#never been more glad i dropped this manga

[yioh]

the bfs are matching guys <333

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

Another week chock full of Japanese ql. I am officially dropping a currently airing show from QL Corner--let us never speak of it again. Of the other six shows still airing now, five are streaming weekly on Gaga and the other is available via fansub.

Takara's Treasure

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite things airing—it gets better every week, and it's been good from the start! This story is a great example of the way tension and depth of feeling in a great romance can build. I was delighted to have Takara confirm Taishin's confession and coax him into dating this early on because it means we are going to actually spend some time with them figuring out how to work as a couple. And I don't expect it will be smooth sailing, because these two have some incompatible issues that are going to exacerbate each other.

Cosmetic Playlover

This show is gorgeous, but it all feels pretty empty. Thank you to @usertoxicyaoi for confirming that the show is racing through the plot so it can cover the whole arc of the manga. I'm glad to understand why it's doing this, but it doesn't help with my total emotional disconnect from the story, because the show is rushing through and not letting us actually experience this relationship. They tell us they like each other, then that they're in love, then that they're established and struggling, but I can't feel it because they haven't brought us along for any of that. This week featured an interesting plot about their professional growth and how it challenges their relationship, but I was frustrated because I have no investment in said relationship to give the plot stakes. I may just have to accept that this one will stay a treat for the eyes but lacking in depth for me.

I Hear the Sunspot

We back! After a bit of a miscalibrated installment last week, this episode felt more characteristic and we finally got our boys back on track. Maya was less egregiously mean to people this week and her interference was treated as more comedic than sinister, which is a much better fit for the tone of this show. And once Kohei got around her, he finally talked properly with Taichi and asked him to stay on as his notetaker, reaffirming their friendship in the process. Despite Maya's efforts to convince him otherwise, Kohei has not wavered and his firm declaration that he doesn't want anyone but Taichi taking his notes or eating his food had me gasping. For his part, Taichi is getting better at keeping his cool and finding words when Kohei lets his feelings slip, and he's clearly thinking a lot about his own feelings and whether their connection is really about friendship.

Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko

Oh man, this show has really gotten itself into a muddle. We finally got a kiss, but it hardly felt like a triumph. This episode was a bit of a return to form, with Ayaka back to her relentless pursuit of Hiroko, but the way the story diverged to change the conflict midstream has mucked it all up. For the first half the conflict was about Hiroko believing Ayaka is straight, and then suddenly it was about a different work-related closet trauma that did not connect to that. Now it’s touching on both but in a way that makes Hiroko seem inconsistent, because now that she knows Ayaka is a lesbian it doesn't track that she would continue to patronize and dismiss her, and it also sucks that Ayaka is harassing Hiroko at work despite knowing she doesn't want to be out. It feels like the story is invalidating Hiroko’s fears about being out in a way we know is not consistent with reality. This would all work better if the backstory had been about Hiroko falling for a woman who succumbed to comphet and we kept up the misunderstanding and comedy about Ayaka being straight. As it is, I feel like our heroine no longer makes sense and our couple still hasn't formed a real connection, and with only one episode to go it’s unlikely they’ll land the plane.

Mr. Mitsuya's Planned Feeding

I just love everything about this show and its mature perspective on relationships. In the aftermath of Ishida's hasty confession (and his attempt to walk it back, which I love that Mitsuya did not fall for), we take a beat for Mitsuya to consider the two men circling him and what he wants from his life. I loved that he took the time he needed to process and end his relationship with Noguchi on his own terms this time, and to consider whether he has the desire and the energy to try again with someone new. When he said he has his home and his work and his Frito and that's enough for him, I felt that. But Ishida has already gotten to him, and as Shige wisely pointed out, Mitsuya must care about him quite a bit to be considering this deeply before making a move. I'm not sure he's ready to dive in, but he doesn't have much will to fight it, either. You can go here for the files to watch this episode, with big thanks to @isaksbestpillow and @nicks-den.

Tagging @bengiyo to add this week's anime update.

[yae-energy]

╰┈─✩ ˚ ‧ All the ways I love you ‧ ˚

✧˖° synopsis : The Jjk first years and their love languages !

✧˖° cast and crew : Megumi Fushiguro, Yuji Itadori & Nobara Kugisaki x Black Reader < 3

.ᐟ content warnings : General tomfoolery and mushy mush cause FUCK THE MANGA.

⤑ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ authors note : It’s been actual decades since I’ve posted any form of writing….I feel so unseasoned LMAO. This is just a quick lil hc post, nun crazyyy 😽

—

Megumi “I’ll do it” Fushiguro : Acts of Service king.

Now one thing about Megumi??? He’s gonna hit you with the “I got it” EVERY. SINGLE. TIME without fail. Doesn’t matter what time of day, doesn’t matter what he’s doing, he’s gonna make sure you don’t lift a finger for anythinggg.

Is he gonna complain whilst doing it? Of course.

But that’s just true Megumi fashion. It doesn’t mean he ACTUALLY hates doing things for you. Whether that be grabbing you snacks or completing mundane tasks for you such as carrying your bag or opening doors for you, HES GONNA DO IT EVERY TIME. You don’t even have to ask.

Def brings a “if he wanted to he would” typa vibe to the relationship and obviously you appreciate it ten fold (despite the tough guy act he tries and subsequently fails to put on. He loves him some you.) And what better way can he show that than through actions?

They speak louder than words, right?

—

Yuji “I love you” Itadori : Words of Affirmation goat

Ok y’all listen here, this boy is a certified yapper through and mf through. ESPECIALLY when it comes to you.

He will never fail to let you— or anyone for that matter, know just how much he loves you and appreciates your presence. You’re like some sort of higher being to him, the best thing since sliced bread if you will.

All day everyday he’s spouting all sorts of “I love you” and “I’m so lucky to have you 🥲” and he’s gonna get emotional EVERY TIME. Like he won some sort of award (the prize being you of course.) And that doesn’t even include the impromptu monologues about how you’ve changed him for the better, and how glad he is to even have someone as amazing as you.

He loves you REAL BAD, why wouldn’t he tell you?

He’d scream it from the rooftops if he could.

—

Nobara “Look what I got you” Kugisaki : Gift giving queen

Now, I personally consider Nobara to be a mixture of quality time and gift giving, but I’m leaning more with the latter because damn is she a great gifter.

Not only does she love spending money (me too girl, me too.) But, she LOVESSSSS you. Two birds with one stone she’d say, because she loves having an excuse to drop a couple dollars and make you happy in the process.

If she sees you eyeing something while window shopping? It’s yours automatically— whether you actually intended to buy it or not. She’s not good with the whole “lovey dovey” schtick, that’s just not her style. But to make up for it, she makes sure that you have whatever you want when you want it, even if you express she doesn’t HAVE to.

SHE WANTS TO, and you can’t tell her otherwise.

⤑ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ tags : - @morosis-haze @jogeto @mypimpademia @ivanari @planetlunaa @cosmiles @milesmolasses @chinieh @romiantic @stqrriichiigo

if you wish to be tagged in any future works, here’s my tag form to fill out <33

if you wish to submit a request, here’s my ask box :)

⤑ .𖥔 ݁ ˖ closing notes : hey guys…ahahaha…

LOOK IK I SAID I WAS GONNA POST A MONTH AGO BUT LIFE WAS LIFING LMAOOO

I also got a new job now so I won’t have AS much time to post and be silly on here (not that I was super active before but yk.)

Anyhow, thanks for reading and putting up with my lying ass 😕🫶🏽

Love y’all BOOTS DOWN

Mwah 💋

- Xoxo, Yves

[skania]

Akane Nation, how are we feeling at seeing this scene finally getting animated? 😭

Personally I quite liked it! On a week where the manga gave me absolutely nothing to work with (thanks for nothing Aka 🤡), I'm glad that the anime is there to give us some wins.

In particular, I'm glad they confirmed what I've always said about this panel:

While the manga keeps it subtle by mostly showing memories that are about Akane rather than Akane herself, the anime forgoes all subtlety and keeps Akane front and center throughout the sequence. So that was pretty nice to see!

On another note, the anime has also confirmed that Aqua's smile was always meant to be just him smiling at his happy memories rather than him smiling at Kana. Just like the first episode confirmed that the scene where he's looking at her and Taiki was never meant to be about him being jealous lol In this manga of playing at filling-the-blanks, we win some and we lose some. So I'm glad I interpreted these three scenes correctly, at least.

Plus, little details like these are nice to see because Aka is working closely with the anime, so I believe we can trust them to make Aka's intentions behind each scene even clearer than they were in the manga.

Case in point, right after we get Akane telling Aqua that she will bear the painful things together with him, we get this anime-original easter-egg mentioning Hikaru and Ai (Hoshino):

Moving onto the manga, it is interesting that Memcho's chapter was also about her dropping her façade and being more honest. So it seems that we will continue with the "Making amends, overcoming regrets and moving towards the future" theme that was established in Chapter 152.

Aka's pacing remains as frustrating as always, though. The Nino reveal is done in half-a-chapter, but Memcho gets an entire chapter to herself and we get a break right after 🤡

Sadly, this confirms that the anime connection Aka had in mind was just Akane dropping the Ai act right before she goes at it full force in the anime. It'd have been soooo cool if we had gotten a flashback to Akane finding out about Nino this week to match Akane finding out about Ai being Aqua's mom in the anime, but that would've been too much to ask for apparently 😭

Guess now all we can do is wait for Akane to show up in the manga again. At least we will have another Akane-filled Episode to look forward to next week, so there's that!

