#Hiro from MY FIRST STORY

[jpopstreaming]

🆕🎶 「 WILDER (feat. Hiro from MY FIRST STORY) 」 new single by UPSTART, Hiro from MY FIRST STORY is now available worldwide! 🌐 Listen now and discover new sounds from Japan on our weekly updated playlist 🎧 https://spoti.fi/3lgjH73

[portugalisinsa]

#going into the tags hoping i'd see some book reccs but its all discourse ;w;#well i'm not gonna claim these are all highly intellectual works but here's some of my fave adult fantasies#tainted cup by robert jackson bennett#the thief by megan whalen turner#winnowing flame trilogy by jen williams#locked tomb series by tamsym muir#goblin emperor and witness for the dead by katherine addison#a natural history of dragons by marie brennan#the mountain in the sea by Ray Naylor#god killer by hannah kaner#temeraire and scholomance by naomi novik#october daye by seanan mcguire#i'm also getting into t kingfisher books :)#gods of wyrdwood by r j barker was also good#i really need to find more books by non-white authors tho

No babe it’s so cool and hot that you always insist that fantasy books written to meet a 4th graders’ comprehension skills have more complex themes and a greater sense of praxis than anything written for adults

[xenosagaepisodeone]

this is entirely small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but there is a segment in The Dark Truth Behind the Gothic Anime Angel video where the youtuber speculates how the image got from JP to EN internet. in this segment, she says that what likely happened was that the image was uploaded to 2chan (also she mentions that the image was possibly ripped from a game beforehand which is...very obviously incorrect), a western otaku browsing 2chan uploaded it to 4chan followed by someone then uploading it to danbooru....which is such a bizarrely roundabout theory. if this was a piece of midres fan art I'd concede, but it obviously isn't the case. anime and manga may have been dripfed to the west in the aughts but a lot of the online fanfare around anime at this time was spearheaded by people who were independently pursuing their own interests (see: scanalation and doujin translators). while many of the uploads from the earlier years of danbooru aren't properly sourced, it had less to do with uploaders not knowing who the source was (though don't get me wrong, this was still a huge issue in this decade!) and more a product of proper artist sourcing practices not being as prominent of a thing on old internet. I was complaining a while back about a danbooru admin who more or less enabled poor sourcing practices by not doing it properly himself, but if you look through his upload history it's obvious when he was perusing a particular artist's site. the same applies to a lot of the people who had decided to make uploading high res anime girl fan art online a hobby in the aughts. like, hiro suzuhira wasn't obscure back then by any means. she was the artist for shuffle and yosuga no sora. you could easily find her website with a quick google search. the average tween weeb photobucket user probably wasn't culture savvy enough to know about her, but the average booruposter adult who played visual novels and had very strong opinions about english dubs likely did. it's unlikely that the uploader scanned the art himself, but it just makes more sense at the very least to assume that a highres image like Gothic Anime Angel was uploaded by someone who was a fan of her work (especially since his profile contains other scans of her art). I could easily be 100% wrong but the assumption that old internet = 4chan ignores the reality that the old internet wasn't quite that monolithic.

if you go to the original danbooru post that the image was likely scraped from on EN internet, this is the first comment

the moral of the story: girl you cannot be around my age and not knowing your #herstory if you are making youtube videos ‼️‼️‼️

[demonoflight]

So I've heard people are clowning a little bit on Takeru for having written thirteen volumes of Digital World Adventure, the book chronicling his adventures in the Digital World (aptly named, that). "How many adventures did you even have that you have so much to write about?!" they joke affectionately.

But I think we're looking at this the wrong way. It seems to me like Takeru's books are serial novels! You know how light novels have a ton of volumes? That's exactly the kind of thing we're dealing with! Only Takeru is writing a memoir, his life at eight really was just that exciting.

We also have to remember that we HAVE had official Digimon Adventure novels in the real world, written by Kakudou Hiroyuki himself with screenwriter Masaki Hiro! Those too came in three volumes, where they changed things around and truncated a lot of events to fit the format and the target audience. They're very fun, and a lot of the official Adventureverse lore comes from them! So there's precedence for this format to tell the story of the Adventure kids.

So all that to say, I can definitely see Takeru being able to stretch their first adventure to 13 volumes, EASY. The first book of the real life novels covered the first 20 episodes of the anime, but Takeru wouldn't have to speed through the story this way! Unlike the readers of the real life novels, in-universe readers would be encountering the story for the first time, and they'd want all the little details as much as Takeru can divulge them. I can absolutely see him taking a leisurely stroll through the Chosen's first few days on File Island, maybe stopping on a cliffhanger when they discover it IS, in fact, an island? Could maybe even push it a little further to the first encounter with Devimon! He could absolutely make a successful career just releasing a new volume of Digital World Adventure once a year or two.

And they could be ILLUSTRATED. Oh my god they could be illustrated. Imagine that.

[sukunasdirtylaugh]

"forgive me for intruding, but my husband says that the two of you were in an arranged marriage," hiromi's wife speaks softly, "but... that doesn't seem the case now?"

"that's right," you confirm. "we originally married due to... benefits. I met him through my boss and well, since he needed a wife to inherit his wealth and I needed economic stability, it seemed like the case."

"the was sort of what happened with hirmoi and I," his wife speaks, shyly and a bit embarrassed to admit though you don't "I was... a dancer, in the clubs." she says, "hiro was a regular, but he always treated me like no other. turns out, he was also my boss in my other job." a look of surprise flashes your features.

"what did..."

"I was his housecleaner," she says, "I never saw him. I mean, I cleaned his place for nearly 6 months and well... one day, I wanted to be nice and iron his shirt. Iittle did I know it was him walking through the door and I burned myself by accident." she chuckles at the memory, "imagine my surprise seeing my client was also my boss."

the both of you giggle from the table, earning the attention from both of your husbands. hiromi's the first to approach you, walking up behind his wife, hand on her shoulder before he kisses her there, then her cheek, until she turns and pecks her lip. "something funny, my flower?"

"nothing honey," the sound of her voice is angelic to his ears, "I was just telling kento's wife how we met." he hums.

"mm, the club or the resturant?"

"what restaurant?" she giggles and half scolds, "I told you sweetie, we're not using that story."

"it was for our first date." he muses only having eyes for her. you admired them, the way they spoke as if no one was in the room, love apparent in his eyes and you wondered if that was how nanami was for you.

"maybe, but I told her the first time I met you as hiromi and when you met me as me."

"did you also tell her I don't let you touch another iorner after that?"

"not yet."

"well, let me tell her." he muses, "or would you rather?"

"you can tell her,"

"alright," he smiles, turning to you, "ever since then, I have not had her touch a single ironer since. the only hot thing she's allowed to touch is me." suddenly, his wife barks a laugh, playfully punching his arm making the whole group laugh, including nanami who stands fondly behind you, hand on your shoulder.

"how many drinks did you have, hm?" she teases him and smiles, then turns to nanami, "you got him drunk on purpose, didn't you?"

your husband smiles and shrugs sheepish. almost as if caught off guard. "it doesn't take a man sober or drunk to know he's in love with his wife." he says, shortly before pressing a kiss to your cheek. "wanna get out of here?" he whispers against your ear.

[bomber-grl]

Hiiii! Can I make a Hiro hc with an s/o who can talk to/see spirits??? Like, I had this idea on Halloween but my phone was broken

(Sorry if it sounds stupid 😔)

Hiro Hamada x reader who can see/talk to spirits!

Pairing(s): Hiro Hamada x Gn!Reader

A/n: this isn’t stupid at all! Have some more confidence my friend 😭

Lil bro is a person of science and is definitely skeptical of your claims when you tell him

Not that he doesn’t believe you, because he really wants to but still doubting it

Also think it’s noteworthy to mention that he probably likes ghost stories and stuff so he’d also be intrigued

He’s half and half in terms of believing you until one day that you’re over at his room

You keep staring at the corner of his room and just squinting at it, while also trying to ignore whatever was there altogether??

To say he was confused was a severe understatement and soon enough he couldn’t take the curiosity and just asked you

Hiro liked ghost stories sure, though they never really scared him

But for some reason, when you told him you saw some creepy ass figure that gave dark vibes?

Yea goosebumps appeared all over his arms and he couldn’t deny the chill that went down his spine

For the first time ever he was actually spooked out and became sort of paranoid, he even asked if you’d wanna chill downstairs near Cass instead 😭💀

After that he doesn’t really have an opinion or view on your abilities

Just that it creeps him out a bit and that’s all there is to it

Until, in a moment of vulnerability, he asks if you’ve ever seen any spirits around him

He isn’t the type to believe in spirits (despite being scared whenever you mention seeing any) but there’s some hope and maybe even fear of finding out if he’s still around

If you tell him that he doesn’t have any, he’ll be disappointed despite telling himself that it wasn’t likely

He just couldn’t help but feel hopeful

(But also relieved in case what he was doing with his life- albeit not bad- wasn’t great)

Yknow how I said he gets scared if you point any out at his house? Well he’s the exact opposite when you’re at public places

He’ll ask especially if you pass a graveyard and the answer is almost always, yes

Sometimes it’s fun to mess with him

I mean, he’s nice most times but others he can be kind of sassy to an annoying extent

So just imagine you’re walking back home from an outing and you stop in the middle of the sidewalk.

