#out of the ones I did include I think the main manga is probably my favorite

[lxikobsd]

[absolutebl]

Top 10 Great BLs That Are REALLY hard to find (but worth tracking down)

You may want to go hunting anyway!

Seven Days

Seven Days: Monday-Thursday

Seven Days: Friday-Sunday

Japan 2015

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.

Cherry Magic AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii

Japan 2020

The sweetest fluffiest magical realism BL, packaged as a pinning office romance, very low heat (practically chaste) but the cutest. It’s truly great.

Cherry Magic Thailand

Thai 2024

A soft charming warm hug of a show about crushes and mind reading and self worth, with no-fuss execution from a consummate team and an OG lead pair proving why they remain eternal and deserve to grow up. Look, here’s the thing, Cherry Magic is a great Thai BL in its own right not comparing it to any other iteration. But even when I do compare (and I've seen all the Cherries and read the manga) it still stands. I personally like it slightly better than the Japanese live action, but I think that’s because I just really like Thai BL and I LOVE TayNew. Also all the kissing was both present and better than any other iteration. As it should be from Thailand.

I Feel You Linger in the Air

Thai 2023

IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show could easily have earned a 10/10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls in the final quarter. Argh. Whatever.

All about the ecstasy and the agony here.

Restart After Come Back Home AKA Risutato wa tadaima no ato de

Japan 2020

Atmospheric study in rural Japan meets complex family dynamics built on a romance framework of city boy meets country boy, grumpy/sunshine. It’s beautiful and icy sweet. Slow moving in places but ultimately worth the patience, low heat, low angst, and stunning.

Given

Japan 2021

Boy joins band, falls in love with other boy. The singing is terrible, fast forward through that but with the possible exception of the hair styles, this BL could have been made in 2015 and no one would be surprised. As such, it wasn’t ground breaking, but it didn’t disappoint either.

Make a Wish

Thai 2023

A doctor who can see the dead strikes a bargain with a wish-granting irreverent tree angel - naturally they fall in love (from Sammon: Manner of Death & Triage). Stars Fluke Natouch opposite not-Ohm, but who tf cares because Fluke has chemistry with everybody. Once again the Thai afterlife is incredibly bureaucratic but I enjoyed the premise and the unfolding of the story (it’s not predictable but still satisfying and with nice little twist). I like that the doctor is just gay AF - fag hag bestie and all the swagger. The cast is excellent even if the comedic stylings are a bit overblown and tonally off. It had sad parts and did make me cry but is ultimately happy with a great sex scene, good smiley kisses, and all the agency. Definitely recommended.

2 Moons The Ambassador AKA 2 Moons 3

Thai 2022

A Thai pulp that felt like it came out 5 yrs prior, with many of the flaws inherent to that time and studio system, including manufactured angst and convoluted plot, but an ultimately sweet main couple that (as a pairing) feels a bit more modern and satisfying to watch than they started out. This will probably go down in history as one of the few BLs where I genuinely didn’t care about any of the side couples. All that said, I find this show oddly appealing and rewatchable and I have no excuses for that except, I enjoyed it probably more than it deserved. Nostalgia & d**k, it's what's for dinner.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai

Japan 2022

This is a beautiful well acted piece of cinema, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. Gifted and serious Sakura pines after outgoing eccentric manic pixie dream boy, Yuma. It is very pretty and this is the kind of atmospheric elegantly performed BL that only really comes from Japan (complete with dead fish kisses - what you though Korea invented them? oh no). If you want something stylish, this is it.

Triage

Thai 2022

BL does Groundhog Day featuring a doctor stuck in a time loop who must save a poor little rich boy from death by seducing the stuffing out of him, then PLOT TWIST, poor little rich boy must do the same for the doctor! Unfortunately... stuffing keeps leaking. I thought the plot was engaging if a little redundant and occasionally exhausting. The pairs were all well done, low heat but with decent chemistry and the support characters were likable (or unlikable, as required). If anything, the romance arc detracted and distracted from the main plot, but that doesn't stop this from being a genuinely good show.

HONORABLE MENTION

Great Men Academy

Thai 2019

Bodyswap involving unicorns turning a teenage girl into a boy makes this questionable as a BL (because, ya know, gender). But the fact remains that James is killer in the lead, and I (who do not like bodyswap) loved this damn show. Look, there is actual plot, hotties at boarding school, "bully the one you love" trope, some weird VR shit, very bad CGI, and yes, the boys end up together... whether they boys or not, so to speak.

Some of these shows may appear on a smaller streaming service, like WeTV, or they may be on a legal platform in your territory. I hope it goes without saying you should check there first.

(source)

This list updated Spring 2024, not responsible for cool stuff that went missing (or was added to a platform) after that date.

It's it last in a series the rest of which are:

[spliqi]

this is unrelated to the higuchi post and i did not want to derail but also ur comment about the way you'd be willing to hear people out re:akutagawa and misogyny if they approached it in a more comprehensive way wrt irl higuchi and her experiences with misogyny made me go !!!! bc first of all u are so correct always second of all it made me go YEAH u get it. in that i have said before that i do think there are valid criticisms that could be said about how few women are in bsd and the ways in which their characters are handled + the differences in f/f interpersonal relationship as opposed to m/m characters, but it never actually feels... insightful nor productive, because it feels like a war b/w whether asagiri is a misogynist or not, rather than an actual attempt to ask the questions: why is it written like that, and is asagiri saying something by writing it like that, and what does it mean beyond a 2d analysis based purely on screentime of minor characters in the main manga (-> which is part of why something u said in your louisa post about asagiri's choices with the female cast being intentional based on their irl history has been sticking in my head, like. spliqi u get it...). anyway this is mainly open invitation in case u would like to talk about intentional choices asagiri is making with the female cast of bsd, but simultaneously it is me sending u like. a thousand exclamation points going ur takes are always so good.

— @blackwaves (if that was not obvious)

kavi!!!! thank you <3 and hmm. yes. so. putting this under a cut

i have a lot of thoughts about this. it’s something i rotate all the time but struggle to come to any conclusion because none of the main bsd women takes sit completely right with me. it’s either people don’t give a single fuck about the female cast and are shameless about that in a way that feels iffy or they act really performatively feminist about characters (and associated authors) they don’t care to look at beyond a surface level. while i completely understand the complaints about wanting more women, more female focus and stronger f/f dynamics in bsd (i do also) we have to consider that bsd isn’t just any series with characters the mangaka made up - they’re real people from a time when women were not allowed to be self-reliant main characters. expecting a girl power narrative about characters inspired by real women who didn’t even have the right to vote just feels like setting yourself up for disappointment imo

i imagine this is a problem asagiri has to tackle while writing, because there’s likely an element of faithfulness to the classic lit world he wants to maintain. is he the one at fault or is it an existing problem that he hasn’t corrected? and would it be a kind of erasure to pretend the oppression these women went through didn’t exist and write them all as independent girlbosses who don’t need no man? and sure, i’ve seen the argument that there are a lot of female authors asgr has chosen not to/has yet to include, but to act like the classic lit world was anywhere close to a 50:50 gender split would be a lie. even out of the women writers who did make it big, many had to change their stories to be more palatable (e.g. higuchi and louisa) or take on male pseudonyms (-> i find it quite interesting that bsd has two female characters that disguise themselves as men for no discernible reason. i’ve been wondering if they’re a reference to this)

also i have. Opinions. about sei/shounen fans and their expectations of female characters that will probably get me jumped so i’ll say this with a fun analogy: it seems a lot of people hate fish but will still choose to go to the aquarium every day. if you get what i mean. it gets to a point where it’s like do you actually even care about this or are you just looking to let everyone know how Woke™️ you are

but yeah i do think about asagiri’s intentions a lot in many ways but especially about tsujimura and the fact that she’s a modern writer + a protagonist in bsd and i also have thoughts about his different portrayals of american vs japanese female writers which i didn’t really expand upon in my louisa & higuchi post but just know it’s in there. cooking. i need to read more author biographies before i feel confident getting into the meat of it but it will come. i also do wonder about internal bias + asagiri not in the sense that he’s straight up misogynistic but rather because so many female classic lit authors were expected (and sometimes forced) to stick to writing certain themes and catering to certain audiences. it’s completely possible that asagiri just hasn’t read the completed works of a lot of these authors who’ve written 50 500-page romance novels targeted at young women 😭😭 and that’s not a crime imo. i mean damn neither have i, and as we know he does a LOT of research into the authors he portrays and i’m sure that includes reading the majority or even entirety of their bibliographies. (that being said if the brontë sisters and/or jane austen aren’t in the order of the clock tower he will be answering to me)

tl;dr i totally agree about the conversations around this being unproductive. i think it’s a shame the women of bsd don’t play a bigger role but i also don’t think it’s surprising given the context of the series. and i think it’s something of a self-sustaining problem - i.e. women are mostly restricted to being supporting characters, perhaps as a social commentary -> their lack of focus means they’re less likely to become fan favorites -> asagiri caters to the fans -> more male character content -> female characters stand out even less -> they’re even less likely to become fan favorites -> and so on

[dykeyaoi]

