#it wasn't in the manga but its a total canon to me

[vetrenar]

So... I've finally watched the new Trigun and I'm completely swept off my feet! It's so beautiful, and incredible, and I like the new character designs (though I'm a bit sad that they decided to put Milly aside. I like Roberto and I love to see his "grampy dad" dynamic with Vash and Meryl but why can't we have +1 character instead of "that one or this one") and I have SO MUCH hope for this show...

Anyway, it made me think how different from each other all parts of the franchise are:

1. OG Trigun anime. "The First One" for many, for some of whom it's always will be The Best One.

In comparison with other variants of Trigun, the old anime feels the most like a goofy "classic" tale, with a bit of melancholic vibes. Yeah, it still has its share of sad moments but mostly the corners are smoothed. With 60% of the story being filler, it generally has more light hearted tone than the original manga. Also, the characters of the anime are much closer to the... I wouldn't say "ideal", but more like "archetypal" versions of themselves. Rem was a downright angel, July's destruction didn't kill anyone (although people still fought and killed each other afterwards), the philosophical question about kill not to kill is answered with "put a bullet through each of his limbs until he can't move and hope for the best" (ok, it was a strange one. But I'm still baffled with what Vash's plan was afterwards). What's more important, Vash's ideals, while are hard to reach, don't feel impossible.

2. Manga.

Oooo, I love this one. After the old anime, I totally wasn't prepared to how much more raw, brutal and unhinged the manga is. People who ask for FMA: Brotherhood treatment for the manga seemingly forget that such an anime would have to be shown only veeery late in the night, with the "for adults only" disclaimer.

At the same time, I find the raw, honest energy of the manga absolutely beautiful and love it much, much more than the old anime because of how down-to-Earth characters are there. They may not to be ideal, but they're undoubtedly, 100% human.

Yeah, it's Rem, after her symbolic "the ticket to the future" dream.

And Knives. So much more about Knives, his motivation and determination. And unlike the anime version, where he, being the odd one from the beginning and a bit of philosophical soul, took the problem of spiders and butterflies just too far, the manga version clearly shows that it's not really about good and bad ones. It's about how, after an excessive trauma, Knives' mind went to shit and never fully returned. He was more sensitive than Vash, and more open to dialogue with humans but, when cutting wood, it's a surgical scalpel that breaks first, not a kitchen knife.

Manga Knives doesn't just make scary faces. He sincerely asks his sisters to lend him their powers and, while the level of plant's self-conciousness is arguable, I think it's won't be so far fetched to say that they do care about him.

Aaah, yeah, manga's nice little body horror...

Also, manga is much more merciless towards Vash's pacifism. While anime says "yeah, it's hard, but if you try enough you can reach it", the manga is more about "It's impossible and everyone, including you, know that. But it doesn't means that you should stop trying, because even it's impossible, it's still the path you chose for yourself". And I think that this message is much stronger and more important.

3. Trigun Stampede.

Well, it's really a dark horse, isn't it? With so many controversy about changes in characters's design, story and everything. But from what I've seen so far, I can say that, while reboot doesn't try to repeat the original - original manga, not the old anime - word to word, it stays completely in tune to its main message and Vash's emotional journey, and it's the most important thing to me. And again, it's so incredibly beautiful and well made, and I really have so much hopes for it. My only fear is that there won't be a second season announcement because there is no way that they will be able to contain everything into merely 12 episodes.

Well, we'll see. Until that, Love&Peace, everyone!

[aretheytransgender]

ARE THEY TRANS: FRANKY FROM ONE PIECE

JUSTIFICATION: "Firstly, he canonically has a deadname. He changed it to be undercover, but still. And in certain translations of the Manga its romanised as an anglophon female name. (I wont say it here, I'm not a deadnamer)

Secondly, he was abbandoned by his biological parents for being "too diffucult" but his adoptive family loves him for who he is. Specifically, his adoptive dad taught him that existing is not a crime. And that's a lesson he still stands by to this day.

Thirdly, he got into an accident and rebuilt himself according to "peak masculinity standards" which includes shooting coca cola from his ass and lasers from his nipples. He has chest scars post timeskip. And while he does canonically have balls (wont explain why we know this. Iykyk) he could have easily given himself a retractable rocket dick for all that matters. Because in the modern day and flashbacks he never wears pants. Only panties. There is nothing beneath them.

Lastly, his whole character is about how you can change everything about your body and still be yourself. He fights toxic masculinity by showing his emotions and occasionaly doing feminine things. He is considered a great role model by the younger characters. He made a group of societal rejects and called it a family. He broke a transphobe's face. (It wasn't a canon transphobe, but he harrassed another character (also subtextually trans) simply for existing and only calls Franky by his deadname)

So there you have it. Franky from One Piece, to me, is 100% trans. Which could totally be true because One Piece actually has many canonically queer characters and one of them can magically give people hrt." - Anonymous

[kujakumai]

legit the scene in Capsule Monsters where the millennium ring glows and then hops off of Alexander The Great of its own accord and rolls out the door is fantastic to me. For so many reasons.

The fact that the anime has already established that in this canon the ring has magical teleportation powers, but it decides to physically roll its way out anyway, because YB wanted to make a point I guess

One has to wonder how far he got on those little pendulums

Alternatively we've really only seen the anime ring teleport to a host, not away, so it's possible that he has to roll himself physically because teleporting will always send him back to Alexander. which is hilarious. fucked up his save point

The fact that the anime goes out of its way to make the ring the center of Alexander The Great Lore without mentioning Yami Bakura once. He had to have been in the ring but Alexander doesn't even seem to be aware of his existence. His decision to go "forget this, I'm OUT" is the only evidence we have that he didn't sleep through the whole thing

The fact that the ring is the center of Alexander The Great Lore but the ring isn't even physically present outside flashbacks because (since the anime writers deleted the manga scene where Bakura recovers it after Battle City) it's currently in a duffel bag in Yugi's bedroom on another continent.

Bakura didn't go on this trip, even. They did not invite him

So both of the Alexander ghosts are also in the magic pyramid so we don't even need it here. totally irrelevant. so like, why is the ring being involved at all. why are we doing any of this

questions I assume Yami Bakura asked himself and then decided that he had a 100% unbroken streak of Not Appearing In Filler Arcs and he wasn't going to fuck it up now with whatever this was

So he just goes "bye losers" and promptly deletes himself from the narrative

In conclusion,

[justxtalking]

my thoughts on this hxh ABCD mess

Being a Togashi fan is such a roller-coaster of emotions. I think I went through all the stages of grief in only one day.

Half of me believes he's trolling.

To be honest, it's better to just take it with a light heart. Togashi is known for joking around about himself, his health and his own story. (I wasn't in the fandom at that moment, but I wonder how everyone reacted when he said everyone was going to die). I consider ending D to be so uncharacteristically him for so many reasons I could talk for hours about it. I find it ironic how he gave a stereotypical-shonen-like ending when he talked several times (even in this interview) about how he likes to surprise himself (and his readers) when he writes. Some other times he explained he likes to play with these shonen stereotypes and just do something different. I mean, he's been doing it since the beginning of his career.

And I'll be honest, ending D sounds like a mockery of shounen.

(And I feel a bit dumb taking this so seriously if he's joking.)

(Though, this also may be the case of "the boy who cried wolf" and he's actually saying the truth this time.)

The other half of me thinks he's being honest.

If he is actually giving us a back-up ending, I find it incredibly sad. Not only because of his health, but also because he felt pressured enough to give us an ending, no matter its form and no matter if it's an ending he doesn't even consider anymore. He shouldn't have been on that position.

It is important to take into account that this is not an ending he wants or even considers anymore, it is an ending we can take if he's not able to finish HunterXHunter. We need to realize there's a lot of circumstances we don't know about or may not be considering for him to give us this ending as an option at that moment. And what type of ending too.

I seriously want for him to be able to finish Hunter X Hunter the way he truly wants, not worrying about anything else. He's thinking about three plausible scenarios that may see the light of day or not. And no matter what he ends up choosing, he should choose whatever he wants. It's his story, no ours. And it may even be his last story (I know it's sad, I want him to keep on writing forever, but it's true). Honestly, a part of me wants him to choose the A scenario because that's where seems to be less drama, but actually I want him to choose the C scenario. Even if that ending is Gon married to a lizard with beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent. And that's because that ending is what he would actually want to do with the story.

(I really am curious about it, though. I know I wouldn't be able to guess even in a million years, but I'm still curious. And I so want to read the whole interview and see the whole episode, since there were more questions about other things.)

For the shippers

I know this feels like a punch in the gut or something even worst. I felt it too. And it's totally valid to feel like we do and not agreeing with ending D. Even as a non-shipper because what do you mean, Gon did what?

