#unmei no makimodoshi

[daburuwosagase]

Destiny Rewinder interactive comic #04 - Destiny Detective

A special collaboration between Chrono and Conan. Solve the murder mystery and go back in time to prevent it from happening!

Now you too can play it in English!

[dranger78official]

frieren x makimodoshi x beyblade x x BAKUGAN GEN 3

[amamino]

[sharkartworks]

I think Im gonna get into a kid's manga

[pulsarex]

child prostitution/sex-trafficking/whatever man it's bad and drugs mentioned under the cut

me when i simultaneously headcanon that "shirai was forced to sell himself by his junkie parents to make ends meet and was only able to free himself to join the rewinders by bringing his parents' weed to the cops because for some reason japan is ridiculously uppity about that", "akaba had a fairly catholic upbringing which is why he's so down bad for the aforementioned shirai" and "chrono is just a nickname and his true name is yusei yamagata" all at the same time

Having headcanons is so fun because sometimes you’ll be like “I believe Blorbo suffered childhood trauma, specifically abandonment and ostracism from their community, and this is the reason they took X action in canon. I base this off these brief but telling conversations they had with others in five different episodes, plus their reaction when Skrimblo disappeared for two days.”

But then also sometimes you’ll say “I think Glup Shitto is lactose intolerant.”

[red-dyed-sarumane]

my special skill is trying to get into any media ever & ending up like "i cant say its bad but im definitely not the target audience for this"

[mechaseraph]

One of my current favorite mangas new chapter was very good (again) that it made me feel wild (again) so yea I guess I'll go and tl that little Oreca 2 chapter (post here only, for now ig or idk. I do it for the love of the game simply) to let out some steam

[danceinsidelightning]

I am foaming at the mouth I need to read more Destiny Rewinders/All Great Achievements Require Time/Unmei no Makimodoshi and I can't find more unless I decide to buy Japanese volumes online aaaaaaaa this manga looks so funnnn

[pulsarex]

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Shirai would be so pissed at me for constantly bringing his possible abandonment issues to light, probably enough to slash me to pieces, retry, slash me to pieces again, rinse and repeat.

Suppose the last character(s) you drew or wrote about suddenly starts existing in the real world, standing right next to you. They know about how you depicted them in your last creative piece.

How would that interaction go down for you?

[pulsarex]

[suzu-yuki]

Redo by Konomi Suzuki [English Translation / Romaji Lyrics]

Not sure if anyone’s translated this song, but here’s my take on it. Forgive my mistakes-

Redo

From Re:Zero (Re: Starting Life over from Zero in Another World)

Performed by: Konomi Suzuki Lyrics: Genki Mizuno Composition/Arrangement: Makoto Miyazaki

Kanji lyrics from: here

Trapped within my own past, lost Jibun no kako ni toraware mayotte Persuading myself by saying “that’s not true”, everything (then) Sou janai yo to   iikikasete  subete wo Goes as if I could freely puppeteer events… (as if) Jiyuu ni ayatsureru ka nante With an “I don’t know”, the sky grows hazy Wakaranai yo to   sora wa kasunde Where is the right (path)? Seikai wa doko?

The only left in my hands is the remaining important “thing”-- Boku no tenohira ni   Nokoru daiji na mono Unforgettable memories, no matter how many times Wasurenai kioku   Nando de mo “I’ll protect you until the end!” I scream Kimi wo mamorimuku to sakende Within the rewind, the love I’ve grasped, yes, Makimodoshi no naka   Tsukanda ai wa sou I won’t let it go Hanashi wa shinai kara

Now if only just once, let my set feelings go towards this wish: Chiribameta omoi   Ima ichido-kiri no negai e I’ve entrusted it to the ‘next’ me Tsugi e no boku ni   Takushita yo The promise of someday, its light will become a guide Itsuka no yakusoku   Hikari no michishirube ni naru This oath, well, for your sake until the end- Chikai wo saa kimi no tame   Saigo made If just my tears would change into power, then surely the future I desired, depicted in my mind, will connect Namida sae chikara ni kaete kitto   Egaiteita nozomu mirai e tsunagu yo

I’m going mad from this reality that exceeds my imagination Souzou wo koeru jitai ni   Kurutte  What has me digging fingernails into my skin is my writhing, struggling heart Tsume wo tatete wa   Mogaki agaite   Kokoro wa  How many times have I made a life mistake? Jinsei no ayamachi wo   Mou nandomo I’m beginning to hate all these do-overs Kurikaeshite wa   Kirai ni natte But even if I cry… Naite te mo

Your yearning was always glittering Kimi no akogare wa   Itsumo kagayaiteta I’ll come back (yeah) I’ll come back (yeah) I’ll come back (yeah) I’ll come back (yeah) To your future (Go Away) To your future (Go Away) I guess I’ll just have to fight against it - fate, that is Boku wa aragau darou   Unmei ni Breaking out (yeah) Breaking out (yeah) Breaking out (yeah) Breaking out (yeah) Breaking dawn (yeah go away) Breaking dawn (yeah go away) Because I can’t go givin’ up Akiramechainai kara

