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batw1nggg · 25 days

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this is just me being silly but im making a script for an essay video analyzing all of nagito's songs because i realized a lot of people dont even know about all of them especially poison i have absolute hope birthday and remaining cherry blossoms practically finished but i have no idea where to start with what poison is about lmao

if u do end up recording the essay PLZZZ LINK !!! i would love to see !!!!

ok so i’ll only be able to give a very surface level analyzation because i don’t know japanese and translations between eng and jp are always sort of janky, i might get some things wrong or miss some nuances (if anyone knows some japanese and wants to chime in please please do!!). but i can definitely give u the basic gist of it. translation taken from the danganronpa fandom wiki page. ok here we go

so the song takes place when komaeda kills himself (“I believe that hope / And will offer my pulsating heart / For the sake of that brilliance / I’ll tear apart my chest / Until the very last drop / Trickles down and wets my lips”, “I am merely watching over you”).

To me it seems like a summary of his thought process — he mentions wanting to “meet the biggest hope” (the hope that will overcome the despair of and end the killing game), how he has “no need for worthless things / anything ordinary and boring” (his thoughts on talentless people). those parts of the song are just outlining the basics of his worldview.

but, because this song is about komaeda’s death, it’s also inextricably tied to hinata. we see this most explicitly with the line “I love, and want to understand / him more than anyone else”. a main theme of komahina is their desire to understand each other.

That’s the really obvious hinata reference, but he also seems to be referenced more subtly throughout:

- “I have no need for worthless things / anything ordinary and boring / What meaning is there to words that will neither be deadly poison nor cure?” this is komaeda talking about how he thinks talentless people are boring, they’re neither shining hope (like the ultimates) nor crushing despair (like junko) and are just pawns in the game; but also, who exactly was it that chose to be neither deadly poison (despair) or cure (hope)? to create an ending separate of hope and despair altogether, to create a new choice, to focus on the future? komaeda’s asking what meaning there is to anything that is neither pure hope nor pure despair — anything that is not necessary to the cycle of hope and despair. hinata will go on to give him the answer.

- “When drinking poison poured into a glass will you drink it immediately or throw it away?” this one seems vague but I’m inclined to believe it’s about hinata because it’s followed by “I am merely watching over you / to whom the last choice is given”. the “whom” is very obviously hinata, he’s the one that makes the choice to wake up and then inspires everyone else to choose the same. that former lyric about the poison seems to be a fancy way of komaeda asking whether or not hinata will give into the despair of finding out the truth (drinking the poison) or decide to keep going despite it (throwing it away). he’s watching over hinata in death, entrusting hinata with that decision.

hinata being a core part of this song really speaks to how much trust komaeda was putting into hinata in chapters 5 and 6. i’ve already made a post or two about how komaeda’s faith in hinata to solve trial 5 and survive trial 6 was an integral factor in the game’s ending. komaeda can’t talk about his death without hinata being part of the conversation; hinata is the only one who’s ever tried to understand him instead of completely writing him off as insane, he’s a big part of komaeda’s life. we see at the end of the komaeda pov manga that hinata was komaedas last thought before death.

so yeah. to summarize: the song is about chapter 5. komaeda talks about his worldview, talks about how his worldview and faith in hope led to his sacrifice, and talks about his faith in hinata.

#i hope this is somewhat coherent .. im very eepy writing this #ko’s danganronpa ramblings #nagito komaeda #asks #komahina

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maybeamiles · 3 months

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Alright it's time for PART TWO OF MY ONE PIECE OPENING ANALYSIS. Turns out you can only add 30 images to a post lol.

Anyways you can find part one here, but if you've already seen it or just want to skip to the good shit, Hi. I'm anime only but have seen manga spoilers for Kid, Law, Kuma, and Bonney, so that will affect my analysis.

Anyways remember last time when I talked a bit about the line "When random contexts / Start to make sense on their own" and the deliberate parallels between the fights with Luffy/Lucci, Kid/(manga spoilers), Law/Blackbeard, Zoro/Seraphim Mihawk, and Garp/Kuzan? Well those continue here except it's Sabo and the Revolutionaries against the ENTIRE WORLD GOVERNMENT. These random contexts? They're all tied to the fight Sabo is in right now.

"When random contexts / Start to make sense on their own / The threads of time are spun back together"

This sequence of shots gives me chills every time. Every single time. The parallels between the Revolutionary Army's crows and the World Government's seagulls? The falling papers and books. Fucking Wapol??? The FUNERAL???? and the SWORDS??? God if those swords in front of the world government's throne DON'T end up being used to stab someone by the end of this story (either in the past or future or maybe both) I will eat my shirt this is CHECKOV'S SWORD THIS GOVERNMENT WAS FOUNDED ON VIOLENCE AND CONQUEST I SWEAR-

*ahem* Anyways. "The threads of time are spun back together." All of those "random contexts" we saw before? The fights that are paralleling each other and driving towards a single end point? To stick with the string metaphor, the world government has unraveled the thread of history. Everything happening now is going to spin it back together into a cohesive narrative. Time is running out. The end is in sight. Their string is going to be cut.

Again with the parallels. All of the men who Luffy impacted in the past, Sabo, Kid, Law, and Coby. They're all rising to take on this enemy. They have been beaten, but they will rise again, and they will charge forward into the future (at least, that's how I read the storytelling here). I think this theme of rising from major defeats is going to be a huge one in this arc, especially for these four. They are going to get stronger and be Luffy's competition. The Whitebeard and Garp to his Rodger, if you will.

Also, speaking of the men who Luffy impacted, HOLY SHIT IS THAT VIVI

Law, Coby, Kid, and Sabo may all be rising from defeat, but you know who's charging forward? VIVI. Vivi is going to be so fucking important this arc just you wait.

And listen- I saw a theory a few weeks ago that Vivi *might* eat a certain devil fruit that I will not name because (manga spoilers), but looking at this picture, with the way she's reaching out towards that specific shape? Yeah she's totally gonna eat that devil fruit. Wish I could link the theory but unfortunately it's deep in my youtube watch history by now and i didn't save it.

EDIT: As a couple people have pointed out, it might be Bonney in that scene and not Vivi, as indicated by the pink highlights on the hair. That honestly makes a lot more sense than Vivi eating a random(ish) devil fruit.

Finally, I want to talk about this last shot. The Theme of this opening. All of these separate, winding paths, leading towards one final destination: Laugh Tale. The truth of the world. Law, Kid, Luffy, Sabo, The Revolutionaries, the Marines, Coby, Garp, the World Government, everyone is on the path to Laugh Tale, we're in the endgame now, and everyone is going to be vital to whatever lies ahead. I imagine some of the poetry is lost in the english translation, but there's a reason that the music keeps repeating the words "all of us"

"All of us" are going to reach Laugh Tale.

#one piece #one piece theory #one piece spoilers #one piece reaction #egghead

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asaka-lucy-dr-rc · 16 days

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My headcanon in the post-DR3 world

I'm preparing a short manga for Nagito's birthday, but I thought it might not make sense without my headcanon explanation, so I put it together here.

*I set this post to reblog prohibit because this is basically an explanation of my manga.

*This post is already a bit long, but I actually have a lot more headcanons, so maybe I'll add some of them from time to time.

⚠️Contains Spoilers!

■ The situation of Hinata and Class 77-B after the DR3 Hope Arc:

Hinata and Class 77-B (from now on, I will be writing Hinata's team) are set up as a separate organization from the Future Foundation, traveling around the world by ship to eliminate the remnants of despair and restore the world. (This means everyone did not return to Jabberwock Island, but continued their journey directly on the ship they used to leave Jabberwock Island).

The reason they did not return to Jabberwock Island is because it is land owned by the Future Foundation. Since the killing spree at the Future Foundation was allegedly masterminded by Hinata's team, they cannot return there.

However, the world is not an environment in which they can live without the support of the Future Foundation, so they are actually connected to members like Naegi and others who know the truth.

Naegi and his team have the critical project of rebuilding Hope's Peak Academy, so they basically stay in Japan most of the time and cannot immediately address problems that occur outside of Japan. Therefore, Hinata's team mainly deal with problems outside of Japan. (Basically, they communicate with each other through telecommunications using a specially prepared line.)

Basically, Hajime Hinata's presence is kept secret (not strictly, but the people around him realize that it would be better if he did not appear in public as much as possible), so once Hinata's team have temporarily dealt with the problem, they will leave the area and the Future Foundation will take care of the follow-up. (The Future Foundation employees who do not know the truth simply perceive that another unit of their organization took care of the problem before them. They do not know that it was Hinata's team who took care of it.)

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■ Additional information about post-3 Hajime Hinata:

He made two promises to everyone on his team.

Not using Izuru Kamukura's talents against teammates. Because he could control the will of his teammates if he wanted to, so he promises not to use Kamukura's talents against his teammates except in emergency situations, whether good or bad.

Never be alone. (Always be with someone.) He can use Kamukura's talents, but between after SDR2 and the 3rd Hope Arc, he used his talents so much that he once became "void" as a result of overusing his talents. The state called “void" is also one of my head canons. This occurs as a reaction to overworking his brain. Once this happens, all of his senses will be shut down for a while, and he won't be able to move at all. Recovery time varies from case to case, but usually ranges from 3 to 7 days. The heart and other minimal organs will still work, but he will not be able to eat or do anything else, so he will die if he has no way to eat and excrete. To prevent him from getting into this very dangerous situation, he cannot use his talents excessively, and people around him do not allow it, and this rule was put in place to deal with him in case he becomes void. To enforce this rule, Komaeda accompanies Hinata as a watcher; when Hinata is in his room, the Observer AI (Chiaki Nanami) watches Hinata.

