#I m going to re read this manga

[tonya-the-chicken]

Should I? Should I desire things? Will something grant me strength if I desire things?

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Hello, I hope I can ask you this. I was exploring the Jp side of YouTube and watching review and discussion videos on MHA. I found a couple of popular videos on the potential future relationships of all the characters, and as expected, they were all the default m/f pairs. But the comments took me by surprise. Most of them were about “greentea,” obviously, but I could also see comments on very odd pairs like Eri and Deku, Mahoro and Bakugo, and even Eri and Mirio quite frequently! (Even typing it out is making me cringe)😭😭😭 However, I also saw a couple of comments on Bakugo and Deku, but very few, probably 1 out of 100. I’m really curious about how bkdk is perceived by the general Japanese audience, is it even taken seriously? Maybe I just couldn’t find any review videos that even considered them as a pair, but the ones I saw were kinda popular too; they had plenty of views. So yeah, I’d love to know your thoughts on this, again I hope this is ok to ask🥹

Also I just discovered you and I love all your content!😭 I’ve exhausted them haha, thank you so much for your work! Lots of love! 🩷🩷🩷

First off, I want to mention that I have a hitherto unspoken rule to not comment on ships other than bkdk. I know you are asking about bkdk specifically, but the framework of the question brings other things into the discussion, so I want to say this clearly to discourage follow-up questions from others which may be angled toward different ships or ship discourse in general. Bkdk is what I’m here for, so bkdk is what I’m going to talk about.

In regards to your actual question, I’m gonna answer by giving you some information about how fandom works in Japan.

Bkdk is the most popular mha ship in Japan in terms of fanworks, by a wide margin.

Japanese fandom is, compared to English-speaking fandom, heavily centered on fanart. Japan has frequent doujinshi (independently published comic) events where dozens or even hundreds of artists come to distribute their work, and many of these have been going on for decades. It is not hyperbole to say that some kind of doujinshi event, showcasing brand new work, is going on in at least one major city in Japan every single month, and these events are attended by hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. Sometimes there are two or more events in a single month.

To be clear, doujinshi are not only fanworks, which is why I specified “independently published comic.” Lots of doujin are original works, and many now well-known mangaka got their start, gained connections, and built their early fanbase through participating in doujin circles (collaborative groups of artists who create work under the same independent label). My point is that visual art and comics are so huge in Japan it is hard to overstate their prominence in the culture as a whole, let alone fandom culture.

So, fanart and doujin are huge, and among fans who make fanart/doujin, bkdk is wildly popular.

The thing you have to ask yourself is, does fanwork represent general readership? Drawing fanart is the most common way to show your love for a series in Japan, but that definitely doesn’t mean every reader is drawing fanart. In my opinion, fanfic is prominent in USA-centered fandom, but obviously only a fraction of the people who enjoy a series are going to write fanfic for it.

I don’t think we can really quantify the opinions of general readership this way. I mean, when you scroll through the comment section of the same kind of clickbaity, hot-topic videos about anime/manga that English-speaking audiences watch, do you feel like those comments accurately reflects what most people think? I know I don’t. There is always going to be a selection bias, because “people who comment on youtube videos” also only represent a fraction of “people who read mha.”

Japanese fandom is significantly more segmented and considerate of differing tastes than English-speaking fandom.

Japanese fandom is pretty strict with its rules of engagement. Personal privacy and respect for others are very important factors. Artists don’t want to be recognized at their day-job for their R18 doujin. Shippers don’t want their comments or cutesy fanart to be algorithmically-fed to users who have no interest in it. This is seen as polite and correct; it is respectful of the fact that people have different tastes, and not everyone will share yours.

See, Japanese fandom recognizes that the internet constitutes public view.

So fan language is coded: words are spelled slightly differently; characters, events, or ships get unique euphemistic nicknames; words or names are replaced with emojis. All of this is to prevent their stuff from being seen by someone just casually searching “Bakugou.”

You have to be in the know to know how to find stuff. You have to actively search for like-minded fans and curate your space, expanding your circle typically through word of mouth. And you have to abide by the rules, or else everyone is going to think you’re an overbearing jerk and not wanna be around you.

If you are just using google translate on social media posts or videos visibly labeled under the series title, you aren’t going to find much in regards to active shipping. Frankly, you aren’t going to see the whole scope of Japanese bkdk fan activity in any one place using any one method. This is how Japanese fandom is designed, and people work pretty hard to keep it that way.

Japanese fandom does not generally engage from the perspective that their desires will be validated by canon.

This is one of the biggest differences. In English-speaking fandom, you see people argue left and right about what’s going to be canon, who’s the endgame ship, and so on. People are very preoccupied by the idea that their ship has to be “validated,” and this validation comes from the notion that canon will reflect their personal preferences and fulfill their hopes for how the story will go.

This is just not the atmosphere in the vast majority of Japanese fan spaces. Remember how I said that jpn fandom recognizes that people have different tastes? This means people also tend to think that it is rather arrogant and demanding to think that your wishes are the only ones that should come true. It is also disrespectful of the mangaka’s artistic vision and hard-work to expect them to disregard their own desires to satisfy you personally.

So, when you ask, “are bkdk even taken seriously?” the question is built upon the idea that people who enjoy the series expect an outcome catered to their tastes.

As you said, most of the comments were for heterosexual pairings, which are the most obvious to predict considering the endings of other popular series published in Weekly Shonen Jump. Furthermore, Yashahime—sequel anime to shounen manga Inuyasha—confirmed that a character roughly ten years of age later grew up and had children with a (slowly-aging but adult) supernatural being who served as her caretaker and protector.

Maybe the video commenters were reflecting personal interest in those ships, or maybe they were just spit-balling off stuff they'd seen before. I can tell you I haven't really seen fanart for any of that, but I don't go looking for it, and m/f ship spaces will be separate from m/m ship spaces.

Still, it is important to remember that audience expectation is not directly correlated to outcome. When the online Shonen Jump+ manga Blue Flag was first published, the vast majority of readers did not expect that one of the characters in the love triangle would be gay. Hell, they expected it so little that the reveal went viral!

Audience expectation may be interesting to think about, but it is not a prediction method.

To sum it up:

Bkdk is extremely popular, but jpn fandom is very private and structured differently than English-speaking fandom.

Any metric of measurement for reader opinion will have its flaws, and audience expectation is not a foolproof way to gauge real outcome.

Personally, I think we should all take a cue from jpn fandom and just have fun.

