#first chapter is teru's perspective

[m00ngbin]

TFS TUESDAY TFS TUESDAY ITS TFS TUESDAY

Ft my cat and also the Teru plush sitting in my car. He's supposed to be there so that I'm not driving by myself but since he's not alive and he can't talk he sucks at his job

[phantomrose96]

So I'm one of those people who had to take a break reading ABoT. Part way through reading I thought of that writing advice that goes something like "look at the current scenario and figure out how things can get worse" and decided ABoT was applying that advice with both fervor and finesse. It had me hooked through multiple all nighters and it wasn't until, ironically, the ending of chapter 37 where Reigen is standing in the remains of the Mogami house that I stared at the next chapter button and realized I would absolutely not be able to handle more, mentally or emotionally, if this fic kept following the previous advice. So I set it aside for a month to recover, tentatively poked into the next chapter tense and ready for things to continue spiraling, and gradually started to relax and unravel until...well, you know. I remember having to put my phone down and take a walk with the reveal of everything that Ritsu had incidentally caused (even if the blame can be pinned on basically everyone in some measure, but that's a whole other essay in my notes).

When I reached the current cliffhanger, I waited a scant day before starting all over, this time slower, more careful, and with a more analytical eye. Not for critique, but because I was confused. That writing advice from before, I'd seen it implemented both poorly and skillfully, and ABoT used it with a finesse I've yet to see anywhere else, and I had to figure out how. What made what can be boiled down to a high stakes wild goose chase so compelling? Why couldn't I put this story down until my emotional limit couldn't handle any more? How could I learn from this and make my own writing better? What did this have that I clearly lacked?

I don't think it was until after Teru's and Ritsu's first fight that it clicked for me. I stared at that scene, then my own characters, and realized I'd written two of my own meeting in a similar fight and had neglected any form of consequences. My characters became friends because of a mutual friend. Because that was the end goal I wanted. I had that omniscient knowledge; I knew I wanted them to end up as friends, so I wrote the most objectively logical decision to make.

Except. These characters aren't objectively logical. They make the decisions that look the best to them in the moment, even if those decisions are bad, or horrible. A character who's been soundly beaten into the ground by another won't so easily become their friend, even if their opponent is the nicest person ever. There's distrust and fear. They're going to make bad decisions. Things weren't getting worse for the sake of getting worse. They got worse because of the direct (bad) decisions of the characters.

Once I realized that, I was struck with such violent inspiration I wrote something like 11k words worth of scenes and revitalized my own love of writing in a day. I was so stuck on the end goals I forgot about the struggles in between. I had gotten so focused on grand, overarching conflict, I forgot how compelling it can be to just have two characters punch each other in the face. Too much of my writing had stuff happening around the characters instead of happening TO or BECAUSE of them. I had forgotten character conflict, and when I started writing those flaws, I couldn't stop. I was having too much fun!

Sorry for rambling about my own stuff, I just wanted to convey how much impact you and ABoT have had on my own creative endeavors. I've been inundated with too many stories, fics, movies that occur on such big planet-wide scales with dire, multiverse threatening levels of conflict, that when presented with a long form tale of a kid desperate for his missing brother, told from the perspectives of a small, well developed and spectacularly characterized cast, in a single city, told with stakes that made me care more than any threat to the world, it was like a breath of fresh air. So I guess this is a thank you for ABoT as a whole and a thank you for writing Ritsu the way you do.

Unfortunately for him, he's an inspiration.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA YES YOU GET IT YOU GET IT YOU GET IT

ABoT, if nothing else, is a story about its characters. Everything that happens with consequence to the plot can be traced back to a character's own decisions. The characters' wants and needs and actions and faults all come first, and the plot follows accordingly.

(And maybe that sounds obvious.) Aren't stories about characters? But there are so many stories where the characters are just kinda... there. They're blank slates to receive the plot happening around them. Many things they try to do have no consequence. They'll try to take action and the plot will carry on exactly the same as though they'd never even tried, because the writer doesn't want to figure out how that character action might matter. Or a character will do something awful and the plot will just brush past and forget, no consequences or continuity, because the writer had their fun in the moments but now they care about getting the plot back on track, and that would be annoying to work around. They create stories where you can't put your excitement and investment in the characters cuz you just... can't trust they'll matter.

The most important thing about ABoT, to me, is that the characters are making it happen. The good, the bad, can all be traced back to decisions characters had the active choice in making.

I have plenty of fun joking that ABoT is one of those "oh my god it keeps getting worse!!!" stories, but I never ever do that by just dropping random terrible things from the sky. It's always the characters. It's them and it's their consequences of everything they've set in motion, or fought against, or allowed to happen. It's always a thread, thoroughly traceable, spawning from character actions which drives everything both good and terrible (and SUPREMELY terrible) that happens. It will always be the characters.

And I really, truly believe this is what I'm doing to make what is ultimately a wild goose chase featuring less than a dozen people worth reading. When Ritsu fucks up, it's worth caring about because you know this will impact the course of the story. When Reigen succeeds, it matters because he does have a grip on the reigns of the plot and has the chance to better this for everyone. When a character does anything, it matters because is about them, and what they're desperately trying to achieve.

And when a scene isn't about "an action with a consequence", it's still a scene with a point. For any scene I write I always make sure I can answer "what's the point of this scene?" Mob and Reigen reopening Spirits and Such isn't about to barrel the plot forward, but it's hearty and important character development for them. It's the "why should I care about this future being snatched from their grip" when everything goes wrong.

When everything went bad bad around chapter 32, and tumbled worse for many chapters to come, it was me finally tipping over the first domino in a chain of dominoes the characters themselves have been setting up since the start. It went bad not because I arbitrarily decided to fuck with them, but because everyone's actions carried consequences.

Even with ABoT's WORST possible outcome, where Mogami comes out the victor with everything he wants, all others crushed beneath him, this will mean the ruination or death of about... 10 people. A blip on the news. An "oh isn't that sad?" when a second kidnapped son never makes it home, when a conman goes missing (not noticed until a month later when the rent comes due), when a police officer kills his wife and himself, when an orphan kid vanishes off the map from Black Vinegar mid. And life would carry on. And the sun would still rise every day. And no part of this would end the world.

But if I'm doing this right, I want that outcome to feel like the end of the world. I want it to feel worse than that, given what a quiet and unsung tragedy it would be for all these personal efforts and struggles and desperate reaches for betterment are snuffed where they stand. Because they tried and it mattered and they failed anyway.

It IS just a wild goose chase centering around a kid who wants to have his kidnapped brother back, and it's 350k+ words to me.

dfjkdfnkjdf so anyway, I am very clearly super thrilled you were able to see this! It all ties back to character weaknesses and strengths, consequences of actions, irrational responses to situations fueled by character, and not by logic, and the audience knowing that what these characters do will matter. I love stories where humans are messy. I love stories where the tragedy happened because of them, where you can trace the thread back and find exactly how it all went wrong. I love clashing personalities. I love character spirals you can see a mile away and yet you know exactly why the character did that. I love yelling at the pages while knowing that realistically, this character wasn't going to do any better than that. I love knowing exactly how things could have been avoided, and knowing exactly why they happened anyway. I love seeing consequences stick. I love seeing characters matter. And I'm goddamn thrilled you feel that way too and that ABoT could make you find the way to do that in your own characters!!!

[mari-lair]

Idk of u read the new chapter yet BUT these two panels look ODDLY similar...do u think teru and natsuhiko have similar powers or something?

I have a theory that is very out there, but since you asked my opinion...

Not only do I think there is similarity to their powers, I would go as far as to say Natsuhiko is part exorcist.

Exorcist blood has always been special. We see Teru open a gate between boundaries in chapter 70, and Yorimitsu used his blood to make a contract with No.6, so their blood has influence over the supernatural.

Natsuhiko is treated as a normal student, a living being: Everyone in Nene’s class can see him, he is part of class 2-D, and acts as if participating in the school festival is normal, unlike Sakura.

There is also this official art of him with a sword, which so far in the manga only exorcists have 'weapons'.

Natsuhiko does not exorcise supernaturals though, he lives with them, many of his quirks making him seem inhuman. And I personally don't think exorcists are fully human, they must have some supernatural blood in their lineage, some deep connection.

Minamotos are inclined to like supernaturals despite being tasked to eliminate them. Hanako is basically the personification of supernaturals to Kou but the young exorcist overall sees him as a friend, Tiara got attached to a Mokke, and even Yorimitsu, who had heavily implied there is something wrong with his emotional attachment, took a liking to No.6. He stayed with the demon on his death bed.

Humans also don’t have fangs, no matter how dramatic the manga paneling can get, only supernaturals and the Minamotos have fangs.

 Exorcists can eat monster's body parts without needing to make a contract, so while they have spiritual energy that is destructive to supernaturals, and resistance to their power, their body doesn't reject supernaturals and their influence.

Exorcists are built to give a lot of damage to supernaturals and protect humans, it is heavily implied their spiritual energy can’t hurt humans, but who can they hurt? Half humans, and themselves.

And Natsuhiko’s blood hurt supernaturals, not humans. Possibly himself too, since it is the first time he actually commented on how it's 'painful' to do this despite being thrown in deadly and hurtful situations a lot. (tho it could just be pain from the cut, I still find it strange he comments it's painful.)

He is influenced by rumors which is a supernatural trait, not a human one, and Minamotos are not affected by rumors.

...Or are they?

Since i’m already going wild, i’ll throw another out of pocket theory here: Teru does gain powers by rumor, that’s where his astronomical popularity comes from.

The other character we are told to be ‘the peak of beauty’ in this manga is Aoi, who was unnaturally beautiful since young, and attracted attention even as a toddler. While Teru seems isolated, not just from an ‘I'm not normal’ perspective.

But he got a popularity jump so big at some point that both boys and girls are interested, able to loudly proclaim their love, his beauty is so amazing it overshadows Aoi's, to the point, someone suggested they made a Teru pavilion. A pavilion that has a BIG line.

His beauty is the first thing we learn about Teru: His introduction is as a ‘handsome and dreamy boy’,  not as an exorcist or any of his main traits, because that’s what Nene, and most of the school, sees him as.

Such hypnotizing beauty mysteriously disappears outside school. He has no fans or stalkers on the streets, and absolutely no one that isn’t from school ever comments on his beauty. Which is not the case with Aoi. 

I know people have always been more respectful to Teru than to Aoi (misogyny is a bitch) but this is not just a change of approach caused by respect, Teru has no admirers at all in the city. Aoi is beautiful outside school too, people can’t help but stare and want her, it is a genuine problem she always had, but Teru, who should make everyone swoon regardless of gender or how weird he acts, is not worth even passing comments, he is treated as a normal guy outside school. A pretty boy, sure, but nothing special.

