#based off of the Junior High manga/anime

[dont-f-with-moogles]

Attack on Titan High Headcanons

SNK High Class Lists:

Class 1.1: Home Room Tutor - Mr Dok Dreyse, Hitch (First Year; Student Council) Freudenberg, Marlo (First Year; Student Council) Forster, Floch (First Year)

Class 1.4: Home Room Tutor - Mr Shadis Ackerman, Mikasa (First year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; Volleyball A Team; scholarship student)

Arlet, Armin (First year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; homeschooled during Winter months)

Braun, Reiner (First year; Judo Club; Basketball Team)

Braus, Sasha (First year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; Volleyball Team B Team; scholarship student)

Bott, Marco (First year; Student Council President; Newspaper Club)

Carolina, Mina (First year)

Dimlot, Hannah (First year)

Hoover, Bertolt (First year; Basketball Team; Volleyball B Team)

Jaeger, Eren (First year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; Volleyball B Team)

Kefka, Franz (First year)

Kirchstein, Jean (First year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; Football Team; Volleyball B Team (Captain))

Leonhart, Annie (First year; Student Council; Volleyball A Team; Judo Club; after school Prep School)

Lenz, Christa (First year; Brass Band; scholarship student)

Ymir (First year; Brass Band; Volleyball B Team; scholarship student)

Springer, Connie (First Year; Scout Regiment; Wall Clean Up Club; Baseball Team; Football Team; Volleyball B Team)

Wagner, Thomas (First Year)

Class 2.1: Home Room Tutor - Mr Woermann Berner, Moblit (Second year; Scout Regiment; Biology Club) Bozadao, Oluo (Second year; Scout Regiment; Basketball Team) Brzenska, Ricco (Second year; Wall Clean Up Club Founder; Cooking Club) Gin, Eld (Second year; Scout Regiment; Baseball Team) Abel (Second year; Scout Regiment; Biology Club) Langnar, Ilse (Second year; Scout Regiment; Newspaper Club Founder/editor) Nifa (Second year; Scout Regiment; Biology Club) Ral, Petra (Second year; Scout Regiment) Keiji (Second year; Scout Regiment; Biology Club) Nanaba (Second year; Scout Regiment; Cooking Club Founder; Volleyball A Team; Baseball Team) Schultz, Gunther (Second year; Scout Regiment; Baseball Team)

Class 3.1: Home Room Tutor - Mr Smith Ackerman, Levi (Third year; Scout Regiment Founder; Baseball Team; Basketball Team (Captain); Volleyball A Team; ‘No Name’ Lead Vocalist; Home Economics Club Founder;  scholarship student; student boarder)

Zacharius, Miche (Third year; Scout Regiment; Basketball Team; Baseball Team (Captain); Volleyball A Team; ‘No Name’ drummer; Cooking Club)

Zoe, Hange (Third year; Scout Regiment; Biology Club Founder; Baseball Team; Volleyball A Team (Captain); ‘No Name’ guitarist; student boarder)

[notloucid]

My Yuuji Itadori theory

I have only read some of the manga and am currently up to date on the anime as of this original post date of 11/28/23.

So based purely on what I have seen from the anime….

I believe Yuuji has a secret power/technique that no one knows about. The best way for me to explain this power is Yuuji is able to be or unlock or create what ever a person needs him to be. The level of severity to the power affects could depend on Yuuji’s cursed energy level or the person he is ‘against’.

I call this power synergy or the ability to synergize with someone.

So hear me out as I explain more with anime spoilers.

I’ll start listing the people I believe he has synergized with in an order that might only make sense to me.

Todo Aoi

The man looking for a best friend that loves tall thiccck women. Of course he and Yuuji would hit it off and become best friends but… it happened too fast right? Todo literally saw memories of him and Yuuji as best friends in junior high. After that these two are able to fight together completely in sync. Okay maybe Todo is the weird one, I could write it off as that at first but then…

Choso

Somehow, right before choso is about to kill Yuuji, memories that didn’t exist flooded his mind. Memories that convince him Yuuji Itadori is his younger brother. When the only thing Choso wanted was his younger brothers back… bing bang boom! Memory override of reality? I can only assume in the upcoming episodes Choso is gonna fight to save his new little brother Yuuji.

But maybe that is a power of Sukuna’s? Like who know what that man can really do. We all have ideas about that. But…. But what if this power of Yuuji’s allowed him to become Sukuna’s vessel?

Sukuna

He was a curse with out a body, until one of his last remaining pieces was eaten by a seemingly ordinary kid? Who shouldn’t have been able to withstand the bodily stress of taking Sukuna’s cursed energy from the finger but also had the ability to control and repress the king of curses? So what if Yuuji was physically strong, he had no experience with cursed energy. Sukuna needed a strong, durable vessel, and Yuuji became that for him.

Nanami Kento

He was closed off since his best friend (some of you even think lover) died as a jujutsu sorcerer. He ran away from the jujutsu life only to come back thinking about a job worth doing. Nanami needed someone like his friend, strong hearted, kind, wanting to help others. Yuuji was that but there is more to this synergy with Nanami. In Nanami’s final moments he was worried his lingering regrets would become a curse. Yuuji comes and a vision of his passed on friend appears in front of him gesturing to Yuuji, reminding him to be strong for those he will leave behind and be able to rest in piece knowing that there are others to continue fighting. There could be more implications to seeing Yuuji and the dead friend at the end but I need to rewatch a few more times to really get it. The point is Yuuji appears, important vision happens.

Jogo

Technically Yuuji never met Jogo but his body did. I believe that the final vision Jogo has at the time of his death was Yuuji’s power. Sukuna would probably never admit that he believed Jogo was strong but that was what Jogo needed to be told, he was strong. To be told his existence had value, as a curse from the king of curses.

Those are the ones with the most evidence but I can add more with some of the more subtle cases too later.

[dankdungeonsrpg]

Dungeon Meshi Devblog 1

The Challenge!

Recently…

Mirke the Meek, amateur podcaster and really nice guy decided to make a podcast about Delicious in Dungeon, the netflix series from Studio Trigger (Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill). This anime, like many, is based on a wildly successful manga, which Mirke is also into.

He called his project Euphonious in Dungeon and it exists primarily as a call-in show where listeners can share their thoughts on the anime, one episode at a time.

It’s wonderfully short form, like Mirke’s primary self-titled podcast, and features some delightful cooking folly from Mirke’s own kitchen.

Now, while I’m happy to jaw about any show I enjoy, Euphonious requests we focus on the gameable aspects of the series.

Ah, I forgot to mention. Mirke comes out of an excellent community of podcasters producing TTRPG related content. I’ll probably mention them more later but such members include: FreeThrall of Keep Off The Borderlands, Jason of Nerds RPG Variety Cast, Joe of Hindsightless, and Daniel of Bandit’s Keep. (plus many more!)

Central to this community is that they are all in conversation with each other. Allowing the listener to piece together a greater narrative the more shows they consume.

While Mirke is perhaps the most junior member of the group, he should not be overlooked.

Now, to the Gameable Aspects

Some may know that my first best selling title was Joy of Monster Cooking over on the Dungeon Master’s Guild. So eating monsters is hardly a new concept to me. However, in the past I have always considered: “how can I add a monster eating mechanic?” whereas now I consider “how can I build a game about monster eating?”

The differences, I believe, are quite extreme.

Have you (the reader) read Into the Odd? Or Knave? Or Maze Rats? Or Cairn?

One thing these games have in common is that inventory defines character abilities.

You wanna be a fighter? Better get a big sword. You wanna be a wizard? Better stock up on spellbooks.

With this in mind I thought…”what if we had a game in which diet defined character abilities?”

You wanna be a fighter? Better eat a lot of protein. You wanna be a wizard? Better eat foods high in vitamin B12 (yes I had to look up the memory vitamin).

Could I go on? Yes.

Will I? No.

I want to string these into a series of blog posts so next time we’re going to talk about character stats and charts! (wowee)

P.S. I have no doubt others have tried to do this exact design exercise. I would like (for now) to pretend that is not the case. Once I have a system *then* I intend to look over other’s work to compare and contrast. I think this is a useful method when entering your first round of major edits.

[meimi-haneoka]

Thanks for answering Cinzia! No, you are right 😂. I should not be using older art style as any standard of indication of timeline. That was an interesting exposition. I had never read the CCS manga (or doujinshis) as a kid, but the number of *ahem* works which feature junior high aged SS I came across over the past few months is pretty concerning. On a second note, I was also wondering about Akiho's ancestry. As you once suggested, Akiho's clan might be the Reed clan, the clan on Clow Reed's father's side. From what I understand, the Reeds would be (again I am not trying to be politically offensive but still trying to be direct to the point) white-skinned. Clow, from what I understand, was very much biracial. Then if Akiho indeed is from the Reed clan, how was it possible for her resemble Sakura that much, enough for pass off as her twin? Even if we are to assume that Lilie was the Reed (with perhaps white Germanic ancestry) and her husband (who perhaps can be assumed to the one who had Shinomoto name and was thus Japanese in all probability) married into the clan and they had Akiho who was biracial (with presumably German and Japanese ancestry), it is still very unusual. Until and unless of course, one assumes that Sakura herself is not of a fully Japanese ancestry, especially given that her father literally appeared when Clow died (gave up his body?) and Fujitaka (and Eriol) were created from some kind of magical cellular fission (?). So, Sakura (and Touya) are of part-white heritage, that too from the Reed clan, explaining the resemblance. I am just thinking too much, am I not? I should just let it be, at this point. 😰 Also, what ethnicity does Kaito belong to? I originally thought he was some kind of East Asian looking Russian but his real name is of French origin? What even is going on there?

P.S. Dear God, this went into a very different direction from what I originally wanted to write.

Ohohohho this is a topic that has crossed my mind more than once, especially during the "happy sisters" chapters after Kaito activated the forbidden magic!! 😂😂😂

Long story short, the final solution to the dilemma I came up with is: suspension of disbelief! 😂😂😂😂 Yeah, I think this is one of the most prominent cases where you're supposed to look at them literally for what they are "on paper" and not what kind of ethnicity they should represent in the story.

I'll elaborate further; first of all yes, I've always had the theory that "the clan of the most ancient magicians in Europe" might have been the Reed clan, which also Clow came from. I thought it was just the perfect fit for Akiho: it's based in England, and we know the Reeds were an English clan; this clan got rivalry with the Li's in Hong Kong and again it would make sense if they were the Reeds, because those two families have ONE illustrious relative in common: Clow Reed, the most powerful magician of his time! In fact, it's stated in the Clear Card story that the "Squids" do have lots of resentment towards Clow. The reasons are unknown, but if they were the Reeds, we can easily guess them: he ditched that side of the family and decided to get closer to the Chinese side, living in Hong Kong for a time and leaving some of his magical tools with the Li's. And also, it would've made PERFECT sense for Kaito to turn to the Kinomoto family to leave Akiho with them: if Akiho was a Reed, and we know for certain that Sakura in some way does have a little bit of Reed blood in her (she is explicitly indicated as having "Clow's blood" in the story, and that's so important that they made the characters point that out in the anime too, where TECHNICALLY she shouldn't have any blood relations with Clow, since Fujitaka was never confirmed as Eriol's 'other half' of Clow's reincarnation), that would've ALREADY made Akiho a distant relative of Sakura in some way. So it would've felt way less forced and much more reasonable. Everything fit so well that I was almost sure we would've had this confirmation before the end of the story; sadly, we never did.

There's a VERY terrible translation mistake in volume 6 of the English version by Kodansha USA, where they made the Squids say this:

Please be informed that in the JP original the Squids never said "For the blood of Clow Reed...to be bested by the Li Family....is an unbearable disgrace", because that basically made them refer to themselves as "blood of Clow Reed", hence indirectly confirming they are the Reed clan. That's absolute bullsh*t and what they actually said is "THEY are of Clow Reed's lineage. We can't allow to fall behind them" and that connects with what Kaito said in chapter 68: the Squids checked every movement from the Li family because of their resentment towards Clow (and the Li's were connected to him). I know my theory sounded legit, reasonable and could've made everything more interesting and well connected, but a theory remains a theory if canon doesn't confirm it. And translation mistakes should never be so bad that they end up portraying things in a way that makes you believe what it was actually NEVER confirmed in the story.

Up to this day, we don't have a "name" we can call this clan with: they're simply addressed as "that clan" or "the most ancient magicians in Europe" in THE WHOLE the story (trust me, I've monitored that detail very well, because of my theory). They're NOT the Shinomoto clan, as many people like to report in order to simplify things. I honestly not even believe that Akiho's father's last name was Shinomoto, as Akiho seems c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y foreign to Japanese culture throughout the story. He didn't marry into the clan from "outside", because Lilie specifically says that he's a "distant relative", so he's very much part of this European clan himself. And if we have to go by how awful they are in the story, I'm pretty sure these people would've done anything to keep their blood line as "pure" as possible, without "interventions" from outside, if you know what I mean. Additional to that, Akiho doesn't even remotely mention a possible "tie" she might have with Japan: I know her clan never really answered her questions about her parents, but I'm pretty sure that if she was half Japanese they would've told her and she would've sort of mentioned it along the story. She's portrayed by CLAMP as someone completely foreign to Japan. And with a last name like that, if she was really half Japanese, if would've come up at some point (Sakura doesn't even ask about it, "how come you have a Japanese last and first name if you don't have any connection with Japan?"). I mean, Akiho did "confess" at the end that her true name is Cosmos, and I think that is the only true part of her name that we were allowed to know about her. Just like the rest of her clan, and Kaito, her last name is none of our business, basically 😂 I mean, even Eriol adopted a Japanese last name to fit better, even though he shouldn't really have any tie with Japan (if he's a reincarnation of Clow and got Clow's blood just like Fujitaka, then he should have Caucasian and Chinese traits in himself). As you pointed out, that should be the same with Fujitaka.

As for Kaito, I definitely thought that he could be Chinese at some point: one of my craziest theories was that he was actually a "lost Li", because the shape of his eyes is exactly the same of Yelan. Yeah, check it out if you don't believe me! 😂

The moon power, the fact that he's often portrayed with chinese-style clothes.... Alas, this theory went down the drain too. Or, at least, we were never given concrete hints about it. And then the fact that in his backstory he's potrayed in a cold land with a typical Russian hat made me think that he could've been of Russian's origins too, but that one seems to be even less plausible at this point. His true name is French, so it is legit to infer that at least in part he must have some French genes in him, although it's anyone's guess where exactly he comes from. I do identify him as coming from France, at this point, and that would be reasonable because it would still be in the "area" of the Magic Association, if they operate in the entire Europe (man, CLAMP must think that there's lots of evil people in Europe, wtf 🤣). It wouldn't have been difficult for them to go fetch little Kaito in France, coming from the UK, is what I'm trying to say. But as we never got any other confirmation than his true name (and CLAMP must have chosen a French word instead of an English one for a reason), it's really anyone's guess.

So all of this makes me just conclude that we shouldn't really wonder too much about things like "how is it possible that Akiho and Sakura resemble eachother so much that they could pass as twin sisters, if they're supposedly from two different ethnicities?", because I'm pretty sure that CLAMP didn't go that far in planning all of these details to the situation. 😆 You should just rememember that it's a fictional story (with magic, at that), so we should apply a bit of "suspension of disbelief! 😅

[llpodcast]

(Literary License Podcast)

Book

Battle Royale

By Koushun Takami

​

Film:

Battle Royale (1999)

 Originally completed in 1996, it was not published until 1999. The story tells of junior high school students who are forced to fight each other to the death in a program run by a fictional authoritarian Japanese government known as the Republic of Greater East Asia.

