#meaning what keeps our interests and what we read our mangas for is different (and that's ok)

[the-nysh]

there is a theory that jjk will end with yuji all alone and raising the next limitless user ( like how denji ended csm part 1 with his gang (aki and power and makima killed)

and that yuji will be made to want to live since its important for jjk sorcerers to be selfish and have a desire for themselves

"This is the author's idea. Throughout story, we know that Itadori is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of people close to him.

In any other story this would be considered a positive quality but in this story it is considered a weakness.

What is the most important thing for a sorcerer in the world of JUJUTSU?

The answer is selfishness.

Personal feelings and perceptions of the world affect the power of sorcerers. And this is not surprising, because even curses were created with the help of a feeling of fear.

That's why Yuji can't get stronger. He has learned to control the power he has but he has never been able to surpass his limits."

Well...I mean, ok I never actually asked for any of this but *sighs* if the current speculation is that jjk's ending's on track to be no different than csm's ending of part1, then....all this really tells me is that the more I hear about it (even thru osmosis), the more I realize I'm really not missing much after stopping both series. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[l-in-the-light]

Trafalgar Law and closeness part 5: What is he actually so afraid of and his reasons

This will be a slightly different post from the others, much more speculation, but I will include all hints and foreshadowing I gathered (which means this is a long post yet again). I might be wrong ofc, but I'm like 80-90% sure I read the signs right. Just in case my theory will turn out correct, I reccommend that you think twice before reading any further, especially if you would prefer for Oda's manga to reveal it properly and not get spoilered about the twist thanks to some tumblr post, which is totally understandable. Those who are fearless like a true D and still want to read this theory, a fair warning: this will be sad af. More so than previous posts.

Let's start with a short summary of our previous observations: Law always acts cold, he will draw clear borders and keep people at a distance, because he can't deal with losing people again. That's his major fear. His secondary fear is his fear of touch, the result of his trauma. With both of these we saw him making really decent progress on, thanks to Luffy especially.

I traced Law's progress all the way from Sabaody up to Wano. We saw him completely refusing any bonds in Sabaody, but then he takes the first step towards Luffy. Instead of trying to get closer he proposes for them to be in alliance, hiding behind the impersonal relation (Luffy's not getting any of that btw. And in case you think Luffy did it on accident it's not entirely true: he knows the actual difference between friendship and alliance, he did a normal alliance with Bege in Whole Cake Island no problem, proving to us he's not that stupid). Then we see Law slowly opening up, holding back less of his natural reactions (like getting openly angry), all while fighting his trauma related to touch and helplessness. Let's dive into his psyche.

Law is a doctor, that identity is very important for him not just because of his parents.

When he's a doctor and operates on people, he knows he has to touch them to save their lives. That's probably also the reason why he calls all his attacks and devil fruit abilities per "operations". This way he can create an artificial boundary in his mind, when he's in his "doctor mode" the touch is impersonal and professional so he is able to actually operate on people. And seems this depersonalization/desensitization technique works! The only time we see him comfortable being in contact with people is when he cuts them down into pieces like for an operation. And of course he had to be alright with touch when he operated on Luffy and Jimbei as well.

Here we have to note one more thing about his devil fruit's use. In Sabaody and Punk Hazard he cuts people into pieces and rearranges them, creating "monstrous creatures". This seems to reflect what he thinks of those people, people who usually treat him like a monster because of his devil fruit abilities (that must be a pretty traumatic experience, because doctors also called him monster before just because he was sick). So he pays them back for it, rearranges their bodies, because for him they were the monsters. This way he takes back his own liberty, he shows them that if he's the monster then they are as well. That being said, he does take advantage of his "Surgeon of Death" title, because inciting fear in enemies is helpful when you're a pirate. But after meeting Strawhats who so easily disregard the bad rep Law has and spending enough time with them together, Law stops creating monsters with misaligned human limbs. Last time we saw them was in Punk Hazard. He doesn't need that anymore, because he feels accepted for who he is, regardless of what some random marines talk about him.

His devil fruit is interesting because it creates a space in which he can easily switch items and people's positions without having to touch them. And he can activate most attacks by simply moving his finger a little or making a simple gesture, so that even in case his trauma kicks in and he freezes, then as long as he can move at least one finger, he can shamble himself away to safety. Seems like devil fruit powers rely heavily on the mind of the user, their traumas and wishes deeply influence how the power actually works. I wonder how would it work if Law didn't have his fear of touching.

Summing it up, in Wano Law didn't get touch-triggered even once, so seems things were working out well for him in this regard. He's managing it better, but I doubt that trauma is going anywhere and he will still need time to get more comfortable around people (he might never be truly done with it). But that's okay, that didn't stop him from creating a new friendship. So what's still holding him back? Is it just a regular progress-regress cycle of healing for him?

Is he just not ready yet? After all some decisions take time for him. We see it when he receives his devil fruit. We see it in Dressrosa when it takes him many chapters to admit his own desire to take down Doflamingo by himself. It takes him time to accept things he isn't mentally ready for. We saw that indeed everytime he needs to take an extra moment or two to brace himself to touch someone as well. So is that just it? He needs more time? I don't think so, actually.

Remember this beautiful moment? In my native language this translation of Ace's line is more poetic: I will accept the opened arms reaching towards me as well as the death by the blade.

What was it about accepting opened arms reaching for you? This is Trafalgar Law's first hug on screen. You can't make this shit up. This Ace-Law parallel is there in the story on purpose. And it breaks me every single time.

So I guess Law got over that obstacle as well. He's ready to move on and start new things. And then he creates a beautiful friendship with Kinemon only to retreat to step one at the end of Wano, not even wanting to admit they became friends, even though everyone knows they did (the same with Strawhats). We saw this beautiful progress, his regress for a moment in Dressrosa, him opening up and closing back again. But he improved a lot since Sabaody, he's not the same person anymore. Law in Zou won't retreat anymore before even making a first step.

I think what's holding him back now is his biggest fear. And he has a pretty good freaking reason for it.

Hint number 1: Ope-ope no mi might not be enough.

Hint number 2: lead bullets greatly affected his body.

Hint number 3: "You met Corazon and he managed to prolong your life just a little longer".

Hint number 4: "I don't have much longer to live!", why is Doflamingo reminded of that line in particular now if it's just a thing from the past?

Hint number 5: death is constantly on Law's mind.

I think we need to connect all those dots together. Yes, I know, this theory isn't new. But it makes more and more sense. Ope-ope no mi didn't heal Law from amber lead completely. He only managed to prolong his own life thanks to it. That's why his execution should be done with lead bullets, it's not because it's symbolic, it's because that's literally what will kill Law in the end. Doffy was going to make the process just a tad bit faster is all. Law isn't afraid of death, but he is afraid to die without achieving anything or "dying for nothing", like he says in his flashback. He managed to survive till age 26, but his time is running out again.

Law's supposed "awakening" means he can use rooms remotely, without the need to be inside them. Interesting thing about those attacks is that they all use anaesthesia. But shouldn't you want your enemies to feel the pain when you attack? Let's look more closely to what Law says here. "This influences your body in other ways". Interesting. Perhaps because that's the ability he uses on himself when treating his amber lead syndrome? That would explain the need for anaesthesia, otherwise the sickness would limit his mobility.

In other words: Law can remove/hide the symptoms, but he can't cure the source of the amber lead poisoning apparently. It shouldn't be so strange, he was clearly born with it, it was passed down from his parents, which means it's in his DNA. Using ope-ope no mi inside his own body is pretty clever and let me quote Doffy on that: "it's all about how you use your abilities". Doflamingo did the same with his strings to restore his organs, I think he got inspired by Law. And yes, all the hints come mostly from Doflamingo, so he knows Law is dying.

Let's look at events of Dressrosa again to see if my idea fits. In Dressrosa we learn for the first time that Law's ope-ope no mi requires a lot of stamina. Perhaps because he needs to constantly apply it to monitor his own body and that's why he can't spare as much for fighting enemies as he would want to. Then he gets shot with lead bullets and nearly loses his life as the result. Weird that few bullets could do it to him while he could take much more beating in general. Unless it's because his body is still weak to the lead and it makes the poisoning spread faster, which would make perfect sense. Then Law is put in seastone cuffs and carried by Luffy through half of Dressrosa all the way to the palace. There is no moment in which Law, no matter how tired he is by being manhandled, claims he could just run on his own. He doesn't even sit on the horse or the bull, is just lying down. There is no proper explanation as to why he was lying there lifeless like that, nothing was preventing him from just sitting down instead. Later he claims it was because he was saving up his energy.

But now let's look at this situation logically. He was lying down and compliant to insane degree, because he felt *sick*. Which should remind us of how he was sick before Corazon got him ope-ope no mi. At times he couldn't even move anymore. Putting Law in seastone cuffs means his ope ope no mi is not monitoring his body anymore so it saps out all of his strength. Remember this, this is how bad Law's health is already in Dressrosa.

Even with Doflamingo directly threatening them he can't lift himself up properly. This is emergency, this is not the time to be lying around, and yet he can't do anything and this might a sign of how bad his condition actually is. He's shivering here because he feels helpless and defenseless. His trauma isn't exactly helping either.

At the end of Dressrosa he is weezing, suffocating, but still uses room and shambles to bring Luffy to safety. We can see him there in the background afterwards, looks to me like his heart almost giving up on him. Few moments later he's lying down, most likely passed out. This all is very hard to notice. That room he used to bring Luffy to the ground was also huge, perhaps as huge as the one he used in the palace before to fool Doffy. And he says it cut down on his lifespan. Well, good to know he cut down his lifespan not once, but twice already, and just in Dressrosa alone. Oda didn't nerf Law in Dressrosa, that's not the reason of why he seems weaker than before.

If Law is dying and overdid himself in Dressrosa on top of that, then no wonder he would say this. He might have left his crew in Zou knowing very well that it might be the last time he sees them. Now it makes much more sense. But Dressrosa did tip the scales into making him believe he might literally not make it out and no strategy could help him to survive against the illness.

Now let's jump to Wano. Remember this puzzling moment? He didn't fight anyone, only did some warps, and yet he is already worrying about his stamina? Yes, I take it as a sign that his condition worsened siginificantly. It was ofc also used for the plot to move forward in direction Oda wanted it to as well, but he wouldn't do it *just* for that reason.

Now let's jump to fight against Big Mom. Law doesn't look alright here.

And he can't even get up after the fight for a while, he's panting all the time. Kid, who was also exhausted after the fight, is already back on his legs and moving around. Law meanwhile still can't. Not even when water is rushing their way and he needs to move.

That's some enourmous room he created there. It looks like 10 times size (if not more) of Onigashima. It looks bigger than the whole Flower Capital! So, how much lifespan did he cut down this time?

