mana-jjk

[mana-jjk]

spoilers for freaky (2020), slight spoilers for jjk characters?

tw: death mention, serial killer movie xoxo, there is blood and murder but this is also jjk so side eye, and bullying of course because it’s yuuta idk

watched freaky last night because i'm in love with kathryn newton and physically could not stop thinking about yet another inuokko au

nerdy okkotsu yuuta in the festival planning committee who everyone walks all over because he learned to defend himself.

his only close friend is his childhood friend rika and his more recent friend, maki, who he met after she yelled at a group of students trying to offload their work on him, then proceeded to yell at him for not standing up for himself, then yelled at the bystanders staring at them

he isn’t the most popular at school, with students like kashimo constantly ribbing on him, and teachers like naoya (my favorite person to be on the chopping block) always doing his best to publicly humiliate him.

his home life isn’t the worst after moving in with his new guardian, gojo, even if he enjoys telling him to do inane and strange things like joining him to do food runs at 3 in the morning or going to a musical on a festival yet not even removing his sunglasses. yet he can’t help but to feel a strong obligation to the man who took him and his sister in. it’s no small feat to take in the teenaged orphan, several times removed, cousins in on such short notice. that’s why whenever someone asks him about his next steps after graduation, it isn’t something he can easily answer.

just like he can’t really honestly answer why he joined the festival planning committee, specifically when it comes to explaining why he hangs around the garden area, has been caught staring at maki’s friend group several times, and why he’s always taking as much work as possible.

while he may be a lowly base volunteer, there’s always a chance to interact with the quiet and kind student secretary of the committee, inumaki toge.

his crush on the violet eyed boy is an open secret, especially between his friends who are always trying to convince him to say something. yet the most courage he could ever summon was slipping a poem in his shoe locker then proceeding to avoid eye contact yet still sneak glances in their english class. it’s a little too easy to convince himself that the one time they made eye contact and toge smiled, it wasn’t directed at him.

of course that changed when a serial killer stabbed him in the shoulder and the next day he woke up in an abandoned building surrounded by jars filled with brains and an excessive amount of dismembered body parts.

he screamed a little. maybe a lot.

navigating life in the body of kenjaku, even for a few hours, is the most distressing experience of his life, and he did in fact cry a little when megumi’s dogs tried to bite his face off and nobara threw a cup of boba at his face.

meanwhile, kenjaku in yuuta’s body has attempted to stab his sister (and was intercepted by gojo who had an alarming lack of concern), stole gojo’s leather jacket and practically burned yuuta’s sweater vests, brushed off both maki and rika despite the respective threats and confusion respectively, flirted with toge in the middle of class while ignoring utahime’s incredulous face, and may or may not be behind the disappearance of more than one student and teacher.

after scaring the crap out of rika and maki, and also getting the crap beaten out of him, the real yuuta hesitantly agrees to get yuuji, who’s guardian is an officer (nanananamin lol), nobara who was with her girlfriend by default, and megumi (who they didn’t want to leave out), and panda (who knew where kenjaku and the other committee members were), in on what was happening.

thus the shenanigans of the movie ensue, featuring:

• yuuta kind of admiring how kenjaku styled his body but being a little mortified too

• gojo talking to yuuta through a changing room door (100% fucking with him) while he’s hiding from the police

• yuuta and kenjaku trying to convince toge that they’re the real yuuta while toge is slowly backing out of the room

• “I Am Not Yours” poem scene that yuuta memorized because he’s a simp “I am not yours, not lost in you. Not lost, although I long to be.”

• kenjaku tied up in nobara’s apartment - “why is yuuta tied up in our kitchen chair?” “…i’m straight.” “you are a lot of things but straight is not one of them.”

• “let’s kiss when my hand isn’t bigger than your face.”

•yuuta finally growing a backbone and getting his man

idk just see my vision y’all and agree with me immediately

[mana-jjk]

phantom parade spoilers !! the spoilers are literally our canon anime content idk what y’all want from me

.

.

.

.

.

ugh my favorite divas <3 they are the icons of the jjk world i fear

that’s her emotional support number one fan and his slightly feral underclassmen plotting to kill his boyfriend xoxo <3

[mana-jjk]

jjk 269 slight spoilers? not really but

in the trenches wondering wtf i’m going to do if jjk ends with a completely heterosexual cast

i have prepared myself for yutamaki, which i’m not a fan purely because i see too much of my experience in maki to ever see her as anything but a lesbian but i don’t personally have anything against it as a whole or enforce that anyone else sees her like i do.

but what if they comphet everyone ??

if this series ends with yuuji x nobara, megumi x hana, yuuta x maki, toge x idk he’s so gay he’s never around women but they’d probably put him with a random girl like goddamn lesbian herself momo, panda x random female panda that’s brought in with no context, gojo x utahime, kusakabe x mei mei, shoko x higuruma, and even after life getou x JUNPEI’S MOM what am i going to do

i’m sorry, i have limits, my queer culture is on life support right now.

all i see on twitter is people fighting about inuokko and nobamaki, there’s so much hate already omg <\3 i’m manifesting so hard that no pairings are confirmed because i can tell already how unbearable it’ll be to enjoy queer content anywhere but ao3 because that site is pretty queer oriented.

i am in physical agony imagining a panel with grown up momo like, “welcome home honey !! ( :” and toge coming in with a heterosexual haircut, random muscles, and “konbu love of my life”

THATS MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT QUEER oh my god i need to start preparing for that don’t i

i apologize but i don’t think anyone followed me for my m/f ship agenda so um <3

inuokko and nobamaki are just too important to me, i know they’ll never be canon but i am manifesting nothing becomes canon more than anything <\\\3

[mana-jjk]

tw: jjk manga spoilers! mentioned canon injuries with canon typical violence, some body dysmorphia, nothing too explicit but it’s definitely there, this post is about injuries!!

something about reincarnation for the children who were never allowed a childhood. a second chance to live their lives in a way that the ones who loved them always wished for.

except, past lives are not so easily forgotten. especially those so rich in anguish, suffering ever so potent in the dust that settled over their bones, love and loss and everything in between carrying over in a branding seal.

characteristics that maybe no longer fit. too sharp fangs that nip your gums, oddly colored eyes that glow with an intimidation no longer needed, an aura that makes someone on the street pause for only a moment.

maybe memories, snippets of trembling screams and bloody nails digging in with the desperation of one so familiar with love and loss. forgotten dreams that leave only iron on the tip of your tongue, a voice so familiar, a hand so comforting, someone who used to know you far better than you could ever understand yourself.

even shared coincidences wouldn’t be out of the question. a special encounter in the hospital between two children, a little boy who grows up with a gruff grandfather with maybe a few more siblings, a teacher who loves his students, who would bend life and death in every tense and capacity.

maybe, maybe.

maybe even a wound, a suffering so intense that it carries on to some capacity. so defining in the suffering endured, so life-changing in the moment of infliction and there-in after. the story of what used to be, of battle scars and survival all in the same. how do you leave behind something so inherent to the person you were? to be reborn is a cycle, a constellation of stories forgotten in the passage of time. yet perhaps told in what continues on.

and oh, the scars they have.

identical birthmarks under yuuji’s eyes, like the mockery of the dimples in his smile. his left hand weaker than his right, sometimes it shakes with a strain as if remembering the time it was severed. a cut on his lip from his own tooth, instinct maybe, an attempt to right the wrong of unmarred flesh. freckles in odd spurts, a strange pain that flares in his bones. his heart, once ripped from his chest, once stabbed by a friend, perhaps not exempt. irregular heartbeats, as if trembling in anticipation for the third strike.

