#greedy maybe

[noriee404]

Cas & Azzy small talk

- Cas. Enough. You are torturing both of us, yourself, me. Killing. Isn’t it time to stop? What are you even chasing? What is it all for?

- i know, I know. Sorry. I don’t want to just perish. Unknown. As if *I* didn’t matter at all. I want to make… an impact.

- Don’t you want to live too? Isn’t it impactful enough?

- To live as nobody? No.

- If you were given a choice between living long and happy life or die as Someone, but who lived shortly and miserable, what would you choose?

- …

- Don’t tell me that…

- Yeaaaaah…

[lunar-wandering]

"yandere evil cycle Clara" this "yandere evil cycle Clara" that, yes i agree, its drawn very well and is very Aesthetic and im so excited to see where this is going but i have a Question-

why is Iruma blushing through most of this chapter-

either Clara's subtly put a charm spell on him (though wouldn't it affect Azz too in that case?) or, he's somehow kinda into this.

i know the first option is more likely but the idea of Iruma thinking the evil cycles are hot is so fucking funny. could you imagine.

[intotheelliwoods]

Toast still owes Oneion that hug! 🥺Oneion belongs to -> @dianagj-art / @separatedleoau

Context is all linked on this post, which is an awesome animatic you should go check out!

[naoke666]

Why is Iruma still waiting for Kirio to come back?

Just some of my thoughts in regards to this question, what I think the future holds for them as well as what their story means to me personally.

This question has been plaguing the fandom ever since 304 came out. To many people the answer is clear: because Iruma is too kind for his own good and hopes to fix Kirio. This is also often followed by frustration: why can't he just give up on him? Clearly this guy is irredeemable, heck, that's kind of his whole point. He is a twist on the tired trope of a villain who has a sad backstory to justify his actions and then gets redeemed through the power of friendship. Why ruin this perfectly good thing?

Thing is, I really get it. I kind of hate this trope too, and I love Kirio as its subversion. I think the nastiest part about this trope is that it reflects a specific kind of mindset that a lot of people fall prey to in their personal lives. Some people who end up in toxic relationships may keep themselves in there for longer than necessary in hopes that they can "fix" the other person, that if they just stay kind and patient it will all be alright. But, of course, such self-sacrifice only leads to more suffering. It's important to be selfish, to set your boundaries and, if needs be, cut the other person out for good. Perhaps because mairu is a manga so focused on positive selfishness that this feels extra frustrating to some readers - not only does it reflect this harmful mindset but they also perceive it as going against its own messaging.

So, I truly get it. In fact, I would also probably share that frustration if I thought of Kirio as one toxic guy in Iruma's life and of Iruma's response as expression of that harmful self-sacrifice. However I personally don't believe that that's what their story is about and look at it from a slightly different angle.

Stories and storytelling generally follow certain rules and patterns. There is usually a protagonist with some kind of goal they want or need to achieve, there is some kind of conflict holding them back, 3-to-5 act structure with set up-development-climax-resolution, yada-yada all that jazz. These rules are not set in stone and you can and should break them, but it's also good to be aware of them and understand how they work so you can break them smart.

To me, mairu is roughly divided into two parts: pre-battler arc and post-battler arc. The reason why I split it like this is because initially the battler arc was kind of the deciding point for whether mairu gets axed or keeps running. (I am a little too lazy to add the source for this, but Nishi has mentioned this quite a few times over the years, so it's possible to dig something up with a bit of search. Or you can just check out my previous irukiri essay. In general, i believe it's a relatively common practice for manga that gets published in magazines). So initially the battler arc was written in such a way as to be a good ending arc and nicely wrap everything up, including thematically. Basically - go out with a bang. Hence the fireworks and school bombing. Because there is a clear ending point, I believe that the first part of mairu follows this logical structure of storytelling really well. The second part starts to go more wide than deep as Nishi is incentivized to keep the manga running for as long as needed, and that overarching structure gets somewhat lost. But the themes and narrative set up in the first part still come back and are deeply embedded in the story. That's why I want to focus on the first part.

