#and I'm still collecting the manga

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Marvel Meow (2021), Nao Fuji | Professor X and Magneto

Bonus:

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Chapter 110 is 13 pages long welcome to hell!!! so in a lot of ways this is just more fuel for a theory that I've had for a few weeks now, that's only gotten stronger with each recent season 5 episode, which is that the last episode of the season is gonna end on 110, and that Asagiri/Harukawa and Bones have been collaborating to make this happen, specifically because it's a major turning point that would be the only good place to end the season on.

When we started getting especially long chapters again (like from 25-35ish pages, with the exception of 107.5, the last two being some of the longest we've ever had), at first I just assumed that Asagiri/Harukawa got freed up from some other obligations they'd been having to cause the extremely short/half chapters, like promotional stuff for the anime/Beast movie, or working on light novels. But then 109 happened, with the "supposed" death of Dazai, and heavy emphasis at the end on how literally everyone is at their lowest point right now, and I got to thinking. 11 episodes is a strangely specific number for an anime season -- why not 12, or 13, or even 10, like you'd usually see? Why have we gotten suddenly gotten two 35 page chapters out of nowhere, that's almost unheard of at this point? They're both beautiful chapters, don't get me wrong (as always), and maybe A/H simply just didn't want to cut them in halves because they felt like the full emotional impact wouldn't hit/that there were no good cutoff points in them, but you can't deny that it's surprising, after all the shorter chapters we've been getting. Why has the anime been going at such insanely breakneck pacing for the most part ever since around the Sunday Tragedy chapters, even more so than it has in the past? So much so that it feels dangerously close to overtaking the manga?

Well, maybe, just maybe, it's because..... Asagiri decided a long time ago that whatever happens in 110 is the only point that feels "season finale"-worthy enough, in an arc that still isn't anywhere close to being completely wrapped up, and so both the manga and the anime have been specifically coordinated to reach that part within 2 and a half weeks of each other?

I've seen a lot of people now think season 5 will end with 109, and as much as my sadistic side would find that hilarious, I honestly don't think they'd do that and realistically don't want it to happen; it'd be so cruel to cliffhanger the anime for years like that, and just doesn't feel like a season cliffhanger BSD would do, a series that is ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Seasons 2 and 3 had a positive, conclusive ending; the only reasons seasons 1 and 4 didn't was because they're technically not really full seasons of their own, and are more like the first cour of another "season" that also came out that same year (seasons 1 and 2 both aired in 2016, so they're more like one big season, and seasons 4 and 5 have both aired this year, so they're also more like one big season, again taking into account how episodes 12 and 50 are not satisfying finales like episodes 24, 37, and hypothetically, 61, are). I really can't see season 5 ending with Dazai and Fukuzawa's supposed deaths, Sigma being unconscious and maybe close to death, Atsushi being vulnerable and limbless again, everyone we love still vampires, and the entire world being basically doomed; that's just too depressing and not like BSD at all. However, having said that, if it doesn't end there, there really isn't any good place to end the season before that, either, that feels in any way satisfying or like a finale at all. And so, to me, that only leaves after 109: chapter 110.

I think things are really gonna turn around next chapter. Like I said, everyone is at their lowest point right now, it cannot possibly get any worse, the framing of Dazai, Fukuzawa, and sskk at the end of 109 is telling us that; this is the time for the heroes to finally start winning again, with Aya being so close to pulling out the sword, and for all the thematic reasons other people have talked about to death that I don't need to go into here again. This upcoming chapter being so short again makes a part of me wary of 110 being "the one", so to speak, I won't lie, but at the same time, it's very possible that it needs to be that short because that's all the final episode of the season will be able to reasonably fit in, since it's already gonna be VERY close if they do make it all the way to 109. And at the end of the day, I don't doubt at all that Asagiri and Harukawa can make these the most monumental and game-changing mere 13 pages ever if they wanted to; a chapter does not at all need to be extremely long in order to be an important and impactful one, even if short ones we've gotten in the past haven't felt the most important.

An additional thought I've had, though this is much more crack territory than all this already is, is that since we know from Anime Expo that a Stormbringer movie at some point is highly likely (judging from Asagiri's reaction when someone brought it up), it's possible that chapter 110 and thus the final episode will involve the long-anticipated return of Verlaine and/or Adam, or at least some other major reference to Stormbringer, that would naturally and smoothly lead into a Stormbringer movie to explain things to people who haven't read the novel. It would make a lot of sense, especially since the s4 OP has the Old World sign behind Chuuya, which might be a hint that this has been in the works ever since seasons 4/5 were first in planning with Asagiri. We also know that Dazai and Chuuya's voice actors apparently struggled to record their lines together this season, which probably relates to 101 and possibly 109, but it could be 110 too.... I could be very wrong, as I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but I kinda doubt they would bring Chuuya's actor in for just the vampire growls, and Asagiri placing heavy emphasis on Chuuya's importance this season in that one interview gives me the impression that he's talking about much more than just 101/109. But that's the least solid evidence I have, that's just mostly based on vibes I get.