she’s born blind in her left eye, one vibrant amber, one cloudy gray. nobara accepts it, never lived a time without it. she grows up wearing an eyepatch, boring and dull until she discovers how to accessorize. leaning into her namesake, she decorates it with roses until that’s not enough, needles stabbing her never did seem quite scary. so one might say on impulse she decides to get a tattoo of sprawling roses that trail from her temple, down her cheek, shoulder, and finally trailing to her finger tips. sometimes they flare in odd spots. birth marks oddly placed on her wrist.

it’s almost funny to have identical birthmarks to someone you’ve never met before. it’s a talking point that transitions into the strongest friendship megumi has ever head. slits under his eyes, he always thought them unseemly. somehow, yuuji always seems to make them seem a bit better. how could they possibly be bad if the kindest person he knew wore them with confidence? he carries a life long struggle with migraines, focus issues, sometimes even slow reaction times that should only come with a visible wound.

in every life, maki and mai are identical twins. this one is no different, even if there are some minor differences. instead of the burns that decorated their skin in the time now so far away, there are only patches of lighter skin. vitiligo, as officially named, somehow even their conditions seem the same. yet there are differences, a cheat code after maki cuts her hair. legally, she’s blind in her right eye, she wears glasses to correct the imbalance. she caries the echo of loss, of gratefulness in having a life by her sister’s side.

it’s a one-sided happy coincidence to find someone else with vitiligo for panda. he’s never met anyone else to share such a characteristic. he’s a tall boy, sometimes he feels both too tall and too small for his skin. like somehow he should brush the ceiling, yet at the same time only reach their knees. displacement, a lack of understanding. is he supposed to be here? he’s learning, slower than one might imagine, how to function in such ways. empathy and pain and blood and bones. amnesiac soul settling into new bones.

he was a quiet baby, an almost silent baby. surely what his parents would have wanted in his previous life. yet here, in this world, a whimper doesn’t fracture, a scream doesn’t shatter. a simple word has as much power as anyone else. yet, there is a trepidation to breaking the self-imposed silence. not so much fear as there is discomfort. a rule so engrained that it settles into his vocal cords. it’s difficult to learn sign with only one arm, but he’s used to it. never knew a time before it. in another life, it felt world-ending. in this one, it simply is.

yuuta thinks he might remember things sometimes. never too much, the flash of a childish smile from someone far too old and young all at once, a girl enamored with a faceless boy who answers in scowls, a comforting presence with the kindest eyes he has ever seen. gone like whispers, yet so innately part of him. they give him courage, a confidence that doesn’t feel quite like him. a confidence that sends his feet flying quick enough to push rika out of the way. he’s paralyzed from the waist down, a perfect cut. he can’t find it in himself to regret it, an uncharacteristic sureness that this moment was the preferable end. by high school, he can walk with crutches.

with time, with lives gone past, even these echoes will soften. new precedents, new importance, new ends as they begin.

with time, the stark white hair and violet eyes may fade to a shade of blonde. chronic headaches to light sensitivities, ever-lasting shakes to a newly dominant arm. a blind eye to one that takes only a moment to blink dark spots away. world-ending injuries to a flicker in the grand scheme of their lives.

but some things, i think, will always stay the same.

the shy stumble of yuuta’s walk pausing at a book for japanese sign language. he doesn’t know why he pauses, doesn’t know why this catches his interest. yet for some reason, his eyes burn. rika is confused every time she sees it in his room. especially when he never has the time to sit down and actually study it. yet at the same time, he never even considers giving it away.

then, he meets toge.

the silence scares him at first, this overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and the unknown, of comfort and fear all at once, longing and ignorance all at once. his soul might say, i would know him in any life, in every moment, in every period of time no matter how long the separation. but he is no longer yuuta, special grade sorcerer with a target on his back. he’s yuuta, who walks with crutches and studies medicine with a slightly alcoholic instructor. he’s no longer toge, snake and fangs and outlaw in the jujutsu world. he’s toge, selectively mute with a robotic arm and no idea what he wants to do.

any they find each other, again and again. when the stumble settles and his sleeve no longer flutters. when the violet eyes turn a shade of gentle brown, when the scary aura settles instead into reassurance. when they are kids, when they are teenagers, adults, even elderly men. when the world comes and goes and even dust expires into a whisper of the setting sun.

love and loss and battle scars and survival and beginnings and ends and everything and nothing and yet always them, always them.

red strings of fate woven together again and again until so tightly woven nothing could ever begin to separate them. spiderwebs of fate that for once, for once, do not end in severed lines.

because even as the scars fade, even as the echoes fall short, even as the last remnants of before become undone, they will find each other again.

something about reincarnation for the lovers who were never allowed to love without loss.

[mana-jjk]

Mana pls post more i need another post i csnt keep rereading your whole blog when a new chapter comes out im gonna memorise it atp

lmao hey anon <3 !!

that’s literally so sweet and it made me laugh so just for you i pushed through and finished one of my drafts !

i do have a couple of new au’s, second parts to previously posted au’s, and a couple character delves prepping to be posted but i’m also watching the manga updates like a hawk !!

i hope it’s worth any wait regardless <3

thank you for always keeping up with me !! (〃ω〃)

[mana-jjk]

jjk manga spoilers !!

if you aren’t caught up to the most recent chapters, you will be spoiled and i refuse responsibility because i’m just vibing my life away

something i use to kind of sway back and forth between inuokko is when i thought they’d get together.

i think it’s mutually agreed that the dynamic between toge and yuuta in their first and second year does have a slightly different vibe. not in a bad way, just in a mutual transition in their dynamic and relationship. of course, that’s just what we can gleam from a handful of pages.

first-year inuokko is definitely more of an awkwardly sweet, teenagers in love for the first time, trying to figure out who they are and how they interact. there’s room and space to grow, a singular year that only acts as an introduction to what is to come.

second-year inuokko is more of an established confidence, knowing each other as friends, fighters, and everything in between. they’re no longer the youngest generation of the school, now they’re established not just between themselves, but also in their lower class men. more than that, they’re also exploring the effects of new trauma and how that impacts who they are.

i’ve seen this characterization of first-year and second-year dynamics being turned on their head. yuuta transitioning from shyness to confidence, toge from being the reliable figure to learning how to rely on yuuta. that’s why it’s so hard to pinpoint where they would get together, because both dynamics are really sweet and strong. i think that’s why inuokko has remained so strong over the years.

lately though, i have been thinking about that in particular. trying to understand these characters and where their dynamic takes off because it sets the tone for a lot of the major events that take place.

toge losing his arm, yuuta in shibuya, killing yuuji, the reunion, and most definitely the recent manga chapters.

as much as i like to think about them in terms of an established relationship, i truly think that inuokko wouldn’t be successfully established until during or after. in other words, i think their strongest coming together comes after their first year, after yuuta returns from being abroad.

yuuta as a character is one that desperately craves connection. that is a defining characteristic that drives his motives throughout jjk 0. he’s lonely, he wants to feel a sense of belonging if with even one person.

however, the issue is that he is transitioning from several life-changing events that allow no time for process or recovery.

in less than a year, he was responsible for multiple injuries and deaths in classmates and sorcerers investigating them. he was sentenced to death, had the sentence lifted, and was sent to a school for sorcerers. he was immediately targeted by getou, faced several life-threatening situations, and even if just for a moment, thought that the tentative friends he made were dying by getou’s hand. he then proceeds to try and sacrifice his life to murder the absolute crap out of getou and then loses the remnants of the only friend he had for years. this is not to mention the bullying, being ostracized by his family, and being uprooted to a completely different environment.

even if yuuta grew up in a completely different world than the others, his relationship with human interaction is extremely poor. during this time was the only opportunity he had to finally grieve rika’s death.

that’s why it’s so vital that he’s not immediately jumping into a new relationship. even though i don’t see the dynamic between yuuta and rika as inherently romantic as they got older, it was the closest thing either of them had. (i say this because rika often conveyed a mentality of a little girl as a spirit, they might have loved each other as kids, but their mentalities are too different now).

