ghostlycreatoruniverse

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

cultural differences for setting a fic in japan

(please note that i am a japanese american living/working in japan and not a japanese person raised in japan. my experiences are my own and other prefectures, etc. may be different.) 

Law/Adult Society

The age of majority is currently 20, although I believe as of 2022, it will be lowered to 18. Currently, people under the age of 20 cannot sign lease contracts for cars, apartments, etc. without parental permission.

The word “sign” is figurative here, because Japan uses seals on official documents, instead of Western-style signatures. People tend to have a few different types of seals, depending on the importance of the document.

All dates on government forms are in Japanese eras. 2018 was year 30 of the Heisei era and a new era will start when the emperor abdicates in April of this year.

As of 2016, the voting age in Japan is 18 (previously it was 20). You can also start learning to drive at age 18. However, the drinking age is 20, and you also have to be 20 to smoke or gamble.

Japanese convenience store and supermarket workers are frequently lax about checking IDs for alcohol and cigarette purchases, and underage smoking in particular is a large problem.

Keep reading

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: Todoroki Mansion (Part 4: Dining Room)

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

Resources:

Chap. 192 “The Todoroki Family” (轟家 Todoroki-ke) Chap. 249 “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi) Chap. 250 “Ending” (エンディング)

Ep. 90 “Vestiges” (面影 Omokage) Ep. 105 “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi) Ep. 106 “The Unforgiven” (許されざる者 Yurusarezaru-mono)

OBSERVATIONS, SPECULATIONS AND ASSORTED INFO:

The dining in the Todoroki Mansion is a washitsu (和室), which means "harmony room" but which is the name used to mean "Japanese-style room".

It's a room characterized by a tatami flooring (Tatami (畳) is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms)...

and sliding doors, be they Shōji (consisting of translucent or transparent sheets on a lattice frame) or Fusuma (vertical rectangular panels often painted)...

....and, if the particular room is also meant to serve as a reception room for guests, it may have a tokonoma (床の間), an alcove for decorative items.

HOW ONE REACHES IT?

In the manga from the Genkan, taking the corridor on the left, though we aren't shown more about how to reach it...

In the anime it's possible to speculate it's reached always taking the corridor on the left but then we're shown you've to walk through the engawa...

We know that in the anime the Shōji door with a lower door panel of the room doesn't open on the open part of the Engawa because, outside of the door, we always see a closed corridor.

Natsuo takes the way on the right and then curves again on the right and then we'll see he has reached the engawa so we can assume that's the way one has to take to reach it.

It's a little harder to say if the same applies to the manga as what's behind the characters entering in the room is left white... but since the wall isn't drawn it's possible the room opens on the outside...

...but let's look at how the dining room is in details.

THE DOOR AND THE WINDOWS

As said before it's a large Shōji door with a lower door panel and some small Shōji windows above it.

In addition to the two small windows on top of the door, we've a marumado (円窓), a circular window with a flat bottom edge, on the left.

Outside the Marumado there's another corridor, which is probably not the engawa as we don't see it having round windows. By the way, that corridor lead to the Butsudan room, though it's evidently in opposite places in the anime and in the manga as Enji is walking in opposite directions to reach it.

On the wall opposite to the door, on the left, there's a Shōji window the Shoin (書院) with, below it, a power point.

The Shoin (書院) is considered a decorative window-style structure which is usually located to the left of the Tokonoma in formal ones (since the Todoroki one is collocated to the right I guess their own isn't formal). A Shoin with an overhang toward the porch area is called “Tsuke-shoin” (付書院), and those without an overhang are called “Hira-shoin” (平書院).

SIZE OF THE ROOM

In the anime is clearly of 12 tatami mats.

In the manga is harder to say but maybe it's 10 tatami mats?

WALL IN FRONT OF THE DOOR

As shown in the images above and as said before, on the wall in front of the door there's a Shōji window, then an alcove, which I'm not sure could costitute a Tokonoma as what's displayed in it is a television.

The anime also adds, hung on the wall on the side opposite to the window, a picture.

WALL ON THE RIGHT

As said before and as shown in the images before, on the wall on the left there's only the marumado window.

WALL ON THE LEFT

The wall on the left is the one of the Tokonoma. A formal Tokonoma structure is called Hondoko (本床) and consists of the following three parts: the Shoin (書院), a decorative window, the Tokonoma (床の間), an alcove and the Tokowaki (床脇), a space with shelves.

In the manga we've already seen that the tokonoma structure isn't a formal one as the Shoin window is placed in the opposite side. Let's focus now on the Tokonoma, which contains a kakemono (掛物 "hanging thing"), more commonly referred to as a kakejiku (掛軸 "hung scroll"), and a vase on the right. We can also catch a glimpse of a flower arrangement which should be in front of the scroll.

As for the Tokowaki, instead than an upper and lower cupboard with, in the middle some shelves, we've what seems to be a closet with a lower cupboard.

The anime instead went for a traditional Tokowaki.

It has in the middle a Chigaidana (違い棚) which is decorative shelves consisting of two different levels and two cupboard-like shelves with sliding doors placed above and below the Chigaidana, which are called Tenbukuro (天袋 "top shelf") and Jibukuro (地袋 "bottom shelf").

CEILING

The ceiling is a Japanese Saobuchi tenjō (竿縁天井 "rod edge ceiling") ceiling, a flat wood ceiling supported by narrow wood beams.

ON WHAT DO THEY SIT?

In the anime they're always sitting on Zaisu (座椅子) chairs, Japanese chairs with a back and no legs.

In the manga, when Enji comes home after beating a Nomu and when he dreams his family eating together they're all sitting on Zabuton (座布団) Cushions.