[2n2n]

Hello, first I just wanted to say that I love your posts and the way you talk about tbhk ❤️Secondly, I know that this question has no relevance to the chapters that are happening, but I'm curious to see your perspective. Do you think Nagisa kunishige-san (the man who attended Tiara festival) will cross paths with Hanako in the future? Or that Kou's father might show up at school? If so, how do you imagine their reactions?P.S: Keep up the good work

I'm kind of hoping Kunishige and Tiara will simply clean up the mess in the school itself either while (somehow...) or after time is done being frozen, because I don't want us to have to bother .... ! I can't really see how dealing with gathering all 1 billion sakara petals out of students eye balls would be necessary to See or contribute to the story, so ... I could see them being our janitors. Clean everything up so we can cut to the chase with the final festival scenes with living 12 year-old Tsukasa and Nene-chan. PERSONALLY, I wouldn't want to go from punching a bunch of owls, to punching an old man, to punching a bunch of trees page by page ... and AidaIro tend to spare us chains of action/fightan, since this is a HEARTFELT toilet manga...

I really actually loved how the Far Shore arc did NOT waste tons of chapters on "what happened to Akane & Teru facedown in that puddle???" and answered all of that in just a few quick wrap-up panels, in the form of Aoi explaining to Nene-chan what happened (which is also, a cute and character-building thing for the girls to share, I much prefer that). It also left plenty of hanging threads to pick up later (not knowing how Akane/Teru got Aoi's soul back from the far shore)...

I've talked about Kunishige and Hanako meeting here. But basically it could go absolutely any way, they could recognize or not recognize, only one of them could recognize, they could care they could not care, they could be irrelevant, they could be gravely relevant, we just don't have enough information. There is nothing to theorize....

daddy could show up at any time and it gives me ulcers... I don't want more Minamoto crap so soon... on top of kunishige and tiara, that's simply too many people in 1 room, I would think it should be spaced out .... he should wait a minute... what a pain it would be to draw panels that full... don't make Aida-sensei draw so many non-shotas at once like that... he should come around while we are dealing with Mitsuba or something and Kou is having a crisis... *wearing a T-shirt that says I DONT CARE ABOUT NOT HANANENETSUKA*

I imagine if Hanako had to see Minamoto dad he would be like, "ugh, another one? why... " like you would seeing another bedbug crawl out of a crack in the wall. everyone get out of my jurisdiction ugh... too many of them... in my school...

[ngmn2002]

Ch 106: Random thoughts part 1

Ok, here we go!

It sounds like a little spooky rumor, doesn't it?

And here I was excited to see who the colored first page would feature… it seems it's just Akane and Teru getting these lately… how lucky.

So, Akane can still move because he is a clock keeper, Teru can because he is a strong exorcist? That's what I still get from what's happening. Hanako moved again... how? Was he helped off screen by Akane or Teru or just moved again... somehow? out of literal shock? or maybe Tsu/his yorishiro being in No.1's boudayr that isn't affected with time

Ok.. I'm done with thinking about these stuff of catching the bad guys or whatever, until some action happens with the one who did it... it will be years. I'm leaving this thing behind.

The way they talked about honorable No.7 with though… poor boy…

Really poor boy, Tsukasa really went a bit too far… huh? Hang in there. Lend him your hanky for a sec Hakujoudai or wipe his tears for him...

…… he looks like he is done with everything… but really… the way Teru is treating him with is just rude. Can't you see the state the boy is in? he is even not a part of the chaos this time, he did nothing wrong. Spare him this time.

I see, so this another reason Tsukasa and his lackeys as Kou puts it had the clock destroyed. Nice way of thinking.

So yeah, I was a bit right, we got Nene monologuing about what happened last chapter. Nine.

What a cool chance to wake up to Tsukasa of all people asking you if you're awake. Look at…?

At this point and after seeing stuff like this for the past few chapters… I didn't go "wow" or anything of that sort... the boundary looks a bit normal, later in the chapter it starts getting interesting, though.

Also, adding this... Tsu...! Tsu...!! Tsu...!!! His level of self-confidence, boldness and capacity... uhhh!!! He [No.7's yorishiro, mind you] is in No.1's boundary as if it's no big deal, having a full day and posing as if he was home. in Hanako's boundary. This boy goes by his own rules, his own vision, he is so free willed and I LOVE THAT!!! HOW COOL!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!!!! HE IS A TRUE FORCE!!!! TELL ME SOMEOEN CAN BE A MATCH TO ALL THAT GRACE?! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!! 💜✨💜✨💜 Not to add he already did this before wit No.3's case, to the point we got a nice shot of 2 yorishrios together, hmm... will we see that happening again with No.1's as well. Gotta look forward to that!

How radiant. Wow… a cool view to wake up to… just saying…

Teach us, Tsukasa-kun! I love it when he gives little lectures!

What a cool face! ♡ wow… right into business… what to do Nene-chan… oh! pretend to be dead! I had a little thought someday of... why not get Tsukasa taking Nene to destroy a yorishiro himself? here it is. all real.

So funny. Love Tsukasa's reaction. That reminds me of this time she pretended to be fast asleep with Hanako back in the p.p arc. Maybe having flashbacks to that thing… I think she wouldn't like to do it again in fear of what might come next?

Tsu!! Uh… I can't stop laughing! You know that isn't the case! You're such a little cutie!!!

Twins… haha. If she was truly asleep, don't think that will wake her up, at least when the reason behind her falling asleep is you, Tsu. ~

absolutely don't waste your time on other unimportant things.

Hmm? Yeah, sure. You're not thinking about other things at all. ~

Ohhh... didn't think Nene perspective- ikemen Tsukasa (+ Hanako) would show up in the chapter... is it just me or whenever I give him a closer look he starts looking more like Teru? Ok, love her little imagination, though I see Tsukasa won't say these things… Nene-chan is so much into manga of such types it seems.

Cute.

Though, I will say I like Tsukasa's cool looks and moves in her little fantasy, really capture the vibe of "bad boy" have to say. Who does he think he is you said Nene-chan… well, it's really easy.

He is Tsukasa-kun! I guess we all know what it means to be Tsukasa, huh? So, good luck, Nene-chan. ~

Uhh... she is too much into manga... she is imagining a whole scenario in there… This "be my assistant".... seriously… so now this word is equal to "lover/girl" it seems? ……. Imaginary Hanako... wow... love how they look and holding into each other... manga way. as if JSHK is not a manga oh... my... love her words at the end, too.

This Tsukasa however, how he is posing... what he is saying… my honest reaction to him is…

I don't like the pose or facial expressions at all. He already said that… didn't look this way at all.

Though, I might believe Nene-chan is putting a sense of reality and a bit of personal life experience into her little fantasy. I mean…

Yeah...

… … … so, he is a cat. Does he see her as a cat, too? I mean… I believe cats bring their close ones gifts like these… well, a nice gesture…

Love the face she is making! Going dead again to think more. Let's see…

A nice way of thinking I must say. Though… Tsukasa did actually speak to her about the yorishiro when she woke up, guess she couldn't help but think about the other thing first. lol

Also, really love how they are walking while holding hands all childish & cheerful. how cute and funny.

how adorable! I really wished to see them this way as Nene & Tsukasa now, and I got it. can't be happier. Next time I would love to see it for real. ♡

And wow, a nice prank she was planning to pull on Tsukasa! though, knowing Tsukasa… I assume she should give much more thought into it? I mean she saw how 'powerful' he can be. Still, a funny little plan! I love how he looked once No.1 supposedly electrified? Him? she actually got that plan coming true herself at the end of the chapter, didn't she? He looked even better than in her imagination. Haha.

Uhh… so funny!! She took lots of steps back!! Hmm… you got that to yourself, dear. if you didn't pretend to be 'asleep/out of it' that wouldn't have happened. I woke up this morning to find my cat staring at my face this way... it was pleasant. not scary at all. At least I love how she didn't give him a headshot like she once did to someone. lol

Seeeee? He is just Tsukasa-kun!

Nene-chan acting smart on Tsukasa-kun! Let's see how the show goes down!

"I don't want to. you destroyed all these other ones,now it's a problem?" pfffft. let's go! I will mention quickly… paying attention to the translation of dbs/manga up... it seems Tsu is saying she destroyed "Some"/"all" yorishiors we got so far... depending on each one I can guess a different case of his current knowledge about No.6's yorishiro destruction.

"you want me to destroy the yorishiro, right? well, I don't want to! – fine, don't. it's your choice, right?~" This thing is actually too funny. So casual and easy-going! Yes, that's the way of talking I love to see him going with! and that gave the girl some serious errors I'm telling you! who is more incomprehensible while speaking with Nene? him or his assistant?

Haha, after getting her that way, he just went...

and here where you know it's gonna go down quickly. ~

lol. This boy this boy this boy!!! How much more amazing can he get? Seriously? That way of talking… oooh… playful manner… moves… facial expressions… oh, yes!!! who wants to run away from you??? if I was in Nene's place I would run right into his arms and say you got me! not kidding. also, good it didn't come to her mind he is a "yorishiro" as well. at some point he will want me to destroy him?!

This boy never disappoints me with his way of talking or unusual (impressive) way of changing the flow of the conversation to his benefit. Admirable!!! ♡

Even if it was just like "you fight for what you want, I will do, too. Mr. You're free to do whatever you want. The choice is always yours." That thing actually reminds me of a movie series I watched in the past... it had this "live or die, the choice is yours" thingy going around in almost every "game". remembering it kinda makes me shiver.

I feel a bit sorry Nene didn't even get a chance to speak in there. At the end, she had to do what Tsukasa wants… hmm… who was going and saying "you'll do what I want"… lol. Playing with Tsukasa is a bit tough, you have to follow 'his' rules. Love that!~

Though, the hand thing he mentioned, I believe he did it just to get Nene to give her best. He won't do that. I mean, surely he is sure he can catch her. he is so good at games, isn't he? Just wanted to have some fun with Nene-chan. How sweet. Tsukasa seems to like these games that take the form of little fun "bets" doesn't he? thinking about that one fic I wrote wizard Tsu this way with fun bets.. haha

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Sooo... have to stop here due to pic limits... part (2)

[aannonn]

[tbhk/jshk] chapter 106!

I already have read chapter 106 yesterday, but since it was already almost midnight in my country, I couldn't do this analysis lol

Ok.. Chapter 106.... God. This chapter was... something lmao

First, let's start with the cover.... Because it's so awesome!