yuuta needed to take that time to enjoy companionship platonically in order to develop emotionally. even more so, he needed to learn how to cope and live in a healthy and productive way. with the loss of rika came the loss of any power he had, a newfound freedom and disadvantage he had to work himself through again.

going to africa was essential for that reason !! he needed to learn how to navigate himself without placing too much dependency on any one person. it kept him from self-sabotaging, but also granted him the opportunity to learn that there were people willing to wait for him.

so that time in africa with miguel wasn’t just time to hone his physical and cursed abilities, it was an opportunity to grow into a more stable mindset before taking any other steps forward.

with that being said, yuuta is absolutely insane. like, i’m sorry but if you don’t agree, talk to the wall because i’m not budging on this. mr. okkotsu did grow into a more confident and self-assured person, but it doesn’t completely erase the traumatic experiences that developed him into the person he is today.

rika was and very much still is an extension to the kind of love he understands and conveys. becoming a monster for those you love, gladly and willingly, to sink your teeth into the viscera of their soul and hold tight. because otherwise, they might just slip away.

we see the frantic energy that rika used to utilize in protecting him not gone, but transitioned into a more clever application in yuuta’s actions. i see this especially in his speech that i discussed about gojo a while back. in how angry he was about toge’s arm. in the way he took on the culling games by himself as atonement.

rika always was a reflection of the darkness inside of yuuta. one that allowed him to pretend like he was helpless, when in truth, he always held a strong capability for the violence.

rika vs. yuuta’s bullies

yuuta vs. getou

he consumes darkness in order to protect the perceived light in his life.

it’s less that he needed to be sent away to address that, and more that he needed time to accept that.

we see a confident yuuta, not because the darkness has disappeared, but because he has learned to control and weaponize it.

his desperation for connection is still very prominent in his character, you can see it especially in how he lashes out in regards to gojo. it’s not that he’s especially angry with everyone else, and more that he needs them to feel these connections on the same level.

there’s visual relief in how he expresses himself when toge, maki, and panda audibly extend their support. he needs to have that tangible desperation and need returned in full. if loving means becoming, the boy who consumes curses will do beyond what is necessary.

in that, you can see an almost contradiction to the similarities between yuuta and yuuji. two boys cursed with immense love for their friends.

yuuji who consumed a finger to protect those around him, who set out on this life to save others and guide them to a proper death. who lost his friends, his mentors, everything and everyone who mattered most. who now straddles the line of life and death all in sacrifice.

yuuta who cursed his childhood friend, who consumes curses to absorb their abilities. who set out on this life to avoid the pain of loneliness and find connection in his lonely world. who somehow managed to not lose any of his friends. who chose to take the only casualty he suffered, his mentor, to sacrifice himself to bring him peace.

they’re so similar and yet so inherently different because of one key characteristic. where yuuji’s actions are selfless, yuuta’s motives have always been selfish.

he brings yuuji back to life, not because he cares too much about killing him, but because gojo and his classmates care about him.

he takes on the culling games because he feels guilty about not helping his friends before.

he kills his mentor’s best friend body snatcher, not because it’s right, but because he doesn’t want gojo to do it.

selfless actions, selfish reasons.

and yuuta knows it.

he accepts it, he embraces it, he doesn’t even try to hide it.

as a first year, he might have shied away from acknowledging it. flustered and avoided eye contact, tried to explain himself in a way that conveyed something good and positive. tried to not see himself a monster.

but he is a monster.

only monsters could possibly survive the blood-soaked remnants of his childhood and teenage years.

he’s a monster, and it only took a year of training for he himself to realize that, to embrace it.

because being a monster means that the people you love don’t have to be one.

and the cherry on top is that he picked the one group that would know that, would see him, would love him not just in spite of it, but because of it.

maki figured him out from day one, and panda doesn’t exactly have the importance of morals high enough to care.

toge is the biggest surprise, because his characterization might lead you to think that he would be heartbroken by the choices yuuta would make.

but it isn’t compassion that defines toge so strongly, it is acceptance.

his ability to not see past the viscera and gore covering his soul. his ability to watch with utmost vigilance and choose to move forward regardless. he wipes the blood streaking his cheeks, not to pretend it never happened, but to share in it. to share the responsibility.

to be a jujutsu sorcerer is to not hold life in the highest regard. instead, it is to learn how to live past the bounds of morality and personal responsibility. it is to understand that you walk a gray line that forever tips into an unending darkness.

second year yuuta is one all too aware of this, who knows it far more intimately than any person raised in this society. and in spite of it, he choose to dig his nails into the edge and tip back. trusting, knowing his friends are only a breath away.

he needed the time to understand that more than anything else.

lmfao i consider myself the biggest toge lover, but i also love yuuta very much. he’s so batshit and it’s so enjoyable to me. i think they should hold hands and stuff ! 1,700 words of me just rambling about them - now it’s mana pls stfu hours

[mana-jjk]

tw: referenced death

jjk spoilers !!

nothing too in-depth, but referenced to the light novel and recent manga chapters

i think the best way to understand toge comes from trying to write him.

canonly, he’s one of the characters we know the least about. we know the hint of a tragic backstory, but we’ve never seen it. we know he can’t speak without hurting someone, but we are never given a situation to reference or the parameters of such. we know he speaks in safe words, but we don’t know why he chose them or why he didn’t choose another way to communicate.

when i write toge, sometimes i pause in between onigiri ingredients and think, why doesn’t he just learn sign language? why doesn’t he just pick up a pad of paper and a pen? why doesn’t he ask anyone to explain the meaning of his safe words? isn’t there a better way to communicate than with words that won’t be taken seriously?

and that’s how the think piece spiral starts. if you go back in my account, you’ll see way too many posts dedicated to analyzing toge, picking his character apart, headcanons and canon divergences devoted to understanding him. it’s hard to understand a character that was created because of a joke.

maybe it’s a bit too much of thinking that makes you attach to toge, the boy who has such an innate aspect of his humanity designated to be a weapon. why doesn’t he find a different way? i think maybe, because for him, every other way calls for the acceptance of seeing this crucial part of himself as nothing more than a tool to harm others.

can it be that easy? to live your life in isolation, trapped in your own mind, with the knowledge that your existence burns the people around you simply by existing — can it be so easy to simply find another way?

maybe it would be easier if his voice wasn’t weaponized.

if he simply couldn’t speak rather than having the capacity redirected into channeled danger. Never having a choice, born into this role with seals marking his fate, marking the danger he poises to curses, complete strangers, the people he loves most. It would be easier if his voice came as an unintelligible whisper, easier if a simple phrase didn’t have the capacity to slaughter the people around him. easier if the capability to harm did not extend beyond his own intentions.

i think it hurts.

beyond the physical wounds, beyond the copper behind his teeth and the taste of cherry cough syrup on his tongue. i think it hurts him to know that the only time his voice is ever heard is when it causes pain.

it’s like never raising your hand unless to hurt someone else. it’s there, you can feel it there even as everyone else tries not to see it. there’s bad connotations with that hand. because if you raise it, everyone knows that someone will be hurt. they try not to see it, yet simultaneously it’s all they seem to see. bloody hand, bruised knuckles, the evidence of your cruelty. if you want them to be afraid, maybe you relish in the obedience. but obedience is not respect, it is not love, it is a base understanding of the capability of your inhumanity. for someone like toge, that bloody hand has been innate since the moment he came into the world. bloody, bloody hand with danger far beyond the stature of such a small child.

i think with the elders, they see his voice as that bloody hand. he opens his mouth and there is terror without uttering a word. his existence is a stark reminder of his capability, even if he never raised a hand, not on purpose. it doesn’t matter. with a whisper he can explode living beings, twist limbs until they’re crushed beyond recognition, steal life within a second, before anyone could realize what is wrong.

