#the manga is also due a nice re read

[kyaruun]

praying mochijun comes back from her haitus either this month or next one because my sanity depends heavily on getting my montly dose of vnc 🙏 (last episode was in july. july. 2022)

[lastoneout]

Okay, honest question, who is Yotsuba?

OH HO HO ANON I AM ALL TOO HAPPY TO EXPLAIN :3

Yotsuba is a character from the greatest manga ever made, Yotsuba&!(or Yotsuba to! it translates weird, most fans just call it Yotsuba) which is a comedy slice-of-life manga about Yotsuba Koiwai, a five year old girl, and her very strange yet wholesome family and friends!

It's from the same mangaka who gave us Azumanga Daioh, though while that manga is told in a four-panel comic style and doesn't really have much of an overarching plot, Youtsuba is done in a traditional manga style and despite also being very episodic there is a bit of a throughline surrounding Youtsuba getting settled into the neighborhood she just moved to, growing up, and eventually, in the later chapters, getting ready to go to school for the first time. Also, there are storylines that take place over multiple chapters as well! Despite the fact that the manga has been releasing since 2003, the chapters are pretty sporadic and the comic has only really covered about one year of the character's lives, but it never really feels slow or aimless. It feels almost...timeless? I guess. It's really nice.

Anyway, the manga is legit one of the most wholesome, funny, heartwarming things I have ever read. Kiyohiko Azuma is a fucking MASTER of comedy(you may have seen screencaps from a Sailor Moon fan comic he made going around on tumblr in which Jupiter accidentally sends Venus shooting across a pool that made me laugh so hard I cried) and he balances it well with lots of slow moments with GORGEOUS artwork where you can really take in the scenery and all of it is seeped in a wonderful nostalgia for childhood that legit makes me super emotional.

I don't think the manga has ever really taken off in terms of popularity, at least not to the degree that it deserves imo, which is likely in part due to the creator being firm about it never getting an anime adaptation and the sporadic release schedule, but it's far from unknown. There's been an official(I think??) score released and plenty of figurines and merch. It's also birthed a lot of memes, and it def has the same issue as One Piece where if you read it and love it you will turn into a walking billboard and try to drag your friends and family in with you. It's just THAT good!

You may have seen art of or people cosplaying Danbo, a "robot" made of old cardboard boxes that Yotsuba adores (Totally a real robot btw, def doesn't have a middle schooler shoved inside there, that would be silly wdym /s)

And this pose from the back of one of the manga volumes featuring Yotsuba, her father, and their extremely tall friend Jumbo has been redrawn with other characters like 500000 billion times

And you've also probably seen this going around tumblr before (that's Fūka she's my favorite cringe fail daughter I would literally die for her).

Also, I would be doing a disservice if I didn't mention Yanda, who is a friend of Yotsuba's dad and also Yotsuba's nemesis. He's a loser who constantly gets dunked on by a toddler it's fucking hilarious.

But yeah it really is just like, a manga that feels like a hug, or a warm blanket or something, it's so comforting and funny and fantastic, I find myself re-reading it any time life gets to be too hard just bcs it's that good at distracting me and reminding me that live is worth living.

And also given that it's literally my favorite manga, I saved up a bunch of screencaps to use as reaction images after a read one time, and thus now it's my own little joke that if you send me anon hate I'm just gonna send you back a picture of this cutie

Bcs come on how can you be angry when you're looking at this???

Anyway here's some screencaps of the main supporting cast bcs I love all of them so much <3

YOU WILL READ YOTSUBA I AM NO LONGER ASKING

[bluntloyalist]

didn't want to come across as passive aggressive putting this in the reblogs so here's a separate post about my thinky thoughts on she/her tsubaki. mainly because i do what i want forever but if canon happens to make a convincing argument for it thats nice too since i am incapable of shutting the hell up

1. KIRYU EXISTS

people love tsubaki's whole thing of accepting herself for who she is regardless of what others think. this is something i've seen repeated a lot in comments re: the official translation's he/him pronouns, and when fighting through the generally hypermasculine trenches of shounen anime/manga it's understandable want more male characters who stay true to themselves by rejecting social norms and openly embracing their femininity...however i fear we are forgetting our history 😔 the femboy diversity hire has been here all along yall our quota is full !! really tho kiryu was MADE for the girls and the gays even without getting into his personality just look at him. the pink hair. the piercings. the accessories. the off the shoulder drip. like come on COME ONNNN give him his genderqueer props

2. THE RAWS

i don't know japanese so i can't actually get too deep into how she speaks and is referred to BUT what little i can say is this. she used to use the personal pronoun ボク (boku) [katakana] as a child, and this is a common way for young boys to address themselves, but at some point she switches to ワタシ / あたし / 私 (atashi) [katakana/hiragana/kanji] in order to present and be percieved as female/feminine. this is a form of gender expression unavailable in english due to our limited number of first person pronouns and it's extremely important to her character due to how deliberate and intentional of a decision it is (though for the sake of interpretive fairness i feel like i have to say i'm not culturally knowledgeable enough to discern if it's used in a 女性語 vs オネえ言葉 context or how/if her speech patterns fit into those categories). shizuka also specifically thinks of her as an older sister 姉 (ane) [kanji]

3. DEPTH OF INTERNAL CONFLICT

tsubaki's childhood feelings of alienation, displacement, and deception are way too extreme to come from someone who only wears women's clothes because he likes the fashion (imo). this doesn't read as a young boy who's into girly hobbies and is scared people will make fun of him for it; this reads as a young trans girl who is tormented by the act of constantly lying about who she is, but who knows that living truthfully will get her utterly rejected by the majority of the people she knows. she just doesn't have the language to explain herself beyond liking pretty things and not being like "other" boys. tumblr won't let me add another photo but the shot of her looking at her reflection in the window and calling herself a liar at the beginning of the chapter...there is something so incredibly and incommunicably transgender about those few panels

IN CONCLUSION: i don't necessarily hate the official he/him decision because it will be very very cool if nii satoru actually is playing 4d gender chess with tsubaki like that but i simply do not know or trust the editorial team enough to take their word on her english pronouns (<- is hypervigilant about microaggressions against trans women)

[bonbons-artdump]

SO, FAN LETTER RIGHT?!

It really inspired me to draw all my major re reads i've done of the series. ( now down traditionally when a new manga boxset comes out) cause each time I do, I gain a new favorite strawhat. rambles/personal stories below.

