#well there was this one single manga. very short five chapters

[passiveagreeable]

When I delete stuff off my phone which it says is taking up a certain amount of storage, and then the amount of used storage on my phone doesn’t decrease, or even increases. Transgression so severe I can and will blow up the sun.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super 001

All right, time for Dragon Ball Super. 

Let’s set the stage first.  In 2013, the Dragon Ball franchise returned with the feature film Battle of Gods.  I often refer to that film as “Movie 14″, in keeping with the convention of the previous DBZ movies, but Battle of Gods was on a completely different level.  In addition to being longer and more complex than the old movies, this one had Akira Toriyama overseeing things much more directly than in the past.  It added new characters and lore to the franchise, and it capitalized on the pent-up demand for new DB content.  In short, it was a hit, and a sequel was planned soon after. 

Shortly after Resurrection F premiered in 2015, there came announcements that there would be a new manga and a new TV anime for the Dragon Ball franchise.  Chapter 1 of the Dragon Ball Super comic was published on June 20, 2015, and Episode 1 of the anime aired on July 5, 2015. 

And so, the Dragon Ball Renaissance was in full swing. The only problem was that Dragon Ball Super had a pretty weak start.  And a lousy middle.  And a pretty dull third quarter.   And... it didn’t really get good until episode 97.  Well, that’s just my opinion.  There are plenty of critics who hated the entire thing, and there are others who enjoyed it from beginning to end.  Still, I maintain that Super was a mixed bag, which kind of tarnishes the brand’s reputation. 

On the other hand, I’m not sure that mattered much in the long run.  Fans love Dragon Ball, and I think most of the fanbase was just hyped to get a new show, even in spite of its problems.  The classic shows were far from perfect, after all, and the important thing was that there was something new featuring Goku and the gang.  And there is a lot to enjoy about Dragon Ball Super, even if it takes a while to get there.

Continuity-wise, this series takes place between Episodes 288 and 289 of Dragon Ball Z.   If you’re not familiar with DBZ... seriously, why are you reading this?  Anyway, Goku and the others defeated Majin Buu in episode 286, and then there were some epilogue scenes, and then the series skipped ahead ten years for a finale depicted in Episode 289-291.  Dragon Ball Super takes place during that period, what fans have termed the “Ten Year Gap.”

Accordingly, this episode opens with a recap of the Kid Buu fight, since that was the last big thing to happen recently. 

Just so we’re clear, this is the big distinction between DBS and Dragon Ball GT.  Both were presented as sequel series to DBZ, but their chronology is different.  GT is set five years after DBZ 291, while Super is set 0-9 years before it.  Also, Dragon Ball GT sucks ass, while Super is just kind of bad in a lot of places. 

Let’s get that straight up front.  I’ll probably draw some comparisons between Super and GT as we go, but I’m not interested in doing some “which was better?” discussion here.  GT is awful, and I recently spent six weeks writing about exactly how awful it was.  I’m not really eager to refer back to that.  There’s some really lousy episodes of Super, and I’m sure I’ll bring up the matter of whether or not they’re GT-level terrible, but there’s no point in doing that every single time.  Super has a lot of problems, but GT is a problem. 

The big issue I’m faced with here is that the first 28 episodes of Super are mostly comprised of a decompressed re-telling of Battle of Gods and Resurrection F.  There’s also a few filler episodes of varying quality, but very little actually happens in any of them, and they’re mostly warm-and-fuzzy-feeling stories with little meat to them.  Which means that there really isn’t a whole lot for me to write about.

So what I’m going to try to do is zip through these relatively quickly, so that I can move on to the important stuff later on.  If you haven’t seen Battle of Gods, then do yourself a favor and check out the movie, because I have no interest in giving it a thorough recap here.

All right, so there’s only a handful of things that actually take place in this story.  Goku’s a farmer now, and sometimes Goten brings him his lunch and drives the tractor for him.  Goku wishes he could train on King Kai’s planet, but Chi-Chi wants him to earn a living, and Goku’s not interested in the kind of celebrity business that Mr. Satan does. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Satan has just received a big cash award for his heroic defense of the Earth.  Remember, even though Goku defeated Kid Buu with a Spirit Bomb, the people of Earth don’t remember Majin Buu, because they used the Dragon Balls to make everyone forget Buu’s involvement in that crisis.  So the world believes Mr. Satan saved them from some kind of alien invasion, but they have no idea what it was.  Satan brags about his power in press conferences, but in private he offers the money to Goku, since he actually deserves it.  Also, Vegeta refused the cash off-screen, possibly because he’s already married to the richest woman on Earth. 

Goku reluctantly accepts, because, as Goten points out, the money would convince Chi-Chi to let him go train on King Kai’s planet.

Then we’ve got a few subplots that go nowhere.  For example, we see Satan here giving a speech about receiving the award, when Buu barges in demanding food.  No one knows who Buu is, and Satan has to explain that Buu is an alien who sought to train under Mr. Satan as a disciple.  The press buys this, which sets up DBZ Episode 290, where Mr. Buu is widely known as Mr. Satan’s top student. 

Meanwhile, Videl buys Gohan an expensive academic book to aid in his research.  Gohan feels bad that he can’t reciprocate the gesture, but Videl doesn’t care because she can afford it, and the smarter Gohan gets, the more appealing he gets as arm candy.  Also, Piccolo watches them from the rooftops.  I remember seeing this in 2015 and foolishly thinking any of this was going to lead to anything in later episodes.  I guess Piccolo was irked about Gohan not keeping up with his training, which did get paid off in the Super Hero movie last year, but it looks more like he’s jealous more than anything else.  As for Muzakashii Hon (lit. “Difficult Book”), you’d think the long, detailed look we get at this book means that it would become an important plot device, but no, it never gets seen again.  Well, it appears in the opening credits, but so what?

Meanwhile, Beerus visits an alien planet, samples their cuisine, and then destroys it.  I remember thinking this depiction of Beerus meant that the series took place after Battle of Gods, since we saw Beerus wake up from a 39-year nap in that movie, but in this episode, he’s already on the move, and it isn’t clear yet whether the events of Movie 14 have happened or not.  But no, we’re just re-doing the same story, only with details changed for no reason, and much slower.

Finally, there’s a whole thing where Goten wants to buy a gift for Videl, since she’s going to be marrying Gohan soon.  He doesn’t know what to get her, so he asks Trunks for advice, and he settles on eau du toilette, since his mom likes that stuff.  This just leads to a “hilarious” misunderstanding, as the boys overhear an old man complaining that the cosmetics at a store are nothing compared to the rejuvenating hot spring.  So they go there, thinking they can just fill a bottle with water from that place instead, but when they see all the old people bathing in it, they fly further upstream and get that water instead. 

Let’s clear this up now, because I’ve seen eau du toilette jokes for most of my life, and I’ve never understood them.  I mean, sure, it has the word “toilet” in it, but the phrase is always used in a pun, which makes no sense, because the pronunciation is different.  “TOY-let”.  “Oh duh twah-LET”.  Goten’s not going to hear the word and think of toilet water.

So what is eau du toilette?  It’s French for “grooming water”, but it isn’t actually water at all.  It’s a dilute solution of fragrance oils in alcohol.  Stronger than aftershave, but weaker than perfume.  The punchline here is that Goten and Trunks show up at Videl’s house and give her a bottle of creek water, and she realizes that it’s literally just water, so she goes through the motions and tells the boys how much she loves it. 

What else have we got?  Uh... Master Roshi somehow hears about the money Satan gave Goku, and he wants to use it to buy pornography.  Chi-Chi doesn’t like that idea.

And the Supreme Kais notice the destruction of all those planets and wonder what it could mean.  So yeah, we’re just introducing characters at this point. 

And that’s it.  Very little actually gets done in this episode, although in its defense, it’s trying to reintroduce characters that haven’t appeared on TV in a long time.  Even if this series wasn’t about to retell Battle of Gods, it would still play out pretty much the same way.  On the other hand, I think it’s kind of dumb to make a show like this, cashing in on the success of two feature films, and then acting like no one knows who’s who. 

[sojirosteacup]

Hello! For the Writer Truth or Dare game:

🥤and 🎨

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

i don't have a favorite author so i'm gonna rec some of my fav fics! I know you are into sxf, but none of them are for that fandom, sorry, i haven't read many sxf family fics yet despite wanting to.

Actually, all my recs are a bit old

(ohshc): The "Five years" game by SedentaryZebra - This is one of the best fics I've read. The author managed to emulate the ouran manga atmosphere perfectly. In my heart, this is the sequel to the manga.

(bof): A Chance Encounter by Grannyweatherwax - My absolute favorite Boys over flowers fic. It's short, but very well written. I love how the author made the world feel alive with just 6 chapters.

This next one is a bit random, but:

(tkem): To wreck To wreck To wreck by Gevar - It's a dark fic, so be warned. The king eternal monarch is a drama I found a bit underwhelming so I don't read fics about it often, but this fic???? Perfect. The prose. HOLY SHIT THE PROSE. I can't tell you how many times I've reread this just for that writing style. And the characterizations are more interesting for me than the ones in the original drama. I guess half of the problems I have with the drama could be solved by making Gon evil.

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

This one is so difficult bc my mind instantly forgot every single fanart i've seen in my mind as soon as I read the question. This is why it took me so long to reply, sorry.

I really like 1Alchemistart's sxf fanart in general. I love how they draw the characters, especially Damian's friend group. And hair. Just look at that hair

[preggomancer]

ok ok short version. as a treat.

Essentially. In addition to just his general behavior, there’s several instances which make it clear that Laios does not have any romantic or sexual desire (which I am totally conflating here for brevity, forgive me) and doesn’t really understand it. The most obvious is the succubus incident—it’s very clear that the succubus feeds off sexual/romantic fantasy primarily, and only goes to a second source when that’s not available. Even Izutsumi got a sexy cat. There’s also the fact that he seems rather unhappy about the prospect of finding a partner, feels almost nothing about Falin’s relationship, and also was apparently also engaged for like five seconds—every aromantic person I know has been in very short-lived, completely passionless relationships. 

There’s also just the fact that he’s an attractive man in his mid twenties who displays not a drop of romantic interest over the course of the story, aside from the brief mention of a fiancée. And, sure, he’s awkward, but you simply cannot convince me a man who looks and cooks like that could not get bitches if he wanted to. Is it not kind of remarkable that in a manga this long in this genre, there’s not a single love interest for the dashing main character? 

and that in and of itself is important—there shockingly little romance in this comic. So much of the story is about interpersonal relationships and the complexities thereof, but the only actual romances are failed ones—Falin and Shuro and Chilchuck and his wife—neither of which are really about the actual romance, but more about its effects afterward. Traditionally, this narrative would be primed for Laios to pair off with, well. Marcille tbh (ew) but the story goes out of its way to clarify that that’s not even a remote possibility. Seriously, think of any other story of this breadth where the handsome lead guy doesn’t engage even a moment of legit romantic tension with any of the many potential love interests around him, especially in this genre. Laios is perfectly set up for a love story—and not only does he not get one, he doesn’t even consider one.

And that makes this story SO. MUCH. MORE. INTERESTING. This story is literally a 97-chapter exploration of carnal desire—but not sex and romance. So many stories about desire end up with the rather boring Freudian take of “everything’s secretly about sex actually,” which is tedious and frankly just not true. Casting an aromatic—or at least currently very much nonromantic—lead in this story let’s it exist outside of that framework, which is honestly fucking revolutionary. 

the problem with only having a kink tumblr is I have nowhere to put 5000 word essays on dungeon m.eshi

[makeste]

Question. Do you think BNHA has been too fast? Like. Everything that's happened, from Deku not having a quirk, to gearing up to taking on the big boss who even his mentor - who no hero has previously been able to surpass - wasn't able to defeat at full power. Has happened, pretty much, within a single year. That's... an incredibly short time-frame honestly. Would it have been better if there was more timeskips and training involved before the final battle?

a lot of this actually depends on what you mean by "too fast." because the thing is my answer changes depending on what the question actually is.

do I think BnHA has been too rushed at times? - yes.

do I think BnHA has been too short/would be better if it was longer? - no.

let me start by saying that I'm often curious about what portion of BnHA's readership has actually read the three iconic early 2000s-era series which collectively used to be known as Shounen Jump's own "Big Three" -- Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. all three of these were long-running flagship WSJ series much in the same vein as BnHA, and in fact BnHA is often seen as a spiritual successor to them. and all three series ran for a very long time. Naruto and Bleach each ran for 15 years and upwards of 600 chapters (Naruto actually ended on chapter 700, and Bleach came close, clocking in at 686). One Piece, meanwhile, is somehow actually still running, currently at 1031 chapters. all three series include all of those bucket list items that readers of BnHA are constantly clamoring for:

loooong, long arcs with plenty of room for the plot to breathe

numerous one-on-one showcase fights for all of the main characters, and a good chunk of the supporting casts as well

training arcs where we spend time watching the heroes learn their new upgrades

and last but not least, timeskips

all that stuff. and all three of these series had one other thing in common as well: they all fell completely off the rails after about five years, and spent the next decade afterwards lingering on as shadows of their former selves. (OP is maybe the one exception, because it still has fits and bursts of energy from time to time, and actually seems to be moving steadily (if very slowly lol) towards some kind of thoughtful, actually-planned-out resolution. that said, it has absolutely had a sharp decline from its glory days, and I will stand by that hot take even if I still enjoy the series.)

there's a gap, I think, between what people imagine a long manga will be like, and what it actually is like. actually it's less of a gap and more of a chasm tbh.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to explore all those interesting plot threads and angles that he keeps glossing over and never elaborating on"

what it actually is like: you know that cool side character/sideplot thing we got introduced to a couple chapters back? here's an entire arc focused on them and their life story! unfortunately this means that we won't actually get back to the main plot and characters for approximately six months. but hey at least we're expanding our worldbuilding.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to focus on character development"

what it actually is like: FOR EVERY. LAST. CHARACTER. including all of the characters that you don't actually give a shit about, unless you're one of those miraculous but lovely people who are genuinely fond of every single one. either way, once again I hope you're good with saying goodbye to the main cast for half a year or more.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to write realistic training arcs and develop the characters' abilities at a more reasonable pace"

what it actually is like: do you know what training montages are. do you know why they were invented. I will tell you why: because realistically-paced training arcs are actually the single most boring thing on the planet. training is literally just repetition of something. the process is always exactly the same, every single time. there's a reason why most writers tend to avoid focusing on it, realism be damned.

what people imagine: "a timeskip would make it more believable for the characters to be at the level that they're at, and would make the story more mature"

what it actually is like: we miss out on months or even years of character development. the characters for some reason always split up over the timeskip period, and so they miss out on months and/or years of relationship development with each other. every single battle suddenly becomes "here is so-and-so's shiny new upgrade, now watch as they either effortlessly win their fight, or else struggle to do so thus making us question whether all that time spent training was even worth it." and also suddenly the series is inexplicably trying to be more mature, which for some reason always seems to mean (1) more character death, and (2) romance!! and not the kind of romance tumblr actually likes, lol. we're talking that good old-fashioned forced heterosexual EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET PAIRED OFF WITH SOMEONE romance up in here.

what people imagine: "a long series would give Horikoshi more time to breathe so that he doesn't feel pressure to keep rushing everything"

what it actually is like: imagine being forced to continue doing something for literal decades of your life, long after all of your motivation and inspiration has dried up, all because your work is continuing to bring in $$$ and the fans don't want it to end. imagine just phoning it in each and every week, pulling new story arcs and new characters out of your ass until the plot has become so convoluted that there's no hope whatsoever of ending it clean, and no chance in hell of every character getting a satisfying resolution, because your cast has simply grown too expansive.

that's what long-running shounen series are like. that's what Horikoshi is trying to avoid (and in fact some would probably argue he's already reached that point lol). yes, the series has been rushed lately. a lot of people have been saying that Horikoshi is burned out; I personally have gotten more of a vibe that he is close to being burned out, and so he's trying to rush to the ending before that happens so that he can give the series the send-off he feels it deserves. I think he has a clear plan for the endgame, but the path to the endgame isn't quite as thought-out, and so he's chosen to fudge a lot of it simply because he doesn't have enough fucks left to waste on stuff that ultimately isn't important. which might not be ideal, but it is what it is.

but just to be clear, no matter how rushed things are, or how rushed they continue to be, I will always, 10 times out of 10, take this over the Naruto/Bleach/OP route. because I have seen that play out more than enough times already, thank you very much lol. and honestly, if the latest arc has taught us nothing else, it's that history would easily repeat itself with BnHA given half the chance, because Horikoshi is just as human as those other writers, and has already spent the past seven years throwing all of his best ideas at us one by one. and eventually he's going to run out, you guys.

so yeah. all good things, etc. this may be one of my most unpopular opinions, lol, but I stand by it.

[frobin]

Okey serious question here. How much do you actually believe that Oda ships Frobin? Like do you think he actually have like doodles/sketchs of them in a pairing kind of way? like for the strong world film riding the motorbug? (Personally i would love it to be true but he has stated one piece isn't about romance in that way)

Hey there anon! Thank you so much for your question and I hope I can answer it seriously enough. Also once more sorry for the late response. I felt like a question like that needs some research and that is what I did these last few days.

So... I think I'll start with the tl;dr because that way people can read that and ignore the rest.

So, long answer short: I 100% believe that Oda has one or more sketchbooks with drawings of his characters that are absolutely self-indulgent. I am 98% sure that he has drawn Franky and Robin in a romantic way at least once (and supported the ship). I am 80% sure he still is shipping FRobin.

Little disclaimer: I actually have no idea if any of this is true. I pull everything in my arguments out of my own experiences and knowledge and since I'm not a 46 year old Japanese Mangaka my perspective might be WAY OFF.

argument - reason- example - conclusion... behind the cut (or in the google doc)

So, why do I think that Oda has a secret sketchbook?

Simple answer is that he is an artist. He is drawing a lot and no artist will publish everything. That can have multiple reasons like imposter syndrome or because the artist thinks it’s not good or interesting enough or they just forget. There are even more reasons I forget and every person has their own.

For Oda I can imagine two big reasons as to why he would keep secret sketchbooks.

First: He is a horndog. You can skip this part if you don’t want to read about it, to the second reason.

Anyway, we know thanks to answers in the SBS, the way he likes to draw big-breasted women and how some of his characters are classified as perverts that he can be considered one too.

Let me show you a few of a few lewd SBS questions he likes to answer in a funny way:

Chapter 228, Page 46

D: How are ya, Odacchi? I know how much you like getting butt-naked, so this must be a favourite season for you. <3

O: Yes, yes. I just LOVE getting completely naked. In the summertime, after I take a bath I just run STRAIGHT OUTSIDE!! And when the girls' softball team running on the sidewalk looks over at me, they say, "Yup, it's really summer now!!" ... AS IF!! I'D GET ARRESTED!!!

(x)

Chapter 433, Page 68

D: If Lady Robin can use her Hana Hana Powers to make any part of her body sprout somewhere else, does that mean she can do it with her ample bosom as well? "Nyurin-zaki" (Breast Sprout) Boy, I'd like to take a hit from that sometime... P.N. Ero Ero no Mi Devil Fruit User.

O: "Ichirin-zaki" (Single Sprout) "Nirin-zaki" (Double Sprout) "Nyurin-zaki" (Breast Sprout) Very clever!! NO IT'S NOT!! STOP THAT!! I'm sure she CAN do it though ♡

(x)

Chapter 798, Page 64

D: Oddachi, I'll give you a pornographic book, so please answer my question. Sanji won't allow anyone to waste food, but what will he do if a woman does so? P.N. Smoker's Cigar

O: I think he would grab the plate and eat it up. Now please give me the pornographic book.

(x)

Nowadays I’m sure there is a focus on those lewder questions compared to the beginning because that is what 13 year old boys laugh about and we all know that is Oda's main demographic (of course).

I think a very good picture of that is given by Tekking101 in his breakdown video of SBS Volume 100.

