#Rei is never going to see team ACT the same way ever again.

[seelinee]

@heropartnerweek Day 5 - Favorite Scene

“I knew that Calrys wasn’t involved! I knew it!”

[bellawoso]

say yes to heaven.

aitana bonmati x fem!reader

desc: gfs documentary made me cry so i had to write some fluff to make me feel better!!

you and aitana had been friends ever since you joined barcelona just a year ago. although the midfielder befriended and stuck with every newbie on the team until they found their closest friends, you and her instantly clicked and became best friends in no time.

what you werent expecting was for your platonic feelings for the brunette to blossom into a crush, which although you deemed would go away soon, never did and only became stronger.

you never acted on your feelings though, always too scared that she would never feel the same way, i mean you didnt even know if aitana was into girls or not, let alone whether she liked you back as well.

you had more or less successfully managed to suppress your feelings though. the multiple shots that mapi encouraged you to take at the club you and the team were at, seemed to make you temporarily forget about your tragically unrequited love for your best friend.

unfortunately, aitana wasnt the only one known in the team for not dating. and honestly, if anyone knew why you were laying off dating, they would not be able to blame you. however, as aitana wasnt one for teasing and pranking her teammates, they chose to not tease her for her inability to settle with anyone. opposite to aitana, you loved joining prank wars with vicky, jana, bruna, salma, pina and patri. which left you on the receiving end of relentless bullying about your lack of love life.

this night out in london was no exception, except this time, the group had decided to instead try help you find someone, and had now made it a contest of who could find someone for you first.

the rest of the team including aitana, who were much more mature than your group, had decided to come up to your table and sit with you all, making sure you wouldnt get into trouble. they had soon caught onto what your group was trying to do, and seeing the permanent pout on your face made it even funnier.

one person who was not amused though, was aitana herself, with her heart racing with fear every time someone pointed a random person out for you, and a scowl each time you winced when patri elbowed your ribs for saying no.

eventually it became too much for the midfielder to handle, as she told the group to grow up and stop being so immature and childish, before pulling you onto her lap.

your eyes widened in surprise and your cheeks flushed red as aitana then decided to loop her arms around your waist, her fingertips just dipping under the waistband of your skirt to rub small circles into your skin. your spine involuntarily shivered at the prospect of having aitana this close, and you blushed once again as she lent towards your ear to whisper something to you.

was this best friend behaviour in spain? honestly you werent too sure, but judging by the smirk that lucy sent your way, you were guessing that what you and aitana were doing was leaning more to the couple side of things.

most other people on the team who were sat around the table also seemed surprised and also amused at aitanas sudden behaviour. until vicky burst out laughing, interrupting everyones conversations as she said “i think i know someone whos perfect for y/n!” as she sent a very obvious wink at aitana, making you throw a cup coaster from the table at her head.

however it seemed that aitana hadnt found what vicky said amusing, as you felt her tense up behind you and her hands unravelled themselves from around your waist, before lightly shoving you off her lap onto the seat next to you, claiming she needed to use the bathroom.

you didnt see aitana for the rest of the night, she clung very closely to keira and ona much to your dismay. so to distract yourself from your crushes unusual and confusing behaviour, you decided to fully let loose. and what better way to do that than let pina and patri almost control your whole night, the duo were infamously known for their wild partying antics. so this came to a shock to everyone when you teamed up with them for the night, as you were know for your love to have a peaceful night in by yourself.

one of pina and patris dares was for you to somehow you and them free drinks, they waited at the end of the bar for you, incase they noticed you feeling uncomfortable and to also collect their drinks after. aitana and almost all of the rest of the team who had gone out that night were sat back down at the booth, all in their own little conversations.

you however had managed to find a spanish girl who looked to be in her late thirties, who you were almost certain looked easy enough to convince to get you free drinks. although your slightly tipsy state had you misunderstanding the dare, thinking they meant to get drinks for the entire table, which in theory it was almost impossible to get someone to buy that many drinks for a stranger. but you were a woman on a mission, and you didnt want to fail this dare at all, and you were determined to have a better night than aitana, who seemed to be completely ignoring you.

after talking and flirting with the woman for a bit, she offered to buy you a drink, to which you responded you were supposed to be getting your whole table drinks now. but as soon as you saw her pull a sleek black card out of her wallet, you knew you would be winning this dare. you managed to remember most peoples drinks, and glanced over to pina and patri who had looks of shock and disbelief on their faces at the number of drinks being made for you.

it was even better when she offered to take the two trays over to your booth after you claimed your arms were aching, pina and patri quickly trailed behind, curious at how exactly you had pulled that off.

as soon as she placed the trays of drinks down, her phone began to ring, as she spoke some fast, accented words in spanish to you, which your very tipsy brain couldnt comprehend, you quickly said adios to her followed with a drunken wave.

as pina and patri told the table the dare and how you had gotten it wrong, alexia, sandra, marta and irene shook their heads and lectured you for your actions, claiming that it was a stupid idea. whereas lucy clapped her hand on your back shouting “thanks mate” in your ear.

until ona spoke, drawing all the attention over to a very confused you “i cant believe she said that to you y/n”

you honestly had no idea what her words were, only comprehending the word “noche” making you guess she wished you a good night. “what do you mean ona? i didnt really understand it”

this made patri laugh “oh amiga, she said she wished she could have expanded her night with you, and said ‘preferably to get you in his bed’ you must have really been flirting with her”

upon hearing your newfound knowledge of what the woman said, aitana muttered under her breath of how she was tired and was going home, as she threw a glare your way, your stance visibly deflated and a deep frown settled on your face. you hated arguing with aitana, and it was so much worse that you had absolutely no idea what you have done.

you also excused yourself and began to follow aitana out, stumbling a few times as an effect of your ridiculously high heels and the large amount of alcohol youve had. you managed to catch up to her just as she was getting in her car, aitana hadnt had too much to drink tonight, so planned on driving herself home, even though she knew she would not be able to sleep with thoughts of you clouding her mind.

if you were sober, there was no way you would just rag open aitanas car door and fall straight on to the seat, but the drinks you had gave you the confidence and desperation you needed to to ask and find out what you did wrong.

“dios mio y/n! you terrified me, you cant just do that!” aitana shouted, your abrupt entrance had terrified the brunette, but you brushed her temporary shock to the side, a burning question on the tip of your tongue. “aitana have i upset you? why have you been ignoring me?” you asked with a frown on your face, completely averting your eyes from aitana. you were a sad drunk, often getting way too emotional, and the last thing you wanted to do was drunk cry in front of your crush.

“no, no- y/n, you havent! i- i just, im confused, okay? thats all, im not mad at you” aitana reassured, she avoided you tonight solely due to her confusion of her anger towards the people that your teammates had been picking out for you at the bar. if she knew how upset and anxious it had made you, then she would have stayed with you all night if it meant you were okay.

“do- do you want to come back to mine? or you can go to yours! thats fine too- honestly! i-” aitana noticed her rambling and cut herself of as she felt her cheeks heat up. “aita, i want to go back to yours please” you said softly to the midfielder. “vale cari, lets go” she responded.

as aitana navigated the streets of barcelona towards her apartment, you could help but laugh at her soft angered mutters of the irritating barcelona traffic and the dozens of traffic lights she had to stop at that she insisted were “unnecessary and a waste of time and money” as you approached a 24 hour food place on the side of the road, aitana moved her hand over to your thigh making your breath hitch. her question of whether you were hungry or not went unanswered, as you were too busy overthinking the hand on your thigh. as aitana pulled into a parking space she asked again however she was now met with your extremely flustered face.

this told aitana all she needed to know on whether her feelings for you were reciprocated or not, and the newfound knowledge that they were supplied her with enough confidence to lean over the centre console. aitana then grabbed your jawline softly, she noticed you glancing at her lips which gave her the confirmation she needed to press her lips onto yours.

the kiss started off slow, aitana not wanting you to feel uncomfortable and like you were rushing things. until you decided you wanted more and tangled your hands in her hair pulling her impossibly closer which prompted her to slip her tongue into your mouth, the kiss becoming rougher and more desperate. the kiss only ended when you were near to a point of gasping for air, and as you were still trying to catch your breath, aitana decided it would be a good time to ask “go on a date with me”. you couldnt tell if she had meant to demand you to go out with her, or whether she just forgot to form a question when translating what she wanted to say. either way, you didnt hesitate when responding “vale” with a small laugh at her way of asking you, as she turned to you with a smile at hearing the spanish fall from your lips.

———

yourinstagram

caption: shes not a very good driver 😇😇

liked by: alexiaputellas, lucybronze and 54,324 others.

comment:

lucybronze: i think we all know who that is..

-> yourinstagram: i think we all know who you left with last night (your not as subtle as you think you are)

fbcfemeni: is that caption really true?

-> yourinstagram: aitana get off barcelonas account 😭

-> fbcfemeni: its not aitana!!

-> yourinstagram: mentirosa 😬😬

user1: omg its a for aitana!!!

user2: has everyone seen barcas comments 😭

user3: not aita on the teams account 😭

[ssahotchnerr]

Katie Hi hi hi!! I hope this isn’t weird, but I saw that on some of your asks when talking about songs, a few Lana Del Rey songs were mentioned, and I was like 😏😏.

And now I can’t get the song Burning Desire out of my head 😫😫and thinking about having a crush on Aaron and it gets so bad that he’s the first and last thing in your mind each day. He’s in your dreams haunting you, and it has gotten to the point where only the fantasy of his hands holding your hips down as he rails you into the mattress, with his lips near your ear you can hear his breathy grunts with each thrust, can send you careening over the edge, each time with his name leaving your lips in the darkness of your room.

But it’s not enough because if dream him is this good, real Aaron dick down must be a transcendent experience so you start to wear work clothes that may be a tad too tight hoping to catch his attention. You also go out of your way to do little nice things for him like bring him coffee, or snacks and take the time to chat about not work things with him, because first, it brings that smile that lights up his face because YOU did something for him, and secondly yeah you’re thirsty asf for him but also he deserves some softness and kindness 🥺🥺❤

BUT ANYWAYS BACK TO THIRST THO(ugh)TS. when the team goes out for drinks or whatever, you start to wear things that are a little scandalous and the girls are like “ma’am who are you trying to seduce” and you’re like “no one” as you just stare at Aaron real hard like embarrassingly hard and you can hear giggles from the girls as they are like “sure”. And, and, and, you know it’s not appropriate and he probably doesn’t feel the same way because he’s the stern boss and would probably frown upon boss/subordinate relationships!!!

BUT SURPRISE YOU'RE WRONG BECAUSE HE HAS NOTICED HOW YOUR STARES LINGER ON HIM, THE SUBTLE FLIRTING, THE BRINGING HIM THINGS AND DONT FORGET THE TIGHTER CLOTHES. At first, he is like 🤔🤔? And making sure he isn’t reading into things because he definitely doesn’t want that HR nightmare for either one of you (he drinks that respect women juice). But after a while, as your little subtle gestures become less subtle and he can clearly tell what you’re up to he is like well as long as you're okay with it 😏😏??

So after one of the team outings, as everyone is leaving, Aaron lingers behind with you and just compliments how pretty and fitting your outfit looked tonight (and on the other nights) And you’re like :) :) :)? Because did you hear him wrong? And he can see the confusion on your face and he is like I mean it :) the outfit is very flattering and he places a hand on your forearm giving it a little squeeze along with giving you the look™. And in your head you’re like I’m about to bust because those hands that you have dreamed of are on you and your brain is filled with unholy thoughts, but outside your like 👉👈 thank you I’ve been trying some new things out and I’m glad it’s working it seems?

And he just smiles at you with that fucking dimpled smile and is like ‘it is working, and I would like to see more of it.’ And then he just squeezes your arm again softly, gives you a little wink, and leaves you with your mouth hanging open. Because number one, your dreams about this man are about to be top tier tonight but number two, you might get that desire that’s been burning you up quenched sooner than later :)

Alright, I’m done I’m sorry for my long ’i want Hotch to dick me down’ ted talk🥴🥴🥴. Time to go lay down and think thirsty thoughts.

minors dni

PLEASE AH okay so you've always been attracted and drawn to him, ever since the day you met him, but you never really surrendered to it. like, it made sense, he's a man of authority and incredibly handsome - having a little puppy love crush on him seems only natural. so again, you really didn't think too much of it nor act upon it.

but then it's game over once you start dreaming about him 😵‍💫

you literally just can't look at him the same way anymore. like after your first sexy dream about him hehe >:) you avoid eye contact with him the whole following day because you're so flustered and you know if you look at him, the only thing you'll be able to picture is him pounding into you <3 hehe you're in a briefing, looking at anything and everything that isn't him, he notices and asks you if you're okay. you have no other choice but to look at him, your mind immediately flashes with memories from your dreams and you're blushing profusely. you just nod, keeping your mouth shut because you have no idea what'll accidentally escape you if you do open it.

but the more dreams you have, that changes the game completely hehe >:) he's your last thought before you fall asleep, your dreams are consumed by him, and he's on your mind the second you wake up in the morning. he's actually all consuming. so you start wearing those tighter clothes, going out of your way to do lil things for him like bring him coffee or make conversation, just anything to be near him because every part of you just needs him; so much longing it's actually painful. like there's a pit of emptiness in you constantly when you're not around him.

and while you think you're kindaaa being subtle throughout, aaron notices the way you look at him. he notices your eyes checking him out and all the lingering stares- especially the ones on his hands or lips <333333 he's always been attracted to you as well, so at first he's convinced he's looking too much into it based on his own personal feelings. but then one day you can't help but compliment the way he looks in his suit, and as you do so, you also can't help but bite your lip ever so slightly <333 and then he's like oh ;). maybe now he can actually pursue this further because he's not alone in this ;)

omg and when you're out to drinks with the team - imagine other guys trying to hit on you (!!!!!!) and aaron is sitting there silently fuming. his own reaction surprises himself, like seeing you with someone who's not him? sure he was never fond of the idea, but actually witnessing it?? that's the last straw right there and it needs to stop. he should be the one making you touching you, making you smile and laugh, and it's driving him crazy that he's not the one getting your attention. like at work, it's clear where your attention is hehe and he's gotten so used to it, so that's the way it should always be. heheh you play along and flirt back with the others, solely to get a reaction out of him and it works. as if his eyes haven't been on you all night, he can't pull his stare away from you and he's not trying very hard to be subtle about it either. so as you're leaving the bar for the night, you can basically feel his front against your back. he's crowding so close to you and it gives every part of you butterflies, especially when he leans in and tell you how flattering your clothes look on you, he can't pull his eyes off of you or maybe he just flat out says you've been driving him crazy all night >:)

at first you're like ??? questioning if this real life or one of your dreams?? but THEN he gives you that dimpled smile, followed by that look, and repeats himself and places his hand on the small of your lower back and you're like YUP this is definitely not a dream it's too way real 😵‍💫😵‍💫 heheh and it doesn't take very long for allllll those dreams to come true <3 and you thought right!!!! the real thing puts all your dreams to shame; it's so much better than anything you could've possibly imagined

also- i literally just associate EVERY lana song with him it's impossible not to 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 and ughghg everything you said was just PERFECT ugh longing and sexual tension with aaron <333 YES PLEASE WHERE DO I SIGN UP

[linka-from-captain-planet]

⭐

I can never think of titles, so most of my fics are titled with song lyrics. I was from the songfic generation so maybe it just stuck. If I know what I want to write, sometimes I find a song to match the overall vibe and listen to it on repeat for hours while writing. It helps me zone in and get into the feeling. Sometimes the exact lyric I find the most *THEM* doesn't work as a title and it's a travesty tbh.

I'm also on team All Lower Case for no reason except that I think it looks better.

Cursed? playlist below cut, with further notes

Not a song title: An Anthology of Trib...ulations, but it is a tribbing joke, so. Although I don't think I ever got around to that particular act before I lost steam.

when my blue moon turns to gold again (Shadowheart/Lae'zel, warning for major character death) is from an Elvis song with the same title. It fits within the sad-joyful tone because the song is about how happy the singer will be when their lover returns to them, and how they'll never let them go again, but Shadowheart finds peace and joy in the part of Lae'zel that does return to her, even though she comes to learn Lae'zel has perished in the githyanki liberation battles. ALSO, this song is on the soundtrack of Desert Hearts, which is the greatest lesbian movie to ever exist.

green on the vine (Shadowheart/Nocturne) is from "Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter which has the line, "my first taste of love, oh bittersweet / green on the vine." The song is about a young love that fizzled out, but the singer looks back on it fondly because it was such a formative experience. So that's very Not the Experience Shadowheart and Nocturne had, and ironic because Shadowheart can't reminisce about her first young love. I chose 'green on the vine' as a title because it invokes the image of a fruit plucked too soon and made bitter, much like the way Shadowheart and Nocturne's relationship was cut short over and over by the demands of the cult.

mirage (Shadowheart/Nocturne, Shadowheart/Alfira) is the title of a song by Sylvia and this one is pretty on the nose. In this fic, Shadowheart sees Nocturne all around her as she engages with the Emerald Grove and meets the Dream Visitor. But this song is about being misled/manipulated by a lover, so it mostly refers to the Emperor using Nocturne's image to manipulate Shadowheart.

solitaire (Alfira/Lakrissa) is the title of a Carpenters song, about a lonely man who isolates himself and keeps himself from connecting with others and finding love. I imagined Lakrissa pushes others away with her flippant attitude and pessimism, and isolates herself (notice she sits alone talking to herself in the grove) and her experience in Moonrise is what motivates her to open up and accept the friendship and, in Alfira, the love that other people offer her.

like a candy to an apple (you're so sweet on me) (Alfira/Lakrissa) is from "It's Whatever" by Aaliyah. This is my Official Alfira/Lakrissa song imo, it captures the sweet, supportive, and romantic vibe I love for them perfectly. The whole line is, "like a candy to an apple, oh we go together / you're so sweet on me." This is a fun, romantic, sexy fic, so the song fic captures it perfectly. Definitely listen to this one if you don't know it, it's a favorite and everyone should know Aaliyah!

hold you like a python (Minthara/Florrick) is from "National Anthem" by Lana Del Rey, with the line being "I sing the national anthem while I am standing over your your body / hold you like a python." I always loved the imagery of this line, of squeezing the life out of someone to feed on them and feed one's own ambitions and that's kind of what's going on with florrithara in this fic. There's no romance yet, no feelings--just two powerful women engaged in this mutual chokehold, neither willing to back down, but sure to end with someone's guts on squeezed out on the floor.

lay you down on a bed of roses (Minthara/Florrick) is from "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi, in the line, "I'd like to lay you down on a bed of roses / but tonight I sleep on a bed of nails". I really don't have an excuse for this except I was like 'Minthara would love Bon Jovi' and I listened to this song on repeat for hours while writing that fic.

