#toriko week

[mechanical-lesbian]

The Otherside Picnic Vol 6 experience

[argumentl]

My Dir en grey year in 2024!

I'm so very grateful😭🥰

January

✨Got new single 19990120

✨Attended 01/20 Anniversary live at Gorilla Hall, Osaka.

✨Visited Kaoru's panel display in Osaka.

✨Got 音楽と人 with that amazing Kaoru photoshoot.

February

✨Sent Kaoru a birthday message via TFOE, which was read out to him live on air! He said thank you 😍

✨Pined for, but did not attend Nagano Tora no ana 😭

March

✨Got questions published and answered in Haiiro no ginka.

✨Won the English Dir twitter campaign.

✨Got PHY Vol.25.

✨Asked Kaoru to have a pint in the UK for me. He said he would🍺

April

✨Had a question read out live on TFOE and got a laugh out of Kaoru, also live 🥰

✨Got the new single TDIM.

✨Met and spoke to Shinya at the Devil In Me sign event in Kyoto.

May

✨Attended PSYCHONNECT at the Rohm Theatre in Kyoto.

✨Recieved the prize from the twitter campaign (It was the rare postcard and sticker set from the EU tour).

✨Bought myself the Burrn Japan Dir special edition for Mother's day 😅

✨Got my Tour stamp book in the mail.

✨Got a hand-made badge as a present from Kaoru in the mail 💜😭😭😭💜 (via TTD)

June

✨Attended PSYCHONNECT at the Orix Theatre in Osaka.

August

✨Met a great friend (Dani) when I went back to the UK for 3 weeks in Summer, and she gave me two awesome Kaoru dolls which she made herself 😍

✨Got the Phalaris DVD boxset.

September

✨Got the aknot movie tickets in the mail

✨Got aknot renewal gift.

✨Saw the WTD movie (A great friend sent me the pamphlet in the mail from Tokyo, since it was sold out in Kyoto).

✨Kaoru wished me a happy birthday directly 🥴💜

October

✨Saw the Uroboros movie

✨Attended the movie stage greeting in Kyoto, front row seat.

November

✨Attended Who Is This Hell For in Kyoto, and was right up front. This was special for me, since I don't do VIP. It was a VIP experience for ¥9000 😂 (Im not fussed about the merch)

✨Made lots of new Dir toriko friends.

December

✨Attended Who Is This Hell For In Osaka, and saw Marie Kaoru 🗡️🩸

✨And so many questions answerer by Kaoru on TTD throughout the year, I can't count them. TTD is happiness.

Hoping for a Dir filled 2025!

[paulimiel]

the last set of stickers is of sorawo and toriko from otherside picnic!!!! (and a small kozakura. put her close to the computer)

theyll be up on the store with everything else this week!!!! 🩵🩵🩵 soratori forever

[frythatrice]

Otherside Picnic Rant

I'm coming off the high of shotgunning what there is of the manga and then the entire novel in about a week, so it's hard to gather my thoughts. It's incredible. I'm probably not being very objective about it right now, yesterday around midnight I wasn't even reading anymore, I got to volume 8 and it was less like reading and more like drinking the story. Just vacuuming it up like a burger on the brink of starvation. I don't know how coherent this rant is and I don't care, I just had to get it out there. Spoilers for the whole series below.

Seven volumes of romantic and sexual tension culminates in an entire book of romantic catharsis. A whole book dedicated to Sorawo's feelings. It's not even out of place, it's a horror series and there's nothing Sorawo is more afraid of than human emotion. It's so fucking smart. Every single deflection, every single longing look, every single comment, every single "I love you", every single moment of romance prior to vol8 pays off.

Sorawo falls in love without realizing. She can't take her eyes off Toriko and doesn't understand why. She gets jealous and protective. She rationalizes it using the "accomplices" label. She doesn't think too much about it, but knows Toriko is special.