Tsukasa-kun make his entrance after stealing his brother's girl! How shameful...

But- Wait. This isn't the full art, is it?

Now that's the full art! It looks even more good than before! Idk exactly much about art, but I really love the colors palette Aida choose here. It just fits the background, the characters and the aura here!

"A voice beckons from the darkness

But whatever you do, you mustn't respond."

I wonder what could that mean... Hm.. After reading that phrase again, I suddenly remembered what happened in chapter 101;

"A voice beckons from the darkness

But whatever you do, you mustn't respond."

Maybe I am just overreacting and this could mean something else, but it is really suspicious that we still don't know who talked to Nene at that scene, and then there is this phrase a few chapters later, telling the exact same things that just happened in chapter 101.

I'm surprised there aren't many people talking about this, I've only seen a few people talking and theorizing about this hand and who it should belong to.

Some said it's Sakura, others said it's Future/Older Nene, some others said that it's a completely new/different character...

Honestly, seeing how the chapters are going right now and what arc we're in at the moment, I feel like this person could be either someone from the past or someone from the future.

I thought about this person being Sakura from the past, or someone who knew Sakura, and that person might be trying to tell Nene what happened to Sakura in the past. (It's already been confirmed that she is/was a supernatural, so maybe this person is trying to tell Nene about how Sakura died? Maybe something that is related to the festival..)

Idk, just a thought! xd

Back to chapter 106...

Guys.. No bullying. >;(

Poor Hanako-kun... He's being bullied by the cool kids...

(Once again, I love the color palettes!)

Hanako-kun... Is this the same character that fought a decades-old mermaid in chapter 1...?

Is he really that devasted..?

I mean, I supposed it's understandable. After reading this analysis, I think I gained more understanding of why Hanako seems so devastated that he doesn't even try to fight his way out of the restraints that Teru placed on him. Lil' man got ignored by his brother and got his gf stolen, all at the exact same time... Without having the chance to do something about it.

I think he's still trying to process what just happened-

Poor Hanako-kun, not only that his gf got stolen and that his brother ignored his existence completely, but he also had to be dragged around by the 2 people who absolutely hates his guts...

Didn't thought we would see Nene's perspective in this chapter (More like Hanako's or Akane and Teru's perspective), but I am not complaining! Reading the chapter from Nene's perspective satisfied my curiosity that chapter 105 has had put me in.

Well, that's big... Be careful not to get lost, Nene!

Honestly, this place gives me a sense of running through time, which really might just be the clocks, but it's really nice.

Tsukasa was really this impatient to destroy the yorishiro...? Tsukasa-kun, if u really just wanted to destroy the yorishiro and kidnapped Nene-chan for it, why did u kiss her in the first place...?

Hm... I know some people are saying Tsukasa kissed Nene just because he wanted to see Hanako's reaction, but...

Those panels makes me think otherwise, actually.

Why did he look so happy? In a way, it really felt like he was just teasing his brother by kissing Nene, but on the other hand, it really felt like he had been waiting for a while now to kiss her.

The way he shouted "I kissed her!" didn't really seem like he was just provoking a reaction out of Hanako. Especially if we look at the beginning of the manga, a few chapters later, where he seemed very curious if kisses taste like lemon.

I am not saying that Tsukasa likes Nene the same way Hanako likes Nene, I'm just saying that there may be another reason about why Tsukasa kissed Nene.

Maybe that's why he kissed her, to maybe both provoke a reaction out of Hanako, and to see if kisses taste like lemon.

If he actually does have feelings for Nene though, even if it's just a silly lil' crush, that may be another reason on why he kissed her. There are some hints that Tsukasa may have a tiny lil' crush on Nene, but we can't really assume anything.

He completely ignored Amane's existence in this panel too, so I doubt that provoking a reaction out of Amane was the only reason. But eh- Just a thought lol

Anyways! Back to chapter 106!

Why does Tsukasa and Hanako legit looks like Teru... lmao

I will always love Nene's imagination. Always thinking about romantic scenarios, even if it's not the great time for it.

Ok can we talk about how both Hanako and Tsukasa being taller than Nene it's so weird to see since we know she's canonically taller than both of them I think she still prefers taller boys... But Hanako is an exception to that, of course.

Confirmed, once again, that Hanako-kun is the one she loves! Not even his twin can surpass the love she feels for Hanako-kun!

Nene and Tsukasa being besties! Even if it's just in Nene's imagination...

They have such an really interesting dynamic. I wish we could actually see them being besties lol

.......................................I have my doubts. But, hey! You got this, Nene-chan!

I feel bad for laughing when we saw Tsukasa being that close to Nene's face with a tiny smile on his face lmao...

Poor Nene, she's traumatized- I mean, of course she is! She got kissed without consent, then right away kidnapped!

Pretty sure the panel where she got startled was supposed to be a lil' comical scene, but I cannot help but think she's actually traumatized by that, or atleast afraid to be kissed without consent again.

Istg, her trauma is so overlooked in this fandom...

Trying to act cool in front of her brother-in-law, that's Nene-chan for you!

Idk why but I love when Aida draws Nene into a 'ghost' shape lol its cute

There is always a 'but.' in this kind of situation....

Like someone else said, playing tag with Tsukasa must be terrifying... Especially if u know what's going to happen if he tags you...

And basically after that panel, it's just them 'playing' tag xD

It's adorable tbh, if u put away the context of it, that is.

A compilation of my favorite tag moments because yes;

In this compilation, we have;

Tsukasa being clumsy as ever, just like how he was when he was 4. Nene running away from Tsukasa in a incredible panik. Tsukasa playing with Nene.

My favorite moment is this part;

Seeing as how Tsukasa seems to be doing nothing right after Nene told him to stay away from her, maybe he's finally feeling the feeling of rejection..? lol

Or maybe he knew what would happened the moment Nene stepped into that building(?), so he has been waiting for whatever happens to happen.

Just a maybe.

Amazing compilation!

Alright, now back to chapter 106's real plot...

A big owl....

In Japan, by contrast, the owl enjoys a highly venerated status as a symbol of wisdom and fortune. The Japanese name for the bird, fukurō, has an auspicious ring, carrying the homophonic meaning of “without hardship”—the negative prefix fu (不) attached to kurō (苦労)—as well as containing the word fuku (福), or good luck. - Google.

Not exactly sure what could that mean, but apparently that big Owl that appears here can turn people into how they were in the past/can go back in time, just like Kako!

Nene seems to still have her memories intact, despite her returning to her middle school age. Which is quite a contrast compared to how her and the other students' memories were erased as soon as Kako went back in time. Maybe time has to be stopped so she has no memory of what happened before she went back in time…? (In this case, her body went back in time.)

Oh well-

Tsukasa-kun to the rescue! Maybe he was waiting for it to happen, after all. Or maybe he really was feeling rejected back there. Or maybe both.

Either way, congrats Tsukasa-kun! You saved Nene from being turned into a newborn!

:O

Mini-Nene makes her entrance! She looks so huggable honestly-

Now they are matching! In the same universe! That's warmly adorable. And somewhat comforting too, tbh lol

After this chapter... We haven't got the answers we wanted. But atleast we might know Nene's past more clearly now? I mean, she is one of the only characters that we still doesn't know the past of... And she's the main character...

I'll be honest; I was more interested in Sakura, Natsuhiko, and the Yugi Twins' past. But getting the hint that we may finally get to see Nene's past it's cool too! I'm not really sure if we will actually get to see her past on the next chapters, but still find it cool that we may be closer to finally getting to know her past more. To know what other things could she be interested in than only spooky things and have someone love her for who she is.

Welp, I guess that's it for this post lol it's getting pretty long right now...

Bye! ~ Have a good day/afternoon/night, you all!

[larathia]

Chapter 84: Analysis

Behind a cut because SO MUCH TO SAY HERE. And also you should have the option of opting out, right? Right.

* Let’s start with the well. I think the presence of the well confirms beyond doubt that the Red House was first owned by the Yugi family, since Tsukasa first encountered the Entity under the house and the construction of the well is very old. 

I posit that the Red House was built probably in the early 1950s and the Yugi family may well have been the first owners, since the troubles started with them and continued to all subsequent owners of the house until it burned down. But I will concede it could be at least somewhat older than that (I doubt the house predates 1945, though, the war damage was kind of A Lot).

* The order of the jump! I think it pretty solidly shows that Yashiro isn’t the only one Teru doesn’t trust right now. He made sure Akane went down first (as the half supernatural, if his guess was wrong, Akane is from Teru’s perspective the most sacrificable) and then Kou and Nene, which basically kept them in front of him and in sight at all times. 

* The hand! OMG. THE HAND. We learned a few valuable things here. 

1) The ‘eat a supernatural to become one’ is probably the method that Natsuhiko told Kou about, judging by the surprised/kinda guilty look on Kou’s face when Teru brings up that yeah he totally knows about this.

2) This means that Tsukasa’s advice/command to Mitsuba way back in the Hell of Mirrors arc actually applies universally - you eat a supernatural to become one, and then eat stronger supernaturals to become stronger yourself. I absolutely think this will be handy to know later.

* The Boundaries are unstable and falling apart as a result of the Severance. We now have a pretty good idea why One was saying that Six’s methods are ‘extreme’. If Hanako is going to take the fall for this (and let’s be fair, he probably should since he is the reason that Two, Four, and Five were unseated) it’s not going to be a small slap on the wrist affair. Hanako’s choices have severely shaken the supernatural world. I fully expect that to come up repeatedly as time passes.

* Aoi and Hanako. Look, I know everyone really wants to say these two are now totally friends, but let’s be real here. They’re not. She isn’t aware of either of his names, referring to him as ‘Lord No. 7′ throughout the chapter - which is how Six described him. And Hanako, for his part, really does not want to get too close to Aoi. He doesn’t WANT to answer her question about Nene, and when the train jerks to a halt this normally pretty clingy ghost only holds Aoi enough to steady her. He also wears what I tend to think of as his ‘doll face’ when he talks to her.

Eh, I should explain. The face/posture like this: 

Where he’s smiling, but there’s a kind of angle to his head and posture, like you’d get if you sat a doll on a shelf. He smiles a lot in this chapter, but for the most part that smile is the General Hanako Attitude and not the kind he shows when it’s genuine feeling. I’d be willing to wager that throughout this chapter, Hanako’s looking at all the chaos and carnage and thinking “oh, shit. I did this? Oh, shit. This is gonna suck.”

