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arceus-insanity · 9 months ago

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A Moral Scapegoat for who?

All For One is a shit character, he is presented as a massive threat, but we never see him get a win, similar to the dissonance between the All Might we see and the context in universe.

And in the end, he becomes a moral scapegoat... for the heroes.

What is a moral scapegoat?

A moral scapegoat is (usually) a character used to excuse the actions of other characters or a system. Character A may have done XYZ but Character B was the one manipulating them and/ or is so much worse, so we can excuse A's actions. Or helping defeat B acts as pence for their past actions. Etc. And to a degree it makes sense, getting people to believe a character has changed and should now be considered good both by the characters and the audience is hard. So having some bigger bad to blame takes the pressure off the desired character(s).

While the term is typically only brought up negatively, like the use of Mary&Gary Sues, there are good ones. Commander Zhao in Avatar of the Last Airbender is an early moral scapegoat, used to say yeah Prince Zuko may suck, but there are a lot worse out there. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic has a moral scapegoat, right in the pilot, Nightmare Moon for Princess Luna, sure Nightmare came from Luna but it is presented as a curse, something that was cured, fixed. The Hobbit uses Dragon Sickness as a way to both corrupt and excuse King Thorin's actions when they have retaken the mountain; he is not in his right mind, and shouldn't be considered solely responsible for his actions

In certain ways, Pink Diamond (due to the audience learning her arc in reverse, when it has such an effect on the plot of Steven Universe) is a scapegoat for the remaining Diamonds, even though it makes a lot less sense for her to be the scapegoat when considering the actual sequence of events in universe. And while most people don't think Pink/Rose's actions excuse the Diamonds (especially White), she does work with Spinel. Another rocky moral scapegoat is Horad Prime from She-ra & The Princesses of Power, he is the big bad of the show and is meant to be a scapegoat primarily for Horadak who was the previous big bad, and mildly a scapegoat for Catra. The big problems with his sacrificial slaughter is that there isn't enough time to really settle in that this is the true big bad, and both Horadak and Catra's issues were both way more on screen and show up well before we ever hear of Hoard Prime, with them operating separately.

And All For One is a worst example of all of them (that I mentioned)

For starters the more we saw of him the less ultimate intimidating evil he portrayed, nor did we get a satisfying he was actually pretty pathetic. Really trying to have your cake and eat it too. Looking back he's very cartoonishly evil, but lacks the presence, he's boring. I've seen many good portrayals of him in the fandom, but canon is just boring. His background of miscellaneous evil deeds, don't really go into how they were evil, just that Yoichi (& AFO) clearly believes them to be, both come across as very childish to me, seeing the world as black & white.

He lacks the moral complexity of complex villains (like Magneto), meant to be an ambitiously evil man, whose evil for the sack of being evil. But he lacks the presence found in Classic evil Disney characters like Jafar, Clayton, and Ursala. In a way he's like King Magnifico (from Wish, the only recent hated animated Disney movie, that I agree deserves to be shat on), trying to have both but failing to capture either

In the present, he has little involvement on screen, and once he's out of the picture, Shigaraki (& the League) really bloom as villains and characters. The story could have had a slow realization (for Shigaraki, the League and the audience) that he was holding the League back, and that meant either he was nowhere near as competent as he was portrayed, or he wasn't actually helping Shigaraki, setting up for the body suit plan

But my biggest issue is who he's the sacrificial goat for.

And who is he the scapegoat for? The fucking Heroes and their shit-ass society, including the H PSC crap.

The ending reveal that he was behind everything that happened to Tenko, from him being born, his name, the kids he chose to play with, the issues with his quirk, and only having him; fails. It doesn't work! Mainly because of what that scene ignored the walk, and the complicity of the family. It ignored that the family were directly ignoring that Tenko was being abused, trying to placate him after the fact. It ignores that Kotaro Shimura chose to follow his friends advice, over his wife too. It ignores that even though AFO would have killed anyone who tried to help Tenko, no one tried. It also doesn't make sense either, normal kids are shit actors, not to mention Tenko was the one to reach out to them, not the other way around. And with the sheer amount of heroes, and cops, and regular citizens, how was it literally no one tried to help him, it's not AFO.

What else does it ignore, oh yeah, Tenko isn't truly unique in having a tragic backstory. Sure he was planning on taking advantage of the Endeavor's awful legacy plan, but we never see that AFO has done anything before kidnapping Touya. It's implied that he helped stroked Heteromorphic discrimination for his own gain, but that doesn't change that Spinner had pesticides thrown in his face, by 'innocent' civilians, that Shoji was mutilated as a child, for saving a child, by 'innocent' civilians, that the Ordinary Lady was attacked and denied shelter in the middle of an active warzone, by 'innocent' civilians. Himiko's abuse was enabled and furthered by quirk counselling, we don't even get a he was secretly to blame all along for this one. The commission has assassins, ignore. The homeless have to resort to villainy to survive, ignore. Once someone is considered out they are abused by this society until they have to lash out, ignore. The big bad was taken down, so nothing has to be done about these systemic issues, cause the heroes say so

There's a pattern, he was only able to do this, because the society he was in was already doing it.

And AFO being a moral scapegoat could of worked.

IF the Hero Public Safety Commission was similarly a scapegoat.

To begin, AFO should have been the scapegoat for the League, and the villains as a whole. The heroes would instead have the HPSC as their scapegoat.

Hawks should not have been made president of the totally different PSC, not only is he a known murderer, he doesn't regret it, he has never criticized the Commission's (or any other hero's) actions. If he's not going to see the issues, and hypocrisy right in front of him, he shouldn't have any role at all in it, and a very small one if he does recognize them. Giving this to Hawks screams nothing is actually going to be fixed, any changes are going to be for the worse.

Going into the final Deku vs Shigaraki battle, as well as the dreamscape crap, I had hope in this series. I thought that Deku would finally be forced to have the long over reality check of the Villains are right, what are you going to do about it. So instead of hyper-focusing on one tiny moment that with any and I do mean any additional context would show that it's not just this tiny shit moment. Rather than murdering Tomura for not abandoning the League (the same reason Hawks murdered Twice), have Deku convince Tomura that they can make a better society. That Deku's peaceful(ish) method is what's better for the League we have seen he loves.

From there they could have come up with a deal where either (these are simplified) everyone is held accountable for their past actions (as in the villains, Endeavor, Hawks, the Commission, everyone responsible for the sky coffin, etc). Or the clock is restarted, and everyone is hence forth held to the same standard. The villains are around to make sure the actual issues to their problems are dealt with, hint; Himiko's problem wasn't lack of access to quirk counselling. Happy satisfying ending for everyone

#bnha critical #bnha #bnha meta #mha #mha critical #anti endeavor #mha meta #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #anti enji todoroki #anti hero public safety commission #hpsc critical #shigaraki deserved better #horikoshi critical #hori is a bad writer #the league of villains #the league of villains deserved better

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chickentnders · 10 months ago

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I Think Katsuki is Going to Give Izuku His Quirk in the End

(rewritten here)

There are only two chapters left, so who knows, I haven't seen leaks, but I think there's some compelling evidence supporting the possibility that Katsuki will end up quirkless and Izuku will be given his quirk. And I felt like talking about it. Hi.

*Manga spoilers through chapter 428, Vigilantes, and the Heroes Rising movie*

In chapter 304, Izuku finds out that he's likely the last person who will ever hold One For All, since it can only be transferred to a quirkless person now. Izuku is the 9th, and final, user of OFA.

Except, the thing is, this isn't true.

I'd been going with the understanding that OFA can't be passed on again, but that's not quite what it says in the manga. They say he might be the last wielder and that it can't go to an ordinary person anymore.

This is true, in order to hold the power of OFA, one has to be quirkless, because it eats away at one's life force to have multiple quirks added to their own (as we see with the 4th user).

And this also isn't true, because of the Heroes Rising movie.

The really crazy thing I realized is that this contradiction, doesn't actually contradict what's been established in manga canon.

So, what counts as canon?

Everything, apparently.

In Heroes Rising, there are two little kids at the center of things, Katsuma and Mahoro.

In chapter 384 of the manga, those same two little kids showed up. Then they show up again in chapter 405.

Meaning, the events of that movie… happened?

And that means that there aren't nine OFA users; there are ten.

All Might Vestige

In chapter 362, Katsuki dies. R.I.P. Kacchan, who has now also died in the anime.

But near death, the person he sees in his final moments is All Might. Not Izuku, not his family, not his friends, his teacher. And not just All Might, All Might's non-verbal glowing vestige.

Why this version of All Might, instead of the man?

I have an idea, and it has to do with Heroes Rising.

I thought Vestige-Might was just a stylistic choice on Horikoshi-sensei's part. All Might symbolizes Katsuki's dream, he's the person he idolized his whole life, and he's thinking about things he regrets in his final moments; an autograph from his hero, such a simple thing he never got to ask for.

But then Katsuki stopped being dead and all of a sudden Mahoro and Katsuma showed up in the manga, twice, and I had to reevaluate my perception of MHA canon and what qualifies.

Let's rewind a bit to chapter 254, before the PLF raid so I can make a quick point (for others like me who are used to supplementary material not being acknowledged in, or as, canon).

When Eraserhead and Present Mic are talking to Kurogiri and trying to coax Shirakumo out of him, Eraserhead talks about Shirakumo saving a cat, after Aizawa had left it behind.

For like four years I wondered why the story kept trying to make me care so much about Shirakumo and his friendship with the other two, with so little information given, only to find out not long ago that the entire backstory is covered in Vigilantes.

Which means Vigilantes is canon.

Which means, with the inclusion of movie characters in the main manga… it's all canon. Searching the subreddit and wiki also confirmed this for me.

So if Heroes Rising is canon, that drastically changes the context and potential meaning of Vestige-Might appearing to near death Katsuki.

Because in Heroes Rising, Izuku transfers OFA to Katsuki to defeat Nine.

When it's over, OFA doesn't stay with Katsuki; it goes back to Izuku and Katsuki has no memory of this ever happening. But Katsuki does hold OFA for a short time.

That means that Katsuki is the 10th OFA holder.

Like I said, there aren't nine, there are ten holders.

Like, did it bother anyone else that nine was such an awkward number for OFA holders? It feels incomplete, right?

Considering the events of the manga, this is a potentially huge deal with some interesting implications.

In the final battle in the manga, Deku passed OFA to Shigaraki, one quirk at a time. OFA, the quirk, is officially dead and gone; only the embers remain in Izuku and Izuku is quirkless again.

But like I said… since the movies are canon, then it's also possible that a small ember is also in Katsuki. He didn't hold it long enough to have his own vestige like All Might, but he was still a holder.

So, what if Katsuki was seeing Vestige-Might within the OFA vestige world and that really was All Might? Glow-Might couldn't speak, just like how we see him in Izuku's vestige space; and iirc, he can't speak, because All Might is still alive.

Now, Katuski only saw All Might, not any of the other holders, but that also makes sense. They have no emotional investment in Katsuki, he barely held the quirk, and he doesn't know who they are aside from what he read in All Might's notes. But All Might does care about him, so it makes sense that the piece of himself that exists within OFA would appear in his student's final moments, through the ember of OFA inside Katsuki.

As I was looking to find chapter numbers for this, I ended up flipping through the All Might vs. AFO fight by happenstance and realized something else:

This is from chapter 403. It looks like All Might is about to die and as he thinks this is the end for him, his life flashes before his eyes and he looks back at the path he walked and notices these balls of light on the ground. He thinks, "And what I saw… seemed so very significant."

Hey. You notice anything about this bright ball of light in the center of the panel?

At the end of the chapter, we see Katsuki and Izuku holding those balls of light, with All Might watching from the background, holding his own ball of light. I thought this represented him being their teacher, pushing them forward to become great heroes, a passing of the torch to the next generation of heroes. He never had kids, so this is how he passes on his legacy, through the aspirations of all the children who looked up to him.

Or.

