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Their dialogue matches 🥺

More proof that Isagi being there to catch Bachira's kick at the end of second selection was meant to parallel their first meeting, except this time it's him believing in Bachira instead of the other way around.

[rirururu]

They're partners uwu

Source

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I'm laughing why is Bachira out here saying "aishiteru" and Isagi getting ready to move in with him before they're even going out?

These two are so getting married and living together in the future

[rirururu]

AHHHH WAIT HANG ON.

@fyeahbachisagi There are no video or photos because they didn't allow cameras inside the exhibition but someone who went there memorized and translated what it said!

There are some interviews with Nagi, Reo, Chigiri, and Kunigami of course! Kind of wild how Isagi only got 2 questions and Bachira only got 1 question yet all 3 questions were about how infatuated they are with each other. Here's the actual link to the post.

Have you seen the new Blue Lock exhibition in Japan to celebrate Episode Nagi? There's one Q&A part where Isagi is asked who he would want to live with and he answered Bachira with no hesitation then said that he'd never get tired of him insinuating they'd live together forever. I'm cri they're so domestic.

AAAAAHHHH HOW CAN YOU TELL ME THIS WITHOUT LINKING THE VIDEO!!!!

@rirururu COME BACK HERE AND SEND ME THE VIDEO

[rirururu]

With the others, it feels more like typical blue lock fashion in which everyone is a means for Isagi to devour and become a better player. Devouring these skills is what excites Isagi. No hard feelings.

With Bachira, Isagi really believes in him as both a player and a friend and Bachira trusts him back. Seeing Bachira meet and go beyond that belief in both ways is what excites him. The devouring part is more of an afterthought or something insignificant when playing with Bachira and watching him is just so much fun for Isagi.

Isagi praising Bachira

Isagi's face in that last pic 💖💗💝💕

and there's really something about how Isagi praises Bachira that just feels different from when he praises others, but I can't quite point it out. Maybe it's just my rose-colored shipping glasses, but damn, in my eyes Isagi is whipped

[rirururu]

[rirururu]

WAIT, DIDN'T THIS BASICALLY HAPPEN IN AN OVA?

Perhaps a true love kiss could wake the sleeping beauty....

...Or maybe not

[rirururu]

Can we talk about how this entire My Hero Academia season 7 stage preview panel was just the voice actors/actresses of Izuku, Katsuki, Toga, Ochako, and Shigaraki discussing Bakudeku and Togachako for 50 minutes? 😭 These screenshots were certainly a choice.

We're getting close to endgame. Season 7 or 8 will probably be the last season. We know Horikoshi had recently confided in Bones on what the ending of MHA was going to be so they could start the production process sooner. Now there's a sudden shift of promotional material and interest towards these two ships in particular which is-- interesting.

Izuocha also briefly appear in the stage discussion but only at around the 40 minute mark near the end. They also made sure to put those screenshots below the Bakudeku apology scene. No hate towards Izuocha of course. I'm just saying: this is not how you treat a pairing in marketing if they were meant to be endgame.

Does this mean anything? Probably not. We've all sung this song before with shounen manga and been hurt in the past. But Bakudeku and Togachako might actually stand a chance here. Regardless if this comes true, I'll still love both pairings and appreciate the time these VAs took to discussing them.

[rirururu]

That post-save-the-world clarity is craaaaaazy

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time stood still in this moment

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i think deku's never given enough credit for how much crazier he is than katsuki. like... if we're looking at them surface level izuku's the more well-adjusted, liked, sociable one but whenever Shit He Cant Process Well happens, he always rushes in, no plan, all teeth and grit, out here growling and drooling like an honest to god rabid wild animal to the point where his own quirk restrains him or goes haywire (blackwhip). katsuki always looks lowkey scared when he sees deku's crazy eyes, like holy shit, hes gonna get himself killed. while katsuki on the other hand, has always been calm and collected in stressful situations, despite pretending otherwise. he always has a tight rein on himself and his emotions, so every action is purposeful, especially in the latter part of the manga and this parallel between them kills ms

[rirururu]

It never ceases to amaze me how broken Oda made the Ope Ope no Mi when in the right hands. Law basically has the power of Buggy's chop fruit if it was awakened, Corazon's calm fruit, Bartolomeow's barrier fruit, Shiki's float fruit, Van's warp fruit, Enel's rumble fruit, Inazuma's snip fruit, and Mansherry's heal fruit just to name a few all wrapped into one. Blackbeard is terrifying because he has 2 devil fruit abilities? Law has at least 8 and the list is growing.

