#guess who just read the reigen spin off

[da-janela-lateral]

MP100 manga liveblog: V. 01

Hello! As some of you may have seen before, I'm on a mission to read all of my MP100 mangas before the ones I've bought arrive — which are volumes 13, 14 and the REIGEN spin-off. During this process, I'll leave here my reactions and opinions to each individual manga. Let's start, then!

Volume 1 most be the one I have read the most, because I keep saying I'm going to read the whole manga and forget to proceed with it. There is not much I can add except for my usual notes.

Everybody is so blunt its hilarious. It's not even only characters of whom this behavior is more expected, such as Reigen: Mob keeps saying things to people's faces.

Reigen is such a huge conman. The manga makes it even more obvious, which scenes such as him keeping guessing what was the "problem" with the client who visited adult sites.

Reigen you were rude as hell on the start I'm sorry.

Tsubomi is much more of a mysterious, unapproachable perfect girl than her anime version, which paints her as more friendly and extroverted individual.

Mob knowing that Reigen is a fraud, even if indirectly, is more clear. He questions Reigen's motives with calling and keeping him on Spirits and Such several times.

Other thing which was made more clear to me is in which sense Mob made a promise to the Telepathy Club. He not only appeared to be convinced to join, but also was about to take the papers to the Student Council. Of course his posterior choice to join the Body Improvement Club made Tome get pissed off...

I love getting to see the other clubs on the Student Council's blacklist. What do you mean Leg Shaving Club. "Flirting with the Chicks" Club? Cussing Club?? Tsubomi Fanclub??? How did they allow these to get created on the first place???????

The comedic timing is impeccable. "How did you guess it?" when the LOL Cult member made her 46477277th guess of what made Mob upset. And she was just. : \

The art is so expressive. This is a huge advantage to me.

Mob your repression is very much interesting to me. The flashbacks don't make time periods clear but he didn't seem to react in a socially acceptable way even before he started repressing his emotions.

The fact that Mob only showed his powers in public during his first school years, yet most people don't react to them as if they were a worldbreaking thing, REALLY caught my attention. This is just my worldbuilding fanatic mind in alert.

Mezato have I ever mentioned that I'm fascinated by you.

The hypnosis forcing the LOL Cult members to laugh in any occasion and making them lose the milk challenge is way more explicit.

Hey what do you mean Dimple's hypnosis with the LOL Cult is low quality.

I'm actually making lots of notes about the info the manga gives about how spirits and ESP work! But this is a separate project.

The omakes are very fun to read! I believe they'll fulfill my need for extra characterization by this time.

THIS PANEL IS SO FUCKING GOOD I'M DYING:

THIS IS THE PEAK OF COMEDY MAYBE.

Unrelated translation notes (this is the Portuguese edition):

The translation felt a bit awkward at times. There are occasions in which I'm confused about if the strange word choices were intentional or a false cognate from an English version.

For example, on Dimple's internal dialogue about how Mob was ruining the ambient he had built for LOL, he says the phrase "Para se tornar deus... é necessário eliminar todos os que disturbem a ordem que eu criei." ("In order to become [a] god... it's necessary to eliminate all those who disturb the order that I created".

The verb "disturbar" is not incorrect, but it's not common either. Most people would prefer to use "perturbar" or even "transtornar" in this context. Even verbs with a different and more colloquial meaning like "romper", "interromper" or "bagunçar" could be used to make a slightly different phrase yet transmit the same message! Because Dimple doesn't talk in a particularly formal or overdramatic form in other dialogues, this choice struck me as weird, and may look like a direct translation from the English "to disturb". But well, it's being used in a correct form so...

(I'm not neglecting the fact Dimple is refered as Hanako on his true form reveal though)

[ethereal-feline]

Alrighy watching the Mob Psycho 100 Company Trip OVA

Reigen with the sparkly eyes lol (but also likes how he tries to figure out any potential angle so he himself doesn't get scammed...until money is involved)

Oh hey its like those horror train games. Good luck guys!

(Assuming Ritsu has any control over how these 2 handle sleeping while floating)

Ritsu with Serizawa: gentle, tucks him up, sets him down properly

Ritsu with Reigen: *drops him*

Also, Teru! Guess the bald spot is filling back in nicely lol

Ah. I guess that one guy in the client's flashbacks at the beginning is an esper? Since it looks like Serizawa woke up just fine once he tried to leave Haunted Train Dimension

The boys: enjoying the trip

Reigen: suffering

l like the little differences the Esper Squad has. The more experienced like Serizawa is holding his hand relatively close to himself, fingers not as spread out, while Mob, who struggles with his powers, has his hand fully out. Teru, somewhere in the middle in terms of experience, doesn't have his hand as far out, but his fingers are wide open. Then you got Ritsu, both hands out.

ALSO, pretty colors and effects. Serizawa's aura almost look like pixels, Mob and Ritsu's look similar, and Teru's has this psychedelic look to it.

REIGEN YOU DID NOT JUST GIVE THIS WOMAN COLD MEDICINE WITH A STICKER SLAPPED ON IT.

Off to read the spin off manga, I heard its great.

[mega-banette]

[Image description: A screenshot of a text message conversation edited to be between Kurata Tome and Reigen Arataka from Mob Psycho 100, with illustrations of them on either side. The conversation is as follows:

Kurata: (in all caps) A guy just asked me out

Reigen: Okay. Oh free dinner

Kurata: Reigen I do not like dudes

Reigen: You like dinner. End description]

ID by @/memo-sepia (thank you)

[captain-aralias]

Ten books i want to read in 2020

@fight-surrender tagged me - and in favourite characters (coming soon...)

1. The Case of the Drowned Pearl: A Murder Most Unladylike Mini-Mystery, by Robin Stevens - murder most unladylike is a great series about school girls who are golden-age detectives. this one is new and so i haven’t read it yet. i am looking forward to it, even though it isn’t about our heroes. i thought this was a series of books i was reading that wasn’t about gay people - but it turns out that daisy - our sherlock - is not ace, but in fact a lesbian. so if you, like me, like books about gay people - and also golden age detective agencies, and school stories - you should damn well read this series. speaking of which ... 

2. murder most unladylike - unnamed book 9, by Robin Stevens. the final book! i am very sad (in advance - terrible things are rumoured to happen, but probably not - it’s for kids!) also because it’s the final book and that’s sad. but i love a good - planned - ending and think this will probably be one. robin stevens is a very fast writer. it’s out in August 2020. 

3. There is a Light by @basic-banshee i wondered whether to put this here, because it feels a bit crawly, but! of course i am looking forward to this book. a lot. i even read the draft sent to betas already, but i’m excited to read the real one.

4. Queen of Nothing by Holly Black - how did i not know this has been out several months? i thought i’d pre-ordered it, but apparently not. anyway, this series has been so much more awesome than Holly Black’s other work. i totally love it. ENEMIES TO LOVERS

5. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - i bought this a while ago because it’s all over my Tumblr (hello, if you’re one of the people posting about this!) but i have not yet got round to reading it. i will read ‘Queen of Nothing’ and ‘Drowned Pearl’ first, as well.

6. Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett - 2019 was the year i fell in love with pratchett properly (having previously read his books and thought him perfectly good. NO. he is a genius - i know that now). i love the watch and moist von lipwig - of course. and tiffany aching. i love granny weatherwax, but for some reason i don’t really get on with the proper witch books, so i haven’t been racing through them. Lords and Ladies is next.

7. Fence by Sarah Rees Brennan - i saw this on someone else’s list (@carryonsimoncarryonbaz for sure, but maybe someone else too) and i thought - oooh, i didn’t know this was coming out. gay fencing romcom from the writer who brought us ‘in other lands’. sign me up. 

i also thought this was ‘fence’ by CS pascat (gay fencing, yes. captive prince - yes), but it isn’t. it’s a different book. i do want to read pascat’’s fence, but while i like art and writing, i find the graphic novel format hard to get into. it’s too quick. because i dont really look at the pictures... 

also, although this is a minor point, i can’t read it on my kindle. i bought laura dean keeps breaking up with me off rainbow’s recommendation and even on the online kindle store, so filling my entire computer screen, it was still only just readable. that’s a book i should have bought in actual book form, but i read it in an hour. and i though it was fine, rather than great - so... i don’t really need it in my house. which means kindle was fine, i guess. but it really wasn’t.

8. Jane, Unlimited by Kristen Cashore - for ages it wasn’t on kindle, but i just went to check and it is now, so i bought it. two years ago (?) i read and loved kirsten cashore’s tamora-pierce-esque works (and then the fucked up weirdo conclusion, bitterblue. i loved that even more), this one i hear is a bit modernist and probably not for me, but i owe her my time.

9. Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed. this is another one i should have known was out, but didn’t. i think becky albertalli can be really great, although personally i found ‘what if it’s us’ extremely forgettable - even for me. this looks like it could be good - EVEN THOUGH it’s not gay.

10. ??? 

i have other books that i’ve bought but not read (lots of them), but i don’t really want to read them... or i could just list pratchett books, obviously, but that seems like a waste of time. i tend very much to read what i want to read at that precise moment and i have a terrible memory, so i re-read a lot. there’s nothing else that i’m thinking ‘i will definitely read that’. volume 3 and 4 of runaways maybe (but again - graphic novel). similarly i might read the manga for ‘reigen’ the spin-off to ‘mob psycho: 100′, but my brain particularly struggles with manga for obvious needs-to-be-trained reasons.  

it was much more likely i’d read the rest of the howl books before i realised that ‘queen of nothing’ was out - but i might re-read some more DWJ. 

tags: how many tags for this thing? idk. again - a lot of posts may be hiding the fact that you guys already did this meme, idk. at worst, you will get some probably good book recs out of this post. as long as you like gays, school stories, and/or YA romance. 

@giishu @f-ing-ruthless-baz @agapi42 @shipaholic @alivealivealive @ruth-dw @bunn1cula @basic-banshee (i already tagged you above, but anyway) @parijpg @mageicalwishes @angelsfalling16 @thisbluespirit

[punished-lamb]

Mob’s Bizarre Adventure

Summary: This is a short spin-off story that involves Mob and Reigen preventing an evil demon from taking over MobDonalds. There are many exciting twists and turns as our heroes deal with this great mysterious threat. It’s very tongue and cheek.

Word Count: 2098

a/n: This is a goofy story contained in the Mob Psycho world that involves wacky high jinx and plentiful amounts of corn. This is my first posting, so enjoy the show and please leave any comments you want, thank you.

All was normal in Seasoning City, there hasn’t been a huge psychic threat in a while. Mob and Reigen only had to worry about the small exorcism work around town, so they could enjoy their personal lives better. The steady work flow isn’t much of a bother to either of them as it allows for a nice daily task.

Recently, Mob has been tasked with a daily mission, where he must exorcise a recurring demon at the local MobDonalds. Every day he is required to wear a corn cob costume and spin a sign to scare off the looming demon, or that’s at least what Reigen told him. Mob spends a few hours each day outside the establishment with him levitating the sign above his head as he wiggles his fingies in the air for extra flare. The sign reads “MobDonalds limited time exclusive Corn Mobs on a stick” for their new promotion.

Mob tries to stay enthused during his current assignment, but it’s starting to get him after doing it for the past 4 days. He just moves that sign like a good little boy for what seems like forever. As time passes more and more people are attracted to the establishment by Mob’s twirling. Luckly, Mob hasn’t encountered anyone he knows as he does this act, especially not Tsubomi. As Mob begins to doubt how much the is helping the demon problem, Tome spots him in his Corn Mob set up. She walks over with her sexy pink DS in her pocket. She asks, “Uhhh...Mob, why are you a corn?”

“Master said that if I do this, it’ll deter the demon that wishes to demolish this restaurant chain” said Mob in his usual monotone voice.

Tome gives a smug look, like if you rated her out of 10 on how smug she looked, that bitch would be SMUG. “You’re still taking those wack ass jobs, look at yourself, you’re a corn Mob, a corn.”

“I guess this task was a little out of the ordinary” Mob says as he looks down at the ground with the corn costume™ hiding his mouth in slight shame.

“Did he even tell you what the name of this “demon” was, Mob?” Tome asks, doubting the entire assignment.

Mob looks back at Tome and says, “Burger King”. Tome can’t believe how dumb that sounded. She tells him to get out of that costume as she goes to get them two corn mobs.

Mob walks to the bathroom that is located on the side of the building to get out of the corn costume™. He enters the men’s section and squeezes out of the costume from the head whole. The bathroom looks quite immaculate with every surface shining. Mob washes his face by the sink to get some of the sweat off from standing in the sun all day. He wiggles all the water off so he is no longer damp. He takes his corn costume™ and leaves the bathroom.

Mob sees Tome stand outside the MobDonalds with two corn mobs on a stick. She is already suckling hers because of the butter melting on it. “There you are Mob, took you long enough, your corn mob is drippy '', Tome calls out. Mob stares at the melty corn mob admiringly. “Uh, Mob. Get rid of that raggy costume already, it smells like ass bro.”

Mob throws the corn costume™ into its designated costume bin by the mobdonals gate. He then snags his corn mob from Tome’s delicious buttery hand. Mob thanks her for getting him a nice little treat as they walk around town together. The two suclke their corn mobs together as they chat about after school clubs.

As the two continue to chat, Mob’s phone begins to ring. Mob answers only to hear Reigen’s shouting voice, “Mob!!! Where’s the Corn Mob, Mob!!!”

“Uhhh...Corn Mob got a corn mob” said Mob hoping master won’t be as mad.

