#[ i've wanted to write about super saiyan for quite a while now

[age736]

HC : THE SUPER SAIYAN

hailed to be considered the most powerful warrior in all the universe. passed around from generations and generations of saiyans throughout a thousand years from the day yamoshi became the very first super saiyan. only then a thousand years later, on a planet that wasn't his own, fighting the self-imposed emperor of the galaxy, one son goku fueled by his rage, became the first super saiyan in millennia, second only after yamoshi.

a form hailed for it's legendary power, yet to modern saiyans it's truthfully only the stepping stone towards true power. as the super saiyan itself has a versatile amount of forms it can appear in to aid the saiyan it's being used by- one form in one timeline even connecting the saiyan's primal roots by combining itself with that of the oozaru. infused with god ki as well, it even forces a change within another saiyan transformation called super saiyan god to turn into something completely and entirely new.

the super saiyan itself is a form fueled by raw, unfiltered emotion- and most often, that of rage. anger is a core emotion to a saiyan's power, so it only makes sense that a form like super saiyan exists for that, especially considering the existence of the oozaru. yet why is that? one would consider it strange that the legendary super saiyan only ever existed once, and was only ever told is stories in fables for the next thousand years. wouldn't it had made sense for another super saiyan to appear? it makes even less sense for a saiyan like son goku, who not only has no memory, but no interest in the saiyan way of life.

it all comes down to a number of factors that the saiyans on planet vegeta seemed to not understand about their own biology. vegeta saiyans believe in a might makes right society, ruled primarily by a caste systen. the strongest live and the weakest die, it was simple as. however even if you were weak there was still something for you to usually do in saiyan society, as running an empire requires multiple cogs in the machine that aren't just warriors. but this mindset resulted in the assumption that a saiyan's power at their birth is all they'd ever amount to- leading that saiyan down a path of nigh permanent weakness, especially those considered in the low class. and those lower class saiyans that were birthed with an abnormally high power level were snuffed out or sent away on planetary conquering, as to not be a threat to the higher class warriors. not to mention, low class saiyans outnumbered mid class and elite saiyans combined. this would only result in, of course, weaker and weaker children as the generations went on. by the time it the rule of king vegeta the iii, it was probably impossible for a super saiyan to occur by natural means without a drastic biological mutation (such as broly).

a second reason for this was emotion. it has been told to us time and time again by saiyans that emotion is a weakness, and that to be a saiyan warrior is to be cold, ruthless and cruel. that is how you became strong. yet that couldn't be anymore of the opposite. the power of the saiyans is fueled almost entirely by their emotions- most applicably being rage. two of the saiyan's most prominent transformations- the oozaru and the super saiyan- are in fact formed that are primarily functioned by rage. yet it is not just anger that fuels saiyans, as other emotions such as excitement and sadness have an influence on either strengthening or weakening a saiyan. even so much of a saiyan doubting their own power can cause that power itself to become weaker, as we have seen in a case like son gohan. emotion is a prime source of power for a saiyan, and without it in it's fullest the super saiyan would've been impossible for any saiyan to achieve on planet vegeta.

lastly, the most important one in fact, was training. this couples back into how a being's power calculated at their birth was a weakness for saiyans, as because of that they saw little value and even disgust in training one's body. the power you were born with was basically going to be your power for the rest of your life in their mind, and that resulted in weaker and weaker generations of saiyans. whis, the angel of universe seven and undoubtly the strongest being in that universe- said so himself to son goku and vegeta that saiyans grow their fastest when they train together. that should be pretty important shouldn't it? yet until goku, saiyans never trained, or if they did- they were usually basically seen as sort of anomalies. the best example i can give for this is bardock's squad with totapo, toma, pumbukin and seripa. they were all considered to be low class warriors, but were hailed as one of- if not THE best squadron on all of planet vegeta. bardock himself having been so revered that he had the honor of being lifted in the caste system from low class to mid class, the first and only time that has ever happened in saiyan history. they were so strong because they worked together, which saiyans do not often do- even in squadrons. only showing further proof that to grow stronger as a saiyan you needed to work with other saiyans.

these are i'd say the primary reasons why a super saiyan hasn't shown up in the universe since yamoshi, and in my own honest opinion- freeza's fear of it was frankly misplaced. has he not blown up planet vegeta, goku would've grown up as a low class saiyan who- considering who goku is at his core- would no doubt even be a more stand out case of a lower class saiyan than his father. yet never to any sort of level that he would've been had he not been sent to earth. the saiyans themselves probably would've just happened to grow weaker and weaker in each coming generations until either someone else or the universe itself snuffed out their candlelight.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Okay, a good amount of time has passed, and after having seen this post by @weretiger-be-my-horse , I've been turning it over and over in my brain going absolutely feral over this concept. I need to expand upon my thoughts on this idea and all the evidence there is pointing towards it, whether that be actual tangible things, or purely strong vibes I have.

