#pretend you believe me and reread the manga

[fuanteinasekai]

Oh, hey. Maybe this is a good time to post the thing I've been trying to write for… more than a year. It keeps getting too long because I'm basically covering the entire manga, so instead I'm just going to hit the biggest points and let you fill in the gaps yourself.

In Volume 1, Natsume meets Tanuma for the first time. Much of the story revolves around Natsume's inability to tell what is ordinary and what is yokai, a problem he refers to twice as his "unstable world." This weakness is a major running theme, and he shares it with all other powerful characters. It is likely one of the main reasons they choose to live in isolation or in the exorcist/magical world. Focusing on this in the story about meeting Tanuma may have originally been meant to highlight his fear that Tanuma wasn't real, but it's the perfect foundation for his long-term arc.

In the author's note for Taki's storehouse arc (Volume 11), Midorikawa-sensei says this:

自分はおかしいのかもしれないと思っていた田沼にとって、不安定だった世界を肯定してくれる夏目の存在は大きな救いになったのに、自分はたいして夏目の力になれないというのはもう田沼が友人として抱えていかなければならないジレンマかなという気がします。 "For Tanuma who thought there might be something wrong with him, the presence of Natsume who affirmed his world that was unstable is a great relief, but Tanuma can’t really support Natsume himself. This is a dilemma I have a feeling he must be facing by now as a friend."

This "world that was unstable" is a clear reference to Natsume's "unstable world," but cannot actually be the same so it must be a parallel. The simplest possible interpretation is that the ideal solution to Tanuma's "dilemma" would be "affirming" Natsume's "world that was unstable." That is, the ideal conclusion to Tanuma's "dilemma" arc would be to somehow help Natsume navigate the boundaries between the yokai and ordinary world. In this same story, Tanuma is able to sense the location of the demon's leg before Natsume can see it.

In Volume 12's Omibashira arc, Tanuma spends most of the story sensing yokai-related things: Sensei not being Natsume, the bottle, the presence of the monkey oni, the separation of the yokai world itself, and Omibashira. Each of these is accompanied by the same "zawa" sound effect that accompanies Natsume encountering strong yokai energy. Tanuma gets hurt because he doesn't trust his senses, and tries to confirm Omibashira visually.

In Volume 16, Tanuma reveals he always knew Ito-san was not what she claimed to be, and that he had come to believe she was "an ayakashi or something like that" once he learned they were real. The same story reveals that Natsume's presence has stabilized Tanuma and allowed him to grow stronger physically and have fewer headaches and illness. In other words, Natsume's power offsets the negative effects of Tanuma's power.

In Volume 22, Tanuma has a vision while Natsume sleeps peacefully, adding another dimension to his sensitivity. Later he tells Natsume the staircase yokai is not the one he dreamed of because its face was different and it didn't feel "malevolent." As is often the case, Tanuma was dismissive of his vision (ability) until Natsume validated him.

Later in the same volume, we finally get the origin story for the Book of Friends. This implies a major turning point in the manga as a whole.

Tenjou-san, in Volume 23, is the story of the four boys and Homura-sempai's investigation of the eponymous possibly-cursed painting. At one point, Tanuma says this:

夏目の世界はあいまいなものがいっぱいなんだな　おれは…やっぱり時々夏目と同じ世界を見てみたいなと思う��ど　見えるものが違うからこそ確認しあえることもあるのかもしれないなって "Your world is full of uncertain things, huh? I… still feel like I want to see the same world as you, sometimes. But I also think sometimes it's because we see differently that we can confirm things with each other."

The context for this is not the painting, but rather Natsume's fear that Homura-sempai could be a yokai—Natsume's "unstable world." Natsume brings this up again at the end, but Tanuma's role remains unresolved. That's because this dialog was never meant to set up the end of Tenjou-san—it's meant to set up the end of his entire arc. Tanuma couldn't help yet because he doesn't accept that he can "judge the authenticity" of magical objects until By Invitation of the Queen in Volume 29. Realizing he can also sense who is human and who is yokai is yet to come. If he can tell the difference, that means his power offsets the negative effects of Natsume's power.

In Intermission Detectives, Volume 24, only Tanuma is able to ignore the unimportant and notice the significant yet tiny details. Nishimura and Kitamoto are preoccupied with the leading lady and what her beauty implies, while Natsume is too distracted by the possibility of a yokai in disguise to think about anything else, arguably too distracted to enjoy the movie. That means every Tanuma story between Tell Me Your Name and Village of the Sleeping Vessels has had a yokai in disguise—or the possibility of one—as a major plot point.

Village of the Sleeping Vessels introduces Tanuma's "light," an ability he has had few opportunities to use. The same story introduces Ban, a character who can somehow judge the authenticity of magical objects. Ban's name literally means "companion."

This is the beginning of the "female collector" storyline, which also has undertones of "growing up." Hence the combination of Reiko (Natsume's foil must grow up before him), Natsume's interest in magic (to be independent of his mentors/protectors), and Sensei's vulnerability as well as his frequent long excursions (to motivate Natsume's independence or reliability). Tanuma is central because he is meant to be Natsume's life-long partner, without whom Natsume cannot have the life he wants.

In an author's note, Midorikawa-sensei describes Tanuma as "surely able to support Natsume, but unable to come." This is a marked shift from the critical tone of most previous Tanuma notes, a shift which is maintained throughout the "female collector" stories. This is also the same "support" from Tanuma's "dilemma."

Like Intermission Detectives, By Invitation of the Queen (Volume 29) juxtaposes Tanuma's high perceptiveness with Natsume's confusion and fear of yokai in disguise. The same story is Natsume's first physical meeting with the "female collector" Shinobu. It is not a coincidence that she meets him at Tanuma's side, or that Tanuma is the "hero" of the story. His strengths will be relevant to the rest of Shinobu's storyline. Natsume is the one who realizes Tanuma has the power to sense what is real or not, and Tanuma himself is initially skeptical. However, his description of the "occult" fakes as "clean or pure" and Ban's dolls "oozing something sinister" suggests that he is sensing spiritual energy. It is also similar to how he described the yokai in the Volume 22.

Portrait of a Girl implies that Tanuma's power is significant through Matoba and Ban. Matoba's curiosity and the constant threat of meeting Tanuma builds tension, and Ban's shock at Tanuma's ability to see the light in the mirror suggests that they share the same rare ability. The ceiling yokai is able to hide from Ban by hiding from the mirror, implying Ban also shares Tanuma's weak sight. At another point, Natsume overhears an exorcist talking about his ability to use "good tools" even with fading (weak) sight. This isn't about Natsume or the regular exorcists, so it must be about Ban and his dolls, Tanuma, or both.

いつも友人の側に行きたい気持ちを抑えて蚊帳の外で待たなければならない田沼がすでに内側にいる状況 [や、一族の中で生きてきた的場さんの身内の事情や術具についてなど、] 描くことができて嬉しかったです。田沼は実際は出来ることは多いのに本人出来ることなんか大して無いと思ってしまうタイプかもしれないと感じました。 "I was happy drawing things like Tanuma, who has always had to wait outside the mosquito net, repressing the desire to go to his friend's side, but is suddenly on the inside […] I have a feeling Tanuma might be the type who thinks there's not much he can do when in reality he can do many things." (Volume 31) [n.b. the "mosquito net" idiom was used in Nitai-sama when Tanuma described being allowed to help "instead of being outside the mosquito net"]

Matoba is almost suicidally obsessed with "tools," his sister (perhaps spitefully) collects them, and Ban is a scout for magical things, so it makes sense during this storyline to focus on Tanuma's own ability to scout. However, there's little to no set-up for this ability in the manga. Even Tenjou-san, which was the perfect opportunity to hint at his ability with the painting, hinted at identifying yokai instead. The coexistence of the "pure" painting with the "pure" humans is not coincidental, but a retroactive hint to future readers that the ability to recognize what is "real" is the same whether the the "real" applies to an object or person.

So while Tanuma's ability to scout "powerful" tools may be important in the short term, it's a mere step toward his true power. The ultimate goal is to reveal that Tanuma's sensitivity to spiritual energy extends to yokai as well, and that he can tell Natsume what is yokai and what is not and even, it seems, what is malevolent and what is not. Through this, he would become irreplaceable, the only person Natsume can trust to give him peace, to affirm his unstable world, and to allow him to be as indifferent to random yokai as Shinobu.

The only thing that works against this is the inconsistency with which Tanuma appears to notice yokai. But this has been addressed through his "ability to judge authenticity." When Natsume first points out that Tanuma knew the box wasn't real, Tanuma initially dismisses his feelings as a "hunch," before going on to talk about how he never had a chance to be exposed to fakes before. He then admits that the "occult" collection felt "clean or pure," but he only noticed because he had Ban's dolls as comparison just before.

Natsume himself describes Tanuma to Natori as "cautious" and "deep thinking." In other words, he is the opposite of impulsive, only acting when he has gathered enough evidence to make a case. Tanuma would have felt things many times without reacting until he had more to go on. Fun fact: when Natsume first brings up Tanuma's power, he actually starts by talking about how he was "spinning in circles" "confusing [human matters] for ayakashi matters" unlike Tanuma who "sees people clearly." Midorikawa-sensei is a troll.

Tenjou-san (yes, again) addresses this gap from a different angle. When Natsume considers telling Nishimura and Kitamoto the truth, Tanuma suggests Natsume still needs the "space to be treated normally" "unlike me, who always worries and asks if there's something there." In other words, Tanuma feels bad about talking about yokai unnecessarily, which means he's not going to mention a feeling he doesn't think is important. This likely goes back to Volume 5, when Natsume admitted to lying about yokai and wanting to keep things "normal" between them. (The original Japanese is an incomplete sentence, but this is what he seemed to be getting at.) This is why, for example, Tanuma says he "didn't want to bother" Natsume when he wasn't sure he was possessed in Volume 8. He's not just unsure of himself—he's actively avoiding potential validation to give Natsume space. This is also probably why he gets more… excitable recently—the more Natsume talks about yokai, the less Tanuma feels the need to hide his interest.

All of this only addresses Tanuma's power and how it solves his dilemma. It is heavily implied that Tanuma's dilemma is at the heart of his sense of inadequacy and, in turn, his "characteristic sense of distance" from Natsume. This suggests that the reveal of the true extent of his power could lead to him being more open and finally closing that gap. But I'm not quite sure of this. Despite Tanuma's feeling of a "wall" between him and Natsume and being "unable to keep up," they're much closer than they used to be. This could mean that it's their closeness that will lead to revealing his power, thereby centering Natsume's emotional development rather than Tanuma's insecurity. And that matters because their emotional bond is at least as important as what their powers mean to each other.

While the hints at Tanuma's power have been comparatively subtle, his emotional support has not. Throughout the manga, Tanuma has helped guide Natsume through his anxiety and emotional trauma. He listens to him talk about his grandmother being an unwed mother with powers like him, confronts him over hiding his true needs, and sees through his lies or silence when others can't. In Volume 13, Tanuma's role in Kitamoto's story implies that he grounds Natsume and allows him to accept attachments to the town and the Fujiwaras. In the Volume 26 notes, Midorikawa even says that Natsume is able to deal with "sorting out his feelings" by spending time with Tanuma without even talking. This emotional connection is particularly evident with the Fujiwaras, whom Tanuma is invested in because of their importance to Natsume. In Volume 20, for example, his conversation with Natsume about the Fujiwaras is clearly framed as something between the two of them, that Taki can only observe.

This Fujiwara theme makes its appearance in Portrait of a Girl when Tanuma gets invested in Morio's relationship with his adoptive parents. These characters are an obvious mirror for Natsume and the Fujiiwaras. At the end of the story, it is also Tanuma who resolves Natsume's feelings of anxiety about why Morio sold off all of his parents' belongings. I had previously thought of Tanuma's emotional support as a kind of parallel to his power, but the mingling of the above with Tanuma's increasing involvement with the exorcist/magic world changed my mind.

Tanuma's emotional support relies on his empathy, understanding of people, and ability to see what others don't. It's not one single thing. When Natsume talks about Tanuma's ability to "see people" he also brings up his "night vision" which is a completely separate ability from all of the above. There is overlap in the abilities he uses to help Natsume with the ordinary world (e.g. Fujiwaras) and the abilities he uses to understand what is yokai and what is ordinary. This is why By Invitation of the Queen is simultaneously about Tanuma's ability to see through people and his ability to sense the "purity" of the box. Tanuma's extraordinary perceptiveness is an entire collection of talents, all of which he can use to see what Natsume can't, to give Natsume inner peace, to allow him to live in the moment instead of constantly looking over his shoulder. But only if he's there—just as Natsume can only offset Tanuma's sensitivity if he's present.

If Natsume is allowed to support Tanuma in the same (or similar) ways, and if Tanuma realizes how powerful he truly is and Natsume allows him to help, then their relationship will be truly balanced. They will be able to support each other in all ways, in all worlds, without worrying about being too much or too little.

This is what makes Tanuma the Sasame to Natsume's Misuzu—without whom Natsume cannot be "fulfilled" even when "surrounded by liveliness." It's what makes him the light in the dark forest, Natsume's guide through the fog that all with sight suffer. Tanuma may need Natsume to live, but Natsume needs Tanuma to live.