“YOU WHAT!!! Mob this job is of utmost importance, all these people are around this restaurant without a powerful corn esper to protect it. Think of the kids Mob” Reigen said angrily, clenching a corn mob in his hand

“Not to be rude but you never told me how a corn and esper hybrid was supposed to ward off a demon” Mob asked as Tome is devouring the corn mob in spectacular fashion.

“Mob, babycakes, you know demons work in unique ways” Reigen sighs, “Besides, you should have at least told me you felt for today, the MobDonalds manager is flipping out without its corn mob.”

“Sorry master, I guess it was spur of the moment,” Mob said  while nibbling his corn mob.

Reigen responds with slight disappointment, “It’s okay, I’ll go take over, I’ll see ya later Mob.”

“Okay, see you, master” Mob hangs up and continues his hangout with Tome. They plan on heading to the shopping center and hanging out for the rest of the day.

As Mob goes on to enjoy the rest of his free day, Reigen is stuck in an undersized corn costume™, sweating his ass off with an advertising sign. “Oh my god, I didn’t know this suit was such a pain in the ass,” Reigen exclaimed with sweat covering his forehead. He had been taking Mob’s spot for what seemed like hours, but in reality was about 37 and a half minutes. Reigen passed the time in the by suckling as many corn mobs as he needed. And boy did he suckle them good…...what, anyways he was out there for a long time.

Reigen struggles to pull in as many customers as Mob did due to him not being able to spin the sign as skillfully. In fact, he keeps fumbling it on the ground. As he goes to pick up the sign, a little boy points at him and tugs his mother’s skirt. “Mommy, mommy look. There’s an old bum dressed as a corn mob,” yelled the snot nosed boy.

“Now, now, don’t make fun of the homeless Timmy,” the mother reprimanded her son as she dragged him away.

Reigen overheard the mother and boy duo and shattered his ego more than it was before. He grits his teeth and in that moment he decides that he is done for today. He angrily atoms to the bathroom area with his corn leaves rustling. He plops out of the corn costume™ and throws it in the outside dumpster. “Humf, serves that thing right.” He kicks the dumpster and stubs his toe. “Ack!!!”

Reigen proceeds to scream at the dumpster. But little did he know the chain reaction he just started. Although he didn’t take the Burger King demon seriously, there was trouble brewing there due to there not being a Corn Mob guardian in front of the MobDonalds establishment during its limited time offer.

Reigen notices a cold waft of air behind him. This alarming feeling causes him to turn around. He sees a burger king crown laying on the ground. His eyes widen as the ground starts to shake. Panic spreads throughout the MobDonalds line as the establishment begins to sink into the ground. A tiny mountain emerges with a Burger King on top of it. Reigen freaks out and calls Mob.

While all that was happening, Mob was still hanging out with Tome as they had a fun and exciting day in an Ikea. They have just exited the Swidish furniture store with meatball platters in hands. Mob’s phone starts playing Shawty Like a Melody as a ringtone for Reigen. Tome is quick to blurt out, “Oh my, it’s not who I think it is is it”

Mob just stares directly into Tome’s eyes as his eyes get increasingly bigger. Mob answers his absurdly tiny phone to hear Reigen freaking out. “Holy...MOB,MOB,MOB listen! You need to get over to MobDonalds right no…” Beep Beep Beep. Reigen was cut off due to an unknown reason.

“Tome, I think I need to go to MobDonalds now, master seems to be having trouble,” said Mob as he threw away his meatball platter.

Tome squints in confusion“Wha...alright, well imma head back home. I have to put these meatballs in the fridge for later.” The two say their goodbyes and part ways. Tome seems a little annoyed Mob had to be taken away for work on such short notice.

Mob rushes like Sonic down the street back to where the mountain has erected itself. He sees Reigen at the bottom of the mini mountain with the Burger King on top. Mob greets his master as Reigen fills him in on what happened

After Mob hears the story about the mini mount Burger King, it’s clear that there is only one thing left to do. Mob retrieves the corn costume™ from the dumpster and flies up to the Burger King door with both hands in the air. He slowly opened the door to see the man behind it all. A vocaloid voice can be heard from the shadows, “Haha, I see we have a corn mob on the loose, looks like it's time to double down on the serving.” It was none other than Hatsune Miku holding a whopper, standing while a smug smile.

“Miss Miku, why did you want to destroy the MobDonalds?” asked Mob with his wittle voice.

Miku scoffed, “Noob, can’t you see, MobDonalds’ new promotion only stands in the way of my new promotion with Burger King-sama.” Her face looked very evil with her smile going ear to ear as she took a bite from her whopper.

“Miku, can’t you see, nothing but harm was brought to the people you're trying to sell to. Look at them, down there. They’re screaming for their lives.” Progression toward Mob’s explosion has risen to 69% due to Miku's neglectful actions.

She laughs in vocaloid. “Nothing more than a minor loss to my profit margin, HEHEHE MWAHAHAHAHA”

“No! Don’t you see, they’re more than a profit margin. They’re more than loyal and valued customers, they’re the life and soul of this community. And I’m beginning to think that they don’t need this so called whopper,” progression toward Mob’s explosion had risen to 76%

Miku cracks her knuckles and lets out a high pitched squeal that shatters the windows. “You’re just like one of them, esper or not. Nothing more than a little bug for me to squash.” She throws her whopper at Mob and starts to float and glows purple.

Mob’s corn costume™ got stained from the mess of a burger that was thrown. Progression toward Mob’s explosion grew to 90% as he stared at the pile of tomato, onion, lettuce, and meat. Miku proceeded to laugh at Mob, taunting him further. “Alright, it’s time to end this man’s whole career!!!”

Miku begins to float across the Burger King floor toward Mob as the progression toward his explosion reaches 100%. Mob goes and does the only thing he can think of. He reaches down into his pocket and throws a corn mob at Miku. It knocks her on the forehead, leaving a buttery mark on her head. It starts to sizzle and boil causing Miku to scream in immense pain until she turns into dust and blows away.

Mob floats out of the Burger King as it sinks back into the Earth. He lands near Reigen and Dimple while MobDonalds rises back up and everything goes back to normal. “Woah Mob, that was quick,” Reigen said with a thumbs up

“Yeah, Miku wanted Burger King to rule the world but I had to stop her,” Mob explained while looking intently at his master.

“Well regardless, let's take a break, it’s been a long day” Reigen patted Mob’s little corn head

“Wait a minute, Dimble, when did you get here. Why did you appear so late in this story?” Mob questioned while staring at his floating green friend.

Dimple explained, “Well ya see, the author forgot to write me in earlier because he was too busy thinking of Tome’s feet to include me,” Mob and Reigen just stare at him like he has no idea what he is talking about. “What!? It was his fault not mine.” Dimple crossed his arms in anger.

Mob and Reigen are still confused but just shrug their shoulders and go along with it. “Anyways, let’s go relax at the office, maybe there might be a new job wait.” They all walk off as the credits roll.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to get back to playing animal crossing new horizons on nintendo switch.

