#she is so fucked up. this manga affected my soul deeply.

[jibunbosh]

guess what i finished reading today

[sonofthesaiyans]

SIX YEARS AGO TODAY. NEVER FORGET!

Her name was Sasha. She was amazing.

And Gabi stole her from us.

Hajime Isayama stole her from us.

Yes. Assassin's Bullet. The lowest point in all of Attack on Titan.

This was where it all began. This was where all the anger, hate, and bitterness started. For six years, the continued run of both the anime and the manga has been a LIVING HELL. For me, Sasha Braus truly was the heart of the story, it was her kind soul and noble struggle that won me over, and I always knew she was a greater character than the story allowed her to be.

For me, Attack on Titan ended when Gabi's bullet entered her body. The image of Sasha bleeding out has been burned into my brain so deeply that all else became irrelevant after that. No other scene in fiction ever actively affected my mental well-being as this one still does today, making this the worst thing I have EVER laid eyes on in a series I once was a fan of.

Hajime Isayama had one simple task, and he should have left well enough alone. Never have I felt so profoundly offended by any story like I have been by Gabi's phony and enormously manipulative "redemption" arc, and the fact that Isayama decreed that Sasha, a character he long has neglected, had to die to live out this pathetic stunt of his.....there's few other men on earth who I actively wish the worst upon. A sick bastard who continues to be rewarded for one of the worst character abuses in anime, and for obliging us to one of the absolute worst characters in all of fiction.

It doesn't matter how many excuses Gabi's overzealous diehards make, every single of their excuses has been rooted in Isayama's lies. And they are some of the worst excuses for fans I have ever met. There's clearly no self awareness or humility among her existing circle of fans, and the few who are reasonable are too few and far between. It doesn't matter what they say, and it doesn't matter what that cunt Isayama says in defense of his decisions, I have never ever seen that man as anything less than a liar who has taken too much pleasure in punishing those who have picked up his work. It's because of him that this hideous piece of literature was animated into one of the worst episodes of anime, and his self indulgent need to plug Gabi in EVERY aspect of his story to sell such a hollow and phony message has permanently tainted Attack on Titan.

Chapter 105, Assassin's Bullet is the chapter that made this series UNWATCHABLE.

This FUCKING chapter is why I cannot put the anime back on. If I could, I would have it burned out of existence. And I only can dream of the chance to ream Isayama for how thoroughly his work has negatively affected my psyche. If I had my way, he would be forced to reckon with all he started the day he drafted this fucking thing, a man who has totally lost my respect for this and for having cast a genocidal monster like Eren Yeager in a sympathetic light.

Sasha Braus deserves so much better. A character who is far too good for the story she was introduced in.

Never before have I seen anything advertised with the words "MAJOR DEATH INCOMING" as I did with Assassin's Bullet.

It's transparently obvious how much Isayama wanted to hurt us with this. And how eager he was to supplant Sasha with such an obnoxious and remorseless replacement who he had the gall to frame as being not just a mirror to Eren, but as a mirror to the girl who was the complete OPPOSITE of BOTH of them. If that's not an insult to who Sasha was as a character, then what is?

And that's to say nothing of the glaring absence of her breastplate when Gabi stormed the blimp, this clearly was no accident on the part of this bastard. And I have yet to see the fandom call him forward on it. Not for being a plot hole, but for further serving as a massive middle finger from the man who clearly took a perverse pleasure in setting us up for this torturous turn of events. And to him I can only say he can go to Hell.

And to the fans marking Connie's birthday today, I hardly see any cause for celebrating.

Because Isayama CHOSE this day to hurt us with this.

That's right. The other half of this classic duo who couldn't be bothered to lift a finger to avenge the legacy of his best friend, not even once calling out the one to pull the trigger. And no, I will NOT let that go. More on that matter later, I assure you.

If you ask me, it should have been Connie who took the bullet on that airship, having done absolutely nothing of value for the remaining portion of the story. And certainly nothing to honor what he shared with Sasha. So don't bother counting me as a Springles fan these days, people.

And oh yeah, Eren's laugh......that had to have been Isayama's malice seeping further into the writing. And people wonder why I have it out for this son of a bitch.

And getting back to Gabi, on why she's such an irredeemable little cunt unworthy or sympathy, I think this article sums it up nicely; scroll down to #4 and you got an accurate shorthand for all the reasons for why this bitch has no business EVER becoming such a dominating presence in the final arcs of Attack on Titan.

Absolutely NO redeeming value to this chapter and episode whatsoever. In the end, absolutely nothing about Eren's saga mattered. Not after this. Sasha may not have been the main character, but she was a character who deserved so much more, and the story suffered without presence. I don't give a flying fuck what the fans say, I don't care what Mappa says, I don't care what Japan says, and I certainly do not fucking care what Isayama says for why any of this "had" to happen, it didn't:

BECAUSE THERE IS NO ATTACK ON TITAN WITHOUT SASHA BRAUS.

Today I broke my own rule of never posting any images of this motherfucking travesty on my page. But frankly, I don't know how else to better illustrate my anger. It makes me feel unclean to recall everything of this episode and everything that followed in its wake.

Justice for Sasha Braus. Because our beloved Potato Girl deserves it. One day Isayama's hand must be forced, and when that happens, may she be restored to us, and this black stain that is Assassin's Bullet expunged from this saga. Isayama made a bad call, and he must fucking answer for it.

And to all you Gabi fans out there, a little something to all of you who have gone to such insane lengths to defend such a toxic character who you've always been so eager to put on a goddamn pedestal:

Still haven't figured out who I got this from yet? Well let's just say they know better than anybody else as to why Gabi has such a bad reputation to this day. And to them I can only say it's a shame they came to be associated with a character as infamous as Gabi.

And to Gabi herself.......

I would not have hesitated to shiv you myself you little motherfucker. Until we get the scene where you finally face justice, may you burn in hell.

Fuck Assassin's Bullet, and FUCK YOU HAJIME ISAYAMA.

Remember her face people. NEVER FORGET what was stolen from us.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Top 5 Bleach voices

When I first watched Bleach, “watching anime” meant loading three 7-minute segments in order to watch a single episode on YouTube--each of which you then had to buffer. And they’d have a combination of English or Spanish subtitles in like 320p and it was a whole affair. (This represents a level of dogged tenacity that I’m not sure I still have--oh, how weak we’ve grown, with our unlimited high-speed Internet and our streaming media!)

Under those circumstances, I feel like the question of “why this? why not just read the manga? why not continue memorizing the singular Inuyasha DVD we own?” looms large. The animation is what it is (and at 320p it is not a lot LOL) and imho the Bleach bgm is uniquely bad. But my answer is also very simple: I ABSOLUTELY ADORE ORIKASA FUMIKO’S RUKIA. SHE IS PERFECT.  A GODDESS. MY QUEEN. ADORATION AND ADULATION. 

My top five Bleach voices

1. Rukia (Orikasa Fumiko) -- My gosh, what do I even say. I literally watched this anime for her Rukia--what more is there TO say? But I guess a lot of what I love about Orikasa’s performance is how much of what I love about Rukia she’s able to carry into her voicework. Because you have this girl who can be archaic and otherworldy, but also codeswitch straight into Genial High School Classmate, but also be colloquial and masculine and rough around the edges. But ALSO be dancerly, but also a depressed tower queen, but also serious and firm, serious and deferent, but ALSO drama Rukia (I love drama Rukia ToT). Rukia stands out to me as a character who’s a lot of things all at once, flickering rapidly across all these pieces of her, and Orikasa nails all of it.