I hope that answers your question and gives you some context, anon. Thank you for the kind comments on my work, I really appreciate it. <3

[soranihimawari]

Fates Aligned

Word Count: TBD

Pairing: Akaashi Keiji x YN!Reader

Rating: AKF (Akaashi Keiji Fluff)

Notes: Josei manga refers to manga which appeals to young adult women. :]

Thinking back on your high school days could pose a problem for you. You're attending your reunion and are amongst friends who are filling you in on their lives: who got married to who, who's adding to their family, and who's dating who. You realize as they talk you become more and more disassociated in the conversation. It's not like you had any juicy gossip to offer--you weren't dating anyone with the prospect of marriage on the way and you definitely weren't expecting an addition to your family except for maybe adopting another kitten to go along with the two year old cat you have waiting for you at home.

As the night progressed, you enjoy a few more drinks and light snacks at your end of the table. That is until you see him. Him, the young man from your past Japanese literature class with stunning gun-blue metal eyes, soft charcoal hair, and quiet nature. His best friend was the loud and often cheery captain of the volleyball team. You remember him as a gentle soul, after all he was much taller than you then. Nowadays, as you over hear of his publishing successes, you are shy to say to you have read many of his publishing house's manga. Your collection is massive, yet no one here would think you were an avid fan.

Until one member of your side of the table brings up a highly popular josei manga title. Your ears perk up as you enter the conversation saying you are an avid fan and reader of the title. A few things to note: the title was published online independently, second, when the copyright was up for renewal, a new publishing company bought it to have the author continue the story, third said author was attending is high school reunion in the pub where you seemed to be gushing over their work.

Whatever you said caused Akashi Keiji to confidently stride up to you and hang out at your end of the table.

"I take it you like that work," he says. "You're, yln yn,m right? Shared a desk with you in Japanese literature."

He seems amused. You seem a bit flustered as you swirl your empty water cup in your hands. You were trying to be a little less drunk before calling it a night.

"You remember me?" you say with a slight scoff. "It's usually hard for people outside of my friend circle here to recognize me. Nice to see you too Akaashi-kun."

He laughs as he clinks glasses with you. As the night progresses, you two become more and more acquainted past the "what happened after university" and the "where/what do you do now" questions.

You were pleased to know he landed a publishing job much like he was impressed your hobby of photography landed you a few lead exposes for National Geographic. Regardless of the years spent apart from that one classroom in Fukurodani, Akaashi lets you in on a little secret.

"You know," he begins. There is a small curl of his lips. "Sitting next to you inspired me to start drawing a little."

"Really? Now that you're a publisher, I didn't think you'd have to be the artist behind the manga," you reply.

"True, but my first manga heroine? She was inspired by you," he said this casually as he pulls out his phone to show you a very rough sketch of a short, limited series run of a manga you read online.

"N-no way," you gasp. You start to see little coincidences of you in the character when you re-read the first few pages and you glance back at Akaashi.

"I was too shy and reserved back then to ask, but," he starts when you hand him his phone back. "Would you like to go out with me sometime? I have a deadline to meet next Thursday, but Friday I am free."

And without missing a beat, you reply.

"Sure, I can be free next Friday. Anything for the author of 'fates aligned': a red string of fate short series," you smile brightly as he chuckles.

[sawturn77]

𝑶𝑪𝑬𝑨𝑵 𝑬𝒀𝑬𝑺 (𝒇𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒎𝒊 𝒙 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓)

MASTERLIST.

04: take me out, and take me home.

january 7th, 2018.

my stomach began to swirl. disgust? no. nausea? no. i was nervous to the bone, nearly shaking. today was the day i promise nobara and yuji i’d go to the arcade with them, but i know they’d just drag megumi along to. they’d leave us together, alone, by ourselves, away from them..ugh! what was the point of being nervous?? i’ve got to woman up! what could go wrong? actually, i take that back. sooo many things could go wrong. i jinx myself every time with that. i heard suguru in the kitchen, probably making breakfast. satoru left last night, a little earlier than usual. i reach for my phone, turning it over and reading the time. “ 7:17am” i might as well get up now. after washing my face and brushing my teeth, i put on some clothes and did my hair. i’d be back in time to change my outfit and re-do my hair.

——

i make my way downstairs, the aroma of pancakes filling the air. “morning, sugu.” he turned to smile at me when i greeted him. “good morning, y/n. you got time for breakfast today?” i nod eagerly, watching him place the pancakes on the plate and drizzle syrup on them. he sprinkles sugar on them, adding a side of assorted fruit on the side. (if you don’t like pancakes, just imagine its your fav breakfast food) suguru smiles at me, handing me the plate. i stuff my face, smiling so hard my cheeks start to hurt. “where are you headed? you’re not usually up so early.” i swallow before answering. “just a quick run to the cafe. want me to bring you something back?” “no, its fine. thanks for asking though.” i just nod. im gonna get him something anyway. i finish eating and wash my dish. “oh, i almost forgot. im going to the arcade with nobara and yuji later.” suguru nodded, patting my head. “alright. will you be home before dinner?” i hummed. moments like these made me remember how good of an older brother suguru is. just when my hand reached the front door, i turned around to hug him. “w-woah, are you okay?” i nod. “thank you, sugu.” he chuckles, patting my back. “aww, n/n, you’re such a sap.” “shut up!!”

——

once i arrived at the cafe, i had to stand in line for a few minutes. i was lucky today, though. normally, the lines are huge, but today, i was only 12th in line.

before i could make a snarky comment, i noticed someone get in front of me. it was a totally random guy! what the hell? how was i gonna confront him? surely someone entitled enough to jump in front of someone in line would not be easy to deal with. he’d probably cause a scene. y’know what, whatever. i’ll just keep my mouth shut. im not in a rush-

“hey, she was next in line.”

all the blood in my body rushes to my face, was that..? the guy in front of me turns around, the same entitled smirk i thought he’d have on his face. but, that wasn’t the point. i turn my head stiffly to look over my shoulder. there he was. megumi fushiguro himself. white button up shirt, rolled up sleeves-he dresses like satoru? “what are you gonna do about it? tell your girlfriend to wait in line like everyone else.” megumi’s face remains indifferent, and his tone only get harsher. “you should do the same. scram, you idiot.” straight out of a shoujo manga, i thought. caught in my own thoughts, i almost miss the part where megumi pulls out a familiar card, a black one with silver lining, the initials “S.G” were engraved on it. satoru’s card? the guy’s eyes go wide with regret, like a deer in headlights. “im deeply sorry!” he yelps before scurrying to the back of the line. i stood there for a few seconds. turning to megumi, i spoke. “m-megumi! you really didn’t have to!” he just shrugs, putting the card away. “it was the right thing to do.” i smile. “i appreciate it. can i buy you a drink?” he shakes his head at my offer. “its fine, really.” such a gentleman. “well, surely you’ll let me repay you in some way?” “you can let me pay for your stuff.” i froze for a moment. he..he wants to pay for me? “n-no..i cant ask you to do that..”

