#as with many TPN things but that's beside the point

[fullscoreshenanigans]

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Title: DAYBREAK FRONTLINE -Rap arrange- Song and Lyrics: Orangestar (蜜柑星P) Vocals: Fantastic Youth — LowFat, おん湯 (Onyu) English Translation: shiguremachi (link in reblog)

Since the original YouTube video with millions of views was taken down, I figured I’d upload one of my favorite TPN AMVs with some English lyrics. This was the first AMV I saw after watching S1, and I know the song has been around for half a decade now, but it’s forever associated with this series in my mind. Words can’t describe how well it captures the series’ message of hope while giving a nice chronological recap of the season. Forever grateful to the original creator who uploaded it to niconico shortly after it aired.

[tobifanxd]

Happy Holidays! This is my TPN secret santa gift to @lizardshands ! sorry for the delay! I’m not the best at art so I decided to write a fic for you! (side note: Isabella is alive in this because she deserves to be!) I hope you like it!

Things had been going great for everyone in the human world. After Emma was found and her memories recovered, things began to settle down for everyone as the days went by peaceful blur. Most of the kids spent their time either at school, jobs, or just travelling; connected by their bonds but usually in separate parts of the world. That is until December hit.

Emma and Ray were walking up a snow-ridden path, the destination it led to being that of a supposed ski-resort. A couple days prior they had both received messages from an unknown sender, simply stating a time and date and coordinates. At first Ray just wanted to ignore it, he had received so many spam calls and texts daily that he wouldn’t even pick up his phone unless there was a name with the number. But once Emma reported that she also got the same text and convinced him to join her in “scouting it out”, they waited for the allotted day made their way to the meeting spot.

“Do you think this is all an elaborate prank set up by Norman?” Emma asked, as they were reaching the entrance to the resort. “I don’t recall any of Norman’s pranks being this long winded,” Ray huffed, “Well besides the time he faked his death” “Hey that doesn’t count! He didn’t even know he was going to survive that!” Emma responded puffing her cheeks at Ray. They had finally reached the door to the resorts main building. Rather than looking like a sketchy old, secluded hotel like one would see in “The Shining”, the place they found themselves at was nice and modern. Upon entering the lobby, they both quickly surveyed their surroundings and noticed two things: 1) It looked like an ordinary family-friendly resort, and 2) among the other families and people milling about were familiar faces! Waving at them from some seats around a fireplace were family from Grace Field!

“Emma! Ray! So, you got the message too?” Gilda came running up to embrace both in a big hug. “Gilda what are you doing here?! I thought you were still at school?” “It’s winter break right now Emma, I’m off for the month!” At this point Gilda had dragged them over to the fireplace to greet everyone else who had arrived. So far it was just Gilda, Don, Lani, Thoma and Anna. From what everyone could gather, all the kids from Grace Field had received the same text at the same time. While some kids couldn’t make it, the others decided to go with the same thought process along the lines of ‘if anything, Emma will be there’. “Where’s Norman I thought he would show up with you two?” Gilda asked Emma, “Do you think he’s behind this? Like some sort of elaborate prank?” “Ha! Norman’s pranks aren’t nearly this thought out or good for the matter! I could always see right through them!” Don juts into the conversation ready to give his two cents on the matter. He follows up sheepishly with “well, besides that time he faked his death, even I didn’t see that coming,” “Seeing as how even I didn’t know if I was going to survive, I wouldn’t necessarily call it a ‘prank’” From across the room across the lobby Norman makes his appearance, having just entered along with Barbara and Ayshe.

“Norman!” Emma jumps of the sofa to greet him with a big hug, “I thought you were still busy at the business you and Vincent set up?” “Vincent has been saying that I need to go on vacation, and when I got the text, he thought it would be the perfect excuse” “Barbara also wanted to tag along and, on our way, here we ran into Ayshe as well” While Norman was talking, they all made their way back to the fireplace, giving greetings to everyone and hugs as well. After exchanging pleasantries Don was the first the first one to bring everyone back to the matter at hand, “so, who do you think sent out the message? Anyone got any ideas?” Everyone looked at each other before Norman piqued up, “Oh I already figured out who it is, Vincent and I traced the number after I received it.” “What!? That’s important information! Why didn’t you tell us earlier!” both Emma and Don let out in surprise at Norman’s nonchalance to the question. Ray on the other hand, didn’t seem shocked at Norman’s remark; having his own ideas to who was behind this meet-up. After thirty more minutes of waiting the specified time was close at hand. From near the back of the lobby a feminine voice greets the kids surrounding the fireplace, “Ah good, it seems everyone is here.” Quick as lightning everyone turns around and is greeted by the sight of… “PHIL?!” Emma screams! Oh wait, the voice came from the figure behind him, “MOM?!” everyone, save for Norman, Ray, Barbara, and Ayshe screamed. The prior two having already figured out that it was her doing and the other two having no idea who she is save for mentions of her. “Hello, my dearest children, I’m so happy you all could make it!” Isabella smiles, happily embracing all the kids who just tackled her.

Once everyone had calmed down Isabella explained why she had brought everyone here. She figured that since they had finally managed to find Emma, and that the holiday season was fast approaching, now would be the perfect time to get everyone together to have some winter fun! As for why she contacted them all in such a cryptic way… well she knew that her kids were far too curious in nature to turn down a good mystery! “You know, you could have just called us normally, right? And why bring us to this resort anyway?” Ray asked, apprehensive as ever. “That’s simple Ray. This will be our first holiday season together as a family in the human world!” Isabella clapped her hands together in excitement; “I have been researching just about everything that people do for fun during the holidays and have narrowed it down to several activities that are must-haves for a good winter holiday!” “I know that I haven’t been the best mother to you all, but I hope to make it up to you one step at a time!”.

Everyone could see Isabella’s conviction, even though most of them had already forgiven her for her past she still feels like she is unworthy of such forgiveness. Understanding this, Emma and everyone couldn’t help but want to make sure that Isabella also got to have the best holiday too. Ray feeling like things were starting to get too awkward decided to break the ice, “that’s great mom, so what have you planned for us to do up here?” “I’m very glad you asked Ray!”

Isabella had broken up their holiday in a simple 3 step plan: first, holiday sweaters, second, fun in the snow, and third, hot coco and a nice holiday meal! Besides everyone that had made it on their own to the resort, she had also picked up some of the younger kids on her own. Having walked everyone to the cabin she had reserved, Isabella began to hand out the sweaters she had gotten everyone; there were even sweaters for Barbara and Ayshe since she figured some would bring their friends along as well. Once everyone had changed the room was filled with the absolute tackiest holiday sweaters anyone had ever seen. Some weren’t too bad, Gilda and Anna wore cute sweaters with ornament motifs, Ayshe had gotten one with a wolf pattern, and Barbara one with snowmen. Others were cursed with extreme tackiness, Don had gotten one with a Christmas tree on it with ornament puffballs and fake lights too, Ray had gotten one with a reindeer face on it, the nose of which glowed red! Norman got one that said, “Santa’s little helper”, Thoma and Lani got matching ones with their initials on them. Emma was absolutely ecstatic about her sweater, she had gotten a green one that looked like an elf costume, the same as Phil’s. “Look Phil we’re matching!” Emma ran up and hugged Phil, delighted that they got to be twinsies. “Do they really have to be this tacky” Ray said while taking of the reindeer ears that came with his, “oh absolutely, the tackiness is part of their charm!” Isabella pointed out; she herself was not immune to tacky outfits having dressed up in a cute Santa dress. Besides Ray’s objection everyone else seemed to be enjoying the sweaters, laughing and joking with each other on how they looked in them. Ray was also not immune to this and secretly enjoyed his as well. Now that everyone was dressed and ready to go it was time for the next phase of their holiday… snow time!

Once out in the snow everyone immediately went into a frenzy, Lani and Thoma started to round up kids to get a snowball fight going while the others decided to make snowmen.  Soon the area started to fill the construction of snowmen of all shapes and sizes; Gilda and Ayshe were trying to make a snow-dog, Norman decided to go with a nice and simple standard snowman (the proportions of which were perfect), Barbara decided to make a gigantic snowman and was currently rolling a snowball the size of a boulder. Ray was just walking around admiring the snow-amalgamations when he caught sight of Emma and Phil working very hard a mass of snow, “What yah making there Emma a giraffe?” “Not even close! Behold!” with a flourish her and Phil step away to reveal- “A snow Mujika!”. At the reveal of the slightly lumpy snow approximation of Mujika there were plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’, thinking that she looked kinda lonely Gilda and Don decided to get to work at making a snow Sonju (spear not included) to go next to her!

Meanwhile, what started as a snowball fight became an all-out snowball war. Hoping for reinforcements, the rival factions decided to convince the snowman makers to join their cause. It was immediately decided that each side got one of the main trio, since if any team had all of them they would win by a landslide. The following snow battle was brutal, the air rang with the sound of precision-made snowballs whizzing thru the air towards their targets. Sneak attacks, backstabs, frontal assaults and more were seen on this battlefield. The snowpocolypse would have continued, had it not been for Barbara who, instead of using it to make her snow-giant, decided to lob her planet-sized snowball towards the center of the battlefield. What happened next could only be described as a nuclear snowplosion as it crashed into the ground and sent snow flying everywhere. Declaring herself the winner. Barbara gave a rousing victory speech to the audience of newly made snow-children, who began to cheer at her complete victory on all sides.

After everyone settled down in the aftermath of the great snow war, Isabella called to everyone from the cabin that hot coco and dinner were ready. She had decided stay in and cook, while occasionally going out to watch the kids enjoy themselves; so proud of how her kids had grown. Entering the warmth of the cabin the kids were greeted with the smell chocolate and a veritable holiday feast. Sitting down and being able to eat with everyone brought back fond memories from when they were in the bunker as well as Grace Field house. After they gave thanks for the meal Emma stood up and raised her hot coco for a toast, “Today was an amazing day! Being able to spend it all with you guys will forever hold a special place in my heart,” “And we wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t for mom, she did her best to make sure we got to have fun together as a family and we wouldn’t be one without her!” To Emma’s touching speech Isabella couldn’t help but give a teary smile as all the kids raised their mugs in cheers as well; and the holiday dinner continued on from their as laughter rang through the night.

[just-like-playing-tag]

Me???? Still not over that Apollo Ray AU in 2021?????? It's more likely than you think.

I jumped into the water and now I need to keep swimming

If you're new to the AU, you can check out this post where it's explained where the name comes from and this other post on what Apollo Ray differs from Minerva Norman.

Tonight, I'd like to expand the plotline that Apollo Ray would choose to imprison Emma and Norman to prevent them from getting in his way to demons' eradication. I know y'all might cringe at this but you have to understand, he's REALLY convinced it's for their best.

This is how I can imagine things to go: Ray kinda tricks them and traps them somewhere inside of the Paradise Hideout. Not really a prison, he'd probably just lock them in a room and be like “you just got back from a long, dangerous journey, why don't you take some rest? In the meantime, I've got some stuff to do at, let's say, the Royal Capital :)”

Sounds familiar?

Like mother like son

Very relevant detail is that the room MUST be without locks. Make it an electronic key or a biometric iris recognition lock or whatever. Ray knows Norman well enough and he's not falling to the magical hairpin trick lmao.