Only Fuyumi seems to be sitting in a seiza (正座) position (on her heels with her legs tucked underneath her). As she's a female her other option would be to sit with her legs tucked on one side. Males can also sit in a seiza position but the Todoroki males all seem to sit in agura (胡坐) position (cross-legged). Stretching the legs directly out in front of themselves is something one must not do so nobody does it.

The table should be a Zataku (座卓) table, a low, rectangular table suitable for sitting on Zabuton or Zaisu.

SEATING ARRANGEMENT

Seating arrangements is very important in Japanese culture: The guest-of-honor is seated upon the kamiza (上座 "Chief seat" or "seat of honor") which is typically situated farthest from the entrance. The middle of the table is the most honored position, and the second most important person is seated next, at his right, the third most important person at his left. When there is a tokonoma in the room, the guest-of-honor is seated in front of it. The host or lowest-ranking guest is seated closest to the shimoza (下座 "lower seat").

So let's give a look at how the Todoroki sit...

To make things simpler I made a scheme showing the floorplan of the dining room and the seating arrangement.

Enji, the family head, is always at the head of the table. I'll assume the first time they put him near the door because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to watch the tv.

The second time in fact, when the tv is not turned on, he's at the chair farther form the door.

The first time Shouto is placed at his right, which is the second most important place. It might be because Shouto is being a guest in a way, as he's temporally living at the dormitory, or it might be because this, in a way, remarks Shouto's status as Enji's heir, despite Shouto being the youngest.

The second time at Enji's right there's Bakugo, which makes sense as he's a guest. Technically the third most important place would be the one at Enji's right, but they've probably left Bakugo, Midoriya and Shouto all seated at the same side of the table so that they would be more comfortable. From what I could understand in theory in such scenario, Enji should have seated opposed to them, between Fuyumi and Natsuo (the middle place is the most important spot in this kind of arrangement), but this is no business dinner so I guess they didn't bother.

So the most important spot after the one Bakugo is having goes to Fuyumi's Enji's eldest child.

Interesting enough, when Enji came home from fighting the Nomu, that spot was given to Natsuo.

What's interesting to notice though is that the Todoroki's dining room comes with a problem.

Guests should be placed facing the Tokonoma but this here doesn't happen. In order to place Bakugo at Enji's right, they give their back to the Tokonoma.

That is unless Enji gives up his place as the head of the table and sits on the middle of the table between Fuyumi and Natsuo.

Now, Enji's dream in the manga.

The manga doesn't give us a way to figure out how the characters are placed in the room but the anime confirms the scene is seen from Enji's point of view as he enters in the room, so Rei and Fuyumi are next to the tv. In this arrangement, there's no spot for him and no head of the table.

In theory the most important person should be Rei, as she's the oldest (and she's placed far from the door)... which makes Shouto the second most important person again with Fuyumi coming third.

The anime added a dream sequence which has Rei seated at the head of the table but this time Natsuo would get the second most important place, then Fuyumi, then Shouto.

On a sidenote there's to say families might chose not to be so strict about seating arrangement and just go with what makes them comfortable so...

Still, to sum it up, manga and anime this time are pretty similar in how to represent the room, the biggest difference being merely how the anime, differently from the manga, decided to go for a traditional Tokowaki.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

While the nice reading , I’d like to add few details.

In reality if we take the Bible neat in clean Satan actually isn’t equal to Lucifer. To be honest Lucifer doesn’t even really exist. The passage you quote what talking about in the original language to the “brightest star of the morning” literally, it was the star.

The issue with Lucifer is that the Bible had been translated from Aramaic to a much more recent Aramaic to Greek to Latin. Greek called that star (which is actually the planet of Venus) “Phosphorus”. Which from Greek it mean “light bringer”. And as always they do with stars, Phosphorus was a made into a minor god. Now, here we have Latins, who loved copying from the Greeks whatever they could.

So they came up with Lucifer , also a god and a straightforward translation of phosphorus name.

So , back to Good Omens, if Gaiman had in mind to make Lucifer a completely different character, they had lot of backing up, historically speaking. What I’m not convinced it’s exactly why Crowley remembers Lucifer. Also, Crowley as a neat idea of what he can and he can’t do.

When they thought about wiping out Gabriel’s memory it was intended he would have no recollection of having been Archangel. Al thought its not really explain wether wiping out his memory would have had affect on other angels who knew him or not. I bet so, otherwise wiping out his memory while everyone knew he was archangel Gabriel would have been a little pointless.

What we know is :

- Crowley was a powerful angels , and he knows to have been throne , dominion or above

- this also suggest that while not directly knowing, throne and above could take a look to what have happen to Gabriel, and so about Crowley’s rank, eventually

- he also has huge miracles power: he’s able to stop time even

- if we look closely , Aziraphael always rely on Crowley when he doesn’t know a thing or what to do. He asks Crowley to do something to stop the Armageddon. He questions Crowley wether he had an understanding of what had happened about the ineffable plan. So Aziraphaele as well knows Crowley was higher in rank than him or rather suspect it

- Bub also confronts Crowley and they are sit side by side. They also proposed him to be a Duke in hell. While they do to get Gabriel back, this must mean other demons would have objected that much. So Crowley must have been a powerful angels and brilliant demon enough to be accepted. Its him who didn’t accept.

- he also mentioned that being erased from the book of existence is “something we used to tell to cherubs to scare them”. The hierchy should be : Archangels , Seraphim, cherubs, dominion , Throne and so on. Now that “WE” could tell us Crowley put himself and Bub in the same ranking , or that he and other angels with the same ranking use to do this. Because Bub is more knowledgeable in this, this suggest Crowley sera himself under them.

All in all, this suggest Crowley doesn’t think of himself as an archangel as well as people not remembering him to be as well. But the frequent loss of memories of his also suggest that his memory was somewhat changed.

