#that being said i think akira just like me fr in the way that if i embraced my quietude or whatever

[petorahs]

ryuji calling joker renren is something so sacred actually i may have come around to it fully

[grimmcheems]

Yakuza Hinami AU🌸

This has been brewing in my head as an idea for like years lmao😭. Idk but I always thought it’d be kinda cool if Hinami’s father was also an important figure in the underground of ghoul society aside from being a doctor bc Jason fr tore him up and Mado was on his ass too. That mixed with the fact that Hinami does become involved with ghoul society later on in canon made me love her even more.

They have her father’s kagune up on display as decor, she obtained it at some point and Akira is pissed about it(though she does not know it is being used this way), newer members don’t know why it’s there and think better than to ask directly, so the older members just got used to referring it as “Daddy”😬

I rly need to start providing the initial context to my ideas bc there’s so much that goes on in my head for my AU lores before I draw a particular setting of it and which characters I choose to include. Hinami is basically a selective mute in the beginning of this after her father is killed by Mado and her and her mother form a close relationship with a ghoul investigator (Nakajima, but before they figure out that Ryouko is one of heir suspects but after his partner is killed by Touka) Later on Hinami is on the run and living in disguise with Touka until her parents followers find her and try to raise her to be the next leader of the group.

The yakuza group is named “The Winds , which is sort of a play on how her parents were inspired by it when naming her, and sort of used as a one liner by elite group members and those who manage to escape the hands of the Doves by saying “it must’ve been the wind”(or something similar to that phrase, it it also how the Doves speak about them in public settings as to not cause alarm and used to brush off any inconveniences they experience from the group itself).

Uta is the spokesperson of The Clowns and they often butt heads with Hinami over territorial disputes and whatnot, so his visits are frequent and he is rather surprised when he sees her for the first time again when she’s older and sees just how far and high up she managed to climb in ghoul society. He mostly teases her and Yomo does not appreciate it. Yomo joined her group at some point because he wanted to maintain ties with Ayato, and he does reveal himself to be his and Touka’s uncle and last living relative (it always bothered me that he never said anything to either of them about that in canon but at least he treasures his niece)

I also gave Uta a lot of color, he was gonna be paler but I thought more color to his face would suit him. He also has a soft expression bc his eyes are closed.

Banjou sort of takes care of the more visual side of things when it comes to Hinami(he does her hair but who does her nails?!?), I love how they have a bond in canon but in this he’s mainly like a big brother and he is always concerned with the way she is presented to others because she’s their leader.

She practically becomes like a legend and spoken of like a myth by the CCG and has a SS(-) rating. They’ve never seen her in combat and only have her combat with Mado on her file record so they base it off that, and she never really has to step in because other people take care of things for her. However being the head of the group they gave her a high rating as well as factoring in her chimera type kagune she’s sure to deal a lot of damage to anyone who’d cross her path. A lot of the wierdo investigators dream of having parts of her like a trophy someday, hence the dialogue of an investigator wishing he could see her kagune up close and in action someday.

[martritzvonmercie]

HERE IS MY UP-TO-DATE P5R CHARACTER RANKING bc i think it will be funny if i post this now and then come back when i am later in the game and see that my opinions were severely bad and wrong. also i am doing phantom thieves only (but know shiho would be second if she were in the ranking)

(DISCLAIMER: you cannot get mad at me for my opinion on people who have not showed up yet okay. i have been avoiding spoilers and i know nothing about them so i just know what has happened IN THE GAME SO FAR. also very long post i went off about some people sorry about that)

1. ANN TAKAMAKI - MY GIRL OF ALL TIME. what can i say, i love myself a silly blonde girl. i think my favorite thing about ann is how she’s portrayed as both strong and emotional - she is consistently shown to be resilient, capable, and tough, but she also deals with her emotions in the same way that a teenage girl in her position would. it makes me happy to see that bc not a lot of characters get that right and i hate seeing emotional girls always being the pathetic ones. also i know she’s not canonically sapphic but she does feel very deliberately sapphic to me if that makes sense. having it be canon would be nice, but in a way, the fact that her and shiho have a very sapphic relationship without it being called that reflects what being young and confused about sexuality is like. it’s very common among teenage lesbians, and i know it probably wasn’t the devs’ intention to accurately portray sexuality confusion, but they did a good job of it on accident regardless. anyways i love and adore ann i am hugging her hugging her hugging her and pressing her lips to shiho's as if they're barbies

2. haru okumura - OKAY LOOK. LOOK. i know she hasn't shown up... i know she hasn't said anything besides that one time i saw her in the hallway and she talked about plants to a random teacher for 10 seconds... I KNOW BUT BUT SHE'S SO SKRUNKLY LOOK AT HER. she is so soft looking so silly looking i want to hug her so much. i am reserving this second place spot for her, if it turns out i don't like her as much as i thought then that's fine but nobody knows Girl Of All Time Vibes better than me and she has them

3. yusuke kitagawa - YUSUKE MY BEST FRIEND YUSUKE. I LOVE AND ADORE HIM SOSOSOSOSOSO MUCH... i honestly didn't expect to like yusuke when he first showed up but as soon as he spoke i was like. oh. Oh This Guy. LIKE HE'S SO SILLY he makes me giggle with how he's just so like. WEIRD. but i genuinely don't see how people find him creepy - the fact that he doesn't have any harmful intentions is very clear and he's just a guy who fumbles every social interaction he's ever in and i want to be his best friend for it I LOVE HIM.