But he’s an opportunist. He’s always an opportunist. And Aoi....what he knows of Aoi is that Nene cares about Aoi, and confided in Aoi as much as she could given the weirdness level of her life, and that Nene absolutely does not want her life extended at the price of Aoi’s. That’s probably enough right there to convince him to at least take a closer look at Aoi. And see that she gets to the far shore and doesn’t disappear, which at present seem to be Hanako’s only options.

He also knows that Aoi is Akane’s huge weak spot and that Akane is both half supernatural and probably REALLY NOT HAPPY WITH HIM. So, y’know. It’s kindness, but kindness with an eye to possible future problems, too.

And what about Aoi?

Aoi knows nothing about this world. And very little about what she herself wants; when she asks herself if she’s going to disappear, it’s worth noting that she’s very fatalistic at first. She doesn’t act like disappearing would be a bad thing. It’s entirely possible that Hanako saved her not because she wanted to live, but because here before her is at least one possible source of answers to a LOT OF QUESTIONS that she has. Remember that Aoi is at the very least the second-smartest person in this entire setting, and may well be the smartest. She only recently learned the supernatural world existed. And then quickly, from Nene’s descriptions, realized Hanako was the guy her friend had been talking about all this time. And from Six, she knows Hanako at least had considerable power/authority.  He’s someone she WANTS to follow, and get answers from. 

And she is so, so smart. Just as Hanako spends this chapter sizing her up and considering her usefulness to him (as an ally, or possibly a hostage) she is in turn sizing him up - and she’s good at people in a way he really isn’t. She worked out that the way to get him to open up was to talk about herself first - and use their mutual friend Nene as her lever. And it worked! 

* Stopping the train. It stands to reason that Teru, at least, has no intention of never returning to the mortal world - ergo, the train damn well better stop. One assumes Teru has some idea for getting everyone back to the mortal world, but it’s looking really likely that he and Akane will find Hanako with Aoi and shit will hit fans.

* Things I wonder. Where’s Tsukasa? Is he on this train too? Would he really have left on an earlier one? (I kinda doubt it myself.) Will Aoi stop Akane from hurting Hanako? Would she even if Akane accuses Hanako of being the cause of her death? Will Nene and Aoi get a chance to talk or will it go straight to the fight?

[wearepurplejackets]

Rereading chapter 71 (because the eternal suffering to me is never enough!) THE SEVEARANCE

Nah, here again because important reasons (like how #JSHK is driving me crazy! Cray-cray.)

I found interesting how the eyes of Hanako-kun is telling us everything we need to know. (Most of the times.) And everything that goes on in his head at that special moment. Let's see it!

First, he hugs her (the creepiest way ever a boy has embraced a girl I guess(?)) and pay attention to the eyes. They are full and darkened the same way as Tsukasa's are when he gets wild. (I can't assume if he is being possessed by something evil like the spirit of the red house, because Hanako sometimes get berserked at some high points in the story.) BUT, what I can imagine is that this happens... when he is lying. When he is hiding something, hiding how he feels and how sad he is. Because he have lost a lot of important loved ones. (Someone take the remote out of this kid's hands and destroy the repeat button!) Remembering the way Amane treated Tsuchigomori when he was concerned about him at the school, about the bullying, about his health... It seems like Amane was someone (really stubborn yeah) who keep hiding his own suffering in order to keep going forward, to fullfil something maybe... but of course, that never ends well.

Let's continue!

Hanako tries to make Yashiro forget him and Aoi-chan because well (deceased reasons)... And also: since when he could do that??? Whatever, Sumire gave that protection charm to Yashiro, so the evil supernaturals couldn't harm her. But I don't think that's the real reason.

The charm activated itself because Hanako didn't have good intentions with her in that moment. Yashiro felt like she was in danger (she even took steps back in another scene) but Hanako-kun is not an evil ghost (just a really stupid one). I really believe Hanako got (A LOT OF) problems, but... he is not being possessed by any sh*t, he knows perfectly what he is doing right now and he never think about how he truly feels or about others perspectives.

(I want to punch him.) He keeps lying with that facade. He wants to protect her at all cost even if that means...

Disappearing.

He is such a liar, because in the end, (like we would know in later chapters, thanks Teru btw), there is a way to reconnect with the 7 mysteries of the school. Oh, but Yashiro is crying and this is when everything starts to fall...

She asked him to explain her everything that was happening, and now again, come back to the eyes. His eyes are normal again, because he is saying the truth now. Without second meanings. And with that it comes the fake smile and how he tries to close his eyes to seem even more casual.

Without showing other real emotions or feelings, so that way his loved ones won't feel bad about him (seriously kid, stop repeating your destructive behaviours please I beg you!) even if they are actually suffering a lot and he can't see it...

Until the blindfold falls off.

Yashiro discovers that he had lied to her (Again kid, again!) all the time during their last adventure and what is worse: Hanako is selfish and never listen to anyone. Because if he had paid attention he would know Yashiro can't accept (his sh*t anymore!) this reality. She can't let her best friend die. And even less if her friend dies instead of herself. She is prepared to just give Hanako the punch of his life but... then again.(THE EYES.)

She can't. Because in that moment she has realised that... she loves him. And even if all that he has done is... terrifying, even if he has done all of it because of her, to protect her because that was the only possible way to save his most loved one... Even if he has sacrificed someone important to her instead, even if he is so dense that he is ready to dissapear in the spot because of her. All of it because of her and his egoistic need to save her.

None of that matters to her.

No, no... no. To Yashiro, losing Hanako is more important than anything. And nothing else matters right-now. "Just: don't go." And as his body is doing, his facade imitates.

The light in his eyes come back in the first panel, the emotion in his face returns finally to be a spectator of what is to come. Because Yashiro is crying and she is suffering and as much as he tried to avoid that, that conclusion was impossible. Because they both feel the same way about each other even if he was trying to not see it, he is understanding it all now too. And he also understand he will never talk to Yashiro... anymore. This is the goodbye and there is no lies in this world that can deceive... the purest truth.

Yeah, sorry if made you cry but eh... blame it on AidaIro. And not me... Well, maybe a litle too. (Also, please support the authors buying their manga in legal platforms or book stores! In Spain we're reading the 6th volume already and we will receive the 7th soon! ^^)

[marveloussupernerd]

Don’t Hate the Player - Oikawa Tooru

Chapter 5: I Like You...

Reblogs are greatly appreciated!

Warning: this also contains some text in between! It’s right after the black line ❤️

Masterlist | Previous | Next

Synopsis: The most popular female gamer on YouTube. Debatably the most popular volleyball player alive. A bad breakup sent you packing to Argentina for new perspective. Who knew the new perspective had a witty personality and beautiful eyes? Tooru only sees a broken girl whose heart he wants to mend — his goal is to be the best neighbor possible... and maybe a little something more

You made your way up the apartment stairs, mind still spinning over the messages from your ex. He was just such an idiot... finally messaging you the minute you were happy.

Then there was Tooru. He was so sweet and funny and he always knew how to make you smile. And he was? Sitting on the steps?

“Tooru? What are you doing?” You asked. He was in an awkward position, face towards the steps, half-leaning against the wall.

“Oh! Sunshine,” he chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was... just tying my shoes.”

“Oh...” you trailed off, obviously not believing such a shitty excuse. His positioning made no sense for tying his shoes, and he was doing an awful job of hiding the grimace on his face. “You want me to wait for you?”

“Nah, it’s alright!”

You shrugged, muttering out an ‘okay’ then went to drop your bag off in your apartment. You made your way back to the apartment stairs a moment later, to see Tooru taking deep breaths, in the same spot he was in moments ago.

“Do you need help tying your shoe or something?” You joked, moving to take a seat on the stairs next to him. “You know, if you Google ‘Oikawa Tooru,’ ‘injury’ is one of the first things that comes up.”

“Wow, how dare the volleyball fans give me away like that,” he said weakly, turning to you to show you a smile.

“Is it your knee?”

He sighed. “Yeah. I fell on it on my way up the stairs. I’ll be okay though.”

“Is this like a, you need to go to the hospital injury? Or like a you need to go to bed and rest injury?”

He grinned at you. “To bed. I’ve had the hospital-type injury, so I can confirm it’s not that.”

You wrapped your arm around his waist, moving slowly to pull him up into a half-standing position, taking most of his weight on the side with his bad knee. “Alright, let’s go inside then,” you grunted, helping him up the stairs and to his door. He went fumbling in his pocket for his keys. “You’re not light y’know, Tooru,” you joked.

He laughed in response. “It’s all muscle Sunshine. Maybe you just can’t handle a strong guy like me.”

“Who’s carrying who right now?”

Tooru finally got the door opened, and you helped him inside to sit on his couch, recliner out so he could put his feet up. “I’ll go get you some ice,” you explained, running to your apartment to get some things he may need. You came back, dumping your collection of items—bandages, ice packs, neosporin, bandaids, tissues—on the table.

“Wow! You’ve got the whole collection. Pretty sure you missed your calling as a doctor.”

You rolled your eyes at him, checking over his knee to make sure there weren’t any cuts or scrapes on it, then settling for just an ice pack and elevation. “You okay? You need anything else?” You asked once you were confident the knee was being well-taken care of.

He grinned. “Nah. It’s like I’m back with my mom. The only thing missing is a Spider-Man bandaid and a kiss to make it all better.”

Your heart skipped a beat, but thank goodness your mind worked fast. “Can you believe they didn’t have Spider-Man bandaids at the store? Well, hopefully this’ll do...” without giving it a second thought, you leaned in, lips gently brushing against his own for only a short moment, then pulled back.

His cheeks were pink and his eyes were wide. He cupped your cheek and pulled you back in for another short kiss. “Yknow,” he started, his voice soft, “This feels so different from our actual first kiss.”

“Well yeah. This time I really like you.”

“You didn’t like me before?” He teased. “You sure seemed to.”

“You know what I mean. This was way more nerve-wracking than our actual first kiss... I like you, really.”

He chuckled. “Sounds like we’re doing everything out of order.”

You pressed a kiss to his forehead, standing up. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m just one door over.”

“You’re leaving?” He whined. “But... we just kissed. And said we liked each other-“

“You never actually said you liked me.”

“I thought my lips made it quite obvious.”

You huffed. He opened his arms wide. “Come cuddle with me. I’ll heal five times faster with you here with me.”

“That makes no sense,” you rolled your eyes, but your legs were still taking you back to him, plopping down next to him on the couch and scooching into his embrace.

“You wanna believe it too though.” He grabbed your face one more time, planting a kiss on your lips, then moved his hand to rest in your hair, slowly running his hand through it. “This is perfect. Right here, with you.”

