#maybe this is why he’s always shown reading manga

[dickcheneyshousepet]

coach ukai occupies such an interesting narrative position in haikyuu. he’s a lot like what nick carraway is to the great gatsby. he’s not the main character by any stretch. the events of his life are not the substance of the show. still, he is our window into the narrative. the matches are accompanied by his commentary and his narration. he is what bridges the gap between the narrative and the meta-narrative. he starts out as an onlooker but ends up getting dragged into the thick of the story until he’s too emotionally invested to leave. he’s a reader he’s a narrator he’s a character he’s everything to me

[koralinewrites]

Hello, love!! I see you on my blog all the time and I'm eternally grateful for your support!

(✿⁠)

I'd like to request whatever (headcannons, a drabble or whatever) on Shuu and Reiji's relationship as children. I'm a huge advocate for this platonic ship and I love seeing Reiji actually get to act like a younger brother. (Like either in the past when they were children or he's seriously hurt and unable to function enough.) Take your time with this, dear!!

AHHHH-! I am SO grateful to get an ask by YOU, I love your stuff! I know you said to take my time but I always wanna answer asks the same day so-

As for Shu and Reiji, I don’t know much about them in canon so it’ll mostly be headcanons-

Shu and Reiji as Children

What we DO know in canon, though, is that Reiji despises Shu for getting his mother’s attention while Reiji was ignored. If I’m not mistaken, this is what led to him calling Shu lazy (coupled with the fact that he actually is), as everything was handed to him on a silver platter. What we also know is that Reiji worked hard to get his mother’s attention, which I’m assuming led to why he’s so uptight about everything. 

Feel free to correct me if you guys know more about them- I’d love to learn.

What I want to focus on is the interaction between these two before Reiji started to resent Shu. Or, before that resentment grew out of hand.

I’ve read the Young Blood manga, which does give us a slight glimpse into their relationship. Specifically, one scene where both Shu and Reiji are looking at figures on a map of sorts and laughing together (I’ll include it below). Meaning they were never always as hostile as they are now.

Here’s the headcanons I have:

When Reiji would get nightmares when younger, he wouldn’t bother his mother and would go to Shu

Shu would reluctantly let him sleep in his bed, and they would be found like that in the morning

So cute 🥹

Like I said, in Young Blood we’re shown them looking at a map with figures on it together

In the context of the manga, we’re shown this after Subaru tells Shu how he’s surprised at how cunning he is (how he can think of plans for a situation quickly)

I like to think that the two would bond over strategic games like chess, which we know Reiji already enjoys

To take it even further, Shu could’ve been the one to teach Reiji chess in the first place

They bonded over these types of things because Reiji would’ve thrown himself into academics to impress his mother, while Shu would’ve had to be smart because he was the heir

Which is why Shu doesn’t try in school as a small act of defiance while Reiji continues to be uptight to get attention he needed as a child

BUT- that’s for another post

I cannot for the life of me figure out what the two are doing, but we can tell that the map has some sort of grid on it

It reminded me of a DnD map of sorts, so maybe it could be that

Though I doubt the two would play DnD

Any suggestions as to what it was would be appreciated

And there we have it! I don’t have many headcanons about the two because they are the two Sakamaki brothers I know the least about, so if any of the stuff I said is proved wrong in canon, or if you just wanna share something about them, please do!! I’d love to learn more about them!

The manga panel I reference:

[ghostyolive]

I will always be so mad that FMA:B gave Greed a different dialogue with Bradley after the Devil's Nest massacre than in the manga because it feels like it just changes his characterization to be so much plainer and more cartoonishly assholish. Like they really wanted to rope you into thinking he was a bad guy so that his twist of caring about people would feel stronger, but it just makes me sad. In the VIZ Media Fullmetal Edition translation, the exchange goes:

Greed: "Whoa there Bradley. How could you do this to them? They were my people."

Bradley: "Feeling pity for your pawns? How pathetic."

Greed: "Pity?! Do you forget who the hell you're dealing with?! I am greed incarnate!! Money, women, henchmen, everything-- they're my possessions! They're all mine! I won't let you take away what belongs to me!!"

...And the exchange in the English dub of FMA:B goes:

Greed: "Whoa, that was a little excessive. Killing me is one thing, but they're not coming back."

Bradley: "Pitying the lost lives of your pawns? Pathetic."

Greed: "Excuse me, are you senile? Did you forget who I am, old man? I'm the living incarnation of greed! Those weren't my friends, Bradley. They were my possessions! Money, women, henchmen-- They're all possessions!"

And that difference is absolutely insane! His manga version is in some ways more obvious and in some ways more ambiguous about his care for his friends. On the one hand, he staunchly refuses to pity them. (I would say that this is because he respects their right to self-determination and what they signed on for when they followed him, but that's almost pure speculation.) But on the other, he specifically refers to them as "[his] people." This really effectively toes the line between multiple meanings-- "[his] people" colloquially would refer to friends, but it also emphasizes ownership. It sets up his arc of acknowledging friendship while also not detracting from his care for the Devil's Nest gang.

The anime just makes him... indifferent and snarky? On a surface level, it makes his character arc far more clear as somebody learning to love and care about others, but it also really devalues his experiences with his gang. I guess I can almost understand why people just forget about them aside from the bit with Bido when they only watch FMA:B considering that it absolutely glosses over just about every part of the manga that makes you care about them. Why should people consider those random guys in the beginning when he makes it clear that he never cared about them? /s

And it's more than just the writing that I have a problem with. Even the animation is so distinctly different from what's shown in the manga that the tone ends up absolutely flipped on his head.

(Note: this online scan doesn't use the official translation) Greed's expression here can best be described as one of pure rage. I think you could maybe loosely interpret the first panel as a grin, but the second panel clears up how he's feeling pretty well. It's especially poignant since the three panels preceding these two entirely obscure his expression. Any calm and collectedness has been shed in the face of his gang's massacre and his eyes are bulging and furious in a way that they haven't been drawn before. And how does the anime handle this absolute gut punch?

Um. Not good, frankly. It's definitely got the wildness of his original expression, but it conveys none of the anger. It throws off what's essentially his greatest display of hypocrisy-- That he only gets angry when his gang is hurt, just like how Ed only gets angry when Al is hurt. Absolutely nothing about his reaction properly conveys rage or frustration, and that honestly just sucks. While episode 13 served as a pretty decent and streamlined recap of chapters 25-28, episode 14 really screwed with some of the moments that made Greed's arc feel so powerful and bittersweet.

Tl;dr Please oh please go read the manga version of og Greed's arc <3

[tokyo-daaaamn-ji-gang]

can i ask why did people genuinely think hanma was the time leaper? i’ve rewatched the anime twice and read the manga and not once have i suspected hanma to be the time leaper.

