#so I picked out a bunch of manga panels

[icezeebee]

Started so simple…

[caffeiiine]

i wanna cosplay fem fyodor since i love long skirts but i barely get the chance to wear them and i need an excuse to cosplay as well

[anoant-haikyuu-dump]

More Nekoma hcs

• One time after an intense match Kuroo makes the mistake of taking the whole team out for hot pot, his treat. Never again. His wallet is in SHAMBLES, especially after the menaces that are Inuoka, Tora, Fukunaga, and Yaku get their hands on the meat menu. At least Kai helped with the bill

• Yaku is secretly super sappy— he gets emotional when reminiscing about the past, he loves romance manga, he tears up at sad movies, etc etc. Kai and Kuroo know about it and love teasing him in private but would never expose his softer side to the rest of the team. He totally bawls at graduation though and no one's suprised (they all knew)

• Shibayama and Inuoka are little gossips, they're always whispering to each other and giggling behind their hands (kinda like Tsuki and Yamaguchi but less bitchy lmao). They're the types to have conversations entirely made of inside jokes so if you hear them in passing it sounds like incoherent gibberish

• Thinking about that panel of Fukunaga holding an entire bunch of bananas, I think he'd bring whole-ass watermelons to school and scoop them out with a spoon for lunch. At first Tora’s appalled by it— as he is with most things Fukunaga does— but eventually he joins in. You’ll often find them hunched over a melon in the courtyard shoveling away like maniacs and spitting seeds into the air. Kenma thinks its the most disgusting thing he’s ever seen

• While we're talking about manga panels look at Inuoka swinging his tie around in the bg. He never ties it right, it drives Shibayama insane so he fixes it for him.

• One thing I like about stage play Kai is that he kinda has a short fuse and is a bit more sarcastic. I think he deserves a good scream in the club room at least once a week (Kuroo and Yaku guard the door so he can do it in peace)

• The third years are kinda like the Date Tech Alums in that they just show up to random practice games and heckle the team from the stands. Yaku's screaming at Lev about his form, Kuroo's teasing Kenma and Tora, Kai made a bingo sheet.

• Fukunaga has the kind of ADHD where he picks up a new hobby every week. Sometimes he's in the club room crocheting, sometimes he's learning yo-yo tricks, folding intricate paper cranes, rubix cubes, cup stacking, card shuffling, juggling, you name it. His favorite will always be cooking though, he uses the team as a test audience for new recipies.

[duhragonball]

Daima 06: Lightning

Centipedes? In my rations? It's more likely than you think!

Last time, Goku's group set out for the next leg of their trip, when the plane crashed. Apparently it wasn't that big a deal. Panzy concludes that they put too much luggage on board, which kept the plane from flying very far, but it didn't actually do much damage. Panzy recommends they leave a bunch of their supplies behind and she'll give the engine a look and they can be on their way.

Okay, I think there's a growing consensus among fans that Daima is slower-paced, and maybe this is setting up a controversy over whether this is a good or bad thing. Maybe the honeymoon period for the show is winding down, or we're just far enough into the series for the audience to realize it's probably going to be this way from here on. So I'll go ahead and weigh in on this.

For my part, I think the pacing is fine. It's different from the other shows in that you don't have this constant reliance on filler to pad the runtime. We're not checking in on King Kai to see what he thinks about all of this, or sending Goku on a fetch quest that ends up becoming a plot cul-de-sac. Instead, we're mostly laser-focused on this one set of characters on a journey, and occasionally we'll switch over to Gomah or Bulma's group on Earth, and pretty infrequently too.

But Daima does its own padding for time, and it does it by lingering a bit on things that probably don't need quite so much time. Conversations take a bit longer than they need to. The running gag where Goku gets Glorio's name wrong. The fight scenes are a tag gratuitous, but I think everyone gives them a pass because they're good. Still, I don't think anyone was worried about whether Goku could win that barroom brawl. If this show had half as many episodes allotted to the same plot, I'm pretty sure they could cut a lot of material and get the important stuff to fit.

I don't mind that much, because this relaxed pace kind of reminds me of reading the Dragon Ball manga. By that, I mean each episode kind of feels like a manga chapter, and not that much gets done in a single chapter. You might have several panels of characters getting to know each other, and then just enough exciting stuff to make the chapter feel worthwhile. Actually now that I think about it, it's a lot like my experience reading the Jaco the Galactic Patrolman manga. It's like twelve chapters, and the first five or so are very focused on introducing characters and situations, so it really doesn't pick up until the end, and even then, it's still quite low-key. But it's so good that I didn't mind it. It was just really chill. Daima feels a lot like that.

That having been said, I do find this plane crash between Episodes 5 and 6 kind of a cheap way to waste time. King Kadan described all the extra provisions he loaded onto the plane in Episode 5, then the plane started to go down and Panzy said it was the excess luggage. Then in Episode 6 the plane lands and Panzy repeats that the luggage was the problem, and she lists all the supplies all over again.

Then Panzy gets out her tools to run a diagnostic on the engine, but instead of actually working on the plane, she asks the Supreme Kai what his whole deal is. And that's fine, but it starts to wear thin in places. Like, they could have just had this conversation on the plane and gotten wherever they're going. The plane crash just adds time, and I'm not sure how many more times they're going to pull that trick before it gets old.

Nevertheless, I'd rather watch these characters talk about themselves outdoors than on the plane, so I'm not too worked up over it. But I can already tell this is going to be a focus for Daima critics in the future.

I like the way Goku explains the Supreme Kai. He tells Panzy there's a "bunch of god-like guys called 'Kais.' And the greatest one of them all is Supreme Kai-sama here!" and he gives him a hug while he says it, like he's bragging on a pal, which I guess he is. I just think it's nice to hear Goku's perspectives on all of his friends.

Panzy's impressed that Shin is a god, and that he made a smart move leaving the Demon Realm to take the job, but then she finds out he doesn't get paid, so it sounds less impressive to her. This kind of raises more questions than answers. Does Panzy even understand what a god is? Also, it seems pretty clear now that Shin and all the other Kais were born in Demon Realm and left to become gods in the Outer Universe, but how did that work? Did Grand Zeno put up a help-wanted sign? Were their other overseers that the Glind replaced when they became the Kais?

I just always assumed these guys were some sort of weird feature of the design of the universe. Like, there were always Kais running things, and they were literally born and bred to carry out that role. But no, they're just Demon Realm expats who showed up to work one day. If the universe functioned without them before, then why do we need them now? Hopefully this series will answer all of this.

Anyway, Goku's gotta poop, so he just announces this to everyone for no reason. He farted in Episode 3, so I have this sneaking suspicion that this show is going to do a lot of Goku poop-and-fart stuff as we go. That might be a good idea, as it keeps the show from getting too reliant on "Goku's hungry" gags. GT did those a lot, and it got pretty ridiculous. It got to where Goku would complain about being hungry right after he got done eating. If he said he had to poop half the time, at least it would cut the hungry gags down to a manageable level.

Anyway, Gomah's troops show up while they're waiting for Goku, so Glorio and the others have to play it cool to get rid of them. Glorio claims to be from the First Demon World, and Shin from the Second, but since Panzy's from the Third, they want to scan her collar, which she has under her scarf. Gomah apparently made all the Third Worlders wear the collars to make it easier to collect taxes from them, but he didn't implement this policy elsewhere, since the goons aren't too suspicious of Glorio or Shin. They find the idea of tourists traveling around the Third World strange, but let them go. Oh, and they ask if they've seen a kid with spiky hair and red pole, because there's a ten gold coin reward out for him.

Goku returns when they leave, and Shin suggests that Goku tie his hair back or something. Goku says his hair is too resilient for this. Oh, right, there was that Super episode where he had all that hair gel in it, and his hair sort of broke loose like when the Incredible Hulk rips through Banner's pants legs but not the crotch. Panzy asks if Goku washed his hands, and the answer to that question is no. Goku, that's nasty.