First of all, full disclaimer: I did not like the season 5 finale, and how it wrapped up the DoA arc. To say that I "disliked" it is putting it extremely lightly, in fact -- I absolutely hated it, and I am still, to a degree, in disbelief that I actually even watched those 24 minutes with my own two eyes, and that it somehow wasn't a complete fever dream. While I'm not going to go in long-winded detail into all the ways that I feel like the finale almost completely bastardized all of its featured characters and destroyed any and all buildup we've had going on in this arc for 50 some chapters now, because that's not the main point of this post, I will not make any attempt to hide the fact that the theory-crafting I'm about to pose here is partly influenced and prompted by how much I hated the finale, and how much I desperately hope that it will not end up being manga canon. Therefore, if you enjoyed the finale — and that's fine! — and don't want to read any negativity about it, then I would not recommend reading any further (I mean, you've probably already left by this point, which is fair lol), While obviously it's important that I be as objective and unbiased as possible when explaining my thoughts, some of my negative feelings about the writing will be a part of this analysis, even if this isn't going to be a full-blown rant. Just know that if you proceed.

With that out of the way, let me continue.

So. In the aforementioned post, the theory presented is that the anime may be operating on an alternate timeline, and that this will become evident once we read the upcoming October chapter, wherein things will go completely differently post-chapter 110 than they do in the final episode — probably for the worse, with the s5 finale intending to lull us into a false sense of security and make us assume that everything in the manga arc finale will wrap up as smoothly and consequence-freely(? lol) as it did in the anime one. It also suggests that the Fukuchi we see at the very end that sskk are fighting came from the manga timeline, where he won, and that he used the Book to jump to a timeline where he lost, the anime one, proven by the fact that this Fukuchi is wearing a mask with the same design on it as the mask Fukuchi is wearing on the chapter 110 DoA color spread/title page.

First of all, I want to note the fact that it's not just the mask design that's the same: the entire outfit is roughly more or less the same as well. It's not completely 1-to-1, because the anime can never fully match the intricacies of Harukawa's beautiful outfit designs, and the Fukuchi in this scene has the kimono half-off because of the... super saiyan mode he's in, but most all of the main pieces of clothing are there. Any small inaccuracies could also be attributed to the fact that Harukawa probably didn't have this finalized art ready back when this episode was being made, so the animators wouldn't have had the complete design to work off of. But in general, because it's all so similar, I think we can quite confidently say that the ending episode Fukuchi is meant to be the one from this manga art.

Also, people have pointed this out, but it's worth mentioning that the mask Asagiri wore at Anime Expo in July was referencing this Fukuchi. It's not a crucial detail, but it just proves more that Asagiri is a gigantic fucking troll, and that he clearly wanted to draw attention to this Fukuchi design. It's important. He describes the mask here as made in the motif of an ellipses inside a speech bubble... could that perhaps be referencing meta aspects, like the Book?

Next, I want to talk about the even bigger elephant in the room, which to me is the most damning and undeniable piece of evidence there is of the anime operating on a completely separate timeline from the manga:

This Fucking Hand™️

As we all know, in the anime, Fyodor injures his hand when the password input device blows up, and as we all know, this does not happen in the manga. In the last episode, Dazai claims that the final nail in the coffin of his impromptu plan to kill Fyodor relied on this hand injury: because Fyodor couldn't pilot his escape helicopter himself, he would ask one of his Meursault vampires to do it for him, unaware that Bram and thus this vampire was now on the ADA's side, and said vampire could kill him while his guard was down.

