#slave again!
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writing about him in like six different fics at the same time because i just love him somuch
#so sos o so so much#so i am making him into all sorts of things#he will be vampire food (romantic)#racecar mechanic (hot)#dragon bait#cursed#slave again!#cranky wizard#terrorist (dont ask)#he is so everything to me foreveerrrrr i cant even use words right#sixdemon schmidty collection#ernst schmidt#the cloverfield paradox
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Get It Here: USE CODE 80085 At Checkout 😈💕✨
#caged clitty#cagedcock#locked in caged#caged again the series#caged chastity#sissy caged#caged and plugged#caged foot slave#caged bird#caged heat#cage de chasteté#feetfinder#footgoddess#girlblogging#foot#footwear#bare foot#beta sissy#beta#beta slave#beta boi#beta faggot#estim#bd/sm kink#bd/sm community#bd/sm blog#bd/sm slave#bd/sm pet#bd/sm puppy#bratty mermaid princess
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Some Things Never Change...
(Piece chosen by this week's poll!)
[ID: Scum Villain Drawings. The top image depicts Shen Yuan, Shen Jiu and Yue Qi as street rats/kids. SY is the youngest and being carried piggy back style by SJ due to his legs being injured. SY is a little teary and red eyed with a nervous expression, gripping onto SJ's shoulder. SJ looks towards YQ with a annoyed/angry expression whilst YQ smiles and gestures placatingly. The bottom image depicts SY, SQQ and YGY in current/peak lord era. SY nervously smiles and has a hand on SQQ's shoulder as if to calm him down. SQQ angrily points a closed fan at YGY who has his clenched fists drawn up nervously as if to avoid getting his hands smacked by the fan. He has a slightly flustered but mostly nervous expression, attempting to placate SQQ. End ID]
#svsss#scum villain#shen qingqiu#shen yuan#shen jiu#yue qi#yue qingyuan#qijiu#shen bros#shen brothers#mxtx#myart#sy got beat up by some other slaves and yq let them get away which is why sj is upset#and leads to a future convo such as#SJ: alright a'yuan next time you see those kids you kill them#YQ: D: xiao jiu you're supposed to tell him to run and come find us#once again thanks to those who voted!!
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i am almost constantly thinking about the mountain of implication, characterization, and insanely fucked up unspoken and unknown stories that are packed into the single paragraph of this ending slide for arcade gannon
#do you think arcade ever enjoyed the conversations. or enjoyed the certainly good treatment that he got by caesar's side.#and after that enjoyment; in the moments of realization that he had let himself forget exactly where he was#or those moments of realization that he had once again unconsciously tuned out the sounds of weeping slaves#who do you think he hated more: himself or caesar? or the courier?#and who did he hate most in the moment that he grabbed that scalpel?#and by all means ask me about my theory of caesar's repressed homosexuality that he can never ever act on#just saying that imo if the tyrant of the brutal slavedriving rapists was straight then he'd have a slave girl or two in his tent! yknow??#fallout#fallout new vegas#fnv#arcade gannon#caesar#caesar's legion
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Isn’t Vortex a fucking torture freak tho? 👀👀👀
Yep. He is. He is a lot of things actually. The more you learn about him the more fucked up it gets
#at first I was like#ah yes another crazy helicopter#but then I learned the lore haha#hoo boy#the guy was a criminal and was so good at it#the government had to take his spark out of his body and put it in a freezer so he won't break the law anymore#then Starscream took him out and was like#you and your bros are my minions now#btw I made you unable to recharge on your own so uou are basically my hostages#work for me or starve to death losers#and then also Megatron with his Javascript exercises#Seriously. Megs looked at those criminals who were crazy strong and also crazy smart and decided that enslaving them would be a great idea#He basically reprogrammed Vortex and others. He made him literally unable to disobey his orders#what kind of fucked up thing to do Megsy???#G1 was great ahahahah#silly kids show about war and crimes and slavery#also#I might be wrong here because I haven't watch G1 entirely....but I'm pretty sure Combaticons just fuckin. stay Megatron slaves forever??#Like. The code that Megs put in their heads is never mentioned again? And for the rest of the show they forced to serve the Decepticons???#and everyone just?? Forget about them? I repeat I might be wrong here. It would be great if I'm wrong#also yeah Vortex is a torture freak and totally crazy#I saw a note somewhere that mentioned he likes to transform around other bots and then fly as high as he can and drop them#fucker lol
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Interview with the Vampire Manga Adaptation (Yoake no Vampire) by Udoh Shinohara + DL Link
DL LINK HERE
Happy new episode of IWTV AMC day! Today though, I want to share something I've teased earlier on my blog, which is the Japanese manga adaptation of the Interview with the Vampire gothic horror novel. See under the cut for more details!
