#Plus a whole other host of traumas and horrors on top of it

[rooolt]

my thing with normals epilogue is that I think it comes from normal and sparrows like fundamental misunderstanding of each other. Like I think normal is unable to see sparrow as a full person past his parenting decisions, but I also think that sparrow doesn’t really understand the full extent of the effect his words had on normal and what it would’ve taken to rectify that. Like they’re both so caught up within themselves to fully understand the other and that’s so real and true to me.

[total-drama-brainrot]

i come humbly requesting the post about chris’ descent you teased in an ask

Of course! I'll start by outlining how Chris' behaviour changed over the course of the series.

Chris starts off the first season of Total Drama as a huge dickhead, but not an outright morally bereft one.

He doesn't have the same familiarity with the gen 1 cast as he does in later seasons, but he's friendly enough with them - as friendly as you'd expect a television host and de facto caregiver to be to a group of twenty two teenagers. Sure, he's a bit of an arse at times, but it's very rare that he puts any of them in direct, life threatening danger. Most of the first season's challenges aren't outright lethal, in fact many of them are just regular camp activities taken to their logical extreme.

The main outliers here are the two torture-based challenges, and even then most of the mini challenges within are bearable if incredibly uncomfortable and painful - none of them are outright fatal. Plus, it can be argued that Chris himself doesn't have a lot of agency or input on the challenges themselves; he's there to host the show, nothing more and nothing less. At least, in the first season, there isn't any indication that Chris himself has control over the challenges (save for when Chef takes over for an episode, but his challenges are a lot simpler in design and execution than anything Chris hosts, so it can be assumed that was a last minute change.)

Now, it's been a while since I've rewatched Island, but I'm fairly sure Chris doesn't ever show the same amount of glee in the contestant's suffering as he does in later seasons. He's sometimes amused, sure, but there's very little in terms of outright vindication. More often than not, he's just trying to host the show.

Take Island's Chris and World Tour's Chris and contrast their attitudes against each other; time, it seems, developed an almost malicious streak within Chris. He even goes so far as to take his competitor's suffering into his own hands, at his own whims, using the excuse of entertainment value. (Dropping them out of the jet repeatedly at his fancy, deciding to choose the most dangerous moments to have them sing, ect ect.)

And then we get to RotI, where Chris is almost consistantly taking a great deal of joy in exposing the new cast to the horrors of nuclear waste and chemical hazards. His blasé attitude towards their mortality in the cave episode speaks for itself, and the fact that he gives a grand total of 0 shits about Dakota's mutation is the icing on top. By the time this season came around, any semblence of care for others within Chris was diminished.

The question therein is why?

The most obvious answer here is that the repeated threat to his contestant's lives became so normalised, so mundane to him that he simply stopped caring. Or seeing it as something wrong, or anything more than a ratings tool. None of them have actually died yet, so why not continually up the ante? Raise the stakes? Add more thrill to the show he's hosting - that's bound to draw in a bigger audience!

Which is how you end up with situations like Alejandro's and Scott's, where a contestant is injured enough to warrent use of machine-assisted healing and trauma chairs. Two situations that Chris himself is directly involved in, and doesn't seem to care about in the slightest.

Because showbusiness as a whole has a tendancy to reduce the people within it into objects of entertainment. There's a lot of dehumanisation in the world of TV - even reality TV, where people oftentimes play up aspects of themselves to become characters instead of people.

Throughout the show, Chris often talks about things like ratings, or the producers, or other business-focused aspects of entertainment. In his eyes, the teens under his dubious care gradually became little more than pawns in the game of Good Televivion. They stopped being kids and started being ratings jewels - puppets for him to manipulate and torture for his own and an international audience's amusement.

Perhaps there was some pressure from the producers themselves to be crueller to the contestants, to draw in a bigger audience or maybe just to add a sense of thrill and urgency to the challenges. After all, there's a reason shows like I'm a Celebrity are so popular, and it's because the people competing in them are having a decidedly bad time.

So, in his mind, making the contestants go through cruel and unusual punishments and challenges is justifyable because the show itself has benefits from it. He doesn't consider (or, perhaps, just doesn't care about) the harm he causes.