Or it is a passing of the torch, but literally.

Dynamight's Final Fight

I don't know if anyone noticed this, it might not be significant, their costumes get destroyed all the time, but…

In his fight with Shigaraki, as ShigAFO tells him he'll never be anything more than Deku's hanger on, Katsuki's costume is destroyed. Going back a few chapters from 362 (R.I.P. Kacchan), visually, it feels like we're being shown his dream of becoming a pro hero get destroyed bit by bit. His arm gets crushed and twisted, his gauntlets are shattered, his mask gets torn off, he gets an upgrade to his costume and it's barely effective, and it seems from the narration that his quirk was damaging his body from the inside out (like how OFA would do to Izuku).

That fight looks like the end for him, his heart literally explodes (or gets pierced, idk), but he gets back up, saves All Might, and has a grand finale against AFO. The last thing we see him do is propel Izuku the final step to deal that last punch and end things. It's Izuku's story, so of course he lands the final blow, but the point is, Katsuki the one to support him then, because it could never be him.

When we see him in the hospital after it's all over in ch. 424, not only is he told his arm possibly never going to regain normal function, let alone enough to use his quirk like he did before, but his heart is also damaged. We already know that he uses support items to store up his sweat, and I imagine in the MHA world a prosthesis could function similarly in hero work, yet he wants to do the long and painful rehabilitation, despite possibly never regaining function. This is not to criticize his choice to keep his arm at all, I just thought it was interesting, considering how similar he's shown to be to Mirko and how he chose the opposite of what she did.

This feels like a very important choice, because of the support item aspect.

But the most interesting thing in this scene was that he mentions that Izuku never had a quirk to begin with, right before he finds out that Izuku is quirkless again.

(side note: Both Izuku and All Might fought quirkless in the final battle and I love that for them? Like Izuku was technically quirkless when he dealt that final weather changing blow, incredible.)

How Does OFA Actually Work?

Once All Might gave OFA to Izuku, he no longer had the quirk, just the embers. He couldn't pass on the ember that was left inside him and those embers couldn't be stolen. Izuku can't pass on what he has left either. The actual OFA quirk is gone from the previous holder once it's transferred.

But I think another reason that All Might or Izuku couldn't pass anything on again after giving it away, is that they were both quirkless. In the absence of the quirk-passing quirk, there's nothing left of their own quirk factors to pass on, because they never had one. And all of the other holders died/were killed so it wasn't tested as a possibility.

If you think about it… didn't Nana still have Float once she passed OFA onto All Might? All Might never unlocked the other users' quirks (he never had Float) so there's no test he could have done for this either. As far as all the other holders knew, OFA was just lifetimes of built up strength passed on, none of them made true contact with the vestiges to learn about its true power. There would have been no reason to assume that their quirk was forfeit once OFA was passed on, because they didn't know that the actual unique quirk factor was stored.

But if she still had Float after transfer, I would imagine that means that only a copy of the quirk, a small piece, is what's passed on in OFA and that the original stays with the person. One For All isn't eight quirks, it's a single quirk with the abilities of the predecessors. Otherwise, if Shinomori died of old age at a very young age, All Might living as long as he did while holding onto it for longer makes no sense.

If OFA gives, while AFO takes, it also makes sense that OFA doesn't take the person's original quirk.

So what does that mean for canon right now?

If Katsuki is the 10th OFA holder and if a small bit of OFA lives inside him, it was unused, and therefore undiminished, because he never knew it was there—he doesn't remember the events of the movie. He hasn't been using OFA like All Might used it until it was barely a flicker, so the piece that could be inside him is still burning brightly.

He can't pass on OFA anymore, just like All Might and Izuku; the actual OFA quirk is gone.

But Katsuki isn't quirkless.

OFA is a quirk meant to pass power from one person to another. If Izuku and All Might could still make use of OFA's strength, who's to say that it's transfer ability couldn't also be used via the embers? Remember, they didn't have their own quirks to try this out and everyone before them had died early.

Katsuki would be the only person left who could possibly use it pass on a quirk again, because he actually has his own quirk. And while Izuku was the last person who could hold it as a quirkless person (a rarity in his generation), as a quirkless person once more, he's also the perfect vessel to receive a quirk using the last remaining bits of OFA.

So how does this not contradict manga canon?

Well, like I mentioned, the vestiges tell him that he might be the last wielder of OFA, because now it can only go to someone quirkless, and there are fewer and fewer quirkless people born in the world.

Yet, in Heroes Rising, Izuku transfers it to Katsuki, who is not a quirkless individual.

At the end of the movie, once Nine is defeated, Katsuki can't hold onto it and it goes back to Izuku. This aligns exactly with what the vestiges told him. Katsuki just got a taste of the super strength aspect of the quirk, but it didn't stay with him. All Might posits that it's because he passed out before the transfer finished, but changes his mind into thinking it was a miracle granted by the predecessors (since OFA has been shown to have a will).

But what if he was wrong, and it went back to Izuku, because Katsuki literally couldn't hold onto it, as it was too much for his body?

In Heroes Rising, Nine (whose name feels very significant now), was given the ability to hold nine quirks and use eight, and it was too much for him, he had to be genetically modified by Garaki. And even then, he was trying to steal Katsuma's Cell Activation quirk, because his body was breaking down the more he used them. I could be mistaken of course, but I think we're given a villain like this to show what multiple quirks do to the body and the movie ended the way it did, not breaking canon rules for OFA, because we're seeing that it was always impossible for Katsuki to hold onto it. Nobody but Izuku, a quirkless person, can.

We already know Izuku was the 9th holder, but I actually just realized, Izuku was holding onto and could use eight quirks. But if Katsuki was the 10th user, that means he was also possibly holding onto nine while being able to use eight, just like Nine. If I'm mistaken, someone please correct me, but look:

Yoichi's original quirk to pass on power

Power Stocking Quirk gifted by AFO

Gear Shift

Fa Jin

Danger Sense

Black Whip

Smokescreen

Float

(and a copy of Katsuki's Explosion could have been in there, never unlocked or known about since he doesn't have a vestige)

Possible coincidence? Absolutely. But, I mean—

And as for how Katsuki would even know that he has OFA if he doesn't remember: He saw Vestige-Might specifically and All Might was there after the battle with Nine.

Katsuki knows about the vestiges from Izuku. He figured out that All Might was the one who gave Izuku his quirk, despite having no reason to believe that quirk transfer was possible aside from Izuku telling him he got his quirk from someone else. Katsuki is smart enough to figure out that Vestige-Might appearing to him could possibly mean something OFA related.

As For Why Katsuki Might (Possibly) (Probably) (Maybe?) Give Up His Quirk

Because he didn't get the prosthesis. And because of his final fight.

I already mentioned this, but to me, it feels like he's resigning himself to a decision. As if he wants to keep both of his hands as a reminder of what he used to be able to do with them and there's no need for a support item like prosthesis, if he's not going to be using his quirk anymore. If he's giving it up.

Of course, he doesn't yet know that Izuku is quirkless at that point, but the author knows and that's who controls the character's actions.

We've learned a lot about Katsuki throughout the story. We know Katsuki has changed from the punk he was at the beginning. We know he's been paying as much attention to Izuku as Izuku has to him. We know he's sorry and wants to make things up to him. He apologized in front of their entire class and didn't expect forgiveness or for things to change between them. He can't undo years of bullying, there's no way to take that back, the past can't be undone, but he's trying to atone. He wants to atone.

We know he cares about Izuku, we know he would literally die for Izuku, and we also know that Katsuki was devastated at the news that Izuku is quirkless again. He's actually cried a lot in the story, but I think that was the first time he cried for someone else's sake. They were his first tears that weren't from frustration, and his thoughts in that moment were "what did I do to you?"

We also know that Katsuki wanted to be the strongest hero, and honestly… he kind of already achieved his goal.

From chapter one he's gotten a ton of media attention—the sludge villain, winning the sports festival, the kidnapping and rescue (coinciding with All Might's end), defeating a villain with Shouto after they got their provisional licenses. He's literally famous. People have taken notice of him with everything he's done the entire story, for good and bad, and then the entire world saw him defeat AFO and help Deku make it to Shigaraki to land that final punch. After a rocky start and being painted as villainous, he showed he could be a great hero and it was acknowledged by the entire world. There isn't really anywhere else for his story to naturally go as a hero.

It's literally physically impossible for a single human to surpass All Might without OFA, which was Katsuki's goal at the beginning. And at the end, he just wanted him and Izuku to keep chasing after each other, always trying to catch up forever, but now they can't.

It's also why Endeavor's story is so tragic. Can you imagine being Endeavor when he found out about OFA and that the game had been rigged against him from the start? He spent his entire life trying to be the strongest, not number one, but the strongest. He put all his energy into surpassing All Might, abused and neglected his family in pursuit of that goal, cast aside everything else, and then he finds out his entire life had been pointless, because All Might was using a cheat code. Endeavor never stood a chance to begin with. He could have spent that time getting to know his kids, or marrying someone out of love, or making one (1) single friend, but instead he was the number two hero for twenty-six straight years and went nowhere. His ambition meant nothing.

It's been reiterated time and again in the story that Katsuki and Endeavor are parallels. Shigaraki was right that Katsuki would never catch up to Deku, it's impossible. He would have lived his entire life like Endeavor in a meaningless pursuit. And if we look at Endeavor's conclusion, well...

Endeavor had planned to give up hero work and spend the rest of his life looking at Touya and atoning to his family. He ended up being forced to by his injuries, but he had still planned to give up the thing in his life that had given him the most meaning and pride (when it should have been his family). Hero work was the thing he valued most, and so Endeavor gave it up for what really mattered.

For Katsuki, the thing that gave him the most meaning and pride in his life was his quirk. And striving to be the best, just like Endeavor. He valued that over his friendship with Izuku, the thing that really mattered. It's kind of undeniable at this point, leaving shipping completely out of the equation, that Izuku is Katsuki's most important person.

So with Endeavor's conclusion, and how the manga is currently going… I can't help but wonder if that final fight against OFA was supposed to be Katsuki's big send off. A huge spectacle with everyone in the world watching, because that was the end of the road for him; his last big battle, not just in the story, but ever.

What if that was the end of his journey to becoming a pro hero?

What if we got to see his quirk evolve one last time and take down the baddest bad guy, because it was the last time he was ever going to be physically able to use his quirk?

Is the logical conclusion to his story for him to give up that thing he valued over what was important to him, just like Endeavor did in the end? Would him giving that up symbolize him not following in Endeavor's footsteps of obsessive drive that eclipses everything else in his life?

Is Katsuki is going to give Izuku his Explosion quirk, using that last bit of OFA?

And what if Katsuki is going to end the story quirkless and was always intended to from the very beginning?

And here's where I get back to those lights.

Because I think it (possibly) confirms what I was saying in the beginning.

There are nine One For All users, according to the manga. We've established that that's not actually true if the movies are canon, and they are. There are ten OFA users.

These are the full two panels previously mentioned of what All Might was thinking at the start of 403 when he looked back at his path.

He thinks, "As for what I've done? I just happened to glance back at my path. And what I saw… seemed so very significant."

Let's see how many lights there are as he looks back at his path:

There are ten (10) lights [insert TNG joke here], not nine. And the big one, smack dab in the center, is shown with Katsuki's explosions around it.

I thought for a moment that these were possibly just the stored quirk factors, but Izuku and All Might are quirkless, so there wouldn't be ten lights if that were the case.

I think it's showing us that these lights represent the holders of OFA.

Katsuki is that tenth center light, confirming that he's the 10th OFA user.

This panel right here of the child Katsuki and Izuku with their balls of light? This is on the last page before Izuku sees Katsuki alive again after finding him dead and losing his mind. Please note All Might in the background, also holding his own ball of light.

And remember this from chapter 362 (R.I.P. Kacchan)?

