#your sound alternative

[iknowicanbutwhy]

"You could recite their lines perfectly for them" yeah? Well they can, too

Continuation of this.

[lunarharp]

if i just told you i love you would this world change

[spookberry]

Sometimes I hear a song that the internet is collectively dunking on and have to reconsider some stuff such as "maybe its ME who has the bad taste in music??"

[honeymilkbubbletea]

Late night impulsive thoughts session 💅✨️

[brighhton]

guy whos normal about the doctor who soundtracks: omg did you hear that short melody that just played for 2 seconds? yeah its part of one of my favourite themes in the soundtrack. theres also another alternate version that plays in another scene also for about 20 seconds and is unreleased but also it sounded so good i wish there was a full version. wait what was that omg i think i heard another leitmotif YESSS YESS YAYYYYY guys i love music this is awesome

[sergle]

There's something about like. A certain genre of posts / Online Opinions about insecurity/depression/misery/complaints that are so unhelpful that they wrap right around to being straight up hilarious. and it's the ones that are more or less written to the tone of "Feeling bad? That's gross!" Like, just so you know, don't voice your insecurities/ have low self esteem, because that's offputting! You're gross and weird. Don't be insecure about that, though. That would be stupid if you felt insecure about people disliking you for being insecure. Not attractive. You should be thinking about being as attractive as possible. You shouldn't make comments about suicide, even if you're suicidal! Keep those thoughts entirely to yourself. Make sure nobody around you knows you're thinking about this. It would Make Them Uncomfortable. It's better to keep these thoughts in your head where they can fester. Don't post OR talk to friends with complaints about you feeling miserable or depressed. Tbh people who are sad/upset a lot? Kinda a red flag! You are probably miserable because you're a bad person and you've brought this on yourself. If you don't have friends, it's because you're awful to be around. Easy! Solved the problem for you. And no, there is no nuance to this, got it? So, make sure to feel bad about feeling bad, but don't feel bad about it, because, well, that's just gross. And annoying! You might've wanted your brain rotted thoughts to be Peer Reviewed, you might have just needed to vent- you might've been hoping for some comfort, to get things off your chest. Well, don't! Don't talk about thoughts or feelings that are negative with your friends, you'd be burdening them and that's only meant for THERAPY. #SponsoredbyBetterHelp #MentalHealth like, DAMN. that's so helpful. you're so good at helping. I um really liked the part where these are all hard and fast rules that encourage keeping feelings bottled up and keeping your friends at arm's length. That's really funny of you.

[tragedry]

anyway... there's a fine line between being inspired by your favorite piece of media to down right plagiarizing it (all the way to making one of your oc the exact carbon copy of an already well known character from said piece of media)

woke up to the wildest news (red's ig story)

[tachimichishrine]

"the cat came back"

⫭◦⨝◦⫬

h. p. lovecraft x fem! natsume's daughter! reader

lovecraft is canon afraid of cats! now you know >:)

warnings: uncontrollable fluff ; that was a joke idk how to fluff ; made him ooc af womp womp ; i want to eat lovecraft ; just a little nom nom is that too much to ask; tentacle hentai (reader eats his hair) ; fishing boats (derogatory) ; intended lowercase

moonlight was his favourite time of the day.

his eyes peeked out from the rippling surface of the water, hair floating and spanning out like branches of a tree. he was sleeping a short while ago, until...

"shh!! it's the middle of the night, someone's gonna yell at us for doing this!"

disinterested eyes glanced at a boat. a fishing boat. he shuddered; it appeared like two adults were sitting down on it, giggling mischievously at each other while the motor grumbled loudly, scaring away the sea life from the secluded corner along the coast.

"bah, it's not a big deal," the other person responded, sporting a confident smirk. "we're out in the middle of nowhere. who are we going to disturb, the little mermaid?"

another round of giggles. the couple bickered about something else, something he didn't care to remember, then ate each other. lovecraft watched curiously as their lips met, then sighed. he wanted to sleep.

he reached a tentacle from under the surface of the water and capsized the boat.