Then here it could be argued that his callousness and the detatched, joking attutide he has towards the suffering of these kids is actually just a super unhealthy coping mechanism Chris uses to get through the horrors of his job. That is to say, Chris is just as contractually obligated to host the show as the contestants are to compete in it, and he knows that they're gonna suffer regardless of his input, so being a Good Host and at least making their pain marketable/entertaining will at least garuntee him a bigger paycheck.

Or maybe he was always predisposed to be sadistic, and his relative niceness in the first season was just him testing the waters of how cruel his TV persona could be.

All I can say as a fact is this; Chris' actions and inactions become far more grevious as the series continues. He blows up a volcano on purpose. He sinks a whole island on purpose.

(He, and the series as a whole, drops any pretense of semi-realism to explore cartoonishly whacky and outlandish themes. Because it's a kid's show, at the end of the day. I'm overanalysing how a children's TV show leaned into the freedom of a fictional cartoon world.)

Saying that, he seems to have taken a step back in the theatrical and outlandish nature of his cruelty for the reboot. Maybe the decade away from Total Drama mellowed him out, or maybe the show just does't have the budget to accomodate for his more ambitious stunts. Who knows?

[hellrisen]

WHAT IS UP, MY DUDES ?                  the name’s mads. short for mads mikkelsen’s #1 fan and lover —— alternatively amanda. you can call me whatever you want, though. or anytime :wink: i am twenty - three years young, and i go by she / them pronouns. my favorite movie franchise is scream and i think machine gun kelly is the best thing since sliced bread. but that’s enough about me … so, click the      READ MORE     below for a brief introduction to my oc’s ! 

ALISHA BOE, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER   …   you’re looking for sawyer kinney? town as small as this, you’re bound to find them — the twenty-two year old nephilim and student with an unadulterated love for soccer, bonne bell cotton candy lip smackers, and 1980′s romcoms. with blondies′ sunday girl set as the soundtrack of their stroll, everyone can see clear as day that they’re tenacious, and yet blithe. i just hope you’re finding them for the right reasons …

BACKSTORY …

MEET SAWYER KINNEY —— half angel, half fun. adopted by a nice christian pair in ‘97 after her mommy kicked the bucket. that’s what happens when you fraternise with angels, you see. so … daddy dearest dropped her off at one of eden’s many, many, many churches and said SEE YA !

since then, angelic endeavours have been stifled. for the most part. her adoptive parents died when she was thirteen years old. car crash. and it might’ve been partially sawyer’s fault. we can’t all control our divine urges. or the powers inherited from fathers we never knew.

premonition and other sorts of fun hasn’t been experienced since. partially due to the seizure meds her family feeds her like tic tacs. she’s got epilepsy ! except she like, doesn’t. but from an adult pov and an absence of telekinetic rages since childhood, sawyer accepts the diagnosis at face value. nobody said she was smart.

she’s a vet student, though ! so, she’s semi - smart. sawyer loves all animals ( bunnies mostly ) and has since she was a wee lass. same goes for soccer. nobody loves muddy balls as much as sawyer kinney, y’all.

survivor of three near death experiences, only one which was self - inflicted, sawyer’s kind of convinced herself to have a purpose. she doesn’t. but since the third incident, she’s been more connected to god than ever before. a poor idolisation considering he’d have her sniped if he knew of her existence.

another addition to sawyer’s idiocy is her lack of deep thought regarding the town she lives in. yeah, it’s quirky ! and people are superstitious ! but that’s all there is to it. but as she’s starting to engage more with the vamps of eden, as well as pushing for a release from her medication, she’ll have to unveil this creep - fest for what it is … well, a creep fest.

PERSONALITY …

she’s pushy. like, very. sawyer’s very engaged with her friends and family, possibly due to middle child slash adopted child syndrome. include her or die.

competitive, too. she can get kinda mean when there’s a WINNER title on the horizon. because she has to win, she must win — she’s the best person at whatever they’re competing in. swear to satan ! ( that was me, not sawyer, don’t worry. )

on top of that, sawyer’s the epitome of a social butterfly. she’ll befriend anyone at any given opportunity, and maybe that’s why she’s gonna end up dead in an alley. either way, if there’s a person she does not know —— sawyer will know them by the end of the day. so, it goes without saying then, that she’s quite the partier. drinking is fun ! dancing is fun ! okay ? cool.