Ok it's been a while so I might be misremembering some bits now but it got super popular after it was revealed Kisaki wasn't a time leaper. The idea was someone is the second time leaper but it's not Kisaki, so naturally people considered it to be Hanma. And there were a few reasons too (there was also a separate theory about him not being a time leaper but being like a God or some other un human being who knew about the situation. There's a bit of overlap between those two theories.) Also you're gonna find that a lot of these "clues" are really small and don't really mean anything, especially now that we know what happened. But at the time, we were all really reading into everything to try and figure out where the story was going. And everything stacked together seemed to make a lot of sense.

Firstly, Kisaki seemed to know about time leapers existence, which we all kinda assumed meant someone had told him aka a time leaper. With Hanma being the most obvious choice since they were shown to be close and working together a lot.

There was also Hanma's inside cover, which had on top of train tracks, train tracks which were heavily associated with time leaping and Takemichi in the past.

It was also thought that Hanma's boredom could be a hint, like he was bored all the time because he already knew what was going to happen because he'd lived it before. Things got more exciting for him when he met Kisaki, a new face.

And of course there's the story cliff hanger, where most people assumed something important was going to be said/ revealed. Something important like time leaping maybe.

In the final fight he also said this, which I think he was talking about how they made it this far in the fight but at the time it was pointed out that all of them had died in different timelines before. So if he knew then he was probably talking about them surviving death literally.

And of course there was maybe the biggest hint of them all, his name. We already know how Wakui likes to put little hints when choosing their names sometimes so this made a lot of us think the second time leaper could be Hanma.

There was also a few bits to do with dates, I'm not sure if I've remembered them all but these are the ones I do remember, Hanma met kisaki and Takemichi first leaped in July 2005. Then in June 2008 we have both Hanma's main chapter where it jumps forward to him visiting Kisaki and Takemichi doing his 10 year time leap.

Aside from that it was just that he was generally quite a mysterious and suspicious guy. Not telling Kisaki why he's following him, always being around in the arcs, the way he acted etc. And with there not really being any other obvious hints at the time, it made sense he was the one the fandom thought of most as being the second leaper.

[duckiemimi]

jjk 261 leaks

i'm gonna ramble a bit here idk if it'll make sense.

i've always been the biggest advocate of not viewing things black and white in jjk, meaning everything is understandable from the readers' point of view, BUT that doesn't mean that the story itself doesn't have distinct boundaries between what's "good" and "bad" in the narrative. take geto, for example. great character, you can't help but like him, but even then you know he's an antagonist for a reason. the narrative says so, even the characters say so. there's a running theme in jjk where every antagonist (and antagonist-adjacent) character is motivated to control other people's bodies—geto and non-sorcerers (to a lesser extent), kenjaku and his CT, mahito and his CT, sukuna needing to have a host, etc. kenjaku, for the most part, has always been our point of reference when we talk about evil in the story. which is why it's so jarring to see yuuta, of all people, resort to the same thing. for the greater good? okay, let's talk about the do or die of the greater good in jjk.

the greater good in this arc is to stop sukuna to save humanity. but even then, this cause has always been eclipsed by less righteous, personal reasons, like wanting to save megumi, or wanting to fight sukuna. those are the reasons pushed for readers to see, to care about. while understandable (they are human, after all), compared to its contemporaries, jjk isn't really a manga where characters sacrifice their morals for the greater good. in fact (i've mentioned this once), for a structured organization with the goal to protect humanity, humanity itself isn't of much importance in the narrative. the story has always centered around the sorcerers. but that aside, in times of despair (like yuuji in shibuya), they've always shown remorse and regret for the things that they cannot control, hesitation. while there is no altruistic character in the series, no one has ever wanted or willingly suggested anything aligned with puppeteering. (why would they? isn't the cog mentality something we're trying to move past, especially with the machine now destroyed?)

to have yuuta be the first to suggest a plan like this is...jarring. from what's written, sure we can accredit it to his love and understanding for his teacher, but yuuta knows what happened to geto. the cast has seen what kenjaku can do and has done. you could say that yuuta has a history with control (rika, in a way), but i like to think that he's grown since volume 0. could this be a desperate last resort by a panicked child? yeah, maybe. but it barely reads that way. there are too many interpretations to call it that, it isn't convincing enough. this is also the first time we've ever seen gojo referred to as a "monster," despite being untouchable and revered as god-like throughout the manga. there are some panels earlier in the series of the cast being asked what gojo is to them, and most people answered that he's the strongest alone. i don't recall yuuta being asked, so maybe he's thought of this concept of "monstrosity" for a while, but it would've built up better if we were shown some sympathetic sentiments from him prior to this chapter. it would've tied everything together well. alas. thanks for the off-screen growths, timeskip.

while for different reasons (does the end justify the means in this story? what about geto?), the fact of the matter is yuuta has adopted kenjaku's methodology for the greater good. what does that mean for jjk's alignment and ideology? could this be commentary on the dreariness of teeth-gritting reality? maybe. i think this chapter alone has ultimately changed what morality means in the bigger story. after all, it's practically a lawless land right now with everything destroyed. but what kind of message will we end with? is there something that needs to be said, or is there nothing at all?

[pelleas-at-castle-nox]

I'm surprised I haven't really seen anybody talking about the food sourcing theme in dungeon meshi. Like, the very first thing it made me think about when I started reading the manga was like "oh yeah, this really makes you think about food, where it comes from, the work needed to create enough food for one person, let alone a small group, to eat comfortably and nutritiously. Laios even specifically calls out that 'regular' food is also made using shit and dirt, intentionally grounding it in reality and subtly asking the reader to introspect on the food they eat and where it comes from."

Like, it's fair to say kui has the old "world builder's" spirit, it's easy to extrapolate a whole world when you're willing to both ask "how does x mundane task work?" And being willing to give it as fanciful or grounded an answer as you feel is appropriate, food is the central theme, but that sort of thinking extends to every corner of the lore and world building where you can practically begin to trace back a lot of world elements to these basic questions, like "what would happen if there were people who lived for 500 years, what would happen if you fought a creature with two heads" and I think that's really cool-

But like, that core question "where does the food that sustains you come from" is like such a relevant question that we should all be asking ourselves. I suppose it's just that I think about that often, both when I'm world building, and in modern and historical contexts.

In a lot of ways it's alienation of labor, most USAmericans (to keep it at least slightly contained in scope) don't get to know where any of the food they eat actually comes from. At best, you might buy your own groceries and maybe even be able to google some information as to the conditions at the place this food was grown, maybe you're lucky/resourced enough to grow some of your own food in like a garden. At worst you get your food premade and prepackaged and you're even completely divorced from the preparation aspect.

