#DESPITE ALL THEY HAVE ALREADY DONE BEFORE GETTING TO THIS POINT OF THE MANGA?!

[epickiya722]

Folks being "shocked" that Yuji always been badass and "like that" gives me flashbacks to when people were calling Izuku badass during the Dark Deku arc as if that isn't the same kid who was already doing crazy shit since day one.

[skelliko]

Hoiii if possible can yu write a pt 2 to the confession fic with chifuyu, kazutoro and baji? Like just a scenario or small points as to what happened after they confessed and y/n says yes. it's fine if yu don't want to btww! Luv yur writing, hope yu have a nice day 💗💗

yes certainly sorry for the wait! and thank youu, your so sweet <3

I may have done more than 'small' I hope that's okay, I had no idea on how to format it I just went in with whatever and hope it works fine

★- Tokyo revengers

☆- you saying yes to their confession

pt1 here

featuring: kazutora, chifuyu, Baji

°- Kazutora hanemiya

he'd stay silent for a brief moment but a smile would curl up on his face. he wants to say something, anything that would help his brain function but hearing your voice say the words he's wished you to say for a long while has made him awe struck.

once he finally got his senses straight he took a small step closer to you, "wait say that again" he didn't demand it but rather in a really hopeful and proud tone, like a happy boy finding a new favourite song

his previous thought of wanting to hug you has increased but he was still a little nervous on the inside so he held back a little bit. unsure on if you want you want to get physical yet with an innocent hug.

though he extended his arms outwards a little as an invitation for you to hug him, all while he held a slight nervous yet joyed smile. his hug was warm, probably from growing extremely hot at just the thought and middle of the confession.

kazutora nervousness grew a little when you hugged him and took a sharp, subtle breath in and panicked a little on where to place his arm, he's hugged you before but not in a situation like this.

but once his mind got shaken he man'ed up and make a move, his grasp would be gentle yet firm around you, one arm around the waist and the other behind your shoulders. his nervousness would calm down a little and he very clearly never wanted to let go of you.

but of course in a good moment like that kazutora's brain loves to just mess it up for him, 'what if it wont work out well?' 'what if something happens and our friendship will fall apart?' all this overthinking that he never spoke up about.

but the longer he was in your grasp the calmer he felt, he won't pass out an opportunity like this especially after he confessed, he's just a little worried for the future, like a few weeks or months later.

you're basically a cure for him, despite overthinking his mind has already made so many ideas and what you both could do now, more hugs is one of them.

his heavy heart would feel a lot more relaxed and lighter in the end. you are his, and he is yous.

°- chifuyu matsuno

if his face wasn't red before then it sure is now, his eyes wide and his cheeks slightly flushed. this boy is overjoyed but would try to control himself around you in case you'd think his reaction would be 'weird'

"wait really!?" he'd be so happy and hold such an adorable smile but he still would want confirmation so that you're not lying to him, he knows you're not that type of person to lie like that but his overthinking always got the best of him.

he hardly had any idea on what to do in the moment, a lot of the time in his romance manga someone gets flustered and they end up kissing or something but is that really how it is in real life? no, very rarely and it shows.

but you like him back as much as he likes you, his efforts and backed out attempts all paid off and his whole body grew warm.

one question circled his mind 'why didn't I do this earlier?' he knew he wussed out plenty of times before but with it going so smoothly currently it almost seems as if he was worried over nothing, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"to tell the truth I've been nervous about this whole thing for a while"

that 'while' was actually a long time, 6 months to be exact,

after he dropped you off at your home with both shy and confident words, on chifuyu's way home he had the biggest smile on his face, his cheeks raised up and ever so slightly pink and his eyes shining, he couldn't contain it. he's already planning out the dates.

°- Baji Keisuke

he would hold an amazing smile without wanting to hold back, he'd be so happy about your answer that he took a step towards you to hug you but quickly realised and stopped himself due to him not wanting to invade your personal space immediately, though he didn't want to take that step back in case it'd make it a little awkward.

but he'd speak up all in hopes of you ignoring the little step

"you really mean it?"

he meant his question too, he also meant his confession, as much as he wishes to go back to change it up he couldn't avoid the fact that even with his corny ass confession you still like him back, you decreased his nervousness and brought it down to peace.

it wouldn't be until he heard your part of your own feelings that he gave in and softly pulled you in for a hug, his arms over and behind your shoulders. for once baji is scared to say a few words, what does he do? does he start a conversation?

his lips would part to say something but no words came out, he'd only look at you as you manage to snuzzle yourself in his embrace and his whole heart would do a flip.

despite him playing out this whole scenario he never finished it to figure out what to do after your words, like an unfinished fanfiction but the idea of it is so clear yet the words are so vague

though that was until he finally spoke up with what was in his mind,

"so... does this mean we're together then?"

deep down he wants to get straight into the couple stuff, you've talked and became close friends in school he doesn't need to do all that nonsense dating, sure you can go on dates even while being a couple but with you he wants to push the barrier a little.

he probably should have thought of something better to ask or say but his mind was blank, empty. and he blames that on you, but in a sweet kind of way.

 ♡---

[mezzy303]

So I've been rereading skip beat from the beginning for the first time in uhhhhh almost 10 years and I'm going inSaNE over characterizations and development that I have to write it down

At this point I'm only at the Heel siblings arc so I haven't gotten to the Guam or Saena arcs which are very big for Kyoko and Ren's character development and healing which I haven't reread since those chapters came out

Can we just take a moment to appreciate Nakamura for basing Kyoko and Ren's childhood struggles and trauma on very real things that aren't often, if at all, dealt with in anime/manga and also writing them with utmost care (Not only do the traumas inform their personalities, but their healing arcs aren't just a one and done thing!! It's a very slow process) Like starting with Kyoko, her single mother neglected her so much that she was raised by a family friend. On top of that, nothing Kyoko did was ever good enough for her mother, and both of these things are so apparent in Kyoko's character. She attaches herself to fairytales and magic as an escapism and because she relates to stories like Cinderella. She literally cannot function if she messes up and no one criticizes her. She can't properly acknowledge her own talents and beauty without it being attached somehow to fairytales; she never quite believes shes good enough. Similarly, she didn't want to bother anyone with her troubles, so she always dealt with them alone/in private spaces. Pretty sure she also has lowkey abandonment issues. And this is all parental trauma!! Things she already has before the series starts and she gets so utterly heartbroken she swears off romantic love entirely so she can never get hurt the same way again.

(I don't think I'll ever get over how Kyoko told all this to Kuu and he was literally like I'm adopting you. Your mine now. Sorry I don't make the rules ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ And Kuu going home to his wife like hey we got a new kid 😂 Like Kyoko freezing up when she made mistakes and then Kuu showing her love instead of reprimanding her makes me go 🥹😩💖✨😭💝 Kyoko getting all fluffy from head pats🥹🥹 But on the downside she literally can't bring herself to call him dad unless she's in acting mode sjdfhsf)

When I really consider it, I wonder if Kyoko really loved Sho as a person or like.... the idea of him. Like he was just a convenient guy via proximity bc Kyoko needed someone to be her "prince". We haven't been shown exactly why she fell in love, but it would explain why she stuck with dedicating herself to him despite his terrible personality and knowing he never saw her the same way. It's portrayed like the concept of hatsukoi in anime where its ✨pure✨and innocent✨It seems very idealistic. Whereas Kyoko's love for Ren is more mature. She sees every aspect of Ren and doesn't sugarcoat it, she sees him as he is (she does him up on a pedestal but partially bc she admires him but also as an extreme measure to protect her heart and hide her feelings imo)

And REN. trauma to the max. He had to deal with the hardships of making a name for himself when his parents are already famous, extreme racism from being biracial, his friend/mentor dying from an accident he unintentionally caused???? Like boy hates himself so much he's literally disassociating 24/7 he needs a fucking therapist. I get how being Ren has helped him in some capacity but he needs a professional asap. Though deep diving into this is so interesting because Ren/Kuon compartmentalized his issues and the parts that he hates about himself so much he created its own persona ("Dark Kuon"), to the point he's rarely ever just himself. And he buried it so deep that as soon as he cracked the lid open, those emotions just spilled out. He can't even allow himself to be happy, and when he does feel truly happy, his automatic response is acting nonchalant,,,,,,,,,,,, he didn't even realize he was doing it at first 😢

Also the symbolism with Ren's watch makes me go a little feral. I don't remember if it's originally his or Rick's but it obviously stopped when the latter died and Ren keeps it as a reminder of what happened and why he went to Japan. It's a weird item since it grounds him but also represents his heavy trauma, and I think having those two things in one kinda showcases Ren's unhealthy coping mechanisms (like grounding himself to something traumatic isn't... great...). But that scene where he realizes he took it off and he has a moment of whether it to keep it on as Cain Heel or not??? *clenches fist* it was so good. (To recap it, he had his watch so he wouldn't lose himself in the role of BJ and then forgot it in the bathroom after an unexpected trauma response) Ren narrates his thoughts as choosing between Rick or Kyoko but interpreting this, he's choosing whether to keep himself stuck in his past trauma or move forward and let himself be happy AKA stick with unhealthy coping mechanisms vs try something healthy and rely on people he trusts. Kyoko essentially becomes someone Ren grounds himself to 🥺 He still needs therapy though lmao. He's so mentally unstable in this arc,,,

As I'm writing this I'm seeing a parallel between Kyoko and Ren and how they both had an experience that completely and utterly broke them, and it was this that pushed them onto their current paths in showbiz. And they likely would never have met each other again if those things never happened (they had to lose themselves to find each other?? 😭). It's so funny to me that Ren is all like ThEiR fAtEs ArE iNtErTwInEd with Kyoko and Sho when you have to consider the fact that him and Kyoko meeting again was like. a chance in a billion. It was fate 😂

