#O Gin

[marry-me-o-gin]

O-Gin ... The woman I want to marry :D

[goldenkamuyhunting]

There are a plethora of things I found distasteful about the very final chapters of GK, most of which were a culmination of the wrong turns I felt the story took especially around the Goryokaku arc. However the thing I struggled the most with wasn't the death of a character I liked, but the survival of two: Sugimoto and Tsukishima. Especially Sugimoto. Do you feel the same or do you disagree completely?

Do you think the story could have been -well, not fixed, but elevated someway by the death of those two?

Hum...

First of all, WARNING to all the readers.

As you can guess by the ask this reply isn’t one that’s going to shower Noda in praises for how he handled things. If you can’t handle seeing his work criticized, I recommend you to hit the back button and forget this post.

Now back to the ask.

It’s really hard to tell because what really decides the quality of a story isn’t really the elements you decide to include in it but how you narrate it.

For example you can decide to write a self insert commedy filled with metaphors in which whose with whom you disagree with you are punished and whose who agree rewarded and you leaves for a quest given SOLELY to you because you’re just that special and get to be with your favourite celebrity and your teenager crush and it comes out worse than “My immortal”... or it comes out as the greatest work ever of your country and everyone studies it or at least have heard of it and, thanks to it, you even gain the nick of Sommo Poeta and people built statues of you and names streets after you because your “Divina Commedia” was just that great.

Long story short, Sugimoto and Tsukishima dying or living probably wouldn’t have made the difference if the narrative were to keep the same quality level (rushed, ruled by easy mode, with plot contrivances, retcons and with actions that have no real weight/consequences and what else) while them surviving would have felt really good if the narrative had been better.

Despite all this however I’ve hear a good part of the fandom being lead to wish for their death despite Sugimoto and Tsukishima being beloved characters (they were respectively 1st and 3rd in the character pool).

I can’t speak for them, I don’t know why they feel this way but I can tell you something else. If you’re used to read my meta you probably know I was in teh camp of people expecting them to survive... however I found their survival extremely unsatisfying because poorly constructed.

Overall the final part of the endgame of the story felt to me as if the author has a precise idea for where the characters has to go... but just couldn’t make them go there by their own power in a way that was meaningful and needed to forcefully push them in that direction.

To go back to Umeko and Sugimoto’s confrontation, Noda wants Sugimoto to go back to Hokkaido with Asirpa... but the way he lead this to happen is by removing all the obstacles that would stop Sugimoto from doing so.

Sugimoto seems to find absolutely easy to show up again in front of her, Umeko feels no smell of death from him and is already healed, so it’s not like he has to care for her, and married, so it’s not like he can marry her and somehow Sugimoto doesn’t care about all this because he has somehow stopped wishing to marry Umeko and started longing for going back to Hokkaido with Asirpa.

Basically there’s 0 emotional effort in the scene from Sugimoto, Noda has already removed all the obstacles and retconned him so that he’ll do as Noda wants even though before he couldn’t do it and he claimed to love Umeko and never said he wanted to permanently live in Hokkaido but, at most, only until Asirpa would be satisfied with how the incident ended.

And this applies to his survival as well.

Noda gave him a series of wounds that should have been fatal (from Ogata stabbing him in what looked likes his intestine to Tsurumi pinning him through the chest to the train) and then he ends up in what seemed an heroic sacrifice in the sea with the train. But Noda wanted him to survive so... Noda saves him. How we don’t know beyond the implication Shiraishi might have fished him up (but this wouldn’t have magically fixed his wounds).

The result is that what could have been his ‘heroic dead scene’ feels more satisfying than the fact he was saved because... there’s no a ‘salvation scene’. His, apparently effortless, survival, as far as I’m involved, cheapens the previous ‘almost death scene’, which, credits when it’s due, was instead emotional and Noda put some efforts in constructing it.

Sugimoto ended up pinned to the train because HE saved Asirpa, leaving himself exposed and and because TSURUMI took advantage of this and pinned him to the train. And he fell into the water and couldn’t attempt to free himself because HE and TSURUMI were busy fighiting up until a moment before falling in the water.

If we really want to see Noda’s hand in this, we could blame it in how Asirpa conveniently almost fall off the train in a pretty unclear scene... but it’s a small plot contrivance that you might blame to the train shaking so as to cause her to lose balance in her concern to retrieve the land deed.

Overall the characters are the ones moving the plot and they’re facing consequences for their actions, Tsurumi getting shoot and Sugimoto getting pinned and ending in the water and... and then all this is destroyed when the next chapter solved the cliffhanger in which chap 313 ended by... handwaving it.