​

The dystopian novel was previously entered into the 1997 Japan Horror Fiction Awards but was eventually rejected in the final round due to concerns over its depictions of students killing each other. Upon publication in 1999, the novel became a surprise bestseller.

 In 2000, one year after publication, Battle Royale was adapted into a manga series, written by Takami himself, and a feature film. The film was both controversial and successful, becoming one of the year's highest-grossing films as well as prompting condemnation by Japan's National Diet. The film spawned a sequel, and two more brief manga adaptations were also created.  Suzanne Collins author of The Hunger Games would be accused of ripping off the plot of Battle Royale.

 ​

 The Japanese action-thriller film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, with a screenplay written by Kenta Fukasaku, Starring Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda, Tarō Yamamoto, and Takeshi Kitano, the film follows a group of junior high-school students that are forced to fight to the death by the Japanese totalitarian government. The film drew controversy, and was banned or excluded from distribution in several countries; Toei Company refused to sell the film to any United States distributor for over a decade due to concerns about potential controversy and lawsuits, until Anchor Bay Entertainment eventually acquired the film in 2010 for a direct-to-video release. 

 Battle Royale became a cultural phenomenon, and is considered one of the most influential films in recent decades, having been highly influential in global popular culture. Since the film's release, the term "battle royale" has been redefined to refer to a fictional narrative genre and/or mode of entertainment inspired by the film, where a select group of people are instructed to kill each other off until there is a triumphant survivor. It has inspired numerous media, including films, books, animation, comics, visual novels, and video games; the battle royale game genre, for example, is based on the film.

 Opening Credits; Introduction (1.01); Forming the Plot (09.20); Plot Synopsis (11.18); Book Thoughts (18.07); Queston of the Week (46.20); How many stars? (52.41); Introducing a Film (55.27); Battle Royale Film Trailer (58.18);  Lights, Camera, Action (1:00.14); Epilogue (1:21.51); End Credits (1:24.21); Closing Credits (1:25.47)

 Opening Credits– Classical Jingle by Dan Hughes

 Closing Credits – Who’s Gonna Save You Now by Rina Samayama.  Taken from the album Samayama.  Copyrights 2020 Dirt Records.  

 Rina Samyama’s new album.  Hold That Girl out 02 September 2022.

 Original Music copyrighted 2020 Dan Hughes Music and the Literary License Podcast. 

 All rights reserved.

 Used by Kind Permission.

 All songs available through Amazon.

[problematicpervertpod]

recs on recs on recs

Yaoi/Manga I’m reading/have read. Please support the artists on official websites. If you have recs or want to chat about any of these get in my messages right the fuck now my dudes. Also spoilers, also this probably doesn’t make sense to anyone but me, also I think I’m funny sorry in advance.

Dangerous Convenience Store

Tags: Ongoing, self aware lead for the most part, gangs, smut, love triangle, possessive, not rapey, seme is like the fucking hulk compared to uke, college, age gap, good art, muscular bodies, seme is adorable/romantic in sp chapters, sexual awakening, meeting the gang (in two ways!), FAINTS OF CUTENESS/HOTNESS, the memes after every chapter got me gagged, HAHE hahahahahahahahahaha, OMG DO I GET SOME CNC?! (update: short lived), we stan a vocal man (Ahjussi), thigh fucking, my mans be like my thighs hurt fuck my ass instead DECEASED, ass smacking, these memes are so good god damnit, rimming

8/10, I live for Ahjussi (Am I spelling this wrong..)

The New Employee 

-love love love

Tags: ongoing, we stan supportive boyfriends, healthy relationship, boss/employee, smut, office setting, good art, 10/10 will re-read, muscular bodies

Love Shuttle

Tags: completed, ABO, enemies to lovers, possessive, coworkers, fake relationship, strong omega, the art sucks but I like the story, art gets better after the 1st season, alphas eyes change colors when happy/anxious, muscular bodies, 7/10, update 10/10 art is meh but fml this storyline is basic af in the best way and it’s the fluff/smut I need, when you’re caught by the folks *cringe*

Hold Me Tight

Tags: ongoing, boss/employee, bodyguard, gio can’t feel heat until felix comes along, uke is strong af, horny bastards, smut, possessive, tragic childhood, moving in together right away, rich seme, felix in a bunny costume though *heart eyes*, dialogue is great, rape in a technical sense but the vibe is written like both characters are all good after? Ex. hospital scene…dub con, ART IS GREAT, hand holding during sex, 10/10 will re-read, muscular bodies

Yours to Claim 

Tags: ongoing, love triangle, Dom/sub dynamics, smut, main is big switch energy, reincarnation, jealousy, manipulative, possessive, self aware lead for the most part, toxic af, GREAT ART, college, rich semes, 10/10 will re-read and not even finished, SONOFABITCH that cliff hanger!! Season 3 come thruuuu (I have to wait until November? *cries* BUT MAH LOVE TRIANGLE!!, I want a THROUPLE GOD DAMN IT

The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Tags: obsessed with this story, will the incense burner scenes make it?? No tags because I'll never forget this one haha wangxian 5ever, send me all fanfics/fan art you have about this story, love Dark Wangji, Jadecest, ABO/omegaverse, Bottom Wangji/Top Wei Ying, and honestly anything regarding this fandom

Bj Alex

Tags: completed, great art, 11/10 will re-read, cam boy, fanboy, seme is an asshole, uke is so sexy, jealously, rich seme, enemies to lovers kind of?, CHANWOO IS MY BOY FOR LIFE, Chanwoo MD supremacy, BDSM (like really really), fuck I love Chanwoo, college students, rich seme, emotional rollercoaster, uke soft body, mean seme, college life, that one nosy bitch ass guy trying to expose my boys needs to fuck right off, seme split/fake personality, dub con 

Anti PT

Tags: ongoing, 11/10 re-readable, porn with feelings, love triangle, jealousy, attempted non-con, personal training wink wink, main love interest is actually the best, second male lead is a god damn creep, first time, smut, great art, sex addict/constantly horny uke, I WANT A HWI, 

Related: https://www.anime-planet.com/manga/anti-pt/recommendations 

Payback

Tags: ongoing, both are psychopaths tbh, revenge, gangs, uke sells himself to seme, violent seme, entertainment industry, brunette supremacy, what this motherfucker gonna do? hehe , great art, muscular bodies, dead dove do not eat, my mans must be GOOD looking/animal magnetism cause everyone losing their fucking minds, okay this is a comedy I’m dying, he tried to scare him with wanting to be a top but my psycho said REVERSEUNO BITCH I’M A VERSE (wait jk apparently *sigh*), anonymous masked sex (sad n’ kinky)

My Suha

Tags: ongoing, wow this gets dark, possessive af like holy shit, terrible people all around uke, rape, boss/employee, office politics/family politics, smut, characters that are punchable, dead dove do not eat, *velociraptor noises*, avoided this for a while but I’m back because nothing can be more emotionally devastating than Banana Fish, TIE HIM UP, FUCK HIS FACE ALKSJD:ASKD, FUCK SUHA UR SO HOT that dirty talk though YAS, glad I picked this back up lmao, GOD DAMN IT just when the package arrived then this red head fucker *screams*

Shame Application aka Dirty Vibration

Tags: completed, friends to lovers, model seme, cute af uke, love triangle, entertainment industry, smut, kink, all kinds of sex everywhere, realized feelings, mutual pining, jealousy, rich seme, blonde seme, big brother 1984 always watching, 10/10 would re-read, porn with plot, they were roommates!, ~straight~ seme, first times, great art, remembering some cringe but considering the story it’s par for the course

Will You Subscribe

Tags: ongoing, season 1 completed, enemies to lovers, cam boy, office politics, boss/employee, hiding a secret, public sex, stalkers/creepy men, emotionally stunted characters, mutual pining, idiots in lust, lingerie company, slut shaming, jealousy/possessiveness, season 2 bebeh, HOLDING HANDS *velociraptor noises*, LMAO okay my mans is not THAT old how tf does he not know netflix and chill, BUNNY COSTUME (quickly becoming my new fav trope in manga, A+ gang), oh we stan a good boy, wtf is wrong with wanting to do cam work, ‘I wish my marks could become permanent’ *omegaverse wink*, *works for lingerie company* *doesn’t understand where bf gets sexy costumes* like wut kind of fuckery…, cross dressing ftw, roleplay, classic BL miscommunication trope

Hyperventilation

Tags: completed, high school crush, unrequited love, mutual pining, smut, quickie (short story), class reunion, apparently furry with the extra chapter turning my man into a bunny but c'est la vie! https://myreadingmanga.info/korean-bl-animation-hyperventilation-engsub/ this is the animation of the same story, different endings but same in tone (this site is spammy AF but the English subs are so hard to find for this) 8/10 

Unmei no tsugai ga omae da nante

Tags: only one bed, ABO, office setting. Coworkers, enemies to lovers, competitive, equality in the omegaverse, dubcon, real dicks and not lightsabers, fated pair, art is cute af 8/10

K’s Secret

Tags: buckle up buttercup, dead dove do not eat, angst, pining, somnophilia, dub con, non con, boss/employee, manipulative, stalking, forced relationship, tragic childhood background, weird art but gets better,  uke: don’t threaten me with a good time but seriously stop threatening me, possessive & obsessive, seme is like the fucking hulk compared to uke, wow were going full psycho stalker hm?, dating a narcissist is all fun and (mind)games, con non con… ? honestly who tf knows, domestic!, OW MY HEART, the t/n WAP note sent me, ch 51 translated by gen z, do special ep= furry? Wait there’s a maid costume, bunny costume, directors friends keeping it real, rough translations 8/10

Enthusiasm

Tags: ongoing, dead dove do not eat, uke buys seme, masc boys, muscular bodies, fight club, master/slave, rich uke, revenge, real dicks not lightsabers, rough sex, cuckholding, daddy issues, suicide, wow the end of ch 5 punched a hole in my heart, penile implant life,  rough translations makes the storyline wonky, nvm back to lightsabers *star wars noises*, HAD ME FEELING SOME TYPE OF WAY I CAN NOT, shibari, possessive, wait this is cute *velociraptor noises*, angst, no kithes for you “bestie”, OBSESSED, honestly choke him pupper, STAY THE NIGHT ALKSDJA:SLDKJAS:LKDJA:SLDKj, problematic but I’m riding for these two, 

Ichimai Goshi Fetish

Tags: completed, short, fetishes DO start in childhood don’t they *ruminates*, author: describes ML as a beautiful 2D character meanwhile: ML IS 2D character, fellas is it gay to kiss the homies?, “real dudes don’t interest me” is a MOOD, comedy, jealousy, college setting, dialogue is A+, not lightsabers but not dicks either, first time, when you’re fucked so good you think you’ve died, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4uEq5Nx6ko, hero/villain roleplay. Fluff n smut 10/10

My Purrfect Boss

Tags: completed, tooth rotting fluff because blondie is so FUCKING cute little sensitive soul, golden retriever boyfriend, pure comedy, DECEASED, MY MAN JUST DID THE SLOW BLINK, office setting, boss/employee, ~wasted~ (red dead redemption meme),  FFS SO CUTE, he put a ring on it right away beyonce would be proud af, he protecc he attack but most importantly he hit it from the back, jealousy, honeymoon phase of dating, the ex is a snake (update: oh wow literally), I’m picking up abuse/PTSD vibes based on how Kang reacts to his ex :(, classic BL miscommunication plot, immediately no meme audio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6XWSGfYnps) ,  I WILL STRAIGHT UP MURDER CHA WTF!!!!!!, gang rape, spiked with drugs that force heat, me rn:*screaming/rage*, psychotic ex/abuser, HE PROTECCC, actual relief after that scene jesus fuck, okay YES kings I see you, okay this is giving me cuteness aggression, hi yes I’d like to adopt a cat and a dog please 9/10

Following Namsoo to the Bathhouse

Tags: completed, same author as, “My Purrfect Boss”, A+ comedy once again, JUNIOR, gay awakening, “fap myself to death” DEAD, facial expressions are ridic, my minds telling me no but my body, my bodyyyy’s telling me yaaaaa, ya boy is literally losing his mind over this, actual lightsabers lmao, FLUFF, permasmile, 6969, THINKS THEY’RE GOING TO EAT RAMEN, dense gay, own your skin wtf okay hannibal calm down, everyone is officially cray,  ah I also am barfy when drunk, denial really is something hm, classic BL miscommunication plot, when people pleasing too far, happy ending 🥺🥰, side story: our crazy gets his very own crazy (ashton Kutcher from spread vibes), public sex, sex sparkle 9/10

Alien in my Closet

Tags: ongoing (maybe completed but def ongoing on the site I use), not rapey at all?? You’d think it’s impossible in this medium ffs, anti pt vibes, cute art, fluff ‘n smut, red head!!, they were roomates!, sex toys, bsdm, D/s (brat)dynamic or maybe owner/pet, bondage, *tiffany hadish voice* this is noiceeee, con humiliation/degradtion, SANTA CLAUS, edging, marking, one lotus please (he’s clearly read the 4 agreements and karma sutra), con non con, exhibitionism, the wrist thing stays on people, Katoptronophilia,  roleplay, is it stalking when you bring your friends?, lotus: welcome home cheater, the chin on the head thing gives me cuteness aggression, the twins are my favs, when ur crush vanilla af 😭, haesung: experiment on me daddy, no dick until halfway through/fingering supremacy, bedroom sessions has me gagged, voyeurism, wait they haven’t kissed this whole time I forgot (audio: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryley/video/6976701880277748997?lang=en), sunbae is sus, YES FINALLY A FUCKING SWITCH COUPLE AKJSDHALKSJDHASKLJDHALS KJDALKSJD (update: sort of), there’s a missed opportunity for an anal probe joke, damn it okay maybe sunbae is chill, 3 musketeers, my heart*implodes*, *velociraptor noises*, 12/10 would re-read such fluff my heart 

On Doorstep

Tags: completed, age gap, reese has ptsd, jimmy going from 0 to 100, jimmy really got down on his knees at work, ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) deepest part you say, real dicks, ride him like a rodeo, quickie/short story, porn with plot

Gorani Jeon

Tags: ongoing, omegaverse, no alpha though, animal hybrid, art is beautiful like it's drawn on paper not a screen, 40 inch weave yours came in a pack, historical (non-modern), lord send me a sexy man pls, the memes after each chapter are golden, taking the phrase licking wounds literally, is that an eggplant or are you just happy to see me hehe, ahhh so inhibitors do exist here, vertical 69, here lays Bau fucked to death by Ran, WHY HE TOUCHING MY MAN, these chickens are dope, stomp on his dick, that’s what I call a happy meal, fucked right out the front door I’M DEAD, mpreg, i need a tiger+mountain god spin off (whoops dad/son my bad), slice of life, cute fluff 8/10