A major symptom of this is clearly shown in dungeon meshi's opening and especially in kabru shuro and even the canaries: when food is taken for granted, it becomes easy to neglect. The party initially wiped simply because they'd not considered how suicidal it was to press onward while exhausted, Kabru is so dissociated and focused that he shuts out most of his own biological signifiers of hunger, Shuro starves himself, equating food with leisure instead of a vital practice to sustain life and energy, and of course there's mister no desires.

It's no mistake that in all of the above cases, it's seemed to be heavily implied that food is either an after thought, or someone else's responsibility, or a simple logistical concern. Senshi's whole rant (in volume 1!!) about "oh the youths of today just buying prepackaged meat wine and bread" is especially tied in to this main theme of "do you know where your food comes from?" By taking it to the next level and asking "do you know why you're eating what you're eating?"

To take a personal side tangent, I was recently diagnosed as diabetic, and it's completely changed my relationship to food on a pretty fundamental level, but I'd say I'd always had a pretty good and healthy relationship with food (after I stopped having an eating disorder but that's a story for another day) so it was an easy enough adjustment to have to start actually thinking about how much of my diet was carbs and things like that, it just became a matter of considering what I was eating and when and why. I'm still not perfect at it and it's still a learning process but I'm working on it.

Anyways, my main theory as to why I've not seen it being pontificated on is just that in general people really hate being asked "do you know what you're eating?" Around these parts in a general fashion, but like, especially with weaponized starvation going on and very real issues of things like food desserts in America, and the fact that we all have to pay for just about every little meal, I think it's important for leftists to contemplate the political implications of meals.

An army runs on its stomach after all. Rant over

[daisy-daze17]

Omori Manga Thoughts cause it was uhhh

OK so like. The thing is I only got into the omori fandom in February of this year so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

1. I'm mostly a fan of the art style-- a lot of people said that Sunny always seems to have a panicked expression so it's hard to read into him, plus the characters look a lot younger than they're supposed to (Which I find odd). But other than that, I think it does a really good job representing the scarier parts with very abstract drawings of Mari/Something. They coloured it well and thank god did Kel's skintone right. There is one particular panel that I especially love:

So much detail and it captures the feeling of seeing faraway for the first time really well ^^

Some nitpicky positive thoughts:

Sunny could have looked more distinct from Omori because the only difference I see are their outfits. Maybe make Sunny's features softer and have less contrasting values so we can see an immediate difference.

I like how they did everyone's eyes-- Sunny/Omori's are just dull and black, and everyone else with dark eyes are shown to have a light in them. (Just a nice detail i appreciated)

I like how Omori is clearly less expressive compared to sunny, but I think Sunny could have benefitted from having more emotions than surprised/blushing.

2. The pacing was weird. like really fucking weird. The basic structure of the game Omori is: Omori is in whitespace -> Omori plus the gang (Hero, Aubrey and Kel) meet up with Basil and Mari in headspace -> everyone minus Mari goes to Basil's house and learn all the combat stuff along the way -> after fixing the photo album it suddenly shifts to basil in a panicked state before glitching you back into white space again. The moment when basil shifts the mood from calm to terrifying is REALLY important.

It forces the new tone on you very suddenly and also sets up a lot of mystery surrounding Mari when Basil can't finish what he was going to say about her. By now we know that something is very wrong and it has to do with Mari, but we don't know what.

The manga is kind of all over the place the whole time. First we see the christmas scene when Sunny gets his violin. But then Mari does her whole nightmare thing and we know somethings up from the first few pages. Next we wake up at night as Sunny in the real world... yet it shows the little "THREE DAYS LEFT" as well? At this point I was super confused because basically the entire nighttime sequence is shown through a sort of montage with Sunny's mom's voice message in the background before transitioning into the day when Kel first knocks on the door. A cool thing they did was parallel Kel's knocking with the creepy knocking we get from Mari Something. HOWEVER for reasons unknown they just completely cut out the fight against something on the stairs??

Something I was really excited about was seeing how they would integrate the combat into the manga. And they do it later with the Aubrey fight (more on that later), but not now? So now I'm wondering if they'll include Sunny's three fears that he has to overcome.

So next we find our boy (KEL!!!!!) and he is asking Sunny if he wants to come to Hobbies. I did find the dialogue here pretty awkward as Kel bounced back and forth in demeanor, but that's to be expected since Sunny isn't talking. (And I appreciate how he shows some kind of reaction to seeing one of his best friends after 4 years lol)

I mean compared to this when he just jumps straight into his hobbez idea without much reaction to actually seeing Sunny lol.

The most notable thing after this is the Aubrey confrontation with Basil and the other hooligans. I DONT KNOW WHY but they chose to not show the hooligans in that scene!! The hooligans are aubrey's little gang/posse who she hangs around with all the time and the people we always see when she's bullying Basil.

It's very important to note that Basil is talking to KIM here. He starts the conversation begging for her to tell Aubrey to give the photo album back. Aubrey is actively ignoring his attempts to get it back, with basil claiming "She won't listen to me."

In the manga she appears out of seemingly no where and proceeds to beat Basil directly with her bat. Prior to this we get no setup or explanation as to why Aubrey's attacking him or what the situation is. WORST OF ALL, It's only Aubrey alone attacking him and NOT her gang of the Hooligans. The hooligans are important in showing us just how isolated and ostracized from society Basil really is after Aubrey began bullying him. He literally has a whole gang of kids who call him a creep and attack him regularly. Here it seems like Aubrey is insane and is just beating him selfless for kicks. (not that I'm justifying Aubrey's behavior in the game, but the lack of context makes this situation even worse.)

I think It's also important to bring up how they switched around the order of events because in this situation, it's not working. We're supposed to first be introduced to younger Aubrey and Basil in headspace-- their younger counterparts. Aubrey is strong-willed and excitable and Basil is calm and kind. And most importantly-- they're VERY GOOD FRIENDS. So seeing Aubrey revealed to have been bullying him these past 4 years shocks the player and makes them understand how much things have really changed. Doing it the other way around will automatically villainize DW Aubrey since we already know what goes on in real life.

And then something interesting happens-- Sunny blacks out during the fight and returns to Headspace. This is SUPER weird as we've only ever seen Sunny go into headspace while sleeping, because it's an escape mechanism he uses to avoid The Truth. Does this mean he isn't aware he goes into headspace unwillingly sometimes? And what does this mean for the continuation of the real world story? Are we going to go through the entire Space Boy quest just to get back to that scene?

Anyway, I'm interested to see how they take it from here. Maybe they'll do a continuous switchover to the real world where they jump between it more frequently. But I question what that would mean for the timeline because the events of headspace happen in between the three days while Sunny is sleeping-- so he can't be in two places at the same time. Maybe they'll write more and more random ways for Sunny to black out to do this?? They defiantly are trying to take a step back from following the game exactly. I can't say I don't like it because I don't know how it'll turn out, so I'm excited for chapter 2!