The gang take off again, and Panzy asks Shin if it's true that Glinds are born from trees. Shin confirms this, so I'm glad we're not doing away with that lore. I was seriously beginning to wonder if Toriyama forgot about all that stuff, or if he was dumping it in favor of new lore. Of course, this is all news to Goku, so the Supreme Kai explains how his kind are born "once every few centuries from the Glind Tree". There's a flashback to show this, and we see these trees with big purple trunks that are all fat on the bottom, and the newborn Glinds are in these holes in the bark, just hanging off of stems from their backs.

Also interesting to note: the Glind buildings and vehicles in this shot look a lot like Namekian houses and ships. I don't know if that's intentional, or this is just Toriyama's aesthetic for this sort of thing. I always thought Majin Buu's house looked a lot like Namekian architecture, for example.

So does that make the Supreme Kai and the other Glinds plants? I never really thought of it that way, so Goku raises an interesting point. Shin says he "doesn't know about that". I feel like there ought to be a firm answer to this, one way or another. Goku also asks if this is why Shin only drinks liquids and never eats, but Panzy jumps in before he can respond. I feel like we've seen Shin eat before, but oh well.

Panzy wants to know about Degesu, who works as Gomah's second-in-command. Is he Shin's brother? Yes, because he was born from the same tree about 216 years after Shin. Are all of the Glinds brothers, since they're all born from the same tree? No, because there's five Glind Trees. Kibito and the Elder Supreme Kai must have been born from one of the others.

Panzy wants to know why Degesu remained in the Demon Realm instead of leaving with the other Glinds? Okay, this implies that there was one Glind migration out of Demon Realm, and Degesu chose not to go. But for this to work, it must have happened after Degesu's birth, which is well after Shin's.

The thing is, Kibito is much older than both of them, and the other Supreme Kais from Universe 7 are even older still. I'm talking about the ones who fought Majin Buu and Bibidi like five million years ago. The whole point of all that was that Shin was the rookie Supreme Kai, implying that the others had been doing the whole god thing for a lot longer.

And then you have the Elder Supreme Kai, who's much, much older still. He claimed to be the Supreme Kai from fifteen generations prior. I'm not even sure what that means if they were all born from the same five trees. Maybe it just means there were thirteen Supreme Kais between the Elder and the current Supreme Kai. But Shin reigned as Supreme Kai for at least five million years, so these aren't short terms in office.

I'm not too worried about this, because I have to assume we'll get to an episode that explains the Namek and Glind exodus from Demon Realm. They keep bringing it up, so it must be important. And I guess this is what I mean when I say I don't mind the slow pace of this show. There's still a lot to look forward to, even if it's just characters swapping lore.

But back to Degesu, Shin says that he was very ambitious and didn't get along with the other Glinds. That doesn't seem like much of an answer to me. Then again, Shin came along on this mission because he hasn't seen Degesu in so long and he really doesn't know what he's been up to after all this time. He may not know a whole lot about him in the first place.

Panzy asks about a Glind woman who's a genius scientist, and Shin confirms that this is Arinsu, his older sister. Or, more accurately, they're siblings, since Glinds don't actually have genders, so they're not "exactly men or women."

Again, I had heard this about the "Core People" before, and I'm glad they didn't toss out this lore. I've never quite understood it, though, since the Elder Kai is big horndog, and the Supreme Kai of Time once got a big crush on Bardock in Xenoverse 2. Arinsu has big ol' titties, and I don't know how you get those if you grow from a tree. Like, none of these guys have anything to do with sex at all, right? The trees might have freaky deaky alien tree sex, but not the Glinds themselves.

Then again, I guess this is all just fantasy stuff, and I might as well be asking why Arinsu has nostrils or ears. There must be some magic that makes these trees grow people, and maybe some of them end up with big ol' titties or a magnum dong or both or neither. But until today I kind of figured all of the Kais were just completely smooth down there. Like they didn't even have buttholes.

Perhaps they modify their bodies at some point in their life cycle, and some of them present as man or women just out of a personal preference or some sense of fashion. This might explain the Supreme Kai of Time's transformation where she gets really tall and shapely. They all sit around figuring out what they want to look like, like they're screwing around with a character creator mode in a video game. Chronoa's like "Yeah, I want my base form to be all smol and cute, and then my super form's gonna have a big ass and big-ass titties."

Wait, maybe I'm onto something. The Supreme Kai gave Goku those pointy ears with remarkable ease. Maybe that's not a special weird power that only gods have. Maybe all the Glind have it and they do it to themselves all the time. Degesu just gives himself a third testicle for a week to "see how it rides."

Anyway, we don't learn anything new about Arinsu in all of this. She's a mad scientist who also stayed behind for the excitement of Demon Realm, but this was already known.

Night falls and Panzy explains that it's perpetual twilight on Third Demon World nights because there's two suns. Glorio wants to land and make camp in a cave for the night, and Panzy hates this because she wants to shower. Goku's like "skill issue, just never shower, like I do."

While Goku sleeps off dinner, Panzy asks why Glorio says he's from First World, when he looks like a Third World guy. He claims that he got hired by someone in First World, so he currently lives there. Who hired him? He deflects the question. Shin asks why he wants to defeat Gomah, and he claims it's because Gomah is evil, but Shin finds it odd for a Majin to have such a defined sense of justice.

Anyway, we find out exactly who Glorio's working for, because he phones up Dr. Arinsu while the others are asleep. But Shin hears him return to camp, so he clearly knows something's up, even if he doesn't know what.

By early morning, a minotaur comes out of the cave they're sleeping in, and he plans to eat them all. Apparently he stinks really bad. Goku isn't scared because he thinks the guy is a cow, so he doesn't get why this guy thinks he's on the other end of the food chain. Normally this is where Goku would kick some ass, but Glorio volunteers first, and Goku's like "Uh, I'm the main character, I should fight this guy." But Glorio doesn't see it that way, because he doesn't think Goku's that much stronger. Well, there's only one way to settle this, so it's on.

Yeah, the minotaur gets reduced to a spectator, and it's Goku vs. Glorio. Goku's impressed with Glorio's abilities, but we all know he's not trying very hard. Finally, Glorio whips out some purple lightning powers, and Shin asks Goku to fight harder so he can see the true extent of Glorio's power. I guess he figures that'll help him understand Glorio's agenda better.

So Goku fights harder, but Glorio manages to knock the Nyoibo out of Goku's hand, and he prepares to fire some big finishing lightning move. Goku decides to try something out, and he turns Super Saiyan. He did this briefly in Episode 5, but now he's staying in that form, and just stands there and lets Glorio shoot at him so he can try to deflect the beam. And he does. He just throws out his hand and it dissipates on contact. Goku does a little self-satisfied "Hmp!" and then snap-vanishes behind Glorio and puts his hand on his back. Fight's over, Goku wins.

This is a really great way to introduce Super Saiyan into the series. This is very likely the most iconic aspect of Dragon Ball. Maybe the Kamehameha clears it, but I don't think there's much else that comes close. So it's hard to imagine viewers who don't know anything about the form, but they're still out there and they need to know. So we have Goku fighting in base form, and then he decides to use it, not to win a hopeless battle, but to do something cool in a sparring match. Base Goku could probably have done something else to defend against Glorio's power, but Super Saiyan Goku can just tank the thing and get past Glorio's guard all at once.

It doesn't give away the entire Super Saiyan experience. It's a power up, and it shows a lot of promise, but here, it's just one of Goku's many techniques. The full extend of it can be shown off later. It's still an open question how well Goku can fight this way. He's been de-aged, and the environment in Deamon Realm slows him down further, so it's possible that he can't use Super Saiyan as long as he could before, or maybe he can, and it just doesn't give him the same boost that it normally does.

