#give the students their deserved well-written arcs!!!

[lulla-bee]

with how jjk is currently going, i hope gege is thinking that itadori defeating sukuna and yuuta defeating kenjaku would be one of the best possible endings and reclaim yuuji's position as the "main character" and to make sense of yuuta's declaration of killing kenjaku in place of gojo

[gojeto]

How Gojo and Geto are examples of well written prejudice and character arcs

Just rambling here since it has been on my mind.

Both Gojo and Geto have shown prejudice towards non-sorcerers in jjk and how that directly influences the arcs they have. And in many ways, they swap morals/ views on life and non-sorcerers.

But first we have to establish implicit and explicit bias.

Implicit bias is where the bias is not obvious to the person who believes in them, but is implied and inferred through their words and actions. Early Geto is a perfect example of this. He clearly wants to help and protect non-sorcerers, but he is is often unknowingly condescending towards them. He looks down upon non-sorcerers, even though it is unintentional. Geto, and many other sorcerers, most likely learned such an outlook at a young age. It is shown many times that many sorcerers look down on non-sorcerers, though each sorcerer varies in how explicit they are in their bias.

Explicit bias is where it is obvious to the person who believes them and they make no effort to sugarcoated or hide it. Early Gojo fits into this. He shows few morals and is blunt about how he sees non-sorcerers as less than and believes they don't deserve protecting. How it is rooted in a weak versus strong narrative that has been force-feed to sorcerers for years, only for it to be reinforced even more into Gojo since he is "the strongest among the strong." That he came to believe that protecting them is just a waste of his time and potential, as well as the time and potential of other sorcerers.

If their mission with Amanai never happened, or if it didn't go so sour, they could have ended up in very different places in life. Geto could have worked out his biases, and so could Gojo. Or Gojo could have experienced something else that would lead him down a dark path. But the mission did happened and it permanently affected where their arcs would go.

This is where we must cover positive versus negative character arcs.

A positive character arc is where a character starts in either a dark or average place and experiences growth throughout the story. This applies to Gojo. A strong yet exceptionally flawed teenager who grows into a stronger and less flawed man. Since the mission, Gojo worked tirelessly to better himself and his abilities. As an adult, Gojo has values and morals, and his prejudice towards non-sorcerers, while still there to some degree, has lessened quite a bit. While as a teenager, he wouldn't have cared if a non-sorcerer got killed, as an adult he actively tries to avoid death as much as possible. However, unlike his teenage years, he is exceptionally more lonely.

A negative character arc is when a character starts in a good or average place and goes to a bad/ dark place throughout the story. This is what happens to Geto. He went from a strong student with a bright future ahead of him to a genoc!dle racist. Since the mission, Geto spiraled into a depression, giving into the dark thoughts he had about killing all non-sorcerers to end curses. His implicit bias became explicit bias and he embraced it with open arms, to the point where it almost seems forced. Almost as though, once he reaches adulthood, he knows he cannot turn back and as to constantly remind himself and others how much he hates non-sorcerers by calling them monkey's 24/7. He has to justify it to himself constantly to ensure he never reconsiders, bathing in the darkness of his soul, allowing any and all formerly repressed darkness dictate every aspect of his life. If you're familiar with Carl Jung's map of the soul, it is like he has given into his shadow and it has merged with his ego (shadow = the bad parts of ourselves we don't show others, ego = our true selves). But he doesn't view himself as a villain. As the saying goes, "every villain is the hero of their own story."

While my stgu shipper self is sad we didn't get to see more of them together and never had the potentially romantic part of their friendship explored (ie any romantic feelings they might have had for each other), I still do like that Gege explored how trauma can influence peoples preconceived biases. Not to mention how he tied it in perfectly with the many flaws of Jujutsu society, such as its heavy prejudice. And how it is an allegory for our society and its flaws and issues.

[t-bird510]

How I would rewrite Pokemon Journeys//Improve on it as well.

SO YEAH!!! I’m posting this cause I Love the Pokemon anime and I think Journeys could have done a bit better with its Storylines and stuff like that.

So for this post I’m gonna try to rewrite the Pokemon Journeys Anime. (But I need to explain a few rules first…)

1 - The Series will be like Journeys with a few differences.

It’s still a World traveling Series with Different Pokemon Regions and stuff like that, But for the first season alone. It will be centered around Galar for the Darkest day ARC (Which will set up the events in the future and stuff like that.)

Also! Project mew will be intertwined into the Bigger plot of this series and the characters who are in Project mew will get Backstory and more character moments so they are not left in the dust.

2 - Movie exclusive characters and Characters of the day from Before and during Journeys will appear in the Rewrite.

Like for example…

Doyle from that one BW episode! For the rewrite I could see him working with Looker and Emma as they investigate into the mysterious things going on at the Chairman Rose corporation in Galar.

Or Regina! She can be a semi-Temporary Traveling companion for Ash, Goh, Chloe and Gloria as they travel to the Isle of Armor for a Story Arc of some kind then she returns for the Galar League against Leon! (Quick note: The Masters 8 Tournament will still happen, it’s still being set up by Leon when he becomes the chairman of the League so I could see it happening around Gen 10 or 11.)

Also yes! There will be 4 Main characters like in the XYZ Anime with Serena, Bonnie and Clemont and Ash.

The Journeys Gang will be…

1 - Ash Ketchum: The Protagonist.

2 - Goh: Ash’s newest friend and wants to catch Mew themselves! (He will be part of the Project mew storyline.)

3 - Chloe: She is Gohs Childhood friend and is still figuring out what she wants to do with her life. (She will still have Eevee.)

4 - Gloria!: She is Hops Childhood friend and is still new to her Pokemon Journey so far!

3 - Also! The Rivals! Who are the Rivals of this rewrite?!

1 - Rinto: He is a Male Pokemon Trainer from Sinnoh but also has connections to Paldea.

2 - Bede: He is the Student/Apprentice of Chairman rose and is like His game counterpart and stuff like that.

3 - Marnie: She is Peirs younger sister and she wants to win the league so she can give her hometown the attention it deserves due to hard times and stuff like that.

4 - The other Coronation series Trainers that Ash has met (I don’t really care who I pick for the rewrite I just want to give them backstory or something.)

5 - Hop: He is basically his game counterpart and his game story will be explained in the rewrite. His Goal is to get out of his Brothers shadow and become the strongest trainer in the world!!!

6 - Victor: He is Gloria’s Older Brother and is currently on a Journey on his own. He will be one of the Coranation series participants that Ash fights.

—————————————————-

4 - The Episode structure.

There will be different kinds of episodes for the rewrite, Though these different kinds of episodes could mix with each other due to how they are written.

Type #1 - Region focused Episode: A Past character or Game character could appear or Ash could battle a Gym leader.

Type #2 - Coronation series Battle: Ash basically Battles someone like a Random trainer/Gym leader/Elite 4 member or Champion/Game character for the entire episode.

Type #3 - Filler episode: This Episode is usually an improved version of a Filler episode from Journeys…

Example: The 80th Episode of Journeys has The character Nito; He is a Pokemon Hunter and he gets arrested and stuff like that. But what if it turns out that he was hired by Chairman Rose?! Hm? He was hired so he could catch more pokemon for Chairman roses Experiments on Pokemon! SHOCKING RIGHT?! SO INTERESTING!!!

and when I mean “Experiments” I’m referring to the Dynamaxing experiments for the Darkest Day storyline so when we get to the Pokemon League storyline near the end of The Rewrite, He will release the Pokemon Eternatus and cause Chaos!

Though I do admit that I didn’t write any of this yet, So I’m still figuring out if I should use a different name for the 1st Arc instead of calling it “The Darkest day.” (It gets confusing.)

My Replacement idea is that when Chairman rose is testing one of his Pokemon experiments, It causes the Energy points around Galar to act up and stuff like that. (I got this one idea from Loumiose Trainer Zac’s Sword and shield rewrite on YouTube. CHECK IT OUT ITS PRETTY GOOD PLEASE!!!)

and that’s what I got so far for my rewrite.

The rewrite would basically be a mix of World hopping and the main story being centered around Galar.

Oh! I forgot to mention the Hisui and Gen 4 remakes!!!

For the Gen 4 remake episodes with Dawn; I would keep them but change the one where they go to an alternate universe with AU Ash and AU Dawn.

I would change that episode to where The Journeys Gang meets the characters from the AU Ash Movies (Movies 20/21 and 23? I forgot when movie 23 came out so I don’t know if it would fit or not.)

I would like to see Canon Ash meet Cross and Sorrel and Dawn meeting Verity from Movie 20.

Sorrel could also meet the XYZ characters and have a Angst filled moment with Clemont about his Dead Luxray or something like that.

and the Hisui special could be swapped with a mini Arc or just keep the specials in the style of a Netflix movie.

So yeah…These were my Journeys rewrite thoughts, You can Comment your thoughts or just like it or something idk.

Also have a great day and Keep being creative! And being yourself!

Nevermind just another quick note about Project mew!

Project mews Creator aka Professor Amarath would be hired by Chairman Rose so that He can do more research on Pokemon while outside of his Office space.

Chairman rose Wants to make Prof Amarath think that he is doing good with his Project when he really ain’t and is being Tricked!!!

Anyways I’m done and have a great day and keeping being creative and stuff like that.

[timingmatters]

I need more people to talk about the manga I’m in love with the villainess. It caught my eye bc I love mangas about people reincarnated into love games as the villain. This is totally not that, but it was reincarnation into a game and gay. And oh my god. Oh my god. It exceeded my expectations soso much. It is so good. Please give it a read. Please have more people in translations to keep it going. Reasons why its so incredibly good:

1) ITS GAY!! LESBIANS HAROLD!!!! The main character is a lesbian. She says it straight up admitting she is a homosexual. She is also fully aware and notes that her love is not treated as equal, and on top of that she is reincarnated as the main character of the game, that is someone poor and not of nobility.

2) the targets are the princes, but as stated, the girl who reincarnated is a lesbian. And despite the hate she might get, she is straight up about that. But the princes are aware of that, and they support her. Not her relationship with claire (the villainess in question) because Claire says she is heterosexual, but they are aware of Rei (the main character) being a homosexual and respect her. They are her friends, not chasing after her

3) there’s a political conflict that so far is well written. At first i was nervous because all main characters are nobility except for Rei, but Rei’s love for claire goes above whatever she thinks politically. So wondered if the author’s intention was for us to support the nobility and see the common folk starting a revolution as the enemy (and they did do bad things. They wanted to hurt the nobility’s children after one of them almost killed a common folk). But no. The nobility who are the main characters (the princes and claire) become more aware of this. Claire started pretentious, but then saw first hand how (even if it was an accident) a noble almost killed a student for simply bad mouthing him and recognized how they shouldn’t get away with so much. All noble main characters recognized the common folk SHOULD be treated as equals. And when some of their common folk friends betrayed them and almost had them killed, they recognized where the sentiments came from and didn’t resent them. Instead, Claire (the main person betrayed) went up and reinforced the love she still felt for the people that betrayed her (i dont wanna spoil even more) but it was a beautifully done arc of sorrow, grief, resentment, and all the conflictive emotions.

4) the manga isn’t done. There’s still more to be done in the political aspect. One of the princes is even aware of the disparity of education between normal people and people with money, and how that NEEDS to change, and recognized that the nobility shouldn’t exist for eternity. That it might end soon. Because to govern all common folk need is education. Which they deserve. That’s a great set up future arcs because this manga is very much ongoing (it only has 20 chapters up!!!)

