#god I'm so glad I finally picked this manga up

[sparrowmoth]

Jay and Evie in Evie's Wicked Runway, Book 1

Please don't repost my scans.

[throwaway-yandere]

Alone Together (Yandere Modern Ex-Idol!Cyno/Reader)

Mother of Klee, Alice's note: Oof... I am... So sorry about this, solitary anon... You understand that there are no hard feelings, right?... Right. I'm glad to hear that. Keep your chin up, okay kid?

Yandere 1k idol genshin event

--------

You didn’t get the job.

The weight of the world rests on your shoulders.

You need to cry. But not now; you already entered the first store you found inside the mall. You are unable to concentrate on anything because you are SURE that if you do, you will wind up kneeling on the floor. You could have gone home and fall asleep—you WANTED to do that—but the enveloping silence would have accentuated the noticeable loneliness that greets you each time you enter your apartment. It's preferable to stroll through a moderately busy area, although standing in a comic book shop didn't accomplish much.

You picked up a random book.

They said you weren’t accepted because your hearing wasn't great, that you have the talent but it’s up to the CEO's criteria– these are only a few of the things that you want to scream out of your system. What put the final nail in the coffin was hearing people talk about their recruits. One of them was a scholar or sage who landed a job as Childe from ADDICKTZ’s producer. How can you even compete with that? You couldn't let your pet fish hear your pathetic sulking– it is not as if your friend could reach out and comfort you anyways. Hah… "friend." 

It's not like you have communication problems; you can even steer talks like a well-oiled machine if you want to. It's just that being disqualified out of the 22 participants hurts since you detested feeling left out. 

Once upon a time, these emotions pass without much difficulty, but adulthood has a very unique way of bringing your lack of companionship to the forefront of your mind. Aside from your pet fish, you were positive you had many friends. "Had" is the common verb you use to associate with that word. You've had people come and go every year or month since you were a young child so there is a pattern that you have come to recognize. For a few months, you would hyperfixate on a relationship with someone who shares your interests before they start to drift away with lame justifications like being busy or, worse, moving out. You never cry whenever this occurs since you have no reason to.

They never stay in your life long enough for you to care, therefore you've never pleaded with them to stay. They always cross the other side of the fence while you remained a hackneyed outsider.

You admit it: you’re a people pleaser and you ended up adapting to different personalities so much that you no longer know what YOU enjoy deep down. What you want in a "true friend".

Is that it?... Is that your personality, your character?

Is that the barebones of your most authentic identity?

You felt your chest restrict itself.

God, if that's the case, why does it sound so empty? Why does it feel so hollow after you've done everything to earn EVERYONE'S love?

It’s frustrating how much influence others have on you.

You smiled even for those pettily undeserving of kindness, you croaked for those who confided their pain for your ears alone, you were nice to retail workers, you gave poor men food, ALWAYS the first to help. You were the ideal citizen society was looking for.

But how come when you ask for something, it’s never received?

Where is it?

Where is the karma?!

Forget all the notions of acting like a well-put together person, this wasn’t the time to dwell on that. You need something to hold. You need someone to hold you. 

You clenched the book even more. Shit. You might have to buy this ridiculous manga now since you forgot to trim your nails, but you can't think clearly. Why on earth do you have to pay $5 for this crap?! You don’t even like The Knight Tames The Villainess. You favor long, plot-driven series over inexpensive harlequin-inspired novels like this one. You don’t even like Otome Isekais like this. 

You don’t even…

“Ngh…” A nearly inaudible sob escaped your lips.

Such a minor inconvenience allowed you to cry soundlessly.

"What do you call a jackal that's new to comics?"

You turned around, biting your lip.

There was an albino man wearing a MangaMatra uniform in front of you. Unlike the other staff member, he wore an orange peculiar scarf and sunglasses indoors. The stranger watches you with an impervious resting face, but you're more intrigued by his appearance rather than his out-of-nowhere question. He has the look of a man who has experienced most landmarks of his life, tethered by both bitter and sweet memories. But you mostly assumed he was the manager based on the crow's feet that littered near his eyebags. 

"He's Anubis." The man said dryly.

Slowly, your face cleared. Your thoughts are barely cohesive as you attempted to form a conversation-stopping reply, anything that could get you out of whatever he’s trying to do, but you’re too baffled to know what to do next.

… He's what?

"Did you get it? Allow me to explain. Anubis is a jackal and the word sounds hilariously similar to the phrase a newbie.” He droned on, his face still stiff. “It’s a good joke, right?”

...

Was that a joke? That… That was a joke, right? There’s no way it isn’t. It was just a bad one. Through the haze of the emotional pain you’re currently forced to deal with, surely he can at least understand that this isn’t a normal approach to befriending someone.

You gave him a forced smile. Deep down, you felt grotesque to yourself. This was not you smiling. This was a stranger. 

“... Y-Yes. Yes, it is.”

“I’m glad you think so too. Want to hear another one?”

“I’m fine, thanks–”

“No, no you’re not.”

Just who is this guy?

You reeled back, closing your eyes exasperatedly. "I'm sorry but I don't need you to tell me how I feel–"

"You're shaking." He said. "Your shoulders are stiff but your lips are trembling. You're emotionally unstable and you need someone to talk to. I am usually the... silent type but I'll be willing to help you sort out your mental distress."

Unlike his futile jokes, this approach reacquainted you back to reality. You roused a little in each heartbeat, yet not completely grounded by his words. 

“Sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself.” 

He removed his sunglasses.

Your heart dropped.

“I’m Cyno, I’m the founder of MangaMatra and the manager of the branch we’re in right now.”

“Y-You’re Cyno! Cyno of Vulpus Aureus.”

Undoubtedly, their name is odd for an idol duo, and the meaning behind it was equally illogical. The musical preferences of this age were established by both Tighnari and Cyno's equal efforts, and they also revived 80s tunes without a hitch. Cyno was resplendently breathtaking when he owned the stage as the “Judicator” of the idol world. It’s no wonder most teenagers didn’t act normal whenever their name is uttered but the last pages of their Wikipedia page were more unhinged.

When "VA" announced their separation, there wasn't a single dry eye in the crowd. People were similarly shocked when Cyno revealed that he hasn't gotten a paycheck since they debuted because of the costs of his idol training. While some were impressed that he was able to leave a loan shark-like organization, others couldn't help but selfishly think Cyno should have just sucked it up. His former partner, Tighnari, did not receive the same treatment. As one of Teyvat Production's music composers, Tighnari continued to work in the idol business, keeping his name inscribed in pure gold.

The world moved on, and you’ve almost forgotten him too.

Cyno favored you with a warm smile that faded just as quickly as your excitement. He tittered as he made a sideway glance at your phone. In turn, you shook your head. Cyno understood that you wouldn't ask him for a picture based on that minuscule exchange alone.

“Umm… I was a fan.”

“Happy to hear it.” Cyno nodded. “But this conversation is not about me, it’s you.”

He took the book off your hand and placed it back on the shelf, his trained eyes not looking away from you.

"I understand what you're feeling. No matter how many compliments you get, there's a quiet but impactful intrusive thought that makes you ignore those for the things that remind you of the flaws you make up in your mind. It's not a pleasant experience and it's something all of us will have to live with."

Those words came from the heart. Cyno's gaze drifted away, staring at something intangible. "And it's a burden some of us might have to carry forever if left in solitude, but you don't have to belong in that category."

He smiled.

“So, why don’t you tell me every detail as to what fated you to enter my store? There will be no judgment this time, I am all ears.”

—------

It’s been months since your run-in with the idol. A surreal experience, it was, but what followed was remarkably natural. Book recommendations turned into live readings turned into playing tabletop games with brand new decks at his favorite coffee place. Sometimes you wondered if Cyno’s tired of you clumsily inviting him to every nerdy event you know about, but the way he lights up leads you to believe he finds your presence as fun as you do his.

The ex-idol turned manga shop owner became an important person to you beyond the old parasocial relationship of a celebrity and fan. There was not an awkward gap between you two.

You found a friend. 

At the beginning of your platonic relationship, you used to be a bit paranoid of Cyno’s quiet demeanor since you couldn’t read what was on his mind, Lately, you seem to understand his silence and he seems to understand you. 

And that was everything you could ever ask for. 

“What was that call just earlier?” You asked, but you didn’t dare snoop into what was on his screen.

He had a rather lengthy phone call earlier as you were picking another book to read on his shelf. Unluckily for you, you don’t hear all that well so you could barely make out any snippets of what he had said except for a single name.

Cyno half-shrugged. “Nothing serious.”

“You seemed annoyed at Tighnari.”

“I was just notified that I received something.” A threat.

“Oh? A gift?”

"Gifts?..." Cyno grimaced. "Sorry– I'd rather not think about that."

"Why–" You stopped yourself immediately. "Wait, never mind, I think I understand–"

"Last fanmails I received were of love letters written in blood and a clumsily taxidermied fox and jackal. That blood is presumably from the animals based on Dottore's DNA samplings." There’s a dark tone as he speaks Dottore’s name, and you know you’re not ready to unpack all that.

"R-Right." Your throat dried up. You're such an idiot. You can't believe you forgot about that. That incident was such a big eye-opener in the idol industry regarding stalker fans. 

The idol industry may be a trove of wonderful content but it is also home to the obsessed and unexplainably cruel.

"Hence, I'd rather not remind myself of fan gifts." Cyno closed his eyes. "It sours my mood."

“T-Then what did you receive?” You tilted your head. “Wait, sorry, I just realized I’m prying too much.”

“Just…” 

Cyno is an honest man. Too honest, in fact, that he almost couldn’t lie by omission.

Almost.

“Just some unfinished business from Teyvat Productions.”

“Is it my business or yours?”

His eyes widened.

For the first time in weeks, you have caught him off guard. 

“It’s…” He shook his head, sighing. “It’s mine.”

“Oh,” you muttered. “O-Of course it’d be yours. I don’t know why I even thought someone they didn’t even hire would get a notif for something.”

Cyno chuckled softly. 

He seemed to have thought that what you said was funny, but you can’t put a finger as to why.

"You remind me of something Tighnari loved to say."

You weakly met his gaze and laughed. "And that is?"

He gently put his hand above yours, his auburn eyes peeking into yours underneath his white eyelashes softly.

"Never underestimate an outsider." He said. "People like you– people like us are not as unfortunate as we may seem. Unlike the staff inside the industry, we are more likely to see the bigger picture, wouldn't you agree?"

"... I think I get your point, but I don't necessarily agree." 

Cyno exhaled, his shoulders deflating. 

It's okay if you do not see the truth in his words.

When Cyno decides on something, he's unlikely to change his mind. Little by little, he'll make you see that you're wonderful even when stripped away of some occupational title like him.

You'll see his perspective eventually.

And you'll thank him once the day comes.

—-------

“I don’t think you understand what I’m trying to say at all, you big lummox!”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“You’re really going to sabotage (Y/n)’s career?! I just told you– they could be my new assistant, damn it. And for what, exactly? Even Alice is vouching for their recruitment. They just made a mistake, that’s all! Here I thought you were SUUUCH a caring friend, so why–”

“It’s because I care that I’m not letting them get close to Teyvat Productions ever again. You know the horrors of the idol industry as much as I do, Tigh. Likely even more.”

“...”

“...”

“... Do you still dream about it? Dottore’s experiments, those letters?”

“I do.”

“... *sigh* How can I even counter your argument when you’re always so painfully earnest?”

“You know why.” Cyno became like this for a reason.