KyoRen is such a poetic ship to me. The fact that they're different people when they meet and don't recognize the other. How Ren starts falling in love AS SOON AS HE REALIZES KYOKO IS THE SAME GIRL HE MET (Ren being gray/demiromantic.... more at 5). Kyoko lowkey starting to crush on Ren when she witnesses a bit of his real personality. These two things happening around the same time??????? And Ren being SO afraid of being Kuon, his true self, because of his bad qualities, but Kyoko pulling out the good qualities without him fully realizing it?? (I'm 100% referring to Kuon being a mischievous little shit and I live for how he teases Kyoko) tbh they treat each other differently from other people without even realizing it lol. And Kyoko being surrounded by toxic and possessive men pursuing her, and Ren being anything BUT. Like my man is a gigantic green flag. He recognizes that he can't seriously pursue Kyoko bc she's a minor and he really tries his best to only be a friend and mentor in her life and keeping her trust and never crossing her boundaries despite the stereotypes of men being "unable to control themselves." Y'all take point this should be the standard at minimum☝️

I have to talk about Sho bc this boy is so fucking toxic but he makes such a fascinating character. As much as I hate how Kyoko got heartbroken in the way she did, I think it was necessary so that she could leave Sho's sorry ass and cut him out of her life. Seriously,,,, he took advantage of her and used her as a servant. she literally dropped out of school, moved to a different city, and took on two jobs for the sole purpose of helping his career and then he threw her away like a used rag (JUST THROW THE WHOLE MAN AWAY). And then he has the audacity to fall in love with her smh. Anyway the fascinating part about him to analyze is how he's so possessive of Kyoko. Like she was a mere fly in his life, but she was always his. Until she wasn't. And I think those twisted thoughts kinda morphed into feelings for Kyoko. Ig in a way he still cares about her, but it could never hide how toxic he is. Anyone who's like I don't care how this person thinks of me as long as I take up the biggest space in their heart is egotistical and narcissistic. BUT he and Kyoko bickering like siblings will always be funny. Like epitome of two people who've lived with each other for way too long so they know how the other ticks and also get on each other's nerves 😂😂Sho does makes a good foil for Ren though. Like he's basically everything Ren is not: immature, temperamental, possessive, vain, the list goes on. His only redeeming qualities as a character is providing good drama and humor and being an example of what Ren isn't.

Skip Beat is really a story about healing and learning to love yourself and letting others love you and Nakamura is such a good story teller 🥺

[exo-raskreia]

hi as a jjk fan, do you have any issues with the writing from gege? if so, what do you think are wasted potential in terms of characters, bonds. i think that there is lack of emotional impact or expansion fo characters sometimes. for instance animes like mha have alot of meaningful character arcs and backstories. It's a bit hard to express how I feel becuase jjk is an amazing story but i am just a bit disappointed of the wasted potential with female characters and like shoko and utahime. and the world building. yes i am fellow gojohime shipper ;).

(Oncoming long RANT 😅)

If you ride on Gege's coattails, this may not be for you.

I actually do have issues with Gege's writing, so I agree with you. JJK has an interesting premise with hidden lore & I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into, or already into, anime/manga, but it could be so much better if Gege just cared enough (which I sometimes feel like he doesn't? It just feels like he wants to hurry up & finish it so he can start on his idol manga... 💀). He skips so much, it honestly feels like he's going off a checklist, especially in the latest arc.

Compared to other battle shounens, namely Naruto, Fairy Tail, MHA, & even Gintama, JJK is severely lacking in several areas. It's unfortunate because the premise & characters are full of potential.

I will go over some of the issues. A lot of these were obvious from the start but they've only gotten worse over time.

• The fast pacing (speed running at this point). It's battle after battle, no downtime, big arc right after big arc, etc. Us readers & the characters themselves barely have time to process things before he moves on to the next thing. He skips so many things, so much happens off-screen/off-panel (can't forget how he skipped Yaga's fight with Gakuganji that lead to his death, skipped Gojo's entire month after his unsealing then "kills" him off-panel a few chapters later, I could go on...)

• The lack of character emotions, development, backstories, etc. We barely know anything about the characters, like their hobbies & interests? (This is why I have a hard time making up headcanons & potentially writing a fic for our ship... How can I keep them in character when I barely know stuff about them? 😮‍💨). We barely see any of them training (training arcs/chapters are typical for battle shounens); the Tokyo students preparing for the Goodwill Event would have been a fitting time to showcase this, for example. There's little to no mourning shown for character deaths (like Yaga? Nanami? Mai? Mechamaru?).

Yuta has such a cool CT & we didn't get to see how he discovered it & all. Like, come on 😔. Also, it would've been nice to see the Goodwill Event from his first year when he beat the Kyoto students, especially Todo... (Gege simply tells us about it. Like he tends to do for a lot of things 🙄).

Gege could've done more build-up to Gojo's sealing in Shibuya by showing his upbringing & development from his arrogant teen self (tho already having shown hints of caring for others & not liking the higher-ups) to the sensei who loves his students & strives for a better Jujutsu society. His past arc should've been longer imo. Needed more slice of life & character interactions, bonding. Heck, Toji should've gotten his whole backstory there too before he died. More build-up to Gojo's "death" too, as Gege skipped that whole month after his unsealing 😒...

• While on the subject, the lack of character interactions, bonding. We haven't seen most characters interact with each other despite being in the same circles, vicinity. Tokyo & Kyoto students, GjHm with them, Gojo & his colleagues (esp more Uta), the Zenin clan (like, wish we could've seen how GjHm interacted with Naoya. Imagine the drama 😫), Gojo & his elusive clan, I could go on... Would've loved to see Gojo interact with Kashimo, Higuruma, Choso... 😮‍💨

As such, several have died & we never saw them interact with certain others nor even know much about them 😑... The emotional impact of character deaths & bonding would be higher if only Gege cared enough to flesh out his characters more... (At least the Phantom Parade mobile game is giving us some much-needed slice of life content. Wish Mappa would give us some OVA's like that too...)

• Lack of world building. Once again, so much we don't know, such as the clans, especially Gojo's. Apparently, they're still alive, yet we haven't seen them?

Are they not fighters, then? Nothing from them on their clan head's sealing/unsealing/"death". The Zenin Clan debuted & got killed off soon after. Other clans irrelevant. Jujutsu sorcery primarily exists in Japan so other than Miguel, goodbye to the potential of any foreign sorcerers making their appearance...

• Female cast. It's crazy how they were once praised for their potential but now... Now, all they've got is just your typical battle shounen treatment 😒. While Gege has shown he cares little for all his characters (lol), it does seem like the female characters have suffered a bit more from his writing. They've either died (like Mai off-screen? Yuki, the only female Special Grade, had one fight & died?), become powerless (Miwa, thru an off-screen Binding Vow revealed many chapters later? Seriously?), lack screentime (the Kyoto girls? Shoko, the only one who can use RCT on others & closest friend to Gojo?!), or simply haven't done a whole lot, especially compared to the male characters. For some or most, it's a mixture of all these 💀 (like Tsumiki).

Nobara is the main girl & yet her role ended about halfway thru the series. Can't believe Gege did that to her, despite her potential & competence to be the FL of a battle shounen (poor Yuuji still thinks of her. And we don't even know what Gojo thought about her demise? 😮‍💨). Maki seems to have it better, yet some could argue she's just Toji 2.0/female Toji. Unfortunately, I thought about Toji when she was fighting Sukuna; I was like, "If Sukuna's this impressed by her, imagine Toji with his higher experience?" I doubt that's what Gege would want us to think when Maki's shining (or does he? 🤨😒).

• Don't even get me started on Utahime. She's the main teacher of Kyoto, loved by all her students according to Gege, yet we don't get to see it? She's barely relevant? Imagine what she felt as her students kept on dying or becoming unable to fight. Thru her character, such as during her investigation of Kyoto for the traitor, we could've gotten some great insight into how things are over there? We don't even know what the Kyoto school looks like 💀.

Her scar has several implications & yet we don't know how she got it? How has she dealt with being a scarred woman in Jujutsu society, especially considering Momo's words about such a thing during the Goodwill Event? Utahime could be a great role model to the girls, especially Maki now, & yet... 😮‍💨 (I'm telling you, she should've been the main adult female of the series, just like Gojo's the main adult male)

She's one of Gojo's friends, has known him for 10+ years, & is one of his few most trusted allies, yet we haven't seen how they got to this point? Their comedic interactions make us wonder how they built that deep trust. I NEED to know what happened between them during the timeskip!!! 😫

Her CT buffs herself & others. Why has she not been a part of any on-screen fight prior to the Shinjuku Showdown? There were a couple instances where we almost saw her in action & yet... Why did Gege gatekeep her CT for so long? To showcase her CT for the first time for Gojo & Gojo ONLY. He's insane. They can't beat the package deal allegations. So, does this have any meaning? Can we hope for more-

• I sometimes wonder if JJK would be better as a seinen like I once heard he intended for it to be... There are definitely elements of that... How much darker could the story get, since sometimes Gege pushes the boundaries of Shounen Jump (I know he wants to, lol)... How much more fleshed out could it be if he was writing it the way he wanted to originally (supposedly he never intended for a school setting but was forced by his previous editor?)... Maybe we could even get a Tokyo Ghoul:re style chapter with GjHm during the timeskip if y'all know what I mean-

So, to sum up: JJK is interesting & I would recommend it, but there's a whole lot of wasted character potential, terrible pacing, & lack of interactions, development, & world building. There's so much we don't know & Gege wants to end it already? He's sitting on a gold mine & yet... 😑😒

No idea how things will end but I can at least hope for an open ending that leaves us with some hopeful possibilities... Uh, right?

Also... GOJO WILL RISE ✊️

[sakuraharuno156]

"…So you claim Hinata had no consideration for life of anyone other than Naruto... and then use a screenshot from the manga of her literally showing consideration for the wellbeing of someone who isn't Naruto."

Considering how things went after Neji vs Naruto, chances are that things changed in the Hyuuga family for those other than just Neji. Even if not, Hinata risking her life =/= a lack of consideration for anyone's life other than Naruto's, despite consequences. Or are you saying you’ve never done anything without carefully considering every single possible consequence first?

But hey… "Tell me you didn’t read my ask properly without telling me you didn’t read my ask properly".

"Or are you saying you've never done anything without carefully considering every single possible consequence first?"

First of all, sure, everyone did, but not necessarily when the consequences are:

1) you will just get in a way of a battle and be a great inconvenience instead of helping

(of which she was aware of)

2) getting your guard punished/possibly killed

3) you hurting the person you are supposed to "help" (I'm not gonna repeat myself, you can read it here)

4) you dying for no reason

5) if you somehow don't get killed, you becoming a burden to medics who could devote their time to people who did help or got hurt by ricochet of the attack.