4. ryuji sakamoto - I LOVE RYUJI HE'S SUCH A GUY TO ME i love him being best friends with ann and i love his stupid comments he is so funny fr

5. morgana - EVERYONE'S SO MEAN TO MY SILLY KITTY GUY... usually mascot characters like him are super annoying but i fuckin LOVE morgana he's so funny and adorable. i wanna cuddle him THE KITTY EVER

6. kasumi yoshizawa - she's really cute and sweet! the fact that i don't have anything besides that to say about her is why she isn't higher on the list lol

7. akira kurusu - he's a Guy. i like him as a protag, he has dialogue options that don't make me wanna rip my hair out and he had the emotional intelligence to comfort ann without making me want to be like "YOU'RE FUMBLING THIS FR SHUT UP STOP TALKING LET ME TALK TO HER" so i like him. however he's just a guy that exists to me

8. futaba sakura - she's cute! but being a woman in stem is like. every girl i know irl is Like That so she doesn't feel very blorbo to me when she's just An Average Girl In My Comp Sci Class, yk? i might be more interested in her when i actually come across her tho

9. goro akechi - i don't care about him at all i want what he has tho (knows sae niijima personally)

10. makoto niijima - SORRY SORRYSORRYSORRY SORRY. i know this is anti-feminist of me and considering she's so well-liked i am sure i will change my mind on this based on later stuff in the game. but MAN. her attitude is absolutely rancid in the pre-second palace scenes........ LIKE i'm not even mad at her for selling out the phantom thieves bc i get that she's been blackmailed but she said something to akira about how she "didn't know if ann being a victim of kamoshida was all there was to it" naming ANN SPECIFICALLY and not akira or ryuji and like. GIRL WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING THERE WHY ARE YOU SINGLING OUT ANN i do not like the implications there they're Yucky!!! you can do what you have to do without being nasty to ann and mean Okay Thanks.

[editrevue]

Mei Fan for the ask game?

this is going to be super indulgent apologies in advance! [ask]

Sexuality Headcanon: lesbian! silly yachiyo enthusiast

Gender Headcanon: he/him transmasc! would also love neopronouns

A ship I have with said character: YACHIYO x MEI FAN RUNS THROUGH MY BLOOD. live laugh love yachimei. big shoutout to whoever sent the ychm headcanons ask btw we cannot wait to post those hehehe! oh and Mei Fan and Akira....... maybe as a treat. just once. let me live in my fantasy land of make-believe

A BROTP I have with said character: Mei Fan/Rui!! they can bond and relate over gender things and how they're like opposite in that way (Rui being transfemme and Mei Fan being transmasc), their different styles of fighting in acting, and their extreme attachments and idolization for their senpais/partners. I'm so serious when I say Mei Fan/Chitose, they'd love to embarrass Yachiyo together and bond over both wanting the best for her. he would be Chitose's first friend outside of Yachiyo (and Shiori?), and that would mean a lot to both of them. I love how Mei Fan and Shizuha interact in the stage plays too which makes me think he would get along with Frontier very easily, and then of course, it goes without saying but Mei Fan & the Edels as an entirety! they're all best friends and family to me, yes even Fumi. (looks at you with goopy-eyes)

just like Ichie, Mei Fan is another character I see getting along so well with almost everyone it's hard to narrow it down! it's canon that he is the "easiest Edel to talk to" according to siegfeld students, so take that however you like!

A NOTP I have with said character: like all of them, nothing gross or weird (obviously!), I also wouldn't prefer Mei Fan/Shiori, they're more like family to me and I also am both of them so it feels so weird. maybe Mei Fan/Fumi, Mei Fan/Michiru? shrug.

A random headcanon: Mei Fan loves to help out the Juniors with Shiori and Yachiyo, and has taken Kuina under his wing! all of the edels have their "assigned junior" in my brain. Akira was actually Mei Fan's gay awakening, she wasn't just an inspiration to enroll in Siegfeld to further pursue acting. Mei Fan is very autistic, has a lot of vocal stims, and gacha games/toy capsules are more than just a hobby, it's a special interest! whenever he gets duplicates he shares them with Yachiyo, Shiori, or anybody else he's close to. the plush keychains on his uniform are comfort items and he gets really nervous when they're not around. and that's why the textures of certain foods make him really uncomfortable! and i'll do one more for now, he would definitely especially at the start of everything before getting closer to everyone, sprinkle in really impressive big words to try fitting into the prestigious vibe of the school and to showcase his growing fluency in learning japanese. which would make some conversations awkward (endearingly) and make michiru very annoyed LMAO

General Opinion over said character: i don't want to make the same joke twice but it's embarrassing that tamao tomoe and liu mei fan are my two highest kins from revue starlight. what does that say about me. asking for a friend. but no fr!! i wish mei fan got more love out of the edels; mei fan and michiru seem to get the short end of the stick when it comes to siegfeld specifically and it's sad! they all are wonderful and deserve the attention, and i'm totally on board with akira and yachiyo being the most popular (as fan club president...) but i've noticed they don't make a lot of mei fan cards compared to the others, there are a lot of roles he's played that aren't in the game (romeo, white rabbit, sun wukong, a dragon, etc) but I hope to see Sun Wukong for the birthday!! coming up very soon!! long rambling aside, mei fan is so silly. perhaps the silliest and i think it's really nice that you sent this in for me to answer! <3

[devilbrakers]

4, 9, 11, 19, 21, 28 for the birthday girl el and for gray please >:)

TYSM RENA <33

El:

4. how crafty/resourceful are they?