[linkspooky]

Hi there, I was rereading your Maki Zenin fanfic (Tyler Durden and the Culling Game piece). I must say when I read it the first time reading it, the way you depict her mentality, emotion, and actions. It was so emotionally draining and at the same time cathartic as it reminded me of myself back then and now still (well minus mass murdering all lotta people). But also surprised me, cause I have never this depiction of her after Shibuya Incident. But over time as I look at your analysis on various characters and paid attention to her upbringing by rereading the manga chapters focused on her, I realized the way she behaves in the Culling Games after what happen to her throughout her life. She is kind of stable??? Regardless, even though she is already my all-time favorite character. Your depictions of her makes me love her character even more as I actually relate to her more and felt those similar feelings. But I'm glad she is alive and is doing ok near the end of the manga, so I wanna ask. What do you think about her character now since JJK is VERY close to its end? And how do you feel about where she is right now as of Chapter 269. Sorry for the long ramble, I might ask more lol.

Thank you so much for your ask! That reminds me I need to start updating my culling games fic again sometime soon. For anyone curious the ask is about THIS YUTAMAKI FIC HERE.

Maki's kind of a hard character to talk about because even though Maki is clearly one of my favorite characters to explore in fic, and I love to dive deep into her motivations and inner struggles in the fanfics I write every time I criticize her writing in canon a little bit her fans jump me.

So instead I'm going to share one recent Maki scene I really liked, and one little tweak I think would have made both Yuta and Maki's character endings perfect.

You're right, for a lifelong abuse victim who just murdered her family Maki seems oddly stable all throughout the culling games. I no longer think this is a Maki specific problem, but rather a Jujutsu Kaisen problem. Basically, post Shibuya most of the character conflicts in between characters are dropped so everyone can work seamlessly together as a part of one big team.

This is a storytelling choice on Gege's so he could eventually set up for the Shinjuku Showdown fight, it'd be impossible for everyone to keep jumping in and out of the fight if people kept stopping to argue and have interpersonal conflicts in the middle of it.

If your name wasn't Megumi or Yuji, then basically all your personal hangups, your self-reflection, all got dropped. Which now it kind of makes sense why the audience was yelling at Megumi for not being able to immediately get over his sister's death, like in comparison none of the other characters spend any time at all dwelling on personal issues because Gege needs them to move to the next fight.

I'm not complaining, I'm just saying this is how Gege chose to write his characters post Shibuya, most personal conflicts got dropped for story reasons.

However, there was one moment that made me really get on board with Maki's writing again, and it was a... you guessed it moment of personal conflict.

This moment where Yuta is bringing up the idea of body swapping with Gojo before the group, and Maki despite being firmly against it is unable to do or say anything substantive to stop Yuta.

It's the first time I've seen that yeah, Maki is still in fact reeling from the loss of Mai. It doesn't really show most of the time on the surface, but Maki's always been like that - like an island able to stand strong without the support of anyone else. It is her strength, and also her greatest weakness.

Remember, the last time someone she loved walked away from her and decided to sacrifice their body and autonomy so they could become a weapon for the greater good Maki wasn't able to say or do anything to convince Mai to stay with her and stay by her side too.

There's the parallel with Maki and Sukuna, that Sukuna chose to devour his own twin in the womb in order to survive and therefore gained a body perfect for sorcerery. When Mai died, Maki gained a body just like Toji's.

Maki carved everything away in order to become a true void, but unlike Sukuna she didn't do it by choice.

We know she wouldn't willingly sacrifice Mai. She begged Mai to stay. Yet, she kind of did choose to sacrifice Mai with every choice she made before that. Maki chose being a Jujutsu Sorcerer over Mai every single time, to the point where when it counted she couldn't do anything to convince Mai to stay.

Maki consumed her twin and became a monster like Sukuna, a true void. She didn't choose to do it per se, but every choice she made leading up to that point indicated to Mai that Maki would rather be strong on her own then weak together with Mai. That Maki is someone like Gojo, and like Sukuna meant to stand strong all alone. Maki is an island and that is her greatest strength and her greatest flaw.

As when it happens again and someone she loves is about to become a monster, she can't find the words to convince Yuta to stay with her on the beach instead of walking into the ocean the same way she couldn't find the words to stop Mai. After all, Maki is someone who chose to become a monster like Toji after losing everything else, what right does she have to stop Yuta from becoming a monster too?

How could she possibly stop him from walking the path she walked? I think it's telling to thde depths of her love that Maki who values being a sorcerer above everything else, would have rather had both Mai and Yuta stay human and stay with her, but also telling of her complete inability to express that love.

It's "You're too important to us" because the words "You're too important to me," doesn't occur to Maki in both cases with Yuta and Mai, because Maki is an island. She can keep going on even after Mai and Yuta are gone even if she doesn't want to.

So here is the one change I would make the Maki's endgame to make her and Yuta's character arcs perfect. I would just have Yuta not be able to come back from Gojo's body. Otherwise, Yuta being magically fixed after the fact makes that whole plot twist kind of inconsequential and as much as I love Yuta in Gojo's body it kind of just seems to exist for shock-value now considering how easily it was resolved.

Yuta not coming back would provide a consequence for Yuta defiling Gojo's body, and also in general give the perfect bittersweet ending to both him and Maki's arcs. They both chose to become monsters in the end to defeat Sukuna, and as a result Maki is standing alone at the strongest. It would also provide the perfect parallel to this scene with Geto and Gojo. You could even have Maki musing on how she was left behind again. There's a pretty big parallel to Maki and Gojo both being people who seemingly don't need anyone because they're so strong and self-sufficient and yet they crumble at the idea of the one person they've always been relying on walking away from them.

It would also parallel Megumi and Itadori as well, because the reason that itadori is eventually able to reach Megumi is specifically because unlike everyone else he refused to give up his humanity to defeat Sukuna.

You could have a really heartbreaking parallel of three generations of friendships broken apart by the Jujutsu World. Satosugu, and YutaMaki aren't able to reach each other and stay together, but finally by never giving up on reaching out towards one another Megumi and Itadori are both able to find each other again after the world and Sukuna pulled them apart.

I do enjoy this scene a lot - especially the parts where Maki seems borderline arrogant by insisting she could have done things all on her own and if they went with her plan instead of Yuta's then they would have suffered far less losses. Especially since Maki's not genuinely trying to chew Yuta out here, she just knows no other way to express her worry over him besides being hyper aggressive and confrontational.

It still shows that Maki's personality problems are all still there, she loves people a lot but she loves people from afar and can't admit to needing them but like I'm just saying we could have had THE UTLIMATE DOOMED LOVERS ending for YutaMaki.

[ladyloveandjustice]

You mentioned haruka kissing usagi when she was still dating michiru in the manga, and it got changed in the anime. Can you explain that to me and why it's bad?

I'm not really clear on the question here? To give further details of what happened, At this point Usagi didn't know Haruka's true identity, but had pretty much guessed, and she also didn't know her gender. Haruka really randomly kissed Usagi out of nowhere as Sailor Uranus while warning her to ~stay away~, Usagi had dreams about the kiss and wondered who Haruka really was, seeing Haruka in both her school uniform and the more feminine clothes she sometimes wore in the manga. When she woke up she was flustered and wondered if this counted as cheating...so yeah, dreaming about both aspects of Haruka turned her on. Then Haruka and Usagi meet up the next day, Usagi asks if she's a man or a woman, and Haruka leans in perhaps for another kiss, saying "does gender really matter?" But the Mamoru comes by, Usagi and Mamoru have a heart to heart about how he's been jealous and vice versa and then the plotline is just. dropped. forever. No impact on Haruka and Usagi's relationship going forward, no indication of how this affects Haruka's actual gf.

I'm really glad the 90s anime didn't do this (I'm not sure if they would have been able to, tbh, don't think the kiss would have been allowed'). It was big to see girls kissing in the manga and I think it gave a lot of young queer people so much of a thrill we didn't really unpack what else was going on, myself included. But it falls into a lot of unfortunate trope and make Haruka a despicable character-first in that she basically assaulted Usagi even if the narrative doesn't really treat it that way, checking off a predatory lesbian trope, and then she's remorselessly cheating on her actual girlfriend and we don't get any indication of what that means for their relationship because apparently that's not important. And then there's the aspect of Usagi leaving her lesbian dalliance behind to reaffirm her commitment to the heterosexual relationship, which feels gross. The plotline being introduced and dropped without any consideration for the impact on the characters makes it badly written.

In contrast, the 90s anime gave Haruka the habit of playfully flirting with every cute girl she sees, not just Usagi. It also hinted at Usagi's (and the other girls') attraction to Haruka without her needing to be assaulted, and there's no indication Haruka is interested in Usagi in particular. Haruka loves to hit on girls, and it's a habit Michiru's aware of and tolerates with an eye roll or quip, but both of them know she's never actually serious about her flirtations, and in contrast, as the season goes on, she becomes VERY serious about Michiru. It keeps the ladykiller who makes all the girlies question their sexuality aspect of Haruka without sacrificing her integrity or relationship with Michiru. The anime centers their relationship, and never forgets Michiru exists.

