#or did you mean it the other way? With Aoba as a ninja?

[cyberpunkboytoy]

for a moment i was contemplating a naruto dmmd au, but then i immediately realized it would be ren/naruto and sly/sasuke and dropped it. this happened within 10 seconds and it happened because i saw you on my dash so i blame you

BAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

ok ok ok but how would this work? Would Jiraya, Kakashi, or Iruka be the Tae-figure who gets abducted & forces Naruto into becoming invested in the conflict. It'd have to be Iruka, right?

WAIT, new thought: Naruto is Aoba, Sly is Kurama. And the princess in Oval Tower (who is much more important in this AU than Sei was in canon) is Sasuke. Which makes Orichimaru Toue, ig.

And rather than sitting quietly by before blowing shit up at the very last second, Sasuke would do less calls for rescue and more mischief, maybe. So you'd have trouble brewing within and outside the tower, two forces racing to meet in the middle.

(Sasuke having Sei's eye powers also makes So much sense....ohhhh my godddddddd)

[panharmonium]

this is legitimately one of my top five favorite kakashi scenes.

i love seeing kakashi break the rules in the name of doing the right thing, and this scene especially is particularly satisfying to me, because his moment of defiance here is, to my mind, long overdue.  

one of my eternal frustrations in early naruto is how the leaf village administration gives kakashi the job of caring for a group of super high-needs children and then continually makes that job as difficult for him as possible.  they task him with being solely responsible for the development and well-being of three twelve year-olds - a group that includes naruto (a walking disaster with a god’s power trapped inside his body) and sasuke (a genocide survivor fixated on killing his own brother), BOTH of whom are being hunted by different groups of supercriminals - and then the village keeps getting in kakashi’s way or dropping the ball or actively ordering him to prioritize other things.  

so much of what goes wrong with the kids in this period is the result of other people interfering with kakashi’s work or being negligent or endangering the kids/putting kakashi in impossible positions.  team 7’s first big mission sets the tone for everything that comes after, with someone else’s lie putting kakashi in a situation where he has to single-handedly protect not just the client who deceived him, but the three children who were supposed to be the clients’ other protectors.  and after that, the list just multiplies:

ten anbu operatives can’t manage to protect sasuke’s hospital room from orochimaru’s minions, so kakashi has to do it himself and then whisk sasuke out of the village for a month, leaving naruto in the hands of a substitute and sakura with her parents

genma orders sasuke to chase after gaara when the chunin exams blow up, saying “you’re at chunin level already,” which forces kakashi to immediately dispatch more kids to bring him back, because “ffs NO i do NOT want him out there doing that why the fuck would you tell him to do that?!” 

aoba runs his mouth off about itachi when sasuke is standing RIGHT THERE, instantly undoing all the work kakashi just did to prevent itachi and sasuke from coming anywhere near each other (and thus sending sasuke to that disastrous first encounter, the outcome of which ultimately leads to sasuke’s defection)

jiraiya decides he should let sasuke try to fight itachi himself, “out of respect for the boy’s feelings,” leading to sasuke ending up in a tsukuyomi coma

tsunade orders kakashi to drop his teaching work and leave the village on a mission even though a) he’s just gotten out of his own torture-induced coma and b) sasuke is having a crisis that kakashi is trying to manage

and then when kakashi gets back from that mission and finds out that surprise, all of this meddling has led to a disaster, tsunade tries to order him away AGAIN

but this time - he just says no.

he walks right out of her office.  he turns his back on her.  and there is NOTHING i love more than seeing kakashi embody the philosophy that he’s chosen to adopt as his guiding light: those who break the rules are scum.  but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum.

it’s not that he doesn’t understand where tsunade is coming from here.  but he knows she’s wrong.  she’s making her decisions based solely on concerns about the Leaf Village being in a tight spot - feeling like they can’t turn down missions because they’ll appear weak and thus become vulnerable to attack when they’re already operating at half strength.  she sends a group of twelve year-olds to bring sasuke back because supposedly the village can’t spare anyone else, “even if it means letting the sharingan fall into orochimaru’s hands” - but like.  it’s not the sharingan.  it’s a child.  sasuke isn’t just a repository for his hereditary jutsu; he’s not a pair of eyes to be passed around from one wielder to the next.  he’s a human child.  

tsunade doesn’t know sasuke.  she’s new to the situation and doesn’t know enough about it to understand how serious it is.  i don’t even think she was still in the village when the uchiha massacre occurred; the timeline makes it sound like she left long before that.  she doesn’t really understand who sasuke is or how much trouble he’s in - she makes her decision because she feels like her first priority has to be the well-being of the Leaf as a whole, not the individual people who comprise it.  kakashi, though, who a) lives his life by a very different philosophy and b) does understand sasuke’s situation, would not have dealt with the issue like this, and if the village had let him do his job from the beginning, things wouldn’t have gotten to this point in the first place.

kakashi is horrified that tsunade sent a bunch of twelve year-olds out to fight orochimaru’s ninja, and i think he’s also probably angry and/or frustrated about having been ordered out of the village in the first place.  he was dealing with the situation before tsunade sent him away.  he interrupted the fight between sasuke and naruto even though he himself had literally just gotten out of the hospital, and then he continued addressing the issue with sasuke privately (unlike jiraiya’s non-attempt to address it with naruto, when he said he was going to give naruto a talking-to but actually flaked out).  kakashi knew sasuke was struggling, and he was doing all the things a teacher is supposed to do to address it, but then he was ordered away, and even though it was just for two days, it was enough time for everything to go to hell.

