#why do manga authors LOVE to make the end of their mangas bad af?????

[kelin-is-writing]

… I hate all this with the strength of a thousand suns. You deserved better, you really deserved way better than whatever this is…

[certainempatheticturkeymuffin]

So....

I finally got my Four Swords manga and read the entire thing in one sitting.

I have a few notes.

Red is a dumbass and I love him.

That whole hugging scene with Red and Blue came a little out of nowhere, but it was funny.

Red is an arsonist and I love him.

Green totally has the hots for Zelda.

I don't know why but Vio is my favorite.

Red is close in second though

Blue got fucking EATEN by the fucking Big Poe

And Red fucking saved him by being an arsonist

TWICE

Green is definitely the straight one, you can tell.

Shadow is dramatic as fuck

Vio is also dramatic as fuck

Shadow has a fucking DRAGON

Shadow literally destroyed Hyrule Castle and Castletown in a day. He's technically up there with Calamity Ganon

Shadow tricked Link into freeing Vaati!

My take was that Shadow was being heavily mistreated by Ganon and Vaati, which laid down some abuse subtext and....holy fuck that was sad. Maybe it's just 'cause my family was abusive that I got that read, but wow.

Shadow needs to be protected.

I love Shadow he needs to be given the good fucking things in life.

In the LU could he technically be brought back by one of Wild's blood moons? I read a fic about that. Does he count as a monster though? Then again, the blood moon enhances your cooking, so really I don't see why it can't give Shadow his physical form back.

Shadow deserves good things.

He just wanted attention and a family.

He killed himself to kill Vaati....I mean, I knew that before hand, but seeing it with my own two eyes....fuck

Shadow is a troll and I love him

He and Vio were just messing with Blue and Red lmao

Blue learned patience by being frozen in ice until Red decided to set him on fire, which, how long was that really? It was stated that they only left Vio alone for a day, so it must've only been a few hours. Must've felt like an eternity though.

I feel like Red and Blue were the main characters for most of the middle really.

I'm not complaining, their dynamic is hilarious and I love them

But I wanted to see Green and Vio interact with them more y'know.

I feel like Vio only really interacted with Shadow

And even then he was kinda lying the entire time.

Oh Hylia, Shadow's face when he realized Vio was going to smash the mirror.

That was just betrayal on so many levels

And he had just opened up about thinking Vio was the only one he could really trust.

After that I honestly feel it was dickish to just kill him.

And then he lives

Zelda is a top tier fucking Queen(tm)

She had no obligations to comfort someone who had kidnapped her and yelled at her

But she did and it was super sweet

THEN THE FUCKING SENTIENT CLOUD

I didn't know the clouds were sentient and honestly I'm still having a crisis over it

And in the beginning I thought Shadow just straight up killed Link's dad and I was like "oh damn okay this is darker than I expected"

But nope the fucker is still alive.

I feel like the knights of Hyrule were kind of a deus ex machina

And the final show down with Ganon was underwhelming

Vaati is a bitch

I think Red was the highlight of this story

And the fucking art style, because damn the expressions were funny

And I'm glad they implemented the subtle ways to tell them apart, like the textures of the tunics, the color of the shirt under the tunic(Green's is black) the light and dark eyebrows, and the eyes themselves.

Tingle was unexpected and I wanted him to go away like Green and Vio did

Honestly I still don't understand why people love Tingle, he annoys me.

Back to the actually good characters-THEY FUCKING LITERALLY TURNED A LITTLE GIRL INTO A DOLL

Her fucking doll(Rosie?) was creepy as fuck!

That trick was absolutely CREEPY AS FUCK

And I like how the four just wreck the bastard with toy weapons

And they keep them as real weapons when they leave

Like, how does that work lmao

Red set a fucking forest on fire

Red is an arsonist

Red is brilliant and I love him

Vio is an asshole and I love him

Just playing up how "Oh yeah Green is dead" and fucking messing with Red and Blue

I noticed Shadow is super touchy-feely with Vio and he's probably touch starved which makes sense.

Okay so Shadow wasn't dead, technically, is he still alive if all he can do is wave from Link's shadow and stuff?

It seems like a bad ending for Shadow.

In the LU, does this mean that Four just fucking stole the Four Sword and killed Vaati? Or did Zelda find some other way to seal him, 'cuz like, I'm pretty sure Four has the four sword in LU right????

So many plotholes but if this means I get more arsonist Red content, then I'm down.

Also, Shadow is gay af for Vio

Like, my gaydar was off the charts

YOU DON'T JUST GIVE A BRO THIS LOOK

70. And, like, Vio, you JUST fucking killed Shadow, don't give me this shit

71. This art is super gay, you can't deny that, they are literally fucking wrapped around each other

72. And Shadow wanted to fucking rule the world WITH Vio, like, DAMN he's thirsty 73. If it were me, I'd still prefer ultimate authority 74. Just in case y'know 75. And Shadow was so ready to spill his secrets 76. And he was so fucking heartbroken when he saw Vio with the sledgehammer 77. Like fuck Vidow is definitely my top pairing. 78. And Green and Zelda, the token straights 79. And we can't forget Red and Blue 80. Like Red was hardcore flirting with Blue, you can't change my mind. 81. Zelda was so fucking confused when she saw that there were four Links, and it was cute and hilarious 82. I normally don't like Zelda, but she was so cute and sweet that I really couldn't help it. 83. Also that chad drawing of a past Link that split into four was funny 84. It was just so fucking out of place 85. They literally only rescued two of the six mages, so are the other four still trapped or were they released when Vaati and Shadow "died"? 86. The knights of Hyrule had to save the four, so are they technically the weakest Link? 87. Fuck I made a pun 88. I fucking hate myself 89. Blue was probably my least favorite of the cast, but that was probably because he reminds me of my sister 90. Y'know, the sister that hits me, yells at me, and calls me names? 91. It just rubs me the wrong way. 92. But aside from that, he was great. 93. A bit of a cocky asshole, but great. 94. And Link's dad just thinking he sees his son's dead body and Shadow just yeeting him into the dark realm. 95. Damn Shadow was an asshole 96. Vaati was even worse though, trying to get Link's father to kill his four sons. 97. That would've sucked. 98. Link hiding behind Zelda's chair was funny 99. Green and Zelda with the childhood friends turned lovers aspect would be cute 100. I like how a fairy just pops up out of no where in the middle of the book

I think that's it?

I love this book and it'll probably be the only one I ever reread.

If you didn't know, I hate rereading content unless I find it or a certain part of it worth reading through again. Which is to say, one, maybe two, fanfics(oneshots technically), and maybe this manga. So yeah, quite an exclusive club.

I don't regret this purchase!

[phytine]

So I just stop reading mha (specifically the last 3 chapters) because I am just really disappointed with the progression. So what do you think will happen now based on what happened so far?

I am sorry to have taken so long to answer this but I had so many things to take care of but I am back ! 

(And to be honest, my salt for MHA is back again. Probably because I am re-re-re-re-reading HxH again and my love for the Spider had been re-ignited - the baddest found family around here, lmao. And they whine about the League... La bonne blague, les enfants...)

I usually don’t make predictions. I am bad at it tbh (even if I had said it that BJ return would be used by the author to undermine Dabi’s speech). Today, we have the exit of the prison... I don’t really know what to think of it. My biggest problem is that imho, OFA is... totally out of the most interesting part of this manga. I have tried to take an interest in him. I read theory, meta to try to find something and I can understand why thematically he is used. But to be honest, I find him boring af. He is cartoonish. A demon lord ? REALLY ? Who cares about this when there is so many problems in this society that doesn’t involve some fantasy shit per se ? I don’t. I don’t at all. 

I would like to see Shigaraki destroy either AFO or simply influence (or both). And not to make him the ultimate big bad, just to have him flourish even more as a character. 

I see a lot saying that D/eku has to make because he has OFA and he is the hero who wants/has to save everyone but... it does not have a personal impact for him. Okay, you may say he destroys the one who hurt his mentor but... what would you take between someone who just destroys his mentor nemesis and a victim who destroys his abuser who groomed him ? I would take the second one because it is way more interesting and complex imo. Of course, it will not happen because D/eku is the protagonist and Shigaraki is the antagonist but... Shigaraki has a bigger potential because his relationships with others, his backstory and his character is more complex, and most importantly : handle with more complexity. 

In a way, D/eku could be as complex as him. His place in society was very particular and he could have become really nuanced and interesting. Yet, the narrative does not let him be that. He could have understood the discrimination better than anyone but he doesn’t. He could have understood how the hero society is difficult and not that “black and white” but he does not. It is as if a potential complex character had been put into a case, the “Your typical shonen boy” (which is surprisingly changing but you see what I mean).  My worst fear is that something similar happen to Shigaraki.  That the author sacrify Shigaraki’s complexity to AFO’s one. That he would suppress his personnality and simplify his reactions (and his speeches) to make it a more “black and white” character to have a Bigger AFO, you see ? 

For now, what I see in MHA happening is a magic trick. To distract the readers of the questions and heroes’ nastiest flaws in order for the author to control the narrative in the heroes’ favor when he was the one who set up them up to fail. Just like when he piled up the revelations after Dabi’s one to distract everyone from the biggest problem, you know ? 

Oh, of course, I don’t say that there will be no negative impact for the heroes. I am just saying they will be softened and, maybe even worse, use at their own advantage. 

I will not really predict how the prison break will go, etc. I like the League. I will probably like the potential new members of the League but just a bunch of random villains who are just evil (don’t get me wrong, I LOVE just evil villains (I am an Aizen stan since my early teenage years don’t come at me lmao)) but in MHA, they are not done that well and they are not interesting that much.

But I will put that here as a part of a larger bingo : Dabi’s reveal will be used to make End/eavor shine even more for the reader. I don’t think he will deny what happened. I think he will say it is true. But it will be presented as the bravest and most amazing act, thus pushing his narrative forward as heroic whereas Dabi’s one will be seen just like BJ presented it. I hope it will not happen. But eh... I kinda lost hope in the author’s motivations behind his story. 

Anyway. That was what I was thinking about MHA lately. And what I will probably continue of thinking for a long time.

