#thank you aes for giving her such a cool backstory

[thebramblewood]

The Vatores Present... A Decennial Vampire Bash: Part VII

Featuring Nami by @sims4thehoes.

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Lilith: Oh, Helena! Probably best to steer clear of her. [in faux whisper] She's not exactly what some might call stable.

Helena: Okay, there's definitely a story I need to hear there.

Lilith: Maybe later. First, I wanted to introduce you to my brother, Caleb.

Helena: Uh, hi [nervous laugh] I didn't expect to be meeting the family already.

Lilith: We share the distinct misfortune of living in the same house. I kid. I kid. Mostly. But we are a sort of package deal.

Caleb: It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Helena.

Helena: [blushing furiously] Oh, wow. I can't say anyone's ever greeted me like that before.

Caleb: Well, you must not be meeting the right people. My sister, charming as she is, can be rather brusque.

Lilith: I'm positively dying of thirst. Let's find some refreshments.

Caleb: Don't overdo it, Lil.

Lilith: Can you believe he's the younger sibling and thinks he knows better? He's always looking out for me, which would be cute if it wasn't so annoying.

[damn-oh-dread]

Assorted Chapter 16 - 24 thoughts

GALAD IS A WHITECLOAK NOW!?!?!? I really like Galad as a character. Crazy that he does the right thing no matter what and decided that that included joining the white cloaks.🤡 Very interested to see if he ends up protecting his sister and her friends therefore kind of supporting the Aes Sedai, an organization he is now theologically against, or if he hands them in, betraying the trust of his family which also seems like a big thing for him. Which side of right will win out inside of himself?

Gawyn * rolls eyes * I liked him at the beginning but ever since the Tower coup incident I do not like him at all. He’s so annoying! And the way he thinks he’s right about everything? No thank you. He and Egwene better not end up together or I will commit a crime. He does not deserve Egwene.

I’m really liking how this book has given us a lot of different perspectives! It’s refreshing to see what other characters are up to!

Elayne, Thom is basically your step-dad. Please, I am begging you.

Finally, the Black Ajah are going to be scary and not just a totally useless group of 12 people! I’m excited to actually be afraid of them. Absolutely loving Moghedien!

Glad to get the confirmation that Gaebril is indeed Rahvin.

The mind control/compulsion weave is super unnerving from the perspective of someone under the compulsion. The fact Morgase has months and months of fake memories is terrifying!

I would read an entire book about Morgase though ngl.

LINI!!!! I need Lini and Nynaeve to meet so bad. When she said, when you get to my age all sayings are old sayings, I lost it. I would die for Lini.

MORGASE WAS GONNA MARRY THOM SSFDDFSGSDGGDS

Wildly invested in this Morgase-Gareth-Siuan side plot.

I kind of want Morgase and Gareth to meet up before Gareth and Siuan just because I very badly want to see their exes reunion.

Ngl I have no idea what is going on with Padan Fain anymore. I was so sure he was going to be set up as a foil or some kind of parallel to Mat but he seems to be obsessed with Perrin now? Not sure why, but I’m loving his batshit insane vibe.

Something something Moiriane and her relationship to time. Her being like “I have no time” a couple of chapters ago to now being like your right your right we have time.

The Aiel honour system giving positive points to being Aes Sedai and negative points for being Cairhenin making Moiraine cancel out. Amazing.

Everytime Rand is forced to make a big choice I take psychic damage. Baby no... 🥺😢

I want to know more about Aiel Flower symbolism actually. What kinds of plants grow in the waste?

MAGIC SWORD MAGIC SWORD MAGIC SWORD I LOVE MAGIC SWORDS. The Cairhein sun motif just goes so hard. There better be a cool thematic thing that happens with this sword otherwise what is the point??? Also where is this sword from cause like I really doubt that Laman was a blademaster, man does not give me those vibes. SO HYPED FOR THIS MAGIC SWORD WITH A SORDID BACKSTORY!!!!