Now, I like to think Gilda would take sides with Ray. I've always thought about Ray and Gilda having a lot in common (often seeing the glass half empty, loving Emma unconditionally; furthermore, they were the only ones who agreed that escaping from Grace Field with everyone was unequivocally impossible). At some point, paralleling how Norman asked to talk with Gilda and Don, Ray asks for Gilda only to come into his study. They have a long talk, during which he persuades her to join him. On Ray's end, he needs somebody he trusts to stay in the Hideout while him and his squad go to their fun trip to the Royal Capital, to keep an eye on Emma and Norman and make sure they won't escape or try and go to the Seven Walls. Now, Gilda probably wouldn't look like his first choice, for she is endlessly loyal to Emma; however, Ray plans of making that very factor, her love and dedication for her friend, his trump card. By talking to Gilda and calmly describing their situation, he makes her understand how hopeless is the mission Emma is so desperate to fulfill; that no one ever came back from the Seven Walls, and they're most likely to die there. Moreover, Ray persuades Gilda to believe that his plan of demon eradication is without doubts the most certain route, that will surely lead to the safest future for her friends - even though they can't understand it yet. However, their safeness and happiness is above anything else, even their own temporary freedom- isn't it? They will understand, once everything is over, that him and Gilda were only acting for their best.

Although initially hesitant, as never in her life she had gone against Emma, Gilda ends up firmly accepting, for she's determined to do anything to save Emma's (and Norman's) life- including betraying her.

I don't think it shouldn't be too surprising to have Gilda accept Ray's plottings; already in the manga, she's shown as being maybe the most condescending to Norman's plan, since she believed it was the less dangerous route to secure Emma's safety- and, to her eyes, consequential happiness.

In this AU, Ray's using the very feelings of affection that build Gilda's loyalty to Emma to bring her to his side; he's persuading her that the mission Emma and Norman are trying to carry out is a suicidal one, and that if they let them go they will lose them forever- which is something he knows Gilda would do anything to not let happen.

I know it may seem like he's manipulating her to get what he wants, but I want to underline I don't think that'd be the case: by saying he's worried Emma and Norman are going to lose their lives going after the Seven Walls, he's putting genuine sentiments on the line, and he's as determined to prevent it from happening as Gilda is. In comparison, Norman has been way more dishonest when he spoke to Gilda and Don- as Gilda would have later learnt, he was never intentioned to spare Musica (thus having plainly lied to them).

On the contrary, Ray's intentions of simply wanting to protect Emma and Norman were sincere, and he was way more honest with Gilda with his plan, fully entrusting her with it.

On the other side, Don would obviously take sides Emma, which would eventually lead to a very cool conflict between Gilda and Don?? I'm certain Don would support Emma because he grew up to be very similar to her. Brings back to my mind this old old post I once made, which considers the events of chapters 138 and 139: Don shares Emma's point of view on many matters, so I'm confident he would be ready to support her. When you think about it, he was the fastest to take sides with her in canon too, probably second to Ray only; and when Ray's choice was likely driven by his undying loyalty to Emma, chances are that Don was supporting Emma not only because he believed in her, but also because he was the first one to truly believe in her ideals as well, the first to believe they would have really been able to find a solution that would have brought happiness for everyone.

Now Don openly supporting Emma would inevitably lead to him and Gilda clashing which I find being the absolute COOLEST thing. I mean I love them, and I love how they love each other; still the thought of them being compelled by the circumstances to collide intrigues me so much!!!! I think they'd have this extremely angsty confrontation that will eventually end with Don convincing Gilda that trusting Emma has took them so far, and that the best thing to do is give up and help him to free Emma and Norman (maybe Ray had entrusted her with the keys / password to open the room Emma and Norman were locked in?? Dunnot)

Besides, I think it would make a lot of sense taking the whole tpn plotline?? It would end up paralleling Gilda and Don's chapters in Grace Field in so many different ways. First of all, I have to say it would be very nice to have a new spotlight on Gilda: her role in the first arc was relevant indeed, with her and Don being the key to the success of the escape; however, she didn't really got to have enough space for character development. The moment when the trio revealed them the truth was more about Don, while Gilda had never doubted of their words in the first place; moreover, the space she had as a possible spy was mostly used to deceive the attention from the true spy, and the revelation that she was never intentioned to betray them was more of character development for Emma, who consolidated her will to trust and protect her family, than a growth of Gilda herself.

But now, for Gilda to take sides against her dear Emma, the person she's more loyal and devoted to, what a great potential for character development that has!!!!!!! I can imagine her, once she finally accepts to help Emma, to echo the words Emma once told her at Grace Field: “I'm sorry- to protect you, I was prepared to be hated by you; yet, I wasn't ready to believe in you!”

To sum up: the Apollo Ray AU is still my jam and Gilda and Don deserve way more space than what they were given in the manga. Also stan Gilda.

[temporoom]

“Why” TPN ended so quickly ?

Theory and analysis of the authors and the reasons why the manga ended with a rushed final arc with a climax announced too long ago.

Hi. Yes, I know, you expected me to write a long post about my impressions on TPN. And you are right ! I shall do that ! But I’m not home right now, and I decided to do better.

My art history teacher was always suprised to see me caring so much about the context of some art piece rather that the piece itself. But as an artist myself, I know how the context can be so important and affect something. And TPN is no exception in that matter. That’s why, instead of directly talking about the fictional piece, I want to tak more about its authors and their mindset for the end of this manga.

Or more precisely… I want to talk about Posuka Demizu.

(Everything said in this post are only speculations, I don't pretend to know the Truth or to know the authors better than others, those are just analysis from what I could’ve guessed happened in Posuka Demizu’s life)

Credits to my older sister @machikurada​ for translating Posuka Demizu’s tweet in English.

Now, who is Posuka Demizu ? Posuka Demizu is (seemingly) a young japanese woman who worked as an illustrator for various people, such as book writers or even magazines. She has been spotted by Kaiu Shirai when searching for an artist for TPN when it was only him and his editor back then. She was working part-time at a cafe at the time, and immediately accepted to work as the illustrator for TPN once she read the script.

From interviews, her and Kaiu Shirai gets along, teasing and giving advices to each other from time to time. They trust each other enough to let the other work their imaginations in the best way to improve the manga. And it worked wonderfully for those 3 years of serialization.

Things started to go a bit more weirdly after a few years though. But it wasn’t Shirai’s fault, far from that. TPN has been an incredible way to be known for Posuka Demizu, she wasn’t just an underground illustrator anymore, but an actual mangaka. Publishing artbooks (though I don't think it was just TPN to be honest) and making exhibits of her artworks...

I bought her artbook in japanese/English (it was translated) a while ago. One sentence left a strong impression on me :

“I draw depending on my mindset, for example I drew a lot of motorbike illustrations since I bought my own motorcyle.”

(It’s not the exact sentence but as I said I’m not at home right now, I will edit the exact sentence once I’m back)

This sentence stood out to me because… It’s right. You can feel it in her art, she draws depending on her mindset. It’s not just ideas, it’s her feelings, it’s incredibly personal.

Since then, while I was following her twitter, I became more attentive to what she posted, because it wasn’t just art anymore… Posuka Demizu rarely talks about herself, her art is herself. She talks with her art. So you can guess why I wasn’t so surprised with the rush ending.

The final arc was announced at the beginning of September 2018. The climax, only in November 2019. 

Demizu already posted art often… maybe too often. Usually it even was original new art. Always something new each week, I was even joking that they weren’t giving her enough work to do with how much free time she seemed to have. But I was soon to regret ever joking about that.

She strated reposting her own art more often as the manga continued. She even got sick once. She… seemed tired. The original art she posted would become simpler each week, sometimes only small characters on a blank background, everything always with shades of grey. Something was wrong and I knew it. And then… The first post came.

A few months after the announcement of the climax. This doesn’t seem much to you, but the little boy in bed is one of Posuka Demizu’s OCs. He is surrounded by bunnies… Weirdly similar to Little Bernie. He seems tired, and theirs cardboard boxes. Then we get to another post.

“Carboard boxes piling up”

First thing in my mind : “Oh! She’s moving out !” It seems like so. But she wasn’t just moving out… It’s working AND Moving out. I also rememebered another interview when she said that she had more than 2000 pages in her drawers for TPN.

“Tonight I’m working overtime”

Seems clear enough for me. Also notice how the books are pilling up and taking over the picture ? How the character in the back seems tired ?

“I’ll make you a cup of tea, why don't you sit down?”

Next art. It seems she finally settled down in her new appartment with her other assistants. She is nor just working now but also chilling. You had no idea of how reassured I was when I saw this. I was so worried during the week that I was scared for her physical and mental health.

Demizu kept reposting her own art afterwards, but she seemed to feel overall better. Then…

This tweet arrived. What’s written in japanese here is aproximatively “I understand that feeling”. Any artist can tell that she is having an art block. At that point I knew.

I knew something had happened. 

She was tired, overwhelemed by her own work and manga. Tired of drawing. (I want to precise that she posted a lot of sad and melancholic art during that time)

She was coming to her breaking point.

A few months go by. She seemed to feel better again… But during that time the manga was rushed, people noticed that it was being made too quickly. And then the end arrived, good or bad… the side announcements made everything clearer for me.

They announced that Posuka Demizu would work as a character designer and concept artist for a video game that had nothing to do with TPN. But what does that have to do with anything ? Everything.

Soon after, the main characters for the game were announced… Designs had been made, concept art had been made… 

Posuka Demizu was working on BOTH the manga and the video game.

In an interview, she mentioned how she wanted to do all the backgrounds at first for the manga until she noticed how much work it represented. Posuka Demizu is terrible at noticing how much work somthing could take her. She LOVES drawing, she adds so many details TO DRAW MORE. 

The breakdown, the feeling of being overwhelmed… everything was because she has decided to work on two big projects at the same time. She most likely announced to the editor and Kaiu Shirai that she had accepted to work for this video game before those posts, hence why the climax announcement. But then couldn’t follow the rythm.

Kaiu Shirai and her gets along, I wrote it down earlier. So, he most likely went ahead to make her finish the manga earlier, all in order to keep her mental and physical health safe. Besides, she seemed more interested to work on something else than continue TPN without bein invested in it anymore. TPN was a way to get herself known… and it was time to let it go once and for all. 

So like the bird in a cage, Shirai accepted to set her free from TPN.

Of course, there’s still work to do, but now, she can focus more on a new project she will be invested as much in as she was at the beginning of TPN. 

As for her mental state now :

“Street view”

I think she is a bit sad to leave TPN still, but ready go on her own now… After all... The adventures continues.

[fictionstuff]

Plot: Surrounded by a forest and a gated entrance, the Grace Field House is inhabited by orphans happily living together as one big family, looked after by their "Mama," Isabella. Although they are required to take tests daily, the children are free to spend their time as they see fit, usually playing outside, as long as they do not venture too far from the orphanage—a rule they are expected to follow no matter what. However, all good times must come to an end, as every few months, a child is adopted and sent to live with their new family, never to be heard from again. However, the three oldest siblings have their suspicions about what is actually happening at the orphanage, and they are about to discover the cruel fate that awaits the children living at Grace Field, including the twisted nature of their beloved Mama. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Episodes: 12+11

Main Characters: Emma Norman Ray

Season 1 Points: 8.5/10

Season 2 Points: 6.0/10

I tried TPN only because it was on Wakanim and I finally subscribed to it, so I thought I should give TPN a try. I read that it was good and thus just wanted to see myself. I wasn't at all disappointed! … and then the 2nd season happened. Hence I gave it separate points. Before you should read this review, let me just say that the best way might be to read the manga from the very beginning, the first season is after all quite faithful to the story or to just start the manga after having seen the first season. Both seem good and valid to me. I did pick up the manga after watching the first season, but I also started the manga from the very beginning again. I am still enjoying the actual story quite a lot. TPN is a good mix of horror, mystery, psychological thriller with many friendship and family moments which make you quite a bit emotional, especially considering that our three main characters are innocent young kids. I do like the concept of the show, it is halfway original although keeping humans as some sort of livestock isn't necessarily original and new (Owari no Seraph for example started very much alike, although it is entirely different in hindsight).