“... What now. What do you want me to do with this letter of recommendation?”

“Burn it.”

“...”

“Tighnari, they’re the happiest when they’re with me.”

“... Cyno, you’re a broken man.”

“I know.”

Cyno peeked out the corner of his eye as he watched you pick up a new book in the romance section.

A silly grin made its way onto Cyno’s face subconsciously. 

“But that no longer matters now that I found someone I can be alone together with.”

Ansytea: Thank you so much for joining the idol event, solitary anon!!! <3

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss Spy X Family Mission 72... You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

OH MY GOD!!! 😱 THIS CHAPTER, MAN...!!! 😵

Okay, okay... When we last left off, the police had arrived to help Anya and the other students trapped on the bus...!! And that's exactly where we pick up at:

Not wasting any time, Billy Squire grabs Damian and makes his demands to the police...

And when I read that he wanted all of his imprisoned members freed, I had a feeling that those guys were already dead (because of Yor, all the way back in Extra Mission 2, AKA The Date Chapter that the anime has still yet to adapt...!! 😩)

And few pages later, it was pretty much confirmed...!! (Though, we still don't know how they died... But, my money is still on Yor...!! 😤)

After that, my boy Bill continues to be a MVP in this situation by trying to calm everyone down, and even WISE is doing their part to help the kids...!! 😆

But then, I saw THIS:

They tied this man to a wall, I JUST CAN'T-- 🤣

And though I wanted to see Yuri go save Anya and other kids, I'm just glad that he still gets to help by finding the other bus!! 😎

And speaking of people coming to help, not only is Mr. Blackbell and Martha there, but Mr. Henderson as well (which I was generally surprised and happy to see...!! 😁)

I bet when everyone was theorizing about this arc (including me), no one expected Mr. Henderson get involved at all or get involved like he did...!! 👌😌

Also, l loved the callbacks to Mission 5 (as seen in the image below) and Mission 23, when Anya said: "I've had better, and I've had worse." 😄 I always love when little things like these get brought up again...!! 😁

On a more serious note, we learn that Billy Squire had a daughter and she was killed by the state while advocating for peace and equality...

This bit of information got me to understand Billy Squire a little more, but I'll still never understand why some resort to violence or hurting others when they themselves were hurt by violence... This cycle of violence will never end unless we choose to stop it...!

Sorry about getting serious there for a moment, but I truly believe that the world would be a better place if more people choose compassion and understanding over violence and hate... That's all I gotta say about that...

And finally, see that Yuri has found the second bus...!! 😲

And that was Mission 72, it was fantastic!! 😁 So many things happened in this chapter, I can't believe it...! And once again, Endo has impressed me with his writing in this story...!

I am super excited for the next chapter of Spy X Family, but there's one problem... It'll be coming out December 25, which is Christmas, MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY...!!! And though a new chapter on Christmas would be great, I'm kinda hoping that it doesn't happen...! 😅

Anyway, my review of this chapter probably would've came out earlier today if I didn't decide to do both of reviews at same time today... Because I chose chaos...!! 👌😌 I guess with that, I'll be seeing you all in the next Mission...!! 😄 Take care and be safe out there everyone...!! 💗😊💗

[bengiyo]

Tokyo in April is... Ep 8 (Finale) Stray Thoughts

Before we begin, I am leaving timestamps for potentially triggering content. To skip all of the potential depictions, jump to 2:34 of the episode

Triggers include homophobia, physical abuse, attempted sexual assault,

00:22 - We pick up with Ren on the floor. There is a nighttime pan of the city before the intro music. Sanada is not visible.

1:20 - Sanada kicks Ren, looms over him, and begins to unbuckle his pants before Kazuma grabs him from behind and throws him to the ground.

1:50 - Sanada says homophobic things about Ren

2:34 - Ren has run away from the scene.

5:07 - After falling, Ren threatens to kill himself.

12:45 - Ren asks Kazuma to remove the wristband, but we are not shown the self harm scars.

Last week, we had a lot of flashbacks, but the core was Ryunosuke revealing the true extent of the horrors Ren suffered to Kazuma. We left with Kazuma running to their office. He doesn't know that Sanada is trying to harm Ren. I am certain he will intervene.

I feel vindicated in my trust. Kazuma got there in them and recorded incriminating evidence.

Oh, Kazuma. I'm glad you finally confessed and said what needed to be said.

I'm glad the mom is talking about this with someone else. I didn't like her talking about this with the guys in the manga. I still don't like her forcing them apart once she understood how much they liked each other. It was played as kind of a joke in the manga and I didn't like it. It feels cruel here.

Kazuma is very responsible, and I'm glad they confirmed that they went to the police to file a report that night.

I think it's so tasteful of the show to not show us Ren's scars. That reality is for them, not us.

I'm glad they're leaving the company. They knew who Sanada was all the time and even now want to silence the matter.

Oh my god. They are wearing a ring in this scene with the mom.

I'm glad she explained her real issues earlier and plays it softer here with them, and focuses instead on their mother-son relationship.

This resolution with the mom feels imperfect in a way I find really enjoyable.

I'm glad we saw them see Hido together. He also clearly loved them.

Not Kazuma saying Ren is also a sunshine boy who's light was just dimmed. He said miss me with that heteronormativity fear.

Ope, said the name of the show. FINISH YOUR DRINKS.

Not them ending us where we started!!!

Final Verdict: 9, Highly Recommended. This is a smart adaptation with some tactful changes to the packing and depictions of the source material that handles a lot of difficult themes decently. I think the flashbacks are overused, but can be forgiven for a piece about nostalgia. I think the handling of queerness was interesting, but a little too sub-textual. This was a solid experience, if a little heavy at the end.

[benkyoutobentou]

31 Days of Productivity Reading: Day One

Before: I’ve been looking forward to this day, March first, specifically for this little reading challenge! I’ve been “saving” my books to read, which is at once a habit that I do often when something like this comes up and something I know I should kick the habit of. It’s not like I’ll run out of things to read. Ever. But to start out, let’s do a quick rehash of my goals for the month (don’t worry, this’ll be the only time I do this):

Finish No. 6 volume 3

Read 憎らしい彼

Read another novel (today I’m leaning towards 独り舞. Tomorrow? Who knows)

Read at least ten volumes of manga

Read at least an hour per day

[I'm putting the rest under a read more because it ended up being unusually long. ごめんね！]

For today’s plans, I’m going to walk to the library and get a bit of studying done. I’m in a huge Mandarin study mood and I think the long walk will be good for me, both mentally and physically. I’ll also probably read a bit at the library after I’ve finished studying. I’m starting off the month with No. 6 and if I still have some left over reading energy at the end of the day, I’ll probably read ウツボラ (下). I read the first volume a super long time ago, and as much as I adore the manga of 中村明日美子 this one was way above my level when I tried it last. I usually find her manga to be on the more difficult side, but I also always find that the stories are worth the effort.

I’ve seen some people on YouTube time themselves reading when they do reading challenges, so I’ll probably try that out, even if I doubt that I’ll actually do it for the whole month… It would also be interesting to have a more accurate idea of my reading speed in Japanese, and to be able to see if that changes over the course of the month.

After: In a series of unfortunate events, I didn’t end up reading at all at the library because I probably spent thirty minutes looking for my hold book and still couldn’t find it (they filed my name wrong, the paper slipped to where you couldn’t see the name on it, and the spine of the book is a completely different color than the cover). And since I walked, I didn’t want to walk home in the dark.

Mildly related notes- I can’t go anywhere without my dog begging for a walk, so I had to take her out before I could walk to the library myself. I also found it mildly amusing that the chapter I started at the library was library themed.

One hour update: My reading pace is (so far), pretty much exactly where I thought it was, which is about five minutes per page, give or take. Luckily, I've honed in to my reading weakness. Unfortunately, it's a big category. Vocabulary. Vocabulary is my weak point in studying and I go through phases in which I study a ton of flashcards or none at all. I know that I need to get back on my JPDB game, but. Ough. I'm just glad that I usually don't find any issues with grammar, and my reading speed when I know the words really isn't all that bad (as far as I'm concerned).

Final report: For the day, I've read about two hours and ten minutes give or take (I accidentally reset the timer eight minutes in) and nearly finished the chapter I was on of No. 6, completing about thirty ages in that time. I didn't get to reading any manga today, but that's fine. I would like to finish the chapter before I go to bed since I only have ten pages left, but that's still another hour of reading (hopefully less, since most of it seems to be dialogue) and it's getting late, hence why I'm updating now and not when I actually stop reading for the day. Night owl problems. Finishing the chapter would also put me at nearly halfway through the book. God I love short books! As usual, this series is wonderful and I always have a great time whenever I pick it up.

[narancias-headband]

Why is the DuWang Gang calling you at 3 a.m.?

(+ Mikitaka)

Josuke

He's just calling to let you know he finally beat that one level in the game he's been talking to you about.

If you don't remind him to quiet down, soon you'll hear Tomoko yelling at him in the background.

WOO! YES! "Josuke, quiet down! It's 3 in the morning why are you yelling?" I FINALLY DID IT. "Shhhhhh." I finally beat that level!

Further conversing will not be very fruitful. He's still focusing on his game and spares you little brain energy to hold a conversation.

Okuyasu

Oh... No reason. Everything is good! :)

There is definitely a reason. His creaky, old house can start feeling really lonely at night. He just wants to hear a familiar voice.

Hey, [Y/N]. How are you? You busy? "Okuyasu, it's 3 a.m. Is something wrong?" Noooo... "Can't sleep?" ... Yeah...

The conversation doesn't need to be interesting in the slightest. Just talk to him about your day or retell stories from that vacation you were just on. Even if you start falling back to sleep, your company on the line will make him feel so much better.

Koichi

"Koichi? Why are you calling so late?" Oh my god, I'm so glad you picked up [Y/N]. Did you finish the study guide for the test tomorrow? What did you put for number 5?

He's up late studying for a test tomorrow, and he could really use your help on a question.

He will only call once, not wanting to bother you, but please for his sake pick up the phone. He's panicking.

Please help him. He's desperate. And if you forgot about the test, well at least you just got a reminder.

Rohan

He's phoning in a favor you may or may not actually owe him.

He's up late working on manga panels and is calling you to bring him food.

Hey, I'm up late working. Will you bring me something to eat? "Rohan. It's 3 in the morning. Where is even open?" Well, you could make me something. "😐"

If you do bring him food, there is a slight chance that you could possibly finally get on his good side. Maybe.

Yukako

If you haven't been up to anything suspicious with Koichi (i.e. any time one on one with him for any reason whatsoever), she's probably calling you up to gossip about someone else who did do something she deems suspicious with Koichi.

She stays up late thinking about this and/or trying to dig up any possible dirt on her newfound 'enemies'.

So you know that blonde chick that's always hanging around Koichi? "Yeah... The girl he got assigned to do that group project with?" Exactly. Well I just found out that when she was 5, she called the cops after she lost her dog. "..." Now get this, the police report states that the dog was later found in her yard. How dumb do you have to be-

Just be thankful she's your friend. She can be downright terrifying. How does she find this information?

Bonus: Mikitaka

He doesn't understand why this is an inappropriate time to call.

He's just figuring out how phonecalls work. Please cut him some slack.

Greetings, [Y/N]. I hope you can hear me through this interesting device. "Yes, I can hear you. Why did you decide to call at 3 in the morning?" Is this not a usual time for using a phone? "Not really... Most people around here are sleeping at a time like this." Oh, apologies. Can you present me with an average phonecall schedule?

