#Like even if he can he looks like a fucking tryhard and should be aware that he has the same privilege as a white person

[hekatekun]

fuck it, meatbun

ANONYMOUS ASKED: please tell me about your many things to say about the meatbun scene.......

yeah ofc 😋 i'd say it's a similar gag to the self-awareness/self-conscious balls in the rising skit so i'm pulling a lot from that too, and my interpretation of that relies on [great-blaster's translation and analysis] 🙏 a great post

If the balls are personifications of being self-conscious, their sensitivity and awareness to how others perceive them, then the meat buns could be what they contribute to society.

King of NEETs himself, Osomatsu is a Me Myself & I kinda guy in order to survive the way he does. There is no future for him in his head, and he lives in the moment on his animal instincts. Instant gratification (booze, porn, gambling), right here, right now, who cares about anything else. Fun in the sun all day long, but when you realize that's truly all that Osomatsu does, even at the expense of himself and others, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

And to combat the distaste people have for him, he just doesn't care! You'd have to be pretty apathetic to your reputation in order to continue doing what you please - especially when the costs are high.

Interestingly enough, him and Ichimatsu are the only buns who immediately "die" with white eyes when you open them up. Perhaps he's so unpleasant so he can continue doing his own thing, and being expected to do anything worthwhile or meaningful is too much for the eldest.

TLDR: "I dunno if you should eat me, I taste pretty bad, hahaha!"

Expectations, reputation, such things are the bane of the fourth's existence. He wants nothing more than to be accepted and have a social life, but that involves the mortifying ordeal of Being Known. He knows his limits, he can't fake it without insane periods of burnout, so he'd rather be repugnant and ward off other people's attempts at getting to know him. But unlike Osomatsu, instead of having people expect nothing from him, people will now expect Bad Shit as a result of perceiving Ichimatsu.

Which is all of course a cover up for his vulnerability. Hermit tendencies to avoid knowing what someone's initial impression of him is going to amount to. Don't worry, he already knows. And if he puts out the same "bad" into the world that he expects the receive from others, he can be free of its burden (and will fail every single time because he still cares too much).

Without further ado, our space cadet.

Indescribable, unpredictable, everything, nothing. Brimming with an internal, seemingly endless amount of energy, Jyushimatsu is capable of pulling off the impossible. He can fill in any role needed and works well with everyone, but only if you can handle him. If Ichimatsu is “not enough,” then Jyushimatsu is “too much.” He’s a one-man band.

Not to say he isn’t aware, he just possibly doesn’t care. Looking at a bigger picture, or simply not paying attention altogether. He doesn’t bother reining himself in because it’s more fun to be wild, and he has nothing to hide should people try to get close. Though, there’s always consequences to be had for such unadulterated fun.

When he breaks open, his iconic troubled expression pops up. Maybe he’s uncomfortable stepping up to bat and putting that energy to “good use.”

What a surprise: Your vapid tryhards have nothing of substance to provide. Maybe stop putting so much time into your appearance and build a personality, hm? Primping and preening and absolutely nothing to show for it. Even if you figure them out, they still wouldn’t break character for you. Reality can’t touch the uber self-conscious.

great-blaster says that self-awareness should be swapped with self-conscious, the acute form of being intimately self-aware of your social standing. Choromatsu is embarrassed about being a neet with nerdy interests, doesn’t mean he has any intention of letting them truly go.

And if you’re a little smarter about how you impose such feelings on people, you’ll go on to lie, weaponizing such embarrassment. Doesn’t mean you’ll succeed, people can smell slime a mile away.

Karamatu’s is the only one of these 3 that’s on the smaller side and the only 1 of all 6 that’s clear!

Legit transparency! Empty-headedness! Makes sense that he doesn’t have the same type of self-consciousness as the other two, even if he’s just as much talk and no action, you don’t strut like a genuine peacock in public unless you can own up to it. Karamatsu’s appeal is to himself first and foremost, he thinks others who like the same will come along soon enough (and is also maybe too terrified to make the first move). He’s an open book ready for the taking, doesn’t mean he’s got anything to really offer, though. Doesn’t help when you can’t break character and express yourself, either (not that he has the self-awareness to grasp this particular problem anyway).

And I think Chibita summarizes the story’s moral quite well

[nalu-nalu]

Lazy Ass

author: nalu-nalu

pairing: kageyama tobio x hinata shouyou

rating: 16+ (mild swearing)

chapters: 1/?

word count: 4,707

characters: kageyama tobio, hinata shouyou, yamaguchi tadashi, yachi hitoka, ukai keishin (coach), hinata’s mom!!

tags: fluff, angst, sfw, takes place between tokyo and brazil arc, kageyama is embarrassed, hinata’s mom is my favorite, seriously she’s my favorite character i’ve ever written, more platonic than romantic

summary: following the defeat of karosuno in the spring tournament, some of the team members are worried about hinata, who hasn’t shown up in a few days, and is ignoring everyone. kageyama decides to find hinata himself. 

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24409771

an: i really like this and might continue it? though maybe it should just stay as a one-shot, who knows. this is my first haikyuu fic, so be gentle plz <3 

***

It had been a week since the Spring Tournament.

A week since Karosuno had lost to Kamomedai in the quarter finals.

A week since the team boarded the bus for a final time, and drove home in complete silence.

Kageyama remembered the trip in vivid detail. The quiet sniffles in the back from the third years, trying to remain strong, and the constant fidgeting from both Nishanoya and Tanaka. Hinata was seated in the far left corner of the bus, separated from everyone else. His fever still hadn’t broken, and was ordered to sit as far away from the rest of his team as possible. Kageyama expected some sort of resistance from the ginger-haired ball of energy, but surprisingly, Hinata surrendered voluntarily. He had been far too quiet since the moment he left the court, and hadn’t said more than two words to anyone. When Yachi had quietly suggested to him that someone talk to Hinata, Kageyama had merely scoffed and walked away. There was nothing anyone could say to Hinata. His emotions were more valid than those any of his other teammates were enduring. If Hinata had stayed on the court for ten more minutes…

Kageyama shook his head free of the thought and stared at the vending machine in front of him. He stared intensely at his options. Milk or yogurt…His fingers hovered over the two options.

“Hey Kageyama…” a soft-spoken voice came from behind him.