Minthara/Florrick also are part of a series, so they get a series title as well: "I could liken you to a werewolf (but I admit I provided a full moon)". This is from "Werewolf" by Fiona Apple which I think of as the florrithara theme song. It's about an unsalvageable relationship, and that's Minthara and Florrick. The line is truncated from the first two lyrics, but I'm gonna list about the first five lyrics because that's what I think of for this song and ship:

I could liken you to a werewolf the way you left me for dead but I admit, I provided a full moon. I could liken you to a shark, the way you bit off my head but then again, I was waving around a bleeding open wound. But you were such a super guy till the second you get a whiff of me. We're like a wishing well and a bolt of electricity

[putonmyfavoriteshow]

I wanted to do a little special review of my rewatch of the pilot since it is iconic:

Seeing Luna immediately shot me in the heart with nostalgia. She is my daughter <3

I remember the first time I watched this being intrigued by the opening scene in her room after she wakes up from her dream. Just the way it was filmed felt more like a movie, so I already could see this was going to be different than anything I ever saw on Disney Channel

Cancun views!! One thing about this pilot that sold me was the gorgeous establishing shots of Cancun and later Buenos Aires, they really captured the beautiful locations of the show, and having her skate around these places? simply iconic.

Foodger Wheels!! There's just something about Luna & Simón in their Foodger Wheel Uniforms that will always warm my heart

I absolutely love the first scene we get of Lumón - even thought I didn't ship them romantically, they were the reason I got hooked on the show so quickly. I just found them to be so adorable and I loved their friendship that was established

ÁMBAR!!!! She's just instantly serving girlboss (interesting parallels with Luna's first scene that I never noticed before. Monica being a loving mother but not understanding her daughter's "dreams" visions and Ámbar mimicking Sharon...hmm)

Matteo...ugh dodging Ámbar's calls, doing his weird break dance skating, I'm already disinterested lol

THE VALENTES <3 Oh how I've missed Miguel & Monica! Parents of the year. When they tell Luna they're a team <3

Rey! Seeing Rey now after having watched so much Violetta with the actor as Gregorio is just so wild to me HOW IS THIS THE SAME MAN!?

Rey's obvious dislike towards Ámbar is so funny. Nothing like an adult man's biggest enemy being the bratty teenager of the woman he works for

The Lutteo meeting is alright. They have their little bump and banter. One thing I do like is Luna is not at all impressed with him and always teases him

The "Chico Fresa" thing is one of the cuter things I like about Lutteo - she called him as she saw him so good for that

I think what aggravates me about Matteo is how much he doesn't care about Ámbar, like that's his girlfriend and he's just flirting with Luna and ignoring Ámbar but then tries to act all smooth with Ámbar too, maybe Ámbar isn't the nicest person, but what she expects from her boyfriend isn't so wildly out of the ordinary and he's annoying lol LIAR!:

SIMÓN MY BOY I love him so dearly. He's so good and pure and a wonderful friend. He's such a baby in these episodes too. His smile is just so soft and him spending the episode trying to write the song that Luna dreamed a melody of is so precious

TODO LO QUE QUIERO LO PODRAS ALCANZAR?? when he says it's "our song" like SHUTUP, the Lumon goodbye scene is so sweet and when he waves goodbye I'm sorry I just adore those two to pieces. FUN FACT: I had no idea he was a regular in the show when I first watched so I was freaking out I wouldn't see him again 😅

I would love to taste the lobster Monica made Sharon that caused her to hire her and set off the course of this entire series because like O_O

Luna is psychic. Why is everyone ignoring this???!!!!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 303: And What, Pray Tell, Is a “One For All”

Previously on BnHA: The Todorokis (really just Enji) looked at their children and went “how can we screw up all four of them in uniquely different ways” and proceeded to do just that. Touya was all “just because practicing how to set myself on fire better hasn’t worked to win my dad’s affections YET doesn’t mean it will NEVER work”, because child logic. Turns out setting oneself on fire real hard isn’t so effective at winning affections, but is actually incredibly effective when it comes to burning oneself to death, so there’s that. Back in the present day, the Todorokis basked in their various misplaced (again, except for Enji) feelings of guilt, and were all “anyway but get over yourself already Enji, you still have to do something to stop this kid”, and Shouto was all “I’ll help too”, and Enji was all “(╥_╥)”, and Hawks and Jeanist were all “[surreptitiously listening in from outside the door]”, and that’s basically where we left off.

Today on BnHA: Hawks and Jeanist are all “mind if we join you on this family journey?” and proceed to stroll in uninvited with their puns and their perceptive insights. Hawks is all “so to sum everything up, we’re fucked, but at least you have us here to help you out! by the way, no clue why I’m the first person to ask this in three hundred chapters, but wtf is One For All.” We then cut to Deku, who’s still all “[(－－)]z”, and All Might, who is all “I’m just going to ignore the extremely loud racket going on right outside this room.” Which, btw, is happening on account of Bakugou, who is all “(╬◣Д◢)” as Satou, Tsuyu, and Mineta cart him away. Anyway so that’s a lot of antics, and also it looks like Hawks has gotten tired of the Todorokis refusing to put the pieces together on their own about OFA and so he is fast-tracking that shit. And meanwhile Deku is chatting it up with the Vestiges exactly like we all thought. And now we have to wait another whole week for updates on all of this. This really is not fair.

omfg lol

“our bad, we were kind of accidentally listening in on purpose.” like I said last week guys, no fuss. it’s a tradition

OMG

I am absolutely fucking floored. Hawks literally said that so casually that it’s impossible for me to rewrite it so as to be even more casual. that’s literally what I would write in the “today on bnha” section. in fact I probably will write that

(ETA: just for laughs I tried it and it really worked.)

a couple more things to point out about this panel: 

“TOP 3” omg yes. more like “top only” at this point, honestly. interested to see how that goes

Hawks’s phone is freaking the fuck out about something, calm down there

I know this is a standard Jeanist hair-fixing gesture that he does all the time, but I can’t help but form hypotheses about this being a stress reaction because Hawks’s hair is making him internally freak out. Hawks, if this man tries to get you alone with him and some hairspray and a comb, please for the love of god do not listen to him. get out of there and call the authorities

omg Shouto’s face

okay confession, I wasn’t really sold on the whole “Shouto has a schoolboy crush on Hawks” thing until exactly now, when I became 100% sold on it. that is adorable

and heck with it, gotta show Enji and Rei’s reactions here as well because lol

“omg my son who’s not my son, and he just overheard everything about me being a terrible shitty father and person overall, oh and plus my actual-son set him on fire and called him out on a national broadcast. I’m just gonna stare at him baffledly.” versus Rei, who is all “hmm, who are these people”

so Hawks is all “I got released from the hospital after one day for some reason so I made Jeanist drive me around places while we talked about life” but uh, heyyyyy, what’s Rei doing

okay, uh

SO FUCKING FORMAL OMFG. “SORRY MY KID TRIED TO BURN YOU TO DEATH, APPARENTLY HE DOES THAT” REI NO IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT

HAWKS IS ALL “I’M JUST GONNA LAUGH SINCE THAT’S MY DEFAULT RESPONSE TO BEING PROFOUNDLY UNCOMFORTABLE”

let me tell you a secret Hawks, it’s my default response too. ahahahahahahaha oh thank god Jeanist is helping her up -- AND MAKING A JEANS PUN, OF COURSE. IT’S BEEN ALMOST THIRTY SECONDS. MY MAN WAS DYING

“WTF IS ILLEGAL DENIM” he’s talking ‘bout them counterfeit jeans, Rei. Antoine Bugleboy knows

THANK YOU JEANIST!! OUT HERE ASKING THE RELEVANT QUESTIONS

damn straight. we’re not gonna sit around waiting another 300 chapters for this information on this man’s watch

now Hawks is telling Endeavor he used to watch videos of him all the time, and calling him his “childhood obsession” I can’t

OH MY SWEET STARS AND MOONS

1000% CANON. “SO CLOSE...” ARE YOU SERIOUS. YOU REALLY PUT THAT THOUGHT BUBBLE THERE AND EVERYTHING. “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE, SO JUST IN CASE YOU WEREN’T ALREADY AWARE, TODOROKI SHOUTO IS NOT ACTUALLY STRAIGHT.” HORIKOSHI KOUHEI I AM LITERALLY DUMBFOUNDED. THIS IS AMAZING

and meanwhile that look on Hawks’s face while he casually-but-not-really-casually-at-all asks this question. that phone app better be using his actual voice. I’m not sure I could take this scene in the anime at this point if it was like Alexa talking or something

that look in his eyes is basically saying that so far, based on the information he has absorbed up until this point, Hawks is prepared to view his former childhood obsession as a flawed but changed man. however I get the distinct feeling that depending on Endeavor’s answer now, he would be willing to drastically shift some of his opinions on him

(ETA: this is maybe my favorite panel in the entire chapter. the fact that his question isn’t addressed to anyone in particular, but his eyes are zeroing on on Endeavor. and the way his leaning-on-Shouto pose manages to be simultaneously nonchalant and yet ever-so-slightly protective. there’s so much going on in this one question and gesture and I’m mildly obsessed with it.)

however, Rei is all “that was me” and ONCE AGAIN WITH THE FACES IN THIS CHAPTER holy shit

Hawks definitely did not see that one coming sob. it’s so fun watching him frantically recalculate his ideas about this family every two seconds

DAMN IT HORIKOSHI I UNDERSTOOD THE PARALLELS ALREADY, YOU REALLY DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THIS

yes, Hawks, you get it. it’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough. though unlike your shitty parents, Rei and Enji are at least trying

OKAY I SERIOUSLY CANNOT WITH ALL OF THIS

fljkdlaskfjlwkjl okay we’re doing the bullet-points breakdown here

first of all, the fact that poor little Shouto’s heart is still thumping away at this proximity and all he can think is “CLOSE” all intelligently as he stares at him with that face omg

and meanwhile Horikoshi has these STRATEGIC BANDAGES WRAPPED AROUND HIS CHEEKS TO HIDE ALL OF HIS SHOUJO BLUSHING omfg. SENPAI NOTICED YOU SWEETIE!!!

HAWKS YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY ZERO OBLIGATION TO WASTE ANOTHER SECOND OF YOUR LIFE WORRYING ABOUT THESE TWO ASSHOLES WHO NEVER SPARED YOU THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF REGARD OR CONCERN IN THEIR ENTIRE LIVES. THE NICEST THING YOUR MOM EVER DID FOR YOU WAS BUY YOU A $2 ENDEAVOR PLUSH FROM THE DISCOUNT BIN TO KEEP YOU QUIET, AND YOU WERE SO AWED BY THAT ONE ACT OF SORTA KINDA APPROXIMATE KINDNESS THAT YOU SHAPED YOUR ENTIRE WORLDVIEW AROUND IT. PLEASE LET ME PICK YOU UP IN A BIG HUG FOR JUST A SEC, YOU DESERVE THE WORLD AND YOU WERE ONE THOUSAND PERCENT JUSTIFIED IN LEAVING THEM IN THE DUST THE SECOND THAT YOU COULD

but all that said, he immediately recognizes that Shouto would also have had cause to do the same in his situation, and yet hasn’t. and so he has that much more admiration for him all of a sudden, which is just super sweet, and fully appropriate. Shouto does deserve props. I’m choosing to take this as an “it takes a lot of strength to be able to forgive, and people who choose to do that even though they’re not obligated to are really amazing" type of thing, as opposed to “people who don’t forgive other people who severely wronged them are bad.” and if I’m wrong and Hawks’s line here is meant to be seen as actual failing on his part, well then fuck that, but we’ll move on

SO NOW, DOWN TO BUSINESS!

I am so, so curious as to what kind of strategy Hawks has for this (if he even has any), so I’ll just be quiet now and read

so Hawks is summing up basically what we already knew -- that Tomura and his inner circle (curious that there’s no mention of AFO, because if Hawks doesn’t know about him, that implies almost no one does) are still on the lam with a few PLF stragglers and some High Ends; that a bunch of prisons have been “liberated” (I assume this means all of the inmates escaped, so if that’s the case then where’s Kurogiri??); that the HPSC is fucked; and that heroes are resigning all over the place, and so civilians are taking matters into their own hands

OH DAMN!?

does this mean we’ll actually see some international heroes?? I will LOSE MY DAMN SHIT omg

(ETA: apparently people who paid more attention to the first BnHA movie than I did recognized the silhouettes as belonging to some background characters from Two Heroes. so maybe they were just cameos and they’re not actually new characters who are soon to join us lol. oh well.)

anyway so Hawks agrees with the other Todorokis that Endeavor has no choice but to fight

awww

DON’T WORRY ENJI THEY’VE GOT YOUR BACK. WITH YOUR FLAMES, AND JEANIST’S PUNS, AND HAWKS’S BOYISHLY GOOD LOOKS, THE THREE OF YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR MINDS TO

so Enji is very pertinently asking why they’re standing by him in spite of the... [gestures vaguely to everything]

oh my lordy lord

Shouto you had better do something to combat this soon, or this man will sneak past you on my favorite character ranking after all. his face. his cheeky lil finger gun. the fact that he sums it up so fucking simply. “if someone is trying to do the right thing, I want to support them.” exactly. exactly

(ETA: and one last thing I love but forgot to mention, which is the fact that Hawks calls it a team-up despite the fact that he is clearly in charge.)

meanwhile Jeanist is all “as for me, at this point I just straight up don’t give a fuck”

I can’t handle how fucking cool this chapter is you guys

so Hawks is all “you good?” at Enji. and Enji...

if anyone needs me, I will be building myself a discourse-proof fort made entirely out of problematic characters. I don’t even care. I will go on living my life very happily in here

lol at Natsu being all “BUT DON’T THINK THIS MAKES US FRIENDS”

I’m living for this weird and no-doubt entirely unintended implication that Natsu and them all are gonna join in the fight with the rest of them. I mean, they do presumably all have very powerful ice quirks. and Natsu has medical training on top of that, and Fuyu is skilled at getting eight-year-olds to behave which could be a useful talent for dealing with Tomura hahaha I kid, but I’M JUST SAYING. who needs hero licenses anyway

OH SHIT FINALLY SOME DISCUSSION OF AN ACTUAL STRATEGY. even if it’s just a PR strategy

WHAKLHL

and now for some reason we’re flashing back to Natsu and Fuyu’s attempts to navigate through the media crowd outside the hospital

well I guess this is why I’m not the mangaka. if I were writing this I would have done something trite and predictable like using that “One for All” line as an excuse to cut to Deku!! as opposed to this entirely unrelated scene!!

seriously though why do we need to see this lol

no one in this crowd has ever heard of Alexander Dumas huh. or even the popular 2007 Disney Channel original movie, High School Musical 2

so now there’s an entire page of Hawks saying they need to know what One for All is, and Endeavor having one of those patented Todoroki WHOOSH realizations lmao look at this

just wait until this man figures out that one of the scrappy new interns he took on three months ago was actually the main character all along

SKDFIOHWIERLKSJGLWLK!!

NOW IS PROBABLY A GOOD TIME TO ASK MYSELF WHY I CHOSE THIS CHARACTER WHO KEEPS DISAPPEARING FOR SIX OR TWELVE OR FORTY CHAPTERS AT A TIME TO BE MY FUCKING FAVORITE. WELCOME BACK SON PLEASE DON’T SCREAM YOURSELF TO DEATH YOU STILL HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR TORSO

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(ETA: can we just take a moment to appreciate how Bakugou even got so close to Deku’s room in the first place though. in this giant hospital with no idea of where to even go. does he have Deku Radar or something.)

YOU SIX ARE OFFICIALLY ON MY HIT LIST!! SPARE ME YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS!! MY BAKUDEKU REUNION KEEPS GETTING POSTPONED WEEK AFTER WEEK!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE HEROES WHERE IS YOUR CONCEPT OF MERCY

(ETA: btw just to be clear, I’m not actually angry lol; it makes total sense that they don’t want this rampaging feral toddler who was still in his own coma all of fifteen minutes ago to come and start screaming at the other coma child until he tears all his stitches out. if there’s anything we Bakugou fans should be familiar with by now, it’s being patient.)

also, Tsuyu wrapping her tongue around Bakugou’s still-healing torso wound absolutely can’t be hygienic at all. also wait is that Inko??

(ETA: pretty sure it is her. she got all of one line smdh.)

Iida is all “thank god Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight pulled through, I thought for sure he was a goner back there”

for the record this is actually really sweet to see how relieved he is. he’s one of the few people who saw the original injury close up, back when he was still at the battlefield and unconscious, so I imagine it really did freak him out quite a bit

JIROUUUUUU

“sometimes I just like to stand here and tug on my imaginary suspenders, what of it”

how come you guys get to loiter around Deku’s room but Kacchan doesn’t. god fucking dammit. AND WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN

I BET KACCHAN COULD WAKE HIM UP FROM HIS COMA WITH THE POWER OF RIVAL INTENSITY!! BUT NOOOOOOOO, [is dragged away back to my fort]

OH MY GOD!?!

"this seems to be an entirely normal and above-board situation that we have just stumbled onto”

I see Jeanist comes from the Iida Tenya school of respectfully using people’s full names

Jeanist becoming one of the main characters is the best thing to ever happen to this series

EXCUSE YOU, IIDA

BUT I’M SURE HE’D MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOR KACCHAN THOUGH!! [elbowing my way back out of the fort] HAWKS, PLEASE --

DON’T GO ALL OMINIOUSLY PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER ALL ON YOUR OWN GODDAMMIT

“there’s absolutely no way this angry wriggling shoulder burrito kid here could answer literally all of my questions, so I’ll just ignore him”

OH MY GOD WE’RE FINALLY CUTTING BACK TO HIM BUT THE CHAPTER IS ENDING

[jumps up, throws a folding chair at Iida and the rest of the gang, and then runs]

oh my god. actually this chapter was awesome. but I’m so fucking mad at this cliffhanger though lol

at least we got a couple of answers! and some hints and teases! poor Deku looks so worn out even though he’s asleep dlwkjl my little green baby. and is it just me or is his quirk activated?? All Might’s all “I can feel it” as if it isn’t obvious just looking at him, why are you trying to be all mysterious dude

anyway! so at least we finally have confirmation and a date for those vestige antics at long last. looking forward to meeting Mister The Fourth next week so we can finally ask him “hey dude, what the fuck”

[addictedtomanga]

Shoujo manga recommendations - love triangle

1.     Ao Haru Ride

While most girls desire popularity among boys, Futaba Yoshioka wants the exact opposite. After attracting many admirers back in middle school which resulted in her being shunned by her female classmates, she decided that high school will be her chance to revamp her image. Therefore, she starts acting unfeminine and indifferent to boys, allowing her to make some “friends” along the way.

Little does Futaba know, her life will take another drastic turn when her first love, Kou Mabuchi, returns after his sudden disappearance years ago in middle school. Despite his extended absence, the fond memories they shared together still linger in her mind, and she wishes to return to those days. But she realizes that the sweet, gentle boy of the past has completely vanished, and in his place stands someone cold and pessimistic. While he admits that her feelings for him back then were mutual, he warns that they can never go back to the past, as everything, including him, has changed.