STEVEN YEUN, DEMI BOY, HE/THEY   …   you’re looking for wolfgang baek? town as small as this, you’re bound to find them — the thirty-seven year old human and podcast host with an unadulterated love for dario argento films, his super 8 camera, and chicken mcnuggets is easy to spot. with charles manson’s look at your game, girl set as the soundtrack of their stroll, everyone can see clear as day that they’re meddlesome, and yet voluble. i just hope you’re finding them for the right reasons …

BACKSTORY …

MEET WOLFGANG BAEK —— flop movie director / screenwriter, son of a successful movie director / screenwriter, who resorted to hosting a spooky podcast. men, am i right ? always making them podcasts …

wolfie is what you call a movie buff. horror movies specifically. he loves himself a good scare ! hence why he moved to this little hell - town called eden. it was all for that sick and twisted inspiration. for what you ask — well, for his next movie, duh ! the one he started four years ago and has yet to finish … yeah, that one.

due to his father’s job he spent the majority of his childhood on the cinematic scene. both off and on screen. yeah, he got a cameo in one of his daddy’s 1980′s films ! jealous yet ? you should be. but it isn’t just because of that he has never done a sport in his life, okay … he also has heart issues, baby. a defect heart valve that got fixed ( best it could ) when he was a wee bean. it’s fine now. for the most part.

now he’s kind of obsessed with outdoing his dad even though that is the biggest cliche out of all the cliches and he’s aware of the fact. simply being introspective is not enough, is it ? he’s made a couple shorts, and one feature length — flops the whole bunch. i mean, they’re decent to OUR standards. but to this perfectionist ? nah, son. burn that shit.

PERSONALITY …

wolfie can be … callous. insensitive. a bit of a prick. not in the sense of deliberate asshole - ness, but — he’s desensitised to the world’s tragedies ( too many true crime dramas ) and he’s incredibly pretentious. it’s cinema, darling.

he talks a lot, too. TOO MUCH ! nobody asked for his input regarding the rise and the decline of the slasher genre but here he is … putting it in regardless. odds are every other sentence includes either a. a movie reference, or b. a true crime reference. pick one.

because he’s all work and no play, he’s never had a serious girlfriend. i know ! shocking, right ? i mean, look at him !!!!!!!! but no. longest relationship lasted a whooping four months and we don’t talk about that one. there might be a part of him that believes he’s incapable of love … we don’t talk about that either.

AUBREY PLAZA, AGENDER, SHE/THEY   …   you’re looking for muriel stafford? town as small as this, you’re bound to find them — the thirty-five year old possessed human and journalist with an unadulterated love for impromptu road trips, take-out delivery food, and burt’s bees pomegranate lip balm is easy to spot. with santana’s she’s not there set as the soundtrack of their stroll, everyone can see clear as day that they’re aloof, and yet perspicacious. i just hope you’re finding them for the right reasons …

BACKSTORY …

MEET MURIEL STAFFORD —— stanford graduate and general pain in the butt. disowned by her family and the whole ghost hunting community. things we don’t discuss: see above.

to make a long story incredibly short, merle grew up in a haunted house. or so they say … you see, when merle was nine years old, her sister was possessed BY THE DEVIL. or so they say … and all that trauma ? documented, darlings. because momma and poppa don’t hesitate to capitalise on their own children. sickening.

according to merle, her sister suffered a psychotic break, and her parents — previously z listers with an affinity for running ghost hunting blogs — didn’t hesitate to make the fact their latest pitch. AND TO STARDOM THEY WENT ! meanwhile, agnes delgado chugged drain - cleaner two years after it aired.

fast forward last year of college, and the anniversary of the notorious exorcism documentary comes creeping up. so merle says enough is enough ! girl puts her soon - to - be journalism degree to use and writes an extensive exposé on her own fam. that ought to show them, right ? well …

turns out : her input was not wanted. as if it wasn’t bad enough to have the remainder of the delgado clan turn on her, the anonymous identity she’d craved ever since entering the spotlight years ago — it is snatched from her ! safe to say she did not think it through.