Then, Toriko confesses her love. Initially, Sorawo genuinely doesn't even understand the implication of it. She realizes Toriko is acting like a boyfriend, and doesn't understand why. Slowly, Toriko shifts from "special" to "the most important person in her life". She still doesn't understand they're in love.

Then, Toriko keeps pushing, and Sorawo picks up on what's happening. She starts deflecting. She goes from being genuinely unaware of her and Toriko's feelings, to actively supressing them. At this point, she still acts like she doesn't get it, but understanding is slowly creeping in. As she continues to act like she doesn't get it, she starts purposefully ignoring these feelings, and it gets harder and harder. She sees all the pieces, and knows what the puzzle would look like if she put them together. The Otherside is terrifying, but that's never stopped her from trying to understand it - these feelings are worse.

Finally, enough is enough, and Toriko pushes one last time - 7 volumes of rising romantic tension come to a head in volume 8. Toriko doesn't know what the fuck is going on anymore, and asks Sorawo to sort out her feelings. Sorawo can't run anymore. Her fear of these feelings influences the Otherside in the most blantant and direct way so far. She is being directly haunted by her feelings for Toriko. It's barely even metaphor at this point. The Otherside has targetted Sorawo before. Satsuki is used to prey on Sorawo's fear of losing Toriko, as well as her jealousy and, to a degree, fear of becoming evil. The Red Person manipulates her through isolation and loneliness. T-san makes her fear losing her connection to the Otherside. All of the phenomena Sorawo encounters, in some form, prey on her emotions and insecurities, but it's at least somewhat obfuscated - they feel like evil monsters with a vague connection to her. They feel like tangentially related phenomena that just so happen to fit the bill.

Satsuki and The Red Person haunt Sorawo specifically, but you could easily make arguments for them haunting others as well. Vol 8's Mujina is different. It's a phenomena that is directly targetting Sorawo and only Sorawo, it's directly targetting her feelings for Toriko, in a way that leaves no doubt or ambiguity about what's happening. It's not even that scary, objectively speaking. Just one volume ago, Sorawo brutally exorcizes Satsuki in a triumphant, cathartic slam dunk against the horrors of the Othersie. Even before that, at this point, she's faced off against countless, unimaginable horrors and has come out on top. The Mujina is one of the simplest, most basic phenomena Sorawo has encountered. It's incredibly mundane. It's not some crazed serial killer, or an eldritch abomination, or some inhuman chimera. It's not some deep reflection of her past, it's not some sort of mind bending apparition designed in a lab to terrify. It's not a 20 stage haunted house with twists and turns. It's a scrap of paper passed to her during class, and all it says is "you love her and you know it". It's fucking genius.

Vol 8 is a mad dash and a chaotic scramble to sort out her feelings. It's never been this hectic before. She pulls out all the stops. There are stressful moments throughout the series, but for the first time, it feels like Sorawo genuinely might break under the pressure. She goes as far as asking her classmate for advice. I think vol1 Sorawo might choke out vol8 Sorawo for even thinking about doing that. She's scrambling through town asking everyone everything she can and all the way throughout she's being haunted, tormented, tossed around like a plastic bag through dimensions. She's fighting for her life.

All of this culminates in the single greatest chapter of any romance story I've ever seen. The 80 or so pages that have potentially ruined all other romance for me. If you got your hands on the original manuscript, tore out Accomplices No More and processed it into a drink, I'm certain you'd have made a love potion. File 26 feels like a fucking galactic event. A nuke could have dropped on them during their talk and I doubt it would have made into the footnotes. Any burglar trying to break in would be torn apart on the atomic level by the sheer level of desperate love on display. I'm surprised neither of them had a heart attack. I'm not surprised by the lack of Otherside interference - whatever it is, whoever it is trying to make use of it, at this moment, even God knows better than to try. Calling it cathartic feels like an insult.