5) grief. It is early introduced as it came in the latest chap 20 (which is the last translated chapter) but my god did they do it right. I cried on it. The way that they described how after a major conflict people went back to normal but the scars stayed. How the noble who almost killed someone in a fight (even as an accident) was not punished bc the gov favors the nobles but he still went and apologized and the manga made it clear that does not clean the sin away and the guy who almost died carries the fear and anger with him. How the people who witnessed the common folk revolting are still alert in school (they are children!!!) but understand WHY the people were mad. People aware that Rei (main character) has to be careful about her love, and how Rei is very self aware of that. She can’t display the fact that she is a lesbian out and about, and she herself doesn’t think she will ever find someone who loves her back that’s a woman (it will be Claire lmao). The fact that the main characters all know this and still wish to protect her and the common folk bc they understand the nuance behind the actions of people’s rage. The grief we started to see in chap 20 of some nobles’ families that were victims of common folk raging against a system that’s against them, and how that feeds into the cycle of violence and resentment (not that I disagree with violent protests to get gov’s attention, but i do agree killing is never the answer).

Overall is a very nuanced manga and very beautifully written. It starts silly, with the silly little lesbian just chasing after a girl who hates her. But it progresses into a lot more. The characters are complex and so is their world. Its heavy on the politics on all sides, and real in how the main character doesn’t suffer because she is a lesbian, but she knows she could. And how all the main cast is supportive of her and care for her and wish to see her success regardless of who she loves or her status, and now after the last arc (chap 20) they are also aware of the systems that keep people on place and the roles they play as oppressors or victims of it. And how despite being students and children, they have a hand in changing/influencing said systems (and i’m so excited to see what’s to come from that).

Its so beautiful and is gay and the main character is a cute little lesbian. Wish people more saw it and recognized and translated it. The translation seems slow bc is not super popular. I would even say this would make such a good and compelling anime (not yet though there’s still not enough material).

PLEASE GIVE IT A CHANCE

More importantly: the lesbians AREN’T A FETISH OR GETTING INTO COMPROMISING POSITIONS FOR THE SAKE OF SEXUALIZING THEM. And Claire is very much starting to feel for Rei but not understanding it. Its a slow burn!!! For lesbians!!!!

EDIT: SAW SOMEONE TALKING ABOUT CHAPTER 85 HSDJJDJD ???? HERE I AM THINKING THERE’S ONLY 20 CHAPS WHERE DO I GET MORE.????

Edit 2: the tag has other mangas with similar names so people talking about chap 85 might be talking about a diff manga with similar names sjdjdjdjjd

EDIT 3: damn my bad y’all the light novel is completed so people talking about the story and future chapters mean the novel (idk if i wanna read it bc light novels aren’t usually my thing. But i really like the story so i’m debating for the first time ever). I hope people give attention to the manga tho!!!! Apparently it was top 5 for a possible anime adaption last year. By the end of this year they could have enough material for an anime season!!!!!!!

[dalekofchaos]

Sakura should've had sage mode or why Sakura should've fought Sasuke alongside Naruto in the end

Honest opinion. The final battle in Naruto should have been Naruto and Sakura vs Sasuke. No matter how much I love Sasuke and Sakura together, I can't stand how dirty Kishimoto did her.

I get Kishi wanted it to be between Naruto and Sasuke because of the whole Ashura and Indra, but he it should've been about Team 7 and how far Sakura has finally come to being on par or even surpassing Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura should have fought Sasuke in the end alongside Naruto.

Sakura was well written in concept, but not in execution. The fact that there was toad and snake sage mode but not slug literally made zero sense and only held her back even further. Every student surpassed their masters in massive ways except for her & that was a crime.

Now how would a Slug sage mode work you may ask?

The usual Increase in Strength, Speed, and Durability that comes with Sage Mode.

Being able to Heal Major Injuries without using up their lifespan (as they do when accessing the Byakogu Seal).

Spitting acid that can melt rocks, though there’s would probably be more flexible and varied in shape than what we saw from katsuyu

It would have healing abilities like katsuyu

The ability to Slip out of tight Grasps due to making their body Slimy like Katsuyu.

immune to some physical attacks seeing as katsuyu can’t be crushed to death nor can she be impaled fatally so they’d probably have the same perk

Optional: The ability to separate any part of their body to avoid an attack and then regrow/reattach… Similar to Katsuyu

really durable and defensive seeing as katsuyu tanked allmighty push in human size and planetary devastation in it’s mini form, they wouldn’t be on that level tho

Hell, even give Sakura Earth/Mokuton jutsu, cause honestly she deserves some powerful elemental jutsu

You might be asking when could Sakura have learned sage mode. Give Sakura and Tsunade a mini arc while preparing for the war. Tsunade takes Sakura to the Shikkotsu Forest to finish what Tsunade could not and complete Slug Sage mode.

Sakura should be the one to master it rather than tsunade just for the sake of Sakura finally having her own jutsu and power-up rather than just using Tsunade's powers.

Sakura should've had a Slug Sage mode, and been on par with Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura should've been there to knock sense into Sasuke for him to finally come home. Then give Sasuke a journey of redemption like he does in canon and properly work up to Sasusaku happening.

I. Said. What. I. Said.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

6, 10 and 11 for your Tolkien ask game!

6) Favorite character in all of Tolkien's work?

Oh, this is a hard one to choose! Which ones do I like the best? There are several, with Finrod, Faramir, and Sam as particular favourites. People who are driven by love for others, and know what matters in life, who love knowledge and beauty and kindness, not glory or power, and are willing to sacrifice anything rather than their principles. And Nienna, I love Nienna, compassion and sorrow and wisdom - a wisdom that, if we are taking her student Gandalf as any indication, is, even in sorrow, expressed through humour.

Whuch characters am I the most obsessed with? Going by my meta and fanfic and the amount of time I spend thinking about them, Maedhros and Maglor. Maedhros because I am convinced that he wants to be a good person, and tries to be a good person - because his actions after being rescued from Thangorodrim have the mark of sincerity and repentance to me, and feel like a redemption arc - and then he fails so horribly, and knows it. Maglor because the story of a person who repents their evil only after they feel it is too late will almost never fail to move me. Both of them, because they are offered mercy, and reject it, and in the end either cannot imagine it or cannot bear to recieve it, and yet, I firmly believe, it still exists.

10) Favorite performance by any actor in the Tolkien film projects? Bonus: What's your favorite scene with them?

Christopher Lee as Saruman. “The Voice of Saruman” has long been my favourite chapter of The Lord of the Rings - I love rhetoric, I love powerful monologue and dialogue - and I could never imagine an actor being able to do justice to the supernatural power and influence of his voice, to make us feel the danger and the doubts of the audience when he speaks to Théoden and Gandalf, and create the changes of mood when they reject him. The moment I heard Christopher Lee in The Fellowship of the Ring, I knew he could do it. My favourite scene with him is one that doesn’t exist - a verbatim from-the-book performance of that chapter. Even the extended-edition scene doesn’t do it justice, it’s written as Gandalf playing for information, which is not at all what it’s about in the book, and reduces its power.

11) You can have four Tolkien characters over for dinner. Who do you choose and why?

Ooh! Finrod, definitely, and Elrond; I love history and knowledge and am endlessly curious, and this gives me two very kind and patient people who, together, are loremasters and participants in pretty well all of the history of (the western part of) Middle-earth. And Eärendil and Elwing. I think this is a nice group who deserve to spend time together.

(Not Maglor. Maglor’s not ready for dinner-parties yet; he gets a quiet evening in a comfy chair with a warm blanket and a nice bowl of soup and some hot cocoa.)

[a-library-cat]

A review of Babel: An Arcane History by R. F. Kuang

Publishing Information:

First edition published in 2022 by Harper Collins Publishing. This edition is a First edition, published and bought in the US. I received this book as a Christmas present.

General Info:

This book is written for an adult audience. Genres include fantasy, historical fantasy, and dark academia. There is one main character, although there are multiple POV's from the major side characters. No romance, although there are romantic implications between side characters.

StoryGraph page

My overall score is 5 out of 5 stars, and I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Notes under the cut (spoilers):

Holy fucking shit, I cannot believe how good this book is. I knew, knew going into this that it would be a 5 star read, but I still had to experience it for myself. Normally when book social media goes ape shit over a book, it's ridiculously over-hyped. But this book, it deserves all the hype and more. I'm so happy the strike is over so we can start talking about this book again!

This book emotionally wrecked me in almost inexplicable ways. I was so hopeful for everything to work out, so the bittersweet ending hit me twice as hard. From what everyone says, the Poppy War trilogy, also by Kuang, is the same, so I am excited and scared to start that series.

Pros:

The magic system is pretty unique, and I love how much it makes sense, both in a lore sense and a logic sense. It probably helps that Kuang has her degrees in this.

Building off of that, this story is dripping with Kuang's own life experiences as a Chinese student at Oxford. I feel that if Kuang hadn't had that experience, or similar ones, then the story wouldn't have been nearly as good.

The characters are fantastic. All of the classmates of Robin (Ramy, Letty, and Victoire) are not just realistic, but lovable and sympathetic as well. Even characters that are shown to be antagonistic, like Letty or Griffin, are still easy to like. They are also all realistic, including the antagonists. Some might say they are cartoonish, but I would disagree

Kuang needs to give lectures on how to write academically. This is what I want out of my academia, dammit! Both loaded with information, but still accessible to a large audience. This book talks a lot about language, linguistics, and philosophy, but it never felt preachy or pretentious.

Cons:

The pace at the beginning was slow. I understand that this is often a feature of standalone fantasies, but I still wasn't a fan. One of the reasons I don't read standalone fantasies, I guess.

The arc with Robin and Lovell felt anti-climactic. My original note was that it was predictable, but that didn't feel quite right. I think a lot more drama and conflict could've happened if Lovell had lived past the halfway point. Although it was satisfying when Robin killed him.

This is just a personal thing, but the number of character deaths depressed me. Especially major character deaths. I don't mind Robin dying at the end, I thought that was quite impactful. But the only surviving member of Hermes is Victoire, and while I understand that characters needed to die, I thought the fact that only one member survived was a little too much.

[thebraxiatelcollection]

So I've finished relistening to Time War 4 since. I've not relistened to this since it was first released, so there were things I have missed. It has been an interesting listening experience?

I enjoyed it- but it has left me with mixed feelings. The content was good but this felt like the penultimate boxset- After nearly 20 years, I was hoping for a big cathartic ending, when it feels like actually, they've left it open for more - Brax and Narvin could easily be rescued from their respective 'deaths', Romana could be freed from the pocket dimension, Leela is explicitly alive and well - which is fine if they do (Gallifrey, after all, is known for its hiatuses), but so so disappointing.

Some random thoughts:

I really like that this series tied in, even if it was only briefly, lots of different Time War media: Romana and Brax's conversation about the Doctor, plus the frequent name-dropping of Cardinal Ollistra, tied this set in really nicely with the War Doctor series; the sabotaging of the Emperor Dalek's ship makes me wonder if this is what leads to the events of Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways; and the use of the 'Gallifrey Stands' was a nice link to The Day of the Doctor.

I love, love, LOVED hearing more Narvin backstory and all that lore on how the different chapters work.

I wish we could have heard more of the Apothecary and Danna. They had such interesting ties to our main cast, it was a shame they were only used once each. I like to imagine both the Apothecary and Danna knew each other and met up once every few centuries over cups of tea, and complained about their students together.

Honestly, it was super cathartic to hear Romana have a proper cry. Nearly 20 years of Gallifrey and up til now all we've heard is a sniffle or angsty speech. Sometimes, Romana hon, u just gotta cry it out.

The ending with Romana being forced to the archive by Rassilon was...hmm. It's not the ending I've wanted but i'll live with it for now.

Brax deserves better and I wish big finish would stop referencing him as a coward when he's not. He's many things and he has done so much for the gallifrey gang, he is not a coward. Give us actual writers who understand his arc!

Things I wished had happened:

Romana actually uses the chameleon arch. Really wanted something like Human Nature/Family of blood for Romana. can you imagine how powerful doing a similar story for Romana would have been?