Back when it first aired in the states on 4kids. Yooo i fell hard for sanjis terrible stupid accent, i still even replay the gamecube games just to hear it sometimes. i remember at a point i bought a bag of dum dums to have a fake 'cig' all the time. ( the lollipop did not fool me long as i JUMPED on the manga)

sometime in highschool i know i on and off again read it and got such a love for Ussop my entire self insert OC was altered to sort of compliment and inspire from him. plus he's such a great in depth character! i could talk for days how much ussop is a great guy, character arcs and how eveyone damning him for merry do not understand my boy!!!

in my early 20s i ended up buying both boxsets with 3 on preorder, i never had actually read all of thriller bark and marine ford, i'd seen clips and positive watched a couple episodes on adult swim, as i already knew i adored brook. i also knew what all happened with ace, and that there was a time skip upcoming. Alongside that time, i had to get get my thyroid removed. i remember being so nervous and what brought me comfort is just thinking of Super Cool Franky and Brook. I even made a lil mixture of their jolly rogers i printed out and taped on a plush doll i took with me. When i woke up, turns out they had to only take half of my thyroid and id have to reschedule for the second half due to it was much bigger than the scans saw. I couldn't speak for a while and there was a chance i could of lost my voice completely. i'm a big talker if your okay with listening to me ill ramble and excited i can talk. so that was hard, but one of the things that made that trial a lot easier, was my best friend was also reading behind me of the boxsets. i have a very nice vivid memory of waking up seeing her reading one volume and i had my three she brought for me and reading through skypedia, when i could go home we would have some quiet reading like that. That's probably one of my most precious one piece related memories.

Finally Last year i got the 4th boxset and due to it being alot smaller and wano just finished i went ahead and read all of wano too. and just. damn. damn damn damn! i was already observing luffy in a different light during this read, whole cake and wano increased that in depth of him by 10!

well thank you for my trip down memory lane/good times with the series. To 25 years! and more to come.

Remember, life is worth living Yohohohoho!~

[taki118]

Yakuza Fiance ep 5 Manga Comparison

After the overstuffed ep 4 ep 5 is a breath of fresh air still some context missed but not as badly, as always the differences are below, and I'm using fantranslations cause I'm lazy.

So thankfully they did keep the conversation I said the dropped last time. Re-ordering things is still dumb to me (I think the Renji talk would have been a better cold open) but at least its here. Though again there are some differences

For one they took out Yoshino noticing all the missed calls/messages from Kirishima which is a funny thing. The anime does make up for by actually having Yoshinos head move around the room as Kirishima points out weak points which is a nice gag that takes advantage of the medium (wish they would continue that)

(Not relevant but I think the box of sauces they show at the end of the scene is reference to an extra the manga had about Tokyo not having a bunch of sauces that Osaka has)

For once the anime adds in a scene that isn't ominous starring, giving us Yoshino looking at test results to flow into her fears about the actual exams, which is nice.

So its not a change here but due to pervious change the dialogue in the anime makes less sense. So as I said in ep 4 when Yoshino is talking to Kirishima about her dad he lets her in on the fact he's looked into her family so when Yoshino asks him here how much he knows about Tsubaki it makes sense. Because the anime dropped this bit the anime view has to assume that like Yoshino assumes he did this.

So here is a bit they dropped during the conversation after meeting Tsubaki that I feel like is a waste

Yoshino more explains what she means when she says Tsuabki is such a Kyoto girl, noting they went all the way to Ise once and just had food from a Kyoto restaurant chain. Its funny and sad to see it go but overall ok to drop.

This isn't like a dialogue change but a shot change kinda I havent mentioned it much but a lot of the shot choices the anime makes are odd but this one is a bit of a loss. When Yoshino looks at the sandals in the anime she just does a height comparision with Kirishima and its cute but

But its not as cute as Yoshino tugging Kirishima by the arm to look with her. Also it cuts that Tsubaki is starring at Kirishima who's obviously enjoying the attention.

The conversation Tsubaki has with Kirishima about his behavior towards Yoshino (which FYI is really important and I could talk more on) is pretty accurate a few reorderings but this was dropped and i just think its a shame

Its good insight, and an added visual to help bring everything across.

Anyway the lead into Tsuabki and Kirishimas "date" is much the same the big drop is this bit with Yoshino

It again shows that she is a lot smarter than she gives herself credit for, knowing what they'll talk about.

So the ferris wheel scene is pretty accurate but they left out a rather important bit where Kirishima is explaining his theory about Yoshino having never lost a kidney.

They don't show HOW Kirishima knew the scar wasn't quite right for kidney removal, in the anime the assumption is that he looked it up in the manga they note that he had a specialist take a look this specialist being one of his friends with benefits. This is important because this lets you in one WHY Kirishima is primarily with these women (and they are all women) all of them have something he needs, connections, information or skills that he does not have access to normally. He's not just sleeping around for the fun of it even Ayano the girl we see in ep 3, she's a model with boyfriend who has connections. This is subtle set up to pay offs down the line as Kirishimas actions are better explained. Its a rather important loss and really eye opening on re reads as things begin to click.

and this leads into another thing where technically its the same but subtleties are missed. The anime just has Tsubaki note this is an odd convo on a ferris wheel and questioning why Kirishima is so fixated on Yoshino, before Kirishima talks about the train ticket.

The manga however first has Kirishima state he wished he could be on the ferris wheel with Yoshino, which adds context to why Tsubaki asks her question. Then Kirishima hesitates, he thinks for a moment before bringing it up because he knows this information will get to Yoshino and he's weighing his options. It adds weight to what he says letting the reader know that this is indeed important. Also it removes a line where Kirishima explains he wasn't given any extra funds so he had to scrape it together another hint for later.

So the rest of the ep is pretty accurate, nothing I can really take too much note of, not as much as other episodes but what was dropped is pretty disappointing in many ways.

[albertonykus]

Doraemon Long Stories Vol. 1: Nobita's Dinosaur

Continuing my mission to (re)read all the Fujio-authored Doraemon works, it's time for the Doraemon Long Stories. This series was the basis for the Doraemon movies released in 1980–1997 (with the exception of The Record of Nobita's Parallel Visit to the West).

Given that I've already reviewed all the movies and they generally differ from their manga counterparts in only minor details, I was originally going to cover multiple Doraemon Long Stories volumes in each post, but I ended up having more to say about the manga than I anticipated, so I guess you're getting at least 17 more separate Doraemon posts. All of my followers are thrilled, I'm sure.

May contain spoilers below the break. My review of this story's movie adaptations can be found here.

Without a doubt, this is among the best-known Doraemon stories, and probably a sizable number of people who grew up with the franchise would name it as one of their favorites. As mentioned in my review of the movie adaptations, I generally think it's... decent. One of the reasons I'm not quite as enamored with this story as many others seem to be is the fact that it being the first attempt at a long-form Doraemon narrative really shows, not only from the perspective of the author but also for the characters.

Unlike many of the later entries in this series, the main characters don't set out with the intention of going on an adventure, and instead get stranded in the Cretaceous by accident. The story has to go the extra mile to come up with explanations for why some of Doraemon's most commonly used gadgets wouldn't solve the problem in this situation. The villains are defeated primarily through a combination of luck and plot-induced stupidity. None of these things would automatically ruin a story (tropes are tools, after all), but I've always thought the many of the later Doraemon Long Stories would integrate the adventure components in more natural and satisfying ways.

As far as differences between the manga and anime go, I was surprised by the number of "intimate" moments there were between Nobita and Shizuka in the manga. I tend to be under the impression that the anime likes to milk this element more than the manga, but neither of the movie adaptations had these scenes! Maybe the author wanted to achieve a more "theatrical" feel for this story.