Sorawo and Toriko sit down, pick up volumes 1-7 of Otherside Picnic, and take a leisurely stroll through every second of their time together, from the moment they first met, to the Big Bang of yuri currently occuring. It's love. It's always been love. Toriko lets her into her apartment. Sorawo doesn't care anymore. She accepts that she's not like other people. She accepts that she doesn't love like others do. She accepts that she doesn't think of people like other people do. She accepts that she loves Toriko. Their feelings fly off the page like a meteor shower.

Sorawo has never been interested in Toriko's past, because Toriko's present is so radiant nothing else matters. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has never thought of Toriko in a sexual way, and how could she have? Have you ever wanted to fuck the sun? Even if Sorawo wasn't ace, I don't think she could have felt differently in this moment. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has never wanted for them to become lovers, because, in her eyes, they were far, far beyond that point. That's fine. She loves her.

Sorawo has seen herself through Toriko's eyes in the past. It brought her to tears. I wonder, how Toriko would react to seeing herself through Sorawo's eyes?

Toriko's love is a lot more typical in comparison, but she loves her just as much as Sorawo loves her. Sorawo confuses her. "This girl keeps staring at me". "She wants to spend all her time with me". "She gets jealous of me". "She protects me at the cost of herself". To Toriko (and literally everyone else who has ever seen the two together for more than two seconds, including the fucking esoteric eldrich beings from beyond the realm of human imagination who don't even know what the fuck feelings even are), the way Sorawo acts towards her can be nothing but love.

Written from Toriko's perspective, Otherside Picnic is a romcom about a Canadian lesbian who progressively goes more and more insane over the fact that her hot, nerdy crush won't go out with her despite not even trying to hide the fact it's mutual, with a mild subplot about some monsters or whatever. At this point, I could argue that Toriko isn't even especially fearless or anything, and that the reason she handles the Otherside so well is because she's too thrown off by the densest lesbian to ever walk the earth to spare a thought to whatever the fuck the Otherside is trying to do. Maybe she'd be more shook by her ex being turned into the Grooming Devil if she wasn't busy writing a 50-page essay titled "What The Fuck Am I Doing Wrong" in her head at the same time.

Jokes aside, Toriko's love for Sorawo really is just as big as Sorawo's love for her. Toriko might be a bit rough around the edges, and she herself admits she's not great with people. Toriko got books on childhood trauma so she wouldn't hurt Sorawo by accident. Toriko has been agonizing potentially having overstepped Sorawo's boundaries. Toriko knows she's hurt Sorawo before, both on purpose and by accident, and she hates herself for it. Toriko lets her into her apartment, something she's never done for anyone else before, and she tells Sorawo everything she's afraid of telling other people.

She loves Sorawo. Not the cool, smart Sorawo, the fearless Sorawo, the Sorawo that treats the Otherside like an adventure. She loves Sorawo. The cool, smart, fearless, weak Sorawo. The jealous, pathetic loner Sorawo. The dense, ovethinking Sorawo who can't hold her composure. The heroic Sorawo. The Sorawo that says she doesn't care about people. The Sorawo who faced hell for her. The Sorawo who wouldn't let her go. The Sorawo she wouldn't let go.

The moment Sorawo and Toriko sit down in her apartment, all doubts of whether or not they love each other are incinerated. All that's left is to clear up any misunderstandings, and figure out where to go from here.

Toriko places lovers above accomplices, Sorawo does the opposite. Misunderstanding resolved. Toriko says she loves Sorawo, Sorawo responds in kind. All clear. Sorawo thinks that maybe it's not romantic, Toriko isn't buying it, in the end, the label feels meaningless. It's love regardless. Toriko is worried her advances went too far. Sorawo doesn't get much out of the kissing, but absolutely doesn't mind it. We're getting somewhere. Before a label is decided for their relationship, Toriko admits she wants to have sex. Sorawo doesn't get the hype, but she's down. They have boring, normal, incredibly disappointing sex, and get nowhere.

