#but honestly the only thing i really want is 'make it manga accurate'

[dagmartoons]

For the people going to the Lupin Zero screening at Anime NYC tomorrow:

Wear a mask

Tag your spoilers!! I will be filtering the "lupin zero spoilers" tag until it premieres on HIDIVE

[shinidamachu]

I also noticed in my reread of the manga that the anime made Kikyo seem more powerful. In the manga Inuyasha easily parried Kikyo’s attack when she was first resurrected and chose to throw aside the sword to reason with her, and even got ready to strike her down and cracked his knuckles in order to bring Kagome back. In the anime he was easily overwhelmed by Kikyo and was only saved by Kagome waking up. I’m seeing Sunrise’s bias 🙄

And there's nothing wrong with making Kikyo seem more powerful. Inuyasha was constantly getting upgrades for Tessaiga without us as much as batting an eye over it.

The difference is that we were there when he found and got Tessaiga. We were there to see him struggle to master it. We were there for each and every single breakthrough. We know the how and we know the why.

Kikyo's power-ups, on the other hand, seem to come out of thin air most of the time. I'm sure she must have worked for it, but it wasn't shown, so there's a bit of a disconect between her journey getting there and the audience, which makes her achievements turn out to be not as satisfying as they could have been.

It's like, we know what the stabilished powers of a pristess are and so we think we know what Kikyo's powers are limited to, but then she does something new that doesn't fit that criteria and our only explanation is that she was the most powerful priestess of her time. Which makes sense, but also tells us that it's not important how she came to be so powerful, only that she is.

So why should we care when she uses a new trick? It's probably something she has known how to do for a while, anyway. We weren't rooting for her to get it right. We weren't anticipating it. We just roll with it.

The problem is that, in order to make Kikyo seem more powerful, Sunrise often gave her scenes where Kagome was originally the one kicking ass and taking names. And that's what I have issues with. Take this scene for instance:

Kikyo is the kind of character who doesn't do anything without a reason, so why would she interfere? She doesn't really knows Koga. She has probably no idea of his connection to Inuyasha — and even if she had, I don't peg her for comeone who'd care, considering how she treated Kagome most of the time. Koga is a demon with two jewel shards. Why help him out instead of taking them from him herself or waiting Naraku's incarnation finish the job to sweep in and do it? Because in the manga, Kagome is the one who saves Koga:

Which makes infinitely more sense and proves that there was no actual reason behind this "creative" change other than making Kikyo look cooler. The entirety of Sunrise's adaptation is full of these little shenanigans. Do you want to see a practical example of how this affects the general perception of the audience regarding the characters?

Here's Kagome diligently destroying a Naraku puppet to save an unconscious Kikyo. She actively uses the bow and arrow she didn't know how to shoot in the beginning of her journey to save someone she judges to be her love rival. And she suceeds without overthinking it or breaking a sweat.

But Sunrise thought it would be better to just do this instead:

The result? People naturally praise Kikyo for being the biggest girl boss in Inuyasha for stuff that was originally done by Kagome:

Don't get me wrong, it's great that people will appreciate Kikyo — this was exactly what Sunrise was going for, anyway — but it rubs me the wrong way that it came with the price of Kagome getting constantly criticized for being a "damsel in distress" who never does anything.

When your adaptation changes the story so much that people wrongfully perceives your female lead as useless despite the many, many scenes you still animated of her saving the day — and specifically saving the life of her supposed rival, who they judge to be much stronger and independent than her — that's when you know you fucked up.

And the worst part is that people are either blissfully unaware of this irony — because they haven't read the manga — or straight up dishonest about it.

The funny thing is: Kikyo didn't need any of that. What Sunrise did was the equivalent of taking original scenes of her being kind or compassionate and giving it to Kagome instead. It wasn't necessary. Kikyo was stabilished as a powerful woman from her very first appearance:

Kagome was the one who needed to prove herself in battle because she was the 15 year modern girl who was tossed untrained in the middle of a feudal era "life or death" situation. She was the one I wanted to see exploring and using her spiritual powers, because that's what her character needed to grow.

What Kikyo needed was humanization, glimpses of the ordinary woman she has always wanted to be. Empowerment is important, but it's also multifaceted and it falls flat when it focuses on power for the sake of power.

I'd gladly exchange any of those changes for scenes of Kikyo coping with taking a human life or using women's souls to stay on the world of the living. Scenes of Kikyo realizing she has become the very thing she used to fight against and how seeking for revenge affected the people she loves.

Scenes of Kikyo regretting decisions she can't take back, scenes of Kikyo bonding with Kaede both before and after her death, scenes of Kikyo acknowledging the part she played on the way her relationship with Inuyasha ended and apologizing for the hell she put him through over it.

That's how you make her character relatable and empathetic. That's how you highlight her complexities and makes her interesting. Kikyo being pretty while shooting arrows is absolutely stunning on screen, but it does little to create a truly emotional attachment to her character, at least for me.

As for the particular scene you brought up, Inuyasha was, in fact, easily overwhelmed by Kikyo in the anime. When she first attacks him, he just... lets her.

While in the manga, Inuyasha is quick to dodge it.

He does try to defend himself in the anime. However, Kikyo's arrow manages to stop Tessaiga's transormation and almost hits his heart.

None of which happens in the anime, where Inuyasha not only defends himself but also actively pushes back.

Sure, Kikyo still succeeds in zapping the hell out of him, but only because Inuyasha threw Tessaiga aside to reason with her, like you pointed out. When that didn't work, he cracked his knuckles in order to strike her down, before realizing he couldn't do it and then Kagome comes in with the save. In the anime, he didn't even try.

And the hug I mentioned, when he's attempting to appease Kikyo and she cries on his arms for a moment? Completely erased in favor of making her push her elderly sister aside twice and hurting Inuyasha more than originally intended while also referring to him as "beast", "monster" and "half breed."

I understand why Sunrise wanted to give Kikyo more screen time – she's a key character and people seem to have a good time drawing and animating her – but they focused mostly on making her look "cool" by kicking up a notch on the whole "vengeful spirit" thing and ended up shooting themselves on the foot by going too far.

They really thought the nonsense added scenes, like Inuyasha watching her bath or telling the audience they were always by each other's side – while actually showing them sitting far apart, Inuyasha being left to chase after the carriage she was in instead of being there with her, etc – would make up for the hug they cut out in order to give Kikyo more "badass" moments.

That's because they realized the couple had no substancy whatsoever and to remedy that, prioritized telling us that they were together for at least a couple of seasons instead of making the effort to show us this so called deep love. The hug was meaningful and made sense. Inuyasha dramatically laying on the ground while mentally screaming her name after telling her she needed to return the last piece of Kagome's soul – which is how Sunrise decided to end the episode – did not.

Especially because in the manga, he checked on Kagome before...

And after he left to try and get the remaining piece of her soul back – knowing what it would mean to Kikyo.

Plus, while obviously sad about Kikyo's "death", he also seems to accept this was for the best and acts like he is pretty much ready to move on.

Not to mention how he panicked when Shippo brought up the possibility of Kagome not being Kagome anymore and how absolutely relieved he was when he realized it wasn't the case.

And if this wasn't enough, he spent a good three panels blushing over Kagome right after the whole ordeal.

Those scenes had two purposes. One was to solidify, once more, Kagome as her own person to the audience and to Inuyasha, as well as a love interest. He had the opportunity to get Kikyo back and still wanted her to return the soul – even if it meant Kikyo would cease to exist – because he didn't want to risk Kagome not waking up or not being herself anymore, since he was already falling in love with her. Kikyo herself guilt trips him about it when he tries to convince her.

The other was to contrast Inuyasha's first reaction to Kikyo's ressurection and the information that they were both set up with his reaction after he was told that Kikyo died for him and therefore he owes her his life. The former consists on him standing up for himself and rightfully seeing himself as a victim, the latter consists on him blaming himself out of proportion based on a blalant lie. That's why in the manga he takes her "second" death so well, while the others really take a toll on him. In the anime, however, it's like he is already blaming himself when she falls off that cliff.

I attribute this change of attitude to another scene Sunrise thought fit to delete:

Of course the anime also has Inuyasha denying Kikyo's accusations, but he is way less effusive about it in there. Originally, when he realizes they were fooled into thinking they betrayed each other, he acts like they were both at fault for distrusting each other and are, therefore, even. So when she "dies" there's nothing he can do but wish for her to rest in peace and move on despite how sad it makes him.

All of this really sucks, because as you can see, the changes they did in favor of Kikyo either didn't work on her favor at all or heavily impacted the characterization of others – Inuyasha and Kagome especially – in a negative way, in addition to creating huge inconsistencies plot and narrative wise.

TLDR: yes, Sunrise's bias is obvious. And ironically, I think if they had liked Kikyo less, she would have been a much better written character because they wouldn't be afraid to give her the development she needed.

[itsnothingofinterest]

You know, honestly the LoV should have won the Paranormal Liberation War and annihilated most of the Class 1A and the hero society as a whole. I didn't like Class 1A because nobody died and plot armor saved them too many times so I want the LoV to win in the PLF War Arc.

While I can't say I’m a big proponent to any of the kids dying, especially when they…used to be…the best chance the story had at changing things in the next generation. (Definitely should’ve killed more pro heroes though, especially Endeavor.) But that other stuff?

Yeah, yeah I think the first war should’ve ended in a far more decisive villain victory. Especially one where they get to be in charge a bit.

Like, people came away from the first war thinking the heroes lost, and certainly it was their worst showing of an operation in living memory. But did they lose? Certainly not. The villains lost over 99% of their forces including many of their power players that could’ve taken on pro heroes solo and won. Sure they picked up more later for the 2nd war, but most of these replacements were USJ-tier nobodies at best. Meanwhile the heroes only lost half their numbers...and most were just due to cold feat in the aftermath. Actual casualties were, as I recall, a few dozen or so? Maybe in the low hundreds?

And I think that’s quite a missed opportunity. I’d have loved to see what things could’ve been like with Shigaraki on his rubble throne; let the PLF put their money where their mouths were and make the easier-to-live-in world Toga kept talking about. I think it could’ve been a great way to show the flaws that were supposed to be in their approach, maybe see why things can’t get better through their kind of violent upheaval or what ways they aren’t equipped to govern; but maybe also highlight some more flaws in the existing system by having the PLF focus hard on fixing them or maybe fixing a few easily. Just one "man, why didn't we do that?" situation could've been really cool & interesting.

Instead we got a period where nobody was in charge…well, actually more accurately the heroes and their government were still in charge in theory, but they were doing it badly because they failed once so a bunch of people lost so much faith that they stopped listening and chose to live in localized effective anarchy instead. But then the heroes prove themselves again and it all went back to normal.

(Man, putting it like that makes the hero system seem like the stock market if it was law enforcement.)

Anyway, because we didn’t really get to see what the villains’ world would be like, I still kind of think a resolution where Shigaraki triumphed over everyone and came out on top as ruler would’ve been the 2nd best ending for everything we could’ve gotten. (1st was of course one where heroes and villains work together for a best of both worlds resolution. 3rd by a wide margin is the one we got where everything goes back to as it was and trucks along to doomsday. And 4th was the one where AFO pulls a win out his ass.) Because, considering how aware the PLF are of the existing system’s flaws and their want to correct them; I can’t think of much solid criticism for their hypothetical governance that are not themselves purely hypothetical worst-case assumptions. I mean, besides ‘it’s wrong to get there through such violence’…and this is a shonen action manga where All Might ushered in an age of peace after beating up enough of AFO’s goons. A message like that’d always read a little hollow.

I can’t help but think that’s not the impression I was supposed to get towards the idea of the League being in charge and trying to make their easier world, but it’s the one I got anyway because there's not much to disprove it. Whoops.

Besides, the Paranormal Liberation War arc really was the villains' arc; if anyone had earned a true win by the end, it was them.

[dailydegurechaff]

Sometimes half way through making something I find myself self-conscious about it like "Oh, this is so far diverged from canon. People are gonna hate this. It's cringe, don't post it." And then I remember this is my blog that I can do whatever with and I don't have to be a people-pleaser.

Anyway, Very Very Post-War Degurechaff family tree:

Warning for yapping under the read more.

I think perhaps its more accurate to call this AU instead of headcanon, purely because of how much I'm diverging from a realistic sequence of events. Honestly, it's not meant to be canon compliant, it's meant to be me playing with the characters like dolls lol

So, to start. Ursula is a canon character introduced in the manga chapter 50 and we do see an image of her, but I don't care for it so... fan design it is. Her name is revealed later in manga chapter 81.5 (The second part of the story about Grantz's letters to home). That chapter also introduces Doris and her unnamed mother & father (Ursula's daughter & her son-in-law).