Also, it's just really cool to see Goku enjoy showing it off. He does this cool smile when he finishes transforming, and he looks all badass when he blocks Glorio's beam, and he's grateful that he can still do it in his kid body. "Yep, I'm whatcha call a legend, nbd. The missus doesn't like the hair color, but what're ya gonna do, right?"

Oh, right the minotaur. Well Goku hasn't forgotten him, but the minotaur suddenly remembers that he had a big dinner the night before, so he's too full to kill and eat these guys like he said he would, so he goes back to bed. Well, that's a shame. Maybe they should swing by this cave on their return trip.

Goku poop update: He has to go again.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Vegeta is doing reps on the Lookout while Bulma finishes the Supreme Kai's old plane. They all pile in to follow Goku to Demon Realm, but Bulma… stays behind? That's weird. Anyway, the ship lifts off, then immediately breaks down. It didn't even get twenty feet into the air. So that's another plane crash cliffhanger for you. I sure hope this show finds a more reliable mode of transportation soon.

[luffyvace]

HIHIHIHI TYSM FOR DOING MY REQUEST ^U^ I hope u Don't mind me dropping another one u :'))

Can I have kusuo reaction to Reader-chan being mostly know for her gore/angst/horror series but looks like nothing for a person to write this stuff (she looks absolutely innocent) yet having a (technically an old man) friend who is also anonymous writer for one of kusuo favorite series yet the said look absolutely opposite of it (the reader-chan and her friend are like Junji Ito and hayao miyazaki)

I'm sorry if u couldn't understand the request:')) my English isn't really the best-

HII DARLING! No problem at all! Of course I don’t mind! Request at any time as long as they say open <3

ohhh so she’s a horror writer :> OHHH I was confused at first but as soon as I searched them up and saw the memes I understood 😂💓

This is such a cute and funny topic! Enjoy your hcs anon 💖 ⚠️ Gore mentions⚠️

Kusuo isn’t easily scared.

there are very few things that actually do scare him, considering he can sense everything coming from a mile away

But shows and books are an exception (given he doesn’t stare at the pages to see through the book-)

he’s not normally into horror but your manga is actually very interesting to him!

seeing a bunch of mutilated corpses packed together is quite a gripping sight for him!

and honestly he is obbsessed likes normalcy but your case is a type of unique he doesn’t mind :)

it’s funny since you have this friendly and kind personality and your work is the exact opposite of that 🤗

it’s giving the cute core girlies!! (and guys!! <3) 💓💗💖🌸🌷💞🎀

he still gets the perk of reading the chapter before publish and giving small ideas for stuff

You once put his favorite character from another series in one of the manga panels and he when he noticed it he had a little smile on his face! 💗

he wasn’t excpecting you to do that at all and it was a pleasant surprise ;3

your introduced him to your friend and he also likes his work now!

Y’all are literal polar opposites- and ngl? He enjoys the balance!

like when he wants some exhilarating and goosebump-giving action he’ll pick up one of your mangas’

and when he’s feeling mellow while eating some coffee jelly on his bed his new (second) favorite author to read from is your friend!

His number one author is of course you ♥︎

would recommend his friends (specifically Kaido) one of your mangas to freak them out

they definitely won’t be expecting it seeing as though your such a cheerful person! 🌸🎀🌷

I feel like Torisuka would genuinely enjoy your manga as well!

he doesn’t get scared easily by creepy stuff for obvious reasons 😋

so you’ve got yourself another supporter !!

I have a feeling my girl boss Airua would get creeped out but 1) she wants to support you so she would probably buy and either never read or 2) read it anyway because it’s so interesting

like you captivated people with your work!

just as much as your friend does with more gentler topics

but in a different sense

You make your audience quite literally cover their eyes in fear yet still peak through they’re fingers with anticipation !

like that’s how good it is!

a “I can’t look away” type of thriller!

also you know that really talkative guy with the bob?

yeah he over analyzes your manga once he finds out about it

(which let me tell you- Kusuo tried his hardest to keep him away from it—but much to his luck- he got a hold of it anyway)

thankfully he likes it!

he’s scared- but once again- he just can’t look away :)

he comes to you and gives your extremely detailed compliments and (positive) feedback after each chapter is released and says he can’t wait for more

he also tells his expectations and predictions for the next one and hopes you’ll live up to them

so when your exceed them he’s more than thrilled (GET IT?? Ok..)

he’s practically able to predict every book or manga he reads because he analyzes everything

so when your able to surprise him he’s impressed!

after Kusuo he’s the first one to buy a copy

(cuz yk Kusuo gets those special you-get-the-first-copy-before-it’s-published-because-your-my-boyfriend-privileges)

LOL

the bob guy is low key jealous of him for getting it before it’s even PUBLISHED

tries to bargain you to get that too but it’s strictly reserved for Kuu ♡

okay I looked up bob guy’s name

it’s Akechi Touma (oops)

LOL “bob guy”

enjoy!! Pretty short but I think they’re a delight~

[darkcircles4lyfe]

This doesn't have anything to do with anything, but i had a talk with a friend a few days ago, about shonen biasis and the way this shapes our expectations, and mha came up so i remembered how so many people apply those biasis HEAVILY into the manga, to the point that they sound like they're looking for a different story.

And one of those things that it seemed to be MOST talked about is exactly bkdk's relationship.

I have seen many times people from the fandom (sometimes really angrily) point out how in most cases Katsuki seems to basically take up not one, but four roles in Izuku's life and this includes putting him in situations that people associate with the MC's love interest, and it is weird that, despite Izuku "having a girl" for people to make assumptions about, he seems to completely repulse any female character that could be the counter part to Izuku's.

And this made us wonder if Katsuki's placement in those roles and lack of interest was made specifically because the author precisely did not want the actions that both do for each other as romantic but a whole another thing entirely, as a subversion for the these classic tropes, as he did by making the conflict between Ochako and Himiko not a "rivals fighting for the affection of a boy" but something that is connected to the plot of these characters instead.

Oh you bet! I am always down to talk about this, because I think about it a lotttt.

This reminds me, recently I remembered a funny habit I used to have with books I read. Like, back in middle school. I used to start by flipping directly to the last page and reading the final sentence. Usually this did not spoil anything whatsoever, but sure enough, by the time I read through the whole book, that sentence would take on new meaning.

So I started musing about what it would be like if only I could do this with bnha, if everything was already out. It made me feel so nostalgic…

Will the last panel be something grand, or something small? Hopeful or sad? Distant? Intimate? A parting message to the reader? Will it look like almost nothing of consequence to the unknowing eye—yet burst with hard-hitting subtext?

Of course I wonder about all the twists and reveals that might be still ahead of us, but it’s kinda soothing to think about how the whole thing could be put to rest. Because then I realize I’m not worried.

For once, this is not because the story is following so many tropes so predictably that I know exactly, in so many words, how it will end. It’s more like the story is a close friend who I’ve gotten to know well enough that everything they do is so “them” it makes me smirk. I'm often marveling at how Horikoshi has managed to pull all this off. How is it that (at least here in the west) people who aren't really paying attention call it basic and cookie-cutter. Even a Japanese animator called it "classic," and this interview shows such obvious dissonance between Hori and the interviewer, just... wow. But it's so clear that bnha has broken just about every rule in the book at this point, so much so that I struggle to condense it into words. I'm like--*gestures broadly at everything*--why haven't more people picked up on it??

Yet we still get bombarded with people saying "it's a shonen, c'mon, we all know how this will end." Um. No you don't. I KNOW there has to be a bunch of people who are secretly frustrated by Kacchan taking up all the roles and getting all the moments. It's not even in a mysogynistic way, because Kacchan is the most anti-dudebro character imaginable. Bkdk's relationship isn't intended for them and they know it... and you know what, I'm starting to ramble. You've heard all this before. The thing I should really be focusing on in your ask is the part where you mentioned how you and your friend were speculating about bkdk ending up as "a whole other thing entirely" rather than simply romantic.