Hiro is so confused and asks what’s up but then you whisper very lowly about how there’s a spirt attached to him and following you guys home

Yea he’ll lose his shit

Other times he’s just walking into the lab and sees you chilling there only to see you talking to something (rather someone) that isn’t there

That’s actually how he found out of your little gift (?) in the first place

Likely saw you yapping away to just pure air and snuck up on you

Full on asks if you’re hallucinating and then it just comes out that you’re talking to a spirit

Definitely side eyes you at first but with the experiences that he witnesses next, there’s really no point

Also not a great thing to admit if you’re somewhere he spends a lot of his time in because he will be paranoid and get self conscious from then on

If you’re friends(?) with some of the spirits so much so that they become a regular in your and Hiros lives then Hiro will be accustomed to it

…from a distance

He likely doesn’t tell anyone else of your thing even if you don’t care because he knows people will think you’re both crazy and he’d rather just not deal with that

[lanalaynetalks]

Tenrou Island is one of my favorite arcs! I love this arc so much. I think this is possibly a controversial take. I don’t know. My favorite thing about shows is learning more about systems in the world. I think it’s just so interesting to see how wizards become s-class. This is going to be long. I am so sorry I love this arc so much. It’s a lot of Cana… I ADORE CANA. Plus a lot of Levy and Gajeel! I just think this arc features so many fan favorite characters so well. This is also before The Thunder Legon was nerfed so they have some cool moments. Just I love this arc so much!

1. I do think it’s crazy that they really just throw us into the arc with no filler episodes/arc between. I think this is one of the only arcs that doesn’t have filler episodes before or a filler arc.

2. Fairy Tail having a sacred place implies that other guilds do as well.

3. Something I find weird about S-Class wizards is why does the title follow you from one guild to another. Juvia and Gajeel were S-Class in Phantom Lord, but not Fairy Tail.

4. Silly thing time! Hiro Mashima trying to put all the main characters and main side characters on the island.

5. Lisanna and Juvia. I wish we kept seeing them as friends.

6. Evergreen and Elfman are one of my favorite ships and should be a main ship. It should be the big 5 instead of big 4. They were more together by the end than any of the other ships! I LOVE THEM!

7. Oh Mest… I miss your silly personality. Also how did he go from ok looking, to hot, to Nastu wannabe. I will be mourning when we see hot Mest for the last time.

8. Why did Makarov keep picking Cana? It seems a little cruel.

9. First Mavis mentioned. Mavis is one of my favorite characters of all time. I love her so much. Fairy Tail Zero is so good and made me love her more.

10. While pacing was my biggest issue for the last two arcs I feel like this is when the show found its pace. Without this arc the grand magic games would have not been as good as it was. I said what I said!

11. If I walked into the route and saw it was Mira I would have just walked away. Mirajane scares me the most out of all characters in the show.

12. I’m going to say it! I ship Lily and Carla! I said what I said!

13. I never got why Hades was so obsessed with Zeref. Because Zeref literally taught him how to use magic. I also wish we got more info on why he turned evil. It’s hard for to believe e he would attack Fairy Tail because he was a founder and was like best friends with Mavis. Him being Precht makes no sense because we never get a full explanation on how he turned evil other than he basically accidentally went down the alt right pipeline

14. I will never get over the Iron with a heart in the O. When I saw it for the first time I screamed and I still scream and fangirl over it!

15. Makarov talking Gajeel into joining Fairy Tail will forever be one of my favorite Gajeel scenes.

16. This arc is really when we start seeing Wendy come into her character and she becomes less of just the little kid to a true character.

17. It’s heavily implied you can’t say no to being Fairy Tail’s guild master. We see Makarov be like lol no and Precht being like lol too bad. Then we see Guildarts being like lol no and Makarov being like lol too bad! Then we see Guildarts being like lol as master you are now master again! Like can they really not say no?

18. I wish we could see Makarov in his prime. I know there has been discussion about how the series is going to continue. I don’t want next generation Fairy Tail I want to see old generation Fairy Tail. I want to see Makarov and his old team beating people up. I want to see Precht as guild master. Or even early days of Makarov being guild master! I would even be ok if it was like Fairy Tail Zero where it was a one arc story.

19. I do have a theory that Precht made Fairy Law. I don’t think it’s stated ever that Mavis made all the grand fairy spells but I maybe wrong. So that’s how he was able to make Grimoire Law.

20. Another theory I have is that Precht took care of Makarov after Yuri’s death.

21. Now this is an out there theory. I know it. I believe that Yuri called Laxus back to the island. HEAR ME OUT! We know that some things just happen in Fairy Tail especially with the living and the dead. Yuri promised to always protect Mavis also his son was in danger. His legacy (Fairy Tail) was in danger. I also think that it could have been Mavis, but I think it’s more poetic coming from Yuri.

22. Makarov saying it’s up to his successor and us being shown Laxus… I am going to call it right now. The end of 100 year quest we will be seeing Laxus becoming master. This would be a perfect way to end his character. This is not the post to get into it, but ya that’s my prediction.

23. God Slayers… oh the magic that was sort of forgotten about. How sad.

24. I will die on this hill. Laxus should have been the Lightning God Slayer. This would had been able to connect him, Ivan and Hades together in a perfect way.

25. This arc also has some of my favorite speeches.

26. One thing about me is I am absolutely sat every time Mirajane transforms.

27. Elfgreen is such an underrated ship.

28. I love Evergreen so much.

29. Capricorn is cool! I really like him even if he isn’t used enough. I love him! Probably second favorite spirit. First is Aquarius because I am an Aquarius and she is just awesome.

30. Favorite Juvia moment is when Meredy said she was wanting to kill Gray.

31. Also wow the show that has shown over and over again to become more powerful is to channel your emotions is showing how emotions makes people more powerful. I really don’t get why people give Fairy Tail so much hate using the power of friendship. It’s almost like we are shown over and over again that is literally how it works. More emotion = more power. It also makes me more mad now knowing the show was created because Hiro Mashima was lonely.

32. One of my favorite things to come out of this arc is Juvia and Meredy’s friendship.

33. Honestly Juvia vs Meredy is my favorite Juvia fight.

34. Cana my love. We both have daddy issues. She just like me for real!

35. Me realizing I’ve misspelled Gildarts name this whole time… oops

36. Seeing Cana’s mom’s will and seeing Cana’s cards being around it. I think her mom also used card magic.

37. Can we talk about how Cana was defeated by Laxus in her first S-Class trial. We don’t talk about this enough!

38. I truely believe that any minor inconvenience Cana threatens to use Fairy Glitter.

39. Fairy Tail having grand spells implies that other guild have grand spells

40. Rip thunder legion…. They aren’t dead they just get hella nerfed after this arc. Well more than they already were after the battle of fairy tail.

41. One thing about Gray is going to try to cast ice shell.

42. I love Ultear so much. She is one of my favorite villains.

43. Lily being scared of thunder and lightning. Adorable. I love him.

44. I do think Hades being a founder was added later on because when he revealed he was the second guild master he didn’t mention being a founder and I think that’s something that would have been mentioned.

45. LAXUS IS BACK BABY! ONE THING ABOUT LAXUS HE KNOWS HOW TO MAKE AN ENTRANCE!

46. We are so spoiled in this arc. We got so much of side characters showing their skills.

47. So Nastu just got the flame lighting power. Honestly don’t understand how it worked! But I don’t care because it’s cool! Wanna know what’s not cool? The fact that Wendy is the only 1st generation dragon slayer to not get an extra dragon slayer element. I hope by the end of 100 year quest she gets something. I want cobra to give her poison. Because that would be badass.

48. The exceed side mission is so adorable and goofy. I LOVE IT.

49. To think of Hades just kept his Fairy Tail emblem he would have been able to win the final fight because the tree was restore

50. People say it’s a plot hole that Ultear was able to restore the tree because she said she can’t use her magic on living things, but I think it was just bad phrasing and really it’s like humans and animals she can’t us her magic on.

51. The Laxus ship that makes the most sense to me is that him and the thunder legion are just a poly relationship. Yes Elfman is apart of this.

52. Another reason why I don’t think Hades was always supposed to be a founder of Fairy Tail is because how did he not recognize Zeref as the man who taught him magic?

53. I love Gildarts and Cana so much! I know if Cana told him from the start he would have stopped going on his long jobs to take care of her. He is such a girl dad.

54. Everyone begging Makarov to let them stay and fight is another moment that makes me cry every time. Honestly the whole episode does.

55. Most iconic scene in Fairy Tail is them holding hands and no one can change my mind.

56. Mavis protecting her guild. Her babies! I love her. The foreshadowing of fairy sphere being more powerful than Acnologia.