Brax and Romana go through the Beyond together, and Romana for once saves Brax in all the times he has saved her. Beyond just leaves me so frustrated in terms of how Brax was written.

That they didn't kill off Livia and had her work as part of the resistance with Eris. I'd also like to have seen Mantus work with them; if reluctantly. I think that would have been so fun to see.

Leela getting to say a proper goodbye to Rayo

[mj-is-writing]

eeee can u tell me about the primary antagonist of any of yr wips?? i love learning ab other people's villains and how u construct villainy

Same, totally agree that villains are really fun to read about.

Unfortunately I suck at writing them. The majority of my WIPs feature an emotional conflict as opposed to a good guy vs a bad guy, or the “bad guy” is a very cartoonishly constructed villain who is evil just to be evil, but there is one exception I can think of. That would be Lana. She’s one of my favorite villains.

Lana is my take on the mad scientist trope. She has a couple of students and a secretary, but out of that group, only one actually knows about her private experiments, and he’s written off as a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Lana sees him as just a nuisance. Her main issue is just that she has no concept of treating others humanely— a living thing is just an object that can move and think. She can’t see anyone as “evil” beyond the idea that “we have rules you’re supposed to follow, like not killing people, so if you break the rules you’re a ‘bad’ person.” Even then it’s all hypothetical to her; we made up the rules, so the only difference between a good and a bad person are how well they fit into society.

She doesn’t fall into the trope of “the villain has no feelings,” though. She genuinely likes all of her students, except for the one who actively despises her. She enjoys her work, not because she has some end goal that’s “good” or “bad,” but because she likes the research process and to learn new things. She’s not dating anyone right now, but she has in the past and she loved them dearly. She’s sad when things go wrong. Those are all normal reactions to things, obviously, and feeling them is not good or bad. Are you starting to see the pattern? She doesn’t believe in right or wrong in any way that matters.

Which is also somewhat ironic, because she does have lines she won’t cross. She just refuses to acknowledge them as morals. She wouldn’t commit murder, because it’s illegal and also she would feel bad. She doesn’t steal, because it’s illegal and the guilt would eat her alive. Lana is a villain because she’s convinced herself that all people are inherently neutral and that morals only exist because of society, even though she does hold strong beliefs of her own. And it shows. No matter how fucked up her experiments get, she never kills the one she’s experimenting on. She tends their wounds with so much care you’d almost forget that she’s the one who caused them. Because even though she’s testing their limits, and trying to see what it takes to break them… she doesn’t actually want them to be broken. She dehumanizes them because pretending that they are lesser makes her feel less guilty (even though her own philosophy says that humans and animals are the same. Why does it make her feel better, then?). Lana is a hypocrite who is lying to herself at all times.

I love a good redemption arc, but I would never give one to Lana. And it goes beyond saying she doesn’t deserve it— no one deserves it, you can’t earn forgiveness and the point is that it was given anyway. I wouldn’t give one to Lana because it would cheapen the story. She does absolutely horrendous, fucked up things, but she also has meaningful, positive relationships with other characters. Both are true and necessary. Redeeming her would focus only on her positives, almost as if saying that those good relationships outweigh the harm she’s done.

A good redemption arc requires a character acknowledging the harm they caused in order to have better, healthier relationships moving forward. But Lana is already capable of connecting with others, she’s already doing so. She’s just also chosen to hurt. And when both are true, that person will probably never wake up and realize that they’re the bad guy, actually. After all, Lana never believed in bad guys, anyway.

[dereksmcgrath]

Yes, Izuku said this was "the story of how we all became the greatest heroes." 

So, clickbait is clickbait: assuming “we all” means all of Class 1A, then none of them should die in this, the final arc of My Hero Academia.

…But what if what made them heroes was that some of them did indeed give up their lives to save the day? 

This post is still super-long, in my attempt to justify, with limited evidence and the flimsiest of logic, why I think certain characters will die, and the rest will survive, before My Hero Academia concludes its final arc. 

Spoilers up to Chapter 364 of My Hero Academia. Content warnings about death. All images from the My Hero Academia Wiki.

As I posted earlier today, it’s likely Bakugo will make a full comeback to My Hero Academia after his apparent death–or, at least, a full-enough comeback before he potentially still dies but only after Shigaraki is defeated, the day is saved, and the world returns to some sense of normal. 

But just because I think Bakugo is going to survive this battle doesn’t mean the rest of Class 1A is in the clear, especially as My Hero Academia is in its final arc. 

Speaking with my friend Ellak Roach, it got me thinking about the likelihood of survival for Izuku, Todoroki, Ochaco, and the rest of My Hero Academia’s star class. (Sorry, Class 1B.) 

I have divided up the students into five sets: 

Dark horse candidates who may unexpectedly die in this arc

Characters with a close-to-50-percent chance of dying in this arc

Characters that I could absolutely see dying in this arc

Seven characters who I can’t imagine dying at all in this arc

And one character who I am 100 percent certain will not die in this arc

(I am also hedging my bets by insisting on phrasing it as “this arc.” I could imagine a character having their lifespan cut short by injuries in this arc, as I don’t think Bakugo is going to live very long into adulthood, whereas in this post I’m talking much more about characters who will succumb to their death from injuries in this arc, whether they die on the battlefield or once they get to a hospital.)

Dark Horse Candidates

Ojiro

Koda

Sato

Let’s start with the dark horse candidates who may win–and by “win,” I mean die. 

And, sadly, their potential deaths have little to do with how well written they are, but how poorly progressed their character development is. It’s characters whose deaths feel like an inevitability because Horikoshi doesn’t know what more to do with them–so, killing them off becomes a way to get one last bit of sentimentality from characters who may come off as bland or as the Scrappy (sorry, Tommy Turtle–you deserved better, man). 

These are the student characters who are analogues to Pro Heroes like Midnight, Edgeshot, and Crust: yes, you feel something when they die, but they either had little opportunity for development (Crust especially), do something noble so that your pain is that they died rather than how they lived (Edgeshot), or where it is such a swerve that you have problems processing why this death had to happen (Midnight). 

So, this category would include three characters Ojiro, Koda, and Sato. Nothing at all against these three–the cliche is, “every character is someone’s favorite.” And I find all three charming–Ojiro is the everyman, Koda reminds us that not all heroes have flashy powers and are best in support groups, and Sato has a fun superpower. But if they were to die, as utterly devastating as that would be for those charming reasons I just mentioned, that’s all it would be: it would be deaths to reinforce how grim the story has become, a shallow attempt to rend some tears from readers rather than giving us a reason to care about the characters themselves and mourn the lives cut too short. 

50/50 Odds

Aoyama

Tsuyu

Shoji

Shoto

Izuku

Momo

Next are the characters whose odds at dying I would put at 50/50. It could really go either way, depending on how the plot unfolds. 

There are various reasons. 

For example, it could be that their narrative has wrapped up, so all that is left for them is to die off. It could be a sacrifice to make up for prior misdeeds. Both of those apply to Aoyama.

It may, frustratingly, be a fridging to help motivate another character to keep fighting. I could see Toga managing to kill Tsuyu as a last bit of motivation for Ochaco to stop her. While this would be abhorrent, not just from a gendered perspective, it also feels sadly believable. While fans love Tsu, and I think some of that led Horikoshi to include her in the Shie Hassakai arc, the focus on her never felt organic enough, or that Horikoshi had an idea where to take her. She has shown intelligence in combat almost as high as that of Izuku, she is likable, the anime has shown she can carry her own stories, her backstory of family financial struggles and long-distance friendships is sympathetic–which means her death would actually hurt and make sense why someone like Ochaco would realize, that despite whatever sympathy she has for Toga, this bloodshed has to be stopped.

Another reason for killing off a character could just be poetic, having two warriors who are in agreement with each other and, in another time, may have been friends, but circumstances put them on opposite sides. 

I can imagine two instances of this: Spinner versus Shoji, and Dabi versus Shoto. 

Depending on where Spinner and Shoji end up in the story, I could imagine the two in a final duel with neither one surviving, a fight that becomes the core to the entire battle for heteromorphic Quirk possessors, about whether fighting to be accepted like Spinner is more valid than what comes across as Shoji’s desire to assimilate. While this seems like a long-shot, given how little development Shoji has received, Horikoshi has been setting up this kind of a narrative, given the small moments of Shoji acknowledging his appearance, responding to Komori’s remarks about him in the Class 1A vs Class 1B arc, and silent moments like interacting with the tall woman that Izuku saved. 

Far more gutsy would be if Horikoshi killed off Shoto. Whereas the Spinner versus Shoji fight is anticipated but not as concrete in expectations, we have been in the midst of the Dabi and Shoto fight ever since the Pussycat training arc. Shoto is one of my favorite characters in this series, if not my absolute favorite in the series, just based on how much potential his story has: the Todoroki family drama could have been the entirety of My Hero Academia if Izuku had not started off this story. And if you really want to make that hurt, to make readers realize war is hell, that toxic family structures do have lasting ramifications, it may not just be how traumatized and damaged Rei and Dabi are, or how guilty Endeavor feels, or how hopeful Fuyumi tries to remain: it may be something as senseless and heart-rending as seeing a decent person dying, trying to fix a family that can’t be fixed. 

Then there is Izuku, who kind of fulfills all the other reasons I listed above. 

Like Aoyama, his story is near its end, so death is a logical conclusion–and his sacrifice would be yet another in that popular cliche of the hero dying at the end to save the world. It’s in Izuku’s nature, and the mission statement of MHA seems to be, “Heroes die to save others.” 

Like Tsuyu, his death would give characters a reason to keep fighting–and as likable as Izuku is, like Tsuyu, he has some blandness that makes his death seem like an obvious choice. 

Like Shoji and Shoto, he is on the opposite side of another warrior who, by chance, he could have become: if things had turned out differently, Izuku could have ended up like Shigaraki. (But that’s a longer discussion, given that, as far as we know, Shigaraki was not born Quirkless–although there are enough believable hypotheses for how his decay Quirk was something forced onto him by All For One.)

That just leaves Momo–and I admit this is a bit of a swerve, after referring to so many characters whose deaths in this final arc seem like logical conclusions, moments to motivate other characters, or thematically apt. Momo is not really any of these. The reason I put her here is that I could see her living–as she is in the support position in the battle against Shigaraki, so far enough from the battlefield. But she is close enough to where Shigaraki is that I could see her dying. And while the light novels have done a great job at expanding on her character, the only reason I could see her dying here is as some lingering guilt to be felt by her classmates who will survive, in particular the students I think she is closest to and, skipping ahead, that I don’t think will die, namely Jiro, Denki, and Mina. But we’ll get to why I think they are in the clear later. 

Death Flags Coming

And now, the characters who I am most certain will (probably) die in this arc:

Iida

Sero

If I can say that Aoyama and Izuku’s arcs have reached their end, Iida’s stalled out years ago. 

Heck, it’s a weird coincidence that my engagement with My Hero Academia also stalled after the Stain arc. I used to review the anime every week–then stopped around that arc. And it wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy that arc. There were other factors preventing me from getting back to writing those reviews, including obligations and a lot of changes in my life at that point. 

But I do think a lot of my enjoyment in My Hero Academia ended when Iida’s arc wrapped up as it did. It’s not so much a “jump the shark” moment as it is that I started to see how the series refused to return to long-standing characters once they plateaued in their character progression.  It didn’t help that the arc suffered from a problem persistent elsewhere in My Hero Academia, that being about disabilities, that tend to serve as motivation for another character to take action when the disabled person cannot. With Iida’s brother no longer able to be a Pro Hero in the same way, and how that became the motivation for Iida to stop Stain. So, he stops Stain, learns he was overly zealous, and realizes he has to go back to the largely level-headed person he was before. Despite my reservations about how representations of disabilities were handled in the arc, it’s not at all a bad story–but it is an end to Iida’s arc, putting him back where he was. 