Now we're finally getting to Winner Island. Blackbeard used his yomi yomi no mi attack that renders the devil user who's hit with it unable to use his powers. We saw that happen with Ace, remember? (yes, this is yet another parallel to Ace. Both of them lost to Blackbeard). And this is how Law looks now without his devil fruit to support him. You have two shots from Winner, one from Dressrosa after he gets shot with lead bullets (lower left) for comparison, anime, and, finally, comparison to sick Law from the flashback. The only difference here are the missing white patches on his skin. Symptomps look exactly the same: heavy breathing, unable to move, shivering, and his forehead is shaded in same way which implies high fever. This is where we are right now: Law's now in as bad of a state (or very close to it) as the end of the flashback. I guess white patches take some time to appear, it's not instant after his devil fruit is unable to be used to repress it anymore.

We didn't yet reach this state, but it's approaching very, very fast.

Very subtle anime hints. The whole sequence with the poneglyph in Onigashima gave us a flashback to Corazon and shows him dying while covered by white snow. Whole flashback has slightly white hinge to it and Law enters the scene from the completely white background.

Just reverse the colors from that oddly coloured bit from fight against Big Mom. Oooff.

Absolutely despicable foreshadowing from One Piece Red. Hearts appear in the credits together with the ONLY line in the song that talks about death. I saw anime doing obscure hints like that countless times before, be it in openings or endings. Apparently some anime producers are aware of what's coming. The first time I noticed this scene with Law hiding his eyes and the lyrics I grew very anxious. I spent most of my life watching animes, I know what game they're playing here. Back then, I just didn't yet know what it foreshadows exactly.

Law accepted his fate and just like the lyrics suggest: "even if I disappear, my song will still ring out". Meaning even after he's gone, people dear to him will carry on and that soothes him. He smiles here, he likes this freaking song exactly because of this line. Those are his real thoughts, that's how he feels inside when he isn't pretending not to care.

This is also why he says things like this. He truly thinks it doesn't matter what happens to him, not just because he's suicidal or he wants to sound cool. No, he says it because he's going to die anyway, so indeed, it does not matter to him.

It's reversed from what we thought this was all about. It's not that he wants to kill Doflamingo so much he doesn't care for his life or chooses to die. It's gonna happen anyway. In fact, if he could, he would prefer not to die:

He wants to live.

There are many asian series dealing with terminal illnesses and protagonists coming to terms with it or embracing some difficult to make choices, like in Searching for Full Moon or Your Lie in April. But please let me tell you a short summary of Shiroi Kage/White Shadow, it's a Japanese live action series from 2001 (god, they don't make such good jdramas anymore, spoilers ahead) about a surgeon who is dying, but decides to keep doing his job till the day he actually dies. He shows a lot of compassion to his patients, because he can easily relate to their situations, especially those about to die soon. His compassionate heart saves a lot of people and helps them accept their own approaching death, even though the doctor is still struggling against it himself. He acts rough and cold towards anyone else than patients, people try to form meaningful connections with him, but he refuses any attempts. Finally he accepts someone in his life that he thinks will carry on happily even without him, because they embrace everything the life offers, no matter if it's love, death or rejection. That person becomes their most important person and shows them that it's okay to fear death. In the end the surgeon chooses how to die himself, without waiting for the illness to take him. White Shadow as a title is symbolic because white in Japanese culture is the color assocciated with death. Does that remind us of a certain disease that shows as white patches on the skin?

The actual reason why Law keeps everyone at distance is probably the same that the main protagonist in Shiroi Kage had. It's for the sake of others, not his own. He doesn't want them to get attached, to feel devastated when he dies, and if they never grow close then they might feel a bit sad but easily move on. This is how he wants to die: so people won't miss him and won't despair the same way he despaired when his parents, sister and Cora-san died. That's his kind heart right there. Kinda the same way Your Lie in April uses the concept. Luffy is still grieving Ace, he doesn't need another heartbreak of someone important like a friend dying, so Law would rather lie that this was never friendship just so Luffy can carry on.

Law doesn't have much time left. And he wants to take down as many bad guys as possible, he might have even set some plans in motion that will succeed even after he dies, Drake and/or other people will carry them out to the end even after Law will be gone.

Remember the cold goodbye in Wano? He stayed at the port after battle, he avoided Luffy and Strawhats (besides Franky) and even tried to make them leave on different day than him. He acted extra cold thinking it will prevent attachments, especially if he thinks he's seeing them for the very last time, with his health in such a bad shape.

This scene should remind you of Punk Hazard, it's a callback to it. Law already then decided that this will be how he will say his goodbye.

Q.E.D., the reason behind his uneccessary coldness is solved, every loose ties got explained, there are no inconscistencies left. That's why I think I read all the signs right, even though it's just a theory based on hints and speculation. But it all fits.

Law thinks Luffy isn't attached to him much yet and that he will move on happily without lingering too much on his death. Oh boy, he's so wrong about that. That's because he didn't see Luffy's reaction in Dressrosa after he passed out.

Luffy cares for him deeply. We saw how unusually happy he was when they reunited on Punk Hazard by chance. How much he bragged about Law being a good guy. How insightful and considerate he tried to be towards him! Sure, he pushed Law's boundaries a bit, because he thought otherwise Law would never be ready to start new friendships (and was he wrong? probably not). Luffy said goodbye to him in Wano with a smile, probably thinking Law just really wants to go for his own adventure, or maybe he needs some time to get ready to admit stuff. And Luffy accepts it and waits for him.

Once Law will realize his mistake he will regret ever starting that alliance in the first place. Because he fucked up, he will leave someone behind very devastated if he dies.

If this post made any of you sad, then I'm sorry. Please remember it's mostly just a theory. Tomorrow I will make a post that will instead make you shed happy tears instead, hopefully.

We all know Luffy or Chopper will somehow cause the miracle and Law will get cured, right? Even if Law's flower is the Queen of The Night that dies before dawn (that's another foreshadowing at work here btw). We need to believe and prepare a whole truck of tissues. Fate always found a way to spare him, we need to believe in it again.

[yuri-is-online]

I'm asking this question because I find it an interesting topic. It relates to the criticism the Tokyo Debunker MC receives.

It's not just TD's MC—it's a common theme in otome and gacha games. Genderless MCs in games like *Obey Me!* and *Twisted Wonderland* face less criticism than female MCs. Even though the genderless MCs get some hate, it’s nowhere near the backlash female MCs receive. For instance, *Twisted Wonderland* had debates about a female MC being unsuitable for an all-boys school, despite the presence of monsters and robots. This debate ended with a female MC in the *Savanaclaw* manga.

Another example is *Tears of Themis*, where the female MC is well-received in my opinion due to her having a character. I am very happy that she isn’t a self insert and people seem to agree.

In contrast, female self-insert MCs like TD's MC and *Love and Deep Space*'s MC get a lot of hate for what seems like trivial reasons. TD's MC is often criticized for being ordinary, while LADS's MC, who is strong and brave, also faces backlash, with some claiming she's rude despite evidence to the contrary.

In conclusion.

woman mc in this day of age can’t have flaws now….wait no they can’t be prefect either! As then they are Mary sue! What do you mean that LI are grey sue as well? No that not true Leo having a backstory would justify his actions don’t you get it? What do you mean we should hold the male characters as same standard? Jin treating mc as a servant is her fault as she didn’t say no…..😐 

... so I have two lines of thought about this particular topic, it is something I have thought about for a while because I am working on my own game/games and pay a lot of attention to what people think.

It isn't personality people like it is competence

The love and deepspace MC and Rosa from tears of themis actually have very similar personalities. They are bad at/hate studying. They really love food. They both are sort of dorks and known for being kind. What people like about them isn't any of those things, what they like is that both of them are adult women who you can believe live on their own. They actually have skills related to their jobs, you can believe Rosa is a lawyer and that MC is a hunter, the love interests aren't the only competent people in the narrative. I think this can sort of relate to the target audience for both of these games being working women, but that's for a different post. Right now I really want to focus on that concept of competence: the two other otomes I really love and want to bring up are Amnesia: Memories and Hakuoki. The Amnesia MC makes a lot of really stupid decisions, but as the game title gives away she has amnesia. There is an underlying explanation for why she's a bit dim so I don't see too many complaints about her personality (outside of Toma's route but that is a different story) because you don't exactly expect her to be competent. The same goes for Hakuoki's MC whose name escapes me at the moment, she is the daughter of a doctor so she is never made out to be incompetent in medical matters, but she isn't the best fighter. And she doesn't need to be that's the male love interest's role in this particular story.

The problem with MCs like our dear Luna? I believe you said her default name is, in Tokyo Debunker is that we don't exactly have anything she is stated to be good at beyond boosting Stigmas. The various ikmen games get around this by giving their MCs a job, but we don't have that for Luna so we don't have anything to show some backbone or character so people read her as being a bit of a doormat. Like I have said numerous times before, I don't mind this and think that so long as they keep allowing us to see her thoughts this the writing will be good. A relatively easy fix to this could have been to make her someone who really loves music and constantly talks about it, she was going to a concert at the start of the game so that little bit of character would go a long way for her to be more of a human for people to project themselves onto. Generally speaking, when writing an MC, it is perfectly acceptable to give them certain personality traits and a history. But if you do that you need to make sure the narrative respects that interest and does not use it as an excuse to make the male lead look cooler.

Gender Neutral MCs

*sigh* so you bring up Twisted Wonderland and I uh... have some experience with that fandom! And I have observed the gender wars over Yuu with a weary heart. I genuinely could not care any less about how people identify or the type of o.c.s they make, but some people really really care and if I am honest I find that a bit disturbing. It honestly makes me sad to see fanfic, which used to be a really accepting space, fight over writing... well anything really. m/m blogs screaming about how they don't want fem aligned reading their things, f/f blogs screaming about men, the f/m fic writers feeling the need to defend themselves writing for a female reader- doesn't that exhaust you? Why do you care so much? I do not have the energy to care about people writing fanfic I am not interested in reading, is this because I am anemic or have I managed to be normal about one singular thing?

My personal theory is that the commodification of fanfic and fandom has made people think there is something fundamentally wrong with properties that are marketed towards people who are not them. The reaction to Love and Deepspace not having a male MC option sort of cemented that for me, there is nothing wrong with wanting a game where you can be a man or non-binary and date anime boys. There is also nothing wrong with writing m/m fanfic for a property like lds, or wishing you could play as a man in it. I think there is a genuine market gap in good games for people who aren't fem aligned, but you do not get good games by harassing people or implying they suck for wanting games where you can play as a woman. You get that by financially supporting projects aimed at you! There is a blog I follow on here called @amaregamesdb. They post a bulletin of projects, both vn and if, with an emphasis on making people aware of projects that aren't simply otome (ie male love interests with a female protagonist.) I think the people who run it are also the people who coined the term "amare game" to use for games where the MC isn't necessarily female. They also ran a blog to help people like me learn how to code if/vns so I am very grateful for them, so please do give them your support.