I enjoyed seeing Doraemon spend a page in the manga discussing mammal evolution in the Mesozoic. This exposition was cut out of both movie adaptations. I understand why, as it has essentially no bearing on the plot, but it's always fun to see the franchise indulge in highlighting its scientific inspirations.

Having reread the manga, I've gained some fresh appreciation for the 2006 movie remake, as I now realize that it incorporates some components from the manga that the original movie didn't—perhaps most notably, a nice scene where Gian takes Nobita's side in a debate due to Nobita saving his life earlier. I may have been too harsh when I said that I couldn't "think of much reason" to recommend the 2006 remake over the original; the two movies may not have many major story differences, but I'd probably consider the remake a more solid movie overall for the changes it did include. That being said, I'd probably still rank the original movie above the remake as a Doraemon work just for its unique status as the first film in the franchise.

[crossovershipstournament]

SIDE 1D: ROUND 1: Applejack (My Little Pony)/Hol Horse (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders) VS Jake Long (American Dragon: Jake Long)/Juniper Lee (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee)

Propaganda for Applejack/Hol Horse:

I humbly submit my crossover pairing: Hol Horse from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! I've been shipping it for years now as I immensely love both series, but it initially started as a light musing gag: "What if a cowboy fell in love with a cowpony?" Hol Horse stuck out in my mind because on the surface they're polar opposites: Applejack is brave, honest and hardworking while Hol Horse is cowardly, dishonest and lazy. But diggin further... If you're not aware, Stardust Crusaders (the Jojo part Hol Horse appears in) has most of the Stands/powers themed around Major Arcana tarot cards, his Stand being called the Emperor. Upright, it represents paternal leadership. Reversed, it represents instability and stubbornness; what he first appears to be, having a strong philosophy in being #2 and refusing to fight without a partner otherwise. He almost joins the heroes/ the Crusaders twice- but backs out due to his overwhelming fear of DIO. Though not without leaving the group with a bit of advice regarding their enemies. But it's around the fight where he partners up with Boingo (a child who wields the Stand call Thoth- named after the Egyptian god of writing; a manga that predicts the future) where we see more of the gentler side behind the jerk facade. He makes sure Boingo is near him at all times, gave him a coin purse in case got lost, and a cute little detail noticed upon re-readings/ rewatches: Hol Horse never says any swear word stronger than "damn" or "hell" around Boingo. (He used to be a smoker as well but cut the habit) In a spin-off manga, a flashback showed he ran away with Boingo without a second thought when the final battle happened. Halting Hol Horse's analysis let's move on to Applejack. Applejack values honesty, but above that it could be argued she values her family even more. Given she lost her folks at a young age, she's had the farm as her main objective. (When given the opportunity to attend a gala, she sees it more as a means to earn money for her family.) Holding responsibilities in the highest regard, near the point where it hurts her at times- it takes a lot of coaxing to get her to even accept the smallest bit of help, given her sense of pride in being independent for so long. In her little sister Applebloom's words: "Applejack keeps us all organized and does her part on top of that!" It's even noted by Pinkie Pie that she has a tendency to bottle negative emotions/ "crying on the inside." I feel like they would compliment each other nicely in terms of growth- Hol Horse softens up a bit on being a tryhard to compensate for his lack of self confidence and Applejack shoulders less responsibility without guilt. TL;DR Yeehaw Horse Romance

Also the art in the bracket image shown here~!

Propaganda for Jake Long/Juniper Lee:

No propaganda submitted :(

Art Credit:

Applejack/Hol Horse art by @/thetalkingwave Jake/Juniper art by @/kannra-orhara

[earthbovndmisfit]

11, 12, 19, 21, and 24!

Fandom/fanfic asks! - @icouldbemoreclever

11.- Most unique merch you have for a fandom? That would probably be my old Captain Commando figure from the MvsC series by Toy Biz. I don't know how "unique" it actually is, but I've seen it going on sale for waaayyy more than I paid for it brand new at the time, so it kinda looks like it's not too common. Plus, other than the games and the 2 volume manga, there's very few official merch of that franchise! :c

12.- Craziest thing you've ever done as part of a fandom? I've mentioned this one before, but I once attended to a Megumi Ogata (YYH's Kurama's seiyuu) concert in my country while wearing a Karasu (YYH) cosplay lol. I was also on the second row! Just about 2 meters away from her. It was quite the experience lol. It was also not that planned really! ((Story time ahead)) The concert was held inside an anime convention and which was also located in another city (around 4 hours from where I live). Said anime convention used to give free entrance to most cosplayers at the time. I went with my sister, a couple friends, and a bunch of guys we met during the trip and also met with an online friend I had at the time and her girlfriend. At the time, my sister and I were kinda broke bc we had just attended to that con the past November (this one of the concert was on February, just a couple months later), so we'd had many expenses already from then and also from buying bus tickets to get there this time, local transportation tickets (bus and subway), food, etc so any pennies we could save to buy merch would be great! I also used to cosplay every time we went to those cons, plus, I already had the Karasu cosplay ready since that was the first cosplay I ever made and I also still had my hair long by then since I was planning to cosplay as Kuronue at some point too (spoiler: The Kuronue cosplay never came to fruition :( ). I also had a hunch they would have Kurama merch on sale for that con due to Megumi Ogata's concert (YYH merch was difficult to find, and even more so Kurama's because it would be sold out before we even got there), and I was right because that's where I managed to snatch a Kurama Banpresto keychain I'd wanted for years! So it was a win/win all around with the moneys I saved from that free entrance lol

19.- Fanfic you read again and again? I don't have a specific one that comes to my mind tbh, partly bc I haven't read any fanfics in a good while and partly bc my memory is awful. I like plenty that I occasionally re-read every now and then tho! Most of them were written by HamonHugs because I really like the way they portrayed and stayed true to Jonathan and Speedwagon.

21.- Favorite fic trope? I'm a simple man who loves Friends to Lovers stuff (bonus for "Enemies to friends to lovers" which, coincidentally, pretty much fits Jonawagon lol). "Fix-it" fics where some of the characters with canon deaths survive the horrors (like the "Jonathan lives AU" stuff in Jojo for example). Romance stuff, fluff, stuff like Mutual Pining, a bit of Drama and Angst here and there (pretty sure the Hurt/Comfort thing fills this bill but idk?), bits of humor sprinkled here and there to give the story a wider range of emotions (thus making the sad and the fluff feel much more pronounced too). Some whump and violence can be good too depending on the story. AUs are also nice when done right. I like some of the "Modern AUs" I've seen for Jonawagon. Same with reincarnation stuff and so on. I suck at naming tropes tbh, so I totally missed stuff here.