[garfeildfanpage]

Tbhk has a really bad pacing problem, among a few other things

Ever since the Picture Perfect arc it’s just been… unbearably slow.. the pacing in the recent chapters compared to the beginning is so strange. Tbhk has always been pretty slow paced compared to other mangas, so much so it really warped my perception with other mangas. And the pacing doesn’t really add to much, it’s not like the lore of tbhk is anywhere near being somewhat understandable. And it has its pros! The art is beautiful, and character banter is fun. But so much of the time is spent explaining yet somehow also…not? New things are introduced, partially explained, and then either forgotten or become a major feature of the story.

Boundaries being a pretty big example. they ARE explained..barely. The rules and purpose of them isn’t exactly clear? Are specified boundaries just for the mysteries? It doesn’t seem so since they show a specific boundary in the spin-off (which canonicity is highly debatable, but it’s never been denounced from canon, so i literally don’t know), along with mentioning a boundary in Brazil (which brings a lot of other things into question about wherethe hell the boundaries even are). So is it just boundaries with a yorishiro that are specific to the mysteries?

With Yako, Tsuchigomori, and Shijima, their yorishiros are in the farthest reaches of the boundary. and the same can partially be said for The Hell of Mirrors (I’m not sure). And the rule seems to partially follow for Hakubo, but Sumire is also shown leaving the boundary with no issue so idk. But the Clock-Keeper’s is just?? Inside Kako?? That’s not the farthest reaches?? Same with Hanako, unless Tsukasa originally resided inside of Hanako’s boundary before he was removed (presumably for Sakura). So does the rule just not include them? Or is it not a rule and instead just a common trend or whatever.

I also literally do not get Mitsuba as The Hell of Mirrors, aren’t boundaries supposed to be unique to the spirit in charge?? Or did Tsukasa specifically make Mitsuba with having him be The Hell of Mirrors in mind?

Back to pacing though. The recent chapters have been unnecessarily slow, like so slow that barely anything is happening. And I’m losing hope for some big interesting action cause it’s just been…bad. The fandom has been so dead and it’s obvious the pacing currently is why. Literally nothing is happening, nothing even brainrot worthy. Like the pacing for the previous arcs was slow but this is another level of drawn out.

Personal anecdote rq but I was so used to tbhk’s slow pace that reading literally any other manga feels like whiplash, reading chainsaw man was so difficult because I was expecting it to be slow and i ended up never understanding what was going on at all. Or maybe I’m just illiterate uhm

Mayhaps I’m just dumb and going stir crazy but whatever. I don’t have any closing notes cause this is pretty short so uh ninja out

[slowcatsworld]

Wondering what Rensuke Kunigami’s relationship with his sisters and family look like right now post wild card. Blue lock manga spoilers btw

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

We see a jarring change in Kunigami’s mindset and personality once he comes back from the wild card to enter the final selection, or the Neo Egoist League.

Kunigami went from a compassionate, responsible, and respectful guy that held sportsmanship and the act of doing the right thing close to heart to someone who has cussed out/looked down upon most everyone, doesn’t make an effort to maintain relationships within blue lock and actively tries to sever them.

Kunigami hasn’t been shown to smile since his return. He has ghastly dark eye bags that plague his face with a sad, sullen expression. His hair has grown out from his neat undercut to a wild, thick tuft of orange hair.

I wonder what happened when he went home during the 2 week break given to blue lock after the U-20 match.

Did his parents try to talk to him and get him to open up about what he experienced and why he looks like such a changed man; especially in the wild card experiment that they didn’t know about? I doubt he would tell them, at least not in detail. Maybe just a little bit of, “I became ambidextrous in order to move on in Blue Lock. I’m fine, I just needed to make myself better.” To try and ease their worries without actually addressing the root issue.

Does he still treat his sisters the same? Do they still have the privilege of the Kunigami that always smiled and gave them a secure bear hug, the Kunigami that listened intently on their words when they tell him about their day, the Kunigami that always blushed and looked away when their small squabbles turned into ruthless one way teasing? Or do they get the Kunigami that stares at them with too many emotions swirling in his eyes and not enough passion in his face that they can’t read what he’s thinking, the Kunigami that barely acknowledges their presence when they pass, the Kunigami that snaps at them when they get too close or talk too much about Blue Lock?

His family doesn’t understand it. Where did their sweet Rensuke go? Who is this machine that is living in his skin? They want Rensuke back, the real Rensuke. The one they have faith is still there, even though he doesn’t seem to be.

Kunigami hates this the most though. He doesn’t want to push away his family, his dear little sister that would always cling to his bicep and gush about how he would always be her hero. This isn’t what a hero is supposed to do. Heroes act better than this. Heroes wouldn’t have lost to someone who opposes their ideals in the first place. He isn’t a real hero. He is a broken hero, the hero that everyone rooted for but still couldn’t defeat the villain when it really mattered.

But how is he supposed to fix this? He’s the one that ruined it. How is Kunigami supposed to tear down the walls he was forced to build and separate football from family like this? With all the emotions and thoughts he has suppressed, you would think he knows how. He doesn’t know how, and Kunigami’s scared to find out.

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7.30.24

Just a little Kunigami angst, I am begging kaneshiro (the writer of blue lock) to give me more about his family and how they’ve reacted to post wild card Kunigami.

He’s too precious I need to hold him and hug him and stroke his hair and tell him he’s okay :(

[lu-zijing]

I am reading the BSD Manga right now—

(Am trying so hard to catch up so I can see why people have said certain things..... Like that it's no point trying to describe the plot to someone at this point.....

((Lookingforwardtothenewchapers--

Do You remember the whole talk about:

"HOW THE HECK does Fitzgerald understand Japanese??"

Still in love with this thing- Have been seeing it around on Pinterest: BIG credit to whoever made this:

He likely learned Japanese, I mean come on, he's rich, AND in the business work, of course, he could or would learn it. If not for anything else, then likely for the Work.

I feel like Royalty and Rich people tend to learn many languages, compared to "commoners" -of various reasons-, I mean at least in movies, I don't know how the real world works—

That's what I'm thinking now, but not gonna lie in the start I was like: YEAH HOW THE HECK DOES HE!!????

But Anyyyhoww, I was reminded of it again as I was reading the manga and came to this panel:

Even though Fitzgerald DOES speak Japanese, he has difficulty remembering some of the names -at least, parts or sounds of the name.

This is something shown more or less as a joke at least two times in the series of what I know of, possibly more.

Here in the panel, I showed just now, which is from Chapter 64 of the manga - Atsushi directly SAYS (or well, "thinks") that Fitzgerald's bad at remembering JAPANESE names. Not just names. Specifically JAPANESE NAMES.

And it was the same that one time in the anime when he couldn't remember Akutagawa's name.