Major emphasis on the "in the right hands" part. Law was the one who figured out that Big Mom's power depended on her commands being verbalized and reaching her victims' ears. No one else had noticed something so trivial as being the key to taking her out otherwise Corazon's fruit would've been way more sought out. It's testament to just how clever Law is and how much resourcefulness is required to utilize his fruit to its full potential.

Chapter 1040: From the Heart

Yet another banger of a chapter this week.

I like that Big Mom didn’t fully go down after last week, despite the magnitude of Law’s and Kid’s attacks. She’s a beast, one of the four rulers of the seas, and she should have the feats reflective of that. 

Like, her reaction to Kid’s electromagnetic canon is a smirk. I both love and fear her.

But you know who doesn’t fear her? Law and Kid. You wouldn’t think they could be any more badass after last chapter, and then we get this chapter. Big Mom’s attempt to steal their souls has no effect:

And then I lose my damn mind because Law uses a new technique inspired by Cora:

This is the second time Law’s mentioned Cora during the raid (plus the feathers on his coat in obvious homage to Cora) and I’m just all in my feelings. 

After spending 13 years expecting to die in his quest for vengeance, Law is now living with purpose like Cora would have wanted. And he’s finding ways to honor Cora as he does it. 

On another note, Law’s use of R-Room raises some interesting questions. For one thing, the range on this thing is huge; it surrounds Big Mom all the way down and encapsulates the entire ensuing explosion:

I also wonder if he’d be able to create Rooms that affect the other senses. A Room where the encompassed person couldn’t see anything, for instance, would be quite dangerous.

Small wonder his fruit was worth 5 billion berries.

Just on an aesthetic note, this panel with Kid’s attack in the background and Law slicing Misery in the foreground is incredible:

Speaking of aesthetically pleasing panels… This one is *chef’s kiss*

And I can’t help but laugh at Law being in a sitting position, just like he started the fight back in chapter 1000:

And, of course, how he landed on Sanji when he took Zoro from the roof XD

I was definitely not expecting Big Mom to think about Roger during her fall (both literal and figurative), but it really highlights the difference between her and Luffy. Big Mom just wants to know the answers while Luffy wants to go on the journey.

Interesting that Big Mom seems to think Wano has ties to some of the bigger questions of the series, though, especially with Sengoku’s thoughts all those chapters ago about why the big name pirates all seem to go through Wano.

In terms of the other storylines, looks like the grim reaper Zoro saw wasn’t Brook after all, but I’m still assuming it was some kind of hallucination. He does not seem to be in good shape. Last we saw, Franky was moving toward him, so he’s going to need to hightail it to save Zoro, who seems to be falling from the island in the chaos:

Then we have Hiyori and Orochi. Interestingly, Hiyori has put her mask back on and she seems to have no trouble balancing while Orochi falls over. I’m so ready for her to fuck him up. 

And it seems the main event of Onigashima, the ninja battle, has finally come to an end:

Raizo is really holding up Oden’s legacy here.

And finally, I don’t even know what to think about this revelation about Zunesha:

[rirururu]

I just saw this post and I kid you not, it reignited my brainrot for Ash/Gou like no other. You are SO real. And it drives me crazy because the sus things the writers did are just so blatantly consistent.

I can never forget the holiday-themed episode. The winter holidays are usually associated with spending time with family as well as spending time with your beloved-- and what was the episode about? It was about Gou going back home to meet his parents but ends with this cute moment of Ash travelling across the region to return Gou's present to him. After realizing why Ash was there, Gou stares at him in utter adoration for a long time. By deciding to make Journeys follow Ash and Gou only instead of a bigger friend group, it makes the moment and Gou's appreciation to be for exclusively Ash which pushes the narrative away from friendship and closer to something more. When Goh's parents pop in and Ash introduces himself, Gou just sneaks a peak at Ash and starts blushing. These gifs kind of muk up the colors and erase Gou's blush a bit but they were totally there for these two scenes.

PLEASE THE SLOWPOKE EPISODE. Ash was hypnotized into becoming their Slowking and immediately asks Gou to rule the kingdom beside him. He proposes with a Shellder so Gou could become his Slowbro AND the Shellder was presented on a Slowpoke's head like a cushion holding a ring like wtf was that

This was just a crack/comedy scene ofc. But if there was any proof at all that Ash might finally return someone's romantic feelings for him, this was it for me. The fact that he had to be hypnotized to finally act on it seems to imply that Ash may just be oblivious or too young to realize. ALSO I do want to point out that when Gou rejects Ash here, he only cites it's because he doesn't want to be a Slowbro and because Ash wouldn't be happy being a Slowking instead of Pokemon Master-- meaning he wouldn't mind the rest of the proposal. Kind of sus x2. There's also how this is one of the first times we actually see Ash blushing back at someone rather than having it be one-sided like pretty much every one of his ships after the Kanto days. The only other example I can think of is when Serena literally kissed him which-- says a lot.