It came out in 1994, a bit after the movie, but it only referenced the book itself. It consisted of a single volume made up of three chapters, so events are condensed and abridged, and it skips Part II in Eastern Europe. The first two chapters were scanlated into English by a group named Trine and distributed on the aarinfantasy forums in 2007, but the third chapter was kind of lost to time, especially after all the links to the raw Japanese scans went down years ago. However, I discovered that a now defunct Portuguese scanlation group did the whole thing (individual credits included in the .zip), and I was able to recover chapter three, use heavily cross-checked and edited MTL (PT-ENG), and deliver the final product to you all. See more notes about this process or where to read the PT version in the readme file included in the .zip! It's not 100% perfect and I would not call it true 'scanlation' obviously, so if anyone can do a better job I welcome them to! I hope more visibility on this manga makes the raws become available again so a true JPN-ENG translation can be done on the last chapter!
This manga obviously has major IWTV book spoilers, but it does NOT include anything from later books in the series and is honestly quite faithful overall. It even includes Lestat's father. I might actually call it slightly gayer than the book, since Louis and Armand become more obviously in love. I would recommend it to anyone who's watching the series and hasn't read the book yet, as well as to anyone who enjoys the books alone! The art style is very 90s, but it has some really beautiful visuals sometimes, especially with Claudia. I hope everyone enjoys reading it!
#interview with the vampire#iwtv#iwtv amc#interview with the vampire amc#the vampire chronicles#tvc#loumand#loustat#louis de pointe du lac#tvc madeleine#tvc louis de pointe du lac#lestat de lioncourt#tvc claudia#claudia de lioncourt#armand#tvc armand#daniel molloy#yaoi#manga#vampires#anne rice#gay vampires#lgbt#joseiposting#okay i think that's enough tags...i only included example pages from ch3 since thats the only chapter i did work on myself#but its an adaptation of the entire book. besides part II#like i said; it doesnt include anything post iwtv; so lestat is portrayed pretty much 1-to-1 to that book#so it's time to read between the lines again loustaters#warning for show fans: this is plantation + slave owner louis. its not a huge focus in this version but the manga does depict#violence against enslaved people in the first chapter
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it's so funny to me that so many batfanon fics try to put kon as the straight man to be weirded out by tim's gotham antics. like yeah tim's life is definitely weird but of the two of them, he's not the one who's been kept on cognition-controlling drugs and enslaved by medieval furries for two entire months, so...
#honestly if anyone is going to be the straight man to play off anyone else. it's tim going What The Fuck? about kon and bart's lives#but seriously what is it with kon and getting kidnapped by nonhuman entities that want to keep him as a gladiatorial slave.#if i had a nickel....#yeah hi sorry im thinking about the furries again. what the fuck was up with that arc. why was it like that.#rimi talks#kon
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thinking about phum trying to be tough and independent and an adult when at heart he is just a lost boy who wants to be loved and be taken care of. thinking about phum making peem his 'slave' as revenge when all he wants is actually a companion a friend a partner someone who won't leave. thinking about peem who won't take any of phum's shit but also worries about him and talks to him so very softly and allows him to just be a kid sometimes. thinking about peem who doesn't want phum to break their deal and who kissed phum first but also won't make the first move to define their relationship
thinking about how easily phum would let peem push him down on the mattress if peem just wanted to. thinking about peem discovering how willing phum is to just let go and allow peem to take charge and lay on the bed trembling as peem makes him come undone while whispering sweet nothings in his ear
#the slave thing is still so utterly whack to me and i will never like it as a trope#but i think this is the first time where it actually makes sense with the characters#ALSO IM KINDA SORTA A LITTLE BIT OBSESSED WITH THEM IDK IF YOU COULD TELL#anyway. gonna disappear again#we are the series#phumpeem#m: txt
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I wanted him dead; I wanted him all to myself.
get him back!