Those connected thoughts towards a strength when you’re not alone Musubareta ishi wa   Hitorikiri janai tsuyosa e Haul in that spun string Tsumuida ito wo   Teguriyose What my eye discovered were my ideals reforming the reality Mitsuketa hitomi wa   Risou wo genjitsu ni kaeru (Of) This world, yes, for you - from the very beginning Sekai wa sou kimi no tame   Saisho kara With the memories I harbour in my heart, always, with the continuing determination from since that day… Mune ni daita omoide to zutto   Ano hi kara tsuzuku ketsui de I’ll fly to it: Redo Toberu yo   Redo

Even if you, hypothetically…about me Kimi ga tatoe boku no koto You forget... I won’t ever forget, I won’t let anyone get hurt Wasurete mo   Boku wa mou wasurenai   Dare mo kizutsukenai

It’s time to rescue the past that seems to have been erased Kiesou na kako wo   Tsukuidasu tame no jikan yo From here, I’ll start-- Koko kara hajimare

Now if only just once, let this moment that I keep returning to go towards this wish: Meguriyuku isshun wo   Ima ichido kiri no negai e Certainly, I’ve let it be entrusted Tashika ni boku wa   Takusareta The promise of someday, its light will become a guide Itsuka no yakusoku   Hikari no michishirube ni naru This oath, well, for your sake until the end- Chikai wo saa kimi no tame   Saigo made If just my tears would change into power, then surely the future I desired, depicted in my mind, will connect Namida sae chikara ni kaete kitto   Egaiteita nozomu mirai e   Tsunagu yo

[pulsarex]

Oh man, this one reminds me very heavily of Chainu from Unmei No Makimodoshi (or is it the other way around?). Major spoilers for this manga of course.

Like Homura, she has multiple twists regarding her identity: the first one is that aside from having the ability to shapeshift into what is initially introduced as exactly 7 forms, she also has a secret 8th form which she fooled everyone else into thinking this was a separate person with no relation to her. The second one is that she's a spy working against the protagonists, leaking information about them to the Clockhands.

Now, these first two twists are entirely guessable. The eighth form--Chanee--looks kinda similar to her (albeit with a somewhat inverted color scheme). Not to mention that Chainu's initial demeanor (a wimpy crybaby failgirl) does seem rather disingenuous and artificial in retrospect. There was also a poster included with the volume 2 release of the manga (long before she was even introduced) that teased her appearance and she was depicted holding her high-heels. Pro wrestling, anyone?

But the third twist is about her origins: her existence is tied to a "Predestination Paradox" (just like this but more simplified so that kids, the primary intended demographic of the manga, can easily understand it better…sort of).

I genuinely couldn't have seen this coming due to how little it had been foreshadowed. Of course, that's not to say there was never any; all of her forms seem to allude to this (they simulate a family, but other than the aforementioned Chanee--big sister--, there are no maternal figures because Chainu has already fulfilled this role), forming an analogue to Madoka and Homura's bonding amongst the flowers.

But me and the other fans probably couldn't reach this conclusion if the manga was abruptly cancelled and we were forced to make up our own theories as to Chainu's backstory.

Given the surface-level parallels between All You Zombies and Makimodoshi (time-travelling agent going on missions to save people), I don't think this was an actual ass-pull and it's likely this was on the drawing board for God-knows-how-long, and the mangaka just really needed to get it out of his system via a blank-slate character. I admittedly can't think of a better solution; Makimodoshi is nowhere near as surreal as Madoka Magica is, so there really isn't a lot of leeway for symbolism outside of things like the poster. And again, the backstory was heavily stripped down to its bare essentials compared to the inspiration, so now there's even less stuff that the mangaka can foreshadow.

(I remember a user on Twitter complaining that Chainu’s backstory felt like a rehash of Shirai’s backstory, which also involved a similar chicken-egg paradox albeit with some differences, and I get it but are you really surprised that the time loop manga has repeating elements across character arcs?)

It’s just that out of context, it really does feel shock-valuey which annoys me.

Apologies for the random tangent, I had to get this out of my chest in exchange for receiving my two nickels. As a bonus, both Chainu and Homura are pretty ladies with long black hair. This is truly a bizzare timeline.

I didn't discuss Rebellion in my earlier post about anticipating plot twists in Madoka Magica, partly because I came to it already spoiled for both reveals, and partly because at least one twist plays by very different rules than those of the main series. While I can't speak to what I might have been able to guess had circumstances been otherwise, I can talk about the structure of these twists, and how they function in the narrative.

