerdans will worship Ravkan Saints; is it merely because they are all Grisha? Or is it because of the segue explore this path of faith and personal beliefs and all of that, of the talk of the monastery and the Grisha there being of all identities, that a monastery is in Shu Han, that it has Djel's sacred Ash tree so far away from Fjerda... much to think about.

III. Characters, Characterization, Character Potential.

Mostly going to be about Nina and Zoya, but I’ll bunch up the rest of them at the end.

a) Nina

*head in hands*

I severely mourned how poorly Zoya was written in RoW, but then I realized that more than Zoya, it’s Nina whose potential was severely undermined and wasted. On one hand, I’m glad she uses her powers and quick thinking,observation and her own tactics to analyze the population and opt for the best way to make them see the truth she wants to show them (eg: making Leoni and Adrik and Zoya saints and also showing that the Grisha are the children of Djel via people’s belief to Joran and Rasmus’s mother).

But then, it’s like you said; her parts were so offbeat and outpaced and completely disjointed, when in fact, Nina is the thread that ties all the characters, their plotlines and potential, together. Nina is connected to Zoya and Hanne, two equally important characters and main characters of the duology. Whatever scope Nina has, they are greatly in parallel to Zoya and Hanne. And it’s all literally there, in the text! What a waste.

Though keeping aside these parallels, Nina’s own journey from Ketterdam to Ravka to Fjerda, while is spoken about, doesn’t touch some other parts that I see potential in. Or this is just meta.

Nina has grief not just from Matthias’ death but also from the loss of her powers as Heartrender. So much of the Second Army was built on being a soldier, and perhaps the Darkling was not outright disdainful of racial differences in his army, yet he still stripped every part of the children away until they weren’t children anymore in his view. They’re all soldiers… (albeit his soldiers, preparing them to do his bidding because hey, give and take right?). Nina was a soldier, and she is a soldier still under Zoya’s role as a General, but an ‘other’ of a soldier. That’s her only identity, and the loss of her powers means that she’s a different kind of soldier.

I imagine that this entire time, some small part of Nina longed for normalcy, or whatever settled as normal for a life like hers. In the sense that she wants to go back, but what is back and where exactly did she want to go back to? What was the before and after and where did things go wrong or change? There’s tragedy in the realization that whatever you were before what you became is not a place you can return to, and that’s a different kind of loss that she has to bear, and all by herself. She has powers over the dead now, a strange power she learns to grow to, but all the places she has been, all the lives she has led and people she had been, everything might seem like they’ve all been locked away in some strange place leaving her barren and indisposable.

She’s off to Fjerda as someone she isn’t, figuratively and literally. In KoS, Nina brings up many times how odd she feels as Mila and in some capacity longs to be Nina Zenik again. This ties in with the previous point of returning to somewhere, but where?, but is also a segue towards body dysmorphia, the thing that Nina and Hanne’s storylines parallel and connect too with in a small way. It’s a great line to follow to discuss what her discomfort with her body means to herself while it means something entirely different to Hanne, who is also not entirely comfortable being who they are. (This discomfort further which leads to gender dysphoria, while for Nina, it will be about learning to accept her powers. I’ll add on to this in a bit,).

I'm mourning the lost potential of that experience being a parallel to Hanne’s own feelings, of a discussion between people being uncomfortable with their bodies, something that can mean multitudes to each person and on their own accord.

In parallel to Zoya, I like to draw it from the fact about Nina wanting to go back to who she was, while Zoya actively tries to lock her past away and drown it somewhere or throw it to the storm, never to hear of it again. She has no identity other than being a soldier, and that’s enough for Zoya, because who she was before she was a soldier is not pleasant. But moving from being just another expendable shell of soldier under the Darkling’s rule, Zoya becomes the one third of the Triumvirate, and then the King’s general, all of which bring self-awareness of Zoya’s capabilities and challenges that are bound to excite her. But all of these also compel Zoya to be many other people to others as she slowly grows to realize that power is not just protection but also a responsibility, and it will inadvertently mean confronting her past of her lost identity, realizing the how of the Darkling, and how harmful it was. As Genya puts it perfectly in Rule of Wolves, that they were all taken away when they were young kids, not even barely children, and then thrust into responsibilities that didn’t allow them to be anything else other than what the Darkling told them to be.

Back to Nina; a few other great parts about Nina’s arc could have been about her connection to languages, as language being a mode of strengthening identity, in addition to growing to her powers. In RoW, there’s this line that goes ‘how sweet it was to speak her language [Ravkan] again’, and the feeling of homesickness. Like, Nina is trying to connect to Ravka through what she knows best—language, and then stories. In that, Nina realizes a part of her identity, which could also act as a segue to Zoya reclaiming her own heritage and ethnicity. Not only that but Zoya and Nina’s stories are literally so intertwined that it’s hard not to see how their choices and line of thought affect one another’s arcs, in the grief they have and how they choose to treat it, and also show why Zoya is particularly protective of Nina (and keeps wishing that she doesn’t become the monster Zoya had become, in the sense that Nina is more mature in handling her grief than Zoya was and the entire mercy plotline ties Nina, Zoya and even Genya together. More meta, haH).

And that’s why the ending doesn’t make sense. Even though the part about her not being comfortable as Mila is not brought up many times in the continuing chapters (and that’s why perhaps naming Nina’s discomfort as body dysmorphia may be wrong), there’s still the part of Nina readily accepting to be who she was a Mila and remain in Fjerda that seems iffy to me. Especially when Nina and Hanne literally a few chapters ago think about running away (it may be just another alternative they might be fantasizing about, but I think it still means that they both want to be their true selves without hiding any parts of it away). So her staying as Mila… well, it doesn’t exactly add up.

I’d also add the part of Nina’s story mirroring Leoni’s, and how she is from Novyi Zem and being a part of the Second Army meant that she had little to no connection with her past, her culture etc. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part that Leigh went for that arc.

edit: 05/07/2021 | I don't agree with my point anymore about Nina not having the kind of ending I assumed she might have, considering that it is very well possible for Nina to treat her identity as Mila as a fresh start, as a Grisha with a command over the the dead and begin a new normal that is suited for her. You can read more here.

b) Zoya

For one, white passing Zoya is not canon to me. I simply pretend I do not see it.

See, her race was handled very badly. Making her half-Suli was supposed to show the struggles and the trauma that the ridiculing of her identity by other people has caused to her. Except, not enough time nor text is given to thoroughly discuss it. Not to forget how problematic of a narrative in itself it is to make Zoya white passing.

It would have made more sense to make her dark skinned and predominantly Suli-looking than whatever yt bs she was put through. Her not being white-passing would have led to conversations about tokenization, or people caring little about her and not giving her any respect because she is Suli. Or being called beautiful to the face and praised just for it or a harmless tumble in their point of view.

So like, instead of making the ‘mistake’ of seeking for acceptance, seeking appreciation and love, from her mother at first and then the Darkling, Zoya instead makes herself someone to be feared, if respect was not what she deserved. The iciness is a part of her and has always been, but all of it soon became a shield, an armour that she vowed to harden her heart with. Just the sheer impact of this narrative and her reluctance, and seeing Nikolai love her for beyond who she thinks she is… if all of this was canon, I’m pretty sure I’d have built a shrine for this duology.

Let’s now talk about her grief, and...

…

Okay it’s not for me to point fingers at how Leigh chose to write about grief because there’s no one way or one proper approach to go through that pain, and if that’s how she chose to write about grief for Zoya, fine! But I really wish we’d have gotten a little more into her head to see how the trauma has affected her thoughts and how she struggles against why and what exactly it is that Juris wants her to do. That enough time and text was dedicated to Zoya’s feelings and the mayhem it caused her, as a result of which the dragon’s eye took its cue and made things more unbearable to her because she was the only one to bear them all.