Room to room

Tags: completed, college setting, A+ dialogue, absurd size difference, unrequited love,  sexsomina, dubcon, angst, death by a thousand cuts emotionally, insecurity, body envy, pining, friends to lovers, they were roommates!, homophobia, sexual assault, PTSD, gays in denial, the tattoo 🥺 ow my heart, truly this is 90% smut, “going from unrequited love to fwbs is shittier than I expected”, dowan *bad blood by t swift* when he sees garam, ch 22garam reminds me of my ex and that’s not a compliment, I’m not gay but my boyfriend is vibes, triflers need not apply, spanking, 😭😭😭😭😭 my heart hurts, is anyone getting a bit of a puppy play vibe? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vni9ZWmDXis, handcuffs, lots of head we stan, dowan’s gotta a touch of a foot thing or maybe body worship thing, asdlfgkjs ;dlkfgjsd;flkgj;sdflkgj;sdlfgjs;d/gkdf SO CUTEEEEEEEEEEE, roleplay. They broke the bed no use of crying over spilled milk ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), side stories delivering man in uniform and sex toys AND puppy, asdlkjaslfkasdjfl;askdfjasdf the shirt thing is so hot, watersports, I take it back this is 98% smut 9/10

Mistake Lover

Tags: completed, when ur bff is back on their BS, love triangle, coworkers, i swear all these ukes look the same to me at this point (which is very cute), GE!!!! (wangxian flashbacks), wait no smut?.... Paused

Yagi to ookami no hatsujou jijou

Tags: completed, quickie/short story, literally on my reading list because a comment said “nice cock 10/10”hahahaha, animal hybrids, scifi/aliens, me during chapter one: am I a furry? No. Am I? Relevant audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJNIqvDfoo, hotties when human GOD DAMN, bi king, okay I stan this girl changing gears take your opportunities honey!, does blondie have a tinder or how is this happening? (update: called it), feminization, dubcon/noncon, marking, heats, idk about 10/10 cock but not lightsabers, translation is ruff (get it?), a yankee hahaha, literal wound licking, googles chimera, *claps* yes king selfish call his ass out, tail holding caaaayoooot, not that isn’t usually copious amounts of cum but really this is a lot 8/10

Make Me Bark

Tags: completed, $250 a month rent?? *cries in Californian*, god damn it these grey haired 2D men are really hot fml, “next months rent is a looming concern but I hope it’ll get better” followed by apartment on fire is how I feel about reality, rare characters that smile way more than they frown, sex toys, kink, puppy play, owner/pet dynamic, sugar daddy/baby, college setting, harness, muzzle, leash, tail plug, shirt thing!!, soaked briefs, playing barbie IRL, omg meet cute at the adult store, intercrural sex, possessive/jealousy, ah fuck yes I saw this panel on IG but it didn’t have the source but now hehe, whipping, choking, spanking, *bookmarks*, simp city, childhood friends, side couple cute af, yeonsoo: sorry I’m an anti romantic, size queen, mens lingerie, domestic, mutual pining,  these bestie pairings are *chefs kiss*, skinny but muscular bodies/no ridiculous size differences, “does he have a big dick?” “probably” “well tell him to come” GAGGED AJKSDHALSKDJHA this dialogue pure comedy, exhibitionism, human auction, maid costume, men in heels, topping in a dress, girl at the bus stop HAHAHA, ffs this is so cute, side stories: it’s a small world afterall, dynamic role reversal, pink haired boy is guru, SCREAMING AKDJA:SLDKJA:LKDJA:LSDKJLAKDJA:LDJAL:SKDJASLKDJA:SLKDJLAKSDJLASDJ:LASJD:ALSKDJASL:DJ:ASLJDPUTARINGONIT!!!! 11/10 

Gurume no fukurami

Tags: completed, quickie/short story, food fetish, feeding fetish, age gap, throuple-eqsue? There’s 3 people involved, paused ch 1 pg 30

Under the Green Light

Tags: ongoing, thank you IG for rec’ing this, brunette supremacy, neurodivergent?, lmao @hag, this statue is everything I wonder if it’s based on a real piece?, we went from talking art to being pinned to the ground REAL quick, translations rough but not as rough as my mans here, draw me like one of your french girls vibe, sass master, these dicks are ridiculously huge which is saying something for this genre, i love a verse/switch, “first time he’s asked someone to stop so his self-esteem is hurt” HAHAHAHA, stealing bae’s shirt, facials galore, car sex/public sex, jin not into praise kink clearly, sort of slut shaming jealousy, marking

Walk on Water

Tags: completed, for being about porn it’s not that smutty (i take it back), “don’t even think about running away” got me like https://giphy.com/gifs/VABbCpX94WCfS, actual dicks (lightsabers later must be the cleaners not the OG), muscular bodies, blonde seme, brunette uke, k mcqueen is everything, honestly haven’t loved a couple this much since chanwoo x MD and I LOVE THEM, jealousy, orgasm denial, the angles/frames of the art in this are insane (11/10), emotional intimacy CUTENESS HASIHDLASKDHJLAKSJDH, i wanna lick lick lick you from your head to your toes, dirty talk A+, bestie you turned out to be Judas you judgy fuck how dare you touch my man, Ryan is 50 shades of fucked up bb needs therapy, Chang and yeowoons sexual tension is *chefs kiss*, I ship it/all my ships sailing, woof non con but expected tbh, YEAH BABY YEAH *Austin powers voice*, fml I don’t want this story to end, meeting the Hets ™ would make me nervous too, spiderman kith, mirror sex sjkadfhasldjkfh, 34+35, JOI but with a partner? Not D/s, promises are made to broken hehe, that feeling when you understand the title, omg the fan art is so cool!! 15/10 would re-read seriously I can’t explain how well the artist used angles/how she portrayed the scenes was fucking MASTERFUL

Woof Wolf

Tags: that's my best friend (saweetie), red heads, werewolf au, college setting, students, shoot a shot in your mouth while I'm riding, facials, marking

Sexual Awakening of an Ex Delinquent 

Tags: completed, quickie/short story, sexual coercion/non con/dub con, tiddies, bondage, nipple play, edging/orgasm denial, candy in ass wow, food kink, kink in general, rich seme working class uke, lightsabers,  big dick Jesus fuck, exhibitionism, public sex, men's lingerie, Blondie is a sweet baby angel, self hatred/homophobia, sexual narrating that has me like oof 😣 that's not how this works but okay, the sweet spots thing is a great line, man is a slave to the sweets, lmao at the meme at the end of ch 9 fucking facts, kidnapping plot, rapey guys all around this story, tattoo/back story reveal has me like *nods head yes*, my throats broken has me gagged, crazy amount of sfx noises that distract from the art (I really appreciate cleaners I realize), first times, rushed ending feels,  would rate 6/10 not terrible but probably won't read again.  

With Your Tail Yes

Tags: ongoing, IG rec, quickie/short story, on man brunette looks EXACTLY like a different character by another artist like for real duplicate, home boy pulled Elle Wood’s Bend n Snap and we are HERE FOR IT, lingerie/cross dressing, okay compilation of short stories, great artwork but wtf these are far too short (maybe uploaded wrong..?), *immediately makes deal with the devil because yum*, ah okay previews THEN stories, human animal hybrid situation, lightsabers, fucking imagine your crush delivery the sex toy you ordered online HAHA *dies*, buys toys because men ain’t shit is a VIBE, you know he’s always wearing matching sets because he’s 100% that bitch, dub con/non con, knotting (unexpected), exhibitionism, public sex, good ol’ fashion blackmail to get your lover to stay with you trope, sexual assault/attempted rape, victim blaming, shibari, leashes, D/brat dynamic sort of, copious amounts of cum, lube? What lube?, marathon sex, first time, 75 hours?? Immediately no meme, 7/10 mostly for art/concepts but not execution

Heat and Run

Tags: ongoing, IG rec, omegaverse, friends to enemies to lovers, multiple couples as main to sides then sides to mains, my heart dropped because I thought the first sex scene was incest but then realized I’m mixing up all the characters derp, dense gays, this is america (the shooting comment WOOF reality feels bad man), blondes have more fun, real dicks, dubcon/CNC dealers choice, mutual pining, idiots in love, big alpha energy BDE, there are moments I feel Hayoung on a spiritual level and not sure that’s a compliment hahaha, orgasm denial/edging, istg if he bonded without Hayoung permission *jenna marbles BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII YOU BETTAH NOT*, also I was hoping the idol was him but realizing it’s probs his sis, *deep sigh*, BDIRL, wow racism, oh no oh no no no no no meme audio, listen everyone needs to get into therapy to break that generational trauma is all I’m saying (not excusing abuse at all, trauma isn’t a free pass), NO ONE WANTS TO PLAY A GAME WITHOUT KNOWING THE RULES :ALKSDHJALKSDJA:SLKDJTRUE, matthew singing bo burnham: I’m problematic *background singers ‘he’s a problem!’*, i ship it yolo, JAEHO STAN (no means no!), mpreg, god damn it I am so worried about him getting roofie and the party scene hasn’t even started ABO WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TOO ME, OH THANK JAEHO, dayummmm that clapback was real fuck him UP, me clapping: MARK HIM MARK HIM, GOD DAMN IT WITH THESE ONGOING FUCKING CLIFF HANGERS FML, marked via knotting? Okay that’s new, but also like normal marking I think, fucking til bottom pees trope

Heaven Officials Blessing

Animated series season 1 complete. Live action currently filming (same director as Untamed too UGH SO HAPPY)

Tags: ongoing, same author as my fav ever MDZS, just finished season 1 animated on netflix and can no longer avoid this because I LOVE THEM, all the memes on IG make sense now, Prince voice: Dearly Beloved (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ) we are gathered here today to dive deeper into a fandom I will never escape, ART IS AMAZING (https://tenor.com/view/incredible-talented-lady-brilliant-gaga-gif-14857187), group chats are always chaotic tbh, wait a minute meme audio: bride = bottom? How tf did I not get that the first time round *sigh* always hoping for a verse couple, the asst. Boys I ship hard, the sass, fuck this is going to just be pure angst isn’t it *straps in, has fluffy manga queued*, even if no smut 11/10 gege porn, not subtle, god FUCK this ART IS SO FUCKING GOOD THE TALENT skjas;ldkfja;, 🥺, traumatic cliff moment *mdzs flashbacks*, HC smirk is my new favorite thing, no fucking but lots of touching, size difference, horror, gore, wuxia, great side characters, my ear feels tingly too lmao, SOMEONE BETTER GET THESE MF SNAKES ON THIS MF PLANE (cliff), umbrella moments got me uwu, gimme at least didi pleaseandthankyou, FUCK I LOVE THIS ARTIST she keeping us WELL fed with these extras DAYUM, wind/earth master ship please sail, CALL ME DADDY IM DEAD, HC has LWJ energy like you are not qualified to talk to me LOL, WAIT this totally counts as there was only one bed trope, also I’m already excited about omegaverse ff (send me recs please please please)

4 week lovers

Tags: ongoing because apparently I want to torture myself, mutual pining/”unrequited love”, college life, friends to lovers, blackmail ur crush into sex trope, public sex, I was going to tag possessive body language but possessive in a general sense apparently (starting strong yessss), sure jan @unrequited love dialogue, THEY WERE ROOMMATES *cackles*, sus haha, rough translation, pure comedy, shirt thing!, casual abuse :( (back story, traumatic childhood), I’m getting TharnType vibes (but not quite…), that note is precious, cry during/after sex, great angles, dialogue A+ 

Burlesque Night

Tags: completed, quickie/short story, stripper/body guard, coworkers, lust at first sight, magic mike vibes, fridays = getting fucked on stage O-O, well that was traumatizing af, took a bullet, real dicks, LDR, CUTE, I’m not in love with you… sure jan, OH WOW MASTER dlksaj;alsdkja;lsdkja;sld, gay awakening/first time, the art detail is *chefs kiss*, disappointed but not surprised :( :( :(, we stan a yes and lover, shirt thing, still not sure wtf the vertical anus thing is but full circle moment haha, you know what fuck it I’d re-read this 9/10

My one and only cat

Tags: ongoing, cat hybrids, god damn it I’m totally in furrydom ffs, ah well here we go, idol hot = loneliness wahhh /s, so hot he literally transforms other beings, omg a cat cafe CUTE, fuck that cat is cute *so fluffy*, stalker status, comedy, real dicks, I think the uncle would be supportive/jealous even I hope they talk about it I’m dying to know his thoughts, big tiddies, if this ain’t the cutest shit FLUFF/SMUT, copious amounts of cum, ate it with the panties on, CAKE, xmas, his milkshakes bring all the boy(cats) to the yard, trifling bitch

Imitation Mate

Tags: completed, omegaverse, alpha x alpha. Class rivals YAS, childhood frans, enemies to lovers omg this is all the shit I want, manipulation 1000 but yolo I ship it

Mr. 100% Perfect

Tags: ongoing, so relatable, OCD?, hoarder, when I read the title I thought mental illness and I was right, masks ugh RELATABLE, getting back together w ex, woof sibling drama/manipulation, suicide attempt, omg their communication regarding the psycho is REFRESHING, OMG JEJU ISLAND I see it in every fucking kdrama ever but this is the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in a manga *hm* interesting, furry furry everywhere, eye contact, finished reading season 1 pause for an omergaverse cause, okay I’m back and season 2 starting STRONG #1 men are gross #2 mans just went right to a blowie while mf was trying to pee lmao i can NOT the germs barf, fuckboi extraordinaire stressing over a textback is *great*, that istg face is perfect, HYUNGGGG, hand on his heart OW MY HEART, vibe check LOL, here for this plot dev, END OF SEASON2 NOOOOOOOimnotready. Head bonks CUTE

The origin of species

Tags: ongoing, omegaverse, sex tape, blackmail, i already don’t like this teacher, size difference, ‘JUST DIE’ hahahahahaha, I’m in love with noona, wait Ahjussi means uncle/mister? Dangerous convenience store has a new meaning to me now, DECEASED @they won’t, copious amounts of cum, alcohol to have intimacy *sighs in early 20s*, also WTF THEY ARE FUCKING AND THERE’S NO PHERMONE STUFF! What’s the point of being ABO without smell *swaggy p meme???*, wait okay ch 11 it begins, stockholm syndrome but since childhood I’m fairly certain *looking at you teacher I don’t trust these mfs*, dubcon obviously, also the can’t be knotted thing has me *cardi b meme that’s weird that’s sus* obvs poor bb about to get preg af, five word horror story: I won’t hurt you again *why tf you lyinggggg why u always lyinggg meme*, white collar crime, what’s the point of a contract when there’s no actual choice

How to Chase an Alpha

Tags: ongoing, lowkey been avoiding this one not because I think it’ll be bad I just..idk the brain is a weird thing, page 2 and I love mains attitude fucking gagged sass me bb, starting with rough translation but it be that way sometimes, GROUNDS HIMSELF BY TOUCHING HIS BLACK CARD I CANTTT, pheromone city fuck it UP, MC is a MOOD, mutual pining, when u and bae both hire PI’s to get info on each other, R-E-S-P-E-C-T, shirt thing, fucking chuffed about the rival fucking bring it, funny art, cheated on ugh mah heart I saw it coming and it still hurt, pure comedy this airport scene is so funny to me wtf, LDR, good ol murica fuckboi, LOVE HIM RIDE FOR UR MAN/MORALS, liams a little rapey rapist hm? No one’s ever said no… well being flooded with pheromones isn’t consent my dude, istg liam = I love it when they struggle, obvs jealousy/possessive tag but such is ABO, cat suit, BUNNY suit, sexy costumes, god damn it I love them that proposal/mpreg so cute, imprinting AW, ugh baes fam is so cute I needed that bc I wanna strangle wooyoungs dad, THE SECETARY is my fucking fav never stops being A+, SEC+LIAM?? Here for it *i ship it*, FUCK SO CUTE 12/10 re-read, fluff n smut, excited for how to chase an omegaside story hyung needs love!, JINI is mood, sales king I’m dying, that collar is ~hot~ btw