so, what now ? well, we change our last name to our mommy’s maiden name and we escape the hell - scape that is texas and then, we hope nobody added your newly - zit - free face to memory. because it’s been * math years * ! okay ? forget it … you never read any of the above …

PERSONALITY … 

merle has never cared for much in general, and that’s very obvious. she has a very deadpan approach to life and all of its difficulties. plus, riveting backstory in mind — she’s unlikely to share details of her life unless it pertains recent mundane bull - crap !

going against everything previously established, her attitude towards the supernatural is not skeptical. aliens, ghosts, ghouls … all things that exist. because muriel delgado grew up in a haunted house. and while her adult mind rationalised all that was seen in her childhood, it also suffered a break of its own post her sister’s death - aversary.

it’s nice to come face to face with old friends, though, innit ? and if all she has left of her past is the demonic presence lurking in the back of her mind, then so be it. beggars cannot be choosers, merle.

[hope-for-olicity]

Airplanes, Coffee and Deadlines 2/?

Felicity begins working at a national newspaper where she has always dreamed of working. On her first day, she meets a very interesting photojournalist. The two will eventually work together but sparks fly immediately. Also available on AO3.

Felicity spent her weekend organizing the new condo she was renting but truthfully she was excited to get back to work. She felt like she was doing the right thing. As she headed back to the newsroom on Monday with a smile on her face, she couldn’t lie to herself, she was looking forward to seeing Oliver.

She picked up two coffees on the way in. She wanted to thank him for being so welcoming. It’s what anyone would do, she told herself.

As Felicity approached Oliver’s desk she was sad to see it empty, with the monitor turned off. Maybe he just wasn’t in yet. She placed a coffee on his desk before heading to her own cubicle.

Felicity took a seat, booted up her laptop while listening for Oliver’s arrival. There was a quiet hum in the always active newsroom. The noise would steadily increase throughout the day as people worked gathering the news of the day. Felicity liked being here early. She began reading through emails and scanning news sites before her 9 am assignment meeting.

She had just finished checking Twitter when she heard a noise. She popped to see if Oliver was at his desk, she hoped his coffee wouldn’t be too cold. But no Oliver, just other staff arriving. Felicity locked her computer away, grabbed her phone and headed to her nine o’clock. She really hoped Oliver wasn’t sick.

~~~~~

The meeting focused on local news first, assignments were handed out in the major cities. Some of the stories were in the cities themselves, others involved travel to areas nearby. Felicity was assigned to a story in her city. She would be covering the City Hall Committee meeting on transit expansion. She began thinking of possible angles as they began to focus on international news.

Felicity followed the news over the weekend she heard about the suicide bombings in Afghanistan. She had breathed a sigh of relief knowing that John Diggle, whom she had just met, was home safe and sound.

“Queen flew out after the first bomb. He’s staying until things settle.”

What?! Oliver was in Afghanistan? Felicity hoped she kept her shock off her face. When she took a moment to think about it, of course, it made sense to send him to Afghanistan. He’d worked there off and on for years. Felicity bit her bottom lip. She just hoped he was safe.

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur. She was glad she was given her assignment before she heard about Oliver.

As Felicity walked back to her desk, she watched pictures of the debris from the Kandahar bombings play across the TV screens. Yes, she cared, felt bad for the people when she saw this on the news before but now, now it felt she had skin in the game. She searched the faces of those around the debris for Oliver but he was not there.

“Hey, he’s fine. He just texted me.”

Felicity jumped. She had not heard John come up behind her.

“Oh, good. That’s good to hear. I mean, of course, he’s fine. It’s not like it’s his first trip to Afghanistan.” Felicity hoped she came off as cool, calm and collected.

“You’re right, Oliver has been there. He knows the area and he’s not going to do anything stupid but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. He’s pretty confident there will be more bombs. I’m not saying this to scare you, Felicity. I just want you to know that it’s smart to be concerned. Oliver’s a smart guy. I’ll let you know if I hear anything more.” John nodded before leaving Felicity in front of a bank of televisions.

Felicity took one last look at the news before heading back to start working on her story for the day.