I feel like a lot of fanon tends to miss what seem to be three pretty crucial things about Teru, and it's weird because they are easy to miss, but they're also so important that without them he's very superficial. it's part of why he gets so yassified almost every time he's adapted (see: manga into anime into fancontent)

one is that this kid is smart. on my first watch of his debut arc I assumed he was psychically cheating to be one of Black Vinegar's top students. now though I don't think so: firstly, I'll admit, because he doesn't actually seem to have a way to do that except blackmailing other kids for answers or something; but secondly because throughout the series he's just good at figuring stuff out. he picks up complicated psychic techniques more quickly and frequently than anyone else, including Mob. he was the one who almost beat Shimazaki. he figured out that Psycho Helmet was Dimple from the fact that he was a spirit who knew Teru's name, not a lot of info to go on. he draws conclusions in the somewhat haphazard but very clever way a detective does.

two, he's motivated so much by anger. this one's something of a hot take but it's so there to me that I can't leave it out if I'm Teruposting. before meeting Mob yeah he thought he was special and important for having powers but he was also extremely lonely and subconsciously mad at everyone else for not having them. he's the only one who has to deal with Claw he's the only one who has to live alone because his powers make it dangerous for his parents, he's the only one strong enough to be the shadow leader. he'll do it because he's the Protagonist but god he's gonna be pissed the whole time. it's not what he wants (we only get to see what he wants later with Mob and Reigen and everyone else) but it's all he has for a long time. seventh division shows the intersection between I Should Be Satisfied Now Teru and I'm Better Than These Guys Teru very nicely

last and kind of most important is his thing for Mob. I absolutely believe ONE wrote Teru to be queer and he definitely had or has a crush on Shigeo, but I also think that at least part of said crush is him misconstruing his adoration and the pedestal he's put his friend on. until after the Confession Arc, the two of them getting together would be really tricky and probably not good. Mob still feels bad about what he did at Black Vinegar for most of the rest of season one, and the only reason Teru changed in the first place was because of the cavernous gap in power between the two of them. until he declares Shigeo his rival and realizes that he has faults and any destruction he causes isn't perfectly righteous, Teru can't love him.

there's as much to his character as there is to the other main characters, and I get the easy appeal of the flattened version of him but when he's flanderized into this sparkly gayboy who's also sad sometimes, it makes me sad.

[jumpscaregoose]

tss is kind of a weird manga if you think about it. I've been doing that a lot

its main goal is to be a sequel to flowers, and in that a sequel to the original shaman king, but then you read it and that's. really just the tip of the iceberg. tss is already a confusing, messy story if you know what it's doing, but if you go into it only having read og shaman king and flowers (like I did the first time around) you are going to be so lost

takei has this habit of reusing characters and concepts in his work, he's been doing it literally since the beginning. if we're counting each one separately (including alumi), he's written five anna the itakos. the anna that shows up in butsu zone is almost identical to anna from the original oneshot. he does this reduce reuse recycle thing in shaman king too, most obviously with anna and gandhara. and of course this continues into the mainline sequels.

flowers is interesting in comparison to tss, because it is a shaman king sequel in the way you'd expect. it repeats many of the same characters and plot beats as the original (apathetic main character, itako no anna fiance, edgy rival with a goth older sister). hana even mentions a few times that he doesn't want to relive the same beats as his father. compared to tss, the prior work flowers draws on the most is shaman king. for a few chapters. because then we get yahabe.

yahabe is probably the cleanest copy paste into the shaman king universe, excluding butsu zone. it was a oneshot that wrapped itself up after clearly defining its premise while leaving room for the story to continue. except, instead of this continuation being a full yahabe serialization, we just get yosuke in shaman king. yahabe!yosuke and mankin!yosuke could exist on the same timeline, and with how the flowers anime reuses shots from the yahabe manga and ova, that feels like what's supposed to be canon. any deviations from the shaman king canon in yahabe itself can easily be explained away by yahabe being from yosuke's perspective as a non-shaman who doesn't know what the hell is going on. he integrates so cleanly into flowers I didn't even know he was from something else until earlier this year. the same thing applies to death zero, because I fully forgot that was a different thing while writing this.

so flowers has shaman king, and yahabe, and death zero, and it sets up the main plot. and then there's tss.

tss is completely incomprehensible if you haven't done at least 30 chapters of external reading.

or, it's comprehensible, but it's also bad. the reading experience is made so much worse if, for example, you haven't read ultimo and don't know how terrifying not-stan lee actually is. or how important the themes of ultimo are to tss itself. ultimo is a conversation on the objectivity of good and evil, in the same way tss is a battle of ideologies between gods. if you haven't read ultimo, the dong family comes out of absolute nowhere and make even less sense then they do with context.

and then there's senju. the page where senju, when asked what he's learned on his 40 (20 in real actual life) year journey, smiles and says he "can't save people after all" is probably my favourite moment in anything takei's ever written. the weight of that statement means nothing to the reader who's only come from shaman king, because the senju we see in shaman king is sati saigan's spirit ally and nothing else. "I can't save people after all" is an answer to the main thesis of butsu zone, an answer given decades after that manga was cancelled to a collection of readers who might not even know what that is. it's an impactful moment if you've read butsu zone, if you know how it was cut short before takei could take the story where he wanted, if you know the creator has been writing about the same things, about the state of the world and doing what's right and how there are no bad people who can see ghosts, for decades. it makes you think about the thing you're currently reading, the sequel to the one story that author told that made it, that got to say its piece.

because takei's work is kind of cursed. his manga are frequently cancelled, his oneshots never picked up for serialization. the magazines his sequels run in getting cancelled themselves, leaving his stories in limbo. even shaman king, his most successful work, only got its true ending years after it concluded. there is so much in takei's work that has gone unsaid.

when senju stands in front of daremoine and says he can't save people, it's satisfying. it may have been what takei set out to write in 1997, or maybe it was something he thought of in the years between, but either way. this is the ending of butsu zone. this is how its theme's conclude. in the sequel to the sequel of a manga from which its original protagonist was a side character, and underdeveloped plotline. and when you've read butsu zone, it feels good, it feels complete. it hits you like a ton of bricks

this is why I think flowers and super star lose people. because they aren't sequels to shaman king. they're sequels to everything takei has ever written.

to get the most out of super star, you need to have read not only shaman king and its spinoffs, not only flowers, but butsu zone and ultimo and yahabe. hell, to understand shaman king you need to have read mappa douji, or the entire ending falls flat on its face

if you lean into it, this creates an interconnectedness to takei's work, a sense that what you're reading right now is a part of something bigger. whatever is being contemplated currently ties into a much larger conversation about society and morality spanning one man's entire career.

if you don't, you get... a bunch of messy stories. tss makes no bloody sense half the time. ultimo is insane enough on its own, and you're supposed to keep track of that and all the little changes that fit it into this timeline? not to mention the flaws in takei's writing itself, how he tends to pace things weird and leave gaps in his stories, all of it makes tss specifically pretty inaccessible to the average reader.

what is there to take away from this?

I'm not sure, really. I love tss, a lot actually. I enjoy the sense of discovery that comes with engaging in this twisted knot of a story. I think that if you tried to read tss with only shaman king and were frustrated, you should check out yahabe and ultimo and especially butsu zone and try again. you might still think it's a mess, but I think it's worth it to see if that's what lost you

but I know that's also a big ask, that's over 80 chapters of manga to read just to have the backstory for the insane stuff in tss. not everyone's up for that, and that's fair

do I think tss would be more accessible if it only drew from shaman king? yes. do I think it would have been better?

no

[nighttimeebony]

So recently, my boyfriend and I have been trying to figure out when Bungou Stray Dogs is taking place. More specifically, we've been trying to pin down a precise month in the anime using details from the anime, as well as character profile sheets for things like ages and birthdays. With all that said, here's all the time-relevant information I was able to gather from season 1 of the anime.

A couple quick things to establish before I really get into it. Firstly, all of the evidence I gathered for this comes from the anime, not the manga; obviously, there are some inconsistencies and continuity errors between the manga and the anime, but because the anime is in color with more detailed backgrounds, that made identifying potentially time-specific details (like weather, plants, and cars) easier.

Secondly, I did not include the episodes from the Azure Messenger arc. The reason for this is because the Azure Messenger arc is meant to take place two years prior to the manga and anime, so any timeline details in those episodes are likely to be either inaccurate or potentially inconsistent with other evidence.

Thirdly, the one thing that made this job so much easier is the fact that almost every character has both an established age at the beginning of the series, as well as a clearly defined birthday, but I'll only really be relying on main characters for plotting out a timeline. This includes everyone from the ADA, and only some of the recurring characters from other organizations like the Port Mafia or the Guild, especially if those characters' ages are in some way related to the characters from the ADA.

Now, with all that out of the way, down the rabbit hole we go.

Episode 1:

Atsushi is 18, and his birthday is May 5th. We also know that Atsushi was kicked out of the orphanage recently. In orphanages and the foster care system, children have to remain under the care of those facilities until they age out of the system at 18. Considering the orphanage's attitude towards Atsushi, I think it's safe to assume that they likely kicked him out as soon as he turned 18 and were no longer legally responsible for him. So, at the very least, Atsushi was kicked out of the orphange at or near the beginning of May, making him freshly 18 as opposed to 18 years and six months, or something like that. He's fresh off of being 17 instead of being closer to 19.