I write for a gender neutral reader because I wanted to write interactive fiction and felt like I needed to practice doing so. I have continued to do because honestly? I really enjoy it. I love seeing how many different people identify with my writing and are moved by it. There are some projects I want to do in the future (original works, not fanfic) that I probably will lock the MC to female for, but I want to continue providing gn fic for people for as long as I write. And original projects too! I have two in particular I am working on behind the scenes. The solution to the problems like "what gender is yuu really," if you will permit me to preach for a second, is to not care. Yana said Yuu was meant to be you, and dear reader I don't actually know who you are! So you can be whoever it is you wish to be in your heart and I will make room for you to sit next to me. I'll even make tea (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 407: Wait Why Are You Running Away

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan figured out how to control his quirk upgrade and was totally chill and normal about it. Definitely not terrifying at all. He actually spent the entire chapter smiling and laughing like the wholesome little boy he is. I don’t know why Kid For One is so freaked out about it. He even politely introduced himself using his childhood nickname. Clearly he just wants to be friends with you, KFO!

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “sorry to keep you waiting, here’s the AFO and Yoichi flashback you ordered at long last” and proceeds to serve a nightmarish stew of HUMAN MISERY and RATS and STABBING and CARNAGE and SO MUCH MURDER and THE SINGLE MOST FUCKED-UP CASE OF CODEPENDENCY ANYONE HAS EVER WRITTEN. I was not even remotely prepared for any of this, and if anyone else claims that they were, I will call you a liar to your face. If this chapter had a mouth it would scream. Or just sob, ceaselessly and uncontrollably. I’m really glad Horikoshi is on break next week because that man needs to take a fucking nap. My god.

okay WOW

anyone else read the first two words and just immediately say to themselves, “oh okay, so it’s gonna be one of those chapters”? I mean, I guess we were due for a darker chapter after last week’s Kacchan Comedy Tour. but idk, I just wasn’t expecting “homeless sick prostitute with a drinking problem” levels of dark

AND SHE’S PREGNANT?!

what exactly is this manga rated again? doesn’t this backstory seem just a little bit raw for the impressionable kiddos??

has anyone actually checked in on Horikoshi recently? you know, just to make sure he is okay??

what a fun and wholesome manga this is

the lil baby arm covered in blood with the AFO hole on the palm. lying next to the dead mom hand. what an image to sear into our minds. I guess it’s been a while since he killed any dogs. gotta keep us on our toes somehow

also wasn’t expecting AFO and Yoichi to be twins! that puts an interesting spin on their relationship, because it’s usually a closer bond than even regular siblings. especially with all of that delightful shared trauma from a young age!!

yes, exactly

ohhhh this chapter is gonna hurt me, isn’t it. okay. ooooooookay. let’s do this

OH I’M SORRY, THERE’S MORE?!

Horikoshi my dude. you do realize that their mom dying in childbirth and the two of them just barely surviving and growing up as street orphans would have already been MORE than tragic enough, backstory-wise. you did not have to turn this into a freaking horror show with RATS TRYING TO EAT THEIR NEWBORN SELVES jesus christ

and THAT’S where you chose to put a one year timeskip?!

what the fuck am I reading here, you guys. no please tell me, I am actually desperate to understand

so the narrator is saying that some of the quirks manifested later in life, in “pubescent and pre-pubescent stages”, which is interesting because it’s the first time I can recall hearing about someone actually manifesting a quirk that late. maybe Deku’s old OFA cover story was more plausible than I realized

anyway so eventually it occurred to everyone that they should maybe freaking study this shit, idk. and eventually the researchers concluded that the superpowers came from a new gene that apparently isn’t human. and upon hearing that, society apparently lost its freaking mind. which is fascinating to me because it implies that the turning point wasn’t actually the superpowers themselves, but the realization of what it meant

like, so they were apparently fine with it when they thought it was a “mysterious disease”, but somehow it hit different when they learned it wasn’t actually a sickness at all, but instead the Next Step in Evolution. and it became an “us vs them” thing, as opposed to a “we have to cure these poor people” thing. damn

anyway so now Japan is a dystopia and we’re cutting to a big crowd of merc-looking dudes who are getting ready to attack some “meta freaks”, how lovely

but who is this figure in the shadows

I ask politely, as if it wasn’t already beyond obvious that this is AFO about to wreck some people’s shit

ohhhhh my god lmao

hopefully Katsuki and Deku can take the present day AFO out before he winds up looking like this. because this little fella is clearly demonic and idk if anyone can stop him

you all don’t understand. you need to run the fuck away right now

oh shit it’s already too late for them

it’s too late for any of us. it’s over. it’s all fucking over

((((；゜Д゜)))

AFO I am putting the manga down. I am backing away slowly with my hands in the air. I mean you no harm. please for the love of god have mercy

holy

“you see, we told you he wasn’t human” okay Scientific Research Group, you know what?? you win this round I guess

“HE WAS LITERALLY EVIL FROM BIRTH” HORIKOSHI SERIOUSLY ARE YOU OKAY??

HE WAS BORN AN ARROGANT BABY is literally the most terrifying sentence I have ever read

what the entire fuck

it’s a gorgeous sunny mid-November afternoon outside my window. but no matter how hard it tries, the light cannot reach this place

what kind of moron would throw a can of soda at him. officially the stupidest person we have ever seen in this manga

OH MY GOD OF COURSE IT’S HIM LMAO

(ETA: how come baby Yoichi has clothes that fit him perfectly but baby AFO is just stomping around wearing a tablecloth.)

BABY YOICHI. OH MY GOD. HOW THE HELL DID YOU GROW UP TO BE SANE AND KIND AND GOOD. THAT’S MY QUESTION THAT I NEED ANSWERED RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE LITERALLY A MIRACLE. YOU ARE AN IMPOSSIBILITY, DO YOU KNOW THAT

small and weak, but also so, so cute. all of the cuteness genes went straight to him. no wonder AFO was jealous

(ETA: just want to press pause for a second to speculate about what type of twins AFO and Yoichi are, since it has some relevance to the story, and especially to the OFA/AFO quirk lore. so! at first glance the two of them would appear to be fraternal twins, just based on the fact that they have very different appearances, and also the fact that Yoichi doesn’t have the AFO quirk – no holes in his hands, etc. identical twins are born from the same fertilized egg, so in theory they would both have the same sequence of DNA, which means Yoichi would have had the same quirk as AFO. but that doesn’t appear to be the case. so all of that points to them being fraternal, not identical.

on the other hand, there is one piece of evidence in this chapter that does support them being identical twins, and that’s the fact that per the narration, AFO absorbed most of the nutrients from their mother. a few minutes of google fu informed me that this condition is relatively rare, and only happens in cases where two twins share a placenta, which typically is only the case for identical twins. HOWEVER, for what it’s worth, there have also been rare instances where two fraternal twin placentas fuse together and become a single placenta. AND this apparently also increases the chances of one of the twins gaining more of the nutrients and causing the other twin to have a lower birth weight.

so based on the evidence here, my conclusion is that the two of them are most likely fraternal twins with a case of placental fusion. besides, you can’t tell me that stealing his baby brother’s placenta while the two of them are literally still in the womb doesn’t sound like exactly the type of BS that fetus!AFO would pull, lol.)

HEY!?!

okay?!?!?! well to be fair he did throw that soda at him

oh my god this is so fucked up. in like the best and worst way possible

I genuinely couldn’t ask for a better AFO backstory. it’s so incredibly twisted, and you actually do feel sorry for him. or at least I do. but it’s also beyond clear that this kid was FUCKED UP BEYOND ALL REASON right from the get go. zero goodness in him. literally doesn’t see other people as people. sees them as possessions only. things to rule over. not other thinking, feeling human beings. and that includes his own little brother

but. even if it’s not actually what I would call love, there’s still... attachment, there. it’s the closest he can get to actually caring about someone. guh. just, somehow they have both managed to humanize him, and at the same time made him less human than ever. this manga, man. this fucking manga, though

lmao and here we go. Captain Hero

you know, all those times that I made fun of AFO for not knowing how to read, I never suspected that the twist in his backstory would be that he LITERALLY DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO READ dfksjdlfkjslkdf

but seriously though. because Yoichi appears to be self-taught, and I can’t see AFO having the patience for that, and CLEARLY no one else was around to teach him, sooooo...

oh my goodness it’s actually getting wholesome up in here

what a good fucking boy. poor AFO. fuck me, I can’t help it. it’s not your fault you’re the world’s greatest monster you poor bastard

now we’re cutting to THREE YEARS LATER. okay

is he going to declare war on the glowing baby

typical teenager concerned about nothing but likes and view counts. AFO you would be so much happier if you stopped worrying about all of that and just focused on your own growth

oh, lol. well that was quick

(ETA: r.i.p. Damien.)

“this guy had more instagram followers than me. so I killed him” honey. sweetie pie. you need therapy

omfg

all this time I was wondering who AFO’s middle school lit teacher was who had failed so spectacularly at teaching him reading comprehension. and it was YOICHI ALL ALONG. omg

“and, presumably, that’s how it always was and always will be.” dude. can you imagine listening to AFO’s oral book report on A Tale of Two Cities. “ahem. it was the Best of Times. the end” buddy noooooooo

it was at that moment when Yoichi knew, etc. etc.

oh my GOD I scrolled down to the next panel right after this one and I just IMMEDIATELY DIED LAUGHING

“WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID” ffffffffffffffff I fucking can’t omfg

NOW THIS HUSSY IS STEALING HIS BROTHER AWAY FROM HIM NOOOOOOO

HE’S HIS!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! THAT’S NOT ALLOWED!!!

oh my god the hands. so wait, is this just the standard symbolic BnHA handholding, or are there More Levels To This. when exactly did Yoichi pass OFA on to Kudou. like is that why the sudden close-up and all that? omg

WHAT!!!!

OH THAT’S THE END, HUH? THAT’S THE END RIGHT THERE, AND THAT’S JUST HOW IT IS. I SEE. OKAY THEN. EXCUSE ME WHILE I PUT MY LAPTOP DOWN AND GO INTO THE NEXT ROOM AND SCREAM INTO A PILLOW

oh my god. and break next week too. this is what you guys have been dealing with this entire time huh. I understand your feelings now. godfuckingdammit lmao

[le-panda-chocovore]

I think the reason for all that discourse in the JJK fandom is that we had some expectations about what this story would be about, and we were wrong. I'd say it was our fault for having them, because Gege had his own story in mind and it isn't our role to tell him what to write/draw. But I'd also say that we were misled into having those expectations and then being deceived, because shock value is fun.