Like, I feel like Zoya was overwhelmed throughout the book and in between she had some skyhigh responsibilities to discharge and it’s all so inconsistent and poorly woven,,, it completely dissolved her character from KoS and made it 10000000x more miserable for me to read her POVs. And honestly, what even were her assignments that the Kirkus review mentioned? Never an inch of text in RoW is given to decipher her complications of her mind, the muddled sense of hopelessness and fear that grips her time and again. Why overwhelm her so much that you fail to do her mental state and capacity any justice?

I’m not going to be harsh about how much David’s death bothered me-- no actually fuck that; what’s the point? Fine, he died. All because you wanted to make his death a plot device to make Zoya reconcile with loss and deal with it? Where was Genya’s grief? Literally no point of having a death in the book at all, and it didn’t even achieve anything. (I’m still trying to wrap my head around why David’s death was important and maybe if I find some straws, I’ll consider…)

There were so many other ways around it; could have brought back Lada and killed her off, or have the Darkling piss her off so badly or just. Something. Instead of whatever happened with David. I think this is too harsh and insensitive of me to say about Leigh, but still… there’s a myriad of other ways to have gone about it. Helping Zoya deal with her grief with Nikolai at her side, to understand that the rage that was fueled from her loneliness, like it had been in the past, could now be a weight that Nikolai was willing to carry with her… Helping someone with their grief, staying and choosing is also a love language you know?

So in that regard, I won’t regret saying how flat the garden scene was to me. Zoya’s lines, though tinged with grief, were so out of what I would expect KoS Zoya to say. Maybe it’s also because of how bitter I was reading about David's death, despite that part being spoiled for me.

The cost shouldn’t have been David’s death, especially not when his death too wasn’t properly handled at all, and Genya’s grief was never spared a second thought beyond bringing Titanium.

+

Now let’s talk about how Out of Character Zoya was throughout the book. Her punchy attitude was missing, and even if she was warming up to her friends, we see little of the iciness she continues to retain. Another part of this is about exploring her relationships, particularly with Nikolai and her growing feelings for him. I wish we’d have seen them grapple with more of their confusion and propriety, if only for the yearning™. Besides, no matter how cute their scenes were, they were mostly (like maybe some. 70%) awful to read them, simply because it felt so odd to see Zoya be so open with Nikolai, all of a sudden.

A part of this definitely has to be the fact that we don’t know just how much time has passed between the end of KoS and the start of RoW, and we never, never see any description of they regarded their feelings for each other and how they understood it themselves. I don’t actually know how exactly I can put this into words in a manner that will make sense, but the only scenes where I appreciated Zoyalai were in the Ketterdam chapters, ONLY. The rest was… bleh lmao. Their scenes were so cute and brilliant, and if only we’d seen more of the internal conflict and had given some more time for them to practically approach their feelings but still end up in the puddle of it. If only.

Their scenes apart were the good ones, because that’s where we finally see Nikolai feeling the loss, no matter how temporary (on the verge of being permanent since it’s the war), of not having Zoya with him, of not being there with Zoya because who else would it be if it wasn’t her? Zoyalai had good scenes but they barely lived up to the mark lol. Their feelings are never thoroughly explored, nor their mental capacities.

While we’re talking about Zoyalai, let’s also talk about how lame it was for Zoya to say that Nikolai was the golden spirited hero all along, from the very start, when canonically we know Zoya had little to do with him in the earlier books, that she may have only been physically attracted to him and never saw him as more than just some guy with a responsibility to manage, and had sooooooo much distrust about him. And that it was only in the next few years of working with him and alongside did she grow to recognize his efforts and relish in the hope that he was building for Ravka, inadvertently making Zoya hopeful too.

Nope. Instead, we’ll just throw in some destiny bs that he was the one all along rather than show that the beauty of their relationship did not stem what they perceived of each other, but was instead built on strong respect and admiration for one another and their capabilities. 100% destroyed their relationship for me.

+

Some good parts about Zoya’s arc in RoW was how she acknowledged her past mistakes, and the nuance that was touched upon in seeing sense in becoming a soldier from the start, that offered her a chance to be anything other than a bride. That some part of her was grateful for the Darkling for teaching her how to fight, while still keeping Genya’s words in mind about how they were mere kids, children who had only one path to traverse because the Darkling (who wanted their acceptance and loyalty) nor the Kings of the country let the Grisha be anything else other than pawns of the war. That she recognizes her mistakes as a teen and how self centred she was, that her being snotty had at times cost some peoples’ lives too. And she doesn’t take the blame all up on herself, because it’s not hers alone to bear. Super good.

Also, the way Zoya comes to view power as responsibility instead of merely as protection was something cool to read about. It’s not clear in the books, but Zoya actively tried to not be the Darkling while still continuing to build an army for the war out of necessity, and actually sharing some parts of the dream that the Darkling had for the Grisha. I can’t articulate this so perfectly, but the point is, Zoya trying to avoid becoming a tyrant like the Darkling was an active process that she was constantly trying to change, and where Zoya could not recognize her own feelings and inherent thoughts about warfare that in some ways did mirror the Darkling’s, by the end of book, Zoya is much more self-aware and conscious of herself and her power than she was at the start of the book. And this was well done.

+

Now, what is up with YA and making people turn into giants or animals lol wtf. Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya use her dragon powers in a way that symbolizes the conditions of her dragon amplifier and the power of the knowledge she obtained from Juris? She is a Saint, and we’ve seen that their powers allowed them to cause ‘miracles’ and such, as we see at the start of KoS and at the end.

Why couldn’t we have seen Zoya dabble with her newfound powers and completely lose her shit in anger during the wae, only to rein back in mercy, just as someone from Fjerda begs for forgiveness since they see her then as a Saint? Adrik and Leoni used their powers in Fjerda, so having Zoya bring about a conundrum of all orders and do something about it would also have been cool, wouldn’t it? In the funeral scene we see her turn water into ice, thereby making a path for Genya. Why couldn’t we have had more exploration of the importance of the dragon’s eye and the general nausea of being overly empathetic every. damn. time? Why didn’t we get to see her powers? Why couldn’t we have seen her fail in them and realize that the reason she was not perfect was because she was trying to be strong on her own and was not relying on others and joint effort?

Her turning into a dragon was genuinely the most baffling part bc here’s a war that’s so serious and dire with metals and bombs, and then here’s this magic that will solve all of it entirely. Like I’m not saying it was bad, (I am actually saying just that) but I also don’t know what I am saying, except that the ending felt like a fever dream.

…?

Not sure if I’ve managed to convey it properly, but well. Zoya felt out of character throughout RoW, and that the only place I saw KoS Zoya was in the final Os Kervo scene where Zoya finally agrees to be the queen.

c) Nikolai

Nikolai’s arc was very satisfying and brilliant to read about in RoW. In KoS, he seemed very much like a passive character, one of the reasons why his stunt with the Shu in RoW was appreciable, no matter how ill-timed of a plot turn it was. His journey throughout this book was also introspective to see why others deemed him unfit as the King, and even if they were his enemies who thought that in want to dispose him from the throne, Nikolai realizes that him being on the throne is not of much value and that this book was entirely about him seeing his privilege and making decisions to counter and correct the mistakes he’s made. That was nice. Oh, also his father not being an antagonist was a pleasant surprise.

I don’t have many complaints about him, except perhaps wanting some more internal conflict and elaboration about his feelings for Zoya. Them being apart was where it was satisfying, and then in the Ketterdam chapters. His arc could have been better in KoS, but that’s to blame the plot for the characterization.

d) Hanne

Now, from the very start, their arc was super good and it only got better and better until… the ending. Except it’s so odd that Hanne, a poc, has to now live as white person, while feeling comfortable in their transmasc identity. Icky, no? That you need to eliminate one part of your identity in order to feel safe and comfortable about another? Add to this the whole white-passing Zoya thing,,, doesn't exactly send off the right message.