[beacon-lamp]

Hey beacon long time no see!

I have a confession to make: Even tho I've followed you for ages I've avoided your hermitcraft propaganda posts so hard. NOT BECAUSE I DIDN'T LIKE THE HERMITS THO!! It's because I knew I wouldn't have the time to watch more than 1-2 povs (when I know I'll want to watch way more) or to catch up on previous seasons because I was already involved in watching dsmp streams and all their videos.

And then my interests in the dsmp start drifting and by May I've started binging some animes and mangas my friend was recommending me and I'm about halfway out of mcyt at that point

BUT THEN I start seeing double life fanart appear on my dash, and I realize there's a new life saga series (Does. Does anyone know what to call it? I know it's trafficblr but like. life saga makes the most sense right? It's what I'm calling it anyways). And I'm like "oooooo, third and last life were fun, I should watch the first episode of this!" (I came last to the party for the previous series so I really wanted to be on time for this one)

And so I watch Grian's first episode because he's the hermit I'm most familiar with and. it's so fun. It's got me hook, line, and sinker. I remember how much of a blast is it to watch Grian, I have to watch more.

So I binge Grian's season 8, then catch up on season 9; I realize I'm having such a great time every time Scar's on screen, so I binge his season 9 and am about to finish binging his season 8- and beacon. I'm ASHAMED I didn't find Scar sooner. I almost had a cow seeing he only had 1.8 million subs when I was subbing to him because WHAT. I've banned myself from eating or drinking while watching his videos because I've almost spat on my laptop multiple times from laughing. His kindness and positivity and wise words have made me emotional too many times to count, and reminds me how much being kind is worth it. I would literally fistfight gods on a sea of broken glass for Scar- Alright I have to shut myself up or I'll write a college thesis about that man.

I still haven't read those propaganda posts btw lmao. But I do want you to know I've been kidnapped into being a hermitcraft fan and I'm so happy about it (I was literally kidnapped against my will tho I swear; I was trying to get into a manga SO BAD but then my brain saw double life and said "mmmm, these minecraft men. I want more of these guys, screw everything else" and then I completely forgot about any other interests alskdgh)

ANYWAYS, sorry for such a long ask! I just thought you'd be interested in knowing that I'm in the hermit and trafficblr community now!

You don't have to post this ask if you don't want to btw, but if you do, quick question: who's your favorite hermit? (I ask this like I know who all of them are alsdgh, I wish I did but there's just so many of them, I'm trying so hard tho)

squish!!! hallo!!!

hahaha this ask made me smile so much, hope it's ok i'm only just now answering it

im very glad you're in the hermitblr/trafficblr community now i'm sure everyone is happy to have you hahaha what'd you think of the double life finale, if you've watched it?

grian is fantastic and the Grian Effect is so real; you start off just watching him and then you blink and suddenly you're trying to keep up with 5 different people's upload schedules.

and i agree, scar is criminally underrated/under-subscribed; i remember watching him hit 1M subs and just being So Happy for him. i need that man to hit 2M subs immediately, he's at 1.92M now. (honestly a lot of the hermits are just under-subscribed i've watched so many of them hit 1M subscribers since the end of season 6 and i am so happy for all of them)

i don't know if i could pick one hermit as a favorite bc i follow pretty much all of them; i watch them based on like the ~vibes~ i'm feeling that day. bdubs almost never fails to bring a smile to my face tho and he interacts with so many hermits so if you haven't checked him out already, you should.

[hezuart]

That anaversary aizen looks absolutely fabulous, he looks like a figure skater xd.

I heard along time ago the last arc of the anime was being animated finally bc they pulled a 90s sailor moon were the last season was not either animated or dubbed untill decades later.

I recall near the end of the current 366 episodes there was an episode were the creapy demon ppl woke up in hell and we're all bitter, and there was the other guy who was like, iM cOmEiNg FoR u IChIgO, but then is never mentioned again after and I'm like,why? Why is lt there just plopted randomly into a different arc that seams unrelated.

And locking aizen up underground seems ok, but It deff won't hold, and he will. Escape, and he will kill, you either need that one spell from star, dubbed, the darkest spell of moon the undaunted, a powerfull dark spell that killed immortal beings, that came from best character, eclipsa, the queen of darkness.

We need that.

Or stick him I'm crystal like eclipsa was in star. Is there no one who could trap him in ice or crystal for all eternity.

How about throw him into the centre of a volcano trapped and caged , forverr being killed by heat?

I assume there's space travel, send I'm into a black whole, were a black whole don't fuckin care if your immortal or fat, you will die

:3

Yes, I love anniversary Aizen. His original octopus-butterfly hollow design was ugly so I'm glad he's back to being the fashion icon he is.

Locking Aizen up underground once is one thing, doing it twice after saying he got more powerful by just sitting there, and he escaped to battle the Quincy Soul King God... is another. I think he should have escaped at the end of the Quincy arc. That is the only feasibility.

I heard the anime is coming back for the Quincy arc as well, but because of COVID its probably going to be delayed. (I'm not gonna watch it until the Rain section of the arc then I'm dipping out. I'm only here for Zangetsu)

and funny that you mention that hell scene in the manga :)

-> spoilers for the new BLEACH 73 page anniversary chapter / thoughts/critique on it

So hey you had a premonition! Syazel .... returned? And his hole is outside of his body??? for some reason???

(I didn't understand the explanation or why / how that happens and what that means for the hollow)

And my friend and I were laughing because out of ALL the things. Kubo could do in this anniversary. He gave Syazel his dick back after going to hell. That is iconic. (that's where his hole was located, and now that its not on his body ... well...) This is the funniest thing Kubo has EVER pulled. Kudos to you, sir.

The entire internet is freaking out over Ukitake being in hell. Honestly Kubo has done far worse, and we've established that Soul Society is a corrupt system that hasn't changed, so I'm not surprised he would pull something like this.

At the same time, Kubo 1. cheated his audience. 2. continues to prove me right that he cannot bring himself to kill his characters

1. Hollows who have commit murder in their human life are sent to hell. Syazel and Aaorniero are two of these hollows, and yet, when they are killed, there is NO gates of hell scene. We see them there later in the hell chapter (which was more of a promotion for the fourth movie and I didn't believe it would hold any merit)

But the same goes for Ukitake. We never see the gates of hell take him. What, was hell late? Did hell's gates get lost like an uber before picking him up? It's bull. Withholding such vital information from your audience, not showing the gates of hell when they should pick up this soul IMMEDIATELY is ... I mean its a lie. Kubo lied to his audience.

2. Now we are told powerful shinigami are sent to hell when they die. First of all that sounds like a security threat. Wouldn't shinigami want revenge for that? Or attempt to escape? Why would they still hold loyalty after being sent to a prison of eternal suffering?

Also "Yhwach and Aizen" were the only ones keeping Hell's gates closed is way too convenient and doesn't really make any sense. I feel like Aizen should have deliberately gone to hell to retrieve powerful shinigami / hollows for his army instead of keeping it /closed/.

This is definitely a Kubo-doesn't-know-what-he's-doing-and-is -making- stuff-up-as-he-goes, but it might have a pinch of merit because of previous plot lines.... but either way, there's some big plot holes here, but again, its Kubo, so I expected nothing less.

Again, he can't kill off his characters. He introduced zombification, he introduced immortality through the hougyoku, he has Orihime and Hachigen's reversal / rejection abilities. He brought back Luppi, friggen.... a character who's entire upper half of his body was incinerated. Like.... come on. No. He's dead, you can't bring him back like that. That's a cop out and just weird. You're taking away consequences and grief.

(Also Yamamoto and Unohana deserve to be in hell far over Ukitake, they've done some fcked up stuff in their pasts unlike him)

Also Kubo's favorite character is Mayuri, which.... you're allowed to have a favorite problematic character. But Keeping said character alive and bared from the consequences of abusing his daughter, murdering innocents, and experimenting on your own squad members? Nah. Nope. Kill him, Kubo. Kill this dude.

(his weird attachment to Mayuri is probably why he keeps bringing Syazel back, since Syazel is Mayuri 2.0, but Syazel is the bad guy who does face consequences for his actions while Mayuri is not)

~

Also, I'm certain Kazui and Orihime are going to be THRILLED that their precious husband/dad is going to hell when he dies :)

(I just... Rukia teased Ichigo about leaving Orihime at home. She teased him about having a house wife who he leaves all the chores to. Orihime had two panels. She checks on her son who promised he would be at home and sleep. Kazui fcking breaks his promise like it never mattered to him and JUMPS out the window after pretending to sleep in front of his mother. ... An 8 year old... alone... in the middle of the night.)

Orihime is abandoned. She is not invited to SS, she is not informed of what is going on, her son leaves her.... I...

Orihime is a side character. She doesn't matter anymore. She hasn't mattered for a long, long time.

A part of me is glad she had little screen time, since she tends to waste it, but another part of me is embroiled with rage.

I've even see people try to defend this. "Orihime and Ichigo can't be together ALL the time, that's an unhealthy relationship!" and I'm like guys... that's not the point. The point is Orihime is not part of Ichigo's other life. Any shinigami stuff from now on is none of her business. She's going to stay at home while Kazui and Ichigo go off and save the world. Ichigo is going to be fighting by Rukia and Renji while Orihime watches from the sidelines, or worse, doesn't even know what is going on with her husband and son. Orihime is going to be uninformed and abandoned, because she has not proven she is capable of fighting by their sides(go on, @ me. I will fight this. She's a failure.), and also because she prefers a human life over a dead one. Which is ironic, because she married a dead man. Ichigo is a shinigami, and he will be one forever. god forbid she ever meets his Zanpaktou. She would tremble in fear at the monsters her husband harbors in his soul, especially when she realizes they don't care about her and would rather see her dead. (Zangetsu would absolutely kill Orihime. Not sure about Kazui, but Orihime has not accepted Zangetsu, she does not like either of them, and the feeling is assuredly mutual.) frick now I want to make a comic about this

Also still frustrated over Zangetsu's shikai / bankai regression. Kubo once again lied to his audience. Ichigo has no bankai. How ridiculous is that? The main character of BLEACH doesn't have a bankai. Insulting.

(RIP to Chad. He doesn't exist anymore. He's just gone. No mention, no cameo. Gone.)

Kazui is a demon child. That character from the novels? Hikone? They're the same character. Literally same personality, same power level. Its worse because Kazui is a liar. He constantly goes behind his parents' backs. He can summon creepy fish and creepy eyeballs and open portals like is ANYONE aware of this? How has SS not kidnapped Ichigo's son and experimented on him / locked away his powers yet? All substitute shinigami require a reiatsu controlling / spy badge to keep them in line. Where is Kazui's? Or is he just a weird fullbringer?

I was worried Kubo was gonna try and pull a knock off Boruto but luckily he kept the focus on Ichigo and the others. But that being said, Ichika and Kazui are now just... sort of there? Kazui was kinda just.... having his own adventure that doesn't matter to the plot at hand, and Ichika had some nice characterization at first but she just hid behind her dad the whole time.

I have a feeling Kazui is gonna step in at the last minute or do some major behind the scenes thing that indirectly interferes with the main plot so no one will realize how powerful and dangerous he actually is. Its sad because Ichika is the superior character in personality and likability, but she clearly is not going to have a bigger part in this.