HOWEVER , I believe we have a key under our nose , which is Saraquel.

Now, Gaiman explained they changed archangel due to the fact that Sandalphon’s actor wasn’t available , so they opt to change Angel as well. And that saraquel covered somethings Sandalphon was meant to do , but not all of them. Now, if I were forced to change actor / actress , I’d put something in it, to give more meaning to this change. All of angels Gaiman could pick, he chose a traditional fallen angel.

So why? The most meaningful sentence I’ve heard was that “she worked with Crowley” , however he had no recollection of that happening.

One Angel Saraqel is often tied to is Archangel Raphael, who is a huge missing in good omens.

A few tips about Raphael: being present in all of the monotheism religion, he’s actually named in the Bible. He’s the archangel linked to healing and curing , and eventually love sometimes.

Another and more interesting thing is that in some traditions, Gabriel and Michael did question God , and they lost all of they legion being the only ones spared. Raphael instead suggested his own legion to not question God about humans , and for this his legion was entirely spared.

If this was an hint Sir Pratchett and Gaiman picked to follow, this would explain why Michael and Gabriel are that uptight to be dedicated as evil, while is evident in this season that Gabriel isn’t really evil and instead he’s capable on on-the-spot sacrifices without second guessing.

While it’s evident that Crowley did questioned God. But if he was archangel Raphael then what ? It could also mean he could have taken one for all of his team while being demoted.

So here my guessing. Instead of Lucifer I suggest Archangel Raphael. Maybe only he had question, maybe all of the Angel he worked with / agreed with him had to. So he suggested even others questions as his.

So he was demoted.

To what ? I guess he was demoted with memory wipes as a seraphim. Why a seraphim. They are indeed very much close to the star creation, they are extremely powerful, and still very close to God and their title translates as “serpent of fire”.

This would explain why Crowley felt so confident about being at a high ranking , it would explain why he’s so powerful and so on. But he later on kept on question. And while not finding the answer he “hanged out with the bad guys” ultimately falling down for good.

Why I’m so inclined into thinking into it ? Because of Aziraphaele. The first thing he says it’s he would be worried about Crowley getting in trouble. Why would he ? He was a powerful and high ranking Angel why would he that terrible asking some enlightenment ?

My answer is that When Aziraphaele and Crowley met, he was always demoted for the same reason. So Aziraphaele could tell asking question means trouble but he can puzzle exactly why, while Crowley always made up questions all along. And why Aziraphaele would know? Well, interestingly enough, Aziraphaele means literally “of Raphael”. If he would have been in the legion lead by Raphael he would have no recollection of him but he would have a “feeling” or a “vibe”.

So, to sum up :

- Crowley is archangel Raphael, together with all of the other Archngel with capital , who seeks to be Gabriel and Michael. Something happens, which lead Gabriel to become more bitter and Michael to be extrely strict. However they are spared , while Raphael is demoted to be a seraphim

- now seraphim Crowley is extremely pleasured by his own work. He meets Aziraphael along the way , but he keeps on asking question. At some point Crowley is also very much vexed , and then the fall happens. Most likely Furfur and Seraquel refers to times in which he was Raphael , so why he as no recollection/ memories are mixed up both sides. Either way Crowley remember to be a seraphim , hence his powers and him knowing about his ranking, as well as Aziraphael kwowinf and relaying on him frequently

- Crowley proceed to fall, however he dislikes the idea of being a duke (who are most likely archangels and not lesser) so instead he take upon a great role on earth to live his own way

- he later on meets again Aziraphaele and introduce himself again because at this point his memory must be that messed up greatly. He also comes up with a name for himself

- this lead to the furniture metaphor with Gabriel : he now knows he miss something , but he is not quite sure. But whatever it is, much like Gabriel, he knows it’s not up to no good. As Gabriel knew he was looking form someone , Crowley is wary of what haven to do to Aziraphaele hence he wants to be on “his own side” instead.

Re: the Crowley is Lucifer thing

I’m having thoughts

firstly. Crowley being Lucifer would definitively mean that Satan ≠ Lucifer, which, I’ll get back to.

So for starters: Crowley IS the snake in the garden of eden. That is a commonly accepted fact. the serpent of eden is generally considered to have been satan. Revelation directly describes satan as a snake: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Rev 12:9 KJV. This also describes the falling of a third of the heavenly host, who would become demons.

next we have Crowley’s line during Jesus’ execution minisode. “Seemed a very bright young man. I showed him all the kingdoms of the world.” Good Omens Se1:Ep3 3.21. Crowley and Aziraphale go back a forth a bit here about Jesus but this line in particular is a reference to another biblical passage. Specifically Mathew 4:8-9 says:

“Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Mathew 4:8-9 KJV

It is clear that Crowley is referencing this story during the minisode where he is playing a role explicit in being about satan.

in season two we see a lot more to lend credence to Crowley having been an extremely powerful figure in heaven prior to the fall. Lucifer is generally considered to have been an extremely powerful angel. When the archangels are talking about an “Institutional Problem” Se2:Ep6, they are referring to the fall of Lucifer and loss of a third of the heavenly hosts.

Crowley is shown to have been a powerful angel (“they never change their passwords”)(working closely with the designer (God?) on the nebula). But despite seeming to remember some of his time in heaven its unclear if he remembers it all (not recognizing Aziraphale in Eden)(not recognizing Furfur at all)(He seems to know exactly how to bring memories out of Jim). While this could be a sideeffect of falling, it is not something any other demon references.