She is very crafty and that's a big part of why she survives in the wasteland. On top of Akira teaching her survival skills in case of something a situation like the bombs dropping, she's quick to figure out what she needs to do and is good at making do with very little.

9. favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?

She lovesssss empanadillas! Her mom made them a few time while she was growing up and El was hooked after. One of the few things she knows how to make herself fjskld

11. what do they have in common with you? how are they different? would you get along with them?

Hmm. I don't think I actually have too much in common with El anymore? I'm not really sure though fjdsklfj. But she's wayyyy more ambitious and hard-working than I am and much more outgoing. I don't think she'd dislike me but she might find me a bit boring </3. I'd like her though.

19. are they quick to anger? what sets them off?

El's always been temperamental but she's mellowed out a bit with age over the years. But she's still easily irritated by the little inconveniences of life and all the new bullshit brought into her life via the wasteland which I would say is justified. But she's not nearly as explosive as she used to be.

21. their favorite place to be?

Pre-bomb drop, it was her tattoo shop! It's where she spent a lot of her free time even if she wasn't really working. It was just comforting to her to hang out in a place that she pretty much made from the ground up. In the wasteland though, it's goodneighbor and the north church. Both are relatively safe, not diamond city level fortified but enough to help her relax a bit. Plus, she met her favorite people there (mac, deacon, and hancock).

28. how do they show that they care about someone? how do they express that they don't like someone?

I said in another post that El's main love languages are physical touch and quality time but I'd replace touch with gift giving now, I think. She just likes to provide! But it's also something she just kinda picked up from her parents so she has mixed feelings about it sometimes. So she'll buy things that made her think of you and pay for outings/dates, etc etc. She'll also try to split her free time a little more evenly and spend some more time with you.

Gray:

4. how crafty/resourceful are they?

Very! Miko and Blake made sure to pass that down to them so they could survive on their own. They know a lot of people and also know how to make do with very little.

9. favorite food? least favorite? are they a picky eater? do they have any dietary restrictions?

Favorite is breakfast pizza :/ they're just like me fr. Idk if I'd say they have a least favorite though since they'll eat just about anything that's edible so definitely not picky or restrictive either.

11. what do they have in common with you? how are they different? would you get along with them?

They started out as a self insert but have very much strayed from that jfklds. We still have some things in common though which is the Ezra OC blueprint of autism and bisexuality <3. We also both pretend to be laid-back and care-free while in fact not being that way. As for differences, they are much braver than I am and overall I could not imagine living their life idk how they do it 😭. I do think we would get along though! I'd love to be their friend

19. are they quick to anger? what sets them off?

Uhhhh it depends? They're way more patient with people they care about than they are strangers, whom they're far more likely to get angry with and actually act on it. But trying to get them to talk about something they don't want to talk about (ex. their past or their real feelings on something) can often be an easy way to irritate them regardless of your relationship. That's something they need to approach first more often than not.

21. their favorite place to be?

Nature! It was really only place they felt they belonged for a long time since it's what their powers rely on and there's not often many humans to deal with. Not they dislike them on principle since they're half human themself, they just never felt quite like a person until they met the dmc crew. But nowadays it's more of a comfort thing since it's so familiar.

28. how do they show that they care about someone? how do they express that they don't like someone?

Depending on the point in time, they really just went out of their way to make people think they didn't like them regardless of how Gray actually felt. This was in an effort to protect all parties involved since getting they'd already lost so many people </3. They were cold and uninviting, often mean if they felt they had to be which always broke their heart but it worked except for on one person. That also ended poorly.

Anywayyyy. Nowadays, they're trying to be more open with their affections whether that be platonic, romantic, etc etc. They're not very good with words or actions for that matter but they're trying FJDSL. They're still trying to understand that standing next to someone and telling them random botany facts unprompted is in fact not enough for a lot of people FJDKSLF. It's endearing though.

[davishater]

I initially hated milo bc of everything he put ron through but now I just pity him. His state awakens some sort of instinct in me lol...like...I can make him better lmao. I still don't trust him tho, I wonder if he's gonna join alice or something just so Alice would release him or if he's gonna fr die at one point. But i can't see him having a sort of redemption arc and joining ron. (But maybe sensei will do a complete 180 and do the unexpected lol). If he joins ron I can also see him betraying him. (If he doesn't die before that) Re-introducing him was an interesting choice bc his character could really have anything happen to him. I find it interesting how he seems to be different from how even winter knows him. Winter said Milo never cared about Alice but we now know that isn't true. And even if he really viewed her as a failure I can see him still being a morally gray character. Bc shooting Alice would still have been a huge step and Alice was still his sister, there is still a level of bond there regardless of what he thought of her.