I love this scene because she’s Vanna Rukia but the second Rukia expects the camera to stop rolling her affect shifts entirely. Beautiful. 

(Me after I end the Zoom meeting.)

****** Would also like to mention that Orikasa also plays Ashisogi Jizou, the chirpy butterfly version, AKA my favorite of the manifested zanpakutou. The idea of Rukia and Mayuri’s freakin’ sword being played by the same person is just U N H I N G E D to me.

2. Ikkaku (Hiyama Nobuyuki) -- Literally any time anyone in any other anime does a battle cry or an ORAORAORA I’m just like, “Well, he’s no Ikkaku.” This man has the best battle cries in the entire world. I would make his oraoraora my ringtone. (And then like, to also be able to do this???)

3. Ichigo (Morita Masakazu) -- I like Ichigo’s voice well enough, and he is remarkably good at breathing (I have a friend who once did all of the breathing fx for a stage play’s soundboard and let me tell you--underrated skillset), but the reason he’s on this list is because of the way he cried at the end of the Fullbring arc. Just deeply, soul-rendingly sad. Ichigo being sad doesn’t need a lot of help to make me feel sad for him, but Masakazu’s voicework in that scene took it to separate planet for me. It haunts me. (He also has a tiny but really good scene for this in Fade to Black.)

4. Urahara (Miki Shinichiro) -- Similar to Rukia, I feel like to do a good Urahara you have to have a really wide range of affects and be nimble about maneuvering across them, and Urahara has such a great voice for someone who’s ready to be deeply weird in an inscrutable but adorkable way and then suddenly be deeply weird in a fucked up way at, well, the drop of a hat.

5. Mayuri (Nakao Ryuusei) -- Opposite Urahara, to do Mayuri you need a voice that’s deeply weird in only a fucked up way. But at the same time, you can’t be generically villainous because you have to be extra af about it. But not JUST histrionic, because you also need to be coldly, clinically sinister. It’s a difficult tightrope to walk! But Nakao’s Mayuri is so, so distinctive.

[booksweet]

Expectations

starring: Gojo Satoru x fem!reader

Synopsis: what If your favorite character became real the moment you needed the most?

Warnings: fluffy, probably shibuya incident arc spoilers (not too much), grammar mistakes, both reader and Gojo are +18

Word count: 2k

A/N: hello! Here's me again bringing you the sequence of "Real" (please don't forget to read the first part, okay?). I was so glad you enjoyed chapter 1 that it turned out as a series and I can say I'm BEYOND happy!! Hope you like it 💛

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

tagging: @noritoshiikamo @iwaizumini

“So… Tell me about your powers,” she asks him when they stopped their tour through the city together. “Did they remain? Or you lost them when you came here?”

She knew she should’ve already spoken to him about this matter, yet she was scared of his answer, yet she frightened that if he got his powers, maybe he would go back to his world and let het behind. She would be all alone. Again.

Being alone all the time was tiresome, she had been tired for so long since her parents died, and she moved away from the town she was born and rose by them. After all this time without them, she got used to living alone, eating alone, existing all by herself, everything was so mechanical to her that she didn’t even notice how the way she was living affected her perceptions of her surroundings.

And then, he suddenly appeared. That night was marked inside her memories. She was fond of many things, reading her favourite manga above all, but if someone asked her what she expected getting from reading one, she would answer just some comfort and relief from stressful days, not her favourite character scaping from his world and popping up inside her room.

“Hey! Y/N? Are you even listening to me?” Satoru’s voice takes her out from her reveries, again she got lost on her own thoughts about him and what happened. Is it selfish not wanting you to go back there?

“Sorry” She apologizes with a shy smile, his eyes hidden with sunglasses probably focused on her. “What were you saying?”

“You are a little absent-minded, aren’t you?” His voice in an amused tone makes you release a loud laugh that make he smile eye-to-eye. “I was saying that my powers are still here with me…” He repeats as he takes you by your hand walking somewhere else, his slightly narrow when he sees something that caught up his interest. “Is that… Ice cream?”

By his answer to her question, her heart flickers a little. He could do anything he wanted; he was the strongest above all. Why wouldn’t he just go back to his world? Why would he still be here with you? Your mind going whirlwind with a thousand questions unanswered.

“You lost it,” He says once more, now with her favourite ice cream flavour in one extended hand as a signal to give it to her. “Again. Am I that much a bad company that you can’t concentrate on our date?” He fakes a heartbroken and sad tone seeming like a boy who was crying over his first love.

“Satoru, what?! No! And this is not a date!” She did get lost in thoughts again, but hell no, this wasn’t a date. “Don’t you dare smile like this to me, don’t you dare, Satoru Gojo!” Her flustered tone mixed up with an angry one as a cocky smirk grew upon his face.

“Whaat? Me? Smiling?” He walks closer to her, his height almost towering over hers, and when their faces where almost touching each other, the smell of ice cream surrounding them when he says “How? Smiling like this?”

She could’ve fainted right there, yes, she could. One could say she was almost having a heart attack the faster her heart was beating and that idiot in front her knew how much he affected her, and, for God’s sake, he was doing it way to good not to care. Still, she wouldn’t give up to him so easily.

“As you said…” She started stepping back and eating her own ice cream. “Your powers still remain, so how does it feel?”

“Little one…” He begins to say, but he seems to reconsider his words while looking at her face. “I can feel everything. I can see everything and nothing at the same time. The beginning and the ending. Infinity and beyond.”

She remained silent by his side, waiting for him to continue whatever he was thinking about to speak of. She couldn’t imagine how heavy must be the burden of carrying power like his, powers that were both a blessing and a curse.

“Your world does have curse energy like mine,” He finally continue his line of thought. “Even though it doesn’t change into spirits or something more tangible to exorcize. I still don’t get how you get rid of it here, it’s a mystery.”

“And…” He suddenly stops, narrowing his eyebrows in a confused expression, it was like he realized something he didn’t know how to explain to her.

“And?” You give his arm a soft touch, without words saying to him I am here, you can say whatever is on your mind.

“And” He eyes at her so deeply you imagine if he could reach her soul, his hand placed above hers. “I can see you. Your everything. I can sense your presence, your heartbeat like it is my own. Is it strange? Is it strange that I feel you like you are a part of me, and I am a part of you?” He holds her hand tighter. “Is it strange that when we hold hands everything seems right again? Is it strange that-“

All at once he lets go of her hand. She gives him a strange look, What’s wrong? Was what she as thinking. Goosebumps running through her body, wild butterflies flying on her stomach made her lips dry of nervousness. I feel you like you are a part of me, and I am a part of you. Everything seems right. He must be kidding, no one never…

“Gojo,” She says when she can catch her breath again, his eyes never leaving her face. “You shouldn’t play with things like this.” She pinches her nose, feeling her face warmer and warmer each second. “We must go, there are other places I want to show you.”

“But, Y/N,” He tries to say, she could feel melancholy following his words. I don’t want to hear, I don’t.

“Let’s go, Satoru Gojo,” she fakes a smile and an excited tone. “There’s more of my world that those pretty eyes of yours have never seen.”

They went through many of her favourite places such as the park, that café closer to her loved library, she showed him her favourite restaurant, the places she was used to go when feeling unwell with herself. And there was this moment, this specifically moment, that his eye’s light changed.

The way her hair flipped towards the wind, the way her smell invaded his nostrils, the way he was just all eyes only to hers. Every little detail unmissed to him. Despite their last conversation ending, he’s been constantly aware of her, of how she makes him feel in this odd world. He didn’t lie when he said all those words, he meant each one of them, but he was still wondering why she dismissed him that way. He was afraid that fright would make her run away from him again.