Chapter 34 in the Manga:

THAT WAS LEGIT ME IN THE START—!

As a person from the West who does not speak any Asian language- ((YET—) I can relate to this.

(( I Swear I relate SO MUCH with the fact that he couldn't say Akutagawa's name right, -and just ended up with:

"Yes. That."

I relate to it with more names than just Akutagawa🥲

Heck I even first learned how to write it here recently- Thank all I am not the only one and it's actually a thing-

So you see, I have especially had difficulty remembering Japanese names. Something I noticed after beginning to watch much more anime.

In the start, I always switch the names up, don't hear, or more exactly: don't remember the little differences between names such as for example Tetchō and Teruko.

Until I hear them a couple of times, see them written, hear them clearly, etc.

-When I see it written like this I find it obvious, but not when I hear it for the first couple of times -

I assume it's because the sounds are so foreign to -in this case- English-speaking users, and therefore we easily mix the small differences up.

But it wouldn't sursprise me if some might be better at it than others, for various reasons of course -for example watching a lot of Japanese media, and hearing the language a lot - like watching Anime, but not the dub ofc- but well, generally speaking I think there must be more people who has it like this.

I mean even IN the show-! That's kinda relieving—

Like, I have an easier time remembering Chinese names than Japanese. Are Chinese names simpler? Is it because I have watched AND read a lot more Chinese material? Maybe because I'm learning Chinese? Or am I just better at remembering Chinese names??

Sorry me rambling there *ahem* back on track-

POINT BEING:

This definitely shows that even though Francis definitely SPEAKS the language he's still a Native English speaker, having apparently not been in Japan long enough -or whatever reason- to stop mixing the sounds in names up as we sometimes do.

Or perhaps he just isn't bothered enough to try, I could imagine he could be like that-

A little Fun Fact which I found cool, since I relate to it!

Can't believe Francis is the first character I "officially/publicly" announced I could relate something with.

I mean it's not like I am the only one who can relate with this, it's not that rare to speak English but still, that it was the first thing- It's not that I don't like it, I had just not expected it.

Some people out there must relate to it as well? Guys??

Please don't tell me it's just me -and apparently Francis- who has it like this-

Although, having an In-character-from-the-show on your side isn't bad. Especially when he's one of my favorite side-characters- ~

But anyhow! No matter what, Thanks for reading~! ✨  Hope you found it interesting-！

[crepes-suzette-373]

Shipping tinted glasses: It almost seems like Nami thought she'd they'd lost Sanji to Pudding

One of the reasons why I'm curious about Nami taking Sanji's "evil" rant at face value is because they literally had just been run around a forest full of very very well-made copies.

Luffy not being suspicious of funny business at all, I get, because he was fooled again and again by the fakes. Nami, though, had been highly suspicious of fakes. They've also been bamboozled by the fake Luffy that turned out to be Brulee's doing, so one would have thought they'd be extra vigilant of possible fakes.

It ended up reading like "Nami thought Sanji had somehow changed his mind and decided he really wants to marry Pudding after all (and is jealous/heartbroken)".

All the way back in 822, the idea of that being a possibility had already been offered by Zoro and Usopp:

We weren't shown Nami's reaction specifically, but she had to have heard. Then later when they meet Pudding:

Even if Pudding said he refused and she's going to help them get him back, if Pudding can like Sanji, this still left the possibility that maybe he likes her back.

Then, Sanji himself said this:

Right after he said that, Nami makes this face, looking like she's already trying to hold back tears even before Sanji started to beat up Luffy seriously.

It gives me the impression that Nami, who is already starting to have doubts in her heart, saw this as a confirmation of her worst fears and didn't even consider that they're being tricked. We know it's really Sanji. For them, though, the possibility of this being a fake is not zero.

Sanji at that point was behaving, well, basically like Yonji. However, back on the ship, Nami's comment was that other than his face and heart eyes, Yonji was nothing like Sanji at all because he was being horrible. So how do you know this isn't Ichiji/Niji/Goji/number however many are there? What if Sanji also had a massive family like Big Mom and there's actually 8 or 9 or 10 identical siblings and this is fake?

As always, I'm not saying it's what this was intended to be, but it's what it can be read as.

I was thinking that I don't remember if Nami has ever personally witnessed Sanji ditch other girls in order to save her, so she doesn't necessarily know that she's always his first priority. Like the time in Dressrosa, he completely ditched Viola while calling for Nami. The people on the ship didn't know that. All they knew is that he just showed up out of nowhere.

In the plot it's also weird that neither Luffy or Nami asked him point blank "I thought Pudding said you refused the wedding". I can only think it went down this way to make drama (for us the reader to be sad about).

I've seen manga authors openly admit in the "free talk" comments corner that there were times when they said "Uh, I think that last chapter went weird/doesn't make sense" and the editor just said "It's ok, as long as the story is interesting". So all of this could be me just reading too deep into things, and it's all a big nothing in the end.

[my-midnight-musings-xoxo]

Spoilers for MadK!

---

I will never get over how short this manga is! On the one hand, I appreciate the story's length as is, it says everything it needs to and doesn't endlessly drag on. But come on!! Yes, I know we didn't need it, but I would sell a kidney to learn more about Makoto's home life because I'm a masochist and would've loved the pain of learning more about his lack of love from his entire family. His father is obviously awful and I'm glad he died but I want to know more about his mother and brother!! I would've loved to see initial reactions to their son's depravity, I just adore conflict. Imagine Makoto and his brother, I think they were supposed to be opposites with Makoto's brother being a lawyer or doctor? I know it's cliche but I would've liked to see just how isolated Makoto was, perhaps one night he confided in his brother. I like the idea of them always being different but always loving each other, so Makoto goes to him to find comfort, only to be rejected. Perhaps his brother lashes out, maybe he tells their mother and then he's isolated from the family, being told they're son and brother solely in name and blood.

Is it necessary, absolutely not. Is it filler, absolutely. Is it deliciously tragic, yes.

I also would've loved to see Makoto's development of his fetish, I know it's called a kink but from my research kinks aren't always sexual but fetishes are (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong please!) so I'm going to call it that for now because it's always shown in a sexual light, from my interpretation anyways. I would've liked to see the gradual development of his fetish and the complicated feelings that came with it. I adore inner turmoil and I would've loved to see Makoto breaking down as his fetish fully hits him. A slow spiral as he grapples with how disturbed he truly is, then decides to get rid of himself before he hurts anyone. Again I know this isn't necessary, you could argue this would fluff up the plot and I agree, I just think it'd be an interesting extra chapter or something. Psychology has always been interesting to me, especially kinks and fetishes. How they develop, why, common ones, etc. I'm asexual so sex and sexual attraction are often viewed through a scientific lens for me, and honestly, I just find them interesting since I can't really understand them personally!

