#I mean I easily would watch at least 3 seasons of a show based off the shenanigans Dan and Herbert would get themselves into

[overly-hubristic-mad-scientist]

Reanimator would probably make a good sitcom. Those movies are just too fucking goofy

[moonlit-typewriter]

The way that every season of Stranger Things manages to not only completely disregard Steve's previous head trauma but then go and give him even more and simply pretend like there wouldn't be lasting damage at this point is something that irks me to no end.

This man has managed to get knocked out in almost every season. According to every medical site I have checked (which is...an embarrassing number), someone being knocked unconscious for even 30 seconds or less is something that is supposed to be taken extremely seriously, as it can be an indicator of bleeding or swelling in the brain.

There are 2 specific instances that I always think of when it comes to my annoyance with this:

Season 2: Steve's fight with Billy. For a moment, let's ignore the fact that he literally had a plate smashed into his head (which alone would cause a lot of damage. Ceramic, glass, and porcelain dishes don't break easily unless dropped from a decent height. So to be able to physically smash it again something that isn't an extremely hard surface, in a single try??? Billy put some force into that swing). Steve was beaten until he was fully unconscious and not just for 30 seconds. He was completely out long enough for the kids to make to leave, have someone object to leaving Steve there, and argue briefly about bringing him along (it's implied that Mike wanted to leave him behind because he "wouldn't be cool" with the tunnel idea), decide to bring him, figure out how to carry him to the car and get him in, and then make it roughly halfway to the tunnels before the older teen started to wake up. This is assuming that all the "first aid" was done during the drive and not beforehand. That is, pardon my french, a long-ass time. And then, of course, he didn't even remove himself from the action (the first recommendation for people who get concussions from sports), instead going with the kids into the tunnel because he wasn't going to let them go alone. This entire ordeal should have resulted in lasting damage, especially if we're assuming Johnathon also gave him a concussion in season 1 (people who've suffered concussions before are at a higher risk for lasting damage if they get any more concussions)

Season 3: The Russians. There's a lot we don't know about what Robin and Steve went through when they were captured by the Russians. We can draw conclusions and make assumptions but we don't know with absolute certainty. From what we've seen, they were separated and it appears that Robin was left alone for the most part, while Steve was beaten and interrogated. With the final moment of his individual interrogation, he is punched in the face and, you guessed it, knocked unconscious. This is after his face is already covered in blood, meaning his head had taken at least several hits. It's possible that it took less force to knock Steve out this time (for several reasons but a big one being that his mouth was open when he took the punch. According to professional fighters, getting hit on or around the chin while your mouth is open is a very quick way to get knocked out. It causes a "lever action" on their skull, rocking their brain back and forth forcefully). However, regardless of this, Steve once again stayed unconscious for a good while. Long enough for the guards to drag him from wherever he was to the room where Robin was, for them to tie him to a chair, and for him to be unresponsive long enough [after the Russians had left] that Robin thought, at least momentarily, that he might be dead. Then of course there was once again no medical attention given. Instead, he and Robin were drugged with an unknown substance, had to run to escape the base, and take part in the final battle of the season. Which, might I add, included Steve driving his car into Billy's with enough speed to knock it off course. If you watch that scene, look at the way his head snaps to the side upon impact, that had to be whiplash at the very least. With the injuries that he already had by that point, it's a wonder that he didn't pass out again.

And you're probably thinking "the show is about an alternate dimension in the 1980s with monsters and kids with superpowers, and you're choosing to focus on medical inaccuracies???" Yes, that is exactly what I'm doing. Because I can suspend disbelief for completely fictional things (i.e: magic powers, mythical creatures, and alternate worlds) but if show-writers aren't even gonna do the research that I did to write this post or talk with a medical professional in order to figure out how they can add small details to show consistency and real-world consequences to the elements of the show that can be found in the real world, that's where I draw the line.

It wouldn't have even had to be major additions, just subtle things such as Steve having trouble seeing and hearing, forgetting things, getting dizzy easier, etc. These little details, in my opinion, would have shown a deeper level of care for the material the writers are creating because it shows that they are making an effort to make parts of the story into more than just moments of action, it shows that they aren't choosing to take the easy way out and expect fans not to care because "the whole show is fantasy so why should it be an issue if the injuries aren't accurate???"

Congrats and many thanks if you actually read this far. Love ya <3

[thelioncourts]

Hi I don't mean to sound too stalker-like, but I saw on Twitter where you replied to someone and said that you didn't think personally that Loustat's divorce era was going to last too long in the show. You said you think maybe the end of season 3 they'll be back together. Can I ask why?

hi! that's not stalker-y at all lol you're totally fine! but I do hope a mini-essay is okay because I have a lot of Thoughts(TM) on this.

general disclaimer, as per usual: this is purely speculation. I know a lot of people on here think they know the exacts of what's going on with filming right and and throughout s2, exacts that may negate what I'm saying, and that's fine, you do you, but also since you're not telling me what it is you know, I am only running with what I know so. this is my speculation based on novels, the show, general television knowledge, and stuff my guy RJ has been saying.

okay so I'm trying to figure out how best to start this. let me just give a bullet list of what it is I'm thinking and then I'll elaborate:

Overall length of the IwtV TV show

Future Anne Rice stuff on AMC

Audience

RJ

Condensed storylines

S1 Finale - specifically 'love of my life' and Daniel's 'Well, isn't that neat and tidy?' commentary

Louis' future

Louis/Armand + Lestat/Nicki in the next two seasons

Exploration of Loustat in future seasons

Akasha storyline

so let's start with the "Overall Length of the IwtV TV Show." outside of The Walking Dead series and its multitude of spin-offs, most shows on the AMC network, even super successful ones, have only run between 5-7 seasons. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Better Call Saul are really well-regarded AMC shows that all only ran for 5-7 seasons. and while it could continue like TWD, it seems fairly unlikely. my personal guess is that IwtV is going to fun for 6-7 seasons, leaning toward 6 if I'm being honest. But like??? Who know??? I could be super off-base, but from the way television is going nowadays, I think a 6 seasons show is something we would be lucky to get. I think this article here really helps explain why this is a good thing, overall, and also why it's happening more often on television.

this brings me to future Anne Rice stuff; so AMC bought 18 of Anne's books. Obviously we have MW going on which is...........a thing..........but! we also have the Night Island series happening! I fully believe they may do several TVC-related spinoffs. Like, depending on Devil's Minion stuff, we could possibly get some kind of Devil's Minion show. We could easily get an Armand mini-series that would also work with Marius and Bianca and Pandora's stories too. Stuff with the Court when we get to the Court, etc. are all things I think we could see. With this in mind it's important to keep in mind that they are making the Immortal Universe. I think we're going to see a lot more beyond IwtV and I think this impacts the storytelling.

alright so now let's get into the audience; the audience is watching for Loustat. yes, they are watching for many things. yes, everyone knows they are watching for many things. but people are watching for Loustat. s1 is a Loustat love story, love tragedy. within minutes of the pilot, they are meeting, they are flirting, they are courting, and by the end they are utterly married and in love. we witness their early marriage, we witness their first marital problem, we witness them have a child to fix their marriage, we witness them separate, we witness them get back together, and we witness, in the finale, this love story close a chapter in a beautiful and heart-wrenching way in which lestat knows louis is going to at least stand aside while an attempt is made on his life, in which louis is destroyed by the "death" of his love, where they get so lost in one another in every single way that matters. the audience is watching for loustat. to a degree, you can't wait too long to give them that or people will get antsy and impatient.

now, in a much more succinct paragraph, Rolin Jones, and a multitude of writers for the show, have described this as a gothic romance. they have specified in a dozen articles and interviews "this is a love story." Rolin Jones repeatedly hones in on the fact that the chemistry read between Sam and Jacob going as well as it did was fundamentally important to the long run of the show. to not use that chemistry would be a waste and RJ has made that very clear, imo.

the show is also condensing storylines, as they should and as they need to. we're obviously not getting all 13 TVC books in their entirety, or in their order. during the first bts video we really had, RJ said that the first trilogy, tva, and prince lestat were where they were primarily pulling stuff, with a couple of other additions that he didn't name, but I very much believe were at least memnoch and merrick and some of the court aspects of the last two books. all of that being said, i think we're obviously seeing iwtv right now, but parts of merrick, parts of qotd, teeny parts of tva, and I think next season is iwtv, qotd, tva, merrick, tvl, and a teeny tiny bit more of prince lestat. basically, since they're mixing the stories together, it's like?? I mean, Loustat reunite in TVL. qotd is complicated but they float off romantically intot he sky together. comaaaaa in memnoch-merrick, saving louis' life in merrick and it's a super sexy blood sharing scene, then......married prince and consort??? like idk, if we're condensing the story then when loustat reunite, they, in general, stay together.

now let's talk about what we know with the show thus far, beginning with the s1 finale. obviously the s1 finale is important, duh, but like??? god, there are three huge aspects that I think we're going to revisit fairly quickly in s2 and that impact the future seasons. the first is the 'love of my life' line with armand. like there's so much there, but namely when it comes to thinking of louis and armand's relationship (which will undoubtedly be coming to some kind of definite end in s2) and what that means for loustat and what that means for armandaniel. like obviously louis is going to be confronted, no doubt by daniel, about 'love of your life??? really??' not to mention the 'you're still with the guy that killed your daughter?????' and the inevitable explanation of louis' even more bizarre weirdness in how he's acting in dubai, the mental destruction he's been faced with, the true numbness and everything he's forced himself into, since claudia died. and then, of course, there's 'well isn't that neat and tidy?' comment daniel makes re: lestat's "death" and calling louis out for saving him out of his love for him. like louis is going to have deal with that, daniel isn't going to let it go when he gets over floating armand. it's !! going to be everything, things that will conclude or lead us into the s3 stuff. it all comes back to loustat. all of it.

louis' future is the next thing to discuss!! obviously I'm not trying to start anything by being like 'louis' story revolves around lestat' but to some degree it does and also they revolved around each other so heavily. like lestat's whole storyline in s1 is he comes to new orleans, falls fatally in love with louis, and it changes everything. s2 is very much about all of that, even if lestat won't be in paris for a large part of it. s3 is going to be lestat telling his life to louis, one way or another. that's why he wrote tvl, to tell louis all of the stuff he couldn't and wouldn't tell him before, to explain what he's gone through, what his vampirism truly was like, etc. like louis is going to be part of tvl. RJ has said they're looking to make it not a book, obviously, so I think louis is going to be an active person to lestat's story, I think lestat will be telling him directly. loustat. and it's part of why i think s3, possibly early/mid s4 will be the loustat get back together. because lestat telling his story, everything that will follow, is just. it's them? they have to be together.

the inclusion of louis/armand in s2 and the inclusion of lestat/nicki in s3 serve storytelling purposes, sure, but they also serve to show us as an audience why loustat don't work with other people. and, going back to 'the audience is watching for loustat thing,' if we have to see them be with other people for two seasons, we're going to need that to be worth it. them getting back together in s3, possibly early s4, would accomplish that.

exploring loustat in future seasons!! so if lestat shows up in dubai/2022 at least by the end of s2 as would make sense (to probably save louis from an attempted suicide attempt), we're going to see them reunite. s3 being about lestat's life and them talking for the first time in forever will inevitably lead to some kind of getting back together, sometime soon. s4 will, imo, start really getting into the nitty-gritty of qotd (something i'll talk about in the last paragraph), and then i think they're going to take the qotd storyline and end it with this 'well. the queen of the vampires is dead. we need to blahblahblah' and I think we're looking at a super early prince lestat and court creation, lestat becoming the royalty of the vampire world and the court's creation coming about to prevent whatever thing louis is talking about in dubai (the vampires he hears around the world and stuff) and the akasha stuff. so i think by s5-ish we're in full prince lestat mode and that is where loustat are, essentially, modernly married in the books. I also just. like s1 very much established they can't see the other with another person, very much established that they need each other and love each other in a way they'll never love or need another. like it's all right there, it's all something we'll see continue.

lastly!! I think the akasha storyline is going to be imperative here. I think we're going to get hints of the akasha stuff all throughout the next two seasons, getting more and more heavy the further we get into s3, obviously and especially with lestat's waking of akasha in tvl. i think loustat are going to get together right at the end of s3, leaving us with them together during s4, only for lestat to get snatched in the middle of the night from his and louis' bed, just as he was snatched from his and nicki's bed by magnus, by akasha sometime either in the s3 finale too or early s4-ish. then loustat are together, romantically, but not on screen, meaning it's not like straight up loustat stuff for entirety of those seasons as they'll be separated. it will make losing lestat to akasha all the more horrific (he and louis had just found each other again, we will have seen him getting taken by magnus in the previous season(s), etc.) and makes the impact of loustat....abundant.

this is super long and rambly and I'm fairly tired so god knows if it all makes sense but !!! this is why I think we'll get a fairly soon loustat reunion and why I think it will be <3 everything. like, even when they're together, they're going to have a lot going on and a lot to work through so it's never going to get boring and it's going to make their romance all the more lovely to witness.

[deanismysavior]

Can’t everything that suggests Mike loves Will romantically also just mean he is super close to his best friend in seasons 1 and 2? I’m struggling to see how his actions are definitively romantic. I’m not looking to discount the potential of it being romantic, because I think Byler is a cool idea. I just feel like everything has a strong degree of plausible deniability and his actions in season 3 and 4 could just be him becoming a jerk and/or being in his head about different things, not necessarily being gay. It’s only gay if you read it that way, but I feel like the duffers are reading a different book. Some people really are unusually close to their best friend, especially in 80s media like stand by me

Of course there's always room for deniability when a character has yet to be confirmed queer, I mean Noah had to literally release a statement to the press that Will was gay and in love with Mike for some people to catch on and believe it. While I think Mike's queerness, at least as we see it, is less overt to the audience, there are still key contextual clues that you can pick up on to point you towards this conclusion. Of course close friendships do exist, and I don't think that every close friendship, even if it includes a certain amount of physicality on screen, denotes romantic involvement or attraction, but it's rather the way that this story is highlighted in the context of the rest of the show that implies these scenes romantically. I would agree with you in that season 1 and season 2 certainly display a narrative that could have easily just fallen under close friendship, and I think had that been all we'd been shown, I wouldn't have read anything more into it, but when we then begin to see this relationship heavily parallel and contrast other established romantic relationships in the show, it makes you consider the development of Will and Mike's relationship differently, where it starts crossing into a territory that looks like something more than friendship. Some of the best examples of this are how the fight in the rain in season 3 is framed in this dramatic and romantic way, directly paralleling the imagery from the 2016 TV series Eyewitness, which is about a closeted gay kid (who has a girlfriend) developing a romantic relationship with another guy. This scene also narratively parallels the dramatic fight scene from Brokeback Mountain, but even if the audience were not to be aware of these allusions while watching the scene, it stands in stark contrast to Mike and El's breakup that occurs earlier in the same episode. While El's breaking up with Mike is played off as funny and light-hearted, Mike's fight with Will looks like something more out of the Notebook, and the dramatic framing of this scene makes you really set it apart from Mike's other friendships. We also see more internal parallels within the show that code Mike and Will's scenes together as romantic through their association with other relationships, such as the parallel between the season 4 love confession and the season 2 memory recall that break's Will's connection to the Mind Flayer. We've also seen a lot of music and color theory being used to tie together romantic relationships throughout the show, most notably in season 4, we see the use of [tender, emotional music] being played during scenes only between already established couples, and then Mike and Will. These are just a few of the examples from off the top of my head, but I guess the point here is that we can establish how we, the audience, are meant to interpret these scenes based on the rules the show sets up for itself. If there is consistently positioning, music, imagery, or tone that suggests that is used when establishing romantic couples, if the same structure is used here, I think it tells us a lot about how these scenes are supposed to be read. You could argue that they might use these anyway to show Will's feelings, but we generally don't see this sort of cohesion within the pairings where one side is unrequited. I'll link an additional few analyses down below that I think illustrate this really well, but I hope this helps to answer how subtext is important in these cases.

[faustocosgrove]

and on the thirteenth day of reviewmas I, Fausto, give to thee:

[(a show taking place in 2040/6 other shows i reference in this dual review)/(a different franchise with 1 manga + 4 anime series + 3 tv specials + 5 feature films + 1 musical +1 video game + 2 live action adaptations)] - (one show released in 1994 - the other released in 1987) = 13 reasons why i’m placing this review at number 13.

one of 12 instances of elder abuse

11 yawns

my 10 remaining brain cells after this shitty movie jfc

9 instances this show reminded me of a better show

an 80s cult movie

7 lgbt main characters in an incredibly queer manga like holy shit

6 ye olde government agents

5/5 stars best movie of the decade easily. might be the best movie of all time

4 scantily clad teenaged girls (fbi open up! meme)

the 3rd time i read the same book about lawns maybe?

2 high school animes

and a ninja book

…from a guy who still thinks about the naruto series in the year 2024

yes that math checks out. i would have simply placed it else where if it didn’t.

here’s the math again without words to make it easier on you:

[(2040/6)/(1+4+3+5+1+1+2)]-(1994-1987)=13

hell, i’ll even show my work

2040/6=340 1+4+3+5+1+1+2=17 1994-1987=7 340/17=20 20-7=13

Another dual review!

this review contains spoilers for a series not reviewed here: the nausicaa manga.

So I was turned off by this first show’s art style and kept scrolling around it but i’m running out of bad 80s and 90s anime on this free streaming service. also there’s like 3 seasons and 2 movies i keep seeing over and over again so i finally said the hell with it and turned it on. i don’t know how far i got through episode one, but i turned it off before the credits rolled. Anyway, City Hunter is the story of a vigilante/mercenary in 80’s tokyo with a gun who is also a massive pervert. that’s it. that’s the show.

based on the wikipedia page, it seems to have been quite popular, considering is has like 2 seasons and 3 movies or whatever up on the streaming service i should have seen that coming.

y’know i’d brush off that i didn’t like this on the fact that i’m not a fan of crime dramas, but i literally watched all of Nightwalker and that show was fucking awful. and i would also make the excuse that i’m not a fan of pervert is comedy but that’s a good chunk of Ranma 1/2 and like all of Urusei Yatsura and i didn’t hate either of those. i dunno, stars weren’t aligned or something.

Anyway, since i was scraping the bottom of the barrel for 80s and 90s anime i made the massive genre shift to a 90s american saturday morning cartoon.

i am not a clever man.

I also only got part way through episode one of Phantom 2040, but i’ll probably come back to it, just not often enough to shelve this review until i do.