Together with Nina, the ending seems uncharacteristic for both of them. Them coming to accept their powers and knowing to use their powers on their own accord was brilliant, though the entire husband business felt very,,, eh to me, even if it did make sense. The ending about their name and their new identity was too vague.

e) Genya, Leoni and Adrik, Kuwei, Mayu,

Genya is the one who faced the most disservice along with David. While there were exceptional parts to both of their plotlines, it's still sad that even if David's death was necessary, we don't get to see the entirety of her grief and the possible anger, and that her kindness is simply used as the justification for lack of portrayal of grief.

It really did take me by surprise, mostly because I wasn't a fan of the original Shadow and Bone book, but seeing David's conscience and self-awareness, along with Genya's (and Zoya thinking of how she wouldn't let any harm come to them, which shows a bit of her development towards her character development), was plenty refreshing. David and Genya were genuinely the highlights of the book and to kill David off was just. doesn't sit right with me.

Leoni and Adrik deserved more page time. They’re saints and immensely capable (no wonder they’re now the Triumvirate), but a few more pages for them to shine would not only have been nice, but also a necessity.

And now, Kuwei...

....

I mean,,, parem should have been the plot, alongside the entire weaponry and the discussion of making a city killer. But uh… that didn’t happen.

There's not much I have to say about Mayu, Tamar and Ehri, except that their plot was superb, only very badly timed.

There's more to talk about them in the remedy tho.

IV. Remedy

Here’s the deal. Before KoS release, there should have been a Nina novella.

Nina is a very important character. All of her potential, alongside many other parts of her personality--from dealing with grief, to accustoming to her powers, to growing stronger--there could be so much to do with her as a protagonist, alongside another character: Mayu.

A whole book dedicated to Nina in Fjerda with Hanne? Brilliant. Show Stopping. Mind blowing. It gives SO much page time to explore not just Nina and Mayu, Hanne, but also Zoya, Leoni and Inej. All together.

How?

Nina’s plotline carries the entire medical effects of the use of parem, just as Mayu’s will carry the pain she feels about her brother being a part of the khergud program. The novella will give ample time to flesh them out as characters and protagonists, each dealing with plot problems and problems of their own--like the loss of ones powers and newfound responsibilities, and the shared loss of a beloved person in parallel, even if neither Nina or Mayu interact on page.

Fjerda and Shu Han could be tied together with one chapter as a POV from Zoya (or maybe two), who, along with the Triumvirate and Nikolai, are completely at loss with the political scenario in the country, and are debating over what should be the course of action. Zoya receives news from the scouts, and missives from Nina, and Tamar takes care of the information she garners from the rest of the network, including Shu Han.

Like, the entire surprise of finding a Zoya POV, from a character whom until CK we’ve known as cold hearted and stern and not giving a fuck about anything or anyone, be humanized in that one chapter, thereby building up the anticipation for her arc,,, the very potential,,, *chef's kiss*.

And by the end of book, we could have an POV--or maybe a cameo if not a POV--of Inej meeting Nina on one of her travels of slave hunting. Inej could help take care that the women that Nina has rescued (as Nina does in KoS) reach the Ravkan shorelines safely. But, for a price.

The entire parallels between Leoni and Hanne and Nina could be set up, while also building up the narrative for the Saints’ plotline with Adrik's, Leoni's and Nina’s powers (like it was at the end of KoS). KoS and RoW would thereby continue it by tackling the weaponization and the antidote, Sainthood and the rest of the politics of it all.

Coming to Shu Han: one key aspect that I’d love to have explored would be the importance of art, during or despite the war. Of how war or pain chips away culture, while detailing on the ill effects of it from the commoners' perspectives, from the soldiers etc. Art is integral to Shu Han and could be portrayed by Mayu’s pain finding balm in poetry, of seeing glimpses of Ehri poring over poetry also mayri ftw, of politics that Makhi is weaving against Ravka, etc.

Or also add some more length to Zoya’s POV and explore a bit of Tamar and Tolya and Kuwei’s interactions and perspective added to it, of missing a home that they seemed to not know, or know; of discussing culture and differences on the basis of where they’re from (maybe the twins are from the borders, while Kuwei grew up near the capital or somewhere distant from the borders etc.), all while directly pointing at Zoya’s heritage and how it ebbs at her conscience, no matter how much she wants to bury it.

POTENTIAL !!!

Like,,, Nina novella would have been too powerful. It would have been perfect. I think I’d excuse bringing back the Darkling too if this was the case. (Or maybe not).

But welp.

Hey, thanks for reading! Not sure if you could make it this far, but if you have, you honestly deserve a medal for sitting through this all. I can’t imagine how tiring it must be to read through this, considering it seemed to take it more than month to compile this there’s also me procrastinating on it too so i’,mbhbdhshfsdn

Drop an ask if you want to talk more about this!

Sincerely, thank you!!!

[hezuart]

That anaversary aizen looks absolutely fabulous, he looks like a figure skater xd.

I heard along time ago the last arc of the anime was being animated finally bc they pulled a 90s sailor moon were the last season was not either animated or dubbed untill decades later.

I recall near the end of the current 366 episodes there was an episode were the creapy demon ppl woke up in hell and we're all bitter, and there was the other guy who was like, iM cOmEiNg FoR u IChIgO, but then is never mentioned again after and I'm like,why? Why is lt there just plopted randomly into a different arc that seams unrelated.

And locking aizen up underground seems ok, but It deff won't hold, and he will. Escape, and he will kill, you either need that one spell from star, dubbed, the darkest spell of moon the undaunted, a powerfull dark spell that killed immortal beings, that came from best character, eclipsa, the queen of darkness.

We need that.

Or stick him I'm crystal like eclipsa was in star. Is there no one who could trap him in ice or crystal for all eternity.

How about throw him into the centre of a volcano trapped and caged , forverr being killed by heat?

I assume there's space travel, send I'm into a black whole, were a black whole don't fuckin care if your immortal or fat, you will die

:3

Yes, I love anniversary Aizen. His original octopus-butterfly hollow design was ugly so I'm glad he's back to being the fashion icon he is.

Locking Aizen up underground once is one thing, doing it twice after saying he got more powerful by just sitting there, and he escaped to battle the Quincy Soul King God... is another. I think he should have escaped at the end of the Quincy arc. That is the only feasibility.

I heard the anime is coming back for the Quincy arc as well, but because of COVID its probably going to be delayed. (I'm not gonna watch it until the Rain section of the arc then I'm dipping out. I'm only here for Zangetsu)

and funny that you mention that hell scene in the manga :)

-> spoilers for the new BLEACH 73 page anniversary chapter / thoughts/critique on it

So hey you had a premonition! Syazel .... returned? And his hole is outside of his body??? for some reason???

(I didn't understand the explanation or why / how that happens and what that means for the hollow)

And my friend and I were laughing because out of ALL the things. Kubo could do in this anniversary. He gave Syazel his dick back after going to hell. That is iconic. (that's where his hole was located, and now that its not on his body ... well...) This is the funniest thing Kubo has EVER pulled. Kudos to you, sir.

The entire internet is freaking out over Ukitake being in hell. Honestly Kubo has done far worse, and we've established that Soul Society is a corrupt system that hasn't changed, so I'm not surprised he would pull something like this.