The series revolves around 3 11 to 12 year old kids, 1 girl and 2 boys who grew up in an orphanage along with many others while some always get “adopted” after a while and leave the orphanage. Due to some coincidence (it wasn't, but that is the appeal of TPN, twists always get revealed) Emma and Norman rush after a kid to give her her favourite plush toy only to find out their livestock for demons and every person that was able to leave the orphanage before was eaten and killed by demons. From then on starts the break out plan, while the second season focuses on the aftermath of leaving and living in an unknown world.

That our main cast consists of 3 young children is highly refreshing, but also makes some things feel highly dramatic and over the top as well as illogical. Since I can't say I am the smartest geek around, I wasn't bothered much by it. It was just constant thought of ' are 12 years old really capable of this? '. On the other hand the writing of the plot is sometimes quite inconsistent and uses a lot of ' we got from point a to b, but how is left to your imagination '. It's a handy plot device to move things onwards, but hardly something that should be complimented, hence I can only give this solid 8.5 points, while season 2 deserves far less due to very inconsistent bad story writing, illogical choices and an awful ending.

Nonetheless I will focus on the first season here and mention that the escape plan and race were rather exciting, never a dull moment in the story with interesting twists and turns which added to the overall enjoyment of the series. The 3 main characters are highly sympathetic. We have Emma, our usual shounen protagonist, who just happens to be female. You either like her or you don't. She's smart but more than naïve and also highly of the opinion that she can save the world and has to save everyone even those that planned to eat you. You either accept that trait of hers or you might just dislike her entire character. I was quite a bit bothered by it, to be honest, but on the other hand Norman and Ray are all the much greater. Both are very intellectual and very much the leading force and strong support for Emma. They each have their area of expertise while Norman is a lot more open and Ray a little more closed off and the edgy kind of boy. In the second season however he receives a whole ton of character development and supports Emma fully without any regret. This might just be the only enjoyable part in season 2, because nobody else received any sort of development while the story just dropped between ' look a bunker – oh it explodes – oh we can dress up as demons – oh we're suddenly in a new place and look there are nice demons – we save them all and return, everyone is suddenly on our side – let's skip the end completely and the world is saved '. No need to say I very much dislike it and only give it credit for the lovely animation, which is good in season 1 and two. I love the character designs and smooth transitions.

The plot progression of the first season is very good though and if you love darker stories, I recommend the anime to you. The anime itself is quite beloved and while the second season destroyed the whole story, I think we should just see it as different entities and pretend that the sequel never happened. I did pick up the manga and I am looking forward to indulging myself more in the world of TPN.

On another short note: The second season sadly trampled over everything the first season safely build up and just rushed towards some shitty ending that was highly inexcusable. It indirectly conveyed that no more season will follow and that an unfinished story is now over with a time skip that showed nothing of what could even happen besides a happy ending that made no sense.

Animation/Character Design – 8.5

Characters/Story – 8.0 (Season 2: 6.0)

Enjoyment – 8.5 (Season 2: 6.5)

[themightyaliendwarf]

TPN s02e10

Guys, I’m really conflicted. On one hand this episode has done some things better than the manga, but at the same time it has so many plot holes... And I mean major plot holes! But let’s start from the beginning

1. Well, the episode start with a scene that I can nitpick. How do they know what happened with Grace Field after the fire? Is it once again from that data that has 15 years? As I said, it’s a nitpick, but I think ultimately little things like that can ruin a series. 

2. So, I was right about that Vincent isn’t a traitor. I mean, I wouldn’t say that it was very difficult to guess. Even if you are anime only and don’t know how loyal Vincent was to Norman. But I have a question: wouldn’t Barbra be a better red herring? Anime showed how much she hates demons, so it would make more sense for the audience for her to be the “traitor” (since I guess we need one). Besides, she wasn’t one of the smart lambda kids, so she would be less suspicious. But I guess Peter is dumb, so I guess it doesn’t really make a difference.

3. I don’t like providing false information, so I did a little bit of research. According to my source (here is the link -> http://aerostation.free.fr/mfr/en/mfr_7.shtml), it should take from 150 up to 300 work hours to build 1 hot air balloon. That’s at least 6.25 days. Do you know how many hot air balloons those children build in less than a week? 10 at least! Look, the works of fiction can be unrealistic, but we should set up some boundaries. Is it too much to ask for an anime (that should be about young geniuses being geniuses) to show us characters being smart, making good and creative choices and overcoming obstacles in a way that makes sense? Besides, I’m salty that they didn’t give us more Ray content here. I mean, he was supposed to be an incredible engineer. How could you miss this opportunity? How? 

4. Hey, why does demons are throwing spears at those balloons? Don’t they have, I dunno, guns? Why this anime doesn’t want to use guns so badly? 

5. But I have to say one thing: the fact that first thing those kids do after coming back to the farms, is starting a fire, is absolutely hilarious. 

6. Also, I love the addition of Thoma and Lannion finding canned food in the old well. This scene comes from extra page added to the volume #20 of the manga, and it’s delightful. 

7. As I mentioned above, Peter is stupid. Let’s think for a second. They set up a plan of luring children in, then they find out that they will come back to the farms thanks to the ‘traitor’... and they don’t suspect a thing. I mean, really? Really? In the manga, he also forces them to come back, but there the plan looks drastically different. Peter is not fooled by a “traitor”, he just didn’t expect that the children will try to take over the farms. 

Besides, let’s not forget that in the manga, both sides are playing cat and a mouse. The whole things lasts, I think, about 10 chapters, so it makes sense that it’s better fleshed out, and both sides can take as many wins and fails. Here it kinda goes like this: 

- I win! - No, because I outsmarted you! - Haha, no, I’m outsmarting your outsmarting! - But did you expect that outsmarting your outsmarting of my outsmarting?! It’s fast to the point of the viewer not being able to get invested in the story. You don’t feel tension because there is no time for that - the problem disappears before the solution will be useful, because another problem appears. 

8. But let’s talk about the good side because there is one. I like the whole idea of this plan more than the one in the manga. Let’s look at the steps of the plan from the anime.

                 1. Provide Peter with the incorrect info                  2. Makes farms believe that the incorrect info is true by tricking them                  3. Get inside while they are busy with your distraction                  4. Connect to the system                  5. Get in touch by children from the farms by blending in                  6. Take over the system                  7. Help children escape from the adults                  8. Buy some more time                  9. Reach the assembly point and escape It sounds really good on paper, but you need at least 3 or 4 episodes to make it work. Actually, let’s not forget that it took 12 episodes to escape from the farms. Now, I don’t think that we would need this much time (it would be cool, though), but 1 episode is just not enough. Especially by the amount of ‘no, you’ moments in this episode. 

9. Another nitpick: do you think a 13 year old would be able to destroy a, I think, camera with a bow and an arrow? The answer is: no, of course not. I don’t think you would even be physically able to do it. I mean, you can’t even break an armour with a bow! (well, alright, there were some gigantic war bows in the history, but they usually take a looot of strength - and sometimes more than a one person - to pull)

10. The moment when Emma just dropped her weapon on the floor, I was like “Yep, that’s because she didn’t go through Godly Pond”. Why would you drop a weapon on the enemy territory? Why? Sure, she also does it in the manga, but at that point, the danger is gone (well, not really, but she couldn’t expect that).

11. Here is a couple of panels from the manga I’m REALLY salty weren’t included:

So, basically, Vincent being a wonderful ally, symbolism, Oliver being a badass (and GP crew existing) and one scene I think is really funny.

12. Let’s talk about civilian demon rising. Yes, it makes sense and I overall like it... but what about the nobility? We know that it exists and that the farm system is simply a method they use. Yeah, it makes sense to start from attacking them (as a symbol), but it was poorly executed. Again, too much, too soon.

13. You know what really sucks? The anime didn’t explain a thing about the promise. All we know that it was made 1000 years ago. You would think that it would be good to explain the thing that is in the title, but I guess there is no use, right? Fortunately, it was explained in the manga, and I would recommend checking it out if you are an anime only. But if you are, you probably shouldn’t read my posts, because I spoil the manga :^)

So, to sum up... I’m conflicted. I can see that there was potential, but the episode suffers because of the lack of time. Which is ironic since anime was supposed to go anime-original because they wanted to ‘fix the ending’. What’s funny, they are making the ending less nerve-wracking because Emma didn’t make a new promise, so we don’t have to worry about the reward. You know, the thing that bother manga readers for months because we had no idea what it will be. So, I guess we will just get a plain happy ending because there are absolutely no stakes. 

I’ve also just realised that Isabella might survive this time, since season 2 killed, I believe, a whole 0 named characters. Sure, in the manga, there are not that many deaths, but when they happen, they are painful - bunker dads forever in our hearts. 

So, yeah, one more episode left. Let’s see what will happen next week.

[thathilomgirl]

3, 10, 15, 21

EDIT: Fine the read more is broken now, I’ll leave it as it is

3 - What’s your current OTP?

Ray/Emma - this actually wasn’t the TPN ship I was on at first (I paired Emma with Norman because of his crush on her), and it actually took me until the end of the 2nd major arc until I saw like small hints that made me think “oh, this could be cute“ or “if this were a fanfic, wouldn’t it be funny if this would be where he starts to feel something more for her.“ I thought I’d be struggling with multishipping Emma when Norman came back in the timeskip. However, it became secured because of the combination of:

the fact that it was Emma’s graciousness that secured Ray to be included in the escape from the first arc despite him acting as a spy against them, and the positive character development Ray got long-term as a result of that

the way the dynamic between Emma and Ray changed since the first arc from a idealistic optimist - suicidal pessimist clash to the point where they will readily support each other without a word, even if Ray doesn’t agree wholly with Emma on some issues

These panels that happened when they essentially crossed through time and space:

and what Norman did after coming back (still think he got off pretty lightly all things considered) and the way some people shilled hard for him because of it (and still do) in fandom (so admittedly a bit of spite is involved in this) 

Kyo/Tohru - it’s so funny because what I’ll say here will be so small after the 1st ship, but now that I’m watching the new anime, in the story the mangaka intended it to be, the way that Kyo and Tohru’s relationship develops over time is such a sweet thing to witness, especially in how they build each other up to be better. I’ve seen so many meta posts explain in detail the dynamic they have, but I’d also attribute this to the brilliant storytelling Natsuki Takaya planned for Furuba.

10 - Do you ship any characters that have never met?

Only because since they technically didn’t meet until like the climax of the movie, Taki/Mitsuha from Your Name

15 - Have you ever “shipped at first sight”?

That’s generally how I tend to roll, but I need like actual shipping moments to maintain that ship to the end

21 - Is there a ship you just don’t get, but have nothing against?

I see a lot of people ship Ray and Anna, but like, besides cutting her hair short to help him in the escape, I literally haven’t seen any scene at all that’s anywhere close to a shipping moment

[itstimetotheorize]

the promise will be broken! warning, 152  spoilers

sooo, lets have a little look over what has happened so far in the promised neverland as well as what may happen now that the royal family is dead

1. there is currently a gigantic army of demons searching for the cattle childrens secret tree base, and for some very odd reason, the demons actually have an idea as to where the children may be.

