#Given Manga Spoiler

[mikajihiko]

Can I just say, I understand how its important for Mafuyu's closure that he was dragged to the concert however, in actuality, this is also a step back for Mafuyu's personal growth

This comes with acknowledging what Mafuyu's main issue actually is which the lack of control he has with his own life. Its evident that from the very beginning, everyone had forced him to take certain choices; where when he voices his concerns, it's forcefully shut by others

The only place where he was given priority and his thoughts and ideas were given priority was within 'Given', and we can see his growth as he asserts his wants

Consciously he realizes he's valued and that his voice mattered. Ritsuka as well takes notice and addresses this to Mafuyu, it was a boost of confidence

It was until things started to move rapidly once again, triggering Mafuyu to go back to how he was before. The same cycle repeats, and now we see him forced into taking a decision he didnt necessarily need to take right at that moment

Im not saying its the most horrible thing, growth isnt a linear trajectory after all and everything happening is in fact a common occurrence; but it's also an occurrence frequently forgotten. For sure, Mafuyu's story hadnt ended last chapter, it's only yet another beginning

[tobibi]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀satoru gojo layouts anime + manga

- extra: given and aot headers

￤fav/reblog if you save :)

[granny-griffin]

All Might rose in a time of fear, when people needed to believe that things would turn out alright in order to move forward, and so he became a symbol of peace—his strength was a comfort to everyone. Because of him, society was able to come out of a state of chaos and stabilize.

But Midoriya was born in the era of complacency that followed. If he became the same symbol of peace that All Might was, then society would stagnate. Another strong OFA user would just reassure society that the heroes have everything handled, that they don’t need to intervene, and that they didn’t have enough power to help even if they wanted to.

That’s why his loss of OFA (a terrible thing in itself!!) is going to work out for the ultimate good of everyone. It actually frees Midoriya to wield the power he was born with—the ability to inspire other people to act. I don’t think it’s an accident that he was quirkless in his rising chapter. When people see Midoriya running to save, even without any power, they loose any excuse for complacency they had. They feel compelled to do the same.

That power—the connection of hearts that formed OFA in the first place—is greater than any quirk. It’s what makes Midoriya the greatest hero.

[gikii]

[clearancecreedwatersurvival]

Pitching dungeon meshi to people who somehow haven’t seen it yet but do play dungeons & dragons:

Okay so basically the author took the rules that are the most fiddly and annoying and often ignored by player groups in dnd where you have to keep rations on you and you have to balance that with your pack’s weight limit and so-on and decided to take that idea to its absolute logical extreme.

Eventually if you go deep enough in a dungeon your adventurers are gonna run out of food and then they’re fucked. But you know what they could eat instead? Monsters! Dunmeshi conceives of a dungeon full of monsters as a living diverse ecosystem fueled by magic.

But it doesn’t just answer the question ‘what do adventurers eat in a dungeon?’

It also answers the question ‘what does a dungeon eat?’

The answer of course being that it eats adventurers. And thus goes the circle of life.

[lady-tortilla-chip]

I saw a rant about how the back and forth between Fyodor and Dazai is ridiculous at this point and like. I think that’s the point. The point is that one is not actually superior to the other in regards to intellect so they are ALWAYS going to be stuck in this cycle of ‘well I thought of/planned/predicted that!’.

The difference is in their connections and what those connections are made of. I find it fascinating actually that Fyodor thinks he’s won because he STOLE gravity away from Dazai and claimed Dazai didn’t even know how to use it when he had it! The thing is though, Chuuya doesn’t seem to be under Fyodor’s control anymore and he hasn’t ever chosen the people who try to use him like an object over Dazai. And despite the four years of separation (which was longer than their time together) he always came when Dazai expected him to.

And I’m thinking he expects him to now which would ultimately be what tips the scale in Dazai’s favor. Because where Fyodor sees a tool Dazai sees his partner. I’m also thinking Chuuya isn’t the only key to success here and that was why he chose Sigma too (if the points where he thinks about the ADA not using each other is any sort of foreshadowing).

[howcouldtheyletmebeanadult]

If when Megumi and Yuuji talk again Megumi asks why Yuuji insists on saving him, and we get a callback to "personal feelings/selfish, emotional decision" i will die. You'll never hear from me again

[xuune]

read the final ch and i have some thoughts and mixed feelings. overall it was a decent conclusion! i'm content with the ending that was chosen, but not how it got executed

[karothefool]

Some bkg headcanons and thoughts now that the manga has ended

- bkg has broken his nose at least once while at UA

- he can move his arm fairly well thanks to rehabilitation, but he can’t feel as well anymore. sometimes he gets pins and needles

- he has ear piercings, but no body or facial piercings

- bkg’s ears naturally work around his quirk, but he still has some hearing loss

- girl dad bakugou (some sort of foster setup i’d imagine)

- he’d get a tattoo as a dare but otherwise wouldn’t even think about it

- i want a hug from him fr

- most muscle mass built in his arms and upper back due to the force from his explosions

[epickiya722]

I'll tell you what's going to get me in the next chapter. If it turns out Sukuna is hallucinating Gojo, but the person that is really is there is fucking Jin Itadori. That's what going to fuck me over.