2.     Beauty Pop

Although a truly gifted hairstylist, Kiri Koshiba has no interest in using her talent to pursue fame and fortune, unlike the three popular boys in the "Scissors Project" at school. Determined to become the best makeover team in Japan, they give showy makeovers to handpicked girls. As much as Kiri tries to shy away from the Scissors Project spotlight, she finds herself responding to beauty's call...

3.      Blue Sky Playground

On a cold day, Mirita finds discovers a hidden room with a kotatsu (a table that keeps one warm) inside. The kotatsu belongs to two of the most popular and handsome twin brothers in school. Both immediately kick Mirita out. However, Mirita becomes even more determined to get back into that room. What love triangle will commence?

4.    Boku kara Kimi ga Kienai  

Hotaru managed to get in the same high school where Haruna-sensei teaches to see him again! However, on her first day there, she meets a very unpleasant guy who looks just like her beloved sensei...?

5.      Dear!

Rei, Kazuma and Banri are close childhood friends. Rei, who's better than any guy, the cool and smart Kazuma and Banri who's mischievous and bright have the perfect balance. It's normal for the three of them to be together all the time and without thinking of themselves as men and woman they're just together. But something happens after which Rei starts to think of Banri as a "man", so the relation of the three changes...?!

6.       Faster than a Kiss

After losing their parents, Fumino and her brother hop from one relative to another. Getting tired of all those moves, she finally decides to quit school and work to support her brother on her own. As they sat on a park bench, her teacher appears in front of her and agrees to her demands of marrying and supporting both her and her brother!! Is he serious or just playing around...?!

7.      Haru Matsu Bokura

The timid and reserved Mitsuki Haruno seeks her dream sociable life at high school. But despite her best efforts, her ineptitude to speak her mind impedes her from befriending anyone. Nonetheless, while working at a cafe one day, she has a fateful encounter with her school's four idolized basketball players—Towa Asakura, Rui Miyamotoi, Ryuuji Tada, and Kyousuke Wakamiya. At first glance, these four heartthrobs come off as arrogant individuals, responsible for invading her cafe's safe haven. Soon after though, as they uphold their promise of keeping her workplace a secret, Mitsuki starts to see them in a new light.

Hence begins an improbable friendship between Mitsuki and the boys, as her days of solitude finally comes to an end. However, things aren't always so simple—with her heart waning toward Asakura and the female students green with envy, is there a chance this friendship could blossom into something more?

8.      Hirunaka no Ryuusei 

Suzume Yosano has spent the entire 15 years of her life in the countryside, so when her parents decide to move overseas for work and leave her with her uncle in Tokyo, she finds herself in a whole new environment. On the way to her uncle's house, however, she gets lost and faints.

Waking up safely at her uncle's house, she learns that a strange man had carried her there and that he happens to be an acquaintance of her uncle. Moreover, when Suzume goes to her new school for the first time, she discovers that the weird man in question, named Satsuki Shishio, is actually her homeroom teacher! Now, Suzume must adapt to her new school and make friends, since her blossoming high school life in the city has just begun!

9.    Hoshi to Kuzu - Don't Worry, Be Happy   

Anzu is poor but very ambitious and aims for a bright future. Her first step is to be student council president but that chance is destroyed by the equally ambitious and egocentric Yamabuki. She just has to settle for being the vice-president.

10.  Iya da Nante Iwasenai 

Anzu currently works part-time at a beach house however when it comes to serving male customers, she can't help but be cold and shy. When she accidentally spills a drink on one of them, a male co-worker saves her who ends up being her childhood friend Rei. Anzu is happy to reconnect with Rei, however, Rei might be after a bit more...?

11.   Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Seika High School was an all-boys school, but it has since turned co-ed. Misaki Ayuzawa is the first female student council president of the school, eventually earning the nickname of the "Demon President" due to her mastery of Aikido and imposed iron rule.

However, Misaki harbors an embarrassing secret—she has to work at a maid café to support her family. If anybody from her school was to find out, her reputation would be utterly destroyed. And after Takumi Usui—the most popular boy at school—discovers her secret, that might just happen.

12.  Kaoru-kun to Hana no Mori 

Kaoru is as kind as a prince towards girls. She would love to met men stronger than her! And then, two men appeared in front of her...

13.  Katakoi no Tsuki

Kurumi likes Souta-kun, but what happens when Kurumi witnesses Souta-Kun hugging one of her friends? Could Souta-kun already have someone he likes or is Kurumi misunderstanding? What can she do if that girl is her friend, too!?

14.  Katakoi Triangle

Sekiya-san of the cultural library has an unrequited love for Yuuki-kun. The one who cares about Sekiya-san is the popular Kasai-kun, who is also Yuuki-kun's friend! And, what's this? Yuuki-kun is rooting for Kasai-kun?! It seems that everyone's feelings are one-sided...or are they?

15.  Kimi to Koi no Tochuu 

Just when I thought it'd start with you, you disappeared; I would've never thought this... Yuna has lost trust in love after her first boyfriend Takumi broke up with her. Shiina-kun from her class has already confessed to her twice and now finally she approached onto love another time. But Takumi appears in front of her!! What will the swaying Yuna do!?

16.   Kyoudai Gokko

Growing up, Takara Rio has always wanted siblings. So when her parents decide to move overseas without her and tells her she will be living with two people around her age, she's cautiously optimistic. But they turn out to be brothers who fight like cats and dogs. Is this what having siblings is like?

17.  Last Game 

Nothing is beyond Naoto Yanagi, heir to the Yanagi business conglomerate. Idolized for his athletic and intellectual competence, looks and wealth, Naoto lived like a king during his elementary school days—then entered Mikoto Kujou, a plain, gloomy-looking transfer student.

Due to her low financial status, Naoto was initially apathetic towards Mikoto. But despite having just arrived at his school, she completely eclipsed him in everything by consistently scoring top marks in exams and placing first in athletic events. After a brief confrontation with her that left him shocked, Naoto vowed to outdo her no matter the cost.

Ten years later, they are now students attending the same college. Having failed to defeat Mikoto throughout middle and high school, Naoto decides they will have one last game: if he can make Mikoto fall in love with him and then break her heart, it will be his victory. However, he finds himself falling in love with her instead...

18.  Last Notes 

Haru and Aki are the masters of the branch store - an old-looking and very unusual shop. It sells only one thing: a special kind of incense that, when burned, allows the user to see and speak with the spirit of the dead person that appears in the smoke. Every customer has a different reason for calling up the dead, and how they use this unusual opportunity is up to them...

19.  Love Berrish 

15 year-old Yuya Fukushima has always wanted to live on her own, in an inn next to her school. This new dorm of hers, the Strawberry Tree Dorm, turns out to be a place with weird people -- a girl that touches her chest out of the blue, a guy with one of the shortest tempers ever. BUT the good thing is, there's a really handsome and nice guy that she fell in love with instantly! Also, not to mention a crazy cat who adores him (looks can be deceiving...). Yuya's life has just became much more interesting...

20.   Mata Ashita

Towa's always been shy around guys, despite being a total tomboy. This has crushed her chances of ever having a boyfriend, but a perhaps fateful encounter on the first day of high school might lead to love? But will it be with the surprisingly kind "angelic" delinquent, or the popular yet secretly "devilish" prince?!

21.  Momo Raba 

Chieri (Cherry) was living an ordinary life, until her sister Ichigo (Strawberry) suddenly left her child Momo (Peach) on Chieri's doorstep. Momo is an infant; how is Chieri supposed to take care of a baby while still in high school!? To make matters even more frustrating, two guys are fighting for Chieri's love...!

22.   Monokuro Shounen Shoujo

Kureha Mimachi, a 15-year-old girl, has just transferred into Shiritsu Kenhono High School. However, there is something weird about this school, it is actually a school where the Princes and Princesses of the beast-kind go to! Even though Kureha is human, she is there as a way to help the students lead their lives peacefully with humans and has the role as the "rabbit". Will she be able survive without being eaten by the students? Only time and her hidden bodyguards will be able to answer that...

23.   Ouran High School Host Club

At Ouran High School, an academy where only the children of the rich and powerful attend, there exists a club consisting of the most elite of the student body: the legendary Host Club. Within the club's room, six beautiful, bored boys spend their time entertaining equally beautiful and bored girls.

Haruhi Fujioka, a poor scholarship student, has no interest in the Host Club—until she breaks a valuable vase in their clubroom. After being mistaken for a boy, Haruhi is forced by Kyouya Ootori to work for the Host Club to repay her debt. Tamaki Suou, the princely leader of the club, eagerly takes her under his wing to teach her the ways of the host. Things, however, are never quite so simple with the Host Club around. Even the most mundane events can turn into huge spectacles with the likes of prankster twins Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin, stoic Takashi Morinozuka, and sweet Mitsukuni "Hunny" Haninozuka. The crazy adventures of the Host Club are just beginning, and Haruhi must learn how to survive in the glitzy world of the hosts.

24.  Parfait Tic

Fuuko is a happy and cheerful girl. One day, two cousins, Daiya and Ichi, move into the apartment upstairs. Cold Ichi and mischievous Daiya gave a very bad first impression. All three are going to the same school as well. How will Fuuko's high school life turn out?

25.  Renren Zakari 

The day of her graduation, while she was lost and end up on the infirmary, a girl met by coincidence a good looking boy. But she was so panicked that the young man started to make fun of her...?

26.  Rockin Heaven 

Sawa applies to Heaven's Wing Academy, thinking she would look cute in the uniform. But she never expected the academy to be a previously all-boys' school! And the head honcho of the school, the class president himself doesn't seem to like her one bit and takes no pains to hide it. At first, adjusting to life at the academy is tough. Sawa is bullied and teased, and the boys in the class even throw her new shoes in the water. While attempting to retrieve her shoes, she falls into the water and is unexpectedly saved by Ran, who up until this point has made her life hell. The newfound gentleness in Ran intrigues her, and she finds herself falling for him. What will her days be like for the rest of her school life?

27. Saiouji Kyoudai ni Komarasareru no mo Warukunai  

Satou Fuuka is an orphan. Her aunt, who was her guardian, absconded in the night, leaving her with no money. Her parents wanted her to go to school, so she was looking for a job to cover her school expenses and rent (plus living expenses, though she didn't mention it). She goes to be interviewed for a part-time house helper job but is rejected before she can say anything, because the guy offering the job is the eldest for 4 brothers and it's an all-male household. She pours out her story, so he takes pity on her (even though he'd pointed out that she can't really take a part-time job if she doesn't have a guardian) and offers the job as a live-in position. However, he has one condition: she's supposed to disguise herself so his brothers don't take an interest in her. Her disguise: lots of towels around her body, so she looks fat; makeup so she looks old (39); plus her hair is all loose and she's wearing glasses.

28.   Sekirara ni Kiss

Chitose has always done well wearing her face like a mask: always smiling, always cute. She feels complete whenever she put it on because it's built to hide her unrefined self: no one hates her, and no one makes fun of her. But after meeting a cute boy who is instinctively more annoyed by her mask than her real self, can Chitose change and make people accept her for who she really is?

29.  Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume 

Uru is a very short girl and is constantly mistaken for an elementary school kid, but despite that, she is ridiculously strong and decides to live by herself after her mother gets remarried. She ends up working at a small cafe with two rather unique co-workers, Shindou, who acts gruff and intimidating, but who is really a nice guy who loves to make cakes and pies and the like, and Ichirou, who is really good-looking but who instantly falls asleep when he gets hungry and doesn't wake up again until he's force-fed something? What will the future bring to them?

30.  Stardust Wink 

I’m Anna. I’m 14 years old and I’ve just entered the ninth grade. Sou and Hinata, who live in the same apartment complex as me, are my childhood friends and we’re all the same age. I thought that from now on we’d become even closer friends, but then Sou suddenly did that to me…!!

31.  Strobe Edge 

Having no experience in romance, the vibrant Ninako curiously explores the meaning of what "love" really is, and is surprised to feel a colorful range of emotions as she grows closer to the school heartthrob, the quiet yet gentle Ren, who also happens to be involved in a longtime relationship. With every intention of keeping her head held high, Ninako prepares to face the mental pain of this one-sided love that she had allowed to take root, facing a series of trials that would either contribute to her growth as a headstrong woman, or break her as it did with other girls.

32.  Suki desu Suzuki-kun

Suzuki Hikaru, Hoshino Sayaka, Itou Chihiro and Suzuki Shinobu are all new students who have just entered the same middle school. Sayaka is a shy girl who secretly loves acting. Hikaru is an energetic boy who loves basketball. Incidentally, he shares the same last name with Shinobu, a popular rich boy who would be perfect if not for his rotten personality. Chihiro is Hikaru's childhood friend and has long had a crush on him. On the day of the opening ceremony, Hikaru happens to witness Sayaka acting out the lines of a drama on the rooftop and is instantly captivated. Upon seeing Hikaru getting along with Sayaka, Chihiro's chest begins to ache. When Shinobu sees this, he is overcome by a strange emotion and his heart starts beating faster... Unbeknownst to the four, this is the beginning of their magnificent love story; one that would last years to come.

33.  Taiyou no Ie 

After her mother abandoned her and her father remarried, high schooler Mao Motomiya is left feeling like she doesn't have a place where she belongs. One night, her childhood friend Hiro Nakamura finds her in a shrine eating cheap convenience store food and offers to take her to a restaurant. Their subsequent heart to heart leads to Hiro suggesting that Mao move in with him. To Hiro who has lived apart from his younger siblings all these years after their parents passed away, bringing his family back together in the once-lively Nakamura home begins with the first step of giving Mao a loving place to belong. When Mao reluctantly accepts his invitation, she is surprised at how easy it is to settle in with her longtime friend. Now she must deal not only with mending her relationship with her father and helping the oldest Nakamura brother attain his goal, but also her growing feelings for Hiro.

34.   The Maid at My House

Runako is studying hard to someday succeed as owner of her family's maid dispatching service company. One day, a request comes in from an entertainment production company and shockingly, it's for their super-popular star, Seirei Moroboshi! But could it be that the image he projects on the TV is far different than his true secret face...?!

35.  Tonari no Koigataki 

Hiro-kun and Icchan are both very important childhood friends to Akane. She thought they would always and forever be good friends, but...

36.  Tsubasa to Hotaru 

Tsubasa to Hotaru follows 15-year-old Tsubasa Sonokawa, a young student—and a renowned stalker? After one very romantic gesture by a popular upperclassman, she falls head over heels for who she believes to be her one true love. Unfortunately, love can be deceiving, as her feelings are soon proven to be one-sided; the upperclassman directly tells her that she's annoying and that she needs to stop bothering him. How's that for some tough love? Shortly after this horrific heartbreak, her good friend Yuri suffers from a sprained wrist, making it impossible for her to continue her position as the basketball team's manager. After some coaxing on Yuri's part, Tsubasa decides to take on the role in her place. This may be the perfect opportunity for Tsubasa to move on and forget about her unrequited love. On Tsubasa's first day as a manager, the team's shooting guard Aki Hidaka saves her from being hit by a ball. Is this another fateful encounter? Or just a random, meaningless event? One thing is for certain: Tsubasa's days will never be the same again.

37.   Uwasa no Midori-kun

Midori Yamate is a 15 year-old girl and is very much a tomboy. When she was young, Midori meets a boy called Tsukasa Hino, who came to the island she lives on for a holiday. He teaches her to play soccer and she falls in love with the sport. Midori is inspired by Tsukasa and continues to play soccer in hopes that they would meet again someday. When they do meet again Tsukasa does something unforgivable. Determined to defeat Tsukasa on the soccer field Midori enrolls in an all boy high school.

38.  Yagami-kun wa, Kyou mo Ijiwaru

 Just by talking to the famous Yagami-kun, Shizuku's high school life has become hard even from the start—!?

39.  Yumemiru Taiyou

While loitering in the park, Shimana Kameko, who intended to run away from home and skip school, meets a suspicious man in a kimono. This man, who had been locked out of his house, offers Shimana a place to stay. However, he requests she fulfill three conditions in exchange for her tenancy!?

[zenosanalytic]

Growing Up is Hard; It’s Hard and Nobody Understands

So I noticed netflix has Neon Genesis Evangelion up last week and started watching it front to back for the first time ever(this happens to have coincided with me being in a down-mood for your edification, dear readers u_u), finished it today, REALLY liked it, and I wanted to try my hand at explaining what the hell is even going on in NGE cuz it actl seemed super-clear to me(a person who has been consuming NGE analysis and post-NGE media for literally 25 years) u_u

Surface Plot; Or NERV: What the Hell Is It?

I’ll try to make this as brief as possible: An organization of super-wealthy individuals calling itself Seele(looking this up, it means soul in german) wants to possess the power of God. The final third or so of the series is clear on this; it’s all about power. Ikari Yui, a geneticist, is recruited by this organization, and her husband Gendo(having taken her name which says a LOT given typical Japanese practice) comes with her. In seeking out this power, they discover a hollow sphere underneath Antarctica(”The White Moon”), send an expedition there under the guise of the UN, encounter an entity with this power which they label an “Angel”, and do SOMETHING which prompts it to explode the continent flooding the earth and killing half the population(that Gendo left beforehand implies this may have been intentional, or that a bad outcome to Seele’s approach was easy to predict, tho in typical Gendo fashion, his is the only ass he cared to save).

Afterwards Seele blame the scientists for this outcome and send Gendo on a salvage mission which recovers both remains of the Angel, now dubbed “Adam”, and a device they dub “the spear of Longinus”. Seele creates Gehirn to study these remains for practical use; they clone “Adam” and dub the result Evas(Eves). Having cloned them, they now need a way to use and control them as the Evas are non-responsive. They hit on the idea of injecting people into them via the Entry Plug system, presumably to act as a brain. The first person to try this, Ikari Yui, was absorbed by the Eva(Unit 01); the second(Soryu Kyoko Zeppelin; Asuka’s mother) was partially psychologically absorbed by Unit 02, psychologically and mentally injured by this, institutionalized, abandoned by her shit USian husband Langley who remarried to her LEAD DOCTOR, and eventual kills herself in a hanging which Asuka either is the first to discover or, given her memories of promising to die with her/begging her not to do it, was present for. An important thing to note about this: Shinji and Asuka’s ability to sync with their Evas comes from the fact that their mothers are PART of their Eva’s identity, and all of their classmates are potential pilot-candidates. The implication here is that Seele KNEW this happened when you put adults into an Angel, and they KEPT DOING IT ANYWAY to create more pilots, but there’s no confirmation of that in series.

After the attempt at human adult control fails, Gendo combines Yui’s DNA with Adam’s and creates Rei. At the same time he is doing this another team, under Akagi Naoko, is developing Magi, a biomechanical computer for simulating the human mind(again: certain implication to this re: Evas though the series never says anything). Naoko is romantically interested in Gendo, and they start getting together(Gendo’s too much of an asshole to be said to date, I think). After Rei, a toddler, tells her Gendo calls her an “old woman” in private, not realizing this is insulting, Naoko kills her, then kills herself out of shame over having MURDERED A CHILD, and Gehirn is folded into a new organization, NERV, which Gendo is put in charge of. Rei forms the basis of the second attempt at controlling the Evas; child-pilots.