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another week, another goddamn boat. he just wanted to sleep: ever since the guild had fallen apart, he didn't have to do anything, and he enjoyed it very much. he'd occasionally leave the comfort of the sea for some ice cream, but the looks he'd get while out in public made him anxious, so he'd stopped doing that a long time ago.

"I heard the spooky sea beast lives around here..." a voice said lowly, holding a flashlight out to the murky waters. "some say it's the kraken, others that it's the soul of the deceased..."

he didn't like to be disturbed. lovecraft flipped them over.

the next night, it happened again.

by the end of the month, it seemed he had become a local folklore story. he wasn't particularly interested in hearing all the stories about himself, and what was worse is that he found himself at the center of attention. gross.

he would keep flipping boats until they would leave him alone.

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"[_____], come on, get in the boat! you're such a scaredy cat!"

"yeah, I am!" the woman yelling from the shore exclaimed. she was watching a few of her friends get into a wooden tub of death and paddle in the direction of a sea creature that had been terrorizing their city. it wasn't a myth, as everyone who doubted would go and find themselves thrown into the water promptly. the question was mostly as to what on earth was doing this. "you know I hate getting wet, and I don't want to get eaten by a sea beast today, thank you very much!"

the friends pouted, pleaded for her to come along, and the only agreement they came to involved the woman following them from land. she watched them as her boots squelched into the damp earth in the same direction as their path, and they spoke from a far distance.

which woke up lovecraft.

he grumbled, displeased. this was never fun, and it was getting even worse now. the top of his head peeped out from the water as he got a look at the young adults laughing and joking from their fishing boat, and he flipped them with one movement.

they all yelled out as they splashed into the water, arms desperately gripping onto the upside-down boat as they looked around fearfully, then at each other with chuckles.

"told ya it was real!"

"gahh, my shirt is soaked!"

"dude, your entire body is soaked."

it was all a game to them, he seemed to notice. they thought this little escapade and mission of disturbing him was all for fun. he didn't have time to feel annoyed about it, because it was time to sleep. on the verge or disappearing back into the abyss, he felt a pebble bounce on the back of his head.

he turned his head around, his neck contorting as he saw a young woman looking at him, eyes wide.

they stared at each other for a few moments.

she let out a yelp, and her entire body compressed down to that of a calico cat.

he saw the cat and yelled out in response, tentacles sprouting, bursting out from various parts of his body.

the cat ran away and nothing was said. the group of friends were still laughing as they had gotten back into the boat and began paddling to shore, not seeing the iceberg underneath their feet that was the body of a real sea monster.

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the next day, lovecraft was out of the water, in the middle of the day nonetheless, simply to dry up a little bit before he went back into the water. somehow, this logic added up to him.

all was fine until he saw the woman again.

she was leaning against a rock, not quite sitting but not quite standing. she looked nervous, glancing around her everywhere as if she was expecting to get attacked at any moment. her eyes darted to the water, where she saw nothing, then back to her surrounding. back to the water. back the the surroundings. her foot was tapping the soil incessantly and her lower lip was being abused by her teeth as she nibbled to distract herself.

this time, she saw him.

they looked at each other again, but it was much more tamed than the previous time. she didn't turn into a cat, and he didn't turn into a natural catastrophe.

her mouth seemed to open, but lovecraft didn't hear any words from out of her. she just creased her brows together, then sighed. "um... hi, hello. I'm... I'm [_____]. you're howard phillips lovecraft, aren't you?"

he hovered at the surface with only his dark eyes and long hair visible, maintaining blank stare.

she extended her hand out to him, then realized it was stupid to shake hands with someone who was several meters away, several meters deep into the water. laughing nervously, she rubbed the back of her neck.

"I didn't... I didn't mean to scare you the other day, you just caught me off guard. you see, I'm in the business of keeping track of the ability users in yokohoma, and you never came up on my radar. so I asked around," and here she kicked a rock with a chuckle to herself, "actually, I just asked my dad, and he told me about the guild."

still no reaction. lovecraft had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

she crouched down, grabbed a pebble, and flicked it onto his forehead. heavy eyelids raised for a moment.