[mishy-mashy]

Me if DFO isn't canon

[oasisdew]

~~Given sequel and what we've got so far~~

We've gotten only two(2) chapters of the sequel so far and I personally think, the stage for the next arc is already set.

Given does follow a pattern in story-telling if you pay attention to it. And it does address one issue a couple (the main two couples) at a time meticulously.

The first arc was about RitsuMafu, and the plot was Mafuyu falling in love with Ritsuka and being forced to face his trauma from his ex's suicide and doing whatever was needed to move on from it, taking first steps towards healing.

Likewise the second arc was about AkiHaru, and the plot was Akihiko realising the extent of his feelings for Haruki and being forced to face his trauma of being in a longterm abusive relationship and doing whatever was needed to break free from the toxic cycle he was stuck in.

The third arc got a bit complicated with Hiiragi being mixed in the equation of RitsuMafu. Hiiragi introduced the problem that RitsuMafu were to face and got a subplot of his own (that's also still ongoing).

But essentially the third arc can be seen as divided in two parts the two parts that the two movies are covering. 1) 'Hiiragi_mix' as in the first part where Hiiragi (and Shizusumi) successfully did recreate the traumatic experience for Mafuyu again to face knowingly or unknowingly. And 2) 'to the sea' where RitsuMafu had to face that situation and prove the strength of their love and mettle of their characters to overcome the challenge.

But more importantly the main objective of that arc was Mafuyu getting full closure, not only from Yuki, but from the effects of trauma and grieving and the guilt that comes with it. As well as having to face the issues that traumatic experience gave him, as in his doubts about expressing himself, his doubts about his own worth as opposed to what he brings to table musically for Ritsuka, his hesitation of letting go of Yuki fully etc. These were all the issues that his previous relationship gave him. The unsurity of it all and the persistent feeling of fear of doing something wrong again with the everpresent feeling of perpetual shame and guilt for forgetting a person who for sure for a period of time he thought of as essential for his own existence. There's also been hints of his complex regarding Hiiragi specifically. Hiiragi is always being described as charismatic. Everyone thinks so. He has 'star quality' which Mafuyu probably fears(feared) he lacks. Yuki forming a band with Hiiragi wasn't easy for Mafuyu to take. Not in a toxic way, but in a deeply insecure way. We see him reacting oddly to Ritsuka praising Hiiragi in any capacity. Trying to not feel pressured by it, wanting more of Ritsuka's attention to himself. Literally fidgeting.

Then the same Hiiragi's band won CAC against 'given' and right after that Ritsuka joined 'syh'.

To Mafuyu it probably felt like Ritsuka leaving the loser band and vocalist Mafuyu for the winner Hiiragi. Ritsuka admitted it himself, Hiiragi was cooler than he imagined. Hiiragi successfully intrigued Ritsuka too. And Ritsuka was won over by him because Mafuyu wasn't enough. He needed to sing, and he couldn't.

(And then they metaphorically did throw him in the sea too. It was awful but I digress 😑)

But anyway, all these issues, insecurities, the culmination of it ALL as well as all the stages of grieving for Mafuyu, they were all masterfully handled in the last arc. Or second RitsuMafu arc.

Now that brings us to the second AkiHaru arc and like it or not, just like how Mafuyu had to grieve properly and find closure from all his remnant issues from his previous relationship and childhood, Akihiko will also have to face the issues he is still carrying from his last relationship. The gaslighting that he endured, the misplaced guilt that he probably still feels, the fear of doing something wrong again to fuck it all up for himself and Haruki and probably the band too.

And believe it or not, we have already seen the seeds of it. Also, I personally think Ritsuka will be the catalyst of Akihiko's arc this time and we are gonna get the Ritsuka arc either mixed with Akihiko's one this time or right after.

Now let's see what we got thus far.

1) AkiHaru LDR. Akihiko's ring and them living separately even in Tokyo as well as Akihiko's little show of flirtation to get Haruki flustered.

All of these point to something that I'm sure most of the fandom is vaguely aware of but can't put their finger on surely.