[gosecretscribbles]

Brothers

This is a Mob Psycho 100 fanfic.  It’s part of Attic AU, an AU of phantomrose96's AU "A Breach of Trust". (Go read it, it's awesome.) In the Attic AU, Mob was kidnapped by the spirit Mogami. Reigen tried to stop Mogami but was captured, too. After a year, Reigen finally exorcised him and rescued Mob.

This part happens after Mob and Reigen have escaped, and they're still adjusting to normalcy. Ritsu feels a bit jealous that Reigen's spending time with his brother. He tries to spend time with Mob and struggles with feeling selfish and jealous. Mob finally gets him to talk about it.

Ritsu heard something break, followed by a small cry.  He jumped up from the couch and hurried down the hall.

Mob was standing in the middle of his old – no, his real bedroom, slightly crouched and panicked-looking.  Weird light fizzed and glittered sharply in the air around him.  Reigen was standing in front of Mob, talking with his usual dry assurance.

“– could've gone better,” Reigen said, not even glancing at the shattered cup at their feet.  “Just breathe, kid.  You got this.”

Ritsu watched from the doorway.  He'd never actually seen Mob's barrier, but he could guess that that was what made the bubble of nasty light around his brother.  Reigen couched Mob through controlling his breathing and focusing on using his powers for something small, like putting the cup back together.  After a minute, the barrier sizzled away.

Mob picked up the cup.  “I've never broken anything with the barrier,” he said shakily.  “Is it – getting stronger?”

“Probably.” Reigen shrugged.  “But so're you.  You've already broken the hypnosis.  You've kept your barrier shut off for, what, like ten hours now?”

Mob nodded, still looking at the cup.

“Aw, c'mon.”  Reigen planted a hand on Mob's head and ruffled his hair. “I keep tellin' you, kid, focus on the positive.  You're way stronger than you think you are.”

Ritsu's gut tightened, and before he knew it he was stepping into the room. “Hi, Nii-san.”

Mob looked up and smiled.  “Ritsu.  Sorry, did we disturb you?”

“No, no...”  Ritsu noticed Reigen had taken his hand from Mob's head, but he was still standing pretty close.  Like they were family or something.  “Let's go to the corner store,” he said suddenly.

Mob tensed.  “I – but just now, the barrier –”

“Just go already.”  Reigen gave Mob a gentle push.  “We've been practicing forever.  You could use the break.  And I could use the time to satisfy some customers.”  Reigen had opened an online consulting service to build up his savings again.  It saved travel and office expenses, and it was much safer than working in person, especially while his health still wasn't back to normal.  “Hurry up already, I've got a clientele base to build.”

Mob still looked anxious.  “I don't –”

“Just for a few minutes?” Ritsu asked, stepping forward.  “Look – there's no barrier around you at all.  Plus, we could even get milk...”

Five minutes later, Ritsu and Mob were walking out the door.  Mob had on a heavy sweater – he was still pretty thin from his diet of soup, and he got chills easily.  

“They sell flavored milk at the store now,” Ritsu said, as they started to walk.  “I know you like regular milk, but they have strawberry and chocolate milk now, too.  I guess Yamada-san finally caved to peer pressure.  I mean the vending machines at school have had flavored milk for ages.  I've never actually tried it, though.  I always bring a lunch from home...”

Mob looked around as Ritsu talked.  Anything that moved, anything that was brightly colored, the people, the cars, even a plane overhead – Mob acted like he was seeing it for the first time.  No, more like he was reunited with them, like a family he was greeting with his eyes. He glanced at Ritsu, too, but never for very long.  

Ritsu kept talking, but his stomach was hurting a little.  First Reigen. Now everything else.  After five years it was like he still didn't have his brother back.

No, no, that's stupid.  And it's not fair to Nii-san.  Focus on what Nii-san needs, don't be selfish.

They reached the store.  Mob, predictably, asked for a quart of regular milk.  Ritsu didn't feel much like drinking, but for the sake of politeness he got a soda.  A popular brand – he didn't actually look at the name.  He paid for their purchases, grateful that Yamada-san was so engrossed in her novels that she didn't ask Mob awkward questions.

On the way back, Ritsu noticed that Mob was starting to look a bit flushed.  His eyes were still bright, like he was trying to drink it all in, but he was getting overwhelmed with stimulation.  

“Maybe we could sit for a minute,” Ritsu suggested.  

Mob made a small noise of agreement.

So Ritsu guided them to a small grassy lawn that bordered a local business building.  It was supposed to be a lunch space, he guessed, because there were a few concrete tables and a bench at the edge of the lawn, and a fancy-looking fountain in the middle.  

They took the bench and opened their drinks, watching the passers-by. Ritsu noticed his brother sat a little away from him.  He knew Mob was probably just worried about the barrier, but it stung a little. He tried to ignore it.  

“Nice day for it,” Ritsu said instead, glancing at Mob.  

Mob was looking up into the branches of a nearby tree, his quart of milk resting forgotten on his knee.

“Nii-san?”

“Yes.”  Mob turned.

The look in his eyes made Ritsu flinch.  “What's wrong?” he asked.  “If something's bothering you, you can talk to me.”

Mob smiled slightly.  “I know, Otouto.  You always tell me that.”

“Well, it's still true.  You can talk to me about anything.”

Mob stayed quiet, still looking at Ritsu.  

“What?” he gave a chuckle.  “Do I have something on my face?”

“No.  I'm just happy that I get to look at you.”

Ritsu's eyes stung.  He swallowed.  

“I admire you,” Mob continued.  “You're so smart, Ritsu.  Mom and Dad told me.  Are you going to run for President of the Student Council next year?  I think you could do it, Ritsu.”

“I-I don't know.”  He'd lied to his parents about joining so he could search for Mob after school.  “I might just run for a lower office.  Work up to it.”

Mob nodded.  “You're always confident and self-controlled.  I think you'd be amazing at whatever office you chose.  If I get to go back to school, I'd support you.”

“'If'?” Ritsu repeated.  He realized they'd never actually talked about Mob going to back to school.  It seemed ludicrous, somehow, to think that after five years of loss things could just – snap back to normal.  

Mob was still looking at him, his dark eyes meeting Ritsu's. “Otouto...do you think you could help me with my studies?  I was only average at school, and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Teach me, too,” Ritsu blurted.

Mob blinked.  “Eh?”

Ritsu thrust out his hand.  Nine perfect spheres of water rose out of the fountain, clear and smooth as glass.  They began to spin, first in place, then orbiting the fountain, until finally they burst apart into a mist so fine that a rainbow appeared in the air, shimmering like a silk scarf.

Mob leaned forward in awe.  “Ritsu!  That was you?”

“My powers awakened a while ago,” Ritsu said, lightly rubbing his wrist.  “I met this guy from another school – he's psychic, too. He was sort of teaching me, but mostly I think he just hung around to mess with me.  Anyway, Nii-san, could you teach me how to use them like you?”

