#tomie chapter 8

[anisaanisa]

“Time passed. Memories grew soft. Then an event occurred that the villagers could not so easily ignore.”

Tomie | 富江 | Waterfall Basin (1995) by Junji Itō ☆

[one-vivid-judgment]

If something happens to Ei-chan (and by that I mean, he gets killed OR is secretly evil, RGG we've had this convo before) I'm dropping everything and becoming a hermit in the mountains 🥰🥰

[transhawks]

So, uh, just reread "chapter"all it takes is one bad day" and does Twice have pure white pupils and irises like AFO supposedly does? Like, I haven't seen any clear official art of his eyes, but in the one back cover of him they look like they're pure white?

At this point I'm just going to have to make an entire essay on how we should be reading Japanese media with an understanding of cultural and class markers. No, Jin does not have the same eyes or similar eyes to AFO. Yes, there's connections with Jin and AFO but that's another topic. 1. AFO's eye color hasn't been really confirmed aside from that one WSJ cover that implies they can be clear and white. 2. That's not what the "something about my eyes rubs people the wrong way" means. This is what I mean about the cultural context being missing from most of us Western-readers and how we just don't get reading the manga with no guide to explain small details to us. I also wish Jin was just popular so I don't feel like I'm the only one in the fandom yammering about the ridiculous amount of depth he has as a character and in his storyline. First off, Jin's eyes are sunken in, his features abnormally "chiseled" and rough for an anime character. By the time we meet him he looks like he's had a hard life but we also find out in flashbacks he always kind of looked like that.

He's unkempt - stubbled, has the sunken eyes and dark eyebags the villains are generally drawn with. He smokes, drinks, wears a wife beater, has no eyebrows, and used to ride a motorcycle. All these things are a red flag. This is where "you really need to be familiar with Japanese media before you read BNHA" comes in, Jin, while drawing from several different Western comic characters (John Constantine, Deadpool, Rorschach), is also neatly fitting into the yanki and bosuzoku (sorta) trope. Or Japanese delinquents. What throws people "off" is the lack of eyebrows. Yanki are traditionally portrayed with no eyebrows. This link here explains that at sight a delinquent can be identified with shaved eyebrows. This is why so many villainous or rough characters are eyebrowless. It's like the Japanese equivalent of giving villains twirly mustaches and goatees - something about the imagery of that already implies villain in our minds, whereas the lack of eyebrows implies delinquent/criminal in the Japanese cultural imagination (in modern day settings. Heian-era eyebrow-lessness is a different story/class marker).

He's also blonde, or "chapatsu" which is also another "Delinquent" trope in Japan - many delinquents in the 70s-90s bleached their hair to this yellow or orange color (hence "cha" which obviously means tea/chai). Japanese schools are infamously awful at allowing for self-expression to the point where naturally brown-haired students can be forced to dye their hair, and chapatsu hair was a marker of a rebellious/delinquent student. Twice isn't the only one who Horikoshi uses this trope for. Tomura, for example, really had the "up to no good" look early on even if I think he's more of a homebody.

You know who else?

Huh, interesting, given Takami's a murderous professional career thief alcoholic. Wait a minute, wasn't Jin was one of the greatest Japanese thieves until his accident, I wonder exactly what Horikoshi meant by making Thief Takami have a similarly unkempt appearance, rough rugged facial features, and barely any brows? Wait -

Something to understand is that we've gotten information from Yoco Akiyama in TUM about how the main manga's design process works and apparently the facial feature consistency is really important for the artists. Thus the fact Keigo's parents were designed with: 1. Rough, sunken features (Thief & Jin) 2. Unkempt facial fair (Thief & JIn) 3. Deep eyebags (Jin & Tomie) 4. Similarly disordered filthy homes (Takami fam & Jin) 5. Beer Bottles lying around everywhere (Takami fam & Jin) 6. Small, beady eyes with little pupils (Takami Fam & Jin) 7. Grey-Blue Eyes (Tomie & Jin) 8. Clear mental instability (Tomie & Jin) Was absolutely intentional. For all that we see Keigo's parents, Horikoshi knowingly designed them to resemble Jin. Again, Jin was Keigo's villain to save. Keigo was Jin's hero. Keigo failed because we needed a character to fail to save "their villain". Both Keigo and Jin have clear working-class background and criminal class markers. These things tie them together, these marginalized identifications make their relationship something that should have worked. If we want an in-universe reason for Keigo's focus on Jin, it's absolutely true he likely (subconciously) saw his parents superficially reflected in Jin, and decided to "save" him because he was unable to save his parents. Of course, that was not only presumptuous, it was also wrong because Jin is not a stand-in for Keigo's parents (and unlike them is a decent person). Anyway, yeah, no Jin's design/looks made him look like a "thug" to people in his community. That's why he had issues and that's what his comment meant. People's biases about people who look like Twice made him just get...away less. If someone "looks like a thug" you will try to make connections that justify that bias. That's why things like his motorcycle accident hurt him so much. He was uneducated, likely a middle-school dropout, fired from a job, had a record and had "bad vibes". Who'd hire him? Can you understand why Jin was doomed into having to survive as a criminal? Society decided he was meant to fail years before he did fail. So much of BNHA is about people falling into traps of pre-determined outcomes. Jin's tragically so.