Interestingly, it's mentioned that Doris' father married into the family which means that in order for Doris to have the last name Grantz, both her father and grandfather would've had to have taken their wives' last names. Based of them really.

Grantz also takes his wife's last name because I want him to. Something about it makes sense to me. He's a wifeguy.

I considered passing the Lergen name down too. So it'd be Tanya von Lergen, her husband Warren von Lergen, and their son Theodore von Lergen, but somehow it didn't seem right. So they keep Degurechaff. That doesn't change that Tanya is technically a member of the Lergen family still.

Speaking of the Lergen family, if I allowed myself the indulgence, I would've gone into the extended Lergen family tree but I held off this time. I might update this one day to include them, but for now the main thing to know is Lergen has a married older brother and a niece (younger than Tanya). Also his two parents of course.

I want to also update this with names and designs for Grantz's parents someday too. For now we'll live with the only fan character on this tree being Theodore.

I don't have much to say on Theo because I'm undecided on what I want to do with him (Or even if I want him to exist...). What I will say is that he's definitely at least a year or two younger than Leonie. Yes, their names were specifically chosen to match each other.

He too can make scary faces and say disconcerting things like Tanya, but he gets away with it because he's cute. Yes, Lergen is completely blind to these same traits that he found worrying in Tanya.

[whywoulditho]

hq movie review!!!

(not spoiler-free)

went to see the haikyuu movie: dumpster battle today and i wanted to share my thoughts!!

first of all the movie had better animation than season 4 of the series! even though it stuck with the same animation style and character designs this was a much more neatly done project for sure. it felt like they had finally adapted into the style and managed to bring out the best version of it. in that sense i feel like season four was their experimental phase, if that makes sense? the movie's animation was so much smoother than i expected. i still prefer the first three seasons' style, but this wasn't bad at all in my book.

they used the same OSTs from the series as far as i've noticed, and they did make the match dramatic enough in most parts, (-we'll get to those other parts) and the voice cast did a good job as always.

they cut the arc a little shorter, trying to fit it into a 1h 30m runtime. it's a three set match so it was bound to be shorter than the five set matches like the shiratorizawa and the inarizaki matches, but it still deserved a good two hours in my opinion. you might think, well obviously they weren't going to animate every single point but honestly? furudate drew almost every single point and people READ that, on paper. we would have eaten up a two hour long movie. but well, since it's all done let's talk about what we had, and what we didn't.

the movie opened with a redrawn version of the season one scene where hinata meets kenma for the first time. it was a nice, nostalgic touch. they kept focusing on the random crow and cat they added to the background of the scene for peak symbolism and frankly i kinda loved that. i don't care that it's overdone it's still good okay? 😤

oh and even though they reanimated that first scene, there were still many instances in the movie where they cut to flashbacks from earlier seasons taken straight from the original version with the older animation style.

the first half of the movie was weaker than the second. they skipped a bunch of points and tried to only show the important lines but without the leading rallies the lines just looked kinda goofy and out of place. this one for example,

when they threw in this line i was kinda thrown off?? because like, the build up just wasn't there? does that make sense? this whole bit about yamaguchi finally catching up to tsukishima and then actually surpassing him was very well done in the manga. and it was a huge thing too, the two of them were the first page art of that volume, but the movie tried to get it over with in like, thirty seconds, i'm not even joking.

this part:

was made into a weird little slideshow type of thing that transitioned into their high five and it looked so goofy to me... i'm sorry. i just wanted them to have this moment so badly. and they did, kind of, but it wasn't all that satisfying.

also, they didn’t give us tsukkiyama having a telepathical conversation, HOW DARE YOU.

tendou and tsutomu watching the match on tsutomu's ipad was also in the movie! i was really happy to see that because that's one of my favorite things from this arc lol. though they didn’t give much of tsutomu's frustration with tendou.

the first half was pretty bland, accurate to the manga but with most inner monologue cut and some parts skipped.

through the middle they gave us the kuroken childhood flashbacks, it was cut shorter than it was in the manga. and get this, i feel like the way they delivered their childhood memories were like they wanted to make them more about kuroo's love for volleyball than exploring kuroken's bond with each other. i feel like the movie tried too hard at focusing on one thing at a time, they cut the tsukkiyama scene short because during that bit they were focusing on kenma. they cut the kuroken memories short because they were trying to focus only on kuroo.

this kept going, honestly. even though this match was ALL about parallels and the bonds these characters have with each other, friendships and rivalries. in the manga, furudate made this match about exploring ALL the dynamics he'd been building up since the beginning. it was more random, yes, but that's what made it natural. kenma and hinata's rivalry/friendship, kenma and kageyama's rivalry, yaku and nishinoya's rivalry, kuroo and daichi's rivalry, tsukishima and kuroo's mentor-student relationship, nishinoya and asahi's trust bond, whatever the fuck yamaguchi and tsukishima had going on. the man took the time to give us crumbs of all these dynamics in the middle while a volleyball game was kind of just playing in the background. i know that sounds like i'm saying playing volleyball wasn't the main point, that's because that is what i'm saying. inarizaki v karasuno was about volleyball. shiratorizawa v karasuno was about volleyball. nekoma v karasuno wasn't. it was about two teams. because furudate made sure that we know every single player in each team, through and through.

this match wasn't just a simple match, it's something that they never shut up about since season one. this match was the end goal of all the relationships and parallels and dynamics they have been building for these characters, and the movie did a half-assed job delivering their fated battle.

it's like they looked at the arc and thought, "this is about hinata defeating kenma. let's focus on that and mention everything else briefly." so it was a whole mess of characters throwing these one liners back and forth and you just sitting there trying to catch up. look, maybe i'm blinded by nostalgia. but i don't remember feeling this way while reading the manga.

(edit: totally forgot to mention this but THEY CUT OFF THE COACHES' BACKSTORY !!! no young nekomata :((( )

okay, moving on, they did give us the birdcage scene:

and better than the manga, if i'm being honest. like i know it's a bad picture but LOOK at that composition. i love it so much.

they also included the one where kenma and shoyo shoved knives up each other's throats (they're such good friends fr 🤧)

they did this scene:

so well i was about to cry. shoyo literally screamed it was kinda overdone but i'll take it. kuroo's laugh was beautiful.

there was also this other scene where kenma is exhausted from running and is just desperately trying to keep playing and they did this amazing 360 degree perspective shot from his pov and IT WAS SO GOODDD. the heavy breathing kept getting louder and intenser and you could literally FEEL his breath and the voice acting in that scene was top notch i had fucking goosebumps. there was this bit where he faced the ground and his sweat was dripping down on the floor and YOU COULD SEE HIS REFLECTION ON THE WATER DROPS?? LIKE???? i'm still shocked this studio pulled that off you guys it was awesome.

and at the end of the match, they took this scene,

and made it 10 TIMES BETTER?? AS IF THAT'S POSSIBLE???

in the movie my boy kenma was fucking FLOORED. he was lying on the ground all sweaty and limbless and he had this beautiful smile on his face as he looked up at kuroo and said this line. I LOVED THAT SO, SO MUCH YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW WARM IT MADE MY HEART. THANK YOU WHOEVER LOOKED AT THIS BEAUTIFUL PANEL AND THOUGHT, "YOU KNOW WHAT, I CAN MAKE THIS EVEN GAYER"

oh, and they also included this for some reason lol:

okay, so, the movie wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.

i was really surprised by the quality of animation. they definitely solved the problem they had in season four where even the smallest movement always looked stiff. i don't think they paid enough mind to what the arc was actually about, to be honest. they tried to make this into just another one of their matches. well, maybe it was and i'm just reading too much into the character dynamics, who knows..

oh, and the bitter sweet news is that in after credits they teased the kamomedai match. since we're getting only one last movie for the finale it was a given that either the kamomedai match or the time skip were going to be cut short or cut off entirely. well, it doesn’t seem to be the kamomedai match... so. yeah. i guess we're kissing our beloved brazil and V league and olympic arcs goodbye. there was no way they did all of them justice anyway.

while the time skip is a high sacrifice i have to say i'll still be pretty happy if they make the kamomedai game full-length. that's my favorite match in the whole series and it definitely deserves more love. i doubt it will receive any if it comes in the expense of the time skip though...

so have you seen the movie? let's chat on the comments!!!

[larathia]

TBHK #116 Thoughts

I am still kind of 'why? how?' that whatever this is is in the school and not the red house.

I initially thought this might just be the 'pure' ghost of Tsukasa - in which case, him choosing to be near where his twin spends most of his time makes sense. Buuuut...

Right now, I'm thinking the Clock Keepers did not - and maybe could not - destroy the Red House Entity. So they did the next best thing. Right now, I'm thinking that they waited until after 4 year old Tsukasa (possessed by the RHE) returned to the living world - you know, after Nene and Kou met him - and then killed him. The dual entity (Tsukasa+RHE) is still a dual entity, but severely weakened. It may have taken decades for it to be even strong enough to do what it's doing right now. I think this makes sense - I doubt the Clock Keepers would have quit with the job only partially completed, so the entity they're dealing with now probably just looked like a dead boy at the time.

Look....I'm having a hard time with the idea that Amane knows what's going on here. I'm just...not getting that vibe. He may be aware that the divination rumors are about a spirit with the same name as his lost twin, but...all signs are pointing to Tsukasa having been killed when he was four. If Hanako's words to Nene were true, then Amane in this timeline has forgotten (or never even learned) that the spirit world is real. He might not even remember his twin at all, if Hanako was so sure Nene'd forget his entire existence. Amane seems very much to be a kind sort of adult, the kind of person kids have no problem being comfortable around.

That's not so say I can't come up with an interpretation of events-thus-far that not only makes Amane aware of what's happening, but complicit in them. I'd just rather not believe that to be the case.

If one assumes Amane is well aware that the school spirit is in fact his twin's, then I can easily figure he got that awareness from Tsuchigomori and his own cross-timeline dreams (much like Mitsuba has cross-timeline dreams). If one works from that premise, it's entirely possible Amane summoned his brother's spirit (or otherwise drew it in) and may regard the disappearance of the students as...well. Necessary sacrifices to strengthen that spirit.

I don't like that interpretation. I'd rather be wrong. However, I can't disregard the possibility. The one area where Amane and Tsukasa have always seemed to have the same vibe is that when it comes to what they love, the entire rest of the universe can get fucked. And we already know that Amane can and will kill. That is, after all, how "Hanako" got started.

*sigh* Honestly, more than anything, I really just want the scoobies to just TALK TO TSUCHIGOMORI ALREADY. Or at least visit the library! Out of all the entire cast of this entire manga, Tsuchigomori is the most likely to have accurate answers to all their questions. I get that it's not the most exciting approach plotwise, but for gods' sakes, if they're not going to do it at least there should be a reason WHY. For Nene to forget is understandable, but Teru and Akane are supposed to be smarter than this!

[justanothershippingcan]

My thoughts on the Ritsu&Shou related parts in the Fanbook

because I am kinda going insane.

The way ONE was able to melt all the gays down in one go should be studied, analysed and locked deep in the black void of Shou’s black shirt in the Cultural Festival scene in the manga, because there’s no way. 

As a warning, while I’ll be mostly talking about their relationship in terms of friendship anyway, I ship them, so this is kinda biased on this side of things. Enjoy what I have to say under the cut.

Okay, so, with the premise that the translations around on Twitter aren’t official so the info might not be 100% accurate, I am still more than willing to trust our beloved fantranslators and their hard work. Let’s actually begin this slide deep into the tunnel headed to Copium Land, shall we?

• To the question "Who are your friends, excluding your brother?" Ritsu just answers with Student Council Members and Classmates. And that we (readers) don't have to worry, since he has many people he can ask about the weather to. Now.

We... never see him hang out with his classmates, nor his Council members. Ever. Except for the whole S1 "Middle school criminals purge" fiasco and even then, it ended up with him breaking through the Student Council President Kamuro’s house. When I say Ritsu isn't normal, I mean it (go off, King). 

Ritsu is the same person who asked the other Psychic kids from the Awakening Lab their names only after they were all kidnapped. And solely for the sake of escaping. He... doesn't know how to socialize well or doesn't particularly care. 

To him, friends are ones he can ask the weather to. I honestly feel like, no matter how popular he is (mostly, due to his looks... let’s remember how he is the one among the kids in the cast who gets the most chocolate on Valentine’s Day, but he finds it a nuisance) he doesn’t really know how-to-friend and how-to-people. And partially, he isn’t too focused on that due to the many things he has going on. 