At the same time, Kubo 1. cheated his audience. 2. continues to prove me right that he cannot bring himself to kill his characters

1. Hollows who have commit murder in their human life are sent to hell. Syazel and Aaorniero are two of these hollows, and yet, when they are killed, there is NO gates of hell scene. We see them there later in the hell chapter (which was more of a promotion for the fourth movie and I didn't believe it would hold any merit)

But the same goes for Ukitake. We never see the gates of hell take him. What, was hell late? Did hell's gates get lost like an uber before picking him up? It's bull. Withholding such vital information from your audience, not showing the gates of hell when they should pick up this soul IMMEDIATELY is ... I mean its a lie. Kubo lied to his audience.

2. Now we are told powerful shinigami are sent to hell when they die. First of all that sounds like a security threat. Wouldn't shinigami want revenge for that? Or attempt to escape? Why would they still hold loyalty after being sent to a prison of eternal suffering?

Also "Yhwach and Aizen" were the only ones keeping Hell's gates closed is way too convenient and doesn't really make any sense. I feel like Aizen should have deliberately gone to hell to retrieve powerful shinigami / hollows for his army instead of keeping it /closed/.

This is definitely a Kubo-doesn't-know-what-he's-doing-and-is -making- stuff-up-as-he-goes, but it might have a pinch of merit because of previous plot lines.... but either way, there's some big plot holes here, but again, its Kubo, so I expected nothing less.

Again, he can't kill off his characters. He introduced zombification, he introduced immortality through the hougyoku, he has Orihime and Hachigen's reversal / rejection abilities. He brought back Luppi, friggen.... a character who's entire upper half of his body was incinerated. Like.... come on. No. He's dead, you can't bring him back like that. That's a cop out and just weird. You're taking away consequences and grief.

(Also Yamamoto and Unohana deserve to be in hell far over Ukitake, they've done some fcked up stuff in their pasts unlike him)

Also Kubo's favorite character is Mayuri, which.... you're allowed to have a favorite problematic character. But Keeping said character alive and bared from the consequences of abusing his daughter, murdering innocents, and experimenting on your own squad members? Nah. Nope. Kill him, Kubo. Kill this dude.

(his weird attachment to Mayuri is probably why he keeps bringing Syazel back, since Syazel is Mayuri 2.0, but Syazel is the bad guy who does face consequences for his actions while Mayuri is not)

~

Also, I'm certain Kazui and Orihime are going to be THRILLED that their precious husband/dad is going to hell when he dies :)

(I just... Rukia teased Ichigo about leaving Orihime at home. She teased him about having a house wife who he leaves all the chores to. Orihime had two panels. She checks on her son who promised he would be at home and sleep. Kazui fcking breaks his promise like it never mattered to him and JUMPS out the window after pretending to sleep in front of his mother. ... An 8 year old... alone... in the middle of the night.)

Orihime is abandoned. She is not invited to SS, she is not informed of what is going on, her son leaves her.... I...

Orihime is a side character. She doesn't matter anymore. She hasn't mattered for a long, long time.

A part of me is glad she had little screen time, since she tends to waste it, but another part of me is embroiled with rage.

I've even see people try to defend this. "Orihime and Ichigo can't be together ALL the time, that's an unhealthy relationship!" and I'm like guys... that's not the point. The point is Orihime is not part of Ichigo's other life. Any shinigami stuff from now on is none of her business. She's going to stay at home while Kazui and Ichigo go off and save the world. Ichigo is going to be fighting by Rukia and Renji while Orihime watches from the sidelines, or worse, doesn't even know what is going on with her husband and son. Orihime is going to be uninformed and abandoned, because she has not proven she is capable of fighting by their sides(go on, @ me. I will fight this. She's a failure.), and also because she prefers a human life over a dead one. Which is ironic, because she married a dead man. Ichigo is a shinigami, and he will be one forever. god forbid she ever meets his Zanpaktou. She would tremble in fear at the monsters her husband harbors in his soul, especially when she realizes they don't care about her and would rather see her dead. (Zangetsu would absolutely kill Orihime. Not sure about Kazui, but Orihime has not accepted Zangetsu, she does not like either of them, and the feeling is assuredly mutual.) frick now I want to make a comic about this

Also still frustrated over Zangetsu's shikai / bankai regression. Kubo once again lied to his audience. Ichigo has no bankai. How ridiculous is that? The main character of BLEACH doesn't have a bankai. Insulting.

(RIP to Chad. He doesn't exist anymore. He's just gone. No mention, no cameo. Gone.)

Kazui is a demon child. That character from the novels? Hikone? They're the same character. Literally same personality, same power level. Its worse because Kazui is a liar. He constantly goes behind his parents' backs. He can summon creepy fish and creepy eyeballs and open portals like is ANYONE aware of this? How has SS not kidnapped Ichigo's son and experimented on him / locked away his powers yet? All substitute shinigami require a reiatsu controlling / spy badge to keep them in line. Where is Kazui's? Or is he just a weird fullbringer?

I was worried Kubo was gonna try and pull a knock off Boruto but luckily he kept the focus on Ichigo and the others. But that being said, Ichika and Kazui are now just... sort of there? Kazui was kinda just.... having his own adventure that doesn't matter to the plot at hand, and Ichika had some nice characterization at first but she just hid behind her dad the whole time.

I have a feeling Kazui is gonna step in at the last minute or do some major behind the scenes thing that indirectly interferes with the main plot so no one will realize how powerful and dangerous he actually is. Its sad because Ichika is the superior character in personality and likability, but she clearly is not going to have a bigger part in this.

Ichigo having a normal life after everything still feels extremely boring and uncomfortable to me. Everyone's like 'I'm still bLEACH!" but.... BLEACH just... doesn't feel like BLEACH anymore. It hasn't for a while now.

~~~

There's two new shinigami characters. Didn't care for the girl, but the Sign Language kid who talks to animals is adorable ... however... he just reminds me of Chad, and I just... it hurts knowing Chad has essentially been deleted. Chad and Orihime are officially benched. They have chosen the human world, and Orihime has given Ichigo his spawn so she has no more use/purpose to him anymore... ////sigh

~~~

Also. This is claimed to be a new "arc". So is the BLEACH manga coming back? What is happening. I thought Kubo was tired and didn't want to do BLEACH anymore. I thought Shounen Jump cut him off. People made so many excuses for Kubo and why the past two arcs have been so badly written the past 6 years and now almost everything they've attempted to defend him with has been revoked.

BLEACH is going to continue to screw up its plot lines and characters, so Its probably best for it to stay dead but I've seen a lot of Kubo stans drooling over this content, they're desperate for BLEACH's return, but its already given out all its possible revelations. There's really nothing else to top here. It's just going to make things up as it goes along ,and I'm not really here for half-assed writing like that, especially since the damage of rushing the previous manga has already been done. Kubo and Shounen Jump are riding off a money nostalgia. None of this was planned.

Honestly though.... overall feeling of this chapter, not as bad as it could have been.

Syazel stole the spotlight, and he's my friend's favorite character, so that's all that really matters.

[honoredbastard]

I COME BACK WITH THOUGHTS/THEORIES ON ITADORI AND HIS RELATIONS- I THINK.

anyways, so i'll just point this out: i'm not good at speaking my thoughts in an organized manner. i absolutely suck at it, i speak on how my brain brings up the thoughts so i might ramble, get over my head in a thought, etc. i can't control it so i apologize in advance for the jumpiness of the texts. i will spell a lot of things wrong and not everything will be correct, as i read translations and on a manga site. don't worry it's not illegal, i believe.

MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD.

i apologize for my absence! last week or two weeks ago the tower to my computer completely broke and will not turn on. i tried to repair it and follow my fathers instructions but nothing worked. even cleaned off the fan and went through countless nights readjusting things. it's not my cords either so to help me out my father is working extra shifts to get me a new pc. so in the meantime i'll do small posts like these but not full writing/head canons until i have a computer tower lol. a family member was kind enough to allow me to have their phone while we work throughout this issue.

now onto the actual topic:

kenjaku and itadori's relationship. ( family wise ).

for context in the most recent chapter, 160 "colony" kamo shows up in sasaki's home and talks to her about the culling game and a barrier. but that's not the point, the point is as he's guiding her to the barrier inside her "dream" at the end he says "oh right. i almost forgot to tell you. thank you for getting along with my son." and then she is awakened inside the barrier, in her pajamas beside iguchi. when sasaki and iguchi look at the barrier and gather themselves they bring up kamo.

sasaki asked iguchi if he mentioned his son and he says no. this leaves sasaki in a state of confusion when itadori flashes in her mind. she says his name aloud like she finally connected the dots. now. why am i bringing up this whole kenjaku thanking sasaki for being his "son"'s friend. it throws me off because why didn't he thank iguchi?

did he not think iguchi meant their friendship? because sasaki was the one uninjured and still counted itadori as a friend? does iguchi not consider itadori as a friend anymore?

because we haven't seen these two at all since the incident. that raised many questions in me. as well "how can itadori be related to kamo?" and itadori is related to choso.

because kamo's technique is explained ( vaguely. we are aware he can create barriers, take over bodies, and has incredible cursed tools. chapter 134. this is also where choso makes his connection ( i believe. ) to itadori yuji as his brother. but because we saw this with todo many thought itadori just had another unconsious technique that allows the person who is hit create false memories and believe of a completely made up relationship with itadori without his knowledge. but alas, i was wrong. ) and we're given more hints shown than told ( imo ) i tried my best to make sense out of the situation and what he said. i think my conclusions are pretty solid, so continuing on.

we're given very little history on itadori, his past, and family. at the start of the manga we know that itadori's only family he knows is his grandfather and that he is ill in the hospital. at the very very beginning we learn that itadori is your average cute, fluffy, laid back but strong and goofy protagonist. in smaller words: itadori is kirby but even cuter and dumber.

my first impressions of him is a pineapple. if you're confused to this saying: it's calling a person prickly on the outside but sweet on the inside. and this is true, itadori's grandfather seems prickly and cold on the outside but he genuinely cares for itadori.

he raised itadori for all we know and did that with his all in assumption. but this ends up backfiring onto itadori, because he cares so much for his grandson - he ends up leaving a " curse " on yuji.

help people. save them.

itadori takes this to heart as his grandfathers speech is his last one. when he looks over to his grandfather the man is dead and now yuji is left alone. then the following events occur.

at this point in time i assumed itadori was an orphan ( he technically is if we're connecting the dots. his parents has not been shown, he doesn't speak of them, they aren't in the picture. we can conclude either they disowned itadori or died before he could make complete memories of them. )

but when we are shown in chapter 143 itadori's parents we see this "woman" jin ( yuji's father ) and his grandfather talking about has the same scar pattern. this scar pattern is either stitching ( assuming that is how kamo keeps the top of the opened skull from coming off. this is also how kamo revealed his cursed technique / body of sorts ( the brain, assuming that is kenjaku in his cursed technique and not the body / puppet he is controlling " getou suguru " ) to gojou. )

this is the only way i find kamo being able to assign itadori as his son. why is that you might be asking this dumbass here.

we do not have the full story, exact date, location, and full context of the memory/dream itadori is having. this cannot be fake either because kamo would than have no reason to call itadori his son. or is there? anyways.

take a leap of faith with me. imagine that before itadori is born ( he seems no more than a few weeks or days old in this memory. hence why i am thinking my conclusion is pretty solid in theory. but yknow gege, there might be something different. ) anywhooo.

TW. D3ATH/IMPLYING ANTI LIFE ATTEMPT

kamo had to have taken over yuji's mothers body after an accident OR after she gave birth to yuji. his grandfather is interrupted by her before he can finish his sentence but it seems to be leading to the conclusion that either kaori ( yuji's mother ) died while giving birth to yuji or kaori could not conceive and tried to take her own life or cause an accident that would take her life. ( i read a fan translation for this part but im pretty sure i also read the official translation today too and it added up to the same. )

i believe in the first idea, but since kamo's cursed technique wasn't explained in detail i don't know the conditions of his body technique. does the original host of the body have to be dead? can he regenerate body limbs ( i highly doubt. getou lost an arm during his fight with yuta. overconfident dick. reminding me of an ex ANTWAYS. i forgive him for being overconfident smooch. he learned. OFF TOPIC but continuing on i promise.

this is being continued from the cut off point. i'm so upset so it'll just be summarized. i can't believe this shit lol i took three hours just to finish it for it to literally cut off the bottom half.

continuing on in a sadge mood. kamo must not have the complete ability to take over a body. after all getou took his only arm he had as he was dying and choked his own body to his full ability. getou was willing to die ( possibly, you never know he could be alive if he killed his own body. moving on. ) just to have the chance to save his friend from being swallowed by a damn box.

so there has to be a chance that kamo cannot fully take over the previous persons complete consious and memory of their body. if getou still had his other arm after losing the fight to yuta, he could've choked kamo with both arms. in theory kamo wouldn't be able to control the right arm and die to the previous host choking him to death.

so why wouldn't the other hosts do it? after all, kamo did say it was his first time experiencing such a thing. assuming kamo has lived throughout many bodies in his 150+ lifespan none of the previous hosts could take control of their body.

i believe getou was completely influenced by gojou and his six eyes. there is no way gojou would even try to speak out to his friend unless he had an inkling or saw getou still in there. helpless and without the ability to save himself from the cage he's in.

being used and puppeteered in his own body by an external force. laughing in the world he could not. putting getou into a constant misery and defeat that he couldn't escape his hell. the one he tried so hard to fight and get out of. even if it was the wrong path.

gojou was the last person to witness getou dying. he had to watch getou bleed out after their conversation because he couldn't bring himself to kill his friend. the one he spent his whole jujutsu student life with. so for gojou to say such a thing to getou despite all that he did had to break getou out of his misery and give him that small sliver of hope that he could do something. of course he failed, but i doubt that's going to be the end of that.

the only way i see kamo being related to yuji is if he took over kaori's body before the pregnancy. assuming that when kamo takes over a body he becomes one with said body and is that person for however long he lives in said body. my only thing is, can he take over a persons body whilst they are alive? i would go more in depth like i did the last time but i am extremely upset about my work being erased so that's the end of this part.

thank you for reading! i have one more thing for you though.

the last time we see sukuna in a manga page after the shibuya incident is where he is on his throne and in his domain. this is after yuji is stabbed by yuta and is presumed "dead" at the time. he seems to be interested in yuta and i can think of 2-3 things. I would love to hear your theories too so don't be afraid to barge into my dms like the koolaid man.

A - sukuna is interested in Yuta because of his ability to use the reverse healing technique ( only a few sorcerers know this. sukuna being the first. shoko being the second one to be told that she has this power and then gojou. ) because of this he sees potential in yuta as well or has added this boy into his plans. after all, there is very few that can make sukuna make an expression that isn't an RBF. aka megumi and possibly gojou. I was looking at the page of him stabbing yuji and noticed we only see the entry point of where the blade enters. it's smaller because some got chunked off so its a possibility yuta used this to his advantage when "killing" yuji and instead hit an artery that could kill him but quickly healed him afterwards. or just his heart. the ideas.

B. Rika, Yuta is able to completely control Rika as shown. Even though he claims he is on the weak side, these two combined seem like an unstoppable force. He may be interested in Rika as she is a curse that has been put on someone that can fully control it. Not many people is shown to be able to control their curse. As we haven't met many.

this was enti and that's the last of my post! thank you for reading and it was a fun one. even though i had to restore this shit. anyways, i'd love you to add or fix up my ideas and tell me your thoughts and opinions! Thanks a bunch!