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■ Post-3 Nagito Komaeda:

He is supposed to be Hajime's watcher, so his role is basically to be at Hajime's side. The reason he was put in the role of watching over Hinata was because Hinata's teammates thought he would have a high chance of survival even in a critical situation thanks to his talent. Another reason is the problem of not being able to deal with anyone but Hinata.

The only thing he has to do is to make sure that Hinata is not left alone, so he may not be with Hinata if someone else accompanies him.

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■ Observer AI (Chiaki Nanami) :

After Hajime awoke from the NWP, he used one of Kamukura's talents, the Ultimate Programmer talent, to restore the NWP's Observer AI, because as a result of using Kamukura's talents to predict the future, he found that he alone would not be able to do enough to take care of his returning friends. The restored Observer AI provided mental care for those who returned. After everyone's mental health was restored to some degree, she remained aboard the ship as one of the companions. (One of her roles is to monitor Hinata during bedtime.)

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■ Izuru Kamukura:

In my headcanon, his ego exists as a separate entity from Hajime Hinata even in post-3, but it basically does not appear on the surface. He may appear on the surface when needed, but almost never, as it would cause Hinata's brain to become overloaded.

Hinata can talk to him. Technically speaking, it can only predict what Kamukura is likely to say using Kamukura's talents. However, the accuracy of the predictions is so high that the results are equivalent to having a conversation with Kamukura. Due to this fact, Hinata will get tired if he talks to Kamukura a lot.

#my headcanon #post-dr3

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tamelee · 7 months

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Hi Nonee, if I’m not mistaken, these all come from the same person as it is partly in response to >this< (?). In case it’s not, I separated them.

No, I think you misunderstood a few things.

I said I didn’t expect to find good female representation/empowerment in a story like Naruto. (Or frankly, Shonen in general.) That finding that in media overall (especially lately) is already a struggle, meaning I TOO want them to exist (more). And that a character can inspire me, which has everything to do with the story and the quality of the characters, not their gender. I disagree with the notion there that you’d have to share someone’s gender to be able to relate about something. Sure, it depends on what it is, but then that's very gender-specific. I already said it was a broad subject, hence why I kept it specific. Saying what all men do or think about something is a very large generalization, same for dudebro’s with Sakura/Hinata. It doesn’t help anyone tbh and it has nothing to do with my own view on it. There are plenty of people whom aren’t female, that share our desire for better female characters and they are found easily if you wanted to. People who criticize such characters BECAUSE of the desire for better. Look at a few dudebro’s reacting to ‘Naruto’ the anime and you’ll realize that most start hating on Sakura for example not because of reasons you stated, but because she did/said something unhinged which simply makes her unlikable and certainly don’t want her together with their fav. And in my own personal experiences, it were especially the female viewers (even among friends) who kept excusing unlikable behavior until it became impossible. So, it really depends. Even the women that criticize Sakura/Hinata online get labeled as misogynists when we both know that isn’t true. That doesn’t mean that there might be a few who are. How is that different for men? And with that, personal bias about how they should be represented will always exist as that’s just a normal human thing.

You say you were like me once and then had this realization where you chose to become strict about female characters as it is only fair since “they” (men) are strict about female characters too. Is it then really your personal view or is it only based on what you think others believe? Just because a character can inspire me, doesn’t mean that I’m not strict about female representation in media, especially when it claims it has just that. You can have both if you want and it has nothing to do with “them”, or anyone else tbh. I think that’s just being fair to yourself and how you feel about something.

2. Ehh, I don’t really agree with you on Misa there.. I already shared my points about Kishimoto, but Shonen Jump editors often want stories to include elements to structure a story in a way that can bring them the most success. They know what their readers like to read and guide a lot of the (new) Mangaka through those ideas for a story with characters that are better translated to such a targeted audience. You can read plenty of books about it or find other resources if you were interested in Manga. I think, saying that everything in it represents how a Mangaka feels about something is very much a stretch. It is often about an author to spread a message and challenge the truth of that in their fictional world through different kind of characters. It isn’t for nothing that even Kishimoto had to fight them about things he wanted.

3. ... sounds to me like you really didn’t get it at all. I have a feeling I know exactly what kind of posts you’ve been reading and from which kinds of blogs to come up with these conclusions :’) Read the Manga (again). 4. Sasuke gets hated on for plenty of dumb reasons, but it is mostly because some have little understanding for his situation which leads them to blame him for lashing out, instead criticizing the characters that are the cause for not just his own trauma, but also the source of most hatred within their world. Something that just became worse throughout their history and Sasuke desperately wanted to change. They don’t see Sasuke is hurting because he rarely shows it in order to reach his goals. It isn’t just anger, he’s in pain. Hm, well, even his own fans don't really acknowledge his internal conflicts tbh, seeing him exactly as the character people hate him for :’) It’s so contradicting. Even though Kishimoto showed Sasuke symbolizing certain feminine energies, I don’t think that is the main reason why he gets hate.

#asktamelee #naruto talk

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asirensrage · 11 months

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important questions: what's the oc for? And also I want to hear everything about them even if I know nothing about the fandom.

Aw man, I didn't post that to get encouraged hahahah I don't actually know a lot about her, mainly because I haven't finished or caught up with the anime/manga yet. BUT who says I'll let that stop me. (I'm kidding...sort of.)

It's for Tokyo Revengers. I'm sure by now you (and everyone else) is well aware of how much I adore the trope/concept of "character arriving into another time/world" and isn't this fandom perfect for it (considering the main character time travels to his past self).

Anyway, the idea started in one scene where when he's like 14/15 and outside his house, he's watching these Mikey and Draken argue with each other and they start breaking his stuff as they throw it at each other and I just thought, "wouldn't it be funny if you had someone show up and be like "what are you doing?" and it turned out to be his sister, but as far as he knows, he doesn't have a sister??? so who is she?" (ngl, I explained this so much better to @emerald-valkyrie and I forgot to save it loll)

I don't know if you know the anime, so, you have the main character Takemichi, who somehow travels back and forth to 12 years in the past and is trying to save his old girlfriend from dying in the future from gang activity, but as he does so, he gets more and more involved with the gang and people in it. He becomes determined (where I'm at now) that the best way to save her is to take over the gang himself.

Now, add in his sister (my oc) Takara. She's a year older, generally unimpressed with the fact that she's there. She's aware that she didn't have a younger brother and had an entirely separate life before. The two of them admit the truth about each other (aka time travelling vs sudden addition to the world) and Takara basically offers to help Takemichi. Even though she woke up as his sister, she still somehow has memories of being his sister (those memories slowly come to Takemichi the longer she's there). No one else is aware that she doesn't really belong.

While Takemichi is well known for being a crybaby, Takara is less emotional. I think I might give her these traits I listed when I was playing around with the concept of what makes a problematic character problematic:

Negative traits: aggressive, manipulative, resentful, morbid/pessimistic, selfish, impulsive, antisocial Positive ones: loyal, adaptable, adventurous, resourceful, intelligent, observant, playful, charming,

I'm not sure yet what her role will be. I have a feeling in her attempts to help her brother she's going to find herself in a fair amount of trouble (especially because of who her brother is and his ambitions).

"The problem with having a brother who’s involved is that there’s no way to keep herself separate. Not really. She’ll always be a tool for leverage against him if he gains the power he wants and as many friends as Takemichi finds himself every time he returns, he has just as many enemies."

I have a couple scenes written that wouldn't leave my head but nothing really planned out. Like I have a bit of an idea of who her romantic interests are, but I'm also not certain and I think there is probably a difference of who she might be interested in vs who's interested in her. I think it would be interesting to mainly do it from her pov, especially to show the sharp contrast in Takemichi from when he's his usual 15years old self and when he's inhabited by his future self who's trying to save people.

Oh! I also have a sketch I did of her when I was trying to figure out what she'd look like related to him. Well, a couple but I'll show one.

if you can't tell, she's pissed. especially at being grabbed like that hahaha

Thanks for asking!! Even if it didn't fully make sense lol. I might be in the middle of creating a playlist for her but I also need to nail down what her personality is going to be like. (and if she has any skills....)

#told you i needed to stop consuming new media #asks #tokyo revengers oc #purpleyearning #I don't actually have a plan for this so it's in the air #my art #oc: takara

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danhoemei · 3 years

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Hi, danhoemei.....if you don't mind me asking who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (canon or non-canon)? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Hello thanad-zid, the curious sweetheart 💚 I don't mind at all, you actually made me think about the series I haven't thought about for so long! (I'll answer excluding danmei because that's material for a whole separate post and I partly answered that)

19 days by Old Xian - tianshan

(and zhanyi who I love with my whole heart but tianshan is The One for me akjvsbdv)

Tough on the outside but soft on the inside delinquent and the devilish lonely rich boy who'll go batshit crazy if his friends are in danger. Both of them learning to trust and very slowly showing their vulnerable sides to each other.... I can't say much, it's already a spoiler that they become closer because in the story they start as strangers or even "enemies". They're also secondary characters so they make appearance later in the story and gradually gain more importance (well, it started with them being secondary but tbh now they're one of the main characters with a lot of focus AND I AM SO HAPPY). But anyway, I am absolutely obsessed with them.

The original main pair (zhanyi) has completely different dynamic and vibe, but I love them and enjoy their story and relationship very much as well <3

This series has such variety of multilayered characters who honestly could have their own separate manhuas. I absolutely recommend 19 days, it started like absolute crack but gained so much depth and action and angst and questioning yourself and 'am I abnormal for having feelings for you' and trust and progress in relationships and-

I love this manhua so much, please read it, if you enjoy danmei you'll enjoy it.

Their story by Tan Jiu

You want a sweet story about a lesbiab who fell in love at first sight and then pursued her love interest, firstly becoming friends and learning about each other, everything among a lot of humor and shenanigans? Well here you go.