(I'm not in the AOT fandom so maybe I'm 100% wrong, in which case don't pay attention to me. I'm just rambling I'm not trying to make a point)

See there's not such a thing in Attack On Titans. I mean I know people are arguing whether a decision was good or bad or a character development was positive or negative, but no one is rioting the way JJK readers are even when someone dies, kills, or does worse (they do start a genocide lol). Because in AOT you know since the beginning what this story is about : surviving, war, and liberty. With time you learn that it's also about racism, destiny and injustice. But the story starts with death and blood and it never calms down, characters keep dying or getting hurt and no one's safe all along the story. So you just know it'd end the same way, you know what to expect, that power of friendship won't save anyone here.

But Jujutsu Kaisen is different, because it has all the codes of a basic Shonen. Everyone was comparing it to Naruto during the 1st season so you would believe it'd follow the same path. Of course there's fights and fails and suffering and death, because it's necessary for the growth of the protagonist. He'd learn he's not strong enough and he'd try harder and mature more and be better. Jujutsu Kaisen makes you think it's your One Piece-type manga where 1 person dies every 4 arcs and the main team survives everything, even when it looks impossible.

And then Shibuya happens and you're shocked because it's way to early to kill so many valuable characters in a row. Usually that kind of massacre happens during Big War arcs like in MHA. At first you think it's an interesting writing choice because it changes from other mangas, and you wonder how the main character will evolve from that. But then the training arc never happens, because shit keeps falling on them and there's a pile of deads and you start to wonder when it'd stop. Spoilers : it doesn't.

So at some point you realize it. This isn't a classical shonen. This isn't an happy-ending after a hard fight kind of story. There's no power of friendship to save them, there's no important moral path to keep following no matter what (like "I won't do to you what you did to me because it'd mean that I'm the same" no it doesn't work here), and there's not even a chance to run away from that cursed role no one wants to bear. There's no one protecting the kids anymore. The MC isn't strong enough and the mentors are dead and close friends are off-fight and the one person able to end this has to make the horrendous choice to give up his humanity.

In AOT, you were shocked, but it felt logical in the sense of where the story was leading you from the beginning. In JJK, you feel betrayed and manipulated because everything made you think about those other mangas where people ended up fine, but it was just a cover.

Honestly you COULD have guessed it'd end that way. Many people did. You just ignored it.

You thought Junpei's death was an exception, the Major Point for Yuuji's development, the Shock Value Kill to put some depth nuance in the story. But in reality it was a warning, a taste of the future. There WERE signs after all, and Gege never pretended to write another Naruto. You were so used to the classical shonen that you read the signs and fell for the trick.

JJK has never been a nice story from the beginning, Sukuna was at the center of every event since the beginning. You can dislike what is happening but you cannot say it's bad, as in a scenaristic choice. Gege is a writing genius and unfortunately he's also pure evil.

You shouldn't have trusted a one-eyed cat after all.

[trigun-manga-overhaul]

TRIGUN ULTIMATE OVERHAUL JANUARY 2024 UPDATE

OVERHAUL UPDATE 01/05/24 - Help needed.

This year's first update will be a little different than usual, as we don't have much new to update on. The process of cleaning and preparing pages is going smoothly and we're currently way ahead of schedule. There is however one thing that we want to mention.

WE'RE LOOKING FOR A NEW JAPANESE SOUND EFFECTS COMPILER!

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN HELPING OUT, FEEL FREE TO DM US!

Our previous compiler had to pull out from the project due to private reasons, and therefore we're in need of a new person comfortable in the Japanese language and familiar with the writing. If you have any experience in compiling and translating manga sound effects, then that is very helpful but not required.

There won't be any intense deadlines, work flow can be easily discussed, having Discord would be helpful for communication but not required. You'll primarily be working with me, the project lead.

The compiling work will include reading the sound effects off the pages, putting them into an organized system in both original Japanese script, both Katakana and Hiragana, and Latin-script form. Lastly, adding a suggestion for an English translation to later be discussed with other members what we want to go with and how to write it.

There are very few things that are a must with how this compiling will be done, so there'll be a lot of freedom to do it in whatever way works the best for you.

You'll be fully credited for your work in the Team Overhaul credits if desired, or not if you wish to remain anonymous.

We hope to be able to keep our sound effect translation promise, as we too fully agree that the sound effects are very important for the understanding of scenes. But as it stands now, we need help to make it happen as the work load on our members is already heavy enough.

~~

Sorry for the lack of cleaned double pages this month, but that just means we've got even more double pages for next month's update!

SEE YOU GUYS NEXT MONTH!

[beansterpie]

ES21 japanese volumes - part 1/??

part 2 >>

Sooooo I recently got my hands on the complete Eyeshield 21 manga series in Japanese and as someone who's only ever read the story through fan-translations on dodgy websites online, I wanted to go through and "live" blog about it, so to speak. I thought it would be interesting to see the changes between the languages and where the fan-translations likely fail with mistranslations. (No shade btw, I think fan-translations are great both as a hobby and the fact that they're doing their work for free, but it's also a reality that the vast majority of fan-translators are amateurs, many of whom don't fluently speak the language they're translating, so there's bound to be mistakes!) Also, I wanna know what they're originally saying because I’m nosey <3

I know the official English translation by VIS is allegedly pretty decent, bar the toning down of some things (like Hiruma's language lol) so if you've had the chance to read the official version, feel free to chime in on differences with the fan-translation that I'll be referencing, or potential differences between the Japanese version too!

And finally, while I am half Japanese and grew up there, tragically my language skills are imperfect. I speak it, but my vocabulary isn't very robust, so I do look up the definitions for a lot of words and kanji, as well as more nuanced connotations or references that may go over my head. Bilingual problems <3 But again, it's good practice for me and I think it'll be kind of fun!

Right off the bat, this page. What it’s saying is essentially, “You better come out and play (in the) American Football match!” But because Japanese syntax is different from English, it’s structured like “American Football Match you better play!!” The translator was confused by the final line, because in Japanese a way to say ‘participating in a match’ is by using 出る which means to ‘go out’— sort of like ‘go out (into) the match’. Maybe a better option would have been ‘get the fuck out and play!!” or just “you better fucking play!!”. It still keeps the overall sentence structure which sounds awkward in English, but at least it gets the meaning across.

(I’m not gonna get into every little mistranslation btw, because that would take forever, but I felt that was a good way to explain how frequently there are little mistakes like this.)

Putting the rest under a cut because I imagine this will get long

Look at our boy <3 So as you know, we start our story with Sena Kobayakawa timidly seeing if he passed his high school entrance exam into Deimon High School, with his childhood friend/older sister figure, Mamori Anezaki lending moral support.

In the third panel, what Sena says is actually “I feel like I’ve been praised for the first time in 10 years—” (maybe they changed it because that was too pathetic 😭) Then in the fourth panel, what Mamori says is more along the lines of “And to think you were a total mess in math and English… It’s all thanks to Mamori-sensei!”

Also I want to point out that Mamori is a little cheekier in the first few chapters. Like obviously still kind and nurturing in personality (her name is literally ‘to protect’), but she teases Sena and feels more like an older sister than like, an overprotective mom lol. Miss that for her 😔

Then along comes our kind senpai to accost our clueless protag...

There’s no mistranslation, but I just wanted to mention that the way Hiruma talks in Japanese is so funny? Like in panel 1, he’s speaking with a dramatic affect, he sounds like some sort of npc in a jrpg giving the protag a quest. And then in panel 2, his ‘of course!’ is this shortened, slang version of the word that sounds almost cute and very modern after the previous line. Hiruma uses a lot of slang in general, though I can’t say if any of it is like, common or used by teenagers (of the time, anyway) or if it’s just Hiruma-isms.

(Look at Kurita doing the sign of the cross in panel 3 😂)

I can’t believe Hiruma managed to physically emulate the experience of contracting some shady internet virus…..

Something that’s done with Hiruma’s dialogue a lot (it’s done w/ other characters too, but most often with Hiruma) is where there’ll be a word/term in kanji that means one thing and pronounced in a certain way, but then the furigana (so the phonetic pronounciation, basically) next to it says something different. Now, in some stories (like Berserk for my pals out there), this is used to create poignant, layered meanings in the text. In ES21 however, it’s mostly used for sports manga flavor. For example, in the above page in Hiruma’s spam fax message, he uses the word 作戦, which means tactics or strategy, and is pronounced: “sa - ku - se - nn” さ-く-せ-ん. But the furigana next to that word reads タクティクス which is quite literally just the English word ‘tactics’ spelled phonetically in Japanese lol (aka a loanword).

He does this A LOT, most frequently with sports terminology, where the kanji are pretty dense, technical terms, and the furigana a loanword version of the same meaning. (though now that I think about it, it might also be because while パワー (power) and スピード (speed) are frequently used and well known loanwords to the average Japanese person, タクティクス (tactics) might be more obscure, so the kanji is there to like, clarify the meaning? 🤔)

Also I love all the early 2000’s tech we see in the early chapters— flip phones and fax machines galore! Even within the later segments of the series, the flip phones start to magically get more advanced, but in my heart ES21 takes place in like, 2003. If they ever do a remake of the anime (which is unlikely to say the least) I’d want them to maintain the early 00’s vibes. It just wouldn’t be the same if everyone had smart phones.

Skipping ahead a few pages, I remember this bit never really made sense, but I got enough of the general gist that I kind of shrugged and moved along. But!! the translation is just making stuff up here?

So for context: it’s Sena’s first day at Deimon, and Mamori (who’s a grade above him) advises him to make proper friends this year, since he has a history of only ‘hanging out’ with shitty bullies who used him as an errand boy.

In the English translation, Sena seems to get a text from a mystery number, telling him to pay up for a bet we never saw happening. He goes to meet up with the texter, who we assume at this point is a previous aquaintence, since he had Sena's number? Maybe one of those bullies that Sena hung out with from middle school? They make Sena go and get them an unspecified thing, but because Sena ran there and back so quickly, they don't believe that Sena actually went, and is lying when he says they were sold out. They drag Sena to a small shed to beat him up, and in the last panel of the third page, Sena says that he's been their errand boy since kindergarden?

So for a number of years I was under the impression that the Ha-ha brothers knew Sena from before the series, even though that never seemed to come up in the rest of the story.

But in the original version, Sena is actually getting a text from Mamori-- which makes sense because it was established earlier that his cell phone is brand new and he only has Mamori's number in his contacts. Mamori's text says: "If someone tries to make you run their errands, tell them 'let's decide by rock-paper-scissors!'" Sena is understandably kind of embarrassed by this, and mutters to himself that he's not a kid anymore.