“Let’s get diving into these questions (...) now, this is a huge moment. I mean, not many Manga manage to reach 100 Volumes, Okay? Now I know Oda usually starts these off with questions relating to boobs and things that don’t really… you know, aren’t really relevant but you know, this is a big celebration so we’re gonna dive right into it. I bet the most important things that we need to know about the One Piece Story are right here in these pages, okay? I printed them out. That is how important this is. So let’s start off, shall we? Epic voice, Barry!

‘Mister Oda, there is a UFO over there with huge big-breasted beauties on it. That memorable 100 Volume of the SBS is about to begin.’

[pause] Yeah, like the first five of these are all related to boobs in some way. You know what Oda? Sticking true to your guns! Godspeed, Sir Oda. Godspeed.”

(end at around 2:30)

So, Oda is a man who likes beautiful women and who draws.

Coming to the conclusion that he will draw his own characters in suggestive poses, naked and even doing adult stuff is not hard.

Obviously he would not show these sketches just around. He would probably keep them in a secret sketchbook that he keeps at a safe location. Maybe his wife and some close friends know about it? Maybe it is his and only his little secret.

I don’t think it would be unlikely to learn about this years into the future, maybe the next generation of Anime Fans will hear about this.

And it would not be the first time that something like this happened.

Not that long ago the daughter of Osamu Tezuka - groundbreaking Mangaka, known for his works of “Astro Boy”, “Kimba the white lion” and many more - found his adult Furry art. Source; Japanese article;

It’s a fact that many Mangaka did indeed start their career with art of the more risque kind and/or as doujinshi artists.

So again, I have no doubt that Oda, a known pervert, has one or more secret sketchbooks with „the p0rnography“ in it. Is there only hot stuff in there? Not necessarily.

The second reason to keep a secret sketchbook would be to collect information in there, that could be considered canon but he is not willing to use it in the Manga. Maybe they are not important enough or will be used later.

What am I imagining here? Anything that could be considered too weird for the normal sketchbook but isn‘t too risque. Funny things that might still not be „appropriate.“

Like a sketch of the male Strawhat ding-dongs with the sizes beside it. All the lewd jokes the fans did about Luffy's stretching qualities? I’m sure Oda thought about them too and drew that in the past if he had the time and it made him laugh enough.

But also maybe there are scenes in there that never made it in the Manga. The Strawhats interacting with each other in their daily lives, ideas for colorspreads and maybe chapter-titles. Oda probably has noted/sketched down a lot of unofficial stuff somewhere.

Another example, even an artist like Oda himself would have needed to exercise drawing two people kissing. Why not use Characters he thinks that might work out together?

Why not Franky and Robin? I would imagine he sketched up a few panels of Franky and Robin having a romantic date, going shopping together in Dressrosa, having a conversation that we never got to see because it was too on the nose.

Which brings us to the second point of me being very sure that Oda had drawn FrankyXRobin at one point.

I’m sure in those sketchbooks there is at least one drawing of them doing anything couple-related together. Again it does not have to be downright nasty but it could be them holding hands, kissing or even just Robin leaning onto Franky while reading, like all those fanarts that exist out there.

It’s not hard to imagine. Even for other Characters I think that is possible

And there might even be proof for that idea. The sketch of the Strong World movie you also mentioned, anon. The one movie that can be considered canon is Strong World. It was basically written/directed by Oda. Shiki the antagonist had an appearance in the Manga.

This sketch is drawn by Oda. Robin is holding onto Franky.

Can it be read as romantic? Yes. Can it be read as Robin holding onto Franky because there is nothing else to hold onto? Also Yes. But couldn't she just have used her power to keep herself secured on the bike without holding onto Franky? WELL YES. Could Oda never have thought in these circles like I do right now? I hope he did not because I hate it and I don’t wish it upon him.

In the movie Robin is NOT holding onto Franky. Now the really interesting thing - that is neither proof pro nor anti FRobin - is that we can see the sketch provided by Oda as a “between the scenes”.

In the movie Strong World the old trio is collecting information at the Pirate assembly. The next time we see them they use the Batta GT-7000 to slowly approach the destroyed village, which had been ravaged by the animals, and start to look for their friends. No need to hold onto Franky and no need for Brook to lean back. They are looking around.

The sketch is clearly not the same scene as the one we see in the movie.

In conclusion the drawing is indeed a between the scenes drawing. And yes if there exists one, who is to say there aren’t more?

Talking about Animal-Bikes...

Is there any meaning about the fact that in the opening scene (that is part of the talked intro after the opening ‘We Go’ - a huge thanks to antiherofangirl, ccb0nnet, JFL_Estudios and Maems, over at twitter!) Franky and Robin build another grasshopper-based vehicle? Maybe not but I still feel like it’s quite a callback.

Where did the idea to put this in the beginning come from? a) an editor had the idea inspired by Strong World; b) maybe it’s another sketch that Oda provided.

Neither seems very far-fetched in my opinion.

So yes, I am very sure that Oda has drawn things that we would consider FRobin.

Now to the last point (the first being Oda having a secret sketchbook, the second me arguing that Oda might have drawn FRobin).

As I said in the beginning I’m very sure that at one point Oda did and kinda that he still does ship Franky and Robin. Because even though every Interaction of two characters can be depicted as romantic or platonic, Oda used ROMANTIC TROPES with Franky and Robin.

They have never kissed on screen but we had

finishing each other's sentences

coordinated clothes

one using the others lap as pillow

hand on cheek caressing

and we can’t forget that Robin had answered Franky's invitation to ride on another animal-themed bike with a heart.

Edit: I didn‘t say anything about „no romance in OP“ so ask again if you want me to talk a bit about that. Sorry!

Those are things an author of Oda's level would not write or draw without being aware about how teasing this is. He has to be aware that every single line he draws will be analyzed to the end of the universe and back. People earn money by saying their opinion and interpretations about the Manga on Youtube.

These interactions are not something outlandish like “There was once an Anime Scene in which Robin was wearing something blue and exactly 28 episodes later Franky was wearing something violet and then 39 episodes later they both stood beside each other for exactly 69 seconds.”

Whenever I think about these facts, things that are not about interpreting but are factual, black ink on white paper but also about the little things, about how Frank and Robin help each other to become better, how they support each other… I want to say YES! ODA IS 100% on board! While in reality I’m 80% sure and 20% of me is wondering if I’m not actually analyzing too much into it. If maybe he really is abandoning ship. Maybe I will become the person who will curse his name and throw my Mangas and fanfictions in an active volcano?

I don’t know and it’s impossible to say what is going to happen.

And with that I've concluded this answer, and it only took me around 2k words and four days.

[old-hyper-super-clover]

Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare

Feelings, become One

Part 1 of 2

Writer's block is being rough on me, so the only thing I was able to create lately was a short story of my MC Clover and Leviathan. It shows their adorable friendship as they experience an idol live show together.

Enjoy 🧡

One evening, the demon of Envy, Leviathan, made his way to the human exchange students' room. The human girl Clover had borrowed a manga from him, but it happened that Levi needed that exact book right now.

As he was strolling through the hallways, finally he reached the door, so he knocked like a polite creature before coming in.

"Hey" Levi called out into the room. "I need that Ruri-chan manga back for a sec. Some idiot Normie posted stupid fake information on the fanclub's Devcord server and is not believing me when I tell him he's wrong, so I need screenshots to prove what a fake fan he is lolol."

As he had been more eyeing his D.D.D. than paying attention to his surroundings, he only noticed at the end of his comment that a pair of unpleasantly surprised eyes were staring back at him. Levi raised his eyebrows, puzzled, looking back at Clover sitting on her bed, only being illuminated by the small lamp on her bedside table.

Just so making out her reddened eyes, paired with how she was hugging her legs, the demon immediately understood that she was crying.

"C... Clover?"

"A-ah, Levia-tan..." she mumbled, quick to put away the used tissue in her hand. Sniffling shortly, she sprung up in the next moment, walking over to her desk. "I didn't get to read this chapter yet, so I'd like to have it back after you've shown that peasant what a real Ruri stan looks like..."

Handing him the manga, Clover put on a very unconvincing smile.

Unsure how to react, Levi took the book but kept giving her a worried look. "Are you... okay?"

The girl only gave a nod.

"B-because you look, uhm..." Levi could have punched himself for being so bad at social interactions. "Were you crying just now?"

A flash of panic crossed Clover's face, but in the end, she assured him she was fine.

"It's embarrassing but I was, uh, crying over a stupid video. So nothin' to worry about, really!"

Holding the door open, she kind of gestured for him to make his leave, so Levi stepped out into the corridor again.

"Now go get that loser's ass", she cheered, but as she closed the door, Levi caught a tiny glimpse of the frown that was forming on her face.

The demon had planned to go back into his room, yet somehow he found himself in the kitchen instead. Turning his head to the fridge, he spotted Beelzebub head-deep in the ingredients for tomorrow's lunch.

Levi's younger brother noticed his presence when Levi let out a troubled sigh.

"Huh? Levi?" Beel shot him a glance. "Are you hungry, too?"

"Like there would even be anything left for me to eat!" Levi hissed, mustering how Beel's cheek were filled to the brim like those of a hamster. "No, I..." He let out another sigh. "Did something happen to Clover? She seemed really down just now and behaved all weird."

In an instant, Beel stopped his scavenging and closed the fridge to turn towards his brother.

"So you think so, too..." Beel said. "I noticed it when we returned home from RAD today, so I wanted to cook something to cheer her up."

Levi let out a huff. "Doesn't look like you had success in doing that..."

However putting his sarcasm aside, he asked whether Beel knew any reason for Clover's sadness.

"I think she had some stressful days" Beel explained, scratching his head as he actually began to prepare said food. "She had a lot of projects to hand in for her additional courses lately. And it seems the grades she got weren't quite what she expected. Or what she deserved for the amount of work she put in, honestly."

Nodding to himself, Levi indeed remembered that the human girl had been working until late recently. He crossed his arms. "But their grades aren't really that important to the exchange students, right? There's no need to cry over that."

For a while, they remained silent, listening to the veggies sizzling in the frying pan.

Then, Beel spoke up again.

"You know how she is" he said. "She was very passionate about it, and now beats herself up for not doing well enough."

Frowning, Levi narrowed his gaze. "But then why didn't she tell me about it? I thought we were friends..."

Beel had returned to the fridge, originally to grab the next ingredients, but ended up stuffing half of that into his own mouth.

"I thought you of all would understand her reasoning the best" he grumbled into the fridge.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

So Beelzebub shot him another look.

"Aren't you afraid of people thinking low of you, too?"

That evening, Beelzebub continued to take care of the human girl. He had managed to cook her a delicious meal and stayed with her to watch some movies.

Levi was amazed to see how easily his brother had managed to lift her spirits. Overall, it had surprised him to hear how well Beel knew about her feelings in the first place.

But what troubled Levi the most were Beel's last words before he had knocked on Clover's door:

"She'll probably stay this sad for longer. It would be great if you could help, too."

The next day, the avatar of Envy didn't feel like gaming at all. He forced himself to do his daily log-ins to his thirty-ish online games, but his mind kept wandering off to the happenings of the last evening.

Why would anyone think low of Clover because of school grades? Why would she be that sad, even if she put a lot of work into it?

She was his confidant. His friend. That alone meant she had to be a person worthy of one's time.

So... Why would someone like her ever worry about not being good enough?

Lying in his bed/bathtub/really-unsuited-sleeping-spot, Levi bit his lip.

He understood what Beel had meant now. The more he tried to understand Clover, the more he spiralled into self-loathing, toxic thoughts that he knew all too well himself.

And just the thought that Clover might be pained by this nonsense made him so angry that he couldn't focus on anything else than searching for a way to cheer her up.

Grumbling and brainstorming, his messy thoughts suddenly saw a spark of hope when he read a notification on his D.D.D.:

'Aqours 4th LoveLive! ~ Sailing to the Sunshine ~ -- Tickets for sale NOW!!'

Eyes wide, he had this hesitation of "that's too good to be true" when his thumb lowered to press the "see more" button.

But the second after, his otaku mode activated. Baving opened his five favourite websites for booking concert tickets in an instant, Levi was determined to get two tickets for this live show...

Naturally, the period of buying tickets and the actual concert were painfully far apart.

At first, Leviathan wanted to keep it a secret that he had obtained two premium seats for the Aqours concert.

However, Clover's state seemed to worsen as time went by. New things kept piling on her head, and one disappointment set the requirements for her to fail whatever she aimed to do next. It might not seem that bad to others, but as someone who is struggling with his self-worth himself, Levi could guess that Clover's mindset had to be suffering more and more.

So one day, he decided to tell her about the tickets.

Spam-calling her until she would angrily stomp into his room, Levi was waiting for her, the tickets ready in his hands.

"Levia-tan, I'm BEGGING you, if I tell you 'I'll be there in a minute', please don't call me another fifteen times to make sure I wasn't ly-"

She went silent the second her eyes landed on the tickets.

The demon couldn't hide a cheeky grin.

"You were supposed to hurry, Normie" he mocked. "Feeling your concert tickets the second they're out of the printer is a NECESSITY!"

Clover wouldn't respond.

In all honesty, she COULDN'T respond.

Every time she opened her mouth, she was too baffled to press out a single tone.

"Here, this is yours" Levi said as he handed her one ticket. "It's still long until the day of the live show, so make sure to keep this somewhere safe! Ah, you know, actually... If you store the ticket in your room, Mammon might find it and sell it, so it might be for the best if I keep your ticket here with mine... C-Clover?!"

The girl had taken hold of the ticket, staring at it while Levi was rambling. But she had puzzled him when suddenly, tears were dropping on the piece of paper.

"I-is... Is this for real...?" Clover asked with an incredibly thin voice.

"W-wah..." Levi panicked, softly tugging the ticket out of her shaking hands. "It's all wet now... But I guess I can just print it out a second time..."

"Am I... really... going to... Japan...? To... a live show of... of A-aqours...?" Clover asked with a trembling lip.

"You bet!" Levi cheered. "I've been trying to get these tickets for HOURS! It was really tough, but you should never underestimate my Otaku skills!"

"I've... I've always dreamed of... experiencing a live show in person..." Clover continued to mumble. "And now you're being... So kind... What did I do to deserve this..."

Grabbing his phone, Levi tapped on his messenger app to show her something else.

Confused, Clover was looking at Levi's chatroom with Solomon. In his own excitement, Levi had to tell it before Clover could finish reading.

"And don't worry about the language issues. You'll be able to understand it all!" He babbled. "Solomon will do his best to mix you a potion to help with that! See it as subtitles, but send directly into your brain lolol."

The demon grinned from ear to ear,

and, well, expected that the human would do the same...

Or at least, he really didn't expect for her to suddenly burst into loud sobbing, pressing her hands against her face as she couldn't stop crying.

"O-oh..." All colour left Levi's face at once. "Are... Uhm... Are you not happy?"

Looking back and forth between her, the tickets and his phone, he was frantically trying to figure out the reason for her outburst.

His heart broke into pieces as his own toxic mind gave him an answer.

"Oh..." Levi pressed out. "I didn't ask you if you even want to go there if it's with me..." Now he felt really stupid. In all his preparation and anticipation, he forgot what a yucky creature he was. "Uh... I guess... I mean I can understand if you don't want to, it must be really embarrassing to go outside with someone like me, so, y-you can... take someone else along i-if that will make you stop crying... I was looking forward to it, but making you smile again was my utmost priority, so I would... You can... go with, like, Beel or som-"

"L-levia-tan?" Clover suddenly pressed out, not looking up though.

"Y-yes? Are you mad at m-"

"Can I hug you?"

"... Eh?"

"P-please...!" Clover's head shot upwards as she met him with a pleading, crying face. "I d-don't know how to respond to this... this wonderful gesture... I'm..." Not able to hold herself, she engulfed Levi in an embrace.

"I'm so happy..." Clover sobbed into his shoulder. "Thank you so much... Levi..."

Now Levi was the one at loss for words. With cheeks painted a bright pink, he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her body.

"S-so... You're okay with going with... with me?"

"Of course! I'm flattered that you'd even thought of inviting me..." The girl pressed out, slowly letting go of him.

And finally, a grin was spreading on her face again."Please teach me everything I need to know about lives, Levia-sensei!"

The sight was so contagious that Levi was smiling himself.

"Yes! Leave it to me!!"

For the following weeks, the two of them spent huge parts of their free time preparing for the live show.

Leviathan taught Clover all there is to know about using glowsticks: from the shaking technique that destroys your arms and wrists the least, to ultra orange glowstick usage and cycloning. They listened to Aqours' songs so much that at some point Clover remembered all their lyrics perfectly despite not even speaking the language. Additionally, they looked into older live shows to learn where the crowd would engage in which kind of chanting.

"Waah, no, I can't that part of the first live show... I'll cry, Levia-tan...!" Clover had whined.

"Ah, do you mean the performance of 'Omoi yo Hitotsu ni Nare'? Where Rikyako messed up her piano play?"

"Yes... It was so brave that she learned playing piano from scratch just for that song... But then the poor girl was so stressed, messed up and started sobbing... That part just kills me, especially when the rest who were performing the dance came to comfort her... Ugh I love them all so muuuuch..."

The house of Lamentation was glad to see the human girl had regained her joyful energy. Even if, after a few weeks, their patience was being put under the test...

To give a short input:

When greeting the audience at the beginning of the live show, each idol introduces themselves and engages in a unique call and response with the crowd to get everyone pumped.

And so one day, Levi went to Clover saying this:

"We also need to practice our responses to their character introductions! From this day onwards, I will randomly initiate one of the girls' calls, and you have to respond correctly!"

So... Yeah. The other inhabitants of the house didn't quite understand what any of those "Ganbarubyyyy"s or sudden "BUU BUU DESU-WA"s meant, but eventually, even they remembered some of the call & responses.

... Just that not everyone was so amused by the whole ordeal as Leviathan seemed to be.

Not when Clover was preparing breakfast with Satan in a great hurry (because SOMEONE ate what they had prepared earlier...).

You can imagine that, when already stressed out, Satan wasn't really happy over his older brother dashing into the room, shouting a random "KAN KAN" from the top of his lungs.

"Mikan!" Clover had correctly responded, however quiet as she was fully aware of Satan's anger level.

However, as this particular call & response repeated three times, Levi continued to animate the human girl, going once again even louder: "KAN KAN!"

"M-mikan..."

"Come on, I can't hear you... KAAAAN, KAAA-"

He couldn't finish his chanting as Satan had thrown a devil-blood orange right into his face with such force that it pulled Levi off his feet.

"HERE, HAVE YOUR FUCKING MIKAN AND LEAVE!!"

[Mikans are small, japanese oranges (´ ∀ ` *)]

Finally, the day of the concert had come.

Asmodeus had made it his mission to plan Clover's outfit so she'd be as "dazzling as the girls on stage". Levi had been prompting her to go with comfortable, practical clothes instead, so they had to find a middle where neither of them would complain.

Once all done, some of the brothers came to muster the soon leaving duo.

"Hm... Are you sure you don't want to put on any make up, darling?" Asmo asked Clover after doing his final check.

"Absolutely. I will be in tears the second Aqours' enters the stage, so there's no point in that."

Standing in the doorframe, the avatar of Greed gave a huff.

"Isn't that skirt a bit too short? And that whole outfit... No, you can't go out like this."

"Huh?" Clover turned to him in confusion. "Why not?"

"It's way too eye-catching!" He grumbled. "What if some filthy human makes a move on you?"

The girl gave a slight chuckle. "I go to school with incubi and succubi, Mammon. I think compared to that the human world should be pretty safe."

"B-but...!" Mammon wanted to protest, but Beelzebub covered his brother's mouth to silence him.

"I think you look cute" He beamed Clover an encouraging smile. "But be careful nonetheless. Levi, take care of her."

"Y-yes! I will!"