Since then, Iida’s presence has been pretty much the same: he is the serious guy, he is the responsible guy, he’s a little more loose and fun than before, but the humor is that he is still so stiff even when he is trying to kick back and relax. 

So when Iida shows up alongside Shoto to battle Dabi, and when Dabi is incinerating Endeavor’s other sidekicks as he walks his way towards Shoto and Iida, yeah, I don’t see Iida leaving this battle. His story is done. I think he is going to die, and like what may happen if Ochaco sees Tsuyu die, that is going to give Shoto that last bit of motivation to stop his brother. 

Then there is Sero. Horikoshi has said that he was going to get a moment. And at one point in Chapter 353, Sero had a silent word balloon as his classmates were momentarily savoring Shoto's victory over Dabi. Was he worried that they were about to die? Or is he up to something that is going to screw over the heroes--and he'll die for it? I don’t really have any more thoughtful reason why he’ll die aside from these details, as well as, like Ojiro and some others, he is enough of an everyman character, and largely in the background, that his death is foreshadowed but lacks a lot of the same emotional punch other characters’ deaths would have. His death is more like a checkmark: “We need someone to die, this is an obvious choice.”

Will Not Die

Ochaco

Bakugo

Hagakure

Jiro

Denki

Mina

Eijiro

Tokoyami

So far I have thrown death flags onto two out of the main four characters: Izuku and Shoto. (Or, three out of the main five if you still think Iida is a main character.) That leaves Ochaco and Bakugo–and I don’t see either one dying by the end of this war arc.

Ochaco’s death would definitely impact readers. But as I said, Tsuyu is the more likely student to die, if a student is to die, in a battle against Toga. But even if Tsuyu survived, I just don’t see Ochaco dying. She is likely going to end up carrying forward the warning that Toga represents, whether that is what can happen when parents, teachers, and students turn their backs on someone who needs help, or that, regardless our good intentions, our attempts to “fix” someone, to make them conform when that is not helpful to them or necessarily correct, can make things worse. Ochaco is probably going to leave that battle with Toga learning more about what a Hero should do; whether it’s the correct message to get from this manga is a whole other story. 

As for Bakugo, while he did die already, and I don’t see him lasting long from his injuries even after his new Edgeshot heart, I think symbolically it would be devastating to have him die so soon after the Heroes prevail. He’d probably go out like Aang in The Legend of Korra: live long enough to see what good he did, and what bad got worse, but die due to having expended so much of his energy as a kid. 

What about the rest of Class 1A? 

I can’t see Hagakure dying. Yes, her arc is pretty much done, given her role showing us what Aoyama was really up to–so, barring some last-minute reveal that she was a mole all along for some group, whether UA, the Heroes Commission, or aspy for the League of Villains or the Meta Liberation Army even more covert than Aoyama, I don’t see how her dying would do much. She got her moment in the spotlight to help Izuku talk down Aoyama, killing her now would not mean much when she actually did contribute something to help the others. 

I already don’t see Jiro dying, as she is leaving this battle with injuries, and there are stories to tell about what happens next when she is disabled and will have more limited use of her Quirk. Plus, if Momo dies, Jiro’s association with her is going to make that death hit her harder, so she has to live to suffer through that.

And if Jiro doesn’t die, that means Denki, given his association with her, also won’t die. Whether there is friendship, romance, or something in between for those two, if he died, that would be a bit too much, I think, for Jiro, and after what she has gone through, this goofball is probably going to stick around as a bit of levity for her. 

And that’s pretty much the same reason why I don’t think Eijiro will die, either, especially if Izuku dies, as Bakugo is going to need someone to bounce off of–especially how under-utilized that Bakugo and Eijiro relationship has been since the Shie Hassakai arc. 

Plus, Eijiro has to stick around for the same reason Mina would stick around: their association with Gigantomachia and their discovery of Midnight’s corpse, as well as their bond since middle school, means these two are pretty much surviving if the other is. The two probably will work together to take down Gigantomachia, avenge Midnight, and put a bow on their relationship that has been in the background since we learned how much guilt Eijiro has harbored for his failure to protect others. 

Tokoyami fulfills the same role as Eijiro does for Bakugo, and Denki for Jiro: someone else–Hawks–needs to have him here for his character progression. If Hawks dies, Tokoyami has to be there to witness it. If Endeavor dies, Tokoyami has to be here to listen to Hawks. Given what Hawks has gone through, as pretty much black ops for the government, Tokoyami is his morality chain, and while an author can be cruel to inspire emotions in readers, I don’t see Horikoshi killing Tokoyami just to give a sad ending to Hawks. Hawks’s story is about someone who is cynical to the point that you think he has zero hope in a better world–but every action he takes is to make sure there doesn’t have to be another him, another Nagant, another someone who has to do the dirty work. You don’t have to like that approach to storytelling, or his role in black ops, but it would be bad writing–not that My Hero Academia isn’t capable of it–to end Hawks’s story so bleakly that he sees Tokoyami die and think all of his work was for nothing. 

So that akes care of most of Class 1A–all except one last student, one who I see no way he will die, because to do so would give too much joy to too many readers, whereas keeping him around as the answer to Soul Eater’s Excalibur is necessary to keep people irate and let that anger fuel them for the rest of their lives…

Bonus Will Not Die: Mineta

This is our hell. That perv won’t die. We are cursed to have him stay with us, forever and ever, because the world is full of Mineta’s, and that is sadly one of the most realistic details about My Hero Academia. 

Or, They All Live Happily Ever After

Or, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe all of Class 1A lives, while only some of the adult Pro Heroes die, because having the next generation bite it this brutally would be too grim for what has been an optimistic story, about the previous generation (who screwed up the world) striving to make a better world for the next generation…sometimes to the point of toxic positivity and in ignorance of the societal realities that keep creeping into it. 

What do you think? Who do you think has a death flag on them? When Izuku narrated that his class would be the greatest heroes ever, did he mean they had to live long enough to do that and then abruptly die? Or is it not technically a lie if a classmate dies, because Denki and Eijiro can just puppeteer Bakugo’s corpse for a Weekend at Kacchan’s lark? Feel free to write your thoughts in the comments!

And if this darkly humorous betting pool entertained you or provoked some thoughts, please consider a monetary contribution to my Ko-fi. Your financial support helps me to pay bills and afford resources I use to read content and write these posts. The link is at ko-fi.com/dereksmcgrath. Thank you for your consideration. 

[blixeysmangatalk]

The Quintessential Quintuplets Review

Overview: 'Go-Tobun no Hanayome', or known in English as 'The Quintessential Quintuplets, is a manga series written and illustrated by Negi Haruba. The series was serialized in Kodansha's 'Weekly Shonen Magazine' from 2017-2020 before being published into 14 separate volumes. The story follows studyholic Futaro Uesugi and his daily life after being hired to tutor the Nakano Quintuplets. This is a challenge for Futaro, as the girls are awful students who can't seem to pass a test to save their lives. The quintuplets are, in order of who was born first, Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki. During the beginning, Nino and Itsuki give Futaro the most trouble, as they will flat-out deny having him tutor them, with Nino even scheming up ways to sabotage. Ichika, Yotsuba, and Miku may allow him to tutor them, but they struggle with paying attention. However, hate soon turns into love for the Nakano sisters, as they all start to simultaneously develop feelings for Futaro, even to the point where they engage in a 'war' over winning his love. As we know from the very beginning, Futaro ends up marrying one of the sisters, and even met one five years prior, but the events between him being hired and the wedding are filled with comedic acts of chaos, angst, love, and heartbreak for the Nakano sisters. Review: I really enjoyed this, and I just finished collecting the series physically just a day ago. I'm not usually one for harem manga, but this one really gripped my attention. While it starts off as a somewhat typical harem, with Futaro visiting the five sisters and some fan-service ensues, there's honestly so much more to this manga than a cheap, sleazy harem. The story ties in the past, present, and future really well, and sometimes even some of the smallest moments in the manga have a big impact on the story, especially in terms when Futaro choses the bride (which I will keep unnamed in case of spoilers). This story was funny at moments as it was sad in others. During the events of volumes 11-14, where the series was coming to an end, I truly felt sorry for the sisters as they realized they weren't chosen to be his bride, and the events of the Sisters' War Arc was my particular favorite in terms of comedy. In terms of the winner, I'm satisfied. She wasn't my favorite of the sisters (who I also will not name, due to spoilers), but she is still a good character, and the story makes it clear that she deserved to win. Also, how the winner handled it between Futaro choosing her and the wedding was, in my opinion, written and handled well. Quick note, I also enjoyed the art style. It wasn't anything crazy, but that suited the manga well. Overall, I can recommend this manga for almost any reader who is interested in romantic comedies and slice of life. It's my favorite harem i've read, which doesn't say too much given my disinterest in the genre, and at times it really doesn't seem like one. If I could score it, it would receive an 8/10 for me. Quick Note: I know the ending has sparked controversy amongst the fanbase, mainly due to their favorite girl not winning. If you are mad just because your favorite girl not winning, I would ask yourself if Futaro chose her instead, would the story really have made much sense?

[m-y-fandoms]

1 Thing I Love & 1 Thing I Hate About EVERY Danganronpa Character Part 1

Part 2

SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE MAIN GAMES

I’d love to hear our opinions as well in the comments or my inbox or DM’s! If you try this trend with DR characters, tag me!

Sayaka Maizono

♡ Her passion for her career and friends.

✘ The way she tries to screw over Makoto when the game had just begun. Like wait and see what happens before screwing over such a great guy? Leon didn’t deserve it either.

Leon Kuwata

♡ His voice actor (English), and how real and human his execution was in that we all would be so scared and irrational. It was just so iconic and sad as it’s our first introduction to the death in this series and we all think: “shit, this is real... they are really killing these kids.” I didn’t think it would be that brutal, just seeing his body limp at the end with the haunting music.

✘ His design is disgusting. I hate how he looks.

Chihiro Fujisaki

♡ So innocent, so kind, so intelligent

✘ Shouldn’t have been killed for such a stupid reason, also they did Mondo dirty with that motive for killing as well. Just a mess. As for the actual character, Chihiro cries right off the bat when you do your introductions and that was kind of annoying to me personally.

Mondo Oowada

♡ He has a lot of respect, understanding and emotions for someone I thought would be a hard-ass douche biker.

✘ The worst motive to kill ever in a game where you know you’re getting executed if you’re found out. Like you’d be extra careful and that’s his reason to kill? Lazy writing.

Celestia Ludenberg

♡ Bad bitch energy and her goth lolita design.

✘ Manipulation and double murder. Bad bitch energy only goes so far. Confidence is different then selfishness. Also, of all the chapter 3 triple murders... the worst motive to kill.

Kiyotaka Ishimaru

♡ Emotions: secure in his masculinity, able to cry, show emotions, and apologize when he’s wrong. He’s funny and likable.

✘ The Ishimondo white hair thing was stupid. Taka was fine on his own.

Hifumi Yamada

♡ Writing takes talent, fan fiction as much as any other style or genre. Also the talent of his voice actor (who also voices Kiibo/K1-B0).

✘ Literally everything else about him.

Sakura Oogami

♡ I love everything about her. I love her wisdom, loyalty, design, voice etc. Just step on me, mother.

✘ Why the hell would she ever agree to be a spy even if it meant the end of her dojo? I just don’t think she would do that rationally because she isn’t selfish. The others would suffer for her spying. She remedies this with redemption in her letter in chapter 4 but still she should’ve said no off the bat. Everyone had something to lose. The dojo wasn’t worth spying for monokuma. Also I just don’t think she would commit suicide. She can’t help the remaining students survive and redeem herself truly if she’s dead.

Kyoko Kirigiri

♡ Bad bitch energy, calm and collected when I could never be.