Then it cuts to Sena being picked on to be an errand boy lmao. Presumably this is because Sena just looks like an easy target to bullies, not because of any previous aquaintence rip. The blond bully tells Sena to go buy them bread (which might sound weird, but Japan has a lot of tasty snack breads that they sell everywhere). In panels 2+3 of the second page, Sena timidly tries to bring up the rock-paper-scissors thing, but is intimidated into giving up and just doing what he's told.

Again, they don't believe that Sena actually went all the way to the school store and back with how quick he was, so they decide to beat him up in the shed. As he's being dragged, Sena says, "It really was sold out! I've gotten used to being an errand boy since kindergarden, so I've just gotten fast--!"

So yeah, if there were any other people who've only read fan-translations and were confused by this bit, there you go.

oh you just know it smelled like ass in here.....

(I never noticed the shotgun propped against the desk on the right before lol, idk why I'm surprised, but Hiruma really just left his Actual Guns lying around huh?)

(2nd pic - Kurita: "New club applicants!!?")

There he is!! Our boy Kurita!! I do miss when he occassionally had like, more human features lol. As much as I love his big ol' smiley face, it does rub me the wrong way when the fat characters (because Komusubi falls into this too) are the only ones with anpanman faces.

(anpanman, for the uninitiated)

(Kurita: "To literally clash with the opponent in order to pursue a goal together with everyone-- that moment is exhilerating!")

Aw look at Sena feeling inspired! Honestly I really love how Kurita is Sena's first friend he makes in the series, and that vibe in the early chapters where it's just Sena, Kurita and Hiruma is so much fun <3

(P1: Kurita: "Way to go Sena!" Imaginary Coach: "It's thanks to you that we could participate in the Christmas Bowl!" Mamori: "You're so cool Sena!"

P2: Mamori: "You have to make the first move!" Sena: "U-um!"

P3: Sena: "Can I... be the team shumu*?" Kurita: "WHAAATT!? O-OF-OF COURSE!")

*Ok soooo I don't fully understand what a shumu is lol, or how you'd translate it to English. The word itself apparently means 'person in charge' so? The fan-translation just calls it the manager, but based on something Hiruma says later, I get the impression that the shumu and the manager are technically different roles? But when Mamori becomes the manager later, she takes on a lot of what are allegedly 'shumu tasks', along with Hiruma, so idk. If anyone's read the official VIS translation, feel free to chime in on how they did it, because I'd be curious to know!

That being said, adorable of Sena to think he could have handled that responsiblity at all 😂 our boy has many talents, but being smart and organized is not among them.

Ok fun feelings are over, it's time for pain.

(Sena looking at his contact list, having just added Kurita's number, then wham D: )

The three bullies from before were waiting to get revenge. The dialogue is a bit different in the original. Juumonji (the blond one) actually says: "That fatso a friend of yours, Sena? Tell me his contact info-- if you do that, we'll let you go." To which Sena timidly and reluctantly agrees. Then Kuroki (the dark haired one) says: "But do you think one bat will be enough? With that brute strength..." In the final panel, Juumonji says: "It's better with just one, since we're gonna call the police beforehand." Togano (with the glasses): "The police?"

Juumonji: "As long as we get him wrapped up in the fight, it'll be fine. We'll say we got these wounds from being assaulted by the fatso with the bat -- We'll get him disqualified from the American Football tournament." One of the others: "Ooohh, smart!"

I guess the overall sentiment isn't that different, but knowing that the initial demand was for Sena to hand over Kurita's contact info with the promise that they would spare him if he obeyed-- and that at first he agreed-- makes his change of heart feel even more significant.

(Sena: "IF YOU'RE GONNA HIT ME, THEN HIT ME!!! I'LL NEVER TELL YOU (Kurita's info)!!!")

Tell 'em Sena!! A part of me sort of wishes the story maintained this serious story beat instead of undercutting it with humor in the next panel (not shown here) but at the same time, ES21 is overall a more lighthearted, comedic story which I love it for, so I don't think I'd like it getting too angsty. I'll always have Berserk in my corner if I want some actual angst lol.

(1st pic: various sounds of surprise or pain, and in the last panel: "Oi, don't let him get away!"

2nd pic: Sena -- "No way!!!" Hiruma: "Hm? Oh it's that guy" )

Lol I do love the little details Murata included, like Kuroki taking a swing at Sena as he's biting Juumonji's hand but then totally missing in the fourth panel because Sena's so fast. Also I'm always on the lookout for the kinds of stuff Hiruma buys, snack wise. We know he loves sugarless gum, obv, and drinks coke based on that one time he bought some for himself, Kurita & Sena, but what else are in those bags? I want to know!!

--------

And lol apparently I'm only allowed 30 images per post rip, so I guess I'll end this here. I guess I can.... reblog and continue? Or I might just make another post for the next part 🤔 Besides this got way too long, so I'll have to be more brief in future posts lol.

I'm honestly not expecting more than like, five people to interact with this lol, but if anyone is interested in specific points of the story they want me to look at, please feel free to ask!

[lawbin-archive]

The lawbin hate...

Just want to share my thoughts on the hate...

First of all, I think posting Lawbin it's just my kind of fun and relax. Especially, you're dealing with your real life in the day, you just want to do something you're interested at night. So I like to write different analysis of Lawbin, even though not a lot of people care, I still want to share what I'm interested and hope more people will find their charms. I do encountered a few people that say something on the qrt when I post about lawbin, and saw a lot of rude comments on the twt tag.

Even until now, I still don't understand the hate...people just keep saying the same thing - "they are boring" "just standing together" "no chemistry" "they barely interact" so?? do you need to hate them just for these reasons?? if you show evidence they interact, they will just say "they just talk..." umm like huh so talking isn't interact? of course it's a subjective opinion. It's ok to share yours too. But I saw one tweet was like "need to abolish all the ships except frobin" like seriously? I never can imagine a one piece fan reading a manga about freedom and still saying "I need to cancel all the opinion that's against mine" did those people really read one piece? and I can say there's quite a lot of people agree with these kind of "celestial dragon" opinion.

As a lawbin shipper, of course seeing these kind of comments will make me upset or some people will even avoid talking lawbin and follow along with the "popular" opinion. Just remember that not all the one piece fans are like that, I can say at least 50% of them are not on twitter lol If I browse around the internet, of course lawbin aren't the most popular but there are quite amount of people support them. They have enough fans in japan to have their princess hug moment in stampede. and lawbin won the polls, I remember twice too!! so ignore the hate! like what you like! you're not alone!! >< And I wouldn't argue with those people, coz what's the point arguing with "celestial dragon".

And I don't hate frobin, I hate people using frobin to bully other ships. It's just that alone made me lost of all interests. And I think some of them use frobin as a shield to distance Robin with Law or vice versa because they ship Law/Robin with others. Childish af. Just my opinion though.

And if they react that aggressively, it means Lawbin is a threat to them. if they really think Lawbin is not possible, they won't even complain at the first place lol To me, all the hate is just a proof that Lawbin is possible ;)

At the end, I really hope people can respect each other opinion and not ruin our fun. Although it's not really gonna happen, try to enjoy and have fun!! I am glad more people posting about lawbin too! >< I wish we could see them interact again soon!!

[textfromthelookout]

Did you hear of the news?

I have. :(

Everyone else has their tributes so, here, a summary of my experience with Dragon Ball.

I was in fourth grade art class. A kid had the February 2005 issue of Shonen Jump, back when Shonen Jump was still physically printed here. I recognized Atem on the front cover because the Blockbuster around the corner from our house had DVDs (I think they were DVDs and not VHSs then since I distinctly remember it having a menu and special features) of some of the later episodes of Duelist Kingdom and my brother and I watched them on repeat. So I was like oh, hey, what's this? They make books of that stuff? I don't remember the conversation but the kid ended up giving me that issue, and I took it home with me.

There were a LOT of significant, groundwork things happening in that issue, now that I think about it. We were just beginning to see Sanji truly in action against Pearl. The Dark Tournament was in it's early stages still with Roto fucking around and finding out against Kurama. Sakura shears off her hair in a move that rearranged sexualities the world over. The reason Atem was on the cover was because Yu-Gi-Oh Millennium World was just debuting its first and second chapter. Bleach wasn't even serialized yet. And Dragon Ball, of course, was also there, about a hundred and fifty chapters ahead of everybody else.

Keep in mind that this was my first experience with manga, period. So my very first experience with Dragon Ball opened on this:

and ended on this:

Yeah. Truth be told, at the time Yu Yu Hakusho piqued my interest more than Dragon Ball (a guy fighting with plants? how creative!) but I never did forget these chapters. I thought the art style was so different from the others.

At some point after this, probably between several months and a year and a half, the TV happened to be on one evening when Toonami was airing Dragon Ball Z. Oh hey, I said, I recognize that art, I know those characters. So I hung around and watched some of episode 281. Two things about watching that episode stick with absolute crystal clarity in my mind to this day. Firstly: Buu choking Vegeta out with his arm freaked me the FUCK out as a child. I could not tell you why I had a fear reaction to it but hey, there you go. The second is this:

Specifically I remember 'You died once. If anything happens to you now, you won't exist anymore. There'll be nothing I can do to bring you back.' Not precisely word for word over the years, but Schemmel's tone of voice on this particular lineread. If I had to guess I'd say it was because at that point in my life, uh, death was kinda permanent? So wait, what do you mean died ONCE. Doesn't that apply to everyone?

This still wasn't enough to get me super invested in it though, it just didn't seem like something that would appeal to me that much. So a couple years go by, I don't think about it all that much, and then of course, TFS hits the scene and drops DBZ Abridged. So you know. As a shithead middle schooler with a shithead sense of humor I thought it was the best damn thing since sliced bread. (My biggest character flaw is that I still think a lot of Season 1 is genuinely funny)

And that was really the extent of my interaction with the franchise for the next several years. Say what you will about DBZA but they did manage to put it all together such that someone who had a nonexistent concept of what the original context was could grok it with not a lot of effort. Some time in high school, I think I was around 15, I decided to bite the bullet and read all the manga, as much to increase the funny factor of DBZA as sheerly for the sake of being able to say I had. Stick it to the other weebs, y'know. Now they can't say I didn't know anything about good anime. This was unfortunately at a time when all that was available online were dirty poor-quality scans and questionable translations, but read it I did. I went 'yep, that sure is about what I expected', and proceeded to get on with my life. GT came and went, I looked up and saw Battle of Gods coming out and went 'oh hey that's still a thing huh', kinda was peripherally aware of all the divisiveness of Super as it was happening, didn't really pay it much attention, just stuck to DBZA and quite a lot of wiki-ing.