Tenrou Island is one of the best arcs. It is also a soft reboot of the show. I can’t wait for the grand magic games. I don’t know if I’ll watch the clock arc. I haven’t watched it in years. It is always a skip for me because I want to get to the grand magic games. I know I missed a lot during this arc and forgot to write things down. I watch the show while working on my school work. I love talking about Fairy Tail so don’t be shy send me things! Thank you for reading me fan girling over my favorite piece of media! The grand magic games post will likely be multiple parts because I think it’s peak Fairy Tail.

[qinduang]

24 for 2024 — BL Series Wrapped

Despite my lack of posting and writing last year, I still spent so much time watching series. Honestly, more time than the time I spent working on several final paper. So, here's a semi-comprehensive summary of what I watched and enjoyed.

I watched 24 shows in 2024. Not including Your Sky, because it's on-going.

3 from South Korea. 4 from Thailand. 17 from Japan.

Released in 2024

Show titles and the little notes I wrote while being half asleep.

I Hear the Sunspot

Kouhei fell first for hungry boy Taichi.

Friends-to-lovers in my Japanese BL? Fork found in kitchen!

Kouhei has an auditory impairment, so Taichi (tries) to help him with his studies.

Taichi ultimately fails, but wins Kouhei's heart anyway.

Cosmetic Playlover

Mamiya works hard (serious) but Sahashi works harder (romantic).

Domestic fluff.

Men in a women dominated workplace.

Is this considered an office romance?

Perfect Propose

Burnt out office worker (Hiro) stumbles upon a younger man (Kai) who claims to be his fiancé.

Forced proximity if you squint.

Flirty aaah Kai.

Takara's Treasure

Grumpy Takara/Sunshine Taishin/Mountains

"Is it true that gay people exist?" - Taishin probably.

Asexual characters (Source: Me)

Japan presents its favorite "senior/junior" trope.

It's 25:00, In Akasaka

Yuki wants to be a star, so he acts in a BL show with super star Asami.

Oh, they also know each other from college.

Sensual melodrama with a fake-dating trope.

Love is Like a Poison

Lawyer Ryoma thinks he's in a legal drama when he's actually in a BL.

Sexy Lawyer x Sexy Scammer = Fluffy Downbad Boyfriends!

Haruto is Ryo's husband, but is also my wife (crime of the century).

Well-written characters for a well-written story.

Happy of the End

"Fuck it. Guess we both ain't shit." - Haoren and Chihiro

They were, in fact, not happy at all.

Unethical use of sex toys.

Read warnings before watching.

My Love Mix-Up (Thai)

A Japanese culture incorporated in Thailand made possible by making Mudmee half Japanese.

Just confused boys (Atom and Kongthap) falling in love.

Century of Love

Grandpa San waits a hundred years for his wife to be reborn only to find out that her reincarnation is a boy (Wee).

Grandpa learns what "gay" is and fell deeply in love with his husband.

Love Sea

Rich novelist Tongrak buys flirty island boy Mahasamut and brings him to Bangkok.

Good sound design in my Me Mind drama? A treat!

Would not recommend to everybody, but if you're into a sexy romance show, then this one is for you.

It has enemies-to-lovers, pet play, master-servant dynamic, rich boy x poor boy fantasy, falling in love, age-gap, and FortPeat.

My Stand-In

Joe gets transmigrated to the body of another Joe and fatefully bumped into his crazy ex-boyfriend Ming.

A BL with the plot of a telenovela.

Let go of your morals for this.

Joji's "Glimpse of Us" plays in the background.

A Time of Fever

Donghee's actor portrayed his role as someone who wishes that Hotae isn't gay to protect him from what he went through.

A coming-of-age story of self-discovery told through beautiful mis-en-scene.

Love for Love's Sake

Isekai in my BL?! Sign me up!

Myungha is given another chance to live in a game created by god himself.

Fictional character Yeowoo suddenly finds himself a protective clingy senior.

Gay, mental illness, and actors who looks like Soobin.

Released in Previous Years

More shows and more notes written from dreamland.

A Man Who Defies the World of BL (2021)

Straight man (Mobu) gets isekaied to a BL world.

The title is the story.

A world where homosexuality is the norm, and heterosexuality is unconventional.

Minato's Laundromat S1 (2022)

Age-gap nobody asked for.

High school boy (Shintaro) falls insanely in love with laundromat owner (Akira).

This is textbook BL live-adaptation.

Takara-kun to Amagi-kun (2022)

Sweet boys Takara and Amagi navigate their relationship in high school.

Grumpy x Sunshine trope and Popular x Nobody trope

They want each other so baaaad!

God's Favor (2022)

Yashiro dies after confessing to his childhood friend Kenta, but transmigrated as Kagura by choice.

Iconic line: "Why would you come back to me as a woman?"

Kagura and Rin yuri.

Everyone is bisexual.

My Beautiful Man S1 (2021)

Me (Hira) and the bad bitch (Kiyoi) I pulled by being autistic.

Whipping boy trope.

How not to start a relationship: see your partner as a god.

Finger sucking in my BL again.

My Beautiful Man S2 (2023)

"There is no way that my boyfriend who makes love to me every night actually loves me!" - Hira about Kiyoi

They match each other's freak.

Established relationship and domestic fluff.

My Beautiful Man: Eternal (2023)

Hira finds other (healthy) interests besides Kiyoi.

Celebrity x Photographer

Life changing franchise with an actor who looks like Beomgyu.

Became the Main Role of a BL Drama (2023)

Celebrity Yuichiro and former child-actor Hajime cohabitate for a BL series.

Freak x Anxious Boy

My Personal Weatherman (2023)

Weatherman Segasaki successfully pavloving his stay-at-home boyfriend Yoh into getting horny when the sun comes out.

Yoh being too blind to see just how much Segasaki is in love with him.

The exploration of Japanese couple dynamics and "amae."

I Cannot Reach You (2023)

Yamato is in love with his childhood friend Kakeru.

Low stake problems presented as high stake problems.

Yearning and eager kisses in my BL? Aaah childhood friends-to-lovers.

Yamato has the prettiest eyes!

Sing My Crush (2023)

Everyone knows that Baram and Hantae are married except them.

Best friends to soulmates to housemates to lovers (finally)

Hantae realizes that he's gay after acting upon it.

Singing in my BL as usual.

To wrap-up this comprehensive summary, I'm rewarding certain shows with special awards, because it's so much fun that way.

Best Writing

Love is Like a Poison (2024) - Ryoma's narration gave the show so much personality, but the most commendable about this show was how it kept getting better and better. The ending was perfect, because it provided the audience with continuity while simultaneously tying all the loose ends. It was not greedy! It understood what the show needed, especially for Haruto's character.

Love for Love's Sake (2024) - The concept of isekai is not new, but this show added its own twists to made it one of a kind. There were great choices made in this. It knew the perfect time to reveal information that would greatly benefit the narrative. Not only that, the show also managed to surprise me by being a mental health advocate. A little fact, this had one of they saddest break-up scenes I've seen last year.

Honorable Mention: My Beautiful Man S1 (2021) - The show provided me so much space for thinking, wondering, appreciating, and understanding of Hira and Kiyoi's relationship. The story had conflicts unique to the characters, and it was overall, so literary. The monologues were my favorite part along with the switching of point-of-views.

Most Beautiful Mis-En-Scene

A Time of Fever (2024) - This show bathed in sunlight! The yellows and oranges are so beautiful, so fitting for the coming-of-age theme, and so perfect for a prequel that's supposed to tell a story of the past. Every location is well-lived. They don't feel like sets, but real places. The camera work is perfect! Each frame is deliberate. There is a quality of intruding that makes all the scenes between Hotae and Donghee so raw. It's just an overall eyecandy.

Honorable Mention: Love for Love's Sake (2024) - The show has one of the best camera works on this list, but I did find it repetitive. Everything else is so pretty though.

Best Scene

Hira's Self-Pleasuring Scene in Episode 1 of My Beautiful Man (2021) - Hear me out! This scene surprised me, almost appalled me, so much. However, after rewatching the show 4 times at least, I grew a profound appreciation for the scene in connection to Hedonism. Hira wasn't even touching himself! He's merely looking at Kiyoi's face and thinking about him. I'll be talking more about it in a post one day, but you've got to give me a chance first.

Haoren and Chihiro's "first kiss" on the boat in Happy of the End (2024) - Well, something about them going on a date, kissing for the "first time," and Haoren telling Chihiro he "wants to die," altered something in my brain. The vulnerability was so loud—I swear I can peek into Haoren's soul if I looked into his eyes long enough. I've never experienced a scene like this before.

Best Official Soundtrack

Re-Move On by Gemini and Fourth - The impact of this OST is undeniable. Not only that, this song is so good! I'm glad they kept the streak of good songs since My School President.

geometric by osage - This song genuinely fit the feeling of Love is Like a Poison, and the sound directors perfectly knew when to play the song at the end. I genuinely see the show flash before my eyes whenever I listen to this song. It sounds like the ending of an adventure. Too bad, it's not talked about enough.