[bothzangetsus]

what are your thoughts on ichigo being an almost all forgiving guy, who is never angry or rancorous? he forgives urahara after soul society by saying ‘you did nothing wrong’, he told isshin to talk to him whenever he was ready in fake karakura after he appeared as a shinigami and then later on ten thousand years he was shown undestanding at the fact that his whole heritage was hidden to him, he forgot omz for lying to him, went to soul society to recover ginjou’s body even after what he and tsukishima did to him, and is shown as someone who can work with past enemies (like grimmjow, who blew a hole in rukia’s body on their very first meeting). at this point, kindness to the point of absurdity seems to be a theme in his character.

I SO desperately need to know what inspired this! Because, well, my first thought was-- Ichigo, never angry? Kind to the point of absurdity??? Him?????

That said, it did make me do some quick leafing through the manga! Without a full, careful reread I can't be sure, but I think the only time we saw him direct anger at a friend was right after Rukia gave him back his powers in Lost Agent. We get this scene:

Where he shouts at Uryuu to, well, STFU. And nothing else!

However, I would still shy away from using the word 'kind' -- not because I think he's unkind, we saw how he treats the little ghost kid, and how he even became friends with Chad, etc, but because I think it's the wrong framing. Or rather, I think it's descriptively inadequate. What is his lack of response born of? Is it really just... endless kindness? Not likely, because we don't see him display endless kindness when someone he deems wrong shows up. I believe his reactions (or lack thereof, I suppose) mostly depend on if something stands as an obstacle to him getting what he wants or not -- which, phrased like that, sounds like the opposite of kindness! -- except, what he wants most, and he repeatedly tells us so, is to have enough power to 1) protect others, 2) shatter fate. What would he get angry at Soul Society (Yamamoto, Ukitake, etc.) for? Their machinations still allow him to have his Soul Reaper powers. What would he get angry at Isshin for? He's part of the group Ichigo is trying to protect! I am not suggesting that this is a healthy reaction, to be clear, just that -- well, I think he's a character who is simultaneously endlessly selfish and selfless, because his ultimate desire, which he never ceases to follow, just happens to be a generally altruistic one.

Now, I do genuinely think he's not particularly revenge-minded, which is interesting on its own. It's a surprisingly healthy outlook where protectiveness does not come with possessiveness, even if it occasionally comes with underestimating friends' abilities. I don't know if that comes from forgiveness, honestly? The canon moments I can think of, again, without a deep careful reread:

Fighting Byakuya. Of course, this was a retaliation, but it was more about 'teaching' him to be a better older brother than about revenge.

Renji. This was about a personal rematch as much as it was about Rukia.

Grimmjow fight one: there was instant reaction when he put his hand through Rukia's body for sure.

Gj fight two: this was about personal pride.

Gj fight three: we can pretend this is about saving Orihime, but it's about personal pride too.

Second rematch with Ulquiorra - well ummm lowkey this is about personal pride as well, but it has more interesting panels!

However it does also have instant reaction when Loly grabs Orihime

Which is... arguably much more emotional than he was against Ulquiorra! And Ulquiorra hurt many more people -- during his first introduction back in Karakura, endlessly through keeping Orihime there, through punching a hole in Ichigo's chest, etc.

I would argue that the majority of these are still about personal pride. Does the existence of this person, does him fighting against them, help him by proving his strength or aiding him in getting more power? He had told us - it's meaningless to just live, it's meaningless to just fight, he wants to win. If nobody is in danger Right That Second, the desire to win and grow more powerful seems to overpower past slights. Is that forgiving? I don't know. I'm not being snide here, I genuinely do not know -- I figure how much of these actions is a positive vs. something dangerous and better-avoided is up to individual interpretation, and how much each person weighs intention vs. results vs. the possible (dire!) consequences (which did not happen in canon, but just as easily could have.)

Then we have 7. Killing Ginjo then asking for his body back. I think this was a stand -- how much is Soul Society willing to acquiesce to? How rigid are their rules still -- do they need to keep the material body of someone who posed danger to them, even if he currently no longer does so? How much respect are they willing to afford a Substitute?

And 8. OMZ. Ah... That is straightforward forgiveness! It was in line with Zanpakutou spirits worldbuilding & the arc set up, I think -- we got hundreds of chapters about his denial, so that was meant to be the final moment of acceptance. Now... Is that acceptance warranted? For White Zangetsu, I think yes. For OMZ, I suspect the answer is going to be no for a lot of people, and I fully understand that, and honestly, narratively, I also think it's a no. It needed more chapters rather than OMZ peacing out immediately. But ethically... does it conflict with Ichigo's own ethics?

Well, actually, I think the answer is yes here, too! Look at how badly he reacted to White Zangetsu initially, all based on the assumption that he's dangerous (and thus he, too, will become dangerous), and we know for a fact that OMZ *is* dangerous. I do think this forgiveness is the natural thematic endpoint, and IMO it should have split up the reveal & his power-up for the pacing to make sense, but that's a separate discussion. My point being, this is the only instance I can think of where forgiveness for the sake of forgiveness was handed out, and it was, in a way, against himself.

All of this is more or less my clumsy attempt to say that no, I don't think he's kind to the point of absurdity :D There's this constant contradiction between pretty self-serving actions and the fact that the personal motivations do end up quite public-spirited. I do however think that he is more empathetic than he's given credit for!

[nightfurynova1217]

Crazy revelation I just had about Soichiro's death. This occurred to me while writing a Beyond Birthday fic, and specifically having to keep in mind that death does not surprise him. Sure, he doesn't know how it'll happen, but he always knows when.

It's glossed over if not outright cut from the anime, but it's addressed in a blink-and-ya-miss-it way in the manga, that Soichiro was planning to commit suicide after the raid to Mello's base (for those who were unaware of that fact, it's because he believes his involvement in the case is putting his family in danger, as evidenced by Sayu being kidnapped). The reason he doesn't is obviously because he dies before then, because he cut his time in half after making the eye deal with Ryuk, and instead dies via gunshot wounds and the explosion. Soichiro's life was not taken by a death note, his lifespan was not completely cut short "before his time". My point is, his timer ran out.

MISA. HAS. THE. EYES.

Whether or not she would have figured out the exact formula for how long each tick is, or if she would have calculated the exact date and time, she would have at least seen that Soichiro didn't have much time left compared to everyone else. And she ABSOLUTELY would have told Light. A shinigami would never tell a human how much time they have left, or their loved ones, but there's no rule saying a human with the eyes can't. Even if she never calculates the exact time, she'd notice how much it's ticking down per day and could gauge about how much longer he'd have left. If you think she wouldn't, I'd like to point out that this is her future father-in-law. She would have made the effort. Even if for no other reason than to tell her long-term lover and boyfriend (whom she has lived with for nearly five years now, is her literal partner-in-crime, mastermind behind the schemes, and friggin Lord Kira himself), that his father is going to die in roughly X amount of time. Misa lost both her parents. She knows that pain. She would absolutely want to spare Light from it. She can't save him from it completely, she can't prevent Soichiro's death, but she can brace him for it.

All that now to say, it makes me wonder. Did Light know he was more-or-less sending his father to his death on that mission to raid Mello's base and get the death note back? What we see in both the anime and manga, it seems to suggest that he didn't know and it took him completely by surprise. But logically... he would have at least had an idea that it would be soon.

Now with that lens, while in the hospital and his dad is literally dying, it makes his internal dialogue about "how would a normal person react to this" make a lot more sense than that he has to pretend to care that his dad is dying. It's much less a matter of, "Light is a psychopath and doesn't care about anything other than his goals". It's now more like "he knew his dad's death was coming and has already come to terms with it". That's why it's not fazing him. I will concede that he didn't know that this would be how, or again, he knew it'd be soon but not today, so there's that aspect to consider (I bring that up to say that I like to think Light didn't put on a performance when he started crying, I wanna believe that was legit and he was grieving). But I'm totally open for friendly, civil discussion here.

I rewatched and reread the scene in question and, from a meta standpoint, I'm sure that Ohba just forgot and didn't consider that Misa would know he'd die. But from a character standpoint, I think it shifts the perspective on the scene and adds some interesting nuance.

Thoughts?

[l-in-the-light]

I seriously LOVE your “The most embarrassing series of posts about Lawlu“ posts I am on the eighth blog of it and want to know if there will be more of them?

Thank you for enjoying them! I also enjoy writing the Lawlu posts series a lot! Sometimes I just share the discoveries I already made some time ago, other times I discover new things by patiently analyzing the frames as I go when writing. I feel like I finally found the angle I believe in when it comes to Lawlu (before that I was struggling how to see them and changed my interpretations a lot). So I guess you could say what you get in these posts is my final view. It might of course still change, mostly in details here and there, but I think the core idea is sticking for good.

If you want to know where's my faith in Lawlu coming from, I really encourage you to read my theory on pirates and their treasures. It explains how I think Oda coded love in his manga (doesn't have to be romantic love, may I add!), there's a bit about Lawlu, Zosan, Shuggy and few others there. It also provides you a fishing rod, in case you like to go fishing up treasures in the manga by yourself :)

How much posts have I planned for the Lawlu series? Oh boy, okay, so those who want to be surprised just don't click on "read more" and those who just want to know already what's up ahead, enjoy!

Right as I'm writing this reply, I finished the post about Whole Cake Island arc (it's part 12). I intend to do from now on:

the whole Wano arc (I suspect it will take me more or less 4 or 5 posts, because that's how much it took for Dressrosa. But I also plan to add anime-only extensions to it, because they're super good in this arc, so who knows how long this arc will take overall. Might be a long journey!)

Egghead (I don't expect more than one post centered on it tho. I also need to reread the whole arc at once, because it changes perspective a lot in comparison to following it one chapter a week)

movies edition (there are just two with Lawlu, but the scenes with them are just too good to skip in my series. Also there is that Tokyo Tower special and Wano recap with Law commenting on events that made me flail way too much, so who knows? I might write stuff about those as well?)

Shanks x Buggy edition (yep, I finally want to take it head on :D it's not Lawlu, but it will follow the same idea. Since we don't really get many scenes about Shuggy it will definitely not be very long lol)

still unsure about Sabaody+post Marineford. Mostly because I already used two most important scenes from there in other posts (on my interpretation study about Lawlu's friendship which is part 2 of my Law's touch and closeness series of meta posts), and I plan to use the third one as a callback in Wano. I'm still divided about the rest of it, because their post-Marineford scenes seem to be heavily dependant on the theme of fate and I won't pretend that I know yet where that is going. Whatever I could offer now would be considered heavy conspiracy theories, I'm afraid. I would rather wait on writing Sabaody till I get things in proper perspective, but if my head gets too full of thoughts I might do that post regardless.

playing in my head with the idea of Lawlu in the spinoffs of One Piece, because they have some fun scenes...

and of course once Law finally appears again in the manga, I will be doing posts on that as well :D

That's the plan for now! Of course if you want to drop me ideas for more posts about Lawlu, I will happily await them :D I'm mostly just going where my inspiration takes me, and inspiration tends to be a fleeting thing haha.

Thank you again for enjoying the ride, it means a lot to me ❤

[howlingmoonrise]

Tag game! What are you top 10 fandoms of all time? Name them and then tag ten more people. Feel free to write as much or as little about why you like them! I'll start.

in some particular order, though not consistently:

1 - Danny Phantom! my first and constant love, my introduction to the world of fic, and what got me actually make strides in first learning english way back when! the fandom has long since shifted to more gen-centric fields than in my days (and with a lot less interaction with the character i imprinted on for the entirety of my preteens and teens, hi sam) and so i find it harder to stick with it for long, but every once in a while i'll poke my head in there to reread old faves or see what's up. still going strong with the dissection fic genre? fucking superb, you funky little phandom. keep going, i love you.

2 - Hyouka, my beloved. it's one of those cozy little animes i keep coming back to, and there's quite a few jewels on the archive too! hits that perfect sense of nostalgia with a bright outlook and more than a dash of character growth, i especially love rewatching the final arc because the characters are so much more at ease with themselves and you really can tell.

3 - Petshop of Horrors, to the surprise of absolutely no-one 😂 no, i will not elaborate, i already do enough of that on my entire blog!

4 - Howl's Moving Castle, which is only one of my top 3 books of all time (and i do mean books!!! miss me with the ghibli movie other than howl's blond design!!!). believe it or not, i only got into hmc after i started going by howl, which was, uh. interesting. when i tried joining a server for it.

5 - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun! i'm fairly bummed that the fandom nearly disappeared over the years, because it just keeps getting better. one of those mangas that legitimately make you laugh out loud and it's not an exaggeration, i've made some worrying noises while reading it.

6 - Tomb Raider. okay, time to admit it. i'm half a poser here. i was a huge fan of the original top cow comic run as a teen, and loved the 2013 game to death (everything else that derived from it - vikander's movie, the sequels, and comics - not so much 😬; the animation released this year wasn't bad though, but suffered in coming after the sequels i think), and have played a variety of more recent-ish stuff, but i'm woefully lacking in having played the og games despite og lara being my fave. i got a remaster of the first three for myself to play this christmas so i'm working on fixing it though!