[runicmagitek]

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A collection of standalone ficlets for @whumptober , featuring alternate scenes and what-if scenarios. Chapter-specific CWs/tags are listed in notes. Individual chapter links listed below.

scan() Miyuki finally comes back online. (Miyuki)

Day 1: race against the clock | search party | panic attack | "If only we could hold on."

firewall() Yuki has learned too much. (Yuki, Aiba)

Day 2: trust issues | "You got away with the crime while the knife's in my back."

memory() Same shit, different lifetimes. (2188!Natsuno, 2188!Yuki, Natsuno, Yuki)

Day 3: set up for failure | "I warned you."

copy() Chihiro isn't alone. (Chihiro x2)

Day 4: hallucinations | sensory deprivation | "You're still alive in my head."

overheat() It was supposed to be a quick research trip. (Tamao, Ei, Iori, Gouto)

Day 5: sun burn | heatstroke | "If my pain will stretch that far."

delimiter() Nenji said he didn't give a shit about his limits. (Tomi, Nenji)

Day 6: not realizing they're injured | unhealthy coping mechanisms | "It's not my blood."

quarantine() The infection reaches the space colony. (2188!Takatoshi, 2188!Izumi, 2188!Ei, 2188!Natsuno)

Day 7: only for emergencies | "It's us or them."

hibernate() The only one way to stop the nightmares. (Shu, Juro, Iori)

Day 8: sleep deprivation | forced to stay awake | "Leave the lights on."

reimage() Ida must bring her back to life. (Ida, Tomi)

Day 9: obsession | broken window | bruises | "Frame me up on the wall, just to keep me out of trouble."

overload() Juro knew the risks when piloting a Sentinel. (Juro)

Day 10: blow to the head | passing out from pain | "I can't think straight."

delete() Ryoko must destroy every trace of him. (Ryoko, Ida, Shu)

Day 11: seeing double | loneliness | "Leave no trace behind, like you don't even exist."

batteryreport() Natsuno can't hold out for much longer. (Natsuno, BJ, Yuki)

Day 12: starvation | "Just a little more."

lock() Everyone was eager to return to the simulation. (Ei)

Day 13: team as a family | familial curse | multiple whumpees | "Death will do us part."

taskkill() He's taking his sweet precious time killing her. (2188!Morimura, 2188!Ei)

Day 14: left for dead | blackmail | "Because I want you to know what it feels like to be haunted."

buffer() Juro is late to dinner. (2188!Megumi, 2188!Juro)

Day 15: childhood trauma | painful hug | moment of clarity | "I did good, right?"

cut() Keitaro pushes himself too far. (Keitaro, Natsuno)

Day 16: necrosis | wound cleaning | "No, I can't feel anything."

missingBIOS() They won the battle, but… (Takatoshi, Tomi, Iori, Gouto)

Day 17: nowhere else to go | shipwrecked | "We had a good run."

chgusr() Megumi will bring back Juro. (Megumi, Juro, Fluffy)

Day 18: revenge | unreliable narrator | loss of identity | "I see what's mine and take it."

reboot() When everything goes dark. (Iori)

Day 19: one way out | "Is there anybody alive out there?"

accept() Miwako can't do this anymore. (Miwako, Iori, Tomi, Gouto)

Day 20: emotional angst | shoulder to cry on | giving permission to die | "It's not your fault."

malware() He refused to go down without a fight. (1la!Takatoshi, Okino)

Day 21: body horror | spirit possession | "Let the bedsheet soak up the tears."

diagnostic() He promised it wouldn't hurt. (Okino, Keitaro)

Day 22: bleeding through bandages | reopening wounds | "Oh that's not good."

shutdown() Everything he did was for her. (Morimura, Izumi)

Day 23: forced choice | public display | broken pedestal | "I'm doing this for you."

recursion() Over 300 loops cause technical difficulties. (Gouto)

Day 24: collapsed building | equipment failure | "I never knew daylight could be so violent."

CAPTCHA() They shouldn't be here. They should be dead. (BJ, 1la!Tamao)

Day 25: surgery | being monitored | "It's for your own good."

cache() She's sick of not knowing, but also of remembering. (Ryoko)

Day 26: nightmares | breakfast table | parting words of regret | "I'm haunted by the lies that I have loved, the actions I have hated."

mute() After a while, Ida just does it for fun. (Izumi, Ida)

Day 27: voiceless | laboratory | "I have no mouth and I must scream."

decrypt() Keitaro discovers Morimura's secret. (Keitaro, Ei - 2188)

Day 28: denial | CCTV | exposure | "They caught me red-handed."

overclock() It's happening again. And again. (Nenji, Tomi, Takatoshi, Okino)

Day 29: fatigue | labyrinth | burnout | "Who said you could rest?"

chkdsk() Natsuno goes missing again. (Natsuno, Keitaro, Yuki)

Day 30: recovery | hospital bed | holding back tears | "What have I done?"

safemode() At least the worst is over. (Tamao)

Day 31: asking for help | making amends | "I'm alive, I'm just not well."

[maxverstappensflatbrim]

Show Me Yours | Matty Healy [8]

chapter eight, act two: anobrain

masterlist

A/N- because I'm so nice (I'm bored and tired of revising for my Lit exam), I've decided to publish the first chapter a day early, second chapter will be out tomorrow enjoy your reading! -Mac <3

1st January 2013

There’s a consistent knock on her bedroom door making her groan and sit up.