[whenikissedthegiyuu]

my duty

prince!rindou x princess!reader

not even a future king can earn the affections of a woman in love

i’ve been wanting to explore this idea i had back when i read the tr manga and fell in love with rin but i’ve been too mentally blocked (and busy) to write a full fic like i wanted, so a mini series of drabbles for whatever comes to my mind it is

word count 0.7k

fem!reader, first pov, mutual pining, forbidden love, implied past sex, talks of weddings, arranged marriage, no smut on this one sadly i’m still rusty, ran being a sweetheart, fully self indulgent

Wedding this, wedding that. White gown this, seating chart that. Making heirs this, ruling an entire country that. My mother just wouldn’t shut up, as if she was the damn bride.

I couldn’t help the exhausted sigh that escaped my lips as I barely listened to what she had to say about my wedding and my future home. At this point she honestly just spoke because she adored hearing the sound of her own voice.

A warm hand reached under the table, fingers slipping between mine as their owner squeezed gently. I glanced at the man sitting beside me as his lips curled into a small, genuine smile. His lavender eyes didn’t leave mine as he raised our hands and left a kiss on my knuckles.

Well, at least I had him on my side.

“Look at them, they’re so adorable!” My mother exclaimed, clutching at her chest. “And to think they couldn’t stand each other when they first met. Truly a match made in heaven.”

Yeah, we hated each other’s guts because we couldn’t escape the future that had been planned for us since before we even knew how to walk. He was the crown prince and I had been bred ever since I could remember to be his wife. We eventually realized we had to at least pretend to be an united front so we’ve grown fond of each other, like the childhood friends that we are instead of the lovers we’re supposed to be.

No, my love was reserved for someone else.

Despite being a princess myself and my father’s only child, I would never be able to rule my country myself because I was a woman. Perhaps a small, childish part of me blamed Ran even if he’s not the one sending me off to foreign lands like they cannot wait to get rid of me already.

My cousin instead was to be crowned King the day my father was no longer in this world. The thought always left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Ran smiled politely at my mother, then turned toward my father at the head of the table. “I’m blessed to be able to spend the rest of my life with a woman such as your daughter, Your Majesty. I couldn’t ask for a better Queen for my people.” A half lie I found my cheeks getting warm at.

His fake smile dropped as soon as my parents turned their attention to one of my aunts- hell, I didn’t even know from which side of the family she was, but I was glad to have the spotlight off me again. Ran’s hand remained on mine for a moment longer before he picked his fork up and continued eating.

I felt a pair of eyes burning into the side of my face as I took my wine and gulped it down in one swig, then switched my empty drink with Ran’s so I wouldn’t seem like a drunk if my mother noticed the empty cup and the maids continuously refilling it. I needed all the alcohol I could have to stand my mother’s hypocrisy with our extended family.

My body betrayed me as I turned toward the man that had been staring at me the entire evening. His eyes, the same eyes of my fiancé but looking at me with much more love than Ran ever has, ever will. Those damned eyes that stared right back at me with so much intensity that I was forced to once again look away and distract myself with my mostly empty plate.

The same eyes that rolled into the back of his head the night prior as my name left his lips in soft pants.

I pressed my thighs together at the memory of his body between them. I blindly reached for Ran’s hand again and pulled it to my lap, his fingers intertwined with mine once again and this time he didn’t pull away, understanding that I needed the comfort at the moment.

Ran leaned toward me and pressed his lips to my temple. “We can excuse ourselves in the guise of wanting some alone time, if you’re too overwhelmed.” He murmured just loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m fine,” I whispered, leaning into his touch.

My eyes fell on Rindou again, only that this time he was staring at his brother with lips curled downwards. His knuckles were nearly white from how hard he was clenching his fists. My heart clenched when he glanced at me for no more than a second before he turned his back to me and engaged in conversation with my aunts and uncles.

[lokidottir1308]

Akaza x reader

warnings: gore, mentions of death, ⚠️spoilers for s2, s3e1 / manga spoilers⚠️, some angst, fluff

One hundred and twelve years. That’s how long Akaza had you waiting for him. He disappeared one night and never came back to you. Though, you knew he was alive and well.

If anything else were the case, Master Muzan would have called an Upper Moon meeting. So, to say you were unpleasantly surprised to see him again, was an understatement.

You stood waiting in the shadows with your brother. Together, the two of you held the places of Upper Moons Two, while Akaza was Upper Moon Three.

He‘d never been intimidated by the fact that you were stronger than him, for he thought that you truly deserved the rank. Your brother, on the other hand, not so much.

On another platform, an ugly pot moved around. Akaza furrowed his brows as he looked at it. "Well, well, if it isn’t you, Akaza-sama! So lovely to see you in such good health!" a voice spoke from inside.

Hands and a head appeared from the opening, revealing Gyokko‘s figure. In the place where, normally, two eyes should be, a pair of mouths was placed. An eyeball was located on his forehead, along with where his mouth should be.

"What has it been, ninety years? The thought that you might have perished made my heart sing-" the pot demon spoke before clearing his throat. "- I mean, it made my heart fill with anguish!"

Akaza glared at Gyokko before turning towards the demon sitting on a set of stairs. There was a big bump on his forehead and horns growing from his temples.

"Terrifying! Terrifying! In the time we‘ve been apart, you‘ve even forgotten how to count, Gyokko. It’s been one hundred and thirteen years since we were last summoned. An indivisible number, unlucky und uneven, an odd number! Terrifying! Terrifying!" Hantengu spoke up from the stairs.

"Biwa woman! Is Muzan-sama not here?" Akaza asked towards Nakime, Muzan‘s assistant, if you‘d like to call it that. He was already fed up with the two other demons.

"He has not yet arrived." Nakime announced, playing a single note. "Then, where‘s Upper One? Don’t tell me he’s been killed." Akaza spoke, still looking at the female demon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up a second, will you, Akaza-dono? Aren’t you even a little bit worried about me? You don’t know how dreadfully worried I was, since you are all cherished comrades of mine! And I‘d be heartbroken if I lost any of my comrades. My sister was especially worried about you." Douma said, walking down a set of stairs before placing his hand on Akaza‘s shoulder.

You glared at your brother‘s statement. You stepped out of the shadows as well, keeping a good distance between you and the demon you once called your lover.

His eyes landed on you, his gaze softening upon seeing your face. You glared at him in return, not wanting to stand too close to him. In contrast to your brother, you were a lot more likable in Akaza‘s opinion.

"Douma-dono! Y/N-sama!"

"Long time no see, Gyokko! Is that a brand-new pot? It’s a beauty! You know the pot you gave me? I‘m displaying a woman‘s head in it! In my room." Douma said, tightening his grip on Akaza‘s shoulder as he spoke.

"That wasn’t its intended use. But I do find it intriguing!" the pot demon answered. "Listen! You should come over to my place sometime." your brother offered.

"Get off. Get your hand off me! You‘re not the Upper Moon Two demon that’s allowed to touch my shoulder!" Akaza spoke up, angrily, referring to the fact that you were also Upper Moon Two.

Without giving Douma time to react, he punched the blonde‘s lower face. Blood splattered all over the place before Douma regenerated again.

"Whoa! That was some punch. A bit stronger than before, wouldn’t you say, Akaza-dono?" Douma grinned, making an irk mark appear on Akaza‘s forehead.

"I summoned Upper One here first. Even now, he‘s listening to us." Nakime spoke up again, letting the topic drop. You were glad that Kokushibo wasn’t the one that got killed, since you always got along with him.

You‘d never once doubted his strength, threatened him or made him dislike you in any other way. He found you the most tolerable one of the Upper Moons.

"I‘ve been here the entire time. Muzan-sama has arrived." Kokushibo spoke up. Sitting at a table near you was Muzan, doing one of his many experiments.

You got down to your knees beside Akaza, placing your forehead on the tatami floor. "Gyutaro is no longer with us. Meaning the Upper Ranks are now incomplete."

You weren’t surprised by the fact that Gyutaro was the one who got killed. His sister had always been a hindrance to his strength. Even if you liked Daki, you had to admit that fact.

Ever since Muzan had killed off the Lower Moons a few months prior, he‘d relied on the Upper Moons even more. Daki had always been a thorn in his side.

"Is that true, my lord? You have my sincerest apologies since I was the one who brought Gyutaro in. How can I atone for this embarrassment? Shall I gouge out my eyeballs? Or should I-" Douma began before he was interrupted by Muzan.

"I have no need for your wretched eyeballs. I knew that Gyutaro would be defeated. As expected, Daki proved to be his weakness. Had Gyutaro fought alone from the start, he would have won if the battle hadn’t gone on after he‘d poisoned them. Oh well. It doesn’t matter anymore. How useless. Can’t you see you’re falling in order of who has the most of their humanity remaining? But neither does that matter anymore. I expect nothing of you all."

"There you go again with the melancholic words. Has there ever been a time when Y/N and I didn’t meet your expectations?" Douma asked, looking up at Muzan.

"Y/N has never disappointed me. However, you still haven’t annihilated the Ubuyashiki family. What about the blue Spider Lily? Why can’t you find it after so many hundreds of years? I‘m starting to question why you all even exist." Muzan spoke, angrily. The glassware on his table started to explode as he got angrier by the second.