Other technical awards will be added in future lists once I get better at my production classes. Best editing, best script, best score, and everything else are way out of my expertise. I'm afraid I'll have to pass on this first. Here are categories created without much logic, just instincts:

Certificate of Appreciation for Better Sound Design

Love Sea (2024) - After the hell my ears went through in Love in the Air, the company finally improving the audio equipment, and doing a better job at editing the recordings. Listen, it's not perfect, but it's definitely better. Hearing Tongrak and Mahasamut despite the harsh winds, and the lack of actors accidentally touching the microphone again made my ears so happy.

Certificate of Appreciation for Prettiest Kiss

Takara's Treasure (2024) - I've seen better and stronger kisses, but the way Takara kisses Taishin is just so beautiful. They are pretty kissers—visually pleasing lip-lockers. You can almost feel how soft their kiss is through the skin.

Certificate of Appreciation for Cutest Characters

I Hear the Sunspot (2024) - I really love watching Kouhei and Taichi individually the most. They interact with their environment delicately, full of care, understanding, and full of kindness. Both Kouhei and Taichi are very big characters, in my opinion, that's why the show somehow felt underwhelming, because I feel like there were so many unexplored and underexplored areas in their stories. I'm in dire need of a season 2.

Overall Best Show in 2024

Love for Love's Sake (2024) - I only have feelings about this show, not thoughts. The writing, cinematography, acting, chemistry, editing, and message won me over. It's one of those shows that you think about for so long after watching it. If I loved it any less, I might be able to talk about it more.

Watching in 2025

I literally got a iQIYI subscription for Your Sky. I'm also watching Perfect 10 Liners, because nobody told me it's so funny and cute!

I'm looking forward to Ticket to Heaven and Love You, Teacher this year. I hope they meet my expectations, because they both look so promising.

[pain-in-the-butler]

Out of curiosity…if Ono is your third fav Seb. What’s your Offical Sebastian Ranking™️?

Just as with the ask about the Anime Expo panel, it's fortunate for me that someone reached out, because I was thinking of making this a post on my own eventually someday anyway. What follows might be more information on my opinions of Sebastian than you care to have, so apologies in advance. Let's count down from worst to best:

6. Hiro Mizushima from Black Butler (2014)

There's a reason no one talks about this movie. It's because it sucks, and somehow I feel I can't really blame Mizushima for his performance, but... it is still a mixture of weird and unmemorable. That hairstyle does him no favors either, but maybe the fact that I find him a little bit frightening to look at should give him points rather than detract them. Off-screen, he looks like a completely normal man; somehow the film's efforts to make him a sexy butler were unfortunately funneled into making him unnerving and unappealing. And the movie is two entire hours long.

There's a lot I've deleted from my memory about the Black Butler live action film, but that lack of memory seems a sign that he should sit in dead last. Whether he's acting like a total weirdo or actually successfully impressing me, Sebastian should never be a forgettable character, and all I can think when I consider Mizushima's performance is that I never need to see it again.

5. Yuya Matsushita from That Butler, Friendship, The Most Beautiful DEATH in the World, and the first run of Lycoris that Blazes the Earth

I know some people may find this placement to be blasphemous, but honestly, the only thing I really like about Yuya's Sebastian is his singing voice, and even then I'm not that wild about it. It's been a few years since I watched TMBDITW, so it's not super crisp in my mind, but I will give him some recognition as an early Sebastian who still had little material to work with. He probably had to do some of his own legwork to adapt the character to the stage and to the original stories he was expected to act in. That can't be easy, and it makes sense that his Sebastian would be one that had to stand somewhat independent from the canon. I also appreciate that he is playing Sebastian with purpose behind his actions and not a sexyman who just serves whatever convenient purpose the narrative dictates, like Mizushima's Seb.

With that caveat out of the way, I still don't like his Sebastian portrayal. It's clear Yuya really drummed up the "I'm no one but I can become anyone" aspect of Sebastian. He can invent personas that suit the situation, like when he decides to seduce Undertaker, but as soon as the problem is solved, he reverts back to being robotic and unsmiling. You get the feeling that he's rather cold and calculating and that he is only interested in doing things that will earn him Ciel's soul. I didn't watch with subtitles, so perhaps that evaluation is misplaced, but his mannerisms dictated that energy to me.

Also, I can't get behind the sort of sexual and romantic tones that sometimes felt present, especially when real children were involved. It will always taint his work for me. There's one song where he and Ciel look at each other the entire time and it's three and a half minutes long but it felt like a year. I wanted to crawl out of my skin because it was so horrifically awkward. Stick this man in fifth.

4. Toshiki Tateishi from The Public School's Secret

So I went into this musical fully prepared to hate Toshiki's performance, considering the act he was following, and... I thought it was actually pretty decent. When I think of Sebastian in the Weston arc, I think of the "sexy professor" angle Yana kept trying to push, and I was worried Toshiki would play into that, especially considering Ciel was being portrayed by a legal adult onstage for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised! That's not what happened at all.

Though likely unintended, I would say Toshiki gives off a rather maternal vibe, behaving more like Seb does in memes: kind of silly, kind of fussy, an overworked single mother who cares for her boy. Toshiki's Sebastian was very attentive of Ciel. He was frequently pleased with his kid's impish nature and didn't seem that annoyed to be taking on extra tasks, only complaining lightly, "Even though I have things to do too!" at the end of the chores song. When Ciel came up with a plan to foil Maurice, Toshiki seemed excited to praise him and gratified to help. He was like Sebastian Lite, only a bit insidious at times, mainly the ever-attentive helper.

To me, it's the first time one of the musicals has made Sebastian feel like a supporting character rather than the driving force behind the story. I prefer when he and Ciel are both treated evenly as protagonists, but I hate it when it's All About Him. I think Toshiki's performance has a good heart and he made me laugh at times. He's not quite canon Sebastian, but I like him. I trust him not to eat the sonboy just yet. Mostly.

3. Daisuke Ono from the Japanese dub of the anime

Daisuke Ono was a part of my first experience with Black Butler, so there's something about his voice that feels like it's just right for Sebastian. And it kind of is. It's a really flexible voice, and one that is clearly giving a performance when you listen to him. He also infuses his dialogue with what sounds to me like inherent smugness, which I think suits Sebastian perfectly. Ono's performance is the most self-satisfied in nature. It makes you think of a well-fed cat licking its chops while it considers its next meal.

His voice is not sexy to me, but I can see why people find it to be. At the same time, Ono isn't afraid to give Sebastian different inflections, even ones that some might consider too embarrassing or OOC for Seb. He's a veteran voice actor and he knows how to do whatever is requested of him. Sebastian treats his career just the same: he too will do essentially whatever Ciel requires. I think Ono is a natural match is what I'm saying, especially having now seen him in person and observing the way he works a crowd so effortlessly.

All that said... Ono's Sebastian is perfect. I don't mean that as a compliment: I mean he's too lacking in flaws. Sure, he has the big flaw (okay with killing a child) but he isn't really giving "silly idiot." Ono's Sebastian is the one the girlies write about in their self-insert fiction. And for the first two seasons, that's kind of who he was supposed to be, so fine. But even when he has silly or idiotic moments, it doesn't feel quite authentic, if that makes sense? I think to Ono, Sebastian's stupid mistakes are just a fluke, quickly corrected. It doesn't feel like they're a fundamental part of who his Sebastian is.

If you consider this nitpicking, you're right! The next two Sebastians are just that good. I still consider Daisuke Ono to be a very talented and accurately-portrayed Sebastian.

2. J. Michael Tatum from the English dub of the anime

While it's possible that I pick up on more nuance in Tatum's performance because he's the only one here who speaks the same language as me, how fortunate we are to have him doing Seb's English voice. He might not actually have a real British accent, but he's just too charming not to love. To me, he has all the vocal command of Ono but is more candid in his delivery. Ono may be Sebastian the perfectionist and Sebastian the performer, but Tatum is Sebastian the butler, well settled and confident in his human role.

I really appreciate the ways you can hear Tatum's voice change notably depending on Sebastian's emotions. This is especially prominent in Book of Atlantic during the flashback sequences: an annoyed Sebastian is an entirely different sounding dude than when he's being cunning, and again when he's being subservient. And he really does have this very silky, ASMR-ass way of speaking that suits Sebastian to a T. It's inherently convincing.

And more to my own interests, Tatum's voice for Sebastian has a really paternal nature to it, and I like that. I think it adds to the complexity of Sebastian's role in Ciel's life when you can hear this caring quality in the voice of a demon that will one day kill the child he works for. He can also be snipped and punctual, and then he can be gentle and reassuring, all in the same scene. And he can be scary too... and I'm super looking forward to hearing how this plays out during season 5.

To compare him to Ono again, I think Tatum knows Sebastian can be an idiot at times, but that quality still takes a backseat to the suaveness. He's almost perfect. And I probably would even say he is perfect, if we hadn't seen perfection itself. As he is, I think Tatum is an excellent voice actor for Sebastian, and I'm grateful that we have him in the position that we do.