To me, the story of Iruma isn't just about him getting adopted by a kind grandpa and proceeding to have a happy and healthy childhood and fun adventures with his friends, but rather about his relationship with the new world and culture he got transported into. The way the Netherworld changes him and the way he changes the Netherworld. I would also claim that the core conflict of the story is between Iruma and the Netherworld. Perhaps the reason why this point is so relevant to me is because 10 years ago I moved to a different country in my teens, then went through a long process of becoming its citizen on documents and am still not quite done in my journey of fully integrating. So getting used to the new place and new culture, trying to grow roots in there while growing up yourself and figuring out what your ambition is are all things that resonate with me deeply.

Our set up is Iruma with no parents to support him, with no friends to be by his side, no normal childhood, no dreams and ambitions, no idea of where he is going, forced to survive and only think about survival. When he gets transported to the Netherworld, he immediately defaults to his flight-fight-freeze response. This new place scares him, the demons scare him. God forbid he lets them know about his true identity, or this place will hurt him and eat him and chew him up. So Iruma tries to run away from his fears, attempts to lay low and avoid attracting attention at all costs possible.

But of course slice of life comedy shenanigans happen that make this mindset backfire on him. And in the process Iruma starts to get more comfortable in this new world. The demonic mentality teaches him to think more about himself, to want things, even if these desires seem greedy to him; to work for those desires, to face the challenges head-on and to enjoy them to the fullest. He manages to connect with the demons he was so afraid of before. Slowly, Iruma begins to accept this world and realizes that perhaps he doesn't want to run away from it anymore. Perhaps he wants to stay here.

This is the perfect moment to test his new resolve. Cue Kirio.

Kirio has these two visually distinct "modes": his normal cute glasses I'm-just-a-little-baby harmless mode and his slicked back half bangs gloves on glasses off muhaha-im-such-a-freak evil mode. Funnily enough I think these two modes represent the duality of his role in the story. On the one hand, he is that final thing that nails down Iruma's desire to stay in the Netherworld. Before meeting Kirio, even though Iruma starts to like this new place, there is one last thing that holds him back from deciding that he wants to stay here and its the fact that he is a human. Yes, if he keeps that a secret he won't get in trouble, and hey, not all demons are bad, and at least some of them will accept him if they found out. But as a human he also lacks a lot of things that demons have. Horns, tail, wings, and most notably, magic. And even though he has his gluttony ring and grandpa's mana, it's, well, not his own. In the end, he is still an outsider. So can someone like him really belong here?

In Kirio Iruma sees himself, but also the ideal version of himself, that could live in this world. Because, even though Kirio is technically a demon, he is also an outsider for his lack of mana. But he has things he is passionate about, he has his own ambition, and that ambition involves creating ways to help people like himself level the playing field and be able to walk along everyone else. Kirio is a kind and supportive senpai that instantly makes Iruma feel accepted and understood. In that, Iruma sees an ideal to strive for, and not the Ameri kind of a perfect role model, but rather a more down-to-earth, relatable "this could be me" kind of role model.

It's kind of why I think he looks so Kirio-like in this chapter (214). He is getting closer to embodying his ideal of a kind and gentle senpai figure who can guide others and make them feel like they belong and are accepted.

Because of this, Iruma realizes that maybe he can be one of the demons. He can belong to this world and he can even work to make this world more welcoming to others like him. It's okay for him to want to stay here. It's also perhaps why, after conversation with Kirio, for the first time in his life, he thinks about the future.

Perhaps it's not the most ambitious vision of a far future, but it's a big step for a guy who until recently could only think about day-to-day survival.

But there is the other side to Kirio, perhaps his most important role for the story. It's to test Iruma's resolve to stay in the Netherworld.

To me Kirio is not just one toxic guy that betrays Iruma because he is intrinsically evil. Rather, he is the representation of the worst and darkest parts of the Netherworld. He serves as a vehicle to make Iruma face his biggest fears and to make him see not just the good but also the bad about his new home. It's no coincidence that he is not just simply evil, but specifically a demon returning to his origins, to the state all demons used to be in and have capacity to revert to. What's wrong with Kirio is also what's wrong with the Netherworld as a whole.

Please note Iruma's thought process here:

It's not "oh no I can't believe this guy turned out to be evil and betrayed me". It's "oh. I realize now. This is the DEMON world. These are DEMONS." Paradoxically, Kirio is both a character that makes Iruma feel the most familiar with the Netherworld, but also the character that represents the unfamiliar, the most foreign kind of mentality to Iruma.

The resolution to Iruma and Kirio's conflict in this arc reflects the resolution to the overarching conflict of the story so far.