"Oh, please forgive us! I beg of you!" Hantengu whimpered. "I don’t know what to tell you. Ubuyashiki is a master at concealing himself." Kokushibo spoke.

"Search and detection isn’t my strong suit, either. I‘m at my wits‘ end." Douma said. "Muzan-sama! Not me! I‘ve acquired some information that will bring you a step closer to your goals! A mere moment ago-" Gyokko spoke before his head was cut off by Muzan.

"The one thing I dislike is change. Change in circumstances. Physical changes. Emotional changes. In most cases, change of any kind means degradation. It’s decay. I prefer the unchanging. A perfect unchanging stage that lasts forever. For the first time in one hundred and thirteen years, an Upper Rank has been killed, and my frustration has reached a boiling point! Don’t ever give me unconfirmed information. And wipe that smirk off of your face! I’d advise you all to apply yourselves with more urgency from now on. I‘ve been far too lenient considering your failures, all because of your status as Upper Ranks. Gyokko, once you‘ve confirmed that information, head over there with Hantengu." He disappeared after finishing his speech.

"Understood, my lord!"

"Gyokko-dono! What kind of information do you have? I’d like to tag along." Douma said, kneeling down so he could take Gyokko‘s head in his hands.

Hearing this, Akaza walked up to Douma. "Can’t you let me in on it? Please, I‘m begging-" he was cut off when Akaza punched the upper half of Douma‘s face off.

"Did Muzan-sama give you any orders? Get lost." Akaza said before his hand was cut off, Komushibo suddenly appearing beside him and in front of you.

"Akaza. You always go too far." he spoke, looking at Akaza from the corner of his eyes. "It’s all right, Kokushibo-dono. I don’t mind in the least."

"It’s not for your benefit that I speak. Disrupting the hierarchy, which, in turn, undermines subordination. That’s what dismays me." Kokushibo stated.

"Oh, is that right? I see."

"Akaza, if you’re disgruntled, you should battle for a replacement." Upper Moon One suggested.

"Well, well! If I may, Kokushibo-dono, even if he were to challenge us, Akaza-dono could never defeat us. Even so, he would never fight Y/N. In my case, since I became a demon after Akaza-dono, yet was promoted before him, I‘d be angry, too, if I were in his shoes. Don’t be so hard on him. And besides, I didn’t dodge that blow on purpose. It’s just a little harmless horseplay. This is how you nurture friendship, you know." Douma spoke as you raised your brow at him.

"I would hardly consider this a friendship." you said, looking at your brother. Out of the corner of your eyes, you could see Akaza looking in your direction.

"Don’t be mean to me! Those of us on top shouldn’t give our subordinates a hard time. Don’t you think-" Douma continued before being interrupted by Kokushibo again.

"Akaza! Do you understand what it is I‘m trying to say?" he asked. "I understand. I‘m going to kill you, if it’s the last thing I do." the pinkette said, frowning at his superior.

"Is that right? Then do your best. You couldn’t even stay with the woman you loved, yet, you’re out here acting high and mighty." Kokushibo spoke before disappearing.

"Goodbye, Kokushibo-dono, goodbye! It kind of feels like I got shut out of the conversation. But that’s just me overthinking it, right, Akaza-dono?" Douma asked.

Akaza looked in your direction again, seemingly wanting to say something to you. "Nakime-san, please bring me away." you spoke, making eye contact with your former lover.

Within a second, you were in a forrest, standing at a clearing that led to a lake you always liked to go to. You sighed a breath of relief. However, your relief didn’t last long.

"Y/N."

"Go away, Akaza. I don’t want nor need your explanation." you spoke, not looking behind you. You started walking towards the lake, hoping he got the message.

However, you heard footsteps following you. "You left me behind, Akaza. You left me alone without looking back. Do you have any idea how heartbroken I was? Every day, I was scared that you would die. The only conformation I had that you were still alive was the fact that Muzan-sama didn’t summon an Upper Moon meeting. I loved you, and you left me like you didn’t even care about me. More than a century. That’s how long I haven’t heard a single word from you. And now, you expect me to jump back into your arms like nothing happened? Like it wasn’t your decision to leave? No. I am not going to discuss your excuse."

"It’s fine if you’re not going to talk to me about my explanation, but at least listen when I talk." you stayed silent at his statement, giving him the okay to speak.

"It wasn’t my decision to leave you behind. It was Muza-sama‘s." Akaza spoke, making you turn towards him. "And why would Muzan-sama want that?" you asked.

"Didn’t you listen to what he said earlier?"

"The one thing I dislike is change. Change in circumstances. Physical changes. Emotional changes. In most cases, change of any kind means degradation. It’s decay. I prefer the unchanging. A perfect unchanging stage that lasts forever."

"So he asked you to leave me behind because he didn’t want either of us to get distracted by our feelings." you realized, fully facing him now. He nodded at your statement.

He walked towards you, placing his hands on your cheeks. You leaned into his touch, used to the intimacy. You looked up into his eyes, softened by looking at your face.

"I missed you so much. I almost got killed the first few years after leaving you behind because I was still so distracted by the thought of you." he admitted.

You chuckled at his statement, remembering the time Douma had to save you because you froze mid-battle, thinking about Akaza.

"Why are you back here now?" you asked. If Muzan was against your relationship, he surely wouldn’t be happy if you continued it against his will.

"Muzan-sama believes that both of our performances could improve if we continued our relationship. He implied that our duties were fulfilled better back before we broke up." Akaza explained.

"So you still want this relationship?" you asked.

"More than anything."

You smiled at him and stood on your tiptoes, leaning up so you could place a kiss on his lips. He put his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him.

You smiled into the kiss. You couldn’t get enough of the taste of his lips, chasing them when he pulled away. "So, are you willing to be my lover again?" he asked.

You replied by placing your lips on his again.

[merakiui]

YOUR IDIA THOUGHTS HERE ARE IMMACULATE OMG I AM CONSIDERING SO HARD 😭💗

Aaaa I'm so glad you like it!! Allow me to expand on it a little more.

(cw: yandere, nsfw, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, kidnapping/captivity, obsession, medical operation, drugging/aphrodisiac use, dub-con/non-con, omegaverse/abo, conditioning, forced stockholm syndrome, reader is an alpha & no pronouns are written, mention of breeding, implied pregnancy)

The steady beep-beeping of a heart monitor rouses you from what feels like an endless slumber. Crusted eyelids peel open to view the many machines that tower over you, all whirring wires and shifting screens. You watch your heart rate spike and drop in even succession, a neon green line rising and falling to mimic the way your chest heaves when you attempt to sit up and realize, with a terrible, icy dread, that you've been strapped to an examination table. Your arms are bound at your sides, cuffed like a prisoner in a hospital room, and your legs are held apart by a metal spreader bar, the cuffs nearly chewing through your skin with how tightly they're fastened around your ankles. You can hardly move your head, so your eyes flick about like frantic fruit flies, landing on the IV pole at your left, a colorless liquid weighing heavy in the bag, and the accompanying needle taped into your thigh.

A sudden coldness washes over you. Though you're clad in a thin hospital gown and the room you're confined in is filled with unfamiliar sights and smells, there is one thing that manages to soothe the alarms in your brain, if only for a moment.

Idia appears above you, his yellow eyes flashing under the intensity of the lights, and you're beyond relieved to see him. With unfocused eyes and a still-numb tongue, you swallow a mouthful of saliva and force his name out from your tightened throat. It comes out pitiful, a low groan rather than a coherent name, but it pleases him all the same. He smiles down at you, his pearly whites looking a little too sharp for your liking, and his gaze crawls down the length of your shivering body.

There's something off in the way he's dressed, the way he stands primly like the Grim Reaper overlooking death as it’s administered, and the warning signals flash again, brighter than ever. You try to jerk away from him when he reaches out to run his hand over your head, like an owner petting a cat, and he exhales softly.

“You're okay.” It's mumbled, but with your heightened senses, each one sparking to life in a panic, you can hear it perfectly. “The first step is never the easiest.”

The first step? The first step of what?

You must be looking at him with pleading eyes, for he smiles again and a finger trails along your cheek, frigidly skeletal, and you bite back a terrified whimper.

“I'll be honest, (Name). I really don't like hurting you... Even seeing you in this state is...weird. I guess it's because fear doesn't look right on alphas.”

There's that creepy, toothy grin again, stretching ominously across his face, and you can't contain the disgust that darkens your gaze. This isn't Idia. The Idia you know is endearingly awkward, too shy to harm a soul, and a fanatic of the pixelated worlds in video games and manga. The Idia who looms over you now, who is strangely restless with poorly concealed excitement, is not the sweet, soft-spoken boy you befriended all that time ago. In his well-tailored uniform, he looks every bit the detached scientist of anyone's worst nightmares. You think this is the most put-together he’s ever appeared. 

A million questions fester in your brain. What's going on? Why are you here? What's he going to do? How did you end up in this situation? He took you, didn't he? You were dragged out of the comfort of your room by STYX robots and something had been injected to still your thrashing body, and then all was gloomy and silent.

“But you won't have to be scared for much longer. I'm going to fix everything.”