Well, fuck it, I've been biting my tongue, but now might as well be the time I talk about this. I got into a bit of a disagreement with someone over it once and then I shut up. Because it's very difficult to approach the subject without being lumped in with those people who see bkdk as "brotherly" (ew) or otherwise try to push some "crisis of male friendship" agenda, or at the very least without being accused of enabling people to make excuses against bkdk being canon ad infinitum. So let me be clear that I do NOT want bkdk to have an ambiguous or open ending. I want their complexity and importance to be acknowledged. I want them to use their words. I think we may have created a bit of a false dichotomy there.

I am aromantic, and to suggest romantic relationships are inherently the most important and intimate goes against every fiber of my being. I also reject the idea that cut-and-dry gay representation is more desirable just because it is more easily understood by the masses than aspec representation or representation of relationships "beyond" both romantic and platonic. We recognize how ridiculous it is for people to expect Izu*cha at this point, right? Well, the reason they're so confident anyway isn't just because of heteronormativity. It's also because of amatonormativity, the assumption that romantic attraction trumps all: no matter how much focus bkdk get, Izuku blushed at Ochako, so that automatically makes them more "important." THAT is the notion that I want to challenge most. More than anything, I want bkdk's relationship to be fully acknowledged because they have so much more going for them than just attraction.

You and your friend make an excellent point, that it would be very much in line with Horikoshi's taste and the patterns of his writing so far if he chose to subvert the shonen romance trope not just by giving it to two boys, but also by disregarding its premise entirely. It's unlikely he'd try to stuff them into such a copy-paste ending right at the end.

So maybe they won't get the blushy confession, the obligatory kiss, the wedding, the 2.5 kids and a white picket fence. That's fine, we shouldn't pretend those tired tropes are suddenly revolutionary just because they're gay. But don't be disappointed! Without them, we have more room for things that are actually personally meaningful to bkdk to stand out and receive the nuance they deserve: talking through their feelings openly, building each other up like no one else can, understanding each other like no one else can, smiling at each other, embracing, holding hands, rushing to the other in the hospital, being glued at the hip (or even closer), healing mutual trauma, putting each other first in all things. Maybe we'll also get confirmation on Ochako's side as she moves on from her crush on Izuku. You know what other shonen manga took this exact angle as a way of subverting tropes and presenting genuine complexity? Blue Flag! There are so many ways to do bkdk justice.

Even a kiss isn't out of the question, if the right opportunity comes along. A perfect example of what I'm talking about is Good Omens (major season 2 spoilers) because the kiss between Crowley and Aziraphale was not at all about canonizing them. It was an expression of pain and desperation that just made sense at that particular moment. Neil Gaiman was adamant that if it took that kiss to understand the context of their relationship, you really weren't paying attention. I respect the hell out of that.

Recently I was even daydreaming about bkdk getting something similar to the sort of uh, shall we say tasteful nudity, that togachako got, because of how Izuku appears in the vestige realm.

Ya know like not in an nsfw way but in like a "this is so deeply intimate and soft that I feel like I'm intruding" kind of way... yeah. Because it represents vulnerability and openness and acceptance of someone as they are. And I don't care if people call that bait. It's not. It's beautiful. It’s honest.

[hannigramislife]

I read these manga panels, not sure where from, of Dazai taking Akutagawa out and Akutagawa drinking and him being a lightweight, which is the most interaction we've gotten from them that hasn't been violently upsetting, so now I'm gonna come up with a bunch of headcanons for them that aren't very probable in canon, but at least they're not depressing.

-Dazai found Akutagawa's retorts to other mafia members quite witty and funny, when Akutagawa wasn't aware that Dazai was anywhere near him

-Dazai taught Akutagawa how to read/write properly, and Akutagawa picked it up really quickly.

-Once every two weeks or so, Dazai will visit his and Gin's apartment (during his mafia days, of course) and bring bread and vegetables because "they're growing kids."

-Dazai rants to him a lot, even if all Akutagawa does in response is give hums in agreement every now and then.

-While Dazai is very harsh on him, he will not let anyone else think they can just hit or talk shit to Akutagawa. Disrespecting his protégé is the same as disrespecting him.

-Dazai very rarely mentions Akutagawa to people, but once he does, he compliments him highly; he can't help talking about the people close to him.

-He has 100% faith in Akutagawa's abilities to see something through. Just because Akutagawa has the habit of derailing from set plans, that doesn't mean he won't succeed in whatever he puts his mind to.

-He took Gin and Akutagawa to see the New Year's fireworks.

-The only thing he has ever given Akutagawa other than the coat was a book he had bought and read because Oda had said he liked it a lot.

-Dazai doesn't train Atsushi now because he is afraid of repeating the same mistakes he made with Akutagawa.

-Dazai knows that Akutagawa takes his tea with 4 cubes of sugar, and his mind immediately went there when he first saw Atsushi drink coffee with 3 cubes.

-Akutagawa is a survivor through and through, has a will of steel that allows him to stand up no matter what life throws at him, and Dazai is uncomfortable when faced with it because he doesn't understand it

-After meeting Atsushi and getting to know him, Dazai often wonders Akutagawa would have turned out if Oda had found him.

[bcbdrums]

Soul Eater NOT - part 9 (MAJOR SPOILERS)

But now we come to the biggest issue of all...

Untrained NOT students (the three main characters) defeat the witch. TWO meisters, using a single weapon, none of which who have any battle training or real practice together, are suddenly incredibly competent and powerful, even more-so than Akane and Clay, and kill the witch.

This undermines the whole of Soul Eater.

In Soul Eater we learn right away... The ultimate goal is to kill a witch and for the weapon to eat her soul. This is the power that transforms the weapon into something greater. It is stated that many meisters and weapons die in battle with witches. The witches are the centuries-old enemies of the DWMA.

So...for these untrained students to suddenly have the ability? And of course--the author has thrown in that the princess was forced to study martial arts, and that our lovable ditz has also studied martial arts... None of that changes that our weapon is in the NOT class. Specifically just how to use her weapon form not to hurt herself or others. Zero combat training. Their defeating the witch makes NO SENSE. It feels like the biggest let-down of the entire story. It horribly demeans Medusa entirely, it makes Maka's defeat of Arachne feel meaningless... If untrained students can suddenly do it, then, why can't everyone? What threat are witches at all?

Now one can make the argument that Shaula was a lousy witch. But! She somehow mass-poisoned and mind controlled all the NOT students and a bunch of citizens! So surely she has a lot of power??

But again...the manga didn't give us anything about her character. She's supposed to ride on Medusa and Arachne's coattails and we're supposed to believe and feel she's threatening by nature of relationship. Unfortunately, it doesn't work at all. It feels insulting (just like Akane being Star Clan).

Now, in one of the very last panels right before the girls defeat Shaula, we get a sudden full-page image of Lord Death telling the witch: "Listen, you... Do you know who you've picked a fight with?" Out of nowhere. And this is the one and only time he appears. Subsequently, Shaula screams his name and then the girls kill her. SO.... One could headcanon that it is in fact Lord Death taking over the three girls and it's he who defeats the witch in the end. This is the only way to make this ending palatable. But even that just doesn't feel right...

Support for this idea is that...very suddenly, when the witch is defeated (at the girl's dormitory) who should suddenly show up next but...! Tezca, Justin, Spirit, and Death the Kid, who take the witch's soul. This last chapter's opening panel shows all eight death scythes with Kid and Lord Death, and they're all perched on that rooftop so it's even implied that all eight may suddenly just...be there. Not only does this make no sense generally, the sudden arrival, but we know from SE canon that the only death scythe in Death City is Spirit! Author forgetting his timeline again. Just...tossing things in last second to be cool I guess? Gotta get all the cameos in before it's over.