Mob was smiling – a small smile, but the biggest one Ritsu had seen yet.  “Ritsu, you're incredible!  Do you mean you learned the water trick on your own?”

Ritsu grinned.  “Sort of.”

Mob stood up.  “Let's ask Reigen if he'll teach you, too!”

The mention of Reigen made him stiffen.  Ritsu opened his mouth to protest – then caught himself.  Reigen was the one who had rescued Mob, and the only one who had helped him with the barrier.  Ritsu was being selfish wanting to keep him away from Mob.  If it meant spending time with his brother, Ritsu could handle sharing him with Reigen.  

He stood up.  “Alright, let's go back.”  

“Ritsu...?”

He'd had already gone a few steps.  When he turned back, Mob hadn't followed.  “C'mon, don't you want to ask Reigen for lessons?”

Mob looked concerned.  “Ritsu, what's wrong?”

Aside from the fact that I'm being completely selfish, jealous, and unreasonable?

He hesitated too long.  Mob reached out very slowly and took the corner of Ritsu's sleeve between two fingers.  Ritsu looked down in shock.  Mob didn't touching because he was always afraid the barrier would hurt them.  

“You can talk to me,” Mob said.

“I just really missed you,” Ritsu said quietly.  His throat was tight.  “I don't really know you anymore.  Reigen does.  But I don't.”

Mob was silent for a moment.  “Ritsu...do you remember how to play Ichi?”

“What?”

“Ichi,” Mob repeated, smiling.  “The card game.  From when you were little.  Sometimes, when I won several games in a row, you teased me and said I was using my powers to cheat.”

Ritsu half-smiled.  “I remember.”

“Let's play it again.  Just us.”

“Really?”

Agh, I sound like a little kid, he thought.  But at the moment he didn't much care.

Mob nodded.  “ I forgot most of the rules, though.”

“I can teach you,” Ritsu said, smiling.

Mob smiled back.  “I know, Ritsu.  Let's go home.”

[minusram]

under the cut: trans reigen ends up going to his high school reunion (~3.5k?)

-just a few short scenes, it kinda streamed out of me this morning. 

warning for MAJOR headcanoning (fanon ahoyyyy), high school bullying (unrelated to transness!), misgendering, deadnaming, and some minor homophobic language, but it’s really not an angst parade; i just want you to be safe. kinda bittersweet i guess. takes place 1~.5 years before canon

“I’m serious, that’s what happens,” Reigen says, walking next to Mob on their way to an assignment. He still isn’t used to the new uniform, like having a little black shadow keeping pace beside him whenever his student is following him around.

“But how do they get it in?” Mob asks, quietly skeptical.

“A big syringe, and then the carbonation makes the marble swell so it doesn’t fall out.”

“But—”

“I’m telling you, Mob, that’s how they make Ramune bottles. Listen to your master.”

“Reigen-shishou, I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Reigen?” a woman says from behind him, “Reigen from Saffron High, is that you?”

Reigen can’t move, petrified by panicked shock that someone from back then has recognized him, even after everything; he loses his chance to abscond when she comes around to stand in front of him. Oh fucking hell, it’s Ooka Minami. She was in his class all through high school. He hated high school.

“Hey! Airi-chan! I can’t believe it’s you! Wow you got butch—look at that suit! Guess you really were batting for the other team, ne?”

Then she laughs. And that would be why.

“Gosh, Minami-chan, it’s been years!” Reigen gushes, “And it’s so great to run into each other, but I have to be going, so sorry; huge deadline, business to deal with, you know how it is...” he says, sweat popping up as he manoeuvers to make his belated escape.

“It’s okay, Shishou, I can deal with the spirit. You talk to your friend,” Mob says, extraordinarily and unhelpfully obtuse. If Reigen isn’t going to be able to get out of this conversation he at least doesn’t want Mob hanging around to hear it. Reigen shoos him off, and Mob goes silently into the park to deal with whatever’s been bothering the retirees who sit on the benches there every afternoon. It’ll be fine; this job is small fry, nothing he hasn’t handled before.

“Spirit? ...Shishou?” Ooka asks, skeptical.

“Yes,” Reigen says shortly, “I run an exorcism agency. He’s my student. We have a job. So I should really—”

“Spooky Airi-chan deals with ghosts now? And you were always such a skeptic.”

“Well, it’s a living,” he says, resigned to at least a few niceties. “And you?”

“I’m just out taking care of some errands, picking up stuff for dinner tonight. I know, it’s a little late, but running a household is hard work, especially with two kids around the house. You know how it is,” she says, with a gloating smile.

“I can’t say that I do,” Regein replies, light and dry.

“Oh, you’re not married?”

“No.”

“Better get on that, christmas cake.”

“Thanks for the advice. Well, Minami-chan, this has been spectacularly fun, but unfortunately I do have to go, sorry.”

“Oh, no problem. It was nice to catch up! Do you have a business card?”

“According to social convention,” he says, reluctantly digging out the case to hand one over, “I must admit that I do.” Ooka takes it and skims the contents greedily before tucking it in her wallet.

“I’d return the favour, but I don’t have any. After all, I’m a housewife,” she says with a sweet smile, the same one from back then, when she’d asked him if he had a crush on her in front of the entire class.

“Congratulations. I really must be off now, Minami-chan.”

“Bye, Airi-chan! See you soon!”

Unlikely, Reigen snarls in his head, and “Have a nice day,” pleasantly outside it, face smooth and bland as he turns to go find Mob.

Either there was nothing here or Mob’s taken care of it already, because the kid is being mobbed by a bunch of geezers that practically totter on their feet. Surrounded, he doesn’t notice Reigen until Reigen’s gently elbowed his way to the centre of the throng of old people cooing over Mob’s adorable face. If his student were half as popular with people his own age as he is with grandparents, Reigen might have to do something to prevent his esper from succumbing to the peer pressure of spending time with people not fourteen years his senior.

Reigen tows Mob to freedom, says goodbye to the group, collects payment from the park manager, and sets off back to the office, Mob beside him.

He shoves his hands in his pockets and hears his heartfelt desire for Mob not to mention the encounter like a chant in his head.

“Who was that?” Mob asks, dashing his hopes. Reigen blows breath out through his nose, and answers:

“An old classmate.”

“A classmate?”

“From high school.”

“Oh. Was it nice, to see her again?”

“It’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“Why did she call you -chan?”

“Ahh, it’s an old joke from high school. You… had to be there, ha.”

A joke—yeah, sure.

That’s a good word for it.

-------

A week later, the office gets a letter from his alma mater, and Reigen regrets. Why didn’t he just lie? Nobody from Saffron would ever have thought about him again, but now that Ooka has his contact information it seems he’s been brought back into the mailing list’s fold.

It’s probably about money, isn’t that the sort of correspondence you get from high school?

He opens it; it’s an invitation to his ten-year class reunion, happening soon. It’s a bit late notice, but from the date printed in the corner of the photocopied sheet the rest of the letters were sent out months ago.