[greatfay]

what kind of bad fandoms you in?

Off the top of my head? Like most of them lol. But for the things I’m currently watching/reading?

HxH. The good parts of the fandom just post fanart and memes, the bad parts post essays on reddit about how “the Chimera Ant Arc is the greatest arc in all of shounen and if you don’t think so then there’s just too much depth for you to fully comprehend, also I’m going to ignore the montage during that arc that demonstrated how capitalist greed, political corruption, police brutality, nuclear warfare, economic inequality, and propaganda demonstrate humanity’s true evil because Hurr Durr Ants Have Feelings and also I’m going to misgender all of the GNC characters introduced this arc did I mention I’m so smart?” that and the Ging apologists who think he’s this chess-master role model father sends me. If I hear someone say the word “subversive” one more time... and why is there so much cisnormative homophobic BS in this fandom? Even when I encounter the good part, I’ll see comments added on attacking the OP or saying shady shit, like what’s going on.

Berserk. I can’t with all the Donavon jokes and potato Casca jokes and, much like with the HxH fandom’s dark side, there’s a very pretentious self-important lot who love to hype out how “layered and dark and subversive” the manga is to inflate their own importance for being Manga Connoisseurs that read it and then they go on to make more child r*pe jokes and also defend every creative decision Miura makes. Like... I’m not “unable to fully appreciate and understand the tone and message that the Genius Miura is trying to invoke,” I quite understand, I’m just not a pervert fuckface who gets off on r*pe scenes. And I’m not alone, but since there are like maybe 10 other dudes in this fandom without brain rot and it’s a Hostile Fandom Space for women, and also queer dudes, and also people of color, it’s hard to get a good consensus.

AOT. There are people who have written the series off due to the author’s Imperialist Japan viewpoint and latched on to the conspiracy that he’s a holocaust denier and vilified Jewish stand-ins in his work; these people have, strangely enough, remained in the fandom to then remind everyone of this and repeatedly share that polygon article that has so much reaching you’d think Reed Richards had written it. The author of AOT is a brainwashed nationalist idiot, and it just so happens that he, whether he realizes it or not, has written his main cast (the heroes, the protagonists) to be analogues of the real-world Jewish people (specifically Ashkenazi Jews) combatting oppression and the deliberate annihilation of their people. I don’t think he did this on purpose, especially if he is indeed anti-Semitic, but that’s how it turned out, and stranger still is how he’s explored over the course of (idk the arcs I’m going by the anime) 2+ seasons how the State can lie and manipulate its people to increase nationalism and military power—the opposite of what some have claimed his manga is about (promoting imperialism and glorifying isolationist views and making the military and police seem cool). Despite writing this kind of story, he seems unable to question his own political views in the real world. Which isn’t my problem. Still, it’s complicated, we don’t have full answers, all we have is a very well-paced, well-written, mature manga with great plot twists and a masterclass of suspense and mystery, and now even reblogging an AOT gif can get you blacklisted.

Kingdom Hearts. This fandom is 90% chill people who want to cry and love it, they hear the first two notes of Dearly Beloved and already they’re like “fuck... emotions... I haven’t felt these in eons” and for that they’re valid. Great fanart, everything gif’d to hell and back (when I tell you for 15 years this fandom gif’d every possible frame out of just 12 collective minutes of the Good Graphics during the beginning and ending cinematic scenes). The bad part of the fandom is annoyingly homophobic and use shipper strawmen to spout out bigoted nonsense, and there’s another part of the fandom consisting of (some, not all) speed-runners who think the games should be designed with their play style in mind, fuck everyone else. I only encounter this bad 10% when watching Let’s Plays; even the Kingdom Hearts subreddit is a nice place and gets gay af sometimes, and everyone rolls with it.

Star Wars. The most recent SW stuff has not been consistently... good, but I enjoy Star Wars just for the feel of Star Wars. There are people who hate everything SW that’s come out recently and make their voices known but are still IN THE FANDOM. They’re still here, hating EVERYTHING. It’s just so disruptive to the normal fun fandom stuff because they’re everywhere, like if you’re not having fun you can leave. Go rant about the Wimminfolk and Blacks are Ruining Everything and whatever violent, disgusting thing you want to do to Kathleen Kennedy that definitely is an isolated feeling and not at all how you feel about women in general. Like parts of the SW fandom is the opposite of Berserk and HxH; with those, I’ve been critical of things while still enjoying the media, but any critical statement gets nitpicked and the vultures come. SW? It’s the overly hypercritical “ess jay dubba u” shit that drives me up the wall. Every flaw in the new SW stuff can be pointed to screenplay issues and contradictions but, gee, it must be cuz a Wimmin is in it. Fucking whatever.

[vanilla-blessing]

Why you should check out summer 2019 anime despite my previous blog post

I was mostly wrong about this season here’s qb’s revised

Hype rankings for Summer 2019

Cop Craft (Funimation)

COP CRAFT DRAGNET MIRAGE RELOADED is the biggest surprise of the season for me. Coming from Millepensee, the studio and director team known for such Art as Teekyuu seasons 4-9 and Berserk 2016, this extremely sincere and wildly stupid Americanized take on anime fantasy adventure colliding with a hard-boiled cop drama is surprisingly highly enjoyable to watch for both intended and unintended reasons. 

The intended appeal of COP CRAFT DRAGNET MIRAGE RELOADED hinges on a well-realized mashup of genres from a long running novel series, the buddy-cop teamup of an anime girl with a magical sword and a gruff but kind-hearted cop, and the dramatic thrill of one of the weirder spinoffs of law&order. The show promises an interesting setting where a magical portal ring to the fairy forest where anime-chans are real has naturally slotted into the organized crime of a New Yorkish city, resulting in a fresh take on well-trodden ground, and it actually kind of succeeds at this. In practice, watching loose cannon cops shoot guns at wizards while busting a drug ring who sling fairy dust is maybe the dumbest thing I’ve seen in years, but the story is so overly detailed, thought out, and delivered without an ounce of irony, unlike the recent terrible movie from Netflix that also attempted to do this premise almost word for word, that it wraps around to legitimately compelling. It also helps that this anime adaptation is being scripted by the novel’s author.

The unintended benefit of watching COP CRAFT DRAGNET MIRAGE RELOADED is partly how completely absurd the words they are saying appear in English, producing some of the funniest out of context screenshots imaginable, the animation in execution ratchets between cool, frenetic action that contains distinct shades of a certain tennis club, and the hysterically awful cg that you’ve come to expect and love from the only team capable of producing Berserk 2016. When it’s good, it’s good, and when it’s bad, it’s incredible. 

In short, COP CRAFT DRAGNET MIRAGE RELOADED is a two-for-one deal of the best of both bad and good anime. It’s also getting an English dub by Funimation and I can’t even imagine how good literally any line read from that will be.

The Demon Girl Next Door (Hidive, VRV) 

Despite my earlier protests, this is actually totally fine, good even. It avoids the fanservice problem I predicted completely and instead sets a relaxed comedic tone that quietly highlights small gags in a way that feels natural, which sounds impossible but they found the only director who could pull it off (Hiroaki Sakurai, known for some quite good comedies like Cromartie High School and Majokko Tsukune-chan). The content is actually pretty funny when delivered in a non-hyperactive way, since a story about a girl who is bullied into making friends after her family circumstances tell her to murderize a magical girl, told naturally, hits that level of low surrealism that works. Her friends also take this in stride, encouraging her to use this as an opportunity to go out more, open up socially, and suffer for their amusement. The magical girl in question, after heroically saving Yuko from being run over by a truck, also encourages her to defeat her and drain all of her blood, because Shadow Mistress Yuko is so much of a non-threat that Momo takes advantage of their impending ultimate confrontation to trick her into being her gym buddy. It takes place in a post-season magical girl anime landscape where the world has already been saved, normal people are used to weird episodic junk, and hitting demon puberty just another thing your friends will tease you over. 

It still probably shouldn’t be full episode length, but it actually does something with that length, and is definitely the least painful iteration of this kind of slower, long-form comedy that you don’t usually see in anime because it’s usually a terrible idea. Predicting this would end up like other entries in the incredibly cursed magical girl parody genre was a safe bet, but this anime is the rare exception and it’s actually worth checking out. 

Given (Crunchyroll, VRV) is on the noitamina block and it’s about boys in a rock band who might become more than friends. You’ve probably tuned out at this point and you’d be right because you know exactly the tone and style of this from that description but it’s executed well and written well and directed okay, so if you’d like this sort of thing try it out. There’s an interesting range of ages (the band has members in high school, college, and graduate school), a fun sense of humor, and the music is a standout in a season that has Carole and Tuesday in it, so that’s something.  

I forgot to mention Fruits Basket (Crunchyroll, VRV, Funimation) in my last post because i didn’t know it was continuing. It’s hitting its “stride” in being massively depressing so check that out still. It’s tragic and great. 

Granbelm (Crunchyroll, VRV) is a magical girl show I watched on a whim and turns out it’s actually a magical mecha battle royale. The color scheme is overly bright and the mechs look squashed, but it has girls snarling and yelling their heads off summoning beam swords so it’s different from what I expected. It’s got a G-Gundam energy with the multiregional cast and how the mecha fights are playing out, so if you’re fans of that, and magical girl, this is both at once. The second episode introduced a unique motivation for the main character, that piloting the mech helped her get over crushing nihilism, and I want to see where that goes, if at all. Combining the sometimes bleak and fun-sucking writing of overly dark and philosophical magical girl with what I can only describe as Domon Kasshu energy is a choice and I would like to see where Granbelm is going with that.

Misc variable hype list

O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Hidive) 

This looks gorgeous and it may be the most Mari Okada thing ever written, move over Dragon Pilot, but the manga has some uncomfortable elements that would translate poorly to anime, in terms of keeping me watching it.

Crunchyroll actually did pick up Symphogear AXZ and XV, against my pessimistic attitude. 

Ensemble Stars (Funimation) is okay.

Fire Force’s animation is fire af but the girl who lives in her own hellish fanservice series is about to be introduced and this part of the series is kind of slow so it would take a lot of effort to elevate the material until it gets to the “good stuff”. David production seems willing to give it their best shot though, so we’ll see.