Egoism

Tags: completed (because jesus I can’t with ongoing, theheartbreakTM), UPDATE FML THE HEART BREAK IS REAL also no smut, omegaverse, hey stepbro, starts with rape, possessive/jealousy (isn’t all ABO?), age difference (6years, alpha is younger *can I get hyung plz lord*), HYUNG, woof this dad SUCKS, child abuse, rape culture *sigh*, I wanna get jacked like rick and summer and beat tf out of the dad, me n my cat, TELL EM HONEY I love this MC, traitor indeed, beta x omega btw, fated pair, coercive sex, didi going to be his own demise, BREAKUP/TIME SKIP NO this is BL hell, the rona is mentioned in this, ALL I WANT IS TO HEAR YOUR STORY WAHHHHHHHHHH also YES MY SHIP IS GOING TO SAIL I CAN FEEL IT, okay honestly frustrating a bit but also liked it yah 7-8/10, won’t re-read unless I’m looking for hurt though cause the comfort is BRIEF

Yarichin bitch bu

Tags: ongoing, reading because I watched this anime after seeing it mentioned in the comment section of -im-being-harassed-by-the-sexiest-man-of-the-year, anime was 2 eps a fucking wild the way this is uploaded SUCKS, no reality porn what plot rape-y ridiculous and now I need to read the source apparently haha, I need to know much more about yuri and blue hair guy ASAP (they have the spin off*adds to list*), high school setting, smut, studentsxstudents/teachers, photography club my ass, sex toys, kinky, crossdressing, gay awakening, unrequited love, jealousy, fake relationship, two faced people, OCD, COMEDY, rich people problems, hoarder, inferiority complex, one bed, toono is a dumbass in this love triangle or denial might be a better word, they are cousins my dude stop shipping it (I say to both toono and myself LOL), I wanna see Yuri’s face laksdjf;aldskf, vibrator #18 line is fucking iconic, yaguchi is about to get real interesting (BPD?), lies/manipulation, oh toono you sweet summer child, YURI i can’t wit chu, wait did he just punch the student because he won’t kiss him or???, dubcon/noncon obvs, finally my verse couple but they’re not a couple (yuri/tamu), they all care about each other is a weird way awwww, love confessions to pet vibrator scene are ICONIC MY DUDES I CAN NOTTT, lowkey living for Yuri’s drooling at this point, Jimi gives me such bad second hand embarrassment, Yuri the switch verse bb I’ve been looking for need more!, internalized homophobia, blackmail, MIDDLE FINGER IN THE AIR YAS KING, the heartbreak of ongoing/hasn’t been updated in years

Yarichin bitch bu dj wa

Tags: not completed I think, years old though, see above you know what it is, so cute omg, FIRST KISS AW, degradation kink?, MY VERSE COUPLE I’ve finally found you, biting, choking, rough sex, sex toys, they had fun together for another two hours DECEASED

Fucked by my Best Friend

Tags: ongoing, friends to lovers, body swap, Porn what plot, cannon threesomes in past maybe??(MFF for sure but MMF??), beach life, revenge, he became a HOT woman so honestly get over it, sloppy seconds, first off you’re both sluts second lmao this is going to be wild hm?, fellas is it gay if you kiss the homies, classic did you cum guy jfc, that’s how you get preg dumbass, ah the joys of being a woman /s assault in der clrub, *DEEP SIGH* @ you almost being raped turns me on, YES TURNING BACK DYING, gender has nothing to do with this LOL but true. Also yes cannon threesomes/orgies, googles frotting, mans like narrating playtime, intecurial sex public sex, lingerie, this is the closest thing to straight manga I’ve read hahaha, THE SCIENCE OMG FUCKING RIDIC :you need a mass amount of semen within you SURE JAN, possessive. Objectification, she trying to fuck without Shion LMAO, 34+35, do you think he’s on r/nofap, dry orgasm honestly impressed with mans rn ngl, spit as lube, anal fingering, just helping the homies find their prostate, bottom shaming (disappointed but not surprised), bis/gays in denial smh, question if he has a wet dream will he turn into a woman?, shirt thing, lol at female orgasm =anal in switcharoos mind, paging doc perv, shion is enjoying dressing up hm? Same dude, biggest reality gap is believing shion got admitted to a college HAHA, bad anatomy all over the place dude, rui is a dedicated exhibitionist, HE SO TIGHT BECAUSE THERES NO LUBE team no lube over here apparently not even a courtesy spit, yandere territory sort of?, Mayu with the dick wet comment is *chefs kiss*, THE HEARTBREAK OF ONGOING WAHHH I can’t believe I read all this but I can? 8/10 problematic possessive porn

[ultraericthered]

Random Future Diary Thoughts

I’ve noticed a really strange trend among viewers of Future Diary regarding the perception of the four central characters - Yukiteru Amano, Yuno Gasai, Minene Uryuu, and Aru Akise. Particularly, how people who despise the first two are inclined to view the latter two as their “Good Counterparts” (though the counterparts are of opposite gender: Minene is Yuki’s counterpart while Akise is Yuno’s.) And I’m sure there might be some Yuki/Yuno stans who think the reverse.

I think this really misses the whole point, breaking things down into simplistic, binary black-and-white morality. None of these characters are pure good or pure bad, or even the main antagonistic forces behind the series’ core conflict. I’d argue that doesn’t even apply to MurMur. Ultimately, Deus Ex Machina and John Balks are the ones responsible for the survival game, and what we see as a result of that game is that some people who are otherwise bottom-of-the-barrel morality-wise become situated as “good guys” and may even find self-improvement, while others who should by all means be lesser evils sink to depths lower than they would otherwise. As Minene would put it, it all depends on what their instincts dictate when they’re placed in a “kill or be killed” personal crisis situation.

In Yuki and Minene’s case, normally Minene would be viewed as the infinitely worse human being since she’s older, is a terrorist who has a high bodycount, and is motivated by pure spite and resentment, willing to persecute thousands in an effort to end persecution based in religion. Compared to that, Yuki’s just a whiny ass punk bitch still in junior high school. Yuki got “worse” than Minene not because he naturally IS worse, but rather the opposite - he reminds Minene of the innocence, vulnerability, and human decency that she lost long ago, yet he tries to be the sort of person that present day Minene is, BUT the key difference between them is his moral cowardice: he doesn’t own his shit the way Minene does. He plays at being big and bad, doing terrible things that hurts others in the process, but when faced with repercussions, he deflects blame for his circumstances, runs and hides, and pleads for somebody else to deal with his mess for him (usually Yuno). The self-awareness and ability to own up to being an evil PoS who, even for a percieved greater good, has to do great evil, is not there for him the way it is for Minene. In that sense, Yuki becomes more wretched, loathsome and villainous while at the same time, Minene becomes more dignified, admirable, and noble, even heroic once she comes back with Deus’ godly powers. So Minene, out of all the lead characters, is the most evil overall, but in the context of the survival game, Yuki became the bigger villain.

Yuno and Akise’s case is weird in that if you watch the anime, it’s pretty clear cut - Yuno is worse than Akise in every possible way. Except there are two caveats here. First one being motivations. Both these two are head over heels for Yuki...but why? Over what? Regardless of whether or not you find Yuno’s reasoning flimsy, Akise literally has no reasoning other than Deus just kind of made him that way. Sure, his feelings prove strong enough to allow him to defy Deus and assert his own existence, but there is never any indication that Yuki has anything close to the feelings for Akise that Akise has for him, whereas with Yuno at least there IS mutual love between them. This makes Akise come off as more selfish and possessive. Second one being that in the manga, he flat abandons Yuki’s other three friends to die by Yuki's hands, just so he can get the chance to kill Yuno, something so shockingly self-interested and appalling that even Yuki himself is disturbed by it. This moral decline continues in the manga version of Redial, where rather than provide a secret test of character and stealth assistance to Yuno like in the anime, he just flat out wants to kill her and make sure she and Yuki 2 are never together again, out of spite. Keep in mind that Akise’s not mentally ill, nor has he been abused, so his excuses would hold far less water than Yuno’s. So while I’d not say he’s ever really the “greater evil” to Yuno overall, he’s by far the even worse romantic option for Yuki.

So I’d put it as Akise > Yuno > Yuki > Minene in terms of moral character (yes, the “by reason of insanity” factor actually puts Yuno ahead of Yuki, who more deliberately chooses his lowest actions), but factoring in the survival game, it’s Yuno > Yuki > Minene > Akise in terms of villainy. Akise’s the least bad both times. Good for him!

[sweetchup]

Manager-Chan!

Type: Shalnark x reader

Au?: Highschool Au

Word Count: 1,300+

Warnings: Sexual reference, boys being perverts, Harasment, This is pure Crack

Author Note: None of this is meant to be taken seriously. This is a drabble written based on 90s adult comedy and the recent High School Au I’ve gotten excited with. Not really edited as well but oh well.

Become the Manager of the Basketball team, they said.

It will be fun, they said.

“Ah (Y/n)! Heads u— Ooo!” You flinch as another basketball comes barreling towards your head. If it wasn’t for your clipboard in front of your face able to deflect it away, you surely would have ended up with a concussion or a bloody nose at the very least.

“Shinchi! How many times have I told you not to practice half court shots?!” Phinks Magcubs, your Captain, shouts out as he comes out from the locker room. Seeming to enter at just the right time to catch the pure buffoonery that is going on with the freshman and Sophmores.

“Ah S-sorry Captain—!” They squeak out, quickly scattering away to go warm up. Leaving you to attempt to catch your breath as some of your fellow Juniors, who had begun exiting the locker room, come over to check to make sure you were doing okay

“Freshman, Huh? Still have plenty to learn.”

“Well, it’s not as if the Sophmores are teaching them anything good.”

“True True.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Your fellow manager, Kimiko, scoffs out as she walks over, “Don’t think I don’t see you guys making bets on half court shots after practice.”

As Kimiko and some of the Juniors begin to bicker back and forth, the gym doors suddenly swing open. Slowly, as if dragging himself in, Shalnark enters the gym, still dressed in his school wear. Which was very odd considering the fact that Shalnark is never late.

“Shal. You okay?” You asked as you hesitantly made your way over to the boy. Just as you are near Shalnark’s side, he practically throws himself on you.

“Manager-Chan!” Shalnark whines out in a high pitched tone, holding you tight to his chest as he begins to swing you around. “Why can’t other girls be like you~?”

“Shalnark…” Phinks warns out, slowly picking up a basketball from the rack as he keeps an eye on you two. However, Shalnark chooses to ignore Phinks as he puts you down, only to shove his backpack in your face.

Turning the bag upside down carelessly, you and some of the others in the gym watch as gifts just continuously pour out of Shalnark’s bag. Creating a mini hill on the ground between you two, you looked stunned. How in the world did he fit all that in there?

“Wow. That’s a shit ton of Love letters and Chocolates, Shalnark.” One of his teammates mumbles out, picking up one of the chocolates and opening it up to eat it. “Hmmm…. Not half bad…”

“Traitors…” Shalnark grumbles out as the others begin to dig in as well.

“Hey it’s free food, Shalnark. Don’t be such a butthurt.”

“Really? You would be just like me if you had to go to the main office every week to get your locker combination changed due to Fangirls finding it out. Also that’s not even the worst of it. Imagine having to scrub down your locker since girls will take a sharpie and—“

“Just get your locker changed dude.”

“Wha— you think I haven’t tried that!”

“Ok. Ok. Let’s calm down.” You say suddenly, interrupting the two. “I think you two have much more pressing matters to be concerned for. Coach will be here in less than ten minutes and if you aren’t practicing when he gets here…”

You watch as slowly both boys' faces pale; having flashbacks to being forced to do court sprints til they dropped. Quickly they scatter. Well… except Shalnark who begins to pick up the items on the floor.

“Shal. I’ll take care of this, go get ready.”

“Really? You sure?”

“Yeah.” Suddenly a thought hits you. “Wait, if all these items are in your bag… where’s your books?”

Shalnark begins to scratch the back of his neck nervously, “Well actually… I had to keep my books in my locker because this pile isn’t even half of all of it.”

“Seriously.” You deadpan, watching as Shalnark nods his head and chuckles nervously. Letting out a heavy sigh, you shake your head. “Ok. Well go get ready for practice. I don’t have anything planned after so I’ll make sure to help you clear out your locker.”

“Ah! Really, Manager-Chan?” Shalnark shouted out excitedly. Quickly he leaned down and wraps his arms around you to give you a quick hug before running to the locker rooms. “You won’t regret it, Manager-Chan!”

“I hope not…” You mumble out, sighing to yourself as you grab a nearby trash bin and begin to pick up the scattered chocolates and letters on the ground.

—.—.—.—.—.—

“Oh come on, Manager-Chan! I thought it was a good idea!” Shalnark whines out as he races after you as you leave the gym. However, instead of waiting for him you continue to trudge on, a scowl on your face showing you were clearly angry at him. “I didn’t mean it in a perverted way or anything. I just thought a maid café for spirit day would be nice to bring in funds for the team, you know?”

You let out a scoff at his explanation, turning around to give him a quick glare as you stop at his locker. You continue to glare at him as he opens his locker before reaching into the many items in it to grab a specific book.

On the cover, it looked like any normal english book but as you flipped through it, it had… less than Pg anime girls in it.

“H-h-hey what are you doing, (y/—“

You cut off Shalnark’s stumbling of words as you shove a specific page of a “Cat Maid” in his face.

“Pervert!” You shout out, making sure to sound out each syllable for him. As Shalnark takes the book away from your grasp, you turn your back to him to get to work.

“I-it’s not like that!” Shalnark shouts out, a light blush dusting his cheeks as he quickly hides the book in his gym bag. “I swear!”

“Oh really?” You questioned out, shoving some of the chocolate in a garbage bin. At this point you were no longer mad at him, you just felt like making him suffer a little more. Just for fun. “Do I have to go over what I found in your room then?”

“My room?” Shalnark mumbles out, confused, “Wait. Wait. Wait. You’ve never even been to my house before.”

Unable to help yourself, you turn yourself around and raise an eyebrow at him.

“Doesn’t mean Feitan and Phinks hasn’t let me in before when you aren’t home.” You say carelessly even though you were actually lying through your teeth.

“T-they did what?!” Shalnark chokes out, his blush now reaching his ears. Even though you had meant it as a joke, you were now curious as to what was exactly in Shalnark’s room. You knew he lived alone, his family was rich so his parents lived out of the states in Europe, and it kind of made you wonder what he was able to get away with. After all, he always had a couple of old playboys or hentai manga in his locker. What could he possibly get away with at home?

“Yeah… I knew you were a Pervert Shal but…” You mumble out, attempting to bait Shalnark. However, you weren’t prepared for what happened next.