-- to be continued in part two --

[dnarez]

Chapter 15 - Sports Festival Part 5

((((REAL QUICK

I lov u all so much! Thank you all for 4k readings!

I was going to stop after the Sports Festival but since u all like it so much I will continue beyond it.

Also, here is a warning, I WON'T get to where the manga and to where the anime is, I will probably stop around the License exam, not that I don't like it is just that I have another fic on my pocket and have around 5 chapters ready, but since I'm updating this one I won't start posting it until this one has some kind of end. (I'm too lazy for update 2 fics at the same time)

Thank u for the 4k reads again and have a good reading)))))

"I knew he would come to us sooner then later" Y/n smiled and patted Midoriya's head "you make strong enemies don'tcha?"

He looked guiltily at her "sorry... I did suppose we'd have to face them near enough to the final phase of the battle but..."

"Don't worry, I doubt that you made it on purpose" she petted his head again and straightened up looking at her enemy with predatory eyes. "Big brother will be very proud of me if I win against a Todoroki"

Her pupils turn into slits as her orangy yellow wings puff up, giving a more intimidating look.

-

"WE STILL HAVE HALF OF THE MATCH LEFT! KEEP MOVING! THE ONES COMING AFTER US AREN'T JUST A SINGLE TEAM!"

She looked at team Mineta that would try to get advantage on Todoroki's team back and got back to staring at Shoto's team seeing their lip movement as they came full force made her realize their plan.

She flew them back as pikachu boy activated his quirk after Shoto covered himself and his teammates with the cloth that the creator girl created.

Being far enough from them she was able to save her team from the shock, but seeing Dark Shadow's distress from the light made her cover him with her wings.

Dark Shadow looked at her surprised but smiled at her.

"You okay there buddy?" She petted his head. "It's almost over don't worry"

He nodded and looked at her determined as she folded her wings again and saw all the other teams stock on ice.

"WHA-WHAT'S THIS!? TODOROKI HELD BACK THE MOB OF HORSES IN ONE SWOOP!" Mic shouted... again

"He use Kaminari's quirk to stop everyone firmly in their tracks so he could be sure to freeze them all... he's looking back at the obstacle race where too many were able to dodge his ice for his liking." Aizawa calmly explained

'Aizawa's explanation is so good... I want him as my teacher!' Y/n looked at Shoto's team and didn't try to fly away, her team looked at her panicking

"WHAT HAPPENED???" Midoriya asked panicking "YOU CAN'T FLY??"

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?? DID YOU GET HURT?" Uraraka asked as she looked at Y/n's wings then back at her enemies.

"No... My instincts are telling me to not fly, I can't go against them, sorry but... WE HAVE TO FACE THEM HEAD ON"

"I'll stop them" he attacked with Dark Shadow but the creator girl protected against his attack.

"DAMMIT! THAT DAMN "CREATION" QUIRK IS SOMETHING ELSE!" Midoriya shouted staring at the creator girl.

"Get distance from them! Don't let them get too close!" Y/n shouted frustrated about not being able to fly away. "MIDORIYA! The worst is Kaminari! I can protect Dark Shadow only partially! He is weaker on the light! We must stay on guard with all the members of that team!"

He nodded "Our attack power is down... but they don't know that do they?"

"In all likelihood. I've only ever told Kouda at USJ, and Y/n, I doubt that they told anyone." Tokoyami said

"Let's get advantage on that... Takami-chan Todoroki refuses to use his left side"

Y/n nodded understanding what he meant by that.

"THERE'S ONLY ABOUT A MINUTE LEFT!! AND TODOROKI HAS SET THE FIELD... ALL THAT'S LEFT NOW IS TAKING THOSE THE MILLION POINTS!!! IT'LL BE SWIPED UN AN INSTANT!!!! OR SO I MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT UP UNTIL FIVE MINUTES BACK!! BUT TAKAMI HAS DONE WELL TO KEEP AWAY DURING ALL THAT TIME, EVEN IN THIS CONSTRICTED SPACE!!"

Todoroki had made a ring like formation not leaving space to Takami's team to run away.

Takami's team was being able to keep distance from Todoroki's right side while keeping a good distance from his left one.

'She always put her distance to my left... she's seen through me. Now even if I use ice for a short distance, I'll catch Iida in it. And if I use my ice recklessly. I'll be ruining my on chances. Kaminari's lightning too, can be fended off by Tokoyami and Takami... only a minute left...! DAMN YOU!' Todoroki's eyes didn't leave Y/n for a moment.

She felt Iida's lips moving and felt his quirk being activated. "Bad feeli-" before she could even finish the phrase Todoroki's team ran past them, and toke her headband. "OH NO! FAST! WE HAVE TO GET IT BACK!"

"WHAAAAAAAAA!? WHAT HAPPENED!!? THAT WAS BLISTERINGLY FATS!! IIDA, IF YOU HAVE SUPER ACCELERATION, THE WHY DIDN'T YOU USE IT IN THE PRELIMINARIES!!!? THE BACK AND FORTH BATTLE ENDED! AND THE ONE HAVING THE PAST LAUGH IS..."

"I thought I told you, Midoriya. I'M CHALLENGING MYSELF AGAINST YOU!!" Iida looked at Midoriya meeting eye to eye.

"TURNABOUT!! TODOROKI HAS THE TEN MILLION!! AND TAKAMI HAS CRASHED BACK DOWN TO 0 POINTS!!"

"LET'S GET OUR POINTS BACK!" Y/n was with her wings full red again

"As long as Kaminari's with them we can't attack! I think aiming for the other team points might be advisable..." Y/n look at Tokoyami and them at Dark Shadow, seeing their distress and feeling that the determination was still on everyone.

They moved close to Todoroki clashing on their front, Y/n extended her hand to the headband on his neck, when she was on Shoto's front she could feel all of his emotions.

With her right hand holding his left arm that was now on fire and her right on his left one, she moved his hand out of the way with one movement. Her left hand picked the bottom headband from his neck as she was carried away in top speed. "GOT IT!"

She looked at the headband that she took and there it was the 10 million headband. "I GOT OURS BACK!"

"Put yourself together, Todoroki!! That was dangerous!" Iida told him as Todoroki calmed down.

"We shuffled the order just in case and even so she got it! How?!" The creator girl asked

Y/n chuckled and smiled sweetly at them "You should have guessed that I would be able to tell which one was which since I was with my headband over my eyes since the beginning! I will tell you how I got it IF YOU CAN STEAL IT AGAIN!!!" Her wings went from full orange to full yellow and gold, showing happiness and pride.

When the count down started Bakugo had got inside the icering, Bakugou's team and Todoroki's team went both to Takami aiming for her headband, but they forgot something important about her and her team, just because they couldn't fly before didn't mean that she couldn't now.

"HOLD ON TIGHT!" She smirked as she opened her wing and felt her friends hold on to her, when Todoroki was about to get near her again she flew up out of their reach.

"TIME UP!" as Mic said that beautiful phrase Y/n flew down and put them on the ground.

"NOW SHALL WE SER WHO OUR TOP 4 ARE!? IN 1ST PLACE, TEAM TAKAMI!!! IN 2ND PLACE, TEAM TODOROKI!! IN 3RD PLACE  TEAM BAKUGO!! AND IN 4TH PLACE, TEAM TETSUTE... WAIT, HUH!? HEY! IT'S TEAM SHINSOU!!? WHEN THE HECK DID YOU MAKE IT SO HIGH UP!? THE 4 TEAMS WILL MOVE ON TO THE FINAL EVENT... NOW STEP FORWARD!!!" Mic announces.

Midoriya fell on his knees and start crying "I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO LOSE!!!"

Y/n smiles at him and knees down next to him "We wouldn't be able to get 1st place without you Midoriya-kun" she side hugs him and pet his head "you did a good job, you all did a good job" she separates the hug to meet Izuku's blushing face, she giggles at that and get up."Thank you all for your hard work" she hugs each of them tightly.

"Without you, we wouldn't be able to do it too!! Your wings helped so much!" Uraraka said after separating the hug

Tokoyami and Dark Shadow hug her "She's right, we will wait for you to become a student to our class."

"So we can become heroes together!" Dark Shadow complete his phase and part the hug and start waking forward.

Y/n walk behind Shoto, but before she could call him, to congratulate him, she heard him talking to himself. "I... I can't let it go on like this... this is exactly what Father always said..." she could feel his feelings, the anger, the sadness and the regret that were consuming him.

She thought it throw and decided against calling him instead she got next to Shinso and patted his shoulder. "You did great!"

He gave her a small smile and petted her head "And you did awesome"

"THE EVENT WILL BE AFTER AN HOUR'S LUNCH BRAKE! SEE YOU THEN!!! HEY, ERASERHEAD! LET'S GO GET SOME FOOD...!" Mic announced the break

"You wanna go grab something with me?" Hitoshi scratches the back of his neck looking at her lazily.

"Of c-" before Y/n could finish she looked at one of the more empty gates and saw Todoroki and Midoriya go there, the tension between then was big, and the feelings of confusion, anger and terror where around both of them.

"Hey, earth to birdbrain!" Shinso waved his hand in front of her eyes and she looked back at him "let's go...?" He nodded to the gate that had the quickest way to the food trucks.

"Sorry, I just... gonna call big brother and then I come find you okay?" She gave him a quick hug not giving time to him hug back "I knew you could do it" then Y/n started to run behind the two boy trying not to be noticed, leaving Hitoshi alone, he sighed and went to get food.

Y/n hides behind the wall at hearing distance from them, Bakugo appeared behind her but she made sign for him to keep quiet, as he was about to complain he heard Midoriya's voice.

"You wanted to tell me something... what is it?"

She made eye contact with Bakugo and they both nodded to each other agreeing to keep quiet, so both could eavesdrop

- . . . . . . . . . . . .

1950 words

Yoh! Hope you all are enjoying this book.

So to the important thing about last chapter.

NO ONE COULD CONVINCE ME TO CHANGE THE CHARACTER TO ROMANCE WITH.

I always read every comment, even the silly ones and the mean ones, but no one have a good enough resoning for me to change it from shotoXreader to katsukiXreader.

So I will keep it with Shoto as the romantic partner, that was the last chance you all had to make me change my mind, from here on this will be a shotoXreader only. DON'T FORGET THAT THE FOCUS OF THE STORY IS HAWKS BEING THE BEST BIG BRO EVER.

(Also poor Hawk's still is helping people on his way to U.A. poor big brother)

Buuuuuuut! Since I can't give you a fic with Bakugo stay with this cute Bakugo surprised n blushing for u all❤

[trashfor-imagines]

My Senpai | 4

Ushijima x Reader

Summary: You’re Goshiki Tsutomu’s older doting sister, second year at Shiratorizawa and captain of the girl’s track & field team. At your brother’s first practice you sneak in to support him and end up meeting the impressive force that is his captain. Warnings: None really. Mentions sex. Spoilers: We’re encroaching on manga territory. Takes place after Karasuno v Shiratorizawa.

Author’s Note: Sorry for not updating in forever! I lost my original chapter and got discouraged. I started rewatching Ushijima episodes to refresh my grasp on his character.

[1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5]

-

It was a shock. You never thought Shiratorizawa was capable of losing this year. Ushijima appeared unaffected, but that was just him. It was always mental for him and he had the ability to act with a sort of chivalric grace whenever faced with conflict. God, your boyfriend was really cool. Your brother, however, it broke your heart to see him cry.

After the award ceremony, you raced down to wait by the bus. Ushijima walked out first, his head held high. Noticing you, he simply rested his large hand on your head before getting on the bus. Quiet hello’s and thanks for coming’s were whispered to you. Your little brother could barely make eye contact, the last one to get on the bus. Reaching for his hand, you gave it a squeeze before letting it go and heading for the bus that brought the cheer squad.

The ride felt long. You spent most of it listening to music and playing with the sleeve of Ushijima’s spare team jacket he’d given you shortly after dating. You smiled and chatted occasionally with your fellow students, but the topics of discussion were focused on how Ushijima and the third years were doing. They expected you to have the answers and quite frankly, you thought it was obvious.

Getting back, you made your way into the gym to see the team working on serves. You sat quietly on the sidelines and watched as everyone gave their all, letting out their frustrations from the day. You never knew you could find the slams of volleyballs to be comforting to where they could put you to sleep. Or maybe you were just exhausted. Either way, you woke up from being carried.

“Wakatoshi,” you mumbled, snuggling closer to his chest.

The two of you snuck into your dorm room, stripping down into your underwear and entangling under the sheets. Ushijima’s body was like a radiator, warm and comforting.You ran your fingers through his hair patiently. If he wanted to talk, then he would. Until then, you whispered little praises to him, pressing kisses to his shoulder between sentences.

“I won’t lose again,” he spoke quietly.

Months passed and things continued to go well between the two of you. They were better than ever honestly. During Christmas you visited each other’s families at his request. You didn’t even have to prompt it! Your parents loved him. They thought he was quite the protector type and approved. His mother ended up accepting you once she realized you were intelligent and genuinely loved her son. Your personality had definitely thrown her for a loop.

Graduation was soon approaching and the two of you decided on a five year plan together. Long nights were spent discussing goals and dreams, wondering if they would be compatible with one another. He intended on going pro right after school; the Schweiden Adlers seemed most likely and they were based in Oita. You still had your third year of high school to finish, but you were applying to Kyushu University for architecture. It was in Fukuoka and closer than your other options to Oita. It was just a couple of hours by train or car. You also had plans to stick with track and field and keep your spot on the national team for as long as you could. You both had your eyes on the 2016 Olympics.

For a year the two of you managed to maintain a healthy long distance relationship.

After graduation, there were farewell and congratulatory parties almost every day, but the most fun for you was going apartment hunting, together. It was like a vacation, enjoying the beaches and hot springs. You spent a week staying at his apartment where the lease was ending soon. He said the two of you needed a new place together, that his current apartment wasn’t fitting enough for you. On your third day in Oita, Ushijima decided on the place, a 2 bed and 1.5 bath townhome instead of a one and one apartment. When you told him it was a bit expensive, he said it was perfect because he wanted you to have your own space at home to study for school without being bothered by him. You cried right there and he handled it like a champ. The two of you moved in a week before you started school.

“Wakatoshi!” you called to him from the rooftop terrace. He appeared, sticking his head out from the sliding glass door. You wiped your cheek, smudging dirt across your face. “Can you help me move this bag?”

He slipped on his outdoor shoes and walked over, lifting the bag of dirt and moving it to one of the two raised garden beds that he built earlier today. The two of you had plans for a small vegetable garden. “I thought we were going to plant seeds after lunch. I’m almost done cooking.”

“I know, I just got really excited. I was staring at your beautiful work and couldn’t help myself,” you cooed, giving him starry eyes.

Sighing, he set the bag down where you needed it before taking your hand and dragging you back inside. “We’ll do this after lunch. Together.”

“Aw, are you jealous I tried to start before you?” He didn’t say anything in response, making you grin. “My handsome farmer, I’m so sorry.”

After lunch, the two of you filled the garden beds with dirt and carefully planted seeds for carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, marigolds, lavender, and scarlet plume celosia. Ushijima had done quite a bit of research on complimentary plants. Hours really. Hours spent doing online research and drawing diagrams of how the garden should be set up for its fullest potential.

You were watering one of the garden beds when you caught a glimpse of Ushijima squatting with a spade in his hand. It was so cute how concentrated he was and how much attention he was giving this simple task. Biting your lip, you sprayed him briefly. He blinked, as if not comprehending what happened and looked up, as if blaming the sky. A muffled laugh escaped you. You went back to watering the garden bed as he went inside. Minutes later you heard the glass door slide open and didn’t pay much mind to it. Suddenly you felt chilled and were thoroughly soaked. Moving your hair from your eyes, you looked up to see your boyfriend holding a bucket over your head.

“Wakatoshi!”

Soon you were off to university, moving into a small dorm room with a single suitcase. Your dorm was littered with photographs of you and Ushijima and it was hard to cope with the fact that you wouldn’t see him through at least the rest of summer, maybe not even until the end of September if your school’s track team did well.

For a month you and Ushijima would call or FaceTime every night and tell each other about your days. He was quite proud of the garden the both of you planted and would send you progress photos and then describe what he saw in fine detail. Honestly, you didn’t realize your boyfriend was capable of being so invested in something other than volleyball. There were a few times you tried spicing up your phone calls, but honestly Ushijima didn’t get it. He was terrible at phone sex. It was fine though. Summer break was.... just a few months away.

It was a Saturday night after track practice when you got a phone call from your boyfriend.

“Wakatoshi! You’re calling early. I haven’t gotten back to my dorm yet,” you spoke, excited to hear from him.

“(Y/N), I’m lost.”

Your brows raised in surprise. “Lost, how? Do you need me to look up how to fix something?”

“No, I’m somewhere on your university’s campus.”

You felt your heart skip and you immediately ran toward main campus. “Okay well tell me what you see.”

In thirty minutes you were in your dorm taking a shower and Ushijima was reading the newest shonen jump he picked up at the train station on your bedroom floor. You came out with your hair in a towel and one of Ushijima’s t-shirts you had stolen. He set aside his magazine and pulled you down into his lap, holding you tight.

“I’m so surprised you came. I’m so happy,” you squealed, burying your face into his neck and running your fingers through his hair.

“I missed you too. I can stay for two days, but then I must go home.”

Pulling back, you let your fingers run over the stubble on his jaw, pouting a bit, “So what do I owe this short visit?”

His stare was intense and a faint blush kissed his cheeks. “I recognize that a few times you’ve tried to... initiate some things on the phone. I admit I’m not very good at it, so hopefully my presence now can make up for my... lack of experience.”

“Wakatoshi,” you breathed out in surprise, gazing at him with so much love. He literally traveled almost three hours because you were horny without him. Pulling the towel from your hair, you knocked him over onto his back as you jumped him.

Visits like these happened sporadically and soon it was fall. Track and field season was over which meant you could make your weekend visits home to Oita. You’d leave Wednesday nights and head back to school on Sunday mornings. Despite the second bedroom serving as a private study for you, you found yourself curling up to Ushijima almost always - as long as he wasn’t busy.

This was life for a couple of years. The two of you had become quite the duo. In fact, throughout your relationship, you had only argued about two things:

You broke your phone once and he wasn’t able to contact you and he freaked out from not knowing what was going on.

He forgot your anniversary and cancelled on your date for volleyball and you laid in on him for it.

Things were great until the 2016 Olympic qualifiers came around. You had broken a metatarsal in your right foot at the first qualifying meet of the 2015 season. You were out for the next eight weeks and even then, you weren’t going to be in shape to qualify because you had to go through physical therapy and get your athletic abilities up to par. Your coach told you that staying on the national team, going pro, and qualifying for 2020 was still possible for you. It didn’t stop the feeling of complete and total devastation that wrecked you and you were jealous.

Ushijima wasn’t sure of how to help you; he’d never seen you so vulnerable before, never seen you so sad, but he did his best to support you, even if that meant being a punching bag. He was consistent, despite things he had going on for his own Olympic goals.

After two months it was summer break. You had to go through physical therapy and you moved back home to Oita, transitioning to online classes for the second term of the year. Because Ushijima’s love language was different from most, you found yourself being forced to do your PT homework exercises, no matter how down and bratty you got.

“Wakatoshi, I don’t want to do stairs,” you groaned, curling up into a ball on the couch.

“You must, or you won’t be ready to start training any time soon,” he replied simply.

Your foot was throbbing and you were on your period, and everything just felt like shit. All you wanted was to watch anime and eat the small bag of chips you had hidden under the blanket you were under. Ushijima had been so strict with your diet and honestly all you wanted were trans fats, sugar, and carbs. With ease, he ripped the blanket from you, exposing you in your underwear clutching a bag of Calbee honey butter flavored potato chips.

“You should get up and walk the stairs now,” he said, prying the bag of chips from your hands, “if you want these back.”