It's the same image as Katsuki's final thoughts. The balls of light are the trading cards they got that day, but wait for it—

In 403, right before the panel of them as children holding the balls of light, we see that same center ball of light on the ground of All Might's path again, then a panel of Katsuki holding his All Might trading card beneath it. Almost as if the story is trying to tell us something about what that trading card represents and what Katsuki holding it really means.

Right before we see their expressions as they lock eyes, as Izuku realizes Katsuki isn't dead, it shows the two of them as little kids, happy to have both gotten All Might trading cards.

I don't think the trading cards we see here are really trading cards.

This whole chapter, the last two pages especially, was completely re-contextualized for me after noticing there are ten lights.

Like I said earlier, All Might didn't just pass the torch metaphorically, I think he passed it literally.

OFA is always represented as flame, as embers, etc... Those trading cards don't just symbolize their friendship, or their dreams, or their admiration, I think Horikoshi-sensei is showing us that they both have the same trading card, because they both have the same thing inside of them. Something passed onto them from All Might, because All Might is also shown with his own ball of light.

Why would All Might have his own All Might trading card…?

The trading cards aren't trading cards, they're One For All. Katsuki and Izuku hold the embers that All Might passed down to both of them.

Remember, the scene in 362 and 403 are exactly the same. They're Katsuki's memories. How is All Might's near death vision showing him memories that aren't his? Well, if they're connected through One For All, it makes sense that he sees that, because that's literally impossible otherwise. He could see them as high schoolers, as middle schoolers when he first me them, but not as small children in a very real scene that actually happened.

And if OFA is still alive inside Katsuki, I think that means he can transfer Explosion, because he has his own quirk factor.

If Izuku and All Might could still use everything that made OFA what it was, despite not having it anymore, there is nothing saying that the transfer ability wouldn't also work.

The only thing stopping them from trying is having nothing to pass on, because they were quirkless. Katsuki does have something he can pass on, though.

And who better to receive Katsuki's Explosion quirk, than the person who'd spent his entire life watching him?? Izuku is the perfect person, and I imagine the only person Katsuki would deem worthy of receiving it. He knows Katsuki's moves almost as well as Katsuki himself.

At USJ when the Shigaraki attacks, Izuku puts on a brave face and fights just like Kacchan. When he learns from Gran Torino, he realizes that he has to be more loose and fluids with his movements, just like Kacchan. In [training exercise I can't remember] Katsuki notices that Izuku copied his moves. He knows how Katsuki's moves work without him even telling him.

What if the story came full circle and Izuku was constantly emulating Katsuki in the beginning, because it was foreshadowing that he was always supposed to end up with his Explosoin quirk?

Can you imagine how good that payoff could be?

All that paying attention to Kacchan, admiring him, copying his moves, trying to be like him, having him as his image of victory, knowing a frankly alarming amount about it, what if that was all 430 chapters of foreshadowing? This is why I asked if maybe Katsuki was always intended to end up quirkless.

What if the thing that caused the rift in their friendship is going to be the thing that heals it, as Bakugou's ultimate acknowledgement that quirkless nerd Izuku was always a hero and deserves to be one more than anyone else?

What if giving his quirk to Izuku, who is once again quirkless, is his ultimate atonement and the thing that Horikoshi-sensei said back in like 2022 (paraphrasing because I don't remember, please don't quote me) that he hoped would make Bakugou fans and haters alike both happy? Because I thought it was killing him (R.I.P. Kacchan), but this feels like it makes more sense.

I think swapping places from where they started would be the perfect conclusion for their friendship and Katsuki's journey. I don't know about the whole story, and I don't care to speculate about that, but for the two of them, this feels right to me.

That said, I am aware there are some

Potential Issues With This

1. Would Izuku accept the quirk? Probably not, but as we saw with Yoichi and Kudou, the recipient doesn't have to be aware in order to receive OFA; it's on the giver to will it to them. The recipient does not have to consent, all Katsuki has to do is spit in his food, really.

2. There's the issue of Izuku trying to give it right back. But All Might only managed to hold onto OFA's embers for a few months after nurturing it for 40 years. Izuku only held OFA for a little over a year, he probably won't have the embers very long and it's already been a while since the final battle. All Katsuki would have to do is wait a few weeks for the last embers of it to fade from Izuku before transferring it, ensuring he couldn't pass it back. Since Katsuki only held OFA for less than a day, that would probably use up the last embers of OFA for good.

3. The lack of acknowledgement of the events of Heroes Rising in the main manga is a MASSIVE writing issue. For me, this is the thing that makes the scenario most unlikely, because as of July 24, 2024, there are only two (2) chapters left to go and that's not much time to explain movie events in order to not have a quirk transfer seem like it came out of nowhere or breaks established canon.

3a. But, like I mentioned before, this was already done this with Vigilantes concerning Shirakumo's backstory. We're supposed to feel empathy and compassion for their long dead friend, but no real work was put into the main manga to establish how close their relationship was, we're just told that they were friends and classmates. We get some hints to the events in Vigilantes in the main manga, but they don't carry as much weight without the full context.

Meanwhile in Vigilantes, Shirakumo and Aizawa are very close and they're all friends, but tbh, Mic is basically a third wheel. The entire arc reads like a tragic story of lost love, Shirakumo's death changed everything for Aizawa. After Shirakumo's death, Aizawa goes off on his own, works himself to the bone, doesn't sleep because he's training all night (the origin story of the sleeping bag), is depressed, stops trying in classes, he's told his quirk is suited for working with others (which is true) yet he goes independent, basically abandons Mic and the plans the three of them had to start an agency together (he says they were going to be a duo or a trio and let me tell you, Mic was not included in the duo)—it's depressing.

No wonder Aizawa was the one who got so worked up at seeing Kurogiri; Shirakumo meant a lot to him, his entire world shifted when he died. And no wonder Mic was so uncharacteristically reserved and pissed about the whole situation; he'd had to watch Aizawa retreat into himself for years after Shirakumo died, and then his ghost showed back up as a villain. Aizawa's arc is pretty long in Vigilantes, I think it's an entire volume, so it would bring the plot to a grinding halt if it were all included in the main manga, but unfortunately, none of this information feels effectively communicated through subtext in the main manga.

In my opinion, Vigilantes is a necessary read to understand several things the main manga. I loved it, and I highly recommend it (despite some very questionable scenes); imo, Number 6 vs. The Crawler felt like it did a better job at what at least two final fights in MHA were going for. But I'm not a fan of writing that requires you to have read outside material to fill in gaps. That said, I've also seen this happen before in American comic books, so I think it kind of makes sense that that influence would carry over and he'd rely on supplementary material like Vigilantes and the movies.

So getting back to my point, if Katsuki does have OFA, like those lights and Vestige-Might seem to imply, I'm kind of thinking it will be the same sort of situation, where it's expected the reader will have watched Heroes Rising. Especially since Horikoshi-sensei drew so many illustrations with Mahoro and Katsuma.

The ten lights, the fact that Nana still had Float (afaik), Vestige-Might, the fact that Heroes Rising was acknowledged at least twice in the main manga, Endeavor's ending, the trading cards, etc… all make me think that this is the conclusion for Katsuki that Horikoshi-sensei was working towards: quirkless Katsuki and Izuku with Explosion. But I also know that just because something is set up and foreshadowed, doesn't mean that the author will actually go through with it, especially in a weekly manga where anything can interfere with the story at any moment. Maybe I'm close to right and maybe I'll be so far off it's not even funny.

But who knows. There are only two chapters left and some writing choices have been confusing to say the least. I just hope we get a satisfactory ending, no matter what it is. Thank you, Horikoshi-sensei for all your hard work.

What do you think?

Do you think Katsuki will give Explosion to Izuku?

Do you think Izuku will become the first quirkless pro hero instead?

Do you think Katsuki could become the first quirkless pro hero? How wild would that be!

Do you think they'll go to a fair and share a crepe and we'll finally get that holding hands scene and the quirk will be transferred via saliva and Izuku will have an oh shit bakudeku canon moment thinking back to his words to Toga? Unlikely with how many chapters are left, but I would scream.

I haven't seen anyone talk about this before, I really only look at ship tags, but this feels pretty bkdk and I'd imagine I would have seen it at some point if so, especially around the time 362 (R.I.P. Kacchan) and 424 dropped. I don't really read theories, as I generally don't care where the story goes and am just along for the ride, but if someone has said all this before me, sorry for being redundant!

I hope this wasn't too repetitive, thanks for reading ✌️Don't mind my blank blog, this is just a side blog on a side account, feel free to let me know if I've made any mistakes, I'm not an expert on the story by any means and welcome correction.

I haven't looked at leaks (if they're out, I don't check for that) so that would be wild if anything I mentioned here was in them, but tbh I doubt it, haha.

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cosmic-ghost-hermit · 1 year ago

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Heyo! All the art on these readings is drawn by me. Take what you can from the reading and leave all that does not resonate behind but always be open to new perspectives.

The archetype reading was inspired by the deck I used today. The guide book uses examples from anime to fit the descriptions of the tarot cards. I thought that was really clever so I decided to build off that idea and tell you what archetype you are most drawn to wants to tell you. In short, this is really a message from a specific cards energy. I hope this helps anyone who might be struggling!

PILE 1

Crystal: Tigers Eye

Character: Badtz-Maru

Archetype: The Empress

Astrology: Taurus ♉️, Libra ♎️, Pisces ♓️, Virgo ♍️

Dear pile 1, you are represented by the empress of this deck. The archetype you embody is someone who is luxurious, modest, kind and attentive. You care deeply for those you love and would do anything to assist them and make their life easier. You are a fantastic friend, partner and companion. You don’t necessarily have to be a woman to embody that energy. The message this part of you wants to tell you is that your kindness is being taken for granted. Your attentiveness is being discarded as if the love you gave isn’t worth anything. Your intuition is telling you to withdraw from the connection that is causing this. You maybe started this friendship or connection a while ago but you have started to notice this pattern from the other party in this relationship. They don’t return your love. They don’t say thank you when you go out of your way to be good to them. This doesn’t mean you should necessarily cut them off. Just don’t go out of your way anymore. They are undeserving if they cannot be grateful to you for all you do. I see if you did stop it would barely be noticed at first. However, the person will slowly realize how much you did to assist them. How much work you did was important and helped them get through the day easily. If they apologize and communicate they did wrong that won't necessarily be your queue to go back to scratching their back. You need to wait for them to lend their assistance to you. That will be your invitation to return to being kind. Until then use the extra time you have working on your passion projects and aiming for your dreams.

🖤✒️🔎💻🕋🛞♟️🎤🎼🎱🏴🪨🐕‍🦺🕶️🎩🐦‍⬛💣🎵🎶♣️♠️🏴‍☠️👁️‍🗨️

PILE 2

Crystal: Flower Agate

Character: Keroppi

Archetype: The Devil

Astrology: Leo ♌️, Aquarius ♒️, Capricorn ♑️, Gemini ♊️

Hey pile 2! Your archetype is the devil. Don’t worry though, for this doesn’t make you evil or bad. All this communicates to me is you are an enjoyer of the darker parts of life. You enjoy what other people usually fear. This is definitely not something horrible you should shame yourself about. I see you probably enjoy altered states of reality or perhaps you are very free with your sexual expression. I see you like the taste of control, power and vengeance. Again not a bad thing in my mind. Humans have many states of being and no part of existence is incorrect. Your message from the devil archetype is not asking you to cold turkey your behavior. However, I think it is saying balance is super important when you dabble in darkness. You might be prone to addiction to literally anything you can get dopamine from. I am an addict as well. I know how hard restraint can be. Even doing this reading is giving me cravings to be honest so I know you deal with cravings constantly. Your cards are saying it doesn’t matter if you feed the addiction. You will always be starving for more. You will always be chasing something you can never achieve. Please take care of your body before the cravings lead to worse. When I was dealing with my addiction I ended up in the hospital multiple times. It would have killed me if I hadn’t stopped. It is okay to dabble in darkness but seriously I beg you, from the bottom of my heart please moderate. Moderation is key to keeping yourself safe. If you are meant to have the darkness, it will be in your grasp. If you are in need of a break. Trust the universe when it takes it away. You are not evil for needing. I want to reiterate that because I know how it feels to need something that hurts you.