Ichigo having a normal life after everything still feels extremely boring and uncomfortable to me. Everyone's like 'I'm still bLEACH!" but.... BLEACH just... doesn't feel like BLEACH anymore. It hasn't for a while now.

~~~

There's two new shinigami characters. Didn't care for the girl, but the Sign Language kid who talks to animals is adorable ... however... he just reminds me of Chad, and I just... it hurts knowing Chad has essentially been deleted. Chad and Orihime are officially benched. They have chosen the human world, and Orihime has given Ichigo his spawn so she has no more use/purpose to him anymore... ////sigh

~~~

Also. This is claimed to be a new "arc". So is the BLEACH manga coming back? What is happening. I thought Kubo was tired and didn't want to do BLEACH anymore. I thought Shounen Jump cut him off. People made so many excuses for Kubo and why the past two arcs have been so badly written the past 6 years and now almost everything they've attempted to defend him with has been revoked.

BLEACH is going to continue to screw up its plot lines and characters, so Its probably best for it to stay dead but I've seen a lot of Kubo stans drooling over this content, they're desperate for BLEACH's return, but its already given out all its possible revelations. There's really nothing else to top here. It's just going to make things up as it goes along ,and I'm not really here for half-assed writing like that, especially since the damage of rushing the previous manga has already been done. Kubo and Shounen Jump are riding off a money nostalgia. None of this was planned.

Honestly though.... overall feeling of this chapter, not as bad as it could have been.

Syazel stole the spotlight, and he's my friend's favorite character, so that's all that really matters.

[waywardtakami]

- don't leave me

✦pairing: hawks x gn!reader

✦c/w: language, slight mha manga spoilers, 16+ only , angst

✦a/n: hello!! I'm very excited about this fic, it's my first gn one! It's been sitting in my wips for so long and I'm finally happy with it. hopefully people will still read this without there being smut. thank you! <3

✦summary: hawks gets hurt during a mission...

✦w/c: 2k

Keigo had left you again to fight in another mission. He had only been gone for a few days, but you wished he was with you instead. You missed him so much. He hadn't been physically by your side in so long, causing your heart to ache again. Times like these were practically torture. Waking up without him by your side was agonizing, but you were used to it.

His job was all-consuming and you knew him being away for large amounts of time would affect you when you committed yourself to this relationship. There was a constant worry for his life and maybe a little for your own. 

You and Kei decided to keep your relationship as private as possible so no one would go after you. He didn't want anyone to kidnap or hurt you. 

Even though his musk scent was flooded throughout your shared home, you still tried distracting yourself the best you could.

After making your favorite food, you plopped onto the couch and turned on the TV to try and take your mind off him. 

As the TV flickered on, your boyfriend's face flashed across the screen. A gruff voice played over what was being shown. You assumed it was just something about his stats or a recent interview per usual. It didn't help the feeling in your heart subside by seeing him.

You changed the channel, again and again. But every channel had been taken over by the same broadcast. You eventually fixated and listened.

Your heart dropped.

Hawks had been accused of murder. 

"Murder...?" you mumbled to yourself. "No..he...what?" Your heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to thump out of your chest. You were stuck in a pool of emotions of confusion and immense shock, it was like your head was on fire. 

Dabi...one of the League of Villain members was behind this. All the information you received was from Keigo's colleagues and the media. 

Keigo had been hurt bad...real bad.

The fact that you couldn't do anything about it had you overwhelmed and panicked. When you finally found out which hospital he was brought to through FatGum, you drove yourself there.

Of course he was brought to one one of the furthest ones from where you guys lived. On top of that, traffic was horrendous. With everything that had gone down, the citizens of the city were frantic and trying to get home to their families.

Your hands and entire body practically trembled while driving. Your eyes pricked with tears at the thought of Keigo's wounded state. "He's fine he's fine he's FINE!" You kept telling yourself over and over. 

When you made it to the hospital, there was a large number of people in the waiting room. The sounds of people clamoring in and trying to get a room were deafening. You hurried over to the front desk. 

"Hello Ma'am I need to see Hawks, he should be here." She wouldn't let you in his room. You wanted to see him, no you needed to see him. You started crying, pleading, begging for her to let you go in his room. But the front desk lady apologized and insisted he needed to rest and isn't accepting visitors. 

You knew it was really because she probably thought you were just some fan of his. Or maybe even a reporter trying to sneak in photos. But no, you were his baby, his life, and they weren't going to let you in.

"I'M HIS DAMN PARTNER FOR GOD SAKES!" You yell while slamming your fist against the counter. You didn't realize how much impact you put into your fist until you felt pain in your hand. The waiting room goes almost quiet and heads turn to look at you. You glance back to see all the faces turned to you. 

Your voice softens from embarrassment. "Please...just let me see him." Your fist still against the counter looking at the nurse with tears streaming down your face. 

She stands up and moves closer, "I'm so sorry, I believe you…" She slides a clip board with a few papers attached. "...but we can't let you in just yet he's still recovering from his injuries, he needs to rest right now. Please fill these out while you wait." She looks back up with you with a faint smile. She really does believe you. She can see it in your eyes, the pain, she understood.

You release your hand, and pick up the clipboard. Looking at her on the other side of the counter you give her a face flustered nod and mouth a quick "thank you."

You go sit down comfortably in one of the empty chairs to wait for keigo to wake up...

The news of your wounded boyfriend was already half across Japan. After filling out the forms you scroll through your phone to calm yourself down. You kept seeing post after post about him. Almost all news headlines had his name. 

You think to yourself about how much of it is all bullshit and that he's fine. Deep down you weren't sure if the words your brain kept telling you were true. You click on one of the posts about him that reads: 

"THE NUMBER TWO PRO HERO DEAD" 

Your heart skips a beat, but quickly you realize it's just a fake. You scroll through, lightly skimming the bullcrap you were reading. You scroll and see a photo taken of him the night he was brought to the hospital. You wonder how the press even got a photo of him. You focus on the photo, he does look dead. It only showed his upper body, completely covered in burns. More tears forming at the corners of your eyes just seeing him in the photo. Oh and his wings, his big bright vermilion wings...gone.

You were a complete mess at this point but your sniffles and choked sobs were interrupted by the front desk lady waving to you. "He's awake." 

Quickly following her into the room you see him. As you stand in the doorway for a moment, your heart sinks. You hurry to him. He had bandages wrapped around his head. His hair was short and mostly singed off. And his wings...they really were gone. "I'll leave you two alone," the nurse walks out and closes the door behind her.

You turn back to him.

"Kei?" you whimpered out.

His half lidded eyes look at you. His formerly bright, charming and yellow pupils have become dark and filled with anguish. He was wearing a mask over his nose and mouth with two tubes coming from the sides of it. He couldn't speak or breath himself, due to his throat being burned. 

Of course he knew it was you. Tears welled up deep inside and coursed down his cheeks. Seeing him like this had your body nauseas. You move to cup your hand on his face, feeling the material of his mask rather than his soft subtle skin. You graze your thumb against his cheekbone to wipe away his tears.

You pick up one of his hands to hold it in yours. "Kei….I'm so glad you're okay." You were sniffling through each word. He slowly raises his arm to point to the phone sitting on the table near his hospital bed. Handing it to him, you watch as his calloused fingers type out what he wants to say. 

"Angel, I've missed you so much, please never leave my side." You faintly smile at him, wishing you could hear those words come from his mouth and not the AI voice. 

"I won't leave you Keigo, I'm here, I won't go anywhere."

He types again. "I'm pretty beat up, but I think I'll make it."

Your ears focus on "think" for a moment. "Yes Kei you'll be fine, everything's gonna be okay. You felt a bit better being in his presence but you still couldn't bear the sight of him. Your eyes began to prick with tears once again and this time Kei was the one who bought his hand up to brush your tears away just like you did moments ago. 

You try your best to wrap your arms around him without causing him anymore pain. You could feel him wince when you laid your head against his chest. "Sorry Kei I didn't mean to hur-" He waves his hand and shakes his head, signaling that it's okay.

Your body looked calm despite how tangled your mind was.There were many questions that flooded your mind. So many things you wanted to say. But you could worry about the details later. Right now you were finally with him again, there was no way you were letting him leave you ever again.

You were bent over, upper body on top of him at an awkward position. You didn't want to hurt him, so this had to work.

Despite the position, you took in the moment with your boyfriend. Feeling his chest slowly rise up and down. You close your eyes and imagine you were back home with him in bed. Just snuggling on a weekend afternoon, light shining in on him making his wings light up beautifully against the sun. His golden locks and glowing skin, his scent washing over your senses. Your warm bodies practically glued together. You wanted that again, you wanted everything back to normal.

He moved one of his scarred hands to your back, slowly rubbing up and down. He knew he wasn't going to make it. He was fighting so hard on the inside. So damn hard...for you. He didn't want to leave you, he couldn't. His mind wandered about the life he had planned to have with you.

He faintly smiled under the mask when he imagined you walking down the aisle...holding your first child...sitting in little rocking chairs growing old together. That's all he wanted.

Both of your tears never stopped. You were both silent. The only sounds to be heard were each other's quiet sniffles and the monitor Keigo was attached to, making a faint beep to his heart beat. Still laying on his chest, his breathing started to slow and so did the beeping, being lost in the moment you didn't notice really but he knew.

He waved his hand signaling for you to stand up and brought his hand to take off his mask. He couldn't hold on much longer. Every aching pain inside him felt like knives stabbing his insides and with each stab more time from his life was taken.

"Kei, you need to keep it on to breath, please." He shakes his head and takes it off anyways. The beeping still started to slow. The mask hung off the side of his face. His honeyed voice now husk from the burns. 

"Baby...I love you so...so.." He coughs making him hiss at the pain.

"No..fuck..Kei stop, you're going to be okay just put the damn mask on." 

"I'm too..far..gone, I have no more fight left." 

Holding his jaw in your hands,your face inches from him. "No you have to stay strong for me, please don't leave me again, I can't do this without you." 

"Kid...please...when I'm gone...find someone else and-

"NO- I ONLY WANT YOU!" You cry out, holding his head to your chest. Long-lasting sobs leaving your mouth.

"I love...you" His breathing is heavy from trying to speak. He needed to tell you this. He needed you to understand how much he loves you.

Moving his head from your chest. "I love you too...kiego." You manage to say through your choked sobs. 

You move to have your lips brush his, softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that he could inhale your breath, feel the warmth of your skin. He closes his eyes and connects his lips to yours. It was deep and passionate, like you were kissing him for the first time. You held one side of his face with one hand, and held his hand with the other. 

But when you pull away, his eyes don't open. It's like that's all he wanted, no needed. One last kiss, one last touch. To feel you. 

His breathing completely slows, and you're left with the prolonged beep of the monitor. He was gone. The man who was always too fast for his own good, had left you and the world too fast.

✶tag list: @levithestripper @sleepysnk @conniesspringersgf @regretfulfairies @miyanom @sashatotie @romeoandjuliet96 @strawberry-pp @megvmi-s @cinnamonnn-roll @gooddayzarerare @kkodzvken

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #220

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the Beach Babe, the Baddest Bitch, the one, the only; BB. We're not doing the whole alliteration thing this time, sorry. She's a Hexblade Warlock to pull any weapon she could possibly want out of hammerspace and a Chronurgy Wizard for some time loops. And fire. And turning people into pigs. And turning into a giant and crushing people. You do a lot of stuff, huh?

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: But first; lemme take a selfie!