And then, this time of year about three years ago now, in the middle of conversation with @prophecydungeon, Dragon Ball somehow came up. Something to do with 'Even though I'm not hugely into DBZ's story or whatever Toriyama does have some great character designs' (yes I was referring to Vegeta and Future Trunks at the time, no i will not stop being predictable, yes i am a parody of myself). They eventually brought up the DBS Broly movie and said, and i quote: 'that was a solid 1.5h of unbelievably fun and wacky animation'. Having seen the Gogeta vs Broly part of it on twitter and been like 'damn that animation's kinda off the hook actually, good for them good for them', my response was to be like. Oh word? I've got a spare hour and a half to kill, sure, fuck it, why not, time to watch DBS Broly.

I think that movie was precision crafted to hit me in the hyperfixation, if we're being honest. Opening on a solid 20 minutes of Lore and Worldbuilding and then having most of the rest of the runtime being mindless slobberknocker fun by way of some of the hardest animation flexes ever? I was done for.

In summation. I have been aware of Dragon Ball for a lot of my life, in that its presence was pervasive and enduring as I grew up. I may have been late to the game of actually wholeheartedly enjoying it, but enjoy it I do. Dragon Ball is the roots of a vast tree of anime, and in reading it I began to understand why that is. I respect it for that, and I love it for that. My current fixation may have shifted, but as far as time devoted to one individual thing goes... it took me a year and a half to watch my way through all of the anime and read all of the manga. ALL of it. So there's something good in there, I'd say.

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — m1ckeyb3rry

Your match WAS...

— Nagi Seishiro

✦ Well, I didn’t think about it for very long :D

✦ I was waiting to read the part about the traits you like in the other person and… Well, honestly, I hesitated for a moment but still brushed it off, thinking, "meh, it's part of life."

✦ So here’s our most motivated player from Blue Lock :)

✦ (No.)

✦ And I have to admit that Nagi isn't a character I can easily place because he's so unique and not at all receptive to anything related to human relationships. I even think he belongs to his own manga, within the manga itself.

✦ That’s probably why we end up with a movie named after him and a series of mangas dedicated to him.

✦ For me, what creates a funny and unusual chemistry right away is the fact that you’re extremely different… but that you connect on very specific details that form a common bridge between you two.

✦ Example: "I’m also pretty quick-witted and good at thinking on my feet BUT I’m kind of judgmental." Without saying Nagi is the most reactive guy in the world, in moments of despair (lol, going straight to the tough stuff), it almost seems like he doesn’t think and manages to instinctively react to anticipate a decisive move on the field. Stimulated correctly, he unleashes potential that, in my opinion, is unmatched by anyone else. He’s got this ON and OFF mode! Most of the time, he’s sleeping, slacking, or playing games; but during very specific key moments, he wakes up and breaks all performance records. It’s almost like it doesn’t require any effort, you know? It’s just an aspect of his personality that awakens under certain conditions, but it’s part of who he is. Meaning, he didn’t really have to work on it beforehand to possess it. Some like to call it "genius."

✦ And I see that trait in you when you explain to me, "I’m quite smart but I don’t really try to be?? Like I mostly play on my phone or watch shows/read in my classes but I have perfect grades anyways."

✦ It’s both awesome, and it can also attract a lot of jealousy. Those who work hard but end up with average or even bad grades, while you don’t need to spend time studying; you succeed no matter what.

✦ I can see my duo of prodigies :)

✦ "It’s hard for something/someone to keep my interest for long, but when it does, I am SUPER into it, so I’m really good at pursuing goals and whatnot!!" Yes, it’s the same for Nagi. You both need a goal that makes sense to you to become productive. A discipline in which you can excel once you get into it; but also one where you become passive once an activity loses its appeal. A downside that’s not easy to manage, on top of driving those around you crazy, who see your potential but feel like you’re not using it to its full extent.

✦ "I’m pretty cheerful and kind for the most part, and I’m a chronic people-pleaser, so I’ll bend over backwards to help out people I don’t know that well/to be agreeable, but when I know a person super well (ex. my family), I can def be kind of demanding/picky." For Nagi, it’s really the opposite, and it causes him problems in the other direction; he cares too little about his surroundings and what others think to even react accordingly. Which leads people to label him as heartless and selfish, something he doesn’t deny but doesn’t really approve of either.

✦ I’ve often observed that people who expect a lot from their surroundings are those who don’t let just anyone into their personal space, out of a need to protect themselves. This involves a very meticulous and sometimes extreme filtering process, often demanding a lot and becoming tough or guilt-tripping others when they don’t meet those expectations—sometimes unrealistic ones.

✦ But this behavior wouldn’t last with someone like Nagi, from whom you really can’t expect anything, absolutely nothing. Even Reo, who might be the character who knows Nagi the best, experienced his worst moments of doubt because Nagi didn’t quite meet his expectations—the one of staying by his side no matter what. What seemed obvious wasn’t true, leading to a violent disillusionment for Reo.

✦ So, I think it’s a match that could be complicated because it’ll require both of you to make efforts to step out of your comfort zones and accept each other’s flaws, but it could be extremely rewarding and fulfilling. I’ll come back to explain with some MBTI, but you’re typically a duo where almost everything contrasts.

✦ "As for what people tell me… I guess that I’m super confident, funny, kind, trustworthy (I was the one in high school who knew ALL of the tea because people would just tell me their secrets unprompted)." Yes. Really, with EVERYTHING in contrast.

✦ Side note, but when I read texts, certain words have colors, sounds, and sensations for me. They give off something, and when I read your whole section of likes, I see springtime paintings, sweet, fragrant scents. I see lots of nature, countryside, flowers, I feel silk, the smell of books, the careful unwrapping of packages to keep in a drawer. When I read the word "pomegranate," I see the fruit and feel the texture and hear the flowing, viscous sound of its seeds. All of this gives me a very colorful overall vision, and I think it’s the complete opposite of what I feel when I read about Nagi, who for me is very monochrome, on the same horizon line.

✦ "Traits I like in others: people who are passionate about things, people who are very kind/gentle." Well, you can see why I hesitated, right? :D

And that’s when I stopped everything to rewrite it all. The ""real"" matchup is right here.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | SEPTEMBER '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[yukisohmasmokesweed]

hii as someone w selective mutism, and after seeing your post regarding yuki being mute, i’ve had this question that wouldn’t leave my head: were kisa and yuki actually selectively mute or was it due to traumatic mutism or something else? maybe i’m just self-projecting, but despite us being mute for different reasons (it is possible to have SM from trauma, though it is rare), i always saw myself in both of them when it came to their muteness (i’m really sad yuki being mute was only touched on in kisa’s ep and then never brought up again) so their characters mean a lot to me. just thought I’d bring this up and ask since there isn’t any discussion surrounding this and from the posts that i’ve seen on here, people just seem to go w kisa having SM (and by extension yuki) and just say that it’s canon. being the projector that i am, i also assumed it was but still never thought it was “accurate” rep but then again, does it have to be? regardless of how it’s shown in the anime/manga, i think we’re all entitled to our own opinions on this, and that no matter what we think caused their mutism, all opinions r valid! i’m just so curious on what your take on this is since no one mentions anything like this in specific.

hello! funny you send me this ask today because i just rewatched the first ep of the reboot last night for the first time in a looooong time and have been thinking about fb all morning! as far as i understand it, selective mutism is an anxiety disorder that can definitely be triggered by trauma, and that is how i read yuki and kisa. i'm sure you have a deeper understanding of it than me as someone with that experience, but in my research on this (which admittedly was a few years ago) it seems there is a variety of reasons why children are selectively mute, one of them being abusive environments and a predisposition to anxiety disorders. i would absolutely argue that both yuki and kisa have intense social anxiety, even outside of their mutism; and that yuki, aside from diagnosing him with something, is a perfectionist, and perfectionism often stops people from doing things.

i was also really sad yuki's mutism was only touched upon, so i actually wrote a whole fic about it! i think this is an incredibly interesting aspect of yuki's character. yuki in childhood has no autonomy at all: his life is controlled by his mother, then akito, and akito does not listen to him (or anyone). the other zodiacs ignore him, and he becomes tokenized as the rat instead of viewed as an individual. very often, yuki shrinks into himself as a reaction to this. he already has to keep physical and emotional distance from his peers due to the curse, and his oppressive home environment pushes him to even more extremes. i think so much of yuki's mutism is a maladaptive acceptance that he will never be listened to and that what he feels or thinks does not matter, and so he sinks into a depression where one of his copes is silence. even after this episode, he continues to be softspoken and keeps his cards close to his chest—which is why i love his relationship with kakeru so much, because kakeru coaxes him out of his shell. after meeting kakeru, he begins expressing his opinion more candidly and becomes openly emotional in ways that are supported by kakeru's view of him as a human being. yuki spends so much of his life being objectified as either the rat or the prince (both similar roles where he is being held to an extremely high standard that is only an archetype and robs him of individuality and humanity) and he plays the roles that are assigned to him. it is only when he is shown true love and acceptance through tohru that he can begin to learn who he is outside of those perceived roles, and allows him to express himself as yuki in front of kakeru, who never bought into the prince thing to begin with.

i think the other thing about fruits basket is that it is very tropey, and selective mutism in the way it is portrayed in fb is very much a shojo trope moreso than it is a real portrayal of a disorder. i don't think natsuki takaya is "trauma informed" as we would call it now, as it was written 20 years ago inside of a culture that notoriously does not take mental health seriously. i think yuki and kisa's mutism is very much a narrative choice, so i definitely agree with you re: what you're saying about "accurate" rep. anyway thanks for the ask and your serendipitous timing! thinking about that rat boy <3

[akihabaradivision]

Criss's Thoughts on Obihiro Division

Hisoka Tetsumasu

"Hisoka-san's ranch? Oh, it's definitely on my list of places to explore! I mean, with all the history he has, there's got to be some kind of supernatural energy there, right? Horses are such spiritual creatures too; they have this wise look, like they've seen things we can't even imagine. I haven't had the chance to sneak onto the ranch yet, but believe me, it's tempting. I've heard stories about places where animals live being crossroads for spirits, and I'm curious if Hisoka-san's ranch is one of those places."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there were spirits lingering around, maybe even watching over the horses. It would be fascinating to investigate and see if there's any truth to the tales. Plus, I think it would be pretty cool to meet Hisoka-san in person. Despite his past, I bet he has some interesting stories to tell. And who knows? Maybe the spirits are drawn to the place because of him. It's all speculation at this point, but I’m eager to find out more. Ghosts or no ghosts, Hisoka's ranch is definitely a place where the veil between worlds feels thin."

Daiki Kamiyama

"Daiki-kun's superhero antics are totally cool! I mean, who doesn't love a bit of mystery and adventure under the cover of night? We've bumped into each other a few times while I'm out on my paranormal investigations, and let me tell you, it's always a blast when he's around. His enthusiasm for superheroes and doing good is just infectious. I think it's awesome that he's trying to make a difference, even in his own unique way."