I have never seen an animated show where everyone is ugly before. it’s fascinating. i want to study it. i mean the bad guys are clearly uglier than the main cast, but even the Phantom, who is supposed to be an 18 year old kid, is kinda ugly. best looking character in the whole cast so far is light googling Guran, the grandson of the original Guran. i mean at least in a franchise that’s core theme is “white man gets magic power from africa and is trained by a black man” makes everyone uglier than the one black character. i choose to believe that was intentional. tiny consolidation prize for the overarching racism.

the show also has that 80’s “this show was made for the sole purpose of selling merchandise” feel, mainly in how all the character models look like they’d translate into dolls very easily. unfortunately the result of the dollification is that everyone is doing the tory power stance at all times. like, so the doll can stand up by having its feet apart. this choice also leads to a lot of weird crotch shots. like, a guy or an evil robot gets shot and tumbles backward. with their legs apart. so you just get this animation rotating around the whole no-no-zone. and like i can see kids playing with their dolls shoot them and they die and knocking them over and like the kid knocks the doll down to show it’s dead. and this is like animating that. but it’s still weird crotch shots.

mild tangent warning, but i am going somewhere with this.

i am a huge fan of nausicaa of the valley of the wind. it’s my favorite book, bar none. yes my favorite book is a manga, shut up. i’m really touchy when it comes to nausicaa references. i detest the character rei from the new star wars movie because the opening sequence of that movie is just nausicaa references and then the rest of the movie has zero environmentalism. i’m also a huge Lily Orchard fan who has through the years used rei as an example of a perfectly fine character that men don’t like just because she’s a girl. and in spite of all the evidence i’ve seen of rei being a perfectly fine character whose trials and growth just don’t happen to revolve around environmentalism, i still can’t bring myself to like the character because i can’t detach the lazy nausicaa references from her. a thinking error on my part, but i just can’t fix it.

and then there’s the movie I Kill Giants where in the final battle the little girl’s hallucination tells her to stop fucking around and go see her mother before she dies of cancer and then drops the line “All things that live in this world die. That is why you must find joy in the living while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this, is to deny life. But to embrace it…can you embrace it?” which has some, keyword some, resemblance to the final fight scene in nausicaa where our hero says “all things are born from the darkness and all things return to the darkness” and “suffering and folly will not disappear in a purified world. they are part of humanity. that is why, even in a world of suffering, there can also be joy and shining light” and “we can know the beauty and cruelty of the world without the help of a giant tomb and its servants” which is not to say that i think the mom cancer movie was ripping off nausicaa like starwars did. i understand that accepting death is a concept that many works depict and use almost these exact phrases because we all have to fuckin grapple with death, but the lesson of accepting death is an important one and it’s one the movie i kill giants did poorly. but because i’m obsessed with nausicaa it’s an insult to nausicaa to tell a story where a little girl is in denial for like 80 minutes then gets all the lessons crammed in her face that she somehow accepts suddenly versus nausicaa who comes to this realization herself after her father dies in book one of seven, being in a content wide war, and suffering from radiation poisoning herself. i mean even her pets die. her teacher dies. and in the purified garden scene nausicaa has to be brainwashed for her to forget all that’s going on and she only struggles for about 5 minutes with the idea of forgetting the real problem and playing a game of everything being fine in fantasy land before she snaps back to reality.

wow i really wrote more words letting you know how obsessed i am with nausicaa than i did reviewing either of the shows.

anyway, back to phantom 2040. there’s this bit about the new phantom discovering a leaf that after scientific analysis is determined to be a plant that absorbs the poison in the soil and destroys it.

unenthusiastic drumroll

exactly like the forest of corruption in nausicaa.

and… i don’t hate it.

i don’t know why it doesn’t come across as blatant plagiarism to me when i kill giants literally had nothing to do with nausicaa and i hold it to that standard anyway. it might be because i haven’t finished the series so i don’t know how bad it gets. it might be because phantom 2040 clearly didn’t make any money so i guess i think stealing is okay if you suck at stealing so bad you can’t even make money by copying literally the best thing to ever be written? sure. there you go, there’s my review.

[vinxwatches]

watching disenchantment season 1

the parts of it i have seen i remember thinking seemed pretty nice. i don't remember what it was, just that it seemed interesting. the artstyle, simpsons styles, isn't too appealing, but if it's good it'll survive a weak artstyle (it's not like the lower decks looked amazing. not bad but not amazing). lets have a look

netflix opening. yes it's a surprise. i pirate basically everything. no job no income, no income no subscriptions, that's my rule. also fuck big corporations. so far i've never been disapointed with their stuff, but in general i don't disappoint easily and it's not like i watched a lot of their stuff. still they are pretty good about lgbtq+ stuff which makes them one of the less shit companies.

ok yea no like 10 seconds in and i know i'll like the princess. i am, in fact, increadibly easy to please. ok yea no i love the vibe 3 min in. oh how i love some lawful evil. "take of those clothes and come down wearing something princesslike" are not safe words with someone who's confident and doesn't like you. ok, thei visual gags fucking rock. ... this is a lot of notes for less then 6 minutes in. this'll be a good one.

ok that gate is neat and something i may steal for my dnd game. a gate that's a gate into a different realm, damn, it's probably not something i can visually describe well enough to make work.

ok, that's more digs at religion then i'd expect from a show like this. i mean i love it but i can imagine a lot of people didn't.

punching your way trough a glass in lead windows? look elfs and demons i can suspend my disbelief with, but doing unrealistic things with real things is just more immersion breaking.

ok, racist antelope was not a one off joke, it was a two off joke. honestly amazing.

ending of the first episode was on the weaker side, and we don't even have a status quo yet. oh well. still a great episode. i hope they can keep the jokes going.

is mermaid song a genre? because i always really like it.

oh, is the status quo going to be trying to kill the guy and failing? if so i'd love it but i wouldn't guess it.

weak endings seem to be a trend, or at least happened both times now.

ok, you made me lol with a dad joke.

i love the jokes based in history. like yea lemons were probably rare in northern europe seen as they grow further south. sure trade did always exist, but fruit is hard to transport, but bringing them back after crusades? yea, makes sense. also that drug looks like ginger.

ok, the exorcist has some great animation jokes. an exorcist with good aftercare... i mean that does already make him better then most modern exorcists, even with the attempt to kill her to get the demon to leave her, that's nothing special.

yea ok that concludes it this show sucks at endings. the rest of the episode makes it worth it but damn do they suck.

not a fan of Elfo's useless "i want to be with her" thing. it's just creepy. like haha stuck in the friendzone, but no, if you follow someone around not because you can just want to back them that's just creepy.

ok, so this episode is really about that. now to see if it's a moment of change or to acknowledge a problem and yet try to return to the status quo. welp, i'm afraid it's the latter. yet somehow the strongest ending... doesn't mean a lot but maybe shit'll get better with time.

"how dare you bring logic into gods house" fucking love it. also i just noticed that episodes are named chapters, which is just neat. is season 2 named book 2?

i'd love it if she picked up witchcraft. don't expect it, would love it.

"i'm bad at everything" except swordfighting in the last episode, getting things organized, and cleaning up a multi murder scene with but 1 (serious) error.

ok, ep5 easily the strongest ending. not strong, but not weak. and yes now i'll be listing the quality of all endings. because i saw a glimmer of a pattern at the start and now i can't stop. because i'm normal like that /s

damn ep6 starts with a delightful tune on the violin.

ok, there seems to be growth in their relationship. i wonder if it'll stick. also endings continue getting better.

ok, fun twist, also man how do you think you're going to get out of this web of lies my guy? like i lie often, or at least used to, got less stuff to lie about nowdays, and lies need to stay small, believable and concentrated. if you're late for work you don't make up a story about family drama, you lie about local traffic that has no way of coming back up in a much later date and they have no reasonable way of knowing.

damn Tes is a lot of fun. hope we'll see her again.

damn how they re-use characters is really neat. making them deeper characters then they were.

"i'll play you a sad song on the words smallest lute" i mean funny... and googled it to make sure, and no the violin is post medieval period. nevermind then.

damn, not even half way trough season 1 and we seem to be near a finally. mid way big change?

main character death? i don't buy it. damn, i saw that twist coming. oh, did not see that choice coming. like it makes the most sense, but character never make that choice. it's always moving forward and returning to the status quo. they did the exact opposite and now i'm hooked.

damn, that title though (ep10). very happy opening, and then that end. "it took all season" i love such meta jokes.

oh damn, this was well planned out, the kingdown/city was designed for this. amazing. and damn that was foreshadowed

the shows title takes on such a massively different meaning. it started, in my mind, like "oh you think this story is enchanting? nah, we're the cynical joke show. this story is disenchanting" but oh no, it's something completely different.

the room they walk into is supposed to be creepy, with red-ish walls and darker and tall furniture... while i'm sitting in my room. with a black floor. 2 silver and 1 red wall, up to the ceiling black wardrobe, and i'm just thinking "oh that room looks nice". am i the villain? no, but i'm probably at least somewhat goth. including swears in regular phrases to seem ominous also doesn't do much when that's just how it talk too.

damn that's one hell of an episode, setting up where things are going to go while also moving the story a lot. i'm sure that wasn't the last we saw of those 3, probably 4 even.

ok, dealing with the problem of evil, and calling god out for the vileness that is inherit in the character growth excuse.

"emotional support demon" now who came up with it first? the click (the youtuber) or this show?

damn the infernal stronghold looks really cool. the book of people send to hell includes a lot of popes. nice.

not really a twist, it was really obvious, but still nice.

i love the chewing out of god. yes i'm easily pleased sue me.

what the fuck happened between ep 12 and 13? how is everyone alive again? the thing it had wrong was that it was the wrong episode as 13. the site works great, but it often has errors like this. i need to check that the episode is titled the same as the site says it's called.

oh, i like her new look and outlook.

it's a surprisingly good resolution with some more nice mysteries.

damn i really love ex queens exit. it's just so not standard and with a lot of depth to it. a lot of depth we never saw in her before but makes total sense with what we did know, and it's a really heart-warming breakup, something that needs to be normalized more.

neat interpretation of a classic mythological creature. and not a minute later we're taking the other half of those stories. but i really like what they did with it.

damn that's some cliffhanger. what's up with the damn musicbox?

also the 3d in this show stays surprisingly good. the blending between 2d and 3d is far from flawless, but it still allows them to do a lot of cool visual stuff.

and damn that reveal of ogre matters.

not a fan of the circus being thieves. not a good stereotype to continue. also not a fan of my suspicion that they'll double cross. and i was correct. old media or new they keep coming back to this.

do like the twist, but the stereotype is still bad.

cool underwater scene, but you'd both have drowned.

ok, going for a joke ending that made me lol. well done.

name the play "the king & me"? like the untrustworthy story? odd choice.

having to work trough emotional problems? great lesson, great to touch on. i'm also currently binging the show to escape my emotions so i fail to properly apricate it.

looks like a dragon, looks more like an airship.

don't get me wrong i love steampunk, but i prefer when the types of magic words stay separated. or if the steampunk world is dead dwemer style, that one also works.

OH. that's an ending and an half. of all the characters i could believe this would be the one as they can die having fulfilled their purposes in the plot.

talk about a witch-hunt. the kings last action? nope, the queens. fuck

i was thinking of doing the whole show in one post... lets not

[televinita]

Library Triage!

I have a reading triage on deck, but first I gotta plow through my actual mother-of-god-how-do-they-multiply-so-fast library checkouts first to try and make sense of them all (27!! with like. at least 10 active requests and/or books I'm gonna pull off the shelf tomorrow)

DVDs I Checked Out For Circ Numbers And/Or Have Watched And Can Return Any Time Now: 6 (CSI Vegas; Hours; Anywhere But Here; Little Women PBS version; La Brea S2; Doctor Who S10 -- i assure you this last one was pure circ numbers)

Books Ready to Return: 2 (Miss Nelson is Missing - checked out purely by chance for funsies and circ numbers when I saw it; The Runaway's Diary graphic novel)

Books I Have Read But Am Keeping 'Til I Write Reviews: 2 (The Last Bookseller; Home Before Dark)

CDs Out: 2 (one Maddie & Tae as a fun option to have in the car; one Loreena McKennitt, although honestly that one is probably ready to go back; Lost Souls didn't grab me)

---------

Other DVDs Out: 10 (!!) (listen I am Going Hard on my vow to single-handedly prove physical media still has value to patrons and the library should not consider eliminating it. there has been no actual discussion of this but I see the DVD section shrinking, I see it!!)

Marley & Me: this WAS just for circ numbers but now I'm looking at it like "oh yeah this movie is amazing actually" and I've kinda been on an Owen Wilson kick this year, so maybe I should actually watch it first.

2-4. Scott & Bailey, S3-5: these were ALSO just for circ numbers but then I remembered I actually do like this show and it's weird I never got past S2*...so I've watched S3 and now I kind of want to finish, and also want to keep them all out so they can be returned and easily reshelved together. (*i also realized one episode into S3 that I may not have actually gotten past 2x03? but oh well no looking back; I hated those 3 episodes so SURGING FORWARD)

5. Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor: I! Will! Watch! It! (ONE of these times it's gotta actually go through...)

6. Doctor Who: Series 11 (Thirteen my beloved!! What if...what IF I wanted to randomly start)

7. Doctor Who: The Animation Collection: "WHAT U MEAN GEORGIA TENNANT VOICED A (non-Jenny) COMPANION CHARACTER IN ONE OF THESE FEATURING TEN I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED." and I thought I might revisit Infinite Quest while I'm at it, though I have thus far done neither.

8. Good Omens: when you finish S2 and are immediately like "I need the option to revisit season 1 right now, in a way where you can easily skip around to favorite parts in the episodes in VLC instead of struggling through the laggy Amazon Prime interface," but now it's been over a month and you haven't actually opened the case. but you still might. (I should probably throw in the towel huh)

9. Around the World in 80 Days: oh yeah. forgot I started this. (Suranne Jones and the rest of the lady police gang are very distracting ok)

10. Broadchurch, S3: originally for circ numbers and then I remembered I actually never got around to this season (but am still excited to! eventually!)

-------

Other Books Out: 5

1. Cabin Tripping: mostly a coffee table book, beautiful photos based on the Instagram of the same name with a bit of text. I wanted to look through it properly and use it to get myself in the mood for the RV / road trip books I was considering reading, but I think those have receded into the temporary background so I should probably send this back as well. temporarily.

2. Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook: have I watched more than 3 full episodes of this show in my life? still no. but since dollsome-does-tumblr's tumblr has given me almost all the information I could possibly need about this show, I feel like I know it and ever since I randomly saw this on the library shelf, I have been obsessed with the entire vibe and aesthetic of this oversized book and its mouthwatering photos and can't stop paging through it. (have I tried making any of the recipes? also definitely no) (would that I had a personal chef or at least a talented local friend!)

3. The Little Book of Hygge: this is at least the third hygge book I have checked out on a whim but can't actually read because I just get too overwhelmed by how cute and cozy the mere idea is. But that won't stop me clinging to it with a death grip 'til my renewals run out.

4. Good as Gold - Candace Buford: oh finally an actual novel i might actually read (if I don't get distracted by my GIANT INCOMING STACK, considering I checked this out a full month ago). I am actually very excited by the prospect of this YA novel about searching for a lost treasure of local legend (to pay for college). I don't honestly know why I haven't yet!

5. Lessons From Tara: Life Advice From the World's Most Brilliant Dog - David Rosenfelt: A Goodreads friend read this, which reminded me how much I loved Dogtripping and wanted to read more stories about his big fluffy dogs. Which led me to learn there is only one copy of this 2015 release left at my library so whoops, gotta show interest (and ideally even read it?) before it disappears.

[pair-annoyed]

Anime I Watched This Summer

Summer 2020 has officially come to a close. It’s fall in Animal Crossing and the trees are beginning to turn. Much like quarantine, I spent a lot of my free time watching anime when I wasn’t stressing over starting college. Now that the school year has begun, I thought it would be nice to reflect on everything I’ve watched! 

These Anime were seen between 6/14 - 8/31 (my Birthday!) and are listed in chronological order.

They will be rated on a 1-10 scale; 1 meaning complete garbage, 10 meaning masterpiece. I will offer my thoughts on what I did/didn't like about each show!

1. Bakemono no Ko - 8/10

This was such a great way to start out the summer! I love the dynamic between Kumatetsu and Ren. Overall its a little cliche, but it’s also very wholesome. It’s by the same studio that made Wolf Children (which I loved!). so I knew it was going to be good. My favorite aspect of this movie was its backgrounds and world building! 

2. Wan Sheng Jie - 9/10

Oh my gosh! I know that this is technically a donghua, but its on MAL, so it counts. This show quickly became my favorite slice of life of all time. I adore the art style and all of the characters. The comedy, plot, and design blends so well together. Everything in Wan Sheng Jie feels warm and comfy. It’s also confirmed for a second season! After seeing its cliff hanger ending, I’m so anxious for what comes next! 

3. Dororo - 7/10

I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for studio MAPPA. I really liked the historical aspects of Dororo. From the outfits to the ways characters behave, its grounded in the constraints of feudal Japan. I would have given this show a higher score if it was a little more grounded in science. I feel like more time should’ve been given to the demons and antagonists of the show. Our MC was so over powered, which made the final fights of the series more lack-luster. I think its less of the anime’s fault and more because the original source material is from the 60s. That being said, I loved this show! It was cute and action packed. Though it isn’t perfect, it holds its own.

4. Bungou Stray Dogs - 5/10

The concepts and action are misconstrued in Bungou Stary Dogs. This is one of those shows that I chose to watch because it was all over Tumblr. The powers themselves are cool, but I can’t understand why this series is so praised. At it’s core its predictable and basic. The fights seemed low stakes and low energy. None of the humor really felt like it belonged. It tried too hard to be something it isn’t. I don’t think I’ll watch beyond this first season. 

5. Kami no Tou - 4.5/10

First off, fuck Rachel, me and my homies hate Rachel. I really really had high hopes for Tower of God. It paves the way for Webtoon adaptations in the future. Its such a shame that this adaptation SUCKED. I have not read the source material, I’m going solely based on the anime. It wasn’t good? It was horrible. I hate Bam, I hate Rachel. I think all the characters expect Rak were awful. Please don’t make a season 2. Please. If you’re interesting in Tower of God, just read the webtoon. 

6. Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - 7/10

Shoujo anime is my guilty pleasure. I especially liked the way Gekkan Shoujo tackled Sakura and Nozaki’s relationship. Besides just the main characters, even the side characters were enjoyable! It was a fun and creative show. My only complaint is how dense Nozaki is, but I also absolutely love that part of him.

7. Jojo no Kimyou no Bouken (Parts 1-2) - 6.5/10

Jojo is not the saving grace of shounen anime. It isn’t something super revolutionary and it certainly will never be a 10/10. Part 1 was so slow and boring. Jonathan was just mediocre at best. I definitely liked Joseph a LOT more than Jonathan. Part 2 overall was much easier to watch than part 1. The fights are good, but there’s just something about Jojo that I can’t get behind. Although I’m completely bashing this series, I’m going to keep watching it. At this point, I wanna know what a stand is. 

8. Clannad - 5.5/10

I was expecting Clannad to be sad, but instead I got a cute, slice of life, romance. It wasn’t unenjoyable, but it was also a pretty slow-burning show. I loved watching Nagisa and Okazaki slowly fall in love with each other. It was funny at times and sad at other points. I am currently watching Clannad: After Story (which I’ve heard is heartbreaking), so I’m hoping to get some catharsis out of that. 

9. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai...  - 6/10

This show is only 12 episodes, and yet it still has filler episodes for some reason? I’m a person who doesn’t typically watch isekai because the genre is so over done. However, when it’s done in a very specific way it’s really fun to watch! This show was definitely a lot of fun, it’s also cute and has so many interesting character-character interactions. The ending is painfully cliche, but I think it adds to this shows charm. 

10. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen  - 8/10

I loved Love is War so much! I love their weird romantic dynamic. I love the characters, and I love the animation. It’s over the top and executes it humor masterfully. The entire show fills you with anticipation for the two main characters. Kaguya is my favorite character. Although I haven’t seen season two yet, I most certainly will! I’m so upset I hadn’t seen this show sooner.

11. Great Pretender - 8.5/10

This show is so colorful and bubbly. The animation is so smooth and they are able to tackle so many different kinds of things given its plot. The whole show itself just feels like summertime. It came out not to long ago, so some people may not be familiar with it. On top of the show itself, the music is great, with a Jazzy OP and and ED that features Freddie Mercury

12. Steins;Gate 0 - 8/10

 I loved the original Stein;Gate so much! So it’s no surprise how much I liked the second season. It builds significantly off the first season in a sort of “off shot” OVA kind of way. The events of Steins;Gate 0 don’t actually happen, but that doesn’t stop it from being meaningful. The big “twist” was predictable and a bit of a let down, but I still enjoyed this. Granted, I’m bias. 

13. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Yumemiru Shoujo no Yume wo Minai - 9.5/10

I sobbed. So much. This movie was phenomenal, it was such a trip. Having watched the original series, this tore my heart apart. It gets a high score for being able to take the characters I love and creating a wonderfully emotional experience. If you haven’t seen Bunny Girl Senpai, please watch it, and then watch this movie. You won’t regret it! 

14. Hotaru no Haka - 6/10

Grave of the Fireflies made me stop watching anime for a while. Studio Ghibli created something grim, something that leaves the viewers feeling hollow. Its a movie about WWII from Japan’s perspective. As an American, all I could feel while watching this was immense guilt. I will say though, that some of the movies main plot could have easily been prevented if the main character had swallowed his pride. His younger sister was also my least favorite character. I get that she’s a kid and that kids are fussy, but you would think that during wartime, she’d be more understanding and at least try to eat the things she dislikes. 

15. Yagate Kimi ni Naru - 9/10

This was a great way to end the summer. This is more that just GL romance, its a love story. Its about growing up and learning to understand your feelings. I related to Yuu so much, which made this more emotional than I expected. It’s really unlike another romance anime I’ve seen. I hope it gets confirmed for a second season. If not, I’ll be reading the manga. 

Seasonal Shows: (Things that are still airing as of 9/5/2020)

1. The God of High School  7.5/10

Another thing done by studio MAPPA. Are you surprised? I absolutely love the action in GoH. The plot however, is all over the place. The story seems fragmented and hard to follow. Like Tower of God, it was poorly adapted. I’m giving it such a high score, because it’s SO much more enjoyable then Tower of God. 

2. Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou - 4/10

My thoughts on season 2 are about the same as my thoughts on season 1. The only difference is that this season has more Jojo references. I’ve rated it lower because its so repetitive. I’m so sick of watching it, but I’ve got to see it through the bitter end.   

3. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season - 8.5/10 

All I’m going to say about Re:Zero is that I love it. I can’t give an accurate review of it because I’ve been hyping this season since it was announced. If you’re into non-typical isekai, watch Re:Zero, its so enjoyable!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: May 15th Part 2

And here’s the next part of the long answer set of the day!

When will OL: N&F take place? Beginnings and Always took place during summer breaks, will now and forever take place during a fall break or will the characters be going to school at the time of the events we play through? 

It takes place over all of the fall season, so school will be happening in OL2. Some events do take place in school, though many times events only start after school is already out for the day, haha.

Hey!! I have kind of a weird question?? I’m sorry if it’s been answered before and I just haven’t seen it but is OL 2 taking place during the same years as OL 1? I’m just curious, thank you for such amazing games!!! 

It’s a similar time frame, but not 100% exactly same.

Do you have any idea when the demo for now and forever will be available? 

Hopefully this fall! But that’s not a guarantee.

Okay the crime show in Step 2: Growing up. Long blonde hair, police station, crime series? Was it The Closer? Because I’m the same age as MC and Cove and my mom was constantly watching that when I was 13. 😂 

Haha, yeah! The Closer and, to a lesser degree, Medium were the kind of shows I was referencing there. My mom also used to watch those back in the day.

Hey um this might be an odd question but if the setting of OL: N&F is  fall/autumn, what country or city will it take because my mind tells me it is either Poland or Canada. Also I can't wait for the game I am hyped 

It’s set in the USA again. We’d like to be able to have cameos and that’s easiest to do if the OL games take place in the same country.

Is it possible for the PC of OL to have non-seriously dated other people in the in between years even if they’ve had a consistent crush on Cove? 

You can causally date Baxter in Step 3 if you get his DLC and then ultimately choose Cove in Step 4. If you mean off-screen people, it doesn’t really come up, but you can certainly headcanon that. The game never says Cove is the only partner you’ve ever had.

Is there going to be a Kickstarter for Now and Forever as well? For like voiced names and stuff again? Didn’t find B&A until after it was released and I’d really love the opportunity to hear my name in the game 🥺 

Yeah, we are gonna have a Kickstarter with getting a voiced name as a reward! Though, it will be more expensive than it was for OL1. I feel bad to raise the price but we realized too late the first time around that it was being super undersold for the amount of work it took, aha.

Do you know how much the remaining DLC for OL will cost? (Step 4, Derek, Baxter) 

Step 4: Free

Wedding DLC: $2.99USD

Derek DLC: $4.99USD

 Baxter DLC: $4.99USD

Has an artist for the new position been picked yet?! I'm super excited for the new game! 

We did fill that spot. Thank you so much for taking the time to apply!

hmmm what would it take to get each of the XOXO jerk squad to feel the need to hug you? 

They’d have to first like you a fair amount, otherwise the most you’d get is maybe a pat on the shoulder. If they were attached, they might hug you if you broke down crying or if you gave them super good news.

Unless it’s Shiloh, of course. If you want a hug you only have to ask!

May i ask how the Derek DLC will work? I believe that there aren’t any memories in step 4 and doesnt derek’s dlc take place during that step? So will the dlc add memories? Thank you! 

Derek’s DLC will add five Moments to Step 2 (a new page will appear on that screen if you get the DLC). Then in Step 4 you’ll have to choose between playing the default epilogue or going through the Derek romance story.

Is the pc version on itch,io different from the steam version? Like an offline one or something? 

Steam has achievements, but that’s about it. Both can be played offline, if you prefer.

I've been wondering this for awhile, what determines if cove winds up with a ponytail in step 3? I've done multiple runs with different MCs with varying hairstyles. Or does it have to do with a particular moment in step 2? 

I’m afraid I can’t say exact choices that determine things. But generally it’s preference based options in the Step before that decide those things.

Any Floret Bond updates? 

No, the artist had to leave the project and it’s been on-hold. I’m not sure if I want to try working just with what we have or replacing it all entirely. The design is a bit too specific for us to easily find someone who could mimic it. Hopefully we’ll work things out later, though.

In step 3 is Cove's plan always to stay in sunset bird? 

Yeah. He is never ready at 18-years-old to make a big life change.

I love your content! If it's alright to ask, you answered in a previous ask about how Jeremy was too particular with what he likes his types to be romanceable with just any MC and it's sort of got me wondering.. What /are/ his types and/or preferences and such? Sorry if it's a lot! 

Jeremy likes stubborn jerks and will not date someone who’s sweet or even generally a decent person, haha.

uh, excuse me if you said this somewhere before, but how will step 4 be actually? Will it he like an actual step and have moments and dlc and all? Or will it be more like a long epilogue of some sort?

Will the step 4, the wedding and extra routes dlcs be paid too? Im just confused, sorry if im asking too much

Step 4 is only an epilogue, so it’s just a long series of scenes one after the other rather than a collection of Moments you can choose from.

The Step 4 epilogue is free, the wedding DLC, Derek DLC, and Baxter DLC cost money.

i’m not sure how much of the wedding dlc you have planned already, or if this would be to spoilery, but what kind of wedding traditions will be included? i keep thinking about how flustered cove would get over a garter toss & was wondering if we’d see a scene like that haha. obviously no worries if it’s not included, i’ll enjoy literally anything cove related 

I don’t know for sure yet, haha. Right now we’re focused on the parts before the big day. We’ll see how many scene alterations we can include for the wedding itself later on.

Hello! Firstly, thank you for creating such an amazing game like OL, and I couldn’t be more excited for OL2! Out of curiosity, are you looking for any writers to come on for OL2 or are you all pretty much set in that department? Just thought I’d shoot my shot haha but I’m still excited regardless ^^! 

We will be hiring writers for OL2 later this year! Thank you for the interest.

Will we be blessed with a spin-off Yandere Cove, like XOXO Blood Droplets? 

Sadly, no. It’s a shame but there’s not enough time to keep making OL1 bonus/spin-off content.

How is Q pronounced?

I’m afraid Q’s full name hasn’t been publicly announced yet so I can’t answer here (Q and T are the first letters of the names for the new LIs in Our Life: Now & Forever).

Question; is the steam version getting a Mac update?  I purchased the dlc there thinking it had Mac support without realizing it and just wondered if I’d need to refund it to purchase on itch.io 😭 

I’m really sorry, you will need to get a refund from Steam. We do hope to have it there for Steam eventually, but have no idea of when it’ll happen. Apple requires special notarization to be an officially accepted app for their devices. We don’t have that. Steam requires having that, Itch will let you release it as an non-notarized third party app. That’s why Itch is the only place that has the Mac version right now.

would you mind posting outfit sheets for Cove in every step? it would make things a lot easier for us artists. it would save a lot of time spent looking for references 

I think we did do the earlier steps when they were finished way back in 2019 (this game took a long time to make, aha), but we can probably repost them sometime!

In our life n&f, will we be able to get into qprs/will there be more options in regards to having deep platonic relationships with the love interests? Because as an aroace individual, it would be great if there could also be emphasis on platonic love so that it's more aspec inclusive. 

It’s a little hard to say at this point. There may not be things like a wedding DLC for OL2 and so the relationship for platonic and romantic feelings might not go as far as it did in the first game. We’ll kind of have to see how much we can do based on timeframe/budget constraints that will only be set near the end of the year. But we will be keeping things like that in mind at least.

hi! i really really like your game and im absolutely in love with it! i cant wait to try your other games like xoxo droplet and future OL NF :))

during the step 3 erands moment i got curious, which fudge flavor is his favorite? it seems like he likes all of them, but which 4 do you think he would like best?

also i noticed that in some playthroughs cove would let me give him a piggy back ride, and in some he wouldn't, how come?

how does your choices affect cove's interests or looks? i replayed the game without changing any choices but i got cove to look different, is it just random?

thank you!

Cove’s favorite flavors are ones with nuts and that are fruity! But he appreciates them all. Whether or not you can give him a piggyback ride depends on if your MC is fit/large enough to hold a muscular 6-foot-tall beach boy, haha.

Cove’s appearance does depend on choices and it’s generally tied to choices that are preference based rather than emotion/action based, such as which key chain you pick in Step 1.

Is it possible for cove to reject MC's proposal at the end of step 3? 

Nope. He’ll always accept.

hi! i was wondering how heavily the side characters will be featured in the our life wedding dlc? obviously it'll be cove & mc focused, but i was thinking it'd be sweet if we could take lizzie dress / suit shopping or dance with cliff at the wedding or something. 

The side characters are there about as often as they are in normal events. So, it’s clearly focused on Cove but he’s not the only person you have any meaningful moments with.

When will responses be sent out to applicants? 

I’m afraid we don’t send responses out to all applications, only ones we’re interested in offering the position to. Not everyone likes rejection emails and the amount of applications is too high to contact them all to say we’re not hiring them. We post updates on the job page when a position has news. Right now we’ve filled every role that was open.

Is there also going to be the option to keep your relationships with the love interests platonic in Our Life: Now and Forever? That's something I really appreciate in Our Life: Beginnings and Always

Yeah! OL will never force you to end up in a romantic relationship with someone.

I was wondering, in the Step 3 Happiness moment, what are the different fishes Cove can compare MC to? I got "you'd be a paradise fish, because being with you is paradise," but my friend got "you'd be an angelfish." Are there more variations? 

He says paradise fish if you’re a couple, angelfish if he’s just crushing, and then a royal dottyback/queenfish/emperor tetra (based on your gender) if he likes the MC platonicly.

Hello! So, in one of the Step 3 DLCs, Cove's arm was gone. I think it was to show him putting his arm behind his back. But if that wasn't the case, did it get yeeted? 

Thanks for letting us know. That was an error we tried to fix a little while back. When did you make the save file you were playing? If it was older that might be why it happened. Or maybe the error wasn’t fully fixed after all.

Asking for your opinion, but do you think Cove would at all be into ABBA? Because all I could imagine during the car trip in step 3 was him and the MC belting to Mamma Mia. 

Haha, yeah, there’d definitely be some ABBA songs he was into.

So throughout the game, Cove can develop different interests depending on the player’s choices; does this mean that he can have different careers in Step 4? Or his is line of work in adulthood never mentioned at all? 

He can have different career paths in Step 4!

Hi!! I'm so so sorry if this has been asked before but I just acquired knowledge about the so famous nsfw dlc for OL and nearly chocked on my bubblegum 💀💀💀 So, my real inquiry is if that specific moment will have any kind of impact at some point of the fourth step OR if it will just be treated as a side-story-ish “what if” scenario.Also, is there any chance there'll be something similar for Step 4? Haha jk,,, unless 😳Questions apart let me thank you profoundly for making the best visual novel I've ever played 😭 Really really looking forward the epilogue and OL2 💕 Have a nice day 

It’s just a bonus side story that’s fully separate from the main game.

It would be nice to have one for Step 4 too, but I sadly don’t see us having time to actually do it. I don’t know, if people are still asking for more OL1 content several months from now it might be doable and worth doing.

I'd just like to ask, when is Baxter's birthday :0 -- I'm really curious esp with their zodiac signs so ;w; 

I don’t know, haha. Maybe I’ll come up with one someday.

Please help!! I bought the Step 3 DLC but I still have no idea how to get to where you can propose to Cove - any tips? 

&

How do I get the option to propose to Cove at the end of the game?

You can click HERE for a discussion on that.

I love that Miranda and Terry are getting together! I'm curious if you have canon sexualities for them? Also just wanted to say how much I love OL and how much joy it brings me everytime I play it <3 

Terry likes ladies and Miranda likes dudes!

ngl Step 4 Terry's design reads like y'all see trans guys as their assigned gender more than you see them as men to me (a trans guy)... like maybe if he isn't heavily dysphoric, I could see it, but everything you've said about him doesn't line up with that. Even then, immediate warning bells go off in my head looking at him. I wouldn't have touched the game if I saw him ahead of time.

I’m sorry you aren’t comfortable with the way the design looks. The situation with Terry is that he’s now open about who he is, but the body he was born with is still physically the same. He only came out recently as an adult and hasn’t gone through any treatments/procedures yet (his chest is flatter because he wears a binder). However, even though his body hasn’t transitioned at the point Step 4 happens, no one treats him as anything other than the guy he is. Having a trans character who’s identity is supported/respected from the start is what we’re going for in this case. But what we’re doing with Terry isn’t the only trans content we’ve ever had/ever will have in the future.

how would baxter react to bae pyoun and vice versa? and can you please detailly explain both love interests personalities from our life 2: now and forever? i was just curious, sorry for dumb question!! 

I imagine it’d be pretty opposite experiences, haha. Bae would initially think Baxter is pushy and thoughtless, but would quickly realize, oh, he’s instead a soft, considerate boy. Very cute. Baxter would first be struck with the impression that Bae is charming and gentlemanly, but then would realize that, no, he’s a sarcastic asshole. And I’m afraid we can’t reveal the personalities for the next game yet.

Sorry if you've already answered this, but I have a question about the patreon exclusive moment you're working on. I was wondering if it's mainly going to be CGs or if it's mostly character sprites + backgrounds with some CGs.

Either way, thank you for doing the Lord's work and not only making Cove, but making this bonus moment as well 😌😌😌

It’s mostly sprites/backgrounds with two CGs!

—– —– —– —–

Thank you again for the interesting questions everyone :D

We released a new FAQ! It answers common questions and we’ll keep adding more to it. Please check there before sending an ask. FAQ   Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[septiembrre]

Really enjoyed your nuanced post about respect for Latinx characters on the show. Why do you think there’s such a divide between the respect Rio commands from the majority of the audience versus the how the show treats him? I have empathy for all the characters but the longer the show goes on, Rio is the standout “main” character that receives the least amount from the show itself. I’m interested to see how this shifts with the introduction of Nick as the bad egg, but was thrown by bill kreb’s response that Beth will never soften to Rio because of the situations he puts her in. And not that #brio is the entire show but Beth is the person/lens who we see Rio through, so her opinion/attitude is by default the one that matters here (petition for first person Rio POV). I’m not totally sure what I’m asking hahah but would love your thoughts on any of it if you wanted to share. 🧠

Hi Anon! 

When I got your ask yesterday I realized that damn it, I finally needed to track down this post I wrote last April in the middle of Season 3 airing. Back in the day (lol, a year ago, but a year in pandemic terms, okay?), I didn’t tag anything in purposefully -- I mean I only meagerly tag things now -- and thought I had lost it forever, but I’m so glad I found it. I didn’t do all that emotional labor for it to fall into the Tumblr abyss. 😭I fucking transcribed something from a Youtube video (so extra.) 

It’s weird reading it now because so much it still feels salient. I hate that. But, even though it’s time-stamped from a year ago, I think it still gets to your question: 

Why do you think there’s such a divide between the respect Rio commands from the majority of the audience versus the how the show treats him? 

1. I think there isn’t enough support for writing Latinx characters on the show. I wonder if there are any Latinx writers on the show, and if there are, whether they are junior writers/what their power looks like in the writing room. The conversation doesn’t have to stop at writers either, just how many Latinx creators allowed to have voices in the decision-making involved in the show? 

2. I still think MM lacks the traditional star power to have Rio’s character get more narrative weight. I think there are certain things within his control, pieces he can lobby for and effect -- but not larger narrative choices. While Rio is the fan favorite, MM is still the least prolific, known of the cast, hasn’t paid his acting dues to get higher billed, etc. I do laugh tho every episode when MM is billed right above Lidya Jewett the actress who plays Sara, Ruby’s daughter, who has barely been in this season (but kudos to her and her ppl for advocating for her billing spot). 

Importantly, MM doesn’t seem to have allies in the three leads. For example, I would argue Reno’s professional relationship and friendship with Retta and Matthew’s relationship with Christina (lol, Matt seems to be a set favorite) have very much paid off for both of them (especially Matt). It feels strange to watch classic work dynamics play out like this on the show bc you would think it would be more effected by NBC’s bottom line. But I’m getting that classic workplace read, that your job standing is based on who you’re allied with and who is your advocate. And this is just pure speculation, my personal read, but I think there are also vibes of ~unconscious bias~ discriminatory stuff around MM being a Latinx actor from a working-class BIPOC community layered in all of this. 

I don’t want to fully get into the subject of MM but I feel like this ask would be incomplete to not mention the following. Something else that stands out in this situation is MM’s public shade towards the show, and social media presence overall. *sigh*  At this point, I can’t imagine MM hasn’t been come across as unpalatable to his castmates. From the little glimpses we get on social media it hasn’t looked pretty. However, as much as he makes me cringe, I see his work vibes, and I feel a sad echo of my own experiences as a brown Latinx person trying to get my white coworkers to recognize my fuller humanity. 