7 - W.I.T.C.H. comics. don't look at me. i'm still forever bitter that child me didn't buy all possible merch available before it stopped being a thing! what do you mean i wasn't financially independent. also do not speak to me of the animation either, i hate that it's the first thing people think about when i mention w.i.t.c.h. despite having hugely different plots and characterizations 😭

8 - Codename: Kids Next Door. i'm no longer... really a part of it? especially since i can't bring myself to read fic for that fandom anymore, but i'm still hopelessly squishy about it and i was SO excited about the G:KND announcement before our hopes got blown to smithereens rip

9 - Barbie Animated Movies. no i can't just pick one!!!! though the 2001-2009 and 2015-2016 eras are the best. and i do have to specify it's only the animated ones, terribly sorry but i highly disliked the Robbie/Gretwig one in all matters but aesthetic.

10 - Alien and/or Alien vs Predator. took me forever to decide on a last fandom so just here. take it. ignore the guilty tears as i pretend not to see my other fandoms looking at me resentfully as they're excluded from the list.

Tagged by the fantastic @nemainofthewater, thank you so much!! i hope you don't mind that i did it under this blog instead since i have an organizational tag for those here!

tagging! @junemermaid @arkhangelske @produdfctititty @sunriseverse @snorlaxlovesme

@a-memory-a-distant-echo @where-the-water-flows @dying-suffering-french-stalkers @booksfoodmusic-minion @awishturnedwell and whoever else wants to do this!

[theclearblue]

Ok, ship ask but this time shoujo/josei edition... (just saw your top fav manga list, love them 🥰). What do you think of these ships :

Fruits Basket :

- Yuki / Kakeru (sorry I don't really ship him with Maki)

- Hanajima / Uotani (kinda dislike end pairing for Arisa, she deserve better)

Yona of the Dawn (don't get me wrong, I love Yona/Hak but I like these ships too) :

- Suwon/Hak & Yona/ Lili

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

- Kikuhiku/ Sukeroku (one of my fav ship, tragic yaoi, I really dislike 'that woman' that ruin everything for my ship)

Sorry if my ask got too long, you can pick whichever ship that you want....

Hello again anon!! Love to see you pop up in here and I'm happy to answer all of these lol 🫡

Yuki/Kakeru

Ship it

1. Not sure if there was one specific moment for me, but I think just seeing their friendship develop over time to the point where Yuki is able to really open up to a friend for the first time is a really compelling journey for Yuki!

2. I think it's funny how Kakeru is able to just piss off Yuki with his antics lmao, but it's also kind of a big moment for Yuki where he isn't pretending to play this "prince" character, Kakeru is able to draw the real Yuki out.

3. Hmm I do probably ship Yuki with both Kakeru and Maki, I like both pairings in different ways

Hanajima/Uotani

Ship it

1. Ahhh I don't think there's ever just a moment but these are the most obvious lesbians of all time ajaksldlvl. Love their opposite vibes but they way they both scare everyone around them and are #1 Toohru protectors is soooo funny and also iconic.

2. I suppose I answered it in the previous section lmao but I think there's such a pure love between them and the love that they share for Toohru they just look out for each other so well and their opposite vibes are so cool, especially because it's like no big deal at all to them.

3. Anon you're so right WHY DID UOTANI END UP WITH A MAAAAAANNNN. Technically not sbout the ship I guess but yeah I really wasn't a big fan of Kureno and her ending up together, felt homophobic 💀

Suwon/Hak

Ship It (Lightly)

1. This is like on the border because even though I'm usually a big multishipper, Yona/Hak are really It for me ya know. I also hc Suwon as aro/ace, but there is some real good potential with Suwon/Hak, and I'm sure this will come as a surprise (after saying it for 500th time ajslslf) but I'm a big angst enjoyer. I probably did ship this more than Yona/Hak at the beginning lmao, and then them reuniting and Hak still feels so hurt? Not just for Yona and her father bur also himself? Wowowowow yeah this ship is pretty good.

2. The angst potentiaaaaallll childhood best friends with maybe a little crush to enemies to !?!?@(#$)#)@*$*@! Goooood they're so messed up Hak is so hurt from everything but he also understands where Suwon is coming from and Suwon giving up that relationship with Hak in order to help the country?? How do you recover from all of these different feelings?? Very good food

3. As much as I like their ship potential it really is Yonahak today, Yonahak tomorrow, Yonahak forever

I'm going to kinda skip Yona/Lili cause I need to reread/catch up on Yona and I don't think I could give a solid answer on Lili rn 🤧 Do trust though I believe in bi4bi Yonahak 🫡

Kikuhiko/Sukeroku

Ship It

1. Everythinggggggg. From the start from the beginning they were IT. I don't even have like, a SUPER good memory since it's been so long since I've watched Rakugo, but god they really are the definition of soulmates (even if sukeroku doesn't realize it...)

2. I think just their journey together is so compelling, they complete each other and bring out their best but also their worst. Kikuhiko is too in his head at all times, Sukeroku is too impulsive, but the way that they balance each other personality wise and also in their rakugo is so enticing to watch, you can't look away from them. They walked so that other disaster gays could run lmao.

3. Yeah ok let's get into the ending lmao. I will always choose to interpret that Shinnosuke is the spiritual successor to Kikuhiko's and Sukeroku's rakugo not...blood related successor of Kikuhiko lmao. I think that fits the story and the themes and the characters waaaay better than Kikuhiko having Shinnosuke as his biological grandchild 💀 It's nature vs nurture in my eyes! He has the nature of Sukeroku because that's his biological grandfather, but Kikuhiko raised him, it's the nurture side! Why it was left open ended...hmm I think it's supposed to be a stylistic choice to reflect how one unravels a rakugo story? But yeah I refuse the other option for my own sanity lmao. Also also people always ignore/forget about Kikuhiko's struggles with gender expression and I'm sad about that :( so important to his character and his relationships throughout the story.

[yatorihell]

Noragami Reread Volume 22-27

I've finally reached the end of my reread. I am reading the final chapter tonight, and I haven't seen a single spoiler for the cover nor ending. This is going to be crisp.

Vol 22

84

Nora trying to keep up with Father walking away knowing she's being abandoned

Yato realising he abandoned Yukine like yes the mommy issues are now here

Yukine partying and living it up like he did when he first got named, but now he's more self aware

Remember when Yukine started become an ayakashi and then

'Your god is not your dad' Nora projecting the abandonment but yh she's right

Nora with the 'please say my name' I hate this

Takemika is ripped fuck damn bitch

Kofuku figured out Yato's plan to kill Father

Ojkjbj Takemika spins Ebisu to divine the Sorcerer's location

Oh the seahorse he buried is called Takemika how cute

Adult Yukine vision like we didn't need the reminder he won't grow up

I WANTED TO GROW UP

Hagusa is born and its a bad time for like a year

85

Oh Father's so evil (he is hugging Yukine) and he's going to the house

Yato can't believe Yukine is stray bitch same

Nora seems to have turned a corner with Father leaving her (this lasts like 10 chapters)

'Can I even be normal again' (as of right now I have read the chapter nor been spoiled so idk!!!!)

Hiyori doesn't want to be stuck this way which is good

Nora mumbling to herself about Hiyori

Nora played pretend family because she's a good girl

Foreshadowing of Nora asking why it's easy for girls to come into the world because she never made it

Shinigami protecting Hiyori from Nora and it turns out its actually her grandpa

Grandma Iki's death and her telling Hiyori to go to the person she loves

'If you wait until he's gone it'll be too late' I hate this manga

86

Seeing grief affecting the family reminds Hiyori she has to come back

Plot to hide Nora's names revealed

God it was all a ploy to befriend yukine

Hiyori and Nora the unlikely friendship

Ebisu trying to throw salt on Kofuku to protect the economy nsnd

Old Ebisu talking to himself is so cute and sad when we know what he's been through

Oh we've reached the refrigerator I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

87

Oh they're at the old house I hate this

Yukine's been dead 35 years which was a surprise

Hiyori laying flowers on the fridge and praying

Oh he's learning who he was and the barber wouldve been his friend I'm so sad they forgot about him right when they were talking

Yukine's dad was handing out fliers to search for murdered son this plot is dastardly and I don't believe we'll get resolution because that's how the world is

Sobbing they knew there were problems and thought Yukine chose to stay

Yukine finding out his life wasn't all sunshine and not wanting to know more mood

Vol 23

88

Oh it's Yukine's grave and sister's house I'm so sad

'Even you've got one or two assholes you don't want to probe'

Yato thinking Yukine would want to kill his family

Yukine wanted the dogs to eat him that killed Suzuha hate!!!

Living Yukine encouraging his sister to live and run towards the future he wouldn't see

Father goading Yukine into finding his family and talking about giving him a proper burial I've had enough of this dude

Gunna throw up there's a beer can in the fridge

'Even now my father is still killing me'

Yukine's had his reverse Kaneki phase

Fuck offf with the flower Father you heartless bitch

Oh Yukine's gone baby boy he's Hagusa nke

Yato's face that Yukine is changed and the ending saying unprecedented agony fucking mood

89

Yukine's mother is dead reveal

'He's my hafuri'

Yato apologising and explaining immediately why he did it

Yato's hesitation to draw his sword against Yukine

We've got a catboy on our hands

Sorcerer was human and has a grave finally a plot to kill him for good

Yukine seeing his dad in Yato

Yato protecting the tree and cutting Yukine's hand because he chose that spot for Yuka to think of her brother and he's actually there

Yato laying absolutely fucked up on the grave of the boy who just did it to him

BISHAMON AWAKE

90

Oh Yukine doesn't even realise it was Yato he thought he hurt his dad

Hiyori's got a letter for Yuka oh we were dying to know what it said for ages

'You'll die you idiot' and Hiyori's face like I didn't believe it would happen

Hiyori death foreshadowing tracker: 7

Hiyori and Nora holding hands when they meet Yuka

Oh I'm so sad Yuka thinks Haruki is alive and had children Adachitoka you make me so sad

Yato not wanting to draw on Yukine because of his dad

Remember when we got that panel of Yuka and it had showed up in chapter 3 like 1p years ago the foreshadowing is insane

Yukine's possession of people is a good thing tbh but it goes too extreme

Once again the art is insane rip Adachitoka

91

Yuka has the letter ndnd

Yuka forced the divorce and the were forced to rock paper scissors to decide who would stay behind

Bishamon is kinda up I wish she did more in the final

Throwing up screaming thank you Okuninushi for blessing Yatori's plaques I can't wait to see what the effect of that is in the final chapter

Oh the return box of letters all torn up I hate this

Yukine's power just shows the good of humanity but its still flawed like humans

Ooharai begins and lasts like 25 chapters

Volume 24

92

Yato's back in the trashcan

Nora doesn't hate heaven but Yukine does because he cut it accidentally trying to save Yato logic

Father laughing about taking Yukine to the fridge he is the worst man

OK so Rekki can't cut the word interesting

'Daddy's just gunna have to take another one away from you' and trying to name Kazuma

Shocked pikachu face that Yato sold him out to Heaven

93

The expressions are really popping off

Father mentioning Yukine's dead in front if Kazuma hhfn

Yukine let Yato get away <3

'Mind full of nothing but viina just like normal'

Takemika and Ebisu the unlikely friendship to go lookinf for the grave

94

Yukine on a rager about finding his dad and Father hitting him here we gooo

'You're not allowed to have desires and wishes because that's what a god is'

Father back on his breaking Kazuma bullshit

'Kazuma's love is unphantomable like a bog'

Father neck cut tracker: 2

Adachitoka really got us with the earplugs for Kazuma a bit of common sense finally

'Yukine is mine, Hiyori will die someday, so why bother running from me'

Nora backstory

It's strange how an ayakashi could latch onto Nora before she was born

'I wanted someone who knows neither good nor evil'

Baby Yato and his ear necklace ft Sakura's tree??

Father is the delulu king he thinks Yato's putting on an act to save him

Oh the image of baby Yaboku fighting father sjbdbd

Father was this close to getting killed and then nothing

95

Takemika and Ebisu did a room of requirement finding the island tbh

Amaterasu feeling the net

'Heaven has missed things so we have to find someone to punish' logic

How did we go from Father's pinned down to back fighting

How dare Yato betray him after getting food water shelter

Oh Yukine can't look when he's told to attack Yato I hate it here

Gods are getting stuck in the net

Saving Yukine is priority over killing Father <3

Kazuma gets called Kazune and makes up a sweat song ldndb

We're so close to saving Yukine and then it gets worse

Volume 25

96

Oh the letter Yuka never got his letters and he's asking why she won't wrote back I'm so fucking miserable

AND IT LED TO HIS DEATH oh I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad

Kazuma trying to fly to Yukine with Rekkis scarf sjdb

Oh yes we're getting Okuninushi fucking it up like I wished

Nora be like I'm not stupid he's trying to use me and then....