💚🦈🪀🧃🍵🪦🥗🥒🥑🌪️🫒🍸🍏🥝☘️🌱🥈⚓️🪴🎍🐍🦎🚬👒🤢

PILE 3

Crystal: Carnelian

Character: Tuxedo Sam

Archetype: Emperor

Astrology: Cancer ♋️, Aries ♈️, Sagittarius ♐️, Scorpio ♏️

Hey, pile 3! Your archetype is the emperor. You are a force to be reckoned with. A master of your craft and skilled beyond other people's wildest imaginations. You have a plan and have been putting so much energy into it. You know exactly what you want and exactly how to get it. Your cards are pretty straight forward just like you are. They are telling me that working hard is good! That your progress is fantastic and you have made it so far! However, the pace you are keeping at is almost unsustainable. You can’t juggle all of the tasks you are trying to keep under control. You cannot do it all by yourself. That isn’t logical! Humans are not solitary creatures. We need community and connection to continue on. Humans who have been left alone for too long go hecking crazy! You absolutely can handle all of it mentally. I am not saying you are incapable because you are SO CAPABLE. Rome was not built in a day. Masterpieces are not made out of minutes, they are made out of days or months or years. You are creating a masterpiece so allow yourself time to think about it. Allow yourself the space to brainstorm and be patient with your body and your creativity. Be gentle with yourself. You are only one person and the secret you are missing is that you are not alone. The silly little secret is that you don’t need to set a deadline for the greatness you are going to grow into. One of my favorite artists didn’t make it when he was 20. He grew into his greatness when he was 35. Does that make him any less of a great artist? Absolutely not!!! You are cool, awesome and wonderful! Why do you need to prove that when you already know it is true?

💙💤🌀🪬🌨️🧿💎🚿🧊🫐🌊🌧️🌬️💨🌏🦋🪼🐬🧢🫂🥶💠

-ghost 🖤🩵

#tarot #tarot reading #astrology #pick a crystal #pick a pile #tarot pick a card #crystals #pick a card #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #spirit #archetype reading #archetype #anime tarot #shadow work #tarot shadow work #light work #witchcraft #self discovery

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idiopath-fic-smile · 7 months ago

Note

Modern retelling of Much Ado, if you're interested and still playing the WIP sentences game? :D

still interested, still playing!

continued from this, which is set after this.

Margaret was finishing her sandwich and doing some light reading when Balthazar, Ursula, Hero, and Claudia burst in. She marked her page with her thumb, still chuckling.

“I don’t think we can wait longer to unveil the plan,” Ursula was saying. “Claudia, text Lee and Pedro, tell them it’s Go Time, we need to—” She broke off, glancing down at Margaret’s book and then back at Margaret’s face. “Were you laughing at Nietzsche?”

“Only the funny parts,” Margaret explained. She straightened. “What’s up?”

“What’s Go Time?” said Hero.

Ursula tapped the side of her nose. “We’re waiting for our co-conspirators.”

Lee slipped into the room a minute later, looking harried. Pedro followed on her heels, exuding a much more put together vibe, which was saying something because he had apparently come straight from the shower and was wearing only a towel.

“Friends, students, co-opers,” Ursula began, “lend me your ears. I need you all to come together to help me save my butt, and help Beatrice and Benedick realize they’re just nuts for each other. Which they obviously are, so this plan is clearly a net good, and we don’t need to examine it further than that.”

“Aren’t they, like, locked in enmity?” Balthazar ventured. “Also, how is your butt on the line?”

Ursula threw an obvious glance at Lee, who frowned. “As your house president, I’d say don’t anwer that,” Lee told her.

Balthazar glanced between them. “Is this one of those things I’d understand if I paid more attention?”

“Oh,” said Hero. “I don’t think so. I pay attention all the time, and I’m lost. Benedick and Beatrice?”

“Think about it, though,” said Ursula. She wiggled her eyebrows.

Hero shook her head. “Gross, she’s my cousin.”

“I meant romantically, not sexually.” Ursula wiggled her eyebrows again. “See? Romantic.” Wiggle. “Sexual.” Another, identical wiggle. “There’s nuances.”

“No, there’s not,” said Pedro. “They’re the same. Wait!” He leaned in to study her face. “Do it again?”

“Wouldn’t they be cute together, though, babe?” said Claudia to Hero. “It would be like one of those unlikely animal friendships at the zoo.”

Margaret waited for Hero’s reaction, impressed with Claudia’s line of reasoning. Hero gave off powerful waves of someone who googled “unlikely animal friendships” every morning before breakfast and again before bed.

Sure enough, Hero clapped her hands together in delight. “Oh! Like a hippo and a tortoise,” she cooed.

Nobody else in the room reacted to this, or the obvious and confusing mental images.

“Who is who,” Margaret demanded.

“Can I point out the obvious?” said Hero. Margaret patiently waited for Hero to say, like, ‘my cousin is obviously the tortoise of the pair’ or ‘Are you kidding? Beatrice is such a hippopotamus, toe to tip.’ “They’re adults,” Hero continued. “Technically. They’re not—Barbie dolls for us to toy with.”

Margaret groaned. Trust the psych major to turn a promising performance art piece about the nature of love and facades into a bunch of handwringing about ethics.

“We’re not saying full-scale mind games,” said Pedro. “Just a little nudge. Don’t you think, under all that bluster, Beatrice and Benedick might actually—”

“Huh,” said Hero thoughtfully. “...huh.”

“Huh?” said Balthazar, at last looking up from his phone.

“Are you paying attention?” asked Lee. She sounded like she’d aged about fifty years since the start of the conversation.

“No,” said Balthazar. He held up his screen, where he had Spotify open to a new playlist he was making: CO-CONSPIRATORS.

#much ado about co ops

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spunsugarmusings · 18 days ago

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Sentence Starters: Daria (1997-2002) Quotes Edition

Starter sentences taken from various episodes of the animated teen sitcom, Daria. Some funny, some sweet, and some just bizarre. Change pronouns and tenses as necessary and enjoy!

“I don’t have low self-esteem, it’s a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else.”

“My goal is not to wake up at forty with the bitter realization that I’ve wasted my life in a job I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens.”

“It’s not the lack of friends I’m upset about, it’s the effort I put into trying.”

"Hey, look at this one! 'Kick-ass I-startup, super jazzed about expansion, seeks visionary dot-com expert for media leadership position.' Where do I sign up?!"

“Why, oh why can't she just have a substance abuse problem like a normal mom?”

"The homeless have suffered enough, don't make them wear a cotton/poly blend too!”

"You gloss over everything with a cynical joke and no one knows what you really believe in."

“I am not going to pierce my bellybutton. It never did anything to me.”

"Nothing says 'Be Mine' like a pounding heart beneath a floorboard.”

“I don't like it when I say people should die and then they do. I don't want that kind of responsibility."

“Dammit! It's my turn to say Dammit!”

“I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special.”

“As far as I'm concerned, the only difference between school and prison is the wardrobe.”

"Sometimes your shallowness is so thorough, it's almost like depth."

"That's the road to happiness and personal satisfaction. That's why they don't want you to take it."

"I hope the raging envy you're feeling won't affect our friendship."

"Aren't you a little worried that there might be a hell?"

"I don't like kids. I didn't even like kids when I was a kid."

"And the dish ran away with the spoon, but Hawaii was the only state that would recognize the marriage as legal."

"Some people are weird. Some are just astonishingly self-centered and deceitful."

"I guess I'd like my whole family to do something together. Something that'll really make them suffer."

"Hey, I don't follow rules. I'm rebellent."

"What's saving lives if there's no one to make out with?"

"Kissing me now would be like kissing one of those guys who wear old man pants and watch Touched by an Angel!"

"Well, when everybody gets hungry enough it'll be interesting to see who gets eaten first."

"In the eyes of the law, pain and suffering are when a surgeon leaves his pager in your spleen."

"The system sucks. Were going to have to go outside the system."

"Do it for the opportunity to look inside people's houses and find out what screwed-up tastes they have."

"How come, even in my fantasies, everyone's a jerk?"

"Money well spent, since it wasn't my money."

"Nobody messes with my girlfriend unless it's me! Die!"

"You know, being a post-apocalyptic town is going to be cool. Other towns will be scared of us."

"All I care about is that if this dream isn't the first sign of a brain tumor."

"Are you taking some kind of experimental depression medicine?"

"They're going to make it illegal to shoot squirrels? Damn it, what kind of town is this?!"

" We're the kind of friends who can't stand the sight of each other."

"We tell you over and over again that you're wonderful and you just don't get it. What's wrong with you?"

" It's a psychological test. You're automatically exempt."

"I'm going to make you fit to go out in public again!"

"Do you perhaps harbor a powerful phobia that it might actually hurt to think?"

"I don't get abstract art. Who wants to look at a bunch of squiggly six-eyed people when you can get those really pretty cat paintings on the shopping network?"

"I will kill you. And bury your body in this dress."

"One day, I found myself all grown up with my own point of view, and feeling no particular obligation to listen to anyone else's B.S. Ever."

"I don't think you've thought this through. What do you do with the hostages once you get to the airport?"

"I don't mind a few dents, but change the radio station and you're a dead man."

"Hey, what's the point of a senseless tragedy if you can't find a little humor in it?"

"We're here to see my family, not to have fun."

"I hear uncut diamonds are as good as cash on the open market."

"I heard something stirring in his room. I'm hoping it wasn't a family of raccoons."

"You know, I once lived in a tent in the yard for 6 months, waiting for someone to invite me back in the house."

"Some people say that's what drove him to madness. Others say, you know, no."

"The only books worth reading are those written in the deep, passionate waters of life."

"We are now entering Hell. Please keep your hands and elbows inside the car."

"You know that conscience I don't have? It got to me."

"I figure, being attractive and popular, that's what I'm good at. Maybe it's not that important, but, you know, it's what I can do."

"Your transparent attempt to derail my line of questioning with sarcasm has been noted."

"My hormones don't rage. Oh sure, they get mad sometimes, but then they just stop speaking to each other."

"By the way, anything eating away at your soul?"

"How about if I call the three local TV stations and tell each one that the other two are running the story?"

"These tired bones may be locked behind prison walls, but when I play this rusty old harp, my soul flies free as a bird."

" I guess if I kissed you at least my eyes would be closed."

"If you're not going to leave a flaming bag of dog crap on the doorstep, at least come in."

"Aren't teenage girls screwed up enough without you foisting your shallow values on them and making their lousy self images even worse?"

“There is no aspect, no facet, no moment of life that can’t be improved with pizza.”

“Stand firm for what you believe in, until and unless logic and experience prove you wrong.”

“We are here to increase our catalog of human pain.”

“It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

“Life sucks no matter what, so don’t be fooled by location changes.”

“We are here to increase our catalog of human pain.”

“You’re not my friend because you’re like me; you’re my friend because we’re both different from them.”

"I suppose pulling out a can of mace right now would be considered bad form."

"I love hospital room movies. And I hate seeing them with guys. They always get mad because nothing blows up."

#rp meme #askbox meme #inbox meme #roleplay meme #rp memes #ask box meme #ask meme #starter sentences #sentence starters #starter prompt #daria

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lej222 · 9 months ago

Note

Hey... What's your thoughts on todays chapter of aslfua

I apologize in advance for the short answer, I'm working on a big post about the supernatural force in the story and it takes up my time 😃Episode149 spoilers:

I personally liked this chapter. We had a lot of interesting moments, like:

Miae can indeed hear the voice of the higher being(?) and it seems to steer her towards Jisu. I cannot emphasize this enough, but there's two possible outcomes, one is the happy ending with Miae fighting her own fate, the other is the bittersweet one about a young love that was not bound to happen. So far, Miae has been ignoring this voice and might continue to do so, but even if her fate is not with Cheol, the story is about them. There's no way we will see Miae with Jisu together unless it's an extra/epilogue chapter if Miae and Cheol don't end up together. So even if that comes true, it doesn't diminish Cheol's role as the main character as some people claim after this episode. It is a story about growth and learning and first love.