Brooklyn 9-9 - Jake and Amy & Friends - Monica and Chandler

I see similarities so I put them together lmao. They are wholesome and sweet, support each other no matter what, work for their dreams and for people they hold dear. The guys are hella funny but also very smart and cool, the girls are intense and ambitious and need to have everything under control but are also very sweet and loving. The shows are light and hilarious, good as a stress relief.

The Good Place - Chidi and Eleanor

First of all I recommend The Good Place in general, a wild ride of unexpected twists and turns, each reveal more “whaaat” than the previous one, with diverse representation and filled with philosophical questions and lessons, created by people who love philosophy. Its humor is incredible as well akjvndfv

Chidi and Eleanor are complete opposites - a nerd with severe anxiety issues who spent his whole life buried in books, and a bi disaster who partied hard, made a lot of bad things, and cared mostly about herself. They learn from each other and complement each other, all the while growing and changing right in front of our eyes.

Aggretsuko - Retsuko and Haida

HAIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA im love him your honor. Get a partner who can do both (be sweet and supportive, be badass and taking no bullshit). I truly believe they'd be happy and just right for each other, and I want them to be together 😭😭

Yuri on ice - Yuri and Victor

akhdbsdjkfnlsdf if you watched this then you know why. I recommend it if you want a good quality lgbt anime with an interesting story, diverse characters, and beautiful skating scenes 💚 I love this wholesome duo so much T^T

Svvord of Truth - Richard and KahIan

I kinda feel like I owe it to them to mention them here, probably my earliest couple on this list. It’s an old high fantasy series which I read when I plunged straight into puberty, I haven't read it as a more mature person so I wonder if there are some harmful stereotypes I didn't see or how many typical tropes there are (well e.g. the main guy is so ridiculously overpowered and smarter/holier-than-thou, and there is a lot of black and white there) but also it’s a really complex world with interesting mechanics. However, what truly makes me remember this series fondly is because it was there with me when I was going through a lot of hardships, showing me a rich world with many people worth loving, strong women who I admired and strived to be, wise people of different backgrounds, cultures, and ages. It taught me how important it is to be kind and compassionate, that no matter how desperate your situation can get there is always hope and a way, that people who care about you will be there for you when you need them, and that you need to reciprocate as well. To always “think about the solution, not about the problem” which became the thing I repeat to myself every time I start struggling. The main couple also showed me what I want to strive for in a good relationship - support, understanding, standing by each other’s side no matter what, deep respect for each other and treating each other as equals, working for the relationship, and most importantly trusting each other. The series might be a typical high fantasy but for my growing and messed up mind it was a good teacher who reminded me of things we consider obvious but tend to forget, and might have played a significant role in who I am now.

Ok, I wanted to add a short bullet-point list of some other couples but this list is already long so let’s end here xd

#ask #ask opinion #thanad zid #not danmei #recommendations #19 days #their story #brooklyn 99 #the good place #aggretsuko #yuri on ice #long post #i see some recurring tropes skdjvnsdkfn #slow burn #rivals to lovers #power couple #teasing characters #a lot of humor #getting together #wholesome relationships #feral characters #also I realised that although I've been a bookworm since childhood and spent my whole days and nights on reading #these were all action oriented or fantasy or scientific books and even tho there were couples there I never really gotten into them #and apparently my need for romance was filled by danmei and anime and later series #I have a lot of ships from anime but that would be too long list xd #anyway there is one more ship I'd include in the main list bc I'm very much into it literally at the moment #but that fandom is so toxic and even violent that I'd rather not mention the pair #well that was fun thank you for your ask! 💚💚💚💚#I need to go back to 19 days and their story bc I haven't read the updates for A YEAR aaaaa #and I saw that there is so much going on with tianshan and fandom is going wild lmao

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greycappedjester · 3 years

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Hi! Do you have any Sengen headcannons? And any Sengen fanfic recommendations? I love this ship but I can never find good fics T-T

Ahhh, sorry, I'm late on answering this.

For fanfic recs, my favorites are:

1.) cheers to the tin man by Pixim

and

2.) the observer effect by MistressEast

...which I know is a bit cheating because they're also the most popular Dcst on ao3 but tbh they totally deserve it and I read them frequently. Both of them are great and if anyone hasn't checked them out, I highly recommend.

Also if anyone else wants to add fanfic recs to this post, feel free!

For Sengen headcanons, yes, I have too many, lol. That's why I'm currently planning a one-shot sequel just because I have too much dialogue/ scenes left over from Walking With My Eyes Open. (Side note: I have far too many cut scenes from that story, it's ridiculous). But for a few headcanons, let's see....

1.) I think they both have terrible sleeping habits but Gen's are undeniably worse. Like for Senkuu, sure, he may not go to bed until way too late but then he's passing out for a decent number of hours since he actually does understand the whole sleep=health standpoint. Gen's the worst. Gen's the one who does little short naps, wakes up at infrequent hours, and sometimes flat out disappears in the middle of the day for a cat nap. Also, as it was never fully established in the manga/anime where Gen stays to sleep, my headcanon is that Gen wanders and alternates where he sleeps. Sure, a lot of times may be in the science hut, but then sometimes he stays late in the village, and on nice nights, he might like to stay in the woods. It really just depends on where he ends up on any given day.

2.) I feel like both Gen and Senkuu are actually intensely private people when it comes to their relationship because they're both pretty guarded in their own way with their feelings. Senkuu has his truth-in-actions tendencies paired with blunt honesty that says nothing while Gen openly is evasive and flighty that covers up sharp cynicism when he's being "himself". Heh, essentially, I see it as Senkuu is dishonest with his honesty while Gen is honest with his dishonesty.

3.) Anyway, separating this into another headcanon since the last one ended up as a bit of a ramble: my point was terms of endearment. While they wouldn't use them in public except jokingly, I feel like Gen actually would really enjoy using petnames in private just because it's something of a novelty to say them and actually mean them. Senkuu honestly could not give even one singular fuck; but, it makes Gen happy so he....tolerates them*

*Tolerance level varies on how ridiculous the petname is ie. how much of an asshole Gen has decided to be given the day

#dcst #wwmeo #sengen

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makeste · 3 years

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if there is a timeskip, how far ahead do you think horikoshi will move along the story?

okay, so... I sat here for a while trying to work out how to phrase this less harshly lol, but I think I’m just gonna be blunt: I really, really hope that Horikoshi does not give us any kind of timeskip. there are precious few things that could potentially push me to quit this series, but a timeskip is one of them. I’m not saying that to be dramatic, I’m saying it just as a fact, because it’s happened to me multiple times before. in my experience, nothing else out there ruins a story as easily or effectively as a timeskip.

but let me try to break down and explain my loathing of them a bit more in depth.

1.) they make it so the audience misses out on character development. this is probably the thing I hate the most about timeskips. so here’s the thing; there are two different kinds of shounen timeskips. the type where the characters (mostly) stay together throughout the timeskip (think Naruto), and the type where the characters split apart during the timeskip (think One Piece). and I hate both of them equally, and let me explain.

I am reading the series because I am invested in the characters and their relationships. I want to see these relationships grow and evolve. timeskips make that impossible, because the whole point of a timeskip is that it skips right over everything so the audience doesn’t get to see it. and so, if the characters stay together during the timeskip, that’s a huge chunk of time during which their relationships are continuing to evolve, and the audience is missing out on all of that. that’s like starting a book and then finding that the entire middle section of it is blank. like, sorry about that, we decided this part wasn’t important enough to write down. if you’re lucky we might show you little bits and pieces of what happened during flashbacks, but otherwise you’ll just have to deal with it. boooo.

on the other hand, if the characters all go their separate ways to train on their own during the timeskip, then in a way that’s even worse. like yes, we’re technically not missing out on any relationship development, because no relationship development is even happening. those relationships are just put on hold for the duration of the timeskip. like, to use One Piece as an example, that means that the crew was together for like six months or however long, and then they all split apart for two whole years. they were apart for four times longer than they were ever together as a crew! like, you brought this found family together and bonded them so strongly only to rip them apart again?? for two years?? and for what! so that they could become boringly overpowered?? well, speaking of --

2.) they make fights predictable and/or disappointing. now for me, this one isn’t quite as bad as the character development one, but that’s mostly because I don’t care about fights as much. that said, post-timeskip fights are usually a dime a dozen, and I hate it. because here’s the thing: the whole purpose of the timeskip was to power up the character offscreen, so that they come back ready to kick more ass. which is great in theory, but in practice, post-timeskip fights tend to feature one of two brands of disappointment. either the protagonist character powered up so much that they easily win the fight, or else they still struggle even after all of that training and effort. the latter is just frustrating, because it’s like, so then what even was the point? but meanwhile, the former is also disappointing in its own way, because there’s no challenge anymore. yes it’s cool for like two seconds, but then what? if all I wanted was to watch someone reliably and effortlessly kick ass all day, I’d go become a fan of a bandwagon sports team. for me, the appeal of shounen is that the characters are learning and growing and struggling. if you make it easy for them then where’s the fun in that? if your character no longer faces any real obstacles then it stops being an interesting story.

and last but not least, 3.) they change the tone of the series (usually for the worse). so this one is interesting because this is one of the main reasons why a lot of people advocate for timeskips in the first place. ‘they help to make the series more mature’, or something along those lines. people are interested in seeing what kinds of storylines would open up with an older, more experienced cast of characters.

except that when people say more mature, what they usually mean is one of two things. either more romance, or else darker/grittier story content (read: more character deaths). which, just speaking personally, I have approximately zero interest in either of those things. if I wanted a grimdarker shounen series I’d be reading Attack on Titan instead. if I wanted more romance, I would read... well actually don’t really know what I’d read lol, because that’s kind of the point I’m trying to make here -- I don’t read romance, because I’m not interested in it (insert aromantic disclosure here). as an element of a more complex story, sure, that’s fine. but as a focus, I’d just as soon not. nine times out of ten I will lose interest in it. that’s 100% a personal preference there of course, but yeah.