Race and Background

The good news is this part barely changed at all since last time. She's still a Custom Lineage since WotC won't return my calls about the omnipotent AI race I keep asking them to put in 5.5e. She gets +2 Charisma, a medium size, Darkvision to dunk on the humans, and the Lucky feat. Three times a day you can react to roll another d20 when you make a check, save, or attack roll and use either result. It's a time loop, you literally just do the same thing twice for a different result. You can also use this on an enemy's attack if they're hitting you, they tend to get sloppy after making the same attack for three days straight.

If anything, making you a Rakdos Cultist makes even more sense now, what with the elder god powers and fireballs. You get Acrobatics and Performance proficiency, as well as a bunch of spells. We'll talk about them more when we get your wizard levels.

Ability Scores

Your Intelligence should be number one, you're an AI and you're from the future, and you already know how this stuff'll turn out since it's the third time you've seen it happen. After that is Charisma, you somehow manage to motivate your senpai to keep making manga well into the second century of his vacation; that's impressive. Your Dexterity comes next, we don't need it for weapons, but you do some impressive pirouettes at times, and we need you to not die while bringing a bathing suit to a battle. Your Constitution isn't that high, but you're not one for a fair fight anyways. This means your Wisdom is a bit low, haphazardly designed AI aren't the most rational, and we're dumping Strength. You don't need to do heavy lifting when you can just trap people in time loops until they do it for you.

Class Levels

Warlock 1: Starting as a wizard would probably be more in-character, but you need all the health you can get so we're starting with the bigger hit die and the free mage armor. You don't get the latter yet, but as a Hexblade you do get plenty other goodies. You can invoke a Hexblade's Curse as a bonus action once per short rest, cursing a creature for up to a minute. While it's cursed, you can add your proficiency bonus to damage you do to the creature, deal crits on 19s and 20s, and when the target dies, you regain HP. Your second skill is kind of a grab bag, so I'm glad we got a little healing in place. You're also a Hex Warrior, so you can use medium armor if you really want to. Also, after a long rest you can touch a non-two-handed weapon and use your charisma instead of strength/dexterity when you use it to attack. Finally, your Spells. You cast them using your Charisma, and the slots come back on short rests. Err, slot. Sorry. Pick up Eldritch Blast for some caster balls, Prestidigitation for smaller reality bending, Hellish Rebuke for a little fire power out the gate when someone hits you, and Illusory Script. Write one contract, then go back in time and replace it with another! The most devilish of time manipulations. That makes sense, right?

Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, mini-feats you get for being a warlock. Armor of Shadows lets you cast mage armor for free, forever, as long as you only help yourself. You also pick up the spell Protection from Evil and Good, so you can strike up a conversation with an elder god without going mad.

Warlock 3: Third level warlocks get their pact boon, and with the Pact of the Blade you can now summon almost any weapon in the game as an action. Since you're a hexblade, this weapon automatically uses your charisma instead of anything else. Also, you're supposed to get two invocations at level 2, but we always save the second for Improved Pact Weapon around here. Your attacks and damage rolls get +1, and the list of weapons you can make expands even further. I think the only ones you can't make now are bows, and maybe slings? Flails, scythes, and... whatever you'd call those tentacles are all on the table. You can also cast Mirror Image to create three copies of yourself to take hits for you. You'll get more tangible options later, but your AC is pretty bad now.

Wizard 1: Bouncing over to wizard starts you off with a wizard spell list, giving you an absolutely bonkers six 1st level spells now, and two more every time you level up. That's a lot, so we're not going over all of them in this article, check the character sheet for the full list. Most of them will fit under the categories of fire damage, eldritch madness, or time mischief, so take those as guiding tenets. We will still go over spells we feel need justification, fall outside of those categories, or are central to the build. You also gain an Arcane Recovery, so once per long rest you can regain some spell slots on a short rest. A wild concept, to be sure. Also while we're on the subject, your warlock and wizard spell slots don't mix, so just treat your slot numbers as if you weren't multiclassing and add them together. You can use warlock slots for wizard spells and vice versa, but don't use the multiclassing table. Pick up the Mending cantrip to bring small items back to when they were whole, and Comprehend Languages so you can understand your new penpal. Oh right, the background spells. I'm not entirely sure how this works with wizard spells, but your spell list is big enough you could probably get away with it if they aren't added wholesale. You get Fire Bolt and Vicious Mockery for cantrips, plus Burning Hands, Dissonant Whispers, and Hellish Rebuke for first level spells.

Wizard 2: Second level wizards learn their school of magic, and as a Chronurgist you specialize at fucking with the time stream. At second level your Temporal Awareness adds your intelligence to initiative rolls, and you can activate a Chronal Shift twice per long rest as a reaction. This lets you force a re-roll on any check, save, or attack roll within 30' of you, and the re-roller has to use the second option. One time loop is rookie numbers, but we have to start somewhere.

Wizard 3: Third level wizards get second level spells, Enlarge/Reduce makes you bigger. Or smaller, but we want to be bigger for crushing craters. You add 1d4 to your attack rolls while big and get advantage on strength checks and saves, vice versa if you're small. You also get Crown of Madness, Enthrall, and Flaming Sphere from your background. Insanity and fire, all nice things.

Wizard 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to round up your Dexterity and Intelligence for a +2 to your initiative! Also, better AC, and stronger spells. You also learn Sword Burst to swing your weapons all over, and Hold Person to do that tentacle lock-in thing from your extra attack.

Wizard 5: Fifth level wizards get third level spells! Our main spells are just fire, but you get Fear and Haste from your background.

Wizard 6: Sixth level chronurgists can put a large or smaller creature into Momentary Stasis as an action, forcing a constitution save against your spell save. If they fail, they're trapped in a time loop for a round or until they take damage. A round outside. Who knows how long inside. You can do this int mod times per long rest.

Wizard 7: Fourth level spells baybee! Evard's Black Tentacles is fun, as long as you aren't slumming it with a bunch of melee fighters. You also get Confusion and Wall of Fire from your background.

Wizard 8: ASI time! Bump up your Intelligence for better spells and more smarts! Also, you can now Banishment people into a time loop outside of this reality, for up to a minute. If they're from outside our world, it'll be permanent after that. Take that, Mysterious Heroine!

Wizard 9: Fifth level spells! You can Mislead people to sneak up on them while your illusory copy distracts them, or you can Dominate Person thanks to your background. Everyone comes around to your side eventually. You have all the time in the world to get them to change their mind.

Wizard 10: You can now use Arcane Abeyance to slow down your own spells. If you really want to, I guess. When you cast a spell that's level 4 or lower, you can turn the spell into a bead that lasts up to an hour. The bead has 1 HP, and if it gets crushed or the hour is up the spell goes poof. Otherwise, give the bead to a friend, let them pop the bead to cast the spell, and boom! It uses your DC and attack bonus, but the popper's the caster for any effects of the spell. Try this out once per short rest!

Wizard 11: Now that you have sixth level spells, you can use Tenser's Transformation to fight people without, y'know, dying. You get 50 temporary HP, advantage on weapon attacks, deal extra force damage, proficiency in strength and constitution saves, and attack twice per action. It lasts up to ten minutes with concentration, and afterwards you have to make a constitution save or you get one level of exhaustion. Also, you can't cast spells while using this one. But that's why you have the beads.

Wizard 12: Since we can hit people without dying now, use this ASI to bump up your Charisma for better warlock spells and better scythings. Also, grab Mental Prison and Soul Cage to keep senpai locked away forever.

Wizard 13: Seventh level spells! Reverse Gravity pulls people up and slaps them back down, kind of like your Cursed Crushing Crater.

Wizard 14: We save the best time nonsense for last! As a reaction, you can force a Convergent Future when a creature makes an attack, check, or save. You ignore their roll, and decide for yourself if they succeed or not. That's right, you're the DM now! There's technically no limit, but every time you use it you get one level of Exhaustion, and this one can only be removed by a long rest. So, six times. But that's to be expected, going through a thousand time loops to find the one way to seduce the dragon is going to be taxing. You also get Mirage Arcane so you can restructure some hawaiian islands. It's technically an illusion, but it has tactile sensations? So? I really don't know how it's an illusion?

Wizard 15: Eighth level spells are where we really get the cool stuff. Turns out elder gods use high level stuff. Wild. You can create some Clones to hold your costumes, and use a Reality Break to properly slap people into the dirt.

Wizard 16: Use your last ASI to bump up your Constitution. It's pretty useful for you.

Wizard 17: Your last level, and your last spell level! Ninth level spells are fun. Foresight lets you travel back in time with all the information you need to succeed, making you immune to surprise. You also have advantage on attacks, checks, and saves, and other creatures have disadvantage on attacks against you. Also, get True Polymorph to turn Robin into a pig. Did you think we forgot that? :P

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Being able to force dice rolls is great, there's a reason it's usually reserved for the DM. Even before you can make a Convergent Future you've still got Chronal Shift and plenty of Lucky points to help make sure everything runs smoothly.

Being able to mess with saves also means your Illusions are way more likely to work in your favor. Your other spells too, but you can mislead an entire army with a well placed Mirage Arcane. Or stick your BBEG away for safekeeping with Banishment. Really, do whatever the hell you wanna, you're BB.

Going further into that last bit, having tons of spells and weapon proficiencies gives you plenty of variety when it comes to tackling problems. Use illusions to avoid them entirely, blast fireballs from the back, or pop a Tenser's Transformation and Foresight to wade into the thick of combat.

Cons:

Wading into the thick of combat without Tenser's is a bad idea. You have barely over 100 HP, and your AC is 15 unless you break character for some medium armor.

On a related note, both TT and your Convergent Future feature plays with Exhaustion, the single deadliest status effect in the game. Forcing the future or getting unlucky with the transformation will quickly mess your day up, ending with your own death after six levels.

While you have variety with your spells, almost all your damage comes from Fire. It's not a great damage type to focus on.

[booksweet]

Expectations

starring: Gojo Satoru x fem!reader

Synopsis: what If your favorite character became real the moment you needed the most?

Warnings: fluffy, probably shibuya incident arc spoilers (not too much), grammar mistakes, both reader and Gojo are +18

Word count: 2k

A/N: hello! Here's me again bringing you the sequence of "Real" (please don't forget to read the first part, okay?). I was so glad you enjoyed chapter 1 that it turned out as a series and I can say I'm BEYOND happy!! Hope you like it 💛

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

tagging: @noritoshiikamo @iwaizumini

“So… Tell me about your powers,” she asks him when they stopped their tour through the city together. “Did they remain? Or you lost them when you came here?”

She knew she should’ve already spoken to him about this matter, yet she was scared of his answer, yet she frightened that if he got his powers, maybe he would go back to his world and let het behind. She would be all alone. Again.

Being alone all the time was tiresome, she had been tired for so long since her parents died, and she moved away from the town she was born and rose by them. After all this time without them, she got used to living alone, eating alone, existing all by herself, everything was so mechanical to her that she didn’t even notice how the way she was living affected her perceptions of her surroundings.

And then, he suddenly appeared. That night was marked inside her memories. She was fond of many things, reading her favourite manga above all, but if someone asked her what she expected getting from reading one, she would answer just some comfort and relief from stressful days, not her favourite character scaping from his world and popping up inside her room.

“Hey! Y/N? Are you even listening to me?” Satoru’s voice takes her out from her reveries, again she got lost on her own thoughts about him and what happened. Is it selfish not wanting you to go back there?

“Sorry” She apologizes with a shy smile, his eyes hidden with sunglasses probably focused on her. “What were you saying?”

“You are a little absent-minded, aren’t you?” His voice in an amused tone makes you release a loud laugh that make he smile eye-to-eye. “I was saying that my powers are still here with me…” He repeats as he takes you by your hand walking somewhere else, his slightly narrow when he sees something that caught up his interest. “Is that… Ice cream?”