In a way the first chapter of MadK is comforting, hang on hear me out. I'm not saying J is a good person, but it was clear how safe Makoto felt with him. He summoned J to kill himself and to indulge himself before dying, but even so imagine how good he felt to just let go, to enjoy something he hated himself for enjoying for years. I mean we read it but still. I know that's the point of J's manipulation but it's still acceptance. Considering J wanted to make Makoto like him I like to think J truly accepted the part of Makoto none did. I don't know, I just think that's kind of sweet in a sad way. But that's probably just me projecting ehe.

Anyways! Not sure what I'll post next, J has been on my mind lately so maybe something about his design, it's one of my favorites! Or maybe more hypotheticals, who knows.

Sorry about the random uploads, fixed schedules tend to demotivate me but I'll do my best to be semi consistent, hehe.

Have a good weekend <3

[fumifooms]

Hello! Anon Asker again here. Recently got through the latest volume on Kindle with the Dungeon Master arc.

(Spoilers ahead for others...?) Now that we got most of the characters' backstories, I feel the earlier black magic ritual they did for Falin makes a lot more sense.

Marcille is desperate to keep the people she loves alive given her sense of loss and persisting dread about outliving everyone she knows.

Laios (apart from loving his sister) has lingering guilt from having left Falin behind before, exacerbated by her sacrifice and the way she always puts him first.

Then there's Senshi and Chilchuck who have on more than one occasion shown a distaste for magic.

Yet Senshi didn't fight it much and stood by them, because he himself is not a stranger to loss, especially when it comes to loved ones who have sacrificed for others so that one might survive.

But Chilchuck I'm not so sure. He was the most vocal in how against black/ancient magic he was, but also didn't really stop it. Maybe we can attribute it to his own abandonment issues by his wife, or just that he could imagine what it might be like if it was one of his daughters (as we saw in a small chapter art where he had a nightmare of his daughters dead). But I wanted to hear your take on this if in case you do.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this ask! It’s a layered topic so I procrastinated on polishing my answer.

I think this is super interesting! Especially because we’re coming at this from totally different angles, since reading the manga I never thought that using dark magic didn’t make sense considering the situation or was weird. You’re coming at this at an angle of what personal reasons would make a character do this, while I looked at it in an angle of what social reasons would make a character let it happen. Post gonna be a lil long so I put it under cut! Tldr with your angle though, I think you’ve pretty much got it spot on and I don’t have much to add, I think your take it’s very interesting, and true.

So, why not do dark magic?

Throughout the whole manga, very early on too, we see our characters testing their society’s perception on morality in ways that we see that the moral wall was pretty baseless in the first place, mainly the disgust towards eating monsters for instance. Or sometimes, the morality of characters is lacking to our standards, having a perception we’d see as twisted, like in the kobold extra. Like Marcille talks about in the barometz/direwolves chapter, eating something "filthy" will make you filthy too and that’s why Marcille was innately so opposed to eating monsters. We also see it with the orcs’ chapter for example, Kui tackles a lot of difficult themes with nuance like racism, both the orcs and the elves have their perspective and their big faults in their part in their conflict, but in the end who’s right and who’s wrong isn’t spelled out for the readers. The point is that morality in the manga isn’t set in stone, it’s something that as the reader you draw the line on yourself, and we see that our characters aren’t infallible moral compasses either. The use of magic, too, is left up in the air on how good and moral it is to use, "unnatural" vs efficent vs cheap cop-out vs harmless or harmful.

So for me, when Marcille explained dark magic, how it works and why it’s forbidden, ‘yeah there’s probably a hidden catch in there’ I thought but I was super on board with it. To me, not using dark magic because it’s different and less known would be like not wanting to eat monsters for the same reason: more born out of fear and ignorance than reasonable and rational.

So we’re coming at this from different angles like I said, while you focused on character motivations for being fine with such an unholy act of magic I thought of it in an ambiguous morality and consequences way. So instead of "why should/would they do it?" to me it’s "why not?". And to me it’s a bit like "Well, no one should steal! But if the person really needs to for food, well I could let it go" for the characters’ thought process, though of course the instinctive revulsion and the stakes are much higher. They have all worked really hard to get there, and if there’s a chance it’ll go well then they would try it. Senshi and Chilchuck are much more reticent than the others like you said, but they’re able in the end to either rationalize doing it enough, or just prefer to listen to the directives and see how it goes by taking a more passive role. Not unlike how peer pressure can get you to participate in something you don’t want to do. But to me it’s a lot about growing accustomed to the unknown, hearing about it from Marcille who researches dark magic instead of the half-foot anecdotes about "dark elves" and "dark magic" used to nefarious ends. Which, presumably dark elves don’t even exist, we don’t know exactly what the half-foot definition of dark elves is, it’s a misconception and it’s a boogeyman, which is part of my point.

Where does Chilchuck’s distaste of magic come from? Elves. But by then Marcille, by being an elf herself and being trustworthy and friendly thus far, has started to chip away at these preconceived notions. Maybe what he heard wasn’t foolproof, after all. Under pressure and stakes like they were, people with even an usually very rigid morality may bend a little, steal, etc. To me, even if Chilchuck brought it up later, still very uneasy with it, it didn’t mean that him doing it was unrealistic or weird. People do things half-heartedly or unsure on if it’s the right thing to do sometimes, especially under pressure. Their will wavered while Laios and Marcille’s didn’t, and ultimately that’s what decided what they would do. What’s the other option? Marcille and Laios weren’t going to back down, so what, fight them so they don’t do it? Otherwise they’ll do it anyways with or without you, and then is there even a point to putting up a fight about it or even leaving? You can see the raationalization being done in real time, if you reverse engineer it.

Ironically enough I think this scene set after they do it depicts it perfectly: Chil lays out why he doesn’t like the thought of it, she responds on why dark magic being bad is up for debate, and he goes to argue but ultimately chooses not to and goes along with the group.

But yes it’s an interesting topic! Marcille researches positive uses for ancient magic so of course she’d be ready to use it to revive Falin, Laios has normalized reviving and magic a lot and overly relies on it, and Senshi doesn’t want to do it, but it’s because of his ideal- because of his instinctive recoil at anything that is magical or "unnatural"… Except for the golems. Because of how he sees himself as part of a larger ecosystem and cycle of life that humans shouldn’t have control over, that should know how to sustainably live with nature without getting greedy or cocky… Except for when he idealized Anne the kelpie as his best friend that even though is a monster would never hurt him. He tends to pull away from others socially needlessly, not letting himself grow too close to people or a community, too. Point is, Senshi has his pitfalls and isn’t as inflexible as we might think, and not everything he does is rational or even consistent with his own beliefs under his normal circumstances, though I do think he’s the one who was/should be the most opposed to the reviving character wise.