"We've explored a couple of spooky spots together, and Daiki-kun's bravery really shines through. It's like he's in his element, you know? I can't help but admire his dedication to his hero persona. Sure, it might be a little risky, but life's too short to not chase after what you believe in. Plus, having a 'superhero' by your side when you're chasing ghosts? That's just epic! I'd say we make a pretty great team when it comes to exploring the unknown!"

Jack Verrill

"Jack-san is like a character straight out of a manga! The stoic butler with a mysterious air about him—it's just like something you'd read in a story, and I find it pretty amusing! Whenever I'm hanging out with Daiki-kun and Jack-san is there, I can't resist teasing him a bit. I’ll sometimes just throw out a classic line like, 'The butler did it!' when we're talking about mysteries. He usually just gives me this look that's a mix of exasperation and amusement, which only makes it funnier!"

"Honestly, I think Jack-san's presence adds a whole layer of intrigue to any situation. He's got this vibe that he knows more than he lets on, and I respect that. It's clear he cares a lot about Daiki-kun, and his dedication to his role is something you don’t see every day. But I do wonder what secrets he's keeping. With someone like him, you just know there's a wealth of stories behind those quiet eyes. Maybe one day, he'll share some of them with us. Until then, I'll keep enjoying the mystery that is Jack-san, the enigmatic butler. Because, after all, he is just... one hell of a butler." Criss giggles to herself.

Veiled Vanguard

"I like these guys! They're an interesting bunch! I've hung out with them a few times, and it's always an adventure! Hisoka-san's ranch has this mysterious vibe that's just so captivating, and Daiki-kun's enthusiasm for heroics is super contagious. Even Jack-san, with his stoic butler act, has a certain charm. They're like characters from the paranormal fanfics online come to life, and I love that!"

"When it comes to facing them in the Division Rap Battle, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit torn. On one hand, it's going to be epic. But on the other, I've gotten to know them, and they’re not just opponents; they're friends too. It's going to be tough to go against them, but that's the nature of the game, right? We all want to win, but more than that, we want to share our stories, our music, and our hearts. So, no matter what happens, I'll give it my all and hope that our friendship can withstand the competition."

[feekins]

today, as I re-read ch 3 of Trigun Maximum vol 1, the focus of our story shifts to post-timeskip Meryl! what's she up to? what strange new translation discrepancies will I stumble upon next? let's jump right in and find out! 😁

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

ok so the moment I saw the first page, I had to go grab Trigun vol 1 for comparison purposes.

SO. a couple things I wanna note about the in-'verse timeline, for posterity:

Lost July happened on July 21, 0104

Fifth Moon happened in October of 0110

at Fifth Moon, Vash references the Fall as having happened 150 years ago...

...which has me thinking that some major post-Fall event led to the decision to start a new calendar "era" - like how, in tristamp, the "Planet Era" was heralded by humanity managing to establish a planet-wide radio network using a satellite that was launched pre-Fall (source: Studio Orange on Twitter)

(SIDE-NOTE: on the sheet we see Meryl hand Roberto towards the beginning of tristamp ep 1, we see Meryl's birth year marked as "PE081" and her age as "23" - which tells us that tristamp starts in the year 0104 - which tracks with the date the manga gives us for Lost July! and also has me thinking we won't have a Fifth Moon in the new anime, but I digress;;;;; )

Trigun Maximum picks up 2 years after Fifth Moon (0112)...

...but we first see post-Fifth Moon Meryl on her 23rd birthday in February of 0113...

...meaning a few months have passed since we met Eriks!

oh, and that office lady, Karen, says Meryl's Vash assignment was 4 months long, which puts the start of Trigun vol 1 at July of 0110!

anyway. I thought that was interesting. if it hasn't been done already, it would be cool for someone to keep track of the manga timeline (someone who isn't me, lmao - I've already spent over an hour on this post;;;;; )

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

anyway! here's the first little translation discrepancy that jumped out at me this chapter! similar wording, sure, but to me, subtle differences in meaning and overall vibes the phrasing gives off rly emphasizes Vash's softness in the Overhaul 💕

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

but this? lol idk, man ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

additional shit in the Overhaul's translation! not surprised that Keele seems like even more of an asshole here lmao

...ok but it's rly funny to think about the possibility that all Vash knows about insurance agents comes from his impressions of Meryl and Milly. so. I guess in his mind, Keele's just par for the course 🤣

subtle difference in wording here, but thanks to the Overhaul, this little bit makes a lot more sense to me this read-through =u=

same deal here!

wow, they're married... 🤣🤣🤣

and again! Dark Horse had me thinking Meryl was talking about Vash here. the Overhaul makes it clear that, no, she's talking about that asshole Keele

[koomiyah]

Taekookers saw two tall handsome men and decided to ship them. They then watched youtube videos where they are portrayed as toxic couple, always jealous, one is cheating, the other is hurt, their friend is a home wrecker, no honesty, no respect and they liked it. It's like they found a real Wattpad story.

You know how people in general have this mindset that they love to come up with things that can make them have the full control over?The problem starts with creating things revolving around something that has already happened in the certain way which makes people uncomfortable. I will mostly refer to the shipping culture (and will compare stuff to books and fanfics) in this post because that’s how it usually looks like for taekookers.

Imagine that you and your friend group have always shipped one of your friends with a guy that hangs out with you from time to time. They were fitting each other well visually and it was fun for you to come up with the funny stories about them. But one day that friend of yours got into a relationship. After they start dating someone else, you and your friend group would most likely feel uncomfortable to continue shipping them with that guy because they now have someone else. It would be weird and disrespectful to them and their partner.

It’s like when you’re reading a fanfic or a book and the two main characters start dating really fast as the story progresses and the writer loses the previous sense and logic of the plot. You don’t feel the need to keep reading because it’s not amusing or interesting. And because taekookers are people who do not take it seriously (they are shippers, not supporters) they see Taehyung and Jungkook as objects of their imagination.

Deep down they know what they say is not real anyways so they treat it as an amusing thing for fun. That’s where their problem with jikook begins. They know there’s something different about them and probably unconsciously they see it the way we do but don’t realize it - but that’s the thing. It’s not what they want. Because admitting that jimin and jungkook *can* possibly be together or have feelings for each other means that their story has already happened in a certain way. They want drama, creative plots, scandals etc and not the friends to lovers irl trope.

With Taehyung and Jungkook - many of them knows that those two aren’t together. But they are both handsome and hot, they fit well in their imaginations so it’s like they have an empty canvas. No matter what they come up with.. that thing will always (generally) have a possibility of happening because jk and taehyung’s story was not written in that certain way. They are friends and bandmates so there are endless possibilities of multiple narratives and stories about their developing bond. it’s like they are using the boys as characters to create the ideal version of their reality. Just like you said - a real life fanfic.

And unfortunately this behavior caused that many of young people and new armys that just recently joined the fandom truly start to believe what taekookers have been coming up with. If you believe in something so damn much and later you realize you’ve actually been lied to.. that’s extremely hard. So when someone is trying to ruin that reality for them, they go crazy and start acting insane.

Many of those people often run away to that fake reality because of the things they deal with in real life. So when something is crushing that reality, they hold on to that the tightest they can. That’s why they come up with debunking threads, that’s why they will do everything to prove those videos of Taehyung and Jennie are cosplayers - even if they don’t believe that themselves. As long as they are deluded, it’s what is giving them the power and happiness.

Our boys are humans. Real people. Not characters from manga that get monthly updates. We can’t just create our own version of their reality using them as the representative characters in our story. What we CAN do is support them and cherish the accurate and real dynamic of their bonds. It doesn’t need analysis. It doesn’t need fake narratives. It’s all there for you to see.

[anxiety-elemental-kay]

TriMax Volume 4 Thoughts

I don’t have any big overarching analysis or thoughts for this one, but lots of pieces parts. Apologies to anyone who might’ve covered these already, I have a tiny brain and tiny attention span. ANYWAY, TIME FOR THINKY THINKS:

FIRST, MIDVALLEY AND HOPPERED! I really like these two as characters and as an unexpected team-up. All the other Gun-Ho-Guns we’ve seen so far (minus Wolfwood) have been pretty gung-ho (hehe) about doing violence, just in general. Then there’s Midvalley who, though he’s not a good person and is generally pretty chill with mass murder including innocent people, is super NOT okay with being a part of the human genocide thing. Twice he’s tried to escape, once by shooting Legato, but didn’t even try to hide it so he got pretzel’d (bad plan bud), and secondly trying to sax Knives while he thought Knives wasn’t paying attention. (He totally was tho, and maybe if he used some fear powers to spook Midvalley into not going through it or not, Midvalley was too scared to try). It’s so interesting because Midvalley in that moment acknowledges that he’d going to die either way, so might as well take out the bad guy, right? But he doesn’t, because he’s clearly scared to die. He saw what Knives could do, saw him slice up his murder buddies/band mates. Motivated by fear, pretty common in Trigun.

Then Hoppered! We’ve had characters confront Vash about July before (BDN in the manga mentioned July) but this is the first one that’s really explicitly out to kill Vash for destroying July. I love the conversation Midvalley and Hoppered have on the train (???) on their way to their mission, Midvalley offering a drink and Hoppered declining. Hoppered knows MIdvalley wants to defect but is too scared to, and acknowledges that they’re all dead soon as their mission is over. Unlike Midvaley, Hoppered says he’s at peace with it, he’s at peace with his death coming soon. Again, unlike the other Gung-Ho-Guns, Hoppered has a mission besides pure violence. It’s personal for him, he wants revenge on Vash for destroying July. (We’ll learn more about him in the next volume! 5 was my favorite when I first read the series, I’m so excited for it!)

I really enjoy when Hoppered starts breaking down and crying when Vash says July wasn’t his fault. He refuses to believe it, can’t believe it (because that would make everything he’s done since then in vain) and is determined to make Vash remember, so that he’ll feel Hoppered’s pain. Crying out of all six holes in his mask is an impactful, if confusing, choice too. So overcome with grief the villain of the week cries.

Two villains with different and opposite motives, finding kind of companionship in their mission and oncoming deaths. Hoppered even asks Midvalley to erase the evidence they were there after the mission, which he says he will. (Again, we’ll see what this means in volume 5). Sweet isn’t the word for it, but it’s a vulnerable moment between two not very good people where we see more of their humanity. Trigun is very good at those moments.

Oh and Zazie is bugs. We learn about that too!

