#(don't talk to me about that panel of akutagawa getting his throat slashed I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THEM)

[doctorweebmd]

I started watching bsd cause you post them and it an interesting show I got to the final season and it alright but I like the characters more than I care for the plot but it not bad sskk are soulmates

first of all YESSSSSSS AHHHH I FEEL SO HONERED I LURED YOU IN WELCOME WELCOME THE SOULMATISM IS CONTAGIOUS its the yingyanging. its the rivalry and narrative foilery. i am on my hands and knees LISTEN.

second of all, i wholeheartedly agree with you.

i've actually been thinking about this ask for a few days now - about why bsd feels so weak as a manga/show. i know you didn't ask for this lmao but... rant under cut.

the premise is any literature nerd's wetdream. a world where authors have magical powers, based on their previous works all in search of a blank novel that, when written in, changes the very fabric of reality. there is so much material to draw from, so much that can be done with this concept! but bsd, all in all, falls flat.

the seasons feel disjointed. there's many, MANY glaring plot holes. we know very little about the characters, their thoughts, their feelings, their fears or motivations. the times where the characters actually seem to shine, when we actually get to know them better, are the arcs based on the light novel. Fifteen, Dark Era and Untold Origins of the Detective Agency are all standout 3-episode arcs that add more to the story than the base anime. hell, there is a decent subset of fans that prefer the BEAST light novel alternate universe to original universe (...myself included.)

and honestly, I think that's the answer. asigiri is a short story writer. look at which authors he chooses to have as his main characters. short stories rely on concise narratives, character qualities only being disclosed by actions, and plots that force the readers to look beyond what is simply written. there's a lot we have to infer about the story and characters and thus become active participants in crafting the story itself.

for example, there was a Great War utilizing ability users. We know almost nothing about it, other than it happened 15 years ago. What occurred during this war is a major driving point for many characters motivations/traumas (and may also be the reason that so many of out current main characters are orphans.) Yet, with this in the background, there's a lot of things you can consider - is this why there are so few people with special abilities? were there more before? is that why you can only use your ability in public with a permit? do you have to register than you have an ability? are there people hiding because of their abilities? discriminated against? abused?

i doubt we'll ever know. that's also probably the point.

you can't expect trilogy-level continuity and world building in what, essentially, is a collection of short stories using re-appearing characters. not to say that it's bad, at ALL. but BSD (in my opinion) was meant to be more like a serialized Sherlock Holmes sort of story - just various adventures without any necessity for interconnections. of course, manga doesn't work like that, so we have 12 years of huh?! Asagiri what the HELL are you talking about?! why is there now a random creepy tower in Yokohama? Was Subarachi City there the whole time? Why the fuck are there prison-planes? HOW IS ATSUSHI RELATED TO THE BOOK THATS LITERALLY WHY EVERYONE IS TRYING TO KILL HIM ITS BEEN 12 YEARS THATS YOUR MAIN PLOT DRIVER CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING. ANYTHING AT ALL. ABOTU THIS FUCKING THIng.

erhem.

it leaves so much unanswered, so much empty space, so few connecting links - and i think that's part of what stimulates the imagination so much. there's so much i need to fill in, so much that i want to see developed that it just HAVE to write for it.

that is in harsh contrast with my hero academia. horikoshi is a brilliant writer and artist and he only continues to get better. he introduced this world to us within the comforts of the shonen genre and decided to subvert each expectation. now that the series is ending, you see things come full circle. what are heroes? what are villains? who determines this? can someone that isn't born 'special' still make important changes in this world? what does it mean to be a victim? is there such a thing as being born evil? there are a lot of fantastic essayists and analysts that can break things down much better than me, but i'm saying all this because the plot is cohesive. the characters are consistent and have demonstrated stupendous growth. everything and everyONE from the story is making an appearance. its incredibly rewarding as a fan to see these 'lose' threads come together. horikoshi writes like a novelist - everything small in the beginning adds up to something grand in the end.

anyway, i say all this because: when i started writing for my hero academia, it was at the end of the 4th season. heroes rising was just coming out. we had JUST learned that izuku had more than one quirk. deku vs kacchan part 2 was, at that point, the most positive interaction izuku and katsuki had. we had NO idea what the future would look like for any of these kids. but we all that the inkling of something bigger, something GREATER. so many fandom favorites started around this time - because it sparked the imagination!

and, in all honestly, the way in which horikoshi is wrapping up this story is stupendous. there's nothing for me to fill in. it feels complete and resolved in a lot of ways. although i do miss writing for them, i'm satisfied with this outcome.

....this is an extremely extremely long way to say, ugh, i LOVE BSD, and it would be SO GOOD if it was good. alas. thank you for watching it i am truly sorry and/or blessed