Just realized Mats thing has a raven on it. Does that have something to do with the Seanchan maybe? Like maybe the Seeker people with the raven tattoos? Or I guess it could just be cursed by the dark one or something. Mat would become un-possed just to go and immediately pick up another cursed object.

RAND BABY NO

What is up with that other doorway terangreal? WHY DOES MOIRAINE CARE ABOUT IT? I just need to know.

Nynaeve as the carnival book-keeper is everything I did not know I needed from life. Every second of screentime Nynaeve gets, I love her more. OF COURSE she says she's the book-keeper.

Everyone reading into everything Rand does as the madness. Me frantically pointing at mat: "is anyone gonna look at that???"

For real though, I don't think Rand is mad at all yet. The little bits and pieces of information we get from his past as Lews Therin are definitely starting him in that direction for sure but all of his choices have been well thought out and logical so far. A lot of characters are saying he's become colder and/or harder since starting on this journey that has now been almost an entire year and are quick to blame this change on the madness. But really all of his choices and decisions are of someone trying to gain trust and respect from those around them and doing what needs to be done. Like sorry Egwene but Rand has not become harder because of the madness. He has become harder because that's what he has needed to become to survive and gain followers.

[agardenandlibrary]

The Great Hunt: Chapters 7-13

okay okay okay, what is going on. Verin of the Brown Ajah figures out that one of the boys is the Dragon Reborn, causing both Moiraine and the Amyrlin Seat to freeze then say "Whaaaat, that would be crazy". I never know what Moiraine's plans are but it kinda sounds like she's gonna kill Verin.

Also, first-ish Lanfear mention. From what I have seen, she's the girlboss/gaslight of WOT?? one of the Forsaken but in a sexy way.

Amyrlin Seat summons Rand. Lan gives him a very quick Warder makeover montage/manners lesson. The Aes Sedai in the Know do their best to convince Rand he's the Dragon Reborn. He does not take this well. He thinks they're trying to use him as a False Dragon.

ALSO we get Tam's backstory. I knew we'd revisit that.

Rand leaves with the Hunt for the Horn, along with Mat, Perrin, and Loial. It takes 25% of this book but they finally leave Fal Dara. RoJo sure loves to putz around in town before getting adventures on the road.

The Hunt is led by a SNIFFER. Which I assume is like a less cool version of being a Wolfbrother.

MORE OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES?! wacky. We visit Bayle Domon, remember him? Rivership captain, Rand, Mat, and Thom hitched a ride on his ship after Shadar Logoth? Anyway, he's found one of the seals of the Dark One's prison (he doesn't know what it is, why should he) and is being pursued by Darkfriends.

Moiraine is the funniest bitch alive. Ignoring Rand in a supreme reverse psychology play. Packing ONLY fancy coats for him. Making Ingtar deliver the Dragon's banner when they're far away. Getting him declared second-in-command of the Hunt.

Everything we hear about the Aiel makes me want to know more.

The Hunt is going strangely. They find a murdered Fade! Thatsbad.jpg. Padan Fain, vaguely containing a piece of the Dark One? and also Shadar Logoth?, is leading the Trollocs. He's Spooky.

Meanwhile, the Aes Sedai return to Tar Valon with Nynaeve and Egwene. Verin is hilarious, getting Nynaeve to practice Channeling by threatening her with chores. Moiraine fucks off, as is her wont. Egwene might be a Dreamer! Which I feel like I called someone being a Dreamwalker thing back in Eye of the World.

Rand, Loial, and the Sniffer get yeeted into the astral plane thanks to This Cool Stone They Found. More stuff from before the Breaking of the World. Also before the Age of Legends?

"From Stone to Stone run the lines of 'if', between the worlds that might be."

notable quotables:

"There is one rule, above all others, for being a man. Whatever comes, face it on your feet."

"You can smell violence?" Rand said. He could not help looking at the man's nose. It was an ordinary nose, not large, not small.

"Moiraine has never believed in telling anyone anything they did not need to know."