snake in the grass without a warning rattle. less than a bite, less than the coiled danger, less than the venom secreted fangs. cursed speech users are an invasive species within the jujutsu world. that’s why they were managed. how were they managed? outlaws or invasive, dangerous or venomous, to die out or kill on sight. bloody, bloody hand, hissing, hissing rattle.

that’s why, i think he insists on speaking, even if no one would ever understand him.

the elders may never trust him, but for the people he cares about, there has never been an ingrained fear of his voice. because when he opens his mouth, they don’t focus on the sigils marring his tongue. they don’t flinch when he speaks. they are surprised when he uses his abilities. they are surprised when the boy who speaks in silly ingredients can completely pulverize a cursed spirit. they are surprised not at his humanity, but what he can do in spite of it.

when yuuta was afraid of him, it wasn’t in fear of what a single vibrating note from his voice might cause. raised hands, perceived irritation, a shadowed expression. never his voice.

even when he exploded up to hundreds of spirits at once, with one singular word. never fear, only awe, only interest, only hopes to understand him in a way that the self-inflicted barriers tried to deny them both.

i think in this case, yuuta is much the same.

if he knew that being around people, being around girls or rowdy classmates especially, was dangerous because of rika, why didn’t he stay away? if he knew, why did he even consider being around maki? because that meant accepting that his entire existence would forever be limited to the harm that befalls others. how do you accept yourself as a cause and effect? a calamity in skin and bone, blood red inside and out.

so he found other ways. please don’t touch me, please and thank you. i won’t speak as long as you tolerate being around me. manipulate the situation, manipulate the cursed remnants of a little girl until she thinks the way she needs to. the way you need her to. for the safety of those around you, even though you know there’s another way, a simpler way.

don’t speak, don’t be.

what’s left of them? how much do you sacrifice if only to not be alone?

so toge speaks to empty ears, to condescending eyes, to upturned noses who refuse to comprehend beyond the harm he may poise. to ignorant bystanders, who will never know the potential vibrating under his skin, waiting with snapping jaws at the first hint of intention. starry eyed children who latch on to the secret language, with sticky fingers and pure intention. confused tourists who try to follow along, who unintentionally give much needed attention. wary peers who hear of his technique long before they hear of him, who see the danger long before they see him.

he exists to contradict, to take the reputation speared upon him and turn the tables with bloody hands that all eyes only seem to focus on. for these reasons, he turns to intentions, turns to kindness that can be conveyed much farther than words.

be kind, be oh so kind, be so kind that you never have to speak a word.

sacrifice your blood and sacrifice your time, sacrifice as much as you can if only to be understood. a crying baby who cannot begin to register the harm of their shrill cries, a marked child trying to convey the words they were never taught, a one-armed teenager laying down what’s left of their life.

don’t kill him, he told nobara, sacrificing his self-imposed rules for a man who knew the weakness of his technique. because he couldn’t stand the idea that she would have blood on her hands. sacrifice a little more if only to convey how much you care.

because the tragedy of toge is that every word he says has the potential to become a dangerous reality. because he cannot warn others, he becomes their shield. because he cannot vocalize how much he cares, he becomes what they need most. because he cannot tell them who he is, he has to sacrifice everything to show them.

he was never going to let yuuta fight alone. because the beauty of yuuta is that he was always afraid for the wrong reasons. afraid of toge not because of his capability to be a weapon, but because he was afraid that he hated him.

can you imagine? every moment of your tired existence, trying to prove yourself as anything more than your bloody hands. to have someone not afraid of your blood crusted fingertips and split knuckles, but of your capacity to tolerate a walking cataclysm.

yuuta is so saturated in blood and despair that he cannot even begin to fathom caring about bloody hands. of course he sees them, sees them in the potential they hold, in the pain they’ve inflicted, yet also endured. holds them in his own like they’re delicate, sees the splits and scars and bruises, not as evidence of his capability, but in his durability. to be treated as breakable with such potential to shatter the world around him.

when i write toge, i always find myself in this train of thought. i think that’s why i love yuuta so much, i love how much he loves, even if it means the world burns.

on a happier note, i’ve been binging in nostalgia with the new fairy tail anime coming out !! i literally rewatched all 328 episodes lol it was one of my first anime i watched, and even if it’s a 180 from jjk, i’m of course thinking of crossover au’s because lol just look at me. i think i have a million au ideas and 27 posts in the draft <3

[mana-jjk]

sometimes i wonder if yuuta had to come out of the closet to rika’s spirit lol

i know technically the current form we see is a manifestation of his cursed technique, but i still think part of her hangs around.

so.

rika who has always been anxious about other girls being around yuuta, overtly aggressive to maki and his sister, did not consider the possibility of the bisexual disaster himself.

she died at a young age with the knowledge of her crush being reciprocated. she probably didn’t consider he was anything except straight.

that’s probably why toge was able to get away with so much.

pinkies brushing when they walk, a fluency that no one else seems to share the utter depth of, a level of insanity that comes with the willingness to die for another.

i can just imagine inuokko curled up on the couch together, hands intertwined and rika thinking to herself, what good friends!

yuuta has to pull her aside one day, to explain in a very awkward way that there was a hidden threat she never accounted for.

rika just falls to her knees in the denny’s parking lot because by then it’s too late !! she’s actually fond of toge <\3

it’s actually so unintentionally sneaky of them to wait so long, especially letting toge interact and spend time with her. how do you murder someone that allows and even helps you water the flowers? who talked to her in reassuring tones when yuuta was hurt? who saw the utter depth of her monstrosity and never flinched away?

so toge gets to live, if only because this means that she gets to stay yuuta’s favorite girl. because she knows he hasn’t forgotten about her or replaced her. knows it in the way he takes toge to her grave, in the flowers they bring from the garden. flowers they grew together.

she’s one of the only people in his past life he could come out to. no contact with his parents, a level of uncertainty with his sister. no friends, no relatives past the enigma of gojo and his new life.

her acceptance means the world to him, he cries and she glitches in reality. she shouldn’t still be here, but she is. and he’s thankful he got to share such an important part of himself with her.

i’ve been thinking about this all day, it’s so hilarious to me lol

imagining rika squinting her one eye like, “you like BOYS too?”

insert picture of toge throwing a peace sign.

[mana-jjk]

jjk manga and future spoilers !!

if you haven’t read anything from the recent exhibition or seen some manga panels out of context, this is a spoiler xoxo

anime only and fellow fans living in delusion look away and choose happiness

.

.

.

.

.

.

me getting ready to forcefully drag characters into the afterlife because i physically cannot handle the thought of nobara sitting alone, waiting for her friends:

y’all don’t understand, she’s been lonely for so long and now that she finally had people who loved her SHE GOT RIPPED AWAY !! i am on my hands and knees, how DARE YOU GEGE !! i have been living in denial since that dreaded chapter but confirming it?? no.

i am the type of found family crazy that if one person dies, everyone needs to die so they can reunite in the afterlife and be happy together. living on?? i don’t think so. i stg if any of the second years get taken out, i’m annihilating the rest of them, just watch me.

thinking about how maki, toge, and yuuji might have been with her in purgatory for a split second before being revived.

thinking about toge not wanting to leave her alone because that’s his little underclassmen and she shouldn’t be alone IM CRYING IN THE CLUB

thinking about how yuuji might have felt a split second of relief to be with her and junpei, only to get dragged back into the reality where the blood on his hands never dries.

thinking about maki having to leave mai and nobara waiting for her while she tries to finish what they started and she’s in so much pain i physically cannot.

the other adults getting ready to pass on but nobara is waiting because everyone she loves is still on the other side. At the very least she never has to see another funeral.

SHE DESERVES TO BE IN A SLICE OF LIFE ANIME !! these kids make me so sad, i think about how tired they must be. they’re so little and they’ve experienced nothing outside of blood and death, i need them to be happy.

[mana-jjk]

i love your post pls never die

- 🫖

aw tea anon !!

that’s so sweet and ominous <3

fortunately i do not plan on dying anytime soon but if you have some inside information on that - um don’t tell me lol

i love your asks, i hope you never die either !