if people would just let him do his job - if the administration would let him focus on the task they themselves assigned to him - things would be different.  but everybody wants him to do everything.  they want him to be everywhere.  they want him to protect the nine-tails jinchuriki (who is also kakashi’s dead teacher’s son), and train the last surviving uchiha (which is a task only kakashi and his sharingan can perform), and give equal attention to a third kid, for good measure, and they want him to do it without stepping away from any of his other burdens, all while other people around him constantly frustrate the progress he makes.

so this time, when tsunade tries to send him away, he refuses.  he disobeys her orders and walks out of the room.  he doesn’t care about the rules or what he’s “legally” obligated to do.  he knows what the RIGHT thing to do is, and so he rejects his new mission in favor of rescuing the kids.

i love these moments.  i love when we’re shown so clearly the person kakashi has chosen to be - someone who does what’s right, not just what he’s told.  he made an active choice many years ago to adopt that philosophy, and he’s been living by those new rules ever since.  he's wiser now than he was when he was a child - sometimes you have to break ranks to do the right thing.  sometimes you have to buck the system, even if it means you might face severe personal consequences.

he had one of two choices: either save the mission or his comrades.  of course, according to the law of the village, you cannot abandon a mission.  but to save the life of his comrades, he put the mission on hold.

kakashi may have spent a good chunk of his childhood trying to reject everything the subject of that story stood for, but none of his attempts to harden his heart ever stuck.  he is, in the end, his father’s son.

[goodboydummy]

Incomplete list of things I love about Haikyuu:

(I add to this every day) (This is all spoilers obv)

- “Someday, if you get really good, someone even better will come and find you”

- Fly

- “This right here, right in this moment... this is still volleyball”

- The running gag of the dangerous bathroom

- Atsumu took ONE LOOK at KageHina and understood exactly tf is going on. (“Tobio is completely wrapped around that little spikers finger”)

- Bokuto’s chest bump receives 🏐💕

- ushijima and tendou stay close friends as adults

- the little tongue thing Hinata does omg

- everyone on adlers looks great in white, everyone on jackals looks hot in black

- THE Tsukishima moment (you know the one) 🌙

- Aone and the way he respects Hinata so much🥺 I wanna cry when they shake hands at the net

- Inuoka being a puppy but in human form

- Inuoka and Hinata do the jump thingy

- Foreshadowing for Papa!Kuroo when he tells Tsukki he could try goofing off more often lmao

- KENMA KOZUME 🤩😍😘

- when Daichi goes under the net after the Nekoma game and hugs Kuroo and they’re smiling so huge

- “Does that mean one day you’ll be playing on the same stage as me? Even if it’s the country, or the world?” “You’re finally here.” “I’m here.”

- “YOU CAN FLY EVEN HIGHER.”

- KageHina hands touching when they block that Miya twin freak quick and win the whole fucking game

- “This hurts... it’s painful....... I don’t want it to ever end.”

- Tanaka and Shimizu endgame and how happy she looks omg

- When Hinata crowns Kageyama with the towel crown 👑

- Tanaka and Taketora best bros

- “Kuroo.... thanks for getting me into volleyball.”

- When old coach Ukai is watching the Nekoma game in the hospital and young Ukai shakes Nekomata’s hand and old Ukai holds his hand out too

- Oikawa Oikawa Oikawa

- LONG HAIR THIRD YEAR HINATA

- Kageyama telling Hinata to get a haircut why are you guys like this

- SHORT HAIR TANNED SKIN BRAZIL HINATA

- The first time Kageyama sets the ball for Hinata (I GET CHILLS)

- Yamaguchi being captain in third year

- Bby Kenma and Kuroo

- Yachi..... baby....... I love you...

- Everyone bothering Goshiki to watch Kurasuno at nationals lmao

- THE “ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH” SOUND EFFECT WHEN OIKAWA GOES TO SERVE

- Hinata’s ‘DUN’ jump

- When they lose to Aoba Josai and run around the gym screaming until they pass out on the floor. Iconic.

- The fact that Kageyama is as much of an idiot as Hinata when it comes to school

- Volleyball idiots/they share a brain cell

- The way everyone calls Hinata and Kageyama freaks and weirdos and monsters

- When Hinata gets the intense look on his face

- “The Greatest Decoy”

- “Ninja Shoyo” 🥰🥰

- When Kageyama looks around to set the ball and so many people are there to spike it. He isn’t left alone on the court anymore.

- “I’m not closing my eyes anymore”

- The physical fist fight Kageyama and Hinata get into and freak Yachi out

- WHEN THE PRINCIPLE’S WIG FLIES OFF AND LANDS ON DAICHIS HEAD LMAO

- every single one of Daichis flawless serve receives what an absolute bae

- Saeko Tanaka

- When Shimada ran across the huge gym with the Shimada Mart bag so Tadashi would have something to refocus on and not mess up his serve

- The freak quick attack

- “YOU CAN FLY EVEN HIGHER.” (I KNOW I ALREADY PUT THIS BUT IT BEARS REPEATING ITS THE MOST ROMANTIC THING IVE EVER SEEN)

- When Hinata shows up at the camp uninvited and Tsukishima pretends he doesn’t know him lol

- Kunimi’s ‘nice and easy’ lazy receives

- “Just when I start to forget, it comes back to remind me... volleyball is fun!”