By his answer to her question, her heart flickers a little. He could do anything he wanted; he was the strongest above all. Why wouldn’t he just go back to his world? Why would he still be here with you? Your mind going whirlwind with a thousand questions unanswered.

“You lost it,” He says once more, now with her favourite ice cream flavour in one extended hand as a signal to give it to her. “Again. Am I that much a bad company that you can’t concentrate on our date?” He fakes a heartbroken and sad tone seeming like a boy who was crying over his first love.

“Satoru, what?! No! And this is not a date!” She did get lost in thoughts again, but hell no, this wasn’t a date. “Don’t you dare smile like this to me, don’t you dare, Satoru Gojo!” Her flustered tone mixed up with an angry one as a cocky smirk grew upon his face.

“Whaat? Me? Smiling?” He walks closer to her, his height almost towering over hers, and when their faces where almost touching each other, the smell of ice cream surrounding them when he says “How? Smiling like this?”

She could’ve fainted right there, yes, she could. One could say she was almost having a heart attack the faster her heart was beating and that idiot in front her knew how much he affected her, and, for God’s sake, he was doing it way to good not to care. Still, she wouldn’t give up to him so easily.

“As you said…” She started stepping back and eating her own ice cream. “Your powers still remain, so how does it feel?”

“Little one…” He begins to say, but he seems to reconsider his words while looking at her face. “I can feel everything. I can see everything and nothing at the same time. The beginning and the ending. Infinity and beyond.”

She remained silent by his side, waiting for him to continue whatever he was thinking about to speak of. She couldn’t imagine how heavy must be the burden of carrying power like his, powers that were both a blessing and a curse.

“Your world does have curse energy like mine,” He finally continue his line of thought. “Even though it doesn’t change into spirits or something more tangible to exorcize. I still don’t get how you get rid of it here, it’s a mystery.”

“And…” He suddenly stops, narrowing his eyebrows in a confused expression, it was like he realized something he didn’t know how to explain to her.

“And?” You give his arm a soft touch, without words saying to him I am here, you can say whatever is on your mind.

“And” He eyes at her so deeply you imagine if he could reach her soul, his hand placed above hers. “I can see you. Your everything. I can sense your presence, your heartbeat like it is my own. Is it strange? Is it strange that I feel you like you are a part of me, and I am a part of you?” He holds her hand tighter. “Is it strange that when we hold hands everything seems right again? Is it strange that-“

All at once he lets go of her hand. She gives him a strange look, What’s wrong? Was what she as thinking. Goosebumps running through her body, wild butterflies flying on her stomach made her lips dry of nervousness. I feel you like you are a part of me, and I am a part of you. Everything seems right. He must be kidding, no one never…

“Gojo,” She says when she can catch her breath again, his eyes never leaving her face. “You shouldn’t play with things like this.” She pinches her nose, feeling her face warmer and warmer each second. “We must go, there are other places I want to show you.”

“But, Y/N,” He tries to say, she could feel melancholy following his words. I don’t want to hear, I don’t.

“Let’s go, Satoru Gojo,” she fakes a smile and an excited tone. “There’s more of my world that those pretty eyes of yours have never seen.”

They went through many of her favourite places such as the park, that café closer to her loved library, she showed him her favourite restaurant, the places she was used to go when feeling unwell with herself. And there was this moment, this specifically moment, that his eye’s light changed.

The way her hair flipped towards the wind, the way her smell invaded his nostrils, the way he was just all eyes only to hers. Every little detail unmissed to him. Despite their last conversation ending, he’s been constantly aware of her, of how she makes him feel in this odd world. He didn’t lie when he said all those words, he meant each one of them, but he was still wondering why she dismissed him that way. He was afraid that fright would make her run away from him again.

“Hey, you enjoyed our stroll today?” She was resting peacefully on her place’s couch, head laid softly on a cushion and eyes looking at him eagerly. He felt she was still fluttering because of what happened between them before, and he wanted so bad to stop that growing unease feeling his mind twisted every second.

“You don’t know how” He says with a genuine smile, knowing more of you, of how you lived, and your habits makes him avid to get closer and closer to you. His keen voice loud when he laughs “I’ve never though of not trying to defeat monsters and curses while eating a good, sweet cake or ice cream and…”

“And?”

“You can say I’m a good partner, can’t you?” His keen smile turning into a cocky and teasing one. “Afterall, how could I not try my best having such a beautiful lady by my side?”

“You-“She starts, but the growing reddish upon her nose and cheeks reports how nervous she gets when he talks like this, how he teases her and her blood runs wild through her veins. “You know it wasn’t a date, Satoru!” Placing a hand in front of her pretty face to hide whatever her expression could speak for her that moment. “And yes, you’re also a good companion, I can say that.”

“Hey, Y/N,” Satoru’s voice wakes her up from her dreams late that night, she was on the couch covered with her bedsheets. Did he picked them and then covered me up? Her heart bounced inside her chest and she felt her hands damp with sweat with that thought of him caring about her.

“Uh… What time…?” She opens her eyelids slowly, yawning hard as she stretches herself to wake her body. By the time she catches the sight of him, he’s sitting down right on the ground in front of her, his hands towering over her legs like he wanted to touch her but is not allowed to.

“Can I show you something?” His voice says nothing to her, no opens to reveal his feelings behind his tone. Suddenly, she feels cold running over her body. She nods slowly to him. “Do you trust me?” Again, another movement of her head. “Little one… I need to hear your voice.” His bare eyes stare at her fondly, she will never understand why he does this to her. Doesn’t he know that he will break my heart?

“Yes, Satoru, I trust you.” Her voice is hoarse from sleep, but this is all he needs to place one arm underneath her legs and the other on her back to carry her bridal-way. “Wh-what?! This is really necessary?”

“Hold on, I got you” His thumb moving around the bottom of her back, his movements, and the feeling of his warm body closer to hers making her relax. “I’ll show you something, breath and don’t scream”

And suddenly they weren’t at her living room, but at the rooftop of some skyscraper. So high she could feel her sight twisting.

“Hey, hey…” His muffled voice was calm against her ears, his soft grip tightening a little in reassurance of her safety. “I’m here, I’m here, it’s okay.”

“F-fuck! Why? Why are we here?”

“I need to show you” His tone didn’t hide he was nervous, worried about something. “Please close your eyes.”

As she does what he requested, his arm on her back loosen his grip and a hint of panic stars to grow inside her. I’m going to…

“You are not going to fall. I will never let something bad happen to you.” His voice is bold and so sure-footed that she decides not to complain, even thought she knew that it wouldn’t be their reality sooner when he’ll get back to his world. His fingers gently touching her eyes and she feels something changing in the air. The air around them shaking and heavy. His powers…

“Open your eyes, Y/N, please.”

As she opens her eyes, she knew something was different. In front of her there was still the night city, above her the skies. But she could see energy, colourful energy arising from each place she could catch a sight. “What- WHAT?” She screamed in disbelief. “What did you do to me?!”

He bit his lips in a worried expression. “I did nothing. I had this theory but…” He couldn’t look at her anymore, it was painful. “I just managed to unlock your own cursed energy, I don’t know how, I had these feeling and it just…”

They remained in silence for what seemed like hours, even though night were still ruling hard the skies up them. Their bodies close to each other, their warm protecting them from that cold night, from that scary truth. What the hell I am?

“Y/N”

“Uh. What?”

“I need your help to get back to my world. I need your help to get back to my students. You do know what happened to them after my arrive, don’t you?”

main navi | masterlist

[sanchoyo]

ok some Free Range bnha thoughts. I think I left off around 300 when I paused reading it week to week so I started at 290 to Refresh. obviously, spoilers below the cut , but I'm not saying anything that hasnt been said b4 probably. just My Thoughts. turns out I wasn't like, 80 chapters behind but roughly 30-40, which is. A lot less thank GOD. but yes these are my thoughts (mostly typed as I went, borderline liveblogging lol) as I just binged and caught up completely ✌

-afo needs to Not Be a BodySnatching DICKBAG!!!! love spinners lil moment of wtf. youre not who im following </3 same bestie get your boyfriend and run!!! or pick up ur sword and Stab afo. whichever.

-I really have mixed feelings on the whole todoroki situation that im reserving to talk in depth about until the manga finishes because, im not sure if this is true but ive heard its near its end, and I'd like to see how they tie it up and 'resolve' that situation before being too harsh. but for now: rei was brave to go in the hospital room and talk to endeavor. I think bb touya is SUCH a sad situation. I just feel bad for all of them UGH. my kids now.

-the talk w the ofa users in dekus mind had me kinda laughing, it looks like a kingdom hearts cutscene w the THRONES. also deku quitting school, oof. the series is called my hero ACADEMIA NOT MY HERO DROPOUT!!! (i can make this joke as a dropout. deku 🤝me dropping out I guess) Nana asking if he could kill shigaraki HURT I KNOW SHE DOESNT WANT HIM TO EITHER BUT STILL. READING IT HAD ME LIKE NOO!!! NO!!!!! very happy with dekus answer tho. good egg. u better not. trusting u deku. dont

-first ofa user Pretty. they said his name and I immediately forgot it <3

-dekus vigilante look is SOOO SICK THE EYES MAN!!! obsessed. also all might basically acting as support/sidekick is SOOO good. making him eat n stuff. Dad Alert.

-im glad they brought back some of the villains in the jail break!! it was a rly nice way of showing dekus progress, like the muscular fight was so hard for him way way back when and he just basically took him out super fast/easily now..the Progress!!! I love to see it.

-lady nagant top 10 girlbosses. hawks wishes he was her. chad nagant vs virgin hawks etc etc shes what I wanted his character to be (im not...super disappointed w hawks bc I never 100% believed hed go bad fr like some ppl did, but I loved the fanworks that explored it, and shes basically the Defected Ex Hero I wanted...and shes VERY PRETTY and I am very much a lesbian, so I love her. Her colors too!! are cotton candy colors!!!! and shes got the Guns (literally and also Muscles!!!) she looked afo in the face without flinching and was like oh why Should I Help u U Bastard, no fear at all. even if she ended up working for him or whatever for a few chapters. still A Queen <3 a very small screentime queen but. women in shonen mangas. u know.

-class 1A literally Fighting To Get Deku to Come Home and Bathe. is touching and very sad. the power of friendship plots always GET ME. URGH. BAKUGO!!!!!!! APOLOGIZING!!!!!!! ITS FINE THIS IS F I N E "SAVING PEOPLE IS HOW WE WIN" GOD THE CHARACTER DEVOLPMENT!!! BAKUGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;O;

-I know we've seen it before (or partially) but thirteen has an incredibly cute face. it has to be said

-NAME a more iconic duo than uraraka and that bigass megaphone

-ragdoll SPOTTED. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-and the guy from the very first chapter!!! this dude has always been the real mvp. hes stll being nice and supportive. king. give him a spinoff

-im glad they explained why kurogiri(and, bc we havent seen them, im assuming also gigantomachia and compress?? are also there or somewhere thats kept private??) werent in the jailbreak (that they carted them off elsewhere) I was wondering abt that...