“Hey, you enjoyed our stroll today?” She was resting peacefully on her place’s couch, head laid softly on a cushion and eyes looking at him eagerly. He felt she was still fluttering because of what happened between them before, and he wanted so bad to stop that growing unease feeling his mind twisted every second.

“You don’t know how” He says with a genuine smile, knowing more of you, of how you lived, and your habits makes him avid to get closer and closer to you. His keen voice loud when he laughs “I’ve never though of not trying to defeat monsters and curses while eating a good, sweet cake or ice cream and…”

“And?”

“You can say I’m a good partner, can’t you?” His keen smile turning into a cocky and teasing one. “Afterall, how could I not try my best having such a beautiful lady by my side?”

“You-“She starts, but the growing reddish upon her nose and cheeks reports how nervous she gets when he talks like this, how he teases her and her blood runs wild through her veins. “You know it wasn’t a date, Satoru!” Placing a hand in front of her pretty face to hide whatever her expression could speak for her that moment. “And yes, you’re also a good companion, I can say that.”

“Hey, Y/N,” Satoru’s voice wakes her up from her dreams late that night, she was on the couch covered with her bedsheets. Did he picked them and then covered me up? Her heart bounced inside her chest and she felt her hands damp with sweat with that thought of him caring about her.

“Uh… What time…?” She opens her eyelids slowly, yawning hard as she stretches herself to wake her body. By the time she catches the sight of him, he’s sitting down right on the ground in front of her, his hands towering over her legs like he wanted to touch her but is not allowed to.

“Can I show you something?” His voice says nothing to her, no opens to reveal his feelings behind his tone. Suddenly, she feels cold running over her body. She nods slowly to him. “Do you trust me?” Again, another movement of her head. “Little one… I need to hear your voice.” His bare eyes stare at her fondly, she will never understand why he does this to her. Doesn’t he know that he will break my heart?

“Yes, Satoru, I trust you.” Her voice is hoarse from sleep, but this is all he needs to place one arm underneath her legs and the other on her back to carry her bridal-way. “Wh-what?! This is really necessary?”

“Hold on, I got you” His thumb moving around the bottom of her back, his movements, and the feeling of his warm body closer to hers making her relax. “I’ll show you something, breath and don’t scream”

And suddenly they weren’t at her living room, but at the rooftop of some skyscraper. So high she could feel her sight twisting.

“Hey, hey…” His muffled voice was calm against her ears, his soft grip tightening a little in reassurance of her safety. “I’m here, I’m here, it’s okay.”

“F-fuck! Why? Why are we here?”

“I need to show you” His tone didn’t hide he was nervous, worried about something. “Please close your eyes.”

As she does what he requested, his arm on her back loosen his grip and a hint of panic stars to grow inside her. I’m going to…

“You are not going to fall. I will never let something bad happen to you.” His voice is bold and so sure-footed that she decides not to complain, even thought she knew that it wouldn’t be their reality sooner when he’ll get back to his world. His fingers gently touching her eyes and she feels something changing in the air. The air around them shaking and heavy. His powers…

“Open your eyes, Y/N, please.”

As she opens her eyes, she knew something was different. In front of her there was still the night city, above her the skies. But she could see energy, colourful energy arising from each place she could catch a sight. “What- WHAT?” She screamed in disbelief. “What did you do to me?!”

He bit his lips in a worried expression. “I did nothing. I had this theory but…” He couldn’t look at her anymore, it was painful. “I just managed to unlock your own cursed energy, I don’t know how, I had these feeling and it just…”

They remained in silence for what seemed like hours, even though night were still ruling hard the skies up them. Their bodies close to each other, their warm protecting them from that cold night, from that scary truth. What the hell I am?

“Y/N”

“Uh. What?”

“I need your help to get back to my world. I need your help to get back to my students. You do know what happened to them after my arrive, don’t you?”

main navi | masterlist

[starymintss]

Please enjoy an essay on why mitsukou has so much fucking potential and why they’re great together

by Elena~

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a connection like the one that mitsukou shares. This ship literally has true canon potential. I have hope and believe that we may be victorious in mitsukou becoming canon- I mean god dammit guys they are “SEMI CANON”-

kounene obviously won’t be endgame. In Houkago Shounen Hanako Kun (the spin-off series) they played a game in which the person who pulled a king card was able to get to command a person that was playing the game to do something no matter what. When Kou pulled his card- he literally decided he wanted his brother Teru who was there and Nene to have a romantic connection (hence- him saying and I fucking quote, “This will make senpai happy!”) He could’ve done it to his own benefit- to maybe earn a kiss or do something of his own benefit. But he didn’t, instead choosing to make his senpai happy.

Besides Hananene is basically canon already like what the fuck

As for Mitsuba he’s a gay coded character and hasn’t denied the guys aren’t his type. Some people who deem Mitsuba straight might use the scene where he tells Kou “Is this a love confession? Sorry but lame earrings aren’t really my style.” That still does not confirm that Mitsuba doesn’t swing that way. A really great piece of evidence is the bonus comics at the start and end of a manga- one titled, “Tell Me, Mitsuba Kun,” in which Kou asks if he ever had a crush on other girls- Mitsuba responding that there are simply no other girls cuter than him. In another bonus comic he says the same thing again when he tells Yokoo and Satou he wants to fall in love. When asked to name some girls he thinks are cute, he asks if it's possible that he was the cutest one of all. On the other hand, Kou has stated that he likes someone with a pretty smile (do I have to explain that) which is a pretty open explanation of his type (not denying or confirming he doesn’t like guys). Obviously as a Mitsukou shipper I can point out different actions that I’ll admit looks pretty gay.

It’s not the fact that it’s very common in manga like this that there’s the straight couple and then the other two people in the group are automatically paired together- they are so much more than that. They have a deep connection, and both Kou and Mitsuba are somewhat aware of that themselves. Mitsuba is willing to protect Kou from harm- he’s willing to stop him from getting himself hurt for others because Mitsuba cares, and he knows that he’s too reckless and caring and fearless for others in a way that isn’t healthy?

Kou likes to be everything for everyone and the reader can see in chapter 64 that Mitsuba really did try to talk to him about the behavior. Yes it’s weird to see Mitsuba actually show true concern to people--because it’s his character to be a jerk and an asshole, but that doesn’t mean Mitsuba is incapable of not having true genuine feelings for people he seems as his friends.

Obviously, Mitsuba trying to talk to Kou didn’t happen due to other events that occurred. But I think a lot of people agree that the moment would’ve been so beautifully written and truly played an extremely important part in Kou’s character development.

As for Mitsuba, Kou is generally a sweet guy. It’s stated he will give up his life for anyone, it was what he was taught growing up as an exorcist and a fighter. Those words do not fail his actions, and anyone can see Kou will die for literally anything which is really messed up. He’s 14 for fucks sake.

Someone against Mitsukou could use that as an argument but we see here in the manga that there’s simply something different about this said connection. Kou is first introduced to Mitsuba in chapter 30 something, and he remembers who he is after Yokoo tells him--what happened to Mitsuba that was ultimately the end of his life. Mitsuba does again by his rumor being changed, and being stabbed by Hanako- but it’s the fact he cries and loses sleep and just cannot let him go for anything that moves me. May I point out that he actually decided to process the photos even after Mitsubas death? He didn’t have to do that. Not at all. But he did anyways. It’s seen that Kou wants to find a way to help Mitsuba get away from Tsukasa and help him fit in more- he wants to be a friend. (Note: after he’s reintroduced to Mitsuba; this Mitsuba being a pure apparition with no memories.)