Kageyama whirled around to face whoever had just denied him the opportunity to make his decision, only to find a concerned Yamaguchi standing behind him. Kageyama’s face softened, “Oh, hey Yamaguchi. Sorry I didn’t know it was you.” He turned back around to face the vending machine, and jabbed the two different buttons, deciding fate would make his decision today, “What’s up?”

“Well uh… I was just wondering if you’d spoken to Hinata at all.”

Kageyama knelt down and grabbed the dispensed milk carton. It was always milk. “No, why would I have.” He peeled the straw off the back and disposed of the plastic wrap, stabbing the carton with the pointy end. He brought the straw to his lips.

“Well it’s just that…” Yamaguchi shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other, “He’s your friend right? Aren’t you worried about him?”

Kageyama paused, and lowered the carton, “Why would I be worried about him. We had a break this week. No practice until Monday, remember?” In reality, Kageyama had been aware of his noticeable absence the past few days. He hadn’t spotted him in the gym or in the club room. In fact, Kageyama couldn’t remember seeing Hinata anytime after getting off of the bus last week. While this seemed somewhat out of the ordinary, it wasn’t cause for any concern. None of the club members had been spending much time together after a Tokyo, and Hinata — who had taken up the brunt of he blame and placed it on himself — seemed like no exception.

“I guess he hasn’t come back to school yet. We think he’s home, either still sick or…”

“Doesn’t feel like he can face any of us.” Kageyama finished Yamaguchi’s sentence. He glanced over at the gym, which was devoid of any life. The sound of balls being hit and sneakers squeaking on the floor were absent. He sighed and turned back to face Yamaguchi, “Well I don’t know what you want me to do about it. Why don’t you just go and visit him. Or I don’t know, text him? You have his number you know.”

“Well I thought about it, but some of us were thinking that it might be a good idea if you’re the one who talk to him, being his parter on the court and all.”

Kageyama choked on his milk at the mention of being Hinata’s partner. He coughed and cleared his voice, “Just because I pass to him doesn’t make us partners. I just set it to whoever has the best chance of getting us a point.” He shrugged, “Hinata just happens to be that person some of the time.”

Yamaguchi’s eyebrows furrowed, “So you aren’t worried for him in the slightest?”

“Nope, not really. He’s probably just moping because he thinks he’s the reason we lost.” Kageyama turned and tossed his empty milk carton into the nearby trashcan.

Yamaguchi’s ears turned red, “How can you say that? You know it wasn’t Hinata’s fault!”

“I never said it was,” Kageyama replied flatly, “I just said that’s probably what he thinks.”

“So you really don’t care?”

“Nope, not it the slightest.” Kageyama waved him off as his strode back into the main building, leaving Yamaguchi at a loss for words.

But he did find himself concerned. He just couldn’t let Yamaguchi know that. Hinata would never miss a chance to practice, let alone a whole week. Sick or not, they’d usually had to drag him out of the gym kicking and screaming. A mirage of scenarios found themselves doing laps inside Kageyama’s head: Hinata was killed by the fever; Hinata was kidnapped by someone while biking to school; Hinata’s family decided to take a sporadic vacation without notifying anyone; or worse, Hinata had decided to quit volleyball.

Kageyama realized he had stopped walking, and was standing in the middle of the hallway, contemplating the different scenarios. “Fucking Yamaguchi…” He murmured to himself as he reached for the phone in his pocket, and found himself absentmindedly searching for Hinata’s number. He stepped to the side and leaned on the wall, finding Hinata’s contact information. He held the phone up to his ear, listening to the dial tone, while other students glanced at him and walked by without saying a word.

Not even a week ago, the volleyball club were the kings of the school. Everyone either wanted to be them or be with them. Now, it seemed that the members of the club were sick with the plague.

Kageyama listened to the dial tone, and when no one picked up, he listened to the voicemail, “Hey, it’s Hinata! I’m probably at practice or biking or sleeping, so sorry if I missed you! If you wanna, you can leave a message, but honestly I don’t know how to work the voicemail on this thing and-“ His voice was cut off by the beep. Kageyama considered leaving him a message, but changed his mind at the last second, quickly snapping his phone shut. He twirled it in his hands for a moment, and glanced at the clock at the end off the hall.

For a moment, he weighed his options. He could continue on with his day and forget about Hinata. This seemed like the wiser option, considering the other would be far more embarrassing; making it seem like he had legitimate emotions for someone other than himself. Not that he didn’t, he’d just rather have others believe otherwise.

But before he had made a concrete decision, he found himself walking back out of the building and into the chilly January air. Kageyama cursed under his breath and shoved his hands into his pockets, beginning his descent to the main road. He’d never been this spontaneous before, except maybe on the court. Although even then, he was still thinking ten steps ahead of everyone else.

When Coach’s store came into view, Kageyama paused. God what the fuck am I thinking. He turned to head back to the school when he thought about Hinata, either lying dead in the trunk of someone’s car, or pathetically wallowing in his own self pity. He rolled his eyes and continued heading down the path.

He wandered into Coach’s store, where Coach sat with his feet propped up on the counter, a cigarette hanging limply out of his mouth. He glanced up from the magazine he was flipping through, a look of concern flashing across his face, “Hey kid, didn’t expect to see you in here today. Something up?”

Kageyama shook his head nonchalantly, “Just came to grab a couple pork buns.”

Coach glanced at his watch and his eyes narrowed, “School get out early or something?”

“Optional early release.” Kageyama shrugged and fished for his wallet in his back pocket.

Coach chuckled, “Of course it is.” He noticed Kageyama’s wallet in his hand, “It’s on me kid, put that cash away.” He turned to grab a bag for the pork buns, “Did’ja say a couple of ‘em? You meeting up with anyone?”

“I’m a growing boy,” Kageyama replied shortly, “guess I’m just extra hungry today.”

Coach slid the bag of pork buns across the counter towards Kageyama, “Alright…” He sounded unsure, “Hey, just don’t make this a habit, okay? We don’t need you being suspended, or worse, banned from club activities.”

Kageyama gave a halfhearted nod and grabbed the bag, “Yeah, Coach. I won’t. Thanks for these.” He nodded, and headed for the door, waving at Coach before being blasted by the frigid air once he stepped outside.

Probably wasn’t the best idea to stop at Coach’s store, he thought to himself as he shivered into his jacket. Continuing the down the path, Kageyama reached for his phone with his free hand, checking for any messages, specifically a reply from Hinata. Nothing. Not that he was surprised.

