#time for more meaningless ship opinions lol

[marshmellowtea]

i change my mind aleheather can be yaoi too cuz if alejandro is a gay man then heather is a trans guy/transmasc in the same way that if heather is a lesbian alejandro is a trans girl/transfem. Do Not Separate Them

[burningcheese-merchant]

Abt burning spice's kingdom interaction with nutmeg tiger when he says "this place it reminds me of the first kingdom i..." do you think he destroyed that kingdom? Or built it?

The fact that he shows regret and hesitation in that line is interesting...

Do you think he became what he is because he doesn't have anything left to lose?

This can perfectly foils Golden cheese's story, even after her kingdom got destroyed she eventually embraces that fact and process that emotions healthily

Sorry im just yapping here, i love me two character that perfectly foils each other while being more similiar than enyone else and form a weird ahh relationship balancing between romantic or wanting to kill each other

-🌾anon

I'm going to go ahead and say both. I think he built it AND destroyed it. In fact, I'm going to go a step further and specify that he accidentally destroyed it while trying to defend it from some invading force, thus making this the first real step down that dark path. Think of it: in a mad frenzy to protect something he loved, he destroyed it instead. He unwittingly became what he was fighting against, if only for a moment - and that moment would set many things in motion, each more terrible than the last, for not only has Burning Spice now come to truly know the bitter taste of loss and history's seemingly futile nature, it came to him in perhaps the worst way possible, and so left the most lasting impression. (Idk if what I tried to cook here came out of the oven right, but there was an attempt lol)

I 100% agree with the idea that Spice became who and what he is after succumbing to despair in the face of seemingly unending loss (I go into detail about it here, this is how I personally headcanon his descent into villainy), and that there is still a lingering sense of regret somewhere inside of his heart, even if small and not strong enough to influence him anymore. That dialogue he has with Nutmeg Tiger is what pushed me to want to analyze him and construct a possible background and motive for him, and later what inspired me to want to redeem not only him, but all five of the Beasts. The fact that he might have regrets is very interesting and very promising to me, and lends itself to the idea that, with time and the right guidance, he could perhaps... change (to keep with the theme haha).

And I also agree with you on him and Golden Cheese being perfect foils for one another (it's part of why I ship them so hard lol). They mirror each other SO well in my eyes. And in the face of the same exact loss, one folded while the other stood strong (although you can say that GC folded as well, at least for a while, before she realized the folly in her delusional grief and collected herself). Nothing lasts forever, that's true, but that doesn't make it meaningless - quite the opposite. It is the ephemeral nature of life that makes it beautiful and worthwhile. It's alright to be upset when something ends, but you can't let that define you. Everything ends eventually. Focus less on what's far ahead or what's far behind and focus more on what's in front of you right now. That's the lesson GC more or less learns, and it's the lesson BS needs to learn too, in my opinion. And I honestly think GC is the right one to help teach him that.

Sorry, I sort of spoiled the "Change" arc in my Reformed Beasts AU a little bit here lol. You really hit the nail on the head with your thoughts here and it prompted me to puke this word salad. Great minds lol

[mascotheres]

Opinion on Dandy x Sprout? It’s one of my favourite ships atm lol

I love this ship, I wish it was more noticed because this is what i have to say.!

I say that Between Dandy and Sprout relationship, Dandy appearing on his shop often baiting Sprout to buy his stuff (Most of Sprout mains ive saw use Teagan's trinket) So i thought that he would put the medkit on sale, While Sprout would try hard not to buy so bad since it was only one time offer and next floors would be meaningless and having to wait for a medkit!

Though, I don't see it as toxic relationship, I see it more funny and cool way! I respect this ship as long as you feel comfortable with it!

[kyouka-supremacy]

Ryu for the ask game?

Omg thank you all for asking this character I totally didn't specifically ask to be asked about and who I love a perfectly normal amount giggles and twirls hair

Favorite thing about them: He really strives to be good. Good at something, anything, but just good. He constantly fights against his own narrative and I find it very admirable. He was doomed from the start to fail and I feel like he knows that, and I don't know how he finds the strength to keep trying anyway but he does and it's really neat. Maybe his skull really is too thick to listen to the words of a predetermined fate. Just the whole thing about being the tragic character of all time is very compelling to me. Also, his inherently meaningless seeking a validation to live he shares with Atsushi makes me like him for reasons similar to Atsushi.

Least favorite thing about them: MMMHHHH,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Like I really like his flaws, I'm happy he has them, I wouldn't like him the same if he didn't? But at least I can safely say it's someone I wouldn't like to deal with irl lol.

Favorite line:

<3

brOTP: GIN AND RYUUNOSUKE!!!!! They make me go insane. Holding hands while working in the darkness fr. Being lonely together. Someone who's seen you at your worst FOR REAL but still hasn't abandoned you for some unfathomable reason. I don't know what goes through your mind but I see your eyes and they're the same as mine. Also mmmmhhhh sskk. Chuuaku. Kyouka and Akutagawa though I'm not sure that can count as brotp. Lucy and Akutagawa.

OTP: Sskk is like, pretty cool if you ask me <3 Imagine a fully rotten individual who was never meant for anything but killing and making people suffer since they were born, loving someone. Imagine the “I will kill you” being replaced by “I will love you”. But also imagine being so deeply interlaced with another person, your existence just can't escape the other. Destined to be together and destined to fall apart at the same time. I'll never be able to move forward until I've denied your very being but if you die my existence will stop having a meaning. Don't tell me what to do. I will follow you to the end of the world. I will kill you. I will die for you. I just think them <333 Chuuaku too, have already spent countless words on them but. Finally a ship that's real and relatable. Finally something that doesn't feel ethereal and idealized and distant and untouchable, but real and stained and messy and human. What if I didn't understand you but I wanted to. What if we walked together home. They're neat <333 Other Akutagawa ships I vibe with would be Akutagawa × Beast Atsushi, Akutagawa × Tachihara, Akutagawa × Kajii, akuatsulucy...

nOTP: 🤨🤔🧐

Random headcanon: I think he's numb to pain. And I don't mean it in the “oh no he suffered so much he's used to it at this point :((( ” pitying way, I mean it in the “he's felt such very strong spikes of pain in multiple occasions, his pain detectors just gave out” way. The “he won't notice a wound because he just can't feel it” way.

Unpopular opinion: In the last period, it's been bugging me a little how Akutagawa and Dazai's relationship is portrayed in fancontent. It's just always so black and white, while actually I feel like there's so much nuisance to it that just gets lost in fandom. Yes, the way Dazai treated Akutagawa was horrible and inhuman. Yes, to an extent Dazai thought highly of Akutagawa's abilities and cared for him. Yes, Akutagawa was victim of Dazai's heavy abuse. No, Akutagawa isn't entirely subject to Dazai, he explicitly gave his consent to an hard training (which, I reiterate, doesn't justify it at all; but does give more nuisance to the whole situation) and did oppose him in multiple occasions. I just think sometimes Akutagawa is framed as this helpless damsel in distress and Dazai as this inhuman monster whereas their relationship is indeed unhealthy, but still so much more complex than that. And just, really, I feel like portraying Akutagawa so helpless in Dazai's hands makes him a disservice? Even though in canon he said to be willing to kill Dazai on multiple occasions, has punched him more than once, has told straight “no”s to his face. I just think... People tend to make Akutagawa a lot less aware than he actually is. Here, there it is, that's what really troubles me. Akutagawa does know Dazai hurt him. He does know Dazai's treatment of him was cruel, and unfair. He is aware of what Dazai did to him. That just can't stop him from seeking his approval, even against his will. But to think that Akutagawa is blind to everything Dazai did to him does him a disservice, because he really is not that stupid or with completely null self-awareness. The fact that he tends to run after Dazai despite knowing how much he's hurt him is just further proof of how complex and human-like Akutagawa's psyche is. Also, he does NOT like reading. All my homies hate booknerd Akutagawa.

Song i associate with them: Well, I associate with him songs I definitely shouldn't associate with him alcfjyalfiygaslfiya. One song I always listen to that infallibly makes me think of Akutagawa although it really DOES NOT fit Akutagawa is Patchwork Staccato by toa, with its delicious sewing symbolism and words of toxic codependent relationships and the line you, I'd really rather you just stop existing I just can't help but link to him. Or Vampire by DECO*27, which. self-explanatory. but really shouldn't be associated with Akutagawa. On the side of songs that do fit Akutagawa, Tokyo Teddy Bear (AKUTAGAWA SEWING SYMBOLISM MY ULTIMATE BELOVED) and Lost One's Weeping (“Who stained that heart black? Who was it? Who was it!?” “Can you untie the rope around his neck? Can we keep going like this? What're you gonna do? I don't care anymore!” “But why does this lump in our hearts // Say we want to disappear? Say we want to die?” “Can you remember the dreams of your childhood? Who threw those dreams in a ditch? Who was it!? You know who it was! When are you going to grow up!? What is a grown-up anyway? Who has the answers? What're you gonna do? I don't care anymore!”) and basically everything from Neru. And Rolling Girl by wowaka, obviously.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga: The one above LMAO. I. Really like that scene and think it's the most beautiful climax Akutagawa's character arc could have ever had. Here's my second favourite though:

Favourite illustration: There's a lot of beautiful ones...