Vinland Saga started slow, quiet, chronological and ultimately strong, but it took multiple episodes to get there, which is why they aired 3 episodes in the first week. I think I still prefer the high octane opening chapter of the manga, but they’ll get there soon enough so it’ll be a non-issue in a few months anyway. I recommended this before and I still do. WIT studio is clearly playing for the longer game, setting themes that encompass the whole series first rather than the fleeting themes of watch the bad ass viking slice the mans, but it is currently missing the energy people associated with that opening volume or two. It will probably pay off though.

[jacqthehermit]

Why Do I Ship BoruSara

WARNING: Pro-BoruSara, if you are an anti/hater and you still read this then don’t blame me if you get triggered. I already warned you, not my fault. Learn to stay in your lane, mofos.

Agree or disagree, this is my opinion IDGAF

First of all I want to say sorry anon. I know you’ve been like “WTH Jacq! I’ve seen you online and posting some shit why the fuck are you not answering my question!?!” I know okay? I’m sorry.

The reason why I keep on delaying my answer to this is because I cannot decide whether I’m gonna answer this short or if I’m gonna make a detailed blog about it. Finally, after contemplating for days, I decided to just make it short. I think if I make a detailed blog, it will be long as fuck and never ending since I love the ship so much lmao. No one reads my long ass boring af blogs and try hard short stories anyway (which I make to accompany my drawings sometimes) FeelsBadMan

So what made me ship BoruSara in the first place? I think my answer can be found in most of my previous blogs about them and I will say it again here. The reason I started shipping BoruSara is because I wanted a different approach in romance in the story.

The main ships in first gen was basically: Girl finds the boy cool, falls for him and girl saved by the boy, eventually develops deeper feelings for him. I know they were puppy love at first which grew into real love at the end. I mean I ain’t complaining about that especially my first OTP was one of them, SS. It’s just that I want to move on with this kind of romantic development. We’re in the next generation now! Time for something new!!!

That’s why when I first saw Boruto and Sarada in Chapter 700, I fell in love and shipped them right away. The chemistry was so overflowing I just can’t. I know antis and haters are just blind to see that or just in denial lmao. 

“Why Boruto?! You shipped SS in the first gen. Sasuke was the stoic, mysterious, silent, bad boy type. Boruto is the opposite!!! You should’ve ship Sarada with someone else!!! Our princess doesn’t deserve this annoying loud piece of shit” 

Yes I like those type of anime guys but sometimes I also like those loud, aggressive and playful ones. Like when I read shoujo mangas before, sometimes I’m all in for the jerk male lead but there will also be times when I fall for the second male lead who is a nice guy. Same goes for here. Again, we’re in the next gen, time for change mofos!

What I also like about him is that he aint some dumb shit. Boruto is smart, he studies well (thanks to his mother) and he is a prodigy. Yeah he was rebellious at first but after the Momoshiki fight, he stopped being a whiny bitch about his dad which I really appreciate a lot. I mean he was just a kid and his dad rarely goes home what do you fucking expect? He’ll understand right away? Even in real life we all know how kids act rebelliously and go emotional whenever they don’t receive enough attention from their parents so I don’t get why people can’t understand that? I mean are we all living in the same planet or what seriously.

The hate about Boruto being super strong and a prodigy is weird as well. First he is the fucking protagonist whether you or I like it or not. Of course he will be the OP one just like in other shounen anime/manga. Second, Boruto is the fucking son of Naruto and Hinata, nephew of Neji, grand son of Minato and Kushina. WHAT DO YOU FUCKING EXPECT FROM THEIR GENES?! WHY ON EARTH WILL THEY PRODUCE A WEAKLING!?! OF COURSE HE’S GONNA BE FUCKING OP. It’s not like it’s Boruto’s fault that he came from a super strong family. He is born this way smh.

“Why Sarada?! She’s mean to Boruto!!! She doesn’t care about him! She hurts him! She only cares about being hokage! Boruto deserves better than this arrogant bitch!!!”

I don’t really get this “Sarada is mean to Boruto”. As far as I know, she’s always concern about him. Even from the beginning when Boruto was fighting with Iwabe, it was clear that she was worried, Chou Chou even noticed it. Whenever Boruto gets hurt, Sarada is always the one tending his wounds (ex: during their Mist village field trip and during their first mission as team 7 where she pulled the bandages tighter because she knew Boruto was lying that he was not hurt.) 

Sarada always checks on Boruto, not only because she doesn’t want their team to encounter some trouble but because she doesn’t want Boruto to do something reckless (remember when she nominated him as class field trip leader so she can keep an eye on him). If she’s fucking mean to him and doesn’t give a shit about him, I don’t think she will give a damn to do these things. If this is what being mean is to you then I don’t know what kind of comprehension you guys have lmao.

Alright about Sarada’s words and action towards Boruto. Sarada scolds Boruto obviously because we all know that Boruto is hard headed (still we also know that even if she scolds him or whoever it is, he will still go on his way just like his dad lol) And it’s not like she’s insulting him or saying hurtful words. Most of the time they’re just arguing and I don’t think there is something wrong with that. It’s normal to argue specially when your ideas clash with each other.

How about when she hits Boruto? I don’t know but in real life when we play fight or tease with our friends, we tend to punch or slap each other. BUT of course not as hard as shown in anime because bruh of course in anime it will be super exaggerated for the comedy. Same when for example our friend is about to do something stupid or has done something wrong, sometimes we be like “Bruh why you did that!” then we hit them on the head (again not as hard as shown in the anime cuz we irl) Therefore I just think it’s nothing serious.

Don’t start me with “No Sarada is violent with Boruto!!” Again, this is anime, and that “hitting” is just part of the comedy. If you still gonna go with this stupid reason then what about Temari? She hits both of Shikamaru and Shikadai even with her fucking weapon. Does she SERIOUSLY wanted to hurt or kill them? Of course not, why would she do that to his husband and child. This is all just fucking exaggeration to show how pissed the character is. All animes/mangas do this ffs. 

“Pfft! But if BoruSara go canon it’ll be so cliche!”

You wanna know what’s more cliche? The fucking male protagonist of the shounen manga/anime falls for that female character who is

Usually weak at the beginning, then will just grow stronger at the end.

The ideal type for most men: The girly girl, shy type with big tits. If you act rough, or you’re boyish with a flat chest, you’re out.

In love with him or already has feelings for him right from the start because he is the coolest guy she ever met or she regards him as her hero.

Sounds familiar? Sounds like Na-ru-to *cough* Fai-ry-Ta-il *cough* Ble-ach *cough* <insert other shounen anime/manga with same shit> 

Hold up your horses! Before you flame and send me hate, I just want to be fucking clear. I am not saying that this kind of romance structure in shounen anime/manga is wrong. I understand that shounen animes/mangas target the male audience that’s why anime/manga creators tend to choose this path most of the time. If you guys like it too that way (in every shounen) it’s fine, we’re cool. It’s just that for me, it gets boring once in a while. Also I am not hating on this type of characters. That’s how the author/creator wanted them to be, I can’t do anything about it.

Why can’t the male protagonist of the shounen manga/anime fall for the female character who is:

Already strong right from the beginning. I don’t get why their female love interests have to be this meek character at the beginning who usually will encounter some kind of trouble where the male lead will save her then only from that time she will realize or be inspired that she needs to be strong to not burden the male lead.

Bold, brave and has a strong personality. I am not saying she has to be necessarily boyish. What I am trying to say is that why is the love interest would always be that shy and timid type? Can’t it be the confident type this time? The one who can fight for herself and what she believes in. The one who is tough, can be rough sometimes but still ladylike all throughout.

Worthy to be called as his rival, on par on his skills and strength. Damsel in distress is so old fashioned! Princess being saved by a prince is nice but come on guys, ain’t it cooler to have a princess who can also fight beside you right from the start?!?!

These are the reasons why I ship BoruSara and why I want them to happen, they just complement each other so perfectly. In addition, I am also a huge sucker for rivals turned into lovers type of love story. I strongly believe that it is waaaaaaaaay better than the plain old love at first sight and boy saves girl shit.

 “B-but BoruSara won’t go canon because of this and that...”

I already made a blog about that. You guys can read it here if you haven’t yet.

There you go anon! I hope I was able to answer you. And yes this is the shortest that I can make it. I can still make it longer to be honest lol.

Later guys! I still got a drawing to finish.

Jacq out!  (*ゝω・)ﾉ

[icharchivist]

If there's anything annoying about Lenalee, I think it's bc of the framing. Her narrative could be very interesting, but the realisation is poor. Mostly she just gets grossly drooled at by some guy and to make her look like "the perfect prize" Hoshino seems to hesitate to draw her "ugly/dorky" n tries to make her look always appealing n "always right" n have some1 always compliment her how beautiful n strong she is. (1/2)

(2/2) It would be much better if Hoshino “dissected” her view like with the other characters, what are the good and bad sides of it, what happens when she she ebcounters someone who thinks the opposite. Accent that first and foremost she is a character representing a view and not “a pretty girl”.

Hey, 

I don’t even know where to start to answer that to be honest. 

There’s flaws in Lenalee’s writting but I don’t see it that way.

I don’t see where she could be interpreted as “The perfect prize”. Because she was suspected to be the Heart and put in jeopardy about that? Because like. That’s the heart’s plot. That doesn’t make her a prize? It’s tragic.  Any other different interpretation of “perfect prize” is really odd to me, because Lenalee isn’t presented as some kind of love interested, and especially not of prize to be won. 

There had been moments of Men drooling over her, yes, often put in some “funny” framed scenes, which I won’t defend, because it is fucked up - Bak’s stalking isn’t funny, Cross’s comments are gross (but what about Cross isn’t), and that scientist comments were fucked up. I do think that, in the last one on that regard, it is treated much more as creepy than as funny, which i think is maybe an evolution on that regard, but still - it’s there, it’s gross.