“Now that I’m going soft, might as well…” he muttered under his breath as his contemplated giving Hinata a second call. The phone rang three times before sending Kageyama to voicemail, “Hey, it’s Hinata! I’m probably at - ” Kageyama flipped his phone shut and stood at the bottom of the large hill Hinata biked up and down daily. What a fucking tryhard, he scoffed as he began he trek up the hill.

Once he reached the top, he was completely out of breath. Panting, he suddenly wished he had bought a water while stopped at Coach’s. He slowly began his descent, thoroughly winded, and somewhat impressed that Hinata managed this journey not once, but twice a day.

Despite being the best workout Kageyama had received all week, and his newly increased lung capacity, he swore to never climb up that hill again, and vowed to take the bus home. He stood at the bottom of the hill with his hands held behind his head, trying to catch a breath, and hoping the pounding muscles in his legs would sooth soon. He paused, and realized that he only had a vague idea of where Hinata lived. He remembered something about Hinata living near a park, and his block number being relatively low, but he lacked the information necessary to find his place from his current position.

Kageyama swore under his breath and took a seat on a bench to his right. He looked at the sky momentarily, taking notice of the slow, but prominent movements of the clouds, as they seemed to swirl around each other. He sighed, and pulled his phone from his pocket.

Now who can I call without being thoroughly judged… He wondered. He scrolled through his contact list, pausing every once in a while to consider the consequences of contacting one person over another, before finally spotting a name that he’d been looking for. He called up the number, hoping they would pick up.

One dial tone, two dial tone, three dial tone. Kageyama was losing hope quickly, and coming to the realization that this was the dumbest thing he had ever done, when the phone clicked and Yachi’s voice came through the speaker, “Hello?” She whispered softly.

Fuck. She must be in the middle of class, “Uh, hey Yachi. I didn’t mean to disturb you or anything, it’s just - ”

“What’s wrong?” Yachi interrupted abruptly, “You’ve never called me before. I didn’t even know you had my number saved. I saw you calling and immediately excused myself to the restroom. Now what’s wrong?”

“Why does anything have to be wrong in order for me to call you?” Kageyama countered bitterly, “What if I just wanted to say hi?”

“Haha, very funny. Tell me what’s going on.”

He took a deep breath, “You can’t tell anyone okay?” He took the silence on the other end of the phone as an acknowledgement, and he continued, “Yamaguchi came up to me at lunch today

and - ”

“You talked to Yamaguchi?” She interrupted again.

“Well yeah and - ”

“I can’t believe he actually went through with it… We talked about it, but no one ever actually agreed to approach you…”

“Who is this ‘we’ everyone keeps talking about?” Kageyama questioned angrily, “Why is everyone talking about me behind my back?”

“No no,” Her voice dropped, possibly trying to avoid being heard by anyone else, “we were just worried about Hinata and well, you seemed like the only person that he respects enough to - ”

“Well congrats, Yamaguchi guilt tripped me into it.” He cut her off. “Now do you know where he lives or not?”

Yachi’s end of the line went silent for a moment, and Kageyama could almost hear the smirk on the other end of the line, “Yeah.” She relayed the information to Kageyama, and he mentally took note of her instructions.

“Hey can you just, not tell anyone about this?” Kageyama unceremoniously pleaded.

“Yeah sure, but will you tell me what he says? He hasn’t talked to me either and… well I’m just really worried about him.”

Kageyama nodded, “Yeah, sure. That is if he even wants to see me.” He paused, “Thanks for the uh, help, I guess…” He sheepishly and bitterly acknowledge, and said a quick goodbye before snapping his phone shut.

He stood, the searing pain in his legs already dying down after his odyssey over the hill. Yachi’s instructions were at the forefront of his mind and he walked the path that Hinata biked everyday.

“Walk along the main road for a while, and then take a right at the intersection where you see the big cherry blossom tree with a wooden swing. Then, take a left at the yellow house with lots of flowers. If you keep walking down that road, there’s a dead end sign, so just follow that, and Hinata’s house is the last one on the street.”

Kageyama paused, and stared up at the aforementioned house in front of him. What the fuck am I doing, this is so stupid. He took a step forward, then another, until he reached the front door of the medium sized light blue house. He raised his closed fist, and knocked softly, praying that no one would hear, or that no one was home.

His delusion however, was thwarted when a short, stout blonde woman opened the door almost immediately. She was a good foot shorter than Kageyama, who seemed to tower over her menacingly. He slouched his shoulders, in an attempt to make himself seem smaller. The woman’s facial features were soft, and round, and her hair was cut short. Upon first glance, she didn’t appear to resemble Hinata in the slightest, but upon closer inspection, Kageyama realized that they seemed to shared the same light brown eyes.

“Hi,” she smiled sweetly, “can I help you?”

“Um…” Kageyama sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, “is Hina - I mean, is Shouyou here?”

The women’s light eyes darkened, and she gave Kageyama a once over, “Shouyou hasn’t been feeling too well the last couple of days.” Her eyebrows furrowed, but her eyes softened a bit, “Wait a minute, you must be Kageyama.”

“Uh, yes ma’am - ” He felt his arm pulled as Hinata’s mother dragged him into the house. She gave him a light shove into the kitchen as she closed the door behind them.

“I have heard so much about you Kageyama!” She began rummaging through the cabinets, pulling out plates and cups, “Shouyou will just go on and on about how wonderful you are.” She paused and looked thoughtfully into space, “Although I do remember a time where he wasn’t quite as fond of you… Something about, a middle school game?” She waved her hand and filled one of the glasses up with orange juice, “Would you like orange juice sweetie? We also have water or milk, I could make you some tea as well - ”

“Um,” Kageyama cleared his throat, the throng of information he had received from Hinata’s mother overwhelming him. “juice is fine I suppose.”

Hinata’s mother smiled, and poured the juice into a second glass as well. “Now Shouyou tells me that you’re one of the best setters he’s ever seen. Said you were even invited to a fancy training camp in Tokyo for the best of the best, is that right?” She pulled fruits and veggies from the fridge, and began to create a platter.

“Uh, yes ma’am.” Kageyama shifted his weight awkwardly, his cheeks and ears reddening.

���Oh no need to call me ma’am sweetie, just call me Machi, or Obāsan.” She grinned and continued preparing the platter in front of her. “You can take your shoes off as well if you’d like! Just set them down over there by the others! Set your bag down too! There’s slippers as well if that’s something you like!”