-all the callbacks really makes this arc feel FINAL. my god, even the woman all might saved from kamino is back!!! I knew abt stain coming back (tho I didnt know exactly what hed do) but seeing HER got me for some reason. anyway. gay icon stain . also feminist ally stain (slitting the 'woman collector' guys throat) we have no choice but to stan

-tsukauchi stubble???? ok??? its a look I guess. is all might into it

-'shigaraki tomura will be a Complete Vessel in three days time' NO THE FUCK HE WONT!!!! STOP THAT. THATS ILLEGAL

-THE WAY STARS AND STRIPES IS DRAWN MORE LIKE A WESTERN COMIC IS SUCH A NICE TOUCH LMAOOO SHES SO AMERICAN. HER QUIRK IS INSANE ALSO. ALSO SHES FROM THE MOVIE WHAT?? I REMEMBER HER. god they really are bringing every nameless minor character back im EMO

-...has spinner just been stuck in a cave with afo. stuck with him, sassing him. this is hilarious to me for some reason god I would be at my fucking limit. spinner stay strong you amazing wonderful funky guy. wheres the rest of the league. LOOK at spinners face, hes so done with this I cant. this is the Most Important Thing.

-'the one who SPINS this tale' look I know its a line from afo but that RULES and hes right. spinner is SO important. stan spinner or Die

-god, the league members basically being promoted to being cult leaders/borderline WORSHIPPED 'hold them sacred, endow them with divinity' thats SO RAW I'm!!!! losing it like they all came from nothing now theyre SYMBOLS. my god. spinner doesnt even seem happy about it, none of the league members they were showing looked remotely happy. Makes U Think...

-

hot. next question (wait is it weird to simp when hes partially afo. hm.) (also that HAIR GROWTH!!!!!! NEVER CUT IT NEVER NEVER NEVER.) it spontaneously grew after I typed that, so consider ME pleased

-YESSS MR WORLDWIDE COME TAG AMERICA WE LOVE U HERE. ABSOLUTE JOY. sorry about the fact ur fused with afo rn and will possibly have uhh. identity related crisises and traumas from this later but. glad u look like ur havin fun :')

-damn america getting his ass. im so sorry :( (but also, kicking afo ass which is a good thing?? SOO conflicted I dont want tomura to die but afos gotta GO)

-again, hot, which is conflicting bc afo is very much also present, but, cmon, its tomuras body and face....n probably at least 25-50% tomura still...:/

-im...glad?? they delayed the complete fusion?? but owchie. at what cost to my boy :(

-the scene with afo patting shigaraki (who is thrashing around on the floor) parallels the scene of that happening when afo had taken in shigaraki at first and he was on the floor crying and wanting to kill those random alley thugs!!! that has to be intentionally calling that back, right? the imagery is very similar. again, loving the callbacks

-I rly thought they were gonna make invigirl the traitor and i was like ok who Cares abt that tho. then they did a lil switcharoo and made it MY BOY AOYAMA?? MY SWEET SON WHO I SHARE A BIRTHDAY WITH??? WHAT THE FUCK!!! HOW DID I NOT GET SPOILED ON THIS?? I remember the cheese stuff and being like haha good red herring. FUCK!!! NO!!!! hes such a good boy im WEEPING. HE WAS ORIGINALLY QUIRKLESS TOOOOO NOOOO!!! baby. babyboy. hes never done anything wrong in his life, ever, and omg invisible girls FACEEEE SHES SO CUTE. but god. aoyama. and dekus reaction to his whole story and still reaching out to him I AM. EMO. the drama of it alllllll . hes literally one of my fav student characters in this class and HAS BEEN FOREVER bc I love his whole knightly costume and SPARKLES and this just made him SKYROCKET FURTHER ON MY LIST OF CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME. hes so so so good. I need everyone to take a moment to just. Appreciate him.

now

appreciate

HER

-THIS is what absolute perrfection looks like. look at her!!! her belt is a cat. cat girls always win and save the day.

-toga sucks her own blood as a ?? comfort thing?? thats. should I say cute?? would it be weird to call that cute. would it be weird to say dabi burning her house down was also very cute, and nice, because she said it too, so like. very nice of him. top 10 reasons hes not Totally Lost: hes Nice to His Friends :)

-spinner being the...new symbol/leader in redestros place is SO???? UGH. UGHHH. HES ALWAYS BEEN A FOLLOWER AND NOW HES JUST BLINDLY FOLLOWING ORDERS TO BE MADE A SYMBOL, OR WHATEVER, I GUESS. very sad and I feel like him saying 'it doesnt matter what I think, this cant be stopped' are u implying u want to stop it. u can. u gotta. reach out to him man u HAVE TO BE THE ONE!!! its the bakugo/kiri kamino situation all over again. even if deku has to guide u it HAS TO BE U!!!! STOP FOLLOWING AND THINK FOR URSELF!!! U CAN DO IT!!!!!! 'anyone can become someone elses hero' YEAH HES GONNA. U BET HES GONNA. I BELIEVE IN HIM!!!

-....YOU NAMED YOUR STRONGHOLD TROY???...ALRIGHT. SURE. THATS FINE AND NOT WORRYING. I mean we already KNOW the war is gonna Go Down But. cmon man. CMON.

-togachako REAL

-shouto is too good for this world he wants to go to dinner w his big bro :( DABI COME HOME 2K22

-im sure ppl have figured out theories about this before but, something about the way they phrased it when they were wondering why afo needed tomuras rage (and why he was always smiling, implying smth is Fucking Wrong with Him, besides all the Murder and Crimes) had me like. hm. are we.. actually going to get more afo backstory at all or an in depth explanation for that? I'd kind of like to, even if I think its fine if we don't because we Get The Gist and idk how much the creator wants us to sympathize/understand his character beyond the ~evil demon king~ (and thats not me saying he needs anything beyond that, tbh not every villain needs it and esp not the big bad in a lot of cases) but. this story, esp in this last arc has us AND the main characters sympathizing with the villains a Lot and exploring why theyre like that, and it makes me wonder if theyll extend that to him at all, or just, keep trying to Get His Ass. And we do know togas quirk is the reason shes Like That, so it doesnt feel like a stretch to say afos quirk is why hes Like That also. (NOT ME SAYING HE NEEDS ANYTHING LIKE REDEMPTION DEAR GOD. AFTER WHAT HES PUTTING MY BOY THRU. ARGH. deku would have to be a SAINT. which he is, but...) actually, proof of this is also just. him going after star and stripes quirk KNOWING tomuras body wasnt finished, even saying it was a risk but basically being like. 'well..but... I WANT it. even if i know its dangerous to get it Right Now. But I want it Right Now.' as a reason KJDSHKJASNJ its very likely thats the case. quirks being a very literal nurture vs nature exploration I guess?

-very glad I typed all the above out WHILE reading bc if I wouldve waited, I wouldnt have had a coherent thought. its almost 5 AM but I am...caught up. And about to look at leaks before I sleep >:")

[pens-swords-stuff]

Hello Undine!! It has been a HOT MINUTE, but it is I, Kewpie Anon!! I had actually sent you a reply a while back, but as I was writing it, my computer crashed🙃. I have ADHD, so all the executive function I mustered to write up my long ass reply faded away...SO HERE'S A TLDR; turns out the mayo we use in our household isn't even kewpie LMAO??? I asked my mum and she was like 「キユーピーって味が酸っぱいから嫌い〜」and I was like *white man blinking gif in Mandela effect*. So I opened the fridge...and it's this brandless mayo bottle with a yellow cap. No clue who the maker is, but it ain't kewpie. So there goes the entire basis of my internet persona😂. ALSO!! I have always loved the キユーピーたらこ CMs, and I aspire to inflict that chaotic gremlin energy upon my friends. Anyway, what finally kicked my ass into gear to reply was this: seeing that you identify as greyasexual biromantic. **SPIDER MAN GIF INTENSIFIES CAUSE I DO TOO?!?!** I am shook. I only know one other person who is biromantic, and it was only because of them that I realised I was too. It sure answered why I had pined for my high school best friend while not wanting anything physical with her. So, yeah!! Solidarity!! Now, here's my question to you: do you read Japanese novels? If so, which ones did you enjoy? Sadly, while I am a fluent speaker, my kanji knowledge is lacking (but I'm working on it!). I'd love to hear your thoughts😊. Cheers!

Kewpie anon!!! It's so nice to hear from you. I was actually just wondering how you were doing a couple days ago.

I am so sorry about your mayo dilemma; that's got to be a huge shock!!! Mandela effect: it's SO real. It's funny, my mom and grandma say the exact same thing about Kewpie mayonnaise. Maybe you're an Ajinomoto family like we are?? We can just pretend that your internet persona is just based off those ICONIC Kewpie tarako commercials and nothing else. Or you know, the actual kewpie dolls.

And oh my god maybe we're actually the same person??? That's incredible, we have so much in common. I personally don't know many biromantic people either!!! Talking about stuff like this is so important, because it took me a really long time actually learn that asexuality was a thing, and even longer to realize that it made a lot of sense to me. I am so glad to have met you omg

I haven't read many Japanese novels, mostly because I always gravitated towards video games, manga, how to draw books, video game guides, and psychology books when I was in Japan, back when I was younger. I got a bit more interested in reading Japanese novels when I started high school, but then I stopped being able to go to Japan every summer like I used to. Which obviously means, less exposure to Japanese bookstores which is a SHAME because they are incredible?? It is insane how enjoyable it is to read Japanese nonfiction books. They're so cute and pretty with so many pictures and diagrams and art while being really easy to read and ughhh

I have no idea when I'm able to go to Japan next, but I'm definitely looking forward to grabbing more novels to read!

Here are the books that I have on my bookshelf right now. I used to have more, but my mom and I are going through a massive house cleaning and reorganization right now, so I packed away the others in boxes.

I actually haven't read most of these yet.

Of these, I've only read ビリギャル. I remember when it was a huge deal several years ago and I picked up it a little while later. It was really good and super inspiring.

I am a huge mystery fan, and because I don't know many Japanese authors and what books are good, you can definitely tell that I trend towards them. 暗黒女子、探偵倶楽部 and その時までサヨナラ are all mysteries. I'll read them someday I'm sure. I think they were all really popular back when they came out because they were on display and had the little notes written about them, you know? So I'm positive that they're amazing.

I haven't read those 王様ゲーム books yet either, but I did read the original 王様ゲーム trilogy (the ones in the picture are the sequel trilogy, I think). One interesting thing that I noticed was that I picked up a lot of psychological horror type books when I was in Japan several years ago, even though I'm not a horror fan. You can read the Wikipedia article here if you're interested! I don't know if this type of story is your jam, but I'm a huge fan of the death game subgenre, so it was right up my alley.

On a similar psychological horror/death game binge (I got all of the horror books at the same time. I must've been going through something), I read モニタールーム and リアル鬼ごっこ.

All of those horror books were really haunting, and my family asked me if I was okay several times as I was reading them. But they were really good; I couldn't put them down.

One book that I remember reading for a 読書感想文 when I was in elementary school is 虹色蛍. It's a story about time traveling to a 昭和 era Japan and while I don't remember the details, I remember it having a pretty profound impact on me as a kid. If kanji is a bit of a struggle for you (isn't it for everyone?), this might be a good one to read since it's geared towards younger audiences, but the story still packs a massive punch and adults can enjoy it too.

I also remember one of my Japanese school classmates lending me ケータイ小説 back when they were a thing called テディベア. I think this was the first Japanese 文庫本 that I read ever. It's definitely a tragic tearjerker, and me and my friends at Japanese school all spent 休み時間 crying our eyes about over this book because my friend had all of us read it.

I know there were a few others, but I can't remember what they're called 😭 I don't even know what to google so I can find them. I'll definitely let you know if I remember anything else.