[emptymanuscript]

One way to REname a character with internal story logic

I want to talk a moment about Zephyr.

Not the wind.

My character. 

(He wishes he was this tough) Not even really the person but his NAME itself, Zephyr, and how it changed.

One of the things I don’t mention too much just to avoid trouble is how extremely different Knights of Day is now compared to how it was originally. At its early height, Knights of Day peaked at 4 authors. The goal was in no way to publish or publicize any of it. It wasn’t even really meant to be any sort of cohesive story. Or even to consist of cohesive stories rather than “adventures” for fun. I’m not even sure I can tell you WHAT it was. It wasn’t quite a piece of fiction, it wasn’t quite a table top rpg, it wasn’t quite rp’ing. It was just its own behemoth of a thing that included all of those. Compared to 1 book and 1 book in progress now.

Case in point: Fun Adventure #3 was ~

Kinda John Edward but real & real evil

Set up: Most Mediums are terrible people who fake their powers to rip victims off when they’re at their most emotionally vulnerable. Because when you’ve just irrevocably lost one of the most important people in your life you’ll pay anything or do anything for the even the illusion of getting them back.

What if: Imagine someone who can really do everything they say they can do… but they’re still a terrible predator trying to take advantage of people when they’re at their most emotionally vulnerable - they just have more power to make it even worse.

Mission: Save young suddenly widowed mega-rich heiress Helena Lawson from real Medium but still conniving con-man Kenton Dean. Because the greedy, racist, no goo Ted Lawson doesn’t want Kenton Dean to get the money instead of himself. And Ted is willing to pay exorbitantly to make sure it doesn’t. So James and Zeferrello are tasked with finding any reason to separate Helena and Kenton.

Twist: Yeah, Kenton Dean CAN summon and control the dead but it’s so much worse than that. He can summon and control the GOD of the dead. Assuming, of course, that all of this isn’t the god of the dead actually controlling Kenton Dean for its own purposes.

Which Became The Hidden and the Maiden. But instead of a climactic conflict between James, Zephyr, Kenton Dean, and Kherty-Aken decided by force, force of will, and clever use of all magic available inside the seat of Kenton Dean’s power, his theater, “Kinda John Edward but real & real evil” ended with a mildly tense chat between James and Zefferello versus Kherty Aken just kinda hanging out, tensely, next to an ambulance. James points out that Kenton Dean has reprogrammed Kherty Aken like a computer to just believe all this BS. Kherty Aken realizes, Oh Shi-! he’s right, and flys away. Next day, paper says Kenton Dean is dead. So the general idea is there but just not at all the same when you look close.

As an aside, this is by the way why most writing teachers dismiss ‘ideas’ as the least important element of story telling. One version of this ‘idea’ I stuff under a rug and pretend doesn’t exist. The other I sell in paperback for $10 a pop. If the fundamental idea hasn’t changed really, why the vast difference in price? Because of the execution. And if execution is more than infinitely greater in effect 0 -> 10 why bother putting that much effort into the idea when, even if you only go to 5 through execution, that will have more effect than any idea will. I am not 100% convinced by this line of reasoning but it’s not meritless either. A bad idea well written will just get more in the marketplace of ideas than a good idea poorly written. A bad idea badly written is doomed. A good idea well written may or may not do as well as the mediocrity. So, I disagree that it is of zero importance but I do think it is certainly not the most important element for 3/4’s of all story types. Ok, that’s another post, enough asides.

The real thing I’m actually thinking about is the Zefferello to Zephyr change. Zefferello was Zephyr’s original name. The author who created the original character said specifically her thoughts were that she had never had any character under any situation whose name started with Z. So she wanted a Z character and she plucked the rest out of thin air because. And because it didn’t matter, that was cool enough. So he was Zefferello for the first few years of life. No particular reason why. Never mind that nothing in any back round of anything anywhere would give Zefferello as a name.