Atsushi mentions that he hasn't eaten in several days, and is considered to be on the brink of starvation. This is clearly a bit of a hyperbole, since the human body can survive for roughly 2 to 3 months without food, and while Atsushi is clearly very small and skinny, he's nowhere near emaciated, so "several days" in this instance probably means about a week, give or take. We also know from Dazai that the tiger has eaten livestock and farm animals, so Atsushi is clearly subsisting off of something, even if it is small and he's not eating anything during the daylight hours.

Another reason why we know Atsushi has only gone a few days without eating instead of weeks or months is because of something called refeeding syndrome. When the body goes too long without food, reintroducing food, even in small doses, is like a massive shock to your system. Once your body has grown accustomed to the fact that you're not going to feed it, it starts subsisting off of itself in order to survive. (In short, your body will literally eat itself if you go too long without eating.) So, once your body gets used to this after a certain amount of time, reintroducing food to your system is like exposing a Victorian child to the internet. Instead of welcoming the sudden influx of calories, your body will actually reject it because it's too overwhelming to properly absorb. In mild cases, the most you'll do is just vomit whatever you've eaten, but in more severe cases, it can actually be fatal. Basically, you have to re-teach your body how to eat and digest food. Based on the way Atsushi is able to scarf down several bowls of chazuke without vomiting, it's likely that Atsushi has only gone a few days without eating instead of weeks or months.

Dazai then goes on to say that the tiger has been causing chaos in Yokohama for two weeks, and that the tiger was spotted in the Tsurumi ward 4 days ago (Yokohama is a city, and Tsurumi is just one of the 18 wards that exist in the city).

In conclusion: It's been almost a month since Atsushi left the orphanage.

Episode 2:

Kunikida pulls out his notebook to say that Dazai received a complaint in August, and another complaint in September, and in the same month it's stated that he's racked up a 6-month long tab with the cafe. Since this scene is meant to establish Dazai's problem-causing behavior and that it happens often, the fact that Kunikida references calls from August and September seem to imply that these are the most recent calls that the Agency has received, and if that assumption is correct then this would mean that the series is taking place in October. Which, I suppose could be true, but it doesn't really align with other evidence we get later. But we'll still tuck it away in our back pocket for later just in case.

Episode 3:

Atsushi accurately guesses that Naomi and Junichirou were students before they started working at the Agency. We know that Junichirou is 18 and his birthday is July 24th. While we don't know Naomi's age, we can assume that she's most likely 16, since she's stated to be younger than Junichirou, still attends school, and only works at the Agency part-time because of that. We don't know how long the siblings have been with the Agency, but since Junichirou is stated to be an assistant rather than a detective like the others, it's likely that they haven't been there for very long. It's not a leap to suggest that Junichirou probably took his entrance exam not long after he graduated high school so he could provide for Naomi.

Since Japanese school terms end in March, and Japanese high schoolers are all 18 by the time they graduate, Junichirou would have graduated when he was 18, but would've turned 19 not long after, since his birthday is in mid-July. So Junichirou is 18, but potentially very close to being 19.

Additionally, Naomi is specifically a part-time employee, and since she's still in school, this is probably not a summer job, or else she'd likely be working full-time. In Japan, summer vacation lasts from around mid-July to the end of August.

Later in the episode, when Junichirou uses his ability, Higuchi mistakes it for snow and comments that snow is odd in "this time of year". According to Weatherspark, Yokohama doesn't tend to get a lot of snow, and when it does, the snow doesn't seem to stick around for very long. The months where Yokohama is most likely to get snow is in January or February, so at the very least, we know the series doesn't take place during winter.

Conclusion: We are most likely in late spring to early summer

Episode 4:

We don't get very many time indicators in episode 4, but when Atsushi is wandering around the city, we can see that the trees lining the sidewalks are lush and green.

Not only are the trees fully green, but they also aren't budding like they would be in early spring, or wilting like they might be in autumn. This remains consistent across multiple episodes. This strengthens my theory that the series takes place some time between late spring to early summer.

Episode 5:

There aren't a lot of time-specific details in this episode either.

Episode 8: (again, we're skipping the Azure Messenger episodes)

Again, not a lot of time-specific details.

We are introduced to Kyouka. Kyouka is 14, and her birthday is November 4th. We know that she's been with the Port Mafia for six months, but that doesn't tell us much about when the series takes place in the present.

Episode 9:

When Kunikida and Atsushi take Kyouka to a restaurant, there is a wisteria tree in full bloom just outside the window.

According to Gardenia.net, Japanese wisterias bloom around late spring to early summer, with various tourist sites specifying that they start blooming in mid-April, with the peak bloom ending in mid-May. After this, the flowers will develop into pods that ripen in late summer, and in autumn, the leaves will turn yellow. Considering that the leaves on top of the flowers are thicker, and the flower stems are shorter, this tree is likely just past peak blooming time, but not yet into pod development. Which makes me think that we're probably somewhere between the middle and end of May.

Later in the episode, when the detectives are trying to find Atsushi, Kunikida provides a photograph that he says was taken by a tourist.

Obviously, Japan can receive tourists at any time, but considering that Atsushi and Kyouka were specifically visiting popular tourist areas and locations when Akutagawa kidnapped them (and when you consider all the other evidence we have so far), it's possible that this is taking place during one of Japan's more popular tourist seasons.

Japan has two prime tourism seasons: spring and autumn. This detail by itself doesn't indicate much, but when you combine it with everything else we have so far, the case for the series taking place in late spring to early summer just gets stronger.

Episode 10:

No significant time-indicative details.

Episode 11:

In the dub, Kenji states that he's only been with the Agency for two months.

When Kenji and Atsushi are walking through the market together, a pedestrian walks up to Kenji and comments that his "vegetable garden isn't draining like it should." In Japan, the spring months of March to June are broadly considered to be the best times for gardening vegetables.

Episode 12:

Almost no timeline details in this episode

Other, more specific details:

Episode 1 takes place during a single night. It opens during sunset, and closes during the night. We'll call that Day One.

Day Two consists of episodes 2 + 3 + 4 + 5. Atsushi's entrance exam takes place early in the morning, he officially meets Junichirou and Naomi at the cafe for lunch, and are then sent out to investigate Higuchi's tip just after. The three of them are gunned down in the alleyway before being taken back to the infirmary, where Atsushi regains consciousness. When Atsushi wakes up in the infirmary, he's wearing different clothes, which could imply that he was kept there overnight, but there's no indication that that's the case. Junichirou is still being treated in the next room over, and when the episode cuts the next scene, it's still the same time of day outside that it was when Atsushi had his encounter with Akutagawa. (first screenshot: episode 3, just before the attack in the alleyway | second screenshot: episode 4, the first shot of the sky after Atsushi wakes up in the infirmary)

I'm guessing that Atsushi's clothes were probably too shredded and bloodied, so Yosano removed them to better assess his supposed injuries and dressed him in scrubs until his own clothes could be mended and cleaned. Then the Port Mafia attacks the Agency some time during the afternoon, and then, while the Agency is still cleaning up, Ranpo is assigned a case with the police that he and Atsushi go to investigate at about late afternoon, and the day finally ends with Ranpo, Dazai, and Atsushi going home. We only know that this has to be the end of the day because the police interrogation and the walk to the station both happen at sunset.

Episodes 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 all take place during the same day, with episodes 2 + 3 encompassing the morning to noon, and episodes 4 + 5 encompassing the afternoon and evening.

Episodes 8 + 9 + 10 all take place during the next day. We'll consider this Day Three. In episode 8, Dazai is kidnapped either early in the morning or late at night (since it's completely dark out when he encounters Kyouka).

And then Junichirou comes back to the office after fully recovering. Because of Yosano's ability, I doubt that Junichirou was in the infirmary any longer than a day. I'm guessing Yosano probably kept him overnight to finish her treatment, and then let him go back to work the next day once he was fully healed. Then the whole incident with the train happens, and Kyouka wakes up in the infirmary in the next episode. Again, we're given no indication that this episode takes place on a different day, since Dazai is still missing, but no one seems particularly concerned about it, whereas, if he'd been missing for at least two days at a time, the other detectives would probably start to get suspicious. Then, Kunikida and Atsushi take Kyouka to lunch and buy her tofu, and Atsushi and Kyouka have their sightseeing adventure before being attacked by Akutagawa. Then the Agency immediately set out to rescue Atsushi.

Episode 11 is where the specifics get tricky, because of the two-parter with Higuchi's plot and Kenji's plot. The first section of the episode is where Fukuzawa agrees to let Kyouka stay to become an official member of the Agency. I believe that section of the episode still takes place on Day Three. I'll explain why in a bit. Then, Kenji's half of the episode probably also takes place on Day Three (because again) Dazai is STILL missing and no one questions it, not even Atsushi. Then the episode ends after Kenji and Atsushi get beef bowls (presumably for lunch since the sun hasn't set), and then after the credits, we get a scene of Dazai reading in his dorm, where he says he'll tell the Agency he escaped the Mafia "tomorrow". This after-credits scene with Dazai also takes place during sunset, marking this as the end of Day Three.

