#Honestly just bring the manga writer in it

[quinnyundertow]

I may just delete this in a few hours but fuck I feel like I need a break from JJK. At least until the manga is totally finished. With Gege and his preference for twists over plot I never know where I stand. He’s brought characters back just to kill them again multiple times and honestly as stupid as it sounds this shit stresses me out. I need a final verdict on Choso, Yuta and Gojo. I have a feeling Choso and Gojo are gone for good but he never mentioned Nobara for years and she popped back up after she had a gaping hole in her head.

Everytime he brings up Gojo or Choso I get sad all over again. I want closure, I want to mourn and then I want to write fanfics where it’s not depressing anymore.

Also, something unrelated that’s really bothering me. If you don’t have anything nice to say when commenting on a fic, just don’t? I feel like indieotterxoxo was one of the best fic writers out there and she deleted everything from rude comments. I know I’ve had a massive writers block and insecurity about writing after I got some comments saying they found my recent chapters disappointing and a let down. It really hurts spending hours writing only to read stuff about how the plot is starting to suck or you don’t like the authors choices. We just write for fun when we aren’t working or going to school and dealing with real life bs. I’m not having fun anymore. I’m just stressed I’ll disappoint people.

[nonbinarypirat]

Learning how to be selfish (another iruma focused deep dive. Spoilers for iruma kun manga)

I promise I won’t ONLY focus on iruma as a character. I plan to do a post on many characters and scenes, especially since I have been breezing through the story. As a hobbiest writer and actor, I love to go back and reflect on scenes, read them multiple times, and learn why a character did what they did. And I want to share these thoughts with y’all. It’s just that, I have hit Opera becoming a teacher and decided this is the perfect time to take a pause and reflect on this new side of iruma we are seeing poking through. (And YES I most definitely screamed when they became a teacher, my nonbinary icon.) so yeah, I plan to make a lot of posts, but it’s another iruma only one today. Take a shot every time I say selfish or greedy in this tho, I repeat it so often. No thesaurus is being used today.

Ok, im loving that Iruma is becoming more selfish. I especially loved Iruma telling Purson that he’s learned that it’s ok to do selfish acts and stick with what you want to do rather than doing what people want or expect of you. This is the first sign of Iruma breaking out of just saying yes to things. Saying no can be so difficult, especially if you have lived your entire live thinking that was the only option for you to do. He’s too kind, and trained, so he said yes to basically anything even at the risk of hurting or exhausting himself. I appreciated this moment because Purson similarly doesn’t feel like he has many choices. He loved his family and wants to support the family business, but feel dragged along with the whims of his father.

Though I guess it’s kind of a misnomer to say that the scene with Purson is the “first” time we have heard greedy being applied to Iruma. Amelie was the first person and at first I didn’t fully get what she meant. I think I kind of just dropped that part of the conversation as unimportant. But it’s actually super important for us as the audience to understand his character going forward. At the beginning, Iruma didn’t have a lot of motivations, merely being led by whatever happened in the Netherworld. He was in a manner of speaking, selfless to an unhealthy degree. It was only by learning to set a goal for himself that he started to feel (at least to me) as an active participant to the world at large. And Amelie was the one who inspired that in him in the first place. Amelie was the first one to call him selfish/greedy (to my recollection) which is fitting as the character who pushed him so far.

I also think I should clarify that I don’t use the term selfish in this case as a negative. In fact, I’m happy he is becoming a greedy character. Because Iruma won’t abuse this trait of his. Selfishness without kindness and care is dangerous. Without empathy and compassion, greed quickly turns into cruelty. Iruma has these traits though. He has the morals and love to utilize his selfishness to the fullest. Selfishness and kindness can go hand to hand. In fact, I think this is the best quality for one to have. The desire to strive towards your wants while understanding that you can’t treat the people and environment as expendable. And Iruma has the deadly combination of selfishness, caring, and determination.

Which leads us into the 13’s Dinner in which they talk about food bringing out who a demon really is. I loved this scene because it highlights what people could see on the surface when faced with Iruma’s gluttony (aka greed). Baal said “it’d terrifying to think of what he’d be like as a king” (paraphrasing) but that’s without understanding the core fundamentals of who Iruma is. We see him try to force this idea onto Sabro too, saying iruma is pushing his grandfather’s weight around to turn him against Iruma. That’s just widely untrue. Baal, and honestly so many of the Six Fingers from what we’ve seen so far, believe that people are just like them. That deep down, they are (or could be forced into) the rotten type of selfishness that their group takes pride in. True, people can be forced to do cruel things. That doesn’t mean thats who you are fundamentally however. Baal lacks the love that Iruma is overflowing with. And so he equates selfishness with cruelty. He thinks that if he experiences this certain flavor of the trait, that must mean everyone else experiences it the same way too.

Either way, Iruma is a character that is shaping up to be someone who has many desires. From zero to infinity, And what makes him so likable is that he’s willing to do anything to protect those desires. To protect the life he has built and the people he has come to cherish. He wants it all. His friends, soulmates (and yes you better believe I will post a screaming post about that at some point), Amelie, family, good food, fun, adventure, Balam, Kalego and so much more. He wants everything. And he’s also willing to do anything it takes to protect these desires. More than that, he’s always grateful to the life he has built here, to the people who have opened up their hearts to, and for the beautiful home he has created. And that’s the reason why I can’t wait to see Iruma grow into the wonderful selfish person he deserves to be.

[nozunhinged]

7 BL Newbie Moments of 2023 That Altered My Brain Chemistry

So I went through all my posts since the beginning of this journey and as much as I love dumping my insanity here without context or any punctuation, I feel that a lot of my fav moments deserve a bit more love and structure.

But first I need to put a bit of context so you won't be like "who the hell do they think they are" (aside from delusional I'm nothing, I promise) and my anxious overexplainer-heart is silenced.

My first BL TV show was Only Friends and only 5 months later I'm already throat deep into it (sorry). My watchlist is so endless that I sometimes (no, regularly) genuinely fear for my sanity. I'm still learning all the names and production houses but does that stop me from starting 10 other shows? NOPE.

I'm not new to queer fan spaces (avid manga reader since the yaoi days, my first ship was taito from digimon) but I am most definitely new to the brainrot levels these shows gave me.

And believe it or not, even though my shipper heart is over a decade old, I'm new to Tumblr and the fuel this platform added to the fire could burn down entire continents.

ANYWAYS if you're still here — please enjoy Noz's 100% self-indulgent moments!

1. The End And The Beginning - Only Friends

All I did was mindlessly scroll through the tumblr trends, no idea about how this website works, still sour and sad about the loss of my twitter bubble thanks to the elopocalypse—little did I know that fate would lead me to the wonderful world of BL shows! It was like this moment in isekai-esque movies where you get sucked into a world and you go WOOAAH once you arrive.

There was this show—on YouTube—100% unapolagetic about sex, relationships and queerness. Five minutes into the first episode, someone asks if they can bring their boyfriend to a hookup. This was ALL of my wildest dreams come true! Oh boy, was I naive.

I feel like Only Friends had me speedrun the whole BL industry. Branded pairs, production houses, fanservice, obsessive fans & haters, audience reactions influencing the storyline, EVERYTHING happened during Only Friends and I was just like "what the hell is going on here?" It was like the perfect case study for literally everything. Honestly I still don't really understand what's going on.

Unfortunately, this also led to the awful ending I erased from my brain and don't want to get into, I'm just gonna say Boston I will never forgive the writers for what they did to you. I dropped that show like a hot potato, filtered all possible tags and moved on — or so I thought.

I feel like I'm trying to recreate that first excitement when I discovered OF. But 20 shows later, I'm still not there. Does this make me sound like an addict? Yes, and this is why Only Friends EP 1 is my No. 1 moment that altered my brain chemistry.

2. The Boeing Incident - Only Friends

I talked about it just yesterday and I need to do it again because Boeing was the beginning of a thing that thought I'd never be capable of: lusting after real person TV characters. I talked about it in length here and here so the only thing I'm gonna add just for good measure is that I'd do anything, anything for a BostonBeoingNOZ threesome. Holy shit I'm cringing just writing this down but I need to get my point across.

3. Still Looking For That Kiss - Love in The Air

I know this is a general experience at this point but the chemistry between the couples in Love In The Air opened a whole knew world for me. I thought I knew chemistry but when I saw them, I realized I knew NOTHING.

It may sound weird but I'm still looking for that perfect kiss that's hitting all the right neurons in my brain. I have a hunch that one of these two pairs will deliver them one day, but until then I NEED to watch a million kisses for research.

This post by @talistheintrovert explains perfectly what I think about kissing in shows. Ji Chang Wook is still the blueprint for me.

But do I have a favorite BL kiss so far? Yes, yes I do. It's this ShinPeach beauty.

4. Main Lead Syndrome - Kiseki: Dear To Me

I am a second lead, side couple enby before I am human but I will defend these two until the end of time. My TL is flooded with Chen Yi, Ai Di, Nat and Louis while these two are over here falling in love over strawberry cake, cat analogies, failed cooking and all sorts of memory loss. Zongyi opened a fucking bakery for his babygirl and Zerui pretended to be a pretty dumdum to protect the love of his life.

I don't care how much you all love the two dumb (affectionately) gangsters, these two deserve the world, end of story. Also Kai Hsu and Taro Lin are bff's irl now, Taro said that Kai helped him get out of a very bad mental tate and I take that very personally.