24.- Funniest fandom-related story? Probably the story I mentioned earlier about the Megumi Ogata concert lol. Other than that I can't remember anything in particular, save for the times Reki Taki-sensei (one of Araki's former assistants for the manga and also part of DavidPro's art staff since Stardust Crusaders) drops some likes on some of the art I retweet or on some of the random Speedwagon posts I make on twitter. As a bit of a side note: He also sometimes likes some of my Jonawagon ship-ish posts too 😁

[silvanoir]

So, after re-reading the entire Trigun manga after everyone getting back into it after the new series (which I haven't watched due to it only being on streaming services I don't have... whereas I'm old enough that I watched the original anime on VHS tapes bought from Sam Goody, which was a music/video store, for anyone not as old as me)

There's this one fanfic I loved that I wish I could also re-read. Set post-anime series so SPOILER warning, kind of... about Knives, and it may have been from Meryl's POV? It's been a long time, But it was about him being a reformed villain who really did NOT want to be reformed. And how getting though each day, doing mundane things, not going back to being an overpowered killer was a struggle. Hard for him to try to be a person and hard for everyone to try to treat him like a normal person. I liked the concept of "we couldn't defeat him and didn't want to because reasons, but don't entirely trust him, so we're keeping a careful eye on him.... and maybe if we keep being nice to him he'll change? for the better? eventually?". It was thoughtfully done and worked with Trigun's existing themes. May have been on fanfiction.net which I don't even know if that exists anymore...

Had it bookmarked on my old computer at my old house decades ago, but neither of those exist anymore either.

So if this sounds familiar and you know the one, point me to it.

[peonac]

I’m so glad to have a friend who enjoys One Piece! How did you get into it? Do you have a favourite character? One you can’t stand? A favourite arc? Any fic recs?

I WAS FUCKING WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS ASK. NOT EVERYONE KNOWS IT BUT ONE PIECE IS THE SERIES OF MY LIFE. I CAN'T IMAGINE AN EXISTENCE WITHOUT IT!

probably the longest post I have ever made incoming:

I got into it in April 2003 (I was 11 at that time). Watching anime on TV was the only way for me and my brothers, there was no computer and internet around. We were hooked since episode 1 and never missed an episode, we would watch all the re-runs and be hyped about every epic moment and cry our eyes out at every tragedy or happy moment. Laughing our asses off at the jokes (Skypiea and Thriller Bark are imo the funniest!) And since then I'm a huge fan, though there were several years I lost touch. I picked up the series again a few months ago and stopped at the beginning of the Wano arc (due to low energy, yk how it is with taking care of the family etc).

And OMG I have so many faves!!! Nami!!! Her arc inspired me so much I took her name as my nickname. For a lot of rl friends, I'm just Nami, sometimes my teachers were confused and asked me if it's my middle name fklsdhfsjdůlkasd!!! She is so caring! Big sis vibes!

Zoro! He is so cool! Do I need to explain this? (also I find his relationship with women really interesting, the guy is so traumatized! And also he would literally die for you!) Devil Child Nico Robin. She is smart, powerful as hell and MORBID and her sense for cute things is just immaculate. The episode when she got to be part of the Strawhats is still one of my favorites. Maybe I'm mistaken but she is the only one that invited herself and not because Luffy told her so. I... okay, I will stop because otherwise, I will write a whole ass essay about her and why she is THE QUEEN of all queens!

The future king of the pirates Monkey D. Luffy! Period.

Trafalgar [redacted] Law.

*GRABS YOUR CHEEKS*

*PULLS YOU VERY CLOSE, OUR NOSES TOUCH*

You will understand once you watch more.

PERONA. I don't know why but I fell in love with her so hard I want for her to be real so I can propose to her! (but I also ship her with Zoro)

And here is a list of others I like: the whole strawhat crew (Jimbei ofc included), Sir Crocodile, Bartolomeo the Cannibal (I couldn't get enough of him, he is so silly), Donquixote Rosinante, Smoker, Tashigi (I ship her with Zoro too, wtf is with me to ship Zoro with so many characters!), Bon (Mr. 2), Boa Hancock, Bepo. I'm sure there are more, but I will stop here haha. I hate Donquixote Doflamingo, the Cipher Pol agents, Big Mom (she...I... she is a monster, like...wow), Buggy the Clown (imo the most pathetic anime guy in history, but the comedy around him is good), most of the Marines (what a bunch of assholes, really, it's a mirror to our world) and ugh, I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember XD! Fave arcs: Arlong Park, Loguetown, Alabasta Saga, Sky Island Saga, Enies Lobby, Thriller Bark, Summit War Saga And here begins the controversy, ofc I'm not including the Wano arc because I haven't seen it whole yet...But I'm not able to enjoy the after-time-skip arcs. Great animation moments, the story is amazing too, but the pacing is just so bad. So many fillers within the episodes too, Dressrosa was a torture to watch. So if I just judge it by story everything is great! Maybe reading the manga would be the better choice. But I didn't want to miss the great animation.

I haven't read any fics yet but I have a few in my marked for later list:

What I enjoy the most are artists that create nice little stories and AUs! I'm going to make a separate post and tag you, the list is too long!

[crehador]

how are we halfway through the season again it’s true what they say time flies like the wind and fruit flies like bananas

anyway winter 2023 mid-season thoughts:

nier and uniteup aren’t quite at the halfway mark yet due to their hiatuses (which were thankfully short, looks like no one is getting fucked like isekai ojisan this season knock on wood)

no new thoughts on nier since 3-ep ruling since lol it’s still at its third episode, but finally coming back this week! hype

uniteup is still adorable, though i’m starting to notice more immersion-breaking moments of the voice actors just... really sounding like they’re reading off a script

which is honestly kind of cute to me? they’re all very new of course and it’ll be nice to see them grow and improve as they get more work (well... if they get more work)

technoroid is shocking still the better idol anime of the season, though as i suspected it does struggle a bit to hold the perfect balance between its idol plot and its human/android tensions plot. they did a really phenomenal job of striking this balance at first, but the idol stuff has fallen by the wayside a little imo

it’s like if you’re going to do both you’ll need to do both well enough to justify having both, which technoroid is... still more or less accomplishing! i do wish we had a bit more idol stuff, but i can’t imagine how they would be able to do that without making the other themes suffer, so i think overall they’re doing as well as they can

that’s only for new idol seasons though because idolish7 is back from hiatus hell and continues to be the best idol series, like, of all time basically

trigun stampede is... well... i can’t say i’ve completed come around to it. i don’t so much mind that there are changes, it was always billed as a re-imagining after all, but so many of the changes (most of them, in fact) just make no damn sense to me

i’m not even a manga purist or anything, like yeah that’s my favorite version of canon but i do also love the og anime a lot even in how it deviates from the manga (i even like the og anime ending! so i’m really not like grrr grrr nothing can change from the manga grrr it just... doesn’t feel like these stampede changes are reasonable)

stampede is of course a gorgeous show and i’m loving the visual feast, also gotta give props for the crybaby livio flashback scene because that was quite literally everything i could have wanted