It’s not that Sugimoto deserved to die... it was that his salvation needed to matter as much as his almost death scene. If we had seen the characters’ efforts in saving him, if we had felt their hardship in saving him, we could have emotionally partecipated and rejoiced for his survival. Like this though, the story counts on us to be happy Sugimoto didn’t die solely because we should want him to survive, but offers for his survival none of the emotional investment we had when we saw him almost die.

The same applies to Tsukishima.

Noda clearly wanted him to 'be saved’ by Koito and become his right hand man and remain ‘the good heart of the 7th’... but the way this happens required 0 effort from Tsukishima.

Tsukishima needs to be saved by Koito so doesn’t decide to leave Tsurumi on his own and so, up until the end he’ll do all he can to support Tsurumi, even considering to sacrifice himself to kill Ushiyama.

What’s more, his fight with Ushiyama, is tied to various things Noda wants to happen but at which the characters are unwilling to contribute.

Tsukishima has to remain on that train so Ushiyama somehow refuses to toss Tsukishima off the train, which can work only for so long after we saw him doing so with way too many soldiers. It’s not that Tsukishima avoids being tossed out in some way, it’s just Ushiyama doesn’t do it because Noda doesn’t let him do it.

Tsukishima has to hand the land deed to Tsurumi... so no matter how hard Ushiyama beats him, Tsukishima doesn’t loose consciousness and remains able to walk around. He’s actually not even that badly injured.

Ushiyama has to have a heroic death protecting Asirpa so as to traumatize her further... but Tsukishima can’t toss the hand grenade at her, counting on Ushiyama to try to protect her and die in the process because Tsukishima has to stay the good heart of the 7th in fact, even when he shoot Ariko, Ariko has to survive with 0 effort (Tsukishima actually didn’t hit him because he conveniently shoot Ariko’s knife, which stopped the impact of the bullet so that Ariko was unhurt), so Tsukishima wouldn’t dirty his hand with it

So what will happen?

That Noda will have the hand grenade fall, by accident, near Asirpa so Ushiyama will have to die to protect her.

Since Tsukishima has to remain loyal/obsessed to Tsurumi, he’ll refuse to not follow Tsurumi even when Koito grabs him and tell him he’ll die if he does it... But Tsukishima has to survive so how can Koito keep him alive? Noda has Tsukishima faint (along with Koito who also had to survive) because somehow the hand granade from which he was far and should have been shielded from when Ushiyama tossed himself above it, wounded him more than all the beating Ushiyama gave him so that neither Sugimoto nor Hijikata nor Nagakura will attack him (or Koito).

And the epilogue continues in this vein, Tsukishima is still searching for Tsurumi because he didn’t change at all and someone has to mourn Tsurumi, but then Koito tells him he needs him and so Noda has Tsukishima drops everything and follow Koito.

The both of them were actually willing rebels who committed lots of crimes but all is handwaved because Koito has to become the leader of the 7th and Tsukishima his right hand man so, although Central is likely not pleased, Noda makes sure there’s basically no repercussion on their careers and Koito can become the leader to the 7th with Tsukishima as his right hand man.

Yeah, maybe they put an effort to deal with Central but since this is, for time reasons (we’re at the epilogue), never shown, it felt as if there was none and they effortlessly went away scot free.

I was invested in their arc because I assumed it would be THEIR arc, instead Noda saved the day for them because they didn’t struggle at all.

Things go in Noda’s way not because the characters actively fought to get that result but because Noda orchestrated things around them so they couldn’t ‘escape’ to that result.

Let’s compare it with previous arcs.

For example let’s pick up the Sakamoto and O-gin arc.

The goal of that arc is, basically, to give Tsurumi a tattooed skin and to deliver a fake tattooed skin to Hijikata. It has, as bonus, that it drives parallels between kids loved by parents and kids who aren’t.

The whole arc is totally moved by the characters’ actions and goals which overlap with Noda’s.

In order to get a tattooed skin TSURUMI sets up a trap using a fake skin. In this case if the one that falls into the trap manages to escape nothing is lost and this spread the confusion TSURUMI wanted.

KANTAROU and KAMEZOU as well as SAKAMOTO and O-GIN want the tattoed skin so take the bait. KANTAROU and KAMEZOU understand joining forces with Sakamoto and O-Gin would be advantagious for them so they lied in order to impress them. SAKAMOTO and O-GIN accept because... to quote, they’re both fucked up in the head.