Fix everything? A bewildered whine slips out instead of the query.

“I have a responsibility to uphold to my family, you see. They're expecting me to give them an heir in the future, but in order to do that I'll need an omega.”

Then find an omega! you try to say, but the words just won't come. I'm an alpha! You know this!

“There's just one problem.” His fingers drum along your neck, right at the junction between neck and shoulder, where your scent glands are, and his eyes narrow in scrutiny. And then that cold, bloodless hand is traveling down your stomach, inching closer to your most private area, and you flinch in an effort to get away, but the straps hold you down, hardly allowing you to rise a centimeter from the table. A hysterical cry forces its way through trembling lips. “You're not built like an omega.”

Built. Built. As if you're one of his robots. You glare at him, baring your teeth like a cornered animal, and he sighs.

“I've looked at it from all angles, (Name). Really, I have! This was my last resort.” His hand returns to its rightful place at his side and he straightens, his head no longer angled to peer at you. Instead he glances at something else in the room. You try to locate it, but it's out of your range. “It would only hurt you more if I forced you to pretend, which is why I'm going to make everything right.”

Something's passed into his hand and you catch sight of a stone-faced nurse. You beg with teary eyes, but the helpless countenance doesn't sway her or Idia. The oxygen mask is fitted over your face and you thrash under the straps, crying out garbled strings of words and sounds. Idia tells the nurse to sedate you.

“This'll be over before you know it. You won’t feel a thing,” he's saying, twisting a valve so that something's forced into your flaring nostrils. Not crisp oxygen, you realize, but alpha pheromones. It doesn't affect you like it would an omega, but it does provide an intense level of discomfort. A needle pricks your skin, but you don’t register it as you focus on Idia. He brushes his fingers over your forehead, a fleeting gesture, and adds, “Just relax. That's better, isn't it? You'll be okay.”

And you know you'll be safe in your dreams, for that's the only place you can withdraw into to escape this dismal operating room.

- - -

There’s a pressure deep in your stomach when you wake next, hours later perhaps, and the machines around you continue to thrum, alive with energy. You swallow thickly and force your eyes open, groggy with exhaustion and still slow from the sedatives. The oxygen mask continues to funnel pheromones into your nose and your face scrunches. Not in displeasure, for it isn’t a horrible scent. It’s comfortingly robust and it keeps your heart rate level. A layer of perspiration encases you. You can feel the way it slips down your back, between your shoulder blades, and a shudder racks through you. You’re certain it’s the excessive pheromones contributing to your daze, but those thoughts slip away into oblivion when you lift your head from the table to determine what’s been digging its way through your insides. 

No, not quite digging. Penetrating. With wide, horrified eyes, you spy the silicone dildo pumping into you in a quick rhythm, the piston never faltering or slowing, and when you notice the artificial knot that just can’t quite make its way into your tight hole you scream a shrill, ear-splitting scream that rattles your very bones. Idia’s at your side almost immediately, soothing you with shushes and whispers. You struggle in vain, sobbing and shrieking, and he frowns down at you. The nurse administers another sedative and, from what you’ve just heard, an aphrodisiac. Your breath comes in panicked huffs, fogging the oxygen mask and taking in great gulps of unwanted pheromones. 

“You’re doing well,” he praises, and your stomach twists in terror. “You’re tighter than I thought you’d be, but I guess that’s because you’re not accustomed to this. I even picked one that’s smaller than average.” He nods towards the faux cock and you swallow another rising sob. Your gaze is torn from the explicit display to the bottle he holds up for your viewing pleasure. Lube, you realize. “We’ll increase the size once you start producing your own lubricant. For now, just relax.”

He rubs soothing circles into your thigh and a new wave of heat washes over you. The aphrodisiac’s begun to muddle your brain, turning your senses and making the alpha pheromones smell far more delightful than they actually are. Even Idia’s touch, as unnerving as it is, has you arching your back. 

“Good. Very good. This is for your sake, (Name). I don’t want you to be in pain when we...” He smiles shyly and for a split second he looks normal. Though what normal truly is anymore is beyond you. “Well, that’s an ending we haven’t unlocked just yet.” 

This continues for a while. You’re kept under the soothing thumb of a cocktail of medicines, and when one wears off another is distributed. Idia’s been watching you all this time, controlling the speed at which the cock pistons into you, and just when you feel the coils within yourself unraveling the machine stops abruptly and you’re left to wallow in displeasure. This torturous edging repeats for a few more rotations. 

Eventually you’re pulled back under into unconsciousness, and the next time you wake your thighs are slick and there’s liquid pooling on the table under your rear. You blink through sleep, drunkenly glancing about. Your situation hasn’t changed, but you have. You’re hotter than usual, skin warming with each passing second, and you’re certain your pupils are blown wide with desire. When you inhale a shuddering breath of pheromones, your body trembles, hungering for more than just the smell of an alpha. 

Your eyes rove your surroundings, desperately searching for one. You’re gasping tiny, breathless whimpers when you turn up empty and for a moment you assume you’re alone, doomed to be fucked by a thick, rubber cock while pheromones continue to feed into every omega instinct—instincts that come as naturally as the slick that spills from your hole and coats the dildo in a translucent sheen—for the rest of your days. And just before you can lose yourself in a panicked, downward spiral, a familiar face appears above you. His hand casts a large shadow over you, and you don’t flinch away when he pulls the mask off of you. You’re about to protest, but then a new scent hits you head-on and you squirm on the table.

“I’m here.” His fingers curl around yours and you realize one of your wrists has been freed from its cuff. You squeeze his hand tightly, tugging him closer to you. A wide smile splits his cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere, lovebug.”

Lovebug! Oh, that’s a name you’ve never been called before. It brands itself into your skin, warm and sweet, and you choke on a delighted wail when the thick knot at the base of the dildo finally, finally, slips inside what was once tight, gummy walls. Tears gather in your eyes, running in endless streams as you finally, finally, climax. And Idia holds your hand through the entirety of it all, his thumb tracing patterns into your knuckles. His scent surrounds you, clinging to you like a second skin, and you wrap yourself in the comforts of it. 

“We’re almost done,” he mumbles, pulling away from you, and your hand pursues him.

You whine at his departure and then whine again when the machine halts and the knot deflates enough to allow the length of the cock to ease out from your drenched hole. It feels so empty and cold without anything to fill the space, and you think you’re mumbling to him. It’s hard to tell with your mind so fixated on Idia’s deliciously tempting pheromones, the urge to be filled to the brim and properly bred a matter more pressing than breathing.

“I’m still here.” His voice sounds so faraway. You reach for it with your free arm, but it falls limp when the nurse from before injects yet another needle into you. You follow her arm with sluggish movements. “That part’s out of the way. Now I just need you to get used to what’s next.”

You fall into a dark abyss with no clue of the meaning in his words. If it weren’t for the sedative, you’d surely be unable to sleep. The heat that currently seizes you is so strong it grips your very soul, pinning you to the table in an ocean of sweat and slick, where every inhalation brings you closer to Idia and has the omega in you yearning for an alpha.

- - -

You’re not sure how much time has passed—whether it’s been hours or days—and if you’ve even been alive for most of it, but you wake on a plush, king-sized bed, wrapped up in the duvet and in someone’s lanky arms. His face is buried in the crook of your neck, right where your scent glands are, and according to him your scent is the prettiest, most enticing thing he’s ever smelled. Of course he’d know. He chose that scent himself and now it’s yours. Your new scent alongside new and improved glands. You’re not sure how such alterations were possible; perhaps it’s magic or science or something far darker. In the time you spent strapped to an operating table, enduring various-sized dildos and knots, electric shocks from a collar that would tighten when you moved incorrectly or failed to clench and cum at the right moment, and an overwhelming amount of pheromones—enough to reduce you to a needy mess with a never-ending heat—you finally come out of the haze with a clear, content head and heart. 

You’re an omega now. Although with how readily you respond to your alpha’s touch and scent, growing impatiently wet, perhaps you’ve always been an omega. Perhaps it’s something that’s laid dormant within you and Idia’s only just awakened it. 

Your first heat was long and messy; it overtook you with its sheer ferocity, leaving you unable to be truly pleased by the fake cocks stuffing your hole or the fingers that curled experimentally inside to gauge just how much slick you could produce. It feels like a distant memory or a particularly bad fever dream, and now your heats are far more enjoyable because they’re spent with your alpha. 

You wake Idia with smothering kisses, all peppered along his cheek and eyelids, until his mouth twitches and he opens two brilliant eyes to meet your desperate stare. It’s not uncommon for you to wake in this state. He’s trained you well, so much so that you’ll throw yourself into pseudo-heats just to fill a void that can only be filled by him. Perhaps it’s an addiction or a clinical error—though that second one seems improbable; Idia’s meticulous when it comes to pet projects. 

His morning voice is always the best lullaby. You tug him against you, nails tracing along his back as if you intend to till it into bloody ribbons. There’s no need for foreplay; you’ve been trained to accept him without any preparations, but those are still nice on occasion. Not right now, though. Not when your every instinct craves him, his dick, his cum. His everything. And, without fail, he gives it to you.

Idia always slips in so easily, and each time you always throw your head back and cry out so sweetly for him. He’s trained your body and your vocabulary, for when he speaks to you you know what you’re meant to say. And you know exactly when to tighten around him, when to cum, when to cry. You are his ideal omega, sculpted by his own hands.