#iwtvedit#interview with the vampire#louis de pointe du lac#loustat#loustatedit#iwtv#ok disclaimer : i am sure others have made edits to this song however i am not 100% tuned in to all of that activity#and i deliberately did not to do a search to find out bc i have to follow my heart.#therefore any similarities to existing edits are purely coincidental and/or the nature of the beast.#again not trying to step on any toes i am merely a slave to the muse. and SLOW AF at getting shit done now that i have a 9-5job lmfao#orig#my edits#and we are all just gonna deal w the black bars and not talk about it. 👍
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#bratty mermaid princess#caged foot slave#sissy caged#caged chastity#locked in caged#cagedcock#age dreaming#cage de chasteté#caged clitty#caged and plugged#caged heat#caged bird#feetfinder#footgoddess#girlblogging#foot#footwear#bare foot#beta sissy#beta slave#beta#beta boi#censored for betas#beta faggot#beta sub#beta husband#beta bitch#beta virgin#humiliated sissy#caged again the series
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Passed some photos of a black serval on my dash earlier and they haven’t left my head since
#tried going off just vibes/memories of the pics here because I’m usually such a slave to reference#gonna go back and do it again looking at the photos because that’s learning baybee#personal work#sketchbook#serval#night cat#critters#artists on tumblr#lucy bellwood#also using this as an excuse to try new brushes in clip studio because I gotta figure out my shit for this book
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Local minor heavenly official ignoring instructions to not approach calamity ghost.
Day 5: Caught / Found
Ascended Yue Qingyuan and Calamity SJ! Consider this a continuation of Day 2 :) There's their happy ending, they finally meet again. Fits for both prompts tho I drew this with Found in mind.
memey extra under cut
#qijiuweek2024#shen jiu#yue qingyuan#svsss#qijiu#mxtx svsss#yeah I'm sorry I have no force to make anything more I got too much shit to do with the con#fun fact this is scheduled so I'll probs be traveling at the time this pops up lmao#why yes I had to draw all the prompts in advance#i drew most of them in 72 hours#end me please#i'm never doing this again (i say like a liar)#sj here is mostly harmless as calamity#he mainly went for mt tonglu to have the power to secure his place#he just occassionally hunts men and slave traders for sport. he needs the enrichment#so mild canon typical murder#well mild depends on the measure we apply#look yqy won't care he's just stoked to have xiao jiu back#got sent out on a prayer demand and found sj instead a succesful mission to yqy there#ling wen: Why are those ppl still dead. And what do you have there#yqy: *holding a bloody and feral gk!SJ* A mission report sir#ling wen: the mission was subdue the ghost not MARRY HIM
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Thesis wips and April sketchdump! ft. Brainrots I have about Callum and Claudia that if I were to explain it will take an entire novel so instead take these haha funny doodles and I promise I'll elaborate one day.
Some modern AU Shenanigans
(there's description in the images for more contexts)
And some more doodles and comic concepts
This one is special because I really like this concept and I wish to finish it one day I mean look how fun this is. it's some concepts for manga/comic covers I just think it would have been super cool if this was a serialized comic and or manga series, and these could be the covers of 2 back-to-back volumes later into the story, representing their unique holds on each other. Of course it's all symbolism cough cough but reading into it such as the way their expressions changed as they're holding the other person's SEVERED HEAD- might be fun too!
#my art#the dragon prince#tdp#callum#aaravos#doodle#sketches#comic#tdp callum#tdp aaravos#tdp claudia#i can't believe claudia is finally showing up in my tags#I'm still slaving away on my thesis as usual#i hope april wasn't hell for everyone#thank you all so much for still sticking around#I hope tumblr doesn't vanish my post from everyone's timeline again.
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so um... i found a pose reference that gave me big vanishay vibes, but then i got carried away then tried to turn it into a lore moment for some reason? 😭
i don’t totally like how his arm looks plus i couldn’t get him low enough because the height difference was making it a really awkward angle, but that’s what i get for copying the anime style again... it’s janky but close enough lmao full disclosure vanilla's bangs and face are heavily referenced bc they were giving me the most grief to copy, no thanks to all those damn little LINES. reference + transparent vers. under the cut!
𝚝𝚊𝚐 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 :: @goblinselfshippr、 @over--heaven、 @spookysinner45、 @little-miss-selfships | join my tag list ᡣ𐭩
can’t find a direct link since i saw it on pinterest (💔) but it’s by mellon_soup!
#jjba#jojo's bizarre adventure#jojo part 3#stardust crusaders#vanilla ice jojo#jjba oc#oc x canon#vanishay#anime art#anime style#idk how to tag this#slaved over my art app for days with this one we’re using the damn tag list#have i ever told you how much i hate that the anime turned his vest into a speedo with a coat tail on it?#bc it looks stupid i hate it lol i wanted to fix it and do it like it’s SUPPOSED TO LOOK but i couldn’t quite get the folds to look right 💔#but i actually didn’t hate drawing him as much as i thought i would?#surprisingly easy but i’m gonna chalk it up to the fact that he’s half naked HSJSKKS#might actually do it again if i don’t kms after drawing terence lmao /j#idk how to describe the 'lore moment' btw it's something i'm gonna have to get off my ass and write out unfortunately sighs#← except shay's under eye scar. that's from star platinum breaking qr's visor and cutting her lol#wifey arts
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Backstory theory for Sukuna? I wanted to say Kenjaku and Tengen too but let's just stick with Sukuna for the sake of your sanity
(Written as of JJK 262 using TCB scans and raws. Click images for captions/citations. I want to see how poorly or well this ages.)
