chroniclesofalonewolf

[chroniclesofalonewolf]

Maybe I'll start typing random stuff here again one of these days.... You'll never know.

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When this account still survives after not visiting it for a thousand years. LOL.

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Yeah, all I really wanna do Is spend all of eternity with you

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Yep. 🙋

If you’re gay, then raise your hand.

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Kumiko & Reina – Hibike! Euphonium Final Episode

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When bae is being touchy :3

(And everytime I am like … HOLY SH*T REINA)

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Chibi Kumiko from Theater Manner Photo Session e Youkoso Short Movie 

+ extra with the others

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❜reina kousaka // hibike! euphonium ❜like&reblog if you like it ❜feel free to use❀ ❜i share icons every day, you can follow me for new icons

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ein, cowboy bebop ☆

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Thoughts on Bloom Into You: Regarding Saeki Sayaka Vol. 3

I finally finished the Sayaka light novels and I really enjoyed them. They’re not high art but they don’t have to be. I just love Sayaka.

It’s been long time since I’ve engaged with Bloom Into You (basically since the manga ended) and reading these novels has given me a chance to remember how much I love the characters. Especially the titular character herself. (Well, technically Touko is my favorite character in Bloom Into You, but that’s a given since my favorites are always the emo disasters. Otherwise, the best character is obviously Sayaka.)

Why is Sayaka so great anyway? A lot of reasons, I think. I love her in the manga, but these novels really bring out her likable qualities by putting us in her head. Hitoma Iruma’s first-person Sayaka is exquisitely spot on and if you like Sayaka, it’s bound to be a joy to read just for that alone. I love how overly serious and reserved Sayaka is, traits that she has had since childhood but that have been compounded after experiencing multiple heartbreaks. But also how she constantly tries to be brave and change herself, even when she fails at doing so out of fear. And I love how lowkey judgy and snobby she is. But actually, at her core, Sayaka is just a very soft, kind, and good girl (Best Girl) who craves being loved and appreciated, whether she realizes it or not. She needs someone to break through that reserved shell. I just want someone to give her a hug all the time and love her.

Which brings me to the third novel, which was a joy to read simply because someone actually loves and appreciates Sayaka (romantically) in it. I feel pretty ambivalent about Haru as a character, but I’m okay with that because all I really care about is that she loves Sayaka. Well, appreciates her, at least. Here we have a character that finally fawns over Sayaka the way she has always deserved, damn it.

I know that Haru’s personality is really different from Yuu’s, but literally every time I looked at the illustrations of her I swear I could not see a different character. My brain was just like, “Yuu,” every time. Was that intentional, Nakatani-sensei? Was it? Because no one ever points out that the two of them look alike in the book itself, which makes me think she wasn’t intended to look like Yuu necessarily and Nakatani Nio designed her that way after the fact. I’m probably wrong. But like. Did they really just slyly ignore the glaring similarity in their appearance? Why does she look like Yuu anyway? Was Nakatani Nio trying to troll us, ship tease us, hint at something, or did she just have a hard time coming up with a more original design? (That last one, I doubt.) Plus there were literally multiple instances in this book where characters insinuate that there’s some kind of a thing between Sayaka and Yuu. Sayaka vehemently denies it both times, but it all feels a little “she doth protest too much” to me. I SWEAR TO GOD, STOP TEASING ME. I ship Sayaka and Yuu a lil bit so the ship tease is sending me.

I think one of the reasons I found it hard to differentiate between Haru and Yuu is not just her appearance, but the fact that I don’t feel like we ever get to know that much about her. In Bloom Into You, the relationships are so compelling because we really get to know them, their fears, their flaws, their regrets, their quirks. We don’t really get to know much about Haru except that she’s a lesbian, that she likes Sayaka, and that she’s a hyperactive go-getter. Granted, a light novel offers a lot less room to develop an original character, but still. The novel was 225 pages and focuses entirely on the two of them. I think there was plenty of room.