It was only as I was moving from the first to the second draft of The Hidden and the Maiden that it was really bothering me about this Korean-American dude with the abusive Super Whitey Mega Rich father, the utterly absent and possibly dead Korean Trophy Wife mother, and the abusive DID having ghost but still white mother. Why would any of them give him that name?

Well, the father might do it just to torture his son throughout life. He’s that kind of asshole. As little as he is in it, I actually think of Zephyr’s father as the Antagonist for Knights of Day because he is just pure dagnasty evil because he likes it. He may not appear most on the page or wield the most power - partially because he’s just not my favorite kind of villain, at all, his side-kicks is way more my speed - but there’s no denying he does the most damage. BUT, the father is also very image conscious. Part of what he likes is doing terrible things while other people praise him for it. For making people suffer but having no one believe them because he is such a paragon of virtue. One of his side kicks actually got James to just start punching him toward the end because he kept talking about what a saint Zephyr’s father was and all the haters just didn’t understand what a wonderful person he was and how hard he worked when he never had to to improve the life of others. If I recall correctly James literally held a knife on the guy and pointing to Zephyr: ‘you had to fucking know what that motherfucker was doing to him! You evil lying sack of fucking shit!’ So… torture wasn’t going to work for a reason.

So I’m looking for any great people in history with the name Zefferello. Nope. Nada. Is it by some miracle a Korean name that Eun Ae Gwon might have given him? Nope. No dice. And slowly all eyes  turn to JJ. JJ is nuts. There’s no getting around it. But I’m rarely happy with that as an explanation. Especially with JJ because most of what she does that SEEMS nuts, isn’t. The fundamental rule I made for JJ fairly early on is that she is ALWAYS up to something. She is playing every angle. She is working every leverage. She is a survivor in a way that most people will never be. She’s dead and she is still playing to win. So she will do things that appear unreasonable at point A in time in order to increase her odds of getting what she wants in point B in time.

And I’m looking at that name. That ello. That’s sounds latinate to me. And masculine. I already knew Zefferello’s real name at this point, and it had a Jr. at the end and I started wondering if maybe, just maybe, JJ gave Zefferello a different Jr. name. A name for the father that she wished Zefferello had. Instead of the one he did. He’s hers, and what better to claim a baby she would never hold than to rename him into a family that she wanted to exist but never did. That’s very JJ.

At which point I’m reviewing JJ’s history. It’s sparse-ish at that time. But I know when she got pregnant and I know more or less what happened to her from that point until she died. And there’s nothing in there to hint at a Zefferello Sr. But… there were already some hints about there maybe being a Zefferella. And of course that’s not a name either. But fiddle with the spelling and drop the “el” sound and you do get a Greek female name: Zephyra \

And that was the lightning bolt of inspiration and change. That JJ’s second and last love of her life was a fellow prostitute named Zephyra, and IF JJ could rewrite reality to be anything she wanted then her son would also be Zephyra’s - that they would be the family unit and the other would be the ghostly illusion. And with Zephyra as a real name, I also had a male equivalent: Zephyr. Sounds similar but much more plausible that he might somehow obtain it. Plus, with the idea of Zephyra, his name also becomes a key to unlocking tons of emotion and backstory.

And you’ll know it’s important the second that this repressed little guy walking around giving out the name of Zephyr Wayne, shamefully cringe-admits that his legal name is Peter Bailey Jr. That that exists at all says that there is a story to find down in there and that it isn’t a simple one.

So that’s one to rewrite a name based on the internal logic of a story. Zephyr’s name was researched and found but never picked out of a name directory. It was back-engineered to tell the story I wanted to tell and avoid the random story I didn’t. By following the logic that might lead to a name like his, I was able to find the one I thought was right for him.

And, since the original Cup Bearer was one of the winds, that also worked to my advantage… though it is generally considered the wrong wind. Oy. Which I’ll probably just end up deleting because Zephyr’s name is better for a story hook than anything I made with Thulebelore being the General of the Western Winds.