✘ Especially in future arc of the anime, damn can you show some emotion please? Through your words and expressions not just your actions. Sure she was willing to “die” for Makoto but like I just want more emotion from her sometimes, even in THH.

Makoto Naegi

♡ So pure. I Love Bryce Papenbrook. Makoto reminds me of Sora and I love his design.

✘ In THH I didn’t mind his innocence but in the Danganronpa 3 future arc anime, when people started straight up abusing him and accusing him, he needed to grow a little backbone.

Byakuya Togami

♡ Love my dad, king shit, also love how over the progression of the games and animes he becomes a little more kind to his friends.

✘ Why the fuck did he mess with Chihiro’s body? Just so cruel and disrespectful.

Yasuhiro Hagakure

♡ Funny magic man. Sexy voice.

✘ Please. Please Hiro use your brain just once. Why do we have to prove Kyoko isn’t a ghost?!

Toko Fukawa

♡ Character development in UDG and I love Genocider.

✘ Putting down herself and others constantly gets old in THH.

Aoi Asahina

♡ Love her voice actress and her personality

✘ We really just gonna get everyone killed in chapter 4 huh? Surely you know they don’t all deserve that.

Junko Enoshima

♡ A very memorable villain with great hair and design.

✘ I just can’t stand her. I hate her so much.

Mukuro Ikusaba

♡ Her mercenary background is super cool as a concept.

✘ Too bad it wasn’t explored nearly enough.

Hajime Hinata

♡ Seeing the protagonist be a little less naive, innocent and positive than Makoto was a refreshing change, although I loved Makoto. I liked Hajime’s cynicism and expressions that sometimes just screamed “this shit again, huh?”

✘ I enjoy the way Izuru looks but I hate him as a character. He is sexy to look at but Hajime is just a better character overall

Teruteru Hanamura

♡ His love for his family and mother especially is so cute and heart breaking if you know the full story.

✘ He needs to know when to dial it back and quit with the perversions. And no it’s not just how he looks, Miu needs to chill at times, too.

Twogami

♡ I feel like he genuinely cares about his friends, just hides it well

✘ His death felt like a cop out and poorly written. It just didn’t sit right with me. Also his design is disgusting to me, his outfit and such.

Mahiru Koizumi

♡ Loyal to her close friends.

✘ I just have no interest in her as a character and I find her boring.

Peko Pekoyama

♡ Loyalty. Loyalty is something I value very highly in every form of relationship. Peko is also very hot.

✘ Come on girl... I know how you were raised but you should’ve known Fuyuhiko didn’t think of you as just a tool and you two should’ve expressed your true feelings long ago. Like even in secret. How do you live like this? Also I feel like killing Mahiru could’ve been avoided with a calm talk.

Ibuki Mioda

♡ Cute design, positive vibes.

✘ Cringe sometimes in the way she talks.

Hiyoko Saionji

♡ Beautiful character design and some very good insults and snarky remarks at times.

✘ Just irredeemably mean and annoying. Even when you do her free time events she is just so annoying.

Mikan Tsumiki

♡ I like her design as well as her hair, expressions, sprites and clothing.

✘ I hate her. I just hate her whether she’s in her true psycho form or timid stuttering form. She’s just annoying in my opinion.

Nekomaru Nidai

♡ So supportive, can hold my drink at a party. Respects everyone and wants the best for them.

✘ Bro Mechamaru was a stupid plot point. I just couldn’t stand looking at him and couldn’t take it seriously. Still sad when he died though.

Chiaki Nanami

♡ From chapter 5 of sdr2 on she is impossible not to love if you didn’t already. Just the selflessness, the sadness of the reveal and execution, how she returns to help Hajime at the end???? I love her. I love her hair design, color palette, her personality, everything.

✘ I’m bitter and miserable about her being the only class member to actually die (the despair arc anime) also her falling asleep at random times is kind of odd and she doesn’t seem to be like that later on in the game??? Like it seemed like a cheap joke but not actually who she is? Hard for me to explain.

Gundham Tanaka

♡ King shit, couldn’t praise him enough. He’s sexy, loves animals, and is funny as hell sometimes. His voice actor is a saint and a cool dude and I named my guinea pigs after the Dark Devas (yes I know they are hamsters in the games.)

✘ Come on dude. I get that being from Hell and magic and having evil powers is your shtick, but we all know that you and Nekomaru sacrificed yourselves so the others wouldn’t starve. We know you care about your classmates. There comes a time when it’s time to let personas and facades fade and be true to your heart. I just feel like him denying he cared at the end hurt. We all know he cared. I didn’t like how he was haughty until the end. He deserved better. I love him.

Nagito Komaeda

♡ I love him so much. So cunning and intelligent, always a step ahead. And he’s big sexy.

✘ Him killing himself in chapter 5 hurt me so bad I was like in denial for days. Also hate how Bryce Papenbrook gives him a raspy stoner psycho voice in the game then a light airy higher-pitched voice in the despair arc anime. It just bothers me. I love his voice still but the inconsistency just hurts my OCD

Sonia Nevermind

♡ I love that she’s so interested in her passions and love her feelings for Gundham

✘ Her outfit and bow are atrocious. Also why didn’t she start liking and talking to Gundham sooner on? Their romance bloomed late and it would’ve made for a better chapter 4 ending if they were a bit closer.

Kazuichi Souda

♡ Cool design and outfit, love his voice (also voices Kaito in V3) and his backstory is relatable at times. He’s also very human in that he’s scared a lot of the time or insecure or blames others in panicked situations. It’s not always a good thing but it’s human and realistic.

✘ Gosh he can be so annoying. Sometimes flirting or whining too much is well... too much.

Akane Owari

♡ Strong-willed and definitely someone I would be friends with

✘ What the hell is her outfit? Gymnasts and athletes don’t wear that shit. Stop objectifying her when it doesn’t even make the product or plot better. Like there’s absolutely no point to making her dress that way. I was a gymnast for 15 years. Even those who do parkour (which Akane seems to do more often than actual gymnastics in the anime and game) don’t wear what she wears. Also she’s underrated.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu

♡ I love him. He’s the DR character I’m most like out of all the games and anime. Tenko is a close second. I think he’s adorable, love his character arc, development, redemption, and love his voice.

✘ In the anime/despair arc, Fuyuhiko is not done justice. He doesn’t get enough lines, has a different voice actor, just doesn’t give off the same vibes.

Izuru Kamakura

♡ Sexy man long hair good.

✘ Boring character. I wish he were just Hajime.

Kaede Akamatsu

♡ Loyalty and leadership are such attractive qualities in her. Also she faced her death with such class and dignity and I respect her because I could never.

✘ Some of the voice lines Erika does for her are just weird and cringe. Just random moans or grunts... I don’t know it’s like when Ann Takamaki from Persona 5 (also voiced by Erika) makes suggestive noises as well. Just grinds my gears. Also hate her outfit down to the hair pins.

Shuichi Saihara

♡ I love his nasally voice. I love his design and he’s so adorable. I love how emotional and compassionate he can be. He ties with Makoto for favorite protag of mine.

✘ That sprite where he sniffs his hand. And his ugly ass hat.

Rantarou Amami

♡ Sexy man, sexy voice, sexy piercings

✘ Ugly outfit, and wasted potential

Ryoma Hoshi

♡ I respect him and feel bad for his outlook on life and for how poorly he views himself. I love his little hat as well and he’s the first “different styled” character (Hifumi, Bandai, Teruteru) that I liked the design of.

✘ I hate when he says “got a long ways to go,” it’s overused and annoying, and wish he gave himself more credit. Also hate that when you first meet him he warns you that he’s killed people and is dangerous to be around. Come on buddy, you know you wouldn’t hurt your friends. Stop pushing them away.

Kirumi Tojo

♡ Competence, well rounded, skillful

✘ Boring as hell. I wouldn’t waste one free time event on her.

Angie Yonaga

♡ Dark skin, super cute, love her talent as an artist myself.

✘ Gives religious people a bad name and is super manipulative which I hate.

Tenko Chabashira

♡ I relate to her and feel bad when she’s misunderstood. She’s a good person deep down. Also love her sprites.

✘ There’s more cunning, funny and clever ways to write her digs at men.

Korekiyo Shunguuji

♡ I’m in love with this man. Long hair, voice, mystery, mask, intelligence, passion, talent.

✘ He definitely was a victim of abuse and a lot of people refuse to see that and just hate him. Team Danganronpa should’ve given him a redemption arc where he realized his sister abused him and changed.

Gonta Gokuhara

♡ I love his design except for his suit. Also he’s so cute and naive. I cried for his trail.

✘ No need talk like caveman. Better way to do this.

Kokichi Ouma

♡ Like Nagito, I value his intelligence and crazy cunning.

✘ Shouldn't have died. Also shouldn’t have manipulated Gonta. That was just cruel.

Miu Iruma

♡ She has her hilarious moments and her death surprised me and was sad.

✘ Sometimes she lacks basic empathy, i.e. calling Tenko “Tencrotch” when she just fucking died.

Maki Harukawa

♡ Amazing character development. Didn’t see her surviving until the end at the start. Also her love and passion for Kaito.

✘ “Do you wanna die?” gets old.

Kaito Momota

♡ Just the overall best bro you could ever have.

✘ Has some toxic masculinity issues and anger issues.

K1-B0

♡ Pretty much everything about him. His design, his attitude and personality, especially how amazing and cool he is chapter 5 onward, his execution made me so sad. He’s so innocent and funny without trying.

✘ When you do his free time events he’s very arrogant and just talks about himself a lot... it seems odd and not similar to the Kiibo we see throughout the game.

Himiko Yumeno

♡ Super cute design, love her voice and “Nyeh...” and her sprites. Her character development is great as well.

✘ Why did they take so long to make her important and likable?

Tsumugi Shirogane

♡ An excellent and well hidden reveal

✘ I hate her. So annoying, from the voice to the references and her personality.

[sapphicwhxre]

tiny pansy rant, cut short so it’s *hopefully* not too long:

i. wanted. to. see. her. change! and in my opinion the reason she never got the chance was because jkr used her character to make fun of people she disliked :/

pretty much all the other noteable slytherins had some sort of redemption arc,, and yeah they’re still mostly problematic people but they got chances: snape, draco, narcissa, regulus, slughorn, leta and technically andromeda? you get the point i just—

like miss ma’am decided to make pansy,, the like slytherin stereotype? and have her want to betray harry? she was seventeen ffs, not bellatrix lestrange. she was in the middle of a war? in my personal opinion i don’t think that she wanted to hand harry over out of cruelty like. it’s possible? but maybe she was just scared? also don’t we know that pansy was terrified at the thought of like. voldemort coming to hogwarts? again: everyone expects all of the children in harry potter to be these selfless brave individuals,, they’re kids :( yes ik it’s ya fantasy but cmon. they were supposed to be stressed about the N.E.W.T exams not the upheaval of their society?

and don’t get me wrong i know that she was. not a good person. she was a bitchy teenage bully who was taught hateful views. but i wanted to see her change even a little– even draco marries someone who presumably teaches him how to treat people equally? like. there was so much room for change: she was a prefect, she was capable of some kindness seeing as she liked draco, or alternatively, we could’ve seen her break away from draco and potentially stop hating harry/all his friends quite so much or develop her own opinions. or maybe her group of friends that she used for validation throughout her school years was uprooted during the war and she had to learn that independency? or her pointing out harry could’ve been turned into trying to be selfless, like she thought they’d be safe that way, or she returned later fighting with reinforcements to show she was on Hogwarts’ side. jkr is always like "well they technically came back to fight, if you squint » but that’s not enough. also? let’s say we did get a glimpse of her during the actual battle: there could’ve been anything, the smallest scene, that showed some sort of support or reconciliation or something between her and hermione, considering how hermione was often pansy’s target. everybody wants to see forgiveness between draco and harry because of minor events/details (i dislike drarry but that’s besides the point), but imagine what could’ve changed with some semblance of apology or assistance from pansy to hermione. there were so many chances for r*wling to give her a smallest redemption

but instead we got her characterized as evil and a stupid, cowardly traitor. she the only person we ever see her care for marries her friends younger sister. she’s the written depiction of jkr’s bitterness and her arc is jkr’s vengeance.