“Oh, uh, thanks ma’am - I mean Machi.” Kageyama slipped his shoes off and grabbed them by the heels, setting them next to the plethora of other shoes stacked near the door. He set his bag down next to them, but kept the pork buns clutched in his hand.

“I wish I could’ve seen you boys play in one of the tournaments, but Shouyou made me promise not to come, said something about me embarrassing him.” She waved her hand, “Ah but that’s silly, I would never embarrass him. Now Natsu on the other hand, well she could do some damage.” She pulled a large tray out from under the counter, and placed the glasses and the platter of fruits and vegetables on top. She carefully held the tray out to Kageyama, “Shouyou’s room is up the stairs and to the right, and the rest in right across from him. Make sure he doesn’t only eat the fruit, he needs some vegetables as well.”

Kageyama gingerly took the tray from Machi, careful as to not spill the glasses full to the brim with juice. He set the bag of pork buns on top, and hesitated momentarily, “Thank you, Machi.” He thanked her uncomfortably.

“Of course sweetie!” Machi stared up at him, a sudden look of concern in her eyes, “Shouyou hasn’t been in a mood to talk, but maybe you can try to convince him to go back to school soon? I worry about all of the lessons he’s missing, not to mention the ramifications from the vice principal. I would hate if Shouyou somehow ended up on his bad side.” Her look of concern transformed into one of hope, “I bet if anyone can get through to Shouyou, it’s you! He really looks up to you, you know.” She smiled warmly at Kageyama, her face closely resembling Hinata’s, before turning around and beginning to clean up the food she had taken out, “Just holler if you boy’s need anything. I’ll be here!”

Kageyama was frozen in place, trying to comprehend the overload of information that had just been shoved down his throat. He did his best to smile, although he was sure he looked more menacing than thankful, and turned around to climb the set of stairs leading from the kitchen. He carefully held the tray steadily, thankful for the years of hand training he had, and slowly ascended the wooden staircase.

Once he reached the second level, he turned to his right. The door was shut, and decorated with small dinosaur stickers that were beginning to peel off. Kageyama smirked, hoping these stickers were a recent addition and not some left over child memorabilia. He balanced the try with one hand, while prepping himself to knock on the door. His hand was curled into a fist, but he couldn’t bring himself to actually knock. God this was such a stupid fucking idea. But before he could stop himself, his fist beat three times against the door.

He heard a groan coming from the other side, authorizing Kageyama to enter. He turned the handle and enter Hinata’s room.

Hinata’s room looked exactly like Kageyama had imagined it, not that he had actually imagined it before. The walls were plastered with professional volleyball team’s posters, with the two posters Yachi had designed hanging above his bed. His desk was empty, except for the bottles of empty sports drinks littered atop of it. The closet was wide open, showcasing what looked like an explosion of clothing, with every drawer open, and seemingly every piece of clothing pulled out, including his underwear. Kageyama found himself blushing and looked away. Hinata’s duffle was sat next to his bed. It was half open, and Kageyama could see that it clearly hadn’t been cleaned out since Tokyo, spotting Hinata’s uniform, and shoes hastily shoved inside.

Hinata was curled up in his bed, facing the wall. It wasn’t too cold in the house, but he was bundled up completely in blankets. The only movements he seemed to be making was the rise and fall of this body, and indication that he was still breathing.

Phew, well now I know he’s not dead.

“What is it ma. I already told you, I’m not hungry.” The lump on the bed mumbled.

Kageyama awkwardly cleared his throat, and tried to find an object to look at that wouldn’t seem weird if Hinata caught him.

After an odd moment of silence, Hinata turned around slowly. His signature ginger hair was sticking up in odd directions, and seemed to be in need of a thorough washing. He had deep bags under his eyes, and his cheek bones seemed more pronounced than usual. In fact, his whole face had a skeletal sort of look. His eyes — which Kageyama had entirely determined to be the same as his mother’s — were sunken in to his face, and seemed to be more dull and lifeless than usual.

Kageyama cocked his head and stared at Hinata, who had just come to the realization that Kageyama was actually in his bedroom. Upon said realization, Hinata threw his covers off and quickly threw the piles of clothing spilling out on to the floor back into the dresser’s drawers, and shut the closet door. He kicked his duffle under the bed and grabbed the sweatpants hanging on the back of his desk’s chair. He quickly pulled them on, to Kageyama’s relief, as he had only been wearing boxers, and the shirt that he had purchased at the Spring Tournament.

Hinata, red in the face, quickly blurted, “What are you doing here?”

Kageyama shrugged cooly, “Dunno. Heard you were being quite a baby, holing yourself up in your room and refusing to go to school.”

Hinata furrowed his brows, “Who told you that? My mom?”

Kageyama moved the empty bottles of sports drink to one side of the desk, and set the tray down on the other, “Nope. You just did.”

Hinata found himself at a loss for words, flustered and confused, “Okay, but what are you doing here.”

Pulling the desk chair out, Kageyama took a seat and grabbed a carrot from the tray, taking a bite out of it. He chewed and swallowed, paused, and gave Hinata a pointed look, “Everyone’s saying that you’re ignoring them. Thought you could be dead.” Another shrug, “Forced me here, saying that I’m the only one to motivate you to get your lazy ass out of the house and back on the court.” He popped the rest of the carrot into his mouth, and chewed thoughtfully, “But honestly, now that I’m here,” he gave Hinata a once over, “I can see you are perfectly happy isolating yourself from the rest of the world.”

Kageyama grabbed the bag of pork buns from the tray and tossed them to Hinata, “From Coach,” he muttered, “he thought they might cheer you up I guess. They probably aren’t warm anymore though, so I’m not sure how appetizing they’d be.”

Hinata opened the bag and inhaled the intoxicating smell, greedily stuffing his hand inside and pulling out a room temperature pork bun, and taking a large bite out of it. He smiled while chewing, before remembering who else was in the room with him, and put a scowl on his face.

After an uncomfortable amount of silence, Kageyama finally broke, “So are you coming to school Monday or not.”

Hinata looked down at his feet as he continued to chew on his pork bun.

“I mean,” Kageyama continued, “I’m sure if you decided not to come to practice, we could replace you with someone else. Yamaguchi is tall enough to be a decent middle blocker, or maybe we’ll get a talented group of first years that could take your place…”

“No!” Hinata exclaimed, standing up abruptly, “You can’t replace me!”