SINS I STILL HAVE NOT AND WILL NEVER FORGIVE: MILLY ERASURE. AND THEY TURNED?? MY WIFE??? ELENDIRA??? INTO A CHILD FOR SOME REASON?????? WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT WTF

anyway i will continue to enjoy the visual feast and otherwise keep my expectations so low that they are buried in the ground, my only hope is please please please let legato be as unhinged about knives as he is in manga canon do NOT take this away from us gays we need it

fumetsu s2 is still good but ngl kinda losing me, i’m just sad enough already that i don’t really need this lol

blue lock is coming up on its first season ending, and no it hasn’t held the high quality of its earliest episodes, but i still personally find it to be an incredibly good adaptation. hoping s2 will be announced quickly so i can continue watching with my dearest

high card is still in the strongly okayish category in terms of quality, wihch puts it above ooyukiumi no kaina... and it pains me to say that because kaina had such a strong start, but i don’t feel like it’s actually done anything all that interesting with its very cool worldbuilding

or, rather, i guess i’m just not into what they are doing. it’s fine and all, but i’m not feeling invested in the characters. worldbuilding is still dope as hell though

tsurune remains gorgeous and... kind of baffling in terms of vibe lmao like what the hell happened in the novels because i’m so sure it’s not as sanitized as the anime, i can just feel it

even in s4 my memories and i are still in such a weird relationship with bungou stray dogs which is that i know i’ve read the manga up to this part at least, probably even farther, but the absolute most batshit things have to happen before i’m like “ohhh yeah i guess that did happen huh”

don’t remember anything else. how did kunikida even get in jail?! he’s my favorite so the fact that i forgot that makes me wonder what else i forgot lmao

tomo-chan and i guess we’re calling it ice guy are still both pretty cute, and i usually enjoy office romcoms much more than high school romcoms because hell yeah adults

but tomo-chan has a strong edge over ice guy. both these series are just in the pretty okayish category for me, but tomo-chan’s comedic beats tend to land while ice guy’s do not. ice guy has its very cute moments, and it’s so so so soothing that i’m definitely enjoying it, but its comedy (especially its comedic timing) is just not really working. very often there are sketches that go on for just waaay too long, to the point that i think ice guy may have benefited from being a half-length show like cool doji danshi

still very cute, though!

and speaking of cool doji danshi, it’s still asdkflajsdlfkj i want to PUNCH a CLOUD these idiots are so cute. eikyuu shounen, the other half-length series of the season, is still pretty enjoyable too! surprisingly, if we rule out idolish7, i think i’d actually say eikyuu shounen has the best music out of the currently airing idol anime. uniteup and technoroid are obviously better in many other ways, but the eikyuu shounen music is right up my alley

last but certainly not least, the vampire dies in no time s2 is still so fucking funny that i’d put it as a strong contender for anime of the season for me. i feel like we’re seeing a lot more of fukuma this season which is fantastic because the bits about ronaldo’s writing career are so incredibly relatable lmao

like where can i get a fukuma-san fr

[shisica]

more hq dumpster battle and general hq thoughts and general adaptation thoughts

i'm reading some of the reception on reddit and it's interesting! i feel like... my expectations were not that high and maybe that helped?

i haven't even finished the hq anime, my hq love is really the manga (i think due entirely to me reading it first). i feel like i am simple and whatever medium i experienced something in first is what will have the most impact on me. (i mean there are exceptions like golden kamuy and tokyo ghoul, which i watched first but prefer the manga, but those anime adaptations have more obvious weak points).

like for sure hinata and bokuto's VA's unlocked new levels of love in me for the characters- but when i want to re-experience hq, i'll reread the manga. (or read good fic.)

this is also why i'm so reticent to watch the dungeon meshi adaptation... the manga to me is just perfect. i know it's not an uncommon opinion to prefer manga versions of these works, it's just that anime is so much more Popular and people are so much more willing to consume something in anime form while i really think the manga is exemplary and wanted people to like that? i dunno! i can't easily think of other adaptations... maybe tricornered window but that animation wasn't as strong so i just didn't watch much so don't really have an opinion on it. i've heard this opinion elsewhere but i'm not like, hoping every manga i like gets animated. i do like to see them animated! i love getting to hear who they've decided to put as voice actors! but i guess i have baggage over what else comes with it. it's not something i feel like i /need/.

is there anything i was really excited for an adaptation for??? i can't think of one??

(i mean the aa movie is amazing but it's like. supplementary material.)

oh i think i felt similarly about skip to loafer as dungeon meshi. it was nice and pleasant and had no obvious shortcomings it just Wasn't The Manga. i didn't watch much of it. i think i would enjoy it if i was in a mood for a slower paced show. maybe that's just an excuse, like i've been watching the she likes to cook and she likes to eat live action and that's similarly cozy. idk! brain weird and it wants what it wants.

there's also definitely a vein of hipsterism, like oh i READ it and you people just watched it laTER. which i don't think is fair but it's how i feel.

okay the only one i can REALLY think of enjoying both as separate experiences is fma brotherhood. i think the manga is amazing and i think the anime is amazing. so what does that say...

fma was already so popular at my time of my reading & watching that i had no room to feel hipster about it? lol?

i have lost the thread... where was i even going with this...

anyway i did enjoy the movie and i think part of it was i was not expecting to get the same kind of emotional fulfillment that i get from the manga with its more intricate details.

actually this brings me to more novel vs. tv which is interesting. like for tgcf watching the donghua first was SO FUCKING CONFUSING and reading the novels is so fucking illuminating as to what is going on and what people are thinking. i was watching she likes to cook and she likes to eat and aaauh something else... and it's just so visual and more third person to see a donghua or live action where you usually really don't know the interior of a character's brain which is so different from the novels, usually. i guess live action is even more removed if you don't see their internal monologue. that's why... hm i feel like reading a novel vs. adaptation is often rewarding bc the story itself is told in a different way? vs manga to anime where the storytelling manner often stays pretty similar. it's much more faithful usually. there's not as much to adapt as much as just turn into an animation.

like for hq movie i got the joy from the animation itself, the voice actors, charming character interactions, seeing these panels adapted to the big screen. but the version of that kenma hinata moment that is seared into my brain eternally is the manga one.

[ezralva]

Caught up with current eps of CDD drama and I just hafta write my thoughts on it

I'm not familiar with any of the main actors so it's nice that I don't have any comparison for their acting or have their previous roles influence my opinions. I don't watch AIB and while I knew Maito from Teppachi, he didn't stand out there either imo. While idol guy is definitely probably the most famous out of 4 (and bcs NCT universe was playing back to back and encore in one of my TV channels) I still had no clue about the actor.

Anw I didn't think I'd cringe so much watching ep 1 because of Hayate and burst into giggles here and there out of dumbfoundedness.

So they use the classic, exaggerated reactions you'd have seen in lots of older jp comedy dramas where the actors faced the camera in close-up and had them show myriads of expression while waiting for their inner voice finished talking.

Maito fits so much as Shun I must say, he brings out the childish arrogance of Shun that always wanted to look cool in just the right amount.

But I was thinking what if he played Hayate? I think he also had that flat expression that could turn shy and cute when needed. And ofc because he still looks so innocent as Hayate should be (this is myb due to his younger age as well)

Mima is the one that naturally played the blunder acting naturally, the timing and gestures feel like they're part of his body language, without any exaggeration or cue that we should pay attention to the act so we could've missed it. Which, I think no wonder bcz Sakurada is the one having the most experience in acting.

I have no idea about Souma's actor so I don't really have much to say. Just like Hayate, you can really 'see' that they are acting...but well, I can understand, when you have to giggle all the time is just not easy... And these two are evidently the characters who had to display a lot of 'unnatural' expressions to convey the comedy to the screen.