Whats odd about this whole situation is that the queen never ordered them to do this, she ordered them to go to different demon villages to hunt down the fake rebels Norman made her think were raiding and destroying farms. But if she didn't give the army the order to look for the children, then who did? who would have a greater authority than queen legravalima herself? could it be peter? 

it is his responsibility to make sure the demons and humans are keeping their end of the promise. So maybe he has leverage over all of the demons, this would allow him to do whatever he needs to do if it means maintaining the promise.

2. if the demons do find the tree base, the children will have already been left completely outnumbered now that all their fighters are away at the royal capital with Norman. Not only that, norman and his army are days away from the hideout so even if they do decide to head back now, its possible the majority of the children will have already been captured by the time they arrive.

 sure, Oliver and his team went back to the tree base to warn the children about the demons and prepare for any sudden attacks.

 but in all honesty, I don’t think the other children, besides the ones from the B06-32 shelter, will believe them. What makes me say this? well, since the other children are so dependent on Norman, and because Norman specifically stated no one would ever find the tree hideout, the children may truly believe they will never be found, preventing them from trying to prepare any possible escape, leaving Oliver and his team in a desperate situation to save a bunch of kids who don’t believe they are in terrible danger.  

3. despite Normans final decision to carry out his demon extermination plan, and despite the fact that Norman decided to not wait for Emma, we see here in chapter 152, that for the first time in a long time, Norman is finally beginning to contemplate everything he has done. As norman watches Vincent and Cislo approach the last member of the royal family with blood thirsty eyes, Norman does not look happy with what they are about to do, so he looks away, 

but as he does,

 Norman begins to have a vision of a child Emma and himself looking at him with sadness and grief. Of all the things Norman could have seen, the fact that he saw his childhood self look so unhappy along with Emma, could imply that Norman really didn't want to do what he did. He really did want to wait for Emma, he really did want to consider a different solution. But because of everything that was at stake, because of how lambda made him see the world, because he was so sick and tired of seeing so many children die, and because he knew he may not live long enough to see the world he had hoped to give to emma

 norman decided in the end to carry out his plan, believing that it really was the only way to save everyone. And now that the royal family is dead, Norman tries to ignore his own good conscious as he tries to reasons with the fact that despite what he has done, despite how he really feels on the matter and despite how upset he knows Emma will be, at least now he knows the worst is finally over and the future that he and Emma had hoped for can finally be accomplished....or will it?

4. Peter Ratari, a crazy intelligent and insanely destructive man who is still hell bent on capturing the cattle children and getting rid of anyone that stands in the way of maintaining the promise, has still not made an appearance and is most likely standing behind the shadows, secretly carrying out his next move without anyone suspecting him 

5. we still don’t know what has happened to sweet innocent Phil!. At this point Phil is either still waiting for Emma or worse has finally reached a point of despair that allowed the grace field employees the chance to persuade him into joining them in exchange for at least saving carol and three other kids that phil managed to stay with before being separated from the others....or he could be dead, but lets try not to think about that!

6. before queen legravalima is killed, it is revealed that she was very power hungry. And in order to become queen, she even resorted to killing her own father (the demon king) as well as her siblings. 

whats even worse is the fact that she does not take ??? reward seriously and had in fact wanted to eat Norman herself rather than giving him to ??? as an offering like she was supposed to. 

but to get away with it, she had to send Norman to lambda to give her that chance to eat him. So technically speaking,  legravalima was stealing from ??? and neglecting the demons side of the reward!

I mean, sure, she did present ??? with another offering for the tifari. But what we don’t know is whether ??? accepted it or not. The answer to that lies in the vida plant.

the vida flower is a very important part of tpn, why?,  because just as sonju explained to Emma in chapter 49, if the vida flower fully blooms then that means god (or in this case ???) has accepted the offering presented to him. But now that we know the queen was holding out on ??? by not giving him norman, the flower may have never fully bloomed for that years tifari, meaning that ??? may not have accepted the queens offering!

7. The promise specified that the demon and human world stay separated so long as neither side returns to hunting each other

however, that idea is pretty much now out the window when it came to Norman. 

back in chapter 48,  mujika explains to us that if a human break a promise then they will make an enemy of ???. If this is true, then normans plan not only  succeeded in killing the royal family but it may have also threatened to break the promise itself. If so, then ??? may just end up joining norman, emma and rays reunion at the royal capital!

8. Norman and his demon killing team are still unaware of the fact that ??? really exists. Let alone know that he is actually a supernatural god demon with the personality of a child who is crazy powerful to the point where he can even separate worlds and destroy anything or anyone that gets in the way of his reward or the promise. As i said before, if ??? really does show up to the castle after  learning that the queen denied him his reward and learning that Norman had broken one of the promises, then Vincent and the others may try to kill ??? once they see him go after Norman, however, I don’t think they will fair very well against a god deity should they decide to attack

9. we still don’t know what the reward Emma agreed to is, but considering ??? sick sense of humor, we at least know that is has got to be something very dear to her.

 emmas promise asked for all the cattle kids to be sent to the human world as well as for ??? to make it impossible for humans and demons to cross into each others worlds. Now, in order to figure out just what the reward is, first, think about emmas dream for a second. Emmas dream is to create a world where she can be happy with her family, she wants to live a life free of ever being considered food for another creature. 

Now look back at ??? idea of what kind of reward he wants from someone. No matter who it is, ??? wants that persons dearest thing as his reward. When julius ratari made his promise with ??? 1000 years ago we knew that he made the promise because he was tired of fighting with the demons, he was tired of all the sacrifice and war that came with it. 

All julius wanted was to be free from all that struggle, he wanted to return home knowing that despite sacrificing his friends to ??? he would at least have the chance to finally put the past behind him and forget about what he did. To him, that sacrifice was well worth it now that he has ensured a future for humans to live free of the demons ( this included himself). Even more shocking, is that julius ratari was even willing to sacrifice himself for the promise because even in death he would still be at peace, free from all the wars with the demons as well as his guilt over sacrificing his friends.

So.... when ??? does asks julius for his reward to separate the two worlds, what does he end up asking julius for?, 

??? decides that he wants julius to act as gatekeeper to both worlds, he forces julius and his decedents to forever be involved with the demons and have julius be plagued by the horrible sacrifice he had hoped to forget about, for the rest of his life!

??? took Juliuses desire to finally rest in peace along with the other humans! Knowing this and knowing that the only thing emma wants is to live happily with her family, ??? may have decided to take away that happiness and force her to stay with the very demons that wanted to eat her and her family, and as an ironic twist, perhaps shirai will have emma live the remainder of her life as the very creature she had hoped to save, a demon. Now is it possible for ??? to turn humans into demons? who knows...maybe.

10. Lewis might still be alive! . Lewis body was never found in the goldy pond village. Many have theorized that the monkey he was always carrying around was actually an extension of himself, and carried his real eye just as a fail safe in case anyone ever tried to kill him. He is the demon queens sister after all, so not including humans, lewis might have always been cautious about other demons trying to kill him.

11. we still dont know who mujika is, let alone why she is the only demon in history to have the power to turn other demons into non-human eaters.

12. what happened to isabella?! she was grace fields top caretaker so I don’t think they would get rid of her that easily 

13.  and last but not least, We still don’t know what the human world is like, let alone if any cattle children in the past actually managed to escape there.

so in conclusion, and per story line rules, now that everything seems to good to be true, now that normans plan seems to have succeed without an sort of problem, and now that none of the other major threats of the series have been re-addressed in a significant amount of time, then logically speaking, everything norman and emma had hoped to accomplish for all cattle children will come crashing down

[amaikana]

Smitten [a TPN fanfic]

-.-.- Rating: K+ Pair: NorEmma Wordcount: 2k+ Tag(s): Middle School AU, Romantic Comedy, Mistaken Identity, Pansexuality Summary:

“Ray! Ray! Raaaay! I’m having a crisis now, Wake uuuup!”  “The heck you’re doing at 1 a.m?!” “The boy I thought I’m crushing at all this time is actually a girl and she’s actually so much cuter up close but I might just kind of accidentally sexually harassed her in a public library. What should I do nooow?!” “…come again?”

OR, Norman had just experienced his first silly eighth-grader crush on a cute orange haired boy in the library, But then suddenly things took a turn to a completely awkward path.            

A/N: Cross-posted on AO3 -.-.-

.

 “Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss. But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”

 —A quote from “Flipped” movie

 .

 || Smitten ||

.

Norman first saw the boy in the school library. The boy had a bright orange hair and wearing an equally bright smile. He also still had some baby fat on his cheeks that’s making him so much cuter. Humming quietly an upbeat tune, the boy’s eyes moved back and forth, sorting out through the fantasy fictions shelf. His finger traced the rows of books there. His eyes sparkled with joy when he’d managed to find the book he wanted.

 What an adorable boy.

It’s called having a crush, Ray said. Well, that’s maybe not exactly what he said, but still.

“It means that you’re finally getting that late, late puberty and—God bless—having a crush on someone. It also means that I can be glad now. Because I honestly thought something’s wrong with your head every time your smartass big brain went totally clueless to Barbara’s passive-aggressive attempt at flirting at you since the first year.”

To be fair, it wasn’t that he was totally clueless about Barbara. It’s just he chose not to pay attention to stupid things like Barbara’s every day sweet nonsenses.

“So, who is it?” Ray asked curiously, pausing the game that Norman was winning for the fifth time straight.

Ray must’ve been fishing for distraction because he’s secretly way more frustrated than he let on, Norman thought amusedly.

Ray frowns. “What’s with that face? What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” He grins.

Ray lunged at him and started tickling him, trying to get him to say the truth by force. But five minutes into the tickle fight, everything was forgotten. They never talked about it again for the rest of the day.

“Come to think of it, you haven’t really told me that day,” Ray suddenly says in the middle of their P.E break.

A few good meters away from them, Ms. Krone was sitting on a bench, watching with apparent uninterest all the eighth-grader kids who were playing basket and volley ball in the court. Poor woman. She must’ve been one of those teachers who didn’t actually had any interest in teaching and only in for it for the good salary.

Norman steals a water bottle from Ray’s hand. Ray only rolled his eyes and sighed.

“About what?” he asked, after chugging a good amount of water from the said bottle. Ray knocked his head lightly with the bottle in annoyance when he returned it to him.

“About your crush, Norman!”

“Why are you so invested in it?”

“Why?” Ray frowned. “Don’t you think I have the right to know too? Being your best friend and all.”

“Oh, so you’re finally admitting that I’m your best friend, now? Didn’t you said yesterday that you hated me the most?”

Ray scowled. “That’s only because you kept beating me in Mario Kart and stole my dessert again!”

Norman laughed. “Sorry.”

“Ck, don’t even pretend. I know you’re not.” Ray rolled his eyes again.

“So?”

“Hm?”

“Who’s your crush?”

“You’re so stubborn.”

“I am.”

Norman paused, his mind recalling back to that certain afternoon in the library. The adorable boy with the cute humming voice and the brightest hair. He smiled dopily remembering it.

“It’s…a boy from a seventh grade, I think.”

Norman remembered that the boy was carrying a trigonometry book that day. They had trigonometry in seventh grade here.

Beside him, Ray chocked on his drink. “A…boy?!”

Norman turned at him. “Is that so surprising?”

“I mean, uh, I never know that you’re into boys? It’s just- I support you and all, really. Not that your sexuality would matter to me anyhow. Just… It’s kinda surprising, y’know? It never really crossed my mind that you’re gay.”

“But I am not.”

“Huh?”

He laughed at Ray’s dumbfounded face.

“There’s more spectrum of sexualities in this world beside being straight and gay, Ray.” Norman grins exasperatedly, shaking his head. “For me it’s like, their gender doesn’t really matter? If I find that someone’s cute then they’re cute. I’m sure there’s a name for it… I think they called it ‘pan’ or something?”