If its something specific to Crowley that would lead one to think that special care was put into making sure he wouldn’t be causing trouble down the road when he fell. If Crowley was Lucifer, it would make sense for heaven to take that special care. An extremely powerful archangel would make an extremely dangerous enemy, especially with an army at his disposal.

deconstructing the fall a bit; Crowley says on multiple occasions that he never intended to fall, that he was only asking questions, that he just hung out with the wrong crowd. In se2:ep1 we get an idea of exactly what that looked like when he protests to the destruction of the universe after a measly 6,000 years. This scene strongly implies (esp. with Aziraphale’s reaction to his discontent) that this particular issue is what resolved with him falling. But given how early on this questioning was, it may not be unreasonable if he was the first angel to actually question the Great Plan. revising season 1, Crowley expresses a similar opinion in the garden when he comments that “I can’t see what’s so bad about knowing the difference between good and evil, anyway.” Se1:ep1.

Crowley consistently supports and expresses free will. Other people have made longer posts deconstructing the role free will plays in GO so I will keep it short. Season two shows multiple times that both angels and demons aren’t incapable of free will but, because of the bureaucracy and looming Great Plan (as well as lack of access to actual options) they typically do not exercise this ability. Aziraphale expresses that free will is for humans and not within the realm of angels, yet uses free will constantly.

Isiah 14:13-14 KJV says: “For thou [Lucifer] hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Compare this to the Genesis tempting of Eve and Adam: “You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it vour eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." In both passages the stated goal is to be as God, in wisdom or power.

Crowley declares that he wants to register a complaint in the holy suggestion box and goes on to say that if He were God, he would Want people to make suggestions. This dabbles dangerously close to a precipice we know he goes over. He’s exercising and encouraging free will well before humans got the chance. Its implied in the Job minisode that Crowley was never successful in actually asking God his questions. “Is God actually talking to him?….But just to be able to ask the question.” Se2:ep2.

This leads back into memory wiping.

Crowley gives two reasons why he fell. A) Hanging around the wrong people and B) asking too many/the wrong questions. Season two shows that the real reason was probably related more to the questions than the crowd. Hanging in the wrong crowd was brought up once in season one but never really touched on again.

my proposed timeline would look something like this: Crowley (Lucifer) begins to question -> he starts stirring up some lower angels with the particular questions -> some more extreme plans start getting discussed -> Crowley (Lucifer) gets brought in and memory wiped and sent to a lower station, like they were planning to do with Gabriel -> another powerful angel takes control and launches a rebellion -> Crowley gets swept up in it and falls as a result -> he regains his memory over time post fall.

this would explain Lucifer and Satan being separate beings, especially if Satan started claiming to be Lucifer.

anyways, thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Reading all of this theory makes me think that people is onto something but not the right one.

Ever since the season started I’ve found something was missing, and it took me a while to caught on what specifically. Now I know: God’s voice as a narrator. The only moment we hear God’s voice is when they are speaking with Job, but even those dialogue little makes sense.

As Aziraphael reminded us, the universe was meant to be over with Adam’s comings. This is literally what everyone , Supreme Archangel Gabriel as well, believed. Even the 1st ranked Angel didn’t know better. But the whole point of season 1, the real reason Azirapahel could save the situation is realising that the great plan is indeed ineffable. As this season is , due to God’s absence.

So here we are with a Metatron who of course twisted the truth. He said the second coming was a plan they were working on about sometime. Hello? Time was supposed to END two years ago. So now, here the only possibilities: either Metatron doesn’t know a thing and had been sightly informed, and he’s acting like he believes fine or either this is the great plan and he knows it.

But let alone this, Metatron could refer to the thing that Aziraphael’s choice was, indeed, very obvious. As someone would pick the cooffe instead of death. Coffee is a symbol of heaven, of an easy and more “socially confirming choice”. As asking : “who would choose death over cooffe?” “Who would choose to fall from heaven for a demon?”

So back to the conundrum , about Metatron now knowing the great plan or following his own choices… both way, it’s obvious that Metatron knows his driving Aziraphael. He said two big lies to him

1) the second coming being a plan they were working on vs Aziraphael knowing about Armageddon. Like he was literally in it! And he doesn’t question.

2) Gabriel searching for Aziraphael. No. Few moments ago Aziraphael literally heard Gabriel himself saying he was looking for Beel but he forgot. He was never looking for Aziraphael. He very much conveniently happened to forget his memories before getting into hell and ended up roaming in London. And again, who made it possible in the first place?

So both way: if Metatron doesn’t know about the plan… we’ll, I guess he’s labelling Aziraphael as “boring”. And not bold enough to pick “death” over “coffee” despite not liking coffee much anyway. As he’s not bold enough to choose Crowley for an heaven he doesn’t really like that much.

On the other hand if Metatron DOES know… imagine his standpoint. Nothing really exciting happens because it was all predicted in the Great Plan. Of course Aziraphael chose coffee. Of course he fell for his little half truths. Of course he would choose coffee instead of death, heaven instead of Crowley. As always, nothing exciting, which is the point of his conversation with Nina. The whole conversation! Nina telling him if it’s order sucks she will insult him, and him debating wether someone had ever picked death.

If someone had ever make an interesting choice.

And in the same pattern of dialogue we have Crowley , depicted as a wild card. The one who always ask silly questions vs a god who giving silly answers about whales.

I don’t think there anything more about their dialogue. Metatron doesn’t really need to. This is the sign he offered Aziraphael a more conventional and convenient choice vs something dangerous , unconventional but at least passionate (Crowley : “if you gotta go, do it with style”).

And of course old Aziraphael picked the safe choice. Must be really boring for someone who saw pretty much everything.