Meanwhile, Higuchi's plotline takes place in the evening/night of Day Three, because we see her going home to her apartment, and later when she wakes up in the middle of the night to go save Akutagawa, the moon is still out.

Episode 12 definitively takes place over the course of two days. The episode starts with Atsushi waking up, surprised and confused as to why Kyouka is in his dorm. This marks the start of Day Four, just one day after meeting Kyouka. The reason why we know this takes place the day after Kyouka's introduction is because this is the first time anyone's had to address where Kyouka would be sleeping. If a few days passed in between episode 10 and 12, then Atsushi wouldn't be confused as to why Kyouka is rooming with him because he would have already known why she was staying with him, meaning that this is Kyouka's first official night in the Agency dorms since Fukuzawa agreed to let her stay to become a member. Then comes Fukuzawa's meeting with Fitzgerald, and Kenji's disappearance. That marks the end of Day Four. In the next scene, we get a text pop-up telling us that the events with Lucy in Anne's room are happening the day after Kenji went missing, which means that the last half of episode 12 officially takes place on Day Five.

So!

In conclusion: the first season of Bungou Stray Dogs takes place over the course of five days, and is set during the end of May.

If this is all correct, and the first season does actually take place in May, then there a couple of potentially interesting details regarding the characters ages.

Atsushi is freshly 18.

Dazai is technically only 21 by the time season 1 comes to a close, since his birthday is in June.

Chuuya is freshly 22, since his birthday is in April.

Kunikida is 22, but would be close to turning 23, since his birthday is in August.

Akutagawa is freshly 20, since his birthday is in March.

Kenji is 14, but would be close to turning 15, since (like Kunikida) his birthday is also in August.

Junichirou is 18, but would be close to turning 19, since his birthday is in July.

[anime-fan-05]

love your writing. youre awesome. you don't have to but if if you could could you make yuyu hakusho characters x reader who's into cute dresses, make up, skin and haircare routines, stuffed animals collections and girly things. would they be accepting of her, find her annoying, join her or what do you think? plz

Yu Yu Hakusho ~With a very feminine reader~

Manga/anime: Yu Yu Hakusho

Warnings: nothing

(Y/N): your name

Thank you very much for the compliment! I personally didn't know which characters you meant exactly, so I created the headcanon with the main 4 and Koenma. If you also want someone else, write to me privately and I'll include them.

U. Yusuke

He thinks you're very adorable, but he'll never join you in hair and skin care

However, he really enjoys putting on your makeup, even if he often messes up your face

When you come back from the hairdresser with your hair cut or from the beautician with your nails done, he's always playing dumb that doesn't notice anything; however, after seeing you were offended, he compliments you ("I noticed it, (Y/N). You look great.")

Whenever he can, he buys you cute stuffed animals or accessories, such as necklaces and bracelets or rubber bands and hair clips

He also gives you nice clothes if he can buy them for you, and, if you wear them, he'll blush deeply and turn his head away so you can't see his huge blush

K. Kazuma

He's probably the person who accepts you the most

Are you wearing a nice outfit? "You're so cute, (Y/N)!" Have you groomed or cut your hair? "You look great, darling!" Did you wear makeup? "You're so gorgeous! You look great without makeup, but you're beautiful even like that!"

He goes to the game room a lot of times to win stuffed animals for you; when he wins nothing, he sulks all day ("Sorry, I won nothing..." "Kazuma, you don't have to give me a stuffed animal a day, don't worry!")

You two often do skin care together, but don't tell Yusuke this or he'll make fun of Kazuma for life

To give you gifts, he often asks Keiko for advice, as he considers his sister to be one of the least feminine women in existence (Shizuru always gets angry when he points this out to her)

Kurama

He finds it very cute you always get dressed up, but he often tells you you're beautiful, even without accessories or luxurious clothes

He always, always notices when you do something different to your hair, nails or face ("Have you done anything to your hair/nails/face? You're very beautiful, (Y/N).")

Probably, you two do hair care together: you're the only person wh's allowed to care for his hair

When you wear cute clothes, he blushes slightly and looks at you affectionately and meanwhile Youko stirs inside him

He sometimes lets you find cute stuffed animals or accessories on your bed, and then he pretends he didn't put them there ("That? No, I didn't give it to you.")

Hiei

He doesn't understand you: he can't understand why you care yourself so much, and he refuses to join you if you ask him this

Despite this, one day, after seeing his sister getting her hair done by Kazuma (Hiei wanted to kill him), he decided he would do the same to you: so, he combs your hair every morning

For a while, he never gave you accessories or stuffed animals, since he thought they were useless; however, everything changed when, one day, he gave you a hair clip he had found during a mission, and he saw your happiness born from that small gesture

"I found it lying around and I thought only a person like you could wear that horror."

This is what he says every time he gives you something to wear, but it's clear he does it because he loves seeing you smile and seeing you with what he steals buys

Koenma

Like Kazuma, he also compliments you when you change your appearance, changing your hairstyle or wearing different and nice clothes every time

You two do skin treatment together: he always claims your hands have the power to make his skin soft ("Only (Y/N) can touch my face! Only she has magic hands!")

He gives you everything you want: have you seen a nice hairpin? You'll find it in your room. Have you expressed your desire for a dress? It'll be yours immediately

He forces his subordinates to have their hair or make-up done whenever you want poor Jorge

When he can (once a day), he gives you a stuffed animal

💮 Rules 💮 Masterlist 💮

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family Exhibition Pamphlet

I got my copy of the Spy x Family exhibition pamphlet! I wanted to make HD scans of some of the notable pages and try to translate if I can.

First off is this great "Main Character Correlation Chart" (sorry for my amateur editing, all I have is MS Paint!)

I love how Bond has a different "bofu" (woof) for Loid and Yor!

Several of the pages show the creation process of the manga, starting with rough sketches to final drafts, using chapter 1 as an example. There were a lot of pages for this, so I just scanned the ones that showed the end of the chapter.

Probably the most interesting pages of the pamphlet are the early character designs/concept sketches. Most of these have already been shared by @sy-on-boy on her post here, but I thought it'd be cool to have them in HD! Unfortunately, even with higher quality images it's very difficult to decipher Endo's handwriting. I could make out just a few words here and there, and Google Lens is very unreliable when the writing isn't clear.

The first page has early concepts for the Forger family, Loid, Anya, the WISE logo, and the Eden uniform.

Things to note are that "Oscar" was a working name for Loid, as was "Yolanda" for Yor. What's also interesting is that a beta version of Franky is shown along with the Forgers. Unfortunately I can't make out the notes about him, but I think this has significance because of a sketch on the next page...

Most of the next page shows concept designs for Yor, with a section for Bond and Yor's coworkers on the bottom.

However, what's really intriguing is the sketch in the upper right of the whole family, titled 疑似家族 (pseudo family).

Once again, a Franky-looking character is with them, and he has the title "Uncle" (叔父) Was an uncle originally going to be part of the main Forgers? Was he actually related to Loid or Yor, or if that character did eventually become Franky, maybe he would just pretend to be Loid's brother? I can also make out the word "otaku" (オタク) in the notes for this character as well as "enjoying life" (人生を楽しんでる) Also in the notes for beta Yor it looks like 最強 (the best/strongest) and バカ (idiot/dummy) All I can make out for Loid's notes are 孤独 (loneliness) I think? And what's up with the older and more sinister looking Anya? She really looks like Ashe there. But these are all just early concept designs/notes so I wouldn't take them too seriously.

The next page titled "East and West During the Cold War" has concept designs for Franky, Yuri, Fiona (referred to as a female WISE spy), a male WISE spy, Melinda, and various assassins from the cruise arc.

The first interesting thing to point out is the notes next to the very crudely drawn woman at the bottom of Yuri's concept designs. It says "Yuri's girlfriend?"(ユーリの 彼女?) though I can't make out clearly what the rest of it says. For the Franky designs, I could make out "tsukkomi or boke". So it looks like at some point Endo was deciding whether to make him more of a tsukkomi (straight man) or boke (wise guy) personality. There's also mention of giving him a high IQ (IQ高い). Also, the fact that the sketches include Melinda and the cruise arc assassins gives the impression that Endo had ideas for these story elements very early on.

But the character relationship chart in the lower left is really intriguing.

I'm not sure how accurate these translations are so take them with a grain of salt, but they do make sense to me. But I have to wonder why Anya and Becky are connected to Desmond. For Becky, it could be because her family has ties to the Desmonds, but why Anya? Could the "mysterious institute/lab" she comes from have ties to Desmond too? Again, these could just be early concepts from ideas that Endo is no longer using, so best not to take them literally. Also, the lack of Shopkeeper/Garden in the character relationship charts, the concept art, and the exhibition overall, really does portray them as a "mysterious organization" that Endo perhaps didn't plan out until later in the series' development and is still trying to figure out. But as far as this sketch, I have to say that despite how terribly crudely drawn all their little heads are, it's easy to identify every character...proof of Endo's top notch character design skills!

Another sketch that stands out is on the same page...

It's a very rough drawing of what appears to be either Loid holding Yor or Yor holding Loid with Anya next to them. But honestly it's such a rough drawing it could be any other parents+child. All I can make out of the text directly above is "My wife is stressed!? At this rate..." And the drawing next to it also appears to be two parents and maybe two children? I also have no clue what the "WJ4C 9/20, etc" at the top means. Very mysterious sketch, lol.