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

BUT ALSO this please don't make me choose. And various anime screencaps. I feel like I'm cheating but maybe it's unethical to ask from me to pick a favourite Akutagawa picture in the first place.

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[bookofmirth]

I read about Az needing to be chosen and having Mate he won't be chosen because Bound forces them to be together.

So Rhys and Cass didn't need to be chosen and the Bonds forced Feyre and Nesta to choose to be with them. Like, it contradicts so much by shipp..

Rhys and Cass was chosen because the female Bond needs to choose what she wants and can reject. It's the Macho that doesn't have as much freedom to reject a Bond in my opinion, as the Bond works stronger. Man who needs more time to deal with rejected bond. That's what I understood from what I read in the book.

Az has a whole found family, the only person who hasn't ever "chosen" him in his life is Mor and that's supposed to be enough to rock his whole world for 500 years? Please. He was chosen by Rhys and Cassian when he was a child, he was chosen by Rhys's mom who took care of them, he was chosen by Mor and Amren to be friends/found family.

None of the ships have any impact at all if the couples don't choose to be together. Chapters 54 and 55 of acomaf would have been meaningless if Feyre hadn't gone through the process of choosing to be with Rhys. Nesta and Cassian wouldn't have had that huge fight if she hadn't be struggling to make a choice. The mating bond acceptance means nothing if the characters aren't consciously choosing one another.

It's just not something I see as being unique to Az, nor is it even a huge problem for him when it's not like we are seeing him put himself out there over and over for different romantic partners and being shot down. It happened once lol.

[kennedysharper]

going in the RE tags to look for content is so funny bc like I have a lot of blogs so I go look for stuff in a lot of tags but RE's or more specifically leon's is funny bc like 80% of the content is "x reader" fics which I do find very funny since he doesn't have one predominant pairing but instead many of his ships are popular which is also very funny so fans thrive with oc or self-insert stuff (which is all fine btw before someone misinterprets me) bc boy are people absolutely THIRSTY for that man lol (don't worry I am too but just more quietly lol) and then lots of hcs and meta(y) stuff and some art and a bit of gifs and it's all fine normal fandom behavior it's just the fact that most of them have leon completely ooc lmao I just glance at some stuff and I'm like hummmmmmm yeah that's not leon at all lmao and then you have people talking about his timeline and it's all nice and fine until you see that they're talking about remake and og leon as if they're the same which they're not people come on I lose 10 years of lifespan every time if you want to do meta analysis at least do the basic research???? that remake timeline is a different one???? re4 remake leon does not grow to become re6 leon ffs?????? and so many wrong interpretations of his character is just very sad actually people will be like "this is how I think he'd behave in X situation" and it's the most deranged ooc misinterpretation of his character you have ever seen in your life and like I've said before I know his looks are very distracting but is it really so hard to look a bit more at what's under it??

anyways sorry for the long-no-ponctuation rant this is not aimed at anyone in particular and like my opinion is meaningless you do you it's just that after so many years I get a bit tired of the leon content consisting mostly of oversexualization and ooc stuff (specially after r4make) you feel me? that this popular version of him that people see is not what he is in canon at all... but yeah... back to the trenches we go...

[crowley-the-1-true-king-of-hell]

Might be an unpopular opinion

Shipping Crowstiel knowing Cas' love for Dean isn't as contradictory as people think

The concept of OTP has always been about what ship the reader, viewer etc thinks works best. OTP don't need to be canon

I still believe Cas could have under the right circumstances loved Crowley in the same way Dean loved Lisa. Dean would be his priority, just like Sam is Dean's priority. But Dean's feelings for Lisa were genuine and strong, and that could have been Cas and Crowley during the times when it was just them working together. It isn't nothing or meaningless just because it's not the #1

However it is more than apparent canon wise Crowley has a major crush on Cas. The flirting, the desire to work with Cas even though Crowley technically could have collected all of those alphas and monsters to interrogate without Cas' help, because of Samuel and his team

So asking for Cas' help was really just an excuse to hang out with him tbh. Now Crowley may also have loved Cas, even as a full demon, in the only way he knew how, but that's less canon for me and more extrapolation from canon. But his crush on Cas? That is an observation not extrapolation

I think there is something so carthartic for me as the viewer about Cas having someone who views him as an equal and thinks he's hot and has a crush on him and thinks he is amazing. Because this is Cas with low self-esteem and who is treated like dirt by Dean. Dean said that Cas is kind of like a talking dog in Scoobynatural 🤬

It's carthartic that Cas has Crowley see him with positive regard AND Cas doesn't have to give anything in return for it. Cas doesn't have to GIVE Crowley reciprocation for Crowley to appreciate him. This is so refreshing in a dynamic were Cas always has to give back to Dean to be liked by him

I think there is also something carthartic about it for Crowley. Sure Cas wouldn't feel the same way for Crowley as he does for Dean, but Cas is fun to hang around with. Crowley has fun seeing what reactions he can get out of Cas when he flirts or riles him up. Crowley never knows when Cas will get angry and throw him up against a wall, which is attractive to Crowley's masochistic side. Or whether Cas will make him feel happy inside, like when Cas joked around with Crowley being agent Zappa

That is the face of a man that says okay that was hot. Do it again. I wish I saw Cas' face lol because I bet it would have caught him off guard 😂

Now if a different path was taken and we had a BROTP instead? Oh yeah for sure Crowstiel could have been a BROTP in canon if Dean was more mature. And I mean a real BROTP. Not just a wish fulfilment BROTP. It would have been a more realistic BROTP than Cas and Dean because:

Cas would have more sibling like vibes with Crowley than with Dean. Why? Because Cas wouldn't see Crowley as above him. He will fight with Crowley, call him out, joke around with him, just like Sam and Dean do all of that with each other. Cas sees Dean as a rolemodel, someone to admire, someone to worship, someone who is more like his king than his sibling. Dean is not submissive with Sam and vice versa, because they see each other as equals. Sam and Dean actually have sibling vibes and sibling vibes don't involve submission, but Cas is submissive to Dean

I think if the BROTP path was the path the writers went with instead, if they had treated Mark better so he stayed on the show? It would have been a better reflection on what an actual NOT co-dependent sibling relationship would look like

[voidsteffy]

Hi! It's me! Back to haunt you with MOOOORRE SSR questions!! Mwahahahahaha !!!!😈😈

Just kiddin. I loved your last response. Here's anuda one. This time, the millionaire question is...... could you rank and/or rate all, and I mean ALL, of the main romantic relationships in Mr SSR'S movies please?

how you imagine me seeing your ask in my ask box: oh no THE HORROR

how i actually see your ask in my ask box: THEY'RE BACK! OMG THEY WANT ME TO TALK AGAIN?! THEY ACTUALLY WANT ME TO RANT ABOUT THE STUFF I KNOW BEST? ANGEL. ANGEL!

so romantic relationships:

Student No. 1 - as i said, been a long time since I watched it so I can't really all...

Simhadri - a 6, because I'm a sucker for the amnesia trope

Sye - 5, I didn't particularly like the love triangle in the first half so lol... I believe I used to ship genelia's character with the other radical dude (nitiin's frenemy)

Chatrapathi - 5, *sings* problematic... but it gets better (kinda). honestly I think Chatrapathi would have been better (not better accepted, just better) if there was no meaningless love interest

Vikramarkudu - 5, same... Anushka really has no role and that bothers me very very much. Jhum Jhum Maya was THE horny bop when I was growing up and that's about it with the heroine's contribution to the story, which i'm sad about

Yamadonga - 7 (wow that's a record for old ntr movies) because it has the one sided love angle. wish the process of him coming around to loving her was a bit more polished but eh beggars can't be choosers i love mahi and raja ok they're my smol beans. Stream Nunugu Misalodu for pouty romance

Magadheera - 8, STAR CROSSED LOVERS??? SOULMATES??? REINCARNATE TO BE WITH EACH OTHER???? case dismissed bring in the dancing lobsters

Maryada Ramanna - 3 (lowest out of all ik), because the movie was about his family feud. Sunil and Saloni had no chemistry and they barely had to have any because THE STORY ISN'T ABOUT ROMANCE HE DOESN'T GO THERE BECAUSE HE LOVES HER HE GOES THERE BECAUSE HE'S A KIND LIL SHIT AND HAS TO RETURN HER SKETCHBOOK

Eega - 9, taking out one point because it's kinda creepy for him to be so attached to her without her ever communicating directly with him... 9 because Eega is not Yeto Vellipoyindi Manasu...! That movie shaved off twenty years off my lifespan and not even Raja gari music can save that one. Eega on the other hand is pure poetry (if you're into rock and roll)

Bahubali 1 - 4, SHE. IS. A. SOLDIER. It is not upto him to take on her mission. And she shouldn't WANT to let him take it off her shoulders. C'mon don't turn one of the strongest characters you've ever written into a plot point only for elevating the hero. NO.