As for her looking not ugly/dorky - I mentioned I wanted to re-read the manga further before talking but I can’t even wrap my head around what you mean. Her focus on the stories had mostly been serious, so not exactly going to show “dorky stuff”, and she has some dorky faces in the ClockTown arc, or in some bonus (the first bonus of the Gray Ark for exemple)

And even if Hoshino wants a female character that she herself considers more pretty (which, according to her character design notes in te Gray Ark, is mostly for herself, since she drew Lenalee as a character she’d be the one melting for - and as said in vol 1, she’s based on someone Hoshino loves and admires), i don’t see exactly the issue. The others female characters are diversified enough for Lenalee to stand on her own even if she is more “the ideal” of the author. And I don’t see what’s the issue with that. Tons of manga do that. 

And it’s a bit harder to judge imo knowing the Editors butted in a lot in Lenalee’s writting and limited her character - imposing Lenalee to have long hair for exemple, which gave some struggle to Hoshino because she really badly wanted Lenalee to have short hair, and she got a fair amount of backlash once she managed to force it in the story, both from the fans and from the editors. It ended up that Hoshino had sometimes a harder time writting Lenalee than she first planned. When it comes to blaming why she’s “a pretty girl”, I find it really unfair since Hoshino actually had a lot of pressure from editors and fans alike to “keep her pretty”. 

And even while saying all of that, I don’t even see why it’s that big of a deal.

As for Lenalee’s belief, she…. is legit the first one to spell out that the Order is not a good place. It’s her storyline that gives away that the Order is actually a rotten place. She opposes to the Order’s system, she just supports her brother. People disagreeing with her? We have Lvellie always brutalizing her because of how he’s trying to force her through stuff. Lenalee opposes the system of the Order.  She was the first one to show us the trouble in it, and especially the issues with the innocence. It’s via her storyline and her concern for Suman that we develop the Innocence’s changes and storyline.

As for whenever she’s right or wrong, the thing is that she doesn’t say a lot of things. She’s extremely reckless though, and her actions are framed this way - the way she fought against the Level 3, and when she was desperate to get the boots back, were framed as her being reckless and putting her life in danger. She wasn’t right, and was mostly lucky, and it’s framed as such. Now the reason of her luck is a whole other debate, that I would rather have once I remember more details. (and i am biased af when it comes to it so i can’t talk properly about it anyway). 

Edit: Also as someone mentioned to me since, Lenalee is the only one of the main four who’s aware of her flaws and try to confront them and mention them. The other three refuses to adress those. It’s great for her, as a character!

Lenalee is the least developped out of the main four (but then again, both her and Lavi exited the story at the same time and I personally don’t feel like she was less into focus than him - quite the opposite. It’s just that since they have a different background it’s more noticeable i guess), which is an issue in itself, but i disagree with how you view it. There are elements that are indeed a bit clumsy, but that’s really reducting. 

 I don’t see her like that. And maybe it’s the multiple readings or the fact i overanalyse stuff easily, but I think it’s a major disservice to her character.

I don’t see the focus you’re seeing, therefore I personally think there is a completely other focus on her character, and at this point, I don’t know what else to say. 

I think sometimes people are a bit too harsh on Lenalee and on Hoshino for that matter, so I personally don’t agree and i find it rather reducting.

Anyway, Take care!

[books-on-the-brain]

So I used to read a whole bunch, but then I took a small break so that I could have an actual social life. Now I'm trying to get back into it but I've tried to... I just can't get into it. Do you have any suggestions of what I could do to get back into wanting to read more?

bI relate to this SO. MUCH. It’s always hard to find a good reading/life balance, since reading can often be a very isolating activity. It’s also really difficult around this time of year for younger readers, too, since a lot of us are getting back into the swing of it with school and such and find that we have much less time to be reading what we want. So without further ado…

How I cure “reader’s block”/being in a book rut!!!

1) First of all, there’s literally no shame in reading something because it’s short and you know you can get through it, or reading something you might consider a “beach read.” If it’s less daunting for you to pick up a 70-page romance novella than Tolstoy that is perfectly!!! okay!!! What matters is that you’re still reading and it’s making you happy, not that you have gained all the answers to the universe by reading a dry and endless classic.

2) Another good option is to reread something you know you really love/want to revisit. I find it’s typically easier to read something for the second or third time and if it’s been a while, then you’ll still be surprised by little things here and there and get the warm nostalgia fuzzies. For me, one of my old favorites to revisit is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I always read it at the beginning of the summer when I’m switching from all academic reading to personal reading (f i n a l l y) because I’m familiar enough with the story that it goes pretty quickly, but I still really love it.

3) In a similar vein, I find it really fun when I don’t want to sit down and read seriously to go back to some of my old favorites from childhood! For example, I loved the Deltora books by Emily Rodda when I was a kid and had some fun the other day going back through some of them and reminiscing. It has the potential to remind you of your love for stories and also in my case, it reminded my why I fell in love with fantasy at a young age and why I’m still so passionate about it! Reading children’s/middle grade/YA books is always acceptable and so much fun at any age.

4) This Barnes and Noble Reader article also suggests reading about books if you can’t actually read a book. As they explain it, find book blogs (like those on tumblr!) that speak to your interests and get you excited about picking up books. Other people’s enthusiasm goes a long way in encouraging you to also pick up a book to read!

5) If you can, find other avid readers and friends who you feel comfortable sitting in silence with! One of my favorite memories ever is sitting on my friend’s back porch and trading the books of the KARE First Love manga series back and forth. We played peaceful music in the background and so we were spending time as friends AND getting reading done. This lead us to discuss our favorite scenes and how we felt about certain translations (literally just because we like how to guy asked the main girl out in the online scantalation better than the printed book rip). But we ended up really getting into this series that in all honesty is kind of silly (despite the soft spot I have in my heart for it) and we joke about it all the time. Reading and socializing in one!

6) And speaking of manga…it’s always a great bridge for getting back into reading when it’s been a while, as are graphic novels! If you haven’t ever tried manga or graphic novels and don’t think it’s your rap at least give them a chance! I thought I hated them until I read Fullmetal Alchemist and fell in l o v e! You’re getting a story and doing some reading, but the pictures really help to ease you in so that you’re not necessarily devoting the same attention that you would be with a novel that’s just pages of text. As such, each volume is pretty quick depending on how long you linger on the drawings. If you already do love manga/graphic novels, then try picking up a new series you’ve been interesting in or rereading a series you already know you like!

Here are some graphic novel recommendations!

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (a story that does a fun take on the idea of the “bad guy” - it actually gave me way more feels than expected, and I loved the art style)

The new Ms. Marvel series written by G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by Adrian Alphona (so do not confuse this with the old Ms. Marvel, this one is better in my opinion because our hero is your average teenage Muslim girl living in Jersey City and it’s refreshing, amazing, adds diversity to the typically white/male dominated world of superheroes, and I am unabashedly in love with one of the main characters, Bruno)

Umbrella Academy written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Ba (this does another more twisted/dark take on the idea of the superhero story, if that’s something more up your alley. It’s the first book of a series I’ve really been loving lately, plus I trust Gerard Way’s taste in comics unequivocally and he wrote it so that’s a yes in my book!)

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (the intertwining stories of an American-Chinese boy trying to figure out his place in the world and the Monkey King of Chinese fable)

I did not include a special section for manga recommendations because most of what I read is probably not the sort of stuff to dive into after having reader’s block. Overall, the realm of shoujo might be a good place to look (things like Skip Beat!, Blue Spring Ride, Fruits Basket, and Kimi ni Todoke. Ouran High School Host Club and Dengeki Daisy were ones I really enjoyed too.)I also recently read Orange which is a fairly short series and easy to read - I loved it but major depression/suicide/mental illness tws there.In terms of shonen, Hunter x Hunter would be a good one because not only is it amazing, but it’s broken up into shorter yet very distinct story arcs which I feel would be easier if you’re trying to get back into reading. If someone has some more recs tho, please add!

7) Another variation of manga/graphic novels is online webtoons, which are basically digitized comics. I have recently discovered them and think they’re the best. things. ever. If you’re like me and you have a horrible habit of lying in bed scrolling absently through your phone before going to bed and after waking up, this might be good for you. I have slowly been replacing my mindless Facebook scrolling with scrolling through webtoons, which has been so amazing for my mental health! My favorite app is literally just called Webtoon or maybe Line Webtoon (the icon in the app store is a green speech bubble that says “Webtoon”).

For most webtoons, chapters are generally pretty short so it doesn’t take a lot of focus but once again, you’re still reading, and you’re still getting a good story, all while laying fetal position like you might while scrolling through Facebook or texting people before bed. Not to mention you’re supporting amazingly talented artists/individuals who are oftentimes not published and doing this for fun or with the hopes of eventually being published, so you can say you followed them from the start! Also since they update only a few times a week, it gives you something to look forward to on random days.

Here are my favorite story-oriented webtoons currently:

Assassin Roommate by Monica Gallagher. Super cute and quirky romance with a great female lead, also really great in terms of body diversity, and LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON I LOOK FORWARD TO TUESDAYS, THE DREADFUL DAY AFTER MONDAY

My Dear Cold-Blooded King by limelight. Just started this but it seems pretty cool??? The author has paired up with a musician so all the chapters have music which is lit af if I do say so myself

Silk and Briar by paragoing-paragon. I think this is on hiatus but it’s shaping up to be a brilliantly-constructed fantasy story with some crazy twists and turns

instantmiso’s stuff is also really popular (Where Tangents Meet and Siren’s Lament). It’s not as much up my alley as it is pretty fluffy romance and I’m not crazy about the writing, but she is an incredibly talented artist and has great music with her chapters. Her stuff is super good for an easy read without a ton of brain power/commitment, but I say that with immense respect for her talent and abilities! 

Cheese in the Trap by soonkki. This was also made into a K-Drama so I read the series and threw a little watch-party with some of my friends from my Korean class! Super good series and another great way to enjoy reading AND be social!

Here are the webtoons that are more “Sunday newspaper funnies”               style, where each chapter is a mini story:

Bluechair by Shen (this is WILDLY popular and I totally see why!!! These are hilarious and have cheered me up on many a rough night!!!)