1. Yuta Furukawa from the second run of Lycoris that Blazes the Earth, Noah's Ark Circus, and Tango on the Campania

Yuta Furukawa. What a legend. What an icon. This is where I would say "he isn't just playing Sebastian, he is Sebastian," but Furukawa is even more than that. He's what Sebastian should be. And that's not just me being rude to Yana. Yana has flat-out said that Yuta knows Sebastian better than she does herself. She's right.

If you have yet to see Yuta perform, then congratulations: you're in for a treat. What I wouldn't give to forget my first watch of Tango on the Campania and relive that magic all over again. Yuta knows who Sebastian is with every fiber of his being. And the fact that you see him over the course of three plays means you get to witness for yourself how his Sebastian goes from being a smirking demon who lives to impress, to a creature who understands fear, hardship, and pain. And yet you still wonder: is he really learning and growing after all? Or am I too being tricked by this suave being who appears to be emotionally moved?

I'm also proud to report that Yuta plays Sebastian as a true idiot. He says silly things, he behaves in silly ways! He's embarrassing enough to make Ciel roll his eyes, he uses his brawn before his brain, and he's often surprised enough to gasp. He's not afraid to look impressed or astounded or even frightened: he wears his emotions on his sleeves, but he can hide them just as quickly. This Sebastian lives for attention from humans, but what he loves even more is learning from them — perhaps so he can become a better hunter, perhaps so he can become a better scholar. He leaves you wondering which in the most intriguing way.

And I may be biased, but Yuta to me is the most paternal of all the Sebastians. Whether or not a fatherly nature is intended, I'm at least happy to report that his Sebastian is not one romantically inclined towards Ciel. His coworker is an actual child, so there's no reason that should be an acceptable angle anyway, but it really shows in all the little ways he primps at and supports Ciel on-stage. His rapport with Reo is especially adorable and shines through in their every scene.

Not to mention, he's so endlessly entertaining to watch. He has legs for days and he can fuckin groove. He may be playing a demon but he has the voice of an angel. If I called him to my house, he'd probably fix my leaky shower. What can't this gift of a man do??

I could literally go on and on and on for paragraphs. Yana is just the same. We all love Yuta Furukawa, the only Sebastian who is more Sebastian than Sebastian and probably the best thing, in my humble opinion, to come out of the Kuroshitsuji franchise. Thank you, based Yunbastian. We did nothing to deserve you.

[breekento]

hello! I love your fics on Higuruma on AO3! wanted to ask if you take any requests for Prisoner!Higuruma who survives culling games and turns himself in jail, but reader regularly visits him and waits for his release ?🥹 A bit of angst but fluff at the end please 💞

thank you for being my first fic request! I probably won’t write these as long as my fics on AO3 because it would take me months lol! But these are fun writing practices for me!

(wc: 1.6k, no smut, just pain and fluff)

“How are you sleeping, doll? Are you getting everything you need?” His voice crackles through the phone.

Your fingers tremble, squeezing the phone so tightly you were surprised it didn’t crumble in your grasp. “I guess so,” you reply in a small voice.

“I don’t like the sound of that, baby.”

You knew better than to lie, he was intelligent and ever observant of every hitch or quirk in your voice. “I just miss you, Hiro,” you say shakily.

He sighs deeply on the other line. “I miss you, too, doll. More than you can ever know. You’re still coming to see me tomorrow, right? I need to see that beautiful face.”

“Of, course.” How could you forget? It has become your weekly routine. Every week, the night before your visits with Hiromi, tossing hangers draped in clothes over your head in search of the perfect outfit. Open toed, too short, mesh, crop top. At some point you would need to go shopping for appropriate clothes to visit your boyfriend in prison but for whatever reason, it felt as if you were accepting defeat.

You knew very little of Hiromi’s mysterious work-life and he liked to keep it that way. The world of sorcery was foreign to you and your knowledge was shallow. Hence, the ringing in your ears, the numb feeling on your fingertips as your brain struggled to connect the dots on that day.

“I just don’t understand why you’re doing this to me, Hiro,” your voice was raspy, tears flowing down your face as you followed him out of the door.

“I can’t tell you,” he says, cold and distant as if he were desperately trying to disconnect from the harsh world around him.

“Look,” his voice is softer. His hands cup your face, lip distorted and eyebrows twisted upward in agony. “I’ve done bad, bad things. I can’t live with myself like this. You don’t want me here.”

“B-but how do you know? You don’t know,” you fumble over your words.

“I’ll be gone for a while, doll,” his forehead pressed against yours. At that moment, it felt doable. How long? Why? What have you done? You never asked, worried that you wouldn’t accept the answer.

Years had passed and it was doable. Not short of late nights, curled under the covers, fingers searching for the smell of his cologne and hair gel. Elbow stretched as far as you could reach, hand fumbling for the zipper on the back of your dress. Shit, if Hiromi was just here. Small tasks felt big.

Sitting behind your desk, mindlessly searching through your emails as a thinly faced coworker pops her head over the cubicle. “Are you going to the office pot-luck tonight?” She beams.

“Oh,” you jump in your seat. “I have plans.”

She frowns, resting her head on the half-wall. “You never do anything.”

You shrug, looking toward your computer screen. Explaining that you’re visiting your prison boyfriend was not something you cared to delve into with a superficial level of coworker.

The clock strikes 5:00pm and you are your own version of Cinderella, tossing your purse over your shoulder and striding towards the door. Only in this story, you weren’t running away from the probability of your carriage turning into a pumpkin. You were running toward your murderer of a boyfriend, clinging to that 30 minutes of quality time.

It couldn’t have been Hiromi. Not your Hiromi. The Hiromi who stayed awake late at night, holding your body close as it ached on your monthly. The Hiromi with tender fingers that grazed your skin covered in bubbles as you leaned against his skin as warm water poured over the two of you. The Hiromi who replaced the fresh flowers on your dining table every week, knowing you loved the scent. He couldn’t have been a killer. Surely it was for a reason. Was there such a reason?

“I’m here for Hiromi Higuruma,” you say through the window.

The guard’s eyes flicker to yours. Nodding before lifting the phone to her ear. Taking your cue, you sit in the waiting chair. Your legs bounce in anxiety, it never got easier.

The door swings open, a large guard standing in the doorway. Gathering your things, you walk toward the room. The room you knew too well. The tension in the air dissipates as the tall, dark-haired man stands before you. Even in this state, he was strikingly handsome. His hair, slicked back with strands falling forward onto his brow. His lips curl into a smile, eyes twinkling at the sight of you. His orange jump-suit hangs off of his body, wrists clasped together by handcuffs.

“There she is. My beautiful girl,” he purrs as you join him at the large table. It was just the two of you, and the guards that lined the perimeter. How romantic.

In his usual gentleman fashion, he waits for you to find your seat before sitting down himself. You adjust in your seat, face heating up as you scan his face.

“I missed you,” you say bashfully under his intense gaze.

“God. You get more beautiful every time I see you.”

You lean against the table, propping your head on your hands, “When are you ever going to get out of this place?”

“Funny you should say that,” he says with a grin. Your eyes widen, lifting yourself off of the table. “I have a date.”

Your mouth dries. “A-a date?”

“Doll, I’ve been here for 6 years. In a few months, they’re letting me out early for good behavior. Well, parole,” he says with a grin.

You stand from your seat, jaw slack and eyes rapid fire scanning his expression for any sign of a joke. “Y-you’re coming home?”

His eyes soften, looking up at you with those gorgeous sleepy eyes. “I’m going home, baby.”

Every muscle in your body wanted to lunge forward, wrapping your arms around his neck and tackling him to the ground. You haven’t even touched the man in years. You opt for covering your mouth with your hand.

“Keep holding on for just a few more months, doll. I’ll be home before you know it,” his eyes are kind.

“15 minutes,” the voice from the guard echoes throughout the empty room.

“My life here is boring. Tell me about yours. How’s work? How’s the house?”

He had truly set you up for success. You stayed in his home, completely paid for and taken care of by him. You didn’t have to work but you feared insanity spending your days alone in his large house. Brushing your teeth and watching his, dry and unused black toothbrush beside yours. His loafers that sit in the doorway, unworn and clean.

“Work is boring. They had a potluck tonight. My boss somehow thinks I’m the biggest idiot in the world while also piling more on my workload,” you say. It felt silly to complain about your mundane work tasks while he lived here. But he hung on your every word, soaking in the way your lips curled and eyes creased.

“Oh and I spent hours getting rid of weeds last weekend. The second you’re out of this place, that’s your job,” you say with narrow eyes.

He chuckles, leaning forward in his seat, “It will be my pleasure, baby.”

“It’s time,” the guard says. Each week, shattering your heart little by little. You stand, unable to stop the tears welling in your eyes.

“Don’t cry, darling. Not much longer. Just stay strong for a little longer,” his voice pleads.