"would you be willing to uh... get out of the water to speak with me, for just a moment? I can... well, I don't really know what to offer you."

she babbled on, face flushed and looking at the ground and her feet as she kept speaking, saying things that neither of them understood, and it was only when he got close that she took notice the tall, dripping wet figure looming over her. he was wearing clothes and everything, even had was appeared to have been a nice jacket in the past before... whatever tore it apart. she met his eyes.

"thank you! it just makes this... whatever... easier... ahh, forget about it. could we... walk and talk? I don't want to lure you away from your... your home?..."

"I'm hungry," he proclaims, a statement more than a request.

"sure!" she nodded, although a little confused and uncertain, leading the way as she walks through the rugged terrain of the trail before arriving at her car and opening the passenger door for him, waiting for him to hop inside.

now, he looked confused.

"is there food inside?"

this was going to be a long discussion.

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[_____]'s job was simple: she had to keep tabs on all of the ability users in yokohoma. know who they worked for, their relationships, their dreams and aspirations. when you can turn into a cuddly ball of fur, it isn't particularly hard to gain information.

she had no clue what was going on with this man, though.

rumours had sprung up about the sea monster. she knew, of course, there was no such thing, but in the spirit of the approaching holiday she indulged her friends in a trip.

seeing a man living in the water was not what she had expected, much less to surprise herself by getting flustered enough to accidentally use her ability and turn into a cat. it was just her luck that cats seemed to terrify the man.

speaking was hard too, since he didn't really seem to know much about the ways of the world. she knew he was from america, but common courtesy of not trying to eat someone's car for dinner was likely the same there as it was in japan. likely.

it was cute how ice cream was the secret to taming him.

"lovecraft," she snapped her fingers in his face as he zoned out for what could be the seventh time in the same sentence, "look, I don't mean to take your entire day. I was just hoping you could lay low on the boat flipping for the time being."

"I am laying low," he stated blankly, a smudge of chocolate cream smeared across the corner of his lip, like a child. she chuckled warmly and pointed it out to him, but he just shrugged and kept licking the frozen treat. "the boats keep coming."

"because you've become a horror attraction," she retorted. something deep within her caused her to run her thumb along the edge of his lip to clean him up, partly because she knew he wouldn't do it himself, partly because she thought she'd go mad over the messiness. "leave the boats alone and they'll leave you alone. it's as simple as that."

he wasn't paying attention again. he'd gotten tired of licking and dislocated his jaw just to swallow the entire cone in one bite. the paper wrapper and napkin around it were still not removed, too, but he didn't seem to care as he pushed his jaw back into place and kept walking by her side, as if it were nothing.

she decided it was easier to not comment.

they made their way back to the vehicle, and she dropped him back off at his corner of the water, verifying multiple times that he didn't want help looking for a place to live. a slight pause and hesitation; she wanted to give him her phone number in the event he needed something, but she quickly realized he probably doesn't even have a phone, let alone one he uses.

another ability user to add to her list. what a bunch of weirdos.

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boats kept coming.

this time, they were getting louder, more intrusive. some people brought diving gear and headlights, eager to explore the water for the sea beat. lovecraft was not pleased.

it was hard at first to take the advice of the strange woman. then, when they put on loud speakers and played blaring music during their expeditions, it became impossible to ignore them. a blizzard of tentacles and otherworldly monstrous body parts ravaged every boat on the lake.

[_____] showed up a dozen minutes later, not pleased.

no one was injured, but news reporters had gathered and were making a bug fuss out of it all. they dispersed after some time, and she was the only one left. she tossed pebbles into the water, hoping for him to resurface for them to talk.

"I specifically told you to do one thing," she grumbled, glaring into his sleepy eyes that peeked up. "now the whole town knows there's something going on here."

he briefly racked his brain for past interactions with his former partner, steinbeck, and realized this was the sort of situation where he was supposed to apologize. she looked at him with distrust when he did (quite blandly), but ultimately sighed and shook her head, saying it wasn't a problem.

"maybe you just need to get out of here," she proposed. "if you're not in the water when the tourists arrive, you won't have to endure all of it. do you have someplace else to go in the meantime?"

a shake of his head signaled he didn't, but also that he didn't seem to care. of course he wasn't picky about where he lived, he was currently residing in what amounted to a swamp.