- Nishinoya’s cat eyes

- “I’ll be the one to stay on the court the longest.”

- When Kageyama set for Hinata at the training camp when he wasn’t even fucking there I am SOBBING

- Kenma’s faces

- “Shoyo! I’m gonna set for you someday!” And then he did.

- That photo Hinata and Oikawa take in Brazil and send to everyone

- “We don’t look for the short players. But they don’t care. They come to us, with undeniable skill, and force us to choose them.”

- Takeda’s flowery Lit teacher speeches that no one understands lol

- Tanaka is the first one to try and cheer Hinata up when he gets a fever

- The crow symbolism

- Numbers 9 and 10

- Noshinoya with his hair down

- The first moment Tanaka saw Shimizu and he proposed to her

- “If Shoyo hadn’t seen you on tv, he wouldn’t have biked across a mountain everyday to go to Karasuno, and he wouldn’t have met Tobio.” “I may have created a monster. Cool.”

- “Today you are defeated. Who knows what you will be tomorrow.”

- How much the other teams hate the “Synchro Attack”

- When Shimizu warms Sugawara’s hands and he says “w-we should wait until we’re married!” And she says “I am not going to marry you” (also the jealousy of the rest of the team lmao)

- Shimizu fixing the Karasuno banner and her speech and the third years sobbing

- After the Aoba Johsai loss and everyone is just silently eating and sobbing

- “If you ever get boring I’ll drop you”

- Sugawara helping Hinata practice during lunch 💕💕 bby

- When Hinata realizes he’s finally on a team. A real team!

- The first time they pull off the closed eyes freak quick attack

- When Hinata served the ball at KaGEyAMA’S HEAD

- Nishinoya did special training to save blocked balls after the failed Date tech game

- Nishi literally will not rejoin the team until Asahi comes back that’s the most romantic thing. Romeo and Juliet WHO??

- Everyone’s time skip careers are so perfect? They make me so freakin happy?? Asahi a fashion designer? Suga a teacher?? Tanaka a personal trainer? Inuoka a childcare specialist? Ennoshita a physical therapist? Nishi a wild and free vagabond traveling the world? LEV A SUPERMODEL? I DIE.

- the visual image of Ushijima pressing down on the first years and the rest of the team coming together to help them lift the weight so they can win!

- Tanaka, Karasuno doesn’t deserve you bby they would be lost without you don’t you ever forget it

[cinnamonbunsenburner]

Love of a Billion Stars *Oikawa Tooru x reader Soulmate au*

- When you’ve heard of the concept of soulmates at school you were 8, you practically glowed with delight thinking that you probably have one of your own. Probably also thinking that it was ‘very easy’ to ‘feel’ if your soulmate was nearby.

- Lmao you believed that there was some sorta radar of something, or a bell that will go off if your soulmate moved

- *they’re not a dog y/n-chan wtf*

- But boy were you wrong 

- Then came your 16th birthday, the day you were supposed to have your mark that will give you a glimpse of what your soulmate likes in general. And on your 17th birthday, had you still not have found them, another mark will appear on your dominant hand

- You were imagining their symbol to be some sort of representation of who they are as a person, their inspirations in life, their dream career, and all that motivational shit

- To your surprise and demise, you were let down. Not really.. but the mark was very general and vague, and was NOT a symbol/ mark that will motivate you in moving through this life

- bread.

- fucking bread.

- what the fuck. 

- How in the world did you have to pair up your soul with someone who’s life inspiration was fucking bread

- What, did you need to go to France or shit to scavenge hunt your soulmate?

- ....

- no, y/n, you are not gonna think that that’s a good idea.

- no.

- Anyways

- Needless to say, you were quite irritated because how could you find someone that likes bread when literally everyone can like bread?! It’s very vague and looking for a person that has their life encompassed by a singular type of bread *milk bread to be exact* is very difficult considering that almost everyone likes that bread

- Fast forward to the time of your 17th birthday, you woke up with a dash of hope that maybe, JUST MAYBE, this soulmate of yours loves something else that’s more specific than a freaking piece of delicious milk bread.

- Alas you were surprised that this milk bread s/o of yours has their life revolved around volleyball!

- YEY they’re not completely as weird as you’d think they’d be lmao

- But, who were you to judge when you don’t even know what your mark was on them

- Maybe it was weirder than a piece of food

- Maybe it was a cow or dog or a fish 

- *very weird y/n, very weird indeed*

- The next day was a school day and you woke up bright and early, eager to hunt for your soulmate 

- You’re a third year at Seijoh and were quite popular because people thought your mark was  ‘intriguing’ *pfft* 

- anddddd because you’re gorgeous as heck ;]]

- Admirers flocked you, thinking that they might be your soulmate 

- They showed you their mark that was also some kind of pastry and that you guys paired ‘cause they also liked the pastry that was on the pack of your hand

- *you have like a line of milk bread bois at your disposal and it was kind of annoying so you give a different excuse every single time they try to confess to you. Such a player, y/n-chan*

- “l/n-san! I’ve heard that your mark was milk bread and I love that! Look, I have your *insert your favourite pastry* as my mark”

- *you were surprised because it was the first time that someone actually came up to you with your favourite pastry. But you were NOT feeling this dude. 