I already kind of went into how I think Sukuna’s birth occured answering this ask, and we know for a fact he was born as an unwanted little wretch. But that's not really a full backstory. I was a conjoined twin truther before the reveal so I'm definitely deranged confident enough to propose something.
What is Sukuna's deal anyways?
When I say Sukuna and Gojo are twin flames, I'm referring to how their internal logic and their narrative framing are very similar. For this reason, I believe how they respond to trauma is also similar.
Much of early JJK is a different reread knowing Gojo's specific trauma. His use of the childish Boku as his personal pronoun, his obsession with sweets, having Infinity on all the time, his avoidant attachment style, and his fierce desire to ensure teens enjoy their youth...all these little trauma-induced quirks hidden in plain sight, sometimes as humor, are now depressing reminders of what Gojo went through. You also start to see how paranoid he is about another Toji incident with how he treats Miguel and Hanami...
Sukuna's backstory has probably been set up in the exact same way. It's likely that most of Sukuna's actions and attitude are influenced by some unrevealed/hinted at trauma. Since he and Gojo are twin flames, I'll try to piece it together using Gojo as the blueprint.
Sukuna's Way of Speaking
In the same way Gojo's manner of speaking is unusual for his age, Sukuna speaks really weird even compared to other incarnated sorcerers. If you're not aware, Japanese pronouns do not carry gender, but they do indicate how the speaker views themself and the person they're talking to. (This wiki summary table is quite helpful for this sort of thing.)
Sukuna's personal pronoun is 俺 (Ore) which is very informal, rough, and masculine. And he uses お前 (Omae) as the you pronoun for others which is either a casual thing amongst peers or indicates the speaker's higher status. (It's probably the later given how arrogant Sukuna is.) These are also the same pronouns Yuji uses for himself and others. But because of his personality, we can infer that Yuji uses Ore because he's a sporty boy from the countryside and Omae because he's friendly and views everyone as equals. Same pronouns, but completely different characterizations that get lost in translation.
Sukuna also uses 貴様 (Kisama) as the you pronoun for Gojo. Historically, this was a formal way to show respect and then it evolved into an ironic hostile insult sort of thing, much more rude than Omae. Since Sukuna is 1,000 years old, uses Omae for Yuji, who he hates, we can reasonably assume him using Kisama for Gojo is the formal version. (This would be another very funny instance of Gojo thinking Sukuna hates him but he’s actually trying to be nice.)
All of Sukuna's pronoun usage combined with his personality suggests a very tough and rude individual, which he is. However that rough speaking style is exactly why his frequent use of flowery language, double entendre, clever wordplay, art references, and puns is bizarre.
The weird way in which Sukuna uses words is most known by how he speaks to Megumi during their fight at the detention center. (I'm paraphrasing all this person's translation work for this.)
Sukuna uses the phrase "misetemiro" which is commonly translated as "show me/show me what you’ve got". The caveat here is that the "mi" of "misetemiro" can be written as 見 or 魅. When using 見, translating as "show me" is most accurate. When using 魅? The better translation is "bewitch me/enchant me/charm me/fascinate me".
Sukuna, of course, uses 魅, which means he's saying "enchant me" when he uses "misetemiro". It should be noted that this exact phrasing is used for Mahoraga before it cuts off Gojo's arm. (This is apparently what what Sukuna finds to be enchanting. Violence against Gojo Satoru.)
The thing is, Megumi heard Sukuna say "misetemiro", so he likely assumed the common meaning "show me". This is either a case unintentional misunderstanding or Sukuna making his true feelings dubious. That in of itself is the best example of the double-meaning wordplay Sukuna gets up to.
Sukuna seems to be really fond of puns in particular (very old man of him). He calls Yuji 小僧 (kozō) which can be translated as brat, but it also means young/novice monk.
He also uses extremely outdated words. (An example of which was provided by this user.)
You have all of these conflicting speaking mannerisms balled up into one character. It's as if a gangster/ruffian majored in Literature Arts. And that’s precisely why I think he was of low status at birth.
Sukuna's Upbringing
We all know Gojo's Limitless Cursed Technique (CT) is a literal and metaphorical barrier between him and other people. His technique is his isolation. And how it developed informs us directly of how his interpersonal relationships changed with it.