Bahubali 2 - 5 (i am tempted to give it a 3, but prabhas and sweety have chemistry) SHE. IS. A. WARRIOR. PRINCESS. OF. HER. OWN. NATION. She is badass (arrogant, but badass) but seriously can't y'all ever sit down and talk with Sivagami? She's a kween, she can handle that her favorite son got married to her favorite choice... Sivagami and Devasena are made out of the same cloth. Only, Sivagami had the traumatic childhood to rectify her behaviour while Devasena had not. (maybe I just don't like the way Devasena was written outside of her lover arc. i'm sorry)

RRR - 6 if they would have been developed better. Sita barely had any screentime but she's the embodiment of every army wife I've known. She's brave, she's understanding, she supports her bava, she's smart af (prolly smarter than emo Ram over here). Jenny is... well she's Elizabeth 2.0 but we're going to overlook that. She's a smol bean and she's the correct smol bean for Bheem.

well I hope you had fun reading that and shaking your head at my very weird opinions and their weirder explanations🙈

[theghostofashton]

.

[sorenzi]

With your very detailed post on how Vanitas and Noe are being paired in a romantic light where do you think the author will take their relationship? Especially with her past history of writing tragedies.

Hi Anon, Mochijun be prepping us for a whole new world of pain~

In all seriousness though, I think back to Mochijun’s interview about wanting to try things she wasn’t able to in Pandora Hearts. There’s plenty of fans who feel it’s a disrespect to compare similarities/differences PH with VnC, but contrary to this opinion, I think it a really great way to analyze her work as an artist/writer.

Mochijun only had 3 official works that she’s done both art and story lines for (Crimson Shell, PH and now VnC), PH was her first series that became notable on its own for it’s twists and turns, complex character development and relations. She was a new mangaka at the time too I think.

PH definitely wasn’t perfect, but it was a huge stepping stone for her career and her answers to the VnC interview tells me that she‘s fearless in her approach to storytelling while being intentional in her message to us. As a previous reader of her’s, I appreciate the methods of her delivery to us. When I read PH, the characters‘s passions and emotions seems to be asserted onto us already before the end when the 100 year mystery was being unraveled. When we are given a backstory for the characters, I definitely feel like there could have been more to explain, but due to the plot’s course, allusions to the Alice in Wonderland theme and multitude of characters, I think MochiJun knew her limits and that it would have strayed far than the Aesop she wanted to tell us. (My personal pet peeve was Celia’s character no longer relevant lol.) While some characters we can feel sympathy for because we relate to their situation, it was very impersonal until they met their ‘end’. This is an ‘end’ that Mochijun has described as a ‘meaningful death’ after they gave a final monologue or met a personal goal described in the VnC interview.

In VnC, it’s much different. It’s told through one character’s eyes and journey, we can feel what Noe feels, and feels the emotions of the other characters when he reads their memories. His monologue gives us context if we can not empathize with those characters. There’s a slower burn in appreciating a character‘s complexity but Noe’s lack of insight without memory reading to what’s around him creates an intense curiosity on our end that pulls us in. Is it biased? Sure is, but because of Noe’s naivety, role as the narrator and the Watson, the audience is also going along the journey with him. (And harbouring his regrets too…) .

The part where I begin to answer your question sry for the long pre-text

While my shipping instincts hope for VanitasxNoe to be canon, realistically, I think Mochijun will use Vanitas as a very important lesson for Noe, rather than firmly establish a relationship for the fandom. Remember that Noe’s role in the story is that a of a student as well. That lesson ties in with Teacher’s request of him: ‘When you learn about the people around the Book of Vanitas (who they are, what they do), how will you then define the Book of Vanitas? That  is what I’m curious about.’

I like to believe the lesson Noe learns from Vanitas is  ‘What is love?’ and ‘What is salvation?’ To an extent, what Noe learns will be the theme of VnC that Mochijun wants to tell the audience.

What is love?

Let’s bring back Mochijun’s answers from the VnC interview:

1) Mentions that Vani and Noe aren’t ‘buddies/best friends’ (like Dante teases Vani on). They are so different but they attract each other and make up for what the other lacks. They have each other’s back that way. She’s also mentioned their relationship is inspired by Sherlock/Watson.

2) She wanted to write more action scenes, write more on how love is portrayed and ‘meaningless’ deaths.

This last part about love and death, I think will be a slow burn. There were lots of ships in PH, but the love was either already established or displayed in the lens of loyalty or devotion. Kind of like a ‘savior’ manner one character does for the other because they felt the other individual deserved/owed it and would burn the world for them or whatever.

This... I found very impersonal as a reader (this is not me down playing PH’s magnificence). However in VnC, Noe almost starts off on this note with Vanitas, but after seeing reflecting what happened at the Bal Masque, Noe changes his view with Teacher’s advice, to learn about the people around the Book of Vanitas, rather than deduct if it harms Vampires. Here, he starts to see Vanitas as a flawed human being and tries understand him, rather that how his ideals shape him as a potential savior. 

This is the love I think Mochijun wants to show us this time. Love as in the process to feel and bond throughout a period of time, rather than being established on what you believe the other to be or think should be. In short, can you learn to accept the other person for who they are and the changes they go through?

Important to note that Noe is/was raised without distain between the races. He doesn’t understand what ‘love’ is either. Although I keep bringing up that dance of romance in Memoire 12 for shipping discussion, there’s the look he gives when Vanitas said he’s not interested in the kind of person that would fall for him. Noe says ‘I don’t understand him’ and ‘I wouldn’t understand the feeling in my chest until much much later.’ Since then until the most recent Memoire, Noe repeats that he doesn’t know much about Vanitas’ past or even still, but has since learned the kind of person he is. Because Noe tries to see people who they are without prejudice, we are there to emphasize with his version of who Vanitas is in that moment. Although he can’t word his feelings, we know his moments with Vanitas mean something and became something too, despite Vanitas’ coldness toward him.

This is a turning point where Noe is experiencing love’s tenderness and pain even though he doesn’t know what it is. Love as in, the process it takes you to understand what means to you and who can share that with you, whether that be as a dear friend that you can rely on, or a devoted romantic partner to walk through life with for life. 

A side note, Noe’s current understanding of ‘love’ is his tenderness and warmth towards things and individuals he cares about (maybe to his favourite dessert tarte tatin too). He’s doesn’t have exposure to romance at all due to being isolated in a forest with the occasional friends and Louis/Domi.

What is salvation?

The second thing about love is salvation, and to extension... death. 

I mentioned ‘salvation’, as this is the second thing in the manga Noe says he doesn’t understand. But, the difference between love and salvation is that this is something that he’s already defined in his own terms before realizing that it could mean something else for another individual. Salvation to him, and still seems to be, is to be saved from death. Death to him, is a miserable end as he couldn’t bring it upon himself to kill Louis, yet is haunted by his execution and disgust of being saved by Teacher.

Noe’s discussion of salvation is brought up 4 times as much as I can recall.

First time is when Noe confronts Vanitas at Bal Masque (Vanitas turns Catherine to dust at her request)

Then at Ruthven’s office when he says Loki (Luca’s bro) doesn’t need to be cured as it doesn’t guarantee salvation to him but doesn’t delve further so Noe doesn’t bring it up again.

After they escape Moreau’s lab, Noe wonders if Vanitas, the one who keeps talking about saving others, is the one who wishes to be saved the most. But doesn’t push it further.

Lastly in Gedauvan, where he tells Vanitas he doesn’t know what salvation may look like to Chloe + Jean-Jacques, but he doesn’t want them to leave without trying out to cure them first after Vanitas says Chloe became a curse bearer of her own will

Noe‘s naivety, curiousity and idealism is a weakness, but he’s stubborn and before he wants to be proven wrong or give up, he will try until the very end and convince others to go with him, unless it causes significant danger to others. As far the story goes, he uses this as a driving factor to accomplish goals of granting salvation for others with Vanitas to cure curse bearers. This is his challenge to learn about the different perceptions of a deeply held belief and how he will react to it.