“I’m sorry!” He suddenly shouts out, confusing you even more.

“What are yo—“

“I’m sorry for buying some of those outfits from those catalogs I read and calling you ‘Manager-Chan’ because it’s from my favorite film. I—“ Shalnark is suddenly cut off as you put your hand over his mouth to shut him up.

“I…” You pause for a second as you feel your face burn up in embarrassment. “I was joking… I’ve never actually seen your room.”

There’s a thick pause as you pull your hands away from Shalnark’s mouth. Your words slowly process in Shalnark’s head until he finally understands it and his face goes bright red.

“Manager-Chan! Why wo—“

“Shut UP! Don’t call me that if it’s based on some of your porn films!”

[fectless]

(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

[animeguy-272]

Top 5 LGBT Animes you need to watch!

ONE

Gravitation

For many, this anime, manga series, and OAV collection was the gateway into shounen-ai and yaoi. Shuichi Shindo is a rising vocalist of a rock band who becomes involved with Eiri Yuki, a romance novelist. 

 Gravitation is bright, colorful, hilarious. However, the series has dark undertones of sexual assault, violence, and homophobia and how those experiences shape many of the characters.

TWO

Yuri on ice

Yuri Katsuki is a professional ice skater with little self-esteem and a bad season behind him. Viktor Nikiforov is a Russian skating God whom Yuri idolizes. Yuri runs off to his parents hot spring to wallow in pork cutlet bowls. Viktor shows up naked in said hot spring offering to be Yuri’s coach. And the rest was born to make history.

THREE    

Sasameki Noto       

Sumika Murasame has had a crush on her best friend, Ushio Kazama since middle school. She’s never confessed to her.

The series, which is based off a manga, does a great job of telling the pains of a one-sided love story while also interjecting humor and the overall troubles of going through high school as a lesbian in Japan.

FOUR 

 Hourou Musko

Shuichi Nitori is a transgender girl. Yoshino Takatsuki is a transgender boy. And they’re both going through puberty. The series, which is based on a manga of the same name, follows their lives, friendships, and romantic relationships from junior high school through high school graduation. It’s a realistic, but also uplifting story about how surrounding yourself with people who accept you can help through the tumultuous years as a teenager who also happens to be transgender.

The series deals with such as being transgender, gender dysphoria, relationships, puberty, and the emotional toll that has on its young protagonists.

FIVE

Revolutionary Girl Utena

While not officially billed as a shoujo-ai, there’s little debate that Revolutionary Girl Utena is, in its heart, a love story. If Gravitation introduced many people to boy’s love, it was this show that introduced them to girl’s love. It’s the story of Utena Tenjou, a teenage tomboy who was so impressed by a kind prince in her youth that she decides to become one herself, and Anthy Himemiya, the Rose Bride.

Utena finds out Anthy is in an abusive relationship and protects her, entering a series of duels at Ohtori Academy. Anthy is the “Rose Bride,” and is awarded as a prize to the winner of each duel. Whoever wins the tournament of the Rose Bride will receive what a so-called power to revolutionize the known world. The series features allegory, magic, and psychological warfare, along with some dark aspects, especially in regards to Anthy. Her status as a "prize" subjects her to a lot of abuse, though she's eventually rescued.

[jauneda1]

Highschool Of The Dead Fanfic

:Just a heads up I do not own any characters or the anime/manga this fanfic is based on:

Ch 2 Escape and divided

Ita and everyone had been starring at the tv in shock. Ita spoke up while changing his uniform to his undershirt and put on his weight lift gloves. "Well I guess that was there way of not trying to start a panic and a big ol fuck you to us people who are scared shitless unable to comprehend wtf is going on" Takagi commented Ita's observation of the situation on the television. "Well of course that's what they're doing stupid. They don't want to loose a sense of order with this global pandemic." Ita: "I know that but like stay in our homes and what wait?" Takashi: "You've got a point there, they're not giving us any alternatives." Saeko: "Maybe they have a solution in sight for all this." Rei: "Yeah Ms.Busujima is right they've gotta know what there doing my father is a police officer I'm sure we wait for him to come find me-." Ita: "Wait!? Wait my ass, where not waiting this out we need to move because the longer we wait the harder it's gonna be to get out of here. I say we're better off looking for other survivor's and work together to get out of here." Takashi: "You're right there could still be people alive in here who need our help, I'm game for that plan but how would we escape if where in a large group?" Saeko: "We could use the buses that are used for away games it should hold at most 30 people." Takagi: "Okay let's make sure we have everything we need before we head out."

Ita was getting ready and trying to break off a table leg Takashi came over to speak with him.

Takashi: "I just wanted to say thank you for saving Takagi and for coming to look for me I know your parents where both home this week."

Ita: "Don't worry about I won't let anything happen to her or any of us for that matter. Besides you guys basically saved my ass too so no biggie."

Takashi: So what do you make of all this, Like this is unreal I'm not sure how to deal with it.

Ita: "Well your doing better then me I personally say fuck it. This the new world order of things that's fight and survive. I have no problem with that."

Takashi: "I knew you where gonna say something like that, but be honest with me Ita your worried about our family."

Ita: "...Listen of course I'm worried but I'm more worried about the group my father and mother are both Yakuza. They can protect themselves, they're probably out there helping the community as we speak. If anything goes wrong Takagi's parents will take them in and we'll find them there."

Takashi: "I get it now that's your main plan."

Ita: "Yes I wouldn't call it a plan, but a final solution if we are forced to wait for the government to save us it would be there."

Takashi: "Okay I'll inform everyone, you gonna be okay with that?"

Takashi said this with a shit eating grin on his face having to watch It's tear off a table leg.

Ita: "Well I wasn't blessed enough to find a bat like you dear cousin."

Takashi while walking away speaks up with a smile.

Takashi: "Hey when your done over there don't for get to grab that extra bat we picked up on our way here."

Ita's inner thought: "You son of a bitch"

Saeko had been sitting cleaning of her wooden sword when Ita walked up to thank her.

Ita: "Hey Sa- I mean miss Busujima thanks for the help back there. I-

Saeko got up and hugged him tightly and passionately everyone noticed not many people aside from Takashi but Saeko and Ita used to date heavily in junior high until there second year. Ita was one of the few who students who where held back. Out of embarrassment he cut it off with Saeko and started to diligently keep his grades up while also working part time. Ita returned the hug with just as much emotion and love as Saeko.

Ita: "Saeko, I'm sorry for worrying you."

Saeko: "You're an asshole you know that."

Ita: "Yeah... Yeah I know."

After that heart warming moment everyone was all set to move out along the way they saved a small group of survivor's. The real challenge though was getting out since the only way was through the front door. Takagi had said earlier that we should be able to walk by most of them because they couldn't see us. But now we needed to put that to the test.

Ita: "There's no way around this I'll go down there and confirm it. Takashi you got my back if shit goes down.

Takashi: "Is that even a question I've got your back."

Saeko: "W-wait Ita I'll come too.

Rei: "Yeah me too you both can't go alone."

Takashi: "Listen we can't go down there as a large group if it turns out they can see us we're not all gonna be able to run back up the stairs.

Ita nodded his head in agreement and then looked to Takashi and used his head to gesture let's go. As the two got to the bottom of the stairs they knew that there was no turning back now. Takagi's claims where true Ita was about to swing the bat on one them who was approaching but Takashi put his hand on Ita's shoulder. As they did so the zombie passed them bumping past Takashi's shoulder. After realizing this Ita watched Takashi pick up someone's shoe and they both nodded to each other. After a loud slam the zombies all walked towards the sound after clearing out the atrium mostly everyone started coming down. But of course shit couldn't go there way one of those guy's they saved a little bit ago had accidentally banged his weapon on the railing cause a loud metallic sound to ring out throughout the atrium into the outside.

Takashi: "RUN!"

Everyone took off outside everyone covered each other's backs but one of the guys was to slow and unable to save him Ita who had been covering the rear with Kota saw the guys girlfriend about to pass him and run to her dying boyfriend. Ita knew good and well she would die too. So he did the non sensible thing and grabbed her by the waist before she could get past him and dragged her even though she screamed and cried he wouldn't let go. He knew that Takazu wouldn't want that for her he didn't know the guy but he respected his final wishes.

Ita: "Kota cover me, Takagi come with me hurry!"

Kota: "Roger that."

Takagi: "Why are you dragging her if she wants to go die let her."

Ita: "We both know that's not an option to me."

After they made it to the bus Ita put Naomi in Takagi's care. They where all set to go but another group of students ran towards the bus and Ita didn't pay any mind he just clearing out the undead infront of the bus. As he was getting on he saw something unthinkable and cruel. A little bit away from the bus he saw a teacher kick a student in the face who was asking for his help. Ita was completely dumbfounded and unable to speak he just knew he needed to get on the bus before anything else happened. After getting on Miss.Shizuka put the bus into drive and ran threw the school gates like a bad ass.

Ita made sure to cheer this out getting a deep blush from the school nurse.

Ita: "BADASS. Nice one miss Shizuka!"

Shizuka: "O-oh it was nothing I was just doing what I needed to do."

She had a deep blush on her face that went unnoticed by Ita but Saeko definitely noticed the doctors blush. After atleast an hour of driving things started to get worse as Mr.Shido's group started to cause trouble with Takashi's group Ita had kept out of it mainly because of what he saw Shito do, but also that it was to late to do anything about it he rather not cause a scene. But if he's being honest he doesn't want to move right now he has been blessed with the fact that Saeko wanted to sit next to him. So they sat together with her leaning on him.

Ita's inner thoughts: "Shit I could fall asleep like this. But I need to stay awake for her sake for everyone's sake if anything pops off. But I'm gonna enjoy this moment right now I deserved this... But she deserved better."

After a little more back n forth Rei had hit one of the guys in the chest before he could get in Takashi's face. Mr.Shido started to get all weird and talking about how the group needs a leader shit but Ita's had enough of this. He stood up leaving Saeko's side to do what he did best with a swift motion he swung the hardest right hook he's ever swung knocking the pedophile out cold.

Ita: "You of all people are not fit to be a leader, I saw what you did earlier. You left someone to die, kicked him in the face to save your own life but you think we would accept you as a leader... Yeah right shit stain."

During all this Ita noticed that Takashi and Rei had got off the bus so naturally he followed with Saeko behind him.

Ita: "Takashi what's going on?"

He didn't get a response. But he had a really bad feeling right about now.

Ita: "Saeko go get back on the bus just in case.

Saeko: "Are you sure I think it would be best if I-."

Ita and Saeko both noticed it at the same time. A bus filled with zombies was coming there way.

Ita: "GO! Let Shizuka know to move the bus I'll get Takashi and Rei."

Saeko: "Right be careful."

After that Takashi heard his name being yelled and Turned only to grab Rei and run Ita saw the bus coming but he couldn't chase after them he needed to get out of the way his dame self this caused him to jump to his left. After the crash he could barely hear or have time to adjust because a secondary explosion happened which sent him flying.

???: "I...

???: "Ita!?."

Ita: "Y-YEAH. I'M OKAY. WHAT'S THE PLAN!?"

Saeko: "TAKASHI SAID TO MEET THEM AT THE EAST POLICE STATION. IF NOT TODAY TOMORROW AT 7PM." BE SAFE ITA!."

Ita: "I WILL, YOU AS WELL!"

[ryuichirou]

Man I keep getting a shit-ton of Attack on Titan: Junior High stuff in my Youtube suggestions and I dont know why. What do you think of Junior High? I understand we now have a canon High School AU which is far more accurate, considering Junior High first came out around the very early stages of Attack on Titan and a lot of characters weren’t too flushed out yet. (...)

Like I know they probably just wanted something to hold over the fans during the huge gap between Season 1 and 2, it’s just funny how they made everyone so OOC. But I can appreciate some of the parts that actually featured characters that hadn’t been introduced yet like Frieda.

Overall I find it just so, awkward, ya know? Like it really drives home how weird AoT’s first few anime years were. From the merch that always had characters smiling to Erewan (your art of him really sold me though-).

But yeah! Thoughts on Junior High?

-----------------------------------------------------

Anon!! I’m very sorry, I’m a moron who messed up and got your ask deleted… I’m posting this reply last, hoping that you’ll still see it 😣 Sorry for being such an idiot.

You absolutely hit the nail on the head, I agree with every single world you’re saying. Like, with almost nothing to add to that, you’ve just said our exact thoughts about it.

It’s cool that they gave the fandom this little thing to munch on while they were on that long hiatus between S1 and S2 (this and a bunch of random OVAs…). And I really appreciate that they showed Frieda before her proper anime debut, that they a lot of references to manga (i.e. things that are yet to happen in the anime) without spoiling much… well, that Frieda scene kind of can be counted as a spoiler of sorts lol

I think it’s fun for people to revisit it after watching S2 and S3 and finally get all the jokes and references they missed. And it looks fine too, I love WIT’s SnK style (the original Junior High manga looks different…).

BUT. BUT BUT BUT THEY’RE SOOOOO OOC…… ESPECIALLY EREN WITH HIS FAKE-ASS EREWAN SMILE LIKE WHAT- they have a lot of jokes that are based on canon scenes and stuff, so the amount of OOC really boggles me. How can it be so knowledgeable about the original material and yet miss the point so badly? Awkward is a good way to put it. My recommended section is filled with these videos too, and I can never watch them…

The OOC is the reason why we never revisited it after watching it back in ~2016. I appreciate it for what it is, I love the opening song (it’s hilarious), but it’s very hard for us to enjoy the show that has smiling genki ooc Eren as the main character and a huge cast of ooc folks… it’s like all of them only have one (1) personality trait to them, and it’s always the most obvious thing… that is somehow still off lol

Even EreAnnie bait (that is quite prominent in this anime) doesn’t make the situation better for us, unfortunately. It’s just not the same EreAnnie that we like.

I like the  Spoof!On Titan strips better….

I’m glad you like our drawings of Erewan though haha. He’s so cursed that we actually genuinely enjoy him…

[victory-red]

why tōya being the oldest todoroki sibling makes no (or very little) sense.

Warning: Manga spoilers. Long post ahead - big paragraphs, lots of reading, and at least one (1) rabbit trail.

So I know this is old news, but I’ve been meaning to make a post about it for a little while now. I know a lot of people already headcanoned that Tōya was the oldest Todoroki sibling even before it was officially confirmed, but it just never really made sense to me, particularly in regard to Enji’s timeline. And then, after Chapter 291 came out, it made even less sense.

(A couple of quick disclaimers, before I continue: I’m not trying to pass anything off as fact. My conclusions are simply opinions based on observations I’ve made. I’ll also note that there are definitely gaps in what information we do officially have, so there is still a chance that what seems to me like a fairly significant plothole will eventually be explained.)

I’ll start with Enji - more specifically, his current confirmed age in relation to Fuyumi’s, who is the oldest Todoroki sibling whose age we do officially know. As of the current manga arc, Enji is 46 years old, and Fuyumi is 23. Since Enji’s birthday is in early August and Fuyumi’s in early December, that means that Enji was a little over 23 years old when he and Rei had Fuyumi.