But again, the sudden arrival of all these huge players could imply that Lord Death took over the girls and it was truly him that defeated Shaula. But this is some far-reaching and it really only softens her defeat slightly.

So in conclusion, the entire villainous plot and the witch's defeat is a hot mess.

[animehouse-moe]

Monthly In the Garden With My Landlord, Volume 1: Surprising Charm

Based on the just the synopsis, I'd say I was curious about this series, but I don't know if I was ever fully sold by it. Because of that, I'm very glad that I ended up picking it up regardless, as there's a lot of charm and energy that this first volume brings, making it a series centering around adult romance that I think quite a few people will enjoy, and for quite a few reasons that I'd love to illuminate.

Let's start with the idea of the story. Asako Suga is a manga editor that was just dumped by her girlfriend, leaving her in an apartment full of memories and firsts that are tied to her now ex. Because of that, in a spur of the moment decision she decides to move into a house that's being rented for pennies on the dollar and seems to have nothing wrong with it. That is, until she moves in and finds out that her 19 year old Landlord, and ex-idol, is living there with her.

I think it's an idea that a lot of people could be turned off by, but here me out on it. It's actually really fun, and well executed. Asako, and Miyako (the ex-idol-now-landlord) have just the right balance of comical and shallow traits as they do deep and impactful ones.

Sure, Asako might be a sucker for a pretty face, and that might have played into sticking around. But, she's more than that. She doesn't immediately fall in love with Miyako because she's pretty, but rather she struggles to maintain an appropriate amount of distance from this young adult, largely because Miyako struggles to be an adult.

And really, that idea itself opens up the story so much.

Asako and Miyako struggle to form deep relationships with people. Asako falls under the stereotype of being suckered in by looks, and Miyako is in the position where looks is all that people care about. Neither are able to directly connect with someone and form a deep and emotional bond, not even in the romantic sense necessarily.

I mean, the manga itself addresses that as Miyako takes to calling Asako onee-san a whole bunch, which perfectly highlights their beginning relationship. Miyako relies heavily on Asako, while Asako is babying Miyako.

The idea of romantic feelings is present, don't get me wrong, but it's absolutely an undertone to the pair forming a deeper relationship that extends past superficial tendencies. Because of that, I really hope that in future volumes they struggle with the expression of those feelings and they struggle with how it changes the shape and form of their relationship.

Anyways, let me share my love for the art. It's got a very light feeling, but that doesn't diminish the feeling of it or the detail in any fashion. It's still very present and strong, but it's not not got a heavy lineweight or strong shading or lighting and whatnot. I guess you might call it "flat", but I don't really think it's a bad thing.

I think the only thing I could really complain about is the environment art, since there isn't too much of it, but that's par for the course with a lot of manga these days. What's good though is that the mangaka fills that vacancy very comfortably. Subtle screentones that fill gaps, intelligent paneling and focus, and mindful layouts that work to really fill panels and use negative space. It's not anything incredible, but it does plenty to be aware of the gaps in backgrounds.

I think most important though is their willingness to break molds. They really don't restrict their characters to the confines of panels, routinely breaking out from those lines or existing entirely separate from them, or even having them partially cut off from them.

Speaking of characters, these designs are really damn good. The level of detail and uniqueness they carry is really great, and something that I think can be very rare to see.

Just look at the smaller details, Miyako's eyes are a different shape to Asako's (which are then also different to Hatomori's, who is a supporting character). Then look at the noses and mouths as well. Asako generally has a more squared off mouth, while Miyako's is rounder. Similarly, Asako has a more prominent nose while Miyako has overall softer and rounder features, but has larger/more prominent eyes.

It's really great design language that is very rare to see in a lot of series these days.

Even better is the expressiveness of these designs though. Character acting has a prominent role in a series like this, and Yodokawa's designs work wonders in regards to that. They work great both in terms of subtle and extreme moments, which creates a really nice feel to both ends of the first volume.

Also, the design sense and posing? Absolutely sublime. Yodokawa really has considered everything about these characters. Asako tends to wear more plain and "typical" outfits, while Miyako brings more energy and style, and all of Miyako's outfits are just so pretty.

Really, there's not much of an end to how much I enjoy the various pieces of this first volume. There's so much that I'm not doubt leaving out a considerable bit of charm and quality from this post, so I really recommend people give the manga a try. It's promising to bring a much more friendly and positive adult romance story, but not without depth or emotion. The art is endlessly engaging and fun, very stylish and well utilized, and the characters are such a treat. Just read it if you can.

[applestorms]

11, 12, 16, and 25 for the dn ask meme!

yayay ok :3c original game here + 25 answered here

11. What moment surprised you the most?

honestly? probably L dying. in the manga particularly his death happens So Fast, it really caught me off guard the first time i read it. i think that's why my first DN essay revolved entirely around me trying to figure out why his death was so unsatisfying initially, despite the fact that i could still kinda logically follow why it had to happen. i've come to terms with it more since, and the fact that i Love the ending (and the wammy's kids uwu) has certainly smoothed some of those earlier annoyances over, but that moment is always gonna stick with me. it's one of the few places where i'm Very grateful for the anime, actually, since that at least tries to ease the transition up to such a significant moment a bit more instead of being like "damn :P see ya' L. anyways lookit these totally new dudes we've had absolutely no foreshadowing for LOL."

12. What is a fanwork (edit, fic, art, etc.) that you still think about to this day? (Pls link to the original!)

there's a Lot of stuff i could put here (fics in particular-- maybe i should make a rec list??) but to pick out one in particular... one of my absolute favorite's of all time is (Not) According to Plan by FlamesRise. i think this was fundamental in forming my fanon image of light tbh, this is like. my ideal fic characterization for him. idk sometimes you've just gotta read 12k words of dubious smut to really get a feel for your blorbo, y'know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

16. A line from the series that stuck with you.

GOD ok i already put a bunch of my favorite panels over on this post, but a favorite line specifically hmm hmm... maybe i'll pick stuff from other adaptations for this question?

in the anime, it obviously has to be: "Tell me, Light, from the moment you were born, has there ever been a point when you've actually told the truth?" or really any other hard-hitting L line from that whole episode, we all know the classics by now.

in the musical, i'm a big fan of any line from Requiem, but especially: "sleep now / here among your choices," and, "gone, who was right or wrong / who was weak or strong / nothing left to learn." the ending to the musical is somewhat unique to me in that it really hammers in just how Pointless all of this was, how meaningless light's violent attempt at justice ended up becoming, which i feel is a very notable point that gets somewhat lost in both the manga canon (esp w/ C-KIRA and A-KIRA) and in particular the anime (which ofc ends up much more sympathetic to light). idk i just really like the emphasis on the cyclical tragedy of it all, i've said this spiel before lolol ✌️

[alligator-dreaming]

12/17/2024 - This One Should Have a Name I Suppose

I had a strange interconnected series of dreams last night.

It began with a dream about sharing a hotel room with two girls, and I was dating one of them, so I was really spending a lot of time making out with her. Things were getting hot and heavy, but at a certain point I sensed that things weren't going that far, and I pulled back, and we stopped.

I think part of the problem was that I had been training a praying mantis while we were making out. Kissing and rolling around and stuff was helping me gain experience points, and periodically I would put those experience points into upgrading my mantis. My mantis didn't realize that I was trying to improve it and so it kept biting me while me and my date made out.

Anyway, after things slowed down I excused myself to go find something to eat. I wandered out of the hotel room and found a huge bookshelf. However, the shelf was nearly entirely covered in Final Fantasy licensed mangas, which I was not interested in. After looking through the selection, I found one that broke from the mold, and took it to a table at a cafe in the hotel to read.