in the end, he ended up convincing me to let him pay. even though im sure he was using one of satoru’s many cards, the gesture was nice. my face felt hot the entire time. “uhm, thank you again, megumi. i really appreciate it.” he nods. “its nothing.” god, he was humble too? how perfect could he possibly be? im was somewhat surprised that someone who grew up with satoru could be at least half decent. but then again, its megumi im talking about. he was always this way, maybe a bit more sour as a kid though. i glanced over at him. i found out that he drinks black coffee straight. im not shocked at that.

he gave me his number!! my hearts pumping fast! maybe i am oblivious. surely someone like megumi wouldn’t just give anyone his number. or maybe nobara’s delusions are rubbing off on me. he offered to walk me home, but even if i wanted to take his offer, he’d already done a lot for me. im not gonna ask him to do more.

——

by the time i got back, it was 9:15. suguru was doing laundry. “sugu, im home.” i announced, leaving my shoes at the front door. i placed his drink and the croissant i bought him on the counter. he peaked his head out from around the corner. “y/n, i told you that you didnt have to get me anything. he smiles, patting my head. “well, too bad. you shouldve known i was gonna get you something anyway.” i shrug and he just chuckles. “youre too much. thanks.” he pats my head, going back to finish doing laundry. i make my way upstairs, plopping on my bed and remembering what happened at the cafe. he can’t possibly like me like that. megumi would probably like a quiet and reserved girl. i mean, i can be like that, but is that who i really am? and why do i feel the need to be someone worthy of his romantic interest? weird. my phone dings.

an: srry its saturday and i said u was gonna post on friday😞anyways i was thinking if starting a gojo x reader series but idk i might do it after i finish this series.

TAGLIST: @kasumitenbaz @morgyyyyyyy @fillmeup6969 @maya-maya-56 @sad-darksoul (OPEN)

[emissary-of-the-moon]

Every so often i need some good midlink stuff so i re-read the twilight princess manga and my fucking god

Akira Himekawa when i catch you-

L- I'll come with you

M- Dont say that. You’re the Hero of the World of Light. You must serve Hyrule.

L- But I still haven't adventured with the real you. So we can't say goodbye.

M- No Link go back.

L- I don't want to.

AHHHH

AND THEN SHE SLAPS HIM AND KISSES HIM AND SHOVES HIM AWAY AND "I'm not trying to silence you. That was a gift, from the real me. Farewell."

AND THEN ITS THE TEAR THE MOMENT THE ONE I KNOW BY HEART 'you can't possibly hear in image'

The image:

I KNOW

I KNOW EXACTLY WHEN THAT MUSIC CHANGES

Its that way she has such a sad smile in the manga and in game too

"Im glad that i met you Link" THROWING MYSELF OFF A CLIFF

"May you live forever, my beautiful Twilight Princess"

THEYRE SO CRINGE SOMETIMES IT HURTS BUT I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I HATE TRAGEDY WHY COULDNT THEY GET A HAPPY ENDING

They are my roman empire. Constantly thinking about them and having my heart ripped out

[alterdaes]

"I'm gonna start doing my reading wrap-ups on the last day of the month!" I said on April 30th, and then proceeded to forget to do this last night 😂 Anyways, May was a pretty good reading month for me! I read five books, and DNF'd one. I participated in withcindy's 2024 Asian Readathon challenge over on Storygraph, and was able to cover all five of the prompts with the books I finished!

Anyways, thoughts below the cut

Iron Widow - 4/5. Originally I gave it a 3.75 but after sitting with it for a while I decided I'll probably re-read it at some point in the future, so it deserves at least a 4. Loved the MC Zetian, and really fascinated by the world Xiran is built there. That ending certainly left me wanting more. I did find the middle of the book to be a bit slow, and I'm not 100% sold on the M/M portion of the polycule yet. I'd like to be, but I'm not. Hoping the next book will give all three of them more moments together

Dungeon Meshi Volume 8 - 5/5. I'm very slowly picking my way through this. I'm not really in a rush since the anime's going to be wrapping up its first season soon and I'm keenly aware that the manga will be all I have for a while after that lol anyways, that said, I loved this volume. The Canaries are great, and the changeling mushroom plotline was probably one of my favorites so far.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - 4.25/5. I've been wanting a lighthearted contemporary romance for a while, and this one hit just right! The characters were loveable, the plot was fast-paced but didn't sacrifice character development, time was spent to flesh out this world that was just slightly alternate of our own, and there was even a twist I didn't see coming. All in all, a very enjoyable read that I'd definitely pick up again.

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine - 5/5. All I can say is a recommend checking out this book. Rashid Khalidi is a Palestinian historian and covers this topic extremely thoroughly in this book, in a way that I found easy to digest. Considering my track record with paying attention to history textbooks, that's saying something. I definitely believe its important to understand the full historical context behind this conflict, including and especially the United States involvement in it, as it has put so much of the current administration's current actions into a horrifying perspective.

The Moon Represents My Heart - DNF'd. I have a confession - I like time-travel stories in theory, but I have yet to read a book that features it that I like. I'd also like to find a literary book I like, and a book about a time traveling family seemed like the perfect character-focused book. Sadly this fell short for me in that department as well. I just could not connect to any of the characters, and I found myself pulling up the table of contents often to see how much more I had to go. Finally at 33% of the way through I decided to stop torturing myself. Maybe one day I'll return to this but...not any time soon.

An Artificial Night - 5/5. well I finished my re-read of this like I'd hoped, but it took the entire damn month with every thing else I was reading! 😆 It remains one of my favorite Toby Daye books. The second half of the book, and the repercussions of Toby being successful in her mission, is what stood out to my most this time around. That could just be because I adore how Seanan tied in so many aspects of faerie lore into this; I think her take on the Ballad of Tam Lin was especially genius. Anyways, Toby is still my favorite failgirl, I still adore her and Tybalt together, Conner still bothers the hell out of me, and the Luidaeg remains my favorite side character in the series. Also, I wish we got to see more of Acacia in the series.