"would you like to stay with me until this whole thing goes away?"

lovecraft shrugged, "okay," as if it weren't a big deal for either of them. she scolded herself for being baffled at his nonchalant reaction, which was to be expected.

she insisted he dry himself up this time before getting in her car, though.

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lovecraft made himself at home by eating just about everything she had in her pantry, then trying to eat the pantry.

a smack on the back of his neck with a rolled up newspaper, and he was set straight. she indicated that he could sleep on the couch for the time being, just as long as he double-checked with her that it was okay before eating anything, emphasis on thing.

"I'm not around most of the time," she told him as she put on a coat while near the entrance, eyes darting around to make sure she wasn't leaving any valuable around in the event that they magically disappear upon her return. "so, the place is yours. are you sure you don't have anyone you want to stay with? I was told you had a partner when you were in the guild, a young lad named steinbeck. I can track him and the remnants of the guild down, if you'd like."

"no."

not a trace of anger, disgust, or even any emotion from his response. he simply wanted to be left alone, she realized.

her expression softened and she put the coat back down, walking up to him.

"how about this, would you want to go get some ice cream again? I can pay, of course."

money didn't seem to cross his radar, so the final comment went through his head. she wanted to understand him, as was the task her father had delegated onto her to know all ability users, but it was proving a lot harder than she'd thought.

that's how she found herself, a disgusted look on her face as she watched lovecraft jump into a small pond near the ice cream shop, the treat still in his hand. the ball of frozen cream floated on the surface of the murky water, and he opened his mouth to eat it like a koi fish.

"there's... there's so much wrong with what you're doing right now," she frowned, watching him happily ruin the clothes she'd just bought for him by swimming around in them. again. "howard, you're going to have to take it easy on my wallet, I don't have an infinite supply of clothes to get you."

he vanished under the surface and did not come back up for an entire minute.

she couldn't handle water - she retained quite a bit of feline features even in human form, after all - and there was no way in hell she was going to jump in to save him if he were drowning. he wasn't drowning, of course, he'd just made his way along the floor and chomped down on unsuspecting sea-dwellers. since she'd said she can't pay for everything, this was free. at least, he thinks it is.

when he came back up, she sighed with a tired smile on her face, leading him back to the apartment.

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"how does your hair never get tangled?"

she was watching him curiously as he spread his lanky limbs across the sofa, bones breaking and body distorting to make it more comfortable for him. he didn't seem to hear her question until fingers raked through silky locks.

"why would it?" he raised a brow, eyelids still shut. after a few weeks, he'd gotten better at conversation, but the horror fanatics were still invading his little corner of the sea. besides, he liked it better here.

"oh right, I forgot that you don't have the problems the rest of us mortals have," she said jokingly, but realized she wasn't even sure if it was a joke. she started having doubts that he had an ability and wasn't really just a sea monster after all. fingers combed through obsidian streaks. "ahhh... it's so soft..."

she stood up in front of him, and made her entire body visible. "I'm going to turn into a cat, now."

they agreed to make it clear to the other before doing anything that scared the other, and that involved using their abilities. she liked being a cat, most of the time, as it was more pleasant to nap and lounge around in that form. however, it still caught him by surprise, and he nearly shattered the entire apartment once when he went into the kitchen for some food and caught her sleeping in a bread basket.

grey eyes watched the calico cat pounce up from the floor onto the sofa, hobble along the edge of his body until it twirled around itself and slept in the waves of hair.

he was already asleep by then, so he didn't mind when little cat teeth nibbled on the strands. they tasted like sea water, to no one's shock. paws stretched out with a yawn, then went back to snuggling themselves under the warm body of fur.

maybe this arrangement wasn't so bad.

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he was getting much better as weeks turned into months. the craze over the yokohoma sea monster died down, but he found himself attached to someone for the first time in his existence. he didn't know how to describe the feeling other than warmth and that of a full stomach.

giggles exhaled in clouds of fog as she walked on the empty streets at night with him by her side. she was cold, and so was he; the only difference is that she felt it whereas he simply didn't care.

"can we go home..." he grumbled, albeit glad for the absence of people in the vicinity. they made him uncomfortable, all except for her. he didn't know why his lips were tugging upwards as she took his hand in hers.