“I love you,” you chant it like a prayer while he mutters sin. “Alpha.”

And your full belly is a testament to that sugared confession.

[cerealforkart]

Announcements and Updates

I already mentioned this with my anniversary comic this morning (I'm glad people seemed to like "it's back on air"), but Dungeons and Daddies the Manga is a whole year old today and I wanted to talk about a couple things!

For starters, thank you to everyone who's been on this journey with me, from those of you who have been here since lesson 1 to those of you who only just discovered lesson 42 yesterday (you probably don't exist because the tags hated lesson 42). Whether you like or reblog every single lesson, you silently read the updates without ever interacting with them, and even if you fell out of the fandom but you read the manga at some point, I appreciate you all so deeply.

I might be making this a bigger deal than it actually is, but Dungeons and Daddies the Manga is a really special project to me. I'm so proud of my growth and I've put a genuinely crazy amount of time and effort into this. There was a time when I was trying to catch up when this was basically a second job. I would come home from work and draw manga pages until I went to sleep, it was all I did, it probably wasn't healthy tbh. People in the discord know, I've gotten crazy efficient at making these, if I don't have anything else going on, I can pump out 2-3 of these a day when new episodes drop. I've never undertaken a project this big before, I'm more the kind of person with a million abandoned first chapters, so to actually still be keeping up with this is huge for me, so I'm hyping this up a little bit.

If anyone has ever thought, "wow, I would love to support cereal financially! They seem to work very hard and would probably really like some money! I would also love some of cereal's cute art to plaster on my belongings," please keep your eyes open, I'll be dropping stickers in near future (Taylor in the trash can will be one of them)! I meant to have them ready for today, but I've never sold anything online before, and I'm kind of stumbling through the process. I'll try to have them up soon! So keep an eye out in the upcoming weeks.

For those of you who only care about Dungeons and Daddies the Manga, you can stop reading here, thank you so much for enjoying my manga this past year! For anyone interested in some personal updates and projects, please keep reading, I've been working on something I'm finally ready to announce.

I've learned a lot from my work on Dungeons and Daddies the Manga. My art has improved a lot, and it's still improving all the time, and I've really come to love making comics. Which is why maybe it won't be so surprising to learn I've decided to start an original webcomic. This webcomic won't interfere with my work on the manga, no need to worry, but as much as I love the manga, and the DnDads community, there's only so much I feel like I get back from it. I've been pouring so much time, energy, and love into Dungeons and Daddies the Manga over the past year, and I'm so proud of my product, but I want to start putting some of all that into something that's actually mine. I've been through a weird past couple of months where I went through some really bad burnout, looked around my life and realized "oh wow, this ALL sucks! I don't like a single thing I have going on here!" So, I quit my job, moved, and while I've been restructuring my life, I started dusting off some of those old abandoned first chapters I mentioned earlier and getting back into original work.

The webcomic is called The Rotting Things, I've teased it a very little bit here and there. It's about a boy with a power that is slowly but surely killing him and a man said to be unable to die trying to maneuver through a world of magic that hates anyone unlucky enough to be able to wield it.

I'm kind of nervous about starting a webcomic, but I've been waiting to be "good enough" to put something out there for a very long time, and I'm trying to come to terms with the fact I'll never be fully happy with my own work and just diving in. It would mean a lot to me if anyone wanted to give it a chance.

An eight page prologue will be dropping next Friday, September 29th, after which pages will start to drop one at a time every Friday. We'll see how I handle the one update a week schedule, it might go up to two pages a week depending on how confident I feel. Just like the manga was, this will be a learning curve for me, but I'm eager to try it out! Please give it a shot!

[sonofthesaiyans]

So, I took the time to watch the Attack on Titan finale today.....

I don't know why, because everyone keeps saying that the anime ending was a huge step up from the manga's ending. Jeez, has it really been three years since that dropped the ball?

So I decided I needed to see for myself what it really changed, I had the time so I forced myself through it, to see what exactly the big deal all was; mostly what was different, and what it did that was so far removed from the comic.

Well I gotta admit, I was surprised by what I saw.

The animation was really impressive, much better than what I've seen of MAPPA's handiwork from the rest of this season. The whole thing just kept going bigger and bigger, and it just never seemed to slow down. It's definitely one of the most impressive battles of the series, especially when so much focus on fighting and ending the Titans seemed to be lost after so long. Plus I forgot how stunning MAPPA's backgrounds can be, almost like WIT's. I guess that's what you call "peak" in the anime circle now, huh?

Levi......What can I say, he's an absolute badass, and the battle was worth it just to see him plow through Eren's army of Titans in all of his glory. Nothing can slow this guy down, and he definitely earned his ending. Sure he lost everyone who was near and dear to him but at least he can finally get some measure of peace. A much better finish than what the manga gave us, in its own weird way.

Was surprisingly touching to see the fallen Scouts again btw. Should have had Marco somewhere for Jean's sake, but maybe they can finally move on to a better place, wherever that may be.

Well the Armin and Eren scene pulled no punches, did it? XD Bad puns aside, I was surprised at how emotionally charged that scene was, Eren seemed really sorry for everything. At least he finally owned up to it in the end. Such a shame he was left with so little choice in the end.

And really, I realized how hard I was on Mikasa. She knew the life she thought she and Eren could have was beyond all hope, and in the end she made the right choice, agonizing as it was. In the end Mikasa really was too good for Eren, theirs is a love that was tragically cut short by circumstance. He couldn't help it, she couldn't help it.......Eremika truly is an unsung Shakespearean tragedy.

Oh don't you worry Eren, I'm sure she was thinking of you well beyond ten years. Who could fault her? We all know you meant well....

So........now everyone's saying it took two thousand years if not more for this to happen, huh? Well I guess that sort of makes up for it.....At least nobody we knew and loved lived to see it, right? I guess we can stop blaming Eren for whatever brought this upon Paradis, right?

Well, whatever the case may be, after finally seeing it I can say the anime ending makes up for a lot of what the manga left hanging. Great animation, such raw emotions, the insane music.......It was a long slog, but I'm glad I was proven wrong about everything I have said since the manga ending came out. This really helped to tie everything together much better, made the loss of such a wondrous cast a little easier to swallow. In the end, they gave their hearts, and in the end, it's much better to feeling something than to feel nothing.

So kudos to Studio MAPPA, and kudos to Hajime Isayama, truly I underestimated you. I feel like seeing this animated opened my eyes to so much of what I thought was missing. Suddenly things are so much clearer. Now.......Now I understand.......Eren only did what had to be done. Well played Mr. Isayama, well played.

And with that, I just want to leave with a quick shoutout to the true GOAT of Attack on Titan..........

.......

................

..................................

AS IF, YOU BITCH.

And that's the LEAST of what you deserve, you cunt rag.

That title belongs to THIS girl, right here.

As if there were any force between heaven and earth in this world or the next that could EVER make me forget.....

Oh, one more thing........

....... .................. ................................

April Fools, Folks.

This story ended with the Ocean.

[dragon-ball-meta]

Akio Iyoku And The Future Of Dragon Ball

Got a huge news drop last night, courtesy of @SupaChronicles on Twitter. I've linked the full tweet if you want to read his translation of the original article sans editorializing, but I wanted to attempt to explain a few things here. This is unprecedented for the franchise, and we're in untested, but very exciting times right now. The short version is this: Akio Iyoku and Capsule Corporation Tokyo have succeeded in gaining control of the rights to the Dragon Ball Franchise, in all but the manga side of things, for the next ten years. DAIMA is actually their first project. Now, some excerpts from the translated article: "Indomitable Dragon Ball, Inheriting the Mission: A Global Strategy to Reach the Next Generation" featuring Akio Iyoku, the President of Capsule Corporation Tokyo 'Dragon Ball' will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024. Dragon Ball is a unique and amazing work. Rather than thinking of the work in relative or uniform terms, the keynote is to think about how it should be done as a work of art. As the Executive Producer of a work with unprecedented longevity, my mission is to expand and convey what the original creator, Akira Toriyama, has created. I will continue to produce works, such as anime series, movies, and games, over the next 10 years. (...) Adopting what is popular at the moment does not increase the probability of success. I will not be swayed by the current trends, but will create works that I feel will be 'good enough'."

Iyoku is saying that, in his new capacity as the executive producer of Dragon Ball, he's doing this as a means of protecting the Dragon Ball IP as a work of art, and wants to release content that he feels upholds that integrity, rather than trying to use the IP simply to chase current trends and try to cling to relevancy. He says he also wants to keep the spirit of the series Toriyama intended. Now what's especially interesting to ME is this bit. He stops short of making any sort of direct confirmation, but this really, REALLY seems to lend credence to the reports that Shueisha was deliberately leaving Dragon Ball out to dry in favor of One Piece. "There was a time when the Dragon Ball craze, which had spread around the world over the past 40 years, had died down. When I became the head of Shueisha's Dragon Ball Room in 2016, I could not visualize what was really happening. 7-8 years ago, I went to a huge event in Brazil called "CCXP." I was told that Japanese anime were popular in South America, but there was a discrepancy from what I was told. The feedback from fans was weak. It may have been at the peak of its popularity when it was on-air in South America. (...) I also thought it was the result of relying on old-fashioned zeal. Therefore, starting with the 'Dragon Ball Super Broly' movie in 2018, we took steps such as actively participating in events. I felt concerned that Dragon Ball has not been expanded worldwide. Originally, we didn't see the strength and diffusion power of the work. We need to take a closer look at this and see if we can do more. We are not looking for a "one-size-fits-all" approach, but rather, we are looking for events such as the Dragon Ball World Championships, the expansion of games, creating facilities, and anything else that we can do. We will work on them in parallel."