Anyway, NBC’s gripe is that Good Girls doesn’t make them enough money and the thing is we know how it could. With a few tweaks (not making GG the Rio!Show but giving Rio more narrative weight, putting him in even one substantive scene with Annie or Ruby for example) Good Girls could more easily get renewed, be more popular etc. I don’t think shifts like this would have to compromise the integrity of the story Jenna Bans originally wanted to tell with the focus on the three female leads. There can be more effort put into the Latinx representation without it breaking the premise of the show.  

But, on the bright side in Season 4, Rio has a new scene playmate~ Little by little we are populating Rio’s world, and we finally have someone he can work against one-on-one in scenes independent from Beth. Love for that for him!~* Idk, I’m still skeptical about this Nick storyline. I really enjoy aspects of it, but I feel like it’s pinging a radar re:poorly thought out representation in a way I haven’t fully processed yet.  

Thanks for the ask! (I will take no further questions about MM at this time.🙈)

[aetheternity]

Opposite sides attract (Eren x Reader)

I was thinking this could take place around season 3 but with older Eren. Technically it would make more sense from a manga standpoint than the anime. This is Nsfw so 18+ only.

Synopsis: Eren meets a beautiful girl while being held hostage. He's waiting for death or his teammates but all he can think about is you.

"You can't be fucking serious." Eren watched as the two men in front of him bickered unable to speak thanks to the device in his mouth.

"You were leaving anyway right? And I've got business with Rod Reiss. This chick is new but she's feisty, trust me she won't let Eren out of her sight."

"Whatever!" The bigger man threw his hands up in defeat. "If anything happens it's on you, Kenny."

"It's just one night!" Kenny remarked throwing his arms up with a dramatic huff, "It'll be fine."

The husky man groaned, "Come on Flegel." The two of them quickly exited and Kenny placed a hand on Y/N's shoulder.

"Hey, Historia's in the back. But everyone's more worried about titan boy here. So don't mess this up."

"Sure." You replied and with that Kenny was also leaving.

You immediately felt Eren's large green eyes on you. His gaze falling slowly over your facial features, then down your neck, over your chest and hips where they stayed for a little too long-

"If you've got something to say you should say it." You smirked, and you watched irritation work its way onto his features.

He huffed, rolling his eyes and you smiled a little feeling his green pupils stay on you. His head resting against the back of his chair.

"I guess not." You remarked, smirking at the way he grunted over the device between his teeth.

He shifted a bit shoulders splaying as he took a deep breath. It was hard not to stare, even through his shirt you could see the tensing of his abs. His biceps flexing against the remarkably thin fabric. And-

Shit..

He was trying to smile that was for sure. His green eyes sparkling where they held onto you.

"Shut up." You mumbled

He let out a breathy chuckle before repositioning himself in the chair. You both fell quiet for what was probably two minutes until you felt his gaze boring holes into you again. You grunted and moved to pull the biter from his mouth.

"I'm not here for your entertainment, you know." You huffed, staring him down.

"No, but you're the first person to watch over me who isn't an old man."

You couldn't help the way your lips curled up into a smile. You felt his eyes still staring you down, somehow much more intense than before. Your peripheral vision catching the slick movement of his pink tongue casting over just as pink lips.

"Can I ask what your name is?" He asked, you couldn't tell when you looked over at him what he might be thinking.

You scoffed, gaze drifting. "You didn't hear it when I came in? I guess titan powers don't include good hearing."

Surprisingly enough he smirked looking at you from the corners of his eyes. "Nope, I just get bigger."

Your jaw almost hit the floor but you refrained from letting it show on your face. This had been the first job Kenny had let you go on since you joined his gang. You definitely couldn't mess it up.

"Hey." Eren said, tilting his head forward. "Why are you with Kenny?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you don't look like the kind of girl that should be working against the law. Aren't you worried the military police are going to come for you?"

You rolled your eyes stepping forward so that you were in front of his chair. In one swift motion you kicked it over allowing it to fall flat against the floor with a heavy thud. Eren grunted as he slammed against cold tile.

"Oh yeah, And why would you care? You don't even know me." You said, your breath was fanning his face and he blinked up at you, eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't have to know you to know you're working with horrible people who don't care about you."

You yanked his chair back up, settling into his lap. Delicate thumb coming up to inch over soft pink lips, edging them open slightly. "Does that concern you titan boy?"

When your lips pressed against his it was to test the waters. Hands sliding up to his ears, grazing the soft hairs on his face. Coming in close again you sealed your lips once more.

"What're you trying to do?" Eren asked his voice low like his words were a secret.

You couldn't help the soft snicker that fell from your lips right before you kissed him again. You were surprised by how firm he was right off the bat, pressing back like he'd been waiting to do this all day.

You pulled away again, looking into his slightly hazed over green eyes. "I was just thinking a girl this pretty doesn't have to do some guys dirty work." He said

You caught him off guard this time. Teeth sinking into his bottom lip, tugging it back with you then letting it go bringing your mouth flush against his. One of your hands traveled down his neck to his chest twisting his shirt in your fingers roughly yanking him forward.

He broke away face barely inches from yours. "Hnn so rough.." he practically growled

You felt his thighs spread and you pulled him back in with a smirk. His breath caught, air flushing over your mouth when you grounded your hips into his lap. The print of his cock making your thighs clench around his waist.

"Hmm, someone's easily turned on." You giggled, pulling him as close as you could with both hands tangled in his hair.

"Yeah, the girl that crawled into her captives lap." He shot back

You didn't expect his tongue but when it prodded against your lips, you opened up. Fuck his tongue.. it sent shivers down your spine as he carefully picked you apart. He wrapped his tongue around yours with ease coaxing a moan from your throat.

You felt yourself slowly submitting to Eren's playful bites against your tongue. Gasping when he left a couple against your lips and the sides of your mouth.

"Take the cuffs off." Eren grunted in between breaths that tickled your cheeks.

"I'm not supposed to."

His groan made your stomach ache. He pressed back into you and you held him tightly in place. Hands running up his back.

"Please." He begged "I wanna take your shirt off."

"So bold." You whispered against his lips. In an instant you had scooted back, shrugging off your plain black tee.

His hum of acknowledgment met with some soft grinding against his cock. You couldn't help but claw at his shirt over the breathy hums and grunts he let slip.

He leaned in closer to your ear, " I wanna touch them."

You met his lips with a chaste kiss which he chased when you pulled back. "Good things come to those who wait." You warned

You inched your fingers under the hem of his shirt wanting to tease him but also being partially impatient yourself. Surprisingly the article of clothing slipped over Eren's head easily, tangling itself in the cuffs.

Eren bucked up into you and you laughed slightly, now you actually did tease a little. Your fingers inching the straps of your bra off your shoulders before unclasping the thing sliding it the rest of the way off and chucking it off to the side.

You didn't miss the way Eren groaned at your chest now completely bare in front of him. He leaned in latching his mouth to your collarbone layering it with bites and soft kisses. You were much quicker with his pants then you had been with his shirt, unbuttoning and unzipping till you were touching the head of his hard cock.

He let out a moan that caught in his throat as your hand flicked over warm, hard flesh. "You have a really nice dick." You whispered to him. His moans were flooding your ear and you felt yourself tremble.

"If you like.. it so.... much why don't you.. put your mouth on it?" Your hand froze and he leaned back to look at you. "I didn't.." he paused in his speech and you quickly took in his dazed expression as you flop to the floor. Your hands tugginghis pants down as much as possible.

"You won't be needing these anymore." It was way more difficult then you'd realized to slip Eren's pants off but you managed. Had him plopping back down in his seat with his bare cock flush in front of your face.

He took a deep breath opening your throat to swallow his length. Eren gasped his eyes rolling to the back of his head and then shut tight. The breathless pants falling off his lips bouncing off the chipped paint on the walls.

Maybe you should've taken it easier on him. You thought with a smile to yourself.

His hips bucked up into your mouth but you quickly held him down. He was stretching your mouth in a way you kind of enjoyed. Exaggerating the slurping noises as you kept your place slow and relaxed.

"Hnngh please.." Eren begged

You looked up at him. His green eyes were open again, watery but watching every move you made.

"Please what?"

"The fucking cuffs." He grunted, eyebrows etched together.

You reached for the base of his cock flicking your wrist faster a little faster. "Why?" You lapped at his tip. "You wanna grip my hair?"

"Badly." He gasped

"Wanna use my throat?"

"Yessss." His eyes were dangerous in the currently dim lights.

"Wanna slap me with your cock?"

"And cum on your face." He finished

You thought for a second before returning to sucking his cock. His body shook and you watched his expression tense up again.

A copious amount of curses fell of his lips and he gasped, cock twitching on your tongue. It was hard not to smile especially when Eren's jaw dropped open to an almost choked grunt.

You decided to stop playing with him at least a little bit. Speeding up your mouth, cheeks hollowing around him. If all of it wasn't enough already his abs contracting and expanding in front of you were doing way too many bad things to your pussy.

His eyes were completely hazy at this point and so intense. He let out a deep sigh, head lolling as he stared down at you with flushed cheeks.

"I'm almost there.."

Your pause was sudden and you practically ripped your remaining clothes tossing them off. You reached out for Eren's chest, thumbs inching over hard skin then up to his shoulders and down his arms. He leaned into you suddenly capturing your lips with unhinged kisses that quickly had you breathless.

Without any further hesitation you lifted yourself up pressing the tip of Eren's cock against your entrance. His breath came out hot against your face and you both let out a deep sigh as you slowly bottomed out.

Your mouth wasn't the only thing he'd managed to stretch and when you dug your nails into his back he kissed your chin. "Does it hurt, Y/N?"

You chuckled a little breathless. "Oh, so you do remember my name."

"How could I forget the name I'm gonna be groaning tonight?"

You carefully brought your fingers down to your clit indulging in the way his cock brushed over your g-spot. You felt Eren's thighs spread and your stomach curled in appreciation when he began to meet your thrusts.

"Shit Eren.."

His bottom lip tucked itself under his teeth and you brought one of your hands up to coax aside the hairs against his forehead. You dropped your hips a little faster sucking in a breath at the sensation coursing through your hips.

His name fell off your lips and his shoulders tensed as you used them for leverage. Eren groaned his breath catching and you pulled him closer swallowing every sound from his lips.

Sweat clouded your forehead, sticking to the little strands of hair on your head. Toes curled and clenched in your black boots. And you bit your tongue trying to control the moans spilling off your lips as they grew in volume.

You felt your thighs quiver and your head fell back. The sounds of yours and Eren's skin slapping along with the mixed sounds of both of your pleasure filling the room.

"Ugghh.. don't squeeze.." Eren begged, mouth hung open, eyes darkened over.

You would've laughed if you weren't close to cumming and you could tell Eren was right there with you.

It shocked you how fast Eren managed to capture your lips again. "I'm soo close.." He mumbled against your kiss swollen lips. "Soo cloosee.. f-fu- I'm cumming.."

You sped up Eren's hips working themselves a little faster. It was hard to hide the loud gasp that slipped from your throat when he came. His eyes squeezing shut, long moan flooding from his lips as he leaned in emptying inside you.

"Mm I'm almost there too.."

"Finish, come on.." He whispered, surprisingly still completely there after his orgasm.

The finger on your clit circled a little faster and you rocked your hips a little more till you shook in his lap. You squealed teeth nearly biting into his shoulder as your hips momentarily twitched. You rode out your orgasm, head back and eyes closed.

Eren groaned, your nails digging into his back. "Ohh fuck Eren.." You sighed, working to catch your breath.

You held onto him for a couple seconds completely still as you caught your breath. Not sure what you were expecting to see when you looked up at Eren again but his eyes were filled with a sort of hunger. And the next thing you knew your back was hitting the floor and he was on top of you.

"I'm starting to think you're not taking the cuffs off cause you're nervous." Eren's hot breath fanned your face. "Don't worry though."

When he leaned in you felt your pulse quicken. Your hands creeping up his back to his hair digging into his scalp. He groaned against your lips, the tip of his cock nudging your entrance. You reached down with a breathless sigh but he yanked himself back before you could touch him.

He allowed himself one more kiss then he was inching backwards, his knees heavy on the cold floor. "I'll be gentle."

The small flick of his tongue against your sex was nervous almost and sweet. Forcing you to beg your hips to stay still. He moved in a little closer, tongue flat over your lips, hole and clit. You hand flashed forward gripping his hair almost too tightly.

The floor was cold but you barely noticed. Your whole focus turning to the heat resurfacing in your stomach. Eren's name fell from your lips over and over as his tongue circled and massaged the bundle of nerves between your lower lips.

The simultaneously heat and cold making your thighs shake uncontrollably. You could feel every curve of his lips, every breath and every noise that exited his throat it all vibrated off your sensitive core.

The texture of his tongue against yours was nothing compared to the fire he was starting between your legs. He pressed forward, lips wrapping around your clit before working his way back down to your hole.

The mix of your juices and his cum all being lapped up, wetting his soft pink lips. You were barely holding your voice back now but you couldn't even pretend you cared when he was roughly pressing his tongue in and out of your still sensitive hole.

You begged. For what you didn't know but you felt that familiar coil unlatching. That same intensity from earlier back with a vengeance. Your pleasure falling off your lips from your hoarse throat.

You felt Eren's smirk and his tongue flicked your oversensitive clit till you were sure you were red in the face. Back arched off the floor followed by a scream you couldn't begin to muffle. When you came it sprayed Eren's face and the floor but you were too busy trying to catch your breath to really take it in.

That is until Eren sat up. His face dripping with your cum. Tongue darting over it with a smirk that made your head spin. With shakey legs you stood quickly grabbing the key that had been lodged in your back pocket.

"You'd better not run from me." You whispered. You made quick work of the cuffs as they were soon clattering to the ground.

Eren's hands came down roughly on your ribs. He shoved his cock in so fast you could barely gasp. "Run from your tight pussy? How stupid do I look to you?"

He didn't hesitate to pull his dick out to its tip quickly ramming it back inside. His hands fastened under both your knees pressing them into the ground as he continued assaulting your pussy.

You could already feel your stomach tensing, his breath hot in your ear. Toes curling at your name rolling off his tongue over and over again almost unheard over your gasps and the slick sound of your skin slapping together.

The way he was sucking at the spot behind your ears and on your neck was definitely going to be unexplainable but it was impossible to think right now. Your nails finding purchase against the back of his neck clawing over smooth skin.

One of his hands came up from your surely bruised thigh to harshly grab at your breast. The action forcing a loud moan from your throat. Giving it a little smack he slammed into your pussy halting for a second before yanking you closer by both legs.

"Where.. do you want my.. cum?" The question threw you and you felt yourself clench around him.

"H-huh.."

You could swear you heard him snicker. His tongue lashed over your eardrum and you nearly flinched. "Tell me.. where you want.... my cum." He continued his voice husky.

You let out a soft cry, head leaning back as his tip rammed your spot full force. His thumb rough where it stroked your clit. You heard him grunt, without looking you knew his eyes were shut tight. His name fell off your lips in a long moan.

He was gripping you so tight that his finger prints were probably etched into your skin.

"M-my ch-chest.." You cried, head completely empty. "Pl-ease.."

Your voice was almost completely lost but Eren was pulling out. His dick being pumped quickly and in only a few seconds ropes of white cum were splattering over your chest. The last of Eren's moans dissolving away into heavy huffs.

Soon enough he was bringing you to another orgasm as his cum slid against your clenching stomach. You head falling back and your hands fisting around nothing as you came.

He let go of your body and you dipped your finger into a bit of his dripping cum bringing it to your mouth as he watched. The way he sucked in his breath was cute and you teasingly wiggled your hips.

"I wanted to see how it tasted." You remarked innocently.

He let out a breathless chuckle indulging you in one quick peck before looking around at the mess you two had made.

"Good luck explaining this, and those tomorrow." He said, gesturing to the already forming red marks on your skin and the smashed chair leg.

"That will be easy." You smiled deviously

"How so?"

"I have my ways."

[thepigeonsopinion]

The 100th episode came out...

So, the episode "Ephemeral" came out (and when I just thought this would be a normal, relaxing weekend). Now, before I really dive into this whole chaos that is the episode, I want to clear up some stuff for some people that saw my latest post **cough cough**mainly the one that commented on me not understanding the episode**cough cough**. The latest post that I did about the second trailer of "Ephemeral" was solely based on my thoughts on the trailer, and I repeat the TRAILER of the episode, not the episode itself. Now, THIS post is about the episode and my opinions on the EPISODE not the trailers or anything, if anything I will infer some stuff that I said in my others post to show that some of my theories were wrong or that some stuff that wasn't shown in the trailers has been cleared up in the episode. NOW, that has been cleared up, let's actually dive into the episode, shall we? :).

Okay, so I was contemplating on whether or not I should do the usual "unnecessarily detailed summary or synopsis of the episode" that I usually do, but I decided to just skip it today because one: I’m really sleep deprived, and two: I can probably guess that most of the fandom has already seen the episode.

So! (after a 2 hour nap...)Let's just dive in! (because I can't express how much this episode pissed me off.)

Warning: Spoiler to the episode "Ephemeral"

(Also, as always I am re watching the episode as I type this so I might have some unnecessary details. Anyway! Let's get into it!)

First things, first, how many scenes or reminders have we gotten since this whole thing started? I mean, even in the first season we got a frickin picture of Emilie, which was already hint that whatever Gabriel is doing it's for her, or, as he says, his "family". At this point of the show, I believe this is just to give him a sense of calm mind or at the least a reminder of why he is even doing this in the first place (because I believe he's starting to go a 'little' insane using those two miraculous over and over again.)

Okay, so is Bob Roth broke now? I mean, we knew he had obsession with money, but shouldn't he have at least 'enough' money to keep him satisfied and not crying about the coin that just fell into the sewers? (Btw I know this just a scene to fill in the empty void of this episode, but I just wanted to point it out :p).

Ummm, does anyone see that 'subtle' hit that Gabriel is controlling Adrien with his ring? Legit, when Adrien is starting to disagree with him because he wants to leave and have Adrien take over instead he touches his ring, as if he's a sentimonster that he can control to do as he says. We'll just have to wait until it's actually established, I guess.

Let's talk about Bob Roth's akuma form! Is his whole body the safe or is the safe just the outer shell and he's the coins? Whatever it is, this akuma form is still very confusing, and what is the akumatized object in the first place anyway? (I have so many questions already :0)

Okay, let's talk about the fight scene. First of all, why the heck does ladybug need every temporary hero to help her defeat this one akuma. I mean, I get the need of Viperion, Pegasus, maybe Vespera, maybe Polymouse, and maybe Carapace. But the others I don't really see a need for them in this specific battle. Maybe they had a bigger role in the battle before the exact scene we see, but I don't really know. I'm also bring up a fact that some other people have also brought up. The fact that they don't need Chat Noir's cataclysm. If they played their cards right they would have been able to defeat the akuma a much more easier and much more faster than they actually did. Because as we see, Purple Tigress is present during the battle so with her power of Collision and Pegasus power of Voyage they could easily defeat the akuma. (though I'm not going to complain with the use of Viperion tbh (¬3¬)). But all in all, I do think that they totally could've use the temporary heroes differently in this one. (Also, not to mention the amount of combination that Viperion had to do though. :0)

Wait a second his akumatized object was a giant ass coin. Convenient, I guess. Also, I'm just going to infer that his body is the coins now.