And I said that Chilchuck’s reason for not liking dark magic is rooted in superstitions and elves and history- and that’s certainly true but it isn’t the full story either. While Senshi’s preoccupied about morals and his world view, Chilchuck is SCARED of it, he thinks of the CONSEQUENCES, not the act itself (though it also def doesn’t charm him either). And not just the direct consequences of what a dark magic resurrection means either, it comes up a lot that Chilchuck is worried for others and for himself, about careers or the law and generally the future, and tends to micromanage them or be on their case because of it. Made a lil compilation below, notice the trend, he’s very focused on what others will do if they learn that they did dark magic, he’s focused on hiding that they did, not grappling with the morality of it as much. He’s very worried about the legality of it. He sees it as a crime but not something that shatters his worldview y’know. And even after Marcille did it and uncovered that she researched dark magic, he still trusts her and her judgement, is only wary of her a but for a bit before going right back to being thick as thieves together.

I was gonna talk about racism as a plot point and through arcs in the series here but I think I made my point without it, so that’ll be a topic for another day. But yeah… Spoilers for the last volume stop here and skip to the last paragraph if you still haven’t read ut all (bless your Kindle reader soul, good luck waiting for the next chapters). Is the winged lion bad? He’s harmful, certainly, but he’s not evil, and at its base it’s an entity without a sense of morality. Dunmeshi tackles morality in a really interesting, typical of seinens way, and unity is another big theme, as much as racism is a narrative tool and plot point the lesson is that putting efforts into befriending people you don’t understand is good. And with some, like the winged lion, that’s not gonna pay off, but everyone deserves to be understood regardless. Narratively that’s why Laios is the character he is, and why we get to learn about Kabru, the orcs, the canaries, Thistle, even the demon, and see it under new lights. Kui is big on critical race theory and sociopolitical issues used in/for storytelling, and it shows. During canon Chilchuck is growing closer to an elf coworker and tentatively giving her his trust, which pays off, and that is enough to make him reconsider wether dark magic is that bad, and think of how much risk he’s willing to get into for the party. Whew got sidetracked by the narrative genius of Dunmeshi and Kui but, the point is that in the story, characters changing their mind on issues and having their viewpoints challenged is very much common and important.

Sooo yeah! As I said I do enjoy your perspective as well, I’d never thought of it that way so it was interesting. Hopefully this is an insightful post and not just a load of nothing that wasn’t relevant to your question haha. But yeah, while reading I truly approached it from a "why not" angle, instead of a "why yes". They don’t like the method but they do want Falin to live, which makes it easier to dirty their hands for. Wash your hands of it and don’t think about it too much afterwards. (Top 10 reasons why it’ll backfire! none of them will surprise you 🌟)

[beevean]

hiii i dont really have anything to say this is just an invitation to ramble if you ever want to. for freebies. talk at me ill take notes. rattle on about anything ill be quite gleeful about it. this is your free talking ticket (not that you need one per se but i thought the note that i like reading about your thoughts might be nice if nothing else)

Awwwww I appreciate the free ticket a lot 🥰 you're right, it's always nice to have confirmation that others care about your ramblings, so thank you :3

I'm using it because brain got stuck on a random thing: while I was in my phase of gorging on CoD fanfics, I found interesting how different fans interpreted the in-universe reasons for Isaac's appearance.

(sir. sir why do you look so good in a random ass mobile game)

He clearly cares a lot about how he appears. He styles his hair in a certain way, he wears eyeliner (red eyeliner that matches his hair even, which implies he put thought into the best color), he wears impractical but stylish high heels, and in the MF manga he's shown having long nails: while I interpret this as him striving to imitate vampire claws, it still would take a lot of manteinance, and he even hides them under his gloves. I have also pointed out that in PtR his uniform is kept more prim and proper than Hector's, weirdly enough. And with the exception of his uniform for obvious reasons, Isaac still puts care in his appearance after going insane with the Curse.

But what does it say about him?

Some fans seems to simply think he's kind of a peacock. He's vain, he's flamboyant, he knows he's the hot stuff, maybe he's really trying his hardest to hit on Hector lmao. It fits with his arrogant attitude. Maybe he's even a bit of a perfectionist/tryhard: he doesn't need to waste time putting on eyeliner, but damnit, he wants to look his best to work. A king, if you ask me.

Others seem to think it's a sad form of overcompensation. Isaac is not particularly pretty, especially compared to the very beautiful Hector. He has traits that others might see as ugly, like slanted eyes, a large mouth and a big nose. Even worse, while silver hair is obviously unnatural but can be seen as fascinating, red hair in that era was 100% seen as the mark of the devil - and Isaac's red is bright, attracts even more attention. It's not impossible that Isaac was abused for how he looked like, and has some sort of complex about it. In fact, we all know Isaac is the incarnation of the inferiority superiority complex: he has an arrogant, cocky attitude, but he's also extremely insecure about himself, his skills, and being seen as second best/not good enough. So maybe he spent most of his childhood hiding and being ashamed of himself, but now in the place where he truly belongs he has rebounded in the opposite direction: oh, you think I'm unsightly? Have all of me in glorious display! You think my hair marks me as a demon to extirpate? Why yes, I am a demon, and I'm not letting you forget it!

With this mentality, no wonder he'd cover himself head to toe in demonic tattoos that prove his utter loyalty to Dracula, and no wonder that, after he dies, he lets his clothes rot off his back to show even more of his self. He has nothing to hide anymore.

And he still wants to hit on Hector, obviously :P

[arvandus]

Hey, I wanted to ask what do you think of how hori concluded the todo fam arc and dabi’s vague ending? Do you think he’s alive or dead? Hori could’ve showed us at least a grave or a shrine. I just wanted closure :(

So, I'm going to preface this by saying that I have not actually READ the ending to BNHA, and gathered info just from the tumblr community. I checked out of the manga a while ago because it felt like Hori's heart wasn't really in it.

To be honest, compared to the ending the others got, I'm glad that his was left vague enough to be open to interpretation. After all, how many times has he been assumed dead/would die soon, only for him to give the middle finger and keep going?

I feel like Hori's feelings around the Todoroki family and Touya in particular run a little bit deeper than the others, just with looking at how much attention he put into the backstory. I really feel like it's been a combination of mixed messages, swinging back and forth between empathizing with Touya and being an Enji fanboy.

Hori's portrayal of Touya's childhood was VERY sympathetic, and Enji was shown as very monstrous in some of those panels (and in fact, the parallel was done with Shigaraki and Toga's pasts as well). Even his titling of the chapters (e.g., Wrong Way to Put Out A Fire) showed that the responsibility for Touya's downfall fell onto the parents rather than him as a child. I also liked how pathetic he showed Enji was after Touya's reveal, and when his family came to visit him in the hospital. Rei's commentary towards his sniffling was so refreshing, I was cackling and fist-bumping the air. Finally, I really loved that Natsuo never forgives Enji and straight up tells him he doesn't want him in his life.