I truly appreciate the idea of autistic Ritsu, because it would explain many things tbh, and this difficulty of approaching others/making friends/even having a basic understanding of friendships and what they mean would be clearer. 

Now, onto Shou. We have two questions to take into account:

• To the "What do you like doing with your friends?" he answers mentioning only Ritsu. Not even the kids that call him leader in S2,nor any classmate. Just Ritsu. And he mentions how Ritsu doesn’t like crowded spaces and noise (I'll return to that later) and how they went fishing together and Ritsu didn't manage to catch anything. From this we have: 

THEY WENT FISHING TOGETHER. Even with the whole text thing later, Ritsu still cared enough to go out with him. Without Mob being involved at all. I think it's important. They canonically hang out together.

Shou cares so much that he wanted to go to a place where Ritsu would feel comfy. Fishing is probably not an activity Shou prefers among others. But Ritsu might appreciate it and that's enough. 

Ritsu is bad at fishing and this is honestly a fun detail lol. 

• Through the same question, we have the whole text bit with Shou saying he texts Ritsu from time to time, but Ritsu answers slowly/not frequently. So-

For one, Ritsu does answer. He is a busy person with Student Council matters and he is, yk. At the top 10 of the best students in the school, in his first year competing with third years. And yet, he still answers these messages. 

Shou goes to school THIS IS A WIN BTW I KNEW IT, Shou literally emits the energy of that one kid who is actually totally listening during class, remembers everything and gets damn good marks, called it. Anyway, Shou probably isn't a slow texter like Ritsu is and has another perception of time lol, not to mention how he probably isn’t as busy. Can relate to Ritsu here. 

They still text. That's pretty good in my book (copium). 

Again, noise. They should have 2012-13 flip phones and now, I have used them in the past, but forgive me, I forgot what I did yesterday, imagine remembering 2012 phones, but I believe they did have an option to turn off notifications. And with Ritsu disliking noise... it's no wonder he would. It also helps with studying. 

•  There was a question about the Cultural Festival bit. Shou says that Ritsu didn’t ask him to come personally, he just caught wind of it and thought “why not?”, which makes more sense now that we are 100% sure he goes to school. Honestly, it’s no wonder Ritsu didn't ask Shou to go and see him. He was uncomfy with that outfit and the whole Maid idea. But as soon as Shou caught on that, he just. Went. Without honestly any other reason if not to see him. Still fruity enough in my book. 

• Last but not least. Ritsu does call Shou a friend in the World Domination Arc. And, truly, I am not willing to believe they aren’t on friendly terms after them texting together, hanging out together (fishing) and Ritsu just... accepting Shou burnt down his house and going along with his plan without a second thought lol. Hence why:

Either Ritsu truly just doesn't know where to place Shou in his mind. Thinking back also on Shou's VA interview helps with this.

Or, since he was mentioned as a friend in Shou’s profile, ONE believed it would have been redundant to put him in Ritsu’s as well. Which I believe is actually a fair point, since Ritsu wouldn’t have added that much insight, knowing him lol.

Or, regarding them being established as friends in World Domination Arc... ONE forgor. And truly, it has been years since he finished that arc, and he has written so many drafts of manga (ONE PUNCH, the rest of Mob), the new upcoming one and all of the extras since then. Wouldn’t blame him.

There is also this little important DETAIL of ONE just casually mentioning he would like a spin-off with Ritsu AND Shou. Together. Can’t separate, idc.

And... gosh, I think this is all. Thanks to all the ones that translated the bits that came out with this book and Katya’s translations of all the other interviews! Between this, the whole deal with Teru (aka his freaking terrible fashion sense and especially his parents), Reigen’s family, Serizawa’s pay, a few peculiar ages being revealed... this fanbook has been a trip and a half. But just in case, thank you all for coming to my Pep Talk, feel free to add anything if you want.

UPDATE 18/11

NEW INFO IS OUT and I reblogged this post of mine with all of such info compiled and my thoughts on it! It kinda changes a few of my highlights here and for the better. I’d say... we ultimately truly won. 

[2n2n]

This is something I’ve always wondered, but during the mermaid arc, where Hanako rescues Nene from permanently becoming a fish… He had no way of knowing that Nene had refused the offer of becoming a fish princess, and yet he fished her out anyway. He even admits the mermaid’s world would’ve been kinder to Nene, but it doesn’t matter to him. He speaks about Nene as though she’s his belonging and not even a person— and to my knowledge he never does this again

Was this Hanako being peak possessive over Nene? It’s not really framed that way in the manga, but it’s what I got from reading between the lines. Maybe I’ve just become delusional lmao You

It's Hanako being normal Hanako degree of possessive over Nene-chan... a 'peak' implies it has since gone down, but it has infinitely gone upwards since then. You're also not reading between the lines, you are simply reading the literal lines of the manga. Welcome to the team!

Indeed, Amane doesn't care and does not factor in if Nene-chan would like to be a princess or not … he is even in Tsuchigomori's classroom when Nene-chan says it sounds "too good"…

Nene-chan is Amane's property. Even when the initial bond is made, he does not ask her if she wants that … he asserts "you'll take anyone, huh?" earlier,

and then, he simply asserts them as "like a couple". Hanako doesn't really wait for permission on anything … he claims. Nene-chan proceeds to constantly tell him "you're not my type!" and he doesn't care.

Amane does not care if Nene-chan likes another boy, or wants to do something without him… if Amane wanted Nene-chan to have her own will, he would not punish her for being interested in other things …

It's also worth noting he has never explained what being a 'kannagi' entails …

we don't even know, in this universe, what it entails…

I think you should think more about it...

For sure, Amane explicitly says kannagi are irresistible to kaii, who desire to consume them. Amane is a kaii, so he is not exempt...

a kannagi (in real life...) is sortof miko (shrine maiden)… who tend to a shrine (and shrines typically contain yorishiro, or objects which you pray to… which is what Tsukasa is). As I understand (I may not understand. lol) .. a kannagi is someone who performs various rituals within a shrine, to appease the God(s). Yashiro's name pronunciation itself reflects this destiny, as 'yashiro' (written with different kanji…社 VS 八尋) means '(shinto) shrine'.

Given that Hanako is a Mononoke, or an evil spirit, AND the mysteries are referred to by Teru as a kindof God, that makes sense; bring comfort to him, perform tasks for him, tend to him.

Similarly, the God of Sumire and Hakubo's village was given 'kannagi' as offerings of appeasement.

While HANAKO uses 'assistant' as his informal shorthand for kannagi, (to make Nene-chan not think too hard about it honestly...) that village thought of kannagi as 'beings wedded to God', offering women as BRIDES, to provide protection, to sever boundaries.

And who is more accurate here? Are kannagi like brides? Or like assistants? The village obviously spun a narrative in an attempt to make the reality less grim for the girls being sacrificed. Obviously, it means far, far more than 'assistant'. Does Nene-chan truly understand what she is, in the system of power? Why might Hanako not thoroughly explain? Why did we only just learn about past kannagi, what was done with them, how kaii respond to their souls? How should we feel about Hanako pushing a girl into a role that has been historically interchangeable with 'bride'?

Hanako is not only a mundane amount of possessive...

I have no idea what PP is to anyone, if not Tsukasa tempting Amane with the fantasy of turning Yashiro into a permanently kept soul, in much the same way Tsukasa seems to have been/be. Do you still want something like this, Amane? Or something else?

Thinking in terms of "forever and ever" is excessive … that goes beyond, even normal, marriage....

The mermaid situation is the tip of an iceberg. The greater picture of entire arcs is Amane's possessiveness…

I constantly repost this panel, I am begging people to understand the phrasing of "LIVE A LIFE BESTOWED BY MY HAND, AND NOT THE KID OR ANYONE ELSE". He doesn't ONLY want Yashiro to LIVE! He NEEDS to be the one to DO it, with HIS hands! He wants CONTROL! He wants her life OWED TO HIM! NOBODY ELSE! HIM!!!!

Nene-chan is here to help you interpret this …

Amane is a God. He has servants and objects for his servitude and for his comfort. These objects are Tsukasa and Nene-chan. Now his two objects are kissing, which is so radical.

"It is not really framed that way in the manga" is so crazy to say I'm sorry … Nene-chan understands she OBEYS Hanako. He is her MASTER.

Yes, the manga frames Amane as possessive, and not giving Nene-chan any agency. Nene-chan actively complains about it....

Vol. 4 contained such an early, almost comparatively twee, or charming version of this. We've since gone much further. We have seen MORE of what it means to AMANE, that Nene-chan's life is "his". HIS to make decisions about. HIS to control. He owns Nene-chan beyond what any person can. He owns her as God owns his servant.

AidaIro like yandere..... Narisokonai Snow White is a yandere story wherein two twin boys poison the girl they like. One of them paralyzes her daily, the other makes her die with him in a murder-suicide. Cult kills Lily in order to keep her forever, as he loves her too much.

You wanna know what 'peak' possessive Amane is? Killing his brother.

[tenebriskukris]

Oshi No Ko Chapter 153 - My Thoughts/Analysis

This chapter was a bit of a mixed bag for me, but it’s at least an improvement over the absolute trasheap that the last chapter was. As always, spoilers for Oshi No Ko Ch 153 below.

We start off the chapter with a continuation to this interaction between Hikaru and Aqua. With how this series has been timeskipping so much recently I half expected this confrontation to also be done offscreen. Would be par for the course at this point. Let’s see how this turns out now that we’re actually getting the proper screetime for them to talk.

Hikaru is the managing director of some media company? You’d think that something like this would’ve been shown earlier in the manga when Akane was gathering info on Hikaru but it’s honestly not that relevant now that Aqua and Hikaru are face to face like this. Again—this entire Aqua-Hikaru interaction should’ve had more buildup to it but I’d be beating a dead horse if I kept expressing my displeasure about it. 

It seems you’ve researched me through and through. Yeah, Aqua probably has done that for the movie—whether or not it’s completely accurate or not. Though we don’t actually get to see Aqua do much on that—he’s certainly researched Ai and her past but not so much for Hikaru. You’d think that after he knew his identity it would’ve been shown that he was sniffing for clues but oh yeah! The manga just handwaved that like so many other important factoids.

Interesting that Hikaru says that the movie was fiction despite the fact that the information in it was actually accurate. Considering he was involved in these events I’m not sure whether or not to trust his words in general. Not to mention this whole thing about the events being fabricated, exaggerated and some other bits excised from the movie itself. Whether or not it’s true—I think it’s still a fact that it’s not quite Ai and Hikaru’s story being told in the movie. Not perfectly at least. Allowing Abiko and Yoriko to change up aspects of the script clued us into that. The question remains—how accurate is all of it—is something that I hope to see before the manga ends.

Gotta have to give props to the art with Hikaru in this one panel. It’s very…what is the term? Angelic? No, illuminating. White background with his figure front and center. Trying to give off an atmosphere of cold certainty, if I had to pin an emotion to it. My only complaint is that his black star eyes aren’t very striking in this panel when we’ve seen Aqua’s black star eyes go hard in a lot of other panels.

She never loved me once. Now that’s an interesting thing to say. Especially since Hikaru himself is now the only person in the series that actually experienced the Ai-Hikaru relationship in its entirety. While the movie may have attempted to portray their relationship, it also didn’t do a perfect job at doing so, even if they may have preserved the heart of it. I’ll have more thoughts when the chapter ends since I want to see how this interaction develops.

So we’re finally getting the confirmation that Hikaru killed Ai. About time, really. Having Hikaru’s character and motives be shrouded in mystery for this long in the series made the possibility that he didn’t intend for Ai to die still plausible, though doubtful. The mechanism of Ai’s death has been suspected by Aqua for a majority of the series, so I’d be fine if they just handwave that factoid out of the picture. 

This movie will get me killed socially. Here we go again with this entire bit. It’s much too expository for my tastes. Akane and Hikaru both believe that the movie will get him killed socially but really, it wouldn’t be very realistic to think that unless someone directly spills the beans to the public later down the line anyway, and even then if Hikaru was popular and influential enough the industry would let him trudge on even after the reputation hit. It’s not like the industry really cares if someone high up is a horrible person unless they make too much of a mess of things for someone to go public with that sort of thing.

THE DVDS??? For the love of all the gods and deities above I need to know what are in those DVDs. They’ve been lingering in the background for long enough and defined a large part of Aqua’s motivations throughout the movie arc for so long that it’s difficult to grasp what Aqua’s thinking half the time.