Everyone who follows me knows I'm a proud Killugon and Leopika shipper. And I will keep on being one even if Hunter X Hunter transforms into Boruto and I have to see Grandpa Gon (the more I say it, the more it sounds like a joke).

Honestly, I always considered the gay ships were never going to be explicitly canon.(Kishimoto traumatized me). Not because of lack of material, but because there's a whole context and a lot of external circumstances we sometimes forget about (and Kishimoto traumatized me). There was a reason why Togashi couldn't make his queer manga in the 90s, which, I'm sorry, I don't consider it to be that long ago. And there is a reason why he can't explicitly say that characters like Pouf or Hisoka are gay (despite being totally obvious and them being villains).

I still find it admirable how Togashi included so many queer elements in his stories and got away with it. And he's a mangaka that does shonen. And not just any shonen, a battle manga in Shonen Jump. (He included a trans man in Level E and made him transition. The way Togashi explains some things about this character may be a bit problematic, but Togashi still did this). And those queer elements are still there and are still as canon as when he wrote it the first time. Pouf is as gay as he is dramatic. And Ging and Pariston still have that sexual tension (and I'm 100% sure they fucked or they are going to fuck in the near future or both). And Killua is still the queerest boy I've seen in the longest time.

Sometimes, I think there's a possibility of Killugon being canon. But only because of Togashi's history and tastes. He may feel a bit rebellious and just go with it, he's so unpredictable that I'm always expecting anything and everything from him (I mean, he did what he did with Hisoka and Illumi and so many other things). However, he's an introvert, I'm not sure if he actually wants the attention he would get if he actually goes with it. And that is something we should also respect. (I do think the most plausible option is Killugon to be as ambiguous as they are now.)

In relation to ending D, I don't think we should worry that much. At the end of the day, it is an ending he doesn't consider anymore. (At least we can sleep well knowing that the ending he wants to do doesn't have to do with Grandpa Gon). What's important is what he writes and does in the manga. That is what speaks louder than anything.

Though, I do think it's going to be a pain in the ass interacting with other fans. I'm not looking forward to it. (At least they are going to stop saying that Kurapika will die, I hope!). What I'm looking forward to is the new Killugon content in the fandom.

My personal take

Gon =/= Ging. I could say a lot about this, since one of the things I love the most about Hunter X Hunter is what he did with these two and Gon's arc, but I think this is clear enough.

So!

After saying all of this, I think the only thing we should consider as canon is the manga. If he doesn't write it, it didn't happen.

If he's saying the truth, he may be thinking about how to finish Hunter X Hunter sooner or later. Even though so many fans say that they want an ending, I feel like we are not ready. Not even for Gon marrying a lizard and having beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent.

I hope I was coherent enough. I have no answers, only thoughts and thoughts! I feel like we can only speculate and ending D is so confusing because how did we even get there?

I may be going through all the stages of grief again tomorrow, but I wanted to share my thoughts (at least partially). I may erase it if I feel too uncomfortable, but yeah!

Conclusion: Let's just take it with a light heart and wait to see what happens! (I know it's hard).

[koalatysleep]

Large ripples from small stones, or Why my Yusuke is different from yours - the HUGE difference that translations & cultural context make to YYH canon!

I recently became aware of how much different dubs/translations of YYH changed the original Japanese dialogue/meaning when I stumbled across a great post by another fan who watched the anime in both the original Japanese dialogue and the American English dub, and that post highlighted some of the dialogue/meaning that the American English dub changed so that the characters / dialogue fit the American cultural expectations / way of speaking better, and that actually changes interpersonal dynamics between characters as well as the characters themselves, thus changing how we interpret them! I can't find that tumblr post now, so if anyone knows the tumblr post I'm referring to, please comment with the link! (It used Hiei and Kuwabara's interactions as its example).

That post lit a lightbulb in my head - because it explains just how different "canon" can be depending on which language & culture you consumed canon in, and why some headcanons / interpretations can seem quite OOC to some while appearing perfectly in-character to others! It's because we're basing our headcanons & interpretations on different canons & cultural contexts! (or we could be playing in sandboxes that are totally removed from canon, which is a perfectly legitimate way to enjoy art too!)

As an example of how different "canon" can be depending on the translation/cultural context, in this scene in Anime Episode 5 when Koenma asks what Yusuke plans to do if Keiko doesn't make it in time to resuscitate his body:

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The Japanese original dialogue is: "I can't make Keiko wait 50 years. If that happens, I'll give up with dignity."

(I google-translated the Japanese CC script below, if anyone reads Japanese, let me know if the Google translation is accurate!)

Coupled with the official Chinese Manga translations of the equivalent scene which has very similar dialogue to the Japanese CC dialogue from the anime, Yusuke is referring to how he'd give up on trying to come back to life, and just die cleanly now.

At this point in time we have to dive a little into the subtext of previous episodes in order to understand the meaning of this Japanese dialogue, because Japanese culture/verbal communication is VERY VERY SUBTLE, with A LOT of meaning left unsaid between words. Yup, Japanese verbal communication is itself very subtextual, same as YYH canon! So let's peel back the layers!

We saw in Anime Episode 1 itself how Yusuke had such a low self-esteem due to his distorted view of himself as a "good-for-nothing-fuck-up" which he internalized from the external world's treatment and view of him, that he genuinely believed his life was worthless, that he wouldn't amount to anything good even if he came back to life, and that it'd be better for everyone around him if he stayed dead! 😭

Which is why he was ready to stay dead even when Botan gave him the choice to come back to life!

At this scene in Anime Episode 5, while Yusuke is no longer as ready to give up on his own life as he was in Episode 1 (because he saw how much he meant to his mom, Kuwabara, Keiko, Takenaka, and the kid he saved during his wake), when he saw how his mom was still more preoccupied with getting drunk than care about him in this episode, and how Kuwabara wasn't receptive to kissing Yusuke*, Yusuke again felt like he doesn't mean much to the people around him, which is why Yusuke thinks if he still wants to return to life, he can only rely on Keiko to wait around another 50 years to resuscitate him, which obviously wouldn't work, thus Yusuke feels he can only give up on coming back to life and die cleanly now.

While this is indeed a very Yusuke thing to do - he doesn't do anything by halves! - this is still driven by Yusuke's emotional wound of feeling unwanted, unloved and worthless to the people he cares about! 😭 It's very true to life, because emotional wounds like Yusuke's doesn't just get resolved when you see people crying at your wake one time! Yusuke is likely thinking - they may be sad he's dead coz well he's dead, but they don't really care enough to want him to come back to life! 😭

*(I also think Yusuke saw Kuwabara screaming awake in terror after the romantic kiss that Yusuke projected into Kuwabara's dream.. The fact that Yusuke went to the arcade to tell Kuwa a second time to kiss him tells me that Yusuke saw Kuwa scream, and even before this arcade scene Yusuke already said he can't rely on Kuwa or his mom to resuscitate him so he already knew Kuwa wouldn't show based on his scream 😭😭 that must have hurt Yusuke too, because Yusuke obviously had subconscious romantic hopes with Kuwa as evident from the Freudian-slip of a romantic kiss he projected into Kuwa's mind, where Yusuke literally pictured himself as Sleeping Beauty and Kuwa as the Prince Charming who kissed him back to life! 🤣 But instead of reciprocating, Kuwa screamed in terror, denied the dream, and refused to acknowledge it even after spirit Yusuke tried to tell him a second time at the arcade 😭 This must have been romantically disappointing to say the least or felt like rejection at the worst, even if Yusuke's romantic hopes at this point in time with Kuwa were just nebulous subconscious desires! Thus this again makes Yusuke feel unwanted!)

But I digress! The point is - based on the Japanese original dialogue, we get the above interpretation of what's going on with Yusuke as a character - his emotional wound of feeling unwanted/unloved/worthless is not yet resolved, it's triggered when 2 out of the 3 people closest to him doesn't do anything to bring him back to life, and Yusuke feels that if Keiko is the only one who wants him to come back to life enough to do something about it, he's still ready to give up on his own life and just die cleanly now, rather than drag it out another 50 years.

In other words, this is not a romantic scene that confirms Yusuke's in love with Keiko, if anything it's a scene that confirms Yusuke is NOT in love with Keiko, because if she's the only one who wants him to come back to life, he would still give up on living! This scene is about who Yusuke is as a person, and what makes life worth living to him!

This scene in its original dialogue tells us VERY IMPORTANT things about Yusuke's character -- he only feels life is worth living if he has people he cares about in his life + he's loved by the people he cares about! Which is why in the episode when Keiko rushes into the house fire to save his body, he told Sayaka that it would be pointless for him to return to life if she dies, because for someone who's as made out of Love as Yusuke, there really is no point in him returning to life if it costs the life of one of the few people he cares about! I've been shouting to anyone who'd listen that Yusuke is actually entirely made out of Love, and this is more proof points of that!