Reigen smirks as he balls up the page; there’s nothing in the world that could make him go to that shitshow.

But when he reads the second one, he drops into his seat.

-------

Reigen toys with the zipper on his jacket, sitting on the edge of his bed, ready to hang up if the wrong person answers the phone. He’s relieved when his target picks up on his first try.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Ma.”

“Arataka! Have you finally learned to call me without wild horses dragging you to the phone?”

He lets out a silent sigh and shifts on the mattress to lean on his free hand.

“No, sorry, I’m still trying to find my feet at the ranch. Are you free to talk?”

“For you, always.”

“Great. I have a bit of bad news, we’ll have to reschedule those plans we have in a couple weeks.”

“But why? If this is something to do with that shady business of yours…”

“No, it’s nothing like that. I just thought I’d go to my class reunion, and I just found out. It’s the tenth anniversary, can you believe it?”

“Ten years, really? Oh, time goes by so fast. But Arataka, I’m so pleased! I know it was hard sometimes, but after you graduated I was so sad you lost touch with all your friends.”

His friends, such as they were, were delinquents and thugs who introduced him to smoking, cutting school, and violent self-defense. His parents never knew about them. But they were loyal, and now, years down the line and far too late for it to matter, he finds that he’s a little sad too.

“Well, I can go say hello and goodbye, anyway.”

“Apricot, are you sure? I don’t want you to get hurt...”

“Geez, Ma, what’re they gonna do, beat me up? I can handle myself, don’t worry about it.”

“I am happy you’re going. Fine. You still won’t cut out this psychic nonsense and get a real job?”

“Nope.”

“So when are you going to settle down, then? I don’t care who it is, although I’m aching for grandchildren, Taka, aching, but you need someone to take care of you—”

“Wow look at the time, I’m late, sorry, love you, gotta go,” Reigen blurts, and hangs up. He falls back to bounce against the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

An inelegant retreat, but hey—it works.

He hauls himself up to look into finding an appropriate suit.

-------

Weeks later, Reigen stands just outside the door and listens, pretending he’s scoping out the room and not psyching himself up to face people he thought he was done tolerating a decade ago.

“Eh? A spirit agency, really?! And after all that shit about how ‘ghosts aren’t real’ and ‘there is no afterlife’. God, she never shut up about it!”

“Enlightened Reigen-sama, better than everyone else.”

“Ha, remember when she ruined the haunted house? During the cultural festival… our second year, I think.”

“Oh my god! I completely forgot about that!”

“And when—”

“Yeah! Damn, what a nightmare.”

A pause.

“...I hear she’s a dyke now.”

“Whoa, watch your language, dude.”

“Fine, fine, but still.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, I’m with Ooka-chan on the planning committee, she’s the one who found her.”

“No way, Minami-chan said that? I don’t buy it.”

“They really hated each other back then, it might just be a rumour.”

“But Reigen-chan confessed to her, didn’t she?”

“Whaat? No, no, that was just bullying.”

“Girl bullying, brr.”

“I don’t know, she always seemed kind of weird to me.”

“That’s just because she kicked your ass when you asked her out.”

“Ha!”

“Hey, shut up!”

“You had bruises for a week!”

“She didn’t kick my ass… it was those assholes she always hung out with.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Sure.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m not lying! It was!”

“Okay, dude, whatever.”

Reigen sucks in a slow breath during the lull in the conversation, his back to the wall just outside the door, and remembers the assholes he used to hang out with. One less now, and the thought clenches something stricken in his chest.

“But seriously, she’s a psychic now? What a load of crap.”

“A crossdressing psychic, even.”

“What was her stage name supposed to be again? It was something like… sparkling.”

“Oh wait, it’s on the tip of my tongue—”

“Splendid, marvelous, amazing…”

“Arataka!”

Reigen jumps.

“Yeah, Arataka, that was it.”

“Reigen Arataka, psychic extraordinaire.”

Well it’s hard to ask for a better opening line than that. Reigen steps out, into the gymnasium—patchily decorated, brightly lit—and smiles.

“You rang?”

They startle, all four of them, spinning around to stare. He doesn’t recognize them really, vague faces that populated the halls long ago; except for Honda. He did kick his ass, actually, for asking him out, but also for trying to cop a feel on the roof.

“Holy shit! Did you— I mean, how the fuck are ya, Reigen-san?”

“Yeah, how’ve you been? It’s great to see you.”

“I can’t believe you came!”

“Oh, likewise,” Reigen says with a wintry smile, “It’s so nice to hear from old friends.”

“Haha…” one of them goes, weakly.

Reigen isn’t overtly hostile, but exchanging pleasantries is tense; about who’s working where now, and who got married to whom, and whether that nasty old Mori-sensei died or just retired without a trace.

“This has been very enlightening—you all have so much to say, it seems I’ve really been out of the loop—but I think I see someone over there I can’t get out of saying hello to, if you know what I mean. I’m glad we could catch up.”

“Um, sure…”

“You too…”

“Yeah, go for it…”

Reigen walks off, and hears them start up again behind him.

“What the hell—”

“Was that really her?”

“No way, that was a damn dude! What happened to my cute Reigen-chan?”

“Your Reigen-chan? Honda, man, give it up.”

“Yeah, even if she was into guys, there’s no way she’d pick you.”

“I dunno, I think that suit looked pretty good…”

Their voices fade into the crowd.

-------

Reigen wanders the halls, and comes across a gallery of photos, those that made it into the yearbooks and those that didn’t. He’s surprised to find one of himself, printed out and posted with everyone else. But then, they didn’t all hate him, and even if they did this is all ancient history by now; it’s impossible that everyone on the reunion committee’s as petty as Ooka and those assholes he was eavesdropping on earlier.

It’s Reigen, sixteen years old and staring into the camera, unimpressed. Slim, fierce, blond, flatchested, and wearing the girl’s school uniform, but altered; without the kerchief, and the skirt lengthened down to mid-calf. Hair short, as short as he wears it now, but the cut looks different framing a youthfully feminine face. Tall—for a girl, ha; Reigen got his height early in life—and stance confrontational, feet planted and only half turned to look, photograph showing signs of movement in his clothes and hair like it’s a candid shot. For all he knows it was, he doesn’t remember ever seeing this picture before. Reigen can just make out the cigarette in his younger self’s hand, smoke trail snaking behind the sleeve and ember hidden by the swirling fold of the skirt.

He remembers that kid, remembers living that way; he doesn’t resent being that person even if life was shitty beyond measure the entire time he was.

“Ah, Reigen-kun.”

The voice is familiar, if more warbled than he remembers. Reigen gladly turns to meet it.

“Hey there, Teach,” he grins.

“Still with the hair, I see. When are you going to give that up, you look like a delinquent.”

“I keep telling you, Ikeda-sensei, it’s natural,” he says, grin widening until it’s shit-eating.

