niriaves

[niriaves]

Yeah ☕️🍧

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I was pretty sure after the Sunshine Court that by the end of tsc3, Neil, Jean, and Kevin would no longer have a deal with the Moriyamas just based on the fact that too many people know that Riko hurt Kevin and Jean. HOWEVER after the Golden Raven I am so sure of this it could be a free space on my next bingo card. Lets get into it:

My strongest evidence lies in the Browning cameo. Jean should not really be a material witness in Nathan Wesninski’s trial. He even says this. And Browning, instead of shedding more light on the situation says “I guess we’ll see, wont we?” I am certain that Browning has made the connection between Neil and Jean and the Moriyamas. Because he would be an absolute idiot otherwise. Why?

Quite simply, too many people know!!! Three people can keep a secret only if two of them are dead!!! And there is evidence everywhere if you start looking.

There’s too many connections back to Riko. Browning has made the connection between Neil’s appearance and Evermore. We already knew this. This book we learned: Riko met with Lola and there were witnesses. Riko was FAR too visibly and vocally pleased about what happened to Andrew. Aaron’s trial mention was very small, but gave us a ton of information, and I bet Browning is starting to look into how Drake got to Andrew in the first place. Proust should be dead, the Moriyamas cleaned that up, but that is now ALSO a red flag.

Jeremy, Cat, and Laila all know for a fact that Riko hurt Kevin and Jean. The rest of Trojans are also starting to get hints about how culty the Ravens were. They heard Jean call him the master and then immediately after, saw the Ravens try to kill Andrew and Neil.

The reporters are starting to make the same connections. Why did BOTH the Moreau and the Wesninski families send their kids to Tetsuji?

Neil told the FBI Elodie Moreau was dead. So why is there a manhunt looking for her?

Too many Ravens have killed themselves. Complete exy outsiders (Cody’s mom) are starting to get suspicious about the suicides. We the audience, Jean, Neil, and at least Andrew all know for a fact two of the suicides are cover ups. It’s not a stretch to assume more Ravens were killed for clean up and made to look like a suicide. The fact that all three of the players who went after Neil and Andrew are now dead is sus.

Neil Josten is capitol U, capitol T, capitol S Up To Something. He didn’t tell Andrew or Kevin he went to California. Each of his television appearances were calculated as hell and seemed to imply that Andrew might know a little bit about Neil’s plotting (since he and Renee played into it), but Kevin for sure doesn’t. Every time Jean has seen Neil since Riko’s death, he has been in peak chaos mode and his moves are incredibly calculated. Sure, Neil is an instigator, but we’re seeing bits of Nathaniel (the only part of Neil Jean has truly known) peek through here. We are not seeing the Neil that loves exy so much Ichirou knows he can distract Neil with it. We’re seeing crime savvy mob prince Nathaniel. Even Jeremy notes it when he says Neil’s smile is so unsettling he has to move away from the computer. The Foxes are not the ones making Nathaniel come out. Neil is playing chess with someone. We’re seeing the parts of Neil that exist in the universe where The Moriyamas killed Andrew as a warning. Why?

On that note, Neil and Stuart said that them being in California together was suspicious so the FBI would come question them, but Stuart had two tables full of people with him. We know the FBI has let Stuart and his team move around before, so the dance with the FBI in tsc might have been staged.

When Stuart was let into the country by the FBI and he stormed the Wesninski mansion, he was supposed to take Nathan alive. Why???? Why did the FBI want him to build a case against himself?? When he saw Neil was alive, he didn’t hesitate and shot Nathan dead. He must have kept tabs on Neil. Neil, the child Mary and Nathan were really never supposed to have. He watched his nephew fall in love with the Foxes. He must have known Neil would be much easier to convince to turn on the Moriyamas.

Neil is so blasé about Ichirou knowing about Andrew that even Jean makes a note of it. We have been in that boy’s head and Neil has never and will never be blasé about Andrew’s safety.

Of the three of them, Jean is the weakest link in the Moriyama secret. He has almost spilled the beans several times. He almost slipped a mention of the deal to Browning. Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead, and Nora would not have made a point to say that this is the ONLY draft where Jean survived so she wanted to explore what it looked like when he lived if she was just going to kill him off.

Putting Jean, Cat, Laila and Jeremy in a protected building until the end of the school year is SUS. PIC. IOUS.

Which, speaking of Laila, literally RIGHT before we get the Browning cameo, a point is made that Laila’s father/family knows someone in every alphabet agency. If Ichirou has people in the FBI, so does Laila. She has her family look into what’s going on. After the Ravens fans burned her house down, the Dermotts might be in on this too.