She’s still in her outfit from the party last night, there’s a bra that doesn;t belong to her on the end of her bed, about eight empty bottles of all different kinds of drinks.

She kicks her foot out hearing a groan and apologises quietly looking down at Ross who lays across the foot of her bed, his hand holding onto a leg, and as she peers over the end of the bed she finds Adam passed out on the floor.

“What the fuck?”

“Ow.” Ross groans again, letting go of Adam causing him to fall to the floor.

“What the hell happened?”

“I feel like I’m in The Hangover.” Ross mutters into her dinosaur stuffed animal he’s stolen and had claimed at the bottom of her bed.

Adam lifts himself up, climbing under the blankets and pulling them over his head.

The door opens, Matty grinning as he runs to jump on top of Adam, George groans as he follows, sitting in the chair at her desk and falling asleep the moment he lays his head on his folded arms.

“The albums out! It’s out! The album is out!” Matty yells grabbin Adam’s shoulders and shaking, “Hann! Hann! Get up!”

He starts jumping up and down on the bed until Tomie grips his ankle and tugs him flat on his face, “It’s out, it’s out.”

He giggles tugging her into his chest, kissing all over her face, then he grips Ross face planting a big long kiss on his lips and tackling him onto the floor.

“Ow.” Ross simply says in a monotone voice.

Matty tackles Adam next, bringing him up on the bed, when Tommie tries to slip away she’s dragged in by Adam, who then drags Ross back up, feeling left out, George stands and belly flops onto the top of them all.

“Finally.” Matty whispers into them all.

“We actually did it.”

“We made it.”

“Not yet.”

The four boys slowly lift their head to look at her and she shrugs at the looks she receives, “I mean, we still have to get reviews, see if it’s on the charts, hear it on-”

Matty’s hand slaps over her mouth to stop her from talking, “We did it, guys!”

⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡ ⋆

January 22nd 2013

“Ready?” Matty pops his head around the corner and she looks behind herself with a nod as she tries to tie off the little plate she’s doing.

He watches her struggle to untrap the one piece of hair for a few seconds then gives up and walks over, taking her frustrated hands in his own and then tugging free the stray hairs.

She nods, “Thanks.”

He says nothing, just grabs her hat from the bed and passes it to her allowing her to pull it on.

She stands in her room, looking at herself in the mirror that Ross had put up on the wall for her a few days ago, brushing her hands down over the jeans she’s wearing and checking her top before she allows him to silently guide her out of the room.

“Ross and George are with Adam, you’re riding with me.”

“I’m supposed to be riding with Adam.”

Matty shrugs, “They were waiting outside ready, told them to go ahead.”

“But, I-”

Matty shrugs, grabbing her bag off her shoulder for her, his own in his other hand as he pushes the door closed for her to lock behind them. “I’m not that bad a driver am I?”

“No.”

He nods to himself at her curt reply and watches her shove her keys into her pocket before grabbing her bag from him and walking ahead. 

Matty doesn’t know how to describe the past few weeks. He wants to use the word tense, but there’s been no real tension between them.

They talk, share stories, joints, smiles, laughs, there’s just something that’s missing.

She silently sits in the passenger seat as they set off to Newcastle for their performance later that night, it’s early, five thirty, still dark out.

“First gig of the new album.”

She leans forward to turn the radio on, turning it up at a volume that clearly states no talking and she nods to himself turning forward again.

He sighs, trying to remain quiet, eyes flickering between the road, his mirrors and her.

He seems to focus longer on her, he can’t help it. It’s killing him, this new dynamic but he understands it.

He has a girlfriend, she’s trying to see things from Gemma’s perspective.

He knows he’d tell her to stay away from a relationship if the guy was too close to his best friend too, he knows what that means.

But he thought they weren’t like that. This foolish hiding behind the ‘we’re best friends act’.

His fingers have been drumming a beat on the steering wheel for a while, eyes flickering so fast between Tommie and the road that he’s given himself a headache.

Sighing he shakes his head and reaches for the radio, turning it down so it’s almost a whisper.

“Can we… can we just stop for a second?”

“We’ve barely been on the road thirty minutes, Healy, I told you to go before we left.” 

“No, I mean,” He sighs, one hand lifting from the wheel to brush though his curls, “Stop this thing between us.”

“What thing?”

“That thing.”

She shakes her head and watches his hands tighten, “I get it, you know, and I appreciate that you’re trying to make Gemma feel more at home in the group,” She tries not to show her distaste of that sentence show, “But, it makes me feel bad.”

He shakes his head, “That came out wrong.”

Again he sighs, “You’re my best mate, Baby. I couldn’t have done any of this without you, none of us could. I want to celebrate it with you. But, you’re- just, you, uh, I-”

“Shut up.”

She leans closer to the dash and he furrows his brows, “No, Tommie, I think we should talk about this. Gemma said something and I just-”

“No, Roddy, shh-”

“Tommie, I’m trying-”

“Shut up!”

She hits his hand when he tries to stop her from fiddling with the radio again.

‘And don’t call it a spade if it isn’t a spade, in nothing but your t-shirt on-’

“Holy shit!”

He slams the breaks on, both of them stopping in the middle of a random country lane between Manchester and Leeds.

