#and so did mitsuba

[saotome-michi]

Thinking once again about that ginhiji post on twitter that drew this devastating parallel:

In Bushu, Hijikata met a woman. She loved spicy food. One day, in order to become the Shinsengumi, he had to leave Bushu. When they parted ways for good, he ate her favorite food, complained about the taste, and cried.

In Edo, Hijikata met a man. He loved sweets. One day, in order to keep being the Shinsengumi, he had to leave Edo. When they parted ways, he ate his favorite food, complained about the taste, and laughed.

[eatmy-customjorts]

c'mon mom he is STUDYING

[thefancyaster]

Hi there mitsukouers, how we feeling about this one?

[nono-uwu]

Last batch of these (for now)

Again only vibesTM for why what stamp

[mysteriousmissme]

i made a post a few months ago about the mitsukou and hananene aquarium date pic parallel, where i compared the hananene situationship poll w ch99’s official art.

but guys, with vol20’s cover, it looks even more paralleled, look:

mitsuba and yashiro are both gesturing/looking at the sea life, while kou and hanako are looking at them. mitsuba and yashiro both have a hand up, too, if you want to count that.

i could spend all day finding more parallels, but that’s all for now haha.

[yume-fanfare]

mitsuba's deaths and almost deaths: my ranking!

he has died 3 times in canon, and has had some other close calls in both canon and aus, so it's ranking time! this will of course contain several spoilers under the cut!

CANON DEATHS

number 3: his severance death

this one has a LOT of potential! it had been a while since his last death! he broke into pieces right in front of kou, and just as he was having the most peaceful cutest sleep! was vanishing physically painful? who was more emotionally hurt by it, kou or mitsuba? how did it feel Falling Apart into pieces later? i need to know! but unfortunately we haven't yet gotten an actual severance chapter from their pov, only vague flashbacks. we don't even quite know what natsuhiko told kou and it's haunting me. can we go back to the kou becoming a supernatural plotline please. but anyways yeah this is why it is the worst (in terms of thematic importance and story focus) death to me. need those extra details

number 2: his first death

car accident. when he was buying potatoes. on his mom's birthday. when curry doesn't even actually need potatoes. need i say more. there's even the extra irony in the fact that kou's earring, which he so hates, says "traffic safety" in it. it's simply so perfect. it aligns so well. it's an everyday tragedy, yet it somehow is the cause behind the plot of the entire manga. has led to some of the most heartbreaking official art. like the one where baby kou is holdin g an empty uniform whose owner has vanished into a pile of flower petals. fucked up.

number 1: the death of m1tsuba

PERFECT. SHOWSTOPPING. HE DIED IN KOU'S ARMS!!!

the scene that actually got me Invested in this manga. ive watched it around three hundred times, in the anime, the manga and the musical and it can still bring me to tears. while death number 2 hangs heavier, this one ranks higher for me because it is. a cataclysm. this event seriously changed the trajectory of kou's life forever. HAS THE "this... this isn't you, mitsuba! the mitsuba i know i-is... sassy. girly. sarcastic. selfish. and... and his voice was annoying. obsessed with cameras. went emo sometimes and was only fake-nice. and... and he was my friend!" LINE AND and it cut to the shot of their first meeting as first years but with mitsuba getting up and leaving and! man. it is so good. i wouldn't change a single detail. something important to me... maybe

ALMOST DEATHS (CANON AND NON-CANON)

only the ones i remember off the top of my head and wanted to talk about sowwy

if you have not read any of the aus i mentioned you Definitely should check them out they are SO good!

honorary mention: the times he's (almost) been turned into a mokke

didn't know whether to count this one but i really like it it's so funny. his pyon pyon pink bunny era. the most mokke-coded character. i did cringe a little in that christmas event where his gift was being turned into a mokke because come on. horrors for him again? on christmas? but no one had that great of a time then so ill forgive it

number 5: his transformation into a familiar in hanako-kun of magic

he didn't die at all in this one, yes, but it's supposed to parallel his becoming a supernatural, so it's going into the ranking. it was kind of lame though 😭 ik it was public voting yadda yadda but like it only happened like that to fill aidairo's monthly quota of bad things happening to mitsuba. the alicorn concept and clothes were cute though ill give them that. can we get a colored front-facing ref

number 4: his almost-death in chapter 98

it sucked so bad. like ok. when i was reading the chapter i was not surprised by it at all. this is a horror manga so something bad Had to happen, and like hell he was actually going to die Again in that moment. and it was executed in a really cool way! kou's single page that only had a "SQUELCH" speech bubble was bone-chilling and there is almost a eurydice flavor to the whole fleeing and turning around to see the ghost of the person you love and finding that you're holding Only their hand.