Ah now the gods are calling the shinki when they shouldn't

Oh Nora why did you have to go to him

97

Nora's just so happy to be useful again

Damn the town's really just burning

'Someone like me who's ever called her Nora doesn't have the power to call her back' hopefully Nora gets/choses a name for herself irrespective of shinkihood

Likening having a name to being given life

Fathers lost it he doesn't even want to do what he wanted he's just angry and wants to kill Amaterasu now and Nora's like no

Grave has been found and the gravekeeper family was a surprise

The Sorcerer killed someone who escaped justice and saved the gravekeeper

Lol remember when we got Father's backstory and people were trying to argue that he didn't kill the monk

I wonder if he stole the clothes off his body they're awfully similar

Nora is absolutely fucking them up go girl

98

Father used Heaven's systems to his advantage to name Nora, control ayakashi and create Yato

Father calling himself a necessary evil and Amaterasu clapping back that Yato is the necessary one

Amaterasu starts taking Nora's names

Father flashback to Yomi and Kaya revealed

Yukine stopping Amaterasu as she tries to release Chiki

Oh all the vents opening

Amaterasu can't take names made with the word

Yato's back in the fight let's gooo

99

Father does have a bit of a point to be like why do gods do this to the world

Father's finally been shot

We never really get Amaterasus story, was she reincarnated to keep young and manageable, is that just how old she grows

The living live and the dead die

Yukine's finally realised what he's done to the world

'To death do we part and in death we shall meet again' oh I'm so sad that's such a Yatori thing Adachitoka you make me so sad

Yukine's gone to Yuka oh he sees her as a young girl I'm so sad adachitoka you make me so sad

Oh this is the last time Yukine sees Hiyori before That happens I'm so sad this is awful

Their mother was absolutely spinless she just have the letters back to him and gave him money and she never heard from her son again

Oh Yukine's realised he's dead and he sees the truth and Yuka I'm so sad

Oh I'm so fucking miserable Yukine's memories and the burial and he's at the postbox and he's got the protection charm Yato and Hiyori gave him and Yato's hand reaching out and he's called him name and he's gone back to blond I'm actually so miserable this is awful

LIKE SNOW FALLING INTO YATO'S ARMS!!!!

Oh he knows he's dead I'm so fucking miserable this is the worst chapter in my opinion (so far)

Vol 26

100

Oh Hiyori can smell Yato now I'm

DID YOU BURY ME YATO

Oh I'm actually so sad this is the worst manga in the world

Kazuma still blissfully ignorant of death <3

Father's lost it again he's so mad

Bishamon shown up

Bishamon wondering where Kazuma is and that she won't forgive herself if something happened to him hsdbdb

Yat about to finish the job and Nora has to go break Kazuma

101

Oh Bishamon can feel Kazuma fading

Nora was holding back all that time hdhd

Kazuma believes he and Nora are even

It's been quite a day yeah it started with Hiyori and Nora meeting Yuka and it ends with That

Back to Father's backstory

Father saved the village from a boulder and was enshrined by the villagers who keep his grave

Takemika is just ready to destroy the grave

Oh Yuka says about visiting Haru's grave if she knows where will Hiyori even get the chance I hate this

Father I'm begging you just die Yato isn't coming back to you this wasn't a little prank

Oh Hiyori no go home

'Because I love my father'

Oh Hiyori's tail is hanging by a THREAD

Hiyori death foreshadowing tracker: 7?

102

Nora healing Hiyori's blight and sorting her body before leaving she is a good girl really

Remember when we found Hiyori couldn't go back to her body shdhf

'You're gunna be fine' my mantra until That happened in 108

Quickly flashback of baby Yato foreshadowing what's about to happen

Ebisu figuring out the gravekeeper does soul calls

Remember when we thought they were gunna kill that whole family jdbdb

Father is the queen of gaslighting himself

Father neck cut tracker: 3

The reveal that the gravekeepers family were ghosts was so good

Ebisu promising to keep going but I know that his name will never be revealed not even to us for that fourth wall content

Love how the gravekeeper just died like immediately thank you king

'I'm going to go on with them living in a world without you' please please please final chapter they get to live together (they can't <3)

Oh Yato's hand is small in Yukine's he's ready to reincarnate

103

Oh Kazuma is remembering

Oh we were so pressed that he said he could go home and he vanished but its because he's gone back to Bishamon I'm so sad

DISAPPEARING WITHOUT A TRACE WOULD BE A FITTING END FOR ME this is the worst I'm so sad this is awful I hate foreshadowing

It's just endless isn't it Father with 5000 lifelines

Back to Father's backstory ie how he got killed over rice and then rejected dkndn

Oh he made a mask that looked like her

Father likening Kaya to paradise in death

Oh I'm so fucking miserable Kazuma returns to Bishamon and asks if he's in Heaven this is peak romance

'Can you just shut up and die already' fucking mood

Father with the two lifelines like just die

Vol 27

104

We are shook that Father's original form has appeared

Poor Fujisaki's gunna feel so hungover been possessed by that musty bitch for like 16 years(?)

Oh he called Nora a dumpster baby now its personal

Oh Yomi powers we've got the final form and new nation

Shiiho calling Arahabaki dad <3

Oh Okuninushi and the reincarnated gods I'm so sad

Hiyori is in the nation and the Sakura tree is there I hate this I wanna stop

Oh he's put Yato and Nora in their weakest forms I hate him die die die

Oh Nora has completely given up same

And now it's world domination some men just need therapy tbh

It's interesting that all the sacrifices of the real world are apparently in the new nation and Father really thought he'd find Kaya alive in there djbdbd

People say he's a good dad and I agree <3 (he is attempting deicide)

This is the worst manga in the world the fridge is full of sakura blossoms and Yukine is coming to save Yato and now he's a fucking ayakashi dog he's fully evolved into a furry

105

If you told me this was the final boss fight when I joined this manga I'd be like how the hell did we get here

Now we've got the human possession

I wonder if the people who were killed will come back or if the gods just had to kill them for real

The gods telling their shinki they have to kill and like this is a fucked up situation but it needs to be controlled ig

Nora beginning to question Father and what he does and realising she's scared of him and she's been a pawn

So Sekki is able to break the barrier

106

Oh Hiyori you're looking rough

Oh Yukine is disintegrating help

It's strange how we never get an inkling he's looking for Kaya and this new nation, it was about culls and removing the gods not finding her

Amaterasu really doesn't interfere she just watches or sometimes gets involved

How is it that the shinki can be seen by the near shore now its still the true world

Father be like I've returned from the dead and I scare you why don't you love me you were crying

Someone says divine punishment and immediately Father is like the gods did this specifically like he didn't play a part in her death

Father bitches that forgiveness is for the weak but thinks Kaya would forgive him

Father says he couldn't do anything but the belief system back then meant that he could be recalled after death did he even try?

Daikoku refusing to kill that child like a normal person

'He's been seeking something his whole life just like me' and there's the shrine and Yukine

We fr thought we'd found Kaya lol I mean I guess we did but Father thought she'd be normal and not like the others he called sacrifices

Oh he's so sad it's giving Pedro Pascal (I think I said that when it came out and I was shot)

Screaming throwing up Yato knows Hiyori is here

Oh I'm so fucking miserable 'we shall meet again those words have come full circle' I gate this life

For a brief shining moment I thought it was a trick and the real Hiyori was elsewhere but then SOMEONE had to go and do THAT

LET'S GO HOME

Oh I'm actually so fucking sad Yato's voiceover saying its his fault he wouldn't fix her problem with the flashbacks and then Sakura's words about you can never see them again when they die Adachitoka you're the worst

Kiun seeing sense and letting the young lesd because times have changed

Kofuku calling Daikoku's actions irrational like he's just not only locked him in a phone box for a bit instead of killing him

I wonder who summoned all the shinki though because how are Kuzuha and Kuruha helping with containment, Bishamon's not around

Takemika saying that Amaterasu may never change

'Why would you do that to her' because he's a bitch!!!!!!!

Oh I hate this manga Father's trying to name Hiyori and he pulls her head back and the light is gone fron her eyes and there's a tear and I'm ending it after tbe final chapter

Oh he's naming her I hate my life Yukine's nearly gone too

All this time all the warnings we never believed we'd get this

Oh its all her memories and one page is just Yato and he's thanking her for the shrine I'm so sad Adachitoka you make me so sad why did you do this

Oh the shattered image if Hiyori like reflections of my life

FINAL FATHER NECK CUT TRACKER: 4

OK so theory is that because Hiyori was a shinki made within the nation of the word, she was able to destroy it?

Also if the brush is gone then Chiki and Yuuki should be gone

108

Yukine's back oh I'm so sad

Oh I'm so fucking miserable Hiyori looks so innocent and Yukine nearly says her name but Nora stops him and then Yato nearly says her name and then he realises he can't and then he screams and so do I

Father die challenge?????? Stfu

Yukine furry form is here to stay ig I wish he mauled Father a bit but he found her body!!!!!

Yato saying be can't handle a world without Hiyori but he can't destroy it like his dad would

Oh I'm so sad 'this world she protected is the grave where she sleeps' worst manga ever

'You can make miracles happens can't you'

DON'T GIVE UP YET

Remember when we thought Yato was looking up to Amaterasu for help lol

Kazubisha having a quick catch up

Now is not the time but Yato looks good jdhdb

Hiyori just not got a clue whats happening

Father's still being a little bitch

The fact he has no lifelines like when did Yato cuts Fujisaki's ties???

Nora finally standing up to Father

Father has drowned, ignored by his children <3<3<3<3<3<3<3 my heart is so full

Oh I'm so sad they've been there so long there's snow on their heads and Yukine is crying and I hate it

But that also means they keep Hiyori clear of snow to keep her warm I hate it here!!!

Yato disappearing because everyone who knew him was dead and he breathed Hiyori back to life and saved her (and himself I'm maifesting)

Oh now they're both crying for Yato and Yukine's hugging him this is the worst day ever

I'LL GIVE YOU ALL THAT I AM

Oh this really is the worst day ever the final kiss of life and HIS TEAR IS ON HER FACE WHEN SHE WAKES UP

Oh she nearly says his name I'm so sad how is this going to end there is so much to unpack in this manga

[meikostan]

OK finally watching oshi no ko anime, it turns out all i needed was to go outside for like an hour and im normal again

my thoughts under the cut (writing as i watch) (long) (lots of thoughts) (beautiful and true?) (manga reader) (don't read if anime only) (spoilers) (seriously) (i talk alot) (lots of thoughts)

at this point i've reread oshi no ko enough times that even if i didnt already know japanese i could probably make it without the subs SDJLF but its so cool to see lines and panels that im so familiar with brought to life!! i also liked goro's death scene, especially the way they used static and cut between shots. i keep on pulling out my physical copies of onk (well mostly vol 1) and pointing at my screen and the corresponding part of the book like

2. AIIIII little known fact about me is that ai is genuinely my favorite character... WHICH SUCKS BECAUSE SHE DIES IN THE FIRST VOLUME. seriously we only ever get to see her after this when a. her name or demeanor is invoked by another character b. aqua has his numerous mental breakdowns or c. flashbacks (including but not limited to aqua's mental breakdowns). i am always down for ai content!!!

3. its so much easier to ignore the weird vaguely sexual stuff from their babyhood because i know the rest of the series is normal and cool and not into that sort of stuff👍

4. speaking of normal yayayay it's aqua back when he was actually normal and not "normal" :D like he is just a baby. do you think now that oshi no ko is popular people will get into internet arguments about whether you can ethically have aqua as your favorite character post-normalification. actually wait this may already have been happening in the dark depths of some discord server out there.. but i dont use discord so im blissfully unaware

5. OH i dont think ive seen all of the OG b komachi before? or at least not in high detail. epic!

6. infant ruby telling people on the internet "kys" before age 2... truly a model twitter user

7. not gonna lie i havent really ever liked the way babies are drawn here (including manga)... idk their heads just look way too big like adult heads drawn on toddler bodies then ""cutified"". but this is a personal gripe

8. do you think because of infantile amnesia the twins forgot about the whole pretending to be amaterasu moment. do you think miyako still remembers. can you imagine being the foster mother of two kids who you believe to be gods sent to earth. do you think she remembers that she was "charged by the gods with keeping ai's secret" and then aqua. you know.

9. imagine: you married the ceo of a mid production company because you want to date hot men. there are no hot men in sight. you have to watch over one of the idol's twin infant babies. they reveal to you that they are divine messengers of god and also they can speak normally. there are no hot men in sight. you tend to their every need because you don't want divine retribution. you explain the intricacies of the idol industry in detail every couple of days when they complain about the injustices of the world. there are no hot men in sight. you become their foster mom after they witness the traumatic death of their mother, whose secrets you where charged with keeping safe. at least 12 years pass. they never mention any of this again. you manage the idol group one of them is in. there are still no hot men in sight. your name is miyako. every day you wake up.

10. i like how gotanda gives his business card to a toddler. whats he gonna do, call you on his fisher price dial phone? well actually nevermind aqua is probably the only other toddler (alongside ruby) who could make use of a business card

11. KANAA LETS FUCKING GOOOOO but also nothing will ever top 'lick a lying snitch/flick a crying switch'...... nothing ever... :( also taking the opportunity now to say ive always found it hilarious she assumed 'aqua' is his stage name and not his actual legal name, that's how ridiculous it is DSKLFJ

12. sobbing at the ruby ai dance... dont even have that many words i just really like it.. do you guys think ai was thinking about her own mom [& abuse/lack of relationship thereof]? not even just in this scene but in her more serious moments when she's thinking about her kids it's like "i want to make millions so they can go to the nicest schools and have the nicest things" "i want my daughter to dance freely and happily and i will support her in this" which ig can also be excused as 'thats just what a normal parent wants' but idk i like taking into consideration her own past and lack of parental support when looking at the way she tries to raise her children (not that she exactly got a chance to, even while still alive)

13. also i realized at this point that ep 1 is like an hour long not just because of the whole 'we gotta make sure no one drops this before the reveal that shows what this story's actually gonna be about', but also because it would be kinda awkward to have cut any of these scenes out? or not like out completely but like from each other. like if we had ended ep 1 at for example where they do their silly baby dance and go twitter viral (chapter 5 aka the midpoint of vol 1). that wouldve been terrible. but we can't cut it any earlier, or any later. ai's death feels like the natural conclusion to this problem. also i can't really see much of the other sections being stretched out to fit a full episode length being done very well. having ep 1 be a full 90 minutes lets them be as long as they need to be, aka a 1:1 adaptation of the manga.