“‘Pan’? Like the pan for cooking? Why would you call yourself after a cooking utensil?”

He shrugged. “Well, it’s pansexuality to be precise. But beats me. It wasn’t me who came up with the name.”

“Okay. So. You have a crush on a boy. Do you know what his name is? Or at least his class?”

Norman stared blankly. He had only realized it now. “I don’t know. I was too smitten watching him and didn’t think about asking him for it.”

“Wait. So, you’re telling me you totally didn’t talk to him that day? Despite you both being in the library and it was just the two of you? You were just watching him from afar like some sort of creepy stalker?”

He kicked Ray’s leg. “He was just that cute. Almost pretty even, I think.” Norman paused and flushed, remembering that boy’s face again. “It should be pretty justified that I was loss at words! You’d understand yourself when you see him.”

“I mean, I can recognize a good-looking guy when I see one. But to the point of being dumbly smitten? I guess unlikely. You’re forgetting the fact that I’m not into guys.”

The school bell rang, signaling the change of period. And just like that, they dropped the conversation.

Norman didn’t get to see the cute boy again until a few days later, when he’s staying up in the library for a science competition paper research until late night. It might be unusual, but in their school curfew hours didn’t apply to the library. The library was always open 24/7, and all the students were permitted to go out of the dorm even very late at night if it were to the library.

That night, Norman was reading one of the books about electricity theories when he suddenly heard a voice of someone grumbling. The voice came from one of the aisles near his table. Norman decided to take a break for a bit and might as well help the person.

True to his guess, the person was just two bookshelves away from there. The person seemed to struggle reaching out for a book in the top shelf. And as he got closer, Norman could see that the said person was the same cute orange-haired boy he saw the other week.

His heart suddenly did a flip.

“Can I help you there?”

The person turned at him. His bright green eyes looked so mesmerizing. The boy blinked at him. And Norman bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from saying stupid things. Like ‘how can you be that cute’ or something—Ray would definitely laugh if he knew.

“Uhh, yeah… Can you help me getting that book with yellow cover there?” The boy pointed out at the book he meant.

Norman smiled. “Sure.”

This was honestly the first time he really appreciated the tall gene his parents passed on him.

“Here.” He passed the book to the boy.

But as the boy took a step closer to take it from his hand, he accidentally stepped on his own shoelace and stumbled over.

“Careful!”

Norman reached out to steady the boy. Luckily, he managed to catch the boy in time. But……

 Wait.

Norman realized something. His face immediately flushes.

 He…he…his chest isn’t flat!

“S-sorry!” Norman yelped. He stumbled back as if the boy—wait, girl—burned his hand.

The girl laughed awkwardly, and only now Norman realized that her voice was obviously high-pitched and clearly sounded feminine.

“Yeah. Um. Haha, accidents happen.”

Horror realization suddenly dawned into him. Not only he had mistakenly thought she was a boy, but he also had just kind of accidentally touched her……uh, personal part. And the worst thing was, this girl was his first crush!

“Ray! Ray! Raaaay! I’m having a crisis, Wake uuuup!”

One of the best things about rooming out with your best-friend is that you could dump all your crisis onto them practically whenever you want. As long as they’re awake, that is.

Ray opened his bleary eyes and yawned loudly.

“The heck you’re doing at 1 a.m?!”

“The boy I thought I’m crushing at all this time is actually a girl and she’s actually so much cuter up close but I might just kind of accidentally sexually harassed her in a public library. What should I do nooow?!”

Ray stared dumbfoundedly at him. Then blinked. Then blinked again.

“…come again?”

A can of vending machine coffee and Ray having the best laugh of his life later, Norman managed to get everything out of his chest. And they’re finally having some sane conversation again—because for Heaven’s sake, Ray just won’t stop laughing!

“Okay, okay.” Ray wiped out some of his tears and made an effort to really toning down his laughter. “So, based on your story, it seems that there’s only one solution to this problem.”

“And that is…?”

Ray made a serious face and intentionally dragged the tension out. Norman waited with dread.

“One word, my friend.”

“One word?”

“All you have to do is……Talk!”

“Oh my Gooood!” Norman groaned and buried his face in their cushion pillows. “That’s what I ask your advice for! I can’t possibly initiate another conversation after…after…that! I mean, what if she thinks that I’m a pervert? And what if—”

“You’re having too many ‘what if’s.” Ray rolled his eyes. “Look, based on your story, it sounds like the girl didn’t even really minding it. I mean, not as like, she’s liking it. But like, she doesn’t make it as a big matter. Y’got it?”

“But still! How can I talk to her again after that! I mean, just imagine it. If you’re a girl and a boy who yesterday touched your, uhm, not-so-flat chest, suddenly just randomly talk to you the next day, what would do you think? It’s…ugh. It’s not even just embarrassing. Isn’t that also, uh, kind of creepy? I mean– oh my God. I’m older than her too! That’s—”

“Whoa– Stop right there, buddy! For anything-up-there sake! She’s a seventh grade, not a third grade. You’re not being a creepy older man, what the heck. As I said, you’re having too many ‘what if’s. If you don’t wanna talk, at least just be your usual self and don’t avoid her you’re meeting her again. Now, that’d be pretty rude if you suddenly treating her like some kind of germ.”

Having a talk with Ray was absolutely not helping. Norman walked to school again the next time dreading meeting that seventh grade girl—who he still didn’t know the name yet, by the way.

Turned out fate had some kind of grudges towards him. Because when he walked into library again to borrow some books for his biology essay, the same feminine voice he dreaded to hear suddenly sounded just beside his ear.

“Umm, hello…”

Norman managed to bit his tongue to stifle the yelp just in time. He turned around and found that it was really the cute girl from before. She was wearing their uniform dress-code this time. A white buttoned shirt and rippled black skirt, instead of some jacket dan jeans he saw her wearing the two times he met her before.

“Uh, haha. Um. Yes. Hi.”

“Um, hi too. Uhh, you’re the boy from last night, righ—”                                                

“L-last night. Yeah. I mean. I’M SORRY! I promise I didn’t really mean to be a pervert or something and I am not weird I promise even thought I totally mistook you as a boy for like a week anyway I mean that doesn’t count as weird right I mean, uh, sorry, um—”

The girl laughed. “Hahahah, oh my God. It’s okay, it’s okay. I know that was an accident.”

“Uhh, yeah. Accident. Totally.”

The girl stared exasperatedly at him. “You’re so funny.”

“Um. Thanks.” Then, because apparently smooth wasn’t in his genes, he tackled again, “You’re so cute.”

The girl blushed and giggled awkwardly, and it was the cutest thing Norman ever seen. Apart from catching Ray hugging a body pillow, that is.

They both stood awkwardly in front each other. And Norman found his supposedly gifted IQ was useless at making conversation when facing cute people.

“Do you like ice cream?” he finally blurted out.

“E-eh? Y-yeah. I mean. Yes! I really like it! I like strawberry cheesecake flavor. W-what about you?”

“Me? Um…I’m not really picky, but I think I like choco mint the most?”

The girl laughed again. “Cool! It was my favorite before. Hey, I know! You should try the strawberry cheesecake one. We might have the same taste in ice creams!”

He beamed. “That’s a good idea. Hey, let’s go out for ice cream this weekend. We can try many flavors we haven’t tried and finding out whether we really have the same taste!”

The girl stared at him dumbfoundedly, and Norman wondered if he had said the wrong thing.

“I-is it a date?” the girl blurted out.

“E-eh?!”

The girl immediately flushed bright and buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God, sorry to jump to conclusions just like that. I just thought—”

“I-it could be a date!” he hurriedly cut her.

The girl slowly peeked through her fingers. “R-really?”

Norman smiled and nodded. “Yes.” Then he grabbed the girl’s wrists and peeled them off of her still-blushing cute face. “Of course. I’d like dating withyou too!”

“Heeeh?!”

It took Norman a moment to realize that date and dating are two similar words with different meanings.

“I-I MEAN—”

“Please tell me you were serious because I definitely have a crush on you since seventh grade!”

It was his turn to be dumbfounded.

The girl snapped her mouth shut with her palms again. “Oops. I wasn’t supposed to say that yet……wasn’t I?”

Norman laughed awkwardly. Because he wasn’t sure how to react with the sudden confession. “Um…I think I kind of have a crush on you too…since that time I first saw you in the library. L-last week, I mean. N-not last night.”

“Wow…” the girl whispered. Her bright green eyes widened and stared at him a mix of awe and embarrassment.

“Uh… I think we should probably slow down a bit, though.” He rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Well, for starters how about some kind of introduction? I mean, I don’t even know your name yet, so…”

The girl smiled. She averted her eyes shyly to the side before meeting his again. “Y-yeah. Um, okay. I go first. Since I already know yours.” She let out an awkward chuckle. “I-I’m Emma. Eighth grade, as you might’ve guessed. I’m rooming with my seventh grade friend, Gilda. I…I kinda like you since I saw you in the quiz competition in our school festival fair last year. W-well, you might not remember me because my team got eliminated in the second round. Uhh, haha. B-but… Y-you were so cool back then.” The girl grinned shyly.

“Wow. Okay. Uh… My name’s Norman. Eighth grade too. And, uh… Okay. You probably already knew those things. So… uhm. Oh my God. This is a mess, I’m so sorry.”

The girl—who he knew now, named Emma—giggled again. “It’s okay. We’re both kinda a mess here.”

“Yeah… You’re right.” He laughed.

The atmosphere seemed a bit lighter now that they’ve already talked about the elephant in the room.

“Um, by the way… You said you’re eighth grade, right? But… I thought you were seventh. If I recall correctly, you were borrowing trigonometry book back then…”

“Ooh, you saw me on that day! I was borrowing some books for my roommate. She had some assignments for the next day, but she caught a terrible flu so I offered to borrow it for her.”

“You’re such a good roommate,” he commented.

“Well, roommates are usually our closest friends, right? I bet you’re a good roommate too!”

“My roommate is…kind of a handful. Also annoying. Well, yeah, he’s my best-friend though.”

“I know right! Sometimes roommates can be so annoying! Eh, wait…doesn’t that mean that they also find us annoying?”

He laughed. Emma was so refreshing.

“Hey, um, I think we still have about half an hour for the break. Want to go to the cafeteria and grab lunch together?”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Emma agreed. “Now that you mentioned the cafeteria, I’m starting to get hungry again.”

Norman laughed. Meeting Emma was unexpected. Her straight-forward personality was even more unexpected. But it was so much fun, so he’s definitely not going to complaint much.

.

(BONUS SCENE)

“Do you think I should wear the light green stripped one or the plain blue one? Should I wear varsity jacket too? Or maybe some vest on it?”

Ray groaned for the umpteenth time just in that hour. “I swear, Norman! I bet she won’t even care even if you showed up with some washed up t-shirt and crocs!”

Norman stared at him as if he had just said something so scandalizing.

Suddenly, a door to their room was thrown open. A mop of orange hair burst in.

“Raaaay! I’m having a date with this cute boy in an hour and you should help me—”

Emma, his friend, paused at the door with a comical jaw drop. Ray glanced back to find his roommate mirroring her expression.

“You—”

“You—”

Ray regretted that he didn’t have his camera with him. That one was definitely picture-worthy.

[couldnt-think-of-a-better-name]

hm. so i was struck with a thought, what with how much talk of breeding humans theres been im wondering how exactly do demons procreate? we've seen demon children, and the species ages albeit without an upper limit it seems. would they be mammalian? like the humans they eat? a kind of ameba splitting? egg laying?? thoughts?