[mana-jjk]

Mana.... Hows jjk 261 :3 (im bawling my eyes out)

hi babes <3 !

i’m coping so hard right now, but this chapter gave so much to think about in terms of characterization too.

spoilers under the cut !! i’m so serious y’all, you will be majorly spoiled if you keep reading

ok so first of all, i feel so vindicated that everyone is starting to realize how much of a crazy bitch yuuta is. i’ve been saying since day one that the boy is unhinged and i love him for it. i think it’s interesting how in general, the second years all fall under a different morality stance that impacts each other.

i don’t think the typical moral alignment chart really fits them, so let me ramble for a second.

maki is a bit true neutral to me in that she will turn her nose to the society set before her, because it’s wrong. she has strong ideals, but her behavior used to be very much of looking out for herself before much else. that means hurting others feelings, not giving into designated good behavior to make it easier for others, goals dedicated to breaking the glass ceiling rather than any passion to save anyone. her actions may lean to an objective good and evil stance, whatever may be necessary. i think her stance is definitely swayed by her comrades. the initial reaction to yuuta possessing gojo’s body was immediate refusal. it’s almost odd that she’s had such a strong reaction to it, considering her past attitude of doing whatever may be necessary. her real reaction stems from the danger that has the potential of impacting yuuta.

panda is definitely more interesting in that he’s not human. he’s most often shown as one of the more empathetic in the show despite his inhuman origins. yet at the same time, he’s very tactical and thinks of humans and their emotions as strange. there’s an almost juxtaposition of that kind nature in combination with a degree of separation that is visceral in nature. case in point, panda acknowledges that there is danger to yuuta in this case, yet he has the most subdued reaction to such. is this because he cares less? i don’t think so. however, another point is when yuuta is screaming about becoming a monster. panda shows little to no reaction outwardly. again, you have to ponder the choice in this. yuuta used to be the prime example of his inability to understand humans and their emotions. i do wonder if that’s still the case after masamichi was killed. they both lost a figure deeply important to them. the difference is that panda refrained from enacting vengeance and instead displayed his, perhaps most genuine, showcase of emotion. part of panda’s journey is about discovering where he stands in society. reacting to this in such a way feels like an acceptance of that journey coming to an end. he understands yuuta, because he had to become more in order to process these tragedies, with another on the horizon.

i think i’ve said this before, but i do see potential where toge would’ve been set up as the moral compass of the second years (if gege didn’t keep forgetting about him). out of all the characters, toge was set up to be one of the most self-sacrificial. silencing and isolating himself his entire life to prevent cursing others, trying to make yuuta stay back or run away when there’s danger, protecting megumi despite the damage to his throat, asking nobara not to kill one of the very few people who knows a dangerous weakness of cursed speech, protecting an entire civilian crowd by himself, and so on. but there’s smaller pieces too. stopping maki from bullying yuuta, protesting sending yuuji alone during the exchange event, always choosing non-violent commands on his peers if necessary, physically stepping in to stop todo from harassing megumi, checking in on the others well being. i’ve always seen that moment with maki and stopping her as indicative to their relationship. if he says she’s gone too far, she trusts him. his reaction to yuuta’s speech is also the most visceral, there’s a hint of horror on his face that you can’t see with anyone else. it’s a terror i only have to assume at the knowledge that yuuta cannot, will not be stopped. and for toge, who has so much of his character built around care, it must be so horrifying to know that you are helpless to save the one you care about most, as helpless as he was to prevent the decimation of the civilians entrusted to him in shibuya.

yuuta actually tickles my brain in the best way y’all. i have SO MUCH to say about this man and his morals. what is absolutely crazy is that you would think yuuta is being set up as the straight man (not literally, that boy is bisexual as fuck), but in that he did not grow up in their society. maki, toge, and panda were all groomed from birth to be soldiers. ready to do what is necessary to save civilians. megumi said it best, they’re not heroes, they’re jujutsu sorcerers. that means being deplorable sometimes, expecting not to save everyone, yet willing to die in an instance without cursing the world. despite this, somehow it’s yuuta who emulates these values the most. where others may protest the ethics of the body swap, yuuta intercepts with bone-chilling anger. where toge refrains from using permanently damaging curse words, the first one and most common yuuta uses is ‘die,’ where others might turn tail and run, yuuta digs in his heel and does what is necessary. likely this is a byproduct of growing up with the vengeful spirit of rika for five years. single-handedly, he was responsible for numerous injuries and deaths even before arriving at the school. we see this byproduct in his willingness in biting the faces off roaches, killing yuuji, and taking it upon himself to kill his mentor’s best friend not once, but twice. and then letting the copy of rika EAT HIM !!

were these all necessary at the time? of course, but the moral strain, the implications of his mental state in order to do so is one that is vastly underestimated.

yuuta killed yuuji.

with his own hand, he cut through flesh and blood and bone and dug through to the other side. he did it without a twitch in his face, he did it after chasing him through the city. yuuji did not lie down and take it, he ran and he fought for his life. the desperation on yuuji’s face, the terror, the chilling understanding that he would not survive this. he might have healed him, but what kind of person do you think it takes to go through with that? yes, it was necessary. but i want you to imagine yourself in that position. it’s not a moment to take lightly, especially if you’re not entirely sure if it will work. taking this all to the present day, if you were surprised at the lengths yuuta will go, i truly cannot imagine why.

gojo satoru is not being used as a weapon. he is a tribute. the very act in itself is an accolade, the only eulogy they can afford to provide. the act of desecration is a love letter, a legacy borne of blood soaked thorns and crumbling graves. the strongest, the one and only, the honored one. untouchable, unreachable, an unattainable monster. gojo describes others as the flowers that fester and grow, who love in theory but never truly understand. do you understand the gut-wrenching tragedy it takes for someone as blessed as yuuta to sink into the grime that no one dares venture, to foresake his blessings to become the decomposition, the nourishment of these roots, to take over like a parasite, a hive mind, if only to ensure the loss is not in vain?

no one is looking at this the right way.

yuuta isn’t disrespecting gojo by using his body as a weapon, he is honoring him in the only way he knows how. he’s taking his life, filled with blessings, friends that adore him, the chances for love and happiness, the journey it took for him to come here, and laying it out in offering. i see your pain, i see your endings, and to ensure you rest in peace, i will ensure that these hands finally lay to rest that which has taken so much from you.

yuuta loves gojo, he loves him so completely that he became a monster far before this act. he killed his best friend so he wouldn’t have to, he killed the parasitic host of his best friend so he wouldn’t have to, there’s so much blood on his hands it’s hard to tell where the devotion ends and humanity begins.

we can scream black and blue that this is wrong, that he deserves a proper rest, that they are abandoning the humanity in which they strive so much to save. to that i say, no shit, it’s almost like that’s the point. asking children to fight in a war they never asked for is wrong. training these children from birth and grooming them to be weapons before they even know how to define what it means to die is wrong. trying to execute teenagers with no knowledge or understanding of their abilities or place in this society is wrong. telling teenagers who will never experience a normal school life to engage in suicide missions, knowing they have no chance is wrong. demanding that they place priority over lives, especially over their own is wrong. outlawing their very existence, to which was groomed specifically for their society, is wrong. asking them to plan for their early demise, to greet death with acceptance rather than rage, is wrong. it’s all wrong, it’s all a product of a broken society that could never move forward. asking them to fight with amputated limbs, disfigured skin, and no one to mourn their existence beyond the circle of lives at the beck and call is wrong. but the end of sukuna is a potential turning point, the end of a generational transition cycle that continues to cog forward. gojo hated this society most of all, and i have no doubt that he has brought the end of it.