If revenge against me was what she wanted then I’ll accept it. I loved her from the bottom of my heart, after all. Huh. So that’s why he’s been fine with letting the twins run their revenge scheme like this. I’m inclined to believe him here personally—but it’s also possible that he’s letting his own Issues affect his thinking. From how he described Ai before, it could that he holds some guilt in being responsible for Ai’s death that he’s fine with the twins killing him like this if it’s what Ai wanted, though this is all just speculation.

So that’s why this meeting has been so civil. Hikaru’s wanted to talk to Aqua for awhile now, it seems. It’s still bad writing that we didn’t actually get to see them interact before this interview though. Spending a chapter to set this interview up could’ve allowed the buildup to not feel like something out of a cheap paperback. Not to mention not showing us why Aqua has white star eyes in the first place and just what caused that exactly.

Wait a second the DVDs were on the table??? And this couldn’t have been easily shown to us in the previous chapter or in the previous panels??? Please. That’s bad narrative writing right there.

If Aqua can say that so confidently to Hikaru’s face then the DVDs HAVE to talk about Ai and Hikaru somewhat. Now the true test, will Aqua give the readers that info or is that going to be offscreened?

Oh? Is this still the movie? Perhaps I need to give the manga more credit if it’s actually showing us this in some detail after the fact. Though it’s also plausible that this is just Hikaru’s flashback instead of the movie—which, is probably better than showing the movie like this anyway, but something like that would have to depend on this entire flashback pans out.

That’s why you have to shoulder the burden of living their lives from now on. Welp, sorry Kindaichi you’ve just damned this young kid to a life of horrible coping mechanisms! Joking aside this entire situation is just really capital grade fucked. Even though the man was just trying to help Hikaru get through the funeral he didn’t know just how unstable the boy was. At least Ai had Ichigo and to a lesser extent, Miyako to help her through the harshness of the industry. Hikaru didn’t have the support system that would keep him stable—and even Ai herself wasn’t exactly a paragon of stability even at her best.

Also!!! Baby Taiki! If only we could’ve seen more of him in the manga—he would’ve been a great contrast to both Aqua and Ruby but alas he’s been relegated to a side character. Another pocket of missed potential, that one.

Okay so it isn’t a flashback. Hikaru actually has two white star eyes here and that’s not a trait we’ve ever seen Aqua have. So it seems we’ll be delving into more of his backstory that wasn’t covered by the movie here and hopefully more next chapter. I also wonder if he’s actually explaining this all to Aqua or is this all just him thinking in his head right now, but we’ll see the results of this flashback soon enough.

These two pages of a younger Hikaru and Ai…it’s so bittersweet. If what Aqua’s implying is true it means that Ai loved Hikaru all along and we already know where their relationship ended up after everything. 

Damn Ai. I know you have your Own Issues but it was also kind of harsh just leaving Hikaru out in the cold like that. Can’t say I blame her, but maybe this entire flashback between them will get more fleshed out next chapter to encompass Hikaru’s own reaction and how he masterminded Ai’s death.

I have a lot to say about this chapter. It’s nice that we finally got more interaction between Aqua and Hikaru where it wasn’t just Aqua yapping on about revenge. Ditto with the fact that the DVDs have finally made an appearance after being sat on for a hell of a lot of chapters by now. Though…even if the implication with these DVDs are that they explain what Ai felt for Hikaru, I wonder if that’s just all they talk about. There’s still potential for more to be dredged up by their content. Not to mention there hasn’t been much of any talk about Ai’s DVD for Ruby, but that’s also something that I wouldn’t be surprised was also offscreened considering that we didn’t see the content of the DVDs when they showed up the first time.

Then there’s also the fact that Aqua is implying that Ai loved Hikaru this whole time even after she pushed him away. I don’t quite think this reveal quite sticks the landing here. Hikaru as a character was only really revealed quite late into the series and now that we’re focusing on him these reveals about his personality and character are much too late to have any effect because either they’re all thrown at us at once or when they do give us crumbs to his disposition, they’re too obscured by the narrative for us to get a good enough grasp on him for the reader to care about him as a character and a person rather than as an antagonistic force as he was for the majority of the series. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that there was nothing leading us away from the direction that Ai loved Hikaru all along to make this reveal more satisfying. We’d already known that Ai had her own Issues when it comes to intimacy and affection, not to mention being similar enough to Hikaru that they were drawn together. The movie in itself seemed to imply this factoid by showing Ai’s backstory and displaying her own Issues straight to the reader. Ai herself seemed to be on relatively good terms with Hikaru enough that she still kept in contact with him. She wouldn’t have done that if their breakup was one that ended badly enough that she didn’t want to have anything to do with Hikaru afterwards.

I think it’s also important to note here after this flashback, that assuming Hikaru is telling the truth to Aqua, that from his perspective Ai certainly never loved him all along. He wouldn’t have reacted how he did otherwise. I don’t want to spent too many brain cells on this point because I’m sure we’ll be getting more detail next chapter, but I want to touch on this point slightly. 

Both Ai and Hikaru were teenagers that were heavily damaged by their own pasts and thrust into an industry that was poised to take advantage of them. They may have found some solace in each other at the time, but that was only a band-aid to help stop the bleeding caused by their respective issues. They never dealt with the root cause of what was causing their respective traumas to flare up. They just dealt with the symptoms of their own respective issues together and that was what kept them together for as long as they did. Their relationship was bound to end badly if they didn’t address their trauma in time and we all know what happens next. 

The entire scene when Ai says that they shouldn’t see each other any more is only given to us partially so it’s difficult to judge just if Ai just sprung this idea to Hikaru out of the blue or if she tried to lay him down gently but from the presence of the toothbrush and what looks to be toothpaste it might just be the former. Hikaru certainly would have some grounds to stand on to think that Ai never loved him if she let him down so suddenly without sufficient explanation.

But I want to go back to how Hikaru says that Ai never loved him. Aqua seems to think differently because of these DVDs, implying that Ai actually did love him. Hikaru certainly feels that Ai never loved him, despite the fact that the narrative is pointing in the opposite direction. Whether or not Ai actually loved him is irrelevant to the matter at hand because Hikaru himself wasn’t able to recognize that love. It doesn’t matter how much love another person can give another if that person isn’t able to recognize that love for what it actually is. Hikaru was unable to see through Ai’s lies in this instance and I don’t think that’s a mark against him.

While this is a case where I don’t think both parties can be at fault here—with Ai having difficulty with communicating intimacy and Hikaru’s own trauma rearing its head—that doesn't change the result of their story. Ai was unable to communicate whether or not she loved Hikaru clearly even knowing his tragic backstory and Hikaru was unable to recognize Ai’s behavior as love even as he knew that she had her own issues. Good communication is the bedrock in any relationship and two traumatized teenagers aren’t the best at it in an ideal scenario.

This is of course, assuming that Hikaru isn’t lying straight to Aqua’s face. But I doubt it, personally. He doesn’t have any reason to lie, and he’s already admitted that he thinks that he’ll be killed socially by this movie. Aqua basically already has Hikaru dead to rights here. It appears that everything that Hikaru’s done seems to be for some sense of closure. He wants to see Aqua’s rationale in making this movie in the first place.

I do have some issues with the fact that Aqua’s revenge plot seems to have pivoted to showing Hikaru that Ai loved him all along. While, sure, I can see the throughline that the writers wanted us to follow, it seems more than a bit strange for Aqua to suddenly be satisfied with merely letting Hikaru know that Ai actually loved him when he explicitly wanted to destroy Hikaru in the most painful way he knew how before he watched these DVDs. Does he really think that explaining this all to him will break him better? Or is he putting his revenge plot aside to fulfill Ai’s last wish? Perhaps this too will be explained in a flashback? 

We also see how Aqua has been planning the movie throughout the movie arc for revenge but this recontextualization of his actions because of the DVDs is executed halfheartedly. We were primed to think that the movie was made to further Aqua’s revenge scheme but during the movie arc itself Aqua changed his mind on what the movie was going to do because of the DVDs. This behavioral shift from “Aqua making this movie to take revenge on Hikaru” and “Aqua is now making this movie to fulfill Ai’s last wish” doesn’t come across clearly. We don’t get to see the different directions that the movie took within production that makes it clear that Aqua’s objective has changed at all from after he watched the DVDs.

It could also be the case that Aqua thinks that Hikaru knowing that Ai really loved him all along and he killed her will break Hikaru better, but pulling that now when the trigger of the DVDs have already been pushed is just a cheap way for the manga to have its cake and eat it too when such a direction wasn’t properly built up beforehand. Aqua at the time wasn’t able to get a grasp on Hikaru’s character as an adult so he might’ve moved on from Ai’s death completely. If Hikaru didn’t approach Aqua with this interview he might’ve never known that Ai actually loved him though this movie. What was Aqua’s plan then? Just go up to Hikaru and straight up tell him after the movie premiered?

Of course, maybe some or all of my criticisms will be addressed in the later chapters. This is the final arc where everything gets wrapped up, after all. With all the lingering threads—Yura’s murder, Nino’s involvement with Hikaru, and arguably even how Hikaru masterminded Ai’s death—still in the air, I hope that we’ll get getting some satisfactory answers alongside some chapters that don’t make me want to dip everything written on the pages in red ink.

[sueske]

i’m not sure what the last ask really meant but mentioning how the definition of annoying is bent to appease to their ship reminded me of ss being like “why is it okay for sasuke to call naruto loser (usuratonkachi) and people can still ship them but him calling sakura annoying should be a deal breaker?” and then the replies going “yeah, we see annoying as an affectionate pet name for her” .… i don’t even have to explain how those two are completely different things and entirely different contexts but it’s another instance of them trying to steal from naruasasu’s dynamic, again. they really can’t help themselves.

I think by the first bit they meant that sakura accused naruto of coming in between her and sasuke and not knowing anything about her which made him annoying to her, but that's actually what she ends up doing to sasuke - inserting herself in his life without knowing anything about him, and by her own very definition this would make her the annoying one. which sasuke does refer to her as. and ss shippers try to twist the whole 'you're annoying' phrase into something positive when it's not used in that way.

sasuke first called her annoying when she mocked naruto for being an orphan. the second time was when she confessed talking about her own feelings, saying how revenge won't make sasuke happy or her happy (to which sasuke said I knew it) while likening her loneliness to sasuke's own. the third time he called her annoying was during her shippuden confession when she wanted him to stop what he was doing if there's any little part that cares for her, that they could go back to how it was when they were together in team 7, despite that sasuke very clearly did not want to go back. sasuke called naruto usuratonkachi on different occasions in part 1, like teasing banter. and the only time in shippuden when he called him usuratonkachi was at vote2, after their reconciliation, because sasuke finally allowed himself to call him that. actually I found a great post with receipts but honestly even if ss do see manga panels fuelled by logic and accurate translations they'd still find a way to twist it so.

I know this, you know this, the rest of the fandom knows this. ss shippers wishhhh ss had what sns have which is why they steal tropes from sns and try to make sakura important to sasuke in the way that naruto canonically is.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Volume 2

It turns out this series is super out of print and rare. My library only has the first 2 volumes, so I'll be reading the rest after this one online (if you want to buy it it's like $80-$100 per volume!) It's a little bit of a relief honestly, because the volume that I got from the library is pretty crusty and battered. I think I saw some dried shredded cheese on some of the pages 🤢 Really shows who the audience is.

Ch. 8

This manhua has really bad continuity and no sense of space. Characters will just pop out of nowhere. Culumon is the worst offender, but in this chapter there were a bunch of dramatic scenes between Rika and Renamon and then it just randomly turned out that Takato and Jian were watching the whole time but not saying anything? Riiiight.

I was really confused at the end and thought that Yamaki was saying he created a digimon but it was actually a really clumsy flashback to the original digimon programmers. Confusing panels...

Ch 9

Wow, the Devas arc already, it obviously felt like it took a lot longer to get here in the anime. I wonder if they'll do all the Devas or condense them/do some off screen?

At least one thing that's nice about this manga is that I can take in the Devas designs without them jumping around too much.

Ch. 10

Some of these jokes are flying over my head. Takato tries to name his group of friends "team rock" and he mentions "a skinny guy on TV who talks about the power of positive thinking." I wish they would cut out the unfunny, outdated material and just tell the damn story >:/

Worst boys Hirokazu and Kenta show up to reestablish themselves as part of the party...yaaay

Didn't realize that MegaloGrowmon was called WarGrowlmon in the dub. I guess it is kind of nice to keep the naming conventions more consistent. "Megalo" is sort of a weird prefix (megalomania?)

Ch. 11

I'm still obsessed with Jian's computer that can read trading cards as if they were CD-ROMs. I wish that technology existed!