- C’mon, where’s the zing you were expecting and- and the slow motion eye contact-- thE ROMANCE?! Honestly, you were about to say yes ya’ll were soulmates BUT the gut feeling says that this was not it

- “Uh, sorry.. I’m lactose intolerant”

- *nice excuse y/n-chan, v v convincing*

- Then you just skrrt skrrt away ‘cause you may have a fan base but you were NOT gonna comfort that guy who’s borderline looking that he was gonna cry- nope; in the middle of the hallway, of all places. Gee, theatre boys are different

- In the back of your mind, you thought that the theatre dude was just acting that out in hopes of guilt tripping you. 

- trust issues, m8, trust issues are present because of these thoughts acCKK

- You sighed to yourself and went spy ninja sneak sneak towards the Aoba Johsai VBC, hoping that someone there might be your soulmate

- ‘cause you were v v tired of the self-proclaimed milk bread bois that was your fan club 

- But, you didn’t expect much once you were at the gym because there’s literally thousands of people in the vbc industry that might potentially like milk bread 

- You were thinking of maybe going out of town to hunt for your soulmate but you thought that you were probably gonna get strangled by your parents at how much money you were going to spend for finding a person

- *yes, you were getting desperate because you wanna FINALLY stop at being a third wheel when your friends were with their s/o*

- and maybe because you just want to hog someone else’s sweater and clothes and to do the premarital hand-holding oop

- ...

- You peeked inside the gym doors and was startled when this guy’s serve slammed to their opponent’s court 

- You’ve watched a couple volleyball matches when the second mark appeared to learn your soulmate’s passion. Awee

- And you just know that that killer serve could knock you out

- It was as if the universe was playing some sort of joke to you that his next serve landed out of bounds and rebounded towards your direction

- You shrieked in a banshee-like manner and moved out of the way just in time

- ‘I just saw my life flash before my eyes holy shit. So that’s what it feels like huh’

- While you were lost in your thought for a moment, a tall *and beautiful as fuck* guy went out the door and approached your still shocked form

- “Oh! Didn’t see you there. Sorry about that, my bad”. the tall guy said, rubbing his nape sheepishly, his eyes naturally falling on the hand that you raised up to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear

- “Uh.. no! It was on me. ‘cause I was spying- I mean sight seeing-- UH WATCHING you guys play hahaha” *real smooth y/n, v v smooth*

- He promptly reached down for the ball near his feet and you got a glimpse of his dominant hand

- His mark was a star constellation,,, your favourite star constellation and beside that was a symbol of your dream career

- “Hey, quick question... do you like bread?”

- The tall guy looked down at you and grinned his pretty boy grin *damn you is whipped.*

- *your gut feeling was going haywire holy shit*

- “Why of course beautiful stranger! Milk bread to be exact ‘cause my mom bakes it so deliciously”, tall guy said

- You’re heart flipped and skipped a beat-- scratch that, your heart skipped a whole nth of beats that you might as well be dead

- “We have a practice match going on right now, my lovely fan. If you have something to give me, you can still wait until later! Wouldn’t want to be punched by Iwa-chan again..”

- And with that, he turned away to go inside the gym once again

- “Cassiopeia..” you muttered loud enough for him to hear as he passed by you

- “Sorry?”, he stopped in his tracks and turned to you with a shocked look on his face

- “Cassiopeia” you repeated once more, with a shaky voice. “It’s the constellation on your hand, right?”

- Oikawa, with his popularity, had been approached by plenty of his admirers, often claiming that they love astronomy and that they knew what kind of constellation his mark bears

- But when he asked them with his usual flirty voice he perfected to please the people around him, that person stammers and just said a random planet of some sort

- ‘does this look like a planet to you-’ he thought and never had he faked a smile more than when admirers fake their interest in astronomy to get close to him

- While he does admire all the courage and effort they put in confessing to him, he also hates the fact that they give him this silver lining of hope that he finally has someone whom he can connect with emotionally as they both have a piece of each others’ soul

- So when you uttered the correct kind of constellation, he was frozen

- His mind ran miles per second, all of it consisting of ‘what ifs’ and ‘too good to be true’

- Both of you stared at each other, heart’s unknowingly beating as fast as the other

- “Oi Shittykawa, what’s taking you so long-”

- “Iwa-chan, take charge for me will you?”

- “What? Coach’ll get mad you know!”

- “Just sub someone in”

- Iwaizumi stalked closer to you guys and was prepared to beat Oikawa’s ass off but before he could assault his lame best friend,

- “Code star, iwa-chan.”

- The buff ace froze in his actions and promptly nodded silently and closed the gym doors

- The bestfriends talked before about what they’d do if they found their respective soulmates. Iwaizumi proclaimed that it was rather childish of Oikawa to have a ‘secret code’  just because his nerdy best friend believed that the aliens might take away his soulmate once they finally find them 

- Though oddly enough, the shorter male agreed to this *pfftt*

- Finally alone, never once had you both took your eyes away from each other.

- “Uh- are you- are we?” You gestured to the two of you

- “I- I think so??” Oikawa flushed, he was NOT used to being all blushy around people, esp since he has a large fanbase

- Ya’ll were awkward as shit lmao, its adorable

- “... You want some milk bread at the convenience store nearby?” 

- You yelled at yourself internally, ‘WTF BRAIN?! COULD”VE BEEN A COFFEE IN A COFFEE SHOP JFC I am overheating sm’

- He gave you one of the softest smiles he himself never thought he could unintentionally do

- “I’d love that!”