Back when Gojo only had Blue and Infinity had to be manual, it meant that he had downtimes where he was vulnerable. That physical vulnerability doubled as emotional vulnerability and Gojo was able to form a close relationship with Geto and befriend Shoko. After he awakened, Infinity could be on nonstop. Gojo became untouchable to everyone at all times and it destroyed his relationships.
In the same way Gojo's CT compliments his changes from child to adult, I believe Sukuna's CT does the same.
As we all know by now, Sukuna's Shrine or 御厨子 (mizushi) could be referring to a Buddhist shrine used for storage or a imperial palace kitchen. I think it’s both at the same time. To me Sukuna's CT indicates he initially cooked for the emperor and then became an object of worship at a shrine. But I have some additional caveats to this theory.
We know that Sukuna learns by mimicking others. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say he picked up on formalities while being near nobility if he was of low birth. But how did a lowborn like Sukuna get near nobility in the first place?
So historical Japan had a social caste system called Ritsuryō (you can read more about its application in the Heian Era here). The upper class was called Ryōmin (good citizens) and the lower class was called Senmin (low citizens). Amongst the lower class there are the following subcastes:
Ryōko (dedicated to the imperial family or guards of imperial tombs)
Kanko (dedicated to public ministries)
Kenin (servants of high-ranking families)
Kunuhi (slaves of the court)
Shinuhi (slaves of families)
I think Sukuna was a Kunuhi or court slave during his time as an imperial cook. That would give him access to the higher art forms directly or by listening in while also explaining why his speech appears to be a mesh of two completely different backgrounds. (If he were of noble birth, his personal pronoun would likely be Watashi, Waga, or even Ware-Ware like most snobby upper class characters in Japanese media.)
Another trait of the slave class is their forbiddance from having a registered family name. Both Sukuna and Uraume use full names as a show of respect. The fact they only use single names for each other suggests that they have no family names at all and fall under this low class category.
The other thing to note about this caste system is that class mobility in both directions was possible. To what extent I'm not sure (there’s not a lot of in depth literature in English), but this would allow for Sukuna to rise from a lowborn status and fall back to it as the Disgraced One.
In summary:
Sukuna is born and branded an undesirable. (Some of his tattoos match up with markings for both criminals and outcasts. Particularly the single band around the wrist labeled Hinin, a term that translates to non-human used for the lowest social class.)
Sukuna is taken into slavery where his talents start to show. (Durable, 4 limbs, and quick learning make for great labor exploitation.)
Sukuna, as a slave, eventually finds himself working in the kitchen for the emperor where he meets Uraume, who is there under similar circumstances. (Heian nobles were fascinated by commoner life and sometimes took peasants into the palace for entertainment/exploitation. Please read this entire thread on Heian commoner life it’s very good.)
They rise through the ranks together because of hypercompetence.
Eventually Sukuna becomes so strong that he becomes an involuntary saint/warrior monk. (Heian nobles mobilized monks for rituals and maintaining power.)
The court nobles start a smear campaign out of fear of his power and lowly upbringing, which causes Sukuna to have his Joker moment and start eating people. (Based on the mythological Sukuna stories.)
Sukuna's Theoretical Coping Mechanisms
After Gojo endured the fallout from Toji and Geto, he developed coping mechanisms to deal with it. They're all quite unhealthy to be frank—Gojo is very stuck in the past and seems to be in a near-constant state of trying to relive it, but better.
Those traits were all initially introduced as gags. It all made Gojo appear like a very strange, childish, and questionable adult. In retrospect it's all tragic. So with that in mind, I want to examine some of Sukuna's traits that could be a manifestation of past trauma.
It goes without saying that being a slave is traumatic. And the coping mechanisms developed to deal with that level of dehumanization don't go away if someone escapes it.
Sukuna's extreme aversion to being told what to do and self-centeredness reminds me of the ex-slave character, Izutsumi from Dungeon Meshi. She starts out as a slave paraded around as a circus freak after being experimented on before she's sold to a wealthy clan and forced to be a retainer. A curse is placed on her to keep her from escaping in the form of a tattoo around her neck. When she finally frees herself, she is very cat-like in her selfishness, poorly socialized, and abrasive. (Also she is canonically aroace!)
If you noticed, her personality sounds like a description of Sukuna's, so I'm left thinking he has some variation of that backstory (kind of like a combination of Toji and Geto's). It would fit with him being an unwanted child, explain his bizarre manner of speech, and give him a pretty good reason to be the way that he is.
In the same way Gojo used Hanami to relive his trauma but control the outcome, I think Sukuna uses Binding Vows relive and conquer his enslavement. The vows he constantly makes and breaks with himself are a show of control over thing that hurt him.