Also, Haru herself never really gives us much information about why she likes Sayaka other than that she likes her face, which is a funny running gag in the series, but still. The whole point of this novel, for me, was that I wanted someone to appreciate Sayaka for who she is. I think it’s clear that Haru does like Sayaka for her personality and not just her looks, but I wanted to know more about that. Since the novel doesn’t really explore the things they like about each other very much, it doesn’t make for a very compelling relationship, in my opinion.

But again, Sayaka is happy, she has a girlfriend, Haru likes her, all is well.

The second volume of this series gave me a newfound appreciation for Sayaka and Touko’s friendship, which is often fraught in the manga and gives off an impression that the two of them could never get closer because they didn’t really understand each other. A sort of genuine-ingenuine friendship. But reading that novel, I was able to look back on the manga with a new view of their relationship. They really did care about each other and they were genuinely close. If not for that unfortunate unrequited love situation, they could have really been best friends.

I was happy to see their friendship continue in the third novel, even though it makes me really sad to have it implied that their relationship has sort of concluded. I think it was a well-done conclusion, for what it’s worth. As sad as it makes me, it feels appropriate that their friendship would pretty much fade after this point. Sometimes things that are said can’t be unsaid, things are too awkward, and too many scars remain. It’s just how it is. Everyone goes through changing and fading relationships at some point.

I think it’s funny and so very Sayaka that she’s been dating Haru for like…eight months or something by the end of the novel and she’s still like, “No, no, it’s way too soon for sex, that would be so indecent!” and meanwhile Touko and Yuu went at it like basically right away. I find it hilarious to imagine Sayaka’s reaction to this. She would be so scandalized. 

Actually, there were several moments in the third novel where I really felt like Sayaka’s situation mirrored Yuu’s with regards to having someone confess to them and not really being sure how they felt about it but not outright rejecting it either. Their situation was uncannily similar, in fact, and I thought Sayaka really could have used talking to Yuu about it and getting her perspective. But then I realized that Sayaka still doesn’t know like, basically anything about Yuu and Touko’s relationship, and I get the vibe that that is intentional on her part. You can tell by the end of the novel, post-Haru, Sayaka is feeling much more comfortable with the idea of knowing things Yuu and Touko’s intimate relationship, but up until then she is understandably extremely sore about it. If she found out what Yuu and Touko had actually been up to during that period when she was still gathering the courage to confess, and found out that they had actually been involved for way longer than she realized, like all through her second year of high school, I’m sure that would sting like hell.

I think that’s it for my thoughts. It was fun seeing some of the other characters besides Sayaka post-series, if only briefly. Being greedy, I wish that Sayaka got better than Dollar Tree Yuu as a love interest (like really? she has to get the discount version of Touko’s love interest? jk) but I like Haru well enough, and I think these novels are well-written overall. Having Sayaka find the happiness she has always wanted with her a girl who genuinely loves her is the best way to conclude the Bloom Into You franchise that I could think of. A very satisfying send-off.

Of course, when I say conclusion to the franchise, I do mean not counting the SECOND SEASON OF THE ANIME ARE YOU READING THIS TROYCA HEY WAIT DON’T IGNORE ME YOU CAN’T IGNORE THIS WHERE IS SEASON 2 DON’T BLOCK ME I KNOW YOu’RE MA

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Happy birthday, Yuu Koito!!!!! 🎂🎉🎊💐😍❤️🥳

(What's great about it is that Nakatani Nio's birthday art for Yuu is connected to the birthday art for Touko, posted last February.)

© Nakatani Nio via Twitter

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ꕥ TOUKO NANAMI & YUU KOITO ꕥ

▷ Yagate Kimi ni Naru ◦ Official Art

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🤣

This is the biggest mood

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If this doesn't scream "GAY!" then I don't know what the heck this is....

they . Deserved to be gfs they were basically on the verge of dating i hate it here

[chroniclesofalonewolf]

★ 【花緑青】 「 ✿✿✿ 」 ☆ ⊳ kyoko / sayaka (pmmm) ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me on twitter

[chroniclesofalonewolf]

[chroniclesofalonewolf]

★ 【宇崎】 puella magi madoka magica ☆ ✔ republished w/permission ⊳ ⊳ follow me on twitter