“Sure we can,” Kageyama grabbed a second carrot, “anyone can be a decoy.”

“But -” Hinata started.

“Anyone who thinks that their problems are bigger than the team doesn’t belong on a team anyways.” Kageyama cruelly taunted, “I mean, do you really think we lost in Tokyo because you’re the best player on the team? Do you think that without you, our team is terrible? Because honestly,” Kageyama shrugged, “you’re one of the worst players on the team. Just because you can get from one place to another quickly, doesn’t mean you’re any good.” He sighed and toyed with the carrot in his hand, “We lost because the other team was better than us. Plain and simple.” Kageyama stood and stretched his arms upwards, “If you’re really gonna act like this any time another team is better than us, then maybe you shouldn’t stay in the club. We don’t need whiners bringing the rest of the team down.” He walked back to the doorway, and stood for a moment, hoping that being harsh with Hinata was the right move.

As usual, he was right. Hinata grabbed Kageyama’s arm and turned him around, “I’ll be there on Monday,” he said, determined, “and I’ll kick your ass in practice.”

Kageyama snorted, and challenged Hinata with his eyes, “Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try.” He yanked his arm out of Hinata’s grip and grabbed the door handle, pulling it shut as he walked away, “Oh,” he paused before the door was completely shut, “don’t tell anyone I was here today. I don’t need my reputation hurt.”

“But I thought you said that - ” The door was pulled shut in Hinata’s face before he could finish his thought. He sat down softly on his bed and smiled to himself, before pulling a second pork bun from the back and taking a massive bite out of it.

Kageyama made his way back downstairs and into the kitchen, where Machi was impatiently waiting, pretending to wipe down the already impeccably clean counters. She pretended to be surprised when she saw Kageyama approach.

“Oh! Done so soon? I hope Shouyou was playing nice, he can get a bit rowdy…”

Kageyama gave her his most realistic looking smile, and thanked her for the hospitality, “I really do have to go though, but mother wouldn’t be too happy if I wasn’t home in time for dinner.”

Machi smiled back, before her look turned to that of concern again, “Do you think that…Shouyou will go back to school on Monday?”

Kageyama slipped his shoes back on and grabbed his bag from beside the door, “I don’t think there’s any doubt.” He thanked Machi again, and exited through the front door.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally exposed to the fresh air again. Hoping he’d never have to do something that embarrassing ever again. He stepped off of the sidewalk, but paused when he remembered he had no clue where the nearest bus stop was. He smacked his forehead and recoiled into himself, realizing what the quickest solution was.

He awkwardly walked back up the steps to the front door, and knocked for a second time that day. Machi appeared almost instantaneously, looking puzzled.

“Sorry to uh, bother you again, but could you tell me how to get to the nearest bus stop?”

[deltaengineering]

Bummer Anime 2018 Part 2: shoujo to the rescue

It got better, mostly because it could hardly get worse. That doesn’t mean it was a smooth ride, of course. I would like to state, for the record, that I’m not trying to be the funny guy who hates everything here; the season’s just that unusually bad. As before, the source for the ad copy at the end of each block is this.

Asobi Asobase

What: A bunch of assholes play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

✅ It’s another exuberant comedy, and unlike Chio-chan, I can’t catch this one on the execution: It has the technical chops and honestly good comedic timing.

❌❌ Initially wants to make you believe it’s a pleasant cute girls doing cute things show, but what it actually is is a brutally annoying and ugly explosion in the reactionface factory. Since the production values are there, it’s rather too good at that.

❌❌ I was trying to compare it to something, and the best I could come up with was rage comics. Yeah, it’s anime rage comics. It’s that bad.

❌❌ I would feel more benevolent towards it if it were shorter, but at full length its high energy screaming based assault is mostly just tiresome.

♎ This is one of those rare shows where even I will say your mileage may vary. It’s really good at what it does, but I hate everything it does. Hooray for the subversion, but at the end of the day you’re still annoying and ugly.

ANN sez: “It's this exact mix of stupid crassness and innocent naiveté that I think truly defines high-school life, and Asobi Asobase nails it perfectly. “

Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria

What: A smartphone with a light novel protagonist attached time travels to the bronze age, establishes a incest-fascist harem regime with the power of Wikipedia.

❌❌ read the synopsis again please

❌❌ there’s more idiocy than that, believe it or not (ex.: smartphone hotline to his actual imouto, for the feels), but I haven’t got all day.

❌❌ Basing your isekai shit on “history” (i.e., a LN author’s idiotic idea of history) instead of an MMO or whatever only serves to piss me off even more.

❌❌ Actually not better than Isekai Smartphone, which makes it one of the worst anime episodes I have ever seen. Congratulations. The only thing it has over Death March is that it doesn’t spend 80% of the time in menus, but it makes menus look pretty good so it’s a wash.

ANN brainfarts: “Yuuto also seems to be limiting his phone searches to historically accurate things as well, which shows that he's really thinking about the fact that he's in the past – no one's inventing the rocket here, they're just learning to grind grain and use the phalanx formation for battles.”

Phantom in the Twilight

What: Chinese girl travels to London, inadvertently inherits her great-grandma’s vampire harem. 

✅ Step 1 of every otome harem appraisal is determining how much of a wet blanket the protagonist is; Ton here is pretty spunky and even gets to kick some ass, so well done on that.

✅ Some of the right kind of nonsense for my taste, stuff like chav goblins and Jiangshi with miniguns is always appreciated.

✅ Random shows ending up with bizarre minimal techno soundtracks is still something that I approve of.

❌ Still not the glorious kind of nonsense that Dance With Devils had, nor the disregard of actual romance in favor of comedy that Dame x Prince exhibited. It’s an otome-ass otome harem and that’s not inspiring confidence for the long term.

❌ Looks cheap, and that won’t be getting any better.

ANN sez: “The fantasy worldbuilding here also felt far more sturdy than in many similar shows; this isn't a world where the Good Fantasy Guys fight the Bad Fantasy Guys, this is a world where creatures like goblins and spriggans and werewolves all exist, all possess their own cultures and priorities, and uneasily rub shoulders with each other.”

Jashin-chan Dropkick

What: Demon snake girl wants to murder the chuuni gothloli that summoned her, gets owned right back.

❌❌ It’s the second coming of Dokuro-chan, with every punchline being torture. Quite literally for the characters, and consequently for the audience as well.