anyways, but the point is, I started reading this coming of age story about teenagers at a superhero academy because I like coming of age stories! I like reading about younger characters and their adventures, learning about themselves and the world around them, making mistakes and getting stronger and the like. this is a specific genre that has a specific appeal to me. there’s an idealism and an optimism inherent in it, and I really don’t want the series to go changing that up. especially if there’s no need to change it up. which imo there really isn’t. as it stands, BnHA is already an unexpectedly mature story in a lot of ways, and it’s already exploring a lot of darker and more complex themes as it is, and doing an excellent job of it imo. basically, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. most of the time you’ll just end up ruining what was so appealing about the series to begin with.

so yeah! thus concludes my impromptu rant post about timeskips lol, and I’ll just belatedly add in a disclaimer as well that this is just my own opinion of course, and ymmv. but for me personally, I think that shounen series in particular rarely come out better after a timeskip (in fact I can’t think of any off the top of my head to tell the truth). also in BnHA’s case I really don’t think there’s any need for one at all. maybe if we get another short one, like the three-month timeskip that took place just before the start of this arc. but even then, there is just so much going on currently in the manga that it would feel weird to just fast-forward through it. TomurAFO is still on the loose. Dabi just blew up hero society as we know it. All Might is prophesized to die in the near future. the entire Billboard Top Ten was pretty much wiped out. and so on and so forth, and that’s not even getting into all of the character development that recently took place.

it just feels like things are too chaotic right now to skip ahead very far. I want to see what’s going to happen in the immediate aftermath of all this. and I don’t feel like the villains will leave the heroes alone to recover for very long. like, I can’t really figure out where someone would even put a timeskip, I guess is what I’m saying? there’s nowhere that feels natural. I could see them skipping a few weeks ahead maybe, but no more than that. anything more, and one has to assume that Tomura simply comes back to wipe out the rest of the heroes and/or the world lol. unless they shove him into another cryotube or something, I suppose.

so yeah, I think we’ll either get a very short timeskip or none at all. at least I am keeping my fingers crossed for as much. I don’t think it needs to happen or should happen. again, ymmv, but at any rate that’s my answer.

#bnha 295 #bnha meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks #long post

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dodscans · 2 years

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Is there BL in my DoD?: About Suleiman and İbrahim's relationship (feat. manga recommendation)

Ahem, while some people are absolutely filled with indignation over the few kisses Suleiman and Ibrahim share, I know some readers of DoD would like to see some more BL action between İbrahim and Suleiman. Come on. Don't deny it. And no, that sensual massage does not count. We want more drama. I also think that a love story between those two would make a more interesting love triangle, but Shinohara-sensei doesn't go there at full force.

Vol. 1, Ch. 3. RIP to everyone who dropped this manga because they thought this was going to be BL, and also to those who kept reading because they thought this was going to be BL. They were both wrong.

I wanted to do some shameless self-promotion and share a love story between a sultan and one of his retainers I translated: Yılan (Snake) by Est Em. Naono Holics very kindly helped me to get this beautiful story out. You might get lots of "oriental" BL stories with sultans, but those are mostly meh and cringe. But Est Em-sensei, like Shinohara-sensei, did her research about Ottoman history and came up with this beautiful story. Est Em is awesome overall and this one shot needs to be turned into a movie. So, fellow DoD readers who are into male homoeroticism and historical accuracy, I recommend you read this one shot and it's very beautiful wrap-up story.

This is your tragic sultan in the BL-verse.

With that out of the way: But were sultans really into men? You can't imagine the amount of scholarship on this topic and the endless debates. While some fervently deny it, some even claim that everyone was gay in the palace and pederasty in particular was running rampant among the elite. But I can't help but ask: Why do we need to be so extreme? Some people were gay, and some were straight, some swung both ways... There's no need to be so stuck up about it. This is part of history, so it shouldn't be about people throwing "accusations" at each other. Just chill and look for the truth. Anyway...

Leslie Peirce, in her Empress of the East, writes that Suleiman and Ibrahim were suspected of having a thing going on. A very angry Italian balios even called İbrahim "Suleiman's whore" in his fury once. Why? Did they mean it literally, or was it just "impyling implications"?

- Ibrahim entered Suleiman's service as a slave when he was still living in Manisa where he was a governor-prince. Suleiman was still a young lad, and so was İbrahim. As they were close in age, they formed a friendship there. Contrary to popular belief, having a harem does not mean you can sleep with any girl you want without thinking of the consequences. The prince's/the sultan's mother, in our case Hafsa Sultan, has control over the harem and chooses the best candidates for his son and future grandchildren. Having your own offspring when you were still but a prince made you a stronger candidate for sure, but having too many children was frowned upon, because it gave the impression that you had your eyes on the throne and trying to secure your own succession line. So Suleiman only had Gülbahar and Mustafa before he ascended to the throne. Although Suleiman had no rivals for the throne, this was very probably planned. Why am I telling all this? We have read enough fanfiction to "know" that a young guy who can't play around as he wishes might have sought love after his closest friend *wink wink*.

- And we have the sus stuff with Suleiman's bedroom, the Has Oda. Has Oda is where the sultan slept in the inner palace (Enderun). (Remember, in DoD too, the harem is in the old palace and Suleiman lives in the new palace. Hürrem made the entire harem move to the new palace later on.). The Has Oda was the most intimate place for the sultan, and had its separate body of servants who were mostly young boys (iç oğlan) (which deserves another post) and one cannot simply wander into there. And there was one guy who was responsible for the organization of the Has Oda: Has Odabaşı. Do you remember how İbrahim was the Has Odabaşı at the beginning of the story? This duty was fulfilled by the sultan's most trusted man. Even after Suleiman appointed İbrahim as the grand vizier, it's been recorded that he had a bed laid out for him in the Has Oda at night. Now, what is a grown man, who's not even part of the Has Oda corpus of servants, doing in the sultan's private chambers? Hmmmm, really makes you think.

- Suleiman favoured İbrahim a terrible lot too. I don't even need to explain this, you are all reading DoD: Marrying him to his sister(there is evidence that Ibrahim wasn't wed to Hatice Sultan, but someone else. Nevertheless, his wedding was like that of an imperial family member in pomp, which again shows how much he was favored), letting him built a splendid palace right next to the imperial palace, letting him take initiative in state affairs while he didn't have to... He trusted that man and really gave him all he wanted, and more. And Suleiman too was highly influenced by İbrahim's views. İbrahim was called Makbul İbrahim Paşa, Ibrahim Pasha the Favoured for some reason. Him falling out of favour is a whole another story though-a story no one can explain for certain. I don't want to spoil anyone yet.

Of course no one could say for sure what their relationship was like, they could be chess buddies for all I know. But one can see how special their relationship was, regardless of whether romance was involved or not. And I get the feeling that as long as you had your cariye pump out princes and princesses for you, no one really cared for what you did. Sure, lusting after a man is considered to be wrong and a sin, but sinning in secret is completely daijoubu. It's not like anyone can dethrone the sultan for that. You have many prominent grand viziers in Ottoman history, but from what little I've read, none of them was as close to the sultan as İbrahim was. That's why I find the portrayal of İbrahim in DoD kind of lacking. His "loyalty" feels too dry. The source of that loyalty definitely needs more development. BL undertones/overtones would just be the cherry on the cake.

Vol. 10, Ch. 38. Suleiman displaying his maximum baiting skills.

I wish Shinohara-sensei added these flavors to the story too instead of giving Suleiman that troll face all the time and didn't make the strife with İbrahim that one dimensional, but she can't stop me from imagining things. I apologize if I'm coming off as a filthy fujo who's writing a third rate fanfiction, but there's enough material evidence in DoD for a complete tragedic BL route and Shinohara-sensei dropped the hints, only to abandon them. Sensei, I swear we won't get angry!

tl;dr: No, DoD is not yaoi, but I wish it was.

#夢の雫、黄金の鳥籠 #drops of dreams #drops of dreams the golden birdcage #yume no shizuku kin no torikago #shinohara chie #篠原千絵 #fujoshi goggles

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ignitification · 3 years

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I'm glad we could handle this respectfully.

Two questions

Do you think Endeavor will Die in the Future,Like Dabi Kills him?or will he stay alive throughout?

Also I feel like and hope him and Rei Should get a divorce.She should'nt be with someone who's hurt her Physically and psychologically.I think them not being married would be very healthy for them

And In response,People can change but I haven't seen the villians wanna change since they believe they're in the right.you have to want change in order to change.Shigaraki,Toga,Dabi and All for one have shown no signs of wanting to change.this is all my opinion but like They honestly don't wanna change since they believe,due to their pasts,that they're doing the right thing.Dabi has Murdered 30 innocent people,Toga is literally a wanted Serial Who drinks blood like Juice,and Shigaraki Murdered many heroes and ordered his Minions to destroy everything.

Imo,that doesn't look like wanting to change.

I feel like they work well as villians So Horikoshi probably won't redeem them But again I can't predict the future so I'm getting ahead of myself 😅sorry for wasting your time

It was just my two sense

Plus we need to fix hero society but they're doing it in a cruel and hypocritical way

I'd like to address the three points you made in three different sections:

Endeavour probability of staying alive (of which I already talked here, so it will be short)

Rei's involvment with Todoroki Enji

The Three Villains (the three mains) not wanting to change (on which I already hinted at here and here)

Trigger warning: mentions of suicide; violence; self-harm.