If this is as far as it went, I could see Sorawo compromising and labeling them as a couple. I don't think sexual incompatibility could ruin their relationship. Toriko would be disappointed, but they'd happily work out some kind of compromise and end up a happy couple. Happily ever after.

Thankfully, Toriko is horny as hell, a bit mean, and a sore loser. Turned on, next to her beloved, her pride as a second generation lesbian having suffered critical damage, she mutters about taking care of business herself, something I'm sure is partly just an actual idea she had, but also as a bit of a mean jab against Sorawo.

Sorawo's internal monologue following this statement is the best string of letters and symbols I've ever seen in my life. I'm fully aware I'm still riding the hype and not being objective. I don't care. As of writing this, I don't think anything I've ever read or ever will read will ever reach the heights of Sorawo discovering what a kink is. 16 hours later, I'm staring at it, and I'm still floored. I imagine I still will be a week later. I would do deplorable things to get Iori Miyazawa to write a version of this scene from Toriko's perspective. I'd go as far as watching Hibike Euphonium if it made him put his pen to paper.

Toriko's offhanded remark leads right into the most insane sex (???) scene I've ever seen. I could wax poetic for days, words just don't do it justice. To begin with, it's beautiful, romantic, erotic, absolutely hilarious, as well as just a touch terrifying. It fits thematically, both in the obvious sense of it being kind of horrifying, but it also touches on the overarching themes of the story.

The horrors of the Otherside are often used to represent abuse, and a big part of Sorawo's character is coming to terms with her abuse by both claiming the Otherside for herself, as well as fighting against the horrors representing her abusers. Using these powers in such a loving, passionate way that stands as a direct counter to the Otherside is an incredible middle finger to their abusers as well as the powers that be. Come what may, they can't be broken, and together, they can heal.

It's also relevant to the struggles Sorawo has throughout the series. She's not like other people. She doesn't think like other people. She struggles with societal expectations and labels. On top of that, both her and Toriko have been irreversibly changed by the Otherside. Sorawo is pushed by others to label their relationship, she's pushed by Toriko to conform to typical sexuality. Of course the normal sex was terrible - neither of them are normal, and once they accept that, they're rewarded with reality breaking sex that puts the horrors of the Otherside to shame.

Lastly, it's also the final piece required for them to fully accept each other. Throughout the series, they push and pull each other through various misunderstandings and such. Once the misunderstandings are cleared up, the issue that remains is that they're incredibly scared to hurt each other. Sorawo is scared of driving Toriko crazy with her eye. Toriko is scared of… whatever the hell her hand can do to Sorawo. The thing that finally clicks is simple - they're scared of hurting each other, but neither of them are scared the other would hurt them. They're scared of hurting each other, but the thought of being hurt themselves doesn't even occur to them, and since they trust each other with their lives, there's no reason to be afraid.

Rationally, I can look at this sequence of events and understand that it's only four pages or so long, but I don't think I'll ever be able to wrap my brain around it. It's a masterpiece.

Once they're done inflicting permanent mental damage on me, the Otherside, as well as everyone in a 5-mile radius, they go back to labels. Suddenly, the idea of normal is a lot less interesting for the both of them. At this point, it doesn't matter what they call each other. With the nerdiest justification ever put to paper, they label themselves after some weird, esoteric Japanese beast. Why not?

I'm usually not a fan of the "we don't need a label" trope in yuri, as it's usually used as a copout to avoid labelling the characters as queer. Otherside Picnic is like the polar opposite of that. It's not trying to avoid labelling the characters as queer. I think it just invented a whole new brand of queer. I'm exceptionally happy about how it handles the topic of sexuality, from Toriko's lesbian mothers, to Toriko herself, to Sorawo's asexuality, to whatever the fuck they did to each other.