Oh yeah, Milo definitely looks like a "I can fix him" guy, right now. For me, I didn't like or hate Milo, he was just another hot character to me.

I was actually thinking that he would just stay a hostage. And yeah, I can't see him joining Ron, either. That would like..... Mmmmh, not necessarily ruin the story for me, but ruin the authenticity of it. Like, Winter's in the gang, why do we need Milo there, too? If anything, I can see Milo either dying at the end, or getting arrested, or just staying in hiding the rest of his life.

Akira Amano is really good at plot twists, so I'm sure Milo is going to have a 180 done to him somewhere in the story. I've learned, if you're expecting something, it probably isn't gonna happen like that.

Actually, I see Milo as someone who's loyal, but only if it benefits him. If he ever joined up with Ron, it's cause he's being benefited somehow. Also, the only way he'd join, is if Toto gave a speech that opened his eyes, like Marsh and Ron. Milo's story can definitely go in ANY direction right now.

No yeah, Milo is definitely put in an interesting position right now. 🤔 It makes me wonder even more how Winter will feel about all this information. I mean, everything she ever knew was a lie. If Milo and Alice were faking things, who's to say the other siblings weren't faking things? If everyone in the Moriarty family is faking, then what is Winter faking? Or, is she being herself what sets her apart from the other family members? I mean, who's to say she didn't suspect Alice of being fake? Maybe deep down she knew, but didn't want to admit it?

[mikeellee]

Look @doodlegirl1998 a more in detail rant about the leaks. It is really bad. I joked about bc ...mha is a joke but an unfunny one. Its like those netflix comedians who say slur and think "wow the snowflakes are so sensitives"

Into the topic

1) I have to say bc no one in twitter has guts to say or is too blind. The sharing memories thing is ass bc they have 0 relationship. Those memories meant shit to them. As well....LoV means shit for Shig. I know people love the idea of Shig loving them as family but...no. they are his employees. Yes they can work well but nothing more than that.

Also that scene just highlitghts how underveloped this relationship is. Look I ship them but I 100% admit they never talked in canon and Shig never make an effort in trying to know Izu or vice versa.

That being said...its telling how Hori wont show to Izu the scene of the ONLY PERSON WHO REACTED OK WITH IZU BEING QUIRKLESS IS SHIG.

2) You bet Hori weep for that. Kudou is supposed to be seen as a great general (why?) But its show as an imbecil. A moron. Also his initial disdain of Izu makes no sense. Hell, I loathe Nighteye but at least his disdain of Izu makes sense. He wanted Mirio to be the next user....

Izu is allowed nothing. Hori says so.

3) I can sum up this with one line: They are undeveloped and in extreme scales. Shig is too bad, Izu is too good. Thata it

4) I'm.shocked Shig is getting demage at all. Fr. Shig cut his hand out of desperation is shocking to me...bc I waa sure Hori would do that to Izu.

As for the quirk....unless Shig explodes...this will be stupid. (Hori can say he is fan of Akira but can use its elements of the story in his own story)

It reaffirms smth. Izu either should have stayed quirkless and away from heroes or be a villain.

5)about plotting. Yes, he forget. He doesnt care. Hori is unprofessional like that.

6) I have no clue and doubt Hori does either.

If this was Steven Universe, they could fusion and be a new person...except by the lore and rules of the show...fusion cant ve forced.

I have no clue here. Save Shig is being imposed to Shig(many fans want Izu to save Shig) regardless logic, it kind amazing and fright how twt fans can find ways to compliment this shit.

Izu lost his quirks to save Shig...who frankly dont deseves nor wants to be saved.

Like...Hori hates them...but we know who is on #1 on his hate list.

MHA chapter 414

1)The memory sharing thing. Izuku and shigaraki sharing memories kind of came out of nowhere especially with Izukus memories being shared because last time I checked it was izuku giving his DNA to tomura not both of them recieving eachother DNA. I don't know if it's me but the memory sharing thing just felt like a very cheap way to try and build up the nonexistent dynamic between izuku and shigaraki but it fails horribly.

2) kudo's description of deku. I guess it isn't just that but kudo describing izuku as "someone who doesn't just follow orders" just left a bad taste in my mouth maybe it's because of the whole deku and wooden puppet and izuku continually being stripped off any INTROSPECTION but yeah this just rubbed me the wrong way. Also kudos whole disappearance or second death felt so anti climatic idk what I was expecting but for him to just disappear is disappointing for sure. I would of expected him to do some lasting damage with his vessel or ghost but all he did was basically take himself and quirk out of existence in its own way. Izuku full on becoming a puppet both literally and metaphorically is something that Iam not a huge fan of. I think it's kind of a great idea but the point of MHAs begining was a series of the greatest hero so logically speaking Izuku would continue forward and grow out and show that he isn't the puppet that his tormenter has claimed him to be but he is a person, a hero and a human. Sure the puppet idea could of worked but the way horikoshi tried to cement the idea and present it doesn't work it mainly feels like horikoshi is doing this as a cheap way to justify Izuku's lack of INTROSPECTION and POV.