Ignoring how utterly stupid and contrived this plan is when you stop and think about it for more than two seconds, the fact of the matter is that something that initially seemed like nothing more than an odd but inconsequential anime original addition ended up snowballing into being the entire reason one of the big bads was brought down. If Fyodor hadn't hurt his hand, he wouldn't have needed another pilot, and so the traitor vampire wouldn't have had an opportunity to get near him and kill him without him expecting it even though said vampire was presumably with him as they were leaving Meursault, and was probably already a traitor by then, so there was plenty opportunity for him to still die. not to mention by Chuuya's hands at literally any time he wanted to, because Chuuya was coherent the whole time. Also there's absolutely no way Dazai could have known exactly what Ranpo would do, no matter how smart he is and how much he trusts him. idk it's fucking dumb, just roll with it. Therefore, putting aside all other variables for now, we can conclude that, on the most basic level, this signifies that no hand wound = no death.

And let me tell you, this hand wound bothers me. It really, really does. Because they focus on it a LOT — they go out of their way to draw attention to it MULTIPLE TIMES, from the moment it first happens to the end of the season. Fyodor even talks about it to himself, about Dazai being able to cause him tangible, visible, bodily harm, (something that, again, as far as we've seen, has never happened in the manga). Hell, even after Fyodor's death, they're still drawing attention to it, because his right arm is all of him that survives, and Dazai picks it up and gives it to Nikolai to do his hilarious sad little gay fondling of it played completely straight even though there's nothing straight going on here at all! It's like it's a big red flashing sign at all times going "you see this injured hand? This is important. Are you picking up that it's important? Are you taking note of it?" Why is that? Obviously, it serves to give us the lore crumbs about Fyodor and "that man", but that's hardly the main, much more glaring reason, as I've already mentioned.

Fyodor doesn't hurt his hand in the manga. Fyodor won't die here in the manga. I am so dead serious by this point about this, and it's not just simply the fact that this was absolutely not at all the time for him to die, or the fact that his hand is the reason for his death in the anime in and of itself, but how much EMPHASIS they place on this, and on the hand in general. What would be the point of adding something like this, if it's not meant to alert us to the fact that it has a major impact on how the story plays out? We all know Bones: they struggle to get right and include everything that's already there in the source material; they would never go out of their way to add something this noteworthy if there wasn't a very good reason for it, if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I've seen a few people bring up the fact that Fyodor gets shot in the shoulder by Sigma and that that could lead to the same outcome in the manga, but I disagree: although he has blood on his shoulder in the manga, it seems like the bullet just grazed the top of it, because his arm and hand appears completely functional afterwards (not hanging limp by his side or anything). But that doesn't even matter, because this isn't even about the semantics/logistics of how the hand wound caused Fyodor's death because again, it's a stupid outcome, or what could serve as a substitute in the manga — thematically, this is a textbook example of the butterfly effect. Countless parallel universes exist within this series, ones where even the most minute differences lead to a majorly different outcome: this just happens to be one of them. There's no reason to think it isn't, and there's no reason to not think that the anime wants us to clue into the fact that things only went as smoothly as they did on the Meursault side because of this wound; in other words, that things will go very differently in the manga thanks to the absence of said wound. They wouldn't have added it in the first place and put such clearly deliberate emphasis on it otherwise.

Things are going to happen very differently in the manga, at least when it comes to the Meursault crew (but then, if you assume that, you then naturally assume it all will be very different). This is the only conclusion one can come to with the presentation of this anime-only wound, combined with the fact that parallel universes are a very real thing in BSD.

I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent, so bear with me. I play a lot of visual novels, and although such concepts aren't really as original now as they were a while ago, some of my favorite and some of the very best VNs out there are the ones that break the fourth wall and make the visual novel branching route format directly intertwined with the story: you know, the ones where the characters go "if only I had done things differently, maybe everything would have turned out better...!" in a wink wink nudge nudge moment, and the ones where the characters are aware of the different timelines, even, or even have the ability to gain information from their selves in said alternate timelines to influence events in their current one (I'm intentionally not naming the games I'm thinking of for the sake of spoilers, but if you know, you know lmao). It gets very meta in this regard, and this is how I started viewing BSD through the lens of ever since I first learned about Beast: like a visual novel with many branching routes, and only a few routes that feel entirely "right".