From what we know of Enji’s history and personality, that seems like a reasonable age for him to have started having kids. He said in Ch. 165 that he became Number Two at age 20, at which point he immediately realized that he wasn’t ever going to be able to surpass All Might on his own. He said that it was because of this realization that he passed the torch (no pun intended) to Shōto. But, Shōto wouldn’t be born until a decade later. So, it makes sense to me that this would be the point that Enji decided it would be best to instead try having a child that could surpass All Might. In other words, it makes sense that this would be the catalyst that led to Shōto’s birth.

The most recent information we got regarding Enji and Rei’s relationship in Ch. 291 seems to be just a bit conflicting with how Shōto had described things back in Ch. 31 - unlike Shōto’s account, Ch. 291 sort of implied that Enji did care for Rei to some capacity, at least early in their marriage. (How he’s been portrayed in flashbacks recently is actually very conflicting with flashbacks from earlier chapters, and even with his entire personality in earlier chapters. But I won’t get into that - we’ll just make the assumption that Shōto’s story was biased, because it probably was.)

Since he essentially bought Rei’s family off, it only makes sense that he would have to grow to care for her over a period of time - you know, maybe like a year or two. I’m not sure how long the entire Quirk Marriage process took, but factoring in the 9 or so months Rei had to carry Fuyumi before she was born, it makes sense that after Enji’s realization upon attaining the Number Two title, the entire process of creating the plan of having hyper-powerful children, finding a suitable partner, buying her family off, marrying her, and having their first child would take anywhere between two to three years. That would mean that he was 20 when the process started, 22 when Rei got pregnant, and 23 when Fuyumi was born. Boom.

(Frankly, even that timeframe seems a bit compressed to me, but since Enji’s and Fuyumi’s ages are both canonically set in stone, I have no choice but to work with it.)

Tōya canonically being older than Fuyumi begins to screw a lot with the timeline - especially taking into consideration what the implied age gap between them is. I unfortunately can’t find where (or if) this is explicitly stated in the manga, but the wiki says that most Quirks develop around the age of 4. Now, it’s entirely possible that Tōya was born with his Quirk, but given Rei’s constitution, I highly suspect that there would have been severe complications with both her pregnancy and Tōya’s birth. It also makes sense that if he had developed his Quirk at an exceptionally young age, there would have been some note made of it. But since neither of those things are mentioned to have happened, we’ll just assume he was between 3 and 4½ years old when his Quirk manifested.

I don’t know how long afterward it took for Enji and Rei to decide to have another baby, but I can’t imagine that the decision took any longer than several months. I’ll be conservative and say that they decided no longer than a few months after Tōya’s Quirk developed, because remember - Enji literally, canonically cannot be any older than 23 when Fuyumi was born. Jumping 9 months forward from that time, Tōya would most likely have been between 4 and 5 years old when Fuyumi was born.

Now I will note that in the top panel, Tōya looks to me to be between 4 and 6 years old, which was presented as being before Fuyumi’s birth. But in the lower one, where he’s crawling over to look at baby Fuyumi (or at least I think that’s what’s happening? It’s a bit dark to tell for certain), he looks a lot younger - in fact, he doesn’t even look to have the white streak in his hair yet. But given how it’s explained that Enji and Rei even came to the decision to have Fuyumi at all, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense contextually. But, I’ll let it be and just assume that the manga didn’t present those panels chronologically. It could also be the zoomed-out view that makes Tōya seem smaller. Either way, I’m overanalyzing, and that’s sort of off-topic, anyway.

Okay, I think that’s all the setup I need to finally get to the meat of my argument, which I will start with this: If Tōya is anywhere between 4 and 5 years older than Fuyumi, that means that Enji was anywhere between 18 and 19 years old when Tōya was born.

In any other situation, that might make sense, but here’s the thing: it’s already been established, or at least very heavily implied, that Enji didn’t even consider the possibility of having children to surpass All Might until he attained his Number Two status, which as I’ve already mentioned happened when he was 20. Even if Tōya was only 3 years older than Fuyumi, which doesn’t make much sense because he would then have had to develop his Quirk at age 2 or younger, that still would mean that he was conceived before Enji even became Number Two.

If that doesn’t make sense to you, think of it this way: If Enji was between 18 and 20 years old when Tōya was born, that would mean that Tōya would have been conceived when Enji was 17 at the youngest - still a student, unless he graduated early. Regardless, that also implies he would have had to create his elaborate plan to beat All Might, as well as find and marry Rei, before he even graduated secondary school. Given what information we have from canon, that just does not make any semblance of sense.

As compelling that argument alone may or may not be, there are others to support it as well. Let’s consider what that implies for the age gaps between Tōya and the other Todoroki siblings. If he’s 3-5 years older than Fuyumi, that means he’s roughly 7-9 years older than Natsuo and 10-12 years older than Shōto. That would mean, if Shōto were between 5 and 6 years old in the following panels, Tōya would be anywhere between 15 and 18 years old. Fuyumi would be between 10 and 13, and Natsuo would be between 8 and 11.

While I understand that Tōya inherited Rei’s slight constitution, puberty usually begins for boys around 12 or 13 years old (although to my understanding it often starts later in Asian boys), so Tōya would likely have already begun to go through his growth spurt by this age. Even assuming that Natsuo had started going through his own growth spurt, Tōya still has 7-9 years on him - so the chances that Natsuo had this much height and mass on him are pretty slim. I might be able to buy Tōya being 15 years old in those panels, but I find even that a bit of a stretch.

And finally, let’s talk about how old Tōya was when he “died.”

Assuming that the second panel is the most recent (halfway decent) photo the Todorokis have of Tōya before his “death,” I’m inclined to agree with the people who have pointed out that his clothes resembled a junior high school uniform, similar to what Midoriya and Bakugō were seen wearing in the story’s earliest chapters and episodes. Junior high school in Japan is attended by students between the ages of 12 and 15, roughly - so it’s safe to assume that Tōya was no older than 15 years old when he “died.” However, I will note that given how Horikoshi draws most of the 15-year-old male characters in the story, he does look younger than that to me. I am keeping in mind that Tōya was mentioned to have had a slight build - even as Dabi, he still does - so there is the possibility that my conclusions there aren’t accurate.

If Tōya was 12 when he “died,” Shōto would probably not have any memories of him at all - at the time of his “death,” he would have been anywhere between 2 years old and a newborn. It’s implied in the manga and the anime that Tōya disappeared sometime after Rei burned Shōto’s face, which undoubtedly happened after Enji had begun to train him - so, likely well after he had turned 5. In the somewhat unlikely event that his face was burned while he was still 5 years old, Tōya would have been between 15 and 18 years old, as mentioned above. If it had happened when Shōto was 7, he would have been between 17 and 20, and so on. Going with the junior high school uniform theory, which honestly seems rather plausible, he essentially cannot have “died” after age 15 - so, more than likely, he would have been gone before Shōto even began his training. Obviously, this is disproven by the soccer panel in Ch. 39.

Honestly, I don’t know how else to say it - no matter how I angle it, it just does not make sense to me, canonically, that Tōya is the eldest Todoroki sibling. There’s a lot of information stacked up against it, and though I’ve mulled over it for a bit now, I can’t actually think of a scenario in which it actually is a logical conclusion.

TL;DR: Tōya being the oldest Todoroki doesn’t make sense in light of information we have regarding Enji’s timeline as well as previous images we’ve seen in the manga and anime.

[thegrandkinghimself]

who is oikawa tooru?

i guess that’s a weird way to start off a post, considering just how popular oikawa is in this fandom. i’m absolutely certain that he’s still one of the most popular characters if i can take the #oikawasear trend on twitter a couple of weeks ago seriously. (i will be mourning that iwaoi is no longer the top ship in this fandom. it’s devastating to me on a personal level). and i can’t say that i’m any different, either, otherwise i wouldn’t have made this blog or this post. but i guess the reason i’ve been itching to write this is because i’ve been in this fandom--and more specifically, a fan of oikawa--for about four or five years now. i devour the content available, and i can assure you that i’ve read too many of the fanfictions on ao3 to be healthy, and never before have i seen a character whose characterization is so hotly disputed. 

and i get it. he’s a complex person. he’s kind of awkward in that there is a very clear disconnect between his outward personality and who he is alone. it’s a very hard balance to strike, especially when you consider just how much conjecture goes on in his characterization among fans and in discourse. he’s really easy to project and certain traits, correct or otherwise, are amplified based off how authors perceive him. there’s plenty of presumptions that can be made based on his on-screen actions/thoughts/beliefs that can be taken to some very logical conclusions. 

but i’ve also seen people write him in ways that don’t strike me as particularly truthful. he’s type casted into stereotypes that don’t do him justice, or made into something that is vaguely like oikawa, but not quite. in the following post, i’ll be trying to dispel misunderstandings of his character, if only for my own sanity. 

tl;dr i think that oikawa is chronically one of the most misrepresented characters in fandom and i want to fix that

exclaimer: i am solely an anime-watcher; i have seen snippets of the manga and therefore have a general idea of what is going on.

let’s establish some very very basic stuff. just to keep it simple, i’m not going to talk about anything beyond what has been published via the anime (as of season four). 

Oikawa Tooru | 及川徹 

gender: male

d.o.b.: 1994.7.20. or 20 July, 1994

height: 184.3 cm

weight: 72.2 kg

occupation: high school 3rd year, class 6

position/number: setter, 1 (captain)

here’s something that’s never pointed out: oikawa is in class 6 which, if we go off the trend of every other school in haikyuu!!, means that he is in a college preparatory class aka he’s pretty dang smart. it’s not confirmed or anything, but it a. follows the trend of every other class 6 student and b. is the highest class available among seijoh 3rd years (classes 5, 3, and 1). don’t get the idea that he’s dumb or unintelligent, or even that his strengths only lie in the classroom because that would be a gross understatement of his skills.

anywho. 

generally speaking, i like to start with the building blocks of his personality because there’s so much room for assumptions. here are the things that i think make up his core personality:

intelligence/knowledgeable: not only academically speaking, but he’s also well-versed in people. he knows how to play them--what will make someone more confident, more doubtful, what will help his teammates succeed. clearly, oikawa is very knowledgeable in human thought patterns. or he’s dedicated a lot of time to knowing them. 

loyalty: of all of oikawa’s traits, i think this one gets talked about the least, but we know it to be true. we make jokes about “you should have come to shiratorizawa” but it really shows you exactly how loyal, how much trust, oikawa has in this team that he has spent three years shaping. he never stops believing in the work that he has put in, and especially the hard work that his teammates have put into their volleyball. 

hardworking: one of the most well-known things about oikawa. most fans already know that his white knee pad is actually a knee brace. ‘nuff said. i salute you, good sir. 

insecurity: oikawa’s insecurities are perhaps his most notable trait. in a sense, he’s sort of the underdog--so good, but never quite good enough to accomplish what he’s set out to do. and we know that he’s struggled with his doubts since junior high, literally since he was 12 or 13, and that’s informed all of his character from the moment he ran into ushijima. oikawa is someone who is defined by his insecurities. 

oikawa is a lot of things. he’s introduced as someone who is very flamboyant--he’s built up by kageyama as the best setter, his senpai literally and figuratively, his initial shots are all of smug smiles and easy, unfaltering swagger in the face of this new team. even his theme, all rambunctious brass and jazzy, is meant to be all in your face, here’s the big boss! he’s someone who is petty and silly and seems to favor shallow conversation. but he’s oikawa, so there’s a surprising amount of depth in the little time that we have with him. there’s a reason that, in any other franchise, he’d probably be the protagonist.

he is someone full of contradictions. he’s childish and he spends time with a bunch of girls and is very clearly someone who likes to project a certain image of himself to the public (see: his cute lil’ humming run after his yell in s4e23 to make him seem kind of normal). but he’s also spent a lot of time with himself. in fact, if we take the few scenes we have of him alone and his bedroom (bare, spartan, meticulous) into account, oikawa actually is much more solemn and/or serious than the image he projects. he’s comfortable in the silences between all the white noise. he’s alright just being with iwaizumi. he allows himself to dwell on the past and his shortcomings, while also looking forward to the future. his ambition and passion to improve drive him, but his past failures weigh him down. they haunt him.

personally, i think that he’s naturally a pretty silly guy when given the chance. it’s not just for show. iwaizumi would even corroborate this à la oikawa’s introduction speech in s1. he likes having fun when he can with his friends. if we assume that oikawa is most himself with iwaizumi, then we definitely know that’s the case (see: “are you my mom, iwa-chan?”), and there’s nothing wrong with that. but i think that the most basic traits of his character, combined with his experiences in volleyball, have pushed him to be this person who is mired in doubt. it’s forced him to go down a path where something that he once loved for the fun of it has now become the source of his ire. it’s really just that simple. maybe in another life, things would be different and oikawa wouldn’t have to struggle as much. but that’s really just a part of the human experience, isn’t it? and, in all honesty, would we really love oikawa as much without all his vices?

and maybe this is getting into speculation, but i don’t think it’s a difficult argument to make that oikawa is really mature. he’s introspective. i say introspective because the revelations that he’s had in regards to his own strengths and weaknesses--those are things he’s had to confront and deal with since he was in junior high (starts at 12 years of age). it takes someone with a lot of maturity and self-awareness to realize those kinds of things about himself.

and he’s stronger than he gets credit for. most people depict him as a crybaby, but he’s really not. he doesn’t cry or give up in the face of ushijima or kageyama’s unfettered growth and successes, he doesn’t cry when faced with defeat. oikawa is there to support iwaizumi in his own doubt as ace, and lend support to his teammates. and oikawa doesn’t get stuck on the what-ifs or has-beens. driven by his infamous ambition, he looks forward to the future. 

it’s kind of a double-edged sword. it’s pushed him this far--he’s put in this much effort to be one of the best in the prefecture--because of his competitive spirit, but it’s also something that has caused him serious injury. oikawa’s motto (”if you’re gonna to hit it, hit it until it breaks!”) is the very epitome of this mentality. it’s a message to work hard to finish what you started, but i also think that you could interpret that hard work breaking you, too. he’s steadfast—obsessive, really—to the point that oikawa will let his passions break him before he would ever give up. it’s the point of all the strife in his life, because he would never have the problems he does if he were even a little less enamored by this sport. 

and you really have to wonder where he would be without ushijima and kageyama as his obstacles. his drive will always be there, that is an intrinsic part of him, as are the standards to which he holds himself, but you really have to wonder just how good oikawa would be if he didn’t have such direct competitors. this is an incredibly important question to ask about kageyama and oikawa in particular. yes, oikawa does loathe ushijima: for his disregard for oikawa’s decisions, for his disregard of oikawa’s loyalty, for his flippant attitude of seijoh, who oikawa has poured his blood and sweat into creating. but ushijima is an opposite hitter. oikawa is a setter. those are two very different positions with little crossover. but with kageyama--that is a clear rivalry. they push each other to be better, made all the more potent by their differences as players; one setter’s growth as a player directly impacts how the other performs in each subsequent game. seijoh’s defeat by karasuno in season 2 just feeds into oikawa’s drive for the future. he has not intention of giving up. a light was lit under him, pushing him forward, to do better, to be better. 