“Mmhmm,” Teach hums, skeptical, “That old line. You shouldn’t lie to your elders, Reigen-kun; I’m old, not blind.”

“Honest. I swear,” he says, hand to his heart, perfectly composed into earnestness except for the smile still on his face.

“Oh get over here, you hooligan, and let me look at you.”

Reigen gets over, to be inspected by a spry woman, age only slowly catching up to her under the cardigan and dyed hair, arms folded across her chest.

“As rough as ever,” she concludes with a small smile, after a detailed visual inspection, “Airi-kun, you haven’t changed a bit. Although the suit is new, I suppose. But it looks good on you, very charming.”

That name in the mouth of someone he respects twigs him something awful. Reigen looks at her, considering, and though his heart pounds he decides to go for it.

“Well, Teach,” the nickname comes out a little croaky, but he musters and continues, “I have changed a little bit. Or, I suppose you could say I’ve grown more honest with myself.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, um, I— I go by… Arataka… these days,” he says, and is immediately filled with regret. He shoves a hand up against his mouth, trying to seem pensive and patient rather than freaked out and on the verge of running away. He can’t stand to watch her, to see if it hits, so he snaps his head to the side to look at the pictures again. If that was too subtle for her he’s just going to give up; there’s no way he can say it again.

“Oh,” she says, and his pulse jumps even higher with the word, “Arataka...

“Well, Arataka-kun, you look very handsome, then.”

The laugh bursts out of him, one tense bark before he gets a hold of himself and turns back to look. She’s gazing at him calmly, seemingly unruffled. She doesn’t scream at him, or assume he must be joking, or berate him for growing into such a disappointment. Maybe this is fine, maybe he hasn’t just ruined one of the few things worth keeping from his troubled adolescence.

“R-right. Thank you,” he says, a little shaky.

“You’re welcome to it, Reigen-kun, I promise. And… I’m sorry about Abe-kun. I know you were friends.”

“Yeah,” Reigen says, personal revelations forgotten as he looks down at the scratched linoleum, head full of ghosts and memories. Of people from back then, the last time he was here.

“Yeah,” he says, swallowing, “Me too.”

-------

The memorial service for Abe Katashi is short, awkward, and perfunctory.

An only child whose parents have been dead since he and Reigen still ran together, there’s no one to put together anything better than the impersonal effort of the Saffron High planning committee.

Reigen looks around as someone he doesn’t remember drones on apathetically about tragic loss and road safety to an uncomfortably shifting crowd, and doesn’t see anyone else from their little gang in attendance.

Depressingly, he finds only school employees and former classmates with even less claim to closeness than his own.

No friends have come forward from outside the school; Abe lived alone.

This will be the only funeral.

-------

After the feeble sham of a service, everyone parties; lights dim, chatting loud, bad dancing and standard karaoke combining in an unholy musical mess.

Reigen gets drunk at the bar.

Ooka finds him there, slumped, plastered already from half a glass of sake, and sits next to him.

“Enjoying yourself?” she asks, signalling the bartender for another glass.

“Are you kidding me?” Reigen replies, inebriated and indiscreet.

“Oh, well, it is such a shame about Abe-kun, of course. He had a sort of rough charm, back in school. Shiori had such a crush on him, you know.”

“I didn’t. Shiori… was she the one with the weird nose? Or the one who couldn’t keep her eyes of Fujioka-sensei’s ass during P.E.?”

Ooka laughs as the bartender comes back, putting her glass on a napkin in front of her.

“The second. Although between you and me, I have no clue what she saw in that man. He was already going bald ten years ago.”

“Some people like old things,” Reigen mumbles into his arms, folded on the bartop, “but he always kinda looked like beef jerky.”

Ooka laughs again and holds up the bottle. Fuck it. Reigen drains the glass for her to pour.

He sits up to return the favour. Why is she talking to him?

“Why are you talking to me?” he asks. Whoops. Possibly downing the sake wasn’t such a good idea. Well, he’ll nurse the next one.

“Aren’t we friends?” Ooka asks, disingenuous. Alright, they’re doing this then. Might as well, it’s not like he’ll ever see any of these people again.

“No, we’re not. You made that pretty damn clear when we were fifteen. I thought we were, though, until then.” Shit, too honest, too honest. This was definitely a bad idea. Reigen moves to disengage, to hell with the drink. It’s an open bar anyway.

Minami catches his arm before he can push away from the counter. Reigen stops, frozen, breathing picking up from the hand dangerously close to his wrist. She squeezes, just a little, and he rips away, almost toppling off the stool before he catches himself on the edge of the bar.

“Don’t, um, I don’t— like. Being touched, there,” he says, eyes wide. Minami looks startled, and suspicious, but visibly brushes it off.

“Fine. But it’s rude to just walk away, we were talking.”

“You know what else is rude? Calling someone a lesbian in public.”

“Even if it’s true?”

“It’s not— Agh! It’s not, I’m not a lesbian, I like both, okay, now will you cut it out?”

“Oh.”

“What. After all that, you gonna tell me you didn’t know?”

“No, I’m just surprised you’re admitting it to me.”

“Well, I am pretty drunk.”

“Yeah, Airi, I can tell.”

She’d know. He was fourteen when he tried booze for the first time, in Minami’s room the last summer before they thought they’d part forever, trading sips from a warm beer they stole from the stash hidden in her parents’ apartment; talking about how grown-up they’d be, once they were high school students.

“Why did you do it? That, to me? We were best friends in middle school, but once we graduated it was like you just fucking despised me. You made my life miserable, Minami, and I’ve never understood why.”

“Oh, I don’t know. It was so long ago.”

“What the fuck,” Reigen says. He can feel himself getting worked up, he’s always been a terribly melancholy drunk. “Is that shitty cop-out supposed to mean something? ‘Oh, it was a long time ago. Why don’t you get over it already?’ I can’t believe you did that to me, it was horrible. Everyone hated me! No one would talk to me, not a single person, for weeks! And it was all your fault. I thought you were my friend! And after what I did for you, even, after your dad—”

“Shut up,” Minami snaps, low and intense.

Reigen’s teeth click shut.

“Fine,” he says quietly, half to her and half to himself, “Fine, I’m done. I don’t know why I came here, what I thought would happen…” He sighs. “Bye, Minami-chan, have a nice life. I don’t think we’ll meet again.”

She huffs, and pinches his sleeve to stop him from walking away.

“I don’t know, Airi. I just… did. It was a weird time for me.”

“Whatever, Minami. For the record, it was a weird time for me too.”

and.. yep *shrug* that all i got (well, except a few spare lines that don’t have scenes attached...) this is basically just a write&dump 

ended up with a lot of dialogue, and none of my favourite parts of ‘high school reunion’ fics. may or may not continue, we’ll see

feel free to point out typos, or concrit, or whatever. i’d actually love to hear any thoughts! (as always)

[crazyd4esq]

Sorry if this is a little uncomfortable, but given your opinions on fanservice and hentai with underage characters, I'd like to know your opinion on cosplayers/burlesque performers who dress as sexy versions of such characters. Being that it's more a costume and less a portrayal, would that be problematic?