Having a restaurant as the setting of an office room layout kinda weirded me out tbh because it still looks totally like a restaurant. They could probably used more partitions and office chairs to set it as office cubicles though. But heh I get it, since they used many different sets for the scenes, if the drama wasn't big on the budget, setting up a big office room which would only appear once in a while, was prolly an unnecessary expense. But still it'd show up a lot later and they actually just need one small room (they could set it like how they did with Our Dining Table which is really simple and small but it really felt like an office).

I was surprised seeing the original scene where Hayate and Mima's first encounter wasn't in the front of Hakoniwa but at the izakaya instead? That actually could work out as well! But I guess it actually just serves as a filler scene. My guess is that since Hayate is the main character and the drama probably invested much of their budget on the actor, who is obviously the selling point of this drama, he would appear in every episode even if it's just filler scenes. Let's see if my prediction is right on the further eps. I'm actually looking forward to watching more of these original scenes since even combining 2 eps of anime into 1 ep of LA, the LA seems to have more slots for filler scenes.

Edit: I rewatched the anime and so Hayate was indeed there serving Mima and Souta at the izakaya he worked at, just in the anime the camera didn't show his face and only his voice. But it was the same izakaya and the same scene where Hayate struggled to remember the barrage of orders, it wasn't original scene of the drama after all. I didn't remember this happening in the manga. It's time to re-read then.

Tbh I was a bit skeptical at first whether to start watching the drama or not cz I'm not a fan of anime-turned-live action. But this one so far is nice to watch to kill time, especially since I don't have many on my watch list rn.

Quite suprised that the CDD drama used the same background music as the anime. Are they from the same production house or sth? Only peeked at the first few seconds...is it any good, tho? Myb I should watch the first ep this weekend

And the guy who played Mima looks younger than Hayate it's shocking to know he's actually older than me 😂 glad they keep their age hierarchy the same as the original characters.

[captnjacksparrow]

Hi! I found your blog soon after I started re-watching Naruto again (during the chunin exam arc) and due to many of your answers/posts I've started trying to view Naruto as a closeted gay. Before reading your posts/answers, and seeing the proof along with your explanations (those concerning Sakura as well), I used to think that Naruto was most likely bi instead of gay. This was mainly due to the times he has peeked in bathhouses at women, asked Sakura on dates, and looked at "dirty magazines" (to get inspiration for his sexy jutsu, but he was even drooling...). I thought that maybe Sasuke was just an exception (well, that and Haku). However, do to your blog I was reminded of times where he seemed to not react to certain things as a straight man would (or even a bi man). For an example, he finds the Icha Icha Paradise books boring. Another example is when Naruto is trying to get Jiraiya to train him for the third part of the chunin exam and Jiraiya is trying to get Naruto to bring him a woman (if I'm remembering correctly) who nice "melons" which he describes... But Naruto isn't on the same page as Jiraiya at all and actually believes that he is talking about melons... so he brings him a nice big melon.

If Naruto was straight/bi, especially if he enjoyed looking at "dirty magazines," you would think that he would know the slang words for the "sexy" body parts of a woman.

Are there any other examples you can think of? I notice they're usually done as comic relief.

On a different note, I've also seen you talk about Naruto deflecting a lot when feelings concerning Sasuke come up, especially in part 1 (tsundere Naruto). Since I've also started trying to watch with this in mind, I noticed it happening when Naruto goes to visit Sasuke in the hospital (after his fight with Yoroi and getting the seal). First I wanted to point out that it's interesting that he is going alone to see Sasuke without Sakura (don't you think she would have wanted to go too?). Also, when the nurse says that Sasuke isn't allowed any visitors, Naruto gets very annoyed and raises his voice asking "Why?" Loud enough to where Kakashi walks down the hallway he tells him to be quiet since they're in the hospital.... This is where I feel like Naruto started deflecting. Suddenly, he wasn't there to see Sasuke, he was there to see Kakashi so he can ask him to train him! I've seen you point out this happening, but mostly he deflects by asking Sakura on a date or usually something to do with Sakura or with other girls (like peeping in the bathhouse). It's interesting to see him do this with Kakashi as well. Maybe Naruto felt like he had to hold up his "rival" stance with Sasuke in front of Kakashi? I'm not sure...

Anyways! I just wanted to have someone that I could mention this to! If you can think of any other examples, I would be very interested in reading what you have to say!

Thanks!

Hi Anon!!!

I, also, thought Naruto is a Bi-Sexual with women preference. In other words, He is Gay only for Sasuke. Because in many of those Shonen-Ai/Yaoi Novels, there will always be a Bi-Sexual Main Character. I thought that's the same case with Naruto. But only after reading the Manga, I realized how much Anime tried to paint Naruto into an Heterosexual boy When in reality Naruto was insecure infront of other men too. (Than Onsen Bath with Yamato and Sai ???).

And some of the scenes you have mentioned here are Anime only scenes, Anon. Let me tell you what are those.

This was mainly due to the times he has peeked in bathhouses at women, asked Sakura on dates, and looked at "dirty magazines" (to get inspiration for his sexy jutsu, but he was even drooling...)

This scene is not in the Manga. LOL. This does gives off this vibe that Naruto was interested in reading those Dirty Magazines... 

But Naruto gets his inspiration for Oiroke no Jutsu ONLY BY PEEKING which has a direct reference to the Manga.

However this scene was not in the Anime... Don't know why... And the thing is, Naruto only cares about the Bust-Waist-Hip measurements to get his Jutsu right.... He never sees their faces.... Which you can infer from here...

Bon Kyuu Bon means Bust Waist Hip...

And that's why in his Harem no Jutsu, every Ladies look very similar to Naruto with Whiskers whereas in his Reverse Harem no Jutsu, every men looked Unique without any Whiskers... 

Which means, Naruto observes those basic bodily features of Women (Bust Waist Hip) to perform his Harem no Jutsu...  

Whereas when it comes to men... Naruto looked at the Faces of different men (either directly or from Magazines) and find them to be appealing and attractive. 

So, Naruto reading 'those' Magazines are not true.

Isn’t it surprising that the First person Naruto performed his proper Henge was Sasuke in Chapter 3???

So, Naruto watches Sasuke regularly and practices his Henge regularly.

Another example is when Naruto is trying to get Jiraiya to train him for the third part of the chunin exam and Jiraiya is trying to get Naruto to bring him a woman (if I'm remembering correctly) who nice "melons" which he describes... But Naruto isn't on the same page as Jiraiya at all and actually believes that he is talking about melons... so he brings him a nice big melon.

Man... I was finding the right time to dispel some mischaracterization about Jiraiya... I'll just do it here. People almost think that he is a Pedophile and an Abuser... when in reality he was just a pervert which he himself agrees out loud shamelessly...

JIRAIYA NEVER ASKED NARUTO TO BRING HIM MELONS.

This scene again is Anime only.... Although it really lines up with Naruto's character...

AND JIRAIYA NEVER REMARKED NARUTO AS SEXY....

Again, that's another Anime only thing... If you see that Jiraiya remarking Naruto as Sexy.... anywhere in the internet, just know that it is not in Manga.