"you're freezing," she remarked against icy flesh. "I'm sure there's a café or something nearby, if you want to warm up before headi-"

his other arm wrapped itself around her waist and pulled her against his frame, face buried deep enough in his chest to cause her to suffocate. her feet were kicked upwards behind her, body no longer touching the ground as he carried her entire weight with his one arm.

"you're cold too. this will help."

"MFMFMFMNMNMF!!"

he took her muffled cries for confirmation that he did the right thing, and walked them home in just about the most awkward position possible. she managed to crane her neck to the side, gasping for breaths, but just laughed to herself at his peculiarities.

he was right, it did help.

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she remained curled up against him even as they got inside, slipped under blankets and were laying on the couch. not that she had a choice; he didn't seem keen on letting go anytime soon.

"my limbs don't bend like yours do. could I..." she squirmed, grateful that he seemed to get the message and loosened his hold on her. she repositioned herself then curled back up into him, rubbing her head in slow circles against his chest from feline instinct. she muttered a thanks into his slowly warming shirt.

everything felt so uncomplicated in his presence. even as a horror movie played in the background, she nearly fell asleep on him, and he had long gone into the realm of dreams. they were both snoring softly when a dramatic scream emanated from the television, jolting him awake.

her eyes were still closed, and he just took a look at her face for a few moments before having what was more of an urge than an idea.

he ate her mouth.

this sprung her wide awake as she pulled away from shock once she'd realized he was biting her lips.

"what are you doing?!" she shrieked, hands pushing on his chest to lift herself up and off of him. "you can't just... what... why would you... ?!!!"

he looked at her with a dull expression, a sliver of confusion revealing itself on his long features. "I saw... I saw people do this when they're content. I-"

"oh my god," she let out a breath of relief as she understood that his actions didn't align with his intentions, even chuckling softly as she let herself fall back onto him, body now completely on top of his. her face was hovering on top of him, and she kept a gentle smile. "people do that when they're in love, howard. it's called a kiss."

again, confusion and a grumble. "oh. what does that mean?"

she squinted, almost as if looking for the answer to his question in the backrooms of his irises. "I don't know how to explain it, but it's what people feel when they're really happy around each other."

"I feel like that," he stated blankly, watching as her face flushed in embarrassment.

"you can't just say that like it's nothing," she managed to croak out without combusting on the spot. "love is a very big thing. you have to mean it."

"why wouldn't I mean it?"

her lips parted as she tried to respond, then realized just how simple everything was with this man. lovecraft didn't care about the specifics, and maybe she shouldn't either. she exhaled through her mouth slowly, then brought her hands to his cheek.

"okay, fine. I'm going to kiss you now, alright? don't do anything like try to bite my flesh off, just... just let me kiss you. can we try that?" the words felt silly as they spilled out, but he nodded. if it didn't involve him doing anything, that was even better, he thought.

his eyes were open as lips met again. he took notice that hers were closed, but he couldn't quite understand why. it was nothing like what he'd tried earlier: she was soft and slow about it. he could feel her chest fall and rise in sync with the gentle breaths she let out. it was clear she wasn't sure about what she was doing, but after a few moments, she leaned in closer and he could taste her on his tongue. she rubbed her lips on his, and smirked once she felt him trying to reciprocate by copying her movements. fingers slid from his cheeks to his hair, and she pulled his face deeper into hers.

she let out a soft yelp as his tongue dipped further into her, now an addict of her taste. he tried to be careful, he really did, but his teeth bit down into her tongue a little harshly as he tried to get the hang of this. as soon as things got too messy, too fast, she slowly pulled away, his lower lip flicking back upwards as her own let it go. her eyes fluttered back open, and she found herself giggling as she saw that his were open the entire time. of course they were.

"that," she whispered with a smile, fingers stroking his hair and weaving through them at his scalp, "that is a kiss. how did that feel?"

his face literally melted and he became a gooey mess of tentacles and monstrous shapes as he felt his entire body explode internally.

watching his version of being flustered be to turn into his alternate form, she was tempted to giggle at how adorable his reaction was. however, she quickly found herself projected across the room as he accidentally threw her out of panic.

she chuckled, back slumped against the wall while sitting on the floor on the opposite end of the room, a hand on her head feeling for any bumps or cuts. "I take it that means you liked it."