Throwing your legs over the couch, you winced, balling your hands into fists in frustration. You got up, favoring your left foot, which he noticed. He walked up the stairs and sat on the top step, waiting for you to follow. Biting your lip, you moved slowly, trying to ignore the pain. There were 14 steps to the top and you had to go up twice and down twice. You were doing fine until your second trek up the stairs. It was a misstep and you slipped and you were clinging to the stair case, crying. It was embarrassing for you to be like this in front of him. This sweet giant quickly enveloped you in his arms and had you lying on your side of the bed, gently caressing your foot as you sobbed through it.

When you were calm again, Ushijima left for a while before returning, dinner in hand. The two of you sat in bed and had the meal he made in silence. You’d barely eaten, but you waited until he finished before you curled up to his side.

“I’m so sorry, Wakatoshi.”

“I would be surprised it you took this easily. You’re a competitive person. It’s one of the things I find attractive about you,” he replied. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders, his fingers gently running up and down along your own arm.

“Really?” you asked, feeling shy. He hummed in affirmation, glancing down to make eye contact. Smiling, you played with the hem of his shirt that was beginning to ride up. “What else do you... find attractive about me?”

“You’re thoughtful, kind. The way you pursue your passions and you’ve encouraged me to pursue my own; you believe in people wholeheartedly.” A thoughtful expression settled on his face as he spoke on effortlessly. He paused and his brows furrowed briefly before settling into a relaxed expression. “You’re beautiful.”

Placing a kiss to your forehead, you watched as he got up and headed to take his evening shower.

While you couldn’t compete, you concentrated on therapy and school and finished your courses early for your degree. You picked up a simple class to stay enrolled until your four years at school were up*, this way you could go back to competing your last year of university. The summer of 2016, Ushijima took you with him to Brazil. Japan didn’t win, but the competition was incredible. You got to meet with track and field athletes and it reignited your passion for competition.

You’d graduate come spring and then your focus was on 2020 Tokyo.

-

*In Japan, early graduation doesn’t exist. It was explained to me that if you attend a 4 year university, you have to be a student for 4 years before graduating, even if you complete your degree early.

tag list: @hihiq​

[unioncolours]

One Majsasaurus Year!

Today is a very special day for me. This day marks the one-year anniversary since I uploaded the very first chapter of my very first fanfiction. It has been one year since I stepped into the Naruto/Boruto fandom as a content creator.

This post is going to be a sappy meta post about my year as a content creator and my relationship to my fanfictions, to my writing and to my fandom and friends.

Please continue reading down below 💕⬇ 

I began watching Naruto in 2019, and by summer 2019 I had seen Shikamaru’s arc in Shippuden. I was blown away by his character and I was a full shipper of ShikaTema by then. I could not wait until we got to the end of Shippuden, and began googling the next gen characters (and spoiling the end game couples at the same time) and you can only imagine my satisfaction when I found out ShikaTema became canon and they had a son.

Very soon after this I came up with my first fanfiction idea, the one that gave birth to my very first fanfiction Shadows and Sand. I believed that idea had been done before, but after vacuuming through both ff.net and ao3, and I found nothing, I decided to write it myself.

I may have written fanfictions only for a year, but prior to this I was hardcore into the original writing world. I had written two fantasy novels and five full length plays before I wrote my first fanfiction, one of which was published, so the art of writing was something I was fairly used to.

The fanfiction writers I had read and followed to this point were Big Fandom Name writers with strict schedules and lots of readers. Every time they uploaded a new chapter their audience would write comments like “Your spoiling us with these tight schedules” and so on. I really liked the idea of a consecutive schedule and decided to write the whole first fic in its entirety, so I could “spoil” my potential readers with updates.

Shadows and Sand ended up being 35 000 word long, divided into eight chapters. This was the first story in my whole life I had ever written completely in English (and it was not easy). Going back to Shadows and Sand is cringy for me, mainly for the way I expressed myself in English, thought I still think the plot is great.

Here is one of the lines from Shadows and Sand I to this day think is amazing:

“She [Mirai] looked into his eyes, but he [Shikadai] didn’t look back, because he was already staring into a nightmare where his dad was dead because of his mistakes.”

For a totally new fanfiction writer, with no “fanbase” prior to this, I would say I got quite a lot of comments (around 15 in total on the eight chapters) and I was extremely happy for that.

I uploaded the whole thing in a week and a half, satisfied and proud of the result. At the final chapter I got a comment where the commentor wrote something along the lines of “Well written angst and well written fluff”. I pondered about those statements for a long time, thinking, yes, this was actually angst, even if I in the moment of writing – then I was still unused to the tagging system and the tropes of fanfiction, didn’t categorise the fic as angst, because I thought angst could only be chopped off limbs and painful deaths. But this fic had angst as well. Tiny angst, but still. And a rather powerful feeling rose in my chest from that moment. This is what I want to do in the fandom. To write heartfelt stories that make people feel.

  One week after I uploaded the final chapter of Shadow and Sand my fingers began to itch. I wanted to write more. Wanted to explore the little grain of world building I had already created. Wanted to write more Shikadai and Inojin kissing.

And thus, To go down with the Sun was born.

I began writing Down with the Sun with only one vision – something epic and an explosion. The plot was evolving as I was writing and the result ended up being just beautiful. And I became obsessed with this story. I wrote it in racer speed, 50 000 words in 26 days (that is madness, I tell you, MADNESS!) and then the rest 30k in 20 days. I could not think of anything but this story and the Next Generation Kids I put through trials and hell. I felt true euphoria while writing this story that unfolded under my fingers like in a dream. It was a mania, and a damn strong one.

The first thing I did when I woke up was writing, the last thing I did before going to bed was writing it. I prioritised writing this story above all in my life.

At the time of uploading, the fic did not get that much recognition. I got about one comment per chapter. When I uploaded the final chapter, I got two comments on that one, which was a tiny bummer, since I had hoped for more. It was a lonely, but lovely job to write Down with the Sun, mostly with my own thoughts as company, since the readers were rather quiet with feedback.

But I loved the few comments I got and I still got kicks from just the single act of uploading a new chapter. Because in the end, I wrote for myself and even more for the characters and plot. Finishing the story was the greatest motivator.

I uploaded the final chapter of To go down with the Sun December 7th, 2019.  And I still to this day love the story I created, even if I know that I’d definitely re-write some elements from the story if I’d write it again. But I still love it.

   After To go down with the Sun I wrote the fic that I hold the least emotional value to, Earning a weasel’s trust. The story is cute and short (11 000 words). It was a nice little project focusing on Temari’s motherhood to Shikadai that I wrote in a week. It got close to no feedback or attention, but it didn’t make me sad, because I needed to write and share that story and then move on with my life. I am though happy I wrote it.

At this time in my creative process I had been really lonely. It had been me with my own head and the characters. I had no beta reader and no one to bounce off ideas or anything. I had no fandom friends. I am still amazed I had written around 130k words without almost any support whatsoever in the span of four months.

This all changed in late December 2019. I found a Discord Server that I basically begged to get to be part of, and it really changed my fandom experience. Prior to this, my fandom experience had been lonely, and I just produced and consumed content. There was no interaction between anyone, except me replying to commentors.

And now, I found friends. I found people who loved the same pairing and show as I, and it felt almost life changing. This was the time when fandom really felt like… a hobby. A home. Before, it was a creative outlet, now it became a community.

I thrived.

The mod of this server @loknnica, hosted during this time a writing contest, which I eagerly wanted to take part of. I wrote my contest fic, Branded by Love, during January 2020, in which I made Shikamaru betray Konoha for Suna and Temari, and their son Shikadai became the One Tail jinchuuriki. The fic was 10k words long, and OUCH, the backstory I came up with. As soon as BbL was finished I decided that I wanted to write a long version of this canon divergence-world I had created.

In February 2020 I began writing Trial of the Heart, the epic version of Branded by Love. And damn, damn, damn what an epic story was born out of my fingers and brain. I love ToH, I loved what it turned out to be, a heart-wrenching and sad story of Shikamaru, Temari and Shikadai in a world of war.

While writing ToH the writing contest was ending and to my big, big delight, I WON! Branded by Love and I won the contest! This was precisely the boost I needed to really feel validated in my rather specific writing style and choice of plots.

I wrote ToH almost non-stop for four months, and in the beginning of June, the 28th chapter was uploaded. Trial of the Heart ended up being 123 000 words long. In four months, a whole damn NOVEL was created from my keyboard.

The pride, guys. The pride and joy I felt was like a drug injection.

Finishing off works is the greatest, greatest dose of motivation and pride. To write, write, write and finish. And let go of your work, to upload it with a great smile on your face.

During the spring and summer of 2019 three very important friends entered my life.

Vee (@veeganburger on twitter),

Becks (@notquitejiraiya on twitter)

Spooky (@spookymoth on twitter).

These three wonderful ladies really made me feel valid as a writer, and made me love my own work as well. During the spring To go down with the Sun had gained quite a lot of attraction, and the kudos and comments came. All the loneliness I had felt during the autumn was replaced by joy and love of sharing my works. These women have shared their thoughts of my work (and art) to me and I have also in privacy felt secure to talk with these women about nothing and all at once. They never fail to cheer me up.

I love you.

I had also gained the nickname “Shikadai’s tormentor” after multiple times forced that poor boy into horrible situations in my works. The user @shikanaradai’s nickname is Shikadai’s protector and we have an ongoing joke about being archenemies because of this. Ah. The fandom bubble was and is so lovely when you can experience inside jokes with friends. They became my friends, and I gained so much from this.

ANYHOW.

During Trial of the Heart I wrote a friendship between Shikadai and Inojin and I realised I missed writing them as a couple, like I had done in To go down with the Sun. With the support of Vee, who was really, really excited for a new fic where those two boys are a couple, I decided to write a sequel to To go down with the Sun, which I named To dance above the Stars.

In the wait before I began writing that one, I wrote two one shots, 48 hours to live – a next gen focused fic based on a manga chapter from the Boruto manga, and a pure Shikadai x Inojin one shot, I found love in the eyes of a boy, because at that time I knew already I had dug my own grave with that pairing.

I began writing To dance above the Stars in June 2020 and uploaded the first chapter at the end of the same month.

Simultaneously as I wrote Above the Stars I also wrote/edited three fics, one of them called The End, for an application to become a writer to the ShikaTema zine Everything I never knew I wanted. The results of the application came in the middle of July, when I had written a good chunk of Above the Stars.

I WAS ACCEPTED!

I am now officially one of the five writers for that zine!

To dance above the Stars got better recognition that I ever imagined. I was terrified that no one would want to read it, because it was a sequel and had very niched themes. A rare gay next gen pairing in focus and a story with extremely heavy emotional themes. I was so unsure anyone would want to read. The same feeling of loneliness that I had experienced during To go down with the Sun came back a little bit. That it in the end would be only me and my text.

How wrong I was.

To dance above the Stars got wonderful feedback, and more kudos than for example Trial of the Heart got. I received wonderful comments, and even fanart! I was so extremely happy and felt a new powerful emotion. It almost felt like my fic had its own little world in the world of fics, if that makes sense? Like a miniature fandom. During the late summer To go down with the Sun got translated into Russian by a wonderful reader of mine, enabling my texts to a wider audience, which I am extremely honoured by.

As I write this, it is September 2020. One year ago, I was writing Shadows and Sand and struggling through stringing English sentences together and that was also when “my” version of Shikadai was born. One year ago, I was writing what I to this day think is the best fighting scene I have ever written – and I write a lot of fight scenes. One year ago I was listening to “I just want to be brave” from the movie Lion King to get into Shikadai vibes and the mistake he did in that fic, a song I revisit for this reason time and time again.

I remember naively thinking that I will finish Shadows and Sand and then maybe write something else as well. Little did I then, in September 2019 know, that I would one year later have written closer to 400k words of fics, centred around Team 10 or around the Nara family. One year, almost four hundred thousand words.

Now, one year later I had won a writing contest, written three full length NOVELS as fics, been accepted to a wonderful zine, and found lovely, lovely friends. I even got crowned as a “Queen” for the Shikadai x Inojin ship, Shikajin as it is called, since I am one of the like three people who write for that ship, and have to this date written around 180k words for them. Which is a lot, haha!

I feel like I have conquered a tiny corner of the great fandom sandbox, and let me tell you, I thrive in my own corner. I might have few followers on twitter compared to many other creators, but I still want to provide content for those who want to see it. I might write rather niche works, but they filled a space where no fics were, and enriched the fandom in their own ways, even if I haven’t gotten tens of comments on each chapter. I have gotten around four comments each chapter, but it felt like okay.

I might not mod great zines like many of my friends do, something that did for a few months bring great stress into my fandom life. Am I a second-hand fandom member because I don’t want to moderate a zine, was something I often thought about. Am I lesser worth because I don’t do these amazing projects? No, I am not. And I feel very satisfied by just following my friends’ journeys and look at beautiful twitter accounts for zines.

I want to put my energy on writing intriguing plots and difficult fight scenes. Every fandom experience is valid.

In my heart I know my fics and content are good. Maybe not as good as native English writer’s content, but they’ve got a heart and soul on their own, and I really feel like I do have a Majsasaurus genre, trope or theme going on in my fics. And to be honest, I love it, and I accept that other people might not love it as much, or not at all. But it doesn’t matter. What I think of my own content matter.

  If any of you, who read this, have commented even once on one of my fics, thank you.

If any of you have ever interacted with me on twitter through comments, thanks you.

If any of you have pressed the follow button on either twitter or tumblr for me, thank you.

If any of you have left kudos to me, thank you.

If any of you have read my stuff but don’t want to comment because of different reasons, or if you feel shy to reach out, thank you for reading and I appreciate you as well.

 That was one hell of a Majsasaurus Year. Here’s to the next year. Cheers!

Thank you, all of you. You make my fandom experience complete.

 -        Majsasaurus Bex

[haiky-u-lously]

SA-Manga AU

Hi all! Hope everyone is well. I decided to write a thing because I have been pretty bored with what I normally spend what little freetime I have outside of work and being with irl peeps. However my self-prescribed ideas flow is lacking, so I thought a kickstart would be to adapt a pre-existing story with characters I currently enjoy. Then a online friend wrote a request I had asked and it made me so happy so this first chapter is dedicated to @kurokoxstraydogs because she is amazing.

For those unaware! SA is a manga/anime called Special A. This is legit that story line with HaikyuuXReader! So enjoy!

As always, questions/comments/concerns/ideas are always welcome and encouraged!

--Admin Red

Chapter 1—Trouble begins

Background:

You’d always been second place. No matter what you challenged him to, you could never beat him. Classwork? Forget about it. If you got 100s across the board, you just new he found a way to get extra points somewhere. How you help take care of your family? Please, He takes care of the FAMILY BUSINESS. And that’s not even to mention sports. The boy was ranked in the top three of the nation in Volleyball. How could you ever possibly live up to challenge him? It was a question that sometimes would plague your mind as you stared up at the midterm results once again.

 This was the first time since entering this school, the place you had come so selfishly just so you could continue to try and ultimately defeat the one you had to beat. This was the first time since as long as you could remember that you had immediately been dropped from second place.

 “No! I might’ve looked at it wrong!!” You exclaimed aloud, though you were not speaking to anyone in particular. Following the announcement board up from the bottom with your finger you saw it again clearly.

           2nd place—Kuroo Tetsurou

           “—YourName

“We have the same 2nd place score...?” You couldn’t believe it. After all your hard work. After dedicating your whole life to beat him, truly believing he was the only one you couldn’t hold a candle to…here comes this new transfer student, Kuroo Tetsurou. Who does he think he is? How can he just take your spot? Well, you thought, guess that just means I must work twice as hard then. With newfound determination you reminded yourself once more what your ultimate goal was. “I must defeat Ushijima-san this year.” Fist in palm, face set in what could only be described as others as blissfully determined you set back off to rejoin your friends at the greenhouse.

 The story:

On your way to the other side of campus you overheard that new name.

 “You’re amazing Tetsurou-kun!”

 Your ear felt like it wiggled upon recognition, and you decided to listen in. Even if that meant stopping directly in front of other students.

 “You transferred right into 2nd place!” The high-pitched girls voice rang out. Reminding you of your freshly observed defeat.

 You were about to leave anyway, but the response from the one being addressed piqued your curiosity a little too much and had you turn to face the speaker.

 “Shut up.” He said plainly. You had been trying to determine if he was really upset, or embarrassed by the comments, it was so hard to tell from such a distance. Disinterested eyes facing away from those commenting at him. “I said to be quiet.”

 By now you were standing right in front of him, and his side sweep-look around caught your glance.

 You stood motionless under the blossoming flowers.

 Quickly, you let a smile overtake your features, “Hi!” Your energetic personality quickly wiped away his sour mood, not that your obliviousness would let you in on that. You remembered having met him briefly in a chance encounter a short while ago. “I’m surprised to meet you again. And, at my school no less!” You laughed in high spirits as your pair made way over to a bench.

 “It’s because I have just transferred to this school that I was able to meet you again.” He said, turning to face you, giving you his undivided attention.

 You half turned away in thought, “Ahahah, I see. Even so. Suddenly your second place! Congratulations!”

 He hummed before responding, saying directly, “I am not satisfied with just 2nd place though. I will become 1st at this school, and I…”

 “We’re comrades then!” You yelled excitedly. Shooting up into a standing position, and turning back to face your new acquaintance in one move.

 Laughing, the boy in front of you let his head fall back, before he too stood up straight and shook your hand. “Then, please. Let us both do our best!”

 You excitedly waved goodbye before taking off back to your initial destination.

 Upon arrival at the greenhouse you overheard your friends discussing some certain matters.

 “It seems he came to this school because his father told him to.” One was in the middle of reporting.

 “Oh, really? Is that so?” You asked offhandly, joining the conversation as smoothly as you could. Taking a seat in your normal place among the soft couch and preparing to intently correspond with the rest of your class.

 Only…

 “Should you feel so relaxed, miss #2? If you space out this much, then your new goal will just to be to keep 2nd place? Yea?” Ushijima Wakatoshi announced haughtily while coming up from behind your sitting figure.

 Fired up fully, you steamed as your faced him, screaming “WHAT!?!!” You ignored the others around you, thinking about what more you could do to make sure you wouldn’t lose either. As it was time for class you quickly grabbed your items and made your way back to the main building. Even though your classmates of the Special A class refused to attend normal lessons, you could not afford such luxuries. You had to work hard, keep keen eyes on your studies and health and keep pushing to beat Ushijima!

 “We thought we would go out of our way to include you, and yet here you are. Ignoring us or being plain rude. Is that anyway to treat people who are trying to treat you as a friend?” The rough toned voices carried through to the end of the hall. You quickly made a beeline straight for the owner of the voice, all while listening for what came next.

 “As a friend?” It was Tetsurou, your new comrade. Now what could he be doing with the rough sounding voices from just now? Your pace quickened with that thought at the forefront of your head. “If I’m with you stupid celebrities’ kids, then your ideocracy will rub off on me.”

 EHHHHHHHHH...?! You thought, halting your quick pace as you saw the other boys leaving Tetsurou after that single comment. While you were not fully aware of the situation, you decided it was best if you stepped in just a little. Afterall if everyone’s not happy the school can’t run happily. “You, well…You probably wouldn’t have stupidity rubbed off on you had you joined them. Right?”

 Tetsurou hmphed in response. Rolling his eyes, he more vocally answered, “Those guys came to tell me to cut class and hang out with them. I guess I apologize for not being with those idiots. But I refuse to hang with those who can’t make an effort.” You were entranced by the seriousness in his eyes, as they reminded you of something you’d seen before. But he continued speaking in his rude yet earnest manner, “I like you (Y/N)-san. You are well known for being one of the hardest working people in this school. And you even said we were comrades since we were aiming for the same thing. But I cannot accept those type of people.”

 With that concluded, he left you.

 When the bell finished ringing you out of your daze, you realized it was probably to make sure he got to class on time.

 “Ahhhh! I won’t lose either!” You screamed as your sprinted to your own classroom.