Miae finally remembers Jisu which makes me think her memories about him will emerge just like they did with Cheol. Like I said in my previous post, Miae might just have kickstarted her own destiny that the higher power foreshadowed. If it's true, this unknown voice will be even more active in the future chapters. The direction of the story from here on really depends on the author's vision.

Jisu and Miae playing the guitar was so cute. Poor Jisu said he cannot control his yawning, I know people on the spectrum who are the same because of sensory overload...and because he was the same as a kid it pretty much explains it

Jisu got himself involved with both the Shim (the bully with the mole) and the Yonghui-Yunhui storylines. So his character will definitely be a cornerstone from here on, regardless the love triangle.

Soonkki said that she would focus on the main plot because of her health problems. Which pretty much confirms what I've been yapping about, that Jisu is the 3rd main character and is important to the main plot. There was no way he would be irrelevant with how much attention Soonkki gave him, he was basically having his own parallel storyline in the background up until ep 75. We could even say ASLFUA is about two stories about two childhood friendships, and the intersection is Miae herself, that's why she's the main character who can hear the voice of the higher being. We got her story with Cheol in a chronological order, starting from their first meeting, and it continued in the present. While her story with Jisu was intentionally left open for a long time.

It's just my personal opinion, but I hate comments like how Cheol should beat up Jisu for this episode. They genuinely make me angry. I never cared about the romantic outcome in this story, I'm an adult. Hating on a teenager like this is an awful thing to do and trying to justify it with how you want your 15-year-old characters to end up together is just immature. Jisu has a role in this story, whether people like it or not. What role, we can only make guesses. I hate to say this to some readers, but there are people who experience heartbreak countless times in their lives before they find the one, or they might never find them. So arguing about fictional teenagers and their love lives seems pretty pointless, especially sending asks to me about it, because while I think it's nice if first loves last a lifetime, I'm not naive or young enough to believe that it is always true. (Not your question anon, it was respectful!🤝)

Random thought, but I just realized Jisu and Miae are two characters who still don't have their resolution to their character arcs and it's interesting how they have to spend more time together.

Because we have:

Cheol: he stops hiding from other people, becomes more animated and honest about his feelings, more open to new experiences

Johan: steps up to be brave and opens up to make friends

Honggyu: stops judging people and learns to accept help

Jinseop: forms genuine connections instead of hanging out with bullies

Song-I: stands up for herself and for what she wants

For Miae, we know she has to mature but she's not there yet, she needs challenging experiences like Cheol, e.g. when Jisu called her out for interrupting the confession was a moment that genuinely made her think about her actions. As for Jisu, we don't know what his character arc will be about, but he's already connected to important subplots.

#ask about aslfua #aslfua #after school lessons for unripe apples

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badgalsasuke · 2 months ago

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Kishimoto x Horikoshi Special Interview for Da Vinci Magazine (2015)

Special Interview by Daisuke Yoshida

The inherited DNA of Jump "NARUTO" Masashi Kishimoto X "My Hero Academia" by Kohei Horikoshi

Horikoshi Kohei: Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1986. He won an honorable mention at the 72nd Tezuka Award in 2006, and made his debut the following year. He has been serializing My Hero Academia in Weekly Shonen Jump since 2014. His other notable works include Omagake Dobutsuen and War Planet Bulge.

"Friendship, Effort, Victory." These are the eternal themes that come to mind when one thinks of "Weekly Shonen Jump." "NARUTO" is a work that truly embodies this in its 700-episode epic series.

And coincidentally, at the same time that the series ended, "My Hero Academia" rose to the top of the shonen manga scene. The protagonist rises from underprivileged circumstances with desperate effort, there is a powerful rival, and supernatural battles… These two works have many things in common, and from the many passionate developments that never fail to inspire the hearts of boys, it can't help but feel that the same "Jump" DNA has been passed down through the generations. This time, a conversation between the authors of these two works has been realized. They spoke at length about their thoughts and commitment to each other's works, and the mindset of manga artists.

Kishimoto: I've been reading "My Hero Academia" since the first chapter in "Jump". The first chapter was interesting, but I like the second chapter the best. And I just started talking (laughs). Horikoshi: Thank you for joining us today. Kishimoto: We met at the Tezuka Awards, right? Horikoshi: Yes, at the awards ceremony. I got your autograph.

Kishimoto: The work that Horikoshi submitted to the Tezuka Award and won (his 2006 Honorable Mention for "Nukegara") was about a protagonist who becomes a weapon. I remember pushing it quite hard during the judging. When I saw the illustrations, I thought that maybe we were a little similar in style. Maybe we had similar likes.

Horikoshi: Actually… In the "NARUTO" comics, there's a column by Kishimoto-sensei called "History of His Early Life." Kishimoto: I wrote it. When I reread it now, I see I wrote some embarrassing things (laughs).

Horikoshi: Among them, one of the works that influenced him was "AKIRA" (Katsuhiro Otomo). Since I loved "NARUTO," I thought, "What kind of things influenced Kishimoto-sensei?" and started watching the "AKIRA" anime. Then I got completely hooked, read the manga, and was incredibly influenced by it.

Kishimoto: When I read "AKIRA," the drawings I create also become "AKIRA."

Horikoshi: I don't know how many times I've reread "NARUTO". Kishimoto: I think he's probably the type of person who didn't play outside much as a child and grew up just drawing pictures. That's me too (laughs).

Horikoshi: That's right (laughs). Drawing was my communication tool. When I had just transferred and it was hard to make friends, I had nothing to do, so I was drawing pictures in the classroom. I remember it well, but at that time, I was drawing Naruto. "Oh, it's NARUTO!" and that's how the conversation started, which led to becoming friends with my classmates.

Kishimoto: That makes me so happy! I just read through My Hero Academia again, and you can tell that you're really into it. You can feel how much fun you're having drawing this manga through your drawings.

Horikoshi: This is my third serialized work, and I thought it might be my last chance to draw for "Jump." Since it's the last one, I started drawing "My Hero Academia" with the primary goal of making it something I could enjoy.

Kishimoto: Reading Horikoshi's manga, I was reminded how important it is to be into the work yourself. I thought I was getting into it to a certain extent when I was drawing "NARUTO"…

Horikoshi: I've been reading "NARUTO" for 15 years now, and I think I've always loved it!

I was chasing Naruto all the time.

―At the end of the issue of Jump where the final chapter of NARUTO was published, Horikoshi made the following comment: "NARUTO is my youth itself. Thank you for the best shonen manga!" I'd love to hear about the contents of your "youth."

Horikoshi: After "NARUTO" started being serialized in "Jump", I would talk about it with my friends at school almost every week. Like, "That part was crazy this week!" I followed Naruto and experienced the emotions that Naruto felt when he was happy or sad… Ah, the first time I was really hit by it was…

Kishimoto: It's interesting because you don't hear stories like that very often (laughs).

Horikoshi: In the chapter where the request for the mission to protect Tazuna comes, a pair of chunin from the Hidden Mist appear.

Kishimoto: Uh, isn't it Zabuza and Haku?

Horikoshi: Before that. Do you remember the demon brothers who appeared briefly before that?

Kishimoto: Oh wow! I just remembered after a long time! I drew it. Saying "I drew it" feels a bit strange though (laughs).

Horikoshi: When it first appeared, it had two heads attached to the front and back and one body. It looked really cool wearing a gas mask.

Kishimoto: That's what caught your attention (laughs)

Horikoshi: Yes (laughs). Not only was the design of the demon brothers like that, but the production of that chapter was also amazing. They were saying things like "This isn't a big deal, is it?" and then suddenly they appeared, and at the end of that chapter, Kakashi-sensei was torn to pieces, which was a big shock. Also, that's where the difference between Naruto and Sasuke becomes clear. One who is scared in a fight, and one who goes all out… I was thrilled.

Kishimoto: As expected, you have a different perspective. You're watching the parts where the characters clearly show their actions.

The first characters that really stood out to me were the Oni Brothers! (Horikoshi)

Horikoshi: In terms of visual impact, the Demon Brothers have weapons for hands, right? Sasuke fights holding kunai in his hands, and Naruto stabs a kunai into his hand to muster his weak feelings. While watching those scenes, I started to notice the intricate details of the hands. I thought, "Wow, the way he draws hands is fundamentally different from other manga artists."

Kishimoto: Come to think of it, in volume 2 of the "My Hero Academia" comics you wrote, "I like drawing hands."

Horikoshi: Thanks to "NARUTO," I've come to love drawing hands. Even in close-ups of faces, I'll include hands even though it's not necessary. I think hands are the second most expressive of emotions after the face.

Kishimoto: I think so too. A tightly clenched fist and a lightly clenched fist create a completely different expression. You can express your feelings with your hands just as you can with your face. If you look at hands for a long time, you start to think, "They're so cool…" "They're so godlike!"

Horikoshi: I'm not at that level yet. I've got a long way to go (laughs).

―After you were captivated by the Oni Brothers in "NARUTO", how did you enjoy it?

Horikoshi: The Chunin Exams were the best. My favorite character is Gaara, who stands out among all the other characters, and above all, he's by far the strongest. When you're in middle school, you tend to like or dislike a character based on their strength.

Kishimoto: I wanted Gaara to have an extraordinary level of strength, to convey the feeling of "fighting this guy is terrifying." Recently, in "My Hero Academia," there has been a student with a terrifying mix of ice and fire, hasn't there?

Horikoshi: Todoroki Shoto.

Kishimoto: The drama between the father and mother is well intertwined. I thought that the character would grow in the future. It's quite important to get a sense of "this character seems to have room to grow" or "I feel like I can carry this character for a while" when doing a weekly serialization.

Horikoshi: Who is the character in "NARUTO" that you, Kishimoto-sensei, thought "this guy might be good" as you were drawing and expanded on?

Kishimoto: I guess it would have to be Lee. I didn't really think about what kind of person he was. I just decided on the setting that he couldn't use ninjutsu and started drawing him, and then his master-disciple relationship with Guy and other things started to expand.

Horikoshi: I also love Lee! The scene where he shows up to protect Sakura during the Chunin Exams still makes me cry even now when I read it.

Kishimoto: To be honest, I did have a few problems with Lee's design.

Horikoshi: I think it's good because of that design (laughs). The contrast between him being completely unable to use ninjutsu and being super strong despite being a comic relief was refreshing. I'd like to make the supporting characters more prominent, like in "NARUTO"…

Kishimoto: If you do it too much, the protagonist will be neglected, so do people around you tell you to stop from a "Jump" perspective?

Horikoshi: That's the vibe (laughs).

I grew up with "NARUTO," so its influence is evident in my own work. (Horikoshi)

Kishimoto: Readers really want to see the protagonist, you know. You can't waver on that. Well, even if I say that, it doesn't sound convincing coming from me, who was the one being teased with "Shouldn't the title of this work be 'SASUKE' instead of 'NARUTO'?" (laughs).

Don't hold back, attack aggressively

Kishimoto: I mentioned this a little earlier, but when I read the second chapter of "My Hero Academia" in the magazine, I thought "This needs to continue." The first chapter was interesting, but the second chapter really delved deeper into the main character. In a scene where the main character, Izuku, is being trained by his master All Might, he says "I'm not doing it justice." He himself is working really hard, and All Might has done so much for him, so he says it's not fair… That part was crazy. It really brought out the main character's personality, and it made me want to root for him.

Horikoshi: That was the part that I discussed with my editor until the very end, asking, "What should we do with this line?" Because the main character has extremely low self-esteem… Looking back, I'm really glad that we chose that line.