“Shut up and get some rest, Tooru.”

Taglist: @rileystebbs @lilith412426 @renhold-nightspear @notendoplasm @missalienqueen @namyari lmk if you want to be added!

Sorry this one is a little shorter, but i hope the fluff made up for it ❤️ don't worry teru will show up in tomorrow's chapter!

[the-shoujo-dojo]

Dengeki Daisy Review

Dengeki Daisy was one of the first shoujo manga series I remember reading from my beginner days as a shoujo fan. Therefore I think it only fitting it be the first shoujo review I make.

I remember jumping onto it early on in its run, and following on the monthly chapter releases until its completion. It was the first time I'd had to wait so long between chapters for anything, and I remember the agonising wait after cliff hangers! Without further ado, let's get started...

Dengeki Daisy by Kyousuke Motomi

A review by Shoujo Dojo

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Plot

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Plot summary: An orphaned girl named Teru Kurebayashi is left alone after the death of her older brother. However, through the use of the mobile phone left to her by her brother (Soichiro), she establishes a close relationship with a hacker by the code name Daisy. However, Daisy is much closer than she thinks, and whilst she tries to get on with her highschool life, her brother's past as an established software hacker catches up to her. Can she and Daisy work together to stop the many villains from stealing her brother's work? What is the school janitor Tasuku Kurosaki's relationship with the Kurebayashi family?

----SPOILERS-----

Of course, Kurosaki is indeed the hacker Daisy who watches over Teru as she navigates life without any family left. After she breaks a window, he forces her to help in his janitorial duties, though this is a ploy so he can keep an eye on her. Eventually the two of them fall in love, and Teru discovers Kurosaki's identity as Daisy - as well as fully discovering her brother's past and the importance of the work he left behind.

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Review

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All in all, the plot begins in a typical shoujo way - we are introduced to Teru and her struggles after the loss of her brother, as well as her developing relationship with Daisy. The reader learns early on that Kurosaki is indeed Daisy. I personally thought it was nice that there was no cheesy plot surrounding trying to hide this fact, as some shoujos can often act too "clever" and try to hide the very obvious implications. It is interesting to be able to see both sides of the relationship build as well as be able to understand their development from both perspectives rather than just Teru's.

Villains are introduced throughout the series, often being those who seek Teru's brother's work or the identity of Daisy - though Kurosaki along with Master (Kurosaki's quasi-guardian), Riko (Soichiro's girlfriend before her passed away), and Andou (a former colleague of Daisy and Soichiro) - work alongside her to put a stop to their antics.

The main "villain", however, is later revealed to be Akira - another hacker who is hellbent on finding "M's Last Testament" (which is actually a plot to kill him, as he was an experiment used as a child).

Now, in all honesty the plot of Dengeki Daisy is nothing revolutionary. It follows the general formula of Villain Introduced - Shows interest in Soichiro's work/Daisy/M's Last Testament - Kidnaps/harms/threatens Teru - Is stopped by Teru/Daisy/Kurosaki et al. - Repeat.

However what I think makes Dengeki Daisy charming is its humourous approach to even the most tense situations. Whilst many shoujo manga tropes try to dress these up as incredibly intense and full of drama, Dengeki Daisy recognises the ridiculousness of some of these clichés and often makes a good hearty jab at its own expense.

Teru wakes up in the hospital after nearly drowning in a confrontation with one of the main villains - Chiharu.

The big plot reveal at the end is also something you could not predict from the beginning. The plot starts with the intrigue of Daisy and his relationship with Teru, but then quickly develops further and further into his ties with Teru, her brother, and a much bigger picture. In reality, all of the main characters are caught up in something much bigger than themselves, and the author does a great job of slowly but surely expanding this throughout each chapter. Whilst some villain arcs could be quite easily cut out and not lose much concerning to over-arching plot, they create a gateway into learning more details to help the reader get an idea of what is developing without outright stating it until the final arc.

My overall verdict - Plot: 3/5.

The plot is great and the story will always have a special place in my heart. But it is nothing revolutionary, and does rely on many tropes to move the story along in places.

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Character Development

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One of Dengeki Daisy's strong points is its Character Development. Teru starts out not knowing what her purpose is other than to finish highschool, and her grief over the loss of her brother is a long-running theme within the plot. However, she becomes much more defined outside of the boundary of being her brother's sister and Daisy's protegée and is a protagonist worthy of praise in her own right by the conclusion of the story.

Kurosaki/Daisy's development also comes a long way. Starting off as a silly-but-handsome hacker who is adorably awkward when it comes to his own emotions as well as Teru's, Kurosaki soon becomes a strong and defined co-protagonist outside of his primary role of "brother's hacker friend".

Side characters - such as Master and Riko - also go through significant character development during the story. My personal favourite side-plot was Riko's process of her loss of Soichiro, and she really grew on me as a co-protagonist alongside Teru and Kurosaki. She went from an occasional friendly face to a core part of the group, and she never felt shoehorned in.

Riko is able to finally confront a message left to her by Soichiro.

My overall verdict - Character Development: 4/5.

There are not many shoujos that show such care and commitment to character sub-plots such as grief, loss, understanding and acceptance than Dengeki Daisy. The manga as a whole allows each character to grow alongside the overarching stories without the need for special one-shots or side stories dedicated to them. As a result, I think it deserves a solid 4/5.

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Art

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The art of Dengeki Daisy is not exactly the most fantastical, but it is definitely unique amongst shoujo. It is not shy in showing the ugly and exaggerated sides of its protagonist characters - there are certainly no qualms by the author in allowing its reader to laugh as they enjoy the story. But the most poignant and beautiful moments are highlighted by a sudden shift in the art's tone, from a sharp comical feel to a softer style.

Compared to many shoujo, it definitely has its own unique feel and style which is instantly identifiable amongst other shoujo titles.

Some of the goofier aspects of the art...

...and some of the more poignant.

My overall verdict - Art: 3/5.

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Uniqueness

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The uniqueness of the tone of Dengeki Daisy is one of my favourite aspects of the manga - you can never tell when a moment is going to be funny or serious. In terms of the overall story, setting and tropes, however, I am sad to admit that Dengeki Daisy is not anything revolutionary when it comes to the shoujo scene. For its time, it was a breath of fresh air from overly dramatic and complex shoujo plots that all followed the same, melodramatic formula, but it wasn't the only one to offer this contrast. Other contemporary titles at the time, most notably Ouran High School Host Club, either set the stage or acted alongside Dengeki Daisy's style of comedy, romance, and drama.

My overall verdict - Uniqueness: 3/5.

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Overall Enjoyability

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Dengeki Daisy, despite its imperfections and clichés, was a very enjoyable manga for me. I remember feeling incredibly excited whenever a chapter update released and rushing to read it as soon as I could, only to be left disappointed at waiting another week. I fell in love with all of the characters with their unique charms and personalities, I enjoyed the lack of a tacky second male lead (for the most part), and the sudden shift in art style would have me roaring with laughter or reaching for a tissue. Dengeki Daisy is a highlight of the late 2000s - early 2010s of shoujo manga and rests as a staple series for many shoujo fans who began their journeys around this era.

My overall verdict - Overall Enjoyability: 4/5.

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Final Score - 17/25

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Dengeki Daisy will always be special to me, though I do recognise much of this is down to nostalgia. Thus, the score reflects my attempts to look at the series objectively without my own personal attachment playing too big a role.

I would definitely recommend this series, especially for newcomers to the genre, as it introduces some common tropes but provides humour and well-established plot around it.

All that is left to say if you read this far...

If you liked Dengeki Daisy, and want more like it, I would recommend the following titles:

Ouran High School Host Club

Takane to Hana

Tsubaki-Chou Lonely Planet

Kaichou wa Maid-Sama!

[grandmasterreigen]

Heyyy do u know any more fics about Reigen and Teruki?

blasts into the room because recs are my JAM 

I do!!! there are some really really good ones in the Teruki & Reigen tag on ao3, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few, but these are the ones I remember reading and enjoying. 

Butterfly Effect by Frecklefrog (T / 69k words / completed) 

super super good!! it’s an AU where mob and reigen meet teru way earlier than canon. there aren’t any pairings that I can remember so if you prefer gen fics, this is a great one. it focuses mostly on teru’s pov if I remember correctly, with some from mob’s too. the setting is pre-canon so it’s spoiler free. it’s one of my all-time favorites! 

Shifting Perspectives by mustdang100 (T / 42k words / wip) 

all the former members of claw (and reigen’s esper kids, of course!) banding together to rescue reigen after he’s kidnapped is amazing. i’m a big fan of the reigen/serizawa pairing so this was right up my alley, on top of being really well-written with a solid plot! it’s definitely more plot-heavy than fluffy or angsty, and focuses on a much wider cast of characters than just reigen and teru. it has manga spoilers right from the first paragraph though so keep that in mind 

You’re Not Alone This Time by rayray19 (T / 57k words / completed) 

so this one is more of a teru/mob fic with the primary focus being on them, but there’s a pretty prominent sideplot of reigen basically adopting teru. it’s got a good mix of both fluff and angst. the setting is post-manga so heavy spoiler alert here too 

ah, young love! by dreamsdark (G / 1k words / completed) 

a short oneshot focusing on how reigen helps teru with his crush on mob. so cute!! really fluffy and I felt all warm and happy after reading it 

I Could Even Learn How To Love (Like You) by fireflysummers_ao3 (T / 8k words) / wip) 

I don’t think this fic will ever be finished, but there’s so much good hurt/comfort here! it’s pre-teru/mob (since it’s unfinished), but there’s several scenes where teru looks to reigen for advice and I love it 

Home Video by reiqenarataka (G / 1k words / completed) 

it’s! so! cute! i love the concept of reigen and teru bonding over vhs tapes of old, campy movies. it’s really short but super fluffy and got such happy vibes. it made me smile 

Responsible by piperita (T / 2k words / completed) 

teru goes with reigen on an exorcism job that goes wrong. it’s got those great dad!reigen vibes that i’m such a huge fan of and it’s really well-written! I love teru’s pov and the conflicts with his pride and desire to impress reigen. my only wish is that it was longer! 

Vintage by officialgreaseman (T / 3k words / completed) 

another fic where reigen and teru bond over an ultra campy movie (with the ensemble cast this time)! reigen’s such a great guy and I love how kind and thoughtful he was towards teru. he’s such a dad and it’s great. some serizawa/reigen, too, if you like that! 