if not the death of the elders, it is the death of himself that spurs the same change that came with his birth. it’s almost tragic that gojo’s life mission was to ensure that the youth could live their lives to the fullest, yet he had to accept that their lives would be laid down regardless. gojo sacrificed his entire life, from birth to death to be a protector. yes he stopped executions, he gave chances to many who would have otherwise been ostracized, yet all in the same they lay down their lives and die all too soon. children he helped raise, children he would have done anything for, children who now face his death with their own bodies in the line of fire. in the end, he didn’t change a thing. prolonged death sentences maybe, yet what does it matter if they die by their society or by sukuna’s hand? that is why yuuta needed to take his body. because gojo is not done, he cannot be laid to rest until the final obstacle is out of the way. a last wish, the closing of a door, the balance of what was good and necessary.

as long as sukuna lives, they have failed. and yuuta, the one most blessed by the efforts of gojo, the one who had the most to live for, understands that more than anyone else.

the truth is that gojo was so completely adored by his student, in a way even he didn’t understand. children who were saved by him, the outcasts of the jujutsu world who were given a family because of him. megumi who was able to escape the zenins, yuuji who was given a prolonged execution, nobara who finally had people sitting in her chairs, maki who was fighting against the foundation, panda who was not even human, toge who’s very life was outlawed, yuuta who had long since lost all reason to live. they found each other because of gojo, they found reason to live in each other. because of that, they found the confidence to die too.

jujutsu kaisen for these very reasons is not for the faint of heart. the death of nanami was the tipping point of a decent into darkness in which children are not spared. there are no children in a war of this scale, only born and raised soldiers who will live and die a life documented only by the tragic losses unknown by the rest of society. the people who were everything, the people they would have done anything for, not even a smear in history. unnamed, unthanked, unnoticed in their absence to the rest of society. because even a happy story like yuuta’s is built on the knowledge that every blessing was only a prolonged sacrifice.

he would give up everything and anything, because that was the only way to ensure the people he loved, his everything and anything, lived to see another day. that is what becoming a monster truly means. the capability and willingness to become an ugly, wretched, and cruel being, if only to ensure you are the strongest.

however, yuuta does have something that gojo was never quite able to keep. the love and devotion matched in full by his comrades, unwilling to let him face these battles alone. therefore, even as tragedy trudges on, i truly hope this is where we can see the potential of the established bond in the second years.

i will continue being delusional, if only to believe my found family will not yet be ripped apart (like yuuta). so to answer your question, i too am suffering !! slice of life alternate universe when

[mana-jjk]

i know we’re talking about THAT chapter right now, but i need another day to cope y’all <3 anon i promise i’ll answer but angst actually kills me lol

so instead !!

i’m here to present my case that toge would absolutely be the first choice of a pseudo-god parent. not for any religious reasons, if there was a better name i’d use it, but i think jjk definitely has a need for that system.

with how common mortality is, the high demand in sorcerers, the uncertainties of their lifestyle… i mean just look at megumi. not exactly the same, but in any case, they need to know that their kids will be okay if anything ever happens.

i personally headcanon that nobamaki would have twin boys because it’s actually adorable to me. they expected at least one girl at first, they even had their names picked out. mai and saori, after two of the most important people in their lives. but around the time it got closer, maki started second guessing naming the name mai, wondering if she’d ever be able to associate it with anything but her sister.

then two healthy baby boys came into the world, masaki and takai, elegant and beginning, new world. not exactly a copy of maki and mai, whose names corresponded with hope and each other, but a homage. an act of service to what they never got to see together.

anyway, toge was absolutely their first choice for a godparent.

individually, their relationship with him is one of their strongest dynamics for both characters.

yes, nobara loves yuuji and megumi in her own way. yuuji might have been the second pick if he wasn’t so head empty, eating cursed fingers. i truly do not think megumi would have been entrusted with any of her children lol, that boy is emo and emotionally stunted (in a nice way).

maki and yuuta friendship is so good, but he’s still kind of pathetic. his favorite food is sesame oil and cabbage y’all, there’s no way. panda would’ve been the second pick if he wasn’t such an instigator.

on the other hand, nobara understand toge so well that it freaks out even the second years. after being kidnapped, she was first hand witness to his dependable side and kindness. he’s like a big brother to her, and i know without a doubt that their dynamic only got stronger after that. they are the besties, shopping buddies, gossip squad, unserious duo. he takes care of her, he notices when her self-esteem is lower and immediately addresses it. he was the one to catch her during training, encourage her, and tease her. i cannot stress enough how bestie coded they are.

i might love maki and yuuta friendship, but maki and toge are my absolute favorite to think about. i know the general consensus in their dynamic seems to be toge being a gremlin and maki screaming at him, but i really think they interact in a different way. i’m still waiting for a couple translations from phantom parade, but i truly believe maki genuinely respects and loves toge, vice versa. when we first met yuuta, maki’s first reaction was to bully him lol, but it wasn’t until toge spoke up that she stopped. in the light novel, it’s said repeatedly by nobara that maki respects him. maki herself goes on to openly admit that he’s the most considerate out of all of them, and says that his only flaw is that he can be pretty mischievous. nobara also notes how close the second years are to each other enough that they share a braincell. when you look at the art of them together, there’s only one where maki looks irritated, and it’s only because toge is laughing at her tourist glasses. it’s kind of crazy to me that the dynamic in fanon between toge and maki is actually the canon interactions between panda and maki. i could talk all day about this, but i genuinely see a more placid maki when she interacts with toge and need more of that dynamic. they love each other !!

so yes, they have a really strong relationship with toge, i would venture to say one of the strongest for both characters. emotionally speaking, toge is also shown to be extremely mature.

he doesn’t show much in his body language, but he can read others very well. despite not being able to speak outside of safe words, he’s also good at settling the people around him. most importantly, he’s one of the few characters we’ve never seen lash out. despite being villainized by yuuta lol, smacked by nobara, on the end of gawking by kamo, pushed to near death, permanently disabled, and more, he’s confronted each situation with emotional maturity. the fact that he told yuuta that his arm being torn off wasn’t yuuji’s fault, speaks volumes about the character. yuuta too, when he was afraid, toge tried to comfort him but also backed away when he saw him being scared. silencing himself in itself speaks to his maturity.

as a babysitter, he’s also very well off ! with being the best cook of the second years, he also made sure panda was eating too by feeding him. when left alone with children, he was seamlessly connecting with them to the point where they understood him fluently. his first reactions are always to emotionally and physically protect the first years and yuuta. with his abilities, he also knows more than most the importance and correct way to control abilities. is this not your dream babysitter?

more than that, i truly believe that if anything ever happened to nobamaki, he’d love and raise them as his own with zero hesitation. he’d raise them the way they’d want to and never let them believe that any set of parents loved them even a little less.

with that being said, yuuta gets the default second spot as a godparent purely because toge was the automatic first choice. eventually, when nobamaki have a little girl named saori, they are her godparents too.

i know he holds those babies like he’d tear himself apart for them. it’s a learning curve with one arm at first. he’s scared his prosthetic will get in the way or hurt them. but for some reason the babies seem to adore his prosthetic arm too. tiny fingers wrapped around robotic joints, toge could swear he feels the warmth even through false flesh and phantom pain.

some of their first words end up being onigiri ingredients, it’s only because “mama” came first that nobamaki can see the humor in it. they have to consciously teach their kid that they are capable of saying yes instead of shake. what they don’t realize is that sometimes they talk in onigiri too.

yuuta sulks a bit that his spot is only be default, but he proves himself as a very good godfather and babysitter. he does not feed them cabbage, thank you very much. but they usually ask toge to cook instead, much to Yuuta’s’ devastation.

it’s probably through babysitting that the baby fever reared its head in both of them. watching yuuta hesitantly toss takai in the air after his insistence that mommy does it all the time, and freak out over his health frantically. toge letting masaki cling to his leg in public, always one tiny hand clutching the robotic fingers. yuuta showing masaki how to use a wooden sword in cool moves just likes mommy. toge acting like the damsel in distress for takai to play his games. watching yuuta get swatted by the wooden swords, allies enemies in an instance, toge watching with a tiny smile he doesn’t bother to hide.

they’re good with kids.

at night, it almost hurts to say goodbye. but their own little girl isn’t too far away.

i need more domestic fluff right now y’all, this in physically paining me you don’t understand. toge is so parent coded i will actually scream cry sob throw myself on the floor. inuokko would be such good guardians no matter what and i love them.