How they use Rei for this I’m not exactly sure. It could be because Rei is cloned from Yui(she easily syncs with Unit 01 before Shinji bonds with it completely), or because she’s part Angel via her Adam element(Kaworu says Angels merge with one another easily and naturally), or it could be they did something with Rei I’s corpse and Unit 00(I dont see how as it seems to require a LIVE pilot). Regardless, she is raised to be the pilot for 00, the prototype. MUCH later, when the rest of the Angels finally decide to come looking for Adam, Shinji is called in, and after his success Asuka(who like Rei and unlike Shinji has been training to pilot her whole life) is called to Nerv headquarters(under Japan, in the “Black Moon”; a second spherical hollow where they found another Angel they call Lilith) too.

Regardless the child-pilots are only a step in Nerv and Seele’s plans, as Rei is ALSO the template for the Dummy Plug system, the final step in complete control of Eva units. To put it simply, the Dummy Plugs are Rei-clones without her personality or memories, and will just do whatever the heck they’re ordered to. At least once during the series(and I’d argue two, possibly three times) Rei dies and is replaced by one of these clones through some process, which involves what looks like a pre 00 Eva’s spine and probably a Magi-like backup, which transfers her personality and memories into the new body.

So what is Nerv? Well it’s hard to say EXACTLY because Gendo is in some sort of conflict with Seele(and I want to keep my watches of End of Evangelion out of this post; to focus entirely on JUST NGE itself) and Nerv IS Gendo, but as the series states repeatedly it’s an attempt to control the future of humanity by controlling what they call “the power of god” which, given that it’s what most distinguishes the “Angels”, is the AT, or “Absolute Terror”, Field. What is the AT Field? It’s a field that can make or unmake any kind of matter or energy from basically nothing, and it also seems to have a strong tie to what you could call the Ego; to desires and sense-of-self. An AT Field gets stronger when the person generating it is experiencing powerful emotions; Confidence, sure, but also Fear, Abandonment, the Will to Live, and Anger.

That last bit is very important. Why? Strong AT Field effects require a powerful emotional motivation in the pilot combined with high sync-rates with the Eva(basically a lobotomized Angel-clone) generating the Field. The three pilots we meet, the Strongest candidates, are all exceedingly traumatized people, and Gendo is the direct cause of the trauma of two of them. At no point in the series is Gendo ever a good father to Shinji, he is CONSTANTLY unreasonable, neglectful, and cruel to him; he’s kinder to Rei but at the same time her loneliness, the state of her “home”, and her lack of self worth shows that he rarely interacts with her outside of missions or explains what’s going on beyond bald facts; and he COMPLETELY ignores Asuka, a deeply lonely child with a history of abandonment and close brushes with death; he even delegates bumping her from the program. This point is important because it’s important to recognize that Gendo is a bad dad on PURPOSE; that he instrumentalizes his bad dadness to traumatize Shinji(and Rei and Asuka, though sadly the series doesn’t focus on them enough for us to see much) as much as he can, because he thinks that trauma, that emotional instability and anger, MAKES SHINJI A MORE USEFUL PILOT; ie lets him generate more powerful AT Fields. This is never said clearly, but it’s clearly what’s going on as forcing Unit 01(and thus Shinji) into awful, heartbreaking, life-threatening situations is vital to his plan. Gendo’s a piece of shit, and I want ppl to recognize just HOW BIG a piece of shit he is, because I feel this powerfully.

And for what? For Power. To be “God”. To get the highest numbers. To generate the MOST Invincible Invincibility Shield. For Ridiculous, Absurd, Childish reasons. For, you know, the same reasons rich and powerful people do all the fucked up shit they do in the real world where giant magic robots thankfully DONT exist.

And how do they plan to do this? Through “Human Instrumentation”, which will literally kill everyone by turning them all into goo.

Metaplot; Or “SHINJI! Don’t Get in that Robot!!”

So, maybe this is just because(as said previously) I’ve been reading NGE Analysis and consuming media which NGE heavily inspired for ~25 years, but I think it’s old hat at this point to note that Neon Genesis Evangelion is ALSO an allegory for becoming an adult, centered on Shinji. However, it’s just really SO on the nose in this, so PERFECT as such a narrative, that I want to run through it real quick. Also: A Cruel Angel’s Thesis is basically a thesis-statement for this series; please check out the lyrics.

So Shinji is living under the guardianship of a teacher(yup: this series even takes a swing at how our society uses schools to warehouse kids so their parents can waste their lives producing “Value” instead of raising them), when the shitty dad that abandoned him decides he has a use for him after all and calls him up.

On meeting with a child he has not seen SINCE HE WAS A TODDLER LITERALLY ABANDONED HIM ON THE STREET WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED he immediately ambushes him with the command that he get in a huge body(that he grow up) to do what? Whatever Gendo tells him to, but specifically: commit acts of violence for Gendo and Seele’s profit. He tells him this will protect people; meanwhile doing it destroys those peoples’ literal homes. The rest of the series is a series of monotonous, incomprehensible “Tests” judging his, and his peers, worthiness for approval and affection on the basis of how well they can use those giant bodies to do what Gendo tells them(so: capitalist work), punctuated by unpredictable, brutal, traumatizing, and physically dangerous events(so: capitalist work). Every friend, and the one lover, he meets, he is placed in unnecessary, destructive competition with and, when they are male, forced to attack and(in the case of the one lover, Kaworu) kill them; this last comment on homophobia is so stark and obvs I don’t even feel like you can CALL it subtext, even IF it plays out over mostly a single episode(honestly this plotline should have been given more time). And all the time they’re doing this, they must ALSO continue going to school and maintaining the front that they’re happy smiley Heroes, completely normal and not traumatized at all, and Nerv and the government that lets them run this city is a great and wonderful organization. Is this not what becoming an adult, over your teens and 20s, feels like?

And then there’s Seele and Nerv. Able to move state governments as they wish, Seele CAUSED Second Impact(Global Warming). By not returning Adam’s remains, they’re CAUSING the Angel attacks on Nerv meant to retrieve them(the threat of Human extinction). The Angels eventually begin trying to communicate and Nerv’s response? Destroy them before they can; blow up the Evas(and their pilots) if they succeed. And to top it all off Seele and Nerv are actually trying to CAUSE the very extinction(Third Impact) they claim to be preventing! Seele and Nerv are just SUCH good metaphors for capitalism in our modern day.

The transwoman reading of Shinji also seems pretty dang strong to me, though I’ll only deal with it shallowly. Shinji is the only “male” of all the pilots. Outside of command and security, most Nerv staff are women. Being an Eva pilot, being Nerv staff, is marked as “feminine”, and Shinji is an Eva pilot; is a Nerv staffer. The body he gets into, Unit 01, acts as a metaphor for the large, imposing, masculine body he’s expected to have as an adult “man”, yet it’s also spiritually his mom -feminine- and his ability to use it is tied DIRECTLY with his ability to “Sync” with that spirit; with his ease and comfort being feminine. Even at the level of mere aesthetics, Shinji’s plugsuit makes him appear to have breasts! Going a bit deeper, he initially relates to the women around him by relating to their gender. He’s most at ease with Rei because of the personality traits she shares with him which, we know from his gender-policing of Misato from earlier in the series, are traits he considers feminine(ie: he doesn’t feel like Misato has them, so he thinks she’s being a woman “wrong” and gets oddly offended by this in a way that really feels more about him than her). Asuka is constantly expressing her frustration with him for not “being a man”, ie, for being “feminine” in her eyes, and he isn’t really bothered by it(her calling him an idiot seems to stick much more firmly). Misato and Shinji establish a modus vevendi when she accepts him as he is, allowing him to do the household chores and to cook; he’s comfortable and happy when accepted into roles his culture considers feminine, while most of the series is him bucking AGAINST the masculinity forced on him by Nerv, his father, and others. Again: this is a very surface-level engagement with the subject, but even at that shallow level I feel like the case for reading Shinji as a transwoman is pretty solid.

Dislikes

It’s not a perfect series by any means of course.

There’s allot of dialogue that’s pure 90s nonsense, though the series mostly includes it only to shoot it down.

Like I said above, I don’t think Rei and Asuka really get the time or attention they deserve. In general the series treatment of women is ...Weird... especially around the issue of sex. It’s really strange; in many ways it’s far better than most anime(spcl from that period) on this. Women are ACTUAL PEOPLE with psychology, opinions, and pasts; they’re allowed to have emotions of their own, and struggles, and to be damn competent; they are independent and their own selves rather than accessories or “prizes” to men. But on the issue of feminine sexuality it just gets suddenly so weird in this very particular old-school misogynist way. Like: it treats women’s attraction and reactions TO relationships as something devoid of and impenetrable to reason, without belittling the emotions(the desire and hurt) behind those reactions. That’s the only way I can describe it, and it’s so strange to see something that is both so insulting and sympathetic at once. Oh, and the Akagis in particular are done super-dirty for seemingly no reason I can see, tho I can guess, and Akagi Ritsuki is CLEARLY a lesbian(possibly bi lesbian) and also Rose Lalonde(srsl; her Deal should have been an unrequited, unspoken crush on Misato. They openly dealt with queerness re: Kaworu and Shinji they could have done it here too).

The Kaworu storyline should have been a series of episodes or even developed from the start with him as another pilot(maybe replace Toji with him), though they’d have to tone down his weirdness, at least at the start. A deeper dive on Shinji’s sexuality(honestly his attraction to Kaworu is SO much more immediate and believable than anything we see with him and Asuka, which there is basically nothing of beyond the ep where they had to do choreography for a fight, and that’s not developed on) would have really been appreciated, and having Kaworu be a bigger part of the series would have facilitated that.

Also honestly the whole series feels a bit rushed? Spcl the second half. Like I said: I haven’t done any followup reading lately, but I remember there being some budget problems or something, so maybe that’s the cause. Ironically it might actl also be why it’s as GOOD as it is; having to keep it short forces you to write concise and lean, and that’s probably why its themes and message are so clear. But, I’d have liked more rambling for character development, and more time spent on seeing Rei and Asuka react to the stresses we saw Shinji face(also they never really get moments to shine like he does; another negative common to the medium and genre). Asuka in particular, as a Japanese German with a USian temperament abandoned by her parents, already an outsider in SO many ways, coming to live in an entirely different culture where she’s even MORE of an outsider; forced to live with people(Misato and Shinji) she finds it impossible to relate to or connect with; who has literally NO ONE beside a single adult guardian who totally blows her off THE WHOLE SERIES after delivering her; PLUS her awful past: there’s just SO MUCH material I’d have loved to see explored more slowly and with greater depth, detail, and sympathy even if what IS there already is pretty powerful and effecting. She’s SUCH a good Vriska(so I’d also have loved to see her break more shit too >:>)

Conclusion

So Anyway: I really liked this series. It had its problems, there are things I’d have liked to see, but it absolutely deserves the reputation it has. I might write more about this, I might do a watch through INCLUDING End of Evangelion(which actl makes much more sense having watched the series, though having done so makes Shinji’s masturbation scene comPLETELY out of left-field like where the hell did THAT come from); we’ll see.

[burnsopale]

Pictured: three tired boys breaking into pieces.

I was gonna wait until we actually reached lake Baikal, but I’m impatient, so let’s start the final part of my little series about these three disasters.

In the last post I talked about how Kai, Rai and Johnny are similar. Now I want to talk about how their similar fates will mean something different for each of them.

To recap, all three boys are highly sensitive and emotional, but too proud to dare be vulnerable, and so they hide behind more aggressive behaviour; Kai is antisocial, Johnny is sarcastic and cruel, and Rai is ANGRY. All three spend canon dealing with a big change in their lives (his name is Takao), but they are locked in their self-denial, so they resist the change furiously until they exhaust themselves and reach a crisis point where their armour is shattered and they stand revealed as who they truly are.

Or at least, Rai and Kai get that, Johnny almost gets there, but the arc ends before he can really reach it. He would have, though. Remember, Ralf, arguably the main antagonist of the arc, accepts the existence of the power of friendship before he even steps up to battle Takao. Johnny on the other hand never says out loud that he’s on board with the new regime. So for the images above, I could have chosen Johnny’s flinch after Ralf lost, where he’s got the same pinched expression and bared teeth as the other two, but in his case, it’s his moment of quiet distress in the garden that gives us the clearest glimpse behind the armour.

So they are similar, but the beauty of Bakuten Shoot Beyblade is the level of detail these characters get at their best. All three boys are facing an authority that demand they submit, but giving in will mean something different for each boy.

(Oh no, Judin’s getting horny again.)

(She’s not sorry, though.)

Rai’s case is fascinating because he is an alpha who, more than the other two, is forced to submit. He resists until he breaks, and then Rei overwhelms him with massive power. It’s a benevolent destruction, meant to tear down Rai’s walls and show him a better path, but it’s also a horrible humiliation. Don’t forget that Rai has to deliberately control his temper before he can congratulate Rei.

Remember also that it was Rai’s ambition to be chief, and for a little while that was his future, and now, while he will not have to live with being an imposter chief, the chief who was not chosen, he will have to live with having been the Almost Usurper. Rei and Rai will both be “the redeemed boy” of the tribe, except Rei is pure and blameless, while Rai is blackened and tainted by what he did.

Yes, this is all terribly dramatic, but that’s kinda the point; Rai is dramatic. Rai, Johnny and Kai are so proud that every little embarrassment is excruciating, and this embarrassment was not little.

So it is my belief that for Rai, submission to Rei will never be easy. First of all because his submission was forced; he is part of the clan, Rei is Byakko’s chosen chief of the clan, Rai has no choice but to submit; he tried to resist once and Rei showed him his place. Secondly, Rai is himself an alpha, used to being the dominating personality in all his relationships except with Rei.

And yeah okay we’re getting dangerously close to AlphaOmega fanfic territory here, but they’re friggin cat-people, so the terminology works, and anyway, not every character in this story is dominant or submissive. Max, for instance, can be either or neither. I’ve used him before as the example of a boy who accepts himself completely, emotions, weaknesses and all, and that makes him strong and adaptable, able to withstand for instance the realisation that his mom is a terrible mother. He can blend in with any group of people and do just fine; after all, his element is water.

I obviously have no idea how Rai deals with Rei returning in G-Rev, but looking strictly at season 1, I see a Rai who will always struggle to take orders from Rei, though he will do it for the sake of duty, and because he knows his reluctance comes from his own pride and shame, not from any fault of Rei’s, and really that just adds to his pain. Even leading the Chinese blading team is something Rai will know he is only doing until Rei decides to join them. Then he will have to step down.

ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO, ANYBODY ELSE FEELING A CREEPING DREAD? *sweats* Well buckle up cause it’s about to get hornier.

Next is Johnny. The funny thing is that where Rai is an alpha forced to submit, Johnny only thinks he’s an alpha, and submission actually comes very natural to him. Once he met Ralf anyway. AND YES I SHIP THEM PUT DOWN THE PITCHFORKS. I like to think I ship them because they have this dynamic, and not that I give them this dynamic because I ship them.

Part of Johnny’s problem is that he’s a soft boy who thinks he needs to be a swaggering macho male. He keeps tripping himself up because his natural instinct is to curl up in the safety of Ralf’s authority, which means he’s always doing what Ralf tells him to in the hope that senpai will notice him and give him the affirmation he needs. Remember my argument that Johnny bases his self-worth on his wealth, status and blading skills, all of which Takao is teaching him means nothing, leaving him with precious little; he is in desperate need of someone to tell him he is good enough even without these things. His loud complaining is both a front he puts up, his armour, and the way he expresses his fear of where this train is hurtling. Highly sensitive people are not good at accepting change, and Takao introduces change about as gently as a hurricane.

Unfortunately, the one who Johnny is looking to for affirmation is a guy who has no interpersonal skills whatsoever, and Johnny can’t really look elsewhere because of a little thing that Saint-Exupéry talks about in The Little Prince, when the Prince meets a fox who asks the boy to tame him:

“"I am looking for friends. What does that mean--'tame'?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties."

"'To establish ties'?"

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world..."

...

But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow.”

By giving Johnny his first major defeat, Ralf has tamed him, and, as Saint-Exupery goes on to say: “You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.”

Unfortunately, as before mentioned, Ralf is UTTERLY OBLIVIOUS to this thing having happened. He’s a stork what can I say. At best he has an instinctual sense of Johnny, Giancarlo and Olivier being “his people” now, which for instance allows him to casually dismiss Johnny’s very reasonable request TO BE ALLOWED TO GO HOME.

Ralf is the type who rules with complete authority. He’s a stone wall as far as negotiations go. Not that he can’t change his mind or see the sense in an argument (Again, he accepts the power of friendship when he sees it in action), but only if he is Wrong. This is like the one thing that keeps him from being a straight up villain. In all other ways he is unbendable, which also leaves Johnny’s attempts at asserting dominance hilariously ineffective.

For Johnny, his final submission to Ralf would mean he had reached self-acceptance, and it would give him safety and comfort, and I think Ralf, once he learns how to act like a human being, will grow into his role as Johnny’s Captain.

Though I admit that this, more than with Kai and Rai, is my own interpretation of Johnny’s character, since we don’t get his full arc. And he is not like this at all in the manga, but that’s a separate canon.

Again, if you think this is all very ... well, horny of me, I’m not saying all relationship work this way. Again, Kai defeating Max in battle did not mean Max is now tamed, because Max does not work that way. If he ever allows himself to be tamed, it will be his choice.

Takao, and shounen anime protagonists in general, tend to tame everyone they meet, and some people take it in stride, while others become their devoted followers or obsessed rivals.

Kai was very much tamed by Takao, but since he doesn’t respect Takao or think much of his abilities as a blader, Kai is able to shrug their bond off at first.

At first.

But I’ll come back to Kai if we ever get through episode 45.

[mc-doppomine]

Day 19 Bonus: Buster Bros!!! vs Dotsutaire Honpo

I’m gonna start with the music this time because just writing like one of the story/character bit...was taking a while. So in terms of music...I have to give it over to the Buster Bros. With their individual albums, it just got so much better for the Buster Bros as they’re becoming more distinct with their personality in their sound. Like Break the Wall is one of my top solos and y’all just unfortunate that Saburo used like one of the classical pieces I thought fucking slapped even before he messed with it. And I’m so happy for them. 

DH has a bit of a disadvantage of being a new group and thus having less to compare. But so far....eh. I think DH is very hit or miss for me. Like Matenrou, they have such differing talents and subject matters that it either turns into a strange symphony or some mishmash that just makes it eh. Which is generally my feeling with their group songs as I really love Ah, Osaka Dreaming Night but I am not impressed with Wara Osaka. And I am okay with their solo songs but to be fair to them, a lot of the songs I prefer for the already established group was their second solo, not the first, which is their introductory ones. 