THE 7TH traps them SAKAMOTO sacrifices Kamezou to escape upstain meanwhile O-GIN has KANTAROU pour oil on the stairs so no one can reach them.

TSURUMI sets the building on fire so as to force them to come out in the open KANTAROU uses his knowledge to find a way out the building, SAKAMOTO escapes from another way to distract the soldiers.

TSUKISHIMA and NIKAIDOU wound him but he still manages to escape because he’s strong and faster than them. KOITO tails him because Koito is the sort that acts without thinking. Meanwhile TSURUMI prepares another trap for him and when KOITO can’t keep up with Sakamoto he still signals his position to TSURUMI who shoots him. An already wounded O-GIN who was searching for Sakamoto, sees the scene and decides to die with him because that’s the sort of person O-Gin is so O-GIN attacks Tsurumi but KOITO, whom we know was close by, cuts her head off.

This is not a super important arc or a super emotional arc but, you see? All that happen is because the characters decided to do it. There is no ‘coincidentally’, there is no ‘something outside every character’s control happened so they were forced to do it’, there is not ‘something convenient and/or unlikely like a bear getting on a train happened’, there’s not ‘they gave up but someone rescued them who knows how’, there is no one that goes out of character so as to allow something to happen.

And the same works for plenty of arcs... except the train ride in which most of the situations are solved not due to the characters’ decisions but due to luck or retcons or handwaves so that things that seems problems do not matter anymore.

And all this reminds me of how, when I was in the “Umineko” fandom this was one of the complains tied to certain specific scene in episode 8, and how Ryukishi heard his readers’ complains and rewrote the scene for the manga transposition so that, although the result was always the same, it became emotional and beautiful and meaningful as it ended up carrying part of the themes of the story (and 2 chapters long instead than just a quick handwave of the whole problem combined with character retcon).

So, well, I’m in the camp that the problem wasn’t the survival of those two... but how said survival was written... in the same way as how I don’t think the problem is that Sugimoto doesn’t remain with Umeko... but how their last meeting was written.

In fact I actually expected Sugimoto and Tsukishima to survive to the end of the manga but when I read how they survived I can’t say I was pleased because I guessed right. It felt like their survival didn’t matter at all.

And previously I wouldn’t have worried because I would have believed Noda would fix the scenes in the volume version... but now the volumes are meant to be so packed with chapters that would require so many changes to be improved that I honestly don’t know if it’s possible to fix things. We’ll see.

Thank you for your ask!

[strangersatellites]

thinking about a pumpkin carving night hosted at the harrington house with snacks and music and movies and laughter and love.

one with pumpkin seeds in the oven and hot apple cider in mugs shaped like ghosts.

one with a contest for “scariest pumpkin” and a level of competitiveness rivaling only eddie’s most extreme campaigns.

one where eddie spends hours carving a biblically accurate freddy kreuger, burns and hat included; only to lose to steve, who picked up a permanent marker and wrote “will’s old haircut” on his pumpkin and made everyone laugh so hard they called it a sweep.

one where eddie got so angry he had to go for a walk around the neighborhood before he came back to watch the movie everyone voted on watching at the end of the night.

it was nightmare on elm street.

[pokeberry5]

if you look at min 2:15 of the music video d°ja cat's rules 👍

sending progress updates to my friend like:

[bachirasbodyguard]

blue lock as gordon ramsay moments (shoutout to one of the most legendary haters of all time🙏)

[anamon-book]

宝島30　1994年7月号 別冊宝島特別編集 宝島社 表紙立体イラストレーション＝野崎一人、表紙・本文デザイン＝中山銀士 特集「ステキな麻薬」

[ginsakatoki]

Got covid 😔✊ so I humbly request Dante taking care of a sick s/o

Hope you get better soon! Your humble request has been accepted my liege, hope t’is puts a smile on thy face.

Dante Taking Care of a Sick S/O

Dante is not used to sickness since he’s half demon so when you got home telling him you didn’t feel so well, he immediately thought you’re going to die.

You had to tell him you were not going to die or he would have annoyed you and everyone around you.

It took him a while to understand but when he did he tried to help you out however he could.

And that means, by messing up big time.

It is common knowledge that sick people should eat warm food, preferably soups, and rest. So he tried to make a soup for you.

It was so salty you could feel your soul leave your body to take a sip of the sweet waters of the ocean and come back.

There was nothing you could do except eat it as Dante was staring at you, very proud of his work.

You got food poisoning.