The next page has Eden related concepts, including Becky, Damian, George, and various teachers. The drawings in the bottom section appear to be an alternate/abbreviated version of how the Forgers met.

Pretty funny that an image of Franky is covering what's supposed to be a sketch of Demetrius. The text from Franky says "I can't show you this information yet" which is pretty solid proof that Demetrius will make an appearance in the series eventually. There's also nicknames for Damian and Demetrius in the notes - "Dami" and "Demi."

Some notes on the Eden page says there's 2,000 students in the school, with 13 grades divided into 8 classes/houses. The chart on the left is a list of teacher names and their classes, all of which are given names of colors. None of the teacher names have been used so far in the series.

And all that's on the last page of sketches is a continuation of the previous page with the early concept of how the Forgers started (it honestly looks pretty cute, wish it wasn't just rough sketches). And the following section looks like drafts Endo did for promotional material.

The final pages of the pamphlet are the new extra mission chapter which I already fully translated here.

And that's all I'm going to share for now from the pamphlet! I could spend more time trying to decipher the concept art notes but it was giving me a headache after a while, lol. But if anyone wants to try translating them, go ahead (I have higher quality png files of all the scans if needed...they were too big for Tumblr). And again, these sketches are just trial and error pre-serialization ideas that don't necessarily reflect Endo's final vision for the series, so I wouldn't dwell on them much other than for fun theorizing.

The pamphlet does have other interesting information, including an interview with Endo, a timeline of his work on Spy x Family and other manga, and his notes about random things from the series. So I might return to translating the pamphlet at a later date when I have time/motivation.

[lady-lilly-gray]

another thoery post from lilly?

Is Madame Red is a bizarre doll? and, to that point: How will Grelle be reintroduced to the story?

Let's get straight to it: why do I think Madame Red is a Bizarre Doll?

She's a well-loved character in and out of canon

She would fit with UT’s desire to protect the phantomhives

Not only is she part of the family through marriage, but she also cared deeply for them all, especially vincent

She has appeared in multiple arcs since her death

Undertaker even mentioned her in the Battle of the Ballroom when Grelle chastising him for toying with human lives (in regards to the introduction of Bizarre Dolls)

Specifically, also, she is in the lineup of characters O!Ciel faces in his fever dream in the Emerald Witch arc, which also included several Bizarre Dolls we’ve seen since: R!Ciel, Doll (and even Joker, for those who think he’s Polaris; I don’t)

Arguably the most important reason (in my opinion): Undertaker was the one to handle her funeral!!

Additional things to think about:

Re: Vincent -- “his body was reduced to ash; not even the bones remains”

This means that UT was likely present for the fire or very shortly after it

If i remember correctly, Reapers store Cinematic Records in their death scythes; UT’s reason for smuggling his out could have been for this exactly

This I'm actually pretty sure is anime canon per Will the Reaper, which Yana-san has admitted to liking so even if it’s not explicitly stated in the manga, it’s possibly canon…

All this to say: did he manage to collect Vincent and/or Rachel’s records? If so…

Will Undertaker try to revive Rachel Phantomhive in her sister’s body?

But onto the Main Event of this post: Madame Red v. Grelle

At this point in the story, I can’t imagine Grelle and Othello not popping up in the hotel arc; we’ve literally had both Ronnie and Will; we haven’t seen either of them in a while; and Othello is probably gonna be integral for learning even more info about Undertaker.

What about Grelle?

When Chapter 149 first came out, a lot of fans were worried about how Grelle’s hair was styled: in a side ponytail. Why? Because there is a common trope in manga where a woman (typically a mother: lest we forget the reason behind the Jack the Ripper murders) who is shown with this hairstyle is later decapitated.

For Example, Ryouko Fueguchi in Tokyo Ghoul;

If Yana-san is smart, she won’t kill Grelle for two reasons:

She is a well-loved character. Of course, she did kill Agni and Snake; but that’s exactly why I feel like a third death of a major character will only occur if it’s someone who’s death would personally affect O!Ciel -- he just doesn’t care enough about Grelle.

Given her changed of address from “okama” to “onna” [woman] some years ago, Yana-san is well aware of the controversy surrounding her canonically queer characters, especially Grelle; I’m sure she knows it was not the Best Look to make a trans character a serial killer* and thus, I can’t imagine her then killing off a beloved queer character

*Whether or not the Red Butler arc is bad rep is a conversation for a different day, preferably given by someone who is actually trans.

This brings me to my next point: Will Grelle die protecting Othello?

I know some fans seem to think so. Admittedly, the whole “I’m weak at battle” conversation that happens at the Manor definitely comes across as foreshadowing such; but I like to believe it to be a red (ha!) herring: a fake out.

What I propose will happen is this:

Grelle will have a Red Butler pt. 2 square up with Madame Red. Like the Romeo and Juliet fight, she will once again lose her Death Scythe to her opponent—Madame Red this time. She will be backed against a wall, we’ll see Madame Red ready to go in for the kill; and we will see her ponytail fall to the ground with an ominous sound effect (a splat, for example) that implies someone getting fatally wounded. End Chapter

BUT the next chapter will reveal that Othello actually came in and killed Madame Red, sneaking up behind her. After all, the way to take down a Bizarre Doll is just to bash in their head—and their heads are supposedly easier to break than on the average living human. With the element of surprise on his side, I have faith Othello can pull it off <3

edit: omg I just realised that if her hair gets chopped off where her ponytail is currently situated it'll be about the length as in the Will the Reaper OVA !! (and we know Yana-san loves this ova to boot !!)

[felixcloud6288]

Dungeon Meshi Adventurer's Bible World Part 8

Art Gallery

This section is a collection of various comics and illustrations used for promotional material, given out during expos, or used to make merchandise.

There's a mini book in the middle of the gallery that I think deserves its own post.

The Delicious in Dungeon Department Store Basement Edition

This comic was a reader request that was published in Morgen Harta, a section of Harta Comix.

The party is at a shopping plaza hoping to buy Falin a birthday cake, but they end up buying other things instead.

The setting appears to be Dungeon Meshi in the modern world. The crowds of people include the various races such as Tall-men, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and apparently beastmen.

Laios's map also has an indicator for a phone and ATM.

Senshi is the only one who I will not fault for getting distracted. I too would get mesmerized by the produce section.

They abandoned Chilchuck.

How many vegetables did Senshi buy?

No one was around to stop Laios. Falin would probably love that even more than the cake she asked for.

Travel Manga Fair

This comic was drawn for the Where Will You Go? Travel Manga Fair.

Dungeon Meshi puts a lot of emphasis on the logistics needed for long-term exploration that gets ignored in most RPGs so it fits right at home at a travel-themed manga fair.

This comic feels like it could easily fit right at the beginning of chapter 2. It opens with Laios giving a lecture on how daily living supplies like clothes, food, and shelter are more important than high quality equipment, skilled companions, and dungeon knowledge. He then directs the lecture to the benefits of foraging for food in the dungeon.

Senshi is the only one impressed by his presentation though.

But the comic ends by pointing out that they still need equipment, companions, and knowledge while in the dungeon because otherwise they'll be the ones eaten.

Write Your Name

This was a bonus comic originally distributed at the 2019 Harta Expo.

After deciding to join Laios's party, Marcille has to go through all the initial work for a new adventurer including writing an application to the island, registering with the party, buying her supplies, and then putting her name on everything for identification purposes.

Some of the items in the list of things to buy are obscure but here's what I was able to note:

backpack

sleeping bag

waterskin

cup

plate

walking shoes

rope

coat

knife

compass

ten foot pole (what?)

writing material

fire starter

medicine

cooking pot

The main joke at the end is they went highly overboard and Falin's bad embroidery job made everyone misread Marcille's name.

In Japanese, Marcille's name is spelled マルシル (ma-ru-si-ru), but because of Falin's bad embroidery job, Shuro thought her name was ユルシル (yu-ru-si-ru, might be romanized as Yurcille) and Chilchuck thought her name was ユルツル (yu-ru-tu-ru, might be romanized to Yurtle)

Gender Swap

This was part of a special booklet called "Reverse Fellows" that was included with Harta Issue 57.

Laios uses a magic mirror to find out if he'd have become friends with Shuro if Laios had been a woman. When that doesn't give him the results he wanted, he starts asking it to show the world of everyone being gender-swapped.

If my source is right, Harta #57 was published August 2018.

Miscellaneous monster Tales 6 is the first time a mirror monster is brought up. MMT6 is part of volume 6 which was published in April 2018. However the description of the mirror monster doesn't match later descriptions of magic mirrors. It could be something else entirely, or it could have been a prototype concept that didn't make it into the main canon.

The first mention of Magic Mirrors in the main series was volume 60's title image and the first actual appearance of a magic mirror was in chapter 62. Chapter 60 was published December 2019 and chapter 62 was published March 2020.

All this is me trying to point out that this comic is the actual first proper debut of Magic Mirrors.

This version of magic mirrors seems a bit more benign than the one in canon though. Laios asked to see a specific thing and the mirror complied whereas the one in Mithrun's background was used to bait him into becoming a dungeon lord.