As for Joy for Struggle, yeah, Buster Bros took that for me. DH I get is supposed to be more carefree than a lot of the other teams that are a bit more serious but I think that attitude really bit them in the ass for this battle. And BB did not have time to be playing around. I thought Saburo had more confidence this time and let that truly nasty attitude leave some spikes behind. Saburo really was like ‘How many times we gotta teach you this lesson, old man?!’ Jiro actually had some good retorts! I’m so sorry, I love him I swear but he had so much to grow in terms of coming with bite and it’s starting to show! The chihuahua vs tiger comparison! And while I do appreciate that Rosho and Sasara stay true in their manzai act...it really just didn’t land for me in the battle and Jiro and Saburo were quick to gnaw at it. 

And then...there’s the verse against Ichiro. I won’t say they stick with me as well as War War War but quite frankly Ichiro vs Sasara and later Rei are more of a battle of ideals. And to me, Ichiro poured more into his than those two. Because Rei’s were just belittling the boys because they’re younger and like they went down some wrong path. Both Saburo and Ichiro weren’t having any of that. Like who the fuck are you to step in and tell us off? At least MTC were more of like ‘come back when you’re more polished.’ And with Sasara, I think Ichiro delivered the line that is my entire thing with this battle: ‘Floaty words like that won’t sting us at all.’ I feel like DH lacked enough bite against BB and it shows. The only real bite back is from Rei and even he doesn’t seem to have that much that actually phased BB in my opinion. 

In terms of story/character wise...it’s really hard to make a decision. Because for all the teams, it’s really a matter of the dynamics against the others. And DH have it so stacked for them just because of Rei. Sure, I may not like him but he is very interesting in terms of being a vehicle for developments to happen. He seems to know a lot of things and people so he becomes such a presence that could tempt so many things into happening. Like if it was DH vs FP, he knows the fuck about Ramuda! He fucking made him! And I have little doubt it was him on the phone with Ramuda in Catch Us If You Can drama track. And at the end of the previous DRB...at least what sticks out in my mind and I may have to double check but I think he mentioned some interest in Ramuda after telling about how the true hypnosis mic being used would’ve shot Chuuoku in the foot. Also added to that, Rei likely knows Gentaro. For what reason? We don’t quite know but it can be assumed it’s because he’s doing something for Gentaro. Either looking into Ramuda since the ‘legal’ way wasn’t reaping anything or if Gentaro is hiding something, then Rei might be helping him hide it. Also also, Rei is one of the few rappers that know who Dice is! He and Otome were talking about their kids! That’s HUGE since Dice hasn’t told anyone about this aspect of his life. Rei alone would make such a juggernaut for FP.

I honestly can’t think of anything for DH vs BAT, sorry. They don’t seem to have any history besides Kuko and Sasara both being in MCD for a time...but I don’t recall that time really being elaborated on soooooo yeah.

If it were DH vs MTC, that’s more of a dynamic between Sasara and Samatoki. Which I think would be the time to figure things out between them. Because Samatoki was left with why and never got an answer. And seeing him again, Sasara can’t run away. He can try but pretty sure that Samatoki could outrun him. It also would be a time of like Sasara’s dynamic between the two men that have been his partners, Samatoki and Rosho. The people that were close to Sasara and whom he feels the most towards. I honestly can’t think of much else besides that but I’m sure KR will find a way to have the guys piss each other off. I’m just here for SamaSasa and SasaRo shenanigans. (I guess we could see if Rio does know Rei since in theory he SHOULD know who he is since it sounds like the hypmic was in development when Rio was serving and he tested some aspect of it).

I think DH vs MTR would be kinda funny. Like for some reason I think that Sasara and Rosho would get really fucking mad at how Hifumi and Doppo just naturally have that manzai energy by virtue of being best friends and roommates. I have personal experience of people being like ‘this IS a show’ of just watching and listening to me and my best friend and roommate just going back and forth. I feel like it’d just be so damn funny if it was over something not as serious I guess? But then that’d all be ruined because I feel like Rei would either expose to Hifumi and Doppo of Jakurai’s cooperation with Chuuoku, which while they don’t have any personal reason to really hate Chuuoku, wouldn’t feel comfortable with it either. Or. OR, my god, let him expose Jakurai’s assassin past, something he seems to feel nothing but shame for and also ruining his perfect image. Because Rei just seems like he’d be willing to do that. 

So yeah, a lot of drama that could happen because of frickin’ Rei and some loose ends to deal with from Sasara. By comparison, BB has some things but they wouldn’t be as dire as DH’s. Like with BB vs BAT, this could be the chance for Ichiro to get his answers from Kuko. He never got an answer either. He was left with heartbreak and never given the why. And Kuko either has rationalized or will be in for a rude awakening having to go head on with Ichiro. Because they were close. Kuko had to care about Ichiro in some capacity to willingly help some group he knew was sketch and didn’t like. Why did that change? He had to have meditated on this at some point! Meanwhile, I really hope that Jiro and Jyushi and Kuko can get along if the reconciliation with Ichiro doesn’t happen! They’d be such an eclectic group but would be so much trouble too! (And please let Jiro and Jyushi play together. Ever since someone wrote about it, it lives in my head rent free) I really am hoping for it. All the while, Hitoya is like ‘shit, now I gotta adopt MORE kids. Why are there so many of these little shits running around without supervision???’ 

I can’t think of much for BB vs FP since I just don’t see their circles running that close and it just didn’t feel like Ichiro was close to Ramuda even back with TDD. Most I can think of is Jiro, who is also pretty thoughtless, saying the wrong thing to Gentaro and it’s The Rivalry 2.0. But overall can’t think of anything too specific. 

It’d hurt me if it was BB vs MTR. Because for some reason I see that most of MTR treat the BB like their little siblings and in Jakurai’s case, it’s like going to go fight his kids (I will go down on the hill of occasional dadkurai shenanigans!). And while Saburo and Jiro have and still do make fun of Doppo, I think he also has their respect because he looks out for them in a different way but still same energy as Ichiro does. Probably because he is an older brother. I don’t really think any of the guys can say anything to bother Hifumi and it’s more of Hifumi being fucking thoughtless and saying the wrong thing. I feel like he’d piss off Saburo somehow. And with Jakurai and Ichiro...it’s a ‘nothing personal, just business’ although I think Jakurai would be proud of Ichiro either way.

And then there’s just rematch energy if it’s BB vs MTC. Honestly? The real thing I would love to see from if this happened is for Jiro and Saburo to have a reevaluation of MTC. Because the main reason they were so aggressive and hostile towards them is because of Ichiro’s grudge with Samatoki. They just took it as ‘if they’re Ichi-nii’s enemy, they’re our enemy.’ But since they’re taking this step of coming on their own, they also need to think about if they can still dislike these guys because Ichiro’s beef isn’t theirs. I mean, Jiro probably still doesn’t like Jyuto because he’s a delinquent and fuck cops y’know sorta rebelliousness. And I don’t think Saburo particularly dislikes Rio and vice versa. The thing with Ichiro and Samatoki is honestly secondary to this. And I feel would be the time for Samatoki to let go since he KNOWS now that it wasn’t Ichiro that got Nemu to leave but Ramuda but it’s a matter of if his pride would allow him. And Ichiro would have to realize that while he lost their fight...he won in the end since he’s the one that kept his brothers while Samatoki lost Nemu. He’s gotta feel for him and understand why Samatoki was/is mad at him. (Also long shot but if they could talk about how Samatoki also exacerbated his hesitance to trust others, that’d be greeeeaaattttt).

So yeah, I’ve thought about how these dynamics and things and you’d think weighing them all would make this choice easy. And it is. In a way. Because for me, I’d choose Buster Bros. I do like Sasara a lot and Rosho I think is fine but their third really sours for me. I know some can keep that bias aside and look, I did talk about what all he can do...but he alone can’t carry the sound for the team. Story, sure, but not the music. While I really would like some of the threads that Rei brings...it’s not completely impossible for him to still be around if any of the other teams do advance. I mean, they’re all the only men stuck in Chuuoku for the time of the DRB and having to pass each other while going to their own rooms or box seating. He has ways. So yeah, if I had voted on DH vs BB, this is what I would’ve gone with.

[rawsanma]

In Memoriam of "Shin Evangelion: Curse"

*The following article contains a full spoiler for "Evangelion 3.0+1.0".*

I sat together with a person who was not in birth when EOE was released, and after watching the film we talked a bit and thought about the people who passed away without ever seeing this. I understand that fans from the old series and those who came from the new series may have very different perceptions of Shin-Eva. So I'd like to first correct a few things I said in my first impressions.

It may be somewhere between an honorable movie and a mediocre movie in general, but as Evangelion, it's garbage.

After about halfway through the two hours and thirty-five minutes, I started to look at my watch again and again. The double ending, which is both a personal novel and a product, was a fleeting fantasy, and the two songs "One Last Kiss" and "beautiful world (da capo ver.)" were not used effectively in relation to the story, only being played in the staff roll.

When I saw the first 10 minutes of the movie that was released last year, I thought that perhaps Paris was chosen as the setting for the story of "humanity fighting together in the face of destruction" or "the expansion of the Eva world (not G Gundam, but G Eva!)", but that was not the case at all. He just wanted to depict the battle using the Eiffel Tower as a FATALITY,　I realized that he hadn't made a single millimeter of progress since when he asked Hayao Miyazaki if I could film only this action scene of Her Highness Kushana in the re-animation of Nausicaa, he was scolded, "That's why you're no good!"

At the beginning of the film, they try to carefully describe the things behind the scenes that were not told in Eva Q.  The third Ayanami like the TV version is the main character, and they go on and on about living in the countryside, copying "My Neighbor Totoro". The large family of our parent's home that we go back to during the summer vacation is presented as an image of happiness in life and a decent human being. It is also connected to Gendou's narrative during the Human Instrumentality Project but isn't it too Showa-era and too simple a solution? I am interested in how the young fans who are children of nuclear families who left their large families in the countryside and moved to the city saw the too sudden depiction of "life in the countryside". It was almost a gag to see Ayanami walking around in a plug suit which is a sexual orientation that has manifested itself after Space Battleship Yamato, in the images of pre and post-war farming villages depicted by recent NHK morning dramas. The director, influenced by his wife, must have been immersed in the LOHAS and vegan lifestyle as a fashion statement, which is only possible because he is an urbanite with too much stuff and too much money. As for this theme, it has already been presented in the watermelon field scene in the second film, and it is merely a re-presentation of the same theme in a diluted form.

I've pointed out before that Eva Q is "a crack in reality because of the loss of reality to rely on. "It's rude not to eat what you're served!", Shinji was scolded by Touji's father, who looked like a subversion of Hayao Miyazaki's work (Gedo Senki!). I have a simple question, how can the interior of a house become so old and wretched after only 14 years? How can a community of people of all ages be formed in just 14 years?　There was a line that implied that Touji had killed someone for the village, and it is possible that the director had extremely beautified the "Showa era" as a sanctuary where people who are hurt and regret their committing murder during the war as a soldier live nearby, and when he opened the last drawer after using up all the materials, he found the image of the original landscape of his childhood.

Misato and Kaji's child, which is only described for a few minutes, is also abrupt, and I don't feel that it is more than a plot device for the purpose of staging the reconciliation with Shinji later on. Some people seem to be moved by the fact that "behind Misato's cold attitude towards Shinji in Q, there was such a conflict in her mind," but it's the opposite. All the answers are just excuses after wasting nine years of work. Even if the wounds healed and treated with a gentle "I'm sorry," after being beaten severely by a raging DV husband, the fact of the beating would not disappear, and the wife would feel nothing but fear at the sudden change in her husband. To a situation that he had set to minus 100, he spent 2 hours and 35 minutes gradually pouring water drawn from other places and past works to bring it back to zero...I've never seen such a horrible match pump. Well, now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I've seen this before.

The relationship between Eva Q and Shin Eva is very similar to the relationship between "The Last Jedi" and "The rise of Skywalker" in Star Wars. In a self-absorbed rampage of conjecture that did not listen to the opinions of others, the historical stage of the series that had been built up was turned into a mess, and then the destroyed story was carefully built up again from the ground using unnecessary length, and only the shape of the story was created to end it without being disgraceful, and every scene that tries to make things more exciting is a copy of past work. As for Star Wars, since 8 and 9 were directed by different directors, I was able to settle my feelings of resentment towards Ryan and gratitude towards Abrams, respectively, but as for Evangelion, the director looks like a child who has been proud to clean up his own mess and have his female cronies praise and pat him on the head. Moreover, what kind of sympathy do you expect when you are told to "I'll make amends" for the mere act of wiping your ass after defecating, in a cool, Showa-era chivalrous tone?

In this film, as a recovery from Q and a summary of new Eva, there are elements throughout the story that critics can easily relate to the old Eva. “Oh, I can talk about this in connection with that!” This is what gives them a good impression and it has nothing to do with how the old fans perceive it. The director seems to have a dedicated person in charge of communicating and negotiating with the outside, but now he wants the critics to communicate with the fans about Shin-Eva. As long as he doesn't speak for himself, he can correct their interpretations later based on the "misunderstandings" of the people in between himself and his fans. This is a very Japanese-style system of surmising feelings, a system of authority that is formed when only a limited number of cronies are informed of the true intentions of the president. If I talk about it in too much detail, right-winged Yakuza will show up very soon, so to make it short, it is an indigenous control structure unique to Japan that originated from the "Mikado behind the bamboo blind". This time the director was very conscious of that, and I was able to see that Eva, who was a challenger, has become an authority that does not tolerate any criticism.

And what fan from the past could enjoy watching the endless battle scenes after Shinji returns to Wunder in the middle of the film? One after another, the sister ships of Wunder appear--there's almost no difference in appearance, but Ritsuko is able to guess their names the moment they appear. Right after the line "I'm pretty sure there's a fourth ship," the fourth ship comes crashing upon them from underneath, with no intention other than to make us laugh, right? As well as the repeated tenseless bombardment fight with no description of damage no matter how many artillery shells are hit, and it's quite painful being poured Asuka and Mari's Me-Strong Battles which are already enough by the time of Q, continuously down my throat like a goose with a funnel in its mouth. There's no way to synchronize my feelings with the screen, and it just creates an atmosphere as if the story is going on with the unattractive super-robot action that I pointed out in Q. It's no use pointing out, but the repair and supply problems of Wille side in a world where the industry has been destroyed were shown in the farming village part, though it was inadequate. But those of NERV side, an organization of only a man and an old man, was completely thrown away.

The last part of the story about the Human Instrumentality Project is like a fanzine where Gendou, Asuka, Kaworu, and Rei are lined up in a row and complemented in turn and then dismissed, whereas EOE was a total complement through Shinji. The director has tried to upgrade his framework by borrowing them from EOE and has failed miserably. Someone who has created works by putting his emotion and flair into a copy has dabbled in copying his own work. As a result, he had to confront his own sensibilities from when he was young and had to compare the old and the new by his old audience. Frankly speaking, only the techniques have been traced, the sound and the screen have become gorgeous, but the emotion and the sense have deteriorated. The face of the giant Ayanami that was replaced with a live-action one -- probably based on the face acting of Shinji's voice actor, and the "untested ordeal" of her tweet means this -- appears in the background like a gold folding screen in the high sand at a Japanese wedding reception. You're getting tired of all this, and you're not making it seriously, are you? The battle between Eva Unit01 and Eva Unit13 in Tokyo-III, which I expressed my anxiety about before the film's release, is a scene where the company's CG team can't produce what the director expects and he is so frustrated that he has the same mindset as in the final two episodes of the TV version, "I'd rather get a minus than a red", and after that, it became like a gag scene, including Eva fights in Misato's apartment and Shinji's school classroom, as if he was staged them in desperation. The side-shooting screenshot of the little Wunder charging at the head of the giant Ayanami is a picture of ”Cho Aniki (Japanese STG)” itself, and it's also meant to be funny, right? It's a series of loose, sloppy, and tenseless scenes that can't be compared to EOE.

What the hell have the CG team been doing for the past nine years, getting paid with no progress and making Eva look like an outdated piece of crap? Didn't anyone have the chivalrous spirit of the Showa era like "Don't embarrass our boss!"? Don't be so relieved when you get the green light! The director has just given up on you! There were a few scenes where the person at the top of the editing and collage, who has been making the coolest pictures, was not given as much good material as he used to be and seemed to make desperate staging in a way that he would never have given the green light in the past. It's been more than 10 years since Xapa was established, but I guess they don't have enough talent to meet the director's vision. Perhaps because of this, the conclusion of the film is exactly the same as the old one, that the director has no choice but to use his personal feelings to finish Eva, but the film ends up being a self-imitation of "Sincerely Yours". It is sad to see a person who "surpasses the original by putting his heart and soul into the copy" start to copy his own past works on the big screen of the theater, because he has become a big name in the animation world after reaching the age of 60, and there are no others left to be copied. However, right after "Komm, süsser Tod" started playing in the old movie, the scene where the titles of each episode and the reverse side of Cels were played in succession was projected on the wall of the studio using a projector -- the title of the new movie was added.  It made me mad and thought, "Don't touch my EOE with the dirty hands of the merchant.  I'll kill you."

The last things that the man who "transfers his own life onto films" presented in his costly self-published private novel were a naked confession of his own mental history up to the point where he met his wife, which he temporarily entrusted to Gendou, and the words "I think I loved you" and "I loved you" exchanged between himself and the former lover who could not be together and themselves who had separate spouses, just a reckoning of the muddled love affair that existed behind the scenes of EOE. I half-jokingly said that the distance between the director and Asuka's voice actor was important for the end of Eva, but it turned out to be true in a different way. During the recording session, Asuka's voice actor was told by the director, "I'm glad Miyamura is Asuka," which sent chills down my spine as it conveyed the horror of a creator who doesn't hide everything about his life and relationships and uses them to create his works.

In the scene where Shinji says "I liked you too" to the adult Asuka, who is wearing a tight latex suit and drawn in a more realistic character design (making us aware of the cosplay by Asuka's voice actor), while she is lying on the EOE beach, I thought "You guys should do this in a coffee shop or something between recording sessions! Don't make us watch middle-aged man and woman having unpleasant conversations on the big screen of the theater!", I almost screamed out. I think that's the scary part, the director's one-sided love for Asuka's voice actor is falsified by having the character say that she liked him, as if it was a mutual love. The director's statement at the beginning of the pamphlet says that he started working on the sequel right after Evangelion 2.0 without hesitation, using the worldview of "Q". I'm not trying to quote the line "You can change the reality you don't like by getting on Eva.", but it's not as if he's trying to cover up the fact, but he really believes that using his strong imagery, and it made me feel a bit chilly that there was no one around to correct his misconceptions.

At the end of Human Instrumentality Project, I wondered if the fact that a senior member of the movie industry had praised the shooting of EOE by flipping Cels over as a "tremendous deconstruction" was still fresh in his mind. This time, too, it was postponed after postponement, and even though the makings have been done in time, he showed the other side of the production with line drawings and roughs. The reason it was so innovative was that it was the first time anyone had tried it then, and now, 25 years later, it's just a rut. It's disgusting that everyone is praising the master's strange drawing habit and saying, "Oh yeah, that's it, that's it." As I've said before, it's like "defecating in a sixty-nine," which was successful because the first partner happened to be a scatologist. The expression of EOE was sharp and ”Rock’n’‐roll”, but Shin-Eva's "fun of anime images" has gone into the realm of traditional art, like slow "Gagaku".