There When You Call by Hino (G / 2k words / completed) 

this fic made my heart hurt in a really good way! I love reigen’s solutions to help teru through his panic attack and how teru actually opened up to him about some of his trauma 

On Revelations and Renovations by mustdang100 (G / 7k words / wip)

this is very fresh content if you haven’t been stalking the mp100 feed (like me), with only one chapter so far out but I’m already in love and I can’t wait for the future chapters!! it’s a 5+1 fic of times reigen was called a dad and one time he calls himself one, where teru calls reigen after returning to his destroyed apartment in s2ep13

Parental Supervision by piperita (G / 7k words / wip)

also really new and being updated daily! featuring accidental dad!reigen and a story that’s shaping up to be really good. the characterization is on-point and I love how reigen is really in-tune to teru’s needs

make sure to give kudos/comments to any that you read and like!! hopefully some of them tickle your fancy! 

[twobellsilence]

Fanfic review #5 - “My Destiny, My Destination” by Mei-k

Long time no review, huh? Don’t worry, there aren’t many works left on this page, and I plan to finish talking about them all between today and tomorrow. Not that anyone really cares about these, but shouting my opinions into the void is a good anti-stress measure, I guess.

This time we have My Destiny, My Destination, a 15 part HisaTeru fic. You know, it’s funny - HisaTeru used to be a very popular ship back in the day, but it’s extremely difficult to find content for it now, since most things died off with Geocities and whatnot, and this is the only fic I’ve found so far that includes it.

The premise is simple - Teru is in love with Hisashi, but Hisashi doesn’t seem to feel the same, instead toying with Teru’s feelings to cope with his previous failed relationship… Or so you’d think until you reach the end (yes, this one has an actual ending, thank God AND the Author for finishing it). It’s told from Teru’s point of view, and I’m telling you right now, he’s easily the best part of this fanfic. Teru’s characterization is IMPECCABLE, and as a character he’s cohesive and EXTREMELY likeable. Yes, he’s got his flaws, but you really care for the guy and just want him to be happy because he’s such a sweetheart. His conflict and struggles are real and even relatable to some extent, so you can fully understand what he’s going through and empathize with him, and his personality is a treat. The fic begins when Teru and Hisashi meet and ends after Expo ‘99 is over which, despite being a vast amount of time, is very well managed by the author and used masterfully to shape Teru’s growth and it’s honestly a beautiful sight to behold. He’s not the only good character, though - Jiro and Takuro, while not as developed, are also written quite nicely, with Jiro being Teru’s moral support and Takuro being the guys’ mediator. Personally I believe this decision is kinda off - it would make more sense if it was the other way around, with Takuro being closer to Teru and all, but it works in the story so it’s nothing more than a silly little nitpick of mine. And speaking of side characters, Teru’s wife is great- I really like the direction the author took regarding herself and her relationship with Teru, it’s a wonderful complement to his personality and actions. Her personality is also lovely.

That said, it’s time to address the weakest part of this story, Hisashi. Despite being a HisaTeru fic, Hisashi doesn’t get much screen(page?)time, but even then he’s pretty infuriating. He is a complete a-hole in this and remains like that for a huge chunk of the story, going back to unreasonably hurting Teru when we all thought he had changed. He’s unnaturally smug and extremely cruel towards Teru - he physically assaults him on the third chapter, which results in poor Teddy dislocating a wrist and getting traumatized, going as far as having vivid, violent flashbacks in later chapters. Look, Hisashi being a terrible human being isn’t inherently bad (I mean, it’s out of character and also pretty yikes considering this is a ship we’re supposed to be rooting for, but it’s a fanfic, so I guess taking such a liberty could be interesting if done right), and him acting mean and being rough can actually serve as a key point in his character development - just look at Mako’s work, especially Blue, where Hisashi’s arc peaks when he acknowledges his actions are completely wrong and actively tries to 1) stop and 2) make peace with both himself and Jiro. But in this fic his excuse is that he just wanted to prove to himself that Teru would love him unconditionally no matter the circumstances because it gave him some sense of power?? Sure, he wholeheartedly apologizes at the end and he says he has matured as a person, but the story gives us no tools to confirm if he truly means it - he already tricked Teru into thinking he changed once, what’s stopping him from doing it more times? Really, the story could have benefitted from Teru and Hisa having more conversations, or at least having Jiro tell Teru some stuff about Hisashi seeing as he probably approached him as well - just more tools to confirm that, indeed, Hisashi is deeply sorry for what he’s done and he’s a different person now.

And really, Hisashi and Teru’s relationship here is pretty strained and one-sided, but thankfully Teru handles it like a champ and puts an end to it in the first few chapters, although he’s still deeply in love with Hisa and constantly struggles to get over him. I can’t stress this enough - Teru is just WONDERFUL in here, you truly feel for him. Heck, the only reason why I was happy at the end was because of how Teru felt - he just loves Hisashi so much and the joy he felt when Hisa admitted he loved him too and apologized and asked if they may try again won me over. Yeah, I hated Hisashi, but it’s difficult to keep that hatred in mind when you’re seeing through Teru’s perspective, who has nothing but adoration for the tiny trash man. You actually come to root for the pairing - not because of their chemistry, but because of Teru’s passion.

All in all, aside from the aforementioned points and a couple of technical things (like one chapter where Teru breaks the 4th wall and it’s incredibly jarring), I can say My Destiny, My Destination is a high quality piece of work which I’d 100% recommend, especially if you’re a TeruWota; It has a perfect match for a protagonist, mostly great characters,  an excellent story and LOTS of drama. It works amazingly as a character study for Teru. As a HisaTeru fic, on the other hand… It could be a lot better, but if you just want some angst and don’t mind only one side of the ship being developed to its fullest then you should definitely consider giving it a shot.

[freshmb100fan]

Manga vs Anime thoughts

Episode 9 & Chapter 77-82:

I feel like this world domination arc has much more dialogue in the manga, lots of the villains are talking about the same thing from different perspectives...

For example, chapter 77 has like over three pages filled with Mob trying to talk with the two first espers he finds, talking to Dimple, the two villains are discussing more about that world domination, they’re talking about their powers... there’s so many speech bubbles.

Meanwhile Bones just go straight to the point, I thank them for that.

_________________________________________

Improved 👌 In the manga he just said “No reason to be that stiff”.

_________________________________________

The anime version of this always makes me laugh. ONE usually nails the humor, but for some reason that’s not the case with this arc D: Both when it comes to the dialogue and the art/compositions...

_________________________________________

Instead of making Kenji barge in out of nowhere to report the news, they let Rei tell them in a simpler/faster way.

_________________________________________

o: They skipped the fight of Teru vs the esper that attacked his apartment. Two more espers entered the fight, but I guess us viewers only needed to see the first part. I almost expected them to adapt the fight since it was pretty long - half a chapter. We got an ad break version of the fight instead:

Like Teru said: “One is enough”. 

_________________________________________

The villains are talking... so much... x_x I’m so glad Bones skipped these. There’s enough talking even without these pages.

_________________________________________

The amount of foreign mercenaries (that didn’t like the low success rate of Toichiro’s plan) was changed from 10 people to 5 people in the anime.

_________________________________________

This scene was moved from chapter 79 to the end of chapter 81, between Serizawa blowing away one of the foreign mercenaries and Shimazaki kidnapping the president.

_________________________________________

This esper hired by the government didn’t appear in the anime to fight Shimazaki before he teleported away o:

_________________________________________

And these are the lines that the episode ended with, after the Teru vs Shimazaki fight. In the manga this panel appeared right when the fight was about to start, probably as an attempt at a little joke, but I just felt confused while reading it.

Perhaps ONE was having a hard time when writing this arc, and so he had to rush it a bit. :( It kind of feels like one of those cases as I’m reading it, but who knows.

_________________________________________

Episode 9 sure had a lot of character introduction. Bones be cramming in loads of content, as usual. It’s as if they’re literally not letting a single second go to waste - there’s so much happening ;;

[fabelyn]

Atelo Ch.2

Pairing: minor serirei and terumob (no romance between any adult and kid, not even onesided)

Rated: PG-13 Warnings: spoilers for manga/anime end + Reigen sequel Chapter: 02/? (previous chapter) Word Count: 4k

Link to AO3

Summary: They wake up one morning to find Reigen gone.It’s hard to find a man whose past and history they never knew. They search for him, only to wonder if they should be bringing him back at all.

Roshuto glanced down at the yellowing tomes of what seemed like accounting books and resisted the urge to groan.

When his former disciple had brought in that girl, he’d happily assumed his sworn rival had finally screwed up and she was changing sides for someone who was clearly superior.

Well, his remarkable intellect had certainly hit the mark, partially . After all, what reason other than screwing up was there for the psychic Reigen Arataka to run off so quickly? Too suspicious.

However, the girl had not come to beg for employment, although at least she’d come seeking enlightenment; she’d arrived bearing books from Reigen Arataka’s office to request an explanation for them. Roshuto agreed he could spare a moment of his time to glance at them—perhaps even pick up a psychic signal of his rival’s whereabouts—and was annoyed when he began to peruse and realized they were all just bookkeeping.

Nonetheless, since he did understand some of that, he ploughed on; maybe he’d uncover his rival had been siphoning money out of his business.

“Aha!” He cried out proudly, and allowed the girl the come closer so he could show her his findings. “Verily I see something is wrong here. Take a look at these numbers! He’s claiming these absurdly cheap values are his consultation prices? Clearly, he’s writing down lowered values to keep a large part of the profits—”

“Nah, those are his rates.”

“...Oh.” That was… worrying. He couldn’t imagine trying to live off those prices. His rival must be swimming in clients. Although the books said otherwise. “Let’s see… ah! I see he claims he had two appointments at the same time.”

“Yeah, and now he’s updated to three.”

Roshuto was beginning to sweat now. “And… and here he has a strikethrough on a price and wrote down… carrots next to it?”

“Yeah, sometimes they can't pay with money. The carrots were pretty tasty though.”

“I… I… here! He constantly removes some pocket change and calls it “Mob”. Perhaps he’s been paying an audience some money to react as he wishes?”

“No, Mob just means Mob-kun’s salary.”

“... That’s salary ?!” Even he paid people better. Although a “Seri” seemed to earn a near living wage. He assumed it was the other man that worked there.

“Tragic, I know. But at least from what you’re telling me it doesn’t seem like he was skimming us.”

“My dear girl, I’m wondering why he was even paying you at all, with these rates. Were they always this low?”

“I think so, yeah. Why?”

“Girl, it would take too long to go through the intricate and delicate process that is starting a new business who is as often defamed as the one of psychics. To cut it short: offices cost money to rent or buy, then to maintain. So does the advertising required to kickstart such a venture. Normally one would procure a loan and pay it using the money earned. However, your Master seems to keep his rates low enough to live of off, so long as you don’t have loans on top of the daily necessities to pay. Meaning either someone gave him money to start off, he had money put aside from something, or he’s receiving money from elsewhere.”