You nod, using balled up fists to wipe your face. You watch him stand, towering over you as the guards guide him back to the mysterious place he now lived. He turns his face to catch your eyes, face sad as he watches the human form of his heart shatter before his eyes.

The door shuts and once again you are left alone. Only a few more months. Those words propelled you, every action you performed had a meaning suddenly. When you couldn’t reach something on the top shelf, when you couldn’t lift the garbage bag over your head, when you ran out of toilet paper you thought soon he will be here.

And soon came quick enough. You stood in front of your full length mirror, adjusting your sundress that fell over your curves. Your hair was fluffy and soft, draped over your shoulders. He knew what you looked like but you needed his first sight of you to be special, breathtaking.

With shaky hands and clammy feet, you stand outside the prison. If you weren’t leaning your body weight against the car door, you probably would have fallen over. You tap your foot anxiously, any minute now.

The door creaks open, a tall, lanky man dressed in black jeans and soft white shirt, the outfit he had left on that day. Before you could tell your feet to quit, you were running, no, sprinting towards the man.

He matches your speed, arms wrapping around your body as he lifts you from the ground. You bury your face in his neck, giggling through tears that coat his white t-shirt. His muffled laughs find your ears as he spins you, holding your body tightly. It had been years since you felt his hands on your back, his breath in your ear.

“I love you, I love you,” he chants against your face. He set you down, pressing both of his hands on each side of your face. “Let me get a good up-close look at my beautiful girl.”

Your cheeks blushed red under his gaze, “Let’s go home.”

[freedom-barricades-bighero16]

When Hiro went up to Momakase and immediately said "Hey Momakase, I think I'm bi. Fred wants to throw a coming out party for me, so can you help us?"

Momakase was amused because she expected Hiro to worry about her reaction instead of going right to the chase, but that's when Hiro said he's not worried because the team knew she was gay as soon as she showed up in their lives... And either way, the design on her graphic tee was obvious enough.

This is a first look of a scene from an original pride special in my summer arc story. I'm looking forward to write it!

[melozy]

✩ would anyone be interested in a BORUTO REWRITE ? (follow this link to read the fic)

here are the major things i'm changing from the series to fit into a more realistic storyline ↴

first, and this is very based, but i dislike boruto's name in general. i know it's an homage to neji's name (which translates to "screw"), and don't get me wrong 'bolt' as a nickname that references both neji and minato's legacy (since the latter was known as the 'yellow flash of konoha') is awesome. but in my story, i've given the main character the name akihiro (ironically known as hiro by his peers) meaning "bright" or "shining" with this kanji variation 明弘 [in which the first one literally translates to "dawn".]

also, it'll help if you read THIS first (a post made by me and my cousin two years ago! and it's only now coming to fruition :>)

other key points where this story diverges from boruto, both in terms of plot, themes, and character dynamics:

akihiro's personality and role

akihiro is much more charismatic and endearing, resembling a "sweet-talker" type who bonds deeply with others rather than boruto’s initial rebellious and aloof nature. he embraces being naruto’s son but struggles with living up to the expectations, rather than rejecting them outright.

this adds complexity to his growth as a leader and makes him more relatable and likable to a wider range of characters.

akihiro is an only child

unlike boruto, akihiro doesn’t have a younger sibling like himawari. this shifts the family dynamic to focus more closely on his relationship with naruto and hinata, highlighting their efforts to guide him without distractions.

it makes akihiro’s journey more introspective and personal, with fewer family members diluting his arc. but this will tie into another plotpoint with sakura and sasuke's kid(s) looking up to him as an older brother figure, so he fulfills that role just as well. the reason i chose not to give him a sibling is because i'm still on the fence about giving akihiro the byakugan since it might be too cliché (but admit it, boruto's and himawari's designs would've looked pretty cool with the eerie edge of the hyuugas' pupil-less eyes). but i have no intention of making naruto pass on kurama to his kids, especially not to akihiro. so, the point of him having a sibling in the timeline where conflict arises pretty early (just after the events of akihiro's birth) is unlikely.

generation gap in konoha 9's children

the children of the original konoha 9 aren’t all the same age.

they were born across a realistic timeline based on their parents’ relationships (e.g., temari and shikamaru’s child is older than sakura and sasuke’s).

the reason for this was pretty much at face value, it just is highly unlikely that all the couples got together and fell pregnant at the same time. maybe some kids are same age but mostly spanning a five year range at minimum. this adds more diverse interactions across generations and avoids the forced "classmates" dynamic that boruto had.

right now i do have the konoha 9's kids figured out. from oldest to youngest, they are [this is during when my story starts, when akihiro is 15]:

shikadai nara (18) > chocho akimichi (17) > akihiro uzumaki (16) > inojin yamanaka (16) > shizumi nara (13) > sarada and souta uchiha (11)

stronger, more varied teammates

akihiro’s teammates are more specialized and powerful compared to boruto’s. yume kazemura, an immigrant from the land of mist with her water style and weapon specialty, and daichi hiiragi, a fire-style ninja with a less prominent earth style. akihiro himself would have wind and lightning style + hyuuga taijutsu — mostly because i wanted to divide each team in a way that balances each other out.

this team is a frontline squad, so their chakra amount and specialty is prominent. it also gives me a reason to make sasuke mentor akihiro later in the story since lightning style seems almost a precursor to space-time jutsu and no other konoha 9 member has an affinity for it.

in any case, their abilities are distinctive and critical in battles, unlike boruto’s team, which felt derivative of naruto’s team 7 and very replicated, in my opinion.

otsutsuki threat introduced as a mystery

a plot point taken from this post (which was actually made by my cousin, who is beta-reading this as we speak!), the otsutsuki threat is revealed gradually through mysterious portals, strange creatures, and sinister chakra bombs, rather than immediately presenting godlike enemies like momoshiki. the slow-burn introduction makes the otsutsuki more terrifying and allows the story to maintain a grounded tone while building tension.

the chakra bomb thing is introduced right after the events of "the last", a few months after naruto and hinata's wedding. a few konoha shinobi en route to kumo for their chunin exams (konohamaru's team being of them), come across a border villager in the land of fire who is on the brink of fever-induced delirium, somehow mid-speech just gives out an insane level of raw chakra pulsing out of his body before collapsing, dead.

the genin team leaders decide to investigate and find that an entire small village on the border was wiped out without a trace of struggle or attack. naturally, fingers are raised towards kumo who really have no clue what's going on. just when it was about to written off as an invasion by the rogue factions, another similar incident takes place in iwagakure. the land of fire and wind being the closest to it are now under fire.

then i plan on introducing a cult who are old regime supremacists (led by disciples of kaguya who were indoctrinated by black zetsu). they believe in the eradication of the non-shinobi factions, a play on the "survival of the fittest" morality. maybe i will integrate the bioengineering and technical development aspect. but it won't be nearly as advanced as the stuff introduced in the boruto universe.

by the time akihiro is 16, strange portals carrying behemoths (think chitauri from avengers, endbringers from worm or even kaiju from pacific rim) into the world open up all across the globe. each nation basically brings a standstill on managing the political uprising to secure their borders, working together to configure who is behind these attacks and where these alien creatures are coming from.

meanwhile, a kaguya cult member reveals the location of a portal leading to the moon base where a fee otsutsuki relics and shrines are found by hiro and his team. while the powerhouses are deployed to deal with the monsters, the village heads are swarmed with cases of riots, fights breaking out between borders and all in all, hostility brewing between the elemental nations.

eventually the behemoth attacks get so frequent and so far apart in distance from one another that it becomes impossible to manage them all — leading to the affected areas being vacated after entire cities are demolished.

this eventually leads to a showdown in the ruins of uzushio where the biggest behemoth shows up, alongside two otsutsuki clan members and most of the alliance is posted there for a drawn out battle.

eventually, after practically wiping the floor with the alliance, the otsutsukis leave but not without the promise of return to plant a chakra tree on earth and to clear it out of tainted blood so the trueborns can thrive in their new paradise. (since humanity right now is a mix of kaguya's blood which gives them control over chakra and human dna — basically, the otsutsuki want to cleanse the world of them and take over the chakra fountain that is earth).

political turmoil between nations

the story will include realistic international tensions among the five great nations. rogue factions, misunderstandings, and betrayals play a critical role in the otsutsuki conflict. everyone with be pointing fingers but due to an established alliance among the kages, no shinobi can act on their convictions without breaking the treaty and being ousted as a stray ninja.

this adds stakes beyond just physical battles, emphasizing the fragile peace post-shinobi war. it also involves side characters from other villages, making the world feel larger and more dynamic.

power scaling is even

the power scaling is balanced, with the konohamaru generation being significantly stronger than akihiro’s due to the chakra bomb conflict arising during their peak as chunin/jounin. while akihiro is talented, he isn’t overpowered like boruto.

battles require teamwork, strategy, and sacrifice. it will also make the older generations more battle-hardened, experienced and will give them knowledge to impart on their charges as sensei. this avoids sidelining older characters and makes fights more engaging. even lower-tier ninjas have meaningful roles (which will be even more prominent during the final battle arc).

akihiro's love interest

now, this is a topic i'm very conflicted on.

on one hand i have this incredible character planned (sayuri ayakami) with seishinkan, a kekkei genkai aligned with the spiritual power of chakra maneuvering. it affects perceptions, health and even can cause/absorb physical blows to an extent for redistribution later. it works on the basis of the very existence of the otsutsuki clan, how they manipulate space-time, dimensional and planetary jutsu.