"Even though there is danger in this world, I have grown to deeply care for it and still love my time here. So I won't give it up - not even its scariest parts."

(sowwy I don't have a scanner)

So here we have a very beautiful and elegant structural storytelling. We start with Iruma who is afraid and who only thinks about avoiding danger and running away and through a series of meaningful developments and final confrontation we end with Iruma who now has things and people he cares for, who has found his home and family and because of that can face his fears and dangers head on.

This brings us to 303 and 304.

As I mentioned earlier, in the center of this story stands the relationship between Iruma and the Netherworld. The first part of the manga mostly deals with Iruma accepting the Netherworld, and the second part of the manga is sort of both about that but also very much about the Netherworld accepting Iruma.

Over the years I've seen a few folks express the theory that Iruma won't actually become the Demon King in the end. This manga loves to go against the reader's expectations, and also, as evident from the Many Ears arc, he seems to be more interested in becoming a Babyls teacher than a King, is the claim. I have even seen people claim that there is 0 foreshadowing for Iruma becoming the Demon King. Due to my thoughts expressed in the paragraph above, I have a hard time agreeing with this view. There is a back-and-forth between Iruma and demons that is evident from the very beginning of the manga. Iruma is becoming a better person by embracing demonic qualities, but demons around him are also becoming better by embracing human qualities and concepts. Time and time again we are shown that even though Delkira improved the Netherworld a lot, there were some things he failed at, and Iruma is doing these things better. So, Iruma becoming a Demon King is simply a natural conclusion of this running narrative to me. Or, to put it better, I think that in the end Iruma will change the Netherworld in a major way that will resolve many of its current problems. I can see the story pulling the plottwist of Iruma not becoming the Demon King, but instead creating a whole new political system; I can't see Iruma saying something like "You know, I don't really care about all this politics stuff, I just wanna take it easy, become a teacher and chill in Babyls forever :)" In the Many Ears arc, Iruma refuses to become a King specifically because he very correctly identifies the root of the problem and understands that to resolve it he shouldn't become another person to rule them, but rather teach them to rule themselves.

So, I think Iruma's and Kirio's conversation has a lot to do with their respective visions of the future of the Netherworld.

In 303 Kirio expresses his vision: a Netherworld fully plunged into chaos and despair, with every demon reverting to their original animalistic state, every improvement and system made by Delkira undone and broken. It's a world that will reject Iruma, the human, completely. A world so hostile to him, that Iruma will literally come crawling to Kirio, who is the only one who will offer Iruma anything close to acceptance - by hurting him, by eating him, by chewing him up. Kirio, once again, fulfills his role of making Iruma face his worst fears by literally reciting them from the recording of his trauma during the Harvest Festival.

And in contrary to the popular perception of Iruma being too soft towards Kirio, Iruma is actually ready to just straight-up murder him. He almost does it. Not out of self-preservation - Iruma knows that Azz will accept his identity should he find out. He does it because he wants to defend his own boundaries, his right to tell when he wants to.

And in 304 Iruma shares his own vision. Opposite of Kirio's world of ultimate rejection, Iruma wants to create a world of ultimate acceptance. Where he, as a human, can co-exist with everyone, where everyone will accept him - even someone like Kirio, even someone who represents everything most unfamiliar and demonic and evil about this place, even someone who literally wants to eat him up. And not only he will be accepted, but everyone can feel welcome and like they belong. So to Iruma it's certain that Kirio will return to his rightful place - it's only a matter of time.

Iruma is not saying that "he can fix this guy". Iruma is saying that "he can fix this world."

And that's a little different.

[retrorabbits]

I see NO ONE talk about how BIG Other Frankie is during the water section- LIKE GOOD SIR? HELLO? I get he's supposed to be a magician rabbit don't get me wrong but also? Can you hold me? In a single hand maybe? Let me kiss your big nose that's probably the size of my head- ANYWAYS WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THIS MORE

[yes-no-maybe-soo]

So I did a thing...

I tried to be patient. For two days lmao

But in my defense I'm on vacation and in the spirit of that I decided to treat myself.

I have no regrets.

[leafatlaw]

Hmm random thing thats happened without me noticing it: Deraps gotten stingier with his hearts. Previously, Deraps been on twenty breifly, but hes also been on like two, he knows what its like to be both. So when he gets high on hearts again hes eager to give them away, to his new team, either The Sticklers or whoever. And when him and Zam teamed, he made a point of giving hearts, as few as Zam would accept, saying he wanted them to be on the same number of hearts. And they were for awhile. And then Derap died to Flame and the wardens like THREE times and for awhile realized hearts dont matter.