Yusuke's emotional wound of feeling unwanted / unloved / worthless / and thus alone is also FUNDAMENTAL to his character arc in the rest of canon, especially during the Dark Tournament!!!! Without this scene and its meaning intact, it would totally change our interpretation of the rest of canon, especially the Dark Tournament which is ALL ABOUT Yusuke overcoming this emotional wound!!!

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If you watch the anime in the original Japanese audio track but with English subtitles, the dialogue and meaning becomes different in seemingly subtle but significant ways:

"I can't very well make Keiko wait 50 years. If that happens, I'll give her up like a man."

This seemingly small change makes a world of difference, because this phrasing "I'll give her up like a man" implies Yusuke is in love with Keiko, which the original Japanese dialogue doesn't!

If I were watching canon purely in this English subtitles, I would think Yusuke is revealing that he's in love with Keiko, which totally changes what this scene is about, as well as what the rest of canon means!

Based on this dialogue/meaning, I would think that Yusuke really is in love with Keiko, and my interpretation of Yusuke in the rest of canon would go from the Japanese original "Gay and in love with Kuwa, but whose found family sibling Keiko complicates matters coz she's in love with him", to this version's "Bi and falls in love with Kuwa, but was previously sorta in love with Keiko"!

When I first watched the anime in this English subtitles, I was hella confused by the rest of canon after the revival arc was done 🤣, because I was blinded by my heteronormative expectations into thinking Yusuke really is in love with Keiko, and that wasn't helped by translations like this which changed the meaning of the original scene, which made this scene incongruent / inconsistent with the rest of canon which shows us Yusuke is in love with Kuwa!

I was like "hmmm?? Why the inconsistencies between what he says and what he actually feels? Why does he seem to be crystal clear he's not in love with Keiko, but he says something else? Even though he obviously knows he's in love with Kuwa?" And thus my interpretation of this version of canon can change to "bi- or gay-struggle to accept his own sexual orientation", which is very different from the Japanese original canon where Yusuke has always been crystal clear about his romantic feelings and didn't actually have issues accepting that internally, he just wasn't sure whether it was reciprocated by Kuwa or not!!

And thus the headcanons and fanworks we create would be completely different depending on which canon we got!

Of course, Japanese canon also had to keep the dialogue ambiguous enough that heteronormative audiences can read Yusuke as in love with Keiko easily, coz canon had to hide the Kuwameshi love story under the misdirection of Keiko as the romantic love interest, which is why even the original Japanese dialogue is deliberately vague so it can play into mainstream audience's heteronormative assumptions, but still, it doesn't imply Yusuke is in love with Keiko like this "give her up like a man" phrasing does, because the scene in its original Japanese meaning is about Yusuke's emotional wound, not his romantic love interest.

This English subtitles also doesn't tell us anything about Yusuke's fundamental emotional wound, which is what's driving his character arc in the rest of canon, especially the Dark Tournament!!

Like, it took me SO LONG before I figured out what the Dark Tournament was actually about in terms of Yusuke's character arc okay! 🤣🤣 I had to re-watch the entire anime before I got it! 🤣🤣

We begin to see what a world of difference subtle changes in translations & cultural context makes! Large ripples from small stones!

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Now if you watch the anime in the American English dub, the dialogue/meaning becomes even more different:

"The only thing I can do. Wait around another fifty years. Then I'll go see Keiko when she's an old hag."

Okay first of all, I love how the American English Dub doesn't change the scene to a romantic one that implies Yusuke is in love with Keiko! I also love the way Yusuke refers to Keiko as "an old hag" 🤣🤣, which is thoroughly sibling-coded rather than romantically-coded 🤣🤣🤣. Which can explain why a lot of my fellow fans who watched canon in this dub read Keiko as Yusuke's sibling way earlier than I did! Thank goodness I eventually caught on though! Giggle!!!

While I love that the American English dub doesn't change the meaning of this scene to a romantic one, it nonetheless changes Yusuke's character in significant ways -- in this version, Yusuke doesn't have the emotional wound of feeling unwanted/unloved/worthless anymore, he's suddenly so over this fundamental emotional wound that he will hold onto his life even if he has to wait 50 years as a spirit in a pretty meaningless existence, even though it seemed to him like nobody apart from Keiko cares enough about him returning to life! 😅

And thus based on this version of canon, my read of Yusuke would again completely change from the Japanese original of "Appears confident and uncomplicated on the surface, but actually has a deep inner self that's very different from his external facade and has a tender aching heart that he hides from the world", to this version of Yusuke who seems to be "Really as uncomplicated as he appears on the surface, no hidden emotional wounds or tender achy feelings inside" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

And thus we see how the headcanons and fanworks we create would again be completely different, depending on which version of canon we're basing it on!!

Like I said, large ripples from small stones!

And while I'm more than happy if Yusuke really has overcome this fundamental emotional wound in just a few short episodes that didn't actually give him enough learning opportunities to overcome this wound, it makes this scene incongruent with the rest of canon (especially the Dark Tournament), which is ALL ABOUT Yusuke overcoming this emotional wound!!!

Having said that, perhaps the rest of the American English dub in other scenes/episodes down the line establish Yusuke's emotional wound in other ways, which would bring his character arc back in sync with what the Dark Tournament's all about!

ANYWAY, the point of this post isn't to compare "canons" to see which one is "better". The point is - we've already seen for ourselves how even "canon" itself can be totally different (or even internally inconsistent with itself) depending on which translation/cultural context we consume it in, so if you come across another fan's headcanon/interpretation which seems OOC to you, it might just be that their canon was in a different language/cultural context from yours, OR their canon contains subtext that your canon doesn't, OR they noticed subtext you didn't, OR their canon's translations contained inconsistencies, OR it might be that they're playing in a different sandbox that's quite far removed from canon itself, which is still a perfectly legitimate way to enjoy art too!

We're lucky that the YYH fandom is by and large a very nice tolerant fandom which gives people space to interpret canon however they want even if there's supposedly "no canon evidence" for it, because this is art, art is supposed to give us the space to imagine and create, it doesn't have to be so serious, and we can all play in our respective sandboxes even if it really is totally removed from canon!

So I guess what I'm saying is - if you get your kicks by basing your enjoyment on canon like I do, there're plenty of "canons" to geek out over ❤️❤️, and if you get your kicks by playing around with the characters in ways that are totally removed from canon, that's perfectly fine as well! We can all still get along, because that's what ART IS ALL ABOUT, it gives us space to enjoy it in whatever ways float our boats! :D

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As for why this post is tagged Kuwameshi, well that's coz I personally get my kicks from deciphering canon's subtext, and I'm so obsessive about it I'm even considering learning Japanese language so I can read/watch canon in its purest form without the risk of anything getting lost in translation🤣🤣, coz deciphering canon to me is an exciting fun adventure where I get to unearth buried treasures that have been hidden in plain sight more than 30 years ago by Togashi and Anime Studio Pierrot, and every time I discover something new I jump and scream like a mad person with SHEER UNADULTERATED EXCITEMENT AND JOY, and since the Kuwameshi Love Story is at the HEART OF EVERYTHING IN YYH, I literally cannot talk about YYH without screaming about Kuwameshi!!!

As I've mentioned before in metas / replies to comments of various fellow fans, on my first watch of the anime, I was still shipping Yusuke with Keiko coz I was blinded by heteronormative expectations (& also confused by translations which were not consistent with what canon shows), but I was SO DISSATISFIED shipping Yusuke with Keiko coz I could sense all the ways in which Yusuke is actually not romantically interested in Keiko, just that I couldn't explicitly put my finger on it at that point in time, so much so that I watched the whole anime again looking for clues and found Kuwameshi instead! GIGGLE! 

I kid you not, canon's subtext is guaranteed to blow your mind, to paraphrase a Dua Lipa song ;P

Come scream about them with me on my Kuwameshi Meta series on AO3 if you wanna see what I mean!!! 🥹🥹🌈🌈🐦🐦👌👌

SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO @sadique-angel coz the buried treasure analogy is a chef's kiss analogy from you!!!! I HAVE SO MUCH FUN gushing about canon and discovering hidden treasures with you that honestly I might just tag you in all my meta about YYH in future!!!! 🤣🤣🙌🙌📸🤿🤠🤩😍

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Timeline Preface

First of all, it's necessary to make clear which years will be used as reference for each game, for these years will dictate everything else in the timeline.