The parts where I pour my life into drawing come to life as the power of the work. (Kishimoto)

Kishimoto: Even after that, the way he develops the protagonist's character while dealing with his rival Katsuki is really skillful. Also, the expressions are great. Even if the art is good, if the expressions aren't, it ultimately doesn't work. If the characters' feelings don't come across, it doesn't matter. Moreover, he writes lines that really hit home, and he also incorporates jokes during battles, right? His sense of humor is actually top-notch. No wonder it became a hit.

Horikoshi: ...My mind is blank right now.

Kishimoto: What I like most about it is that it has a blast from the very beginning. It doesn't think about the future, it just goes for the funniest thing right now, and it's aggressive.

Horikoshi: It's just so precise (laughs).

Kishimoto: In most school stories, the main character usually has some kind of special ability, and then other people with unknown abilities start to show up later. But right from the start of the first episode, it says, "80% of the people in this world have some kind of special ability." I thought that was a bold move!

Horikoshi: I decided to go all out and make the setting completely crazy. I thought it would be more interesting to go that far.

Kishimoto: It's new, isn't it? Even if you come up with that setting, you wouldn't want to do it. It's really hard to draw (laughs). It's precisely because they are daring to challenge it that it becomes popular. Each character's abilities also match their personalities, which makes it interesting, right? And the costumes were great too. There was a scene where all the classmates appeared in their costumes in a double-page spread, right? When I saw that, I seriously worried, "Is it okay to have this many characters in a weekly serialization?"

Horikoshi: I was almost in tears while drawing (laughs).

Kishimoto: It's like I'm looking at my old self (laughs).

Horikoshi: When you first started drawing "NARUTO," did you start off without deciding what was going to happen next?

Kishimoto: When we started serializing the series, we had only decided on the content for eight chapters.

Horikoshi: Well then, what about settings like the Sharingan…

Kishimoto: That setting came later.

Horikoshi: Amazing! It was shocking at the time. It was so cool.

Kishimoto: I had been thinking about it somewhat. But once you introduce a character with eye powers, it becomes difficult for other characters to use eye powers. It limits your options, and I hadn't solidified the ability's setting yet, so I thought I'd use it a bit later. But it wasn't the time to be dragging my feet. If I held back, the serialization would end, so I thought I had to go all out and just do it. In "My Hero Academia," in volume 2, Aizawa-sensei's ability to nullify others' powers as long as his eyes are open is introduced. It's early, right? Are you okay?

Horikoshi: I don't know (laughs). When I thought of it, I just went ahead and did it, without thinking about the consequences.

Kishimoto: The amount of design, including the costumes and other things, and the amount of detail, is beyond what can be done in a weekly serialization. I'm worried about your health. I met you today for the first time in a while, and you look like All Might before you transformed (laughs). I feel like you were a bit plumper before. Are you tired?

Horikoshi: Actually, when I found out I was going to have a talk with Kishimoto-sensei, I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep a wink last night…

Kishimoto: Oh, I see. There's no need to be nervous!

Masashi Kishimoto nominates successor!!

―One of the best parts of a shounen manga is the battle between the protagonist and his rival. How did you enjoy the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke, Horikoshi-san?

Horikoshi: It was frustrating. I really liked "The Final Battle" (the final battle of Part 1). I thought the manga might end there…

Kishimoto: A lot of readers thought that Naruto and Sasuke would make up and return to the village together. But they ended up having a fight and breaking up.

Kishimoto says でも、けんか別れをさせたんですよ。別れ (wakare) means "to part ways" but it's also used as "to break up" or "to divorce" [LINK]

The only thing I'm worried about in "My Hero Academia" is Horikoshi's health (laughs). (Kishimoto)

Horikoshi: From there, as we enter the second part, the two of them continue to be apart. There are more misunderstandings and emotional conflicts, which is quite frustrating. In the final battle where they fight one last time, you can see the characters you've been watching since middle school carrying all sorts of burdens and fighting... It's a strange feeling, but I watched it with a parental mindset. "Do your best, both of you!"

Interestingly, unlike Kishimoto, Horikoshi instead uses バラバラな状態 (barabara na jotai) which is the state of being dispersed, disconnected or apart.

Kishimoto: I'm glad about that. I wrote it with the hope that viewers would understand both Sasuke's and Naruto's feelings.

Horikoshi: I was incredibly moved. I think the emotion there was truly a result of the 15 years of hard work you've put in.

Kishimoto: In "My Hero Academia," the rival Katsuki is charming. Even though he's supposedly a hero, I liked how he told Izuku to "die." It made me laugh (laughs).

Horikoshi: It's terrible, isn't it? (laughs) I drew him with the idea that it would be funnier if he was inconsiderate/selfish.

Kishimoto: It feels like he's an ally, but also an enemy. I think it's really clever how you don't know whether he'll become an ally or an enemy in the future.

Horikoshi: Personally, I'm hoping to make him like Vegeta from "DRAGON BALL." I'm not sure where it'll go from here.

Kishimoto: I think it'll be interesting either way.

―When it comes to "Jump" manga, it's usually about multiple teams battling each other, but I think both of your mangas share the common trait of being easy to read, even with a large number of characters, making it clear who is fighting where.

Horikoshi: The camera work in that area was obviously influenced by "NARUTO," whether it was done properly or not. "NARUTO" is extremely cinematic.

Kishimoto: It's really clear that Horikoshi is conscious of the lens when he draws. He uses a wide lens when he wants to show the whole scene, and a zoom lens when he wants a close-up. The students of Class 1-A do their "combat training" indoors, right? They do it in the hallway, right? It must have been very difficult to decide where to place the camera, but it was drawn well.

Horikoshi: I was really worried. Actually, I used the scene when Jiraiya appears as a reference, and I drew it with the "NARUTO" comics at hand. I wondered, "How would Kishimoto-sensei have drawn it?"

Kishimoto: That's right. That was tough (laughs). I don't want to depict a battle in a small space, so everyone moves to a larger space. The characters suddenly say, "Let's change the place we're fighting!" That makes me feel like they're running away… I wonder if we're purposely torturing ourselves and enjoying it (laughs).

―What other aspects of "NARUTO" do you feel were influenced by?

Horikoshi: I haven't really been consciously aware of it, or rather, it might be more accurate to say that I try not to be. Readers often compare it to "NARUTO." I happened to look at the internet and saw a lot of comments saying things like "It's a 'NARUTO' rip-off..."

Kishimoto: Ah, I don't think so. If it's about abilities, there will be some similarities, but I don't think you need to worry about it.

Horikoshi: But, as we've talked about a lot of things today, for example, Kakashi sensei from "NARUTO" has the Sharingan, and in "My Hero Academia" the sensei also has eye powers, so I didn't really realize this at the time I was drawing it. I think it just came out because I grew up on "NARUTO."

Kishimoto: The things I've cultivated and the things I've seen naturally seep out, don't they? In "NARUTO," the flow of the protagonist growing from childhood to adulthood and even having children was not something I consciously tried to imitate, but I think the parts I naturally liked in "DRAGON BALL" just seeped through.

―Listening to you talk, I sense a kind of manga DNA being passed down between you two.

Kishimoto: My Hero Academia became extremely popular just as Naruto ended, right? It was a bit of a coincidence, but to be honest, I think of it as a successor. It seems to have taken the place of Naruto in Jump.

Horikoshi: It doesn't feel real at all…

Kishimoto: Isn't it going to be animated soon? And then the amount of work you have to do will suddenly increase again (laughs). In my opinion, I think it will be well-received overseas too. I feel that "NARUTO" has been well received overseas, and I sense the same for "My Hero Academia." The only concern I have is still Horikoshi's health condition (laughs).

Horikoshi: My body is surprisingly strong. It's the mental aspect that scares me.

Kishimoto: To be honest, writers are all in a bad mood when they're serializing their work. I just spoke with Oda Eiichiro, the creator of One Piece, and he said that everyone is always nervous. They're always nervous, afraid that if they don't draw something good, it won't be popular and will be canceled, and I think they're on the verge of a mental breakdown. I was sweating so much when I was serializing my work that if I wrung my T-shirt out, it would just come out… I don't think it's a good idea to talk about things like this too much.

I'm worried about how to maintain my hunger for success. (Horikoshi)

Horikoshi: I want to know! Is that during the storyboard process?

Kishimoto: During the storyboard process. I looked at the clock and thought, "It's already 1 o'clock," and looked down. I looked at the clock again and saw that it had been about three hours, and I was like, "What! You're kidding me!"

Horikoshi: It happens often!

Kishimoto: I was so stressed out that I kicked the bookshelf. I thought if I broke my leg and had to be hospitalized, I could finally take a break. But my arm, well, that's a different story.

Horikoshi: Now that I've heard what Kishimoto-sensei said, I realize that we share the same principles. I'm actually a little relieved now (laughs).

Kishimoto: I don't think the work will get better or succeed unless you have that kind of feeling. The parts of the work that are dark or where the creator is pouring their life into it come to life as the power of the work.

The important thing is to be scared

Horikoshi: There's one thing I wanted to ask you. At first, Naruto isn't recognized by anyone around him, and he's lonely. His desire to be recognized leads him to rise from the bottom. I think Kishimoto-sensei said somewhere that he drew Naruto's feelings in sync with his own feelings as a manga artist…

Kishimoto: Yes. I was nobody yet. My friends around me told me, "There's no way you'll become a manga artist." And, "Even if you do, there's no way you'll last."

Horikoshi: But as the story progresses, Naruto is gradually recognized by those around him. The work "NARUTO" is also receiving great acclaim… Right now, I'm drawing Izuku while synchronizing myself with his feelings and position, but I'm worried about what I'll do if the situation changes rapidly as the series continues.

Kishimoto: I see. How do you maintain the protagonist's and your own hunger for success without diluting it?

Horikoshi: Yes.

Kishimoto: First of all, regarding Naruto, he is recognized by the people around him, but not by Sasuke.

Horikoshi: Ah, that's right!

Kishimoto: In that sense, Naruto is carrying something that can never be filled. Speaking of myself, the presence of my first editor, Yahagi-san, who looked after me for about nine years after my debut, was a big factor. My first editor would not acknowledge my work even if I made something interesting to a certain extent. Even after I got a new editor, I always had the feeling somewhere in my mind that "I have to draw something that Yahagi-san will acknowledge."

Horikoshi: Yahagi-san was like Sasuke to Kishimoto-sensei.

Kishimoto: Yeah, yeah, the image of not being easily acknowledged is similar too (laughs). Even after he stopped being my editor, we would still meet occasionally, and he would say things like "It's interesting" just to be polite, but I wondered, "What does he really think?" Since it wasn't a manga he was in charge of, he couldn't really comment on it. Because he wouldn't honestly express his thoughts, the anxiety or fear I had inside me couldn't be completely resolved. That was my hunger, you know? It motivated me to think, "I need to draw better a manga!"

Horikoshi: Amazing…

Kishimoto: In the end, that hunger comes out in your manga. So, my conclusion is to keep drawing manga without being satisfied with the evaluations of others, thinking "it's not enough yet!" If you can do that, your anxiety will be transferred to your work, and a difficult drama will emerge for the protagonist.

Horikoshi: Whether or not I can successfully incorporate it into the manga.

Kishimoto: No. I think you'll end up incorporating it. If you're pushed into a corner, it's going to come out.

Horikoshi: Thank you for sharing your story. I'll keep it in mind.

Kishimoto: For now, I hope it continues longer than "NARUTO."

Horikoshi: Eh (laughs).

Kishimoto: Since you've managed to get off to a good start, I think you can keep going strong even with the momentum. But instead of just relying on that, I want you to keep running at full speed the whole time. It might be tough, but I hope you can stay a bit nervous.

Horikoshi: I'm a bit scared (laughs). To be honest, when I started "My Hero Academia," I had the feeling of "Let's have fun drawing," but I also had the feeling of "Let's compete on equal terms with NARUTO and ONE PIECE!" In the previous series, I didn't have such strong feelings. I think it's because I had that feeling that things are going well now.