~~~~~

Every day she came in hoping to see Oliver back at his desk. She heard updates at the assignment meetings and from John but nothing concrete. Felicity really didn’t understand why she cared so much. She’d only the met the guy once.

She thought about sending him an email but decided it would be too weird. She would just focus on her job and send positive thoughts his way.

~~~~~

Oliver had been in Afghanistan for three weeks, he was ready to go home. The suicide bombings had slowed, though he knew they were part of life here. It was disheartening as he knew soldiers who had fought and died hoping to bring peace to this part of the world.

While he’d photographed debris from many bombings, too many, in the past it still left him shaken. He hoped that would never change. After his first stint in Afghanistan, he began seeing the newspapers therapist, Dr. Caitlin Snow. She taught him some tools to help process the horrible events he witnessed.  But they weren’t as effective as her therapy sessions. He knew he’d always have to live with the trauma he witnessed but thanks to Dr Snow, he knew he would be better once he processed fully what he had seen.

One of Oliver’s tactics was to remember the good in the world. In these situations, it was easy to only see the horror and grief. When he tried to focus on the good for some reason, his mind always went right to Felicity Smoak. He’d only met the new reporter once but there was just something about her. He hoped she was settling in okay.

Oliver’s phone buzzed. He smiled when he looked down to see a message from John.

John: Hey man, how you holding up?

Oliver: I’m okay, be a whole lot better once I get home

John: That happening soon?

Oliver: Hope so, if things stay clear for the next 24hrs

John: Good. You are missed.

Oliver: Wow. This fatherhood thing is really going to your head ;)

John: Not by me. Felicity asked

Oliver could not help but smile. So she noticed he was gone. He thought about sending her a message but they just met. Plus, he knew they’d say where he was in the assignment meetings.

Oliver: How’s she doing?

John: Impressed the hell out of Lance

Oliver: Not surprised

Oliver: She’s a journalist’s journalist

Oliver: In it to tell the story, knows the importance

John: Wow. How much time did you spend with her?

Oliver: Very funny.

Oliver: Talk to her, you’ll see

Oliver: She’s one of us

John: High praise, my friend

John: Stay safe

Oliver: Talk soon

Oliver decided to head out talk to some of is informants. His nightmares were getting worse he knew he needed to head home to deal with the trauma he witnessed. Hopefully, his informants could tell him the rumblings and if it would soon be possible to go home without leaving the story untold.

~~~~~

Felicity had just hit send on her story of the day when she heard a tap on cubicle looked up to see John Diggle. “Hey you,” she smiled then remembered, Oliver. “Any news?”

John didn’t even ask about what. “Oliver said he’d be home as soon as possible. Doesn’t enjoy the heat as much with me.” John chuckled. “I stopped by to see if you were free for dinner tomorrow night. Lyla and I are hosting one last dinner party. I’ll be doing the cooking, the cleaning and all but Lyla will be doing the talking. It would be nice if you could come.”

“Wow. Thank you for thinking of me. Yes, yes, definitely. “ Felicity nodded. She was invited to dinner with foreign correspondents, she bet they had stories.

“Great. I’ll send you our address, so you can come over after you file tomorrow. No worries, if you are running late. We will all understand.” John smiled knowingly.

~~~~~

“So you’ve met Deadline?” Lyla asked with a smile on her face.

“Yes! Oh, he’s so wonderful.  I’ve always wanted a dog and Quentin,” Felicity looked across the table at her editor, “may have inspired me to get one.”

“I’ve always wanted a dog too but with Sara and another baby on the way, John rolls his eyes. Maybe you could share your’s?” Lyla gave her a conspiratorial wink.

“Maybe.” Felicity smiled. She felt so fortunate to have been invited to this dinner. She looked around the room where people from the newspaper were socializing. She couldn’t lie, she wished Oliver were here.

Felicity felt Lyla touch her hand.

“He’ll be back soon, Felicity.”

“I guess, you think I’m silly. I just met the guy. I just want him to be safe. I get why he’s in Afghanistan and how important his photos are in making the world aware. I just….” Felicity trailed off.

“Want him to be safe.” Lyla finished Felicity’s sentence. “I get that. More than anyone. I send our journalists all over the world to cover stories. Important stories that need to be covered. I know it’s important that they go, I know they want to be there to cover the story but it never stops me being concerned for their safety. I’m comforted in knowing that they are concerned for their own safety and I know they are taking all the necessary precautions. It gets easier the more times they go away and come back safely. Is this the first time you know someone who is in a dangerous area?”

Felicity nodded.

“It won’t be the last. But it will get a little easier. Do you have an interest in covering these types of stories? Before you answer, it’s okay if it's not your thing.”

“It’s my dream! I have always been obsessed with international news. I think we all need to be informed as to what is what happening in the world and having that story from the perspective of a fellow countryman provides added value.”

Lyla smiled. “I can see why Oliver spoke so highly of you.”

Felicity blushed. Oliver spoke highly of her? “Thank you. One day maybe you will call on me. I understand the danger like you say but I also understand the importance.”