Second of all, you are putting it in a way that implies that Hinata did that only once, and you are wrong.

At some point of someone consistently doing the same thing you have to admit they either do that maliciously or that they are plain stupid.

I'm just gonna bring a few examples (that I talked about before over and over, but I'll do that again, especially for you)

Shimamaru: almost died

Hinata: "But I want to stay beside Naruto too"

Does she care? No. Naruto-kun. That's all she cares about.

But maybe that's because they weren't too close, because who cares about a person from your class that is your comrade in war, he's not Naruto-kun.

How about her own teammate BEING CARRIED OUT BY MEDICS?

The oiment Hinata has is more important for Naruto-kun, who is completely fine.

Who cares about Kiba, he is just being taken by medical team, but he can be an afterthought, they are just teammates after all.

How about her family?

Neji, who will be punished for hurting her (because, as you recognize YOURSELF, it's before Naruto vs Neji fight, so the punishment WILL BE THERE), who asked her TIME AND TIME again to just give up. Why will he do that, huh? Maybe because he had known what happened TO HIS FATHER FOR JUST THINKING ABOUT HER IN A BAD WAY.

Anyway, how about making Neji hurt her, then provoking him by RUBBING IT IN HIS FACE THAT HE IS BELLOW HER?

Neji just said (again) that she should give up and stop the suffering, she just casually mentions that he is "lost and suffering" because he's not in the main family.

(And before you say it was nice of her, NEJI AND THEREFORE MANGA showed us he didn't appreciate it, and the guard also saw that Neji was provoked and WAS ABOUT TO CHARGE AT HER FOR THAT COMMENT)

But ok, maybe they weren't close enough of a family, so it was acceptable to provoke him and get him to be punished, because you know...

Naruto-kun is watching, so...

How about closer family? How about her own sister?

(Now, I don't like to quote the movies because I prefer to base my opinion on canon manga only, but you, Hinata Fans, love it, so let's go)

(Credit to whoever made it, I can't find the original)

Hanabi was just kidnapped, but Hinatas mind is occupied, because well... Naruto-kun 🥺

BUT OK, MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, THEY DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH OF A BOND BETWEEN THEM TO CARE.

Let's look at the person who took care of her for her whole life, her guard, her family, let's look at Ko:

Oh wait, we have already seen it.

It doesn't matter who it is, if it's her comrade, friend, teammate, cousin, sister, guard. If that person is not Naruto-kun, their life or well being is irrelevant to Hinata.

She cares about Naruto, that's it. Nothing else and noone else matters.

Do you understand?

So back to the beginning:

At some point of someone consistently doing the same thing you have to either admit they do that maliciously or that they are plain stupid and when it comes to LIFE OF OTHER PEOPLE I'll say that it either way makes you a bad person 🤷‍♀️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, in conclusion:

I did read your ask, I just assumed (and that is my mistake, I apologize) that if you are protecting Hinata, you shoud know first thing about her, but not only you didn't read the manga, you didn't even read the parts that had Hinata in it.

So, please, first read at LEAST chapters that have Hinata in them, before you speak (It's not a lot, she is a background character after all) or I'm not gonna answer to you again, because I'm tired of repeating myself for a 1000th time.

[pancake-breakfast]

The last page of this chapter's got me mulling again over a theory I've had since I first went through the Shibuya arc regarding Yuuji's domain expansion....

Warning: Major manga spoilers ahead through chapter 264

With the end of this chapter, we finally get to see something I'm sure many people have anticipated: Yuuji's domain. When Sukuna gets swooped up in it, there's a bit of an expectation that Yuuji will immediately start using its automatic hit function to beat the everloving crap out of him. But instead, we get this.

That's right. No taking advantage of the situation to launch a first attack. Just Yuuji smiling and extending a friendly fist to Sukuna as if they weren't in a life-or-death battle five seconds earlier.

We've had a few instances where people have been seemingly transported to different locations. It's pretty common with domain expansions, though it's worth noting that even most of the human-cast domains (as opposed to the curse-cast ones) have a distinctly otherworldly appearance.

In contrast, Yuuji's is amazingly mundane. It's just a train station. It doesn't appear to go on forever. Nothing is changing or fluctuating oddly in it. We're not even given its name. It's just... here.

Perhaps in the next chapter or two we'll find that the train station itself is an integral part of Yuuji's domain, but right now, I think it's significance is more in that it's a place of transition. I'll get to that in a bit. First, I want to mention a few other times we've seen people seemingly transported elsewhere, specifically with or around Yuuji.

I'm sure we all remember the first.

Dear delusional Todoh.... Suddenly, he has memories of something that never happened, and because it's Todoh, it's easy to write this off as his own delusion. He already has a very active imagination when it comes to his idol encouraging him as he fights.

But then it happens again to someone else.

Gotta love how Todoh's fake memories are in anamorphic widescreen while Choso's are in 4:3 like he's watching something on broadcast television in the 90's.

Anyway.

While Choso's behavior in the fight against Kenjaku near the end of the Shibuya arc seems very similar to Todoh's, with them both insisting they're Yuuji's brother despite Yuuji's protests and becoming incredibly dedicated to looking after Yuuji because of it, the thing is, Choso lacks Todoh's tendency toward overactive imagination. In fact, while the exact scene that plays out in Choso's fake memory of course never happened (and Choso is well aware of that fact afterward), it turns out they indeed share a parent.

There's one more scene of this sort that I want to highlight, and that's this one.

This final conversation always struck me as a bit odd, and the further I get into JJK, the more odd it seems. We have a bit of a precedent for characters having strange visions right before they die, first with Nanami, then this scene, and then of course the Airport Scene that comes much later... but two things really stand out to me with this one. First, it's the only instance of a curse having a reflective, out-of-location moment like this just before their death. (Mahito's moment is very clearly imagined, and he doesn't even die from it since it's Kenny who finally does him in.) Second, Sukuna is there.

In the Airport Scene, the only people who join Gojo are those who are already dead, and Jojo's scene starts out that way. Both Hanami and our little squid friend were killed earlier in Shibuya. Jogo is the only one left. And then Sukuna shows up to... give him a pep talk and congratulate him on a job well done? To give him so much comfort right before his demise that this cursed spirit of fire and volcanoes finds himself crying?

That doesn't sound very Sukuna-like.

I dunno, maybe it is. He did congratulate Gojo's corpse after their fight, and at the point of Jojo's death, the volcano curse is the first one to aside from Gojo to pose anything resembling a challenge to Sukuna.

Or maybe Yuuji, who took to heart his grandfather's dying wish, is rubbing off on Sukuna a bit.

We tend to forget that this clause about being surrounded by people who care about him is just as much a part of Yuuji's grandfather's dying wish as the part about protecting others. (I think Yuuji himself mentions it again somewhere else, but for the life of me I can't remember where.) Yuuji enters Jujutsu Society with a death sentence on his head. And while he doesn't understand that sentence at the time, he tells Gojo he's already decided how he's going to die.

Point being, dying surrounded by those he cares about is immensely important to Yuuji.

Now's a good time to point out that both Todoh and Choso nearly killed Yuuji right before they each had their vision. A vision of friendship and camaraderie, where no one was dying or alone, but instead both Todoh and Choso found themselves surrounded by people they cared about... and Yuuji, who cared about them each in the way that most mattered to their souls.

So then we see a similar thing with Jogo. Just before his death, Sukuna standing before him, he sees himself standing with those he lost but considers as friends. And he sees Sukuna, someone he holds in utmost respect, who manages to both point out his flaws and laud his work in a way I suspect even Jogo didn't know he wanted to hear.

Given all that, and given that a person's domain expansion isn't simply a manifestation of a person's technique, but also of their soul, I've long suspected these visions that others have had around Yuuji when death is near have been a reflexive use of his own technique. And because it's Yuuji's technique and Yuuji wants so much to die surrounded by friends, this technique doesn't simply project a nice scene for people, but also creates an air of friendliness and acceptance between Yuuji and the person who is either killing him or dying. (I'll note again that Yuuji only softened Mahito up, but did not quite bring him to the brink of death.)

The one seeming outlier to this that I can think of is the Airport scene. To the best of our knowledge, Yuuji was nowhere near Gojo at the time of Gojo's death.

But Sukuna was.

Perhaps that same resonance between him and Sukuna that allows Yuuji to make use of Sukuna's techniques has extended such that Sukuna is unconsciously using Yuuji's technique at the moment of Gojo's death.

Which is something I literally just put together now, so hang on a second. I need to process for a bit.

Ok, I'm back.

If this theory's true, then what could possibly be of comfort to the King of Curses himself? He claims his only passion now is chasing his own hedonism. But we really don't know very much about him. He seeks pleasure in food, fighting, and sex, but what made him decide that was the path to go down? Was he always like this, or did something happen to make him let go of any ideals or strong connections he might have had?

Which brings me back to my previous post where I discuss the theory that Yuuji and Sukuna are more similar in personality than one might immediately guess.

I'm not exactly sure how that will manifest. One would think Ura-ume at least is close enough to Sukuna that they'd show up at the train station at some point. But the relationship between Sukuna and Yuuji has always been strained. It seems unlikely that they'll suddenly be uncle and nephew suddenly going on an amicable adventure together.

Then again, Yuuji is standing here now in front of Sukuna, fist held out in a friendly gesture rather than in an aggressive one, smiling as if he's asking any of his classmates if they want to go out for ramen real quick.

So I suppose we'll see.

[penguinkyun]

chapter 147 review

you all know the superstition of walking under a ladder right? well the other day I walked under a ladder and I think all that bad luck has been relegated to this manga specifically. lets get into it shall we?

anyways to quote samejima abiko: you turned my babies into idiots. how in the name of hoshino ai did ruby not recognise Kamiki Hikaru, known to look a lot like Her Brother of Eighteen Years Hoshino Aqua, to the point he is Literally Cosplaying His Own Father in the movie. YOU ARE TWINS. HOW DID YOU NOT SEE YOUR OWN FEATURES. the only explanation is that they both received face blindness from ai. the reason why aqua couldnt find kamiki for years despite looking a lot like him. he just did not recognise the fucker.

honestly this chapter really just framed exactly how badly ruby has been done as a character by this arc. the movie arc is from chapters 108-147. that spans 39 chapters making it officially the longest arc in oshi no ko. In chapter 108, she is in double black hoshigan mode, angry at everyone, and especially at aqua for revealing their secret and wanting to get revenge on the guy who killed both ai and goro. we progress through till the interpersonal audition mini arc where ruby is confronted with her past life as sarina tendouji, forced to face her issues with abandonment and her previous toxic mother and the story was setting up to give her an understanding with ai and have actually deal with her past life issues…and then aqua had to go and be a good brother. im kidding, but really, the reveal hit a reset button on ruby’s behaviour but in a way that somehow also did a 180 even on her previous arc self.