When binding vows are first introduced, it's by Sukuna and with chains. In the anime the chains constrict Sukuna until they destroy him.
This imagery is rather oppressive in nature. Similar to a prisoner's chains or a slave's chains. (And it's quite common for prisoners to be used for slave labor too.)
I've previously discussed how I view Kenjaku as someone who exists through nonconsent and causes others to relive their trauma. Gojo's sealing illustrates how this kind of manipulation works. And since Gojo's twin flame is Sukuna, I believe Kenjaku did something similar to him.
We've already established how much Sukuna hates taking orders from people and how much he wants to fight Gojo. Everything he has done for the past 6 months was for Gojo. And guess who stops him from obtaining what he desires? Kenjaku through a binding vow.
Sukuna also calls Yuji an 檻 (ori) which can be translated as cage. The type of "cage" ori can refer to is either one for animals or for criminals. Kenjaku pretty much created Yuji to contain Sukuna in this manner.
So we have 2 forms of restriction encroach on Sukuna's boundaries in a way that would be reminiscent of slavery. If Sukuna and Uraume are former slaves, their treatment of Kenjaku and each other makes sense.
With Uraume, Sukuna is gentle and reassuring. He faces towards them when speaking and will initiate conversations, going out of his way to praise their work. This seems a bit out of character given how harshly Sukuna treats others, even those he respects.
Uraume is constantly apologizing to Sukuna in a way that suggests in the past they were punished severely for the slightest mess up. Given their relationship and how little Sukuna cares when they're not perfect, I don't think Sukuna was the one to make Uraume feel this way. If they're ex-slaves, this constant groveling would read as trauma response, and Sukuna's reassurance would be him showing consideration for someone who went through something similar.
With Kenjaku, Sukuna never makes eye contact, often has his back turned, and only responds when spoken to. Uraume is constantly pissed at Kenjaku's presence and tries to keep the two separate as much as possible.
Whatever binding vow Kenjaku has wrapped Sukuna in is clearly upsetting to the both of them. I imagine those were the tools used to subjugate people within the Jujutsu hierarchy. Wait I don't need speculate on that point, Yuta already did this for me when he was forced to execute Yuji via a binding vow with the higher ups.
And you know who else might have suffered the exact same way? Uro.
And boy is Uro strikingly similar to Sukuna, enough for Yuta to notice. She had no name, was groomed into being a weapon by nobles, discarded after being used, and is now someone who toys with sorcerers as she tries to become her own person while scorning bonds/love.
And if you recall, Sukuna obliterated the Fujiwara Subjugation Clan and Uro isn't really mad at him for that.
Not just Uro, but Ryu is similar to Sukuna as well in his hunger and seeing others as meals to satisfy him.
These parallels seem deliberate and may hint of how Sukuna was treated in the past and what his true motivations are. Uro seeing the incarnation as a chance at a second life as her own person is probably how Sukuna feels. But you know. Both of them are beholden to Kenjaku so that “freedom” came with a steep price.
What separates Uro and Ryu from Sukuna is that they acknowledge exactly why they're here. They reflect on their old lives and take action to address their problems. Sukuna seems to be in some kind of state of denial.
I have no doubt Sukuna is serious when his ideals don't go beyond himself. What's troubling is how unaware of why he feels this way. He won't even acknowledge his hunger for an equal which is obvious to everyone else. He also doesn't seem to know why he incarnated, dodging Kashimo’s question on it entirely. It reminds me of Gojo, who despite being blatantly motivated by Geto and Toji, never shows it except in fleeting instances. And those instances are either internal or deliberately vague to whoever is hearing it.
I think this is because acknowledging he experienced weakness at one point in his life is admitting that he can be put in a position like that again. That can be a scary thing to confront. Gojo doesn't deal with the fact he can be made vulnerable and does everything in his power to prevent it while pretending nothing is wrong. Sukuna is doing the same thing when speaks of the past as briefly as possible and crushes anyone who might have power over him.
Uro herself kind of puts that motivating trauma in the back of her mind until Yuta's Fujiwara heritage and ideas trigger her. Not wanting to recall your life as a nameless slave and having it incidentally brought up by the phrase "live for others" kind of sounds like the beef Sukuna has with Yuji.
And imagine if Uro was trapped in Yuta’s body, where this lucky individual, born free, decides to become a Cog of his own volition. She would probably never stop hating him. (I think Sukuna is mad Yuji chose the life he escaped.)
This would also fit well with his initial view of heriarchies. As long as he's the strongest, he doesn't have to worry about becoming a slave again.
And in a way, this is also him showing concern for Gojo. You’re this strong and letting these fudgers push you around? Kill them.
I also think that's why this Yuji quote is going to age poorly.