❌❌ Needless to say, the entire cast (there’s some additional supernatural babes, none of which make much of an impression) are jerks and the show being wantonly mean-spirited towards them does not cancel that out. 

❌ Somehow the second anime about eating reptile ass in recent memory. But Maidragon, as lame as it was, wasn’t as terrible as this. Jashin-chan won’t get into insipid family feels any time soon, but the alternative is worse.

ANN sez: “If this is your taste in humor, it may be worth giving a second episode to see if it starts pulling that off.”

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes

What: Handsome genius antique dealer appraises old pottery and his assistant’s soul.

✅ I have to admit that if you somehow decided to make a otome version of Sherlock without anything so crass as murder, this is how you’d do it. It works.

✅ The leading pair has simple but effective chemistry.

✅ The studio behind it has mostly done porn OVAs before, which is the kind of meta-humor I can get behind.

❌ Based on a series of novels, so naturally the talkytalk gets out of hand.

❌ Doesn’t have the highest budget, tries to make up for it with rainbow-colored garishness. Not a dealbreaker but it could get tiresome.

ANN sez: “While Yagashira cuts a handsome figure as the bishonen, Aoi has more of an ordinary appearance – perhaps deliberately so, since I suspect that the source novels were originally aimed at female audiences.”

Shinya! Tensai Bakabon

What: Showa-era gag manga gets on air again after decades, repeatedly points out how hilarious that is.

❌ Beat-for-beat the same first episode concept as Osomatsu-san.

❌ The main difference is that Bakabon is more willing to look old as fuck, but when they arrive at the non-ruse look at the end of the episode, it’s the same as the non-ruse look that Osomatsu-san ended up at the end of its own first episode.

❌  So guess what, constantly takes potshots at Osomatsu-san, despite being a blatant ripoff of it.

❌❌ When it doesn’t reference Things You Know (if you’re a middle-aged Japanese salaryman), it references its own sorry showa-era gag manga self.

❌❌ I didn’t even like Osomatsu-san but this is an embarrassment.

♎ On the bright side, not as likely to provide fujos with incest shipping material. I fully expect to be proven painfully wrong on this.

ANN sez: Nothing. Way too Japanese for them, I suppose. 

Angolmois - Genkou Kassenki

What: Historical action show wherein a bunch of misfits in medieval Japan fight the Mongols.

✅ Fairly decent action and animation thereof.

✅ Characters seem alright for this sort of thing. Maybe a bit too tryhard violent for my tastes, but that’s still within acceptable parameters.

❌❌ The looks are ruined in postproduction. I could live with the heavyhanded color correction, but what really kills it is the same omnipresent static paper texture over every single shot. It’s bad when it doesn’t change between shots but it’s devastating when it doesn’t move along with zooms and pans, which this show has a lot of.

❌❌ Seriously, I haven’t seen anything as senselessly destroyed by a single AfterEffects layer since Garo: Vanishing Line’s Parkinsonscam, but at least that only affected impact frames. Here it’s literally every frame. Delete that PNG you damn fools.

❌ So yeah, it’s okay-ish but that’s not enough to survive one boneheaded executive decision that’s impossible to ignore. It just comes out as a net negative.

ANN sez: “From its beautifully animated, choreographed, and directed fight scenes to its generally dynamic compositions and keen understanding of visual economy, Angolmois is a visually stunning production.”

Lord of Vermilion - Guren no Ou

What: Tokyo gets enveloped in red mist which raptures most of the population and turns the rest into JRPG characters. They start fighting, we promise.

❌ Has the shape of an obvious Persona clone, but isn’t one; it’s actually based on an arcade CCG. So the source material isn’t very classy to begin with.

❌❌ Haphazardly thrown together so it’s hard to care about anything, especially not the characters.

❌❌ Opens with a flashforward to the climax, so we know this will just end up as overdesigned dudes and dudettes having allegedly epic battles that the show can’t afford to make look good, but can afford to make very red. Thanks for the heads up, I guess.

❌ So it’s quite bad, and not even funny-bad like Caligula was.

ANN sez: “There are always a few action shows like this every season, and they're always entirely overshadowed by that season's versions of shows like My Hero Academia and Banana Fish”

Grand Blue

What: City slicker moves to a beach town expecting to end up in Amanchu; ends up in Animal House instead.

❌❌ Say it with me: Every punchline is the protagonist making a shocked face at dumb meatheads doing something stupid.

♎ For something that I feel like I should hate every second of, I actually didn’t hate it all that much. I even thought it was mostly sort of enjoyable. I don’t really know what exactly does it but I can offer some ideas:

✅ While the punchlines (well, punchline) may be bad, the jokes themselves aren’t. This is a real sitcom with larger-scale comedic setups than you usually see in anime, jokes build upon each other and keep escalating.

✅ Sleazy fratboy humor about partying hard and drinking like an idiot isn’t very profound, but rare at least in anime. And it’s amusing that the overall conceit is that it’s preventing iyashikei from taking place. Novelty counts for something. 

✅ Manages to build awkward comedic situations about buff dudes with their dicks out without resorting to the same old gay panic jokes. Just regular panic, no homo.

✅ Makes a good Friday beach bum combo with Harukana Receive, which incidentally also got better by embracing its more prurient side.

ANN sez: “If Grand Blue Dreaming has a major Achilles heel, its that it isn't self-aware enough to recognize when a joke has run its course. ”

Happy Sugar Life

What: Yandere sociopath adopts a preteen girl (from a parking lot). It’s cute, only not.

✅ Is fully aware that everyone in this show is an asshole and is honestly trying for subversive. At least on the surface.

✅ Goes all on on the imagery, which works. At least on the surface.

❌❌ Simply exploiting the contrast between cuteness and insanity got old about a decade ago; this cranks up the presentation on both sides but doesn’t really add anything new.

❌❌ About as mean-spirited and unpleasant as Mahou Shoujo Site, while having even less to say. 

❌ Doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere; it’s just going to be the main character pwning other people that are just as flamboyantly fucked up as she is, but not as good at it. Starting with a flashforward to the (very edgy, of course) ending like Lord of Vermilion doesn’t help either. And even if they end up rusemanning what is implied there it won’t be much better.

ANN sez: “Happy Sugar Life was on my list of most-anticipated anime this season because its combination of disparate elements seemed so utterly perverse that I was curious to see how they could possibly fit together.“

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

What: Girls slowwalk in an academy for stage arts by day, get into metaphorical superbattles by night.