The director hadn't decided who Mari Makinami was for a long time -- he was so indifferent to her that he threw the actor's acting plan to a sub-director -- but with Shin-Eva, he's changed her into an equal to Moyoco Anno, his wife. In other words, the flashy battle in the middle of the film, which is unimportant to many viewers, is revealed to have been a very pleasant pretend play for the director, in which he has his former love and his current wife fight on his favorite robots. Once again, we are shown the director's so-what-attitude, which has not progressed even a millimeter since "I'm an asshole," and which he can complete his work only by masturbation. So it's no wonder that they couldn't depict the extremely simple catharsis of Shinji's great success with Eva Unit01, which is what most of the old fans want. Because a robot with a pathetic old man on board can't get an erection due to impotence, let alone masturbation!　Oops, excuse me, sir.

And as I said before, it's time to realize that the English language has become so popular in Japan that it's become lame. You use Infinity, Another, Additional, Advanced, Commodity, and Imaginary, just because it sounds cool to you, right?　Everyone criticized the naming "Final Impact", but I never thought I'd see the time when I'd faint from the lack of taste and coolness in Evangelion, such as Another Impact, Additional Impact.

And the ending, with the wedding report in a live-action aerial shot of the director's hometown, newbie fans are screaming that it is like, "They're doing a very positive version of the old "Return to Reality!". But I felt it was too empty and cynical because it was intended to be read that way by the director. It depicts only the elation of marriage, and the pain of getting along with a partner and his or her family with different values is cut off (well, maybe Q was expressing the hardship of married life......). But isn't the emotional weight of a marriage report much higher when you meet your partner's parents?　The fact that he ended the movie by showing his own hometown instead of his wife's hometown leaves me with the impression that he's definitively an egotistical geek through and through. "You may have graduated from a good university and are making good money in the city, but if you're not married and don't have children, aren't you somehow humanly flawed?" After 25 years, Evangelion, which was such a forward-thinking Sci-Fi, is now completely in sync with the earthly ethics of Showa-era's farmers and farm horses. "I got married and it saved my life. I don't know about you, but why don't you try?" You can think what you want, but if you want to convey it as a message of salvation, you have to express it in the content of your work, not in your own talk.

I've been married for 20 years, I have two children, both of whom are about to reach the age of adulthood, I've paid off the mortgage on my home, and I'm finally at the end of raising my children, but all of that is just an outer shell of a social skin that has nothing to do with my true nature or where my soul is! There's no connection between what kind of life an individual lives in the real world and the Sci-Fi sense of wonder, in fact, there shouldn't be any connection! If you're a science fiction fan, take a page from the great Arthur C. Clarke! I was a nerd with a negative value of 100, but when I got married, I gradually poured the "common-sense values" of the Showa era into myself, and now I'm a true man with no negative value? Don't write such pathetic fiction proudly! Listen, what you presented to the audience at the end was the same thing that someone would say to you, "You seedless stallion!" It's the same kind of unethical and vulgar message that you shouldn't be giving! The old Eva became a classic of Japanimation, and no one was able to properly scold you, or you keep away those who tried, and the result of this is directly reflected in the ending of Shin Eva!　You've reached your 60th birthday and you only have such poor social common sense, damn it!

I'm sorry, I was so excited that I lost my control a little bit, just a little bit. I think the director is relying a little too much on his wife, who is ultimately a stranger on, to be his laison d'etre (lol). If they were to break up in the future, it would certainly be the soil for the next Eva, the content and development of which is completely predictable, but that is no longer my concern. I wonder if his wife doesn't like the fact that he's mentally dependent on her like this, and that it's being shown on screens all over the country. If it were me, I'd be furious, but since she's a creator, I guess she understands how he feels. Ignoring the other person's feelings and continuing to force what he believes to be love on her, thinking that it will make her happy, seems to me that there has been no progress at all since the way he treated his girlfriend 25 years ago. The person I want to hear from the most right now is not the self-proclaimed Eva fans who are looking at each other from the side and giving positive feedback in celebration of the final episode, but his wife. If the director had a child, he would not have been able to distinguish between his own ego and that of the child, and would have doted on his child, making a documentary film about his or her growth, but would most likely have turned into a controlling and poisonous parent in his or her adolescence. And he animated his feelings for his child who was rebelling against him, without the child's permission, considering it as a one-sided redemption for the child, and the child who was exposed to the whole country about their home life would have distanced from his father more and more.

In the end, Evangelion did not become a product like Gundam, but rather a robot animation that was the director's weird personal novel. The repeated use of the word "job" in the film has stuck in my mind, but in order for the studio to survive, it had to make Evangelion a product in this new series, and I'm sure that was the initial motivation behind the production of these new films. Your real "job" was to make Evangelion the same as Gundam, to protect the people who came to you because they loved Evangelion. Years from now, I can see a future where Xapa will be like Ghibli, behead the staff and continue as a copyright management company. The director, who didn't want to be embarrassed as a creator by a new challenge adopted the safe way -- I can't believe that I have to use the word "safe" for Evangelion -- to end the new series that relied on EOE only for himself, not for the future of the people who came to admire him. That's what Shin Evangelion is all about.

The good part? The fact that he didn't bring Shin Ultraman trailer at the end of the film makes me think he has grown up a bit. If you're declaring "Farewell, All Evangelions" with the intention of hurting, disappointing, and disinterested old fans like me, then your malice is unfathomable, and that's quite a feat. Brilliantly, your intentions have permanently killed a part of me that used to be an Eva fan.

As horrifying as it is to imagine, it must have crossed the director's mind to reschedule the film and set a new release date for March 11. The only reason he didn't do so is not that he has grown up to be a sensible adult, but rather because the idea of linking Evangelion 3.0 with the Great East Japan Earthquake was a fact that is too painful for him to make it public.

Ten years ago today, many lives were lost and Evangelion was destroyed.

This fact will never disappear, no matter how much the director denies and covers up with the "true" history. If there is any mission left for me as a fan, it is to continue to pass on this fact to future generations as a storyteller. It is a huge loss for Japanese fiction that the end of the great Evangelion has become a self-recovery work of the great failure of the reboot affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and that the potential of the great Evangelion has been consumed by the self-defense of someone who cannot admit his own mistakes, and I sincerely regret it. Shin Evangelion will be forever cursed by the dead, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0, and the living, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0.

This curse will be completed when it spreads, arrives, and is burned by the powers that be as a false history. I pray that my thoughts will reach him!

[deafblindshorty]

New Resistance Headcanons

So, I made a few posts of headcanons for Star Wars Resistance characters. However, I made those before the series ended and before TROS came out. Now that the both series are over, and we got to know the characters better, I thought of new ones!

Kazuda Xiono:

CB-23 helped Kaz through the loss of Hosnian Prime and PTSD. He didn’t want to give the FO the satisfaction of being broken emotionally, which is why he’s his normal, cheerful self in seaosn 2 (and TROS, apparently)!

When he was little, he wanted to be like his father, that is, until he attended a sky race. Since then, he has wanted to be a racer.

His squadmates from the premiere (Hugh Sion and Mia Gabon) had been his best friends since childhood.

He had every hologame ever created

He never wanted to go to military school. In fact, he did everything he could to get himself expelled. But, when he found out his father was pulling strings to keep him there, he gave in and started behaving better.

He was in his first year of military school when the napkin bombing (In the Bloodline novel) happened. When he heard about it, he freaked out and was really worried about his parents. When he heard that Leia saved all the senators, that’s when he began to admire her. That admiration didn’t fade when he found out she is the daughter of Darth Vader. Of course, his father didn’t agree with him, in fact, they got into a shouting match, which ended with Senator Xiono smacking Kaz across the face and grounding him for an entire season.

Wedge Antilles was Kaz’s flight instructor. He told Kaz stories of the Rebellion, which got Kaz interested in joining the Resistance.

He has gone on a few dates, but the girls he dated were only with him because he was rich or because they felt sorry for him.

He’s actually pretty smart when it comes to academics. He got the scar on the side of his head from a training accident. He tripped and fell onto a sharp ledge and had to have surgery. The injury affected his mobility, which is why he’s so clumsy.

He is (was?) close to his mother, who loves him and supports him in everything he does.

He had a nanny droid who was like a second mother to him.

His mother would take him to the Hanging Gardens and lunch at the cafe there, and Kaz secretly loved it.

He thought about starting a family when he was good and ready, and vows never to treat his children the same way his father treated him.

He has only been drunk once. He stumbled around town and broke into a store and made out with a mannequin. Since then, he vowed never to drink more than one glass per week.

He hated attending Senate dinners and banquets, but, in order to please his father, he kept still and hid his emotions behind a smile.

His only other language is binary, but he picked up a few languages after being on the Colossus.

He often imagined telling Tam, Neeku, and Torra the truth about why he was on the Colossus. Deep down, he knew that Neeku probably would have told the entire station within the hour, and Tam would have turned him in the first chance she got.

After Torra told him she knew he was in the Navy, he was secretly relieved that at least one person besides Yeager knows some truth about who he is. He would tell Torra stories about the Navy and Hosnian Prime. He promised her he would take her there someday.

He started to develop a crush on Torra, but instantly shook off those feelings when he found out how old (well, young) she is. If he pursued her, then Doza would kill him slowly and painfully.

He had nightmares about the Hosnian Cataclysm. Every time he’d close his eyes, he saw Hosnian Prime being destroyed.

He hid his grief for his home and his family and friends from everyone. In private he would sob his eyes out while clutching his lucky trophy like a lifeline, but otherwise, he’d put on a smile. Yeager and Torra know he’s lying, but decided to let him grieve his own way.

He bears no ill will towards the Resistance for not coming to their aid or failing to save the Hosnian System. Instead, he’s grateful they saved his life by recruiting him.

He feels bad about doubting Captain Doza, and even worse when he found out his wife is in the Resistance.

On their way to their missions, Poe would tell Kaz of his adventures throughout his life. Kaz loved hearing those stories, and was surprised to learn that Poe was from Yavin 4.

Deep down, he cannot understand why Tam is so intolerant towards him, but is okay with Neeku.

Initially did not like Yeager that much, but over time, he became like a father to him.

Kaz found a big brother in Poe, a little brother in Kel, and little sisters in Torra and Eila.

When he meets Rey, he is in awe. He’s never met a Jedi before. They instantly hit it off, bonding over mechanic-ing, piloting, and having an evil family member (If Hamato is with the FO).

He tries not to show it, but he is beyond sick of people doubting him and teasing him about his clumsiness and shrieking every five minutes.

It took every ounce of his willpower not to attack Hux at the Titan.

Jumped at the chance to join Lando’s fleet at Exegol.

“Hit those underbelly cannons. Every one we knock out is a world saved.” Kaz knocked out eight: five for the Hosnian system, one for Tehar, one for Aeos, and one for Castilon.

He was shocked that Poe used to be a spice runner, but accepted it and moved on.

He helped the Resistance rebuild and redeem the New Republic.

Yeager:

Yeager was born on Batuu during the end of the Clone Wars. Marcus was born ten years later.

Yeager joined the Rebellion a few months before the destruction of Alderaan.

His parents were killed by the Empire before the Battle of Endor.

He was in Green Squadron with Shara Bey (Poe’s mom).

He met Leia, Han, Luke, Cassian, Mon, Ackbar, Wedge, Norra, Shara, Kes, and Hera. He actually had a little crush on Leia until he heard she was taken.

He met Doza during the Battle of Jakku.

He and his squadron took down the main star destroyer. That destroyer had all the main computers and weapons for the battle.

He met his late wife after he was injured at the Battle of Jakku. She was a doctor.

He looked after Marcus after their parents died.

He and his wife tried for many years to conceive a child, finally succeeding nine years after the Battle of Jakku.

His ship was named after his late wife, Ayala.

He babysat Poe a few times.

He was there for Poe and Kes after Shara died.

After the death of his family, he punched Marcus, told him he never wanted to see him again, then disappeared.

Like Kaz, Yeager grieved in private. He became emotionally detached. When he hugged Marcus after the Platform Classic, that was the very first time he hugged someone since his family died.

Each night, he’d take his family photo to bed and talk to it about his day.

When Tam applied for a job at his shop, Yeager was instantly reminded of his late daughter (as well as Marcus). He accidentally called Tam by his daughter’s name once. They never spoke of the incident again. Tam was everything Yeager imagined his daughter would be like.

Over the years, he came across attractive women, but he never acted on them because he felt he’d be betraying his family.

The destruction of the Hosnian System reminded Yeager of Alderaan and his own family’s deaths. He hugged Kaz, but it was uncomfortable for both of them.

He was initially glad that Poe didn’t recruit him for the spy mission, but as he grew to care about Kaz, he kind of wished he agreed to do it in the first place.

Tam:

Tam was born on Kuat. Her mother died when she was a baby.

Once she was old enough, her father dragged her along to all of his races.

She heard stories about the Empire and the Rebellion from her father, who watered it down.

Her grandfather was actually forced to work at that Imperial factory. Sort of a reversed Jyn and Galen thing. Jyn thought Galen worked for the Empire because he loved it and hated him for it, but realized he was forced to work for the Empire. Tam actually loved her grandfather for working for the Empire, and thought he worked at that factory because he loved it.

Tam’s father died of bloodburn when she was eighteen.

Tam was angry after losing her ship and that race. Yeager calmed her down and talked to her a few times about it. He became like a father to her.

Hype was her first real friend. When he forgot all about their friendship, Tam took it really hard.

She was hesitant upon making friends with Neeku, but over time they became really good friends.

After Kaz joined Team Fireball, and everything that’s happened afterwards, she felt like her world was collapsing at an alarming rate. Kaz took her friends, her ship, and her father figure. She even envisioned smothering Kaz in his sleep.

She was surprised when Supreme Leader Ren wanted to meet with her. They bonded over joining the FO because they were lied to and deceived.

She gave the Fireball to Kaz, feeling that she doesn’t deserve it after everything that happened.

Neeku:

Neeku grew up on Tatooine (he came from a long line of bantha herders, and his species prefer desert climates).

He is the anti-Anakin: loves sand, was born and raised free, and did not like racing; but loved watching races.

He is either autistic or he has Asperger's.

He spent some time at Mos Eisley, which is where he’s seen bounty hunters.

When he arrived at the Colossus, he wandered around trying to make friends.

He and Rey would instantly bond over growing up on desert planets and being mechanics.

[goutheswimqueen]

thoughts on free! s3? what do you think went wrong/right/what you wish it would’ve went etc

I could quite literally go on FOREVER about season 3 and y’know what you asked for it so I’m just gonna ramble until I feel good about it lmao.

Now first I have to say that I wholeheartedly love season 3 with the deepest passion in my bones. I genuinely didn’t think that we were ever going to GET a season 3 in the first place, so the fact that it exists is just... so meaningful to me as someone whose favorite franchise is Free! and someone whose life was saved by these dumbass swimmers. 

I will say that season 3 isn’t what I wanted from it. I wanted it to be centered on Nagisa, Rei, Gou, Sousuke, Ai, and Momo. I love Haru with my entire being but I really really REALLY wanted to see a series centered on the Iwatobi trio. They’re so underrated and I felt like they were lowkey sidelined in Eternal Summer so I wanted to see them shine and grow together in their third year. But of course Kyoani has just been setting them aside more and more as time has gone on so I feel like that was nothing but a hopeless dream lmao. I have a lot of headcanons and AUs about what went on with everyone who was still in Iwatobi while the rest of the gang was in Tokyo. The little bits that Kyoani gave us of them were beautiful, I will admit. Episode 11 is my FAVORITE episode of season 3. The fact that Rei WON A NATIONAL RACE??? Like, come on. I wish we could’ve seen the work that he put in to even be able to do that in the first place. That moment where he ponders what he’ll be doing after high school really gets to me too because I would love to know what the fuck he and the others are gonna do. I wish we could’ve seen the moments in their third year that led to whatever decisions they will make. I wanted to see the Iwatobi trio go through the absolute wringer together lmao. I wanted angst I wanted to see their journey that led them to where they are now. I wanted to see more of them growing with the new trio too. I wanted to learn more about Gou and Sousuke’s past through their interactions in her third year. If the season was longer I feel like they could’ve had it be half the Iwatobi arc and half the Tokyo arc, y’know what I mean?

Nonetheless, I love season 3 for what it was. I’m so beyond happy that they brought in Asahi, Ikuya, Natsuya, and Nao, you have no idea. The High Speed! characters hold such a special place in my heart. I wish Asahi would’ve had more of an arc/character development though, and I wish Nao was more included. I think Natsuya’s character arc was my favorite of the whole season. Seeing the trash traveling man that he had become and his interactions with Rin and Sousuke really stuck with me for some reason. And that line that he had when he was talking to Ikuya and fucking crying like, “a dream to fight for my strength and pride, plain and simple.” That shit fucked me up bro. We all meme about Natsuya a lot but I feel like there’s a lot of deeper shit there that’s yet to be explored. When we met Ryuuji I was genuinely convinced that he was Ikuya and Natsuya’s father because it would explain a lot about Natsuya’s behavior. A trash dad who wasn’t really there for his family and just kinda fucked off to travel the world training swimmers until he found one that met his expectations? That would’ve added so much to Natsuya and Ikuya’s background stories and their character arcs. Like can you imagine? Natsuya not initially going into professional swimming because the fact that his father LEFT to find a swimmer to train instead of training his own damn son because he didn’t see that potential in him??? Natsuya being inspired by Ikuya to work hard to prove their father wrong??????? Nao punching Ryuuji square in the nose the moment he sees him???????????? A fucking gold mine that Kyoani could’ve dove into, but no he’s related to Shizuru lmao. 

I could go on forever about Natsuya in season 3 cuz I just really, really loved his arc but I’m gonna keep rolling haha. Hiyori was probably the most unexpected thing from season 3 and I just... love him so much. Like his absolute snakey behavior gave me the same chills that that scene of Sousuke pushing Haru against a vending machine in episode 2 of Eternal Summer gave me. I LOVE that shit. The Free! antagonists just keep getting bitchier and bitchier lmao. I also relate to Hiyori on a deeper level. I too have been selfishly protective of my best friends in a way that... really just wasn’t the way to go. Like jeez Hiyori I understand how you feel but maybe let them talk to Ikuya at least once??? Chill with the possessiveness? Idk I know Hiyori is the source of a lot of discourse lol, but that’s just how I feel because of my own similar experiences with myself and others who’ve acted in a similar way. I do wish his beef at the other boys wasn’t solved by just fuckin... swimming with Haru lmfaoooooo. Like I wish they just would’ve added more to his conversation with Ikuya when he asked him to join the relay with him.

I was quite satisfied with Rin’s arc in season 3. It just like, made perfect sense to me I guess lmao. I know he wasn’t there much but I don’t know what else they could or should have done with him, if that makes sense. The fact that his coach is Ai’s uncle is just the best thing ever too lmao.