but as much as ive joked about this manga inventing a new level of bury your gays, there Are some unfortunate implications to two boys having a cute date and then immediately almost-killing one off them. (this could indeed also be applied to mitsuba's death in a way too). im usually not too harsh w this stuff because even if the implications are there i have faith that this wasn't quite meant like that.

but ultimately this scene was there only for shock value to end the chapter in a cliffhanger so! not ranked very high

number 4: his afterlife as a mummy in the ghost hotel café

ok we barely have anything on his death here so it's not too high but just those four lines are so funny. guy who owns the land but is too scared to act out on it. is secretly planning on taking over the hotel. has cried when kou bit him. is his pastissier apprentice. i hope he's better at baking than mit2uba is at cooking. the idea of them having a silly afterlife baking together and chasing after each other is so funny i love them

number 3: his youkai transformation in the bakeneko ryokan hanakotei

his most recent almost-death! we don't know much about it yet but it is such a cute concept!!! he turned into a kitty youkai and now works at the hot springs! it's just like spirited away!!!! super invested on this one i want more so badly

number 2: the time he got poisoned in hanako of the opera

chef's kiss! this one is Almost perfect, if only because the number 1 spot is my favorite scene in any manga ever. mitsuba drinks poisoned peach juice and thanks to the subsequent investigation and hanako's intervention, he is able to escape from the oppressive opera environment with kou! but here is the catch: every night, natsuhiko left a glass of juice for him, and mitsuba never once drank it. what changed this time? why did he drink it? well, the one who left the juice and poisoned him was not natsuhiko, but kou. did mitsuba know? kou. poisoned mitsuba, who in this au is his Childhood Friend. to see if, by taking him out of the opera, he'd be able to help him regain his love of music. and mitsuba willingly drank the poison. probably knowingly. he trusted kou not to kill him. and then they elope. there are sooo many levels to this one i love it

number 1: chapter 48, picture perfect arc

EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR THE BEST ROMANCE EVER!!! SHOWSTOPPING!!!! BREATHTAKING!!! NO ONE DOES IT LIKE THEM!!!

it's so perfect. the way the the page where kou jumps off the building is angled and composed so that the panels themselves are falling with them too. kou's promise. the way he literally jumped off a building just to have a chance to understand mitsuba better. and then they'd work their way back to life together! it gets me every time. no one does it like them. i love them so much. <333

and that is all, thanks for sticking by!

but how about YOU guys? what is Your favorite mitsuba death? how would you change my ranking? im always up for talking about mitsuba!

[mazojo]

oh to parallel the main couple of our silly lil tragic romcom shoujo manga story me and who

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Building 3: Sex offender building??

They need to do this:

@killersweetie Nah cus, Kiji is so sick of the sex offenders perverts in their building with no shame.

[lordichamo]

fighting for my life trying to design the (dead as hell) okita parents

rough design notes below:

okitadad's blue eyes are a reference to the accursed manga color palette for soggy. this is the closest you will get to a blue eyed sougo from me im sorry he looks so bad w/ them.

the funny lil loop over the eye from okitamom is present in both mitsuba's hairstyle & the occasional soggy design (bfy, souko, etc. basically if his hair is longer its there.)

like mother like daughter (died of illness) like father like son (destined for the battlefield)

they really just. look like carbon copies of their mom huh. whoopsies.

[astrocket]

[doggolol]

the new chapter was WILD

so many things happened. yokoo and satou being the wingmen ever (despite kounene having sunk for a while now, they tried their best lol), tiara and kunishige having fun together, no. 3 mitsuba meeting human mitsuba’s mom, WHATEVER THE HELL THAT WAS WITH NATSUHIKO IN THE END???

also quite obsessed with the 2 full pages of the four just hanging around in the festival, I dont think I’ve seen those since the picture perfect arc

I’m so excited for what’s gonna happen in the next chapters now, esp for the mitsuba/mitsuba’s mom and natsuhiko storylines 👀

(side note, if anyone knows how to read and be able to take screenshots of the official translation outside of Manga UP! pls lmk I’m running out of XP </3)

[infernaltenor]

loved the three separate chapters we had dedicated to the mitsukou date

[distinguished-slacker]

This kick scene in the anime is nothing compared to the manga. In the manga Mitsu’s leg seemed ready to break some skulls🦵💀

[eatmy-customjorts]

i love this stupid trauma inducing a series

[bigbrainbiology]

Saw a meme going round, thought it fit these two <3

[minamotosousuke]