When I first read Dazai's Entrance Exam, I was struck by how unnerving the ending sequence in the abandoned hospital felt. Obviously, Kunikida's internal struggle over Sasaki's actions and motives is him still desperately clinging to his ideal world that does not exist, but the specific type of phrases he uses — "who is wrong?" "[who is] the cause of all this?" "there has to be an ideal world" "there has to be something, I'm sure of it" "There must have been something we could have done!" — and the framing of the scene in general, is eerily reminiscent of a bad ending in a visual novel, to me. There's a haunting, looming, bleak sense that a different outcome could have been achieved, if different decisions had been made, or if things outside of anyone's control had been different... and we know that this is true, because in Beast alone, Kunikida never goes through the Azure Messenger incident, because Dazai doesn't have his entrance exam. Hell, you could even consider the anime's version of the Azure Messenger arc an alternate timeline in of itself, if you really wanted to, long before we even arrive at season 5.

When it comes to Beast, this timeline has almost the opposite feeling of what I described above, that I've also encountered in visual novels: the idea of a "good route" or "good ending" that still doesn't feel quite earned, or as perfect as one would expect. Beast is presented as the "ideal" timeline purely for one sole reason: Oda is alive. It is the only timeline where he's alive, and keeping Oda alive is the ultimate goal Dazai wants to achieve, the only reason this timeline exists; therefore, disregarding all else, Beast should be the best timeline, because Oda's death is the greatest devastation in the series to date. We all want him to live, so why wouldn't the timeline where he does be the best one? And yet... of course, it isn't. Dazai is alone, and steeped in darkness and loneliness without Oda, and dies by the end of the story for Oda's continued living. Atsushi has Kyouka still, but he's suffering and more traumatized, and unable to heal while stuck in the mafia, and neither can Kyouka. Akutagawa is living a much better life in the ADA... but without his sister, and without what he has from his bond with Atsushi in canon, that isn't replicated in Beast. And Oda... Oda is alive, and he has his children and his novel, but there is a feeling that he is aimless, that something in his life is missing. He has everything he ever wanted, but all that means nothing without what he truly needs: Dazai, and his time with Dazai and Ango at the bar. In this way, things going well and us getting what we want — in this case, Oda living — goes against how it's supposed to be, the natural order, which is why it feels so hollow. In the specific visual novel I'm thinking of here as a comparison (again, shoutout if you know), there's an alternate ending that involves you inputting information you gain at the end of the game very early on in the game, wherein the protagonist now has memories of the future and is able to bypass and prevent all of the events that take place normally. This means that people who die or are hurt somehow in general are saved from that fate, and nothing bad ever occurs; everything wraps up neatly and nicely... but again, there's an undeniable, unsettling feeling of emptiness, of a victory that rings hollow, because what's the point if everything is simply handed to you easily, where's the sense of accomplishment, without any struggles to achieve said victories, or any growth along the way? How can it feel earned if one doesn't have to, in Dazai's words, "scream within the storm of uncertainty, and run with flowing blood"?

You can probably already see where I'm going with this.

This finale feels weird. Really, really weird. It feels too cheap, too simple, too unsatisfying. So much so, in fact, that for almost the entire runtime, as I was bombarded with resolution upon resolution one after another, I kept thinking "There's no way this can be real. Where's the catch? When is the "gotcha!" moment gonna happen? The "it was all a dream" reveal?". And this isn't just because I hated the writing, and that it really did feel like a fever dream watching fanfic levels of bad (actually, that's an insult to fanfic writers, tbh; they could do better) — no, it genuinely feels so incredibly fake. Even upon rewatching it and already knowing what happens, my brain still naturally keeps expecting some kinda of "sike, you THOUGHT!" moment to suddenly appear. It just.... feels "too good to be true". Dazai and Chuuya come out unscathed, and it's revealed that they were never in any real danger to begin with. Fyodor, one of our biggest threats, is dealt with supposedly for good (I say "supposedly" only because of the Jesus line, but if anything imo, I think that's just a hint that this won't be the canon ending in the manga, so in a sense he's going to "come back to life"), and Nikolai seems somewhat at peace with his death. The other biggest threat, Fukuchi, is also dealt with, and he and Fukuzawa get their final moment together of closure. Yes, Sigma is left in Meursault don't even get me started on how angry this alone makes me, and Fukuzawa loses Fukuchi, but overall, everything is portrayed in a positive light, and any negatives or losses are quickly glossed over. Everything is tied up nicely, neatly, and smoothly. ...And that is exactly what makes it feel so wrong, and hard to trust in.