Sorry, I had been really slow getting through the asks! I have some Real Life stuff to do in preparation for a holiday... But, in any case, let’s talk about

TPN DEMON PROCREATION

First of all, we have very little information to work with, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to give definitive answers. So far, the things we know are:

There are demon babies

There are demon children

Demons don’t age the same way as humans

Demons seem to have an extremly long, if not infinite lifespan compared to humans

The demon world is not densely populated despite the long lifespan of demons

We have seen very few demons that look female by human standards

We have seen only one demon (Nouma) that had anything that definitely looked like mammarian glands

Demons can have at least one parent (Luce talked about his father, but no demon has talked about having two parents yet)

Demons are capable of horizontal gene transfer

Horizontal gene transfers allows demons to take DNA from things that they eat into their own body

The first thing that I notice is that we have no confirmation on whether demons have sexual reproduction or not. Let me explain a bit about the difference between asexual and sexual reproduction, since I have studied this as part of evolutionary science.

By definition, all things living reproduce in some way. Asexual reproduction is the more ancient option, where there is only a single parent per offspring, so the DNA between them is identical, essentially it’s a genetic clone. The evolutionary strategy here is that this type of reproduction is very easy, fast and can give you a large amount of offspring in a short period of time.

The downside of asexual reproduction is that it doesn’t help increase the diversity within your population. Why is that a problem? Well, you may be well adapted to a certain enviroment, but as soon as there is a change to the enviroment that makes it disadvantegous, then ALL of your offspring could be wiped out.

On the other hand, if you are able to create offspring that have your DNA mixed with a different individual, then your offspring has a much higher chance for survival, even if the enviroment changes. This is why sexual reproduction evolved, and spread so fast on the planet. Most organisms that we are familiar with reproduce sexually only, with one big exception being a number of plants, which can reproduce both from seed (sexual) and from bud / cut off leaf etc (asexual).

Then we have many simple organisms, bacteria that reproduce asexually only, but use horizontal gene transfer to increase their diversity. So despite the bacteria only reproducing with genetic clones as offspring, as long as those offspring can get genes from different individuals and species with horizontal gene transfer, they will have sufficient diversity. This is actually what causes such huge problems with antibiotics, since bacteria trade genes to acquire a resistance.

So if we look at real life, the use of horizontal gene transfer to me would signify that demons only reproduce asexually. But we have one problem: demons can get DNA and traits from things that they eat. So technically even if they started out as asexual, they could just get sexual traits and reproduction from the humans that they eat. However, in chapter 120, Norman does talk about asexual reproduction (binary fission is a scientific name for creating clones in bacteria) when discussing demon evolution... So I’m not sure.

As I pointed out before, Luce only talks about a father, so we don’t have confirmation if demons have 2 or 1 parents. They may reproduce by budding for all we know, and we may only see female looking demons due to them eating female humans and getting those traits...

I’m also suspicious about how few demons look female coded, as for a sexually reproducing species you would want either equal, or larger amounts of females. It’s not like the human cast lacks females either, so I don’t think the authors are biased against female demons.

Besides Nouma, we have zero indication that demons could breastfeed, and Nouma provides no confirmation, as she could just be eating more female cattle than male. We have also not seen any pregnant demons, so the reproduction by budding may yet be the case.

I said asexual reproduction is usually much faster and yields more offspring, so that bothers me a bit, since we don’t see a lot of demons, unlike how overpopulated the Earth is with humans who live much shorter lives... Perhaps though there is some limit/difficulty about their budding? I’m not sure.

Actually in Leuvis’ death flashback we do see a small thing that looks like a “bud” inside a liquid container, then there is Mujika right next to it... I have theorized previously that Mujika may be Leuvis’ child, in which case that image may make sense. I guess she would look so different to Leuvis if she was given the demon saviour’s blood while she was still not properly formed, taking those characteristics. Or she may just be the demon saviour’s “bud” that Leuvis is protecting for whatever reason... I hope it’s an angsty love story, lol

So the bottom line is: we don’t know, but my best bet atm is that they reproduce by some form of budding, that is either severly hindered, or has a very high infant mortality rate.

Edit: actually that "bud" looks awfully like Mujika's horn... I wonder if demon's horns could be growing buds, lol. And the buds just grow veeery slowly, and when they are mature, they are taken off to become a baby. That would be freaky, but super cool!

[just-like-playing-tag]

A bunch of people liked the post where I asked if anyone was interested in my criticism for chapter 180 and @wannabe-everythings said they wanted to read it so! Here we go I guess! I’m just posting it as it was, sorry if it’s a little messy.

Under the cut to not spam anyone who liked the chapter with useless negativity.

Ok this is the last post I’ll make about chapter 180 because I’m tired of my own negativity but I really feel like I need to clear things up:

I’m not upset because Emma has lost her memories. I mean yes ofc it’s a bit sad but I’m sure she’ll manage to reunite with her family and remember her past (or more likely not but even in that case she’ll create new memories) because their love is just that strong™

What I’m saying is that you could have had all of this, plot twist, heartbreaking chapter and everything without making Emma go for that decisions? Just have Scribbles be a jerk end not respecting the agreement, he ended up being one anyway.

I’m sorry, Emma lying to her family to me sounds so wrong character arc wise? I’ve never been let down by this series and I know it’s just a small thing (I don’t even think anybody besides from me cares), but to me it was very relevant?? I think there’s two major things about this that bother me tons:

Emma doesn’t lie.

Emma doesn’t believe in sacrifice.

I don’t know but I find these two pretty much key points of the character?

Emma doesn’t lie. Emma has learnt that lying is wrong. She has made her mistakes in the past (friendly reminder that in the manga she’s the one who came up with the idea of lying to Gilda and Don in the first arc), because she’s flawed, as all well written characters are! But she has learned from her mistakes, and that’s what makes her good. She’s not Norman you know? Norman has been lying since the start, and untill the most recent chapters he had never accepted that his lies were wrong. But she’s different.

Emma doesn’t believe in sacrifice. She just does not. It’s been basically her most important trait since day one. She doesn’t believe in no-exit-scenarios. It made her look naïve in chapter 4, and as soon as you realize there isn’t, in fact, a single thing about her that is naïve, made her look freaking amazing. She believes that the world can be made a better place, that her family can be happy (note: she’s part of her family!!) and that they have the power to do that. They may struggle, but they have the power to be happy at the end. That’s what all the fight has been for.

Ok now… Going from this to actively choosing to sacrifice herself????? I don’t know that doesn’t sound quite right… Emma has believed through the whole thing that when there’s no escape route, you have to create one yourself. She believed they could have escaped from GF and so they did. She believed they could find a safe place to live and so they did. She believed the GP suffering could end and so they did. She believed demons were sensible begins, she was compassionate enough to sympathize towards the race that has been eating her kind for hundreds of years, and believed they deserved to be saved, and so they did. She believed every single one from her plantation had to be prevented from being eaten, and so they did. Was it easy? Of course not! They struggled and lost many things. But still they did it. She did it. She granted happiness without compromises, because she believed in it. And now you’re telling me Demon god went “you have to sacrifice yourself” and she accepted just like that?

Also… Emma has self conscience. She isn’t vain, but she recognises her self worth as much as she does of her limits. She understands that she’s a person worth of living happily as much as any other person. It’s not a selfish thought, and honestly it’s a quality I really look up to!!!

Again, she’s different from Norman and Ray. I don’t know it makes me feel low-key sick to think about all the talks that Emma made to both Ray and Norman about how sacrifice wasn’t the answer? Doesn’t it all sound just meaningless and empty when she decided to take that path herself?

Ok also… She’s in no way dumb, she knows sacrificing herself is another way of precluding her family’s happiness forever. She understands she’s just as important for them as they’re for her. Then I don’t get why she would chose that?

Not to be sentimental™ and political™ and stuff but like… That’s what I like about tpn? I mean, how it kept sustaining the themes of hope, and to be able to build a happier future for yourself. That’s the main reason I had found this different from any other piece of media. There’s so many cynical, dark, the-world-sucks-humankind-sucks-and-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-about-it medias already! But medias ment for adults that display so neatly a character that no matter how cruel the world she lives in, how unfair and ruthless it is, keeps fighting for her family’s and her own happiness? That’s amazing!!! And quite unheard of as well.

What am I left with now? She had to sacrifice something about herself. She decided to give up on her own happiness. That’s sad indeed, but… Also pretty unoriginal? I mean, I’ve already read this story.

The only thing I can see is Emma deciding to sacrifice herself only because she was *sure* she would have been able to reunite with her family because she believes in the power of their love™ and stuff. But still that doesn’t make up for how she lied and nnghh… I still find it terribly ooc…

Tl;dr: Emma deserves happiness for herself 😭😭😭

I just hope she can be happy with her family again because that’s what she deserves.

That being said, basically my sole consolation about this is that someone else was able to enjoy the chapter, even when I disliked it! If you’ve got any criticisms / think there’s things I haven’t considered please feel free to discuss them with me, because I’m trying really hard to find a way this makes sense for Emma’s character but right now I’m miserably failing 😔

[just-like-playing-tag]

Ayshe

Asked by Anonymous. Thank you very much for the ask!!!

Favorite thing about her: Mh she's such a cool girl. It doesn't have much to do with her personality, but I like how she was used storytelling wise, as a mean to show that demons - even human eating demons - can be as caring and sweet and kind as any other human begin; the fact that a different character besides from Emma saw the "humanity" in demons was really important, as was her taking sides against Norman - that was, anyway, a very interesting plot twist on its own.

This stuff make my favorite thing about her, but if it has to be about her personality, then I think she's really cool!!!! I don't know she seems like a very interesting character with grey morals it would have been very nice to know more about (sighs)

Also, her character design is definitely another of my favorite things about her. She's stunning!!

Least favorite thing about her: You see it's just,,, there's so many interesting characters in this series and they all look like having so much p o t e n t i a l,,,,,, like every single of them would be worthy of a spin-off of their own. I get that it really wasn't possible to deepen more characters within only 181 chapters, but still it is kinda sad to see all these great characters being introduced and then like, forgotten about as soon as they stop being relevant to the plot.

Favorite line:

"Bitches thought I was an illiterate savage who couldn't talk

the truth is

I don't talk with peasants”

For real tho such a cool plot twist 🤧🤧

brOTP: OK HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT Ayshe x Gilda x Don have one of the best dynamics in the whole manga and I love them so much and I want to see them interact more and I just think they're neat 😔💕💕

OTP: Pretty much same as above? Though I think I prefer their plaonic dynamics.

nOTP: Uhm. Pretty much every other ship lol. You see, I consider Ayshe as someone who doesn't trust anyone; Gilda and Don have earned her trust in the sweetest, healthiest way possible; I really like the idea of them being the only people she really trusts, and who she actually feels safe being around. I believe they would help her get closer with the others, but she would never have with them what she has with Gilda and Don, as those two are the first humans she sincerely trusted, and loved.

Unpopular opinion: 🤔

I don't know if this counts as unpopular but: it actually bothers me tons not to know her age?? And I've never seen anyone talk about it. I don't know maybe it's not that relevant, but I think it heavily influences what her dynamics with the other characters might be like.