I'm also studying kanji! I attended a Japanese school every Saturday, so I do know most of the kanji. I can read it just fine to survive everyday in Japan and read books. And if I don't know how to read it, I can use context clues to figure it out. But writing them is definitely a lot harder for me! It's easy to get away with not writing them because we have cell phones and computers to type them out on (I always have my cell phone in hand when writing in Japanese to see how to write the kanji), but I have a couple of 漢字検定 workbooks that are around 六級 and 七級, that I've been slowly working through to brush up on my ability. I want to be able to write them! And my Japanese handwriting is atrocious so I've been practicing them too. When I go to Japan next, whenever that may be, I'm definitely planning on buying several kanji workbooks all the way from elementary school level to high school level so I can practice. And the ones for elementary school kids look really fun, so...

Let me know if you have any reccs for me too. I'm always so overwhelmed at bookstores to make a purchase because they all look so good!

Also I have this very good link for watching バラエティー番組　for free without subscription,,, Let me know if you want it. I love watching them.

[shiro-s2e2-erukinzu]

Undead Unluck Week Day 2: Favorite Scene / Moment

Now this is a hard one for me to choose...! 😅 There are too many moments / scenes that I love from this series that I can't just choose one... So, I think I'm gonna do a top 5 of some of my favorite moments / scenes in no particular order! 😁 And since there's obviously gonna be spoilers, I'm gonna put a warning here like I do when I talk about the newest chapters of Spy X Family...!: 😉

*Anime only watchers and people who aren't caught up with the Manga, BEWARE... Cuz I'm about to discuss a bunch of spoilers for Undead Unluck!! You have been warned...! 👌

[SPOILERS AHEAD FROM THIS POINT ON]

Number 1: Everything that Anno Un (aka Akira Kuno) did in the Autumn Arc...!

This may seem like a lot, but pretty much everything that Anno Un did in the Autumn Arc was some of my favorite moments in the entire series...!! 😆 Especially during the flashback of Akira Kuno in chapter 47, the way he talked about Andy and Fuuko as "The characters I loved the most from the story that rushed into my brain that day", that really reminded me of me and how much I love the characters and stories that I've written for myself over the years that mean the absolute world to me...! 💗 I was moved to tears and I was even like: "Was this written specifically for me...?!" 😭 And thus, Undead Unluck went from being something that I just really enjoyed to something truly special, and it's all thanks to Akira Kuno / Anno Un, the Negator Unknown...!! 🤗

Number 2: Shen comes back as Mui's Jiangshi...!!

Now, I won't talk about this as much as my first favorite moment (mainly because, yet again, I'm saving a lot of what I want to say for another day 😉), but I have gush about this scene for a minute!! 😆 I was in literal shambles when I saw Shen gets a hole through his chest and was about to die, but after a plea from his deceased sister Mei to stay alive and be there for Mui, Shen comes back to tell Mui to kill him with the Game of Death artifact in her hand so that he can be by her side and protect her...!! 🥹 Mui succeeds and Shen comes back as Mui's Jiangshi!! 👏😭Just an amazing scene around in my opinion...!!

Number 3: Andy's feelings for Fuuko...!!

The next moment I talk about happens in chapter 79, when we get to see Andy's true feelings for Fuuko...!! 💗 At this point in the story, I already enjoyed the dynamic that Fuuko and Andy shared, but this where I fell even more in love with the romantic part of their relationship!! 💗🤗💗

Number 4: "This is where our counterattack begins..."

After watching all her friends die against Sun, Fuuko declares that in Loop 101, the final loop, she will gather all of her friends and they WILL NEGATE the Gods, Luna and Sun!! ✊ This moment gave me literal chills when I first read it and made Fuuko even more of a favorite mine than she already was...!! 👏👏👏

Number 5: "We are so glad that we picked you..."

There are so many amazing parts in Loop 101, but one of my absolute favorites happened not that long ago in chapter 196!! This is where we learned that Negator's aren't chosen by God, but by the previous negation ability holders...!! 😲 This was a HUGE revelation for the series and makes me even excited to see how Fuuko and the Union will win against the Gods and their Master Rules!! 👏😆

Boy, it was really hard to only pick five of my favorite moments (and even harder to just choose one), but I really love the choices that I made and hope that if I get the chance again some other time, I can share more of my favorite scenes from Undead Unluck!! 😁

Two days down, five more to go!! Hopefully I can keep up this momentum for the rest of the week...!! 🤞

[dragynkeep]

Hey, so I'm writing this ask assuming that you two haven't read "Berserk". So if you have, please feel free to clown on me in your answer. Anyways, throughout time the word "Masterpiece" has been attributed to many pieces of literature. From Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". To works like "Journey to the West". Even in modern times there are works like, "Dune" and of course, "The Lord of the Rings". And I firmly believe that "Berserk" deserves to be placed in the same category as these pieces of literature. First off the art style. Kentaro Miura, the mangaka of "Berserk", truly pushed the medium to the limit with nearly every panel. He managed to get every thing from the softer scenes between two friends, down to the truly Lovecraftian horror scenes with his artwork. Now I could rant for days about the many anecdotes about Miura and his art, from stories of him editing the drawings, pixel by pixel. To him being declared a master of the craft by titans in the industry at a young age. But there are many others whom have talked about that at length. So next, I will talk about the story. Without going into spoilers, I will say that the content of the story is truly a work of art. You get to see a person that the world has cast out as garbage, slowly claw their way out. Only to lose it all. Then rebuild it again. This is another thing, whilst the fight/action scenes are amazing. I think that is mostly due to the art style previously mentioned. I think where the story truly shines is in the moments after the storm has passed. You get these fragile, quiet moments where characters are left to asses the damage and try to pick up the pieces. It is truly a humbling sight. And lastly we have the characters. The characters, specifically the women characters, are all deep and layered in such unique ways. From Casca, the warrior, to Farnese the religious zealot. We get to see how the world affects these characters. Most of all is Guts, the main character, someone who truly is a monster in his own right, hellbent on revenge. Only to slowly start to let go of that anger and grief and slowly move on. Now I must say after talking up "Berserk" so much, I do need to make one small addendum to my previous statement about "Berserk" being a masterpiece. It is a masterpiece, but will be a masterpiece with an asterisks attached to it's name. for one glaring reason. "Berserk" will never have an ending. Due to the tragic passing of Kentaro Miura in 2021 we will never get to see the end of this journey. Now on a final note I'm going to talk about one last thing. The fact that a lot of "Berserk" was written before trigger warnings were a thing. And I don't mean this in a cringy anti-SJW way. I mean it in the way that "Berserk" deals with a lot of very heavy topics with no warning. So be aware that there might be scenes that are a little much. anyways I hope you give it a read. Don't watch any of the anime, just find the manga and read it. Trust me.

oh god that’s a big paragraph wheeze.

it’s sad to hear that the creator passed, & that the manga will remain unfinished. i don’t know whether it would be best to leave it as is or maybe have someone finish it, whether it’s worth that or not; i wouldn’t be able to say as i was never part of the fandom. that would probably be a differing opinion based on the fan you ask wheeze. however i had heard of the material berserk handles & maybe when i’m in a better place i’ll give it a shot but as is, it holds a lot of triggers for me.

however just because it’s not for me at this moment doesn’t mean it’s not for someone else & i’m glad that you felt such a connection & pull with a piece of media.

[themightyaliendwarf]

Bungo Stray Dogs!

Remember how I said I was going to share my thoughts after finishing season 1? Yeah... that was a lie. But I can fix it now!

So, I finished season 2 on, I think, Wednesday and I'm glad I watched it before I wrote this post, because I have some more to talk about it. Besides, I've actually decided to pick up the first 3 volumes of the manga.

(Yeah, I think it's now quite obvious, I will be mostly praising the series in this post)

But let's start from the beginning!

As I mentioned before, I knew nothing about this anime (apart from the fact Mamoru Miyano is voicing a character who gets stuck in a barrel once). But, of course, the title suggested it's going to be about writers. Suffice to say, the first episode was absolutely nothing what I was expecting. Superpowers? Detectives? Mafia? Another series with a weretiger?! (yes, it's actually a second series - the first being Midnight Texas - I know about that has a weretiger). But despite being something that I wasn't expecting, I enjoyed it. Mostly because of Baccano/Durarara vibe and aesthetic.

But despite all that, I didn't notice many literature references in the first season (don't shout yet, please). Apart from the names of the character's gifts that is. But then I opened the manga and saw this:

A whole 4 pages talking about how literally EVERY character is based on an author. They are all just Japanese authors (duh!) - apart from the characters from the Guild who appear later, of course. So, that proved how ignorant I truly was. Speaking of characters.

I really enjoy watching characters with strong personalities, but, who at the same time, are complex and can't be described with only one trait. I think it's so easy to make a character who is "just gloomy" or "just quirky". But here, although they seem at first simple, every character clearly has a lot of layers. And those subtle/clever references to their real-life counterpart (that's to translator's notes I know that, for example, the actual Akutagawa was a big fan of the actual Dazai) simply add even more spice to it.

Oh, another thing to love about this series:

I'm a sucker for frenemies.

Of course, another important thing to discuss is voice acting. And, oh my God, this anime has all seiyuus that I love. Mamoru Miyano? Amazing as always. Hiroshi Kamiya? Yes, give me this god of playing smug/charming/lovable bastards. Yoshimasa Hosoya - perfect voice for serious characters who can lose their temper easily. Kishou Taniyama -that one guy I always forget about, but then I remember I adore his voice. Kana Hanazawa - the queen of cute voices. Sumire Morohoshi? I did not believe that she was the voice of Kyouka. But then she started screaming "yada, yada, yada" and I finally heard Emma from TPN.

Seriously, that's one of the strongest set of voice actors I have seen in a while.

Another thing I have to mention - comedy. I was really surprised when I read it's classified as seinen because I usually assume those shows with lots of jokes/superpowers to be shonens (of course, I am writing it after finishing the second season, and I know how dark/sad/serious this anime can get). But yet here we are! Thanks to an amazing cast, this anime is effortlessly funny. I love those fast-paced, characters-oriented jokes, so it's a perfect series for me.

Before I move on to some random thoughts, I have to say a couple of words about another important aspect of this series: the music. It's really good. The OST and OPs are definitely going on my playlist.

And now here are some random thoughts: - Ranpo might be my favourite character (not just because of the seiyuu). Probably because he is not exactly your typical "I'm smart, peasants" genius-detective. He is also not a strange, L-like, quirky detective. I think he is a healthy mixture of both. The result, apparently, is a lovable character, who always steals the show.

- I was certain Atsushi was voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto. Welp, guess I was wrong.

- While I was reading the first volume of the manga I noticed Akutagawa speaks in a very archaic - mostly applies to how he forms sentences, rather than using specific words. It is not something I saw in anime (I watched it with English subs, but I read the manga in Polish). I wonder if this is a translator's choice (there wasn't anything about it in the notes) or maybe he also speaks like that in Japanese.

- I aspire to be like the President of the Agency. Not because he is a man of honour, power and wisdom. No. It's because there is always an electric guitar playing whenever he enters a room

- Fitzgerald's ability is literally pay-to-win

- When you are mortal enemies but you have to share a lift:

And I think that's all! Right now I'm going to have a break with this series (will probably finally watch Monster), but I will surely be back! From what I've heard, after season 2, I shouldn't go for season 3, but rather the movie, right? Or something like that. Well, anyway, I'm going to double check once the time comes.

So, to sum up: loved the first two seasons. I give 8/10