He remembered that sick people should always stay warm so he bought extra blankets, an heating pad and put them all on you.

You became too hot, started sweating and developed a fever as the difference in temperature between the bed and the rest of the room was too much.

He ended up calling Kyrie to help you out.

The man was so afraid he would end up killing you, not your sickness.

He’s a bit of an idiot, but he’s got the right spirit.

From that time on, he decided to call Kyrie to take care of you when you’re sick but you can rest assured he will always sit by your bed, hold your hand and talk your ears off until you get better. 

[frankenjoly]

Smitten

gakuen sskk & gin + flustered atsushi

“Hi, I– ah.” Very eloquent, sure.

In Atsushi’s defense, what he had expected when arriving at Gin’s house to do the class project they were supposed to do was Gin themselves greeting him. Instead, who had opened the door was none other than the same Akutagawa Ryûnosuke he had met on his very first day at school, staring at him with deep eyes and: wow.

“Wait, what are you…?” Again, very eloquent. But it wasn’t his fault, right? Atsushi was simply having trouble focusing while glancing at Akutagawa from up close. A problem he didn’t seem to be having when they met, despite having indeed noticed his looks and…

“I live here too, jinko.” 

Oh. So that was it. In hindsight, taking their physical similarities, he should have figured out what the ‘A’ in ‘A-Gin’ stood for when exchanging texts with her. Atsushi couldn’t exactly rank how his luck had been till that exact moment, but when Akutagawa turned around to guide him inside, just in time to miss seeing his face starting to heat up… there he could easily consider that a big-ass lucky strike, since blush took over his cheeks shortly after.

Maybe, if such luck could keep manifesting a little longer, he could even save face and all (pun intended). Or at least survive the next few steps.

“Earth to Nakajima.” Such a shame his wish wasn’t going to come true, since a couple of minutes later Atsushi was startled by Gin’s silent entrance. Maskless as they were, the tired look on his face came off as impossible to miss.

And Akutagawa, he seemed almost smug, which only seemed to deepen his embarrassment even more. Damn, it was going to be a long afternoon.

(Also on ao3.)

[gins-stim-emporium]

doatomosoup ( doatunny x mr. tomo x me ) stimboard (with stim toys) FOR ME AND @doatunny !!!! ヽ(>∀<☆)ノ

balloon dog / drawing / jesse pinkman?!

tangle / 💝 / squishy

pencil spin / triceratops / paints

[cacklefrendly]

this shitpost brought to by: every time i yell "keep it TASTEFUL" at myself when drawing Vodka with his shirt slightly undone

[zukkaoru]

oh the tachigin dynamic hits harder after reading o-gin.. the idea of "i'd rather go to hell than be holy if that's what it takes to be with you",, o-gin's betrayal of her adoptive parents and her religion for the sake of spending eternity with her biological parents even if that means going to hell. and her adoptive parents following that same path, forsaking their religion to be with their daughter. vs tachihara ultimately choosing the mafia over the hunting dogs, choosing the black lizard, choosing gin, over Goodness. choosing to stay in the dark, choosing to serve and die under mori. just like his brother. and jouno and teruko follow his lead, forsaking their mantel of hunting dog, forsaking fukuchi's trust they will ally with him. gin's namesake character committing the ultimate betrayal, only for gin to be faced with the ultimate betrayal by their closest friend. like atonement for a past life they have no knowledge of. like it was always supposed to happen this way, like gin cannot escape betrayal no matter which universe they find themself in

[kyouka-supremacy]

But like, Beast Akutagawa has, you know, killed people, right? Several actually? And he's still working for a pretty much legal organization? It's just fun when put into perspective. Yokohama really is a lawless land

[bittybattybunny]

My part of an art trade with my bestie @gingersanps ! it's her hazbin oc

[toxic-gin]

Kiss your wife N.Gin. 💚

[callmemrskenway]

Okay, but I think the reason why I'm so obsessed with Obanai and Mitsuri

IS BECAUSE I NEVER RECOVERED FROM THESE TWO.

[1bringthesun]

kinda thinking about Gin again… Naomi’s a whole lot like Naomi from Naomi, but we dunno much about Gin at all. they even took away her cross in the anime. is she christian at all? why’s she so important when she’s surrounded by others who are genuine authors? i’ve seen people say she’s from o-gin from the eng+jp fandoms alike, and it’s more likely than not that she is, but why? why include her? why not add another author instead? if they just wanted someone meaningful to Akutagawa, Kikuchi Kan woulda worked, right? why Gin?????