14. oh boy chapter 9 time

15. i don't have anything to say about ai's outlook that has not already been said but this is the scene that made her my favorite character. not being able to tell at what point your lies become reality.. not really knowing if you've ever loved or been loved truly because your entire concept of 'love' was based off insincerity necessary for survival.. and now not ever being given the chance to explore what 'real love' means to you. FUCK

16. aww i love all these little family moments they added! very cute ^_^

17. yayy go kids get traumatized ^_^ also for some reason i remember the stalker as having really light hair o-0 fascinating. i remembered his name though!! just like ai fr

18. speaking of hair i also did not realize saitou was blond i thought he had brown hair..

19. hey the bandana (? i forget the word) guy holding the ai fan sign during the news montage is from one of the intros to the vol 1 chapters where hes like 'oh yeah i wonder where those dancing babies are now'!

20. another part of that montage shows a house with a wii in it, which came out november 19 2006. characters are shown using twitter which started earlier that same year; it was a pretty popular website even in 2008, but the mobile app only became a thing in like 2010. i'm seeing a mix of flip phones and smart phones so this has gotta take place sometime around 2010. it's kinda difficult to tell exactly what age the twins are in the main story because like the first page of vol 2 has ruby listing her age as 14, but - and the proof is not at my finger tips rn - i swear to god they're like 16 at this point. i have legitimate reasons to believe this but i need to grab exact proof adding to that we also have 15 years of lies, which if im remembering right would be referring to the twins age? i was trying to logic out exactly what year oshi no ko takes place in even though i already know the answer is 'in the modern day' but anyway yeah i'll just finish my episode and move on

21. THE IPHONE RUBY IS HOLDNIG HAS A HEADPHONE JACK. i want so badly to say that's an iphone 4 but there's like a separation between that and the power button. i also dont have an iphone 4 with me so i cant check it irl :( but anyway the iphone 4 was released in 2010, meaning the evidence is piling up for this part of the story taking place some time around 2010. or maybe i'm looking too deeply into this and should go back to actually watching the episode.

22. this is reminding me i was gonna write a fic specifically about this time period where the twins go to therapy and have to adjust to life without ai, having miyako graduate from fake mom to actual mom, aqua faking being fully recovered from the incident so he'd be released from therapy (fic concept was inspired from him stating this in like vol 6), etc. i never did because i spent like 3 hours researching play therapy and never got anywhere with it.. but maybe...

23. THE KIDS HAVING TO WATCH HER FUNERAL THROUGH THE FUCKING CAR WINDOW... I'M GOING TO KILL MYSELF

24. YESS AQUA NORMALIFICATION COMPLETE

25. AM I INSANE OR IS THAT AKANE? HER HAIR COLOR IS THE SAME BUT IT'S SO SHORT

26. MEM!!!!

27. AHHH POST CREDITS AI MAKING HER VIDEO FOR THE TWINS "i don't think i'll still be an idol by then" YEAH BUT AT WHAT COST 😭

FINAL THOUGHTS: i liked it alot ^_^ i dont really watch that much anime anymore (not that i watched an incredible amount before, but i am familiar with it) but i really liked this. i think they did a very good job of adapting the first volume! i know the rest of the episodes will be not-film length which does make me a bit sad because i think it would work out well, or at least not badly, if they were. it does also make me really excited for the future, seriously i will actually explode when i see the theater arc in full. cannot wait to see aqua mental breakdowns and ruby evil arc and and and and

the only thing i would've liked is if they could somehow have found a way to incorporate the pre-chapter intro scenes from the manga where they're talking about 15 years of lies, interviews with their pre-school teacher, etc. though both the pre-school teacher and the aforementioned bandana guy appear which may have been their way of doing it? like adding a fun detail for obsessives like myself to point at like 'my god it's those guys from exactly 2 panels in the manga'

tumblr ate my post and erased everything up to #2 while i was writing it and i was about to flip but it turns out that it automatically saves posts while youre writing them now and it was in my drafts safe and sound soooo crisis averted ^_^ anyway those were my thoughts on ep 1

[s-aint-elmo]

YURI TIME >:)))))

i've been training since i was a child in the ways of yuri (pretend we have a debbie ryan hairtuck emoji) but also i'm something of an insatiable reader so i tend to blaze through. literally anything there is to read. and i tend to just pick a tag sometimes and go throgh the whole catalogue to discover good things once i've exhausted the aggregate website's top picks

liar satsuki and aizawa-san are so good abt building connections you're SO right!! i really loved satsuki's progression from recklessly going at it alone to the scorn of all her peers to having a team of people with their own strengths backing her up, believing in her, and coming in clutch to save her. (shiina, predictably is my favourite. perfect character to deliver the thesis statement of nobody has the right to choose who deserves to live or die. what w her death counter.) same with michi who never formed deep connections before (or so she thinks.......) finding people who share her interests and are willin to take the time to understand her. i heart friendship.

felt the same way about i love amy!!!! genuinely picked it up bc the cover art was so cute and solid and the premise of "yandere switches targets" set me up for some fun violent comedy only to slam me eight tons of childhood trauma and the ways in which adults fail children in their care and how the children internalize it in fun and fucked up ways. the cookie jar arc had me punching the floor. oh my god it was so good. the first time bibi's unmoving smile shifted sent me through the roof. i love how it uses every bit of space to tell its story, with the cookie jar icon filling up at every chapter's beginning and the credits card of bibi's school things shifting to exclude peter and focus on amy. absolutely masterful.

the brides of iberis >:)))) it's SO sad but it's so loving at the same time. the love was there but it grew someplace it couldn't stay. but the love was there.

OOO thank you for the reccs as well, i'm on page 438 of mangadex's girl's love tag (um. don't ask. heart emoji) and besides the modern yuri foremother the couple of the white room (1971) it's been a while since i've struck gold.

the funniest thing is that i was actually going to rec doughnuts to you too but it's been too long since i read it that i couldn't trust myself to pitch it w justice. that author also did trying out marriage w my female friend and i LOVE how both romances veer into queerplatonic, it's just not something manga tends to cover. i should reread it, i really love these kinds of slowly unfolding love stories that take their time w ambiguous not-quite-friendship feelings.

and i passed by momoka the other day but didn't check it out bc the premise didn't hook me. knowing the author now, i might give it a second shot.

one of my mutuals posts abt surviving romance occasionally n this might be the push for me to read it! several of my friends also read tiger, tiger

muted and nevermore my sister has read! she tells me abt her webtoons semi-regularly and i remember being charmed by the setting of nevermore

special thanks to the reincarnation manwha recs since i DEFINITELY had the problem of finding an interesting premise and finding the execution to be too paint by the numbers and "ephemeral" to really grip me. like we're just gently drifting from scene to scene w no real hook to anchor us. i've started mentally crossing "long strip" off my list--i tend to prefer how punchy and well laid-out manga panels are

i'm starting on sea of june rn, but i'll def check these out when the fancy strikes me!

*twirling my hair* do you have some good yuri manga recs?

(lying on my stomach and kicking my feet) i'm SO glad you asked!

to preface this i'll be excluding better-known yuri or yuri that's recently gotten its flowers (whether thru virality or adaptations) (e.g. in love with the villainess, love bullet, bloom into you, etc. etc.) and will instead be recc'ing works i don't often encounter in the wild. some will be more well-known than others, but all of these i've enjoyed and would encourage others to check out! under the cut because. this got. so long. i heart yuri <3

multi-chapter

the princess of sylph (ongoing; self-publishing): plot-heavy fantasy yuri between a bereaved princess with the aura of a thousand sad hamsters and a persistent nun whose silliness conceals a deep well of trauma. gushed about it plenty here. i recommend starting with the serialized version, the proceeding to the twitter version + extras. cw: blood, violence, dismemberment (nothing too graphic, more standard monster-fighting fare).

i love amy (completed): school loner strikes an unlikely friendship with the girl known (and feared) for her violent tendencies and single-minded obsession with the school prince. cute but striking and skilled art with a surprisingly nuanced handling of trauma and neurodivergence. cw: attempted child murder, animal death (non-graphic). there are also depictions of standard yandere fare (kidnapping, torture basements) but they're always presented comedically.

i see you, aizawa-san! (ongoing): girl who steadfastly pretends not to see ghosts meets one she just can't seem to ignore: a deceased classmate and former j-pop idol, who has taken to haunting their classroom. ft. art that harkens back to classic shoujo and a supernatural mystery centred on the relationship between the two leads--that one of them can't seem to remember. cw: blood, body horror.

school zone girls (on hiatus): slice of life yuri comedy ft. a massive interconnected web of girls spanning at least three schools. it juggles gut-busting comedy with genuine heartfelt moments of character growth and connection and expresses it all through a solid, dynamic art style. the sprawling cast also makes for incredible outsider pov moments that lets us really appreciate how far some characters have gotten. this genuinely motivated me to revamp how i approached ensemble casts for my ocs.

brides of iberis (completed): wedding planner unenthusiastic about her engagement falls in love with a bride she's taken as a client. bittersweet but deeply loving; and so compassionate to each and every character, even the men the female leads have relationships with. cw: infidelity.

destroy it all and love me in hell! (ongoing): model student finds her miserable, tightly controlled life unraveling after being blackmailed by the class truant into indulging her ugliest impulses. toxic yuri extravaganza eleganza between two girls desperate for escape and the catharsis of fucking! shit! up!!! also hits that sweet sweet "love triangle as a conflict of ideals" beat. cw: blackmail, coercion, bullying, violence, emotional abuse, physical abuse, verbal abuse, adult/minor relationship.

yuri is forbidden for the yuri otaku (completed): passionate himejoshi enrolls in an all-girls private school to observe class s yuri in action, but never to engage in it herself--at least, until a misunderstanding wins her the resident gyaru's heart. a surprisingly poignant exploration of being queer in a repressive society and experiencing your queerness through the safety of unobtainable fantasy.

the superstar idol crushes on me today too (ongoing): failed idol-slash-middling radio personality finds an unwanted superfan in the country's biggest superstar. explores the merit of pursuing your artistic passions in the face of repeated failure, and what makes an emotional anchor in the fraught seas of showbiz. they are also just so so funny. what if i emphatically declare you my rival in show business but you've been in love with me since you saw me in a cooking show as a child actor and you take any excuse to spend time with me and have my attention with blinding enthusiasm

normality and monsters (ongoing): outcast weirdo witnesses the class idol devour their homeroom teacher in one bite and begs to be trained in the art of appearing normal. the art is snappy and charismatic, the monster design is properly grotesque, and the friendship of convenience between the two leads teeters between overcoming the monster's nature and just being a prelude to the monster acquiring a new meatsuit. cw: blood, gore, death, body horror.

a monster wants to eat me (ongoing): suicidal girl meets carnivore mermaid who promises to eat her if she develops a desire to live. it's been a while since i read this one, but the monster designs are once again sick as fuck and the drama of being cared for by a creature that finds you tantalizing is sooo juicy. cw: suicidal ideation, blood, gore, violence, body horror.

liar satsuki can see death (completed): high schooler who can see corpses before the death occurs strives to save as many lives as possible despite being branded a liar by the entire student body. this and ryouko's other manga, a walk to death, are pretty banging declarations on the value of living ironically (or maybe aptly) wrapped in so much death. blanket cw for blood, gore and death bc i tell you every mini-arc somebody dies in a fun new way and we'd be here all day if we listed them out.

anthology:

i'm the villainess but i'm being captured by the heroine?!: an anthology featuring heroines of otome games swerving hard and sweeping the villainess off her feet. i am such a sucker for villainess yuri. mean women forever. my favourite chapters are vol. 1 ch.1 and vol. 2 chs. 1 and 4.

honourable mentions:

my idol sits the next desk over! (completed): loner idol otaku ends up deskmates with her oshi and between jealous sabotage from a rival stan and the herculean task of acting normal around your fave, lands herself in the first and closest friend group of her life. one girl does explicitly have romantic feelings for another girl, but i bumped it down here because it isn't explored to the extent it could have been. it felt like it was setting up a slow burn only to end abruptly. do not recommend if you want a love story, do recommend if you want lonely people forging deep and enduring bonds of friendship.

the one within the villainess (ongoing): the villainess of an otome game reawakens for her condemnation and sets off on a path of vengeance for the sake of the beloved transmigrator who's occupied her body for years. it's ostensibly het, but to hear the way that the villainess speaks of her transmigrator, the first person to love her wholeheartedly and wish for her happiness and so inadvertently prevent her from becoming the hollow bitter woman she originally grew into...... like. that is yuri. like what if i knew your life in its entirety and loved you for it and i found myself in the position to give you the happiness i always wished for you to have. what if we wrote fix-it fic for each other on the fabric of the universe. what if we never even had a conversation but we knew each other the best and loved each other most. and we were both girls. do you understand why i'm insane about them

[whoneedssubtitles]

same old

part five of the to be loved by bakugou series

read more: series masterlist

summary: nothing will change unless you do, bakubro.