Lessons of Love vs. Salvation - Will Noe have to choose one over the other or will someone make that decision for him?

Truthfully, given Mochijun’s twists and unexpected turns, I don’t know where their relationship will head. Sometimes, I will routinely make up theories and what not, but I thought I should enjoy her work and mindfully keep in check my shipping tendencies and hyper vigilant theories. 

But this also makes me think about the themes as she said she wanted to write about. What pain did Noe had to experience himself to write a whole memoire about this journey (other than Teacher influencing him)?

I wonder if Noe will encounter an issue where someone’s concept of salvation is love? If this individual has such a twisted concept of both that is beyond Noe’s understanding, what will he do and how will he define it?

^^^^^WHICH, brings me to Vanitas! Remember these two iconic quotes about love and salvation he tells Noe in their personal discussions?

‘I’m not interested in the person who would fall for me.’

‘I’ll do as I please, use the methods I choose and no matter what you people want, I will save you Vampires without fail!’

They both have no idea what ‘love’ is, but have a personal firm concept of what ‘salvation’ is. Vanitas is more liberal in his view though, as in if someone chooses their own salvation, he’ll grant it to them (or if the situation calls for it, he give it to them in his own manner regardless what that person wants), where Noe will try until the end to prevent death. 

Johann has also mentioned that Noe has never killed anyone and has deducted that he just uses violence to shut someone up when he tries to have a civil discussion and is the type to hold back before fatally injuring the other. So we know Noe is not the type to deliberately hurt/use anyone. He cannot stand the idea of suffering and will do anything to help, we see him use up time to have the civil discussions which annoys Vanitas, but it works (so far).

Throughout the series, Noe gives a bit of affection and emotional support (’love’) to Vanitas where he needs it. This is the ‘process’ of love as I discussed above. The ‘salvation’ he may provide Vanitas may be that death he tells us about at the end of that journey, and perhaps remember who he was as he writes out VnC for us with his status as an Archiviste.

On the other hand, Vanitas who has issues with love and a complicated relationship to salvation, is slowly warming up to Noe, but the audience only sees snippets of this care in small increments and this is given more push for context from other characters like Dante and perhaps Jeanne (who romance with Vani might actually be canon). So the process of ‘love’ given by Vanitas will not be easy for the audience to experience alone as Noe’s since he is VnC’s POV narrator.

Hence, Vanitas’ actions of love and salvation towards Noe will be delivered in climatic point of the storyline which could be at the time when Noe will kill him. While other readers speculate or hope that Vanitas could cheat death with the Blue Moon’s power (rewritten into something), some ominous revival may happen, or some spiritual thing, I suspect Vanitas will actually be dead for real. Mochijun is not playing with us this time… but not like she ever was.

Remember the quote bubble from Memoire 1? 

‘Noe, I won’t die Noe, even if I’m no longer here.’ 

This line I suspect, will be Vanitas’ display of love and salvation for Noe.

Vanitas knows Noe can’t stand death as an option for salvation without trying. He might have made a decision to die alone for whatever reason (ironic that he hates that) but doesn’t want Noe to feel the pain of killing another, or losing someone close to him again due to external factors or his own actions. (Noe’s abandonment issues). His quote takes the burden of responsibility of his death away from Noe. This part is the ‘love’ he offers to comfort Noe that he won’t ‘die’ and make it sounds like a goodbye instead, which kind of sounds like a blatant lie and a little cruel. That’s what Vanitas’ experience with love is like: cruel and painful. Noe, who’s love is gentle and tender, Vanitas returns it in the purest form he’s most familiar with in the most twisted scenarios.

The ‘salvation’ in Vanitas quote, is to cease additional despair, self-blame and burden for Noe who still laments the death of loved ones. But he does it in his own way (use the methods I choose, no matter what you want kind of deal) to tell Noe that he has to let go of these haunted thoughts, such as Louis’s death. To let go of him. Otherwise, Noe will eventually be harmed if he doesn’t, so I guess this may be a wake up call to him as Vanitas is gone. I think Vanitas might make that decision of love and salvation for Noe at the very last moment.

Noe’s lesson is to accept that, or learn to acknowledge that love can be cruel, painful and that salvation will have forms of sacrifice. Noe will have to learn to let go, accept the ‘consequences’ of the decisions he made and live well. This won’t be a happy end for either of them. Or us.

Yeah, I suspect this might be a defining point of the VnC that Mochijun wants to understand about ‘love’.

Umm this was long ramble, but thank you for the ask anon! I got lots of thoughts running through my head but I think this is enough for me to get back to other life responsibilities in the mean time before Memoire 55 comes out.

[leonardalphachurch]

actually curious about your onions on wash :0c I feel like he is not talked about often. or maybe I forget lol

it’s funny bc wash is literally one of our favorite characters but yeah we never talk about him

First impression

“jesus christ this guy sucks so fucking bad why did caboose have to bring him along >:(“

(though uh. as alpha the impression was “oooOoohhh baby? baby? this is a baby? angry baby?”)

Impression now

wash is a complicated character. he’s changed so goddamn much over the course of the show you can literally pick your favorite version of him and just decide to stick with it. really liked his role as like a mentor/teacher i wish they did more with that. was honestly never really a fan of the brain injury storyline but writing it out sucks way more than it being there in the first place.

Favorite moment

dudes got so many fucking moments man. killing donut was cool shame it got made meaningless by donut living. him dramatically staring into the sunset and going “friends….” in season 10 is so good so fucking funny. love how overdramatic he is at all times. eating bananas in helmet is good. freckles shake is good. if you ignore the ship tease telling carolina to take off her clothes is so funny bc he’s so fucking awkward man. washnut buddy cop moments WONDERFUL. all his time travel stuff in 17 was good.

Idea for a story

OH i got a uhhh noir style washnut time cop story that never really got fleshed out but was basically like, him and donut going rogue and trying to take down the corrupt time authority. some of the mechanics were fun writing in a detective noir voice was a blast though it was only like 500 words. i probably won’t ever go back to it but yknow if people are interested i can talk some

Unpopular opinion

if i was to write wash in freelancer i would NOT write him as a baby rookie however i don’t necessarily think it’s bad? i don’t love it but i don’t hate it i just would’ve written him differently. which i think is unpopular since most ppl seem to love pfl era wash

wash does not regret his past. he isn’t PROUD of it but he does not dwell on it. he did what he did and now he is doing better. that is what matters. he has no qualms about killing or violence or doing bad things. carolina has this personality of regret and self blame over the past and trying to avoid killing now. stop giving wash carolina’s personality he already has one.

okay i wrote the headcanon one so spoiler but wash does NOT hate epsilon. i don’t know how popular it actually is but i’ve seen the take before and like. do you HEAR the softness in his voice in the season 8 finale. go two questions down for more vvv

Favorite relationship

PLATONIC carwash is fantastic. still hold a torch out for carwash siblings even though we don’t ever write it or anything. spiritually they are siblings. platonic with tucker also great. they’re just. they’re good friends your honor.

Favorite headcanon

wash cared a LOT about epsilon he just never really knew how to express or feel it. the feelings were/are INCREDIBLY complicated but a not insubstantial amount of his desire to take down freelancer was fueled by wanting justice for epsilon. wash still put himself first obviously but if he could protect epsilon he would. he doesn’t let himself think about it but he regrets that he never had the opportunity to reconcile with epsi. it was just never the right time.

also plural wash is just so good man. it’s just good.

[bimbinis]

Very well put. This actually echoes a lot of what I felt from the get go, but I gave up in like, issue #7 of the first run lol. If there's a word that I would use to describe my feelings about Boom! Buffy it would be "pandering". It's honestly just trying to pander to the fans. "Remember this character you liked but died in the show! Well they're here now and they're alive! That ship you like? We're making it canon! Ever wish this character had this cool power? Well now they have!" and honestly it just like... Sucks? I say this as someone whose favorite character is Tara and who's clamored for her return for years, when I saw they'd written her into her own miniseries I was legit like. Whatever. Bc I'd seen what they were able to do with these characters so far and I was already severely underwhelmed so say the least, I had no interest in seeing how they would, not even butcher, just like, do absolutely nothing interesting with a character I like.

The problem with trying to pander to fans, especially Buffy fans in particular, is that it presumes fans are a homogenous group that believe the same things about what's great about the thing they like and what more of it should look like. That's not necessarily true for any fan base and especially not for Buffy. Buffy is absolutely one of those "no one hates this thing more than its own fans" shows. And that's bc of how much opinions vary about what Buffy is and should be in the fandom. Buffy is a show that's changed a lot over the course of its run and had a bunch of different priorities so it ended up catering to a lot of different people who primarily appreciated different parts of it.