[she's basically the non-overpowered and very much human version of eida]

akihiro has a unique romantic subplot with sayuri, a character tied to an ancient clan and her own burdens. their bond develops naturally through shared hardships and mutual growth. this romance feels organic and adds emotional stakes. while i have nothing against boruto’s dynamic with sarada, the uchiha-uzumaki thing feels a little overdone.

but this above all is a shounen series that i'm making with emphasis on action and politics in the ninja world. so, i'm not sure how romance will fly in this universe. (what do you all think?)

greater role for older characters

characters like naruto, sasuke, sakura, gaara, shikamaru, the other kages and the previous generation have pivotal roles throughout the story. they don’t fade into the background but instead serve as mentors, fighters, and emotional anchors.

especially during the stand against the monsters and managing the political uproar caused by the kaguya cult. this respects their legacy while highlighting the generational transition, something boruto struggles with.

a new way to beat the otsutsuki

like i said, many characters will play different yet very important role in building up to and even during the final stand against the all-powerful otsutsuki.

minor characters and even less power shinobi from the alliances collectively will help in taking down the enemies bit by bit. humanity’s triumph over the otsutsuki wouldn't rely solely on godlike powers or specific individuals like boruto and kawaki. instead, it will involve strategies and unique abilities from many characters, such as sayuri’s seishinkan severing dimensional ties.

this makes the victory feel earned by everyone, not just a chosen few, and emphasizes teamwork and innovation over brute strength.

sasuke's absence from konoha has a real reason

sasuke’s absence is explained by his investigation of the chakra bomb incidents as he is made to be the prime coordinator of the anbu of konoha and usually the first to respond to impacted locations on short notice due to his rinnegan prowess. it's not just due vague wanderings that's he's not with his family. his return then carries significant weight.

it gives sasuke a clear purpose and enhances his arc while tying into the main story. it also builds on how sarada and souta's dynamics are, and how each twin copes with their dad not being present and mom being busy with her obligations.

this is one of the reasons why they look up to akihiro that much more because akihiro with his natural charm, abilities and ties to the hokage is somewhat popular amount his peers. despite this, he is welcoming towards the uchiha twins and takes them under his wing, sticking up for them and not letting them be turned into social pariahs.

sayuri's seishinkan and her clan

sayuri's seishinkan is a unique spiritual kekkei genkai, not a derivative of the byakugan or sharingan. her clan’s history ties into the otsutsuki invasion and ancient conflicts. this avoids redundancy in bloodline abilities while adding depth to the lore.

villains across all tiers

the otsutsuki threat isn’t limited to godlike figures. generals, zetsu-like soldiers, and mutated creatures provide challenges for all levels of ninja. this ensures that even lower-ranked ninjas and civilians play meaningful roles, unlike in boruto where only top-tier fighters matter.

the pacing of the story

the story spans akihiro’s growth from age 16 to 19, with major arcs that focus on mystery, politics, and personal relationships. the pacing is deliberate, allowing for more character development and emotional moments. this approach feels more cohesive and satisfying compared to boruto’s often disjointed plotlines.

this rewrite creates a more balanced, grounded, and emotionally resonant narrative compared to boruto. it respects the legacy of naruto’s generation, develops a new generation with their own unique abilities and struggles, and introduces the otsutsuki as a nuanced, terrifying threat that can’t simply be punched away.

— NOTES. again, this is simply my take on the poorly faring sequel to naruto, a franchise that deserves to be hailed for it's dynamic worldbuilding and major contribution into shaping what shounen has become today.

if you want me to go in-depth about any of the plot points, feel free to ask in my askbox or comments. i want to start writing this as soon as possible and the more input i get from fellow fans of this universe, the better the end result will be.

[phenomenal-savage]

Artwork I commissioned from @n3rdx featuring Hiro Hamada, Hogarth Hughes and his twin brother, Heath Hughes (my OC)!

If you want to know more about Heath and the stuff he gets into with his brother, please check his debut in my fanfic: "the dark after dusk, the wolf comes howlin'". You can find the first chapter here: TDADTWCH (I'm currently adapting the story into a six-part full cast audio production).

You can also follow the story on its very own Tumblr blog here: @tdadtwch 🐺🌕✨

[theamityelf]

I don't think you've said anything about this, I may be wrong. But what patronus would the Dr thh cast have? I'd love to hear your takes on this, because I adore alot of your Dr posts, they're so interesting and we'll thought out. I could never

Thanks so much! I try not to engage with Harry Potter right now, but I think the Daemons AU actually works for this question nicely, since either way it's an animal to kind of represent the person.

So far, re:the THH class, the Daemons AU has only established that Makoto's daemon is a rabbit. So, let's see.

Makoto: His daemon is a rabbit. As explained/described in this post.

Kyoko: Fox or owl are the obvious ones. That said, I'm really feeling peregrine falcon, for her. It can survive in many climates and conditions, it gets its name from its tendency to migrate, and its prey includes smaller birds and, you guessed it, rabbits. I like Kyoko having a daemon that could eat Makoto's daemon, if they were regular animals. While Kyoko is wandering, interacting, or investigating, her daemon will be perched somewhere up high, unmoving and silent. When she leaves a room, her daemon swoops out after her, very dramatically. In dangerous situations, if Makoto is in trouble, she can grab Makoto and her daemon can grab his. She and her daemon pretty much never interact in front of people. Makoto is probably the first in the class to hear his voice.

Byakuya: Okay, his daemon has to be one of those deceptively "scary" animals; it can't be a conventionally cute daemon to indicate his inner depths or anything like that; it would undermine others' reactions to him, if that were the case. Makoto deciding to talk to him despite what he's like would seem like less of an act of faith if his daemon were something cute. My first thought was, his daemon is a scarlet king snake that gets mistaken for a coral snake. There's a rhyme to help one not get those confused, because a coral snake is very venomous and a scarlet king snake isn't. The idea here is, his daemon is a colorful snake that looks like it'll kill you, but it won't. Drawbacks here are that both snakes are very America-specific and also the red, black, and yellow coloring of both snakes would clash with Byakuya's outfits. He either gets a snake daemon that slithers around under his sleeves or a tarantula daemon that crawls around his shoulders and chest. I'm going with snake.

Aoi: Hummingbird or otter, definitely. Hummingbird could fly overhead as she swims, otter could swim with her. Otter for her playfulness, hummingbird for her hyperactivity. I'm leaning hummingbird on this one.

Hiro: Oh boy, I want to think of something other than groundhog. Groundhog just works, is the thing! He would look cute holding one, and there's the whole "clairvoyant" thing; groundhogs supposedly know when winter is coming. Also, apparently they're very socially intelligent animals! Screw it, he gets groundhog. It works too well.

Junko: Again, fox would work, or some kind of monkey could be both cute and cool. (A small one, like a capuchin.) I actually really like the monkey idea. That said, she gets some kind of stoat or mink. Both are known to engage in surplus killing, but they're conventionally cute, which works really well for her Ultimate Fashionista persona. (This line of thinking also justifies giving her a cat daemon, a fox again, or a honey badger. But cat feels a little too plain and fox feels a little too obvious about her wily nature.) The reason I'm thinking specifically mink or stoat is because I like the idea of her wearing mink fur/stoat fur a lot. So it's like, she has a mink daemon but she also uses the skin of minks in her outfits, as kind of a fatalistic despair thing.

Toko: She gets a spider or tarantula, but not a black widow spider because that feels mean. But yeah, she weaves stories, so she gets a creature that weaves. A creature that is bound to be disliked by some. It usually stays on the back of her hand (and she talks to it frequently), but it crawls under her clothes when she feels threatened. It's never visible when Syo is fronting.

Sayaka: Seems like she'd get a songbird daemon, but I kind of like giving her something disproportionately big. Her whole thing is that she'll do whatever it takes to achieve her dreams. Right off the bat, I'm thinking snow leopard. It goes well with her colors. She's either getting a tiger, leopard, lion, jaguar, or cheetah. Something aesthetically striking and physically imposing. Lions and cheetahs are the more social of the big cats, so it has to be one of those. And while Sayaka affectionately stroking a lion's mane would be cool, it feels maybe a little too big for the plot to still happen. She gets a cheetah. I love her with an animal that has a pattern to it, and it gives her Josephine Baker vibes. (Plus, when she dies, her daemon disappears. If everyone is used to seeing her with her big cheetah daemon, then its absence will be eerie.) Her daemon is very vocal and friendly. He likes to nuzzle and play with Makoto's daemon (and those of all her other friends). Sayaka does the normal celebrity thing of regularly (and very publicly) donating to conservation efforts for the animal her daemon settled as. Most celebs will incorporate their daemon into their brand that way, which is why Junko wearing mink fur is so weird and (pre-Tragedy) comes across as funny and edgy and ironic.

