#or even the anime or manga adaptations.

[silvertherogue715]

hello! This is just a small one before I get into the bigger question, I remember on your deviant art it was implied that Sunstar and Ra Moon were the same entity. Also what did you mean by Terra wasn’t himself when he and Minx first met, and what is Slur’s role in the AU? I hope you have a good day/night! Thank you!

Short answer:

Are Sunstar and Ra Moon the same person? 

Yes! They are! Technically. 

Ra Moon lacks Sunstar’s full set of memories, and is the part of Sunstar that has been with Minx the longest. “Ra Moon” doesn’t gain back his memories of being “Sunstar” until the end of Arc 1, when Terra essentially “kidnaps” him (which was shown in the comic from the last ask) from SciLab.

Terra wasn’t himself?

No. He (and his brothers) had been exposed to the negative effects of Sunstar’s Negative Energy Crystals (NEC’s or NE Crystals) for far too long. A side effect of this exposure brought out the worst in Terra, which can be observed during the Stardroids first arrival back on Earth after thousands of years. 

Also, space and time are funky in this AU, courtesy of Duo–the stardroids are not actually thousands of years old.

What is Slur’s role?

She doesn't appear until late arc 2, but she is a recurring threat throughout later arcs. She carries out Duo's will by 'testing' the inhabitants of life-filled planets to determine whether or not they are "evil." If they are? Destruction. If not? They're left alone.

Long answer:

Are Sunstar and Ra Moon the same person? 

Yes. 

Ra Moon lacks all of his previous memories as “Sunstar" until Terra puts the NE Crystal inside of Ra Moon back into his ‘Sunstar’ body. This is the red crystal Terra was clutching in the comic from the last ask!

NE Crystals are a whole discussion on their own. Hoo boy. I’m sure some of this will be confusing, but please feel free to ask for clarity. Hope it isn't too overwhelming!

Let me try to give you a timeline, for simplicity:

Sunstar was the first, and only Stardroid created with 2 NEC’s in his body. These crystals bind best with non-organic material, like Navis, and serve as both a source of power and a place to store memories.

Yes there are Positive Energy Crystals, too. I just call ‘em GVC’s (good vibes crystals) though because it flows better.

Sunstar contained 5 NECs in his body at one point. The power overwhelms him, and the potency also affects the Stardroids (who are also NEC Navis).

His original 2 are in his chest.

He has one in his right forearm, and another in his left forearm.

The 5th is in his abdomen.

Duo (weird space & time god in the anime–) injures Sunstar enough to put him in critical condition during a battle in space. 

4 of his 5 crystals are scattered to the stars.

Terra intercepts one of Sunstar’s two original NEC’s before Duo can destroy it, and places it into Ra Moon–a lifeless surveillance drone–and has Saturn send it to Earth (to give Sunstar distance and safety from Duo).

The outcome of the battle did not look favorable for the stardroids–he believed it was his best course of action at the time. 

Duo had the mindset of "No crystals = no memories = no Sunstar"

Ra Moon landed on Earth and was found by Minx’s great-great Grandfather, Edward. 

Sunstar’s amnesia as Ra Moon is caused by 2 things:

He is missing his other crystal

The crystal in Ra Moon has not adjusted to the ‘new host body,’ and a lack of familiar items or people mean he has nothing to trigger memories of his past self.

‘Viren society’ has long since been buried during their time away. 

So basically, imagine waking up and having so idea who you are, and the only clues being:

“Name = Ra_Moon_model71”

But basically, “Ra Moon” has been in Minx’s family for generations. He helped Edward establish a Net-based company, providing both him and his human friend security. Then Edward dies. Edward’s son “inherits” him. Ra Moon is still treated well. Then the son dies. Things get worse. Then it happens again. And again. 

And then he is eventually given to Minx (8). She reminds him of Edward, and things slowly start getting better again. Then Terra shows up.

Ra Moon has been with Minx for a long, long time.

Terra wasn’t himself?