Mitsuba is deeply insecure about himself, and feels he doesn’t fit in. He’s lonely, and doesn’t have friends even as a ghost. But Kou is there. He’s there to be by Mitsubas side.

The deep connection the two of them have is strong and that’s especially shown in the picture perfect arc. At the beginning Kou first sees Mitsuba as a human and obviously it’s freaking him out because-he’s a ghost you know. But once him and Nene meet Shijima Mei, and are told they must kill Hanako (Amane) and Mitsuba, it’s disturbing to them. At this point in the series literally everyone know Hanako and Yashiro share a connection as lovers. I mean- its the couple that the series revolves around. But Kou is deeply disturbed because he doesn’t want to kill Mitsuba. Yet- Mei also reassured them that things will be alright since after all this is a fake world and there’s no need for hesitation. But it’s still affecting Kou and he’s carrying this information on his back as he learns beside Mitsuba in school and has fun with him while cleaning the pool. At night, when the two of them are walking on the school building and watching the stars from the window, Kou confronts Mitsuba about this (note: by now Kou knows that Mitsuba knows). Mitsuba goes on to reveal his true form, and uses his powers to show Kou the past. He tells him about how he learns about his past self. And he states to just feel so… “envious”

Mitsuba grows angry with Kou- because he can see how he’s looking at the true Mitsuba with such a gaze the fake Mitsuba knows he won’t ever get.

Things lead to one another and he smashes the window in fury. (“It’s that Mitsuba you want, right?!” And I dare you to tell me that doesn’t sound like a fucking quote from a bittersweet romance novel.)

Kou insists on getting Mitsuba out of there. And can I please just point out that Mitsuba says: “What are you doing?!” He asks Kou if this isn’t what he wanted- if this isnt the life they want to live from here on out where they can be happy together along with their friends. This reminds me of a direct parallel to Hananene, in which Hanako is confused as to why Nene wouldn’t want to stay here, and Nene tells him that this isn’t what she wants. Kou says the same thing to Mitsuba.

Kou drags out embedded feelings Mitsuba has as they fight, and he says quotes that are really important to their development. Things such as:

“But… who else is there?! Who else could grant my wish?! Even you, Minamoto- Kun!”

“You see… even you don’t care about me. It’s that “Mitsuba,” isn’t it?! I don't even MATTER!!”

“I’m Mitsuba’s fake, but let’s just call it real! This is a world where the “Mitsuba” you were unable to save can live happily! That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Even if it’s only in this world, be my friend, and stay by my side… I’m just thinking scary things. Over there, I’ll be jealous.”

I think the Picture Perfect arc really shows how desperate Mitsuba is to have friends- to fit in with everyone else and to just feel like he belongs and matters. Kou tries to tell him that isn’t true... he’s willing to do everything to let him know that he is so much more than what he deems himself as. He’s so much more than a “fake” of what used to be his original friend, there's so much more to do than wish wishes and hope things will just go the way you want things to go. There’s a better way than to look to evil to bend and defy the laws of existing.

There’s the famous quote Kou says- the “How about I die too. So that we can be together forever.” And how he decided right there this this fake Mitsuba- this apparition who very much will never become human- is worthy. He’s worthy of his life; this is more than the whole “I will die for every life” because Mitsuba is dead- he’s immortal as a ghost. But a human like him... in Mitsubas words someone who will never understand something as ugly and as horrifying as a apparition born from a real persons soul and lesser about to disappear spirits- Kou will give his life up just to know the hell he goes through. Even if it’s just a glimpse- even if it’s just for a second Kou will do anything to just fulfill Mitsubas wish for him to stay by his side. He will do anything for Mitsuba.

I think writing this out also makes me realize they both have their walls up. Kou has his walls up to try and hide his true feelings- his deepest fears and insecurities- feeling as if he isn’t good enough. Mitsuba has his walls up to do the same. He portrays himself as a guy that he deems will get him friends. He hides the ugliness in himself- hides the fact he’s a total fake; doesn’t belong anywhere and his deepest insecurities.

But the two of them together help each other in such a way that it’s unable to truly analyze every single moment they share together.

They help each other but teach the other to bring their walls down. That it’s okay to talk about your feelings and that you don’t have to be everything for everyone. That you don’t have to give up everything you have living- your health and your literal life- for someone. That it’s okay to feel like you don’t fit in. It’s okay to feel like there’s just no other choice of getting what you want and therefore doing the wrong things. That people will love you just for you; what happened in the past put aside.

Mitsuba and Kou are in love.

The end. 💖

[recurring-polynya]

So you ever try to wrap your brain around Yachiru being Kenpachi's zanpakutō? It seems to violate all known (manga-canon) mechanics.

So, to be honest, that particular plot twist hit the note in my head that says “Yes, this is pleasing and not entirely unexpected to me!” I think it’s the fact that the idea of his zanpakutou being embodied this whole time made more sense than ::gestures vaguely at all of Yachiru:: this.

I don’t exactly remember, but I think I may have been spoiled on this one--I got spoiled on a lot of the Bleach endgame, and that always affects the way a plot twist lands, so please take my opinion with that grain of salt.

I think there were a lot of hints along the way-- that although Yachiru is very, very strong and somewhat bloodthirsty herself, she always seems more interested in seeing Zaraki gets the fights that he wants, and watching them raptly, deeply invested in his happiness. She doesn’t actually act like a child, she acts like someone would expect a child to act-- mischievous and silly, but she does not grow and explore or, most importantly, assert her personhood, the way a real person does. She never seeks to grow stronger, or to fight for herself. She wears the lieutenant’s badge and goes to the meetings, which she neither complains about, nor takes any interest in. A real child would either not put up with this shit, or seek to be taken seriously in this role (try to imagine young Byakuya, for example, being named a lieutenant). Most importantly: She is constantly trying to give him directions and they end up lost every time. We thought it was a running gag, but it was a metaphor.

It also seems to me that the other child characters in Bleach grow and age at times when their powers are developing. We see Rukia, Renji, Gin, Rangiku, and Shuuhei as powerless children, and then they age to teens when their powers develop. Toshirou is definitely seen as a smaller child in his Rukongai flashbacks, and it’s implied that he is currently at in impasse with his powers, having difficulty with the upper levels of his bankai. Even so, though his body is stuck in an adolescent state, he has the faculties and personality of an adult. Yachiru, if I am figuring things correctly, is older than Rukia and Renji. It seems like she must be an enormous outlier in the Bleach universe, and it’s frankly weird that, say, Yamamoto wouldn’t take a greater interest in her (unless he knows exactly what she is, and I suspect that both he and Unohana both do).

Unless I’ve missed something, we hardly know anything about zanpakutou-spirit dynamics within the Bleach manga canon. As far as I know, we only ever see two-- Zangetsu and Zabimaru. I think it’s safe to say that Zangetsu already violates all known normal mechanics. I also want to point out that I was a lot more pissed when Zangetsu turned out to be Yhwach (or whatever that was, please no one explain it to me I don’t want to think about it). It was telescoped well enough, but it poisoned a character who had always been there for Ichigo as a mentor and source of strength and it gave me the same yucky feeling as when they killed off Han Solo-- I do not like this. This does not feel right or enhance the story.

We don’t get a whole lot of Zabimaru either-- they can manifest on their own, and do so in order to bother Renji. They seem to be a fairly simplistic being-- they want to fight and be strong and are impatient with Renji’s (very reasonable) desire to take a minute to think things out.