“And can we find that out by looking through the ledgers?”

“Perhaps. It depends on how truthful and detailed his accounting is… which, I must warn you, detailed it is not . From just this sample I’ve picked it’s clear he only knows the basics. Although, I suppose, that could mean he would be unable to use any complex techniques to hide issues…” He glanced at the books the girl had brought over; there were too many. “You said these should encompass five years’ worth of accounting? Any detailed analysis will take more time.”

“... How much would that be? This is way over what highschool math is teaching me.”

No doubt . Roshuto calculated the time it would take him to look over the books, considering his current appointments… far too much.

He glanced over the girl again; she looked tired, but not yet defeated.

…Certainly, she looked better the last time he saw her, which was when he forced Rusty onto her…

Roshuto cleared his throat. “I suppose I could… glance over these in my spare time. Consider it as extending an olive branch to my rival. As payment… I’ll take information on what became of him, when you find him.” If you find him.

After the girl left, beaming, he summoned his current helper.

“Cancel any new appointment that may come up.” He glanced at the books and rubbed his hands. After this, I won’t owe you anything, Reigen Arataka.

*

Tome went back to the office with a spring in her step. Granted, the psychic hadn’t given her any answers, but at least he’d promised to work on it, and for free! Reigen would have been proud, if he’d still been around.

That depressed her all over again. And then she recalled Roshuto’s comment and anger surged instead.

She didn’t know how he got the office! She didn’t know anything! That was the worst. Reigen was claiming he was helping his parents and she couldn’t even tell if that was true or a lie fabricated by whatever entity had to be possessing Reigen right now.

Serizawa and Mob might know more, but they were too busy being heartbroken to be any help for now.

Which reminded her; she needed to see if Mob’s brother had made any progress.

As she scrolled through her contacts, an idea came to her, though she’d need the boys to see it through.

*

“Hey Ritsu-kun, how’s Mob-kun holding up on your end?”

He sighed. “My house is still under a storm cloud, Tome-san.”

“Damn, that can’t be good for the flowers.”

It’s not good for anything . “Yes, my parents aren’t too thrilled.”

“What are they doing about it, then?”

“They, uh, told Shige to knock it off with the constant rain.”

“Oh, did that work?”

“….It might have made it worse for an hour. But I might be mistaken.”

“Huh. Is this the first time he’s been this upset? I mean, okay, so obviously his parental—”

“His what , Tome-san?”

“Uuuh, his mentor figure walking out on him isn’t a normal occurrence but surely other stuff has upset him before?”

“It’s rare but I’ve seen this rain phenomenon happen twice before, yes.”

“Well then, how did you guys get rid of it?”

“…He went running to Reigen-san.”

“Well, damn .”

*

Mob flinched when another thunderbolt flashed by his window. He hadn’t meant to make the rain worse, especially after his parents scolded him for it, yet somehow remembering their orders was wreaking more havoc.

Maybe he should leave and go sit in the park somewhere until the raincloud blew over. But first…

He called Master Reigen, who picked up immediately. A sure sign he had no clients currently, which made Mob feel marginally better. “Hey Mob, what’s up?”

“ Master, I don’t think I’ll be able to come over today, I’m so sorry.”

He glanced outside the window and flinched; his mom had scolded him for ruining the flowers… and he could see the flowerbed had become a small pool already.

“Ah? Well, I suppose once in a while I do have to use my own powers, but why can't you come?”

“I… I’m a little upset…” He turned his back to the rain pouring outside his window. “And it’s, uh, making my powers go out of control. It’s been raining non-stop.”

“You sure that isn’t just the weather, Mob?”

“There’s a rain cloud over my house, and my house only, Master.”

“ Ah… well…”

“Anyway, I don’t want to drench your office. It’s bad enough that my mom’s flowers are ruined. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Hm, but it’s raining outside the house, right?”

“Err, yes?”

“So my office isn’t getting drenched. Come on over. Unless you feel more comfortable at home, of course.”

“But won’t it be bad for business, having a rain cloud over the office? And the window was leaking last time it rained, so some water might get in—”

“It’s just water, Mob. We’ll deal with it if it does get in. Besides, you need to think about perspective here. A spirit consultation office with it’s personal eerie rain cloud? Ha! That gives it authenticity . Business will boom. And if it doesn’t, you can entertain me by explaining just why you’re upset.”

“I watched a movie called Hachiko—”

“Say no more. Come on over. I have a new brand of spiritually soothing tea we could try out if you want.”

The downpour turned into a drizzle.

*

“It’s fine, I’ve called the cavalry. What about on your end, Tome-san? How is Serizawa-san?”

“Still down in the dumps. I’ve come up with a plan to boost his self confidence and locate Master Reigen but it hasn’t born fruit yet.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“I created a profile for him on a gay dating app, and added subtle messages to attract aliens!”

“ How would that even— ” The doorbell mercifully rang. “Sorry, let me get back to you later, help for my brother has arrived.”

Ritsu opened the door to a grim-faced Shou and Teru. He was about to offer a towel but noticed they’d used their powers to stay dry.

“It’s bad, huh?” Teru said as a greeting.

Shou looked down at the shoes by the door. “Are your parents around?”

“No, they left for drier ground.”

“‘Kay, we got this, lead the way.”

As Ritsu led them to his brother’s room, he felt relieved they’d finally arrived. While normally he’d try talking to Shige on his own as usual, it was complicated when the issue was the damned conman. Ritsu had had no love for him, and most people knew that, so considering the current issue, he feared he’d be too biased, or say something he’d regret, instead of helping Shige, so perhaps leaving it to Shou and Teru would be wiser.

He opened the door to Shige’s room but chose to not enter with them, instead staying next to the door so he could listen in.

“Hey, Kageyama-kun, we heard the news,” Teru was speaking. “And we’re here to help you out of this funk.”

Ritsu nodded to himself. Yup, he was wise to call on them. All would work out —

“Sometimes parents need some extended time alone away from us, but that’s normal.”

Wait, what? The wind outside picked up.

“I mean,” Teru kept going, “mine left, but they still write. Sometimes. Usually checks. It happens, it’s hard taking care of esper kids, they get tired sometimes.”

The wind was so strong it felt like someone was physically banging against the windows.

“Right!” Shou added. “My mom didn’t take me with her, but she still talks to me. Well, she’s an esper so it’s different, but — ”

I wanted calvary, I called two Horsemen of the Apocalypse instead.

“Are you two insane?! ” Before Ritsu realized it, he’d rushed inside the room.

Mob was hunched on a corner of his mattress, arms wrapping over his knees and head down. Teru and Shou looked at Ritsu like he was the crazy one.

“What’s with you, little brother? Kageyama-kun needs to learn that as an esper, things like this are bound to happen.”

“Right, most people at Claw turned orphans because of non-esper parents. Why do you think Mukai—”

“ Reigen Arataka wasn’t his parent! ”

He was met with twin withering looks.

“Ritsu, now is not the time for semantics—”

“It’s not semantics! Reigen Arataka wasn’t his parent, which is why this is all too suspicious !”

“…What?”

Ritsu was already beginning to regret it, he should not be the one to have to defend that damn man.

…But the wind outside stilled, as if in baited breath, and Mob’s head slightly lifted from the cradle of his arms.

Ritsu sighed. He was going to be mature about this, for his brother’s sake, and say it. He hoped wherever Reigen was, he was suffering enough to justify putting Ritsu in this position.

“You’re saying non-esper parents sometimes leave because they can’t handle esper kids, right? Well, my brother isn’t Reigen’s kid to begin with. If Shige’s powers bothered him, all he had to do was not involve himself with a kid that wasn’t in any way connected to him. Yet he stuck around, for years.” Granted, it was mainly because he needed his brother to bring in money…

Shige had no reaction other than to let his head fall again.

Ritsu hoped Reigen was being tortured right now.

“Look, I… was never a fan of him—”

“That’s an understatement,” Dimple made its presence known by mumbling next to Ritsu.

“He’s immature, dramatic, selfish , underpaid you and is a fraud. But… there’s proof he did care , more than just for profit.” Ritsu pictured Reigen being dragged over hot coals, it helped . “There was that time he entered Claw’s hideout to get you out. And then w hen… when you were run over before trying to confess , didn’t he go after you ? And that was after he had Serizawa-san working for him . Look, he’s not the best person out there, but even I have to admit he did more for you than someone who only wanted you for profit would .” Sometimes.

There was complete silence, and Ritsu felt his face slowly flushing at the stares.

“...Thank you, Ritsu, but that isn't it.”

Four pair of eyes stared at Mob, now emerging from his between his arms, incredulously.

“It’s… not? What are you drowning the plants for, then?” Dimple asked first.

“...He’s a good person. He’s done a lot for me when he didn’t need to. I know he cares, even if not as much as I thou — ” Mob stopped before taking in a breath and continuing. “I’m upset because he didn’t hesitate. He didn’t wait at all. Ritsu, was he so miserable this whole time that it was that easy to leave? He’s been helping me for years and I… didn’t notice at all.”

The rain started back up again. Ritsu found himself sweating slightly. He’d assumed his brother’s issues were much simpler than they apparently were.

He hadn't needed to make a speech praising the conman, damn it .

“Shige, he might just be having a mid-life crisis and is coming back soon,” he ran his mouth, hoping if he spoke enough, something convincing would come out. Oh god, he's been gone a day and I’m already acting like him . “And with the way he’s such a prideful exhibitionist there’s no way Reigen-san wouldn't want to boast about finally getting rich! It’s not like him! He’s the type that would stick around to show off and invite us over to watch his success, not cut ties! And! I find it hard to believe he was that miserable. He stuck around through that shameful media fiasco, why run off now that everything's back to normal? Not to mention, he has more people helping him at the office now as well.”

Mob finally sat up on the futon with a sigh.

“I wanted to think that but… his decision is pretty final, I think.”

“What makes you think that, Kageyama-kun?”

Wordlessly, Mob took a crumpled letter from inside his shirt. He took a check out of it and handed it to Ritsu.

Ritsu looked down at it and saw white .

“ Shit , look at that... that’s 6 digits !” Dimple screeched. “Since when did that guy have this much?!”

“Maybe the real reason Reigen-san skipped town is because he murdered someone and took their money?” Shou suggested.

“He sold his apartment,” Mob said, and waved a paper in his hands when they looked at him quizzically. “It says so in his letter.”