How do you dress for the end of the world?

In the same old school uniform, with your same old shoes, styling (or not styling) your hair in the same old way. You brush your teeth with the same old toothbrush, and you make your bed with the same old sheets and blankets. It’s supposed to comfort you, the routine of it all, but it didn’t today.

Instead, Katsuki thought he might just explode.

And there was nothing he could do about it, no romance manga he could reread, no textbook he could study from, that would help him prepare for this. What was he going to do? Or, more importantly, what were you going to do?

Would you believe it? Would you tell everyone? Would you confess? Oh, don’t be stupid. Maybe you’d just pretend you never opened the letter, allowing things to continue just as they had been.

Katsuki’s heartbeat quickened as he turned the corner to get to the 1A classroom, hands shoved deep in his pockets to stop them from nervously fiddling with each other. The hall was nearly empty with only a few minutes before class, just a few third years talking about their latest internships outside their classroom.

His career is what Katsuki should be worried about. Not his peers, not manga, and definitely not girls. But here he was, a few steps away from what felt like the worst day of his life, all because of some chick in his class. He wished a black hole would swallow him whole in this moment, but the only thing he wanted more than that was for this to be over.

He removed a hand from his pocket to open the door, the movement drawing everyone’s attention towards him. The chatter in the classroom died down.

You were sitting at your desk with the letter opened in front of you. Deku was standing behind your seat, a hand on your shoulder as his gaze lifted from the letter to Katsuki.

Scattered around the classroom were the usual groups of students: Sero, Denki, and Mina, Tenya, Shoto, and a couple of their friends. The only one who seemed to be alone was Kirishima, who sat in his normal seat, hands covering his face.

You stood up from your desk, right hand holding onto the paper so tight it started to crumple in your grasp. You marched over to Katsuki, who stood motionless in the doorway. He was still trying to discern your emotions as you started to speak. He saw your mouth moving, but only heard sounds, not words. Your eyebrows furrowed together as you looked up at him.

Katsuki stared at you blankly, the same way he did before a fight during training, as he mentally retreated into himself. What is happening?

“I got this letter on my desk yesterday,” you said. It was the first thing he understood after calming down enough to focus. Who knew a racing mind made it so damn hard to listen?

You were so close to him he could see your shoulders rise and fall with every breath. He could see the eyelash that had fallen on your cheek. It took everything in him not to wipe it off.

He took a short breath, his lips pressed in a tight line. Did you always smell this good? He looked around the room to search for an escape. It seemed like every pair of eyes were glued to this exchange.

Sure, he felt something towards you, but that’s not information everyone in 1A needed to have. If anything, he could always lie and say it wasn’t him, and he seriously considered it before realizing something... You weren’t actually accusing him of anything.

His gaze flickered between your eyes and the letter, squinting a bit at the bottom of the page. And sure enough, after all the reading, rereading, and proofreading he did, he never signed his name. Probably because he never really planned on giving it to you. He was in the clear.

“The hell does that gotta do with me?” He spoke slower that usual to keep his voice level, wanting to tread as lightly as possible.

The sound of his heartbeat filled his ears completely, his palms starting to get sweaty. Katsuki was never good at lying. He had too many tells. He chewed on the inside of his cheek as he lifted his gaze to meet yours, holding it steady even though he felt like falling apart.

“Do you…” It seemed like you suddenly realized how close you were standing, taking a small step back from him. You held the paper with both hands as you looked over it again, breaking your little staring contest. “Do you know who wrote this?”

I did. The memory of how he labored over such a stupid thing rushed back to him. He should’ve burned it- No. He shouldn’t have written it to begin with.

“No.” He took a step further into the room, allowing his shoulder to brush yours as he passed you. Only when he was sure you couldn’t see his face, he added, “And I don’t care.”

And with that, he made his way to his desk, sitting the same old way he always did, opening the same old notebook he always used. Because the world didn’t end today. Instead, it did something worse: continue the same old way it always had.

ty for reading! likes get hugs, rbs get kisses :)

[demilypyro]

I feel like ranting about Genshiken Nidaime and its handling of an un-selfaware transgender character, because I'm on my second reread, and I have things to say, so I will.

Genshiken Nidaime's portrayal of Kenjirou Hato honestly comes very close to my own experience with my gender, as it took me years and years of just thinking I was a weird effeminate guy and just "pretending" to be a girl on the internet for me to come to terms with who I am. Stories like this are very vulnerable to people who refute any possibility of a character being trans because the character does not believe themselves to be, but that kind of experience is exactly what makes it so relatable to people who have been through that. I'll be referring to Hato with gender neutral pronouns since their gender identity is technically up to interpretation.

Genshiken is not a very popular manga among trans people, most likely because most of its cast are pretty ignorant of actual gender theory, most of them being stereotypical anime fans. A lot of words and ideas are thrown around that may be seen as offensive depending on your sensibilities, so it doesn't exactly always work as affirming media. Still, I think it's interesting to have a story dealing with gender with characters who are so realistically biased, and how they can become better through interacting with a genderqueer person. It's clear that none of the characters involved are actually bad or bigoted people, they really are just ignorant, including Hato, and they become more accepting and understanding of Hato as the story progresses.

For the uninformed, Kenjirou Hato is a character introduced in Genshiken Nidaime as a crossdresser. Their explanation is that their interest in yaoi is more typical coming from female otaku, aka fujoshi, so to fit into their college’s local otaku club and be able to talk about yaoi freely, they present as feminine while there. Hato's presentation is near flawless, even going so far as to train their voice to a perfect feminine sound. 

It should be noted that Hato, in their female persona, is considered one of the most attractive women in the club, far exceeding most of their female otaku friends. The amount of effort they put in their presentation is shown to make several of their female friends insecure about their own feminity, making the amount of effort Hato puts in feel almost over the top. Still, their assigned gender is accidentally discovered on their very first day there. Curiously, even when this cat is out of the bag, they seem almost entirely unwilling to show up to the club while dressed as a man, resorting to attend classes as a man, leave campus, change, come back, and attend the club as a woman.

Hato is clearly beset by a lot of biases and preconceptions about gender and sexuality that limit their ability to come to understand themselves. They, at least for the duration of Nidaime, consider themselves to be a heterosexual man, and thus are afraid of any attraction they feel towards men, as they have not accepted the possibility that they might be into men. Hato for a long time believes that this attraction they're feeling is all the result of getting carried away when they dress feminine. It's not helped by Hato being an avid yaoi fan, which leads them to relate homosexuality mostly to the realm of fantasy, another obvious bias. When they actually fall in love with a man, their upperclassman Madarame, they panic, immediately stop presenting as feminine, and swear off their yaoi interest, as if any of that actually has anything to do with their own sexuality. Of course, that doesn't work.

One particular aspect I found really relatable were Hato's delusions. In various scenes where they're alone and dressed as a man, a sort of manifestation of their femininity appears, taking the form of a naked ghost of their feminine persona, and appears to nudge their actions as if with intrusive thoughts. There's a lot of ways to interpret this, but I personally believe Hato's biases and double life led them to distance their male and female identities so far that they cannot consider their femininity to be part of them when they present as masculine, and instead experiences those impulses as if they were coming from outside themselves. I’ve personally experienced something similar while deep in denial. This is supported by them being willing to use their male persona as material for their homoerotic art, which, if you're fervently in denial that you're into men while drawing homoerotic art of yourself, that's a lot of mental gymnastics you're doing, there, buddy. In any case, Hato’s biases and repression run so deep that in an effort to make sense of things, they cause them hallucinations.

Where things start to fall apart (or come together?) for Hato is again when they fall in love with Madarame. This is a bit after where the anime ends, so everything from here on is just from the manga. After a lot of denial, and a scene where it turns out Hato has been drawing art of their *feminine* persona getting intimate with Madarame, there is finally a scene where Hato seems to accept that their feminine impulses and interest in men were always part of themselves, and from that point they relatively stop denying themselves, and actively become a contender for Madarame's affections. Their decision to stop presenting feminine is reversed entirely, and the intrusive-thought ghost no longer appears, as those ideas were always coming from Hato's own repressed mind.

That’s where it ends as far as Genshiken is concerned, but the elephant in the room here is Spotted Flower, the sort-of-sequel to Genshiken Nidaime which is of dubious canonicity. Many characters appear whose appearance and personal history line up near-perfectly with the cast of Nidaime, though nothing is ever explicitly confirmed, and some of the names don't seem to match. In Spotted Flower, the character who is easily linked to Hato is a bisexual transgender woman, even sporting breast implants, who has become a professional mangaka (still focusing on yaoi). Her transgender status does not appear to be known to anyone but old friends, so it would appear that she is living as a woman full-time.

If you consider Spotted Flower to be canon, this almost 100% confirms that Hato was a trans girl all along, and that Nidaime was the story of them working through the biases that prevented them from realizing this. Again, as someone who went through something similar, I found it all to be intimately relatable, on a deeper level than most stories out there that deal with these topics.

[demonslayedher]

Could you do a character analysis for everyone? im looking to write a kny fic and wanna make sure all the characters aren't ooc

‘Sup, Anon! While I’m flattered, ultimately I’m just one nerd on the internet, and the only true authority on what is and is not in character for any of the cast is our alligator mangaka, Gotouge. (Even then, Gotouge surprises me with characterization choices.) As I do not work for any of the companies that own the rights or work on the production of the manga or anime, I have zero authority whatsoever, and what’s more, I am a fangirl before I am a nerd. That means sometimes I make fanfic choices purely based on how I want the characters to act, or I choose to emphasize or ignore certain aspects of their character simply because I like them better that way. At some level, all fanfic authors do, so getting everyone 100% in character is an unnecessary amount of stress for something that should be fun!

That being said, I do envision most of my fics as fitting in believably with canon, so I do try to keep the details accurate and reflect a similar tone and make realistic characterization choices (hence, this blog). If that is also the style you want to write in, and it doesn’t have to be in order to be good fic, then I have the following advice:

***

Reread/rewatch canon. While extra fanbook details are great reference and all, knowing a character’s height in centimeters isn’t as important as knowing how they’d react to different situations they are put in. Instead of reading for plot, reading for what the characters are doing, how they are feeling, how they react to surprises or things that make them happy or angry or embarrassed is what will make it easier to pretend how they would react or what they would do in the scenarios in your fic.

Part of what's so fun with KnY is that there's a lot going on that's easy to miss the first time(s) around, like Giyuu being the one to reach out to Mitsuri when she practically faints at a Pillar Meeting or Murata having been the one to care for Giyuu when he was injured at the Final Selection.

And as previously stated, Gotouge is the ultimately authority! When in doubt, always go back to canon.

***

References details and Taisho Secrets

The Kimetsu no Yaiba Wiki is a great resource for basic details and fun facts, especially ones from Taisho Secrets. Gotouge has thrown such bizarre facts in sometimes that those tidbits make great springboards for asking more questions!

For example, Fanbook #1 is the only place mention is made of Mitsuri’s pet rabbit, but in a Taisho Secret she tells Iguro about her four cats. How do the cats and rabbit get along? Who takes care of the rabbit while she’s gone? If the cats weren’t mentioned among her pets, as that because she counts them as friends instead of pets, like how Iguro sees Kaburamaru? (Or it could be continuity error, but whatever.)

***

Setting research

As the circumstances in which characters grew up can have a lot of impact on their character choices, do research based on what will impact the characters’ outlook. There’s no need to understand all of Taisho society, as you’d never finish your research, there’s no end to how deep you can go. Focus instead on what will have an impact on the story you’re telling. (I have links to a lot of setting related analysis on my KnY Fanfic Reference compilation.)

***

Brainstorm

There’s often no existing answer to how a character would act in a given situation, and any writer gets stuck sometimes. I’m copying and pasting from this post about my productivity methods, but these are some of the brainstorming methods I use when trying to work out a plot issue in a way that would be in-character.

I have another brainstorming method I use especially when working out plot holes and how to get from Point A to Point B: ORATING TO MYSELF on selfie mode and seeing where my babbling takes me. It’s a good thing my file sizes are too big to upload to Tumblr, nobody needs to watch me talking to myself while brushing my teeth, but some major takeaway:

–identifying goals, plot constraints, character motivations –if tossing out an idea right away, identifying why (i.e., OOC) –approaching from many angles –skipping over parts that I need to figure out later –if I like a solution, asking myself what needs to happen to enable that solution –allowing some extreme ideas, which I might use in a lesser extent –jumping into character POV to walk myself through a problem the way the character would approach the problem –coming back to it in several videos as I continue digesting the problem (On that note, I had thought the upload failed, but it turns out I did upload a sample video of one of my brainstorming videos for this Ask response. So there’s a real life example of how I go about trying to keep things in-character as I puzzle out a story and potential plot holes.)

***

Practice!! You only get better at writing the characters by practicing with them. I feel much, much more comfortable writing the characters now than when I started, but I also have written, like, a lot by now.

If you don’t feel prepared to write a long fic yet, start with drabbles! Instead of worrying about plot, work with drabbles or short prompts that simply put the characters into situations. All you want to do is get inside their head, and once you feel you can find your way around inside their brains, it gets easier to manipulate them into doing what you want them to in service of your story’s plot.