Nobody asked, but I feel like it might be helpful if I unleashed my personal headcanon on Where Zanpakutou Come From. In the Zanpakutou Spirits Arc, the episodes are prefaced with a voiceover that says that zanpakutou are born and die with their shinigami, and I am sorry, anime filler arc, I reject this. One of my favorite Bleach phrases, which seems like it should it could have come from some angsty hurt-comfort fanfic, is “There are no ghosts in Soul Society.” (it actually came from a filler arc episode where Ikkaku, Nanao and Hanatarou get lost in the sewer). But I think there are! When shinigami are killed and reborn in the Living World, presumably, it is as a normal human with no powers. I like to think that some essence of their power and their zanpakutou are left behind, free-floating, nameless, formless, but with some distillation of the principles that guided their shinigami’s life. This ur-zanpakutou attaches itself to a young, spiritually strong person, and becomes intertwined with their soul. They develop a form based on the thoughts and memories and hopes and fears of their shinigami, and their names and specific powers are born of the union of zanpakutou and shinigami. Noble souls often get zanpakutou passed down from previous generations, who take the form of a grandparent, or form that their grandparents zanpakutou had. For kids from the Rukon, I think that most zanpakutou spirits takes the form of a barely remembered mother from the Living World, or a particularly frightening woodcut from a favorite storybook. As an aside, this theory also explains why almost every Rukongonian shinigami we see died as a child-- it’s easier for a free floating zanpakutou spirit to bond with a child’s developing psyche. It’s also a reminder of one more way that Zaraki himself is an outlier.

Zaraki is a really messed-up guy, I think we’re all on the same page there. Like, he just really needs a shit-ton of therapy, I can’t even start. He was a feral murder-child, and I think he saw Unohana as a mother-figure who rejected him. Unlike Ichigo, who needs a wise, experienced mentor to guide him through his warrior journey, Zaraki needs validation that he is a Normal Guy with Normal Murder Thoughts and Feelings, so his subconscious shapes his zanpakutou into another feral murder-child to love him and be his family. Zaraki doesn’t know how little girls act-- pink hair seems good? Stuffy people hate kids, right? It makes perfect sense that Yachiru would go fuck around with Byakuya. Zaraki finds all of Yachiru’s antics hilarious-- the names she makes up for people, the way she climbs all over Ichigo, her general proclivity for going ham. Zaraki is an incredibly simplistic person. My favorite Zaraki parts of Bleach are where you think he is about to get real deep and have some sort of insight, and it turns out to be “I’m gonna stab you, but I’m gonna use both hands” or this entire problem-solving process I’ve pasted in below, which ends in him finding Tousen by letting Tousen stab him. He’s just stupid, bless his heart, and having a murder gremlin for a guiding light just... tracks?

The weirdest thing about Yachiru is that she has her own zanpakutou. I spent about 10 minutes thinking about it, though, and decided that she’s just a recursion, and that the weird feeling I get thinking about her is exactly the way I feel about writing a function that calls itself, and I find that little paradoxical frisson to be kinda cool, actually. The second weirdest thing about Yachiru is that there does not seem to be any connection, thematically, between Yachiru and Nozarashi. After he finally learns his sword’s name, I would have liked to see Zaraki have a trip to his inner world (like Ichigo does, in the midst of battle) where he meets an adult spirit who has qualities of both Yachirus (which he absolutely does not recognize) and that there is some interesting explanation of Nozarashi’s special abilities. To be honest, I couldn’t even remember what they were. Kenpachi has always been one of the strongest Bleach characters and so much about him is just iconic, and then his bankai was just completely bland and unmemorable, with no symbolism whatsoever. Lame.

[darkstrangevirgilanxiboi]

Little Noragami Things I Love~

Warning some of these are spoiler-y , don't read if you're not caught up in the manga !( currently there's 74 chapters ) I've fallen hard back into the Noragami fandom and there's not enough Noragami content in EXISTENCE to satisfy my needs but here's some stuff I'll always love about it ! ~ Yukine blushing whenever he's given affection ( my heart goes out to this dear child ) ~ Yato's face whenever he's looking at Hiyori , he gets such a soft dopey grin and it's so sweet ~ Daikoku being literally the best husband you could dream up , Kofuku you lucky girl ~ DAIKOKU BEING THE SECOND DAD TO YUKINE ASDFJFL MY HEART, THIS PURE SOUL CARES ABOUT YUKINE SO MUCH AND I LOVE HIM FOR IT ~ Hiyori Iki in all her glory ~ Hiyori kicking people in the face ~ YATO BEING SUPER SMUG AND SUPER PROUD OF YUKINE IN PUBLIC AND AROUND OTHER GODS ~ Yukine's character development, damn son that's the way you do it , this boy grows so realistically and I am in awe ~ KAZUMA.AND. BISHAMON. THESE TWO KILL ME, THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS SO SIMPLE AND YET SO COMPLEX AND SO FRUSTRATING TO WATCH UNFOLD, YOU TWO NEED TO TALK ABOUT YOUR EMOTIONS MORE COME ONNNNNNN Also someone please be PROUD of Kazuma he tries so hard dammit ~ TWIN SWORDS TWIN SWORDS TWIN SWORDS TWIN SWORDSSSSSS T W I N. S W O R D S. YUKINE THAT'S THE COOLEST THING EVER I LOVE IT I CAN'T BELIEVE YUKINE TURNS INTO TWO BEAUTIFUL SWORDS I'M CRYING ~ KAZUMA This fucking character okay , he means so much to me ? He's so kind and pure and cares way too much and he deserved literally zero percent of all the bad shit he gets ? I mean like his whole EXISTENCE so far has been 90% trauma and grief and guilt since he was made a Shinki! The whole Ma clan massacre went down not long after Kazuma joined Bishamon !!!! He lost his BEST FRIEND AND MENTOR, right in front of his eyes! Her name was Touma and she was the first friend he made after joining the Ma clan, he spent most of his time with her and she taught him everything about being a good Shinki and he thought the world of her. BUT THEN BISHAMON GOT BLIGHTED AND THE REST OF THE CLAN WANTED TO BLAME SOMEONE SO THEY PICK TOUMA, AND THEY LITERALLY THROW HER INTO A PIT OF PHANTOMS. Kazuma tried to save her but they held him back and he was forced to watch her gruesome death. And then it just got worse from there , resulting in a desperate Kazuma running to Yato for help when things spiralled out of control. And after the Ma clan massacre , Kazuma is left all alone with Bishamon , and he's so depressed about what happened and blaming himself ( despite it being not his fault at all and if he hadn't made the awful choice he did, it would have been much worse ?) and Bishamon is suddenly so dependent on him and he decides that he's never gonna let her suffer again and throws himself into becoming the perfect Shinki And things get to be okay , Bisha takes in new Shinki , and Kazuma gets a new family and the ache in his heart starts to ease, but he can't erase the memories of Touma and the Ma clan and there's a quiet terror in him , a worry that it will happen again . AND THEN FAST FORWARD A FEW CENTURIES OF GUILT-RIDDEN STRESSING KAZUMA DOING EVERYTHING HE CAN TO MAKE SURE YATO DOESN'T DIE , SUDDENLY KUGAHA BETRAYS THE HA CLAN AND KAZUMA HAS TO WATCH IN HORROR AS HIS NEW FAMILY IS SLAUGHTERED BY SOMEONE HE TRUSTED AND BISHAMON IS SUFFERING AGAIN AND HE CAN'T STOP IT AND-distressed yelling - HE NEVER CATCHES A BREAK LET MY SON REST HE JUST WANTED HIS VIINA TO BE HAPPY ( Viina is his nickname for Bishamon, taken from her original name Vaisravana ) ~YATO HUGGING YUKINE I NEED MORE ~ YUKINE CHEERING YATO UP WHEN HE NEEDS IT ~ YUKINE BEING A BADASS IN FIGHTS EVEN WITHOUT YATO ~ Yukine's outfits??? He's always dressed so cute I can't handle his fashion sense ( wear more hats Yuki , you're so adorable in them ) ~ YUKINE CANONICALLY BEING A TSUNDERE Tsundere means someone who's uncaring or rude on the surface but actually cares deeply on the inside You know , those types who are all' I don't care' but actually they care THE MOST There's more to the tsundere definition but I don't recall it ~ Yato's face whenever Hiyori says something nice to him and catches him off guard ~ KAZUMA AND YUKINE'S FRIENDSHIP LET MY BOYS BE BUDDIES AGAIN ( they're fighting right now and aren't speaking to each other and it makes me sad ) ~ The fact that Kazuma canonically would buy LITERALLY anything Yato was selling in order to help Yato out ( and the fact that Yato wrote and drew comics about Bishamon as a magical girl and Kazuma bought the whole set ) Kazuma has a Yato memorabilia box in his room I mean this boy ??? So good ??