Sapphie: The One-Eyed Cat by joho (feel-good, cute comic about cats that’s also pretty funny. I shamelessly read like a hundred chapters in one sitting.)

If none of this is appealing to you, there is always the audio option! If the actual act of your eyes scanning the page is difficult because you can’t focus on anything, there are a lot of options in this realm!

8) Local libraries usually have an audiobook section that is deeply neglected, but holds some secret treasures! Whenever I go on roadtrips, I always pick up two or three before I head out. They’re also perfect for when you do mindless tasks like sorting/folding laundry, walking a dog if you have one, waiting in long lines, or on your commute to and from school or work or any other similar activities. 

What’s cool is you can search for audiobooks based both on books you actually want to read, and whoever is narrating it. I know Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz had a super popular audiobook because Lin Manuel Miranda narrated it. If you want to pay, Audible is one of the most popular paid platforms for audiobooks. I haven’t personally used it, but it seems to be quite successful. One way or another, audiobooks are a good way to get back into reading without having to budget extra time to sit down with a book.

9) Podcasts can also help if you haven’t already explored those and are open to! Not all podcasts are TED talks, or political debates, or generally academic, or whatever they are stereotyped as. There are a ton that feel just like audiobooks, or at the very least like a play without any visuals. There’s a script and there’s a story and I know it’s helped me ease back into a mindset that preps me for reading because much like audiobooks you can listen to them all the time (I do so while cooking dinner and walking to classes) and it helps your mind switch from reality to the world of a story with relative ease if that makes sense. I’m pretty new to podcasts myself so don’t have a ton to recommend, but here’s what I’ve been enjoying….

Podcasts to look into:

Anything written by Mac Rogers. That includes The Message, Afterlife, and Steal the Stars. Personally, I like Steal the Stars and The Message more that Afterlife. They’re all sci-fi stories that are generally told from one perspective but you get to know amazing characters and I was not expecting the twists and turns. And Steal the Stars is still coming out so jump on the bandwagon now lol

The Adventure Zone from Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy at My Brother, My Brother and Me (another podcast which I have not listened to). The Adventure Zone is actually them playing Dungeons and Dragons, but they’re funny as all get out (the last place I lived had a communal kitchen for dozens of people and I was always laughing like and idiot while listening to this and making dinner and I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts). Eventually the Dungeon Master gets super into the story telling and they script some of it with cool music. It’s really amazing and has a nice balance between story/characters but also the element of “real people” as they’re a bunch of brothers and they’re dad all just having fun. It’s a good bridge to getting back into reading.

Welcome to Nightvale is always a classic. It’s a bit trippy for me but tons of people enjoy it. The same team also produced a podcast called Alice Isn’t Dead. I honestly know nothing about it but one of my friends always raves about it, so it has his vote!

10) And okay so here’s my last suggestion. It might feel like a bit of a cop-out because I guess it kind of is, but it often works for me. So here it is. Sometimes it just helps to sit down and remember why you like to read in the first place. The fact that you’re actively trying to get back into it isn’t meaningless. It’s a very willful decision. So what is driving you? Maybe it’s because…

reading is an escape or a way for you to cope with difficult things in your life. This can be anything from mental illness, to school/work stress, to relationship dissatisfaction, difficult family or economic situations. Maybe you just are bored of our planet earth. Sometimes you might just need to be transported into another world for whatever reason and that is totally okay.

or reading inspires you to live your best life. Maybe there’s some character in a book you love that you look up to and aspire to be. Remember that passion you had when you were first getting to know that character, and that sense of being understood or finding a role model. Maybe you want to go on an adventure as wild as that character went on and that’s your idea of living your best life. Whatever the reason is, this sort of inspiration is a powerful emotion that books make us feel and sometimes that’s also a good reason to reread a book that’s inspired you.

and I don’t know, maybe you’re a writer yourself and you draw inspiration from reading in that sense. The more you read, the more you learn about what sort of writing you like and don’t like, and you grow stronger in your craft. Good readers help make good writers (but also don’t take that to mean that if you happen to be a writer and you’ve been in a book rut for a long time that you own skills are waning. we all get in book ruts and that’s okay. maybe it’s time to seek out a new source of inspiration in a different genre or new writer)

or perhaps you simply love stories. Maybe you breathe stories like other people breathe air and you can’t imagine that side of you not existing. If you’re one of these people, that makes reader’s block twice as hard. But that doesn’t mean that if you’re not turning pages that you’re not absorbing stories. Take it slowly and ease back into it with things I already mentioned like podcasts and webtoons.

One way or another, you’ll find your way back. Maybe this post will spark something. Maybe it won’t, and it will take another few months for you to really feel gungho about reading again. That’s all okay. Take your time. Enjoy being with friends and other activities. Do what’s healthiest and what works best for you. And eventually you’ll get back to reading a ton. However it happens, I wish you the best of luck!

[jooniereflection]

(Spoilers) Shipping wars & is Touka abusive towards Kaneki?

*Tokyo Ghoul spoilers ahead*

I’ve talked about this in another plataforms (such as Reddit), but I feel the need to make a whole post about this subject in here. Since I’m giving my opinion (that is, by the way, supported by facts), I need to say that since I’ve got in touch with Tokyo Ghoul, both the manga and the anime, that I could see Kaneki and Touka getting together at some point of the story, and yeah I ship it, but I don’t think that it matters tbh. A lot of people liked what has been happening in recent chapters of TG:re (Touken having sex *cough*), and a lot of people hated it. For me it doesn’t matter if you ship it or not, but see that’s exactly the point in here: people read a manga, watch an anime or watch a TV show and everything they care about in the series is based on shipping and that gets kinda stupid, especially when “fans” start to hate on the artist (in this case, mangaka Ishida Sui), destroy merch, etc, just because their ship didn’t sail, or because the ship they hate is now canon. Don’t get me wrong, people can enjoy stuff in their own way, but at least don’t harm the author like this? And why are people making everything about shipping wars? And why are people mad because Kaneki turned out to be straight, when the whole story started with him going on a date with Rize, who happens to be a girl? And why are people saying Touka is abusive (and messing with her Tokyo Ghoul Wikia page, for example) just because they don’t like Touken to be canon? I’m not gonna lie: I loved chapter, why? Because regardless of me shipping Touken (because what I ship doesn’t fucking matter now), this is probably the first time Kaneki is happy since the WHOLE series; and as everyone knows his life was never good at all (especially because of his mother abuse). About Hidekane: Hide was (is, I want him to be alive as well), Kaneki’s best friend and probably the only person he has ever received love from in his whole life. He was with him since childhood and a very special person for him. But, once again, it is pretty obvious since the beginning of the series that Kaneki isn’t gay, and Hide also supported him going on a date with a girl (he even thought it was Touka at first lol), and I’m 100% sure Hide would be 100% for Kaneki right now. Although I don’t care if someone ships this or not, I think we also should try to understand that there is a difference between friendship and romantic relationships. There are m/f friendships too. Not every human interaction means a romantic relationship, keep that in mind.

About Touka and Kaneki’s relationship: I’ve seen people making biased statements saying Touka is abusive towards Kaneki, because she hit on him a few times. I highly believe it isn’t abusive and this is my point based on what I’ve read in the manga: First time we saw Touka hitting on Kaneki and being truly violent towards him was in the beginning, when they first met after Kaneki was turned into an One-Eyed Ghoul. He called her a monster, saying he wouldn’t eat human meat because he wasn’t one, she got mad because she wasn’t used with One-Eyed ghouls (can’t explain this any better sorry D:). Well, we can see where it went right? (Surely Touka wasn’t the only one who got violent with him when they first met, we got Nishiki, Tsukiyama, etc). Then she rejected him for a while when he joined Anteiku, but it isn’t like Kaneki liked her too the firsts times they were together, he even said she was kinda scary. Then they started to get into a better relationship, mainly when he helped her when Hinami’s mother was killed. The story goes on, and I think the next time we saw Touka hitting on Kaneki was when he went to Anteiku first time after he left (edit). She went after him and ended up being bitchy, calling him trash and hitting on him. I believe she was truly mean that time, but there is something that needs to be pointed out: in TG Touka was pretty mad, with an angry personality (just like Ayato did and something she changed in TG:re), she was indeed a bitch that time. But I also remember that she regreted acting bitchy with him, because she thought that after being a total bitch he wouldn’t be coming back to Anteiku at all. Personally, I see this as a growing character: fucking things up and regretting it in a second. She has flaws and made mistakes just like anyone else. Deep down she just wanted him to be back. She was hurt because he left her behind, and mirroring her personality, she raged over him. TG ends with Touka hoping Kaneki will come back, and as a consequence for that she builds :re, a home that he can come back anytime. She didn’t force him to get his memories back as Haise, even though he went to the café and she knew Haise was Kaneki. But she simply didn’t want to force it on him, she didn’t want to do it for her own happiness, and that’s why I think that statements saying she forced herself on him are also biased af. And then she hit on him again after the Cochlea raid… And I have to say that it isn’t abuse either. I’d call it tsundere behavior tbh… I’m not even get deep into this, I’ll just say that it happens in many manga / anime. I just wanna state that Touka was always there for him. Even though he left her behind (because he wanted to protect her), she built a home for him waiting for him to come back, trained him in the beginning even though they didn’t get along very well (something he mentioned somewhere in TG:re), showed deep concern when he was kidnapped by Aogiri and risked her life to rescue him. His mother abused him. His mother was agressive and left him alone. Touka hit on him a few times of course, but it is lame to just see it as abuse (and say it is the same as his mother's​ behavior) when there is so much more to be seen. I think people need to understand her behavior better. The sex scene was, well, beautiful. I’ve seen people explaining it better than me tbh so I’m gonna skip this because it wasn’t the point of this post anyway. I just wanna say that for me it was more than sex and more than romance. It was development for both of them. I think their relationship is very complex and not perfect at all. It is about two people who have walked a long road, two people who acted bad towards each other, two people who were apart for quite long time. But not an abusive relationship.