Right now I'm reading A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal because my hold came in at the library and I'd been really looking forward to this one. I've also said before on my main that I've got quite a few queer books lined up for this month, and I do hope to get through the next Toby book, Late Eclipses, this month as well.

[prettyboykatsuki]

Fang I just re read your Rin m*mmy fic and also got to the part in the manga where he’s like “oh im not alone at blue lock? Disgusting. I need to kill them.” And I just 😔 ugh I need to. Eat him. Wanna coddle him so bad and coo at him and make him feel so mushy that he wants to kill me and then himself

rin most babyboy character ever idc idc idc.

its so ridiculous the way i need to enable his spolied behavior and fuck him like crazy... he is so coddleable.... so cute... you have to pacify him a little or else he'll get too worked up.

he's so cute............ the drooling did some insane brain damage to me i cant even begin to describe how it endears me. what do you mean when you get to something you literally drool im going to be soooo weird to

[festivalofthe12]

No but it really is starting to settle on me just how much MORE popular Yuki/Kakeru is since the new anime came out.

Like: I recently regained access to my old livejournal from the late 00s!!!! And unfortunately I made that after the height of my Fruits Basket phase, but I still did make some mention of Yuki/Kakeru... And, well.

18) A pairing that is woefully unappreciated! YUKI/FRICKINGKAKERU. I swear, there's less than a PAGE of this on fanfic.net. Less than a PAGE. Geez, it's implied SO MUCH in so many scenes, even WITHOUT the whole 'I'll brake up with you' thing. Bloody fandom, don't appreciate good characters and pairings when they see them... (8/3/2008)

And as I implied in an earlier post, while I was trawling through the Ao3 tag (still on-going!!) I decided to give myself a blast from the past and re-read through the Yuki S. and Kakeru M. filter on ff.net, which I remember checking religiously. Today? Three pages.

Ao3 has 10 pages and 200 works!!!

And even then, like, lately I've been going through my old bookmarks (sadly I've only found one Yuki/Kakeru, which I'd already remembered anyway), with a current focus on Zuko/Aang. Well, even just by googling I can immediately summon up whole rec lists of livejournal snippets and fic memes and the like, so I was excited to see what I could dig out for Yukeru, since I certainly remember Fruits Basket having a big presence on that site!

Nothing. Literally, I haven't found anything yet. Save a livejournal comm with exactly three posts, long-dead.

Of course, it makes sense that the new anime brought in new fans: Kakeru famously never showed up in the old anime, so people would only have ever even met him if they read through to, what? Volume 8? Later? of the manga. And I do recall the fandom being far less... Yuki-positive, back then. Yuki/Kyou was a popular ship, of course, and Yuki/Haru was around, but those ships had Kyou and Haru fans behind them; you'd only ship Yukeru if you were really invested in Yuki himself.

But it's still just boggling me. I did find Yuki/Kakeru rec lists, but they're all from the last few years. They alone have as much fanfic as ff.net had of Yukeru total back in 2008, when Kakeru had surely existed for a good half a decade at least, even in English.

Is there something about the current fanfiction landscape that is far more amenable to Yuki/Kakeru? Probably, yeah, I think: it's a pairing very situated for queer coming-of-age found family type stories, which are much more popular now. (Not that they never existed before! But fandom was much less... consciously activist-y. Maybe I'm just betraying my age back then, but it was much more common to ship boys simply because they were ~smexy~ together, as I think I myself cringefully wrote about Yuki/Kyou in my very first livejournal post...)

And it's. Such a strange feeling. I remember when I realised that season 2 of the anime had come out, and on a whim deciding to check the Yuki/Kakeru fanfic tag on ao3. And I thought I found only a small number! And I read one, and went 'oh cool, my old ship has Plural New Works!' and moved on!!! I truly had no IDEA there were so MANY... or that they were so GOOD.

Yuki/Kakeru was one of the first ships I ever wrote. The fic was very long and I'm sure very bad, though unfortunately this is from the period of my writings lost to time, so I'll sadly never be able to check it out for my (current) self. I think it was the first lemon I ever wrote; on a Pirates of the Caribbean fic I exclaimed that this second lemon was much better than my first, and I have a sneaking suspicion Yuki/Kakeru is who my 14-or-so old self had written like that.

I made a friend on ff.net because they were one of the very few Yuki/Kakeru writers. I have a visceral memory of coming upon the 'I'll break up with you' scene while reading the manga at school during lunch, and how I immediately exclaimed it aloud in great excitement, startling a poor teacher who had been talking to one of my friends and no doubt knew me as being very quiet. I'm sure I must have drawn it in all sorts of little doodles; I saved a lot of my old high school arts, so maybe I should try going through those as well?

I don't know. I'm just feeling a great sense of awe, I guess, haha. That ship was *so important to me*, and it was *so hard* to find anyone else who felt as strongly as me! (My friends all liked Fruits Basket with me, of course, but we've always tended to have divergent ship tastes.) And right beneath my nose, it has had a renaissance! It sprouted and bloomed and then went dormant again while I twiddled my thumbs, vaguely promising myself that I'd get back to the new anime at some point or other!

God I just. REALLY wish I'd been paying attention while the anime was airing, hahaha. :') My inner child has been so thoroughly validated by this all, that this ship I cared so much about really IS as great and important and meaningful as I'd always thought it was! But how must it have been to be in the thick of it all, when the ship tags were thriving? When I could've seen the new viewer's reactions to famous scenes? When everyone else was thinking about Yukeru as much as I have been, this last month or so?

But I'm not only unhappy. i can't not be grateful that these people have come and made works which I can still now and enjoy, and that there are still certainly people around to like my silly little Yukeru posts and even maybe make new ones. Things are so much better now than they were back then.

It's just. Incredible. Why didn't any of this happen back then?! Why did this Understanding take so long to spread and percolate?!? I don't know. But I'm happy. My younger self... is so, so happy. :'DDD

[epickiya722]

Do you have a certain moot that love a media (anime/manga) that you also love but have a very different view than you? But both of you still friends for years..... I have a moot like that.

I'm a multishipper at heart, so I love shipping from any media that I consume (especially shounen anime/manga). And all my ships are non canon m/m & f/f....My moot also love non canon ships, but only for m/f...

See, after we spend 6 months to binge read all Naruto manga (because both of us did not follow the anime when we were little), do you know what happened?

I said to them, "Wow, now I get it why people ship Naruto/Sasuke, they 're totally gay for each other. And their bond is special..." And they said, "I wish Naruto end up with Sakura and Sasuke just end up alone as the last uchiha.." And I was, 😳😮...They said : " What? Naruto and Sasuke are like brothers (platonic soulmate)...."