Fem-Laios looks like his mother, and her eyes look so dead. Meanwhile, masc-Falin looks like Laios. Falin did say she and Laios look the same.

The fem-Shuro scenario would have turned out very bad. I personally think Laios wouldn't have acted any differently, but his pushy antics would have come across very differently if Shuro was a woman. Especially the part where he forces her into the party against her will.

Masc-Marcille has elf-shaped eyes. Does this imply his mother was the Tall-man instead?

Izutsumi looks the same.

Fem-Chilchuck looks like Meijack without freckles. Her hair is the style Chilchuck gave Marcille.

Yes.

YES!!

I want to imagine that these are fem-Kaka and masc-Kiki.

Fem-Kabru would have become Laios's lover.

I had a complete meltdown at this shot of the moon.

I was ready to write a whole essay explaining that this crescent shape means the planet axial tilt would have to be around 90 degrees, in other words, the planet would have an east and west pole instead of a north and south pole. But then I found a regular crescent moon in MMT14 so I can just throw all that out.

It could just be a mistake or a stylistic choice by the author, but considering the scenario where this is from a world where everyone's gender is swapped, I want to propose that the earth and moon's genders also got swapped and it caused the earth to tilt to its side.

Illustrations

Skipping over the next section, the book ends with several promotional illustrations. I'm going to focus on my favorites.

One image added in the Complete edition is the party wearing modern clothes over their dungeon attire. Laios is the only one who looks odd since he's still wearing his armor.

Marcille in the modern day would definitely have an instagram and she'd definitely post pictures of food.

A haunted library could have made an interesting chapter while they were on the third floor. At some point, everyone would have gotten distracted by a book of something they liked.

Amazing keychain idea.

The Touden, Shuro, and Kabru teams, along with special guest Namari participate in a raid fight against a giant tortoise.

Laios or Marcille was probably carrying the platter of watermelon slices when the tortoise attacked. Namari managed to climb its head but got blown away by Marcille's explosion.

back

[aihoshiino]

So I actually only just found out that OnK ended and I think I only read up to where S1 of the anime finished, so imagine my horror when I learned that not only did AquaRu happen (technically? I know there was a kiss, at least), but that Aqua dies after coming up with what's probably the stupidest plan I've ever heard of. I'm going off of this from the wiki, btw, so feel free to correct me if I'm missing anything, but I thought this story was going to be a critique on the entertainment industry mixed in with a "catch the killer" plot when I first started, yet it just looks like nobody learned anything by the end of it and the villain's defeat was underwhelming.

Good news! AquRuby did not really happen.

Bad news! AquRuby did not really happen.

Honestly, to this day, I have no idea wtf Akasaka was cooking when it came to the AquRuby stuff... my best guess is that because Oshi no Ko was influenced pretty strongly by Mengo's past works & Aka was trying to emulate some elements of it (to good effect, sometimes!) the AquRuby stuff was inserted to appeal to her and it actually playing out on page was them being like "lalala, playing with our toys" and wasn't ever something the two of them took really seriously.

By coincidence I ended up rambling about this off tumblr the other day, so I'll just grab what I said and slap it here so I'm not just repeating myself;

I'm gonna be so real, I don't think an AquRuby ending was ever something anybody on the series including Mengo ever took all that seriously as a direction the series was going to take. Despite what a lot of people will try and tell you, Ruby and her relationship with Aqua were just never really written remotely in the sort of way you would build up your endgame heroine. Prior to 123 it wasn't really something the series tabled in any meaningful way and even past 123, Ruby's apparent attraction to Aqua is largely just played as shallow brocon gag fodder. It's only when the manga talks about her love for Gorou that it takes her remotely seriously and even then that's dropped like a rock past 150 and never addressed again. The biggest red flag for me though is that the series never actually addresses the concept of incest in the context of Aqua and Ruby's relationship. It is the one big major roadblock to a hypothetical romance between them but the roadblock that is actually, textually floated by the narrative is Gorou and Sarina's past life age gap which is, as Ruby repeatedly asserts, no longer an issue. It's honestly bizarre to see a series have a whole ass subplot about a character falling in love with their blood related twin and pursuing it to the point of forcing a kiss on them and just... never ever address the concept of incest??? It ends up feeling kind of deliberate - like, Akasaka knew that the second the obstacle that is the social taboo of incest came up on-panel it would be the death knell for being able to shiptease AquRuby (and thus, get clicks and attention from hyping it up for better or worse). So we get the... whatever the hell he was cooking that happened on page.

[In response to a comment asserting that Ruby was "absolutely written as the main heroine" as refutation to the above;]

When I say that Ruby was not built up as the main/endgame heroine, I mean moreso in the sense that for over half of the manga, she and Aqua just... don't really have a relationship that is given weight and consequence in the story in comparison to their individual relationships to the other characters. Even before the story was seriously teasing the idea of a romance between them this was always a point of critique in the fandom - hell, if you go back and read comments on it from around 2022 onwards, Ruby's sidelining and the lack of meat to her and Aqua's relationship is always something people have (imo, rightfully) had issue with. And like, sure, maybe Akasaka just wanted her status as the final/true heroine to be a surprise but even if that's what he was going for, there were tons of opportunities in the first 120+ chapters of the manga to properly sow those seeds. I know this is The low hanging fruit to point at and I know we're all aware that Aka deliberately orchestrated this moment to make sure Aqua and Ruby wouldn't discover each other's past identities before he decided it wanted to happen, but it's still characterization that Aka chose to put on the page and informs Aqua's character - Akane and Ruby found a literal dead body and instead of checking in on his sister, Aqua chose to spend time with (and kiss!) Akane. It would've been extremely easy to include Ruby more prominently in moments like chapter 68 when Aqua thinks about living a normal life free of revenge, or when Gorou confronts him in 65 about his 'happy life filled with love'. Even in the anime which makes a point of emphasizing Ruby more in Aqua's 'happy memory' montage from chapter 50's material fails to do this. Or hell, maybe even have it be a point of conflict during the AquAka 'real dating' period, that he ends up prioritizing Ruby more than Akane to a degree that it causes conflict in the relationship and clearly betrays where his real feelings lie. But none of that really happens. Hell, even after 123, Aqua and Ruby still barely interact and all the newfound intensity in that relationship comes primarily from Ruby doing brocon gag bits every time they make eye contact. Even the kiss is difficult to really take seriously because it has absolutely zero impact on Aqua and Ruby both individually and as a duo. It does not affect any change in the series whatsoever to the point where I legit don't even know whether it's been retconned out of continuity or not. That just doesn't feel to me like a 'main heroine' whose feelings and relationship to the main character are being taken seriously by the author. That's why the whole "btw i was reincarnated to be ruby's attack dog them kms" resolution at the end of the series feels so jarring and would have done with or without any AquRuby ship teasing. It was the story trying to cash cheques vis-a-vis the twins' relationship it hadn't bothered to write.

[stillness-in-green]

At some point in answering asks, I managed to accidentally delete one. Luckily, I copy asks into a separate document for answer composition purposes, so I still had this one in the queue in the order it was sent. My apologies to the asker if they sent this under a screen name I can no longer remember for tagging purposes! I hope you see it anyway!

Now that the manga has met its end will you include the last bits of it in yours "On Heteromorphs and Heteromorphobia"? I know there's not much but I'm still curious to hear you out on the final bits.

Off the top of my head, I think the only thing I would be liable to talk about would be Shouji’s “peace prize” for “resolving incidents,” and the continued hypocrisy of praising the protesters for their strong feelings while ignoring the Villains who drummed those feelings up in the first place.

There would probably also be some vitriol about how, to my resounding lack of surprise, the only person shown doing anything to address heteromorphobia is a victimized heteromorph, while the best the broader society can manage is to give him an award named after Horikoshi's editor.(*) No word on whether that award comes with e.g. a monetary grant Shouji can invest in furthering his work, or what kind of assistance, if any, Shouji has been getting already. It's a marked contrast to Uraraka's updates and improvements to quirk counselling, in which matter we're explicitly told she's getting extensive support from her fellow Heroes, the HPSC, and the Ministry of Education!

(*The same editor, by the way, who we know from the last data book gave Horikoshi his "objective opinion" on the hospital material, which he praises for the care and thoughtfulness put into its writing. Maybe Horikoshi should have asked for an educated opinion rather than an "objective" one.)

As far as the peace prize and the alleged sensitivity of the writing of the hospital sequence, the barbs above notwithstanding, I don’t think there’s anything I can say that’s more vital and incisive than @codenamesazanka’s personal, eloquent testimony and critical analysis here. I did touch on the two-faced praise of the protesters in the essay itself, and at more length in my chapter thoughts post for Chapter 373. Therefore, I'm unlikely to dedicate a specific post to discussing the end of the series here, though if and when I ever get around to posting the essay to AO3, I may go ahead and do so there!

That said, heteromorphobia is a topic I’m keeping an eye on as I do my reread of Vigilantes, which I’ve been posting publicly over on my Patreon, no membership required.  I’m not being as methodical about it there as I was for the main series, but it’s come up several times in only two volumes, including observations about:

Who takes Trigger willingly versus who gets attacked with it.