***

I hope that helps! I’ve written meta about a lot of the cast, and you can always use the search bar at the top of my blog to look for specific characters to see what I had to say. There’s also lots of other insightful meta writers right there, many of whom may focus especially on their favorite characters, but I want to specially promote @wynsnerdyrambles here for a whole bunch of really solid, insightful posts about a lot of characters’ arcs. My stuff tends to get into get into the marshy weeds, but those are very nice for getting to the core of the characters. ^_^

Ultimately, it’s up to how you want to write your story! Happy writing!

[trashexplorer]

BLCD Review: Yuukyuu Omega

Title: Yuukyuu Omega (有休オメガ)

Author/Artist: Fujimine Shiki

Release Date: 2021/02/26

Cast: 

Ono Yuuki x Nakajima Yoshiki

Ootsuka Takeo + Toki Shunichi

Synopsis: 

"It looks like you and I are bonded now."

(Am I in hell...?)

Suzuya is a lazy salaryman who just wants to get time off from work. When a new coworker, Furuike, suddenly shows up and starts making advances, Suzuya's peaceful existence is turned upside down! Faced with this aggressive attack, Suzuya's only defense is to play coy. "Giving my heart and body to a perverted alpha... I really could kill him."

Suzuya, an omega, works at a company which gives paid leave to omegas in heat. Until now, he's been able to get seven straight days off every month by pretending that the pill doesn't work for him. Seven days of drinking beer and playing video games from dawn to dusk... heaven on earth. Then a new alpha coworker named Furuike shows up unannounced outside his door...! If word gets out that he's not actually in heat, Suzuya is sure to get fired! His only choice is to keep up the act of being in heat. So begins the master performance of an omega who will do anything to avoid going to work.

Review Proper

Me finally rereading my releases post for this and realizing I mistook it for something else:

Man, I wouldn’t have hated this as much as I did if I wasn’t so expectant. The dialogue for this is 100% trash. Yeah, I did just come from two Momose Ans, but for better or for worse, at least Momose An can write okay dialogue unlike Fujimine Shiki’s Yuukyuu Omega where I could feel my body physically reject it. Wait. Wait. Didn’t I say this in Aisaretagari no Surface? ONO YUUKI, WHAT THE FUCK?! 

To clarify, the reason why Momose An’s better than Fujimine Shiki is that Momose An can actually pull off sensible and believable dialogue, only that her characters and plot are trashy. Fujimine Shiki, on the other hand, had a good plot in her hands, but was fixated in USING EVERY GODDAMN CHEESY SEME LINE IN THE 2009 BOOK OF HOMOSEXUAL PORN LIKE THEY DIDN’T HAVE AN EDITOR WHO CARED. It’s marketed as an XL Saizu meets Customer Masquerade! omegaverse romcom because Furuike-kun tried to be Anaconbayashi-kun while Suzuya-san was copy paste Etou-san. I did find it hilarious, though—the fact that she tried to make her characters sound funny when they have 0 personality, that is. See, there’s no way that that would work in a romcom because I believe the main couple needs to have opposite personalities to spark the funsies. Listen, Furuike-kun had a personality as blank and flimsy as a 1 ply piece of toilet paper while Suzuya-san was a lazy motherfucker. Congrats, Fusion Product. You just created Love Me, Love My Dog 2: Electric Boogaloo. 👏👏👏

Oh, you thought that my review for the technicalities would be better?

I’m saying this now, this has got to be one of the worst adaptations I’ve ever listened to in a long while.

So many dialogues, characters, and plot have been cut from the manga that this might as well just be a standalone. But they somehow also had the bright idea to add some new things in like they would do something for this whole shit show. 

As for the voice work,

I’m sorry, but what the fuck are you two doing? 

See, I was so hyped going into this because Nakajiki did his Suzuya-san in the same way Uchida Yuuma did his Etou-san. However, as the BLCD progressed, Nakajiki lost enthusiasm? during the uhh sex? that when he was getting rammed by the umm goddamn Furuike-train, it was as if he literally could be doing (or being done by) something else. My man really said “hatsujou sex sugoi/heat-induced sex is the best (in monotone)” that it would make you think: “Is it really, though?”. Please. Let’s not even talk about that weird ass moan he did in 10:39 of Track 6.

Well hellfire save matches, fuck a duck and see what hatches—I hated every breath Ono Yuuki took here. The moment he opened his mouth, his performance in Aisaretagari no Surface just came rushing back to me like a punch in the face. I thought I was just overreacting, but no, this man really said “2019 Furukawa Makoto, come into my body” and got possessed. This is the first time I’ve ever heard OnoYuu flatline, I think. Granted, the character he was playing was as deceased as his acting, but I think he could have pulled off OnoD’s Hasabe-kun from Kotonoha no Hana perfectly here if he was allowed by the studio. But also, his less than ideal performance here isn’t only the studio’s fault because there is a lot of sketchy acting of his in this BLCD. Listen, he really says “moodu wa daiji/the mood is important” and “kocchi nonde/drink my cum” in the same sentence while in monotone.

J-just kill me. Y’all didn’t think it would be possible to moan in monotone, but my man really invented moanotone and called it a day.

And by the way, Nakajiki and OnoYuu didn’t have the tiniest bit of chemistry with each other. I was even giving it a chance in the beginning because of course they’re not supposed to have any since they’re not actually a mated pair, but lo and behold, they only had chemistry when they were talking in the cast talk.  👏👏👏

As for Takeo and Shunichi, they weren’t relevant to the story whatsoever because they got yeeted off the BLCD after about three minutes. 👍

In conclusion, I hate this. This might be the worst review I’ve ever done because I don’t recall ever bad-mouthing a production from manga to BLCD before. There’s literally nothing good about it. I mean, how do you even fail that bad??? This makes Momose An’s shit look good. I mean, at least OnoYuu doesn’t sound like a perverted old man in Aisaretagari no Surface (just a rapist oh wait Furuike-kun’s also rapey). OnoYuu redemption arc when???

Man, what a downgrade considering I just came from Sonna ni Iu Nara. If y’all want that deadpan humor with 0 secondhand embarrassment, absolutely go for Omoimi’s XL Saizu. I still haven’t remembered that omegaverse I mistook this for that Okitsu stars in, but I do hope it’s good, or I’m throwing hands. 🔪🔪🔪

[song-of-the-swans]

Natalia did nothing wrong.

I recently reread Bronze no Tenshi and oh my God I love Georges D’Anthès with all my heart - as if I already didn’t love him enough when I first read this manga. He’s so respectful, he’s ready to sacrifice everything for Natalia and he understands a woman’s struggles. 

I don’t despise Pushkin in Bronze no Tenshi as it often happens to me with the other “love rival” of Saito’s stories, sometimes I pity him, but I also think a lot of people overlook his flaws and mistakes in his relationship and attitude towards Natalia out of their admiration for the figure of the real Pushkin, the poet. On the other hand, I see a lot of blame put on Natalia, when, if you really think about it, Natalia did nothing wrong. Natalia cannot be the usual strong, single-minded, fierce woman that Saito portrays in her stories: it wouldn’t be realistic and true to the time when the events take place. In my opinion, Natalia was a good person that always sacrificed herself for the people around her, who had for once the chance to do something exclusively for herself when she met the love of her life, D’Anthès. 

I personally am analyzing the events and the characters of the manga as someone who didn’t know Pushkin the first time she read Bronze no Tenshi. I see a girl who grew up in the country, with her relatives advising her not to speak her mind or reveal her true personality to anyone, with a crazy father who traumatized her, with a strict, oppressive mother who forbade her to read books, only ingraining religious concepts in her, and who tried to sell her to the best offerer when she was only 16. Everyone makes her believe her only merit is to be beautiful. When she is 16, she meets Pushkin who feverishly falls in love with her and, moved by his persistence, she develops a crush on him and agrees to marry him. She sees him as an escape from her condition and as a chance of independence from her mother. She knows he can treat her right and, in her innocence, she believes that would be enough to make her happy, because she is not interested in love, having never experienced it. Natalia says that love scares her because people in love act irrationally, so she keeps on living a peaceful life with Pushkin fulfilling her duties in the way she was brought up. But she doesn’t know love and... she’s never truly happy or satisfied. Then D’Anthès arrives in Russia. In a certain sense, he’s someone used to be treated as an object of desire by the others just like Natalia. When he sees her the first time, he finds her beautiful just like every other man, but he doesn’t try to pursue her, nor is he interested in her. When Natalia tries to get close to him for her sister’s sake, he misunderstands her at first because he thinks she’s just treating him like the other women. Then their interactions increase and they find each other insufferable. They bicker, because D’Anthès doesn’t idealize her. People do nothing but point out Natalia’s beauty to the point of exhaustion, but D’Anthès actually treats Natalia as his equal - even recognizing how it must be tiring to be always told the same compliment over and over - and more importantly as a woman. And during their arguments, Natalia’s personality comes out to her own surprise, the personality that we only saw at the beginning of the story when she’s alone with her sisters and that she was told to suppress. She gets emotional and worked up. He gets a reaction out of her.  They get to know each other as two people of the same age. He advises her. He protects her. He starts to understand her and he realizes she’s genuine and naive, that she doesn’t scheme, that she doesn’t do things for her own good, that she doesn’t want to hurt others and that she has no experience of life… and love. And they fall in love madly, to the point they will sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of seeing the other safe and at peace, since there’s not a place on the earth where they could possibly be allowed to be together. Anna Karenina is quite an example. Their only option was to flee abroad but that would’ve meant for Natalia not to see her family and children anymore. Leaving aside that I wouldn’t even have blamed Natalia for abandoning a whole brood of children that were literally put into her as if her body didn’t belong to her, D’Anthès understands that for her. When the day comes, he decides that he has to be stronger for her sake, because even if Natalia was willing to leave, she could’ve blamed herself all her life and died out of guilt. Ironically, D’Anthès has understood and known Natalia more during their illicit affair of stolen glances, confessions that lasted the time of a dance and secrete meetings, than her husband, who’s lived with her for years, ever did. Natalia always thought about the others. She first sacrificed herself for the sake of her family when they wanted her to get married. She restlessly gave her husband children he put in her one after the other without even letting her recover from the previous pregnancy, without ever objecting. After her marriage, she took her older sisters in her house to allow them to live a happier, social life in town and she escorted them at balls to chaperone them even when she was pregnant and had to take care of her body. She started to interact with D’Anthès to introduce him to her older sister who had a crush on him. She never wanted to hurt her admirers, even those who were pestering her. When she finally meets the love of her life, she fights back her feelings as much as she can and even avoids to be intimate with him because “her body doesn’t belong to her”. The moment she’s about to flee with him and make love to him, she physically stops herself because “she was about to be happy” in such a dramatic situation and “that is unforgivable”. Natalia is not even free to put an end to her life, because she has obligations, she’s leaving a family behind. So when she thinks D’Anthès doesn’t love her anymore when he sends her back home, she also knows she has to keep on living. And, in the end, we know her biggest sacrifice was to give up for good to the only person she ever loved for the sake of her children, her husband, her relatives and for social pressure… but even that is not enough for her husband.

Nevertheless, readers still blame her, just like Natalia blames herself for having fallen in love, just like she guilt trips herself throughout the story when she thinks she’s become someone who only thinks about her own happiness. After Natalia puts an end to her affair for her family, Pushkin decides to duel D’Anthès anyway and die, leaving her not only alone, but also making impossible for her to remarry with her lover decades later and abandoning the children just like Natalia would have done had she fled abroad with D’Anthès. With the only difference that Natalia would have done it to be with the one she loved after having lived a life that didn’t belong to her, whereas Pushkin did it for pride and vanity.

I suppose people blame Natalia because they think that she cannot make up her mind, but the truth is that the characters’ feelings are very clear in Bronze no Tenshi: Natalia doesn’t love her husband romantically and never has. You hear her thoughts, you watch her actions. She repeatedly confirms that she sees Pushkin as a relative and a father figure, even before D’Anthès came in the picture. Natalia didn’t fall out of love because of D’Anthès and D’Anthès didn’t steal her from Pushkin: she simply never loved him and Pushkin knew before and after marrying her. But he does nothing about it, he is happy to have her because she is beautiful and because he idealized her. Sure Pushkin loves his wife, but he doesn’t actually know her. He treats her like a muse, he calls her angel, he acts like a father towards a child, he scolds her, he keeps secrets and financial issues from her and when Natalia begins to show a firmer and more mature personality after she meets D’Anthès, he admits he liked her childish side more. He doesn’t treat her like a woman and an equal like D’Anthès does. If Pushkin had been depicted truer to his real physical appearance and age, I don’t think many people would’ve overlooked his obsession with making Natalia pregnant out of insecurity to “leave his mark on her” because she’s his possession.