Like from any shounen, they can came up with het ship, I cannot get it...

When we started JJK, they said to me, "I ship Yuuji with Nobara, their dynamic is great..." And I was, "Dude, how about Maki? Nobara/Maki and Yuuji/Megumi are way more sense and better.."

They said, "I ship Maki and Yuta, sorry let's just agree to disagree on these ships...."

I answered, "Fine, let me guess, you ship Gojo with Utahime, right?"

They said, "Damn it...! I want to. I do when I first start the series. But then, JJK 0 and Hidden Inventory arc happen...And when Gojo got unsealed, the first thing he did was to got Geto's body to mourn him. And airport scene, the first face he saw was Geto...? I have to be blind to not saw the subtext. For this you won. I can't help but ship Gojo with Geto...."

What do you think 🤭?

P.s Do you understand Yuji/Nobara ship? I can still see Yuta/Maki but Yuji/Nobara.....?

I actually don't think I have a moot like that, well, in terms of shipping. My moots usually have the same ships than I do. Really the things we have different views on would be probably theories and fandoms.

Now, I'll agree on that "let's agree to disagree" thing because hey, we all do have different tastes and opinions.

Okay, fact about me! I actually haven't seen all of Naruto. Hell, I'm just finding out about movies I didn't know existed. (I only knew about... two.) But I seen enough of it to see why people ship Sasuke and Naruto. Like... there's just a lot going there with them. I actually don't get people who only view as platonic and label them as siblings. Just stop at "platonic". I have siblings and we do not treat each other the way some ships be treating each other. Some people aren't even friends with their siblings and have close bonds with them.

I feel like some people who throw the "sibling" label on ships just do it to dig at shippers like "You're the gross one" but... if you're the one who sees them as siblings despite all that subtext then wouldn't that make you the gross one?

Like, you don't have to ship it! But damn, not every ship you see you have to go "Oh my gosh, they're like siblings"!

That's just me!

Moving onto JJK!

When I watch a series, I don't watch it for ships unless it's a romance, but other than that I needs my plot. I'll have my ships along the way, but I'm here for the story and its characters.

It's the case for JJK. When I watched the first season and got into reading the manga, I did get my ships. Gojo and Geto? Yeah, that's a ship that even if you don't ship it, you have to admit that there's definitely something going on there.

Like, you can't resist it!!

This is also Utahime and Shoko for me. I couldn't resist shipping them when finding out they hang out a lot. And I'm going to be honest... and this is going to sound wild... but I don't need more in canon for them, I don't. It seems when you're not shown in canon a lot, you're safe and I need those two safe.

I'm rambling, let's more on.

Okay, about Yuji and Nobara. Hm... I can see why your friend ships them because they do have their moments in the story that is cute and all. I'm a ItaFushi shipper, but I will acknowledge that Nobara and Yuji do have a bond, too and people will ship them because of that. But do I ship them? I don't, not really. They're more like chaotic besties for me. Their vibes are different from the vibes I get with Nobara and Maki.

Those two? Had me like this 👀 during that one scene after the confrontation with Mai. Maki came to save Nobara like her knight and Nobara did not waste time calling Maki pretty.

Overall, I don't fault either of you for having the ships you have. Both of you just have different tastes, is all. And I know with Shonen, "chemistry" tends to be more between characters of the same gender, especially with M/M pairings and there's little to M/F ones and if there is, sometimes it just feels "forced", I guess. But I don't blame M/F shippers for seeing something in their ships. It's just what any shippers do.

Hell, I like rarepairs sometimes even when the characters never had an onscreen interaction.

For me, what makes me like a ship is the characters and their interactions. And depending on the vibes I feel, I either ship it or I'm more indifferent to it.

My grievances when it comes to any ship, no matter the genders, be the shippers themselves. Sometimes, folks can be too much and jerks for no reason. I separate ships from the shippers because sometimes, what if said ship is something I do enjoy or come around to? I don't want to muddle my view on a ship because of the people who aren't even responsible for the characters and the ship itself isn't bad. And not every shipper of that ship is a terrible human being.

Even if me and another person have the same taste in ships, I will block them if their behavior rubs me the wrong way.

With you and your moot! You may have different ships, but do you get along well enough?

I'm rambling again, I'll stop here. That's really all I have to say. (ノ＞▽＜)ノ

[neonscandal]

Just see this in twitter by someone : "I'm starting to think maybe people should read actual BL manga. perhaps considering manga written with actual gay characters in it in addition to shipping m x m from whatever battle shounen you're into."

Like because of those subtext, there can be fanfics and fanarts, right? And then I decided to come here, your blog is really one of my comfort place....

Comfort place!? This makes me want to carve out time to post infinitely more. 🥹 Even though it feels a bit aimless, I’m glad I could cultivate that for you and hope I can continue to do so.

RE: twitter, without context, it's hard to tell whether this person is earnestly recommending people to expand their interests into BL or if they're dumping on people who tend to support and identify queer shipping across other genres.

On the one hand, heavy agree that if you appreciate queer pairings of any kind to absolutely find media and stories that shows healthy (and authentic, if possible!) representation of whatever you're into. I feel like sometimes in BL, specifically, there’s a lot of toxicity or violence passed off as romance which is why I recommend being discerning. Here are some green flag recommendations and I kind of touch on the importance of identity through engaging with queer content by way of BL's featuring fudanshi's there. Isn't always the case, but it's a storyline I appreciate.

If the poster was side eyeing queer ships in "mainstream" or shonen stories... they should grow up. I've been in and out of fandom for like.. 20 years. There have always been people who recognize and popularize queer ships. Back in the day? Characters didn't even have to share the same show, universe or genre to end up in a crossover slash fic on Fanfiction.Net.

Don't get me wrong, I've definitely needlessly explored several crack theories or made off-base assumptions about a story for the sake of trying to guess at where it’s going. But I sometimes question people's competency for reading/watching comprehension when a particularly shitty hottake is making its rounds on social media. Like are we not watching the same thing?