5. The Fanservice is Fanservicing - Kiseki: Dear To Me

Speaking of Taro and Kai, the fact that I even know that they're bff's is another brainaltering moment that needs recognition because months later it led me to this TikTok of two actors I don't know of a show I don't watch, staring at them for ages and really considering watching it just because of it.

That is the power of fanservice my friends and I can put on my clownmask now because I avidly screamed left and right that fanservice should be forbidden when I learned about it. I blame Kiseki for that. But my point still stands, I hate actors doing stuff they're uncomfortable with. I just hope they're all friends and have fun and get that coin.

6. The One Just For Me - Playboyy

I've been lurking around Playboyy from the moment I found out they have the same writer as OF. And boy did it deliver so far! I already wrote a bunch here about which role Playboyy plays for me, but it's also a wonderful case study for my producer heart — watching the acting, directing, lighting, sets, props and storyline interact is fascinating.

People say the less you notice the better the show, which is correct, but I love all the flaws of this piece of media. IMHO it's the last puzzlepiece of the amazing, important social commentary the show delivers. All of the topics the couples represent need to get their very own show.

7. The Holy Grail - The Sign

Speaking of the less you notice — this is the sign for The Sign (again, sorry). There's a reason this show is loved and praised so widely because the production is on a whole other level. Adding the beautiful story on top of that, we have the potential for a holy grail here and I'm so in for the ride.

I keep saying I've entered the world of BL in it's absolute golden era. Never in a million years did I think I'd watch 5 shows simultaneosly but I love every single one of them so much I keep a whole spreadsheet on how I can be on time for every premiere every week alongside my work schedule.

Honorable mentions

KinnPorsche: VegasPete were my first dark, angsty, morally questionable couple ever (I'm a sissy okay)

Last Twilight: When I watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I cried several times about the wonderful media representation of disability. It means so much to me and Last Twilight is on par with that.

Bake Me Please: Thank you for giving me this beautiful kiss

Manner of Death: Thank you MaxTul for making gay makeouts fashionable

Bad Buddy: The one time I was glad I persisted so I could watch them most adorable phone scene on the planet

I Feel You Linger In The Air: It was too painful for me to finish but I loved the show with my whole heart and it deserves all the awards it got.

Kimi ni Todokanai: Japanese shows just hit different. I'll never get over the kissing Taiyaki.

The Novelist Series: THIS is how you kiss the one you're horny for my friends. Take notes directors.

Semantic Error: My fav webtoon -> Got Viki for the Series -> Found the BL corner of Viki -> Drew my attention to Tumblr -> This post.

Thank you for being the butterfly of my butterfly effect.

And thank YOU if you read until here! To a even more wonderful queer year 2024! I'm so ready for this ride.

[subdee]

I saw the previous question you were asked about the ending D of hxh. Along those same lines, I wanted to ask you, do you think killugon will continue to be “something” in hxh? By something I mean that I thought that Killugon was something subtextual in hxh but done on purpose, and that the ending was going to be them being "canon" but in a subtextual way like "we will be together forever" or something like that, do you think that killugon will continue to be “something” or Togashi never saw them in that way? thank you for your answer. I really enjoy your hxh takes.

Hi anon, thanks so much for this ask!

I think the Killugon subtext is on purpose, as you said, 1) because Togashi is an intentional writer, and 2) there's just SO much subtext, it would be hard to have written it that way accidentally. There's tons and tons of posts on Tumblr about this, I'll try to find a few when I get home. I know @hunterxhell and @telehxhtrash have written a few posts about it and I have a few at the link:

Whether Togashi will continue to keep them together - even subtextually - I don't know. He does write shippy subtext often, sometimes even becoming quasi-canon like Illumi's murder-engagement to Hisoka. And when they part at the world tree, they say it's "for now" and Alluka says she'll "give Killua back" to Gon after she's monopolized him for a while.

Then again, YYH had the shippy subtext, too, but Yusuke still got married to Keiko in the end...

I don't expect them to **officially** end up together, unless something really changes at Weekly Shounen Jump between now and when HxH ends. There's a reason his pitch for a baseball(?) manga about gay and trans characters was rejected in the 90s.

Personally, I'd want to see "something" in the ending... Or honestly more than something... Like they are "partners" in a business venture but maybe another kind of partner too, you know? Unstated but we'd all know what it means. That kind of thing. As close to officially together as you can get without bringing down the wrath of the editors / close-minded fans. HxH is often ambiguous so something where they're ambiguously together would be right in line with how the manga is. I think it's equally likely they'd end up with other people though - the first love you lost before you realized what it was.

But I'm not a fan of this "Gon is with Noko but he really loves Killua" stuff because like I said in the other ask, it just makes me feel bad for Noko!

So there's your answer, and sorry it took me a few days! Baby life, you know.

[willpowers]

What was the moment you started shipping them? And what was early meronia fandom like? Any things you miss from that time period?

This is gonna sound insane but it was when they were first introduced in the manga. Their reaction to working together as teens (I was in middle school at the time) was exactly how me and my rival/crush would have reacted to being put on a project together so my brain just projected. I was like. Oh. There's something there.

The early fandom was... Different. Honestly it wasn't a super, great place? There was a lot of fan games and art and fic of them back in whammys house, without being uh, censored. However I was like 12 at the time so I didn't see a problem with it. Definitely now that I'm like almost 30 I side eye that part of my life. There was also INSANE shipping wars with meromatt fans, with a meronia popular trend (that even I did wheeze) was to make some random oc to ship Matt with to "get him out of the way." Multishipping and poly was a lot less common back then, and people were more inclined to warring about it. The fandom also wasn't as friendly as it is today, heck even now I carry that trauma and am shy about talking to meronia fans (I need to change that so hmu if u want) because well, I was doodling them on math homework and others had powerful Wacom tablets and we're making masterpieces.

I do miss how like, amateur artists and fic writers would flock to each other. The meronia fic fandom on FF.net and other sites was so desperate that even if you wrote something at, well, a middle school level, there were always other middle schoolers super happy about it. I also miss those days cause I was in girl scouts and it was before smart phones so whenever we went camping I'd bring a huge red paper folder full of printed out doujin and fics. I might even still have it somewhere, but it was my pride and joy. I once beat a girl scout rock climbing record as a little fat girl just so I could get back to reading.

[cinderella-ish]

5, 8 through 13, and 18 + 20 for the Furuba asks!

Woohoo! Thank you for sending this! (ask game here)

5. not at all! I was born in the year of the horse, so maybe that's part of why I felt such a disconnect with Rin at first.

8. I have to go with Chapter 88 (the Cinderella-ish play)! I know I already gave the corresponding episode as my favorite, but it's just SO GOOD! It's hilarious and heartbreaking and has beautiful character moments for much of the main cast. It's almost a credo statement for the series. And Hiroshi's brilliant narration is the cherry on top!

Question 9 answered here | Question 10 answered here

11. Yuchi is my OTP ❤️

12. The fabulous Yukeru writers on Ao3 have me shipping them. Same for the YukiKyo (? what's their ship name?) writers. And I've really come to love some of the rarepairs I'm writing for my longfic Bloom Within Us. I'll put them under a cut down below for those curious.

13. Ooh, this is such a good question! Right now, I think my answer would be Momiji & Kyo because of the series I just finished writing. I have a soft spot for Yuki & Kakeru, of course, and Yuki & Haru, as well as Tohru & Arisa & Saki. I also really enjoy Kyo's sibling-esque dynamic with Arisa.

18. Ok, to combine 18 and 20, here are two hot takes that sort of deal with character headcanons. Let me know if you want to hear headcanons for someone else, or more fleshed out hc for these characters.

I think my hottest take is that Tohru needed Kyo more than he needed her. I don't think she had anyone she let her walls down for beyond him; not even her best friends. Kyo at least had Kazuma, and he was pretty candid with Momiji, too. Tohru regularly refused to let people take care of her (except for Kyo), and she would've been trapped in her grief & unable to move forward without him. Kyo would've struggled, and he may not have survived, but while they both would've had friends, he would've at least had a loving parent who would've done anything for him.

While Bloom Within Us ultimately has a positive outcome for Kyo after Tohru dies, I've been thinking about writing a sort of companion piece where Kyo dies and Tohru has to grieve him. I believe that would be a much sadder story, especially with the timing related to her processing her grief for her mother and choosing to move forward with Kyo. We saw in the hospital arc how hard of a time she was having just thinking he rejected her. She'd also struggle with how the other cursed Sohmas - some of her dearest friends - treated/viewed him, and that might create a rift between her and her new found family. If he disappeared, I just don't think she'd be able to cope.

It's also probably a hot take that Shigure only gets as much hate as he does because a) people take aspects of the manga seriously that Takaya never intended us to take seriously (like his "high school girls" song. Creepy, yes, but that's a Takaya problem, not a Shigure problem.) and b) he's so full of self-loathing that he says he's not "kind" and "the worst kind of man" and people take him seriously for some reason. If you actually look at his "unkind" actions, they consist of a) speaking honestly and directly to Akito without first fawning over her, b) actually trying to break the curse (sure, he and Hatori and others refer to it as "using" Tohru, but the way he was "using" her was to try and help the younger Zodiacs form strong bonds outside the curse and to house a lonely, homeless teen), and c) sometimes asking insensitive questions or speaking uncomfortable truths. And yes, he was cold to Mayu, and yes, he slept with Ren (which is maybe the most bananas thing that happens in Furuba), and yes, he fucks with people for his entertainment (especially Mitsuru and Mayu, though, again, Takaya signals we're not supposed to take that seriously). But then we see him trying to cheer Hatori up by bringing him to the lake house, or giving Kyo guidance (and a place to live) from the day he appears, or removing Yuki from Akito's abuse, or using his cunning to get Tohru to relax and have fun, or at least stop stressing so much.