When Pushkin got engaged to Natalia, he even promised her mother that he would’ve stepped aside in case Natalia realized one day that her life could’ve been different had she not married him. But he doesn’t. Or let’s say he does, but in an egoistical and manipulative way. Yes, it’s understandable on his part because it’s not easy to give up to the one you love and Russian society didn’t allow divorce. Yes, he doesn’t blame his wife for falling in love and he also waits for Natalia to come back to him...  but he doesn’t realize that Natalia cannot be who he used to think she was through his rose tinted glasses and this to me shows that he’s actually more egoistical in his love than D’Anthès is with Natalia. D’Anthès is ready to be hated by her for the sake of seeing her happy. The moment D’Anthès is close to obtaining happiness and fulfilling his dream to live with her in France, he realizes that Natalia won’t ever have the chance to live with him in a dream, because she has too many things at stake that even love cannot make up for: the price she has to pay for becoming his wife is too high, it would kill her. So he sends her back home and he hurts her, pretending he never loved her in order for her to give up on him more easily. D’Anthès never once tried to force himself physically on Natalia, he never had to be told “stop” twice. He is ready to die for her, to marry someone he doesn’t love to protect her honour. D’Anthès doesn’t want Natalia to break under the burden of having left her family to be with him, Natalia doesn’t want D’Anthès to willingly die in the duel with Pushkin because he can’t live without her. Natalia returns home but becomes an empty shell because she thinks her love hates her, D’Anthès goes mad because everything he did to see her happy turned out to be useless. They aren’t allowed to find peace whether they’re together or not.

When that becomes evident, Natalia will finally do something for herself. She makes love with her lover to say goodbye and to carry that memory forever in her heart, before returning to her husband’s side. But we all know what her husband’s final decision was to put an end to this situation. He dies, D’Anthès leaves Russia forever, Natalia loses her dear husband and her lover. She meets D’Anthès again 15 years later in the same place they became aware of each other, they reminisce about their young days, but they can’t be together this time as well.

Despite her tragic endings, Saito always treats her heroines more kindly than her male character (s). It’s like she protects them. They’re always mentally stronger than their lovers and they are resilient… in a way they are always able to find a happy ending in their misery. Natalia is mentally stronger, she survives, she remarries to protect herself, but, partially because this is based off real events, she also is probably the most miserable heroine portrayed by Saito. In the end she doesn’t find her happy ending, nor does she succeed in anything. She just finds peace of mind that she imposed on herself by sealing her feelings for D’Anthès and grieving her first husband, fulfilling the role society required. And I truly pity her. I honestly don’t know how people can blame her.

[jess-emurphy]

List of things the live action adaptation of Alice in Boderland missed out on that doesn't change the grand plot of things but were pretty neat and I wish they were there. This manga is one if my top five favourites so I'm incredibly passionate about it and anaylse it to shit

These are spoilers for the manga if you want to read the first arc but I will only discuss things that affect season 1 of the show and up to that point in the manga (where the face cards are revealed). Again, these really do not affect the plot considering the show got to the face cards just fine without changing anything major.

I read the manga back when I was like 15? I was in high school and used to read it during classes and was sobbing onto my maths notebook during the seven of hearts game.

---

Okay this wasn't a live action thing but in the manga, when Chishiya took down his hood and we saw his face, the comments were calling him ugly 😭😭😭 it was funny as fuck and I'll never forget it.

At the end of the seven of hearts game, Arisu's reward for winning was mutton chops. He burns the whole building down.

Arisu was still in high school in the manga (or at least, just out of it) and Karube actually has to keep telling him and Chota off for drinking at his bar.

The show really missed out on showing Tatta (the man in the cap) and his arc of being a scared young adult who's friend is murdered in front of him, nearly extracting revenge on the man (Last Boss) who did it before deciding he would rather let Last Boss slowly die in a painful way to the fire and save his own humanity. And that was pretty cowardly of them 😤

Aguni getting his scars from the tiger.

Phones work in the world. They aren't used the way the show does. Chishiya actually charges his to listen to music and someone remarks "did that guy join this game just to charge his phone? Ballsy"

Arisu telling Hatter that the seven of hearts card is Usagi's so she could be a higher number rank because he believes shes more deserving of going home.

Arisu using his ability to pretend to not be there like he does in front of his family to hide from the tagger and slow his breathing down.

Chishiya's monologue about why he chose the top floor of the apartment building, show casing how smart he is but not willing to give anyone else that tip.

The part where Chishiya has to pick up all the cards he threw and Mira comes over like "yo i'll help short ass" 😩

The first game was actually set in a festival setting where their goal was to answer questions.

The tunnel game set in the highway did not include Usagi or Arisu. It was a side chapter featuring a new guy who's motive to survive was to get back to his girlfriend who had only ever been abused by men. He didn't want to die because if he did, she would think he left her just like every other man in her life and it was actually very heart breaking. The game itself was fairly the same except the end part was a bomb, not a flood.

During when Hatter is shot, Number Two disappears and is presumed dead. In the show, he's alive. And in the manga he was Number Three.

Aguni was Number Two. There was no voting in the manga, he was just automatically Number One.

Asahi in the manga, while feling guilty, allows the witch hunt game to go on because she despisea how humans have become, killing each other mercilessly. She only ever sacrifices herself because Arisu gave her hope that there is good people.

Usagi hanging onto the side of the hotel, back fliping off, catching the ledge and kicking a man unconcious who was standing by the open window.

In the tagger game in the show, the twist was there was a second tagger. In the manga, the twist was that there was a second gun. Karube got injured because he jumped off the side of the building, caught the ledge but fucked up his stomach.

Aguni was never in that game. He never met Karube or Arisu before.

This one I can't remember completely but I believe Karube finds out about the beach via a car radio.

In the manga Arisu never got to see Karube one last time.

Shibuki's three of hearts game where she essentially gave up, was willing to die but that in fact saved her life.

Thee game where Arisu proves himself worthy to An happened without Arisu. That scene was there to actually show case An's intelligence all on her own.

In the manga, we actually get to see what type of games everyone specialises in. Arisu specialises in hearts, Usagi spades, Hatter spades, Kuina clubs and Chishiya diamonds, to name a few.

In the manga, Arisu played one other hearts game before the beach (this could be wrong but the actual chapters never stated a timeline). It was a four of hearts.

DOUDOU? WHERE IS MY BOY DOUDOU? The live action really said fuck Doudou he doesn't get to be in this sorry.

Tatta's Lamborghini and him being a mad man, driving it around 😭 as he should

Kuina showing off her boobs to the men because they were being transphobic 😤

Between the ten of hearts and the arrival of the face cards, three days passed. During these three days, the characters partied, did golf, goofed around, tried to enjoy life and figure out what happens next. A whole interaction happens here with Arisu and Usagi and it kept cutting to another character who was travelling around (and some stuff about a dead deer and friendships or something who knows I was distracted by a crying Arisu my poor boy). Arisu also has a thing where he tells Usagi to never leave him and it broke my heart.

Kuina and Chishiya? They might as well be enemies. She HATES him for what he did to Arisu and Usagi. He's actually not seen with anyone during those three days before the card faces.

Niragi ugly af in the manga.

I hadn't read the manga in years since it ended but I was convinced that Kuina was a Black Japanese woman BUT NO SHE JUST SUDDENLY CHANGES SKIN TONES AFTER TRANSITIONING. I had to do a double take when rereading the manga. I know it's supposed to be a tan but It had been years okay cut me some slack.

Hatter's gravity defying hair. This changes no plot. I just thought his hair was very funny and I would lpve to see an actual attempt in real life.

Okay thats literally all I can think of. Overall, I was happy with the live action and the literally only thing I was upset at is the fact they cut a whole character out. He may show up to season 2 but with the way the show went, I doubt they'll go back in time just to show off a random four of hearts game that this character was in with Arisu. I wish we got that cute hug with them of Arisu being tackled by this scrawny 16 year old. 😤

[ryuichirou]

Hi, Ryu❤️ Hope u’r doing well❤️

Since u’r talking about ships lately, I’m really curious to hear your opinion about Aru//Ani, its execution, development and progression throughout the whole plot👀, if it’s not a problem and especially if u have the time to. Its shippers claim Isym has been doing a great build up since FT arc (???) and that, despite the lack of development onscreen, the dynamic makes sense (???) cause they “complete” each other and they learnt how to “love and respect” each other throughout the past 4 years (???!!!).

And... I don’t know, Ryu: I really tried to consider their pov, even reread the A/A interactions and look at the dynamic with shipping goggles on, but I really failed to see and understand what they claim. Actually, I keep seeing this dynamic as insulting not just for Armin and Annie’s characters in first place, but also for Eren, Mikasa, Hitch and Berthold. Moreover, it seems nothing but an addiction made out for fanservice, cause it serves absolutely nothing to the plot: if u cut their interactions post 131ch, the story wouldn’t change in the least. Also, their interactions weren’t even that romantic and weren’t focused at all about their supposed “crush” for each other. I personally believe Armin is using Annie as coping mechanism and/or just a mean to substitute Eren; whereas Annie is substituting Armin with her father, cause she feels adrift and desperate, and seeks for someone who cherishes her and appreciates her for the person she is no matter the harsh things she did in the past (I’m crying for Hitch in the mid time....). Other than that, I’m believing also in Berthold’s influence on Armin, cause it’s the only explanation for the sudden interest of boy towards girl, that happen to begin exactly after he ate Berthold: it can’t be just a coincidence imo.

So yeah, at the end of the day, I’m pretty sad cause I used to love both the characters and now I’m much conflicted atm, cause I see nothing but a huge derailment for both and a waste for Annie’s one, who’s developing literally over a love interest... And it’s a very huge pity to me.

Sorry for the big ask, lol... I have this weight on my chest and I confess it’s actually ruining my love for SnK: I feel like everything after 131ch started sucking pretty hard... Plus, the fandom became more toxic than ever😔😔😔

I was waiting for someone to ask me about them eventually, and honestly... Anon, you're such a big mood lol

You’ve guessed correctly: I don’t like AruAni. Not because we personally don’t ship it, but because it doesn’t make sense and (for now) it’s unclear what it the purpose of this storyline and if there’s even going to be a purpose. I don’t recommend anyone shipping them reading my reply.

Basically, Anon, you’ve described everything perfectly, so I’m just going to agree with all your points. I also don’t see a reason for Armin to have this type of love for Annie. I see a coping mechanism, I see something to escape to from the Eren problem, I can even see a self-punishment of sorts, but I don’t see that sweet crush we’re led to believe is there. See, Armin didn’t even know Annie that well. They talked like twice, and then the Female Titan thing happened, and then… he was talking to her for years, but he still never learnt anything about her. How can he love her if he doesn’t even know who the fuck Annie is? And yeah, it’s convenient Bertold timing, I wonder if it’s going to come up later.

We feel like it’s unfair to other characters. It’s also extremely unfair to Hitch that’s also been here for Annie for all those years but didn’t get the special treatment for some reason. Like... their reasoning would be pretty much the same, they could’ve made Hitch her love interest for all the same reasons.

It’s unfair to Annie herself, because, based on what we know about her, she’s drawn to stubborn idiots going against the flow. Because she herself could never do that. This is the point of her character: she could never stand against what people asked her to do, even when she knew it was useless or wrong. This is why Eren intrigues her, this is why Marlo intrigues her.

Of course I’m biased here, and don’t get me wrong: I don’t see EreAnnie becoming a canon thing either lol and I talked about how I don’t care about ships being canon in general a bunch of times already. I’m saying this as an example of a dynamic that actually... works for her type of character. But all the development Annie’s got was kickstarted by Eren being interested in her fighting style and being the first person who legitimately interested her on this island (and who was interested in her too to some extent, at least interested in something she was proud of and deeply loved). She also deeply appreciated it, they had funny dialogues together, and he was the first and only person she had flirted with, which is a huge step for a character as shy, distant and serious as Annie. Seeing her now blushing for Armin looks like a joke when you keep these things in mind. You can listen to his stories all you want, but it’s strictly one-sided. And, like I said, Hitch can also have the same chances with this type of logic. Their pie-eating scene has more chemistry than all AruAni moments.

The “good person/bad person” dialogue with Armin doesn’t feel like a development to me because they were just mirroring each other’s thoughts, so it’s like talking to yourself…

Ok, that was a little bit off topic lol. But yeah, this is why for now we think that either there will be a twist of sorts (i’ll take killing Armin as a twist) or the editor just made Isayama push this narrative, since Isayama doesn’t strike me as a type who likes romance that much or ships his own characters, plus he used romance for proving the cruel world motif so many times already. Or this is just exactly what it is, a last minute het romance, and we’ll end up sitting there like bitter losers being all upset, Anon haha

The fandom’s always going toxic and pretty feral as soon as het couples pop up, and in general huge fanbases mean nothing good unless you want that sweet clout to make money or get attention, so the only thing I can advice you is to distance yourself from them so that it won’t ruin your SnK experience even more. I don’t know you or your feelings, but I think you’re just upset about AruAni thing, this is why the manga sucks to you right now (well, you basically said it yourself, if I got you correctly). And that’s fine and we’re annoyed by this thing a lot too, so we can definitely understand this sentiment. Personally, we pretend like this bs romance never happened so it won’t ruin our experience, and we’ll see what to think about it when SnK is over. Like, what if it’s just a plot device and we get ourselves worried about nothing? I wanna believe that... :”)

And can I just… use this chance to say how frustrated I am that the majority of Annie content there is is either AruAni or BerAni (or the trio)? It’s like she isn’t important when she’s not in the context of those relationships… It upsets me a lot.

Let me just say this… Reiner had more development with Annie than Armin and Bertolt combined. There, I said it. And Reiner’s fucking gay.

Overall, we’ll see how everything plays out, and then you can come again to us and we’ll bitch together lol