I don't think Sukuna ever had the chance to live normally. This would also make this exchange really interesting.
Sukuna suggesting he has suffered more than Yuji fascinates me. Of all the things that could possibly be worse than what Yuji went through, I think existing as a slave and being subject to discrimination since childhood would make for a pretty compelling case.
Rejecting Love as Cope
I’ve been on about how Sukuna hates on love as a cope in other posts. I think the former slave angle gives a little more weight to this idea, his poor social skills, and general aversion to other people.
Love is a type of tethering to another person. Sometimes it results in marriage, a legal contract that binds you to another with a myriad of social expectations. If Sukuna is a former slave, his aversion to that sort of thing is only natural. Relationships of anykind are a bond that comes with restrictions.
I keep bringing up Yorozu because analyzing the ways in which she upsets Sukuna is useful for understanding him. Sukuna is most dead-eyed when marriage comes up and he sees losing as the same thing as death. The common problem here is Yorozu’s desire to control Sukuna’s life.
If you know anything about ex-slaves, it’s that they would rather die than go back to that.
Sukuna being the strongest means that no one can ever hold that kind of power over him again. And like Gojo, he believes human connections and love are a point of weakness that need to be discarded to obtain absolute strength. If Gojo is using that excuse to run away from others, Sukuna is using it too.
Despite rejecting all forms of love for the sake of self-preservation, Sukuna expresses cravings for it in very roundabout ways. Usually with how he mocks it.
Another puntastic bit of foreshadowing with Sukuna and Yuji’s binding vow, Enchain also doubles as a discussion about love.
Here's a link to the full poem and context of it.
In summary, it’s about a soldier who is on the brink of death, having lost nearly everything after being abandoned by those in power, lamenting the happiest days of his life with his love are ones he can never get back. (Kind of sounds like how Sukuna ruins Yuji’s life.)
Sukuna canonically reads literature about love and he will use that knowledge to torment people. That’s pretty interesting for someone who hates it. There’s also the underlying theme of exploitation and discardment in this poem that reflects how Jujutsu Society treats sorcerers. And in both cases, the strength to survive and love can’t be had.
Sukuna calls Kashimo greedy for wanting both. But much much earlier Sukuna warns Yuji that there are consequences for being greedy.
I really wonder why he believes that.
Jujutsu Society and Labor Exploitation
The other interesting thing about Izutsumi is how aimless she is after learning the modifications to her body are irreversible despite obtaining freedom. She simply doesn’t know what to do with this. And that makes sense. Grand ambitions take a backseat when all you know is surviving. Her development involves slowly learning how build relationships with others that aren’t exploitative and coping with the permanent changes to her body. And it only comes about because the people she finds herself with are other social weirdos who give her the space and time to change.
That’s what seems to be the problem with Sukuna. He doesn’t have a space within sorcerer or non-sorcerer society where he’ll be accepted and won’t be exploited. But I don’t need to tell you that, Nanami will.
He’s miserable as a sorcerer or not. Might as well pick the one he is good at.
Later he recounts exactly what made him come back.
And if you noticed, his listlessness after escaping Jujutsu and “I always thought that having a 'purpose in life' had nothing to do with me” is very similar to Sukuna’s boredom and “I'd never though about it. ...Ideals. Desires that go beyond oneself”.
It’s weird that Nanami and Sukuna have similar realizations about their place in society while arriving at completely different ways to deal with it. I think that’s intentional.
From an interview with Gege:
"If there was one thing worth mentioning, it's that no one has the ultimate truth. The “good guys” and the “bad guys”. Some seek to kill the hero out of pure selfishness, but others are led to this decision by logical reasoning. If no one is really right, then no one is wrong either. Each character is guided by their own ethics."
I've interpreted this quote as the author telling me to consider the characters as having similar motivations, but completely different methodologies and logic driving their actions. With that in mind, I have concluded the following:
Every single character that’s kind of insane has recognized the same problem. Japanese work culture sucks. It grinds you to dust, leaves you with no freetime, and even corrodes your identity under the guise of collectivism. “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” is the go-to Japanese proverb to justify conformity to this suffering. Uro calls it out exactly.
Toji and Maki are beaten into place, used as scapegoats, and isolated by their families for being born wrong and staining the Zenin reputation by existing. Toji decided the solution was killing sorcerers and leaving Jujutsu society. Maki decided the solution was killing her family (she did nothing wrong) and building a better Jujutsu society with allies.
Geto, Nanami, and Gojo all broke from overwork that isolated them and never allowed them to grieve. Geto decided the solution was killing non-sorcerers and leaving Jujutsu society. Nanami decided the solution was leaving Jujutsu society and doing non-sorcerer work. Gojo decided the solution was reforming Jujutsu society and eventually killing the higher ups (based).