1.) Endeavour’s course of life (and action)

To be honest, I think this is the easiest point to address and I’ll refrain from going over and over again the same point. My answer, as before, is no. I do not think that Enji is going to die (refer to the linked before post for a more in depth analysis of why). However, on the question whether Enji Todoroki will still be alive at the end of the manga, I think the answer might be different. I utterly think that where the manga is going so far foreshadows a lot of pain to come. And I’ll let Horikoshi do whatever he plans, but my spider-senses tell me that even if he does survive, Endeavour is unlikely to get a happy ending (or at least a canonically happy one). He will be hold responsible of his actions, and that is the most important thing. As long as he gets on the right path, everything could happen. Especially considering the events of Ch. 300, which might be interpreted as a first step on regaining the real narrative of what went down (and which might be even more cruel than we think) , so this means we are getting at the root of the problem.

2.) Rei’s involvement in Enji’s life

This, on the contrary, is the most delicate point of the post. Rei is introduced as a 'weak' and heavily mentally abused character. She is confined in a hospital and she seems to be closed in her own world so much she does not notice time passing and stares out of the window trying to make sense of the world. Which, on one hand, I think is very fitting for her, but at the same time I am included to think that this is the furthest thing from what Rei' character is supposed to be.

Rei Todoroki is a victim. But she is not weak. She made her mistakes (of which she is aware of and feels guilty about, but that's for another time because Shouto's scar - mental and facial - is a whole lot deal to unpack) and she had way too much time to think. Shouto never held it against her and now, he, together with Natsuo and Fuyumi helped her to regain the confidence she knows Enji took from her. He closed her off in a hospital to prederve her health, but instead he just took off years of her life from her children and viceversa.

However, I am not sure whether Enji and Rei are still married or separated or divorced or whatever. It seems like on paper they are still together, but there is a rift in their relationship.

I mean, look at this panel: Rei is behind her children, looking at Endeavour like the douchebag he is, and telling him promptly that, this, is not about him and that however he might feel, he is not the victim or the one who needs to be forgiven.

I, personally, have never thought much of her character, besides of her being sick, in hospital and trying not to relapse so hard.

The first time we see her, she looks lifeless. They looks listless. And I can't stress that enough, it is not that she did not try to fight it. But accepting that the trauma happened in the first time is a stress for her mental health. But instead of getting worse, Shouto and her family's presence revitalizes her.

Which beings me to the point made in the last panel. She knows that in his shallow way, Endeavour tried to tell her that he is still there, and while he does not want to impose his presence, he will still wait for her when she wants to.

Funny thing, is that we discover is that she does not want him back. She is done with everything that happened and she is ready to take the reigns of her life back. And in order to do that she needs to wash their dirty landry. And she does not care of how this might affect Endeavour, but instead she wants justice, truth and not tears and excuses.

Rei ia going to fight to have her way. Be it out of Endeavour 's life or inside the life of Touya, time only will tell.

And finally point 3.) The Big Three Villains' on change and saviours

I am very hard trying to get through to everyone out there while I say that change is something that comes to you regardless of whether you want it or not. Shigaraki, Dabi and Toga do not recognise that they might be able to change, and that they might be saved. In their minds, fairly, they do not have to change in order to be eligible for salvation. I already stressed this in my other answers, they should not change in order for them to ‘deserve’ being saved. Maybe they do not even want it. But if the chance presents itself, of them being offered a hand, would they dare to take it? Probably not. And this is not because they are happily wasting their time to kill and fuck around, no. It’s because it’s a mechanism ingrained into their minds: Dabi escaped home after he abused and neglected, Shigaraki accidentally killed his family and then was left to himself, and Toga was deemed weird and creepy and just cast aside as trash. Do you see a pattern here? If yes, well congratulations. It’s a quirk-based society, and since their quirks somehow became synonym to their worth, these individuals were deemed not worthy or villains from the get-go and they just choose to embrace whatever life threw at them, instead of just letting go. And let me tell you, that in their cases, letting go would mean die. They all, in some degree, suffer from auto-destructive and self-harm tendencies, which should be telling enough. And if it not, just think about why people behave this way. Why do people feel the need to destroy themselves? They do because they feel like the pain inside them feels a tiny bit lighter if they externate. Shigaraki told Izuku that as this failed society refused and never forgave him, he won’t forgive anyone in return. He does not care about his crimes because apart from those crimes he commits for a reason, he has nothing else going on. He does not have a family to go home to. He does not have a home. He does not have anything apart from the League, his memories hunting him and the eternal stigma of society labelling him as unsavable.

So excuse me very much when I say that they do not want to change and they might be right. Nothing changed, and nothing changes now. The only hope they have to be redeemed, it’s not for the heroes to forget their crimes, and to enjoy further destruction but to understand that the only way someone can help you is if believe in them. Dabi does not think he deserves to be saved. Toga had hopes which were destroyed right after Hawks killed Twice. Shigaraki put everything on the stake because the kid never knew how to genuinely smile. Let us for a moment think what would have happened to Eri if she did not get saved. It’s not hard after all: the kids of the League are all examples of what happens then.

It’s not because they change that they need to be saved. They need to be saved because they need to change.

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taurusborus · 3 years

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someone translated more of the under the tides event on reddit if you're interested in reading wtf is going on.

I'll also add it under this in case it's easier to read.

Warning, if you don't want to leave the slightest bit of surprise for yourself when the event hits global, TURN BACK NOW!!

I made a comment thread yesterday with a story summary. However, I still left out a lot of things, so I thought I'd make a new post, add in more info about plot I left out, organize the Q&A from the thread, and link to the TLs of the new units. Hopefully a centralized hub of info will help people find the information they're looking for and dispel any of the more wild hearsay floating around.

This will be organized into a few sections, the new unit TLs, my original story summary, a bunch of (my new summaries) separate plot threads that tie into the bigger story, and then some common questions.

Skalter profile + lines TL

Gladiia profile + lines TL

Event CGs

Some good supplemental information about the seaborn hivemind

A much longer summary of each stage, 11 pages - courtesy of Lauli. If you want to know more about the townspeople, Inquisitors, and details on Kal'tsit's end conversation with the Inquisitors, take a look.

The original summary I made yesterday, the fastest crash course on the major story points. I have edited some of the references of the new factions to match the updated TLs from MrSkyblock404 so there's no confusion:

First of all, if you've ever read the manga Claymore, you now understand most of the event. Key differences are that the "Organization" is Aegir. They don't SEEM to be the villains here, and they went the Claymore route to fight the sea horrors fully knowing that their Claymores will eventually awaken into the sea horrors that need to be put down.

The "secret" of the Abyssal Hunters is that Aegirians created them as supersoldiers with the bodies of land dwellers but the blood of sea horrors. More on that down below.

The seaborn is part of the underwater cosmic horror hivemind that's been foreshadowed since the start of the game. Its interest is in learning, evolving, and assimilating everything (a la Evangelion's instrumentality more like end goal of Starcraft's zerg). It's acts primitively... robotic? It doesn't understand things like emotions and "Does not compute. We will learn what you mean" is a large part of its exposition. The church in the town is actually the Deep Sea Church hiding in Iberia and slowly indoctrinating remote towns and turning the people to sea horrors. The ending convo with Kal'tsit implies that Iberia is now completely infiltrated by the cult and if they maintain an isolationist policy, they will be destroyed like Aegir.

The seaborn shows up to impale Gladiia, and reveals the big "you [Abyssal Hunters] and I share the same blood. You are us. We are you." Skadi has a mental breakdown over the truth bomb ("I've killed my own transformed family and friends" etc. Glossing over the specifics, just know she doesn't take some past war trauma well), and it seems like the seaborn can somehow "awaken" the blood and turn Abyssal Hunters like Skadi into one of them.

Skadi is right about to awaken [and probably become Skalter, that seems to be the general consensus on CN forums right now, Skalter = Skadi if she gives in to the call] when Gladiia reveals she was sandbagging (yay superhuman regen abilities) so she could listen in on why the seaborn wanted to meet Skadi so badly. Since the seaborn revealed everything, Gladiia promptly kills it and tells Skadi to get her shit together. Skadi gets her shit together. As the seaborn dies, it says its people will learn to understand everything the Abyssal Hunters have told it, and then they will ask them to join the family again. Also, Specter is now free from whatever "control" the Deep Sea Church exerted over her, she's elated over being "free" now. She's still infected but compared to her previous half-dream state, she considers it a minor setback.

Then there's the Deep Sea Church leader dude who had no idea Hunters were also of seaborn blood and also has a mental breakdown. His entire life's work and dream is shattered because the cult crap he made up believed in is a lie, and the seaborn don't put any special weight on his existence and work. He turns into the SV-9 giant tentacle demon that the 3 Musketeers take down. Before he dies, he curses Gladiia and says some ominous things about how she's different and unlike the other 2, her fate is set. Then in the scene with the mirror, she's shitting on herself for being useless and still ending up like an ugly little bitch. The mirror closeup shows part of her neck starting to look like fish scales, so it seems like she's already undergoing the sea horror transformation.

The town situation

The town has fallen on hard times, and the Deep Sea Church has slowly indoctrinated the population with Iberian values twisted into a pro-seaborn slant. These towns become experimentation grounds for the Church and seaborn. Gladiia confirms that she's been busy destroying many of these experiment grounds. The Church now provides the town with food from the sea when the tide comes. There is also a human sacrifice chosen by lottery, which the Church disguises as "the sea has chosen you to take into its embrace and provide a better life." Kind of like how parents tell their kids their dead dog went to live on a farm. The brainwashed people genuinely believe they have a better life and see it as the greatest honor.

The "food" the sea provides are the "dormant" state of severely injured Dinichthys, which regress into a more resilient meaty form while it recovers. This dormant state is edible (ugh) and what the people harvest during the tide. The unlucky human sacrifice walks into the tide to be eaten by the Dinichthys and thus what the sea giveth, it ultimately taketh.

I would like to note that the Church leader has made an appearance before this event. He has a substantial role in one of the story scenes in Archetto's event. I won't ruin the surprise, but if you pay attention to the setting, you'll know which scene it is before he shows up.

Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn

The Deep Sea Church are likely the major instigators of this major "sea vs land" conflict. According to the seaborn that shows up in the Church, the general seaborn population are territorial and generally abide by the animal instinct of survival of the fittest, there is no right or wrong if you kill to survive. The seaborn's behavior and inability to lie show that they indeed don't give a damn about individual seaborn, the Church's plans, or even the Church leader.

Distinction needs to be made between the general seaborn population and the seaborn used by the Church, the latter which could be artificially created. The Church leader is Iberian, but somewhere along the way managed to become part seaborn, which is why the seaborn will listen to him. Being part seaborn allows him to "weaponize" the true seaborn population for his own agenda.

The seaborn themselves indeed have a goal to evolve and and expand (from Skalter's profile). But to what degree the Terra conflict can be attributed to seaborn passive expansion vs. the Deep Sea Church's hostile accelerationism is not clear.

Thus, there's an interesting 3-way disparity between how the conflict is perceived.

* Abyssal Hunters: believes all seaborn must be eradicated * Seaborn: not really interested in the conflict * Church: "it is the will of seaborn to subjugate all"

Regardless, Gladiia has constantly repeated she doesn't give a shit about the seaborn's role in the Church's schemes. Her duty is to kill seaborn, and she's not going to discriminate.

Kal'tsit creates a cliffhanger every time she shows up at the end of any event

After the church-leader-turned-giant-tentacle-demon is killed, its enormous corpse is like a beacon calling to all the Dinichthys zerglings to swarm the area. The 3 Musketeers are like "ok fuck what now" and Kal'tsit swoops in with perfect timing to call Mont3r to completely destroy and bury the ground and its secrets.

She's here to direct the 3 Musketeers to leave Iberia and rendezvous with Misery to go back to RI for a vacation (yes, she actually says they get vacations). The Inquisitors also show up to stop everyone, and after giving them her usual condescending finger-wag-and-lecture, she offers to stay as hostage/information source in an Abyssal Hunter's stead. Her agenda is to convince the Iberian powers to ask for help instead of maintaining an isolationist policy. If they continue to keep it internal, they will be destroyed like Aegir.

She has some atypical kind words for the 3 Musketeers before they leave. To Skadi, she makes a throwback to some cryptic bullshit she said in Grani event. To Specter, she makes some banter about her newfound freedom and moving forward knowing her body's state.

And then it turns out she and Gladiia planned for almost everything before the Skadi sets off for Saltwind City.

The state of Iberia and Aegir

Aegir is pretty much sunken Atlantis. Gladiia says that there's no communication in and out of Aegir after the Calamity.

The Abyssal Hunters were created as just one small piece of Aegir's military power. Aegirians are fully aware of the Abyssal Hunters' eventual fate to turn into the enemy, and have special patrols out to monitor and kill any who turned. The seaborn confirms that they had nothing to do with those deaths. The people Skadi killed and watched get killed, those were all done by her own people. This does not help her mental state.

Iberia has likely attempted to replicate Aegir's Abyssal Hunters. We don't have story on the result of this project, but based on clues in her profile, Andreanna might have some connection to it.

In Kal'tsit's "I know everything" exposition, she states that Iberia once had a prosperous Golden Age, and is now a shadow of its former glory. As stated before, the Deep Sea Church has also infiltrated all levels of Iberian government. Thorns' profile says he left because of "religious strife" and how in recent years treatment of Aegirs in Iberia has gotten worse. All the breadcrumbs are building up to Iberia potentially getting the same kind of Calamity that destroyed Aegir. (See Skalter page's TL note on Calamity.)

Bunch of misc info that don't really fit anywhere else, from yesterday's thread Q&A

It's established that Abyssal Hunters are not allowed to bleed, especially on land. The seaborn says the swarms of cannon fodder zerglings can smell the "same blood" on the Abyssal Hunters. But they're a bit stupid, so their brains only know "this is the blood of my kind, but why is it trapped inside hooman skin?" instead of recognizing it's not a trapped comrade.

Their attacks on Abyssal Hunters are attempts to "free" their kind from the trappings of hooman skin. The more the Hunters bleed, the more frenetic the swarms get, because they know they are getting closer to freeing them.

If you are a Specter fan, you will absolutely love the scenes after she wakes up. The ensuing conversations show that the Abyssal Hunters cherish their close connections like everyone else, despite their usual "stay away from me I'm dangerous" vibes. I really hate how Specter's operator record turned out, and I'll keep salting about it, but this event really did her justice.

Question: Is story Skadi already Skalter? She is wearing the same clothes.

Answer:

No, and this is the biggest misconception that needs to be cleared. At no point in the story does Skadi fully awaken. She comes close but pulls back just in time. The in-universe reason Skadi changes into her wandering songstress wardrobe is that she needs a box carrying her "instruments" (her sword and Specter's chainsaw) and to avoid suspicion while sneaking into Saltwind City. There are two high ranked law enforcement officers (something like that) after her, who know she's an Aegir and a possible threat. In story, she's still guard Skadi. Devs probably wanted to keep the red getup on Skalter to differentiate between the two units.

Question: Why did the seaborn want to meet Skadi so badly?

Answer:

It's not entirely clear thanks to hYpErGRyPh oBtUsE wRiTinG. Every time the sea heir talks about how much it wanted to meet Skadi and perhaps why, Skadi or cult leader interrupt with their mental breakdown monologue. My interpretation of its reasons is a combination of desire to share knowledge with her (learning is constantly repeated as a goal of the sea horrors), extend an invitation to join the hivemind, and ask a question, explained below.

There are flashbacks to this one suicide mission she and her Abyssal Hunter squad had against one particular sea horror. Her entire unit died and she barely made it out after landing a fatal strike on it. Based on Skadi's mental breakdown, it sounds like that sea horror is like the Zerg Overmind, a central connection for the sea horror hive mind.

There's some exposition about how the Overmind isn't really dead, and it's gone into Hibernation Mode because though it no longer responds to communication, the sea horrors can still feel its pulse.

His specific question was whether Skadi heard the Overmind say anything before it went dormant. More Skadi breakdown, because she did. It said (rough TL) "[our] suffering is eternal." The "our" is ambiguous. It could be referring to Skadi and the Abyssal Hunters, since she's the one narrating, or it could be the Overmind and the sea horrors, who Skadi is repeating. I'm leaning toward the Abyssal Hunters since "being abyssal hunter is suffering" has been a core takeaway of this event.

And then Gladiia stops playing dead and kills off our sole source of Aegir lore :)

Question: Is Skalter/Under Tides canon?

Answer:

The events that happen in Under Tides is canon. Skalter's canon status is in existential limbo. As MrSkyblock404 has reiterated, devs have directly said Skalter is a POSSIBLE future in which Skadi gives into the call.

Question: But isn't the fate of every Abyssal Hunter to eventually turn into Seaborn?

Answer:

Technically yes. The call will never fade, so the moment it overpowers the Abyssal Hunter's will to resist, it will have won. But I say technically because the other side of the tug-of-war is the Abyssal Hunter's own willpower. There are hints scattered throughout that their fates aren't set in stone. As Gladiia said to Skadi in her "get your shit together" moment, if you don't want to become a seaborn, then you won't. Not to mention, they can always ask to be killed by another's hands before they fully turn, so they can die as "themselves". This is like the black card system in Claymore. Skalter's E2 promotional record also has this part:

Well, but that's not what I want to say to you today. What I want to say is that when they want to acquire a structure, they transform in that direction.

Skadi, since those creatures can become what they want to be of their own volition ...... Then you can also not become a certain way by your own will. You can do what you want to do.

For example, an Abyssal Hunter. Or, a little more freely, a bounty hunter.

The seaborn as a collective are naturally able to "focus" their evolution toward a specific direction. So as an individual, Skadi should also have a degree of control over what she does and doesn't want to become. Gladiia is implied to still be undergoing transformation despite her obvious obstinance, but the Deep Sea Church leader says she's different from the other 2 and her fate is sealed. As one of the first Abyssal Hunter prototypes, Gladiia might not be able to resist like the later Hunter prototypes.

If you made it this far, nice job! I hope that helps the EN community understand the tsunami of information that got dumped on us in the event.

If there are questions, post in the comments and I will do my best to answer them. Corrections to information in this thread and swapping notes with other CN readers are very welcome!

EDIT: Removed the spoiler bars since I got feedback that it was annoying to click on each paragraph. I've also added a new section "Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn" to clarify all the relationships defined in the story.

Also loving the connections the comments are making to other media. I personally made this post because I am a massive Claymore fan. Seconding one commentor, I highly recommend Claymore, it's a gem that's passed a lot of manga readers' radars. I'm also giving Bloodborne and Dragon Age a shot after the event.

EDIT 2: Thanks to the awesome ak-lore group on the official Discord, I've since made a number of corrections on key points. They are in the sections The town situation, Deep Sea Church agenda and the seaborn, and The state of Iberia and Aegir.

#arknights #so the abyssal hunters are similar to grey wardens from dragon age #and the seaborn are kiiiiiinda like darkspawn? like the higher thought seaborns are more individuals but the lesser seaborn creaters aren't #there's a comment the op made that explains this bit more if you're interested #also sorry for weird formatting if you see extra spaces #I tried to fix some of them but there's a lot so I gave up LOL

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mautlie · 3 years

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@divineties sent: ✿ uh, for whoever catches your interest? (maybe gaiden/sov muses?) c: ( prompt. )

FRIENDSHIP. childhood friends / work buddies or coworkers / family friends / friends with benefits / smoking buddies / adventure buddies / fake friends / recently friends / party buddies / friendship of need / dying friendship / circumstantial friendship / partners in crime / old friendship / [ your muse ] is the good influence / [ your muse ] is the bad influence / [ my muse ] is the good influence / [ my muse ] is the bad influence / opposites attract / ride or die / frenemies / roommates or flatmates / penpals / exes to friends / enemies to friends / other .