 The rest of the school day went without a hitch. You attended your classes, despite being the only one from SA that did so, and made the most effort you could…nothing out of the norm. You had planned out your entire evening. Determining just how much time after your 20K jog would be used to study ahead of the next examination time. Five hours of sleep a night is fine, right?

 Unfortunately, your parents needed your help. And, called for it as soon you had sat down to start working your mother called, “Y/N! Can you go by some meat from the store? We’re a bit short from dinner tonight!”

 You excitedly yelled back in affirmation. Your parents had done so much for you, going so far as to pay for multiple years of schooling at a very expensive school meant for the rich and famous, not meant for your mediocre family income. They had worked so hard to help you achieve your goals, how could you ever reject such a simple request? It wasn’t possible. So out you went. Towards the quaint market near your building.

 Walking down the aisles you were surprised to run into non-other than Kuroo Tetsurou. You were doubly surprised to notice the employee uniform he was sporting with a clearly labeled nametag. “Yo! You work here? Part-time job, huh?”

 He smiled innocently back at you in recognition, “Oh, Y/N-san. Yeah”

 This guy, while suddenly entering the school right into 2nd place, he also has a part-time job. This insanity! I can’t lose to this either! You thought energetically. “Well, seeing as you work here, maybe you can help me. I would like to find this item.” You showed him the coupon for beef your mother had given you in order to help cheapen the price of the meat.

 “Of course, follow me dear customer!” He bowed over his hand, sending you into a fit of laughter at his over the top antics.

 The following day at school you whole-heartedly announced you were going to once again start looking for a part-time job, thinking it would be a good way to make sure you didn’t lose in the amount of effort you were putting towards your goals.

 You classmates did not appreciate this announcement.

 “WHAT?!” Satori exclaimed indignantly, “Do you need money? I can help you!”

 Semi just rolled his eyes, “We are prohibited from having jobs as students. Don’t you realize if you get a job, even a part-time job, you’d have to drop out? How stupid are you?”

 Drop out?! You thought, no no no, I can’t drop out!

 “You should just stop. Okay?” Ushijima said. Trying to nip that thought of you working after school in the bud.

 You faced him directly, “But Ushijima, you work all the time. How come you don’t have to drop out? And Semi to!”

 “Well, neither of us get paid right, so they don’t really count as ‘jobs’ for us to the boss.” Semi replied, referring to his mom as the boss once again. Just because he was the son of the school director, anyone would think he would get special treatment, but more often then not the director was harder on him than others.

 Reluctantly accepting that reasoning, you hurriedly went to find Tetsurou to make sure he understood the consequences he’d face if he were to be found out.

 “Drop out? Yea, I know.” He said plainly, about to return his focus to his notebook.

 Astonished, you just out right asked, “If…If you know, then why? Why do you have the job? Aren’t you…Won’t you be worried about getting forced to leave?”

 Tetsurou looked up at you, locking eyes as to make sure you fully understood the answer he would give. “To earn money. There is a certain thing that I need and other things I want, without this part time job, none of the goals are doable. Thus, if is okay to be so blunt, since you found out about my part-time job, could you keep it secret from anyone else? I have a specific dream I want to fulfill.”

 Listening to the drive behind his voice reminded you of how hard you have worked towards your own goals. All those you had selfishly burdened for your own means. How could you possibly ever think of being the reason someone else couldn’t fulfill their own dreams. “Y..Yea…Yeah. Of course. I’ll help to keep it secret for you!” It’s the first time you’d met someone so determined to work towards his goal, that which he calls his ‘dream,’ he is striving towards it and putting his best foot forward each step along the way.

 “Thanks, Y/N-san,” He bowed out to hide the pure bliss of a smile that had etched itself onto his features.

 As the days go on, you spent more hours at the school library. Each day working through a set amount of material as you kept pushing yourself harder and further. Continuing the mantra in your head of, I won’t lose either. I won’t lose either. On one of these days you had been enraptured by the material in front of you and were caught off guard by the sudden voice directed at you.

 “Wow, that’s amazing.” Tetsurou called out.

 Jumping slightly, you faced him  before speaking, “AH! Tetsurou-san! You scared me, sorry!”

 He smiled sweetly and took the seat beside you with his own materials. Laying them out in front of him, “Nah, I won’t be defeated either, Y/N-san.”

 Smiling at his challenge you exclaimed, “Oh no! I won’t lose!”

 Your pair laughed before continuing your separate work. Yet, while you were working separately a sudden thought came to mind. Except the SA class, aren’t the other classes meant to be going on right now? You glanced over but saw Tetsurou working intently on his material and decided it was best to ignore that thought and resume your own work.

 Whenever a tough problem came up, you would pause, think back to everything you’d learned up until that point, consider the stuff you were reading and working on now and then be able to figure out the correct solutions. Every time, unknowingly giving a little smirk and shoulder wiggle as you would be proud of yourself for figuring it out.

 “You really enjoy studying, huh Y/N-san?” Tetsurou abruptly interrupted your train of thoughts.

 Smiling happily, you exclaimed, “Oh yea! Definitely. Don’t you enjoy it? Every time I understand a previously difficult question, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to my own goal.” You had been working so intently, you hadn’t realized how cold you neck felt. Now that you were not so concentrated, you decided to untie your hair to get a little amount of cover between the wind from the window, and your neck. “Should we take a small break Tetsurou-san?” You asked, fully intending to take a small break yourself.

 So encompassed in your own ministrations you were ignorant to the enraptured eyes and the intense stare Tetsurou projected towards you. When you faced him, he immediately let the shock of seeing you with a truly relaxed and happy smile take over his face. For once, oblivious to his own blushing mess of a face.

 For every troubling thing I understand, little by little I get closer to being on Ushijima’s level. Little by little, I’ll feel like I can hold a candle to him and be worthy of being next to him. Your internal thinking was what had you so happy, it’s also what caused your eyes to miss Tetsurou’s blush.

 Leaving school, Ushijima approached you. “Oh, Ushijima! How was your afternoon?”

 “It was fine.” He answered plainly, side eyeing you.

 “That’s great!” You exclaimed happily. “I’m working harder lately, because I’m not planning on losing!”

 His little smile was all you needed to know what he was thinking.

 “Oh, but that probably means I won’t be in the greenhouse as often. Okay?” You continued, as though this wasn’t going to shock him.

 The next day, you decided to do a little investigation to your fleeting thought from the day prior. Approaching some girls from B-class and asking about the still relatively new student.

 “Oh, Tetsurou-kun?” They clarified. “Um, that person isn’t in class very much. He has pretty much isolated himself from all of us.” They paused momentarily and you’d just asked ‘Really?’ as though they would lie to you about something so seemingly insignificant to them. “He is always in the library self-studying. We think he just doesn’t like us. Like maybe he looks down on us.” They continued.

 This shocked you. Quickly thanking them for the insight, you left to make your way to the library yourself, fully prepared to confront Tetsurou about the attitude he presents to his class. Believing there could not be anyway for him to actually feel the way his classmates perceive him to.

 “Tetsurou-san,” You greeted directly, “Aren’t you supposed to be in class now?”

 He hummed before turning to face you, a lazy look turned into a wide grin upon seeing you specifically. “Oh! Well, to answer you, since the level of the class is so low, isn’t it better that I should study by myself?”

 His answer had your mind hurtling back in recollection of the things other students had said about the newcomer: ‘Tetsurou-kun just looks down on us.’, ‘…doesn’t have a good relationship with the teacher either.’, ‘He speaks roughly if he even decides to respond.’, ‘If he caused some sort of problem then he’d just be kicked out of school, huh?’. The things the students had thought and said were in fact nearly all true. But! You continued thinking, That just can’t happen. He can’t be kicked out of school like this! You sent an irritatingly stressed out face towards him, before grabbing his hand to legitimately drag his ass back to class. “It’s your class!! If you skip class too often and drop out..It will be absolutely terrible! You won’t be able to get 1st place in this school, or accomplish the goals you want to work so hard towards!” Upon reaching what you knew to be the boy’s classroom, you opened the door and flung him inside. He landed on his but and half stretched, half twisted from his sitting position to look as you gave one final announcement. “Do you best then!” A smile thrown out at the end; you were ready to leave him to his own devices.

 “Thank goodness, huh?” A voice rang out.

 Another chimed in, “At least Y/N-san is able to sympathize with him.”

 You directed a response to the speaking students, “I’m not sympathizing with anyone. He’s just a guy with high ambitions. How am I sympathizing?”

 The first student thought before asking their own question rather than answering yours. “If you’re not sympathizing towards him, then…is this your strategy? Make him do all you can so he will eventually let his guard down. And, at that guy’s weakened point, you would kick him all the way down?”

 “Besides,” The second student continued at the first’s pause and directed look, “You won’t beat Ushijima-san and get 1st even with all that effort, right? So, you can’t stand leaving Tetsurou-kun out of it, huh?”

 Before you could even react, Tetsurou had moved to holding the second student off the ground by his collar. Growling through clenched teeth, “Let me correct you and your limited brain’s thought process. Let me make you understand that smudging dirt all over her hard work is what makes you and those like you complete and utter trash. Let me correct that in fact the only one putting in wasted effort in anything is stupid, worthless, unspirited, and down-right bul—!!!”

 A quick swing of your fists, and a landed punch to the side of his face sent his body swinging in the force’s direction. Making him release the student he had been preparing to continue verbally attacking.

 “What the hell do you think you are doing?!” He fiercely turned on you.

 You calmly looked up into his eyes, “Don’t start a fight about something this stupid.”

 The shock in his eyes grew, and he exclaimed in astonishment that you were crazy. “How is this stupid? They are insulting everything! Everything you…”

 “IT IS STUPID THOUGH!” You shouted back. Interrupting him yet a second time. “When you compare it to dropping out of school and the important goals you are working towards...! It is really freaking stupid! Don’t just treat your aspirations, the things you hold so dear, don’t go treating them carelessly!” You were screaming at Tetsurou, but the words you said were just as much to yourself as they were to him. Knowing that each and every day you are making effort in order to someday…someday reach and surpass your goal. Knowing, you’d struggle as much as necessary to finally reach your goal.

 Immediately, Tetsurou turned to face to almost forgotten student. “I’m sorry for behaving rudely.” The class mumbled to themselves in surprise at his comment as he turned back to you with a new inquiry. “You’re satisfied with this, yea?”

  It made you happy to see sense once again settle in your companion and smiled appreciatively. You were about to head back to the library to do your own work for the day, when you noticed a weight on your hand. Looking back up to him, you noticed Tetsurou’s eyes avoided your own.

 “How about,” He started promptly, stopped himself and then changed his question. “Next time, can I thank you?” You must have looked confused to him because he reiterated, “I would like to thank you for stopping me from being stupid.”

 Once again, grinning from ear to ear, you nodded enthusiastically. Excited that everything seemed to be in order for the year to progress smoothly.

 None-thee-aware of the looming presence outside the main hall’s doors. The presence of your glaring boyfriend as he saw this new kid hitting on his girlfriend. As he thought of all the ways he could devour the weakling across the hall, he established the new goals of keeping you away from this flirtatious-sneaky cat and obliterate Kuroo Tetsurou with everything he had.

[recentanimenews]

Licensing of the Monsters: How Pokémon Ignited An Anime Arms Race

  "Hey, what do ya' got there? A rabbit?" Batman asks his mentor, staring at a video of Pikachu on a massive underground computer screen.

  "It's a Pokémon," Bruce Wayne replies.

  Five seconds later, Batman is shocked so hard by the tiny yellow creature that he ends up flying headfirst through another computer monitor (Using a clip from the "Blackout" episode of Batman Beyond, an episode that would've aired for the first time just days earlier.) It doesn't make much physical sense, but this bizarre 1999 crossover promo did establish two things: 1) Pokémon was coming to Kids' WB, and 2) Pokémon was important. So important that Batman actually took time away from obsessing over crime and vengeance to care about it.

  Echoing a 1997 promo where the comedic Bugs Bunny let us in on the "secret" that the serious, dark Batman was coming to Kids' WB, it almost seems like a passing of the torch. Kids' WB, up until then, was a programming service chock full of classic Warner Bros. cartoon properties like Bugs, Daffy, Pinky, Brain, and various members of the Justice League — all animated Americana. 

Pokémon wasn't a huge risk as the 4Kids Entertainment dub of the show had done well in broadcast syndication, they had plenty of episodes to work with (sometimes airing three in a row), and it was based on a game series that was already a worldwide smash hit.

  But the show was ... different.

  And it would end up changing cartoons as we knew them.

  Part 1: Batman Jumps Ship

  It's hard to think of a better scenario when it comes to appealing to kids than the one Fox Kids had with Batman: The Animated Series. Debuting in September 1992 and airing on weekdays just after school let out, it received immediate acclaim due to its moody, beautiful animation and storytelling that didn't talk down to anyone. Little kids could get into Batman throwing crooks around and adults could marvel at plots like the one where a former child actress with a medical condition that keeps her from aging takes her former co-stars hostage and ends up holding a gun, hallucinating, and sobbing into Batman's arms.

  It did so well that Fox tried to air it on prime-time Sundays and though this was short-lived — turns out, Batman was no match for Ed Bradley on CBS's 60 Minutes — it solidified the show as "cool." This was a show that could hang with the big boys. You couldn't say the same of something like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.

  And then, in 1997, it was gone. A five-year contract ran out and Batman leapt completely to Kids' WB, where a continuation of the show (the often even grimmer The New Batman Adventures) aired later that year. There, it joined Superman: The Animated Series in a one-two punch of programming called The New Batman/Superman Adventures. When it came to Kids' WB, competitors not only had to deal with the Merry Melodies crowd, they now had to face the World's Finest Heroes.

  This, along with a departing Animaniacs, left Fox Kids with a gap in flagship programming. Sure it had various incarnations of the Power Rangers (which was still holding strong) and Spider-Man, but if you look back on 1998 programming, little of it would survive the year. Silver Surfer? Gone by May. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation? Out by December. Casper? Dead in October. By May of 1999, Warner Media would announce record ratings thanks to Pokémon, while its competitors, including the Disney-led ABC, Fox, and even Nickelodeon, would suffer losses in the Saturday morning area. Pokemon would have the best ever series premiere numbers for Kids' WB at the time.

    A chunk of that has to do with 4Kids Entertainment's (or to be more specific, 4Kids Productions) handling of the show. Again, Pokémon was a proven concept. If you love monsters, adventure, and collecting things, you'll probably find something to enjoy in the franchise. But the dub was particularly strong. For years, dubbing was seen as an inherently laughable thing in America, full of exasperated voice actors trying desperately to convince you that they weren't portraying three different characters, and lips that didn't match the dialogue. Entire Japanese series were reduced to laughing stocks in the U.S. because why focus on the lovingly created miniatures and top-notch tokusatsu action in Godzilla if one of the actors sounds weird?

  But while Pokémon wasn't the first great dub, it was a remarkably underrated one. Veronica Taylor's work as Ash Ketchum was relatable, funny, and consistent. And Racheal Lillis, Eric Stuart, and Maddie Blaustein's turns as Team Rocket's Jessie, James, and Meowth gave us villains that could've easily been the most repetitive parts of the show  — you can only try to capture Pikachu so many times before you should logically find a second hobby — but instead were one of the most entertaining aspects.

  Aside from some easily meme-able bits — Brock's drying pan and jelly donuts, for example — Pokemon became a seamless addition to the Kids' WB lineup and would end up giving many fans a lifelong love of anime. And it was great for 4Kids, too, as in 2000, they would be number one on Fortune's 100 Fastest-Growing Companies.

  Fox Kids wanted an answer to this. And it would soon find one.

  Well, two.

  Part 2: Monsters Rule

  Saban Entertainment was no stranger to Fox Kids. They'd been the one to adapt Toei's Super Sentai into The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers for American and international audiences, creating an unexpected sensation that combined monsters and martial arts. And in 1999, they nabbed Digimon Adventure, a series about kids that gain "digital" monster partners when transported to a "digital world," which had begun airing earlier that year in Japan. Based on a fighting virtual pet that had already been around for a few years, Digimon was a natural fit for an anime series and also a natural fit for a climate that was desperately trying to find the next Pokémon.

  Renamed Digimon: Digital Monsters, it premiered in August of 1999. Of course, accusations followed that it was a Pokémon rip-off, considering that they were both about befriending terrifying laser critters, but they offered fairly different things. While Pokémon was more episodic, Digimon gave viewers a more Dragon Ball Z-esque experience (they were both Toei productions, too) with the titular monsters evolving and gaining "power-ups" due to fighting increasingly powerful villains.

  Almost two months later, Monster Rancher would join the Fox Kids lineup, airing on Saturdays at 8:30 AM after Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (a Fox Kids lost relic if there ever was one). Together, Monster Rancher and Digimon would cover the programming block with monster action, sometimes airing twice each. Meanwhile, Pokémon would do the same for Kids' WB, and if you look at their Saturday morning schedules from 1999 and 2000, it appears they just shoved Pikachu in whenever possible.

  Looking back on Monster Rancher is always odd, though, because it's so specifically trapped in the time period where it originated. The video games used metadata from readable discs to create new monsters for the player, meaning that as soon as people gained the ability to download or stream media online without having to travel to their local Circuit City, the game would look absolutely archaic in comparison to its peers.

  Monster Rancher is a very fun show based on some very fun games, and the dynamic array of personalities and their particular squabbles in the core group actually reminds me a lot of One Piece. But even the show itself deals with reviving monsters on giant stone discs — a prehistoric-looking adaptation of a video game gimmick that would, a decade later, appear prehistoric itself.

  The Monster War was waged across 2000 and 2001. And though it appears Pokémon was the clear winner — in 2020, it's the most popular franchise with the widest reach, even if Digimon does produce some stellar shows and movies — the ratings tell a different story. In the May sweeps of 2000, Pokémon (and Kids' WB) took the prize among kids 6-11, but in the end, Fox Kids would score a victory of a 3.1 rating to Kids' WB's 3.0 (the first sweeps win since 1997, the year that Batman left.)

    Early the following year, Fox Kids would score again, narrowly beating Pokémon on Saturday morning in the same timeslot and even coming ahead of properties like X-Men. And what would propel this February 10th victory? The first appearance of BlackWarGreymon, the Shadow the Hedgehog to WarGreymon's Sonic.

  However, Pokémon would still help create ratings records for Kids' WB, even though late 2000/early 2001 saw a slide that would often cede dominance to Nickelodeon. Jed Patrick, who was president of The WB at the time said: "I didn't think Pokémon would fall off as much as it did ... every fire cools down a little, but that doesn't mean it doesn't stay hot."

  Even though, in retrospect, claims that "Pokemania" had died seem a little ridiculous — the latest games, Pokémon Sword and Shield, just became the highest-selling entries in seventeen years — big changes were ahead.

  Part 3: It's Time To Duel ... Or Not

  In early 2001, Joel Andryc, executive VP of kids' programming and development for Fox Kids, was looking for a "Digimon companion series to create an hour-long anime block." He felt they were too reliant on Digimon, as they were airing it three times in a single morning. Likely not coincidentally, that summer Fox Kids Fridays were dubbed "anime invasion," advertising Flint The Time Detective, Dinozaurs, Escaflowne, and Digimon. In one commercial, a single quote zips across the bottom of the screen: "Anime Rocks!" Nicole, TX

  That it does, Nicole from Texas.

  Meanwhile, 4Kids Entertainment would provide Kids' WB with another monster show: Yu-Gi-Oh! Known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters in Japan, this anime adaptation absconded from retelling the stories found in the early chapters of the manga — which were mostly devoted to Yugi running into jerks, only to have his Egyptian spirit "alter ego" deal karmic retribution on them — and instead focused on the parts that involved the cool monster fights. So basically the parts that were the most like Pokémon.