Give me coffee or give me death

I don’t believe in the Coffee Theory per se. I think the whole ‘drugged coffee’ thing is a bit too spy movie to be in Good Omens, but- BUT

The fact that that coffee is in the intro;

The fact that you can see The Metatron in line, waiting for his turn, BEFORE he gets into the coffee shop, like if he was an out of place detail you were supposed to notice and ask yourself questions about;

The very long and apparently superfluous dialogue about choosing coffee instead of death, and how “predictable” that is;

The fact that for two seasons we NEVER see Aziraphale drinking coffee, like that’s not his thing, that’s Crowley’s thing, he’s the “six-espresso-in-a-big-cup” guy, Aziraphale drinks hot chocolate or tea, and we have to assume The Metatron knows that, because he went into that coffee shop and asked for such a specific thing that makes you think that’s something he chose specifically for Aziraphale (who still doesn’t drink coffee, so why?).

He looks reluctant at the idea of drinking it at first

but he accepts it out of courtesy, I presume, and this is the face he makes when he tries it:

Even he is surprised he liked it. He’s on Earth since 6000 years, so we can assume he tried coffee before and chose not to drink it. He’s either lying about liking it out of courtesy, or this is the only coffee he’s ever enjoyed, and The Metatron knew he would have liked it and chose that coffee on purpose.

So, the coffee is either important as a physical element, as something that had an actual effect on Aziraphale and changed him somehow, or it’s important in its metaphorical significance. In Good Omens almost everything is metaphorical, so the second option is very likely.

Now, what’s the coffee supposed to represent? The only certain thing we know, is that the coffee is something The Metatron offers Aziraphale, so it probably represents the offer he’s about to make.

Considering the whole “Does anyone ever choose death?” conversation, considering the fact that we don’t know how the conversation between The Metatron and Aziraphale went, we only know the version Aziraphale chooses to tell Crowley, and considering The Metatron is the angel that decided to erase Gabriel’s memory just because he said “nah” about Armageddon 2.0 and Aziraphale is the traitor, the one who stopped the Armageddon 1.0, so The Metatron has no reason to be friendly with him, my question is:

Did Aziraphale actually have a choice?

Or the alternative was worse than leaving Crowley and the bookshop?

Was it actually coffee or death?

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Shota Aizawa & Oboro Shirakumo

Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift. —Mary Oliver

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Kurogiri is Shirakumo Oboro

Patty Dickson Pieczka, from “Autumn”, Beyond the Moon’s White Claw / Anaïs Nin, from The Diary of Anaïs Nin

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

headcanon,,,hizashi has sensitive eyes and that’s why he constantly wears sunglasses,,,thoughts? 🤔

Love it! So the sunglasses he always wears would help his eye sensitivity with the added benefit of sunglasses being super cool. Two hilarious hcs can emerge from this: 1) NO ONE knows about this and just thinks Mic is just like that and wears sunglasses even when indoors

2) no one has canonically seen his eyes before

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Mha vigilantees aizawa blushing around shirakumo

The shojo bubbles too aizawa phone on the top has cat pictures show up and aizawa complains about them and then as looks up from his phone shojo bubbles just show up as his starting to look at shirakumo and as he looks up at him fully he starts blushing

The only other two ships to have these shojo bubbles are izuocha and todomomo

This from mha light novel 6 school briefs

When someone develops a crush there crush always appears with shojo bubbles /sparkles regardless of what you look.like and thats what happenes when your in love it happened multiple times when izuku looked at ochako

And it happened when todoroki looked at momo

And with aizawa and shirakumo of course

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

😍🖤💙🔥

Volume 35.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Not just that.

Izuku had a loving mother who wanted for him to achieve his dream and she was sorry she hadn’t give him a quirk. This is extremely changing.

Endeavour pushed everything onto his son. Also he was an important hero: Touya was constantly around people who kept chafing about UA all day. Touya saw two baby brother being birthed to replace HIM!

All of the narrative Touya ever had was that he is the failure. He’s not good enough. He’s not up to expectations. He was always shown what he could have been just to come back home and being reminded he was born just to take one road and he was denied it. Even Rei herself , which was the most benevolent and less abusive character about in the Todo fam touya enforced the idea that “the world is full of possibility”. Meaning that touya can’t , by any mean, relate to his father’s world. It’s not like Rei and especially Endeavour tried to find a middle ground such as

- working for hero business in other departments, for example “yeah you can’t be an hero but you can work at Dad’s agency doing this or that”

- Enji finding more time to spend with Touya

- Enji giving up to his obsession

- and most importantly : no one ever told Touya couldn’t be an hero. Doctor said it was dangerous. His condition his due he has non resistant patch of donors around the body, but his real skin did just fine. What Touya couldn’t do was use Flashfire. What touya couldn’t be was the one to beat all might. Enji could have perfectly drill into touya the idea “yeah son you can be an hero but you can’t use Flashfire because it’s dangerous to you body. Saviour must always be safe to save others” or something similar. Touya could be an hero; just a middle tier hero supporting his dad an Shoto.

But no. If touya couldn’t be THAT hero, than nothing. EITHER TOUYA WAS THE HERO WHO COULD BE BETTER THAN ALL MIGHT OR HE WAS NOTHING! HE WAS THAT HERO OR HE WAS CUT OFF BY HIS DAD , FAMILY AND SOCIETY!!!

And it’s clear! Touya never really wanted to be an hero, he wanted to spend time with his dad!

Inko instead never did that to Izuku. Inko never forbade him to cultivate his passion for All Might nor she ever prevented Izuku to collect intels about heroes in his notepad. When Izuku found out he couldn’t be an hero , Inko never considered him to be a failure , but she APOLOGISED because SHE felt to have failed her son.