We finally get a good look at Knives and start getting a sense of who he is as a person! “A collector of Knives” love me a hands-on villain. He looks so tired all the time, that’s what living in fear does to you. And now every time Vash looks tired there’s a moment where he looks like Knives and every time they’re made to look like each other, like when Knives applauds Midvalley’s band, I go a little more insane. We’ll get to more stuff with Knives in later volumes, but we’re starting to build on his character properly in this one.

I’m pretty sure this volume is our first explicit look at Vash’s suicidal thoughts. We’ve already gotten a sense that he doesn’t care about his own life, but then he tells Hoppered that he can kill Vash, can chain and torture him, but only after he’s dealt with Knives. It’s his hate for his brother that’s keeping him going, his grief over Rem. What a horrible, corrosive way to live. Again this is something we’ll see expanded on more in future volumes, but god damn this hits hard. (Especially as someone who used to struggle with suicidal ideation, but that’s a bit more personal. I bring it up because it feels authentic to my experience, the way Vash talks does feel like someone who genuinely does not care to keep living.)

THE GIRLS we see more of Milly and Meryl in this volume! Meryl teasing the boys with her water as punishment for not saying goodbye, richly deserved! But also we see the conflict between the two wanting to stay with Vash and be a part of his life, but also being afraid of the kind of violence that life involves. Milly threatens Wolfwood to let her follow, but when danger arrives she’s too scared to move. Part of me wonders if this is misogyny by the narrative or if it’s meant to be another thing that separates people like Vash and Wolfwood from humanity (from Meryl and Milly). Generally I really like how both girls are written and drawn, they’re allowed to be as goofy and mean as the boys, they feel like full characters even though their stories don’t get the same spotlight. In fact the only time I was really uncomfortable with how a woman was written in Trigun was the fight with Domonique the Cyclops, the joke about groping her, Vash saying he’d slap her, yeah that was just plain old sexism. But that’s an outlier as I recall, there’s a couple weird lines about Elendira but that’s about all I can think of? The insurance girls (and some important women we’ll meet later) are written pretty well as I remember. I guess I tend to be overcautious because I’m so used to nuclear grade sexism in anime/manga, so perhaps I’m being unfair. This is something I’m going to chew on going forward.

SPEAKING OF THE QUEEN, WE GET OUR FIRST LOOK AT THE BEST GUNG-HO-GUN Elendira the Crimson Nail Me Please. No I refuse to be any less homosexual about her. She has no back story or explanation for her powers but it’s okay because she’s trans and wants the world to burn and that’s all we need to know. Please hold me gently in your arms that are so buff from hauling around a giant nail gun. That’s all I have for this volume! Again I don’t have any big, sweeping thoughts about this one. There’s a lot of important scenes and setup here

[smutcommintary]

Note: I would like to thank @plaindangan for giving me the courage to post this early birthday present for the first mastermind

When I say mind fuck Junko I mean wholesome mind fuck.

Fuck away the despair

Characters: Junko Enoshima, Yasuke Matsuda

Ships: junko x yasuke

Kink: wholesome mind fuck.

Yasuke just got accepted into hope's peak and Junko has already started her plans for causing despair. She plans to contact her sister after she gives her darling lover a special congratulations gift.

"Oh Yasuke" said Junko with a flirtatious smirk and her hands behind her back. "What do you want you annoying woman" responded a tired Yasuke lowering his face from the manga he is reading, already expecting danger from her presence.

"I want to give you a special present for getting into that dumb academy I've heard about." said Junko presenting what was behind her back which was a small cupcake with the icing styled to look like the face for that black and white bear she showed him pictures about. "Not interested " said Yasuke returning his attention to his manga.

"Come on please" begged a pouting Junko using her overly cutesy persona to bring back his attention. "No" said Yasuke as he kept ignoring.

"Just eat the fucking cupcake already" Junko yelled while switching to her rocker persona. "I'm not eating whatever posion that is that crap" said Yasuke remaining cautious towards her.

"Waaah Yasuke-kun hates my baking" cried Junko with her over dramatic fake tears. "Quite you noisey woman I know you put something in that cupcake" said Yasuke as he kept his manga away from the ridiculous tears spewing from her face.

"How despairing the love of my life does not want to eat the treat that I poured my blood, sweat and tears into" said Junko in her depressed persona. "I'm still not eating it" said Yasuke considering whether or not he should make a run for it while she is in this state.

"Alright then let's make a deal shall we" said Junko pushing up her glasses in her teacher persona. "What kind of deal ? " said a skeptical Yasuke.

"We both eat the cupcake and whatever effects it has falls on both of us" said Junko still in her teacher persona. "So your not denying that there is something in the cupcake" said Yasuke knowing her destructive tendencies.

"Of course just a special little kick to spice things up and no it's not something as boring a poison" replied Junko already breaking the cupcake in half after returning to her original fashionista persona. "Fine I'll eat it" said Yasuke taking the half that she shoved in his face knowing that Junko won't try to kill him using poison.

They both eat their half's of the cupcake at different speeds while Junko has already finished eating her half she watches Yasuke eat his with great interest. Yasuke is eating his half slowly making sure that junko didn't put in any objects inside it and partially savoiring it because he can tell that Junko actually put some effort into this pastery with all the different flavours he can taste in each bite.

When he's done eating he looks at Junko and says "Alright the stupid thing wasn't half bad" he admits to the blonde girl before him. "That's only the beginning of your reward" Junko says while smiling mischievously. She the proceeds to pull him up from where he is sitting, drags him to his room and pushes him to his bed then locks the door behind her.

"What the hell you annoying woman" protests Yasuke as sits up from the edge of the bed suddenly feels very warm. "Well I wanted our first time to be bit comfortable before we get to the really kinky parts" says Junko as she takes off her top already having her skirt and tie on the floor.

"What !?" yelled Yasuke as he tries to look away from beautiful woman before him but keeps glancing back at her drinking up the sight that most men could only dream of. "Well I was thinking with you going to Hope's peak you will see a lot of pretty girls of there and forget about little old me, might as well give you some experience before go" teased Junko as she took off her shoes and slowly walks towards him.

Knowing Junko his whole life helped him understand that her actions are always unpredictable but her words can be deciphered if you read certain sub text when ever she talks. So what she ment by that statement was that "Your basically abandoning me for that stupid hope school might as well get laid before you go"

So as Junko gets on her knees to take off his pants he realise 2 things; 1. She definitely drugged that cupcake if his raging boner and the wet spot on her panties he was staring at while she was walking towards him was any proof of that and 2. She actually took time to tell him what she's planning when normally she would mostly likely drug him before he went to bed and just ride his dick while he was asleep if she was looking for a quick fuck. Junko actually wanted to make this memorable for the both of them.

"You didn't have to drug me you know" said Yasuke as he raises his hips to help her take off his pants. "I know I just wanted to get you as horny as possible" says Junko as she kisses the tip of the underwear clad boner causing it to twitch and stain that spot with a bit of precum loving how he gasped from that little action.

She then proceeded to pull down his underwear letting his boner to spring free, then looked at it in shock at what she saw. "Bet this is better than any of the pics you use from my photo shoots" said Junko as she kissed and sucked the heavy balls as she stroked the behemoth of a cock. "W-when... h-how... " muttered Yasuke barely able to say a proper sentence. "You don't think I know you jerk of to my magazines, you moan pretty loudly and you never look at me for a whole day when you done with your tug sessions" teased Junko as gripped his cock with both hands to guide it towards her mouth.

A mixture of a guilty and irritated look appeared on Yasuke face when he heard that and before he could say anything else Junko added "Now we both get to see the real thing" then imidately going down on his shaft barely making it to the middle. Yasuke cried out, gripping the bed sheets as his hips move upwards towards her.

Junko looked up at him loving the face he makes everytime her mouth inches closer to the base of his dick, the noises that come from mouth whenever her tongue goes up and down his shaft and the feeling of big thick cock stretching her mouth open. As Yasuke's mind was slowly going blank from the pleasure a single statement was uttered from his lips " too slow...", Junko looked up in confusion but then immediately became surprised as Yasuke sat up and grabbed both her pig tails shoving his entire length down her throat. This made her eyes roll to the back of her head a little and practically cum on the floor from the rough face fucking she was receiving.

Yasuke blinded by lust used her mouth to his heart's content and with each thrust telling her "don't. you. dare. slow. down. like. that. next. time." By some miracle she heard ever word he said after all Junko's analyst ability is the only thing keeping her from being completely brain dead from the experience but it is also the thing causing her to lose her mind.

After a while he thrusting slowed down and he said "I'm gonna..." Junko didn't have to hear the rest as wrapped her arms around his waist when he gave one final thrust and cummed in her throat.

She was able to swallow most of the cum but she let go of his cock so that she can feel his thick batter all over her face.

"Your turn" was the last thing Junko heard when she was immediately carried up to the bed and placed down with her front facing him as he slowly took his time kissing her legs until her reached her soaked pussy.

She can tell this on payback for teasing him earlier so she just grabs him by the head to try and get him to hurry up so that they can get to the main event but he make sure to touch everywhere except the place that is aching for him.

So she slowly lets out a soft "please", as she quivers from each touch. "What was that?"says a smirking Yasuke loving how her face turns to a deeper shade red as she lets out another small "please" visibly shaking from both pleasure and anger. "Please what ?", Junko looks him straight in the eyes, practically begging him and says "please use your fucking mouth to eat me out".

Yasuke then dives in between her legs and what happens next is a moment the Junko would remember for the rest of her life.

It was a blur of pleasure that lasted forever as he user both his tongue and fingers make her squirm by sticking in two fingers and sucking on her clit. She wrapped her legs around his head and gripped his hair harder as she yelled "harder!" "faster!" until she screamed "I'M CUMMMMINNG" and squireted all over his face.

Junko could barely comprehend what was going on around her but she could feel Yasuke's hot, throbbing cock tease her sensitive pussy. Yasuke rolled her on to her stomach, grabbed her waist and told was still had enough self control to tell her " Can't... wait... any... more..." then slowly pushed his dick into her.

Junko was trying to gain back as much composure as could but found it very hard not to moan like a bitch in heat while Yasuke kept slowly pushing his cock inside her, but when Yasuke finally stuffed himself completely inside her cunt she was able to tease him by saying "If you make me cum first I'll be more obsessed with you than with despair". What she didn't expect was for Yasuke to look her in the eyes, smirk and say "deal".

Yasuke then pulls out then slam back into her eager cunt almost making her orgasm and then proceeds to reshape her pussy using his cock. Junko had her arms and legs rapped around her lover with an absolutely cock drunk look on her face and kept moaning louder and louder being closer to a mind shattering orgasm.

Yasuke's thrusts become more erratic as he says "I'm... gonna..." and before he can finish his sentence Junko holds his face between her hands and says "inside" then proceeded to kiss him as she starts cumming mere seconds before Yasuke unloads deep inside her.