Mukuro: She gets a weasel, because for the switcheroo to work, her daemon has to be similar enough to Junko's that she only has to dye it or something. Also, the fact that weasels have kitsune associations could factor into (or just symbolically represent) how she is understood to be Ultimate Despair but Junko isn't. Also, according to Wikipedia, "The Japanese weasel has been used by the governments of both Russia and Japan as an aid for vermin control." Being used by a government to "control" a population of any kind feels thematically fitting for an Ultimate Soldier.

Leon: He gives me goose vibes. Or porcupine! Or hedgehog? Eh, I'll give him porcupine. Lot of ways for that to be relevant, but mainly it just helps explain why he survived the Sayaka encounter when her daemon is a cheetah. (In that it explains why Sayaka's daemon didn't just fatally bite his right away and he had time to ward it off with the sword.)

Chihiro: Ooh, Chihiro might be the one who gets the fox. I'm feeling either fox or squirrel. I do like the idea of a squirrel scurrying after them everywhere they go, climbing swiftly up their body when they're scared. But I also like the idea of a fennec fox. I think Chihiro gets fennec fox, and I might give the squirrel to Kazuichi or Mikan or someone later.

Mondo: I want to give him some kind of livestock guardian dog, but those are all pretty big and he's still a biker. I don't want to foist a sidecar upon him unless I have to. Instead, I'll go with a watchdog: some kind of terrier. That works because it's small enough that he could secure it to his bike proper, one way or another. Maybe he's wearing a baby sling or something. Plus, it means that Taka can say that he's "all bark and no bite".

Taka: Right away I'm feeling Border Collie. Definitely some kind of herding dog, and Border Collies have the right color scheme. Actually, looking at a list, Smooth Collies look tidier, so I'm going with that.

Hifumi: He gets a parakeet. He calls her Inko-chan. I knew I wanted to give him a bird, so I just looked up "anime birds", and this worked out perfectly because I was already thinking somewhere in the realm of parakeet, parrot, or canary.

Celeste: I considered giving her a pigeon so she can call it a dove and everyone else can call it a pigeon, but once again that feels mean (and also it would only be for that interaction; there's no other real reason). I'm really feeling chameleon for her. I'm thinking her daemon wasn't settled before she arrived at Hope's Peak, but it was settled by the start of the killing game. She doesn't bring this up to anyone, but she notices it.

Sakura: I'm really feeling badger for her. I can't justify it. I think it might just be that the badger in Narnia (in Prince Caspian) seemed so wise and chill. Listen, I'm allowed to base some of these on just vibes, and this one will be just vibes. Also, maybe she assumes a certain position when she's holding her daemon instead of letting it walk (like when they were running back and forth during chapter 3, she held her badger daemon to her chest), and when they find her body, her daemon is of course gone because she's dead, but she's in that pose, suggesting she was holding him to her chest when she died.

Sorry for answering a different question than you asked, but at least I took a very long time doing it.

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

ICYMI: There are so many Japanese qls airing weekly, so I’m going to start posting this little round up at the end of each week. All but one of these are on Gaga and I highly recommend watching! Yes, even the ones I'm not loving! We need to encourage these Japanese studios to keep giving us access to their content. Changing up the order this week so as not to lead on a bum note (we can end on one, instead:)).

Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yara ka

When we left off with Kazuyo’s confession last week, I said this: “Kazuyo is such a sweetheart that I really hope she'll stick around rooting for this pair once she inevitably gets let down gently.” And we got all that and more this week, because this show is my perfect angel that has never done anything wrong in its life. I love that Kazuyo is not only at peace with Sakae’s feelings for Soga, but very enthusiastically supportive of his pursuit. I love this friendship, and I love that we’re spending real time on Kazuyo’s feelings in the aftermath of this rejection. And we continue to see bits of the past relationships that have been weighing on Sakae and Soga. This show really cares about its characters and it shows. Sakae’s confession at the end of this episode was another great moment of grace and kindness and I’m looking forward to Soga’s response once he has a chance to process alongside some healthy jealousy as Sakae’s ex returns.

Perfect Propose

The first two episodes of this new jbl dropped today, and I loved it. Overworked young salaryman, Hiro, is falling apart. His childhood friend, Kai, finds him lying exhausted on the street and invites himself to move in to take care of him. Kai explicitly declared 1) that he is gay and 2) that he considers himself Hiro’s fiancé within the first five minutes, and helped Hiro get off so he could sleep properly in the first episode. This drama really said eat real food, have a nice orgasm, and get a good night’s sleep and you will be happy, and it seems to be building to some themes about the harm caused by the culture of overworking. I support this message!

Ossan's Love Returns

...where to even begin. This "honeymoon" episode was bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. I went from crying to laughing hysterically to gasping to staring in mute horror at my screen to laughing to crying again. This show is so good at keeping these characters grounded in authentic emotion even as their behavior spins far out of the realm of how real people behave. It's a minor miracle that I can be gaping at Maki in disbelief and then bursting into tears two seconds later because of one perfectly executed line. I don't even want to talk about what specifically happened in this episode, I just want you to go watch it.

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna 2

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK, BABY!!! I got my hot little hands on the first four episodes of this excellent second season and let me tell you, the joy I felt to see Yuki and Kasuga again! I love that we came back to find out the gals have been eating like queens and blowing the budget. Plus, there's a new baby lesbian in the building! This season is really delving into Yuki's exploration of her sexuality, and the show is handling it with the expected gentle grace. I am enjoying the journey and putting on my patient pants to settle in for a long wait before these two actually officially get together.

Chaser Game W

This was a rougher week for this show, in that the pacing felt very jerky as the story suddenly executed a rapid turn in the romance that did not really work. The backstory reveal was weak (very poorly motivated noble idiocy), Itsuki's casual decision to start caring for Fuyu's child at the expense of her own life and Fuyu's decision to let her was under-explored, the messages about the importance of these women's work was decidedly mixed, and the sudden love confessions straight to sex didn't get proper build up. Add Fuyu continuing to be a violent drunk who treats Itsuki like shit, and it's hard to root for this pair--I am not really invested in the romance. This show is clearly going somewhere with its commentary on gender roles as it relates to Fuyu's behavior, and I hope wherever it is will feel worth it.

Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun

This show ended this week, and I pretty much hated it, but I will always love Toki despite the mess this show made of his story. We have one more show coming from Drama Shower for the season, and I sincerely hope we can end on a good note with this project.

[jumpyl123]

Legacy of Light: Book 2

A Knight’s Awakening

In a secret village in the northern mountains of Popstar, a young blue puff named Meta, born in a family of esteemed heroes, had dreams of becoming a knight and a Star Warrior, to become part of their honorable legacy. From childhood to adulthood, he learned in many ways to achieve this great wish, from formal training to the trials of experience, his heart was determined for a future of chivalry and self-sacrificing heroics. And with family, friends, and love, he has grown along his journey well. Truly, it takes a village to raise a man.

WARNING: There is blood, injuries, fighting, death, and animal death in here. If any of this stuff bothers you, I recommend that you don��t read it.

Read Here!

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Please do not trace, recolor, edit, or repost my art without credit. And please do not repost without permission, even if you are planning to give me proper credit!

Artwork, story, and the characters Riku, Phoebe, Katana, Hiro, Azizi, Akina, Jaali, Jemila, Jata, Adira, Delano, Agni, Laia, Strudel, Inigo (mentioned), Selene, the Mighty Coldtooth (mentioned), Xenolith, Hisato, Kaida (mentioned), the empress (mentioned), Cookie, Bia, Aponi, Kusarigama, Hiroto, the places Heiwa, Valley of Heiwa, the Knightmare’s cottage, the plaza, the healers’ house, Delano’s farm, the blacksmiths’ shop, Flower Falls, Broken Kabu, Dream Star (mentioned), Eclipse Eyot, Corin (mentioned), the Sea of Stars (mentioned), Hisato’s home, and the Frostbiter species is by/belongs to me

Xenolith was adopted from @starlightfyre (Draco species and Gallequine species also belongs to her)

Azizi was adopted from @frostedgrapepepper

Akina, Jaali, and Hiroto was adopted from neonwolfz39 on DeviantArt

Meta (Knight), Nightmare/eNeMeE (mentioned), the Ancients (mentioned), ???, Galacta Knight (mentioned), Morpho Knight (mentioned), Galaxia (mentioned), the planet of Popstar, the puff species, the Waddle Doo species, the Waddle Dee species, the Nruff species, the Buffahorn species, the Tookey/Twizzy species, the Babut species, the Terrordactyl species (fan made name), the Dracoglider species (fan made name), and the Silver Dragon species (fan made name) belongs to HAL Laboratory/Nintendo

Cover was made with Procreate