  But how would this be received? In 2000, Canadian studio Nelvana had licensed the anime Cardcaptor Sakura and turned it simply into Cardcaptors — an extremely edited version that removed many important relationships and plotlines and tried to streamline the show into a pseudo-Pokémon story. It's gone down in history as one of the most questionable dubs ever, and never really made a splash on Kids' WB. So they wouldn't want a repeat of that.

  But would kids be into a card game? The cards did summon monsters, but in Pokémon and Digimon, the monsters are just there, moving around and not relegated to a glorified checkers board arena. It turned out, yes, kids would be REALLY into that. Yu-Gi-Oh! debuted at number one in multiple demographics in September 2001, and would remain a steady part of its lineup for years to come.

    And how did Fox Kids respond? Did the "anime invasion" work out? Well, sort of, but not in the way they were hoping.

  In 2001, due to diminishing ratings and audiences, Fox Kids Worldwide (along with Fox Family Worldwide) were sold to The Walt Disney Company. By November 7th, they'd canceled their weekly afternoon blocks, and the next year, they'd end up selling their entire Saturday morning block to a company that had provided their rivals with the very same TV shows that aided in sinking them: 4Kids Entertainment. The final show to premiere on the original Fox Kids was Galidor: Defenders of the Outer Dimension, a live action series that stood beside Alienators: Evolution Continues (a cartoon sequel to the mediocre 2001 comedy Evolution) and the underrated Medabots as the block's last gasp. 

  Renamed FoxBox in late 2002 (and later 4KidsTV in 2005), the 4Kids run schedule would, over the years, include anime like Kirby! Right Back At Ya!, Ultimate Muscle, Fighting Foodons, Sonic X, Shaman King, and eventually, in 2004, the infamous One Piece dub. The first Saturday of the new FoxBox lineup would also outdo the previous Saturday's Fox Kids lineup. Disney would acquire the rights to Digimon and it showed up on ABC Family in late 2001 (eighteen years later, a reboot of the original series would air, which can be watched on Crunchyroll).

  Eventually, in 2007, the Monster War would come full circle. 4Kids Entertainment announced they would be taking over the Kids' WB Saturday morning block entirely, renaming it the "CW4KIDS," as The CW had been born after UPN and The WB had ceased to be. Pokémon was long gone by this point, having been dropped by Kids' WB in 2006, and was now overseen by The Pokémon Company International on Cartoon Network.

  "We wish Pokémon USA much success going forward," the CEO of 4Kids Entertainment said. Later sued over "illegal agreements" regarding the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, the company would eventually file for bankruptcy in 2016. Pokémon Journeys, the latest installment in the franchise, launches on Netflix on June 12th. 

      Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ghostmeep]

Random things from chapter 370 that I don’t want people to miss about Haikyuu!! because Furudate is a GeINuS

Some important moments, but also a lot of not so important moments loll

(warning: excessive use of exclamation points and improper capitalization)

First up is the title of the chapter

Challenger — I think this sets up nicely the tone of what is to come.

The challenger in question is Hinata — as the main character, but also based off what Coach Ukai senior said

Hinata is basically a challenger against life — he’s short, and he hasn’t had as much opportunities to learn and develop in volleyball as other people — but he’s not letting go of his volleyball dream.

I’m too lazy to get the screencap of it, but before during the imitation youth camp at Shiratorizawa — they said how Hinata being an ‘uninvited party’ may be how he will be for the rest of his life — that is exactly what happened. Hinata didn’t get offers straight out of high school like Kageyama did — so he found his own path to be able to play volleyball. I can’t wait to see how much better Hinata got.

Okay, I’m sure many people are super psyched about Captain Yamaguchi — and I am too!!!!!!! Because Yamaguchi deserves the wOrlD and I can just imagine how much more confident our little baby grew up to be!!! How he is not afraid to call people out on their shit but he’s also the softest captain ev e r

But also can we talk about Vice Captain Kageyama??????????

Like, it’s always been a headcanon of mine to have Captain Yamaguchi and Vice Kageyama, but I didn’t think it would actually become canon??????? I knew that Yamaguchi was basically certain as captain, but I thought Tsukishima would end up his vice since they are so close and work well together. BUT IT’S KAGEYAMA AND I’M SO PROUD

Because also remember what number he wore in middle school third year

#2 — now, not all schools make their Vice Captain the #2 — but it is highly likely Kageyama was vice during his middle school years as well.

SOO I can just imagine Kageyama getting this number and thinking of his middle school days and how he is going to do so much bETTeR this time around.

How, well maybe the first years would be afraid of him at first, but they’ll quickly come to see his dorky side that just loves volleyball so very much. And how now Kageyama can actually communicate and see his spikers, instead of being reduced to saying ‘faster!’ ‘higher!’ on repeat. How little baby first years will come up to him, ask him if he could teach them out to do something, and Kageyama aGrEEInG (and not rejecting in childish manner coughOikawacough) and Kageyama just stumbling with his explanations and onomatopoeias aoweiaoiwenawe

hhhhhhhhh i wished we were shown Good Senpai Kageyama awoienawieawe

!!! Also, Hinata has #5 (#4 is probably the libero) — can you imagine him taking a pic and sending it to Tanaka all proud like saying that he’ll do the number 5 jersey proud like his senpais before him awoeinawoienawien

Yeah, just please appreciate this page pls aoweinaowieNAOWEIn

But also! Kageyama is wearing Karasuno jersey on top and then Japan one on the bottom — nice juxtaposition Furudate-sensei!

Hinata!!!!!!!!

People have pointed out how this is a recall of the beginning of the series where Hinata saw the little giant on TV — and y ES — but also!!!! Look at the size of his bag aoweinawoien look at him traveling everywhere by bike still.

This isn’t little baby Hinata who is just running around with his friends playing random sports — this is in the making volleyball player Hinata. He must have build some serious muscle aaaaaaaa

Just wanted to make clear!!! Hinata agreeing to go to Rio wasn’t just because of the coach being there — even before he heard about the possible coach in Rio, he learned that Brazil is strong in beach volleyball. So not only is there a coach willing to take him on, it’s at a place full of strong players.

Hinata agreeing to go to Roi just seemed kinda sudden to me, but I do think he gave it serious thought. 

Hinata seems like he mostly grew out of his brash, unthinking self from the beginning of the series and I wanted to point that out in case others missed it.

I don’t think anyone missed HInata’s Karasuno jersey hanging — but I don’t think it is there just for sentimental reasons (though I’m sure that is def a part of it)

But Hinata probably uses it as a reminder and for motivation. Karasuno was where he truly began to develop as a volleyball player. It’s where he realized that just because he can jump high doesn’t mean he can play volleyball. He needs to learn to be able to do everything (which is why he’s in Rio)

It’s also where he got to know Kageyama, ofc. Kageyama his ultimate rival that he is still aiming to beat (again, Hinata as a challenger) So I think seeing this jacket just motivates Hinata more than it being there just for memories

aowienaowine just wanted to say I approve of all the one piece mangas Hinata has as a fellow one piece fan aoweinaoiwen

!!! It snowed recently before their graduation

Now, I’m sure absolutely no one is surprised that these two dorks are playing volleyball rIGHT after their ceremony

BuT can we talk about how Kageyama’s serve is strong enough to make Hinata tumble like that oawienaoiwneae

Sure, Hinata used to tumble all the time when receiving — but that was because he couldn’t get proper footing and didn’t know how to receive. This HInata is not like that (look at his concentrated face!!) plus his tumble is exactly like Noya’s tumble whenever he received strong serves/spikes.

Really, both of them grew up so much aaaaaaaaaa

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,IgnoRinG the HAiR

Lol no, in all seriousness, I don’t mind Kageyama’s hair too much. It seemed awful when I first saw it, but honestly the more I look at it the more (exasperatedly) fond of it I get.

It’s like, please don’t let Kageyama ever make life decisions (outside of volleyball) on his own. But when he does, you can’t help but accept whatever horrible decision it was and just want to pat him on the head and tell him he still did good awoeinaweoinawoein

BUT moST iMpoRtaNTLY!!! Look at that smile!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Now, I know that this doesn’t mean that Kageyama can smile on command, but his unconscious smile at the very least are a loT SofTer

Honestly, smiling is just about muscle memory. So!!! The fact that his smiles are so much softer and less awkward and sharp means he did a lot of smiling over the past two years awoienaowieanw i’m glad Kageyama has had reason to smile!!!!!!!!! pls we need more soft smiling Kageyama

Hinata having such a cheesy sign in his room is honestly kinda funny to me, but it suits him

The ‘single step’ was mentioned before in Haikyuu as well, at least twice in fact.

First was with Kageyama doing serves to Hinata that first time. And how Hinata was very obviously tired but he kept receiving again and again.

And again the ‘single step’ was brought up when Karasuno made the conscious decision to have someone from the backline back up so that they can catch the volleyballs that are knocked back after hitting the blockers. ( I thinkkkk in the Shiratorizawa game??? not sure ) I don’t feel like searching for the screencap, but yeah.

It was basically how they weren’t going to rely on just the fast reflexes of Nishinoya and Hinata saving those flyaway balls anymore, and how they will take that extra ‘single step’ to make those ‘miracle plays’ into a regular thing.

So since the ‘single step’ motif has been used a lot, I do think the quote suits Hinata more and appreciate it being there.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that is really it??

It seems some people aren’t really happy about this timeskip and are saying how it all seemed rushed, but I don’t really think that way.

If anyone, it seems like the readers are the ones in a rush. Since everyone wants to just see how all the characters are like after five years, or just wants to know if Fukuroudani won nationals — people are just kinda glazing over Furudate’s actual pacing.

So far we got a pretty nice understanding of what happened, and I’m sure there are more details that will be given later. But for now we have enough to not be confused, and we are given many hints about the developments that Hinata and the other original first years went through.

So yeah, I dunno. I still love Haikyuu!! and I love Furudate and trust that we’ll be given the same great content that we have been getting for the past years.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 302: As the Todoroki Turns

Previously on BnHA: 

Today on BnHA: We have a very fun chapter in which (1) Shouto grows up lonely on account of his parents being worried that his siblings will literally try to kill him, (2) Natsu and Fuyu grow up neglected on account of not being special and/or self-destructive enough to attract attention, (3) we get to revisit all of that exciting spousal abuse from chapter 39, and (4) Touya burns to death right on cue, pretty much exactly like we expected it to happen. Thankfully since this is a shounen manga, Horikoshi finds some hope in all this misery as the Todoroki family rallies together, with Shouto getting his long-overdue credit for being a perfect sweet angel who put up with all of this shit for sixteen years and somehow came out of it strong and kind and empathetic and determined. Anyway, so that flashback was a barrel of laughs. But now that it’s over, we can put all of that angst behind us, and move on to... well I guess, probably, more angst. Look, we’re short on variety at the moment. Bear with it.

ouch. we knew this was coming, but still

A+ parenting move there. “ho boy, our eldest just tried to murder our youngest, now what? hmm how about we isolate our youngest from all human contact”

though in their defense, we probably shouldn’t have expected this rabidly strength-obsessed fire man and his wife who was groomed since childhood to obey her family’s whims to have any idea of how to raise stable, well-adjusted offspring

SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS

this is a perfect example of Enji’s tragically self-revolving viewpoint right here. just because being a hero is your entire world doesn’t mean you can just excuse yourself from anything outside of that and act like it’s out of your control. “alas, all I care about is hero stuff and my son can’t be a hero, we are doomed to inhabit two different worlds” no you jackass, it’s called having more than one hobby?? figuring out how to spend some time with your son that doesn’t involve training?? the same exact thing you were telling him to do last week, while ignoring that you’ve never done that yourself in your life??

that said, yet again we have that complexity though because it’s obvious that Enji at least on some level is aware of his own flaws, even though he seems unwilling or unable to confront them. honestly, from what we’ve seen so far, Enji’s obsession with surpassing All Might might be more accurately called an addiction. he literally can’t let go of it even though he’s fully aware of how it’s slowly destroying his life. and so in the same way that a lifelong smoker or alcoholic might tell their child to stay away from cigarettes and booze, Enji tells Touya not to follow down the same path as him, even though he himself doesn’t know how to leave that path. so yes, it’s hypocritical as fuck, but there’s also an element of helplessness there as well because Enji literally doesn’t know how not to be like this

though all the same he sure could stand to put in more than just a token effort. but it is what it is, and we already know how much he’ll come to regret it

and meanwhile Baby Shouto has frozen his sleep bubble with his quirk lmao. so I guess his quirk did come in early. that’s a recipe for chaos right there

once again Shouto is ruining every single dramatic panel in this flashback

this was so dark and intense... and then I spotted the lil bubs in the corner. Horikoshi please control yourself

“some hero you are, running away” and then all of a sudden, “FIVE YEARS LATER” lol what. OKAY THEN

(ETA: love the confirmation that eight-year-old Natsu comes from the Iida school of puberty and is basically a fully grown man, and meanwhile Touya comes from the hobbit school of puberty and has been perpetually eight for the past five years.)

“HEY BIG BRO WANNA COME RECREATE AN ICONIC FLASHBACK SCENE WITH US. WE’VE GOT THE SOCCER BALL RIGHT HERE, BUT HURRY UP OR WE’LL BE TOO LATE FOR SHOUTO TO WALK ON BY AND STOP TO LOOK”

lol and that’s literally the next three panels. but Horikoshi did add this extra bit after Endeavor starts to drag Shouto away

seriously Enji what the hell did you expect was going to happen here. “Touya went nuts and tried to kill his little brother out of jealousy, so let’s make it clearer than ever that Shouto is the important child and all the other children are just rejects. this will definitely not make the problem 100x worse, and will surely lead to Touya giving up and living a happy life, having been emotionally abandoned by the person he admired more than anyone.” good for you pal you figured it all out. no need for that plan b, “we all just go to therapy”

anyway so he’s telling Shouto he can’t play because he needs more endurance training. and meanwhile Touya’s patented Todoroki Drama Genes are going through puberty as well

definitely the face of a happy, emotionally stable child who’s not still plotting to murder his younger brother in his sleep

“WELL ACTUALLY MAKESTE” lol I stand corrected??

apparently during the five year interim Touya actually stopped blaming Shouto and realized Enji was the one at fault. good for him! a bit inconsistent, given what we know happens later, but I assume we’ll get to that in good time

anyway. “yeah man I agree that dad sucks, but it’s the middle of the night and I’m only eight and you’ve been monologuing for the past two hours bro”

LMAO

the manga is making my jokes for me, only better. fine then

looks like someone’s still miffed about that disagreement he had with his baby sister back when she was like four

“Fuyu doesn’t get properly riled up like I want her to so ranting to her is annoying.” okay but having been in Fuyu’s shoes, it really is just a different way of coping, and I can guarantee she’s not as fine with the whole situation as Touya might think. but making your peace with something is often a decision that’s made for emotional self-preservation reasons. and I sure as hell don’t fault her for trying to shut out a situation that she had no control over, and trying to make the best of it, and scrape together as normal a childhood as she could manage

and now in Touya’s defense as well, that is of course easier said than done, and I’m sure if there was a “push this button and instantly get over all of the trauma in your life” switch readily available for Touya then he would have pushed it too. unfortunately it’s not always that simple

so now Rei is pleading with Touya not to go train up on his little emo hill again, but it doesn’t seem like much has changed since he was eight

I don’t think he gives two figs about being a hero; he just wants his father to look at him again with pride. fucking hell, stop doing this to me you damn Todorokis

guh, they keep telling him the same thing over and over again

even if we hadn’t already known he was gonna go melt his jawbone off soon, I wouldn’t have expected a line like that to go over well

yep. fuck

that Todoroki puberty angst, though. nothing else quite like it

“you have a part in this too, Mom” ooooooh man

okay but look, he’s not entirely wrong. like, I’m not saying any of this is Rei’s fault at all! she’s in an impossible situation where she’s afraid to stand up to Enji (who by this point has shown that he’s willing to physically attack her if things get too heated, which is terrifying), and doesn’t really have anywhere to turn for support. her parents aren’t helping much if at all, and Japan in general is just a terrible country to be in when you’re in a domestic abuse situation. everyone’s expected to put on a brave face and deal with their problems all on their own in private. Rei is basically completely isolated at this point, and she doesn’t know what else to do, and so she’s just trying to keep the situation as stable as possible for the kids

but on the other hand, “for the kids” is also where that argument starts to break down a bit, because at this point Shouto is also being physically abused by his father, and the other kids are continuing to be neglected (emotionally if not physically), as they have been for years. so the situation really isn’t stable at all for them. and as a kid, what you end up learning in that type of situation is that you can’t rely on either parent. not the abusive one, certainly, but also not the other one who can’t protect you from any of it. even if they love you and they’re trying, they’re just as helpless as you. Rei is struggling to deal with all of this with one hand tied behind her back, and I get it, and I’m not blaming her at all. but all the same, particularly given that she’s (understandably) putting almost all her focus on Shouto, the end result is that the other kids have basically been left to fend for themselves

so yeah! a shitty situation all around. and one of those cases where it’s not really anyone’s fault (aside from Enji’s), but I can understand the resentment Touya is feeling all the same. and I’m so glad Horikoshi is acknowledging this, because it’s something I probably would have been too uncomfortable to bring up otherwise. as it is it’s still an incredibly heavy subject, and one that I probably have too many personal feelings about

anyway, so once again the whole “we’ll try talking to him and then just shrug our shoulders when it doesn’t work” parenting strategy doesn’t really pan out for the Todoroki fam

sob this boy is Anakin Skywalkering before our very eyes. all that’s missing is AFO to come and start whispering in his ear. any minute now...