Random headcanon:

Ok I know according to the last chapter she becomes some sort of dog breeder but I have been thinking? Cool detective Ayshe? You know, like the one who never misses a shot? Maybe someone specialized in finding people (she uses her dogs!!!). Also I mean take a moment to imagine AYSHE IN A FRENCH COAT AKDNBFJSKSNDBSJSJBDBDNZBX

Once in the human world she moves in with Gilda and Don (yes I really like this ship- you wouldn't tell would you). They often have movie nights; her favorite genre is the apocalyptic horror one: she loves pointing out how badly prepared the protagonists are, and laugh at how much they lack practical survival skills (she can be heard saying “those freaks wouldn't survive a day in the demon's world” once every few minutes). The only time she actually got moved, and even shead a few tears, was when the dog from I Am Legend died; both Gilda and Don know they can never address the matter with anyone if they want to stay alive (but wouldn't have done that anyway because they're swell guys)

Song i associate with her: Uhm probably something grunge would fit her but since I don't know a thing about grunge: this quote from Time Machine - Ingrid Michaelson

If I had a time machine

And if life was a movie scene

I'd rewind and I'd tell me

Run

(Tthe whole song doesn't fit her like, at all, but I really like that one quote, I think it gives tons tpn vibes in general? Love the hype vibes of that song, it's a bop)

Favorite picture of her:

Munch

Send me a character and I’ll list

[just-like-playing-tag]

TPN Tag Game

Thank you @temporoom, @x-supernova and @yiulee for tagging me, you are the best!

Thank you @bluelric for creating this cute thing and for tagging me! Happy one year into tpn!!!!!

1. Did you start with the manga or the anime?

Anime! It was my sister's birthday, and I was like: "Let's spend some time together! You chose what we watch!" And she went: "wanna try this serie I'm really passionate about?" "Aight why not"

My sister has good taste.

2. Wich one do you like more?

Ahh that's a taugh one! Because you know, I'm positive there's things you can't convey through anime, but also things you can't convey through manga, so they both end up lacking something to my eyes.

Manga's art style is gorgeous and incredibly unique... It has my respect for originating all the character designs. Also, some of its visuals are truly breathtaking. And there's chapter covers I'd spend hours admiring! Not to mention all the details in said covers... The foreshadowing is insanely great and well made. Plus, it's part of the very small list of shonen mangas illustrated by women, that is something I really cherish.

Anime gets bonus points for the soundtrack and how it builds up tension. One thing that I really really love about the anime is how the character look younger compared to their manga equivalent, and thus more their age: I think that really sets off to the plot and makes the whole thing more terrifying and tragic. And even though Demizu's art is simply spectacular, anime's style is lovely too! Oh, and let's not forget about the voice acting, it's so good???? Especially Emma's va, she's amazingly talented.

(I mean, I know anime is often putted down for not including internal monologues but like- since I already know them from the manga, I can play them in my head while watching the anime, so I'm not really feeling like I'm missing anything out ahah)

OH and the anime has this opening sequence where Norman and Ray put on these stuns totally at random and it makes me laugh so much it's just so random and funny

I don't know I *may* prefere the anime because it's been my first approach to the serie so I'm very emotionally attached to it.

But then again there's this panels in the manga that are so gorgeous and expressive and powerful...

But also! Since I've entered the fandom it's been so nice to hear the comments from everyone each time a new chapter is released, no matter if it's positive takes or harsh criticism. Even if the fandom got progressively smaller, there's still the same bunch of people that from time to time like to share thoughts and jokes on the latest chapter, and that's so nice!! It feels like reading it together with everyone, it's made such a precious memory.

So uhm nah I can't possibly choose.

3. Favourite arc?

Grace Field Arc is just so great?? I mean my absolutely favourite chapter is in the King of Paradise Arc, but then again seeing the trio work together, overcome almost every difficulty together, saving each other reciprocally, rejoicing together when something worked out and crying together when the situation seemed the most disperate... But then again giving each other the strength to get up and keep fighting... That. That was some great stuff.

I mean, I actually feel really sorry to choose only one. Goldy Pond arc was awesome. Search For Minerva Arc was awesome. Seven Walls Arc was awesome (most of it). I just love this manga very much.

But here, if I have to chose only one, that must be it! (I mean. Is anybody going to choose any other one?)

4. Favourite character?

Ah-ah. Norman.

5. Favourite volume cover? 

Probably the 2nd volume's one! Grace Field holds a very special place in my heart. And it's just so nice to look at, with all its warm colours and domestic feeling... I love Emma's excited childish face, and how the cover includes Don, Gilda and Phil. It's one of the most evident examples of Demizu's fisheye perspective, and the way the circle conveys love and energy is stunning.

The one from the 13th volume is incredibly beautiful too!!! All the bright yellow lights give an almost mystical feeling to it, sorta recreating the atmosphere of a cathedral. I really like it.

Besides from that, I really like some of the most recent covers, especially the ones from volumes 15 and 16.

Also, my favourite chapter cover is the one from chapter 131.

6. Any good memory related to tpn that you want to share? 

Uh there's many I guess? I think the dearest memory has to be like... Having the serie, through its story / character / fandom, being able to light up my day. That's really cool. Other than that...

As @temporoom nicely revoked, counting the beds was glorious indeed. It was so nice to collaborate to reach more solid conclusions, that's a really sweet memory!

Receiving this adorable fanart as a gift. It still makes me smile to this day, that was so sweet.

ALSO meeting that Don cosplay back in November at my country's con was a 1000/10 experience. Would totally recommend. (Please @that Don cosplay if you exist dm me)

Do I have to tag someone? Hey @neverlandstrio @holy-mantequilla @emmasantenna @fangirl78123 @pitiful-panini wanna do this?

[couldnt-think-of-a-better-name]

I am very interested with your theories about TPN. It is very amazing. About the Normans and Emma of Normandy, it seems that your theory almost confirm based on Posuka Demizu’s Art in her Twitter account. Besides that, there is an Eiffel Tower appears when Emma talked about crossing to human world in Chapter 127 and it had been appeared once or twice in previous chapter. It could be another hint about the Normans since they lived at a northern region in France.

Thank you for the submission @ironthe! Unfortunately the pictures that you tried to include are not showing up for me, not sure why… Can you try to reblog this post with the pictures? I know the manga panels, but I’m not sure which twitter art you mean.

I have tried to answer the rest of your questions below with bold text below each point. I would like to ask about a few questions :

In Chapter 133 (last panel), there are many words written and they are English and Japanese words. This is the first time the series has some Japanese words appear since this anime often uses English words. Could it be an important hint ??? There has been occasionally japanese text in the details before, but it was mainly romaji. I’m not yet sure if it’s something important to note, but yes, it is interesting how almost all text so far has been English, and usually very good English at that. Clearly at least one of the mangaka’s English is very good (I think it is Shirai… I have some suspicions about him that I haven’t been able to share yet due to lack of time).

We learned that Musica’s Blood (as well as her comrades) has the power to stabilise the demon. In chapter 127, Musica and her comrades give the blood to the demon when the demon had famine at that time. Could the situation happens again since Norman wants to destroy remaining farm ??? Well, Emma is kind of aiming for this, but she needs also the demon!God to order the demons not to eat humans. Norman has pointed out that just because you can eat other things, you won’t just stop eating your favourite food just because it asked you nicely. At least, not everyone would. However people do stop eating certain things for religious reasons, so as long as the demon!God is convinced, it will work.

Do you think that James Ratri (William Minerva) has the ally in human world ???? Almost certainly. Otherwise he couldn’t have promised in his recording that someone would be able to take them to the human world from Goldy Pond as long as they contacted the allies. The only other pathways are at the farms, which would have been no goes in his opinion. If my theory is correct about the deep sea, then he probably meant someone sending a submarine to correct the escapees, and you need allies from the human world for that. Also, as a head of the Ratri, he must have had contacts with the human world to manage relations.

When Lord Bayon, Lord Dozza, Lady Noum and the other two does not know about the missing of their predecessors, it clears that Ratri Clan choose for not telling the royals about that. It reminds me when Isabella does not tell about the presence of kid knowing the secret to the higher-up. Why ??? Is it because Goldy Pond actually the secret area since hunting is illegal based on the promise ??? Erm, I am fairly sure that only Lord Bayon is new, and Lord Dozza and Lady Noum are the same, and Luce, Nous and Nouma killed at Goldy Pond were their children. However, I think the Ratris would have told the families what happened, but the families can’t tell the queen, since it would probably bring shame on them for their family members doing illegal activities. So I think they would try to keep it shushed up at least at a royal audience.

About Phil, I am actually sad when you theories that he wil die base d on the Reference. Sometimes, I think that Phil has critical injuries. It makes the story becomes tragic and give more effect to the character. Yes, I feel sad about Phil’s possible death, but I agree that it would be good drama, and character development source for the others, and it would drive the plot forward. Having a loss like that would also make the threat level in the manga a lot more realistic, and remind us that the lives of these kids really hang in the balance, and they won’t all just be protected with plot and popularity armour. Makes the story a lot more nerve-wracking and intense.

That’s all from me. I am sorry if my English is bad.

[amaikana]

Proposal À La Ray  [a TPN fanfic]

(NorEmmaWeek2019 day #2, prompt: Timelines/Future) -.-.- Rating: T Pair: NorEmma Wordcount: 2k+ Tag(s): Romcom, Misunderstanding, Silly arguments, Post-Canon/Future Summary: Emma and Norman argued stubbornly which one of them Ray was going to propose to. (spoiler: It's neither)             A/N: Cross-posted on AO3 -.-.-

Emma cut her portion of the meat on her dinner plate with a repressed sigh. She glanced at Norman every other minute or so not so secretly. But the person she casted her glances at seemed blissfully oblivious. She sighed. Forcing in a deep breath, she finally gathered enough will to address the elephant in the room.

“So…”

Norman looked up from his plate. Fork dangled on his left hand.

“How did it go?”

Norman frowned confusedly, not really getting what Emma was talking about.

“How did what go?”

‘Norman really can’t read the atmosphere,’ Emma thought.

“How did the proposal go?”

Norman almost choked on his drink. “What proposal?!”

“Eh?” Now, Emma was the who’s confused. She blinked a few times before realizing something. “Ah…so Ray hasn’t proposed yet,” she muttered out loud.

This time Norman really did choke on his drink. The red liquid of the wine-colored syrup splattered from his mouth onto his (poorly) white shirt.

“Ray hasn’t WHAT?!”

Emma stare at him flatly. “I’d hate to spoil Ray’s surprise. But we both already saw it, right?”

“S-saw what…?”

“Don’t play dumb, Norman.” Emma sighed again, propping up her chin on her palm and stared at him unamusedly. “That time at the jewelry store!”

 ‘Oh, that.’

Norman finally got it. He knew what exact ‘that time’ that Emma was talking about.

Last week, the three of them—Emma, Ray, and he himself—had went out to a new shopping mall in the area. It was a rare treat for them, given that after finally escaped to the human world, they’d all found out that being a working citizen was quite a packed schedule. All of the escapee mainly decided to stay in the same area. But for them, the Grace Field escapee, it seemed just being in one area wasn’t enough. That’s why they all pooled some money together to bought a decent apartment building and living all together there just like back then. Of course, to no one’s surprise, he, Emma, and Ray decided to room in one apartment together. Didn’t mean they got to spend much time together, though.

Last week, they got the rare free schedule in one same day. They all agreed to go to a movie theatre and checked out some stores that new shopping mall afterwards. That time, they were just going around doing silly window-shopping when Ray suddenly said that he needed to do something and asked both he and Emma to go ahead. Naturally, he and Emma got curious with the suspicious excuse and ended up secretly following Ray. What was quite unexpected was, that Ray had made a stop to a jewelry store. They couldn’t hear what Ray was talking about with the store keeper, but they did see Ray checking out a pair of rings. Now, if that wasn’t a big enough clue to assume…

Norman shook his head. He smiled fondly at Emma. “Silly you. Of course, it’s not going to be me that he’d proposed to.”