I'm not sure if this will make sense, but to me, the finale is so incredibly poorly written that it almost feels.... intentional. It's so bad to the point of feeling self-aware in how bad it is, how unrealistically happy and convenient an ending it is. It had to end this neatly in order to rush to wrap up this arc for the season finale and not leave the last episode on a cliffhanger — which imo is chiefly the main reason it turned out this way, and, if this whole theory is true, Asagiri just used it to his advantage — and I'm not saying this was probably an effect Bones had in mind intentionally, I'm sure they just threw shit at the wall and went with whatever stuck, maaaaybe with some suggestions/approval from Asagiri, but the result is that you have a conclusion that contradicts so much of what was set up before and goes against so many character arcs, making some characters so out of character and even regressing in their development Dazai. I'm talking about Dazai abandoning Sigma, because he would never; hashtag #NOTMYDAZAI. Also Nikolai, Nikolai for most of that is so ooc I can't even begin to describe it oh my god. Everyone is OOC to a degree though lmao, and opens so many plot holes, to the point that it's impossible not to watch all that and get the feeling that it is subtly saying to you "did you really think it could be this easy? It feels wrong, doesn't it? It doesn't feel satisfying. It feels unearned." I find it incredibly interesting and suspicious in particular that they confirmed multiple theories people had about soukoku in Meursault: that Chuuya slowed the elevator's fall so that Dazai wouldn't die from it, that Chuuya slowed down the bullet so that it only penetrated Dazai's skin and not his skull, and that the both of them used Fyodor's camera angle to their advantage because they knew he wouldn't be able to see certain things from his view. I'm not saying that Asagiri trawled BSD twitter and tumblr after those chapters dropped for the most popular theories before the final episode was made lmao, there was no time for that (imagine though lol—), but I do think it's highly likely that he already had in mind exactly what theories would be made about these parts (I mean, the evidence for the gun scene was all there), and that Dazai rattling them off in his long monologue to Fyodor at the end is essentially him speaking to the audience and going "yeah, that's what you would predict, right? Those are the clichés, after all", much like him suggesting earlier that he can maybe bring Chuuya back to himself with a few moving words and the power of friendship, and Fyodor using the split personalities trope to fool Sigma. We expect these tropes to be true. Of course we'd fall for them, as Fyodor tells Sigma, especially if the evidence is right there. But Asagiri himself has explicitly said that he likes doing the opposite of what people expect. And so just because people predicted correctly with the three things I mentioned in this timeline... doesn't mean they'll be true in the manga's. Things happened how we wanted and expected it to, and everything turned out happily. So we can relax now, right? Everything will work out just as easily in the manga, right? Or... is the reason most of this finale feels so fake and unsettling and unsatisfying because it's meant to lull us into a false sense of security before all our heroes lose in the manga? Because deep down, we don't want an ending that's this simple, because we'd rather have a conclusion where our characters have struggled more and grown more and come out the better for it, and we know it?

After rewatching the episode a lot, and watching some other videos, and doing a lot of thinking, I am pretty confident in suspecting that the only part of this finale that is actually from manga canon, aside from Aya jumping off the building of course, is Fyodor and Nikolai's exchange after Fyodor leaves Meursault — specifically, them talking about Fyodor leaving Sigma behind, and their "new game" and Nikolai being excited at the prospect of it. This little conversation actually feels in character for them, and it's easy to tell this when contrasting it with everything that happens immediately after, wherein Fyodor is fatally stabbed, and Nikolai, completely at odds with what he was just talking about, just... stands there and watches Fyodor die while Dazai monologues lmao. I'm not sure if the helicopter is still a factor, but I would bet good money on Fyolai getting out of Meursault being manga canon, and that Dazai and Chuuya getting out as well and killing Fyodor + everything with FukuFuku, is part of the anime original ending, in order to wrap up everything positively. It makes much more sense if you think about, in reality (aka in the manga), Dazai and Chuuya still being left behind in Meursault (where they can eventually try to get Sigma), because none of it was an act and things did not go according to plan, and Fukuchi having an entirely different goal that doesn't feel so stupid and contradictory to his character, and Fukuzawa possibly dying — everyone seemingly loses, with Aya still being the last hope, perhaps by awakening her ability like we all speculated.