[thatbookcritic]

+α no Tachiichi

Title: +α no Tachiichi

Media: Manga

Author: Yuu Geni

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

The Review:

Howdy folks! Kai here, back with another review for you all! This time, I’ll be reviewing a manga that I honest to god hate and I think it’s a piece of garbage. It truly is a waste of time and I’m only really reviewing this in hopes that I spare all of you guys, our lovely followers, the time and effort in reading it. Now… I’m sure you are all curious as to what this manga is all about. So… let me tell you then.

+α no Tachiichi is another classic example of every other isekai manga. Our protagonist, Satoki Houma, is your typical Japanese high school student who was suddenly transported to another world with her classmate, Haruka Toudou. As expected, the priestess summon them because they were looking for the holy maiden who would save the world from the forces of evil! Just by a glance, the priestess automatically assume that Haruka was the holy maiden because Haruka is a cutie while Satoki is supposedly ugly af. In an odd twist of fate though, it seems like Satoki has the holy maiden powers! Not Haruka! What will our protagonist, Satoki to do?!

Well… if you were guess “prove everyone wrong”, “vengeance”, or “save the day”, then you are very wrong. The correct answer is “Nothing a normal person would do!” As we already established, Japanese heroines are nothing normal. They may look human but they don’t think like humans. And Satoki is no exception to the rule. After being sidelined by everyone in the entire kingdom, tossed around like an object, and overall be treated rather poorly compared to Haruka, Satoki still decided to help Haruka in the end by doing this whole complicated act of pretending Haruka is the holy maiden while Satoki is hiding in the shadow. The reason why Satoki is doing this? A) Because Haruka treated Satoki nicely for ONE time by defending her against the big ol’ meanie knight (but we all know that was a romance flag for Haruka and the knight… basically turning Satoki into an object yet again) and B) Satoki doesn’t believe that she could be a proper holy maiden because she isn’t pretty enough. First of all… WHAT?! These are such stupid reasons that it makes me wonder if Satoki was dropped on her head as a baby. It’s the only possible explanation as to why Satoki stupidly believe in such bullshit. Let’s break down these reasons.

First, Haruka being nice to Satoki is really fucked if you look at it from a different angle. For one, Haruka was only nice to Satoki only once throughout the entire manga. It was basically just so the hot tsundere knight would go, “Oh doki doki. This Haruka girl is different from the rest! She treats both the ugly and pretty the same! What is this feeling!” And yeah yeah, y’all can argue that Haruka never intended that but that’s what the author intended. Satoki was nothing more than a plot device for Haruka’s reverse harem. After that, Haruka just sort of tossed Satoki away to enjoy her little harem and the shower of affections she recieves for being pretty. While Satoki is concern for Haruka’s well being and coming up with all sort of plans to make sure that Haruka’s image doesn’t crumble, Haruka here (who promised to watch out for Satoki might I add) is off dicking around like it’s summer vacation. It’s like Haruka forgets that Satoki even exist and hardly bother to come asking if Satoki is fine or if people are treating her well. Instead, Haruka only seems to remember that Satoki is a person when Haruka needs that “generic best friend side character” to run off to and gush about all her own personal drama and ask who she should chose in her bland love triangle. Like damn bitch, Haruka reminds me of every fake friend in a group. Yet Satoki just eats this shit up, my dudes. Despite being clearly treated as a lamp, this just drives Satoki forward in wanting to “protect her friend!” Being a reader, you just feel so bad for Satoki as you read the two girl’s interactions and how Haruka basically forces Satoki to be a cuck. Oh, did a mention that Satoki is basically a cuck? Besides clearly not receiving any praise for helping fight off the demon army or protecting the castle, Satoki is always awkwardly stuck between romantic scenarios between Haruka and her harem. Satoki would awkwardly be hiding under a table or some shit while she listen and watches Haruka make out with some random pretty boy. Like, Christ Almighty. I don’t understand what’s fun about that? These scenes just hurt my heart because usually what follows before or after these “romance scenes” would be Satoki being berated or treated like an object. It’s like looking at heaven and hell side by side. The comparison is just awful. And it’s not like this is a comedy scenes either. At the beginning of the manga, sure. But then these scenes became serious and down right vicious soon after. Yet Satoki just takes it! What’s even worse, was when the story was at a big dramatic point and Haruka points a finger at Satoki and blame her for ruining things. Bitch says what now??? After Satoki went through all that hardships for Haruka and Haruka putting Satoki through an emotional ringer, Haruka had the gall to call Satoki a bad person and that Satoki manipulated her. The one moment Satoki needed Haruka the most, Haruka turns her back against her. Some “protection” that was, huh?

While Haruka is an awful person and their relationship is fucked, the real problem here is Satoki for putting up with all that and more throughout the manga. Now, there’s nothing wrong in writing a protagonist with low self esteem or lack of confidence. But what’s important is if the author plans to do ANYTHING with those traits… AKA character development. You would expect that from a manga like this but nope! Satoki enter this world as a doormat and left it as a slightly proud doormat. There’s a reason why you don’t make your main character a static character but a dynamic one (remember these vocabulary words from English class?). At most I would imagine having a static character for a one shot or a short story, but a full on manga? Nah son. That just ain’t right.   

Having Satoki’s core issue be about her looks is just fucked and honestly shame on the author. At the beginning of the manga, we see that Satoki doesn’t really believe in that issue 100%. Yes… she might say it at first by going “Oh, there’s no way I could be a protagonist because I’m not pretty enough!” But this seems more like a self deprecating joke more than anything. Satoki might believe it just a little but not entirely. We can see it by how she wanted to first speak up to the priestess when Satoki first realize that she has the holy maiden’s powers. But as time went on, how the world treats Satoki just hammered in these insecurities and made Satoki submissive to all these actions. The world turned “Ha ha ha. I can never be a protagonist because I’m not pretty enough!” into “What’s the point? My looks define me as a person and I can’t do anything about it.” With Satoki’s already doormat personality, it wasn’t hard for her insecurities to become more apparent- Oh my god! Satoki is a dynamic character, she just went backwards! My third eye has been opened. Oh gosh… sorry everyone. This revelation just shook me. The story is still shit though. Let me get back to talking about Satoki.

After reaching rock bottom with her insecurities, it was Satoki’s allies who kept her head afloat in her sea of despair. Well… I guess saying that they keep Satoki positive is a bit of a generous stretch. On one hand what’s Satoki’s oresama teacher who helped keep Satoki’s abilities a secret and (sort of) looked out for her. I guess the teacher would have been fine if he wasn’t such a dick. Every word that comes out of his mouth was just a jab towards Satoki. At least he kept his end of the bargain in watching out for Satoki (I’m looking at you Haruka). Next is the bootleg holy maiden. You see, in the manga, the prince’s younger brother came up with a scheme of making up several holy maidens to confuse people (yeah it was a stupid plan) and there was this chick. Satoki and Ms. Bootleg were forced to work together and eventually they became “friends”. Ms. Bootleg was some vain chick with her own self interest but she does bring up some good points to Satoki for her to self evaluate her life. I guess the teacher and Ms. Bootleg were supposed to prompt Satoki to self evaluate and gain confidence but honestly, they did a shit job and Satoki hardly grew as a person. At most, they gave Satoki the confidence to “do what you want to do” bullshit but in the end, what Satoki wanted to do was to continue helping Haruka. “But she help Haruka on her own accord. The end.” BAH! BULLSHIT.

In the end, I’m not sure what sort of lesson Satoki or we, the audience, was supposed to take away from this story. Anything special about Satoki was just ripped out of her hands by the author. Haruka was the holy maiden all along and that Satoki’s power was just her link to the world. Once Satoki used up all her power, she basically gets sent back home. Hell! Satoki participated in the war but she never got a chance to see who won! What a load of horse shit. Haruka and Satoki’s relationship was easily “repaired” with Haruka forgiving Satoki’s deceit (Bitch, how vain are you???) And everything is now alright in the universe… my ass. Honestly, my head hurt as I recall all this. We started at point A and never left it. Seriously… what’s the lesson, moral, or entertainment value about this? From a writer's point of view, this is an example of cool concept but awful execution. Main character is a static one and all other side characters are just plain hateable. Any “interesting” plot development are shown off screen since Satoki is technically the side character for Haruka’s main character and it was just an angst-fest of Satoki being whipped around like a doormat. I would have more fun watching paint dry… at least I get the satisfaction of the paint actually drying in the end.

Overall Score: 0/10

(Kai’s note: Btw, the art isn’t bad. It’s pretty nice actually and I don’t see why Satoki is “ugly”. She’s a bit masculine but it doesn’t take away much from her look. I also find it annoying that the author never really approach it by having Satoki prove other’s her usefulness or prove them wrong or something. In the end, people just sort of shrug at Satoki’s appearance in the end. Once again, shit story telling.)

[bentchcreates]

Promdi Heart by #romanceclass Goddesses (heehee)

This came in a wonderful time as I had been having bad bouts of homesickness and what better way to travel the Philippines on a budget than to read stories set in them!

While I consider all six authors to be #romanceclass superstars, two of them I’ve had the chance to read only for the first time in this anthology collection. Because the stories are short (I want them all to be longerrrr!), I’ll be reviewing the stories on their own first, and then the whole collection after. Here we go!

1.       Only the Beginning – C.P. Santi

I love the use of Visayan words in the narration and dialogue. (probably because this this the only Filipino dialect I can understand aside from the national language! XD)

As with other CPSanti books, the inclusion of architectural details/jargon is wonderfully done, it doesn’t take away from the romance.

Alon is my spirit animal! Especially that part where he tells Andi, “Dai, don’t you think it’s a sign?”

Scooter-riding MC + Dimpled LI = <3

Text/Chat parts (plus THAT joke! XD). I was a bit wary when a chapter started doing this because it’s too “youth-speak” for me (not that I’m that old!), and past experiences with this type of story-telling tended to get too corny and cringe-y for me. This, however, was okay for me, especially when Martin started the knock-knock joke (to which, I imagined Andi rolling her eyes as she replied) and ended with Andi’s own joke! It made both of them more endearing to me.

This quote: “Happiness is a choice. Happiness is something that doesn’t just happen. It’s something that you grab on to with both hands.” I forget this sometimes, and this is probably why I need to read romance often, so I’m reminded that I have a choice.