^ this is for pure humor

[tsukiyadori]

Translations and when it bugs you even more at third glance

Yesterday I did a little rambling on Kieta Hatsukoi volume 1, whose English volume sits there for three weeks already, because I didn't get over how my favorite beat got missed in one particular scene.

I thought if I rambled a bit, I could get one with just reading the thing already. Instead, today, I found myself even more bugged about another line of the same scene.

It's the last bubble of this page:

In Japanese:

English release:

Japanese: 好きな奴の幸せぐら願ってもいいだろ English release: ... So why can't I hope that my crush will be happy? What I would be going for: So let me at least wish for my crush to be happy.

願う can mean both "to wish" and "to hope" and "to hope" actually also sounds far more natural in English. (Especially with that Japanese doesn't actually have an exclusive verb for "to hope".)

I already mentioned is off as a by note in the previous rambling, but there is this little word ぐらい in that line in Japanese. Which looks like it got omitted and instead that "why" got added. That "why" is a pretty liberal take. The more literal translation of もいいだろ would be "isn't it (also) fine to <verb>" or "Can't I <verb>". Using "why", which isn't there in the Japanese line, here makes (at least to my ears) the line sound way more forceful and confrontational than it is? And more than that, this line is, well, asking why.

Which is something Aoki doesn't really do. He doesn't question things all that much. That is to say, he pretty much doesn't question things at all. He gets pained over them, but then just accepts or resigns over how things or people just are. He doesn't go for confrontations (unless it insults or puts down somebody else). That's actually fairly important for later on, imo.

But let me get to the ぐらい (gurai) first, which already bugged me yesterday. ぐらい means approximately, about, around. It describes a sense of reference sample volume, size, quantity or worth. You do comparisons with it. "How much do you want your glass filled? - About half full." It also extends onto more abstract things. Then it becomes "to the extent of", "as much as", or "at least" (which applies to this case). That and the entire phase's tone is a bit meek, which feed to Aoki's self-deprecating trait. In the line before it, he states how it's impossible for him. He knows that. But at least he wants a measure of leniency, allowing him to at least wish for his crush's happiness. Now, the key point is, he clearly doesn't expect anybody to understand his view. But as much as he puts himself down, he isn't apologetic about seeing the world he does. He's firm, that this is a right thing to feel, at least for him. But he also doesn't get confrontational to challenge over whether it's okay or whether anyone else's belief is right or not. Instead, he's just pleading for that measure of his self to be tolerated, even if you can't connect over where it comes from.

Aoki's actually impressed when Aida puts "normal" under question, after they sorted Aida's mishap out in volume 2. It leaves him speechless. He spaces out. He didn't even think to question it. He had just taken it as is.

But, as much as he knows (or thinks to know) while not questioning other people's "normal", he equally doesn't ever question himself either. He does get fretful and all sorts of worried about how others will regard it, he still has his feelings and embraces them as much as it doesn't hurt others or conflicts with those he cares about. All he ever requests is basically to be overlooked. From the beginning. That's literally what he asks of Ida about the eraser in chapter 1.

Until Okano comes around and throws shade on Ida.

That is where he first starts pushing and questioning back and stops just accepting how things are. And he starts that on behalf of Ida. Not for defending his own position. And it takes a lot of questioning in his stead by Aida, Hashimoto and Ida before that. It takes 4 entire volumes to get him that far. And even then, he still only does it for somebody else. That and the fact that he gets hurt, but not shaken about the wholesomeness of his love given how gullible he otherwise easily is, are probably the prettiest thing of volume 5. Hashimoto observes and even tells him how he's changing. It even sends ripple effects on her own tale. It's a pretty major development.

So, why would he ask "why", in a tone that almost sounds like he's frustrated and half blaming out of it?

It sounds so out of character.

(Well, ok, the translator probably didn't read ahead more volumes. That's also not their job.)

(And if Aoki was a more frankly confrontational character like Aida nothing would be wrong with this more liberal take either.)

(But there is still plenty about Aoki's meek, self-deprecating character to be seen in v1.)

(This line just kinda rings so out of tune to me, after I looked at it again.)

(Gnnnnnaaaargh.)

It

just

bugs

me!!!!

[ickymichi]

𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝.

a tendou satori x reader series.

✟ there’s always been the one rule every person who’s been in a band knows not to break, never mess around with your band mates. but Satori was sick of the groupies, sick of catching the bra’s and panties that were flung at him every night. he just wanted the one thing he couldn’t have.

✟ warnings: swearing, eventual smut, eventual angst(?), drug use, inappropriate themes, comedy.

✟ things to know: band au!, some timeskip careers mentioned, slow updates.

✟ if you’d like to be added to the taglist just send an ask! <3

✟ word count: 1.8k

✟ note: first actual chapter of this series! it’s nothing big but obviously i wanted to get something written for this series! but i hope you enjoy my dears! reblogs are greatly appreciated <3

all contents belongs to k1ttykawa 2021. please do not repost or modify on this or any other platform.

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𝟎𝟎𝟐:. 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

The bright lights and screams from the small crowd in the underground venue was what brings you back down from the high you’re always on whenever you sit on the small bouncing stool behind the drum set on stages every second or third night. You heard Semi thanking everyone for coming and whatever shit he always says. Once you seen him bow and Tendou go to pick up the collection of bra’s and panties thrown on stage, you raised a hand and threw one of the drumsticks into the crowd, your own way of saying goodbye before making your way offstage. Semi and Tendou’s tall frames following behind, the same order as always.

The sweat was pouring out of you, tonight being more of a wilder one than the usual calm sets you’ve been having in bars or party’s recently. they were easy money, but they got boring after just a few hours. so all three of you were in desperate need of a night like tonight.

Turning the corner of the small, dark corridor to your dressing room for tonight you were met with the stench of weed, 3 different girls on the beat up leather couch, a rolled joint in one of the girls hands and white lines on a tray to the others left. Like always, you went straight to the showers to get the scent of sweat and fake smoke of you.

You really don’t know when but the cropped black tank top you had on was ripped down one side but your usual headband you sported every show was missing and it now became you new priority to track it down. “Satori! Where the fuck is my headband?” you stomped back out to see the wanted man desperately trying to pull the tight leather pants down his lanky legs. His head was whipped up to at the sound of your annoyed voice and then quickly darted his eyes over to the blonde that had previously rolled the joints and was now fawning over semi and his revealed tattoos. “oi” was all you muttered out behind her and holding out your empty hand—also noting some of your rings were gone. She turned her head to you with a scowl covering her features, which also revealed your missing accessory that caused your distress. “that’s her bandana and she’s quite obviously looking for it back,” Tendou quipped in making every one bar the girl laugh. After time, she untied it from the back and forcefully placed it back in your hand. Dramatically you held your arm, acting as if she pained you, tendou again laughing with you.

Finally you were able to hop into the shower and quickly get your self freshened and rub the accesses makeup off your eyes that was already smudged from your constant wiping, trying to stop the sweat dripping from your hairline.

“(y/n)!! please help me out of these, semisemi just keeps fucking laughing!” the peace and quiet you had was quickly interrupted by Tendou’s loud whining. “how the fuck am I not supposed to laugh when your walking around with them swinging around your ankles and your dick hanging out?” “what, Its out?!”

The large door separating the bathroom from the connected dressing room swung open and revealed Satori with his leathers pooled at his ankles and— surprising his dick not actually ‘hanging out’. “please help me sugartits, they’re fucking stuck even with my skinny ankles,” he hopped onto the counter and held his legs up for you to guide them off him. “well for starters, take your fucking shoes off!, and also I swear i saw these in the women’s section of some online store?” jokingly you shouted at him and moved to untie the doc martin’s around his feet. “yeah? You probably did, stole them from that chick that wouldn’t stop hanging off me last month,” both of you laughing at his silliness and falling into a comfortable silence.