He turns to her, both of their eyes wide, “We’re on the radio!”

“Holy shit, Roddy, we’re on the radio!”

“Call the guys, call them, call them!”

It takes a few rings for George to pick up, and he’s a little groggy as he does, “Hel-”

“Turn radio one on.”

“What?”

“Turn it on!”

They hear him grumble and mutter the radio station to Ross who turns it over, ‘you know where the city is, the city is-’

“Oh my god!”

Adam laughs loudly as the other two start cheering, “We’re on the fuckign radio mate!”

“We’re on the radio.”

Tommie laughs turning to look at Matty’s who’s already staring at her, “Hey, do you guys-”

Matty doesn’t hear the rest of George’s question, he’s gripped both of her cheeks and brought her lips to his.

“Matty? Mate? You still with us?”

Matty doesn’t answer, eyes on Tommie who looks anywhere but at him, “Yeah, we’re still here, G.”

“McDonalds? Next service station.”

“Yeah, uh, we’ll meet you there now in a minute.” She says, still feeling a little breathless.

“Alright.”

She hangs up, the song has changed, some shitty pop song she’s never heard before plays throughout the car and Matty reaches forward to turn it down.

“Tommie, I-”

“Drive.”

taglist

@thereisaplaceintheheart

@indierockgirrl

@sofaritsalrightt

@julezs-bl0g

(Been having trouble with the tag list so sorry if it’s not working)

[lelouch]

Re; chapter 8, illustrated by Tomy Ogasawara

[keythekeythekey]

Saint Rosalind

Manga recommendation 💐

Saint Rosalind" is two volume shoujo horror series from 70s. Written and illustrated by Watanabe Masako

The story follows little Rosalind. 8 year old girl with angelic beauty who's aunt just died in a tragic accident. Rosalind got aunt's beautiful clock and called it her treasure. The thing is that there is something special about this little girl. Rosalind never lies. There is also one other special thing about her.

Wherever she goes, death seems to follow.

It just so happens that whatever Rosalind wants, she gets yet owners of those "treasures" seem to always meet tragic fate.

Oh boy, I wanted to talk about this manga for EVER.

It's extremely intriguing and just sucks you in. In just two volumes, so much happens.

I think what makes it so special is that it combines grotesque and gory themes with emotional story telling of shoujo manga. Which ends up really engaging you with the characters and creates this kind of mystery of what can happend next.

"Saint Rosalind" has also a lot of religious themes, Christian to be exact. Till the end you are not sure whether the story was that of supernatural or not. It's really up to your interpretation whether the story was that of a demon or something more human... or at least human shaped.

Something that can be either the biggest turn off or just the reason of what drove you to it is this classis shoujo artstyle. For me of course it was a plus.

Like I said I think what really makes this series so good to read is it's shoujo inclinations that elevate the mood of the story. Little sparkles that show up set the mood of shock yet mystery at the same time. I think Rosalid with her sparkly eyes and long eyelashes that at times hide her eyes really add to the horror.

Some other titles of horror shoujo you might wanna know are: "Pet shop of horrors", "Hell girl" or "Screaming lessons"

(and yes I am deliberately not talking about "Tomie" here since that's something that pretty much almost anyone is already familiar with)

It's hard for me to truly sell the hook of "Saint Rosalind" without going into specific chapters of this manga but I think you will get what I mean after reading just one chapter. And if that won't be enough I will just say that if you like horrors about dolls i think you will have fun with this one as well. Similar vibes that's all.

[honoringthehorrific]

I watched Junji Ito Maniac: Tales of the macabre and here's what I thought of each episode 2/3

Here's Part 2 to my review on Junji Ito's new netflix anime! As always Spoilers under the cut Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Review

Continuing on with what i thought of each episode...

Episode 5: Long Hair In the attic Cont. Long hair in the attic, I remember this story and it's always felt sorta...Sad to me? From the way the episode starts and we see them interact it's really depressing...She obviously cared about this man but he seems to toss her out like there's no issue at all. One thing I really noticed was how they draw blood in this one, It looks really nice. However I think Chiemi's head isn't as pretty when depicted in the anime as it was in the manga however the scraping sounds are definitely more cringe-worthy when you actually get to hear them. Episode 7: Tomb Town I believe this one is actually based on the new translation from VIZ Media, Which as of writing this isn't out yet. I haven't read an online scantlation of it but I was fairly excited to see what it was about going in! The story is actually really interesting to me? I thought it would be sort of boring but...It was really enthralling. The twist was wild to me! The use of 3D for the corpse was actually more interesting to me than the use of it for scenery like cars!

Episode 8: Layers of Fear; The Thing That Drifted Ashore A story I've not read. Surprised yet? I'm not. One thing I thought was neat was seeing the iconic layered image in the doctors office! I've seen images of this manga online. I think the concept of someone having skin line a tree or an onion is kinda cool! The image of the peel was sort of cool but at the same time the thought is painful. I remember i had skin on my foot one time that peeled up but it was so deep...It made me think of that time and it made me cringe. the image of her dragging the blade down her skin...This whole scene was vile and made my skin crawl and my stomach turn I think this was one of the best moments of the series so far. Again with the thing that drifted ashore i felt i had read this one before? However that may have just been the feeling of gyo. Another interesting thing is Tadashi is the name of the protagonist from gyo. Nothing else interested me much aside from the idea of human beings potentially being like parasites.