And this bit: "Never before was there such a simultaneous worldwide reception of anime. (...) It can be said that we are now able to do things that we had not even considered before. From the beginning, I began to think about the overseas expansion of Dragon Ball. With 'Dragon Ball DAIMA,' which will be released in Fall 2024, we are taking on the challenge of creating an anime series with a completely original story. I am glad that all our works have been well-received overseas. 'DAIMA' was announced at New York Comic Con. The 'Dragon Ball' series is recognized around the world. It makes no sense to announce it somewhere domestic. Comic-Con is a great place to announce your work. People who understand the value of the culture are gathered there, to begin with, and we chose Comic-Con because of its ability to spread our work throughout the world. Overseas expansion is currently being considered as a necessary means of spreading the word about our work. If we compare the flow of manga titles selling in book format and then finally becoming anime to a river, the overseas developments were the ones that followed the river, meaning that in the past it was a "fan" (in the sense that the overseas expansion followed later.) I am convinced that Dragon Ball has pioneered many things as a Japanese anime. I have a sense of mission that if there is something that no one else has done, I must continue to challenge it." That sounds to me as if this was done at least in part because he felt the series was being mishandled, both on a promotional and quality control front. He also feels that there needs to be content created at least semi-regularly to keep the franchise relevant, as opposed to announcing something and then leaving long gaps of nothing, as almost happened after the Super anime went on hiatus. There's also some more implication about the series not being promoted to its fullest. "- The industry is over-competitive. It is tough to see the competition among anime (due to the emergence of streaming sites, etc.). Competition has become excessive. We must not create a situation where a manga becomes anime, and when the anime is over, the content ends as is. The ideal situation is to create a situation where the average viewer sees the content. We are in a cycle of consumption, and in some aspects, the cycle is becoming short-lived. I don't think it's good at all to have a boom that builds up and then burns down, which can be a factor in the content not lasting long. It will be tough if we do not create a place to compete differently from anime as content. It is advisable for works that are popular now to be distributed simultaneously around the world to repeat generations and reach the next stage of popularity. (...) In order to bring in overseas strength, a leading role is needed. In order for a producer to take on this role, they must transcend the boundaries of the corporate organization. There must be someone who has a "birds-eye view" of the work and is in a position to say to each company, "I think you should do this." I push myself to be a catalyst for this through various discussions. For Japanese content to continue, it is necessary to have someone who can say, "The status quo is not good enough."" So essentially, we're going to see more content. We're going to see more quality control ON said content. Both are being done to respect Toriyama's work, and to actually try to be competitive as opposed to simply relying on the legacy and the baked-in fandom to carry it in the sea of anime and manga franchises out there. He also feels that they shouldn't try to solely rely on adapting things, and create original content as well, while keeping it in line with the spirit of the series as opposed to just chasing whatever's popular. That's the intent, at least. Now we just need to wait and see how this all shakes out.

[arvandus]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[neospokenworld]

SPRING ANIME 2024 FINAL THOUGHTS

So just like I did months ago with my first impressions post, here are my final thoughts on every anime I started watching that was ongoing this season. I'm gonna list them as they end to be more organized and not have it jump around, so before we start, here's a quick section about the anime I dropped:

Astro Note: I forgot it existed past the first episode not gonna lie lol, I'll probably resume it in the future since it was a fun first episode but other than that nothing else to say

High Speed Etoilé: I wanted to like this so badly, the story could've been interesting but from what I saw it never hooked me at all, plus the 3d was very rigid so overall it wasn't as good to continue

Spice & Wolf: This is one I'll surely resume in the future, I was liking what I was seeing but one day I just lost track of it and never returned. What I saw left me with a very good taste so this is one that I have to resume someday

Okay, now we can begin:

DUNGEON MESHI

Started watching this one when it was at episode 18 and caught up to it really quickly. I honestly wasn't expecting to like it for some reason but as soon as I started it I knew it was gonna be a fun ride altogether. Nice characters, a good story, excellent animation (I mean it's Trigger but this is like my 2nd anime from them) and food that I would 100% eat if it was real lol. I'm glad it's getting a 2nd season because I really wanna see how it continues

BARTENDER: KAMI NO GLASS

This was beautiful, what else can I say? I mean I knew that this anime would be different after watching the first episode, even joking to myself while watching it ''This is premium anime'' lol. Everything from start to finish had this soothing vibe to it that I absolutely enjoyed and not gonna lie I think from episode 6 onward it knew how to push the right buttons on me to make me more and more emotional, by the time I finished the final episode I was on tears of happiness hearing the credits. I don't know how the original was but I think this is a gem of an anime that surely deserves to be talked about more

YORU NO KURAGE WA OYOGENAI

It never stopped delivering peak, back when the first episode aired I knew it would be something special, and while it felt just a little aimless past the episode of their first concert, I think in the end it wrapped up the main points kinda nicely. This is a show that got me feeling emotional on a near weekly basis and always knew how to share banger episodes. Even if it wasn't yuri in the end it was still a beauty of an anime in my opinion, it only needs to polish a few small things here and there to be basically a masterpiece imo and hopefully the manga that is coming along with it can do it

SHUUMATSU TRAIN DOKO E IKU?

This was such a fun ride overall, I gotta admit back on the first episodes I had a feeling this would be something that would break me when they were close to Ikebukuro, but even if in the end it didn't it was still a really good ride from beginning to end. One thing I liked was how the conversations between the girls were a bit faster than in most anime out there, I don't know but that made them feel more natural to me, it was cool to see all of them interact with the weirdness of the world and ngl this finale actually moved me a little lol. Not the best but still a pretty good one all in all

PS: Both the Opening and Ending here are severely underrated, Ga-Ton Go-Ton is on my top 3 for OPs this season and Eureka is easily my favorite ED for the season, both of them are just so good both visually and musically it's surprising to say the least

Part 2 will come when the other 4 end, so probably early next week

[kimetsu-chan]

a drabble of Yuna’s death scene—

I am not a professional writer, and I am doing this for fun because it has literally been stuck in my brain for the past couple weeks. Please excuse any mistakes made as this is the first writing related post I’ve ever made. ⚠️ CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS ⚠️

Yuna Handa and Tanjiro Kamado were found siblings. And by extent, so we’re Nezuko and Yuna. They enjoyed spending time together and Yuna often told Tanjiro that he and Nezuko reminded her of her younger siblings. If you asked Tanjiro what he thought of Yuna, he would reply by saying she was like the caring older sister he never had.

Tanjiro and Yuna met before Tanjiro went with the deceased flame hashira, Kyojirou Rengoku to the Mugen Train. They had accidentally bumped into each other while he was on his way for a checkup with the insect hashira. Yuna was making her way towards the rehabilitation training and they, quite literally, ran into each other. Tanjiro profusely apologized for running into her and she just shook her head with a smile that reached her ears. She told him it was quite alright and they introduced themselves with a bow. Tanjiro and Yuna had many more encounters before Tanjiro felt comfortable enough to introduce her to Nezuko. He lead her to the dark room Nezuko was staying in, he fidgeted with the hem of his hospital uniform as he worried Yuna would despise him for traveling with a demon. So imagine his surprise when Yuna dropped down to Nezuko’s level once she exited her box. Yuna coo’d at Nezuko and excitedly voiced how adorable she thought Nezuko was. She patted Nezuko’s head as Tanjiro felt relief wash over him. A relieved smile made its way onto his face as he watched the two interact. He was glad that Yuna was accepting of his little sister and that she held no malice towards Nezuko whatsoever.

The two’s relationship blossomed further as time went on. After the events of the entertainment district, Yuna, along with Kanao, waited at Tanjiro’s bedside whenever she got the chance, impartiality waiting for her brother to awake. Tears of joy streamed down her face when he did eventually awake as she hid her sobs in his the palms of her hands. When Tanjiro and Nezuko had to leave to find Tanjiro’s sword smith, she didn’t bat an eye. She only went into a panic when she found out he had encountered yet another upper rank demon. Upper four no less! She was relieved beyond belief when he returned safely. With tears in her eyes, she teasingly scolded him about “making her age ten years every time his life was in danger” but she knew she could never be mad at him.

Yuna and Tanjiro progressed together through the hashira training. They worked together to make their way through the harsh training and demands from the hashira. Yuna’s life was going so well for a demon slayer’s, with her parents and siblings being alive and creating relationships along the way. But… it all started to go downhill when Tanjiro’s crow flew above them during their break from Himejima’s training. Yuna and Tanjiro looked up in shock as the crow announced a demon had been spotted after having no appearances for months. Yuna and Tanjiro quickly gathered their equipment and left before Tanjiro had the opportunity to grab Nezuko. Yuna couldn’t shake off the looming feeling of dread but she didn’t want to worry Tanjiro. So she put on a false attitude of confidence that nothing would go wrong; but there was no fooling Tanjiro’s nose. He sensed something was bothering her but he didn’t want to pry so he let it go. They arrived at the place where the crow said the demon was sighted. Tanjiro and Yuna worked together to track any signs of the consistent destruction demons left in their wake. As Yuna and Tanjiro were searching, they heard rustling in the leaves as Tanjiro picked up the rotten stench of a demon.