[shikadainara]

an in-depth breakdown of b*ruto episode 178

sorry i’m late i was lost on the path of life

tl;dr yeah ok i can have my hopes and dreams about what specifically i would want but. BUT. honestly yeah the episode was more or less what i expected would actually be in it from the preview, so i can’t complain. i still sobbed!!! that’s all i really wanted!!

time to rewatch it! (warning: long post. LOL)

obviously this is nothing new but i still can’t get over how nice the exterior to the nara household is, good for them. i don’t think i noticed the solar panel before? good for them!

i’m entertained at how the episode does open with shikadai tying his hair as he walks, i just think it’s neat. i love how the camera frames it like seeing a nara with their hair down is something forbidden we’re not mean to see

temari has purple slippers i dedicate her commitment to her favorite color. (also i am Just Saying... purple........ the bisexual flag--)

yeahhhh ok so. i get the need for wanting to frame the narrative like this, but this really doesn’t make any sense. shikadai is 12, and is also a chuunin, like... he should know by now that his dad is always kinda a mess on this day of the year, and why that is. and even if he honestly really did just forget, the fact that he’s still asking his dad why he’s not at work while looking at the way his parents are dressed... did this not clue you in or what????

the fact that shikamaru’s up and ready (i really don’t think he gets much sleep on this day, every year...), and it’s shikadai who’s just getting up. i do think it’s cute that we do get to see a tiiiiiny bit of temari’s parenting that doesn’t involve being an out of character irrationally angry woman when she tells shikadai to not come crying to her when he’s late in getting ready, yeah that definitely sounds way more like her lol

temari says she told him about all of this the other day (shikadai blatantly forgot, he tries to pretend he didn’t but she doesn’t press him for it)... that does make me emotional thinking like. she is pretty painfully aware of how hard this is on shikamaru, and days in advance told shikadai about it, to try to make sure he understands what his father is going through........ she really does care about him so, so much.

i said this based off the preview, but... i would like to interpret that temari is purposefully doing the dishes(/rest of house chores) to give him space to grieve....... 

the fact that while explaining what today is, shikamaru has to get up, leave the room, and talk while not facing his family, as if he wouldn’t be able to say the words as easily while looking at them........ god. that. that hurts.

\

tsunade being the one to give this speech kinda feels random? like yeah she was the one that was kage during the war but...? i do feel like it would have been more fitting to have naruto say the speech since the whole entire point of the war was to protect him (and bee) but ????? ok

no one in the uzumaki family talks during this episode which is fine by me LOL. i would assume the memorial is on the day the war ended (which would also make it naruto’s birthday/memorial of the kyuubi invasion) but if it is, it’s never stated. maybe it’s the day the war started, idk

the collection of people up front feels pretty random??? kakashi as the previous hokage, sure, guy i guess because of how important his contribution the war against madara was and also because he is kakashi’s husband, shizune kinda has to be there if tusnade is, but... iruka? like yeah he is vital to the narrative, but to konoha? he is the headmaster of the academy i think now so i guess...? but then? ibiki??? anko??? i say this as someone that REALLY loves anko, she was my favorite character as a kid and i still love her but,,, huh? SHE WAS KNOCKED OUT DURNG THE WHOLE WAR!!??!?

then you see everyone that was in naruto’s class + team guy + sai except hinata is in the crowd. which of course to the narrative, to us the readers, those are the main characters (if you ignore how more or less everyone was super shafted throughout all of part 2) but!!! team guy’s only real connection to the rest of them is that they took the chuunin exams together, and neji and hinata were are cousins. that’s about it. was it that specifically all of these characters made such a contribution to the war compared to every other single shinobi from konoha that lived ??????

shikamaru staring up to the sky did made my heart clench... no matter how different he is now than he was when he was a 12 year old genin...... i do feel like he’s never entirely ditched his true self of just wanting to stare at the clouds all day.... i’m not entirely sure what the intent was here, but i’m sure there’s supposed to be some symbolism here. the sky is actually nearly entirely clear (the way is framed, there’s only a tiny cloud in the corner,) and then he closes his eyes and hums. maybe it’s supposed to be about the closure he gets in this episode...

\

ok and then here’s ao cool whatever. since i only skim through b*ruto for the characters that i care about i do not really careeeee since i won’t watch again until something interesting happens to said characters that i care about LOL

?? who voiced the receptionist they sound familiar but i can’t place it at all

katasuke is the bitch that made the scientific ninja tool for b*ruto so he could cheat in the exam right

what is ao doing here. is he supposed to be doing something evil. it sure looks that way

... who is the glasses orange scarf guy??? he kinda looks like a mix between udon and ebisu and aoba but i know he’s not any one of them lol

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TEMARI AND KARUI STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER... i don’t think in any media they’ve ever??? ACTUALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER???? BUT THEY SHOULD BE CLOSE FOR THE OBVIOUS REASON....... I’LL TAKE THESE CRUMBS THOUGH THANK YOU

OKKKKK admittedly like. in terms of Pleasing Me, Personally, it’s a damned if you do, dammed if you don’t situation like.... they do kinda HAVE to acknowledge that neji died during the war so. i appreciate that hinata like........ cares. i guess. i’ll try to not post the whole rant about why neji’s death was (logistically how he died aside) narratively and thematically absolute bullshit, kishi (i believe) saying that neji died so he could play cupid for naruto and hinata like!!! fuck off with that shit!!! maybe if it wasn’t for the goddamn “naruto-kun’s big warm manly hand” line i would feel a little bit actual sad but no.

WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOSHINO AND CHOUZA HELLO!?!?!?!? COULD YOU REALLY NOT HAVE PUT THEM IN THE CROWD??

ino also has an unnamed mother that the anime made up that i believe was only in like a single episode (and was cameoed in RtN i think?) but she should still be like. Alive. so her too.

MITSUKI PLACING FLOWERS IS SO FUNNY TO ME LIKE YOU DO KNOW YOUR PARENT’S SUBORDINATE/DOUBLE CROSS TRAITOR WHATEVER DID CAUSE THE WAR RIGHT BFIOBU*EHW$

\

aaand. here’s shikamaru and ino’s conversation. i’m not sure if i can put this into words, but... just... the way that they talk to each other, the weight of 15+ years of sadness about this, the way that they just!! fully know what the other is going through, the way that they’ve known each other for their whole lives and survived through everything together, the way i feel like they’ve avoided talking about this topic as much as possible over the years, hell even during this conversation the way they’re almost bickering to avoid having to directly confront their feelings, but it is unavoidable....... 

i also do wonder what their relationship with each other’s parents were while growing up: shikamaru does refer to inoichi as “inoichi-san” here, contrast to how their kids all call each other’s parents just “uncle” or “aunt”

siri play sad naruto flute.

ok since i did go back to rewatch the episode from shippuden right before watching this one for the first time i do wish a liiiittle less of the episode was about this flashback with the same reused footage like i get that they do have to put it in here but Still.

THE FACT THAT SHIKAMARU IS SMILING WHILE RECALLING WHAT HAPPENED, AND THAT THERE’S A LAUGH IN HIS VOICE........ I WANT TO CRY AGAIN

ino saying that it was so unfair how cool they looked in the end, and then giggles...... ino............. this must be so, so painful for her to recall, and yet.........

IT IS SO FUNNY HOW THEY SKIP OVER THE IMAGE OF SASUKE THERE AHAHAHAHA god i hated that so so much i can’t believe that’s manga canon. the line is perfectly fine and makes me cry just DO NOT RELATE IT TO SASUKE!!!! literally the only time they “”interact”” is when ino is introduced and ino just, for lack of a better word, glomps him???? THAT’S IT??? i feel like they might’ve changed it just because, well, you know the endgame pairings. but still. bye sasuke

damn you know what i do kinda wish they didn’t skip over the “get rid of that box before your mother finds it” part i AM curious as to what it was i mean it’s implied it’s something adult related so SP probably couldn’t show that on TV BUT!!!

ok ok all week i tried to not imagine what shikamaru and ino’s conversation would be since i wanted to go all “surprise me!!” BUT??? BUT. SHIKAMARU ASKING INO IF SHE THINKS THAT THEIR FATHERS HONESTLY, TRULY BELIEVED IN THEM?? HE’S BEEN THINKING ABOUT THAT ON EVERY SINGLE DAY THIS YEAR THESE PAST 15+ YEARS, AND SURELY IT’S ALWAYS BEEN AT THE BACK OF HIS MIND ALL THIS TIME!?!?! of course. OF COURSE HE WOULD FEEL THIS WAY!!! HE’D HAVE NO WAY OF KNOWING FOR SURE OR EVER FINDING OUT!!! like of course we as the readers know that shikaku and inoichi absolutely 200% felt that way but... from his perspective... you know what i don’t even think this idea ever crossed my mind HOLD ON THAT IS THE SOUND OF MY HEART SHATTERING--

and then he just... smiles. says that he won’t let that get him down, since it’s not like they’ll ever find out anyways. sure, it’s been 15+ years, he has had to have largely come to terms with everything by now, but...... still....

then he talks about the idea that the day will come and leave everything in the hands of their sons (now looking over at team 10′s turn to place flowers) just like their dads did... it is worded like a question, but showtaro morikubo’s absolute masterful performance does. it does portray a tone like he is absolutely 100% sure that it’ll happen, one day...

i’ve said this before but. i KNOW shikamaru has definitely spent so much time thinking about this. sure it hasn’t ever really been brought up on-screen (yet), but....... i want to see him talking about a direct contrast on what his grand plan through life he thought of by age 12, ending with him passing away by old age. obviously he did a complete 180 on they type of person he wanted as a wife LOL. it is kinda brought up at the start of shikamaru hiden while he visits the grave, says he hasn’t found anyone he’d give his life to protect... (well. now he has a son where if you see the recent chapters he is very, VERY protective of.) but i would like to see this change in his character be directly be brought up and examined

........ that being SAID. i sure hope neither of them actually like. die. i’m GOOD, thank you. they sure as hell can’t until they’re ready to pass things down to their sons, at least. until then, absolutely zero narrative reason to do so, but...... still. we don’t need to make everything an EXACT copy of what happened in naruto you can let them live kthx

they both say “what kind of half-baked response is that!” and then laugh just. I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH TEAM 10 IS FOREVER

/

there is some symbolism in how ao walks over from a really dark shadowy area into the light when he decides that he has to pay his respects...

i do like how he does reflect on how he really should have come here earlier, but better late than never i suppose

i was expecting a... more elaborate explanation for how he lived??? especially since he was standing RIGHT NEXT to shikaku and inoichi... he just. happened to survive for whatever reason while every single other person died on impact

that survivor’s guilt does hurt to see

i do like seeing how he chooses to do something with his life, aside from being a shinobi, and live it to the fullest for the sake of everyone that died in the explosion. that’s nice