There's a youtuber I watch who covers BSD in-depth, despite being an anime-only (she reads the respective manga content after each season, though). Going into this finale, she knew about the fact that the anime had overtaken the manga, though she didn't know where the cutoff point was; despite that, however, she made predictions about what was from the manga so far and what was anime original, and it was almost entirely spot-on, based mostly on what she basically described as "anime original dialogue." She talked about how you can always tell when dialogue is veering into the realm of anime-original, because the sentences are very short, choppy, and slightly out of character, but generic enough to not be TOO out of character, and so that anyone can easily write said lines, even if they're not extremely familiar with the character like the original author would be. And when I heard this explanation, everything clicked — because so much of this finale has dialogue like that. The Fyolai scenes just feel peppered with it, around the lines I mentioned earlier, the Dazai dialogue does too, and ESPECIALLY shit at the end like Fukuchi and Fukuzawa exchanging the cliche death lines to end all death lines: "Are you there? I'm a little tired." "Rest up." That just isn't Bungou Stray Dogs. That isn't Asagiri. BSD is cheesy at times, yes, but it isn't like this; it's smarter. The dialogue is smarter, the explanations/plot twists are smarter, Asagiri is smarter, and the aforementioned youtuber I watched agreed. She's a pretty casual fan of the series, so if even she could pick up on these things, I think it speaks volumes.

I mentioned this briefly earlier, but this theory makes sense if you consider that this situation probably came about because of Bones wanting two seasons back-to-back when they did, and this arc being as long as it is. Season 3 aired in 2019, and I imagine Bones would have wanted season 4 in 2020, and might have then been willing to wait a bit longer for season 5 in order for more of this arc's manga chapters to come out — but then covid happened. Because of that, season 4 was delayed to 2023, creating the longest gap we've had between seasons, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if the delay made them want season 5 right together with it, after getting so far "behind", so to speak. S4 was announced in November of 2021, and roughly around that time, Asagiri was finishing up writing the plot of the DoA arc. If Bones came to him sometime in late 2021 and said they wanted two seasons now (so basically, one giant two cour season), Asagiri would know that not only of course would this arc not be finished publishing in the manga for a very long time yet, but that roughly 20ish episodes would not be enough to cover it all to the end, with this arc being longer than any arc the anime has adapted to date. Because of all this, and the arc manga chapters being nowhere near fully drawn to completion, he'd have to make a decision about what to do, and what to give Bones. Without ending season 5 on a massive cliffhanger that wouldn't be resolved for years until an eventual season 6, the only other option would be to rush towards an anime-original ending for the DoA arc.... and for Asagiri to take advantage of that, and integrate it into BSD's lore. Thereby creating a truly unique cross-media experience that utilizes the different mediums to create multiple timelines, that could make both the anime and manga interact with each other and become part of a bigger picture (not that you'd need to see both to get the full experience, mind you, just that it'd provide a little bonus if you did).... and would without a doubt be Asagiri's biggest surprise yet.

...I feel like at this point I'm starting to ramble, and my evidence become more and more incoherent and less substantial lmao, so I should probably end this post. 💀 Thank you if you've read this far, and hopefully it made some semblance of sense, despite not being structured very well; I know I promised at the start to try to be as objective as possible and curb my negative feelings, but I'm not sure how well I succeeded in that regard. If it weren't for the Fukuchi thing and the Fyodor hand thing, I probably wouldn't take how wrong and strange and bad the finale feels to me as serious evidence about it being an alternate timeline, especially since I seem to be one of the only people who actually hates all of it.... but combined with everything else, I am just so convinced of this theory being true. It started off as pure copium, but as more time has gone on, I fully, 100% believe in my bones (ha) that there is no way that finale is the same Bungou Stray Dogs I know and love, for so many reasons. It just isn't. It can't be. I know BSD better than this, I know Asagiri better than this, and I know that it's absolutely in the realm of possibility for him to cook up this whole scheme to completely blindside us with in the upcoming chapters, because that's exactly the kind of shit Mr. "Please Be Surprised!" himself would pull. If I end up being completely wrong, I guess I'm wrong, and you can laugh at me all you want then.... but I just know that ages ago people were teasing the idea of the anime operating on a different timeline from the manga, and I truly do think that only now are we finally seeing that idea come to fruition, as a setup for Asagiri going full-bore insanity with the Book in the upcoming arc(s). if I and the OP of that theory end up right, this will be the wildest time in the BSD fandom's history.

Like. I cannot even emphasize how hard they are trolling us at this point. Something is going on. Something is being cooked over there, the likes of which we've never seen before... and I don't think any of us are ready for it.