Furthermore, despite the Dark Horse comics having run from 2007 all the way up until their contract ended and they signed with Boom! for the new run, for most people Buffy did end with the end of the show. And so by the time the Boom! reboot was announced people had spent over a decade thinking over and discussing and writing out what they believe Buffy should have done and where should it go next were it to continue, so a lot of people already had deeply entrenched ideas about what they think a Buffy reboot should look like and they wouldn't be satisfied with just anything.

So when they roll up and say "we're gonna reboot Buffy and we're gonna put all that good stuff that's gonna appease the fans of the original series", that's kind of a tall task. Bc you're gonna have to split the difference for all of the people who have wildly different opinions on what constitutes said "good stuff", and also account for all the ones who at this point probably read a dozen or so highly elaborate fanfics continuing or rebooting the story of Buffy that of which ideas and concepts they now consider basically essential for "the real thing" (a lot of said concepts may even have been used by multiple of the authors of those fics, further calcifying their presence).

I can definitely see how that kind of pressure would give a writer creative paralysis, so it's really a no-brainer that a story written specifically to "appease the fans" would end up as such meaningless, trivial hogwash. If you're trying to write for everyone, you're writing for no one. You're making as inoffensive a story as you can that multiple people can read and nod their heads at but no one can actually be gripped by. Which is great if all you aspire to is just keeping the shambling body of a decades old franchise going on forward momentum alone, I would just hope artists would aim for more than that.

This is just my opinion but I actually liked some of the Dark Horse comics, particularly the Christos Gage run (Angel & Faith season 9 and Buffy seasons 10 and 11), bc it wasn't like that. He took some pretty bold decisions with the story in a way that actually convinced me he had an interesting story he wanted to tell with the tools the setting he was working with had. He changed the status quo while at the same time maintaining the tone I'm used to seeing in Buffy and keeping the setting and characters recognizable. I can understand that other people still didn't like it as much for various reasons (although I suspect most people didn't get to read these series bc to get to them they have to read Buffy season 8 which is borderline unreadable) but I still think if Boom! writers were to make an actually good Buffy series they would take pointers from those runs in particular.

Why Boom Still Can’t Get Buffy Right

My love for the Buffyverse is concrete but it has its limits. Yesterday I had a very unpleasant experience finishing yet another unimpressive Buffy run, courtesy of Boom Comics. It’s always disappointing to me because Buffyverse has so much potential and untold stories. It’s a goldmine that is constantly held back and simply can’t find its footing in the comics medium. Why is that? 

Boom’s been rather relentless in trying to make Buffy work. Several years and runs later, there’s still no big WOW story that can attract readers and viewers alike. Not just that, but even seasoned buffy fans don’t seem very interested in continuous attempts at rebooting the Slayer tale. You can blame the word reboot (it does tend to scare people) but the real reason is still Boom’s inability to deliver a good captivating story.

Boom had tried reinventing Buffy, sending her back to school, developing alternate realities and futures. But in every iteration, Buffy and the Scooby Gang were plagued with the same mistakes over and over again. 

Hey, I’m not sure what I am, so bear with me here 

The characters from Buffy are some of the most well-developed characters out there. Each one has a point of origin, a story, and a final form. We love them because we know them. And we know them extremely well. 

Let’s take the fan-favorite, Spike. We’ve seen his whole afterlife and even bits of his life. We know how he became William the Bloody, then Spike, a neutered vampire, and finally, an ensouled champion. We know how, and more importantly, we know why. 

I’d hate to throw in one more why but there is a reason Spike exists in the show, and we know it. 

When you read Boom comics, it feels like writers stick him into every arc just because they like him. He brings nothing to the story, he has no soul or chip yet chooses to join the scoobies. That does not look like the Spike we know. That guy was in s2-s4, not s5-s7. That’s the guy from School Hard or the one who got the Gem of Amara and happily marched to kill Buffy. 

But there’s nothing stronger than the author’s desire to make things ‘right’. Hence this spike lookalike joining the team every time. 

The funny part is, I can very well imagine a soulless chipless Spike who’s not a monster. If Dru sires him and never sees him again, if she never introduces him to Angelus, if he keeps on writing his bloody awful poetry only forever. He probably would’ve turned out like that poor librarian guy whose glasses Dru broke or like Harmony who still tried to be decent. But it’s the writer’s job to explain it, to write it into the story, not just throw a character into a book and see whether they swim or go down. They will always go down. 

Spike is only one of the issues here. In the show, both Kendra and Faith exist to show us the perfect (according to the council) and the fallen slayer. Two possible realities for Buffy. They have their own arcs (well, Faith does) but the show is strong because supporting characters serve a purpose. Just like the people we meet in real life always serve a purpose for us. You might believe that one character pushing the development of another is cruel, but that’s still how good stories are made. That’s still why Buffy is popular 20 years after the show’s finale. 

Kendra and Faith did that for Buffy in the show. In the Boom comics they just exist. They show up for no reason and they just hang around. You can take them out of the story and nothing will change. At one point in the initial reboot there were three slayers at the same time, and that felt more like a fix-it fanfic than a quality comic book. Unfortunately, some slayers have to die and some have to turn evil. Besides, without her rebellious personality, Faith is meaningless.

I have one more bone to pick. I know that Buffy and Angel (still the OTP of the show!) are a complicated matter to many modern writers. And readers, and viewers. There’s no place to hide from the creep factor and even though I will defend this ship till the day everyone finally agrees with me, I can’t deny its presence. But that doesn’t mean you get to discard this ship and separate Buffy and Angel into different books. One doesn’t exist or grow without the other. There is no Buffy in love with a vampire without Angel. There is only Vampire. Slayer. Dead vampire. 

Without Buffy, Angel is not in LA helping the helpless. He’s in New York eating low rats. Before trying to launch two separate books, how about Boom launches one good one, that provides background, even if revised and adapted to the modern days? 

I always worried what would happen when that b*tch got some funding

All this chaotic mess with the characters determines the stories Boom puts out. They tend to have an interesting start but by the time issue 3 comes out, it’s either Camazotz flying around Sunnydale, a giant crab taking over the main street, or whatever the hell Silas was (a soul eater?) Didn’t care for him much. Not even when we were evil. 

More often than not Boom writers suffer from the same disease that plagued Dark Horse comics – scale. Just because you can do anything doesn’t mean you should. Comics allow you to draw literally any kind of baddie but you are playing within a specific world, and suspense of disbelief only goes so far. Besides, in the show, it all grows gradually. You go from the Master to the First evil. In the comics… seriously, what the hell was Silas? 

From what I’ve read so far, Boom knows how to ask interesting questions: 

What if Buffy went to school today?

What if Willow took over as the slayer? 

What if Buffy was older? 

Those are all good what ifs but Boom has a problem following through. They don’t know the answer to this question and it feels like they’re making it up as they go along. If I’m being honest, it even feels like they wrote random ideas on pieces of paper, through them in a hat, and started pulling each time they hit a wall. 

Characters show up for now reason (hi, Tara from the latest run), they don’t feel like themselves, and the saddest part – none of it feels like you are getting your favorite show back. 

These characters deserve better than that. 

And there’s not a one who can say this ended well

At this point, I don’t know if Boom wants Buffy comics to succeed. I don’t mean to be this dramatic but every time someone mentions comics, fans think Dark Horse. Not because they are still considered canon, but because they had a connection to the beloved show. Boom comics don’t give you that, so you can’t look the other way when writers don’t deliver. It’s just how it works. 

I keep thinking what Boom can do to get out of this vicious circle. And I do believe there If they want to successfully play in the Buffyverse, they have to seriously up their game. It’s not impossible either. I mean, Something is Killing the Children is being released by the same studio. And what is that if not a more gruesome version of Buffy? So it’s not exactly magic. It’s doable. 

Personally, I still hold out hope that someone would dare explore the terrifying bloody past of the Whirlwind. Wouldn’t that be fun and gory? I’d like to see deep well-thought-through stories of past slayers. I’d happily read a well-illustrated comic run based on In Every Generation. And if we have to go back to Buffy variants, why not reinvent her story? But before we get to that, we’d have to work through every step of every character. Get them to where we want them, and start with a story that we want to tell, from start to finish. From her first day as a slayer to her last one (she didn’t have to empower the potentials after all).

That, of course, requires a lot of work. And if Boom isn’t ready to put in that kinda effort, they could just move from season 5, introduce a new slayer, and watch how her adventures unravel.  

Buffyverse is a hell of a property and there are too many stories waiting to be written. I’m probably still gonna give it a shot whenever Boom comes up with something new. I just hope I won’t have to write yet another long read complaining about it. 