But at the same time, Enji gets to continue on with life more or less without any repercussions, or at least that's the impression I've gotten from the snippets I've gathered on other peoples' posts and the manga screenshots I've come across. Yes he's handicapped and will never be a hero again, but at the same time, it felt like there's a lack of social/societal consquences. Hawks never stops being his fanboy, and Rei stays with him (God knows why)... I dunno. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I think it's because he never really figured out how to step away from his hero persona long enough to really prioritize his family until it was too late. Enji should have immediately been out there looking for Touya after his big reveal. As a parent, I can tell you for a FACT that if I found out my child wasn't actually dead but was in fact alive and running around out there hurting others, you bet your ASS I'm dropping everything and going after them. Also, Enji should have been the one to face off with Touya in the final conflict, not Shouto. He should have faced him, lost, and then Shouto could have stepped him to have his emotional brotherly conflict with Touya just as it happened in the manga. Enji's behavior was cowardice until the very end, and his apology to Touya at the very end fell very very flat for me.

Maybe Hori is just going for the more realistic portrayal of how complex family dynamics can be, and how forgiveness really depends on the person. I also think that Hori's idea of what counts as a good redemption arc for Enji differs from what I think a good redemption arc for him would be. So in that sense, I just have to accept that Hori has his own take on the entire Todoroki family story and that it differs from my own.

But, I digress... back to Touya. I've always had the feeling that Horikoshi has had a soft spot for Touya especially, and I think this implied ending of Touya not surviving rather than showing it explicitly like he did with the others demonstrates that. So I'd like to think that Touya somehow survives and heals.

Overall, I think the ending of BNHA has fallen a bit flat because there has been so much emphasis on the grey areas between villains and heroes, and I always felt that the students were intended to save them. And that was especially Shouto's goal with his brother. The thought of him failing in that goal and not being able to ever have soba with him feels like such a waste of his character arc as well as Touya's.

So, I'm going to take it as-is. Touya's ending is intentionally ambiguous to allow the fans on both sides of the fence to pick the ending that they want (Hori, you coward). My ending for him is that he heals (although never completely of course) and eventually gets to have soba with his brother. It's not only what Touya deserves, but it's what Shouto deserves too.

[sueske]

How much do you think Sasuke cares about Sakura? It’s obvious he doesn’t love her back, called her annoying couple times, and never visited her for years, but he’s still a kind person and cares about his teammates. Maybe it’s a bit of pity?

putting under read more cuz this is a very anti-ss post in case there are people who would rather not see/read it.

I think you might be new to my blog, I've talked about it a bit before:

sasuke and team 7

sasuke’s feelings for sakura 

sasuke taking on his family's wishes as his own

In part 1 sasuke viewed sakura as a teammate who he protected and didn’t want to worry. but he was able to break his ‘teammate bond’ with her that night when he left.

in part 2 he doesn’t even view her as that. during the reunion scene sasuke told the new team 7 he was able to cut off the bonds he had with konoha. however, we know it's only the bond with naruto he had failed to break. I've talked about sasuke's on a whim before too. and then throughout shippuden sasuke explicitly states naruto's importance to him and how he still needs to cut off their bond. sasuke doesn't mention anyone else, because like he said prior, he was already able to cut off all other bonds.

I see ss shippers say ‘sasuke always acknowledged sakura first and she’s the only one he apologised too’ as a means for them to show that sasuke still had a bond with her in part 2, like during the reunion and war arc. despite the fact that after acknowledging her presence (wow #hecaressomuch. guess sasuke cares for kakashi a lot too since sasuke also spoke his name despite kakashi not even being present during the reunion) his attention shifts to naruto and then just ignores sakura for the most part. I won't even bother putting in all the manga panels where sns stare each other down cuz this post would get too long lol. revisit the reunion scene. look at the kage summit arc scene. look at the war arc. they all follow the same pattern. In the war arc sakura herself acknowledges that sasuke doesn’t care lol. I don’t know how much clearer it can get - sasuke says the only one standing between him and complete loneliness is naruto. naruto is his one and only… friend, the one person he needs to cut down. where’s sakura, where's anyone else in this equation?

also sasuke apologised to karin before joining the war arc too. he also apologised to kakashi. sakura isn't special in that regard, and sasuke was only going to take juugo (because of his natural energy) and naruto away from what was surely going to be a killing blow during the war. everyone else sasuke was willing to let die, karin and sakura and kakashi who he apologised to including. sasuke saying "oops sorry" to someone does not equate something extraordinary in relation to bonds. this is what happens when kishimoto stresses how important naruto is to sasuke vs everyone else. people take these panels and blow them out of proportion when in the grand scheme of things don't matter, as shown by sasuke again and again.

in 699 sakura got the brotherly forehead poke which symbolises distance. idc ss shippers can do all the mental gymnastics they want, but that's what the poke symbolises. it's not that sasuke re-invented the meaning behind the poke - itachi used it to keep sasuke away from him, creating distance between them (something sasuke also confronted itachi with) - and that's what sasuke ends up doing to sakura too. which is why before edo-tensei itachi died he brought his forehead to sasuke's, to finally bridge that distance! it's like the simplest things are so hard to understand for ss shippers. they take panels of sasuke when he was happy he got the poke when he was a kid to 'prove' that the poke is a good thing completely ignoring the fact that sasuke didn't know anything about anything at the time. and even as a kid sasuke expressed his displeasure at receiving the poke. and in the end, that's what sasuke does - keeps sakura at a distance. she even ended up chasing him down yikes. how is this lost on people... and then sasuke kept creating even more distance from her. for over a decade. all the while he was meeting up with his bestie too. seems to me like sasuke is using the poke just like itachi originally intended... listen, if u care about someone u take the time to communicate with them, to see them. that's just common sense lol.

in gaiden sasuke does go to help save sakura and he does take those rod things out so he doesn't want her to die lol. but beyond that? he doesn't see his 'wife' for 12 years and the first thing he says is 'why are you here?'; the famous: 'because we have you sarada' line; how miserable he looks during their first family dinner (sakura doesn't look all that happy either really). so he cares to not want her to die but beyond that? what bond do they even have? what meaningful conversations and interactions did they have? girl doesn't even know if her precious sasuke-kun wears glasses cuz they didn't see each other for over 10 years lol. probably the feelings and bond he had towards her in part 1 reformed after part 2 to the uhm interesting bond those 10 chapters that is gaiden showed us.

sakura does try and make herself pitiful around him, she tried to invoke those feelings in her confessions. I think a wife who was implied twice to never have been kissed even though she desperately wants to be kissed is quite pitiful indeed lol.