[thenightofcups]

On the subject of Jellal’s arc

I've seen some Jellal commentary lately that's kinda raised my eyebrows. There's several points I want to make here and to avoid a tangental rant I'm going to address the biggest three issues I have.

Redemption. What does this mean in Fairy Tail as a manga and what does it mean for Jellal specifically?

Jellal vs. Siegrain. Is this a versus or are they both pieces of the same whole?

Moving forward. Where can Jellal go from here?

REDEMPTION

One of the overlying themes of Fairy Tail as a manga is friendship and forgiveness. Depending on who you ask these things may or may not be executed well.

There's a handful of notable redemption arcs in FT. Laxus and Gajeel have perhaps the most important arcs when it comes to main and secondary characters. Less important, quaternary redemption arcs, like Minerva and my girl Brandish, stand out, as well. Then there's Jellal.

In my opinion, Jellal can be classified as secondary or tertiary, depending on the arc. His relevance usually has something to do with Erza, and he packs a mighty punch. For a character that's secondary on his very Best Day Ever, Jellal has one of the largest and most developed redemption arcs in the series. We've seen him as a charismatic child slave, an obnoxiously arrogant tool of Hades, a kind hearted amnesiac, a self loathing penitent anti-hero, and whatever he is now (I'd classify current!Jellal as on the cusp of completion).

The crimes associated with him are many and include the manipulation of a government body into firing a weapon of mass destruction. There's a lot of debate surrounding these activities and honestly it's super exhausting. Remember, though! Jellal is the only character with a redemption arc (besides perhaps Zeref) who was magically manipulated on a neurological level to commit his crimes. Laxus was abused by his asshole dad. Gajeel was an angry youth who was given an improper outlet. Minerva was also terribly abused by an ain't shit dad. None of these other kids were actual slaves nor were they violated by a magic taught to yet another victim expressly for the purpose of brainwashing (this term is also widely debated and I'll touch on that later).

What's a guy – who's agency was quite literally stripped from him for more than half his life – have to do to earn redemption? According to many in the FT fandom, nothing will ever be enough. I've seen folks say he's heinously unforgivable and can only bring Erza sadness despite canon evidence to the contrary. More than once we've seen Erza state how much she cares about and for Jellal, show appreciation for his efforts, and actual concern for his lack of care in keeping himself hidden from prying eyes.

Why is it so easy for fans to forgive Laxus and Gajeel, but not Jellal? I sure don't know the answer. He has been instrumental in assisting (and saving the life of) the protagonist [Natsu] in a plot relevant battle.

He has saved Erza's life and wreaked havoc in the wake of her injuries...

Time...

And time...

Again.

He has provided crucial assistance to the Magic Council when necessary and followed their rules.

He has been weighed and judged by Mavis and found to have a heart worthy of Fairy Tail.

He not only saves Kagura's life...

...but she later saves his!

What more do you people want? Is this not enough? He has earned the trust and approval of the characters that matter. This is redemption over the course of hundreds of chapters. This is forgiveness. He has earned both. I don't think it's been done poorly. Remember the real-time time line of FT is about two years. I don't think his story has fallen flat at all. In fact, Jellal and Erza are a really good example of love and understanding when it comes to mental illness, trauma recovery, and boundaries.

Jellal does not expect Erza to fix him. He's taken it upon himself to handle his own shit – to right his wrongs as best he can. He's not forcing her into that emotional labor. And like... wow. What a guy. Can actual men take note of this please? Because damn. Erza understands his problems and she loves him (and cares about his well being) so much she has waited for him.

I can't understand the opinion that Jerza is somehow toxic. Are we reading the same manga?

JELLAL vs. SIEGRAIN

When we first meet Jellal as Siegrain, he's an arrogant asshole. He and Ultear display the kind of casual supremacy that only a young person with position and ability – that they likely don't deserve – can pull off. He shows a weird kind of amused affection for Fairy Tail and stops the council from punishing them more harshly for the destruction they regularly cause.

Siegrain's first interaction with Erza is super creepy but foreshadows what happens later with Jellal in his corporeal form at the Tower of Heaven. It's a hint that Erza has a nasty backstory she's keeping secret and that it has something to do with Siegrain. He is very much in her personal space here and the argument can be made that even under Ultear’s control, Jellal is still drawn to Erza. The full story doesn't come until later, though.

In the flashbacks during the ToH arc we see a young Jellal. He is kind. He is friendly. He is charismatic, and in the recent past, he convinced a group of terrified child slaves that they absolutely could escape to freedom – because he genuinely believed they could. He cares deeply for his friends, especially Erza, and when she is tortured to the point of losing an eye, it is Jellal who comes for her and finds her in horrible shape. In the background of the panel below it's pretty clear what Jellal has done to get to her.

These are children approximately 10-12 in age who are living a nightmare that, even by FT's standards, is pretty damn horrible. Jellal is well liked and trusted. Erza cares enough about him to seek him out in return – only to find he's a different person. Between chapters 80-83 Jellal changes utterly. He goes from what Erza describes as her ideal –

To something... else.

While Erza is finding her claws, Jellal is tied up and tortured. He's whipped and beaten and is forced to endure the retelling of what these same guards had done to Erza.

This kind of bleak horror would drive anyone's soul to it's knees. Jellal is about 12 here. He is a child slave on a fucking rock in the middle of the ocean. He tried to rescue a friend he loves only to find her bloodied and missing an eye. For this crime of compassion, he's tortured by the very same people. He. Is. Twelve.

How could a grown person resist the sweet call of revenge by a specter who appears before them claiming to be the ghost of a god, much less a distraught child? Of course he hates the world. Why shouldn't he? I know I hate the world and for so many less valid reasons!

The anime shows the scene where Ultear possesses Jellal very differently than the manga so for the sake of continuity I'm sticking with the manga. By the time Erza finds him, the Jellal she knew has been warped.

Whatever magic Ultear used on Jellal is never explained in detail. In chapter 95, Ultear is speaking with Hades and she thanks him for teaching her a brainwashing technique. The Oxford definition of brainwashing is: “the activity of forcing somebody to accept your ideas or beliefs, for example by repeating the same thing many times or by preventing the person from thinking clearly.” I'm not sure if that meaning entirely defines what happened to Jellal. Ultear appeared to him at a time when Jellal was at his weakest. He was in pain, his heart was broken, his spirit was broken. She offered him an outlet for his rage – but she also lied.