We love that we get to see Luka play a much bigger role in this episode then any other episode in the series already, just by seeing him witness the amount of stress and pressure that is put on Ladybug/Marinette (since he knows now).

Okay, I know Su-han is putting a lot of stress on Ladybug right now, but he do got a point though. Ladybug used 9 miraculous to defeat one akuma, NINE miraculous. And I know a lot of people would say, "Adrien had no choice he was just trying to obey his father!", and "He wouldn't be able to escape that big audience anyway!", but look at it this way through Su-han's eyes it looks as if that Chat Noir is neglecting his duties and Ladybug has to deal with the consequences of his mistake. And I also can already see that a lot of people saying, "Yeah, but this wouldn't have happened if they knew each other's identities," but, again here's the thing them knowing each other's identities can lead to life threatening situations, as seen later on in the episode so you can also understand where Ladybug is coming from. Anyway, all I'm saying that is no one, in my opinion, is in the wrong here in this situation and as I have said earlier Ladybug could have done this battle differently without using the nine miraculous that she did.

AnYwAy! Back to the episode! I love how Luka is also so done with this conversation or more so lecture between Su-han and Ladybug. Like, you can see it in his face, he's so done with it already XD. Also, the way that Su-han skips/hops out of the scene is so freaking hilarious! Is it just me, or are the creators just getting lazy at doing the transformations at this point?

MY LUKANETTE HEAAAAARTTT!! I know that this whole scene is supposed to be professional and all, but like you can't tell me that this scene doesn't perfectly demonstrate how good they understand and work with each other. I mean, COME ON IT'S TOO CUTE! (Also is sass eating tofu?) Not to mention, HOW CUTE LUKA IS THIS ENTIRE EPISODEEEEEEEE!!!!!

To be honest, I legit almost forgot that Luka already knows Chat Noir identity because of "Wishmaker". This just tells us how good Luka is at keeping a secret (¬‿¬). Not to mention, how in sync they are though and how easy they understand each other unlike some people, I'm saying names...

Anywho! Continuing on, looking at Viperion's face listening to this conversation shows how very worried he says, and I love that small detail about him. Also the fact that Ladybug can't take seriously the fact that Chat Noir is Adrien and when she does see for herself that he is Adrien she can't comprehend the fact, that she frozen is shock and forgets the mission is just a "wow, didn't see that coming" moment for me tbh. Not to mention, that Adrien is rubbing in the fact that he has been waiting for this moment his whole time he has had the miraculous and has met her, he's kinda going overboard in my opinion.

Look at that! Marinette is asking the same question I had! On whether or Chat Noir is the real Adrien or is Adrien someone different entierly? (also, Tikki not helping by rubbing in the fact that she has a crush on AdRiEn and now that we know that he's Chat Noir, we know that he's in love with Ladybug, and that kinda means that Adrien is in love with Marinette, who is Ladybug) ((damn this just keeps getting more complicated by the day)) Yes, Marinette has learned her lesson from telling Alya she is Ladybug.

Noting the fact, that when Marinette finds out Adrien is Chat Noir she can't stop seeing him AS Chat Noir, also that kinda nerves me, just a bit. Not to mention, the fact that Luka was the only one to notice that Marinette is bothered by something is another quality that I love about him :). Also, we just caught confirmation that Luka is indeed still inlove with Marinette and that he loves even more now, but he is still actively trying to help her find herself, whether or not it's about her love life. (sad fan moments ｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д`ﾟ)ﾟ｡). Also, this the one time that I really hate Luka giving advice to Marinette, wait scratch that maybe the second moment (I just remembered the time he told her to go after Adrien in "Frozer"). It's the fact that upon hearing Luka's advice does she start to see him differently, that makes me unbelievably sad because my ship...｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д`ﾟ)ﾟ｡(If it wasn't obvious I'm a lukanette stan)

Now, I just want to mention this once, because I know that if I say this the Adrinette shippers will track me down and probably murder me on the spot, but here goes nothing. Let's just notice the fact that Adrien says that he can't believe the fact that one of his bestfriend's is his "one true love"....BESTFRIEND. Here it is, the confirmation Adrien did NOT see Marinette as anything BUT a FRIEND! Even it took Marinette a couple of days to get her feelings sorted out, but NoOoOo Adrien already knows that his bestfriend being his love interest is valid enough to establish your in love with said person. (hehehe this pisses me off a little if you can't tell) Now, I'm gonna end that there before anyone comes to murder me.

Not them acting lovey dovey after one day of knowing each other's identities (or at least for Adrien it's one day). Also, what the heck did he put in that frickin note? I'm curious now.

So, it only takes one word, ONE WORD for him to figure out that Adrien is Chat Noir. I SWEAR TO GOSH THIS SHOW JUST LOVES TO PISS ME OFF BY NOT MAKING SENSE! Not to mention, Gabriel has no remorse in what he is doing to his son to just get his miraculous. And I thought he was trying to be a good father. PFFT who am I kidding, this dude was barely even trying.

This is the fourth time that the number 100 has come up, the FOURTH time. I think they're shoving the fact that it's the 100th episode a little to much.

AND AGAIN, we see Gabriel using the ring that he is wearing, which is supposedly a family heirloom to control Adrien into subduing into his commands. I mean, at this point what else are we supposed to believe, it's right there, Gabriel is clearly controlling Adrien, and with that we can easily infer that he is a sentimonster. All we need is canon confirmation, but are we going to get that? Probably not.

Not Luka being the one that Marinette contacts instead of Alya (¬‿¬). Also the fact that he immediately jumps into action and legit runs and bikes all the way to her home. I'm just like AWWWHHHHH. LUKA IS THE REAL MVP OF THE SHOW!! (Meanwhile, Shadowmoth throwing a legit child like, four feet away, after getting the miraculous) The way that Sass says "My master!" with his arms out, just shows how proud he is and that just melts my heart.（〜^∇^ )〜 Not to mention, the fact that all the kwamis are already comfortable with him, then again they're in a dire sitiuation, but still T3T. Though, we also got a glimpse of what the other Ladybug holders look liked before so that was a cool treat, I guess.

You know, I just got the irony that this episode came out during day light savings and they to bring everything back to normal they have to reset the time, clever, I guess. The transformation sequence was cool, but it was pretty short, to be honest, so I wasn't really impressed by it.

After they fix the time and everything goes back to normal and Marinette has a final talk with Su-han the episode ends. But wait a second, did Ladybug retrieve Luka's miraculous? Looks like we'll never know....*ominous ghost music*

AnYwAy! All in all, this episode was interesting and very amusing to watch if I'm going to be honest. BUT I was very pissed off during the episode because of some of the scene. Though, Luka being the MVP really balanced everything out. Now, don't get me wrong this is not going to be one of my favorite episodes, but it's also not going to go into my least favorite episodes (mainly because of the involvement of Luka). So this episode probably will land in the middle of my list.

Anyway! that is the end of this rant, I hope everyone has a great rest of their day or morning(?) and always remeber...

But that's just my opinion (・ε・)

(Btw I'll be doing my rant on the latest trailer that came out for the "Gabriel Agreste" episode later tonight ((or morining really)) Man, it seems like the creators are releasing these trailers and episodes like hotcakes.)

[hageny]

Succession Thoughts: Gerri x Roman

AN: Points two and three in this post were requested by @thinkingfixatingobsessing​, who wanted me to dissect those moments. Thanks goes to her for the ideas. 

1. Brother Against Brother.

Roman’s introduction in Succession sees him coming back from California to congratulate Kendall on what his siblings--at this point--believe is his new position as next CEO of Waystar. We find out in this scene that Roman was once working alongside Kendall--in a position Roman only refers to as “not as high” as Kendall’s--before he was shipped off to CA for being, in his own words, “a bad fit”. The further we get into the series however, the more hindsight helps in analyzing this first scene, and we realize two important things. Firstly, when Roman claims he was not right for the company, we can almost hear Logan’s voice in the shadow of Roman’s words, saying that he was a bad fit: too incompetent, too unreliable, not enough of a shark. The more we see of their dynamic, the more we realize Logan is the one who doesn’t believe in Roman and Roman more or less parrots to others what he has been told his whole life. We can also safely assume that Roman would have remained this way--directionless, unmotivated--had he not been taken by Gerri under her wing. I’ve mentioned in other posts how her belief in him is vital to his change in direction, so I needn’t go into great detail here, but Roman--depicted as un-invested in Waystar from the get-go--is invested enough to push Gerri as CEO only one episode later, which is interesting to say the least. Secondly, we see in this scene a foundation for what will later become Roman’s motivation to betray his own family and oust them and secure power for himself. We know from later episodes that Kendall is repeatedly given passes for bad behavior and privileges his siblings don’t get, Roman in particular. This however, is a pattern that precedes the show, as we see Kendall only three years after his cocaine spiral set to take over the company in spite of a history of poor decisions while Roman is depicted as simply ‘too stupid’ to run Waystar when he doesn’t engage in the same risk-taking that his peers do, drugs included. The bitterness Roman needs to accomplish his goals has a core located in his upbringing, and grows larger as he gets batted around in lower-level jobs in the company while watching his brother sail past him to take the reigns. 

2. Blank slate.

In Prague, we see Roman and Tom at Tom’s bachelor party scoping out the women and seeing if there are any that catch their eyes--particularly Tom, who is interested in exploring the opening given him by Shiv to ‘engage himself’ with other women for the evening. This marks Tabitha’s first appearance in the show, as she catches Tom’s eye, who quickly points her out to Roman, waffling whether or not to approach her. Roman attempts to make a sexual/salacious remark to describe what he might do to her, but is unable to properly express anything, saying, “Fuck yeah, I’d be all over that. I’d like...I’d fucking...arggh, fuck!”. We see here a moment that ties into Roman’s sexual hang-ups, first touched on by his first girlfriend earlier in the season, and explored in greater detail in his relationship with Tabitha. What’s key in his inability to express himself here is that Tabitha, from the beginning, before the start of her relationship with Roman, is unable to strike enough of a nerve with him for him to even be able to express how he might engage with her sexually, which is interesting given his ability to make sexually charged remarks in other settings. It also stands in stark contrast to his ability to come on to Gerri during their first moments on camera. Where he fails to find words to even say what he might do to Tabitha, even something as simple as “I’d fuck her hard”, he tells Gerri expressly that he likes to “lube up and fuck”, and while he does not necessarily mean it literally, he can still look her in the eye and flirt with her without hesitation, and proceeds to do so throughout that scene. He is later able to have phone sex with her--another scene where the show purposefully parallels his relationship with Tabitha, who he hangs up on--and tells her at that moment he wants for her to hear him masturbate to the sound of her voice--again expressly telling her sexually what he wants to do and then following through. In Hunting, he waits for her to come close to him and begin buttoning his shirt before telling her, “You know, if I were capable of any sudden movement I would totally pounce on you right now.” All of these moments spiral out of this first moment with Tabitha, where the show begins, even then, to showcase Romans’ inability to sexually engage with her while being able to do so with Gerri from the beginning. The reasons Roman is wired this way can be tied to his trauma as a child--his need for humiliation to get off with Gerri--but it can also be seen as possibly hinting that Roman and Gerri’s relationship goes back farther than we know, spelled out in his ability to flirt easily with her and engage with her in ways he cannot with younger women, and in Gerri’s ability to understand him deeply enough that she is able to please him without even sleeping with him.

3. Roman’s Wife. 

The scene where Roman proposes to Gerri can probably be dissected a million ways--as can really any of the show, to be fair--but I will touch on one interesting facet of this scene. There is--as there are many times over the show--a parallelism at play here between Tabitha and Gerri. In Pre-Nuptial, Roman proposes to Tabitha by asking her, “What if I was prepared to marry you?”. When Tabitha balks at the suggestion, he elaborates that because his siblings are married, or have been, that he should be too, insinuating the decision is made more-so to follow suit. It’s not that he doesn’t like Tabitha--he precedes his proposal with a list of her best qualities, after all. It’s more-so that this scene makes it obvious that his desire to marry her doesn’t come from a desire for her as a person, merely his desire to be on-par with his siblings with regard to lifestyle choices. That proposal culminates with Tabitha asking Roman, “Do you think this is the way to get someone to stay?” to which Roman doesn’t respond, but the audience already knows the answer. Roman’s desire not to be alone precedes his actual interest in her, and Tabitha is smart enough to suss out that she is not the one for him, merely the one he is with right now. When Roman proposes to Gerri, he takes a much different approach. Roman’s proposal is something of a surprise, but yet it also is another step in a relationship wherein the players are already entrenched in a sexual affair with one another. Roman throws out the question as casually as he can and then when Gerri reacts with surprise, Roman quickly subverts the seriousness of the moment by jokingly telling her that if not marriage than simply abducting her will suffice. He also adds on that their eating one another--again, not literally, although he makes reference to Germany’s famous Armin Meiwes--suits his fancy, implying that being ‘one’ with her even in oneness’ most brutal, animalistic way is enough for him. Where he loses his patience with Tabitha when she rejects him, finally snapping, “Do you want to get married or not?”, when Gerri reacts with shock he merely plays it cool and offers her alternatives, finally slipping out of the room and leaving the ball in her court. Roman would most certainly like Gerri to stay, but he doesn’t use marrying her as a ploy to get her to do so merely so he isn’t alone--a narcissistic reason for marrying someone that satisfies only his own ends. He is comfortable enough in his relationship with Gerri to allow her to roam independently and decide for herself what she wants. He doesn’t force any aspect of their togetherness, merely presents her with different opportunities to see how she will react and if she can keep up with him. Gerri proves time and again that she is capable and Roman ups the ante in response to her prowess. His desire to marry her is based in what we know from the “Rockstar and the Molewoman” scene as his ability to see them as a team. To him, Gerri is an equal, not a belonging or a means to evade unpleasant emotions. She fulfills him in a way Tabitha and others cannot, and so when he asks her to marry him, he is also showcasing to the audience his view of her as an equal, and a prime candidate for the role of wife. 

[teukyo]

One Warm Spring  — Hamada Asahi

pairing: hamada asahi x reader (gender neutral)

genre: fluff, very cheesy lol

word count: 3.2k

a/n: this had no business being so long i apologize D: i tend to overwrite whoops.. oh this is also my first fic so i hope you enjoy ! i’m still a bit rusty lol

Spring; after long nights of endless slumber, the Sun creeps up to the earth, its rays planting warm yet gentle kisses. The orb’s cheeks fill up in heat, flowers of endearment blooming, butterflies catching in the atmosphere’s stomach.

The Earth smiling back, showing a bright welcoming smile, and with open arms, tells the sun “good morning”. 

The quiet exchange of sweet nothings transferred to the buoyant citizens, as everyone would jump in joy about the newly welcomed season.

And during this time of the year, peoples hopes grew along with the blooming cherry blossoms until, they too, find a loved one

With late march rolling in, comes the blossoms fully bloomed, the arms in everyone’s hearts opening to everyone.

Yet, you often found it a mistake to open up your heart in a time full of tender love like now.

Empty confessions mimicked to be heartfelt at the spur of the moment, fleeing away just as quick as the cherry blossoms came and went. You just never understood it.

Snap!

“Y/N~~ the cherry blossoms are coming soon,” your friend, Jihoon sang into your ear, “And you’re out dozing off into dreamland, are you perhaps thinking about participating in the blossoming of love this year?”

You lightly shoved him away, giving him a glare. Jihoon was always jumping around during this time of the season because he never failed to have a crowd lining up to confess him; his ego flying as high as the newly born butterflies.

“Haha, very funny.” You deadpanned, leaving him behind to go to the cafeteria. 

“Hey, you get the drinks and i’ll get the food!” Jihoon shouted, you simply responding with an ‘okay’ symbol with your hand.

Because this was a routine everyday, you had your exact footsteps to the vending machine engraved in your head.

‘11:43—by now everyone should have already gotten their drinks’

‘1, 2, 3, 4.. don’t trip over the crack.. 5, 6, 7—’ beep!

That beep.. wasn’t part of your procedure.

You looked up, your eyes landing on an unfamiliar figure in front of your destination.

Focusing your vision on him, he was made out to be a raven haired boy, his posture slightly hunched over focusing on the number combination assigned to each drink.

His dainty fingers lightly pressing the right combo, pressing each digit carefully like his joints were made of glass

Shoving the crumpled up $5 bill into the slot, his eyebrows furrowing when the machine rejected it

5-5-6-2— banana milk?

You hadn’t realized you’ve been staring at him the entire time until he started walking away, a banana milk in his hand, accidentally brushing past you.

“Ah, sorry” he simply muttered under his breath before continuing on his path. His voice, a deep contrast to the season; hearing his hushed voice chilling you like a midwinter night. His entire presence stood out, almost like a wilted flower amongst the blossoming ones. Yet here you are, warm as ever, feeling the sun pressing warm gentle kisses on the place his fingertips brushed yours.

—

“Y/N? banana milk? you seem to be switching it up today” Jihoon said when you set your drinks down on the table.

“Ah.. i just — maybe i needed a change for the season” you simply responded because, you too, didn’t know why you had a banana milk in front of you instead of your usual chocolate milk.

Throwing your half empty banana milk carton to the trash after lunch, you heard a voice peer behind you.

“Oh! you drink banana milk too! it’s my favorite!” a student you knew the name by Jaehyuk vocalized. You snuck a peek back at the banana milk slowly spilling out of the tiny straw, smiling back at Jaehyuk looking at you with hopeful eyes.

“Ah— this is actually my first time trying it! And it’s.. good!” you returned, attention on Jaehyuk until you see a much smaller figure peer behind him, a chocolate milk in hand.

“Of course it’s good! don’t buy too much of it though— don’t need it going out of stock on me! cmon Asahi”

Asahi. Asahi is his name.

You took one last quick glance at him, watching him throw the empty chocolate milk carton in the bin.

“Yeah.. The banana milk was too sweet for me anyway.”

—

Squatting down to touch the freshly grown flowers outside the school yard, you had recalled the times of your youth as a child running so eagerly to the same flowers in your hand right now.

Gazing at the pretty pink petals in awe as you wiping the morning dew slightly so it can slide off the petals, dripping to the ground.

Running back into your home, crying for a bandaid because you accidentally poked your hand with one of the thorns on accident.

Such simple yet vivid times you remember that made you cherish life a little more.

“Y/N? what are you doing here— our last class is gonna start soon” you heard your classmate Hyunsuk call. you spotting an ever so familiar figure behind him.

Small yet vivid moments.. how does this remind you of—

“Y/N what are you doing cmon!”

—

After school, you sneakily slid into the art classroom after realizing you left your phone in there. Checking the clock, you had 15 minutes before art club would commence, assuming you had 5 minutes to find your phone before members of the club would start arriving.

You observed the colorful classroom with the array of paintings laying on the drying rack, the paint brushes laying on the counter to dry, the sink covered in copious amounts of colors with its original silver color peeking through. The room gave off the feel of an elementary school art classroom. You guess the term “art is timeless” applies to the setting art is made in too.

“Ah there it is!” you whispered to yourself, snatching it off of the teacher’s desk. The sound of the door sliding open shocked you, ducking down under the table out of instinct.