But sometime after Zam left and Parrot arrived, that changed. Derap changed fundamentally. He borrowed hearts from Jumper and resistes giving them back. He took hearts from Pangi, and never gave him any, despite saying that he planned a video to give him alot of hearts. He kept all(?) of the Parrot hearts even though I think he was supposed to split them with Rek.

If I had to guess I would say, it had something to do with him being abandoned again. With him being exiled from spawn and ally-less against what felt like half the server. He started looking out for himself first and then Parrot refused to return, and that solidified that thought. Derap made deals with Mapicc his former enemy against Pangi, his closest friend. All for the sake of looking out for himself.

And once Zam returned, it’s as if she immediately noticed the chance, just unable to put it into words. Derap changed, he was the giving, loyal ally she teamed with 97 days ago. In a really damning moment Derap did not offer her hearts until she died again to Flame, even though he knew she was low. And when Zam refused, he didn’t even insist.

This change which happened so slowly I almost didn’t notice appears to have slipped by Derapchu himself. Maybe it’s just the normal lifesteal cycle, maybe this change is natural. Either way, I don’t think it’s a change for the better.

[frankenjoly]

kunichuuzai silly banter with kunikida suffering bcs they won't let him be the biggest spoon

[cherrystales]

Dutch could’ve taken that gold bar back from that lady in Guarma. She was dead. He could’ve.

But he didn’t, and to me I think that says something about him.

He cares more about their survival than that money.

[crustyfloor]

yaoisorrow3000's new song will probably be an elaboration on how he sees himself (in the present) and in turn, how he sees his relationship with Till, like Nowhere, which was more based on Ivan's "emotionally avoidant nature" ie. his passive reaction and nature regarding his life and his own misery, in the way of portraying his life unemotionally and as if it were just fact that he doesn't belong "In a life I don't deserve" "That's just how it is" "I become more numb" etc. Ivan's perception of himself is mainly self-deprecating and passive. And Nowhere was from the perspective of a (younger) Ivan who was perceiving his world before Till was ever really in it. As he's older, he's still living in this warped truth. So, considering the bug imagery, and in the caption - "A bug-like being that will not disappear even after death" , and emphasis on parasitic forms (that I like to think contributes to the look of his unnerving inner dialogue and the way he perceives himself as a person, like bugs are usually scary strange ugly, some people think they're useless, etc.)

I think it relates to how Ivan would reflect on himself and Till's relationship in this song, if that is what it will be about. Much like a bug/parasite that lives and thrives at the expense of others, Ivan thinks that he is a troublesome, hollow existence. Thinks that because he takes and takes any attention Till would give him, whether bad or good, and that he primarily relies on Till's presence to survive, so much so that he couldn't live with the prospect that he'd lose him, he was acting inherently selfish, greedy. Ivan doesn't desire Till because he feels entitled to him; wanting is a selfish privilege he cannot readily afford to consider like others, such a privilege doesn't belong to a person like him. Till is a person in his life that he doesn't mind following in the background or mind being given whatever rations of what Till wants to give him, because this was always the role he was meant to play

Like a parasitic dynamic, Ivan didn't think Till benefited from their relationship, probably didn't even consider if Till saw them as anything, for that matter. (even though it's apparent that was because he misunderstood Till and himself, or what their relationship looked like). Ivan accepts the situation, yet incessantly takes whatever he can (like latching onto Till and passively feeding off of him) while "knowing" Till didn't care about him, while still desiring something more, In this way I also think the song might highlight the way Ivan both wanted to occupy a space in Till's mind, wanted to be important to him yet thought he wasn't and resolutely accepted it because he perceived himself as more of a burden.

He doesn't consider that his existence meant something to Till because he automatically concludes that nobody can understand or truly acknowledge him. Because of the way he attaches to Till and lingers, he sees Till more like a victim, because he acted selfishly, and for what happened in Cure. He must think that, because he thinks he's as insignificant to Till as a mere bug, he's absolving Till of blame and burden by assuming Till just won't care, like he did in his post-mortem comic. It must just be a fact, but he's wrong. Even after death, he occupies a space in Till's mind, and Till doesn't just move on and forget, Ivan still lingers and crawls around Till's mind (well, haunting, yeah)... Ivan's reign of yearning and self-deprecation never ends, I hope the song sounds as convoluted as Nowhere or vkei because its a good ass sound for such a theme..