Would Jellal have let her in if he'd been in any other circumstance? Probably not. And it wouldn't matter anyway because Ultear lied. She wasn't Zeref. Nor did she even have a grasp of who Zeref truly was. In fact, Ultear was also a tool much like Jellal – but without the brainwashing magic. She's a product of good old fashioned grooming. He could not possibly have known her true intent of manipulating him for nearly a decade, and hurting a lot of people Jellal previously cared about in the process. If given the full scope of things, would he have let her in? No.

This is basic consent. Jellal was a slave. Slaves cannot give consent. Not ever. They are property. They do not have choices. Jellal could not give Ultear – a person who was not a slave – permission to enter his body or mind and change his goals and decision making processes. For argument's sake, let's take away the slavery element. Jellal is in a random basement dungeon. Still tied up. Still thinking his friends are dead. Still tortured and hating the world. Ultear pops in, lies, and slips in his head. This is still not consent. Her intentions are not made clear to him. He lets her in under completely false pretenses. Any and all arguments that Jellal is somehow to blame for Ultear manipulating him are invalid and should be burned to the ground immediately. Salt that bullshit earth!

All that aside, Ultear is now in his head. Siegrain is born. Is Siegrain really all that different from Jellal? Mmm... not really. Jellal and Siegrain are both parts of the same whole. Siegrain is just as charismatic as Jellal. He's very good at getting what he wants from the council. He is a toxic cocktail of Ultear's desires, and qualities we know Jellal had already. Heroes and villains are shockingly alike when picked apart. Both have ambition and drive. Well written heroes have a darker side, and a well written villain has a core of humanity. Siegrain is a manipulation of Jellal. It only takes a few tweaks to turn a full bodied hero into a nasty villain. Ultear found the right spots, and squeezed.

I have no doubts that if he'd been allowed to grow up without Ultear's and Hades's intervention, Jellal would've developed the same anti-hero tendencies we see from him in the most current arcs. In chapter 416, Jellal tells Erza she'll survive because she has seen the best and worst parts of humanity and understands them. He encourages her to continue her walk in the light.

Even as he says this, he takes his place in the shadows. He knows he is needed there.

Jellal is the kind of guy who will take a bullet for the team. It's just who he is as a person and even before he was brainwashed by Ultear he was struggling to take Erza's bullets.

The line between good and evil is pretty thin. Characteristics alone don't make a person a hero or villain. When boiled down, Siegrain and Jellal are the same person. Intent doesn't always equal result, but result doesn't always have to define a person. Jellal struggles with what defines him. He's made some questionable decisions since regaining control of himself but he is well aware that he toes the line.

I've said before that Jellal is an idealist. He's romanticized his goals and ambitions on a ridiculously impractical scale. This isn't too different than a possessed Jellal. He was positively heretical and had wildly romanticized the idea of Zeref's magic. Idealism on steroids.

MOVING FORWARD

Jellal's stated goal has always been to take down Zeref. He's hellbent on it. The reason for this is pretty clear. He associates Zeref and the zealotry his followers display with everything that went wrong in his life and the lives of the people he loves. I said in a [previous post] that this aspect of Jellal's arc is a bit of a plot hole. Zeref didn't create this dark magic. He was cursed for dabbling in it. We haven't seen too much of pre-curse Zeref but the things he did aren't much different than other characters in other stories (EG: Edward and Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist). As I said before, a well written villain has a root in humanity that is somewhat relatable to the audience. That's what makes them scary!

I digress. Crime Sorciere cannot possibly take out all dark magic practitioners any more than a single police department can take out crime in any given city. It's just not plausible. I'm repeating myself here but August addressed this in chapter 509. He scoffs at Jellal's light vs. dark conundrum.

August is right. Jellal can't save the entire world. What he can do is find redemption in love. This is Jellal's crux. He's earned forgiveness from relevant parties – but he's not really expressed whether or not he's forgiven himself. He has done more than anyone could possibly ask of him in order to atone for what was done in his name. Even Kagura has decided his life has worth!

I believe Mashima has set Jellal up to have a happy ending with Erza. When I started reading FT the Avatar arc had just ended. There's a gap between the interpretations of those who binge and those who've read serially for years. Serial consumers have time to stew and get hung up on things that are sometimes hard to let go of. I binged so I was able to consume the meatiest bits of Jellal's story all at once. I don't think it's been poorly executed. I don't think any of it has fallen flat. There is absolutely no point to Kagura saving Jellal's life on her own, without prompting, if Mashima did not intend to wrap up Jellal's arc in a positive way. We even have a canon confession of love.

He implicitly says he has finally found the light in his heart. He's found light. Inside of himself. Jellal loves Erza and has vowed to protect her – and has! Against Acnologia no less! Jellal has all the materials necessary to complete his arc. I have absolute faith this will happen.

I mean...

[sage-nebula]

(if you don't mind me sending a second one) top ten fma characters?

Of course I don’t! This one is going to be hard, though, because there are so many fantastic characters that I feel it’s inevitable I’m going to end up forgetting someone.

Roy Mustang --- Roy didn’t used to be my favorite character way back in middle / high school when I was first introduced to FMA (through the 2003 series), and even then, he wasn’t my favorite character when Brotherhood first aired in 2009, or even on multiple re-watches. Instead, he is a character who has steadily grown to be my fave with each new re-watch. I swear to god, every time I revisit this series I love him more, and more, and more, and now he’s undoubtedly my favorite. I love Colonel Badass. More than that, I love how he’s Colonel Dad even as he tries to argue it and claim, without anyone suggesting otherwise, that he’s not Fullmetal’s father, ffs. (Yes you are, Roy. You’re one of his dads. Just accept it.) I love . . . so much about Roy. I love how clever and intelligent he is, that he recognizes the machinations of the government and how he plays his pieces correctly in order to advance up the ladder, but how he does that specifically so that he can a.) protect the people most important to him (and did you notice? In the Japanese version, he uses the exact same language Alan does when saying he wants to protect his most important people! Taisetsu mono!), and b.) protect everyone in Amestris by sitting at the very top as Fuhrer President (which is exactly why I think Alan would make an excellent Champion---he can protect everyone in Kalos that way, that’s literally the Champion’s job, but that’s a meta for another time). Roy also wants to atone for everything he did during the Ishbal extermination---he wants himself and all other state alchemists held accountable for their war crimes, but only after they help with Ishbal’s restoration, which I think is just incredibly admirable. Like, it’s not just that Roy feels guilty and feels he’s deserving of punishment. He knows that the lives lost can never be restored, knows that the destruction can never be undone, but he still wants to help restore Ishbal to a land of prosperity first, so it’s not just that he’s punishing himself (and others), but that he’s actively giving back to Ishbal instead of just leaving them destitute. Like, goddamn. That is the right fucking reaction to what happened.Additionally, Roy is so good about keeping his cards close to his chest, about not showing how he feels most of the time, but the truth is that he cares so fucking much. He’s obviously in love with Riza. His team means everything to him (he’s fucking crushed when Havoc is paralyzed, crushed), he cares about the Elric boys, he cares about---just about everyone. Roy keeps up an unaffected exterior most of the time because he has to, but the truth is that these things cut him pretty deeply and they do keep him up at night. There’s so much to him and so much within him and goddamn I love the fucking Flame Alchemist. He’s definitely my fave. I adore him.(Also, not for nothing, but PokéAni actually paid him a homage, using Alan, no less. Feast your eyes. There’s no way using that very specific number wasn’t intentional. None.)