‘Crap—how do i get out of here’ you thought before hearing a tiny tap on the desk.

And during this time of the year, peoples hopes grew along with the blooming cherry blossoms until, they too, find a loved one

“Uhm.. are you okay?” you looked up, seeing him.

With late march rolling in, comes the blossoms fully bloomed, the arms in everyone’s hearts opening to everyone.

“Oh sorry! I just- I forgot my phone during class so I just came in here to grab it..” you trailed off, quickly getting out of your ducked position and brushing the dust off of you.

You just never understood it.

“I should get going since art club is starting soon” you mustered. Before you could open the door you heard him speak.

“Are you looking to join the art club by any chance?” he said. You looked back at him, unable to scramble words together.

‘Just say yes, say yes, say yes, say yes say-‘

—

You handed out the application form to the leader of the art club, Yoshinori was it?

“Thank you thank you! You can join us for today to see the gist of what goes on” he said while giving you a smile that can easily flutter the hearts of others.

You looked at the room around you seeing Asahi and Jaehyuk, and a freshman that went by Haruto.

To be honest, why did you apply? Your experiences in art were little to none and your current piece you were working on in class was a “dog”— at least that’s what you called it.

“There should be one more person arriving and then we can start” Yoshinori said whilst you and him took a seat.

You stared at Asahi across from you who was absent mindedly looking down at the table, fiddling with his fingers.

‘Cute’ you thought before getting interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

“oh! Y/N what brings you here?” you looked behind you to see Jihoon at the entrance, giving Yoshinori a polite smile.

“I think i should be asking what are YOU doing here,” you retorted, knowing very well that both you and him had the same level of art skill, “and I just joined because i’ve been interested in art.”

“Sure—“ Jihoon scoffed, “Asahi told me about this today so i decided to join—“

‘Asahi. How does he know Jihoon?’

“And you’re not even listening to me!” he exclaimed, ruffling your hair roughly, you lightly punching him in the gut in return.

After the commotion died down, everyone went in session, drawing on a piece of paper whatever went into mind. It definitely meditated your mind but it wasn’t appealing— visually.

The room was filled with small chatter, Jihoon’s voice overbearing everyone else’s.

“Your doodles are very cute” you heard him softly speak. You looked up at his paper, your eyes widening at the sheer talent that bestowed upon your eyes.

“You’re a funny jokester” you simply replied, looking at your own paper with a tight lipped smile. You heard him stifle a laugh, warmth flooding throughout your veins.

“It’s amusing to look at— i like the dog” he said, pointing at one of the drawings.

“It’s supposed to be a zebra >:(“ you looked up at him, trying to contain his laughter before calming himself down and continuing to draw on his paper.

“Well it’s fine because art club isn’t necessarily based on skill. i mean, if we have Jaehyuk in here then that says something” he responded pointing at Jaehyuk’s paper. You couldn’t quite comprehend what he was drawing— a person playing baseball??

“It’s a frog by the way”

“HUH?!”

—

You hadn’t realized how late art club ended, but when you walked out of school, you saw the once blue sky turned into an orange hue indicating the late time.

“We hope to see you again Y/N” Yoshinori said. You nodded and hummed in response before taking your leave with Jihoon.

You took one last glimpse of Asahi, sticking out amongst the orange sky. The sun was setting yet— looking at him gave you the exact warmth you would feel on a midsummer day. You watched his mouth slowly bloom into a smile when made eye contact. You think in your mind that spring has never felt so warm.

—

You looked up at the trees in the process of blooming, white buds formulating on the branches.

“The trees are gonna be really pretty in about two weeks or so” you heard a voice from behind you. Him. You clenched the chocolate milk in your hand before turning towards him.

“Yeah— oh sorry i’m blocking the vending machine” you murmured, sliding away.

“Oh no no,, it’s fine,” he said before taking your spot and getting the same drink in your hand, “Are you by any chance— planning to confess to anybody?”

Oh, right. You looked up at the blossoming trees once again. The time of the season you once never understood. The time of the season you once could say you despised. Yet here you are, having the rush of spring flowing down your veins. Is this the adrenaline that everyone feels? The unknown feeling gave you goosebumps throughout your body as he asked you that question.

“I don’t quite know yet,” you simply responded, looking back at him taking the drink out of the machine, “What about you?”

A sheepish smile wiped on his face, his dimple showing ever so slightly. He shrugged before looking at you.

“Only my heart knows the answer to that question.”

—

Over the so little time you’ve known Asahi, you’ve picked up on his mannerisms and his actions.

For one, he was more on the reserved side, and even when he talked his voice would always be on the softer side. You unknowingly started to associate him with winter because he gave off the cold feeling of a winter night. It was also your favorite season.

Most people knew him because he was friends with Jaehyuk, one who was very popular amongst the school. You had heard a couple times in the hallway about how handsome Asahi was. The feeling you felt when hearing that was unknown to you.

He enjoyed drawing a lot; him and Yoshinori were the best out of the club (though you’d be a bit biased if asked whose art you liked more), and he was always focused on his work, always scrunching in a little corner tending to his painting. But yet he always complimented your drawings no matter how bad they were, never failing to give you a warm feeling right after.

You could say you had developed an endearment towards asahi.

You stepped out your home, looking at the once bare trees flutter into pink hues, you thought the cherry blossoms were beautiful.

Today you decided not to walk out with Jihoon because well— confession season is always different with that boy. You had no intentions to get caught up in his relations.

You took timid and slow steps towards school. Taking your time looking at the petals and happy groups walking and aweing at the blossoms. Your mind was also off somewhere— of course it was, it always was.

Arriving at school, you saw Jihoon getting flooded by countless individuals, a letter in most of their hands. You could say the same to Jaehyuk on the other side who was also getting bomboarded. You took your routined steps to your locker, opening it as per usual except— it wasn’t usual.

You watched the letter flutter out, swaying to the floor imitating a loose flower petal. Picking it up with a shaked up expression, you carefully opened it up.

You saw the scribbled up lines at the top of the letter, indicating that the said person was trying to make a poem.

‘ah— who am i kidding? i’m not one with words. i never was. yet here i am trying to pour my feelings out on this letter. but i cant seem to combine the right words to express it. maybe because my feelings could not be described in the first place. maybe my feelings are best not worded out on this crumpled up piece of notebook paper. because if i’m being honest— this is my 27th time writing this and yet i still cant get it down. just.. meet me at class 104B? 4:15 pm after school today? please? -♡

Your grip on the paper tightened, the heart fluttering confession bringing a small smile to your face. You looked back at your locker seeing chocolate milk in sitting atop. You grasped it in your hand, taking it out before closing the locker and heading to class, your hands gripping tightly onto the objects. Unknown to you a figure watching your every move with focused eyes.

As time went by in school awfully slowly, your mind went off to one person only. You had foolishly deluded yourself into thinking that the letter and milk was from him. well— he did see you buy chocolate milk that one time. And well,, the handwriting did have a print of him.

‘Enough thoughts. just wait until school ends and your mind can finally-‘ ring!

You looked up at the clock in shock, realizing that it was, in fact, 4:00pm.

You purposefully gathered up your belongings slowly, trying to pass as much time as possible. Putting your care into every single step taken, from the 1st floor to the second.

Taking a deep breath, you slid open the empty classroom door. It was very convenient that it was just across the art classroom as the club did have a meeting today.

You traveled across the room to look out the window, seeing someone announce their feelings to another under the cherry blossoms. Just last spring you would stick your tongue out in disgust yet here you are somewhat in the same position, your heart aching as each second ticks by.

You watched them hug each other, their feelings being reciprocated, a petal getting caught in ones hair. You looked at the trees and how it really set the mood, almost getting lost in the alluring sight until you heard someone clear their breath.

You turned around deliberately, looking down at your shoes before looking up.

Yet, you often found it as a mistake to open up your heart in a time full of tender love like now. well— maybe not.

It’s him. The person right in front of your eyes is him.

You felt like the sun had just rose, your heart beating out of your chest almost like it was about to burst and run away. You felt the butterflies prance around in your stomach, feeling like you could cough one up right now. Does he feel the same right now?

“Ah,,, hello” he mustered shyly. You clenched the letter in your hand.

“Did you perhaps—“ though it was quite obvious, the slight nod from him gave you your answer.

You observed him, his hair slightly covering his eyes. Lightly kicking at his feet, you had figured he couldn’t compromise the right words.

“I have something for you” he spoke out after what seemed like a few minutes. He reached his hand out, silently telling you to take the initiative to grab it. You placed your hand in his, feeling like your hand was molded perfectly just to cusp his. His grip so gentle you could barely feel him grasp your hand.

Leading you to the art classroom across, your eyes spotting on the covered canvas on an easel. Using his other hand, he took off the cloth, your eyes widening in awe.

Your mouth laid agape as you looked at the drawing of a portrait of you with cherry blossoms in the background. Your heart stammering in your chest.

“Is this what you’ve been working on the entire time in art club?” you asked, eyes still on the painting. He hummed and nodded his head.

“Do you like it? Or is it a bit too—“

“No no! I like it a lot— Actually I love it. I love it so much” you cut him off, looking at him with excitement evident in your eyes. Words couldn’t describe the feeling flowing through you. Is this real?

“Well, I like you a lot too. I was trying to find a way to tell you, so I used my strong suit which is art” he proceeded to tell you, taking your other hand in his. He smiled tenderly at you, his signature dimple showing once more.

“Asahi— I like you too” you beamed, staring straight into his eyes. His smile widened more, his teeth showing. You took this as the initiative to hug him, arms wrapping around his neck, his wrapping around your waist.

You felt the sun shine on you, the warmth of spring immersing through you, your heart feeling more than alive as ever. The cherry blossoms you once thought as a mistake becoming the blessing in disguise for you. You think in the time of the moment that Spring has never felt so warm for you.

[demetriandelibinaryboyfriends]

Can you talk about autistic Hawk/Eil

Sure, I’d love to!!!

Credit where credit is due, of course--I got a lot of my Autistic Eli headcanons from @jackonthelongwalk, who’s got a little more authority to speak on the subject since he’s actually autistic and whatnot. I mainly just saw his takes and was like “THOSE ARE GOOD TAKES” and adopted all of them XD Although I DID come up with a few of my own headcanons!!! I’ll just compile everything here.

~Eli tends to be pretty particular about physical touch, and a lot of the time he doesn’t really like it. Over the years, Demetri’s found that one type of touch that Eli’s okay with is shoulder-squeezing, and it kinda becomes their thing. Typically Demetri giving Eli a quick shoulder squeeze helps comfort him and makes him feel safe by basically reassuring him “I’m here for you, I’ve got your back.” You can see Demetri give Eli a shoulder squeeze in 2x09 when he’s comforting him about Moon, and he does the EXACT same one in the school fight in 2x10 just before kicking him into the trophy case. I think it was his way of saying “even though we’re fighting right now, I still care about you” and that kinda helped snap Hawk out of his near-psychopathic rage. In Season 3, he’s still shitty to Demetri, obviously, but it’s more controlled, not as unhinged or feral--even when Hawk breaks his arm, he hesitates a LOT before and regrets it IMMEDIATELY after in a way I’m not sure his UNCHECKED RAEEEGE self would have during the school fight.

~Over the years Demetri develops kind of a sixth sense of when Eli is about to have a meltdown. He’s able to pick up on super minute changes in body language, changes in the way Eli speaks, small alterations in Eli’s general temperament--basically anything that indicates he’s getting overwhelmed. That’s actually how he discovers the shoulder squeeze tactic--Demetri realizes he needs a quick way to comfort and reassure Eli when he can’t go in for a full hug (like they’re in the middle of class or something) so he can calm Eli down a bit and stop him from having a meltdown. Mainly because Demetri knows the bullies will have a field day if Eli cries in front of the other kids, so the shoulder squeeze develops as sort of a way to protect Eli from this.

~At some point after Demetri first started using the shoulder touch/squeeze on Eli, Eli started also using it on Demetri to quickly communicate affection/appreciation. Demetri isn’t nearly as touch-averse or picky with physical touch as Eli, and would’ve been okay with a number of physical touches, but he’s honestly super touched that Eli saw him doing a thing and was like “Oh hey!!! Demetri does this thing to me and it makes me feel safe and loved, so I’m sure it’ll do the same if I do it to him!!!” It kinda becomes their special touch, and becomes somewhat of a silent “I love you” (although obviously these two clueless idiots are led to believe it’s ONLY platonic love for many, many years XD). You can see Eli give a little shoulder pat/squeeze to Demetri at the beach party in 1x09!!

~Eli really does not like being touched around or under the chin, mainly because this is how bullies like Kyler touch him and it’s triggering for him. Demetri basically never touches him here. Even after they get together and start getting intimate, Demetri tends to touch/stroke Eli’s cheeks or the side of his head if he wants to touch his face, but he avoids touching Eli’s chin like the plague because he knows how much Eli dislikes it. This is something Eli really deeply appreciates--even Moon wasn’t able to catch on to the fact that he didn’t like having his chin touched, and he was too obsessed with coming across as “tough” to her to admit that it bothered him. Moon didn’t mean any harm at all, of course, she just wasn’t able to pick up on his more subtle indications that he wasn’t a huge fan of chin touches. Demetri has come to pick these indications up by second nature.

~The whole thing Demetri does at the beginning of the show where he kinda talks “for” Eli (the thing that, ironically, people loooooove to blast him about for being a “terrible friend”) I think is largely done because Eli is autistic. Eli seems to have a lot of social anxiety right from the get-go--he doesn’t even verbally greet Miguel when he first sits with him and Demetri and Demetri introduces Eli. Eli just kinda awkwardly smiles and nods at him. He’s obviously not great with social cues either, which we see later on--he’s so PAINFULLY oblivious to the fact that Piper is super not at all into it when he tries to hit on her in Season 2. I imagine after a number of social blunders in their youth, and seeing just how uncomfortable and anxious social situations made Eli, Demetri took the reigns and did a lot of communicating FOR Eli to take some of the pressure off of him to talk. I’d argue that once Demetri is taken out of the picture, we can see in full force JUST how socially anxious and uncomfortable Eli really is--he seems damn near terrified trying to stand up for himself against Johnny when Demetri’s not there. He’s lowkey stuttering and tripping over his words, his voice is shaking. He nearly leaves the room in tears. He’s used to letting Demetri be his voice, and this seems to be what makes him feel safest and most secure. When this is taken away, he has to find a new way to protect himself--hence, possibly, the entire Hawk persona.

~Eli has a lot of issues with emotional regulation and often feels emotions really, really strongly and gets overwhelmed by them--as an ADHDer, this is a struggle I understand SO MUCH. When Eli gets really overwhelmed with strong emotion, he tends to have meltdowns. These can be either sadness-based meltdowns (like we see in the flashback) or angry meltdowns (like we see when he beats Brucks up). Due to his emotional regulation issues, Eli has a really hard time hiding his emotions or stopping a meltdown once it kinda onsets--this is why he tends to “bawl” at movies. Once he starts crying, he can’t really stop, or reign it in--it just keeps coming. He also can’t really hold it back--his emotions tend to force their way out, whether he wants them to or not. This is also why he goes so HARD when he’s angry--wailing on Brucks, throwing punch after punch at Demetri at the school fight, getting carried away and attacking Robby’s injured shoulder at the tournament. His anger (and other emotions) tends to just kinda explode out, and he has a really hard time reigning them back in and keeping them in check. Demetri, ever the voice of ration and reason, can help with this--and probably has a lot, historically. With Demetri less and less in the picture and their relationship on the rocks, Eli’s emotions just seem to get even more wild and uncontrolled, particularly his anger. Part of the reason I think Demetri and Eli work so well together--Eli tends to get very caught up in his emotions (no shame in that--I’ll admit I do too!), and needs someone to help him keep his feet on the ground and be the pragmatist who helps him keep things in perspective.

~Karate is most definitely a special interest for him. It lowkey takes over his life and he makes it damn near his entire identity--big special interest energy. And Demetri (at first, at least) is lowkey so supportive!!! Like he goes to the all-valley tournament to support and cheer Eli on, despite not having any personal interest in fighting and seeming to think the whole thing is the kind of dumb macho shit that goes against everything his nerd identity stands for XD But he goes to the tournament anyways to clap for his boyfriend best friend’s badassery!!! The real MVP!!! Also special interests in general (not unlike ADHD hyperfixations) tend to be very random, hence why seemingly out of nowhere Eli gets absolutely OBSESSED with karate.

~Just a random little headcanon I have (I think I mentioned it on one of my general headcanon posts), but I like to think after Eli adopts the whole “Hawk” persona, he gets a special interest in birds of prey in general for a little while. Like back before he’s too “tough” for anything even remotely related to “nerd shit,” he watches nature documentaries on raptors and the whole 9 yards and constantly rambles excitedly to Demetri about how badass he thinks they are, and how cool it is that they can “literally hunt mice from the sky and shit” (probably an exact quote from him). Demetri finds this sudden new obsession both amusing and kind of endearing--but as always, he shows an interest in it and accommodates it as best he can. I imagine he’s seen Eli go through a number of special interests over the years, and is a pro by now on how to handle them (my own childhood best friend is a fellow ADHDer, and he was CONSTANTLY getting new hyperfixations--I imagine it was something like that XD).

~The whole “Hawk” persona in general seems pretty autistic, speaking of that--like it’s almost entirely based in mimicry and masking. Like Hawk pretty frequently mimics Johnny’s expressions, body language, and speech patterns, and (at least at first) Miguel’s fighting style. He also starts to mimic a lot of Kreese’s problematic views and general “never accept defeat” attitude in late Season 2 and Season 3, setting his good old Bastardization Arc in full swing. The whole Hawk thing could easily be masking, especially given how exaggerated and overdramatic Eli’s facial expressions, voice, and actions tend to be when he’s trying to be Hawk. When he slips back into “Eli” (or how he was before he adopted the mask), it’s usually around Demetri (i.e. the Doctor Who conversation)--which makes sense, since Demetri “gets” Eli better than most people and Eli doesn’t have to mask or overexaggerate his expressions or statements to communicate effectively with Demetri. They’ve known each other so long and Demetri is so familiar with his body language and mannerisms that Demetri is able to pick up fairly easily on what Eli’s trying to communicate/express without Eli having to work too hard at getting his point across. It’s why Eli’s expressions and body language aren’t nearly as exaggerated around Demetri, even when he’s trying to intimidate him--he knows he doesn’t have to overstate what he’s doing to communicate with Demetri.