Subtext does exist. I don't know that all authors are as elegant or intentional in its execution but if you're not bothering to consider the possibility, you're potentially missing out on critical pieces of a story you're choosing to invest hours/years of your life into! This isn't simply as it pertains to shipping but also picking up on critical exposition (Attack. On. Titan.) or even questioning whether the information we're getting as the reader or viewer is conveyed with any sort of narrator bias. Yes, this is absolutely a My Hero Academia call out. ✨

Queer coding does exist. Tons of reasons why queer characters aren't always explicitly identified as such. More often than not, there's some form of censorship. Whether at the editing level during manga production or when it comes time for manga/shows to be approved for international distribution (re: information that's lost in translation vs outright decisions to alter the flow of the story). Most glaring example of this that comes to mind is Haruka Tenou or "Sailor Uranus"/Michiru Kaiou or "Sailor Neptune. In addition to gratuitous name changes when Sailor Moon was pushed abroad, several countries would rather portray the two as unusually close relatives despite the clear romantic undertones exhibited whenever they were on screen together. Also, IDK why, but pretty sure I'd seen somewhere that, initially the creator of Naruto did want to canonize Sasuke/Naruto but, truth be told, I've never watched the series and that could have been a fanon theory I'd seen.

Overarching messages exist. Similar to the first point, a story is seldom just a story. More often than not, you're looking at some sort of social critique or opinion that's being expressed or explored through the story. To not bother thinking critically about what you choose to spend time in enjoying is a pretty bland way to miss the point of it.

When all else fails, it's not our fault that the only relationships most shonen mangaka focus on developing is the one between "rivals". That's it. If there were more dynamic characters or literally any consideration toward the depth of intimacy between the main character and whatever tritagonist female lead the male lead inexplicably ends up with (aside from the simple rationale that "she is the girl 🎀"), then maybe fans won't have to hone in on how the only agency, equality and intimacy is between the only two characters of substance. That was a mouthful but so are the overly poetic soliloquies shonen rivals inevitably share about one another.. ✨

I'm guessing this question might be related to the last anon ask about fanfics? I agree regarding the fact that subtext allows for a richer selection of fan art and fics. I think, depending on content, the motivation for reading fics will subsequently differ. For instance, I'm less likely to read fanfics for a romance series even if I sometimes write for them because the source material generally satisfies what I wanted from them. But fix it fics, angst and romance fics for shonen/seinen series'?? I'll definitely pick them up because, 1) there are usually unexplored relationship dynamics in the source material, 2) there are alternative domestic/fluff storylines you'd never see because the genre doesn't allow for it, 3) the canon plot is usually so devastating *cough, JJK, cough* that I need a respite, and/or, 4) the developing plot tends to have a lot of holes that writers can explore to craft uniquely compelling AU's and alternative plotlines that I wouldn't imagine.

Man, it's been a while since I nerded out and really took the time to bang out a rant. I've had so many thoughts bouncing around but just zero time. Thank you for your ask and the reminder that there's someone else out there in the shipping trenches. Stay safe out there, anon!

[tittysuckersworld]

YOU'RE ALSO A BSD FAN??? - Tighnari blog mod.

I'm sorry, I just saw that and I am overly attached to BSD

ya sorta???? i had friend that liked it lot in middle school and am only now sucuming to the years of pull to this fandom by a re-awakening of my love for mafia drama type stuffs. im going a lil insane and gotta read the manha at some point but ya! am even making arts cause m a n do i want more content and who else to make whay want than myself.

if wish to rant about anything can tell cause have already spoiled myself a big lil bit lol- also if may ask do you know if anime or manga better? i was just gonna go manga cause thats easier for me but the anime from what ive heard of it has some really good vas so idk. but yee im just have gotten in and i might be here a wile cause wow is good

[roobylavender]

omg i always find the discussion on kishimoto and shounen writers re: writing romance and female characters really interesting bc it's so true that wider fandom refuses to engage with heroines even at the level of male characters who have the same amount of screentime/development, even more so if they occupy any sort of love interest role because they're "in the way" of m/m pairings - but i also wonder how much of this discussion has turned into "if you don't ship this (shoddily-written) heterosexual pairing you are doing a disservice to X female character" with the poor excuse that shounen series supposedly """don't focus""" on romance anyway (if that's truly the case, why does the author bother introducing it as a last-minute element by suddenly marrying off half the cast?) like if romance is going to be a genre introduced to the manga (and if any and every interaction between the two characters who end up as married in the final chapter is to be taken as romantic, then romance is indeed going to be counted as one of the story's genres), surely it needs to be taken seriously and held to the same standard as the action and fantasy world-building genres of a manga...

also not to out myself as a grandma but personally this new idea i sometimes see on reddit or twitter that "shounen authors aren't 'allowed'(?) to develop their romances properly or focus on romantic subplots" honestly disgusts me as a certified 80s manga enjoyer lmao because it's such an insult to decades of prior shounen manga that did in fact take the time to write romance well and thus didn't end up with canon pairings anywhere near as controversial as, say, the ones in nardo or bleach... like it just goes to show how little people know about the genre to be making super broad and baseless statements like that. it's got the same energy as when people read 2010s DC comics and think they've gotten the best the genre has to offer even though 1) they haven't even skimmed the surface of the material 2) modern stories are written terribly compared to their predecessors

LIKE people cite that ursula k le guin quote about H/P to talk about how it's like incredibly derivative, practically factory-generated fantasy but imo it doesn't quite hold true because H/P isn't fundamentally a fantasy story but rather a boarding school one with fantastical elements - but that quote does absolutely hold true for naruto and its role within the shounen genre because every element of it is ripped off from its betters (i.e. slam dunk, HxH, etc) yet people praised it as if it was completely original and the pinnacle of shounen... and yet despite it all, broader fan consensus still found the female characters and their romances in both the series examples i listed (that kishi clearly plagiarized from) more agreeable than the canon ones in naruto 🙈

somewhat tangential to this but i feel like what makes this phenomenon (as in the one you talk about in the last paragraph) prevalent within mainstream shounen manga specifically is the way that manga publication works to begin with. like although magazines are generally reflective of genre categorizations they need not always be so (eg clamp which has published typically shoujo content in typically shounen magazines and vice versa) and usually your serialization in a magazine happens because you applied to it through a competition. and you applied through that competition for that magazine because you were enamored with the mangaka already employed by the magazine. the wsj hierarchy is essentially a long form example of this in that many of its mangaka were either fanboys of their predecessors on the magazine and thus decided to apply to it or they were lucky enough to work as assistants to those mangaka and then spring off into their own work once they had found the footing to do so. the derivative nature of the various series in the magazine is practically manufactured! and it's a wonky sort of survival of the fittest scheme in that the successor mangakas get to pick and choose what elements that were key to their admiration they incorporate into their own work. that's how i think you get to works like naruto and bleach. i don't think it's outright plagiarism but more.. fanboy antics distilled into fanfiction that subsequently goes through an editorial process to prepare it for original publication. the twilight turned masters of the universe turned fifty shades of grey phenomenon if you will. how you fare after that then depends on your own additional input. i feel like although kishi definitely modeled some character and relationship dynamics on those of his predecessors what attracted people to his story was his world (which is ironic because it's more than arguable that his world is underdeveloped in various places) and how that world contextualized those already familiar dynamics. that's why even though the naruto-sasuke rivalry was admittedly modeled off of the yusuke-hiei one there was still a significant difference in overarching function between the two relative to their place within each series