[vampelune]

kamukomahina gender/body headcanons

a bit of a ramble about my body, gender, and general appearance headcanons for them bcuz someone sent me a curiouscat prompting this 3k words of hyperfixation nonsense

Komaeda:

- He has a naturally lithe body, with a thin waist, broad shoulders and hips, which give him an hourglass. and a rather andrognyous body, which is "lucky" for him, because I hc him as nonbinary and gender non-conforming

- Gender-wise, as I said, I think he's nonbinary. Usually I do view Nagito as AMAB but I indulge in transmasc Nagito from time to time depending on my preference and how much I wish to uh, well, project, lol. But either way I think he would use he/they pronouns in a western sense. In japanese, however, they don't use third person pronouns that other people refer to them with, and in canon he uses the first person pronoun "boku", which is a "soft" masculine pronoun, in comparison to the "hard" masculine pronoun, “ore” (which Hajime uses btw!) which fits quite nicely, in my opinion! Also, in Japanese, you can be 'fluid' with your first person pronouns depending on the situation, so I think he could use more neutral or feminine pronouns should he desire it, too, to play on his gender non-conformity.

- Komaeda is very secure in his gender, regardless of being AMAB or AFAB. He does not care about stigma, or discrimination, he does not care about being "accepted" by broader society. Broader society is sort of meaningless to him, the average person and their ideas about gender and presentation and effeminity mean NOTHING to him. Whether or not a random person the street genders him correctly or treats him with respect is sort of, pointless? Because to him, most ordinary people are pointless nobodies. Their thoughts do not matter to him. I think he is still prone to insecurity, however, when around his "betters" but I just struggle to think he would degrade himself in regards to gender. to him, it's the least of his problems. what he cares about is hope and talent. He could dress femininely or wear makeup or straight up crossdress and not mind it, really. He thinks people would find a problem with it are the problem, because why does it even matter? It speaks to the way Komaeda is detached from societal norms & "normal" people, he did not grow up in normal circumstances, so he doesn't interact with the world normally by any means. he can mask and act normally to the best of his ability, often unintentionally?, but he simply does not fit into broader society and doesn't seek to.

- Komaeda loses weight really easily, and doesn't gain weight that well. This is mainly due to his many illnesses but also the medications he's been put on. He has a low appetite and burns weight rather easily, even though I headcanon that he eats like garbage (mainly junk food & takeout, since he obviously cannot cook). This makes him overall, health wise, not very healthy, and stick thin because of it. A stiff breeze could knock him over, tbh.

- He has a lot of faded scars, self-inflicted or not.

- Pre-despair (in HPA) he is fairly healthy but still lithe, and progressively his body deteriorates through his 2 years of hopes peak before the Tragedy begins.

- During the Tragedy itself, his body is at it's worst. he is almost nothing but bone at times, barely kept together by a need to live so he can see hope triumph. His weight fluctuates but he's very unhealthy. He's not anorexic or on death's door, but he's not well off, either.

- After being put into the neo world program, right after waking up, he's very, very thin and gaunt. he was in a pod on feeding tubs for an indiscernible but at least probably a month's worth of time? So he's just very weak, like he could collapse if he moves too quickly.

- But a while after waking, he goes into remission, and starts to gain more healthy habits due to being rehabilitated and cared for by Hinata, and gains some weight, finally at a healthy, normal weight. I still think he would struggle with putting on too much weight, but I am slightly fond of the idea that he gets a bit of healthy pudge after a while. To him, it's so foreign being healthy, that he honestly think something's wrong with him at first.

Hinata:

- Hinata has a very... average body, true to form. His hips and waist aren't too pronounced but he has a loosely "hourglass" shape, too, just not as exaggerated as Komaeda's in comparison.

- Gender-wise, I am EXTREMELY fond of transmasc Hinata. While I think I portray AMAB Hinata more than transmasc Hinata (in art and writing), I still firmly prefer transmasc Hinata. The reason I think portray otherwise more is just out of comfortability, but I've been getting better at comfortably portraying FTM Hinata. I have some reasons I prefer it and think you can extrapolate it from canon, but let's get into that

- Hinata, in my eyes, has an arc and story that fits perfectly into him just. Being trans. His desire to be someone else, someone better, someone he can proud of, and the way he overcompensates for himself and has an extreme inferiority complex would easily lend to him having similar feelings about his gender. To me, Hinata is a trans man who overperforms his masculinity out of insecurity and a need to pass. I see him as someone who would strictly use "he/him" in a western sense, which is lended to by his use of the "ore" pronoun in canon, which is almost hypermasculine.

- Even if he were AMAB, I think it still works, I think he's still someone who's insecure and tries to assert himself more strongly and therefore performs masculinity in a way to appear more confident than he is.

(side note: I actually read a bit about queerness in Japan and how it relates to gender performance and the use of pronouns, and read a bit about how queer women in japan tend to use "boku" and "ore" to perform masculinity, which I find neat. “Ore” was also sometimes used exclusively to show anger and dominance, which is why it's categorized as a "rough" pronoun. I think Japanese language, gender, and expression, and how those all relate to one another, are extremely interesting and if you get the time you should read about it lol)

- Body-wise, pre-despair, I think Hinata would. not have top surgery, obviously. I think he has a fairly average but leaning a little on the hefty side chest (pre-op) and binds it, hence the '91 cm' (but also he still has 91 cm post-op because bazongas). I also just think he leans on the "twunk" side of things at this point, not buff but not stick thin or without muscle, just kind of average with average strength and all, though I think Hinata would've tried to do sports and stuff to find his talent so he's in shape :)

- My personal, kind of amusing, but also kind of... thematical? Headcanon, is that during the Kamukura project, he also underwent gender transition. to be honest, while it may not make sense in modern Japan, I think we can suspend our disbelief for fiction, and also make the argument that Hinata's "transition" into Kamukura CAN be read, in some part, as relatable or at least familiar to the trans experience. Iit is not out of the realm of possibility, either, to assume that because many bits of society in Danganronpa are advanced (specifically science, is extremely ahead of our understanding, almost sci-fi like at times) certain attitudes about gender and sexuality can be smoothed over more in a Japanese context.

(side note: I also think that science-wise, we can suspend our disbelief, and assume that top surgery and bottom surgery are much more advanced in this universe, given the almost unbelievable levels of science in Danganronpa, such as memory wipe, mind control, completely realistic virtual simulation, um literally everything about Kamukura which is body modification and brain modification to an extreme, etc. I think it's kind of fitting within these to assume that... Hinata/Kamukura could just, gain a functioning penis, lol)

Kamukura:

- Kamukura would have a. "Perfect" body. it's stated, I'm pretty sure, that they modified not only his brain but his body, because he needs to be able to perform every talent under their belt with ease, and his strength, instincts, technique, are all superhuman. So it's clear to me he'd have a buff body. toned muscles and all. He wouldn't really feel a need to keep it up, though, but I think since they're very... artificial (basically fucking steroids?) they wouldn't fade from a lack of keep-up.

- Kamukura also rarely ever is injured, but when he does, his body heals rather fast and can care for himself adequately, because again, his body is modified to a point of almost inhumanity.

- Gender wise, Kamukura genuinely does not care. however, I am not one to think that Kamukura is "a different person" from Hinata, rather, he is separate from Hinata, but an extension of Hinata as well, proven that he experiences some of his emotions even if subconsciously and without understanding them. he isn't a different personality or person developed in Hinata's body, but a very traumatizing, repressed, and manipulated version of Hinata given a new name, with memories repressed. He's like Theseus's ship in human form---if you get rid of everything that makes someone themselves and replace it, bit by bit, is it the same person? Technically, yes, but... truly? Who knows. 

Because of this, I think Kamukura would have a leaning toward masculine gender performance (in canon, in fact, he uses the soft masculine pronoun "boku" in stead of "ore" like Hinata) BUT I think he is still very nonbinary. In a western sense, i think he would use he/they pronouns, but not really care if someone mistook him for a woman, I suppose.

- His appearance, unironically, is very nonbinary or "he/they" to me because he's wearing a suit, the archetypal form of masculinity, but has extremely long hair, which is considered feminine, and speaks softly (dully). Of course, the bishounen "pretty boy" appearance isn't uncommon or considered less masculine in japan, I think, but there is still a different between soft masculinity and rough masculinity in japan, which lends itself to being interpreted sort of gender non-conforming by western audiences :)

- Kamukura, due to his apathy, struggles with self-maintaining, but as we all probably know i am extremely attached to KamuKoma and thus headcanon that Servant helps him, sort of like a royal servant would royalty in the old days, take care of himself by bathing him, brushing his hair out, grooming him, etc. partially out of duty, partially out of appreciation for Kamukura's body, and partially out of maintaining his sort of "perfect" look since Kamukura, especially post-Junko death, is perceived widely by the public as the new leader of the ultimate despair, even if he is ambivalent to such a title.