3) the lack of izuku and shigaraki introspection. This goes for the whole series but I still hate that izuku barely gets to tell his own pov like I swear he was the narrator of the story back in chapter one so why is it that other characters are telling us how izuku should or is feeling when it isn't the narrator himself. Also shigaraki just stating the obvious for his pov just irritated me I guess I wanted and expected more. I expected to understand why shigaraki wants to destroy and why does he view Izuku in said ways I expected answers but we kinda got nothing 😭

4) did horikoshi forget some plot things? I thought that the vestiges could continually read Izuku's thoughts and see his memories so why are they so surprised in him implementing an idea like they haven't seen izuku quickly come up with battle Strategies all the time. To me it feels like the vestiges are acting the way horikoshi wants us to act and the vestiges are just there acting shocked when they figure everything out so we can understand which is all iffy to me. Like why couldn't we get this from Izuku's point of view what was stopping us from getting this from shigarakis point of view what is it that the vestiges are the ones narrating this bit when they should already be semi aware of what going on at the least.

5) WHY IS IT THAY IZUKU HAS TO LOSE ALL HIS QUIRKS? like seriously I feel like izuku should of just stayed quirkless. Why is it that izuku has to go back to square one while all the characters get to live a good life? Why just him? It seems like shigaraki is getting the damages of 2nd quirks but I still don't understand why seconds quirk causes this when in reality it shouldn't and I don't think this will even hurt shigaraki as much like the guy was experimented and tortured to handle this stuff?!?! Was it worth it? Like is it worth it giving shigaraki all these free power ups?

6) what's the point here? Like are they becoming the same person?!?! What do you mean by their memories merging together and becoming one? Why is it happening? This doesn't truly make sense because what is the end result are they gonna be all fine and dandy because they both saw eachothers lives or something? Also this feels like another way to develop a heavily underdeveloped dynamic like shigaraki has stated that he wants destruction so shouldn't he just destroy all the memories because he wants destruction and that's it. What does izuku or shigaraki benefit from this and wouldn't it just leave them with more damage than it should? Also I mentioned this before but how is this happening like I get shigaraki seeing Izuku's memories but why is izuku seeing shigarakis it's not like shigaraki has shared his DNA with Izuku so what's going on. Also the relations with the league is way too underdeveloped when it comes from shigaraki so what's the purpose of this? It feels like I stead of actually giving us more story we are going down in memory lane and horikoshi is just drawing better versions of his old manga panels

With all the criticizing over I must admit that I liked that this chapter had the vestiges especially EN realise how much izuku actually respects them and how smart he is for the way he uses their quirks. I also liked that we at least got some povs from everyone and how this was a very quirk focused chapter but that's about it really.

[takoyakitenchou]

masquerade ch.10

im back (fr this time)

“I always knew you were weird,” Akira muttered when they got onto the skydeck turned landing pad. He and Hisako had just graduated from their respective colleges and now they, Souma, and the Denmark Nakiris were gathered on top of the Copenhagen penthouse for some quality catching up. There was no doubt that the day would end in another round of shokugekis.

“Rude!” Alice pouted as she set down a large blanket and a few red Solo cups in the shade of Ryo’s new helicopter. “I just happened to buy my amazing husband a gift! Besides, he has a license now and having a charter plane is fun.”

“You talk as if your family doesn’t own three private jets,” Akira pointed out, pouring draft beer from a two-liter pitcher.

Alice waved this off with an annoyed flap of her hand. “Hayama, when are you and Hishoko gonna get married?”

“We’re twenty-two,” Hisako pointed out dully. “And don’t call me Hishoko.”

“I’m not, Hishoko. However, as the official matchmaker of the Nakiri Faction, I must insist that you get the hell on with it already.”

“Nakiri Faction?” Akira inquired.

“Yes! You’ve been an honorary member since you assisted my booth at the festival in first year.”

“You mean Jun’s—”

“And you and Hishoko are going to get married in like… two days, so she’s automatically a part of the faction as well now!”

Souma laughed as he took out a few boxes neatly packed with onigiri. “Yo, Arato, did you buy Hayama a helicopter yet?”

Hisako raised an eyebrow. “No,” she smiled with a teasing air. “But he bought us a company.”

The red-haired chef spat out his Lagunitas IPA. “What!?”

“Yeah, I bought Habui,” Akira said casually, as if he were talking about bargain eggs.

“Holy shit! Is that why you were on the front cover of Forbes!?”

“It’s been the only thing on the news for the last week, Yukihira,” he replied drily.

Alice added, “It was definitely a shock at first, though.”

True—it took her a full hour of staring at the magazine to properly process the fact that twirling his Phi Beta Kappa key around his finger and still wearing his graduation gown, the fresh Columbia graduate had dethroned the Sendawara sisters with a phrase that would become legend—“My nose can make better curry than your hands.” How he’d made that much bank as a college student was up to debate, but nobody questioned the fact that he was the new CEO of Habui. 

“Tokyo will be our home base,” Hisako said, staring speculatively into her cup. “I’m starting med school at Johns Hopkins in the fall but after Innlausn opens next month Akira will probably be moving back to Japan.”

Souma’s eyes widened. “Wait! I just had an idea. Why don’t you guys stay at my place in Evanston for the startup period?”

“You’re only saying that because you want us to be indebted to you so we don’t run your ass out of Illinois,” Akira scoffed.

“Cruel,” Souma retorted, feigning hurt. “I’m just being nice. Right, Arato?”