~~~~~

Every day following the dinner at John and Lyla’s she hoped to see Oliver return. She buried herself in her work always wanting to tell the best story possible.

She admired the photos she saw coming in from Oliver. But sighed yet again when she saw his empty desk.

Finally, late one evening when was giving her story her last run through, a paper airplane land on her desk. She quickly jumped up to find Oliver behind her.

“I’m back.” He smiled. Man, she looked beautiful.  Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head, her glasses had begun to slide down her nose but she was in a red blouse and black pencil skirt. How could he have forgotten how beautiful she was?

“You have a tan.” Felicity blubbered. Oliver was wearing worn jeans and a tight blue t-shirt that left little to the imagination. She was so so glad to see him back safely. She really didn’t know what to say. She was proud of herself for not telling him how she’d missed him terribly.

“I do.” Oliver smiled, then decided on a lark to just go with it. “Would you like to go out to dinner with me?”

“No,” Felicity responded automatically.

“No? Sorry, of course, you have a boyfriend or girlfriend. I should have asked, I didn’t think it through, you are….”

Felicity cut him off. “I didn’t mean no, no. Sorry, for that. I don’t have a boyfriend. I meant no for tonight. Tonight, I’m picking up my dog. So I can’t tonight. But I’d love to another time. I want to hear all about your trip.”

“Wow, Quentin is really rubbing off on you.” Oliver chuckled truly relieved she wasn’t turning him down.

“Haha.” Felicity felt the need to defend herself.  “I’ve always wanted a dog but after seeing Deadline and knowing I could bring my dog to work helped me decide to take the leap. Plus, Lyla wants one too so she’s the aunt. Tonight’s the night I bring her home. But if you wanted to come with me…”

“I’ll drive.” Oliver beamed.

Felicity grabbed her bag and followed him out of the newsroom.

Thanks so much for reading!

@mindramblingsfics @memcjo @mel-loves-all@wherethereissmoak @green-arrows-of-karamel @spaztronautwriter @wrldtravler @tdgal1 @vaelisamaza @oliverfel4 @lucyyh @swordandarrow  @smoaking-greenarrow @it-was-a-red-heeler @miriam1779 @coal000 @blondeeoneexox @laurabelle2930 @allimariexf @onceuponarrow @swordandarrow @msbeccieboo @tangled23works @icannotbelieveiamhere @1-crazy-dreamer @stephswims

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Sasuke vs. Hiei

Some demon shits eye each other for a DEATH BATTLE!

Sasuke′s Preview.

Long ago, the Uchiha clan helped create the Hidden Leaf Village, and they were outcast… Mostly because they unleashed the Nine Tailed Fox on the village, which probably didn’t help their street cred.

But the firstborn son of the head of the clan, Itachi did something daring. He killed them all. Except for his younger brother Sasuke.

Since this is Shonen, Sasuke decided to avenge his family. Because  I  guess he didn’t have anything better to do. The hosts go over his progress, and his abilities.

From the Mystic abilities of Ninjutsu, to the mind alteration of Genjutsu, to the hand-to-hand prowess of Taijutsu, Sasuke is an intense fighter.

From his favorite Fire Jutsu, to various other elemental Jutsus, Sasuke is well-equipped for many fights.

Along his path to vengeance, Sasuke perfected many techniques, even managing to infuse his abilities with the five primary elements of Fire, Wind,  Water, Earth, Fire, and Heart Lightning. 