@all-of-her-light has a really good post on rubys character arc so i won’t go much into detail but, the arc has a lot of contradictions with her; when ruby says she’s been acting all her life, but that recontextualizes her actions in a way that feels utterly wrong to who her character was established as, someone desiring to be an honest idol and going very far to emulate that. every single one of these threads are dropped in favour of ruby emulating a 2010s little sister, leaving very little room for any introspection about ruby with kana, aqua and even ai (despite 134).

like in 134 she sees the suffering ai had to go through and decides she won’t be an idol like her mother and in this chapter she? wants to be an idol just like ai? I thought she already got past this! And since this arc is ending wow has there been no resolution for the aqrb. incredible. this is like the rbkn conflict again, with no proper resolution aside from them being friends again, because none of the actual issues have been addresses, such as ruby intentionally shoving kana and mem out in the cold and bringing herself into focus in public eye (which was handled by management in the same way ai and first gen bkom was and well. we saw how that turned out.).

anyway. in the end ruby apparently has returned back to square one on understanding ai, with no resolution for either of her relationships with aqua and kana and we’re only left with the tiniest glimpse into how she feels about her father but nothing about yknow. ACTING AS HER MOTHER’S CORPSE FUCKING HELL—

despite ruby’s parallels with yura katayose before her untimely death via kamiki (back with the milk) i dont…really think he was going to kill ruby here. His expressions in this chapter are nowhere near murderous, and look rather concerned actually. Even when looking at his hand, it doesn’t look like he was trying to push her down the stairs, but instead reaching out to hold her shoulder or something. also

WHITE HOSHIGAN???????? WHITE HOSHIGAN HIKARU?????????

important lives, lives of value, the weight of life…these things do keep cropping up with kamiki huh?

ALSO NINO IS BACK SHES HERE SHES BACK EVERYONE THIS IS NOT A DRILL

so. i had theorized that the reason akane was so absent was because she was off doing detective stuff on kamiki and the actual reason is infinitely funnier. my darling girl. akane. were you perhaps by any chance stalking him to try and catch him in the act of literally killing someone. did you not fear for your life at all. i'm just imagining she gives the same glare everytime kamiki catches her in the act of stalking, like this is somehow exactly where shes supposed to be. good for her. its even funnier that both nino AND kamiki are aware of this and have just. done nothing. i need a montage of akane stalking kamiki stat.

I DIDNT THINK YOU MEANT LITERALLY AKANE

finally. some kamiki pov. this is enrichment for me. interesting he says "pay my dues" regarding what? ai? the twins? something else? also that kaburagi mention,,,, implying that he was the one to push for kamiki to be anonymous and not kamiki himself. the secret villain kaburagi agenda grows…

side note: it always strikes me how much ruby with double black hoshigan looks like a horror movie porcelain doll.

girl you are terrifying

anyway wow we're really. we're really skipping past the rest huh. so no introspection on how ruby feels playing the corpse of her mama and finally knowing exactly how everything went down that day huh. okay. thats really just par for the course atp.

and now again. the timeline, especially for hkai is…are we even filming in order? i thought we finished filming melt already…

here it looks like the actual breakup and this takes place post concert where hikaru brings the flowers (with kindaichi the tokyo blade director…shrimptresting) in panelling but we're shown theyre still on good terms during murder suicide. so the timeline we have for us in the movie is apparently:

hkai meet and go on a date -> ai confronts airi and hkai actually begin dating -> hkai are still on good terms a year before dome concert when murder suicide occurs -> breakup occurs sometime after that (making it quite recent before ai's death, which would make the conversation they have on phone make sense, with hikaru asking if ai wants to get back together)

the issue with that is how did ai hide this from everyone, incl. her kids? while i do think hikaru wanted it hidden because he goes off the grid from 16-25 im still??? how??? this is so confusing (they might've filmed out of order but then its still ????)

and we didn't get two major things: The I Cant Love You scene and whatever the forgiveness was about despite it being mentioned earlier this chapter. also kamiki has not been shown to be connected in anyway to the murders other than the movie becoming The Kamiki Movie halfway through so…aqua's plans that he came up with as a toddler sure are confusing huh.

and again. we were utterly robbed of any introspection ruby could've gotten on, once again finally knowing what happened that day considering no one told her anything and she only saw the blood on the frosted glass. speaking of people who know what happened, if we're talking about aqua, who has a panic attack every time he remembers this and was not shown to be present, im concluding gotanda kicked him off set for that moment. hes grounded. forceful self care by your mentor making sure you don't make yourself have a horrific panic attack again.

god. ending this review on a good note that i enjoyed hikaru's pov and nino being back but it really served as a highlight to why this arc annoyed me so much and especially rubys character assassination

sigh. break next week on account of golden week in japan and then finale or pre finale arc. lets see what that brings us, shall we?

[vipitis]

alright, so i promised a coherent post about manga kyouya & benkei here. this is pretty much only about battle bladers, but we don't see much of them outside of that. this is also a general summary of the events, because i know most of you probably havent read the manga.

right off the bat their dynamic is so much more healthy and not as one-sided as in the anime. i do enjoy their anime dynamic, too, because it's interesting to analyze why they both act the way they do, and to see speculate about kyouya's side of the friendship through what little hints he shows, but there's no need for speculation in the manga.

when we first see benkei it's in the first few pages of the manga. he's a face hunter where he talks big but loses hard to kenta & gingka. we see him again at the 100 blader battle and then he disappears for a while.

he returns at the very end of issue two, right at the start of battle bladers main tournament. he says that losing against gingka made him realize he needs to fight fair and then it's revealed that he and kyouya had been training together to prepare for battle bladers.

we don't get to see much of their "special training" but what we do see of it, it's very obviously been hard and difficult. one scene shows kyouya and benkei climbing a mountain together with benkei having 100 kg of weight strapped to his back. no matter how they trained, though, their training was integral to becoming stronger AND to their friendship. because they do always talk about they both got stronger together, and how it has been the two of them. this gets more important later on.

the instant we see benkei again, kyouya is SO proud of him. he compliments his strength and talks about how much stronger he's become. he has full confidence that he can win whatever he wants, and it shows. the first matchup is revealed, and it's benkei vs ryuuga.

and despite the fact that ryuuga is insanely powerful, and everyone knows it at that point already. hell, kyouya SAW gingka's fight against ryuuga, and he had literally watched as l-drago completely destroyed pegasus (this isn't just a way of speaking. l-drago smashed pegasus into a million tiny pieces), he still is completely assured that benkei can win. he trusts benkei completely, and he continues to do so throughout the battle up until the point he realizes ryuuga's been playing them like a fiddle. but until then? kyouya is completely confident in benkei's abilities and he doesn't doubt him for a second.

as expected, ofc, benkei does not win against ryuuga even if it did seem like it at first, and instead benkei quickly realizes he's losing. kyouya is desparate when he tells him to forfeit, but benkei refuses, instead continuing to fight to figure out all of ryuuga's tricks so the other's even have a chance.

the match ends with l-drago destroying dark bull, just like he has done previously with pegasus. it also destroys benkei and the other collapses. kyouya's the first by his side, and he holds him up and tightly until the paramedics arrive. before that kyouya tells him he's a fool and angrily asks why he didn't forfeit, and benkei doesn't say anything, but it's even obvious to gingka because he then goes "for you, kyouya" and explains what benkei's motivations must have been, which the other confirms.

this is where that training comes back to relevance, because we get this scene:

[translation, image ID in alt: first panel: "benkei, i will fight with the bey that i obtained during our training.", second panel is just the sound of a tear. third panel: "i will win with him for sure. with my rock leone"]

kyouya and benkei both obtained/upgraded their beys while training with each other. they obtained dark bull and rock leone respectively, and they both obtained new special moves. kyouya references this multiple times. this hints at another, deeper aspect of their bond, because their beys also have a connection that is entirely special to them.

in those panels you can also see kyouya starts crying because at that point, benkei is in the hospital and you can see that the battle with ryuuga hurt him so much he had to be put on life support. the amount of pain this causes kyouya is obvious in this first scene and in the next few scenes as well, because right afterwards we see tetsuya for the first time, and the very first thing he does is insult and belittle benkei for being weak, and insults him, and kyouya fucking grabs him by his shirt and is ready to beat the shit out of him. he does tell him as much but he appears to have enough self control, because he's like "i'd love to beat you to a pulp, but let's discuss this in the arena".

in the ensuing match he proceeds to only think about benkei ["look benkei. it's the special move i learned while training with you"] and then completely destroys tetsuya's bey and shatters it into a million pieces as revenge for the insults to benkei. we never have seen kyouya do this before, and he never does this again. this was exclusively for benkei.

the next two panels are kyouya looking ready to cry again, and quietly telling himself this:

[translation, ID in alt: "look benkei, the person that will win battle bladers is no one else but kyouya tategami"]

we then don't get much of benkei anymore, kyouya briefly thinks about him when he goes to fight ryuuga, and kyouya also has to get put into the hospital. where we don't see much of him, but the next panel he is in is this one.

[ID in alt]

and the last time we see these two together is this:

[ID in alt]

so, let's review this real quick.

kyouya cares about benkei so incredibly much, it's heartbreaking. he loves him so much that he starts crying when he's injured, that he wants to beat someone up for badmouthing him, that even after he himself gets hospitalized, the first thing he does is go and sit with benkei. and obviously beneki cares about him just as much, because he carries him all the way back to the battle on his shoulders because kyouya is injured, while being severely injured himself.

their relationship in the manga is absolutely incredible, and they're shown to be close in every subsequent appearance. takafumi adachi almost always draws them together and, while sadly i never took a screenshot for proof, i once asked takafumi adachi about their relationship and he confirmed that they are very close.

i once jokingly said that in the anime they are boyfriends and if that is true, then in the manga they are married (/j)

putting aside any shipping perspective it's still so obvious that their entire friendship runs so deep and is on a level that will be unrivaled by other characters entering their lives. we can only speculate how close they must've been during their face hunter days if this is them now.

i would've loved to see this energy in the anime, but i do also appreciate the different spin on it that the anime took.