So, basing our interpretations entirely on these scenes will never leads anywhere other than a Dead End.

Also, when the nurse says that Sasuke isn't allowed any visitors, Naruto gets very annoyed and raises his voice asking "Why?" Loud enough to where Kakashi walks down the hallway he tells him to be quiet since they're in the hospital.... This is where I feel like Naruto started deflecting.

Hmmm... I never thought Naruto was deflecting in that scene. Because,

“I guess I’d better ask Kakashi Sensei to...”

Because, Naruto was clearly asking for Kakashi and his whereabout here... To which Sakura says he might be with Sasuke....

And that's why he was asking for Sasuke's room here in this panel. After Kakashi (the intended person he wanted to see) appears before him, he was asking Kakashi to train him... There was no deflection or lies in these panels. It's pretty Straight Forward, you know.

As far as I've seen, Naruto never deflected his feelings with anyone other than Sakura. But Naruto always comes off as an Hypocrite when he is with Jiraiya or anyone else...

Here Naruto was seen peeking women's bath.... It's a perverted behaviour.... But he is thinking that Ebisu as a Closet Pervert... (???). I mean, Why? Both are same kind of perverted behaviour... Isn't it?

And Naruto went even further hypocritic by calling out Jiraiya as a Pervert openly.... All because Jiraiya was Peeking at women's bath... I mean, Didn't Naruto also did the same just before this scene???? How dare he could call out someone as a pervert as if Naruto never did such acts before???

And then this scene

Here this Girl came infront of them and Naruto gives off this same face just like Jiraiya, that he was attracted to her Beauty. 

But moments later,

“Oh Yeah!!! That Girl just winked at you and you were scampering after her”

Excuse me??? Naruto??? Didn’t you also act like you were scampering after her???

He was accusing Jiraiya for going behind her as if it was some repulsive act.

Naruto always acts Hypocritic when it comes to his 'seeming' attraction towards women. He poses like he was attracted to them, but when someone else does the same, he acts like it was a bad thing. LOL.

He always acted like he like he is interested in Peeping Naked Women... But when Jiraiya does it, he accuses him as if it was some crime...

He always acted like he liked to see Naked Women (When Konohamaru did Girl on Girl Jutsu)... But he finds Icha Icha Novels (Smut) to be boring...

He always posed like he wanted to date Sakura.... But when Sakura confessed her love, he just blatantly rejected it citing, 'I've always known you loved Sasuke'. 

Can you see the pattern??? 

Which Hetero-Sexual Boy would act like these, I wonder??? 

[supnerds]

NINTH! have u watched anything new recently that you liked? or supremely disliked?

okay so I was holding off on answering this until after my exam this morning but then I woke up sick as a dog so now this is my consolation prize.

Anyway!! Let me tell you the wonders of one of the latest shows I’ve watched: Parallel World Pharmacy, aka Isekai Yakkyoku!

so side note I’m coming back to this after finishing typing the whole thing and holy wow I went on a bit of a ramble. Idk how to put things under a “read more” on mobile so this is your only warning :)

Our main character is a research pharmacist, who works hard to discover new drugs to benefit patients. However he realizes too late that he misses working with real patients - the main reason why he became a pharmacist. Unfortunately, our dude dies from overworking because setting healthy limits for ourselves is so last century.

Surprise surprise however - he doesn’t go to the afterlife or whatnot - instead he wakes up in the body of Pharma de Medicis, a ten year old boy who is the son of the head pharmacist in a medieval fantasy world (listen I know how it sounds stick with me)

Part of this world’s mechanics are that nobles are distinct from commoners by the fact that they are able to wield a specific element (hello atla). Before our dude moved in, Pharma had previously only been able to create water (these nobles can wield one of the four elements, and only in a create or destruct way - never both and never more than one). Somehow, Pharma 2.0 now has the ability to create and destroy any element he can think of (hello 21 century knowledge) and uses his knowledge of chemical structures to create medications to help those around him. Through reasons, he is able to open the first pharmacy for nobles and commoners alike, and quickly grows in popularity.

Okay so now for my thoughts on the whole thing. I’m gonna be honest, the main reason I clicked on it was because the title said pharmacy and I am actually currently in pharmacy school. I may have gotten a wee bit excited that there was an anime out there focused on my career path (because let’s be honest have you ever seen anything about pharmacy? they say pharmacy is a small world and they are absolutely correct). As I was watching, Pharma actually consistently used accurate treatments for all the conditions he finds which was so exciting for me. I remember there was one episode where a person had tuberculosis - I only learned about the treatments for that sometime last year and the anime got it all right, down to even the chemical structure. So yeah on that hand it’s super cool for me.

One potential drawback - my man Pharma is ridiculously OP, and consistently continues to get more so. I actually looked up the manga after finishing the anime and the manga does a better job of actually showing him get tired and hitting his limits (which was a great callback to you know HOW HE DIED IN THE FIRST PLACE) but still. There’s an amusing bit with some characters who believe him to be an incarnation of the God of Medicine (which the further we get into the story the more likely it seems) and keeps hinting that he may not have much longer in this world for all the power he has, which would be nice to see as a limiter on how much he can do. The story does show how Terrifying he can be with access to so much power, which is also really cool

Story-wise, I found the whole thing pretty compelling. Again I may be biased re: the whole pharmacy thing, but I honestly really enjoyed the whole thing. Another drawback - really long times between updates, or maybe just for English translations. It’s been at least 2 months since the last chapter was posted, which yes not that long but also I want more

also the overall style is just absolutely amazing I love the art and backgrounds etc so here have a few more pics

Overall I think it was a really good show/manga, though if I had to pick between the two I’d go with the manga largely due to just how much More there is and for actually giving him limits and such.

lol that got a lot longer than I thought it would. thanks for letting me ramble!

[dropintomanga]

BLEACH Volume 1, 20 Years Later

“We fear that which we cannot see.” - Strawberry and the Soul Reapers

It’s somewhat hard to believe that a series that began in 2001 and ended in 2016 has a lot of relevancy in 2022. But I think Tite Kubo’s BLEACH still stands as a great introduction in telling a tale of modernity mixed with spiritual fantasy. Viz Media just released a 20th anniversary edition of Volume 1 - the start of Ichigo Kurosaki’s journey into the world of Soul Reapers. So I decided to do a re-read of Volume 1 and making comments about all the chapters in that book. 

Despite whatever criticisms manga fans have of how the manga turned out in the end, BLEACH is still an important title in shonen manga history and Kubo’s persistent usage of style for spiritual storytelling was something many fans (like myself) thought was very cool and refreshing at the start of the 21st century.

So here we go.

Chapter 1 - Honestly, I don’t think I cared much about Ichigo’s introduction at the start. My reaction was like “Oh cool, he can see spirits and such.” His family was funny though. But seeing Rukia Kuchiki for the 1st time was cool. At the time, I never saw a prominent female character in shonen manga. I didn’t follow Naruto or One Piece when I started following BLEACH. Rukia had a really cool look too. The set-up for Ichigo becoming a Soul Reaper was great. What hits the most was Ichigo saying that if his family, who were all attacked by the Hollow, was willing to protect him at costs, he had to do the same. I think this probably hit home for many Japanese readers because of the family dynamic discussed. We all want to protect our family members first and foremost. In some ways, I think the family dynamic was the biggest reason why Demon Slayer blew up in Japan.