“I mean, I’ll take you up on it,” Hisako grinned, and she and Souma exchanged a fist bump. “We owe you one.”

“No, we do not! Don’t say things like that to him!”

Alice smirked at this. “Oh, yeah? You only got your Chicago floorspace because Yukihira’s journalist girlfriend pulled strings with the contractors.” She paused for a second, then whirled on Souma. “By the way, Yukihira. You’re getting pretty serious with Erina again, aren’t you? What a fuckboy. Two girls at once?”

A vein pulsed in Souma’s temple. “Oh, shut the fuck up. I’m single and Erina doesn’t like me like that anymore.”

“Baseless assumption!” Ryo bellowed.

They all laughed at this — the story of the spontaneous kiss after Origin’s opening night had circulated among the friend group and now they were placing bets as to when the former first and second seats of the Elite Ten would finally quit beating around the damn bush. Souma, who had been too embarrassed to call Erina since the debut, had chosen to aggressively not participate.

Within moments, they were all rolling up their sleeves and getting their hair out of the way to crack down on each other in a shokugeki themed “obscenely expensive”. They had just raided Alice and Ryo’s apartment-sized kitchen, making vulgar comments on how Akira had only bought Habui because he was still salty about Sendawara Natsume hitting on him during the Elections and talking general shit like they hadn’t already earned each other’s highest respect, when Hisako’s phone rang.

Everyone leaned over the doctor-restaurateur’s shoulder to see just who the hell would dare interrupt their shokugeki episode.

Incoming FaceTime call from: Nakiri Erina

Before Hisako could even answer the call, Souma dropped his knife and bolted for the door. His flight was cut short by Ryo, who grabbed his collar and yanked him backwards. “The fuck you going?”

“F-finland,” Souma squeaked, his arms and legs in frantic motion.

“Oh no you are not,” Akira snapped, shoving Souma back over to Hisako, who was greeting Erina over FT. “Take responsibility for your dumbassery.”

The blonde chef dropped her phone when Souma entered the frame. “Y-yukihira!?”

“Um… yo…? Nakiri? Sup?”

Erina was already blushing, but she managed to say, “Nothing much. You?”

Hisako passed the phone to Souma with an expression of amusement, who nervously combed his fingers through his hair and started moving around to find better lighting. “I’m uh… not doing anything either. Where you at?”

“I’m in Tokyo,” Erina said. “At dinner with—”

“Yukihira!” Asahi grinned, popping into view.

Erina looked a little disgruntled as the two proceeded to treat each other like the brothers-in-law they were probably going to be (hahah the foreshadowing). 

The rest of the Nakiri family greeted Souma and asked him if he knew where the hell Jou had disappeared to this time, and obviously Souma had no clue, but it really did seem like things would work out between the two families after all. Once it was just Erina watching him silently through the screen, Souma gave a slow smile and said, “Good seeing you again, Nakiri. I guess I’ll…”

Erina asked hesitantly, “Are you free later? Maybe around midnight my time?”

Shrugging, Souma answered, “Should be. Why?”

“N-no, it’s nothing. Never mind. Goodbye.”

“I’ll call you,” Souma offered. 

Erina’s ears turned red. “If you insist, I will pick up your call.”

“Sounds great.” Souma passed the phone back to Hisako and sat down grinning like a foolish idiot. 

Alice had been watching the whole interaction with mild amusement, and now she tapped the kitchen counter for attention, first dibs on the truffle oil long forgotten.

“So, Yukihira. You still think she doesn’t like you?”

[cherubchoirs]

I just finished strikers! I just I love sofie so much and really enjoyed the game and i felt like she got one of the best awakenings in persona 5! but! just really did not like EMMA while I was playing that it kinda feel like a less good persona 5 (it made me just wanna replay royal) like the room with the ark being like exactly the same as the cup was ugh like I was hoping so much for a Yaldy was now using EMMA twist or something! not just EMMA being a different Demiurge, but it was still fun!

it’s ok!! i love hearing how people felt about strikers and i agree with pretty much everything you said lol like. the plot was basically copy-pasted from the first game and when i was first watching the original speedrun stream...i sincerely thought that it was going to be yaldabaoth. i was going with the theory that yal had been left so weakened from their previous encounter that he couldn’t create a new game, so he instead took over emma and restarted the plan over essentially. i kind of,,,,really wanted them to reach the shrine again to see a damaged, rusted holy grail or even yal there with the bullet hole still in his head sdfhdg i was already primed for it since sophia is yal’s mother in gnosticism AND i had seen datamines that included file names with “demiurge” in them - given that yaldabaoth and the demiurge are the same figures in mythology, i thought he was guaranteed!! but. nope. a completely unrelated demiurge. i do have this headcanon though that emma was programmed based on yaldabaoth, even if unknowingly, as she starts as the ark and then transforms into the demiurge in a jail of worshipers...it just seems like ichinose unconsciously had him as a blueprint and so it makes a bit more sense that the plan was beat for beat what yal had done in the previous year.