The book was the strange story of a girl in an alternate timeline where many of our reality's conflicts and violence never happened. Though she came from this other world, she had the power to see into ours in her dreams. She could then psychically manifest the violence that happened in our world into hers as bright bursts of energy in hers. She was very unhappy with her powers because they upset the balance of her world, and she grew fearful that her Earth might start to have the violent conflicts of ours because of her. She looked just like the girl I had been dating.

Then right when the story was getting good, a man walked over to the table, sat down next to me, and turned the book away from the page I was on so he could read the description on the book jacket. At first I let him read it, but then he took so long that I realized that he was being unspeakably rude. I called his attention to the fact that he lost the page I was on, and he apologized. Then I found the page I was on, and instead of picking up where I left off, I walked away to find something else to do.

In another part of the hotel, there was a big theater and event space with an aquarium exhibit located off to the side that had seals in it. I saw a bunch of my friends in the room and went to join them, and managed to get a seat just before the event started.

An internet funnyman I like walked on stage and announced himself, preparing to introduce the night's show. He had plenty of beloved special guests and exciting acts planned for tonight, but first, the seals! He entered the seal exhibit and the seals did a musical performance of "VS Star Dream" from Kirby Planet Robobot. I was jumping up and down and running between tables in excitement. The performance was beautiful and my friend Wally agreed.

The show went on. The host brought on a multitude of special guests for a panel/game show. One of them was Wally. Most of them were also Internet personalities, and in some cases they preserved their anonymity by joining the panel as two-dimensional PNGtubers in real life. One of them was a voice actor in a series I like wearing a Doctor Robotnik costume. Towards the end of the panel, he went offstage as his 2D self and came back onstage in person, still wearing an Eggman costume. The audience went nuts for it. It was, all in all, a great show.

Things took a strange turn toward the end, though. Before the show could properly wrap up, people on stage began acting very unlike themselves. Audience members began to disappear, and by the end, I was alone in the theater. It all snuck up on me so quickly that I had never noticed anyone leaving - one moment the panel was doing silly bits to entertain the huge crowd, and the next the stage was empty and the theater was dark.

I had to figure out what happened. I began snooping around the space, looking for any indication of what may have happened to everyone. While searching the backstage area, I caught a glimpse of Wally. He pointed me toward a door hidden in a stairwell, but warned me not to draw attention to myself.

The passage was crowded with phantoms in the guise of early presidents of the United States. They floated and rushed around the narrow winding passage that led down into the earth and I had to take great care not to bump into them or trip on them. They were greatly agitated but seemed oblivious to my presence as long as I did not touch anything. Wally rushed ahead of me, and by the time I reached the bottom of the passage, he was gone.

The passage emerged into a small, barely furnished living room. The ghosts were still thickly crowded and agitated here, so I hid under a staircase and waited for them to disperse. While I hid in wait, I realized that this room was a copy of the living room of the home I lived my first two years of my life in. It was nostalgic despite its bareness and hostility. Eventually I peeked out and saw that the ghosts had disappeared. With the coast clear, I snuck out and pressed into the next room.

The room next to the living room was a home office, just as barely furnished as the living room with the exception of a desk cluttered with paper files. This was the office of whoever was behind everyone's disappearances, and in command of the ghost president legion. I heard ghosts re-emerging outside, so I returned the way I came before the way back became too thick with ghosts to navigate safely.

I carefully snuck back up toward the theater, encountering many fewer ghosts this time. When I got back up, the audience was back, watching the action onstage with the same enthusiasm they had earlier. But the host and the special guests were gone from the stage. When I took a closer look, I realized that the special guests were now in the audience, also becoming victims of the scheme's mastermind. Taking their place onstage was a mysterious figure who had charmed the audience into thinking the show was still on so they could work their evil undisturbed. I took them to be the person whose office I had just seen and the person behind all this.

Seatbelts appeared across the audience to lock everyone in place as the final preparations took place. However, one row of seats was partially empty, so the seatbelts missed the people in that row. Quickly trying to recover this, the seatbelts lunged at the people in that row, but were too aggressive about it. One of the people in that row, the Eggman costume guest, was snapped out of the villain's glamour by the seatbelts' sudden attack, and managed to worm his way out. Now there were two of us free.

There was a scuffle in the theater and things became hazy. The mastermind sent dark forces to attack us and we tried to fight back. When the dust settled, the audience was gone again. All that was left were their clothes, hanging in midair. Then, through a window at the back of the stage, I saw the mastermind as a cloaked figure, levitating and bursting with energy. They were drawing the audience's outfits into themself one at a time, absorbing the life force left behind to upgrade themself to their ultimate form.

Thinking quickly, I ran backstage toward the window and burst out toward them. They were floating far above ground, so I leapt up from outfit to outfit until I reached the mastermind. I slammed into them and knocked them back toward the theater, into the ground. The audience reappeared, and the mastermind's power drained. Now it was just me and them. I grabbed their hood and ripped it off. Underneath was Wally.

I was in shock that my friend was behind all of this chaos. We grappled, and he freely gloated about his plans to ensnare everyone in the theater to drain their life force as we fought in front of everyone, and revealed that his true name was John

Freaky

Adams. Despite being significantly depowered, he was still stronger than I was, and we were deadlocked at a disadvantage for me. Thinking quickly, I lunged forward and used a special technique I had spent the whole day practicing beforehand. I planted a big wet kiss on his lips.

Wally was stunned by the turn of events, but I just kept chewing on his lips and making out with him sloppy style. Eventually he pulled back and a devious grin came over him. He shapeshifted into a beautiful actress and kept at it, actively competing with me to be the better kisser. Then his mouth hinged open like a snake to reveal a toothy claw inside. He gloated that I was fully in his clutches and that nothing would stop him from killing me now. But he was wrong. I shoved him away and revealed that I had been synthesizing a poison in my mouth the whole time we had been kissing. The poison began to take effect and Wally grew weak. The audience cheered as Wally's evil life-sucking scheme was thwarted once and for all.

Afterwards, the theater was a mess. People began trickling out, but I stayed behind to help clean up and to chat with the voice actor. The floors were wet and slick, so we slid from wall to wall like roller skaters while cleaning and talking about how we figured out it was Wally (apparently the voice actor had figured it out before I had.) We laughed a lot and it was great fun.

At the end, before leaving the theater, I saw a flash of light and knew it was the girl from the book bringing violence from our world to this other dimension.

[night-heron-writes]

Spy X Family Chapter 76

~*~ Warning: Contains spoilers for Chapter 76 of the manga! Open at your own risk, agents! ~*~

First of all, a slight break from the crushing angst was nice. After a whole bunch of stressful chapters, a little bit of fluff was in order.

It was nice to see, as I expected, that Twilight was worried, in his own quiet, overthinking way. He's not at the point yet to just absolutely break down and show his emotional side, but he shows he cares with his repeated concern for Anya's mental health as well as her physical well-being. I also noticed that during their breakfast conversation, he didn't once think "for the mission". We're making progress, people!

Also, he drives her to school! I can't imagine him letting her back on a schoolbus for quite a while after that whole ordeal.

I found it interesting that Anya has picked up that something is weird with Damian's family. Of course, she doesn't quite understand the depth of it, she's six. But she's noticed that something doesn't quite add up, and it stuck with her.

And then Twilight, the poor sap, misunderstands her pensiveness as her being mad at him for not picking her up. He has a remarkable ability to feel guilty for situations he wasn't involved in or things he would have no way to change. (Shh it's the trauma)

And there we have our first "for the mission" of this chapter 😂. Interestingly enough, it's not about her Stellas, or even her friendship with Damian. He's thinking that if she's traumatized, then the mission is in danger. And he's not wrong, but it's nice to see the "for the mission" directed at her well-being and nothing else.