Persona 1 -> 1996

Persona 2 -> 1999

Persona 3 -> 2009

Persona 4 -> 2011

Persona 5 -> 2016

In total, we will be covering 20 years of in-game events plus a few here and there. The following is a list of the events that WILL NOT be considered canon in the timeline, just to keep it in mind:

Shin Megami Tensei: if... Gakuen no Akuma Tsukai

Shin Megami Tensei if...: Jin of the Expanse

Shin Megami Tensei: Kahn

Revelations: Persona (basically the americanized version)

Megami Ibunroku Persona: Ikuu no Tou Hen

Megami Ibunroku Persona: Shadow Maze

Megami Ibunroku Persona Digital Collection

Persona 2: Innocent Sin ~ The Errors of Their Youth

Persona 2 Tsumi: Lost Memories

Persona 2: Tsumi ga Ataeshi Batsu

Persona 2 Batsu: Infinity Mask

Persona: Tsumi to Batsu

Persona 3: Owari no Kakera

Persona 3: Shadow Cry

Persona 3: The Night Before

Persona 3 Portable

Persona 3 Portable: Velvet Blue

Persona 3 Reload

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight

Persona 3 Em

Megami Tensei Chaining Soul: Persona 3

Megami Tensei QIX: Persona 3

Persona 3 Broken Shadow

Persona 3 Illust Puzzle

Persona 3 Escape

Persona 3 Drama CD: New Moon

Persona 3 Drama CD: Full Moon

Persona 3 Social

Persona Ain Soph

Persona 3 FES: Alternative Heart

Persona -trinity soul-

Persona -trinity soul- Novel

Persona 4: Kiri no Amnesia

Persona 4 The Card Battle

Persona 4: Your Affection

Persona x Detective Naoto

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight

Persona O.A.

Persona 5: Mementos Mission

Persona 5 Tactica

Persona 5: The Phantom X

Persona Mobile Online

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth*

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth*

Vanilla Versions of P3, P4, and P5

Animation and Movie Adaptations

Manga Adaptations

Bad Endings

Comic Anthologies

Live Action and Stage Adaptations

Drama CDs unless specifically mentioned

Novel Adaptations

That weird promotional P4 flash game

The ones that WILL be considered canon and will be included in the timeline are the following:

Plus the Persona 2: Eternal Punishment PSP additional scenario.

Final Details

After each part, I will be including a "personal assumptions and headcanons" section. None of the things mentioned in said section are confirmed, in fact, some headcanons will be mentioned. Its purpose is just to enrich the canon already established by the timeline. You'll get it when you see it.

If there is a Social Link/Extra Scene/Additional Dialogue in another game/novel/CD that wasn´t in the list but enriches the story, those details will be included (glances at P3 Portable and Reload). A similar thing happened with PQ, which was almost included because of Chronos. Since everyone's memories were erased anyways, I just took Chronos and left them in their pocket dimension to live their non-canon adventures. Same thing happened with the P1 manga, since it offered extra details and more about Naoya. From Tsumi to Batsu I only took the extended Philemon lore.

Possible Questions

“Why wasn't X media included?”

It depends.

I would have been okay with Tsumi if it didn't overlap with what happens in the main game. Batsu did have some interesting elements, but I couldn't find a gameplay in a language I spoke.

I wanted to include Tsumi ga Ataeshi Batsu so badly, but also couldn't find it online.

I didn't include Vanilla P3 since it needed The Answer to feel truly complete. The same happened with Golden and Royal. Portable was already an AU the moment Minako was included (sorry, queen). Honestly, you can just ignore the extra content from the remastered games or change Minato's name to Minako/Hamuko/Kotone to get the timeline you want (if you want the full FeMC experience, also read Velvet Blue).

At the moment of this timeline's creation, Reload still hasn't launched their own version of The Answer.

Ask me for specifics about other media that wasn't included.

"You forgot X media, which wasn't on either list!"

PLEASE, LET ME KNOW! I know the wiki is incomplete (discovered this when I tried doing an iceberg years ago), and that some media slips through the cracks.

If you can provide a link where I can read/watch/hear it (either English or Spanish is fine), I would be eternally grateful (also if someone can give me a translation of the Naruhodona-SEES section of the Persona Stalker Club pretty please, I would kiss you).

Though if new media was released after March 2024, the year this timeline was made, then that's why it wasn't included.

"Are the timelines already done?"

Nope. They're still in progress, but I wanted to leave some things clear before I published them. If you have any proposals or recommendations, there's still time.

That's all for now. See you next week!

[aoki553]

GRGRGRGRG FINALLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO INFODUMP ABT HIM!!! tysm @makifishcake and prepare for a long ramble abt best boy ever (to me) and why saijun is real... let's start with an introduction to a canon crossover character only The Loser (me) cares about! this is gonna get messy in writing near the end cuz its like 3 am for me rn.

Kouno Jun is one of the two protagonists of Asou-sensei's older work, Our Hero Studies and is one of Haganeno Ken's students at Holy Lance Academy (a private school that either exists the same town as Saiki or some neighboring one)

The only translated OHS chapters so far show us who Jun and Haganeno are as characters. Kouno Jun's a generic tsukkomi high school student with normal teenage boy interests and crushes... he's baby and a total boyfail.

Jun likes video games (Kaisou Monogatari, an in-universe franchise), ramen, melon soda and Yayumi - the class rep. Pretty normal dude that's just being constantly bothered by his classmates and the teacher he hates...

...and then there's Haganeno Ken - THE delusional cosplayer hero wannabe teacher with huge interest in roleplaying and RPG video games, who immediately takes a liking to Jun, mainly for his name (his name means shield, while Haganeno's mean sword. you see where i'm going?)

most of the ohs panels will be machine translated cuz i have no strength or motivation to continue my actual translation work ngnhnh one day maybe... 😔

He may look like a generic high school shonen manga protagonist, but it's actually really charming to me how adorable he can be despite the boring presentation lolol HIS CRUSH ON YAYUMI IS SO CUTE UGHNHNH

And yeah of course he shows up in Saiki bc WHY WOULDNT HE???

Asou-sensei put him there twice. In the Christmas chapter where he's walking with a girl (MOST LIKELY YAYUMI), sees Kusuo sitting alone and being like "haha that's so sad to be lonely on christmas lmao"... EXCEPT ITS HILARIOUS CUZ HE DOES THE SAME THING IN HIS OWN MANGA'S CHRISTMAS CHAPTER.

and in the Hero Studies crossover chapter, right at the end as an unused character. (wouldn't make sense to have two tsukkomis there tbh so i get it lolol)

Same thing happens in the anime except Jun in the Christmas episode wasn't animated like he's an actual pre-existing character, except just a background character so he looks different but has the same jacket with his initials so its definitely him.

so here's all his screentime:

his terrible sense of style was referenced by Takeru at one point as well. yes, Jun dresses terrible and he has outfits much worse than this. hes a loser and i love him

okay but what's with the saijun thing? orz

basically its a silly ship me and my lovely sweetest gf (@lu-kario ) came up with and it kinda stuck around. "omg haha what if the two protagonists from different manga dated" but yeah it became an actual thing with thought out scenarios between us.

Me saying it'd be like satousai but Kusuo finds someone "normal" with actual personality would be not giving this ship enough justice. I can't tell much rn cuz I forget 90% of the stuff i make up unless i write it down BUT all i'll say is that

I like to imagine Jun and Kusuo having a calm and nice relationship, lots of quality time spent playing video games or going out to get some ramen together. Kusuo gets to have someone more usual by his side and Jun isn't likely to be bothered by Ken when Kusuo is around (:3).

and yeah, they do get another scene together in volume zero! how lovely! the christmas episode is also one of the reasons i find the ship cool but even despite the sillies having canon scenes and illustrations together i like it simply for fun.

canon crossover ships are cool and epic

my final words: go read ohs its fully in japanese online and 5 chapters are in english so far.

seriously go read it the fandom doesn't exist its really lonely.

and if you care abt our hero studies u can motivate me in the ask box, gimme a kick on the butt so i go and translate this work again after like a year or more of hiatus

[melodrangea]

MORE KILIK HCS PLEASEE😭!! I am in NEED.

when one does not want to write, one does it anyways and picks a favorite character!!

i'm not sure if you meant as a person or as a significant other so the voices are telling me both!!

(and again I'm a faker that hasn't read the manga so if I contradict something I apologize)

----------------------------------------------------

Kilik Rung Headcannons

As a person

-southern boy!!! nobody can convince me that Kilik isn't from Tennessee or Louisiana

-probably has a lot of fighting experience, always throwing himself into martial arts, jujitsu and even boxing!

-he has a commanding yet calming presence, making him impossible to ignore and a shoe in for being a meister

-if he wasn't a meister he would most likely be a police officer

-odd one but I feel like he doesn't like fruit, don't know why but do not go near this man with a fruit

-i love him and I'm sure he eats his veggies but with all the candy he consumes natural sugar just doesn't taste as good

-is the total opposite of only child syndrome! he definitely has older siblings

-also is a total family man, loves his mom, loves his grandmom, is always home for sunday dinners etc...