BUT that aside, i honestly really enjoyed the game because it gave the thieves a lot of development as a friend group and it let most of the them grow as characters too or at least let us see another side of them. plus, the combat system is SO much fun, i loved how fast-paced it is and i really enjoyed being able to play as different characters! and tbh i like in a way that the story didn’t require too much of me since i was mostly in it to enjoy a lighter game and see the characters interacting again. totally agree too that sophia is an ANGEL i adore her so so much as a character! they really balanced quirky and cute with a true amount of heart, so i hope we’ll be able to see her in future games 🥺

as for goro, i did miss him too and i basically have a whole au in my head that he’s there lol i like to think the thieves found him just TRYING to hide out and mind his own business, but akira is like “no i need ALL my thieves or else i can’t shift into leader mode” so they just kidnap him to go along with them jsdfhdjg bc like fr...goro and konoe??? hello???? he would have had SO much to say in that jail, i would have LOVED to see how he took it. the only reason i’m ok with him being excluded is bc...my team is always akira, ryuji, and ann + another character, and it would have been really hard to choose between goro and sophia,,,,i love them both so much,,,,,but he’s there in my heart, so i can make it through

and finally, the jail rulers, for me, were a bit bland but i do like that they took a different angle from the palace rulers while keeping them parallel in a sense. like the palace rulers, the monarchs were traumatized people that became twisted in their pain and so harmed others with a sense of justification. however, the palace rulers were irredeemable people, ones that had committed crimes or hurt others so egregiously that nothing in their history could excuse them for what they did, and they don’t deserve a second chance from anyone. they made their choices, they caused damage that can never be reversed, and so they shouldn’t be forgiven. however, the monarchs aren’t so far gone yet that they’ve become truly evil people - they are people in a deep amount of pain that have become abusers, but it’s not too late. it shows that even if you’ve made mistakes, even if you’ve hurt others in what you’ve done, you can grow and become better, you’re not automatically condemned. no, the people that were harmed by the monarchs have no obligation to forgive them, but they can start making up for the pain they’ve caused and they can change. so i do like that they added that twist instead of just making them palace rulers 2.0, and in general i really enjoyed a whole game focusing on trauma and how it impacts different people

[petorahs]

not gonna lie my characterization and rationalization of akira's character has been easier to do once i found out he shares the same personality type as me.

like sure it's subjective or whatever but as one myself, ENFP akira makes a lot of his actions make so much more sense. same with ENTP goro. god it makes everything so much easier with arguably complex characters like them.

[time-is-restored]

[crashes in through the ceiling] Hello I Have Normal Opinions About Both Persona 5 And TMA And Can Be Trusted To Speak About Them At Length

ill put it under a read-more tho so i don't clog up the post too much LOL.

also over the course of writing this i definitely swung WILDLY between where in their respective arcs the avatar-ing process would occur, and i rlly can’t justify any of said timeline choices other than saying that, personally, i think its GENERALLY where they both experienced + generated the most fear (w the exception of akira, but he deserves special treatment. he's just a little guy!).

so! so far my personal vibes are:

akira - okay hear me out. stranger? now yes he’s literally a voiceless player character but i like to think he has lots of different themes all mostly circling around the stranger territory. like, in a universe where everything akira is capable of in-game translates 1:1 to real life, this dude would be intimidating + uncanny as shit. can intermittently see through walls to Specifically track people he’s got his eye on (third eye), is unerringly able to break down ppl’s walls + make them all but willing to die for him (confidant bonuses w matching personas), simultaneously has a reputation as a delinquent and as the smartest kid in school, every time he sticks his nose into something new (the volleyball team, madarame’s art exhibition, the extortion ring, etc.) someone Incredibly Powerful and Incredibly Bad trips over themselves on their way to cry on TV and give all of their money to charity, Rose From The Fucking Dead!?!?!!? also just in general, i think this angle could rlly play into the ‘can you really call urself Just Another Human when you regularly go traipsing around in humanity’s collective unconcious + can demonstrably bend ppl’s desires to ur will’ themes, like how maruki’s distorted desires has him self identifying as a god, and ‘above’ humanity. i think both for people who do and don’t know akira personally, he’d have the energy of being like. a little more than ‘just’ another human.

of course, all of that energy could easily be turned into a Hunt avatar, too - able to unerringly track + pin down his confidants, his targets, the treasure, shadows in mementos, personas that he needs, etc etc. life is a game and He’s Winning, and if you’re still playing it’s only because he WANTS you to. there but for the grace of The Main Character, etc etc

ryuji - slaughter, he both lives in fear of sudden acts of violence being comitted against him, since he now knows firsthand that no one will stand up for him/protect him. he also EMBODIES that fear as his reputation gets steadily worse + his aesthetic leans more and more towards delinquent culture - people start assuming he’s this really terrible, violent guy, even when he’s only ever been violent in EXTREMELY justified situations. im realising ive written about him the least even though he’s my favourite PT but honestly its bc thinking abt him in a timeline where the PT’s dont intervene/help him out of that destructive spiral makes me Impossibly Sad. compells me tho,,

ann - flesh, however this could arguably be eye as well? since i think the main Fear she both embodies + experiences is that of being other, being singled out + judged due to her appearance + mixed race. the ‘someone’s Watching and they don’t like what they see’ element of that is obviously very eye. however, because i think a lot of that fear is mostly based around the resulting dehumanisation + sexualisation (or at least it Would be if atlus could remember to write her for more than 5 minutes at a time 😔), especially when its against her will, im still leaning towards flesh. like, she feels less like a person + more like a Body for others to ogle.