Two perfect evolutions in one chapter? Pretty rushed but okay...they still looked cool. (Taomon and Rapidmon). I think the Wonderswan card game rot my brain a little cuz when I saw Rapidmon I was thinking about all the option cards I could use with him.

Ch. 12

Other than my fave Antylamon, I think Indramon is the most memorable of all the devas. His design is really unique, he's massive, and he kicks the shit outta Impmon. I like his emo hair too lol

When they realize that Hirokazu's homemade blue card works I'm surprised they didn't move onto a counterfeit card making scheme after that. I just it only works if it was made with pure intentions or something.

Ch. 13

Why is Juri's dub name "Jeri" when "Julie" was right there?

Damn, they really killed any suspense with Makuramon's intro there. In the anime he's presented as a kid at first but here they showed him as a kid but then slapped the name tag "Makuramon" right next to him...

They skipped a bunch because Juri just magically knows that Guilmon exists. They showed Hirokazu and Kenta meeting him, but not her. Oh well, I guess.

Ch. 14

Calling Juri, Hirokazu and Kenta "groupies" is pretty funny, not gonna lie. So accurate.

I like that they're clearly ID-ing each deva as its corresponding zodiac animal. I think there was a little bit of that in the anime, but not as spelled out as it is here. Usually I don't like to be spoon fed, but there's something satisfying about them saying "that's the boar, that's the monkey, etc."

[system-of-a-feather]

I'm glad you're going hogwild on Bleach rn. It was also a major part of our childhood and development, and I feel like there's still a ton to get out of it, even from an older perspective. (Not trying to sound uppity or anything, I really love Bleach.)

What do you think about the idea of Ichigo as a CDD allegory? I don't think he was written with that in mind, but reading through the manga, there are a lot of scenes that make me go "hmMMMMMM."

(Never watched the anime, lol. Manga-only)

Funny you should ask that question. I have actually already made a very important post on the topic of Ichigo as a CDD allegory. /hj

Honestly though, I think its one of my favorite "not intentionally a CDD but very relatable as someone with a CDD". Like I'd have to get further into TYBW and later cause I know they expand and drop some lore secrets about the dynamic of the part (I was gonna edit that to be more accurate to the world context of Bleach but I felt that term is telling about how I feel about the allegory XD) that make up Ichigo's soul and shit.

I know a lot of what is revealed because as good as I obstained from a lot of spoilers, I actually heard a rumor that Hollow Ichigo isn't seen after the Aizen-Karakura town arc and I was so distraught at that that I let it be something I got spoiled on before it was announced that it would continue. At the time, I thought it upset me cause I thought the hollow stuff was cool, but that reasoning didn't really make sense to me because I was actually like *sad* in a "no thats not fair or right, hollow ichigo deserves to live too" which in hindsight, I realize was probably some not-entirely subconscious "no don't just delete and erase the existance of a part of yourself!!! You should make friends with them and make them your best ally!!! I want to see more HIchi and Ichigo interact ;w;"

and also

like

lowkey I had a Hollow Ichigo introject in my head that I didn't know about for the longest time so it was probably pretty personal

But personal shit aside, I honestly really do like it. I mean to some level - especially early in the series - its a lot of "oooooh spooky evil alter" vibes, but honest to god - and this is a controversial opinion - I think we need more nuanced "evil" alter representation rather than the elimination of the "evil alter" trope because shitty asshole alters exist and are actually common and I think its a lot more meaningful to show how two completely conflicting and otherwise aggressive towards eachother individuals can find a middle ground and empower eachother. Which is what Bleach does particularly with Ichigo and his hollow self and UNIRONICALLY the whole Bleach arc Ichigo has with his hollow self is incredibly similar to the "arc" that XIV and I had which, go figure. Me the Shounen Boy Optimist protagonist and a literal hollow ichigo introject had a similar arc to the Shounen Protagonist and Hollow ichigo. Do you see the shock in my voice?

Honestly if I have time and feel like it (unlikely since I don't often have time) I might put a longer opinion / discussion on it, but honestly, even outside of Ichigo, I think the way Bleach handles Zanpaktous and even stuff like Lillynette and Stark is just a really fun way to have a lot of plural / CDD adjacent themes and vibes without necessarily even being an allegory.

The idea of being able to have a manifestation of your soul and the power it has take a sentient form and the bonding, communication, and collaboration with said manifestation being the key to increased power and skill development is just??? The coolest thing?

Honestly I think Bleach has subconsciously informed a lot of how our system is structured and interacts in more ways than we are probably cognitively currently aware of and I think to some good level that whole just general vibe probably plays a role in it somewhere.

But man, I love this show. I honestly am genuinely thinking of returning to my natural autistic instincts and just chronically watching it whenever I dont have anything else to watch because I really DONT need to have a variety of shows to watch and honestly if something aint broke, why ever change it /hj

I can have a comfort anime smh

[dentwy]

number 7: here is greenwood

GREENWOOD!!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay i'm cool. "here is greenwood" is a shoujo manga serialized in hana to yume from 1986 to 1991 written and drawn by nasu yukie. in 1991 until 1993 it got adapted into a 6 episode ova and this is kinda where it ends i feel. i wouldn't say it has had any kind of major impact in the medium, the genre or any major group of individuals, but god i do think it did stir something inside me.

i either tend to gravitate towards stuff that isn't particularly popular, because i'm trying to come off as cooler than i am or simply because it just happens naturally. couldn't tell you, but finding that one little thing you end up enjoying so much without anyone else seemingly caring about it is always fun regardless of your personality. turns out it's a lot easier to become the biggest fan of a thing no one has seen, you know. a bit like becoming the world record holder of a game no one has cared to speedrun, it's just funny.

picking out what consists of "my favorite shows of all time" isn't so easy once you've been watching media more seriously after a while, those starting years will definitely shape you up and become a major part of the main stuff you like. even if you fully know it's bad, you hold it close to yourself because it was there at the start, and it's always nice to think back on that. so, it often happens with me where i certainly enjoy something enough to think of it as "this could be a favorite, but does it deserve the spot?". not even sure right now if greenwood deserves it, but i don't know if it matters that much. i decided to make a list of "favorites that aren't favorites" because of greenwood and even if it doesn't stay there and goes up into the list, it sure means something.

ironically, i don't quite think this show came out as a surprise to me as i'd been hyping myself up before even getting into it. it did, though, take turns i wouldn't have seen coming and i'm glad for that. these days i honestly tend to watch anime based on the soundtrack and it's no different here. the soundtrack showed up in online platforms on september of last year, which is around where i found out about it since i already follow nagata shigeru (even if i haven't even seen ocean waves, he just makes good tracks). my first mention of it over discord was me getting mad at my bank while i was dealing with my phone insurance after i tried reading one piece and got my phone stolen 13 pages into the first chapter, but that's a story for another day. i just said "this is the soundtrack of me killing a man" with a link to shun's theme , which is honestly accurate for any man killing activities. in context however, there's a bit more to the story.

this is why, to anyone caring to read, i want to do the longest and probably only essay / analysis / backtrack / retrospective / whatever the hell for "here is greenwood" you will find online. i HAVE to be that guy. otherwise, what have i been obsessing over this thing for around a month? the show has 6 episodes while the manga has 11 volumes (although viz squished it into 9 which is better), so i'll be basing myself on the pacing of the anime in relation to the manga, back and forth between them so the chapters match up. the manga does, however, have more stuff to it throughout half of its runtime so it's gonna be a lot of that i suppose. although, and i'll get into it later, the anime seemingly ends up being the more enjoyable version of the two. otherwise, skip to the tldr in bold letters to avoid reading the long ramblings of a crazy man skimming through a show and manga you probably haven't seen and read.

we begin with the hero of our story. he doesn't really have anything that would actually make him a hero, he's just a teenage boy just starting his first year of highschool at ryokuto academy. his name is hasukawa kazuya and i don't blame people for making him the least popular of the 4 central characters on myanimelist, but he's still technically the main character. our dear boy kazuya is moving into the ryokuto dorms, because it turns out he's kinda the unluckiest guy you'll ever meet. his older brother just married the girl he had a crush on, and since they don't have any parents left, they're all living under the same roof, something he simply can't stand anymore. he took the entrance exam for this prestigious boys only school and managed to get in, but in the process he: almost got ran over by a car while he was visiting the school, barely managed to take the entrance exam since the trains were stopped by a blizzard, had his acceptance letter delayed in the mail, and got an ulcer the day of the entrance ceremony that forced him to stay hospitalized for a month. even if god is against him, he persevered, and finally got in.

kazuya is hot headed (almost literally since he's prone to getting nosebleeds), overly serious yet still a bit of a goofus. he's not particularly smart, but he proves himself with the sheer effort he can put into the things he wants to achieve. he often feels like he needs to be stronger and grow on his own, failing to rely on others, as he doesn't really like getting pampered either.

he is introduced to the dorm head, ikeda mitsuru, and the president of the student council, tezuka shinobu. the two most popular, best looking, and important members of the dorms, currently on their second year of highschool. these two are the ones that will introduce him to "greenwood", as they call the dorms, since the full name is kind of a mouthful.

inside room 210 rests his roommate, which he's quickly informed is, in fact, a girl. according to them, kisaragi shun was born a girl, it's just that her birth certificate and every record lists her gender as male. by this point, 8 minutes into the first episode i'm already clocking out. i understand we're talking about japan here and it's the 1980s (rest assured, this becomes more evident as it goes on), but i have the sneaking suspicion that gender identity can't be this series' forte. from my understanding, hibari-kun does tackle these topics in a proper manner and it was also a manga from the 80s, so perhaps it's not completely unheard of. besides, shoujo manga isn't known to be scared of tackling stuff the rest would never dare, but still. me, the audience, and the guy on screen, kazuya, are being informed that he absolutely must keep this fact a secret from the all the boys at the school. if he does not, there will be consequences. added to the fact this guy is seemingly pissed off at his brother for not being "manly enough" since he "works as a nurse" at this school (and also the fact he got married to the woman he liked, even if she's at least a decade older than him), we're not looking too hot. whatever, i'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

3 days go by for kazuya living with a girl in his room, often going outside to let her change, being uncomfortable at night and trying to ignore people's comments of his situation. he finds out, however, that it was nothing more than a farce. shun isn't a girl, he's just a cute guy with long hair. this dude got tricked into thinking otherwise only so everyone in the dorms could bet on how long it would take him to figure out. "damn! i lost... if only it took one more day..." you hear a guy in the background. greenwood, refers to "a nest for bandits and villains" which is all this place is. as much of a prestigious school as this may be, it doesn't speak for the people actually attending it.

there's the guy that sleeps with his motorcycle, the club used to devote their time to a made up religion, or the duo that rent out their room as an arcade. the main trio that will share their time with kazuya stand out as much as anyone else, if not more, so we should get into them.

shinobu (on the right) is the son of a prestigious family. he's calm and collected, devious and cunning. not a lot seems to change his expression, as he's swift and decisive yet his has his mischievous side as he often enjoys messing with people, and specially his roommate. mitsuru (left), is the handsome, aloof guy that simply loves giving kazuya as hard of a time as he can.

shun, aka the most popular character in the show, is a confident, assertive and strong willed young man. it just so happens he kinda looks like a girl. it is very often played for jokes, but not once does he mind it and finds enjoyment in it himself. he is, in fact, "a guy with a gender", as you could say. he leaves his hair long because he likes it, he dresses up however he feels like and often more feminine because he finds it fun, and he just knows who he is and what he wants to be, which is highly respectable. i was mentioning earlier about his theme and it's honestly pretty fitting for the guy, there's something magical and cheery about it that really sticks out, while having a tone of that seemingly feminine side.

these four are the rag tag greenwood team, getting into trouble, helping others and messing with each other. guys that maybe wouldn't usually be friends with each other, but it's always the time and place that will bring people together.

most of volume 1 isn't too dissimilar from episode 1, they change around the order of some scenes for it to make more sense and remove or add dialogue for it to flow better, but most of the main events stay intact. kazuya's main goal is to stay far from his home to avoid thinking about sumire, the woman he loves and his now sister in law. this is what he's in greenwood for. it's not as simple as "running away" from it and his feelings, but trying to come to terms with it, get distracted, and find himself. the main overarching theme of this series is moving past a love that was not meant to be. whether it's by moving away, making new friends or finding new love, the goal is the same. ironically, the people around him don't really allow him to move past so easily, since his brother is still around all the time, his friends kinda make fun of him for it (because it is funny) and sumire herself is so oblivious to it that it keeps stabbing him in the heart which, yeah, i get it.