-doesn't have a favorite music genre, listens to a little bit of everything but prefers music with a more upbeat vibe. will go from Bon Jovi to Sia to the my little pony theme song, he does not care

-early riser!! sorry to night people but Kilik is up with the sun and in bed before 10 pm

-will not admit it to anyone but Kilik is the biggest pokemon fan you will ever meet. knows all of the different shows, regions, regional variants, gym leaders etc...

-ironically can't stand pokemon go since he let the twins play once and they almost walked into the middle of the street for a shiny lotad...

-speaking of twins i also believe that he legally adopted them when he turned 18 since they don't have parents ( i think lol )

-you best believe the first time they made him fathers day cards he cried

-will obvs let the twins decide if they want to keep being weapons or not. like if one day thunder says she wants to quit Kilik would be totally fine with it

-he is unfortunately a gym rat, you want to find this guy just look for the barbells, he doesn't work out for looks, more that he wants to better himself and become stronger

-is a canonic tired parent cause I said so

-listen he loves fire and thunder like his own children but mans is TIRED

(went on a lil rant there so onto romantic headcannons)

As a significant other

-bro is seriously SLEPT ON

-honestly one of the best partners for people of all different personalities

-if you're more shy and introverted he is very encouraging and ngl appreciates the peace and quiet

-if you're loud and rowdy so is he!

-if you wanna be a bit of both even better for the guy!

-also does not have much of a preference appearance wise

-if you want to date Kilik Rung you do have to prepare to be around the twins a lot

-he will never ask or try to shove you into a parenting role with them but the twins are just always around unless Kim and Jackie or Harvard are watching them (Ox cannot be trusted to nurture children...)

-he can cook a little bit, its nothing like mama's sunday dinner but he can get by

-he is very reliable, you need help with homework? he'll try his best or find someone else to help you. you need help picking out an outfit? not quite his thing but will give you an honest opinion (with lots an lots of compliments)

-it's hard to have a bad day with Kilik around, he's just so calming and uplifting that it's hard to feel bad for yourself around him! but on the offchance of a rough day he will do whatever you need to make you feel better. he can go on for hours about how he finds you absolutely perfect or he could sit and listen to you rant with a hot beverage

-cuddlebug!!!! you can't escape him! he has a spidey sense for you being in a 200 foot radius! you're always either holding hands or he has his arm on you somehow

-will also not let you carry anything! he knows you can carry your bag but why should you when he's right there??

-you and Kilik would be one of those couples that genuinely seems to always just coexist in perfect harmony

-you're not apart that often because he doesn't do much that would make you want to be apart anyways

-one of Kilik's flaws is unfortunately his adherence to logic, to him there is nothing that can't be solved, there isn't any emotion or insecurity that doesn't have a reason

-so he might accidently mansplain your feelings to you a bit (he's too used to gentle parenting I'm afraid)

-would so be a sucker for matching anything (though i think he'd prefer rings or earrings)

-most dates would either be things like hiking or study dates! with the occasional spontaneous dance class ;)

---------------------------------------------------

and that's all folks!

god i love Kilik sm

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi Ms Raven! I just wanted to ask what're your thoughts on the new twst manga chapter?? Personally, I'm not the biggest fan, but give credit where credit is due; the art is gorgeous and I love the Leona's characterization. I still have gripe with the MC change and I still feel it was unnecessary, I feel Yuuken would've been the same in the role if he wasn't replaced by Yuuka. I can't help but think that the MC change was for self insert purposes than anything else 💀

I believe I went over my initial impression of the Episode of Savanaclaw’s first chapter in this post. To summarize: pretty art (especially the eyelashes) and nice visual storytelling that expands on what the visual novel format of the game laid out as groundwork. (However, if I had one minor qualm with the artwork, it’s that I don’t believe the mangaka’s style necessarily suits TWST in all scenarios; for example, sometimes the characters make expressions that, while beautiful, make them appear like completely different characters for like a single panel.) Overall, I thought the chapter was pretty good, if not a tad bit long due to all of the exposition and recap we had to go through again.

One element that I didn’t really discuss in that reaction post was our new Yuu, Yuuka Hirasaka. This is largely because I personally don’t have an vested interest in the Yuus 💦 and quite honestly, the introduction of another one (which replaces a previous one) made me equal parts excited and disappointed. I don’t have anything against a new character, but I’m disappointed that no manga!Yuu will ever receive a fully realized character arc; each one will (assumedly) be cut short to make way for a new Yuu, which means I can never see myself getting invested in one of them (since I know they’ll just go away at the end of the episode). It just doesn’t feel satisfying to me, and I’m moderately concerned about how reintroducing the Yuu and the episodes leading up to the current point in the plot will work for future episodes which get continuously lengthier, more complex, and build on the relationships established in previous episodes.

Yuuka is also just at a point where it’s too early for me to judge whether I like her or not (though I know many are excited at the prospect of a Yuu that is a “strong independent woman that takes no one’s shit”; this seems to be the popular fandom interpretation of her). I’ll reserve my judgment for now; I want to see more of how she interacts with the characters and the world first.

I understand that everyone may have their own reservations about Yuuka (and it’s totally fine if you find yourself not enjoying her), but let’s be careful not to point fingers about it 😅 For all we know, the changing of Yuus per episode could be a very deliberate and story-driven move (a la the popular “time loop” theory). We can’t make assumptions about the intent behind it, especially when we don’t yet have the context of the entire main story being completed.

Additionally, while it may be validating for the (largely) female fanbase that self inserts to have its representation in a female Yuu in official TWST media, I don’t think the change was just to appease a demographic. It may be such that it opens up interesting avenues for engagement with Leona (who, canonically, “respects women”). As I’ve stated in a previous post though, I don’t think the change will be that big, but it could expand more on Leona’s character by demonstrating how exactly he interacts with women whom he supposedly “respects”. We’ve only really had vague information and fandom speculation on this point, and I, for one, welcome any and all new lore 😌

Yuuka offers a slightly different perspective than Yuuken because of little details like this, and that is one advantage of changing the lenses through which we view the story every episode. Again, not everyone will be happy with the direction of the manga, but let’s try to look at the positives ^^ Lots of Yuus also means lots of possibilities, yeah?

[cowardlybean]

who is ur favorit mop character and what are your overly indepth and unusual and probably projecting head canons for them :)

-🩻

OK OK so as for favorites I can Never choose a favorite character for mp100 but I guess I do have subcategories? Reigen is my favorite to beat up, Tome is just like me for real, Mob is my comfort character, etc etc.

So I'll go with Tome for now bc she's so me its unreal (if you want feel free to send an ask about my favorite things about reigen whump though too :3)

Tome is a speculative biology fan. Aliens and supernatural beings? SPEC BIO. She wants to understand how they work and function because isn't that just cool as hell?? And the way people's perceptions around them are, like stories of UFOs and bigfoot sightings and stuff. It's definitely not a shallow "I like it because its cool" thing!!

Adding to this: Tome working at Spirits and Such is just like me getting a position at the aquarium for some time bc a) I got to examine the thing I'm obsessed with up close and learn a ton and b) I didn't exactly get hands on opportunities handed right to me :( I wasn't actively pushed away like she was but it was still similar in that it was practically a dream come true to work there LMAO

Tome used to be afraid of growing up for a while. The telepathy club took advantage of all the free time they had in middle school to just goof off and be kids, knowing they won't really have that time in high school. And she continues to feel this way when Reigen is down to earth with her, telling her he has no powers. Its like getting told she needs to grow up, even the whimsical thing she finds interest in is serious. But when she learns her friends have strange interests in their free time, and reflects on how Reigen is a 30 year old man who totally goofs off at work (and later I think he'd confess how he just started the job because he was bored of his old one), and how Serizawa still has his hobbies, she realizes she's still allowed to be childish and carefree even later in life. I think a lot about how that ties in to Reigen putting importance on the fact the kids are just that: kids.

Tome still gets paranoid about the creature from the forest in the Reigen manga. How it was nearly indiscernible from Reigen at first. She has a safe question (I used to have one when I was really paranoid) relating to the alien encounter.

anyway yeah she's just like me when I was in middle school ngl LMAO

[kramaku]

A little "my opinion on Izuocha" rent

It's originally, at its core, not a bad ship. Pretty cute, even.

So it's hard to explain why i dislike Izuocha as a bkdk skipper bc people automatically assume im just hating on a straight couple or that I'm misogynistic.

I literally hated katsuki and shipped izuocha the first 3 seasons. They were so cute. But I kept being disappointed. It's entirely one sided.