Let’s be honest : if Izuku hadn’t met All Might he probably would have end up working into the heroes business no matter what. He would have worked for support or hero economy and would have aided an hero. And Inko would have whole heartedly supported his kid. All of her life Inko supported Izuku and there’s no sign of the contrary. When she wanted Izuku to retire from UA it was made clear that was the first time Inko told him a “No” in this field because she wanted her son to be happy.

By any means , the whole situation is extremely different from Touya’s.

My god someone really be like “Izuku as a child was constantly told to give up on his dream of being a hero as a child, and his mother apologised and his idol told him to give up but as young as he was he didn’t become like Touya” It might be an alien concept but Touya is literally not Izuku, and while there are slight similarities in their stories if you want to look at it in the way that they’re both told “no”. Touya is not Izuku and Izuku is not Touya, both of them are two completely different children and this might be like I said a alien concept(it’s not your just stupid) but children and hey even adults react to situations differently! I will never not hate the “but this child went through a similar type of situation and they didn’t react that way” I don’t know Nicki but maybe that’s because they’re two completely different people you absolute nitwit 🙄!

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Todoroki + TRAINING.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

…I discovered that he, the author at once of my existence and of its unspeakable torments, dared to hope for happiness… envy and bitter indignation filled me with an insatiable thirst for vengeance…

…I had cast off all feeling, subdued all anguish, to riot in the excess of my despair. Evil thenceforth became my good… The completion of my demoniacal design became an insatiable passion…

…dreams of virtue, of fame, and of enjoyment… I was nourished with high thoughts of honour and devotion… But now crime has degraded me beneath the meanest animal. No guilt, no mischief, no malignity, no misery, can be found comparable to mine…

For while I destroyed his hopes, I did not satisfy my own desires… I desired love and fellowship, and I was still spurned. Was there no injustice in this?

Am I to be thought the only criminal, when all humankind sinned against me? …I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on… my blood boils at the recollection of this injustice…

…My work is nearly complete… Do not think that I shall be slow to perform this sacrifice… Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly and exult in the agony of the torturing flames…

—Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Like… I don’t understand all of this complaining about Endeavour not meeting Dabi. Because as this point, this is what it is.

Touya confirmed us at “Touya” has died. Now there’s Dabi. And because Enji is terrible at this, when confronting “Dabi” he will always opposed “Endeavour” or he will freeze again. For their meeting to be effective Enji as a father needs to meet Touya as a son. And not the arrogant and “psycho” charade of him. But the scared one. The one who needs to hear what Enji and Rei spoke about at the hospital: that they cared about him but they didn’t know how to put out the fire. He needs to here that Natsuo prayed at this altar every single day and he never fovigave their father for what he did to his elder brother. He needs to hear that Enji’s dream now is to see his family around the table and the utter despair of both knowing he crushed that dream and he felt to have taken away this chance forever. So the two meeting now would be pointless. But later on when Shoto will revive “Touya” it will.

Still , Horikoshi through Shoto consistently stressed how the two brother are similar. So what’s the new? Touya’s recovery arc will be similar to Shoto’s because being similar is what they shared. Shoto heavily hint they might have taken the same path so he understands Touya personally. Still, seems most everyone forget Shoto’s issues was never his dad. It was his mother.

Now. We all know what Rei was going through, so no blame victim here but if you think about it Shoto never shows to think Enji loved him. Their relationship was flattened mostly to trainer-trainee. Shoto never lacked Enji’s love because he had any in the first place. We know that he cares about his father as any human being would be inclined to, and he certainly doesn’t want him dead (Fukuoka Arc) but the huge whole he had was caused by Rei.

Even if you read carefully his speech about his origins you get to see that there’s no blaming on Enji about not loving him. The whole monologue is explaining how Todoroki family works , but Enji part is needed only because it’s the premise and the cause of what realtà Shoto wants to tak about/ his mother scarring him and leaving him for 10 years.

There’s no blame on her , of course, but Shoto must have adapted to not have a loving father. But he lost had a loving mother. He lost the only parent he felt loved from. The one who put him to sleep, who cuddled him, who consoles him, who tried to give him hope. And he hadn’t lost her because of Endeavor. He felt of being the triggering cause. He was the one who determined the scene. Yeah, then baby Shoto blames his father, but for 10 years he wasn’t able to master the courage to face his mother even if it’s evident he craves for her love while thinking to her seeing him will be hateful. That’s totally devastating. Even more than Enji’s abuse because to those Shoto had learnt to oppose and being resilient to. To Rei’s absence… he never get used to it. And after 10 years this loss is so terrible that he literally took the first person he felt to talk about it and just told it all.

Then we had Midoriya moment at the tournament and finally Rei and Shoto meets again for him to get that all of that rejection he feared was actually never there. Rei is still her mother , the mom who treasure his letters and who cheers for any day life success Shoto achieves. And yet. In all of this Rei’s behaviour really changed ? The answer is “no”. She shows Plenty Shoto’s letter but we have no way to know if she answers as much. Fuyumi and Natsuo are the ones who are taking care of her bringing in clothes and in the whole moment we have no dialogue about Rei acting like a mother for example asking them how they are going. And that’s natural: 10 years a lot of time , and changing is hard.

Rei really changes and acts like a mother when the war ends and when she put together the courage to confront her abusive husband about retrieving her supposed dead and now murderous son. That’s need lot of courage. And in all of this Rei (or rather Horikoshi want us to )remember the tournament arc.

So Shoto and Rei’s recovery arc required this steps

- Shoto having a single moment of clarity in which his life is neither defined by his dad but most importantly not defined by what Rei did - which is being scared and seeing in him his dead. That’s the reason Shoto craves for being a reassuring hero as well.