“He managed to sell that hole in the wall in two days ?!” Dimple asked, which Shige ignored. Ritsu noticed that while they’d been busy gaping at the check, he’d gotten hold of his phone.

It felt like everyone was drawing their breath in unison as they watched him call Reigen’s number.

It went straight to voicemail without ringing once. The usual sign of being blocked. Ritsu was beginning to sweat all over again, but his brother only frowned.

“We need to find him, let’s talk to Tome-san.” Mob said simply, not seeming at all dispirited any longer. He stood up and placed a hand on Ritsu’s shoulder. “Thank you, Ritsu. You mentioned the times he helped me, and that reminded me of something.” Mob paused, clearly thinking things through. “I think it was all so unexpected I just couldn’t think clearly about what I have to do.”

“What are you planning, Ritsu’s bro?”

“Master Reigen once said to me that he didn’t hate daily life at the office. And he also said,” Mob flinched, “...something I should have paid more attention to, if I hadn’t been so self absorbed at the time. But the point is, maybe he was lying that time. And maybe he couldn’t leave before because he had nothing else to do. But now that he can be rich somewhere else, he would rather leave.”

Mob paused yet again. However, in the last ten minutes Ritsu had heard him speak more than he had in days, and didn’t dare complain about how long it took him to get the words out. The other three people (well, two and a spirit) also seemed to know him well enough to not dare hurry him up.

“But this isn’t like the Master Reigen I know. I shouldn’t be in bed doing nothing; I want to make sure he isn’t running from something and keeping it from me. And... if that’s not it… if everything was a lie… I want to at least apologize. And give back the money.”

Apologize? Ritsu frowned. While he was glad Mob was now getting out of bed with a resolute expression, he wasn’t so sure about the apologizing part.

But he couldn't ask now. Dimple was taking all the attention by screeching about not giving back the money and they had Teru and Shou there. He’d wait for later.

*

Tome walked into the office and groaned when she saw Serizawa was still in fetal position.

“Are you going to stay like that forever?!”

“Leave me be, Tome-san. I ruined everything.”

Tome would have kicked him, but he looked more pitiful than a lost puppy. Instead she raised her hands up in surrender.

“Fine! Not even a thank you for the dating profile either. Ugh. You know what? I respect you for this, Serizawa-san. I legit respect you for being able to fall for absolute trash !”

She sauntered over to Reigen’s desk and occupied herself, pretending not to notice Serizawa finally moving.

“He’s not trash,” he said in a reprimanding tone. Tome let out a theatrical yawn.

“Really? You certainly think so.”

“ What? I do not! Where is this coming from?” Serizawa was so indignant he actually stood up, hands clenched tightly.

Tome arched one eyebrow and placed her head between her hands, hopefully perfectly imitating Reigen’s I-know-this-and-am-superior posture.

“You think Reigen-san is such a disgusting asshole that he skipped town without so much as a goodbye to everyone he knew… because you had a crush? I mean, it doesn’t even make sense because he gave you the deed to his precious office, despite the fact that, in your mind, running away from you . Still, if that’s why he left, he’s quite the trash, huh?”

Serizawa deflated, with an expression that Tome could only describe as hopeful confusion. “... When you put it that way… this isn’t like him. It’s just… I’ve been wrong about people before.”

“Yeah well, dunno what happened with your last boyfriend—”

“Ah, no, I was referring to my former bos—”

“Whatever. My point is, I’m here now. And Mob will be too, if he can get his head out of his ass, to pass judgement alongside you.”

“I see.” Serizawa looked relieved for a second, before walking to the desk and frowning. “But if I wasn’t at fault, why did he leave?”

Tome rolled her eyes. Twice. “ That , my dear Watson, is what I’ve been trying to figure out while you and Mob were being useless. Well,” She glanced at the message just arriving on her phone and smiled, rubbing her hands together. “Seems like whatever Ritsu did work, Mob is coming over. Let’s finally get to the bottom of this!”

*

Mob jogged towards Spirits and Such, pace erratic in his desire to arrive quickly and make up for lost time.

Dimple was babbling on about uses of money that did not involve giving it back, but Mob ignored it.

Even though he had pockets, he held Reigen’s letter firmly in his grasp.

  “ Hey Mob,

It sounds disrespectful to address a letter to your nickname, but I think if I started this by addressing you as anything else, you might think it wasn’t me.

Anyway, if you haven’t been told yet: I’m going to be rich! Thanks to my old man, but still. I need to leave the office for it so I've taken care of my business and my apartment. The money you’re seeing is from the sale, by the way, not from anything suspicious (don’t let Dimple dictate how you use it).

You technically aren’t an employee of Spirits and Such anymore, and actually it’s not as if you ever signed a contract to begin with. However, money is the only thing I can give you, so that’s that, and I did owe you for years of underpaid work, with interest. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you anything else.

You’re fine without me, just take better care of yourself,

From your former Master”

Notes:

-“Hey Mob”: fun fact, the kanjis in Shigeo can be read as “Mobu”, so technically all Reigen would need to do was write Shigeo with the hiragana reading. This obviously doesn’t translate at all in english so I had to adapt the letter with that in mind.

-6 figure check: the money is in japanese currency, so while its still a large sum for a teen to receive, Reigen’s apartment did not sell for much.

-I am aware we do know what Reigen was doing before he got the office. The characters, however, do not.

-Trying to juggle between Ritsu's personality given his mindsets of "must protect brother" and "must look down on Reigen" was difficult. Hopefully I haven't made him out-of-character

-Feedback is appreciated, thank you for the kudos and comments so far!

[mustdang-100]

a(shifting perspective) d i k q t, for the meme, please!

A: How did you come up with the title to [insert fic]?

Well full disclosure, I HATE titling things. But! the title for this one has to do with how Reigen & Seri, and Shou & Teru, see both themselves and each other, and how that changes through the course of the fic. Can’t get more specific than that without spoiling

D: Is there a song or a playlist to associate with [insert fic]?

I was listening to ‘Hearts A Mess’ by Gotye on nonstop repeat when I was writing/thinking about the first few SP chapters!

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Ok I started writing a VERY TROPEY, VERY GUILTY PLEASURE Reigen-&-Seri-caught-in-a-snowstorm fic over the holiday that I hope to get back to eventually! That one is purely for fun 

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Ummm hm, I have a draft that I’ll probably never finish that was basically ‘what if Inukawa never told Mob about Reigen’s media troubles during the Separation Arc and Mob didn’t find out until much much later and rather too late’ that gets quite dark.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

Yep, the one I described above is probably discarded.

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

None come to mind that I can’t STAND - I definitely have PREFERENCES, like I’m not a big fan of things like coffeeshop aus just because I tend to need something else going on to hold my interest, but I’ve still read a fic or two that fall close to that trope, for ships I am REALLY emotionally invested in 

(fanfic ask meme)

[logicalbookthief]

Thoughts on chapter 100.1 and ???% (Spoilers Ahead)

I’m sure others have already posted about this, but in light of the new chapter, the nature of ???% has become slightly less ambiguous - and yet, I think I have more questions now than I did before.

Until now, the theory that seemed to fit into what we knew in canon (which, albeit, wasn’t much) was that ???% was simply the manifestation of Mob’s suppressed emotions. And because his psychic power was so immense, ???% unconsciously unleashed the catastrophic potential that Mob - a human being with a values and a strong sense of morality - normally keeps at bay.

Until now, it didn’t seem like ???% had any motivation for the havoc it wreaked, nor any sign of sentience to suggest a comprehension of its actions. From what we’d seen so far, ???% was a destructive force that emerged when Mob was incapacitated, and exuded massive amounts of energy that injured people by proxy. I got this impression, mainly, from the traumatic incident with Ritsu and the bullies.

For if ???% was an extension of Mob, why would it injure his little brother, along with the bullies? Why wouldn’t it eliminate the threat but spare Ritsu? So I (mostly) assumed ???% must be an unbiased, inhuman manifestation of godlike energy.

However, the implications of this chapter makes it so much more. Apparently ???% has a consciousness, evident in how the latter half of the chapter comes from its perspective. Not only that, but ???% has an awareness of what is going on, and at least some insight into Mob’s personal thoughts, for it understands the importance of his confession to Tsubomi.

But with those implications in mind, ???% becomes… Possibly a sinister figure. Because you have to wonder - If it has always had an awareness and consciousness, did ???% know it hurt Ritsu, Mob’s brother, and not care? Did it want to hurt any human in its vicinity?

Because the issue with consciousness is that it opens the door to accountability and recognition.

Sending Teru flying can be chalked up to self-preservation, but dismantling the school? That’s a demonstration of its enormous power if I ever saw one. And before Mob passed out, what had Teru been demanding of him for the entirety of their fight?

Use your powers. Show me your true strength.

And ???% complied.

But to me, the most fascinating insight into ???% is the first couple lines it “speaks” in this chapter.

“See… I knew it,“ it says as it emerges. And then: “I knew I would… Be needed…”

So much to unload here. First, there appears to be hint of smugness or triumph (perhaps desperation, even) when it says “I knew it.” It’s what someone says after a long, lengthy argument. And although there hasn’t been any direct contact between Mob and ???% that we’ve witnessed, it’s almost certainly talking to Mob. Mob, who insists that he doesn’t need psychic powers to live a fulfilling life. Mob, who prefers to solve problems without his powers.

If passed actions (and, if ???% has indeed been conscious as far back as the bully incident, then action becomes the appropriate word for these events) are any indication, Mob and ???% differ in their ideals, and ???% has no qualms enacting its own solutions when given the chance.

Which brings us to another question: if ???% is a separate entity that shares Mob’s body, why doesn’t it take control more often? If it has the ability to show up when Mob’s unconscious, couldn’t it take the reins when Mob is, say, in a deep sleep? Perhaps it could… but it doesn’t.

As far as we’ve seen, ???% has only appeared when it is… Needed.

Needed to protect Mob? Needed to do what he can’t - or won’t? I think it’s too early to say. In this chapter, we get a glimpse of ???%’s motivation, and how it tends to align with Mob’s goals, whether that is survival or a confession to his crush. In the former’s case, it is self-preservation on the part of ???% - since presumably, if Mob’s body dies, so too does it perish.

Confessing to Tsubomi, though? That isn’t imperative to Mob’s survival (going to the hospital would actually be a wiser decision). That’s imperative to Mob’s happiness.

So is ???% a friend or ally, at least to Mob? Does it care, and, is it capable of caring? Is it trying to prove its usefulness, prove its own necessity? Or is Mob’s determination so potent it’s managed to influence this entity?