[crepes-suzette-373]

Whole Cake Island comments

I'm late to this party, so what I'm posting here is probably old news to everyone, I just want to unload my thoughts.

I've read enough creator interviews to know that sometimes manga artists do things just for the heck of it with no deeper reasons. That's why I often hesitate to read too deeply into the scenes, but it's still there anyway, so I just want to react/ramble.

1) This arc repeatedly says that Sanji's brothers are supposed to be emotionless/heartless. Somehow despite that, they still burst into heart eyes when they see Nami. All of them!

If they're heartless, but they still do this, then what does it feel like for Sanji who isn't "heartless"?

It's to the point that Chopper goes "Are you sure you're not Sanji" at Yonji, and Yonji can't stop ogling at Nami's wanted poster. And they all say they want to take Nami home once the stupid wedding is over with.

Like, those 3 can normally kill people and clobber that poor helpless maid without even twitching a single curly brow, but Nami can still make them explode into heart eyes...

Maybe this is just a joke to laugh at, like "hahaha the quadruplets all have the same taste". Or maybe this was meant to show that deep down the other Vinsmokes aren't that heartless after all. Still...

2) I find it kind of strange that Sanji's injuries under the "skin mask" is drawn to look like the "joke" swollen face Luffy often gets when Nami beats him up for being dumb:

I mean, this scene with Pudding and the scene before that, when Sanji just got clobbered, I'm assuming they're both supposed to show his vulnerability. Then why make it look like the silly swollen faces that are usually meant for laughs and gags?

Compare that to the much more serious injured face Luffy has when Sanji beat him up, or way way back in the Skypiea arc when Sanji faced off Eneru.

If the in-plot intention is just to have him Sanji look so severely beat up that he needs a mask to hide it, why not draw him with the "serious" injured face?

My conspiracy thought was that sensei did that on purpose to make the scene with Pudding look either weird or awkward so that we can't take it seriously.

Like, now that it's all over we know it was a big nothing, but maybe during its initial run this specific art choice was a hint? Especially because later when Pudding revealed the trickery, she made fun of it. Something that probably can't be done with a more serious injured face.

3) Nami gave up so easily because...? She's someone who had literally done the exact same thing in almost the exact same way back in Arlong Park. She has also experienced being on the rescuer side with Robin, where they all eventually find out that there's something suspicious going on.

But somehow this time she took Sanji completely at face value and backed off in a very emotional way. Does it not even occur to her that something might be fishy again? And it's Luffy who saw through the nonsense and is completely not buying it.

Luffy, who is so clueless that he was dead-shocked to find his dad is Dragon, even though Garp already flat out told him so.

I mean, maybe because of the manga's tight schedule, sensei had to run this quickly to heighten the drama/stakes. Maybe there isn't a long plot game being played, and I guess I have a hyperactive imagination, but with a certain slant it can look like Nami gave up because she got heartbroken/jealous of the wedding.

When the group split up and the Sanji Rescue group was leaving from Zou, Zoro and Usopp said this:

They're all still there, the whole group heard it.

Oh no, maybe Sanji is on board with it. And then they actually meet Pudding:

Oh no, she's cute and he did go heart eyes at her. They then find Sanji, but he acts like this:

Oh no, maybe he does want to do the wedding for real after all.

Nami's reaction is such a classic "misunderstanding drama" reaction in romance novels.

4) Generally speaking, I feel like the wedding sham feels like something straight out of romance novels.

The leading lady gets closer to the leading man, then out of nowhere he turns out to be secretly a Very Important Person. His horrible family show up to threaten the leading lady, and he saved her at the cost of himself. Dramatic roller coaster and misunderstandings ensue, often including arranged engagements and/or almost-weddings.

This plotline really hurts my heart (poor baby Sanji), but at the same time I'm so baffled at how it all unfolds, because parts of it honestly kind of reminds me of telenovelas that my mum used to like to watch. Pretty sure I've even seen a couple permutations of this plot with vampires and whatnot during the supernatural romance craze in the Twilight era.

[bxriles]

The Importance of Authors Fulfilling Promises to their Readers

Seeing people defend Gege's writing of jjk these over these last few months is WILD. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and that includes me. So here's my 900th unhinged rant on this subject because hoooo boy there are THOUGHTS on this topic.

Before anyone comes for my throat, these are my opinions. You get yours and I get mine. And this is LONG lmao.

I've seen all the justifications for Gege's current writing saying that jjk is about being different from the standard shonen manga and being more realistic in its storytelling (i.e., killing the powerful characters) and whatever and YES. All of that is true. I don't have a problem with any of that. I would say all of that is why most of us fell in love with this story to begin with. Examples of this (done well) includes:

Nanami's death. Tragic. Broke my heart. But I think Gege was right to kill him. Nanami had served his purpose at that point, he died protecting the next generation, and despite how sad I was to see him go, I thought it was good writing. There was no need to keep him around at that point. Gojo gets put in the box. This made perfect sense to me from a narrative standpoint. Gojo Satoru is a NIGHTMARE for ANY author to write. His very existence is a problem because he can solve all of the problems of the universe and remove all conflict from the story. Sealing away the most powerful character was a perfect way to take him out of the narrative while still leaving his presence lingering over everyone. This also deviates strongly from traditional shonen because no character that powerful would have ever been sealed with ACTUAL ramifications in something more "standard" like Naruto! It broke the mold in the best way possible. I'd also say that the way Kenjaku went about sealing him was excellent. There really weren't any ass-pulls to get him in that box. Kenjaku takes Geto's body (a strategic decision), hides that body from everyone at the school, executes an insane plan that he knows will exhaust Gojo and mentally push him to his limits, and then SURPRISE! Here's your dead lover's best friend's body! Now get in the box(((: I thought it was good writing and completely necessary for the plot to progress. Megumi's possession. From the very beginning, Sukuna has been interested in Megumi. Seeing that pay off? Watching Sukuna do the worst thing we can imagine to Megumi? Amazing. Wonderful. Loved everything about it.

So, I don't have any problems with jjk's previous storytelling. I thought that it was well executed, broke the previous Shonen formula, and delivered good story telling.

You know what I do have a problem with? Writing like this:

Higuruma is suddenly as talented as Gojo. Bro what? I like Higuruma, but this dude has been a sorcerer for all of what? Two seconds? He's a suicidal lawyer who just got magic powers and only VERY RECENTLY started working with Yuji and company and he suddenly has as much talent as Gojo Satoru? The man with the Six Eyes? Be. For. Real. What is the point of this? If you needed an OP character, you already had Gojo. So again. What was the point?

Higuruma's possible death. We're only up to chapter 248 at the time of me posting this, so this may change. But as of right now, we've been told Higuruma is dead. He may come back, but we don't know. Either way, we're told dude is gone. What was the point of this death? We already saw Yuji lose a beloved male mentor figure (Nanami) and we already saw someone who had the potential to kill Sukuna fail (Gojo) soooooo... What was the point? We've seen this done before and it's boring to see it hashed out yet again but with new characters.

Kenjaku's motivations and death. I personally think that making Kenjaku a mad scientist for the sake of being a mad scientist is lazy. With all of his hair brained schemes (guys, he like straight up fucked Yuji's dad, come on), you would have thought he had some legitimate motivation. I can admit this is my own personal opinion and some might like this, but I think this is a weak explanation for all the nonsense he's done. And his death? Like... Okay?? Some rando newbie sorcerer is the one to kill Kenjaku? Kenjaku--one of the top two Big Baddies? All right?? I wouldn't say this is bad per se, but I would say it feels very unearned. (And before anyone freaks out, yes I know it's technically Yuta who delivers the killing blow, but it really was Takaba who put the work in and got Yuta to that point. Again, it feels unearned.)

And finally, the big one. The one that most people are upset about and the one that most people reference when they talk about the decline in writing and one that's about to get a(nother) long ass rant from me.

The lack of any meaning in Gojo Satoru's death.

I need to be perfectly clear that I do not have a problem with Gojo dying. Again, he's a nightmare character for an author to handle so I get it. I have a problem with HOW he was killed. Sukuna using Megumi's body was great. The whole battle of the domains was decent. But the end??? Gojo hits Sukuna point blank with a hollow purple (after Sukuna said he would die if he was hit with a point blank hollow purple) and then...? Sukuna pulls out some BS world cleaving slash that cuts Gojo in half (off screen mind you), heals himself, and then is perfectly--PERFECTLY--fucking fine after getting hit by an attack that he said would kill him???? And then he isn't weakened at all? Bro what??? How is that good writing? Even if you're all about subverting expectations and JJK breaking the shonen mold, how is that good writing? How is that satisfying???

Gojo's death meant nothing. He did nothing. He didn't even weaken Sukuna. He didn't give the students a leg up. It meant... Nothing. And I know that some people think that's the point, that jjk has realistic storytelling and that it's realistic to have a meaningless death but I would STRONGLY disagree. You want meaningless deaths in JJK for the sake of "realistic" meaningless deaths? You have Tsumiki and Yuki. Sure, Tsumiki's death pushes Megumi into the pits of despair because Shonen manga loves a good bit of *man pain* but what was her real influence on the story? Outside of the Megumi thing, she had zero impact on jjk. And Yuki?? Killed off-screen for some reason??? To buy Choso some time??? When she is arguably the more important one??? All right?? Christ, fucking Junpei's death meant more to the narrative and he was basically a fucking footnote in the grand scheme of things.

The problem with Gojo having a meaningless death is that Gege as the author broke his promise to his readers. Gege sets up a story that tells us how influential Gojo is and spends quite a bit of the narrative showing us once again how important he is. Whether he meant to or not, writing a setup like that means there will be expectations from your readers that no matter what happens to that character, it will mean something to the narrative. A good example of this done both well and poorly is Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, which is another story that breaks the mold of a genre like JJK.