- this moment needs to triggered by someone who knows Shoto’s deal and whom Shoto is watching

- then there’s a moment in which Rei and Shoto needs to meet but little to nothing change on her side

- ultimately Rei needs to act like a mother and step up giving a solid stan that her and Shoto are definitely changed

Now , ch 351 and war arc only underlines why this narrative needs to repeat with touya. And that’s because Touya and Enji have already met and Midoriya tried to vouch for them but to Touya he is a nobody. Midoriya can’t understand what he went through nor touya ever watched him. He only watched Enji and Shoto. So Shoto must be the trigger to open up touya to the deal of reconsidering his father.

And that’s because Touya’s complaining had never been what Enji did to the family. There’s also that , but his main point is Enji stopped watching him. When instead following Enji narrative we know he never did. He didn’t know how to talk to his son. To Enji , Touya had been the most important children he had in those ten years he though he was dead. And this is not to take relevance out of what he did to his other children, but if we consider only this peace , that’s the same to Shoto : they both thought of not being relevant to the parents they thoroughly of as the most important , when instead they were. Touya needs to understand this. And that if there’s one thing Enji never stopped to do was to love him (in his own ; which isn’t good. But that’s not relevant to touya , who is still a 13 years old craving for his dad).

So now we are already passed from the origins / premise point. Shoto’s attitudes shows how he’s affected by Rei’s action. To Shoto that’s an haunting mental image. Instead Touya already confront with Enji during the war as a son to receive no answer.

Now weare in the tournament phase. Shoto has the chance to break through touya. Because he both understands him personally and because he is being watched.

If the narratives sticks ti will be Touya to go to his father just like Shoto needed to go to Rei because Hori stated clear / the old generation is problematic because they can’t change. Enji and Rei were never able to confront their children correctly on their own. But once Shoto confronted Rei, he found in her exactly what he needed : a loving mother. And this chance helped Rei to change as well. So next step? Touya just needs to find a father who cares. But if someone thinks Enji will be able to do that alone well…

Not gonna happen. And that’s because both Todoroki parents admitted they failed Touya. They aren’t able to confront him. But fortunately their children are better at confronting than what they had ever been.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Tatsuya Tanaka

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

If I were to give my two penny over this…

Well… examining body language you can see they are con with physical touch. When depicted with the league, Tomura is often bend with arms on his knees and rarely makes eye contact unless he means it. We also can be sure thanks to Spinner that the league had some off or relax time, but in group context Tomura is rarely on a centre of the interaction or of the grouk when they are in the same room together. We can see it in Overhaul arc (he was closer to the wall), My villain academia (sitting in the couch pushes agaisnt the wall) in Ujiko’s lab and in Front creation (he always walks either together or behind the league). His body language is often not welcoming , especially if you compare him to Toga who is instead extremely welcoming.

On the other hand Tomura doesn’t dislike physical touch that much once he had vouch for the people he considers his mates. We can see this after Magnee’s death and during My villain academia. In the first arc Himiko invaded his personal space with a knife, so with a realistic threat.

And he didn’t do anything. As well, in the second arc, Spinner completely lift Tomura by the collar of his shirt out of frustration and menancingly bringing up Stain’s philosophy (and Tomura dislikes Stain). Again Tomura didn’t act at all.

On the other hand, nobody dared to touch Touya so far without being Touya himself hinting he wanted so. When Twice tried to hang out around him during training camp arc he was clearly pissed. His most prominent moment when touching someone else is when he pushed his arm around Hawks or when he stump on him and when he wanted Twice to high give him. And of course when he was about to Flashfire his father and when he hug Shoto.In the first case he asserted dominance, which is exactly what set off Tomura when they first met. In the second case it was a more and intimate touch he explicitly wanted. In the third instead it was an ambiguous will of touching: it transform a nice and caring gesture (showing Enji his abilities and hugging his younger brother) with a dark and twisted destructive intention.

So in summary I’d say:

Tomura doesn’t despise physical touch from the people he accepts. Even if they turn violent to him, he doesn’t even blink out of trust, and the trust came with bonding through sharing feelings and interests. He immediately jump vs Overhaul to protect “his group” and we know the most intimate he is with must he Spinner due to time spent together gaming. However in his head touching = killing. This also explain why he’s so close and not social even with the people he really trusts. Don’t touching them is a way to kind of protect them exactly because he likes them. Otherwise he has no issue at all touching Izuku to threat him.

Instead Touya wants to assert dominance in every way possible. He wants to do it through glancing, touching and controlling physical space. He deliberately enter Hawks’s personal space to threat him low key. And stomp on him as well is a symbol of superiority instead of kneeling down and punch him. It literally screams “I don’t care”. As well, no one in the league tries to touch him, most likely because Touya is always alert. He’s ready to fire in any moment and will assert his importance in the situation in any way possible. Although his respect for his “comrades” comes in “letting go”: he despises anyone who try to defy him but allows Toga to tease him. However the most important and extended touch he had is his hug to Shoto. So I’d say that to him touching his also tainted with the idea of destroy what he cares and he has the most ambivalent feeling the most. Twice is part of this because caring for Twice exposes him to a potential pain in the case he tastes rejection again. So he tries to reject them as much as possible , but at the same time he indulges in caring attitudes. And Toga underlines how Touya is kind and caring even if in a Tsundere way.

I’d not say aren’t con or adverse to physical touching. But in Tomura’s case, when he touch someone that one dies. So he doesn’t touch people or it can be expect he doesn’t want to touch them either. Instead I think Touya wants to be touch, but he is a neglected child. Touching means interest and this expose him to pain he avoids. So he’s more akin in using touch as another psychological warfare weapon.

I don't know how to correctly state this, but there's something so poetic in the most twisted way when it comes to how Dabi and Tomura got their bodies messed with without any consent.

I know Touya was dying, but waking up after three years to find out they had been performing multiple transplants on you, basically rebuilding a body you used to know while it also underwent many changes involving teenage puberty and more...