this is something that has been pointed out in a different analysis (linked below) but, narratively speaking, oikawa is kageyama’s foil. their interactions inform their characters and are a major cause of tension in their development. their relationship is really the most complex in the story that i have noticed, and is something that has not been appreciated enough. the iwaizumi-oikawa thing has been expounded and studied in every facet possible (i love the alexander the great/hephaestion allusions), but it’s true that kageyama has impacted oikawa the most. they begrudgingly respect each other’s talents, what it is that they bring to the court, while also envying what the other has in spades that they do not. in oikawa’s case, his strength clearly lies in his interpersonal relationships--his ability to intuit exactly what his teammates need to be at their best. kags is just a fount of overwhelming technical skill who has a really hard time getting to know those around him. living up to the standards that oikawa places on himself, in tandem with kageyama threatening his position as setter, leave oikawa floundering, fearing his own incompetence against opponents who are naturally much better than he. so he’s left with the knowledge that maybe his best isn’t good enough, but he still continues on anyway. he pushes himself past a seemingly unreachable threshold just to go toe-to-toe with this monster. it’s the purpose of his character--to tell this story of the ordinary v. the extraordinary--and it is perhaps the most relatable arc that a story like haikyuu!! can tell.

their connection naturally causes oikawa to seek out help, seen in the flashback scenes where he is talking to an unspecified coach/adult. that coach’s words then become the creed upon which oikawa plays, maybe even more than what iwaizumi has taught him, and is the final push that completes oikawa’s character arc in s2ep24. that change in mindset allows oikawa to see kageyama’s unbridled talent not as an obstacle but as a challenge. it’s very nuanced, but it makes all the difference. it’s why, following seijoh’s defeat, oikawa has the audacity to declare to kageyama and ushijima his plans for the future. in a sense, karasuno and kageyama and ushijima have won the battle but not the war. it’s the tipping point in his story and, more than anything, what makes oikawa so compelling. we have seen what has led up to the change, but now we want to know what he’s going to do to meet that challenge. what will he be doing beyond the story when he is no longer relevant to the narrative? we don’t know the details at this point, but we know that oikawa’s love and ambition for volleyball have been reaffirmed in this moment. 

but to bring it back, the kags-oiks connection also makes us question what it is we are watching, makes us as the audience think: what qualifies someone as a genius? are there any limitations to what that genius can do? what can ordinary people do in the face of those geniuses? 

these are questions that exist beyond the reality of sports and transverse into other disciplines. for me, those are very real questions that i have had to ask myself as a musician. i have dedicated nine, almost 10, years to my practice but there are still 10-year-olds who are just better at it than i ever will be. part of it is time and practice to be sure, but some of it is just innate. and i think the more appropriate version of those questions would be this: what qualifies someone as a prodigy? are there limitations for prodigies? what can we do in the face of prodigies? 

oikawa is a genius player--he knows the ins-and-outs of his sport better than anyone, and he can accomplish great feats that others in his same position can’t. but even with all that veritable experience and skill, he is ultimately still overtaken by a prodigy whose talents seem endless. it’s why he can hate ushijima but fear kageyama. one is something he can actively fight against, the other is inevitable. 

and really, i think that’s the beauty of oikawa tooru, why he’s so beloved by the fandom, even years after he has stopped being relevant to the narrative. beyond the fluff and goofiness and hijinks, there’s someone there who is really, truly, human. 

an aside with much less significance/why do people think this??

so here’s one thing: even though oikawa has fangirls, i wonder what he actually thinks of them. for one, it’s only natural for anyone to be super flattered if people think you’re hot stuff. that’s just... i don’t think he’s weird if he pays attention to them. but i think that people are conflating his being kind to them to being genuinely egotistical due to the attention. actually, i think these are opposing ideas and a contradiction of who oikawa is. when you’re an arrogant person, you think that you deserve all the attention you’re getting and you’re not going to bother with the people who worship you.

but that’s not at all what oikawa does. he’s rather kind to his fans. i would never say that he’s self-effacing, but knowing what you’re worth is different from being pompous. and think about it. it’d be a real jerk move for oikawa to not say nice things to them and thank his fangirls when they spend time, energy, and effort to make him food and see his games. he would just be a genuinely awful person if he didn’t at least give them thanks. it’d be more alarming if he didn’t talk to them, at least in my opinion. more than anything, we should consider this: why is it that oikawa has the fan club and not anyone else on the seijoh team? i’m sure a part of it is because he’s attractive and the captain of a team, but i think it’s more than that, too. we see these interactions from other perspectives, but i think that reflects more on those around oikawa than oikawa himself if they don’t understand why he acts the way he does with those girls.

another thing: i don’t think that anyone can question that oikawa is very pretty, or handsome, or whatever descriptor you would like. it’s prevalent in fandom (see: pretty setters squad), but he is also the only person in canon to be acknowledged by other characters as being particularly good-looking. maybe the miyas count at this point? i’m not sure. but i don’t really understand where people get the idea that he is particularly focused on his appearance, though. there is literally no indication of that from the material that i have seen. and maybe he uses that to his advantage with his fangirls, but i highly doubt that, in all honesty. i think that it’s fun to imagine him being into these things as a hobby, but it irks me greatly when i see that people spend time saying that oikawa wakes up extra early just to fix his hair or slather on foundation/concealer just to look presentable. 

he’s a teenaged boy who clearly has other things that worry him, he’s a full-time student, and volunteers to coach at lil tykes volleyball classroom in his free time. he wouldn’t have time to spend on his hair or makeup. and we even seen in the hanger tooru special that he even wakes up looking like that. 

he is au naturale, my friends. and we even know how little he gives thought to his own body, if you take into account his knee brace. for oikawa, his body is merely the medium through which he can accomplish his goals. we even have evidence of this when we see oikawa up all night studying karasuno game play or via his knee brace. he doesn’t know how to stop or understand when enough is enough. he breaks himself if there’s no one to watch him. 

also, just... how would makeup work, logistically speaking? i don’t wear makeup, but i’m thinking that foundation and concealer and hair product would be, um, really bad. like, it’d run down his face and stuff. also, it’d probably get into his eyes, too? seriously. i’m not against oikawa wearing makeup in the slightest cause he’d be even prettier, but we know that oikawa would absolutely not jeopardize his chances in any way. 

thank you for reading this long-winded, probably awful look into my favorite character of all time. and i do mean that. he is my favorite character in all of media. which, like, says a lot when he’s competing against the casts of a:tla, call me by your name, and my actual favorite book, the song of achilles. after all of that, if you would like another (better) analysis of oikawa’s character, i suggest this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/haikyuu/comments/94irsi/character_analysis_16_oikawa_tooru_discussion/ 

[nuttyjellyfishlover]

One Piece Anime Wano Arc Episodes 890

One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 890 This honestly is less going to be a review and more of a commentary as I watch through the anime's rendition of the Wano arc. I've honestly never really watched too much of the One Pieceanime, mostly just looking up the highlights of the arcs I read in the manga. I did watch the filler episodes and most of the movies, as I've talked about at length recently. And everyone tells me that the anime has some rather terrible pacing, particularly around the time of Dressrossa, which is apparently pretty padded out. But then I heard the absolute opposite for Wano, where the anime has received a new art-style and one hell of a fancy makeover. And I thought... hey, I'm on a One Piece kick this year, clearly, so yeah, I think I'm going to give this a shot.

The Wano arc, I think, is one that works a lot better because it has the reverse problem of a lot of One Piece arcs -- there are a lot of moments in Act One of the manga's version of the story that the writer clearly purposefully threw in a couple of off-screened moments that the anime could expand into full action scenes. I already know that Sanji versus Page One is fully animated in the anime, and scenes like Big Mom vs. Kaido or Zoro vs. Basil Hawkins are extended a lot more than the couple of panels we had in the manga. And Wano's got a lot of supporting characters, some of which actually get swept under the rug when I first read through the manga chapters weekly. So yeah, having bright colours and voices and music is going to make this a much more fun experience!

Anyway, here goes my collection of random notes and commentary. Be aware that there will be MANGA SPOILERS, as I will point out a couple of things here and there about stuff I notice that's foreshadowing or whatever:

* Marco's blue-and-yellow phoenix form looks so, so much more vibrant and pops out compared to anything else in the series in colour, huh? I think out of any other character, Marco is extra-memorable in animated format. * That said, basically half this episode is just a recap of the Paramount War. I mean, I haven't seen the Paramount War in full animated format, so it's nice to hear Whitebeard and Ace and Marco speak some of their more famous lines there. But on the other hand, it's also it's kind of one of the more-criticized parts of the One Piece anime that any time they could pad out an episode with scenes from a previously-produced episode, they will. * We actually get to see the Grudge/Payback War in the anime! I think this is less of a showcase of events that actually happened and more of a symbolic one, but hey, we get to see Blackbeard doing some sky-quakes and black holes and Marco turning phoenix. It just shows the Whitebeard division commanders getting sucked into a giant Dragon-Ball-esque spirit bomb Black Hole. Actually pretty neat! * Jozu has both arms in that vision. Whether it's an error or a spoiler or if he has a prosthetic a la Akainu in Film: Z, we'll see eventually.

* This episode also has a bit of a recap of the revelations about Wano from the Zou arc, but it's a lot shorter and feels a lot more relevant to the upcoming arc. * Brook actually expresses some interest on Vivi, apparently having heard of her from the others. I've always liked this from the filler episodes, of the newer Straw Hats slowly learning about prior adventures. Brook being Brook, of course, a panty joke was tossed in. * The Japanese-art style water waves look so pretty when animated! * The random octopus that makes Japanese kabuki theater (?) sounds is another thing that works so much better in the anime. I've always thought it felt a bit forced and random in the manga version. * The high-tempo music when the Sunny sails into the koi waves is very, very fun! * Ah, yes, the very first chapter of Wano in the manga shows off a bunch of carps jumping up a waterfall. You know, considering the whole legend that a carp that jumps over the waterfall transforms into a dragon... i.e., a fish that is also a dragon...

* The first one that's properly and almost fully drawn in the new Wano art style! And it looks gorgeous. * Also a new theme song! I've never paid that much attention to theme songs in anime, but I definitely like "One Dream One Wish" more than "We're the Super Powers". Shame that, as with most anime, the opening sort of spoils, like, half of the things that happens in the arc. * Speaking of great background music... the tempo of that opening instrumental that Komurasaki plays on shamisen is pretty catchy, especially with that octopus going iyooo~ in the background. It also makes for very fun background music for Zoro's rampage at the end of the episode. * Anime Wano is so freaking colourful. The rooftops, the kimonos, the hair... I think I remembered reading that Oda made it a point to subvert the fact that everyone in feudal Japan had black hair by explicitly doing the opposite -- black hair is the exception rather than the norm in Wano. Fun! * The frog on Usopp's hat is a real frog! I always thought it was just a hat! It's adorable! The wiki tells me it's called Gama Pyonnosuke. It's an adorable friend! Forget Carrot or Kin'emon or Yamato, Gama Pyonnosuke for next Straw Hat! * The biggest expansion here is that we actually follow Zoro around as he wanders around the city until he gets arrested by the corrupt magistrate. And Zoro actually bumps into the man-slayer and corrupt magistrate, actually explaining why he recognizes the specific scent of blood during the whole seppuku court. * And then we get around a minute of Zoro fighting the magistrate guards with the seppuku knife and good ol' fisticuffs, something that I didn't think I needed, but is certainly very fun to watch! * This new animation studio loves the angled zoom-in into eyes, and I highly approve. I think we had that like at least three times when Zoro decides to get dangerous.

* I never quite realized that if Luffy hadn't been interrupted by the octopus and washed up next to the Thousand Sunny, the poor ship would be literally left to its own devices. You'd think after losing Merry, the Straw Hats would be more careful with their ships... * Zoro gets to slash the magistrates up even more! It's a single Tatsu Maki, but god damn what a pretty Tatsu Maki. The shot of his feet kicking and breaking the wooden floor, the black aura around his blades, the way that the dragon aura appears behind him, the demonic red eyes as Zoro slams down from the sky, and the shots of the surrounding terrain being cut up into cubes... pretty awesome! * Luffy dodging the bullet from the random Beast Pirate goon with Observation Haki and the gomu-gomu-long-range-bitchslap has always been cool in the manga, and this episode makes it even cooler. Those glowing eyes! This is going to be the whole commentary, isn't it? Just me commenting on the scenes I find to be really cool? * Luffy's Conqueror Haki against the giant baboon is another very cool one. From the expression to the delivery of the line to the sound effect... Luffy's expression is actually pretty cool and borderline scary as he beats up the second goon. No wonder Tama went straight into "This is the I surrender pose!" * Also added in the anime is a vignette of Franky, Robin and Usopp seeing the news of Zorojuro becoming a wanted criminal. Again, not entirely necessary to know the story, but actually scenes that I don't mind being shown to us. Particularly that scene of Usopp utterly bullshitting an officer. * Luffy pets Komachiyo with his rubber arms. Komachiyo is a good boy. This is the most important scene.

* Did the manga show Luffy hiding the Sunny and letting it anchor in a cave? I don't remember it. I know that before the flashback and the raid we see the Sunny there, but it's nice to actually show Luffy not being so callous with the Sunny. * They got a pretty good voice actress for Tama that really makes her pretty adorable! So many times these kid guest star characters end up being annoying if they don't get a good voice, but between the voice-acting and the expressions, she's pretty fun! * Also, I think this is going to be something I repeat a couple of times, but both Tama and Tenguyama are so much more visually interesting with their full colour palettes. * Oh, right, Drake was the one that ransacked Tama's village. Wonder if that'll actually come up later on in the story... * Okay, thanks to the anime, it's really going to drill to me that it's pronounced 'Diez Drake' and not 'Eks Drake'. * I'm pretty sure everyone noticed it, but Ace learned to weave hats in Wano! That's how he became buddies with Oars Junior! I didn't notice it until just now!

* (Episode is the Cidre Guild filler arc that ties in to Stampede.) * What is Tenguyama waiting for? It's probably Oden or his retainers, but I don't think he's part of the samurai that was recruited by Kin'emon's group. Maybe he just missed the big recruitment drive, but that's weird. I wonder what role he's going to play in the arc... * There is a random metal guitar riff when Luffy sees the Nidai Kitetsu. And a glow of Observation Haki on Luffy's eyes. That's a small detail, but very cool! He also uses Observation when Hawkins arrives later on. I love the little trail of glowing red that streams out of his pupils when he activates it. * Tenguyama's sword has a very cool leaf-based handguard! Never noticed that. * Speaking of cool Observation Haki effects, Zoro's apparently activates when he senses sake. Appropriate! * I know it's me repeating this over and over, and we'll get so many cooler scenes later on, but Zoro casually launching that Phoenix Cannon to blow up the two random raptor-riders when he saves Tsuru? Such a simple scene but still so cool. Also very cool is the very brief slo-mo as Zoro re-angles the pathway of his slice when cutting down the second random goon. * Unlike most of the other things, I've always noticed that Basil Hawkins has a very cool Koma-deer mount. It looks even cooler in motion!

* This is perhaps one of the more extended scenes, since it features... fight scenes! In the manga, I think this lasted... maybe half a chapter? Less? A couple of page spreads? It's not just the Hawkins fight, either, Luffy's 'swordfighting' with Nidai Kitetsu also gets extended. Luffy's a bit more successful in using the sword to block and parry here. * Luffy's voice actor really makes the 'de gozaru' sound really funny. * I 100% missed Tsuru the first time I read through this chapter since we only see part of her in a single panel before her full-body debut after the Hawkins fight, and it's a lot less likely that you'll make that mistake in the anime. * Some 'elite' goons show up here, including a guy that uses his ponytail as a whip against Zoro, and a dude that makes fissures with a hammer that fights Luffy. Probably feels a bit more filler-y compared to the rest of the action scenes, but that's honestly nitpicking. * Zoro launching a Phoenix Cannon that slashes Hawkins's face is very cool. * Hawkins' little straw dolls gets an extended scene of it crawling out of his arm. It's so creepy, I love it. * Hawkins' giant straw demon StandBankaigets an very cool summoning animation and it's so creepy. The skies darkens and everything. Most importantly, it makes noises! Again, I love it.