Post-DR3 Hinata/Kamukura combined:

As I rambled on about previously, I don't think that Kamukura and Hinata are separate people or personality, I really dislike the interpretation that they are like a "split personality" or operate like DID, because they do not "form" like DID, but also in canon, are not portrayed as separate people.

In post-dr3, Hinata instead says that he is both of them, because he is. Kamukura is Hinata, always was, but had been given a new, false identity, had been stripped of his previous self, his memories, his personality, and crafted into something new. but that did not "split" his brain into two people. It simply repressed who he once was, and made him someone he now was. But when Kamukura regains his memories, his past self, through the means of the new world program by restoring his own memories after SDR2 concludes and he wakes up, as well as doing the same for everyone else, he decides to be "Hajime Hinata" who he always was, but carrying and shouldering the weight of what "Izuru Kamukura" had been, become, and done. Hinata *is* Kamukura, he answers for Kamukura's wrongdoings, his crimes, as something he had done as a different person who's mind operated differently, due to being artificially suppressed, modified, into an apathetic tool for the scientists who made him, and later and aimless, bored individual who simply sought meaning he did not have in the unknown of what despair would be at it's climax. And if hope could overcome it.

As such, I think, when Hinata's self is brought back into the mix, and he now deals with Kamukura's apathy and boredom in part, but much less consuming and much less often, I think hinata is less staunchly "masculine", does not overperform it anymore, and is trying to understand what his past means to him, what his present is, and what his future will be. I think that Hinata would still primarily use he/him (or still use "ore" in Japanese, as it's also a means of his personality, which is a bit rough around the edges and blunt), but be more ambivalent to rigid gender expression, still finding comfort and idealness in masculinity, but not be made dysphoric or feel frightened, uncomfortable, with non-comformity or anything like that. being boyish, masculine, is what he enjoys, but he's comfortable in it now, doesn't need to prove himself or overperform it. He can explore nonconformity without feeling like his gender or masculinity is at threat, even if it's not his preference outright.

Body-wise, I think it's safe to say he retains Kamukura's muscle and all, but Kamukura didn't put much effort into the everyday machinations of being a human being in general, and Hinata is much more fond of food than him now, eats more often, and I enjoy the idea that he gains a little pudge and has a kind of "dad bod" almost, post-DR3? lol.

Both for Hinata and Kamukura I don't see their bodies as “bara” or overly buff, masculine, but a kind of comfortable middle ground between twunk and hunk, lmao. I think they're also averagely hairy, not overly so, very lightly. kind of well groomed, and all. Hinata, pre-despair, put not so much effort into his appearance but still some, especially in trying to pass. (In fact I think his hair cut looks like a home job, all choppy and stuff, which fits him in my opinion, something done by his own hands even if messy and imperfect, he still prefers to be in control of it. also fits the trans headcanon tehe).

Izuru put very little if any effort into himself, only the bare minimum necessary to function, but servant helped him upkeep it to a perfect standard. Hinata, post-dr3 now, finds himself putting you know, an average amount of care into himself and his body, enough to be healthy, but not overly critical and conscious of himself.

Komaeda i have always seen as someone who takes a good deal of care about himself, merely if to alleviate the "disgust" of his appearance and body, by practically preening himself. He is someone who is good at cleaning and seems to appreciate clean and well kept spaces, so I think he would have a similar attitude toward himself. even if he is insecure, and of course, struggles with mental health and may slip at times in his routine in keeping himself well-kept, I think he still maintains an appearance for the most part, at least in his later years (teen to young adult). An argument can be made that he cared less in his adolescence because he had much more apathy about the world, but when he gave himself a purpose with hope and talent, I think he would care for himself a little better, even if his was spiralling mentally.

His hair is always washed, it is just very curly and prone to mess, so it often looks like perpetual bedhead, even when he combs and brushes it. His skin is soft even if a little worn by his tendency for accidents & injury, it's still soft and almost luckily so, and he takes pride in moisturizing and cleaning himself. His skin is a little sickly, still, and I think that despite having blemishes, scars, etc. Komaeda manages to look pretty in a strange way, not conventionally beautiful, but almost ethereal? He's just *pretty*, there's no way to explain it, he is nice to look at even with all his "flaws" and imperfections. Even when he's sickly and bony, even when his cheeks are gaunt or his hands shaky and weak, when his hair is a tangled mess or his clothes are dirty, he's nice to look at in a way that's nonconventional, and it's sort of mesmerizing.

Hinata I think is very average but also in a way that's nice to look at it. He's not ground-breaking hot or conventionally attractive, he has a good body, a nice face, and hair you could play with a little if you wanted. I think what's appealing about him is his normalcy, he's not trying too hard or "gifted" gene wise, but he's just kinda nice to look at, he's enjoyable to be around, an understanding person, or at least tries to be even when he fails, and despite having flaws, insecurities, blunt, he is someone you're drawn to because he's one of those people that's just, easy to talk to? An emotional anchor, almost. The kind of guy everyone kind of knows and has talked to at least once, even if you're not friends with him personally, not because he's cool or popular or anything, but because he's a normal dude who's easy to trust and talk to.

Kamukura, on the other hand, is intimidating, appearance wise and personality wise. he looks, strange, anything but normal, his eyes are red and his hair is this dark cloud that envelops him. His face may still be that plain one Hinata has but faces can be changed by the surrounding attributes as well as expression and such is true for him, with his apathetic and cold expression as well as otherwordly characteristics, he comes off as much more beautiful in a dark way, kind of? In a way that's intimidating or a little daunting, but he's still very beautiful. mesmerizing.

okay, thats my ramble. ty.

[deckerswheeler]

let’s break this down, shall we?

**disclaimer!! this is not meant to be an attack on this person! i am only going to be counterclaiming their points or explaining why they are incorrect. i do not mean any harm in this post**

1. “mike/el and mike/will do not parallel each other” this is incorrect. mileven and byler have been paralleled throughout the seasons. for example, when el is stuck in the void and the upside down, the camera zooms in on her and pans out as she screams for mike. the same thing happens when will is in the upside down on halloween after the bullies push him over. it has the same camera angles, same type of music, and the same idea. they both call for mike.

2. byler has groundwork. from season one episode one they have been seen as closer than the other boys. they spent almost the entirety of season two together. the crazy together scene, hand holding scene, and shed scene alone should set their relationship apart from their relationships with the other members of the party. neither mike nor will act that way with dustin, max, or lucas. mike literally said asking will to be his friend was the best thing he’s ever done. if their season two relationship doesn’t show you how much groundwork they have, i don’t know what else will.

3. how are byler shippers “blindly ignorant to how writing works”?? sorry, but last time i checked, stranger things isn’t just a base level “you get what you see” type of show. the duffers have clarified many times that they don’t write at the surface level. everything they do has a purpose. that means minute details that seem like meaningless, second-long clips, could be symbols or easter eggs. many mileven shippers, (not all but a lot), only tend to see what is put in front of them. when in reality, that’s not what stranger things is. if you aren’t reading between the lines or taking note of small details while watching, key aspects of the show could fly over your head.

4. this one is almost laughable. mileven has most definitely NOT been set up as romantic since episode one. first of all, mike and el didn’t even properly meet until episode two. and even then, mike was ready and willing to report her to social services! the only reason why he kept her for so long was because once he found out about her powers, he knew there was a chance of finding will again. he called her a weapon halfway through the first season, i don’t think that’s very romantic. yes, they became close friends early on, but there was not ANY romantic coding until the episode with their first kiss!! obviously mike developed a crush on el, she’s the first girl that ever gave him attention. not only that, but he was living through the trauma of maybe losing his closest friend forever! he was projecting those feelings onto el, while el literally thought they would be like siblings until mike kissed her-- she had no clue it was even romantic.

5. saying mike and will have zero romantic subtext is just plain bullshit. i stated a lot of it in point 2, but there is so much more. in season 3 for example, mike basically outs will during their fight. (some people like to claim that mike was referring to will’s immaturity, but there are so many other ways they could’ve phrased that. like i already stated, the duffers claim nothing they do is accidental, so why would they make that line so vague? it was referring to will being gay. along with all of will’s other gay coding throughout the series, i.e. lonnie calling him the f slur, troy and his friends calling him q***r and a fairy as well as making fun of him for being gay, hopper acting grossed out by will being gay and asking joyce “is he?”) then, mike tries to apologize and travels all around hawkins in the pouring rain!! just to find will. and don’t even get me started on the “not possible” scene... if y’all don’t see the CLEAR flirting in that scene,,,,,, i got news for you lol

6. saying that byler shippers just like “fetishizing handsome white boys” is absolutely disgusting and a gross generalization. i assure you that that is NOT the reason why we ship byler. it’s more or less because we are sick of seeing solely straight couples rushed into a relationship on little to no foundation or build-up and honestly makes no sense when you think about it (cough cough mileven), when there is a relationship with 10x more development right there that isn’t canon simply because it is not heterosexual. we also ship byler because it is a breath of fresh air to see young gay/bi characters and a healthy mlm relationship, if byler became canon it would make thousands of kids so happy who just want to see themselves on the screen! aside from that, we ship byler because of the countless hints, coding, potential, etc, the show has provided.