also, another reason that i’m so mad she got nothing is because of the whole slytherin=evil thing. she’s made into a stereotype of a “slytherin”— cruel, selfish, shallow, ugly, and asinine. (also i could rant about slytherin forever, but can we just mention that jkr consistently refers to slytherins as physically ugly and just how fucked up that is? i– wtf). but anyway: to give pansy a chance to change is to give the slytherin house a chance to change its reputation. trying to justify that the slytherin house got its redemption because of the actions of ppl like snape or regulus, etc isn’t possible. because all of those “slytherin heroes” were described again and again as being “different from all the other slytherins”. they set themselves apart by being decent. they weren’t normal slytherins, no, they were set apart, they were brave and smart and kind— not evil. there’s no redemption to be found there. i wish jkr would just fucking say that being sorted into slytherin was being made into a villain. she dodged around it with rhetorical questions and pointing out how not All of them are bad,, and then will go on to mock the other slytherins and talk about how the heroes were Not Like The Other Snakes... again: there’s no redemption of slytherin as a house, as a quality, as a concept there. it’s just the redemption of an individual.

in pansy, however, we could’ve found so much more. like i said, she’s The Average Slytherin: not a hero, not a villain like voldemort. she’s made out to be a depiction of the typical slytherin student, one without a “destiny”, so to speak. and so to give her the chance, to see her change, to have her redefine herself? that would be a starting point for restoring slytherin as a whole (obviously not the best way, and the real best thing to do would be not to make an entire house be the bad guys in the first place, but–) to have someone who’s the figurehead of slytherin (like actually a figurehead,, girl is a even a prefect) show remorse and growth gives the entire house the seed of redemption. it would mean that after over a thousand years there could be peace between the houses. obviously not the only factor in reconciliation but still so important.

and not to just continue to heap on my own issues with it, but look. i know that there are so many other ways to introduce “mundane” antagonists without making them a symbol of anything. pansy could’ve been a bitch without representing slytherin. also pansy doesn’t have to break character and become kind for amends to be made. they don’t even have to be fully made, just started. but jkr chose to:

a.) go with bullying as a minor antagonistic element

b.) create and develop a character around that theme

c.) make this character only based on her own negative personal experiences

d.) turn that character into a representation of a much larger group of people

e.) deny that character any final moment that could begin to make amends for her actions and instead, chooses to make her “defining” moment an act of evil and cowardice

f.) either neglects the character or chooses plot points that would humiliate the character in all the glimpses of the future we are shown (ex. how dracos marriage is)

g.) openly mocks and insults the character repeatedly and never directly comes out and proves she didn’t write slytherins as evil

h.) to the best of my knowledge, ignores that pansy personifing slytherin, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and then characterizing both as “bad” and not giving them a chance to grow, is a summary of her thoughts on slytherin ls and is a possible interpretation of the text (i mean her opinions are already TRASH)

i. ignores the consequences of this or the possible effect it has on her entire fanbase and doesn’t seek to remedy it

but yeah, jkr, it was such a good idea to base a character off of your loathesone memories, take your anger out on her, and that choose to have that character partially represent a large percentage of your fanbase. thank you sooooo much. i really appreciate it!

summary:

I. Pansy— deserved an opportunity to have some character development. everyone else’s mistakes get overlooked to some degree save hers. had so many places to draw inspiration/opportunity from. could’ve progressed other ideas in the book and the analysis of her house while still remaining a “dislikable” character

II. Writing— from a “technical?” aspect, Pansy is underdeveloped and stagnant, used for personal reasons instead of as a plot device. perpetuates the slytherin=bad idea via a sloppy and repetitive characterization and emblem. there are ways around this that weren’t used.

III. I have no qualifications to be saying any of this lmao. Am I reading to much into it, knowing that Rowling tends to be shitty with writing details? Am I being dramatic and repetitive? probably!

IV. Fuck JKR (for everything. she’s an awful person)

anyways this has been: my mini-rant on pansy and her analysis,,, and i am terribly sorry,, i offer my apologies in advance for randomly dumping this into your inbox. it’s long and opinionated and there’s no real reason behind it! i just thought of it and then thought about it some more and then. here we are

ilysm mwah <3 should’ve definitely done something more productive but shh😭 rat brain hours

this is everything, you're completely right. i don't have much to add but i agree all the way. and people give pansy so much shit for the harry thing but she seemed genuinely scared of voldemort coming back and i really think that she believed he would leave them alone if they gave him up. from her perspective, it's either her and the people she cares about get to live or this guy that she not only isn't close to but probably sees as the bad guy considering she dated/was best friends with draco and witnessed their rivalry from his side. did she make the best decisions? no, not at all but i see her reasons and i don't think it makes her this antichrist that jkr makes her out to be. she pulled the “he's just a boy” with draco and had people sympathise with him when he did so so much worse than pansy did so why doesn't that apply to her? she's a kid. they all are. i love harry, ron, and hermione SO MUCH but jkr really said fuck everyone who isn't them ─ especially any girl who isn't her precious hermione. she projected her own pettiness onto fictional characters who are CHILDREN and proceeded to get upset when people connected to and loved other people that she herself made. creating such an underdeveloped character and expecting people to hate her just because she imagined her as her bully is beyond immature and ridiculous. anyways. jkr take a fucking chill pill and leave my girl alone.

[space-girl-and-droids-art]

Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark- Book Review

“Clone Wars: Stories of Light and Dark” Is an anthology of stories narrating some of the arcs of the clone wars from the perspective of the characters. It gives more details and depth to some episodes, as well as giving us information that makes us have a different view of the events.

This is not exactly a review, but mostly my reactions to reading the book. I do recommend it, if you loved the clone wars and want another perspective on some of the arcs this will be a good read. That said, this does contain spoilers for the clone wars.

#1 “Sharing the same Face” -Jason Fry (from the episode “Ambush”)

Okay this was once one of the most light-hearted episodes of the series and now I ended up crying. I did not expect an order 66 reference here. Every time Yoda addresses Dooku is painful. Seeing how Yoda perceives the clones is really heart-warming, but knowing how it all turns out in the end is really sad and during the whole text you are really aware of that. In the show you kind of forget about what’s going to happen for a while, but this text just keeps you thinking about it constantly. It was a good read, I loved it. I found it really interesting knowing Yoda approaches the clones the same way he approached his students at the temple, and knowing what his opinions on the clone army it was a good detail. Loved this one.

Did I care that much about this episode before? No. But watching it right after reading this made me cry for half an hour. (I am a really emotional person, so take this with a grain of salt.)

#2 “Dooku Captured”- Lou Anders (From the episodes “Dooku Captured” and “Gungan General”.

This was a funny read, and the fact that the events are narrated by Dooku Himself made it even more hilarious. It’s supposedly a holorecording Dooku was doing for Sidious, and you can tell by his words that he was so done. Poor Dooku deserves a meditation day after it. You can tell how annoyed he was by the whole situation and his perception of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. They really are bothering for the count. I’m surprised he didn’t retire after this event, man’s gotta be really tired. Also, when they were tied together, they just shared a braincell and most of the time, Dooku was the one carrying it. The love he had for Qui-Gon does not extend to rest of the lineage, clearly.

At first it was really slow, but after they get captured by the pirates it just gets funnier. Good story to read after the sadness the previous text gave me.

Also, the fact that Dooku canonically records himself venting to Sidious is hilarious to me. Like, can you imagine being Palpatine and receiving daily vlogs from your apprentice ranting and complaining about Anakin and Obi-Wan? Dude was tired, of course he would let Anakin decapitate him in the end.

#3 “Hostage Crisis”- Preeti Chhibber (from the episode “Hostage Crisis”)

For an Anidala shipper this is a must read, because you will know exactly what Anakin thinks of his wife and how he views Padmé. This text was more Anakin centric (I believe the next one is Padmé centric) and it was a delight. I haven’t read much in canon about stuff that involves Anakin’s feelings so this was really good.

The scene from the beginning of the episode? Is hotter when you read it, trust me. For a clearly SFW text, this was intense. I’m pretty sure I can guess all of Anakin’s kink only by what was implied in his thoughts. Is also really sweet to see how much she cares, but also know why everything went downhill at the end. Good retelling.

#4 “Pursuit of Peace”- Anne Ursu (from the episodes “Heroes on both sides” and “Pursuit of Peace”)

I really love Padmé Amidala. My favorite senator. If you have seen my review of Queen’s Peril you KNOW How much I love her, and even when this text was written by another author, I still got the same feeling about her. Padmé is amazing. This arc is one of my favorite of the Clone wars because it’s the arc that let you see that it wasn’t a black and white kind of situation, both sides were being played. An none of them were really worrying about their people, they were in it for the money. I love reading Padmé’s thoughts on the whole situation. Also, the way this story is written makes what went down with Padmé and Anakin in the third episode make more sense and more in character. She is a strong, good, and smart politician. But she is also motivated to see the light in the dark and preserve the light, it gave me major Qui-Gon from “Master and Apprentice” vibes. It did make me tear up a little, because when I finished it, I realized everything she did was for nothing. She was too kind in a galaxy already so corrupted.

Also, Palpatine stop calling her “my child” you disgusting sith lord, I know you are responsible for her death and so do you, so shut the f up. Padmé was doing everything right and she hasn’t done anything wrong in her life whatsoever.

“Just because there’s darkness in something does not mean you do not love it. You show it love, you show it light, and you hope it chooses the light”.

She was talking about the senate but you just KNOW she isn’t really talking about the senate.

This story re-telling broke me, just as the first one. I am not ready for the next one. Do I have to? Man, I really don’t want to go through Umbara again.

#5 “The Shadow of Umbara” -Yoon Ha Lee (from the episodes "Darkness on Umbara," "The General," "Plan of Dissent," and "Carnage of Krell”)

I was, indeed, not ready for it. It doesn’t really add much to the story… except pain. Rex’s pain, to be precise. Let my man mourn Hardcase :C I just wanted to give him a hug, him and all of the clones to be honest. Fives was as good as always, but re-reading his lines knowing what happens to him made me sad. I hate Pong Krell, get you dirty hands off my babies. I don’t think this re- telling made me sadder, but that’s only because it was just as painful as the episodes.

Dogma my beloved, you deserve everything.

I love how this arc develops Rex character and his attitude towards the war in general.

#6 “Bane’s Story”- Tom Angleberger (from the episodes “Deception”, “Friends and Enemies”, “The Box” and “Crisis on Naboo”.)

Is Cad Bane the Regina George of the Bounty Hunters?

The answer is yes. Yes, he is.

I wasn’t really excited to read about Cad Bane at first, I felt that everything that had to be said about the guy had already been stated in the show. He was just a mean bounty hunter in space. But this was actually pretty funny to read, specially because it’s narrated in first person from Bane’s perspective on what happened with Kenobi. And it’s hilarious.

He is basically re telling the events to Boba and Bossk while he is in jail again. During his story you can learn a few things about him as well, specially what his thoughts are in relation to some important topics. You would think he is only concerned about the money and blasting people, and you would be right. But he also does have an opinion on what’s happening on the galaxy at large, on the jedi, on Palpatine and Dooku. But those opinions don’t affect how he gets the job done. It was really interesting seeing him internally judging Kenobi for being a liar, and knowing something is wrong with the jedi order if they pulled that off. He knows everyone is being deceived, but doesn’t know how. That’s why he doesn’t care, and doesn’t get involved on anything unless you offer to pay him. Money moves him, but not the people who has it.