I truly think his speech about kindness came from self-hatred and not from some deeply-held belief about the meaninglessness of things like kindness. I think his speech about being the worst kind of man was again from self-loathing and not something he was proud of. And when he provoked Tohru about Kyo, I also think that was borne of his self-loathing and guilt over how the Zodiac viewed the cat.

Anyway, I know you aren't a Shigure hater, so this probably isn't terribly controversial to you. 😅

Oh, also, I read Arisa as straight. She totally gives me queer vibes, but the fact that she likes Kureno because he reminds her of Tohru, yet she doesn't like Tohru that way... I see that as confirming her straightness, tbh. (I still love AUs where she and Saki are together! They're cute!)

Rarepairs in Bloom Within Us below the cut! (These could be read as answers to 18/20, too!)

Yusuke and Kagura get together in chapter 32, and Hiroshi and Momiji finally get together in chapter 67. In Bloom Within Us, mourners sort of converge around Kyo due to his closeness to Tohru and help him through his initial grieving period. This leads to a situation where Kyo kind of slowly becomes the center of the Sohma family, hosting regular group dinners at the dojo and becoming close (to a degree) with all the formerly cursed Sohmas. Since he always was close with Momiji and Kagura, it made sense to me that he might connect them with Hiroshi and Yusuke. I don't give Yusuke and Kagura a lot of focus, but Hiroshi is basically the second protagonist of my story, and the relationship between him and Momiji (and Hiroshi's development to be ready for a relationship with Momiji) is one of the most important subplots. I've really grown to love them, and might write some more content with them just because I adore them so much. (And Yusuke and Kagura are cute together! But I'm not really interested in exploring them any more.)

I haven't written the chapter where Kyo and Saki get together, but yeah, Kyo ends up with Saki.

I always read Saki as having repressed romantic feelings for Tohru. Due to her extreme loyalty and her powerful wave-reading abilities, I think she'd catch Tohru's message to Kyo (to keep moving forward) and ensure she passed it on first opportunity, thus saving his life. And I think Kyo, with his people skills and unfortunate familiarity with grief, would be the one to figure out how Saki felt about Tohru.

In my story, Kyo has to first decide to live. Once he truly does that, he starts pursuing a future as a karate instructor, realizes blaming himself for everything only hurts the people who care about him, and finally decides to allow himself to fall in love again. He's already in love with Saki by this point, and has been for a while, but he's a dumbass about love and it takes him a while longer to realize how he feels, and even longer to decide to do anything about it.

I think it's possible to read Kyo and Saki as having sexual tension in canon. That plus them playing the prince and Cinderella in Cinderella-ish makes them a fun couple to explore.

Anyway, I think there's a strong case these couples would get together in a universe where Tohru dies, but not in any other universe.

Thank you for asking! This was fun!

[bibibbon]

"Can we be friends or have moots with those who have very different views from us?"

What will your answer with that ask above?

Me, I have a friend (starts off as moot) who is a multishipper. I mean they can find ships from any fandom they're in, and once they love it, they'll make fics and arts of that ship.

About BNHA, they're die hard fan of BKDK, don't ask me, even I can't understand it (I'm also anti Bakugou and BKDK). But my friend and I can still talk about fandom stuff (minus the ships cause I'm not really into shipping).

Don't you think fandom have become more toxic these days? Like, even if I don't ship bkdk, but I never think to say rude things or send death wish to those who ship them. I feel sad when my friend receive those negative things just because of shipping fictional characters.

Thanks for bring positivity to BNHA fandom. My friend was surprised when finding out, you're anti bkdk but never say rude things to the shipper. You're the first anti bkdk blog that they followed and like the posts.

Even if BNHA end with disappointing last arc, it's a great journey overall, right? I don't get people who talked shit to the writer/artist of a certain work? Horikoshi-sensei have work hard all these years, we should appreciate his hard work, at least....(I can feel how hard writing is as a writer myself).

Now, at least I can see that BNHA near its ending from last year. But for JJK I did not see that coming. Is it true that JJK will also ending this year? What do you think the ending will be, tragedy or open ending? Can Yuuji defeat Sukuna?

As long as there's mutual respect between one and another I do believe that two people with different views can be friends. However, this honestly depends on the person for example I personally wouldn't be friends with someone who has a completely different set of morals than mine. Other than that( and maybe a few things I suppose) i think its good to surround yourself with people who have different views as it allows you to build a much more nuanced perspective on certain things and honestly talking to people who you have different views than can be fun.

Honestly depending on the websites or platforms your in different fandoms vary in their level of toxicity and all. I have found it that the most popular fandoms are the ones that have the highest levels of toxicity and Iam completely against it. People should be allowed to like or dislike or comment on whatever without recieving death threats or hate by others because at the end of the day these are simple pieces of fiction and the person you're hating/harming is a real being behind the screen.

I would like to thank you for your comment as I actually wasn't aware that I had such an impact on your friend and if the anons friend is seeing this I would like to apologise for whatever you went through as no one deserves to get hate or death threats for expressing themselves and making content for things they like.

Giving an author hate/death threats is completely inexcusable and shouldn't happen at all. I want to clarify that criticism (which is something that my blog is heavily centered around) is completely different to hate and while I think MHA has had a lot more downs than ups it's still a series with a lot of potential that has captivated me to be honest.

Also, I do want to bring to light that the manga industry in Japan is incredibly competitive and has put a lot of it's artists in tough, exploitative and outright inhumane positions so great works may lose quality overtime due to that or other external factors. In the end horikoshi is an amazing artist with potential to do much more but the writing ends up lacking in various aspects.

I have seen the posts saying that jjk will come to an end but I honestly doubt that gege will wrap up the manga at the end of the year. As of current the manga is in its last act and probably has one or two more arcs to go through before wrapping up to a conclusion. I used to be somewhat optimistic in hoping that jjk will follow the story of the younger generation overcoming and breaking the flaws and problems of the older generations so we would get somewhat of a bittersweet/happy ending but I do see a bad/open ending much more plausible in the current direction ths manga is heading in.

[celestie0]

i dont really feel gojos death was a cop out because there were already signs of gege hinting at his return, hence the theories (which were actually pretty strong and convincing) and those who were dedicated to those despite how much time passing since his death. idk despite everything, whether geges writing is objectively good or not, gege always was intentional with his writing and probs one of the least fanservicey manga writers rn.

idk his death would be such a waste of potential outcomes if it was just that, like its plot armor, yes, but justified plot armor. why have a character as grand as gojo and the pay off be so unfulfilling. especially in comparison to chosos death, chosos death felt like a development of his character while as gojos just felt like oh he died so we can remove his ass and move on and have the world be more in peril. like that just treats gojos purpose more to be some type of weapon, than him being an actual character striving for something greater. you can argue that his death is an irony of him being the strongest and getting clapped was like a break of that notion, but idk that just seems like such a waste of gojos maturation and development after geto. like i want to see that type of development or enlightenment when hes alive and without geto to actually feel a sense of satisfaction and pride for him.

maybe im biased because i am an avid enjoyer of the reincarnation and gojo being a parallel to buddha theories, but idk for a manga like jjk it deserves some whimsical and crazy imagination yk

THIS ISNT TO BE RUDE OR ANYTHING IM SORRY IF IT COMES OUT THAT WAY 😭 i just have impassioned opinions on his death and i really love him and he deserves a chance of fulfillment cus hes been going through it despite being the strongest

hi babe! yea i think gege is most certainly one of the least fan servicey manga writers for sure i don’t think anyone questions that 💀 and yeahhh i see that, he HAS hinted gojo’s return a lot n i think we all just thought he was fucking w us LOL but maybe it was intentional to give more of a smooth comeback for gojo should he choose to bring him back

gojo’s death was most definitely unfulfilling, and imo it was done for shock factor and i imagine gege just became tired of his own character. but i still think bringing him back would feel odd n def plot armor 😅 kind of like, oh if we wanted his fulfilled character arc, then gege shouldve given that to us without killing him off senselessly (and honestly? off screen? i’d argue that’s borderline disrespectful to such a beloved character) in the first place…like in my opinion, no matter how he brings gojo back if at all, it’s still gonna feel a bit off and, once again, done for shock value? but i totally agree w you, i could bypass those feelings if he at least does gojo RIGHT this time 😭🙏🏼 because above all else, i just wanna see some justice for his character

oh 100% i don’t think there was anything charming about the notion of gege killing off gojo just for the sake of showing that a strong character can die too loool. idk what his specific narrative intentions were for killing off gojo, but it would be sooo shallow n honestly unoriginal if that was really what he was going for 💀 but idk i know some jjk fans might feel differently

nooo my love not rude at all <333 i love how passionate u are haha. thansk sm for sharing!! yea i didnt think ab all the clues n hints gege set up to make a gojo retun a bit more seamless, that def makes it feel less fan servicey in my head now. i guess we’ll just have to see if he really is back or not LOL

[epickiya722]

Hey, I hope you’re doing well. Ik we fic writers always complain about the lack of discussion surrounding our work so I thought I’d start asking questions to my peers.