Kishimoto: I'm sure you are. I think that feeling is great. It's not like "I want to draw a manga like ONE PIECE" or "I want to draw a manga like NARUTO", but rather you have to draw with the thought "I want to defeat him!" And when you draw manga, you have to draw with the thought of wanting to surpass the wall of ONE PIECE. It's a pretty high wall, though. I drew it with that thought in mind too, but that wall was really high (laughs). It makes me excited to think that Horikoshi-kun will be taking on that challenge from now on. Next time I see Oda-san, I'll tell him, "I want you to do it with the intention of crushing Horikoshi-kun."

Horikoshi: I'm scared! (laughs).

#kishimoto interview #naruto archive #horikoshi interview #the 8th interview Kishimoto talks about hands #I found the interview where Kishimoto explicitly states the desire to be acknowledged he projected onto Naruto and Sasuke comes from Yahagi #I had promised someone who sent an ask ages ago Kishimoto said that and that I'd find that interview and I finally did

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the-red-butterfly · 1 year ago

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Not-Yet-Written-Fics Game

Tagged by @fishing4stars to reveal my not-yet-written fics.

This is fantastic actually the amount of things I have on the back burner is HUGE I'll have to pick and choose, oh dear.

For Your Life Hate Me (Twilight) As story about Carlisle and Jasper (very self indulgent) where they get kidnaped by María and forced to fight (like in Jasper's old days). To keep Carlisle alive Jasper is forced to do some not nice things that horrify Carlisle but he'll do them to keep the man who took him in safe, even if Carlisle hates Jasper in the end.

The Adventures of Young Man Henry Winchester and his Violent Grandsons (Supernatural) Henry Winchester survives his death by Abadon! And now he has to get used to modern life without his family. It is extremely painful and sometimes his grandsons are no help. The start of their relationship is very rocky but it'll eventually lead to better days. I'm very fond of this one.

It's The Ashy Taste Of Sacrifice (One Piece) Sanji and Zoro get turned into animals and (spoilers) in the end Sanji has to bear the brunt of this happening and suffer a life as a fox. The premise is silly but I promise you the contents are not. I am making this boy SUFFER and that is just a universal constant. Full of platonic friendship and hurt/comfort ✨And Zoro being a better bro to Sanji.

To Look Like Her (One Piece) And to keep up with the point before. This is a story about Sanji self sabotaging his body because he realizes that when he's sick he looks like his mother and he wants to KEEP that look. It does not end well for anyone. The Straw Hats get rightfully very pissed and concerned about this.

Mending The Tears One Spoonful At The Time (Sam Rami Spider-man) This is just a whole ass ploy to better the friendship between Peter and Harry. Harry realizes something is off with Peter when he notices his friend is ALWAYS hungry. When Harry offers help Peter's pride gets in the way and Harry has to devise ways to secretly help Peter.

Homeward Bound From The Sea (Frozen) Frozen AU where Agnarr survives the shipwreck but is lost for some years in an island until he's eventually found by a fishing-ship. He gets rescued and returned home but things are hard for father and daughters equally. Full of Agnarr!whump and everyone having to adapt to this new reality. Kind of non-verbal Agnarr in this one.

When Doriath Fell (Silmarillion/Tolkien) AU where Dior and Elured and Elurin survive BUT actually Dior did die he just came back wrong. So Dior raises his children as a feral creatures in the forest surrounding Menegroth. But Elured and Elurin sort of have to take care of their father as well because the man is not well. Of course, this thing is full of angst what did you expect?

The Price Of Freedom (Sandman) Hob rescues Dream from the fishbowl of doom and Dream thinks he needs to repay him with devotion and love (just like he did with Alianora). Surprisingly shippy but not really? HobxDream is not endgame at any rate, but Dream is convinced that's how he needs to repay his friend for saving him. Very angsty, the sky is blue, next.

Reverse 'Verse (Firefly) Another AU (of course) where instead of River being taken and brainwashed it is Simon who becomes the mortal weapon/assassin. And in turn it is River who has to take care of him and escape. Lots of sibiling feels.

I have so many, so so many, but i better not drag them up into the surface less I get tempted into working on them XD but here are some honorable mentions of ofter fandoms I have wips in: SPD Power Rangers (don't laugh), Batman, Hocus Pocus and a ton for Criminal Minds.

If you feel like asking about any of these drop me an ask and I might feel inclined to doodle something about it 😂

No pressure tags: @arlenianchronicles @slightly-crimson-tornado @bad-at-names-and-faces @loonysama @byrambles @i-did-not-mean-to

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wantmangojuice · 6 months ago

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more unhinged gushing over tianbao fuyao lu / legend of exorcism

Tianbao Fuyao Lu is amazing, Kong Hongjun x Li Jinglong might just be my favorite couple ever, and the official English translation cannot come soon enough.

So I got cover-artbaited into reading this, managed to finish the entire thing through the power of MTL, and now I am just a puddle of awe. (And to be honest, also a puddle of some confusion, because MTL is so not conducive to fully understanding a plot-heavy story, but hey. *shrug*)

I love love love Li Jinglong. He tries so hard, so hard bless him, and he's just so earnest. I like that his character takes the archetypal "cool, smart and hyper-competent gong", rips it to pieces, and then builds it back up. So far, of the danmei novels I've read, he might just be the most insecure gong I've seen, which most of the time he manages to cover up well enough, and yet sometimes that mask slips.

How many times is this guy gonna be on the verge of death. How many times. He's just some mortal guy. Please have mercy on him.

Also, I appreciate that he and Hongjun had that sexuality conversation, where Jinglong says that he was 13 or 14 years old when he realized he was into guys. And I sympathized with his backstory where his sexuality was used as one more way to dirty his reputation. Somebody give this man a hug. (Hongjun's on it!)

Kong Hongjun's growth from a naive sheltered teenager to someone who can take a stand, not only as an Exorcism Department member but also as the Yao King, was also wonderful to watch.

Kong Hongjun x Li Jinglong is great. It's so great. They get together early-ish (like ch70-80 out of a 220+ chapter novel) so we see them develop feelings for each other, we see them go through the "everyone can see it except for the MC"-stage of obliviousness, and we see how they work together as a couple afterwards. The whole love story spectrum.

I love that Kong Hongjun x Li Jinglong love each other so much, are utterly devoted to each other, and yet there are differences between them that they possibly will never be able to fully resolve. From the start, they were destined to be on opposite sides, and by the end it could be said that they still kind of are, but they manage it.

Genuinely such a sweet couple. They are just so incredibly fond of each other. I'm not always the biggest fan of the "surprise! they actually knew each other as kids and fell in love back then" twist that's present in so many danmei, but here it (1) works, and (2) is actually very important for Plot Reasons.

Such an epic battle couple, truly.

The best romance is where one person puts together the shattered pieces of the other's soul.

The friendships among the Exorcism Department members were cute! I ended up getting fond of nearly every single protagonist-side character we have. (I say "nearly" because I never really warmed up to Zhao Zilong after his betrayal, and my view of him lowered further when he later on had the gall to point out that Li Jinglong never saw him as family. Like, are you sure you're in any position to speak about that? Wanna look in a mirror to see a department member who failed to treat others as family, huh?) Yeah, I'm still Not Happy with him.

OTOH, it took me a while to care for the side couple Mo Rigen x Lu Xu, which was kind of frustrating because I enjoyed them as individual characters. It wasn't until book 4, when they were working together to take care of Hongjun and Jinglong, did I start to warm up to them, in a "Okay, so you*can* work together as a team after all" way. (And even after that I wasn't really too big fan.)

I need! A complete adaptation (manhua, animation, live-action, whatever works) of this because I wanna see the action!! The battles sound so epic that it's a shame we never see them in any other medium. Forever sad at the manhua and donghua's discontinuance. :(

I cannot wait to have the official English translations so that I can read this all over again.

#tianbao fuyao lu #legend of exorcism #my reading journal #longjun

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alieninvasionsarenotajoke · 1 year ago

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Everymanhybrid headcanons you have?

Ohmygod you have just opened pandoras box my friend and I thank you so much for it Before Slendy/The EMH channel: So I'd like to think all the boys met in Highschool with Jeff and Vinny meeting first and Evan joining the friend group around sophomore year. Evan gives me the vibes of an extrovert who adopted two introverts and never left them. He was also probably the one who introduced them to their other friends (Nick, Daniel, etc) and the rest is history !

They all like skateboarding, mainly Evan. He's the one who taught the other two how to with Vinny absolutely KILLING it and Jeff.... not so much.

This is less headcanon and more canon since Vinny and Jeff have guitars lying around. But they all play some sort of instruments and have definitely thought about making a band before. Jeff would be on the guitar, Vinny maybe the bass or keyboard, and Evan would go crazy as a drummer.

Speaking of which Vinny and Jeff give me big band kid energy. Mainly Jeff.

I can also see Vinny being a theater kid.

OH! Steph was homeschooled and chronically online (in a millennial way) because of it. This lead her into so many fandoms and she wrote so much cringe fanfiction. Some she wouldn't even let Evan see.

Also Steph is really into 2000s animated MTV shows and kinned Pheobe from Downtown.

One more thing about Steph because I love her and I'm 100% not projecting onto her ;D She loves mindless self indulgence, she wants revenge, and modest mouse. I feel like Vinny and her bonded over music, especially Modest Mouse.

After slendy/emh channel: Vinny is a very big Modest Mouse fan, like listened to all the albums and probably knows the bandmembers names and lore. His favorite album is "The Moon and Antarctica" which became a comfort album during his time living with Habit. He listened to "Alone down there" over and over because it reminded him of his friendship with Evan.

Sidenote if you haven't listened to "The moon and antarctica" you really should cause most of the songs give me EMH vibes. Especially Alone Down There and Tiny Cities made of Ashes. I honestly want to make a analysis on that album and how it fits with EMH, but that's for another time. :D Back to headcanons. Habit loves frustrating boardgames like monopoly or uno. Mostly because he feeds off the emotions. When Vinny lived with Habit, he would always bug him about playing Monopoly specifically. Vinny gave in one time and played for a bit until he realized Habit was somehow cheating.

Habit also ate the pieces in front of Vinny as a power move.

He also likes how metal tastes.

Habit might have pica.

That's all for now because if I go on any longer I'd start writing a whole ass book. If you'd like more headcanons I'd be glad to post some cause I have plenty !! Sorry if anything here is confusing I'm bad at putting thoughts into words sometimes XD

if you've read this far, here have an Evan:

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fujobritta · 7 months ago

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long baksbee rant, mostly abt david/kate & brad/david's ex parallels

David/Kate parallels in fics are so interesting to me, I really love when Brad's enamourment with David is framed like this. Because ultimately, Kate is the only way he has ever really felt a nonfamilially loving connection in a way? Like while he wasn't in love with Kate, for. Y'know. Obvious reasons. She's still the strongest connection he's had in his life (aside from, in my headcanons, his mother. But thats not canon… Yet…) so when he's finally let himself be accidentally attached to someone, he views them similarly. David has no power over Brad, but he's a companion. And Brad views him as lesser-than, but still values him and his presence.

I don't think Brad Bakshi is capable of "normal" romantic love, he's built too much of a shell to view it like that. But I think he'd love David in a way that's a little bit more than friendship but not really necessarily romantic, while being capable of being perceived as romantic. Sort of like a QPR in a way? But also not really because I think they would have sex so like… I dunno how to really explain it. But David being a sort of "pet" to Brad also I think shows how Brad sees that David is incapable of surviving without someone else. Well he can, but not well, sort of like how a domesticated animal might survive on the street but would be starving and diseased. David needs him, and Brad is someone who desperately wants to be needed, because during his childhood he felt unneeded. Having David is a reassurance that there is something relying on him, and that feels good.