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a hand around his hips, a hand holding a cup of hot chocolate.

a hand on her waist, a hand gripping five different ice cream cones all at once.

they sat on a bench in the dead of the night, which was really the only time she could get him out of the apartment. during the day, she would go out and work while he stayed home and slept. during the night, they would occasionally go out, then come home and sleep. it was quite the schedule.

she took a slow sip of her hot chocolate, head tilting to the side in order to rest on his shoulder. in order to not disturb her, he contorted his neck at an angle that would make anybody call on for a higher being's protection, and tossed all the cones into his mouth in one motion.

"want a sip?" she offered her drink, unfazed by anything he did anymore. "not the whole cup, just a taste."

his eyes met hers, and he shrugged yes. she smirked and kissed his lips, the chocolate flavour lingering even as she pulled away.

thankfully, as they were in public even though there was no one out at this unholy hour, he just blushed and did not morph into an enemy of the state and humanity. she liked it when he blushed; his sharp features softened and glistened under the moonlight. another kiss to the high of his cheekbones paired with fingertips sliding along his abdomen, and the red deepened.

"m'just messin' with you," murmured against his skin. "want to go home now?"

it was a stupid question: he always wanted to go home.

only, his home was no longer a place, but a person.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[average-hua-cheng-fan]

it's actually so important to me that in the memory loss extras xie lian finds out he doesn't have spiritual power anymore (because he's been having sex). it means

he feels comfortable relying on hua cheng

he's able to be 'selfish', and choose what he wants rather than what other people think is correct

he's free from the responsibility of being the most powerful martial god in heaven

he's getting thoroughly dicked down

[hood-ex]

Thinking about my fic that has a 19 year old Dick Grayson from an alternate universe who is Bruce's only child and was adopted when he was 4. He calls Bruce and Alfred "dad" and has never given much thought to being a big brother until he swaps universes, but he's always been fond of J'onn's daughter, K'hym. He's also fond of Talia despite the fact that she's Bruce's ex. She's the one who used to call him "Starling" when he was young, and he took on that name as his mantle when he was old enough to go out with Batman.

He's casual af except for his watches. He loves watches (and Bruce happily contributes to his collection when Dick's birthday rolls around). Bruce and Alfred are more casual as well and wouldn't even blink if they caught Dick cooking bacon in nothing but briefs. Speaking of cooking, Dick loves helping Alfred cook dinner in the evening (he likes helping a lot less when it's Bruce's turn to cook because Bruce gets stressed).

Bruce has a habit of hugging Dick every morning after Dick comes down for breakfast because when Dick was 4 and sleeping poorly, he would go over to Bruce's chair at breakfast and crawl into Bruce's lap. Bruce would rub a hand over Dick's back while reading the newspaper, and Dick would fall asleep with his face buried in Bruce's shirt. Once Dick had more therapy sessions and started to cope with his trauma better, he stopped climbing into Bruce's lap at breakfast, but Bruce would still always greet him with a hug and back rub.

Anyway. I miss 19 year old Dick's universe. And I still feel bad for making him have to deal with alternate!Bruce 😭.

[angryisokay]

A lot of “how to have a happy marriage” advice is to have sex as often as possible, which is stupid as fuck. If you both wanna fuck, good for you, have at it. But also: Find forms of personal intimacy with your spouse that are not sex, not foreplay, not ‘maybe this will lead to sex’, because I guarantee that you and your spouse will have periods in your life where you just don’t want to fuck.

Making sex a vital necessity to be happy together will turn it into an obligation and a chore, which will ruin your relationship. A sex obligation will create needless arguments, allow room for insecurities and resentment to develop and fester, and generally make living together exhausting and miserable.

Find ways to be intimately close without the expectation of sex.

[ambivartence]

wonder if there's someone meant for you

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Thatcher’s not party rocking in the house tonight

[uygfiug]

sometimes my parents make me want to commit violent crimes

[clonerightsagenda]

Lucy can't tell the skull's gender from his voice... She’s really out here getting psychic threats from beyond the grave from some kid whose voice never dropped.