~Relating back to the social troubles and social anxiety thing, I think Eli has always had trouble communicating verbally, hence why he’s so quiet at first. And even when he does get more talkative, a lot of it is mimicking other people’s speech patterns and ideas (namely Johnny’s at first)--it doesn’t really feel like him talking. Even alone with Demetri, he tends to prefer to let Demetri do the talking, hence Demetri saying Eli’s a “man of few words.” He often prefers to communicate nonverbally through body language, and when he DOES communicate verbally, he does it somewhat sparingly and chooses his words carefully, not usually bothering to say things he doesn’t mean (if he isn’t masking, anyways). THIS is why Demetri was so ready to accept such a short, concise “I’m sorry for all of it” from Eli instead of a long, drawn-out apology for each individual thing he did wrong. Eli knows he doesn’t have to bother masking to communicate with Demetri, so he’s not going to bother saying something that isn’t genuine. Eli has never been the greatest at articulating his thoughts verbally either, so TRYING to apologize for each individual thing he did to Demetri would be extremely hard for him, and Demetri knows this. This is why he accepts Eli’s apology without question and doesn’t expect him to elaborate on it. He knows Eli’s communicating a lot more than he’s actually saying aloud, if that makes any sense, and he cares more about the entirety of what Eli’s trying to say rather than just the spoken part. And Eli definitely communicates he’s genuinely remorseful through his actions as well--saving Demetri from the Cobras, teaming up with Demetri afterwards to help Deme’s side win the fight, straight up openly  BETRAYING Kreese and Cobra Kai AT GREAT PERSONAL RISK TO HIMSELF (especially if Tory’s threat is anything to go by!!!) in order to go back to Demetri. Honestly, given everything he knows about Eli and how he operates, expresses himself, and communicates, I highly doubt Demetri expects at all for Eli to go on a long, detailed rant about how sorry he is and is honestly just grateful to have Eli back in his life.

~I think at the beginning of the show, Demetri puts a lot of work into helping Eli feel as safe and secure as possible--possibly in part because Eli’s autism makes him feel kinda isolated as a “freak” or “outcast” or what have you. Demetri makes an effort to crack jokes and make Eli laugh when no one else will, possibly to help Eli feel more relaxed and at ease. And Demetri’s reluctance to try out karate could be a kind of misguided overprotectiveness on his part--he’s spent a lot of time building up their own little world for them where he can keep Eli relatively comfortable, and he’s worried anything that interferes with that or shakes up the status quo is going to stress out or overwhelm Eli too much. Demetri wants to keep things as they are, because even if it’s not perfect, and they still get bullied on the regular, at least he KNOWS how best to help Eli and help him feel better (or at least he thinks he does) in their current situation (i.e. “I think we’d rather spend our afternoons playing Crucible Control than getting hit in the face”). If they were put into a drastically different new situation, he WOULDN’T know how he should best assist and support Eli with it, and that scares him a lot--because he’s ALWAYS kind of intuitively known how to help Eli, and the thought of anything changing that makes him terrified that without him, Eli is going to get really hurt somehow.

I think that just about covers everything--might add more stuff if I think of it! Definitely go check out @jackonthelongwalk’s blog for more quality, in-depth autistic Eli content!!!

[betawooper]

rating every demon fight in kny bc i can

non-biased, completely objective rating (more or less) of every significant demon fight in kny based on a number of factors, including:

cleverness of fighting tactics

placement in the story’s timeline

integration of character backstories

cohesive themes between characters

etc

by non-biased and objective i mean i’m not skewing the rating if a death felt fair or whatever

everything past where the anime ended will be under a read more so anime onlys who havent watched mugen train, youre safe lol

oh and i reread the manga like 20+ times (reread the latter arcs at least 40 times, haha hyperfixations am i right?) so be rest assured im not pulling these ratings out of my ass

also ill randomly be bolding certain phrases just to improve readability

anyways let’s gooooo

VS NEZUKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Nezuko. Tanjirou is fending her off by putting the axe handle in her mouth, keeping her from eating him. End Image Description.]

10/10

i like how realistic it is, because yeah tanjirou would react the way to he did with zero fighting skills against a demon

very clear why tanjirou is fighting nezuko and shows a bit of worldbuilding on how normal people react to their family becoming demons

always nice to see worldbuilding

giyuu is the perfect example of a seasoned demon slayer who’s good at his job, and he juxtaposes tanjirou very well in that aspect

my only complaint is not directly in this fight itself but how nezuko is handled throughout the story as a whole

like bro, it is literally never explained why nezuko is different from demons

could have been easily explained if maybe her family’s ghosts like slapped her hand every time she wanted to eat a person but nope

she’s just built different lol

so yeah youll see future ratings get points docked off bc nezuko unlocks some secret power with no prior explanation other than she angy >:3

VS TEMPLE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a demon. The demon has a sharp-nailed hand over his neck and there are four text bubbles around him saying “But a wound like this... will heal in no time! See? The bleeding already stopped!” End Image Description.]

10/10

may be more forgettable compared to like rui but still good

tanjirou did exceptionally well in this fight and his ability to think on his feet is once again beautifully illustrated here (trapping this dude’s head against the tree trunk with the axe)

very clever

again, establishes more demon worldbuilding regarding regeneration and still being able to move without their head

and the demons burning in the sunlight thing since nezuko wasn’t able to show that

the ending where tanjirou hesitates to kill the demon also serves to show his sympathetic nature towards demons that will last throughout the entirety of the first 60-ish chapters

:)

we’ll talk about what the hell happens to tanjirou after that

or not, it could honestly be its own post

VS HAND DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a many-handed demon. He has six hands around him, three of them covering his mouth while he chuckles, two of them grabbing his cheeks, and one holding on to the top of his head. There are two text bubbles saying “That’s how many of Urokodaki’s students I have eaten! I’ve decided to kill all of his students!” End Image Description.]

10/10

ooooh probably the first big fight against a demon in the series

oh yeah not doing the two random demons tanjirou one shot in a single blow bc eh

anyways hand demon’s pretty goddamn scary, considering the fact that this is the 5th demon or whatever tanjirou has had to face so far

very nice way to show us how much tanjirou’s innate intuition and all his other random abilities (sense of smell, hard forehead) can come together and help him decapitate this guy

i liked the mini history with urokodaki this dude had and why he had beef with our favorite mentor figure, it establishes that urokodaki was in fact a super good demon slayer and its cool to see that actually shown

i also liked that small moment of compassion tanjirou gave this demon, staying consistent with tanjirou’s established kindness

the demon’s sad tale with killing his own brother very much humanizes him when all the reader has seen up to this point is that this guy is a monster who eats people

sets up the theme of demons just being humans but being victims of circumstance that unfortunately doesn’t hold up as well in arcs past mugen train

VS SWAMP DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou fighting off three horned demons as they appear from below. There is a spiky text bubble saying “Three of them!!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not my most favorite fight but it still portrays everything alright and im not allowed to let my personal opinions mess with the rating so

i like how tanjirou mentioned the fact that he trained in conditions similar to the bog and explains how he pulled off the whirlpool form

using past experiences to aid him in the present, nice nice

tanjirou and nezuko dont quite work together very well but its yknow the first mission so ill chalk it up to simple inexperience

also the way the muzan curse thingie was hinted at here? fantastic way of showing that little bit of demon worldbuilding

...

oh god, it mentions nezuko being stronger than normal demons

ok its not a problem here per say since i can still suspend my disbelief, but later on it just becomes a glaring problem that gets worse over time

VS SUSAMARU AND YAHABA

[Image Description: Manga panels of Susamaru and Yahaba. The first one is a joyful Susamaru about to throw a temari ball. There is floating text saying “Is she one of Kibutsuji’s minions?!” The second image is an annoyed Yahaba, holding one of his eye-hands to cover himself. There are two text bubbles around him saying “My kimono got all dusty. Tch!” End Image Description.]

9/10

why dont these bitches have a good looking panel together dammit

anyways amazing entrance, the way yahaba used his hand eyes to track down tanjirou is really neat

the synergy yahaba and susamaru have is incredible, its awesome dude, they work extremely well together and it shows

tanjirou actually mixing his water breathing forms together is a god tier move and i absolutely love how he can show off his ability to think on his feet once again

establishing how yushiro’s bda works early on is really well done

establishing tamayo as a fugitive this early on is also super well done

not to get into spoiler territory but both these things pay off

how tamayo ended up defeating susamaru is literally awesome in so many ways

shows off both how smart she is by exploiting the muzan curse

and speaking of the muzan curse, we actually get to see what happens to demons who even say his name, back when it was hinted with the swamp demon

tamayo is amazing dude, and we get some real evidence of the horrible suffering demons go through if they even accidentally attempt to betray muzan :D

...

now heres what keeps this fight from being perfect

nezuko somehow grew stronger against susamaru’s temari

with no explanation

which could have been easily explained if tamayo was like “oh yeah the drug also boosts a demon’s strength temporarily”

but nope

god, i just dont like how gotouge handles nezuko’s power boosts throughout the series bc like i said before

no explanation is given anywhere

this is a huge issue, this isnt a pokemon game, you cant just kill demons and get exp at the end of every battle, level up, get some sweet stat bonuses and move on

(actually if gotouge established that this is how nezuko grew in power, than all my complaints about this would be gone, im not even joking)

anyways i get that nezuko is supposed to be “special” but thats too vague of a descriptor

how the hell is she special? ya gotta be more specific and stick with that explanation or that suspension of disbelief is going to disappear

VS TONGUE DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a four-eyed demon with horns and a long tongue. He is crawling in an awkward position, one foot in front of his tilted head. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Heh, heh! I’ll slurpy slurp your brains out through you ear!” End Image Description.]

10/10

not much to say, showcases zenitsu’s true abilities really well

nicely done

VS HORNED DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of a big, single-horned demon. There are three text bubbles saying “You dodged! You’re awfully lively for a human! It’ll be a treat to carve away your flesh!” End Image Description.]

10/10

would have ignored this fight if not for the fact we havent seen inosuke fight before

it definitely shows how very fast-paced and wild inosuke is

no complaints here lol

VS KYOGAI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kyogai, a demon with tsuzumi drums attached to his shoulders. There are four text bubbles around him saying “Why?! Why does everyone keep sneaking through my house? It’s so aggravating. It’s my prey! It’s my prey! Found in my territory!” End Image Description.]

10/10

establishes marechi blood pretty early on, once again expanding the worldbuilding of kny which is always cool

interesting terrain where it’s always shifting, tanjirou once again proves his ability to adapt really quickly by altering one of his forms to work with the turning room

(man, i wish the form mixing/form modification thing carried on throughout the rest of the story, but it really didnt which is just a shame)

the injuries tanjirou had prior to this mission actually affecting him was a nice touch

oh yeah, kyogai gives us more worldbuilding (which is always nice) regarding the 12 kizuki, and the aspect of him being cast out due to being weak shows a lot about muzan’s indifference towards his own demons if they arent strong

his backstory being a failed writer once again humanizes kyogai as a former human being and not just a monster

tanjirou shows his sympathy and compassion again by not stepping on his written work and complimenting his bda

well, tbh tanjirou’s actions kinda came out of nowhere but its a very minor thing and not enough to dock a point off, like it didnt affect the outcome of the fight that much if at all

(so if you see future battles where points are docked off for things not logically making sense, its bc whatever nonsensical concepts were integrated into the fight actually turned the tide of the battle and thats a big no-no)

very good fight and if you remember how kinda bad tanjirou was at accurately slicing the swamp demon, you can see that he’s already improved leaps and bounds

im so proud of him

VS MOTHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and the Mother Spider Demon. There is a light shining down from the top right on to the demon as Tanjirou slices her head off, rain following in his wake. There is floating text saying “Water Breathing: Fifth Form - Blessed Rain After the Drought!” around them. End Image Description.]

10/10

i mean does anyone disagree?

all the demon slayers getting their necks snapped by her threads was pretty horrific, probably more horrifying than anything else we have seen in the entire series if im gonna be honest

the death scene is probably the most beautiful one in the series

it reveals a water breathing form that we havent seen before thats the 5th form

as far as i know, no other breathing style has this merciful sword stroke so it shows a lot about the original water breather and what they might have been like

but enough about them, really the focus is on tanjirou bc this is like the best example by far of how kind and sympathetic he is to demons

dunno what else to say, its perfect

VS SON SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Agatsuma Zenitsu performing Thunder Breathing 1st Form: Sixfold on a spider-like demon. Zenitsu is crashing through the roof of a shed, and a zig-zag path is left behind. There are sound effects all over the panel, saying “Bam!” in large font. End Image Description.]

10/10

chose a picture without a huge spider on it bc i would like to not scare myself half to death

anyways extremely amazing fight, showcases zenitsu’s immense talent and skill, adapting the 1st form of thunder breathing to be a more versatile move

theres a moment where his backstory with kuwajima and kaigaku were revealed and his hidden insecurities are out in the open which is super nice and further develops a character weve only considered as comedic relief until now

the anime made the backstory scenes and the killing scene so much cooler

while there is no thematic connection between zenitsu and the demon, it really isnt necessary to keep this fight interesting

anyways another pretty much perfect fight

VS FATHER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kamado Tanjirou and Inosuke slashing at the Father Spider Demon. The demon has blocked Tanjirou’s sword with his arm, and Inosuke is slamming both his blades down on the demon’s other hand. End Image Description.]

10/10

again, not my most favorite fight but it does everything right

i do have to say it was excellent how gotouge hyped up the father spider demon to be the big bad, only just so the plot twist later takes the readers by surprise

nicely done

VS DAUGHTER SPIDER DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kochou Shinobu and the Daughter Spider Demon. Shinobu’s back is seen and her haori looks like a butterfly’s wings keeping her afloat as she holds her stinger blade out to the side. The demon looks surprised as blood gushes from her side, arm, shoulder, chest, neck, and forehead. There is floating text on the panel, saying “Insect Breathing - Butterfly Dance - Caprice!” End Image Description.]

10/10

first time weve seen shinobu and her fighting style

what i love most about this is how much it shows her true character, appearing as a carefree and naive individual so she seems underwhelming

then bam, reveals exactly how dangerous and uncaring she is of demons, listing out the specific ways she would torture the daughter spider demon in grotesque detail

her using poison to take demons by surprise is also super clever and brings back the worldbuilding established way earlier about wisteria being poisonous to demons

amazing integration of that concept

anyways this fight really encapsulates who shinobu is as a character and thats why it gets a perfect score

VS RUI

[Image Description: Manga panel of Rui holding his hand out directly towards the viewer. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Give me your sister. If you hand her over quietly, I’ll spare your life.” End Image Description.]

8/10

not only is it a super scary fight but there is a deeper conflict between rui and tanjirou, what it means to be family

they are opposites in the sense that while tanjirou believes love is what makes a family, rui’s subconscious desperation for an unbreakable bond drives him to use fear to keep his “family” together

excellent juxtaposition of their values, and this is only further emphasized when rui expresses out loud what he was going to do to nezuko

i also like the symbolism regarding rui’s bda, how he uses threads or the “familial” bonds to cut up his fake family with it if they act out of turn or annoy him

super neat detail

alright what i dont like about this fight is nezuko (again)

mostly her unlocking her bda to turn the tide of the battle bc her mom was like “yo, wake up, your brother is going to be killed”

feels... forced ig

her bda in general is confusing and not consistent

man, i wish i could make a stronger argument for this but i do believe the problem stems from the fact that we dont ever know what nezuko is thinking, and what she thinks of tanjirou specifically

if she even cares for him as a sibling or if shes only going along with what her family is saying to her, things like that which would have been fixed if gotouge actually gave her thoughts some screen time

so the action feels pretty shallow

im also conflicted over tanjirou somehow remembering how dance of the fire god works

on one hand, hes using past information and applying it in the current setting so he doesnt die, which is understandable

but on the other hand, this was a teeny bit random?

i think what could have fixed this is if there was a scene in the beginning of the series where tanjirou was performing it himself, like practicing before he actually had to do it for new years

so that when the rui fight rolls around, it would have felt less like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

but yeah

overall super good fight, giyuu ending up having to kill rui instead of tanjirou was super good in that tanjirou didnt become a pillar this early in the series and to show how strong giyuu is

there are some odd bits regarding the ultimate “beheading” of rui using nezuko and tanjirous supposed bonds but it doesnt kill the fight entirely so it deserves its pretty high score

***under read more is manga-only fights so beware***

VS ENMU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Enmu holding his hand out directly at the viewer, with a mouth on the back of it. There is floating text to the top right of Enmu that says “Whispers of Forced Unconscious Hypnosis!” End Image Description.]

9/10

id say this fight is definitely overshadowed by the dream stuff prior to this but its pretty good in its own right

enmu fusing with the train was kinda confusing, like when was it established that demons could fuse with objects?

this worldbuilding element doesnt even appear again so yeah thats why it loses a point

how the kmbk gang end up defeating enmu is pretty sweet though, tanjirou using dance of the fire god to sever the neck bone was really nice and shows that him using the breathing style in the rui fight wasnt a one time thing

while kyojuro’s role was smaller in this part, the next part makes up for it so i cant complain

anyways ye, almost perfect score but its pretty good

VS AKAZA (MUGEN TRAIN)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza holding his hand out to the viewer’s left. There is a text bubble saying “Why don’t you become a demon?” End Image Description.]

10/10

this encounter is literally amazing okay?

after the crew kills the big bad, it seems like everything is fine

but plot twist, upper moon 3 appears out of nowhere

this is the first time the reader has seen an upper moon, let alone the 3rd/4th strongest demon in existence and the way gotouge handled this twist is fucking amazing

kyojuro’s death scene really shows just how human even the strongest pillars are against demons with incredible power

its just

amazing

VS OBI DEMON

[Image Description: Manga panels of the obi-like demon. The first image shows the obi hung in the air and strung over each other like decorations, with women-shaped patterns in its folds. The second image is Hashibira Inosuke fighting the Obi demon which now has lips and eyes. There is floating text in that panel saying “Breath of the Beast: Sixth Fang - Jagged Gnaw!!” End Image Description.]

10/10

on to red light district

this fight is admittedly super forgettable and not very interesting at least compared to the main fight with daki and gyutaro

but it wraps up the sub plot of the women and uzui’s wives going missing so it gets a perfect score for not messing that up

oh and it establishes the stretchy neck thing daki has going on which is very good

VS DAKI AND GYUTARO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Daki and Gyutaro. Daki is sitting on Gyutaro’s shoulders. There is a text bubble on the top right that says “The two of us are one, after all.” as well as floating text that reads “The power of the irregular siblings...!? Next issue lead color and the fight reaches its climax!!” End Image Description.]

8/10

love how this battle challenges tanjirou’s sympathy and kindness towards demons, just simply bc daki and gyutaro are horrible people

(too bad nothing came of this, which ill explain in the hantengu portion)

daki and gyutaro are very good villains and kept this fight super interesting from start to finish

uzui acting as a foil to gyutaro is nicely integrated and properly shown with how jealous gyutaro gets over seeing uzui’s perfect form and stature

tanjirou not only mixes forms but mixes breathing styles as well, which is so fucking awesome

(too bad it was only used like once throughout the entire series, its quite unfortunate)

the super high tension right after inosuke gets stabbed and tanjirou wakes up was expertly portrayed and handled, it felt like the kmbk gang and uzui were actually going to lose

super awesome

the tanjirou and gyutaro parallels are expertly portrayed, with how gyutaro taunts tanjirou over failing to protect his little sister, and the more visual thing where tanjirou imagined his own neck underneath his blade, that was super duper nice

the ending is extremely tense and emotionally gripping, gotouge did a really good job with that artistically too

the demon mark acquisition scene was surprisingly not frustrating, considering that it wasnt really explained prior to the battle

i do think it has to do with how it was explained later just exactly how they worked so its not just some random thing gotouge pulled out of their ass

so pretty good

/

what i dont like is nezuko and her full power demon form

first of all where the fuck did that come from? she just got angry and suddenly shes as powerful as an upper moon

like

how?

that doesnt make sense???

her extremely quick regeneration makes no sense

her ability to manipulate her blood’s properties makes no sense

and it doesnt even appear again so what was the point of that existing

none of this is even explained later which annoys me

that one part where tanjirou sings a lullaby to her to calm her down was alright ig but nezuko in this fight makes me extremely irritated and frustrated

just ugh

VS HANTENGU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Hantengu opening a shoji door. He is crawling inside, his hand in a gnarled, unnatural position. There is a text bubble saying “Eeeeeeek.” End Image Description.]