not sure if you, dear reader, has had the experience of being in a dorm with other people, or going through a moment of unrequited love, but it doesn't get any realer than this! for one, living with people close to you for a while is just a nice experience. always having people to rely on, to hang out with, to talk to, at any given moment. almost to the point you may start depending on it. as a matter of fact, the room i shared with other people for a bit was 211, the same one mitsuru and shinobu are in! for the other, trying to move past something like that isn't the easiest. in fact, it may just be the aftermath that's the hardest and that takes the longest, that is, finding the same feeling somewhere else. filling that spot with something new, or someone new. cannot really blame a guy for trying so hard to change his life around.

kazuya decides to stay in the dorms for summer vacation, as he insists he does not want to set foot home, and sumire decides to pay him a visit. not only her but his brother kazuhiro also plays fun with him at times simply because he likes to see his reaction. he's kind of a goat, but he does genuinely care for his brother. later he's informed he can't stay in the dorms for winter holidays, which is what forces him to go back home for once.

half of the first volume doesn't get adapted probably to improve the pacing, although the extra chapters also don't feel too substantial to the story overall. in one of them the lights go off at the dorms and a couple of girls get in, which they initially think are ghosts, only to turn out they're not. it's not that exciting of a chapter and the show does a better version of this a bit later on. besides, i believe that not showing as many female characters in the ovas works better for the series, as opposed to the manga which starts doing it more often from here.

after kazuya goes back home for the first time in a while, the boys meet up out in the city. here, they find a strange looking girl being tailed by men in suits. it only turns out this girl is "nitta mieko", an idol that simply wanted to get some free time for herself while her agency wouldn't let her. uh, she becomes a bit of a prominent character throughout the manga, while she doesn't really appear at all in the anime. to the actual plot itself, she doesn't do a whole lot, she just comes and goes from time to time. not much against her, it only feels like she's just there.

for another chapter, they're already on valentine's day, meaning they will get chocolate. shun mentions he's straight and he had a girlfriend already which the rest find strange, i suppose. both mitsuru and shinobu get all the girls from other schools to wait outside and throw chocolates at them, to which they run away from. kazuya has one girl that's a bit obsessed with him, yet he doesn't remember her name nor who she is. she mistakes shun for a girl, so she gives up on him quick, though. i'm a bit iffy with this chapter because even if it is supposed to be a well known fact that mitsuru is constantly getting girls to ask him out (and he's generally also unlucky with said girls) the anime doesn't actually show much of that, unlike the manga. i don't think this is bad though, it's more of a thing they just say but never really show as you're kind of invited to fill in the blanks for yourself. since it is only 6 episodes they obviously skip around a lot of parts of the year, and i don't think it's quite necessary to see everything they do, as getting a glimpse around their life is all you need to understand how they're doing and what a random day in greenwood can be like. the manga almost incessantly needs to show both mitsuru and shinobu as the popular guys and since we're talking about an all boys school, even if they are popular, it doesn't feel like it's something that should happen so often and at such a big scale, in my opinion.

kazuya also simply not knowing who the girl that has a crush on him seems off and a bit too early. i suppose his mind is still focused on sumire, sure. so, he's probably not ready to move on that quick? even then, the situation kind of presents itself in front of him and he simply fumbles it for no major reason, he simply does not know the girl from his previous school.

the final chapter sets up the next volume, where mitsuru gets abducted by none other than shinobu's big sister. the anime does a funny thing here on episode 2 where they kinda tell you "go read the chapter for context" but it doesn't really matter. the episode centers around shinobu's sister, nagisa, kidnapping shun's little brother, reina, who obviously looks like a little girl because feminine looking boys is a staple of the kisaragi household. this is, in turn, a direct sequel to the manga chapter.

nagisa hates her brother because he's kinda just better than her really. she's stuck up, pretentious, demanding and selfish. since they were little she always wanted to be seen as the superior one, and because shinobu doesn't give a damn about anything, he never really cared about whatever she tried doing to him. part of their father's favoritism towards shinobu must certainly come from the fact she's a woman, i will not deny that, and she has the right to be mad. she's still an awful person though and only wants her to be the one to inherit the family business. so, to "take revenge" on him, she decides to kidnap his friend. genius!

part of the volume is dedicated to them finding out it's her and then going to save him. in the process mitsuru tries to escape and makes fun of her. he ends up with only his underwear on to, uh, make it worse for him? i guess? in the process of escaping mitsuru gets his face cut which was supposed to be something they planned on doing to ruin how pretty he was or something, but apparently mitsuru has superpowers so the skin on his face simply fixes itself instantly. now, greenwood isn't scared of the supernatural, weird things will happen. but having his face regenerate is a bit too much in my opinion. i think it would be a really solid joke for him to "suddenly be fine the next page" instead of it actually and legitimately being superhuman. would play on the meta and sell the ridiculousness of it even more. which seems even weirder considering nasu loves to play with meta jokes. she will often draw herself commenting on facts or details that don't really make sense so she can address them herself, or have the characters directly refer to her or the manga as a whole. in this same chapter in fact, she mentions how it doesn't make sense that they're still in their first and second year of highschool if holidays are already over. i think some of these jokes are fine, but nasu loves doing it a little bit too much for my taste.

anyway, what the anime does instead, as i mentioned, is have shun's little brother be the victim. nagisa decided that she won't deal with boys anymore and only cares about girls now, so he picks up reina instead (unbeknownst to her that he's actually a boy). i think this take on it is better, since shinobu ends up knowing what the deal is way faster and manages to figure out a plan for the rest of the boys to follow. reina does, too, mess with her and her agents by asking for food and to take a shower, which gets weirder than it should! these guys kinda get really flustered about the supposed little girl they've kidnapped which is extremely weird (one of them even trying to peep while he's taking a shower!). nagisa is also really weird about it at the start but we know for a fact she's a terrible person so whatever. it tries to follow with the joke that people often mistake the kisaragi boys for girls, but it could've been something else, you know. specially when it's grown ass adults we're talking about, but whatever, it's still a fun episode. all of this ends with shinobu giving his sister a final warning, effectively pointing a gun at her and saying he was gonna take care of her this time for sure. only to turn out it's a toy gun. a little detail that stands out at the end of this episode, in a strange way, is mitsuru making fun of kazuya for developing a crush on igarashi miya, a girl from an all girls highschool that will become relevant later. it's a bit funny because by this point they have never shown the two of them interacting, and the first time that he will see her is later on in the anime. however i think it's mostly working as a little nod of foreshadowing, as the events in the ovas don't really seem to be in chronological order.

what is honestly surprising is the chapter that follows this, still on volume 2. a side story about two guys from the dorms in room 117 ending up as a couple and finding out they're gay. i'd honestly recommend just reading this chapter, as it's surprisingly good and i'm almost left wishing they had adapted it. they sure do the "but it can't be, he's a guy!" / "there's no way i'm a homosexual!" and sure, one of the two guys also does look like a girl, but it's cute and well handled in my opinion. throughout both the show and manga kazuya stays as the guy that like, simply doesn't know gay people exist, i think. he's not inherently homophobic, i'd say. he's always genuinely shocked as if he doesn't know what just happened, almost to the point it's funny. it simply does not process in his mind and he resets.

next chapter is about girls from another school taking pictures of mitsuru with his shirt off because it's too hot? and shinobu has diarrhea. the one after that, the boys go to the pool. everyone there thinks shun is a girl (as usual) so they ask him to go into the women's dressing room, and the lifeguard gets disappointed to find out he's a guy, but their outfits are sick so it's fine.

we continue to see kazuya being the one taking care of dorm head duty since mitsuru is away for the week. reina rolls up to the dorm and he's actually way more of an annoying brat than in the anime. kazuya lowkey bullies the kid and thinks shun should be rougher with him, or something. he still kinda has that thing of being disappointed that his brother isn't tough for whatever reason.

volume 3 starts school sports festival, not a thing we see in the anime. shun is dressed up as a cheerleader, kazuya is the fastest runner alive, shinobu set up bets for each team. typical stuff. later we see a girl show up at the school because her girlfriend was going there to see someone else. every single one of the boys absolutely loses their mind at the sight of a "real lesbian" who they thought was nothing more than a myth, and then it just turns out the her girlfriend saw mitsuru dressed up as a woman as part of the festival event (which they never even showed) and she was interested. rest of the volume is mieko showing up again asking for a favor because someone is trying to assassinate her, the boys celebrating new year's, a kid trying to figure out if shinobu is evil to get into the journalism club, and the motorcycle guy getting a real girlfriend.

a thing the manga definitely does better over the anime is showing the rest of the people in the dorms. although i barely even up remembering their names, they sure are there and have their own things going on. they do become more prevalent and they're part of greenwood as a whole. i just don't particularly feel like they stand out as characters themselves? some of their stories are fine and all but they serve as a bunch of background dudes that chip in at stuff most of the time. while it is cool to see the dorms more lived in, they're also not so important that it makes them feel like they actually matter, if it make sense.

as the manga goes on it starts feeling like a bit of a bottleneck. by no means is it not entertaining, it's simply that it jumps around between stuff that doesn't feel like it amounts to a lot. probably the reason why as i continue explaining things here i go over these chapters with stuff to say about them. next is volume 4 though! so almost halfway through!

this volume shows us the woman that shinobu's older brother (because it seems he has one) was supposed to marry. i believe, she doesn't really amount to much in the story, so i won't even go into detail about her. they go into a flashback with how shinobu and mitsuru met in their first year and fought, to then end up respecting each other. it's cool.

the rest of the volume is half a dragon quest parody and the other half a ghost story. both of these do, in fact, appear in the anime. however, they do so in a different way. in the manga, the fantasy manga parody is really just that, a sort of spin off that goes for a couple chapters. in the ova, the boys at the dorms plan on filming a movie to show at the festival, which is honestly such a cooler idea. they show them going around planning and filming stuff. shinobu and mitsuru even have to go pose for the self insert manga author that uses them as reference for her next manga so they can get the outfits they need. it's a whole process of them showing how they're doing this indie movie at their own school while cutting into the actual scenes of the supposed movie, real neat stuff.

in the other chapters, they go to a hotel shun's family just acquired and stay for the night. it just so turns out it's haunted and a bunch of girls try to get the boys to become ghosts as well so they can be together. mitsuru, however, manages to exorcise them since his family runs a shrine and he simply knows how to do that (?). ironically, he's the one that needs to get an exorcism in the ova.

this episode is one of my favorites by far. the lights go dark in greenwood, just like they did in volume 1 long ago. this time, mitsuru gets haunted by a girl he doesn't know. what's funny about this is that she is just a normal, cute girl and nothing else. she hangs around, talks to them, plays games, etc. fully visible to everyone, you simply can't touch her. mitsuru gets into trouble for bringing a girl into the dorms since he's clearly not allowed to, but it's not like he can do anything about it. he gets really stressed out and consistently asks her to leave him alone (which, wow. rude). i'm almost definitely biased here but this girl is actually voiced by the same woman that does my favorite character in the trails series, so, yeah. she's just really cute and fun and doesn't really hinder his daily activities in the slightest so seeing him get really pissed off about it is entertaining. the way the episode starts is also my current favorite thing ever:

this episode perfectly encapsulates the charm that has me tied to greenwood. the music, the characters, the wacky situations that get oddly real for short spans. by the end of the episode, she reveals that there isn't any major reason for her to be haunting mitsuru besides the fact that he's good looking. she simply hadn't ever kissed anyone before dying, and she wanted to do that. he strictly refuses because he's a little baby bitch and she leaves. instead, a day later, she tricks him by picking up the cat and having him kiss it. except that she's actually not done with him because she still likes him, so she brings a bunch of other ghost girls to mess with them. really funny. again, ironic, how he's the one getting haunted this time and he can't do anything about it.

the two final episodes of the anime are the most relevant arc of the series, which won't happen until much later in the manga. so we keep moving.

volume 5 takes place around the school festival, the one they made a movie for in the ova. kazuya gets tricked into a game of ping pong to see who would get the main role for the play they're doing, while shun does also take part of a different play. basically, we get 3 of the 4 main guys to dress up as women. shun's play is lupin's castle of cagliostro, which did also happen in the anime as an extra special segment at the end of that episode and it's really neat.

the rest of the volume has a new guy show up claiming that kazuhiro isn't worthy enough to be married to sumire. this guy is just her cousin, which is also in love with her, so let's leave it there. at the end they show a flashback into how the two of them met back in college, to then get introduced into the hasukawa household. this flashback is neat overall, it gives further information on how they've been doing as a family of two brothers, and a bit of insight into both kazuhiro and sumire's relationship.