It was a good story, and I also liked to see how Bane respects Boba and sees him as the one that’s going to take his place eventually.

We know from the deleted episodes that Cad Bane was supposed to be killed by Boba Fett, but we haven’t seen that in canon yet. I really hope they answer what happened to Cad Bane in the current canon, I would love to see that in a comic, or in a book.

#7 “The lost nightsister”- Zoraida Cordova (from the episode “Bounty”)

I love Asajj Ventress for a million reasons and this story just made me love her even more. It’s the same story from the episodes but with an insight of what Ventress is thinking about. Which is unsurprisingly very depressing but the story itself turns out to be pretty uplifting.

It’s about her thoughts on what happened after the massacre of her sisters, her family, and how she deals with everything she had already lost. How lonely and worthless she feels. But during the course of the story, we see her reconnecting with who she is, and learning her value. Learning she is a powerful person, master or not.

It was also really sad to see how she compared herself to others. She was really sad and angry that nobody cared about what happened to her people, no one that cared about her. She saw how people wanted the girl in the box back and thought about how nobody would ever do the same for her and it was sad.

I also find very depressing that she couldn’t mourn her family.

But then she said this:

“What made her so special? What made her worth—No. She couldn’t think that way. This girl’s worth didn’t diminish her own. “

And like, I’m 100% rooting for her here.

Also, I love that once she realized the girl from the box was being smuggled to be essentially a child bride, she didn’t hesitate to scam the old creep. She may be an assassin, but during the course of this story you learn that she is disgusted by men who take advantage of female beings. I also love her internal monologue after the guy was bothering her in the cantina and how she just knows that if she can defend herself, she will do it with no hesitation.

Lovely story, I love knowing more about Ventress. Beautifully written.

#8"Dark Vengeance”-Rebecca Roanhorse (from the episodes "Brothers" and "Revenge")

It’s so on brand for Darth Maul to have his entire story be about Kenobi. It’s narrated by him, but directed towards you, like he is telling the reader a story. That in some stories could be like an awkward thing, but here it was well done. I love Maul and like, I could picture us having that conversation, well, me listening to him monologuing.

I really liked that he started telling the story from the events that happened on Naboo. You get to really see what happened from his perspective and understand why his hatred of Kenobi only grows over time.

Also, Darth Maul was like “I can excuse murder, but I draw the line at being rude”. Which is so morally wrong, but very fitting to his character. He is really upset at Kenobi for not caring about what happened to him. From what I gathered of the info that he let us know, he would probably like it more if Kenobi killed him instead of having to spend all those years in the garbage. Nobody cared for him enough to go and check up on what happened to him. That doesn’t excuse murder though.

The interactions he had with Kenobi let us know that it was not very jedi like the way he treated Maul, ignoring his rage and letting it consume him. Obi-wan just kept adding fuel to the fire because he was also really angry at Maul for the murder of Qui-Gon, not realizing that that would only make Maul be even angrier. And we know how that ended up for Satine Kenobi.

Final thoughts: Savage, I love you.

#9 "Almost a Jedi"-Sarah Beth Durst (from the episode "A Necessary Bond")

I thought this story was going to be from Ahsoka’s point of view. It was not.

I’m not mad at it though.

The story itself does focus on Ahsoka but it’s narrated by Katooni. It’s basically about how much she adores Ahsoka and wants to be like her, but also doubts herself a lot. She thinks she is not good enough to be a jedi. But her experiences both with Ahsoka and with Hondo Ohnaka makes her change her mind.

I want to say that I love the fact that it’s canon that she drew a poster of Ahsoka for her room because she really admired her that much it's so wholesome. It’s cute, and also let us see the perception the younglings had of Ahsoka.

Also, the bond between Hondo and Katooni is really wholesome. This also made me realize that this encounter with a young jedi is the reason he is immediately friendly with Ezra in Rebels. Ezra and Katooni do share similar personality traits sometimes.

Deep diving in Wookiepedia after reading this I found out that Hondo’s ship in Galaxy’s Edge is called “The Katooni” and now I’m sad thinking he was probably devastated when he learnt about Order 66 and what Vader did to the younglings. Great now I’m angsty about a chaotic evil space pirate.

I think it was confirmed by Dave Filoni that those kids are dead now. May the force be with them, they were good enough jedis.

#10 "Kenobi's Shadow"-Greg van Eekhout (from the episode "The Lawless”)

This is the re-telling of one of the saddest clone wars episodes. The episode just lets you think that everything’s going to be alright, that they are going to survive together, lets you hope that they take off just in time… and then it doesn’t happen. I’m still not over Satine’s death. And this made it even sadder. There were so many points their story could’ve gone differently, but their story was already at an end.

This is in third person but heavily focusing on Kenobi’s thoughts along the way. He really was close to turn to the dark side, but his love for Satine and his grief made him not surrender to it. But he felt an anger, a justified one, but an anger that I have never seen in a jedi other than Anakin Skywalker. And we all know what happens to him.

It was a good but sad reading. I won’t be reading this one again. It’s too much. I knew what was going to happen and it still hit me hard. I wish things would’ve gone differently for the both of them. I wonder if we will get flashbacks to this in the Kenobi show.

Also, I really need an Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine book of their time on the run.

#11 "Bug"-E. Anne Convery (inspired by the episode "Massacre”)

I can’t talk openly about this story because it’s not actually featured on the clone wars. It’s a really good story, specially if you want to expand on the lore regarding Dathomir and the Nightsister in the new canon. It’s perfectly executed, and even when the story isn’t about any of the main characters it hooked me from start to finish. Definitely one of my favorite stories of the book and If I had to pick one story from this anthology to read again it would be this one.

It has more gruesome details than the others and the atmosphere is dark, and I loved it. I would read a whole Dathomirian Nightsister novel written by this author if it was in this exact same style. I really liked it a lot.

In summary, I really enjoyed reading this Anthology. I would really recommend it to anyone who is fond of the Clone Wars or the prequels era. Adults, Kids, Teens, Young adults. I think I would’ve enjoyed this book as a kid as well, and I enjoyed it a lot now in my early twenties. It contains a little bit of everything and that makes it a really complete anthology.

[hemera989]

Hot Takes: Yukio Okumura

Aka, 'My Analysis Of Yukio That No One Asked For And Yet I Will Give It Anyways’ asjhdkajshfs also, tw for talk of attempted suicide, suicidal thoughts, depression and trauma!

The main reason I felt it necessary to give My Take on Yukio was not entirely because I love him and feel like he’s a lot more immature and human than people like to think though that is a large chunk of the reason. It was rather because recent manga chapters have really gone on to shake up how I view him, and it helps to write things down.

I feel like perhaps it’s best to start chronologically in a way, because there’s no one event that really led to the reveal of Yukio as he is today- depressed, suicidal, and destructive. There is no one reason to point a finger at, or one life event to deconstruct. He’s a product of his personality, childhood, and the overall events that led to his birth. And what better way to start a childhood off, than with bullying?

Considering how traumatic bullying can be, it’s just a little bit surprising to see how much it tends to get glossed over (for both Rin and Yukio). This is where I believe Yukio’s inferiority complex may have developed, or at least started becoming prominent. He was teased and harassed as a child, and unable to defend himself besides relying on Rin to protect him. While Rin was only doing so out of genuine love and care for Yukio, this is likely where his twisted opinion of their relationship began. Rin was good and kind and strong, and defended him out of love, and Yukio was weak and a crybaby, and resented both Rin and himself for how little he was able to protect himself on his own. 

This is where we can see his mindset begin to develop; Rin = good and strong, and Yukio = weak and bad. This even extends to Shiro, which we can see somewhat in what I believe is the Kraken arc.

This also becomes what I believe is the core of Yukio’s character- he does not like himself. Because he hates himself so thoroughly, he doesn’t believe that he deserves to be liked, or even that he genuinely can be liked for who he is. We see this in his conversation with Rin during the Aomori arc, where he remarks to Rin that if Shiemi knew the ‘real’ him, she would hate him. He believes that he is an unlikable person, to both himself and others. 

In a way, this also stems from his relationship with Rin. Rin is in no way at fault for why Yukio is the way that he is, but the friction between their two personalities does deepen their own insecurities. Because Rin is reckless and headstrong, Yukio is forced to be the ‘mean guy’, the one to put his foot down, the one to say ‘no’ because he knows that Rin isn’t often capable of doing so himself. He is forced into responsibilities too intense for him to properly handle both due to Rin’s position as the inheritor of the blue flames, and due to his brother’s personality as the goofy, fun-having teen. (If you’ve ever had siblings, or, hell, even had to be the voice of reason in a situation where people are having reckless fun, you know exactly how this feels.)

When you take how his personality is, you can see exactly how his position as an exorcist has exacerbated this to an almost extreme amount. Though Shiro didn’t do so intentionally, he almost single-handedly createted one of Yukio’s most damaging mindsets- that becoming strong is the only way forward for Yukio. 

(Don’t take this as Shiro slander, I love that man and he tried his best with the complicated history he already has with childhood) Through trying to give Yukio the chance to seize strength for himself, he set off quite a few chain reactions within Yukio’s mindset. First, he associated strength as a person with physical strength. Second, he associated worth as a person with physical strength. Third, he associated Yukio’s strength and worth with Rin, by making exorcism a way to protect Rin from other demons. Foruth, in my opinion, we can see the reduction of Yukio and Shiro’s relationship from a father-son bond to a teacher- student bond. Now, Yukio begins to lose his main support system- his father. Shiro is no longer his dad, but the paladin, a strong man who offered him an unhealthy way forward in life. 

In one decision, we can see how Yukio’s self hatred found an external focus to worsen itself for him. Yukio believes that he is a weak, worthless, and unlikable person. But, now, he does have a purpose, something in life that is worth living for. He begins to develop his entire concept of himself as a person on that of becoming an exorcist, becoming strong, and protecting his brother. He hates himself, but he knows that he can do one thing- protect Rin.

We can also see where his superiority complex begins to develop. Being born human while his brother was born clearly demonic, Yukio has more worth in the eyes of the True Cross. Being the good child, and the smart child with a plan for his future, he has more worth in the eyes of society. He is better than his brother, and he knows it, but he also knows that Rin is (in his eyes) inherently good and kind, and Yukio is not. He is better, but he is also lesser than Rin.

Protecting his brother is also where I believe his relationship with Rin begins to deteriorate to a dramatic extent. Yukio wants strongly to protect him, because that’s where he believes his worth as a person is, but in a way, he resents the burden that’s been placed on him. He has to be the responsible one, the mean one, the assertive one, the negotiator, the one to clean up Rin’s messes, the one to fix everything, the one to give up his entire childhood just for exorcism to protect Rin. Yukio is a child, and one who was denied the chance to be one. He was never allowed the chance to selfishly externalize his emotions (like children should be ALLOWED to do, imo) and so never learned how to process his own emotions.

At this point in his life, he resents Rin for being ‘allowed’ to be selfish and destructive, he resents Rin and the world for having this burden of responsibility put on his shoulders, and he resents himself still for being an unlikable, weak, and worthless person, and for resenting Rin and the world. He is vastly, vastly unhappy and hateful towards himself, and is already suffering in the assortment of circumstances he finds himself in.

And then throw in a murdered dad, because why not?

Now, the burden that was placed on him and shared between himself and Shiro, is now solely on him. On top of having his father suddenly and traumatically killed, he is now responsible (in his mind) for Rin. One could argue Mephisto, but he proved... extremely quickly that he was not interested in the finer details of guardianship LMAO. Yukio now is the sole bearer of Rin’s wellbeing, and he finds very quickly that this is a role he does not (and cannot, as a child himself) succeed in.