* Luffy and Zoro vs. Hawkins! It's extended beyond just the simple 'dodge, then one-shot-slash' that it was in the manga. I really like Hawkins and his creepy-ass Straw Stand, so I am a huge fan of this. We get a couple of nice juxtaposition shots of Hawkins and the straw monster. Also Zoro goes shirtless in the fight. That's an important detail! * I really, really love how Zoro is having a gritted-teeth expression as he fights the giant straw demon; the straw demon is going gakakakakakakaka like a lunatic... then we cut to Hawkins who has a deadpan, bored expression as he swings his sword in the distance. * The animators really like to let the straw monster use the nails entwined to the tips of its fingers. That's fun! Zoro backhand-blocking the nails from hitting Luffy and Tama? That's cool! * Zoro does Ichi-Gorilla-Ni-Gorilla at one point, and totally slices and 'kills' Hawkins a bunch of times. * Also, speaking of pretty, glowing-eyes motion shots, Zoro using Nigiri: Toro Samon? Yeah. The cut itself is cool, but the zoom-in on Zoro's eyes as he does so? I'm sorry, I have a weakness for that kind of shot, it appears. * To extend the fight so that it's not just a single exchange of blows, Komachiyo gets knocked to the ground so that Zoro and the straw demon can actually fight for a bit. * Also shots I have a weakness to? DBZ-style 'aftermath of a powerful move'. This one isn't too over-the-top, but the slash extending into the sky and the shockwave rippling out from where Zoro slices the strawman thing is cool. * We actually see the scene of Okiku being harassed by Urashima in chronological order, and Urashima scares off a customer. Also, the implied scene of Zoro scaring off Urashima is actually shown here.

* This episode kind of extends the scenes in Tsuru's shop a bit more. Not the most exciting thing, but it does really help to build up Tama, Tsuru and Kiku. * ...wait, Tsuru's shop just displays the Kozuki crest very, very evidently on its door awning. If simply speaking the Kozuki name alone is a punishable crime, how did they get away with that? * Zoro trying to get Luffy to adopt a Wano-ized name is extra-funny in the anime! * Speaking of extended fight scenes, Batman gets to shoot alotmore arrows at Luffy and Zoro. It's kind of over-the-top on Batman's part, if we're being honest, even if Zoro and Luffy very easily dispatches of them.

* The anime does give Batman the ability to control his arrows via sonic waves or something, but he lasted for a much, much longer time than he really should have. * Batman fucking blocks Luffy's Busoshoku-empowered punch! He most definitely doesn't do it in the manga, and sure, knocking Luffy down with sonic waves? I buy that. Blocking Luffy and causing a small explosion in the air? ...I'm pretty sure just some random Gifter isn't supposed to be able to do that. Unless they're thinking of the other Batman? * They make the initial shot of Holdem answering the phone with the lion face pretty intimidating! * Holdem's lion beating their shared balls is still one of the weirdest jokes in the manga. * Some really nice face shots in this one, from Tama to Holdem to the lion to Luffy's group.

* A pretty obvious extended filler is Urashima bullying other sumo wrestlers. Urashima is kind of a dipshit, so it's not a particularly enjoyable filler for me. * Zoro gets to sumo-wrestle with one of Urashima's goons! This one, on the other hand, is pretty fun. We also get a little added bit where Zoro smirks after remembering Kiku's earlier insistence that she's a samurai, so it's less of a 'he doesn't give a shit' and more 'he wants to see what Kiku's skill is' or something.

* Luffy vs. Urashima is prolonged a bit in here, obviously. Not as entertaining as fighting Hawkins or even Batman, but okay, sure. Lots of grunting and growling in this one. Urashima cheats a bit more, Luffy has to use Armament Haki at one point... really don't think Urashima's someone that you should bother using hardening on, Luffy. * The kabuki-style delivery of "I'm going to be the king of pirates" is very well done. * Poor Tama! Holdem's a jackass. * We actually get to see Urashima crashing into Holdem's house, in yet another obvious 'hey, anime team, this is something for you to animate' scene from the manga. * Law gets an extended scene with seeing the sick Bepo, including a Room/Scan showcase and Bepo looking cute and Law being unable to keep being angry at him.

* The fight against the pirates and samurai in Bakura Town gets extended a fair bit in this episode. Luffy throws Nidai Kitetsu's scabbard around again, repeating the thing he did before. * This episode noticeably has a bunch of brief flashbacks to previous episodes. Anime episodes do this all the time to easily eat up like, ten or fifteen seconds of runtime. But I felt this one was particularly noticeable since it's to the previous episode which we already had a recap segment of before the episode begun. * Ball-de-boo!

* We get an adorable crayon drawing memory when Luffy remembers Zunisha one-shotting Jack's fleet. * Luffy and Zoro's synchronized neck-crick is pretty fun. Also fun is their super-speed when they simultaneously rescue Tama and steal the food barge. The question is, where is this super-speed when they were bamboozled by Batman and Gazelleman? * Unlike the anime, Holdem is able to turn his sword into a flaming segmented sword. It's like Zabimaru from Bleach, but on fire! * We get an extra scene of a random goon holding Kiku hostage and Zoro locking eyes with her and saying "I'm not going to help you", knowing full well she's pretending to be a damsel in distress. * Speed also gets to do something here! She gets to shoot Armament Haki'd arrows at Zoro and Kiku! In the manga she doesn't do anything while this is happening. * REDDO HAAAAAWK! * God damn that's a very satisfying Red Hawk. Such a pretty-looking one! This was the scene that a friend showed me that got me excited to sit down and watch the Wano arc in anime format. From Holdem shooting a lion's fire (how does that work?) and engulfing Luffy, to Tama's yelling, to the zoom-in to Luffy's angry eyes, to the orb of flame dissipating, the zoom-in to Luffy's angry face, the impact, the music... it's just Luffy beating up Holdem, who means jack-all in the grand scheme of things, but what a badass Red Hawk.

And I think that's a neat place to stop off, with the initial Hawkins-Urashima-Holdem opening prologue to Wano done with. I'm not sure how often I'll update this little watch-along series, but I certainly am enjoying myself!

[beneaththetangles]

Reader’s Corner: Springtime of My Life, Fly Me to the Moon, and the Star Collector Audio Manga

The Springtime of My Life Began with You, Vol. 1

It is honestly times like these where I wish I could collect digital manga in paperback. The Springtime of My Life Began with You is a new digital title from Kodansha, and while I’m excited we have this new story to read in English legally, I’m bummed that I can’t go to the store and pick it up because I want to be able to flip pages to my favorite scenes and dialogue. But enough moping! This delightful volume gives me a lot of When We Shout for Love vibes (which I LOVED!), and I caught myself leaning a little closer to my computer screen to keep reading. I love these kinds of stories where the shy main girl steps out of her shell into becoming a young woman she’s always dreamed of being. Suehiro is such a relatable character and I absolutely love her love for books and desire to celebrate that love with other friends. While I feel Takasago may appear to be the typical popular guy falling for the shy girl, I was actually surprised how this plot point turns into something deeper. He’s not just this super popular dude who just “happens” to fall in love. The bookish aspect, the characters, and the hopeful journey of growing self-confidence makes this a manga one I would recommend and read again! ~ Laura A. Grace

The Springtime of My Life Began with You, Volume 1 is published by Kodansha.*

Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower, Vol. 1

If you’re looking for something like The Apothecary Diaries but with more cooking and less sex, or something like I Will Cook With My Fluffy Friends but with an imperial China flair, then the light novel Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower might be for you. The setting of an imperial China-inspired inner palace is there, as are all the consorts, eunuchs, and an emperor and his servants. However, the focus here is more on Rimi, a consort from not-Japan as she has to deal with an emperor who thinks her country’s offerings of unique cooking “ingredients” are trash and thus worth beheading the poor girl over. This leads to Rimi literally having to cook for her life, with the help of a handsome cuisinologist, a beautiful eunuch with a strained relationship with the emperor, and a cute “mouse” who may be more than just mere ratatouille. Rimi herself is a solid protagonist who does struggle emotionally with the difficulties of being in an unfamiliar environment, but is also plucky enough to deal with everything that comes her way, even including the emperor’s personal problems, and she is very passionate about cooking. Add in some hints of romance and of course some cooking details, and you have an interesting series with a fair amount going on, and one that I definitely want to read more of. ~ stardf29

Culinary Chronicles of the Court Flower is published by J-Novel Club.

Star Collector (Audio Manga)

Voice actor Todd Haberkorn’s (Natsu, Fairy Tail) considerable talents are highlighted in this audio version of BL OEL manga Star Collector, in which he voices the two primary characters. With a run time of a little more than two hours, Haberkorn, who also produced the recording, is joined by the always-welcome Caitlin Glass in various roles as he narrates the story of delinquent, chain-smoking Fynn and his budding relationship with classmate and stargazer, Niko. The voiceover work, along with whimsical music and well-timed sound effects, brings life to a story that is inconsistent, at times providing picturesque descriptions that, when combined with the excellent performances, evoke a sense of theater in the listener’s mind, but which at its worst comes across as an amateur’s attempts at clumsy, erotic fan fiction, with characters that feed a romantic’s imagination at the cost of coherent characterization. Still, there are far worse ways than to spend two hours on the road than to listen to Haberkorn’s dulcet tones—just make sure you’re not pumping the audio manga through your speakers while with someone else. Just trust me on that. ~ Twwk

Star Collector is published by TOKYOPOP.

Fly Me to the Moon, Vol. 5

What can I say? Fly Me to the Moon continues to be hilarious and sweet. If you read it, you will laugh, and you will get warm fuzzy feelings. This manga’s pop culture reference game remains strong, with nods to The Six Million Dollar Man, the Sega Dreamcast, the infamous “off course” typo in Final Fantasy VII, and more. “If this were a romantic comedy, disaster would be sure to strike!” Spoiler: Despite being a romcom, the only disasters are the ones Nasa imagines. Then there’s Tsukasa’s sage observation: “With a smartphone, the warlord Nobunaga really could have gone places” (which bears at least passing resemblance to more than one anime out there). Other highlights of this volume include Aya going full mother-in-law before bonding with Tsukasa over video games, Nasa’s junior high teacher getting the wrong idea about Tsukasa, and Tsukasa and Kaname trolling Chitose. It’s a small moment, but also I appreciated the realistic detail of getting confirmation that Tsukasa really was injured back when she saved Nasa from Truck-kun at their first meeting. I heartily recommend this manga. ~ JeskaiAngel

Fly Me to the Moon is published by Viz.*

In Another World With My Smartphone, Vol. 22 (light novel)

So all of the major threats to the world are dealt with, and Touya’s married to his girls… what else is even left to do in this story? Well, for most of the volume, it’s just more of the usual filler hi-jinks: some matchmaking events (including a side-character mini-harem that’s not in the orientation you might expect), silliness regarding the BL-writing princess, and the like. They’re the kind of small adventures and happenings that filled the space between major events in previous volumes. Likewise, towards the end of volume 22, the next major event of this story is revealed, as Smartphone pulls a Fire Emblem: Awakening and introduces children from the future! Obviously, with no huge danger to deal with, they’re just here to play around and meet the parents, but it still adds the the sort of fun little twist that should please anyone who’s enjoyed this series enough to still be reading it over twenty volumes in. ~ stardf29

The light novel of In Another World With My Smartphone is published by J-Novel Club.

Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance, Vol. 2

Sometimes we need people to come alongside us and show us who we could be and stir our hearts to change despite the adversity we may face from others (or even in Maria’s case, family too). I found this to be very much true for Maria in the delightful second volume of Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance. Maria is such a sweet character, but due to the constant negativity she has had voiced to her, she’s so fearful of doing the wrong thing, offending someone, or upsetting her mother. Yet that fear doesn’t completely define who Maria is, and I loved seeing her slowly grow a little bolder in this volume! She has a hidden “brass” to her as others have claimed and a little more boldness then even she realizes, though thankfully Rintarou is helping to bring that out (Speaking of, glad he is still his teasing self!). I hope Maria continues to bloom and grow as a person and not just in romance. Seeing her bravery near the latter part of the end made me want to get up off my couch and cheer for her! I could imagine I’ll being doing a lot more of that based on the teaser we were shown for the upcoming volume! ~ Laura A. Grace

Golden Japanesque: A Splendid Yokohama Romance, vol. 2, is published by Yen Press.*

Trapped in a Dating Sim: the World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs, Vols. 1-2

You’ve probably seen the reincarnated-into-an-otome-game story premise before (especially the kind that takes place at a school for nobles and royalty), but Trapped in a Dating Sim manages to put some fun twists on that concept. The protagonists of these stories are usually girls, but this book’s MC, Leon, is a guy. And he isn’t reincarnated as a major character from the game, but as a nobody who doesn’t actually have any connection to the game plot. The setting is downright dystopian, with slavery, classism, and rampant sexism against men. The world is also illogical in other ways, due being based on the wonky mechanics and shallow world-building of the game. Leon eventually meets the game’s protagonist (Olivia), antagonist (Angelica), and five love interests (Greg, Chris, Brad, Julius, and Jilk), but something has gone awry. The love interests are barely even aware Olivia exists, instead fawning over some other girl named Marie. Did I mention the snarky AI sidekick, or the fact that since the original otome game included airship battles and giant robots, the isekai world has them too? I enjoyed volume one enough that I dove right into volume two, and while I find Leon obnoxious at times, overall I like Trapped in a Dating Sim enough that I’ll continue reading. ~ JeskaiAngel

Trapped in a Dating Sim: the World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs is published by Seven Seas Entertainment.

With the Sheikh in His Harem, Vol. 1

When I first saw the cover and title of With the Sheikh in His Harem, I was admittedly nervous that it would be about a young woman joining other wives/concubines for one (handsome) man. Thankfully my fears were unfounded. It’s probably the first manga I’ve read with an exotic location and I’m totally here for it! Another one reason I found this to be such a compelling story is because of the character Sanagi, who is such a diligent worker. I absolutely love how that even if her situation changes, Sanagi still seeks to be true to herself and work hard. Prince Lui is another fun character; I enjoyed how he is discovering the beauty and joy in life with Sanagi. I like how passionate he is and how he not only wants the best for her, but that he will also do whatever it takes to keep her around (and safe). One of the best parts, though, is how the mangaka includes mini-travel guides. I LOVEDDDD that! It was a very fun feature to this manga and definitely “bumped up” my enjoyment of this story. Overall, I really enjoyed With the Sheikh in His Harem and thought it to be a fun escape and highly enjoyable, recommended to anyone who enjoys reading shoujo manga but is looking for something that combines a good romance and Arabian-like setting! ~ Laura A. Grace

With the Sheikh in His Harem is published by Kodansha.*

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Reader’s Corner is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works their reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works and older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.