Episode 9: Tomie: Photo I was most ecstatic for this episode! Tomie is a special interest of mine. My wife loves Tsukiko's character so we were both highly critical coming into this episode. They were worried about Tsukiko's voice as they had seen Demon Slayer and heard her voice actress play Nezuko but we were both surprised by the deeper voice acting the actress did for the character as it was always the sort of manner we imagined the character would speak in. Another thing I'm happy about is how this series seems to be taking Tomie almost in order (Skipping the chapter Basement)! First Tomie, then Morita hospital and now we get chapter 4 Photograph! I can't help but hope for another part or even Tomie to get its own anime but for now I was thrilled with this chapter of Tomie's animated story given both My wife and I had qualms with Tsukiko's strange redesign? Her grown out buzz/pixie cut is swapped with a side swept one? As well as her eyebrows being much thicker than remembered initially... I was also mildly off put by how Tomie's voice changed between series? It's still Monica Rial but she's changed how she speaks for the character. It's deeper for some reason? Which while not a bad change still a strange one to me. One of the most disappointing changes in my wife's opinion was the lack of a willy wonka shirt. (RIP tsukiko's willy wonka t-shirt) I also kind of hated that they seemed to cut certain parts or lines? I know that they have to mind time but they miss the scuffle at the door when tsukiko goes to join her mother. They also miss getting to see tsukiko's mother's face as well as learning her father is in the military and at his post. Small details that feel..Like they just flesh out tomie's universe more. While the episode is very nearly shot for shot there's a lot that changed (To someone like me who is...a little obsessed <3) There's almost too many changes to over look.

Part 1 / Part 3 / Review

[nilesmoon]

Hi, I loved your post about the family vacation with Ichi and Sawashiro. And I'll just say that I didn't have a problem with Sawashiro's role in IW... until the very last second. Because they get a freaking helicopter for Kiryu, but no one even went to look if Sawashiro was ok?? They just leave him in the chair while tending to Kiryu. BOTH of them are dying.

Like holy shit, Ichi would have gone to him in a second. He would have stopped Ebina's monologue instead of just standing there without even knowing if he was alive or not. That was for me the most disrespectful moment. I loved how Ichi believed in him at the beginning of Chapter 10, and then I was expecting some kind of reunion at the end but he f*cks off to Hawaii, not even a "Please save the Captain" to Kiryu or anything. That's what made me the most mad

I really hope they pay us off in Y9, he better come back with a cool eyepatch and join the party

Omg I didn't really expect anyone to read that post let alone get an ask about it but I'm so glad that you loved it!! And huge same if he's not coming back as a party member or dying in a meaningful way, there's no point bringing that asshole back.

Me, being the Arakawa family tragedy enjoyer that I am, was overjoyed to see Sawashiro back for 8 and while he did have a few banger moments, the ending really did ruin it all for me. Me bitching abt it under the cut bc I need to puke out my anger Somewhere

Like I keep going back to think about how Ebina calls Ichi, tells him that he's got a bone to pick with him, tells him that he's holding Sawashiro captive bc what better bait to dangle in front of Ichi than the possibility of someone he cares for getting hurt??? And lets be real here the rest of the cast has no reason whatsoever to care about Sawashiro other than him being someone important to Ichi. (I think Tomi says something like 'i dont know this guy but if he's being used as bait he's gotta be important to you' iirc)

Then Kiryu walks in and is like "leave Ebina to me" bc Ebina's plotline is suddenly something personal Kiryu has to deal with??? (my feelings about kiryu being a protag in this game is a whole diff can of worms that I wont open rn but keep in mind how its mostly negative) So Ichi leaves that to him and doesn't really state what he's feeling about all the new info that gets dropped on him (this could be a 'Ichi putting others above himself' moment but i still hate it bc whats the point of Ebina's '''plot twist''' if Ichi was not even a part of it????)

And my god Sawashiro at that last scene. I think my live reaction of that scene is still on twitter where I just bitch for an hour. Even before the scene happened I was like "If they kill Sawashiro without Ichi present it'd make no sense. just like how killing Hanawa without Kiryu present was a Bad Choice".

When that chair turned... I think I tuned out the rest of Ebina's monologue bc I kept thinking the same 3 things: 1. none of this would've happened if sawashiro came with me to hawaii, 2. there's absolutely no reason for this to happen with This Cast (i dont think they even react outside of gasping or something) and 3. when will this masato clone wanna-be shut the fuck up so I can beat his face in (One thing I'll give to that chair scene was how it was a direct parallel to Hoshino's corpse. I think it was a very sexy thing rgg did.)

And then they're like "look!! he's not dead!!!" but at that point I was not sure if that was a 'last words' or a 'he's still alive!' moment. and I'm gonna be honest I Still Do Not know bc just like you said anon, NOONE DOES ANYTHING ABOUT HIM??? (nor about ebina for that matter) AND THEN THERES NO FOLLOW UP WHATSOEVER????? and all this makes me see it as sequel bait tbh

and I'm not even going into how he doesnt even get to meet Akane again. Thats a whole other topic on its own and I think I already typed out enough lol.