And in Tomura's case, he got his body completely stolen. It's not just that they toyed with him and AFO even taught him to wear around human hands gripping him and chaining him to his trauma, it's that he overcame that and went through surgery without knowing the whole procedure, without knowing he was signing to get his body stolen.

I wouldn't be surprised if Dabi and Tomura were a little repulsed by physical touch. All those interactions, all that people touching you and manipulating your body while you're too weak to even protest... I wonder if they remember how does it feel to have someone touching you with affection and not desire to use you up.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

And one last theory before calling it out….

I expect Enji to face Touya. However they are in two different places. So how this will be happening?

It won’t be Shoto deciding this. Nor Enji.

I expect it to be AFO. He already expressed how little he cares for his “friends”. And I always found it weird of all heroes , despite being the top 1 and 2, Enji and Hawks are against him . Strategically speaking you’d want two versatile heroes like them vs Shigaraki and his decay.

However it’s exactly something AFO would do: He would be that : cruel to set up Enji vs Touya and especially Hawks vs Toga. All in all he doesn’t care in a bit if those two dies or are saddened.

Touya is so angry at Enji to kill himself to bring his father down. And well: no better reason for Toga to use Sad Man Parade than having in front of her the man who killed Jin. That would be very painful for the two villain and risky. Touya is a kamikaze right and the fear of Sad Man Parade already scared Hawks that much to kill Twice once, guess what he’s gonna do now.

If you were a compassionate leader, you’d want to avoid to bring Enji and Touya and Toga and Hawks together. But AFO is anything but compassionate. Namely also, Spinner and Toga are the most dangerous because in their way they had always been loyal to Shigaraki and they could eventually talk him out of AFO, so the more distant and busiest they are the better it is.

So I think AFO will shambles the matches on the table and most likely Enji will meet Touya and Toga will confront Hawks. However … i despise AFO so much I really hope this will come biting in the back. If Enji can get it right with Touya just enough to have him stop fighting and Hawks can confront with Toga about Twice their battle might get stalled. And I’d really love to see in top of that Shigaraki doing things his own way. I really won’t to see that all controlling potato head ending up unlistened and unheard completely out of one of his plans.

[ghostlycreatoruniverse]

Well i guess chapter 350 got me really obsessed this time. Well no wonder, Touya and Shoto are my favourites characters. So before I go down here another theory.

Shoto and Touya are mirroring character by Shoto’s own admission. And thank you Ujiko we now know that Enji is the undeniable center of all the pain and obsession Touya is feeling.

So in the end… I don’t really think Shoto can save Touya. Enji can. Hear me out why.

Shoto described himself just like his elder brother, nice and clean. Now, without doing any kind of damage Olympiades, Touya has even more issues because he has no safe bet around him. What really helped Shoto to not ending up like Touya 100% is that:

- Rei loved him, showing him there’s more about what Enji displayed him

- Fuyumi. This comes more clear in novels, but Fuyumi really gave an effort in sheltering Natsuo and Shoto

- a wonderful class and a nice teacher. Class 1A is made of super nice kids severely allergic doing their own business. Instead of letting Shot by himself, each one of his classmates tried their best to stay close to him in their unique way, from hail-the-saviour Izuku to that sort of picking up Sero usually target Shoto with. In a sense even Mineta teasing him makes Shoto just a normal teenager. And of course Aizawa: anytime he doubted Shoto might have been in an pinch he was always there confronting him.

- and super ironically… Enji’s abused being constant. Abuse is of course never a good thing, but he was never a good dad to Shoto. This consistency allowed Shoto to have a defensive attitude around him and Rei allowed him to think this was Enji’s charateristics only, and not “everyone’s” allowing him to bond with other as well.

Touya’s issues in this sense are more severe because not only he entered from a trauma into another right way and was in coma for 3 years during puberty (worst time ever), but he had none of this

- Rei failed by her own admission

- being the eldest brother, no one older could shelter him

- he had no friends in schools

- he experience what in his mind is Enji as a good dad. The sudden lack of “love” he felt from his father caused severe anxiety and totally shocked him.

And to all of this we need to add PTSD caused by his own death, AFO, disfigurement of his own body, puberty, his own death by his father hands. So Touya is much more complex than Shoto who had least had something positive to hold him sane. So … how do we fix this whole mess?

Shoto at top can do what what Izuku can do to him. Being an hero and push touya in the right direction. However ultimately Enji is the only one who can save Touya, just like Rei did. In fact both brothers build their own existence for most of their lives around the parents they received most love from. Shoto denied the use of his left for everything Enji did to Rei, true , but this comes from the fact his mother was interned in an hospital for 10 years. Is it Enji’s fault? Absolutely. But at the same time Shoto experienced the sharping pain of being the one who could hurt Rei that much with his mere existence. So much she had an episode and throw a kettle on him.

And we also know Rei , who is the parent, never tried to talk to Shoto. We know they both were in a pinch and not by their fault (thanks , Enji -.-) but Shoto could never get out to the dark place he was in… unless he hadn’t find the one and only positive memory of his mother to cling on. The one that confirmed, no matter what, that Rei cared and loved him and his more than his father, which is what Rei saw in him that day.

At this point is obvious: to find some peace like Shoto did, Touya needs something similar. The one single moment in which he finally feels recognised by Enji. Because no matter what Enji did: Touya’s inner child craves for the dad he had when he was 5. The 16 Touya after 3 years of coma yearn for that father. So like it or not: it won’t be Enji’s full atonement that we’ll see. I expect the only one moment Enji can pick ONE good choice over the 1000 bad he had taken since he met Rei. Which is not atonement, but it’s what Touya needs for once.