Here we go:

I have a few questions about the Jin x Kenjaku fic you wrote:

1- How did you get the idea?

2- Did Jin’s characterisation cause you any problems since we don’t know much about him? How do you usually handle characters we don’t have much information about?

3- Can you detail your writing process a little bit for that one? Did you write it easily? Did it take a few days or more?

My last question is about writing in general. What do you like about writing Mirko?

Thank you in advance 💕

For anyone curious, this is the fic -> Blissfully Clueless

1 - Since I've been more "active" with JJK, I remember doing a reread and getting to chapter 143 and going "Oh, new fic idea" when I read the flashback scene. Wanted to try out an interpretation of how Jin's relationship with Kenjaku could have been like, you know? Simply was just writing it to be writing it! Honestly, I'm surprised I even wrote that fic because I didn't think would! Most of my fics are more comedic, but lately, I've been dipping into trying more styles.

2 - Ooh, so this plays into what I'll say later! It wasn't easy coming up with some kind of characterization for Jin, but at the same it was kind of easy. What made it difficult was that, yeah, we don't know much about Jin like that. Writing the fic, I questioned myself "how can I write this particular character without making feel too OOC, how to make a possible personality fit for this character"? Now what made it easy is that Jin doesn't have a lot to him in canon. Whenever I write characters who have little to nothing to them in canon, I think of them as empty or unfinished canvas. I have room to add colors to them, details that can bring them to life. Instead of a paintbrush, I'm using words. With characters like that, I'm able to let my imagination roam free because there are no limitations. If Jin had a lot more to him in canon, then it feel as if I have to take that and work with that. It's like "Well, he's like this in canon, so I can't mess up". I won't lie, sometimes I feel pressured to write a character aligned with canon personality because I feel like if I step just a little over the line, someone is going to get fussy about it. I mean, I understand that some people tend to write characters completely different just to bash that character in their fics or twist them in ways they see fit because they feel they have some authority over that character even though it's not theirs. But other times, there are those who do it as a creative choice, they're doing it to fit into an idea they have for a story. And it doesn't mean they really think of the character that way.

3 - That fic actually took a good twenty minutes or so! I needed a distraction that day and thus, that fic was born! Like a lot of my fics, I didn't plan that one. The idea came to me and I just wrote. As I wrote, that's when I question how I could possibly frame Jin's character. A challenge it was, but it was a fun one!

**

Oooh, to choose what I like writing when it comes to Miruko is giving her more depth. Okay, she has a personality in canon, but I just feel like she isn't just this "aggressive, angry rabbit woman" that some of the fandom sees her as. Now, unlike Jin, Miruko does have more backstory and screentime. In Vigilantes (BNHA Spin-off manga, it's great), she even has a whole flashback arc. So I have a little more to work with when it comes to her.

However, she is still just a minor character, so there is still not too much for her in canon. Even so, again, she's a canvas to me.

I actually have a lot of posts analyzing her character just from little information and her dialogue. I don't know how I do it, but I believe it comes from more how much I enjoy Miruko.

When writing her in fics, I don't want her to feel one-dimensional. Some of the fandom already do from canon which sucks. I'm about to sound salty, but it's just crazy to me that some fans will complain about aspects of female characters they find annoying and displeasing, but makes excuses for the male characters and admire them some those same aspects.

Some people will say the female characters barely got personality, but come on. Some of the male characters are bland as hell or has been done a thousand times before. It's not just the female characters, folks.

Anyways! I want readers to see that Miruko is capable of being sad, happy, tired... that she is capable of feeling, too. So I often think back to my posts about her and incorporate them in my fics. Or even vice versa. Sometimes, my fics inspire a post.

Sometimes, it can be a challenge, but not one I'll give up on because it's fun taking a line of dialogue and deciphering what it could mean for Miruko. I get enjoyment from looking at a scene and writing a post about it.

Gets the creativity flowing!

That's all I really can say for now. 💜

[blubbledia]

I read - Dungeon Meshi - 2014/2023

"To eat is to be alive."

I saw it was completed and thought, "hey I read like half of that a couple years ago and really liked it!" So I promptly didn't read it. Instead I waited until I saw too many spoiler images on my dashboard! Which didn't really hinder me, so I started at the beginning and devoured the whole thing in two sittings. Very apt for the material. Also that I got around halfway through before starting over and making my way all to the bottom. No sister death for me though. The rest of my thoughts below the line.

So many elements of this manga weave together to create the best atmosphere. Like good ingredients making a good meal. OK, I'll stop with the food comparisons.

I think the most stand out piece for me is the story's pacing. I just appreciate a goal that, initially, should be a quick adventure, twisting and turning into something more complicated, while staying relatively short. Every goal, Defeat dragon and revive Falin, defeat Falin, defeat Mad Mage, become dungeon lord, defeat demon, and finally resurrect Falin? Fit. On some occasions, writers would use these extended and adjusted goals to artificially increase length. Here it not only feels natural, but even the inciting incident is justified by the twists. They only encountered the red dragon right at the beginning because the Mad Mage was sending it to look for the king.

Characters are absolutely stunning. From design, to motivation, to their growth. Every one has realistic growth. Laios never becomes a perfect leader. Sure he becomes king, but even in the epilogue he's still a goof. He is absolutely not good with people, honestly I don't think any of the main crew really are. But they are good with the people in their party (mostly). It even touches on how a new member fits in, and the realities of your adventuring buddies kind of just being work friends. Izutsumi is baby and I love her. Falin is adorable and I want to hug her.

The art is so fun and good and excellent at setting tone. The amount of times all things in a box will be shaded with one method, even the same density, but still clearly delineated between fore and background is amazing. Ryoko Kui also did designs of the characters as various races, which works so well for identifying the key features of a design. I wouldn't know what to say about page layouts, it's just not something that registers to my brain. I will spare another sentence to commend character design. How they look just makes my brain happy. I think it's the noses.

I could not in good conscience release my thoughts on this work into the aether without touching on the titular aspect of the work.

Food

The most interesting part to the food, is that the monsters all mimic real creatures. Nightmares are the ones that come to mind; aside from a fantasy element, they are mollusks. It makes it easy to connect to the reader and show food that they would also find appetizing. I'm a vegan but don't know the morality of eating monsters. Like, do the walking mushrooms count? I don't know enough to say. More importantly, food as a thing. To live is to need to eat. Of the base level of needs to survive eating is the one we have the most leeway over. You can choose what to eat and prepare. It can be done as an act of love toward others. There is a time where Laios brings up that at times when the worries and anxieties of what needed to be done were getting to him; that food grounded him, allowed him to calm down.

I should get some friends together for a meal.

[n0t-vzin1s]

bf!armin x fem!reader

guys i won't hesitate to admit that i'm head over fucking heels in love with armin and if you disagree, fucking fight me

also sorry to my gn or male readers!! these hcs would only make sense with a fem!reader due to how it was written (i am so tired i didn't even realize)

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

aot manga spoilers

god where do i start with this maaan

you more or less likely grew up with him, eren, and mikasa

so one day

when you know

THE FUCKING WALLS FELL

he was with you and eren that day

and istg the scared look on his face had you IN TEARS

fuck your parents, armin is all that matters

i would sell my left kidney for armin

anyways

during training, you were almost certain that armin was gay

like absolutely in love with eren LOL

so you brought it up

"yo homie are you gay?"

and he looked at you with the most PUZZLED expression like 😨

but he was like "nah fam"

and he whipped out the "i.." awkward ass gulp "like someone else"

and you already knew it was either you or mikasa but mikasa seen him as brother

and let's b honest

who wouldn't have a crush on armin!!

yeah you were one of em

time skip to god fucking knows where

bro grows some balls and kisses your goddamn ass

regardless

halfway thru, it was ruined due to eren and mikasa walking in like "woah. who is THIS BABE??"

until they realized it was you and that they were screwed lmAo

armin is extremely soft

like not even in like his skin is soft

he's just

baby

yk?

he's so gentle and scared to hurt you

and he's constantly checking up on you and making sure you're okay

often brings you things to show you

he LOVES reading books with you about the outside world

esp b4 he seen the ocean!!

i could see him and you taking horse rides into the large forest against levi's wishes

he feels rebellious when he's with you

random hc buuuut i feel like he would LOVE to dance in the rain

or lay in the grass and watch the stars all the way to the sun rise with you

he knows every single constellation

no doubt abt that

for your birthday, he gets you books!! it's more of a gift to himself, really, but you don't mind cause it's cute!!

for HIS birthday?

you get him books.

for valentine's day?

books.

it's always fuckin books

but it's armins hobby and you love him for it

armin is extremely awkward and constantly needs praise

he has a fear of yoh leaving him for some one who he considers "better"

and you have to remind him

"armin honey there is no one better than you"

he constantly has to be near near you on the field cause he's scared of losing you

but you have to remind him that you can handle yourself

honestly

he finds it hot when you take down a titan

cause like

your muscles are flexing against the tight suit and he just likes the way it looks

he will stand up for you with his life

cleans your injuries for you since he's a goddamn doctor

what kind you may ask?