[lairn]

Ask game: 1, 2, 3, 4, 20:D

:D

Your top 5 reads of 2023 Answered this one, but I'll elaborate a little: Hikaru no Go: I'm a sucker for sports/game stories when they keep the game play relatively grounded and focus on realistic efforts people take to improve. All the character work is very solid too, and the story arc about grief and loss makes me cry. Inside Mari: I was uneasy to read this one because of its subject matter, but I thought it handled things in a successful way. I'm always in love with this author's art style (see question 3) and even though I thought some of the ending was weak, the story was still good. Dungeon Meshi: I did not like the beginning much, but as the characters fleshed out and the world grew, I became much more impressed. I like the art style and I like the comedy. I haven't quite finished it yet. Blue Period: This comic does a good job capturing what it's like to engage with art through academics and the tension between art as expression and everything else art can be. I like the diverse character designs. Chainsaw Man: The anime dragged me back in to the comic. I reread part 1 last year and have been sticking with the updates to part 2 fairly regularly. There's just something compelling and sad about the protagonists. And a little action and silliness is fun too.

2. A series you'll keep up with next year Chainsaw Man, Kekkaishi, The Summer Hikaru Died, Kaiju No. 8 (maybe)

3. Your author of the year Shuzo Oshimi. I read Inside Mari, Blood on the Tracks, and reread Happiness. This author always deals with dark, sad subjects, but often pulls out uplifting aspects of humanity even as he is breaking people down. I love his art. Every time he stops using midtones I get so excited, haha.

4. An underrated gem This is tough. I feel like I read some underrated gems last year (anything by Taiyo Matsumoto). The one I'm picking isn't really a gem, just more of a manga I haven't mentioned yet: Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun. The art is okay and the story is okay. But the protagonist is sweet. I haven't looked at it in months, but I could still see picking it up again when I want something cheerful that scratches a specific itch. I think what I like about it is that in a world of demons, the human Iruma has a power-creep trajectory that still feels attached to him being a human.

20. Drop your 2024 reading list 💗 Ones I've paused that I mean to finish: Goodnight Punpun, Dungeon Meshi, The Land of the Lustrous (if I can tough out the despair), Dorohedoro, To Your Eternity (if I can get through without crying every 10 chapters)

Ones I want to reread: Our Dreams at Dusk, Ajin, A Silent Voice, Mob Psycho 100 (waiting for all the books to publish in English), Homunculus

New Reads: Flowers of Evil, Tomie (and other Ito works), Sunny, The Book of Human Insects, Solanin

Always open to recommendations!

[babygurltash]

Ten Random Lines Tag

Thank you so much for the tag @sillyliterature ~!

Rules: Pick any ten of your fics, scroll to the midpoint, pick a line (or three) and share it. Then tag ten people.

I'm gonna split this randomly between published and unpublished fics~

empty hourglass (Fire Emblem, Ikesoren)

The light from the fire dances on Ike’s face, highlighting his features in a striking way. Soren barely pushes down the urge to reach out and touch him. That would cross a line; he’s better off watching from the sidelines, only watching, wanting but not acting.

2. 'til the stars evaporate (Mass Effect, Shrios)

The salty water climbs up her throat, and she keeps one hand free with all her might. Thane’s hand closes around hers, and she stares up into his face, her own deep fear mirrored in his features. This can’t be it, it can’t, she fought so hard to get here, she can’t be saying goodbye to him again, not like this, not now-

3. Home (No.6, Nezushi)

“He’s coming back.” Shion speaks before Inukashi can. They have to look at him to confirm that it’s actually Shion speaking; the voice sounded much too calm to be coming from him. Shouldn’t you be upset? they want to ask.

4. Wire (Fire Emblem 3 Houses, Edeleth)

“El,” says Byleth, “we’re married . It’s hardly embarrassing to dream about your own wife .”

As quickly as that, the blush is back again. “Byleth, please.”

“I can’t help it. You make it so easy.” Byleth finally stops laughing, though a broad grin still lingers on her face, warm and inviting. Edelgard steps over and puts a hand on her waist.

5. Thalassophobia (Mass Effect, Shepley, gift fic for my partner)

EDI considers for a moment. "I see. I will alter my programming to reflect this new knowledge. Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Williams."

"Sure thing," says Ashley. The two of them stand side by side for a moment before she adds: "And you don't need to add the title every time. We're crewmates."

6. Chasing Daylight (Fire Emblem 3 Houses, Black Eagles genfic)

In the dock, Edelgard and Byleth hit the floor side by side. Edelgard pulled the helmet off her head and took a deep breath. She was still alive, and so was Byleth - somehow, they’d made it. Now all they had to do was survive going through the center of a black hole.

7. Nowhere Bound, chapter 2 (Dragon Age, Hawkebela)

“Things have been in constant motion these past three days. Sailing this ship has kept us all busy.”

“You can say that again,” she says. “I think Isabela actually likes making us run around like this.”

Fenris snorts. “I agree.”

8. Like a page from a storybook (Miraculous Ladybug, Ladrien)

“It’s an honor, Prince Adrien.”

“Likewise, Lady…?” Prince Adrien’s eyes twinkled as he waited for her to give him her name. Ladybug panicked.

“Bug.”

“Lady Bug?”

“Yes, that’s right."

9. And you twist the knife (13 Sentinels, MeguTomi)

Above it all, one thing, one name keeps floating to the surface, haunting her like a bad dream that doesn't fade with the daylight:

Tomi.