If you actually got here. Wow. Thank you. If you ever want to solicit writing advice, dropping a question in my ask prompts me better than whatever happens to occur randomly to my head. So, you know, that’s there.

[maldito-arbol]

An analysis of the V AE

I feel like I should make a post of my own about this topic, seeing as there’re a lot of disagreeing opinions on the matter, though the majority seems to be slanted in the negative direction.

I did not hate the V After Ending or Rika’s backstory; in fact, I really enjoyed them and felt they settled a lot of questions I had pent up. So I’m going to give a fair warning before I begin this post: if you love V and hate Rika, we have disagreeing opinions, so read at your own discretion.

First of all, V’s presence, or lack thereof. Let me explain why I was okay with this, or even a little relieved at that. I personally don’t like V at all. His character is very well built and developed, sure, and he plays a significant role in the RFA’s story, but that doesn’t mean I like him as a person. To me, he’s far too obsessive, creepy, and hypocritical for my taste.

To elaborate, his relationship with Rika never sat well with me ever since I went through the entirety of the Secret Ending. He had this tendency to put himself on a pedestal, an infallible beacon of light Rika was supposed to put all of her faith in. He may have acted in a way that could be considered selfless, but it went a step too far into the narcissistic direction, where he believed he could fix everything on his own. Rika didn’t need someone to just accept her the way she was, she needed someone to help her help herself. Because the way she was wasn’t okay. V essentially let her believe that there was nothing wrong with her darkness as long as he was there with her.

It’s not okay on any level that V pushed his love so hard onto Rika, telling her that he’d still love her even if she blinded him or destroyed him. It’s a huge red flag that she’d ask a question like that in the first place, but he ended up encouraging her rather than shutting her down. And in the end, he admits that his love wasn’t even love at all, but an obsession. That’s all well and good for him to realize it, but he just rubbed major salt in Rika’s wounds, and there are a plethora of better ways he could’ve gone about fixing his mistake.

Even the way that they got together bothers me. According to Rika’s backstory, when Rika stops showing up to modeling sessions with V, he straight up shows up at her house. The way his words are phrased indicates clearly to me that she hadn’t shared her address or personal information with him at all, but rather, he found her house by following her home god knows how many times and pseudo-stalking her daily activities wherever he could.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not in any way trying to put V down to raise Rika up. I will never excuse the horrible things she’s done nor blame V for them. This is simply my analysis on V’s character, and why I personally dislike him.

The V route destroyed my soul as I struggled to get the good ending. I hated being a jerk to Ray who was so clearly in so much pain, and I hated not being able to scream at V for all the bullshit he’d been pulling. When we found out he just straight up left for two years, I was done. I was fully prepared to completely ignore the After Ending if it meant I didn’t have to just shrug off his grievances and be all lovey dovey with the guy. But seeing as I essentially worship any and all Mystic Messenger content, I decided to give it a go. And boy I was not disappointed. V almost didn’t exist until the last episode, and I was elated I could focus on the other characters.

The other characters were so much more interesting anyways. We got to see new sides of them that we always knew existed, but never actually experienced. We saw Yoosung’s heart-wrenching confrontation with Rika, Saeyoung’s agony over losing his brother, Jumin’s oddly calm distress in the absence of his closest friends, Jaehee’s coldness towards Rika, hell, even Vanderwood’s hidden affection for Saeyoung and the value he places in the life of another human being. Everything felt so unreal, and yet it was all perfectly in character for each and every one of them.

And now, on to Rika. Rika was oddly tame for this, and it makes sense to me in the context of the AE. She’d been detained, and told time and time again just how wrong she was. There was no more room for her to believe her methods were correct, so she just...deflated. I see people all over arguing about her attitude and complaining that Cheritz is trying too hard to redeem an irredeemable character, and I can’t bring myself to agree with that. Just like I can’t bring myself to love Rika, I can’t bring myself to hate her either.