sumire has been with them since kazuya was around 14, while she was in her early 20s, which i suppose isn't too terrible for him to fall in love? it obviously wouldn't work out regardless of the circumstance, but this isn't something they actually ever try to push for or imply it could've happened. not a lot more than teenage love, you know. what is actually fun is getting the news that sumire is pregnant with a boy. it doesn't really shape the story at all, but in the large scheme of things it does try to show the shift between their relationship and kazuya's feelings, which is great to see.

volume 6 has one chapter of shinobu meeting an alien that tells him he has a specimen that looks exactly like him who recently escaped containment. shinobu shoots him and doesn't flinch at the idea of killing someone that looks exactly like him, maybe because he's more of a robot than whatever this alien made could be, but we're still stretching the logic of this manga the more we go.

following chapter is the boys playing baseball against a friend of mitsuru's, fun chapter. the dorms move on to the next year, and they do actually start their second and third year of highschool. kazuya is the one becoming the dorm head this time, either because mitsuru likes to mess with him and / or because he does genuinely respect the guy. kazuya isn't too sure himself, though. some new students show up like the kid from singapore who they keep trying to explain things to as if he's some sort of otherworldly being, and he also shows signs of being completely clueless on how stuff works like not even knowing what a school trip is. i asked someone i know if this is true and they said that people in singapore do know what a school trip is (as i assumed), but sure. the school trip does happen, where they meet mieko once again and she asks mitsuru to do some modelling for a tv ad. this becomes a whole thing with mitsuru not being sure whether or not he wants to do it because like, his brother will think that he's only doing it to attract the attention of his "real parents" because actually he feels that he's not really part of his family since he's adopted? it's weird, the adoptive part will come into place later (although it's not that big either).

in volume 7 kazuya's nephew is born and they need to take care of him because sumire was gonna give them a couple of tickets for the ice ring. in the ice ring, two girls try to trick shinobu and mitsuru into becoming their partners because they need a couple to do competitive ice skating, or something. the conclusion is shinobu saying "why doesn't one of you get a sex change?" and they think it's genius and leave it at that. hooray for surgery. there's another three side stories with an edo era spin off, the boys going into the kisaragi onsen, and the duo in the arcade room getting cursed by an evil videogame you have to beat in one go.

it doesn't end with, but midway through we got the start of the main final arc, the one with igarashi miya. miya is a girl mitsuru used to know back on his previous school, she seems to be a bit of a delinquent that got into trouble with some girls over turf conflicts. she needs a place to stay for the night and tries to get help at greenwood. kazuya insists in helping her and offering his room even if it's strictly forbidden, because he sees something in her eyes. there's a certain sadness and uncertainty he's not sure about, so he wants to know more.

she explains to kazuya about her situation, and it turns out, she's not as tough as she seems. she doesn't like that people see her as a delinquent, she's not strong, she's a bit of a scaredy cat and is always trying to keep herself from crying. in the process of helping her and getting the girls from the other school to stop annoying her, kazuya realizes that, whoops! he kind of likes her! unfortunate for him, she already has a boyfriend. she does really insist that he's a good guy since he's always been there for him. on the other hand, kazuya wonders why was it because of him that she turned into a delinquent, or why doesn't she ever feel loved by him. she feels that he doesn't like her for who she is but rather he believes he likes her because they've always been together. not a lot he can do about it though, as he doesn't really have an excuse to see her again.

the anime doesn't change much here, the episode starts with kazuya already dwelling about her as they usually do with these episodes, starting with the aftermath of the events and recapping on what happened to them. i do like this, i'll say.

volume 8 is the last one before overlapping with the final episode, so it's mostly filled with extra chapters. there's one about a boy not going to class because he hates one of the teachers, another one with mitsuru getting tailed by a girl (again) who loves the made up version of mitsuru she imagined while seeing his commercial, devilwood again with the dragon quest fantasy manga parody, and the sports festival once more. the thing i like about the sequel to the sports festival is how kazuya gets into the track team to distract himself from thinking about miya, which seems to work for a bit. not essential, but realistic.

another one of the chapters is him falling off a ladder and landing in an alternate dimension where everyone is female, which is actually kinda fun, if not a little bit short. they call it "cherrywood" instead of greenwood, and there's actually a version of this they had the voice actors record as part of the drama cds. there are a couple of these mainly for the special chapters like the sports festival and stuff, they're neat. once kazuya comes back to his world the boys in the dorm keep dropping themselves off the ladder to see if they can go there as well so it's pretty funny.

i think the girl that was obsessed with mitsuru is somewhat a different version of the ghost girl from episode 4, although this one gets so mad at so many things he does that he legitimately cannot go around doing anything without having this girl break into tears, so it's funny i'll let it slide. i insist that having mitsuru be overwhelmed by girls all the time doesn't give the vibe of the "all boys dormitory life" that most of the series tries to push forward, but only some of them wouldn't hurt too much, i suppose.

we arrive to the final volume, as well as the last episode. had you been reading and watching these alongside, you would have a decent grasp of all the activities these people have gotten involved with. the thing is that, the 6 ova episodes released some time after the manga was already finished, meaning that it's not like anyone actually expected you to go back and forth between each other. it would be impractical to do so anyway without knowing what actually gets adapted and not. i've seen people mention that the way these episodes are formatted makes it so only a fan of the original manga would be able to enjoy it, with how much time is skipped between each one. i can't really agree with this point, as it is very much structured in the normal episodic anime way, only with some details here and there that probably don't end up being super clear since they weren't addressed but don't actually hinder the overarching narrative or actual character interactions. after all, these dynamics work well enough on their own to be used in whatever situation they get in. it's not that the manga does not do this, but it often feels like they're there to fill time rather than to simply entertain. more often than not, the chapters feel disorganized, same-y and as if they don't have any major purpose to be there than simply "what if x thing happened". it happens, and it's over. probably not inherently a bad thing, i guess it's a matter of presentation after all. ironically, the manga may just feel like more targeted towards fans than the adaptation, as it really takes a long while for these relationships to grow and develop. if i get too many details, it'll get stale and won't feel like i'm really learning much until something major happens. if i just get the core elements, i can build the gaps myself. less can definitely be more. dudes will be dudes, after all.

in that regard, the episode starts with kazuya helping out at mitsuru's house. the place used to be a bigger temple, but over time the land was reduced and the place isn't what it used to be. not a big deal for them though, as they still maintain the place. it's a nice family of 4. mother, father and siblings. sho, mitsuru's younger brother is only a few weeks younger than him, as by the time they found mitsuru outside their house, it had already been a little bit since he was born.

adoption is usually treated as a careful subject matter, but i don't really think it should be. throughout the manga, mitsuru has his moments of doubting himself, his past, where he comes from and his family. he cares about them and they care about him, specially his brother, but there's always a weird air to it. since he is the older son, he would be the one to take over the shrine, which he's not really sure if he wants to do himself. his mother makes sure to tell him that he doesn't need to worry about it, he should just do whatever he wants to do. his brother misses him, but he needs to focus on himself too. sho seems to be angry at him because mitsuru mentions how he is trying to go live on his own as soon as he can. this is where we get a little bit iffy.

from what i am able to gather, mitsuru feels indebted to his family. they aren't blood related, so sure, he loves them but he knows that they had no right to take him in and they did anyway. it's not that they actually show any sign of it being a pain on them or anything, he is just a son to them. i suppose he feels bad for taking his brother's spot for the shrine, but he doesn't even need to take the place if he doesn't want to. so, in the end, "wanting to leave home as soon as possible" is kinda just a normal thing i believe. i mean sure, deep down it's probably because he doesn't want to be more of a burden, and even if he's not he still wants to make their life easier. this is fine. he makes it such a bigger deal than it should ever be, though. his brother gets pissed at him and his response is "i'm not trying to be an outsider, i am an outsider" my guy what are you saying. kazuya goes as far as to ask him if he ever thinks of his blood related parents and he says no, so what is even his deal? mitsuru wonders to himself if you can still be family even if you aren't blood related, kazuya says that it's love that matters. unfortunately this is literally where this ends and it will never be brought up again or be concluded, because miya appears in front of them. it's unfortunate that it doesn't really get any closure, i feel exploring the meaning of family, specially with kazuya's situation being a thing, could be a really cool addition to the series. nevertheless, it doesn't happen. mitsuru just says that, he feels like he has to leave home as soon as he can, his brother doesn't like this mentality, and that is it. not even the manga chooses to explore this further, that's all there is.

they bump miya and his boyfriend tenma on their way back to the dorms, kazuya still sees that expression in her face, as if she's about to cry but she's holding back. now before getting ahead of ourselves this guy isn't abusing her or anything, he is kind of just a dude. not the best dude, but a dude nonetheless. miya has been wanting to say thanks to kazuya for a while, but she never gathered the courage to go visit him and say thanks. she would go nearby the school and then run away, never sure herself of why she was doing that. this time with the opportunity right in front of her, the only thing she manages to say is "i'm sorry". inevitably, this almost kills kazuya and gets him sick for a couple of days.

"sorry" doesn't really cut it. sorry for what? she didn't do anything. kazuya decides to give her a call after his brother convinced him to. his counseling is essentially: "you shouldn't care about the other guy, focus on yourself", which is fair enough i suppose, but i think a situation like this is very much gonna depend on who you're talking about. kazuya doesn't want to ask a girl with a boyfriend out, no one wants to be the guy that steals someone else's girlfriend really. but you know, there's something going on here too, as she doesn't seem particularly happy with him either. i think this brother bonding is a good moment for the two of them, although not the most particularly touching. kazuhiro is a fun guy, he is confident and he would do anything he needs to get the girl he loves (he did, after all, get the girl his own brother loved). it does come off as a little weird piece of advice from his part, but it works in context so that's all he needs to call her. she does, however, say sorry again and hang up instantly.

"i heard hasukawa got rejected by that delinquent girl", no! he hasn't even said anything to her! so the guy decides to wait outside her school to see her. he stays for a week until he finds out she was hospitalized, they find where she's staying and she's already gone. he sends her a letter but tenma grabs it before she can read it. luck is never on his side. persistence, however, never fails. a little bit of a bizarre thing here, tenma explains how "you need a special permission from their parents to date the girls from this school" which i don't - know, if it's a real thing or not in some japanese schools and honestly i don't even feel like looking it up right now. they both leave and run away from kazuya, leaving him alone.

then, on their way home:

which is an excellent moment, although my favorite part of this is how loud the trains are it's so funny to me i can't even begin to explain. tenma is a bit of a self centered prick, he mostly shows off his nice side but he's the guy that wants things to go his way all the time, you know. he didn't particularly do anything wrong, he's just a bit of a toxic influence on miya. he's the reason she became a delinquent so maybe he would care about her more (or get scared and dump her), he's the reason why she doesn't feel loved or particularly pretty, he's the reason why she's so sheltered. having a guy like him that won't let you do the things you want, always holding your hand and trying to keep you "safe" isn't part of a healthy relationship. kazuya is the one that incites her into being herself, opening up, finding her strength and dealing with her weakness. "i'm with you", is what he replies to her once she tells him how he feels. it's about finding that person that will be there for you, the one that will always be around and, most of all, love you unconditionally.

the rest of the manga has a little bit of the aftermath and how the people at greenwood are doing. it, once more, doesn't stand out from the crowd. they're not bad chapters, they're fun. the story is already over, though. the final chapter is actually nasu drawing a bunch of reader requests she never got to do and kazuya inviting some of his friends over to show them around greenwood and work on a project (friends we have never ever seen nor have been mentioned before now, but whatever). here is greenwood in all its glory.

if you didn't care to read all of that, great. this is the tldr; greenwood is about finding that next opportunity. mainly in love, but in most things in life. the anime adaptation takes things in some fresher directions, streamlining the experience and focusing on what is important. in the span of 6 episodes we get to know these guys, what their deal is and how their relationship works and shapes who they are. some more than others, but meeting new people you care about and will be there for you when you need it (for better or for worse) is what makes us human, and what inevitably helps us grow as people. grow out of pains, grow into understanding others and what makes us who we are.

there's something special about the serenity behind it all that i can't quite put into words, hence why i didn't go into much detail. the backgrounds are often soft and share a clean palette with a watercolor texture to it that makes it feel like a never ending dream. compared to the manga in this case, nasu's art is nice and specially with the covers and colored pieces, but it does take a while for characters to particularly pop or look like themselves as they often suffer from the same face syndrome shoujo manga can be known for. color goes a long way into helping battle this. the manga does also often rely on jokes that maybe aren't as funny in the current age, so there's that too.

the music helps sell the impact of it all, with the magical orchestra that follows around the almost play like scenarios that overcome greenwood on a daily basis. as the subtitle reads "under the tree of memories", like looking back on the moments that mattered the most and shaped the future. the theme of greenwood echoing behind this feeling. some of the other songs they made for the show sell the fun of it all as well i'd strike a comparison with ocean waves considering it's the same director and the same guy doing the music, but i haven't actually seen that so there isn't anything i can mention.

in retrospect, 6 episodes isn't really a whole lot. there's 3 of them that center around some plot and then the other 3 are extra content that focus on whatever the hell they felt like. it's obviously not something for everyone, i'm not gonna come out and say this is a must watch or anything like that, only how i feel about things. stuff doesn't need to be deep, it can just be for self fulfillment. it's often the mindless things that get the most enjoyment out of me, being there to have a good time before anything else. exactly what they do here at any moment, picking out a day at random and making the most out of it. a day where any one of these bandits will get into trouble and they'll come out of it with a smile.

i could wish it was a bit longer. maybe add some of the chapters with the other boys at the dorms, add the part with kazuya's nephew and then him entering the track team and idk, maybe the one with mitsuru and his commercial to actually give an ending to his whole adoptive family thing. alas, this is what we get, and i will not complain.

had it been at a different point in my life i watched this, i probably wouldn't care as much. it speaks to a part of me i hadn't learned about years ago, and would probably only look back on fondly into the future. those things that happen and make you rethink stuff for a good while and, in turn, open your horizons. so, feeling identified with media and connecting with stuff is a bit of what we do this for, i think.