Tomi, who had been her best and only friend for so long. Who, in spite of all the loss they'd both experienced, had never turned away from who she is or what she believes in. That's the Tomi that Megumi has betrayed.

10. distant ripples (Mass Effect, Shrios)

"I miss you," she says out loud, shattering the silence for just a moment. The weight of her own words settles on her shoulders. "I miss you so, so much."

Tagging: @jotarowan @megatraven @vespersposts @missydiabolical @ocean-in-my-rebel-soul @flatescardos @ahhhnorealnamesallowed and anyone else who feels like doing this, feel free to say I tagged you :D

[mierukami]

TW : this manga is very explicit. I highly advise that if you have not had any experience or prior knowledge of the ero-guro (erotic grotesque) and yaoi genres to NOT READ THIS MANGA. I very much liked reading this short horror story of a retelling of the creating of Frankenstein. Litchi Hikari Club does everything it should do for a series of the ero-guro and yaoi (even tho it takes just some pages) genres, and more. It's shocking, twisted, and leaves such an impact (the final chapter comes to mind instantly) it's near unforgettable. As I've said before though, if you're not interested in a series built on violence and lewdicity, you may want to check out something else. The gore is drawn equally as well. It's intense, enough to make any fan of horror and the grotesque look away (but then they'll have to look back again, it's so painstakingly drawn to detail.) If you need a good scare, a devious plot, or just want to look at some great artwork, Litchi Hikari Club is the manga to pick up. It's a guilty pleasure that's worth the time. ______ *Manga : Litchi Hikari Club (1vol, 9 chaps) *MAL rating : 7.26\10 | *My rating : 8\10 *MAL synopsis : By day, Hiroyuki Tsunekawa is an average student at Keikou Middle School, a dreary all-boys school in an industrial town. When the school day ends, however, Hiroyuki becomes "Zera," the enigmatic, beauty-obsessed emperor of the cult-like Hikari Club. For the past year, the Hikari Club has been creating an intelligent humanlike robot which runs on the lychee fruit, for the purpose of kidnapping beautiful girls. However, when the robot—named "Litchi"—finally brings back a girl, the Hikari Club begins to fall into disarray. As Zera becomes increasingly obsessed with executing those who betray him, the club's numbers begin to thin. As the remaining members begin to rebel and Litchi . . . . . . . . . . . . 🔖 : #goremanga #manga #horrormanga #gore #anime #horror #junjiito #goreanime #horroranime #mangagore #mangapanel #goreart #mangaart #animegore #mangaaesthetic #mangacap #guro #gorecore #tomie #mangaka #senpai #goreaesthetic #seinenmanga #horrorart #junjiitocollection #guroart #yaoi #seinen #berserk #mangahorror https://www.instagram.com/p/ColSWstIqRv/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[manga-meow]

[ifeelalot]

[faux-ee]

The possibility of Dabihawks linked past: yes i’m still not over it

Now that chapter 350’s out, the dabihawks childhood friends theory is pretty much dead - or is it really? They might not be friends in the past but I’m 70% sure there is some kind of connection beyond just parallels as narrative foils.

Toga is Uraraka’s narrative foil - Hori said he made Toga for Uraraka, after all - but we don’t often see their childhood being presented side to side, right? Yet every time we see a little bit of Todoroki Touya’s past, we also see a piece of Takami Keigo’s story.

Warning: what ur about to read contains serious brainrot, a ton of overanalyses, and is probably the furthest from accurate. I’m just listing out my suspicions and guesses here, which has turned into rambling by this point. I’M SO SORRY.

Here are some unresolved questions about their arc:

Hawks’s “who are you” & almost calm expression at the Keigo Takami name drop

the infamous black bubble

How did Dabi find Hawks’s mom with only a C in intelligence (i’m sorry)

Scary men = Dabi’s thugs? Hawks’s mom leaving to stop causing him trouble, but to where?

Hawks’s dad: a thief or a serial robber & killer?

Name drop & the black bubble: One could argue that the “who are you” is just setting up for the Touya reveal, and I think that’s pretty much the case. But to really answer Hawks’s question, “Todoroki Touya” must be a person who has means to know Hawks’s name. Or at least knows that Tomie is Hawks’s mother.

Hawks’s face in that panel is almost…pacified? Calm? Curious? As if it’s not an alarming fact that his deadly enemy knows his dead name. Although it’s possible that it’s just how Keigo usually show emotions without that Wing Hero Hawks mask.

Some people see words in that black bubble, but there’s also a circle around those words, which makes it about 80% clear that it was just the speaker bubbles on the other side of the page. And even if “轰灯矢” or “endeavor’s son” is really what’s written underneath, the font is not big enough to warrant such a big bubble. It’s the lost piece in the puzzle - the explanation of why Todoroki Touya is someone that knows Hawks’s mom, knows where to look for his identity. And I think now Touya’s backstory is mostly revealed, we are about to know the full secret behind that black bubble.

Hawks went to his mother’s house, and thought the name was leaked from his mother after all since supposedly there’s no other person who knew his name & story - ok. But. Look at what he said before he was convinced that Dabi knew his name from his mother. “How did Dabi even go that far” “did Dabi use people for this” “Guess it was really my mom who leaked it” - like idk but it sounds like he’s not sure about this conclusion at all. Sounds like he has considered other possibilities but casted them aside when he saw his mom’s letter.