There's NO WAY you can convince me that the episode when Gou met Gary wasn't just the two of them fighting over Ash. THE WAY THEY SHOT so many of the scenes with Gou being jealous of Gary were just so blatantly romantic love triangle coded. The close-up of Gary and Ash's hands squeezing each other immediately followed by Gou's rejected expression. The whole reason Gou even decides to join Project Mew was because he was upset that Ash thought Gary was cool for being in Project Mew and wanted Ash to support him instead.

How impressive is it that we've gone from watching girls fighting over Ash back in the Johto and Kalos days to now having two guys fighting over him? They've had Ash or Goh either intentionally or accidentally get themselves into pretty intimate positions with each other more than once which absolutely is not something Ash has had with any of his other companions. They were wholly unnecessary but just there, for some reason. Kind of sus x3.

(and I don't have a gif of it but the accidental butt grabbing scene too why was that there, pokemon company)

Of course we can't forget the extremely suggestive official art from the magazines depicting things like Gou, Ash, and Gary wearing wedding outfits or Ash and Gou baking and or feeding each other valentines sweets.

ALSO what's this I hear about Rica Matsumoto, Ash's Japanese VA who often helps write the script to characterize Ash in the anime, saying that if a girl ever flirted with Ash in front of Gou, Gou would get extremely jealous?? Don't know if this last thing actually happened but I heard it from somewhere.

We can't forget the whole Tokio-subplot you mentioned with Gou which most definitely didn't give off 100% straight vibes. Gou blushes only around boys (usually Ash). And the only significant girl in his life would sooner eat dirt than consider him a romantic love interest and he probably feels the same way. I find it funny because legit when I first saw the trailers for Pokemon 2019, I assumed Gou x Chloe would be the couple of the season similar to May x Drew. And that just, didn't happen in literally any capacity.

I think it's intentional on the writers' part for sure that Gou is queercoded and has a crush on Ash. The very fact that they emphasized that Gou was androgynous pushes that idea even further. A ton of people throughout the course of the Pokemon show have crushed on Ash before and it doesn't seem too far out there to have a guy do so this time. They just went about it very implicitly but consistently to keep up plausible deniability and not step on any toes.

Y'know what maybe I'm not done talking about Journeys queercoding actually. maybe I do wanna work out my literary analysis muscles for the sake of Pokemon protagonists. why not

To clarify, this isn't about me personally enjoying the ship between Ash and Gou. I do enjoy it, but I'm making an argument for potentially deliberate queercoding in the writing, I'm not necessarily just here to gush (though that may be a side effect)

I'm also a firm believer that actions or behaviors that we typically think of as romantic are only made romantic if that's how the people involved feel about it. I don't think romance is the only possible way to interpret their relationship.

But when it comes to predicting where a story might be going next, or figuring out what the writers are intending to hint at us, I gotta pull out my textbook of Romantic Tropes first to see what fits the bill.

And I'm sorry, but even if it's not the intended interpretation, you can't include all of these scenes:

...and assume no one in your audience will think there's anything romantic happening here.

Of course, those are just the obvious visual interactions between them that can come off as romantic, to say nothing of the symbolic visual hints; the no less than four rainbows they've been under (one of which was reflected in Gou's eye), the two sets of heart-shaped pokemon that swam past them in a single episode which also had them falling under a rainbow, stuff like that.

But even all of that is pretty surface-level stuff. If the writing doesn't support a queer reading very strongly, then my argument for the queercoding being particularly intentional would fall flat.

Thankfully, the writing does support a queer interpretation, so I'm in the clear! Since breaking this part down will take a lot longer, I'm putting it under a cut.

So, right off the bat we've got the basic setup for the show. For the first time, the focus is primarily on Ash and one other person, as opposed to two or more people... despite having a third person in Chloe, who could easily make this into a trio dynamic, considering she's friends with Gou from the start. But they choose instead to make the core of the show about Ash and Gou.

This is even reflected in promotional material, where they'll often be placed closer to each other than Chloe:

Them being roommates is something I usually bring up as a joke, but it is worth noting anyway simply because it's another way the writers have decided they're going to spend almost all of their time together when they really didn't have to.

But now we gotta get into the real Writing Choices(TM) that are the meat and potatoes of this analysis, such as: making brief allusions to the idea that they might like other guys, too

One way to build up a character's orientation is to show them being attracted to people in shorter instances before giving them a main love interest. Think Luz from The Owl House; she had expressed attraction to both boys and girls before she got a girlfriend or started wearing a bi pin.