Given that Iori Miyazawa could be called the father of "yuri of abscence", as funny as the memes are, and as sure as I was that he was mostly joking, I was still a bit worried that Sorawo and Toriko would end up being ambiguous. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Iori Miyazawa really said "a bench by the sea with room for two is yuri. You know what else is yuri? Two women having sex". What an incredible man. What an incredible story. I don't know what I'll do with myself once it's over.

[rakubalka]

Local Experimented On Child Remembers Previous Life , Breaks Out In Search Of Husband

Mukuro (or was it Toriko ?) has no idea how he got here . What he does know is he can't eat Komatsu's food if he is here so ...

He breaks out !

And the kids are coming with him . Komatsu is always happy to have more people to share a meal with , and these kids definitely need a lot's of meals .

Oh right he forgot, they are orphans at the moment also , he did blow up the building with the rest of the adults in it . But with those adults it's better to be an orphan in comparison . So he's adopting them , they are his now . He is their dad now .

Now they got to go on both a grocery run and to find the kids other dad while at it .

They also pick up a few more people along the way .

And they somehow got into an island with mob ties which is under attack by people in biker helmets and a fashion sense that looks like Zebra and Coco mashed together . God he missed his brothers , and sister !

The octopus they tried hunting turned out to be the animal partner of a baby with the before mentioned aesthetic in purple . He is also taking back his words the aestetic isn't a mash of Zebra and Coco , it's a mash of Midora and Coco . The baby even has a chain piercing similar to Coco .

Skull as it turned out is also a very chill dude . Even got them back to the mainland . Also dined with them so , a solid guy overall in his book .

Then Mukuro/Toriko got bombarded with some very strange dreams of a kid getting hit by a truck in a island called Japan and wanting help recovering , and if there is one thing he learned from both his Dad and Komatsu it's compassion . So to Japan is it .

Skull points them in the correct direction and on they go .

And they get there in roughly 3 week time because of strangely lively corpses who teleport . A few knives and forks and they largely stopped giving trouble . Other than the baby , it's strangely stubborn .

But after the roughly 3 weeks time that are finally on Japan with or without a tail of undead following them . Now they just need to find the kid .

They found the kid in a hospital bed missing a lot of organs , and eye and way too much trauma to be healthy . So forbidden healing techniques is it !

With his new daughter out of the hospital they march to the neighboring city of Namimori to finally get the kids to their other dad .

[fishing-lesbian-catgirl]

Everything Sorawo did and did not do in regards to understanding her own sexuality is both very real and impactful yet also very funny. “I knew Toriko was in love with me romantically for weeks, maybe even months. Have I ever considered that I might be a lesbian? No, why do you ask?”

[lgbtqmanga]

New Releases July 9, 2024

Delinquent Daddy and Tender Teacher (manga) vol. 4: Four-Leaf Clovers by Tama Mizuki

Hitsuji and Hatoyama are growing closer than ever. And while Hitsuji may not have been ready to take the leap into cohabitating, he’s determined to support Hatoyama and his son Hinata however he can. And boy, it looks like they’re gonna need it! With Hinata still struggling to form a connection with his new teacher, Samejima, and Hatoyama working himself to the bone to save up money for a bigger place, things are on the stressful side for this little family. It’s up to Hitsuji to lend a hand and find the courage to show Hatoyama just how much he cares for him!

Engage (manga) vol. 2 by Yuu Minaduki

Mei has decided to put a lid on his infatuation with Naru and build a new relationship as nephew and uncle. However, every time Naru speaks fondly of his memories of his older brother—Mei’s late father—he feels a disturbance in his heart. Meanwhile, Hayashida, the freelance writer who’s been snooping around Mei, finally reveals his true nature!