Speaking of the letter: the last time we saw a letter by someone who left was Izuku leaving UA. Would Hawks go look for his mother after the war arc is over, just like how 1-A has gone out to find Izuku? When Hawks was with the Todoroki family, he also expressed his regret not being able to save his own parents. Would we know the whole truth of how Dabi found her by then?

Takami the Thief was first brought up by the villain, Ending, so we know that the public knowledge about Takami didn’t go further than “car thief” - and why was it that Hawks’s dad’s true crimes needed to be hidden from public? What warranted the No.2 Hero Endeavor traveling across Japan to catch such a person?

Side note: When I first read Ending’s lines, I can’t help but notice how much his experience resembles that of Hawks - the capture of Thief Takami seemed to have endeared Endeavor to Ending in great ways, and then he claimed “7 years ago, I lost it, you caught me”(it’s also recent to when Touya burnt to death, which is 8 years ago), then it was shown that Endeavor remembered Ending and even recognized that he gave himself a villain name.

In his childhood flashbacks, Keigo and his mom were both seen wearing striped clothing which reminds me a lot of Ending’s clothing and quirk. — All I’m saying is that Ending probably had some connections with the Takami family, and it’s why the Takami case has been special to him. (A minor point is Hawks’s mom’s name, Tomie, which contains a character that means “to paint,” and Ending’s quirk is associated with the paint on the pavement.)

Dabi “dug out something” about Hawks’s past and came to the conclusion that he lived under constant influence of violence since his father was a serial robber & murderer, captured by Endeavor. But he didn’t bring up Takami the Thief on TV - hasn’t mention that name at all. Which means Takami Thief probably wouldn’t ring a bell in public ears, or else Dabi just had to say “Hawks’s father is the infamous Takami Thief” instead of prefacing it with all that. But Dabi made Takami’s crimes seem pretty serious, serious enough to stay in public memory - I mean, a serial killer captured by Endeavor himself, that gotta be one of Endeavor’s great victories worthy of remembrance, right? Is Dabi, idk, leaving Hawks some privacy over his name?

If dabihawks really have a linked past, when could they have come into contact before we saw them interact in canon?

Endeavor could have brought Touya along to Fukuoka when he arrested Takami the Thief, or Touya could’ve obtained that information on TV since he seemed adamant on watching every one of his father’s fights. Young Keigo told his father that his feathers sensed commotion in town, and that’s why he slipped out. It could be that he sensed the Heroes’ arrival in his living area.

When Touya was 12-13 and still attending school, Hawks was starting his training in the HPSC, presumably also in Mustafu - correct me if im wrong

Side note: we mostly assumed that Hawks would’ve never left HPSC during his training but what if that wasn’t the case?

During the early days Touya was wandering the streets, when his skin hadn’t required staples & he hadn’t dye his hair; Hawks was just starting his hero career.

Ok most of this is me obsessing over unimportant stuff. If u had read to here, u r an amazing human, i love u and im sorry for attacking ur eyes with my pointless ramblings. Anyways, if ur as invested in the childhood friends theory as I am, let’s not give up on the hope just yet <3

[kidhawks]

So I've been trying to figure out how old Keigo was when he was taken in by the HPSC. I think he was definitely younger than 13 but maybe closer to the 8-10 range. I feel like it was said in the manga too but I can't remember which chapter... any ideas?

so my estimate has always been a bit younger, maybe 6-7? i’m basing it off how hori draws other children which may not always be consistent but let’s be real this isn’t naruto and hori’s pretty good at drawing kids for the most part (i take a dig at naruto bc 5 year old kakashi looks like a fully formed 12 yr old)

first we have tenko who i believe is five. he looks younger than hawks so i’m putting hawks as older than five at least.

rounder face, chubbier arms, just a small baby boy. it’s hard to tell how big tenko is proportionately to adults though. he does seem to have more chub indicative of a younger child while hawks is a bit lankier, though this could be down to hawks eating less in poverty.

hawks’ arms are thinner if you look closely which suggests he’s an older kid who’s lost some baby fat... though in older chapters he does look fairly similar to tenko in round-ness so i’m willing to say they’re not far apart in age

next is eri who’s six/seven over the course of the manga. imo she looks very similar to hawks in size and proportions so my estimate puts him at no older than 7

same head to shoulders proportions! the largest difference is eye size; generally, bigger eyes = younger. however i theorise that eri’s eyes are just fuckin massive as part of her character design, a bit like deku.

finally, how tall are they next to adults?

about the same! mirio is 5’11” and we can assume that tomie (who hawks is standing next to, the commission men are closer to the foreground so they’re not a good frame of reference) as a woman is probably shorter than mirio. they both come up to hip-height on adults and while not all children are the same height at the same age, this is a good way of estimating that they’re not too far apart. remember that kids grow super quickly, so an 8-10 year old hawks would probably already be taller than eri.

irl, ten year olds are actually pretty lanky and tall already—when i was nine, i was taller than my own mother (who is a 4’9” asian woman but that’s besides the point). hawks in the flashbacks is still short and has a large head compared to his body which indicates that he’s definitely younger than ten and probably the same age as eri based on the fact that all their proportions line up.

so hawks was probably 6-7 when the commission took him.

thanks for coming to my ted talk