And then we get the discussion between Henderson and the tutor-in-residence, which feels like the set-up for a longer plotline. Especially this gem:

Henderson continues his trend of being a Loid Forger fanboy, but to me this seems like an excellent way for Endo to start giving more and more plot-relevant clients to Loid Forger. Perhaps even Melinda or Donovan Desmond at some point? One can only hope.

And then we have this panel:

I notice that Jeeves says "residence" instead of "rooms" or something similar. It looks like Melinda lives in a completely different house most of the time, then. An interesting window into the Desmond home life, and one I didn't quite expect. I wouldn't have thought that Donovan would allow such a thing. For a man so concerned with the Desmond family name he doesn't seem to care if people think familial relations are strained.

Poor kiddo, no wonder he seems happier in the dorms. I get that Melinda has her own stuff to deal with, but after last chapter's drama and how she went on about cooking for Damian, I expected her to at least eat with him. It's another comparison drawn between the Forger family and the Desmond family: the Forgers are all present at breakfast, and openly voice their concern for Anya, while Melinda straight up leaves the building and Damian only finds out she cooked from Jeeves.

The scenes with the other kids swooning over Damian, Becky, and Anya are cute, and of course getting another Stella goes to Anya's head a little bit. "Double Starlight Anya", really? 😂

This one made me chuckle out loud. And that little smirk on her face 😂

And Becky calling it like it is:

Also some of these rich Eden kiddos really need to touch grass once in a while. "Peasants" are people just like everyone else, and it's slightly appalling how these kids think that class makes a biological difference. As they get older, that can easily turn into bigotry.

The whiplash of Anya and Damian getting along somewhat to fighting to getting along again to fighting again is such an accurate depiction of little kids' friendships. Ten minutes is long enough to start and finish two separate wars.

And then we get this cute panel at the end, which sums all of that up nicely.

In conclusion, the fluff was strong in this chapter, but it wasn't a filler chapter, per se. The fluff was plot-relevant and moved the story along, as well as making a nice change from the last several chapters.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that this reprieve from the angst will be a brief one. My hunch is that either the next chapter or the one after that will take a hard left turn back into angst territory. See ya in two weeks!

[2n2n]

Hello, first I just wanted to say that I love your posts and the way you talk about tbhk ❤️Secondly, I know that this question has no relevance to the chapters that are happening, but I'm curious to see your perspective. Do you think Nagisa kunishige-san (the man who attended Tiara festival) will cross paths with Hanako in the future? Or that Kou's father might show up at school? If so, how do you imagine their reactions?P.S: Keep up the good work

I'm kind of hoping Kunishige and Tiara will simply clean up the mess in the school itself either while (somehow...) or after time is done being frozen, because I don't want us to have to bother .... ! I can't really see how dealing with gathering all 1 billion sakara petals out of students eye balls would be necessary to See or contribute to the story, so ... I could see them being our janitors. Clean everything up so we can cut to the chase with the final festival scenes with living 12 year-old Tsukasa and Nene-chan. PERSONALLY, I wouldn't want to go from punching a bunch of owls, to punching an old man, to punching a bunch of trees page by page ... and AidaIro tend to spare us chains of action/fightan, since this is a HEARTFELT toilet manga...

I really actually loved how the Far Shore arc did NOT waste tons of chapters on "what happened to Akane & Teru facedown in that puddle???" and answered all of that in just a few quick wrap-up panels, in the form of Aoi explaining to Nene-chan what happened (which is also, a cute and character-building thing for the girls to share, I much prefer that). It also left plenty of hanging threads to pick up later (not knowing how Akane/Teru got Aoi's soul back from the far shore)...

I've talked about Kunishige and Hanako meeting here. But basically it could go absolutely any way, they could recognize or not recognize, only one of them could recognize, they could care they could not care, they could be irrelevant, they could be gravely relevant, we just don't have enough information. There is nothing to theorize....

daddy could show up at any time and it gives me ulcers... I don't want more Minamoto crap so soon... on top of kunishige and tiara, that's simply too many people in 1 room, I would think it should be spaced out .... he should wait a minute... what a pain it would be to draw panels that full... don't make Aida-sensei draw so many non-shotas at once like that... he should come around while we are dealing with Mitsuba or something and Kou is having a crisis... *wearing a T-shirt that says I DONT CARE ABOUT NOT HANANENETSUKA*

I imagine if Hanako had to see Minamoto dad he would be like, "ugh, another one? why... " like you would seeing another bedbug crawl out of a crack in the wall. everyone get out of my jurisdiction ugh... too many of them... in my school...

[theevilthatismokke]

/chapter 100 spoilers/

I... struggle to write something about this chapter, because it feels like I'm just repeating myself from last chapter...

The most interesting thing to note here are Mitsuba's feelings about how he wants to die. Once again we have the preciousness of life contextualized through the lens of someone who wants to die.

Mitsuba thinks he's a monster, his cravings for hearts, be them supernatural or human, and his inability to stay together without them, leave him feeling like his dream of becoming human is impossible.

And without his dream, there's nothing out there for him. No family, no lovers, no friends...

Love is the driving force within JSHK. Life without love (and as always, I reiterate that this love can be various things; platonic love, romantic love, familial love, the compassion and empathy for those around you, self-love, or even passions/dreams/desires you can follow, sometimes, it can be all of these all at once) isn't worth living in the world of JSHK.

Which is why, seeing Kou cry over him... just seals the deal to Mitsuba.

To Mitsuba, it means his life has value to Kou, and that their bond, that meeting each other, has meaning. To die, knowing it wasn't all pointless, that he was cared by someone, that's what Mitsuba wants.

That Kou can suffer over losing him, is proof for Mitsuba that somebody actually cares about him, even if it isn't all that special, even if Kou would do that (as far as Mitsuba knows) for anyody else.

This is also a recurring thing in JSHK. There's this... tendency, where the characters can only, truly conffirm that their beloved cares about them through tears, grief, suffering or any other extreme act or show of emotion.

We have this with Akane knowing Aoi reciprocates his feelings when he sees her crying (and she never cries!!) over the mere thought of him hating her.

We also have this with Hakubo and Sumire, as Hakubo's grieving over Sumire for centuries (it's not just that he was miserable over her, he was cursed by their love) and his boundary being his personal hell, are proof to them both of their mutual feelings.

I don't think I need to elaborate on the "extreme acts or show of emotion" lol. Pick any character. Go ahead.

And, you know, this makes sense, even without the aesthetics of the manga, because...

Well, this is a story about a bunch of lonely, self-loathing, unloved people whose communication skills and emotional intelliegence are of a collective sum of negative points.

...but I digress.

Meanwhile, I find Kou's reaction to Mitsuba's assessment of his character to be very interesting:

Mitsuba seems to see Kou as this ridiculously kind person, who cares about everyone just about equally.

And he's not particularly wrong. Kou's a kind boy, and that's been established many times. I do think a part of his wish to help others is genuine.

buuuut, Mitsuba's not entirely right.

At least, as far as Kou is concerned.

You see, JSHK doesn't deal in black-and-white, even when it comes to things like selflessness or selfishness. Many times, we've seen that an apparently "selfless" behavior isn't treated as simply as such. Like Yako's wish and actions to bring Misaki back.

And Kou’s a similar case.

Kou wishes, more than anything, to become a strong, reliable, selfless ideal hero. Well, no that’s a lie. Kou struggles with his own self-worth, and because he equates said worth with strength (the strength of a good exorcist, to be specific, as that’s what he grew up hearing from his clan), he tries to emulate the heroic image he has of the Minamoto exorcists and Teru.

Kou’s desires to “save everyone” are strongly rooted in these self-worth issues. He… wants to be needed. Kou wants to be a hero, at least partially, because he wants to feel good about himself.

something, something, insert panel comparing kou and yako for the nth time

But Kou’s, so far, had big problems with admitting his more selfish motives.