One of the last lines Nora gives us to contemplate between books is Neil’s care free “the rules have changed”. In tsc, this is followed by a mention of Neil’s deal with Ichirou. In tgr, it very pointedly is not.

If the FBI is smart, they have to surprise the weakest link somewhere where both his hesitation or the truth will damn the Moriyamas. I am almost certain Jean is going to be called to testify at “Nathan’s” trial and be surprised by a Moriyama question on the stand. If this is the case, Neil has to know the plan or Jean will not say anything. If Neil knows the next move, and he is sitting in the courtroom when the question comes, Jean will answer truthfully. I expect Andrew and Kevin to also be there, and I expect Kevin to lose it and Andrew to have some level of surprise, but not all. Neil will not tell him something that puts him in danger.

But if Stuart or the FBI or whomever has offered Neil a chance to take out the Moriyamas and make sure Kevin and Jean and Andrew are safe, Neil Josten is going to take it. Neil told Ichirou that Riko would be his downfall. He just didn’t tell Ichirou that it was already too late.

What comes after, I don’t know. But the Moriyama empire is going down and will be decimated by the end of this series. I am sure of this.

[niriaves]

I think my favourite element of the writing in aftg is how Riko's downfall is utterly, entirely, beautifully self-inflicted.

Riko is power hungry, a glory seeker, jealous, cruel, vindictive and unable to share the spotlight. His worst actions and features come back to haunt him over and over in a way that is *incredibly* satisfying from a readers' perspective.

-Riko breaks Kevin's hand. Kevin leaves to become one of the foxes' best players, training them into a team worthy of finals and bringing them to victory with the game's final point

-Riko moves the Ravens to the southern district, placing his team directly in the path of the team that will eventually beat him

-Riko terrorises Kevin on the Kathy Ferdinand show, angering Neil into taking a stand against him (...which causes Andrew to re-evaluate Neil's worth, which leads to their deal, which leads to Neil staying with the Foxes...and so on)

-Riko kills Seth, who becomes a driving force for members of the team, particularly Alison, to beat the Ravens

-Riko setting Drake on Andrew further angers the Foxes and motivates them to beat him; Aaron in particular.

-This also results in Andrew sobering up sooner than he otherwise would have, arguably making him a stronger player and helping the Foxes reach finals

-Kidnapping Neil over Christmas break and forcing him to play as a backliner gives Neil an intensive course in Raven teamwork, drills, etc. Which Neil then teaches to the Foxes.

-Oh, and my favourite. They force Neil to play as a backliner against Riko. The very move which Neil then uses to block Riko from scoring in the final. Fantastic. Ten out of (jos)ten.

-Incidentally, beating the shit out of Neil and putting him in a different position causes the Ravens to vastly misunderstand/underestimate how Neil's abilities as a player have developed

-Forcing Neil into his natural appearance and helping his father find him leads to the most unifying moment for the Foxes of the entire series; the Foxes rally around Neil, and finally become one functioning, dedicated unit.

-and god, just when it seems like it couldn't get any better; Riko destroys Jean, taking one of his team's best players off the court before the match can even begin

Riko set almost every moment of his team's defeat into motion months before their match even began; the consequences of his cruelty not only weaken the ravens but fashion an opposing team which is stronger, more unified, and more determined than ever to beat Riko.

And it doesn't end with the match; Riko attempts to kill Neil, serving Ichirou all the justification he needs to dispose of his brother on a silver platter.

Riko Moriyama's fate is self-inflicted from start to finish, in the most deeply satisfying way possible.

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Here to provide your regularly scheduled MB fanart 😌🤝😌

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The most iconic thing about Neil is the fact that his #1 character trait is being good at staying alive, and his #2 is being really, really bad at it.

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I fear that “he’ll submit if you tell him to” line was massively misinterpreted, because the point of that line was to show how fucked up the nest/the ravens/Jean’s existence there was, and everyone took it to mean he’s just naturally submissive. We see over and over and over again that he is not. He tells us he is not. Submission was demanded and required if he wanted to survive. The only time Riko lost interest in sending him off to those players was when he stopped fighting back. And I constantly see people say he won’t defend himself because of this, but we have seen it. He picked Lucas up by the throat and threw him on the floor.

I also do not get where this submission to Jeremy idea is coming from considering he argues with him the whole book, and then picks up Jeremy and throws him on the floor. The idea that this relationship will work if one half holds the power and the other half has none is crazy. The idea of taking the leash and handing it from Riko to Jeremy is crazy.