Of course, the hosts have to  go over the thing Sasuke’s most famous for: The Sharingan (I’m just going to say this now: Really sorry for any misspellings of names of techniques that I do).

Apparently, you have to go through a crap ton of trauma to unlock this power, so Itachi planned  for Sasuke to witnessthe horrors that he did, and planned for Sasuke to swear vengeance. The hosts go over the abilities of the Sharingan,  like how it lets him see Chakra, copy other jutsu techniques, trap opponents in hallucinations. Worth noting: That’s all standard stuff.

We eventually get into a more detailed explanation in a neat little Wiz and Boomstick animated section.

Masashi Kishimoto, Boomstick. Masashi Kishimoto.

The hosts go into more detail about the Susano, and before anyone complains, I recently finished Okami, so that’s why I’m going with that spelling.

Going onto the Rennegan stuff, Sasuke is far more powerful. He can pull off a crazy technique that Boomstick isn’t even going to try to pronounce, that lets him teleport by bending space and time.

More than that though, Sasuke has way more powers whenn channeling his Rennegan abilities.

This lets Sasuke access the other six paths, and greatly enhance his abilities. He can manipulate gravity, drain energy, or even rip out souls.

Since Sasuke can use the gravity version to manipulate his surroundings for attacks, he’s managed a powerful explosion that’s worth several billion times more powerful than the Tsar Bomb. A bomb that these guys should be experts on at this point, given how much it comes up.

And then we get a sheet for all of Sasuke’s crazy feats.

Now, since Sasuke stalemated Naruto, that means that he reasonably scales to him. Remember that moon thing Naruto survived?- The one that was brought up in Naruto vs. Ichigo?

Well, Sasuke can reasonably get close, or even match that.

And the end line is some big speech that took a long time to put down here. And I decided that since these are edgelords, their text gets a black boarder rather than a grey one. But it shows just how much edge Sasuke exudes, even though he managed to have a kid and is still protecting his village.

Hiei′s Preview.

Thankfully, Hiei’s preview is much more simple and straightforward. As yet another demon shit that sought vengeance, Hiei had arguably a rougher childhood. Not only was he thrown off a cliff because of how he was conceived, he remembered every bit of it, and got raised by bandits.

Hiei was already a powerful warrior with tremendous athletic ability, abilities that only got better after he joined forces with Yusuke, the Spirit detective.

But since Hiei was still bitter about the whole “Being throw off a cliff thing” he went to some mad doctor and got himself a new eye: The Jagan.

The Jagan is more than just a neat little forehead accessory though. As the hosts note,this new power grants Hiei  the ability to spy on people great distances away, read minds and protect his own from mental attacks, use telekinesis, and so much more.

We even get a neat page for what Hiei brings into a fight. Especially since he found out that he had a twin sister that he sought to protect.

The most notable being the “Dragon of the Darkness Flame”, a fire that burns other fire. And one that Hiei decided to master despite it having never been done before.

Thanks to his demon heritage, Hiei can power through most elemental attacks non problem, and is in essence, immune to fire and ice. He can absorb the DotDF to empower himself after going full-power mode in his Jaganshi mode… I hope I’m spelling that right.

Yusuke is fast enough to dodge lightning, and Hiei once moved so fast that the former couldn’t really see how many slashes he did.

Hiei and Yusuke scale a lot together, by the way. But more importantly, this was when Hiei was  just a C-Class Demon. By ranking up, Hiei gets better speed and strength feats.

Oh, and remember how it was mentioned that Hiei could manipulate the DotDF into weapons?- Well, Hiei once cut and burned an opponent who had evolved specifically to counter such damage. How that works, Boomstick has no idea.

And as an S-Class Demon, Hiei has been said to be capable of destroying planets. Other S-Class beings in this world have been said to be able to cause major damage just by using 50%, and typical S-Classes can take down three A-Classes with minimal effort. Hiei took on 500 just by himself.

Now, the whole “Busting up a planet” thing might seem like boasting until…

This. This is Yusuke. Hiei’s rival and equal, who took on another demon and caused this massive energy output. All from a single punch clash. Worth noting, Yusuke wasn’t at top form at the time, and he survived the blast.