[cupidsncheerios]

arcane should've been longer because if you replaced every montage to (admittedly very good) pop music with like, ten minute scenes actually going through the characters development and decisions, season 2 would go from a 4/10 to a solid 6/10.

for example, this fucking travesty of a scene

this scene hurts me so so much, not just because i love my darling jayce and this is an entirely unexplained decision that seems to just happen because it needs to happen for other characters' arcs, but because it's the easiest writing fix i could've possibly imagined.

it's literally so simple. here's the fix: write one single scene of caitlyn comforting jayce after the terrorist attack and convincing him to make hextech weapons.

this hypothetical scene could do SO MUCH for the show.

if this happened, it would reiterate how much jayce is willing to do for the people he loves and would act as dramatic irony for his relationship with viktor, because it's that exact dogged determination that constantly tears him away from viktor (when this trait is in service of mel, for example) and brings them together in the end of it all. if we were shown how jayce betrayed viktor specifically because his beloved, well intentioned, suffering sister asked him to, it would also make his "I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS" moment resonate a lot more.

additionally, it would feed into caitlyn's arc incredibly well, since it would act as foreshadowing/a precursor to her becoming a wolf under ambessa's guidance, and would show how she's both becoming more of a politician and would mirror her to mel (manipulating jayce despite genuine love for him and good intentions in what she's doing) in a way that could add an interesting mother-daughter tinge to her relationship with ambessa (and this could be mirrored to the silco-jinx relationship, since i know fortice lovessss its visual parallels). and on top of that, for an extra fun touch they could make note of how she'd be asking this of jayce despite his clear injury, and try and use that (non-typical for cait) lack of care/empathy to make her sudden shift to hurting vi make more sense.

do you see why the lost potential here hurts so much?

literally, the rest of the show doesn't need to be changed to support this proposal, the entire season could play out in all its centrist character assassinating glory and changing this scene from a cool marvel movie style 'whoa-these-characters-have-joined-a-team-and-gotten-cool-weapons' scene into an actual interaction between characters with arcs & would do nothing but help it. and yet we get a fucking montage.

[benkaben]

I love this show btw like, how many more things you think it will twist and showcase in a different light as the story goes on? What other secrets is it hiding? What other lies and truths lay out there? What seemingly threatening or innocent actions will mean more or less than what it first seemed?

Can't wait to find out!

[barbiedemonaco]

if i was a millionaire f1 driver i would live in a historical new york townhouse or an italian vineyard actually. just making sure i don’t fit in

[hyuckswoman]

hey!! so i think i might quit tumblr? (i won’t if a singular person tells me not to /half joking)

this whole rant is kinda selfish of me but tbh i’m starting to grow out of kpop and i think you guys can tell bc (here comes the selfish and greedy part) i get a lot less engagement than i did with down bad? which is also normal bc i’m less consistent right but i still lowkey got less engagement before i dipped

and to those of you that do engage with my posts just so you know i look forward to your comments every time and i giggle and i’m sorry i don’t respond but it’s bc idk what to respond?

also i feel like a lot of people just aren’t interested in my story which is completely understandable but yea i feel like if i make content that you guys don’t want, what’s the point of making it yk?? so yea i don’t really know what to do

and the thing is i like posting and i have fun making my stories but i do get discouraged sometimes (and i compare myself to other stories on here too like… i never did that before lmao) but ig i gotta remind myself that people are just less interested and that’s okay?

but yeah lmk if you want me to keep posting updates with game on or if you’re interested in what i have to post, otherwise idk maybe this is a goodbye?

[maldupay]

fuck i need to replay isat because i cant remember anything but um something something siffrin's increasingly concerning comments through the acts on losing his appetite -> getting violently hungry -> having tear induced nightmares about cannibalizing his friends

[drakyns]

hey....... heyyyyy haha... twirls hair and leans close to you. wouldn't it be really super cool if your muse came up with a title and/or nickname for håkan? be it platonic, familial, romantic, or even antagonistic....!! i think itd be so nice?? idk haha.... maybe our muses could have special nicknames for each other haha.... 👉👈