/

ino saying “i’m sure are fathers are happy!” AAAAAAAAAAA

IN HINDSIGHT....... I ABSOLUTELY SOULD’VE PREDICTED SOMEONE WOULD DROP A “YOU LOOK SO MUCH LIKE YOUR FATHER” AT SOME POINT IN THE EPISODE...... and. i did kinda chuckle, because like, no shit duh lmao. i’m sure shikamaru heard that all the time as a kid!!! and hell, i’m sure he still gets it from time to time over the years up to this day. BUT LIKE... SHIKAMARU’S FACE. HE LOOKS LIKE THAT, RIGHT NOW, IT’S ACTUALLY SOMETHING HE REALLY, REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR. LET ME CRY

hearing shikamaru say oyaji, and then the way his tone suddenly shifts to something very... quiet and somber? when he says “nara shikaku”..... something about that. man.... also it’s hard to see but there is a sweat drop on his face as he says all of this...

“sometimes, i end up wondering...” don’t lie to yourself. you think about this so, so much........

the flashback where ao says “listen to me calmly” when he says the bomb is coming this way sure reminds me of ino telling shikamaru to stay calm as she tells him that his son has a bomb around his neck

THE ADDED PART OF THE FLASHBACK WITH THEIR VERY LAST MOMENTS...... THE WAY THEY’RE SMILING AND JUST??? BELIEVE IN THEIR KIDS IN THE VERY END. just like how it’s described in shikamaru hiden where the narrative says that shikaku was a shinobi until his very last breaths-- actually, no. in the very end he was a father.......

“THEY BELIEVED IN YOU, WITHOUT A HINT OF DOUBT.”

AAA?A?AAAAAAAAA?A?A?A??A!??!!??!!

INO STARTS TEARING UP BUT I CALL ABSOLUTE BS THAT SHIKAMARU WOULDN’T ALSO JUST BURST ONTO TEARS ON THE SPOT, HE MAY BE 32 WHATEVER YEARS OLD NOW BUT... HE IS STILL SUCH A CRYBABY AT HEART, HIS ENTIRE CIRCLE OF LOVED ONES KNOW THIS.

you know who DID start crying though??? ME

/

i do wonder, is this the same hillside that shikamaru went to after asuma’s death...? (only in the manga tho, the anime had him on a rooftop instead)

is that??? someone watching them in the back left?? when shikadai finds him? i cannot tell what that is

i am. trying to follow temari’s logic of telling shikadai to go find shikamaru and... not also going with him?? i mean i figured from the preview that, yeah it does look like it’s only the two of them, but... i can’t come up with a reason. not a super big deal but. obviously my heart yearns for that shikatema content that’s ok i can write my own fanfic i guess!!!!

also like...... i imagine it can’t be THAT hard to find him, i’m sure that he only has a small handful of Spots Good For Coping(™) when he just needs to be by himself, that i would Think his wife would know where they are. and said wife would tell shikadai. but idk

after all of this, shikamaru wants to just treat his son to go eat out whatever he wants...!! what a good father

....... now like. the logic of “temari is currently making dinner and that’s why she’s a) not there and b) told shikadai to go fetch is father” would make perfect sense. but... if they’re going out to get food then... no?? shikadai would interject to say so if that was the case..... that makes this all make no sense seriously what the hell is she doing

i do wish that like. shikadai like.... uh. actually learned about more shikaku?? this scene is more brief than i thought it would be idk i felt like it would be part of the middle of the episode and not at the end, oh well. he’ll find out in due time

THAT BEING SAID...  STILL. THE ENDING WHERE HE JUST CARES SO SO SO SO MUCH ABOUT SHIKADAI!!!! WONDERING IF HE’S WATCHING HIS BACK!!! I LOVE THEM I LOVE THEMMMMM

/

not quite sure whatever ao is doing at the end of the episode???? IS IT EVIL??? i mean like that it’s him catching a leaf seems like he’s going against konoha but i mean konoha fucking sucks so. that is not evil i guess LOL

whatever not like i’ll care to actually find out!!!!! anyways let me know when the nara family (or anyone adjacent to them) does anything so i can care LOL

in conclusion. good shit.

[chiyuukiaru]

Haikyuu!! Chapter 372

Not in order, I wrote this based from part that I remembered first to the last. Also, this is a spoiler, so please ignore this post if you don’t wanna be spoiled (or anime-only viewers).

Oikawa is in an overseas volleyball club.

On my previous post, I more or less already guessed it. But, I wasn't 100% right. Oikawa is indeed in an overseas team, but not a Brazilian club. An Argentinean club, that is. He was probably just sightseeing on the neighborhood country when he accidentally met Hinata.

Oikawa became like a mental-uplifting figure to Hinata.

I correctly guessed this too. Actually, Hinata said it himself. He felt better after meeting Oikawa. These two are so adorable. And would you look at that?! They already made a promise to meet up again, in a way (with Oikawa asking for a treat next time).

Ushijima and Kageyama in the same team.

I never mention this, but I always headcanon Kageyama to be teammates with Ushijima or Hoshiumi. Because these two are the other characters that I feel would be pro and the ones that had a direct conflict with Hinata. So, they team-up with Kageyama and fight Hinata would be a great drama. Glad my headcanon turned out real. It's a fan's biggest happiness lol. Thanks, Furudate!