1/10

swordsmith village

this fight can go fuck itself /j

no but seriously it has so many problems that it would be shorter to name its redeeming qualities (which ill do later)

first off, the nezuko full power form thing again

i hate it so much with a passion

again, where did her ability to regenerate instantly even come from???? this is never explained, ever

and why did she cut herself on tanjirou’s sword anyway

did she somehow know that it was going to turn red if she burned it?

gotouge what the fuck, there is literally no reason why nezuko would do that and we cant even read her mind to see her thought process

gotouge hates nezuko, i swear

/

remember when i said uzui is meant to be a foil to gyutaro in the rld fight? its pretty obvious that those two are opposites, it was nicely done

... what the hell does mitsuri’s insecurities about strength have to do with whatever the fuck hantengu has going on (which is basically nothing)?

so no meaningful connection between mitsuri and hantengu

theres no meaningful connection between tanjirou and hantengu other than tanjirou getting pissed off for like the second time

also tanjirou’s thing with being kind and sympathetic to demons was entirely dropped at this point

but instead of it leading up to a corruption arc of some sorts, it just doesnt

like honestly if something actually came of that anger he exhibited in this arc and from red light district from this point forward story-wise, i would have counted this as an amazing writing decision

but it literally doesnt so who cares

(god, i really start to hate what happened to his character after this )

and genya’s revealed motivation also doesnt fit at all with hantengu’s thing, he’s not a foil, not a parallel, nothing, there is nothing

/

tanjirou being the catharsis for development for mitsuri and muichirou, who he has only talked to like twice

theres definitely a better way to handle those two’s developments without his help

like gotouge, you have a big cast of characters, use them lol

/

i want to kick hantengu in the face for being boring as fuck (at least his clones have cool looking weapons)

doesnt even have a proper backstory, just a single spread of him being blamed for shit as a human

like... thats it? this is upper moon 4 what the hell

/

theres no clever form mixing here at all (regarding tanjirou) which probably would have helped with foreshadowing the 13th form for dance of the fire god/sun breathing better

also gotouge established that as tanjirou’s thing and now he doesnt do that stuff anymore which sucks

/

oh hey remember when tanjirou actually learned how to do zenitsu’s speed boost thing?

if you didnt, i dont blame you bc it literally doesnt appear again, ever

you could argue that he adapted it into his “waltz flash” technique or whatever the fuck that is but the way it was integrated into this fight was like throwing dry spaghetti at a wall

which is just a shame bc its meant to be representative of how tanjirou and zenitsu are good pals but the way it was utilized is forgettable as hell

/

i absolutely loathe the crimson blade concept as a whole and im mentioning this now bc its going to come into play why future instances where this goddamn thing comes up again causes points to be lost

its inconsistent as fuck ill tell you that

/

at least some yoriichi stuff appeared here and not shoved into the final battle with everything else

so the yoriichi stuff later didnt come out of absolute nowhere

genya and mitsuri’s unique fighting styles expand the kny worldbuilding just a little more which is always nice

tanjirou got a cool sword out of this which would have been cooler if him and yoriichi had a deeper connection that was actually explored

but we didnt get shit so whatever

other people getting demon marks being revealed here is also okay so that again, the final battle isnt filled with absolutely everyone getting their marks at once

demon marks have their own slew of problems but its not as bad as the fucking crimson sword shit

god i hate the crimson sword shit

...

dude this section needs a tldr, even i cant sit and read through my shit

TL;DR - this fight sucks and crimson swords are bullshit (more on this later)

VS GYOKKO

[Image Description: Manga panel of Tokitou Muichirou and Gyokko. Muichirou is looking to the left while Gyokko is looking to the right, both with their backs to each other. There are mist clouds billowing in the foreground and background, as well as a slash mark going across Gyokko’s neck. End Image Description.]

7/10

this fight suffers from the same lack of cohesive themes through characters like the hantengu battle bc the antagonist is given nothing

but its better

we havent actually seen mui fight before so theres no consistencies that the reader has to keep track of for now

and there arent like 10 characters in the fight so this fight gets a lot of points just for being a lot more coherent

i do like that this fight shows just how good mui is that he can defeat an upper moon by himself

mui’s backstory is neat

gyokko’s bda is very interesting too

... thats pretty much it lol

ye, anyways not the best fight but not the worst fight either

VS KAIGAKU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kaigaku holding the hilt of his blade with one hand. There is two text bubbles around him, saying “...As usual, you’re still shabby. It’s been a while, Zenitsu.” End Image Description.]

9/10

alright on to final battle arc

theres some good fights and then some really sucky ones, but this one was pretty incredible and very emotionally charged

theres a clear reason why zenitsu and kaigaku are battling each other (kai betrayed the corps and inadvertantly caused the only parental figure in zenitsu’s life to die, and zenitsu is rightfully pissed off about that)

the visual yin-yang symbolism is awesome too

zenitsu winning due to using the 7th form he created himself (which i have reason to believe was inspired by tanjirou) was the perfect ending to the fight, really couldnt ask for anything better and is a perfect example of how much of an effect tanjirou has had on zenitsu

the 7th form is what tanjirou’s waltz flash should have been lol

/

what keeps this fight from being absolutely perfect is lack of development prior to this conflict

(since the final battle arc is basically a culmination of all the hinted developments through the series, im going to actually factor in how much and how well these conflicts were foreshadowed)

anyways if we had actually seen zenitsu, kaigaku, and kuwajima actually interacting with each other and showing how they were essentially a family (not just through flashbacks), it would have made zenitsu placing the responsibility of killing kai onto himself a lot more tragic

but like, apart from brief flashbacks where zenitsu actually met kaigaku off screen and that one thing all the way back in natagumo where both kuwajima and kai were introduced, thats pretty much it in terms of thunder family development

so yeah its underdeveloped for sure

also one random thought, i personally think zenitsu should have gotten his demon mark in this fight, it would have been cool to see

VS AKAZA (INFINITY FORTRESS)

[Image Description: Manga panel of Akaza’s face. There are two text bubbles around him, saying “Okay, let’s get started. It’s time for the feast.” There is also floating text saying “The inspection of the strong has begun...” as well as a simple box on the lower left, denoting its the end of chapter 147. End Image Description.]

6/10

oh god please dont hate me for this

ill list the good things first how about that

this conflict was foreshadowed perfectly in mugen train, you bet the readers were expecting a tanjirou vs akaza battle after the death of kyojuro and gotouge delivered

akaza’s power is shown extremely well with how many close calls tanjirou and giyuu had while fighting him

akaza eventually giving up on his own volition was really nice and fit into the context of the battle very very well, like sure tanjirou and giyuu wouldnt understand why he gave up but us readers do know

akaza is a really good character and a good villain

/

now notice how im only mentioning akaza and not giyuu or tanjirou in the good aspects

bc those two are eh

no form mixing at all from either tanjirou and giyuu

i know i said form mixing was kind of tanjirou’s thing but you’d think giyuu would have gotten more creative with his moves once akaza said that he was getting predictable

(well he said he “ran out of water breathing forms” but same thing)

so its kinda bland lol

speaking of giyuu, his whole thing with his insecurities of being weak wasnt handled well (it was sort of immediately brushed off in pillar training, and its unclear what part of his character arc he was in)

like sure him announcing that he’s going to protect tanjirou is cool but it feels like he was haphazardly dropped into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

isnt he supposed to be both their foils? that wasnt really explored that well in this fight and theres no deep meaning behind him even being here just analyzing what he did in it

he could have been handled better or even given more focus is what im saying

the anatta state came out of nowhere, im sorry okay? just bc inosuke like barely hinted at not being able to sense grandma hisa bc she had no fighting spirit and tanjurou magically taught his son how to achieve this state doesnt mean it was properly integrated into the fight

if the anatta state was actually explored prior to this battle, i would have given it a pass but it just feels like a cheap and poorly developed trick to get around akaza’s technique development (which is overpowered as fuck might i add)

gotouge should have just given akaza a plausible weakness to his technique development instead, especially since they dont use or even mention the anatta state after this

the transparent world shit makes no sense but ill elaborate on that in the koku battle analysis

oh and this thing doesnt affect the score but why wasnt there a “yoriichi visage overlapping” moment when tanjirou was fighting akaza? hes an upper moon, he should have gotten those visions but he didnt

for some reason

anyways this battle was alright and has good set up but the middle and end parts didnt hold up as well bc random concepts were thrown at us without prior explanation or development

VS DOUMA

[Image Description: Manga panel of Douma licking Shinobu’s butterfly pin. There are two text bubbles around him saying “Anyway, tonight is a good night. Such fine feasts keep showing up one after another.” End Image Description.]

9/10

damn, such an amazing fight

the build up to this was properly foreshadowed

shinobu finally showing her true anger after hiding it for so long is amazing

douma is a super interesting character and fantastic villain

shinobu showing off her true power and determination against douma was sooooo nice

shinobu’s poisonous body plan is so clever and so interesting

if i was to rate the shinobu part of the fight alone, it would have gotten a 10/10 no question

the reason why its knocked down a point is because of the kanao and inosuke part

dont get me wrong, the way kanao is able to hold her own against douma by herself is pretty cool, how shes meant to parallel douma with their similar struggles surrounding human emotions and demonstrate how she has grown as a person, how she regains the ability to cry

that shit is cool, inosuke also getting in touch with his emotions after learning what happened to his mom was super neat as well

however

bc this battle takes place in the final arc with everything else, there wasnt proper build up regarding many things, the kotoha reveal especially

so inosuke feels kinda forced into the kanao shinobu and douma conflict, similar to how giyuu felt forced into the tanjirou and akaza conflict

its quite unfortunate bc if the kotoha stuff was actually explored prior to the confrontation, this “forced” feeling would have disappeared

i know some people have suggested that the douma fight should have just been its own arc, and i very much agree, it would have certainly helped fix this problem regarding inosuke and kotoha

last random thought, i wish shinobu, kanao, and inosuke got their demon marks

VS KOKUSHIBOU

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kokushibou looking directly at the viewer, holding the hilt of his blade as if he’s going to pull it out. There are text boxes around him saying “This... is Upper Moon One... He’s so different compared to the other Upper Moons. He looks so dignified and majestic.” The text boxes are narrated by Tokitou Muichirou. End Image Description.]

5/10

this fight is... mediocre

at least theres a more tangible connection between muichirou and kokushibou

even though that was handled kinda poorly

tbh there really was no point to revealing that mui is koku’s descendant like at all, it just had no significant bearing to the plot of the fight

sanemi’s backstory being here is... okay ig?

idk the whole shinazugawa conflict has fundamental problems that i just cant think of any other place to put it without changing the entirety of canon

the marechi blood concept coming back was nice though

genya is there

him getting his bda was cool and helped turn the tide of the battle in a satisfying way (before kicking the bucket but thats not the focus here)

gyomei is a hollow husk of a character who barely got anything at all

but his fighting style is extremely cool and conveys his immense power very well

oh and him and sanemi are amazing at working together, like better than giyuu and tanjirou, and better than kanao and inosuke

theyre that good yet pretty much nobody acknowledges it which is sad

koku himself is pretty interesting and pretty tragic, very nice villain

but everyone together?

gonna be honest but this is such a random collection of characters, there was basically no foreshadowing that these four were going to go up again kokushibou, they are not that connected very well

i know there was this one post that focused on the theme of family that was common in all 5 characters in the fight but its just not enough

it would have been more cohesive if gotouge emphasized gyomei, mui, sanemi, and genya being like different aspects of yoriichi coming together to kill kokushibou hundreds of years after yoriichi failed to kill him

lmao its not like the 4 of them defeated koku with the power of family or friendship, they just smacked him over and over with a flail, shot him with magical bullets, and stabbed a crimson sword into his abdomen

wouldnt have been too hard to switch over to koku’s pov and go “damn these bitches are like my stupid brother”

...

speaking of crimson swords

i fucking hate the crimson sword concept oh my god can i complain about it now? im gonna complain about it now

unlike demon marks, the crimson blades werent even given any proper conditions, you just hold the stupid thing hard enough and it somehow imbues it with magical properties with no logic behind those properties

what part of crimson swords completely destroys a demon’s body in an instant? even muzan didnt go through that process when he was almost killed by yoriichi so where in the goddamn fuck did it come from

it could be explained bc the sword was left in the same spot for a long time but this tactic doesnt even appear again in a meaningful way (didnt kill muzan when tanjirou and giyuu held the sword together) so what the fuck was the point of having this even exist

its so underdeveloped and confusing and i hate it

the transparent world stuff is also confusing as shit and its pretty much never explained how they work aside from the vague “close your mind” advice, like why did it exist, it did nothing to help the present day demon slayers

its just so... poorly integrated

yeah anyways this is around the same rating as the akaza fight but a little worse bc there wasnt that strong set up beforehand

VS KOKUSHIBOU (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panel of a bag getting ripped open, pieces of a wooden flute tumbling out. End Image Description.]

10/10

easily 10/10

this fight shows the tragedy of kokushibou giving in to his envy and hatred, when yoriichi cries over seeing his own family commit terrible attrocities against the people he wanted to protect

and yoriichi dies, now carrying the fact that he couldnt even save his own brother from the influence of muzan on his conscious forever

what a sad ending for yoriichi

and after koku angrily slashes apart yoriichi’s corpse, having him find and keep the flute he gave to him when they were kids to the present day gives him a small shred of humanity in the midst of his monstrous anger

VS NAKIME

[Image Description: Manga panels of Nakime. The first one shows a low quality version of her playing her biwa. The second one is a close up of her eye. There are spiky text bubbles saying “It’s Upper Rank... 4!” End Image Description.]

0/10

no nakime backstory

not even a goddamn fight

forgettable

useless

VS MUZAN

[Image Description: Manga panel of Kibutsuji Muzan in his white-haired, mouth-covered form. There are text bubbles around him saying “Not a single one was of use to me. I will crush the demon hunters tonight. I’ll massacre them all right now.” End Image Description.]

1/10

._.

i have many complaints but ill try my best to not make this another hantengu rant section lol

first off, obanai deserved better

im serious, this poor dude was forgotten until pretty much the end when we finally get a backstory out of him

and then he died

what a waste of a potentially amazing character

mitsuri getting taken out early was ehhh

pretty sure someone else made a post about her supposedly being extremely strong but she was nerfed in this battle which i agree with

literally none of the pillars work together very well, like remember how i praised sanemi and gyomei for being super coordinated? lmao that doesnt exist anymore

you could say this is caused by desperation though and you wouldnt be wrong, its just boring to sit through

that causes issues bc this now basically requires the crimson sword and transparent world concepts to be there to spice things up

but in this fight, they do nothing in the long run (except for tanjirou using the crimson sword at the very very end)

youve already heard me talk about why those two things are super shittily integrated and i cant be bothered repeating myself so moving on

kanao, inosuke, and zenitsu

they... exist? they didnt do much tbh, which i guess is the point but like, now its boring again

nezuko could have been used as a potential way to raise the stakes and make things interesting again (like “ah shit, muzan might actually be unkillable if he gets nezuko but its okay bc shes not here- oh fuck shes here this is not good”)

but nothing came of her running off except confirmation that she became human again so whatever

uzui and shinjuro are useless, why werent they at the fight?

like they could have followed nezuko and contributed to the battle even a little but they just didnt and now theres literally no point to them appearing in this arc at all

wasted potential

tanjirou

i wish him going absolutely apeshit had actual substance behind it, like it being a part of his character arc or something

i remember having this one theory that he had a corruption arc (due to dropping his kindness thing towards demons) and i wanted this to be true so badly

but it doesnt exist

not with how the series ended

god

the only thing that saves this fight from being complete trash is tamayo’s poison thing being amazingly executed

and the part where everyone got blasted away, losing limbs and shit, that made things a little more interesting again

but thats it

VS MUZAN (SENGOKU ERA)

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kibutsuji Muzan, Tamayo, and Tsugikuni Yoriichi. The first one has Muzan and Tamayo, while the second one has Yoriichi pulling out his sword. There are text boxes saying “And the moment I met him, I understood that I was born into this world to defeat this man.” End Image Description.]

9/10

finally something good again

while short, that’s just the nature of all of yoriichi’s battles with demons

anyways pretty nice, theres a clear reason why this battle exists (shows the scenario that made the original breather get super close to defeating muzan in detail)

adding tamayo here was a nice touch

my only complaint is that it seemed extremely coincidental that yoriichi somehow developed a breathing style specifically countering muzan’s multiple organs without even knowing prior that he had all those brains and hearts floating around freely in his body

like thats kind of ridiculous, even for yoriichi whos supposed to be “blessed by the gods”

could just be me though

VS TANJIROU

[Image Description: Manga panels of Kamado Tanjirou in his demon form. The first image has his eyes closed. The second image has his eyes opened and the tumor on his face almost completely faded. There are text boxes around him saying “You will destroy the demon hunters in my stead.” End Image Description.]

1/10

hoo boy

ok first off, demon tanjirou lasted for 2 chapters

thats it

2 chapters

so thats already a problem

i am aware its meant to parallel the beginning of the series but also its ridiculous how completely vague and rushed this entire thing was

nezuko doesnt do shit through not just this battle but this entire arc which i already explained so not gonna go into it further

kanao magically having a demon cure on her made very little sense

the scene where tanjirou leaves muzan in purgatory is pretty but if you look at it in the context of everything else, its ambiguous and confusing

(if someone could explain it and see how it connects to the original theme of “demons just being victims of circumstance,” i would love to hear it)

/

actually you know what makes me so mad about this “fight” as a whole? there was so much potential to do more with this concept

and im not talking about him escaping and nezuko becoming a demon slayer roleswap au (even though its a pretty cool concept)

him becoming a demon could have been a metaphor for his lost kindness and sympathy towards demons halfway through the series

it could have been a punishment for letting his anger towards muzan cloud his judgement

it could have symbolized literally anything about him losing his humanity as he got stronger

but those three things are just scenarios from my head, they dont exist in this series just based off of what weve seen from these two chapters

its disappointing

the only thing keeping this from getting a 0 is the one part where inosuke couldnt chop off tanjirou’s head bc he cared about him too much

that at least shows inosuke had grown as a character

everything else is just meaningless and convoluted garbage and “convoluted” is not what you should be aiming for if this is supposed to be the ending of your series

IN SUMMARY

early kny is very good, later kny is questionable and the ending is just a mess of wasted potential and disappointment

i get why gotouge had to have the transparent world ability, crimson blade ability, and the demon marks appear before they all appeared on yoriichi but theyre all just so underdeveloped and terribly handled in the battles they are used, it makes me want to kick a wall

like lmao, i could literally think of so many ways they could have been properly integrated, hell, im even writing a whole goddamn rewrite using my ideas for these three things (link to that is in my pinned)

just, god

if you want to debate over these ratings, my ask box is open ig? idk