Rika is an immensely complicated character. There are parts of her that I find interesting and cool, and there are others that disgust me. Her backstory brought a lot of herself into perspective, and now her character makes more sense. The fact that she preaches on and on about having a devil inside her is perfectly plausible with how her mother and the pastor used to talk to her, and how she stood up for herself by accepting their religious talk and turning it into a weapon. If they truly believed she had a devil within her, she could manipulate them into believing she herself had power over them. And unfortunately, this carried on into her adult life where she could justify her own actions as the devil inside her acting of its own accord.

The other major factor that plays into her heinous actions at the Mint Eye is the fact that she was physically uncomfortable around people who didn’t need her help, because she believed bright people would see the darkness inside her and be repulsed by it. Her interactions with Yoosung are proof enough. She was drawn to the Choi twins because they needed help, and she was more than happy to help if it meant they’d see her as a savior rather than a devil. But as time passed, she grew to believe that Saeran would leave her the second he didn’t need her help anymore, and she knew that Saeyoung would be the one to help him do it. I believe that’s why she manipulated Saeran to believe that Saeyoung had abandoned him. Then she beat him down mentally until he became completely reliant on her, and she felt safe knowing that he couldn’t possibly leave her that way.

Understanding Rika’s actions doesn’t absolve her of blame, but it does bring me to the realization that there was a method to the madness, that this wildly absurd ideal of hers was something that was instilled into her brain from the day she was adopted, and reinforced by the people around her. So, as a person, I would never be able to stand in her presence, but as a character, I enjoy how thoroughly she has been developed and explained. It’s not bad story writing to me, nor is it some kind of excuse to justify her actions. It’s an explanation for us all to understand why she is the way she is, and how by forgiving her, we not only rectify the hatred within ourselves, but we can also change her perspective and grant her the opportunity to make things right. Which, she does. She turns herself in, though not before unleashing the prime minister’s secret and publishing a video that addresses her crimes. It’s a good ending, whether you hate her or not.

The Judge Ending begins a little harshly, and I was initially shocked at the portrayal of the characters in the MC’s dream. However, it continues peacefully, with an arguably good ending of everyone moving on and learning to cope. I have seen people say Cheritz guilt-tripped us into forgiving Rika, but after playing both endings, I can tell you that is not the case. By choosing the Judge answers, the other members do not admonish you by any means. They continue to act in character, with Yoosung whole-heartedly agreeing with you, Zen respecting your responses even though he disagrees, etc etc. And the Judge Ending is most certainly not a Bad Ending. It’s probably more of a Normal Ending, which I would argue counts as a Good Ending, just a little different. Cheritz knows there are some people who would forgive Rika in a heartbeat, and others who would rather die. The V after ending respects both sides, and I didn’t have much to complain about.

The only one thing I have to complain about, is the way the MC treats Saeran. In the V route, once you’d chosen his route, you’re basically locked into choosing answers that are harsh or uncalled for towards Saeran. And in the after ending, you can choose answers that show concern over his well-being, but you never get the chance to interact with him again. I wish at least that after Saeran’s tearful reunion with Saeyoung, he could’ve had one with the MC too. I was worried sick over whether or not he’d survived, and I would’ve given anything to just chuck V out the window and choose Saeran in the end. The poor boy needs all the love he can get.

Anyway, before this gets way too long and annoying, I’ll end it here. This post was mostly supposed to focus on V and Rika, so I hope my perspective can be understood. Thanks for reading this far, and let me know if you agree or disagree with my opinions! I enjoy having respectful debates.

tl;dr: V is a creepy narcissistic stalker and that’s why I hate him. Rika is a terrible person but a good character, so I don’t hate her and I don’t love her. V AE cockblocked MC and Saeran interactions and it sUcked.

[polar-stars]

Top 10 Shokugeki no Soma moments?

Sure ^^, Thanks for asking 

I will go from 10 to 1

Number 10:

Soma beating Kuga with the help of his friends

It was pure and extremely charming. It showed the great chemistry between the first-years. The moment even reached more importance to me when you remember that this is the end to the last pure arc before the Central Arc starts.