Nah, it’s cool. c:Anyhoo, this is a tightrope well worth walking.  I guess one of my immediate thoughts is that a person choosing to dress a certain way is inherently waaay less problematic than a character designed to be sexy because the person has agency and the fictitious character by definition doesn’t have: anything and everything about a fictitious was a choice by the writer/artist/designer/etc.  I also think that portrayal is an integral (if not indispensable) part of cos(tume)play, but unless the person is out for age play (ew, fucking no) then their real age still governs.  To be honest, aside from that cringy possibility, the main focus shouldn’t be (and usually isn’t) age anyway (Edward Elric would have a Napoleonic complex whether he was 15 or 50, Dilandau Albatou would be a giggling cheek-obsessed maniac at 15 or 50, Katsuki Bakugo would still shriek about wanting to kill his friends and loved ones at 15 or 50, etc.).  So right there I tend to think it’s less problematic, but I feel like I’m dancing around the issue.So here’s the real issue as I see it.  The overwhelming majority of female characters (regardless of age) in anime, video games, comics/graphic novels/manga/etc. are designed primarily to be sexy (or at least designed with being sexy as a major goal), to the point that there are some really fucking idiotic plot contrivances that are just expected at this point.  Flying superheroes wear miniskirts, armor has boob plate and boob window, veteran dragon knights ride their mounts in bikini bottoms, combat miniskirts and stiletto heels exist, etc. etc. etc.  I could probably max out the word count just listing that shit, but instead I respectfully refer you to bikini armor battle damage’s tumblr (they do a much better job explaining and eviscerating this shit than I could).  Here’s the thing, though:IT IS NOT YOUR JOB TO RIGHT THE WRONGS OF PERVERTED IDIOT WRITERS AND ARTISTS.Off the top of my head, I like Momo Yaoyorozu because it would’ve been so easy to make her into a stereotypical rich bitch or waifu character, and instead she actually comes off more like a 3-dimensional character … unfortunately she’s also the second-string fanservice character (after Midnight).  Meaning, well, have you seen her superhero outfit?  Have you?  Have you seen the fucking modified sling bikini she wears into battle (along with heels, because of fucking course high heels are the best possible footwear for running on uneven terrain)?  If somebody wanted to faithfully cosplay her superhero outfit (and not do an AU version, I mean), then they’d have to let it all hang out.  (The same thing would go for Eijiro Kirishima, incidentally, but that’s far closer to idealization than objectification, so instead a better example off the top of my head is basically every female character in the entire Soul Caliber franchise.)  In this case, the person is under no obligation to tone down the sexiness that the creator forced upon the character.So here’s the spin-off issue.  Obviously sometimes the character design becomes more sexy if the cosplayer is older.  Speaking from personal experience, I didn’t realize that Misty’s original outfit is basically a half shirt and short shorts until this woman I had a crush on in college cosplayed as her.  This issue is, of course … not an issue.  Really, the only thing I can think of is: DO NOT BE ASHAMED OF YOUR BODY OR SEXUALITY.  PLEASE DO NOT.  YOUR BODY EXISTS FOR YOUR OWN PURPOSES, NOT TO CONFORM TO OTHERS’ STANDARDS.Imma be blunt: shitting on someone for how their faithful cosplay looks because of how their body alters it (based on height, weight, curves, skin color, physical disability, etc.) is bodyshaming.  It is bullying a person based on their body’s unique characteristics.  Not much else to say on that, other than there’s just no need for that.  Ever.And then, of course, is the other spin-off issue.  Obviously there are some cosplayers that add extra sexy.  As to that … I’m more ambiguous.  I can immediately think of some pokemon cosplays (and I mean cosplayers cosplaying pokemon) that have far more visible tiddie than I recall from the tcg, video games, anime, or (to a lesser extent) manga.  Any time someone starts introducing that stuff to a franchise aimed at kids, they need to be careful lest they turn into their fandom’s equivalent of My Little Pony: FiM’s cloppers.  By the same token, I guess the “injected sexy” cosplay can depend heavily on the source and the fandom.  Going back to Soul Caliber, it doesn’t seem that out of place for someone to do a “day at the beach” style (read: bikini) Ivy … as opposed to, say, a dominatrix Nurse Joy.  (And before anyone brings up that pedotastic pokemon manga, I’m not touching cultural dissonance here, just western cosplay.)  Of course, it’s not so ironclad; Steven Universe arguably lends itself far more readily to overtly sexual fanworks (not an insult) than MLP:FiM, but a kid can still google it without being bombarded with images of Pearl going down on … well, you know.  At the same time, it’s kind of demeaning and can send a very unfortunate message (that a character’s identity, personality, and uniqueness aren’t as important as their looks), and that’s not even getting into the frankly repulsive issues surrounding re-enacting “accident groping” and the like (cosplay obviously isn’t consent, but that really blurs things and can, you know, fucking trigger a sexual assault survivor like me because “hur hur that happens to the character all the time uwu). Injected sexy can push things down an unfortunate path, and sexualizing a child is bad enough when it’s the creator doing it.And so, in conclusion, I see 3 types of sexy in cosplaying.Sexy by Creator Fiat … is not problematic.Sexy by Cosplayer’s Body … is probably the least problematic.Sexy by Injection … can be problematic but isn’t necessarily an issue depending on stuff like the medium and the target demographic.At its core, 99% of cosplay just isn’t problematic, or at least doesn’t gain any new problematic elements beyond those already present in the anime or whatever (though there can be more than enough problematic shit being inherited from the medium).  A lot of times, though, it says more about the people who are raging at someone’s creativity, passion, and (admittedly) body and sexuality than it does about the cosplayer. (Just please don’t fucking do gag molestation or sexual assault, I’d rather not have to worry about getting a panic attack when I’m trying to look up cosplay.)And here’s a final thought for you: I *have* done “sexy cosplay“ and am looking to do it again.  It’s just that my sexy cosplay focuses on confident and visually striking characters (Reigen Arataka, All for One, Young Joseph Joestar) which in turn makes me feel confident and sexy.  (That’s not a dig on cosplayers that favor characters with more revealing outfits, just personal preference.  Hopefully this makes sense!!!)  However, you might have noticed that, with one possible exception, all of those characters are “covered up” (hell, they all wear fucking suits or the like most of the time) … so is it possible that at least some of the complaints about cosplay being problematic are just the latest version of the old misogynistic “cover up” body policing? ;)Hopefully that makes sense.  This was kind of a rush job.EDIT: Fleshed it out, talked about my own cosplay experiences.EDIT2: Looked up some cosplay, nearly had a panic attack because two "enthusiastically consenting” cosplayers were reenacting nonconsensual groping scenes, got salty and has to comment.