Likewise, this is Ash when he's thinking about Leon after seeing him battle for the first time:

I kid you not, he keeps up this blush and zoned-out expression for a solid minute, so caught up in thinking about how cool Leon is that he doesn't even think to eat the scones in front of him.

Now, Ash is a person frequently characterized by his love for food, and in previous episodes he had expressed a particular adoration for Galar scones, so this is pretty unusual behavior for him.

So unusual that it's. literally never happened before, to the best of my knowledge?? I don't think it takes much analyzing to realize that, even if it was brief, you could easily take this as Ash having a celebrity crush on Leon.

(There's even pink flowers in the background but that's probably less important)

Meanwhile with Gou, his "setup crush" in this scenario would be Horace. These two have a whole episode dedicated to their first meeting and the bond they forged, and how that turned bitter on Gou's end when he gets stood up right as he thought he was finally making a friend.

What sets this up for a romantic interpretation is largely the framing of things towards the end of the episode:

"Why do I keep thinking of him" is historically not the most platonic thing you could be bitterly thinking to yourself while you remember stargazing with someone, even if I do stand by my statement earlier of nothing being inherently romantic by itself

The end of the episode also implies that the feeling is mutual, if this shot is anything to go off of

(It's just a very shoujo manga-esque frame okay there's no way I wasn't going to point it out)

And the ending scene is two Celebies looking down happily at the two of them while the narrator talks about how pokemon form "many different kinds of bonds"

Many kinds of bonds, huh? Wonder what he could possibly be implying there

Okay so we've got orientation buildup, next in line is this. suspiciously consistent trend of characters who are close to Ash telling Gou to take care of him, or even going out of their way to test him to make sure he's good enough to be his rival or friend.

Gou himself even echoes the sentiment completely unprompted once, which says even more to me that they're trying to make a point out of this:

And here's the thing. None of the other companions have ever undergone this sort of treatment. Nobody questioned whether or not Ash's friends were good enough to hang out with him before, so why now? Why Gou? What makes him different?

Kiawe is relatively easy to explain because (from what I can tell) he's just Like That about rivalries, but why the addition of describing a rival as "the person closest to Ash"? Why does Gary suddenly care about the quality of Ash's buddies when that was never really a concern for him before?

Well gee I don't know about you guys but to me, this feels like the trope where someone's friends and family all start scouting out the guy they're interested in (or who is interested in them) to make sure they won't like, break their heart or something. And despite my best efforts, I'm struggling to see how this wasn't the writers' intention behind these plotlines.

Gou telling Ash's mom that he'll look after Ash on two separate occasions as opposed to the initial one also feels like an easy parallel to someone promising their love interest's parents that they'll be a good partner.

To my understanding, that isn't traditionally something friends also have to promise, even if there's more justification here as Ash and Gou are traveling around and getting into chaotic situations regularly.

So, with all this in mind, it kind of reframes the stuff I mentioned earlier, doesn't it? The blushing, the hand-holding, the spin hug that I'm never getting over, the frequent appearance of rainbows and the heart shaped Pokemon (Luvdisc if you were wondering)... it feels a lot more intentional once you take into account the bigger themes in the writing.

And once you start looking, it keeps piling up. The way Gou hurriedly says that he totally didn't want to help Ash out or anything after Scorbunny gives him a knowing look, like how most tsundere tropes tend to play out:

Or the specific way Gou is taken aback by one of Ash's compliments before trying to play it off by looking cool, only to be comically shocked when Ash gets distracted by something else:

I could go on but I'm running out of image space and I think you get the idea.

Ash's side of this whole thing is admittedly a lot more subtle than Gou's (*cough* because he's arospec) which is why I haven't gone over it much - my aim with this post was not to go too far into speculation territory - but we at least have marketing on our side for that

Gee Ash how come Animedia let you feed Gou two pastries

Anyway, in conclusion: I ran these two through the literary queerometer and the results were positive, thanks for coming to my TED talk

[rirururu]

you can’t get away from Michael mouse.

[rirururu]

My headcanon is that Riku’s pining gay heart has been dreaming about Sora all the time anyway even before he disappeared so didn’t think anything was off when he got even more Sora dreams. It’s like a typical 11pm thing for him.

kingdom hearts remind:

[rirururu]

My piece for the free Darling Dearest soriku zine! A free zine centered around domestic soriku life! [TWITTER]

The zine PDF is free to download here: 

https://sorikuzine.itch.io/darling-dearest

[rirururu]

True Love’s Kiss - Soriku Short Comic