Being selfish, having a… less noble motivation, breaks this heroic image he strives to achieve. Kou doesn’t want to admit his own selfishness, which is why he sees the Red House “temptations” (that’s how he sees them, as cheap tricks, temptations of an evil spirit).

it's interesting that kou only relents and kinda admits he wants those things when he encounters his (dead) mom. because that's a wish he can accept. he still gets conflicted abt mitsuba tho.

“That’s not what I want”, Kou yells to the desires revealed by the Red House.

“I only wish to save [Nene]!”, Kou justifies. He’s a hero, after all, who is going to save everyone, right?!? His motivations are only saving others and slaying evil kaii, of course he’s not selfish!!!

…right?

This also applies, I think, to his relationship with Mitsuba.

There are some key factors that leave Kou confused when it comes to Mitsuba, and why he tends to… try to push Mitsuba to the back of his mind.

There’s, of course, the fact that he doesn’t consider “this Mitsuba”, the “real Mitsuba”. But also, there’s the fact that… I think Kou is disturbed by his growing feelings toward Mistuba. He doesn’t want to admit that there might be a person who’s slowly become more important than all others. More important than Nene or his brother or even his want to become a “hero”.

Because that would be selfish.

And because these feelings are intense.

Both, in ways that are, unbecoming, unfitting of an ideal, selfless hero.

…and because, deep down, there’s a part of Kou that wants to devote himself solely to Mitsuba, and have Mitsuba, in turn, depend solely on Kou.

Basically, Mistuba’s suicidal, Kou’s selfish but doesn’t want to admit it, and that can only end well (lol).

As always, communication, self-discovery and acceptance of love are the only way things can move forward, so let’s see where this will go.

Other than that... I'm curious about the school festival. And the little things they mentioned, like... the cafe, the haunted house and the little play with, princes and princess. Because of the twitter events and all that.

well, who knows lol.

Also!! One last tinfoil moment before I go!! (as if this post and every other post in this blog wasn't enough... )

what the heck are you planning for chapter 101, aidairo?

[tiressian]

What's with the couples (itakugi and satoshoko) talking about loneliness and heaven and earth lmao. 👀

I talk about satoshoko a lot because a) I ship it (friendship, romance) , and b) it's the most underexplored dynamic in the sss trio in canon and me brain hate gaps, me brain like filling in gaps.

I was talking about Nobara and Yuji because some one asked me the other day if I shipped them and I said yeah, both ways, platonic/romantic (and definitely the blurred middleground of the two dynamics because i find strict dichotomy very boring). So itakugi, whatever the dynamic, has been on my mind 🤷‍♀️

that last ask was specifically about the romance side of itakugi so i just thought those panels were hilarious regardless of whether those panels are interpreted as romantic or not. I get the appeal of shipping them romantically lol

As to the "loneliness" and "heaven and earth" stuff - I'm on a reread and picking up on things you can only notice once you've given the manga a second pass. There seem to be a bunch of parallels/callbacks, so I'm playing callback bingo and noting down everything because i am not doing another reread lmao. Whether there's a payoff to noticing these callbacks will depend on how things turn out for characters, so I'm invested.

And that marks the tldr version of this ask being answered lol below the cut is me rambling about " alone" as a theme

That theme of being "alone" (connection) seems to be a throughline throughout the series. I've noticed a bunch of characters point it out so I've taken to recording it when it happens. It's not a theme that's strictly rooted in romantic relationships and I have started a collection which ill post once im up to date on my reread.

Yuji and Nobara happened to be on my blog so I just put it under that ask so i can jump back and find it again if i ever get the urge to write them in fic - friendship/romance what have you. As a ficcer taking note of character dynamics are details that give you context to get their voices right in writing. ok i digress.

I wondered what Gege's message about dealing with being alone will be (note: loneliness is different from being alone; i just think "Alone" is a stronger theme overall), thats why ive talked about it, that's why ive started to pay attention to it, I like me some themes. They scratch me brain.

[vulpiximisa]

I love the host club arc a lot so here’s a bunch of things that I like

Kyoshiro making an obscure reference that I don’t understand and Shinpachi pointing it out

Yorozuya automatically getting into Host mode and they all gas each other up when they say their pick up lines

Cardboard saint. I don’t watch Saint Seiya but I was reading some of the Sorachi notes and it was an old joke he brought back. I think his jokes are the best when they’re referencing obscure stuff.

Hostalker -> Host Car

The manga panel has Kagura throwing Kyoshiro and garbage at Car Isao but in the anime random garbage just flies down and it’s just so random to me skdjdkd

Hasegawa’s cardboard dropping off when he does the pose

Kagura doing the pose

Shinpachi playing the cop and doing the pose (AND SAKAGUCHI IKEBO ARIGATOGOZAIMASSS)

Gin acting charming and shy and successfully hooking the girl

The way Car Isao just nyooms in and his “Vroom!”

The way Car Isao positioned this time so when Gin sits on him they’re touching dicks

Anytime they have to call the cops on Kondo

Hijikata just looking out the car window going “what’s wrong with you” (“what’s your crime”?)

Gin and Isao being super chummy

The way the banana randomly appears in the corner and Kondo just takes a bite while still talking

Dragging Hijikata and Sougo into the host nonsense

I don’t go to Sengoku Basara but any seiyuu references are always good. Let’s Party!!!

When Gin says he’d be popular in 3D and the anime made a reference to their Gin model

Bringing up the popularity polls ranks

I actually know Oizumi Yo!!!! (Professor Layton voice actor)

GIN COMPARING HIJIKATA TO DAISUKE SAKAGUCHI

I guess I kinda like GinTsu a bit so when she just calls him by his host name instead of the usual Gintoki

Gin being tossed between Hiji and Shin twice like they are a goal post lol

The lead in from Tsukuyo calling host club Yoshiwara for women (and Shinpachi having to explain it to her) over to Okita and Sacchan having a time

The little pause before Sacchan going “I can’t see” at Okita holding the menu out for her

Sacchan getting into Okita’s S taunts and asking for his name (Sacchan and Kondo are usually lumped together more but now I honestly want to see more of the actual S and M together)

Straight Man Synchro Kick!!!

Shinpachi and Hijikata actually trying to do their work and serving all the rowdy guests

The anime straight up censoring sushi Madao and Isao. And then they make this shy face 😆

Them getting tossed into the commotion like fish

Hijikata and Shinpachi just standing next to each other the whole time

Perfectly in sync straight men holding Gin down preventing him from leaving

Hijikata’s cellphone in the anime has shinsenguni design

Suddenly they’re all telepathic and can speak to each other without Yagami hearing

“That’s like throwing a chair into a pack of Jackie Chans”

The kunai stab manga panel. Shinpachi looks really handsome there lol

Gin calling his “guests” “baby-tachi”

Tsukki swinging Sacchan like a weapon and Sacchan is into it

Tsukki holding Sacchan under her arm and into the Madam’s face

Sorachi likes making fun of Jackie Chan’s nose

I’ve never actually seen the entirety of Dragon Ball(Z) but the entire convo is hilarious

Also the two getting smacked the whole time

Quiz Bowl references

Madam putting down her broken glass after her answer

The whole Vegeta smackdown

Madam coming in with the “Dirty Fireworks”

Hijikata calling Shinpachi Kakarot

Sougo coming in with his baby face, acting like the trump, just to take a sip of the tequila and dropping with Gin and Hijikata

Madam also drinking a ton of tequila glasses but daintily

The reveal that Madam is just a lonely rich lady who wanted to have fun but is getting scorned by the dark rumors

A happy ending for Madam who actually has a sense of humor

Basically I love the straight man duo running around trying to get things back in order