Horikoshi said on multiple occasions that he reads romance a lot. And he's very good at writing characters and psychology. He knows how to write romance. Yet here he is, writing a superhero comic but never gave us a scene where Izuku risks his life for her? Never protects her? Every single time there's a villain attack and Horikoshi has the perfect set up to write a very romantic scene, he immediately SEPARATES THEM. USJ attack? He was with Tsuyu and Mineta. At the training camp? He fought alone. And when he joins Ochaco's group? He leaves her 5 minutes later. Katsuki rescue mission? Could've have Ochaco coming too in order to prevent Izuku from doing something too risky (like Iida did) it would've been cute. But no she wasn't there either.

We got a lil romance moment between them at the provisional licence exam but IT WAS FREAKING TOGA THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

Besides, when Ochaco (so actually Toga...) fell down, he didn't have that "I want to protect the girl im in love with" moment, no he had a moment where he thought about his regrets and past mistakes that caused Kacchan and All Might prejudice.

The whole chisaki arc? Oh. Surprise. It's also one sided. Ochaco only comes towards the end, terrified at Nighteye's vision of Izuku's death. Nothing from Izuku again. Season 5 Uraraka saves Izuku from blackwhip going out of control with Shinso. The war? Oh a war! What a good way to bring in scenes of them sacrificing for each other- well no they separate AGAIN at the very BEGINNING and it's Katsuki's redemption being upfront.

Then the vigilante arc... Izuku talked about wanting to protect the smiles of his family and classmates but never Ochaco in particular... it would've nice to have her on a panel alone at that moment but no...

All those missed opportunities just gave me so much frustration and disappointment that I don't ship them anymore. I absolutely love Izuku with all my heart he's my favorite character but Ochaco deserves someone who looks at her the same way she looks at them. And it's not Izuku.

So sorry but I'm tired of the typical Shounen (male) main character totally ignoring the girl who's in love with him the entire series meanwhile she can't be more devoted to him but suddenly at the last chapter they're married. Like seriously ? Its just bad writing to me.

But a lot of people still believe it's a very good ship because there's "moments". Like when Izuku blushes around her... 90% of the time it's because she's in his personal space, very close and it's making him a lil embarrassed. Things like that.

There's their conversation after Ochaco's speech at UA where he thanks her. He compliments her hair style and other things out of nowhere it was I think the only time of the series my Izuocha heart felt a little satisfaction. It was adorable. But then they talked about wanting to save villains so it stopped there.

At the final war, last opportunity for Horikoshi to finally do something with that supposed to be canon ship, we get Katsuki thinking of his idol All Might, his dreams to be a hero and his childhood with Izuku as his dying thoughts, we get Izuku going feral seeing his corpse but for Ochaco we get... that

On the 393th chapter, the last one that was released (small spoiler) we can see Ochaco thinking of Izuku. It's again one sided, Izuku isn't even looking at her

but ive seen a lot of people saying this is Horikoshi "putting it all together and making the ship canon" and... I don't think so...? This is just yet another shot of Ochaco being in love, one amongst idk many others since the beginning of the manga it's not new at all..

Now give me a shot of Izuku thinking of OCHACO when he speaks about love. Then I'll start thinking it's maybe reciprocated. Now? Absolutely not.

I send absolutely no hate to Izuochas, if you ship them no problem but I just wanted by this post to explain why me and so many other people don't want them to end up together. It's not idk... Gay ship obsession or misogyny (even if Ochaco does receives a lot of undeserved hate for these reasons...). There's just nothing interesting to the ship to me.

It's one sided. It's... boring. Just boring.

Now I know bkdk won't be canon because well.. homophobia is a thing and it's a Shonen so I'm not dreaming much but I dont want Izuocha to end up together. Not with their current dynamic at least.

[kaleidoscopic-quiddity]

as someone who's personally never been a big dad for one fan, why don't you like it? 👀

obligatory disclaimer that ppl can headcanon/theorise whatever they want, im fully aware that AUs are just ppl having fun and dont necessarily reflect what they want to/think will happen in canon, etc etc

okay so, to me dad for one is fundamentally antithetical to who midoriya is as a character and his position within the narrative. midoriya is not a chosen one. yes he was literally chosen by all might to inheret ofa, but midoriya is different from a lot if shounen protagonists in that there was nothing inherently special about him other than his heroic spirit. he doesnt have a demon inside him like naruto, or saiyan abilities like goku, or even a hyper genuius intellect like senkuu. midoriya is literally Just Some Guy who happened to get noticed by all might. which is actually what makes his story all that more powerful. yes, midoriya being quirkless ends up working to his advantage with ofa and the whole 'last holder' thing does kinda feel like destiny but ultimately, all might chosing midoriya wasnt predetermined. there wasn't some grand prophecy or legend, there was no fates whispering in all might's ear, its just that in that moment with the sludge villain, all might saw midoriya be a hero and knew that he was the right person to inheret ofa.

objectively i get the appeal of 'ofa, a quirk born out of defiance to afo, is passed onto his hero son who takes him down' as like this cool narrative parallel but to me it undermines the whole basis of midoriya's character. he didnt get involved with ofa and afo and all might because of some hidden deeper connection between them all linking their destinies or whatever. midoriya is involed with everything that hes involved in because regardless of the circumstances of his birth, regardless of whether or not he got a quirk or met all might or got into UA, he was always going to be a hero no matter what.

with shigaraki, the whole sereniputous narrative thing of 'the grandson of one of the ofa users is groomed by afo to be the 'next him' and is the super villian nemisis of the current ofa user' works because shigaraki's defining character trait, his core theme, his 'origin' if you will, of hatered, is literally a product of the relationship between ofa and afo. shigaraki would literally not be the character that he is without his life, before it even began, being shaped by ofa and afo. but midoriya's origin is completely seperate from that, his origin is that of being a hero, no matter what, before he even knows a single thing about ofa and afo, before his life is shaped by them in any meaningful way.

i think there are two moments in bnha that make it blatantly obvious to me that dad for one was never going to happen.

first is back during the sports festival when, after hearing todoroki's backstory, midoriya kinda breaks the 4th wall a bit and thinks 'if we were in a comic book, he'd be the main character'. and the thing is? thats totally true!! yes 'kid with no powers in a world where everyone has powers' is a quintessential shounen manga story set up, but its not a super-hero story set up, as far as western hero comics (which horikoshi obviously takes massive inspiration from) go, todoroki with his tragic backstory and special dual-power would be the main character, which is what makes it all the more poignant that midoriya is instead. yes he inherets this great legendary power from the greatest hero ever and gets embroiled in this centuries long battle between good and evil, but prior to that, theres nothing about midoriya, other than his overwhelming heroism that made all might choose him, which is a choice wholly made by all might rather than some predetermined destiny thing, that makes him a main character.

the second is during the paranormal liberation war when afo tries to steal ofa and critises all might and the other vestiges for allowing the quirk to fall into the 'wrong hands' by ending up with midoriya, who he deems as weak, only for yoichi to defend all might's choice in selecting him as successor and his + the other vestiges' choice to remain within him. that has nothing to do with midoriya being some perfect, narratively appropriate, parallel inspired chosen one, hell its even before the 'you'll probably be the last user because your quirklessness makes you perfect for ofa in a way that quirked people arent' reveal. yoichi and the other vestiges' support and defence of midoriya, just like all might's chosing of him to be his successor, comes from nothing other than the understanding that midoriya is a true hero through and through.

'but leo! doesnt the fact that midoriya is a true hero mean it would be even more poignant if he were the son of the greatest villain ever' i hear you all cry, and the answer is no.

because if midoriya is all for one's son then it makes too much sense that he inhereted ofa. he goes from being this true hero who embodies the will of everything ofa and its users stand for, who is ready to carry on their legacy and offer the world hope in a time of despair, to being the ~perfect~ narrative choice to inheret ofa to fulfil a circle of fate and break a generational curse.

in the canon universe, if all for one is midoriya's dad, midoriya goes from being this character who's sheer conviction to win and save, to be a hero, despite his non-suited circumstances, and nothing else about him, makes all might, who had already planned to go to UA and select a student to be his successor, pick him, out of all possible people, to inheret ofa, to suddenly being the only possible successor. if dfo is true then it doesnt matter that in another life mirio or bakugou or someone else couldve been the 9th user, because by being all for one's son midoriya is put in such a narratively perfect position to inheret ofa that its obvious it was literally never going to be anyone else. which to me, wholly and completely undermines all the poignancy and narrative weight in midoriya, who had absolutely nothing to do with ofa and afo but who was such a genuine hero that all might and the ofa vestiges chose him regardless, being the one to inherent ofa.

so yeah, i dont like dad for one, (and villain deku AUs for pretty much the same reasons), and thats why im convinced it'll never happen. because for all his many flaws horikoshi definitely knows how to craft a narrative, and i think hes both too smart and too good a writer to undermine his own protagonist's origin like that.