Given how Hiei is faster than Yusuke, and how they’ve constantly shown that they’re equals in combat, they’re at least in the same ballpark in terms of power.

And despite his horrendous upbringing, Hiei found a family. And unlike Sasuke, he managed to maintain better contact with them. Even if he hasn’t told his sister of their actual relation.

The Battle Itself.

Luis, Kiid, Kayas on animation. Sasuke will be voiced by Kyle Phillips and Hiei will be voiced by Howard Wang. Dangerous Gaze by Brandon Yates. And Chris Kokkinos lead on sound.

If there’s any reason two edgelords would duke it out, it would be because they would want to out-edge the other. Hiei seems to be minding his own business, until Sasuke edges in, and pretty much gets in Hiei’s face.

So the two go at it.

Sasuke, for all credit due, manages to survive this attack, and starts  using his blade to counter.

So Hiei responds in kind.

(Look at this animation!)

We get a really nice back and forth until Sasuke uses his speed to knock Hiei back to unleash his lightning attack, right after throwing his sword at the demon kid.

(Again: Look at this animation!)

Hiei, however, uses his power to break the blade and render Sasuke’s attack pointless.

Sasuke uses this opportunity to use his Genjutsu and other powers to trap Hiei in a hallucination that seems like the end.

Until you remember that Hiei has resistances to this kid of attack.

Sasuke, on the other hand, is a bit shocked that Hiei managed to escape.

So it’s back to the clash.

The Dragon of the Darkness Flame makes an appearance, as does the Susano.

(Have I mentioned how good this animation is?- It’s gorgeous!)

Hiei uses his super mode to blast the two out, though.

Sasuke manages to stand up, as does Hiei. Though, Sasuke stands first.

So the two go in for one final sword clash.

Finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, even Boomstick is skeptical of Hiei’s victory.

But, as it turns out, this battle wasn’t as clear-cut as it seems. Sasuke had the speed and experience advantage, as well as a larger range of techniques. But Hiei is essentially an Anti-Sasuke.

The Jagan could counter any Genjutsu attack that Sasuke could throw at Hiei, and the Amaterasu is similar enough to the Darkness Flame that it’s likely that Hiei could counter it. Especially since it’s been done before.

Telekinesis could even prove an effective counter to the gravity manipulation. And as Boomstick notes, ripping out the soul wouldn’t do much since Hiei would still be able to fight despite that.

And speed isn’t that big of a factor since Hiei’s best speed feat was an early thing. And it’s hard to quantify how much faster he got since ranking up isn’t exactly like getting a x100 for each level up.

And believe it or not, Hiei is actually stronger that Sasuke.

Take the Susano slicing meteors feats as an example.

After a bit of math, Sasuke’s best feat comes out to 364 Teratons  of TNT.  And  thanks to the magic of scaling, the moon feat is also in play.

That’s  27 Exatons of TNT.

Now, as for Hiei, he also goes through scaling.

Recall the energy that was output by Yusuke and that other demon?

That comes out to…

285 Zettatons of TNT.

That’s nine more zeros that Yusuke, and by extension, Hiei, has to work with.

Even if you cut in half due to there being two people causing that blast, Hiei still has more to work with.

And it’s entirely likely that the tree that Yomi and Yusuke were fighting on was at a shorter height than originally calculated. So the blast could have been even greater. Plus, Sasuke doesn’t exactly scale to any planet buster in his world. At least, not on his own.

Sasuke was faster, but he had a real hard time landing a fatal blow.

The winner is Hiei.

Overall impression.

Overall, this actually makes me want to watch and read Yu Yu Hakusho. And I feel that it might make some holdouts want to watch it too. I feel as if battles that give people interest in other series are really great.

The  animation is awesome, and the music definitely has a really good beat to it. While I can’t say the same about the voice acting of the fighters, mostly due to the limited lines, they had some awesome moments.

Though, I do have to file a complaint in the “We didn’t get to see how Hiei would counter a Shadow Clone technique from Sasuke” department.

Other than that though, 8.7/10, would watch again.

Next Time…

When I saw the castle, I was honestly expecting a Belmont.

But this works too. Maybe we’ll get the premiere date of Season 3 around the time of the episode’s release.

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

Powers of Darkness.