[mana-jjk]

y’all we finally have an actually educated answer to this question !! thank you @nectardaddy for helping us out because i knew vampire reddit was not cutting it this time ;; (yes i’m still getting recommendations from them)

i love that you drew in your experience and explained everything so well !! the last perfect contribution would be having someone who speaks japanese and their take on this !! but i can definitely see what you’re saying regarding the different movements.

there’s honestly no way that toge could have ever been placed in regular schools among non-sorcerer students. his exposure to other kids and even adults was more than likely extremely limited. i would even venture to press that his non-expressiveness facially speaking might be from a lack of exposure socially speaking.

with how engrained his cursed speech is, how intentional every movement has to be, it might even be second nature at times to mimic that movement in different words.

but thank you for sharing your expertise !! the fun in analyzing characters is having everyone build on it, so don’t apologize ! i know we all appreciate it ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´ω`ﾟ)ﾟ｡ especially since i talk out of my ass sometimes lol

Do you think Inumaki has a lisp or some kind of bad pronunciation because hes used to saying a limited ammount of words? (Idk how those actually work lol)

omg hi anon !! 💞

this question has single handedly led me to vampire reddit and lisp quora and now i’m getting the weirdest recommendations in my emails (；ω；)

so i’m far from being a speech therapist, and this is based off of the little research that I’ve done and my own headcanons lol.

i think that if toge does have a lisp, it would be because of his fangs. vampire reddit has informed me very helpfully that due to fangs, the consonants in english would be limited due to how the teeth would interrupt the movement of lower lip. so f and v sounds might be impacted, however that is in english ! i am not entirely sure how it would translate to japanese.

i tried to mimic the words he uses, and can’t notice any movement that might be impacted in that case. but i also read that s sounds and th are likely to be slurred.

the only case in which we hear a slur is during this iconic scene -

i don’t think gege intended to convey that toge has a slur, more than likely this scene was a mixture of damage to his throat, blood loss, confusion, exhaustion, and hesitance. especially since they took his fangs away <\3

but canon is merely a suggestion to me lol

personally, i do think toge would have a slight speech impediment when combining his prominent fangs and lack of speech.

it’s a personal headcanon i have that toge’s clan limited his speech by limiting the language taught to him. he’s been speaking in his onigiri language since before he could remember and does have an understanding of his cursed speech. but if they wanted to limit accidents, it would be in limiting the words he knows.

the research i found also showed that if someone has difficulty interchanging with the t and d sound, it’s likely due to confusion. toge undoubtedly knows japanese, however he’s probably out of practice in speaking it outside of his cursed speech and safe words.

when you listen to him using both, his voice is very clear and particular in enunciating the sounds. in the case with yuuta, his voice was muffled, broken, and slurred. maybe even with a concussion that affected his speech.

so yes, i do think he has a slight impediment, but one that’s only noticeable when he speaks words outside of his cursed and safe vocabulary.

otherwise, everything he does is with clear intent, something you need to have when fostering something dangerous.

toge is probably aware of that, maybe even a little embarrassed of it. probably refrains from trying new words, partly because he doesn’t have the consistency or clarity to ensure there is no misinterpretation.

yuuta’s name was the exception, and continues to be the exception. he says it softly every time, and even though he could correct it, he doesn’t. saying it with a soft drop at the end seems to fit far better than the correct click of a t.

i’ve seen some interpretations of toge giving pet names to yuuta in the forms of potential safe words, but i think the way he says his name is the term of endearment.

the careful manner he sounds out in every syllable, the almost reverence he has, the quiet whisper of his voice as if it was meant for yuuta’s ears only.

there’s a gentleness to the cruelty of his circumstances, if only in the the way his words hold significance far beyond just any understanding.

any way, i think reddit thinks i want to be a vampire now and i’m just imagining yuuta googling this question and blushing at all the emphasis of fangs.

i hope this answered your question !! feel free to keep sending these asks so i can convey the full extent of my insanity <3 ! ( *｀��´)

[mana-jjk]

Anon who asked about ur fav inuokko artists here- omg i finally have more stuff to blankly stare at tysm!!

1 month wait was so worth it!! I hope it went well with getting ur degree :D

hi art-anon !! i hope you enjoy the artsist <3 maybe someday i'll do another post with my favorite inuokko fics !

i appreciate you immensely ! very proud to be one degree up, especially after the crazy amount of procrastination i practiced lol. but i'm a summa cum laude student in grad school now, enjoying what free time i have left <3

[mana-jjk]

jjk spoilers!! references to child abuse !

despite what others may assume, toge is kind of an expert at reading people.

just because he lost an arm doesn’t mean he can’t pick up on body language, just because he has to hide his face doesn’t mean he can’t analyze facial expressions, just because he can’t talk outside of his safe words and curses doesn’t mean he hasn’t picked up on every single intricacy layered within their speech.

actually, it’s because of all of these reasons and more that he’s had to become proficient.

growing up in the inumaki clan, constantly being watched, under consistent scrutiny of the jujutsu kaisen world, there was a culture of hidden intentions and double meanings.

If you wanted to survive, you either had to layer your own words, or understand how to pick those words apart. And well, considering how intentionally clear toge had to be with his limited vocabulary, he didn’t have much of a choice to begin with.

so he learned.

as a child it was harder, to understand that the attention he so craved, more often than not came at his own expense. they didn’t smile at him because they enjoyed his presence, they were laughing at him. more than that, even as they hurt him, he came to learn that every sharpened glare and raised hand shook with an undertone of terror at his very existence.

it should have made him feel powerful, to see their eyes shine with fear, their hands tremble at every whispered breath. in the aftermath, covered in bruises and wondering when he lost the ability to cry, all he felt like was a monster.

gojo wasn’t nearly as hard to read as he seemed to think he was. under the protection of his limitless and six eyes, with the idea that if no one could touch him, no one could see him, he faltered in his own persona. the sag of his shoulders, the faraway look in his eye, the faltering breath at even the suggestion of his once friend. none of it was as telling as the fractured smile he sometimes offered. his voice honey soaked in lies, not malicious, but with the idea that they lived and died within his straining grasp.

panda was actually a bit harder to read, in that there was something distinctly different about him than one might find in a human. he’s honest in a way, yet still with an undertone of manipulation. not in a necessarily bad way, but growing up as a cursed corpse required a different understanding of human characteristics. it’s easy to see his mannerisms and see them catered to the situation. how to distract, how to endear, how to appear as close to human as possible to settle the natural uncanny feeling the lack of a heartbeat gives. he doesn’t necessarily need to eat, sleep, or even breathe. but he does. he’s not trying to be human, but he does try to assimilate as best he can. almost to where one might forget he’s not even ‘just’ a panda. he’s one of his best friends, a kindness in his honesty and manipulation all the same, but he speaks like an elder sometimes too.

maki, despite her best intentions, might as well be an open book for all her body language gives her away. she may curse and cuss and snarl like a wolf baring its teeth, yet for all the intentions it’s far too obvious that open wounds hide behind her overt aggression. she makes herself the biggest in the room, the most obvious threat, likely intention and instinct all at once. because even when they first met, distrust shining in her eyes and a grinding of her teeth, she still pushed him behind her on their first mission together. she doesn’t want to trust because she already gives her health, sanity, and life, how could anyone possibly expect her to give her heart away too? but even then, behind gnashing teeth and twisting expressions, there is never hurt without intent. the only care afforded to her in the beatings that made her stronger, the only care that she knows how to express. she softens under his own quiet acceptance, relaxes like an alley cat afforded their first kindness. too independent to ever be kept, too starved for kindness to ever truly leave. even as she punches his shoulder, it’s on the unmarked skin. even as she complains at physical contact, she still lets him lean against her. even as she has been hurt and burned, she still loves them, even if her own broken pieces can’t yet admit it.