No. As mentioned above, he hasn’t truly been himself since Sunstar started gaining more NECs in his body. One NE crystal is already an impressively powerful energy source, and Sunstar was created with two. The more crystals he gained, the more he lost himself, and the more the excess energy–like poison–started affecting the other Stardroids. Even after Sunstar's NEC’s were scattered, residual energy tainted the Stardroids minds while they hunted them down to restore their leaders body.

The Stardroids are not purged of this excess energy until sometime after arriving on Earth again, after Sunstar was repaired.

What is Slur’s role?

She doesn't appear until late arc 2, but she is a recurring threat throughout later arcs. Slur is…interesting, to say the least. Egocentric with a holier-than-thou attitude, like her anime counterpart, to be sure, but…interesting. 

Though Slur could/should be discussed in greater detail in a different ask on her own, honestly. But to understand her role, the history of NEC vs GVCs Navis, as well as Viren society (which is basically my name for the ancient Earth civilization that is briefly touched on in the anime) and the creation of Duo as a whole would probably have to be addressed first? It’s a lot of lore-heavy stuff. Would probably be too overwhelming for a single post.

But TLDR: Bad guy. Sociopath. Hate Slur.

[ruporas]

don’t worry about me. goodbye, big brother

[1000sunnygo]

Law novel sequel's title will be "Novel Law: The Hour of Kikoku" (Kikoku no Toki).

... or 'The Time of Kikoku', 'Hour' just sounded catchier.

It's going to be a multichaptered spinoff, the upcoming magazine doesn't conclude the story. Here's an update from the official website.

Seems it's the story behind Law acquiring his sword? Sakagami Shusei (Novel Law author) has shared some initial thoughts (the first tweet was before the title revelation).

Felt the last one 🤝

Once again, Oda's involvement is expected to be minimum. It's almost entirely written by Sakagami Shusei, like its prequel.

Let's hope we finally get to know the names of the other members of the Heart pirates!

Nishimura Kinu's sketch seems to hint at Law's interaction with Hakugan, maybe we'll get to know how he got recruited.

[omo321]

he's neat :)))))

[r0semultiverse]

Dan Da Dan mangaka is a homestuck fan

My partner was looking up the Dandadan manga just for fun or whatever and sent the magazine/book page that looks a bit different in the anime and immediately I felt an eerie sense of familiarity...

Obama going into space on a special mission remind anyone else of a certain piece of media?

At first I was like surely Dandandan has been out for some time before getting an anime adaptation; so, it's probably just coincidence... right?

Oh how wrong I was... truly, we can never escape it. We cannot fight the Homestuck.

[dazaistabletop]

[hiphopcherrrypop]

yaoi so good the shonen dudebros want it to be endgame too

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

Average fma fan talking about 03 positively: Man, it's such a miracle that the 2003 anime is written even halfway decently! After all, the writers who, as we know, have never written anything in their lives before [citation needed], they had to work while locked in individual underground cells [citation needed], only fed scraps of fma lore by Arakawa herself [citation needed] while her story was actually fully formed by the first printing of her manga in Monthly Shonen Gangan [citation needed] but they were adapting the initial first volume of manga and oopsy-daisy shot past it [citation needed], so they made up every plot beat, character arc, storyboard, and lore change completely on the fly and very randomly [citation needed]. Even though they tried to 1:1 adapt her story [citation needed, contradicted by existing sources], they fumbled the job and butchered her story, characters, and lore. Arakawa sagely forgave them [citation needed]. But somehow it's a cohesive story?! Wow! Even though the story is sad, dark, scares me, makes me cry, violent, gorey, and my fave ships aren't endgame, so -50 demerits. Still, good job team! A treat! A treat for the monkeys working the typewriters at Studio Bones circa 2002-2004! #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood

[zosanbrainrotxtreme]

My husband cannot get over the costumes in OPLA and not because he thinks they’re amazingly camp and spot on to the animanga (which they are) but because “what is this Target looking ass shirt” “I swear to god they bought that at Target for budget cuts” “I AM TELLING YOU I HAVE SEEN THIS EXACT SHIRT AT TARGET YOU AIN’T SLICK NETFLIX” and it kills me every time we watch it together

[mxtxfanatic]