ROMANCE. childhood sweethearts / [ your muse is mines ] childhood crush / [ my muse is yours ] childhood crush / exes / exes to lovers / forbidden lovers / highschool sweethearts / secret relationship / opposites attract / long distance / unrequited [ from your muses side ] / unrequited [ from my muses side ] / unrequited [ from both sides ] / skinny love / friends to lovers / enemies to lovers / spurious relationship / power couple / newly entered / soulmates [ metaphorical ] / soulmates [ literal ] / awkward / turning toxic / toxic love / cheating [ on your muse ] / cheating [ with your muse ] / other .

FAMILIAL. siblings [ half ] / siblings [ step ] / [ my muse ] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure / [ my muse ] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse / [ my muse ] is a parental figure to yours / [ my muse ] is a child figure to your muse / guardian figure / legal guardian / adoptive child / foster child / [ your muse ] is taken under mines wing / [ my muse ] is taken under yours wing / other .

ANTAGONISTIC. dangerous to each other / dangerous to others / unpredictable / rivals / petty / developing into sexual or romantic tension / based off family matters / based off of circumstance / based off professional matters / based off misunderstanding or lies / conflict of ideology / betrayal / hero - villain dynamic / enemies / fight club / friends turned enemies / lovers turned enemies / exes turned enemies / other .

ALM & CLIVE

i’ve got lots of appreciation for these two’s interactions in every single iteration they go through uuuwoooasuughghhgrh

my main appreciation for these two stems from how alm’s naivete and frankness are highlighted to push clive to grow. though clive is a passionate person who’s idealist for sure as shown in the dlc memory prism, when he rose to assist mathilda with the deliverance, he had to harden his heart to make tough choices for the sake of his country and his beloved’s goals. in a way, he lost sight of himself as he tried to become the leader that was required of him, morale at an all-time low as he loses his lover, his best friend, and failure after failure gets tossed his way.

it’s alm who pushes him to try being selfish again — to follow his heart and trust in it, that he need not compromise to win. had alm not been there, clive likely would ( and as shown in the manga for gaiden ) have accepted not being able to rescue mathilda even though he would have wanted to because it’d put the deliverance at a disadvantage, but alm’s naivete and freshness doesn’t hold back alm. without alm’s recklessness, confidence, and large heart, clive would’ve wallowed in his regret for the rest of his life.

alm is a good influence on clive, and i am just weak to an older guy learning from a younger person. i like the challenging tension during that portion, and i think post mathilda’s rescue, clive would be a lot more open and easygoing with alm, able to strike up something between a mentorship and friendship with the fighter as he helps teach him about running a military and other things.

ALM & CELICA

this could go either way since we both play alm and celica, so i’ll be a bit vague about this as a result haha. while you mention in your ask either gaiden or sov, i’ll try not to ramble too much about gaiden either since idk how much you know about it, but feel free to hmu about it in regards to either of my portrayals for these two!

in a more general sense, i do really adore these two as they are in canon: celica befriending alm in their youth as alm helps her out of her shell, and then the two being emotionally close even after being physically separated. they may have a huge difference in methodologies and both be stubborn leading to their argument on zofia’s palace’s rooftop, but they think of each other’s best interests despite that and they truly do complete each other. it’s their differences at the end of the day that make them stronger together; they can both learn from one another and account for the other’s weaknesses.

i really like them romantically and i know you put in your bios you do too, though i totally understand not wanting to ship with someone you don’t know very well, so i’m more than okay with writing these two platonically as well! truth be told, when i first played gaiden, i had seen these two platonically despite how much i would grow to love them romantically, so i have no troubles at all going that angle, but regardless of which way we go, i’d definitely still like to highlight their strong bond even if they might not see eye-to-eye all the time, haha.

#// my further thoughts down below in the readmore! gosh i love the valentia characters aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #divineties #+. / inbox.#+. / ooc.#long post ---

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polandspringz · 3 years

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I’ve seen a few posts/memes now about how many anime/manga protagonists have done this “run off from the group” move recently, and in light of BNHA 306, I think it’s worth talking about!

The obvious comparison to be made is Sasuke, but I’ve seen others point out this has also happened with Natsu from Fairy Tail, Phos from HnK, and Hinata from HQ. Hinata seems to be a bit of an exception, as the reason he left was for training and to better himself, (I don’t know much about the case in FT as I dropped the series a long time ago) but I think making the comparison to Phos is interesting as it could be indicative of a new theme or trend in manga storytelling as a whole.

I’ve been thinking about things like this a lot more since I saw this post talking about how RWBY isn’t grimdark but hopepunk, and since BNHA is a shounen manga I doubt Deku running off is going to lead to a depressing or nihilistic story, as we know it’s going to have a happy ending (all of Deku’s narration about how this is the story of him becoming the number 1 hero), but at this point I don’t know what theme this might be referring to overall. While this chapter has certainly shocked a lot of us, I don’t think it’s as out of left field as our reactions make it seem (to an outsider watching us discuss it). We’ve known for a while that something was going to happen to change hero society, and with how much backlash U.A. had been getting and now with a city in shambles after the “heroes disappeared” during their failure to protect it, it would be very hard to have the kids go back to U.A. as normal and progress with the second year the same way as the first. There would be very limited storytelling in what could have been done with that sort of tone outside of internships, as anything like the sports festival would probably receive major backlash and I imagine without Deku there, the rest of the hero classes are going to be dealing with day in and day out harassment or press and the public crowding the gates in protest because the pushback against hero society is now so strong. And in the first place, we seem to have been leading up to this takedown or rework of society to begin with, as so many heroes have lost their quirk, but it doesn’t make any sense why they couldn’t keep working to begin with? (Ragdoll didn’t have a practical quirk for combat, both her and Mirio can still fight and do all their other hero duties but society says you NEED a quirk to legally be a hero). But that sort of society rework is a whole separate theme to discuss on it’s own.

Feel free to add onto this post! I’m still collecting my thoughts but am mainly trying to think of if there is a specific theme that a lot of manga is using in their storytelling, as Phos went to the moon for the truth, Deku has gotten the truth and is going to save people- in a way it’s a weird Ship of Theseus idea of change I think. With Phos it’s a literal Ship of Theseus metaphor, but with Deku it’s just that he’s been through so many revelations in such a short time he is a fundamentally different character now. Jaded, burdened with secrets that isolated him from others, it’s similar to how in Re:Zero Subaru is so alone because he is physically unable to tell anyone about his struggles and therefore no one can ever truly empathize or understand what he’s going through. Deku leaving the letter is sad, but in a way it’s also a hopeful change. He told others about his quirk, he isn’t alone anymore. People will likely join him in the next few chapters, or I could even see everyone going after Deku and dragging him back, as now that he’s not alone anymore they could say something about how they don’t care about him being a target or how they all could get hurt because of him, they just don’t want him to be alone. Because that too is becoming a glaring issue, as Deku shared info so he wasn’t alone anymore, but then left and isolated himself, and Bakugou told him in the last arc to “stop fighting alone” (paraphrasing), so we know that’s a statement that’s going to come back soon.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #my hero academia #bnha 306

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miscellaneousramblings · 3 years

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The world is cruel and unfair. My thoughts about the end of SnK.

This is a post about my feelings re: the end of SnK. I try to mix a bit of analysis and express where, in my opinion, it went wrong.

I’ve only read the last chapter once for now. Managed to avoid every spoiler until the official release. What can I say? I think this ending is disappointing and unsatisfying, despite not being The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Read. It’s serviceable at best, which by default is underwhelming in a work that has almost always tried to go above what we usually see in comparable pieces of fiction. Over almost 140 chapters, SnK offered its readers genuine emotions, either positive or negative, and, until this final chapter, managed to stay true to its themes. But this final chapter is basically a 4/10 or 5/10 ending in an overall 9.5/10 story.

I hope that, after the initial shock of the ending, I’ll be able to look back on it, not fondly, but with a bit more appreciation for some of its (too few) genuinely good moments. I also hope it won’t sour the experience of reading SnK too much for me. Of course, I accept the ending, I accepted it literally the moment I read it even though I saw it go further and further from my expectations and understanding of the story by the second. And obviously, I respect Isayama as a writer and genuinely cherish some parts of this manga.

But I won’t ever think this ending was good, and am going to try to explain why.

First, something quite subjective. I think the chapter lacked genuine emotion. I didn’t feel much of anything, except a crushing sentiment of sadness and a bit of anger when I saw Mikasa alone by Eren’s grave at the end. A lot of what happened felt either incomplete or forced, and often both. For example, I had imagined the moment the curse of Ymir broke would be the most beautiful moment in the manga, but instead it just... happened? This was supposed to be the peak of this story, the miracle that all these terrible sacrifices were made in the name of. I keep thinking about the moment the curse breaks at the end of Fruits Basket (a great read btw) and how genuinely emotional this chapter is even though the genre is different from SnK’s. Considering Isayama’s talent when portraying emotions, I can’t help but feel terribly underwhelmed by his version of this moment, which should have made us feel like everything was worth it, but didn’t.

Second, the pacing in this last arc (and especially post 123) was messy. I know it’s easy to criticize as a reader, but objectively, spending 7 chapters on the alliance going from point X to point Y and not giving the main character the spotlight he deserves is a major mistake. I kept holding hope that all of the buildup since chapter 130 was going to amount to the last 2-3 chapters slapping extremely hard (like, say, the Grisha-centered chapters in return to Shiganshina, or the Reiner-Eren conversation in Marley), but for the first time, Isayama disappointed me in that regard.