abortion

he often writes stories abt you

they don't explicitly say your name, but you often realize that they describe you

he actually wanted to be a writer at some point in his life before everything went down

during the time you visited marley, the two of you got some quality time in like eren and mikasa had

but the two of you often sought out the other for comfort when eren started changing

cause like

you grew up with that boy

and to see him change his life so drastically kinda hurt the both of you

regardless

his dreams kinda went down the drain like eren life did

he was so happy that he got to see the ocean with you of all people though

when sasha died, he cried in your arms

as well, when he hange died and he technically became the next commander

he needed a lot of comfort

cause he wasn't sure he was going to do good

but armin struggles to talk abt his feelings!! so to have him open up to you and let himself feel vulnerable infront of you is a huge step for himself

he often doubts his self-worth!! like way too often to be considered normal

anyways

when the rumbling started, his priorities were both you, and mikasa

and he did his best to keep you safe

but hot goth mommy mikasa honestly did better

don't tell him that tho

he never talked about the future

like what would happen after all the titans went away

omg how could i forget

when he became a titan, he started closing himself off for weeks at a time cause he didn't like killing innocent people

but when he opened up you felt bad for him

cause he was so exhausted

like he hadn't slept for weeks at a time

armins trauma is so overlooked

anyways back to the future

he honestly wanted to travel the world and write about what he'd seen over the years

he also wouldn't allow himself to get into a relationship with you until the whole thing was over

cause even tho it would hurt, atleast you or him would've died knowing that there wasn't a future for either of you

buuut it still hurts lol

anyways when he killed eren, he literally sobbed for weeks

regardless if he was seen as a hero in others eyes, he didn't see himself as one

but during the aftermath, when he gets to finally settle down with you, he feels ecstatic

mikasa, you and him (as well as the other living cadets) often visit erens grave and leave things there

armin usually leaves little notes telling him about his life and how things are doing

and they always end in the same way

"how are you doing up there?"

and he usually gets a sign back from the universe somehow, sometimes it'll be a bird landing on him, and other times it could be leaves swirling around him

regardless, it leaves him happy and you in tears every damn time

whenever there's a thunderstorm, armin always says (without failure)

"oo, someone pissed eren off again" while laughing

and you can never understand how he's not sad by his death

he is

god i wrote this with the intention of it being happy but i'm fucking sobbing i hate this

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

[chodzacaparodia]

How many are allowed for the ao3 truth and dare? I wanna ask for:

🛼🥤💌🌻🐇🍄🧸🔪❄️🌿🏜️🦴🐝🎨🧩

(Sorry if it's a lot)

You can ask all you want hahah 😁 Thank you for your asks <3 I'm really glad you wanted ask so much ♡

🛼⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis

🗣👨‍❤️‍👨🕺🥂❤️‍🩹

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

AHHH THIS IS SO HARD 😭😭

I'm looking through my bookmarks and I don't know what to recommend... Maybe this one:

The Secrets We Keep (Aren't Really That Extreme) by CheekyBrunette (Tododeku)

This is my favorite chat fic ever. I remember reading the chapters several times before the new updates came.

💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now? 

Ehhhh on the "official" e-mail I have read all of them, but on my one Gmail, which is mainly used for e-mails from ao3, I have over about 116?? 💀 Almost all of which are updates of fanfic chapters, which I will totally come back someday 🙈

🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis

Preferably I'd like just @ everyone who likes/reblogs my posts, but that's where our interactions end 😭😭I appreciate your silent presence 💖💖💖

🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both? 

Original characters!!! I mostly avoid reader insert because it often makes me cringe 💀

🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

Maybe Ryufuyu (Ryusei Satou and Chifuyu Matsuno) from Tokyo Revengers this time?

Ryseui often makes fun of Chifuyu and his love of shoujo manga and romance. But he finds it super cute. And since he also has a huge weakness for Chifuyu, he arranges for him various "scenes" typical of shojo mangas or dramas (like "rescuing" Chifuyu from a cyclist who is riding a good few meters away from them), which are more like pranks and cause Chifuyu's irritation and frustration. at the beginning, but then Ryusei makes up for everything and Chifuyu admits that he is a very charming bastard.

🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?

The fastest way is to follow me and create some interactions through e.g. reblogs? Comments? When I see that someone is excited about what I like, I start to feel a connection hahah.

🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

Idk, I can't remember. All I can remember in my head is how I looked for information about what diseases etc. kissing can bring 💀

❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?

I would love to write a Hanahaki Disease fic! I already have it in my head, but this idea will have to wait. Hmmm, who could write it well? Maybe Julie Kagawa could create something good? Her "The Iron Fey" and "Shadow of Fox" series convince me she could handle it. Or Colleen Hoover hahah. She would definitely dramatize this theme even more. Her Hanahaki Disease book would definitely be a bestseller

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Honestly, it helps me to read fics or books where the characters are also fans and create something themselves, mainly fanfiction. I can identify with them and feel solidarity. Their passion is contagious, their doubts are my doubts. Stories like this make me feel motivated.

Sooo reading 💖📚

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

I love long comments where readers quote fragments of my Fic and write what they liked about them 🥺💖 They make me so happy that my cheeks hurt from smiling! I really appreciate that someone liked my story so much that they devoted so much time and energy to such an extensive comment 😭

🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? 

Hmmm I don't think so? Mostly ideas come to me randomly. But "Fruits Basket" was my inspiration to write one fic

🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

She doesn't even use tumblr anymore, but I have to tag @twojastarasiostra! She's my friend who I met at university and she was my beta for a long time (now I don't want to burden her with work because of her normal work, soo No beta we die like our free time 💀) Thank you so much that you took the time to read my works under pressure and that you sent me fragments that you liked. I'm so grateful for what you did ♡♡♡ Now you don't have to read anymore, but you still have to deal with me talking about struggling to write hahah

Speaking of struggling, I would also like to thank @lostsowly for our conversations during TR Rare Pair Week ♡♡ Mutual motivation gave me a lot ♡♡ In my heart there will always be the fact that you wrote that I am one of your favorite writers 😭

I have to also tag @matcha-meow who always informs me about writing events that I don't know about because I don't have Twitter 💀 If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have created many of my works. Thank you very much for your extensive comments, which always make me happy ♡♡♡

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like

This is my favorite Kuroken fanart ever (I hope it opens because it's on pinterest)

I love everything about this fanart. Versions of Kuroo and Kenma at different ages, their adult versions looking at each other so tenderly, this background, these colors 😭😭😭

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

When I see some incest tags 💀 If in the fic the romantic relationship is between siblings, I have *ABORT ABORT*. Just like there is a threesome with siblings in the main role. If there are love triangles between a character and two siblings - that's cool, but God forbid such a threesome 💀

If I see that the text is written in a sequence and there are no paragraphs, then I often give up reading

Have a nice day! 💖

Writers Truth & Dare Ask Game

[sneezemonster15]

Hi! One last question heheh

Sorry to bother you

I just keep thinking, if the character of Sasuke was added as a form for suggestion from the editor, how Kishi got the idea to make Naruto and Sasuke a gay couple? , or do you think it just happened? I mean it was a Shounen, and if Kishi wasn't intentional in make a gay romance before bringing Sasuke to the story, like why he took the risk and the stress (to be more subtle abt the romance) to begin with? Or he was intended to make Naruto gay before he even added Sasuke?

Maybe is a dumb question hahaha

Don't respond if you don't have time.

Thank you for taking your time making all these post, they are really interesting, they blew my mind many times when reading them😁

Like before finding your blog I didn't think that Hinata was such an horrible character, like I can't believe I missed all the hints and storyline that Kishimoto wrote, I still can't believe how he managed perfectly to write a gay romance and the whole world ignored it or think it wasnt (at first I thought that😅😂) , his writing is top tier, honestly he managed to trick us all. Naruto succeeded in a homophobic society and it's still one of the most successful manga in the world, with one of the largest fandom around the world, its so mind blowing, I can't find any other word to describe it haha.

Now with the given information of your blog, I just feel soo sad about the ending, and I didn't feel much like this before, like I used to think: "well it was okay with the wedding of NH and the other stuff like meh, a cliché ending like many other animes" 🤷‍♀️ and theeen I discovered your blog and I felt so eye-opened and so sad at the same time😭 like imagine how many years of kisses and hugs Naruto and Sasuke already lost before the reconciliation, and then they lost another 12 years because they can't be together because of their fking nh ss, like fr😭

( P. S. I apologize for the bad english, I'm not a english native speaker)

Well thank you again and greetings!

I'll be looking forward for more of your post.

Have a amazing day😊

Hi.

If readers feel sad reading this blog, then I have accomplished my goal. You got what I was trying to say. Hehehe. You are supposed to feel sad. Because it is such a grand and beautiful love story with such a tragic ending. Like it's the longest love story I have ever sat through. The longest, most feelingly written, love story with a sad ending and yet you would wanna sit through it again. It's a kind of sweet torture. It has a weird hold. If you have really truly seen it, you realize you have never seen anything like it before. It's so righteously earnest and yet cleverly subversive. The themes of light and darkness, yin and yang, night and day, sun and moon, with all the shades in between, the story itself reads like that. There is such innocence and lightness and a tenderness to it and yet there is darkness and it's bloody and sinister. There's so much hope and despair at the same time. There's such feather lightness and crushing heaviness to it. So many scenes make you feel happy and sad and aching and nostalgic at the same time. I will never forget the scenes with tiny Gaara. Ever. It's branded on my brain. Kishi is a very sensitive writer, make no mistake. He understands. He knows there are no binaries. He writes all shades. So many characters he wrote are so iconic, because so many of them are so relatable to fans in their own ways, that's quite a feat for a writer. He is inspired by one of his favourite films, 'The never-ending story', which I feel like he also relates to. In the sense, he relates to the notion of a troubled young boy who uses his imagination to cope with the world, building fantasies and entire worlds and great romance and elaborate characters in his head. He put quite a bit of thought in his characters, the way he has written them consistently, and yet very shrewdly. He has written them so well, he has polarised his audience. A huge audience. Powerful storytelling.