“anyway so then he got taller and his fire changed from red to blue”

guess we’re getting pretty close then huh. this is the part of the flashback that I really don’t want to see, but also unfortunately the part that I’m most curious about :/

oh for fuck’s --

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IGNORING HIM FOR FIVE YEARS DIDN’T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM” sob. back to the drawing board I guess

I thought he got taller, why is he still only like a third of Enji’s height here

oh fuck me these are armor-piercing feels. this is the heavy artillery right here

ENJI I’M BEGGING YOU PLEASE STOP AND THINK FOR ONE MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE BEFORE DOING SOMETHING YOU’LL REGRET FOR THE REST OF ALL TIME. your child just told you that he still thinks beating All Might is the only thing you care about, and that he believes his existence is a mistake unless he finds some way of doing that for you. please stop for a moment to contemplate that and choose your next words with care and grace and oh who the hell am I kidding

-- OR WE COULD JUST BLAME REI

go on and blame everyone but yourself then!! that’s a great solution!! jesus christ man I know this is Endeavor at his literal worst but still this is fucking hard to watch

POOR BABY SHOUTO IS YELLING AT HIS DAD NOT TO HIT HIS MOMMY THIS LITTLE BRAVE BOY NEEDS SO MANY HUGS OH MY GOD

AND MEANWHILE THE OTHERS ARE HUDDLED IN THE NEXT ROOM TRYING NOT TO CRY AH FUCK

(ETA: Fuyu covering Natsu’s ears cuts RIGHT TO THE CORE OF ME. Horikoshi if you’re really not gonna get these kids some therapy then at least consider giving your readers some. what is this.)

you know it’s bad when you’re starting to think the part where the kid burns to death might actually be a less traumatic thing to cut to right now

holy shit, actual Rei thoughts

“I was the one who ultimately made that choice” well there we go, wonder if that’ll put that whole argument to bed at last. I doubt it, but you never know. actually who am I kidding it’s not gonna settle jack shit lol

oh thank god, they decided it was getting too intense and cut away back to the present to narrate this next (final?) part

get ready to cue up that Alicia Keys. THIS BOY IS ON FIREEEEEEE

yeah I think that’s one thing we can mostly all agree on. neither of them had any clue what the fuck they were doing pretty much at any point. though I will say that the hypocrisy of him being all “WHY DIDN’T YOU STOP HIM” followed by him IMMEDIATELY DOING THE EXACT SAME THING is a bit rich

(ETA: and he still has this problem, doesn’t he? he froze up when Ending snatched Natsuo, and again when Dabi was attacking Shouto. he’s so afraid of doing the wrong thing that he ends up not doing anything, which of course is exactly what led to Touya’s death. damn Enji I guess you’ve still got some additional character development to unlock.)

and of course neither of them could possibly have known how badly it was going to turn out. like, the consequences here were WAY disproportionate even for the shittiest of parenting. no one expects “I didn’t know how to talk to my son” to snowball into “my son burned to death and then somehow came back as a villain and murdered thirty people”

ohhhhhhhh fuck me

LITERALLY INCINERATED THE ENTIRE HILLSIDE. fuck. and I am so not ready for the scene of Enji finding the remains of his jawbone afterwards. at least we were spared anything super-graphic (for now at least)

I feel like the timeline here is off, btw?? wasn’t Touya’s death supposed to happen after Rei got hospitalized? this might be the first actual retcon of the entire flashback. although I think it makes more sense this way tbh

I do appreciate that ten years later Enji is finally reflecting on the fact that if he’d just given up his stupid obsession he could have stopped his family from crumbling apart. that probably sounds sarcastic as fuck, but it’s not. there are countless jerks out there who would have still managed to find a way to blame literally everyone and everything under the sun except for themselves. at least he finally figured out how to take responsibility, even if it came too late to stop his son from dying and being radicalized into a villain terrorist organization

and speaking of, it seems to me we’re missing a third and final part to this little tale of woe, and one which only Touya himself will be able to shed any light on. so we’ll see how that goes

oh man seeing the other kids blaming themselves even though none of it was their fault hits hard af. Rei wasn’t kidding when she said they’d been bearing that burden of guilt far longer than Enji

SHOUTO I SWEAR TO GOD IF THE NEXT PANEL IS YOU APOLOGIZING FOR BEING BORN, I WILL... WELL I’LL BE VERY SAD, I GUESS. SO DON’T DO IT

oh good he’s just being quiet. good. it absolutely is not your fault lil bean. it’s not theirs either, but feeling guilty about things that aren’t your fault is a time-honored shounen tradition

goddammit I braced myself for the angsty Shouto panel a page too early. gotta do it all over again now lol. okay here goes

;_;

well well well would you look at that

imagine that. talking things out with your child before they make a rash decision. looks like the Todorokis’ parenting skills are finally leveling up

OH MY GOD

holy shit. this is the most quintessential moment of father/son Todoroki bonding in the entire series. for me it even tops the “nice scar” scene lol. Enji sobbing at the fact that he still has a chance to set things right. and Shouto offering his hand in what is actually the most mature and selfless gesture I’ve ever seen, and being all “we’ll stop him together” to his dad who he hates, but also doesn’t really entirely hate anymore. and all of that is incredibly moving... BUT ALSO HE STILL REFUSES TO MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH HIM AND HE WOULD LIKE HIM TO STOP BEING SO FUCKING DRAMATIC ALREADY IF YOU DON’T MIND. “WHEN YOU’RE DONE CRYING...” fkjldsk

OH MY FUCKING LORD

(ETA: wouldn’t be a Todoroki drama fest if there wasn’t somebody listening in on the whole thing in secret just around the corner lmao.)

“you think we should have waited somewhere else?” “yeah, probably.” “are you feeling a lot of secondhand embarrassment too?” “god, you have no idea.” STFU HAWKS IT’S NOT EMBARASSING TO BE MOVED TO TEARS BY YOUR FAMILY ALL COMING TOGETHER IN YOUR DARKEST HOUR TO GIVE YOU HOPE THAT YOU PROBABLY DON’T DESERVE BUT ARE NONETHELESS INDESCRIBABLY GRATEFUL FOR

and anyway you chose these guys as your found family, bucko. too late to back out now. next time go get yourself adopted by the Iidas then

AND MEANWHILE NO WORD ON THE WHOLE “HOW DID A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD SURVIVE A FIRE THAT COVERED HIS BODY WITH HORRIFIC SCARS AND MELTED HIS JAW OFF, AND HOW DID HE SOMEHOW THEN MANAGE TO GO INTO HIDING FOR TEN WHOLE YEARS, AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT INTERIM TO CHANGE HIS GOAL FROM ‘SURPASS ALL MIGHT TO IMPRESS MY DAD’ TO ‘KILL ALL HEROES TO MAKE MY DAD SUFFER’.” as if we don’t know the answer to that. but still, would it kill Horikoshi to just confirm AFO’s involvement in all of this already. at this point it’s basically just a formality

so here’s hoping next week we’ll either get that, or more Hawks action, or (DARE I EVEN SUGGEST, I’M AFRAID TO JINX IT) finally cut back to Bakugou and Deku and All Might omg. either way I’m hyped

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 120 Poll Results

The chapter 120 poll closed with 1,375 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,314 Responses

This chapter is less popular than most, possibly due to its abrupt ending and feeling of incompletion. Still, 86.5% of the fandom rated it a four or five making it another solid contribution to the series as a whole.

PATHS are awesome, but I hope there's a satisfying narrative payoff to its inclusion

A lot of mixed opinions on this chapter from everybody, but I personally loved it. It went by fast but it's something you gotta read a few times just to get a good feel on it.

Best chapter since Attack on Liberio

I LOVED this chapter. Paths explained! Baby Eren! Little Mikasa! The OG Levi Squad! School caste Armin and Mikasa!!! I literally began to cackle when Eren straight up told Zeke his plan was stupid. I loved it, I've been waiting for that moment ever since ch114.

Character expressions were beautiful. Isayama's art keeps improving. 

Easily one of my top 5 favorite chapters. The artwork was fantastic, the double crossings had me shook, & the Paths converging at the Coordinate is Yggdrasil. Love it!

Felt way too short and paths just got more confusing

I actually had to count the number of pages because I couldn't believe it was over yet. Seemed so short! But at the same time, many questions were answered.

Timeloop theory is out, multiverse theory is in! :)

This chapter was a gift from Isayama to all the Jaeger fans. Thanks Isayama.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,342 Responses

18% of the fandom was thrilled to see Eren reiterate his “born into this world” sentiment as he rejected Zeke’s ideology. 16% found themselves moved by Zeke hearing Grisha apologize to him in his dreamstate. 14.6% were excited to see Eren rejecting Zeke’s plan, and at a near-tie 9.9% most enjoyed Zeke pulling a double betrayal on Eren, while 9.8% loved the moment when Eren woke up to see the Coordinate in front of him.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF ZEKE CATCHING EREN’S HEAD? 1,323 Responses

It was a meme, and now it’s canon. What did you all think of the resolution to last month’s cliffhanger? 42.2% felt it was a bit goofy but still worked, 29.5% thought it was amazing, 16.5% liked the moment but wish it had flowed better and not cut up over chapters, and only 7% thought it was absolutely ridiculous.

All those times playing catch with Mr Xaver really paid off!

It wasn't bad but just hilarious how memes have predicted it

I guessed it would happen after finishing reading chapter 119. In AoT nothing goes the way the characters want it, except for the Yeager bros.

I thought it was really heartbreaking and absolutely traumatizing.

I was very sad for Zeke at that moment, he seems in deep despair, there was no way to know that it would work to make Eren's survive. It was obviously more instinctive like Colt wanting to hug with his brother while he knows it will cause his death than reflexive

I totally called it and was thrilled it really happened

It was expected, but I believe we can't fully know how to feel because it's still a moment in development. I mean, it makes sense, it was the only move. We all saw it coming but it doesn't take anything from the awesomeness

Great payoff to Zeke's obsession with baseball

Eren could have given him a heads up... Zeke almost didn't catch him

WHICH ‘FROZEN IN AN INSTANT” MOMENT ARE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE PLAY OUT? 1,330 Responses

When the action returns to the battle, the majority of the fandom are eager to see “Armin and Mikasa vs. The Cart” (27.4%) and “The aftermath of Gabi’s shot” (26.7%) play out. On a more lighthearted note, was “that one bird” (3.7%) received more votes than “Niccolo and the Braus family” (1.6%).

WHICH TITAN MEMORY MOMENT WERE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE? 1,328 Responses

“Mikasa from chapter 1” was not only the largest memory shard, but also the moment we were most excited to see (24.3%). “Present day Historia” was our second choice (19.9%) and “The mysterious dark haired boy” was third (12.4%).  At the other end of the spectrum, once again “those birds” rule, beating out “the horse” (0.4%), “the ocean” (0.8%), “that bowl of food” (0.2%), “the colossal titan peering over the wall” (1.1%) and “that one person in the bottom left (1.1%) Faye (0.6%), the blimp (0.1%), the basement key (0.4%), Jean’s horse face (0.9%) and even Hange (0.5%).

WHO IS THE BOY NEXT TO MIKASA IN THE MEMORY SHATTER? 1,303 Responses

“A child from the Mid East Alliance” has taken the majority (31.8%) with Rod Reiss and Tom Xaver following, each with about a quarter of the vote. Eren Kruger was fourth with 11.5%. We also had plenty of write ins. 

A child from the Mid-East Alliance, as he's wearing a Fez. It's probably a memory from Lady Tybur's youth, as we know the Tybur Family had connections with nations all across the world.

All the memories here have been from either te Attack Titan or the Founding Titan.  Thus I don’t think this is a boy from Warhammer Titan’s memories. Possibly it is Eren Kruger’s memories, in which case this cannot he Tom Xaver as it’s much too young for them to meet. Eren met Tom when Tom was a doctor and able to falsify his blood documents is he could join the Marley police. This is a new character.

At this point i really don't know it could be fucking king fritz himself isayama would probably do it

Eren's future son

Frieda’s brother

I think he's ms. Tybur's friend, eren's memories in here kinda mixed up so it makes sense he sees tybur's memories

It’s rod. You can tell by the vest he’s got on. But I do like the few people calling him the Arumika lovechild.

Probably Eren Kruger's friend / brother / child idk, or a future character that we don't know yet.

Someone from Ymir Fritz's time

The child from the last рanel

DID YOU LIKE THE INCLUSION OF CASTE ON TITAN CHARACTERS IN THE SPREAD PAGE? 1,249 Responses

Let’s be real… The manga has had a depressing tone for quite a while now, and some humor (assuming that’s what this was!) is probably good for us. 72% of poll respondents agree with this notion, and loved the inclusion of Armin and Mikasa from the high school AU. 18.3% weren’t quite so keen to see this easter egg, however. 

I knew Isayama said something along the lines of incorporating this AU in the canon so it was nice to see that. Whether he plans to make a reincarnation AU out of this or just an easter egg is up to him.

I think it's cute. It's small and out of the way so it's not like it's disturbing the story.

Idk I'm confused. Isayama really likes to play with us

If you mean Nerd!Armin and Goth!Mikasa, yes I did like it. Could you PLEASE call it Highschool AU or similar, I spent like five minutes trying to understand what 'Caste on Titan' meant!

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BEST IN-STORY EXPLANATION IS FOR CASTE ON TITAN BEING INCLUDED? 1,266 Responses

Well over half of the fandom agree that the inclusion of Caste on Titan (AKA the high school AU fake previews) in the memory shatter was merely an easter egg for the fans to enjoy, rather than Isayama canonizing anything. 20.9% feel differently, feeling that Isayama has canonized Caste on Titan as an alternate universe. 10.7% feel that it is a possible future or reincarnation. 

Above Ymir Fritz, in a dimension higher than PATHS, lies the one true God and Creator Isayama-sama, who casually screws His people's minds on a monthly basis with images like these.

It is the actual reality

Canon?? FUTURE?? WHO?? WHAT??

Reincarnation AU is canon, baby

I have never heard of Caste on Titan.

Really it's probably just an easter egg, but it also kind of canonizes AUs which is fine by me.

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE LOOK AT THE PATHS DIMENSION IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,331 Responses

What did the fandom think of a whole chapter focused on paths? 80.2% loved the deep dive into them, 15.3% liked the information but don’t love paths as a story mechanic, and 2.1% dislike paths immensely and just want to go back to the battle.

Being someone who loves time-travelling stuff, I'm intrigued. I see a lot of theories around and the loop seems a little weird to me. I believe Isayama has a great, unique concept and I'm excited to fully comprehend it.

Enjoyed it a fair bit, but we need to know more! Especially about how this dimension came to be in the first place.

I can't wait to see this in the anime!

I sort of wish it was more alluded to and not shown too much

I wish isayama was good enough a writer so that he wouldnt have to rely on this bullshit for long-term, grand-scheme storytelling

It's awesome, we need a break from battle, right? I can't wait it'll be animated beautifully just like Ymir one back in the season 2

The most fascinating aspect of the story by far. I just want every single one of their mysteries to be revealed.

I really want to know more about the PATHS. But not from Zeke. I think he is definitely lying about some things here. And I loved that double betrayal. 

I didn’t know what the heck was going on

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE COORDINATE AS SHOWN IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,321 Responses

A part of the in-depth look at paths this chapter was a visualization of the coordinate itself. Just over half of the fandom are excited that the theories of Norse Mythology influences might have paid off with the coordinate appearing similar to the mythological tree Yggdrasil. 18.2% of you are unsure what Yggdrasil is and how it relates to the story, 16.5% think the coordinate is supposed to look like a tree but Yggdrasil isn’t a direct influence, and 13.1% think it’s just a beam of light that branches off.

I just thought back to most of the depictions in books of Ymir and the Devil.  A good number of them had an object behind Ymir, that being a tree.  Coincidence?  I think not!

It really does have Yggdrasil vibes, and sorta looks like a tree branching off, but for now I can’t quite put it anywhere. Looks dope though.

It symbolizes a tree, and I hope it in turn connects to the tree Eren sat against in Chapter 1

Yes! more norse mythology references! Yggdrasil baby!

I loved how the trails in the path sky were the expanding branches of the Yggdrasil tree from SnK. Different space, different rules of time and matter...

It's shiny, glowy and pretty, and gives rise to loads of amazing fan colorings. Seriously, that full-page panel with Eren standing in front on it is a work of art.

It's the Tree of Life, Yggdrasil but also the Sephirot, among others. Norse Mythology confirmed with the name Ymir, the Norse proto-giant whose body was used to create the nine realms.

Maybe it's Yggdrasil, maybe not. I like the symbolism, but I can't confirm it actually is Yggdrasil.

Tree of life, much original, v cultured

PATHS converging as ROOTS.

BETRAYAL! WHAT DID YOU THINK OF EREN TURNING ON ZEKE? 1,331 Responses

Who doesn’t love a predictable but good betrayal? 70.5% of respondents were more than happy to see that Eren didn’t agree with Zeke’s ideals, even going so far as to support the demeanor in which Eren delivered the blow. 20.9% are happy he doesn’t agree with Zeke, but feel he could have gone a little easier on him. A small percentage feel he should have sided with Zeke…

Expected but still immensely satisfying. Kinda felt a little bummed for Zeke getting rejected like that.

I loved the twist which was made even better with a double-twist!

Assuming Eren wants to go through with the Rumbling, then both plans are crazy

Eren revealed his cards too early. Although, I can see Eren making that mistake.

It was what I'd hoped would happen eventually, however, it's still another example of Eren doing whatever the fuck he wants without consulting his plans with anyone and hurting people as a consequence

Harsh, but Zeke had it coming and it felt kind of great on an emotional level in terms of a true loss to Zeke, who has done some pretty shitty stuff.

Eren’s plan is stupid, you could’ve told Armin and Mikasa about this but nooooo you gotta be an ass.

I knew Eren wouldn't go through with Zeke's plan. But Zeke also deserves to see the errors in his plans, that he has no right to euthanise his fellow Eldians!

I'm not surprised about Eren's betrayel, it was obvious from the start that he would never agree with Zeke's ideology. But currently I feel very bad for Zeke. For first his parents only want to used him for their plans, because of his royal blood and Eren only used him for the same thing. Poor Zeke ;___;

Zeke had a lot of time the overthink everything that has happened in the timeless paths realm. Even if Zeke did not realize before, he definitely thought about the betrayal during said time.

DO YOU THINK ZEKE IS CORRECT THAT THE GIRL IN THE PATHS DIMENSION IS OG YMIR? 1,331 Responses

Zeke assumes, along with 76.5% of readers that the girl we see roaming paths is Ymir Fritz.  However, 19.5% of readers disagree with Zeke on this one.

I was but, after reading a theory posted days after the release, it makes sense that she's actually the OG Christa.

I think it’s Ymir, I don’t think ymir is who they think she is

I think she is indeed Ymir... But could also be the Earth devil.

Hearing all these theories about Eren asking Zeke how he could know, and Zeke just responding with (while logical) a not for sure answer makes me mixed

It seems wierd to me that the Founder has no will or personality of her own, it seems to me that shouldn't be the case, but well... I was hoping she would have some more additions to the story of the titans but she seems like a walking corpse

It's the most likely answer, but the fact he's just assuming makes me not want to claim for sure. Yams likes to seize on assumptions.

Kind of, it's the person they call Ymir but it's really the character of Christa

No. At least not fully, many characters have claimed what happened in the past, but none of them have been entirely right. I don't see why I should see Zeke as entirely correct either.

An empty shell of ymir caused by King Fritz messing with the cordinate

I think Zeke, Eren, Historia and this girl (I think it's Eren's daughter) are all Ymir.

WHY DID YMIR PASS BY EREN? 1,328 Responses

Over half of the fandom (57.7%) agree with Zeke’s theory on this one - Ymir gave Eren the brush off because the Founding Titan is basically a pawn of the royal family. 28.1% are suspicious and believe that she’s got other plans we’ve yet to be clued in on.

Nepotism over cronyism, I guess

She's being controlled by Zeke due to his royal blood so she probably got no choice. Maybe if she gets released she'll cooperate with Eren

The grown woman-child doesn't like boring edgy teens, maybe?

In his time in the paths, Zeke gained enough control over them to make since illusions for eren.  This chick is just as illusory as his chains.  Zeke is using her to manipulate Eren because he needs Eren to control the founder.

Zeke is technically alive. Eren isn’t. She’s going for the living shifter.

Eren is too hot for her, she can't handle the Yeager

That’s not not Ymir.

She really dosnt have a free will and is being controlled by an even higher power

Zeke has created those chains and that girl to trick Eren

Ymir herself is a slave to the royal family. The royal blood in Zeke calls out to her.

WHAT MEMORY OF GRISHA’S DID YOU ENJOY THE MOST? 1,335 Responses

With lots of heartwarming moments to choose from this chapter, 32.7% most enjoyed seeing Grisha turn away from the Reiss chapel and choosing instead to focus on being a good husband and father to his family. 28.8% enjoyed seeing how Grisha spent his time in the basement and the possibility of him seeing Zeke from the future. 19.7% got the dokis over seeing Grisha be there for Eren’s baby milestones.

Loved baby Eren and it was really nice seeing Grisha so caring for his family (I missed Carla too, so good to see her again)

Baby Eren is the cutest baby in the whole universe and if you disagree you need glasses

IN LIGHT OF THIS CHAPTER, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GRISHA NOW? 1,330 Responses

Nearly half of the fandom (47.2%) admire Grisha’s ability to change and work to become a better father and husband after learning from his mistakes. 21.1% are glad that he was much better with Eren, but still can’t look past the way he treated Zeke as a child. 19.3% have always had faith in Grisha and enjoyed his character. 

One of the reasons why SnK is as good as it is. The way goodness and horribleness exists within him at the same time, the way it makes him so imperfect, so deplorable, so sympathetic and so human, it's a testament to how well he is written. I love him. I love him so much.

I didn't like him before, but now I have a little more sympathy. I felt like crying when he was dreaming about Zeke and wanted to see him badly. I hope they will have a chance to talk in paths.

I'm amazed by the forgiveness other readers are giving him. It's as if they're ignoring what he actually believed and did. I don't believe many people are beyond redemption, and the fact that Grisha managed to get caught before he could actually murder anyone works in his favour, but I hold him to the exact same standard I would any real person who tried to bring back a regime he himself believed was exceptionally violent and bloodthirsty (before the Owl delivered the 'nice' history of Eldia). Overall he *could* be forgiven, but so far...holding your cute chubby son and choosing not to commit your original sin *again* is not it.