While mostly uninteresting fights got dragged out, some plot points were almost forgotten. Some setups never got a proper conclusion. Eren barely got the time to explain his motivations or what he saw. Historia’s conversation from chapter 130 never got an ending. The parasite and Ymir literally disappeared even though they were the focus of the last two chapters before this one. Some memory shards went unexplained. We never got to see Grisha’s death even when this panel exists?

Regardless of the actual things I don’t like in the ending, I think it would have been more palatable if this last stretch of chapters had been given time to breathe, if only to expand on the characters’ motivations or give us more interactions (for example, Eren’s talks with Annie, Reiner, Connie...).

Third, characterisation and themes. Oh boy. My favourite character is Eren, and my other favourites are Mikasa, Armin, Reiner and Zeke. I think that among these five, the only one who got a true, complete character arc was Armin (and arguably Zeke as well, though the lack of resolution between him and Eren is a hate crime towards me, specifically). Reiner had a great character arc overall but his last appearance in the manga was distateful and a regression. I won’t expand on it.

Mikasa... my poor girl. My most charitable take about her ending is that Isayama wanted to portray her inner strength, the fact she can always live on in the face of adversity and cherish her own life despite the setbacks while remembering those she loves. Well, I guess he succeeded. But in a weirdly unsatisfying way, because this renders her character arc entirely cyclical. Those qualities have characterised Mikasa since the start. It’s established since the very first arc that she’s prideful, brave, and that she has the inner strength to live without Eren if he ever disappears from this world. But the way Isayama made it happen? Having her kill him and then cry next to his grave in the final panels of the manga is what her arc amounted to? I had always hoped that Mikasa could actually save Eren from himself and show him how to live and share his burdens with him (all things that have been foreshadowed in the manga itself, btw). I thought her tattoo would hold some significance, either by

A/ being transmitted to her potential child with Eren were he to survive (didn’t happen)

B/ foreshadowing a future political role for her as a bridge between Hizuru and Paradis (didn’t happen, and furthermore she’s the only alliance member living in Shiganshina and is deliberately separated from the rest of them)

C/ having some kind of supernatural power that would allow her to change the game, were she to enter paths or reach the coordinate (didn’t happen).

So what? In the end, Mikasa’s Big Choice amounted to giving up on her love (but also not really because she’s never going to be able to move on and isn’t allowed to feel anything else but pain), resulting in her losing her family for the third time and never being able to welcome Eren home. This is horrifyingly sad. I’m also frankly disturbed by the sort of ~parallel Eren establishes in this chapter between Ymir and Mikasa, about the topic of love. So the message of SnK was that... love is a chain? Everything happened because Ymir was too attached to the King and couldn’t leave this world, so Mikasa had to show her that she could give up on love for the greater good by killing Eren? I wish I just misunderstood this but that’s what I got from the chapter and I hate it. Also, I really thought Isayama was above the traditional “female character who sacrifices everything and never reaches happiness but stays quiet and endures for the common good” trope. I was wrong.

Mikasa might have been the centerpiece of the story, but she got the short end of the stick. At this point, the writing pretty much does the opposite of what it is supposed to by inadvertently justifying the validity of Mikasa and Eren’s “selfish” dream in chapter 138. Initially, I thought that their dream was wrong and not something truly enviable because in it, they led a life of guilt and regret while knowing full well that Eren would end up dying anyway, leaving Mikasa behind, alone. Naively, I thought that surely choosing the responsible path would be more rewarding for Mikasa, one way or the other. But as it turns out, the path of selflessness also led her to a life of solitude, except now she carries her burdens all on her own without having tasted happiness. Amazing. I genuinely do not know how I am supposed to root for this.

Finally... Eren. Oh boy. Oh, good lord. I’ll admit I wanted him to live, but I was also ready to accept an ending where he dies. But... not like this. I already said I don’t like the fact Mikasa killed him, but what I like even less is the lack of general resolution his character received. He’s the MC for god’s sake! But post-chapter 123, he has received second, if not third-grade treatment, save from chapter 131, which was brilliant.

Overall, his motivations are a mess, which I get. Him getting confused because of all his powers and memories is understandable. Him having conflicting motivations is actually appealing to me. He wanted to save Eldia, but was also disappointed in the outside world (when he says “I would have done it anyway”, I thought about what he said to Ramzi and the "scenery” in 131) , and wished for his friends to become heroes. I get it, it’s fine.

But Isayama went too far with the tragic aspect of his character. As in, there is no catharsis, just crushing pain. Isayama deliberately went overkill by stating that Eren killed 80% of humanity (what the hell), and, even worse, actually drove Dina to Carla. I literally couldn’t believe this. I have seen people theorize about this months ago and immediately discarded it by thinking it was ridiculous and amount to character assassination. To make things clear, I’m not discussing Eren’s actions in the last arc from a moralistic point of view, because this would be another topic entirely, I’m talking about what makes sense in the narrative that has been presented to us since the Paths chapters started and Eren’s plan was revealed. For example, however awful the contents of the scene was, Eren manipulating Grisha to kill the Reiss family was not only amazingly written and drawn in chapter 121 but also narratively motivated by the fact he needed the Founding Titan’s power. This scene also had other functions, such as revealing the Attack Titan’s premonition powers or making Zeke interact with Grisha and understand the truth about his father. Compared to this, the “moment” we have in 139, this abrupt, absurd revelation about him indirectly killing his mother is rushed and nonsensical. Even if this was to kickstart the whole story by awakening his hatred for the titans, I can’t help but feel shaken by how... gratuitous a “plot-twist” it is. What does it say about the attachment Eren had to his mother and her words to him? (”because he was born into this world”). This nullifies one of the most impactful scenes of the manga, because the ending makes it clear that in the end, existing as a human being by the simple virtue of being born wasn’t enough for him. It just couldn’t be, for some reason that I’m yet to fully understand. Instead, he endured and endured, and never got to experience the simple, humane existence Carla wished for him. So were these beautiful words a lie all along? Why did Isayama go to such an extreme with Dina? The only conclusion I can come to is that it’s because he needed Eren to be absolutely, totally irredeemeable. Eren needed, storywise, to be this unstoppable extremist who would get burned to ashes by his uncontrollable desires.

Because yes, apparently, Eren had to die. There was no escape. Worst of all, Eren died a slave. A slave to his desire for freedom. A slave to the destiny he saw at age 15. A slave to his titan powers. This is what I truly can’t forgive about this ending. I won’t stand for the “but he chose this” answer, because it was a choice made out of despair, and all the alternatives are presented as non viable by the narrative (are they really though? or is it just a cope-out to justify the last arc of the manga unfolding as it did?). In short, Isayama justifies this “choice” that was forced on Eren by telling us: his life was destined to be short, he had a violent side he just wouldn’t repress, Mikasa didn’t give him the answer he wanted, he was overwhelmed by what he saw, and their enemies were zeroing in on them. Canonically, all of this made him start the Rumbling. Fine. But I always thought that, at the end of it all, even if Eren were to die, this narrative would be challenged. That Eren would at least have a big cathartic moment, and that he would make another choice upon realising that the freedom he looked for was illusory, and that he would fight to the bitter end for what was right, what he truly wanted, before finally either going to rest or living on with the burden of his actions but the support of his loved ones. I wished for the perfect blend of bitterness and hope. The tragedy of irredeemeable actions completed by the powerful liberation of free will. The idea that change is possible.

But what did we get instead? Eren reaffirming that the Rumbling would have happened anyway while feeling tremendous guilt, as usual (living a life with regrets, and consequently, a death with regrets), refusing the support Armin was ready to lend him (refusing to even try to defy what he thinks is his destiny and pushing others away again) and erasing the memories of all his friends after having manipulated them into ending him against their wishes (going against the most basic concept of freedom). And because we as readers and he as a character have to suffer until the very end, Eren finally clearly expressed his wish to live, to stay with Mikasa and his friends. Only to die 5 pages later, for good.

The main character of this story truly died as a disembodied head, in a titan’s mouth, killed by the person he loved the most before being buried in a nameless grave. One of his mottos was “fight”, but in the end, he didn’t. He let fate happen. In a story about freedom, this is unfathomable. This is beyond the realm of sadness for me, and I’m leaning more and more towards indignation. Where was his dignity as a character? I know that Mikasa, Armin and the others know “the truth about him” but I’m sorry, this isn’t enough. Now, if I ever get the strength to re-read SnK, I won’t be able to look at Eren without thinking about all the things he sacrificed: love, friendship, happiness, humanity, morals, principles, justice, freedom, the lives of countless others, the peace of mind of the person he loves, and his own life. A sacrifice so great should have gotten us a reward as great, if not greater. But we only got the end of the titan curse, without even an apparition or a word from Ymir, the one who actually started all of this, and now Paradis is ruled by the Yeagerists or something. The wings of freedom defaced by two rifles. How great. How satisfying.

In the end, I can’t really fathom what Isayama wanted to say with this chapter. The story itself, the 138 chapters that preceded it seemed clear to me. The world is cruel but also very beautiful. But after having read 139, I don’t know where the freedom the characters chased is. I don’t know why love was portrayed as something so precious but also something that in the end was predestined to be discarded. I don’t know why characters such as Mikasa went against fate only to be crushed by it further down the road.

I never thought that SnK would go into this almost grimdark direction, but it did. I can barely find the beauty in this chapter. Mikasa’s last panels are heartbreaking, but even the strength of her love can’t shine through the countless sacrifices the characters - and especially she and Eren - made, for the sake of a future that already seems extremely compromised. I guess that all in all, the world’s cruelty overshadows everything, and those who make the greatest sacrifices also are those who never get repaid. The world is unfair. I know that, but it was my naive wish that reading a piece of fiction would help me take my mind off this reality by showing me there is also more to it.

PS: the best moment in the chapter was those panels:

Finally, even if it was too little and too late, someone showed Eren he wasn’t alone, and didn’t need to be. RIP, my beautiful boy. You truly did deserve better than what this story allowed you to be.

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