Kishimoto did say in one of his interviews that Yahagi San, his editor suggested giving Naruto a rival which happened to be Sasuke.

Kishimoto paid a lot of attention to write Sasuke and Naruto in character, and why wouldn't he? They are the main characters, the main act. He works with a team of editors and artists. This doesn't mean that Kishimoto hadn't thought of Sasuke's character before this. Obviously a lot of thought has gone behind Sasuke's design, characterisation and arc. Kishimoto has often talked about how Sasuke has been the most challenging character for him to write and draw. That he had to give Sasuke a lot of situations for his arc and story to proceed as Kishi needed to, for it to move the plot. Sasuke has been written in a lot of scenes. Kishimoto said Yahagi San suggested to make Sasuke Naruto's 'rival', rival being the operative term. Kishi probably had already conceived of Sasuke's character, it's not possible he hadn't, given how much Sasuke's character contributed to Naruto's own arc and story from start to end. But a seasoned Yahagi San must have guided a very young and professionally inexperienced Kishimoto about how to go about introducing different characters and specifically a character as important as Sasuke.

Yes, he intended to write Naruto as closeted gay from the start. It's one of the defining features of his character in the story, none of it comes without deeply brainstorming about it. Even the pilot has portrayed shades of his sexuality, but I am glad Kishi changed many things post pilot. But Naruto's characterisation as a closeted gay boy is pretty consistent throughout.

Writing a story and characters is a matter of inspiration and creativity. A professional writer can write something in a matter of hours if the inspiration strikes them or take months and months and nothing would materialise. It depends.

But whatever the author writes, it's the editor's job to make sure that the desired impact of the story is properly delivered, as intended by the author and anything that is a hindrance to that is removed or rectified.

As for your question here, I don't really need to debunk anything. What I mean is that there's nothing to debunk.

I know SS stans put a lot of weight into this panel for two reasons : 1) Eyemex or whatever they call it. Eye contact ie. 2) Panel size, where it is a largish panel which shows Sakura being held by Sasuke.

And apparently this panel makes all of the things that happened between Sasuke and Sakura alright. Everything. Sasuke's contempt towards her, his apathy, his brutal honesty, his utter disinterest in her and absolutely nothing that indicates he is being tsundere towards her. Yeah, SS stans are embarrassing like that.

But the fact is that it still doesn't prove anything. If anything, even here Kishi was gung ho on maintaining the focus on Naruto and Sasuke. The Sasuke and Sakura panel is a het bait. Because Kishi had to draw one scene with them together foreshadowing the canon ending where Sasuke and Sakura were paired together. That's all this panel means.

Because what else could it mean? Through the entirety of Shippuden, we hardly see any significant SS interaction, and what there is shows how much Sasuke doesn't care about Sakura. The war arc itself underlined it again and again what with leaving Sakura to perish in the lava dimension, mocking her or dismissing her as she would try to interact with him. One has to look at what precedes and succeeds the panel. One cannot simply draw meaning out of an isolated panel unless the context is set up.

And what is the set up here? The context is that Sasuke and Naruto were together fighting Kaguya while the rest of them were feeling pretty useless and a burden/liability, including Kakashi and Sakura. Obito is feeling guilty. Kaguya sends Sasuke to another dimension while Naruto is determinedly and strategically fighting Kaguya, while being worried about Sasuke. Obito senses it and is prepared to help him out with Sakura's help. Naruto is very grateful to Obito because he is helping him to look for Sasuke.

Kishi even made sure to mention it in the external narration. Naruto and Obito go to save Sasuke, hehe.

While Naruto, Sakura and Obito are looking for Sasuke, Naruto is trying to sense Sasuke's chakra. On the other side, Sasuke is trying to sense Naruto's chakra. They can sense each other's chakras. Just like that. What does it imply?

What impression does this give the reader? That they are so thoroughly attuned to each other, they can easily sense each other's chakras and just follow it to find each other. Like they are connected.

In this panel, Sasuke thanks Obito for his help, which he used in conjunction with his own Rinnegan ability. Yes, some focus is certainly put on the eye contact. But like I said, if there's nothing romantic indicated in the context and subtext, in fact, the opposite, you can simply attribute it to het bait which Kishi serves the audiences pretty regularly. It also helps the reader build expectations as to what will happen in future.

If Sakura was so instrumental to this scene and Sasuke, why isn't that present in the context? Why is Kishi only focusing on Naruto and Sasuke? Well, he ain't the only one. Lol.

This happens right after the panel under discussion. It's about Sasuke and Naruto. They are the core. They are the main act. They will change the fate of the shinobi world together. All this is already established properly by this point in the arc.

And right after Sasuke is rescued and brought back to the dimension where Naruto is, he immediately runs towards Naruto, Naruto becomes really happy, and they bicker, like usual.

Lol. All of this, the way the scene was built up and rendered, puts stress on how solid Sasuke and Naruto's bond is. Like the entire thing. The way situations are created, the way conflicts or problems are presented and then the way they are resolved. In the Sasuke rescue mission, the focus went to Obito's character who had a specific reason to help Naruto.

Narratively, the focus was put on Obito who came off as the true rescuer, Sasuke is made to thank Obito after the rescue operation, the external narrative also doesn't even mention Sakura. Sakura was effectively a replacement of Naruto in this scene because the real body of Naruto was fighting Kaguya and Naruto's clone wouldn't have had enough chakra, so she volunteered. Because she could help with the one commodity she could offer at this point, since nothing else she could offer really helped here. And she needed to be brought in the narrative, since so much emphasis was put on teamwork just prior to this, so Kishi wrote this in, Sakura being a part of Sasuke's rescue operation. The least she could do and not be labelled completely useless. That and punching Kaguya as Kakashi set it up for her. Seriously, what else did she even do that didn't end up as a complete embarrassing disaster for her in this arc, especially after Sasuke joins the war and she starts to show off? Lol. And following this SS interaction, if you can even call it that, the next SS interaction in the same arc should be enough for fans to stop considering this panel as so important. Lol. Sakura confesses to him like she is dying without him, no matter the current situation where there's a freaking war going on lol, he emphatically rejects her and then genjutsues her ass so she would stop getting in Naruto and Sasuke's way.

SS stans are not to be taken seriously. Oh sure, Sasuke and Naruto talking about giving their lives for each other while delivering full fledged romantic Shakespearan dialogues for each other isn't romantic but Sasuke looking at Sakura is. Lol.

As for your question about the post I wrote about Gaiden.

I saw in one of your post, about how sasuke proposed to Naruto after his journey after war, and how naruto rejected him because Naruto is a closeted gay, all of it this proposal was implied in Gaiden( I haven't read it)?Or is just a theory that connects all the dots of why the SasuSaku looks so bad in the Boruto era? hehe

Yes, it was my theory but like I wrote in the post, it's entirely extrapolated from canon. Shippuden, Gaiden and Boruto movie. All I am doing is writing about the consistent nuances that Kishi writes in, given its shounen and he had to be careful about writing a gay narrative in it, Brokeback Mountain style, hehe. He wrote Gaiden in a way which compelled the reader to read between the lines, at least the perceptive audiences. He uses several allusions for the SNS dynamic that he uses throughout Naruto and Shippuden and writes very consistently granular nuances that he writes for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's characters in their respective scenes. If one is paying attention, they can tell all of it. You can give Gaiden a read, it will all become clear to you. Kishi wanted to bridge the gap between the larger narrative and the disparate ending that didn't satisfy the potential climax he was building towards with it. He wanted to tell the audience that SS was a sham and that Sasuke and Naruto are truly the real pairing but because of the worldbuilding of the shinobi world, they couldn't be together as they were meant to. Rather, they are carrying their burdens, sharing their burdens because they are shinobis who are meant to suffer and endure. But at least, they are doing it with each other's support. It is still heartbreaking.

[soyouareandrewdobson]

TIMBER! The artistic Growth thing...

I apologize for the recent silence almost immediately after I came back. Unfortunately the last weeks were affected by personal and work stuff that I think no one cares about here, so I was unable to write much.

That said, plans are in the making and I thought today I would at the very least bring out one comic that to me is not necessarily wrong in the message Dobson conveys, but does after all not apply much to him

The thing about this comic is, that Dobson is not necessarily entirely wrong. There are people who believe that artistic growth is more or less developing in a progressive line, kinda artificially. Which based on my own experience, is not really the case. At least I have seen artists, writers and such, who, if allowed to grow in a more “organic” manner, will eventually manage to create stuff and tell stories with a more unique flavor than they did before. The “key” however to do so is to also think at least partly outside the box and being “genuine” with what you want to create. Case in point for me: Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.