Rest under the cut

Number 9

Hisako and Soma clearing their Stagiare

Give Hisako more spotlight again

Not only is Hisako’s smile here one of my favorite things ever, but the advice Soma gave her is wonderful. The two really were a nice team and I am glad they grew to be friends. 

Number 8

Soma winning against Subaru

A great end to one of the most interesting conflicts in the entire manga/anime. Full of great moments! Like Subaru’s backstory, everyone getting their knifes back, Takumi’s challenge towards Soma and Subaru….It was great. 

Number 7

Akira Hayama winning the Autumn Elections

Listen, Autumn Elections was defiantly one of the best arcs (I am more Team Training Camp but AE is defiantly second place) and it was a good end. I liked how they showed Hayama’s deep connection to Jun and how that was key to him winning. Also, back then…I actually found it hard to predict who would win if I am perfectly honest. So it felt even nicer to me, since it wasn’t so extremely predictable like some other matches. 

Number 6

Soma remembering Erina what cooking is about

Was beautifully delivered and lead to one of the greatest Erina scenes (the “Follow Me”-Scene….let’s just count it into it). Also….Soma’s quote was absolutely great. 

Number 5

Yuki breaking into tears because of Polar Star’s shut-down

It’s kind off weird to call this a “favorite” moment. But of all the emotional moments we have in this manga, this was personally always the strongest for me (which is simply because it’s my favorite characters we’re talking about here)

I can’t even count how many times this scene made me cry (don’t even get me started on what happened when the scene got it’s anime adaption), despite the outcome of this conflict being so obvious (like as IF Polar Star the home of the mighty MC will be shut down). 

I have quite some problems with the Eizan-Shokugeki…but this moment here, was very emotional and showed the strong bond that the Polar Stars have. Another powerful move was to make Yuki the one crying first….It really pulls on the heartstrings when you see the character that is primarily known to be a very cheerful individual tear up like that. 

Number 4

The Breakfast Challenge

I just couldn’t leave out the conclusion of my favorite arc. The Breakfast Challenge was truly amazing. 

It showed Soma the first time to seriously struggle…..Something that the current arc should have shown as well tbh. 

And the way he turned things around was even more amazing. To a person like me, who emotionally breaks together as soon as one thing does not go as planned, seeing how one can keep his cool in such a situation is highly impressive. It perfectly highlighted one of Soma’s biggest strengths.

Next to that, the banquet after the Breakfast Challenge is just so beautiful…and I always die when Soma thinks about that it might was not that much of a bad idea to come to Totsuki. 

Number 3

Erina finding shelter in Polar Star

Cute! Pure! And Adorable!

Erina’s interaction with the Polar Star members is certainly one of Central Arc’s best parts for me. I love how caring they are with her and how she slowly, but surely melts and finds a home in a place she never expected to. It’s absolutely adorable and charming and wonderful to see. 

Number 2

Shinomiya-Shokugeki

Call me nostalgic, but to me this just remains the most epic moment. The lines “Does that Totsuki Rule Apply For Alumi Too?” is just the definition of epic to me. 

It’s brilliantly written. From Soma’s care for Megumi, to Megumi rediscovering her abilities and ending with Shinomiya softening because of Megumi’s dish. It develops two characters at once and is also the first time Soma actually looses something. 

It’s. Perfect. 

Number 1

The Autumn Elections Premlins and particularly Zenji Marui serving his dish

I could have filled this entire list just with moments from the Autumn Election Premlins tbh…so I just decided to bring them into as a whole. It really is my favorite part of the manga/anime. It shows every character’s skill one by one and is therefore a lot of fun.

And then, let’s talk about Chapter 55 (or Episode 23 in the Anime). 

My! God! I really lost count of how many times I reread/rewatched it and I am still so emotional whenever I read it again. Seeing my favorite character getting spotlight and also being introduced as a very capable and skilled chef is just…..wonderful. I live for every panel/frame in this. 

And it’s without a doubt….my favorite moment.