✅✅ What can I say, it’s Love Live x Marimite with a glossy coating of Ikuhara-style operatics. A total deltabait concept if I’ve ever seen one.

✅ Clones the storytelling approach of Ikuhara but not many of his specific directing mannerisms; Since I’m tired of the latter but a sucker for the former, this is a good thing.

✅ In a similar vein, this trades Ikuhara’s functional ciphers for actual characters and his enigmatic arthouse plots for something that obviously makes sense. 

✅ How gay? So gay.

❌ Has the opposite problem of Grand Blue: This is a show that should blow me away, but doesn’t. In fact, if it didn’t bring the big damn musical theater complete with one of the best and most appropriate henshins I’ve ever seen near the end, I’d say it was fairly lame.

❌ Probably has something to do with that in the course of casualizing Ikuhara, the “real” world ended up too bland and the characters too generic. I get that it’s for contrast, but it can be done far better (see Yorimoi for an example).

✅ In any case, it still seems easily worth watching even if it’s not as good as it could be. Maybe it’ll even get better.

ANN sez: “All I can say for certain is that it comes completely out of nowhere, and that it raises all kinds of questions about what kind of series this is going to be.“

Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san

What: Impoverished ghost hunter checks into a haunted hot spring and interacts with the harem that happens to live there.

❌ As generic a 90s ecchi harem comedy as they come; my correspondents tell me that this is extremely reminiscent of Love Hina. Shockingly it’s actually based on a 2016 manga, but you wouldn’t be able to tell.

❌ As such, an abundance of accidental boobplants and other saucy accidents makes up the bulk of what’s going on this show.

✅ The main ghost girl is fairly cute; The main dude is also relatively bearable and has at least one good joke in his backstory (which I won’t spoil), so the core dynamic is surprisingly fine. If the rest of the harem weren’t there, this wouldn’t be such a bad setup. 

❌ Features those dastardly breast-hiding light rays, reportedly even in the AT-X version. This doesn’t affect a large part of the show (the majority is more like the cap above), but boobies are probably still the only reason anyone cares about any of this.

♎ Certainly not good, but the lame shit of yore is not what I’m going to spend energy getting mad at in 2018. The 24 minutes I’m ever going to spend with it felt more nostalgic than anything.

ANN sez: “Ninja girl Sagiri comes off the worst from the situation, with nearly all of her dialogue spent promising to beat the crap out of anyone who doesn't measure up to her moral code. I imagine there must be more to her and the rest of the supporting cast than what we've seen so far, but at the moment they seem an awful lot like stock characters.”

Sirius the Jaeger

What: A broody werewolf and his team of assorted bad dudes hunt vampires in 30s Tokyo.

✅✅ Looks ace, this is an action show with deluxe everything. It better, because being directed by Masahiro Ando is pretty much the start and end of this show’s unique selling points.

✅ Interwar Tokyo with a bit of a gothick twist is a cool setting, and this show can afford to portray it properly.

❌ Seriously though... edgy vampires and edgier werewolves. Come on, son.

❌ Just like Banana Fish, this is a highly polished implementation of something that fundamentally isn’t very interesting to me.

✅ I’d still take it over Fanana Bish because this doesn’t seem to take itself so bloody seriously and is far more comfortable with just being moody action schlock. It’s also less showoffy, believe it or not. What else are you going to watch? Sirius the Jaeger is what you’re going to watch. Sorry.

ANN sez: They only have a preview from Anime Expo, and that boils down to “The second episode is where things start to get interesting.“ I sure hope so.

Well, we got a few acceptable shows in if nothing else, I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which ones those are. I’m cutting my losses here, see you in three months for a hopefully more bountiful season.

[hekatekun]

Missed Opportunities: a look at 246 dynamics

This will be covering the relationships between Karamatsu, Ichimatsu, and Todomatsu. Specifically how they could be "better off" but for reasons aren't. Not blmatsu. A long post, but not particularly in depth. The great thing about Osomatsu-san is that things can be as serious as you want them to be; take all this with a grain of salt.

I would say the defining trait between 246 is that there is a lot of "missed opportunity" or "what could have been." You know, “things didn’t have to be this way.” More specifically, this is Karamatsu's relationship with the other two. Not that this cannot be remedied, but for now nothing is happening. Not any time soon, either. Probably. These aren’t shortcomings they’ll be getting over soon. Interestingly enough, I might have even said this was also applicable to 110 up until recently - so let's start there.

110MATSU: Something of a moving arc going here. Season 1 they’re at their most antagonistic towards each other, with their more docile moments occurring later in the season (most notably the hunt for 123 inside Dayon). Ichimatsu particularly, as Todomatsu has never been one to pick fights. He’s vindictive and isn’t afraid of confrontation, but doesn’t mean he wants to stick his neck out. Ichimatsu, on the other hand, has no qualms being aggressive. He will double-down on embarrassing the fuck out of Totty (as he should). If there is one thing the hivemind has taught all of them, it’s that no brother is above the other, and everyone will equally be dragged back to this self-made hell.

So S1 is the season of “no mercy,” but we see a shift! “ESP Kitty” lays Ichimatsu’s secret in front of everyone: vulnerability. Todomatsu (and 135) sees him like the normie he is for the first time in a real good light, a permanent change. Effectively, by “Dayon Tribe,” this lack of aggression when 456 are left to their own devices becomes a staple of the trio (if we ignore Jyushimatsu’s winter-induced insanity). 

In this same timeframe, Ichimatsu gets a real understanding of just how ruthless the crybaby youngest brother is. And by S2 they realize they have a lot more in common than they realized. A certain self-awareness that certain others lack. Totty could easily be lumped in with suiriku as a tryhard who doesn’t know when to quit, but it becomes apparent this isn’t the case. Sure, Totty’s a tryhard - he craves positive attention and will do what he can to get it, but he’ll never reach the level of Karamatsu and Choromatsu. 110 doesn’t need to “impress” each other. Completely vibing. They prefer each other’s company (and Jyushimatsu’s) over the other 3. They’re not each other’s favorite, by a long shot, but S2 they seem more comfortable around each other.

The movie provides a bit of catalyst, and S3 seems keen on keeping it apart of the continuity, so it’s not far fetched to assume their bonding moment in the movie is what led to their current relationship in S3. An ally has been established, and they can be more honest around each other as a result.