How Knuckleduster’s targeting of anyone with an “evil-looking” face aligns with the rhetoric of people who attack heteromorphs. (Though by all means, Knuckleduster’s definition of “evil-looking” is pretty expansive!)

Rapt’s willingness to self-identify as a lizard and how it maps to his socio-economic position, as well as how that intersection is consistent with the same patterns we saw in the main series.

I’ve been away from the reread for a bit – working on asks here and a major project for Akane Banashi that I’ll be posting the first portion of here sometime tomorrow or Monday – but I’ll be getting back to it soon, after another round of inbox work here!

I appreciate your continued interest in my thoughts on the topic! And thank you for the ask as well!

[taki118]

Yakuza Fiance ep 7 Manga Comparison

Ok we are getting into things now, again comparing the anime adaptation to its manga chapters and seeing what was lost. Warning I am using fanstranslations cause I'm lazy.

The train scene isn't so bad but again we loose out on some set up

I guess maybe spoiler? But Tsubaki shows up later and we get this cute image of her but the more important cut is what happens right after.

Yoshino starts talking about people she knows, and how she could easily hook Kirishima up with some good deals and such. This is kinda an important detail for the arc like in ep 6 where they removed her being more of a tour guide this helps to show that Yoshino is more tuned in than you'd assume, Kirishima included. She's reliant on him in Tokyo cause she's new there. (There's also the character beat missed in her saying he has theses connections too but his have.......different circumstances) Anyway this is what leads into the keychain scene. I do like how the anime leaves him dumbfounded holding them for a bit would have appreciated a little more of a linger maybe a simple zoom in for emphasis though.

Nao's scene with her college, I think club members, is cut down a bit you don't miss much but it is made apparent how she's not liked by the female members and that she's manipulating the guys more (we'll see this later too) I think the only real loss is this bit

Nao's internal thoughts are always pretty funny as she's really shows he mean side better. What's more of a loss is her thoughts on the bus.

This shows that Nao did her own digging the morning after from seeing the lock screen and putting that together with the new info she gets. It's interesting how Yoshino is described and how the word has spread (though its probably intentional by Kirishima) Anyway it gives a little more depth to Nao so its a shame.

Meeting and talking with Yoshino is similar but again we loose more Nao thoughts.

She's so low key bothered by the fact that Yoshino doesn't know who she is. (Spoiler she does girl you got played so bad)

Like Nao really just has the meanest thoughts (I really should do my dedicated metas) The only other thing to note is the manga makes it clear that during the elementary school incident she was already in middle school.

The bedroom scene with Yoshino and Shoma is basically the same the main difference being some Yoshino thoughts as she looks into things on the phone and this cute little interaction at the end

Again overall the Nao and Ozu confrontation is similar but some details are lost such as Ozu mentioning she's been ignoring his calls. But they did take out something pretty important for context.

Ozu explains himself and his actions a little more here in the manga (and kind of Kirishima's own) this leans into Ozu mentioning him more smoothly.

We also get a little more on why he wanted Yoshino too

Also Nao is more shocked in the manga all her assumptions about Yoshino kinda dying in an instant.

The aquarium "not a date" date is pretty close but we do loose some stuff as well. Like this cute moment from Yoshino

(Showing her naturally lazy side, haha)

Then we get more info on Yoshino's license and why Kirishima wants one

(He just wants to drive Yoshino around)

The volunteer club scene is pretty much the same but we get more dialogue implying that Nao isn't as good at covering her intentions as she thinks (I seriously think she doesn't actually do anything in the club)

Soooo they again cut some context as Kirishima explains about his um "patron" situation

Just saying a lot of things should start clicking when you hear this, again I really should get to work on my deep dives.

Anyway the scene after is pretty one for one which I'm grateful for but this might just be a me thing I think the phone interruption scene is a bit off

In the manga we never really see Kirishima's face outside of his fake smile so I always got the impression he let his mask slip for a moment in frustration at being interrupted the anime lets us see and I think it doesn't give the same impact.

Also while her talk with Shoma doesn't leave much out the framing of the shot isn't as impactful

Shoma really looks a little scared here, probably cause he knows how she gets when shes mad, but the anime he comes off just looking confused.

The scene with Kirishima and Nao is similar cut down a bit so feel the switches in tone more quickly than the manga though thats not too bad I did like how his VA handled it. Though we loose him implying Nao was going to try and use Yoshino and this line

The rest of the scene pans out basically the same again with just some added back and forth in the manga and more character hints. Like with the other shots I mentioned though I think the manga does a better job at conveying how panicked and surprised Kirishima is that Yoshino pulled one over on him

I think with just a little camera work the scene could have been really great.

I'll end things though with just how pretty and bad ass Yoshino looks in the manga like anime isnt bad but like

You really can't compare.

[saotome-michi]

Because this past month has been so busy, I've been doing what I usually do when I'm stressed and emotionally haggard... binge reading romance manga

So here are my rapid-fire romance manga reviews!! (note: yes these include spoilers)

Yubisaki to Renren

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon

Hotaru no Yomeiri

How I Met My Soulmate

Oneechan no Midori-kun

You Might As Well Be The One

Pink to Habanero

Yubisaki to Renren by Morishita Suu

I can see why this is popular, but frankly I find the main couple to be kinda bland. The two leads both have potential as individual characters and I enjoy their interactions with the side characters (that one chapter where the Male Lead goes to the public bathhouse with the Female Lead's Dad? Probably my favorite moment in the entire series thus far), but when they're together?? It's the innocent, shy girl with less world experience x more confident guy with a lot more world experience dynamic that so many romance stories have, just with sign language added on top of it. (Rating: 6/10)

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon by Kousaka Rito (Art) and Agitogi Akumi (Story)

This is very much your typical "abused girl gets into an arranged marriage with the Nation's No.1 Bachelor who seems cold but actually has a heart of gold" romance. Just with a magic side-plot. Like, it's cute. But there's not much else to say. (Rating: 5/10)

Hotaru no Yomeiri by Tachibana Oreco

I was honestly really enjoying this one—the art is fantastic, Tachibana-sensei really outdid herself, and the main couple is cute in that devoted yandere way—but then there was a plot reveal that completely broke my sense of immersion. So basically the premise is that the protagonist, Satoko, is a noblewoman with a serious health condition and may not live much longer. She's of marrying age and she does want to get married to benefit her father, who she loves, however she wants her marriage partner to be aware of her health condition and the fact that she might not live that long after they're married. In the first chapter, she gets abducted and her captors take her to a lawless island full of brothels and sex workers. It's owned by some rich and powerful people so law enforcement turns a blind eye to the crimes here. The question is, who hired the criminals to abduct Satoko? The leading candidate was her stepmother and she is somewhat involved. But then we find out that the mastermind was actually her father and that he did it because he wanted, no needed, her to get married. His plan was that she'd meet a certain nobleman there and he'd save her, which would cause them to fall in love and get married. ... What? Dude what? ... WHAT???? It's one of the most ridiculous and needlessly risky plans I've ever heard. If he wanted to marry her off to a reputable family of high social status, why send her to PROSTITUTION ISLAND?? What if she died, got injured, or was raped?? She literally almost gets raped in the first chapter because of this!! Even just being to that island would damage her reputation, surely?? Was there really no easier and less risky plan?? I refuse to believe there wasn't, especially since it wasn't like Satoko was averse to getting married. Given how much she loved her father, I think all he had to do was pressure her more and give her the ultimatum, and she would've caved. Instead dude decided to go through this whole rigmarole instead. What the fuck. (Rating: 7/10, would be an 8 if this hadn't happened.)

How I Met My Soulmate by Anashin

This is a fairly solid romance manga, but I have some things I need to rant about: I have no complaints about the male lead, he's a decent, green-flags man overall. But he did inadvertently lead several women into suffering dental trauma, and while the brunt of that blame falls upon the god-awful dentist he's working for, I do think he should've confronted her more harshly about it instead of just being like "please treat them gently like you're capable of doing" :) I don't know maybe some people would call that the mature response, but I would've reported her ass to the dental board. What kind of medical professional deliberately inflicts pain on her patients because she's jealous of them??? Also oh my god again no complaints about the male lead, but HIS BROTHER??? Crazy man, who the fuck leaves for three years because he's convinced his (fake) girlfriend is actually fated for his brother??? Mind you, the gf and the brother have never, EVER expressed romantic interest towards each other, he just made this whole thing up in his mind because his brother was the only guy who didn't trigger the gf's anti-male allergy rash attacks. As for the female lead, she's fine, but it does annoy me when she gets insecure about things the male lead never gave her reason to be insecure about. Like I said, he's a pretty decent guy, so it's usually just her imagining problems. (Rating: 7/10)

Oneechan no Midori-kun by Meguro Amu

THIS IS A GEM. Really was not expecting much from this because of the premise—young girl falls in love with her older sister's boyfriend—but it's actually explored in a very sensible, mature, and heartfelt way. All three characters involved in this love triangle are very sympathetic and likeable characters, and you never doubt for a second that each one loves the other two wholeheartedly, and just want what's best for them. I've only read up to Volume 4 so far, but I'm already so fond of these characters and I just want them to end up in a good place. Also, the art is adorable. Sui-chan (our protagonist) is adorable. I just want to pinch her cheeks. (Rating: 9/10)