Also, the lettering for the black boxes with white text (Ichigo & Rukia’s thoughts about ghosts and themselves) was good foreshadowing in highlighting what the series’ premise was going to be about. And there’s a nice tease of a certain hat-wearing inventor who specializes in spiritual-related happenings in the omake.

Chapter 2 - I fell in love with Rukia once she appeared in her schoolgirl outfit. I love the moment when she reveals herself in a fancy manner at Ichigo’s school and when she extends her left hand out to Ichigo, “Make a scene and you’re so dead.” was written on it. It’s funny as hell because I’m reading Chainsaw Man Part II and the new main character of that series, Asa Mitaka, is told by her host, the War Devil, the same thing.

Anyway, Rukia becomes a cool-ass mentor to Ichigo since all her powers have transferred to Ichigo. And she lays down the truth hard about what it means to be a Soul Reaper. Her exchange with Ichigo on self-sacrifice was pretty good since we’re all very bias when it comes to who do we help. We can’t help everyone, but we can’t just only help those closest to us. Ichigo does say something important here though - we shouldn’t treat self-sacrifice as some kind of duty. Sacrifice is beautiful when someone truly cares about the things/people they want to protect.

Side note - I love the red glove Rukia uses to drive the spirit form of Ichigo out.

Poor Orihime in the omake.

Chapter 3 - The proper introduction to the future wife of Ichigo, Orihime Inoue. Also, the leeks meme (well, in anime form) came from this chapter. I think when I first heard about Orihime, what was talked about the most was her breast size. It’s amazing how vicious the ship wars became with regards to Ichigo/Orihime/Rukia. I didn’t care about Orihime too much due to my Rukia love, but I wasn’t obsessed about whether Ichigo and Rukia should end up together. 

Rukia was cute when learning how to conduct herself in the real world. I laughed when Rukia decided to live in Ichigo’s closet for convenience’s sake. I also was somewhat not surprised that the newest Hollow to appear happened to be Orihime’s brother (who was revealed to dead 3 years prior to the start of BLEACH). It’s cool to see more Hollow lore explained. Being a Soul Reaper is a stressful job. Poor Strawberry.

Also, a big LOL on the omake about the comic Rukia was reading at the start of the chapter.

Chapter 4 - Tatsuki Arisawa, Orihime’s best gal pal, tries to give love advice to Orihime and makes a comment about her breasts. The dream sequence of Ichigo and Orihime was just so random and weird, but I suppose it showcases Orihime’s strangeness at times and/or her lack of romantic assertiveness. Bad stuff happens when Orihime’s brother, Sora Inoue, finally makes his move.

There’s a lot more Hollow lore explained. Hollows attack their families before going after random people. They’re technically lost souls who can never be saved. 

I don’t think there’s anything more to say about this since the meat comes in the next chapters.

Omake page at the end was a bit dull since it shows the residences of Orihime’s apartment building. But I realize that living by yourself without any family figures at 14-15 is rough.

Chapter 5 - We finally get a taste of a villain’s perspective. Ichigo gets his butt kicked by Sora due to his newfound knowledge of Hollows being former humans. Sora tells Orihime that he misses the days when she made prayers for him. He hates the fact that Tatsuki and Ichigo took Orihime’s attention. Orihime tries to tell Sora that he didn’t need to resort to violence, but Sora gets angry and tries to kill her. 

Ichigo saves the day and acts all cool saying that big brothers exist to look after their little siblings. I wonder if that line was said today, how many “Kyaaa! Onii-chan!” responses would come out of it? I think about my own relationship with my own little sister. I sometimes think I’m a failure as an upstanding older brother to look up to because my life hasn’t worked out as planned. She’s doing fine now and trying her best to support me, but I still question myself on how to best be there for her since I’m caught up in my own shit.

Also, poor Rukia in the omake. Ichigo doesn’t even open the front door for her to come in and help.

Chapter 6 - Well, at least, I wasn’t an overprotective older brother. Also, bad parenting seems to be a huge thing in anime and manga (I might explore this topic one day). In a bit of a shocker, Orihime allows Sora to attack her since she wasn’t sure how to handle her grief. She only told Sora about the happy side of things as she felt that talking about sad. Reading this back then, I didn’t think much of it.

But now, knowing what I know about grief and what things to share to people, I think it’s okay to share positive things when you can. Life is suppose to have good moments. However, sadness is a very universal thing. It’s okay to miss someone important to you even years later. Everyone’s lonely in their own way. Ichigo points this out to Sora regarding a hairpin that Orihime wears on her head as it was a present from Sora.

It’s okay to share the sad stuff too because loss generates the meaningful connection we sorely need to get by in life. Sadness is actually uplifting in its own way.

Rukia does explain that Hollows can be saved by the Soul Reapers and that they can truly move on. Thankfully, this happens to Sora. The ending was funny since Rukia wipes out Orihime and Tatsuki’s memories of the whole ordeal. I would love a yakuza gunman to come in and blast a hole in my wall.

Nice omake in the end with Orihime and Tatsuki visiting Sora’s grave.

Chapter 7 - Introducing Sado “Chad” Yasutora, another important character in BLEACH’s history, via a cursed parakeet he starts owning!

Like Chad, I like cute things like birds. Also, I’m like Mizuiro Kojima, one of Ichigo’s male classmates who gets introduced here alongside Keigo Asano (another of Ichigo’s friends), as I have a thing for older women. No wonder I like Rukia and there’s a joke about it too.

Huge foreshadowing with the parakeet as it seems to be inhabited by a spirit that’s probably targeted by a Hollow. Mostly due to Chad showing up at Ichigo’s dad’s clinic with a huge wound that reeks of Hollow and the parakeet, who gives Ichigo’s sister, Karin, bad vibes.

Good end to Volume 1, especially with the emphasis of Rukia’s statement on Chad’s wound and Chad disappearing with the parakeet.

Addendum - Character Theme Songs

Ichigo Kurosaki - Bad Religion - “News from the Front” 

People talk about Kubo’s poetry being good, but his choices for character theme songs are excellent. Ichigo’s song fits him perfectly.

Rukia Kuchiki - Ashley MacIsaac - “Wing-Stock”

This song really gives off an elegant yet strong-minded vibe that fits her character perfectly.

---------

Well, that’s about it. I hope you enjoy what I wrote. I usually don’t do written commentary notes like this, but BLEACH was a big part of my manga-reading life. I’ve written several posts about the series and its many characters back then. I do recommend reading BLEACH for a somewhat historical look into what internet anime/manga fandom was into at the time. Some of the stuff about family, sacrifice, commitment and grief still resonate today. I’m not sure about fully following the final arc in anime form when it comes, but I will be paying attention to the fan reaction/cosplay that will show up in full force.

I’ll admit that the spirits are always with me and I hope they’re the same for lovers of all things Soul Reaper/Espada/Sternritter.