I personally think these point to the issues Akihiko brought from his experience of being the victim in an abusive relationship.

LDR is simply him choosing to not sacrifice his music for the sake of his relationship. He learnt from his previous relationship that that's not the way he gets to retain himself much less his relationship.

The ring is the symbol of his clinginess, or his innate urge to belong. To belong to someone. But with that also comes his fear of binding Haruki unfairly to himself. His need to be clingy to Haruki is constantly at odds with his fear of somehow being codependent or worse still, making Haruki codependent on him. So he himself is donning a ring and showing it off but he doesn't want Haruki to, especially if Haruki doesn't by his own accord. Haruki didn't show him his own need to belong to Akihiko, he simply asked, (with a strange look on his face too if I may add) if he should also wear a ring, and Akihiko declined. No matter how dramatic he tried to make himself sound to Mafuyu that's the root cause of it.

Akihiko living separately even when in Tokyo too also probably comes from the same fear and deep rooted issues. He was at the receiving end of such a relationship once and it was excruciatingly painful for him. His ex leaving the country for months and then coming back to only have sex for a few days with him(and then kicking him out but he had been gaslighted to think all of those as his faults so we no talk about it yet) while he was stuck in a place full of memories and yearning for those times to come back again and feel the love and happiness...he doesn't want any of those to happen to Haruki. He knows living alone is better than living with memories.

So on one hand he is desperate to bind himself to Haruki, donning the ring, going broke just to see Haruki every week, still bringing Haruki coffee, on the other hand, he is trying to set Haruki as free as he possibly can. Living separately, not making him wear the ring.

He is also still an insecure jealous mess when it comes to Haruki. It started with the second chapter of given and it's still going on. Akihiko wants Haruki's attention to himself all the time. He also needs to know that he still is desirable to Haruki and that comes from his abandonment issues. His parents as far as he is concerned didn't want him the moment he became a liability and don't even let me start on his ex. So being able to make Haruki flustered still is important to him. the assurance that he is still needed and desired and it's not all been just a whim on Haruki's part, or if it were indeed a whim, it's still there as strong as it was the first day, Akihiko needs to be reassured of it from time to time.

In contrast, I know that most of the fandom will disagree with me but, Haruki's issues are nonconsequential at this point. Is he probably sad to see Aki go? He obviously is. He also is possessive with his 'insect repellent' comment and seeing Akihiko instantly changes his whole demeanor. But Haruki is essentially in his essence this chapter. Thinking and planning and working. Missing Akihiko is inevitable but I don't think it's death sentence for Haruki. A large part of what Haruki possibly feels in this situation we see from Ritsuka's POV which is a trick Kizu uses frequently to mislead readers. Ritsuka is projecting high key. He and Haruki are fundamentally different. So he should be treated as an unreliable narrator here.

I think the difference between how Ritsuka and Haruki work is that Ritsuka can be at ease knowing that Mafuyu is at home safe and he himself has Mafuyu to come back to while he goes work outside forgetting everything in the world.

But for Haruki, he considers himself to be the home and can wait for Akihiko to come back to him indefinitely as long as there's a promise of him coming back.

Which brings us to the issues of RitsuMafu or more specifically Ritsuka that's been shown in this chapter.

So the issue with 2) Ritsuka is that he has no issues. I know there are many fans who want Ritsuka to breakdown or cry etc but the truth is that Ritsuka has no problem except for his own tyrant king workaholic self.

In previous arc we did get some covers that made us question about Ritsuka's mental state. 👇🏼 The main one being the left one but the right one too.

It's more been the words written on the left cover that were vaguely worrying. For the first time we saw him thinking about Yuki and the fact that he had been a big part of Mafuyu's life. And I understand some fans being disappointed that we didn't see him ponder on it again.

But the truth is, Ritsuka is 1) too healthy an individual by nature and by nurture to constantly be worrying about things that he can't control. He'll always find a way to cope healthily whatever the outside world throws at him and he did find a way to get closure from Yuki the last arc, it was to help everyone Yuki left behind get closure from him. 2) If he really indeed has to confront Yuki then it'll come after he has worked on his own issues so we'll have to wait and see if that happens ever.

Now that being said Ritsuka also does have to confront and control his own self. As they say, even the best things can be too much. And Ritsuka always had been and right now (after ten years period) especially is under the danger of being too much. For himself and for others.

To put it simply, he is too good. Thinking of everyone and how to make them reach their full potential and thus pressuring himself and occasionally others especially the ones he loves.

This started ten years ago though. The inferiority complex of 'given' being thought of as inferior to 'syh', the guilt he felt leaving his own band to play for the rival band.