To me, Jean read like a inactive volcano about to blow. He wrecked Neil’s entire dorm with his bare hands. He constantly bites back thoughts of violence, and sometimes, biting them back is not enough. He put it in his contract, because “soon enough his nature would get the best of him”. He is angry and he is about to blow and I really cannot take this interpretation of him as this submissive little thing that the Trojans just push around. The point of this series is to give him back his voice. And if that voice is this angry, I cannot wait to see him snap.

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The way The Monsters™ would all be willing to die or kill for one another with barely a second thought but they physically cannot be in a room together for more than five minutes before they start fighting - absolute peak sibling energy

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me reading straight up pornography: hmm… this one just doesn’t have enough accurate character psychoanalysis to get me off

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me about aaron after following @minyard-05

nothing will change your perspective on a character like someone who is batshit obsessed with them

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Coach Josten

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I have to drug my cat so that we can fly across the country for the holidays and now I’m thinking about Neil and Andrew flying with Sir and King and Andrew feeling comfortable enough with Neil to take anti anxiety medication for flying so Neil is left to shuttle three sleepy babies through the airport

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okay braindump on genderswapped Andreil names.

genderswapped Andreil makes so much sense because they both have such feral lesbian energy, and I've seen pretty consistently that fem!Andrew would be called Andrea but fem!Neil's name tends to vary - for your consideration:

Assuming the fem version of Nathaniel is like Natalie or Natalia, she would never be Nat because Neil isn't Nat or Nate. Nathan could be Natalie and Neil could be Natalia, which means that fem!Neil would actually be Lia.

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Neil: I'm not lying, I swear on my life!

Andrew: I've seen your life, swear on something else.

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andrew minyard character of all time. he's toxic. he doesn't talk to cops. he has an identical twin brother and they hate each other. he made his identical twin brother promise not to have any other friends and then doesn't even talk to him. he might be a misogynist. his only friends are a born-again lesbian who can beat him up, the runaway son of a yakuza-affiliated serial killer, and his therapist. he's a student athlete. he hates sports. he killed his mother. he's a Mean Girl who runs his friend group like a cult. he's a crim major for the bit. he has an eidetic memory. he's petty. he likes to get people gifts. he does coke sometimes but says it doesn't have any effect on him because he has too many mental illnesses. he's the love interest. he doesn't smile. he was right about wwiii. y2k goth. repeatedly risks his life to help people in situations that have absolutely nothing to do with him and says it's out of boredom. when they picked him up from the psych ward he got in the driver's seat and blasted screamo the whole ride back and didn't say a single word to anyone. oh my god he is exactly five feet tall. he's even gay

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It's so satisfying to know that Riko, out of all the people that were supposed to be in the perfect court, was the worst player overall (if the others played at full potential).

Like, we know for a fact he was worse than Kevin, that's explicit.

Then we have Neil, who is like... both an amazing striker AND backliner just by having trained for it for the grand total of like...2 years. He knows both roles and plays them top of the line. He is also always the fastest player on the court, and has enough endurance to play full games... he is so well rounded it's scary.

Andrew is just...out of the league when it comes to ability. He is out of any chart canonically. He just never tries -but when he does? To be able to choose how many shots he wants to let go through, to again play full games and letting only what 16 shots in out of HUNDREDS against the ravens?? He is overpowered, nora gave him depression because if he had the passion to play frfr he'd be court by like 19. No college needed.

Jean is able to be one of the best backliners while playing with broken fingers, broken/bruised ribs, being 2 years younger than everyone else, sleep deprived, tortured...the list goes on. He is still out there blowing everyone out of left field. He is big and coordinated, steady on his feet. And unmovable object. In saner and safer conditions he'll shine so hard the fans will need sunglasses. He's harder to point down as objectively better than Riko but like,, you see my point. Even if they were to be equal players he'd still win in the physique department, making him overall better.

Just. I love this.

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Kevin & Riko actually only met Neil once! Granted, the day they met was fairly significant but still fairly forgiveable to not recognise him. Even Riko only realised it was him after testing Neil's fingerprints.

This does make the stalker binder infinitely funnier though like Neil is soooo feral over this stupid sport.

i know it was neil’s goal to stay hidden but i would be slightly pissed if my childhood friend, who witnessed my father kill a man, and i have kept tabs on for years, even against my mothers judgment, didn’t recognize me when i spent like every waking moment with him for like months

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girls dorm bathroom before the banquet !