Also David and Kate being similar kind of drives into Brad's whole predator/prey thing. Brad views himself as a predator, and David as his prey. And as a child, Kate was supposed to be his prey, but he couldn't do it, couldn't kill the pig. And, of course, Brad once again won't be able to really kill the pig, because he would get attached to David, but there is still that semblance of that predator/prey dynamic. Brad is still the more controlling one in the relationship, he holds the strings or the leash or the trap or whatever. And while he never "devours" David and kills him, it's still kind of that same thrill in a way. (This stuff is part of the reason why I can't stand top David/bottom Brad, I just fully cannot see Brad allowing himself to be controlled by someone, and especially not David. But you do you!)

Brad/David's ex-wife parallels also mean so much to me because it speaks to how differently David views Brad in comparison to how Brad views him. David sees Brad as an equal and a partner. He gets attached to people very easily, yearns for a sort of established connection, and really what connection is really more established than marriage? Also I think David views his position in a relationship as more traditionally masculine, despite… not really being like that at all (he's literally a bottom who would probably do most of the cooking and cleaning… One day he'll realize his womanhood. /j) But regardless he'd think Brad is pretty and nice (when he wants to be) and I think his originally assumed heterosexuality would probably make him project feminine qualities onto Brad regardless in an attempt to feel more straight.

I'm pretty sure it also has to do with my personal beliefs abt what David's ex-wife was actually like, too… Like when I close my eyes and imagine her based on what we know about her (that she moved on pretty quickly from David and Brad's "David, are we at your divorce trial? Because I just watched a hot asian chick rip your heart out" from Quarantine) I imagine a hot, mean, middle-aged, Chinese woman that looks like Lucy Liu and rides a motorcycle and pegs guys until they can't walk and is GALAXIES out of David's league. Which is partially influenced by my idea of what kind of person David would be into, but y'know. Whatever. But like regardless I think David definitely has a thing for people being mean to him. Like there's no way to be like That and not be into mean people.

I think a very primary difference between Brad and David in a relationship is that David craves Someone to attach himself to, while Brad just craves Something. David needs a real human connection, he's very people-focused, whereas Brad tries to fill his void with things of material value; money, sex, control, etc. David is more emotionally intelligent than Brad is; Brad just puts up walls and hides his emotions in a little corner of his brain where he can think about them later (but preferably never). But Brad still needs David in a way, because he fills the void in a way that the pointless vanities Brad is so fixated on never could.

Brad needs David more than David needs him, honestly. David is Brad's anchor in the stormy seas of his mind; his dog, his angel, etc. (I love you Mitski. Alexa play "I'm Your Man".) But David also needs Brad, of course — he needs that steady stream of companionship, no matter the source. During MQ, we see him break down repeatedly because he feels alone. David is reliant on people being There, no matter who they are. In TBD, after everyone left, even those who had constantly put him down and made his life hell (Brad, Poppy, Ian), even people who he rarely even talked to (Dana, Rachel), even people who he didn't really care that much about (Jane from Yorba Linda), he still nearly ended it all, right there. And all it took was Jo being on that roof for him to stop. And then he was back to being Fine But On His Last Thread.

In my opinion, Baksbee is the only (serious) M/M ship in MQ that I can see working as a functional relationship in any capacity, because you cannot put Ian into a romantic relationship like you can with David and Brad. There's no way to do it in a way that doesn't require changing who he is fundamentally. Ian is not a man who "does" relationships, or love, or family. Put him with Brad and they'll hook up just to never talk about their feelings; put him with David and he'll manipulate him until he's left David a shell of the already partially hollowed-out man he already was, ignoring every time David wants to address their situation. Bradian and Grimmsbee are interesting to think about and explore, if you enjoy looking into toxic relationships, but overall they don't have any actual substance next to Baksbee. They are relationships doomed to fail, which I do enjoy a lot, but can't really imagine myself being as obsessed with as I am with Baksbee.

Anyways that's all thanks for coming to my TedTalk

#shui talks #mythic quest #brad bakshi #david brittlesbee #baksbee #braddavid #i normally talk in all lowercase but i figured this would probably end up pretty long so i figured i should probably type it properly #this is like 1k+ words jesus christ #whatever #does anyone even care or should i just like die

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glittervame · 1 year ago

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Love or obsession?

Parseltongue

This post is going to be part of the Hogmarch Fandom challenge by @thatdammchickennugget check it out if you want to know more! I may have gotten a bit carried away...I didn't proofread so sorry for the spelling errors or if it doesn't make any sense, love ya! <3

This is the most random shit ever, I apologize in advance, don't think it follows the theme I have another version if needed

Tom Riddle x FEM! Reader Warnings: Character death, No smut (Sorry guys)Reader is basically a puppet (Dance puppet dance)

Y/n was a peculiar girl, even by her own admission. She never quite fit in with the other students at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle, on the other hand, seemed to have it all. He was popular, good-looking, and possessed an air of quiet confidence that made everyone around him feel at ease. It was no surprise, then, that when Tom decided he wanted to be friends with her, Y/n didn't think twice about accepting his offer.

She didn't know it at the time, but their friendship was not entirely equal. Tom tended to give her orders more than anything else; he'd say "Y/n, fetch me that book from the library," or "Y/n, meet me by the lake at five o'clock." And without question, Y/n would obey. It didn't bother her at first; she was just glad to have a friend who seemed to genuinely care about her.

One day, as they were walking through the castle grounds, Tom paused and looked at her intently. "Y/n," he said, "I've been meaning to ask you something." She glanced up at him, expecting the usual request for a favor or some other task. Instead, he continued, "Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a secret power?" She frowned, confused. "Of course," she replied, "everyone wonders that, people might have but you never know until you try and find it."

Tom smiled knowingly. "Well, what if I told you that you had a secret power?" she asked, her curiosity piqued. "And what if I told you that I knew what that power was?" he countered. Y/n felt a shiver run down her spine as he said those words. She didn't understand why, but something about the way he was looking at her made her feel…different. Intrigued. Scared. Excited.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Tom leaned in closer, lowering his voice as well. "I think you might be an Animagus, Y/n," he said. "I've seen you wandering around the castle grounds at odd hours, and I've never seen you transform or use any kind of animal form. I've been wondering for a while now…" He trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence unspoken.

Her heart was pounding in her chest. Tom couldn't possibly know about her secret. He was just toying with her. Right? But as she looked into his piercing eyes, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was telling the truth. What if he was? And what would that mean for their friendship? It felt like a bucket of ice got poured over her. She didn't know what to say, so she just stood there, staring at him, trying to process the information.

She looked away, trying to collect her thoughts. It was too much to take in all at once. How could Tom know about this? And even if he did, why would he tell her? He had never given her any reason not to trust him before. But then again, maybe that was it. Maybe he saw something in her that nobody else did, and he wanted to help her unlock her true potential.

Finally, she mustered up the courage to meet his gaze again. "Why are you telling me this, Tom?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "And how do you know?" There was a long silence as he regarded her carefully. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Because I'm a little different myself, Y/n. And because I think we might be more alike than you realize." His words sent a shiver down her spine. She knew then and there that she couldn't ignore what he was saying.

Her voice broke the moment of silence, "My form is a snake, fitting for someone in Slyherin isn't it?"

Tom's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't show any other reaction. "Yes, I suspected as much. It's not a form that many people would expect from you, but it's perfect for someone like you. You're quiet, observant, and more cunning than you let on. And it's also a form that will come in handy when the time comes." He paused, studying her face intently. "It's fitting for someone with a friend that can speak parseltongue"

She blushed, embarrassed that Tom had noticed her secret. "I-I didn't know you could do that" she stammered. He smiled reassuringly. "It's just a little thing, really. Most people can't understand us. But it's nice to know that you can. And I promise, I won't tell anyone else about your secret. It's our little secret, just between us." She nodded, feeling relieved.

The sounds of battle raged on around them, but for a moment, it seemed to fade into the background as they stood there, caught in their own thoughts. Y/n had found herself at the battle of Hogwarts. She was fighting with Tom, the evil side some would say, she glanced over at Tom, wondering how he was feeling about all of this. He looked determined, but also a bit nervous. She wished she knew what to say to make him feel better.

She never questioned is orders, it was her job being his right hand, to give her undying loyalty. She was to nod and going along with whatever he said, that's probably why she never agknawlage her growing feelings for him. Love or Obssesion?

As they fought, their wands twirling through the air with deadly precision, she couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. She knew that they were fighting against the very people she had once considered her friends, her family. But she also knew that Tom was right; on some level and that there was something more going on here, something deeper and more sinister. She couldn't abandon him, not now, not ever.

Their duel came to an abrupt end when they both found themselves facing off against two members of the Order of the Phoenix. With a sigh, they lowered their wands, realizing that they had been so lost in their own thoughts that they hadn't noticed the others sneaking up on them. The two Order members looked surprised to see them fighting together, but quickly regained their composure and launched into a new attack.

As they fought side by side, Y/n couldn't help but marvel at Tom's skills. He moved with a grace and precision that belied his evil reputation. She felt a pang of admiration for him. He was more than just a snake-like villain; he was a complex individual with his own motivations and desires.

The battle raged on around them, the air thick with the smell of smoke and the sounds of spells being cast. Y/n ducked beneath a swirling Shield Charm, her eyes meeting Tom's. For a brief moment, she seemed to forget about the fight, lost in the intensity of their connection. Then, with a nod, they turned back to the battle at hand.

As the tide of the battle began to turn, Y/n found herself separated from Tom. She fought her way through the chaos, searching desperately for him. When she finally caught sight of his form, she rushed toward him, then came to an abrupt stop as soon as she saw Harry Potter standing opposite of him.

Harry and Tom exchange heated words, their wands dancing in the air with deadly precision. Y/n can't help but feel torn, as she watches them fight. On one hand, she knows that Tom is her friend and ally, but on the other hand, Harry is the Boy Who Lived, the one who defeated Voldemort once before.

The battle reaches its climax as they both launch a powerful spell at each other, their wands connecting with a bright flash of light. Y/n feels the heat radiate from the force of the impact, and she knows that this is the moment of truth. As they stand there, locked in combat, she can't help but notice the determination in Tom's eyes, the fire burning within him. It's a sight that she has never seen before, and it fills her with a strange mixture of awe and fear.

She doesn't know how much longer they can keep this up, but she knows that they can't afford to let their guard down for even a second. The world around them is falling apart, and they are the only ones who can stop it. Or at least, that's what she tells herself. She wonders if Tom feels the same way, if he too is fighting for something greater than just himself.

As they continue to duel, their bodies moving in perfect synchronicity, Y/n finds herself thinking about the night they first met. It seems like a lifetime ago now, when they were simply two students at Hogwarts, living their lives oblivious to the darkness that was about to engulf them. How different things might have been if they had never formed that friendship, if they hadn't found each other in the midst of all the chaos.

Their battle carries them across the grounds, their steps steady and measured despite the turmoil that rages around them. They dodge spells and counterattack with precise accuracy, never once taking their eyes off each other. Y/n knows that this is more than just a fight; it's a test of their loyalty, of their allegiance. And she isn't sure which side she truly belongs on. All she knows is that she can't lose Tom. Not now, not ever.

That's when she sees tom loosing, when harry is about to defeat him, she thinks about all the time they spent together, about their friendship and their love, and she can't bear the thought of him dying. In a split second decision, she decides to help him. She turns back into her snake form and lunges at harry, fangs out ready to strike.

She doesn't make it to him before a sword slices her form in half, sending her tumbling to the ground in a heap. Her eyes closed, her body still and limp. For a moment, it feels as though she's back in that classroom, trapped beneath the Invisibility Cloak as she listened to Tom's heartbeat, steady and strong. But this time, there's no escape. This time, she's truly on her own.

There's a scream that faintly sounds like Tom's and then she's greeted with Death himself.

In my perfect little world, Tom is still pretty. I'm going to start a tag list for different characters so tell me in the comments if you want to be a part of it.

#fypシ #writers on tumblr #y/n #idk #send help #hogmarch challenge #hogmarch #tom riddle #tom riddle x y/n #Tom #thatdamedchickennugget

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