While I did enjoy a lot of Pratchett’s early novels in the Discworld cycle, I will admit that it wasn’t really until “Mort” and “MacBest” that I think Pratchett started to move away from simply “spoofing” the common tropes in fantasy fiction while telling a story and that it was around that time, he really started to flesh the Discworld out in the manner that many people came to love, while also giving flavor to it with his unique sense of humor. And Moving Pictures in that regard was the true definitive turning point, as from there on we “left” the classical fantasy tropes in favor of a fantasy world more akin to a 19th century fantasy world, entering the industrial revolution and everything that it included. But Pratchett, in order to reach that point in his career as a writer, and in regard of his Discworld mythology, had to start somewhere with novels the like of “The Light Fantastic” and “Colours of Magic” and had to "progressively" improve at least to some degree before reaching the point he could organically breach out.

Which brings me to the following: Dobson claiming that there is no “linear progression” at times is kinda wrong. Particularly when you are familiar with long running manga series such as One Piece or certain webcomics. From a technical aspect, there is “progress” so to speak. Look at One Piece and how chapters are drawn e.g. back during the East Blue or Alabasta Cycle and compare the linework e.g. with how things escalate in the Wano arc. Oda obviously became more comfortable fleshing out panels even more than before.

Drum vs Wano...

Another example: Compare THIS early strip of a certain internet webcomic…

With how it looks nowadays

Yeah, I know sinfest is utter garbage made by a demagogue WAY WORSE than Dobson (honestly, fuck Ishida with a broken bottle), but technically speaking, he “evolved”.

Next, let me just say that I find the assumption of Dobson that “most” people think artistic growth is “only” an artificial linear process, kinda insulting. Mostly because I think that most of us are aware that it is rather a mixture of “organic” growth and linear progress, rather than one extreme or the other. But obviously, Dobson must claim this is the “truth” about most people, cause otherwise, his take isn’t “unique” anymore and he isn’t special. Special for making a whimsical, romanticized and “creative” statement about artistic growth being more like a tree. Free to grow and beautiful to look at. Something we must nurture and care for.

Yeah, about that, in regard of the last line that reads, and I quote: Everyone is different and everyone grows at different speed. Through loving care and constant nurturing, you’ll always improve.

I think we all know Dobson well enough, that what he really is saying is the following:

I am different than others and I grow at my own pace. Please, I will improve if you give me likes and pay for my stuff instead of giving me mean criticism I can not stand. Now let me just phrase it in a manner that sounds like I say something compassionate that can apply to every person, hiding my own insecurities and selfish wishes.

In that regard, let me show you the beauty of Dobson’s artistic growth as of present day.

Okay, snark put aside at least partly, I do agree that yes, people are different and as artists can grow at different speed. Often times other factors, such as personal life experiences, exposure to stuff outside their certain comfort zones or even just having the right tools to work with, can affect a lot the artistic growth of a person.

I even agree, that “loving care and nurturing” (or in other words, positive feedback and support, at times, even financially) can help. But where I draw the line is at “constant nurturing”, because that feels like to Dobson, the only way he or other artists can ever improve is only through praise and nothing more. No. No Dobson, you also need to at least tolerate at times “criticism” and negative feedback. And I don’t mean stuff like “kill yourself, faggot”, I mean when someone tells an artist for example that certain technical aspects of his work, such as linework, positions, storytelling etc. need genuinely to be worked on. Because guess what? Getting your mistakes pointed out, doesn’t necessarily need to be something negative. It can also be something positive, if it genuinely helps you learn from those mistakes and improve your work.

Not that Dobson ever learnt how to deal with “criticism” in a positive manner anyway, as evident by journal posts as followed...

And this piece of “artwork”

Comic with stabbed critics

Not to forget, the person who gives us this “advice” is the same person who did not really live by any of it himself. I mean, Dobson claims that artistic growth is doing best when allowed to grow organically, slowly and steady and that as time goes on, it will also branch out and diverge.

I will say this: Yes, there are content creators who tend to branch out at times also from their “familiar” tone and style, just for the sake of creating art. Gendy Tartakovsky comes to mind, having started off in very cartoonish stuff like Dexter’s Lab and Powerpuff Girls, only to then also give us Samurai Jack, Primal and Unicorn-Warriors Eternal. Not having really betrayed his roots (as evident e.g. also by his involvement with the Hotel Transylvania franchise), but branching out to different degree.

When did Andrew Dobson ever “branch out” or diverge? His original stories such as Formera and Alex the Pirate, which were derivative of humor and pacing issues related to comedic mangas of the late 80s and early 90s as well as newspaper comic strips, were utter failures he abandoned around the late 2000s/early 2010s.

Most of the stuff he ever created was random fanart, and if anything he actually got worse over time. Having perhaps once upon a time created some decent fanart…

And then later providing people more with stuff like that, where he doesn’t even get the original design of the characters right

Even a low effort comic such as SYAC had become lazier and lazier over the years. Mostly because instead of just telling a joke, you had most of the time just Dobbear over the course of four panels stand in a green void and blubber on how he thinks certain artists or fans sucked because of opinions they had.

The most he ever bothered to “branch out” was ironically when he worked for brentalfloss, as the guy forced Dobson essentially to draw more detailed backgrounds at times than he ever did for anything else.

And the deal with Brentalfloss ended by 2012 or even earlier.

The only other noteworthy creations he made in his last years online would be the Adventure Zone comic that no one asked for (essentially turning some podcast into a comic that had severe pacing issues. Something Adventure Zone fans pointed out) and Miraculous Ladybug comics he made, because that shitstain on the magical girl genre became his new favorite.

And the later were just an extension of the dumb, unfunny and meanspirited newspaper level humor he was already famous for when it came to Alex ze Pirate and early SYAC.

Not to forget, he couldn’t even draw the characters remotely close to the show’s style, something he even pointed out himself.

JESUS! She looks like a farting squirrel with mental disorders.

Dobson himself may have hated his younger self and what he drew…

But you just have to look e.g. at his “Inktober” contributions in later years to see, how much within the shortest amount of time he could regress artistically instead of grow.

To clarify: The Dr. Who pic was in his first year of doing inktober. The not on model Gary was on his second, and the Dipper one on his last year of participating in it. And he actively decided out of spite to no longer work with ink the second year forward, because the first time he did it, he felt insulted by people actually paying him positive attention again in years among other things.

Truth be told, Dobson had all the time in the world within the 15+ years he was an online presence. And even with people like me making fun of him and criticizing his work, he still could have done something to improve artistically for the better and grow into a beautiful tree.

Instead he shriveled up to some stinking flora with a lot of pricks and was stomped out by natural forces, leaving me and others behind to further salt the earth on which he grew.

Turning from this...

to this!

With his very last project known as Cabin Rest ending up pretty much like that:

[tempenensis]

hello, i just wanted to say i discovered your blog recently and i love it so much. i’m studying Japanese (i’m at a very amateur lvl) bc i really want to be able to understand manga in its proper context and nuance. as well as be able to read all the extra contents. bc i noticed in JJK fandom there really isn’t a lot of translators around (there’s 2 or 3 i can think of). and i keep wondering why that is, and i wanted to know your opinion about it?

i’m asking bc after reading your blog i got the sense that your passion for JJK deteriorated over time… and i also noticed some other Japanese users who had JJK fan accounts abandon them. personally i think Akutami is a great writer and still delivering exciting chapters, so i don’t think it’s bc of the story.

is it bc of the fans? i know i have been really tired of them on the non-Japanese side. when i told someone how off-putting s/t/s/g shippers are to Japanese JJK fans she wouldn’t believe me and got really hostile. but my gut feeling is like what you’ve shared on your blog. that their (Japanese fans) general feeling is that the behavior from them is too wild. still, she told me she would go ask a Japanese person herself lol…

sorry to bring something negative to your inbox. it’s hard for me to find other JJK fans online who aren’t like that. so i wanted to msg someone who maybe has similar feelings to me.

anyways thank you again for your blog and translations, i hope you have a good day and i hope JJK can be a sincerely enjoyable thing for you again.

Hi, anon.

i noticed in JJK fandom there really isn’t a lot of translators around (there’s 2 or 3 i can think of)

Yeah. Firstly, we actually have official english release now, which is nice, but it means that there's less need for fan translation of each chapter weekly. Another might be because jjk is harder to translate compared to other manga, with its convoluted explanations. there's also an incident where a "neutral" translator getting harassed by the shipping fandom. I don't think anyone doing translation want that particular drama.

your passion for JJK deteriorated over time

For me, any manga is usually more of a fancy fleeting interest. But I somehow I got too attached to jjk lol. My actual interest is gacha games. But I've been following jjk since 2019, even before the announcement for the 1st season of the anime - which means it's been 4 years for me in this fandom. Honestly the fandom only got very bad that I can't stand it the last year. Burned out with added bad fandom makes me less motivated taking care this blog, but I promise I'll try to keep some effort for this blog until the last chapter of the manga. Keeping my distance from the fandom is my way to keep up my interest now, ironically

Like I said in a few posts before this, there's no help for that side of fandom. I'm really too tired to care about them. Best we can do is block and ignore it. At least fix the behavior regarding leaks

[fireemblems24]

Chapter 8 of Scarlet Blaze

Spoilers for up to Ch 8 beneath the cut. This chapter fucking sucked.

Also, I know I tagged this as SB, but be warned this was pretty critical of it. If anyone is actually still browsing tag and thinks I should remove it, I will.