My Dearest Patrolman (manga) vol. 1 by Niyama

When a young patrolman gets assigned to a small town, he runs into an old acquaintance, and a casual comment from the older man leads to a fluttering heart and renewed feelings. Seiji Tajima runs a convenience store in a small town, and thanks to his easygoing attitude toward much of life, he’s still single. Tall, muscular patrolman Shin Nakamoto is a frequent visitor to Seiji’s rather desolate shop, and although the two met ten years earlier, they only recently reconnected after Shin was assigned to the police box nearby. Despite the years apart, they start interacting like nothing has changed—that is, until Seiji offhandedly remarks that maybe he should try his luck with men, unwittingly restoking the flame Shin has held for him for years!

Otherside Picnic: (novel) Omnibus vol. 4 by Iori Miyazawa and shirakaba

Contains the Complete Volumes 7-8 Satsuki Uruma—a young woman of considerable importance to Toriko who disappeared while studying the Otherside. She has menaced Toriko and Sorawo many times as an apparition, but now, she makes her boldest move yet towards the latter. In an act of desperation, Sorawo resolves to use everything she knows about the occult to finally “exorcize” her. Enlisting the help of not just Toriko, but Kozakura, DS Research, and even former cult leader and high schooler Runa Urumi, Sorawo leads the charge on a funeral operation. But once that’s behind them, there’s something else Sorawo must face; a genuine confession of love from Toriko, with only one week to respond. Through a series of conversations with herself and those around her, Sorawo begins to reinterpret their relationship… Sorawo and Toriko’s bizarre tale of exploration and survival is coming to a climax!

Otherside Picnic (manga) vol. 10 by Iori Miyazawa, Eita Mizuno, and Shirakaba

As Toriko and Sorawo face off against a bizarre entity in the form of what appears to be an old woman, this Kano Sannuki may be one of their trickiest challenges yet! Can Sorawo come up with a plan to disarm this strange foe? Meanwhile, the specter of Satsuki Uruma continues to stalk the two girls! And when the name “Lunaurumi” begins to pop up online, it signals the start of the biggest threat they’ve ever had to face!

Thousand Autumns: Qian Qiu Special Editon (novel) volume 5 by Meng Xi Shi

contains the Standard Edition contents, but includes bonus merchandise shrink-wrapped to the book: a set of five postcards, a double-sided bookmark, two folded mini posters, and a sticker sheet.

In the tumultuous Central Plains, power and prestige are fleeting, and today’s friend is tomorrow’s foe—and Shen Qiao is in the eye of the storm. Following a daring rescue in the midst of a coup that marks the end of a dynasty, the mild-mannered Daoist has no time to rest as rumors of a power struggle call him home to Xuandu Mountain. But before he even reaches his destination, another whisper upon the wind cuts into Shen Qiao’s heart: Yan Wushi, not yet fully recovered from his damaged demonic core, has challenged Hulugu of the Göktürks to a battle from which only one will survive. Shen Qiao will need to call upon his martial arts and wits to survive the calamity that surrounds him, but when the dust settles, will what he holds dear still remain? FINAL VOLUME

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.185 thoughts

[The New York Soup Stock Exchange]

(Contents: thematic analysis)

I've been thinking a lot about Tozuka's editor saying that Undead Unluck's slogan would be "let's enjoy life," and maybe it's a matter of translation, but to me, it seems like every word of that slogan has meaning

"Enjoy life" is easy enough to see the significance of, but I'm willing to bet most people who read that discount the "let's"

To me, though, that phrase isn't a command, it's an invitation: it's not telling you to go out and enjoy your life, it's asking you to enjoy life with others. We all should enjoy our lives, together, and this chapter illustrates that concept beautifully

In shonen battle manga, togetherness is most readily conveyed through standing united against a common enemy, but that's not really applicable to most people's lives. However, there is one way to show togetherness that I think pretty much anyone anywhere can relate to: sharing meals

Family gatherings, holiday parties, celebrating special occasions, or even smaller occasions like dates or regular lunch breaks, the number one way that people spend time together is just grabbing a bite to eat. Any given cooking manga, like Food Wars or Toriko, capitalize on this throughout their entire runs, but even manga without a focus on food like One Piece, Dr. Stone or even Cipher Academy often feature their cast savoring delicious food in each other's company