Ned Stark is a POV character in the first book. He's important. He's the Lord of Winterfell and becomes the Hand. He's honorable. He's good in a world that favors the wicked and people know it. And then he gets killed and his death haunts the narrative and it means something. Robb starts a war. Sansa becomes a hostage to the Lannisters. Arya has to flee. Jon has to reaffirm that he's a man of the Night's Watch and can't go help his brother. The Red Wedding. Catelyn becomes Lady Stoneheart. The Boltons take Winterfell. The North Remembers (it's being set up better in the books I swear). And it goes on and on and ON. We're told from book 1 that Ned is important. George completely deviates from the fantasy genre by killing off one of the main POV characters in Book 1, but he still fulfills the promise that Ned's death will mean something and that Ned will be important even though he's dead. Ned's death then haunts the story from that point forward. An example of this done poorly? The show. We're told Jon Snow is important. We SEE that Jon Snow is important. Jon Snow is the rightful heir to the iron throne. And what happens? We get a season of "I dun want it!" and then he kills Dany and goes back to the Night's Watch to live out the rest of his days with his boys. He's not king. Killing Dany had no real repercussions. D&D tried to show us that it was Jon's identity that made Dany snap but it felt half-assed since she was already heading down that path before she found out. A promise was made that Jon Snow would ultimately mean something by the end of the story and guess what? Absolutely none of it mattered. He didn't even kill either of the Big Baddies. And he didn't do anything with knowledge of who his parents were. He wasn't Azor Ahai. He wasn't the prince that was promised. So it meant nothing. A promise was made to us by George (and the show runners ugh) that Jon was important and then it turned out that he wasn't. And the public outcry that GOT S8 received speaks for itself on how bad that writing was.

To me, Gojo's death is no different. The narrative sets up his importance. Gege makes a promise to the readers that this character will ultimately mean something and then... Nothing happens. That isn't "realistic writing" or "breaking the shonen formula" at all. That's just bad writing. You're not any less of a fan of jjk or any less of an analytical reader if you don't buy the whole "this is good writing because that's the point of JJK--to break the shonen mold!" There are ways to achieve that sentiment that are good. And I would even go so far as to say that the people like me who are irritated with this writing have no issues with Gojo dying. We have issues with how he was killed and how poorly it was all executed. And I'm not going to be told I "don't get the point" of JJK because of it.

And then there's the fact that Gege has set his story so far apart from other shonen manga (like Naruto or BNHA) that the readers will no longer tolerate any sort of "lemme pull this out of my ass" writing that they would have otherwise tolerated from Naruto or DBZ or Bleach or BNHA. (Note: I do love those stories btw! But they're guilty of this storytelling.) So when Gege shows us that Yuji suddenly has RCT (that's fine ig, he's been training) or tells us that Higuruma has as much talent as Gojo or does some bullshit that saves Sukuna from Higuruma's sentencing or has a random explanation that he pulled OUT OF HIS ASS for why Sukuna will inevitably get his shit rocked by the students, all of which are CHILDREN, when the strongest sorcerer of the modern era couldn't do shit to him, then YEAH. I'm going to think it's bad writing.

And yes, I am aware that JJK is Yuji's story, not Gojo's. I understand. I'm not saying I want Gojo to be the main character. I'm saying that this absurdly powerful character who influences everything was wasted in the hands of the author's current writing.

TLDR: It's not "good" writing or "realistic" writing for an author to write meaningless shit that ultimately does nothing for the story when that author has already made a promise to their readers to do the opposite. Criticizing this type of writing does not make you any less of a JJK fan and it does not mean that you "don't get it." You are allowed to be critical of a work you love.

Argue with the wall if you disagree.

[systematicallycapricious]

Here at last, my observations for English P4AU manga volume 4! Same formatting as my prior ones, no holds barred for spoilers, and fair warning that I'm writing this off of notes from 5 months ago; so if I miss some details, I apologize. Hectic life shenanigans have limited my ability to reread the volume. xP

-----------------------------------

General Vibes

On the whole, I found this volume to be the best reading experience out of the 4 Udon-translated volumes. Aside from the persisting issue of conflating Sho and Minazuki via calling both “Minazuki”, as well as a few confusing absences of clarifying quotation marks, the narrative is cohesive and comprehensible.

I also think that it stands really well on its own, so, as I said before, I'd highly recommend Eng-Sho and Minazuki fans pick up Vol 4, even if you've been iffy on the Udon translations up until this point. In all honestly, I think Udon did a better translation of Vol 4 than the fan-translation that's out there on the internet, at least in terms of justice done to the characterizations of Minazuki and Sho. Their dialog, with a couple small exceptions, fit their expected lexicons much better.

(No shade to the fan-translation, of course! I'm still super-grateful that people took time out of their lives to give us some form of accessible translation long before Atlus got on printing an official translation, and the fan-translation is still pretty good with it's own wins.)

Also, Narukami's dialog was translated pretty well too, from what I recall, so fans of his might also find his inclusions in the story enjoyable. As for Adachi and Kagutsuchi... I'm not very well-versed in their characterizations, so I wouldn't be able to say. Adachi's lexicon did seem a bit out of character to me, though; like the underlying vibe is kinda the same as his typical lexicon, but the execution feels more 'censored', I guess? It's just the impression that I got, though.

-----------------------------------

Specific Things

• ...They were so close to getting it right throughout the entire translation, but they stumbled at the finish line. Literally – this was within the final few chapters, and may have even been the final mention of Plumes of Dusk in the story, lol. And it's definitely the same kanji and kana that “Plume of Dusk” is always spelled with, so how or why they suddenly fabricated “darkness” in place of “dusk” is beyond me.

Also, for Eng reading context, what gets translated as “the other me” is “もう１つの人格を” with a gikun of “ミナヅキ” in the Jap text. So whether or not that should have vocally been “the other me” or “Minazuki” is up to you to decide. ~(•_•)~ (And for anyone who wants the full Jap transcription of that text bubble: ”黄昏の羽根”ってヤツから生まれたもう１つの人格を消す手術から眠ったままだったらしい)

• I wish that translators would interpret Minazuki's use of “黙れ(damare)” as “Silence.” rather than “Shut up.” It fits his pre-established (by Ultimax-the-game) lexicon far more, in my opinion.

(Jap version of the page [here], because I forgot to take a picture of it, apparently. :P)

• Kanazuki, my beloved nickname. (Though, because pursuing lore details, I'm not sure if Udon's “the two sides of Minazuki” is an accurate translation in this case? It seems to be more like “the two Minazukis”, like how fan-Eng interpreted it, but I don't know enough Jap to tell. For those who want the transcript: ところで２人の皆月のことみんななんて呼んでる？皆月？ミナヅキ？文面ならまだしも打ち合わせの時彼らは大変混乱を招いてくれやがりましてね......)

• It's nice to have the uncropped version of the original Yu cover art... But I'm a bit sad that we don't get the original Sho/Minazuki back-cover as a poster as well.

• Interesting detail: despite reprinting and reformatting the title logos, they seem to have kept the signature color for each volume the same (Vol.1/yellow, Vol.2/red, Vol.3/pink, Vol.4/blue).

• I've already stated some of my thoughts on Ch.28 and Ch.30 here, but for a few things that I didn't cover...

1) Minazuki specifically thinking “The humans are shouting.” gives us an interesting window into his mindset at the time.

2) The doctors were shouting at him because he was climbing up into an open window more-so than just shouting at him in general, lol.

3) The Ikutsuki death report reads more as if Minazuki was narrating it rather than it just being Sho staring at information on a screen, which I think is a neat interpretation.

4) Sho might've been attempting to finish the 'Minazuki extraction procedure' that Ikutsuki began, rather than just blindly attacking Minazuki? I'm not entirely sure, but it's an interesting angle to consider nonetheless.

5) Ikutsuki spinning Minazuki as an “evil spirit” as another generally useful tidbit to employ in Sho characterizations.

6) “Murder pit”. I'm keeping this for my Minazuki characterizations going forwards, lmao.

• Generally adoring the larger page size, 'cause I can see more details in the art that also help me understand the context better in a lot of scenes. For example! After Tsukiyomi takes the full-power hit from Izanagi, I can see the clear signs of exhaustion and Minazuki pushing his limits in the continuation of the fight. His movements are more desperate, he gets pronounced bags under his eyes, he has a kind of wide-eyed look to him, etc. Which I think is a really nice detail, because it shows that Minazuki isn't invulnerable: his desperation to protect Sho is just that strong.

The dialog at the beginning of that scene also helps to demonstrate that: rather than continuing to think in fluent and complex words, his internal monologue is reduced to simple, fragmented instincts (“Can't falter... Must protect... Must...!"). Which, again, a very interesting window into how Minazuki thinks. Even when put under the physical strain of grievous injuries, his first instincts (in this situation, at least) are to hold his ground in order to protect Sho.

(...Though, the Jap text of the aforementioned dialog is a bit different than Udon's translation, lol. It's more like “If I... don't protect... I—" (俺が......守らなければ...俺が――...))

• I don't have much to say about the fight against Kagutsuchi due to not having the best focus when I read through that part of the manga. Hopefully one day I'll reread it with better success. ^^;

• Suicidal Sho? I'm not entirely sure, though, as the “思ってた” in the Japanese version of the text (死んじまうかと思ってた時...) seems like it could mean either “I believe (that this will happen)” or “I plan (on making this happen)”? I don't know what linguistic contexts lend to what definitions, unfortunately, and the visual context could support it either way. (Not to mention, I have no clue if the sentiment is being expressed in a literal or frivolous capacity, given Sho can be hyperbolic at times. >_>)

...Also, I'm not counting Sho knifing his own face as an intentionally suicidal action, because (to the best of my ability to understand) that was intended to be homicidal. It's just that it would have also had a suicidal effect on him.

• Shadow puppet-Yosuke, Shadow puppet-Narukami, and Yosuke are great, lmao.

• Translations of General Teddie's script.

• Lastly, and maybe bestly: They got!! It right!! They kept Sho's name in Minazuki's “What are you going to do to Sho, Kagutsuchi?” line!! (Context: a previous observations/musings post of mine [here].)

-----------------------------------

(If you wanna see the fan-Eng in higher quality than the screengrabs I used, you can find it on Mangadex [here].)