[sneezemonster15]

Hi, this is like a rant if you don’t mind. I know you’re more into the manga and I am too as well, but still I will forever be petty about SP adding so many unnecessary scenes and fillers in the anime….especially since more people watch the anime than reading the actual manga. Thanks to SP, now I need to constantly see viral tweets of self-insert dudebros making fun of Sasuke in the anime’s VOTE1 scene when Sasuke gets punched and his face got animated so horridly by the animators. I know there were some SNS shippers in the staff, but I won’t be surprised at all if there were animators who hated Sasuke. I also was tired of the over-glorification of Itachi and the animators trying to portray Shikamaru and Chouji being Naruto’s best friend since day 1.

At this point for whatever content SP made, I only like the ost, openings, endings, and the 20th anniversary video. And still part of me kinda wish for a reboot of the series(minus Boruto sequel) in the future, and for this time the animators stay true to the manga, even though I know it won’t probably happen.

Heh, it's okay. Rant on. I don't mind.

Oh yeah. Sure, I like manga. And I am glad I read it. Kishi is a wonderful artist. But if I had to discover Naruto all over again for the first time, I would still choose the anime over manga first. I like the moving medium. When I was watching the anime, when I didn't know what fillers were or what was canon vs non canon, there were things that didn't totally make sense to me. Gradually, in the first part itself, I understood simply watching it that certain episodes were fillers, that didn't really pertain to the central story. So I went online and checked if my hunch was right and it was. Even an anime/manga noob like me could tell what made sense in the narrative and what didn't. Even though I watched almost all the fillers, because I wanted to at the time, it was easy to point out what was largely canon and what wasn't.

Yes, there are some mixed canon episodes which are more confusing. But even then, the story had a huge impact on me. I was moved beyond words. And yes, SP certainly tried to hetishize the story along with Naruto's character, but what are a few tweaks here and there when the story itself is written to have such a large impact on the reader? The anime translated manga well to a large extent.

Fans who pay attention to the story can easily make it out honestly. Yes, some of the shit SP did was lame and biased. I don't approve it but it certainly doesn't phase me. I got Kishi's story, I experienced it to its full extent, even with anime. And it was an unparalleled experience.

Sasuke is certainly resented by some animators. I saw his design also used as fodder in the war arc. Sometimes when it's a money or time issue, animators use the same or similar designs for fodder, but Sasuke is one of the main characters, they should have been more careful about it. Itachi is glorified even in the manga. It's only Sasuke and Naruto who speak up against him or confront him. The characters in the story glorify his character more than the studio lol. And even Naruto and Sasuke end up glorifying him, defering to him or forgiving him. The Shikamaru and Chouji episodes are for fans who like side characters and want to see more of their content but of course since Naruto is the protag, his character will determine how relevant they will be, which leads to writers writing Naruto out of character to suit their objective. Of course, they could have done it smartly without making Naruto ooc, but good storytelling takes time and talent, which perhaps was in deficit at the time, studios work at a breakneck pace. I honestly don't know what the hiring procedure is like, I mean if SJ can hire someone like Esaka...

I don't think there will be an anime reboot. Honestly they should have stopped at Shippuden. But I think they have received their lesson. Kishi doesn't seem enthused about Boruto and even diehard anime fans mock Boruto. I don't think anyone wants an extension of this franchise anymore except for select Borutards.

[roobylavender]

what are your thoughts on the naruhina dynamic? I adore hinata, we don't often get characters like her

i LOOOOVE naruhina omfg they were my day ones when i first got into naruto.. i used to enjoy fluffier ships at the time so they perfectly fit my modus operandi lol. i think it's a shame how underwritten their relationship is in main canon (in the sense that they don't get as much page time) because the set up is so good and the few moments they do share with each other are incredibly potent. the pain arc was utterly life changing for me and while i loathe the way the anime generally tends to portray most of the female cast this was one occasion where its expansion on the manga was actually so well executed and remains seared in my mind to this day (please watch from 2:06 of this amv it makes me feel CRAZY). unfortunately the ball was totally dropped with neji's death and instead of adapting hinata's full THREE page monologue to naruto the anime reduced it down to one line that she's consistently been mocked for even though her intentions in the aftermath of that event were so sincere.. i'm always baffled by people's hatred of her because they seem to act like she's timid or quiet on purpose as if she wasn't abused by her father for half of her life. and then they act like she's stupid and can only think about her feelings for naruto at the expense of everything else. but if it was anyone out there on the battlefield watching someone they love get absolutely pulverized would they not do something about it too regardless of their own ability in comparison? i don't think that moment ever came down to logic and i don't think it even had to. comparatively when she made a remarkable display of composure and emotional strength in response to her cousin's death everyone laughed at her for subsequently accepting the smallest bit of comfort (and don't even get me started on how neji fans feel about her generally.. they direct more hatred to that poor girl than they do her father lmao it's insane). it's simply bizarre the expectations she's held to and the consistency with which she's underestimated because she's capable of a lot emotionally and the development is there! and a lot of people act like if naruto really loved her he would have reciprocated during the main narrative but i always argue it was unrealistic for any relationship between the teen characters to be actualized during the main narrative because they were literally at war.. i'm an avid hater of the last admittedly but that's because i think it squanders the potential the main narrative immediately set up with naruto and hinata theoretically bonding over their grief and desire to take action to ensure nothing like what they went through ever happened again. i've always dreamed of post-war naruto commencing his education in leadership and diplomacy under tsunade's tutelage and that occasionally entailing long days in the library reading over historical scrolls and the like that happen to sometimes be on the same shelf as a scroll on the history of cursed seals, which of course hinata begins to look into after the war because she wants this branch clan business over and done with for good and if there's a way to remove those seals forever she'll find it. the idea of the two of them on awkward library non-dates that eventually segue into something more and develop a rapport and friendship between them that can bloom into love is simply so special to me like urgh they make me Weepy. i truly love them so so much and most of my naruto fanfiction is actually about them lol i do think a lot of it is cringe and over the years i tried to rewrite some of it but if you're interested in reading all of it is here

[wind-becomes-lightning]

i’m not anon but RANT AB HIM ENABLING YOU !!!!

hello same brain @ahhhhhwhat :D

Alright, first and foremost I have to admit of course that there is a certain appeal of his Boruto design ( and I do mean Kishimoto's design, Ikemoto is.. uh... please don't draw Konohamaru, thank you.) He's grown up very nicely what can I say. So it definitely started this way and I tried to deny it for a while and get over it (like he was baby in the og naruto! I should not .. think like THIS about him, he is a child!) to no avail LOL Anyway, i started thinking more about him and now I have manyy thoughts.

I have at hing for teacher characters if that isnt already clear. Kakashi has branded my brain in such a way that now mentors are just CHEFS KISS to me? So he already had that uh going for him apart from his ... looks.

Konohamaru is in many ways portrayed to be a double to Naruto, with the loud mouth, prank personality that wants to become Hokage, but I think he is much more uh- serious about things. Not saying Naruto wasn't serious about his dreams, he really was, but Konohamaru seems much more grounded, I don't know how to explain that, its just a feeling. I think his Hokage dream was for a while only because he idolised his grandfather, and later because he idolised naruto. IN my mind I'm not sure if he REALLY wants to be Hokage or if he just wants to be like the people in his life that mean a lot to him.

Naruto in general is a big influence on him. People often compare it to the rleationship Naruto has with Iruka, but I think that one is much more parentla, while Naruto and Konohamaru are only 3 years apart and more like brothers. I mean we know Konohamaru is a total Naruto fanboy from day 1 pretty much and still is. (HC time, I think Konohamaru actually had his first crush ON naruto, in the same way i think Tenzo's first crush was Kakashi, just complete admiration yk?)

OK before I go into headcanon territory I want to talk about Boruto age Konohamaru. I love his grown up design, thats not a secret. I love love love the choice that he looks closer to his grandfather the more he ages. I chose to believe that was done on purpose! (one more reason why the ikemoto design suucks). I love how the tail end of his scarf got shorter but the scarf got bigger and ffluffier. I know people have commented on his eye colour changing to this dark blue colour, but I love it. It fits him so well I'm glad they did that. He looks great.