You Might As Well Be The One by Seto Megumu

College girl who wants a serious relationship falls in love with a guy who flat out says he doesn't do serious relationships. Imo this is an easy set up to mess up and spiral into melodrama with, but I think this manga makes it work by clearly showing first how well these two characters click together. From the moment they meet, the chemistry is evident, the conversation flows smoothly, they have shared interests, a similar sense of humor; they just clearly like each other and enjoy each other's company. Connections like that are rare, so you can understand why the female lead continues to pursue a guy who bluntly tells her he only fools around with girls, or why the male lead is unable to draw clear boundaries and continues to hang around a girl who he knows has romantic feelings for him. Neither behaves the way that they should... but you kinda get it. Depending on your past relationship experience you might even find it relatable. (Rating: 8/10)

Pink to Habanero by Satonaka Mika

This is a cute highschool romance, so I can see why it's popular, but to be honest I didn't find it interesting enough to keep reading (I dropped it after volume 5) It's your typical clumsy, nice girl x blunt, cool boy dynamic. (Rating: 6/10)

[ocelotlesbian]

I don’t know if someone’s asked this before, but when/how did you first discover or get into TBHK, and has Mitsuba always been your favorite character?

also funny thing i’ve thought about: I reread the first 10 manga volumes (since i only have the First Stall box set), and the Picture Perfect arc is the second or third time that a piece of media I like includes a plotline where the characters are stuck in a perfect world where all their desires are fulfilled and (at first) a few main cast members are aware and want to get out. there’s also the Rebellion movie for Madoka Magica (one of my favorite pieces of media ever probably) where Homura makes (and finds out she’s in) a perfect ideal world. and lastly, making this not two but three nickels, there’s Persona 5 Royal, a game i have but have not yet played (but have awareness of the plot and characters), where near the end of the game one of the “side characters” makes a perfect world wherein the protagonist and all his party/team members get their wishes granted, and they have to make their way back to reality. idk I just find it interesting and funny that this sort of scenario has happened so often in things I like (and it’s a cool idea so i don’t mind it being in these stories so often). is it like a particularly common idea?

uh sorry for the ramble after asking my initial question which is probably the more important part of the ask. i got carried away talking about the observation i had

right off the bat: i also love rebellion!!! such a cool movie, i love pmmm

and second off: i discovered jshk in the winter of 2022 when i was bored & wanted to watch something on hulu. i browsed what was available to watch, and i found the anime!!! i was immediately obsessed and shortly after started reading the manga (using the physical volumes since at the time i was a physical only reader, but i started reading it online too), and it was downhill from there :p

and for the record, yes mitsuba has always been my favorite!!! <3 at the time of freshly watching the anime i also liked other characters / considered them "favorites" (mainly nene i think?) since my opinion wasn't fully formed yet but even then mitsuba was still #1 and i immediately drew fanart of him. and then over the years my love for him just developed and grew and blossomed, and now i'm the superfan i am today (*´ω｀*) so that's my backstory lolololol

[crystalclear365]

Mega Man AU #1: Apple Cider

Hey everyone! I said in this post that I was going to make individual posts for each AU I had in mind (with the exceptions of the last three, two of them aren't really AUs (one is a crackfic rewrite) and the other is a secret project). And now, here we are! I’ll try and go in the order of the list I presented, so after I explain this one, Unbreakable Bonds is up next!

I uh - I also created another one that wasn't mentioned on the list, so it'll be getting its own post too...

I think what I'll do after making all of the posts is that I'll create one final post, and it'll be a poll on what AU I should start working on/upload first, mainly for two reasons. The first reason is that I can't decide which one I want to do, because my main focus keeps shifting back and forth. And the second reason is that there's absolutely no way I'll be able to work on all of them simultaneously. Look, I might be ambitious, delusional even, and I might have a strong creative drive, but even I know that this would be a one-way ticket to Burnout Town - and I'm not trying to head there. Not only that, I want to see what you guys think! (Plus, I still have to write the sequel to How Are We Friends?...)

Alright, I think I'm done. Let's get into the whole point of this post lol

So, what is Apple Cider? Besides being the name of a drink (and a song!), Apple Cider is the name of a human farmer/country AU I've created (it's probably been done before, but anyway-). The main plot of this AU is about the Lights and the Wilys, who are both farmers, feuding with each other of the course of the story.

Oh, did I mention that they were neighbors? Like - next-door neighbors? I mean, there's a vacant house in the middle that separates them, but we'll get to that later.

Throughout their small history with each other, it's been (mostly) nothing more than a petty rivalry between Light and Wily, which is passed down to their kids. But it's all cool though. It's not like they all secretly hate each other or anything. They're chill. Trust.

Getting more into the characters themselves, I'll start with the Lights.

The father is Thomas Light himself (50s). The oldest in the family is X Light (15) The second oldest is Blues (14), and the youngest are Rock and Roll (12).

Side note: Most of the X series cast is older than the classic gang. Although the classic gang is technically older than them because of when they were built in canon, the X series characters' AIs or whatever are older than them. (Rock is ten in canon, and in the first game of the X series, X is canonically fifteen years old.)

In the beginning, Blues is absent from the plot (but also not really) because he ran away from home. I won't disclose most of the reason why, because I feel like it'd be funnier if you all found out when the chapters get uploaded, but part of it is because he had a falling out with Light. However, he's still relevant because he keeps in contact with Rock for the first few chapters via mail. :) (He gives him good older brother advice 👍)

Now for the Wilys.

The father is our good old friend, Albert Wily (50s). He's still petty in this. Anyway-

The oldest is Zero (15), the second oldest is Bass (13), and the youngest is Piano (10)!

For those of you wondering who the heck Piano is, she was a cut character from the Megamix manga, who was supposed to be Roll's counterpart, and monitor Bass. I decided to start including her more into my AUs, because she's a really interesting character, and it's a shame that she doesn't get mentioned often. (If you want to find out more about Piano, you can look here! The wiki was where I got most of my information about her lol)

Each person's counterpart or so have a different relationship with each other. Zero and X are best friends (because why wouldn't they be? They're literally THE duo), Bass and Rock are uh... they fight a lot, to Rock's misfortune. Bass and Blues’ dynamic is a bit different. They're just really competitive with each other. And Piano and Roll are friends, but they get into arguments often. They usually come around, though.

The families' rivalry with each other, although normally all in good fun, can grow intense, due to its bitter roots. (I won't share how this all started, but I'll give a huge hint: Light’s ex-wife. Do with that as you will.) And unfortunately, a certain family gets caught in the middle of it all. The Cossacks.

They're the poor souls that move into the vacant house. Let's all hope that they can emotionally (and financially) recover when it's all said and done.

The Cossacks are a family of three, with the adult being Dr. Mikhail Cossack (40s) (I like to think that Dr. Cossack is a medical doctor in this. Just a fun little detail), Axl Cossack (14) (I don't care what anyone says, including canon, Axl was built by Cossack. Trust me), and Kalinka Cossack (12)!

I decided to do something interesting with Axl's character, and have him be adopted by Dr. Cossack. His real father is Red. Just a small detail. No need to worry about it or anything…

Anyway, these guys used to live in Mega City before deciding to pack up and move to Abel Town (I'm so sorry. That was the best that I could do. I know that Doppler Town exists, but I wanted to do this instead...). Axl's excited about the whole thing, while Kalinka is the complete opposite...

The Cossacks become good friends with both families, but unfortunately, this causes them to get caught in the crossfire of their stupidity. (But hey, at least the town has daily entertainment!) So not only do they have to get used to living in the country, but they have to navigate through drama. Fun times.

Besides the main cast, there are also going to be other characters present, such as Sigma (the town's mayor), Signas (the town's future mayor), Iris and Colonel, some robot masters like Splash Woman, Elec Man, Quick Man, and Ice Man, and Lumine! (He's not gonna show up for a while, but when he does... let's just say he has a certain agenda.)

To end off this long post, I like to share a few lines that I've written so far. I think it'll be funny for you guys to see them out of context :)

X swung the door open, agitated. “What the heck did ya do now?! I hadn’t even left y’all for five whole minutes, and you mean to tell me you got into somethin’ you ain’t had no business gettin’ in to in that short of a timespan?!”

“...No, Bass. There’s no such thing as ‘orange cat behavior’. All cats act the same,” Zero sighed. “Bulls**t! Have you ever seen one of those fu–” His voice trailed off, and then went dead silent.

Roll and the others had heard of folktales passed down through the generations of those who lived in Abel Town about what happened to little boys and girls who wandered past that area. Some said Big Foot dragged them away to his cave, others said they would get snatched up by “The Sneaky Snatcher” if they did. Of course, none of them ever believed those stories, yet they still obeyed their parents and guardians.

“My sons?! You wanna talk ‘bout my sons?! Your oldest hair’s so long, it’s draggin’ ‘cross the durn floor, pickin’ up dirt ‘n stuff. And your other son looks like one of ‘em emus!” “Uhm, Dad?” Roll whispered. “I think the word is emo… and that’s not the right term for his hairstyle…” “Yeah, yeah, whatever. It’s all the same!” Light dismissed. Roll shook her head, then went back to setting up their area.

That's all for this post! Have a good night (or day), everyone! :D