So basically, I think a lot of factors -- the unusual episode count, how close the anime is to catching up to the manga with three whole episodes left, the seemingly arbitrary recent chapter lengths, and the climactic events of 109 -- can tell us that 110 might be a very, VERY big deal. Again, there's of course no way this arc is anywhere near close to being finished, with so much left to address and resolve, but since it is currently incomplete in the manga, unlike the previously adapted arcs, if the anime was going to adapt it at all, they'd have to find a place that feels satisfying enough to end this season, knowing there won't be more anime for a long time after this, and so I think they specifically planned for that, from both Bones' and A/H's sides. 10 episodes might not have been enough to reach that point, but 12 or 13 might have been too many it wouldn't have been if Bones actually decided to slow down and let the story breathe the way it needs to, but this post isn't meant to criticize the anime, so maybe 11 was just right. And maybe Asagiri and Harukawa specifically pushed to make recent chapters longer than usual, in order to make sure that the manga reached the story content in 110 the monthly release right before season 5 was to end.

Is this just copium? Absolutely. Am I going to look like an absolute clown in two days when this post ages like milk? Probably. But the evidence is There, so let me just enjoy my delusions until Sunday, okay 🥂🫡

[neomanateefromexiletribe]

life is worth living again, we're getting that act ii sequel

[hopkei]

Nakajima Sota + Higashi Keisuke

[moe-broey]

I just KNOW I'm gonna go insane over Dungeon Meshi when I finally get into it more UNFORTUNATELY. I am the type of guy who Needs Physical Media in My Hands I know I can read it online but that's not good enough. I need to have all the books and I need to be able to flip through to find my favorite panels and I need to put little scraps of paper to bookmark said panels and I need to be able to just grab it whenever I'm thinking, "Ohhhhh I have an Idea a Concept for a face or pose, and I'm actually thinking of a very specific illustration actually from maybe these volumes if I had to guess, I have to find it"

[agnesandhilda]

I like to call blue lock libertarian a lot on this blog but that's not true. it's actually quite specifically objectivist

[fellow-traveller]

Another Smol Horse just arrived :D

Again a mystery box type of figurine but because I bought it from a collector, I don't have the box to show.

With this, I guess there's 3 more Hol Horse figures for me to collect. And then I am done or not because I want Polnareff too lol

Also, I found this Mountain Tim from an old local toyshop for $10. The box had seen better days, but Tim was A-okay.

The only Tim figurine in the world. I hope Medicos makes an action figure of him one day.

[monstrsball]

ok sorry i'm done with the spam. i'm just a little obsessed. it's sooo cute, you should read the guy she was interested in isn't a guy at all if you haven't.

[sysig]

Me while rereading: You should kill him

Also:

They marriages hehe ♥

[sins-of-the-sea]

((The Master and Frascona (volume warning)))

“Ohh, my. Would I be considered a ‘twink’, Captain Wrath?”

“W-Well, if I may be frank, Master, one of your disguises was…. rather twinkish….”

“Are you going to attempt to disrespect me as Guts has to Lord Griffith? You know I am capable of more than a silly little 'eclipse’…”

“Absolutely not, Master!! I am loyal to you for all eternity!!” But boy oh boy what he wouldn’t give for an opportunity to yell at the Master and find happiness in the end.

[wildflowercryptid]

just reset my manga shelves! ✌️✨️

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I need to buy the KH novels I haven't yet, as well as the KHIII mangas that are out so far.

[ssaalexblake]

I wish i could remember how i reacted to FMA the first time i read the story, because it starts off portraying the country as fucked up but not actually pointing it out. Just a ‘this is the way it is’ kind of thing. Colonialism, genocide, military state etc etc 

Roy’s a war hero! He has old war buddies! Then an episode later they Casually drop that the affable and jovial president we’ve met a couple of times who seemed kindly and decent started a war against a people he’d actively colonised simply because they fought back, and decided to just like. Commit a total genocide of them. And Roy’s a war hero because he was ordered to do That and did it well. He is a war criminal, mass murderer, who is hailed for it in their society.

And the story Does go into it in moral terms later, but first it’s revealed as cold facts early on. You’re not pointed towards a moral judgement. Later we will learn that Roy, portrayed as power hungry from the get go (in a kind of skeevy way) wants to run the country but are not told anything else. We later learn that he decided this During that war as he looked upon that affable Furher ordering them to do this and saw a monster (even before he knew he is literally a monster) he wanted to overthrow to stop this and so people (including him) willl be held accountable for the horrors committed. 

I just wish i remembered what i thought Before the layers peeled back. I never really noticed how much this is told to you dispassionately before we learn the characters feelings on it all. But the country is clearly a horror story long before you learn just How bad it is. 

[emirrea]

I finished rereading tokyo ghoul T_T it's still such a good series and SO PRETTY too

fingers crossed for that anime remake announcement in july *passes out from copium overdose*

[moe-broey]

I have 13 pages.

[cetoddle-archive]

BWAAAA. i think i'm gonna drop most of my kpop stuff :')