No matter how much he learned from Zeke he still cursed them both with 13 years at the end, so it doesn't really make a difference for me.

For the longest time I didn't know how to feel about him but this chapter cleared up a lot of things and I absolutely love him now

While he ultimately failed at parenting twice, it is good to see he learned from some of his mistakes and that his actions here reflected that. In the end, he still went for the royal family before the breach of the Wall and treated Eren to the serum instead of spending his time looking for a better, less 'child' host for his titan.

DID BABY EREN SEE OLDER EREN AND ZEKE? 1,335 Responses

While it may not impact the story, the vast majority of the fandom (70.9%) feel confident that baby Eren was able to see his future self. Only 2.8% selected “No” for this question.

DID GRISHA SEE ZEKE AT THE END? 1,333 Responses

We don’t really know how it happened, but it sure does seem like Grisha saw Zeke at the end of the chapter when he noted his aged appearance. 79.1% agree that this appears to be the case. 2.7% disagree, chalking this up to nothing more than a coincidence. Eren and/or Zeke being able to interact with the past in any way has some striking implications, so hopefully we get some answers soon!

WILL ZEKE CHANGE HIS MIND ABOUT GRISHA? 1,333 Responses

46.3% of respondents feel that the narrative is pushing Zeke to forgive his father and let go of what happened in the past. 38.6% see the potential for him to forgive Grisha, but don’t want to say with confidence that he definitely will. 11.5% believe that there is nothing that will ever cause Zeke to forgive his father. 

At his core, Zeke wants his father to love him and treat him as a son instead of a tool. Knowing that Grisha still thinks of him and feels guilty about the way he raised him must have stirred something in him.

Partially. Yes, Grisha grew from that. But it just meant that Eren got the childhood he wishes he had and that in his eyes Eren got preferential treatment.

If anything I think he's mostly going to be jealous of Eren and regrets not being born at the right time. That being said they haven't reached the memory where Grisha passed his titan to Eren.

Might lean more towards him not changing because of his very single-minded way of looking at things. Maybe a smaller chance, don't know how I'd feel about it, though in terms of storytelling.

I hope. I am so ready for a Zeke redemption to take place even if the chances of it happening are low. I want to see the Yeagerbros working together.

I don't think so. If Eren shows him the next memory in which Grisha gave his titan powers to Eren and forced him to end his mission by going to the cellar and learning to control that power, Zeke would think that he was right about his father that he brainwashed him. Maybe Grisha was a good father in Eren's younger years but at the end he shouldered his burden to his second son and gave Eren a new reason to continue the cycle of hatred, to avenge his mother. I don't think that Zeke will change his mind so easily...I have the feeling that Eren has to convince his Brother otherwise, but I could be wrong.

While his opinion about Grisha May change slightly, that won’t change his opinion about euthanasia.

I love how that in the midst of all the plot development and the PATHS, it still boils down to the characters and their relationships in the end. The Zeke/Grisha parts make this chapter, imo. The boy who wants so much to be loved by his father, who vilifies his father as some sort of coping mechanism, realizing that his father loves him, misses him and regrets the way he treated him, realizing his father is only human... it never fails to tug at my heartstrings. I can't wait to see where Zeke will go from here.

WILL ZEKE’S MIND BE CHANGED ABOUT WHAT THEY SHOULD DO WITH THE FOUNDING POWER? 1,329 Responses

As we step away from the action-centric battle, we move into a battle of philosophies, outlooks, and plans. Zeke has attempted to sway Eren, but will Eren be able to convince Zeke to change his mind about what to do with the power they now possess? 38.8% think he will in fact be able to do just that; and only at about 1% behind, 37.9% don’t know what the outcome will be, and 20.3% don’t think Zeke’s plan will change.

Zeke's mind is already made up. What may change is his motivation. He just may lose all will to execute his plan and let Eren do his thing.

His euthanasia plan is instilled into him primarily by Xaver, his father-figure, someone whom he holds very much in high esteem. So if Zeke should change his mind about that plan, it has to be through changing his current opinion on Xaver.

It will seem he agrees with Eren. And then, out of rage and despair of his ideals being broken and Eren getting the life he wishes he always had, he'll cause the Rumbling to lash out at the world for how cruel it was to him.

No, he's far too stubborn for that. But he still needs to return the powers of the Founder to Eren somehow. So I can see him being cornered in a way that makes him realize there's no happy ending.

Probably, but it shouldn't be because of some Grisha shit, it should be because Eren has a better plan

Yes but he‘s still an ass who had fun in killing. Maybe he‘ll redeem himself by showing remorse but whatever, he just rubs me the wrong way.

I sure hope so, because eugenics really doesn't make sense even if you support the reasoning. If it can be done by a royal titan then it can be undone, and they're literally planning to keep a pack of royals as spares.

I hope so, because I really want to see the brothers work together. Zeke has done a lot of terrible thing (including what he did to poor Levi) but I want to see his redemption arc

I think that Zeke will come to the realization that he is doing to same thing to Ymir as Grisha has done to him.

WHAT DOES EREN WANT TO SHOW ZEKE? 1,324 Responses

This chapter ended abruptly with Eren about to lead Zeke into “The next memory.” But what could that be? 36.3% think he’s going to show Zeke scenes from his own life, 32.1% believe there will be an even deeper dive into Grisha’s past, 19.7% think it will involve Tom Xaver, and 8.6% think Eren Kruger will get more time to shine.

A mix of all of them: More of Grisha's memories up to his death, his own life and experiences (Attack on Titan greatest hits coming for the 10th anniversary chapter), and then finish off with some Xaver reveals if he indeed worked with Kruger.

Bit of Kruger's, Eren's memories, and little bit of Grisha's. Maybe Ymir's or Karl Fritz

Definitely something involving Xaver, probably him in cahoots with Kruger to fool Zeke.

Don't feel like he wants to show Zeke something, just telling Zeke to move it along

His true motives and what lead him down the path he’s been taking since chapter 91

That one exchange between Grisha and Frieda in the cave we still didn't get to see when Eren kissed Historia's hand.

The memory where Grisha turns Eren into a mindless with added dialogue to hit us all in the feels.

Warhammer memories

I hope it could be something around Kruger and Xaver, and finally enlightening Zeke view of his "dad" and their plan. From here they could move around some really interesting scenarios, there are so many possibilities and I AM HERE FOR IT! ("If you want to save Mikasa and Armin..." quote for example idk).

Fall of wall Maria, Dina eating Carla

Some hype ass shit.

WILL EREN BE DEAD AFTER THE INSTANT IS OVER? 1,327 Responses

The majority (77.8%) are confident that Eren will find a way to make it out of the paths dimension alive, while 11.5% are much less optimistic about Eren’s fate. A smaller percentage believe that he’s already dead without any chance of coming back.

I have this weird theory: since a shifter's consciousness can be transferred into the spine or in the Paths dimension in some capacity, what if the consciousnesses of two shifters can be "exchanged" in the Paths dimension? Zeke may end up dying (willingly or not) while Eren lives.

I don't know. I think he'll either come back alive, or find a way to communicate with at least Mikasa and/or Armin before he dies.

Zeke promised that he will never abandon his little brother. Even if their ways differ in the end and Zeke’s mind isn’t changed, I don’t think he would leave his brother to die. He has already stated that he will command Ymir to reconstruct Eren’s body. No way he would treat Eren like that

No. Eren recovered in paths just like Zeke did so there's no reason for him to be dead

It would be a fresh plot twist and I would like him to stay dead because of it but I doubt Isayama has courage to do it.

i think it would be weird for eren to die right now, especially before seeing Armin & Mikasa again

DO YOU THINK ZEKE WILL COME OUT OF THE PATHS DIMENSION ALIVE? 1,328 Responses

Zeke was in pretty good shape when he went into the PATHS dimension, so it only makes sense he would make it out alive - or at least that’s what most of us (81.9%) think! A minority (18.5%) think (or hope?) he will not be so lucky.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,339 Responses

More than half the fandom wants chapter 121 to be the continuation of A Zekemas Carol. 18.9% would rather take a break from the PATHS dimension to see what’s happening with Levi and Hange.

Been wanting to see Annie, Levi, Historia for many chapters.  Now just want these amazing memories to continue!  This part of the story is incredibly powerful.

I know this paths fuckery will continue for another chapter or two but after that yams pls gib annie i beg

A moment of silence for the amount of hope I had to see Hanji and Levi, if you will. It will be missed.

All I'm asking for is one panel with Levi and Hange... Is that too much?

Annie in paths Annie in paths Annie in paths Annie in-

Eren in the next chapter is going to open a door from Eren Krugers past showing interactions with Tom Xaver

Heh, as much as I want to see Hanji & Levi, I'm 99% certain we're staying in PATHS zone :)

I feel bad that I didn’t choose Annie for any of these answers, but this moment in the story is literally the only thing I’ve wanted to see for years

I just want to know Levi is alive 

I want to know who Ymir really is and what her motivation is! I want to see the story through her eyes!

I don't care about Zeke. Please show me the Present Day Historia memory. I beg you OG Ymir. Amen.

whatever it is im gonna pee myself regardless

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,263 Responses

While Reddit and Tumblr continue to make up the majority of our respondents, the Attack on Titan fandom is everywhere. Wherever you choose to discuss the series, we appreciate your support of the chapter poll!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 

"Where's the rest of it?" - Zuko

I liked Eren's "surprised Pikachu" face when Zeke broke the chains.

Great fucking chapter, Eren and Zeke are a riot as a brothers duo.

Why is Grisha so attractive 

Boy am I glad Xaver trained Zeke in baseball instead of football.

Grisha Redemption Arc, let's go!

a chapter without reiner is automatically a bad chapter 

At the beginning I thought it’d end up being boring but the ending showed me otherwise. Attack on titan never disappoints

Awesome, beyond my expectation. We get more info about PATHS and yeager moments that i nearly don't care about others lol. The cliffhanger is more painful than previous chapter tho 

Chapter in a nutshell: "I have more resolve!" "No, just kidding. By doing this I have MORE resolve!" "Well guess what? I have a piano. End of discussion, I have the most resolve." 

I kind of dislike the whole concept of the Paths. I really dislike the "enslaved little girl builds Titans out of sand" angle when there was so much potential for a science fantasy explanation instead. At least Eren's acting like Eren again, that's all I'm asking of this manga at this point.

How did Ymir have three daughters when she looks 13 years old and presumably died 13 years old?

I put a 2/5 due to how empty and anticlimatic this chapter was. I'm more than okay to explore the pathverse but I didn't expect 10 pages of filler and recollection, 10 pages where the brotherly betrayal gets quickly resolved with both Eren and Zeke's emotions being turned down (Zeke just told Eren he had no freedom in his decisions ffs) and the rest being Daddy Issues TM.

Dope. Loved it. Answered so many questions. So, the PATHS meme is a little less true now. It'll probably become even less so with the next chapter and so on. 

Eren and Zeke this chapter were basically that one spiderman meme you know the one.

Glad the memory manipulation theory was wrong, didn't expect this walk through memory lane however. I'm excited to see if and how Zeke's outlook on his father and whole ideology will change.

Eren out here playing 5D chess against Zeke when he was playing 4D chess and thinking Eren was playing 3D chess. Eren a legend

Eren’s sarcastic attempt at convincing Zeke was a welcome reprieve from the “excuse-me-what” nature of this chapter

Every time Eren appears in a panel I stare in awe at how beautiful he is. Shaven face + Hobo hair = Peak Eren. 

I love how abrupt the ending is, specially if Isayama's going for what I'm thinking. I suspect chapters 120, 121, and 122 will all feel connected as one single big chapter, with action outside paths only unfreezing at the end of 122. The main issue is how some parts of this chapter feel like stalling for the inevitable anniversary chapter next month, but I believe it's gonna pay off.

I was laughing like a maniac by the end of the chapter. Eren is truly an incredible little sh*t, and I'm super excited to learn more about his actual motivations. Interestingly enough, Zeke won't shut up about Grisha the father, and seems to have conveniently forgotten (which I did as well) that one of Eren's biggest motivations in his life has come from his mother, who told Shadis all those years ago that Eren was special BECAUSE "he was born into this world". As much as I reeeeeeally wanna see an update on Levi and Hanji (IT'S BEEN SIX MONTHS, ISAYAMA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO US), this walk down memory lane is turning out to be the most entertaining part of the arc so far 

I'm SO HAPPY to see Eren talking again and to see that fiery determination and his snarky attitude! Go Eren!

Just . . . I'm really tired. Now Grisha's father of the year all of sudden. I'm still waiting for Eren to like, suffer real consequences for his war crimes and his shitty treatment of his "friends." And Annie is probably never going to be relevant, Historia is going to stay stuck in her chair. Like, the whole point of this series was that it's hard to tell what the truth is, right? And now there's MAGIC and Eren can literally take Zeke into his memories to show Zeke EXACTLY what happened with Grisha as if that's the real truth? Isayama's gone soft or given up, I dunno. I'm just tired.

Anyone else expect Isayama to just carry on with these flashbacks for four chapters just like the basement.

This chapter hurt me. In fact, this whole arc has. I think the point where I started being really confused was when Zeke got resurrected. I get the point of it. You wanna show what PATHS is? Ok. You wanna show how titans are built! Sure! You wanna explain that this is a pocket dimension and time moves by super slow? Perfect. You wanna show the person making the titans? Cool. But the mechanics with the royal family are so inconsistent. IF ZEKE CAN BREAK THE WILL, WHY CAN’T FRIEDA OR URI OR LITERALLY ANYBODY. Is it because he isn’t the direct founding Titan? Is he bluffing?? I don’t know. I want Armin and Mikasa please.

One redemption for the monky boi, please.

So Eren did all he did, sacrificed so many lives, hurt his friends etc. just because he only hoped he’ll be able to use the Coordinate? Seriously that was his plan? Give me a break please. I’m very disappointed Erwin was not there in the ‘important moments’ page - he was one of Eren’s childhood heroes after all and the person without whom Eren would’ve never gotten this far. 

[vixensheart]

So I saw My Hero Academia Season 1 and I'm just... in love with this show. Now I'm thirsty for more Izuocha and I NEED it. Know any fic writers for it, maybe a few fic recs? Do you write MHA fics? I swear, these two are so... perfect.

Well, you finally started the anime, eh? ;D lmao MHA is such a fun show/manga/etc. And izuocha is like, the cutest! I love those dorks so much akjhshsk. 

As for fics, yes, yes I do have some recs. Follow the cut below!!!!

Beep, Beep, Beep by Izupie 

Summary:  "The guy living below me has a really loud alarm clock that always wakes me up at the crack of dawn."---------It's five in the morning and Ochako may be wearing her old, faded, kind of inappropriately short pajamas, but this time it's the last straw. She's going downstairs and she's giving this jerk a piece of her mind........ Except that he's actually really friendly and sweet and Oh No He's Hot. 

Literally, this fic is so goddamn cute. Izu writes them so well; it’s fun, heartwarming, and full of that fuzzy goodness izuocha deserves. I rec all her fics tbh, she’s amazing. 

Snowed In by theMistake

Summary:  A blizzard leaves Ochako stuck at Izuku's home for the night, forcing them both to confront feelings they would have preferred to leave untouched.

This is a soft one, too. It’s got some really sweet moments that will give you the warm and fuzzies, alongside that frustrating JUST KISS ALREADY, DAMMIT! 10/10 must read. 

Morning Glories by amuk

Summary: She wonders why those flowers keep climbing, why they reach for the sun if it's only going to burn them.

This is a great post-apocalyptic oneshot! I love this shit, I want more of this shit. Izuku and Ochako trying to survive amidst the destroyed remains of civilization? Hell yes. 

One Plus One Does Not Equal a Date (Probably?) by SingingCookie

Summary: The agency Uraraka had been interning for was having a gala and inviting some newer agencies in order to give them the chance to mingle with the other big names. She was fitting in so well at the agency, they even invited her to join in the fun! The Pro-Hero she worked under though recommended she have someone to accompany her to avoid any insistent interactions from other guests. 

Izuku was blown away when she relayed the situation to their group of friends and then looked him in the eye to ask if he would mind being her plus one. See? Not her date—her plus one.

Oh my goodness, these two trying to navigate the awkward world of emotions and crushes and dating is so much fun to read. Cookie does a fabulous job portraying Izuku’s inner turmoil and awkwardness and I love it so much. Also throwing out here to read all of Cooki’s stuff, too; they’ve got a ton of great fics!!

Mouth to Mouth by WingSongHalo

Summary: “Did I hear that correctly?” Ashido asked from behind them. “Uraraka didn’t actually need rescue breathing?”“Um,” said Izuku, “that would seem to be the case, yes.”She grinned wider than Izuku thought appropriate, given that one of her classmates had just nearly drowned. “So there was no reason for you to kiss her like her life depended on it?”His mouth dropped open. “Wh—wh—?!”

Izuku saves Ochaco from drowning, and no one will let him forget how he did it. Ochaco, on the other hand, has forgotten, and is convinced that everyone can read her mind since they seem to know about the very interesting dream she's been having.

This fic is amazing. From start to finish it’s fun, witty, in character, and all around a stellar read. It’s hilarious and adorable and I love how they capture both Ochako and Izuku’s inner voice. And the shanigans from class 1A as they tease these two is also fun. Plus, their first kiss? Oh so satisfying. Also gonna recommend their other works, as well here. 

Kiss Me by AmyNChan

Summary: It's been seven years since they met. Dreams achieved, Ochako finally says what's on her mind. 

They were on equal ground. They were pro-heroes. They had done it. Her dreams had been realized, standing on equal footing with six of her classmates and countless other pro-heroes. And with that realization… with it…“Oh god, I went to confess to Deku-kun.” 

“Confess might be too subtle a word, kero.”

While not yet finished, so far this fic is fantastic. Basically, it’s a fun exploration of Izuku and Ochako finally, finally getting together after so many years. Side note, it even has some fantastic Bakugou and Izuku moments that are absolutely golden. 

It’s Not a Date!...Right?! by taocastleprincess

Summary:  Izuku’s not overthinking it, is he? It was just on the cheek but it was something! Him? Midoriya Izuku? Taking pretty girls out and holding hands and getting kissed?It was unthinkable. Unbelievable. Ochako just said that she loves hanging out with him. To be more accurate, she said she loves when just the two of them are together. Just them. A duo. A pair. She loves that. Him and her. Her and him. Maybe she even loves hi—well, okay. This is exactly what Iida told him not to do. He told him not to overthink every single word, sentence, and action. He specifically told him to take it easy...

This one is just so goddamn cute. Iida cancels plans, but Ochako wants to hang out anyway. Cue the shenanigans. Fluffy as hell and worth all the feel good feelings. 

As for me, yes, I do have a handful of works for bnha...some of which are for izuocha so here’s my own self plug:

Sword In the Stone

Rating: T,  Chapters: 7/?

Summary: Midoriya Izuku dreamed of things; of swords and knights and magic and fire. As the keeper of the sheep and no fire of his own, he resigned himself to a life filled with monotony. Keeping the sheep was all he could offer for his clan, after all.

Until he interrupted the Trails, and saved the life of Bakugou Katsuki.

Exiled, Midoriya runs for his life. Chased by the past and monsters lurching forth from the shadows, he finds himself in a new city, with new friends and a new lease on life.

And then he finds a sword, a sword encased in stone. 

Tipping Point 

Rating: T, Chapters: 1/1

Summary:  The slightest shift is all they needed.

I Think I Like You Too 

Rating: T, Chapters: 1/1, Prequel to Feelings are Fucking Stupid

Summary: Ochako isn't sure how to void her feelings, or if that's even possible. Asui insists that perhaps talking about them will help.

Yeah so that’s what I’ve got, lol. If anyone has any more recs feel free to share those, too. Happy reading! :3