Undead Unluck is no stranger to this, like with the cherry blossom viewing as Spring died in the previous loop, but this is the first time that we've focused on the creation and consumption of a singular dish in this series. The cooking process is just as important as the dish itself, and while Enjin has experience, Fuuko has love: a group of friends who will face any challenge with her, and who she has a strong enough understanding of to be able to create something greater than the sum of its parts. In a way, that's what the Union is: a hotpot of disparate ingredients brought together and harmonizing to create something incredible

I've noted before that very few fights in Undead Unluck are one-on-one, but one-vs.-many is a pretty common setup: Union vs. Victor, AnFuu+RipLa vs. Autumn, and, most notably, AnFuu+ShenMui vs. Feng. Unlike Feng, Enjin definitely understands the concept of cooking/fighting with love, but just like Feng, Enjin operates alone, taking on every aspect of the cooking process by himself while Fuuko has split up the responsibilities based on everyone's strengths. This is exemplified best through his taste test, where the panel zooms out to show his single silhouette struggling to cool down his broth while Fuuko and friends continue cooking. The wide empty space and his one shadow vs. the Union's three felt so incredibly lonesome

I won't dig too deep into Enjin's mentality or reasoning just yet, as I'm sure the next chapter will give me more than enough to work with on that front, but it's plain to see that Enjin isn't just solitary, he's isolated. Just like Feng, just like Billy, just like Rip, just like Andy. Did he choose to be this way like the former three, or did he find himself here like Andy? Again, we'll find out next week, but I'm willing to bet it's a little bit of both - something happened that pushed him away from others, and he chose to continue on alone

I'm really liking this arc so far, but I think the clincher is going to have to be Enjin's backstory. I like his design and personality, but for him to solidify himself in my heart like everyone else has before him, his story needs to move me. With everything we've seen in these last two chapters, though, I have no doubt that Tozuka will do just that with ease

Until next week, let's enjoy life

[incorrecturapiquotes]

Kozakura: Love has made you dumber.

Toriko: Not true. If anything, loving Sorako has made me smarter. Remember last week when I boiled that egg?

Sorawo: That was big. I was really proud of you.

[rabbiteclair]

boop, new fanfic:

As Normal as it Gets

AO3 blurb:

There's no monster-of-the-week to shoot. The moments of terror are less frequent than you'd think. Sorawo's anxiety usually has more to do with Toriko than matters of life and death. Or: seven standalone short stories about what happens in the Otherside, in between story files.

The summary basically says it. Even after everything I've subjected Kozakura to, I still wanted to write lots of relatively low-stakes Otherside encounters, so here we are.

Posting two of them today, and if all goes according to plan, three on Friday and the last two next Monday.

[catgirl-doghouse]

Finished Otherside Picnic v8 once already, and I'll probably read it once or twice more over the next week to absorb it more, but my initial impressions are that it was very cute and well thought out especially in regards to how Sorawo and Toriko communicate with each other. I think my favorite part (aside from the growth of their relationship and all that entailed) was hearing how Toriko has seen Sorawo the whole time and driving home that she is a really unreliable narrator.

Especially the "[you were ogling me], right from the get-go. From the moment you saw me for the first time." That line did something to me.

[roseofthewind]

"Fun" fact about Sorawo's birthday that should be taken with a grain of salt because I only have secondhand knowledge:

May 5th is the last day of "Golden Week" in Japan. You may remember that there were no university classes this week in volume 6, and Sorawo was kind of frustrated about it because it meant she had to wait a week longer than anticipated to follow T-san after class to figure out what the hell his deal was.

May 5th itself is a public holiday- 子供の日、(kodomo no hi) or "Children's Day." It seems like a family holiday where parents celebrate their children's happiness, so obviously with Sorawo's fucked up family she probably personally hasn't had anything to do with this holiday in years.