[sonicasura]

I'm still working my way through the manga of Kaiju No.8 so I may be off the mark but No.9 seems like they want to experiment on thinhs that interest them. Which brings me to my point that No.9 takes quite the obsseive interest in Rider. A human that doesn't use any " Stolen Power" from Kaiju and yet is able to hold there own aganist him, they take hits that usually kills humans instantly and just walks it off, and show much higher strength. Then there is the strange Monster, oh the raw power it gives off and they work in perfect sync with the human. They never seen a creature quite like that and the fact that it listens to the human welp is all the more intrigueing.

Is the human part Kaiju or is it something else entirely. This is so much interesting than those other frail humans could ever hope to be.

These are No.9 thoughts as the Rider and Ratha keep No.9 busy until there sure everyone is safe and either Kafka or those powerful captains gets here. Of course Kafka gets there in hia Kaiju form and definitely gets pissed at No.9 when they mention their interest in Rider and the Monsties, especially when the word experimentation comes out of his mouth.

Kafka was already pissed

Now he's in an overprotective rage

Do know that I will take asks involving the manga. (I read everything available at the moment.) Those will be tagged with Kaiju No 8 manga, Kn8 manga, and of course spoiler tags such as Kaiju No 8 Spoilers.

Rider and their Monsties unfortunately did grab No. 9's attention. The Kinship Attack was enough to show it was ill to hold back against the two. Yet despite what 9 threw at them, Rider and Ratha dodged/countered/took the hits like a juggernaut. They weren't gonna let this mushroom headed asshole hurt their companions at all. Both were roughed up quite a bit before Dadka arrives.

Both sides of Kafka were definitely growling at No. 9 especially when he displays interest in Rider and their Monsties. Primal maternal instincts screaming 'Stay the fuck away from my whelps!' at this mushroom headed invader. Rider may have pulled Reno and Iharu to a safe distance upon recognizing the signal's Kafka was sending.

Nothing's more scary than an angry parent, especially one whose strength can match a Nergigante's ferocity. Rider also accepts their fate with the incoming feral cuddle pile after this is all done. Kafka's kaiju side will want reassurance or else nobody's having a lick of peace.

[kosmicdream]

Ode to Togashi

Stream of conscientious incoherent rant about manga/hxh below, read at your own discretion as i AM NOT EDITING IT: 

While I’m still in the mood to talk about art and what i love about manga, i feel like i wanted to share (some) of my thoughts on why HXH continues to be one of my favorite stories. Togashi’s writing method continues to be probably like, the closest one that i aspire to replicate in my own work, partly because i love to see how much it builds and learns from itself, reinvents itself, ect. But i DONT think Hxh is perfect, even if i wouldn’t change anything about it or togashi’s writing style. 

When I first got into HXH, it was actually through the old anime. I watched that all the way thru before reading the manga, and when i was watching the anime it was during a period of time when i hated all shonen. I still kinda hate “the shonen” model, despite loving many shonen series, but something abt HXH pulled me in to give it a try and i was quickly hooked. I of course, already had experience with YYH growing up as a teen but i somehow missed HXH completely until my early 20s. I had already started trying comics by then, but it was EGGSHELLS and i had not started FFAK at that point.

HXH almost lost me at greed island my first round, ngl. I appreciate it now, andi still think the set up for Greed island was amazing but the arc itself.. I was not into it, mostly cause i think the villain for it was kinda lackluster and i didn’t really think the world of greed island had a strong design sense. There was interesting aspects, i enjoyed Bisque as a new character and she helped carry a LOT of the weight of that arc for me, but it was kind of a drag. IDK if it was also partly the adaptation for that arc, but i didn’t enjoy it much more in manga form either. It just went a bit faster. However, the end of that arc and the final fight was surprisingly brutal and enjoyable, which made me optimistic and helped me to continue. And then the chimera ant arc was the first arc i read ONLY manga first and i truly fell in love with it, obsessed even. That arc, as many readers already know, is probably like the closest thing to FFAK’s “Parent” for inspiration. Obviously, FFAK draws from a lot of things (Trigun is probably the 2nd strongest influence on FFAK) but it isn’t quite the same as HXH. As MUCH as i adore hunter x hunter part of me does cringe and laugh that like, in the end, a battle shonen manga still excited me that much but like.. As MUCH as i clearly love battle manga.. I am so over them. You know? Who cares. IMO. No matter how great it looks, i probably am never going to be more impressed (visually) with an action scene than the ones Yukito Kishiro drew. He did it, He won the action manga game to me. I have no idea what’s actually happening in Gunnm most of the time but as far as the visual spectacle of it all, it literally doesn't even make sense how good his action scenes look. (I could talk a lot about Gunnm too, but i’ll save that for another time IG) Like how the fuck does someone draw that good and it just made everything else by comparison just like, not.. Matter too much to me anymore. Which is great, because I can then look at other aspects for a work rather than just being drawn in by the visuals. And stuff. 

Where i’m at now.. I dont want to read another, even if its drawn well and .. the powers are SO powering or whatever. And i love to draw action scenes, they’re really hard and i still have so much more to go to learn about them. At best, I think im okay at them. But even when i work, i just get tired now so i cut them down a lot. Thats partly because i jsut dont have the time to draw fighting scenes. So i kind of feel embarrassed by a lot of them that ive made, i know I was lazy. Lazy in a way I’m not proud of the result, but im proud of the compromises to get the shit done. Which is the most important think in the end, to juggle your own expectations and limitations with the timeframe you have to get somewhere you need to go. I will still read more action/battle manga in the future.. But im in no rush. And im certain, for the most part, they arent going to teach me anything I don’t already know. They might entertain me and i might be like “..huh!” at a few things, but my expectation for them to do more than that is pretty low. I’m delighted when im wrong, but i cannot deny the apathy towards them is super deep. Togashi to me, is one those authors, that makes me really wake up and realize there’s still a lot of unexpected territory out there. 

He writes like an enthusiastic newbie, not a seasoned old timer that he is, who basically helped popularize the “tournament arc” and “dark edgy shonen” stuff with YYH. All his characters in HXH are geniuses, which is kind of a valid critique and can be annoying as hell too… Id say most readers dont really get how the hell nen works, yet somehow the story still functions so well in its character motivations/conflicts that it kinda doesn’t matter too much that.. It doesnt really make sense? We have to relearn what nen is basically every arc. Its not gonna stick. And yet im just so excited every time it updates and i really want to know what he wants to do with his new arc, if he is going to be able to do it. Nen to me is like a fake fantasy science that is tangible and real yet also you’re in a dream and you try to read the letters on a page, and you can read it but if you stare hard at it. The words are just blurs, or it doesn’t really connect. I like that there’s this malleable illusion that it functions in a way, that is concrete, but it isn’t really. But its enough that i can believe that for the characters, who are also not real, it is real for them. 

The fact that i can talk about “”””NeN””” like this to me is essentially why it becomes the perfect shonen to me because it takes itself so seriously, so genuinely, yet it also is nonsense but not in the way where its like.. Irony poisoned, “gotcha” twists? Im sick of all these subverting shonens that arent subverting anything. Or even just the attitude that is what makes a good shonen these days is to subvert, diminish, laugh, ect at shonen while completely stepping inside the same footprints again and again. So much manga just wants to be dragon ball, but dragon ball was good cuz it was just a fun, well drawn action manga that wasn’t trying to BE dragonball. It was just dragon ball. (maybe now its trying to be dragon ball, which is why i dont care about whatever sequel attempt we’re at now, but that’s another story.) Its fun to me that i dont know if Gon is gonna come back in Hxh. like, maybe he will and his powers will be restored ect.. But at the time of writing this, and for YEARS we just.. Have the main pals of the manga separated. Their friendship has changed. There’s a great shift in it. Gon met his dad, who sucks, but that kind of was his main quest. Sure, we have kurapika’s arc, and many other routes to go - but in a weird way HXH is done and it isn’t done at the same time. I’m just like, what are we going to do now. TOGASHI said flat earth real and was like, the other half of it is UNEXPLORED AND SO DARN DANGEROUS and theres SOM BIGGGGG DINOSAURS THERE and it just feels so gleefully like.. You’re on the swingset and some kid just keeps having to up the stakes but in the most kid-like way possible. For serious. But Togashi’s 58. But he’s right too, the dark continent IS so cool.. I just imagine leorio going there and getting so sick and shitting mutant diahrea and dying the SECOND he sets foot there and its awesome. That’s NOT what’s going to happen but im delighted at the opportunity.

This is the point where I’m writing something when i take a pause and wonder how the hell i got here. I have skimmed the above written text. Whatever point i think i was going to make, wasn’t made, but i expressed.. good feelings here. This is how i write. I typed all of that in about 15 minutes with no idea where it was gonna go. Part of the process now would be to go back, organize, edit, ect. To *TRY* to make it a little more comprehensible, as with all writing. Believe it or not i have gotten better at editing my own work. But the true nature of it all is still the same. And its the same in the way that i dont want, no matter how much i improve at my craft, i dont want to lose that enthusiasm i feel when i reach 58. I think that would be such a triumph, id be so lucky to be able to muster that energy. When I think of togashi, i think he has that. He has that real artistic spark that no amount of time/experience has ever diminished and that’s why i think he’s truly my personal favorite mangaka.  (maybe tezuka too)

[hamliet]

hey hamliet hope life's been treating you well as of late. just got done reading 423 and it made my heart sank despite not having been emotionally invested in MHA in quite some time hehe. I was curious to hear your reasoning on why you feel it's more likely that Tenko's alive? related but unrelated note it's been too long since I've read any of your work and reading some in-depth posts that aren't about this story right now will probably be just what the doctor ordered. thanks and take care!

Hi!

Well, I would say I'm not sure but lean towards thinking he is. Not confident enough to make one of my "they will be fine" posts, but not going all Dabi and burning things yet lol.

The reason is because as haphazard and disjointed as this final volume is (and it is the final volume; I would guess we have 5 chapters or less left), it kind of makes no sense even in a haphazard way to have AFO being all "I engineered your very conception and made your dad abuse you" and then have Tenko still die. I mean, what even was that except a poorly written, heavy-handed justification to have Tenko live?

Of course, it's not impossible that this could just be... even more janky, slapstick writing. Ishida after all kept introducing new random plot points like two chapters before TG:re ended, so it can happen. But it seems more "Horikoshi" to me to try to please everyone... by having him die and then come back. So he did die! But he also gets to live!