Edward Elric --- Ed was always my favorite in the past, and to be honest I still relate to him a lot and still love him dearly, so he’s just #2 now. (Sorry, Ed . . . but in the Flame vs. Fullmetal battle of my heart, you lose.) Aside from also being quite short (though he inevitably surpassed me in height, damn him), I used to be sensitive about it in childhood. Whereas I’m comfortable with the fact that I’m tiny now, I used to have quite a temper about it as a kid . . . so in that sense, honestly, I found him to be quite relatable!Aside from that, though, he’s yet another Determinator. He’s a hothead sometimes, but he has a heart of gold, and he’s a very protective big brother. These are all traits I find very attractive in characters. On top of which, although I feel like in many ways Ed would nearly be a Hat Stall between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, in the end I feel like the Hat would either put him in Gryffindor, or he’d choose to be there, but Ravenclaw would be a very close secondary---and that’s something I relate to, because I am a Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw is my secondary. (Or to use the Ilvermony Houses, I’m a Gryffindor at Hogwarts and Horned Serpent at Ilvermorny---a Serpendor, if you will. I feel that Ed is very much the same way.) We have similar ways of looking at and doing things, to the point where Ed is certainly one of those characters that I point to when people want to get to know me through fictional characters. I’ll always love the Fullmetal Alchemist. Even if he’s not technically an alchemist anymore, he’ll always be the alchemist in my soul. Even if he’s #2 now, I’ll always cherish him. ♥

Izumi Curtis --- MAMA IZUMI GETS SHIT DONE. I loooove Izumi, so very much. I love her not only because she’s a badass housewife / alchemist who strikes fear into the hearts of all who meet her---who easily tosses Sloth across the room even though Sloth was giving both Olivier and Alex trouble---but also because she has a heart of gold and is allowed to have her moments of vulnerability without that diminishing how badass she is. Izumi is allowed to be a grieving mother who lost her only biological child, she’s allowed to be there for her surrogate sons Ed and Al, she’s allowed to show moments of grief and pain without at all losing how incredible she is. Every moment that she goes Mama Boy over the boys is pure gold and just---every moment she has is pure gold, including when she sends Bradley packing. Izumi is amazing. I love her.

Riza Hawkeye --- I also really, really cherish Riza! What I love most about Riza is that I feel like, in a lesser shounen manga, her love for Roy would have been her motivation for enlisting in the military and swearing to follow him “into Hell, if necessary.” But that’s not the case here. Riza is in love with Roy, but her motivation for doing what she does is because she believes in his vision for their country, not because she loves him. This is why she is capable of shooting him (killing him) if necessary, if it seems as if he’s no longer going to be able to fulfill his promise and will instead actively work against it. Yes, it would break her heart to do so. It’s very obvious how much pulling the trigger would break her, but she can and will do it because what she swore to was his vision for Amestris. She won’t let anything, even her feelings for him, blind her to that. Riza lived through having an abusive father, survived the Ishbal Extermination, and has gone through so much more. She’s so strong, not only because she stays stoic in the face of most things, but because she continues to fight even though we see on numerous instances how much all of this has gotten to her. Her relationship with Roy is by far my favorite ship in the series (for so many reasons), but overall the reason why I love Riza so much is because of who she is shown to be outside of him. She’s compassionate, brave, wonderful with children, a very good dog mom, and overall just a believable and wonderful character. I love Riza. Riza is so good.

Ling Yao --- THE PRINCE OF MY HEART!! What I love most about Ling is how easily he flips between comedic relief and an actually serious character that shouldn’t be brushed aside. So many of his early scenes are full of shenanigans, but even those that are rife with shenanigans are peppered with moments of seriousness because of how serious Ling is about his duty to Xing. He wants immortality---and he doesn’t want it for himself, but for his people, and that’s not just limited to the Yao clan. Ling is willing to do anything for his people, because he believes that’s what a king should do, even if it means sacrificing his own autonomy to do it. I do think that was a reckless, irresponsible choice, but it is one that paid off in his favor, big time, so hey. Ling is great, though, and his relationship with Ed is amazing, a+++. I definitely love him.

Maes Hughes --- MAAAAES, RIP. I’m pretty sure Maes Hughes is one death that anime fans as a collective will never be over (however much we may make jokes about it sometimes). Particularly since Brotherhood made the mistake of rushing through to the point of divergence in the beginning, it always feels like Hughes died too soon. But the truth is that, no matter what, he did. He was an excellent husband and father, and he was a father not only to Gracia, but also to Winry and the Elrics. He was always, always there to support Roy, and however much Roy might have felt annoyed by the constant long phone calls at times, the fact that Roy is so severely affected by Hughes’ loss so late into the series . . . I mean, he doesn’t get his revenge on Envy until the very end, and when he does? Holy hot fucking damn, he’s downright terrifying. (I mean, I love it, but jesus fucking christ.) But anyway, back to Hughes himself, he was just such a sweet person and his life had such an impact and he just knew too much too soon. He was too smart, he had to be killed off so that the plot wouldn’t be solved too early. I know that, but it still hurts, and Elysia crying at his funeral will still slaughter me every single time, fuck. 

Alphonse Elric --- I feel kind of bad for having Al so low on this list, but make no mistake---I do love him! It’s just that I find his scenes / subplots a little less compelling than the characters listed above him. I do think he’s wonderful, though; he’s a complete sweetheart, and though it happens less often than it does with Ed, there are times when Al has a snarky little sassmouth on him as well, and those moments are always delightful. Also, he, too, had to deal with a lot of bullshit over the course of the series. He damn well does deserve his happy ending.

Maria Ross --- Maria is so underappreciated in the fandom, and like---I get that she spends the majority of the series off-screen because she had to go into exile in Xing (since she was framed for Hughes’ murder), but at the same time, she’s so good! She acts like a stern big sis for the Elrics (which they need at times, tbh), and she’s loyal and dedicated and hardworking and smart. I love her relationship with Denny, and I also love how she came back for the final fight, and this was a surprise to Mustang, he didn’t actually make this choice, she just did it and ajsldgjdsagda. Maria is great, I love her.

May Chang --- Honestly, this post (written by someone else) says everything about May that I could ever say and more. I love how well-developed she is, how she’s allowed to be feminine but is still focused on her goals, and how much depth there is to her character. May is absolutely fantastic. Princess of my heart, tbh.

Olivier Mira Armstrong --- And finally, the QUEEN OF THE NORTH HERSELF. While Olivier is obviously a badass who takes shit from absolutely no one, I love that she’s still allowed to be a person outside of that. She’s not vulnerable in the ways that’s expected of her, but at the same time she doesn’t abhor femininity either (and in fact, the expectation that she would is what she and Roy take advantage of in order to communicate without arousing suspicion). She cares deeply for her team at Briggs, you can tell she’s deeply affected by Buccaneer’s death, and while she’s frustrated by her brother and doesn’t really respect him, it’s clear that she also cares about him in her own way as well. Yeah, she takes command of the Armstrong family manor, but that’s because she had to in order to sneak the Briggs soldiers in, and she didn’t want to put responsibility on Alex’s shoulders that he wouldn’t be able to handle. (I mean, like, no offense to him---he obviously came through in a big way and she sees that later---but from her perspective, he left the battlefield during Ishbal, so therefore combat and combat pragmatism are not his strong suits, not in a wartime situation. She didn’t want to put him in that position, so she didn’t. She handled it herself. She did so in an abrasive way, yes, but I still think she had compassion for him at heart.) Olivier defies expectations and shatters them into pieces. It’s why the soldiers at Briggs follow her without question.  I love her, she’s great.