I was also very happy with Haru’s arc actually!! Seeing how much he has grown makes me feel like a proud mom. Ya boi is tired of the bullshit and the miscommunication haha. Of course I’ll always wish he didn’t go into pro swimming but alas, gotta deal with it I guess. I love his dynamic with Ryuuji and the way that he has dealt with pro swimming though. And his decision to go into the individual medley absolutely made me lose my mind. I didn’t know I needed to see him swim the other strokes until it happened and I just, I loved that so muchhh. 

I alsooooo enjoyed Ikuya’s arc. Seeing someone from your past again like that can 100% have that effect on you. I just kinda wish we understood more about like, why he just randomly faints while swimming sometimes? I feel like they didn’t solidly explain it? Cuz I don’t think it was always from overworking himself. Idk maybe I’m just a dumbass and remembering incorrectly.

Kisumi deserved better. YOU CAN’T TELL ME THIS BOY DOESN’T HAVE UNDERLYING ANGST THAT KYOANI HASN’T DELVED INTO. He gave us that line of “We’ll never make friends like the ones we had back then” and then him worrying about whether or not there was anything he could do to help with the Ikuya situation. This boy feels left out and you can’t tell me otherwise and it is 100% because of the fact that he’s not a swimmer. Someone give this boy a basketball team that he can experience that kind of bond with PLEASE. I AM BEGGING ON MY KNEES!!!

Makoto also deserved better. Like, okay, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved his arc with the kids and Nao and all that. I love his new dream. BUT!!! Kyoani has yet to go into depth with his insecurities with Haru. I’m still not over that damn dream he had on that bus. All we got in season 3 was Makoto’s aNGSTY looks when it came to his relationship with Haru lmao. GIVE MAKOTO A BIGGER ROLE AND A BIGGER ARC DAMMIT. He’s one of the most popular characters I’m surprised his angst hasn’t been touched on more. This dumbass just needs to stop holding things in i SWEAR TO GAWD.

I thought the inclusion of Albert was kinda weird, dunno what the point of him is aside from making Haru shake in his bones. Kinjou is definitely interesting. He scares me lmao, but I am here for that. Give us an antagonist who is just absolutely unhinged at this point LMAO. I have some headcanons about him too but I feel like the new movie coming up is going to crush my dreams soooo yeah.

Isuzu is a goddess. I’m so happy she’s finally here and she has a name and a FACE. We learned that the Mikoshiba bros had a sister before we even knew that Momo existed lmao (Sei mentioned her in a drama cd from season 1). I almost thought they were never going to give her to us but she’s here and she’s beautiful and she’s everything that I wanted her to be. I’m so happy she thinks Gou is cute and that GOU LIKES HER and I just ugh yes thank you so much Kyoani I never expected that we’d actually get this but I’m so happy we have it. I hope she goes to Hidaka Uni and gets to race Haru like she wanted haha. And I’m so happy we got to see her swim! Our first in-anime female swimmer with a name. I love her.

Speaking of FEMALE SWIMMERS. Sighhhhhh.... My biggest disappointment. Aki Yazaki. Where is she? We deserve her!! I promise we do!! She was SUCH an important character in the High Speed! novels and kyoani decided that she just doesn’t exist anymore lmao (biggest reason why I’m not the biggest fan of the Starting Days movie). At this point I’ve lost hope that she’ll ever be included in the anime, and it makes me so sad. I love her so much and there’s so much potential for an amazing beautiful story arc with her if she reunited with the boys. I don’t think we’re going to get a season 4, (the new movie is scaring me making me think it’s the end of the series with the way it’s been advertised...) but if we DID get one I imagine it beginning with Haru walking through a snowy day, huddling close to himself to shelter from the cold, when he passes by a tall figure and catches a glimpse of familiar caramel hair with a loose little braid peeking out from behind one ear and a large scarf that has gotten quite messed up over years of wear and tear, a memory clicks in his mind like a light switch and he stops in his tracks to turn around and let a long forgotten name slip from his lips: “Yazaki Aki?” ... cue opening sequence. LIKE WOULDN’T THAT BE SO AMAZING???????? I WOULD FUCKING SHIT MYSELF OKAY YOU DON’T UNDERSTANDDDD. Aki is one of my favorite characters I’m so mad she wasn’t in season 3. I’m also mad that Satomi Nii wasn’t there either like!!! She would make a great trio with Ikuya and Hiyori that’s all I’m sayinggggg. I would probably start crying if either of them showed up at some point like genuinely I would just be a mess sobbing on the floor. ALSO I FEEL LIKE GOU AND ISUZU WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM LIKE PLS GIVE ME THE GIRLS THAT WE DESERVE!!!

The art style of season 3 was pretty good. The only thing that bothered me about it was how fucking WIDE the characters’ shoulders were sometimes. Especially with the big bois like Makoto and Sousuke. Like please god no stop that. I’m always gonna miss the art style from season 1 tho, the crazy expressions n shit that were there were just too GOOD lmao. I feel like in season 3 they kind of attempted to bring that back but it just wasn’t executed the same and done to the same extent. R.I.P. the comedy from season 1, it will be forever missed.

I love the opening and ending themes, always. So fucking good. I’m so happy all the characters were included in the end theme animation sequence. I’ll never get over Gou and her BEAUTY.

ANYWAYS. Those are my thoughts in the general sense. Idk if I forgot anything because I have so many thoughts that’re all unorganized haha. If anyone wants me to talk in more detail about anything specific I am soooooo down! Thank you for sending in this ask, talking about this show makes me happy hehe.

[vigilantesanonymous]

start me up - poe dameron

(Title inspired by The Rolling Stones song. I don’t know why, it just came up on my playlist while writing this and I can just imagine this playing in Poe’s head every time he sees you. Especially the lines “You make a grown man cry, you make a dead man cum”.)

Story inspired by this anon: “think about it: poe meeting you for the first time, you're the best female pilot in the galaxy, oh no, not only are you his runner up but you're also incredibly beautiful and poe is a nervous, stumbling and stuttering mess.”

We love when the man who literally cannot stop talking is at a loss for words! Thank you for the suggestion anon!

Word count: 2736

***

You’re the best pilot in the galaxy. Well, okay, maybe not that. But what you are is the best female pilot in the galaxy. And boy, had you made a reputation for yourself. 

You had been running with a Mandalorian for a while, the two of you racing around the galaxy on bounty hunting missions and experiencing the damage the First Order could cause front and center. At first, you really hadn’t cared to take a side. What was yet another war to you? That was, until your best friend was forced to go into the stormtrooper program, and you never saw him again. That first loss was what really opened your eyes to all the destruction that was taking place in the galaxy. No matter how badly you wanted to keep your head down and turn a blind eye to it, you couldn’t. Everywhere you went you saw the intense amount of damage that the First Order had caused. Broken families, dead bodies, screaming babies looking for parents that would never come to save them again. It was then that you decided you needed to do more than be a measly bounty hunter, and with your expert flying skills the Resistance took you in with open arms. 

To say he heard a lot about you was an understatement. You were his runner up, and people all over the Resistance would tease him about being bested by a girl, but for some reason he didn’t mind. Instead, he was excited to meet the woman who was so incredible at the craft he loved more than anything. He liked the thought of having another skilled pilot on the side of the Resistance. Someone who was just as good as he was to keep his friends safe, someone who would care about the good of the galaxy as much as him. But when he first laid eyes on you? Stars. He didn’t know that being the best female pilot in the galaxy also meant being the hottest.

You had your hair in a half up, the top portion of hair pulled out of your face so there would be no distractions while flying (“Being a pilot isn’t the same as being a beauty queen,” you snark at anyone who asked). Still, it suited you, and the few whips of hair that managed to escape framed your face well. It brought attention to your rosy cheeks and your bright eyes, the eyes Poe couldn’t tear himself away from. 

“Poe Dameron,” he said confidently as he held out his hand. Poe Dameron, best pilot in the galaxy. And it wasn’t just something that he said about himself, no. Everyone touted him as the best, even General Leia Organa, for whom he was the right hand man of. Despite the badass reputation, those were the last words he said to you with any amount of certainty to them. Your hand was soft, but your grip was firm. You introduced yourself, Poe feeling himself melt at the sound of your voice. He hadn’t even realized you asked him a question until you repeated yourself. 

“Oh! Where I’m from? Yavin. Y-Yavin 4,” he stuttered awkwardly. He clunkily tells you about how his parents were in the Resistance, how he has a droid (Seriously, talking about the DROID?, he mentally curses himself). He scours his brain for anything to tell you that won’t make you snore, and surprisingly finds himself at a loss for words. Any questions you ask him are an Olympic feat to answer. He can barely open his mouth without stuttering out a weak reply. A wave of relief washes over him as Rey glides over to introduce herself, gladly letting her do the talking so he doesn’t embarrass himself further. It’s not that he didn’t want to be with you, talk to you, get to know you. But clearly he was not very good at it. No one had ever made Poe stumble over his words like this, or made him so incredibly at a loss for words. He felt as clunky as an outdated sand speeder. 

You liked Poe. He was handsome, sure, but what you found most attractive was the way he cared about his team and friends. The way he took the worries of the war from everyone and put it on his shoulders. The way he hugged his droid whenever the little guy rolled up to his feet, happily beeping at his owner for attention. It was the little things about Poe that made your affection grow towards the man. You were stationed under him, and he was your superior, but Poe never made anyone on the team feel like they were anything but an equal to him. Even with his superstar reputation, you got to see behind the scenes to see a charming man who would do anything for the people that he cared about, and that he loves them fiercely. 

It didn’t take long for you to rise through the ranks on the Black Squadron to be right underneath of Poe. But you couldn’t help but feel like there was a disconnect when it came to you and him. With the rest of the team, he would get really close and personal with them. He had inside jokes with them, his charming grin always readily available to anyone who needed some cheering up. After a mission, he would tell each and everyone how great they’re doing, but when he finally got around to you a strange look would wash over his face and could only stammer out a “Hey, great job kid,” before walking as quickly as he could to Rey and Finn. It was all Poe could do to not stumble over his words when he talked to you. Even after rehearsing them in his mind over and over. Which of course, he would never admit.

Of course he wanted to gush to you about how good of a job you did, how could he not?! And how sexy it was when you took out those Ties in one shot, and the way you were just so good with your X-wing. How courageous and admirable it was for you to take a risk, to risk yourself for others on your team. After a mission, when Snap was the first to congratulate you, and then hug you, well. Poe would be a damned liar if he claimed he didn’t feel a hot flash of jealousy come over him at the sight. But he couldn’t act on whatever this was that he was feeling. No, that would be unprofessional. At least, that’s what he told himself.

But try as Poe might, his feelings progressed. At first for him, it was just a crush. That was all he would allow himself to call whatever feelings he had towards you. You were just a really pretty pilot, and it was a crush, and there was a war to win. He didn’t have time to try to pursue you, or even try to have a relationship. Rey and Finn were exhausted by him talking about how he totally does not have a crush on you, because it seems like anymore you’re all that Poe can seem to talk about. But then you were on a mission and you took out 8 canons on Ren’s fleet all with your first shot at them, one of the shots so well placed that you took out the ship entirely. When you came back to D’Qar, you leaped out of your X-wing almost in slow motion, your hair tumbling out perfectly from your helmet as you pulled it off. The smile that lit up your features was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And then he was done for. Poe Dameron was undeniably smitten with you. 

To add to the misery that is Poe’s continuing purgatory of pining, Leia had decided to put you as Poe’s second in command. Unbeknownst to him, she had told you of the happy news earlier that day, and allowed you to celebrate. You were getting drunk with a few of your friends, blissfully unaware of anything else going on. It wasn’t until later that the older woman called Poe to her private planning room. Poe happily sped to where she was waiting- he would be lying if he said he didn’t get a boylike joy from being called by name for help from the General. He relished being her right hand man and he would do anything for her. Well, almost anything.

“She’s going to be your second in command,” Leia says, mildly amused at the way that Poe’s dark eyes widen in shock. She, along with everyone else on base, knew how he felt towards you. And that Poe just needed a little push, that’s all. After all, she had been married to none only than Han Solo. She knows how these kinds of men tend to work. 

“M-me?” Poe stammers. He gulps- No, he couldn’t allow it. There was no way that Poe could handle having you under him, having to rely on you constantly for missions or planning. How was he supposed to focus when you got that little crease between your eyebrows when you’re frustrated? Or how your face lights up when you come up with a great solution? His heart was racing a million miles a minute, his hands slick with sweat. He didn’t want to deny the General, but he had to. “I- General, I’m so honored, but I don’t think I can-”

“Can accept? Why, of course you can. I already talked to her about it, and she’s extatic to work with you. She said it would be an honor, Dameron. I can’t disappoint her now, can I?”

“No,” Poe sighs, defeated. 

“Besides, I think you and her would work very well together,” Leia says with a knowing glance. Poe gulps- he knows she knows. “Don’t disappoint me, Dameron.”

“I won’t,” Poe promises.

*

It’s a few weeks after your promotion, and Poe is still a little shaky, but at least now he can say a few sentences without stumbling through them. Mostly. You take the fact that he talks to you at all as a win, because it’s a lot of progress from before. It’s your day off- the base is more quiet than usual. Everyone is sleeping in or lazing around, enjoying the fact that they don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn to work on a mission. You like waking up early though. There’s something about the quiet on base that’s nice, and the stillness of the morning. You feel like you can actually have some time with your thoughts before having to whisk off on another mission for the Resistance. You roam until you find your favorite spot on base, the one that has a little clearing into the jungle. You lean against a pillar, letting yourself get lost in thought as you watch the leaves tumble with the breeze. 

Peace never lasts forever. You’re pulled out of your thoughts by the familiar whirring of a droid. BB-8 rolls to your feet, looking up at you expectantly. He beeps, but you can only understand a little bit of droid language. “Is it about your dad?”

The little droid lets out a series of beeps and whirs before zooming down the hallway. You grin to yourself- you loved to give your commander shit about the way he and his droid adore each other. You break out into a trot, following BB-8 down the hall to the hangar. Now you know why his droid had come to you for help- it looked like he was working on the compressor of his X-wing, but it wasn’t going well. Something was sparking, the smell of smoke hanging in the air from it. A pair of oil stained legs are sticking out from underneath the ship, and a voice stringing more curses than you had heard came from him. 

“You look like you could use some help,” you say as you hear him spit out another profanity in frustration. Tools and rags are littered by Poe’s workspace in disarray. Poe pulls himself out from under the ship, his expression melting from grouchy to happily surprised. 

“Hey!” he grins. 

“Hey yourself, Commander,” you reply. Crouching down, you root around in Poe’s disastrously messy toolbox until you find what you’re looking for, handing it to him.

“U-um, thanks,” he says, but immediately he drops the wrench you found him. 

“Is everything okay?” You ask as you pick up the wrench he just dropped. 

His brain shorts out at the sight of you. How could he not think you’re stunning? You don’t have any makeup on, but the humidity from the jungle planet is giving you a sweaty sheen that makes you just glow. Your cheeks are flushed pink, you have a few strands of hair that refused to stay in your ponytail, and stars it’s all Poe can do to keep from slamming you against the X-wing to make out with you.

“Poe?” you ask again. He still hasn’t given you an answer.

“Yeah?” he asks, trying to sound fine. 

“Let’s cut the bullshit,” you say finally, sitting down on the ground next to him. 

The words cut right through Poe, straight to the core and making him feel like his heart is stopped. To say he’s nervous is the greatest understatement of the century. “I- I don’t know what you mean.”

“Poe,” you sigh. “Do you not like me? I mean, you always act weird around me, and you never really talk to me, but you talk to everyone on base. Even C-3PO. And you despise that droid! I don’t know... I guess what I’m asking is… Did I do anything to upset you or make you hate me? Because if I did, I’m sorry, I just need to be able to work with you as second in command and not have it be so awkward…”

“No!” he barks out, probably too quickly. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” You can tell he means it genuinely, which makes you feel a little bit better. Tentatively, he reaches out to give your arm a reassuring squeeze. “I just- you’re right. I am acting weird. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Why?” you ask innocently. Oh, how he really wishes you didn’t ask him that.

He looks over to BB-8, hoping the droid could give him some wisdom. Like the little orange buddy would know anything about romantic interactions, and if he’s going to epically fuck up everything for the Squadron if he tells you how he feels. He takes a deep breath, sighing quickly. So he’s doing this. “You know, when I heard about my runner up, I never thought she’d be this amazing,” he says slowly with a smile. “But then I met you. And you- I mean, what can I say? I’m smitten, sweetheart. You’re a great shot, you can fly anything, you were friends with a Mandalorian- like how badass is that! The way you know how to work on an X-wing is incredibly sexy,-” he chuckles to himself, you yourself grinning. “But you’re also one of the most kind and caring people I’ve ever met.” Shrugging, he looks up to read your face. “If you don’t want me to be your commander anymore, I understand. But I can’t keep going on pretending like I don’t feel anything for you.”

He braces himself for the inevitable rejection. But it doesn’t come. Instead, you scoot yourself closer to him, placing your hands on either side of him face. Your thumb brushes against his cheek, and your place your foreheads together. “You are the most incredible man I’ve ever met, Poe Dameron,” you whisper. “And I’d be fine with you being something more than just my commander.” Those words are music to his ears. He pulls you in for a kiss, soft and sweet, and the feeling of your lips on his makes him feel like he could finally die happy. 

You two are so engrossed in each other that you don’t hear the footsteps of someone else walking into the hangar. “Oh, come on Dameron!” Snap yells.

The both of you knock your foreheads together once more, giggling like you’ve just heard the funniest thing in the galaxy before he pulls you in for another kiss. 

[fromzerotoeuphoria]

my feelings on rinharu & makoharu

So as I said in my last post, I wanted to make a separate post adding my own commentary on this response thread made by @melancholycheer​ @chensim​ and @thenakedbloger​ to an anon who had bashed melancholycheer for shipping RinHaru. They end up saying (almost) exactly how I feel about both RinHaru and MakoHaru, and I was just applauding them along as I was reading their post!

Their reasons for not shipping MakoHaru are pretty much mine as well, and their viewpoint on how both friendships are valid are the same as mine, too. Yes, OP hates MakoHaru as a ship, but OP also respects and cares for ALL three characters, and they also respect how others may have a different ship than they do, and that’s pretty much how I view it, too (even if the ship doesn’t make sense to me) (as long as people are respectful back).

I wanted to share this convo because so many of the points made are exactly how I feel, from why RinHaru is such a dynamic ship to how I only can see MakoHaru as best friends/brothers. The things said are just 💯.

MakoHaru isn’t canon. Neither is RinHaru. Fighting about it, or acting like your ship is superior, is not only rude, but also pointless.

EXACTLY. Neither ship is canon romantically. You know what is canon? The special friendship Haru has with his best friend Makoto and the uniquely special friendship Haru has with Rin. Does he love and care for both of his friends? YES HE FREAKIN DOES.

The directors and writers purposefully give service to each pairing to attract and keep viewers and customers.

Hate to tell ya, but MakoHaru isn’t canon and it never will be. They’ve already invested too much into both ships; if they set one in stone they’d lose a lot of fans. They won’t do that. 