Also, and I do think this is relevant... all of Hori's fakeout deaths have been before breaks. Like ALL of them. So. Having this happen before the manga goes off for two weeks? It's pretty on par for the playbook. Not compelling, but on par.

Plot wise, there's this. And of course Eri.

I would argue that thematically it makes more sense to have Tenko live, and it does, but Horikoshi's already not doing great with themes and that makes relying on them not the most compelling of arguments. That's the thing about bad writing--it makes predicting and anticipating a story boring. Those of us who like to follow clues and get excited can't predict when a monkey wrench will fly through the page. Those who like to be surprised can't ever enjoy anything but the surprise, which gets tiring after the first 400 monkey wrenches. The structure becomes riddled with holes, so there's nothing to fall back on and make sense of.

So, I would say I think Tomura will die and Tenko will live. Does that make a ton of sense? Is it satisfying, character-wise or thematically?

We'll see. I can find some satisfaction in the that Tenko would have to make a heroic choice to live and not "move on" with the other vestiges a la Harry Potter. But who knows. Ex machina or Overhaul are quite possible.

At any rate I'll take it over the alternative.

[littlemonstert-blog]

Hinata Before war arc

A bit of scaling for hinata despite little screen time.

Just a little recap:

a member of the Hyuuga clan Hinata is capable of performing the gentle fist. This taijutsu is blatantly broken because it basically allows the user to ignore your defense/durability and attack your internal organs directly. According to Lee and Guy a single scratch from the gentle fist is capable of ending a fight with no problems ch79

Kakashi says if the gentle fist were to land you’re done because there is no way that you can train your internal organs to sustain damage.

*

Hinata in Sasuke Retrieval Mission Team (Before pain arc); Hinata being an asset to the team in mission of finding Sasuke during encounter with Tobi/Obito.

Team 8 really just there to track and locate mostly this arc was mostly info gathering. Almost catching Sasuke in the process

maxium of her sight is 10 kilometers

As for genjutsu, Hinata should have good awareness if genjutsu is casted. We also see Hinata can see the genjutsu caster even while in genjutsu and seems pretty confident about it.(This is most likely a result of Kurenai's training.) Another, thing is she can expand the range of her sight as well.

Pain Arc

In the animated version Pain is toying with her(kinda OCC) whilst nonchalantly dodging all her attacks until Hinata gets a freebee hit when Nagato was dying. The animated fight showed that pain was faster than her and she never landed anything.

much shorter her feat’s (manga) are more impressive to the point that you can classify it as an outlier for her character. For starters, in the manga Hinata did push Pain back, (look at Pain's feet) Pain had to block/tank every hit until he got an opening to use shinrai tensei.

the Klak-klak-klak sfx is usually used for sword clashes, the clashes here being Hinata’s Gentle fists vs Tendo’s chakra

The feat is even more crazy when you take into account that Hinata was pushing him back without even activating her Twin lion fist which according to the Databook increases the range and destructive power of the gentle fist exponentially.

And yes Hinata did push pain back, we have seen this use in the story. same “klak”“klak” “klak” panel multiple times, most notably in the Sasuke vs Killer bee fight where Bee was absolutely destroying sasuke in CQC

 he didn’t have access to an instant basically an undodgeable technique called shinra tensei. If Tendo was much faster than Hinata it would’ve been nonsensical for Nagato to waste chakra on someone he could’ve easily killed or paralyzed with a chakra rod, like he did to fukasaku who is a SAGE toad.

Ok so she pushed Pain back and outdid him in Taijutsu so what does that mean? Well a lot but before we go into that let’s remember on how Tendo/deva path works

Hinata faced Tendo when all of the other paths were DEAD then we can state that Hinata was fighting Pain at his absolute strongest, his feats reflect that too. When all the paths are alive Nagato divides his chakra evenly meaning that Tendo is at his weakest when this happens. So what did Tendo at his weakest accomplish taijutsu wise? He was easily capable of hitting Kakashi and dodge his attacks which means that at his absolute weakest Tendo was already relative to Kakashi in speed.

Hinata faced Tendo when all of the other paths were dead then we can objectively state that Hinata was fighting Pain at his absolute strongest, his feats reflect that too.

Not only was Nagato focusing all his chakra on all the paths when Kakashi fought Tendo but 4 of the 6 paths where also busy somewhere else wasting even more chakra. Ever noticed that the second the Asura path was pretty much out of commission Tendo proceeded to oneshot Kakashi, Choza and Choji? Summarizing, this fight wasn’t Kakashi vs Pain, it was Kakashi and whole hidden leaf(in the background) vs Pain. Despite all of that Tendo was still relative to Kakashi in speed and taijutsu.

On to Jiraiya, this fight we saw multiple paths block punches of Sage Jiraiya. The human path was capable of blocking Sage punches without even trying, he didn’t get pushed back or anything he just absorbed all that energy like nothing. Later on we see the deva path do the same thing.

 Tendo during his fight with Naruto was capable of pushing Base Naruto back whilst he was at his absolute weakest and despite that he was still capable of reacting and defending himself against a Sage mode kick which should be at the bare minimum 10 times stronger if we use natural energy multipliers.

Already know that base Naruto is faster than other memebers of T7 giving Naruto showed against omoi and Karui where Naruto pretty much carried the fight despite being on the defensive. Hinata's feats are faster and better in Taijutsu than base Naruto, Kakashi and even Sage Mode Jiraiya without even using her Twin lion fist jutsu. She fought the strongest version of (Pain) Tendo and was actually capable of pushing him back unlike these characters.

At this point you might start understanding why it’s an outlier for her character but I'M NOT DONE YET.

Now, Hinata’s durability which might as well be a bigger feat than her speed and Taijutsu. I already explained how much stronger the Tendo that fought Hinata was, this can clearly be shown with his feats. When Tendo was in one of his weakest stages Kakashi was tanking point blank shinrai tenseis left and right. When Nagato had to focus on only 1 or 2 paths Tendo became this strong

 30 seconds Tendo singlehandedly oneshotted 3 boss toads, one of them capable of going blow for blow with Shukaku (one tail) and wrestle a little bit with Kurama and he oneshotted 2 sage toads one of them with a single paralyzing rod. Fugasaku being capable of trading blows and keeping up with SM naruto.

Hinata was capable of not only tanking Pain's shinrai tensei that was capable of oneshotting boss toads but she was also capable of tanking Pain's direct hit with his paralyzing rod that oneshotted Fukasaku.

But she would’ve died! Nope, she was somehow fine! It would be way too OCC for Pain to spare her by holding back so don’t even bother using that argument.

There you have it, by feats Hinata has better speed and taijutsu feats than base Naruto, Kakashi and SM Jiraiya and she has superior durability to Gamabunta and fukasaku.

outlier for her, if you want my opinion I’d say that she was faster and stronger than base Naruto when she confronted Pain.

Being faster and stronger than base Naruto at this point in the story is still pretty good giving that he was able to react and defend himself against the same weakened Tendo that Kakashi fought and a weaker version of Naruto could also tag mid-tier akatsuki members such as Kakuzu.

Problem Hinata goes against OP or God-level characters. Like alot of Naruto characters they really don't get their shine and solo fights and arcs. Just focused on Naruto and Sasuke rivarly and the Uchiha clan.

I'll add more if I reread her parts again.

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.200 thoughts

[Watch Your Language]

(Contents: pacing - "Good News/Bad News")

Two HUNDRED chapters! I know I already celebrated that we reached the four-year mark like eight chapters ago, but man! 200 is such a milestone! Only 64 other manga in Jump have ever passed that mark, and UU is only going to keep climbing the historical rankings!

As for this week's content, I love chapters like this because they reinforce one of my favorite points about UU: don't nobody got no dignity! No matter how intimidating someone tries to be, something is going to stop them in their tracks and make them fall flat on their face. Even if they get back up with murder in their eyes, the damage is done, and they're a goofball forever

Lan was a particularly unexpected example of this, not because I didn't foresee her being goofy, but because I didn't properly foresee her being scary. I figured she'd be serious and foreboding to an extent, but I never imagined her having the same kind of jagged smile that we saw from Beast or the coldhearted and instantaneous decision to take out Ichico in one hit. I knew she'd be a threat, but I didn't think I'd actually be worried about her, y'know?

But naturally, the dichotomy between her bloodlust and her childlike astonishment at realizing that her fated rival is powerless was absolutely priceless! I laughed out loud when I saw that! I felt like all the tension just dropped away and like Tozuka was deliberately gassing Lan up as a bit, which I'm willing to bet was the point, cus my disarmed state made her subsequent lashing out at Ichico all the more shocking

This, again, set up yet another reversal with Ichico's soul popping out of her body, allowing her to "survive" Lan's attack. The whiplash from terror to laughter to shock and despair served to highlight the absurdity of levity of Ichico's continued involvement in the battle, which of course only continued into Lan's attempt to demoralize Ichico with hard truths about her weakness and Ichico's comedic refutation that she doesn't want to die for Nico. The constant back and forth makes the clash of who we can assume to be the relatively physically weakest of each team seem a lot weightier as the stakes are constantly deflating and reinflating

In the end, it all culminates in Ichico's determination to fight despite her weakness because of her belief in Fuuko's vision for everyone's happiness. The tug-of-war between Ichico's silliness and Lan's attempts at drama illustrate how the battle has already begun and how each side can gain ground, giving us a good mix of hope for a positive outcome as well as anxiety for how hard-won that victory is going to be. Really, it's just a great way of illustrating the "good news, bad news" principle before the actual combat even begins

It brings to mind Luffy vs Crocodile Round 1, where every time Crocodile wanted to get a word in edgewise, Luffy would just punch him in the mouth and interrupt him. It established really well that Luffy was outmatched, but Luffy clowning on Crocodile made the reader feel like Luffy could still overcome him anyway. This ended up being true later, but by the end of the fight, Luffy found himself completely out of his league and was soundly trounced the moment that Crocodile got truly serious. In other words, while we're being made to feel like Nico and Ichico stand at least a chance against Language, there is going to need to be some kind of shift that allows them to actually survive and even win this fight. Whether it will be Nico awakening Unforgettable under new circumstances, Ichico discovering a new, more practical use for Unsleep, or even just buying time long enough for a third Union-member to come in and help, I won't guess, but it's more than clear that what they have now isn't going to be enough

Until next time, let's enjoy life!