STORY

Hell, yeah, Dimitri was taking names.

This plot is . . . kinda stupid. I feel like Edelgard is just running back and forth the whole time, accomplishing nothing.

LAMO, Omg, she just straight-up blamed all the deaths from the previous battle on . . . Claude 😂

Edelgard really be like "Why did Claude make me hit him!"

I'm pretty sure the writers didn't intend for SB to read like a Monty Python skit, but Edelgard has less self-awareness than Sir Lancelot when he kept apologizing for slaughtering the wedding party because at least that he was aware enough to apologize.

Oh, Randolph. So how many times does he die this time?

So, like, does Shez want people to get executed if they flip sides? He's like, geeze, how dare Claude and Dimitri forgive people.

Shez is like "I don't understand a word you say Edelgard, but I'm helping you slaughter your way across Fodlan because you may rub off on me!" More "SB is a comedy in disguise" fuel.

I wish I picked F!Shez for every route. I like her VA a lot more. Plus, I've seen this personality on a male character in the countless number of shonen anime and manga I've watched/read, but not as much in a woman. And unlike M!Byleth who's gorgeous, M!Shez is alright, but not super hot or anything.

So Lindhart mentioned that the Kingdom and Alliance can rally against the Empire because of the relics and crests. And like, I don't see how killing Rhea will make that power vanish and people not desperately want it. I feel like so much of Edelgard's spiel is an edgelord's power fantasy with no basis in reality.

This soldier is like "Dimitri labeled everyone who sided with his uncle as guilty in the tragedy of Duscur!" Lamo. Except it's true. Would've been interesting if it wasn't and see how Dimitri handled that. I sometimes wish he got more grey situations bc the writing in Hopes so far he's just . . . the good guy. Like straight-up the hero, no questions. Which, I love because at heart that's what Dimitri is, but I wish the writing would corner him anyways.

Oh, fuck. It's Sylvain. Oh fuck. I don't want to fight him. That sucked.

Count Rowe is being a backstabbing moron. I love how it's always the evil ones that side with Edelgard. It's an underrated thing no one talks about.

And now I have to fight Rodrigue :( Feels bad, killing Blue Lions+ members for the crime of defending themselves.

Ok. It's an unquestionable fact that when you find yourself fighting Annette, you are the villain. This is just truth.

Pretty sure this is heading to a temporary truce between Claude and Edelgard. Which, Claude's (and the Alliance's) funeral, I guess, lamo.

SHEZ & PETRA B SUPPORT

Petra's asking Shez about mercenaries. Questions if Shez would work for the enemy if they offered more money. Aww, damn. You don't have an option to say yes. :(

At least it's somewhat based in trust on their employer (and to get future ones) and not just mindless fangasming. I wouldn't want that in GW or AG either.

DOROTHEA & HUBERT B SUPPORT

This is their only support.

Hubert has a letter from the opera company and wanted to talk to Dorothea, so he's giving it to her in person.

Ohhh, he's bringing up how Dorothea hates violence, but stays and fights in the war rather than returning to the opera.

Glad this is finally getting addressed. Letting Dorothea talk.

It's part wanting to fight alongside her friends and part wanting to represent commoners in Edelgard's army. But also to score a rich husband.

Honestly, much better than whatever the fuck their Houses final support was.

HUBERT & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

So other popular ships got amped up (Dimilix, Dimidue, Marihilda - strangely not Sylvix though). So did the gay get turned up here?

Ferdinand is up late and Hubert wonders why. Ferdinand is studying the law to try and get his father arrested.

Oh, Ferdinand brought up the fact Hubert's father died. Putting Hubert to the question about executing his own father and mad he didn't judge his father in public

Hubert argues that his father would never have been found guilty.

God, that was SOOOOO much meatier than "I wanna serve Edelgard the best!" "No I wanna!!!!"

Monica took over the "pathetic Edelgard simp" to Hubert's "competent Edelgard simp" so Ferdinand could finally fucking get to run.

Ferdinand so far is 10000% the best part of SB (I'd say Petra competes, but I like her better in AG so far).

SHEZ & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

Shez thinks Ferdinand is faking enthusiasm. Not like that. Lamo. He's just overcompensating for his father's failure.

Ferdinand feels powerless and useless. I wish he was the MC.

Shez just wants to help Ferdinand feel better.

Ferdinand wants to surpass his father.

It's a repeat of his stuff with Edelgard and Hubert, but it's by far the most compelling part of SB.

PETRA & HUBERT B SUPPORT

Hubert is checking on Petra to make sure she feels comfortable and temps her with staying in the Empire, but Petra's like "naw."

Worth noting that Brigid is still under the thumb of the Empire. So Petra's a hostage basically forced into this war in order to secure the freedom of her country.

And they can't even go public yet, fearing the citizens get pissed off. Man, the Empire must be full of bloodthirsty land grabbers.

Go Petra! She low-key threatens Hubert and forces them to uphold their promises. Nice seeing her have a backbone.

PETRA & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

Ferdinand sung to Petra to ask her to spar. It's really cringe. Like, realllllly cringe. I would've been embarrassed if I wasn't playing alone.

He thinks this is some Brigid custom, but song and dance is only involved with religious ceremonies. Petra calls him out for finding her country so silly.

It's a mistranslation

Petra owned Ferdinand in this support and we are here for it.

FERDINAND & LYSITHEA C SUPPORT

Talking tea. Can relate.

Lysithea was ready to eat the food and bail. Nice.

But Ferdinand wanted to ask her about joining the commoner class. Lysithea insists she's fine with it and wants to.

Ferdinand doesn't know any de-nobled nobles who are happy. Lysithea know he only knows ones who got kicked out, he's not wrong.

Then he's like, you can't join them! Then you can't change anything anymore. But like what is he fighting on Edelgard's side for?

She, of course, doesn't have a future.

MONICA & BERNIE PARALOGUE

Bernie's enjoying her socially isolated life when Monica needs her help with something because there's no one else around.

You can have Shez agree she shouldn't come, and he says he'll slow them down, lamo. Bernie is offended.

They need to rid bandits out of a cave.

So his Duke is part of it. And he's had problems finding the Fetters of Dromini because of a TWSITD spy. It's also related to whoever kidnapped Monica.

So all I get is Shez, Monica, and Bernie. Only Shez has even looked at a battlefield and the other two are level 1 an 2. I can make 1 an adjunct, but not both. Ugh. Gotta go level at least one up.

Oh, hey, Myson.

I forgot how good of a unit Shez is lol.

Seems like Bernie actually has a decent mom. Bernie just wants to hide in the caves though. Monica advises against it.

DOROTHEA & MANUELA PARALOGUE

This one is easier since they're both leveled up already.

Everyone is fangirling over them. Dorothea assures Manuela that time hasn't tarnished her beauty, but she doesn't buy it.

They wanted Shez as a bodyguard because he's not a crazed fan. I wish real life celebrities would just whip out daggers on ridiculous fans.

This one's more entertaining than the last one. Random thieves are fans and if you defeat them with whoever they're a fan of (Dorothea or Manuela) they join you, lamo. Good both of them are already leveled up too.

Aww, Hanneman showed up to rescue Manuela.

The bandits were swarming the town because of the war. It's nice to see more acknowledgement of how Edelgard's war is screwing over the common folk.

Glad to see Hanneman get a nice little shout out despite getting demoted to NPC. Dorothea and Shez basically told them to get a room, lamo.

STORY/MAIN FIGHT

Edelgard is the least effective conquer I've seen in fiction.

"Defeat Dimitri" - How about, no.

I see "persuade Mercedes." Does that mean I need to bring Jeritza? Because it's not like Hubert or Edelgard are masters of persuasion.

"Defeat Dedue." I hate this. Monica's like, "If Dedue's here, then Dimitri is too." Even SB ships them.

Haha, they flipped sides to Dimitri after he was like "I don't want to kill you, please fight for me instead." And like, no shit?

Aw, shit. Now I have to fight Dimitri.

Oh, now I get to fight Ingrid too. Guys, I'm having so much fun right now. It doesn't help at all that SB is boring as fuck.

Oh, shit. Fuck. What the fuck. Ingrid just died. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Oh shut the fuck up, Edelgard. "Oh, this is so painful." IDK maybe stop trying to conquer everyone who doesn't kiss your ass. You too, Monica. "Oh, she was loyal to the end."

I'm beginning to remember why I hated Edelgard so much in CF. She's such a self-righteous idiot incapable of taking responsibility for her shitty actions AND has no sense of self-awareness.

Dimitri and Dedue sound so sad 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Dedue and Dimitri both taking the credit, meanwhile prissy ass is like "oh, wow, so sad these people died. No idea why."

Shit, Dimitri just mentioned Glenn. He sounds so broken up. Glad Dedue is giving Ingrid the credit for her own choices and actions.

She died defending everyone she loved.

I bet Edelgard will find a way to blame Rhea for Ingrid's death rather than take any responsibility for all the death she causes.

Only Dorothea fucking cares about Ingrid.

"We are nowhere near achieving our goals in the Alliance or in the Kingdom." - Edelgard. I can't fucking understand how some people argue she's isn't an Imperialist.

At least she's admitting she's fucking stupid with her army leadership inabilities.

I'd tell Edelgard to go fuck herself, but that implies a level of pleasure she doesn't deserve. #JusticeforIngrid #StoptheImperalists

xxxx