yusuke - [guy who Really fucking likes the vast voice] okay so like i feel like the gimme answer here is the lonely but omg haha but wouldn’t it just be SOO crazy and silly if yusuke was the vast,, lol,,, okay but fr i don’t have as much of an explanation on this its more just like. the vibes. feeling like there’s an insurmountable Distance between him and the rest of his society, like he’s in his own world. his awakening + experiences with shadow madarame paticularly emphasise how cold + clear he feels once he distances himself from his personal relationship with the man, and sees the ‘big picture’ (how petty + greedy + evil he is). in simon fairchild’s statement he talks a lot about how what tends to separate the lonely + the vast is the lonely avatar thinks all the suffering + bad shit that’s going on is about them, in that specially depression flavour of solipism, whereas the vast knows it’s not. personally, i feel a more unhealthy yusuke (which, pretty much everyone here would need to be Going Through It to serve an entity) fits the latter, bc he doesn’t have that bedrock of ‘what i think about this Matters, and if i work hard enough my art will prove that’.

makoto - EYE. as much as i absolutely despise the idea that she’d willingly become a cop post-awakening, makoto absolutely embodies the idea of constant surveillance, someone who is constantly watching you + waiting for you to step even a single toe out of line so they can punish you. she’s also EXTREMELY occupied with her own position in the eye’s of others - is she relatable enough, is she responsible enough, humble enough, is she doing her sister + her dad + her teachers + her peers proud, etc etc. my second pick for her though would be buried, w the ‘paralysed by other’s expectations + the weight of the world’ angle, though im not sure there’s much mileage there in how she would inflict that fear on others. maybe a ‘damn that looks MISERABLE i rlly hope i don’t turn out like that’ angle?

futaba - spiral - i personally pick this over lonely for her Specifically because of the mental health motifs in her arc - struggling to process the idea that her mother could’ve been horiffically depressed and she hadn’t noticed, which spurs her into creating the false memories. she doesn’t trust the outside world, but she doesn’t trust herself either (what kind of a horrible daughter wouldn’t notice how unhappy she was making her mother?), and honestly the parts in her palace where she’s hallucinating scenes from her past In Real Life is like. her resulting fear that she might be crazy would definitely feed into the spiral process. and while i honestly i see her more as a Prime Victim of the spiral rather than an avatar out to do its bidding, considering how much Really Important Infrastructure (not to mention knowledge + records of history?) are stored online, she could gaslight the hell out of anyone online enough, even before any extra avatar bonuses. BUT OFC you’ve GOTTA give at least an honourary consideration to the buried, considering [gestures to The Literal Fucking Egyptian Tomb as her palace].

haru - now listen the version of haru okumura that lives exclusively in my mind is an absolute queen of desolation. post her father’s Literal Execution live on TV, i could really see her (figuratively, but only kinda) burning down the company in a sort of ‘he wasted our lives for this and it didn’t even save him so now im gonna do that to everyone who’s ever worked here’ kind of rampage, which would spiral on from there. but if we’re drawing from the actual textual motifs, i think it would probably have to be lonely? stranger gets an half-hearted look-in considering the general vibe of her personas (very beautiful woman ruins ur life and ur not entirely sure what her name was or What she was but either way Uh Oh), but i think lonely has the best chance. the first time you see her in a cutscene she’s separated from the rest of tokyo Actually Having A Fun Time, and looks miserable to boot. she doesn’t trust the people around her to actually value her for her, as compared to just be schmoozing her for her money/her father’s favour. no real relationships, unresolved resentment towards her father that gets worse w the guilt she’d feel for his death, etc. though i don’t think she’d go full peter lukas ‘into the void with you!’ if you tried to strike a conversation with her, i think she’d be the type to just kind of. fade away, mid conversation. make people forget about her, forget about anything other than how cold it is outside, that sort of thing.

akechi - yeah web is literally just. so inspired for him. initially id associated him with stranger, since ’17 year old media darling detective prince corners you in a dark alleyway and fucking Gets You’ is extremely stranger core, but you’re SO right that the STRONGEST fear there is of there being a bigger picture that you can’t see, motives that you can’t pick out, and the feeling that you’re playing into someone else’s hands. obviously, he does Literally All Of That to the phantom thieves pre-interrogation room, but shido is in turn doing it to him the entire time they’re working together, and ofc w yaldabaoth AND maruki in the picture akechi’s so tangled up in fucking webs he’s basically a caccoon. f in the chat.

sumi - THAT’S STRANGER BAYBEEEE. she literally just not-them’d herself with extra steps. im fucking obsessed. no sense of self, only kasumi <3 only the promise <3 only their dream <3 literally no notes top 10 ways to make yourself an avatar in a universe where the fears don’t even fucking exist. Spectacular.

BONUS: morgana - the hunt. he’s a thief and a cat. i rest my case.

saw a post that was like goro akechi is an avatar of the desolation and its not a wrong post its very right but you must understand he's also an avatar of the hunt. and the slaughter. a little bit the stranger. bit corruption or maybe lonely i haven't decided but i feel like you can only have one or the other he's also big time web coded but in the opposite of an avatar way. thanks for coming to my ted talk