A demon lunged out of the bush and aimed its attack at Tanjiro. With little time to prepare for the attack, Yuna pushed Tanjiro out of the way and sustained a cut to her right shoulder. She winced in pain but whirled around to see Tanjiro’s confused and panicked expression. Yuna drew her blade and turned to the demon, noticing the kanji in its eyes. Upper six. Wait… but didn’t the former sound hashira and Tanjiro defeat upper six? Was she reading the kanji incorrectly? Tanjiro seemed to be thinking the same thing as he had yet to draw his sword. He was just standing there, astonished, as Yuna noticed the nichirin blade in his hands. Her gaze darkened as she realized this upper rank was a former slayer. The demon smirked as he looked at his sword

“You pathetic humans have the same expression when you find out that I was one of your own warriors. You’re lucky I haven’t gotten bored of your terrified expressions or I’d make you suffer a long, and torturous death.”

Tanjiro finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in and prepared his sword for attack. The upper rank smirked once more before aiming his sword at Tanjiro. “Aww, poor amateur slayer thinks he can defeat me… too bad kid, think again”

The demon moved faster than Yuna could comprehend as he struck Tanjiro. Tanjiro was luckily able to deflect most of it with his sword, but he still suffered a nasty blow on his arm. Yuna glared at the demon and began to preform the tenth form of water breathing. She muttered the form under her breath and attempted to make a cut on its neck. She somewhat succeeded as her blade sliced his neck, but did not cut through.

The demon’s eyes narrowed as it stepped backwards into the dark trees. Yuna and Tanjiro froze. Was it going to surprise attack them? Was it trying to lure them out? They kept their swords at the ready for the next couple minutes, waiting for an attack from the uppermoon.

as they waited, they started to realize it might have run away. Yuna and Tanjiro looked at each other with a nod. They’re oils split up and search for the demon before sunrise.

Tanjiro silently creeped towards the left of where he and Yuna had been standing, so Yuna went to the right.

As Yuna trudged slowly through the leaves, she kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the demon.

But unfortunately that wasn’t enough.

Yuna did not sense the demon approaching from behind and only noticed it’s presence when it was too late.

Yuna was looking around with her sword readied in front of her. Everything seemed peaceful, too peaceful. As if a demon was never there in the first place. If you were watching from afar, you would have seen Yuna’s cautious and determined expression turn into one of shock and horror as a yellow and black sword pierced its way right through her stomach.

Yuna stood there with a chocked gasp and she looked down to see the blood pooling down. The demon cackled and yanked the sword out of her and she violently winced at the pain. She started to fall to her knees but she caught herself. She stood back up and ignored the pain as she dazedly turned to face the demon. He was shocked when she got back up but he smirked as this was something new and exciting. Yuna yelled at the top of her lungs for Tanjiro and when he heard her voice, he was somewhat confident that they could defeat this demon. Until he smelled the blood. He had been so focused on sniffing out the upper moon that he didn’t pick up the wafting smell of blood. He bolted for where the source of the smell and sound was and prayed that she hadn’t lost enough blood to die. He arrived at the scene to see Yuna and the demon’s swords clashing. By the looks of it, Yuna suffered a blow to the head while they were separated. He hadn’t yet noticed the dark stain on her uniform or her haori as his mind was occupied on how to help. He approached from behind and severed the demon’s arm. The demon turned to snarl at him when something caught his eye.

The sun was coming up.

The demon’s eyes widened as he tried to get away from the demon slayers. He pushed himself back and made a run for the trees. His severed arm started to burn in the sunlight as Tanjiro prepared to follow. He stopped in his tracks, heart sinking, when he heard a small voice calling out to him.

“Tanjiro…! Tanjiro… I— I’m so sorry”

He turned to see Yuna looking at him with tears in her eyes as she sank to her knees. He ran forward to steady her and she grasped his shoulders. She started apologizing while crying when he saw the blood start to puddle onto the ground. No no no no no—! This couldn’t be happening! He had already lost his blood family, why must he loose part of his new one too?!

The sight of her crying and apologizing made him cry. He stood in front of her before leaning down make her lay down. If these were her last moments, he would make sure they were comfortable for her. Meanwhile, Yuna’s mind was all over the place. She kept thinking about how she was never going to help pay off her dad’s medical bills, or that she’d never see her younger siblings grow up, she never got to say goodbye to Giyuu… or Nezuko! And worst of all, she was leaving Tanjiro behind…. She didn’t want that. She knew how much he’d suffered and she didn’t want to add to that suffering. That is why she was apologizing so much.

Tanjiro wiped her tears as he shook his head

“No… don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have predicted it—!”

Yuna gulped, knowing she only had a few more minutes left at best. She reached her hand to pat the top of his head and gave him a very weak smile.

“Take care of Nezuko f’me.. okay? And take care of yourself too…”

Tanjiro nodded, knowing that she was going to die soon. He would not let her see him sob in sorrow, so he’d wait until she had passed.

Yuna had smiled up at him one more time before her smile started fading, her hand was drifting from his head as her eyes closed. Her own head fell back as her arm went limp. Tanjiro held in his breath as he watched her life fade away….

~La Fin~

IM SORRY I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO END THIS

envisioning this in my head made me want to cry

I think I did pretty good for my first ever writing piece! Lmk if you have any constructive criticism and I hope this was a fun read!

[possessionisamyth]

Let's talk about Jill! I love her. You love her. She has ProblemsTM, and no one talks about her enough.

Jill is the most skilled S.T.A.R.S member, and the most adept at dealing with bioweapons post RE3. Sure, Chris got his ass beat by Wesker and killed Alexia in Code Veronica(a kill Claire should've gotten), but they still don't compare to all the various fucked up forms of Nemesis who Jill had to kill again, and again, and again mostly by herself.

From that point on it's Chris and Jill working together if you want to count the manga segments, but let's touch on her character beats. Like her insomnia. Or her untreated PTSD. Or her depression. Actually, I'm going to tackle the most fun thing about Jill when it comes to handling her various brain problems and that's how she deals with them.

She gets really mad.

Why is this fun? Why is this different? Why is this valuable? Well, the simple answer is a lot of women characters aren't allowed to show ugly, visceral anger when they're given mental illnesses. If they do, it's to the villainize them. The same way goes for men not being allowed to cry more than a single tear down the cheek when they're depicted as sad. If they do more than this, they're considered weak and feminine which is also a way to villainize anything deemed feminine, but we are staying on topic.

Jill gets pissed off when she's challenged, and it's great and refreshing because tools in the narrative justify her anger. She slaps Carlos in the face when he implies they should kill themselves instead of getting eaten by zombies or blown up by the bomb because how dare he suggest giving up after all the effort they put into surviving? It's on sight whenever she so much as sees Nicholai in the novelization. She's snippy, and annoyed, and cussing in RE3 Remake and none of it is framed as cutesy. She's fucking tired, and she's mad about all this shit blowing up in her face all the fucking time! That's why people were calling her mean in the remake, and it's like! Good! I'm glad she's angry and "mean" in one of the worst times of her life!

It's a little sad to see some of that frustration drop in Revelations I, but god Wesker capitalized on her blinding rage when he put her under mind control. Still an extremely stupid arc to give her. Will never forgive them for it. But my girl was so fucking mad, and you know what they didn't do when Chris saved her? She wasn't crying or sobbing or weeping. The anger was still there, but as much as the mind was willing, the body was too weak to employ it. She pushed Chris away to yell at him to save the world. If she was just a modicum stronger it might've been a harder shove or a slap, but that's all she could do.

And we get a mere snippet of this anger in Death Island when she's in the shooting range talking to Chris. The truth is she's not handling being back on the field well at all, but she built her entire life up to S.T.A.R.S and past that proving that she's not weak to other people. It's too hard of a habit to break because it's a defense mechanism. To Jill, being viewed as weak even for a moment will lead to being taken advantage of, and she never wants to be taken advantage of. She needs to have control over her life and herself, doubly so after surviving Wesker. So she's going to keep that control even if it means accidentally biting the hands that reach out to her to help. This kind of depiction is usually only given to men, and Jill gets it. She gets it! And she's not evil for it! And it's so so so soo good when it's employed well! (Unfortunately this is also why in newer iterations they keep trying to tone this down by making her appear sexier, because she's too intimidating otherwise. Yes, it's just as bullshit as it sounds!)

Unlike Claire, Rebecca, and even Ada who can't show more than two emotions, Jill can shoot and kill and stab and tear and destroy with all the anger she wants, and she can still get a nice date if she wanted before the rest of the RE cast! This anger is allowed to be hers without it being framed as masculine with that "one of the boys/i have three brothers" nonsense and without vilifying her womanhood for daring to express her anger as ugly as anger can be! And that's why she's great, and I love her, and someone for the love of god please get her into some decent hands for whatever she's in next.