He should be SO OP. He SHOULD! He can use fire and wind, is shown using different katon techniques, Asuma's chakra blades (before Mirai get them? Or others? I think it was never explained) and the rasengan of course. He has a summoning contract with the usual Sarutobi apes AND the toads of mount myoboku. He can use his ape summon the same way his grandfather did, transform with him etc. But he never gets anything to do! (or rarely). THey are so focused on letting the students shine that he often just gets knocked out or is not present. The Boruto anime canon at least lets him do some stuff, but the manga makes him absolutely useless for no good reason. LIke am I still pissed that in anime canon when mitsuki goes missing shikamaru tells Konohamaru not to look FOOR HIS OWN STUDENT because he is TOO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED.... SHIKAMARU... like what the fuuuuuuuuuuuu- (how shikamaru and naruto can sit there and tell him oh yeah, its just YOUR DAMN STUDENT, but others will take care of it its fine (namely like... a few 12 year old genins) is beyond me and i understand that they are older now but fucking hell shikamaru will you take a hard look at yourself? and i understand thats done so that the child characters get something to do but it makes nooo logical sense and pisses me off beyond believe.)

He genuinly cares for Boruto a lot. I mean he cares for all his students (as all the teachers in naruto do, see my long rant a while back about how much I love the PLATONIC relationship of teacher student in naruto as a whole), but Boruto and him have a closer relationship for obvious reasons. It's funny when you notice how often Boruto calls him "nii-chan" instead of "sensei" and he does not correct him. I mean sometimes he DOES correct him, but often enough he also forgets, because he is just too used to it. I think the idea that they were togethre since Boruto was born, that Naruto was like entrusting his first born son to Konohamaru is just lovely. I also think its great that it is him who teaches Boruto the rasengan. I mean Naruto teaching his son would have been a great bonding moment too, but I just love the chain of teachers teaching their students continues like that.

Apart from that you just know he loves Mirai. We don't see them interact all too often which is a shame, but you just know he is like incredibly protective of her too. if you wanna theorise the fact that he uses Asuma's chakra blades and eventually Mirai does you could easily think that he might have taught her. Actually I'm going to hc that now ok bye.

Headcanons under cut because this is already so long

It is heavily implied that both his parents are ANBU, so in my mind, his father (who i yet need a name for), Asuma's older brother, was incredibly talented as a shinobi and entered anbu early (not as early as Kakashi and Itachi, but early). He was supposed to be the clan head after Hiruzen and was the golden boy child, but then he realised he would much rather have an anbu career. As such, he gave over his right to clan head to Asuma (which leads to its whole other can of worms for Asuma, who we are not talking about here, but he wasnt as talented and was at odds with his dad a lot and generally just wasn't as great as his brother and suddenly he had so much responsibility?? terrrible). He then met his wife also in ANBU and Konohmaru was born, while both parents remained high ranking ANBU members.

As such, Konohamaru was raised by sitters nannies and tutors. Thats not because his parents didnt love him or want him, but because they were so very busy and thought well he would be in good hands. So his only real connection was to his grandfather and while Hiruzen was vrey busy all the time as well, you know how grandparents are with grandchildren. Hiruzen loved that boy from the moment he opened his eyes yk? So the first person Konohmaru admired was his grandfather, who like in many ways was more parent to him than his parents. THat of course until Naruto came around.

In many ways as a kid he was probably a little like Damian in Spy Family. Someone who was loudly telling everything who his important grandfather is to get attetion to mask how lonely he really felt. But he found two good friends that actually did like him for who he is, moegi and udon, and they stuck together well until where we are now in Boruto. I believe they did not care for his heritage quite as much as most the tutors did, Naruto of course didn't either, and that made him become the person he is today. If he didnt have them he might be a different, more arrogant version (And maybe that would be fun exploring in an AU)

Oh and Asuma! The perfect uncle. Idk, i just see them hanging out when Asuma has time. Asuma telling him about missions he has been on, promising Konohamaru to teach him in wind chakra usage. I can see Konohamaru teasing him about Kurenai and everything. IN my AU all the sarutobis call him "maru (chan or kun depending on levels of teasing him)" Asuma included.

in my AU he leaves the village for a while in his twenties, sort of like Asuma did, mostly to get away from.. uh.. the Oc i made for him that sort of broke his heart OOPS, but also to sort of define himself. There is a lot of conflicting feelings in his history, especially towards his grandfather. You gotta grapple with a person who has done bad stuff (even if they meant well) but never to YOU and that you cant help but miss but also are angry at. Thats a lot to work through. He comes back and becomes a teacher.WOO!

I think he fights like Hiruzen. Its hard to say because Hiruzen has one fight and then dies, but in my head their fighting styles are incredibly similar. It would make sense. Hiruzen taught jirayia, jirayia taught naruto, Naruto taught Kononohamaru. I think that just makes the resemblence of him to his grandfather even stronger. Tsunade has definitely felt nostalgic seeing him fight at least once. I also believe he can mix the wind and the fire when he wants do make megaaa fire ball.

Ive already kind of mentioned it above but I dont believe he really wants to be Hokage. Idk, i Just dont know, maybe he will be and I wouldnt complain, but it feels like to me as a kid he just said it because it gave him attention (a little like naruto) and as an adult he just says it because well its been with him for so long. I htink he is very content with Naruto being hokage.

I also think he was offered the place of clan head again once he turned 18, even though his parents said no to it. Because Asuma had died and mirai was still so tiny. But while he agreed to sort of be the stand in if necessariy and go to village meetings, he was gonna give the responsibility to mirai as soon as she was old enough, because it was her right.

yea. uh.. thats it! You see I love him a lot which is why I give him a very very dramatic love relationship to prove my love adhsflaksdf

[dominoblues]

WORLD-BUILDING SERIES #2 DOMINO - PART 1

I had the most fun making up my own version of Domino. This is what I've been using as a backdrop for every thing I create in the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe. I've been working on this for many years and now I feel confident enough to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it!

童実野市 (DOMINO-SHI)

Kanji: 童 -> child; 実 -> seed, fruit; 野 -> area, field. It can be translated as 'The place of young seeds'.

Throughout Japan and to the people living in the city, Domino is also known as 'the city of chances'.

Domino is part of a larger area, the Autonomous Prefecture of Domino, 'DOMINO JICHI KEN' -> 童実野 • 自治県

One of the hardest parts was to choose a place in Japan without altering the existing boundaries too much. At first I thought it could have been anywere close to Tokyo, actually be a part of Tokyo itself but I wasn't happy with it. I wanted more, I wanted a place that was thriving on its own without the influence of the Capital. Takahashi-sensei, when he introduced Domino, wrote that Domino is 'a place that could be anywhere'. So I started studing the map of Japan, the existing Prefectures. One thing I knew for sure was that I needed a place close to the water, enclosed in a bay. After many trials I finally found the place i was looking for.

I settled for a place that was midway between Tokyo and Osaka, it is far enough from the other big cities and in a setting that could have allowed it to grow into the metropolis that was introduced to us. The place is in a part of the real Aichi Prefecture on Mikawa Bay, in a land that covers the real Higashi (East) Miwaka region on the Tokaido line, surrounded by mountains, where the actual cities of Toyohashi, Toyokawa, Gamagori, Tahara, Shinshiro and part of Shizuoka Prefecture (Kosai) are.

Below is a geographical map with the boundaries of Domino-ken on Domino Bay.

Some facts about Domino-ken.

Area: 1256.83 km² (total) - 631.6 km² (habitable) Population: 5,225,538 Density: 4,100/km² Prefectural tree: Japanese cypress. Prefectural flower: Japanese gentian. Prefectural bird: Kentish plover.

This is a closer look at Domino-ken and its subdivisions.

A thing where I definately distanced myself from the manga canon is that in original, Domino has the attribute of "town" with the kanji 町 read as 'cho'. This denomination is used in the context of small municipalities, whereas for bigger cities it's used the term "city" with the kanji 市, read as 'shi'. Because i wanted Domino to be a big city comparabale to Osaka or Nagoya, I had to 'upgrade' it from Domino-cho to Domino-shi.

Domino-ken is divided into 5 cities. Domino-shi 童実野市 Genkai-shi 玄海市 (city of the border) Kozaki-shi 神崎市 (divine promontory) Shimohara-shi 下原市 (lower field) Moriyama-shi 森山市 (forest mountain)

Domino-shi is divided into 23 wards.

Coming up with the names of the wards was tough but also a lot of fun. This is extremely useful for me to help me give more context to the events that I write. In the next entries i will talk more about the single wards. For now here is a table that sums them up.

Finally, this is the Prefectural Flag of Domino-ken.

The emblem of the flag is made of the katakana letters: 'to' ト, 'mi' ミ and 'no' ノ, made to look like a domino tile with the number 7 which is a symbol of luck.

I had lots of fun designing this. Of course, I'm not a designer so you'll probably notice a lot of mistakes but I'm so proud of the concept I created and how I executed it. Really I'm pouring my blood and soul into Domino Blues and I don't regret it a little!

This is all for now. Thank you for reading this, I hope it was interesting to you as it was exciting for me to come up with all of this. I'll post more things in the future about my world-building if you'd like to know more behind-the-scene content for my projects. Believe me, there's a lot more!