People need to think—there's no way the creators are going to have an entire show based on the relationship between two characters who are driven by each other and are specially connected to one another, then boldly push fan service between them just to suddenly cut off a huge portion of their fandom by officially, "canonly" pairing one side of that relationship (Haru) with a totally different character (Makoto). Same goes for the fanservice they've been pushing between the Main Character (Haru) and his best friend (Makoto)—they wouldn't do the reverse (RinHaru) and cut off the other huge portion of the fandom like that, either (at least, not while the show is still has future seasons and is profitable).

Though I believe RinHaru is the closest Haru-ship to canon, KyoAni hasn’t made any romantic ship canon yet, and as this isn’t a BL anime, I doubt they ever will.

I don’t like MakoHaru. I have tried, tbh. I’ve read essays supporting makoharu and gone into the tag and looked at fanart and it all felt so weird. I can’t see them as more than friends. They have such a precious, special friendship and making them into anything more just cheapens it for me personally. It just feels…gross. i don’t mean that in an offensive way; i just can’t ship it… I can’t see them as more than friends. I just can’t.

...but honestly just watching the series, Makoto and Haru were just friends, in my opinion. Yeah, they got fan service, but even that seemed like just what it was: fan service. It seemed out of place to me. And more than that, even the fan service didn’t convince me that there was something between them. I’m not saying there’s not; don’t get mad lol, I’m just saying that for me personally I don’t see anything.

Literally exactly how I feel about Makoto and Haru's friendship. Yes, FRIENDSHIP. Makoto cares so much about Haru in a deeply loving way—it's obvious to everyone just how much Haru means to Makoto. And those who know Haru enough can also tell that Makoto means so much to Haru (S02E11 alone is proof). Makoto is such a sweet, soft-hearted, caring guy and the friendship between him and Haru is truly something special.

But okay, in all honestly and as much as Makoto is my big-lil squish, MakoHaru seems just a bit...unbalanced, like Makoto is more concerned for Haru than Haru is concerned for him. Not that Haru doesn't care deeply for Makoto because he does—it just seems like Makoto cares more because he's very demonstrative about it while Haru's personality doesn't show his emotions or feelings often. I'm very fair with that; it doesn't mean that their friendship is in any way one-sided. They just have different personalities. But in all honestly it rather comes across like Makoto has a one-sided crush on Haru (while Haru has a reciprocated crush on Rin)—that’s where the “imbalance” comes in.

That’s a huge reason why I just don't see their relationship as anything other than a close friendship (with Makoto more than likely having a crush on Haru...OR his super caring Type 2 personality could misconstrue his rock-solid love and support for his friend as a crush. That’s very possible, too). Like honestly, there’s nothing remotely passionate about their friendship with one another, nothing that would suggest they both have deeper feelings than brotherhood for one another (again, Makoto does suggest this because boy cares so strongly, ngl it be borderline smothering—but then again he does just have a soft boi personality—but Haru definitely doesn’t suggest this, not with Makoto. With Rin, however...👀).

I mean, even Will and Jem from The Infernal Devices had a more emo-dynamic-passionate brotherhood/friendship than Makoto and Haru do, and Will and Jem were in love with the same girl, not with each other. So people trying to convince others that MakoHaru is a legitimate, canon romantic OTP endgame are just...I just cannot fathom that realistically happening.

RinHaru, on the other hand, has so much passion and rawness and depth. [...] And I know some people feel that way about MakoHaru, and that’s fine, but personally, Makoto and Haruka are just best friends, but when it comes to Rin and Haru’s relationship, there’s something more urgent and pressing and desperate.

THIS! Omg thisssss x10000. URGENT. PRESSING. DESPERATE. You feel this from not only Rin, but from Haru as well. This is HUGE: here you have a kid who’s disinterested in almost everything aside from swimming, a kid who rarely expresses his emotions and runs away from things he finds “troublesome.” He relies on Makoto to handle things for him when he doesn’t feel like bothering, and at the beginning of the anime, he couldn’t wait for time to hurry up and pass so he could become “ordinary.” And I hate to point this out, but that was Haru with Makoto in his life (again, no hate towards Makoto, it doesn’t say anything about Makoto as a character, just about Haru’s feelings towards Makoto). Yet when Rin enters into Haru’s life, the apathetic, rarely-expresses-emotions kid becomes urgent, pressing, desperate to have Rin back into his life no matter how little it is.

(this got longer than I anticipated—I could talk about Haru x Rin ‘til the stars died out, for real—so I’ll put the rest under a cut)

“Well, of course you’d say that, you bias Rin!!” you may say. But see, here's the thing: I wasn't even a big fan of Rin when I was first watching the series (except for shota!Rin because I fell in love with him instantly lol). High school-Rin annoyed me with how unnecessarily rude he was to Haru and the others, and I was Team Iwatobi for a good part of Season 1. If anything, I wanted to see Rin get all emotional about and care for the other guys. I wanted to see this red-haired jerk show emotions I knew he had deep down for my guys. But then, the more I saw the dynamics between Rina and Haru play out, the more the rawness between them and that fire when they interacted with each other drew me in. I came to care about Rin the more Haru was confronted with the feelings he had towards Rin. And when Haru bolted to find Rin after Rin failed his race in S01E12, that desperation emanating from Haru—and this is HARU we're talking about, the guy who rarely shows any emotion—made me just as desperate as Haru was for him to find Rin, to make sure Rin was okay.

The dynamic between Rin and Haru is just something totally different. It's just as one of the OPs said: urgent and pressing and desperate.

Another thing about Rin is that he was barely even in Haru's life and yet he left SUCH a huge impact on it. Rin probably spent half a semester of elementary school with Haru and the boys, yet in those few months he managed to touch something so deep in Haru that our independent, aloof and inexpressive Haru...

1) started running home from swim practice because Rin did

2) went against his own policy of only swimming free because Rin got him to

3) became so saddened that Rin moved overseas that everyone around him noticed (and it was one of the first things Kisumi mentioned when he ran into Haru in high school after all those years)

4) would fall apart when swimming freestyle in a team relay because Rin wasn't part of the team,

5) had Rin always lingering in his mind all throughout middle school,

6) said that he wanted "to swim like you too, Rin" after reading Rin's letter from Australia,

7) quit competitive swimming altogether because he thought he had hurt Rin by winning the race against him that one winter break,

8) was so rattled when Rin said that he never was going to swim with him again after Rin beat him in the freestyle race at one of the tournaments that he went into a trance-like state,

9) basically collapsed after hearing Rin say that he was quitting swimming,

10) was actually on the verge of CRYING after hearing Rin say that because Haru was heartbroken at the thought that he wouldn't ever swim with Rin again

11) said that all he wanted to do was to swim with Rin when Rei asked him what he wanted

and lots more. AND THAT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF A BOY WHO WAS IN HIS LIFE FOR LIKE THREE MONTHS MAX IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

There's no way anyone can tell me RinHaru isn't a powerful, uniquely special relationship that legitimately dances in the realm of the non-platonic. No other relationship in Free! compares to the dynamic of their friendship, to the complexity of their relationship.† They're not the closest friends—Makoto is Haru's best friend and Sousuke is Rin's—but they need each other. Are driven by each other. Are lowkey consumed by one another.

If you read my initial reaction to watching Free!, you’ll know that I knew nothing of this anime before going into it. I also actually thought I wouldn’t fall for the characters (I was too hung up on my Haikyuu!! babies), nor would even really be into it. I went into this whole thing so unbiased and knowing absolutely nothing of the anime or the characters or the ships or that there was even a fandom. I knew NOTHING, so everything I experienced was on my own and for myself. I didn't care for Rin in the beginning, but Haru's complex relationship with Rin sucked me in and was the very reason why I even binged the last 9 episodes in one night; I was so enthralled by RinHaru, and I didn't even realize it until ep12 when Haru ran after Rin like that. There's just something so special and intense about the relationship between RinHaru that it will forever be my ult OTP in the Free! universe.

I actually read a comment on a forum that touched on how Rin was in Haru's life for a fleeting moment yet left such a huge and deep mark in his life and psyche, and I was so happy someone else noticed that. I saved it somewhere, and I'll paste it below because it too sums up so well my thoughts on the dynamic relationship that is RinHaru:

RinHaru 100%...They have such a deep and real chemistry I don't even know where to begin. I could talk for hours about them, but lets keep this short and sweet. Haruka and Rin met in the last year of elementary school (roughly 12) for only (about) the last 3 months of the school year. In those 3 months they managed to create a bond so strong that Haruka never forgot about the red-haired shark-toothed boy in all the years to pass. Rin had such a strong pull on Haruka that when they met in middle school and raced against each other, Haruka quit swimming competitively just because he thought he hurt Rin. Now in high school, Haruka still wants to remember the sight Rin had showed him, and still cares about him just as deeply as his other friends. With Rin he had only been with him for a mere 3 months and managed to create such a deep bond with him, whereas with Makoto he was with him for basically his whole life. While I am in no way discrediting MH, Rinharu managed to create still as strong a bond as they did in such a short period of time. The way they admire each other and strive to be better because of each other just... // too perfect to describe. It's a beautiful dynamic, not abusive in any way as some haters call them. Their relationship focuses on growth, passion, and inspiration, always being able to light a fire in each other, always the person to spur them on and make them go just a little farther. A truly spectacular dynamic, Rinharu will always be my second favorite ship.

Modified by Baki-san, Feb 28, 2018 11:23 AM

With that being said, I honestly don’t care who you ship. Yeah, there are ships I utterly hate (*cough* Rintori *cough*), but in the end the beauty of shipping is that anyone can ship anyone. What frustrates me and pisses me off is when RinHaru—the Haru ship that’s closest to canon because their feelings for each other are actually reciprocated—is not only attempted to be discredited, but Rin is accused of all sorts of heinous things (like being abusive) just so people can fluff up their own ship. But that’s a different post; for now, this is why I ship RinHaru and they’ll forever be my Free! OTP <3

† this post was written for my original blog on July 27, 2020 before I’d watched Season 3. So, pre-drama-with-Ikuya and Hiyori’s-obsession-with-Ikuya. Those are some pretty complex relationships, too

[kannra21]

If some anime onlys want to spoil the 5th season for themselves then this is your Pandora box, enjoy!

So the last episode of season 4 is manga chapter 190. Endeavor won the fight although he's heavily bleeding so Hawks comes to his aid and teases him for using the same pose as All Might but then, surprise; Dabi is arriving on the scene. The thing is, Dabi sent the nomu to fight Endeavor so that he could finish him off when Endeavor's at his most vulnerable state. Hawks also couldn't fight since Endeavor burned most of his feathers. Miruko comes to the rescue in the last minute and Dabi said "welp fuck that" so he disappeared. Later in the day, Hawks and Dabi meet in the abandoned factory. Hawks is angry bc Dabi acted out of their plan- Dabi was supposed to send the nomu to a different location, not in the middle of the city. He also noted that the nomu was on a completely different level from the ones they've seen so far. Hawks is working for the league and he was supposed to bring some random strong guy to fight the nomu in order to test its abilities, but he chose Endeavor who got damaged pretty badly and is now recovering in the hospital. In reality, Hawks is spying on the league bc the hero commission told him so. Dabi is still suspicious of Hawks, he doesn't trust him but he told him that they'll stay in contact. Later Hawks is arriving to the hospital to check on Endeavor, he's smiling but his eyes are smudged on the corners, meaning that he was crying because he felt guilty for indirectly hurting Endeavor. Later on we find out about Hawks' past. As a little kid he saved some random people from a car crash. From a very young age he was super fast and that's how the hero commission heard of him and wanted to meet him. Hawks' family is very poor and the commission decided to take him under their wing, they also promised to take care of his family. Since then Hawks became a child soldier, he was groomed into becoming a perfect hero. But he feels trapped, like a bird in a cage. He doesn't feel free at all but as long as he can accomplish his dream- to achieve a society where heroes can enjoy their free time, then he'd be happy, even if it meant that he had to dirty his hands in the process.

The next day Endeavor arrives home. Natsuo, Fuyumi and Shouto are having their first family dinner. Endeavor has a permanent scar on his face, the same side Shouto has his burn mark. Shouto is very indifferent towards this and continues slurping his noodles. Natsuo is angry at Endeavor bc he and Shouto finally got to learn more about each other since they couldn't interact much bc Endeavor isolated Shouto from his siblings. He's yelling at him and getting out of the house. Endeavor is taking it all, he knows he deserves it. Fuyumi is sad and wishes for their family to get better. Fuyumi is trying very hard for their family and to remain as optimistic as she possibly can.

Deku's dreaming of ofa users from the end of season 4. We get All Might flashback where Nana's dying and transferring ofa to All Might. Gran Torino is training him afterwards and the two are talking about All Might's lack of experience. All Might goes to America after he graduates. And the flashback ends. Deku talks to All Might about his strange dream of ofa users and All Might is concerned in the beginning but reassures him and tells him that they'll figure it out together. Since Bakugou already knows about ofa Deku and him are training together. Aizawa and Shinsou are coming out of the break room and Aizawa held a meeting at Ground Gamma (training faculty). There're class a and class b at the gathering and they're having joined training in a way that they're being divided into groups. Shinsou is invited bc he's hoping to transfer to the hero course and everyone is surprised. Shinsou declares that he's not wishing to make any friends but you can see Midoriya's determined "I'll befriend you" look. Monoma also wants to befriend Shinsou bc he feels like he can relate to their Quirks both being perceived as villainous. The joint training begins and long story short- Deku gets a new Quirk called Black Whip but he can't control it well so there's chaos on the field but Shinsou and Uraraka manage to save him. Bakugou gets character development bc he saved Jirou from getting attacked by the opponent's team. Afterwards the teachers are evaluating each group's teamwork, class a wins. After that Aizawa tells everyone that Shinsou will definitely transfer to the hero course when they all become 2nd years. It's still unknown if he'll transfer to the class a or b. Aizawa talks to Monoma and asks him if he could pay a visit to Eri tomorrow. Eri meets Monoma for the first time and she's kinda scared but Mirio is joking ab it, calling Monoma "the dark side of ua". Monoma is totally unswept and being fabulous as always. So they enter the house and Aizawa tells him to try to copy Eri's Quirk. A small horn appears on Monoma's head and he's pretty but he says that he can't copy her entire ability since he only copies the bare-bones essence of a Quirk. That's also the reason why he couldn't copy Deku's ofa, only green lightnings that casually appear around his body. Deku is internally glad for Monoma bc he's sure, if Monoma ever managed to copy ofa, that he'd have a bunch of broken bones and we can see Deku sweat-dropping on the thought of it. Aizawa says it's a shame that Monoma couldn't manage to copy her Quirk bc he thought that Monoma could teach her how to use it but since it's not possible they need to find another way. Eri feels like a burden but Deku comforts her and she's smiling again.

It's early December and snow is starting to fall. Class a is excited in the dormitories and Tsuyu is going into hibernation when she feels too cold. We find out that Sero and Todoroki share the same taste in manga. Yes the boys are reading mangas. Bakugou and Todoroki still need to finish their license course so we see the two together with Inasa and Camie again. Gang Orca's having enough of them (he loves them). Class a is commenting on Todoroki and Bakugou while they're away and Kaminari says that getting his license was the only time he ever beat the two at anything. He adds "how sad" and wow such a roast king. Long story short Todoroki and Bakugou accomplished their task- they fought together against some small gang belonging to a criminal organization called meta liberation army and YEA HORIKOSHI IS INTRODUCING US NEW VILLAINS HOORAY. All Might approaches the two after they got their licenses and he's congratulating them by ruffling their heads. Bakugou is disgusted and Todoroki's having a soft smile.

BACK TO THE VILLAINS! The title changes from MY HERO ACADEMIA to MY VILLAIN ACADEMIA, so yea this part is only about the villains. Shigaraki's hair grew longer, he's missing Kurogiri, they're broke bc Giran's away and Dabi's arriving with no newbies since he burns everyone he meets on his way so his search doesn't make that much sense. They need to find the doctor afo often interacted with when all of a sudden, boom, a monstrous-like creature appears out from the ground called Gigantomachia and Shigaraki needs to prove his worth as afo's successor. The league appears in the doctor's underground lab and the doc is supposed to prepare Shigaraki for the future challenges. Shigaraki asks doctor to reproduce his Quirk erasing bullets and the doc asks Shigaraki about his motivations for becoming the world's symbol of destruction. Shigaraki's having flashbacks of his and afo's time together. We get a glimpse of Shigaraki's past and we found out, when his Quirk manifested for the first time, that he accidentally killed his entire family one night and the hands he's having on his body are actually his family's hands. He's living with guilt for the rest of his life. He ended up on the streets and he was asking random civilians for help but everyone ignored him. Afo found him and that's how he ended up becoming the successor of the world's greatest villain. Shigaraki hates afo bc he's an evil prick, but he also hates the entire hero society bc everyone let him down when he needed them the most.

Shigaraki had a good heart as a kid, his own sister compared him to All Might. His grandma is Nana Shimura and he also loved heroes very much. He was basically Deku turned evil. Nonetheless, Shigaraki still has a good heart bc he cares ab his friends. Because of his never-ending hate for the hero society and everything that breathes, he decided to destroy the world and doctor was like "ok u passed the vibe check". The league gets out of the lab and for a month and a half Shigaraki doesn't sleep and fights Gigantomachia. Since Gigantomachia's primary target is his master's successor, the rest of the league is taking shifts and trying to help Shigaraki out. Shigaraki thinks he's close to beating the giant but then Twice's phone rang and it turns the new villain organization kidnapped Giran and held him hostage in their hideout in a mountainous area called Deika City. The league is having enough of their bullshit so they decide to go save their man. Long story short, meta liberation army (mla) is a large, powerful villain organization that follows the philosophy that the free usage of Quirks is a basic human right and emphasizes liberation over regulation. The original meta liberation army was founded and led by the infamous Destro and the current army was founded and led by his son Re-Destro, Rikiya Yotsubashi. Long story short, Toga fights against a pretty lady with a landmine Quirk and she kills the lady, her name was Chitose Kizuki, also known as Curious. Toga's Quirk evolves bc she can now copy Quirks alongside appearances. Dabi is fighting a boy with an ice Quirk, his name is Geten. He has a striking resemblance to Rei Todoroki since he has a shoulder-length white hair and long white lashes. Dabi's fight with Geten was the first time he started using his Quirk more earnestly and the city is basically in ice and fire. Geten has very similar beliefs to Endeavor and thinks that people with strongest Quirks deserve the best things in life and Dabi becomes angry. Tbh this is the first time Dabi drops his mask of boredom and indifference. Shigaraki fights against Re-Destro and his Quirk evolves. Shigaraki basically disintegrated the entire city and lov wins. The newer army later merged with the league to form the paranormal liberation front. It's a big ass criminal organization and Shigaraki's the absolute ruler of it all. Later the lieutenants are divided into squads and Dabi and Geten are put together which is hilarious and iconic. Shigaraki comes later to the doctor’s and is being put into a large lab tube for the next 4 months where he's developing a Quirk- afo. After these 4 months there's going to be a war between heroes and villains.