7. finally, telling us we need to “use a brain cell,” calling us delusional, saying we’re “bending the narrative,” is just mean. there was no reason to make personal attacks towards the people who ship byler. i see people shipping mileven every day and i am not calling them delusional or stupid because they choose to ship it. people are free to interpret the show however they like and ship whatever they want. if anything, you’re the one who is denying canon by acting like mike and will have no foundation or meaningful relationship. also, we’re not “pretending it’s inevitable”??? no one knows how the duffers are going to write the show. mileven could be canon now, and break up later. byler could happen in season 4-5, and it might not. no one knows, so the fact that you felt the need to bash byler shippers for their own opinion and interpretation of the show is pretty sad.

**again... i respect all ships, and i am not trying to attack this person. if i seem harsh it’s because they were SOOO disrespectful in their post towards byler shippers. i know not all mileven shippers are like this, but i wanted to clear up some of this one’s points and share my point of view. i also don’t agree with their behavior and how they addressed people with a different view than them, so i couldn’t let it go.**

[musette22]

no attack to you because I know you're still bitter about endgame which is valid but stop using the word straighwashed. I ship stucky but Bucky has only ever dated women in comics and the mcu and that's real. the situation with the "straightwashed" word is that some people are really turning it into a "wanda situation" in which they're saying that they changed basic things about Bucky when that's not true. they're attacking the character and sebastian for things that arent real, which never were. again, bucky has only ever dated women in both comics and the mcu. our headcanons really have nothing to do with real canon

Hello! Thank you for sharing your concerns, I appreciate it. I’ll admit that ‘straightwashing’ wasn’t the best choice of words here, though mostly because we have to be careful with terms like that because using them callously might diminish their value and impact in instances when they’re really applicable. So my statement was a little too bold, and it’s good that you pointed that out. But let me try to explain what I meant in a slightly more nuanced way, because I do feel strongly about this. I’ll put it under the keep reading tab though, because of course it’s long lmao

So, first of all, let me say that I’ve never read the comics and I don’t know original comic Bucky well at all, so everything I’m saying here is with regard to MCU Bucky, or at least the character as it was re-invented/re-introduced by Ed Brubaker in the Winter Soldier comics, which was then adapted for the big screen by the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I understand what you mean when you say that MCU Bucky was posited as straight, but I some reservations about your use of the word ‘real’ here. I get that you mean ‘canon’, and on a surface level, canon Bucky is indeed straight. But if you even so much as scratch that surface, you’ll find plenty of reason to wonder if maybe he isn’t actually completely straight after all, right? It’s what drew a lot of people to ship these two characters together, you and I included. That’s subtext, and a lot of it was put there or endorsed by the creators themselves (Ed Brubaker himself even supports the reading of Bucky and Steve as romantic, so that says quite a bit, I think). Subtext is ‘real’ too, and so is homophobia, sadly, so they deserve to be treated as such, in my opinion. A romantic reading of the relationship between Steve and Bucky was frequently hinted at, initially even encouraged, and then violently shut down by Marvel/Disney when it became too mainstream of an opinion and it didn’t suit them anymore, and even started to present a real issue for them in terms of distribution to certain parts of the world. In a nutshell, that’s what led to Steve’s ending in Endgame, because Captain America (at least the MCU one, that brings in the money) cannot outwardly be anything other than straight, or he would be rejected by a significant part of their audience. That’s more or less what I meant by the word ‘straightwashing’, although ‘straightened out’ might be more accurate here.

Whether the same thing is happening to Bucky’s character remains to be seen (more than it already did, I mean – remember “Dot”?) and I’ll wait until the whole show has aired and we know exactly how they develop Bucky’s character in it before I make any more bold statements about it. I read an interesting take today that suggested they may have actually dropped a hint at Bucky being bi in this first ep (also, note how they’re like “there are even entire blogs dedicated to this pairing!” And then actually link to @steveandbvcky’s amazing tumblr blog lol). I’m pretty skeptical about this take, because even if they’re right and that really was a hint at Bucky being bi, I doubt they’re going to be exploring that any further, and only people “in the know” will have even picked up on that. It’s easy enough to ignore, and it’s very clear the date was with a woman, so in that sense Bucky is still Straight, to all intents and purposes. So while it could be an act of what you might call fanservice and we’ll probably gratefully lap it up anyway because we’re starved for crumbs and representation, if this is all it is, then it’s even more meaningless than Gay Joe Russo. But again, I’ll reserve judgement on all this until the whole show has aired and we know exactly what we’re working with, because maybe they’ll redeem themselves! (one can only hope)

Let me also just make it clear that I in no way support or endorse attacking the actors for their portrayal of these characters in a way that we’re not entirely happy with. They’re just doing their job, they’re on Marvel’s payroll – and even if they just don’t personally view the characters in the same way we do, that’s valid and fine as long as they’re not actively homophobic or anything like that. I also realise that fandom has a tendency to ‘demand’ certain things they want to see and throw a tantrum if we don’t get it. 

But I really don’t think that’s what this is. It’s more than that. Marvel has a notoriously bad track record when it comes to LGBT representation (although they’re working on that in the next phase, apparently) and in this day and age, that really won’t fly anymore (it never did of course, but you know what I mean). Moreover, read any given article about Bucky, or the relationship between Steve and Bucky, and 8 out of 10 times you’ll find some sort of acknowledgment of a romantic reading of it. It’s that apparent and pervasive. So I don’t think that being disappointed and frustrated with Marvel/Disney reinforcing a ‘just bros being bros’ reading of Steve and Bucky’s relationship time and time again since the end of Civil War (the movie, not the historical event) is outrageous or unjustified. That’s basically what I’m sick and tired of, and what led me to make a disparaging comment about not being surprised if Bucky were being ‘straightened out’ again.

P.s. A few people have mentioned Arnie Roth too, which could be a good point too although I don’t know enough about it to comment on it, but I’ll leave it to you.

[aesopsbaby]

hey there again! it's been a while! but since valentine's day is right around the corner may I ask your ocs, what's their opinion on this event? (valentine's day) do they think it's sweet? or just a complete wait of time??

bonus question!!

if they can spend or was force on a date on valentine who would their date be~?? *insert lenny face*

(it can be a canon character that you sees fit, it can also be one of your ocs OR your mutual friend's ocs! but also feel free to not answer this question if you don't want to of course!! <:3 )

Ouhh! I have quite a number of ocs,,,but I won't put them all here--(Unless you want me to for a specific character!)

Nathan: "Valentines..? ...I guess it's sweet. I wished I could've spent it with... nevermind.."

He finds that it is thoughtful! He sees Valentines as a day where not only is it for couples ,he sees it as a day for friends to spent together as well <3

Meztli: "Hm? What?~ You tryna ask me out?"

He thinks it's a waste of time. However! If you were to present him with a box of chocolate or any sweet related items,,,he still won't go on a date with you. Lol. He'll just take the box and leave.

Elios: "Valentines is great! But if I see one more couple being lovely infront of me again,I will not hesistate to cry at them violently."

He finds it adorable really! But his eye twitches everytime couples start being cute with each other right infront of his eyes.

Zalgø: "Huhh?? Don't bore me with that..stuff! I've got better things to do."

Finds it meaningless. But gets flustered if someone genuinely likes him and is willing to spend time with him,like,really wants to spend time with him without getting anything in return.

Emrys: "A..ah.. Valentines? Uhm..its sweet! Hopefully I'll get something from someone this time..! Haha..all the other times were just.."pranks".. Heh.."

He absolutely loves valentine's! Even though he always gets played,he still holds hope for this special occasion.

Zane: "No. I see any couples and it's on SIGHT. I will throw rocks at them. I could care less."

He's salty that he's alone. If he can't have love,no one can-

Yandere OC: "Why do you ask,sunshine?~ Do you want me to get you something? A plush toy? Chocolates? A finger of the person you hate? A ring?"

-Doesn't have any opinions on it. He just uses this day as an excuse to gaslight/guiltrip the darling to go out with him and have fun!

---------

I'll just do for one character right now for your second question,,, I will do this with only my own ocs! If you wanna ship my ocs with anyone else,do feel free to do so! <3

If Nathan had to choose someone to spend valentines with,it would be Elios. ♡

Zane being forced to go on a date with Sylvester = A fire will happen. All hell breaks loose. The both of them will end up on the news--