Yukio has been thrust abruptly into the world of becoming a parent, in an extremely twisted and awful way. He is a child, in an adult field, surrounded by adults, treated as an adult, and now he essentially is the parent of Rin. This is complicated enough with Rin’s personality, but then you have to add in that Rin is the illegitimate and illegal son of Satan, and his very existence, if revealed, would lead to his certain death. As Rin reveals his powers, gets sentenced to execution, picks fights with Amaimon, uses his powers across Kyoto and in damn near every public space whenever possible, Yukio’s distress and mental state begins to worsen as he realizes that he is failing. 

We can see him begin to externalize his mounting frustrations and anger and fear, through reprimanding Rin harshly, threatening Suguro, threatening Mephisto, and also that scene where he punched the shit out of Rin for being reckless. Yukio needs his brother alive, because Rin is his only family left, and because his worth as a person is tied directly to protecting Rin. It is his only purpose in life, and he is failing at it, and he deeply resents Rin for making it difficult, and himself for failing. His downward spiral begins to become visible around these points, and we can also see the start of his worsening habit of taking his volatile emotions out on others physically.

He is progressively being backed into a corner with no way out, and like a wounded animal, he is lashing out at anyone who dares come close. Yukio’s violent and hurtful behavior towards others is not because he’s an uptight asshole who does it for fun, but because he’s a traumatized, depressed, and suicidal child who is losing the one person he has left and who gives his life worth. He has no substantial guidance from the adults around him, and for all intents and purposes, he is alone. He wants to rely on Rin, but because Rin has a tendency to process negative emotions by shoving them down and away, Yukio can’t rely on him.

This is what I think is the most heartbreaking aspect of Yukio. He is a hurt and lonely child, who is deeply mentally ill, who is losing his brother and lashing out at others because he doesn’t know what else to do. He is acutely aware that he is being cruel and unkind, and he doesn’t want to be. He wants to be good, and kind, and liked, and valued. He doesn’t want to hurt others.

This scene makes this obvious. This is what I believe is the cliff’s edge where Yukio takes the drop that leads him to where he is in the manga now. He is terribly lonely, and hateful, but in a moment where he lashes out emotionally, he managed to do something he feels is well and wholly despicable. Shiemi is the one person he cares for genuinely, healthily, and truly. She wants to help him because she cares for him, and yet he hurts her for daring to mention his largest insecurity- and he knows that.You can see it written across his expression- he’s shocked, and horrified with himself for how he lost control. His hands are shaking.

He managed to do the one thing he feared above all, and that was to let Shiemi see who he ‘truly’ was. He hurt someone who unselfishly cared for him, and this is where he begins to think that he has gone past the point of no return. He is so awful, and terrible, that he hurt someone as kind as Shiemi. He is so worthless that he is failing at the one job that gives his life meaning. He is so evil and cruel that he has shoved everyone away, and now he truly has no one left.

He is worthless, and evil, and terrible- this is how Yukio views himself. Why not kill himself, and then the world would be rid of him?

Except, now another wrench has been thrown in. Yukio finds that, with Satan possessing his eye, he has become worse that worthless and evil and terrible. Now, his life poses a threat to humanity, by allowing Satan a way into Assiah. His life isn’t just worthless now, it’s become an active threat to the world, in his mind. Now, he can rationalize that his death is necessary. He is suicidal, but he has convinced himself that it’s fine, because he needs to die anyways.

This is where I believe he is in the manga, now. He is convinced that he has to die, and says it’s because he wants to save the world from Satan, but it is extremely likely that it’s mostly because he is extremely suicidal. He is hellbent (pardon the pun) on his own death. He will stop at nothing to secure his own death, no matter what it takes. His trauma, his mental illness, his self-hatred- they’re all open and exposed, now. If he’s an evil, unlikable, and cruel person, why not commit to it? Why not make himself the most evil, the most unlikable, the most cruel, if it means someone will finally get tired enough to truly put himself out of his misery?

He’s cast aside his true kindness and gentleness, and has embraced what he believes to be his ‘true’ self. He will die, and he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure that happens.

That’s my take on him, what I believe his mindset is and how it developed. Yukio is not a hero. He hurt Shiemi, threatened his students, threatened his guardian, and shot Rin multiple times. Whether or not Rin heals from it is irrelevant, Yukio still made the conscious choice to harm Rin, and others. But, he has never done so because he is evil inside. He’s done so because he’s a wounded animal, lashing out, determined to secure his own death. He is a traumatized child who has hurt others. 

He deserves kindness and understanding, but also to be held accountable for his actions. He’s what I believe to be the embodiment of the ugly side of mental illness that many people are resistant to see. His character is uncomfortable to read, because he is startlingly real and three-dimensional. Like many of the characters in aoex, he cannot be classified as good or bad. He is a complex person, with good and bad aspects, like any person in real life.

godDAMN could someone give him a HUG and some THERAPY PLEASE.

[makeste]

I just wanna enable you to talk more about Katsuki so. top 5 (or 10, or however many you feel like) Bakugou romantic ships? not like number 1 will be a surprise but hey ;p

ah, shipping. the perfect topic with which to take a breather from leg puns and the quirkless!Bakugou debate. nothing controversial about ships lmao.

disclaimer: these are literally just my favorite Bakugou ships, as asked. I have few to no NOTPs, and I’m not anti-anything, nor do I have any opinions on whether or not any of these will or should become canon (as it really makes no difference to me, since I ship them all platonically as well). basically I have no skin in the “shipping somehow has winners and losers” game. I’m just here for the emotional energy and the lulz and the character development.

anyways this is a top six because I couldn’t bear to leave either of my two favorite rarepairs out whoops.

BakuDeku - like you said anon, not a surprise lol. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; for me, these two are the core of the series. honestly it sometimes strikes me as ironic that this ship is so often written off as abusive or unhealthy or toxic, because I often find myself thinking that roughly 90% of all of Bakugou and Deku’s problems could be sorted out just by them communicating with each other. and I don’t mean just their own specific relationship problems -- I mean all of their problems. Bakugou is having an emotional crisis about something? have him talk to Deku. Deku’s overwhelmed by a problem and way overthinking it? have him talk to Bakugou! they balance each other out, is the thing. when one of them veers off course, the other is the compass to steer them back on track. that’s the power of rivals!! and aside from that, this relationship is just so complex, and I am weak for absolutely all of it. it’s just this perfect blend of push and pull and friction and trust. it’s the type of ship where the two of them have such a strong connection that it’s like gravity; they can’t help but orbit the other, even when that orbit is sometimes unsteady. it’s just such a powerful bond and just... guh. I have way too many emotions about it so I am just going to STOP NOW and move on to the next ship.

TodoBaku - so by now we have reached a point where pretty much everyone in class 1-A is an expert on handling Bakugou, and ngl, it’s my favorite thing ever. but what makes the TodoBaku relationship so especially appealing is that Shouto is completely unafraid to just step right up and declare his friendship to the entire world. Todoroki “I’m calling it like it is” Shouto, who, after giving the matter careful consideration, correctly judged himself and Bakugou to be the closest of friends, and thus decided that they should intern together and he should introduce him to his family and get his sister to cook his favorite foods. and the entire time, Bakugou is all “please no one listen to this delusional freak, we are not friends at all,” even as he proceeds to get himself involved in all of the Todoroki family drama, and saves Shouto’s brother’s life, and learns all of his sister’s recipes, and presumably cries himself to sleep at night wondering how he could have let this happen.

Kacchako - what I like about Ochako’s relationship with Katsuki is that she’s one of the few people who’s not afraid to call him out on his shit. she’s not just warmly tolerant of him like some of the others; she has expectations of him, and will unabashedly express her sound disappointment if he fails to be the person she knows he’s capable of being. I feel like Ochako has no patience for him taking his sweet time with his character development, and is just “goddammit young man, just sort your shit out with Deku already and go back to being best friends like you both so clearly want, and while you’re at it please try to treat other people less like garbage”, and various other things that are all true but that he of course hates to hear, but TOO BAD lol. anyway so I love that, and I love that she’s just as stubborn as he is. and I also love that there’s genuine, mutual respect between the two of them as well. never forget that Katsuki is the one who first brought out Ochako’s homicidal badass side. anyway so they basically complement each other very well, and I have my fingers crossed that one of these days Horikoshi will decide to actually have them interact with each other again because damn.

KiriBaku - Kirishima, on the other hand, is warmly tolerant of Bakugou, and openly admiring of him even, but it tends to be in a way that brings out Bakugou’s best qualities. Kiri just has this way of bringing out Bakugou’s confidence in himself. like, he’s very good at saying precisely the right words to make Bakugou grin that smirky little grin of his, the one that’s all “oh yeah, that’s right, I’m a badass.” and seeing as Bakugou, for all his pride and bluster, is surprisingly prone to having mini crises of confidence, this is a valued skill that I’m very grateful to Kiri for having! and what’s nice is that Bakugou is very good at returning the favor, since Kiri is prone to crises of confidence as well. the little flashback right before Kiri unveils Unbreakable for the first time is one of my favorite moments in the series. when this ship is firing on all cylinders they really bring out the best in each other. and also they are both dumb bros which is an extremely undervalued dynamic. I love it when Bakugou is all “HEY KIRISHIMA LET ME BLOW YOU UP A BIT” and Kiri is just like “YEAHHHH!” heh.

KamiBaku - and now for the first of the two rarepairs! first of all I would just like to state that I absolutely cannot fathom why KamiBaku is a rarepair to begin with, unless it’s simply because everyone is already too obsessed with the previously mentioned ships. but at any rate it’s a damn shame, because the cuteness of this ship is off the fucking charts, and right now it’s all just going to waste. what I adore more than anything about this ship is the way Bakugou tolerates every single fucking thing Kaminari does and LETS HIM GET AWAY WITH IT. he lets him call him “Kacchan.” he lets Kaminari manhandle him into various getups (the A Band shirt; the Santa outfit) on multiple occasions while putting up absolutely no fight. he basically allows him an almost unprecedented level of closeness, which Kaminari proceeds to BLATANTLY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF at every turn seemingly unchecked! and he is the all time champ at tricking Bakugou into participating in social interactions (tying the ribbon to his foot during the Christmas gift exchange, telling him he won’t get any food at the New Year’s feast if he doesn’t help cook, etc.). he just loves him and wants him to be included. honestly this one of the most adorable relationships in the entire goddamn series and I am tired of it being slept on. the people deserve more KamiBaku dammit.

IidaBaku - last but not least, a relationship between two people who I’m pretty sure have only actually interacted with each other a handful of times, and most of those times involved them shouting at each other! ah, yes. the stick in the mud and the delinquent. god’s natural enemies. except that in this case the “delinquent” is a star student who tutors other kids and goes to bed every night at 8:30, and the stick in the mud once hatched a legitimate plot to kill a man. what I am trying to say is that these two are actually WAY more alike than they would ever care to admit, and I’m kind of obsessed with it?? this is one of those ships where all it would take is one well-applied trope and the possibilities are endless. you could literally just pick one out of a hat. fake dating, roommates, only one bed, undercover as lovers, WHATEVER. and not only does this have the potential to be the most hilarious ship in the history of time, but it also has potential to be disarmingly, shockingly sweet, I shit you not. there are a couple of little moments in the light novels that I absolutely adore, where they’re each taking care of the other with the other having absolutely no idea. Iida makes about four attempts to tuck Bakugou in during the forest training camp arc because his covers have fallen off and he doesn’t want him to catch a chill, and Bakugou unknowingly returns the favor by preventing Iida from stumbling across the preparations for his own surprise birthday party before the others are finished getting ready. by shoving Iida into an elevator and ordering him to go back to his room with absolutely no explanation given lmao. anyway, but the point is the potential is definitely there for cuteness and chemistry and mutual respect while arguing nonstop like an old married couple.

so there you go! honestly Bakugou somehow has chemistry with just about everyone in his class, which is super impressive for someone with the personality of a rabid wolf spider. god bless him.