2.       Letters to a Boy – Ines Bautista-Yao

90’s old-school snail mail got me so bad! It inspired me to send mail to friends I still knew addresses of.

This story perfectly reflected how relationships could work despite the constraints of space and time. And I’m talking about both Tin-tin and Annette’s friendship and Tin-tin and Nicolas’ romance. ;)

Horseback riding is <3!

Parents! I will forever love characters that take care of their parents!

Biggest turn-on for me is this story’s depiction of MC’s affection’s unrequited beginnings but when the tide turns, Tin-tin doesn’t foolishly fall head-on to the man he’d been pining for. She makes him work for it, and work for it he does!

Tin-tin and Nicolas’ years-long slow-burn love story set the solid foundation for the HEA towards the end!

P.S. the mention of Carrie, the white girl, inadvertently reminded me of that totally unrelated other girl who burned her entire school gym and killed hundreds of people when she was bathed in pig’s blood. Ehe.

3.       Drummer Boy – Chris Mariano

Tall, muscly musicians are my weakness. Argh

The brother’s bestfriend trope is not that unfamiliar to me, but this took me on a wild ride especially at that part where the big brother actually landed a deserving punch to his best friend somewhere along the way.

I love that Reina is a woman of agency, not just in what she wants her guy to be/to do, but in all aspects of her life, as well. She acknowledges how uncomfortable her relationship with Ben might be for her Kuya, but she doesn’t let that get in the way of what her heart is telling her.

I live for the grand gesture in this one!

Chris’ descriptions of all the festivities cemented Ati-Atihan on my list of “Things to Experience Before I turn 40”!

4.       One Certain Day – Jay E. Tria

Very relatable and nostalgic for me because our family’s big on All Saints’/All Souls’ Day celebrations. It never turned as romantic as this, though. Sayang. Heehee.

I also relate to finding old classmates recently and noting how everyone looks different, yet not-so-different, at the same time.

I love that bit about naming children ‘as if with a purpose’

‘Kiligs’ everytime Son comes back to Hagonoy, especially that part where he hands Alice an unfinished song! Eeeeee!

I also love that Alice took charge of her destiny at some point. No more waiting for the guy who’s taking forever to make a move, my god.

There is heartbreak somewhere in here, but it’s done in a mature and realistic way, and it doesn’t ruin anything for me. It makes it even more special, tbh.

5.       Once Upon A Bully – Georgette S. Gonzales

Homecoming stories are near and dear my heart, especially since I’ve been away from home for too long!

Hunky-dunky LI! <3

The Vigan experience here is special because the characters reminisce the Vigan they grew up in and the Vigan now. It perfectly captured one’s love for home that many of us take for granted.

Bridgette’s “the more you hate…” trope is on point!

Bagnettttttttttt!!!!!

6.       Back to the Stars – Agay Llanera

Another homecoming story! YASS!

The scene where Wency’s mother mentions “biskwit” tugged several heartstrings for me. I always feel for remembering the places you grew up in, but I feel MOAR for the people you grew up with!

Wency is sweet AF! His full name is funny to me, but the meaning behind it, and his sisters’ names, makes it extra special.

Leah’s changed attitude after being a City Girl for so long is dealt with realistically. It’s not a bad thing for me, it’s normal. But a sort of redemption in the end made me super happt for her. :)

I ship Leah + Wency so harddd! I mean, Leah Gurl, andami mong choices! Haha!

So there, my review for the individual stories. Hehe. For the whole anthology, my only request is for the authors to expand these stories! I’m very invested in all the characters at this point and I don’t want to part with them just yet! Haha!

Congrats, ladies! And thank you for doing this. My love for the Philippines had been reinforced with these stories and I hope other readers would find our wonderful side of the world as romantic as it is. :)

5 of 5 Stars.

Blurb:

Take a quick tour of the Philippines with six hometown love stories. Visit Jimenez, Misamis Occidental where a priest might just set you up with a man whose dimples are to die for. Visit Silay, Negros Occidental and get on a horse alongside hunky, hazel-eyed Negrense royalty. Visit Kalibo, Aklan and find yourself in the arms of a cute drummer boy who just happens to be your kuya's BFF. Visit Hagonoy, Bulacan and spend All Saint's Day next to a distracting boy who promises to write you a song. Visit Vigan, Ilocos Sur and meet the hot man you used to bully when he was a shy, scrawny boy. Visit Pundaquit, Zambales and find love in a bronzed fisherman whose eyes hold depths you'll want to explore.

Buy Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Promdi-Heart-Hometown-Love-Stories-ebook/dp/B06XY73Q4T/

Print Book Order Form (PH Only): http://bit.ly/promdiheartbook

About the Authors:

C. P. Santi is a Filipina author based in Tokyo, Japan. She is a wife to an engineer / indie songwriter and a full-time mom to two energetic boys. She loves cooking and baking, and enjoys feeding people, gorging on chocolate, watching J-doramas, belting it out in the karaoke box, and running around the house playing tickle tag. She also loves dreaming up stories about the people she meets.

In another life, she is also an architect and academic.

Ines Bautista-Yao is the former editor-in-chief of Candy and K-Zone magazines and a former high school and college English and Literature teacher. She is also a wife and mom and blogs about the many challenges and joys of motherhood at theeverydayprojectblog.com. She also posts story spirals on her author blog: http://theeverydayprojectblog.com/inesbautistayao-author/ You can find her on Instagram and Twitter: @inesbyao, through email: writeme@inesbyao.com, her website: inesbautistayao.com, or Facebook: www.facebook.com/inesbautistayao

Cover (Story) Girl is Chris Mariano's first published romance work, but her speculative fiction and poetry have appeared in Fully Booked's Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Prose Anthology, Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume 7, TAYO Literary Magazine, and Ideomancer. When she's not writing, she supports Eskritoryo Pilipinas, an organization that encourages kids to appreciate Filipino literature and culture. She divides her time between Manila and Aklan.

Jay E. Tria is inspired by daydreams, celebrity crushes, a childhood fascination of Japanese drama and manga, and an incessant itch to travel. She writes contemporary young adult and new adult romance. Sometimes, paranormal fantasy too. Visit her website www.jayetria.com. Email: jayetria@gmail.com Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Wattpad: jayetria

Georgette S. Gonzales began writing novels as romance author Edith Joaquin of My Special Valentine Tagalog (Filipino) Romance pocketbooks, published by Bookware Publishing Corp. She started writing in English and self-pubbing works in the middle of 2015. Gette works best at night, is also an editor, a public/media relations consultant, loves to cook pasta dishes and to eat caramel cake.

Agay Llanera is a freelance writer for television and video, and a published writer of children's books based in Manila, Philippines. Get in touch with her through the following: http://agayisagirl.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/AgayLlanera https://twitter.com/agayskee

[mari-m-rose]

So I have been feeling horrible ever since I got free.

I worked for a month and it seems the place I was working at (the one I talked about basically a month ago) doesn’t seem to want to keep me unless they pay me less. How much less Idk. I feel that my reaction didn’t please my boss so I’m really doubting that they keep me in the end. They told me to rest this week and probs next one too and then they’ll probably hire me for another 15 days and make me rest again and so on, but yeah I kinda don’t want that because I want a stable job. I feel that I’m being treated like a trainee designer when I already proved them I’m much more than that. So, yes, that’s worrying me. Being unemployed again so soon is stressing me.

Second, my relationship seems to be upgrading, since I graduated and all, I feel bf is getting anxious. We had a big af fight last sunday about a really stupid thing, that lasted until tuesday. It was emotionally draining and I was already hormonal and unstable because my period was coming...we were able to solve it, but lately I feel that he’s harder to reach and harder to understand. Today we finally talked about what’s bothering him and he said a really hurtful thing but thankfully I feel a lot more stable today so I was very calm about it and we managed to talk it out and solve it. I feel we did great today. I feel I could understand him better and that my words finally reached him. I wish things start improving. IF ONLY he would not demand sanity from me when I’m unstable, I seriously can’t, today I explained that and I think he finally understood. Well that turned out fine ofc, but it was hellish while it lasted.

And ofc dearest manga hasn’t been helping, I srsly don’t think that what happened in these last weeks was that bad but I’m running short on patience. It’s hard to enjoy a story that destroys everything you love. Even if it’s a process to goodness, some things that really hurt have been said and done. I’m just hoping dearest manga author fixes things because I know that she’s good at it, but I also can’t fully trust because I’m too emotional. This is why I’m dropping it unless something really good happens. I’m dropping the spin off too. Not because it’s bad and it’s def not hurting me, I think its writing is even superior and I love it but I need a rest >+o. I’m ded. I’m too focused on it and that’s harming me. I give it a month maybe, unless something cool happens first.

Sadly even some people I know have considered me toxic for my opinions on this manga and I developed guilty feelings for expressing my opinions which is so wrong and I’m mad at myself for having them. I will express my opinions, I never insult anyone when I express myself so I don’t think anyone should feel offended about what I have to say.  I srsly just want that everyone has fun and since I’m not I’m doing my own stuff to also have fun. Hence all that indulging, basic and, I admit, boring artwork.  I’m a boring person that draws the same thing over and over again.

Then again, I feel I don’t belong here anymore and that I’m being judged and left behind. It’s sad because once I feel I was someone here (someone part of the fandom I guess) but now I feel like I’m a nuisance. And now I’m even doubting if some friends that I made in this fandom like me anymore. It makes me want to run away and never speak to them again.

On the bright side, because today I feel a lot better, thus I’m writing this to leave these feelings behind, I’ve met a lot of lovely new people and I’m very comfy in our silent secret corner, in which everything is fun and they are so lovely. Telephone otp thing was also a good idea. I suck at socializing but the sight of people talking so lively to each other and having fun definitely cheers me up and encourages me to continue with my projects in this fandom.