The only noise was the voices off the others in the separate room and a recognisable Mötley Crüe song shaking the floor from the stage.

“what you think of tonight then?” the silence being broken by Satori like usual. “uhhh, it was definitely something but yeah, it was fun. Its nice to have a night like that every now and then, specially since we’ve just been in bars doing the same covers for the past two weeks. What about you huh?” he hummed, a noise of agreement showing he was listening, a habit you grew to learn. “I guess it was good fun yeah, although I didn’t appreciate nearly getting hit with a dildo within the first two songs. But I agree, it’s nice to do our own shit and not covers in a bar with a bunch of middle age boring shits. I think we’ve another show that’ll probably be like this again on Saturday.”

Saturday, today was Thursday so you’ve a nice day or two to just lie around, the other probably filled with travelling and setting up.

After about 10 minutes you had unlaced both his boots and chucked them onto the floor and not too long later his ‘borrowed’ pants joined them. “thanks chicken, lifesaver as always,” he pulled you into an embrace with one arm before leaving to find his spare clothes in the other room. He did always have the weirdest nicknames.

The night bled into the early hours of the morning, Semi and Tendou both getting their share of the girls there while you kicked your feet up, sparking up a conversation and passing the joints with your friend Taichi who was also your ‘manager’, he wasn’t really he just acted like it when venues would ask important questions and tagged along for the free show and nights at different clubs.

He was also the one who suggested you start moving to the motel down the street for the night before the venue boots you all out. Quickly you agreed, not fancying seeing any more glimpses of your friends and strangers body parts. Obviously the girls whined to the boys, asking if they could come, saying it’s dangerous for girls to walk home alone at night, “sorry ladies, but we’ll be sharing a bed tonight and I don’t fancy getting an unwanted facial on a Thursday night,” you butted into their persuasive conversation by wrapping an arm around the boys from the back of the couch and giving a friendly smile.

By the time you all got your equipment packed away and into the van it was nearing 4:30 in the morning and you, quite literally we’re going to fall into the bed. It wasn’t the nicest of places but you were just spending tonight and the next two there, unless you decided to go out after the shows and find some rando’s condo to spend the night in. All three of you pushed your way into the small room trying to get the edges of the double bed. And it wasn’t easy trying to squeeze through two 6’2 lean men, resulting in you again stuck in the middle of them staring at the blank roof, desperately waiting for the sun to rise so you could find some place to get food and away from the mess of limbs under the covers.

When you did wake up it felt like you’d only slept for two hours, when in reality it had been about 10. The afternoon sun melting through the old curtains and falling into your pillow. As you moved to see what had finally woke you from the deep sleep you saw Semi at the small table, his guitar resting on his knees and his worn, nimble fingers scribbling words on his notebook he kept for when lyrics would come to him.

“mornin’ early bird,” all you could let out was a groan, your mind still coming to its senses. “there’s food n’ shit there Satori went out to get it, we was the first up, surprisingly,” he breathed out the last remark before moving to pick up the red pencil and get back to writing lyrics before they left his head.

The food that Tendou got was still warm so he must’ve of been up long before you anyway. “where is he?” “beats me, probably wandering round like always,” quickly he responded and took the pic from between his teeth and started strumming a tune while humming, what you were guessing, was the lyrics on the page.

Letting your curiosity get the better of you, you pulled your phone from where it was connected to the wall by the charger and found Satori’s contact and pressed the call icon, moving away from the sound of Eita and his guitar you went to go outside and sit on the bench outside your rooms window.

“hello, hello,” his ever cheerful voice filled the speakers of your phone that was wedged between your shoulder and ear. “hey, I was just calling to see where you are that’s all,” you piped up when he went quiet, tutting when you realised you were out of cigarettes. “oh you know, just out sightseeing ‘tis all,” “cool cool, well i’m going to the store now you need anything?” he hummed into the phone, indicating that he was thinking of something he needed. “just cigs I guess and get me that drink I like while there, i’ll pay you later,” bidding him goodbye as the small shop on the corner came into view you slipped your phone into your sweatpants pocket and walked to the back where they kept the energy drinks.

Exiting the shop with everything you needed you walked to make your way back till you saw a familiar head of red locks across the street and quickly, but quietly made your way to his figure.

Sneaking up behind him and wrapping your arms around his middle, feeling his ribs press into your arms, something you’ve noted recently. He sucked air into his lungs and jumped slightly before laughing with you. “here you go your highness,” was how you greeted him and chucked him his requested items. “thanks muffincake, i’ll pay you back later I swear,” you scoffed and shook his offer off, suggesting you stroll around the city until Semi called either of you to ‘get your sorry asses back to the room’.

Your stroll progressed into a very long walk and by the time Satori suggested you head back with an arm around your shoulder it was already dark, the night life staring to come out of hiding. eyeing a club across the street you thought might be a good shout to visit in case you three got bored tonight, making a mental note of its location.

“Didn’t Semisemi say we need to go over the set list again cause, someone, messed up last night,” a sing-song voice dragged you out of your club browsing and brought a scowl to your face. “excuse me, you’re the one who told me we were doing ‘nasty’ after the interlude, prick,” he pulled his chin up and started to ‘think’ about your accusation before loudly dubbing it false; “nope, I don’t recall doing such a thing. I could never, but if it boots your already sky high ego then, of course I did my dearest apologies baby cakes,” “do you ever shut up,” “when i’m face first in pus-” “Don’t even!”

t a g l i s t: @evan-rose @elianetsantana @weebintheinternet @kuroos-roosterhead

please lmk if i missed you if your not there! <3

[animayelmao]

Inumaki and Curse Seals

JJK Chapter 137 Theories/Questions

I noticed something about Inumaki while reading and.... I’m a little confused about what the implications are? So, naturally, I wrote up this super long post exploring different theories, lmao

Spoilers primarily for chapter 137 of the manga, but there are definitely spoilers for further chapters. 

so... what’s going on with the bandages used on Inumaki’s injury?? When I first saw this panel, I was immediately suspicious bc his bandages/wrappings look exactly like a seal: 

I even went back to chapter 1 and the markings on Inumaki’s bandages look nearly identical to the seal on Sukuna’s finger:

The previous uses of these type of seal/talisman have been to “seal curses and mediate cursed energy,” and I can only assume that this is a possible use for the seals on Inumaki’s injuries as well.  

 So, I guess my real question is: why would they seal Inumaki’s injury? I thought about it a little more, and have come up with some possible solutions as to why:

The first (and weakest) theory is:

1. Shoko’s healing techniques use curse seals to function. Or, she just uses curse seals as bandages for injuries done by curses, as a means of preventative care. Meaning, she wrapped Inumaki’s wounds in talisman in order to ensure that no adverse reactions would come from Sukuna injuring him. 

This theory is like, the least satisfying. But it would also be super funny if it was correct, because then it would mean that I’m really just overthinking this whole thing. However, knowing Gege Akutami’s storytelling methods, it feels more important that Inumaki is wrapped up in curse seals than just “Shoko is being a cautious, good physician.” 

Additionally, Shoko’s technique apparently allows her to “restore destroyed limbs” (not sure how true this is, given that we haven’t seen it in the manga), so... why isn’t Inumaki’s limb restored?

This question leads me to my second theory:

2. Sukuna’s Domain Expansion in Shibuya really fucked Inumaki’s shit up (y’know, past the whole ‘cutting his arm off’ thing) and has left him with some bad cursed symptoms. Since his injury is sealed, this theory assumes that Sukuna’s use of his “Cleave” attack during his Domain Expansion is leeching Inumaki of his cursed energy. These paper seals, in this case, would be to “fend off poison with poison by using one curse [the talisman/seal] to seal another [Sukuna’s hypothetical Domain Expansion curse].” 