As well as his need to commit himself fully to things that he has committed once and his continuous need to challenge himself which doesn't let him go easy on himself a bit. His need to fix everything, every situation and his ability to do so ends up making him cornered more and more and it's been piling up.

There's also this thing that he is biased about 'given'. He considers it his 'own' band, while he feels responsible for 'syh' and isn't one to shrink from his responsibilities. He gives his 100% to make Hiiragi shine, he specifically does so because he knows Hiiragi's potential.

But that doesn't stop him from feeling guilt towards his own band and especially mafuyu.

Now here's the thing, Hiiragi is syh's vocalist while Mafuyu is Given's. And syh's style is populist style, it's not about quality, it's about taste and syh and Hiiragi appeals to public taste more.

In Ritsuka's own words, they are 'flashier' than 'given'.

And here comes the conflict for Ritsuka. He has truly no one else to blame for but himself. He has made Hiiragi a star and now he wants the same fame for his beloved aka Mafuyu. That's what they were arguing about.

He wants Mafuyu and 'given' to become even more popular. It's literally the conflict of interest and he is fighting himself on both sides.

Which brings us to Mafuyu at last. Mafuyu isn't buying this. And that's deeply satisfying and comforting. Mafuyu who once was scared of Hiiragi 'stealing' Ritsuka's attention, or being too charismatic now wants no part in competing with him. He isn't scared of Hiiragi's brightness anymore and is deeply secured in Ritsuka's affection to the point where he actively is fighting with Ritsuka about music and says that he doesn't need to stand out simply because it's not Given's style. It'll sound fake and fabricated he says. And I agree.

I think this is what Ritsuka's arc is gonna be about, at least for now. He's been putting himself on spot too much, he once had this realisation that just because something is popular with masses, it doesn't mean it sucks contrary to pretentious intellectual beliefs. All because of syh and Hiiragi.

He'll have to come back to his senses now and realise that on the other hand popularity isn't and can never be the criteria on how you create art. Given's style is simply different from what appeals to mass but that's what makes given unique.

[chiizuburger]

since both episodes are now out, i just want to share my favorite details about spyfam episodes 24 and 26.

In the manga, the yor-just-got-shot-in-the-butt episode came waaaay before the whole fiona arc where it accumulated to loid having to reassure yor that she will not be replaced.

Loid made several attempts to make yor “happy again” in the shot-in-the-butt chapter and, from his perspective, yor cheered up after drinking her cocktail.

I love how, several chapters later when loid wanted to talk to yor about fiona, he chose to invite her to a bar because he fully acknowledged that booze helps yor relax.

On top of that detail, my absolute favorite progress between these two chapters is how much loid and yor are becoming more open with each other, specifically loid with yor.

Between them, yor has always been the one more “open.” She expresses her honest, sincere feelings and thoughts to loid more than loid does with her.

Still, that scene where yor was looking over the fairgrounds from the hill and she tells loid how she rarely had fun growing up because she spent most of it taking care of yuri?

Even for readers, it was a first to hear yor acknowledge that part of her past. And it was absolutely a tender moment when she hoped loid would invite her out again.

Chapters later, when loid and yor talked about fiona, it delivered the first moment loid spoke from his most honest and sincere self: twilight remembering his mother.

In the context of the manga, I truly appreciate how loid and yor are slowly but surely confiding to each other? Or are opening up to each other?

Twilight could have used any other example that didn’t relate his own past to reassure yor, but he actually talked about the one thing he had held dearly. My absolute favorite twiyor moment to date!

More than the romance, for me, what I love most about their relationship is how they gradually allow the other to see their vulnerable side and trust the other with it.

And that’s why i love these two chapters / episodes a lot.

[muninnhuginn]

I imagine the damianya crowd have probably been all over this months back but the way damian and anya both pursue stellas above all else to the point of putting themselves in situations they hate simply so they can impress their parents

[exilepurify]

The narrative climax of the REIGEN spin-off manga is so unexpectedly somber and tragic. Bones needs to animate it so so bad bc could you even imagine the redraws and edits and amvs that would come from it? Tome crying in fear and Reigen hugging her to transfer the curse to himself and die in place of her. Reigen walking out into the middle of the forest, rapidly declining, expecting to die alone, his only hope being Mob who he isn’t sure will arrive in time or even show up to help him at all. A weak and half-dead Reigen being yanked off the ground by his suit lapels by a vision of Mob who tells Reigen that he’s come to save him, that he knows the way out, that everything’s going to be okay. And Reigen knows it isn’t the real Mob, but he doesn’t run or try to save himself and calls it by Mob’s name anyway. An angst-lover’s paradise.