What’s “missed opportunity” is that they both underestimated the other, and what they have now could have been achieved earlier in life. Better late than never! However, they both still suck at communicating, but for now battling with barbed words or getting wrapped up in whatever holds their attention still shows they’re (usually) on the same wavelength.

ZAIMOKUMATSU: If Totty is similar to Ichi, it's not surprising he holds to same distaste for Karamatsu. Theoretically speaking, they should be each other's "brother." It's obvious that Choromatsu and Osomatsu are a "duo," and same with Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu. Whether you wanna include Oso-kun or not, it's evident that they do not click the same way the others do with their “designated brother.” 

Oso-kun makes it more “angsty” though, or at least makes this reboot interesting. If Zaimoku was more established as children, this clearly isn't carried to their adult selves. That's just life. They fell apart, growing up, and letting time split them naturally. They still like each other, hang out, but there's no real spark there. How can you when one of you refuses to break character. You could say they're similar to Nenchuu, preferring each other's company only in the greater group dynamic. We’ve established they're both tryhards, but Todomatsu has the self-awareness to know when to drop his pretenses, and doesn't understand Karamatsu's more irrational quirks. Sure, tryhards try hard but they're brothers - they already know each other. No need to impress. For Karamatsu’s part of it, I would say it’s both “always needing to be on top of his public image no matter who sees him (including brothers)” and just... He wants to dress like that. So painful.

Todomatsu’s “fatal flaw” within the group is that he’s quite disconnected from the hivemind. This a repeated issue they address, from “Todomatsu & the 5 Demons” to “Todomatsu’s Line.” He doesn’t understand certain social conventions that “make no sense” from experience. For instance, “Todomatsu’s Line” addresses how secretive he is, but he’s only secretive because he knows if he told them about his life they wouldn’t care. They’re only getting on his ass because he’s pulling away from them. The 6 of them are “all or nothing,” so even just one brother leaving is detrimental to their weird inner-brother politics. It gets rid of the facade they perform under, and must confront reality as a result. And so, they punish him accordingly. We know Karamatsu is already the group punching bag, and Totty soon joins him.

S3E5 “Well, Yeah” with these 2 fighting over the cashier, Karamatsu is willing to challenge him because he considers Todomatsu "harmless." Karamatsu is easily intimidated, we know this, but holds none of those sentiments towards Totty. They're both petty crybabies, and would rather tear each other down than team up.

Zaimoku is amiable with each other (for the most part), but typically avoid each other - or at least wouldn't seek the other out if it can be helped. A simple mismatch. Good thing they have 4 other brothers.

So, they're both the bottom of the barrel, and yet they never have each other's back. As with all 6, they’re self-serving. There’s safety in numbers, and they’re better off joining 4 than defending 1. They have created an environment that punishes whoever wanted to be the bigger man. In the most literal sense: nice guys finish last around these parts.

I could keep going. Todomatsu being banished to sea for a whole skit, Todomatsu being fired from the family, the entirety of the Karamatsu Incident. No one’s safe, but truly Zaimoku sits at the lowest tiers, even in the family. 

Leftovers who don't even want to pick each other. Can't blame them, they're both insufferable. They don't respect each other, either. 236 is committed to personas that they think will make people like them. They all more or less hold the belief of “I’m not like these guys, I’m better.” However, Choromatsu genuinely likes Karamatsu. Totty does not. How could he when all he sees is a cringey dude who doesn’t know when to call it quits? Choromatsu is just as bad, and doesn't really consider Karamatsu anything but "harmless."

Being left alone and behind is the worst thing for them, but yet they still don’t want each other, even if they’re “clearly the easiest choice.” That sense of being the “default” choice, rather than a legitimate connection or personalities that get along. Another similarity to Nenchuu, where they’re better off being friends than not out of convenience.

IROMATSU: Take what I just said about Zaimoku and amplify the negativity. Rather than a natural falling out, it is a repeated violent rejection on Ichimatsu's part. It's genuine animosity, because Ichimatsu hates tryhards who lack self-awareness. It's no surprise he doesn't care for Suiriku's company and, until recently, Todomatsu's. The thing is, Ichimatsu is a tryhard. He tried hard in high school, and, though in the opposite direction (”I’m not like these guys, I’m worse”), continues to try hard now.

Concerning Karamatsu, he is equal parts resentful and envious. If the movie implies they used to be friends around high school, it wouldn't surprise me if he resented Karamatsu's "transformation" because Ichi was unable to get over his own issues ("regressing" after high school, though really considering how taxing it was to keep that up he’s probably been burnt out). So yeah, introvert buddies.

He admitted to Choromatsu he finds those who still try even in the face of failure "scary." Ichimatsu's greatest fear is putting himself out there and still being rejected despite his best efforts. That's, again, just how life works, but it's a valid fear to have. 

Seeing Karamatsu, someone he considers legitimately stupid, still put his best foot forward (probably on some level) does feel like a slap in the face. It's also just. Painful. Another cringeass clueless older brother, another ally lost.

(Also I can’t ignore how it’s Osomatsu - one of Ichi’s favorites/most tolerable brothers - is the one who calls Karamatsu’s support “teasing” after claiming himself Ichi would kill his own boss; Osomatsu knows how to talk to each brother in a way they’ll understand)

The difference between Zaimoku and Iro is that the former is always played off as joking and while the latter is still funny and over-exaggerated, it usually also comes across as “Did this cross a line?” It tips into real malevolence because, not only does Ichimatsu act opposite how he feels (except for cats), but even in comedy there’s always a hint of sincerity. They’re all cartoonishly violent, but that comes with the idea that that’s actually how they feel in some form. Ichimatsu can’t handle direct support and attention, and he certainly wouldn’t want it from a guy whose social anxiety is worse than his.

And throughout all this, Karamatsu just... ignores it. He doesn't get it, he probably wouldn't even want to know. He legitimately wants to be like this, and doesn’t really get how others don’t find it as attractive (like how Choromatsu doesn’t get why talking about his aspirations isn’t wanted in conversation - they’re not really ones to read the room when it comes to their own shortcomings). So he "avoids" 110. No point seeking out their company and be rejected for "no reason." He doesn't want criticism, and none of them want communication. I should reiterate, this is all comedy. It’s funny. I love it! But it’s slapstick with thought. 

Short-sighted, they prioritize instant gratification above anything else. The end result, unsurprisingly, is a group of brothers who find it impossible to talk to each other - to bully and harass - when they could do better for one another.