Oh yeah, and one last thing of note: both Fyodor and Nikolai here have their right arms hidden from view. Is that alluding to anything? I'm not sure. I also think that since chapter 110 was so short, next chapter will likely be 110.5 instead of 111, and if that's the case, this title spread could still technically be associated with the next chapter... wherein we might see this Fukuchi, who ends up wreaking havoc, right before he jumps to the timeline in the anime, as we see him at the end of the s5 finale.

I guess we'll find out on Tuesday.

[risingsouls]

🦎+ any off the wall headcanons/theories about Saiyans? If you’re still doing this, that is!

Momo Talks About Shit So She Doesn't Fall Asleep At Work || Open!

[Gotta try and think of something I don't think I've touched on or that would be considered off the wall here 🤔.

I don't know if it's off the wall, but I looked up Planet Vegeta because I kinda remember Super trying to change stuff between the Saiyans and the Tuffles, so I was going to write about that, BUT I didn't find it (or missed it because in really tired), so I'm going to talk about some salt and my personal HCs concerning the Saiyans' conquest of what would become planet Vegeta.

Basically I'll start with how I don't care for the new(?) timeline they've adopted for this. According to the wiki, King Vegeta (present Vegeta's father), led the attacks that defeated the Tuffles in Age 730, King Cold discovered the Saiyans that same age or in 731 (the wiki says both? It's weird), and it was only four years later that Frieza destroyed the planet and most of the Saiyan race. So like not only is a lot mashed up into only five years without even mentioning the other smaller details of that time period in Saiyan history, it just feels...meh to me? Like I don't want to say rushed necessarily because a lot CAN happen in five years, but it lacks a fullness and intrigue to the Saiyans that I think just a bigger time span allows their history to have. Matters that caused strife internally and externally for the Saiyans are allowed to fester until we get to the point just before their destruction. Not to mention that does erase the part that they were conquering planets to some degree before King Cold came along, but I'll get into that.

To start with my own HCs here, I'll begin with I HC it was the FIRST King Vegeta who conquered the Tuffles, not the third, King Vegeta we know, and claimed the planet for the Saiyans, which would obviously be quite a while before canon now has it. I still maintain that they migrated to the planet likely because of a civil war and eventually took over that planet for their own. King Vegeta I, therefore, was the one to begin transforming the Saiyan race into the beginnings of what we see of the Saiyans when the planet is destroyed. Obviously, the Cold Empire will influence the way things work, too, but that's probably an entirely other post.

As mentioned, I also maintain that the Saiyans were already conquering planets before King Cold found them (which i believe is at least in the Z anime?) using the tech left behind by the Tuffles. Not for the same reasons necessarily. Iirc it was originally that they were searching for strong warriors to fight? And I'm sure that doubled as some kind of money making/take what they could use sort of venture. It was this lifestyle that caught King Cold's attention and led to them eventually working together. This was during King Vegeta I's reign.

While the Saiyans could absolutely accrue plenty of disdain for the Colds in four years or so, I feel like the bigger time span not only breeds disdain for the Colds and perhaps even the Saiyan monarchy, but it also allows more room for complacency, which I think we do see in the Saiyans when it comes to their position in the Empire (the OG Father of Goku movie I believe exemplifies it, as well as just different comments from Vegeta and others throughout the series). They're getting to fight like they love and are getting paid for it, so I think a lot of them were just like 🤷‍♀️ about it. Frustrated with how things worked in some ways, and i think this was worsened when Frieza took over (I HC that happens sooner too, but it's not a big detail I'll get into) , but overall complacent to just keep doing it. Not to mention I think they were very aware of how powerful Cold and his ilk were, so I doubt they were raring to start many rebellions, especially in the early years.

I dunno. I just think they originally set up a really interesting story for the Saiyans and I feel like recent content has just...diluted and made what little of their history we get far less interesting than it could have been. Making the Saiyans' sovereignty (or at least a more established, unified one it sounds like) and their alliance with the Colds so short sort of shoots out a lot of opportunity to really expand on Saiyan lore and present what I feel was the original intent for the Saiyans. Plus like...why make Vegeta the fourth of his name if his father was the one that apparently made the Saiyan race what we saw? Like sure you could have kings before that, but since they were apparently not well-established and spread out in different, likely autonomous clans, it doesn't feel like it fits?