The issue with this is that nowhere in the manga has Sukuna’s “Cleave” attack left symptoms on its victim.... besides death. Cleave is a slashing attack that adjusts itself depending on the target's toughness and cursed energy level, and it usually cuts its opponent down in one fell swoop. Clearly, this was not the case with Inumaki, who seemed to have barely been in range (literally just his left arm, poor guy) of Sukuna’s Doman Expansion: 

So, is it possible that Sukuna’s use of Cleave on Inumaki’s arm is leeching him of his cursed energy and this is the reason why he needs to seal it? I’m not sure; it seems like Inumaki is literally the only survivor of Sukuna’s Cleave attack that we know of. It’s a possibility, and maybe the most probable explanation? This could also be a great explanation/justification as to why Shoko (or even Yuuta?) is unable to restore Inumaki’s limb (again, this is assuming that the jjk wiki is right in claiming that Shoko’s abilities can restore limbs)

However, I have more theories. My third (and most complex) theory is:

3. The elders/higher-ups of the Jujutsu world are terrible (duh) and are using Inumaki as an incentive for Yuuta to act according to their will. The following pages in the manga (chapter 137) seem to support this idea:

This chapter begins with Yuuta killing curses to prove to the elders that he can be trusted as Yuuji’s executioner, and that he will follow their commands. But why would Yuuta even need to gain their trust? Couldn’t they get someone else to execute Yuuji? Clearly not, if they choose Yuuta over anyone else; in my mind, this means that Yuuta is the only person strong enough to execute Sukuna’s vessel, and so, the elders need to be completely certain that Yuuta will kill Yuuji instead of joining his side. In their minds (and rightfully so, lmao), if Yuuta and Yuuji are on the same side and against them, it can mean serious trouble. 

So, clearly, the elders need to ensure that Yuuta will kill Yuuji. They even have Yuuta enter a binding vow with them to be certain that he kills Yuuji. In my mind, using Inumaki in his injured state is a perfect incentive to make sure that Yuuta follows their orders. As of right now, the specifics of the binding vow that Yuuta enters haven’t been disclosed; so, perhaps Inumaki is part of said vow? 

Binding vows with others have to benefit both parties; if Yuuta kills Yuuji (benefitting the elders), then Yuuta must also benefit from the other party in return. Given the fact that Yuuta brings up Inumaki and his injury right after proposing a binding vow, I want to assume that Yuuta’s profit from the vow would involve Inumaki in some way. Perhaps he gets access from the elders to heal Inumaki? The possibilities are endless. 

For a boy who values the relationships he has with his friends (arguably his closest friend?), using a threat towards Inumaki/the promise of helping Inumaki is the perfect motivation for Yuuta to kill Yuuji. 

Personally? This is my favourite theory because it’s angsty and I live for this kind of stuff. Not only this, but it also feels like a possibility because of the strife that’s going on in the Jujutsu world right now. If the elders can’t trust Yuuta to perform his duties as Yuuji’s exorcist, then it makes sense that they would use Inumaki as leverage to ensure that Yuuta does what he’s told to.  

But, then, even more questions are raised at this point: 

1. what do the curse seals do to Inumaki, if they are put on him?

In this case, it seems like the curse seals wouldn’t be used in the same way as the previous theory (which is to fight a hypothetical Sukuna curse off). Rather, these curse seals would probably be used to stop Inumaki from using his cursed energy entirely; just like how they stopped the cursed energy in Sukuna’s fingers early on in the story.  

This theory would explain why neither Shoko nor Yuuta could heal Inumaki’s arm-- assuming that the talisman isn’t there directly because of something that Sukuna is doing to Inumaki. We see in Volume 0 that Yuuta’s reversed curse technique saves Maki’s incredibly mangled leg and fixes it to its original state. Additionally, even more recently in Chapter 143, Yuuta uses the same technique to heal Naoya: 

This theory leads me to believe that Yuuta can (again, assuming that Sukuna isn’t actively leeching Inumaki’s cursed energy or something else) heal Inumaki’s arm, but is unable to do so because of the higher ups in the Jujutsu world. If they are using Inumaki as a pawn to ensure that Yuuta kills Yuuji, of course they wouldn’t let Yuuta heal Inumaki. (Now, this is all assuming that Yuuta is able to fix injuries hours or days after they occur, as we’ve only seen him heal injuries right after they have been done. This could be another reason why Yuuta can’t heal Inumaki’s arm, lmao).

My biggest counter to this is: what happens if Inumaki just... takes the curse seal off? wouldn’t they stop being effective?

So, (and this makes the most sense, tbh), perhaps the curse seals are there because of some funky Sukuna business (as mentioned in theory 2), which serves as a primary motivator for Yuuta to enter a vow with the elders in the first case. In this way, theory 2 and 3 would be combined. If Sukuna is hurting Inumaki in some way, the elders can be using this to coerce Yuuta into a binding vow that would help Inumaki once Yuuta carries out his executioner duties.

One of the possible problems I have with this theory is that it is maybe very contingent upon where the fuck Inumaki is even at. In chapter 144 when everyone is reunited with Maki, Inumaki isn’t there. But, Inumaki is (probably) awake and recovering from his injuries in the single panel we see of him in chapter 137. So... where is he? If he is anywhere besides at Jujutsu High, I assume he is in the possession of the higher ups. Which would explain a lot, and how particularly downtrodden Inumaki looks in the panel (besides the fact that he got his arm cut off, obviously). Yet, nobody seems too concerned about him, which maybe means that he’s probably (hopefully?) with everyone at Jujutsu High-- just offscreen with Panda or smthn). 

But, to defend this theory, Yuuta seems to be in contact with both the elders and Jujutsu High, so maybe it’s the same deal with Inumaki? Inumaki doesn’t necessarily need to be in the possession of the higher ups in order for them to infringe upon him. Especially in tumultuous times like these, in which Gojo and Principle Yaga are not there to protect the students, and there is now some sort of Culling Game going on?? Essentially, what I’m getting at is that the higher ups are extremely in power right now. Even if Inumaki isn’t with them physically, they still may have a large influence over what happens to him.     

One of the actual problems I have with this theory is that Yuuta “killing” Yuuji and being unable to supply his body would mean trouble for Inumaki. In chapter 143, Naoya gets healed by Yuuta in exchange for promising to tell his superiors that Yuuji is dead... but, would they believe this without evidence (aka, Yuuji’s body)? If they do, then good! Yuuta saves both Yuuji and Inumaki, and all is well. But if they don’t believe this and demand Yuuji’s corpse, then Inumaki is definitely in danger once the higher ups find out. Or, if the binding vow didn’t register Yuuji’s temporary death by Yuuta, that would mean great harm would be done to Inumaki, probably. 

I’m just not sure if Yuuta would even bargain Inumaki like that? But, the fact that Yuuta makes Naoya tell their superiors, rather than reporting directly to them himself seems to prove that Yuuta believes Naoya’s word is enough. Regardless, Yuuta seems confident that the binding vow he made with the superiors was completed by “killing” Yuuji-- regardless of whether Inumaki is involved with the vow or not.

Granted, it seems that Yuuta has changed a bit since coming back, so we’ll see. Maybe he is extremely confident in himself now, to the extent that he is willing to bargain something like Inumaki’s wellbeing in a binding vow. Who knows?

Of course, I have to confess that I understand that I am giving little mind to translation when giving these theories; I read the English translated version of the manga, so I can only make assumptions with the material I have. Maybe I’m missing something crucial because of this?

Anyways. These are the theories I have right now! I know this post was extremely long-winded, but if I didn’t write all this out, I was going to Explode. This is literally all I have been thinking about since I saw the panel with Inumaki. If anyone else wants to talk about this by adding to my ideas or poking holes in them, PLEASE do. I need to know that I’m not the only person thinking about this, omg.