[lostcryptids]

no one is going to read this whole post i just have to like write it down because it's so insane crazy the world of city hunter movies is so baffling, like idk if other manga/anime series have this level of strange stuff happening movie wise maybe they do? there are multiple theatrical movies: .357 Magnum, Bay City Wars, Million Dollar Conspiracy, then the newer ones, Shinjuku Private Eyes, and Angel Dust. Multiple ovas/television movies The Secret Service, Goodbye My Sweetheart, and Death of Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba. Ok all normal Then there is the world of live action city hunter movies which are like. City Hunter 1993: hong kong adaption of the movie starring jackie chan (? never understood it's bad casting honestly) but also, i've read that he didn't like the raunchy humor which is like, 90% of the humor, so they cut a lot of it out of the movie. this is a pretty normal adaption despite not being that accurate. jackie chan also dresses as chun-li from street fighter in this movie Saviour of the Soul 1991: this is the most bizarre thing i could imagine, this movie was released in 1991 making it the first actual "adaption" of the material despite it being like...the only thing i can say is martial arts fantasy au? and to make this even funnier there is a second movie that has nothing to do with the FIRST movie so i have no idea what this even is anymore. The second movie has a character named the Devil King and is about "a special block of ice that is said to contain the life essence of immortality" like idk this seems like the FUNNIEST possible adaption you can make of a crime/slapstick story about a guy who always has a boner? i see so many people praising this movie saying it has like amazing action and story and costumes but that's so freaking funny why is it city hunter au Mr. Mumble 1996: UNOFFICAL hong kong adaption of the manga/anime. like holy shit hello all the characters are here..the MAIN character is in the same outfit from the anime...how does this not get you sued badly. But funnily enough it looks like the most accurate hong kong adaption. because there are three of them. and the one that copies the most is unofficial and unlicensed. wonderful world we live in i think its just so funny Nicky Larson et le Parfum de Cupidon 2018: since city hunter aired in france with a very bad dub it has a very large following and so there is a live action movie for it over 30 years after it was first published. everyone is french. pamela anderson is in this movie there's a kdrama series but it isn't anything like the source material apart from the name really so i dont think it counts also it's annoying because i always see it all over when i want to se the anime oh also there's a live action adaption of the city hunter alternate universe sequel series............there's so much stuff here Finally they are finally planning on making a japanse adaption and it's going to be on netflix. in 2024. i think that's it.

[drippingheart]

howdy, worms and germs. this is an indie rp blog dedicated to Getō Suguru and Fushiguro Megumi from Jujutsu Kaisen. my portrayal is both anime and manga based. manga events will not be spoiled.

! ! ! themes present but are not limited to: violence, gore, abandonment issues, childhood trauma, depression, mass murder, child soldiers. this is not to say all my threads and headcanons will be violent or solemn. I do enjoy the light hearted side of friendship and bonding, but the trauma of being a jujutsu sorcerer is very important in my portrayals.

also important : I do not condone Suguru's actions. this is fiction. I love delving into his psychology and motivation. I try to understand it to a point, but his actions and mentality are not a reflection of mine. I am pro villains; their accurate portrayals are interesting.

𝟎𝟎 details on megumi. 𝟎𝟎 details on suguru. 𝟎𝟏 promo. 𝟎𝟐 megumi visuals. 𝟎𝟐 suguru visuals. 𝟎𝟑 plotting call. 𝟎𝟒 memes. 𝟎𝟒 meme call. 𝟎𝟓 character study. 𝟎𝟔 alternate verses. 𝟎𝟕 introspection.

Rules are below the cut.

I’ll spare you anything long winded though these are definitely subject to change and certainly up for lengthening in the future!

—   𝟎𝟏   I run a mutuals only blog. If I follow you, I want to WRITE with you. I don’t collect followers and like to keep a tidy blog of people who interact with me. Since you’re reading this, that means you care enough to do so. I won’t bite your head off; please feel free to send memes or hit me up for a thread idea. I often clean up my follow list through soft blocks.

—  𝟎𝟐   I don’t write one liners or semis. The more you write, the more I’m inclined to reply rapidly. Quality and quantity fuel my motivation! I truly enjoy world building and scene progression, so novella length threads are sought. Plotting and winging things are equally enjoyed, however for lengthy and detailed threads ( esp crossovers ), plotting is preferred. I have a plotting call linked above.

—   𝟎𝟑  This is an 18+ blog as I am nearing my thirties. I don’t foresee posting NSFW images, but I write heavily graphic scenes thus don’t feel comfortable writing with minors. Any suggestive aesthetics or sinday memes will be tagged as " after dark .".  I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I don’t want to make any of my followers uncomfortable. More regarding potential smut is below.

—  𝟎𝟒  I don’t have any triggers and don’t tag any triggers. Threads are generally rated M, but I can go PG-13 depending on who I am writing with. I do not shy away from violent and graphic scenes fyi; I really enjoy writing them actually! I encourage you to message me if you would like to write out something extremely graphic. Violence aside, smut may make an appearance. It is not the goal of my writing. If there's chemistry in the thread and between the writers, well ... who am I to say no. In the case of potential smut, aging up characters is fine; I know some people are sensitive about this. Smut will only occur with male characters as I am gay in real life and choose to depict Suguru and Megumi as gay, albeit not openly.

—   𝟎𝟓  When it comes to ages, I think it's vital to keep character ages canon. Yeah, JJk is great with all the lore and action, but the ages of the characters and the soul crushing and life threatening lives they live is the heart of the series. What everyone goes through as a child and as a teenager is incredibly vital. The only time I think aging up is alright is in terms of smut. Having said that, I'm not opposed to writing crushes or romances during their teens. 

—  𝟎𝟔  I do moderate edits and formatting. Formatting isn’t a deal breaker with me honestly. I prefer length over pretty aesthetics. I do ask that you cut posts; I won’t be following if you don’t cut your posts or fail to tag your posts — all of your posts especially your ooc and negativity posts.

—  𝟎𝟕 Crossovers are loooooved to other animes/mangas, video games, to shows and movies. Do not be afraid to reach out with crossover ideas. I am also very much interested in AU threads especially involving Suguru since there is a lot of potential with him. So far, I have FFVII verses written up for both of the dudes. Provided interest, I will write up verses for Bleach, Castlevania, and the Witcher among other things. 

—  𝟎𝟖   As stated earlier, currently I am all caught up with the manga. For those who are only watching the anime, I will not incorporate any manga elements in our threads. I do not openly discuss spoilers for the sake of other people. If I do discuss anything that may be considered a spoiler, it will be tagged as "jjk spoilers ." Headcanons and drabbles including the events of the manga will be tagged with the aforementioned tag.

—  𝟎𝟗   Regarding Suguru, it is my preference to write him just as Suguru not as Kenjaku, however I am not opposed to it for the sake of an interesting thread. On that similar note, I am happy to write Suguru as a teenager and Megumi as a little kid for any relevant threads.

—  𝟏𝟎   I encourage you to like the content you see. If you like the images, headcanons, songs I post, you are more than welcome to like them. Do not reblog my personal edits, headcanons, and even images I find and post ( still tag with art credit ) unless I have tagged you in the post. You are also welcome to tag me in posts; that would make me very happy! When it comes to memes, please reblog from the source. PLEASE.

—  𝟏𝟏   When it comes to asks/memes, I treat them as independent little snippets. Sort of like insights with some or no background information. Sometimes I write them intentionally vague because it's what comes to me at the moment. I do not treat ask responses as starters, however you are more than welcome to continue a response of mine if you like it enough! Also, I have an ask box call linked above, and you are always welcome to like and comment it whenever you want to be sent things. Seriously. You'll never pester me. You can like request ask box things 24/7.

—  𝟏𝟐   IMPORTANT — I am a firm supporter of people being able to write whatever the fuck they want. This is all fiction; people tend to forget that. I will never judge someone nor post anything to harm/bash someone for their choices. Let people write what they want just as famous writers do. There's really no difference except famous writers get paid to do so. This is a creative journey, bruh. Images used in my banner were found on an ai image website. Don't like that? Do not interact.

[quincyhorst]

Some Concering Things About (Manga) Samuel Mayo: The Post

Some add-on to the previous Samuel post. This draft was originally meant to combine his profile analysis too, yet that ended up being dispersed in previous posts. So this will be focusing only on manga!Samuel and few stuff I originally wanted to say on his backstory.

Overall... Samuel in the overall Yabuten manga is weird. He just randomly goes to bully some keeper children just because of their nationality (🤨), shoots twice to flex on them, and gets humilliated in BOTH occassions. And worst part is that we just don't see him again...

But while I was reading his chapter, there's some particular things that stood out with me.

First off the initial context; Samuel comes to Endou during his quest of catching 100 shoots. When he appears, he seems to inspire fear on the crowd, to the point one of the passerbies straight up introduces him the following way:

アイツは激しいプレイでたくさんのケガ人を出しているあぶないFWだ！ He is a dangerous forward who has injured many people through his intense play!

DeePL translates this phrase quite differently, but I do believe that Google Translate's the more accurate one, mainly because the word "ケガ人" means wounded person. Either way, I feel like you know what's going on: Samuel has injured many, many people on the field, enough for even some random to know about it. Worrying.

(He also very rude towards footballs >:( )

Also, said previous passerby also tries to warn Endou when he accepts to catch Samuel's shoot.

あいつのシュートは危険だ！ That guy's shot is dangerous!

For a non-player to be THAT worried of Samuel and his aggresive play, it makes one wonder 1- How did RM pass to Liocott on this specific scenario, BUT ALSO 2- Why Samuel does keep his position on a national selection. Seriously (Unless he got a red card and this is his way of coping. LMAO)

One last line that honestly concerns me a lot comes from Samuel himself after he uses his hissatsu Dragon Ground/Land Dragon/whatever.

荒ぶる牛をも倒すこのシュート。 "This shot can knock down even a raging cow."

...I genuinely don't want to know HOW he came to that conclusion. I really don't want to.

I'm aware this is Inazuma, the franchise where 13 year old bear killers exist, plus some instances where animals are fought on by other characters. And to add, we're ALSO at the Tenya Yabuno manga, where things are more hashtag hardcore. So it wouldn't be too surprising (Although horrifying) that in that Ina11's Spain there might have happened the situation of literal soccer bullfighting.

I mean, in the same manga Endou brings a bull to train... Who knows, maybe Red Matador did the same too, but it went south (?

Either way, I think that's all what we gotta say about Samu for now. If his manga profile truly shows the personality he's meant to have, then that's... Something to say the least. Specially when removing the backstory I did for him. I actually don't know to say if I like him or not.

But hey... Remember that every medium of Ina11 tends to play by its own rules at times, so... You don't have to worry much if you want to go a different route than what's shown here.

Personally, in my setting Samuel is a bit too rough when attacking, yes, but not enough to cause actual injuries. </3

...Okay, bye for now. Here's a random happy Samuel for ya >:D

Bonus.

We in Spain are called 'red matadors'.

...