Emma raised her eyebrow. “Are you kidding me?”

‘Norman can be really stupid on love matters,’ she thought exasperatedly.

“If it’s not you, then tell me, Norman. Just who else Ray could possibly plan to propose?”

Norman snorted amusedly. ‘Emma can be quite blind on love matter,’ he mused.

“You,” he answered simply.

“Huh?”

“To quote you earlier, hate to spoil Ray’s surprise. But who else Ray could possibly fall in love with if it’s not you, Emma? You’re the one he’s spending his time with the most, after all.”

…And if he felt something inside him break a little at saying those words out loud, he tried his best to not show it.

Because of course, Ray was definitely the closest to Emma. That two years gap when he was subjected to be a rabbit experiment in Lambda had changed many things. Of course, he noticed it. And honestly, Norman was quite happy with those changes. He noticed how Emma became more open about her feelings with everyone and Ray became more willing to depend on other people. Of course, Norman was happy. …If only more than a little bit disappointed that he’s not the person that Emma chose depend on the most anymore.

“What? That’s absurd!” Emma exclaimed. “Have you ever realized how Ray always looking at you? He definitely had been admiring you since years ago in Grace Field. And admit it, you’ve always been fond of him too, don’t you?”

…And if she felt her chest tightening a little at pointing that out loud to Norman, she tried her best to ignore it.

Because of course, Ray was definitely the closest to Norman. They both always think alike and could read each other like no one else. It’s more than just both of them being geniuses. It’s more like the two had their own universe that anyone else could only hopelessly try to enter. Of course, Emma knew it. And honestly, she was quite happy that her two dear friends could have each other to lean on. …If only more than a little bit disappointed that she’s not the person that could read Norman’s mind the most.

“Emma,” Norman said slowly, as if he’s trying to explain something to a sullen child. “Admiration doesn’t always immediately translate to romantic attraction. For example, uh… Hayato admires me.” Norman paused, flushed a little. That one was quite an embarrassing example, especially since Hayato always shamelessly declaring his devotion towards him out loud.

“But, you see,” Norman continued, “Hayato ended up with Ayshe now. It was never really a romantic thing towards me, you get it?”

“Norman, there’s a difference between someone who’s devoted towards their boss, and someone who admires AND enjoys every little interaction with their crush,” Emma pointed out flatly.

Norman had always been quite stubborn and skeptical about matters that had to do with feelings. But Emma was determined. She’s going to get Norman to say ‘yes’ to Ray. Because in this house, no one’s going to have any heart-breaks! Not if she could prevent it. …Well, except her own heart, that is. But that’s a different story.

‘It’s okay,’ she told herself. Ray was like her own brother. Ray deserved it. Norman deserved it—because she’s sure Norman really felt the same way. Ray and Norman would get their own happy ending and she would support them no matter what! …Never mind that Norman was still the boy who’s sabotaging all her daydreams and fantasies. But well. It’d take time to get over someone you’ve been crushing on for years, after all.

In front of her, Norman sighed—they both seemed to be doing this quite a lot tonight.

“Emma, it’s only logical to enjoy the times you shared with your friends.” He shook his head again. “Besides, have you ever realized how Ray’s always looking after you? He’s the one who always cares about you the most!”

…Beside himself, that is. But there was no need to point that out.

Norman’s sure that Emma also felt the same way towards Ray. She’s just being her overly kind selfless self again. Those were some of the things that had made him fall for her in the first place……but not like any of that mattered now.

Anyhow, it couldn’t be helped, he guessed. The three of them had always been close, after all. It’s only logical that two of them bound to eventually fall in love. It’s also quite logical for Emma to assume that he loved Ray in that way, given that Ray was his closest friend, anyway. Well…even though the person he felt ‘that’ way to was actually the girl herself.

But well! Again, none of it mattered now. He’s going to convince Emma to take action on her feelings and accept Ray’s proposal. Emma deserved it. His two dear friends deserved their own happy ending, and he’s going to support them all the way! …Never mind that Emma was still the girl of his dreams and nothing probably could probably change that on the long run. But…yeah. It’d take time to get over someone you’ve been crushing on for years, after all.

In front of him, Emma groaned. “Norman, Ray’s always looking after everyone! He’s just a bit overprotective like that, you know it. Even more so towards the younger kids. But you, on the other hand, is the one person he likes to spend time with the most! Have you never realized it? With you both often spending time together being awake until very late at nights?”

Norman stared at her flatly. “Emma, that’s only because insomnia. And everyone else in the building all have sane sleeping schedule, so of course that left only me and Ray being awake.”

“But look, he always spoils you with your whims to play chess for hours,” Emma insisted.

“But Ray likes chess too. And talking about spoiling, he always spoils you with your shopping-spree that can last for hours too!”

“Ugh! But… But… Um… Ah! Ray often making you snacks even at midnight!” Emma argued impatiently.

“And Ray cooking you breakfasts at ungodly hours in the morning!” Norman retorted without a beat.

“I mean, yes, but that’s only because I’m liking his cooking and you know his cooking is the best.”

“See, spoiled!” Norman pointed out an accusing finger at her.

“Okay, but wait! I’m not the one he cooked a dozen meals for in a day because those meals kept getting vomited over!”

“I mean, yes, but I was sick and craving porridge and you know he’s the only one who can cook porridges without getting the pan burnt.”

“See, spoiled!” Emma pointed out an accusing finger at him.

They kept arguing until it resorted to a glaring contest. Both of them were equally stubborn at wanting give up their happiness for the other.

That is, until the culprit of the argument finally arrived at the scene.

“I’m home,” Ray called out lazily.

Both Emma and Norman turned their heads towards the entrance.

And poor Ray, who walked into the kitchen cluelessly to find both of his best-friends looked like they were about to start a Word War III on their dining table.

“Uh… Okay… What’s with those expressions? Why are you looking at me like that? D-did something happen…?”

Ray glanced around awkwardly, but finding nothing really out of place.

“Ray…” Emma started slowly with an intimidating tone.

Ray gulped. “Y-yes…?”

“We couldn’t wait anymore,” she continued.

“U-um…couldn’t wait for what?” Cold sweat dripped on Ray’s forehead. He took half a step back. But neither Norman nor Emma pay any mind to their intimidated dear friend and both just kept narrowing their eyes at him.

“The ring, Ray. The ring,” Norman said impatiently.

“The ring…?” Ray racked his mind a bit before remembering it. “Oh…Oh! So you two knew it.”

Ray walked towards his best-friend and dug out something from his bag. “Here.” He placed the little black box on the dining table.

But to his poor clueless mind, Norman and Emma didn’t even pay any mind to the box and instead continue looking at him as if they’re waiting for him to perform a magic trick or something. Ray gulped again. “Um… O-okay… That’s the ring. W-what else, now?”

Emma sighed frustratedly. “Oh my God, Ray! Are you seriously that clueless? That’s not how you do it! You can’t just expect the person to take the ring and wear it on their own!”

“Um, why?”

“Because you’re supposed to take the person’s hand and put the ring on their finger slowly before finally kiss them!”

“K-KISS?!”

“Also speeches! You’re supposed to prepare some kind of grand speech too!”

Ray turned to Norman horrifiedly. “W-what?! You too?! Is this some kind of weird tradition in human world that I didn’t know about?”

“Oh my God, you really are clueless! Whatever, just get on with the ring so we can get this over with quickly!” Norman demanded.

Ray didn’t know what was possessing his two best-friends, but he docilely complied.

Meanwhile, Emma and Norman were waiting with batted breath as Ray finally opened the box.

 ‘Who is it? It must be Norman, right? Of course, it must be him. Oh my God, Norman is about to get engaged with Ray. But why my chest feels tight now? No, no Emma! You love him. You need to be happy for Norman!’

Emma bit her inner lip, bracing herself.

 ‘Of course, it must be Emma, right? Any second from now Emma is about to get engaged… Oh, why does my chest suddenly feel this tight? No, no. I love Emma. If she’s happy then I’m happy. I can’t be sad in front her and ruin her happiness!’

Norman gritted his teeth silently, willing his displeasure to go away.

…And his heart truly broke when Ray went to take Emma’s hand and put the ring on her finger and kissed her……head? Wait.

Norman stared dumbfoundedly as Ray did the same thing to him.

“Ugh. Okay. There! Done! Happy now?!”

Ray crossed his arms and blushed awkwardly from the affectionate gesture he had done just now. But his two best-friends were looking at each other blankly instead.

“HEEH?!”

“HEEH?!”

Ray frowned confusedly. “Okay, what is it again now—”

“Uhh…Ray. What… What are these rings actually supposed to mean…?”

Ray blinked at Norman, not understanding his question. “Um, what ‘supposed to mean’? What are you talking abou—”

“So… It’s really not a proposal ring?” Emma blurted out.

Ray choked. “A WHAT ring?!”

No one replied to him, as Norman and Emma suddenly burst out laughing in relief.

“So…” Emma started at her bewildered dear friend after she finally calmed down again. “Why did you have this idea to buy us rings? I mean, it’s pretty and we appreciate it. But like, why rings?”

“Uh, I didn’t buy it, actually. Those were discounted unsold items from the store last year’s edition and Hayato bought it with his employee discount as a thanks for me helping him in the store last week. I just thought that I’d give it to you two cause it comes in a pair. Besides, um, you know… With the Valentine’s is near and we usually gave out friendship chocolates. So… I thought, why not friendship jewelries? Is that actually a thing? Uhh… Oh my God. Why do I feel this is starting to getting weird and awkward…” Ray groaned at his own embarrassment.

Both of his best-friends laughed again before tackling him into a hug without warning.

“Aww, you’re so sweet!” Emma cooed.

“Nooo! Shut up!” Ray swatted her hand.

“Nope. She’s right. That was so sweet of you, Ray,” Norman teased mercilessly.

Ray resigned himself to be the burnt of their teasing that whole night.

At late night, when they were all finally tired enough to go to bed, Emma opened her bedside drawer quietly and stared at a small photo inside it. The photo was a bit blurry, but she framed neatly. It was of her and Norman at their first Christmas party in the human world. Gilda had accidentally taken the photo and gave it to her as a joke gift. The photo of Norman feeding her one of the Christmas cookies. Also the moment she first realized how she had been hopelessly in love with this person who’s been so supportive of her since the beginning.

Emma smiled.

 ‘Norman didn’t look disappointed with how everything turned out tonight. Maybe… Maybe he really doesn’t have any crush at Ray? Maybe I was reading it all wrong? Maybe… Maybe I really still have the chance? I-I will try to confess to him someday!’

She promised herself.

That same time, inside his own room, Norman opened his own bedside drawer too and took something out from it. A memory he had carried with himself for years: A paper cup phone. It’s one of his earliest memory with Emma. The silly thing that he treasured so much, because it was the thing that had made him realized how much he fond of the girl.

 ‘But Emma didn’t look disappointed with how everything turned out tonight. Maybe… Maybe she really doesn’t have any feelings for Ray? Maybe I was reading it all wrong? Maybe… Maybe I really still have the chance? I will definitely try confessing to her someday!’

He promised himself.

Meanwhile, the person who’s became the whole source of conflict this day was heaving his sigh on his bed tiredly.

 ‘Actually, those rings were meant to be a gift cause I have a feeling they’d confess to each other at next week Valentine’s… Oh well. I’ll just find another gift idea then.’

With that, Ray went to sleep blissfully unaware of his pining best-friends who both were still awake thinking of each other.