as for the commentary on romance specifically i definitely agree with you that there's no excuse for romance writing to be taken less seriously merely because something is published in a shounen magazine lol. and frankly with respect to naruto specifically i always find this excuse to be very confusing because at least with sasusaku the writing is very intentional.. a lot of people seem to skirt over their development with respect to each other because it's convenient to ignore and that always frustrates me because kishi is more than due his fair share of criticism for any number of things but it's silly to criticize him for the absence of something when there is precisely.. no absence. i think a lot of people mistake subtlety for absence if anything. the moments when sasuke deliberates on his weakness and inability to save sakura and how that should render him worthless in her eyes are largely unimportant to naruto's readership so they either act like they never happen or they conveniently isolate sasuke's explosive reactions to that worthlessness without allowing other people to view the context that birthed them. that scene in part one where he shoves the apples away from her is one i see spread sooo often but no one ever includes the thoughts running through sasuke's head right before it happens

i do think kishi can generally be criticized for not making romance more of a focal point of his narrative because love in all of its forms is so important to that narrative and sasusaku's example in particular is quite revolutionary with respect to the world the characters occupy (as is naruhina's i would say). but i also feel like it's premature of people to say that they lack development. they only really lack development with respect to that final chapter which most people acknowledge is a corny fast-forward future written for the sake of wrapping things up in a bow. where they end up by the end of chapter 699 is pretty well predicated by the extent of their journey and people only really dislike it because where they're willing to look beyond the violence between naruto and sasuke they're not willing to do the same for sakura and sasuke. admittedly i'm biased but i do think it's one of those rare situations where people are doing a disservice to sakura if they don't even try to read into the intents behind her relationship with sasuke. i don't think people have to like it by any means but i wish there was more good faith engagement with it because there is certainly plenty to criticize about kishi but i don't think most people actually even get at what's worth criticizing because they're too busy making up excuses for him even though those excuses are supposedly supposed to be criticism loljfkldsjgdf

[ao3feed-dadzawa]

Tears Falling Like Leaves Form the Giving Tree

Tears falling like leaves form the giving tree by Nickiedickie

Izuku Midoriya lost his mother years ago, and in the aftermath of her death, his father had to re-enter his life. Hisashi blames Izuku for his mother's death and never lets it go. Izuku's only hope in his life of pain is to become a hero after meeting All Might he chooses to truly make his dream come true. Pushing past his abusive father, hurtful classmates, and his own harmful thoughts he gets into UA. Izuku becomes depressed and overly independent and must push through to achieve his goal. After the Kamino event, Aizawa begins to realize something might be wrong with Izuku's tendencies. Will Aizawa give Izuku his first-ever hug ??? Or will Izuku lie his way out of help due to his own fears?

Or

Izuku has a bad dad. Gets a new dad.

Words: 10133, Chapters: 6/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), My Hero Academia

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: Gen, M/M

Characters: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead's Family, Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Hisashi, Shinsou Hitoshi, Todoroki Shouto, Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic

Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Midoriya Izuku, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead & Shinsou Hitoshi & Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Midoriya Izuku & Shinsou Hitoshi, Midoriya Izuku & Todoroki Shouto

Additional Tags: Parental Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead | Dadzawa, Midoriya Izuku is Bad at Feelings, Midoriya Izuku Needs A Hug, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Adopts Shinsou Hitoshi, Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead Adopts Midoriya Izuku, Abusive Parents, Abusive Midoriya Hisashi, Dead Midoriya Inko, Self-Harm, Self-Sacrificing Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shouto is a Good Friend, Shinsou Hitoshi Replaces Mineta Minoru, Shinsou Hitoshi is in Class 1-A, Shinsou Hitoshi is a Good Friend, Insomniac Shinsou Hitoshi, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Author Regrets Everything, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Soft Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kinda, idk how to tag, Help, also i cant spell, sorry, Midoriya Izuku Has One for All Quirk, Yagi Toshinori | All Might Bashing, well kinda, he says sorry

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45714259

[rubyvroom]

Books I read in 2022

I cannot possibly remember every book, so I'm missing some, but looking at my bookshelves this is what I was able to come up with.

This year: almost no non-fiction, almost all new books. During the early phase of the pandemic I got super into manga, which cut into my prose reading time, so there are fewer books here than in previous years.

The best ones

Circe - I got it for Christmas last year and I read it in about 2 days because I could not put it down. Beautiful writing, excellent restaging of The Odyssey, everything I ever wanted 10/10

The Song of Achilles - After finishing Circe I bought this at Shakespeare and Company when I was in Paris and it actually distracted me from my trip a little bit because again, could not put it down. Madeline Miller owns my soul. Circe was better though.

The Locked Tomb - maybe the only time I have ever gone back and re-read the entire series before a book came out instead of just telling myself I would re-read the entire series before the new one came out and then forgetting to and being too impatient to not read the new book straight away. It was really a blast reading all The Locked Tomb back-to-back and I had a great time with Nona The Ninth as a result. All in all probably my best reading experience this year, actually.

I'm Glad My Mom Died - I read the Jeanette McCurdy book mostly on the plane to go spend Christmas with my family, which was a choice. It is not at first what you expect from the title. It's smarter than that. This book is really exceedingly cleverly written in such a way to suck you in and get you having a good time despite how daaaaaaaaark it is in there. Re the abusive mom and child actor tell-all: as bad as you think this will be, it's actually worse. But the pov is so well done and in such a way that you really grok that this girl does not understand how fucked up things are, while making absolutely sure that you as the reader understand exactly how fucked up things are. That is not an easy balance to do well and she makes it look easy. I hope this girl's life is uneventful ever after and that she writes more books, I think she could be a fabulous writer.