The first twist (Homura is a witch) is relatively straightforward, and I would argue, entirely guessable on first viewing approximately forty minutes into the movie. This is the scene on the bridge connecting Mitakihara to whatever is outside of it (answer: void), where Homura and Kyouko are being stalked by zombies who are wearing masks with Homura's face on them. I mean, yes, there are Kyouko masks, too, but let's be real, the symbolism cannot be more obvious.

Not only do the zombies peacefully disperse when Homura explains the situation--subconsciously responding to her will--Homura is awfully well-versed on the nature of witches, something that only she is in a position to know. This is followed by an incredibly surreal sequence as Homura "descends" into a landscape of blurry mosaics playing out various scenes from the original series--not unlike how the "paintings" in her apartment re-played her memories in the original series, or a witch's labyrinth.

At this point in the story, all of the major players have been introduced, so the witch has to be one of them--it can't be a random person we've never heard of before with no previous connections to the main cast. Likewise, we've seen Sayaka and Charlotte's labyrinths, so the false Mitakihara wouldn't be their style, Madoka is unlikely to be the culprit, and Kyouko isn't faking her confusion. The only other person besides Homura who might concoct such a fantasy of "everyone getting along and having adventures" is Mami, and yet the plot of Rebellion kicks off with Homura joining the team, (despite the initial fake-out that makes it seem like the film will follow Madoka's POV) implying that she is the central character. And while Kyubey could certainly be responsible (and is later proven to be involved), he cannot be the witch himself; he can only manipulate what is already there, not create from scratch.

Thus, I'd argue that it's entirely possible to guess the witch's identity from the bridge scene onward, with more and more evidence piling up in Homura's favor until the actual reveal thirty minutes later. However, the second twist (Homura becoming the devil) is structured very differently and deliberately to keep it from being guessable on first viewing. Despite the fact that it is foreshadowed well in advance in the famous "flower field" sequence between Homura and Madoka, it utterly fails what I call the "Vonnegut test" after this iconic quote from Kurt Vonnegut:

Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Urobuchi and Co. achieve this paradox by doing what I call "the Unreliable Narrator technique"--they show us what is happening in the flower field sequence, but they do not provide sufficient context to allow the viewers to draw the appropriate conclusions at the time. Ironically, for a movie that takes place primarily in Homura's psyche, so much of her motivation and thought process remains ambiguous, precisely because of this method. Instead, we are shown Homura's moment of epiphany, but not what it means, which remains ambiguous right up until the moment of reveal.

It is technically possible to guess this particular twist in advance, but is it likely? If the last few pages of the Rebellion script were eaten by cockroaches and fans were forced to reconstruct the ending from scratch, do you think they would all reach that particular conclusion? My guess is probably not. This kind of twist is really only visible in hindsight, precisely because the audience isn't provided with the information they need to judge the situation correctly.

So, no, I'm not just salty because I would never have guessed this plot twist on first viewing in a million years. I'm salty because I'm not sure that anyone could--and if you did, my hat is off to you and I want to know your secrets.

(Urobuchi pulls a similar stunt in Thunderbolt Fantasy S3, and it drove me fucking crazy, because it was extremely clear from context that one character was not what he appeared to be, but the show hadn't given me any hints about when the switch had occurred, so while I could infer that something had happened, I had no way of knowing what or how, because I was operating in a complete vacuum! In this case, the creators took pity on me by eventually showing a flashback scene outlining the missing steps in great detail, as opposed to merely monologuing about it after the fact, as happens in Rebellion.)

As you can probably tell, I have a lot less patience for this particular kind of plot twist--at best, I think it's not particularly fair to the audience, and at worst, it can come off as a random ass-pull. As a reader, I like to be rewarded for close attention to detail, so the author yelling "PSYCH! IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE I DELIBERATELY DIDN'T EXPLAIN THE WHOLE TIME!" is not a fun experience for me. It's the sort of twist that I can't even feel bad about not being able to anticipate because the game is so steeply rigged in the house's favor.

I'm not sure I would call it cheating, exactly, but I do think it's disingenuous, and I can't help wishing the creators of Rebellion had opted for a different route and been slightly less subtle in their approach. Fingers crossed that they don't end up bringing this kind of twist back for Walpurgis no Kaiten.

[pulsarex]

Just because you like something in fiction doesn’t mean you support it in real life.

i am a woman at war with herself, torn forever between my love of detective fiction and my hatred of cops and cop media

[red-dyed-sarumane]

i cannot express to u how fitting it is the that retry is for the series with a scifi loop in it. COMPLETELY unrelated to aru sekai series but im glad they saw this was hiiragi magnetite's specialty & gave the collab to them. i like it

[pulsarex]

i am so fucking normal about how chrono, shirai, and possibly chainu’s version-ups were foreshadowing part of gorou’s backstory all along

there is also so much implications about the possible themes of duality and identity eeeeeeeee

[pulsarex]