Not only that, their expressions when they saw the pic is GOLDEN. Idk what exactly they're thinking about, but I bet it's something along the line of: "Damn, I should be more cautious. This combination is also dangerous". We know that Ushijima and Kageyama had long acknowledged Oikawa's talent as a setter (whether people think he's a natural genius or not). With him setting to Hinata, it would be a really yabai combination. Hinata also has made a name for himself as a high-level high school player in Japan (yes, admit it. Even Katou Lucio heard about this. Obviously, from Shiratorizawa's head coach), and he's still training and improving too.

Btw, what language is Schweiden? Is it a club in Japan? I don't think so, tho. The name sounds like it's coming from Sweden. If it's true, then Kageyama and Ushijima are playing in a foreign league (?).

On a side note, actually, I was sure Oikawa went pro too. Just never imagined he'd gone overseas right after graduation. I thought he'd be in a Japanese club first, then transfer.

Kindaichi and Kunimi made an appearance.

I always love the relationship between the members of The Miyagi First Year Training Camp (yes, even those ball boys). They're so precious and even though they were rivals, they learned a lot from each other. Hinata also got one of his biggest (and most satisfying, for me) development from this camp. So when these two appeared, I was elated.

Personally, I think Oikawa posted the selfie on his social media. That's why Kindaichi and Kunimi conversation went like this: "Did you see? I saw". It's like a conversation between 2 friends about the latest post of their friend who switched school or moved far after graduation. Fits.

On the other hand, Kageyama received the selfie from Hinata's chat (I think it's LINE). It suits his personality too, I don't think he would purposely open a social media account. But personal message is alright (awww and that means they're still in contact even with the time difference).

We could see Oikawa play again.

Yes, I also stated that I miss watching Oikawa plays again. He's been missing for hundred chapters, dammit. Now, from the build-up for the next chapter, I believe we could confidently say we would see him play again. And with our strongest decoy too! Wow, just wow.

The mystery coach is revealed. And the flashback with Kindaichi and Kunimi in Aoba Johsai gym.

I was always curious WHY Furudate never showed this couch's face. Now, we know why. The foreshadowing tho, damn Furudate is really smart. They planned this arc from a long time ago, duh.

Also, I always felt there's something I didn't catch when Kindaichi and Kunimi talked about how crazy Oikawa is (cmiiw, I think it was episode 11 in Season 2, I forgot which chapter it was in the manga tho). The animation (and manga panel) moved the focus back to Oikawa and his serving too fast, imo. I remember thinking "What they mean with it? Isn't his serve always crazy? Why talk about it?". My friends told me I was thinking too much about that line, but turned out, I was right to be curious. Because Oikawa wanted to play overseas!!! That's why it was crazy for Kindaichi and Kunimi. Damn, Furudate I respect you!

We were shown, once again, that beach volleyball is not the same as indoor volleyball.

Oikawa directly stated this. Beach volleyball just has volleyball in it. It's still a completely different sport. And he proved that by falling on his face (and his face is so pretty too, sigh). It means, in the current timeline, Hinata "Ninja Shouyou" is indeed a force to be reckoned with. He's acknowledged as a strong player and given a nickname for his play. Hinata really has come so far. I couldn't be more proud.

On a side note, Hinata feeling superior from Oikawa for his better beach volley play is adorable. When you're better at something, even for a little bit, from someone you know is really really good, you can't help feeling proud of yourself, lol. I definitely talked from experience.

Oikawa telling his friends that Hinata was a middle school kid from his neighborhood in English. And Hinata understood that.

And this is a guy whose worse subject was English! Before meeting Yachi and got her help, his grades never entered 2 digits. Now, not only he understands and speaks Portuguese, he understands English (probably learning to speak the language too, it's a package if you wanna survive in a foreign world). Also, we saw he learned Spanish from manga in chapter 370 too. He became multilingual (probably still with accent tho). I'm so proud.

On a side note, I wonder why Oikawa talked to his friends in English? Does it mean, he can't speak Spanish, yet?

Ugh, when this arc was animated, I hope we could hear Murase Ayumu (Hinata's VA) speaks English (he's fluent after all, ahaha). And also, him speaking Portuguese (and maybe Spanish) would kill me too.

There friends, all my rambling. I'm really getting better at rambling. Maybe I should mention this on my CV. I apologize if my words are hard to understand or I'm too talkative and annoying. I just want to let these all out, coz I know I will feel better this way. Also, I think I wrote “On a side note” too many times, lmao. Apologize, once again.

PS: Previously on my post, I said that I didn't want Oikawa to be a mentor figure for Hinata coz it'd feel like Hinata's progress isn't his own, and his struggles wouldn't feel strong enough. I still stand by this. I really don't want Oikawa to be a mentor figure for Hinata. But, I want Oikawa to be someone that can assure Hinata everything will be fine, even if he's all by himself in a foreign country and this, happened. Idk about the mentor thing, it's still up to Furudate to do it or not (honestly, I don't want it. Even if Furudate did it, maybe just make it like the training camp? So Hinata was like, observing Oikawa, asking him about some techniques, etc. I mean, you know, it’s not Oikawa who freely taught Hinata, but Hinata who was asking first. So it is still, in a way, Hinata’s own progress and learning). But, I think we all can universally agree that OiHina team-up is something that we wanna see, yes?! Looking forward to the next chapter.