So, we're painting a picture here: first of all, Sorawo manages to forget about Golden Week coming up. Then, after she is reminded, she stills manages to forget about her birthday when her birthday is also a public holiday. This shows a CLEAR disregard for holidays in general, not just her birthday.

(Oh I just remembered, Sorawo literally forgets about Christmas too. She doesn't realize that she spent Christmas Eve in an (abandoned) love hotel with Toriko until after the fact.)

[djwiththejd]

I’ve just completely deviated away from The Fall of The House of Usher and that’s normal. ADHD, what can I say?

My current hyperfixations are the PJO tv series on Disney, anime cooking shows (started up Toriko again slowly but surely after Delicious in Dungeon on Netflix,) and The Brothers Sun since I went to college with Sam Song Li and he’s just an all around good guy and I am committed to watch him succeed.

I also have a HUGE TBR list on Libby that I’m trying to finish before grad school starts in a few weeks.

My Libby list:

The House in The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman

As well as: Witch Week, Conrad’s Fate, Mixed Magics, and The Pinhoe Egg by Diana Wynne Jones.

Then I have 9 more books on hold as well. I am so happy I’ve started reading again, but my hobbies definitely take up time.

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

Toriko: I’m doing some charity work this week

Starjun: You should donate your blood

Toriko: Oh, tha-

Starjun: All of it.

[mrawkweird]

Hmmmm, other than the Rave X Fairy Tail special I can't really think of any anime crossovers on the top of my head.

Oh, Cyborg 009 x Devilman

One day I'mma get totally fucking good at remembering to come back to asks sooner rather than later but I could have sworn I already had. Anyways, a whole month later post One Piece x DBZ x Toriko week..

Another crossover I remember is Lupin III VS Detective Conan. It was for a special and for a movie, which honestly is just semantics 'cause they're basically both movies, but the latter has actually been dubbed so it would be pretty cool if Toonami were to ever one day air it.

And then there's Gundam and Hello Kitty.

I'm super cereal.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Entries with 2 submissions list

Full list below! They’ll be included in round 1 against the 13 couples/ships that survive the preliminary round. Round 1 will be randomised and start tomorrow with 8 polls and the other 8 a week later, round 2 will not be randomised since it’ll include ships/couples with 3+ submissions.

1. Caitlyn x Vi from Arcane (canon)

2. Rose x Kanaya from Homestuck (canon)

3. Percy x Vex’ahlia from Critical Role/The legend of Vox Machina (canon)

4. Beauregard x Yasha from Critical Role (canon)

5. Moriarty x Holmes from Moriarty the Patriot (implied)

6. Ava x Beatrice from Warrior Nun (canon)

7. Kim Dokja x Yoo Joonghyuk x Han Sooyoung from Omniscent Reader’s Viewpoint (implied)

8. Alex Fierro x Magnus Chase from Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard (canon)

9. Andrew x Neil from All for the game (canon)

10. Sapphire x Ruby from Steven Universe (canon)

11. Barnaby Brooks Jr x Kotetsu T Kaburagi from Tiger and Bunny (implied)

12. Heavy x Medic from Team Fortress 2 (implied)

13. Dina x Ellie from The last of us 2 (canon)

14. Blake x Yang from RWBY (canon)

15. Nico di Angelo x Will Solace from Percy Jackson series (canon)

16. Amaya x Janai from The dragon prince (canon)

17. Adora x Catra from She-Ra and the princesses of power (canon)

18. Camille x Nyra x Dendrobium from Muted (canon)

19. Toriko x Sorawo from Otherside Picnic (canon)*

*They actually got 3 submissions, but I’m counting them as 2 because of the possibility of a double, as the last submission was this:

“I think I may have already submitted this, but I can’t remember, so I’m doing it again to make sure.  They explore an alternate dimension together, fighting horrors crafted from early-internet creepypasta, and are able to survive through the power of yuri and guns.“