Everything else

(Everything I list here I enjoyed at least enough to finish. If I'm not enjoying something I won't get very far into it, and I'm not counting those here. I'm also about partway into 6-8 more books, but those will count for 2023)

The Circle - Dave Eggers Where the Drowned Girls Go - Seanan Maguire Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro Finna - Nino Cipri Hallucinations - Oliver Sacks Miyazakiworld - Susan Napier Remote Control - Nnedi Okorator Cloud Cuckooland - Anthony Doerr Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby Jr Seasonal Fears - Seanan Maguire What Makes This Book So Great - Jo Walton The Past is Red - Catherynne M. Valente A Prayer for the Crown-Shy -- Becky Chambers Fugitive Telemetry (A Murderbot Book) - Martha Wells Revenant Gun - Yoon Ha Lee The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix Harrow Black Sun - Rebecca Roanhorse It Came From the Closet - Various (queer horror analysis anthology) Empire of Gold - S.A. Chakraborty

Graphic novels and manga are another post bye

[ao3feed-todoroki]

Fiery-Frosty Family

Fiery-frosty family by Wezko

In canon, Endeavor abused his family, resulting in Rei going insane, Shouto not using his whole power and the creation of Dabi. . . . Here Enji and Rei are happily married with four happy kids.

Words: 597, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/F, F/M, M/M

Characters: Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Todoroki Rei, Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Todoroki Fuyumi, Todoroki Natsuo, Todoroki Shouto, Higawara Sajin | Snatch, Uwabami, Yaoyorozu Momo, Imasuji Gouto | Muscular, Toga Himiko, Mustard, Yotsubashi Rikiya | Re-Destro, Hanabata Koukuu | Trumpet, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Kamiji Moe | Burnin, Geten

Relationships: Todoroki Enji | Endeavor/Todoroki Rei, Higawara Sajin | Snatch & Todoroki Enji | Endeavor & Uwabami, Dabi | Todoroki Touya & Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor & Todoroki Fuyumi, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor & Todoroki Natsuo, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor & Todoroki Shouto, Dabi | Todoroki Touya & Todoroki Rei, Todoroki Fuyumi & Todoroki Rei, Todoroki Natsuo & Todoroki Rei, Todoroki Rei & Todoroki Shouto, Dabi | Todoroki Touya & Todoroki Fuyumi & Todoroki Natsuo & Todoroki Shouto, Todoroki Shouto/Yaoyorozu Momo, Kamiji Moe | Burnin/Todoroki Fuyumi, Dabi | Todoroki Touya & Muscular & Mustard & Toga Himiko, Todoroki Natsuo & Yotsubashi Rikiya | Re-Destro, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor & Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Additional Tags: Good Parent Todoroki Enji | Endeavor, Good Parent Todoroki Rei, Dabi | Todoroki Touya is Not a Villain, Toga Himiko is Not a Villain, kinda? She Goto and Mustard are the Todoroki's neighbors and are chaotic neutrals, sick fucks that do whatever they want, Family Fluff, Natsuo and Geten kinda fused, Good Sibling Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Good Sibling Todoroki Fuyumi, Good Sibling Todoroki Natsuo, Good Sibling Todoroki Shouto, Yaoyorozu Momo is a Good Friend, Toga Himiko is a Good Friend, I don't know if Mustard is a good friend since he only says Gun, We believe in Manga Redestro in this house, Corrupt Hero Public Safety Commission, is Hawks a requirement for good Todo-fam stories?, Unsure of Touya ship, Princess Yaoyorozu Momo, yes but not exactly, Sibling Bonding

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48452308

[supnerds]

NINTH! have u watched anything new recently that you liked? or supremely disliked?

okay so I was holding off on answering this until after my exam this morning but then I woke up sick as a dog so now this is my consolation prize.

Anyway!! Let me tell you the wonders of one of the latest shows I’ve watched: Parallel World Pharmacy, aka Isekai Yakkyoku!

so side note I’m coming back to this after finishing typing the whole thing and holy wow I went on a bit of a ramble. Idk how to put things under a “read more” on mobile so this is your only warning :)

Our main character is a research pharmacist, who works hard to discover new drugs to benefit patients. However he realizes too late that he misses working with real patients - the main reason why he became a pharmacist. Unfortunately, our dude dies from overworking because setting healthy limits for ourselves is so last century.

Surprise surprise however - he doesn’t go to the afterlife or whatnot - instead he wakes up in the body of Pharma de Medicis, a ten year old boy who is the son of the head pharmacist in a medieval fantasy world (listen I know how it sounds stick with me)

Part of this world’s mechanics are that nobles are distinct from commoners by the fact that they are able to wield a specific element (hello atla). Before our dude moved in, Pharma had previously only been able to create water (these nobles can wield one of the four elements, and only in a create or destruct way - never both and never more than one). Somehow, Pharma 2.0 now has the ability to create and destroy any element he can think of (hello 21 century knowledge) and uses his knowledge of chemical structures to create medications to help those around him. Through reasons, he is able to open the first pharmacy for nobles and commoners alike, and quickly grows in popularity.

Okay so now for my thoughts on the whole thing. I’m gonna be honest, the main reason I clicked on it was because the title said pharmacy and I am actually currently in pharmacy school. I may have gotten a wee bit excited that there was an anime out there focused on my career path (because let’s be honest have you ever seen anything about pharmacy? they say pharmacy is a small world and they are absolutely correct). As I was watching, Pharma actually consistently used accurate treatments for all the conditions he finds which was so exciting for me. I remember there was one episode where a person had tuberculosis - I only learned about the treatments for that sometime last year and the anime got it all right, down to even the chemical structure. So yeah on that hand it’s super cool for me.

One potential drawback - my man Pharma is ridiculously OP, and consistently continues to get more so. I actually looked up the manga after finishing the anime and the manga does a better job of actually showing him get tired and hitting his limits (which was a great callback to you know HOW HE DIED IN THE FIRST PLACE) but still. There’s an amusing bit with some characters who believe him to be an incarnation of the God of Medicine (which the further we get into the story the more likely it seems) and keeps hinting that he may not have much longer in this world for all the power he has, which would be nice to see as a limiter on how much he can do. The story does show how Terrifying he can be with access to so much power, which is also really cool

Story-wise, I found the whole thing pretty compelling. Again I may be biased re: the whole pharmacy thing, but I honestly really enjoyed the whole thing. Another drawback - really long times between updates, or maybe just for English translations. It’s been at least 2 months since the last chapter was posted, which yes not that long but also I want more

also the overall style is just absolutely amazing I love the art and backgrounds etc so here have a few more pics

Overall I think it was a really good show/manga, though if I had to pick between the two I’d go with the manga largely due to just how much More there is and for actually giving him limits and such.

lol that got a lot longer than I thought it would. thanks for letting me ramble!