I cannot stress this enough, but using The Untamed/CQL to “contextualize” the novel mdzs is like using the movie Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (2010) to understand the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. American readers know…

[nnobara]

rip to his aura 🙏

cr: Inolune

[dejwrld]

unpopular opinion — but i think everybody should read the manga of their favorite anime at least once

[kuroananosanji]

Bro Toei pisses me offff why do they always do characters dirty and why is said characters 9/10 always sanji 😭 everyone pre-wano is downright ugly for no reason and moments in the manga where it’s just oda’s weird humour get dialled up and made worse for what 😭 all those “wtf” sanji anime scenes are literally so tame in the manga legit when I saw the panels I’m like THATS IT?? That’s what people are tweaking over?? But I can’t even blame them coz Toei supports their delusions 😭

[deus-ex-mona]

hey guys, remember when [redacted] anime hiyori had to tell lxl to love their fans

[s0fter-sin]

i’ve stopped expecting interesting animation from bones. the star and stripe fight is cool but like every other fight/moment in mha, it’s only cool bc the source material itself is cool; bones does nothing to elevate the manga

they rarely try to experiment with colour and style. i saw so many colourings of the moment star and stripe made a giant version of herself out of the air; people made her look like a cosmos, like it reflected and bent the sky around her, doing so many inventive things and for the anime to just make her an outline against that godforsaken sky? i’m disappointed

but people will take me saying i’m disappointed and spin it to me saying the fight was bad. it wasn’t, just like most fights and moments in the anime aren’t bad but that’s all bc horikoshi knows how to draw. they never do anything beyond that; they never try and adapt it. whether it’s bc of time, direction, budget, or what have you, they will never do something truly inventive with their colouring

i’ve said this before and i’ll say it again, it’s not just that the sky is blue; it’s what the blue sky represents and that is an unwillingness to broaden their colour palette or atmosphere to support the changes in the tone of the story. the story isn’t just “will midoriya get into his dream high school and achieve his dream job?” it’s child abuse and societal systems and their dysfunctions, it’s racism and morality and is it right to try and save someone who’s determined to destroy the world just bc they are also a victim?

look at the finale of atla, a show that mirrors the narrative tone of mha; it starts out bright and colourful and vibrant to match the happy and small stakes nature of the story and as the tone of the story changes, the environment changes to reflect that. the siege of the north pole? everything goes blood red when the moon spirit is threatened, then goes completely desaturated when it is killed with only fire bending having any colour. the day of black sun? uses a solar eclipse to change the lighting. the entire sozin’s comet fight? has red skies and lighting to show the threat

bones abject refusal to change anything about the art itself is a detriment to horikoshi’s complex narrative

[kaurwreck]

my friend is adapting a book into a graphic novel, and so I was venting about how frustrating trying to read the beast and 15 manga has been. for me, the stylized art, while attractive at a glance, only shallowly engages in storytelling. instead, the artist seems far more preoccupied with (i) the aesthetic of individual panels and (ii) obscuring/hand-waving/distracting from the wonky perspectives, poorly designed panels, lack of movement/dynamism, and other technical inadequacies. if it was just a matter of the artist's skill falling short of their intention, that would be fine; but my impression is that there isn't any intention to work within the medium or engage in storytelling, and it deeply frustrates me because bsd's other adaptations have spoiled me by using the limitations and strengths of their mediums to expound on the story. by contrast, the 15 and beast manga struggle to tell any narrative, much less elaborate on the original.

but! I'm not an artist, and although I read a ton of comic books and manga, that doesn't mean I understand their technical components. hoshikawa's adaptations are also so lauded in the fandom, i also started to wonder if I wasn't just like projecting flaws onto it that didn't exist for no other reason than to be contrarian.

so i explained all of this and gave my friend my copy of the first volume of 15 to get their perspective. and after they flipped through a few pages, they were like the art seems technically fine to me. so I was like okay great I'm just being bitter then. and then they tried to actually read the panels, froze, and said, "oh." to which I was like, "the panels don't make sense when read together, right?" and they replied, "i don't think you can even call this sequential art."

which is to say, I've been vindicated, and what I lack in social grace, I have in metacognition and storytelling craft.