Also is it during these kind of bad days that those who are your real friends stand out and just knowing they are there makes everything recover at an amazing speed ♥.  And you my guys if you are reading this long thing and still feel positive about me and what I post. Thank you. I say a lot of bs but I appreciate every single action of support, everything, everything makes me happy: follows, notes, reblogs, comments, asks (even tho I can’t reply immidiately). If you are having fun here despite my latent negativity, then my work here is done. Thanks to everyone that is still here with me. I don’t think many people will read this because it’s too personal, but I’m gonna make sure to make another post thanking everyone soon.

It’s late and I should sleep. Blessings to you all! I may fall but I swear that I will always stand up to step on the corpses of those who like to see me fall.

[fightwing23]

Unpopular Opinions Book Tag

Since I’m too shy af to do this tag on camera, I thought I’ll write it out as a neat little blog post.

[ORIGINAL TAG VIDEO]

1. A Popular Book or series that you didn't like.

For this one, I’ll pick 2 novels, 1 series and 1 graphic novel.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

First, I read Fangirl and I thought it was a hot mess. the MC was dumb as fuck; SHE SUBMITTED FANFIC FOR HER CREATIVE WRITING CLASS!! And her reasoning behind why she writes fanfic made me roll my eyes so hard! The supporting characters were bland and uninteresting, and the situations that panned out was unrealistic. Next I read Eleanor & Park and somehow it was EVEN WORSE than Fangirl! The MCs were even dumber and the supporting cast was once again bland and uninteresting. This book was one massive eyeroll. I was really excited to read The Mortal Instruments, because the prequel trilogy, The Infernal Devices was so great, but this series was so bland af. The first 3 books are a bit of a bore, I had a hard time imagining the locations and the story & characters weren’t all that engaging. The 4th book was surprisingly better than the first 3, and what’s weird to me is that everyone considers it “the least-favorite” of the series and I’m like WTF? Book 5 was practically trash, the MCs couldn’t finish a conversation without making out and dry humping each other! and the 6th book was a ginormous improvement compared to the other books that reading the series made it worthwhile because the 6th book was everything that the series should’ve been all along; better writing, better written characters and better plot. The Dark Knight Returns was a massive letdown for me. And one of the reasons why it was a massive letdown was because I let myself get too hyped up for it.

2. A Popular Book or series that every one else seems to hate but you love. 

Brian Azzarelo’s run on Wonder Woman was great (But I still haven’t finished it tho), and I don’t care what the dumb haters say! Also, I feel like people are making dumb complaints about The Lunar Chronicles.

3. A Love Triangle where the main character ended up with the person you did NOT want them to end up with (warn ppl for spoilers) OR an OTP that you don't like.

Harry & Hermione should’ve gotten together (especially in the movies)

4. A popular book Genre that you hardly reach for. 

In no particular order:

Horror

Suspense/Thriller/Detective

Romance

Erotica

Poetry

Classic Literary Fiction

Modern Literary Fiction

Manga

YA Contemporary

Adult Contemporary

Really young children’s fiction (e.g. baby books)

Self-Help

Adult Fantasy

Adult Sci-fi

5. A popular or beloved character that you do not like.

My Top 5 Least-Favorite Fictional Characters

5. Eleanor (Eleanor & Park)

4. Levi Stuart (Fangirl)

3. Thomas (The Maze Runner series)

2. Harry August (The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August)

1. Jace Herondale & Clary Fray (The Mortal Instruments series) [TIE]

6. A popular author that you can't seem to get into.

Rainbow Rowell, because her books are trash to me. Brandon Sanderson because it’s been nearly 2 years and I still haven’t finished Mistborn: The Final Empire!!

7. A popular book trope that you're tired of seeing. (examples "lost princess", corrupt ruler, love triangles, etc.)

Bad Boy with a heart of gold, 

Love triangles

A story with a female lead who has to fall in love with a guy every time!

MCs who don’t know WTF they’re doing and are overconfident because they’re usually “The Chosen One”

Every book having a straight white lead

8. A popular series that you have no interest in reading.

Top 5 Book Series I Have No Interest in Reading

5. The 5th Wave series by Rick Yancey

4. The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer (Read the 3rd book, almost read the others, but decided to watch the movies instead)

3. The Selection series by Kiera Cass

2. The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

1. The Divergent series by Veronica Roth (Read the 1st book, thought it was average, never read the other books, lost interest and read spoilers instead)

9. The saying goes "The book is always better than the movie", but what movie or T.V. show adaptation do you prefer more than the book?

Probably Game of Thrones, because I’m still waiting for A Song of Ice and Fire to be finished. Also, Captain America: Civil War was a 100 times better than the Civil War comic, and the Dark Knight Returns animated movie adaptation was 10 times better than the original comic.

[icharchivist]

@tsubasayorukage  submitted:

So, I am fairly new to the D, Gray Man series. I’ve watched a couple of episodes and some clip compilations…I discovered it because I needed a faceclaim for a character with black hair and blue eyes and I settled on Kanda. XD Actually, a friend of mine uses a picture of Tyki for one of HIS characters…XD So when I saw the fight between the two all I could think of was our characters duking it out, ha ha. 

I found the characters to be really interesting! I love the way the Noahs interact with each other; there are some really funny moments there, and apparently they live “human” lives, too? 

Though the villains seem to always be going after Lenalee from what I saw; is there a reason for that?

But anyway, while I was watching some clips today, I felt really sorry for that little guy in the cage that wails, “Aaaaaallen Waaaalker.” XD I have to wonder if the only way for it to get out is if Allen dies, though Tyki seemed to indicate that it could be let out before then…

Like I said, I don’t know much about the series, though I tried reading the Wiki once and got a bit lost. ^^; 

I don’t understand why people are badmouthing the author and the series. I like that the main character doesn’t seem like the typical shounen hero. Heck, I didn’t even know it was considered to be a shounen series…

Ooooh Heya, welcome there! :D

Kanda is an amazing faceclaim omg, i’m glad it had you be able to discover dgm! (and also A++ for your friend’s faceclaim, and no wonder, it must have been funny once they fought in the manga :’D)

I’m glad you find the characters interesting and yes, i completely agree, the Noah are amazing. I honestly had a huge Noah-obsessed phase when I was younger, and I just adore the family dynamic between them. It’s refreshing to see, i love them.

Aah as for Lenalee, there’s two things about it: if you watched the anime, you likely mostly saw the fillers episodes. In the begining of the series, she handles herself a lot, the anime somehow added a lot of fillers of her being a damsell in distress and having the guys rescue her. (it’s to notice that, once they meet Lavi, they immetialy go on the track of Cross and barely stop on the way. They meet Krory on the travel, but I think that’s the only detour they make before meeting Anita. Everything you see is fillers otherwise - hell if Kanda is here, it’s filler, because Kanda isn’t supposed to come back until far later)

The other thing might be a little spoilery, but by some point in the manga (after the Attack on the Boat), some… strange things happen to Lenalee, which makes the Noah suspect she may have the Heart of Innocence. From that point, and especially because of Lenalee’s physical issues, she ends up hunted down by the Noah, because they try to get to her. If they can destroy the Heart of Innocence, all Innocences will be destroyed, and they will be the definitive winner of the war.

(I personally don’t believe Lenalee is the Heart, but that’s another debate - it still means that after the Boat attack, the enemies are trying to reach her)

But before the Boat attack, aside from Road using her as a doll, everytime Lenalee is in trouble is because of Fillers. 

Usually I mention that the manga is far better than the anime, mostly because of that - timeline issues, since the anime squeezed a lot of fillers in a time where they should be rushing to get somewhere, and that the anime decided to develop it… a little ooc. 

Lenalee is especially the one who suffered the most from it since apparently the anime studio didn’t know what to do with her and mostly made her a damsell in distress. It’s especially a problem imo because then Lenalee’s arc is about her feeling Helpless,  and that people already are upset because of her arc in that part of the manga, and I think the anime makes it even more frustrating because it makes you think from the start that she is always helpless anyway, which is a real disservice to her character.

(I could legit talk for hours about the character arcs, especially in the ark’s arc, but when i start mentioning the innocence i’m biased af because of my theories about the Heart, so i’m. Not the best to talk about it either.)

And omg!! ye that little guy in a cage :’D I always felt so bad for him! but we never see him back again, so i don’t know if he could ever be free. It seems to me like it was probably something the Earl created, hopefully without any sentient being… Hopefully. 

But also, the little being in the card acts like a list - he has the name of multiple people, not just Allen, inside his cage, and if Tyki says he’ll be free, it will be once all the names will be erased - and the names won’t be erased until the person dies. (which is a cool gimmick and also some more “Names are important” kind of things). so unless Tyki kills everyone in that list, the little thing will stay trapped :’D

But ye, the manga can be a little hard to follow, i can understand, especially with just the wikipedia entry. (also god knows what was put on the wiki, i don’t trust it). But i’m glad you still find the plot interesting kjdhfdkjhf!!

As for people, people are just mean. I agree with you, the fact it’s not a traditional shounen is what driven me to that story, and i find it unfair people try to hold it to that standart. I don’t even really see how they could expect that from it, and honestly it reassures me that, even by having seen the anime (which for me already made the manga more Shounen-y), you can tell it’s not really a traditional shounen.

It’s considered a Shounen because it was published in the Shounen Jump back when it started. It was in the same magazine as N.aruto, B.leach, O.ne P.iece and the likes. So people expected it to have a Shounen structure which is… unfair.

idk if it’s how it works in Japan either, but in France, we used to refer about “Shounen that don’t respect Shounen structure” as “Dark Shounen”. Manga like Fma and dgm fell into this category, because while it targetted a young audience, the themes were more heavy.

But honestly I don’t even know if this characterization exist outside of France so…. 

But ye I truly don’t get what people are expecting, especially by chapter 226, about the rest of the manga. It just makes me sad bc the author put so much work into her story, especially since she had to struggle all that time with terrible editors who belittled her, with how much she had to fight for her plotlines to happen, and how much she has to fight against her health. That’s so unfair for her, and especially when you see how gorgeous the manga is and how much thoughts was put in the narrative, it’s just so unfair people bashes her for that.

I would rather people to leave dgm alone rather than people being rude af about it :/

but anyway ;;-;;

Thank you for your sweet message though!! it makes me happy that you still enjoy the story from the little you’ve seen!

Take care!!! ❤❤❤