he’s an expert at reading them, at knowing how to care for them. he can’t judge their mannerisms or judgment, their aggression and lies and all the ugly pieces they bare. in a way he’s the worst of them all, in how much he refuses to yield. constantly hiding, constantly lying, constantly basking in the pieces they afford to him, yet never having the courage to truly bare his own.

and then there’s yuuta, because somehow it’s always yuuta.

it’s almost funny how obvious it is that he wasn’t raised in their society. almost funny how it seems he wasn’t raised to have an inkling of what it means to hide. where gojo hides his pain, yuuta wears his own on his sleeve as if hiding it away was a sign of disrespect. where panda carefully caters his persona to be the most pleasing to any given situation, it’s almost endearing how yuuta seems to act most under accidents and a lack of intentionality, surprising himself just as much as the people around him. where maki hides her pain and her fear and her wants, yuuta seems to act like he’ll die if he doesn’t convey the full extent of his desperation in every manner and facet. he’s honest in a way that more often than not betrays him, that would have been taken advantage of by anyone else in the world.

toge didn’t realize how exhausting it was before until that honesty was directed to him. because even in his terror, in his distrust of toge, yuuta left very little to interpretation. when he was disheartened, it was in the down curve of his face, the slump of his body, the self-deprecating words. when he was happy, it was from the flush of his ears to the excited fidget of his hands. when he loved, it was in the inability to ever let toge believe it could ever be anyone but them. always them.

in a world of double meanings, growing up with the only affection afforded for a specific intention, masked faces and padded movements that required a serpent’s eye to decipher, it was almost too easy.

it was almost funny how simple communication, honesty, truth, how it could fester so much affection from toge.

it burned in a way to see yuuta change with time, to watch him learn how to manipulate the elders in turn. burned even more to know that toge was partially at fault for that change, to know that he was aiding in the corruption of something so endearing to him.

yet that honesty never faltered, at least never with him. the transition of talking to the elders to the brightening of his face as soon as toge entered his vision was almost like whiplash. somehow, it only made it mean more. to know that yuuta, his yuuta, was capable of masterful deception and willful manipulation, yet continuously chose to treat him with nothing but complete honesty. as if lying to toge would cause him physical pain.

little by little, his honesty seemed to affect toge in turn. as if the feeling of safety only yuuta seemed to provoke was all he needed to unravel and share the broken pieces of his heart and soul.

truthfully, it didn’t seem to change much between them.

after all, toge might be hard to read, but yuuta was well-versed in the extent of his own dedication and how far he was willing to go for those he loved. and what toge didn’t seem to realize, with all his ability to analyze and overinterpret, was that he was loved.

period. i’m planning to make my friend watch jjk 0 and i need her to understand the inuokko supremacy or else ?? we’ll find out <3

[mana-jjk]

aaaaaaa !! it’s so good !! the way the second chapter sent me to the beyond i’m crying, poor yuuji is so dumb and toge is so cute and they’re all so squishy and adorable !!

thank you for making this, the itch in my brain has been scratched ;;

SOMEONE TELL ME WHY THE INUMAK.I X READER TAG HAS MORE FOLLOWERS THAN THE INUMA.KI TOG.E TAG ITSELF 😭😭

[mana-jjk]

Share ur fav inuokko artists/arts pls......

sorry for the month long wait anon ;; i had to buckle down to get my degree and graduate lol

but anyway, you probably know these artists immediately because they’re so talented and a staple in our community !!

for obvious reasons i won’t be posting any of their art, but i will tag them and share the links to where you can check them out yourself !

@mugi-sktch

i love their deception of inuokko !! they can be such little creatures who tease each other and their dynamic is so fun lol

but i also love the cozy vibes and atmospheres they convey, literally want to steal their clothes sometimes too. i’m also a huge fan of tan yuuta and fluffy hair toge agenda !! it’s really hard to convey character dynamics, but looking at their art is like reading a story about them and i always have new ideas after seeing their new content !

@gelatosushix

do i have to explain ? ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ you would think talented people might have an area of weakness, but no they’re a triple threat with art, analysis, and writing like ?? especially pairing them together to make written and visual content for us ??

i love the texture of their art if that makes sense, it’s so appealing i want to eat it. but like, with my eyes, in a positive way. the colors also make me feel like a toddler watching cocomelon because i could sit there for a day just mooning over the expressions, dynamics, colors, background, and so on. especially being a huge fan of the soft expressions inuokko have for each other like omg ;;

@pacchipa

this account is 18+ so keep in mind !! but omg their comics are so much fun and feed my unhinged yuuta agenda. they’re also so high quality and keep us sustained ! y’all, they made a GAME ! like ?? they are ensuring we do not starve and i have to give them so many kudos for that.

i love how pretty toge is and how sweet yuuta looks until the switch is flipped and the dead fish eyes come out, i think they have such a good handle on their dynamic and it’s just so much fun to scroll through their art ! the bar is in space and they put it there, we thank them for their service !!

@sensushimi on Twitter: https://x.com/sensushimi?s=21&t=DQOzVQHmSufn5IQXoFJsNw

some of their art is 18+ but we cannot talk about inuokko without mentioning them, like they are such a staple to me it’s not even funny. this was the first artist i found when looking into inuokko content and they’ve released banger after banger. again, i want to eat their art with my eyes and fall apart into tears because how the hell is it so good ? ;;

the fluffy hair, the warm hands, the cozy atmosphere, i get so excited to see notifications and want to interact with them so badly but i’m way too shy on twitter lol but every time their inuokko interact, they look so soft and squishable that i get cute aggression and fall apart lol

@araramyeon on Twitter: https://x.com/araramyeon?s=21&t=DQOzVQHmSufn5IQXoFJsNw

again some art is 18+ ! but another staple of my time with inuokko, their comics are so funny and charming and give so much of their dynamic it’s so cute lol i love how much of a troll their toge is without being too overtly out of character. and i also love yuuta being mischievous and innocent all at once ;;

i also enjoy the pathetic yuuta content because he’s just a lil loser who loves his boyfriend fr and their art gives me so much of that content lol their eyes are so shiny and expressive that i want to eat them in a good way

@svifian8 on Twitter: https://x.com/svifian8?s=21&t=DQOzVQHmSufn5IQXoFJsNw

not just their inuokko but the entire second year inclusion is some of my absolute favorite !! they’re always so natural and cute together that i actually will burst into tears. their toge and yuuta are both so squishy and pretty and the colors are so pretty i have no thoughts only heart emoticons !!

their fem!inuokko in particular is my favorite, i have it bookmarked just so i can go back and moon and cry over it every single day. they’re so pretty in all of the art and the dynamic is so good and the ideas i get by just looking at them is enough to send me to tears you do not understand !! i am on my hands and knees

i don’t want this to get too long, so hopefully this was helpful to you anon !! again i apologize for the delay, i had to prioritize education for some reason (*´-`) but feel free to send more asks, i love dumping my thoughts everywhere non-coherently <3

i do want to say that even if i didn’t mention a specific artists, including any that might be reading this, please know that i and everyone else appreciates you beyond words !! content creation is so incredibly hard, and whether you are an artist, editor, or writer, this community would not be what it is without you. you are essential, appreciated, and so talented that words cannot begin to describe the impact you make.

anyway, guess who got accepted to graduate school lol, some poor school has no idea they hired someone who just has queer brain rot about characters <3 my official graduation is next week tee-hee