Plus, the short time frame makes it too easy to allow the Saiyans to just be the victims when that's not REALLY the full story. They absolutely ARE but, originally, it felt a lot more complicated (no, this is not me letting the Colds off for SHIT; its contending that thr Saiyans aren't squeaky clean even prior to joining the empire). And they seem to want to KIND OF address that in more recent chapters of the manga but....not really. I think a lot of what they've done with the Saiyans' history lately has made them a lot less interesting as a race and makes their situation feel...too standard? Uncomplicated as I said? Which simplifying shit is definitely Super's MO but you know. I don't know how off the wall this is but HERE. 🤣🤣]

[graveyard-tales]

I appreciate you doing requests! Can't wait to see all of the pieces. Could you do a Gohan and Trunks one, maybe one where Gohan asks Trunks about his future self? I've been dying to see that written. (If it's too specific and you don't have the motivation, you don't need to write it!).

I got carried awaaaay!!!!! Thank you, this was such a good prompt that I just kept going, haha. I hope you enjoy.

*

Gohan was fidgeting. In a way that was almost familiar. Trunks had felt those motions before, the shuffling of feet and wringing of hands. He did it himself when he was nervous. It was quite surreal to have Gohan of all people seem nervous, especially around him. Almost as much so as it is to look down to him instead of up. Trunks was snapped from his musings when Gohan cleared his throat. 

“Um ... Mr. Trunks? May I ask you a question?” Gohan had asked, in a polite manner that Trunks wasn’t entirely use to. Gohan wasn’t rude or disrespectful but where this little boy have him his full attention, straight shoulders and full eye contact. The Gohan he knew was much more distant with people he wasn’t familiar with. Not that Gohan and especially Trunks had much interaction with strangers. 

“Sure ... uh ... ask away.” Trunks hoped his smile was as friendly as it could be and not as awkward as he felt. This was so weird. 

“I heard that you knew me in your timeline. May I ask what I was like?” And this was so painful. He fought to keep his smile. This boy was so young, bright curious eyes fixed on him. Gohan was so different here and yet Trunks couldn’t ignore the blaring similarities. Gohan had been a warrior all of Trunks’ life. Had never stopped fight until the very end. But even so the warrior could never ebb his curious nature. 

“Gohan was very brave and strong. A good and patient master.” Trunks couldn’t help the way his eyes drifted to the wall. Memories still etched clearly in his vision. “He was smart, could keep up with my mother like no one else.” Trunks smiled, trying his best not the look as sad as he felt. “Beyond anything he was very gentle and kind.” And it was in rare moments that Trunks got to see it.

“Like my dad?” Trunks didn’t say no. Because what young boy didn’t want to be like their father. Trunks looked back to Gohan. Who didn’t want to be like the person they admired most. Gohan, the man he remember still so clearly had resembled Goku a great deal, even wore his colors. That’s where the similarities ended. 

Trunks had very little time with Goku but man was so carefree. He smiled and laughed like their impending doom didn’t even bother him in the slightest. Goku seemed like just a happy go lucky guy. It wasn’t like anything he was use to because it was so different from how Gohan was. 

There was always a heavy air that swirled about Gohan. A sadness and anger that permeated his very being. It wasn’t until Trunks had transformed into a Super Saiyan the first time that he really understood that aura around Gohan. Not until Trunks had taken on the burden of the world off his dead master’s shoulder.

“I hope to be like that someday.” Gohan’s small voice ripped Trunks from his thoughts so fast his head spun. He didn’t. He would pray on every deity he could find that this little boy, this Gohan of the past wouldn’t follow his future steps.  Focusing back down on Gohan, he first noticed the slight embarrassment that colored the boy’s cheeks as he looked way while scratching his head. But it’s the boy’s eyes Trunks focused on. 

There was a distance to them, now that they weren’t shining with curiosity. Trunks could see it. The heaviness starting in this boy. It’s trapped in his body, only noticeable through his eyes. He felt a sudden fear that it was destiny, that fate just had it out for Gohan. It was a silly, dreadful thought but still so terrifying. 

“You’re kind and gentle.” Trunks said, kneeling down to Gohan. “And you are already very, very brave.” Gohan’s cheeks darkened as he tried to fight his giant smile at the flattery. Trunks would fight fate. If it was for Gohan, Trunks would fight the entire galaxy to keep the heaviness from growing beyond containment in Gohan. He wasn’t going to let history repeat itself.