So despite all these different solutions, some of which are indefensible, I understand exactly why they became that way. They’re dealing with labor exploitations and dehumanization without the theoretical framework to be productive about it. (Gojo is the closest person to discovering what a union is.)
Geto snapped from a single traumatic event coupled with the knowledge that his labor would be exploited until he joined the mountain of sorcerers’ corpses. Though he was introduced as a mass murdering lunatic, there were always hints of how badly he wanted sorcerers to be free of exploitation. (Karl Marx could’ve saved him.)
Sukuna experiencing the most egregious form of labor exploitation, slavery would fit into these themes nicely I think. It's the ultimate form of dehumanization—becoming a literal commodity for people to sell, trade, and break. (And him deciding to be this wild about it would be understandable to me at least because I truly believe in the John Brown solution for slaveowners.)
Sukuna is fond of Megumi, Maki, Gojo, and Jogo. Megumi was sold by his father to a clan, the Zenins tried to make Maki subservient for being female, Gojo was bossed around and run ragged by the higher ups, and Jogo was puppetted around by Kenjaku. All of these characters are powerful individuals that for one reason or another were shafted by societal constraints that had them exploited by others weaker than them. Since Sukuna likes people similar to him, it's not a stretch to assume he’s recognizing their hurt as his own.
And just like Geto, instead of abolishing the hierarchy that subjugated him, Sukuna has chosen to sit atop it to escape. But unlike Geto, Sukuna doesn't dream of a world where he enforces it. (The guy clearly hates having responsibilities and doesn't want to be a ruler. He just wants to do what he wants whenever he wants. You know, having freedom.)
Sukuna existed within a society where it was acceptable to own people if you were strong enough. The fact he treats Uraume, a voluntary servant, so well and refuses to keep slaves speaks volumes. Sukuna may live for himself but he clearly has some form of ethics about it.
Wait, what about Megumi’s subjugation?
Well, sometimes people are hypocrites. Nanami, Mr. Would’ve Loved Unions and outspoken labor critic, is content with pushing all the work onto Gojo, who has suffered in the exact same way he has.
Maybe it’s resentment for his Gojo’s birth making curses stronger and therefore harder to deal with. Maybe he sees Gojo as everything wrong with Jujutsu and is lashing out. The point is, I don’t know why Nanami made the exception to his rules for Gojo and that’s why I’m clueless on where Megumi fits into this theory.
I’m not sure if Sukuna intends to keep Megumi as a puppet forever. For the sake of his own entertainment, he’ll probably release him after ingesting his final finger if Yuji can’t separate them first. And in a very twisted way, his treatment of Megumi could also be seen as a cruel training regiment. Sukuna thinks suffering and isolation brings strength. That’s how he’s justifying whatever happened to him.
But on the other hand, maybe he won’t. Because now Megumi has the blueprint for surpassing him. Defeat means being a slave again and Sukuna can’t have that.
#cactus yaps#I’m so excited to see how off I’ll be.#Sukuna was definitely exploited in the past. I’ll stake a toenail on it.#It seems that exploitation scales with power so whatever the fudge happened to Sukuna is worse than everyone else combined.#If I’m picking up on themes correctly then slavery will come up again.#Which not a lot of people picked up on Uro being a slave. The poor girl had no name and was used as a living weapon.#I think it’s because chattel slavery is more common in media.#When you get to the ‘‘less violent’’ kinds of slavery it can start looking like a sucky exploitative job.#And capitalism doesn’t want workers to make that connection because then they might demand better.#My other favorite ex-slave character is Isaac from Netflix Castlevania.#There's something so cathartic about watching him destroy the society that enslaved him. My fave quote from him is:#''You know… One day the last one of you will ask me; ‘Why did you work with Dracula himself to murder all the people?’#And you know what I’ll say? It’s because you’re all so fucking rude.''#ryomen sukuna#jujutsu kaisen#jjk spoilers#asks
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lol ok that's a very direct show title
not sure if autotranslation or actual english title
youtube
youtube
exclusive on mov app 😔 can't find it elsewhere, not even on MDL
only ep1 and 2 on yt so far, maybe they upload the rest too? since these two are 1 week apart. (they got me hooked even with their 3min episodes ngl)
Found the main actor but even in his profile this short series isn't listed. side fact: main actor is gay in RL
#oh well can't even properly tag it since the D word is blacklisted in tags if you don't censor it -.-#.Dominant. Yakuza and Wimpy Corporate Slave#japanese bl#youtube algorithm got me again
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